Meard Tech

lineup.meard.org

Posted on December 30th, 2007 by naaman.
Categories: gigs, php, ajax, curl, lineup.meard.org.

Announcing the alpha release of lineup.meard.org..
At present the calendar is not functional and there are other creases that require ironing however the AJAX search for artists and venues along with the search itself is fully functional..
More thorough details of lineup.meard.org will be posted on tech.meard.org in the near future.

Comments on this site are highly appreciated as all feedback will be evaluated. If private contact is needed regarding the site, I can be reached at: naaman –AT– meard ..DOT.. org.

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Sweet SNES Setup

Posted on December 16th, 2007 by naaman.
Categories: snes9x, snes9express, tv out, nvidia.

After having another attempt at a SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) emulator setup, I decided to locate a game controller to make the effort worth it. A few searches of Static Ice and Shop Bot helped me find my AUD$9 Foxconn controller at Computer Alliance. I also decided to buy an S-VIDEO cable to give Linux TV-Out another go as well after failing to get anywhere with my older Toshiba laptop over the last few years. Newer laptop (HP Pavillion dv5129tx) and a newer OS (Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon) might work out for me..

Side note: If your laptop has a 7-pin S-VIDEO port it will support a 4-pin cable, the 7-pin carries extra component signals

When I got home, I smelt the “new car” smell of the controller, plugged it in and ran a

tail /var/log/syslog

Here’s what appeared:

Dec 16 12:27:25 freddo kernel: [ 7222.496000] usb 4-2: USB disconnect, address 2
Dec 16 12:27:28 freddo kernel: [ 7225.604000] usb 4-2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
Dec 16 12:27:28 freddo kernel: [ 7225.784000] usb 4-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Dec 16 12:27:28 freddo kernel: [ 7225.808000] input: DragonRise Inc.   Generic   USB  Joystick   as /class/input/input7
Dec 16 12:27:28 freddo kernel: [ 7225.808000] input: USB HID v1.10 Joystick [DragonRise Inc.   Generic   USB  Joystick  ] on usb-0000:00:1d.2-2
Dec 16 12:27:28 freddo kernel: [ 7225.876000] usbcore: registered new interface driver xpad
Dec 16 12:27:28 freddo kernel: [ 7225.876000] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/input/joystick/xpad.c: driver for Xbox controllers v0.1.6

After having a look at System -> Preferences -> Hardware Information, I saw the device was listed in there, however the device file that was listed against the controller wasn’t the right one I needed to put into snes9express - the device path is /dev/input/js0. When I started snes9express and mapped the keys to the right buttons for a SNES controller, snes9x would bomb out because of a dodgy argument that was being passed to the program. The mapping (and the joystick device path) should be set in the snes9x config file - /etc/snes9x/snes9x.conf - here’s some portions of mine:

[Unix]
EnableJoystick = TRUE
Joydev1 = /dev/input/js0
Joydev2 = (null)
Joydev3 = (null)
Joydev4 = (null)
SoundBufferSize = 0
IncFormat = %03d  # Use one printf-style integer conversion, optionally with
                  # the '0' flag and a field width
 
[Unix/X11]
Interpolate = 0
Scale = FALSE
SetKeyRepeat = FALSE
DGAModeSwitch = FALSE
StartFullscreen = FALSE
 
[Unix/SVGA Controls]
J00:Axis0 = Joypad1 Axis Left/Right T=50%
J00:Axis1 = Joypad1 Axis Up/Down T=50%
J00:B0 = Joypad1 X
J00:B1 = Joypad1 A
J00:B2 = Joypad1 B
J00:B3 = Joypad1 Y
J00:B6 = Joypad1 L
J00:B7 = Joypad1 R
J00:B8 = Joypad1 Select
J00:B11 = Joypad1 Start

How did I get the right buttons mapped to the right SNES buttons? I apt-getted joystick which contains the useful program called jstest which is the equivalent of xev for joysticks when run as follows:

jstest --event /dev/input/js0

I ran the jstest command whilst looking at a pic of a SNES controller and having vi open /etc/snes9x/snes9x.conf.

The other settings I changed in the config file include:

• SetKeyRepeat = FALSE - I might need a reboot to see if it fixes it, but at time of writing holding down a key has no effect and it’s annoying when you want to backspace out the few words you wrote on your blog
• DGAModeSwitch = FALSE - NVIDIA has dropped driver support of DGA (whatever that is) and this will cause snes9x not to run. I’m not sure if this has an effect, but it’s better to turn it off.

I came across a strange occurrence when I started snes9express for the first time, it kept asking for osnes9x instead of snes9x, a quick ln -s /usr/bin/snes9x ~/temp/osnes9x fixed it by putting “/home/naaman/temp/osnes9x” into the snes9x path in the Preferences -> Paths tab. The problem seemed to go away when I had set the “Start-Up loads …” option to “Last run options” in the Preferences -> Reset tab.

The last issue I had with snes9express was the choppy, jumpy sound. The sound issue was fixed by increasing the Rate to 5 (29300 Hz) instead of the default 4. The sound can be fixed using the “-r 5″ argument on the command line for snes9x as well if a frontend like snes9express isn’t being used.

Moving onto the TV-Out adventure. I am using a relic of the early eighties that my flatmate had “collected” on a kerbside collection day and placed on the back deck. Luckily this beast has a SCART port and stereo sound (better than my “good” TV). I bought a SCART to S-VIDEO/RCA adapter a few weeks ago for a party we hosted so we could watch HDTV on it :). Using nvidia-settings, the very well-written app detected the TV on a rescan and I had a picture that needed some serious V-Hold action (for those not accustomed to V-Hold, the picture was constantly “rolling”).

Thanks to the excellent howto on Ubuntu Forums, I managed to make a backup of my /etc/X11/xorg.conf then edit it to look like this:

Section "Monitor"
 
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "LPL"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh     60.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection
 
Section "Monitor"
 
    # HorizSync source: builtin, VertRefresh source: builtin
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "TV-0"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
EndSection
 
Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce Go 7400"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection
 
Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce Go 7400"
    Option         "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
    Option         "TVStandard" "PAL-G"
    Option         "ConnectedMonitor" "Monitor1"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection
 
Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection
 
Section "Screen"
 
# Removed Option "metamodes" "TV: 640x480 +0+0"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Videocard1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "TV: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

After a few restarts of the X-server and a long hour of testing, I was reliving some good old memories of the SNES on my back deck.. Hmmn, I wonder what I’m going to get Dad for Christmas..

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Google AdSense - MediaWiki

Posted on May 27th, 2007 by naaman.
Categories: www.meard.org, mediawiki, bluwiki, google ads, errorsiget.meard.org, rilgrey skin.

I’ve decided to break my Google AdSense posts into two - one for adding them to Mediawiki and one for adding them to Wordpress. In a sense, adding Google AdSense to Mediawiki and Wordpress is a similar process - the skin needs to be customised to fit the ad blocks on every page.

After a bit of careful research, the decision was made to utilise Ed Simpson’s excellent AdSense Mediawiki extension for displaying Google Ads on my two wikis - www.meard.org and errorsiget.meard.org. Ed Simpson’s particular extension is far superior to other extensions as it is included into the skin and therefore cannot be removed by wiki editors. The extension also stands out from the other options by ensuring ads are only displayed on content pages and by providing a mechanism so the owner of the site does not see the Google Ads to prevent the owner from clicking on the ads - which is not allowed under the terms & conditions.

Because the extension only has help for customising the default Monobook skin, it presented a challenge for adding Google Ads to the bluwiki skin I am using on www.meard.org. The formats for the ad units I selected was a 728×15 4-ad link unit to be displayed directly below the top bar and the Small Square (200×200) to be displayed in the bottom toolbar.

The 728×15 4-ad link unit was added to the /skins/bluwiki_skin.php near the top as follows:

	<div id="content">
	  <a name="top" id="contentTop"></a>
	  <?php if($this->data['sitenotice']) { ?><div id="siteNotice"><?php $this->html('sitenotice') ?></div><?php } ?>
	  <h1 class="firstHeading"><?php $this->text('title') ?></h1>
	  <div id="bodyContent">
	    <h3 id="siteSub"><?php $this->msg('tagline') ?></h3>
	    <div id="contentSub"><?php $this->html('subtitle') ?></div>
	    <?php if($this->data['undelete']) { ?><div id="contentSub"><?php     $this->html('undelete') ?></div><?php } ?>
	    <?php if($this->data['newtalk'] ) { ?><div class="usermessage"><?php $this->html('newtalk')  ?></div><?php } ?>
	    <!-- start content -->
	    <!-- Google AdSense Addon - CHG00009 -->
            <?php if($this->data['notspecialpage'] && $this->data['copyright']) {
              global $wgUser;
              if($wgUser->mName != "Naaman") {?>
                <!-- Insert Ad LEAVE THIS MESSAGE IN: PHP generation code taken from
                http://wiki.edsimpson.co.uk/ under the Creative Commons
                Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License -->
	        <div class="pBody">
                <!-- INSERT GOOGLE ADSENSE BLOCK HERE -->
	        </div>
            <?} } ?>
	    <!-- end Google AdSense addon -->
	    <?php $this->html('bodytext') ?>
	    <?php if($this->data['catlinks']) { ?><div id="catlinks"><?php       $this->html('catlinks') ?></div><?php } ?>
	    <!-- end content -->
	    <div class="visualClear"></div>
	  </div>

(more…)

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