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lcuk's Avatar
Posts: 1,635 | Thanked: 1,816 times | Joined on Apr 2008 @ Manchester, England
#1
As many of you know, I have written liqbase which at its core is a small library for drawing quickly onto the YUV overlay.

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=21259

This allows very rapid screen updates and the control of the screen resolution and cpufrequency to get even more speed.
At this point I have not released the sources and have just given a preview video and playtest binary.

I've been working on the graffiti/sketching aspect and have built myself a library, but things are slowing down a bit for me. I don't have enough time to advance things as fast as I would like (and I would *really* like to spend more time doing this)

What do people think?
Is it cool enough to help show off our nokias?
Could it be used for other things?
What would you like to see rendered this way?

I've not written anything like this before (that I would consider releasing) and its very different to the sorts of projects I see around and personally think liqbase makes my nokia fly.
However, I am but one man and know the time has come to seek help.

I come from a closed source shop but have spent a great deal of time reading about open source (long time slashdot user..). I've flip flopped on this for a while now and those who are in #maemo will know this ( rm_you).

I'm extremely nervous about releasing anything but know there are a lot of you who have knowledge I don't and can help to grow this into an amazing set of programs.

Am I alone in being nervous?
I'm interested to know what experiences people have had when releasing code and any welcome any advice.

This decision was made in the car this morning so nothing is uploaded yet but when I get back tonight providing I hear no horror stories I will try to park it in the garage tonight.
 

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anidel's Avatar
Posts: 1,743 | Thanked: 1,231 times | Joined on Jul 2006 @ Twickenham, UK
#2
Why do you feel nervous about releasing your code ?

I do think that a project like yours can get a good boost by allowing other experienced people in.
 
Posts: 19 | Thanked: 12 times | Joined on Feb 2008 @ Cologne, Germany
#3
No point being nervous here. You provide something useful and there's nothing that could go wrong imo. The only change is that you'll probably end up working in a team of some sort instead of locked down in the basement. ;-)
 
Posts: 178 | Thanked: 40 times | Joined on Aug 2007 @ UK
#4
Tried it just yesterday and very impressed. Release the source and let others help you develop it further and I have no doubt it will be up there with the other "killer" apps. You retain the kudos for creating it the first place and that can only increase by going the open-source route.
 
Posts: 2,102 | Thanked: 1,309 times | Joined on Sep 2006
#5
Stick the code in a Garage project (as a library & demo application(s) - so people can use the library directly and also play with the demo apps), I am sure people will both use it and contribute towards it.

Go lcuk!
 
GeneralAntilles's Avatar
Posts: 5,478 | Thanked: 5,222 times | Joined on Jan 2006 @ St. Petersburg, FL
#6
I'm betting the library-side of things will really interest the INdT guys. Probably worth pow-wowing with them a bit, as they definitely have the skills to push something like this really far.
 
qwerty12's Avatar
Posts: 4,274 | Thanked: 5,358 times | Joined on Sep 2007 @ Looking at y'all and sighing
#7
I understand you don't want to make the actual application open source but I think many will benefit with just the library (and a demo
 
Posts: 393 | Thanked: 112 times | Joined on Jul 2007
#8
What do people think?

It's a sound idea if you don't have the time to invest thoroughly into the project (or you're simply losing interest or creative direction!) At the very least - a documented closed-source library, a simple open-source app to utilise the lib, and some method of contacting you to add extensions to it would be beneficial if you're worried about source release.


Is it cool enough to help show off our nokias?

I've not seen scrolling done as smoothly as you've implemented - from a pure eyecandy perspective - it's definitely worth showing off I was also surprised with how useful the sketch application looked when you combine all the notes together! I think it's cool


Could it be used for other things?

Not sure what your library does tbh - what does it accelerate or draw to the screen? I see smooth scrolling text, a simple GUI, and a starfield - is it a fast pixel buffer? Could you write to it like a pixel buffer? Is it faster than SDL? If so it'd be useful for everything, emulators at a start, speedy Deluxe Paint type applications, Power Goo type apps, the start of a software 3D library, etc, etc

What would you like to see rendered this way?

The above - can you show off scrolling bitmaps, how about a smooth 2D bitmap transform on a set of CD covers (ala Apple Cover Flow.)

Last edited by yabbas; 2008-07-03 at 13:58.
 
lcuk's Avatar
Posts: 1,635 | Thanked: 1,816 times | Joined on Apr 2008 @ Manchester, England
#9
Yabbas,

Its just a set of functions using the faster YUV display format (full grey resolution, lower color information: jpeg basically).
It has additional bonus of being able to run at any arbitary fullscreen resolution (within reason)

I decided this morning that I need to get the code out there and see what moulding is required to advance it further.

Its not feature filled and will likely have some massive omissions and clangers, but it does what it says on the tin and liqbase modules all show it in action.

It speaks for itself as a demo.

I could continue adding more and more modules to it now I have the basic code in place (as I have been doing) but don't have time to perfect each area and this is stuff which others may be able to find a better use for.

As for emulation type stuff, as long as the assets can be loaded as YUV I don't see why it couldn't be used and it certainly does give a visual boost at higher resolutions.

If you have the binary liqbase, go into options and there is an area called Blit Image Test, this has a kinetic scroller built up from actual fullcolor bitmaps.

Its lacking image loading code at the moment because i have been producing my assets directly from sketches or rectangles, but should be simple to include when required.
 
lcuk's Avatar
Posts: 1,635 | Thanked: 1,816 times | Joined on Apr 2008 @ Manchester, England
#10
The wheels are turning.
I have added headers and cleansed the code of much cruft (though theres still lots to pick at)
I have tar.gz'ed the code up and submitted a garage application.
No turning back now I suppose.

description to garage:

technology demo featuring finger friendly menus, variable resolution kinetic scrolling fullscreen document viewer, pressure sensitivity sketching with a graffiti wall showing all drawings, cpu throttling adjustments and a fullscreen starfield screensaver.

Last edited by lcuk; 2008-07-04 at 03:14.
 

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