0xtob’s coding blog

The problem with the first version of Pictoblog was related to a bug in the dswifi library, which is now fixed. Posting works 100% reliable now. Get the new version here.

Thanks to sgstair for fixing the bug!

About a year ago I had a cool idea: What if I was sitting in a cafe and felt the urge to capture the moment in a little painting and share it with the world? And wouldn’t it be great if my favorite handheld console could be used for that? :-)

Luckily, the wifilib with TCP support was just out, and so I started implementing it a proof-of-concept that uses the Metaweblog API, which is used in many popular CMSs. I was proud to post a picture of a coffee mug from an espresso house in Sweden :-)

Then, the app’s source code started collecting dust on my hard drive, because I didn’t have the time to make a “product” out of it, as I was too busy with NitroTracker already (not to mention real life!) With the approach of the Neoflash Spring Compo deadline, I decided to clear the dust off it and finally release it.

(I like drawing chameleons.)

The file is available from here:
http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,3937.0.html

Update: The current version is available from the filepile.

You can see some pictures people posted in this test blog:
http://pictoblogtest.wordpress.com

It’s still far from perfect (drawing functionality is very very basic, the settings cannot be configured in the app, etc.) but it works. I probably won’t do much to change this though, because I want to focus on NitroTracker and DSMI. Instead, I’ll release the source of my wrapper for the Metaweblog API, so hopefully someone will pick it up and make something out of it (Tassu, Davr, interested?)

Try it out, it’s fun!
Tob

Sure wireless MIDI is awesome, but it still requires a PC if you want to connect your DS to your MIDI keytar, MIDI modded NES or whatever weird MIDI gear you might have. So far, the solution to this dilemma has been TheRain’s DSMIDI. But unfortunately it requires some skill to build and only supports MIDI output.

Now, with natrium42’s, DSerial it’s possible to connect MIDI devices to the DS easily (instructions here). This method supports both MIDI in- and output.

So, DSMIDIWiFi has now become DSMI (DS Music Interface) and supports both MIDI over WiFi and DSerial - whichever of the two is available. You can even use both connections at the same time, for example to use the DS as a wireless MIDI bridge.

The example apps are DSerial-ready now as well. The current version is a pre-release that doesn’t yet support MIDI input via DSerial, which I will implement once I have the hardware :-)

NitroTracker will soon get support for MIDI Keyboards and other controllers connected via DSerial as well. Given sufficient demand, natrium42 can probably be persuaded to mass-produce the MIDI-cables for DSerial :-)

Cheers!
Tob

Because of chishm’s Supercard Lite Firmware Hack, the SuperCard Lite can now launch a .nds file on boot. So, I updated the GBAMP DevLauncher to support DLDI, making it usable on SuperCard Lite and renamed it “DS DevLauncher”. The updated binary, pre-patched with the SuperCard Lite patch is available from the filepile.

Thanks very much to chishm for the SuperCard Lite and GBAMP firmware hacks!

There are several small and unreleased DS projects sitting on my hard disk, which are mainly some proof-of-concepts and little demos. I figured they could be useful for some of you, so I’ve opened the filepile, a page where I’ll start posting all these little projects one by one.

The first project is the Spectrum Analyzer app I released some weeks ago. It’s now available from the filepile together with it’s source code, which contains a fixed point FFT implementation and my microphone code I use in NitroTracker and the Sampling Keyboard.

After exactly six months and one day, here’s the new NitroTracker v0.3 featuring DSMIDIWifi integration, several interface improvements and better device support.

So now you can control all kinds of MIDI synths with NitroTracker. Also you can use any MIDI sequencer to play your loaded or recorded samples on the DS.

It’s now been about a year since I started this project - even a bit longer if you count in the work on the Sampling Keyboard, and it’s been an awful lot of fun. Sure, the DS can be a real beast when it comes to bugs, but it never ceases to amaze me what a cool gadget it actually is. And with the DS Lite, you can even show your homebrew stuff to normal people without getting these get-this-thing-away-from-me-you-hopeless-nerd sort of looks :-)

Here’s a little treat for you: An interface mock-up I drew in GIMP about a year ago before I had even started the project:

If you look closely, you’ll see it’s still missing an important feature :-) But hey, it’s still a long way to v1.0.

Thanks to everyone who has helped to improve the program so far by ideas, suggestions, bug reports, etc. I’m counting on your ongoing support :-)

Tob

I just learned Fast Fourier Transform at school and I thought it would be a good exercise to implement it for the DS. The result is this little app:

DS Spectrum Analyzer

It records sound with the mic, displays the signal on the bottom screen and the spectrum that was calculated with FFT on the top screen. It also calculates an estimate of the main frequency, but that is not very accurate yet.

I haven’t run extensive benchmarks yet, but it can definitely keep up nicely at the current recording frequency, which is 11025 Hz. Also, I don’t yet know what I might use this for, but it’ll certainly come in handy at some point.

Update: I updated the app to use overlapping windows, so it now runs at twice the framerate!

For testing on the GBAMP I like using a Wifi downloader like DSFTP. But it became kind of annoying to navigate to DSFTP with Moonshell every time I wanted to test my app. Setting DSFTP as boot application was bad too, because I tended to forget to switch the boot app back to Moonshell, and so I couldn’t use DS homebrew on the road.

A quick (as in one hour of coding) solution I came up with is the GBAMP DevLauncher which works as follows: If you hold Y at boot time, you enter a menu in which you can select an application which is booted automatically when you turn on the DS. So you can easily change the boot application of the DS at the cost of a slightly increased boot time (about 1 second).

I don’t know if this is useful to anyone but myself, but if you want to try it, get it here.

It turns out that sending the MIDI message (0, 0, 0) to some applications causes them to stop working. This, unfortunately, is the keep-alive message that the DS sends to the server every three seconds. So I patched the three servers to not forward this message any more.

Updating, re-packaging and uploading all thee servers takes quite some time, so I hope they are now bug-free :-)

The updated server is available from the DSMIDIWiFi homepage.

parad0x posted this awesome video on YouTube showing off his touchscreen jamming skills! He also explains how to set up DSMIDIWiFi under Linux with FluidSynth. Amazing job!