Stanley Software
Productions
Blog Archive
This page contains an archive of all my SSP blog entries ever. It may take a while to load.10% CPU Usage, 150 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Light Rain
I have just added the Gallery to the new site design. This means that we currently have the home page, the Blog archive, and the Gallery in the new layout. Some of the other pages will not be edited much. I am thinking of releasing my synthesizer in the Software section.
18.9.06 4:06pm
3% CPU Usgage, 149 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I am developing the new design now, the problem is, I can't think of any news to put in the left section. I'll need some to start with, else there will be big gaps at the top and bottom of the News section. I quite like the way I have aligned the Blog left and the News right, so that it joins in the middle. Any comments are welcome in the forum or my inbox (email address at bottom of page).
12.9.06 4:25pm
3% CPU Usgage, 190 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Partly Cloudy
As I write this, the website has reached 478 visits (not pageloads). This means that, in 22 more visits (about two to three days), the website will be at 500. This means that it is due a redesign. I think I will make the links appear by using JavaScript or frames or something. Unfortunately, JavaScript would alienate about 9% of my visitors, as they have it turned off. I can't use server-side scripting, because the server doesn't support that. I could write a C program that updates all the links. Any suggestions in the forum or my inbox, please. The website will not be updated instantly, when it reaches 500, I will start designing it. There will be no posts while I am redesigning, so you'll have to be patient. I suppose I could do it in JavaScript, but have a link people can click to open up a link page in a new window.
11.9.06 4:04pm
5% CPU Usage, 123 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have been reading about Mode 7 3D today, and I feel confident that I shall soon be capable of writing a 3D racing game. The only thing I'm not sure about is graphics. In order to do a 3D racing game (using Mode 7), I would have to draw: Karts (or planes, or cars, or bikes, or whatever) at all the different angles, a road surface, something to line the roads with, sky, and any background details, plus all the stuff on menus. But I think I'll give it a shot. Once I finish or give up on VOTW, I will give it a go. Please click on the Link on the right that says 'Links Page'.
8.9.06 4:16pm
1% CPU Usage, 139 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have finished another sketch of a face, it is available in the Gallery. I must remind you that the image you see in the Gallery for the first face sketch is the first frame of an animation. It is not the finished sketch. With the new one, I have stopped it from looping infinitely and I have put the thumbnail as the last frame. In VOTW, I have been doing more on the User Interface. Buttons were finished last time I posted, and textboxes are almost finished now.
6.9.06 6:30pm
4% CPU Usage, 122 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I have just been working on Villages of the World. At the moment I am doing the framework the game will be built around. I have just about finished the user interface framework, I only have text input to do, but that should be easy enough. After that I'll probably do a map engine, then start working on the different aspects of the game. I just thought I'd report on the progress. I have not yet started some DJ software I've been thinking of writing, but I have absorbed some information about the Allegro sound system that will help me. If people want more information about Villages of the World, they can ask me about it in the forum or by email.
5.9.06 3:55pm
5% CPU Usage, 177 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I'm back again. The reason for the lack of posts is that I couldn't be bothered and that I have been away at the BSMA Team Event. We have just reached 400 hits. As soon as we get to 500, I may redesign the web site to make it easier to maintain. I am writing some DJ software at the moment, called SofDex. As soon as that is releasable I will release it. Hopefully, some of the users will sign up to the forum to give people tips about it, and to help me improve it. It was my first day back at school today after the Summer holidays. I spent yesterday improving my Text On Pictures software. It is now translucent so that you can see what's behind the writing, and it saves the images each with an individual file name, so that Mum doesn't need to rename them when moving them to a different directory. If anybody would like to use this software themself, please do email me and I'll tailor it to suit your needs and send you a copy, I may even make it configurable, so that you can change the text yourself if you don't know C++.
1.9.06 6:44pm
5% CPU Usage, 150 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I'm back. I have been away on holiday for a few days, and a couple of days before that I was too busy to post here. I see nobody has signed up for the forum yet. They will when I write the best game of the century, no... of the millenia! Anyway, we got back from holiday today and I have drawn a face sketch and written a program to put 'Lyndas Horsewear' on all of my Mums pictures, so that on eBay people don't steal them. I have also found out about a web page called the Seal Generator, I have used it to make another logo for SSP. It can be found next to the title. The face sketch that I did was done in the GIMP, and would (IMHO) be very good, if I had started off with a shape that vaguely resembled a human head. Anyway, it can be found here and in the Gallery. Enjoy. EDIT: I have removed the logo at the top, because it was too big and it got distorted, it can be found here.
26.8.05 5:18pm
2% CPU Usage, 164 MB RAM Usage, Weather: Showers in the vicinity
I have just created an SSP forum so that the SSP community have somewhere to meet and discuss anything that you like. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to email me, or post in the SSP forum and website section. Enjoy! Sometime I will put a link on the right, but for now: http://sspforum.proboards105.com/
24.8.06 2:01pm
1% CPU Usage, 100 MB RAM Usage, Word: N/A, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I would like to announce today, that the Word of the Day widget is... dead. Dictionary.com have changed their layout and I do not understand Python well enough to fix it this time. So there will be no more Word of the Day. In other news, VOTW is coming on OK, I have installed Skype, and built a Skype phone, which I have posted pictures of in the Gallery. We are considering switching to Skype completely, but with Dads' computer, not mine, as Dad has a proper Skype phone and has SkypeIn installed. That's all for now.
21.8.06 2:33pm
4% CPU Usage, 131 MB RAM Usage, Word: Renege, Weather: Showers in the vicinity
I would like to announce that, once again, the weather widget is wrong. There is barely a cloud in the sky (by that, I mean I can see through the clouds to the sky in a lot of places). But, more importantly, I would like to announce victory for Open Source! Firefox now makes up 60% of my traffic! Konqueror, Mozilla, and Firefox (Open Source browsers) together total 64% of my traffic, while the other 36% is taken mainly by IE (28%). Open Source operating systems, on the other hand, only take up 11% of my traffic (completely Linux). Why is it that people prefer open source in their browser, but not in their Operating System. I know one reason is a rebellion against Microsoft (a lot of people at school use Firefox because they don't like using Microsoft software). This reason is just silly, because they are still using the main piece of software that Microsoft write. On another topic, I have done three sections of road and a school for Villages of the World today. I thought art took a long time (by judging how long it took Rory to just edit other peoples' art). It seems that I work faster than Rory, at least with the Gimp.
20.8.06 3:41pm
100% CPU Usage, 181 MB RAM Usage, Word: Supposititious, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I am currently updating PlaneShift. It would appear that the server is back up (one of those rare occasions). On Neal (the Gentoo box), I have installed an OpenMosix-patched kernel, booted it, and a process init ran told me that my kernel was too old, then the kernel tried to kill init, and I got put in a read-only-root jail! But, on a more serious note, I have drawn a shop and four walls since I last posted (I've been distracted by other things and didn't do much yesterday). I posted on the Gentoo forums for advice about what I should do with Colonel OpenMosix, and am awaiting a reply.
18.8.06 5:44pm
6% CPU Usage, 145 MB RAM Usage, Word: Adumbrate, Weather: Partly Cloudy
KDE and it's dependencies are STILL compiling. Although, the internet was turned off for most of last night, so it wasn't doing anything for about 8 hours. I will now unofficially unveil a new project idea I've had. I am planning on making a game called Villages of the World. It will be slightly similar to Sim City (although it is, of course, villages). It will be 2D (like Sim City), but not isometric. There will be 7 starting villages to choose from, which I have already chosen names and countries for. That will be released some other time though. I haven't done any programming yet, I am concentrating on the artwork. That way, if I don't get the artwork finished, I've still got it for other games, and I haven't wasted any time programming. So far, I have done three houses, 14 sections of ground (they're easier), one office, and one block of flats. There will be a number of improvements over Sim City, including different types of land (e.g. Green belt and Brown belt), more interaction with neighbouring villages (stealing from, attacking, etc.), advisors that can do a job on their own (you tell them to build 10 houses on plots of brown belt land and they do it, you don't have to place them yourself), the concept of land ownership (buying/stealing from neighbours to make your city larger), and if I can be bothered, network play, so that neighbouring villages are real people. It will probably end up like most of my games though, half-coded, bug-filled, unfinished. Hopefully I'll finish it though.
17.8.06 10:18am
1% CPU Usage, 185 MB RAM Usage, Word: Fortuitous, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I have not posted recently because I have been busy, but I will sum up what has happened. At around 5pm on the 14th (3 hours after my last post), I began installing Gentoo on Neal (check the Gallery for pictures, it's the one I fixed by replacing the capacitors). The rest of that day was spent doing the preliminary things (partitioning disks, everything up to chrooting into the new environment). The next day I didn't do much computing, but I took the machine downstairs and used my Dads Keyboard, Video, Mouse, and Ethernet (much to everybody's pleasure), I left it alone to compile the kernel, rt2500 (wireless drivers), and some other stuff. That night I tried to get wireless, but failed, after stopping for the night, I moved it upstairs to my bedroom. The next morning I used a different approach to getting Wireless, by writing a custom boot script rather than /etc/conf.d/net, and it worked! I updated a lot of packages that were old but came with the CD. This finished around 7pm. I only noticed it had finished around 8pm, and then started to install KDE, now, at gone 10am, it is still compiling. The reason everything takes so long in Gentoo is that you download source packages and compile them (all this is automated, and dependencies sorted out, so it's better than just downloading a source tarball). This is done with Portage and emerge. Portage is the package management system, and emerge is the commandline frontend.
14.8.06 2:08pm
10% CPU Usage, 186 MB RAM Usage, Word: Fatuous, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I am currently burning a Gentoo install CD. I am planning on using Gentoo as MEPIS have switched to an Ubuntu application repository. As I hate Ubuntu (and the fact that MEPIS also sell different versions), I am switching to Gentoo. It's also partly because it has a very good package management system and that I am hoping to finally get a really fast system, and eventually get all of my computers clustered. Gentoo also has a lot of optimisation, so that should speed things up a lot, and you are not expected to have anything you don't want. With MEPIS, you get hundreds of programs you're never going to need. Also, MEPIS is an i586 build, the Gentoo build that I'm getting is i686, so it makes better use of the features on my processor, thereby running faster (hopefully). Also, SSP has just reached 300 hits! Go me!
11.8.06 11:40pm
1% CPU Usage, 101 MB RAM Usage, Word: Piebald, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
Nothing much happened yesterday, so I didn't post. But today I will sum up yesterday, today, and the coming weekend. Yesterday I was tweaking my Software Synthesizer, which I will make prettier and release here and on the Allegro Depot. I may add a load/save function as well. Today I have submitted SpaceShips for a review request, added an icon and some screenshots. Generally made it more Allegro.cc Depot friendly. It has been accepted, obviously. At the weekend, I will be racing at Little Silver, so not much programming going on then, but when I get back I will either work on the synthesizer, or start another game, or work on an old game.
9.8.06 2:09pm
11% CPU Usage, 189 MB RAM Usage, Word: Compunction, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I have put four Space Ships screenshots in the Gallery for you to peruse at your leisure. I purposefully left out screenshots of level 3 for those that get there to enjoy.
9.8.06 1:44pm
8% CPU Usage, 224 MB RAM Usage, Word: Compunction, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I have put a SpaceShips Windows binary in the project page. I hope everybody enjoys it, and I expect some congratulatory emails, else I shan't put any more games on here! Nah, only kidding. As long as I program, there's going to be stuff here. Until I get fed up with updating it, then I'll just distribute them through email until I want a website again, find this is irrepairable, and start a new one. I've done it three times now, but this time I use a real programming language, so that shouldn't happen. And I now have a bloggish thing, which forces me to keep the site updated. Space Ships has not been validated for the Allegro.cc Depot yet, but this is because God (Matthew Leverton) hasn't got internet access at the moment.
8.8.06 7:36pm
12% CPU Usage, 204 MB RAM Usage, Word: Ascribe, Weather: Fair
I have just added SpaceShips to the Software section, go and enjoy! The link is under Links on the right, and in Software. I have also submitted it for validation for the Allegro.cc Depot.
8.8.06 3:15pm
12% CPU Usage, 208 MB RAM Usage, Word: Ascribe, Weather: Fair
D'oh! I've just been playing with the source for my SpeedHack entry and realised that I hadn't declared my counter variable as volatile! This means that it's surprsing it even worked on my laptop. It looks like I'm not going to win. Oh, well, at least I know I had a pretty good game. All I need to do is sort out one line in the bullet loop, make it tell you which player should be playing, and I'm finished! Then I'll list in the Depot on Allegro.cc, and here on SSP.
7.8.06 6:19pm
7% CPU Usage, 185 MB RAM Usage, Word: Peremptory, Weather: Fair
The website seems to have been neglected lately. I assure you I have not forgotten about it! Recent events are getting Solaris 10 on my Dad's machine, finishing my SpeedHack entry and going to the BSMA Final at Landrake. Solaris is a UNIX Operating System and we spent all morning getting networking set up on it. I then edited an init script so that the interface would be brought up automatically at boot time. My SpeedHack entry will be improved on, and made available for download here soon. It is ready for a SpeedHack, but not general use. I think it's better than the one that came third last year. I probably won't get third this year, because multiplayer is not obvious, and people probably won't bother reading the help. Also, I tried it on this computer (the one I'm on now) and it didn't work, but it worked on the laptop. Hopefully it will work for everybody else. I did the SpeedHack at Landrake (in Cornwall) where the BSMA Final was taking place. Nothing to say other than that, and that I'm pretty pleased with my SpeedHack entry.
2.8.06 5:08pm
1% CPU Usage, 207 MB RAM Usage, Word: Supercilious, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I have almost finished the practice SpeedHack, with a total of 8 hours and 40 minutes spent on it. This means I should be able to finish the proper one in good time, with plenty of time for testing. I will release Square Racing here as soon as it is finished (there's maybe half an hours work left in it: final touches, and the Credits scroller). The laptop is now fully prepared. I had to reinstall my operating system three times before I finished, but I learnt something every time. I had to play around with /etc/apt/sources.list, /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts, /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf, and a load of configuration files for X, the Gimp and Fluxbox. I thought I wouldn't get it finished, but that's where I've done the last two hours of work on the practice SpeedHack, and everything works fine. Dad is trying to get a free Unix on his computer, he is starting with Solaris. The reason for the lack of recent posts is that I've been busy with various things. Mainly preparing the laptop. I spent the whole of Monday and most of Tuesday trying to get a decent system, then the rest of Tuesday configuring everything, and the morning today configuring and playing with allegro.
30.7.06 7:41pm
4% CPU Usage, 202 MB RAM Usage, Word: Heterogeneous, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have just got back from racing at Coleford. I started a practise SpeedHack at around noon yesterday, and I am just finishing that now. I think I'd do OK at SpeedHack if I didn't have to use the laptop. We'll see what happens at the weekend. During the week I'm going to prepare the laptop, hopefully that'll be done fairly soon, and I hope to do a couple more practise SpeedHacks as well, just to get used to it. I aim to do them under 12 hours, because at Landrake I'm going to have a lot of distraction, and if the laptop fails, I will only have a few hours on Monday morning. I have spent 6 hours on the racing game so far, and it's practically finished. It's amazing how much programming you can do if you sit at a computer for 5 hours at a time. I had about 30 minutes before lunch, then 5 hours, then tea, then about 20 minutes, by then I'd had enough. I've spent about ten minutes on it just now, and I'm just sorting out the position checking. The rules I was given were it must be a racing game, it must take place in 256x256 or less game resolution, but use an actual screen resolution of 640x480 or more. I took the easy route and used a square in the middle of the screen. I had to have a racing game, and I had to use lasers. The bonus rule was Act of Goatee. If all of the characters in the game have a beard, you are exempt from another rule. I didn't have any characters so I automatically pass, and I left the lasers out. If I finish it, it will be posted here for all to try. It may only have one track.
29.7.06 10:15am
1% CPU Usage, 118 MB RAM Usage, Word: Eschew, Weather: Fair
I didn't post here yesterday because I had nothing to post about, but I thought I might as well put in an early one about the state of my projects. Dwell, the development machine has wireless support, but I do not have a DHCP client yet, so that isn't working. Rune World, I haven't done much on this at all, the menu screen is mostly finished. Playing God Engine, nothing done at all, this is going to be done as Rune World needs it, I won't write anything until I need it. Gran Turismo, I have completed B License and 4 parts of A License, but I'm rubbish at games, so that will take a while. I should be able to participate in this years' SpeedHack, but how, I don't know. I will either stay at home and program on my main computer, and my Nan and Grandad will pick me up at night, or I will take a linux disc to my Nan and Grandads and program on their computer, or I will take the laptop their, or I will find out the rules just before everybody leaves for Landrake, take the laptop with me, and program at Landrake. The latter is probably the best, but we might leave before the rules are announced, in which case it will have to be one of the others. The BSMA Final is at Landrake, and everybody in my family is going.
27.7.06 6:41pm
6% CPU Usage, 171 MB RAM Usage, Word: Apologia, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I thought I would report on my current projects. I am considering building another Cryptex, I am writing a game engine and a game that will use it, and I have sort of given up on Rakentian Wars, it's too complicated. In Dwell, I am trying to get internet access, but I don't know what chipset my wireless card uses, so I have emailed Belkin and they have been as helpful as normal. It is a working day, I sent it at around 10am, and I still haven't got a reply at 6:41pm. How hard can it be to check their list of cards and see what chipset mine uses? I have given them all the information they could need, model number, version number, what it looks like (it looks different to most of their cards). I would like to reiterate that if anybody has any questions, comments or anything at all, they can feel free to email me. Or if anybody has any improvements to the website, they can tell me, anything they think could be done better. Especcially if anyone can tell me how I can have the same links on the right on every page without having to use frames and without having to go through updating them. That would help me a lot. I am also trying to think of an idea for a Linux utility to write which I wouldn't lose interest in. I'm finding it quite hard.
26.7.06 11:53am
!!!FORGOT TO CHECK THE WIDGETS!!!
I have just added the Ndiswrapper Tutorial to the Tutorial section. I have been playing around with stuff to do with Dwell all morning, have made an unofficial Leak about it on Allegro.cc, and have given guidance about Linux. The Speedhack date has been annouced. It will start on the 4th of August and will run until noon on Monday the 6th. I have no idea what I will write for it, it'll have to be simple though. The rules will be announced on the Friday that it starts. As soon as that happens, I'll be able to start. I should have a slight advantage over some of the others as some of them learnt to program in classrooms. I learnt to program in my bed room. That means that they will spend a couple of hours writing a design document, whilst I will be sat in the Buddha pose making a link between coffee and compiler. The link goes something like Coffee – Stomach – Brain – Hands – Keyboard – Text editor – Compiler – Debugger – Compiler. Hopefully the rules should be simple and I will be able to use one of the ideas I've been saving. I won't mention them here. Spies everywhere...
25.7.06 2:08pm
6% CPU Usage, 183 MB RAM Usage, Word: Plebeian, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have been attempting to install clustering software this morning. I had another go with OpenMosix, and tried OpenSSI. I failed at both. I have started writing the installer for Dwell, and have added a new widget to my desktop: Riding With Robots. It gets a photograph taken from a space probe and gives me a description and some statistics. I will post an updated screenshot in the Gallery as a fair amount has changed since the last one. I registered with Linux Counter yesterday afternoon and I am Registered Linux User 423,400! My registration image is in the Gallery as well.
24.7.06 9:52am
23% CPU Usage, 208 MB RAM Usage, Word: Limn, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I'm back again. My computer is currently being very stressed. Four SuperKaramba Widgets running, playing live radio feed from Virgin Radio, downloading Debian Testing, three OpenOffice Writer windows open. That's the cause of the 23% CPU Usage. That's not too bad, though. When I used Windows, I only had to move the mouse for it to jump to 15%. So, I'm downloading Debian Testing for Dwell, I've installed a new SuperKaramba theme for controlling AmaroK, so that I don't need an AmaroK window open all the time, the summer holidays start today. How does anybody feel about the slogan underneath the title at the top of this page? I removed the banner ad because I thought it got in the way, and the Slogan is only there on the main page. It is randomly generated from Sloganizer (Link on right). I have had an idea for an enhancement of my site: A link-and-description page. Anybody can email me and ask for a link to be put on my Links page, I'll review it and probably put it there. I will, of course, expect a link to SSP from your website, on your Links Page. If your links page contains about 100,000 links on it (I had an offer for this before, it's crazy), I won't agree to it, as there is very little chance of getting clicked on from within a maze of that many links. That's all for now.
20.7.06 7:57pm
11% CPU Usage, 185MB RAM Usage, Word: Nescience, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I haven't really been doing anything tonight, other than watching TV. But I have repartitioned hdb, it has now got three partitions. The distro has changed somewhat. I am now going to have only two different versions. I need a light version for old hardware, and a heavier one for newer hardware. I have abandoned the idea of a Bloated one, because if it was Bloated enough for my needs it wouldn't fit on a CD. I have turned more to the idea of 'Linux experts/not-total-newbies who want an easy time'. Debian has not been installed on any of those yet, though. I am trying to get the PlayStation Emulator working on the Laptop. This might sound stupid if you know my laptop... 150MHz PI MMX, 32MB RAM, 2GB HDD, 800x600 maximum, etc. but I checked the PSOne specs... 34MHz, 3.5MB RAM, 640x480 resolution, etc. So theoretically, the laptop should be up to it. Unfortunately, it also has to emulate a Sound Processing Unit and a Graphics Processing Unit, so it will be close-run. Of course, it also has to run Linux (DSL Frugal HDD Install), but that imposes such minimal requirements it's hardly worth mentioning. I have posted a screenshot of the laptop and a photograph in the Gallery. Enjoy. I won't be posting until Monday, possibly Sunday, as I am going racing tomorrow.
19.7.06 5:58pm
5% CPU Usage, 160 MB RAM Usage, Word: Bon Ton, Weather: Fair
I have been doing a bit more towards my distro, I suppose. I have been playing with Grub to try and get a background image. I used to have one but it's... gone. This happened when I installed Debian for the distro. I have been unable to retrieve my pictures yet. I have just edited menu.lst again, so we'll see what happens when I reboot. I will officially release more details about the distro fairly soon, but for now all I'm saying is that there will probably be three versions. There will be a very Light one, to contend with DSL, a Medium one for experienced users who want an easy time with their Operating System, and a Bloated one, for new users who want to never have to install software. Ever. There will also be LiveCD versions of each, so that you can test them out before getting the Installer. There will probably be a program on the LiveCDs that can download and install any of the different versions. This would let the user download and burn as few ISOs as possible, by letting them download the Medium LiveCD 1.2 once, then for the rest of the installs they ever do, configure their network (might not be necessary on Ethernet), download the latest versioin and install that. This means I will have to develop 9 Operating Systems: A minimal installer disk, a minimal system, and a minimal LiveCD, a medium installer disk, a medium system, and a minimal LiveCD, and a bloated installer disk, a bloated system, and a bloated LiveCD. There is currently more information about the naming themes, etc. on the Secret Leaks page that nobody knows about. There will probably be an Expansion Disk or two as well, just as an apt-get source, so that you don't need an internet connection whilst you install stuff. This will be more helpful for people with many computers that all need the same system (schools, or offices, for example). They could download an Installer and a few Expansion disks, and for every computer just Install, then Expand. I am taking a very long time typing this. For example as I write the time now, it is 6:09pm. It was 5:58 when I started. This is because it is a very long post and my fan keeps falling off my bed, so I have to catch it or pick it up off the floor. The fan is necessary because it is currently 36 Centigrade. It's too hot!!!
18.7.06 4:53pm
9% CPU Usage, 194 MB RAM Usage, Word: Scuttlebutt, Weather: Fair
I am currently downloading Debian Binary Disc 1. This is to make the base system for my distribution. I have decided to have a minimal bootable CD, possibly CLI only for the installation. This will include a BZip2ed root filesystem. Upon installation, this filesystem image will be extracted to the hard disk and all important configuration files will be edited to meet the user's needs. If the user wishes, they will be given the opportunity to edit these file before they first boot. Users and last-minute configuration will be done in the CLI on the first boot. The Download bar says I am currently at 13.6% on the ISO. The ETA is in 40 minutes. I have probably finished with Rakentian Wars, Esotorus X might get finished and included with the distribution, if that ever gets finished. I have decided that I will release the distribution, and therefore, I will need to finish it. Of course, this doesn't mean it will get finished. There is more information in the secret Leaks page.
17.7.06 6:27pm
11% CPU Usage, 211 MB RAM Usage, Word: Innocuous, Weather: Fair
I have released a tutorial about Designing a Programming Language. As of yet, it is incomplete. If anybody can think of something that should be added, then feel free to contact me. I may or may not use your suggestion. I have just 'installed' epsxe. I say 'installed' because I never installed it in the first place. I just compiled it and ran it. I had it on my SuSE disk. Just now I copied it across and after reconfiguring the BIOS, GPU, and SPU, I was able to play Gran Tourismo! Oh, epsxe is a PlayStation emulator (I'm not breaking the law, as I already have a PlayStation and therefore a license for the BIOS). This brings me on to my second point, I was clearing out the SuSE disk because I am going to use it as my Linux Distro development disk. I will use the Linux Live Scripts (written by Tobas Matejicek, a great man if his scripts work, for they will greatly simplify the install disk), link on the right, and make a distro based on Debian (for the package manager), as easy to use as MEPIS (because of the simplified installation and the easy-to-use-ness), and possibly (depending on the version you choose) as light as DSL. As you can see from the other projects I have, this may never get finished. Rakentian Wars and Esotorus X have stagnated somewhat. Next time I have no projects or ideas, I will go through my list of incomplete projects and work on one of them.
13.7.06 4:02pm
5% CPU Usage, 141 MB RAM Usage, Word: Florid, Weather: Partly Cloudy
Whoops, last night I had updated the website and had put an old news item that should have been moved to the Old News page to the top of this one. I have found the problem with the segfault. It is in the ':' (or goto byte) code. It does not successfully convert the string to an integer and can not execute the comparison because they are of totally different types. I wouldn't have found this if I had been using Windows, however, as Windows does not tell me what the error is, it just says 'Application esotor.exe has performed an error at point <some_hex_here>'. I have also noticed that many of the tools I now take for granted (grep, awk, sed, etc.) do not exist in Windows or even DOS. Every piece of software that needs to have the user edit the scripts must incorporate a script interpreter. In UNIX, the application can just use the output of awk, then the user can use all of their command line tools instead of just the built-in scripting stuff.
12.7.06 8:01pm
8% CPU Usage, 174 MB RAM Usage, Word: Connubial, Weather: Partly Cloudy
SUCCESS!!! In the past hour, I have made changes to the interpreter (I realised part way through that it was all well and good being able to set variables to each other, and add, subtract and everything, but if you can't put an integer in them in the first place, that's useless!), changed the language specification, and written an XOr encryptor. The encryptor worked fine. It successfully encrypted the first letter I entered, but the looping hasn't been completely sorted out yet, and it segfaulting upon entry of the second letter. But I'm half way there, I think. I'll have to check that all of the commands work before I release it as stable. I'm going to forget anyway, I expect, though.
12.7.06 6:56pm
9% CPU Usage, 194 MB RAM Usage, Word: Connubial, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have just written the first draft of the language specification for Esotorus X. The reason this has not been mentioned before is that it is an esoteric programming language that I only thought of writing this morning. The interpreter is just about finished, and the compiler shouldn't be too hard. When I have a working version, a project page will be set up. I might add it to WikiPedia and EsoLang, as those were my main sources of information regarding the creation of such a language. An esoteric programming language is a language that is difficult to understand, and bears no apparent correlation between what the programmer writes and what happens. Such languages are often (in fact, nearly always) written as a joke, or just for fun. Some (such as myself) would argue that x86 assembler is an esoteric language, but that has been debated for years and will probably go on to be debated for many years to come.
11.7.06 6:52pm
9% CPU Usage, 122 MB RAM Usage, Word: Mountebank, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have just been doing my maths homework, if anybody is interested, I could post the program I wrote to help me with it on here. The homework was a Sum Of Squares Investigation. The program goes through three numbers and checks whether they add up to 60, if they do, it will output a line to Standard Out in CSV format, if not it ignores them. It is easily changeable to make it do 4 numbers, 5, or a lot more. It is not infinitely changeable because that would fill up your hard disk, RAM, and anything else involved. To actually produce a CSV spreadsheet, redirect stdout to a file. It isn't that helpful for anything else. If anybody cares, the formula for the maths is 60/n, where n is the number of numbers. For example, if you want three numbers, they are all 60/3, which is 20. 20^2+20^2+20^2 is 1,200, which is the smallest sum of squares possible for three numbers that all add up to 60.
11.7.06 5:42pm
10% CPU Usage, 127 MB RAM Usage, Word: Mountebank, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I've just apt-get updated and apt-get dist-upgraded the whole room. Well, the laptop's still going, but the other three have finished. Neal, Lynda, and box all needed changes to be made to some configuration files in order to make them work. I'm not sure box will ever boot again, as it said it 'Package e2fsprogs is marked as essential, but removing anyway as you wish'. I'll check in a minute and possibly reinstall it. To go with the 24 Game Solver, I am planning on writing a Countdown numbers game solver, and also to finish Rakentian Wars at some point. What's annoying is that I have no problems with writing it, but compiling it is hard. I have installed distcc, and now I have to split the compile up into multiple commands. That's all quite simple, only the source files reference variables that are contained in other source files, and gives an error because they're being compiled separately. I'll ask on IRC or a forum, or possibly the distcc mailing list for help on this. I'm quite surprised about the number of hits I've had. That's a lot higher than I'd expected. It's probably because I've got a banner ad on the A.cc network, I've got it as my website in my A.cc profile, I'm in Google, and I've put Rakentian Wars as 'Soon to be released' in WikiPedia. You can view the hit statistics for the last 100 visitors by clicking the link at the bottom.
9.8.06 2:09pm
11% CPU Usage, 189 MB RAM Usage, Word: Compunction, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I have put four Space Ships screenshots in the Gallery for you to peruse at your leisure. I purposefully left out screenshots of level 3 for those that get there to enjoy.
10.7.06 9:48pm
3% CPU Usage, 176 MB RAM Usage, Word: Cap-a-pie, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
Nothing to say really, except that SSP has just reached a hundred (EDIT: Used to say a thousand, whoops!) hits! The reason I didn't post last night is because I had nothing to say, and I got back from motocross quite late. Max was, once again, absent from school today. I keep meaning to put a picture of the bottom of Neal in the Gallery, but I can't be bothered as I've got it all wired up and plugged in. Next time I've got nothing to do I'll give it a try. I currently have four things I need to do that are computer related., configure Conky (a system monitor for X, link on right), Learn how to use distcc properly, install OpenMosix and finish Rakentian Wars.
8.7.06 2:48pm
8% CPU Usage, 97 MB RAM Usage, Word: Histrionic, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I forgot to post here yesterday, but I was busy. I put some legs on Neal so that the capacitors don't break off on the carpet, I fixed the broken PS/2 port by replacing the capacitors. It turns out my brother didn't break it, the broken capacitors had stopped it working. It is now fitted in the corner, where it used to be, except it has no case because the capacitors had to be put on the bottom. It is running Mepis 3.4-3 as I type this, it has distccd (the DISTributed C(++) Compiler Daemon), this is to improve compile times, and next time I have a lot of spare time, I will install an OpenMosix kernel on it and this one to finish my 'cluster' of two computers. I may include Lynda as well if I feel like it, but that would only be for the coolness as it's only got 163840 KB (around 160 MB) of RAM and 233 MHz of PII processing power. I have posted pictures of the newly fixed computer in the Gallery (or rather, I'm just about to, and will have done when you read this).
6.7.06 7:03pm
14% CPU Usage, 179 MB RAM Usage, Word: Hubris, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have just fixed the 24 Solver, and it compiled and ran on Linux fine. I ran the exact same code on Windows, and there was an 'Integer Overflow at point <some_hex_here>'. So I'm going to post it here for Linux anyway, and anybody who uses Windows and cares could possibly compile it and send me the modified source. Thanks.
6.7.06 6:00pm
14% CPU Usage, 175 MB RAM Usage, Word: Hubris, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I should really have posted again last night, but I'll fill you in. I fixed Neal (the broken computer) successfully and I have installed SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3. Everything works fine, except my brother broke the PS/2 Mouse port, and the AGP card keeps overheating because the card is very badly designed. The heat sink is above the chip when the card is on the floor, but when mounted inside a computer, the heat rises up the heat sink and into the chip. So I use a Serial mouse (which needs the top removed to stop the vertical movement from being too jerky) and the onboard graphics. Mepis runs well. The computer is more stable than it was before it broke (although, I think that's because before it broke, some of the capacitors were failing and causing instability and the graphics card kept overheating), I left it running on a 3D screensaver which was jerky to keep it on 100% CPU Usage for half an hour. It was still going when I got back. I have now run into the problem of wireless drivers because I use a different card in this machine. I have emailed Belkin but I don't suspect they will be any help at all. I emailed Evesham and MSI about capacitors and neither helped, so I assume Belkin will tell me to contact RaLink (the chipset manufacturers), RaLink will direct me to my 'local' RaLink dealers, which will peobably be over 100 miles (just like the nearest MSI dealer) and I will end up writing a driver myself, hacking one out of the installer, rewriting Wine to run the installer properly, or buying a new card. I also started a Gallery last night, which can now be accessed on the right. If you have any pictures to put there, send them to me with a caption that mentions your name (e.g. This is Max Krupa's desktop or Photograph of a lion taken by Max Krupa). I noticed earlier that somebody had found this website by asking Google about the 24 Puzzle. I am ever so sorry about mentioning it, as I only mentioned that it wouldn't compile. But tonight I will fix it. I doubt you will return, but be happy in the knowledge that you might, possibly have helped somebody, somewhere, win at the 24 game.
5.7.05 4:45pm
12% CPU Usage, 127 MB RAM Usage, Word: Apotheosis, Weather: Light Rain
Well, I finished sticking capacitors on the bottom of the board when I ran out. But it didn't matter because I thought it might be enough. I took it back into the house, connected up anything absolutely required (monitor, PSU, RAM, CPU) and plugged the power cable in. Nothing happened, so I poked a bit of wire over the pins where the power button connects, it sparked, paused, then beeped! After a few seconds the screen made that Degaussing noise, and I had BIOS. I thought that was cool. But then I nudged the cable that was replacing the melted copper line, that sparked and flashed, then the screen went black. I then examined the situation and found that the wire had become detached, so that will need to be fixed. Also, when I was examining, I knocked a capacitor off, so I'll put that on later. I would now like to praise Microsoft (Don't laugh, I'm being serious). Windows Live Local is the best software of it's kind I've ever seen! It's better than Google Earth for me as I don't have to run a buggy application ported from ShitOS (I am of course talking about Windows) that requires 32MB Video RAM and my house is hi-res. In Google Earth it's very lo-res. So that's something that Microsoft have done right. Well done, Microsoft.
4.7.06 6:54pm
9% CPU Usage, 121 MB RAM Usage, Word: Emblazon, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I forgot to update the news yesterday. I wasn't away or anything. I purchased my capacitors from Mr. Peffers earlier today. I had previously been told they would cost me £12.20. That was for the 1000mF ones, and I need 1000uF, 20 it cost me £2.92. I have just been soldering them on, I've got six on at the moment. Whilst I was doing this, I melted one of the copper lines on the board. I didn't notice until I was checking for anything wrong with it. Never fear, though, for I had a cunning plan. I soldered a cable between one end of the copper line and the other end. Also, I was unable to solder the capacitors to the top of the board (I melted some plastic connectors whilst trying) so the capacitors are now on the back. I'll post some pictures when I've finished. I haven't done anything on RW lately, so I'll have to see about that later. I'll have to make a gallery page some time, for all of the pictures I want to post. Whilst I'm here, I shall tell you all (if there's any except Max) that you should use KDE, for it looks a lot better than anything else that I know of (be that the Mac desktop, Windows explorer, or the thousands of other desktop environments. Especially Gnome). SimplyMEPIS is a great way to do this as it is easy for Newbies to Linux, but doesn't stop you from doing anything more advanced. If you are strongly opposed to Linux, may I suggest one of the BSDs? Oh, funny story I read on a forum:
Person 1:
OK, Linux would be overkill, have you ever tried BSD?
Person 2:
I don't take drugs.
2.7.06 3:34pm
7% CPU Usage, 174 MB RAM Usage, Word: Depredation, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have just spent half an hour making an animation. You can see it next to the banner ad at the bottom. The reason it took half an hour is because I needed to get everything synchronised in so few frames. Look at the image for a while and make a guess about how many frames there are. You won't get it right. There are only 5 frames. I think that's quite impressive even if nobody else does.
2.7.06 10:52am
7% CPU Usage, 165 MB RAM Usage, Word: Depredation, Weather: Fair
Good news, I have fixed my sound. I downloaded a software mixer (KMix) and am currently listening to Left and Leaving by the Weatherfans. I think so anyway. It's on Indie Pop Rocks on SomaFM. Last night SSP reached 50 hits at 9:48 last night. It was somebody from Massachusettes, Boston, USA using Windows XP and Firfox 1.5.0. The're browser refused to declare how long they stayed, they were using 1024x768, their ISP was Verizon and they reached my page from the Free Open Source Games page on Wikipedia. If anybody thinks Rakentian Wars isn't Open Source, the only reason the source hasn't been released yet is because it's not worth releasing. If anybody's interested, they can email me. I am about to install the C/C++ header files on my laptop now. This is because last time I was away without an internet connection, I wrote a program to solve the 24 puzzle (email me if you care), compiled it and found that I had no headers.
1.7.06 11:20am
5% CPU Usage, 123 MB RAM Usage, Word: Plaudit, Weather: Partly Cloudy
Hmmm... Let's see. X Server still works. KDE still works. Everything else works!!! The apt-get dist-upgrade didn't break anything and I have just fixed the map loader completely! I might get started on the game loop properly soon. I was surprised to notice the hit stats for Friday: 0! Normally it's around 2 or 3. Hopefully traffic will pick up again soon or I might have to start a new advertising campaign. I'm trying to stay calm now, but after reading what I wrote above about everything working, I tested my Printer. The print drivers were reinstalled last night!!! I'm just about to test my sound again. No. That doesn't work, so I'll have to see to that. But all is well. If you ever run KDE and you want an Anti-Virus, I would have to recommend KlamAV. I got annoyed with it last night so I calmly emailed the developer (Robert Hogan) and I received a reply within the hour. In fact: This is the timestamp stuff from the top of the conversation (it carried on today):
On Saturday 01 July 2006 11:12, you wrote:
> On Saturday 01 July 2006 11:07, you wrote:
> > On Saturday 01 July 2006 10:42, you wrote:
> > > On Saturday 01 July 2006 10:23, you wrote:
> > > > On Saturday 01 July 2006 10:18, you wrote:
> > > > > On Saturday 01 July 2006 10:15, you wrote:
> > > > > > On Saturday 01 July 2006 09:52, you wrote:
> > > > > > > On Friday 30 June 2006 20:53, you wrote:
> > > > > > > > On Friday 30 June 2006 19:58, you wrote:
So I am going to post a link to KlamAV. Thank you Robert Hogan. As well as supporting me very efficeiently with KlamAV, he also showed me how to have a picture on my email header. But I think it only works if you use an X email client.
30.6.06 7:23pm
100% CPU Usage, 193 MB RAM Usage, Word: Aficionado, Weather: Fair
I am currently performing an apt-get dist-upgrade. It just asked me if I was sure I wanted to upgrade my X Server. I said Yes. This probably means that SSP Central will be down for the next part of next week while I spend my time learning what changes need to be made to my config files. I am making progress on the map loader errors (I think!). I am changing all of the map_file.getline()'s to map_file >>'s except where a string is involved. Oh dear, I've just checked the apt-get and it said: dpkg: kdelibs-bin: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you request: kdelibs4c2a depends on kdelibs-bin (= 4:3.5.2-2+b1); however: Package kdelibs-bin is to be removed. So it is likely that as well as X not working, KDE will be screwed as well. Luckily, I installed BlackBox a couple of days ago, so I'll be able to use some sort of GUI to fix KDE in (After I've fixed the X Server, of course). On a happier note, I saw that some CUPS stuff was mentioned. This is good because I have recently lost all of my print drivers. I don't know how. My sound, which has been deteriorating for the last few weeks, has finally stopped working all together, so hopefully there'll be a fix for that coming. I'll report back once I've fixed everything.
29.6.06 3:55pm
!!!FORGOT TO CHECK THE WIDGETS!!!
I've just got home from school and would like to announce my plans for this evening. I want to try and cut a key by hand. That sounds quite fun. I need to finish my script for English, and I am going to fix all of the errors relating to Rakentian Wars. I've also decided that as soon as I have a playable version of Rakentian Wars, I will release it's source here. I won't release binaries because people will be put off when they see a game that is barely playable. The other thing I wanted to say is that all of my users who aren't using Windows are foreign (to England). Why is this? This must mean that my belief that people all around the world are tricked in to using Windows is wrong. People in England generally think that Windows is better than Linux, according to my logs, and people in other countries (except America, which is also completely Windows in my logs) tend to know better. If you are: the Linux user from Germany, the Linux user from Austria, the Linux user from Brazil, the Mac user from Holland, or the Mac user from Canada, then good for you! Otherwise, I strongly suggest getting Linux. I suggest Linux over Mac because there is a lot more software available for it, from what I've seen, and that there are a million and one distributions, so if you don't like the way one does something, you can get another whilst still using the same underlying software. Of course, anything but Windows, really. Oh, did you know that Microsoft runs Linux on over 5000 of their computers? No, well that's a fact. This can be nothing but an admission of defeat on Microsofts part. I would also like to mention the Banner page, so that people can try to click on mine, and the Advert page, so that people can post adverts around IT rooms, since the previous link has just moved on to the Old News page.
28.6.06 5:42pm
6% CPU Usage, 222 MB RAM Usage, Word: Venal, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I've just been looking through the logs for the website and I noticed that 53.3% of my visitors are using Internet Explorer. This means it's time for another rant against Microsoft. Firstly, do you like Internet cookies in general, if you aren't expecting them? If yes, then you need educating. I suggest asking Google why cookies are bad. If no, and you use IE anyway, why? Firefox has built-in cookie protection and is able to alert you whenever a site is trying to give you a cookie. If you don't want it, all you have to do is click Reject. In IE, there is nothing built into the browser to remove them, let alone block them in the first place. Also, Firefox gives you a list in which you can specify which sites can give you cookies and which can't. Another question, do you like having to pay for everything? If no, and you use Windows, why? There is more free software available for Linux than there is for Windows. If you do like paying for software, you should probably ask Google why you shouldn't need to pay for software. And don't tell me open source software is less secure because everybody can read the source and find bugs. That is a lie. There are more honest people than dishonest people on the Internet. Especcially those that are clever enough to spot bugs just through reading the source. This means that with closed source software, say, 10 people can read the source. If anybody honest notices a bug, they can't do anything about it, since they can't find it in the source and will likely be told to go away and stop interfering if they tell the developers to fix it. But, if a dishonest person finds that bug, they can exploit to it's full potential. That balances things in favour of dishonest people rather than those who are likely to fix bugs. And another thing, if somebody writes software so that they can earn a living, it's not going to be the same standard as if somebody writes software because they enjoy writing software. But I think that rant is long enough for now. If your opinion has been changed, see SimplyMEPIS on the right. Contact me via email if you need any help at all. Onto Rakentian Wars. I have found (and corrected) the main bug, but now it is closing before it has finished loading the map. It would seem there is a long way to go before this is rectified. Lastly, I have asked my DT Teacher about buying some capacitors for one of my computers. This means that if it works, my 4.5 Ghz tri-core, 800MB RAM, 180GB RAID HDD supercomputer could quite easily become a reality!
27.6.06 5:10pm
9% CPU Usage, 248 MB RAM Usage, Word: Copious, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I had an idea earlier for Rakentian Wars which, as far as I know, hasn't been used in any other games to date. It is Religion. At the start of the game you have to pick a religion. This influences what you can do in the game. Different religions have different advantages and disadvantages. For example, you might have to go to a special area every so often, but be allowed in another area, or have no tax when you trade. I also finished perfecting the second prototype of my Physics Engine (the movement part anyway). The first prototype was in Blitz Basic, the new one is C++. I have got drift sorted out properly now. If you turn without your throttle on, you carry on moving in the same direction, but pointing in a different one. This is so that you can run away from somebody, then turn round and shoot whilst still running away. The map loading problem still has me baffled. I'm not sure whether the problem is in the log() function, or the load_map() function. What it does seems to have no correlation to what I do to the source.
26.6.06 4:32pm
6% CPU Usage, 160 MB RAM Usage, Word: Autocrat, Weather: Light Rain
I'm back! I've been away racing all weekend and didn't have time to notify you. I've been looking through my logs today and I noticed that I have had 1 Mac user, 4 Linux users, and 19 Windows users. This means that my games will need to be compiled for Windows, Linux, and Mac (in that order of importance). Unfortunately, I can only compile for Linux. I might be able to compile for Windows if I'm really desperate. I will need some volunteers with very basic C++ knowledge (you don't even need to know how to program, just compiling, and fixing if necessary) to compile my games for Windows and Mac. Any volunteers would be appreciated, you'd be mentioned in the news, and you'd get your name in the credits! If anybody would like to volunteer, contact me via email (address at bottom). If nobody volunteers, I will be able to find someone as there are Mac and Windows users on the A.cc forums. In the Rakentian Wars side of things, the game loop has not progresses much, since I've been away and I got stuck with the map loader. I have the timing implemented, input started, and controls (buttons, etc.) finished, but not fully implemented. If you volunteer as a Mac user, it would be nice if you could compile for PowerPC and x86. If you can only do one, it doesn't matter. If you think I have already probably have enough volunteers, volunteer anyway, you might still be wanted. I will post when I have compilers for all platforms and architectures. Oh, if anybody uses Linux other than x86, they could make binaries for me as well, but the source distribution will be preferred in Linux. The SpeedHack date has still not been announced. I also noticed in the logs a Windows user using IE 5.01. What the hell for? IE 6 is a lot better, and Firefox, Opera, and Netscape better than that! Somebody was using IE 7 as well. Just testing I hope, from the reviews I've read. Also, I am now top of Google if you type in Stanley Software Productions.
22.6.06 6:14pm
100% CPU Usage, 115 MB RAM Usage, Word: Sobriquet, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I am registering for The Mana World now, hence the 100% Load. I have just noticed that Linux manages CPU load very well. Even at 100% it is as responsive as it always is. There is no lag at all whilst I'm writing this. The bug(s?) in the map loader are still to be worked out. I'm pretty sure that there's more than one because I've already fixed about five. That's what happens if you leave your code for a week between writing and testing. I've just check the Mana World window: Disconnected by Server. Either it's down or I'll have to reregister. Ed and Ollie haven't got any further on their MMOG yet. I don't think they've even started on the code yet. I have found a new online radio station I like: SomaFM.
21.6.06 8:43pm
9% CPU Usage, 200 MB RAM Usage, Word: Languor, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I wanted to announce that I have failed in my goal due to unforeseen complications. On a positive note, I have found (part of) the problem with loading file maps (WARNING: Technical rant coming up). The problem was that I was looking for bits of code without an error correction system, but in actual fact, it was the other way round: The error correction system was segfaulting. Of course, that means I now have two things to fix: A segfault, and whatever triggered the error corrector. The unforeseen complications were that I am unable to declare a vector 'extern'. So I have decided to keep all vector-related stuff in the one source file.
21.6.06 4:14pm
7% CPU Usage, 235 MB RAM Usage, Word: Languor, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
My goal for tonight is to have the game screen finished and accessible, and have a semi-working chat system. If I finish that I might start networking. At the moment I am focussing my efforts on fixing the File Map bug (when you select a map from a file it freezes). If I go to IT at school, my time is not wasted as I am working on the physics enging in parallel, but in Dev-C++. I may put the lot on my pen drive at some point to have it all in school. On a side note, good luck to Ed Bramwell and Ollie Somebody. They are attempting to create an MMOG. Not too difficult, you say? Well, they're doing it in Flash, when there are plenty of easier alternatives, and, wait for it, they haven't had any prior programming/game development experiences whatsoever. They're going to need good luck. Also, the server they're planning to host it on is a PII 150Mhz with 64MB RAM on a 1Mb ADSL connection. And they think it's going to cope. If they ever finish it, I'll post a link here. I would also like to mention the Banner page, so that people can try to click on mine, and the Advert page, so that people can post adverts around IT rooms, since the previous link has just moved on to the Old News page.
20.6.06 6:49pm
9% CPU Usage, 201 MB RAM Usage, Word: Clemency, Weather: Partly Cloudy
I have just noticed that my counter says 4. I can only account for 1 of those because of the way I've set it up. That's great! That means 3 people have visited this site without me knowing about it. I don't know how they found it, but I think it's cool! I have done a bit more on the game initialiser and finished designing the in-game screen (the buttons and displays around the edge). Also, a link to the Leaks page was on the right for over a day. If you noticed it, well done! I'm about to go and play PlaneShift now, because I keep meaning to but never get round to it.
19.6.06 4:58pm
6% CPU Usage, 169 MB RAM Usage, Word: Ephemeron, Weather: Mostly Cloudy
I've just added a counter at the bottom of the pages and I must say I'm very impressed with StatCounter (Link on right). They made it very customisable and easy to install on my web page. They did not force any adverts at all on me (same with ShortURL), and they provide very thorough statistic analysis. I've decided to post the current weather (as declared by Liquid Weather++) in the Widget section because I recently installed it. Though it's not very accurate. Looking out of the window it is completely cloudy. Not a Sun in the sky. Not even a sky in the sky for that matter... It's all clouds. Also, there was nothing wrong with Dads computer. Somebody had leant on the Surge Protector switch whilst replacing the mouse (Read: I turned it off whilst replacing the mouse and didn't notice).
19.6.06 4:12pm
8% CPU Usage, 181 MB RAM Usage, Word: Ephemeron
OK, I'm back, and development is continuing. Just now I'm starting the main game loop for RW! Unfortunately, I may not be doing as much coding as I had planned this evening because my Dads computer has just powered itself off for no reason and refuses to turn on. Not even as much as a green light on the front. I should be able to fix it, though. Earlier today, the physics engine prototype was perfected in Blitz Basic. Don't laugh, it was all I had available at the time. I notice the SpeedHack dates have not been announced yet. I might not be participating, because most of my weekends are spent racing, but I might get a simple one done in one day if need be.
16.6.06 5:44pm
12% CPU Usage, 134 MB RAM Usage, Word: Salad Days
I won't be posting until Monday, possibly Sunday, because I'm going racing tonight and won't have internet access. Just thought I'd say. Still haven't figured out where the bug in RW is, though I haven't touched the source much since my last post. I've just added links to SSP in Wikipedia, see the SSP page. Go to exactseek.com and type in Stanley Software Productions – I'm first on the list!
15.6.06 8:25pm
12% CPU Usage, 184 MB RAM Usage, Word: Juxtaposition
Found a strange bug in RW!!! This is actually good news, because it means I have successfully fixed a different one. This is the first time it has successfully loaded a map without segfaulting! The strange bug is that after choosing a map, you are left with no mouse, all the buttons on the screen depressed and nothing to do except Ctrl-Alt-Del (Closes the program with Allegro). Just thought I'd report on the progress. Also, I have decided to stop the customisability stuff I've been obsessed with. It was just taking too long adding stuff to the map definition, so after adding one more item, I've stopped on the maps and will soon be writing the networking code and starting the main game loop. Unfortunately, there's still well over a month, maybe even two, of development left in it.
15.6.06 7:20pm
5% CPU Usage, 197 MB RAM Usage, Word: Juxtaposition
I have put a few new banner ads on the A.cc banner network today. I think I'll stick with the current one for a while now. I've finished with Garbett's hard disk and I didn't break it. I've just discovered two things – How to take a screenshot using Allegro (for my games), and an MMORPG, The Mana World. Link on the right. Basically, it's like an old console RPG, but in MMORPG. Of course, the screenshot feature means that I can post screenshots of my game in its current stages. It isn't a game yet because it's so amazing and I still haven't finished menu screens. Soon, I'm going to start the game and implement the final menu screens as they're needed. Actually, I won't post any screenshots because they'll be nothing like what it's going to look like, because the menu background is still a WIP (Artists' phrase, not mine) and he hasn't even started on the buttons yet. Also, if anybody would like to help SSP (even though I have no software yet!), they could print out this page, cut it up and post them around IT rooms, peoples pockets, or anywhere. I'd appreciate that. Also, you could use this page and keep refreshing until my ad comes up. Then right-click on the ad and open it somewhere else. Do that as many times as you can be bothered, and it should make the ad come up more often, so that more people click on it, providing free games for everyone! On a side note, the adverts I have don't make me any money. I put them there voluntarily. Everybody on A.cc puts them there voluntarily and we advertise each other's sites!
14.6.06 4:56pm
13% CPU Usage, 156 MB RAM Usage, Word: Choleric
On second thoughts, I won't bother with a ToDo List. Nobody really cares and it's just another thing to update. I will, however, have a secret Leaks page, to leak any information like games planned for the future. Obviously, it will be top secret, so if you read that I'll have to kill you. Only kidding.
14.6.06 3:58pm
100% CPU Usage, 167 MB RAM Usage, Word: Choleric
The 100% CPU Usage is back! Cool. Two posts in a row with 100%! Anyway, this time the CPU Load is because I'm attempting to copy Windows Vista Beta 2 to my friends portable hard drive. Unfortunately it's NTFS, so I'm backing up all his stuff in case I ruin the drive. I'd say there's a 30% chance of drive ruin. I hope he's not reading this. If I ruin it, I think I'll reformat it in VFAT, put his stuff back and hope he doesn't notice. I have recently put a ToDo list on my monitor. I'll put a link at the side to my current list which I shall update with every post.
13.6.06 7:35pm
100% CPU Usage, 175 MB RAM Usage, Word: Practicable
Google have released Google Earth for Linux! Thank you Google! That is the reason for the 100% CPU Load: I am currently installing it! In Rakentian Wars, I have almost finished all the menu screens (trust me there's a LOT of them), I have found out how to do pixel perfect collision detection, using a function by Emeric Ponpou. Preliminary looks at Google Earth Beta 4 are: I need more VRAM. 32MB is recommended, I have only allocated 16 (and that was only so that I could have a colour bootsplash ;) ). Anyway, thanks a lot, Google, for recognising Open Source!
12.6.06 10:10pm
10% CPU Usage 172 MB RAM Usage, Word: Billingsgate
Actually, I meant to go and do it then (EDIT: See previous post), but I got distracted so I've just tried it now. I abandoned the project after half an hour of resizing, adding invisible areas, and trying to make a human body (roughly rectangular, maybe 6ft x 2ft in places) fit a sprite body (perfectly square, 16px x 16px). It didn't fit and I gave up. Now I know why they draw sprites instead of scaling down people. ShortURL have finally accepted me! visit www.ssp.shorturl.com. Oh, wait, you're already there... See link on right to ShortURL for one of your own.
kfld
12.6.06 6:45pm
8% CPU load, 171 MB RAM Usage, Word: Billingsgate
Just wanted to make an announcement about Rakentian Wars, if anybody would like to contribute to the project, contact me. These places are still available: Artist (I've got one, but he's VERY slow), Map Editor Programmer (I really can't be bothered at the moment but will if necessary), Level Designer (As soon as the Map Editor is done you'll be needed). I doubt anybody will read this so I'll have to try some sneaky advertising somewhere. I'll post labels around the IT room. I'm considering making a sprite of myself in a minute. I will take a number of photos of my self from different angles, scale them down to 16x16, a bit of pixel art here and there and we're done! I'll go and do that now, in fact. Oh yeah, if anybody would like to contribute to Rakentian Wars contact me.
11.6.06 2:17pm
18% CPU load, 164 MB RAM Usage, Word: Emolument
Added the Old News page 5 minutes after last post. Every time I tried to change it, OpenOffice screwed the links up so I had to go and do it again. Hopefully it will work this time. Grrrr... It's been acting like MS Word. Shame on it!
11.6.06 1:53pm
7% CPU load, 153 MB RAM Usage, Word: Emolument
Reading an article about 2D game graphics design, just thought I'd mention it and add a link on the right. The guy who wrote it also drew SpriteLib, a collection of 2D images for games, which I have downloaded and would like to give him credit for. Thank you Ari Feldman (The Flying Yogi...)! On an unrelated note, Rakentian Wars is being officially announced! Hurrah! It is a 2D networked space shooter and will be the largest software project I have ever done. Development is going well and I'm yet to get bored of coding it (definitely a good sign!). Unfortunately, artist has been busy and hasn't done much art yet, so development is slowing, but I sent him an agry email and can expect some graphics soon! I'll post some VERY preliminary screen shots and maybe a few mockup game screens when I've done them.
10.6.06 6:28pm
12% CPU load, 204 MB RAM Usage, Word: Gainsay
Just registered www.ssp.shorturl.com, so hopefully that should be reviewed and activated soon! I'll have to change the URL on my banner ad picture though. Do NOT ever use a .co.nr URL. Why? They do not allow bluebottle email addresses, they require you to add a picture that doesn't work on yor main page and they're generally nor very nice. Try typing free URL redirection into Google instead, please. Oh, I could start telling you my PC information at every post, according to my Super Karamba widgets, I'll start now. My widgets include Aero AIO and Word of the day (which I submitted a fix for when it stopped working. No mean feat since it's written in Python and the only time I've ever used Python was to write a fix for Word of the day). Links are on the right.
10.6.06 5:18pm
Just made a banner for the Allegro banner network. Free advertising! I pressed refresh about a million times (I cleared the cache), and I got like 2 hits, and Allefant came up 3 times in 10. How's that fair? I say, this is starting to get a bit blog-like isn't it? I'd like to recommend a game to you all (if there's any of you) whilst I'm here: PlaneShift. It's still in development but you can download it and it seems pretty complete to me. It's a 3D, multi-platform, medieval-based MMORPG (learn the lingo, go on the forums! Sorry, Insider joke), and it's definitely worth a try. I believe it doesn't perform very well on Windows, my friend (part of the insider joke) has a brand new graphics card and 256Mb of RAM and he got lag, I have onboard graphics, 384Mb of RAM and Linux and it runs fine for me. Get Linux! Try SimplyMEPIS, amazing hardware support and easier for newbies (link on the right).
9.6.06 5:32pm
Finally made it work, just like to say that I'll proably (unless I have other arrangements) be entering SpeedHack this year (see link on right). That is basically a competition where a bunch of programmers organise a date, a random rule generator is spun, and everybody tries to write a game as well as they can in just one weekend. Some of them are actually pretty good! I'm not expecting to win this year, but one day I hope to.
9.6.06 5:09pm
I've just realised that I have this webspace after all (It PM'd ML automatically and I wrongly expected a reply), and am starting my page. Before anybody complains about the colour scheme or the boringness, it is so that it is a simple page that can be rendered anywhere, regardless of colour depth, screen resolution, or browser, plus it makes it easier to maintain when I don't have access to OpenOffice.
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