Android Set Up...

Ok, here is the first step, download the Android SDK, its freely available.

http://code.google.com/android/download.html

Also it is advisable to also download the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) called Eclipse, while it is not the only "option" out there some of the truly old school types can roll-there-own using emacs or vi as a text editor and maybe configuring by hand the Java path.

Here is the download link for Eclipse

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/


There is a plug-in that is required to develop Android under Eclipse

http://code.google.com/android/intro/installing.html

I myself can verify it installs and works correctly on MacBook (Intel) for both the Eclipse IDE, the Android plug-in and Android SDK.

On Windows it should install easily, but I do not have a Windows machine and cannot verify this.

On Linux, I am not sure, but if it installs on the Mac it should install on Linux platforms as well.

Google's Andriod

We are going to go into Google's Android development in developing games. It's a very powerful system which includes its own Operating System, middle ware and surface applications. By our understanding this wins hands down over Symbian and Windows CE for the very fact that it is a open-sourced software platform that is capable of being placed on any linux based handset phone and is capable of incorporating the hardware features within the chip set of the phone devices.

This is very cool.

The fact that it is capable of utilizing hardware on the handset it is installed upon gives it great flexibility and capability limited only by the hardware it is on.

The official language is Java, using the Sun compiler, but it can also be developed at the lowest levels in C/C++ giving it added granular flexibility to modify the lowest levels of the Android Operating System.

I would like Python to be used as one of the primary languages to develop this in. With direct access to the graphics acceleration and even low levels of the device (bluetooth, WiFi, etc.) This will make for a power.
One of the more inreging features is the fact that it is capable of OpenGL and

LAMP...in depth look.

The most popular open-source software is also the most free of bugs, according to the first results of a U.S. government-sponsored effort to help make such software as secure as possible. The LAMP stack of open-source software has a lower bug density--the number of bugs per thousand lines of code--than a baseline of 32 open-source projects analyzed.

The LAMP includes the Linux operating system, Apache Web server, MySQL database and a scripting language--PHP, Perl or Python. It has been pushing its way into mainstream corporate computing, a rival to Java and Microsoft's .Net.

In our analysis, more than 17.5 million lines of code from 32 open-source projects were scanned. On average, 0.434 bugs per 1,000 lines of code were found. The LAMP stack, however, seemed to show significantly better software quality, with an average of 0.29 defects per 1,000 lines of code. PHP, the popular programming language, is the only component in the LAMP stack that has a higher bug density than the baseline.

Other open-source projects we're scanned, we found that the Amanda back-up tool had the highest number of bugs per 1,000 lines of code, with a bug density of 1.237. The lowest was the XMMS audio player, with 0.051 defects per 1,000 lines of code.

In absolute numbers, most defects were found in X, the low-level graphical interface software for Linux and Unix. We found 1,681 defects in X, it said. With only six defects, XMMS also scored best in absolute numbers.

Our analysis looked for 40 of the most critical security vulnerabilities and coding mistakes in software code. The analysis can't be used to measure the security of open source code next to that of proprietary code because that code is not available for scanning without heavy de-compilations.

Linux Specific Development

Linux has the highest learning curb, with the biggest level of control over the device. Slackware Linux, Fedora Linux (Redhat), Yellowdog Linux all work off the same kernel, and can offer a plethora of intresting setups for the development enviorment.

Linux does come with all the tools you need, but they are not initially a very user friendly GUI (Graphical User Interface) and IDE (Intergrated Development Enviorment) solution out the gate. Everything is configured through simple text files creating a complex level of simplicity, which unfortunatly to many is still quite complex. If you are comming from windows you may be expecting dropdown menus, checkable boxes, etc. with Linux instead of these easy identifiable menus, one has to memorize a vast array of command-lines and be savvy to the location of configuration files to get things done.

We have Linux Yellowdog installed on our PS/3 unit, but it leaves much to be desired. Without access to the GameOS, we are restricted to the framebuffer to do any thing with graphics.

Sony does not want linux developers writing games for the linux side of the PS/3 and some could argue not even for the GameOS side without a very heavy licensing agreement that can cost thousands of dollars.

Mac Specific Development

With the Mac, the story is diffrent, and it is far from "standard" its enviorment is a hybrid of BSD UNIX and the GUIness of Windows, or vice versa. Macs are, well made and their OS really works well and solid. Like Linux we have had zero downtimes with these machines.

Game development seems amiss as the Mac is geared to just contemporary development. The tools are not "obvious" and may require some digging into the machine to find the right development tools, but they are there.

Macs do things just a tad diffrent than PCs, and its main interface has specilized tools Carbon and Coco that spins a slightly diffrent syntax than the core C++, but the Mac is capable of C++ programming with the C++ Tool framework.

We find that the development should be done through the OS's XCode, but the user is free to go the Linuxy gcc/subversion route, XCode gives a efficient veiw of the code, the source and binaries all in one place.

Macs are not known to be "game machines" but they are certainly capable of becoming them. OpenGL's direct compeditor DirectX obviously does not play well with the Mac platform. The only real way to "develop" with the .NET, XNA and DirectX suite is to either to install VMWare or Parrlles to actually run Windows or install Mono (the open source port to the .NET platform)

Wii Hacking direct from the CCC

This was so cool I had to share it.

Ubuntu Linux

For a change of pace we are exploring Ubuntu, a Linux distribution that has a Mac like quality. Since it has raised such a ruckus we want to see for ourselves.

Ubuntu is, at the time of this writing at version 7. The first time I personally installed it on my friends mini laptop it actually was pretty decent. Audio fired up without a hitch...Video, well was a bit more involved and complicated and required additional downloading and installing of the necessary CODECs because of the DMCA/MPAA bullshit.

Necessary evil, I suppose :/

....not

Linux will be a more influential Operating System without the encumbrance of any "commercial ties" that you have with Windows or even the Mac. With Vista being closed and still security "weak" by our standards and Mac, while still officially closed is close enough to an open-source model of the old standard UNIX/BSD to reference from.

It has more freedoms to do anything you want with it. One of our crew, is doing wonders with X. For a person who hates Graphical User Interfaces, being a line-command junkie its the best Graphical User Interface I have ever seen.

Stay tuned to our reports.