Emulation for iphone

I have used the NES emulator for iphone for the past few months, it is actually really good, the only complain I have is the controls are somewhat small; yesterday I got the complete collection of games released in America, a dream come true.

Also yesterday, I got the snes4iphone and the genesis4iphone, great work by the author, bigger controls with options for panoramic play. So on one side we have super mario world, mario kart, and donkey kong country, and on the other side sonic, altered beast and golden axe. Everything in your pocket with very decent framerates. Amazing.

I have to try the psx4phone... maybe the framerate is not as good, and the roms are bound to be heavy, but still sounds quite interesting.

Windows 2003 Server 64 bits edition

I haven't post in a while, I was flooded with work because of this precious little OS called windows server 2003 64 bits edition.

We have an architecture that selects updates and drops data from MDB files (MS Access). I had to migrate this architecture from a 32 bits environment to a 64 bits environment, alas; the whole thing was throwing errors.

After some pain I found out that the drivers used to connect to the MDB files do not work on 64 bits. The loathsome ‘Microsoft.Jet.OleDB.4.0’ driver. I tried different patches addressing this problem released by Microsoft, but most of them were geared for the Ithanium platform (which is not our case), therefore useless to us.

The research revealed that this driver and any other 32 bits drivers can and will work on a 64 bits environment if you explicitly force your code to run on x86 instead of x64 as a target machine. Unfortunately our web project does not have this option available (only appears on standard non-web projects) and our primitive IIS does not accept this type of configuration.

I tried configurating the IIS from command line to run on a 32 bits ASP.NET by force but every web site hosted in this server died after the change so I had to rollback and try again.

Time was running out, for us, we just moved the hands upon the clooock (8), so I had to call in the cavalry, our very own MS arquitecture expert provided a solution. We could code all the methods that called this driver in a separate WCF service. This service will be set to run x86 as the target machine, our web service will call this new service and everyone would be happy.

The WCF code was provided by one of our star developers. He had little time, but a lot of wits and a company party upstairs to attend at the time. Beer was calling him, sweet sweet sour beer, beckoning. And he got it right and working. I was seeing the light.

Boom new error. We have user defined data types and they couldn’t be serialized. After a while I decided to change every non-serializable data types to inefficient but tried and true strings. By the way: the service gave an error if you initialize a string with the alias “String”, it only accepted “string”. Weird.

Finally, alongside my project leader, we made it work. Wondrous Saturday at eleven p.m. victory.

Gone with the...

Short post today.
I'm just going to link you guys to a very special webcomic.

Gone with the Blastwave

Alas, it's not updated often, still pretty good.

Mestizo

Was Nietzsche right all along? After his books you are left with an incredible, impossible trail. Clues and nothing more. The ramblings of a madman often resemble the scribbles of a genius.

We the multiracial are doomed to the greatest and lowest of all fates: the ever present mash of traditions. He spoke of us mixed bloods as the most burdened, and therefore the most inclined to mediocrity.

But the prophecy, as I come to name it, tells us that only from the most burdened can rise the most enlightened. An amalgamation of the best qualities in their shared past? A breakthrough ushering a new reality, where everything seems so simple compared to what we had before?

The next musing will be ‘Gnosis: or how l learned to lose my spirituality and stop worrying’.

Was not Nietzsche right all along?

Wolfmother

It’s review time people so get yer ya ya’s out:

This rock trio has gotten a lot of attention in the recent months after their eponymous debut and now they are a staple in my ipod (hey, even Thom Yorke likes them) so now I present you a song by song analysis (hearing only the singles is for pussies, even Radiohead knows that).

Colossal.- This is a strong song that starts slow but builds up on intensity as goes along, watch out for the riffs in the middle, this one has monstrous battery figures just as the name suggest.

Woman.- A fast paced ode to feminine beauty, it also includes psychedelic synthesizer; check the live cut at triple J, it has a nice group of extra stoner rock riffs.

White Unicorn.- Starts off with a melancholy laced section, but when we reach the chorus all bets are off.

Pyramid.- Almost my favorite song of this album, comes as a close second. Opens with a thick bass section, then we get a sing-along riff. After the predictable (but not less enjoyable) stoner riff we proceed to the epiphany ‘I saw the light shine out today-and it told me that- you are not the one for me’.

Mind’s Eye.-The long psychedelic intro gives way to slow revelations, which in turn leads us to an even a slower and stronger apocalypsis. Complete with its proper synthesizer riff.

Joker & the Thief.- Enigmatic lyrics based on Bob Dylan’s ‘All along the watchtower’ coupled with excellent music.

Dimension.- Another colossal style song, the lyrics in this song reference Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’.

Where eagles have been.- A sad entrance takes us into a smooth ride.

Apple Tree.- Upbeat strikes with a funny tinge.

Tales from the forest gnomes.- Another upbeat song, love is here for all.

Witchcraft.- My favorite song of the album, excellent lyrics, moving riffs and flute. Trust me, this ain’t no Jethro Tull.

Love Train.- If these guys can pull metal plus flute they sure can pull metal and latino percussions.

Vagabond.- A soft freedom anthem as a closer.

Bob Dylan

Friday, 29 February 2008 we got the opportunity to witness the master poet and his band play live, excellent music and great set up, we were delighted.

Dalia was wondering why I wasn’t screaming and shouting like crazy when the band hit the stage, I had to kindly remind her that, despite what my overtly homosexual roommate might think, I am not a girl.

We got the ‘mumbling’ Bob Dylan as Ringo Starr calls him and it was a hard to understand the lyrics, still this and the new musical arrangements gave a fresh new feeling to each song.

The set list:

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Bob on electric guitar)
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Bob on electric guitar)
3. Watching The River Flow (Bob on electric guitar)
4. Masters Of War (Bob on keyboard)
5. The Levee's Gonna Break (Bob on keyboard)
6. Spirit On The Water (Bob on keyboard)
7. Desolation Row (Bob on keyboard)
8. High Water (For Charlie Patton) (Bob on keyboard)
9. Workingman's Blues #2 (Bob on keyboard)
10. 'Til I Fell In Love With You (Bob on keyboard)
11. When The Deal Goes Down (Bob on keyboard)
12. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard)
13. Nettie Moore (Bob on keyboard)
14. Summer Days (Bob on keyboard)
15. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard)

(encore)
16. Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on keyboard)
17. Blowin' In The Wind (Bob on keyboard)