Songwrite 2 0.3 is out ! This major version proposes an improved interface, more usable on small screens, and adds many functionalities including appoggiatura, harmonics, F keys on staff, strumming direction, rests,... It also supports Koyabu board, ukulele, and lyre tablatures (my new instrument, although I'll probably be the only one to use them :-)). It requires EditObj 2 0.3.

There are also many bugfixes, and the licence is now GPL v3 (instead of v2).

Here is the full change log:

• Touchscreen support

• Lyre, Koyabu board and Ukulele support

• Support for F key, appoggiatura, harmonics, strumming direction and rests

• Smarter copy-paste (autochoose between by string / by note pitch more accurately)

• Name sharp and bemol notes adequately, depending of the tonality

• Add a window's icon

• Fontsize options for screen and printing

• Interval identification: select 2 notes and Songwrite display the corresponding interval in the title bar!

• Licence changed to GPL v3

Bugfixes:

• Lyrics not placed at the bottom were bugged in PS/PDF export/printing

• Printing tabs with staffs was sometime causing an infinite loop

• Printing tabs with staffs was not showing # and b rightly on the staff

• After playing, select the previously selected notes

• When reducing the length of ALL bars, the newly created bars at the end now use the lew length

• Take capo into account when playing

• Can play hammer / pull / legato / slide with no limit of amplitude

• Fix g8 staff

• Fix capo

Here is a graphical presentation of my academic research area... Nobody should now says that it is ununderstandable and obscure !

Soya 0.15rc1 is out !

Here is the Changelog :

• January 2009 : Soya3D 0.15rc1

• ODE 10 compatibility (required)

• New collide property for lazer.

• Quiet mode for soya initialisation and quit

• New event management system. round event are now stored in main_loop.event and main_loop.raw_event.

• New round_task attribut for main_loop.

• Allow screenshot from backbuffer.

• Allow to use WorldStep instead of WorldQuickStep for ODE iteration.

• Allow None as angular_velocity, linear_velocity, torque, or force.

• Allow None as hi_stop, lo_stop

• Bugfixes

• Fix delta_x and delta_y in coalesced event

• Fix AngularMotorJoint API

• soya initialisation now write in the common stdout and stderr

• Fix font related segfault when soya wasn't initialised

• Fix Pudding MainLoop (thanks David Martinez)

• Work-around for OpenAL bug for absolute sound sources

The attached scripts allow to use Sunbird on PDA, that is to say to wake up automatically the device on Sunbird's alarm. I am successfully using them on the Sharp Netwalker (aka PC-Z1) but it should work on any device that supports wake up on RTC (the Netwalker does only after some hacks) and uses the APM daemon for power-related event management (the Netwalker does ; however for other devices that use ACPI, it should be quite easy to adapt).

To install it, proceed as following:

1. Install the python-pysqlite2 package.

2. Copy the attached file (link below) sunbird_set_next_rtc_alarm.py somewhere on your PATH (for example, in /usr/bin) and make this file executable:

   chmod a+x /usr/bin/sunbird_set_next_rtc_alarm.py

3. Copy the attached file (link below) 50sunbird_rtc_alarm in /etc/apm/suspend.d and make this file executable:

   chmod a+x /etc/apm/suspend.d/50sunbird_rtc_alarm).

4. Edit sunbird_set_next_rtc_alarm.py . At line 3, indicate the maximum time (in second) your device needs to resume from suspend (the default 10 seconds is right for the Netwalker).

5. At line 4, indicate the path to the Sunbird's storage file. if you have no idea at all, the following command should give you some hints:

   ls /home/*/.mozilla/sunbird/*/storage.sdb

That's all! Now, every time you suspend the device, sunbird_set_next_rtc_alarm.py is called. It looks Sunbird's calendar for the closest alarm, and, if any, define the device's RTC alarm as needed. Then, the device will wake up a few second before the alarm, and thus Sunbird will be able to beep you.

sunbird_set_next_rtc_alarm.py

50sunbird_rtc_alarm

By default, the Netwalker does not support waking up on RTC alarm, which implies that it cannot be used as a PDA. It has a calendar program (Sunbird), and alarms can be set on events, but the Netwalker will raise the alarm only if the device is on at this time... not good for a PDA !

Actually, the hardware does support waking up on RTC alarm, but this functionality is already used... by the battery drivers ! Any alarm you set will be erased by the drivers of the battery when suspending the Netwalker. It seems that the battery need to be checked every 30 minutes when the device is suspended.

So here is a patch that modifies the battery drivers so as it honors the previously set RTC alarm if it is closer in time. The patch is intended to be applied on the Netwalker's Linux kernel from http ://netbook-remix.archive.canonical.com/updates/pool/public/l/linux- fsl-imx51/linux-fsl-imx51_2.6.28-15.50fsl1araneo7.tar.gz. See this how to for compiling and flashing the Linux kernel on the Netwalker.

With this patch, the Netwalker can now wake up on RTC alarm. You can verify that by running the commands:

sudo echo 0 > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm
sudo echo `date '+%s' -d '+2minutes'` > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm

And then suspend your Netwalker. It should wake up 2 minutes later.

You can also find below my .config kernel configuration file. I've also disabled the Netwalker's quick keys since they are constantly starting apps even if I don't touch them ; if you want to keep them working, change CONFIG_TOUCHKEY_MXC in .config.

However, wake up on RTC alarm is only the first step for using the Netwalker as a PDA: the next step consists in creating RTC alarm from the calendar program. Stay tuned!

jiba_netwalker_rtc_wake.patch

.config

The Netwalker is a very small laptop computer with an ARM CPU, running Ubuntu GNU/Linux. As it uses flash memory instead of a hard drive, you need a special procedure to update the kernel (the Netwalker does not use standard boot loader like Lilo or Grub). This small how to describes how to compile the Linux kernel for the Netwalker, and then how to flash the kernel. I will provide interesting kernel hacks later on this blog.

mkdir /tmp/test
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /tmp/test

The first stable release of Arkanae III (0.1) is available! This release includes the two first chapters of the game, which represent about 20% of the game. However, the bad news for you, English reader, is that it is currently available only in French.

Songwrite 2 0.2.1 is out ! It fixes many bugs of version 0.2. It is also possible to run it on Qtopia, e.g. on a Zaurus ! This version requires EditObj 2 0.2.1.

Here is the change log :

• Qt / Qtopia support (tested on Sharp Zaurus)

• When selecting a note, take the current duration into account in a smarter way

• Allow to hide the edition panel

Bugfixes:

• Fix songref in songbook edition dialog box

• Fix default filename when exporting

• Fix filename filter bug in import / export

• Fix legato in ABC importer

• Fix dot in ABC importer

• Fix playlist analysis in ABC importer

• Fix partial bars in ABC importer

• Fix hammer/pull update when the second note is modified

• Fix zoom when editing a new song

• Fix quarter tripplets

• Fix Texttab importer and exporter (string tuning was messing around, thanks Adrian Quark)

• Fix launching from source directory (thanks Slawek)

Songwrite 2 0.2 is out !

It adds support for flute fingering notations (i.e. small schema showing which holes should be covered in the flute, see the screenshot section) for tin whistle and recorder. It also support 6/8 and jig rhythms and can import file in the ABC format, two useful features for Irish music.

Finally, it also provides a new PDF exporter, which is now independent from Lilypond (Consequently, Lilypond is no longer a requirement for Songwrite 2). Lilypond is no longer used for PDF export, because it has poor support for non-staff notations (like tablature or fingering), and because incompatibilities are frequent between two version of Lilypond.

Songwrite 2 0.2 requires the lastest version of EditObj2 (0.2).

The first version of Balazar III is out !

This version is entirely functional, but includes only a single playable character, a single monster, and not a lot of items, powers and rooms. It is still fun and you can get an idea of the game. The network mode is quite advanced; it is quite powerful and should support a high number of simultaneous players.

The new version of Soya, 0.14, is out. Here is the complete changelog for 0.14:

• August 2008 : Soya3D 0.14

• Improved the cell-shading algorithm, by anti-aliasing outlines and disabling normal lighting when cell-shading is used

• Bugfixes:

• When re-starting a MainLoop, define it as the current MainLoop (aka. soya.MAIN_LOOP)

Cerealizer 0.7 is out!

It now allows to dump() things repeatedly to a stream or file, and then load() things repeatedly out of it.

Many thanks to Peter Eckersley !

A new version of Soya, 0.14rc1, is out. This release includes many bugfixes and has been updated for latest release of Pyrex. It also includes a new GUI module called soya.gui (see the gui-* tutos for demo).

Here is the complete changelog:

• January 2008 : Soya3D 0.14rc1

• Allow the centre of mass of a Body to be anywhere in its local coordinate system (thanks Greg Ewing)

• Improve tutorial README (thanks Jacques Rebourcier)

• Update for Pyrex 0.9.6.2 (thanks Greg Ewing)

• Blender => Cal3D can now run with Python 2.3 (thanks Greg Ewing)

• New GUI module soya.gui

• Bugfixes:

• Fix the weird segfaulting bug in terrain (thanks Souvarine)

• Fix GL_INVALID_ENUM crash with the OSS ATI DRI driver (thanks Zoltan Dome)

• Fix data/worldS and data/blender in the yet-in

• Fix speed-1.py tuto

• Fog was activated by error on partial camera with no atmosphere

• Fix descender computation in font

• Fix ODE on terrain (tuto ode-collision-8-terrain.py)

I'm currently working on a new widget system for Soya.

It will feature advanced widgets such as scroll panes or flying windows, as well as a nice automatic dimensioning system, even better than GTK and Tk ones !

For now, I'm focusing on the widget's logic, and not on their graphical aspect.

The final goal being to add Soya's support to EditObj 2, in order to be able to generate dialog boxes in Soya for editing various game objects. Can be usefull for game editor but also for many complex games (roleplaying games, strategy games,...). I'm precisely thinking about new game projects in that area.

Here are some screenshots using various styles :