Off World Girl's Terrestrial Com Channel

The New Windows Logo

2012-02-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

That there is the new Windows 8 logo. Yep, they've gotten rid of the "flag" and gone back to the original metaphor of a. . .wait for it. . .WINDOW!

In a post over on the official Windows Team Blog this is what they had to say about it:

Now, as a designer I have a few minor issues with this new logo.

With Windows 8, we approached the logo redesign with a few key goals on mind.
1. We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic by echoing the International Typographic Style (or Swiss design) that has been a great influence on our Metro style design philosophy. Using bold flat colors and clean lines and shapes, the new logo has the characteristics of way-finding design systems seen in airports and subways.
2. It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion – aligning with the fast and fluid style you’ll find throughout Windows 8.
3. Our final goal was for the new logo to be humble, yet confident. Welcoming you in with a slight tilt in perspective and when you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you. It is a “Personal” Computer after all.

The "window" element feels like an island unto itself rather than associated with the wordmark. My right brain is crying out for that to be to the right of the lettering.
The dot on the "i" sticks up above the top line of the "W" and "d" for no apparent reason. I want that to be aligned properly.
The dot on the "i" is a circle, and I feel it should be slightly oval-shaped to mirror the negative space in the "8" (it's a subtle thing, true, but it's a nearly subconscious way to help tie it all together).
The "window" element is boring. Windows has long made use of the Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow blocks in the logo, and the "Metro UI" does actually use multi-colored blocks, so there is no good design reason I can see to drop color completely.
The "window" element is slightly out of scale with the wordmark. The "far" end of the perspective on the window should be the same height as the "8" (again to help tie it all together).
My last point is a legal concern (if I were hired to design this logo, that is) regarding the fact the "window" element on it's own is a "simple geometric shape." Typically the USPTO will not allow simple geometric shapes to be registered as trademarks since they are not distinctive enough. The same rule applies to copyrighting designs. Considering the "window" element WILL be used by itself, for example on computer keyboards for the ubiquitous "Windows Key," this potential legal issue with trademarking itseems an odd point to ignore.

It has also been pointed out that the perspective on the "window" element is wrong, that it is rectangular (like a flag) and not square (like a window) and the horizontal bar should be tapered. I'll grant that purposely doing it "wrong" might help make the "distinctive" argument for trademark purposes even if it is artistically annoying, so without knowing whether it was an actual mistake or purposeful I'm going to leave it alone.

So, without further ado, here is my quick and dirty reworking of the new logo addressing these points, and for easier direct comparison the actual logo. You decide - which do you prefer?

This Just In - Apple Sues Everyone on Earth!

2011-08-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

"Apple Inc., makers of the Mac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad, announced today that they are suing everyone on Earth for infringement of their patent on various gestures including pinching or spreading fingers, rotating anything, touching anything with up to 10 fingers at a time, or sliding an index finger vertically or horizontally across any surface. Judges in Australia, Germany, and the United States have granted Apple an injunction barring individuals in those countries from using any of the gestures claimed by Apple. In a related suit Apple is suing the planet Earth itself for being round, claiming a trademark on circles in both Europe and the United States. Lawyers for the Earth countered that it is actually an 'oblate spheroid' and not a circle." - via Rooters News Service

I'm really disappointed in Apple these days due to the legal war they've declared on numerous other manufacturers - at last count Samsung, Motorla, HTC, JAY-tech, Kodak (which Apple lost) - and they're far from done. Apple has now won injunctions against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in two different courts, plus an injunction against German manufacturer JAY-tech. The local German court's decision applies to the entire European Union for some reason (even though local court decisions in many other matters don't appear to have such broad-reaching consequences).

First of all Apple should have enough confidence in its products and customer loyalty (I'm sure we've all met our share of adherents to the Cult of Apple) to compete in the marketplace. Preventing competitors from entering the market via lawsuits is dirty, underhanded, cowardly, and I doubt it's actually profitable in the end. I've worked for tech companies in the past that preferred to spend their war chest on litigation against competitors rather than pour it into R&D and actually improve their products and services. Think of the tons of cash Apple has blown on legal expenses pursuing these lawsuits in courts around the world! The shareholders would probably be angry if not for the fact that Apple's shares are overvalued - but as someone who got burned in the Dot.Bomb era (and especially with the current economic situation) that bubble is gonna burst. You'll also notice that Apple hasn't gone after Google itself over competition from Android devices - it's going after the device manufacturers. It's also not going after them over patent infringement - it's claiming infringement of trademarks, trade dress, "Community Design."

They are able to do this because of some obvious problems with the EU Community Design and USPTO. Problems which NEED to be reformed to prevent these ongoing legal battles, but of course will NEVER be reformed because the government makes money in court filings and most of our so-called representatives are lawyers by trade - it's their industry that is making out like bandits over these suits. Furthermore, at least here in the United States, our government seems perfectly happy to let corporations draft the legislation and let the politicians they arguably own introduce it. That legislation is, not surprisingly, going to be beneficial to the corporate interests that wrote the bill. Fox in the hen house kinda stuff.

In what way are Intellectual Property law and the agencies that register the claims broken? Well, for one Apple files "iterative" Community Design claims in Europe. They start with a rectangle, file that. Then add a round button. File that. Add a rectangular screen. File that. All the way up from generic drawings to actual photos of finished devices. And that allows them to sue other companies for infringement at any and every level of those iterative filings! If you think "Well, that's just silly Europe for ya'" think again. The USPTO granted Apple a trademark on any handheld electronic device with a rectangular shape and rounded corners. So, internationally, now Apple "owns" rectangles. You know, that ubiquitous shape for pretty much every phone and tablet computer available? Even when Apple isn't busy suing people to keep their allegedly "infringing" products out of the marketplace the government sometimes helps them out for free. I know of one person who purchased a large order of Chinese-made OEM (no name) 7" Android tablets for use at a school. US Customs seized them on the grounds that they were "counterfeit" iPads in violation of Apple's trademark. They were plastic, not aluminum. They were 7" 16:9 ratio screens, not a 4:3 9.7" screen. They were running a stock Android OS, not one "skinned" to look like iOS. Any FOOL could have been able to tell they weren't iPads, but that didn't matter apparently. Yet the FCC approved the Motorola Xoom, Galaxy Tab, Vizio Tablet, and a bunch of less well known products with exactly the SAME shape, and in some case the same size screen and aspect ratio. Such inconsistency in enforcement of IP rights is also indicative of how broken the system is.

A lot of this is down to the officials at the filing offices. They are granting IP claims to companies for some astonishingly broad and generic things - you know, like rectangles. This I really don't understand because if you were trying to apply for a trademark on a logo of equally spartan design it would be refused on the basis that you can't trademark simple geometric shapes as logos - yet for some reason you CAN trademark them as the shapes of devices?! The USPTO also grants patents on really general things like gestures and processes - without requiring any specifics like actual code. This happens in no small part because the USPTO (and the patent offices in many other countries) don't require you to supply a working model or limit the claim to a specific application. So someone goes to the trouble and expense of figuring out how to write code or build a device that does something or another and then they get sued by someone else who was granted a patent on that something or other and wants compensation - even though they never implemented it or even figured out HOW to implement it.

Of course companies claim they NEED to be able to apply for and protect an "idea" so they can secure investment money to implement it, and the patent (or pending patent) is an assurance to the investors that some other company isn't working on the same thing and might undercut them by coming to market first. But there seriously has to be a better way doesn't there?

Nobody really knows how to fix the IP laws because they're so convoluted and there are so many interests involved who would resist any change, or only advocate changes beneficial to their own position. A good start, though, would be to reject claims for trademark or trade dress on simple shapes and patents on general things anyone could do (like gestures). Software patents should also be limited to particular applications, languages, or platforms. The code itself should rightly be protected under copyright, not patent law. Last but not least would be the addition of a "loser pays" clause for civil lawsuits to discourage frivolous suits or patent trolls looking for an easy payday (which should be illegal anyway as "unjust enrichment"). I'd go one step further and outlaw the formation of IP holding companies, whose only sole purpose is to sue others for infringing on properties in their portfolio for financial gain while producing and innovating nothing.

Until such a mythical time arises, however, we're stuck with the current state of affairs. It appears Apple will continue to use it's gigantic multi-billion dollar war chest to launch attacks at any and every company they deem a potential competitor - and will continue to do so until they either run out of money to file the suits and/or the shareholders cry foul as Apple's product lines grow stagnant due to the lack of competition and the redirection of revenue away from product development and into the legal department.

People, of course, could boycott Apple products to convey their distaste for these tactics - not that huge corporations EVER really feel the sting of a boycott. They frankly don't seem to take notice at all. For my part I'm seriously considering never, ever buying another Apple product no matter how cool, or neat, or good it is. Even if it's the only product legally allowed on the shelves.

Too Many Commodores!

2011-07-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

It sounds like some ol' Navy phrase - "Too many Commodores, not enough ships." No, I'm referring to the computer brand made famous by the Commodore 64 and Amiga in the 80's and early 90's.

I wrote a previous post titled "Too Many Amigas!" about the brand dilution that is occurring by having too many companies producing completely different products under the Amiga name. Commodore itself has a similar problem because it too became fragmented after the company went bankrupt.

The one you've probably heard about is Commodore USA, LLC. It's a Florida startup that is mostly using off-the-shelf components and systems and rebranding them. The only "original" thing they've got so far is a computer case that looks a lot like the original Commodore 64 filled with PC gear at a steep markup. They can do this because they have licensed the brand from Commodore International Licensing, BV which is in turn owned by a company named Asiarim (Asia Rim - get it?) who have actually changed their name to "Commodore Holdings Corporation" as of March 2011. But Commodore USA, LLC apparently does not have an exclusive license to the name. Consider what it says at the bottom of their website:

Commodore® trademark used under exclusive worldwide license by Commodore USA, LLC for its line of AIO (All-In-One) keyboard computers, and is the trademark of Commodore Licensing, BV, registered in the United States and other countries.

Notice the exclusivity is conditional "for it's line of AIO (All-In-One) keyboard computers." Now why would that be in there? Oh, maybe because Commodore Consumer Electronics in the Netherlands and Commodore Consumer Electronics USA are respectively the European and American sales offices for Asiarim/Commodore Holdings Corporation (though the web addresses for the individual sales office sites seem to have disappeared).

And what sort of things do they sell? Apparently several Commodore branded mobile devices, one of which I blogged about back in April of 2009. In addition to what I knew about they also have listed "Ultra Mobile" and "Mobile Internet" devices (the latter are kind of like smartphones without the phone part). As for where you could actually BUY these things? Probably nowhere. Those devices have apparently been listed for years and no products have actually ever shipped.

And last but not least (well maybe least, I don't know how you'd measure these things) is Commodore Gaming located in the Netherlands (a subsidiary of the The Content Factory, BV). They offer the official Commodore 64 game emulator app for the iPhone and Wii. They originally sold customized gaming PCs, but are no longer in the hardware business as I'm sure the app business is a lot more profitable. People seem a little confused as to what the deal is with this company.

I've read that they were involved in a joint venture with Commodore International Corporation in 2005-2006 (which predates Asiarim/Commodore Holdings Corporation and their subsidiary Commodore International Licensing, BV) which has led some to believe Commodore Gaming has joint rights to the brand name. Even Commodore USA, LLC thought so and initially approached them about licensing the name for hardware in the North American market. However Commodore Gaming informed them that they'd need to talk to Asiarim's subsidiary Commodore International Licensing, BV for that. Why? Well, according to the terms of the $22.7 million joint venture with Commodore International Corporation it was for a period of five years with an option to extend it another five years and it was CIC that would get a 49% stake in Commodore Gaming, not the other way around. However, during the term of this venture CIC ended up getting sold to Asiarim and one would assume the contract was simply transferred, meaning Commodore Gaming is, itself, nothing more than a licensee with only a few more years on the contract before they have to dissolve or negotiate a new license.

What does this all boil down to? Well, Asiarim/Commodore Holdings Corporation is the closest thing to a reunited Commodore International since the bankruptcy, but they've never shipped a product. Commodore USA, LLC is shipping hardware and is the first company to bring the Commodore and Amiga brand names back under one roof, but is only a licensee of both and doesn't actually own the intellectual property rights to either.

Of course this all could have probably been avoided if Irving Gould hadn't ousted Thomas Rattigan back in 1987. Rattigan turned the company around, not only steering it away from presumed inevitable bankruptcy but into the black $46 million in only a couple years at the helm. But suddenly Rattigan was replaced by Chairman Irving Gould. Rattigan later claimed he was ousted due to personality conflicts and Gould being upset that Rattigan got all the credit for saving the company. Gould, a venture-capitalist who'd been involved with the company for 20 odd years, believed that North American branch should be little more than a sales and marketing extension of the stronger European core of the company, rather than a semi-independent entity. His drastic downsizing and plant closings over his seven year reign ran the company into the ground, bankruptcy, and liquidation.

Ok, you may be wondering why I even give a damn. It was like a lifetime ago, right? Well my first computer was a Commodore 64 and if I hadn't been exposed to coding back then I might have been too intimidated to tackle HTML back in the mid-90's which led to a career in the Internet industry. A Commodore 64C saw me through many a late-night writing college papers while my classmates were jockeying for time in the school computer lab. I lusted after an "Video Toaster" Amiga for video production but could never afford one. I've got the same nostalgic soft spot in my heart for the brand that a lot of people do, and but for the bad decisions of Mr. Gould I might be typing this from my shiny new iAmiga running AmigaOS 6.

Too Many Amigas!

2011-07-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about my Facebook friends list. I'm talking about the brand name "Amiga" as in those fantastic computers Commodore used to make in the early 1990's.

Commodore may have gone bust, but Amiga never really went away. The properties have been bought and sold and passed around so much I'll just say if you want a lesson in how the vultures rip apart the carcass of a bankrupt tech company read the Wikipedia page.

If you didn't bother reading that just know ownership of Amiga passed through a number of companies (including Gateway) until ultimately culminating in Amiga Inc. But here's where things get tricky! The current version of Amiga OS (yes they kept developing it!) belongs to a Belgian company called Hyperion Entertainment. Rights to update the previous versions belongs to a German company called Haage & Partner. A new Amiga-compatible computer called the x1000 is being made by a Belgian company called A-Eon in partnership with Hyperion Entertainment and a British company called Varisys as the hardware partner actually delivering the goods.

So where, you may ask, is Amiga, Inc. in all of this? Well, in 2001 they had entered into an agreement with the AmigaOne Partners (collectively Hyperion Entertainment and Eyetech Group Ltd), but that license agreement was terminated in 2006. Today Amiga Inc. only sells rebranded Linux and Android tablets directly and through some kind of fundraising program for other organizations and has an embedded device software called "Amiga Anywhere" - thought exactly what it is and does is sort of vague. It apparently isn't vaporware as it was available on products from several "distributors, resellers, and marketing partners" - most of which no longer appear to be in business as their web sites are gone. Also, I think that 2007 support for Linux and Symbian devices isn't going to get anyone too excited (what with Symbian going the way of the dodo too).

Ah! But that's not all folks, we have yet another company in the mix: Commodore USA, LLC The Florida startup with the resurrected brand name says they have also secured the rights to sell Amiga branded computers from - wait for it - Amiga, Inc.! For some reason the new Commodore has chosen to give these new computers the same model numbers as original Amigas. Furthermore these computers are no more Amigas than a Mac or a Dell. The cases look pretty cool but are nothing new or unique either and have been available since 2005 from Karma Digital's distributors! You can buy the cases yourself for between $110 - $300, put in your own PC components, buy an Amiga sticker online and build your own better faux-Amiga and likely for less money. Commodore also says these will have "Commodore OS" on them, which I gather is just a Linux distro, and some mention of being AROS compatible (most likely the "Icaros Desktop" distro of that). But that's not hard to do since AROS has been ported to the Intel-compatible architecture. Heck, I can boot up Icaros Dekstop on most of my computers, and some of them are pretty old.

Side note: For the uninitiated AROS is a free open source operating system that is mostly compatible with AmigaOS 3.1. There are distributions of it (much like there are different distros of Linux) with the most popular being "Icaros Desktop." There is also "AROS Broadway" and "AROS Aspire." There is also "MorphOS" (which is gorgeous btw) that isn't a distro but uses parts of AROS (MorphOS is only for the PowerPC architecture).

If anyone from Commodore happens upon this blog post, well, I seriously want you guys to succeed because I loved my old C64 and lusted after an Amiga and want to see the company truly come back from the dead. But slapping some Commodore and Amiga stickers on off-the-shelf parts and rebranded systems and selling them for a huge markup to cash in on nostalgia isn't a sustainable business plan. Commodore was a true innovator who sold hardware that gave customers actual value. Maybe if they did that they'd have the revenue to BUY the name rather than just license it from Commodore Licensing, BV.

So, anyway to sum up we have:

Haage & Partner with the rights to update AmigaOS 3.x.

Hyperion Entertainment with the rights to AmigaOS 4.x.

A-Eon partnered with them and Varisys to make truly new Amiga computers.

Amiga Inc., selling rebranded tablets and licensing Commodore USA to pretty much do the same.

It would be so nice if it was all under one roof again (or had never been sent to the four corners of the Earth in the first place). This brand dilution is only going to lead to confusion over what's what and what is a "real" Amiga reborn.

"The Event" - More Hollywood Hackery

2011-05-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

I've been watching NBC's "The Event" since the first episode. Until last night's airing, though, I had thought it a reasonably "intelligent" show, at least by network standards. But now it has proved to be just more crap from Hollywood hacks.

"Write what you know" is an old saying I bet most writers have heard, if not tried to employ. For some that means researching topics you don't know so you can write intelligently about them, for others it means sticking to what they already know. It's a good mantra because it becomes painfully obvious when a writer is talking out his ass and the only thing you're certain they DO know is how to tap the keys on their keyboard like one of those hypothetical monkeys banging out the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

The Bomb

The Aliens have resurrected a particularly lethal strain of the Spanish Flu, with which they intend to wipe out all of humanity and make room for their own people. In a prior episode the virus escaped a makeshift lab aboard a Russian ship and killed all the humans on board.

Sophia, the leader of the Aliens, says they need a better test case than the ship. The virus was "concentrated" and in an "enclosed space" so they don't know how truly lethal (or not) the strain is. If it kills people before they can spread it then it's of no use to the Aliens. So they hatch a plan to release the virus into a shopping mall full of people and monitor how long it takes people to die.

A couple of the humans, FBI Agent Collier (who acts more like CIA - but that's another issue) and fugative Sean Walker both know about the virus and plan to stop the field test. By the time they get to the mall the Aliens are connecting the device to the building's ventilation system. The "bio-bomb" consists of a pressurized canister into which the virus was introduced, an electronic timer, and some refrigeration lines. This, of course, would NEVER work.

First of all, the Aliens are immune to the virus, so what is the point of the timer on the bomb? Why did they even bother connecting it to the ventilation system at all? They could have literally walked through the mall exposing people to the virus (which is contained in the extracted lungs of a flu victim exhumed from the Siberian tundra). Furthermore, in order to put the virus in the pressurized canister, the Alien operative opens the container with the lungs in it outside on the roof of the mall - which should have released it into the atmosphere following the show's "logic" in how this virus spreads (more on that later). So the bomb itself is unnecessary for their field test, as is a timer to set it off after the Aliens are safely out of the area - because the virus doesn't affect them they're already safe!

Ok, for a moment lets assume the bomb were necessary because for some reason the Aliens didn't want to be at the scene when it went off. Plumbing it into the refrigeration lines on the air conditioning system wouldn't disperse it into the mall! Air conditioners do NOT work by blowing refrigerant into a room, the refrigerant is a self-contained loop system. All their device would do is release the virus into a pressurized closed-loop system. Why can't we beat these Aliens if they're such morons?

Oh yeah, because the humans are pretty stupid too. Sean Walker tries to disarm the bomb - and they've gone out of their way in the show to prove he's highly intelligent and resourceful. In fact they only knew where the Aliens were because he hacked into a rental car company's real-time GPS tracking to find the Alien's rental car. Walker starts pulling wires out of the bomb and can't make head nor tail of it, he reasons there must be a power source, there must be a solenoid that will open the valve - then as the counter ticks down he panics and SHOOTS THE BOMB! There is a pressurized container filled with the deadly virus screwed into the bottom of the bomb and he thinks shooting at it is a good idea? Ok, granted he admits he panicked, but he needn't have worried in the first place. After all, it was just going to release the virus into the pressurized refrigerant lines - but even if we suspend our disbelief further for a moment and assume that somehow those metal lines were capable of releasing the virus into the ventilation system, the easy solution would have been to just CRIMP THE LINES. Ever had a car with an A/C system that has a crushed line? Yeah, it doesn't do anything because it can't circulate the refrigerant.

Plan B

At the end of the episode we see that the Aliens scrubbed the field test at the mall and instead used a back-up plan - releasing the virus on a city bus. Um, but wait, didn't Sophia complain earlier that releasing the virus on the ship wasn't a good test because it was too concentrated and confined. It was an ocean-going freighter - vastly larger than a city bus. Releasing the virus on a bus would have been an even worse field test!

The Virus

But that's not all, folks, she then goes on to discuss the underlying problem with the virus. It's TOO deadly. It kills humans before they have a chance to infect others. They need to make the virus a little less deadly. At that point she and her chief scientist, Dr. Lu, discuss how viruses mutate in intermediary species before they "jump" to humans in a different form. Sophia might want to get a different doctor on this because her explanation was wrong. Dr. Lu mentions "Bird Flu" becoming "H1N1" when it jumped to humans. Except H1N1 is Swine Flu, it is H5N1 that is Bird Flu. Never mind that viruses can mutate within a species too, they don't HAVE to jump species to mutate, but they do have to mutate to jump species.

At the very end of the episode they decide to infect the only "hybrid" half-human-half-alien among them to create this less deadly version of the Spanish Flu. I assume the writers thought this made sense because humans die instantly from it, the Aliens are completely immune to it, so obviously the logical way to make the virus less deadly is to put it in a human-alien hybrid who theoretically is only partially immune, right? What?!

First of all the reason the Aliens are immune is most likely because they were exposed to either that virus or a similar one and have antibodies to it. There can also be a genetic predisposition to viral vulnerability, which is obviously what the writers were also thinking - that the hybrid (Sarah) has at least partially inherited this vulnerability from her human mother. Except that doesn't really make any sense either - one theory for why the Spanish Flu has never re-emerged is that it killed off everyone who was predisposed to be susceptible to it, meaning every human alive right now is likely immune to strains of the Spanish Flu anyway.

They've already established that the virus is delivered by airborne vectors, so why did they find it necessary to INJECT the hybrid with the virus? Oh yeah, because the writers totally don't understand how viruses, particularly flu strains, are transmitted through the air. When people sneeze or cough they aerosol sputum carrying the virus, that can subsequently be inhaled by others thus infecting them as well. But the writers have assumed this virus acts more like being exposed to gas. Granted the bio-bomb conceivably could have been set up to aerosol some kind of carrier medium laden with the virus, but it would still have been more effective to set that off in the middle of the mall rather than blowing it into the air ducts.

Lastly, their experiment to inject the hybrid girl with the virus is less likely to produce a less-deadly version of it and more likely to mutate into a strain deadly to the Aliens. Why didn't they inject it into a pig or a monkey, since they'd already discussed mutation occurring in lesser species than humans. The human-alien hybrid is genetically more advanced than a regular human - she represents a "lesser species" to the Aliens, and therefore would be a perfect incubator for a mutation that could jump into the Aliens and kill them as well. It is possibly the single most stupid thing they could have done.

Yeah, I think I'm probably done with this series.

Goodbye Sarah Jane :-(

2011-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Last night news came out of England that one of most loved companions of "Doctor Who" passed away from cancer. Nobody but her close family apparently even knew she was ill. Elizabeth Sladen was her name. Dead at just 63 years old, but any age would be too soon really.

"Sarah Jane Smith" was her character. She was the last companion to Jon Pertwee's "Doctor" and the first companion to Tom Baker's. Anyone who ever watched Doctor Who likely considered Sarah Jane the Doctor's "first love" - though they never once had any romantic scenes they had a chemistry that made you suspect there were deeper feelings. Turns out that's because Lis Sladen was adored by the entire cast and crew at the BBC.

When she left the show the Doctor materialized the TARDIS to let her out, not on Hillview Road as planned (and probably not even in South Croydon) but on a grassy hill in the middle of nowhere. She takes it in stride and heads off hopefully to civilization whistling a tune. The fans only knew she eventually made it home thanks to the failed "K-9 and Company" spin-off pitched in the 80's. It never got picked up despite testing rather well - but I've seen the pilot episode and it's terrible, so I can only assume it garnered 8.4 million viewers because they wanted to see more of Lis Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. Thankfully we don't have to remember her for that series.

In the new Doctor Who series they wanted to bring back one of the Doctor's old companions for an episode and there was no question it would be Sarah Jane Smith. She returned more than once to the role in the new series because the fans ate up every appearance. That lead to a deal with the CBBC (Childrens BBC) for her own spin-off series called the "Sarah Jane Adventures" reportedly one of the most popular kids' shows ever on the BBC.

Tom Baker wrote a wonderful tribute to her on his blog site recounting the first day he met her and how they immediately clicked. I always had this feeling that she was either a fantastic actress, or maybe she wasn't much of an actress at all and she was just playing herself. Turns out she wasn't far off from her character, which is probably why the fans felt she was so genuine. You just knew if you ever met her - either Sarah Smith or Lis Sladen - they were the same person and you'd instantly be friends with her. That's important when you're running for your life from Zygons I suppose. Her death took Tom Baker by surprise too - he had just signed a contract to do six new Doctor Who "audio drama" episodes with her at Big Finish.

The very first episode of Doctor Who I ever saw was "Pyramids of Mars" - which I regard as one of the best Tom Baker episodes ever made - and Sarah Jane was his companion in that. I know a lot of Whovians watch the show and wish they were from Gallifrey and had their own TARDIS. But the Doctor is such a big character - an alien, a genius, a hero - that those are big shoes to fill. Scary big. I found that, while I loved the Doctor, it was usually the companions with whom I identified. The companions were attainable role models - all they have to do is be who they are, have a sense for adventure, and when the TARDIS materializes a willingness to see what wonders the depth and breadth of time and space have to offer. Since Sarah Jane Smith so defined the role of a Timelord's traveling companion she became the yardstick by which I've measured all others.

I suppose that's why I always have considered her to be the "first" companion to the Doctor, even though I've since seen the earlier episodes in the series and know others came before her - but none could replace her.

iPad & Background Images

2011-02-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is kind of annoying. I'm working on a website that has to work well on an iPad, so I've been checking things with the iOS Simulator and the iPad refuses to deal with full-coverage background images properly.

To be clear, it will position a background where you tell it, it will tile a background how you tell it, it will even keep a background image fixed if you tell it. What it won't do is expand a fixed, centered background image to fill the screen. The maximum inner window sizes are 981 px and 1208 px. Even if the image is FAR larger than that in both dimensions it sits there scaled down - and if it's centered also with a white border around it.

It completely ignores the -webkit CSS for fixed, centered, covering background images and uses the old CSS method, and it still doesn't do it right.

So far the only solution I've found is pretty slapped together, but it works (sort of):

1. Create a DIV and give it an ID something like "backdrop" (or whatever)

2. Put your background image inside it, in an image tag, with the height and width hard coded to ZERO. Why? If a user doesn't have CSS available they won't get this gigantic decorative image shoved in their face.

3. In your iPad stylesheet set the image like this:

#backdrop {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0;height: 100%;width: 100%; margin: 0;}

#backdrop img {height: 105%;width: auto;margin:0;}

If you have a sticky footer you'll need to add the negative margin-bottom to the backdrop DIV as well. Why is it 105%? Because if it isn't then you'll get a white strip down the right-hand side when the iPad is rotated horizontally. At least the image aspect ratio is maintained doing it this way.

You'll want to make sure to hide the image for anything other than an iPad or it can become obvious what you've done in a desktop browser that can be resized. iPhone seems to do things properly, btw.

Lastly, the best solution for right now is probably to use a background PATTERN that you can just tile, since the iPad seems to handle that correctly.

:hover is dead Jim.

2011-01-20T09:39:00.000-08:00

The :hover pseudo-class is dead, it just hasn't fallen over yet. In fact it's not just dead, it was murdered. Killed by the touch interface.

I'm not exactly clear on when :hover was created or by whom. It was included in the May 1998 CSS2 specification and I believe Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.5 beta in December 1999 was the first browser to implement it (but only for the "a" tag, which is still true today). I've seen reference to Microsoft having invented it and contributing it the CSS specification. It was subsequently supported in other browsers.

You've seen :hover everywhere on the web for the last decade. Initially web coders fell in love with it because it provided a pure CSS method for doing image rollover and show/hide effects that previously had required Javascript to work. Because the W3C never limited what elements could be assigned the :hover pseudo-class it meant that (aside from IE) you could make hovering over any element you chose trigger a CSS event.

In many ways you could argue the ubiquity was actually an abuse of the function, and I've seen blogs decrying it as a crutch for bad user interface design (an easy hack to selectively show content that otherwise didn't fit into the layout). On the other hand it could also enhance the user interface by providing feedback to users regarding what was "interactive" and what wasn't or providing contextual information depending on with what element a user was - or was about to - interact.

If you think about it the :hover pseudo-class is actually a pretty amazing little bit of shorthand. It tracks the pointer position when it is over the coordinates of the element to which it is applied and can perform actions based on that detection. Take something as simple as the very common image rollover on a button - with :hover it can be accomplished in one line of code that single line could create the rollover effect for EVERY button on the page. Try to accomplish the same thing with Javascript and you'd have to give unique IDs to each button, create custom functions that could be called from those buttons that defined variables for the height, width, and top+left coordinates of the button itself and then another function to track the mouse coordinates and yet another function that performed the swap-out on that button, but only if the mouse coordinates were within the same area defined for that particular button. That fact that :hover can accomplish all that in one line of code is frankly. . .beautiful.

Then along came "touch" interfaces. PalmOS, iOS, Android, WebOS - all the mobile operating systems for touchy-feely devices like the Blackberry, Droid, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Galaxy Tab, etc. They don't DO hover effects. Why? Because the "hover" represents a proximity-based feedback and touch devices have no way to detect if you are "near" or "about to interact" with an element. You're either touching it or you're not.

In touch interfaces there is simply nothing similar to hovering - of if you prefer the Javascript mouse event name for it "onmouseover." Which is what we're really talking about here - are touch equivalents to mouse events:

mousedown = touchstart

mouseup = touchend

mousemove = touchmove

mouseover = ???

mouseout = ???

click = "Tap" (click actually generates a mousedown+mouseup, so tap is a touchstart shortly followed by a touchend event)

dblclick = Two quick "taps" (dblclick is rarely used, but technically you could script touch events looking for two taps in quick succession on a single element)

contextmenu = touch and hold (keeping in mind this triggers default touch callouts for things like saving images or copying text. If you wanted it to display a custom context menu you'd have to disable the default touch callout and try to detect a touch and hold event by timing how long a touchstart on an element sustains without a touchend event)

Additionally, in the "mouse centric" desktop world you only have ONE pointer. It's ALWAYS on the screen at some coordinates. In the "touch centric" world the "pointer" doesn't exist until a finger touches the screen, and in the case of multi-touch interfaces you might simultaneously have five or ten "pointers" to track on the screen!

The :active pseudo-class is the CSS way of detecting a mousedown event but it generally won't trigger an active state class change with touch interface "touch and hold" even if you've disabled the default touch callouts - you'd have to add a touch event listener to the element and trigger the style change from javascript. I've had success using the :target pseudo-class on "a" tags to get a touch interface to trigger onclick type events (for example hiding a layer), but it's clumsy.

In fact I'd say the one thing I presently do NOT like about coding for touch interfaces is how clumsy it is. You're stuck using Javascript to accomplish anything with it - even when you are using touch-specific CSS extensions, you still need scripted event listeners to make the elements touch-friendly. Ideally what we NEED is a :touch pseudo-class that does all the heavy lifting - but with no agreement in the industry on how touch interfaces work we're probably forever saddled with scripting and proprietary code and classes.

You can DISABLE various default touch behaviors via webkit CSS extensions:

-webkit-touch-callout: none; (prevents the "right-click" style options on a long press)

-webkit-tap-highlight-color:rgba(0,0,0,0); (prevents "highlight" color on touched links)

-webkit-text-size-adjust:none; (prevents automatic text resizing)

-webkit-user-select:none; (prevents elements from being selected by touch)

What does that mean for the web? It means as pages are optimized for interaction with touch interfaces all the "mouse-centric" methods will go away, relegated to obscurity. The word to the wise these days is to not only design for mobile devices, but to design for TOUCH interfaces. That means you don't use :hover or :active in your CSS anymore. That means you add support for touch events and selectively disable mouse events (because there is inconsistency between mobile devices regarding the interpretation of mouse events as touch events - a single touch can trigger a slew of mouse events all at once, which can cause unwanted results if you've coded the page to do certain things depending on each mouse event).

There simply is no touch event that is similar to hovering, so don't use it anymore. Actually the W3C was aware of this from the start as the CSS2 specification state that some input methods (it specifically mentions pen input, which is a lot like single-point touch) as not being able to support the :hover pseudo-class. If stylus input methods had become popular at the start of the 21st century we'd probably have seen :hover fade away before it even got going. But here we are decade later and touch is input method of choice. Sorry :hover, you have to die. The mouse will likely be keeping you company in your crypt soon enough.

Creating an Object VR in Google SketchUp and Kerkythea

2011-01-18T22:00:00.000-08:00

You've seen them for product shots on online stores - nice little 360 degree views of a product as it rotates on a turntable. I've done some packaging mock-ups in Google Sketchup and have been trying to find a decent way to render them as Object VR images. It wasn't hard to find solutions for CubicVR panoramas, but finding a VR method looking inward rather than outward proved more of a challenge.

SIMPLE WALK-AROUND METHOD

1. Click the "Front" view

2. Create an Animation Scene

3. Repeat Steps 1 & 2 for the right side, back, and left side

You'll now have 4 camera positions around your object and can animate between them as if walking around your object (or as if spinning your object on a turntable).

Go to File>Export>Animation and you can tell it how many frames per second and how big to render the images. You can either export it as a Quicktime video or as individual image files (keep in mind that is one image for each frame). At a bare minimum you only need the four views, but it makes for a very choppy rotation. The preset duration is 2 seconds from one camera to another so the lowest setting of 5 fps will add 9 frames between each of the ones you've created (the 1st frame is the scene you created for a total of 10 frames for each segment).

You can then take the images into VR software - I have VRworx Toolbox - and create an Object QTVR mov file that is truly interactive, rather than just a video. The images can also be used in other programs that can make VR files. If you want to reduce file size you can simply not use all the tween animation frames - just grab one out of the middle or a couple near the middle (depending on how smooth you want the transition from one view to another). I'd recommend not going fewer than 8 views (front, left side, back, right side, and one 3/4 view between each straight on view).

The problems with this method are, while it may be easy to do, it is limited to the default views and the animation path won't export to Kerkythea correctly and even trying to use the scenes with the Walkthrough Animation dialog doesn't work right (not sure why but the camera "swims" all over the place until it gets to the next scene) so you're stuck with the low quality "cartoon" images that Google SketchUp creates.

CAMERAS ON A CIRCLE

What we need is the ability to put our camera positions on a circle and precisely control the point at which each camera is focused. The video I found below is a good start!

In the video he wants an "ant eye" view of the car, so his cameras are positioned along the floor and looking upwards to a single point. He even raises the car model and updates his scenes at the end to make it more dramatic. In my case I have smaller objects like a candy box, which make more sense if you look downward at them. I grabbed my circle and raised it slightly above the height of my model then positioned each camera looking downward to the center.

However, as I said the images look sort of like cartoons. I want nice renders! The simple method I talked about doesn't export the animation to Kerkythea properly, but this precision method thankfully does. It takes a little more work, of course. . .

PHOTO RENDERING IN KERKYTHEA

1. First, I need to modify the method outlined in the video slightly. Instead of moving my model to a new layer I need to keep it on the default layer (the one you can't delete). Why? If I don't my model wouldn't export. So I create my circle and central post on the secondary layer. Other than that I do what the video says up to the point of exporting the animation.

2. Instead of creating a Quicktime movie I go to Kerkythea Exporter > Export Model and open it up in Kerkythea. I can close SketchUp at this point.

3. In Kerkythea I go to Tools > Walkthrough Animation and it pops up a dialog box. Enter a name like "VR" in the first box.

4. In the Walkthrough Animation dialog click the "Add Node" button. In the drop-down list select the first scene.

5. Continue clicking "Add Node" and selecting the next scene in the sequence around your object.

6. Under "Duration" I enter a one. What?! Yep. You want a duration of 1 seconds for this.

7. Under "Rate" enter an 7. Click "OK"

8. Select the animation "camera" in the left pane of Kerkythea.

9. Go to the Render button, a dialog will pop up. It should already have the Walkthrough Animation name in the first box because it was selected in the left-hand pane. Decide how big and nice you want it to look and what rendering method to use. Click "OK"

10. It will open a Save dialog. Enter a file name. This will be appended with the frame numbers as each one is created. Click "SAVE" and sit back. This could take a while if you used a higher resolution setting.

Ok, to explain what I'm doing here I told it to make 8 frames (the current view + 7 frames) and run a total of 1 second (8 fps), which means I will get a sum total of just EIGHT fully rendered images. If I was rendering smaller resolution images I could enter something bigger like 16 or 24 for smoother rotation. If I was rendering these for video, though, I'd need a helluva lot more frames (if I left it at the default settings of 10 seconds @ 24 fps = 240 images).

Now I take my 8 views and import them into VR software to create an Object VR or I can put them in a web page and use a CSS Image Map to create a roll-over animation effect (as someone drags a mouse across the image it will swap out the views creating the illusion of a 3D object rotation). This way I can give viewers a nice, crisp, high quality photo render of the package design while only having to load 8 images.

End note: If you're familiar with Google SketchUp and Kerkythea you may have wondered why I didn't just export the animation path from SU to KT? Well, it appears that the Kerkythea exporter will only "see" objects on the default Layer 1 in SketchUp. So when I attempt to export my animation path it fails because, so far as the exporter is concerned, there isn't one. It doesn't matter anyway since it's so easy to recreate the animation path in Kerkythea with the Walkthrough Animation dialog. Now, if I had a really complex animation path (for example one created with the Bezier curve and Flightpath plugins) I'd probably want to move my animation path to the first layer so I could export it. But for something as simple as a circular orbit around an object why bother?

Unneeded Android Apps

2011-01-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

Android is a phone OS. That much is clear if you own an Android Tablet. There's tons of phone-related stuff still on it. Worse yet the standby cell service is a notorious battery drainer (even if there is no cell radio present - don't ask me how that works). Here's how I got rid of it on my Haipad M701-R over ADB:

adb shell mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
adb shell mv /system/app/Phone.apk /system/app/Phone.OLD
adb shell mv /system/app/TelephonyProvider.apk /system/app/TelephonyProvider.OLD
adb reboot

Since my tablet came from China it has home market apps on it of no use to me. Some uninstall normally, others won't and need to be force removed. Here's how I got rid of EOE Market:

./adb remount busybox
./adb shell
rm /system/app/eoemarket.apk
cd /system/bin
sh pm uninstall com.eoeandroid.market
sync
exit
./adb reboot

Google Maps also has an issue that it won't update because the preinstalled version is locked down. A similar set of commands extricates it so I could install a newer version that will update properly:

adb remount busybox
rm /system/app/Maps.apk
cd /system/bin
sh pm uninstall com.google.android.apps.maps
sync
exit
adb reboot

A word of warning, though, that there is always a possibility you could "brick" your tablet doing this and these commands are specific to my tablet - and all worked - but that is no guarantee they will work on yours. You should list the contents of the the folders first to make sure yours doesn't have a slightly different file name and also not all Android devices use the same naming convention for the mtdblock partitions.

Lastly, I have one app that shows up in the list when I filter by "all" in Settings>Manage Applications that I don't know what it is because the name is in a foreign language:

New Case Turns Android Tablet Into Netbook

2010-11-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

[ Empty Haipad case (left), Pandawill case (right) ]

Well it took forever to get to me, but I finally got the new case I ordered for my Haipad Android Tablet from Pandawill.com. Here's the link: http://www.pandawill.com/keyboardstyluscase-for-7-tablet-gpad-g10-g11-nupad-m002-apad-smart-q7-mid1black_p38465.html (they also sell it in white, btw).

[ Haipad case (left), Pandawill case (right) ]

The case that came with my Haipad Tablet is ok. It's very compact, light weight, easily fits in my purse, and does a good job of protecting the screen. What I didn't like about it was it's pretty much the same dimensions as the tablet itself, and with the little manufacturing defect on the tablet that makes the microSD card stick out a bit it's in great danger of being cracked off. Also, it uses elastic bands at the corners, one of which I always have to leave under the tablet or it presses on the button that wakes the tablet. Leaving one strap undone, though, means the tablet isn't really secured in the case very well. For general use, and when I'm putting that case inside a handbag or backpack it's fine I guess. Here are the specs on the one that came with it:

Covers: 5" x 8"
Thickness (closed): .75"
Maximum Tablet Size: 7.75" x 4.75"
Closure: Tab in Loop (friction holds it in place)
Material: Textured leather outside/Suede Inside sewn over heavy card
Tablet Holders: elastic bands

However, I discovered that my tablet touch screen sucks for playing games. You can either move or shoot - not both - and when playing a hardware accelerated game the touch screen isn't as responsive. Result? Most games, especially emulator ones, are completely unplayable on the tablet. It NEEDS hardware buttons to control it. Initially I thought I'd just hack apart some cheap USB keyboard and wire the controller board to an old NES gamepad (or buy one of the USB "Retrolink" ones and see if it worked). But then I saw a "leather" case with a built-in USB mini-keyboard on Pandawill.com for under $25 shipped!

This is a pretty neat case actually, because it effectively turns my Android Tablet into a Netbook - or actually it's more like a UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC), what they used to call a "Palmtop" computer. And, yes, the games are playable now that I have actual buttons to push. Unlike the photos on the web site, mine has a mini-USB plug on the end, not a full-size USB. Here are the specs:

Covers/Keyboard: 5.5" x 9"
Thickness (closed): 1.5"
Maximum Tablet Size: 4.75" x 9" x .5"
Closure: Vinyl tab (magnetic catch)
Material: Textured artificial leather (aka "vinyl") inside and out
Tablet Holders: vinyl covered Metal Tabs

Another nice feature of it is the kickstand on the back so it can be propped open for use like a netbook:

[ Kickstand on back of case ]

I had to bend the top tab with a pliers a little to get it to catch the edge of my tablet. Mine is a Haipad M701-R, which isn't actually listed as one of the models on Pandawill's site - even though some of the ones listed are often referred to as interchangeable rebrands the actual tablet dimensions can be different. Once I adjusted things a bit, though, my tablet is VERY secure in this thing (I can barely slide it out at all in fact). Knowing it was for a tablet a little larger than mine, though, was part of the plan, as I mentioned the extra space means I can leave my micro-SD card inserted without worrying it will hit anything and it's actually enough space to leave the keyboard plugged in and not have the cable sticking out of the side (would be even better if they had put a 90 degree connector on it though).

It may be a little larger and heavier, but it's still better than lugging around my old HP Pavilion laptop!

Google Chrome Doesn't Count

2010-11-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

The title of this post may be a little (intentionally) misleading. I'm not arguing the validity of Google's Chrome browser - in fact I generally like it and it has become my default browser. Using Chrome to browse the web is pretty sweet. Designing pages the work in it is not, and it's driving me around the bend.

I have a web project I've been working on for a while that uses linked stylesheets. Several of them, and it also has a feature that lets users switch one of the stylesheets out with any one of three others - which is only supposed to restyle part of the layout. In Safari it works as it is supposed to. In Chrome? Not so much.

Chrome has had a bug now for over a year that still isn't fixed, or at least not entirely. When working on the files locally (that is, just opening the HTML file in the browser right off my hard drive) Chrome doesn't "see" all the stylesheets properly. I'm only certain it is loading one of them (the third one) that styles the framework of the page, and I know it's loading because, well, the frame is styled.

However, when I try to use Javascript to reference the first stylesheet it complains that I'm trying to get values of elements that don't exist. Even more oddly, it WILL swap out that stylesheet it thinks doesn't exist with another. If I try to get the length of the array of linked stylesheets with "document.styleSheets.length" it says ZERO. That's right, it is obviously loading one of the stylesheets and swapping another out but the stylesheets array is EMPTY. Now, if I copy and past the content from the external stylesheet into the HTML document, though, then the array reports "1" for the length. So it would seem the array only works for stylesheets in the head of the document - it doesn't count the linked ones.

Ah! But here's where it gets really confusing. If I access the exact same document and linked stylesheets via a web server everything works. The stylesheets array iterates correctly, there are no "null" or "undefined object" errors. In other words, over a web server, it works perfectly. It's only when no web server is involved that it won't work!

Thankfully this isn't going to burn me too badly - the project (an HTML5/CSS3/Javascript "app" of sorts) was always intended to be hosted in the cloud and therefore accessed through a web server. There were initially some plans to wrap it up in a nice package and deliver it as an Android and iPhone app that could be used locally and offline. It also means - even though this is pretty static code - I'm going to have to do my development over a web server. Good thing I already have XAMPP installed!

Oh, and for anyone else who might run into this and be looking for a solution, it seems there isn't one. Or at least not a total one. You CAN actually reference the linked stylesheet with "document.getElementById("name")" if you gave the "link" tag an "id." You can create a linked stylesheet array with "document.getElementsByTagName("link")" and that will actually show the correct number for linked stylesheets. But neither of these methods will allow you to directly query the CSS rules within the stylesheet. If you apply a class from the stylesheet to an object in the HTML page, though, you can use that object as a way to get the attributes of the class. So, as a work-around you could create an object, hide it, and apply multiple classes to it from the stylesheet and then use javascript and the DOM to get the info. Obviously, though, you wouldn't be able to apply visibility or positioning classes, so this work-around is also limited.

Android Device Screenshots

2010-10-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

How did I get those clean screenshots of my Android home screen like those you've probably seen all over the place? It's easy!

Download and install the Android SDK from Google (its free and available for Mac, Windows, and Linux).

Look in the "tools" folder and launch the "ddms" application.

A new application will open, click on your device in the left-hand pane (should be the first thing in the list - even though it might have some weird gibberish name of numbers and letters). Now go to "Device" in the menu and select "Screen Capture."

A new window will pop up with an image of whatever is being displayed on the screen of your Android device. There are buttons to rotate it and save it. Give them a unique file name and save them to somewhere as PNG files and that's it!

Making My Hiapad M701-R Pretty

2010-10-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

I've seen some really nice looking Android home screen set-ups, but plenty of them are on "rooted" devices or are running some community ROM. The following images are screenshots from my Haipad M701-R tablet - it is unrooted and not hacked, so these mods could be done by anyone on probably any 2.x Android device. I'll start off with the default Homescreen, the only thing I did was change the wallpaper.

LauncherPro is probably the most popular launcher replacement app on the Android Market. I'm using the "free" edition, there is a paid version with more features. The following screenshots are LaunchPro with BattStatt battery status monitor and Digital Clock Widget by Maize:

If you don't like LauncherPro, or don't feel you have a need for it's many settings or themes, you might want to try out Zeam. Zeam is a lightweight launcher alternative. It doesn't offer multiple docks or the ability to use custom icons or themes, but it's very responsive and doesn't require much overhead. Here are screenshots of it with BattStatt and TypoClock:

Both Zeam and LauncherPro are in the Android Market, as is BattStatt (all free). The Digital Clock Widget by Maize used to be there, but I couldn't find it through that software channel so you may have to look for a web download or another app store for it. TypoClock also didn't seem to be in the official market so I got that via my web browser (hint: Google "TypoClock.apk download"). Both BattStat and Digital Clock Widget can be adjusted between 1x1, 1x2, and 1x4 configurations (if you want you can put them alongside each other so they look like one widget). TypoClock is less configurable - it will only sit in the middle of the screen. I didn't use it with LaunchPro because, for some reason, the bottom of the text gets cut off in landscape mode.

Of course you can use whatever wallpaper you want, and both LauncherPro and Zeam work with Live Wallpapers.

Review: Haipad M701-R Android Tablet

2010-10-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

The Haipad M701-R Android Tablet is considered a knock-off of the Apple iPad, and I'll grant you that the silver one (like I got) does bear an obvious resemblance, but you could say the same of pretty much any tablet on (or about to be on) the market.

This tablet is manufactured by Shenzhen Laihanga Trading Co., LTD. in China, also known as Shenzhen Haina Digital Technology Co., LTD, also Haina Technology, and "Haipad" is their brand name/product line. The tablet itself is manufactured for other OEMs (with variable configurations) and is also sold as the G10, Apad E7002, Eken M7001, and probably others I've never heard of. They aren't all technically the same device - some have more or less memory, some have 2 USB ports, some have HDMI output, and the Haipad that I bought comes with an infrared remote. The individual OEM is also responsible for firmware updates, since the actual hardware configurations vary (that's a word of warning about applying the firmware update from one brand to another - you can potentially brick the tablet).

Specifications:

CPU: Telechips TCC8902 720 MHz with G-sensor

Memory: 256 MB RAM

Storage: 2 GB Flash built in, up to 32 GB via MicroSD card

Screen: 7" Resistive Touch Screen (WVGA 800x480 widescreen) supports 2 point multi-touch

Video: 3D Hardware Acceleration, 720p/1080p Full HD output over HDMI, 1.3 MegaPixel camera (front)

Audio: Built-in mono speaker (on back), built-in Mic, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack

OS: Android 2.1

Ports: Mini-USB/OTG, mini HDMI

Network: 802.11 b/g WiFi, technically supports 3G modems (but not in USA)

Battery: Dual-Core Lithium-Ion 1600 mAh

Weight: 350 grams

Included Accessories: Leather case, IR remote control, HDMI cable, AC Power adapter/charger, USB Host cable, USB OTG cable, earbuds

Price: varies, currently hovering around $150 + shipping.

I also got a free 8 GB MicroSD card with it, but that was a store promotion.

The Good:

Screen
The g-sensor works great for changing the screen orientation, the screen is quite responsive and 2-point multi-touch pinching zooms in the browser (haven't noticed it working in any other apps).

I know Apple has done a stellar job of convincing everyone only the more expensive "capacitive" touch screens are worthwhile, but a "resistive" screen has its place too. First of all resistive touch screens have been around forever so they're quite inexpensive components - which keeps the overall cost of the device down. Secondly, you don't HAVE to use a stylus on them. They WILL respond to a finger press (yes, you have to press), but I'm a girl so I have long enough fingernails that I can navigate the screen without pressing hard or using a stylus. Of course it does come with a stylus if you need it, and if you plan to use handwriting recognition, handwritten notes, or sketching apps you'd actually WANT the precision of a stylus over your stubby finger.

Videos look fairly good in low lighting, but the screen has a very narrow viewing angle if you don't want color shifts/washouts.

USB
Mounting it as a USB device to my computer worked flawlessly in both Windows 7 and Mac Snow Leopard, USB hosting works for input devices and flash drives (basically anything that doesn't require drivers to use it, so digital cameras won't work as webcams but will work as external storage devices to get your pics onto the tablet), haven't done any firmware stuff yet because I'm not sure the available update is actually for my specific device.

Extras
The tiny remote control works nicely, HDMI output works for 720p and 1080p videos. The leather case is really basic. There are nicer ones out there, but it does the job. It comes with a stylus if you don't have any fingernails with which to navigate the screen, and there is a holder for it in the case but not on the device.

Networking
Connected to my wifi and the public access point at my college without issues, Android Market works, as does YouTube. It says it supports 3G and comes with a huge list of Asian and European services listed for that in the settings, but (as I expected) nothing for the United States since, by all accounts, no US 3G modems will work with any of these Chinapads.

3D Accelerated graphics
I checked the 3D accelerated graphics. Gears reports an average of 100 fps, and I've tried a 3D home screen that works nicely, I'd only recommend 3D games that are light on system resources (for example, Racing games are too choppy to play).

Android Marketplace Works
A problem a lot of these off-brand/no-name tablets have is access to the official Android Marketplace. As an end-user I don't really know or care about the OEM's issues or arrangements with Google over the Marketplace, so long as I can get apps, which on this device I can.

As an eReader
It (thankfully) didn't come with any eReader software on it, so for eReader duty I have Kindle and Acrobat Reader installed, both of which work fine.

Generally I'm happy with it. It does most of what I expected it to do as a "media consumption" device. It definitely isn't an iPad, but it also cost a fraction of what an iPad costs, and once the Galaxy Tab, HP Slate, and Blackberry tablet are on the market this Haipad tablet will STILL only cost a fraction of others available on the market. However, in the low-end gray market you'll encounter devices that are poorly supported, missing features, and generally seem like a prototype that really wasn't ready to ship but they're selling it anyway.

The BAD:

Higher Screen Resolution
The screen resolution is set rather low - in fact it won't even display the names of files and folder in icon view when using the File Explorer and in list view it's nearly impossible to click on the first entry because the toolbar is so huge it covers it. The desktop looks really claustrophobic too. For a 7" screen the LCD density really needs to be changed to allow more stuff to fit! I gather there is no easy way to do that without rooting the device. I know there is a (pay) app for adjusting that - which still requires root - but it's probably something I'd set once to my liking and leave alone so I'm guessing there's a config file somewhere I could edit and do it for free?

Unmount USB Flash Drive Option
The good news is the USB host works and (with the provided adapter) you can plug a USB flash drive into the tablet. The bad news is there's no simple way to unmount it when you want to unplug it. On some other devices people have put them into "hibernate" to unplug, but there is no Hibernate option (probably because it was problematic, as it is on some devices). So the only options are to either risk data corruption and just unplug it anyway, warnings be damned OR to shut the tablet down and unplug the USB drive.

Menu bar "Back" and "Menu" Buttons
It already has a "Home" button on the menu bar, but it really could use virtual versions of the other buttons as well!

Camera is Reversed
This is a problem with Front Facing Cameras that has turned up on a number of Android phones. It is apparently a software issue, I think. There are some camera apps that offer a "mirror mode" that reverses the camera image on purpose (makes it easier for the user when video chatting I guess so your left hand isn't on the right side of the screen), but in this case that's not what's going on.

I know at least one of the phones that had this problem (HTC Evo) got an update with a "Mirror Mode" setting to fix it - but it really only mirrors the mirrored image, the native camera signal is still reversed. Oh, and I tried downloading a couple different camera apps and it appears the front-facing camera in this tablet is not being detected as one either? I don't really plan to use the camera much, if at all, but it would be nice to fix it if that's possible.

G-Sensor Partially Reversed (Sort of)
Now that I've put a couple of games on the tablet I've discovered my g-sensor is half-way reversed. When looking in landscape mode the top and bottom are correct, but the left and right are reversed (or if in portrait mode, left and right are correct and top and bottom are reversed), but this is ONLY in the games! The OS screens, settings screens, web browsers, Market, etc., (pretty much everything BUT games) detect the orientation correctly, except for a couple of non-game apps that will start in portrait mode and get "up" wrong initially, but once you get into the program they orient correctly. Which means if I used the g-sensor fix I also found at SlateDroid the games could be made to orient correctly, but then EVERYTHING ELSE would be wrong. I'm guessing that a lot of the basic apps (like browsers, settings, etc.) query the OS for the sensor data/calibration, but the games seem to have their own calibration setups (which all seem to automatically try to detect the g-sensor orientation, and inevitably get it wrong. Would be much better if you could just TELL them which end is "UP"). So I'm not sure if there is really a g-sensor calibration issue or not, or if it's just a software issue with the games I tried.

Barcode Scanning?

Lots of Android apps have corresponding QR codes you can scan off a monitor to download and install them, and QR codes are showing up in a lot of other places (with things like the URL of a company site or a person's business card data). I've tried four different barcode reader apps and none of them have worked.

First of all it's tricky because it's a front-facing camera, and it takes mirrored pictures which I'm not certain makes any difference (I've found conflicting information about that, since apparently some scanners can compensate if they detect the registration squares are in the wrong positions - like if you were scanning the QR code upside down, but that would only rotate it not sure about flipping it). Even if they are mirrored, I downloaded a couple QR codes, flipped the images in graphics software and then tried to scan them off my 27" flat panel monitor and they still didn't register with any of the scanning apps. I've also noticed that the camera takes over-exposed washed-out pictures, so maybe there just isn't enough contrast for the app to "see" that there is a code there?

All those things could easily be fixed in a firmware update, but there's one glaring issue that can't:

Recessed MicroSD Card Slot!
Ok, I'd have to open it up and figure out how (or even if) it would be possible to modify things so the Micro SD card seats all the way. It currently sticks out about 5 mm. There may simply be no fix for this and I'll just have to be careful not to break the card.

Would I recommend buying one?

At this stage of the game I'd say probably not. There are some low-end tablets due to hit the market soon that run Android 2.2 "Froyo" and have capacitive touch screens, and are from companies/sellers in the United States. Granted the projected prices on them are about double what I paid for my Haipad M701-R, so if price is your primary concern these low-end, gray market resistive screen tablets running slightly out-of-date versions of Android may still appeal to you. Be aware, though, that you can't just upgrade Android devices like you can a desktop OS! You're pretty much at the mercy of the OEM to release a firmware update, and many of these low-end Chinapads don't have the technical specs to run any later versions of Android.

Review: Augen Gentouch 78 Android Tablet

2010-09-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

I recently acquired an Augen Gentouch 78 Android 7" tablet. These are (were?) sold at Kmart for $150 - $170. That means they are probably the cheapest Android device of any kind sold in the United States. However, if you're just looking for a cheap Android device you may want to consider buying a gray-market Chinese Android-powered iPad knock-off with more features for about the same money OR just get one from one of the US phone carriers (they'll give you a low price on the device, but you'll have to pay a lot more in the long run for phone/data service).

Never heard of Augen? Nobody has. They're a tiny, 13 person company in Florida that made a deal with Kmart and a Chinese OEM manufacturer to import an Android tablet that met Kmart's sub-$200 price-point. There is a more fully featured version of this tablet available called the Dawa D7 which has a microphone, 3D accelerated graphics, at least 2 point multi-touch capability, 3G modem connectivity (but possibly only for Chinese modems), HDMI video output, and 2 USB ports (but I believe only one is connected to the USB 1.1 Host driver, which still means you can connect things like USB flash drives and some keyboards and mice). There's also a more functional no-name version available for about the same price with a camera.

There are probably others. What is disconcerting is that Augen removed so much of that functionality! So what DON'T you get with the Augen Gentouch 78?

No g-sensor/accelerometer. Reportedly has one integrated, but due to firmware issues it doesn't work.
No 3D Accelerated Graphics. Again, it's physically present but not enabled either due to an error in the boot init file or purposely because Augen didn't secure the proper OpenGL license.
No multi-touch. Generally resistive screens don't have this, but some have a "2-point" form.
No USB Host driver, rendering USB connection "data only" (and that doesn't work well either).
No microphone or camera. The circuit board is there, but nothing is soldered to it.
No HDMI output
No 3.5 mm headphone jack (it has a 2.5 mm and no adapter)
No Android Market (despite it being listed on the box) because Augen didn't license Google proprietary apps.

Most, if not all, of those things ARE available on the other versions of this tablet.

When I first turned mine on the older OS installed made the device virtually unusable! One of the first things I did was apply Augen's OS update which at least made it functional enough to use for web browsing and emailing. You won't get Flash to work on it, most Android games don't work (either because they require 3D graphics or 3-axis accelerometer). It came with Skype Beta installed, but without a microphone or a camera it's useless.

To install the OS update I had to dig out my old Windows XP laptop because it's the only reliable way to apply the update. Even with Augen's USB driver updates for Windows I have never been able to get it to transfer files from Windows 7, or from Mac OS X. I can explore the files and folders in the "nand" folder on the device, and copy them to the computer but they won't transfer in the other direction. This is a real problem considering Market is broken on it because it means I can't even "side-load" apps. If I can't find a straight download link in a web browser ON the Gentouch, I can't install anything. In fact, installation from browser downloads on the device was the ONLY way I added any software to it. Problem is most Android apps are IN the Android Market - even most software search sites just aggregate their listings from what is in the Market and send you there.

Ok, there IS a way to get the Android Market to work on it that involves "rooting" the device (gaining root access) via the Android SDK developer toolkit and a console. I had no success rooting this device and gave up trying before I bricked it. I was, however, able to temporarily gain access and download some apps (some of which couldn't install because of the limitations of the device), by doing a factory reset on the Gentouch - which wipes out all your user data - and set up a new Google account. That worked until I rebooted the Gentouch, after which Market was broken again. There is apparently some root-level cache that needs clearing to fix this. But the REAL issue is that Augen never got a license from Google to access the Android Market - despite the words "Download hundreds of apps from Android Market" on the box.

A bigger problem is if you happened to be somewhere on a wifi hotspot with someone else who had one. Augen shipped these things all with the same MAC address on the wifi radio! It's not even Augen's MAC address - it belongs to Atheros, the manufacturer of the wifi chip. What it means is every one of these made is identical to a network - thus the problems if you have more than one of them trying to connect to the same network. It also means that, if you only allow certain devices to connect to your home network with MAC filtering, the network can't tell the difference between YOUR Gentouch and anyone else's - AND that MAC address is all over the web - so it represents a risk to a secured wifi network. How could Augen have sold these with every one having the same MAC address? Well. . .

The FCC says they have no record of the Augen Gentouch 78. Anything that emits, sends, or receives radio waves (pretty much all electronics) have to be submitted to the FCC for inspection, documentation, and are then issued an FCC licence if they are found to be within Federal tolerances. Apparently Augen never did this, or the FCC surely would have caught the MAC address problem.

I'm planning to return it to Kmart as "defective" and get a refund. This is an incomplete product that probably isn't even being legally sold in the United States in the first place. Some of the problems aren't fix-able because the hardware for those features was omitted and the software/firmware errors are only repairable if Augen releases updates and acquires legitimate licenses. Kmart really should just recall the damned things as all being defective and send them back to Augen. Let them deal with it.

UPDATE: Returned it to Kmart for a full refund. I have ordered (elsewhere) a Haipad M701R tablet to replace it. I'll write a review of that whenever it arrives.

Fix: Linux screen blanks during video playback

2010-09-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

Whenever I play videos on my Linux box with a browser-based player (i.e., YouTube) or Hulu Desktop after a few minutes the screen goes blank. I bump the mouse and it comes back. The screensaver is not only not turned on, I uninstalled it completely. Power Management is set to "never" turn off the monitor. So I find out that many Linux distros apparently ship with TWO screen savers and power managers activated. There are the "Gnome" (or KDE) ones and then there are the X server ones. It's easy to turn off the ones in the Desktop Environment, but that doesn't turn off the X server ones!

Ok, so forget most of what you've read on the internet regarding this - lots of the "fixes" out there refer to display blanking while in text/console mode or for older versions of the X server, or additions to your xorg.conf file which don't work anymore. Plus, the fixes generally don't survive a reboot or a restart of the X server, others won't take effect until you do restart the X server. Argh!

But, remember, I said to forget about those? Yeah. So here's what finally seems to have solved it for me. You use your administrative privileges (you have those right?) and open the following file in your favorite text editor:

/etc/gdm/PreSession

At the end of it tack on the following two lines:

xset s off

xset -dpms

Save the file, reboot. That *should* (if you have every other screen blanking/saving feature turned off) prevent it from blanking out the screen after several minutes while watching online videos.

Some Linux players, such as XBMC, don't require this fix as they implement other methods to prevent the screen blanking when you haven't touched the mouse or typed anything in a while.

Review: Samsung Syncmaster P2770HD Monitor/HDTV

2010-09-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

If you read my previous post about the 27" LG monitor I bought (which died after just 14 total hours of use) I exchanged it for a Samsung Syncmaster P2770HD monitor/HDTV in part because the store didn't have any more of the LG monitors, and in part because - after such a bad experience with them - I didn't want another one.

Samsung has a pretty good reputation in the flat panel biz, both with their computer monitors and HDTVs, and this was the monitor I had originally been considering until that damned LG seduced me with it's S-Video port and $80 lower price.

Pros:

Crisp text in computer mode, great color, decent built-in speakers with 5.1 surround and SRS. Remote control makes it easy to switch modes and control TV from a slightly more viewable distance. Feels very solidly built (meaning it's also HEAVY). If all that screen acreage is a bit much for you it includes something called "Multiscreen" which lets you portion off the screen into smaller virtual screens.

Cons:

No tilt adjustment on the acrylic base. It's head on only, so you're desk/chair better adjust to the monitor, not the other way 'round. Remote has some buttons on it that are poorly explained in the manual (in fact I've yet to figure out what two of them even do). Built-in speakers could stand a bit more volume range - I really have to crank it up just to hear it well from a decent viewing distance. A signal strength indicator for digital TV channels would be nice too. Also, it seems there's a bit of motion blur in TV mode that I don't see in computer mode (while playing a game).

All in all, though, I'm quite happy with this monitor and would recommend it to anyone looking for a big - but not TOO big - screen.

Review: LG M2762D-PM HDTV/Monitor

2010-09-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to drop on a new flat panel computer monitor, and I haven't yet upgraded from the 32" CRT TV to an HDTV. So when I saw a 27" LG M2762D-PM combo computer monitor and HDTV for $360 at Microcenter I jumped on it. I initially thought I was lucky to have nabbed the last one in the store (possibly the last one any one of their stores had - as it can't be found on their website anymore as of this writing). Turns out I was wrong about being lucky. Read on. . .

Pros

Very good price for a monitor/HDTV at this size. That was primarily what attracted me to it was the price, but it's also a good looking set. There's only so much designers can really do with the flat panel format, so it's all down to the bezel. The LG has a cool glossy acrylic frame that goes from black to clear at the bottom edge. All buttons are touch sensitive (i.e., there are no actual buttons). It had an acceptable HDTV picture, and the tuner (like a lot of HD sets) has an indicator for signal strength, program info, etc. Auto programming was simple, in fact the whole On Screen Display was very nicely laid out and polished in appearance. The remote was good, the main feature of which was one button access to switching the source from TV to computer. Unlike some monitors in its class this one did have a tilt adjustment. It does have an S-Video input on the back, in addition to all the other requisite HDTV and computer monitor ports.

Cons

Base seemed a bit flimsy, though the monitor itself isn't all that heavy so it may be adequate. "Vivid" color is TOO vivid - like clown colors that punch your eyes out. Thankfully you can dial it down to something watchable. Text in computer mode wasn't very crisp, even with font smoothing turned on. The built-in speakers are garbage - very tinny and not enough volume. Doesn't ship with either an HDMI nor DVI cable, just a VGA cable. Like anyone is using VGA anymore?! Plus, the whole point is to get a crisp DIGITAL picture, right?

But there is one gigantic 800-pound gorilla of a negative regarding my experience with this monitor: IT DIED AFTER JUST 14 HOURS OF USE!!!

I bought it on a Saturday afternoon. Surfed the net a bit, then watched some TV shows and turned it off to go to bed. Sunday morning I turned it on, checked my e-mail, watched a TV show, then turned it off to do something else. Two hours later I returned, hit the "Power" button on the remote and. . .nothing. Touched the power button on the front of the monitor. . .nothing. The thing was stone dead just like that.

Boxed it up again, took it back to the store and exchanged it for a Samsung Syncmaster P2770HD monitor/HDTV, which is what I should have bought in the first place.

Linux Nvidia Overscan Fix

2010-08-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

The ATI graphics card in this media center recently died and I decided to avoid all the ATI-related issues and just put a Nvidia card in instead.

This allowed me to upgrade the operating system to the (current) Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx - well, I decided I like the Linux Mint 9 version a bit better. Nvidia's Linux drivers are much, much better than ATI's.

The last problem remaining was the "overscan" - well, for me it was actually UNDERSCAN, which puts black border all the way around the picture. The newest Nvidia drivers do have a slider and text entry box for overscan correction. This works for some people, but I was in the camp for whom the control panel crashes if I touch the slider.

The default values the Nvidia driver inserts vary and I don't know what determines what they are but I suspect it's tied to resolution as it was "13" at 1024x768 and "8" at 800x600. Most sites that talk about how to fix this talk about "Modelines" and other Xorg.conf fixes, but thanks to THIS POST there is a MUCH easier fix to implement! Enter the following line in a terminal:

$ sudo nvidia-settings -c :0.0 -a 'TVOverScan[TV-0]=15'

Your value may be different, but for my set-up "15" is the magic number that fills the screen. I found that even using "sudo" permissions and saving settings to xorg.conf with the Nvidia Control Panel that this setting didn't stick after a reboot. It's annoying to have to re-enter it on every boot and I also realized it doesn't HAVE to be entered with "sudo" which makes it a cinch to execute at startup. Just take that line and (without the sudo) paste it into a text file and save with a simple name like "nvidia-fix" into your home folder. Right+Click, go to Permissions, and check the "executable" box. Then, I used the "Start Up Programs" control panel and created a new entry with the command to execute that text file as a program (the same as if I'd typed it in a terminal):

./nvidia-fix

and name the entry something that will make it execute AFTER the Nvidia Panel is loaded (I named mine "Overscan").

Now, every time I reboot the media center it loads the Nvidia stuff (with the black border all the way around) and within a second the fix script executes and expands the picture to fill the screen, then XBMC launches full screen. Simple! Fully automatic fix at every boot, no mucking with the Nvidia control panel, no editing your xorg.conf file.

Note: When you run the overscan fix without sudo permissions and you launch the Nvidia Control Panel the fix will be over-ridden by whatever setting is in the panel (the screen will shrink and the black border will re-appear). Make whatever changes you were going to make, save them to your xorg.conf file (if you want them to persist beyond the current session), and then either re-run the overscan fix script or reboot the system so is auto-runs again.

Review: Matias USB 2.0 Keyboard vs. Apple Aluminum Keyboard

2010-08-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

I know some people rave about the Apple aluminum keyboard, so I'm probably in the minority of people who don't like it. Actually I really kind of hate it.

Sure, it's thin and sleek - it wouldn't look out of place in a modern art museum collection. However, I can't stand typing on the damned thing. I tend to type in bursts, usually around 80 wpm at about 90% accuracy - some people have said listening to me type sounds like a machine gun! LOL I'm definitely not one of those people who "caresses" a keyboard and I generally don't even look at the keyboard unless I need a key I don't tend to hit very often. Which is why the Apple keyboard bugs me. First of all the keys are too FLAT. I like the dished keytop as it helps me to better feel my positioning on the keys. Sure those little bumps on the home keys help make sure you're not typing gibberish, but totally flat keys just feel awful to me. According to what I've read, the Apple aluminum keyboard is supposed to be similar to a laptop keyboard, and I hate typing on a laptop keyboard too. They frankly feel like calculator keys - or (and this just popped into my head) it reminds me of the Timex-Sinclair 1500 "chicklet" keyboard. Oh, and the USB port on it is tucked under the edge which is a pain in the butt when you want to plug a thumb drive in there (especially desirable if you're using the iMac) you pretty much have to fumble around until you plug it in sight unseen OR you end up lifting the keyboard to see where the port is and plug in your device.

There also isn't enough travel to the keys when you type like I do. On the Apple keyboard I continually found myself entering keystrokes when I hadn't intended to do so, and because I press the keys pretty hard the shorter travel results in greater finger fatigue for me. All in all, the Apple keyboard cuts my speed and accuracy in half. Obviously that's not the case for everyone, as you don't have to look far online to find people who LOVE that keyboard and argue it's possibly one of the best Apple ever made. That's fine if it works for you, but it doesn't mean I have to live with it.

Secondary problem is that I switch back and forth between Mac and Windows a lot on the same machine. I know other people who do that with Parallels rather than rebooting into another drive or partition, but the problem is the same - Mac and Windows keyboards are NOT alike! You always have to make a trade-off when platform hopping between the two with keys being in different order or some functionality missing whether you try to use a Windows keyboard on a Mac or an Apple keyboard on a Windows machine. It's annoying!

Clarification: Someone said to me today "All USB keyboards are cross-platform compatible." Well, yes, technically they are. The keys will just re-map, and a Windows keyboard will use function keys for media keys, etc. But this is about having a keyboard that actually HAS all the keys for both platforms as well as has the keys MARKED for both platforms where they are different. This same person also told me "Logitech makes keyboards for both Mac and Windows." I went to the Logitech web site and, sure, they have check-boxes to narrow your search to "Mac compatible" and "Windows Compatible" keyboards. All of which are gaming keyboards and all of which are ONLY have their keys marked for use on Windows.

Which is why I'm really diggin' this new Matias USB 2.0 keyboard. Nice, springy, responsive keys with the right amount of travel, just enough dishing so you don't end up with high or sharp edges, a 2 port USB 1.0 hub for my mouse and tablet and a single USB 2.0 port on top for easily plugging in my thumb drive. But the coup de grace to my Apple keyboard experience is that this is a CROSS-PLATFORM keyboard! It's kind of weird to see a keyboard with BOTH a (Windows Logo) and (Mac Command) symbol on it, but if anyone else sits down at my computer - regardless of which OS I've booted - there would be no guessing which keys to press.

Well, maybe unless you want to eject the DVD drive - that requires holding down F12 in OS X, but for some reason Matias didn't bother putting the "eject" icon on it. I do, however, have volume control keys nicely made half the height of the surrounding keys so they're harder to hit by accident and easier to find by feel. They also had a really good idea regarding the Caps Lock key - instead of being over by the Tab key (where people - including me - hit it by accident all the frickin' time) they moved it to the lower right next to the Alt/Command key. They also put the Num Lock key there and replaced it with a Tab key on the keypad - which is sweet for entering data ten-key style in forms or spreadsheets. Set-up on Mac does require you to reassign the Command and Option keys so they match the keyboard layout. Windows automatically recognizes it as a Windows keyboard and USB hub.

The only design changes I think I'd make to it (or recommend Matias consider) are to add that eject icon to the F12 key (or maybe ADD an eject key - there's plenty of room above the keypad), and possibly move that USB 2.0 port into the bezel space on the left side of the keyboard by the additional CTRL key. Why? Because my keyboard sits in a pull out tray and unless I pull it out so far it's falling into my lap the USB 2.0 port is still under the desk top where I can't plug my thumb drive into it. Other than that, this is one of the nicest keyboards I've used in a long time and it can be had for a pretty reasonable price of around $30. I got mine at Micro Center, but tons of places online carry them, and you can buy direct too. If you dual boot, are using Parallels a lot, or if you also don't like the Apple aluminum keyboard, you may want to give this one a try.

Linkworld "Imposter" Case

2010-07-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

I'm building up yet another computer so I recently bought this case from NewEgg.com (Linkworld model 431-0 C.2222) for a little less than $40. It is also available in silver, by the way.

The Cons

Well, some would argue the case design itself if the con, as in "con job" since it's obviously made to remind us of a certain fruit-themed professional computer. But setting that aside for the moment and just talking about the case itself, this thing is a VERY cheaply made case. It is made of rather thin sheets of metal, though the rolls and indentations do lend it a little bit of strength I wouldn't set anything heavy on it. The "handles" are just loops of plastic, and many of the reviews I'd read online about this case noted that the case arrived either with plastic already broken (the shipping box has almost not padding, I'm surprised mine survived UPS shipping) or that as soon as you had some weight in the case and picked it up by the handles they cracked off.

I'd also read comments that this case was, at one time, sold as JUST a case for around $10. That's honestly about what it's worth, but mine was the aforementioned higher price and came with a case fan and a Power Supply Unit installed. I wish I'd found this case for the cheaper price, because I'm going to just throw the PSU away because it's an obvious POS. It is the single lightest weight PSU I've ever held, which makes me seriously doubt it can handle the 500W rating printed on the side. It's frankly the sort of PSU that is a fried motherboard waiting to happen. The case fan is very standard, with no markings to help me know who made it. If you were going for a pimped out case with LEDs you'd be tossing this fan anyway. I'll probably leave it in the case until it inevitably starts screaming or just stops turning.

It's a fairly tight case, so expect things to be crammed together and also expect you'll cut a knuckle or two on the sharp metal edges trying to fit components inside. It's not the most compact case I've been inside of, but it's not spacious by any stretch of the imagination.

No front panel Firewire, even though there is a spot for one and the front-panel circuit board is drilled out for a port and header. They obviously decided the few pennies it would cost to add them was just too big an investment in this case, which is truly built to a very thin penny.

The Pros

The front (plastic) panel has a ton of holes in it, so I'd think this case will have very good ventilation. Heat is a real computer killer, and it seems like no matter how many fans I stick in my current system it's never enough. I plan to have a virtual hurricane blowing through this case. It also has two nice doors for optical drives that flip down when the CD/DVD tray pushes them open, which always looks nicer and cleaner than the actual faceplate of the drive - and also means you can install drives with mismatched colors or brands since they'll be hidden from view instead of sticking out the front of the computer all the time.

The plastic "handles" on the bottom hold the case up off the floor. I've noticed with most towers, sitting on carpet under desks the front case fan - almost always located at the bottom front - tends to quickly get clogged up with dust bunnies and pet hair - or whatever else is blowing around on your carpet. I'm hopeful that having the case up on stilts will reduce that problem. A case with handles is also considered a "pro" for those who like to drag them to LAN parties or use them to DJ (see below for "Improvement" to make the handles something you can actually hang on to).

I suppose "it's cheap" is also in its favor. If you want your computer to look like the bastard child of that certain other computer the design may be in a "pro" in your book as well. It does have a nice floppy drive face integrated into the front panel, which nicely hides the ugly standard floppy faceplate - though it would be nice if they also gave a blank out plate since the era of floppy drives is pretty much over. The 3.5" bay below the floppy drive looks like it has a blank out plate in it, but it's actually a flip-down door. So if you install a media reader or fan controls or whatever in that bay you can hide them behind a little door which give a cleaner look.

It does have a "vent tunnel" for the CPU cooler to the side panel. That's nice for pulling in (presumably) colder air from outside the case which is why I put it under "pros." Though, since the CPU can be located literally anywhere on the motherboard, those vent tunnels rarely seem to line up where they'll do any good, so it may also be a "con" depending on what mobo you stick in the case.

It's pretty much standard these days, but I have seen cases that omit them, so I'll also mention the two USB ports up front and jacks for headphones and a microphone.

Improvements

With a little work this case can be beefed up a bit. I'm not talking about full on "case modding" here, just simple stuff you can do in an afternoon with a screwdriver and a power drill.

1. Handles you CAN hold on to!

I'm sure the main reasons people have had the plastic handles crack off are because of how they are attached to the case, not the quality of the plastic itself.

The rear "handles" are each attached with two small screws on each side of the case (A) and the front handles are actually part of a single plastic "shroud" around the entire front panel and attach with four very, very tiny screws on the top and four on the bottom (B). First thing I noticed upon lifting up this case - empty - was the handles could MOVE! Movement can lead to cracking, cracking can lead to suffering, and suffering. . .wait, I wasn't gong to do the Yoda quote.

I replaced the eight screws on the back (A) with stove bolts secured with nuts from the back side. You need very short bolts (I had to cut mine down) because on the bottom they'll intrude upon the motherboard mounting plate and on the top the PSU. I also needed to drill out the holes a little larger to do this, but now there is absolutely NO slop in the top back handle, where it had an obvious gap before between it and the case top.

I then replaced the eight screws on the front handles (B) with much larger (but still black and countersunk) sheet metal screws. If you don't mind them poking up inside the case the length isn't that critical (I used 1/2" long ones) since there's nothing in their way. The original screws are so small they have almost zero bite into the case metal, and one of the top screws on mine was stripped out. You could also drill and bolt these if you like, but if you're going to do that I'd recommend only doing it on the bottom where nobody can see it.

2. Front Case Fan

Since you'll have the front plastic off anyway, that's a good time to install a front case fan (D) since you won't be able to even access the two lower screws unless you take ALL the plastic off the front of the case!

3. No Tools Required

Make it a "no tools required" case! I know some reviewers hated the "Card Clamp" this case has on the back, and I've never seen anything like it before myself. Usually PCI cards are secured to the case with a single screw through their backing plate, or on some cases a plastic lever locks each one down. This case has a single clamp that runs across all the installed cards to lock them down. Well, the case that inspired this one's design has a "no tools" system for locking down PCI cards, so I thought "why not this one too?" It's really easy - just replace the two hex head phillips screws (C) on the clamp with computer case thumb screws! Then also replace the side panel screws with thumb screws. Now you won't need any tools to enter the case or to add/remove a PCI card. Now the clamp isn't some weird lock-down method, it's a convenience feature!

4. Add Firewire

As I mentioned, the front panel ports don't include a Firewire connection, even though there is space for one. If you're good with board-level soldering you could easily add one, as the circuit board is already drilled for the port and header, and the case front has a corresponding knock-out for it, so you wouldn't have to hack the case to add it. I thought about going to the trouble, but I only have one Firewire device left and it also has a USB 2.0 connector so I really don't NEED a front Firewire port - or ANY Firewire ports for that matter. I plant to cover up the knock-out on the front panel with one of the system stickers (those little ones that say what CPU is inside or Graphics Card). That will make for easy hardware reference, but also nicely hide the stickers under the door for the front panel jacks.

Sourcing Apple

2010-07-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been curious lately as to who REALLY manufactures products for Apple. It's well known that Apple doesn't have it's own factories, but contracts other manufacturers to make its stuff. They're not alone in the electronics business - most brand name computer products are actually manufactured by someone else, or at least the components are.

I'm not really interested in the endless "Apple Tax" arguments about Macs being overpriced compared to Windows systems of similar specifications. What I was interested in was the fact that Apple products consistently rank very highly - alongside Asus, who also manufacture parts for Apple, and Toshiba - in terms of reliability and build quality. If I'm going to build a custom system I want to use solid, well built components. So it is worthwhile to research who met the quality standards of a brand ranked high in reliability, right?

Ok, so I don't know exactly which components some of these companies make for Apple, but an afternoon of online research yielded the following list.

Lian Li

CASES

Mac Pro

Other Macs?

Foxconn Electronics / Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.

LOGIC BOARDS

Mac Mini

Mac Pro

iPod

iPod Nano

Invantec Appliances

Video iPods

Asustek Computer

iPod Shuffle

12.1" /13.5" / 14.1: MacBook

Quanta Computer (who also manufacture the OLPC I believe)

iMac

MacBook Pro

some iPods

WinTek

TOUCH SCREENS

iPhone

iPod Touch

iPad

Apple LCD displays

HARD DRIVES

Desktops: Seagate or Western Digital

Laptops/Mini: Fujitsu or Seagate

Apple RAM

Usually Micron, may also be Samsung or Hynix.

GRAPHICS CARDS

No idea who actually manufactures Apple branded cards, but the chips are either made by Nvidia or ATi and at least one integrated video chip - the Nvidia 320M - was manufactured exclusively for Apple.

And, if you want the same kind of rock-solid UNIX-based operating system too? How 'bout another UNIX-based OS for FREE! Mac OS X was based on parts of FreeBSD and NetBSD combined into Darwin, which forms the UNIX underpinnings of OS X. You could either install a FreeBSD or NetBSD or you can actually get Darwin for free as well. This doesn't give you Mac OS, though, as a lot of what comprises Mac OS is in a higher-level, proprietary layer used and required by "Mac Native" applications to work, so you can't run Mac native software on Darwin. What you CAN do, though, is run thousands of UNIX and Linux programs, and you can install a GUI desktop environment like Gnome or KDE and "theme" it to look just like Mac OS X, and install AWN Dock which works just like the one in OS X.

If BSD or Darwin are too intimidating, get a Linux distribution since they often have "Live" discs that let you try before you install, and have nice installation wizards when you've found one you like. Whichever UNIX or Linux you choose, you can also use a compatibility layer called "WINE" to run many (but not all) Windows programs - without having to have Windows installed. For many users a BSD or Linux install will meet their needs as well as Windows or Mac OS - especially if most of what you do is surf the web, e-mail, chat, watch videos, use an office software suite there is no reason to be spending money on an operating system or software to do those things. It's only when you need to use professional applications (such as Adobe Creative Suite or Final Cut Pro) that you NEED to have a commercial operating system capable of running them.

Spoofing Google Chrome

2010-06-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, there are STILL web sites out there that do "browser detection" rather than "feature detection." A good example of this is actually Apple's own HTML5 Showcase, which directs anyone visiting it who isn't already using Apple's "Safari" browser to download it in order to see the content.

Let me go off on an Apple tangent for a moment:

This is blatantly NOT how you are supposed to do detection for support of HTML5 features! They're clearly doing it on purpose to give the (false) impression that ONLY their web browser supports this stuff. If you visit the showcase with Google's Chrome browser you'll still get the "download Safari" message, even though both Safari and Chrome are built atop the same Webkit core. Small point, but Apple also uses a lot of Webkit-specific CSS in their showcase too, when there are perfectly good standards-compliant equivalents available, which means other browsers that DO support HTML5 (like Opera and nightly builds of Firefox) won't render the content correctly because they aren't built on Webkit. C'mon Apple! Don't put up a site that is supposed to showcase HTML5 standards compliance and then use non-compliant CSS!!

Ok, back to Google Chrome:

Because Chrome is the new kid on the block and doesn't support add-ons (yet) you can't easily "spoof" the User Agent for the browser. The "User Agent" is a string that the browser reports to web sites that request it telling the site what kind of browser it is. When you send a user agent string that is different from the actual one, it is called "spoofing." The Opera browser has long had a built-in option to spoof (or they call it "mask") as other browsers, because so few sites are built with Opera in mind if there is any code on the site that requires a specific browser (like Firefox or Internet Explorer) you have to set Opera to lie to the site to get the code to work properly. This was even more of a problem back in the early D0t.Com era when so many sites were designed for either IE or Netscape to the exclusion of each other and everyone else! There are add-ons for Firefox that allow it to masquerade as other browsers - should you stumble across one of these anachronistic web sites. But what about Google Chrome?

Well, there isn't an add-on or a built-in method, but it's still relatively easy to do (Windows instructions):

1. Find the Shortcut to Google Chrome that is most likely on your desktop.

2. Copy the Shortcut and Paste the copy somewhere (like back on the desktop).

3. Right+Click and select "Properties"

4. In the first box named "Target" you'll need to add the following to the line that's already there:

--user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10_7; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.1 Safari/533.4"

5. Rename the Shortcut "Chrome as Safari"

6. Use this shortcut to launch Chrome and it will automatically be masquerading as Safari 4.1

Don't believe me? Follow the steps and then go to the Apple HTML5 Showcase mentioned above. You won't get the "Download Safari" message!

You can replace the User Agent string with the string from any other browser, so you could also make shortcuts that launch Google Chrome as Firefox or as Internet Explorer.

When Good Shows Go Bad

2010-05-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is a general criticism of "epic" television series.

Shows that rise above the usual crap that gets put on TV, don't dumb things down to the audience, and gain a strong - if not rabidly loyal - fan base. Shows that are "epics" in the sense of having multiple story lines hanging off a longer story arc meant to resolve YEARS down the road instead of before the credits roll at the end of each hour.

I'm talking about shows like "Babylon 5," "Battlestar Galactic" (the new one), "Lost," "The X-Files."

All these shows had characters the fans truly CARED about, they had engaging plots - mysteries actually - with clues being revealed little by little over years. Shows that kept the fans guessing, and watching.

All these shows also went awry and largely disappointed the fans in the end.

Of the shows I mentioned, arguably "Babylon 5" had the most palatable ending, but the show was marred by truly awful made-for-tv movies, an extraneous season on the air after the real story ended with an ill-conceived and unnecessary ending, all of which led into an equally pointless spin-off series.

"X-Files" also suffered the sorry fate of additional seasons beyond the point the show should have been allowed to end with dignity, and a couple of equally pointless theatrical endeavors. Worse yet, the main story arc over all those years - regarding the conspiracy that drove Agent Mulder - was never really resolved.

"Battlestar Galactica" outright STOLE it's ending from the last episode of the 1980's BBC "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" television series. BSG was a show that literally kept me on the edge of my seat before each commercial break and then totally dropped the ball when it came to wrapping up the story.

Now I've just seen the end of "Lost" after six years of building mystery and largely empty promises by the show's creators that they would explain everything. Like BSG, I have lengthy posts on this blog detailing my disappointments.

No. When a show that has intelligently engaged me and week after week, year after year, built toward something totally blows it at the finale it's not so much disappointing as it is INSULTING.

Where and why do these shows go so f*ing wrong?! Well, I've identified some reasons, and if anyone out there reading this is working on the next epic serial drama maybe you can avoid pissing off your future loyal fans if you keep this stuff in mind.

1. No Clear Plan - so many of these shows seem (and probably are) made up as the go along. A great mystery is introduced without anyone involved with the show having a clue what the answer to the question is. You can possibly get away with sub-plots (the "B" and "C" stories) being cobbled together, but the main story arc needs to be plotted out. That's why they call it a PLOT. Once it's in place, for God's sake, STICK to it!

2. Painting Into A Corner - this can go hand-in-hand with #1 if the show presents a mystery and then makes up crap that produces inconsistencies that mean they can NEVER write themselves out of it without ignoring their own continuity. All the more reason to have a plan in place. This can also happen to shows that are at risk of being canceled before they get to reveal anything important, or take too damned long to drop the clues and lose their audience because nothing has meaning or the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Which it isn't if you haven't done #1.

3. Don't Rush It! - Ok, so maybe you've got #1 in place, you've kept #2 in mind, but the show is going to be canceled at the end of season 3 and you had a 5 year story arc. Do you just rush to the ending or let the show die "open ended?" "Babylon 5" faced that problem, and they rushed it by showing us the end of the five year story arc at the close of season 4. Fine, right? Well, number one it FELT terribly rushed compared to how the story had been building, but then they got ANOTHER SEASON. Oh crap! What do they do now? They've got their fifth year, but already burned the arc. And we got a hurried NEW plot, a lackluster season, and a second ending to the series nowhere near as satisfying as the one we already had - and obviously contrived to allow for the story to continue. Which is did, in the even less impressive "Excalibur" spin-off series, itself a one-season blunder.

4. LET IT DIE! - This one is aimed more at the fans than the creators of a show. Ok, I'm a fan of shows too, and often wonder what I'm going to do for that hour each week once the show is off the air. But that is no reason to keep beating a dead horse. You know what happens to dead horses? They STINK. "Babylon 5" got rushed to it's ending, but at least it gave the fans that ending. But the fans felt understandably ripped off by not getting that last, damned season and began one of the many "save the show" campaigns. Same thing happened when FOX was set to cancel "X-Files" and later "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." A little more problematic since we didn't get a solid ending and the fans either wanted an explanation, or some just wanted MORE show. That can be a problem with fans who are about quantity rather than quality. But a show with hundreds of awful, pointless episodes with a replacement cast are NOT a substitute for, say, 13 solid, tightly written, acted, and produced episodes.

A lackluster "zombie" season after a show has had it's run is not going to be as good as waiting for a single TV or theatrical movie that wraps things up. So, please, fan boys and fan girls - LET YOUR FAVORITE SHOWS DIE WITH DIGNITY.

5. Have A Back-Up Plan - since TV networks are fickle and often cancel great shows for no logical reason there are no guarantees a show will get the time it needs for the story arc. Well, one way would be for show creators to insist on three or five year deals (in the same way the three picture deal in the movie industry is pretty standard), shop a show around to other networks after it gets canceled (but stick to the original story arc, not shop it around for more seasons AFTER the story arc has resolved), get a green-light for a movie deal as a way to wrap it up if the show gets canceled, or - if all else fails - finish the story in some other medium like a book, comic, or webisode.

6. Have an ENDING - a great series should be like a novel with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The individual episodes should be "chapters" within that novel. So many shows are reluctant to kill off main characters too - always hoping for that lucrative "spin-off" property I suppose. But in a good show NOBODY IS SAFE. That keeps it interesting for the audience, knowing anyone could die. Everyone could die. If you've made the show all about one or two characters, and without them there is no show, where is the drama if everyone knows you can't kill them off? That leads me to my final point:

7. Plot Driven, Not Character Driven - I am so sick of hearing television writers describe their shows as "character driven" or "character studies." A show's plot should be like LIFE, it will go on no matter who gets sacrificed along the way. The PLOT has to be the main character, and all the characters supporting players. Too damned many shows these days toss out the plot at the end because the writers and producers mistakenly think the characters and their relationships, hopes, dreams, pasts, and futures are more important than the plot. Bullshit! The plot has to be the one, and only, character you can't kill off. I believe every Hollywood hack working on a series should be forced to write a death for each character in the show and ask whether the death of that character also kills the plot. If the answer is yes, then you don't really have a story, you have a biography. A biography of THAT character. Go back to the drawing board and figure out how the story progresses without any of the existing characters. A good story is things happening TO people and having them realistically react to it. A bad story is one where things only happen because of the characters' actions. If the natural, believable end to the story is "everyone dies" then KILL EVERYONE.

There ARE shows that have gotten it right. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" managed a fairly decent finale by tying it back into the pilot episode, even if they did rip off the rest of the storyline. "Star Trek: Voyager" did okay as well, by dealing a major blow to the Borg and bringing the Voyager crew home to the Alpha Quadrant. "Farscape" was totally robbed of a final season to wrap things up, but eventually did get a deal for the "Peacekeeper Wars" which was like a condensed season on speed and delivered a very satisfying finale. "Firefly" was also a stupendously good show that got robbed by not even getting a full season, but the 13 hours we did get were pure (shiny) gold. It also got an equally good, if not frenetically paced, finale in the theatrical movie "Serenity." "Angel" (the Buffy spin-off) had trouble finding it's legs, but the series finale was as satisfying as the end of "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid." The US version of "Life On Mars" (which I've written about previously) had what I thought was a very nice ending that explained everything - unlike the British original version that had a very ambiguous finish.

So, please, TV writers stop making it up as you go, stop phoning it in at the end. Fans, please stop trying to "save" series that have already ended.

In the end, "Lost" lost me as a fan

2010-05-24T11:53:00.001-07:00

Last night I, along with millions of other fans, watched the series finale of "Lost." To say I'm a little disappointed would be an understatement. I was hoping for something a little more coherent. A little more of an epiphany, or a Shyamalan-esque twist ending. The "Lost" writers delivered on NONE of these things. None.

If you haven't seen the finale, stop reading. Spoilers follow!

It seemed to me that the writers were intent on not pissing off any segment of the fan-base, so they tried to incorporate aspects of EVERY possible ending into one ending that would give every fan something to take away from it - but in the end just created a confusing jumble that is probably going to piss off everyone who stuck with the show for six years. Six years that often seemed even longer because of enormous gaps in airing and so many re-runs viewers thought they were time-jumping like Desmond.

The ending, much like the entire show, is open to interpretation. It took an hour after the finale finished for me to muddle through and make some kind of "sense" of it all, but there's no way for me to know if I'm correct.

Things fans were hoping for, such as Jack becoming the new Jacob (which is actually called out in the episode as being too obvious), but Hurly also gets to become the new Jacob. Sawyer and Kate sort of end up together, but so do Sawyer and Juliette and Jack with Kate (in the afterlife). The Smoke Monster gets killed. Desmond survives and in both the reality and the afterlife will get to be with Penny. Locke gets to stay on the island (his body does anyway), he also gets to walk (in the alternate reality). Hurly finds purpose in both realities. Characters meet both tragic ends and get a happy ending (albeit in the afterlife). How the island "works" is left both explained and a mystery. Turns out everyone was dead and in limbo. It also turns out some of them aren't. Like I said, they tried to put in a little of everything.

The simple answer for the end of the show is something people were assuming right from the pilot episode - they're all dead. Which is a bit obvious, and a total cop-out if that was what the writers intended. Especially for a show that prided itself on not insulting the intelligence of its audience.

But, of course, this is "Lost" we're talking about. It couldn't be that simple. Could it? Please tell me it isn't that simple! Well, I'm pretty sure it isn't. Here's my attempt to make sense of it all:

They're All Dead
The "flash sideways" parallel timeline after the atomic bomb went off isn't real. It's part of the afterlife, sort of a limbo or purgatory. They don't even realize they're dead. It's an idealized version of their lives - their lives as if the island had never been a part of it. Jack is a self-confident surgeon, a father with a teenage son and apparently none of the self-esteem sapping "daddy issues" he had before. His ex-wife is Juliette, who is happily practicing as an Ob/Gyn. Sawyer (aka Ford) isn't the scoundrel with a heart of gold, he's on the right side of the law as a detective. Miles is his partner and has an apparently close relationship with his father - who isn't a Dharma Initiative scientist, but runs a Los Angeles museum. Desmond isn't hated by Charles Whitmore, he's Witmore's right-hand man. Hurly is the luckiest man alive. Sayid still has a checkered past, but he's basically a good guy looking out for his family. Claire isn't crazy, and she'll have a chance to raise Aaron. And so on and so on - the main point being they are all living better, if not idealized, versions of their lives. Except they aren't. Because they're dead.

The Island was REAL
Christian Shepard tells Jack that they all created "this place" (the alternate LA) so they could find each other, because the time Jack spent with "these people" was the more important. Meaning the events on the island DID actually happen!

Another clue is, at the church at the end, Hugo invites Ben to come inside. Ben is obviously reluctant to join them as I'm sure he believes he won't exactly be welcome. Hugo then tells Ben he made a great "Number Two." In the last scene on the island with Hugo, after he has become the new Jacob, he asks Ben to help him. This means Hugo did protect the island, with Ben as his go-to guy. But in the alternate LA they are both dead.

The last scene of the show is Jack stumbling, mortally wounded through the bamboo trees. He falls down and looks up at the sky only to see a plane fly over. It is the Ajira plane leaving the island. If you thought it was some time travel weirdness and the plane was Oceanic 815 well it can't be. When the credits roll we get a shot of the wreckage of Oceanic 815 strewn across the beach. The plan DID crash. The events on the island DID happen.

The A-Bomb Didn't Kill Them
If the alternate timeline isn't real, then the island is NOT at the bottom of the ocean. The energy of the bomb must have been absorbed by the island into the strange matter at the bottom of the drill shaft. So the bomb only killed Juliette, because she was on top of it. But the bomb DID apparently change history on the island because the Dharma station there had never been built. and appears to have synced the 1974 people up with the 2007 people. Which means Frank, Richard, Miles, Kate, Claire, and Sawyer lived and escaped from the island on the Ajira plane, and Hurly, Ben, Desmond, Rose and Bernard all survived on the island.

Time Doesn't Matter
I'm sure a lot of people have trouble rectifying the two "timelines" because if a bunch of the characters SURVIVED then how come they are in the "afterlife" all dead? Well, if you'd noticed this show plays with concepts of time. The alternate LA "flash sideways" is actually a sort of limbo after death, which means linear time doesn't apply. As Christian Shepard told Jack, in that place there is no "now." It's happening after ALL the characters have passed away, whether they died on the island, off the island, escaped the island and lived long and happy lives, or stayed on the island and eventually died the point is death is inevitable and unavoidable. The "now" of the alternate LA occurs after everyone has died, which is why they can all meet up there. They could all start remembering their connections to each other - from their time on the island - because that actually happened to them and it's how they know each other.

The Island Is Still Waiting
Sure, they're all dead and "moving on" to some sort of afterlife together. But the island, save the parts that fell off during the earthquakes, isn't at the bottom of the ocean. It's still there, somewhere, waiting for more people to arrive. It still has crazy energy and mysterious temples. The story of the Oceanic 815 characters and Ben's "Others" has ended, but there is room for a new story. . .on the island.

It's a Big Disappointment
As I noted, from the very first episode people believed the characters were actually all dead, and the island was some sort of purgatory. Well, okay, here's the twist (if there is one) that it was the alternate Los Angeles that was the non-existent purgatory. The characters were actually all ALIVE on the island, and it's a real, physical place. A real, physical place that defies the laws of time, space, and physics and makes no sense at all and the writers - convinced the show was primarily "character driven" - decided the PLOT wasn't worth trying to explain. Probably because they were making it up as they went along and it doesn't make any sense to them either.

It wasn't the worst series finale I've seen (that award goes to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica), but it did seem like a terrible cop-out that makes me not particularly ever want to rewatch the series knowing this unsatisfying finale awaits at the end.

At last, a better way to watch Hulu on Linux

2010-04-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

If you've read my previous posts about setting up a Linux-based HTPC then you know the issues I've run into trying to play videos from Hulu full screen - issues primarily due to the Adobe Flash Player application.

Well, I found out there is a Linux-native version of "Hulu Desktop" available from Hulu Labs (actually two versions for both 32 and 64 bit Ubuntu/Debian). I installed it and lo and behold I can now watch Hulu videos full screen on my Linux box.

Of course there are a couple of caveats:

1. Just like playing through the Flash Player browser plugin, there can't be ANY other OpenGL applications running. So if I want to watch Hulu then I have to exit XBMC.

2. I can only get smooth playback by using the "Low Quality" (480p) setting. That may be more of a bandwidth issue, but I seem to be able to play high quality video from other sites so maybe its got more to do with the codec? I don't know. It's not a huge issue since I don't (yet) own an HDTV and 480 looks quite nice on a 32" standard definition screen.

The "closed captioning" option is quite nice for watching un-dubbed anime - especially since you can control the font! The default font is a little "thin" in my opinion, so it's nice to be able to change the size and typeface.

Ok, I realize this is a program that's still in development so I'm going to forgive some things, but hope they fix them. The "10-foot interface" is more like a 3-foot interface even on a 32" TV screen. Some of that may be the lower resolution (as compared to a computer monitor), but the thumbnails and text are a little small and I didn't see any way to change them in the preferences. Also, it's not very intuitive in how you get back to a previous screen to, say, watch a different video. It seemed, at first, the only way to do that was to "exit" the video you were watching and relaunch the program. A simple "Back" or "Home" button would be nice. Also, the "splash" screen shows whatever TV show they're showcasing and seems to ignore your quality preference settings in favor of "High Quality" - which means if you set it lower due to your system's ability to play the video streams you're greeted by a slide show (it automatically starts playing the video).

But overall I'm happy with it because now it means I can actually WATCH the videos from Hulu on my Linux HTPC.

Is there a future for XBMC Plug-ins?

2010-04-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

If you've used XBMC (or any of the third-party derivatives) you've no doubt run across the problem of plug-ins and scrapers that just stop working. Odds are, if nothing on your system has changed, it's the site from which you were getting the content that changed - and likely changed specifically to BLOCK the plug-in(s) you were using.

The reasons so many sites actively block scrapers/plug-ins like XBMC's has to do with:

1. Advertising
2. Bandwidth

Most of the content providers (all of them that I've seen anyway) place ads on their web sites to help pay for things. In some cases these are ads embedded in the web page (simple images or Flash content) separate from the videos themselves. In other cases they are webmercials that play IN the embedded video player before or during the show your watching, but are inserted into the video stream by various methods that seem to REQUIRE the video be playing in the site's own video window.

When accessing a video from an XBMC plug-in you obviously are never going to see the ads sprinkled on the host site's web page (because you never see the web page). However, I've also noticed that whatever mechanisms sites are using to insert webmercials into video streams are ignored by XBMC's player - meaning you don't see THOSE ads either.

These two things mean XBMC viewers are getting commercial-free content, which eats into the host sites' ad revenues. Those ad revenues help pay for the content and keeping the site running, which leads us to the second issue:

Bandwidth.

Videos accessed with a plug-in are still consuming bandwidth from the host site. I'm reasonably certain the sites log files or stat files would be able to suss out how many videos were viewed without accessing the web pages in which they are embedded, which in turn means those viewers didn't see the ads. If I were running a video content site and saw a ton of direct video stream accesses like that I'd shut them down too, as it represents money out of my pocket for bandwidth usage without being able to recoup it by selling ads, since those viewers won't SEE the ads.

Solutions? Well, so far the solution most sites have chosen is to block access to the videos. The simple way is to simply "break" the plug-in by renaming the folder structure on the site, or moving videos into a different folder. But that only works until someone updates the plug-in to deal with the new file structure. The other way is to move the videos to a server that requires authentication and set it up so it will only deliver requests made from/through the main web site. Make it encrypted authentication and simple IP-spoofing ain't gonna defeat it.

A good example of the latter appears to be Animefreak.tv who seem to have moved their videos onto a server requiring authentication. The XBMC plugin can still find all the videos, but since it isn't an authenticating requester, you can't actually PLAY any of them. At least that's what it looks like is going on when I checked my XBMC log file.

But I have to ask, wouldn't it be better for these sites to CAPTURE those extra viewers, rather than alienate them? Clearly to do so the content sites will need to come up with a better way of injecting ad content into the main video streams - a method that XBMC plug-ins can't thwart. The only way I can think of, though, is to actually make the ads PART of the main video, which could actually be done on the fly by concatenating the ad files and content video files into a new video file, then simply write/overwrite it to the filename linked on the web site (and therefore the only video file the scrapers/plug-ins can find). Server intensive? Yep, but you wouldn't necessarily have to do it every access, it could be done in batch processes at set advertising cycles (for example, sell ads to run for a month and only regenerate the files as part of monthly site maintenance).

Another possibility is for developers to strike deals with certain sites, or better yet for the site owners themselves to release the plug-ins. Wouldn't it be great if there was a plug-in "App Store" (actually I'd prefer it be more like "Android Marketplace") serving up OFFICIAL plug-ins for XBMC/Boxee/iConsole/MediaPortal/Plex/Voddler/OpenELEC.tv/ElementOS/Sabayon (and any other derivatives I've forgotten)?

XBMC (and friends) would also probably need to change - or at least add to - the way it uses plug-ins. Currently they're all Python scripts you can open up and hack to your heart's content. That's fine for open source developers, but is a terrible idea for the content providers. If you wanted to entice them into releasing their own plug-ins there would need to be some kind of plug-in architecture for compiled and likely encrypted plug-ins - otherwise people would simply hack the script to remove any features they didn't like (such as code that pushes advertising).

Granted, derivatives using closed-source code (such as Boxee) would have a major advantage in doing something like that, since the entire plug-in architecture could be based on closed-source code, and much like Apple does with iPhone/iPad apps, Boxee could tightly control the SDK and approval. Also, content sites and services could simply CHARGE for the plug-in application (and why not? People buy plug-ins for programs like Photoshop). That would help recoup some of the cost of the added bandwidth, or maybe they sell the plug-in app in lieu of injecting ads into the content streams.

Of course there would be nothing preventing the developers of the "closed-source" plugin architecture from releasing that (for free or for money) as an add-on for XBMC itself, thus giving those using the open-source media center access to and the ability to install closed-source plug-ins. Plug-ins SOLD in an app store. Of course there would be tons of plug-ins using closed-source code OTHER than what was just in the closed plug-in architecture and those would only work with Boxee itself, but "free" versions or "feature-limited" versions could be released for XBMC - which could even work to convince some users it was worth their while to switch to Boxee. I'm just thinking of what advantage(s) there would be to Boxee (or any other mixed-source and monetized derivative) in supporting the XBMC community as well. Since I'm talking about a closed-source add-on you also wouldn't have to be locked into just ONE provider. Each company could release their own add-on tied to their own store. Imagine having XBMC installed, but being able to buy content plug-ins from Boxee, Voddler, and NBC-Universal or Funimation through their individual app stores because you installed their commercial closed-source app store add-ons.

If I knew I could keep my XBMC set-up and get a closed-source add-on that would let me spend a few bucks in an "app store" for a Anime site plug-in endorsed/released by the site itself - thus guaranteeing I'd be able to actually watch the videos without worrying about it being blocked - that would be worth it to me. Kind of like if you could buy access to cable TV channels a-la-carte, and if the actual TV networks got in on it you actually COULD by on-demand access to their content. Recurring subscriptions that keep a plug-in functional or pay-per-view would also not be out of the question for a closed-source add-on architecture.

Initially I suspect there would be a tendency for each content supplier to only provide their content via their own app store - until they realized what most product manufacturers realized a long, long time ago: it's better to have your product in as many stores as possible. For example, I could see the BBC initially only selling its plug-in in its own app store, and only to UK residents. But then realize they could also be selling it in the app stores of their production and distribution partners worldwide. I mean, their only reason for geo-blocking access to Beeb content outside the UK is that only people in the UK are paying the "Television Tax" that funds BBC programming - so nobody outside the UK has any "right" to watch it. Unless, of course, the BBC can charge people outside the UK for access. Which they could do via a for-pay plug-in app. On my side of the pond I could see a Hulu plug-in being sold in the NBC, Fox, and ABC app stores as well as directly from the Hulu site itself. That's probably a more realistic notion given that Hulu recently announced they are introducing a "subscriber" level of programming. They're already monetizing, and a plug-in would just be an extension of that to XBMC-based media centers.

Anyway, I'm just brainstorming here. I'd love to see the content sites actively SUPPORTING something like XBMC, rather than actively blocking it. I think I'm like a lot of folks who'd be willing to PAY for on-demand access to content I actually want to see - and I believe there would be a lot less resistance to paying if you were buying access via your television as opposed to a web site (since many of us have become accustomed to the idea of paying for Cable or Satellite television it's not a big mental leap to pay or content via our media center interface).

Lastly, one of the reasons Cable and Satellite TV providers "bundle" packages of channels (rather than letting you buy them a-la-carte) is based on the theory that niche programming can only survive if it's bundled with popular programming. For example, it isn't believed there are enough viewers to support the "Quilting Channel" so it gets packaged with a dozen other channels. Well, niche programming is taken to the extreme online - and media centers like XBMC and Boxee pull their content form online without the overhead of cable or satellite broadcasting. Even so, content providers could STILL bundle programming. Going back to the Hulu subscription example, they are talking about a $10 fee for access to all kinds of different programming - popular and niche - on their site. That's as opposed to Apple's iTunes store where you pay a buck an episode for a specific TV show. There's honestly no reason a content provider - via a plug-in app store type thing - couldn't sell their content one, the other, or both ways.

InDesign CS4 Secret: Save Down to the Stone Age

2010-03-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's a little trick I figured out today that I had previously been told was "impossible." I opened a file created in InDesign CS4 with InDesign CS. And it looked ok.

InDesign, much like QuarkXpress, only lets you save down one version with the "interchange" (.INX) format. So if you create a document in CS4 and need to open it in CS3 you do "Save As" select the Interchange format and then open that (rather than the .indd file) in CS3.

Ah! But what do you do if you need to open that file in an InDesign version OLDER than the the previous version and you don't have access to the version(s) in between? Most people (including Adobe) will tell you that you're screwed. But you're not! Or at least not totally screwed.

When you save to INX format it creates an XML file which the previous version uses to rebuild the structure of the document it's own way as best it can (assuming it has all the updates to the program and plugins applied). If it encounters any data it doesn't understand (for example, features that were added to the newer version) it will just ignore that stuff and move on. Obviously that means the more features you used that aren't backwards compatible the more screwed up your file will be when it's opened in an earlier version. BUT, if you have a fairly simple layout you may not need to tweak anything.

Since the INX file is just a text file you can easily open it with WordPad or NotePad (on Windows) or Text Editor (on Mac) and you only need to change ONE STINKIN' NUMBER to make this work, and it's in the second line of the file. Let's say I've created a file in InDesign CS4 and used the Interchange format to save it backwards for InDesign CS3. The second line of the INX file will read something like:

?aid style="33" type="document" DOMVersion="6.0" readerVersion="5.0" featureSet="257" product="6.0(578)" ?

The "6.0" then refers to CS4, from which we exported the file. The "5.0" in the "readerVersion=" part means CS3, because we told it to save it for CS3 which will be "reading" the INX file.

To open this file in CS2 without actually having access to CS3
Change: readerVersion="5.0" --> readerVersion="4.0"

To open this file in CS without actually having access to CS2 or CS3
Change: readerVersion="5.0" --> readerVersion="3.0"

That's IT! The INX file I exported from CS4 opened in CS perfectly. Then I immediately just saved it as a different name as an .indd CS compatible file. Granted it was a simple layout and apparently didn't use ANY special features added to the software between CS and CS4. Odds are most files will lose something going backwards in time that far, but the point is to be able to OPEN the file so you don't have to rebuild it from scratch.

Linux Launcher for Future Pinball

2010-02-15T22:05:00.001-08:00

I recall the rare occasions as a kid that I got to go anywhere that had arcade games. As the games grew more complex they sprouted additional buttons, and increased the likelihood that I'd die all the sooner. Which is why I often had to give the Pinball Machines a quarter or two. No matter how many extras bells, whistles, lights, ramps, flippers, etc., they put in them the controls remained dirt simple - buttons on the left controlled left flippers, buttons on the right controlled right flippers, and if the game got stuck you'd nudge it lightly and hope it didn't "tilt" on you.

I've been writing the last couple of months on this blog about setting up my XBMC "media center" PC in the living room, and adding video game emulators to it. Well, now it's time to add PINBALL to my emulation fun!

There is a kick-ass pinball simulator/construction set program called "Future Pinball." If you're running Windows you can just go to http://www.futurepinball.com/ and download and install it. But if you're on a Linux machine, like I am with my "media center" then you need to get a custom installation script here: http://fprelease.free.fr/fpwine/

Just run that script and it will create a custom WINE install just for Future Pinball. Initially I tried following instructions I found in the Ubuntu forums for putting it in my existing WINE install, but every table I tried to run complained of script errors and froze. The install from that handy, dandy script, though worked perfectly out of the box. So I'd highly recommend it.

Make sure to go to the Future Pinball web site (http://www.futurepinball.com/) to get the "Sci-Fi Classic" demo game. It's actually pretty good, and some other tables people have created require it be installed so their table works. You'll be putting the files into a subfolder located at:

~/.fpwine/drive_c/Games/Future Pinball/Tables

You need to extract them to there (can't be ZIP files), and while many will work just fine in the sub-folders extracting creates, some will only run if the files are no lower than the /Tables folder. Especially the ones that require the demo table be there alongside them, however when you open them in the editor it will TELL you it needs files from another table. Then either copy that table's files in with the new one, or pull those tables out to live with the one on which they are dependent. If you have tables that didn't complain about dependency that freeze or crash on you, they tend to only do it when you want to PLAY them. Some can be fixed simply by opening them in the editor and saving them. Others will need to be moved out of their sub-folders to run. It can be a bit picky, but you only need to set this up once.

Since "demo" tables aren't that much fun, so you'll probably want a REAL table - by which I mean a faithful recreation of a classic one. Go to IRP Pinball site (http://irpinball.org/fp.htm) and look for your favorite olde tyme table. Don't stray off the page of that link I gave you, that's the Future Pinball stuff. Everything else on that site is for Visual Pinball (a different program). For some other recreations and original tables pay visits to the following sites and make off like you just knocked over an arcade:

http://www.blindmankind.tecnopinball.org/
http://www.roneypinball.com.ar/TablesRP.html
http://www.pinballaddicts.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=26
http://www.scapinosvpins.com/FuturePinballHome.htm

I'd highly recommend test-running each game (hit F5 within the FP editor) and doing that while still in "windowed" mode, just in case a table freezes you don't want to be stuck with it fullscreen and no way to get out of it aside from a hard restart. You'll probably want to play these full-screen, in which case (from within the FP editor) go to "Preferences->Video Options/Rendering" and look for the "Fullscreen" checkbox. You can also tell it whether you've got an older 4:3 "square" screen or a "widescreen" TV/monitor.

Ok, so if you're still with me you've got Future Pinball running smoothly in WINE, you've got an arcade's worth of machines to play - but it's a real drag having to open each in the EDITOR and then play it from there - especially when all you want to do is play them!!

Ideally, what you want to do is double click on a game name and have it run the game, ready to play, right? If you're setting it up to launch from XBMC like I am, you'll absolutely HAVE to do this.

Download the "Future Pinball Wrapper" program:
http://www.spacefractal.com/files/App/FuturePinballWrapper.zip

Extract the contents to your Future Pinball install:
~/.fpwine/c_drive/Games/Future Pinball/

Now, here's the tricky part. You need to SCRIPT this puppy to grab a Table file and run it with this Wrapper program. It will still launch the editor, but it will send it the command to "Play" it too.

When you used the install script for Future Pinball it created a file named "runFP" that will do nicely for our purposes. It is located at just inside your (hidden) ~/.fpwine folder. Copy that file and open it in your favorite text editor. I do this by hitting ALT+F2 and typing:

gedit ~/.fpwine/runFP

Now, you're going to see about 4 lines of code in that file, which is a simple little bash script. We're only going to modify the last line! So, find where it says:

WINEPREFIX=/home/user/.fpwine WINEDEBUG=-all wine /home/user/.fpwine/drive_c/"Games"/"Future Pinball"/"Future Pinball.exe"

(note: "user" is whatever your user name is)
Change it to something like this:

WINEPREFIX=/home/user/.fpwine WINEDEBUG=-all wine /home/user/.fpwine/drive_c/"Games"/"Future Pinball"/"Future Pinball Wrapper.exe" "C://Games//Future Pinball//Tables//Sci-Fi Classic.fpt"

Now, save as or save and rename that file to something like "Sci-Fi Classic" and check the permissions that it is executable. Put the file somewhere convenient, and now all you need to do is double click that file and it will automatically load and launch the Sci-Fi Classic Pinball Table. Oh, and you may need to click your mouse before you can play. It appears (on my system anyway) that the "focus" is still on whatever is underneath the game. Even though, when it is popped fullscreen, I don't see the mouse pointer a quick click or two seems to register as being "on" that window and then my keyboard input works to actually play the game.

For each machine you install just change the end of the path to point to a different file, save the script with a new name, and in the end you'll have a collection of custom launcher scripts for each pinball table you want to play. If you want to go a step further, most tables also include a screen shot of them and you could put that on as the icon for the file to make it pretty if you like.

Lastly, to launch them from within XBMC just use the "Launcher" plug-in I've been talking about now for a while, and tell it to run your custom script like a "stand alone" program.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Pinball to play!

Joystick Utility for Linux

2010-02-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

So, here's the scenario on my Ubuntu Linux system. Every time I unplug a controller and either plug it back in or swap to another one I have to re-calibrate it. Which you have to do since most games and emulators expect the controller to be connected at "/dev/input/js0" so if you switch from a flight sim to a driving game you could leave them both plugged in and use root privileges to temporarily shift whichever one is connected at js1 or js2 (or wherever) to js0, but you're still going to go through recalibration before you start playing. Not that the calibration takes too long, but I'd rather be playing than calibrating, and I wanted a simple way to SAVE my calibrations so I don't have to do the same thing over and over and over.

Now, some of you might be thinking "there's a calibration utility already!" Um, yes, there is. It's called "Joystick Calibrator." And it doesn't work very well (if at all). Breeze through some Linux gaming forums and more often than not you'll see posts advising those having problems with joysticks to uninstall "Joystick Calibrator" because it can interfere (apparently) with other joystick stuff. What does seem to flawlessly work on Linux are "jscal" and "jstest" - but they are command-line only within a terminal, and don't SAVE your configurations!

Here's my solution: a simple bash script utility with a zenity UI that lets you recall calibrations for all your controllers! It will even simplify the task of shifting any connected controller to the golden "js0" spot!

Just copy the stuff below into a text file, save it and then set its permissions to allow you to "execute" it as a program. As the comments in it say, you'll have to plug in each controller in turn, run "jscal -c" on it, then "jscal -p" to get the calibration settings, copy and paste those INTO this bash script, and (of course) edit it so the options refer to whatever controllers you use. If you don't have "zenity" installed, it should be available in your distro's repositories.

(in case you're wondering, the "jscal -s" calibrations below are for a Gravis Eliminator flight stick, a Thrustmaster Pro Digital NASCAR driving wheel, and a Thrustmaster F2 Ferrari wheel).

#!/bin/bash
#
# Before running this utility you need to populate the data!
# From a terminal run: jscal -c /dev/input/js0
# Follow on-screen instructions to calibrate controller
# From terminal type: jscal -p /dev/input/js0
# Copy the line it returns and paste it where you see the "jscal -s" lines below
# Do this for every controller you plan to use

zenity --info --text "GAME CONTROLLER PRESET\nThis utility lets you select a calibration for a game controller."

joy=$(zenity --list --text "Game Controller Input" --width "320" --height "240" --radiolist --column "Pick" --column "/dev/input/" TRUE "js0" FALSE "js1" FALSE "js2" FALSE "js3" FALSE "js4"); echo $joy

if [ $joy != "js0" ]; then
zenity --question --text "Shift controller to js0?"
q=$?
if [ $q = "0" ]; then
gksudo ln -s /dev/input/$joy /dev/input/js0
fi
fi

# Enter the Names of your Controllers where it says ">>PUT NAME HERE<<"
# Add or remove entries as needed in format:
# TRUE|FALSE # "Controller Name"

cal=$(zenity --list --text "Game Controller Preset" --width "425" --height "275" --radiolist --column "Pick" --column "#" --column "Controller" TRUE 1 ">>PUT NAME 1 HERE<<" FALSE 2 ">>PUT NAME 2 HERE<<" FALSE 3 ">>PUT NAME 3 HERE<<"); echo $ans

# For each option above have an IF entry below

if [ $cal = "1" ]; then
# CONTROLLER 1
jscal -s 6,1,0,125,125,16776704,14509582,1,1,128,128,15338701,11930101,1,1,87,87,6170742,4098126,1,0,120,120,5368545,5592235,1,0,0,0,536854528,536854528,1,0,0,0,536854528,536854528 /dev/input/$joy
fi
if [ $cal = "2" ]; then
# CONTROLLER 2
jscal -s 3,1,0,124,124,9256113,6100620,1,0,254,254,2113601,-2147483648,1,0,255,255,4793344,-2147483648 /dev/input/$joy

fi
if [ $cal = "3" ]; then
# CONTROLLER 3
jscal -s 5,1,0,-144,-128,2033540,1525155,1,0,255,255,2105312,-2147483648,1,0,255,255,2105312,-2147483648,1,0,0,0,536854528,536854528,1,0,0,0,536854528,536854528 /dev/input/$joy
fi

XBMC Emulation Station

2010-02-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

Last month I wrote a couple of posts about setting up XBMC on an Ubuntu Linux-based system as my Media Center/HTPC computer. After living with it for a while now I'm lovin' it! It's similar to - actually better - than when I had digital cable TV and "on demand" service. However, it remains a work in progress.

I also previously wrote about getting my favorite old Windows 95/98 driving game, BreakNeck, running in WINE so I could launch it from XBMC. I also got the ol' DOS "Tie Fighter" game running too. I probably started with the more difficult way to launch games by picking PC programs that require a CD-ROM in the drive - especially when I wanted to simplify my life by not having to swap the discs and just have the software swap iso images of the CDs. That, as I found out, required writing a custom executable script to do what you would normally type into a terminal window.

My "Launcher" screen in XBMC

I've heard all this stuff about MAME, the Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator, and thought I'd check it out. So I installed "mame-sdl" from the repositories and "kxmame" as a front-end to make it easier to configure and launch games. I also noted that KXMAME can act as a front-end for MESS, so I added that too. I'd read tons of comments about "xmame" being terribly outdated, and that the SDL version was the way to go. I actually had some success with mame-sdl from the repositories, but when I ran into some issues and really started looking online for solutions I discovered that - for whatever reasons - the MAME stuff in the Ubuntu repositories is positively ancient and no longer being updated!! That led me to this web site: http://journalxtra.com/2009/11/how-to-install-sdlmame-and-sdlmess-onto-ubuntu/ with instructions on how to get the current SDL version of MAME and a slightly less current version of MESS (the Multi-Emulator Super System) to go with it.

Get SDL MAME here: http://sdlmame.wallyweek.org/
Get SDL MESS here: http://apt.ludomatic.fr/

Ah! But in order to install "sdlmame" (the newer, but not newest one) I had to uninstall "mame-sdl" which also took "kxmame" with it. Which had me thinking I needed a more current alternative to KXMAME that would (ideally) run both MAME and MESS. And I found it without too much trouble, it's called "Wah!cade" and you can find out how to get it at: http://www.anti-particle.com/wahcade.shtml. It is a linux version of "MAMEwah" written in python. Setting up MAME with it is really easy. Setting up MESS is a little less obvious, but I eventually figured it out.

But then I ran into some problems with MESS. While I could get various emulations to run, I couldn't get any of them to actually run a program. I think there's something to be said for focusing on one thing and doing it well, rather than trying to do everything and accomplishing nothing. After messing with MESS for most of an afternoon I decided it wasn't worth the effort to try and figure out why it refused to run perfectly good programs. A second problem was that nothing I did would make the XBMC Launcher plugin actually launch the Wah!cade front-end. I suspect it's because there is no compiled binary for it, it's a Python script - and XBMC is powered by Python scripts. I didn't look at the crash logs, but I'm guessing XBMC mistook "Wah!cade" as a script it was supposed to run and then couldn't figure out what to do with it.

Well, then it occurred to me that I really don't NEED something like "Wah!cade" anyway because XBMC can be my front-end for emulated retro gaming.

I had no problem setting up the XBMC Launcher plugin for running MAME. In fact, now that I think of it, the first screenshot I saw of the Launcher plugin in use had a thumbnail for MAME right there. D'oh! I suspect if I'd been able to get MESS to function correctly it would have similarly been easy to configure for use via XBMC, but I decided to use dedicated emulators for Commodore and Atari that are known to be very, very good at what they do.

So, next I set up the Commodore 64 emulator VICE too. The "Launcher" plugin for XBMC was actually intended more for programs like VICE as the plugin has two options - to either launch an application binary OR to launch a file in another program (i.e., a ROM file in an emulator). So that's super easy to set up once you get it pointing to the actual binary file (which is "etc/bin/x64" btw).

Then I downloaded the great Atari 2600 emulator "Stella" and set that up in a similar fashion. For both VICE and Stella it populates a sub-directory where you have all your games. Then, if you want, you can fiew them as "Thumbnails" and use the "Get Thumb" option from the Right+Click menu to find a suitable image for the game (such as box art, a screen shot, or a scan of the cartridge). That makes XBMC a really slick, unified front-end application for any number of emulator programs.

"Atari" section with customized thumbnails showing cartridge images

The next issue was that when VICE launches it would cover the screen, and with the right video settings I could hit "ALT+D" and get it to pop out of the window frame at full screen size - but it wasn't TRUE fullscreen because the menu bar and status bar were still there! On a Windows system popping VICE fullscreen is really, truly full screen (no menu bar, no status). Looking around online I found that this is a long-standing issue with VICE on Linux, and (surprise, surprise) the version in the official Ubuntu repositories is outdated. I learned there is a new SDL version that will actually solve the fullscreen problem - but you have to build it from source. That had me scared because:
a) I've had limited success building programs from source
b) I've read pages of forum posts by people who couldn't get VICE to compile

But I decided to risk it if the potential payoff was working fullscreen. First of all you need to GET the correct source files for VICE 2.2 then you need to follow the instructions in this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=278022 and where it talks about adding options to the "./configure" command you will need to include "--enable-sdlui" (if you select contradictory options it will warn you so you can choose. For example, you can't select both --enable-sdlui and --enable-gnomeui). Oh, and make sure you install the SDL dev stuff from the Ubuntu repositories or it won't compile (it will error out telling you it can't find any of the SDL stuff it needs). It will take you 15 minutes or so to configure, make, and install it, so be patient. Much to my pleasant surprise I compiled it without any problems!

Interestingly, when you run the install it doesn't put all the files in the same places as the older version from the repos - which meant I had TWO versions of VICE installed and could choose to run either (one puts binaries in /usr/bin and the other were in /usr/local/bin). The moment of truth was running it. At first it opens VERY, VERY small. There is no menu bar and, unlike the default user interface (by which I mean if you compile without any custom options) you can't just right+click to get menus. Nope, this SDL one is a different animal. Hit F12 and you'll be taken into the options. Navigate with the arrow keys and the "backspace" key. Because it was so tiny on my screen, and I was looking at it on a low-res TV screen, I had to sort of squint and guess I was selecting the options to "double" the size (which allowed me to actually READ the options) and then I enabled "fullscreen" and bingo! True full screen, with no window frames, menu bars, or status.

XBMC needs to be pointed to the new VICE 2.2 binary file or it will continue launching the old version. You could go in and "remove" the existing Launcher item and add the new one, but that will force you to re-import your C64 software library, and if you spent any time making things pretty with thumbnails you'll need to re-do all of them. So, I'd recommend you just go edit the XML file: ~/.xbmc/user data/plugin data/programs/launcher/launchers.xml and open it in gedit (Text Editor) scroll down until you find the entry for VICE and edit the path so it points at the newer version's binary file. Incidentally, the Launcher plugin doesn't always find great thumbnail images for you - it only gives you a maximum of 10 options from a Yahoo image search and a lot of them probably suck. This XML file is also where you can point the Launcher item thumbnails to any image you have stored anywhere on your computer (the default location for Launcher thumbnail images is ~/.xbmc/user data/User Data/Thumbnails/Programs/ (which you may notice is NOT the more obvious "Thumbnails" folder a level higher up).

So, there you have it. XBMC as a slick front-end to WINE, MAME, VICE, and Stella - and can be for other emulators as well.

EDIT: Screenshots added

Breakneck / N.I.C.E.2 / Excessive Speed on Linux (PART 1)

2010-01-28T22:30:00.001-08:00

"Breakneck" (also known as "N.I.C.E. 2" and "Excessive Speed" in some markets) is an old racing game from the late 1990s. Originally from a German company called "Synetic" it was sold worldwide under the other names via local distributors (in the US it was marketed by "SouthPeak Interactive").

What made this game so kick ass? Well, it had a TON of options. The base game comes with:
10 Track Locations, with multiple variations of most tracks (24 total)
9 Car Classes containing at total of 43 vehicles with 8 possible "Sponsor" graphics/colors.

There are also multiple ways to play the game:
Single Race (my favorite)
Arcade Game (a "First Person Shooter" with armed cars)
Time Attack - Best Race
Time Attack - Best Lap
Multiplayer Mode (create a driver profile, mod your car, find a sponsor, win races for $$)

And we haven't even GOT to the "Options" option on the main menu yet! Here you can set everything from reflections to collisions with trees to enemy skill and gravity. You can also decide whether the cars "deform" or not. In some other racing games the cars don't dent, which is mostly because they use actual makes and models and the manufacturers don't particularly want their vehicles all banged up in the game, and there's also the issue of morons who might think the damage is based on real-world crash data. Wow, are they in for a surprise when they rear-end another car at 180 MPH and can't just drive away from it!

BreakNeck uses "fake" cars. They have bogus names and manufacturers, but if you ignore the obvious alterations to grills and lights you can usually figure out what they're actually supposed to be. Sometimes it's fun to just race the wrong way on the track and see how long you can go before your car is so smashed up it's done. Not the point of the game, but a great way to blow off some steam for sure!

Another thing that made the game great was the availability of fan-made content. There are car editors, texture editors, and track editors for this game and some people spent a LOT of time creating extra cars, crazy paint jobs, and new variations of the tracks. The editors and extras can be nearly impossible to find now because the game is so old, so I was glad I'd archived mine to a CD-ROM (except for the car editor, which I can't locate).

My game, then, is pimped out with 67 additional tracks (including two new locations - Canada and Italy - which weren't available in the US release); 21 additional cars (some of which are based on actual models). I actually used to have another disc full of even more cars (such as the "Fifth Element" taxi and the "Batmobile") but I lost it. :( The new cars don't necessarily use the boring "sponsor" graphics either.

So, now you may understand why I want to get this old game going again. Actually I have it running on my WinXP machine, but I just set up a Home Theater PC that uses Linux and thought it would be cool to set it up so I could play this game on the TV screen.

"Part 2" of this post has the technical stuff.

Breakneck / N.I.C.E.2 / Excessive Speed on Linux (PART 2)

2010-01-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

. . .Part 2. The Technical Stuff

Ok, first of all to get this game running under Linux you'll need to install Wine. Wine is a Windows compatibility layer for Linux. Most Linux distributions have it in their repositories, and that's really the best way to install it. It can be difficult to compile from source or install manually. So, ok, go do that. I'll wait.

MAKE AN IMAGE

Ah! You're back so soon? Cool. You'll need your Breakneck CD-ROM to install the game. But we're not going to actually use the disc. First of all, it's a pain in the ass to swap CDs in and out. That's so last century! I've also noticed that the game tends to remember which CD/DVD drive it was installed from, because on my system with multiple optical drives the game will only run with the CD in the drive from which I originally installed it. So, what we want to do is make an IMAGE of the CD. This is a really good idea with an old game like this that is out of production - if you damage the CD you're out of luck (unless you find one on eBay I suppose). Here's what to do:
1. Insert the BreakNeck CD in your CD/DVD drive.
2. If it "auto mounts" you need to unmount it! If you see its icon on the desktop just right+click and "unmount" it. If your system isn't set up to show mounted drives on the desktop you need to open a terminal and type "mount" at the prompt. Look for the CD in the list (probably /dev/cdrom). If it's there type (without the quotes) "umount /dev/cdrom" or "umount /media/cdrom" or "umount /mnt/cdrom" depending on what you saw in the list.
3. Create CD-ROM ISO image with dd command (assuming CD is at /dev/cdrom and $ is the prompt):

$ dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/tmp/BreakNeck.iso

That will create the ISO file in your temporary files "/tmp" directory. Just navigate to it and move it where-ever you plan to store CD-ROM images. For example, I put mine in a folder I created in my Home directory: "~/Games/Windows/CDs/"

You can put the original BreakNeck CD-ROM away for safe-keeping.

CREATE A FAKE DRIVE

You'll need to mount the ISO file every time you want to play the game. You'll need your trusty terminal again. Type the following commands (we'll be working as root so you'll need administrative access. "$" represents the prompt):

$ sudo su

$ mkdir /media/iso

$ gedit /etc/fstab

(on that last one if you're using Gnome that works. Or instead of "gedit" put in whatever text editor you prefer to use)

on a new line at the bottom of that file enter this:

/tmp/isolink /media/iso udf,iso9660 ro,user,loop,noauto 0 0

Save the file. That line now creates a link between a temporary file and the media/iso folder we created above.

That's it! Well, almost. We still need the "/tmp/isolink" but we'll create that in the next step.

INSTALL THE GAME

Open up a terminal and type the following:

$ ln -sf ~/Games/Windows/CDs/BreakNeck.iso /tmp/isolink

$ mount /media/iso

Your ISO file is now mounted as if it were the original CD-ROM! You should be able to run the installer just as you would on a Windows machine. You can skip the DirectX install because Wine already has a nearly complete implementation of DirectX 6 built into it. I didn't try any of the DX Media stuff because the running commentary from "Eddie" is hyper annoying.

At this point you should be able to run the "Setup" utility. You can select whatever graphics card you want, it doesn't matter, because we'll HAVE to use the Software Engine. You can either select it in the first drop-down box OR you can just check the "Software Engine" checkbox. Don't bother playing with any of the other options, except make sure "SoundFX" is checked. Force Feedback won't work, so you can ignore the radio buttons at the bottom. Click "Benchmark" to make sure the settings work, and to see if the frame rate is high enough. If it isn't, you'll need to either dial down the resolution (lower the smoother) and/or the bit-depth (32 to 16). If all goes well you can then test play the game.

UPDATE: Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx / Linux Mint 9

With the latest versions of Ubuntu (and derivatives) there is now a "ExecutableBit" security policy in place by default that blocks .EXE files on CD-ROMs, DVDs, and mounted ISO images from being marked as executable/trusted, so you can no longer just double click on such files and have them run in Wine. :(

In order to install BreakNeck from the CD-ROM (or the mounted ISO image of it) you will need to either press ALT+F2 to get a "run" window or open a Terminal and type:

$ wine /media/iso/setup.exe

Once the program is installed, however, the EXE file being executed is installed to the Wine "C:" drive as a trusted executable, so if you want to play the game directly (without XBMC being involved) you'll need to run the game from the Main Menu entry or you'll need to execute the launch script explained in the next section, which will be treated the same as typing the commands in a terminal.

CREATE A LAUNCH SCRIPT

Normally you won't be able to just click on the game icon on your desktop or in your main menu and play the game because it is going to want your CD in the drive! So, let's create a script that will "insert" the virtual CD in the fake drive and then launch the game for us!

Open up a text editor and type in the following (replace "username" with your login name):

umount /media/iso
rm -r /tmp/isolink
ln -sf ~/Games/Windows/CDs/BreakNeck.iso /tmp/isolink
mount /media/iso
env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\SouthPeak Interactive\BreakNeck\breakneck.exe"

Explanation:
Line 1 makes sure no other ISO files are mounted.
Line 2 removes the "isolink" file because the next line can't always overwrite it properly.
Line 3 creates the "isolink" file pointing to the desired ISO file.
Line 4 mounts the ISO file to our fake drive
Line 5 launches BreakNeck in Wine.

Save the file with whatever name you want (something like "BreakNeck" is good) and then right+click on it and under the Permissions make sure it is "executable."

Here's the cool part: Copy that file and edit it to mount different ISO files and launch other programs and the scripts will do the virtual CD-swapping for you - always making sure the correct CD image is in the virtual drive.

I should note that this method only works with games that require a single CD be in the drive. I haven't tackled games that want you to swap out CDs during the game.

CONFIGURE WHEEL

Odds are you don't want to drive your car with the arrow keys on the keyboard. You probably also don't want to drive with a joystick (but you can if that's all you've got), but I'm going to talk about setting up a wheel. Specifically a Thrustmaster wheel since I have two different ones I tried.

1. Do not, I repeat NOT, install the drivers/utilities for your game controllers in Wine. They simply will not work because Wine gets the game controller configurations from Linux.

2. Plug your controller into a USB port. If you have an old "game port" controller you're probably SOL - I couldn't get the one I had to work. I would highly recommend you only plug ONE controller in - the one you want to use - for best results.

3. Open up a terminal and type:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install joystick

$ jstest --normal /dev/input/js0

(on that line you may have to try js0, js1, js2, etc. to find your controller - and if you plug and unplug devices in different orders they'll get different assignments)

Once you've located where your desired controller is mounting, we need to calibrate it! In the terminal again (example is if your controller mounted as /dev/input/js2):

$ jscal -c /dev/input/js2

The terminal will prompt you to do stuff with the controller. Do it and your controller will be calibrated. This calibration will carry over into BreakNeck running in Wine. Or at least is should.

2. Download joysticktester.exe to test your controller within Wine. You may discover that an axis is reversed, or that the buttons have enumerated differently than they're labeled. Make note of anything goofy and if it's an axis issue you should be able to just calibrate it in reverse by running the "jcal -c" command again and switching what you told it was the "maximum" and "minimum" limits.

3. If you're seeing your controller in Joysticktester within Wine. You're ready for the next step! If not, you may need to change the permissions for the /dev/input/js* files. Since those files are automatically created changing permissions on the files themselves won't stick - you need to add your main user to the "plugdev" group to automatically get read-write access to any js files the operating system makes. You normally shouldn't need access to the /dev/input/event* files and if you do change the permissions it will screw up the controller names in Wine (for example if I change permissions on /dev/input/event4 - which is linked to /dev/input/js0 - then in BreakNeck it will stop reporting my controller as "Thrustmaster Pro Digital" and call it "/dev/input/event4" in the "Controls" setup. It will still WORK, mind you, but it shouldn't be necessary to do that.

4. Run your launch script and go to the "Controls" entry on the main menu in the game. You should see your controller, by name, listed under the options. Tell it the correct TYPE of controller (keyboard, wheel, joystick, etc.). You may notice the X,Y,Z axis settings are BLANK! Whatever you do, do NOT try to assign them within BreakNeck. Not only will it NOT work, it will disable the axis settings and you'll have to do a registry hack to fix it. You CAN, however, change button assignments without worry. Some buttons, though, may be dead - but if you did the Joysticktester.exe test you already knew that.

5. AXIS FIX - if for some reason you still can't steer and or your gas/brake doesn't work or if you accidentally tried to assign an axis in the game controls settings you'll need to fix it manually. You'll also may need a working copy of the game running on a Windows system to do it! Ok, the simple fix is navigate to: ~/.wine/Windows/regedit.exe then navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SYNETIC\HAND\V2\Input

If the "Input" folder doesn't exist, just create it. If you're lucky it's already there.

A. If the "Input" folder is already there you should have an entry for your controller by name. The "value" string will be a long sequence of binary number data. For a Wheel controller the first two sets should be "02 01" so if they are "00 00" just edit them and your controller should now work.

B. If the "Input" folder is missing, or has no entries in it, you'll need the data from a working Windows machine. Using Regedit get the string data. You can just "export" the Input key and then "import" it to your Wine registry and that should fix it.

LAUNCH FROM XBMC (optional)

I'm setting this up on my Home Theater PC so I want to be able to launch the game from inside my media center interface. I installed the "Launcher" programs plugin from the SVN repository and created a launcher pointing to my custom script. Works beautifully!

Happy Racing!

Adventures in building an HTPC

2010-01-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

It's 2010, and like a lot of folks I'm a bit disappointed the future was not available as advertised. No rocket packs, no flying cars, no moon bases, no androids, no space hotels, no Martian colonies, nor any eerie black monoliths igniting Jupiter into a sun (that we know of). Watching TV hasn't evolved very much either. Ok, so we got digital broadcasts and widescreen flat panel televisions and the CES show out in Vegas was loaded with 3D TV hype - but the basic way most people watch TV isn't all that futuristic. Sure, some people have Tivo or a DVR from their cable or satellite company, but that's just the digital version of time-shifting your viewing with a VCR - and people were doing that back in the mid-80s. If you've got digital cable or satellite you can watch some stuff sort-of "on demand" which is a good start at living in the future. . .which is now the present.

But the obvious "future" of television is the complete convergence of the Internet and Television. They (the mysterious "they" who know all, see all) have been telling us for years that is what's going to happen, but the TV networks are obviously resistant to it, lest they go the way of so many newspapers. You can now get shows on Hulu.com from half a dozen networks, and the ones who aren't there provide them on their own web sites. That's if you like professionally produced corporate sanctioned content. There are, of course, tons of amature videos out on the Web too, and it's not unheard of for "made for web" content to be high quality too (I'm looking at you "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog").

My desktop computer sits in a corner of the living room and has a graphics card in it with S-Video output. I ran long audio and video lines around the edge of the room so I can switch the living room TV to the "Line Input" and have my computer set up to use the TV screen as an additional monitor. For years now I've been dragging media players and browser windows over to the TV and popping them full screen. That's also how I play DVDs. I've never actually owned a stand-alone DVD player since I could just use the one in my computer on the living room television. While this is kind of cool, it does tie up my desktop computer as a "media center."

So, I thought, why not just HAVE a dedicated media center computer? Well, cost is part of the reason. So I asked some friends and family for their broken or obsolete compters and components just to see if I could manage to build up a workable HTPC ("Home Theater PC" or "Media Center PC" if you prefer) out of cast-off parts. Here's what I ended up with:

Full ATX tower with a 500 W power supply
1.25 GB DDR Memory
Abit IS7-E2 motherboard
Pentium 4 CPU
ATI Radeon X1300 Graphics card (2 DVI ports, 1 S-Video output)
ATI TV Wonder Pro Tuner Card (Coax and S-Video inputs)
DVD-ROM drive
DVD+RW drive
Floppy Drive
Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse
80 GB Seagate SATA Hard Drive

For the underlying operating system I wanted something stable and free so I went with the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Hardy Heron" version of Linux, and installed XBMC (X-Box Media Center) on top of that. Which all sounds well and good, except that's my FINAL configuration. It took a week of failed attempts to find hardware/software combinations that would actually work together.

Attempt #1
Installed the XBMC Live 9.04 to the drive. Included ATI drivers didn't work. Underlying system is Ubuntu with Flux (which I hate) and X-server conflicts or frankly I'm not sure what all - I just couldn't get it to work. I could run XBMC windowed in Flux, but couldn't make it work fullscreen nor get TV-out to work. DVD playback also wouldn't work. Wiped the drive, time to start over.

Attempt #2
Installed the XBMC Live 9.11 to the drive. Same results as the older version, except a second attempt to install legacy ATI drivers screwed up the system so badly I couldn't get anything to work. Wiped the drive started over.

Attempt #3
Decided I needed to forget the prebuilt live cds and build a live system myself. Following instruction for "XBMCbuntu" I installed the minimal version of Ubuntu "Karmic" and got XBMC installed on top of that. I decided it would be easier to configure things if I installed an underlying desktop system, so I went with XFCE since it's light-weight. After fighting with various configuration issues and repeatedly having to install additonal software just to do that I realized I probably just should have started with Xubuntu. So I wiped the drive again.

Attempt #4
Installed Xubuntu "Karmic" and put XBMC on top of that. Had problems with the ATI drivers though. The Radeon X1300 is no longer supported by the drivers from ATI so I had to use the Open Source drivers, but the TV output support on that is not quite fully baked yet. I couldn't install the older ATI drivers that did support the card because they don't work on the X-Server used by Karmic. So I had to decide if I was going to try and "downgrade" the X-Server or if I should just downgrade to an older version of *buntu that had a compatible X-Server already. I opted for the latter. Wiped the drive once again.

Attempt #5
Decided to just go with the most "vanilla" option and installed Ubuntu "Hardy" 8.04 Long Term Support on the drive. It's stable and problems are well documented in the support forums, often with multiple solutions. The Proprietary ATI drivers offered up by Ubuntu ended in a "White Screen of Death." If I disabled direct rendering I could get a usable desktop, but XBMC requires direct rendering for OpenGL so I HAD to have it working. I tried using the EnvyNG installer and forgot to remove the drivers installed by Synaptic first, which led to some install errors and a broken X-Server that I tried and tried to reconfigure, but whatever got hosed up it was bad. Got mad, wiped the drive and started over. Again.

Attempt #6
Again, with the same version of Ubuntu, only this time I didn't install the drivers presented by Ubuntu, and I didn't use EnvyNG. I went to the AMD/ATI web site and found the last driver (Catalyst 9.2) that supported my card and downloaded it. Backed out to a command line, stopped the X-Server, and ran the installer. That got me to a desktop, and I could run the Catalyst Control Center for the ATI card, but it reported it was using the "mesa" software acceleration for OpenGL. XBMC didn't care for that - in fact it refuses to run. I was able to get DVDs to play, even full screen, and could choose between the monitor and the TV, but not both at once. I later realized it was because the DVI-0 and S-Video ports are "shared" so you have to pick and choose. However, when I moved the monitor to DVI-1 so I could have cloned video on both screens the auto-detection would default to using the VESA drivers! I went through several guides online on how to "fix" various ATI issues on Linux and eventually got to a point where I could either have XBMC working, but DVD playback was just a black screen or get DVD playback working and XBMC was a black screen. It seemed no matter what I did I could never get them both to work.

Attempt #6.5
After spending a couple days trying to sort it out I uninstalled everything ATI from the system and booted with the VESA drivers. I downloaded the next older ATI driver from the AMD/ATI web site and installed that. When I ran the installer I made sure the monitor was connected on DVI-1 and the TV was on and connected to the S-Video port. FINALLY the configuration worked! I had cloned video on both screens, I had hardware accelerated OpenGL graphics for XBMC, and DVDs would play full screen.

The next issue was to get the ATI Wonder Pro TV Tuner working. XBMC actually doesn't have ANY support for TV tuners! Crazy, huh? The recommended solutions are to either use XBMC as a "front end" to access a MythTV server (MythTV is sort-of an open-source Tivo thing), or use a program called "TVheadend" which can create a "media stream" for TV tuner channels that XBMC can be configured to play. The "TVheadend" routes sounded easier so I tried that first.

I was getting errors such as "/dev/video0 doesn't exist" because Ubuntu auto-detects the hardware for video capture and the device map isn't even created unless the device is detected as usable. Without a signal source a TV card is useless, so Ubuntu would just pretend it wasn't there. Once I realized that and rebooted and the /dev/video and /dev/video0 existed. I eventually created the files manually as root and now they "stick" even when the card doesn't have a signal. In order to ACCESS the card I needed to go into the "Authorizations" control panel and release access to the device and then, with the "Users & Groups" make sure my user account was part of the "video" group. Failing to do those things resulted in "access denied" permissions errors. But there was another problem (I'll get to in a moment). Oh, and since it is an analog capture card and TV broadcasting over the air has all gone digital, I had to connect it to the Cable TV coax to make it work.

TVheadend wouldn't work for me. In reading the FAQ on the developer's site I found out it only supports the PAL broadcast standard for analog TV capture cards. Since I'm in the United States I needed something that could work with NTSC.

So the other alternative is MythTV. I hadn't heard good things about it. I'd heard it was difficult to set up and the interface sucked. The criticisms were correct. The installer failed to set up the SQL server backend and I had to manually configure it. The front-end interface is as clunky as I'd heard, especially after the slick "Confluence" interface of XBMC 9.11. MythTV's setup showed my card by the correct name and let me select it, but then acted like it didn't exist. I never did get MythTV to work and uninstalled it.

It would be nice if I could also record live TV shows to the hard drive (something MythTV is designed to do) but the hard drive is only 80 GB, which is far too small a capacity for real duty as a DVR. But I figured if I could get it working maybe I'd pick up a larger drive in the future. So far I haven't been able to get Gstreamer, Transcoder, or Mencoder to record from the card. The closest I've gotten is white noise sound and a scrambled picture. I've decided it's not worth my time to try and get a feature working I'll likely never use.

I realized that I didn't actually NEED the ability to record TV shows. I know if I miss a show I can usually catch it online anyway, so I literally haven't recorded a TV show in YEARS. All I really needed was the ability to watch live TV! I reasoned that if I could find a TV Tuner program that would see the card I could just "launch" it from within XBMC. I knew there were launchers for game emulators, and a generic one to launch any binary so I just needed the tuner program.

KDETV was my first stop. It saw the card, but the channel scanning wizard didn't work. The sound didn't work. I also had zero luck with XawTV, Zapping, or Mplayer. In looking for solutions I ran across mention of another program called "TVtime." I downloaded it and lo-and-behold it WORKED! Right from the start it not only saw the card but when I launched TVtime I was watching channel 2 on my Cable TV.

So I installed the "Launcher" plug-in for XBMC and configured a launcher for TVtime, then added that launcher to my Favorites. From the main page of XBMC I can hit my Favorites and select "TV Tuner" and BAM! TV Time opens up and I can watch TV.

Other plug-ins I installed that worked for me (ones with "*" by them also worked in XBMC 9.04):
Program:
Launcher
Emulauncher*
SVN Installer
XBMC-Zone Installer
Video:
Animefreak
Bleach7*
CBS*
PBS
CNN*
NBC
SY-FY
USA
YouTube
G4*
National Geographic*
FreeMovies

These ones didn't work right and I uninstalled them:
Animeseed (plugin works, but folders were empty)
InstanzAnime (plugin doesn't die, but couldn't find any content in the folders)
Veoh (crashes during video buffering)
Navi-X (hit and miss with content)
VideoMonkey (hit and miss with content working)
Yahoo Music Videos
myTV (python script error)
ABC (Australia) and CBC (die with a script error)
Accuweather (script freezes while retrieving data)

I didn't even bother finding a plugin or script for Hulu.com because I know none of them work right now. Hulu has been in sort of a war with "scrapers" and changed how their site worked in a way that broke the Hulu plug-ins. But I watch a lot of stuff on Hulu, so what am I gonna do?

I created a launcher for Firefox with Hulu set as the home page. I can launch it from within XBMC and hit F11 to pop the browser full screen. I tweaked the settings to over-ride the fonts with some GIGANTIC ones I can actually see on a TV screen from across the room. A good work-around, I figured, until a working Hulu plugin or script surfaces again, right? Well, not as good a work-around as I'd have liked.

Adobe Flash Player on Linux SUCKS. Especially for full-screen playback, where it turns everything into an unwatchable slide-show. This appears to be more of a problem on system withotu Nvidia cards because of the stupid way Adobe decided to check for hardware direct rendering with the "SGI" vendor flag. SGI contributed code to the OpenGL project a long time ago, so just about any cards out there that aren't Nvidia (and I've heard evne some of them) report the vendor string as "SGI." But Flash on Linux turns off hardware support if it sees that and forces you to use the software rendering, which is CPU intensive - no, make that VERY CPU intensive - and makes for unwatchable fullscreen videos. I obviously have harware accelerated direct rendering working or XBMC wouldn't even start, so I found out you're supposed to be able to over-ride the shoddy detection by creating a folder and file at /etc/adobe/mss.cfg and inside that file put the line OverrideGPUvalidation=1. Does it work? Not very well. It slightly improved playback, but not in full-screen mode. Ok, the videos play decent at their original embedded size on the Hulu pages, but that's kind of tiny. Here's what I have to do to watch it any larger:

1. Quit XBMC because no other OpenGL programs can be running
2. Use the "Pop-Out" option instead of the "Full Screen" option.
3. Once the littel pop-out window has loaded I have to close the window from which it popped - you can't even have another instance of Flash running because it's using OpenGL too.
4. Hit F11 on the Pop-Out window. I get a bigger version that still has slightly choppy playback and I have to live with the "playhead" bar across the bottom of the screen, but it's still better than watching a postage stamp sized video.

Can we say "Pain in the ass?" This isn't likely to be "fixed" until a couple of things happen. Either Hulu has to stop breaking the XBMC plugins and let them scrape the video content (unlikely), XBMC developers need to come up with an unbreakable way of scraping content (unlikely), or Adobe needs to rewrite the Flash Player for Linux so it actually works as well as the one for Windows (unlikely).

SO, if you like to watch a lot of Hulu.com videos you will want to watch them on a Windows system, since that's the only platform on which Adobe cares to make their player function properly. If you want to build an XBMC system and use Windows as the desktop system underneath I'd recommend only doing that with a Windows 7 machine. I couldn't get XBMC 9.11 to work on a Windows XP system at all. Apparently XBMC 9.04 does work (because it uses OpenGL rather than DirectX), but I also found almost none of the plugins work under 9.04 which makes the whole idea of using XBMC kind of pointless. To summarize:

Use LINUX if you want:
Stable, Free, Secure
Don't care so much about Hulu content
Don't have an ATI graphics card

Use Windows 7 if you want:
Hulu has to play smoothly in Flash
You have an ATI graphics card
You have any other hardware that's poorly supported on Linux

What I ended up with is a system I can use to:
Watch DVDs
Watch YouTube videos
Watch Free Movies
Catch TV shows from a number of networks
Watch Live TV
Stream Net Radio
Play MP3s and CDs
Play retro video games
Get my local weather instantly
Access the Internet on my TV
Do this all with a keyboard and mouse across the room on the couch

I'll save anyone with an ATI TV Wonder Pro tuner card a lot of trouble setting up the audio. Apparently only SOME of the cards have PCI Audio enabled, the rest will ONLY output sound through the (green) line jack on the back of the card. Here's how you find out which one you have:

1. Open a Terminal
2. Type: lspci -n
3. Look for: 14f1:8801 or 14f1:8811 (Hooray! You have PCI sound enabled card!)
4. If it says 14f1:8800 you're out of luck. Gotta patch sound physically OUTSIDE the computer.

You have a couple of options to patch sound physically:

1. TWO SOUND OUTPUTS
Connect a set of amplified speakers to the sound output of the TV card, or run a patch cable to a stereo receiver and select that input when you want TV sound. You'll have to have ANOTHER set of speakers, or ANOTHER patch cable running from the sound output of your computer audio card. In other words, your TV and Computer sound outputs are not connected to each other in any way! If you have set up the 3 jacks on your sound card for Surround Sound you will HAVE to run independent audio connections.

2. PATCH TV SOUND TO AUDIO CARD
You can only do this if you either have more than one audio card in your computer OR if you only have one audio card that you are NOT using it for Surround Sound output! You'll need a small 1/8" male to 1/8" patch cable long enough to run from the (green) audio output on the TV card to the "Line In" port on your audio card. Then in the ALSA Mixer make sure that "Line In" is not muted and has full volume.

The last piece of the Live TV puzzle was to get Television Listings on my TV I can browse (similar to the on-screen listings you get with digital TV or satellite). The main script used on XBMC for that purpose is called "myTV" but it would kick out a Python scripting error when I tried to run it. I couldn't even get to the configuration screen. "TVtime" can incorporate XMLTV data into its on-screen display, if you can actually GET the XMLTV data. Part of the problem is in finding FREE listing services. Most plugins, programs, and scripts out there use "Schedules Direct" which has gone to a subscription service for $20/year. They also apparently own Zap2It, and so I've read on the XBMC forums the "Zap2It Labs" supports open-source projects and there IS an authorization code for XBMC software to get the listing data, but the only two listing scripts or plugins I could find were "myTV" and "WebScheduler" - neither of which would work (the latter wouldn't even install). XMLTV is available from the Ubuntu repositories, but that really is just a collection of EPG scripts. The "North America" ones access Schedules Direct, so those were useless to me. Then I found "mc2xml" which is a small stand-alone program that can access different EPG providers and generate an XMLTV-complient file. To get free listings the program accesses "TitanTV" which is also a problem. TitanTV's EPG service requires a 30 digit ID number to work, and the ID provided with "mc2xml" has been deactivated. Apparently the manufacturers of tuner cards pay TitanTV for access (and that cost is figured into the price of the card when you buy it). The ID number is a UUID related to the hardware (not exactly easy to get because you have to use a packet sniffer to capture it). In theory there is one ID per card, so only one user per ID. If they detect too many users with the same ID then TitanTV deactivates that ID number and it no longer works. Which is why nobody who HAS one of these ID number will let anyone else use it!

However, you can go to Zap2It.com or TitanTV.com and put in your information (without even needing to register for an account) and get your local TV listings in a web browser. So my solution was to just bookmark those sites in Firefox and when I want the on-screen listings I just use my Firefox launcher. The "myTV" listings looked pretty good in the screen-shots I've found, so it would be great if that would work within XBMC, but until the plug-in gets fixed on Linux the browser work-around will have to do.

Obviously building a HTPC out of cast-off parts isn't the ideal way to do it, and there are still a lot of issues with "scraping" content (audio, videos, TV listings) from web sites. If I had money for an HTPC it would be hard to argue with just BUYING a "media center" computer that already has all the software and hardware working together.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-07-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

Finally saw it. Wasn't expecting much in the first place - after all it's a Michael Bay movie. You shouldn't expect a plot, just explosions. Well, on that last point it delivers. I had a headache after the movie.

This might have even been an okay sequel if any - and I mean ANY - effort had been put into continuity, and the screw-ups are so obvious you notice them DURING the movie, not when you think about it on the drive home.

* SPOILERS *

The one that bothered me the most, as it is the most jarring, is the Arizona airplane graveyard (in the desert) is somehow immediately outside the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum. . .in Washington, D.C. Movies are supposed to be about "suspension of disbelief," but this film expects the audience to completely ignore everything that doesn't make sense. In the ruins of the city of Petra the characters bemoan the fact that it's already been thoroughly examined by archaeologists, yet somehow they all missed the "Tomb of the Primes" (as in Optimus Prime) just behind a thin wall in the main temple. And since Petra was literally carved out of the cliff-side, what luck that they just happened to miss that tomb - which the back story indicated had been there since 17,000 B.C. or so. In that same way that every archaeologist missed the "sun killer" weapon inside one of the Giza Pyramids.

* END SPOILERS *

The fight scenes are frenetic, and sometimes hard to follow. Most of the Decepticons look too much alike, and the tight shots of "hand to hand" combat between the Autobots and the Decepticons make it very difficult to separate what is a part of which character. But this is a common complaint I have about most action films these days - I think the special effects guys are so used to seeing the CGI fight frame by frame they lose sight of how an audience will see it.

If you're taking kids to it remember it is a PG-13 movie. There's some comical drug use, crude sexual references, and people DO get killed - for example one Decepticon grinds a person under his foot, another gets sucked into "Devastator," and countless military personnel are killed or injured - but it's brief and glossed over, not "Saving Private Ryan" type stuff.

You'd better LOVE that transformers transforming sound. You'll hear it a lot during this movie, right from the "Dreamworks SKG" and "Paramount" slates. You'd also better like the sound of explosions and gunfire. If you like dialog, this isn't your movie. If you don't like low brow humor you probably won't like it either. Also, the "Ghetto Twins" are about as politically incorrect as "Jar-Jar Binks" was in the "Star Wars" prequels.

Perhaps these big, obvious things that make no sense are to distract us from all the little stuff that also doesn't make sense? I don't know, but I'm actually more inclined to think nobody involved in making the movie cared about it enough to bother. Even for a piece of summer popcorn fare it's lazy. But I'm sure if you take any kids (especially boys) to it, they'll fully enjoy it, because the plot just gets in the way of the explosions and kids won't be unsettled by the ludicrous geography. It's just too bad that's the only audience Michael Bay thought about when making it.

John Hodgman Challenges Obama's Geek Cred

2009-06-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is video of John Hodgman (from the "Daily Show" and the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" Apple commercials) speaking at the press correspondents dinner. In it he challenges President Obama's credibility as a geek/nerd. Enjoy!

I've FINALLY found my new radio station.

2009-06-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have to wonder how many people actually push the "seek" button on their radio? Radio "presets" have been a staple - especially in car radios - forever. Once you dial in your station(s), there's really no NEED to seek anymore. Which is why, and forgive me if you might think I'm woefully behind the times on this, I didn't know about 89.3 "The Current." It's the closest thing to the old "REV 105" you're likely to find on a Twin Cities radio today.
Back in the 1990's my favorite radio station was "REV 105" - a low-power station at three places on the dial playing eclectic/free-form music, live in-studio sets, and a big supporter of the local music and charitable causes. Then Disney/ABC/Capitol Cities came in, bought the station, changed it's format, and destroyed the best radio station I - or many other loyal listeners - had ever heard.

Hard to believe that was March 11th, 1997 - over 12 years ago. I've been searching for another favorite radio station ever since.

Under the new ownership the station's name was changed to X-105 and the format to hard rock. Oh, and all the REV-105 people were fired. Then some of them were hired back that September when it became ZONE 105 playing "Adult Album Alternative." Until 1999 when they switched to "Classic Alternative," and then 2000 when they just played "Alternative." In 2001 there was yet another name and format change to V105 playing "Rhythmic Oldies." A year later yet ANOTHER name and format change to "Drive 105" once again playing "Adult Album Alternative" until 2004 when it was back to "Alternative." A decade after the initial shot, 2007 put the final nail in the coffin - a name change to "Love 105" and format change to "Soft Adult Contemporary/Oldies."

I tried listening to 93.7 "The Edge" (Disney's "alternative" station, and the reason they wanted to kill REV 105), which I'd best describe as having been "corporate alternative rock." And like most commercial stations they had an official playlist - created no doubt from marketing research data - from which the DJs apparently dared not waver lest they be flogged or something. When 105 went back to Alternative it was only because Disney decided 93.7 needed to be the hard rock station instead. So the swapped formats. But the playlist at the newly minted "Drive 105" gradually got more and more lame as any song even approaching an "edge" was deemed in competition with their other "rock" station.

But for a lot of the time since REV 105 was killed I simply stopped listening to radio and listened to my rather eclectic music collection. Then recently my brother suggested I give JACK FM a listen, saying they at least play a mix of music old and new. I had to admit, most of the time it isn't that bad. But it's certainly no REV 105. Why? Because REV 105 wasn't just about the playlist, a lot of it had to do with the on-air talent, the dedication to the local music scene, and the station's mission to support local charities.

I was trying to recall the exact date "the music died" (that would be when REV 105 was sold) and looked it up online. Which was when I learned that three of the people who made REV 105 what it was are reunited at KCMP 89.3 "The Current" and they would be Mary Lucia, Steve Nelson, and Thorn. Also, some of you may know Mark Wheat from KUOM "Radio K." Yep, he's there too. What made me even less likely to have stumbled upon this station is that it is a part of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). I don't know about you, but when I think of Public Radio I think of boring talk shows and classical music. In fact, a lot of critics of publicly funded radio (coincidentally many of whom are owners of commercial stations) believe MPR should restrict itself to boring programming and not act like a commercial station at all. So about the last thing I'd have expected on an MPR station was "eclectic/free-form" - which is, wow, the same format that REV 105 used to play!
The first time I tuned my home stereo into "The Current" it was like I'd just stepped in a time machine and was transported back to 1996 - there was Mary Lucia as DJ, songs by the Jayhawks, Wilco, Dinosaur Jr., and mixed in some experimental jazz and songs I could neither identify the artist nor (in some cases) pin down the genre. But that was one of the coolest things about REV 105 - the DJ's were free to slip in some really obscure, off-beat - totally NON commercial music. Radio is where you're SUPPOSED to be exposed to new stuff, right? Oh, and another way it's like having REV 105 back from the dead - "The Current" is also on more than one frequency on the dial, depending on where you live:

88.7 in Rochester, MN (plays classical in the morning & switches to "The Current")
89.3 in the Twin Cities
95.3 in Mankato, MN
97.5 in Hinkley, MN
Stream It from the web if you can't get it over the air.

I know this is going to sound like an advertisement, but if you loved - or even liked - the old REV 105 go to your stereo and tune into one of the aforementioned frequencies and give "The Current" a listen. I'm sure you'll do what I did and assign it the first preset button.

Terminator: Salvation (as in Save Your Money)

2009-06-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Seriously, save your money for one of the as-yet-unreleased blockbusters due out later this summer. "Terminator: Salvation" was a major disappointment. If you thought this was the movie about how John Connor saves humanity from the dreaded SkyNet and it's army of Terminators - which is what the movies was SUPPOSED to be about right? The big victory over the machines? NOPE! Sorry, it's not that movie. The last scene in the film was so obviously added by ~~a studio executive~~ who realized "Hey, wait! If we show how SkyNet is defeated that will be the end of the franchise!" That's right, folks, they "win the battle, but the war continues."

Update 6/8/09: Just read some background info on the film, and apparently that open-ended finale was the work of the film's director, MCG, who is some guy better known for directing music videos (like anyone watches those anymore).

Of course I didn't know about the total bait-and-switch unsatisfying ending until, well, the end. But that's far from the only thing wrong with this movie - or at least not as advertised. Did you think Christian Bale was the star? WRONG! Terminator/Cyborg Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is the actual star of this movie. He gets all the really good action scenes, and he's actually the hero who saves people (including John Connor). Where's Christian Bale? At home, washing his tights! Oh, no, wait this isn't a Batman movie is it? Well, you'd never know it by watching Bale - he delivers us a John Conn0r a-la-Batman. Seriously, his performance for both characters is the SAME. As for where he is? Back in the bunker, talkin' on his radio - while "Marcus" is saving Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), who if you've followed Terminator at all is actually John Connor's father - but in 2018 he's only a punk-ass kid who fashions himself as the Los Angeles resistance.

Which brings me to some of the glaring WTF's in this film. Some of this would be the SPOILER fodder, so if you still plan on seeing this turkey stop reading now.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I know I'm not because it says so in the opening titles, SkyNet tried to wipe out humanity in a nuclear holocaust. But there doesn't appear to be ANY radiation. None. What isn't in short supply in this post-apocalyptic future, though, are hair products and teeth whiteners. These people should be glowing green in the dark, they should have radiation sores, tufts of hair falling out, teeth falling out - but from the looks of a lot of the ruins and cars SkyNet must have used "Lite" nukes - so weak they couldn't even burn the paint off of most cars near ground zero. But it was those bright white smiles that particularly cheesed me off. Then there's the big question of why on Earth the T-600 Terminators are so often wearing rags of clothing? These are the big, chrome guys. Ok, maybe they put the clothing on to cover up the chrome. But, wait, why is SkyNet chrome plating them in the first place?

Since the story takes place in 2018, SkyNet is still doing R&D on the T-800 "Arnold" Terminators. However, Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to appear in it, so I initially thought that's why they were fighting T-600's through most of the movie. But near the end a T-800 does show up to kick John Connor's ass. They texture mapped Arnold's face onto somebody else - at least up to the point where it get's all the skin blown off. Actually this installment of the Terminator franchise relies heavily on CGI for the terminators, which makes them a little less convincing on screen than in the previous movies - where the limitations of CGI at the time forced them to use a lot more animatronics and props, which interact with the actors far more convincingly. Lastly, back in a Resistance medical tent, John Connor's injuries from the fight with the T-800 send him into heart failure - he needs a heart transplant to survive. The cyborg Marcus says "Take mine." Gee, that's convenient isn't it? Marcus just happens to be a match for the transplant? Yeah, don't worry about tissue rejection or anything! Plus, are we to seriously believe that the Resistance doctor can do a transplant in an open tent in the desert? Where is Connor going to get the anti-rejection drugs if, as was mentioned earlier in the movie, regular anti-biotics are in short supply? Hollywood seriously needs to learn the difference between "suspension of disbelief" and "unbelievable."

This is the only Terminator movie rated "PG-13" instead of "R" which means they intentionally toned the violence down from previous installments to reach a larger (younger) audience. This is also the only Terminator story in which there is NO time travel. That's right, no electric spheres that leave round cut-outs in whatever the touch dropping naked Terminators into Los Angeles. It is unclear whether or not this movie takes place BEFORE SkyNet develops time travel or not. But somehow it just doesn't feel like a Terminator movie without that plot element. Actually that would be my overall complaint about this movie - it simply doesn't feel like a Terminator movie, and it isn't delivered as advertised. But I'm sure they'll probably make another one - they certainly left the door open to it at the end.

"Star Trek" ROCKS!

2009-05-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying this is coming from someone who has seen every Trek movie and series, is looking at action figures of the TOS crew on her desk right now, has scratch-built Star Trek movie prop-replicas, and - yes - I have a Starfleet Uniform in my closet.

I am exactly the audience this movie wanted to convince, and presumably the most resistant to the new movie's departure from all that came before it. J.J. Abrams - and pretty much everyone involved with the movie - assured fans like me I'd like it, and to just give it a chance. Many fans like me initially bristled at the thought of a Star Trek "reboot" with a CW network-style "pretty kids with problems" cast. To put it bluntly, fandom practically demanded I hate this movie on principle.

You know what? Anyone who refused to see this, that's their loss. I thoroughly enjoyed the new "Star Trek" movie. I went into it skeptical of what sort of bastardization I'd see up on that big screen, and walked away feeling good about it and anticipating the next chapter of a whole NEW Star Trek universe full of possibilities - unbound by the canon which came before it, yet still somehow so familiar.

Ok, for starters I'm going to address one of the biggest things about this movie Trek fans blasted even before the movie was out (because it was in the trailer) - Building the Enterprise on the ground. No, they don't waste any time on screen explaining it but for those who can't accept that it just "is" I've got a potential explanation. That giant canyon in Iowa into which young Kirk sends a classic car isn't explained either, though it looks like some kind of quarry given the straight cuts to the cliff walls.

So, here is as good an explanation as any for building the Enterprise on the ground (courtesy of my brother, who has an Engineering degree and has worked in manufacturing for many years): the materials to build the ship are on Earth - whether we're talking natural resources or manufactured goods and materials used in the construction, that stuff is on Earth. It doesn't make any sense to ship all that materiel into space and construct the ship in orbit. We don't do that today because of the expense in doing so, but you'd also either have to have all the construction workers in space, or be taking construction crews there and back. It makes logistical sense to locate the project on the ground - where the supplies, material, and workers are already available, and what better place to locate such a big project but in the middle of nowhere? Or what we can assume is a central location to the supply lines (which is apparently somewhere in Iowa). What we see is likely a "test fit," and once it's done they'll disassemble it, shuttle all the parts into space, and reassemble it there at an orbiting dock during the portion of the film glossed over with the word "Three Years Later."

As for actual stuff in the movie that matters?

Before seeing the movie I wasn't so sure about Simon Pegg's comic-relief portrayal of Scottie, but now that I've seen the movie I have to say it makes a perverse sort of sense. Scottie is supposed to be a brilliant, and often unorthodox, engineer. He'd argue with his teachers, he'd make enemies of more closed-minded superiors, he'd join Starfleet to get his hands on the inner workings of a starship, but (like a lot of people with an Engineer's or inventor's mindset) he's probably not as good with people. So, in context, the comical, quirky, yet brilliant Scottie worked for me. Zach Quinto was BORN to play Spock, what else can you say? Chris Pine has every ounce of William Shatner's swagger in the role of James T. Kirk. The surprising gem of a performance, though, comes from Karl Ubran as Doctor "Bones" McCoy. He gets to utter at least a couple of DeForest Kelly's classic lines, but he's not mimicing him - somehow he makes Bones his own. Also, the explanation for how Kirk and McCoy end up friends from the academy even though McCoy is obviously older than Kirk now makes sense, as does McCoy's reason or joining Starfleet - even though he doesn't care for space travel or transporters. I know some people expressed disbelief that John Cho (a Korean-American) was cast as Sulu (a Japanese-American), but he does an ok job in the role and gets one good sword fight scene - furthermore George Takei said HE didn't have a problem with Cho playing Sulu because the character represents ALL Asians on the bridge of the Enterprise.

As for misfires with the cast? Only minor things really. I was a bit disappointed with Zoe Saldana as Uhuru, but not through any fault of hers. Her performance was fine, and despite more than one scene extolling her capabilities as an officer, she came off as little more than a sexy woman sleeping her way to the top. I mean, really, what are we to think of her relationship with Spock - especially when she clearly leverages it for favors? Yes, the relationship is supposed to remind us (and Spock) that he's half human, but it just felt out of place. Anton Yelchin as Chekov is the biggest disappointment of this new crew. He's trying to do Walter Koenig's pseudo-Russian accent and it's so labored it's almost painful to listen to it. He'd either best fix his performance before a next movie, recast the character, or they should take a cue from the "Star Trek Phase II" fan-film "To Serve All My Days" and kill him off.

In supporting roles, obviously Leonard Nimoy as the "Spock Prime" was everything you could expect him to be. You actually get quite a ways into the film before you actually get to see him "in person" on screen, but it's a good entrance. As is his exit - the only scene in which he performs with Zach Quinto, also a very satisfying fan moment. Bruce Greenwood makes a great Captain Pike, and though he DOES end up in a wheelchair it isn't that lame one with the light and beeps for "yes" or "no." Assuming they do more movies with this cast I'd look forward to his return as a father-figure/mentor for the young Kirk. Speaking of father-figures, Ben Cross is quite good as Sarek, Spock's father. Cross also had big shoes to fill in a role so very much defined by Mark Lenard. Eric Bana also has to be given props for his job playing the villian, Nero. Unlike a lot of Trek films, where the bad guy gets all the best lines, Nero speaks with his actions more than his words. But when he does speak it's either with a tsunami of anger or a casual and familiar flippancy that betrays the Romulan's non-military background as the Captain of the commercial mining-ship-turned-weapon.

This is a fast-paced, action-packed movie. Those are some things that have been missing from Trek films on the big screen, which more often have opted for pacing similar to (or even slower) than the various television series. All too often in the past we were treated to descriptions of the action in a battle, rather than seeing it on screen. You know, stuff like "sensors show he's turning with us and closing rapidly, Captain." Which is a LOT cheaper to film than actually SHOWING us. Well, if anything this new Star Trek film has the noisy, chaotic CGI battles we've come to expect in any blockbuster sci-fi film. Finally, after all these years of hearing Science Officers and Helmsman narrate the battle while the camera shakes, we get a view from the gallery OUTSIDE the ship.

I walked away from this film anxious for them to make a sequel, convinced the "curse" on odd-numbered Trek films has been countermanded, and with a serious contender which - given time and more viewings - may yet unseat "Wrath of Khan" as my all-time favorite Trek film.

Shows on Life Support

2009-05-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

A while ago I did a list on this blog of 20 shows I thought had been canceled before their time. I may need to add three more to that list if the networks have their way.

Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles
At the end of LAST season the rumors where flying the show had been canceled. Thankfully it hadn't and we got some of the best episodes yet. I had low expectations for this series before it aired, but it quickly became one of my "must see" shows each week. So, of course, this show is once again rumored to be on FOX's chopping block. I was a bit reluctant to get too into the show simply BECAUSE it airs on FOX, given their piss-poor track record when it comes to science-fiction shows. I seriously wonder why anyone even pitches sci-fi to that network anymore, it's equivalent to putting a target on a show. I'm also starting to think that anyone who was involved with "Firefly" and gets a subsequent show also airing on FOX shouldn't get too comfortable. Why, oh why, couldn't all those asshat FOX Broadcasting executives get Swine Flu and be replaced by people who have an f---ing clue what good television is?

Chuck
Ok, this show wasn't "must see TV" for me, I really didn't care if I missed an episode - but that was mostly because the title character's "geek cred" was unconvincing. Putting sideburns and a short sleeve button shirt with a pen protector in the front pocket does not a geek nor nerd make. But the series had it's moments and was better than they usual network offerings. But it has spent this entire season with a sword dangling over its head and may not get renewed. I have mixed feelings about that given the way the last episode went - Chuck "downloads" the ability to go Kung Fu on the bad guys. If he has "super powers" (something even alluded to earlier in the episode) they don't really have much of a show anymore. The whole point was that he wasn't a spy, he was supposed to be a nerd who couldn't fight or fire a gun. If they turn him into a competent spy the show would suck anyway. Which is why I'd have to think if the show DOES get renewed the new abilities would have to have some major downside (like they'll make his brain hemmorage or something) or he was only able to do it that once because he'd JUST downloaded it.

Dollhouse
I also have to wonder why Joss Whedon pitches shows to FOX anymore. I don't think the executives there like him very much given how eagerly they'll cancel his shows. Consider what Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote: "that [Joss Whedon's] most devoted fans will debate and embrace [Dollhouse], and a mass audience just won't get." That, right there, is the problem. The "mass audience." Those guys SUCK! The network execs want shows that more people will watch so they can sell more expensive advertising time slots. As was said in "Men in Black," a person can be smart, people are stupid. The networks WANT those stupid viewers, especially the ones so easily manipulated by advertisers they'll actually be convinced to by the sponsor's products. That doesn't bode well for ANY show that is intelligent. Actually it probably doesn't bode well for our nation that the stupidest among us apparently have the most valued opinion about what shows should be renewed. Though I'm torn between deciding if the stupidest are WATCHING the shows or sitting in the executive offices of the networks? Either way, I've resisted the urge to get too into "Dollhouse" simply because I was fairly certain (right from episode 1) that FOX was going to cancel it without even showing all the episodes. Last I heard episode 13 isn't going to air. Sayonara, Echo.

EDIT: May 18th, 2009
Just heard today that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been canceled. Dollhouse got a stay of execution, mostly because of fan support.

Commodore: The Undead Computer Company

2009-04-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

My first computer was a Commodore64. Well, it wasn't exactly mine - it was the "family computer" and we got it at Christmas (after months of begging) in the early 1980s. As it belonged to everyone it lived in a corner of the living room where the noisy dot-matrix printer was sometimes printing out a term paper or the 13" portable color television used as a monitor would be emitting MIDI music from some arcade game or another. Dad never seemed to really understand what it was or how to use it, Mom would occasionally join in for a game of M.U.L.E or Wizard of Wor.

By high school it had moved into my bedroom and had a better dot-matrix printer attached, and a word processor that supported 80 columns (without any special add-ons and I can't for the life of me remember what it was called or who published it). The sound chip started going bad by early 1988 and the computer died entirely that summer. I was headed off to college in the Fall and bought a Commodore64C to replace it, so I could continue using all my software and peripherals. It came bundled with GEOS, and so I was introduced to a new world known as the Graphic User Interface. Obviously I was aware that the Apple MacIntosh and Amiga had a GUI, but nobody I knew could afford either of them, so imagine my joy to receive a GUI bundled with my 64C! I recall that I had an old joystick that had the "stick" part broken off, but the base - with the bottom chunk of the stick - still worked. It may not have been a mouse or a trackball, but with a couple of fingers on the "stub" to tilt it and my thumb on the "fire" button it wasn't the worst pointing device in the world.

One day, while I was buying some art supplies for class at a local hobby shop I noticed a C64 sitting on top of a box behind the counter with a repair tag on it. I inquired about it and the owner of the store said he had a sideline business repairing Commodore computers. I brought my old, dead C64 to him and after a week and $30 it worked like new. I kept it on hand just in case I needed it some night when I was printing a term paper and my 64C died or something (which, thankfully, it never did). There was this pawn shop near campus I would sometimes check out, just to see if they had anything cool for not much money, and one day I saw an Plus/4. The shop only wanted $5 for it, and even though I knew it wasn't compatible with the C64 my curiosity could afford to be satisfied - additionally it was in brand new condition in the original box with everything that came with it, and I doubt it was ever actually used and possibly never even plugged in. The thought crossed my mind that such an obscure flop might someday be of interest to collectors or curiosity seekers, and for five bucks I could forgo pizza for one night. I only ever hooked it up once, just to see if it actually did work. As I suspected the built-in software was crap, but in some ways it felt like finding a C64 from a parallel universe. It was familiar, but just. . .wrong.

I kept trying to get my hands on an Amiga while I was in college. Being the typical poor college student I couldn't buy a new one, so I kept an eye on the bulletin boards around campus for the occasional posting for an Amiga 500, 1200, or 1000 - only to find out my "best offer" wasn't enough or that it had already been sold. I lusted after an Amiga 2000, 3000, or 4000 with a NewTek "Video Toaster." I eventually did get enough money together by the time I was finished with college, but just one month before I graduated Commodore went bankrupt, so that was the end for Amiga. . .or so I thought. It was about another two years before I bought my first Mac. It wasn't the one I wanted, but various expenses in the interim again tied my hands regarding what system I could afford to buy.

The original C64, 64C, and Plus/4 all ended up in boxes in my parents' attic, where I basically forgot about them until the winter of 1998. Someone at the company I was working for expressed interest in buying vintage computers and I volunteered that I had three fully functional Commodore computers. The three computers, 1541 and 1541-II disk drives, two sets of joysticks, a 1530 Datasette Drive, 1650 Modem (300 baud - ack!), an MPS-802 dot-matrix printer, a third-party dot-matrix printer (don't recall the brand), a bunch of cartridges, and 100+ 5.25" floppy disks with all sorts of software were all loaded into the trunk of my '87 Mustang and I took them to work anticipating a quick sale. The guy, though, had spent his money on something else and was no longer interested. I didn't feel like lugging it all up to my apartment again when I got home so I left it all in the trunk and forgot about it. The car started giving me a lot of problems shortly thereafter, and it wasn't a nice car - it was pretty beat up (it was rusty and dented before I got it). I bought another used vehicle and, because the apartment complex would only let me have one car, I had to get rid of the Mustang. Nobody would buy it because it was beat up and didn't run by that point. I ended up calling a scrap dealer who hauled it away to be crushed. Unfortunately I remembered too late that a veritable treasure trove of Commodore Computer equipment was in the trunk. Maybe someone at the junk yard found it, but most likely it all got crushed with the car. The ending for my C64's was just as unhappy as the company that had made them.

But for Commodore the company, 1994 was NOT where their story ended! In fact, what happened after almost reads like a cyber soap opera. When then company went into bankruptcy its assets - including trademarks and technology - were liquidated and ended up in the hands of various other companies. Little did they know they were also purchasing the "curse" as well.

The Commodore Semiconductor Group (a.k.a. MOS Technologies) produced the chips at the heart of the Commodore computers up to the Amiga 1000. In 1995, after Commodore International collapsed, the management bought the semiconductor company and continued to produce chips under the name GMT in a plant Commodore had closed in 1992. By 1999 the company was actually quite profitable, but in 2001 the EPA shut the plant down for pollution violations. GMT was forced into liquidation.

The UK branch of Commodore wasn't part of the bankruptcy, but was unsuccessful in its bid to buy the failed parent company's assets. They limped along selling back-stock until they also found themselves in financial distress. A company called Escom bought the Commodore brand name and Amiga trademark but didn't fare much better, declaring bankruptcy itself in 1996. The next year Tulip Computers NV acquired the Commodore brand name. A pre-existing licensing deal Escom made with Web Computers International allowed the release of the Web.it Commodore 64 computer in 1998. The Web.it wasn't a bad looking internet-enabled device, but it wasn't based on Commodore hardware at all, it was standard PC components and came with Windows CE and some other rather uninspiring software plus a C64 emulator built in. It was basically a flop.
Meanwhile the Amiga brand was sold off separately, passing to Escom in 1995 and then to Gateway (yes, THAT Gateway) in 1997. Gateway had plans to release a Linux multimedia system under the name, but it never came to fruition - probably because Linux's multimedia support at the time sucked. Amiga, Inc. was formed in 2000 by two former Gateway employees who obtained an exclusive license from Gateway. In 2003 Amiga, Inc. transferred its rights to the AmigaOS (but not anything else Amiga-related) to a company called Itec, which was itself acquired by another company called KMOS.

In 2003 the Commodore name appeared on some MP3 players made in China, though it's unclear if those were licensed products or not. Tulip Computers relaunched Commodore International as a subsidiary and threatened legal action against those using the trademark without permission. In 2004 Tulip released the DTV - a Commodore 64 built into a joystick, preloaded with popular classic games, which you could connect to your TV. Later in 2004, Tulip sold the Commodore brand name, assets, and patents to Yeahronimo Media Ventures. In 2005 YMV changed its name to Commodore International Corporation and with that Commodore, as a company, was raised from the dead.

In 2005 "Commodore Gaming" was formed as a partnership between CIC and Amsterdam's "The Content Factory" to produce custom gaming computers. In 2007 they introduced their first line at CeBIT in Germany. The systems are high-end off the shelf components in custom tower cases featuring customized graphics. But the computers themselves have nothing to do with the old Commodore systems.

On the Amiga side of things KMOS changed its name to Amiga, Inc. in 2005 and continued development of AmigaOS with another company called Hyperion Entertainment. Amiga, Inc. licensed a manufacturer called Eyetech to produce the AmigaOne - the first new Amiga hardware since the death of Commodore. Eyetech had been working on the project since 2001, but didn't release an ATX format board until 2004, but the full version of the new OS wasn't ready until 2007 so the earlier models were bundled with Linux distributions. AmigaOS 4.1 was released in 2008, however AmigaOne production had already stopped by 2006. Another hardware manufacturer, ACube Systems, has since been licensed to produce Amiga boards and currently offers three different models, including the "Minimig" - a full hardware emulation of an Amiga 500. The other two boards (the Sam440's) offer more modern PowerPC hardware. ACube's boards are currently the only Amiga-compatible boards in production.

While Commodore was dead and the vultures were picking over the remains in the late 1990's a company named Genesi was formed to develop "power architectures" (PPC-based hardware) and also began developing the Amiga-compatible MorphOS operating system in 1999. Genesi produced the Pegasos I & II desktops to run MorphOS. However, AmigaOS was not supported on Pegasos computers because of some sort of disagreement between Genesi and Amiga, Inc./Hyperion. Hyperion announced support for Pegasos in January 2009 - too bad Genesi discontinued the systems in 2006. There was also a rift between Genesi and the MorphOS development community, which I gather led some developers to create the open source AROS operating system.

But despite all the legal wrangling and financial problems that means, quite literally, the Amiga is STILL being developed - both as hardware and as an operating system.

The resurrected Commodore company announced in 2009 a line of four new Commodore branded netbook computers based on the Intel Atom processor and running Windows XP. However, at the time of this writing, they don't appear to actually be for sale yet but - if they are in the price range of other netbooks on the market - these new Commodore computers will probably be in about the same price range that the C64 and Amiga 500 were in the early 1990s ($300 - $500), which would nicely continue the Commodore tradition of affordable computers.

If Commodore hadn't spent over a decade dead while its tomb was being robbed I have a suspicion the company would be in about the same place anyway. Taking a look at the reasons Apple abandoned the PowerPC chips I have to think Commodore (had they stayed in business and continued producing Amigas) would have made the same decision - though maybe they would have gone with AMD processors instead, hard to say. It also would have been nice to see Commodore port the AmigaOS to an x86-architecture, though if Amiga, Inc. continues trying to develop an operating system for virtually non-existent hardware they'll probably find themselves in a financially vulnerable position where Commodore could buy them - which would nicely bring the family back together under one roof, wouldn't it? But I'd also have to say "why bother" when Commodore could just throw development money at the AROS project, which is an open-source implementation of AmigaOS 3.1 already ported to both the 32-bit and 64-bit x-86 platforms. Meaning you could buy one of those Commodore-branded computers and run AROS as your operating system and pretend like all those tumultuous years in between never happened.

Life On Mars Finale

2009-04-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

In some ways it is a shame that the US adaptation of the BBC series "Life on Mars" has come to an end. On the other hand, it would have been more annoying had it gone on for season after season, only to ultimately be canceled without resolution. As it is I'm still a bit unclear as to whether it was conceived of as a 13 episode run or if they simply got word in time of its cancellation to tie it up.

I generally found the US version more satisfying than the British one. I picked up the BBC version when I had on-demand cable and frankly had a hard time sticking with it. While I applaud the Beeb for NOT doing a "Hollywood ending" (Sam Tyler commits suicide by jumping off of a building), they also leave it ambiguous as to what, exactly, his status was (crazy? coma? dead? time traveler? We never really find out).

The US version ends on quite a different note, though I suppose some people will find it a bit too "literal" an ending for a series titled "Life on Mars." Sam turns out to be part of a manned mission in 2035 to the Red Planet (the mysterious "Project Aries" referenced during the series) to search for life, or a "gene hunt" (which is the name of Sam's boss in 1973). "Gene" turns out to actually be Sam's father in the 2035 reality, his neighbor "Windy" is the ship's computer, "Annie" is a mission Colonel. They also threw in a tidbit that President Obama wanted to be there at Mission Control to communicate with them (making you ask "Obama?! But. . .but, it's 2035! How can he still be President?) then Mission Control tells them that President Obama couldn't be there because SHE had to visit her father, who is very ill.

I guess I liked it because it was completely outside anything I was guessing throughout the series - it had been set up at the beginning of every episode that Sam was a cop in 2008, hit by a car, woke up in 1973 that the scenarios the character had presented (crazy? coma? dead? time travel?) seemed like the only solutions. Who could have guessed, especially given the ending of the BBC series, that Sam was not only NOT a cop, but that his present was 2035, and BOTH his realities (2008 and 1973) were just computer simulations/entertainment while he was in suspended animation for transport?

As you may have guessed, given my previous post about TV shows that were killed before their prime, one of my pet peeves with TV networks is canceling shows without at least giving them a chance to resolve the mysteries they present, so it was a nice change of pace to FINALLY get a short-lived series all wrapped up with a tidy bow.

Dead TV: Canceled Before Their Time

2009-03-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

So I saw this list online recently of TV series which were canceled before their time. There were a bunch of shows on that list I never watched, so I thought I'd put together my own list of shows I think got "the quick hook" too soon!

My criteria was simple: I had to have actually watched the series AND it had to have lasted one season (26 episodes) or less.

1. Andy Richter Controls the Universe (2002-2003, 19 episodes, 4 unaired)
Andy Richter is one of those comedians whose humor, I think, escapes some people (especially television executives). His jokes tend to be delivered in a dry, unassuming way and, once fully processed by your brain, explode with a funniness which wasn't immediately apparent.

2. Andy Barker, P.I. (2007, 6 episodes)
Andy Richter also gets the second entry on my list. What do you do when your control of the Universe slips? Become a Private Investigator. By accident. Because someone mistakes you for one. At least you can watch the episodes online at http://www.hulu.com/andy-barker-pi

3. Wonderfalls (2004, 13 episodes, 9 unaired)
This is one of the few shows that, when it was canceled, I actually signed a petition urging FOX Broadcasting to reconsider. Someone at FOX had it in for the show, though, because they kept moving it around in the schedule or pre-empting it until even those of us who were eager for the next episode weren't always sure when it would air. I've since caught "Joan of Arcadia" on Sci-Fi Channel, which originally hit the air around the same time with a similar "I think God is talking to me" premise, "Wonderfalls" did it SO MUCH BETTER! The 13 episodes are available on DVD thanks to a fan-driven effort to get it released.

4. Firefly (2002-2003, 14 episodes, 3 originally unaired)
What can I say? This is one of the best (some would vehemently argue THE best) science-fiction shows ever. Even though FOX Broadcasting didn't give it a fair shake (and forced them to air the episodes out of order), it has spawned comic books, a feature film, soundtrack album, action figures, devoted fans who dress in costume and replicate props for their own conventions and fan films. . .etc., etc. Everything a sci-fi phenomenon is expected to inspire, and absolute proof that FOX television executives have their heads up their asses. You can watch episoes online at http://www.hulu.com/firefly

5. Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993-1994, 27 episodes)
If "Firefly" dramatically combined Science-Fiction and Cowboy Western genres, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." successfully did so comically (though there was an underlying serious plot revolving around Brisco capturing members of the gang that killed his father - a staple plotline of MANY a series). Which is fitting because a firearms prop used in "Brisco County, Jr." was later reused in "Firefly." Really! Enjoyment of the series probably helps if you're already a fan of Bruce Campbell, but the cross-genre dramedy (drama+comedy) nature of the show means there's something in it for just about everyone. The series has been released on DVD: http://www.warnervideo.com/brisco/us/html/

6. Q.E.D. [titled "Mastermind" in UK] (1982, 6 episodes)
Most people probably don't even remember this short-lived series. But I found it fun and imaginative - combining Sherlock Holmes and something far ahead of its time which is now known as "Steampunk." To this day I remember the main character's name: Quentin E. Deverill, and the phrase "Quite Easily Done." (Q.E.D. is a Latin phrase, quod erat demonstrandum, meaning "which was to be demonstrated"). The show later aired in the United Kingdom (which was fitting since it was set in Edwardian England) but was retitled "Mastermind" because there was already a science program called "Q.E.D." More information is online at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D._(US_TV_series)

7. Dresden Files (2007, 12 episodes)
This was based on a series of novels, which I've never read, so I don't know how it compares to the source material. The basic premise is "magical private investigator." When it was airing I described it as "What Harry Potter does when he grows up and becomes a detective." Sci-Fi Channel axed the show after only 12 episodes, which was a shame because like so many series killed before their time, it died just as it was getting good. There are rumors, though, it may be revived - possibly as a series of TV movies. You can watch it online at http://www.hulu.com/the-dresden-files

8. Jack of All Trades (2000, 22 episodes)
If you ever liked the "Wild, Wild West" TV series, you'll like "Jack of All Trades." Same goes if you're already a Bruce Campbell fan. The series takes place in the 19th century featuring Campbell as "Jack Stiles," an American secret agent dispatched by President Jefferson. Along with a British agent they try to neutralize the Napoleonic threat. But the history and geography is purposely inaccurate, creating a fantasy loosely BASED on the 19th century rather than a "period piece." You can watch it online at http://www.hulu.com/jack-of-all-trades

9. John Doe (2002-2003 ,21 episodes)
This is yet another show that was really getting good - at least close to answering the major mysteries raised in the series - when it got canceled. I despise TV networks that don't, at least, let shows like this do a wrap-up episode. It's like buying a mystery novel and finding out the publisher never printed the last chapter so you NEVER find out "who done it." Though there's plenty of speculation online as to what the deal was, we'll never truly know. You can get sucked into the mysteries, and be left to imagine your own resolutions, at: http://www.hulu.com/john-doe

10. Journeyman (2007, 13 episodes)
Ok, I'm a long-time Doctor Who fan, so I'm a sucker for pretty much any show with time travel in it. Again, this show was pulled after introducing a lot of question marks, but never giving the apparently few of us who were watching it any answers. Time travel back to before it was canceled by watching it online at: http://www.hulu.com/journeyman

11. The Tick (2001-2002, 9 episodes - 1 unaired )
Granted, this comic-book-based series probably was better suited to an animated series than live action (and the animated series WAS more successful). But you just can't beat Patrick Warburton as the big blue superhero - he was born for that role. If you like spoof super hero stories (think "Mystery Men") you'll enjoy helping the Tick protect the local bus station at: http://www.hulu.com/the-tick.

12. Total Recall 2070 (1999, 22 episodes)
I caught some of this series in late-night syndication. If people were even generally aware of it, they probably thought it was a crappy TV-adaptation of the movie "Total Recall" with some Arnold Swartzenegger knock-off in the title roll. Well, thankfully it isn't. "Total Recall" was loosely based on the Philip K. Dick story "We can remember it for you wholesale," and this TV series drew from some of his other writings as well. I'd actually describe it as more of a mix between "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall" as it had elements of both. Though, again, questions about the truth were raised and the series never got an opportunity to answer them. Which, in a round-about way is sort of like the big question mark at the end of the Arnold action-flick: was he still stuck in the "blue skies on Mars" scenario, or did it really happen? Maybe you can figure it out at: http://www.hulu.com/total-recall-2070

13. Tremors (2003, 13 episodes)
Considering the movie was rather, shall we say, light in the plot department I didn't have great expectations for a series based on "Tremors." Well, it somehow actually worked. You get to better know some of the quirky people in the valley who stubbornly refuse to be run off their land by a giant worm-thing that eats people. . .and trucks. . .and, well, anything that makes vibrations really. Add in a bumbling beaurocracy Hell-bent on protecting the "endangered species" and you've got a set up for friction. 11 episodes are available online at http://www.hulu.com/tremors

14. Otherworld (1985, 8 episodes)
I'm also a sucker for "parallel universe" stories. This very short-lived series from long-ago is about a family who visit the pyramids in Egypt and are accidently transported through a portal to a parallel earth (though it might also be another earth-like planet connected to the pyramids somewhere in the same universe, it's hard to tell). The technology in this other world is different, as are the social norms and political powers. The family follows a series of obalisks in a quest to find their way back home. But 8 episodes is obviously insufficent time in which to accomplish that task. By today's standards the special effects, sets, costumes, and props are laughable, but that can also be part of the fun. More about it at http://www.otherworldonline.org/downloads.php

15. Logan's Run (1977, 14 episodes)
Not that long ago I watched the "Logan's Run" movie after many years of not having seen it. It was only then that I realized some of what I thought I remembered actually is from the TV series. Frankly, I think the TV series is a better interpretation of the story. I just wish we could have seen a lot more of the ruined cities on the surface. Pilot episode in parts at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWCDTjaT_vM

16. Wizards & Warriors (1983, 8 episodes)
This was about as close as you'll get to a live-action "Dungeons & Dragons" series. It's a shame it only lasted eight episodes, because the fantasy genre as a series seems like a pretty tough sell to TV networks. Think about it, how many knights, wizards, fair maidens, and dragons have you seen in the primetime lineup over your lifetime? Not many. Video clips at http://www.wizardsandwarriors.org/show/downloads/downloads.htm

17. Lone Gunmen (2001, 13 episodes - 1 unaired)
I always like the trio of conspiracy nuts from "X-Files" and really enjoyed the short-lived series based on their paranoid investigations. Especially because the "X-Files" season at the time was kind of a disappointment. Series star Dean Haglund has actually published a comic book chronicling the circumstances surrounding the cancelation of the show. They never got a chance to actually wrap up the series within the series itself, which is why it's probably the only series I can think of that had it's finale within an entirely different series (the "Jump the Shark" episode of the "X-Files."), which I found unsatisfying because it all but ensured the Lone Gunmen series would never be revived. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lone_Gunmen_(TV_Series)

18. Drive (2007, 6 episodes - 2 unaired)
You wouldn't think a series built around the premise of an illegal, underground road race would have much more to offer than Cannonball Run or Deathrace, but they managed to cram some interesting back stories for the characters into the short-lived show (but we never get the full picture because they canceled it). Considering how heavily FOX Broadcasting hyped this show before it premeired it was a bit of a shock they so readily gave it the axe. Or maybe they just hate any show with Nathan Fillion in it? Oh, and it actually won an Emmy Award - so "critically acclaimed" and "award winning" mean NOTHING to the longevity of a show. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_(TV_series)

19.Mission Hill (1999-2002, 13 episodes)
Ever since "The Simpsons" became a hit there has been an effort to create the next successful animated series. Well, it looks like "Family Guy" may have ultimately won that fight, but it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of other shows. "Mission Hill" is one of the few good ones which shouldn't have been canceled, but it is also very much a product of the late-1990s which makes it either feel "dated" or "nostalgic," depending on your perspective. There were a bunch of episodes in progress when it got canceled, for which "animatics" and scripts exist. You can find out more about that at http://missionhill.tripod.com/ and about the DVD release.

20. Surface (2005-2006, 15 episodes)
Originally intended as a mini-series, ok ratings caused NBC to expand it. Which sucks because, had it been left as a mini-series we'd probably have a self-contained story instead of the cliff-hanger ending we got that will NEVER be resolved. As noted, the ratings were ok and NBC heavily promoted this show, even re-aired episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel so people could catch up on episodes they'd missed. But they ultimately killed it anyway. It would be nice if they'd at least tie it up with a TV movie or a Sci-Fi "original picture," but for now all we've got is the DVD release. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_(TV_series)

Watchmen

2009-03-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Went and saw the "Watchmen" movie yesterday. While I'd heard of the "Watchmen" comic a long time ago, and was aware of the basic story, it was one of those "must reads" that I never got around to reading. So I can't really compare the movie to comic, but it is my understanding that both the film's director (Zack Snyder) and the comic creator (Alan Moore) agree there are things that could only be done in the comic art form, so the movie HAD to be different. Frankly, when a film is an adaptation of a book I'd prefer to see the movie FIRST. Why? Well, a movie has a finite amount of time to tell the story, which means things need to be cut in editing. Time and again I've heard people who've read the book first complain that this or that scene or element was missing from the movie. It's like they've set themselves up to be disappointed. Conversely, if you see the movie first and then read the book, the book is like "DVD Extras" fleshing out things in more details, giving more back-story, introducing scenes and/or characters absent from the movie version. If you ask me, that's the better way to experience the story - you can enjoy the movie for what it is, and then enjoy the book for how it expands the story beyond what you saw in the movie. I kind of consider the different media like "parallel universes" anyway, so it doesn't bother me all that much if they don't agree on the details.

Speaking of parallel universes, that's exactly where "Watchmen" takes place. We're exposed to a mid-1980's landscape where Nixon is still President of the United States and the Cold War "Doomsday Clock" is only 4 minutes from midnight. But, hey, the US won the Vietnam War with the help of two super heroes, so it can't be all bad, right? Except that one of those so-called heroes (known as "The Comedian") is such a total bastard one has to wonder why he didn't become a super villain instead (he's even described in the movie as a "Nazi"). Dr. Manhattan is the glowing blue guy who goes "clothing optional" through much of the movie. But he's so super-powerful he doesn't really relate to humanity - or a single reality - anymore.

As an aside, at MarsCon 2009 I heard numerous people talking about "Watchmen" as the film had just been released prior to the convention. Those conversations inevitably included the words "big blue penis," usually from guys who were clearly disgusted or uncomfortable with the fact Dr. Manhattan is often naked as a blue bird. Now, given how much focus was being paid to that aspect of the film I had expected the nudity to be a lot more "in your face" than it was. When Dr. Manhattan is al fresco I often hardly noticed because there's other stuff going on in the scenes, and he's unclothed through so much of the movie you reach a point where you're just like "Ok, whatever." Which means you start taking more note of the occasions in the movie when he DOES put on clothes.

All of the "heroes" are deeply, psychologically damaged people. Which makes sense, really. What normal, well-adjusted person would put on a costume and place themselves in life-threatening situations? I'm not going to break down their break downs, there are plenty of "Watchmen" sites and pages that can fill you in on that if you're interested. Or you could just go see the movie.

Special-effects in this movie are good, but not jaw-droppingly spectacular. There's nothing ground-breaking or even anything you haven't seen done before. In fact, near the end there's a "crane shot" of Ozymandeous through a broken glass roof and, if you look at his feet, he is very obviously composited into the scene. One thing I do like about Zack Snyder's directing style is that he likes to show fight scenes (or at least key "hits" in them) in slow motion. I absolutely HATE movies with frenetic fight scenes with lots of inter-cutting, close-ups, and hyper-fast blows to the point where the audience can't even follow the action.

It was refreshing to finally see a "comic book movie" that wasn't dumbed down or cleaned up for a PG rating, especially when the original source material wasn't "kid stuff." Which makes me wonder what the hell some people are thinking when they bring their children - young children - into an R-rated film like that?!? Oh yeah, that's excellent parenting. Hire a f---ing sitter or drop the kids at daycare, morons, because I'm sick of hearing your kids crying because the bloody murder on screen scared them or of seeing you herding said children to and from numerous bathroom breaks in my line of sight to the screen.

Oh, and too the guy that decided he HAD to sit in the seat in front of me, despite probably 100 other open seats he could have picked in the matinee showing, which forced me to take me feet down from their comfy perch on that seat's armrest, and consequently my legs hurt from having no room to stretch out during the THREE HOUR show: Dude, you suck.

Which is exactly why I prefer to watch movies at home on DVD.

Battlestar Galactica Series Finale

2009-03-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

* WARNING: If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading *

Ok, so I've had almost four hours to digest my first viewing of the series finale of "Battlestar Galactica." This was something I, like most fans, was both eager to see -but also wished wished wasn't happening because it meant the end of a great show!

However, the more time that passes after watching it the more pissed off I'm becoming. They touted this as the episode where we'd finally know the truth. Silly me, I expected ANSWERS. The writers didn't deliver. At least not the sorts of answers I'm willing to accept as a science-fiction fan.

The biggest one for me? What the Hell was Kara Thrace? Nothing about her story makes sense after she died chasing the alleged Raider in the nebula. Lee Adama saw her Viper destroyed. Then she mysteriously re-appears far, far away from where she "died" in perfect health with a spiffy new Viper. The questions are raised:

Is Kara a Cylon? Everyone says "No" because it's too obvious an explanation. Some cite her examination by the doctor specifically looking for evidence she was a Cylon, but we all know only Baltar's "Cylon Detector" seemed to be able to make that distinction - and it seems it didn't get much use after Baltar stopped running those tests.

Did she go through a space-time warp? That would make sense for how she got to/from Earth and why only several hours have passed for her. But we don't get anything to back that up.

Where did she get the "brand new" Viper? Again, if she were a resurrected Cylon that might be explained if the Cylons had a Colonial Viper stowed in a crate somewhere. But, again, we're given nothing to back that up.

Is the body on Earth hers? They did definitively answer that as "Yes" because the blood on the dog-tags matched her DNA. But if she CRASHED on Earth, even if she went through a space-time warp, how did she show up alive again? Initially I thought maybe there was Cylon resurrection tech somewhere on the planet, and maybe humans and Cylons were so similar it could actually resurrect a human? But that still wouldn't explain the spiffy new Viper.

Why did Kara know the "Watchtower" song? The song was linked to the Final Five and Hera. If Kara knew the song, that would bolster the argument that she's a Cylon.

Where did Kara go at the end? She just disappears! What a frackin' RIP OFF. At first I thought, "Wait! Was she an apparition like Baltar's Six?" But that didn't make sense because too many people interacted with her and she was clearly a physical being. But POP! She's gone, just like Baltar and Six's "angels." So, Kara was supposed to be an angel? That's a stupid answer, but it's the only one I seem to be hearing now. Talk about a major plot-point disappointment. It just seemed like lazy, cop-out writing. Like the writers killed her off and brought her back without really thinking it through and wrote themselves into a corner - oh gee, how to get out of this one? A Miracle! Boo, hiss, boo!

I'd have been happier if it had turned out she WAS a Cylon, which would have worked actually because everyone assumed it was TOO obvious and ruled it out only for that reason. Or if her dead-beat Dad had been a Cylon so Kara was really the FIRST Human-Cylon Hybrid (which might explain her connection with Hera). But you'd still need to insert a Cylon resurrection and a crated Viper to make it make sense. Maybe they'll give us a better answer in "The Plan" movie? I doubt it, but here's hoping. And we certainly won't find out anything new about Kara Thrace in "Caprica."

Ok, enough about that thorn in my side. On to other annoyances, like Earth 2.0. Really? We're actually doing the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" ending? Yeah, it was so bloody obvious I made a joke about "declaring leaves currency" when they were watching the indigenous tribe. If Admiral Adama's remark about the distance wasn't a figure of speech that too doesn't make any sense - 1 million light years?!? That puts the Colonies outside the Milky Way Galaxy (which is estimated at 100,000 lightyears), but not far enough to be in the next nearest galaxy (Andromeda is about 2.5 million lightyears away). Um, and there's nothing in between but empty space. So where, exactly, were these colonies supposed to have been? Also, they made quite a big deal in the series about great distances requiring multiple FTL jumps, so how could a wounded Galactica have made such a phenomenal leap at all? Speaking of FTL jumps, remember when Boomer jumped too close to Galactica and caused a hull breach? So why does a Raptor jumping from the hangar deck NOT cause damage? Also, why didn't the Galactica jumping out (while still crashed into the Cylon Colony) NOT cause space warping damage to that as well? I guess they were hoping nobody would notice. Which is stupid because sci-fi fans notice EVERY DETAIL. We pay good money to go to conventions and sit in hotel conference rooms and ARGUE about those details for FUN.

At first I wasn't sure what to think about Cavil eating his own gun. I initially thought he was too egotistical to do that, but on further reflection I guess Hitler killed himself too, rather than be taken prisoner. It was certainly a sudden and inglorious end - which I suppose was the point.

This arrival on Earth 2.0 all apparently happened 150,000 years ago. That puts it in the right time frame for a mitochondrial DNA common ancestor (as they claim Hera was at the end of the series), but I've already seen message boards ablaze with posts questioning "Mitochondrial Eve" being a child of Eurasian appearance, rather than African. That's a can of worms I don't even want to get into, especially since even the experts can't really agree on what defines "race" in the fossil record of early humans.

Instead, I'd rather question Lee Adama's notion that they not build cities, and dump all the technology they brought with them - and everyone in the fleet (EVERYONE) just agrees with him! A group of people who have been bickering, arguing, double-dealing, and back-stabbing just suddenly agrees they all want to scuttle the fleet and go native? PU-LEASE! That would never happen. Even if you wanted a "clean slate" why destroy the ships? Maybe just park them on a nearby planet (like Mars) and figure by the time they build up a civilization with technology that can GET to them, they deserve the damned things? Nope, into the sun they go!

Then they drop people all over the planet. I can only assume some or all of those camps (except maybe the ones in Africa) fail. Why? They specifically pointed to putting people in Australia. Australia didn't have humans in it 150,000 years ago, they arrived less than 50,000 years ago! Conclusion? The Colonials die out long before Human-Cylon-Indigenous people move into Australia to stay. Either that, or the writers couldn't be bothered to do a quick Wikipedia search. I'm going to let the "locals don't have language" bit slide since nobody is sure when language developed (estimates are between 50,000 and 2 million years ago).

For a show that seemed to pride itself on the "intelligence" of their audience, this finale felt like an insult to mine. "God did it." "They were angels." I'm sorry, but the I feel that the "science" part of "science-fiction" demands a better explanation than a mystical miracle even when a central theme of the series is faith/religion. As motives? Fine. As explanations? Lazy.

This could have been my all-time favorite science fiction series if only it hadn't ended like this! I frankly didn't care if they EVER found Earth or a new home. I just wanted answers. They should have:

revealed Kara to be a Cylon
that Baltar DID have a chip in his head or was just crazy,
that the Final Five DID program religion into the Cylons,
that the Earth that was nuked was OUR Earth
that there really was no longer any major difference between Humans and Cylons
that the story takes place in the far, far future rather than a "long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away"

They should have ended the series with the big battle by the black hole and left us to just wonder about the fleet. Whatever fate I might have imagined for them would have been a more satisfying end than the last act they showed.

SyFy: Imagine Greater (Stupidity)

2009-03-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

So, according to the news over at Sci-FiWire the Sci-Fi Channel is changing its name, next summer, to "SyFy" with the tagline "Imagine Greater."

Well, I guess this proves that even in a turd of an economy like this one Marketing types are still working. Ok, fine, I've worked in a Marketing Department before myself and I understand their reasons for wanting to do this. Primarily that the name of their network basically couldn't be trademarked because it was a generic term for a genre.

Not that they seemed to restricted to that genre in their programming anyway - I ask again, "What the HELL is wrestling doing on this channel?!?" Yes, wrestling is fiction and a degree of science likely created the wrestlers but PLEASE keep that crap on USA where it belongs! I remember when I first heard of an executive at Sci-Fi Channel talking about "broadening the brand" to include programming that was definitely NOT science fiction. Yeah, WTF?! Well, that's how TV executives and marketing types think (if you can call that random neuron firing they experience "thinking." Most of us call it a "brain fart").

Here's an excerpt from the wire:

the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider range of current and future imagination-based entertainment beyond just the traditional sci-fi genre, including fantasy, supernatural, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure

. . .In other words, embraces the wider range of programming seen on every other entertainment channel. They say "broadens" but I say "dilutes."

I have to wonder if the people running this channel have any idea who their core audience actually is? You'd have thought that the name of the channel itself - the current name - would have been clue enough, but apparently not. So we end up with the aforementioned wrestling abomination, idiotic game shows, and amateur ghost-busting (both domestic and international) by night-vision camera.

Once the series finale of "Battlestar Galactica" airs I don't have much reason to keep the basic cable TV package that includes Sci-Fi Channel anyway. . .especially if they're going to keep "broadening" (diluting) their programming with more and more non-science fiction.

MarsCon 2009

2009-03-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well, MarsCon 2009 is over. I had a free pre-reg this year because of all the volunteer hours I pulled last year, which was nice.

I didn't get out to the Con on Friday at all. Friday is my busy day - I've got classes all day (9 AM - 8 PM). I did manage to get out of there earlier (7-ish), but I'd been awake since 5:30 AM, had a splitting headache, so I didn't feel much like hitting the Friday night parties. I also had some sewing to finish on my Jedi Robe for Saturday, and had also been looking forward to a new "Battlestar Galactica" all week so I decided to forego Con Friday.

Then, on Saturday, I overslept and realized I'd forgotten to hem the sleeves on my Jedi Tunic so I had to do that quickly. Which meant I didn't actually get to the Con until 1:00 PM on Saturday. Ack! I joined a couple of my friends in the "Panel About Nothing," which - contrary to the name - is about a LOT of things. It just doesn't have a set agenda.

After that I had to go up and see the Propatorium. Lots of cool stuff this year again, plus a full size remote control R2-D2! It ocurred to me, since I was going as a Jedi this year I probably should have put my scratch-built Star Trek Assault Phaser on display. Oh well, maybe next time.

Made a turn through the Dealers Room, which is pretty much always the same stuff - and you know damned well you could find it online for less. Seriously, does anyone buy anything at the Con? Poked my head into the Dementia Music Track once. Not sure who was on stage, but I didn't stick around long. Not that it wasn't good, but I wanted to get up to the ConSuite and see if I could get in on some of the REAL food. Which I did - a small bowl of Chili and some Nachos, but it wasn't enough to fill me up, so I joined friends for dinner and drinks in the Hotel Lounge.

After eating I went to the Web Comics panel. I don't follow that many web comics. I should probably bookmark more of them. Actually I should subscribe to the feeds so I just, you know, GET them when they update. Except some people don't have feeds for their comics, which I totally don't understand. Maybe they just don't know what it is or how to set it up. I should do a post about that actually. . .

Then came Masquerade. This year I actually knew one of the judges, and I'd put in major effort on my Jedi costume - I probably should have entered, but I felt I'd rushed the costume (I didn't feel my "workmanship" was anything to brag about). I'm also not really comfortable being up on a stage in front of people - not that I haven't been pulled up there before, but that's why I know I'm not comfortable with it. As is typical of every Masquerade I've attended, there are always more (and sometimes better) costumes on people in the audience. Anyway, with so few contestants at least the event went by quickly - unlike some previous years where they not only had many people in it, but disorganization made it run long (even excruciatingly long). Besides, once Masquerade is done it's PARTY TIME!

Parties were pretty good this year. Thanks to the "TARDIS Tea Society" and "No Brand Con" for having actual bottles and cans of BEER! I can only stand so much "Vodka+Fruity Drink" that seems the staple of Con parties. I don't like not knowing fully what's in it, or how strong it is, and I've never been a fan of hard liquor - I'd much rather enjoy a beer, ale, or cider. Also, kudos to the ConSuite for continuing to have REAL FOOD even during the parties. It was sweet to take a break, have a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a hot dog - and recharge before heading back into the parties.

The coolest party room this year, though, had to be the Green Lantern Corps party - I have NEVER been in a room bathed in such intense green light!! Thier lime-flavored drink was actually pretty damned good too. I spent about an hour hanging out there, the only downside was when I left all that green light had red-shifted my vision for a good 20 minutes afterward - which is extra wierd when you've had a few drinks. LOL

Since the clocks were also being changed for Daylight Savings it was kind of fun/funny that the Con schedule had a bunch of panels listed as running from 2:01 AM - 2:59 AM. They were things like "A Practical Guide to Traveling Forward in Time" or something like that. I stuck around until the end of the parties and then some. I didn't actually get home and into bed until about 5 AM (well, 4 AM if you take the clock change out of the equation).

Consequently I slept right through my alarm on Sunday morning and by the time I finally stopped being a total Con Zombie it was after noon. Since Closing Ceremonies were around 3PM I didn't see much point in going back out to the convention. So, like so many MarsCons before it, I only experienced Saturday afternoon and evening. If I hadn't had the volunteer pre-reg thing I'd probably have taken advantage of the "day pass" (which I did one other year they offered it). Which makes me wonder why/when CONvergence is going to do that - as it stands now I doubt I'll be going to CONvergence this year because I probably won't be able to do, nor afford, 4 days! It's all too easy, when you're sitting at home, to think to yourself "do I really want to drive back out there?" I really do believe you get a LOT more out of the conventions if you can stay AT the hotel (or at least within walking distance of it). I had an absolute blast last year staying at the hotel and doing the Con front to back. But hotel rooms aren't cheap, and if I was going to do that regularly for a Con I'd feel better about the expense if it was somewhere far away from where I live and couldn't just run home with the car anyway. Which, for now, is out of the question.

DeLi Linux + Ancient Laptop

2008-11-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

My brother picked up a couple laptops for $1 each at his company's computer sale. He doesn't know much about computers so he asked me if I could look at them. The papers taped to each of them indicated they didn't work. Both were the same make and model, here are the specs:

WinBook XP5 Pro FX (MQ6C)
133 MHz Pentium Processor
2 PCMCIA slots
Swappable CD-ROM & Floppy Drives (but not "hot" swappable)

Laptop One
32 MB of memory
2 GB Hard Drive
Sale note said "Only boots to BIOS"

Laptop Two
48 MB of memory
800 MB Hard Drive
Sale note said "Screen Dead"

It turned out that Laptop Two's screen wasn't exactly dead. The BIOS had been switched to "external CRT only" for video output. The drive had a factory install of Win98 on it. They had to factory install Win95 or Win98 because there is no way to install them yourself - unless you had the "docking station" that supported extra drives - because you otherwise can't have both the floppy drive and the CD-ROM connected at the same time. After being on all day trying to get a wireless network card to work the screen eventually did freeze up and then "bloom" until it was all white. After letting it cool off overnight it worked again, but fails a lot sooner each time.

Laptop One would only boot into the BIOS because someone had attempted to upgrade it from Win95 or 98 (whichever it originally had) to Windows 2000. The drive had been reformatted NTFS but whomever did it forgot to put a Master Boot Record on the drive. So the BIOS couldn't find a bootable drive and would just be stuck. I decided that laptop would be my guinea pig for a Linux installation.

After doing some research into Linux distributions which were small and targeted at low-power systems most were command line "rescue" versions or the like. I wanted something with a GUI which led me to DeLi Linux. I downloaded the 0.8 full install .iso and burned it to disc from my Windows XP system. Connected the CD-ROM drive to Laptop One, jumped into the BIOS setup to tell it to boot from the CD-ROM, and crossed my fingers.

The system found the CD-ROM and then kicked out some disc errors and kernel panic. Even though the downloaded file's checksum was correct and my disc burner successfully verified the CD it had errors. I burned another and tried again. The second time it fired up the DeLi Linux installer without problems.

Following the step-by-step guide on the Wiki with the screenshots of each step the base install went smoothly. I wiped the NTFS drive and created my two Primary Partitions (one for Linux one for Swap). It doesn't say so in the instructions (or show it in the screenshot) but cfdisk will prompt you to make the Linux partition bootable. Because of the low memory I had to activate the swap right away as instructed:

mkswap /dev/hda2
swapon /dev/hda2

When it came time to install the additional packages the installer repeatedly kicked out and gave IRQ errors, would "reset" itself, kick the errors again, reset - about a half-dozen times - until it continued without any input from me. It did this for each package.

At the end I was prompted to eject the disc and reboot. Voila! It booted into Linux right away. I logged into the "root" account and ran "delisetup" from the prompt. Most of that was pretty straight forward, except when I got to the X Server stuff.

It said that there was no config file for X and that Tiny X Server hadn't been installed. Since the computer has no built-in networking I knew I'd have to install from the install CD, so from the root prompt I mounted my CD-ROM:

mkdir /mnt/cdrom
mount -t auto /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom

Then used the Package Manager to install (or "Add") from the CD:

pacman -A /mnt/cdrom/pkg/tinyx_server-20070515-2.pkg.tar.gz

Once that was done I was able to use the "delisetup" utility as described in the Wiki: http://www.delilinux.org/wiki/doku.php?id=configuration:firststeps

I only had one option for X server - "Xvesa" - available. I selected 800x600x15 TrueColor for the video mode. I also set the window manager for root in case I need it (IceWM was my only choice).

Then I logged in under my user account, ran "xwmconfig" from the prompt and again selected "IceWM" for my Window Manager (note: each user account has to set the window manager).

typed "startx" at the prompt and HOORAY! I saw the X startup and very quickly the IceWM desktop.

Most of the applications, however, don't launch. AbiWord gives me the splash screen and then disappears. FileManager, Graphics, and Web apps do nothing. I could view the active processes, the font utility, and the calculator - but that was pretty much it. The additional packages either didn't install at all, or only partially installed, during all those IRQ errors. I can use the Package Manager to manually install/reinstall from the CD but I think I'd need to manually reinstall almost everything beyond the base and there's still no guarantee the applications will actually launch.

For example, I installed the Skipstone browser and it's dependencies - xulrunner and nspr. Skipstone now appears in my IceWM "start" menu under "Internet" applications. When I launch it I can see it show up in the Process monitor (if I also have that open). But it immediately crashes before I ever see any of the application on screen. The other browser does the same thing. As mentioned AbiWord gets to the splash screen and then tanks.

I think this is as far as I'm going to bother taking this, I'll probably take the best parts from both laptops to make one fully functional Win98 system. I was mostly curious to see if I could actually get some Linux with a GUI running on it, which I did. Sort of. Well, Linux runs. It's the add-ons that are hit and miss.

Wow, it's scary to think people actually used to USE these laptops for daily business. Guess that was back before time was money.

MarsCon Masquerade Ball 2008

2008-11-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've done a post hasn't it?

I went to the 2nd Annual MarsCon Masquerade Ball last night. Lots of great costumes again this year. I went in basically the same costume I did last year, with some minor updates.

What didn't work:

The Holiday Inn where the Ball is held (same hotel as the Con) moved the event into a smaller space on the first floor with little advance warning. There were two other events going on in the hotel - a wedding in the Main Ballroom and some Northwest Airlines seminar - which I heard got the 2nd floor space MarsCon had originally booked. I didn't see any signs pointing to the event, so I ended up walking through the whole second floor looking for it before I thought "hey, maybe it's in that room down of the first floor" which it was. But no signage sent me in that direction, so if I was unfamiliar with the hotel I wouldn't have known where it was being held. The area for "formal portraits" also took up a lot of the space in the room - it would have been nice if that could have been relocated to somewhere else. So anyway it was a little cramped in that smaller room, but the organizers can't be blamed for that. Makes me wonder, though, if they shouldn't look at alternate venues for next year's dance.

As was the case last year the actual snacks were up on another floor in the hotel. I don't know if the original plan had been to have that in the actual dance room or not, but in future years I really hope they move the food into the same room - or at the very least immediately outside the door or something. Since the hotel bar was just outside the room getting a drink was easy enough, though.

The weather was about what you'd expect for early November in Minnesota. Actually it reminded me a lot of Halloweens when I was a kid - snowing, blowing, and wearing a jacket over your costume. I think the cold and snow may have adversely affected attendance, which was noticeably down this year as compared to the inaugural ball last year. The dance was also likely competing for people with OmegaCon, an annual relax-a-con held in Siren, Wisconsin which is less than 100 miles away. Obviously the organizers can't be blamed for the weather, but it might have been more prudent to have scheduled the dance for the previous Saturday - immediately after Halloween - than on November 8th. For that matter, why not just schedule it AS a Halloween dance in the first place? I'm sure there are some people who wouldn't go because they'd feel like an idiot walking around in costume AFTER Halloween but who'd happily wear a costume to an actual Halloween dance. Even the weekend BEFORE Halloween would be preferable in my opinion. Think about it - if you are obviously celebrating a holiday AFTER it's over (and the holiday didn't fall in the middle of the week) you basically do look like an idiot who is calendar-impaired. But "getting in the mood" before the holiday is totally understandable.

People not dancing. Ok, I get it. Some people came to dress up, drink, and socialize - the dancing was just incidental to their evening. I'm as shy as anyone about being the first one out on the dance floor, or the ONLY one out there. The music was good dance music, but it seemed to me that the dance floor was empty (or nearly so) more often than not. Maybe someone can come up with some added incentive to get people out there?

What worked:

It's a very affordable night out. $10 at the door, snacks included (if you're willing to walk for them), and the option of a cash bar if you've got a few more dollars in your pocketbook.

It's fun to dress up in costume, especially when you're in a room full of other people who are in costume. I'd say I've seen a much wider variety of costumes at the two Masquerade Balls than I do at the actual convention - probably because it's not so limited to sci-fi/fantasy. The winners of the costume contest were dressed as Scarlet O'Hara and Rett Butler from "Gone with the Wind." I can't say I've seen THAT at a sci-fi convention. They also moved the costume contest up so voting finished earlier, which was nice for the people who either had to leave early or just can't party all the way to midnight.

I thought the variety of actually dance-able music was better this year.

People dancing! When people did "bust a move" on the dance floor it was a lot more fun, even for those watching. When the "Addams Family" theme came up everyone was singing along and snapping their fingers on cue. There was the obligatory "Time Warp" dance from Rocky Horror, of course, and at one point a conga line to the "Star Wars Cantina/Copacabana" song. There were also a couple of selections that had couples doing a waltz and others that had people doing the "robot."

My Final Verdict?
I'll definitely be going to it again next year if at all possible!

This is a relatively new event (being that this is only the "2nd Annual") so it will hopefully continue to be improved and refined as long as they keep holding it. In some ways I actually enjoy it more than a full convention - it's less of an investment in time and money, but you still get to party and geek out with a lot of the same folks you see at the Cons.

SP3 & D-Link

2008-07-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

I have this old laptop I got off of eBay years ago. By today's standards it's underpowered and overweight, but it still works fine and I got it for a song. I suppose if I was one of those people who lives a wireless, mobile life I'd have upgraded by now - but I only rarely find a need to use the laptop, so it spends most of it's life in its bag.

Because it isn't a powerhouse, and Windows can be a bit of a resource hog, I have it set up as a dual boot with Linux on the other partition. When I do fire it up it I usually just boot into Linux, since it boots faster and is a lot more responsive on that hardware than Windows. But there are occasions I need to use a program that hasn't been ported to Linux, or one time at a hotel my wireless card would authenticate to the hotel's network in Windows, but refused to do so in Linux - so for the time being Windows is going to stay in residence on that hard drive.

However, since I don't boot into Windows XP very often it doesn't get updated either. And usually when I'm using it the anti-virus/anti-spyware scan kicks in and I hit "cancel" because it draws the machine down to a crawl. So I decided this weekend I'd finally boot into Windows and do the updates and the scans.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is out now, so I downloaded and installed it. The update actually went pretty smoothly until I rebooted and lost my wireless connection!

I have an old D-Link DWL-G630 Rev. A "Wireless G Aircard" which came with the laptop. It was still lighting up, and the D-Link software showed my wireless network, but I couldn't actually connect to it. D-Link has a fix for SP3 problems with the DWL-G630 on their site - but it's only for the Rev. E cards! A little more research via Google revealed that SP3 replaces a .DLL file that kills the card. Here's what I tried, and what ultimately worked:

Uninstalled the D-Link utilities and drivers.
Navigated to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\wlanapi.dll and deleted the file.
Reinstalled the D-Link utilities and drivers.

Card now works! I tried doing an uninstall-reinstall without manually deleting the wlanapi.dll file first and that didn't work, the card was completely dead. I'm just glad it worked and I wasn't looking at buying a new wireless card. Hope that helps anyone else with this card in their laptop :)

Linux on my laptop

2008-03-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd put Linux on my laptop because it ran so much faster than Windows XP did. The distro (DreamLinux 2.2 MMGL) I'd installed, however, is no longer going to be updated nor supported. Because the developers built version 3 from the ground up with a new architecture it is unlikely (if not impossible) for there to be an upgrade path from 2.2 to 3.0. So I downloaded DreamLinux 3.0 RC1 ("release candidate" - so basically beta software). As one might expect with a beta it's buggy, it didn't work with some of my hardware, and ultimately the GDM crashed and couldn't be restored. Hopefully the final release (due out this week if they're on schedule) will be a lot more stable, and I certainly don't envy the developers who have to tackle it.

I had only ended up installing DreamLinux in the first place because it was the ONLY distro I'd tried that actually WORKED with my D-Link DWL-G630 wireless card. Yeah, I'm sure some people are rolling their eyes and asking why I'd even WANT to use that in Linux (Google the model and Linux, you'll see what I'm talking about), but that's what came with my laptop, it works fine in Windows XP, and I don't have money right now for another card. Plus I don't think I *should* need a different one just for Linux, since I know it IS possible to get this one to work.

Actually, I've read if all you want is unsecured access or WEP you don't even necessarily need to use "ndiswrapper," but can use "madwifi" instead. But that depends on the chip set used in the card (there are different revisions with the same model number). For me, however, I not only use WPA-PSK security on my home network, I also couldn't get Linux to "see" the card unless I used the Windows XP drivers and ndiswrapper.

It also doesn't help that my laptop (an HP Pavilion ZE4315US which I got for an excellent price in an eBay auction) has the dreaded ATI Radeon 320M IGP (also known as the U1) integrated video. Well, dreaded by many Linux users, that is. ATI has disowned the darned thing, even though they sold it to numerous laptop manufacturers. In theory the open ATI or Radeon driver work, but apparently only with certain Linux kernels or X-Server versions - and before you know it you're looking at pages talking about editing source modules and compiling custom kernels. Is it worth it? For most people I'd wager not. Which was why I just lived with the fact I wasn't going to have 3D desktop effects, direct rendering, or any of the other stuff the video is actually capable of doing. The most common problem appears to be that many Linux distros "see" the video chip as ATI Radeon and attempt to either use the "ati" or "radeon" drivers, but if some mysterious other components are missing from the kernel and/or X Server, you'll just get a blank screen when X starts. In which case you have to tell it to use the VESA driver, but then you just get 2D graphics.

If you also have that particular laptop (or any of the 43xx series), and were considering a Linux installation here were the ones I tried out, and what didn't work:

Ubuntu 6.04: Booted up fine, actually DID recognize the video card and 3D desktop effects could be enabled (though they were unstable). Nothing I did could get the wireless card to function with WPA security. WEP did work, however. The installation eventually stopped booting after a "security" software update (no idea which one caused it).

Ubuntu 7.04: Needed to be booted from "recovery mode" in order to select the VESA drivers for video, which meant no more 3D effects or direct rendering. I could get it to recognize my wireless card was there with ndiswrapper and the WPA supplicant installed, but it refused to actually connect.

Xubuntu 7.10: Boots up, but randomly crashed soon after getting to the desktop.

Ubuntu 8.04 Beta: Booted up, but once the X server started the screen went black, but would gradually build with brownish spots that would "bloom" to white, with these "flares" flickering like some kind of crap-colored aurora. I frankly thought it had toasted my LCD screen, but it seems fine. I decided not to tempt fate and didn't boot "Hardy Heron" again.

PCLinux 2007: Boots up to the point where it says it is starting the desktop (Gnome) and crashes.

SAMlinux 2007: Boots up to the point where it's starting the X-server and the screen goes blank, even when started in "safe graphics" mode with the VESA driver.

OpenSUSE 10.3: Hangs during the boot process.

DreamLinux 2.2 MMGL: Boots in "safe graphics" mode using the VESA driver. Configured my wireless card for WPA with no problems. I ended up using this distro on my laptop for several months because it had an attractive, clean interface; the wireless connection worked; and since it used Xfce (which is light-weight) it was pretty snappy even BEFORE extra memory was added to the laptop.

DreamLinux 3.0 RC1: Booted, installed, ran for about a day until the instability took it down for good. But, if they get this thing stable and get it to work with the ATI 320M I'll definitely be looking at it again.

Mandriva 2008: boots, recognizes the video card and runs Compiz Fuzion effects flawlessly. Had really easy configuration of the wireless card drivers, except that I couldn't get it to connect at first. Eventually I found that, if I turned on the "Interactive Firewall" it would connect properly, but over WAN it wouldn't actually let me go use my web browser, so I just disabled all the filters - so it's "on" but isn't set to actually do anything (which isn't really necessary on my home network, which has another firewall between the laptop and the cable modem). I have had intermittent issues with various windows losing their title bars and borders or (specifically the system control panels) becoming non-responsive and sometimes impossible to terminate. Though that might be because of Compiz, I don't know. Sound was also not working correctly, but once I tried the alternative "Trident" driver that seems to have solved it (go to the Hardware control panel, find the "Sound" section and click the "Configure" button, it will be in a drop-down menu of driver choices). Getting the volume buttons on the side to work is more tricky. Have to select the only "Pavilion" keyboard in the config panel, then use the Kmix "Global Settings" to bind the buttons to volume up/down. Mute button doesn't do anything. Oh, and presently they only work for earphones, not the PC speakers/Master slider. Still looking for some better solutions to these issues.

Presently Mandriva 2008 lives on my laptop because, thus far, it is the ONLY Linux distro I've found that will both utilize my wireless card AND let me have 3D rendering enabled. It's noticeably less responsive than DreamLinux (with Xfce) was on the same hardware, but still faster than Windows XP is, so I'm going to leave well enough alone now that I've got it all working.

Bad Wine

2008-03-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

The continuing story of a penguin who's gone to the dogs. (Muppets "Pigs in Space" reference for the uninitiated).

Ok, so I got Ubuntu Linux on my desktop running without too much trouble - but I gotta say if they REALLY want the masses to move away from Windows they are going to have to step up their game regarding "ease of use." There is STILL far too much fiddling with configuration files and typing line commands into terminals for my liking - and I sort of have an idea what I'm doing (well, barely). I can't imagine your average "point and click" Windows user having a clue how to install most software on Linux, or even know how to mount a drive (or that you even HAVE mount drives for that matter).

But my venture wasn't to try and make Linux like Windows. That would be like putting sows ears in a silk purse, to twist a phrase. But I wanted to see if the much hallooed application "Wine" could actually run some of the Windows applications I unfortunately need, and which haven't been ported to Linux. I was further encouraged by a related project - "Wine-Doors" - which was supposed to ease the pain of installing applications into Wine.

Ok, quick explanation. "Wine" is a compatibility layer. It creates a fake "C:" drive structure in some folders and then runs the Windows programs inside the Wine program. The programs are tricked into thinking they're running on a Windows machine because they find DLL files and whatnot where they expect them, but there's not actually any Windows operating system present. Sounds neat huh? Well, when it works it actually IS pretty neat. The problem is that it doesn't work most of the time.

Getting some simple applications to run wasn't a problem - like Notepad. Yeah, fun, eh? Installed an older version of Firefox in it that works (though what the point of that is I don't know, since Firefox is available for Linux). I couldn't get the install of Winamp to work until I manually copied the files over form my Windows drive - THEN it worked. Quicktime sort of worked. I can set preferences, but not actually play any media files. Yay! Fun setting preferences. Tried to install iTunes and it crapped out. Tried to install Internet Explorer 6 through "Wine-Doors" and it wouldn't work. No errors, just wouldn't do anything. Windows Media Player gave me some cryptic "256" error during installation. DirectX gave me a similarly cryptic "512" error. A look at the Wine-Doors bug lists didn't clear those up at all.

I did manage to get IE 6 and IE 7 to run by using the IEs4Linux script (which isn't part of Wine or Wine-Doors), and it worked - the programs actually DID open! But the only way I got it to install was via "root" - and it even WARNS you that IE is too insecure to be granted root access. It was pretty crash-prone anyway, and it wouldn't render the "Internet Options" dialogue box.

But running Internet Explorer wasn't REALLY what I wanted anyway. I wanted to run Adobe applications. But if I can't even get stuff like Winamp or Quicktime to install or run properly, I was not optimistic about getting truly complicated programs to run in Wine.

For all the hype about it, I'm sorry, but it's just too dodgy to be useful right now. Maybe in the future, but Wine is a project that has been underway for ages (since 1993) and never seems to quite cross the finish line. One look at the software compatibility database and you can see just how hit-or-miss it is depending on what you're trying to install on it. It also seems that which distribution of Linux you're using is a factor as well. I only saw those error codes mentioned in reference to Debian/Ubuntu. And earlier versions of Ubuntu had to have a special version of Wine to run 64 bit or some such. I wasted an entire day trying to figure it out and get it to work - and basically decided it wasn't worth the effort. Of course I can't get my day back.

In the end, I downloaded Qemu and pointed it to my Windows 98 VM and it boots up just dandy - and Qemu's sound mapping in Linux is at least smooth (unlike the choppy, delayed sound Qemu was giving me in Windows XP). So, if I do make the switch to Linux, I guess I'll be running my Windows apps in an emulator, since that at least seems to work. Of course then you have to be willing to take a major performance hit.

As much as I hate to admit it, for now it would probably just be simpler to keep using Windows XP until Microsoft stops supporting it.

How to waste a day

2008-03-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

That Microsoft "flag" image has probably already given you a pretty good idea where this entry is going. I know it's almost cliche to hate Windows (and by proxy hate Microsoft and Bill Gates since they unleashed the bastard child upon us). But, seriously, I have my reasons to dislike Windows, and desperately want to get the hell away from it - but like that line in the movie says "everytime I think I'm out, they drag me back in."

But this post isn't going to become an enumerated list of Windows' litany of evil wrought upon my computers over the years. It's about me trying to break the shackles and move to something better.

I'll just get this out of the way up front - my problems would easily be solved by getting a Mac. I've owned Macs before, still have a few old junkers around, and I like the OS a lot more than Windows, always have. I absolutely need to be able to run Adobe software, which is also available for Macs, so I'd be covered there (of course I'd have to get the Adobe software I have on my Windows machine all over again for Mac). The problem? Making the jump BACK to Macs would not be cheap. I already have decent PC hardware, it's the OPERATING SYSTEM that I don't like.

Now there were a bunch of reasons (mostly tied to the workplace of a job I no longer have) that got me to switch from Macs to Windows in the first place. But money was as much a factor then as now (I built up a pretty respectable system from components for under $300 - similar specs in a Mac would run me 5x that). So, if I can get something better running on my hardware that's the best solution. Enter Linux.

My HP Laptop, running WinXP, was always slow. I could make a meal waiting for it to boot, and refresh my coffee while it opened most applications. It wasn't much better even after I tripled the memory in it. Most people would probably be dissing the underpowered hardware - and my laptop HAS been characterized as a "brick" and a "doorstop" before. Well, then I partitioned the drive and installed DreamLinux 2.2 MMGL on it. It was like I had a brand new computer! Boots fast, has a classy looking "Mac-esque" GUI and my apps popped open on command. So what does that tell you? Same hardware, different OS and suddenly my almost "uselessly slow" laptop is the fresh faced new kid.

With that in mind I solved my brother's problems with his computer in a similar fashion. All he does is surf YouTube and read stuff anyway - Windows 2000 Pro was overkill for his needs, and his older hardware was struggling to run it. So I partitioned his drive and installed PCLinuxOS on it (which, with the proper theme applied, looks enough like Win2K that it wouldn't scare him). Haven't heard any complaints lately about how his computer runs. Again, same hardware, different OS, and it's got more life in it.

So I installed Ubuntu "Gutsy Gibbon" 7.10 (yeah, who comes up with these names?) on my main desktop with "wubi" (which lets you "test drive" it without actually partitioning your drives or using virtualization). Runs great and I get all those fancy Mac Leopard-ish/Windows Vista-ish desktop effects, and with AWN installed I even get a clone of the Mac's dock at the bottom of my screen. I also like that it's the 64-bit version of Linux, so it's pretty peppy on my hardware. But my TRUE motivation was to try and get WINE and WINE-DOORS installed and running Windows applications in Linux WITHOUT having to use Windows itself. Sounds great huh? Yeah. Until you actually try it.

(continued in the next blog entry)

Was "Private Snafu" at MarsCon 2008?

2008-03-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

So today in Googling some MarsCon 2008 Con Reports and blogs, etc., there are surfacing some tales of the "unexpected guests" at the convention misbehaving and dissing the con-going regulars (or irregulars if you like). I know that at least once the military guys had to be settled down by an older, wiser authority - and my observation was that they snapped into line pretty quickly. But I also don't disbelieve that once that authority figure was out of sight his authority was probably also out of mind. All I observed was the sort of rowdy behavior you can get with any group of drunken people, and frankly I didn't think it was that bad and the few of them I personally spoke with seemed to be getting into the spirit of it, rather than mocking it (maybe they were closet geeks?) Then again, I briefly lived in a UK town not far from an R.A.F. base where most weekends found many of the military personnel in the local pubs, so by comparison I didn't think what I saw going on was a problem, but I'm sure I only saw a small fraction.

That said, it sounds like as the night wore on and the alcohol accumulated some of those guys got a bit more out of hand, though I was back in my room by the time this was allegedly going on so did not see nor hear it myself. After all, they were soldiers, not angels - and much like Mal said in Serenity I'm sure some of them went onto the 13th floor with the thought, "I aim to misbehave." Again, I don't doubt at least some of them saw us as a bunch of freaks or were saying disrespectful things about fans and fandom. Of course, when you gather a bunch of people together, military or not, a "group mentality" often forms where they'll say and/or do things together they wouldn't otherwise when alone (heck, that probably explains the conventions themselves, right?) But to be fair, those of us who go to these things probably have members of our own families who think/say we're freaks and wierdos for dressing up in costumes and going to these things, and even though I'm no "Con Virgin" there are still things at the conventions that cause me a WTF? moment or two.

(Frankly I've never understood why we're singled out as social outcasts simply because some of us dress up in Starfleet Uniforms or paint ourselves in strange colors and go to conventions to get autographs from actors who were in shows we enjoy; but if the same person painted themselves yellow and purple, put on a football jersey and helmet, went to a game (or other event) to get an autograph from a player who was in a game they enjoyed - why is the latter socially acceptable rather than mocked? I'm sure it's probably all rooted in the deep-seated animosity between "nerds" and "jocks" that forms in high school.)

MarsCon DAY 3

2008-03-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

It's hard to tell where Day 2 ends and Day 3 of the Con begins, usually thanks in no small part to PARTIES!!

As I mentioned in the previous post it was also my birthday weekend and my boyfriend's gift to me was a 1/4 scale remote controlled "K-9" (the robot dog from the "Doctor Who" series, for those not in the know). He even talks! With all the Brits around the parties that night I had to take K-9 out for "walkies." Of course he HAD to put in some face time at the TARDIS Tea Society party. Later on I was driving him around on the tile in the ConSuite - which apparently makes robot dogs quite thirsty because (as the picture shows) he had a sip of my beer. Or maybe his fuel cells recharge with alcohol like Bender's from "Futurama?" It wasn't long, though, before he was tired (well, his batteries were going flat) and called it a night. I, however, had some more Green Death with my name on it.

Then some other stuff happened, as is often the case when Green Death is liberally applied.

Sunday of MarsCon started waaaaay too early for my liking. "Karaoke Joes" across the hall didn't seem to run quite as late as the previous night, but I'm guessing we still only got about 2 hours of actual sleep in. Had to get up and get going because checkout was at noon and I wanted to get some breakfast at "Snarky's Cafe" before all the yummy stuff was gone.

Caught a little more of the Dementia Music track, went through the Art Show again and a quick turn through the so-called "Science" room. The day actually seemed to be flying by and before I knew it we were up to "Closing Ceremonies." The military group's head honcho was asked to come up on stage and say a few words and thanked everyone for being so respectful and giving them such a wonderful send-off, which I'm sure only those who've been in the military really can understand what it meant to them.

[Note: There was a request from the military honcho to MarsCon, which the convention has been trying to pass on to everyone who is blogging and such about it, asking us NOT to say who these military personnel were or where they are going and to blur their faces out of any photos online. While I'm big on "free speech," don't like governments trying to police the Internet, and highly doubt nefarious bad guys are really monitoring MarsCon Reports - I will nonetheless be respectful to them and have voluntarily redacted anything I wrote which would identify who they were, where they came from, what branch of the military they were, or speculate on where they might be going. After all, the IS a war on, right? ]

A brief announcement about what's coming for next year's con and then MarsCon 2008 was over.

By the time I was loading up my luggage and Con Swag I had become a bona fide "Con Zombie." I wonder how many people take Monday afterwards off just to sleep and recover from these things?

In previous years I've only taken in part of a Con - maybe Friday night and Saturday, usually skipped Sunday because it seems like a throw-away day without much going on (though MarsCon really made an effort to actually HAVE things going on for Sunday to make it worthwhile); or I've done Saturday and part of Sunday if there was a music act or something I wanted to see. This was the first time I've done a Con from front to back, and actually stayed at the hotel - which was great to not have to worry about driving home (just had to worry about finding the room! LOL).

Oh, yeah, pictures? Well, I had my camera at the Con but only took one picture with it. I seriously need to get a smaller camera that fits in a pocket - my digital SLR is just too darned big to lug around at a convention. The photo with this post is courtesy of my boyfriend, who has a more "Con-friendly" camera. :)

MarsCon DAY 2 (Part II)

2008-03-03T16:30:00.001-08:00

Well there WERE a couple of last minute additions to the "Anime Smackdown" and I DID have time to update the visual presentation beforehand. The panel itself went really well, though we obviously have some bugs to shake out of it before next time, but it was a very energetic panel as the audience voted (and sometimes debated) why one character or the other should win the smack down.

The way this worked was that all the character names which had been selected beforehand by the panel were put in a hat. Two names at a time were randomly drawn from the hat by the "Referees" and handed to me at my laptop. My laptop was connected to use a LCD projector as a second monitor, so when I clicked the pictures on my laptop the big versions showed up side-by-side on the projection screen. The random selection, though, seemed to wind up with a lot of lop-sided matches for the first round. As the winners of each round were put against each other it narrowed down to the final smack down. The audience voted by show of hands which character won each round. By the end there was standing room only and we had quite a crowd clustered in the hallway outside the door too.

For those who are wondering, "Akira" ultimately won - though the picture I was given to use was actually of Kaneda, not Akira. However the character description the "Referees" gave was actually of Akira.

I do, however, need to come up with a better/faster way to find the character pictures for the matches and probably to set up matches between more than two characters at a time.

That was the only panel in which I was involved. Afterwards I caught some of the "Dementia Music" track programming, went through the Art Show (I actually had something in it this year - or at least 1/3 of something as it was a collaborative effort). Never heard if anyone bid on it or not. Also got through the Dealer's Room and Propatorium. The prop guys seemed quite impressed with my wooden replica of the Star Trek "Assault Phaser." I should have my movie Tricorder done by next year - maybe on the day(s) I'm not using those with my costume I'll put them on display. They certainly seemed to think my Phaser passed muster! Yay!

In the late afternoon I noticed a bunch of guys in camouflage in the hotel lobby and restaurant. It's not unusual to see an entire group come in costume, but they were the real deal.

I gotta say, it was a bit of a wierd and wonderful experience to see real military at the parties mixed in with people dressed as Space Marines and Stargate SG-1. Of course, some of the folks who do those costumes at the Cons are also served in the military for real. They were off to "somewhere" and the convention invited them to join us for the evening. Their CO wasn't keen on the idea at first, but eventually let the men who wanted to attend the evening of the convention. The convention provided "day pass" badges to them so they could get into the room parties that badge people. One party room in particular was clearly a familiar "touch of home" for those guys as it was packed. Their presence at the convention was an unforeseen, but interesting factor that made for a unique convention experience, that's for sure!

I think most of the people I meet at Cons are actually pretty smart folks, and they showed a lot of class in welcoming those guys to join us as both guests and heroes. Despite what the current administration thinks, you CAN make a distinction between the "war" and the "warrior." Soldiers go where they're sent, after all. It's the politicians who need to be made to answer for it.

I'm sure it will mean a lot to them too, they'll no doubt remember the night they had a drink or two with a Klingon, met a friendly Dalek, chatted up some Anime Cosplayers in a room that looked like the Firefly ship Serenity, and enjoyed a glass of "Green Death" in the "World Defense Force" room decorated like the inside of an Army tent. Hopefully all those guys will remain alive and well so they'll have those memories for a long, long time.

[Note: There was an request from the military honcho to MarsCon, which the convention has been trying to pass on to everyone who is blogging and such about it, asking us NOT to say who these military personnel were or where they are going and to blur their faces out of any photos online. While I'm big on "free speech," don't like governments trying to police the Internet, and highly doubt nefarious bad guys are really monitoring MarsCon Reports - I will nonetheless be respectful to them and have voluntarily removed anything I wrote which would identify who they were, where they came from, what branch of the military they were, or speculate on where they might be going. After all, there IS a war on, right?]

It was also my birthday on DAY 2 and my boyfriend threw an impromptu birthday party for me in our hotel room with a small gathering of friends who were also at the Con. We had a big cake which thankfully only had ONE candle on it. There were like 10 of us and we ate about half the cake and donated the rest to the ConSuite for whomever wanted a slice while it lasted. I went back in there about an hour or so later and it was all gone. :) LOL

MarsCon 2008 DAY 2

2008-03-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

It's not even noon yet, but I can't complain. Woke up with no hangover from last night - and after I'd been warned about the WDF's "Green Death" mixed drink (whatever it is).

It occurred to me this morning that I never actually picked up one of the program booklets, and so had no idea what panels there were this morning - though I'm not a huge fan of panels anyway. I'm inclined to think my time was better spent taking my time getting ready this morning and enjoying hot waffles with strawberry, blueberry, and maple syrup topping, scrambled eggs, bacon, and a fresh, piping hot cup of coffee - which will work for "Brownian Motion" as a power source for your Infinite Improbability Drive in a pinch.

Right now I'm back in Ops at the "Martian Militia" table. I can at least get on the Internet in here (unlike in the room - despite Holiday Inn claims to the contrary regarding "free wireless internet anywhere in the hotel"). There will probably be a couple last-minute additions to the "Anime Smackdown" panel that will require an update to the visual presentation - but that panel isn't until this afternoon so there *should* be time to change it. That is if I actually find out which characters are being added!

MarsCon 2008 DAY 1

2008-02-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

Loaded up the Jeep and headed out to MarsCon this morning. The hotel is doing renovations and the room wasn't ready yesterday but thankfully was today - though you can tell they just finished it because it smells like fresh latex paint.

This is my first year volunteering at this Con, rather than just attending it. Anyone who's been to one of these things knows there is "downtime" in your schedule, like you might be waiting for a panel or something later on so basically you're just waiting. Waiting is boring. Volunteering at least is DOING something, even if you're still just sitting there - hey, at least you're racking up volunteer hours toward fabulous prizes like buttons, patches, t-shirts, even a free meal and massage!

I've basically been camped out in Ops at the "Martian Militia" (Volunteer) table. In fact, as I write this that's where I am. Opening Ceremonies just started so there aren't a whole lot of people wandering into Ops right now. So far, though, things seem to be running smoothly. Yeah, I know, I just jinxed it.

Then the Daleks invaded ops and exterminated everyone. See? There's photographic evidence!

For those who weren't exterminated by the Daleks, there were parties! Parties with food, drink, and drink, and drink some more. Anyone who didn't swing by the World Defense Force party and get a glass (or three) of "Green Death" clearly wasn't trying to party at all, imo.

Counting Down. . .

2008-02-27T22:41:00.001-08:00

So, it's now down to just HOURS before MarsCon 2008. Am I ready? Of course not! I've got some last minute fixes to do on my costumes, have given up trying to rush my prop building (it can just wait until the next con. I cannot change the laws of physics!). I DID, however, just finish working on a kick ass visual aid for an Anime discussion panel - which I'm not even on, but will probably have to run the thing since I seem to be the only person with a laptop that can S-Video output to the LCD projector. Which isn't a feature I use all that often and I'm glad I checked it tonight with my TV because "Eris the Goddess of Chaos" struck yet again and my S-Video cable had gone bad so the laptop wouldn't recognize that a TV was connected. Thankfully I have a bunch of S-Video cables around so it was just a matter of digging out a different one.

MarsCon 2008. . .T-minus 1 day and counting down. . .

Purina Blog Feed

2008-02-26T08:26:00.000-08:00

I've had this blog hosted a couple of other places since I started it last year and finally decided to just move it to Blogger and feed it elsewhere (like back to my main site). Though I noticed that the dates on the feed all show the day I created the feed, rather than the dates of the posts. It would also be nice if the feed would let you comment directly from it without having to go to the Blogsite first, but oh well. Not like I ever got many comments anyway, though for the last setup for this blog the comment function wasn't working.

So, anyway, blog is up and running and people can comment to the posts if they like, blog is being fed into my web site - now I can cross that little project off my "to do" list. :)

MarsCon Is Entering Orbit

2008-02-24T23:52:00.000-08:00

I can't hardly wait for next weekend to get here and bring MarsCon 2008 with it. It's a welcome break from the cold and gloom of a Minnesota Winter, that's for sure. Assuming that, unlike last year, the season's big blizzard doesn't hit that weekend.

I'm working on another "Star Trek" prop to go with my costume, but I don't know if I'll get it done in time. It may have to debut another time. Seems like that's always the way, doesn't it? Trying to get something done at the last minute, where if I'd had my brain in frontwards I'd have started working on the darned thing right after LAST year's convention.

To Boldly Go!

2008-02-02T23:07:00.000-08:00

Wow! This was a fantastic evening. My boyfriend and I, along with another couple, went to the Minnesota Orchestra "Boldly Go. . ." performance. It was a selection of science fiction (or otherwise space-related) music presented by none other than George "Mr. Sulu" Takei. Originally it was supposed to be presented by Leonard Nimoy, but he had a scheduling conflict with shooting for the next "Star Trek" movie, so it was great that Takei stepped in.

Our evening started across the street at "Brit's Pub" for a drink and dinner. I used to work downtown years ago within walking distance of it, it was nice to get there again for a proper pint of cider and some fish and chips. My boyfriend was in his Han Solo costume and our friend was in his "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" uniform - which, given it was designed after the British "red coat" uniform, he didn't look out of place at all in a British themed pub! LOL. What's with the costumes you ask? Well, thankfully the Minnesota Orchestra isn't all snooty and snobby - they understood their audience enough to realize some would come in costume whether it was kosher or not. So they had a "costume contest" scheduled before the main event. Nobody I knew won anything, and frankly the Trek uniform SHOULD have won - not just because he's a friend of mine, but because so many people in the audience were commenting that he should have. But, alas, the audience wasn't the judge. I should maybe mention that this was also the first time I've ever attended a real orchestra concert in a concert hall. I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

They also renamed the drink offerings at the bars in the lobby area of Orchestra Hall, calling (for example) one of the beers a "Romulan Ale," there were also Tribbles stuck all over the place, and all the staff were wearing Star Trek TOS-era uniform shirts, which made scifi geeks like us feel we were among people who "get it" instead of a bunch of mundanes. Though I suspect some of the staff wouldn't have, under any other circumstances, worn a Star Trek uniform shirt.

The concert itself started with a medley of Star Trek music. Then they played selections from Gustav Holst's "The Planets." Which George Takei mentioned was used as "temp track" music by George Lucas when he was editing "Star Wars." Then came Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" followed by the "Adventures on Earth" composition from "E.T." I should mention that, on a projection screen above and behind the orchestra, they were showing images from the movies and NASA images from the Mars Rover and Hubble Space Telescope.

A 20 minute intermission was a welcome break and gave a much better notion of just how many people were AT this concert. I had actually looked around the auditorium and there were very few empty seats, mostly up front. When my boyfriend had purchased the tickets in November all but some scattered Main Floor seats were sold out. Oh, yeah, we ended up in ROW TWO of the Main Floor - so we were practically on stage with the orchestra. Hopefully it was such a success they'll do more concerts like this in the future!

After intermission the conductor (Sarah Hatsuko Hicks) came out wearing a ST:TOS uniform shirt and pants too - and the Tribbles had multiplied all over the conductor's podium (well, that's what Tribbles DO, right?). The orchestra kicked the second half off with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss and then into "Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss.

Before going onto the theme from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" the conductor took a moment to explain that the "hand signals" that go with the alien sounds are actually part of a method for teaching music to young children, developed by another conductor. It turned into audience participation as she had everyone doing the hand signals. However, on the last time through the orchestra (which had been playing the tones) finished with the extra loud "response" from the spaceship - which I don't think the conductor knew the orchestra was going to do that because it looked like it took her by surprise - and then she (and everyone else) just about died laughing!

After actually hearing the "Close Encounters" theme they went into another medley of "Star Trek" music, which I felt was better than the first one. It was kind of sweet that the audience erupted into spontaneous applause when an old "Star Trek" publicity photo of "Mr. Sulu" on the bridge of the Enterprise was shown. Finally the concert finished up with two selections from the "Star Wars" saga: "Duel of the Fates" from "Phantom Menace" (which sounded a bit different as it was lacking a chorus) and the main theme from all the "Star Wars" movies.

While it was a nice selection of music, I'm hoping they'll do another such concert in the future so they can maybe include some other pieces I was dying to hear performed live by an orchestra. For example, the theme from the original "Battlestar Galactica" would have been a great addition. I was also sort of disappointed they didn't play the "Imperial March" song everyone knows goes so well with Darth Vader - making him menacing just walking down a hallway. I'm sure I could come up with some other ones if I looked through my MP3s. Nonetheless it was a magical evening.