zach wick zachwick@identi.ca
Ann Arbor, MI United States
Hack and modder, free software ideologue, and practitioner of general tomfoolery.
GNU LibreJS Updates
2017-03-27T09:52:12Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
Spent my time at the airport and on the plane beginning the process of migrating LibreJS to use the WebExtensions APIs instead of the Mozilla Addons SDK.
This is exciting work as the end result is that it should make LibreJS be able to be used on Mozilla based browsers *and* Chrome based browsers!der.hans, Christopher Allan Webber, Ben Sturmfels, Jason Self likes this.
Nice work!
Also! Nice to finally meet you in person at LibrePlanet! :)
2016-02-08T14:45:51Z via AndStatus To: Public
I wish there was anything in the world that made me as instantly giddy as a banana makes my one year old.Jason Self, Charles Stanhope likes this.
2016-02-03T16:02:11Z via AndStatus To: Public
Somebody at #Libreplanet needs to ask @Snowden to read off his GPG key fingerprint. I'll make sure to ask if I can attend.Jason Self likes this.
I hope to see you there, sir!2016-01-01T19:00:55Z via AndStatus To: Public
I have this thought to make a freely licensed game for the original Gameboy and release it on actual carts as well as a ROM image. Maybe even release the soundtrack as its own cart and ROM. Are these things that people would pay for?Hmmm. Maybe, although I have no Gameboy to play it on.Jason Self at 2016-01-02T03:10:26Z
X11R5 likes this.
I might. I've got a few generations of Game Boys currently gathering dust; would be nice to play a Free game on them :)
James Dearing 🐲 at 2016-01-02T05:19:49Z
X11R5 likes this.
Not to be a party pooper, but In order for a Gameboy game to work, you have to include a binary blob which is (if I recall correctly) the bitmap image of "Nintendo" that scrolls up the screen when you power on the unit with a cartridge in it. A game won't work without it. It's both a copyright and trademark leverage to enforce Nintendo's licensing terms on developers. At least that's the way it was way back in the day when I made a foray into game development. Have they come up with a "jailbreak" for Gameboys that don't require that image?2015-12-30T23:20:29Z via AndStatus To: Public
Just fixed my smartphone with an oscilloscope and soldering iron. Something was buggering the screen's signal lines but is now fixed.Luis likes this.
Garage Sale Find
2014-10-31T11:01:22Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
At a garage sale last weekend I bought five boxes of what I thought was just Colecovision stuff for $10. It turns out that the boxes held:
- 1 Colecovision
- 1 Colecovision Expansion Module 3 (Turns the Colecovision into a Z80 computer)
- 1 Coleco ADAM Z80 Computer
- 2 Complete (unassembled) Coleco ADAM computer kits
- 3 Tandy Keyboard "guts" (replacement for everything of the ADAM keyboard except the outer shell)
- 25+ Assorted Colecovision game cartridges (Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, 2010, etc.) and their boxes and manuals
- 2 working Coleco ADAM disk drives (so that you don't have to use magnetic tapes)
- 20+ ADAM programs on floppy disks + manuals
And I still have one more box to go through and inventory. It is going slow though since I have to play test every game and program that I find. This is probably the best $10 I have ever spent.
Jason Self, lnxwalt@microca.st likes this.
An all JS Emacs clone
2014-10-02T22:14:07Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
Anybody have any experience using javascript to focus a contenteditable div? I have been banging my head against this issue all day and StackOverflow/DuckDuckGo have not been any help.
In spite of this issue, the first day of working on an all JS Emacs clone is coming along nicely. So far it can: 1. open a file off of disk into a "buffer" 2. edit a buffer 3. save a buffer to disk 4. create new empty buffers 5. update a "status bar" with cursor position, file size, and battery status.
Not too bad for approximately nine hours of work.
AGPL?Of course :)
I haven't posted the code anywhere yet though because it is still under super-heavy development/ugly/unstable. But it will probably appear somewhere in the next few days.
The Makings of a Good Day
2014-09-29T16:57:45Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
Spent the morning laying ceramic tile in the master suite and looking forward to spending the afternoon coding on a hobby project and updating all of the software on the machines in my shop. And maybe some Minetest with the Mrs. in the evening. A good productive day all in all.
Apple ][+ in the wild
2014-09-19T18:26:32Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
When I went to my insurance agent's office today to get my wife's new car on our policy, I saw that he has an Apple ][+ sitting on a desk in his office. When I asked him about it, first he was surprised that I knew what it was, and then even more impressed when I said that I had an Apple ][+ that was connected to relays for my shop lights. He then completely impressed me by turning it on and showing me a program he had written to get people insurance quotes. Before I left, I mentioned that should he ever want to get rid of that machine, I would make sure that it had a good home. This is why I love living in a small town - there are so many unique characters that you interact with that you would never even guess have awesome stories - like the insurance agent is also the school's swim team coach and who wrote some phenomenal computer programs back in the day.
lnxwalt@microca.st, Jason Self likes this.
Pump.io client for Firefox OS
2014-09-16T19:37:18Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
Anybody have a favorite pump.io client for Firefox OS? I just got a Flame device and am looking to make it my daily driver phone/pocket tracker.
AFAIK, there are none for Firefox OS yet.
That is what I suspected. I guess I will have to start working on one - learning how the FF OS app ecosystem works by doing that will be much more fun than doing little trivial apps.
>> zach wick:
“learning how the FF OS app ecosystem works by doing that will be much more fun than doing little trivial apps.”
Indeed!! And you'll be giving something great to the Pumpiverse =)Excited about FirefoxOS (again)
2014-09-07T13:09:48Z via Pumpa To: Public CC: Followers
After hearing two talks by Christian Heilmann at IoTCon in Germany last week, I am once again excited about FirefoxOS and just purchased a "Flame" developer reference device.
German Speech And English Slides
2014-09-02T12:48:02Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
I find it really jarring when the presenter is speaking in German but their slides are in English. I really have to listen hard and focus when they are speaking German, and the English slides just completely break my concentration.
Next Projects
2014-09-02T06:53:51Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
Once I get home this weekend from this trip to Germany, I have a few major projects that need to get done in the next few months.
1. Finish remodeling the master suite in my house.
2. Start baby-proofing the house.
3. Prepare as much as possible for the arrival at the end of December.I wish that the Novena laptop that I ordered would show up now, because if it shows up in January, I am not going to touch it for weeks.
It Is All Coming Back
2014-08-27T19:51:48Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
I used to be fluent in German. I haven't used my German skills more than a handful of times since I finished college in 2010. However, after only three days in Berlin, I find myself having to translate my thoughts to English in order to talk to the Mrs.
I definitely don't have the slang/vernacular down, but I think that I can pass as a someone for whom German is a well studied tongue. I guess it is all coming back. I will be curious to see if I have an accent when I get back to the States mid-September.2014-08-26T15:08:39Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
One of the better things so far in Berlin is real Cuban cigars. That is definitely one thing that Germany has that the US doesn't.
yes, that is the correct qualification - I don't think that I could have gotten the good cigar that I for the USD equivalent of 8,50€ in the States.
German Vacation
2014-08-23T16:32:58Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
Finished packing and readying the homestead for my two week vacation to Germany. Attending an "Internet of Things" conference, visiting family and friends, and just derping around. I am very very excited.
lnxwalt@microca.st, Jason Self likes this.
Have fun. I expect a full report upon your return. :)Bottom Posting And GPG Signing
2014-08-22T17:01:23Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
I came within a single comment of getting fired today because I don't want to stop GPG signing and bottom posting my email replies at work.
Eventually, I agreed to stop bottom posting on only emails that go to non-company employees, and will continue signing all emails.
Is it sad that I am kind of disappointed that I didn't get fired so as to be able to claim the moral victory?Mark Holmquist likes this.
Re: ThinkPenguin Wireless N USB Adapter: No signal unless I'm in the same room as the router...
2014-08-04T21:26:22Z via Impeller To: Public, Blaise Alleyne CC: Followers
I use that same device on my X60s and my X230, both without issues. I did have one of those devices seemingly give up the ghost on me, and but the two that I have now get used all day everyday and have been just fine for more than a year.
I seem to recall Chris (the CEO of ThinkPenguin) saying that there was some USB power issue on some machines; I don't remember when he mentioned this though, it could have been right around when ThinkPenguin started selling them. You might ask him, or @jxself@identi.ca who I think played a role in packaging up the free driver.Blaise Alleyne, lnxwalt@microca.st likes this.
2014-08-02T14:52:43Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
The next step on every project around the house is "clean and organize the shop." I guess I am going to spend the rest of the weekend cleaning.
2014-08-01T19:19:14Z via Impeller To: Public CC: Followers
After a full week of compiling, changing options, and recompiling, I finally have solved my embedded linux kernel issues.
Now to check through my notes and make sure that they are complete if I ever have to do something like this again.a(n) person likes this.