The release of the Dragon Go Server software version 1.0.15 thoroughly broke dgsmonX because DGS no longer accepts unauthenticated game checks via quick_status.php. While working on a fix for this I happened to notice that quick_status.php accepts user ID and password as arguments. A corresponding URL looks like this: http://www.dragongoserver.net/quick_status.php?version=2&userid=foo&passwd=secret.

A couple of days ago Little Go 0.8.1 has been released to the App Store, and today I have put up the source tar ball on the project page. Even though the new version has only 2 new things it's definitely worth the upgrade: You'll get an important bugfix and a new spiffy app icon (contributed by Daniel Máslo).

This site is undergoing maintenance: I am in the middle of upgrading from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7, and as you can see for yourself quite a few things do not yet work as they should. Thank you for your patience while I try to get everything back into shape. Update, 19 June 2012: Most of the site should now work again as before. The former site theme (Sky) unfortunately is no longer available with the same design, so for the moment I'm leaving the site on the core theme, Garland.

I just completed another round of evaluating free UML tools. It's been a longer project, so I wrote down the results on a separate page. Have a look if you are interested. If you just want to know who won: It's Astah.

Today Little Go 0.8.0 (project page) has been released to the App Store. This version introduces iPad support, including hi-res icons for the retina display of the iPad 3. The user interface remains largely unchanged, though, and has not been adapted to take advantage of the larger screen estate available on the iPad. I will try to think of something for one of the next versions, but the focus for 0.9.0 will clearly be on improved control over the computer player's playing strength. I'm a casual player, and Fuego consistently beats me with infuriating non-chalance - I must do something about this ☺.

I just came across yet another article that touts Git as "a version control Swiss army knife". The comparison annoys me! I was born and bred in Switzerland, and I know from first-hand experience that a real Swiss army knife is small, handy and has only a few tools. In short, this:

Git, on the other hand, is more like this:

.

(I do like Git, but please don't compare it to a Swiss army knife).

dgsmonX 0.2.1 is out already. This release addresses a compatibility issue with the previous release 0.2 (made one week ago) which made it impossible to launch the application on Mac OS X 10.5 and earlier. The new release should now work correctly on 10.5, but unfortunately support for Mac OS X 10.4 had to be dropped. Get the new version from the project page. Comments Hans 2012-06-23T17:30:37+02:00 Ever since the latest Dragon Ever since the latest Dragon Go update, I'm always seeing one more "

I just had a blast watching a couple of old PC demos. Get the demos, download your favourite DOSBox wrapper (on Mac OS X I absolutely adore Boxer) and enjoy:

• Verses by Electromotive Force: Winner of the Assembly '94 pc demo compo. Stylish fractals, and also excellent sound!
• Second Reality by Future Crew. You didn't think I would forget the best demo ever? ☺ If nothing else, watch this one! Won the pc demo compo at the Assembly '94.
• Unreal by Future Crew. Not as good as 2nd Reality, but still good (winner of the Assembly '92 pc demo compo). Probably the first demo I saw.
• Amnesia by Renaissance. A bit dated, but I still like it. Nice music.

2½ years after the first version I have finally managed to release dgsmonX 0.2. Unfortunately I had to drop PowerPC support for the new version, but on the bright side the app now displays its status item using an icon, and it no longer requires users to enter their password because it uses the Dragon Go Server's quick_status.php page. More information can be found in the ChangeLog available from the project page.

Today Little Go 0.7 has finally been released on the App Store. Although the app was initially rejected by Apple's review team, I was quickly able to point out why the reason given was clearly wrong. Although I am happy that the app is in the store now, I am still a bit peeved at how arbitrary the rejection seemed to be - it almost looked as if the reviewer hadn't even bothered to launch the app a single time. Fixing a genuine bug would have been OK, but seeing 10 months of work being casually dismissed with a copy & pasted statement is a bit hard to swallow...

Anyway, the 0.7 release of Little Go adds no new features, but fixes a couple of serious bugs. Other than that, the main work that has been done is the addition of artwork such as an application icon, and in-game icons for the tab bar and the toolbar on the game view. As usual you can grab the sources from the project page.