Chris’ Blog about Stuff… ( )

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a package for Windows Vista/Windows 7 that will enable pIqaD (Klingon writing) support throughout the operating system.

I have created a new Klingon local, a pIqaD keyboard layout, a Unicode pIqaD font and a registry script to link the font into the system. This package enables pIqaD to be used in any unicode aware application without having to make specific font changes. Check out these screen shots:

You can download this package right here: pIqaD Installer

Installing this should also enable the language bar so you can switch to the Klingon keyboard (it’s called OL in the language bar, MS won’t let you change everything). If you download this package and try it out, please comment on this thread and let me know if you’re successful or if you have any errors.

DISCLAIMER: While I’m 99% sure this won’t do anything harmful to your system, it is a “beta” version. If you do decide to install it and your PC blows up or something else happens, please don’t send me death threats. I will try and help in anyway I can, but somethings are beyond my control.

If your using Windows XP and want to add pIqaD support, check out this post on the Klingon Language Institutes Wiki (also by me).

   <- Once the font is installed you should be able to read this too.

My Klingon PADD theme has been uploaded to the Maemo extras repository. It can be installed on a NIT by going to http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/qurgh-complete/ on the device and clicking on install.

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Qapla’!

I have created a Klingon theme for S2U2, a slide2unlock app for Windows mobile devices.

The pIqaD numbers are correct and actually work really well for the clock. You can get S2U2 from the S2U2 Homepage. Once it’s installed the theme can override the S2U2 graphics files.

Download Klingon.zip (For QVGA devices (240×320))
Download KlingonVGA.zip (For VGA devices (480×640))

You’ll need to make sure these S2U2 settings are right:
Date Format: Option 1
Time Format: Option 1
Clock Font Folder: clock\

Checkout this thread over at The Klingon Empire forum for full instructions.

Qapla’!

I posted this on the ubuntu forum too, but here it is too:

I figured out how to change the “Applications”, “Places” and “System” titles in the gnome-panel. Basically you have to create a new translation file for those words and put it in en_US. If you aren’t using the US local, you can add/change the gnome-panel-*.mo file to whatever you want it to be.

For en_US people here’s the steps.

1) Make a new text file which has something like this in it:

Code:

msgid ""
msgstr ""
"Project-Id-Version: gnome-panel trunk\n"
"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
"POT-Creation-Date: 2008-05-26 00:59+0000\n"
"PO-Revision-Date: 2008-05-26 00:59+0000\n"
"Last-Translator: YOUR NAMR\n"
"Language-Team: None\n"
"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
"Plural-Forms: nplurals=1; plural=0;\n"
"X-Launchpad-Export-Date: 2008-04-16 01:47+0000\n"
"X-Generator: Launchpad (build Unknown)\n"

msgid "Applications"
msgstr "YOUR NAME FOR APPLICATIONS"

msgid "Places"
msgstr "YOUR NAME FOR PLACES"

msgid "System"
msgstr "YOUR NAME FOR SYSTEM"

2) In a terminal run “msgfmt THE-FILENAME-OF-THE-TEXT-FILE”

3) Then run “sudo mv messages.mo /usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/gnome-panel-2.0.mo”

4) Then run “pkill gnome-panel” and it’ll work.

Here’s a screen shot to show some changes:

Morning all. Well I finally got a N810 internet tablet yesterday. It’s a really nice little device that can do a hell of a lot for not much money. I can even post blogs from it, like this one.

Once I have played with it for a while I’ll give a more indept review of it.

… if things will end up like this:

And it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it did.

I bought one of these sweet looking devices about a week and a half ago. At first I thought it was wonderful, but as I began to use it more and more I realised that it was severly underpowered and wouldn’t be able to handle what I wanted it to do. Quickly I was using it as an extremely expensive MP3 player. So I decided I’m going to send it back. It’s not worth the money and it will never be able to do what I need it to do.

So what am I going to do instead? Well, first I got a Zune. It’s an 80gb MP3 player for less than many others. So that’s all my MP3 functions taken care of. Next I need to deal with the “anywhere Internet” part of the device. For that I’m going to get a Nokia N810. It’s half the price of the Samsung and does everything I want it to. It’s also running Linux so I can hack the hell out of it.

So, in a few weeks I should be doing a review of the N810.

I’ve been keeping my eyes out for information on Multi-Touch interfaces and I just stumbled upon a new video from Johnny Lee. It’s amazing what he has managed to do and it looks so simple I think I’m going to give it a shot too. I have the projector and a ton of Wiimotes, all I will need to do is build the pens.

Have a watch of this video to see what I’m talking about:

Well I tried it out but it lags far to much to be of any use on this device. Maybe if I upgrade I’ll be able to use it; but that won’t be for a long time. Going back to XP may work too,  but I so much prefer the Vista TIP. If there is a way to get the floating tip working on a the Samsung Q1b under XP I would love to know.

For now I’ll stick to normal text. it’s probably better that way, and at least you’ll  be able to read it.

I’ll be posting more about my journey with this device soon. Suffice to say that I’ve change OS’s at least 6 times since it arrived last Wednesday. I think I like to tinker to much.

Happy Boxing day.

It’s the day after Chritmas and I get to play with my new toys. I got a new 430W PSU, a SATA raid card, a 500GB drive and some other bits and bobs. After getting all that installed my desktop machine now has more than 1.5TB of local storage (if I include the SAN it’s over 2TB, but that thing is slow so I can’t install apps to it).

At some point I’m going to pull the 200GB drive and replace it with a 500GB one. The PSU will only power 4 SATA drives though while I have enough SATA controllers for 6 (2 on the MB, 4 on the RAID card). As the 750GB drives get cheaper though, I’m sure 4 will be fine for a few years.

My only fear is drive failure now. Mirroring maybe an option, but I’m basically going to have to give up one drives. That may happen in the future, but it’ll have to be with bigger drives or it’s not really worth it.

Anyway, happy rebirth of the Sun day or whatever your religious doctrine calls it. I hope the new year brings some better tidings to the world. Oh, and I like this Ron Paul guy.