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Update
Date: 7/4/2009
Things are looking a lot better for the Lgi ports than 2 weeks ago. I've got the Mac port back to a point where all my apps start and run ok. The issue with the native scrollbars crashing hasn't been resolved but at least I haven't gone backwards.

The Linux port of Lgi is making good progress as well, most of the drawing issues have been fixed, the fallout from the refactoring has been fixed and the apps are starting to work more than fail. Still there are still a few days of little bugs to sort out, like minor painting bugs, missed clicks and layout events, spurious warnings and the like.

So... I'm hoping to start doing tri-platform releases by mid year.
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Update
Date: 30/3/2009
Been a while since I posted something here, so I'll update on a bunch of stuff thats happening.

  • Memecode.com moved to new server hardware a week ago, and there was some downtime as the DNS propagated. If you notice anything out of order, let me know. I'm actively squishing new bugs in the PHP code, as the PHP version is different to the old server and some of the rules have changed.
  • I lost the binaries AND source code to Roll Credits. So over the last week I've been rebuilding it from some backend code that I had from the project. So thats back online as of now.
  • In my work on Roll Credits I had occasion to use the xvid mpeg4 codec. This crashes for me when encoding 640x480. So I downloaded the code, worked out the issue and posted a bug report with analysis. Got an email back this morning saying a patch has been submitted to fix the crash. Yay for open source!
  • As for all things Scribe, I've been working away on the code base, especially on the mail3 format. However there are some quite annoying bugs in the current build that I don't want to release. So I'm trying hard to get them sorted out so I can feel confident it won't suck for you all. Also I've broken the Mac and Linux builds properly so a fair amount of time has been sunken into getting them working again. This is partially because I refactored some parts of Lgi to have more common code, rather than 3 separate lots of code. Which is good for long term maintenance but sucks in the short term.
  • Lots of non software stuff is happening too, I've been recording, writing and playing live music lately (did a wedding gig on the w'end), working on the billy kart for the kids and building other websites (like RosterUs.
  • The first k800i that I bought was a dud, so I sent that back and got a nearly brand new one. And it's pretty good so far, however I was pretty disappointed to find out that it's doesn't support USB 2.0 high speed (i.e. 480kbps). Grrrr is all I can say... USB 2.0 should never have had a "low speed" profile, they really dropped the ball with the naming scheme.
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Registering Visual C++ 2008
Date: 16/3/2009
So you need to register Visual C++ 2008?

*sigh* Well, you can sign up for a MS Live ID and go through the loopholes. One thing to note is that you can use any bogas email address you like, they DON'T ACTUALLY CHECK IT! Which is nice I guess.

Or alternatively, just use this key:
PG1G5VXHH5NTG1
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Google Adwords
Date: 11/3/2009
I've gone and removed all the Google ads off this site. It was fun for a while, but now I don't get paid for it anymore so they're gone. The return on Adwords has gone from very decent to non existent, with zero changes on my part. Maybe I could frig with it for bit to improve it somewhat, but no I have better things to do with my time.
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Minidumps
Date: 4/3/2009
I've moved all new Win32 Lgi application builds to output minidumps when they crash (if Dbghelp.dll is present) instead of trying to create there own stack trace. I just found that it's too unreliable.

Recent Visual C++ builds do a fair job of loading the minidumps and telling you about the conditions of the crash, and I have the free version of 2008 installed on my machine. Surprisingly it even works with apps built with Visual C++ 6, which is still my primary compiler on windows (Speed baby... all speed!).

I will experiment with optionally reporting the crash dumps back to myself when the application re-starts. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of time it takes to get crashes fixed.
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I Need A New Phone...
Date: 25/2/2009
I'll be working on this sheet over the next week or so... and you can see how things progress.



Columns:
  • 3G: Must have 2100 3g capabilities (I'm currently with Three)
  • USB Mass Storage: Must be able to act as a USB mass storage device when connected to a computer.
  • Charge over USB: Must be able to charge the battery over USB. Via an adapter if necessary (although I'd rather avoid adapters if I can). Nokia generally suck in this area.
  • 3.5mm audio jack: Should have a 3.5mm jack for headphones. Not a show stopper but I'd like the convenience.
  • MP3/AAC: I have a bunch of MP3/AAC's and I'd like to be able to use my phone as a media player. Decent media functions is a must.
  • H264: Must be able to playback iPod style video, aka 300-450kbit H264+AAC @ 320x240px video. Must handle videos over 1hr in length. I occasionally get stuck somewhere killing time and having a couple of movies on the phone is the best.
  • Camera: Must have an average 2MP camera. A bad camera will rule the phone out, must not suck completely. If it takes reasonable video as well, bonus! (Current phone's video recording is a joke of a slideshow)
  • Fast Menus: Showing/navigating menus must be near instantaneous, no excuses.
  • PC Sync: Should be able to replicate contacts and calendar events to an open format or API on a computer without using the bundled tools (which invariably suck).
  • Call Quality: Must have clear call quality with decent reception. No lemons please.
  • Battery life: Must have a standby of 4 days min (no music or serious usage). Call time not an issue.
  • Web Browser: Reasonable web browser, not WAP. Not a deal breaker but I'd like to be able to look some things up on the go.
  • Price: Looking at getting something used below $250. Unless it's an iPhone, which is probably worth whatever you pay for it. Killer combo on almost all fronts, still I'm hoping I can line up something I can live with for a lot less.
(Items that have been striked out are no longer being considered)

Update: I've won a k800i on the 'bay ($96aud+s/h) and I'll see how that goes for a month or 2. If it doesn't annoy the snot out of me that'll be it for a year or 2 otherwise I'll chuck it back on the 'bay and try something else. The 6600 slide is a bit steep at the moment though.

One of my friends has a k800i so I checked that it plays mpeg4 properly. And while it doesn't have the grunt for higher bitrates I found a reasonable compromise with mp4 (mpeg4 @ 430kbps, 320x240 + aac @ 64kbps). If the video bitrate is too high it skips, like up around 500kbps. I couldn't test seeking and longer movies because they didn't have a memory card. But I'm reasonably sure it'll be ok. If not there is always ebay.

Update: The one from ebay wasn't good, all sorts of problems. Wouldn't stay on, screen would go all white and become unresponsive and sometimes wouldn't turn on. Fun fun fun! Fortunately the seller is prepared to accept returns, so I'm back looking for another one as I've already bought a 4gb M2 card.
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