Monthly Archives: May 2008

General introduction to LaTeX

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So what is this LaTeX thing of which I speek of? Generally it is well
documented in different places around the net including Engineering @ Cambridge University and the wiki book. I recommend using these sites for general reference.

The main advantages are that LaTeX takes care of
the formatting of your report, the contents page,
bibliography/references etc. LaTeX allows you to concentrate on the report
content, minimising the effort required to produce a professional
looking book/report/paper/article.

The problem with LaTeX is when you
attempt to over-specify and micromanage the formatting. Leave the
defaults and life is good, it looks good and there is no pain.
Unfortunately, within any semi-bureaucratic institution (ie most
universities) there is a requirement for a specific layout/setup. Most
of the time these requirements will just make your report look ugly and
a nightmare to implement.

My hope is to write some more articles which will look in more detail at using LaTeX within the engineering department at Edinburgh University (more specifically chemical engineering though some things will apply to other subjects) including setting up a template for the front cover, and the plagerisum sheets.

The Ubuntu Challenge

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OK so the Hardy heron has been released for a few weeks now and the exams are pretty much over. I would like to take this opportunity to issue ‘The 30 day Ubuntu Challenge’.

The challenge is to install Ubuntu on your computer and during the 30 day period attempt to run Ubuntu as your primary system. I will provide install media and any support/help you require. Help will also of course be available through ubuntuforums.org for times when you want to try and solve the problem yourself or if the problem beats me.

This is the perfect opportunity to take the challenge owing to the lack of coursework and exams. You can learn how to get around without any stress and may find some aspects easier to live with. The main trouble I had when switching was that Linux isn’t windows (well duh) and so I was still trying to do things the windows way (when in many cases Linux had a much better/faster/simpler method) and the windows way was just making my life difficult. The hope is that I can help guide people past these stumbling blocks.

ImpAmp’s Birthday

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So it was a year ago that ImpAmp first appeared in the bedlam techbox, enjoying it’s first tested of action before being let loose on the fringe. If you have no idea what i am on about, I suggest you have a look at the website at the bottom of this page. Since then, it has become a common feature on most imps sound tech laptops. In the past year however, not a lot has changed with the program. I have effectively stopped doing imps, I can’t remember the last time I watched a full show (my guess is at some point during the last fringe) and whilst I built ImpAmp, I have not been a big user – so I have no idea which songs/features of ImpAmp are useful and which are just waste. Similarly I don’t want the sounds to stagnate, we can’t have the same sound effects and music clips being used every week.

We need new sound effects, new emergency tracks, new clips for ‘moments’ you get the idea

So – what I want from you:

  • New game songs, sound effects, emergency tracks – you want it in, send it in
  • Nominating songs for removal (clean out the my bad ideas and things that are never used)
  • Ideas for further enhancements

I also want to release a second public version of ImpAmp using copyright free samples. There will still be the bedlams remixed version, just this public version will be available to all. For this I need a set of copyright free samples. We don’t need too may, just enough to act as a proof of concept for others wishing to try it out. If anyone has any ideas.

More info
www.thatscottishengineer.co.uk/impamp.php

Thanks
Alistair