Since Chumby unleashed their new software 1.7, I've gotten a few emails from people reporting that my previous hack for getting the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter working on their Chumbys no longer worked anymore. This is because Chumby changed a lot of low-level stuff (moved to EABI) in their new software. They also added in-built wired ethernet support, however the module that the Apple adapter requires doesn't have the right codes, hence it still doesn't work 'out of the box'.

Anyway, I've recompiled the module, and things generally work again. Here are the same instructions as before, with some modifications.

NOTE: Only follow these instructions once you have upgraded your Chumby to software 1.7 - it has been deployed as an automatic update, but still requires you to allow it to do so. You can check your current software version by tapping Settings -> Chumby Info and looking at the 'SW' value.

1. Insert your Chumby's USB drive into your computer.
   
   
2. Download the newly patched module and the loading 'debugchumby' script here (Patched driver for Apple USB-to-Ethernet Adapter for Chumby FW 1.7), and place both files at the root of a USB drive (overwriting any existing asix.ko file, but keep reading about the debugchumby file). Because your Chumby has no usable in-built memory, you will need a USB drive attached to Chumby (in theory, you could remove it after it has started up, but I just leave mine in) for this trick to work.
   
   If you used the previous hack for the Apple adapter, you will need to remove the lines for the previous hack in your debugchumby file (including the ifconfig, DHCP and fbwrite lines), and use the lines in the included debugchumby file instead.
   
   If you have already done some hacks with Chumby using the debugchumby file (if you don't know what that is, you probably haven't), you will need to manually merge the debugchumby files. Be careful when extracting the files above so you don't overwrite your existing debugchumby file. Also, if you're on Windows, remember that you need a program that keeps Unix-style line endings to edit debugchumby, otherwise it won't work. Try Notepad++.
   
   
3. Remove the USB drive from your computer, and while Chumby is off, plug it into the USB A port. Plug the Apple USB-to-Ethernet adapter into the USB B port and connect the ethernet cable to it. The port in which each device is plugged into is important, as the script relies on the USB drive being at /mnt/usb, and hopefully plugging it into USB A will ensure that.
   
   
4. Turn your Chumby on.
    
5. Once it has finished the booting process, you'll see the following familiar screen for network selection. For the first time, select "create a new connection" and click OK.
   
   
    
   
6. If everything has gone right, after it has finished 'scanning for network adapters', you should see the following screen. Select 'Wired'.
   
   
   
   
7. Then go through the usual network configuration steps. When it knows all the details, it will try connecting, and will hopefully succeed. No more flaky wireless connection!
   
   

The next time you need to go through network configuration, all you need to do is select 'use an existing connection' on the 'new or existing connection?' screen, then select Ethernet and follow the usual steps.

Note that I'm using the 'beta control panel' here (you can enable this at chumby.com), not sure if that makes a difference. This setup works on my Chumby; I'd appreciate it if you would post a comment if it either works or doesn't with yours.

UPDATE (01/07/2009): If you have updated your Chumby to software version 1.7, see this post to get it working instead.

UPDATE (12/02/2009): There seems to be some kind of intermittent dropout happening with the wired connection using this adapter. A reboot will fix the problem, but it is annoying. Can't quite pinpoint why though.

My Chumby hasn't been very happy for a while now - its connection to the world just isn't stable enough for it to do anything. All it could do was fetch a news article or a picture, two if you were lucky, before its wifi connection dropped out again. Chumby, just to recap, is an internet widget alarm clock which is now officially available in Australia too, via Internode. It connects via a wireless connection, but with a fairly tiny antenna in an area of high radio interference (no idea what it is), it can't hold on to a wifi signal for long (neither can my mobile, but my laptop works fine).

Luckily, it has a couple of USB ports on it and runs on Linux, so I looked around to see if it supported any USB-to-Ethernet adapters. It did, in particularly it had been tested with the Trendnet TU-ET100C, Linksys USB200M and AirLink101 ASOHOUSB. In fact, it works out-of-the-box with those that use the Ralink RT73 chipset or the ASIX AX88172/AX88772 chipsets, provided the driver included with Chumby knew about those devices.

Because none of the adapters mentioned above are available in Australia (as far as I know), knowing the supported chipsets opened up the selection a bit. Ones that are technically supported (but untested) and available in Australia include the Belkin F5D5050 and D-Link DUB-E100. I wasn't impressed though - these things were big, utilitarian and worst of all, ugly.

The ones that are available overseas aren't much better either in the looks department (Airlink, Trendnet and Linksys respectively).

The people behind these abominations must be wired differently to me - even if these things were designed to be out of sight, would it hurt that much just to make them look ok at least?

Then I stumbled across this.

Had to come from Apple of course. Finally, something that isn't enormous and is actually nice to look at. Some further googling told me that it used the same chipset as the Linksys USB200M, so it should be supported. Unfortunately, while the chipset was supported, the IDs for this were only added into the driver recently, and I suspected it was after the v1.6 firmware release. After downloading the Chumby Linux source, I confirmed it - the chipset was supported, but without the IDs, Linux could not detect the adapter and match it up with the driver.

I had two options - get the IDs added into the driver within Chumby, or suck it up and get the ugly but supported and detectable alternatives. To add to this, the Apple USB-to-Ethernet adapter was actually cheaper (shock horror!) than the Belkin and D-Link alternatives ($39 compared to $44 and $55). Also, it has no flashing lights, which is perfect for use with the Chumby - the last thing you want is an annoying randomly flashing light illuminating your room while you sleep.

Choosing the ugly option just didn't cut it, and given the Apple adapter was actually cheaper, I decided to get the IDs added in. I submitted a request to add the Apple adapter IDs into the official Chumby firmware, but I couldn't wait, so I took the plunge and got my hands dirty with the Linux kernel source code.

As if compiling the Linux kernel wasn't enough, I had to cross-compile as the Chumby has an ARM processor, not an x86 (Intel/AMD/VIA) processor. Fortunately, the toolchain as well as detailed instructions were available, so it actually went a lot smoother than I expected. I merged the new IDs with the appropriate source file (drivers/usb/net/asix.c), made a wish that the process will go without obscure/unintelligible errors, ran the make command and sat and waited for a few long minutes while it did a whole lot of stuff. When it was done, I copied the compiled driver (drivers/usb/net/asix.ko) to a USB drive, and plugged it into Chumby.

Of course, you could do the whole compilation thing and go through the experience of setting up the environment, the lows of watching, praying that the compilation would work, and the ecstatic highs of seeing the compilation complete without an error, or just download the compiled file below. Your choice

1. Download the patched driver and the loading 'debugchumby' script here (Patched driver for Apple USB-to-Ethernet Adapter for Chumby), and place both files at the root of a USB drive. Because your Chumby has no usable in-built memory, you will need a USB drive attached to Chumby (in theory, you could remove it after it has started up, but I just leave mine in) for this trick to work.
   
   If you have already done some hacks with Chumby using the debugchumby file (if you don't know what that is, you probably haven't), you will need to manually merge the debugchumby files. Be careful when extracting the files above so you don't overwrite your existing debugchumby file. Also, if you're on Windows, remember that you need a program that keeps Unix-style line endings to edit debugchumby, otherwise it won't work. Try Notepad++.
   
   Note: This script assumes you use DHCP on your network (if you don't know what that is, you probably do). If you don't, you will have to edit the debugchumby file to set the IP address.
   
2. Remove the USB drive from the computer, and while Chumby is off, plug it into the USB A port. Plug the Apple USB-to-Ethernet adapter into the USB B port and connect the ethernet cable to it. The port in which each device is plugged into is important, as the script relies on the USB drive being at /mnt/usb, and hopefully plugging it into USB A will ensure that.
3. Turn Chumby on. It should go through the usual process, and you should not be prompted for network configuration. Within seconds, your Chumby should be online via its new ethernet connection!

Some things to note -

• On startup, the wireless configuration is tricked into disabling itself. However you can easily re-enable it (for whatever reason) by going into the Control Panel -> Settings -> Network and selecting a wireless network. Nothing has been changed on the Chumby itself, so if you ever need to remove the adapter, just turn it off, remove the adapter, and turn it back on.
• Because the wireless configuration is tricked into disabling itself, and the Chumby UI has no way of reading the details of the wired ethernet connection, it makes it quite difficult to connect to it if you ever need to. So to make things slightly easier, Chumby will flash the IP address it got via the wired connection at startup, like the picture below. It doesn't stay on the screen for long, so you need to be quick.
  
  
  
• Hopefully in the future, the driver within Chumby will be updated so the patched driver won't be needed. However, you will still need the USB drive to trick the Chumby into working, otherwise it won't know it has a network connection. Apparently, official wired ethernet support is coming in the next firmware release though, eliminating that.

I'm not a fan of Java. Specifically, the language more than anything else.

I spent this year learning Java because I had to (I don't think there's a CS course in the world that doesn't use Java somewhere in it), and admittedly, am far from an expert in it, but for the most part it is painful. Not the frustrating 'we do things differently here' painful, but the 'no this isn't possible, here's a long workaround' painful (no properties, no event handling without listener boilerplate every time, APIs without commonly used functions, confusing and subtly changing API, no delegates, no switch on strings, no anonymous functions, complicated UI toolkits, odd access modifiers ... the list goes on).

Maybe this is because I've been spoilt with C#, and the various new and productive constructs it has to make it significantly different to Java. Or maybe I've been fiddling too much in dynamic languages like JavaScript and Python. These languages have also evolved way faster, finding new ways to allow the developer to be more productive, and for the resultant code to be more elegant. The last significant languages changes for Java was in Java 5, released 5 years ago now. 

The Java philosophy, and the hardcore followers don't want anything to change, which is fine if it was perfect, but I don't think it is - it certainly isn't something I'd pick to be productive in if it was on language alone. I don't want Java to be C#, Python, Ruby or everything thrown in together - I just want to see solutions to such common pain points in my lifetime (and no, code generation tools are not a solution).

Which brings me to the point of this post - JavaFX.

This is the new language the Java guys created, purportedly because it makes creating RIAs a lot easier, but I suspect it is also because the Java guys themselves know there are many improvements that can be made to Java, but they weren't able to for fear of incurring the wrath and alienating large sections of the Java community.

What makes it cool?

Well, it incorporates a lot of the productivity enhancing constructs perfected over the years, all while still being very Java-like, statically typed and compiled, and with the full Java library at its disposal.

Type inference

This is actually both a blessing and a curse. It allows you to not repeat yourself when you're declaring and instantiating a variable, while keeping clarity. However, if it is used everywhere without thought, it could end up being real messy.

Declarative construction syntax

This is JavaFX's answer to MXML (Flex) and XAML (Silverlight/WPF). Instead of using XML, it is a JSON-like (but not entirely JSON) syntax. See here for some examples.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sold on this. It isn't exactly easier to read, but maybe that's just my eyes being trained on XML over the years. The lack of the new keyword for constructing objects is unsettling too. I guess it is redundant, but it does emphasise the construction part, particularly useful if you have a JavaScript or python mindset and start thinking of dictionaries/anonymous objects.

Inline string expressions

So you can do things like:

var s1 = "java";
var s2 = "fx";
var is_fx = true;
var s3 = "{s1}{if (is_fx) s2}";

Time literals

typing 5m will mean 5 minutes to the code automatically - no more thinking in milliseconds!

Sequences

This is one of the best new features yet. It is basically list comprehension in Python, or in a restricted manner, LINQ in .NET.

You can filter arrays of objects by:

var names = ["Matt", "Peter", "Craig", "Andrew"];  //note the array literal syntax!
var namesLongerThan4Characters = names[n | n.length() > 4];

//alternately...

namesLongerThan4Characters = for (n in names where n.length() > 4) n;

Inserting objects in arrays:

insert "Alex" before names[0]; //insert Alex at the start of the array

Slicing arrays:

var first3Names = names[0..<3]; //note the slice syntax

Binding

Binding in an integral part of the language. To bind something to something else, simply use the bind keyword, e.g.

var s1 = "hello";
var s2 = bind s1;
//s1 and s2 == "hello"

s1 = "world";
//s1 and s2 == "world"

It even works for function arguments, and if a function is a bound function (prefixed with the keyword bound), any instance variables utilised within the function too.

On replace trigger and new access modifiers

There still aren't properties in JavaFX as far as I know, but this helps. When you declare a variable, you can declare an anonymous function that gets called when the variable is changed, like so:

var myName = "Sam" on replace oldName { println("old: {oldName}, new: {myName}"); };

Combined with this there are new access modifiers, allowing you to designate a public variable as read-only using the public-read modifier, instead of the public one when declaring.

Closures

Yay! Finally, no more writing ugly inner classes boilerplate code for Swing. Anonymous functions can now be created in code, and passed around by variables.

This example explains the concept, and how it can be used. That wasn't a Swing example though, and I'm not sure what the case is there, given Swing expects Listener classes, not anonymous functions.

EDIT: Looking at the Stopwatch sample, it doesn't seem like you can use closures/anonymous functions in place of ActionListeners. Back to ugly, boilerplate code again. Wasted opportunity, Sun.

More?

Check out the official tutorial here. The API reference has some nice stuff too - particularly the effects. It looks a billion times better than Sun's usual API doc style too. And finally, the language reference, back in the typical ugly Sun style.

So everything's cool right?

I'd love to say yes, but sadly it isn't. Sun has a history of shooting itself in the foot with Java, and this is no exception.

(Below is from what I gather on the net - I have not tested the code to see if it actually is missing, so I could be wrong.)

JavaFX was announced prematurely - bits were released too early. In between releases, there have been very significant changes, enough to break most samples and guides out there. Then apparently, Sun had a change of heart, and decided they didn't like it being an intrepreted language anymore, and it should be compiled instead. Along with this change, brought a huge range of language feature cuts, rendering many, many more samples and guides out there useless (or soon to be if/when the interpreted version is stripped out).

Just look at this post from Sun themselves, and compare it to the official JavaFX 1.0 tutorial to see what's been cut.There were some really neat features there too, like the select keyword, triggers, and the do loops. Documentation was and still is on the thin side - those blog posts out there really helped, but now many are basically useless because of the changes, yet the average developer googling for help won't know, because to them, it is all still JavaFX Script and will become an exercise in frustration.

And from what I see on the net, it seems like this change was unexpected, apart from the beta tag, which has lost its meaning anyway.

On top of this, Sun is stretching the cross-platform marketing point by not releasing a Linux version. Yes - JavaFX only works on Windows and Mac at the moment, disappointing masses of developers out there who were betting on Linux availability as a major advantage. Depending on how Sun works, Moonlight 2.0 and Eclipse4SL might even be out before JavaFX for Linux is. Of course, Flex Builder 3, Flash and AIR are all available on Linux, now.

Then there's the persistent problem of Java's performance and stability woes. Java has never been very smooth for me, and it is particularly bad inside browsers. It has a uncanning ability to crash your browser just when you need it least, or just freeze it for ages, leaving you to ponder - do I kill it and lose all my tabs and sessions, or wait, and pray that it comes back to life.

Even with Java 6 Update 11, which promised performance and stability fixes, the sample JavaFX applets consistently killed the tab in Google Chrome, and only 2 of the 4 applets I tested loaded in Firefox, both after rather long waiting periods when compared to something of similar functionality in Flash/SL. And the security restriction dialogs - maybe that's where Microsoft drew their inspiration for UAC from. The drag to break out of the browser trick is cool though.

One final thing - they've decided to allow JavaFX to play video in a selected set of cross-platform codecs, and also platform-dependent codecs. Yes - you can use JavaFX to play Windows Media Video files, but only on a Windows computer. I hope they make this clear to developers, but seriously, why even offer this option - it only allows developers to create platform-dependence, the exact problem Java has been claiming to help solve all these years.

So who's happy?

I'm struggling here. They've thrown up numerous walls to stop newcomers from trying it out, particularly when compared to their stiff competition, Flex and SL. Many old timers dislike change, and probably won't like the new syntax and way of doing things. Some might. And a few open source fanatics might jump on board, just because it is open source (even though it isn't completely yet, and as I mentioned before, there's no Linux version).

Yes it has cool tricks, can do things neither Flash/Flex/AIR or Silverlight can do, has the large Java community it can leverage, and has a wide range of components and libraries from Java to support it already, but that all means nothing if there's insufficient/confusing documentation, and the user experience sucks.

Here's hoping that the community helps you out Sun, and the next iteration of JavaFX is massively improved upon, because JavaFX just doesn't seem like the magic bullet you needed to stay ahead of the game.

Then again, maybe I haven't drunk enough of the Java kool-aid

UPDATE: Changed the starting paragraph - sounded way too harsh and set the wrong tone.

UPDATE (07/01/2009): Looks like Java 7's been pushed back to 2010, and the list of new features is... rather short and boring. At least I'm not the only one disappointed with Java's development. http://www.infoq.com/news/2009/01/java7-updated

I know it's a bit late for everyone now that Christmas is over, but regardless, there are some cool online stores out there I thought I should point out. Besides, the next Christmas won't be long, and if you're like me and can never think of a present idea in time, now's probably a good time to start .

Rushfaster

These guys sell bags, a really wide range, or really awesome bags. And as their tagline goes, "Bags you won't find anywhere else". The prices are decent,and they have sales every now and then as well.

But what really impressed me was their customer service. I emailed these guys with a few questions about a bag, and I got a reply within a day, and it wasn't one of those template replies or a reply to only the first 5 words of my email - it was a thoughtful reply obviously written by a human. Their sales process is pretty fast and slick as well - and you get notifications and followups when something happens. A damn sight better than Amazon, who take weeks to deliver something even when others US stores can do it faster.

What sealed the deal though, is their awesome returns policy. 90 days, whatever the reason as long as the item is in a saleable condition. And it isn't just talk - I returned a $160 Booq soon-to-be-superseded backpack (too rigid for my liking), right near the 90 day deadline, and it was accepted without questions, and processed within days, along with a nice email telling me it had been done.

Squeaky Tee

This is actually another online store run by the Rushfaster guys, selling t-shirts for both sexes. Again, as with Rushfaster, a wide range, and a helpful website. The prices are reasonable too.

They started around the start of this year, and are already pretty busy. I missed out on getting a t-shirt before it was sold out, and for kicks, decided to vent using their contact form. These guys actually replied, and rather promptly (but I still didn't get that t-shirt though ).

The returns policy here is similar, but shorter - 14 days. Again, I have tested this out as well - I blame my indecisiveness, and trigger-happy fingers. (I swear I'm not being an asshole - I have actually bought something from Rushfaster at least ).)

These people also have a quirky sense of humour too - see the top-half of the packing slip below. The big white area is where the address label for my package was. This is something that's sorely missing in retail nowadays.

Moo

Moo, if you haven't heard of them yet, print stuff - business cards, minicards, postcards, greeting cards, sticker books... all kinds of cool paper things. Unlike your printer down the road, Moo lets you print a different card for each one in the set, in photo quality. You do all this via a spiffy online tool, allowing you to upload images, and design and place text and graphics on both sides. There are even galleries and pre-made designs you can draw inspiration, design and/or graphics from.

I used them to print my business-card sized 21st birthday invites. Each one had a different picture on me on one side, and the event details on the other. That's 100 cards in total, all completely unique.

And of course, me being me, I left this up to the last minute, and panicked as their tool had a few bugs in it (which are probably solved by now). A quick email and a few hours later, I was able to confirm that my design was submitted as I described it in the email.

When they came, they were everything I expected and more. Neatly packaged, and the quality was great, way better than I thought. It definitely wasn't the limited colour crappy printing you usually see on business cards. Everyone I gave them to loved them (although the cute photo of me might have been a factor ). It came bundled with marketing material (I'm surprised so many online stores don't this), but this was useful and memorable stuff (puzzles and riddles), as opposed to often useless, self-serving material.

Alright, it's another new year, and I'm still yet to launch my big, super-secret, world-changing project, so it's back to work for me!

So it has been one year on since I went back to uni (after my semester of doing nothing), and it's time for the report. Quick recap - Commerce/Mechatronics Engineering at Monash just wasn't my thing, intermitted, scouted around for alternatives, decided on Computer Science with a focus in embedded systems, accepted two offers, and spent the last year at RMIT doing Computer Science (Embedded Systems).

The degree has been pretty much what I expected, with a few surprises here and there.

(Warning - if I use the word courses, it means unit/subject for everyone else; and the word program means degree/course. Some silly, probably bureaucratic thing went on at RMIT I assume. And this is about the city campus, because that's where I'm at.)

Highlights

The people at RMIT are nice, friendly, helpful etc., as you would expect them to be, but are also actually interested in you, and what you think (with exceptions of course - see lowlights below). I sound surprised because Commerce/Engineering at Monash really didn't have the same feel. I distinctly remember the first lecture of Engineering Dynamics at Monash (ENG1040 for those following), when the lecturer, a professor with a wicked sense of humour and strong knowledge about nearly everything (he even managed to fill lecture theatres at 9am in the morning), said - "Welcome to university, where you are the mass produced products in this glorified rite of initiation into adulthood."

One reason I reckon, is the position of a head tutor, which is generally filled by another student, who works in tandem with the professor throughout the entire course. Also, maybe I just got all the bad eggs at Monash, but the tutors also seem to be a lot more passionate and connected to the course, rather than just reading the answers off a sheet, and being stumped when a question is asked. And of course, as no geek is ever in complete agreement with another, I took the opportunity to engage in some friendly debates, and learnt a bit from it. Then, there are those who abuse this opportunity, like this idiot who thinks he knows everything because he went to TAFE, and got into an argument about how crap vi is that went for at least an hour, even though he had absolutely no idea how to use it, and it showed.

(Of course, there were exceptions at Monash, including a materials tutor with great anecdotes about everything.)

The courses were also relatively well run, the lecturers knew their stuff, and were mostly understandable. Taking the intro courses wasn't all boring, because I had never done Java or PHP before (neither of which I want to use again, but that's a rant for another day), but the best course so far would probably go to Computing Theory (COSC1107). Great lecturer (a Mac lover, complete with Jobs' dress sense), and while the material was challenging, it was really, really interesting.

The staff here also actually use their online learning tools, actively participating in discussions and providing content. Although from looking at my Monash mailbox, the IT faculty there is also very active and also experimenting with Moodle as an alternative (in comparison to engineering and commerce, where it often felt like we were all talking to a brick wall).

Examination reviews are the norm as well, rather than the discouraged and exception. The lecturers are happy to discuss your results, and make amendments where necessary without conditions. Some may construe this as an acknowledgement that RMIT's examination marking process is not as stringent as Monash's, but it seems to be a better policy than at Monash, where you are pretty much discouraged from seeing your paper (often incurs a fee), and strongly discouraged from disputing marks (one lecturer even warned me that if I were to dispute marks, he would review my entire paper, and I may lose marks elsewhere if he thinks I was not eligible for them). We're all human, and I have to say that marking the same set of questions on hundreds of papers is not the most enjoyable thing to be doing.

The students are also pretty cool - none of that pretentious crap (not that there was back in Engineering at Monash), although doing Computer Science, or being in the IT faculty means the ratios are very skewed. Like everywhere else, you get the idiotic tools as well, but they generally get weeded out in second year anyway.

Finally, the location. Probably one of the best things - no more eating the same food, day in, day out, and pubs/bars all around. Bit of a train ride, but everything generally started after 9am and ended before/after peak hour, so it wasn't too bad. The lecture theatres were decent, nothing to really complain/be ecstatic about there, although the Storey Hall theatre seating needs a refit ASAP.

And no comparison without be complete without a jab at the Menzies building at Monash - the RMIT elevators/escalators weren't 100% all the time, but at least there were always multiple options of getting up and down without having to take the stairs. No leaking sewage either

Lowlights

For what is supposedly a technology focused university, the state of its online facilities is really quite disappointing to say the least. Although history does explain a lot about why (some massively bungled 'one system to rule them all' project that failed spectacularly, became a massive drain on resources and killed a project manager), it's about time they moved on.

Firstly, there's no online portal of any kind that brings everything together. Instead, there are separate web apps for your timetable, online learning, enrolment and email (which lacks a major feature - search!). They are working on this though, and apparently will be released in the first stage at the start of next year.

The timetable and enrolment web apps are passable, nothing spectacular. One neat thing about the enrolment app is that it knows about the program you are taking, and shows you what the next courses are when enrolling, saving you the hassle of looking them up. It isn't the most intuitive, but works once you get your head around it. Like all other universities, the enrolment app self-combusts when results are released, but unlike others, they haven't worked out the solution is to SMS results to students, so we don't have to bombard the app.

Timetabling is done on a first-in-best-served basis, unlike the preferential system used at Monash and elsewhere. This is good and bad - you are rewarded for getting up early, and doing it, but the bad thing is that you have to get up early in the holidays .

The worst part about its online facilities however, is not unique to RMIT at all. Nearly every student around the world will have had exposure to this horrid (to put it very mildly) system somewhere in their lifetime. I have spent nearly half of my life wrestling with this system, in various incarnations at high school, Monash, and now RMIT. Students hate it, as do lecturers, and also the system adminstrators who have to keep it running. How they keep convincing schools and universities to buy into their system I have no idea, but I'd love to know their secret - the company must be laughing their heads off at how much money they make with such a crappy product.

Yes, I'm talking about Blackboard and its evil cousin WebCT.

It is counter-intuitive, uses a stupid framing system that completely screws up when you try to use the back button, randomly throws up blank pages, and generally does everything you don't want it to, like losing the discussion forum post you spent ages writing, or not loading when your assignment is due. Saving the content off it is also discouraged with crazy URLs that confuse your browser, as is linking to any other content in it. Did I mention it is generally very slow (even across different institutions, with different implementations)? I can go on, but other people have done it better already.

All this leads to blackboard rage - lecturers don't want to use it but have to, tutors are sick of answering the same thing twice because no one can find the previous response, students are annoyed because even doing everything right still subjects you to blackboard's emotional state.

It was made worse because it was down nearly every other week for semester 1, due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. Also happens when people need it most, like in weeks 5, 8, 11 when everything seems to be due at the same time. It has been comparatively stable in semester 2 though (touch wood).

Technical things aside, the other thing sorely lacking at RMIT is a social calendar. It has one, just not very popular or big. I knew about this before I went there, but it really does feel like no one really sticks around after uni. Being in the IT faculty clearly doesn't help either. Surprisingly, one of the reasons I reckon is its location - there are way too many places to go, with things to do that are all so close. There is no reason to stick around on campus, unlike if you were at Monash Clayton, where there's pretty much nowhere within walking distance to go.

The campus design doesn't facilitate this either. Some people will hate me for saying this, but if RMIT just locked all the doors along Swanston St, and forced people to walk through the building, out on to Bowen St (the main internal street separating the RMIT campus) then out, I reckon there will be a lot more campus activity. The cafe becomes a lot closer, and because more people have to go past it, it will become busier and more of a meeting point. Funnelling people on to Bowen St also creates another meeting point, and that area is actually really good, just that it isn't on the way to anything for a lot of people. And if there were to be any event (or advertisements for events) going on, that will likely be the place.

Speaking of advertisements, there are really no places for ads unless you go through the Hub, cafe, or Bowen St - another factor.

But all that aside, clubs need money, and besides membership and sponsorship, it generally comes from the student union, so maybe there's something going on there. The big exception here are the political and protest groups, who seem to have infinite resources, especially when it comes to paper and people who so clearly have blinkers on.

RMIT isn't standing still on this though - they seem to be improving and gradually trying to nudge and foster an RMIT community, with better spaces, funding, and initiatives.

Next up - the lecturers. Don't get me wrong, there are some really cool lecturers who I could easily talk to for ages. But there are some lecturers who seem to think they're top shit because they are the lecturer, and any attempt to question their content or methods will be dealt with swiftly via warnings or disciplinary action. I guess they exist at all universities, but someone should tap them on the shoulder and tell them the strict teacher-student relationship/class system is so early 20th century. Sure there are boundaries, but education, particularly university-level education, is all about asking questions, whatever they may be - we don't get and shouldn't be spoonfed. Just because we're less experienced doesn't mean our knowledge, thoughts and ideas are less valuable.

(Ok, an admission - I secretly get a buzz out of asking questions and being right [being wrong happens as well], or knowingly ask curly ones just to see what the answer will be. If they just answer the question honestly or throw a question back, instead of getting all defensive and insulted, we will both benefit and the world would be a better place. )

What now?

Even though the lowlights section is longer than the highlights section, there is something at RMIT that I can't put my finger on, but just feels right. If it had to be something, I'd say the people. The place also feels like it is actually going places, changing, exploring new and different paths - there's a positive vibe.

I haven't really given Monash a chance here - their IT faculty could just be as awesome, and maybe it was because I couldn't really connect with the engineering/commerce curriculum or just got off on the wrong foot. But changing when you're on top (or closer to it) is nowhere as easy, and that extra risk involved can often be the killer.

All that said, Monash's prestige is probably the thing I miss the most. No idea why the perception matters to me, but it does on the inside - possibly because it has been drummed into me and everyone else for so long. Or maybe because I'm doing a course that ignores nearly one-third of my ENTER - if only I could sell the remainder; I could imagine some poor soul who just missed out on some swanky course paying big for it.

The other thing is that, in a complete capitulation, I actually miss the theoretical side of things now, in particularly, algorithms, maths, cryptography, automata, and languages. Maybe my previous whinge about too much theory wasn't really too much theory, but too much theory in things I'm not that interested in. RMIT's focus is on the practical, which is good because it keeps me interested, but the opportunities to undertake more theoretical subjects is limited, at least in undergraduate (and is probably similar at Monash). I'm even contemplating doing another course, possibly back at Monash, after this, just to do more of the theoretical side of things. 

So the big question is, after my year-long 'trial' of RMIT, do I stay with them, or go back to Monash and do the same course? Knowing how indecisive I am, I'm unlikely to commit until I absolutely have to (in about 4 months time), but I'm probably going to stick around at RMIT. Mainly because I've already committed a year already, and with only a year and a half to go, its not really worth changing back (and I'll still be out earlier than if I stayed with Commerce/Engineering). And while first year is a lot of fun, doing it for the third time  probably makes me the equivalent of a toolie at schoolies. Gut feeling tells me to stick around as well, so looks like I'll have to put up with Connex on a daily basis for a few more years at least .