Milestones & Tombstones

Today was a milestone – my first University exam, a 45-minute multiple choice exam on Linear Algebra. Maths has been the making and very nearly breaking of me. None of it is beyond comprehension but assumptions have been made in preparation for the module – the degree requirements are 2 year hears of higher maths. I have passed, I think. I’m not uncomfortable, it could have been worse. It is worse – we’ve moved onto 2nd year undergraduate Algebra and Calculus. Next test in two weeks. *weeps*

Decided I needed a mood-lifter. I have a fetching silver Nintendo DS (NDS) original a.k.a. non-lite, or phat; a beautiful gift. I have a few games, both NDS and Gameboy Advance (GBA) – it has a slot for GBA carts. I have set in motion the “pimping” of this silver ingot with the addition of hacking/homebrew devices for each of the cartridge slots. As mentioned the NDS has two cartridge slots; slot 1 is a small slot for NDS titles, slot 2 is a huge slot for GBA carts.

In terms of running user-made (and my own) software, there are -in the language of the age- solutions for each slot. Each slot has advantages and drawbacks, but these boil down to slot-1 can access large storage (8 gig+) but cannot increase the RAM of the NDS, whereas slot-2 can increase the memory of the NDS (from 4 mb to 32 mb) but can only a max of hold 2 gig of storage.

Behold the spending spree:

£43 - slot 1 homebrew card
£40 - slot 2 homebrew card
£60 - 6 gb storage card
£20 - 2 gb storage card

Each of the homebrew cards have arrived but neither of the storage cards, so not much I can do at the moment.

Looking foward to getting the storage cards, then spending the weekend getting the thing up and running. I do not expect it to be a trivial task, but when operational it should be good.

GCGC

Met with the societies coordinator today with the view to starting a gaming society, possibly Glasgow Caledonian Gaming Club as GCGC is one of the less clunkier monikers. Had a useful meeting of requirements and facilities, they’ll give a a hundred quid or so to get a few choice games into the society to kick it off, and provide a nice space on a weekly basis. The planning, constitution, advertising and the rest should take 3-4 weeks, after which it should be up and running.

Have tickets to see Control, the Ian Curtis/Joy Division story, this Friday at the extravagant Grosvenor.