redwyre

So, today I got my shiny new 8800GTS, and I decided that maybe this new DX10 stuff (along with my frustrations with XNA) was a good reason to get back into coding and adding a DX10 path to my engine (while retaining DX9, so an exercise in semi-cross platformity).  It’s worth noteing that I wrote most of this engine before I started working, so it hasn’t had much love over the last 4 years.  So, after checking in files, moving libs around, adding libs to dependancies, commenting out code that used and older version of lua and fixing compiler errors, I got it compiling and linking.  It didn’t run though, which I found out was a call to loading the lua io lib which I don’t use, so I commented it out and it actually RAN.

Since it’s the most complete game I have (it was my main demo when I applied to Pandemic), I think I’ll do a bit of work cleaning it up a bit before I start on anything new. I’m thinking of maybe making an RTS, so the tile-based ground might make a good starting point.

Finally got around to wiring up the circuit for the first string of LEDs.  Here’s a first test with the modded web-cam:

I tried beaming it into a piece of glass to test FTIR, but it didn’t seem to work… I’ll have to see if I can get a piece of perspex to try it with.

If you, like my friend, have a tendency to put electronic devices such as mobile phones and audio players through the wash (or other hilarious scenarios) here are some steps to save your device’s life.

First and most important, take out the battery.  The longer the battery is in there, the more damage is done from corrosion.  If the devices has a built-in battery, time is even more important to following the rest of the steps.

Next, the device needs to be dried.  This can be done more effectively by pulling it apart and drying it with a heat gun (or hair dryer).  If you aren’t confident in doing so, you might want to take it to someone who is.  It’s probably a good idea to clean tight spots with some water dispersant so there are no minerals left from evaporating water.  If you can’t take the device apart you could try putting it in a container of something dry like rice to absorb the water, or perhaps a better choice would be to first submerse it in some kind of non-conductive oil or alcohol, or even clean distilled water.  The key is getting the impurities in that water out of the device.

Now if there is any corrosion you will need to remove it, use some water dispersant and scratch it off, making sure you clean it away with the dispersant.

After the device is all dry and clean, put it back together and see if it works.  Hopefully it will!