peredur.net

Somebody asked me this week about Java threads.  In particular, they wanted to know how they were scheduled.

Now, before I go any further, I should state quite clearly that this is not my sphere of expertise; but I am perfectly capable of using Google and that being the case, the following is a summary of what I found.

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A friend of mine recently started a Java programming class.  In the classes, they use Windows and TextPad, so my friend asked me if I could help him set up a similar environment on his Linux box (Ubuntu 12.04) under WINE.  Never being one to refuse to help a friend, I agreed.

The following instructions, though, apply just as well to Windows users.  Just ignore the references to WINE and issue the commands directly.  You may also find that you will not have to alter the Windows PATH variable, because it will be done for you during installation.  If you do have to alter it, though, don’t use regedit.  Do it the normal way, via My Computer or whatever Microsoft call it on your Windows version.

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For years I’ve had little or nothing to do with Windows and suddenly I find myself having to come to grips with it in order to teach others how to use it.

One of my users accidentally set the default program for .lnk files on her Acer Aspire One netbook to a specific program.  So then every desktop icon wanted to use Adobe Reader—as it happened—to open its associated executable.

This article describes how to make simple changes to WordPress themes using a child theme.

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One of the questions that crops up again and again on the WordPress Themes and Templates forum is how to add a custom logo to a theme’s header.

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Typing in a non-English language is a problem for many language learners not familiar with configuring their computers.  This article suggests a way of setting up a Linux system so that it is easy to produce the special characters required without having to dig into your system’s configuration screens once you’ve set things up.

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I recently decided that it would be a good idea to add JSP and Servlet programming to my repertoire.  Well, you never know…

So I bought a copy of Murach’s Java Servlets and JSP (2nd Edition).  I’m about half way through it, and it appears to be fine book; but it’s very Windows-centric.  That’s understandable, I suppose, because I imagine that most readers of the book will be using Windows.  However, I decided I’d have a go at following the book on Linux, rather than using any of the Windows installations I have kicking around in virtual machines for the sole purpose of running IE to check out the Web pages I develop.  It turned out not to be as easy as I thought.

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The default situation in WP is that the front page is a blog, which shows up as ‘Home’ on the navigation menu. The rest of the navigation menu lists your (top level) pages in alphabetical order. So every time you create a page, as opposed to a post, it gets added to the navigation menu, to the right of the ‘Home’ page. This is usually not what you want. You may for example want to have a static page as your front page, with your blog showing up elsewhere. You will almost certainly want to take control of your main navigation menu.
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