Last time I tried to install OpenBSD on the SGI Octane2, it didn’t go well. –insert flashback here, lots of swearing and possible violence–
This time, installing OpenBSD 4.7, it worked wonderfully. Whatever issue caused the spurious IRQ 2 from the xbridge has been fixed, and now I can actually put it to use. Finding a use to put it to, however, is going to be more interesting. Maybe run that AI project on it…
As I ranted about previously, I’ve switched to KiCAD after hitting some frustrations with EAGLE. However, KiCAD does not have quite the array of component libraries that EAGLE does. One well-recommended library is a collection of all the EAGLE libs run through a well-recommended converter script. Unfortunately, it seems that the less-used parts (The SO-DIMM socket, for example), are horribly horribly mangled. The well-recommended script also seems to have destroyed the library I created for the Loongson (Which was my first clue that it might not work as advertised.). I don’t have the datasheet just to hand, but it is most definitely not right.
This is rather frustrating, because I now can’t trust any of the libraries without going through them and verifying all of them against the datasheets. I know I should be doing this anyway, but it’d be nice to have a proper library of parts that you can use to avoid re-inventing the wheel or screwing yourself over. (It’s not like SO-DIMM sockets are rare or anything.)
It’d be even better if this library of parts wasn’t locked into a proprietary format that requires incredibly expensive (Or incredibly limited) software to use. It seems, however, that CadSoft’s EAGLE is the Microsoft Windows of the EDA world. Everyone* uses it, so it’s reasonably safe to assume that someone can open a project created in it.
(* Not actually everyone, but it feels like it at times.)
Maybe I’m getting annoyed over nothing, but it does annoy me a little that people complain if someone doesn’t release schematics or source-code for projects, but they’re happy to accept a closed BLOB? Okay, so maybe I am getting a little grouchy. =p
It obviously doesn’t matter until it bites you in the ass… And, for some reason, I want to wave a cane and start yelling at y’all to get off my lawn. Probably best I don’t have a cane or a lawn.
(And, for anyone who’s going to ask what I’m going to do about it. I’m going to try to fix the dimm library. Tomorrow… er, later today. 
)
Okay, web developers, It’s time we had a chat. You know that little thing you keep doing with password fields, autocomplete="off"? Yes, that violates the Principle of Least Astonishment. It’s also frustrating and (believe it or not) makes things less secure.
If I tell my browser to save passwords, I want it to (surprise, surprise) save passwords. What right do you have to override my preference? This misguided, halfarsed attempt at security is making my life a pain, because my browser isn’t saving passwords when I expect it to. So you know what I have to do with my passwords instead? I have to write them down. And that reduces my security and convenience; because now not only is my password on a piece of paper that anyone can read (Rather than in my password manager, where only I can read them.), but it’ll inevitably end up getting lost and I’ll have to reset my password (And the whole cycle starts again.)
So, please, stop trying to make security decisions for me; because I know what to do with my passwords better than you do. (Out of interest, what do you do? Use the same, easy-to-remember (but horribly insecure) password for all your sites? Have a notepad with all your passwords on? Or are you the kind of person who can remember the countless random 12-character alphanumerical passwords you have for everything?)
My current solution, because no-one will read this and stop forcing their idea of security on me; is to edit the function _isAutoCompleteDisabled in nsLoginManager.js to always return false, which lets my browser save passwords like I intended.
With the (start of the) addition of user management in the bot, it looks like I’m beginning to get somewhere with the bot. However, I am beginning to dislike working on some of the code because of the state it’s in; yes, I know it’s my fault it’s such a mess!
In my defence, this is mainly due to how parts of it have been developed. As I didn’t intend for it to grow to the point it is now, there was no real plan (It was originally meant to be a simple platform for another project to rest on top of, but then I thought “Ah, it’d probably make the other project simpler if I had x, or maybe y…” and it just grew. (The entire project is a feeping creature.)), so things have been glued on or woven in as and when the idea hit me.
This is not a recommended development strategy; it tends to lead to code that is A Great Big Ball Of Hair, or worse…
So, to condense a paragraph or two of blathering into a few words: "It has architectural issues." And, to fix these issues, I’m going to tear it apart and put it back together. I have the technology, I can refactor it! Keep an eye out for the refactor branch, where the carnage will be happening.
Picked up work on Harlie again, and finally created the module that’s been missing and breaking the fresh-out-of-vcs bot. (Anyone inconvenienced by this, let me know by email and I’ll give you your money back. :p )
Still on the whiteboard are the changes to build in multithreading; working plugins; user and permission controls and so forth. I’m spending this afternoon working on the user and permission side of things.
Whilst I’m on the topic, I thought of a method to allow the owner of a bot to add themselves to the permissions database. This is a little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, they need admin permissions to add themselves to the database that tells the bot that they have admin permissions. And then there’s the risk that someone ‘steals’ the bot by registering themselves as the owner before you do. (Which would be annoying at best.)
My solution to this? If the users database is empty, a single-use key is generated and displayed on the console. Anyone attempting to register themselves as the bot’s owner must identify themselves with the single-use key. (If an attacker can see the owner’s console, there are bigger issues than just being able to take over the irc bot. 
)
This adds the owner to the users database with full permissions, and they can take it from there; using the bot commands to add/delete/etc users.
[Attempt 4, because WordPress is refusing to let me post :/ ]
You may notice a few issues with the theme of the blog, such as things not lining up any more. This is because I made an attempt to change it to variable-width, and the way I’ve done it is a tad fragile. However, the issues are entirely cosmetic (Which is good.), so the changes are for the better in my opinion.
One of my hobbies is hardware design (I quite enjoy it, but I don’t have the qualifications (Or the confidence) to do it commercially.), which I use CadSoft EAGLE for.
Unfortunately, the Evaluation version has some limitations that make it impossible to use for the project I’m looking at. I can create the
schematic very easily, but I cannot lay out the board because the free version is limited to a board that is far too small to fit a connector as long as a DIMM socket.
The DIMM socket is too long for the freeware's highly restricted board layout space.
I could remove those limitations by buying the software (I’m not opposed to buying software if it’s worth it.), but the price-tag is aimed at large companies; and is completely out of the reach of The Average Hobbyist. (e.g. Me.)
For example, to remove the board-size limitation but otherwise have the minimum I can work with (Schematics + Board layout) I’d have to purchase the Professional version at a price of nine-hundred and ninety-six (996) US dollars. My response to that, suitably toned down, was “Um… No.”.
So, for those of us without pockets like buckets, what options are available?
Currently, I’m choosing the third option and using KiCAD. The biggest issue will be re-creating or converting the parts used in the project, especially the BGA part for the processor. On the other paw, it would help me get used to the software…
Stay tuned for updates on the war against terror^Wclosed-source software.
I often enjoy playing a nice violent video game (Although, due to lack of money, I only have two. (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (The one I play the most) and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Don’t play this as much, due to a few issues I have with it.)), usually to unwind or be somewhat social with friends (Most of whom are separated from me geographically.). However, I am getting more and more frustrated with the sheer number of cheaters on Xbox Live. What makes this worse is that using a console rather than a PC, cheating is supposed to be reduced, but hey-ho.
The latest event was a rather enjoyable match, up until it turned into a boosting session. ${BOOSTER}… boosted off two members of our team (Presumably his friends.) until he got a Nuke for a killstreak.
This was annoying enough, but he had to go one step further. The nuke started it’s countdown at 166 minutes, rather than the normal 10 seconds. Why? Because, once the nuke countdown has started, no matter how many people you kill, your team’s score will not increase. However, you still gain XP from these kills. Doing this makes the match nearly endless, so you can gain XP to your heart’s content, without any of that frustrating “winning the game” business that wastes time.
Of course, this is far from uncommon; indeed the leaderboards are now almost completely useless, due to the number of people who used “10th Prestige Lobbies”*, or otherwise manipulated the game to make it to the top of the scoreboard. In fact, some of them weren’t happy with doing it once, they had to keep doing it over and over again. Once you realise that you can’t really get anywhere on the leaderboard legitimately, the fun starts to decrease. Coupled with the apparent complete apathy towards the cheaters, even the incredibly obvious ones (Such as the folk topping the accuracy leaderboard with -100000000 misses. (Congratulations, IW, your system is braindead.)), it stops being fun altogether and feels more like a grind.
Whilst I’m ranting about MW2 and IW, I feel like I should bring up my feelings about their play-testing of the maps the game shipped with. Whilst I appreciate that it’s difficult to test games thoroughly, due to the amount of variables and sheer manpower needed to test every single eventuality, the general feel of the game was that it had undergone little testing; with glaring flaws such as a glitch that allowed you to keep respawning your care-package markers (So that you, effectively, had an infinite amount of them.); or a texture issue that meant people could lay down in the floor on a hill and snipe, all the while staying protected from the enemy because the game thought they were behind a hill.
Yes, on a platform like the Xbox 360, you have the ability to patch your games after release; and those patches are forced onto your users if they wish to play online (Which helps prevent people ignoring an update to carry on using the glitch.), but it is not a substitute for not releasing those issues. And then there’s the wonderful wait before the fix is finally released, during which time people keep on abusing the glitch with few (if any) consequences. One gets the impression that the issue only gets fixed when the developers play against it and get frustrated, although I’m sure the reason for the delay is the extensive testing that patches require.
The effect is that, whilst I like the game, the fun is taken out of it when you try to play against people who just hack what they want out of it. Why bother putting the effort in if others are going to reap the rewards without that effort?
* “10th Prestige Lobbies” are hacked game lobbies that run almost permanently (Using the hacked nuke method as above.), with insane amounts of XP for a kill (To the point of needing scientific notation to represent it.), and automagically invite you back after you leave to choose the prestige menu item. (Basically, one hit takes you to the next prestige level.) They also can do things like unlocking all titles and emblems (Which makes it really obvious that someone has cheated, when they’re 5th prestige but have the “Prestige 10″ title (Only supposed to be unlocked at 10th.) and the 10th prestige emblem. (Again, only supposed to be unlocked at 10th.))
This is aimed at no one person in particular.
<rant>
</rant>
If you can read this, it means I didn’t screw up setting up the "blogging from emacs" capability. Yes, I can blog from emacs, now I have yet another excuse to stay in this OS^WEditor.
It seems I keep finding things about this strange, extendible editor that I never knew were possible; or I never expected to see in an editor. Although I should have been tipped off that this was going to get a little silly by the fact that it has a mode for tetris.
I followed this nethazard.net post as well as using ELPA (http://tromey.com/elpa) which makes installing Lisp packages very easy.(And, it keeps them up to date, which is handy. )
The only issue I’m struggling with is that the auto-fill mode is a pain in the arse, because whilst it handily wraps the text at a nice and easily readible length; the post is then also broken at that point by a <br>, which means I have to go back and de-fill the paragraph.
On the upside, I can use the editing keys I'm used to without accidentally closing the window, as happens far too often when I’m editing things in a browser. The downside of this is I keep hitting C-x C-s to save the draft, and that publishes the damn thing. (Same habit that keeps destroying documents in GUI editors. That and the key for backward-kill-word being the shortcut for "Close Window" in said GUI editors.)
So now I can waste my time blogging much more efficiently, I might even eventually have something I can publish. 