Ubuntu in VirtualBox - Mouse Scroll Not Working

There was another problem with Ubuntu on VirtualBox. It does not detect mouse wheel scroll if you are using integrated mouse. I checked it here:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/152742/how-to-enable-mouse-wheel-in-virtualbox/153301#153301

I tried the answer; it worked! However, the mouse cursor is not integrated, which I loathe and thus I looked add the second voted answer. This really works!!! It was unclear on how to do what the person wrote, so JFGI. Here is the link to do what the person wrote:

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html

Lagging Ubuntu (Desktop) on VirtualBox in Windows - Updated

Background story: I wanted to look at GIMP source code and hack it. Sadly, the tutorial preferred Ubuntu to auto build the latest source code. So I tried installing Ubuntu, dual boot with my Windows 8. Due to UEFI problem, I could not boot to Ubuntu. I tried Ubuntu on VirtualBox before, but since it was too laggy, I dumped it.

So, since my laptop could never boot to Ubuntu, I retried Ubuntu on VirtualBox. It is still laggy, even after I gave 2GB RAM. Apparently, it seems that the problem is due to Ubuntu's Unity using 3D acceleration. I am trying this solution to improve the lag problem:

http://namhuy.net/951/how-to-fix-slow-performance-ubuntu-13-04-running-in-virtualbox.html

It still lags in my laptop and I am still working on it, especially that the 3D support and software rendering is still off.

Update:
Stupid me. I did not enable 3D acceleration in the VirtualBox setting. After I enabled it (I followed the above help before it, so not sure if the link is the one that solve the problem or just the setting), it becomes silky smooth. Nice!

Java: File and Buffered Reader/Writer

Well, this is kind of logical situation, but I thought it should not matter since all of them would be closed anyway. Here's the story:

So my task was to build a Java application which would accept commands and ultimately you want to record everything that you have done in a text file (you could also open the file to continue the work). Without hesitation, I looked at an old code that has text file reading function (written by my Prof. of course as a template to do tutorial), thus I decided to use FileReader and BufferedReader instead of other methods available around. Logically, I looked up into FileWriter and BufferedWriter, and both of them do exist.

Here comes my stupidity: I close the FileWriter before the BufferedWriter. I thought it was fine, since that was what happened in some old template code given to me (for reader and not writer). The problem was, in those codes, the reader was only called once for every program execution. In my case, I repeatedly call FileWriter and BufferedWriter for every operation that changes the text file as a risk mitigation in case my program crashes due to invalid and error-causing input or the computer crashes. And that, somehow somewhat, makes closing BufferedWriter before FileWriter important! Otherwise, I would get run time error and my text file would just be reset into empty forever and ever.

So folks, remember to close what's opened last before closing what's opened first (like chestception where you would need to close the innermost chest first before closing the outermost one).

NUS ModCrasher: Behind the Scene #1 - GQL Restriction

GitHub: NUS ModCrasher on GitHub

Project: NUS ModCrasher on AppSpot

While we were doing the search system, we ran into a trouble: GQL query restriction. It only allows one inequality to be in the query, while we need two to find lectures between the start time and the end time. So, how should I approach this, since I was the one in-charge of the search system?

Initially, I thought of appending the search result one by one, meaning since lectures start time is on half-hourly period, I could just make a loop between start time and end time, essentially no inequality in the query at all. But then, I did not know how to append the queries, and time was not on our side. I decided to find something else.

I was thinking that Jinja2 template that we are using supports python one way or another. Could I utilize that? Probably! So I tried it; our GQL query run with one inequality and our Jinja2 template would do the other by using "for if" statement. It works! I am not sure about the performance of such solution, but it works for the time being and we are keeping it for now.

Svbtle Kudo button Copy

I have been fascinated by Svbtle Kudo button since I first saw it. Thus, my intuition was to try make one. Actually, the button has been done for some time. (I was on holiday and on holiday mood)

To try it out, go to:

hansnewbie.github.io/files/svbtle.html

I hacked most parts of the button, such as the size and positioning so that it looks perfect. I am not sure the reason behind some bugs if I didn't hack it, such as 1 px lines between the outer ring and the inner circle even when I have normalized the web page and clear all margin and padding of the two.

There are differences between the Svbtle real button and mine, though:

1. Svbtle button has the inner circle even before the mouse cursor hovers in it while mine has none. I could do the same but I prefer no inner circle on initial state.
2. Svbtle button has constant speed while my button has constant time. This means that for Svbtle button, if you move your cursor away from the button then put it in again before it returns to initial state, the time taken to make it finish is lesser than if it was from initial state to final state. For my button, it takes the same amount of time to go from any state to final state, thus slower animation if you move the cursor halfway then continue on.
3. I didn't do the decoration, such as the "don't move" command and successful notice.

Note: It seems there is a lag for the Javascript online. It works fine locally.