A note: NO ONE wants sloppy seconds!

What a beast! It puts our single 8800 GTX machine to shame. I want one!!

Step 1: Global declaration (ie. not inside a function) of the constant array
extern __constant__ int d_nLookup[1<<13];

Step 2: Copy the data to the constant memory in a host running function
CUDA_SAFE_CALL(cudaMemcpyToSymbol(d_nlookup, h_nlookup, 1<<13 * sizeof(int), 0, cudaMemcpyHostToDevice));

Step 3: Use array in __device__ or __global__ functions directly (no need to pass array reference as a parameter)
fTemp += d_idata[d_nLookup[i]]; // use only loop map

As the array is defined as extern, it can be referenced in any __device__ or __global__ function without needing a reference to be passed to the function. Unfortunately, the size of the array has to be set at compile time (although I didn’t try dynamic allocation, it might just work). It’s important to note the use of cudaMemcpyToSymbol instead of cudaMemcpy; this fact was not emphasized anywhere and really had me stumped! Also, there is no need to cudaMalloc or cudaFree constant memory.

I suspect that the constant memory is simply a wrapped up version of 1D texturing. The constant memory array is used inside a loop, so theoretically with a hit and miss cache setup the first call to each position of the array should be a miss (meaning global memory latency). However this is not the case, so I suspect the compiler has detected the usage and fills up the 8KB cache on the first call.

So we’ve been casually looking around for VNC and SSH clients for the Dopod C730 (which runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard). All the clients I’ve tried so far haven’t installed, or had incorrect key mappings and were entirely useless on Win Mo 6. I was starting to lose hope of ever using the phone for its intended purpose. But now that the semester is over at uni, I thought i’de put in a decent days worth looking for apps that worked. After a few hours of looking, I stumbled across some really useful programs, that actually run perfectly in Win Mo 6…

LogMeIn Hamachi Mobile

Hamachi is an easy to use and secure VPN. With it, you create and join a virtual network, and all traffic is encrypted. Very neat! Using Hamachi, you can access computers/services behind firewalls, NAT and with no need for port forwarding. Hamachi installed from a .cab file, and no additional tweaks were required. Hamachi is free to use to.

Hamachi will connect over Wifi or 3G/EDGE/GPRS, so its very flexible.

MidpSSH Mobile SSH Client

MidpSSH is a free Java-based SSH client. All key bindings work as expected, colours work and the text is actually readable. I’de recommend changing the default font, unless you can read miniscule glyphs. It can be changed by Settings > Fonts > Font Size (LCD 5×9 is my preference).

As the app is Java, the interface is a little clunky to use; entering text takes a few additional button clicks each time (to access the text field, enter it, end the text, OK it, and move on). By default, Java applications won’t have access to the Hamachi network interface, but this is easily changed in the Java Apps launcher by going Menu > Settings (7) > Choose Network (4) > Hamachi Network.

VNC Plus (VNC+)

VNC+ is (another) brilliant Java-based app that provides VNC client functionality. With it, you can connect to a computer running a VNC server and control it remotely. VNC+ provides all the functionality of a desktop client, but in a mobile setting. It behaves just as you’d expect it to. No clunky scrolling or slow refreshing like other clients I tried. It’s a true miracle app that will no doubt come in very handy. It is well worth the $19.95, and comes with a free 7 day demo. VNC+ also provides efficient zooming, which loads the screen at the correct level detail. After connecting with the server, navigating around the whole screen is painless. This program is just so awesome!

Like MidpSSH, if you are accessing a computer over Hamachi, the Hamachi network must be assigned to Java. Otherwise, just bind Java to the Internet. I did have to manually bind the function keys to their appropriate functions in the program. This was done in Menu > Setup > Assign Keys, where I bound Select to my middle button, Menu to left soft key and Enter to right soft key.

With these apps installed on my phone, I can confidently leave my laptop at home and still be able to tackle any issues that flare up. Now thats mobilty!

Update: Discovered that VNC+ doesn’t recognise the letters from the 10 digit keys (numbers are transmitted regardless of whether Fn key is pressed or not. This makes it really hard to type text into the VNC session.

Update 2: Discovered the “Send text” menu option in VNC+. It allows for any text to be sent. Just need to get backspace working, then I’m all set.

A couple of things I picked up on during the first 3 episodes (potential spoiler alert ahead):

1. In season 1 episode 3, 6 survivors hike into the jungle to get a better signal on the transceiver, but lie upon returning to camp about what happened. In season 4, we learn that 6 survivors (The Oceanic Six) make it off the island and decide to lie about what happened. Strange, but worth noting.
2. The pilot of the plane is played by Greg Grunberg (who plays Matt Parkman in Heroes). Pity he didn’t use his telepathy to get them rescued
   

I use VLC to play all of the TV I watch. Because of this, I’ve been missing out on a lot of the shine that Front Row has to offer. One of the mean reasons for not using Front Row is it’s inability to play DivX/XviD encoded .avi files…

Enter Perian. Perian is a free, open source plug-in for QuickTime that enables Divx/Xvid/many more encoded videos to be played in QuickTime and Front row.
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In addition to adding DivX support to Front Row/QuickTime, installing Perian came with some unexpected surprises:

1. OS X can produce thumbnails for .avi files in Finder. No more ugly icons!
   vs
2. Cover Flow uses these thumbnails too, and looks awesome.
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3. Quick Look now plays the .avi files.
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Much better. Now all thats required is a big HD LCD TV to really show off Front Row.

After terminating the busy process, all the e-mails would open immediately! Major pain in the a-hole. It turns out that Quick View Plus had installed an addon into Outlook which made printing a bit screwy. Disabling it was easy; from Outlooks main window, Tools > Options > Other > Advanced Options > Add-in Manager, and uncheck the Quick View Plus add-in. Save those settings and restart Outlook.

Update: If restarting Outlook doesn’t work, try ending via Task Manager any OUTLOOK.EXE and OLADDIN.EXE processes that may be running, then starting Outlook again.

In due course, www.noizwaves.com will likely replace the current noizwaves.bur.st URL for this site.I’m undecided whether the blog should hold the www sub-domain or its own special blog sub-domain. Heck, maybe it can have both!

I used DreamHost for the web hosting. After looking around at a few places, this one seemed good. A friend also recommended them for their ease of use and excellent customer support. The hosting gives me lots of sub-domains and e-mail addresses, and private domain registration.

Right now I’m looking forward to making some regular posts about my recent activities. Life has been unbelievably busy over the last 4 months it’s crazy! A regular outlet is just what I need.

Update: www.noizwaves.com is now 100% operational!

So heres a fix. Its been tested under OS X 10.5, so it should work for anyone running Linux too.

1. Download urlbst from http://nxg.me.uk/dist/urlbst/. For me the current version is 0.6.
2. Extract the archive anywhere, just so happened to be my Downloads folder.
3. Open a terminal window, and navigate to the newly created directly. For me it was ~/Downloads/urlbst-0.6/
4. Run ‘./configure’ without the ‘ and ‘
5. I have to use the acm bibliography style, so i will be playing around with acm.bst
6. Run ’sudo mv /usr/local/texlive/2007/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst/base/acm.bst /usr/local/texlive/2007/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst/base/oldacm.bst’. This moves the original style file to a safe place.
7. Run ‘./urlbst /usr/local/texlive/2007/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst/base/acm.bst newacm.bst’. This adds the URL information to the style.
8. Run ’sudo cp newacm.bst /usr/local/texlive/2007/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst/base/acm.bst. This moves the new style file to a directly where LaTeX can find it.

Now all your webpages and sources with online references & cite dates will look right! Woot! Sleepy time now!!!

however sadly I was mistaken. The USB powered notebook cooler (made in China of course, surprise surprise) made absolutely no difference to internal temperatures or fan speeds. In fact, the temperatures seem to go up slightly!

When performing certain tasks, such as video encoding, heavy computation, virtualisation and (probably) gaming, CPU and GPU usage will peak, sometimes continually during the whole task. This is very effective are producing heat, and the MacBook Pro isn’t designed for efficient heat removal at all! The two little fans towards the back of the main logic board spin fast, make a lot of noise, and push minimal air our of the back.

As a result, after a couple of minutes at full load, temperatures can reach 80 degrees Celsius and fan speeds ~ 4500 rpm (a lot higher than the 2000 at idle). This is not at all suitable, especially as the need to run many virtual machines at once as well as heavy calculations will increase as I get stuck into my Honours project. Something needed to be done, so it first time to see if anything could be done…

After executing some homemade proof-of-concepts (jacking MBP up on some pegs and using an old PC fan underneath), it became obvious that external cooling was effective. Temperatures dropped significantly, and internal fan speed and noise decreased. Excellent, something can be done!

Instead of jumping straight into DIY’ing a cooling dock, I checked out the coolers available on eBay. This one caught my eye

and it only cost AU$13 all up. Not a bad buy; making one would certainly cost more than $13. It only took about a week for it to arrive (credit card and PayPal is much much quicker than bank account direct debit and PayPal) and its unboxing was keenly photographed.

The design of this 2.0 Watt air blowing beast is what impressed me most and made me buy it. Unfortunately, upon plugging it in, its good design appeared to be superficial, as in operating, it was a piece of shit.

Anyone who has played with a red hot MBP will know the gentle stream of hot air that spills out the back just below the screen hinge. Now, this hot air is being vacuumed into the notebook cooler! Whats worse, this hot air is then blown across the bottom of the case. This stream of air would be aimed towards the center of the case as well, which is not the hottest part. The case is hottest at the top, right where the notebook rests on the cooler’s rubber stoppers :S

Fearing the notebook would quickly melt onto the cooler and form a Frankenbook Pro, the cooler was quickly removed from operation, never to be used for cooling MBP again.

Am I suprised at the poor quality of the product? No, not really. For AU$2.99 plus $10 postage, what did I expect? Oh well, at least I learnt from someone elses mistakes, which will be important when designing and building my own cooling station.

The exercise wasn’t a total loss either. Reading the rear of the cooler’s packaging reveals a few classic gems of engrish. This piece is almost frameable. Makes me laugh every time I read it.

Classic!