Monday, June 12, 2006

Keymapping Software

These days I was playing Virtual On (PC version) because my boss found a copy. He also bought a model of one of the robots. I would like to have Virtual On origami but they are too expensive.


I had connected my Microsoft SideWinder Freestyle Pro gamepad but it cannot be recognized in the game. There is a software to customize the gamepad under XP environment - SideWinder Game Controller Software 4.0 (review of another M$ gamepad). However, it cannot be found on the Web (details).

On the web, I found several key mapping software. Although they don't help my situation, I would like to share them here:

Auto Hotkey - Remapping a Joystick to Keyboard or Mouse

PPJoy - Parallel Port Joystick Drivers

panuworld "joyadapter" XP

賣得就賣,廢物無價

痴呆XP促成的「Mac X政變」加上屋企準備裝潢,引發出「IBM兼容PC減持計劃」。很無奈地,我就是擁有五部PC和兩部PPC,還有五部Game Consoles,還有毛公仔、模型......反正就是很多。

計劃第一步進展順利,收鑊比預期高:放賣三隻硬盤,打算賣個七百六,結果賣了八百八。第二步是決定第四隻(WD80GB)的去留,並歸還借來的電腦(減持至4部)。之後要處理部經典PC:十多年的486。這是部極級486 (DX2-66MHz/64MB RAM/2MB VRAM/800+400MB HDD/10Mb LAN),不論RAM還是VRAM,HDD還是Network,都是486時代的終極形態,若以當年市值算,或許非花三萬元不可。時移世易,今時今日它是沒啥用處;除非用來玩十年前的遊戲。Last but not least,剩餘的零件電線,還有flatbed scanner和color printer。實在是太多了,可惜它們又不是古玩,否則隨便找個收藏家送過去便成了。

近日瀏覽拍賣網,發現真的原來什麼東西也可以賣,就連砌過的模型都可以(當作parts賤賣)。讀書時大花筒,掃了好幾盒MG(Master Grade)級的高達模型,砌來砌去,還有幾盒未開。以前吉之島賣一百八,家下都賣二百六了,那豈不是升值了?以市價八折賣,大概都可以賣二百,陳年模型不跌反升,這個世界是瘋了嗎?既然如此,我想賣兩條磨穿了的牛仔褲,磨穿了不是很有型麼?有型就有價......對吧?

有時想,活在物質主義的社會,一個人擁有(買入)的東西還真多呢。靈魂一走,除了留下筆保險金,還留下一堆個人垃圾。

Thursday, June 08, 2006

抗衡熱力

自從房裡電腦患上奇怪的痴呆症,加上老父為了區區五百個大餅的電費單嘈到拆天之後,連續好幾晚都睡前關了電腦,冷氣也沒開。自從電風扇嘈音之失眠夜之後,我又再次開著冷氣睡。今早在某手機商office等運到時,他們動作還真慢,這不是重點,而且升級變降級,算,這也不是重點。我覺得自己似乎作感冒,奇怪是冷氣Settings依舊,為何作感冒?或者少了部電腦這個heat source,房就凍了。
今日沒空打開部痴呆電腦,因為一晚內要看四套電視劇和遊戲7788,洗完碗還在走廊練blades,該沒多餘時間了吧,除非一小時能當兩小時用,這…有可能嗎?但最後還是用PDA扒在床上看電郵上網,覆了兩個拍賣問題和寫這篇東東。
我發現原來我還挻空閒,又或者這叫無聊。(on mobile)

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Defragmentation

There are way too much of stuff in my room. I'm planning a garage sale. Oh well, I don't have any garage. So, may be sell them on the second hand market or online auction.

First of all, the most valuable things to sell are harddisks. I've nearly 10 of them. Four of them are duplicating each others. Deleting the unused and moving other files to my Buffalo Disk Drive, the total of free space added up to 380 GB.

Let's cash them ASAP. After all, they will be useless (and worthless) when I replaced my desktop with an iMac with 500 GB disk space.

What else? Here is still way too much of stuff. (on mobile)

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

iMac 20" (MA200LL)

打算轉投Apple陣營已是很久的事,是十年夢想。十年前曾經看過Mac OS 7的說明書,其標榜的易用易明介面,真的比Windows 95好十倍百倍,看後又是妒忌又羨慕。今年夢想該要成真吧,好好享受一下電腦帶來的樂趣,不是煩惱。

從前考量實戰需要,加上經費緊絀,選擇IBM PC是無奈。每月一死,每季一鏟,每年加RAM,Windows之金科定律,不論是95還是XP。用於維護、重灌、升級的時間和金錢,其實並不能彌補其便宜的機價。單以重灌所需的時間,以最低時薪計,隨時可以買起一台專業級的Apple PC。

2003年尾因燒機要購入的EZ barebone機,自去年年中每三個多月就會傻下傻下,聽歌睇戲又會窒下窒下。今次是第四次,我忍夠了。

電腦畢竟只是一件工具,一件工具就該有工具的覺悟,不該帶給使用者諸多不便。電腦不該讓用家太累。

去年為了急速提升戰力而傾家盪產孤注一擲買入的IBM T42,或許終歸是IBM的專業機種,用起來蠻稱心,夠穩定。既然工作有T42平定,遊戲又有PS2這類從不需要升級的game console,那我的home pc只需要能夠好好地儲存和管理文件、電郵、相片、CD collection便足夠,我哪管它是電腦還是電筒、是XP還是Vista,總之,「簡單就是美」,一按即用、簡單、方便、不死,掂!


原本打算訂購iMac 17",換1x1GB ram和500GB硬盤,連日後升級的事省掉不管,不過又聽說新的Mac OS X 10.5會於今年八月推出,所以還是要等吧。等著等著,我又心動,到時還是訂部iMac 20"吧,反正都是免息分期的。

Monday, May 29, 2006

未解決

你有壓力,我有壓力,仲乜返到屋企都仲會有壓力。電腦唔鏟鏟邊個呀?

尋日終於忍唔住,鏟左屋企部電腦,因為佢copy個file都可以咬死個CPU,唉。重新安裝XP同Office,裝埋XP SP2、Office Language Pack、iTunes、MSN Messenger、NOD32和Zone Alarm,其實並不是裝了很多東西,但係剛上網睇「巴士阿叔X煞科」時已經窒下窒下,原來個問題,情況令人憂慮,睇怕都係換部iMac好過。

尋日放工去左電腦城,見到部iMac 20",真係好大,嘩。下次去皇室堡玩下OS X先。

明日又要開工,有壓力又未解決的事,何止一樣。

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Ultimate Reset: Formatting on Mobile

These days I'm working on Recognizer and Document Handler. This time, however, I've no luck at all. The application has to be embedded and handle data probably. I couldn't find a complete example nor documentation. Most of the posts on the Web are debugging auto-start function, a deformed usage utilize the recognizer.

Tonight is the second night in a row I stayed late at office, trying to hunt down the right code. Yet, no gain, but pain. So frustrated.

How am I going to report to my boss tomorrow? Sigh...

Out of curiosity, I tried those auto-start codes from forums. I'm too lazy to copy the whole structure but the core piece. Anyway, after rebooting, the phone couldn't startup. Not even can I enter *#7370# to reset it. Luckily, there's still a way to format the device:
1. power off,
2. press and hold Green + * + 3,
3. power on and hold the above three keys until "Formatting..." appears.

Woops, that save my life. And this is my first time seeing this formatting screen on Symbian. So what the 3230 tried to tell me is, try everything on emulator first before deploying to real device.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Black Soul 黑魂

期待已久的黑魂版N70(外殼),今日終於到手了。

原廠的N70有銀黑配和米啡配,其中以銀黑配最漂亮,個人覺得,近期One2Free推的黑銀配比不上銀黑的,而大陸版官方配色就是這種黑銀,跟香港的對調。N70比起過往S60的機種,整體感覺比較扎實,換上這個全黑的外殼,就更加剛強。加上多得各大網絡商的努力,銀黑配的N70滿街都是,三至八十歲都有,坐一趟地鐵,最少見到十部。只可以說,感覺平凡。

純黑色,永遠給人一種神秘而專業的感覺,有沉實穩重的意味。就算周不時流行的銀灰色和全白色,也似無法與之抗衡,IBM的laptop更標榜其黑色外殼永不退色;似乎只有Steve Jobs才能使出白色的力量。電視機、遊戲機、手提電話,什麼顏色都曾有過,但最終都會推出全黑版本。

後記:某日返到公司,同事不斷指著我部N70要Mini-SD,說,部N80是否收埋張Mini-SD。哈,Mini-SD?對,我就是喜歡全黑色,貪佢似N80。

後記2:The memory card N70 using is RS-MMC.


Left: Black soul N70, feel like the N80 black version.
Right: Original sliver-black case of N70

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Acer n300 v1.00.16

New ROM is out. But I'm not planning to flash. Just too lazy to reinstall all the softwares. (news)
Several hacks to Registry for WM5:

  • To erase the battery icon from the Start Bar, create a DWORD with name ShowTitleBarClock and value 1
    [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell] "ShowTitleBarClock"=dword:00000001
  • To change the format of date and time on Start Bar, create a binary value with name TBOpt and value 13 00 00 00
    [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell] "TBOpt"=hex:\13,00,00,00

(I will keep updating when more is found)

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Smart Phone

To better organize my peronsal data, I synchronise my Nokia N70 with home PC once a while. Whenever it connected via the Nokia CA-53 USB data cable, the battery goes down quicker than in stand-by mode. Therefore, I must plug the charger to the phone while using the cable.

Nowadays many mobile phones are called smart phone. They've the basic PIM functions built in. In someway that they are like (pretend to be) a Palm or a Pocket PC. So, this is smart(?). I've been using Palm and Pocket PC for years. The data on device is synchronise (and backup) with Outlook. Month ago, I began to synchronise the phone with Outlook. Trying to eliminate the troubles when I wish to have same data on PDA and phone. Also, I could able to access to all contact I've, no matter I'm holding my PDA or phone. Yet, I

Nowadays mobile phones are called "smart phone". They implemented the basic function of PIM - Personal Information Management. In other way, they're very like a Palm or Pocket PC. And this is smart. I've been using Pocket PC for years and got lots of information on it. With Outlook I synchronise the device with computer daily. When my device malfunction and being hard resetted, or being replaced, I just connect it to computer and all data are back. Palm is even better because all programs and games will be restore automatically upon connected.

Monday, April 24, 2006

the Set game for mobile (4)

Set on Mobile, ver 0.02.06 - with basic game statistic.

Deck - number of cards remain in deck.
Score - number of Sets player made, +1 for each correct Set, vice verus -1.
Move - number of possible move/Set on screen. when it becomes zero (0), press Options > Deal.


version 0.02.06

Sunday, April 23, 2006

the Set game for mobile (3)

Toys'R Us does not have the Set nor Duo for sell. But I found UNO H2O on sale with 20% off the tag price. Now I see why the owner of the cards prohibited us to bend them.

Set on Mobile, ver. 0.02.05 - something that can play with, finally.

To honor the SET Enterprises Inc., the icon use the original box design. To reserve more space, the patterns and card are smaller. Some statistics will be put on the right-hand-side later (such as # of cards remain/pick-up). The check algorithm is done. If I add a big loop into it, the computer should able to tell me the number of possible SETs on table. Still thinking about the difficulties, whether an easier game (or harder game) possible.

the Set game for mobile (2)

I ordered the card games at Amazon, together with another one - Duo, something like UNO with more features. However, Amazon told me that they cannot be shipped to Hong Kong. Wat!? Why? Oh well, I have to visit Toys'R Us later.

There is no progress on my mobile version. Still struggling (not working) on the data structure of card and deck. Even so, I already have a piece of code that can generate cards with m features and n variants. And I have think about how to lay out the cards on screen, esp when it's too crowd to show the whole card. This is my weakness - spend too much time on the very detail part, dragging the whole development process.

I should make it simpler - object(card and deck) should only hold data, engine handle game logic and calculation. Putting calculation code on object will results in larger object and hence wasting memory, esp when it is not neccessary and not too reasonable to do so.

ver. 0.2.0

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

the Set game for mobile

My friend showed me a card game, The Set. It is fun and is good exercise to brain and eyes. I'm trying to buy it in stores, Toys'R Us? Meanwhile, I'm working on a mobile version, so that play on road. Hopefully finish it by weekend.

No plan for A.I. nor for sell. So far it's for peronsal usage. There'll be a timer (later) for self-competition. There might be a hard level in which newly dealed cards will not form a set (except the last 3 cards). There might be 1 extra pattern for each feature. Anyway, just for fun.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Block Recognizer

近日研究緊Pocket PC上的輸入法,想在中文版PPC上加入Block Recognizer同埋大易輸入法。搵左幾日,大易似乎是「無行」了,真係要的話,可能自己寫會更快更直接。

Block Recognizer是最近似Graffiti的英文輸入法,只有英文機附有,中文機就沒有。從網上資料及刷了英文ROM的舊機上,證實了要使用Block Recognizer,最關鍵就是msim.dll這個ROM file。只要把相關的檔案和Registry的值加入到中文機裡,理論上是可以使用它的。可惜,網上沒有這個file,從英文機裡又沒法copy出來。 唉,有乜計?