After another (too) long hiatus, I finally took a peek at the Drawpile codebase again. Managed to fix the alpha blending problem that had stymied me last time to such extent that it had put me off coding DP for all this time. Today I felt an inspiration to take another look and I fixed the problem in five minutes. Just goes to show that sometimes you need to take a break and get a fresh perspective.
Also, DP's source code is now hosted at GitHub. For a long time I've been wanting to switch over to Git from SVN and now seemed like a good time. The ability to create local branches was something I really wished for back when I was writing the first version of DP's tile based core.
OpenRaster has seen some development since the last time I looked at it, so DP's ORA support has to be updated to match the latest spec. Maybe use libora?
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
New blog
Decided to migrate my blog from my own Movable Type installation to blogger.com. Migration was easier than I expected using MovableType2Blogger.
Also, a freshened up the front page a little.
Also, a freshened up the front page a little.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
WTF copy protection?!
Today, I tried to rip a copy of the 2009 Star Trek DVD so I could watch it using the projector connected to my PC. I don't have a DVD player at home since, hey, I can play movies with my computer just fine! Or so I thought.
Apparently, the disc is encumbered with some new copy protection scheme and instead of the movie, all I got was an IO error.
Seriously, WTF?! I can't believe movie companies are actually putting time and money in developing new and insidious ways of intentionally breaking their own products. And for what? Certainly not to stop piracy. Had I just downloaded an illegal copy I'd be watching the movie right now.
I've been itching to buy a blu ray player since the prices have come down to something reasonable now, but experiences like this really dampen that enthusiasm. What's the point in buying movies if you're just going to get treated as a criminal anyway? Might as well get the pirate version with all the "don't copy this movie" warnings and copy protection removed. Especially since backing up (or just watching, if you're using Linux) your own discs requires breaking the copy protection which is illegal too.
Seriously, WTF?! I can't believe movie companies are actually putting time and money in developing new and insidious ways of intentionally breaking their own products. And for what? Certainly not to stop piracy. Had I just downloaded an illegal copy I'd be watching the movie right now.
I've been itching to buy a blu ray player since the prices have come down to something reasonable now, but experiences like this really dampen that enthusiasm. What's the point in buying movies if you're just going to get treated as a criminal anyway? Might as well get the pirate version with all the "don't copy this movie" warnings and copy protection removed. Especially since backing up (or just watching, if you're using Linux) your own discs requires breaking the copy protection which is illegal too.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Remote control
Problem: Can't pause/fast forward/rewind video or music while sitting on the couch.
Solution: An IR receiver. Luckily it just so happens, I have an old IRMan lying around (basically a commercial version of [UIR](http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~mozgic/UIR/), albeit long discontinued).
Next problem: The computer is behind the couch, at the other end of the room.
Solution: [Universal IR Receiver Daemon](http://kbinstuff.googlepages.com/uirduniversalirreceiverdaemon). This neat little utility supports the UIR protocol and can send the IR codes over a network as UDP packets. Neat! Now I can connect the IRMan to my conveniently located home server which relays the button codes to my desktop PC.
Next problem: No receiver daemon!
Solution: A simple python script listens for incoming UDP packets, checks if the code matches an action defined in a configuration file, then executes that action. Currently amarok and mplayer are supported. Get the script at the [software odds & ends](http://www.luolamies.org/software/misc/) page.
Final problem: UIRD doesn't want to connect to my IRMan. Solution: Apparently a delay in the initialization routine was too short. Changing "usleep( 1000);" to "usleep( 10000)" in init_irmodule.c seemed to fix the it.
Solution: An IR receiver. Luckily it just so happens, I have an old IRMan lying around (basically a commercial version of [UIR](http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~mozgic/UIR/), albeit long discontinued).
Next problem: The computer is behind the couch, at the other end of the room.
Solution: [Universal IR Receiver Daemon](http://kbinstuff.googlepages.com/uirduniversalirreceiverdaemon). This neat little utility supports the UIR protocol and can send the IR codes over a network as UDP packets. Neat! Now I can connect the IRMan to my conveniently located home server which relays the button codes to my desktop PC.
Next problem: No receiver daemon!
Solution: A simple python script listens for incoming UDP packets, checks if the code matches an action defined in a configuration file, then executes that action. Currently amarok and mplayer are supported. Get the script at the [software odds & ends](http://www.luolamies.org/software/misc/) page.
Final problem: UIRD doesn't want to connect to my IRMan. Solution: Apparently a delay in the initialization routine was too short. Changing "usleep( 1000);" to "usleep( 10000)" in init_irmodule.c seemed to fix the it.
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