Tag: UoM

5 possible and cheap improvements at UoM

by
Inf

Undeniably, there are lots of things that UoM needs to do to improve, and it’s almost impossible to list them all. Students often ask for unreasonable things which will cost a lot of money to implement, like “buy new computers for the labs”, or “get LCD screens” or even “a faster Internet connection”. The problem in all of these is that they require quite a lot of money to implement, and money is something that UoM is always in short supply of.

Therefore, this list of 5 improvements I’ve compiled here have one thing in common: they do not cost a lot to implement, or they do cost, but are one-time investments. Some may even be implemented at almost no cost. Of course, if you got suggestions or disagreements, you know where the flame comment box is located: below! 🙂

Here goes:

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Installing GLUT on Dev C++

by
Inf

We are currently using the GLUT library at University in our Interface Design and Computer Graphics module. We were told to use Linux (Kubuntu) to write and compile our OpenGL/GLUT programs. But for ease of use, I wanted to install the GLUT library on Windows. I am a user of Dev C++ 4.9.9.2. I know it is no longer under active development, but it still remains my IDE of choice for C++ and C on Windows. And yes, I do know about Code::Blocks, so don’t flame me if I use Dev C++.

So here’s a guide if ever you want to install GLUT on Dev C++. Don’t worry, it’s easy.

Note, this guide is just about installing GLUT, not how to use it. I’ll probably have a small guide on that later on, but for now, this (and the Red Book) should get you started.

  • First, get Dev C++ if you don’t already have it. It’s available on bloodshed.net. Get version 4.9.9.2 (Beta).
  • Of course, install it. It’s pretty straightforward till now.
  • After installing it, go to Tools – Check for Updates/Packages.
  • In “Select Devpak server” dropdown menu, choose “devpaks.org Community Devpaks“
  • Click on “Check for Updates“. Wait a bit while the list downloads.
  • In the list, find “glut“, or a compatible GLUT package like freeglut or OpenGLUT (if you know how to use these, else stick to “glut”).
    • You might want to filter the results using “OpenGL” from the “Groups” dropdown menu. Else, you might click on the “Update” title bar in the list to sort entries alphabetically.
  • Then, check the small box on the left of “glut” or other compatible glut libraries. Finalize by clicking the “Download Selected” button. Wait for the package to download and install.
  • You will be prompted for an installer window. Just read instructions and click Next a couple of times.
  • Now, check if glut was correctly installed by going to Tools – Package Manager. See if you can see “glut” or other compatible libraries (whatever you downloaded) there.

After you install glut, you can do “File – New Project – Multimedia tab” and see that glut has created templates for you. Quite complex things if you ask me. I tend to stay away from those if I can.

Now, before you use any library, you need to link it, else you will get loads of “Linker errors” and “Undefined reference” errors. Here’s how to link the libraries: (read the Dev C++ FAQ!)

9. How can i use the OpenGL library and others ?

All the libraries that comes with Mingw reside in the Lib directory. They are all named in the following way: lib*.a
To link a library with your project, just add in Project Options – Parameters tab – Linker box:
-lopengl32 (including the – symbol)
This is for including the libopengl32.a library. To add any other library, just follow the same syntax:
Type -l (L in lowercase) plus the base name of the library (filename without “lib” and the “.a” extension). Or you can use the “Add Library or Object” button in the parameters tab for simplicity.

I have these libraries linked: “-lglut32 -lglu32 -lopengl32 -lwinmm -lgdi32” and it works fine for me. You can try removing some of the parameters and see if it still works for you. NOTE: The order in which these parameters are supplied is actually important! If you are using a library, and having “undefined reference” errors, try shifting that library’s link parameter to the front of them all.

That’s if you want to use projects. If you are using plain source files, you can put those link parameters in Tools – Compiler Options. Then put them in the “Add these commands to the linker command line“. Make sure the box is checked too. I’d advise you to create a compiler profile just for OpenGL and glut with those parameters. Don’t mess with the “default compiler” profile. You can create one using the small green “+” button there.

There is usually linking information in the header files (.h files) or the Readme files of libraries you download on the Internet.

Basically, to install a library, you will have to copy some files (ending with .lib or .a) to the “lib” folder and some .h files to the “include” folder in Dev C++’s install folder.

Now, to actually use glut, you have to include the header file with:

#include <GL/glut.h>

To know the exact path where glut.h is found, look inside the “include” folder, again in Dev C++’s install folder.

That’s it. You should now be able to compile and run glut code on Windows using Dev C++. The guide should be clear enough. If there is demand for it, I’ll include pictures too, but I don’t think they are really needed.

By the way, I’m not a glut or OpenGL expert or anything. I’m just studying it, and thought I’d share how I managed to get glut running on Dev C++. I might not be able to answer all your questions, and for that, Google’s here!

Jumpy start for UoM 2008 academic year

by
Inf

Student Union\'s Interview

Cancelled Courses at UOM

Mismanaged Cafetaria

Hello readers! I found 3 interesting articles in Le Mauricien newspaper of today. Guess what? They all talk about UoM, our dear University of Mauritius. Two of the articles do not flatter UoM, and the third is the interview of Miss Aartee Beekharry, actual president of the Student Union.

I’m sorry for the lack of quality of the pictures, it’s due to the crappy quality of my camera. I couldn’t get the article about the management of Cafeteria due to the page layout. Quite a good article, try to read it.

Alright, so my point is this: University has not even started, and it’s already receiving criticism! This is rather humorous, considering all the claims of “we are ready” already said by UoM management. Now, I’m eager to see what will actually happen when all the students flock in on the 11th. Let’s see!

As students, many of my friends and myself are not too reassured as to how the management will cope with the increase in students. It was estimated to have around 40% increase, but not this article comes and says that courses are canceled due to… lack of students. Lol?

Canceling courses is an abomination. Many students work through their HSC years with a view of what they want to do at Uni, and just as they set foot in there, they find their course canceled. Their options? Go to another university locally, or go abroad and add to the brain-drain of Mauritius. What about their already-paid fees? Who knows…

Another comical issue. If you read the article, apparently UoM needs to wait for orientation day to know “how many students registered for a course”. Ok, I may agree that O-Day represents the actual number of students that will attend the course, not those that registered and went elsewhere. (“mass registrations to land one uni seat, UoM as backup” strategy) But it’s still weird. I wonder what the “not enough students” mean. What’s the minimum number of students for a class to run?

Next, the cafeteria issue. I gotta agree, cafet sucks. No truly! There is nothing for me to eat there! (I’m veg). I’m not even sure if the “pain au chocolat” is actually veg, even if it’s mentioned on the window-display thing. There is still some vegetable pickles and bread, but still nothing much. There are loads of French cakes, gotta admit, but I doubt anybody will have a lunch on French Cakes, are they? (Napolitan lunches… *drool*). They could at least provide some good, hot meals. This would mean less students eating at MIE cafet, and more at UoM cafet. Let’s wait and see.

Note that the article actually deals with how the cafeteria is actually managed, not what food is served. You will see mentions of how the caterer and the VC are “close together”, and some other matters. Note that the complaints were made by the SU “viva voce” as commented by Le Mauricien.

The last article is about SU president’s interview. Makes a good reading material if you want to know a bit about what student union was doing, is doing and will do. Nothing really detailed, but ok, you still have some more info about SU. Happy Birthday SU, 37 years huh? (old!)

That’s the end of this post. Drop us some comments please, specially UoM students.

45% increase in students at UoM next year!

by
Inf

This is the astounding news that the L’Express Newspaper reports today to us, starting with those lines as the article header.

L’UoM se propose d’accueillir 4 467 nouveaux étudiants, soit 1388 de plus que l’année dernière. Elle offrira par la même occasion davantage de formations : 23 licences supplémentaires et sept maîtrises de plus.

I’ve been at UoM for a year now, and my year 1 class had around 110 students. The labs were nearly packed full. The cafetaria could barely contain the crowd during peak hours. Common room was often so full that there were no chairs or tables, so students had to find somewhere else to hang out. Same goes for Raised Plaza.

Now, I see this article about a 45% increase in the number of students at UoM and I tell this to myself: “Are our decision-makers insane?”

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No Posts!

by
Inf

As you see, there are no new posts for almost a week! We are very sorry, but both Neel and myself have been taken up by the Test Week held at UoM. It was on 24th and ended on the 5th, due to the heavy rains that hit Mauritius during the past week.

We didn’t have time to write anything, since the amount of revision to be done was consequent. And we are still going to be taken up by the exams coming in 3 weeks.

Heeyy! Come’on! We are students. We are busy too! GeekScribes might hit some slow-time for the coming month or so. We’ll try to post, but it won’t be frequent.

But after that one month of misery, troubles and headaches, we promise that you will have ample articles to read. 2 months of holidays coming! YAAY! 😛

We ask for your understanding for the coming month, and hope you will keep checking around here often. Thank you, dear reader! 😛