So, last night saw the first couple of episodes of the new BBC drama, Spooks Code 9. I’ve always quite enjoyed watching the usual Spooks series (even if only to play the game of which lead character is going to get killed off next), so I figured I’d give this new one a shufty.
The premise for this series is that a nuclear bomb has gone off in London during the 2012 Olympics, and the series follows a set of agents recruited in the aftermath trying to do what the Spooks lot usually do, stopping terrorists performing their nefarious deeds. The episodes are shorter than those of the original series, clocking in at 50 minutes rather than an hour, and accordingly there seems to be less that happens in the episodes.
So far the plots in the episodes haven’t been particularly enthralling, although they have set the wheels in motion with the requisite long-running plot. Unfortunately this, along with a number of other things in the first two episodes, have been rather clichéd.
I’ll probably still end up watching the other episodes in the series (if only because I’ve set my BT Vision box to record the series) and perhaps it will get better, but I’ve not really got high hopes after this first pair of episodes.
Tags: bbc, bbc three, drama, spooks, spooks code 9
So, it seems that something (I’m not sure what, I haven’t really investigated at the moment) has broken with my desktop as it now refuses to boot. Fortunately I have my Eee, which I already know works perfectly fine for things like web and IM. This left me wondering; how useful would it be for development.
So, as I’ve recently done a bit more work on Choob I decided to have a look at getting a development environment for this, using Eclipse, set up. This wasn’t exactly easy, given the limited set of packages available by default for the version of Xandros on the Eee, but I’d already worked around this following some instructions on the internet elsewhere - enabling me to install subversion.
The next challenge was finding enough space to install both Eclipse and the JDK in, as preferably these would both want to be on the local machine rather than any additional storage. In the end I opted to (rather than uninstall something like Open Office) move some of the contents of /usr/share (for things I rarely use) onto my SD card and just link to them. Hack-tastic.
So, I was set, all that remained was to use Eclipse. As the Eee is quite low-specced, I had anticipated plentiful performance problems, however I was pleasantly surprised. Start up time is a couple of minutes, which is quite standard, and once going it runs quite well. Occasionally some actions (usually where a amount of building is required) will take a while, but on the whole it’s perfectly usable - provided I’ve got the external monitor and keyboard plugged in. I’ve yet to try it on the Eee’s standard setup, but I suspect it’s not particularly great, although I’m sure I’ll end up doing this at some point soon.
Tags: eclipse, eee
So, recently I was playing around with building a server for a Half Life 2 modification using Valve’s instructions on their wiki. The instructions all seem quite simple, you take the VC++ project file, a makefile that you customise slightly with some locations of things certain libraries (like the xerces ones) and then some libraries from the official Linux dedicated server.
All sensible enough so far, until you find out that the only way to get the libraries that it needs from the server is to download the whole server and install that using their application for this (which takes two passes at the same command to do that for some reason). This pulls about 780MB of stuff down onto the machine, including all of the HL2MP maps, textures, models and sounds (apparently it needs some of these in case you want to run a pure server without people having their own custom sounds and whatnot). All in all the libraries that I wanted were no more than 35MB of this, so it was a little bit frustrating.
You then get to the build process, which first compiles a util (vcpm) to read the vc++ project file and use that to make a makefile for the mod itself. This is all well and good and all done in one fell swoop with a simple ‘make’. Unfortunately if, for some reason, you want to do a clean build of the mod - ‘make clean’ won’t help you. That just cleans up vcpm, leaving the server objects there waiting for you to do it manually.
The whole compile process was also very slow, although that could be my machine (it is 4-5 years old now) and produces one hell of a binary. I’m pretty sure that this is down to it linking statically with a lot of libraries, including some of the c/c++ ones, although I have yet to verify this or follow the guide on the wiki that suggests you can cut 5MB off the binary with some magic. Perhaps in future builds I’ll look at getting that done, but for now I’m just happy that it compiled.
Having done this with gcc-4.1 (4.2 just plain doesn’t work, but then isn’t claimed to on the wiki) I found that crashes occured for other people, hardly good. So I dug out gcc-3.4 and had a bash with that, only to find that errors were soon the scourge of my life again, some of them seemingly in the Valve code - great. Fortunately a bit of digging around in the documentation turns out that it’s a known thing where gcc-3.4 won’t inline functions unless you give it a -O option. This fixed it was clean sailing and I had a nice compiled version.
Unfortunately this version also segfaulted, so it was off to the debug build and to see what was going on with it. This proved rather useless, as the engine produces a stack trace without any symbols (even after the mod is compiled with them) so I’ll need to have a rummage around what’s going on at some stage, probably something to do with my system configuration compared to that of the server. Nothing is ever simple eh?
Tags: compilation, debug, gcc, half life 2, linux, segfault, server, Valve
As part of my job I’m required to get outage alerts when something breaks, in case I can be of use in helping fix it. These are sent out via SMS, and I recently had the option of either getting them to my normal mobile phone or ordering a company Blackberry. Given the intrusive nature of them, I opted for the Blackberry so as to keep them separate from my personal life, despite the obvious attachment to the office at all times.
Of course, with the Blackberry comes more than just another device to receive text messages on, as I can now use it to keep up on my work e-mails when not in the office/at my PC. This I’ve found to be a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand I can read the important messages on my way into the office on the train in the morning, allowing me to hit the ground running when I do actually get to my desk. On the other hand, however, is the bit where the Blackberry gets its “Crackberry” nickname - it’s addictive; the little blinking light telling me that there’s another message for me to read.
Still, I’ve had it for just under two weeks now, and it’s proven useful with keeping on top of work stuff and also having other useful features. As I’ve got the 8800 it has GPS, and combined with Google Maps this can be quite useful for finding places and getting directions when you’re not too sure where you’re going. I’m not going to bother going into the features of the phone, as I’m sure this has been done to death elsewhere on the internet; Google Maps is just one thing that I find myself using occaisionally.
All in all though, as far as devices go it’s pretty good. I’m just having to be careful to stop it slowly taking over most of my life as it starts to weld itself permanently to my hip.
Tags: blackberry, email, mobile communications
Having read Lamby’s blog posting about his troubles with Aria I was reminded of my own similar trouble with eBuyer. This got me thinking about how everyone seems to have had trouble with at least one online retailer’s customer service, and every online retailer that I can think of has someone who’s had trouble with them. Obviously some are worse experiences than others (ranging from Lamby’s case to “they took an hour to answer the phone”) but there’s something in common for all of these cases; they screwed up in the first place.
As a result I’m wondering if it’s worthwhile putting the customer service issue on the back burner to the chances of them screwing up. Afterall, if they don’t screw up you won’t have to deal with the (quite likely) atrocious customer service department…
Taking this further it’s also worth noting that, if the error was with packing or something (as mine was), that the same people who made that error will inevitably end up in the chain for the solution. Hardly ideal, as the chances are possible that they’ll screw up again. Of course, this alone isn’t the best yard stick, but it might just be worthwhile taking it into account.
Tags: aria, customer service, eBuyer, online retailer, problems
… and the Sequel Too Many.
Well, maybe not - that title probably got ditched in the early phases of planning. Either way, yesterday I went to see the fourth Indiana Jones film (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and to be honest it wasn’t great.
It’s 19 years since Indy and his whip last got an outing, and Harrison Ford hasn’t aged too well in the mean time. He really looks old now, and as a result has been given a teenage sidekick for this film… not fantastic in my opinion
Now I’m not going to go into this too much, as I’m aware people will still want to see it, but there were moments of the film that made me go “wha… why?”. Sure, there were also moments that made me smile, and some that were exactly what I was expecting from an Indy film. Unfortunately there was also an over-abundance of CGI and where the previous films might have had some silly moments, this one took the entire pack of biscuits.
All in all it’s not great, and I’m hoping that they don’t make another one. Please. Stop screwing with my childhood film watching; you’ve already got to the Blues Brothers before this… and don’t even think about Back to the Future.
Tags: disappointing, Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, sequels
So, the training I’ve been doing at work has now finished and I’m at the start of my week off. This is the first time I’ve had off work since Christmas, and having been working the silly hours I was working on the project it’s somewhat strange.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite glad for the opportunity to relax and do next to nothing - it’s just somewhat of a shock to the system. I’m used to getting up early (and my body still hasn’t adjusted to the fact that I don’t have to) and then having to go to work, not getting up and pottering around the flat for however long I feel like. I guess part of me still wants to be in work, as I still have a strange urge to check my mail there.
Still, in a week I start with my new team in European Trading Renovation and I’m quite looking forward to it. In the meantime, I suppose I may as well put my feet up and relax.
Tags: holiday, project, training
As mentioned previously I spent a lot of this last weekend working, some of it from home. This is the first time that I’ve really spent time working when not in the office, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Working from home is an interesting experience for a number of reasons. The most obvious is the difference in surroundings, which brings about a whole different mindset. I found that it was a lot more relaxed working at home, and despite the distractions (such as the xbox and my DVD collection) remarkably productive. Perhaps this was because of the lack of other distractions (workmates asking me questions), or perhaps it’s just because I knew I needed to get stuff done.
Due to my desktop being hooked up to my TV, I actually decided to use my EeePC as the thinclient through which I would remote desktop into my machine in the office. This works remarkably well, especially once an external monitor and keyboard are connected, as I’ve just plugged in the Eee, removed the battery, and have a near-silent machine to use for work.
Unfortunately remote desktop, especially over Citrix, isn’t the best thing in the world; especially not for programming. A number of issues seem to be prevalent, especially with modifier keys such as shift. This doesn’t make things particularly easy, although I am getting used to using caps-lock again for writing things where capital letters are required. The latency on the connection isn’t always great either, with a noticeable lag between hitting a key and it appearing on the screen.
Of course being in the office has the advantage that you can more easily communicate with the people you are working with. Sure, I may have listed the lack of distraction from them as an advantage above, but there’s a bigger one in being able to quickly chat with someone and draw a diagram on a bit of paper - as opposed to either trying to describe it over the phone, or find some software to sketch it out on the PC with.
All in all, being able to work from home is a fantastic tool - especially in IT where things can go wrong at any time of night, and getting into the office might not be so easy. Of course, I’m hoping that that I won’t have to do that any time soon, but it’s always a useful ability to have. Admittedly living twenty minutes from the office means that I can get in quite comfortably, and for the majority of situations I’ll prefer to go into the office and use a real machine - if only to get around the aforementioned problems with latency and RDP over Citrix. I’m equally sure, however, that this weekend won’t be the last time I do a decent amount of work from home as something will inevitably come up that will ensure I need to.
Tags: citrix, communication, distractions, eee, remote desktop, working from home
For the last three months, I have been on the training programme at work, which is now coming to an end. As such we have been split into teams to work on projects that would usually take a couple of months to complete, and then given a little under a month to do them in. These projects are no joke, they’re real projects that the business want doing, and can have a real impact on the firm. As a result the pressure truly is on to deliver a working product at the end of it all.
This has resulted in a strange situation for me, where I’ve found that I’ve become addicted to doing the work. I spent the majority of this bank holiday weekend either in the office or working from home, and I have absolutely no problem with this. I even went so far as to be working at 1:30am on Monday morning, purely because I was awake and in the mood to do some work.
Now, some people would see this as being rather wrong, especially as I don’t get paid any overtime for doing this work. On the other hand, I have no problem with it, as I actually enjoy it (especially with the challenges involved in the project) and I knew what I was getting myself into when I applied for the job.
As the project deadline draws ever closer (the code freeze is in less than a week now) I suspect that I’ll spend even more time working on it, striving for perfection; and I have no problem with this. I’m not sure why I’m so keen at the moment, maybe it’s because I’m enjoying the project more because of the pressure, maybe I’ve just gone insane… who knows. All I know is that I’ve got a week off after the project is out of the way, and then I go into my job for the foreseeable future, where I can only hope that I retain the same enthusiasm as I currently have.
Tags: addictiveness, deadline, development, overtime, project, training
After months of hype, people complaining about violent games and stories in the national press about it; last week saw the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Of course, as with most game franchises with numbers in the title, this isn’t actually the fourth in the series but the sixth - and the first not to be a Playstation exclusive upon launch (not including any portable formats).
The hype around the launch, including articles about it heading towards the fastest selling game ever (eclipsing last year’s new record breaker - Halo 3) lead to a lot of people pre-ordering, queues to get the game at midnight and people suggesting that there’d be no chance in hell of getting hold of a copy without a pre-order. Of course, this was all nonsense as I happily walked into a shop at lunchtime on Tuesday and picked up a copy with no problems whatsoever.
Eventually I arrived home and threw the disc into the Xbox, and away I went to Liberty City. For those who aren’t aware, Liberty City is modelled on New York; in a not-very-loose way. The names have been changed, but there’s no mistaking the Statue of Happiness for the Statue of Liberty, or Star Junction for Times Square (especially with the replica of one of the offices at work on it). This resemblance makes the game very interesting, especially having only visited New York within the past couple of months.
So far I haven’t managed to explore too much within the single player, as work has got in the way of playing, but what I have encountered has been good fun. Compared to Vice City, the last GTA game I played, the vehicle handling is much better, and the AI is also very good (with people getting out of their cars and running away if you point a gun at them). Another great new feature is the mobile phone, allowing you to call up your contacts to arrange things, prank call the police, and most crucially - get to the multiplayer.
GTA IV is the first of the GTA games to support multiplayer natively, although previous versions have seen the Multi Theft Auto mods add this to it, and despite it being a new venture for them it seems to work remarkably well. There are a number of different game modes, with different ones being suited to different numbers of players, and my only criticism would be that at times the areas seem a little too large when playing with 8 people.
All in all, GTA IV is one of the best games I’ve played, and with the mass of achievements available and stats being tracked left right and centre, I’m sure that I’ll be playing it for a while yet.
Tags: games, grand theft auto, gta, multiplayer, xbox