ShowMeDo Blog

If you are on the Notifications List then you’ll receive an update email roughly once a month listing our new videos, new site features and thoughts on where we go next. I try to make the update email a little more personal than these blog entries.

To sign up, go to one of our video pages (any will do, e.g. this Java/Eclipse one) and put your email address into the red and white ‘Notifications’ box. We won’t spam or do anything silly with your email address.

We are pleased to say that a new version of the site is on-line with improved navigation and a better look and feel.

John Montgomery has contributed a set of 3 videos introducing Java programming with the Eclipse IDE.

John covers writing a first Java program, code completion and the rename refactoring tool.

Sometime around the weekend we will get a new version of the site on-line. Kyran has been working double-time on the new look, the navigational features are nicely improved.

We’ll also have a new video set of at least three videos on Using Eclipse and Java by John Montgomery.

Our latest site addition is the forum. I’m collecting notes from our contributors on how to go about making new ShowMeDos. Feel free to post a question or share some knowledge!

Joakim Gândara has kindly re-dubbed my early ShowMeDo on the ScummVM retro-gaming system. I was trying to demonstrate how easy it was to add an old graphic adventure game (Flight of the Amazon Queen) to ScummVM on Windows - the video was good but the audio track got messed up.

Joakim used Audacity to re-dub the audio and Virtual Dub Mod to splice the audio back into the video. The result is on-line here, along with some book recommendations that I think will be of interest.

I’ve recorded two new ShowMeDos for the free CamStudio 2.0 software (MS Windows) showing you how to configure it and make a first video. The process is really easy, you could be up and running in minutes. Secondly, Matt Harrison has kindly allowed us to host a copy of his vnc2swf video for Linux.

These new videos are listed under The Big Misc List:

• Using CamStudio 2.0 On Windows XP
• Configuring CamStudio 2.0 On Windows XP
• Using vnc2swf.py on Linux

Kyran has finished off another site update, now we have a redesigned front page (ShowMeDo.com) which shows a recent ShowMeDo and a live update about the current requests (see requests). You can also jump quickly to the Python videos from here.

The Amazon link text is also updated so you can easily see if there are reviews by the video-author, see Jerol’s 3rd Objects video for an example.

We’ve got 13 requests listed, all of which you can vote on. They range from Kyran’s suggestion of a Great Tea video, through Python IDEs and tools and back out to (of all things) Knitting.

Let your voice be heard…

The following was kindly written by Jerol Harrington to help anyone who is interested in making a ShowMeDo.

I made my first ShowMeDo because I had started to use wxPython and realized how important it was to understand objects. Since Ian had produced ShowMeDo’s on Python, and Ipython, and Kyran had done the same for wxPython, I thought that there was a need to bridge the two groups.

I followed Ian’s ShowMeDo on using HyperCam, and found that I could produce a short video that was at least intelligible. The software is pretty robust, and not hard to learn at all. The performance part was the hardest. The pause key is a big help here. What worked for me was simply starting over (and over) again until the words flowed a little more smoothly.

Also, I tried to keep my examples as simple as possible as I found it hard to talk and type at the same time. My advice is not to attempt to cover too much in one ShowMeDo. Time goes by faster than you think. Also, using an outline helped a lot. I did not use a script.

What I liked about Ian and Kyran, is that they seemed like real people, not actors reading a script. Finally, if your brain is as shot through with as many holes as mine, check out VirtualDubMod (free) for cutting and splicing your avi files. I didn’t use it much, but when I needed it, it was indispensible.

Go ahead and make a ShowMeDo. I, for one, am interested in seeing it.

As Jerol notes, shorter ShowMeDos are easier - we find 5-10 minutes is a great length for absorbing new material. Several short ShowMeDos that compliment each other are much easier to record and they give the viewer more control over how they watch the segments.

If you’re interested in sharing your knowledge and giving something back to the Oper Source movement, please get in touch and we’ll have a chat.