DigitalAnomaly

So they have finally added support for JavaFX in Linux.  but the JavaFX Production Suite hasn’t been migrated yet.  Which is understandable, because the Adobe Suite isn’t exactly ported over, but you can still use the SVG Converter.  To port it over you first need to download the JavaFx Production Suite 1.2 Windows package.
Next run the cabextract utility, to pull all of the files out of the Windows executable (in the Debian distros, you should be able install cabextract with a - sudo apt-get install cabextract).  Just move the javafx_production_suite-1_2-windows-i586.exe to a separate directory and then run the cabextract from the command line:

Ultimately all you need is the svg2fx.jar file, and then you can run the interface with:

If all of that sounds too annoying you can just download the jar file and the script to launch it from here.

tekgnu Linux, Programming Inkscape, JavaFX, Linux, SVGConverter

JavaFX has been quite a pleasure to learn thus far. If you have seen my tutorial on creating an SVG drawing, and adding functionality to it, you know I have been trying to learn the intricacies of the JavaFX scripting language.
Up to now, I have been plugging away on either my work laptop with Windows, or have implemented the necessary work-a-rounds to get the SDK to work in Linux. Such as the one proposed by Weiqi Gao, which by the way was a very cool work around on mounting the MAC JavaFX 1.0 SDK .dmg file as a loop back device.

And then came 1.2

Clearly JavaOne increased whipping the development horses. This truly is no minor release. Aside from the added support for Linux and OpenSolaris, there have been a bunch of additional changes from the core language (in support for Java Arrays, and the addition of Math functions) to significant addins (I am looking forward to investigating the new Task class). That being said, there comes some retrofitting. The first I noticed while opening my DialUI is that the UIStub, is no more.  Thus, when I opened the newly updated Netbeans to 6.5.1, I discovered a lot of RED. The UIStub has since been replaced by FXDNode, and there are some additional finite language changes.
Keep your eye out for my next article on JavaFX, I am sure there should be quite a few changes to the tutorial.  To get an excellent run down on some of the changes take a look at this article from Stephen Chin.

tekgnu Linux, Programming Dial, FXDNode, Inkscape, JavaFX

If you are not familiar with it, it is easy to find yourself glossing over Wubi as just another Ubuntu installation utility.  What is great about Wubi is that if you have the drive space, and you want to test out Ubuntu (and some of its derivatives), it doesn’t get any easier then a Windows application install.  Once installed you have the equivalence of a dual boot situation without the mess of having to have multiple partitions.  It is easy to view this tool as a low tech solution, as the installation in your MS Environment, is well, not very robust.  You have one menu select for your installation - which inherently has four options, and the username that you want as your login.   Wait before you cringe.  All of the configuration for this mainly exists in two locations: the boot configuration (in Vista you can’t say boot.ini anymore, but really it just adds an entry to point to the wubi mbr file), and the flat filesystem files (or Loopmounted Virtual Partitions).  The installation builds by default a basic {drive of your designation, one of the four options}\ubuntu directory structure.  Which can install from local media or it can download the media for you.

Now for people like myself that road warrior with a MS work laptop, this is perfect, or at least almost.  My single biggest complaint, is not of the application itself but that no one from the community has bit into this strategy.  I have  been using Linux on and off since Redhat 5, and notice I didn’t say, ’since Ubuntu X’.  To chirp a common tune, Ubuntu is Linux, but Linux is not Ubuntu, and I don’t see why there haven’t been any takers from other distributions.  It really is a convenient tool, and has successfully consumed much of my free time on my current road warrior excursion.   The convenient part about Wubi, is that I tend to get over zealous with installing applications.  If I muck up my system (I would say when, but that was yesterday afternoon) , or just want to try a different configuration, I can just uninstall /install.  With the host operating system already mounted as /host, I can backup any settings I need.

Wubi is truly a simple tool for either getting your toes wet with Ubuntu, or as a smooth addition for folks that can’t have a dual boot configuration.  Take a look at their website:

http://wubi-installer.org/

http://wubi-installer.org/faq.php

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tekgnu Linux, OpenSource