a WifiScanner written in Gambas Script

I've been looking for a suitable application to write using Gambas Script, as a means of demonstrating its possibilities.

10 years ago I created a Gambas GUI app called WifiScanner which fits the bill.

So I've just stripped it down and created a script version.

Gambas Scripts

If you are familiar with Gambas (or Basic) you shouldn't have too much trouble writing Gambas scripts.

Although scripting is often used for small programming tasks, it can be used to create more ambitious projects.

It may also be useful on headless/GUI-less systems, like the Raspberry Pi.

Remote Control KitchenPi: playing with NodeJS

I wanted to change channels via a phone or iPad on our internet radio.

This looked like a good excuse to try out something new.

So I settled on getting my head around NodeJS, which looks ideal for headless Pi projects, including internet radios and birdbox camera systems.

Gambas: using external C libraries

It may be useful sometimes to use C-language library functions in your Gambas programs.

There may be a performance advantage in writing your own C functions or you may simply wish to use existing C libraries.

Here are my notes which may help you get started.

Gambas: using external Gambas libraries

The Linux programming language Gambas can use functions from external libraries.

This post gives a few simple examples to supplement the information in the Gambas Documentation.

Gambas cli programming: ncurses text based user interface

Many command-line programs are more than just one liners.

They often need to display data and allow users to interface by both viewing data and making selections.

In this post I look at the Gambas component gb.ncurses and attempt to make an interactive display.

Gambas: command-line programming

I must have been using Gambas for small projects since I fully switched to Linux for my home computing needs almost 10 years ago.

Gambas was a natural choice for me as I'd spent several years in industry using Visual Basic, Delphi and Turbo Pascal.

But up until quite recently, it had not occurred to me that there might be some benefit in using Gambas for command-line programming.

The Murder Mystery Game: create a Facilitator

The Murder Mystery Game is strictly low-tech and can be played without any real equipment.

But you do need a Facilitator, and this normally means one person setting the game up, but not playing the game themselves.

However, the role of the Facilitator can be replaced by a computer running a simple program.

Gambas, mixing versions, & "Compile All"

This is a reminder to me.

And once I've written it down, I'll probably stop forgetting it!

This should stop me being puzzled when my Gambas applications don't execute as expected.

PHP Image Creation on RaspberryPi

PHP can harness the power of the GD Graphic Library, allowing the generation and manipulation of images.

You can create images based upon simple lines, rectangles, arcs and circles, as well an manipulating existing graphics files.

So I recently took my first steps in creating images in PHP on a RaspberryPi.

Gambas: Improving the PhotoViewer

By making the transition from Gambas 2 to Gambas 3, I've been able to increase the functionality of my Photo Viewer application, and make a few improvements along the way.

 

A new Gambas component has allowed me to add image histograms, rotation and normalisation to my project.

This new component is called gb.image.effect, and although it includes methods to despeckle, emboss, invert, oil-paint and solarize an image, I've only made use of a couple of the available methods.

Gambas is no shrimp

It may mean "prawn" in Spanish, but in the world of computing, Gambas is a visual programming language for Linux.

 

The Gambas application is an integrated development environment (IDE) which not only allows you to create, edit, run and debug your software, but also create executables (programs) and package them for distribution and deployment to other Linux computers.

 

This post does not cover the Gambas language in any detail, its more of an over-view which takes you through the whole process of creating an application, from writing a very simple program to creating a deployment package.

Gambas is more than just a language, it is also a rapid application development system, making it an ideal starting point for those wishing to learn programming or for programmers taking their first steps with Linux...

Giving Your Computer A Voice

I've found it very helpful in a few cases to add audible alarms to monitoring functions. For example, if you work in a network support environment and a server goes down, you need to know about it straight away.......preferably before your phone goes into melt-down!

 

By using text-to-speech, you can monitor several aspects of your working environment without having to continually check display screens.

I recommend eSpeak, which is a compact, cross-platform, open source software, speech synthesiser. Although the sound is not as natural as that produced by a system based upon human recordings, its very small size makes it a good choice for small devices, the Raspberry Pi and for applications producing announcements.

Gambas: #1 PhotoViewer

Does the world need yet another Photo Viewer application?

 

I doubt it. But I needed something which would help with my photographic work-flow, so I wrote my own.

With three keen SLR camera users in our house, I noticed that at least two of us were following a similar process. Once we had transferred our photos to our Linux powered laptops, we would:-

1. Review each photo in turn
2. Delete the "no-hope" pictures
3. Rename any we wanted to keep that did not require edits
4. Launch GIMP for those that did require edits
5. Show our best efforts to long suffering friends & relatives
6. Review camera settings when asked "How did you do that?"

So I set about making a new Photo Viewer application using my language of choice: Gambas

PhotoViewer running on Lubuntu