Our New Machine, Pandora

[TyBO!]

Fingers crossed for the Saturday post... maybe

If not, Monday'll do, I suppose

We have a snowstorm around here (New England, USA). I just hope it doesn't affect the USPS.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

The US Postal Service totally rocks.

 

[funtasticguy]

I've read most of the 301 pages on this topic, but I don't recall seeing a link to the mobile gaming demos that TI put out for their OMAP 2 and 3 platforms. There are several video demos here (sorry if it's been posted already):

http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbu...contentId=26521

Quite a powerful mobile chip!

 

[Squidge]

Cortex-A8 specifically. It appears that in ARM designs the RAM remains powered, and the CPU is powered but
[blah blah blah]

Don't forget that dynamic voltage and frequency scaling are used too!

I've read most of the 301 pages on this topic, but I don't recall seeing a link to the mobile gaming demos that TI

I assume you mean "I've read most of the 301 pages (assuming default board settings) on this topic, ..."

 

[zaffercharles]

java Jake: here is DeadlyDads post you missed:

Hello, all. I'm new here, but I've been following the GP series with interest pretty much since the beginning, and have some ideas for the Craiginator.

First, a bit of background information: As (probably) most of you know, LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. That is, given voltage, it returns light. What you might not know is that it is also a form of photodiode. That is, given light, it returns voltage. (Here is a simple experiment to demonstrate the principle.) Given that, here are a few ideas for the 'C32X':

• For the A/B/C/X/Y/Z/L1/L2/R1/R2/etc. buttons, have a single LED in the center of each group with a 45° conical mirror/prism above it, so that its light is reflected to all of the buttons. Each button would then have a 45° mirror/prism that would reflect the light down onto a receiving LED. As a button is pressed, the light received by the LED would change, effectively making each button fully analogue. (The actual amount of light doesn't really matter; only the relative change. Extra, scattered light will give each button an attractive backlight. To that end, the 'mirror/prism' probably wouldn't have to be anything more than the clear plastic that the button is made of being formed at the proper angle. If necessary, a dab of chrome paint on each surface would be perfect.)
• For the 'trigger' buttons (i.e. L1/L2/R1/R2) that would sit on the back side of the unit, an actual button isn't even really needed. An emitter/detector pair for each button (or a common LED with mirrors/prisms to reflect the light out) would basically measure the light reflected by your finger tip, making them analogue as well. (An indent/outdent <sic> to help with locating the buttons by feel would help.) It also wouldn't be hard to design a flap that would swing out from the back to both put the trigger buttons at the proper angle and act as a prop for the unit when used in other modes.
• For the directional control(s), a disc seems the best way to go, using a 45° conical mirror/prism in the cup holding the hub of the disc, and the outside edges beveled to 45°, with a circle of receiving LEDs (4/8/???) around the edge. By determining the voltage ratio between LEDs you can also tell the position of the depressed disc edge, giving you full analogue positioning. In fact, you can even tell how much the edge has been depressed. As a bonus, it will work very well to emulate a shuttle/click-wheel.
• One of the benefits of this system is the lower cost as compared to regular buttons/pots/etc. Low-power LEDs and resistors are very inexpensive, and have a life expectancy that would probably exceed that of the system itself, especially if driven with minimal current and a low pulse rate.
• Another benefit is lower maintenance. Standard pads can wear out or get dirty, and are a pain to fix/clean. With this system, the only moving parts are the plastic buttons/discs and their springs, and, by having the casing include a clear plastic 'well' at each location, the whole system can be made completely water & dust proof. (I would have a paperclip-sized pair of holes on each side of the buttons/discs, so that they can be popped out for cleaning.)
• Having a receiver somewhere near the screen to measure ambient light would be handy, as you can use that feedback to set the screen brightness to maximize battery life.

So does that sound feasible?

 

[atomicthumbs]

Waitwaitwait. PowerVR supports OpenVG, which supports SVG - does that mean that instead of sprites, we'll be able to use vector graphics in games for seamless rotation and scaling?

 

[imec]

Waitwaitwait. PowerVR supports OpenVG, which supports SVG - does that mean that instead of sprites, we'll be able to use vector graphics in games for seamless rotation and scaling?


That's a ten-four bobby.

 

[Squidge]

why did zaffercharles just quote someone in there entirety and not add anything himself?

 

[zaffercharles]

For the sake of JavaJake, he asked for the post. Not a problem, is it? I hope not.

 

[God Ginrai]

For the sake of JavaJake, he asked for the post. Not a problem, is it? I hope not.

It's not a problem, but you should kindof let him know that's what you're doing. you know, some sort of one-liner like: "Here's that post I was talking about" or "Here, I quoted that post you asked for"

-God Ginrai

 

[javaJake]

It's not a problem, but you should kindof let him know that's what you're doing. you know, some sort of one-liner like: "Here's that post I was talking about" or "Here, I quoted that post you asked for"

-God Ginrai



I was perfectly fine, but thanks anyway!

 

[zaffercharles]

Edited. Sorry :rolleyes:

 

[DeadlyDad]

DeadlyDad- that sounds amazing bud, but I think that it is already finalized now unfortunately.

<SIGH> Ah, the burden of being a genius of my caliber. There are so many projects for my corpulent cranium to attend to that I simply don't have the time to rescue all of them from their self-induced deficiencies. Their unwillingness to immediately put their paltry projects on hold to implement my vision demonstrates decisively how limited their vision is.

I'm surprised no-one else has commented on your post yet

'Tis clear that they are is such a sorry state of chagrin over missing such an obvious thing as to be quite speechless. Sad, really.
Unlike them, however, you at least have the intellectual prowess to have overcome your awe at my profound pronouncements and give me my well deserved due. Bravo!

Welcome in by the way

Thank you, my friend. I aspire, in my own humble, self-effacing way, to aid those intellectually less fortunate than myself in lifting themselves out of the morass of moronicity that is the sad legacy of public education's reprehensible retreat from attention assuring corporal punishment.

 

[imec]

Man, do I ever hate talking buttholes. But hey, I suppose buttholes are people too, maybe they will start classifying balloon ends as people also? h34r: (the ninja has the profound ability to halt all flaming. If you do actually attempt to flame, everyone you love will surely die)

 

[kfuse]

Well anyways hope we can get back on topic here...

 

[naples39]

Well anyways hope we can get back on topic here...

I'm sure once people get their packages from craig there will be plenty things of actual substance to discuss.

 

[atomicthumbs]

If you do actually attempt to flame, everyone you love will surely die

In a fire. How ironic!

 

[___]

@DeadlyDad: It was ignored because we have discussed lit buttons to length before. We have come to the conclusion that it is mostly unnecessary and too expensive as the production of translucent buttons really is a bit complicated. Also the keyboard would be more fragile this way... there is pages of information buried somewhere in this thread but I am too lazy to have a look for them right now. Essentially your ideas are great but we prefer to waste our intellectual talent with mindless chatter and flaming... SO GET USED TO IT!!! Nah... just kidding. God I am sooo drunk right now.

EDIT: Corrected spelling for the sake of my reputation ^^.

 

[atomicthumbs]

@DeadlyDad: It was ignorde because we have discussed lit buttons to length bfore. We have come to the conclusion that it is mostly unnecessary and too expensive asd the production of translucent buttons really is a bit complicated. Also the keyboard would be more fragile this way... there is pages of information burried somewhere in this tharead but I am too lazy to have a look for them right now. Essentially your ideas are great but we prefer to waste our intellectual talent with mindless chatter and flaming... SO GET USED TO IT!!! Nah... just kidding.

That was one of the most badly spelled posts I've seen in a while.

God I am sooo drunk ritght now.

Ah.

 

[A_SN]

Waitwaitwait. PowerVR supports OpenVG, which supports SVG - does that mean that instead of sprites, we'll be able to use vector graphics in games for seamless rotation and scaling?

You could already do that, if you knew how to code.

<SIGH> Ah, the burden of being a genius of my caliber. There are so many projects for my corpulent cranium to attend to that I simply don't have the time to rescue all of them from their self-induced deficiencies. Their unwillingness to immediately put their paltry projects on hold to implement my vision demonstrates decisively how limited their vision blah blah blah...

Hey, is that guy trying to impersonate me??

 

[StealthBagel]

Yep should be sending them out in the morning. I'll explain why there was such a delay at the weekend.

Great, now some of my patience evaporated. XD

No, but hearing from you is great, craigix! Can't wait for the morning! Woohoo!

Not singling you out, but it seems like people on this forum have forgotten that snail mail does not arrive the moment the sender mails it out. A bit different from e-mail, as much as it might have spoiled us all. :rolleyes: I'll expect something in the mail in January...

At any rate Craig only said he'd say why there was such a delay this weekend and not necessarily anything else... don't get your hopes up. And we've heard "this weekend" claims for a couple months now.....

Honestly this thread should be closed and a subforum created. Real news should be posted in a topic others can't reply to and fuck it up. This whole thread as a whole is ther equivalent of a rotting whale on the beach and what useful info can be gleaned from it would scarcely fill a thimble.....

Once this thing has a NAME maybe there can be a damn dedicated forum like XGP had and this whole carnival of idiocy can end. So when a topic spirals out of control into discussion of the migratory habits of arctic seals it can be isolated and removed not like this monstrosity.