13 May 2009
I now have a shiny new BenQ G2220HD monitor. The resolution is 1920×1080, which means it can draw 1080p movies at their native resolution. I tried Big Buck Bunny on it, and it looks fabulous!
After a few minutes of use, a pixel on the right hand side went bright red, and stayed like that for a few minutes. Fortunately, pressing on it lightly made it go away. Here’s hoping it stays that way, as MSY Computers apparently tries to make it as hard as possible for you to return the device after seven days (regardless of legal requirements).
Perhaps the main reason for me getting the monitor is so I can pass my existing 17-inch HP L1740 on to Alec, who until now was stuck with a crappy Digital CRT monitor that only supports 1024×768 at 60hz, has become blurry with age, and the screen flickers off and on every few minutes.
Not only that, but multitasking will be made more awesome. At Campbelltown TAFE last year, I got to use the computers in the web design room, which were also widescreen monitors. I noticed I was far more productive being able to have a code editor and web browser on the screen at the same time, not overlapping, and at readable widths.
Tagged: hardware, TAFE | 1 Comment »
3 May 2009
I’ve been working on a game which I’ve simply dubbed “Volcano”. It’s a simple logic game written in Python (using Pyglet) that has an erupting volcano on a grid, and you need to place pipes to make a path for the lava.
It’s meant to be a remake of the classic Lavacap, which is an old DOS game that I loved playing when I was younger.
It’s coming along slowly but surely. The code is on Launchpad. At this stage, I’m not sure if anybody is interested in working on the game or even playing it, so I’m just throwing this out there to let people know. To try it out, first install Pyglet (package python-pyglet in Ubuntu/Debian), and then run:
$ bzr branch lp:~jeremy-visser/+junk/volcano
$ cd volcano
$ ./volcano.py
The game is not fully functional yet. You can lay out pipes, and it has some unfinished path tracing algorithms, but that’s pretty much it. To get an idea of what I’m trying to clone, run the original Lavacap in something like DOSBox.
The game is written in Pyglet, which is not the most resource-friendly way to write apps. However, it should be fairly easy to retrofit it onto a GTK+ GooCanvas or other application. If anybody is interested in helping out, then let me know (and bzr branch is your friend).
Tagged: coding, gaming, projects, python | No Comments »
