Switch

I was reading this article a couple of weeks ago, and sure was tempted in getting one...

Yes, I am a weak individual to g33k-marketing, I know this... 😅

So... I ended up shelling out the wet stinky, and it is on its way in the post 😋

Ubuntu on Nintendo Switch

Yes. Indeed. It will be used to do what its supposed main function is... But, I will also tinker and experiment with this gadget to my hearts content 😅 😎



Update Monday, May 28th:

Oh HELLZ YEAH!

Nintendo Switch Red/Blue JoyCons

Nintendo Switch + 8Bitdo NES30 Pro Bluetooth gamepad

RetroPie

TIP: For those of you out there considering getting a NES Classic / SNES Classic read this blogpost first... you won't be sorry.

Since I started dabbling in Raspberry Pi SBC's, I've been testing a few emulation-distros and the like. Been playing around with this since June 2016, so a good 10 months by now I would say :P

One particular distro caught my interest while testing; namely RetroPie.
Excerpt from retropie.org.uk:

RetroPie allows you to turn your Raspberry Pi, ODroid C1/C2, or PC into a retro-gaming machine. It builds upon Raspbian, EmulationStation, RetroArch and many other projects to enable you to play your favourite Arcade, home-console, and classic PC games with the minimum set-up.

RetroPie lets you play virtually ALL arcade-/console-/PC-games released in the period 1980-2000. Every .rom I've got in my library (accumulated around 10.000+ since the 1990s) works out-of-the-box.

Tested a good few arcade- and console-roms, and they work flawlessly.

Only configuration it may require is a simple dialogue-based gamepad/joystick setup. And you're ready to game as you please :)

Zelda II - The Adventure of Link (NES)

Bubble Bobble (NES)

Super Mario Kart (SNES)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Super Bomber Man (SNES)

Super Street Fighter II (SNES)

Super Street Fighter II - In-game (SNES)

Turrican II (Amiga)

Turrican II - In-game (Amiga)

Giana Sisters (Amiga)

My Logitech F310 gamepad used testing RetroPie.

Street Fighter II (Arcade)

Street Fighter II - In-game (Arcade)

Sonic The Hedgehog (SEGA Genesis)

 Sonic The Hedgehog (SEGA Genesis)

Splatterhouse 2 (SEGA Genesis)

Splatterhouse 2 - In-game (SEGA Genesis)

HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro (for RPi)

Recently got a really nifty Pi-hat (addon-card for Raspberry Pi) called "HiFiBerry" - model "Digi+ Pro".

"Pi-hats" are simple single-PCB addon-cards that slot on top of Raspberry Pi line of single-board computers, and extends the functionality of the RPi's. The HiFiBerry slots easily on top of the GPIO pin-row, with the help of plastic risers (the white bolts/nuts pictured below).

With the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro, I get audio-output in 24bit 96KHz "studio-quality". NiCE! :)

Keepin' buzy

Been pretty productive (read: teh buzy) the last 6-7 months, doing some (quite heavy) service- and maintenance-work for a local IT-startup.

Been responsible for the x86_64 Linux-rack(s) based infrastructure and backend driving the various product-frameworks, the domain- and network-security, plus client host-security throughout the organization. Quite a lot of networking and some aggregated WiFi-APs etc.

The Linux-rack servers have also been host-hardened and properly secured (SSH/TLS/SSL) for the threats facing online services in 2015.

Without going into too much detail, it all revolves around embedded GPS-tracking, web-apps for viewing and controlling said- tracking system, and the accompanying maintenance / service / troubleshooting involved in said systems and their server-backends.

The servers run both the MariaDB and the PostgreSQL database-systems for serving application- / geo- / PostGIS-data in various parts of the application-flow. I became responsible for servicing / doing maintenance of and fascilitating import / export of SQL-data for backup(s), re-location, and the like. The PostgreSQL database is even served from an iSCSI pool through a dedicated jumbo-frame ethernet connection to a NAS-rack for extra speed when handling huge datasets.

I've also been playing around with the web-framework, doing some development for myself to learn the technology, and also fixing various components in the active applications.

µ-cloud, so far...

Sporting as a: VM-lab / Workstation / A/V-rig / Gaming-rig / VM-production :P

3 years - 24/7 operation (2011-2014), and still running like a well-greased steam-engine :P everything runs some form of Linux ;) open standards - open systems :D all the way.

I've never had OP processing-capabilities before, especially at my own complete personal disposal (20+ years of computing-experience), until now :P 3,5 years later (that's including half a year of planning before starting the build).

Never going out of CPU-time, practically never overflowing (swapping) the system memory. And rarely even getting into CPU-loops (unless I'm doing some risky low-level programming for lulz).

I am proud to say that my domain is fully OSS-operated ;) :D

---

Network-wise, I have separated internal traffic into separate VLANs, mainly for layer-2 separation of different protocols and various traffic-types, like: Internet-traffic, incoming web-server traffic, VPS' Internet-traffic, management sub-net and iSCSI sub-net.

iSCSI even runs on separate NICs (on both storage-box and server), through it's own switch-block and separated sub-net, to prevent interference with other packets running on high-traffic sub-nets (like Internet-access).

Outgoing traffic (and incoming of course :P) is pumped through a VPN / Firewall network-box that has a firewall-throughput equal the total speed of the FTTH Internet-uplink connection ;D

---

h3x4c0m-build: http://blog.pizslacker.org/2011/12/h3x4c0m.html

Unified ARM Linux kernel source

Finally, ARM manufacturers have been stepping up their efforts at unifying a single source-tree for their architecture(s). Linus announced the merging of multi-platform ARM code into the mainline Linux source-tree in October.

This means ARM developers don't need to compile a different Linux kernel for each ARM SoC they develop for, but instead they can use one single source-tree for all SoCs.

http://www.zdnet.com/one-linux-for-all-arm-systems-7000005348/

--// Samsung Nexus S \\--

My next tech-upgrade, is the cutting edge smart-phone Samsung Nexus S.

As a collaboration between Samsung and Google, it's the next-step innovation in smart-phone technology.

My first Android-phone was the developer-phone HTC Magic ( non-Google branded B-revision ). It was a barebones Android-system without any major UI additions like HTCs newer Desire-models  (Sense UI).

From what I can gather, Nexus S is like the previous Nexus phone with updated components and firmware. Pretty much an updated developer-phone for Google's latest Android-platform: v2.3 "Gingerbread".

With an up-2-date CPU of 1GHz, codenamed "Hummingbird" ( ARM Cortex A8 ), the Nexus S is multitask-capable. Making it the most powerful Android-phone at the moment. The ARM Cortex A8 chip includes a co-processor: the PowerVR SGX 450 GPU for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 for enhanced 2D/3D mobile graphics and animation.

As a superuser, my previous phones have all lacked enough memory-capacity for my userload. The Magic had 192MB of userland-accessible memory, my current Desire-phone has 150MB userland-accessible memory.

Both Magic and Desire has expandable storage by using a microSD memory card slot. Magic can handle cards of up to 16GB capacity and Desire can handle up to 32GB capacity. The only problem with external memory storage is read/write-times while using externally stored applications, which at times would entail a lot of loading-time when using data-heavy applications. Instead of just boosting and mostly utilizing the userland-accessible memory that is incorporated into the chipset.

With the Nexus S they have eliminated these problems as the userland-accessible memory is a 15GB iNAND-partition :D It really doesn't bother me that the memory is iNAND and that it doesn't sport a microSD slot, in my experience, phones and memory cards don't always work all that well together ( mostly because microSD cards doesn't handle rapid mounting/unmounting good at all in my experience ).

I'm looking forward to getting my new smart-phone, and can't wait to play with new features and functions :p

Addition, april 23rd:

I have now been tinkering with the Samsung Nexus S for a few days, and I am one happy techie :)

It is excactly like I imagined it to be by reading the published specs online. Allthough the user-land accessible memory-partition wasn't 15GB, it was more like 14GB. And with one 1GB user-land accessible system-partition to support the restricted 1GB nternal Android-system.

512MB of dedicated Mobile DDR with the PowerVR gpu really boosted the animation speed and look. Even the startup-logo is pure eye-candy :p Google-logo fading into a Nexus "X" symbol animated with colored spiral-lines, niiice! :)

I can even store all the games I've bought from Android-market without worrying about slowing the device down like I had to with the Desire. All apps are installed, all my games, utilities, etc. And I haven't even used one gigabyte completely yet :D

Yay! Woohoo! Awesomesauce! ^_^

Ny oppdatering fra HTC til Magic

Inkluderes HTC sitt brukergrensesnitt "Sense UI"?
Dessverre, nei...

Er HTC Magic oppdatert til Android versjon 1.6?
Nei igjen...

Er det store forandringer i denne plattform-revisjonen?
Ikke vesentlige, nei...

Latterlig. Rett og slett.

Det eneste merkbare denne oppdateringen gjør, er:

• å luke ut bugs
• heve revisjonen fra 2.17.xxx til 2.40.xxx.
• gjør det mulig å ha norsk som system-språk.

Samme Android-versjon (1.5) og samme UI.

Nei, det blir nok rooting og mod-ROM flashing på denne gutten.
Dette holder rett og slett ikke i forhold til det utlyste fra HTC.

Oppdatering kl.09:32:

Oppdateringen gjorde det mulig å skifte system-språk fra Engelsk til Norsk, men det den også gjorde, var å begrense hvilke programmer en kan søke etter og laste ned fra Android Market(!).

Jeg fant ikke programmet "Spotify", som jeg har brukt siden September. Og etter mye om og men, måtte jeg surfe til hjemmesiden til Spotify og innstallere programmet manuelt direkte fra nettleseren.

Nå begynner jeg å føle meg lurt, og er voldsomt irritert...

Oppdatering søndag 1. oktober:

Oppdateringen ordnet noen andre bugs jeg la merke til siden siste oppdatering (Aug'09):

• når man sendte melding til en kontakt man ikke hadde sendt sms til før, ble det sendt 2 stk.
• når man forandret favorittlisten brukte telefonen lang tid på å oppdatere dette dersom en benytter Google Sync via nettet.

Hail HTC! ;D

I've recieved my new mobile communicator device :) the HTC Magic! ;D

HTC Magic nå i Norge!

http://gps.no/?p=3112

Nå har HTCs Android-telefon blitt bekreftet å komme på det norske markedet i løpet av uken ;) og jeg har allerede forhåndsbestilt min egen fra NetCom, avsluttet mitt nåværende mobil-abonnement og fått bekreftet nytt abonnement med fri dataflyt ;P ;D

*Gleder meg!*

HTC Magic til Norge!

http://www.digi.no/813241/htcs-nyeste-android-mobil-til-norge

HTC har nå bekreftet at de vil være den første leverandøren av smart-telefoner basert på Android-plattformen i Norge. Dette gleder meg noe helt sinnsykt, da gjenstår bare å se hvilke operatører som subsidierer innkjøp og salg av enheten(e). Har selv NetCom som tilbyder, så håper de ikke har brukt opp alle ressurser på iPhone-kampanjen.

Oh man, I can REALLY relate XD

I have numerous stories similar to the following article by Carla Schroder @ linuxplanet.com.

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/6728/1/

My monitor gave up the ghost in the middle of the workday, naturally when I had deadlines and a half-dozens things to do right now. It turned out to be a fried video card, and I took the long way to figure it out, but I was able to keep working until I had time to troubleshoot and fix it, thanks to Linux's easy remote networking.

I came back from a break to find it in a hard lockup. Well OK, this is inconvenient, but at least with Linux a hard crash usually doesn't have bad side effects like mangled system files, unlike a certain other inexplicably popular but frail operating system.

I remember a totally useless IBM ThinkPad laptop I had lying around, which did NOT accept any of the M$ products I tried to force into it. It had a smashed LCD display, so it really didn't serve any purpose as a personal computer.

Then I tried installing Slackware Linux (this was in the v7-8 days of Slackware), and figured I could use it as a headless webserver/fileserver or something in that manner. And, to my own surprise, it was really effective. I had network connectivity (allthough without a GUI, the command-line more than sufficed for my needs. web-surfing included, even if it was text-based ['lynx']), remote network access, local network access, and it ran fine for like 3-400 days non-stop.., right up to the day it kicked the bucket of fatigue.

This remarkable stability and security was unknown to me up to this point. Since I've been fiddling with computers since the mid-80's, I've been around a few operating systems over the years. But none could ever aspire to be what Linux is for me today.

After seeing how Linux performed as a server, I was keen to see it's performance as a desktop. So, I decided I was running ONLY open-source software on every technical doo-dad I owned. But as Linux has one of the steepest learning-curves out there, this did not happen overnight.

Actual time spent learning the building-blocks of Linux came to a total of at least 10-11 years!

My ambition was not realized until very recently actually. My whole home-setup runs Slackware Linux, derivatives, or some kind of embedded Linux. And it's all grand! ;-P

Here is another similar, what I'd like to call: "wish-I-did-not-push-Enter"-story:

http://blog.eracc.com/2009/04/16/kill-linux-unix-system/

Google / HTC Magic!

Processor	Qualcomm® MSM7201a™, 528 MHz
Operating System	Android
Memory	ROM: 512 MB RAM: 192 MB
Dimensions	113 x 55 x 13.65 mm ( 4.45 x 2.17 x 0.54 inches)
Weight	118.5 grams ( 4.18 ounces) with battery
Display	3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320x480 HVGA resolution
Network	HSDPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)
Device Control	Trackball with Enter button
GPS	Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity	Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Camera	3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Audio supported formats	AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC-LC, MIDI, OGG
Video supported formats	MP4, 3GP
Battery	Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery Capacity: 1340 mAh Talk time: Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA Up to 450 minutes for GSM Standby time: Up to 660 hours for WCDMA Up to 420 hours for GSM (The above are subject to network and phone usage.)
Expansion Slot	microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter	Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 47/63 Hz DC output: 5V and 1A
Special Features	G-sensor Digital Compass

http://www.htc.com/www/product/magic/overview.html