sparkymat

Managed to compile and package Ruby 1.9.0-3 for Openmoko!!!

Download: ruby19-complete_190-3_armv4t

[Update]

Here’s the ruby package without dev and documentation (this would be smaller and more appropriate on the phone) - ruby19_190-3_armv4t

at The Dark Knight: No superpowers..? I like that…

The Watchmen: Then you’re gonna love me!

When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it can never end.
But however hard you try, you can’t run forever…
Everybody knows that everybody dies,
and nobody knows it like the Doctor.
But I do think, that all the skies of all the worlds,
might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment, accepts it…

Of late, an event occurred that disturbed me immensely for it defied logic and try as I may, I was unable to explain the incident in a logical manner. It happened a couple of days back. After lunch (in my bedroom, what with me being quarantined and all), I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. I noticed that the mug was in the bowl of the toilet (and not in the bucket where it usually hangs out). It took a whole 2 seconds for this to sink in. For a split second, the part of my brain infested with primitive fears and base instincts jumped to the conclusion ‘Ghost!!’. However, the rest of my brain kicked in immediately and reasoned that there must be a logical explanation for this. As I washed my hands, I pondered on this strange incident. The bucket was at a much lower height than the toilet and even so, no wind strong enough could reach inside to blow it in. I certainly hadn’t dropped it in or left it on the shelf from where it might have fallen in. My mind raced searching for explanations, and panicking that it couldn’t find any. I had taken a bath an hour back and it was in the bucket then. How could it have moved on its own (apparently)? My theories started growing wilder and wilder. Maybe the handle snagged on my towel, and when I left the bathroom, dragged it into the toilet. I stopped. Ok, that sounded stupid even to me! It slowly dawned on me that the possible explanation was a very unsettling one, and no, it wasn’t one that shook my entire belief system. The most possible explanation was that I had accidentally knocked it into the toilet and didn’t even remember one bit of it. I staggered back as if hit physically. For those who wonder why, its because I have always suspected that I have memory issues, even complete lapses, but this, was something I was not prepared for. To forget incidents that occurred when I was half-asleep or distracted with work/hobbies was one thing, but to forget something in “broad daylight” when I was in my full senses (relatively speaking of course) was definitely scary. The words “short term amnesia” and “Alzheimer’s” marqueed across my brain. Think as I may, no other explanation made sense, and the pale, translucent, spooky ones were definitely not logical to me. Unsurprisingly, this incident left me disturbed for a while, until another memory lapse wiped this from my active train of thoughts till yesterday.

I was taking my regular afternoon shower, and once done with that, I set about cleaning the bathroom which mostly involved just Dettol-ing the floor and washing it away with scoops of water from the bucket. Once the floor looked relatively Dettol-free, I turned towards the door and was throwing the mug back when I stopped myself. I looked back incredulously at my hand which had aimed the mug at the toilet. Realization came crashing down on me. Damn! Me and my “complex reflexes”!! Not the first time that my so-called “acquired reflexes” have come back to bite me. The repetitive process of throwing back the mug once I was done, had slowly grown into an acquired reflex associated with turning to leave the bathroom. As such, the control for that passed to some other part of my brain which obviously had a dismal sense of aim. Hmm, or maybe there was nothing wrong with its aim since it was aiming right for the toilet bowl. Maybe there was something wrong with the logical circuits there. Bucket - container. Closet - container. Put mug container. See container. Throw at container. Sigh! The toilet just happened to be the nearer “container”. I don’t know if I should be scared or just resign myself to being a complex bundle of simple pieces trying to group together and pass itself off as an “intelligent” human being (homo complexio simplo sapius?)

Some Doctor Who quotes that’d be good for printing on a t-shirt

• Bigger on the inside < -- My favourite!
• Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey
• This is not war, this is pest control!
• The angels have the phonebox.
• I’m the Doctor, now run for your life!
• “Daleks have no concept of elegance” (turn around) “This is obvious!”
• If someone is collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A!
• Did I mention.. it travels in Time?
• Well, I am the Lord of Time
• What would The Doctor do?
• You never forget your first Doctor
• Am i ginger?
• Nice to meet you. Now, run for your life!
• You Are Not Alone!
• I just want to say, you were fantastic. And you know what? (turn around) So was I!
• The stuff of legends
• Your tiny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?
• Don’t blink
• Bad things always happen whenever I wear this
• Yep. Still got it.
• Yes we know who you are!
• Hermits United

Creating a Ruby 1.9 sandbox

1. mkdir /home/user/ruby19 (example folder)
2. cd /home/user/ruby19
3. mkdir src
4. cd src
5. wget http://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.9/ruby-1.9.0-1.tar.bz2
6. tar -jxvf ruby-1.9.0-1.tar.bz2
7. cd ruby-1.9.0-1
8. ./configure –prefix=/home/user/ruby19
9. make
10. make install

Now you can switch to this sandbox at any time by executing ‘export PATH=/home/user/ruby19/bin:$PATH’ in a shell.

Chipmunk Installation

Chipmunk is required for Rubygame 3

1. wget http://files.slembcke.net/chipmunk/release/ChipmunkLatest.tgz
2. tar -zxvf ChipmunkLatest.tgz
3. cd Chipmunk-4.0.2
4. cd ruby
5. export PATH=/home/user/ruby19/bin:$PATH (* switching to Ruby 1.9 sandbox)
6. ruby extconf.rb
7. make
8. make install

Rubygame 3 Installation

1. mkdir /home/user/rubygame (example path)
2. cd /home/user/rubygame
3. svn co https://rubygame.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/rubygame/trunk rubygame3
4. cd rubygame3/
5. export PATH=/home/user/ruby19/bin:$PATH (* switching to Ruby 1.9 sandbox)
6. cat Rakefile | sed s/PLATFORM/RUBY_PLATFORM/ > Rakefile.new;mv Rakefile.new Rakefile (* this replaces PLATFORM with RUBY_PLATFORM in the Rakefile)
7. CFLAGS=”-I/home/user/ruby19/include/ruby-1.9.0 -I/home/user/ruby19/include/ruby-1.9.0/i686-linux” rake install
8. cd ~/rubygame/rubygame3/samples/
9. ruby chimp.rb
10. Punch the monkey!!

In a desperate attempt to stay awake, I pulled out my phone and started checking my mail for the millionth time since I got to the station. The dawn was just breaking and the dusty old platform slowly lit up in golden light. Shivering from the cold, I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and looked around. The platform was nearly empty except for a few stray dogs fast asleep and the odd vagabond or two. The cold was eating through my jacket and I glanced impatiently at my watch. After several minutes of fidgeting in my seat, I noticed that the tea stall had opened. Sighing with relief, I hurried over to get a cup of hot tea. Clutching the cup in one hand, I managed to wiggle out my wallet from my back pocket and pay the vendor. It was on my way back that I first noticed her.

I was taken aback by her sudden appearance. She was sitting on the bench beside mine. I hadn’t noticed her coming in, even though I had been gone for a scanty few minutes. She looked at me curiously, noticing my stare. I politely looked away and sat down on my bench and gently sipped the tea. A thousand questions instantly sprang up in my mind. Like me, she had to be waiting for the Intercity Express, since no others trains stopped at this station at this time. The abscence of any luggage suggested she was here to receive someone, much like me. I would put her age to be in the thirties though it was impossible to be sure. I stole another glance at her as I sipped my tea. Her gaze was fixed on something far away. Following her eyes, I realized she was just gazing at the horizon, her mind lost in thoughts. Something in her eyes vaguely unsettled me. Not wanting to get caught staring again, I turned away and closed my eyes, spending the rest of the tea wondering about her eyes.

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the blast of the train’s whistle. Finishing off the tea, I got up and walked towards the approaching train. The brakes screamed as the train screeched to a halt at the platform. I hurried down the length of the train, my eyes scanning for Raj. In a while, I noticed his familar form struggling with a pair of bags. As I hurried towards him, I couldn’t help casting a quick glance backwards. She was standing now, scanning the faces that had alighted. She looked taller than I had judged her to be. Turning back, I realized that Raj hadn’t seen me yet and was looking around in confusion. Pushing myself through the human multitude, I called out to him. Whipping around, he gave a gasp of relief and promptly made his way towards me. Without further ado, he threw one of the bags at me and launched into a tirade of complaints about everything wrong with the railway system. I smiled and nodded along as we made our way through the crowd. I saw her still looking, her eyes searching the crowd.

As we reached the exit, the engines roared up and the train slowly started pulling out of the station. Raj kept on grumbling about the food that tasted horrible, the fans that didn’t work, the sleepless night of battling mosquitoes, and I kept nodding absent mindedly, my thoughts elsewhere. As we stepped out the gate, I looked back, one last time. There she stood, on the platform that was nearly empty now. In her eyes, I could see it now. I could finally understand the sadness and the hurt as they kept searching.

I *HAD* to post this!!

another year older..
none the wiser..