ylixir's blog

64 bit nook

2011-05-05T15:30:00.002-05:00

Google more than implies that it's NDK will work just fine in a 64 bit linux environment. This isn't exactly the case.

This is just a note for myself to help me remember which packages I had to install to get Arch Linux working and building the Nook kernel.

pacman -S gcc-multilib gcc-libs-multilib binutils-multilib libtool-multilib lib32-glibc lib32-zlib

And to get ADB working:
pacman -S lib32-ncurses

yEAd is coming along, I need feedback

2011-04-18T02:21:00.007-05:00

yAEd--my text editor--now has filename completion. This is the major feature that will make it different from other programs. Unfortunately it isn't quite right, I need some feedback on how it should behave. If you use text editors (programming, latex, etc) it would be awesome if you gave it a try and let me know what you think.

Website: http://yaed.googlecode.com

Discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/yaed

If you are in windows you'll need to download the earlier build with the gtk runtime included here, then download the new build here.

If you are in linux, you can install the libgtksourceview development package with your favorite package manager. That should suck in all the dependencies you need. Then checkout the source as instructed on the google code page. Then type make.

More nook thoughts

2011-04-04T11:49:00.001-05:00

So the nook is shaping up pretty impressively. I have some more thoughts on what I really like, and what I really don't like.

I've installed Cyanogenmod 7, aka gingerbread, aka android 2.3.3.

Cyanogenmod is currently the most functional of all the options out there. Bluetooth, hardware (dsp) video support, flash, etc are all working on cyanogenmod.

I've got myself an apple wireless keyboard, the combination of the keyboard and the nook replace 90% of my laptop and is much lighter, more flexible and easier to carry.

I'm gonna focus on what I can't do, since the things I can do are too numerous to list.

PDF viewing. The state of pdf viewers on android is pathetic. Really pathetic. Adobe is okay, it doesn't take 9 years to render anyhow, unlike the mupdf alternatives. Unfortunately it can't annotate, and flipping back and forth between pages is a little painful. What I really need is something that can annotate and more closely approximates flipping through pages like a paper book (thumbnails would do it).

Note taking. On the soft keyboard I can type about 25wpm. On the apple keyboard I can type about 50wpm. No way I can write that fast. Also no way I can type out complicated mathematical symbols efficiently (maybe if latex options were better and I was better at latex). Genial and handyrite are good, but what would really make them useful is allowing to type actual text and switching to the hand writing mode when necessary. Haven't found anything like that though.

Last few things to completely replace my laptop. Onboard compilers. Decent computer algebra system. Latex or Lyx or something that doesn't suck to write in.

NOOKcolor review

2011-03-07T02:42:00.001-06:00

Okay so I recently purchased a nook color. I thought i would post my thoughts on the device. I'll break this into three sections. The first will be my thoughts on the hardware itself. Next I'll talk about the "stock" nook. Finally I'll cover the nerd factor.

I'm starting with my thoughts on the hardware first, as that is the thing that will be important to everyone considering this purchase. First let's get the size out of the way. The tablet has a seven inch display. It is comfortably sized for reading one handed...even laying on your back. It is however loads bigger than the very generous 4" screen on my phone. There are times when I feel mildly cramped by the display size. However, I feel that if it were much bigger, it would be too big to comfortably hold and carry. I guess the balance is personal preference. I like the 7" size.

The size is great but not so important if it looks like crap right? It doesn't look like crap. It is beatiful. It has a very high pixel density. Higher than either the ipad or the galaxy tab. One has to look very carefully to see pixels. Colors are also very good. Honestly I think colors look better on this than on my phone's amoled display. And then there is the viewable angle. Barnes and Noble claims 178°. That may be a bit optimistic but it is really really good. Really the screen is fantastic. That being said, it is not an e-ink screen.

E-ink screens look fantastic in the sunlight. This screen is barely visible in the sun. E-ink screens can not be read in the dark. This screen can easily. E-ink screens are cheaper. This screen is multitouch. E-ink is black and white. E-ink takes a noticeable amount of time to change what it is displaying. E-ink only uses power while the display is changing. This screen constantly drains the battery when it is on.

Speaking of the battery...this thing actually does quite well on power. B&N claims eight hours and i think that is about right. Watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica used about 5% of the battery even with wifi on. It will blow any laptop/netbook/phone out of the water here. But does this battery life come at the cost of processing power or memory or other geek specs?

The answer to this question is yes and no. The amount of memory is good. It has 512 megabytes of working memory and another 5 gigabytes onboard for storage. Throw in a microSD card of up to 32 gigabytes and you probably won't have memory issues. The processor though is a little trickier.

The processor is rated at 800 gigahertz. Blah blah blah. So the processor is slower thann the one in the tab and the ipad. Pop open a web browser on each of the three. Now scroll around a bunch and go pinchy zoomie. The ipad(1) will repond much better than the nook and the nook will respond faster than the tab. But if you look at specs the tab should be the fastest and the nook the slowest. Here is what I think. The processor is good enough that a well written program will run like butter. It is not so fast that it can make up for crap software. But clearly neither is the tab's. And I will be surprised if the dual core chips will make a difference here either.

So since we've brought up software, let's take a look at what comes out of the box. The obvious thing is the reader. The e-book reader is perfect. I works and is comfortable to read from. Likewise the shopping is good. A little too good to be honest. It is just a little too easy to purchase things that can be downloaded for free from places like the public library or Project Gutenberg. Anything that can be read in the reader app is good. Epub, nookbook, pdf...oh wait...pdf.

B&N claims to support pdfs. This is really my first disappointment with the device. The pdf reader that comes with it is terrible. I mean epically bad. But all you have to do is root it and download one that doesn't suck.

Root what now? Okay this is why I bought this device. This thing is kind of billed as a half tablet half reader. The truth is that out of the box it is a reader that does internet. That might change down the line. B&N has plans to open their own app store but it is not here yet. However, if you aren't afraid to get your hands a little dirty you can run basically anything on it that you can run on any android device.

This approach however takes a fair bit of research but isn't too tough after you figure it all out. There is a thriving community of hobbyists that have managed to get this device running basically every version of the android operating system available. They even managed to get it running the same os that that fancy new xoom runs. Long before the xoom ever came out. Do this and you have a tablet computer for half or a third of what most people will pay for one.

There is one issue I need to mention. The touchscreen can be very difficult to manipulate at the extreme corners and edges. This problem is present in my device and the display device at B&N. At first glance it seems like a hardware issue. I don't think it is though. If the device is rotated so the notification bar over these trouble spots the go away. I know this is present on stock firmware and rooted stock firmware. Other than the the crossword app this isn't much of an issue on stock firmware. You will notice it reading sometimes if you tap too close to the edge when turning a page. It is a giant annoyance on a rooted device (stupid tweet button). I have yet to try any custom operating spins so I cannot say if it is present there. I mention this last because i believe it is software and doesn't affect much out of the box.

So should you get one?

If you want just an e-reader I would think about a cheaper e-ink device.

If you want an e-reader that can go on the web this is a good option. This device ballparks for the same price as a netbook but has better battery life and a more convenient form factor. It can not do as much as a netbook at the moment. But then again, why would you ever want to do anything on a netbook?

Are you looking for a tablet but want it working out of the box and glitch free? I would say either wait for the app store or pay the extra money for a "real" tablet.

Are you tech savvy and want a super cheap super high quality tablet to play about with? If this is you (it is me) then i can't reccomend this device highly enough. Go get one now!

Maybe later I'll post some thoughts on the current state of android and tablet software.

Six month update

2011-03-06T01:05:00.001-06:00

YAEd is coming along slowly but it's functional--kinda. Which is something. I've recently figured out what direction I will go with find behaviour (something i've been stuck on for a while). I also have it building on windows but it's a little crashy. That's what I get for ignoring stupid gtk runtime errors... Speaking of windows...

I built myself a shiny new computer for christmas and bought a real windows license to go along with it. Turns out that was debatably a poor decision because shortly after i bought the computer I decided to go back to school again and didn't have the money because i had an unforeseen car repair.... So i put in some hours and lived poor but i made enough for three credits.

School is going well. I'm halfway through the semester and homework and attendence are up. Tests need work though. My first two were brutal and shameful. I managed to find a pdf of one of my textbooks which is awesome moneywise but reading from a laptop suuucks.

Enter Jarrett. He bought a nook color and rooted it and stuff. Its a $250 android tablet with a gorgeous screen and not too shabby power behind it. Well i got the gadget lust and after all i need a better way to read my textbook right? So i bought one. It fires my imagination and wastes my time. It is awesome. Maybe i'll follow up with a review or some thoughts.

But as usual after making a big purchase unforeseen expenses. I just had my car in the shop again and now i've spent enough that i feel poor again. qq c'est la vie, non?

yAEd and stuff

2010-09-28T07:23:00.002-05:00

Well on the up side, my little editor is named yAEd and it can open and save files, and that's pretty much it. It doesn't even really handle it's own windows or tabs, or anything. It does build on linux and os x, prolly windows too with some small effort. But yeah, it's theoretically possible to use it, but it has a long way to go to be productive. So check it out. yaed on google code.

School is ugh...i suck at school, i may have wasted a lot of money this semester.

code, money, school

2010-08-26T15:13:00.002-05:00

So after blowing all my money on a road trip i managed to save up the $850 dollars I needed to take one 3 credit class. I'm currently taking linear algebra hard mode for the second time. Hopefully I won't stop showing up to class half way through the semester this time.

My RC license for windows expired so the second operating system on my laptop is now linux. Ran into some glitches with the X port of my gaming framework. They may be nearly impossible to work out with Xlib, but easily fixed by moving to xcb. However, opengl requires xlib. Looks like i'll have to use that bastardization xcb-xlib. I do however have server (listener) sockets functional. Just need to whip up the client sockets.

As a side note, I'm once again frustrated with my text editors. Geany is what i want, but no vi keybindings makes me a sad panda. Gedit is close but vi keybindings on it are broke as hell. So i'm writing my own. I have some ui ideas i really want to try out anyhow.

The upshot of all this is that between school and the text editor distraction, the gaming framework/combat might slide a little, but maybe i'll finally have a cross platform text editor that doesn't suck.

Update

2010-07-24T15:25:00.002-05:00

Haven't blogged in a while so here's the scoop.

I have lost my source to my chess program, maybe i'll find it, maybe i won't, but it doesn't matter as i've been planning to rewrite the ui from scratch, and all the under the hood stuff was heavily reliant on cocoa so needed significant work to make it portable as well.

I'm currently working on a combat clone, along with a highly portable framework for programming. right now it's making windows, setting up opengl etc, but networking is coming along nicely and when i get a license for windows or iphone or whatever i'll add a graphics api agnostic layer as well.

ycurses has languished in non update forever. i really don't have a D tool chain set up at the moment so that might continue until i get frustrated with C and hit D again. some time ago i got an offer from someone to take over maintenance of the project, i denied him, but i'm kind of regretting it. Whatever, it's MIT licensed, he can do what he wants with it.

At this current moment i'm in the middle of an epic road trip to the west coast. You can get picks at shutterfly. Shutterfly by the way looks like an awesome site. Basically free unlimited uploads, and downloads not at full resolution, but decent for printing small pics. The best part? Anyone can order prints. I think that's their business model, and i think it's awesome in theory. We'll see if my mom or anyone orders anything. I for one am going to try to get my family on it so i can get pictures of neices, nephews etc.

someone took ychess' name

2008-12-13T22:53:00.001-06:00

I googled ychess and turns out someone took the name already, oh noes! I changed it to ylchess for now, probably won't stay that way though. Anyone have any suggestions for a better name?

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ychess pre-alpha preview release

2008-12-13T16:39:00.003-06:00

Last time I blogged I said I was gonna bone up on Cocoa. I did, then I started writing a chess program. After less than a month of development it's already a full fledged pgn reader plus a little more. It knows all the rules to chess (actually not the 50 move rule, or the 3 position rule, but meh), and you can play a game with yourself on it if you are really bored. I'm about to rip out the guts of the data structures behind it and replace it with a database. Before doing so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to put up a working preview release for public consumption. Enjoy linkies.

Enjoy screenies:

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ycurses beta finished

2008-10-25T15:56:00.001-05:00

I finished the first beta of ycurses. It works with tango and phobos and gdc and dmd, and has examples and documentation, and has bindings for all the features of ncurses. hooray!

gonna take a break from it for a while now i think and bone up on cocoa.

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best. video. ever

2008-10-21T22:20:00.001-05:00

check it out, it's awesome!

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wasted day...or not...

2008-09-18T00:26:00.001-05:00

Well it took me all day, but i managed to get a print server up and running with archlinux, so now the three of us should have uninterrupted printing goodness as i won't be constantly messing with my computer and taking down the printer with it.

also i got gdc working with apple-gcc-5484. with ppc support. it's seriously way past time to release a package allowing leopard users easy access to a d compiler. oh well, i have instructions as to how i did it up on my website.

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flock and gdc

2008-09-17T07:54:00.001-05:00

I've been using Flock as my primary web browser for the last several days, and I'm really digging it. Actually I'm using it now to post this blog. I tried it before and didn't care for it, don't remember why, but this time around I'm liking it. I would advise anyone with any kind of facebook, blog, webmail, etc to give it a whirl. It could still use some work on facebook and myspace integration, but it's better than the nothing you get from firefox, safari, camino, etc.

Also, yesterday I successfully compiled gdc support for Apples Xcode 3.0 compiler. Didn't test it out or anything, but I've never even gotten it to compile on my iBook, and it compiled in a matter of minutes on my MacBook instead of hours like on my iBook. Build 5484 (Xcode 3.1) failed, but I have a reasonable hope that I will be able to tweak the makefiles and get it going. Even if i can't, i'm setting up an old computer with archlinux as a print server, since i can't plug my old ass printer into my macbook, so progress on ycurses should begin soon. If i get gdc working for the Xcode 3.1 build of gcc, then i'll whip up a package sans phobos/tango, and a phobos and tango package. since gdcmac hasn't been updated in over a year and still doesn't have support for leopard, i'll put it up until the main project gets updated, so people won't have to go through the compile mess i'm having to deal with.

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laptop news

2008-09-11T15:42:00.002-05:00

Well, my iBook died, again. Video keeps cutting out. I spent a large chunk of money on a new MacBook.

So far my impression is that my iBook was really impressive. It's not that the macbook isn't fast, it is. It's just that the only thing i've noticed a speed difference in so far is installing xcode. about 5-10 minutes instead of 30-45. other than that, that little ibook was a champ.

also got the free ipod touch with my macbook. that thing is ridiculous. calling it an ipod is disingenuous. it's more like full fledged pda that is really good at playing music.

btw, the last.fm and myspace apps for the ipod blow, if you read this in the next couple months, don't use them, they are unstable as hell. hopefully that will get fixed soon.

i'm getting rid of my desktop so development of ycurses is on hold until i a) get gdc working in leopard or b) get linux installed on my macbook. hopefully that will happen sometime before the end of the month.

leopard

2008-09-01T03:48:00.001-05:00

just a quick note about leopard. srsly, buggy much?

i went to checkout my curses project from googlecode....bus error.

that plus the dodgy linker that comes with the development tools.

it's lucky that leopard is so much shinier than tiger....

Busy busy.

2008-08-31T21:04:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged, and a lot has happened. Here is the rundown:

I am registered for school, and somehow managed to get financial aid, despite my abysmal performance last year. YAY. Just taking two credits, trying to get my school work ethic back, so i'm going to slowly build up to the asskicking classes that i really need, by slowly building up with the last few generals i need.

I've nearly completed milestone 2 with my ycurses thingie. just need to finish up the form library then it's done. i'll be releasing an alpha beta rc cycle with this milestone, as there are a lot of templates involved and potential for lots of bugs, so we'll wait until a) i line by line verify it. b) lots of time has passed and no bugs show up. Also, i've been rethinking the roadmap a little, thinking about adding a d-centric layer, and maybe support for curses.

fixed my laptop....again....typing from it now actually. it turns out that when i tried to fix the power adapter last time i accidentally cut a tiny hole in the insulated wire that was shorting out on the wire sheath, which is why it worked with bare wires, but as soon as i tried to put it together it stopped working. my battery is still shot though i think, i'm trying to recondition it now, if that doesn't work, i'll have to reset the pmu and calibrating again, if that still doesn't work, then i'll be thinking seriously about getting a macbook with my financial aid instead of sinking $100 into an ancient ibook running through the grace of several miles of electrical tape, and coins attached to logic boards.

that's the gist of it, my birthday is next friday, if you know me and read this, come. bars, followed by jungle juice, yummy

Life...meh

2008-08-13T13:21:00.004-05:00

Finished with about 1/3 of the curses module. Nothing really new on that front, just plugging away still.

Got new brakes in my car yesterday, but had to borrow money from my roommates sister to do it, so I'm gonna try to pick up a close tonight. That plus my day shift tomorrow and my camping trip this weekend means not much time for code for a while :-(

Might not update the blog for a bit too, since I'll be pretty busy for a few days.

Curses and girlfriend.

2008-08-11T17:37:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend I've made a strong start on going through the ncurses man pages and verifying that everything in my curses module is up to spec. I've finished with about 16% of them.

Two things interesting about my progress:

There are way more macros than I expected, which means more likelyhood of bugs :-( so i may have to write or find a stress tester for the thing.
The excessive amounts of macros means I might be able to implement a set of "safe" d-style templates to replace the c-style ones i've got now, without adding excessive code size, or a library to link in.

So that's my progress on curses.

My girlfriend has been in B-town all weekend, and she just got back, so I'm probably going to spend the rest of the day with her, and won't be working on curses until at least tomorrow.

accomplishment

2008-08-07T23:55:00.004-05:00

Well, i just committed the last part of my first milestone for my ycurses package, so now i need to finish giving it a web page with a roadmap and some documentation, before i get started on my next step.

I also put up a link to the other curses binding for D out there, in case it's more suitable for the three people that will need a curses binding in D.

I'm working at We Fest this weekend, so I'm gonna be in and out of town and tired, so I don't know as I'll get much done, but hopefully I'll give the curses package a reasonable web site sometime before Monday.

work on form has began

2008-08-06T15:40:00.002-05:00

i just started my work on the binding for the form library as part of my yCurses bindings for D.

Barely started and now i have to go to work. i is sad, maybe i'll get a chance to work on it some tonight before bed, but i doubt it.

First

2008-08-05T22:11:00.000-05:00

Well, now i've got a proper blog instead of an icky myspace blog. weee.