Linux Mint is the Ultimate Distro

I haven't been on my Linux OSes for a while, and every time I use them after some period, Linux Mint really shines. So much so that I don't know why Ubuntu is still the "mainstream" Linux distro. I suppose people admire its simplicity.

I run both Ubuntu and Linux Mint, and while I like them both, I really do love Linux Mint. Cinnamon, in particular. Unlike Ubuntu, it is very customisable and provides a familiar Windows-like environment. Of course, Windows is my favourite operating system of all time (top 3: 7, 10, XP) - I love its practicality, its diversity and its interface... I suppose everything, really. And I really admire the way in which it is perfect for both the simplest of computer users and the most advanced. And don't forget just how perfect it is for business (Group Policy, etc.). But Linux Mint comes second. Linux Mint is probably the second-greatest operating system there is.

If you don't already run Mint, I really recommend it. Especially if you use Windows.

~LP

Code Surprise

I spent most of today preparing a Tic-Tac-Toe game I made in Visual Basic a few years ago for publishing on my website. I figured it would just be a matter of adding a copyright footer and squashing a few bugs, but I actually received a bit of a shock when I looked at the source code.

Screenshot

Much of the code was repeated and so I spent a lot of the time moving parts of it into subroutines, creating variables and putting large slabs into much smaller loops.

I can honestly say that I think I managed to cut down about 500 lines of code.

It was quite a positive experience, however, as it showed me how much my programming skills have developed (pun intended) in the past few years. Mostly without me noticing.

~LP

Animal Planet Logo in Illustrator

I was playing with Illustrator again today and I decided I'd have a go at creating one of my favourite type logos: Animal Planet.

Mine is on the left:

I started with two textboxes in the font Impact - "ANIMAL" and "PLANET" - and went from there, creating outlines, resizing, rotating, reflecting and colouring. And I finished it off with the ™ symbol in Arial.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

~LP

Preview: Scribble

Here's a screenshot of a project I'm working on-and-off on, Scribble. It's written in C# with WPF and is designed for users with Windows devices with styluses to scribble on their screen. Unfortunately, I can't really use it much since my touchscreen doesn't have a pen.

Scribble is a small, light, portable program for Windows devices that lets you draw on your screen.

~LP

Experimenting with Arial in Illustrator

Yes, it's another post about fonts. This is just something I whipped up in Adobe Illustrator. I thought I'd see what I could do with the word "Font" written in Arial.

Let me know what you think of it in the comments. I'm also happy to upload the AI file.

~LP