It looks like some OEM manufactures (HP in particular) have been using a single image for their XP installs for all hardware platforms, be it Intel or AMD. They have got away with this despite the fact the image installs Intel drivers on AMD machines.

However, there is a major issue when it comes to installing service packs and the new release of SP3 for XP has resulted in a lot of users unable to boot into Windows with the machine continually rebooting (it’s actually Blue-Screening, but the default reset hides this).

I’d say this is mostly the OEM’s fault for not creating the correct images for the PCs they ship, but Microsoft have some of the blame too for not blocking the SP3 release on Windows Update for those OEM installs known to be a problem. Especially as MS has known about this apparently since SP2, and also the beta and RC releases of SP3 !!

The problem now is many people will end up with unbootable PCs and not have a clue what to do. In some cases it is recoverable via safe mode, but not always, and the suggested “fix” can also render the machine in an even worse state. Many will likely be out of warranty now too, even though they may only be a couple of years old.

More here: does-your-amd-based-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3

Wii’s Virtual Console is essentially a MAME-like emulator for various consoles allowing older console games to be downloaded (for a price) onto the Wii. It’s a great product that makes the Wii even more fun to use. I often play the Virtual Console games more than the Wii games itself. Daft when it’s a 7th generation console being used to play antique games from more than a decade ago, but the beauty is it’s everything in one box. No need to dig out an old console and games, or fire up a PC with a MAME emulator (and likely be playing illegal copies of ROMs).

The interesting thing with the Virtual Console is they haven’t just stuck to Nintendo consoles. Sega’s MegaDrive for example is on there too.

As it appears to be, like MAME, an emulator for many platforms, then this raises the possibility of supporting MAME itself. By doing so this would open the Virtual Console up to a wealth of arcade games, many of which are superior to console ports over the years.

Now the stumbling block to this is copyright. An official MAME port to the Wii would never happen if the user could just download illegal ROMs and play them on it, so we can forget that. However it does seem a lucrative possibility for both Nintendo and the publishers of the original games to offer their arcade games officially (for a price) via the Virtual Console with MAME as the back-end emulator. Both parties could then regulate what is offered via the Virtual Console and even tweak games to work best with the Wii. The bonus of using MAME is the hard work of emulation is done already.

That however is a problem when it comes to MAME’s licence as it doesn’t allow commercial use. Although the idea behind this restriction apparently is to prevent arcade owners from installing MAME cabinents, profiting from the games without any of that money going to the original publishers of the games.

If however Nintendo were to do a deal with MAME’s authors and the original publishers of the games then it becomes a good possibility, along with a high turnaround for publishing classic arcade games in their original form. If set at a price of 500 Wii points it would be quite attractive to those who don’t mind paying a small amount for classic games. Of course there are obviously many who would rather go for illegal downloads for free, which may be the sticking point with anyone adopting MAME commercially. On the other hand it may help MAME get an official status and reputation (but then deals with MAME’s authors may include requiring restrictions on other MAME ports to block illegal games).

Anyway, it’s just a thought. Another is that Nintendo could easily just go and write their own emulator for arcade platforms and use that in the Virtual Console. Just that as MAME is there and works, it’s something out there they could use.

Right, finally I’ve managed to get the ability to upload images into Coppermine working again.

The problem I was having seemed to occur on upgrading to the 1.4.x stream of Coppermine, and results in errors like this…

Unable to create thumbnail or reduced size image.

File: /var/www/xxxxx/gallery/db_input.php - Line: 391

It seems there’s some issue with ImageMagick and the stock solution offered on Coppermine’s forums is to switch to GD2 instead, but it turns out that’s not configured on Fedora Core to work with PHP. I recently found a post saying how to install it, and it boils down to issuing a command like this…

# yum install php-gd

This will install the GD extensions to PHP. Then just restart your web server…

# /sbin/service httpd restart

and configure Coppermine to use GD instead of ImageMagick (it’s under Config -> Files and thumbnails advanced settings -> Method for resizing images).

Finally! It now works. It’s not a decent solution as ImageMagick still doesn’t work, but at least uploads work.

No thanks to the Coppermine forum guys though. Aside from the original bitchyness about not posting in the right way when asking questions, their help was aimed at the “user is an idiot and we don’t care” level and not once did it even touch on the solution here.

I would post the solution over there but frankly their attitude stinks so much that I just don’t feel like helping them out. They give anyone new, confused, foreign, whoever, a hell of a lot of grief with no sympathy and then they wonder why people get annoyed with them and don’t thank them for their “efforts”. Frankly I feel no compulsion to contribute to their efforts, but I’m happy to publish my help outside of their forum.

Now with that in mind, I cannot really recommend Coppermine any more. Their attitude in supporting it is one thing, but it also is getting targeted a lot more by hackers these days, and the likes of Gallery and Exhibit Engine (version 2 of the latter is looking very nice but not released yet) are better in features, design and usability (and their “customer support” is much better too).

If you’ve got an EyeToy like this for your PS2, did you know you can also get it running on a PC too as a webcam? All you need is the right drivers, and here’s a guide to getting and installing some for the job:
http://www.norbiesworld.co.uk/Knowledge_Base/op=show/kid=21.html

Edit: Seems norbies has gone now :-(. See comments for alternatives.

There’s also an archived version though I doubt the download will work. Don’t really have the bandwidth to host it myself (if I’ve still got it, not sure).

Click here for archive.org’s archived copy

Update: For 64bit users, I’ve found the drivers at last – Sony / Logitech PS2 EyeToy drivers for Windows 64 bit