I used the piece of code to print a line to a matrix printer from PostgreSQL. The matrix printer was connected to the database server and supplied with endless paper. I used a matrix printer, because you can print directly to the device.

With the method, described below, it’s possible to print with a SQL query or print something initiated by a trigger. Using this method you can log specific data ‘offline’.

The print_line method consists of three files; print_line.c which contains the code to address the printer, a Makefile to compile the print_line.c file and a print_line.sql file which creates the function in SQL.

print_line.c

Makefile
MODULES = printhash
PGXS := $(shell pg_config --pgxs)
include $(PGXS)

print_line.sql
CREATE FUNCTION print_line(text) RETURNS integer
AS '/usr/local/libexec/print_line.so', 'print_line'
LANGUAGE C STRICT;

Installation:
mkdir /home/user/print_line
cd /home/user/print_line
unzip print_line.zip
make
cp print_line.so /usr/local/libexec/
// open postgresql command line client and execute:
# \i /home/user/print_line/print_line.sql

Usage:
SELECT print_line('Hello World!');

Download:
Download print_line.zip

More information on Synology NAS systems can be found at www.synology.com

On my workstation Google supplied their new design to me. I didn’t really liked this new design at first and that feeling became worse when I noticed some bugs. Also, the new design feels slower than before.

The first picture shows a flaw in the text field. ‘Taller’ letters will be cut at the bottom:

The second picture shows a more serious bug. Typing a search phrase and pressing enter results in the page with results and the suggestion dropdown from the previous page still visible.

I have tried to file a bug report, but it seems impossible to contact them directly.

Would like to try the new Google interface? Perform the following steps to make it so:

• Visit Google
• Clear out the contents in your address bar
• Enter the following: javascript:void(document.cookie=”PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com”);
• Press the Enter key

Packages

Download and install the following packages and it’s dependencies:

• Code::Blocks
• libwxgtku2.8
• libwxgtku2.8-devel
• wxGTK2.8

wxFormBuilder

Download the wxFormBuilder 3.0 linux source including the pre-generated Makefiles. Now unpack the tarball, build and install wxFormBuilder:

• cd /usr/local/src/
• wget or fetch wxformbuilder-3.0.57.tar.gz
• tar -zxvf wxformbuilder-3.0.57.tar.gz
• cd wxformbuilder_3.0.57
• make CONFIG=Release
• ./install/linux/wxfb_export.sh /usr

Code::Blocks

• Start Code::Blocks and open the menu Tools -> Configure tools…
• Click on Add.
• The following picture shows how to setup the tool:

• Save the settings and open the menu File -> New -> Project
• Choose wxWidgets project
• Walk trough the wizard
• Use wxWidgets 2.8.x
• Preferred GUI Builder: wxFormBuilder
• Application type: Frame Based
• Use the default widgets configuration

When you would like to modify your GUI you can open the following menu: Tools -> wxFB. Which will launch wxFormBuilder with your GUI. When it asks for conversion, click yes.

Don’t forget to generate the code (press F8) before you switch back to Code::Blocks. Otherwise you changes won’t be visible. You also need to build your project in Code::Blocks before your changes are visible.

In certain versions and combinations of the software the following compile error could occur: “wxMessageBox was not declared in this scope”. There are two solutions to this problem:

1) I noticed wxFormBuilder changed a bit. All headers where included in the generated code, even when the headers were not necessary. Now not all the headers are included. When you use other wxWidgets methods just add the proper header. In this case you can use the following include:

#include <wx/msgdlg.h>

2) Do not use the Code::Blocks wxWidgets template and just setup a clean C::B project. Then also setup a clean wxFormBuilder project by using the inherited class tutorial (*). Finally add the code manually to the project.

Links

• Code::Blocks
• wxFormBuilder
• Inherited class tutorial (*)

The TMP421, TMP422 and TMP423 are the industry’s smallest remote junction temperature sensors with a built-in local temperature sensor. The single remote channel TMP421, dual remote channel TMP422 and triple remote channel TMP423 provide a remote sensor accuracy of +/-1C (maximum) and a local temperature sensor range of +/-1.5C (maximum). Both sensors are RoHS compliant and can be used in numerous applications including LCD/DLP®/LCOS projectors, servers, central office telecom equipment, and laptop computers. They are also suitable for industrial controllers, processor/FPGA temperature monitoring and storage area networks.

The TMP421, TMP422 and TMP423 feature a two-wire/SMBus serial interface as well as multiple addresses. The remote temperature sensor diode-connected transistors are typically low-cost NPN- or PNP-type transistors or diodes that are an integral part of microprocessors, microcontrollers and FPGAs. The TMP421, TMP422 and TMP423 also include series resistance cancellation, programmable non-ideality factor and diode fault detection.

The sensors operate on a standard I2C/SMBus compatible, two-wire interface over a temperature range of -40°C to 125°C, with a remote temperature range of up to 150C. For maximum power savings, the device circuitry (other than the serial interface) can be shut down, thereby reducing current consumption to typically less than 3uA.

More information can be found on the following URL: http://www.ti.com/tmp421-pr

Driver pre-release download (no warranties!): tmp421-src.tar.gz

In the summer of 2003 I build this solar powered mini car with a friend as a school project:

Specifications

Weight: 200 grams
Length: 260 mm
Width: 120 mm
Average speed: 0,051 m/s (0.18 km/h)

Parts used

-Body made of balsa wood

-A few Meccano pieces

-Wheels
Two rear wheels
One front wheel

-Solar panels, 4 pieces:
Net voltage 0,55 – 0,6 V
Short-circuit current 650 mA
Size. (lxb) 50 x 50mm.

-Motor, designed for solar panels:
Net voltage 0,4 V/10 mA
Size. (Æxh) 35,4 x 26 mm · Axis-Æ 2 mm
Suitable for use with solar panels with a return of more than 10 mA.

-Crocodile clips, 4 pieces

-Wires, lot’s of wires

-(Hot) glue

-A rubber band

Building the car

We started with (hot)glueing the body of balsa wood together.

The solar panels are put on a bigger panel and are connected in parallel. The solar panels are connected with crocodile clips and will be wired to the engine. As you can see in the pictures, I broke one of the panels. Oops.. They are very fragile… Though, the most interesting was that it still worked.

We demolished some old toys and as a result we had a nice set of wheels. For the rear we used a nice pair of wheels which already were connected with an axis. The front wheel came from some other toy. With the help of some Meccano elements the wheels were mounted to the body.

The motor is placed in a special engine compartment. We used a rubber band to transmit the power from the engine to the wheels.

Testing the car

In the begin of the progress we tested the motor and the solar panels under a halogen light. Later on, in an outside test the cars’ average speed was 0,051 m/s (0.18 km/h). The tests can be viewed in the video at the bottom of this post.

Video

That’s the very same question I asked myself a few years ago. I think, that’s is the most difficult step in the process of learning. How should I start? Where should I start? With what should I start?

First of all you need to ask the following question: Can I start? The most simple answer is: yes you can! Everyone can start with game development, but on what time frame? Perhaps you need to learn a bit more of other topics before you actually can begin, because you can’t really program for example.

When developing games, a good knowledge of programming is a real advantage. It will be a lot easier to understand what’s going on. So when you are reading my post and you can’t even program, I would suggest to begin with learning C, C++ or PHP for example. You can take the course on your own by reading books and playing around a bit with simple console based applications or by taking the proper education in a school.

If you can program, then it’s a lot easier to start with game programming. Now we come to the answers on the questions how, where and with what to start. I think it’s the best to cover something I have experience with. When I tried to learn game programming, I personally started with a purchase of a GP2X game console.

The GP2X is a portable device running a modified version of Linux. At the time I started to program for the GP2X, it was possible to create games with C or C++ combined with SDL for the graphics, controls and sounds. I started with loads of projects, but actually I never really finished a project yet. I learned a lot of it though. So when you are really up to a challange, buy a GP2X and start to create games! /* Will post sample code, IDE and games in near future. */

A few months later I started with a project on the Rijswijk university of professional technical education. The goal was to design and create a game from scratch. However, for the university it was important to have an insight on the process of designing and creating a game, because they wanted to start a new programming theme: “Game development”. The game programming theme will cover the most important aspects of game development. So there where a few extra requirements. An opensource engine should be used for example. This is important, because then the university is allowed to change some things “under the hood”, there is no problem with licensing costs and games can easily be published by students. Also, our projectteam was required to make use of physics simulation. Which, by the way, makes games really more interesting.

One of the steps in the process was picking the best game engine. We decided to make our own “package” which consisted of the following parts:

• Ogre3D (render engine)
• PhysX (physics engine)
• NxOgre (wrapper between Ogre3D and PhysX)
• FMOD (sound manager)

I started learning developing games by following the tutorials for Ogre3D. I also played around with the Ogre3D samples by modifying code and playing around with it. After we had setup a test environment with the help of a NxOgre tutorial named ‘Cake’. “Cake is a small sandbox type application to quickly prototype or play with any feature of NxOgre. It’s designed to work within two functions; createScene and onFrame, so that all of the Ogre, GUI and Input code is hidden away from direct view and the developer can concentrate on the NxOgre code only.” (Source: cake)

After we played around a lot with cake we decided to start on the game development of the real game. Phyzle, our concept, is an open source puzzle game using physics as its main game play element. The goal is to bring a ball from point A to B as fast as possible using physics elements like magnets, springs and more.

In a level your goal consists of bringing your ball from A to B as fast as possible, without losing or destroying your ball. The faster you finish, the more points you will earn. The ball can be destroyed by elements like fire, hammers or explosions. Besides the destroying elements there are also helping elements. You can use these elements to improve your finishing time. For example you can make use of elements like fans or magnets.

Making a game concept

/* Will post this topic in the near future */

In general, I can’t cover every topic about game development. However, the internet does cover almost every topic. Please make use of it! _{And, of course, make use of the following URLs:}

• http://www.gamedev.net/
• http://www.gamasutra.com/
• http://www.gdmag.com
• http://www.devmaster.net/

/* Disclaimer: This post is still a draft. More topics will be added in the near future. When you need specific information, please ask for it by replying to this post! */

Pirates of the Amazon Add-on

“How can you compete with free? You cant!” – Lawrence Lessig

The Firefox add-on “Pirates of the Amazon” inserts a “download 4 free” button on Amazon, which links to corresponding Piratebay BitTorrents. The add-on lowers the technical barrier to enable anyone to choose between “add to shopping cart” or “download 4 free”. Are you a pirate?

What’s this all about?

This add-on provides a simple interface to torrent files, combining a torrent search engine with the information features offered by amazon. It also shows that there is an alternative to buying overpriced media-products from companies relying on outdated distribution techniques.

“Pirates of the Amazon” offers to be a counterpart to the current models of media distribution. “Redistribute the wealth” by bringing together one of the world’s biggest e-commerce platforms with the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker.

Established media distributors claim that peer-to-peer networks are the death for entertainment media itself. These claims sound quite similar to the ones about the printing press or the invention of VCRs or CDR-Drives. The truth is that the possibility of information sharing inspires people to start creating, remixing and enriching the media landscape.

“Lets build a world we are proud of, not just a profitable world for a few very large media companies. ” (Brewster Kahle, founder of the internet archive )

For more information on piracy and the BitTorrent protocol follow these links:

- “After the crash, or how we stopped worrying and learned to love P2P” by Jamie King
- Piratology by Armin Medosch
- Peer-to-Peer on Wikipedia
- The Pirate Bay on Wikipedia

Source: http://pirates-of-the-amazon.com/

_{Note: If you download content through a torrent link, provided by the Piratebay, you might violate current copyright laws.}