Two Retro Consoles: one winner. 

Left: Retro Game Console with 620 games
Right: Console with 400 games

There is a clear winner in this round-up. The NES styled mini game console is a clear winner. The colour vibrancy and extra number of games makes it a clear winner. Although not obvious the SNES styled consoles game pads do not have functional left and right buttons. In addition the games are mostly NES games which did leave a bad taste in my mouth after swallowing the price.


https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Retro-Video-Game-Console-Built-in-600-620-Games-For-NES-Mini-HDMI-AV-Controllers/273089899379?hash=item3f956d2b73:m:mlo9BqdZZhQ2DWJjs1LvZyA

Cloud Conversion

Here are a few cloud based conversion tools I use on occasion. They leave few things untouched. Although, I still seek a good Mac .pages file converter.

Cloud Convert
Zamzar
Etyn
Cloud Materialise - stl-converter

Arduino LCD

A must know website for integrating LCD screens with Arduino

http://www.rinkydinkelectronics.com/index.php

Picking the right development board

   There is a lot of competition out there when it comes to processors and embedded systems. The above image is one example of modern development boards currently available. With the exception of the one on the lower right, all of these boards can be programmed through the Arduino IDE, and through the manufacturers respective tools.
   Some of my personal favourites are the trinket and feather boards by Ada Fruit. These boards are compact can be easily placed into a bread board and for that reason tend to remain a favourite.
The Atmel now Microchip boards are fantastic, and also work with the arduino ide. Currently there are boards for several processors including the 328pb, Sam D10, and the tiny104. The Xplained line makes for a great set of development boards.
   Last to note are the arduino boards from Arduino.cc with a wide selection there are the standard size board which is a form factor that can accommodate a variety of what are called shields, a stack-able circuit board.

Various suppliers are around for Arduino and compatible boards. To list some:
Arduino.cc
Robotshop.ca
Ada Fruit
SeeedStudio

A workflow for compiling software in Linux

autoreconf --install
./configure
make
make check
sudo checkinstall 
sudo make install

In most instances autoreconfig will not be required.

requires the following to be installed:

gcc
make
autoconfig
checkinstall

Please note you may need to change permissions of the checkinstall .deb package after compile time.


[Updated Oct 15, 2017]
Additionally: 

Running ldconfig after will reload any .so libraries you may have generated. Simply type:

sudo ldconfig -v

Some variations have been noted such as use of auto tools and cmake. For example:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

To a new year.

It has been a long holiday and I have not done much work on my projects. Slacking off I suppose. I have been working on some some software though mostly ODBC and C#. I am hoping to have something done with the PIC32 Synth soon. But I have been working with some other chips too. A 24bit DSP chip. With some luck that boards schematic will near completion sometime this year as well. Then more tests need to be done.

I have a 4 pot rotary encoder project ready to roll as well I just need to refine the design and the firmware needs a few tweaks and options. Not sure if I am going to try and market these things or just open the design like I usually do before testing.

With any luck 2013 will be another productive year.

Programming with C++ on MAC - Sending output to a terminal window.

     For a long time I have wanted to take my console output from C++ programs out of the Xcode debug window and into a terminal window. However, there is no simple way to do this with the standard library (std::). Today I asked myself the question if every piece of hardware on a unix/nix machine is represented by a file can I just use standard file streams to send data to the terminal window? Surely this is what programs already do send data to the debug logs and the terminal window. However, what if I need more than one terminal window open to display more data?? Running TOP is one example, often when using programs like TOP the terminal window is loaded with lines of running programs and services, it would be nice to have a second window with the overflow displayed in that window. Although it is not my intention to write such an extension to TOP it does give me a solution for an upcoming project where I need OpenGL and text data send to a terminal. Before running this bit of code make sure a terminal window is open.

#include  
#include
#include
#include
int main(int argc, char * const argv[]) 
{ 

     //output to the mac terminal 
     std::ofstream term("/dev/ttys001", std::ios_base::out); 

     term << "\n\nTerminal Output - Hello World!!!\n\n"; 

     std::cout << "\n\nstdout - Hello I am in the debug window!!!\n\n"; 

     return 0; 

}

That is all it takes. Such a simple solution to a simple problem. So when people tell you that you "can't have your cake and eat it to" now you can tell them that you can.

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

So after a great deal of work on both my project partner Alex Heidbuechel and myself, we will be attending Scotiabank Nuit Blanche with an interesting video installation work. The work is based on conceptions of self as related to our interactions with others. It uses a fun game created by surrealists known as the exquisite corpse as an avenue to explain our idea, although we have remediated the game through use of media technologies such as video and projections. The event will be ephemeral and no lasting tangible work is created, however to use our own theory and to borrow from that of Marcel Duchamp the viewer creates our work through their interactions with it.

We owe much to the myriad of people who made this project possible.

First and foremost I would like to thank Scotiabank for sponsoring the even.
Sarah you have been instrumental in making this all happen, as well the city of Toronto has done much to help the independent projects and without that support who knows where many of us would be.
We would like to thank the Niagara Artist Company, and In the Soil for their continued support.
We would like to thank organizations such as the Ontario Arts Counsel, and the Trillium Foundation for their support of artist throughout ontario, and Carfac for artist across Canada.
Thank you to the Rotary Club for the use of your events tent.
Marinko Jareb of The Disco Gallery.
I would like to personally thank artist Duncan McDonald for his continued support.
Additionally, thank you Brock University and the Visual Arts department.
We would like to thank our friends and family for their support.

And to anyone who we have forgot to mention, you have not been forgotten. For without all of you this project would not have been possible.

We hope to see you out on October 2nd, 2010.

Synth32 - Update

I have been populating the second prototype run of synth32 prototype boards, although the work is going slower than I would hope. Many other projects need attention for upcoming art shows and I haven't been able to commit as much time as I want to this project. This project is very important to me and I hope to commit more time in the near future to getting this project making sound.

More information and board updates can be found on the electro-music forums here under the eChuck discussion.

OBD-II interface

As part of a larger project I have completed an ELM327 interface. The board is very simple and a rough image of the end product is posted bellow. The main project can be found here as part of the OBDuinoInterface or OpenGauge project.

PS3: Because sony doesn't listen

Because the sony blog will not let me post this I am posting it here for all who care:
Wow, I am infuriated.

The otherOS feature is the only reason I bought PS3 and not Xbox360. This feature was foremost a selling point for the system. And as such you misrepresented the product. By forcing this update you are retracting on a buyers agreement, and have hamstrung the product I originally purchased.

As Beathose states I too purchased a $699 PS3 console with otherOS functionality. Now I am getting the functionality of a $299 console. Patching for security reasons is a ridiculous excuse. There are only two possible solutions to correct this problem. #1 Sony refunds every customer the difference in value of the original systems to the new cheaper system. or #2 you can reinitialize the otherOS functionality.

I realize that option #1 would ruin your company but I am sick of being bullied by Sony Corporation.

I personally will be contacting a lawyer to discuss the matter further. When I purchased this unit it was specifically for the otherOS functionality, and the game console side of things was secondary to this. The classification of this unit being a computer system and not game console could be argued as this system lacks critical functionality as a computer system.

The fact remains Sony is one of many companies, which can get away with treating its customers like this. Aside from removal of the otherOS feature we also have to be aware that now devices like my PSP will have limited functionality, especially with remote play. Most of what I have purchased in the SonyStore will be inaccessible, as the unit no longer lets you login to your PSN account. So this unit no longer has internet connectivity for a number of things. This was not the unit I purchased, and this was not part of the agreement for the other content I purchased. Additionally, this unit would not classify as a computer system in anyone's mind without critical features like internet connectivity.

flowjo69, as you state the PS3 is a gaming console however, what you fail to realize is the unit was marketed in a variety of ways, including a full Linux compatible computer system. The classification of the product for import is also that of a computer system. So I am curious to know if you have the newer and cheaper slim unit, in which case your comment is a moot point as this issue would not have effected you anyway.

FoX_HounD_2ooX and SteelRush I agree, I have been with sony for a long time PS1, PS2, two premium Minidisc units (MD and HiMD) which they abandoned, a Sony field Recorder, Walkman, etc. Hundreds of games which I might add have all been purchased (not copied for PS1 and PS2) even though mod-chipping and coping was so prevalent. I have bought my fair share of products which are essentially all scrap now. For the first time I figured I would at least come out with a Linux machine after the console was long since dead and abandon.

So simply put this once great machine is now a hunk of junk.


Additionally, I am sure all the game developers are now elated that I can no longer purchase additional add-ons and content for the existing games I own, because I need the CellBE programming functionality and the linux os in general in my PS3.


Amendment @ 1:31 AM April 7, 2010.

The other matter which is further complicating the issue is they delete any post from the blog that is too long, or is unfavorable for their image. In effect censoring the issue and as a result downplaying the dissatisfaction of many.

Pants off to the 303- x0xb0x

Today I finally finished the x0xb0x #1. It has been over a year since I finished the build but for some reason I just did not order a case. Well finally the x0xb0x adorns its pactec PT-10 case and it looks beautiful. Aside from missing two knobs, I just could not find the right ones.