What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)

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In prototyping my maze game idea, I rediscovered Lua and Löve2D. I kind of forgot how simple it can be to work with Lua for simple game ideas. So I've basically have gone back to programming. Creativity comes in bursts. With this return, I wonder how far and how much I can go with this knack for programming.
 
Started using the Latitude LS again, from my post that I made a few weeks ago. Need to do a Bios Update (from 2002) that adds a boot loader, and put the driver for the external Dell Disk Drive it came with. Then I can run Ubuntu on it, that was my main plan but I needed to put a cd that would run as another boot loader that has a boot from USB option. So once I do that I can have fun :D
 
I've been assembling some PCs at work, they're mostly just going to be simple i5 machines with no graphics cards and a small SSD, because the... things they're controlling have their own processors, but one of them is a beast; i7 6700k, 64GB RAM and a GTX 1080 (and the same small SSD) because, well, the thing it's controlling doesn't do its own processing and the software does floating point stuff on a GPU, and the developer said it can use as much power as you give it, so we gave it a 1080. I wonder if the 1080 cooler fits on my 960...?
 
Recently, I've gotten back into programming. I've now gone from Lua/Löve2D to using Flash and Flixel. It used to be that I tried to self-teach Java going by a book I bought. It is almost as if I am trying any number of programming languages trying to find one that works best for me. I literally have a number of programs and different programming languages on my PC. You name it- Flixel, Cocos2D, Python, Lua, Java, Corona SDK, and I even recently downloaded Moai SDK. It took me almost 20 years to make a proper 3D model; it's taking almost that long to make my first real program or game. But I keep going, because that's all anyone can do...
 
The return to programming has taken me back to trying to build programs in Java based on a book I am reading. There are three sides of me in working with Java- (1) I am trying to learn some of the basics of Java, (2) I am wanting to learn how to make an Android app through Java, and (3) I am trying to learn how to make a Java game. So in other words... a hot mess of Java. I only recently have returned to this Java book doing some of the Java exercises.
 
The past few days, I continued reading my Java book and practicing different concepts of making Java programs. I feel good about some of the progress I've made in the book so far because I am now starting to reach some of the parts of Java programming that I've wanted to focus on for the longest. I am about halfway through the book. This is like in some games when you start earning certain items later in a game and are finally able to unlock certain things you've long wanted to unlock in a game and play certain levels you've long wanted to play.

In addition to this, I began thinking about what I could use to practice making apps for iOS. Part of me wants to maybe look into an iPad 1 or maybe an older iPod Touch. Going for older material is more cost-effective to me, and it also makes it possible to make something that won't require the latest and greatest version of iOS. I am speaking as someone who owns two Android "Gingerbread" devices, two "Jelly Bean" devices (my OUYA and my Android tablet), and one "Lollipop" device that has Android TV. I am just looking at my options for if I ultimately want to design an app for iOS. I know there are cross-platform material (like HTML5), but I am just looking at my options and thinking of what I'd want to use to test iOS app development.

Last thing I want to note is that for some reason, I may consider looking into getting a Raspberry Pi. If I do get one, I am not sure how I would want to use it or utilize it for programming or program development.
 
So I'm finally doing what I should've done aaaaages ago, and at significant cost!

Going back a bit: When I built my first PC in 2011, I had a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD. At some point I bought a 256GB 850 Evo to replace it, but instead of doing a clean install I just cloned it across. Then I built a new PC, and instead of doing a clean install I... Well... Just put the 840 Evo in the new PC. It caused a whole load of problems, but I managed to sort them out. Since then I've bought three 850 Evos; one 256GB and two 512s, leaving me with my OS installed on the slowest drive I own.

Tonight I ordered a 512GB Intel 600p, which is an M.2 PCIe SSD. It's not as fast as other NVMe drives but it's faster than an 850 Evo, and I'm going to install Windows 10 on it, but before I do that I'm going to format the 256GB 850 and clone the 840 onto it. This probably won't result in a huge performance boost but I didn't see any point in having my OS on anything but a new drive, and the 600p is only slightly more expensive (and only slightly faster) than the 850 Evos which are a bit old anyway.

I also ordered a new PCI WiFi card (with integrated Bluetooth, making the dongle I bought not even two months back completely redundant) because the one I have seems to make my PC lock up briefly but incessantly when it's downloading stuff which drives me mad.
 
In trying to practice Java, I came across an interesting situation last night (now that today is Wednesday as of this post). I was trying to learn using lambda expressions. I do have JDK 1.8 installed. However, my compiler (NetBeans) noted my install of JDK 1.8 doesn't contain a Java platform. So I basically had to abandon the Java exercise I was trying to perform from my book. I am not sure if I have to reinstall JDK 1.8 and then redirect my work to my 1.8 build or anything. This was just something interesting I encountered in trying to learn Java.

Besides this, I've long been considering getting another external hard drive, only I want to get a terabyte external hard drive. I may use my current 320GB hard drive for other systems or maybe even just to have some extra space available. A terabyte hard drive can back up my current 320GB external hard drive and maybe my current PC's memory (about 449GB worth).
 
Updated my computer a bit, changed my sli of 970 for a 1080 and my stock cooler for a Coolmaster V8 vers.2.

Very happy with both my change, my cpu goes now to 4.7mhz boosted (a 4790k) on air and my GPU can goes up to 2205mhz when boosted and stable (I dont run it at that speed it's just for benchmarking purpose but I did do burn in and other stability test).

6A4BwDY.jpg
 
Yesterday or the not long ago, I learned of JavaFX. I know that Java and JavaScript are completely different, but I am not so sure of Java and JavaFX. I encountered JavaFX on the notion it offers a broad suite of options especially for multimedia intensive applications.

Elsewhere in Java, I reached the part of the book I am using to learn Java to where I am learning how to make an Android application. Unfortunately, I am facing a number of problems trying to properly debug everything, especially from the template application. My plans of learning Android development through Java will have to be put on hold. So basically now, I am kind of getting away from using my book to practice Java to going to various online sources to practice here-and-there pieces of Java code. The approach of semi-randomly learning certain concepts ultimately may lead to me designing a very interesting Java program should everything materialize well. You learn any way you can. And sometimes, even formal training or self-teaching doesn't always get the job done.
 
Got a replacement 85W MagSafe 2 charger for my MacBook Pro. For how expensive these things are, they're inexcusably poorly designed... yet they're the only real option, since the cheaper 3rd party alternatives are all crappier chinese knockoffs that are liable to fail within a week.

So in addition to the charger, I bought a few items in an attempt to mitigate this thing's design flaws.

Flaw #1: Frail cable prone to disintegration.
Solution: Split loom tubing and electrical tape.

Flaw #2: Overheating
Solution: Heatsinks

Hopefully this thing can manage to last longer than a year now.
 
@Lain I have a line on lots of liquid nitrogen and dry ice if you're interested?

So I bought a new wifi card, interestingly enough it does Bluetooth as well so the dongle I bought months ago and used twice is now redundant. It has a USB port on it, and I don't know why... But it's not a rear-facing port, it's actually internal, so I'm stumped. The manual doesn't mention it, either.

sketch-1478721203630.png

Any ideas why it's there or what I could use it for?
 
BobK
Firmware updates, maybe?
Click to expand...

I just had a closer look at the board, it's actually quite interesting because it looks like the whole card is just a PCI breakout board for a M.2 wifi/Bluetooth card that would otherwise be found in a laptop, but (presumably because reasons) the Bluetooth portion of it needs a USB connection. Just to the left of the W in 'Why" you can see a 2x5 pin 90 degree header on the board and it comes with a cable to plug the card in to one of the motherboard USB 2.0 headers, and because the headers carry two USB ports they just broke the unused one out to an internal USB A port. So that's why, but I still don't know what to do with it. Unless...
 
With NetBeans, I updated my Java settings to utilize the JDK (Java Development Kit) 1.8 interface. I had to download the latest JDK and set it up. I then set up my existing projects to take advantage of the 1.8 interface. Some of the Java files I used for my Java book actually worked with the 1.8 interface compared to using the 1.7 interface.

One thing I am doing now is trying to create my first application of any kind. Since I am using Java, I am using some of the Java files I've created previously to try to develop a simple application. Some common pieces of code are those I'm going to copy-and-paste to make writing the application easier. If I am successful, it will be the first ever time I successfully created a working application after almost 20 years trying. And back then, I tried to learn Visual Basic. The Java application I am trying to create is mostly complete, but I want to try to properly utilize using JFrame as well as a functioning JButton. You may know what I am talking about if you ever tried to code in Java.

Besides this, I figured that Lua/Löve2D is VERY good for game prototyping. Very easy and simple. I've had the most success using especially Löve2D to build simple levels. I've had yet to build a proper game engine, though.


This is a lot of programming talk. I just feel close to finally making my first application. Maybe this will help me to make more programs should I be successful with this first application.
 
I made my first Java program this past weekend. However, it wasn't a completed one since I haven't found a way to make the button functional in my program. I basically made a program that was a little database and had a button to close out the program. This database was based on a lesson in my Java book. I didn't copy-and-paste one of those lesson and edit it, but I instead took notes from it and added my own touches. At least this gives me a little experience. You sometimes learn by taking material from lessons and try to apply them to other applications.

I am still having a fair bit of trouble using Eclipse to try to learn to make an Android app through Java. My Java book has a section for which to make an Android app through Eclipse though about most of the book uses NetBeans. Because of the frustration, I am almost inclined to try to try Android Studio or something. Or I may even try to make some Android material through Lua and Corona SDK.


I am still mostly trying to find my way through programming.
 
So over the last week I've:

- Installed the new wifi/Bluetooth card that doesn't perform any faster but drops out less frequently and doesn't cause my system to lock up at the sight of some data. The Bluetooth portion took some work; at first it said there was a power issue even though the additional USB was plugged in, I tried all kinds of things to get drivers installed but as it turned out, all I had to do was delete the driver I had already. As soon as I did that it automatically downloaded new drivers and was fine. The range is yuuuge, as opposed to the dongle I had previously that wouldn't reach the far end of my sofa.

- Installed the Intel 600p, but in cloning the old smaller drive (using dd via Ubuntu booted from a USB stick) it also, obviously, cloned the partition map so I've now got System Reserved, the main partition from the old drive, the recovery partition and a new 250GB partition. I will sort this out eventually... Probably.

- Attempted to install the drivers for my X-65F HOTAS, which is where years of neglect and quick fixes finally unravelled. First, running the driver installer wouldn't proceed after the prompt to plug the stick in. Then I tried unpacking the installer to do it manually and I got an error about the INF file being wrong, which was a bit of a brick wall. So I decided to see if I could use Wireshark to see what was wrong, it wanted me to update, I said yes for some reason then the installer failed while updating USBPcap, which then knocked out all of my USB ports! Fortunately I have Splashtop installed so I could use that to do some more investigation but I think I just want to back up a few game saves then nuke the lot, put my other SSDs in a RAID 0 set and start fresh.

Fun!
 
So I fixed the USB port issue, but the HOTAS drivers are still broken. I'm going to download the Windows driver dev kit to see if the INF verification tools will reveal where the problem is, so that'll be yet more fun.
 
JohnBM01
I made my first Java program this past weekend. However, it wasn't a completed one since I haven't found a way to make the button functional in my program. I basically made a program that was a little database and had a button to close out the program. This database was based on a lesson in my Java book. I didn't copy-and-paste one of those lesson and edit it, but I instead took notes from it and added my own touches. At least this gives me a little experience. You sometimes learn by taking material from lessons and try to apply them to other applications.

I am still having a fair bit of trouble using Eclipse to try to learn to make an Android app through Java. My Java book has a section for which to make an Android app through Eclipse though about most of the book uses NetBeans. Because of the frustration, I am almost inclined to try to try Android Studio or something. Or I may even try to make some Android material through Lua and Corona SDK.


I am still mostly trying to find my way through programming.
Click to expand...

For your JButton problem, you may need to look into how to add an ActionListener so that you can tell it what to do when it's clicked.

Eclipse vs. Netbeans - Try not to get too hung up on this stuff. They can both do a lot of the same things if you can figure out what correlates to what in the menus. Before Android Studio came out a lot of people did Android development in Eclipse with the ADK plugin.
 
I've tried to work with the ActionListener method, but I couldn't properly implement it to the JButton. All I've wanted the JButton to do is simply close the program upon click. There is still a lot I am trying to familiarize myself with in programming. And just to show I am no stranger at trying to code, I remember back in 1997 or so when I tried to learn Visual Basic. I was never as serious trying to code back then, though. I still would feel accomplished if I did eventually complete this basic program.

On a different note, I tried to develop my first gaming asset to eventually release online. Part of the process is to try to build a prototype just to try to collect my thoughts and see my creation in action. So I will be using Lua/Löve2D to try to prototype that idea. In case you're wondering, I am creating a simple set of bricks similar to Breakout or Arkanoid. While a simple set, I've devised some 25 different-colored blocks with 11 different block designs! Kind of went crazy on it all, but that's just me. If all goes well, I may decide to try to make it an Android app out of it in addition to creating this game asset. I still would need to learn how to build a Breakout-style game through Java or some other language (though I do prefer Java).
 
Right now, I am test driving the Vivaldi browser. I'm told this was a browser made by ex-Opera browser developers. I surely have settled in rather nicely with the browser. A "cute" thing about Vivaldi is how the browser bar changes color to match certain sites. So here on GTPlanet, the main color is black with white letters. I even noted color changes with my four blogs. Very cool browser from what I've done so far, and it reminds me so much of the old Opera before being a glorified Chrome.
 
I have Vivaldi installed but I don't use it because it would take forever for me to get all my passwords and bookmarks transferred. I learned about Vivaldi from one of the Kinja blogs, Life Hacker, I think.
 
Started to root my Galaxy S5
Bricked it
Spent 1.5 hours unbricking it
Bricked as I used a slightly old bootloader
Rooted it
Restored it
Set it up
 
Ordered some parts to begin assembling a small server using an old case.

AMD FX-6300 Six Core 3.5/4.1GHZ Processor AM3+ 14MB Cache 95W

GIGABYTE 970A-D3P AMD970 ATX AM3+ DDR 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI RAID SATA3 USB3.0 CrossFireX Motherboard

Kingston HyperX Fury Memory Black 8GB 2x4GB DDR3-1866 CL10 Dual Channel Memory Kit (x2)

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA3 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive (x2)

I feel I paid way too much for all this though. 522 CAD. :/

In any case, I'm doing all this as a means of practice and experience, with hopefully something useful I'll have in the long run. Going to try configuring the HDDs as RAID 1, and setting up maybe two or three VMs that will stay running most of the time, and will see if I can do some kind of VPN, and remote desktop. Hoping I can set up one VM with Server 2012, another for application files, and another for media.
 
I think I have settled in nicely with the Vivaldi browser for the most part. I didn't try to import anything from any of my other browsers, including Opera. The complaints list for me on Vivaldi is rather short, if anything. So I am pleased using this browser and enjoying it. It is my new two-browser system I use. It used to be Opera followed by using Firefox usually during the afternoon. Now it's Vivaldi mostly and Firefox in the afternoon. I feel better using the separate search feature in Vivaldi than having to stick with a certain search engine to do my searches. I may want to look up GTPlanet, for example, and I could choose to search through Google or Yahoo! (sorry- I can care less about Bing). The functionality and control are great in Vivaldi.

I am considering getting another Android device to maybe replace my Google Nexus Player. Make no mistake about it- I love using the Nexus Player, but I've been disappointed there's only so much I can do with it and only so much to try to use compatible material with. One advantage is that I could use Android TV material. And if I wanted to develop apps or something for Android TV, I can do that. However, the limited space and not much in storage basically just makes my Nexus Player a technologically-advanced hockey puck that runs Android "Lollipop." I am also looking at a fairly simple device to develop for in making Android apps and games. I still have the kind of vision of designing material for the OUYA as I do with some other Android consoles. So I have been looking at older devices like the Mad Catz MOJO, which has OUYA support. The MOJO even has 16GB of storage compared to the Nexus Player's 8GB capacity. The OUYA's successor, the Razer Forge TV, hasn't been received too well, and it is a little more expensive than the MOJO. The NVIDIA Shield is just out of my budget entirely, and I have no interest in streaming games from my PC to some other TV in my house. Even with a previous build of Android, I'm willing to downsize just to enjoy an Android experience that won't cost me a whole lot just to enjoy. I had to buy so much extra stuff just to enjoy the OUYA- including a new HDTV. So I am considering the MOJO for my Android consumption to move on from the Nexus Player.

This is basically what I've been up to lately.
 
I have a question about upgrading. I currently have a GTX 760 and a i5-4590 and if I were to upgrade, would it be better if I were to get a GPU (currently looking at a GTX 1060 3GB or 6GB if prices are good) or a CPU? Would my CPU bottleneck a 1060?
 
ProjectWHaT
I have a question about upgrading. I currently have a GTX 760 and a i5-4590 and if I were to upgrade, would it be better if I were to get a GPU (currently looking at a GTX 1060 3GB or 6GB if prices are good) or a CPU? Would my CPU bottleneck a 1060?
Click to expand...
A 4590 shouldn't bottleneck a 1060. As for the 1060, I would avoid the 3GB card as it's actually weaker than the 6GB version -http://www.anandtech.com/show/10580/nvidia-releases-geforce-gtx-1060-3gb
 
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