Ubuntu Stack Exchange is a place where Ubuntu users & developers can ask questions (and answer them!) and it’s currently in Beta, with public access (ie everybody can use it even though it’s in Beta). If you use Ubuntu or want to develop for Ubuntu, check it out at http://ubuntu.stackexchange.com/
It works in a similar fashion to Stack Overflow (a very useful site for programmers!), being part of the Stack Exchange network of free & community driven Q&A websites. I have to say I really like the way Stack Overflow operates, with its more active members having the same rights as the moderators, and I’m glad to see more and more Q&A sites following the same format.
Several web apps, such as Virgin Broadband activation, require you to have a “Windows or Mac” computer. Most of them only check the useragent string that your browser sends them so you can do the following to fool them:
1. Open firefox and type about:config in the address bar.
2. Type in general.useragent.extra.firefox in the filter bar.
3. Change the value of string above to Mozilla/4.0 (compatible: MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0).
4. Restart Firefox.
It worked to get Virgin Broadband activation web app going on my Ubuntu netbook and it’s a good trick to try whenever a web app tells you you need a different OS.
Thanks to Gordon’s How to Activate Virgin Media Broadband using Ubuntu.
… learn Scala.
… learn how to use the command shell in Ubuntu.
… refresh my Perl knowledge.
… investigate HTML5.
Because
… I want to learn a multi-paradigm language and Scala can integrate with Java, a language I already use.
… I need to know my programming tools and not just rely on Eclipse.
… I want to write some quick text manipulating scripts to help with producing content for a couple of apps I’m working on.
… I was blown away by the HTML5 demos at Google I/O (No, I didn’t attend, I watched it on YouTube).