It's been a while since my last post. The reason is quite simple I've had my focus somewhere else. Late december 2009 my wife gave birth to our daughter and since then I've spent most of my free time with my two girls.
Anyway I'm still alive and both new and old projects are in the pipeline, however as of now there's simply not enough time to get things flowing again.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Super simple rsync howto
This little howto contains pretty much everything you need to use rsync to back up and or synchronize two folders locally. I decided to do this writeup after after reading this article on lifehacker. I wasn't completely satisfied with the article so I did some digging to get the answers I needed. I know there's alot of rsync tutorials out there but I wrote this for my own personal use and also I tried to keep it as short as possible while explaining what's being done.
Oh, by the way rsync is really powerful and this only scratches the surface of what rsync can do. But you don't need more info to do local back ups.
Syntax:
rsync -options /source /destination
Compare two folders
This command uses the "-v" and "-n" option to do nothing. Instead rsync prints out what would have been copied from a source folder to a destination folder. To delete files from the destination folder see notes on "--delete" below.
rsync -rvn /source /destination
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-n, --dry-run perform a trial run with no changes made
Back up one folder to another
This is all you need to back up a source directory to a destination directory. If unsure try it out with the "-n" dry run option first. To delete files from the destination folder see notes on "--delete" below.
rsync -av /source /destination
-a, --archive archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
-p, --perms preserve permissions
-t, --times preserve modification times
-g, --group preserve group
-o, --owner preserve owner (super-user only)
-D same as --devices --specials
--devices preserve device files (super-user only)
--specials preserve special files
Additional tips n tricks
Test with the "dry run" -n option first to see what files would be deleted and copied.
-n, --dry-run perform a trial run with no changes made
Delete files in the destination folder that does not exist in the source folder.
--delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
Exclude files that you don't need for instance system files.
--exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
example: --exclude '.DS_Store'
Compress files during transfer to save bandwidth
-z, --compress compress file data during the transfer
Credits
Oh, by the way rsync is really powerful and this only scratches the surface of what rsync can do. But you don't need more info to do local back ups.
Syntax:
rsync -options /source /destination
Compare two folders
This command uses the "-v" and "-n" option to do nothing. Instead rsync prints out what would have been copied from a source folder to a destination folder. To delete files from the destination folder see notes on "--delete" below.
rsync -rvn /source /destination
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-v, --verbose increase verbosity
-n, --dry-run perform a trial run with no changes made
Back up one folder to another
This is all you need to back up a source directory to a destination directory. If unsure try it out with the "-n" dry run option first. To delete files from the destination folder see notes on "--delete" below.
rsync -av /source /destination
-a, --archive archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
-r, --recursive recurse into directories
-l, --links copy symlinks as symlinks
-p, --perms preserve permissions
-t, --times preserve modification times
-g, --group preserve group
-o, --owner preserve owner (super-user only)
-D same as --devices --specials
--devices preserve device files (super-user only)
--specials preserve special files
Additional tips n tricks
Test with the "dry run" -n option first to see what files would be deleted and copied.
-n, --dry-run perform a trial run with no changes made
Delete files in the destination folder that does not exist in the source folder.
--delete delete extraneous files from dest dirs
Exclude files that you don't need for instance system files.
--exclude=PATTERN exclude files matching PATTERN
example: --exclude '.DS_Store'
Compress files during transfer to save bandwidth
-z, --compress compress file data during the transfer
Credits
rsync - man page
lifehacker.com - Geek to Live: Mirror files across systems with rsync
techgage.com - Backing Up Your Linux
Working with files and folders that has spaces in their names
I was in OSX's terminal yesterday trying to cd into a folder with a space in the name. That usually works really well with tab-completion but in the same place in the directory tree there were another folder with the same name but without the space.
Here's a little illustration to clarify what I just wrote.
root--+
|
+--Folder1
+--Folder1 With Space
So I want to cd into "Folder1 With Space" but I can't use tab-completion or type:
cd Folder1 With Space
However I can use \ as the escape character:
cd Folder1\ With\ Space
I can also use quotes, 'normal' or "double" (useful if the folder uses either one in it's name).
cd 'Folder1 With Space'
cd "Folder1 With Space"
Although I haven't tried it I'm pretty sure this works in any *nix terminal.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Arduino game: Zombie Showdown with graphics
Shortly after I wrote a post about Zombie Showdown at the Arduino forum, Bart had a suggestion on how the game could evolve with graphics. My original idea wasn't really to make a game with graphics but rather with physical input and feedback, but I admit I got a bit tempted to try graphics out. But before I got around to, Bart did. Here's the result of my game with Barts graphics.
Attacking Zombie!
Killed Zombie.
Gameplay video.
/*
Zombie Showdown
By Markus Ulfberg 2010-01-12
'Graphics' ;) added by Bart Lammers 2010-01-22
More Arduino stuff and future updates of Zombie Showdown at:
http://genericnerd.blogspot.com
Description:
A small game using an 16x2 LCD and a pushbutton.
The game presents a start screen and awaits player input.
If the player presses the button the game starts.
After a random number of milliseconds a Zombie will
appear. It will have a random strenght of 1-5.
The strenght of the Zombie is equal to how many
buttonpresses it takes to kill it.
If the player fails to kill the Zombie within a random
timeframe the Zombie will kill the player.
If the player manages to kill the Zombie the game will
continue and a new Zombie will soon attack.
When the player dies a Game Over screen is presented
also displaying the score of the player.
There is no "beating" this game since in the Zombie apocalypse
eventually everyone will die.
Planned expansion:
1. Use a vibrator to signal Zombie attack.
2. Use randomizer to make
Credits:
This game uses example code from
Debounce and the LiquidCrystal library.
*/
// include the library code:
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);
// Set the text strings used in the game
char* gameText[]={"Zombie Showdown",// 0 Title
"Kill to Start", // 1
"Let's go!", // 2
"Zombie!!!", // 3
"You killed it.", // 4
"You are dead.", // 5
"Game Over", // 6
"Score: " // 7
};
// Custom characters for the zombie graphics
byte zombie_head[8] = {
B00000,
B00110,
B01111,
B11101,
B11111,
B11100,
B11011,
B11110,
};
byte zombie_body[8] = {
B11100,
B11111,
B11111,
B11100,
B11100,
B11100,
B11100,
B11100,
};
byte zombie_arm[8] = {
B00000,
B11110,
B11111,
B00001,
B00000,
B00000,
B00000,
B00000,
};
byte zombie_head_expl[8] = {
B00000,
B00000,
B00000,
B00000,
B00000,
B01000,
B11011,
B11110,
};
// Button variables
const int buttonPin = 2;
// Two values for debounceing
int buttonState;
int lastButtonState = LOW;
// the following variables are long's because the time, measured in miliseconds,
// will quickly become a bigger number than can be stored in an int.
long lastDebounceTime = 0; // the last time the output pin was toggled
long debounceDelay = 50; // the debounce time; increase if the output flickers
// Stores value of button 1 = pressed 0 = released
int buttonPress = 0;
// Title screen blink variables
long lastBlinkTime = 0;
long blinkDelay = 500;
int blinkState = 0;
// Gameplay variables
// Zombie health a random number between 1 and 5
int zombie;
// Time since last zombie apperance
long lastZombieTime = 0;
// Randomizes between each zombie
// Timer for next zombie apperance
// a random number between 200 ms and 20 000 ms
long zombieDelay;
// Randomizes between each zombie
// Countdown timer for zombie bite
// a random number between 2 000 ms and 7 000 ms
long zombieBite;
// Status of zombie apperance 1 = zombie 0 = no zombie
int zombieState = 0;
// Total steps the zombie can take
int zombieSteps = 15;
int zombiePosition = 0;
int zombieLastPosition = 0;
int zombieSpeed = 0;
// Status of player 1 = alive 0 = dead
int playerAlive = 1;
// gameRun sets start screen or runs the game
int gameRun = 0;
// Score
int score = 0;
void setup() {
// set up the LCD's number of rows and columns:
lcd.begin(16, 2);
// DEBUG ONLY
Serial.begin(9600);
// Set up the button
pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
// Use unconnected analog input pin
// to generate a random seed for the random generator
randomSeed(analogRead(0));
// Generate zombie characters
lcd.createChar(0, zombie_head);
lcd.createChar(1, zombie_body);
lcd.createChar(2, zombie_arm);
lcd.createChar(3, zombie_head_expl);
// The timeframe where a new Zombie appears
// this first Zombie will have a shorter random time frame
zombieDelay = random(200,10000);
// The timeframe for the first zombie bite
zombieBite = random(2000,7000);
setZombieSpeed();
}
void loop() {
// Start sequence
gameStart();
// Gameplay
gameExecute();
// GameOver
gameOver();
} // loop end
void gameStart() {
while (gameRun == 0) {
// Set the cursor
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// print the name of the game
lcd.print(gameText[0]);
// Pause for blink
if ((millis() - lastBlinkTime) > blinkDelay) {
// If blinkState is OFF turn it ON
if (blinkState == 0) {
// Clear the LCD and set the cursor
lcd.clear();
// move the cursor down
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
// print the blinking text
lcd.print(gameText[1]);
// Set the cursor for non blinking text
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// since blink cleared the whole LCD
// we need print the name of the game again
lcd.print(gameText[0]);
// set blinkState to ON
blinkState = 1;
// If blinkState is OFF turn it ON
} else {
// Clear the LCD and set the cursor
lcd.clear();
// Set the cursor for non blinking text
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// print the name of the game
lcd.print(gameText[0]);
// Set blink to OFF
blinkState = 0;
} // END: else
// store the new blink time
lastBlinkTime = millis();
} // END: if ((millis() - lastBlinkTime) > blinkDelay)
// Check if button is pressed
if (button() == 1) {
// If so start the game
gameRun = 1;
playerAlive = 1;
// reset score
score = 0;
} // END: if (button() == 1)
} // END: while game start
} // END: void gameStart
void gameExecute() {
// check wether button is pushed to run game
while (gameRun == 1) {
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(gameText[2]);
// small delay to get ready
delay(2000);
// Check if a zombie is here
if (zombieState == 1) {
// tell the player that a zombie is here
lcd.clear();
// lcd.print(gameText[3]);
// Put the zombie in position 0;
drawZombie();
// Set the strenght and speed of of the zombie
zombie = random(1,5);
// Resets the zombie timer
// this one is for the speed of which the zombie attacks
lastZombieTime = millis();
// The action part
while (zombie > 0) {
// Find out where the zombie has to stand
zombiePosition = ((millis() - lastZombieTime) / zombieSpeed);
if (zombiePosition != zombieLastPosition) {
// If it moved, redraw
zombieLastPosition = zombiePosition;
drawZombie();
}
/* // DEBUG
Serial.print("Str: ");
Serial.print(zombie, DEC);
Serial.print(" Time: ");
Serial.print(zombieBite);
Serial.print(" Bite: ");
Serial.println((millis() - lastZombieTime));
*/ // END: DEBUG
// Check if button is pressed
if (button() == 1) {
// If so remove 1 health from zombie
zombie--;
}
// check if the zombie bites
if ((millis() - lastZombieTime) > zombieBite) {
// player is bitten and killed
// Print information on death
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(gameText[5]);
delay(2000);
// Make sure all loops are exited
gameRun = 0;
zombie = 0;
}
} // END: while zombie > 0
// Add score, first check if the zombie was killed or
// it was the player who died and zombie was just reset
if (gameRun == 1) {
// The zombie was killed
zombieState = 0;
// Add to the players score
score++;
//lcd.clear();
// Print information of kill
//lcd.print(gameText[4]);
lcd.setCursor(zombiePosition,0);
lcd.write(3);
// Pause for a while
delay(1000);
}
} else { // END: if Zombie State and Start else
// zombieState is 0 check if enough time
// has passed since last zombie
if ((millis() - lastZombieTime) > zombieDelay) {
// A new zombie is here
zombieState = 1;
// reset random zombieDelay
zombieDelay = random(200,2000);
// reset random zombieBite time;
zombieBite = random(2000,7000);
setZombieSpeed();
// reset position
zombiePosition = 0;
zombieLastPosition = 0;
} // END: if ((millis() - lastZombieTime) > zombieDelay)
} // END: else
} // END: while game run
} // END: gameExecute
// Calculate the zombie speed, how many ms per step?
void setZombieSpeed() {
zombieSpeed = zombieBite / zombieSteps;
}
// Draw the zombie on the screen in the correct position
void drawZombie() {
lcd.clear();
lcd.setCursor(zombiePosition,0);
lcd.write(0);
lcd.setCursor(zombiePosition,1);
lcd.write(1);
lcd.setCursor(zombiePosition+1,1);
lcd.write(2);
}
int button() {
// read the state of the switch into a local variable:
int reading = digitalRead(buttonPin);
// check to see if you just pressed the button
// (i.e. the input went from LOW to HIGH), and you've waited
// long enough since the last press to ignore any noise:
// If the switch changed, due to noise or pressing:
if (reading != lastButtonState) {
// reset the debouncing timer
lastDebounceTime = millis();
}
if ((millis() - lastDebounceTime) > debounceDelay) {
// whatever the reading is at, it's been there for longer
// than the debounce delay, so take it as the actual current state:
buttonState = reading;
// If button is pressed down
if (buttonState == HIGH) {
// store the state of the button
buttonPress = 1;
}
// If button is up ...
if (buttonState == LOW) {
// ... and was just down i.e released
if (buttonPress == 1) {
// Store the new state of the button
buttonPress = 0;
// also save the reading since we terminate in the next step
lastButtonState = reading;
// Terminate the button() function and return
// a positive button press
return 1;
}
} // END: If buttonState == LOW
} // END: If millis...
// save the reading. Next time through the loop,
// it'll be the lastButtonState:
lastButtonState = reading;
} // END: void button()
void gameOver() {
lcd.clear();
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// Print Game Over
lcd.print(gameText[6]);
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
// Print Score
lcd.print(gameText[7]);
lcd.print(score);
// Pause for a while
delay(4000);
}
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Arduino game: Zombie Showdown
I recently bought a 16x2 LCD from Adafruit and decided to make a small Zombie survival game as my first project.
The hardware is just the LCD hooked up according to instructions on the LCD product page and a push-button with a pull-down resistor like the one in this tutorial.
Here are som pictures and a movie from the project:
Title screen of Zombie Showdown
Entire hardware set up
Gameplay
Download the source code or read it below.
Formatted for Blogger with: formatmysourcecode.blogspot.com.
/*
Zombie Showdown
By Markus Ulfberg 2010-01-12
More Arduino stuff and future updates of Zombie Showdown at:
http://genericnerd.blogspot.com
Description:
A small game using an 16x2 LCD and a pushbutton.
The game presents a start screen and awaits player input.
If the player presses the button the game starts.
After a random number of milliseconds a Zombie will
appear. It will have a random strenght of 1-5.
The strenght of the Zombie is equal to how many
buttonpresses it takes to kill it.
If the player fails to kill the Zombie within a random
timeframe the Zombie will kill the player.
If the player manages to kill the Zombie the game will
continue and a new Zombie will soon attack.
When the player dies a Game Over screen is presented
also displaying the score of the player.
There is no "beating" this game since in the Zombie apocalypse
eventually everyone will die.
Planned expansion:
1. Use a vibrator to signal Zombie attack.
2. Use randomizer to make
Credits:
This game uses example code from
Debounce and the LiquidCrystal library.
*/
// include the library code:
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);
// Set the text strings used in the game
char* gameText[]={"Zombie Showdown",// 0 Title
"Kill to Start", // 1
"Let's go!", // 2
"Zombie!!!", // 3
"You killed it.", // 4
"You are dead.", // 5
"Game Over", // 6
"Score: " // 7
};
// Button variables
const int buttonPin = 2;
// Two values for debounceing
int buttonState;
int lastButtonState = LOW;
// the following variables are long's because the time, measured in miliseconds,
// will quickly become a bigger number than can be stored in an int.
long lastDebounceTime = 0; // the last time the output pin was toggled
long debounceDelay = 50; // the debounce time; increase if the output flickers
// Stores value of button 1 = pressed 0 = released
int buttonPress = 0;
// Title screen blink variables
long lastBlinkTime = 0;
long blinkDelay = 500;
int blinkState = 0;
// Gameplay variables
// Zombie health a random number between 1 and 5
int zombie;
// Time since last zombie apperance
long lastZombieTime = 0;
// Randomizes between each zombie
// Timer for next zombie apperance
// a random number between 200 ms and 20 000 ms
long zombieDelay;
// Randomizes between each zombie
// Countdown timer for zombie bite
// a random number between 2 000 ms and 7 000 ms
long zombieBite;
// Status of zombie apperance 1 = zombie 0 = no zombie
int zombieState = 0;
// Status of player 1 = alive 0 = dead
int playerAlive = 1;
// gameRun sets start screen or runs the game
int gameRun = 0;
// Score
int score = 0;
void setup() {
// set up the LCD's number of rows and columns:
lcd.begin(16, 2);
// DEBUG ONLY
Serial.begin(9600);
// Set up the button
pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
// Use unconnected analog input pin
// to generate a random seed for the random generator
randomSeed(analogRead(0));
// The timeframe where a new Zombie appears
// this first Zombie will have a shorter random time frame
zombieDelay = random(200,10000);
// The timeframe for the first zombie bite
zombieBite = random(2000,7000);
}
void loop() {
// Start sequence
gameStart();
// Gameplay
gameExecute();
// GameOver
gameOver();
} // loop end
void gameStart() {
while (gameRun == 0) {
// Set the cursor
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// print the name of the game
lcd.print(gameText[0]);
// Pause for blink
if ((millis() - lastBlinkTime) > blinkDelay) {
// If blinkState is OFF turn it ON
if (blinkState == 0) {
// Clear the LCD and set the cursor
lcd.clear();
// move the cursor down
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
// print the blinking text
lcd.print(gameText[1]);
// Set the cursor for non blinking text
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// since blink cleared the whole LCD
// we need print the name of the game again
lcd.print(gameText[0]);
// set blinkState to ON
blinkState = 1;
// If blinkState is OFF turn it ON
} else {
// Clear the LCD and set the cursor
lcd.clear();
// Set the cursor for non blinking text
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// print the name of the game
lcd.print(gameText[0]);
// Set blink to OFF
blinkState = 0;
} // END: else
// store the new blink time
lastBlinkTime = millis();
} // END: if ((millis() - lastBlinkTime) > blinkDelay)
// Check if button is pressed
if (button() == 1) {
// If so start the game
gameRun = 1;
playerAlive = 1;
// reset score
score = 0;
} // END: if (button() == 1)
} // END: while game start
} // END: void gameStart
void gameExecute() {
// check wether button is pushed to run game
while (gameRun == 1) {
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(gameText[2]);
// small delay to get ready
delay(2000);
// Check if a zombie is here
if (zombieState == 1) {
// tell the player that a zombie is here
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(gameText[3]);
// Set the strenght and speed of of the zombie
zombie = random(1,5);
// Resets the zombie timer
// this one is for the speed of which the zombie attacks
lastZombieTime = millis();
// The action part
while (zombie > 0) {
/* // DEBUG
Serial.print("Str: ");
Serial.print(zombie, DEC);
Serial.print(" Time: ");
Serial.print(zombieBite);
Serial.print(" Bite: ");
Serial.println((millis() - lastZombieTime));
*/ // END: DEBUG
// Check if button is pressed
if (button() == 1) {
// If so remove 1 health from zombie
zombie--;
}
// check if the zombie bites
if ((millis() - lastZombieTime) > zombieBite) {
// player is bitten and killed
// Print information on death
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(gameText[5]);
delay(2000);
// Make sure all loops are exited
gameRun = 0;
zombie = 0;
}
} // END: while zombie > 0
// Add score, first check if the zombie was killed or
// it was the player who died and zombie was just reset
if (gameRun == 1) {
// The zombie was killed
zombieState = 0;
// Add to the players score
score++;
lcd.clear();
// Print information of kill
lcd.print(gameText[4]);
// Pause for a while
delay(1000);
}
} else { // END: if Zombie State and Start else
// zombieState is 0 check if enough time
// has passed since last zombie
if ((millis() - lastZombieTime) > zombieDelay) {
// A new zombie is here
zombieState = 1;
// reset random zombieDelay
zombieDelay = random(200,2000);
// reset random zombieBite time;
zombieBite = random(2000,7000);
} // END: if ((millis() - lastZombieTime) > zombieDelay)
} // END: else
} // END: while game run
} // END: gameExecute
int button() {
// read the state of the switch into a local variable:
int reading = digitalRead(buttonPin);
// check to see if you just pressed the button
// (i.e. the input went from LOW to HIGH), and you've waited
// long enough since the last press to ignore any noise:
// If the switch changed, due to noise or pressing:
if (reading != lastButtonState) {
// reset the debouncing timer
lastDebounceTime = millis();
}
if ((millis() - lastDebounceTime) > debounceDelay) {
// whatever the reading is at, it's been there for longer
// than the debounce delay, so take it as the actual current state:
buttonState = reading;
// If button is pressed down
if (buttonState == HIGH) {
// store the state of the button
buttonPress = 1;
}
// If button is up ...
if (buttonState == LOW) {
// ... and was just down i.e released
if (buttonPress == 1) {
// Store the new state of the button
buttonPress = 0;
// also save the reading since we terminate in the next step
lastButtonState = reading;
// Terminate the button() function and return
// a positive button press
return 1;
}
} // END: If buttonState == LOW
} // END: If millis...
// save the reading. Next time through the loop,
// it'll be the lastButtonState:
lastButtonState = reading;
} // END: void button()
void gameOver() {
lcd.clear();
lcd.setCursor(0,0);
// Print Game Over
lcd.print(gameText[6]);
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
// Print Score
lcd.print(gameText[7]);
lcd.print(score);
// Pause for a while
delay(4000);
}
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
How to start Kazehakase in full screen mode
The long story:
I've been thinking about changing my Digital Picture Frame / Twitter frame to use/be browser instead. Partly to be able to get a useful outlet while practicing PHP-coding but also to be able to use services such as Twitter and Tom Scotts Star Wars weather.
My browser of choice is Kazehakase, a small foot print browser that can use either the Webkit or the Gecko rendering engine. It can handle alot more than Dillo but uses way less resources than Firefox. I found out about Kazehakase while reading the blog of K. Mandla.
However there is a problem. Kazehakase is not a very well documented browser. In it's manual there is a reference to using "Actions" with the browser, but the actions themselves aren't documented. Luckily enough I found out how to start Kazehakase in full screen mode by some trial and error.
The short story:
kazehakase -a "ToggleFullScreen" your_url_here
I've been thinking about changing my Digital Picture Frame / Twitter frame to use/be browser instead. Partly to be able to get a useful outlet while practicing PHP-coding but also to be able to use services such as Twitter and Tom Scotts Star Wars weather.
My browser of choice is Kazehakase, a small foot print browser that can use either the Webkit or the Gecko rendering engine. It can handle alot more than Dillo but uses way less resources than Firefox. I found out about Kazehakase while reading the blog of K. Mandla.
However there is a problem. Kazehakase is not a very well documented browser. In it's manual there is a reference to using "Actions" with the browser, but the actions themselves aren't documented. Luckily enough I found out how to start Kazehakase in full screen mode by some trial and error.
The short story:
kazehakase -a "ToggleFullScreen" your_url_here
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