Music, Free Software and Bad Jokes

There is a way that will allow the PhotoFrame Chumby Widget to display images that are stored on a USB drive; it is a bit tricky, but it works. The idea is to replace the web server that runs on the Chumby with one that is installed on the USB drive which will allow you to configure it easily.

Here’s how it’s done:

1.

I’ve cleaned up and published source material (i.e. Rosegarden projects and MIDI files generated from them) for most of the SuperTux songs. You’ll find links to them on the Music Page. The license is CC-by-sa 3.0, same as the songs themselves.

Happy remixing!

I’ve created my first Chumby Widget, a photo viewer for pictures hosted on your web server. They can be located either in a directory on a public server or a private one inside your personal network, so you can use the widget to display private images without having to publish them or upload them to a third-party image hosting service.

I’ve been waiting a long time for this.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Berserker of the Band Blutdurst; they recorded a song using Battlecry-generated lyrics! It’s called “Victory” and you can download it for free on their website (in German) or listen to it on their MySpace page.

I’m about to move my website to a new location, so expect some downtime during the next few days.

After the move is complete, it will be revived as http://www.discarded-ideas.org.

Today I’m releasing a new song which I’ve been working on for the last two nights.

Today I received an email from an eight-year-old SuperTux fan asking whether there were sheets available for the SuperTux music so he could play it on the piano. I remembered that I did a quick-and-dirty piano arrangement of the Credits Theme at the SuperTux Developers’ Meeting in May, but when I found it and looked at it, I realized that it was not very playable at all.

Once again, I decided that it was time to find a replacement for online Diablo 2, which is a great game but after seven years it’s beginning to get old.

A few days ago I had a discussion with a friend about the question whether programming was a creative task. To be able to find an answer, first of all one has to agree on a definition of the word “creativity”. Basically, it means “the ability to create something”, but more commonly it’s regarded as “the ability to create something with at least a little artistic value”.

With my best regards to Randall Munroe and xkcd.org. :-)