Sol::News
Older News from 2004 and Even Older
These are archived news. More recent news can be found on the front page.
Graphics Tutorial Launched
December 11, 2004 #
Finished the 6-part 'graphics for beginners' tutorial, now available under 'tutorials'.
Torusknots
December 3, 2004 #
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Decided to wrap up and release my PQ torus knot code, which I've written almost a year ago but didn't release at the time for one reason or another.
TMDC7 deadline is approaching..
I'm in progress of writing a new 'graphics for beginners' tutorial, but right now I don't know when it'll be finished - busy with school and stuff.
Back Online
November 14, 2004 #
Got the net connection some time ago =), but time flies.
TMDC7, the seventh pseudoannual text mode demo competition is now going on. There's still plenty of time to enter. Grab the invitation demo, by yours truly.
I could write a rant about elisa communications and the quality of customer service (or lack thereof), but I think I'm too lazy for that now. Maybe after I waste another couple of days of my life waiting in line..
SolVBE has officially moved to sourceforge. Additionally, I wrote a manual about it (also available from sourceforge), including both user and technical information. As to further development of SolVBE, nobody has sent me any reports of problems with it, so I don't see any reason to play around with it right now.
Still No Network
October 25, 2004 #
Still waiting for my network connection..
To be honest, asking for permission to publish lyrics was kind of a way to check the current temperature in hell. It is so easy to automatically answer 'no', or even to leave such requests unanswered, that I wasn't truly expecting any other answer. What did surprise me, though, was that the answer didn't come from the record company (where I had sent the query), but instead from the artist's financial manager, who had been instructed by the artist to give the answer.
Anyway, hell hasn't frozen over, yet.
No Network
October 17, 2004 #
Moved, and currently without network connection..
Kaija Koo's latest album, 'Viiden minuutin hiljaisuus' continues more or less in the same lines with her earlier album, 'Mikään ei riitä'. In these two latest albums her songs are less abstract and simply tell stories. 'Viiden minuutin hiljaisuus' is also somewhat more negative than the earlier albums. In general, the characters of the songs feel older, and some things are said even more directly than before. So, more stories, more pain.
I would write translation / analysis for the lyrics for those people who are not blessed with the knowledge of the Finnish language. I did such translation/analysis of the earlier album for RJ Mical and he at least liked it. Unfortunately the authors (Kaija Koo and Markku Impiö) personally (well, through an intermediary) forbade me from doing so. They can't forbid me from just doing the translation and publishing that, but in order for there to be any point, I would have to publish the original lyrics as well, and those are under copyright.
It's a pity for more than one reason, as I find Kaija's lyrics to be rather expressive and useful for foreigners getting insight into the Finnish mentality. The analysis itself is pretty fun to work at, as the lyrics often contain a lot of figures of speech and multiple meanings.
Oh well. In any case, if Kaija's music is your thing, get this new album, it's good stuff.
Movin'
October 5, 2004 #
I'm moving soon (physically), so, in preparation for ISP change I changed my primary email address.
EVTEK
August 31, 2004 #
Started studying on evening courses at EVTEK, the espoo-vantaa institute of technology. Hence, I doubt I'll have any trouble filling my free time anymore..
Ported Orbital Sniper to the Tapwave Zodiac. Available under stuff. I probably should start a new 'games' page.
Benchmarking Memory Cards
June 20, 2004 #
Got me a Zodiac, and wrote a memory card benchmark for it to check whether I bought a fast or a slow memory card.
Swarm
June 14, 2004 #
Been working on a little hobby project called swarm, and I guess it belongs under stuff..
LD#4 Over
May 10, 2004 #
Ludum Dare held another 48h game design contest; 4th one actually. I managed to miss two of them. Anyway, I entered the contest, and the results are now out..
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SolVBE
March 13, 2004 #
Time flies.
Recently I've been playing with a new project called SolVBE. It's a VESA 1.2 driver for Win2k/WinXP DOS boxes. It's a rather fun project - in what other project do you get to write 16-bit DOS TSRs, Windows virtual device drivers, Windows GDI stuff and OpenGL? Oh, and there's a chance I'll get to write 32-bit DOS code as well, if I add VESA 2.0 support.. SolVBE has its own page here.
I'm considering going to school (part-time). We'll see what happens.
Illicit Clone Detected
February 3, 2004 #
It has come to my attention that Sumea has made a mobile version of Cameleon. I wouldn't mind normally, but they didn't even bother contacting me about it.
Turning to OpenGL
February 1, 2004 #
Happy new year and all that.
Only a tiny update this time, mostly the email links and copyright messages.
I've been digging into OpenGL lately, so there might be a series of tutorials on that at some point.
TMDC6 is over, so go leech the entries and results.
Jana
November 22, 2003 #
Say hello to Jana, 12 weeks old:
(FAQ: She's mixed breed, Coton De Tulear and Lhasa Apso, so basically she's small and furry. No, she's not a toy, but a real dog. She's also neither a cat, rabbit, bat, bear or guinea pig. Yes, we know she's cute, and no, you can't buy her).
I'll be on vacation next week, away from the early winter darkness of Finland..
I promised to rant about Worms3d if the patch didn't fix it. Well, the patch is out, so here we go. First off, I love the game. It's addictive, fun, and they've done the 3d transition pretty well, discarding things that don't work and enhancing things that work better (such as the parachute).
Even the copy protection works this time, ie. doesn't stop me from playing the game I bought.
However, the camera controller is bad. The main mode, where you move the worm, is a 3rd person camera thingy. Intuitively you think that you're rotating the worm with the mouse, but instead you're rotating both the worm and the camera, and both are physical objects. What this means in practise is that you're worming forwards in your often tight timelines, suddenly the camera hits some piece of scenery and your accurately hit jump goes 90 degrees to the wrong direction, and your worm ends up in the drink. This is very irritating, and I really hope they'd decouple the camera from the worm controls.
You "sort of" get used to it after the first dozen times, but it's still a pain.
Da Vinci Code is a pretty good book. While some facts stated in the book are most likely fabrication, it's still a rather thought-provoking piece. I think I'll have to order the author's other books as well. =)
And finally a reminder, TMDC6 is still going on; you still have time to start your entry if you haven't yet.
Various Happenings
November 16, 2003 #
Lots of things have happened; I can't even remember everything right away.. =)
Me and Mia bought a puppy. She's adorable, but a pain at times. I'll post some pictures at some point.
I found that Gabriel Interactive is using CFL3, and they were cool enough to answer my questions on how they feel it should be improved, and to my surprise they even fedexed me the game ('Robot arena 2')!
TMDC6 is on. go to the site and download the invitation demo (by yours truly) and spread the word!
!Cube got married.
Worms3d has possibly the worst camera controller ever - although I'll wait for the patch to come out before really ranting about it..
A version of dosbox has come out that can run some protected mode DOS programs. You might find it useful if you want to try out some old demos.
Busy
September 20, 2003 #
Busy busy busy busy. I have a couple of projects related to this website that, if I could find the time, I'd do. People are still linking directly to the images on my site, so I might need to do something about that.
I received a postcard a couple of days ago:
Sol. I have enjoyed HORS - the dee disks for 8 years and never gotten around to sending you a card. Now, after my first real vacation in 10 years, I have a post card to send! ...
I wrote, in the end screen of HORS, the music disk interface, that I'd appreciate it if users who like the software would send me a postcard. This is the first card I've received.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, HORS, and its windows port, can be found under 'files'.
Since most of my time currently has gone to work-related stuff, I might as well point out that Tapwave has now revealed information on their Zodiac device, which I've been playing with for the past 6 months or so. Tapwave's SDK also contains a free 'lite' version of X-Forge, the 3d game engine I've worked on (and am working on) at Fathammer.
Last but not least, TMDC6 is coming!
Stuff
April 27, 2003 #
Pretty little has happened concerning this website.
I moved from Helsinki to Espoo (with my girlfriend), and my commuting time to work dropped about 20 minutes. Whee.
To those linking directly to the images on my website: please don't. Host your own files.
I have plans for some more source code releases but haven't had time to tidy them up yet.
New Year
Janurary 8, 2003 #
Happy new year and all that.
Added TMDC5 invitation under "files". The zip also contains sources.
Added TextMedia 2.0, new and improved version(!), here under "files".
My email address may change in the near future (6 months?), so be sure to check here if my old address suddenly fails to work.
Orbital sniper was in the Christmas edition of MikroBitti (12/2002, page 96).
PCXLite
November 26, 2002 #
Added PCXLite under "code".
TMDC5 is going on - check TMDC pages at tAAt.fi.
TMDC5 also has invitation demo by me. Go leech it from the TMDC pages. Sources are also available in the same place, including triangle fillers..
Home of the underdogs has listed orbital sniper and cameleon98, both as 'top dogs'. Cool!
Releases
October 12, 2002 #
Looong time, no update.
Added my flipcode 'bugs' contest entry under "files" (including sources).
Added 'fable', our assembly2002 demo, under "files".
Added 'fable', the poem, under "stories".
Updated the "who" page as well.
It would seem like I have a life. Hence, no update for a long time. =)
Assembly Over
August 4, 2002 #
The wedding went fine, and I managed to get back to assembly in time to see the demo contest. To my disapointment the whole audience was in such a coma that they didn't react to anything in any of the demos =(
Anyway, our 'fable' demo finished 4th, even though it's horribly unfinished. Hope you like the story in it, though, it's by yours truly. I'll post it on this site at some point in the future.
Yes, I'm tired. =)
Assembly Started
August 1, 2002 #
Visited assembly02 today, after work. I'll be going to a wedding tomorrow and the day after, but I'll try to come back to see the democompo..
Met tons of people I wanted to meet.
Bought lunch for Björn Lynne =) (His music rules - buy his CDs! =)
Also met with phoenix/hornet (go buy demodvds =)
No demos from me personally this year, but there's some stuff in couple productions from me, that hopefully will get to the contest.
LD48h Over
July 30, 2002 #
The ludum dare 48h game contest results are out, and, what can I say? =)
(That's bronze overall, and silver for gameplay, completeness, techincal and fun)
Sniping Linux
July 25, 2002 #
zakk@timedoctor, among others, posted a linux port of orbital sniper. It's available at http://www.timedoctor.org/files/. Richard Moats had mailed me his patch earlier to get it to compile under linux, and I had my own port halfway there. Heh. Note to people doing alternate versions: as the license says, alternate versions must be clearly marked so, in order not to be confused with the original.
Sniper IOTD
July 23, 2002 #
Orbital sniper was IOTD on flipcode.
Orbital Sniper
July 16, 2002 #
Took part of the Ludum Dare 48h game programming contest. I also wrote a post mortem analysis on the project. Read it and download the game from stuff.
Bunch of Stuff
June 03, 2002 #
Long time, no update.
Added two stories - 'Jack and the Devil', which I wrote in a train on a PDA (and retouched it on a pc afterwards), and 'variations on a theme I' which I wrote during my vacation.
For those who have been wondering why I haven't been on irc lately, well, this and this may answer your question =)
While on subject of games, I bought 'Grandia II' for the PC, and ran through it (after having to crack it due to the copy protection stopping me from playing the game I bought, and after tech support said that they can't help me because I don't live in USA). While playing it I thought that the game was boring and stereotypical, but then again, I forgot to eat. That's the first time in years, so I'd guess the game was good after all. Oh, the english voice acting, apart from Jodi Benson, was horrible.
Still more on games - GTA3 rocks, but the real surprise was that the copy protection (safedisk3) doesn't stop me from playing the game I've bought - a positive change from couple other games I've bought and had to crack in order to play. Stupid, stupid copy protections!
Kaija Koo's latest album, 'mikään ei riitä', is, IMO, her best. If you're one of those who can tolerate her music, get it. (Kaija's music is such that it splits people in two camps, you either can't listen to it at all (literal, physical pain), or then you like it. But then, people say I'm weird).
HORSing on Windows
April 20, 2002 #
I ported HORS to windows on my vacation!
The Infamous MMO Rant
February 21, 2002 #
Got my MMORPG rant posted on slashdot developer section.
The Famous MMO Rant, etc
February 02, 2002 #
Added a rant about new MMORPG projects under stuff.
Updated the who page a bit.
Updated copyright year on most pages.
Should update some tutorials, but haven't, yet.
Stomp
January 19, 2002 #
Stomp kicked major ass.
Rob Zombie's 'sinister urge' sucks. I've liked most of the stuff from them so far.
Dumped some photos from alternative party 3 to this directory.
Sorry, no html pages there, yet.
CFL
December 27, 2001 #
Whipped together another release of CFL - in code.
Alt Party 3 Invitation
December 17, 2001 #
I made and released the windows invitation demo for alternative party 3 - you can also download the demo here.
solar@icon.fi is now dead, dead, dead, so change your address books if you have any.
Lots of different stuff has happened that I thought I should write here about, but I forgot them since.
Textmedia was mbnet's program of the day on October 20th.
Stats
October 7, 2001 #
Added the above google search, which is free service, and I aint getting any money for it either.
Since there's little more to report, I might as well drop in some stats:
- About 9000 unique visitors since March, 2001.
- About 45000 pages served during the same period.
- cfl3r2 downloaded about 760 times so far.
- textmedia.zip downloaded about 2250 times so far.
Textmedia
September 29, 2001 #
Another flipcode image of the day - featuring the textmedia windows media player.
Yes, I messed up the month names in the last update. Thanks for all who were kind enough to question my sanity.
Moved
September 10, 2001 #
I moved (still within Helsinki though)
My textmode lib made it to flipcode image of the day.
Some tiny fixes on these pages, here and there.
Added textmode windows media player - available under files (near bottom of the page).
tAAt and Asm01
August 26, 2001 #
Added TextFX4, text mode graphics library, under code.
I noticed that 'pirtuaalitodellisuus' by tAAt from the assembly01 demo competition caused several people to get rather angry for some reason, even to the point that someone threatened tAAt members with physical violence.
Maybe people shouldn't try to figure out how tAAt "cheated" at assembly, beating some old demogroups, but maybe they should try to see why the 'good' groups lost.
You can describe every single scene of 'pirtuaalitodellisuus' in words. Same goes with 'lapsuus', the winner of the demo competition, by the way. Now, look at the demos that 'pirtuaalitodellisuus' so unfairly beat.
In my opinion it's far more likely that your jane doe voter votes something that she can understand and remember, instead of voting for your random artycrap piece.
WinCE Seminar Slides
August 8, 2001 #
My WinCE demo programming seminar slides and source added to tutorials
Assembly01 was fun. And weird.
Here are the top 10 reasons why I didn't do a demo this year:
- Hot weather during my vacation.
- Raymond E. Feist: Magician
- Bad design choises in the beginning of demo project
- Michael Marshall Smith: One Of Us
- Very hot weather during my vacation.
- Figuring out DirectX8, bad drivers, and compatibility
- Preparing stuff for my WinCE talk
- Extremely !HOT! weather during my vacation.
- Max Payne
- And finally: Lazyness
FMOD Tutorial
July 15, 2001 #
DX8+Fmod+CFL3 tutorial added to 'tutorials'.
CFL3r2
July 14, 2001 #
CFL3 release 2 is out.
Assembly Coming
July 6, 2001 #
Added that stupid ie5 favorites-icon (got tired of 404's)
'Tunneling' got posted on TopWriteCorner.com
Added an image on stories page which might explain why it takes me so long to get anything written..
See you at asm'01!
Story Added
June 23, 2001 #
Added 'Sniper' story.
Finally fixed DEE music disk links - naturally '#' in a link tries to jump to a bookmark, silly me..
Visitors Yes, Reactions No
June 17, 2001 #
Added 'Gate' story.
CFL3 release 1 has been downloaded more than 520 times. Emails? none. Then again, no comments on any stories either, even with 25+ unique visitors a day.
There has been 2513 unique visitors and 1.1GB downloads since March, 2001
Couple Stories
May 25, 2001 #
Added 'Tunneling' story. Comments would be appreciated.
Added link to 'Shadowstone' story first draft - it's really unfinished.
Fixed Crest's link.
CFL3 Released
April 16, 2001 #
Has it been 4 months already? Uh oh.
Updated just about all pages with tiny changes here and there, nothing major..
Added some new clipart.
Added Compressed File Library 3 under 'code' with full source etc.
Back to Finland
December 27, 2000 #
Moved back to Finland some time ago =)
Also got a new job.
Simple Bugtracker
November 1, 2000 #
Uploaded a simple bug tracking system I wrote with php and mysql in one evening. Available under files.
Ported My First Text Adventure
October 29, 2000 #
Set up my 1st text adventure so that you can play it in your browser using ZPlet (see 'stuff').
5th at Flipcode
October 26, 2000 #
I came fifth in the flipcode.com shadows/lights contest. My entry and its sources are available under files.
German DX Tutorial Credits
October 23, 2000 #
Added credits for translation of my d3dx tut.
Moving Back
October 20, 2000 #
I've decided, mostly due to the current situation here in Israel, but also due to several other reasons, to move back to Finland.
I've added a German translation of my d3dx tutorial, and I'd give credits to the translator but unfortunately his email bounced. I'll make an update when I get the information.
Small Changes
September 17, 2000 #
Tidied up, added descriptions and some small images.
New Files
September 13, 2000 #
Uploaded some files, added files page.
Overhaul
September 12, 2000 #
Major site overhaul:
- Moved site under planet-d.
- Site graphics redesigned.
- This news page (which should start including personal news too)
- Some new code entries.
- Diary bits thrown away as I wasn't updating them anyways.
- Most frame stuff thrown away.
Very Old News
Yes, Very Old Indeed #
Originally, site news were this brief. Really.
30MAY00: Generic update. 13APR00: New tutorial, diary entries, links fixes. 22FEB00: Major overhaul. 26DEC99: 'On time' story added 28OCT99: D3d tutorial added. 12OCT99: 'Feet' story added. 01OCT99: Generic update. 22AUG99: Just about all pages updated. 24JUL99: Just a generic update. 20JUN99: 'Witchcraft' story added. 12MAY99: More link fixes, 'counting' story added. 26APR99: Some links fixed and added, tmda is now open. 11APR99: A new story added. 02APR99: Site cleaned, all graphics redrawn, did some reorganizing.