This semester at University, I’m taking ‘Compiler Design & Techniques’ as a module. The second coursework involves drawing Finite State Machines diagrams that represent regular expressions. Rather than using a word processor to draw these diagrams with a rather untidy look about them, I went in search of a tool that’d help me produce high quality drawings. I’d heard that Latex was good for mathematical diagrams, but that seemed like overkill as I only wanted the diagrams, not a whole new document syntax to learn.

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I’ve had a bit more time recently to play around with Ubuntu and am finding the ‘Ubuntu versions’ of apps that I’ve grown to love on Mac OS X. One of which being Hot Corners which I always use to lock my screen when moving away from it.

Brightside is the Ubuntu app to do the job.

sudo apt-get install brightside

Once installed, go to System, Preferences, Screen Actions. I then checked the “Bottom right corner” and then chose “Start screensaver”. Works a charm.

Be sure that in your Screensaver settings to check the “Lock screen when screensaver is active” option.

I was very lucky to be able to help out in beta testing CSSEdit 2. I’d be totally lost without this app as I’m constantly using it for all my web design projects.

It helped build the designs for this blog and countless others, as well as my James Bond site, CommanderBond.net.

It really speeds up development for me compared to writing the CSS rules out.

Congratulations to Jan for a great release!