Newbie question about oss/volumn control in Gnome

I recently switch from ALSA to OSS. I know it has its own mixer (ossxmix) am wondering if there is a way to interface OSS w/ the default gnome volume control?

Install all gstreamer stuff.. I didnt had gstreamer-bad-plugins installed and i was having issues with gnome-volume-icon.

Similar Messages

Newbie Question about FM 8 and Acrobat Pro 9

Hello:
I have some dcouments that I've written in FM v8.0p277. I print them to PDF so that I can have a copy to include on a CD and I also print some hard copies.
My newbie question is whether there is a way to create a PDF for hard copy where I mainitain the colors in photos and figures but that the text that is hyperlinked doesn't appear as blue. I want to keep the links live within the soft copy. Is there something I can change within Frame or with Acrobat?
TIA,
Kimberly

Kimberly,
How comes the text is blue in the first place? I guess the cross-reference formats use some character format which makes them blue? There are many options:
Temporarily change the color definition for the color used in the cross-reference format to black.
Temporarily change the character format to not use that color.
Temporarily change the cross-reference definition to not used that character format.
Whichever method you choose, I would create a separate document with the changed format setting and import those format into your book, create the PDF and then import the same format from the official template.
- Michael

Newbie question about loading servlets on tomcat

I have what is probably a very basic question about loading simple servlets on to tomcat to test its installation. I have followed instructions from numerous tutorials to the letter but still I can't get it to work.
I have installed tomcat on win2k in c:\tomcat. I set up the jdk, environment vars (JAVA_HOME, CATALINA_HOME, TOMCAT_HOME) which all point at the correct dirs. I can compile a servlet without errors. I can also place a test jsp and html file into the root directory and they both work fine.
However, now I am trying a test servlet and no matter what I do it gives me a 404. I have a servlet class file called "HelloServlet.class" which I placed into the %install_dir%\webapps\ROOT\WEB-INF\classes directory. I try to reference it using this url:
http://localhost/servlet/HelloServlet
Tomcat is configured to use port 80 and has been restarted after adding the servlet class file. Does anyone have a clue why this is not working for me?
Many thanks
Marc

You have to add in the web.xml file that it is in the WEB-INF dir, the information about your servlet. An example:
<web-app>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>HelloServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>HelloServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>HelloServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/HelloServlet</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

Question about HSL Develop Controls vs. Photoshop Selective Color

Im an advanced Photoshop user and I enjoy shooting landscapes, macros and abstracts. Ive just started to experiment with Lightroom and have used it to process several hundred shots from a recent trip to the California Coast.
Even though my usage of the next Develop controls in Lightroom is still pretty limited, I find the new Basic Develop and Tone Controls to be very intuitive to use and Im getting better results than I could from Adobe Camera Raw 3.7 and earlier. Therefore, kudos to the Lightroom team.
But, I also have some questions regarding the HSL controls and what seems to be an omission of some useful functionality. To help with framing my question lets assume that we have shot of a waterfall in the forest. The waterfall is in partial shade and the rest of the scene is in partial to full sun. Also the histogram for image indicates that a blend of several bracketed images isnt needed to deal with the overall dynamic range within the scene.
If I was processing this shot in Photoshop, I would likely adjust the overall White Balance / Exposure / Black Clip / Contrast / Brightness in Camera Raw and then finish the image within Photoshop. Since the water of the waterfall described above is in the shade, it will likely have a color cast relative to the White Balance that I set for the rest of the image that is full sun.
With Photoshop, I would often set a couple of sample points and then use a Selective Color layer to correct for the color cast in the whites of the water and to neutralize the blacks in the shade. I would also sometimes increase the amount of black in the Selective Color Blacks tab to enhance the image contrast. These adjustments could have layer masks associated with them but for this example lets assume that the dont need any mask. Thus, I would hope that I could accomplish the same type of globally based whites and blacks color cast removal within Lightroom but I cant seem to find a way to accomplish this.
With Lightroom, I see that there are a set of HSL controls that should be able to handle much of what Selective Color could handle on a global level within Photoshop but I dont see any controls to deal with the Whites or Blacks. Am I missing something? Is there a way to accomplish the type of correction that I described above with Lightroom or am I going to have to take the image out to Photoshop and use Curves and/or Selective Color?
Dave

Fred, Richard - Thanks for responding.
I've tried the TAT tool but it only controls the colors controlled by the sliders in the HSL palette. Therefore, it doesn't seem to have any affect on the hue of the whites or blacks in a picture.
Regarding selective editing, I realize the the controls within Lightroom are global but unless I use a Layer Mask the Selective Color functionality within Photoshop is also global. That is, if I change the hue of the blacks then all blacks are affected. Hence, it seems to me that the HSL controls within Lightroom and the CYMK controls within Selective color can be used to do much the same thing. The big difference is that the Selective Color control set include the ability to adjust blacks and whites but this isn't included within Lightroom.
I also posted my message in the ACR forum as ACR 4.0 is going to include the same set of controls that the Develop module in Lightroom contains. Someone there suggested that I might be able to use the split toning controls to warm up the shadows and I will give this a try. I also plan to post in the Feature Requests Forum.
Thanks again for your help.
Dave

Short question about the nano controls

Hi. I'm probably going to buy a 4Gb nano today, but first I'd like to ask a short question about the << >> buttons on the click wheel.
I read in a forum that the << & >> buttons are actually 'skip' buttons (only used to play the previous or next song respectively), and that it's impossible to rewind or fast-forward within the track you're listening to. This is extremely important for me as I have several 2-3 hours mp3, and I need to be able to access different parts of the file quickly (eg. not having to actually wait 1 hour to listen to my favorite part). I found this to be an important feature, and I can't believe Apple hasn't thought about it.
Anyway, I've never used an iPod, that's why this question may sound plain stupid.
Thanks for you replies!

The iPod fast charges to about 80% and then trickle charges the rest of the way to prevent damaging the battery/iPod. A full charge takes more than an hour or two though the battery indicator will show full. The best way to tell if a full charge has occurred is to unmount the iPod from the computer but keep it connected. The screen will show an animation of a battery. When the animation stops the battery is fully charged.
Also, as your battery discharges the indicator will eventually show red indicating the battery is about to run out...in an hour or two. After you've owned your iPod for a couple months you'll figure out how much time you have left when the indicator turns red - it depends on a number of factors including play volume, equalizer use, etc. In real world use I'm getting over 11 hours.
The headphones are...average. If they didn't hurt my ears I'd find them acceptable for my pop music but not so acceptable for acoustic and symphonic nor music with booming bass - because they don't boom the bass.
I encode the majority of my music at 256 AAC and I've noticed no distortion caused by the EQ. This, plus your complaint about the earphones, leads me to think perhaps you got a bum set of phones. Borrow a pair from someone else and see what happens.

Newbie question about saving files

Hi all,
A newbie question here, and maybe it is a dumb question, but I can't get my head around this and sofar found no answer in the forums here.
When I save a file on my macbook, I can only save it to "top" folders.
What I mean is I try to save a file for instance to documents/worddocs/lyrics just to say something, then I have to save the file first to documents, and the move it to the lyrics folder via finder or move it to :worddocs folder and then move it again to the lyrics folder. Hope you still get my drift here
Is there a way to just save it to the subfolders without going through all this moving around?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Peter

When you click File>Save As, you will see the Save As window pop up. At the top, you will see a box entitled Save As, which has a space for your to enter the file name. To the right of this box is an arrow pointing down. Click it. The full file hierarchy will be seen. Then you can save directly to the file you want.
Hope this helps.
Don

2 newbies question about diskgroups

Hi gurus,
I have 2 newbies question:
Im working in a RAC Database (11.2.0.3) on Redhat 5.3 with some disk groups. One of this groups have 6 disks on it with different space (134, 236G, 236G, 185G, 185G and 185G).
My questions are:
1) What would be happend when the lower space disk will be full?
2) At this moment the diskgroups are at 45% so i was thinking to change their spaces to have all with the same space (around 193G each), it would create any problem? i should restart database or can do it with database up?
Thanks

if a disk is filled, what would happen? could i resize the disks with same size without stop database and without affecting the data stored within each disc?
By the word 'disk' I assume you mean LUN . When a LUN in a disk group is filled, ASM will use the remaining LUNs to store the data. You should always use LUNs of uniform size to avoid uneven I/O .
could i resize the disks with same size without stop database and without affecting the data stored within each disc
You can get the Unix/Storage team to allocate more LUNs for this Server. Once these LUNs are added , check if the following pre-reqs are met for the LUN which is yet to be added to the disk group
v$asm_disk.HEADER_STATUS = 'CANDIDATE'
v$asm_disk.PATH = /dev/rdsk/youLUNname
v$asm_disk.NAME will be NULL
Now you can add the LUNs using
alter diskgroup DATA_DG01 add disk '/dev/rdsk/youLUNname' rebalance power 4 ; wait for rebalance to finish (check status in V$ASM_OPERATION)
Yes. The above can be done without stopping the DB. It won't affect the stored data either.

Two (too much?) newbies questions about KT3 Ultra 2

Goodmorning all.
I've bought a KT3 Ultra2 (MS-6380E) motherboard and i've two questions about it.
First of all I need to buy the optional S-Bracket to use my SPDif sound sistem... where can i buy it in Italy or in Internet?
In second i've to know the highest processor my MB support becouse i have to upgrade my PC.
Can U help me?
Tha a lot and sorry for disturb.
Hallo.

Hello,
question 2, not sure about question 1,
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=341&kind=1
You may need this BIOS update too.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=341&kind=1

Newbie question about Premiere Elements Organizer

This is a pre-newbie – let’s say “virgin” question. If there is an answer already posted elsewhere, please send me a link.
I’m about to install Premiere Elements 9 to do some clip editing and animation from still images. This would be my first attempt to edit clip or do some animation from still images, besides using Windows Media Maker with my HS students. However, I have been a pretty serious photographer for 20+ years with 1,000’s of images which I now work on in PS CS5 Extended and Lightroom 3. I use Adobe Bridge and LR library to catalogue and organize my images. I’d like to continue to use AB / LR Library to organize my new clips and projects. From reading Bill’s posts, it seems I can use Adobe Bridge, copy my original file, resize in Photoshop, and save in a new folder to use for a Premiere project. This would seem to be most intuitive way for me to work. I already have keywords, metadata, actions in PS… etc. But I think Bill is using Premiere Pro, while I’ll be installing Premiere Elements, which comes bundled with Elements Organizer. Do I need to install or use Elements Organizer? What are the advantages/disadvantages or EO? I guess I’m a little worried about installing the programs and having EO automatically acquire images using presets/defaults that I don’t want to use as well as issues with subfolders, etc. I'm running Windows 7.
Thanks
FYI- this is a great animation project
http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/#/explore/TopRated

ziggycat4 wrote:
I guess I’m a little worried about installing the programs and having EO automatically acquire images using presets/defaults that I don’t want to use as well as issues with subfolders,
EO doesn't do much with the files themselves, just maintains links to the sources.
For folders you are best to use the folder view in EO to move them as it doesn't keep track of folder locations when changed in Windows Explorer. From the File options in Bridge I think that is pretty much the same.
ziggycat4 wrote:
I would like to get as much input as possible on the advantages/disadvantages of using EO vs say Adobe Bride from others who use Elements Organizer.
Any insights would be appreciated.
Can anyone who has used both EO and AB comment on how EO handles missing (hidden) files, syncing issues, computer hanging up or crashing....etc?
I've only messed around a little with Bridge. But to me it seems lightening fast by comparison to EO. The features Albums and Tags in EO seem much the same as Collections and Keywords in Bridge.
EO has Face Recognition abilities - getting more sophisticated in each version. I've not seen this feature in Bridge.
By default EO allows you to open a file in any of:
Photoshop
Photoshop Elements
Premiere Elements
A single used-defined application (I have mine set to ColorPilot).
Bridge only seems to link to Photoshop.
Missing files can be located manually or by allowing EO to search for them.
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

Newbie question about C coding and SDK for iPhone app

Hello,
I am interested in trying to create an app. However, I have NO experience writing code I already have downloaded and installed the latest version of the SDK.
I know I have to learn: C, Objective C, and Cocoa.
I just picked up "C for Dummies" as a starting point. I figured the K&R might be a bit overwhelming to start with. Thing is, "C for Dummies" suggests doing some exercises in Text Edit and then using GCC to compile and test. But, then again, it has a copyright of 2004--long before Snow Leopard.
My question is, do I really need to do the exercises in Text Edit? Can I just use Xcode for entering the code and testing it? And, any suggestions for learning C and Xcode tutorials are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

But, I really want to learn coding and not just take the easy route by using Xcode.
The simplification of using Xcode may have been a bit exaggerated throughout this thread. You will still learn how to program full-on by using Xcode -- it's not like you're taking a shortcut or anything. Well, technically speaking, you are, but Xcode is the expected way to develop on a Mac nowadays -- it's how Apple expects you to develop and how most people are doing so. Should you choose, you can taking a deeper dive into the inner workings of compiling and whatnot by using a text editor and the Terminal, but keep in mind that the extra complexities here could complicate the more important overall goal of learning the basics of how to program. There is absolutely nothing wrong with simply using Xcode for the novice part of your programming days. In fact, it's probably the path I would recommend. Some here might suggest that it is beneficial to learn the intricacies of compiling through the Terminal and whatnot early on, and they are right -- it is beneficial, but the benefits of taking a route (at least for the time being) that allows you to focus on the more pressing issues of learning how to program without having to delve too deeply can be just as beneficial. After all, it's not like you can't go back and learn how to compile via Terminal later on -- that's what I've done (or, rather, am in the process of doing).
I always thought Terminal was something not to mess with.
Not so much. Like most things in programming (or life, for that matter), the Terminal is something not to mess with +if you don't know what you're doing+. Basically, it breaks down like this. The GUI that Apple has created for you in Mac OS X (by GUI I mean "graphical user interface" -- the icons and windows and buttons and so forth that you use to perform tasks on your Mac -- in other words, everything outside the Terminal) is geared toward the common user who does not need to access advance aspects of the system's functionality. Consequently, it makes common tasks much simpler to perform, but in the process it hides some of the deeper levels of the system's functionality from the user. This is a good thing, since most people wouldn't know what to do with this functionality and would create problems for themselves if they did have easy access to it. However, for some users who know more about the inner workings of the operating system, there needs to be a way for them to access this functionality, so that they can do certain things (like accessing certain files and performing certain tasks) that they would not be able to do using the Mac OS X GUI -- that's what the Terminal is for. It allows the user to operate the system on a lower level. In other words, it allows you to get closer to the operating system. This is good in a way, because it allows you to perform tasks that you wouldn't otherwise be able to perform by giving you more control over the operating system, but it is also bad in a way, because it can allow you to mess up some of the deeper aspects of your system if you don't know what you are doing. Most people leave the Terminal alone for this reason, and because they have no need of it, but if you want to be a good developer, you're going to have to work with it sooner or later.
Now, with all that being said, it's not that easy to mess things up using the Terminal. It's not like your system's going to crash if you misspell a command. All in all, the Terminal is very forgiving, but it will do what you tell it to do, even if you tell it to kill itself, and it is for that reason that you need to know what you are telling it before you try to tell it something. If you understand what you are telling the system, than operating on a lower level and being closer to the operating system is completely safe.
The Mac OS X operating system is based around Unix, so when you are communicating more directly with the operating system by using the Terminal, you are interacting with its Unix core. For this reason, using the Terminal goes hand in hand with understanding Unix. So, if you're going to want to use the Terminal, then I recommend you get a good book on Unix to teach you the basics of Unix commands and shell programming and whatnot. Any book on Unix will do, since more or less everything you learn will be applicable to the Mac OS X's Terminal, but there are a few that are specifically directed to Mac OS X users, and that always makes things easier. Most of these books aren't updated to cover past Tiger, but this really doesn't matter (someone correct me if I'm wrong). A few examples are O'Reilly's "Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger" by Dave Taylor or Peachpit Press's "Unix for Mac OS X Tiger" by Matisse Enzer. Also, the book "Unix Programming Environment" by Kernighan and Pike is an excellent book on Unix, although fairly outdated, so I would highly recommend it, although I would recommend it as a supplement to another, more recent, Mac-based Unix book and not as your primary source for learning Unix. The skills you will acquire from these books will help you later if not sooner, so I recommend giving one of them a read at some point, whether you are planning on compiling using the Terminal right now or not.
Anyways, I hope this helped to clear some of this up for you, and please let us know if you have any further questions.

Newbie question about UIBarButtonItem appearance

I decided to replace my separate buttons (UIButton) by a UIToolBar with UIBarButtonItems on it. Functionally it is working fine, but I was wondering what appearance options are available to me.
For example, with UIButton I could set the hidden property to YES or NO.
Is there something analogous I could set for a UIBarButtonItem to make one tool appear "currently selected" for example?
I looked over the Class docs at:
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIBarBut tonItemClass/Reference/Reference.html#//appleref/doc/uid/TP40007519-CH3-SW1
but I'm afraid I could not tell from that if there was something useful there to use.
Does anybody have any suggestions of some property I could set for a UIBarButtonItem to make one stand out from the others to indicate that it is the "currently" selected one?
Thanks!
doug

Why not use a segmented control with the toolbar images? See the UICatalog example under the Segment section.
You might also be able to recreate the tool bar each time with an updated graphic that makes it look selected.
BTW - no reason to preface all of your questions with 'Newbie'.

Newbie Questions About Installing Windows with Boot Camp

The only reason I want to use Windows is to be able to download games from the internet that are not made for Mac only for PC and I have a few questions:
1. Doing all this installation will anything made for PC work?
2. I only have Windows XP will that work? And then do all the SP updates after it's installed?
3. If I have to use Windows XP SP2 is this one a good one to buy?
http://www.cdsfu.com/index.php?categoryID=87
4. After everything is installed do I have to use an anti-virus?
I want to thank you for your help as you can see I really am a newbie.
Karen

Hi Karen and welcome to Discussions,
The only reason I want to use Windows is to be able to download games from the internet that are not made for Mac only for PC and I have a few questions:
1. Doing all this installation will anything made for PC work?
Nearly anything. There are some Windows programs using hardware dongles that don't run.
2. I only have Windows XP will that work? And then do all the SP updates after it's installed?
You need a Windows XP CD with at least Service Pack 2 (SP2) incorporated.
3. If I have to use Windows XP SP2 is this one a good one to buy?
http://www.cdsfu.com/index.php?categoryID=87
another user round here had already asked about that website.
Three things about this offer are, at least to me, very suspicious:
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition With SP2, Full Version on CDR"
Microsoft never has used CD-R disc (CD-Recordable) for Windows
"software that does NOT include any COA label or a sticker from the manufacturer"
There always has to be a sticker, that one puts on the computer on which the Windows license is installed and a COA label as well.
"VOLUME LICENSE INCLUDED"
A volume license, from my understanding, was only sold to companys, who install Windows on a larger scale (hundreds of computers) and for that purpose are given only one license-key for all installations.
Usually this is known as a'corporate license'.
All in all, I would personally stay away from this offer. It simply doesn't sound legal to me.
4. After everything is installed do I have to use an anti-virus?
When running Windows a decent Anti-Virus software is a must.
I want to thank you for your help as you can see I really am a newbie.
You're welcome anytime. Hope it helps.
Karen
Regards
Stefan

Newbie question about entity and view objects

Hi everyone,
My first ADF application in JDeveloper is off to a difficult start. Having come from a forms background, I know that it is necessary avoid using post-query type lookups in order to have full filtering using F11/Ctrl+F11. This means creating an CRUDable view and getting as much of the lookup data as possible into the view without losing the ability to modify the data. In JDeveloper, I do not know how to build my data model to support that. My thought was to start with a robust updateable view as my main CRUD EO and then create a VO on top of that with additional EOs or VOs. But, I have found that I cannot add VOs to another VO. However, if I link the VOs then I have a master-detail which will not work for me.
For example, I have two joins to CSI_INST_EXTEND_ATTRIB_V shown in the queries below and need to have that show in the table displaying the CRUD VO’s data. It seemed that the best way to do this is to create a CSI_INST_EXTEND_ATTRIB_V entity object and view object. The view object would have two parameters, P_INSTANCE_ID and P_ATTRIBUTE name. Both the building and the unit are needed on the same record, and this is not a master-detail even though it might look that way. (A master-detail data control will not work for me because I need all this data to appear on the same line in the table.) So, I need help figuring out the best way to link these to the main (CRUD) view; I want as much of this data as possible to be filterable.
select
cieav.attribute_value
from
csi_inst_extend_attrib_v cieav
where cieav.instance_id = p_instance_id
and cieav.attribute_code = 'BUILDING NAME'
select
cieav.attribute_value
from
csi_inst_extend_attrib_v cieav
where cieav.instance_id = p_instance_id
and cieav.attribute_code = 'UNIT NAME'
Ultimately, I need to display a ton of data in each record displayed in the UI table, so a ton of joins will be needed. And, I need to be able to add records using the UI table also.
James

Hi Alejandro,
Sorry if I caused confusion with my first post. What I had in mind assumed that I could have a single CSI_INST_EXTEND_ATTRIB_V EO with a BuildingVO and UnitVO on top of it. So, I wrote the queries individually to show how I would invoke each view. When I realized that confused the issue, I rewrote the query to explain things better.
Now having seen your 2 queries. You need to create 2 EO. One for each table. Then create an association between the 2 aeO (this will be the join you are talking about). Then, you need to create a VO based on one of the EO and after you can modify and add the second EO (in here you select the join type).
After your done with this, youll have 1 VO that supports CRUD in both tables.
There were three tables in the query: CIEAV_BUILDING, CIEAV_UNIT, and T -- the main CRUD table. When you say that I should create two EOs, do you mean that they are to be for CIEAV_BUILDING and CIEAV_UNIT? Or, CIEAV and T? Assuming CIEAV and T, that sounds like it would allow me to show my building or unit on the record but not both.
By the way, everything is a reference except for the main CRUD table.
Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for your help (and patience).

Newbie question about setting up iTunes to sync across multiple computers

Hi,
Right now I am using iTunes primarily for listening to streaming radio. However in about 2-3 weeks after I move, I am considering importing all my CDs into iTunes.
So my question is this. What can I do before I start that will make my life easier for syncing my iTunes across multiple computers.
I don't expect the computers to connect to each via internet but I do have a 4 GB flash disk and 230 GB firewire drive that could be used. And since one of the computers is MacBook Pro, I could use it in target mode I think.
Thanks.

Authorization only applies to computers. When you update a device any protected content on the device for which the library is not authorised will be removed. Otherwise no attempt is made to remove content that was added by a now deauthorised library.
There is a separate scheme permitting up to 10 devices (computers, iPhones, iPad or iPod touches) to be registered for automatic downloads of your purchases with a different mechanism for deregistering devices.
Once you have a file on your computer you can physically copy it to any other computer in the same way that you would copy any other file like a Word document, put it on a disk, email it if not too large, burn it to DVD, stick it on an external hard drive or move it over a network. You can use Get Info. To tell you where it is now and you can drop it into the library at the other end.
The user tip shows how to backup the whole library and then update that backup efficiently. Such a backup to a portable drive also provides a possible tool for transporting any content to another computer.
tt2

Please, help a newbie: Question about animating expanding containers

Hi All,
Short Version of my Question:
I'm making a media player that needs to have an animation for panels sliding up and down and left and right, and the method I've been using to do this performs far slower than the speed I believe is possible, and required. What is a fast way to make a high performance animation for such an application?
Details:
So far, to do the animation, I've been using JSplitPanes and changing the position of the divider in a loop and calling paintImmediately or paintDirtyRegion like so:
public void animateDividerLocation( JSplitPane j, int to, int direction) {
for(int i=j.getDividerLocation(); i>=to; i-=JUMP_SIZE) {
j.setDividerLocation(i);
j.validate();
j.paintImmediately(0, 0, j.getWidth(), j.getHeight());
The validate and paintImmediately calls have been necessary to see any changes while the loop is going. I.e., if those calls are left out, the components appear to just skip right to where they were supposed to animate to, without having been animated at all.
The animation requirement is pretty simple. Basically, the application looks like it has 3 panels. One on the right, one on the left, and a toolbar at the bottom. The animation just needs to make the panels expand and contract.
Currenly, the animation only gets about, say, 4 frames a second on the 800 MHz Transmeta Crusoe processor, 114 MB Ram, Windows 2000 machine I must use (to approximate the performance of the processor I'll be using, which will run embedded Linux), even though I've taken most of the visible components out of the JPanels during the animation. I don't think this has to do with RAM reaching capacity, as the harddrive light does not light up often. Even if this were the case, the animation goes also goes slow (about 13 frames a second) on my 3 GHz P4 Windows XP if I keeps some JButtons, images etc., inside the JPanels. I get about 50 frames/sec on my 3 GHz P4, if I take most of the JButtons out, as I do for the 800 MHz processor. This is sufficient to animate the panels 400 pixels across the screen at 20 pixels per jump, but it isn't fast or smooth enough to animate across 400 pixels moving at 4 pixel jumps. I know 50 frames/sec is generally considered fast, but in this case, there is hardly anything changing on the screen (hardly any dirty pixels per new frame) and so I'd expect there to be some way to make the animation go much faster and smoother, since I've seen games and other application do much more much faster and much smoother.
I'm hoping someone can suggest a different, faster way to do the animation I require. Perhaps using the JSplitPane trick is not a good idea in terms of performance. Perhaps there are some tricks I can apply to my JSplitPane trick?
I haven't been using any fancy tricks - no double buffering, volatile images, canvas or other animation speed techniques. I haven't ever used any of those things as I'm fairly new to Swing and the 2D API. Actually I've read somewhere that Swing does double buffering without being told to, if I understood what I read. Is doing double buffering explicitly still required? And, if I do need to use double buffering or canvas or volatile images or anything else, I'm not sure how I would apply those techiniques to my problem, since I'm not animating a static image around the screen, but rather a set of containers (JSplitPanes and JPanels, mostly) and components (mostly JButtons) that often get re-adjusted or expanded as they are being animated. Do I need to get the Graphics object of the top container (would that contain the graphics objects for all the contained components?) and then double buffer, volatile image it, do the animation on a canvas, or something like that? Or what?
Thanks you SO much for any help!
Cortar
Related Issues(?) (Secondary concerns):
Although there are only three main panels, the actual number of GUI components I'm using, during the time of animation, is about 20 JPanels/JSplitPanes and 10 JButtons. Among the JPanels and the JSplitPanes, only a few JPanels are set to visible. I, for one, don't think this higher number of components is what is slowing me down, as I've tried taking out some components on my 3GHz machine and it didn't seem to affect performance much, if any. Am I wrong? Will minimizing components be among the necessary steps towards better performance?
Anyhow, the total number of JContainers that the application creates (mostly JPanels) is perhaps less than 100, and the total number of JComponents created (mostly JButtons and ImageIcons) is less than 200. The application somehow manages to use up 50 MBs RAM. Why? Without looking at the code, can anyone offer a FAQ type of answer to this?

You can comment out the lines that add buttons to the panels to see the behavior with empty panels.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.Timer;
public class DancingPanels
    static GridBagLayout gridbag = new GridBagLayout();
    static Timer timer;
    static int delay = 40;
    static int weightInc = 50;
    static boolean goLeft = false;
    public static void main(String[] args)
        final GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
        gbc.weightx = 1.0;
        gbc.weighty = 1.0;
        gbc.fill = gbc.HORIZONTAL;
        final JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel(gridbag);
        leftPanel.setBackground(Color.blue);
        gbc.insets = new Insets(0,30,0,30);
        leftPanel.add(new JButton("1"), gbc);
        leftPanel.add(new JButton("2"), gbc);
        final JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel(gridbag);
        rightPanel.setBackground(Color.yellow);
        gbc.insets = new Insets(30,50,30,50);
        gbc.gridwidth = gbc.REMAINDER;
        rightPanel.add(new JButton("3"), gbc);
        rightPanel.add(new JButton("4"), gbc);
        final JPanel panel = new JPanel(gridbag);
        gbc.fill = gbc.BOTH;
        gbc.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0);
        gbc.gridwidth = gbc.RELATIVE;
        panel.add(leftPanel, gbc);
        gbc.gridwidth = gbc.REMAINDER;
        panel.add(rightPanel, gbc);
        timer = new Timer(delay, new ActionListener()
                gbc.fill = gbc.BOTH;
                gbc.gridwidth = 1;
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                double[] w = cycleWeights();
                gbc.weightx = w[0];
                gridbag.setConstraints(leftPanel, gbc);
                gbc.weightx = w[1];
                gridbag.setConstraints(rightPanel, gbc);
                panel.revalidate();
                panel.repaint();
        JFrame f = new JFrame("Dancing Panels");
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.getContentPane().add(panel);
        f.setSize(400,300);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        f.setVisible(true);
        timer.start();
    private static double[] cycleWeights()
        if(goLeft)
            weightInc--;
        else
            weightInc++;
        if(weightInc > 100)
            weightInc = 100;
            goLeft = true;
        if(weightInc < 0)
            weightInc = 0;
            goLeft = false;
        double wLeft = weightInc/ 100.0;
        double wRight = (100 - weightInc)/100.0;
        return new double[]{wLeft, wRight};
}

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