Older blog entries for spstarr (starting at number 20)

Even though you know it's coming it's never something you really want to happen...

Well, today I was let go after being at Platform Computing working on our Open Source software for almost 5 years. It's been one of those up and downer days. I read the FLOSS blog postings from all the different communities and see people being let go and now I'm one of them

The writing was on the wall though for months, it's not like I didn't know this would happen. I just wanted to deny that It could happen, but it has happened.

So, for now. I will not be dedicating much time to KDE while I try to find new work elsewhere. I don't look at this as a sad day, but as a new beginning for me...

If anyone wants to hire a pretty smart Linux guy, please contact me

Shawn.

Syndicated 2009-04-21 20:50:22 from spstarr's blog

Weather Forecast Widget - Update

There will be some new weather providers coming soon. I am currently working on adding a Netherlands source (current conditions only provided free). Someone is working on a German source and I plan on adding 7 day forecast info to the NOAA provider hopefully soon.

Just be aware, I do read what's out there from googleland and yes we do need more weather providers for you folks complaining
As for using Marble, I'd like to, as NOAA provides .kml files which would make radar display very nice to have. But I'm only one person you know, help me out and things happen faster!

Thanks to aseigo, we have Solid Network awareness support for the dataengine.

Thanks to Petri Damstén, we have a cleaner interface for weather data handling.

It's very nice to see the weather wallpaper!

More to come...

Syndicated 2009-04-16 20:30:45 from spstarr's blog

Congratulations KDE! and a note on weather forecast plasmoid

We did it!

Congratulations to everyone who made this possible! It's this kind of spirit that makes me want to shed a tear of joy.

For those looking for the weather forecast plasmoid (that's the official name of it), it's now in extragear for the KDE 4.2 post-release so distros can now package it.

My plan is to move this to kdeplasma-addons for KDE 4.3 in a few months. We have some features planned that will be really nice

Syndicated 2009-01-29 22:50:51 from spstarr's blog

A Holiday Present - Weather Plasmoid 1.0 is finished

Well, I've been extremely busy on the weather plasmoid and finally, '1.0' is ready for use. It's now moved to kdereview so that any final bugs can be shaken out. This should arrive in extragear as soon as the review is completed.

You'll notice some differences:

* New! Five day view. Special thanks to Marco Mart and Lee Olson also the wind icon.
* Dock applet to plasma panel thanks to Marco Martin for this.
* Tooltip support that displays the icon, place, condition and current temperature.
* Rearranged configuration dialog thanks to Davide Bettio for this.
* All the conversion combo boxes now work it you can mix and match any combinations.
* Clickable credits where present (depends on data source) this will take you to the original data from the source's website.
* Popup tooltips when you hover over the 5 day icons to show you what the condition will be.
* Clickable watches/warning links where present (depends on data source).
* If in Canada, if a watch or warning for your area is issued the applet will add the 'Notices' tab on its next update of data.

If you're using KDE trunk, please test and report any bugs you find to me on #plasma or email.

And now, for screen shots!

In this screenshot, two shots using the Environment Canada data source:

You can click on the watch and warning text and it will open up in a browser to show the official warning text from your weather agency (where supported, only Environment Canada at the moment)

In this screenshot, using the BBCUKMET data source, I configured temperature for Fahrenheit, wind speed in Meters Per Second (m/s) and pressure in Inches of mercury.

Here is the applet docked to Plasma panel

* NOTE: The NOAA data source only provides current conditions not long term forecasts.

Thank you for your patience =)
Shawn.

Syndicated 2008-12-29 05:52:37 from spstarr's blog

A New Beginning

So,I've moved. This is the first week that I'm in my new place. If you were wondering why I haven't done much coding, that's why

Getting used to living away from the nest.

Here's some pictures:

Makeshift workstation area, notice no LCD monitor yet

A view from above with more snow coming tonight

Syndicated 2008-12-06 21:49:37 from spstarr's blog

Current Status of weather plasmoid

Hello,

Just to let everyone know, I haven't stopped development. Here's a current look of the plasmoid with more changes coming

I've been busy with notmart aka Marco Martin and finally the results are starting to pay off nicely. I am still gunning for KDE 4.2 to have the '1.0' version of this plasmoid complete and ready for use.

The configuration dialog is going to be redone as this was designed for a different use case that didn't make sense now. If you'd like to help out email me or find me on IRC

Syndicated 2008-09-22 17:46:28 from spstarr's blog

OLS Day 0

On Monday, I drove to Guelph to hang out with some friends and then take the VIA Train to Ottawa. We arrived around 5pm today.

About the only thing done that was productive today was order a Pizza and sync rawhide and pray wireless will work tomorrow morning.

I wish Other KDE people where here

[ Insert I'm Going to OLS! banner here ]

Pictures to come ...

Syndicated 2008-07-23 04:19:40 from spstarr's blog

Plasma Weather Meeting and things to come...

Our famous Oxygen folks have brought a taste of things to come for the weather plasmoid. This mockup is a work in progress.

Credit goes to Pinheiro and Lee Olson from Oxygen for getting things started!

I would like to propose a meeting for next week to discuss some changes for the mockup, and other features we may need. Feedback welcome on the date and time.

This is scheduled for KDE 4.2 timeframe.

And...

and wish I could

Syndicated 2008-07-10 15:30:30 from spstarr's blog

A lament for the system tray

O woe is me, your poor systray,
I work so hard to show you statuses,
and even then I get no respect.
I make your panel shine with glee,
O please say a prayer for me.

O woe is me,
I am the systray,
just don't make me display things in disarray.

Syndicated 2008-07-03 03:58:55 from spstarr's blog

Fedora Elections and Weather Applet

Just as everyone else SHOULD be doing....

(thanks to whoever drew the artwork)

Go HERE to vote if you're a member of Fedora

With the election going on, I believe we'll have a great board elected to continue the progress Fedora is making. So do your part and VOTE NOW!

On the KDE side of things...

I spoke to one of our famous artists Pinheiro for a mockup of the Weather plasmoid. I'm sure he'll have some interesting ideas to cook up. It looks like I won't be able to get this thing in for KDE 4.1 (sigh). With no artwork (and I'm a terrible artist), it's best to leave this in playground.

I plan on working on some other ions (data source engines) for other Free weather data sources soon if their licenses allow me to do so.

Calling other artists, anyone in the mood to write SVG weather icons? kthxbye

Syndicated 2008-06-18 17:21:42 from spstarr's blog