Programming for Linux & 166MHz

[schorhr]

Hello,
I am planning a programm for Linux, which has to run halfway smooth on a slow computer, and access to webcam & CD-Burning from inside the program.

Now I do have basic experience in C and Basic, but nothing more. Else then that, I have only knowledge of flash/as and php/mysql, so I got to start from scratch, even though I know basic rules of programming.

One solution would surely be Java, but I doubt it will be fast enough, even though I have heard recent versions of java got rather efficient.
I would really apreceate if someone can point me in the right direction, I am not asking for codesnippets or a personal coach here :-)

The thing is, I would like to finish the project rather quickly, and if flash could do file operations, I would probably give it a go, since 8 can now handle bitmap data.
The only solution to this would be a local webserver running php for example to store pictures, unless there is some possibility for file operation next to "flash cookies" I am not aware of.

I've seen some Basic programming tools a while back which where basicly drag'n'drop for the gui, and came with premade snippets.
If there is something like that, let me know.

[thoughtpolice]

If you could tell us the project, it'd be easier to lead us in a sutable direction, because language choice varies depending on the state of the project and machine and whatnot.

[thoughtpolice]

At 3/25/06 06:57 PM, SrgntJack wrote: sutable

I ment to say suitable.

Anyway, as an addon that I forgot: distro of linux is very important in a situation like this, ones like fedora core and whatnot won't work because they're kind of GUI intensive, so what I suggest to you use a Gentoo Linux and an OpenBox setup, as they are very fast and minimal, and that shows on low end systems if you haven't already chosen a distro.

[schorhr]

It would be nice if it would work on common distros (x11... Would might even work on mac), though on the 166MHz machine I will install anything as long as it performs good and is freely available.
Well, as I said, it needs to be able to take stills from a (compatible) webcam.
Think of it as Stopmotion Animation Studio, with basic Audiofeatures, simple transitions & Texteffects.

[thoughtpolice]

At 3/25/06 07:24 PM, schorhr wrote: It would be nice if it would work on common distros (x11... Would might even work on mac),

Well it should, I just recommended Gentoo for development because it's a distro that will almost work on anything you give it due to the fact it's primarily source based.

Well, as I said, it needs to be able to take stills from a (compatible) webcam.
Think of it as Stopmotion Animation Studio, with basic Audiofeatures, simple transitions & Texteffects.

Try something like C or python I'd say.

[Ryan-dansie1]

If performance is important you should be using c/c++

[schorhr]

Yep, I am still wondering if Java would do the job though; Anyone with experience with Java, Linux AND a slow Computer? (166-266MHz, 64MB Ram)

[Ravens-Grin]

With a computer that slow, I wouldn't even contemplate Java. The overhead will become too great, especially because you're going to need every bit of processing power from, and I'm assuming, the Pentium MMX. Anyways, I recomend the damn small linux distrubution, as well as the C language.

[schorhr]

Seems like thats my only choice, I was afraid so.
This means I have to start from zero; Too bad.

[thoughtpolice]

At 3/26/06 10:51 AM, schorhr wrote: Yep, I am still wondering if Java would do the job though; Anyone with experience with Java, Linux AND a slow Computer? (166-266MHz, 64MB Ram)

The plain fact of the matter is, on a computer that low end, most likely everything is going to probably seem slow under even the slightest bit of stress. My friend at work has a Windows 98 computer with 64mb RAM, and Java applets work on their perfectly, even if it's slow.

Don't shun Java in this instance until you try it, everybody thinks that Java is like the slowest programming language on earth, but it's matured greatly over the past few years and is gaining ridiculous amounts of steam. Doing something like this in Java can probably benefit you later on if you ever choose to get into things like Java-based projects.

[schorhr]

Yes, I heard that there have been many improvements performance wise in the last two versions- unfortunaly I have never really made anything expect a small j2me "hello world".
What would habve the fastest learning curve in your oppinion with my "background" (php, as)?

[thoughtpolice]

At 3/26/06 05:53 PM, schorhr wrote: Yes, I heard that there have been many improvements performance wise in the last two versions- unfortunaly I have never really made anything expect a small j2me "hello world".
What would habve the fastest learning curve in your oppinion with my "background" (php, as)?

Probably something like Python would work - it has rapid development, is easy to learn, dynamically typed, and pretty damn useful really. The reason I say this instead of C is because it takes months in C before you get to really interesting stuff due to the nature of compiled languages, however, with languages like Python or PHP, it isn't too hard to get something cool running quickly.

[Taylor]

At 3/26/06 10:51 AM, schorhr wrote: Yep, I am still wondering if Java would do the job though; Anyone with experience with Java, Linux AND a slow Computer? (166-266MHz, 64MB Ram)

Ew. Java fucks up at my work computer (celeron 2.2ghz/256mb ram - those fuckers need an upgrade) and its barely usable. I'd shy away from it.

[schorhr]

Python?
Is it possible to use it with webcam input?

[Inglor]

May I suggest C, the webcam driver, and SDL for the graphical interface?

[elbekko]

At 3/28/06 07:32 AM, schorhr wrote: Python?
Is it possible to use it with webcam input?

Think so

Linky

[schorhr]

Thanks for all the replies!

@inglor: Surely C would be the best option, but since I do not have much experience with it at all, I would need to start from scratch... Even worste then with java.

Well, first of all, I am willing to learn C, but java, python, php etc would enable me to port it on other platforms even easier probably, plus I do have some (or some more) experience with them.

Thanks for the link elbekko! I do not have much python experience, but this will be usefull.

@JesusCyborg:
I would not compile it on the slow machine of course, I thought of that ;-)
Yes, I know php can. I actually thought of using php; But it still leaves me with the problem that I need a live-preview and onionskin overlay, as well as animation preview, so it ends up using other tools such as Java, flash or C anyway, and then it would be the question if I realize the project with one of those completely.
Heck, if it would not need to run on a slow computer, I would make the interface in flash, and use a local webserver to process image data.

I once too worked with a p75 and later a 200mhz machine, I know simple Java will run, but I am not sure about webcam & video, thats why I was asking ;-)

[elbekko]

I don't think PHP would do the trick, as it's alot slower than C/++

[Taylor]

At 3/28/06 04:26 PM, elbekko wrote: I don't think PHP would do the trick, as it's alot slower than C/++

PHP is an interperter, its written in C. That kinda eliminates the whole idea of fast =\

[thoughtpolice]

At 3/28/06 02:59 PM, JesusCyborg wrote: 1. Gentoo would be the last thing I would ever install on a 166mhz computer! it would takes years to compile everything!

The applications would run pretty fast, though.

I would have recommended ArchLinux since it's also very minimal, but you have to have at least a Pentium II I believe, which on a computer like that, I wouldn't be suprised if it didn't.

[schorhr]

At 3/28/06 06:32 PM, taylorwilsdon wrote:

At 3/28/06 04:26 PM, elbekko wrote: I don't think PHP would do the trick, as it's alot slower than C/++

PHP is an interperter, its written in C. That kinda eliminates the whole idea of fast =\

PHP would do just fine for proccessing the files and so on, I am not intending to process any megapixel-images. I actually used php on a 166mhz server a long time ago, but thats another story.
its the webcam preview and so on thats the trouble. Even if I just made a HTML/Flash GUI, and displayed the cam via flash or java, it would probably lag big time.