Various Topics on Java

..dr.. ..omps..

I am working on an installer for Java based
'SaverBeans' ScreenSavers.

The windows set-up is pretty straightforward,
but the versions for Unix flavors (Java Desktop,
Solaris, Red Hat and 'Other Unix' - no Mac,
sorry) are more complicated in that the target
directories are different between them.

In order to help me sort them, I was wonderring
if some of our Unix enabled posters could report
what their systems are reporting for..
<http://www.physci.org/pc/property.jsp?prop=os.name+os.version>

--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology

..d..

Andrew Thompson wrote:
<snip>
> In order to help me sort them, I was wonderring
> if some of our Unix enabled posters could report
> what their systems are reporting for..

Absolutely nothing on screen, although "null 0" shows up in the
Java console. I'm running Linux kernel 2.2.16.

..dr.. ..omps..

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 14:04:42 -0400, Sudsy wrote:

> Andrew Thompson wrote:
> <snip>
>> In order to help me sort them, I was wonderring
>> if some of our Unix enabled posters could report
>> what their systems are reporting for..
>
> Absolutely nothing on screen, although "null 0" shows up in the
> Java console.

That's odd, same here. Yet I cannot see any
System.out calls that would result in that..
It is not even the form of output I'd use.

...and I checked the page before and ypur
post and it seems to work as I expect.. (shrugs)

>..I'm running Linux kernel 2.2.16.

So the OS reports "Linux kernel" for
"os.name"? That could be a problem..

As I understand, Red Hat, SuSe and Debian
are all implementations of Linux, but
I need to distinguish between 'Red Hat 9'
and other Linux variants.

The Unix install instructions mention..
Red Hat 9:
SCREENSAVER_BIN=/usr/X11R6/bin
SCREENSAVER_CONF=/usr/share/control-center/screensavers
Other platforms:
SCREENSAVER_BIN=(search for an xscreensaver, like apollonian)
SCREENSAVER_CONF=(search for a config file, like apollonian.xml)

While it does not explicitly state that other
Linux's are different, it implies it might be
the case.

--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology

.... ..t..

Andrew Thompson wrote:

/ ...

> As I understand, Red Hat, SuSe and Debian
> are all implementations of Linux, but
> I need to distinguish between 'Red Hat 9'
> and other Linux variants.

So ask the user "What Linux version of what distribution are you running?"
You are certainly not going to get this from Java's set of properties.

And ... why not tell us why you think this matters to your application.


--
Paul Lutus
http://www.arachnoid.com

..dr.. ..omps..

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 23:27:54 -0700, Paul Lutus wrote:

> Andrew Thompson wrote:
>
> / ...
>> As I understand, Red Hat, SuSe and Debian
>> are all implementations of Linux, but
>> I need to distinguish between 'Red Hat 9'
>> and other Linux variants.
....
> ... why not tell us why you think this matters to your application.

I am working on a basic 'minimum requirements'
applet/application* for Saverbeans Screensavers**.

* <http://www.physci.org/test/ss/saverchecker.html>
** <https://screensavers.dev.java.net/>

I would prefer to use JWS for the installation, but
AFAIU (have been able to determine) JWS is not
capable of delivering the saver .jar and .exe/.so
to the correct directory (let alone 'edit the
xscreensaver file' as required for Unix***
install), so I am writing an installer.

The first step of which is to figure if the
system is Win/Linux, and if Linux, the location
(& ultimately, availability) of 'lesstif' and the
..xscreensaver file itself. The locations vary
according to the Unix flavor.

*** See the Unix readme linked from the 1st URL
for further details on the Unix install.

(Note, I moved this cause it made more sense to my reply)
> So ask the user "What Linux version of what distribution are you running?"
> You are certainly not going to get this from Java's set of properties.

Normally I would, but the idea is that this
installer/checker is intended to save the end
user as many questions as possible.

Ultimately, I will probably have to resort to
searching the filesystem for both the .xscreensaver
file and 'lesstif' (which provides /usr/X11R6/lib/libXm.so)
but I am hoping to come up with a basic check
in an applet that does not require the user to
accept a 'security certificate'.

BTW - I have a page at my site where you can
see demos of some of the savers already made.
(I made two of the those listed)
<http://www.physci.org/test/ss/>

--
Andrew Thompson
http://www.PhySci.org/ Open-source software suite
http://www.PhySci.org/codes/ Web & IT Help
http://www.1point1C.org/ Science & Technology

.... ..rk..

Andrew Thompson wrote:

> I am working on an installer for Java based
> 'SaverBeans' ScreenSavers.
>
> The windows set-up is pretty straightforward,
> but the versions for Unix flavors (Java Desktop,
> Solaris, Red Hat and 'Other Unix' - no Mac,
> sorry) are more complicated in that the target
> directories are different between them.
>
> In order to help me sort them, I was wonderring
> if some of our Unix enabled posters could report
> what their systems are reporting for..
> <http://www.physci.org/pc/property.jsp?prop=os.name+os.version>
>

I'm running vanilla Mandrake 10:-

os.name = Linux
os.version = 2.6.3-7mdk

The 'mdk' on the version string will tell you that I'm running Mandrake.
However, there is no way to tell which version of Mandrake I'm using since
I could have upgraded the kernel myself on an older version.

Matt