Author archives: Mike
Breaching from scratch (Let there be isos)
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Snaking.
I am almost to the point of saying "screw it" and rebuilding the entire Gentoo install. At the least it will give me a chance to practice my backup/restore skills under Linux. So I am currently downloading the CD images for both the generic i686 and the Athlon64 versions.
I figure I'll try the Athlon64 ...
Why you can't just flutter the eyelashes anymore (Ruminations on a discussion at PyGTA...)
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Design Theory.
We had rather an involved discussion at the PyGTA meeting on Tuesday. By way of background, a number of the Python programmers in Toronto are working on a project called the "Art Interface Device", which is, in essence an attempt to create a standardized framework for animatronic artwork. At the moment, the system works at ...
Back into the breach (Gentoo setup attempt since I can't sleep...)
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Snaking.
Wound up getting two coffee's at the pool hall this evening, so I'm a bit wired. Sounds like the perfect time to try Gentoo again. How many times am I going to rebuild this dratted system I wonder to myself... oh well, maybe it'll build character.
Twisted web client and ssl (Since it took close to an hour to figure this out...)
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Snaking.
The secret: twisted.web.client.getPage(url) handles SSL (https://) protocols automatically. Nothing I could find in the documentation mentions that. There are references to the ContextFactory, but nothing is mentioned about whether you need to pass one in or not (you don't). So, a simple script to download an SSL page with Twisted looks something like this:
from ...
Let there be light! (Rosey's excursion to Canadian Tire)
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Vindaloo.
Rosey went to Canadian Tire to pick up some lamps (her room and the living room are unlivably dark (I get horribly depressed when it's always dark)). Apparently she didn't have time to find any lamps she liked, but she did pick up a replacement bulb for my big halogen floor lamp.
That lamp almost ...
Change and rests and suchalike (MediaCorp project work for most of the day...)
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Snaking.
Tim came by and we discussed the EFT server project for an hour or so (I am so not looking forward to that project now). After that we switched to discussing the MediaCorp page-checker project, much better specified (i.e. at least minimally specified).
Spent a solid 7 hours on that, with the result being a ...
Hacking doesn't cut it yet (CD-ROM is flaky)
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Snaking.
The machine with the little switch hanging off it is basically all old hardware. Unfortunately, the CD-ROM seems to work only for the first 2 or 3 minutes that the machine is up, just enough to boot Knoppix 3.3, but not Knoppix 3.4, and just enough to start booting Gentoo (then it starts getting I/O ...
Ooh, hardware hacking (Almost forgot to mention this... and wouldn't *that* be a trajedy ;) .)
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Snaking.
As some of you will undoubtedly remember, I haven't been having stellar luck with the hardware I ordered from TigerDirect. The CPU cooler doesn't seem to be properly cooling the Athlon64 (though I seem to have got it to the point where it's stable and reliable, though still 10 degrees warmer than it really should ...
Another small step forward for demo-kind (Sure it's a trivial environment, but it's got a certain charm...)
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Snaking.
After visiting grams (score 3 games to 1 IIRC), spent another few hours playing with the demo "world" for OpenGLContext. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the shadows to bake properly in OpenGLContext, but here's the current state (I'm about to switch back to work-work, so this is where it'll stay for approximately another 2 ...
What to do about a demo for OpenGLContext (Need free-to-distribute content...)
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Snaking.
One of the things that OpenGLContext really needs is a little demo of what it can do. Unfortunately, though there was a gentleman's agreement that I could use my design work with VRTelecom for reasonable personal use, that wouldn't include dropping it into a package that hundreds of people are going to recieve.
So, I ...
Mike C. Fletcher, the VRPlumber, is a philosopher of design turned computer programmer based in Toronto, Canada. He works primarily in the Python programming language, and maintains a large number of Open Source software packages. You can reach him at: mcfletch@vrplumber.com.