Oct 25

Friday Post: Rough week but PiMAME 0.7.10 is coming!

Hey all,

It’s been a rough week.  K and I have been looking at houses and we’ve had nothing but bad luck.  We just lost the second house we had under contract because of appraisal issues.  Housing is such an industry that could benefit from technology.  I don’t understand how in 2013 I still need to FAX documents, “secure email” is a “works best in IE” website, and personal information is expected to be blurted out anywhere and everywhere.

I work for a university, I’m used to red tape and bureaucracy!  I didn’t think buying a house would rival that!

Anyways!  PiMAME 0.7.10 is being uploaded this weekend.

The updater version will include Alpha N64 emulation.
The SD card image will include that, a boot up screen, and the new kernel for xin-mo joysticks.

I will update the post when it’s finished uploading.

Have a great weekend all!

-Shea

Oct 20

Alpha Release of Full Speed Nintendo 64 Emulator on the Raspberry Pi

Hey All,

Mupen64plus has been updated and now plays some N64 games at almost full speed!

Welshy from the Raspberry Pi forums has written up a great guide on how to compile it and run it, as well as how the settings work.  You can download the compiled binaries here:

http://sheasilverman.com/rpi/raspbian/mupen64plus-rpi.zip

To install and run:

  1. unzip the files by typing unzip mupen64plus-rpi-zip
  2. cd mupen64plus-rpi
  3. cd test
  4. ./mupen64plus < /path/to/rom/files >

This is a total alpha build, and is very rough around the edges, but the progress is awesome, and I am going to put this into PiMAME as a test.

Enjoy everyone!

-Shea

Oct 18

Friday Post: Pokemon X and Y

Hey All,

No PiMAME news this week.  Still working on new stuff 🙂

This has been a hectic week.  Two weddings and Halloween Horror Nights.  Plus a ton of pages that were written for my classes.  Woo!

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando was great this year.  K and I have been going ever since we first started dating, and it’s where I proposed to her two years ago.  It’s an awesome tradition for us.  Last year they tried some new things like having moving scare zones, which didn’t end up working well.  This year however, they went back to scare zones and based it on The Walking Dead.  It was a lot of fun.

Pokemon X and Y

I haven’t played Pokemon since Red and Blue came out.  I was addicted to the series.  I have always loved Pokemon, but the later games just didn’t have the same feel to it.  On a whim I bought X and I feel like i’m a kid again.   Not only is the game fun, but the online features are great.  Being able to battle and trade Pokemon with people all over the world is so much fun.

Add me as a friend, my friend code is: 3823 – 8512 – 0415

As an aside, I want to thank the community surrounding PiMAME.  All the members on the forums that are helping each other, showing off their builds, doing awesome stuff with the software, you all make this project awesome.  Thank you.

-Shea

Oct 11

Friday Post: What’s free time?

Hey All,

Happy Friday!

This week just flew by.  It feels like it’s still Wednesday.  Maker Faire Orlando has come and gone, and I have to say, it was incredible.  I was manning my booth the entire time which always had a crowd but I was able to catch a 10 minute break to eat something and look around.  There were so many cool displays, and so many interested people who were interested.  By the end of the day my throat was sore and I had lost my voice.  It was totally worth it.

I will say this, the X-Arcade Tank Stick is built like a tank.  It got hit by hundreds of kids during the Maker Faire and it stood up to the challenge.  I’m going to take it apart because I think the right joystick got a little banged up but it was still working.

Python in 24 Hours

Someone who I am very honored to call a friend has just released her new book!  Katie Cunningham has just had her book, “Sam’s Teach Yourself Python in 24 Hours“, published.  I got mine in the mail today so I haven’t gotten a chance to go through it yet, but I have a feeling it will be great.  Congratulations Katie!

Pokemon X and Y

Pokemon X and Y come out tomorrow.  I love Pokemon, but I haven’t played one of the core series since Red and Blue (I know!).  Most of my office is picking the new one up, so I figured it’s time to once again catch ’em all!  Between work, grad school, and PiMAME, where I am going to find the time to play…

PiMAME

I upgrade PiMAME to use the newest version of Raspbian, and recompiled the kernel to have the Xin-Mo module fixes in place.  I wanted to hold off on the release until I had more to add, but I think i’m going to do an image only release for this, since you can’t really just do a kernel upgrade with an install script.  It will also include the PiMAME intro video.

Once that is released I am going to be working on totally revamping the main menu system and web interface.  I have some cool things coming down the pipeline!

Have a great weekend!

-Shea

Oct 07

Orlando Mini Maker Faire 2013 Photos

Hey All,

Here are some of the photos from the Orlando Mini Maker Faire.  I didn’t get a chance to walk around much as I was manning my booth but it was a really fun experience! Enjoy!

-Shea

Oct 04

Friday Post: Orlando Mini Maker Faire!

Hey All,

Couple really cool things going on right now.  First of all, I got the physical copy of my book in hand.  I’m so proud!  Also Adafruit linked to my blog.  I was so surprised when I got the email, thanks for the link!

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This past week I’ve been having tons of meeting about software our team has been working on.  It’s really validating to have our projects get the attention of the higher ups and other vendors.  We work on cool things that help our 50,000 students learn in new ways.  I love working for a place that allows us and encourages us to make a difference!

Orlando Mini Maker Faire

Tomorrow is the Orlando Mini Maker Faire at the Orlando Science Center.  There will be 4 floors of makers showing off their creations, and that includes myself and FamiLAB.  I will have a ton of pictures tomorrow, but if anyone is in Orlando, I encourage you to go.

Screen Shot 2013-10-04 at 10.04.56 PM

-Shea