Let’s make a Mac at Zhongguancun!

I have been talking non-stop about getting a computer just for design work since mid-2008. It’s not that I didn’t have the money to get one—it’s that I didn’t want to spend that money. Were it not for the Intel Atom CPU, I would still just be talking about it.

When I set out to build a new desktop system for design, I wasn’t planning to build a Mac. However, as this is a design machine—and all design software is built for Mac and hacked onto Windows—it made sense to kill the initial Windows 7 install and switch over.

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Looking back at Beggar Prince

I always wanted to make video games when I was a kid. My friends and I designed RPG board games using notebooks and graphing tools. I learned more about programming in high school, and mistakenly selected it as my first university major.

A major in programming does nothing to prepare you for making games, and nearly every graduate dreaming of being paid to make games never gets to.

It was by sheer accident I ended up being called to work on a game—and I’m sure that chaps the collective asses of many would-have-been-colleagues.

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Beijing police have problem with … “Sarks”?

If you live in southeast Beijing and spend all your time staring at graffiti like I do, you may be wondering who the “Sarks” are. They seem to have claimed a wide area including playgrounds, video arcades and hotels.

Is this one a coincidence or spelling error?

“Sarks” sightings:

I’m still waiting to meet Frank.

Frank’s in the backyard of the game arcade, thinking about peace and love.

Portfolio done, opinions?

Photo selection is finished and up. Clips and page designs are up. Still have to work out my rates for freelance editing.

http://derricksobodash.com/

Let me know what you think of it so far. I tried to keep it as minimalist as possible so lazy HR people with ADD will be able to see everything.

I highly recommend not disabling Javascript. This is a portfolio, and that means it is requires a visual medium. I’ll leave the resume-only pages to Gopherspace …

Help me narrow down my photos

Everyone likes to express his opinion, so here’s your chance.

I am attempting to whittle down some of the last three years of photos to prepare a selection for my potfolio. This is not easy, because I have a lot of photos.

Here’s your chance to tell me what you think sucks and what you think rocks. You don’t need to be a professional photographer, because professional photographers are usually not hiring photographers. I am looking for man-on-the-street feedback.

However, I do have a few guidelines. Selections should be interesting, or should have some impact. Don’t simply pick pretty colors, and don’t be caught up in HDR where it is used. Especially if a picture uses HDR (such as those in my HDR set), consider whether the use of HDR really makes it a better picture.

You can look through what I shortlisted at www.flickr.com/photos/dsobodash/sets/72157614832630128/.

Please select 10 to 20 photos you like. You can either reply to the photos on Flickr, or send me a list of Flickr photo IDs. If you look in your URL bar while viewing a photo, you will see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsobodash/3021835268/

That number in bold is the photo’s ID number. Please submit only that piece. If you give the photo names or try to describe them, it could be difficult to find. You can either reply to this post with your list or mail it to derrick (at) cinnamonpirate (circle thingy) com.

Thank you for your time and effort.

Inmate plays most dangerous game, dies

In continuing my great mission to promote cross-cultural understanding and create a harmonious society, I wish to share with my readers one of the first “fun” stories of 2009 in the local media.

Let me tell you the tale of “duo mao mao.”

Our story begins with Li Qiaoming, a 24-year-old resident of Yuxi, Yunnan Province. On January 30, Li was wandering about the fine southern forests when he decided to emulate the American icon Paul Bunyon and engage in some illegal logging. Apparently the sound of gigantic old trees crashing into the forest floor alerted authorities something was up, and the fuzz came to confiscate his flannel and hatchet.

Li was taken to a detainment facility in Jinning, and nine days later he emerged: this time bound for the ER. He died fast, and the doctors said it was due to multiple blows and kicks sustained all over his body.

How did he sustain these fatal blows? By playing the most dangerous game that every proper American parent wants to see banned from elementary school: hide and seek.

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Blame sparse updates on Yeeloong repo

The problem with missing an update is that one you miss one, it’s harder to do the next one. Once you miss two … well, it’s time to give up the Web site.

Well, maybe not that extreme, but I’ve certainly been far more productive than the site would suggest.

First off, I owe a huge apology to Jan Ask, who made a very generous WineLocale donation last month. I have been feeling extremely guilty about not having the beta out yet. Jan, I hope you’ll forgive me for that one.

What happened was my laptop. And then the laptop. And then the Linux group. And then the laptop again.

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Entering dragon land—the Loongson laptop

If you follow any tech blogs or news sites, you’ve probably heard of the Loongson CPU, China’s home-grown processor which is always listed beside some unbelievable technical feats. The chip has been met with skepticism and curiosity mainly because, prior to this month at least, you could not get it.

That was until this month. The laptop I ordered two years ago finally arrived, now in the shape of a netbook bearing the latest Loongson 2F CPU. I’ve spent a week hacking on it, and have come to the conclusion that this is a really fun computer to own. It’s stable, passes the drop test, and is open enough where you can do … basically anything.

This laptop has an open source BIOS based on a souped-up pmon, which allows the user total access to the memory map. If you have the patience, you can go right in there and cause some trouble.

No matter how fun it is, this is not a laptop for regular users, and I believe Lemote is doing itself and incredibly disservice by marketing it as such. At first glance, it looks like something for the trash bin, but that’s until you start hacking.

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Things I should have held for Caturday

Continuing the new series of posts I started last week, here is a second Wallpaper Wednesday. This week, both pictures come from of my collection of stray cats photos I shot in town.

Each wallpaper package is available as a ZIP on my deviantArt page. The packages contains PNG format graphics at 800×480, 1024×600, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200 and 2560×1600.

Windows users may need to enable Web content on their desktop or save the graphics in Microsoft BMP format.

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Good news and bad news

First the good news. I reformatted my computer and tested WineLocale on a fresh install. It works, with one small problem that was anticipated: you do need to go to the Ubuntu language menu and add the languages you wish you use.

Dan and I had talked about this in email, and it was originally suggested that WineLocale add locale support in this way. It’s probably for the best, because it makes WineLocale feel more “integrated.” To save space and download time, you can just add the language’s IME support or something similar from the expander rather than the numerous translation files.

On the down side, I won’t have enough time to get the beta out this week. Work just dropped on us some news that we have to put on a presentation at a company party this Friday, so all my free time must be routed to that project. Sorry for the let-down.

I will be back to work on WineLocale on Saturday, and with any luck will have an early working beta by Sunday or Monday.

I could use more UI localizations. I believe ^Skeud^ may do a French UI file. I’ve received files for Portuguese (Brasil) and Simplified Chinese from gamer_boy and Jacky Waiss. If you want to see WineLocale in your language, translate this file and email it to me.

Please be sure to change the “language=” line to the name for your language in your language. In other words, if you are sending me a Japanese file, it should say “日本語,” not “Japanese.” Credit yourself by writing whatever name you would like to be called in the “translator=” line.

Thanks in advance to anyone who sends in new languages.