Alexander Houghton
Technical Programming Blog & showcase
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Blog

Blog of findings, fixes and thoughts!

11

Visualising SRGB & Gamma Correction

Posted on May 20, 2024 by Alex

Introduction There are plenty of fantastic websites out there which explain the technicalities of Gamma Correction and SRGB colour correction so won’t try to do the same here. Instead this post is to show visually the effects of SRGB/Gamma Correction Continue Reading →

Blog gamma, gamma correction, s-rgb, srgb
0

Redirect all stdout/stderr to console

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Alex

If your Windows executable is using /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS rather than /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE, something you will have noticed your output messages to stdout (printf, std::cout etc) will be missing. You can easily solve this however by spawning your own Windows console window and Continue Reading →

Blog output to console, redirect stderr, redirect stdout, windows stdout redirect, write to console
0

Increase Windows Console Line Limit

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Alex

If you’re in a situation where your console output text is being truncated because so many lines have been output, you may want to increase the limit. Increase Windows Console Text Limit With a console window already spawned, right click Continue Reading →

Blog buffer, console, console line limit, console text truncate, how to increase line limit, how to make console keep more text, SetConsoleScreenBufferSize, windows
0

Faster Compiling: Visual Studio Unity (Jumbo) Builds

Posted on December 31, 2022 by Alex

Unity/Jumbo builds are a way of speeding up C/C++ compilation by compiling multiple c/cpp files as a single object file. Speed improvements can come from not having to re-parse and compile shared headers. Even in projects that use pre-compiled headers, Continue Reading →

Blog C++, cpp, jumbo build, jumbo builds, SINGLE TRANSLATION UNIT, unity build, unity builds, visual studio
8

Programming a Digital Potentiometer (MCP4131) With Raspberry Pi & WiringPi

Posted on October 5, 2021 by Alex
MCP4131 on a breadboard programmed by a Raspberry Pi

Github Link: https://github.com/comeradealexi/MCP4131 Datasheet One of the most important parts of programming an MCP is studying the datasheet provided with it. For the MCP4131, you can download it here: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/MCP4131 It will provide everything you need to know about the Continue Reading →

Blog 4131, mcp4131, potentiometer, raspberry pi, rpi
0

Connecting to Raspberry Pi direct to PC via Ethernet

Posted on October 5, 2021 by Alex

This article will show you how to connect directly to a Raspberry Pi by connecting an ethernet cable directly to your PC without needing to do any setup on the Raspberry Pi itself. This means you don’t need to plug Continue Reading →

Blog computer, dhcp, direct, ethernet, laptop, pc, physical, raspberry pi, rpi
1

C++ unique/shared ptr custom deleters

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Alex

I’ve recently found the need for a custom deleter function attached to smart pointers in C++ and I found there are a number of different ways to implement this. I’ll touch on the advantages/disadvantages of the different ways to use Continue Reading →

Blog C++, smart pointer, std::shared_ptr, std::unique_ptr, stl
1

Raspberry Pi/C++ Log Class

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Alex

With having written many Raspberry Pi programs now, it made sense for me to create a little Log class which I’ve used in all my projects now which I feel is really quite nice to use and intuitive. In this Continue Reading →

Blog, Programming
8

Raspberry Pi – Home Monitoring System

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Alex

Using multiple Raspberry Pis, I’ve put together a small system to monitor my home when away. In order to maintain my own privacy, I’ve set up a system which detects when myself or my partner is home by periodically pinging Continue Reading →

Blog, Programming
0

Raspberry Pi – Web Controlled Media Player

Posted on August 20, 2017 by Alex

Having a spare TV and a hard drive full of videos, I wanted to make it so I could easily watch videos from a hard drive on the TV and control playback and video choice entirely from my phone, this Continue Reading →

Blog, Programming, Programming - Application Development
0

lighttpd – Changing default user (Raspberry Pi)

Posted on August 7, 2017 by Alex

After following the great tutorial here (http://www.penguintutor.com/linux/light-webserver) for getting lighttpd setup and running on my Raspberry Pi, I wanted to change the default user the service ran as so I could run commands from php scripts requiring more permissions. The Continue Reading →

Blog change user, http server, light tpd, lighttpd, linux, raspberry pi, rpi, server, ubunti, user, web server
0

std::mutex crash on initial lock (Interesting thread releated bug with fix included!)

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Alex

Have been writing some code to test out creating worker threads in C++ and came across an interesting bug where my program would crash on the first lock of the mutex. Thought it was an interesting little problem to solve. Continue Reading →

Blog bug, std::mutex, thread
4

Guide: Sending an SMS with Raspberry Pi/Linux – Huawei E303 Mobile Dongle

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Alex

For this guide I’ll be showing how I got my Huawei E303 Mobile Dongle to with with Gammu on the Raspberry Pi to send and receive SMS messages. This is the specific Huawei E303 I used. When I first started Continue Reading →

Blog gammu, linux, raspberry pi, sms, text message, usb-modeswitch
0

Using Raspberry Pi to test Power Supply Reliability

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Alex

I recently came across a problem with a friend whose computer was having strange issues of switching off entirely at random. We contacted the power supply support channels who suggested it sounded as if the surge protection on the motherboard Continue Reading →

Blog
0

Problems with VisualGDB and Raspberry Pi 2

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Alex

I followed the tutorial for setting up VisualGDB for a Raspberry Pi from this link: VisualGDB and below are some issues that I ran into and how I fixed them. Hope it helps! Compile Error: “bits/c++config.h: No such file or directory”: Continue Reading →

Blog gpio, raspberry pi, root, sudo, visual gdb
1

[C#] HttpWebRequest not sending Cookies on Windows Phone

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Alex

Had a similar problem to Jeroen Swart to do with Cookies in Windows Phone as he mentioned in his blog post here. Basically identical C# code to make a HttpWebRequest with a few cookies would work in a simple desktop Continue Reading →

Blog C++, cookies, httpwebrequest, Windows Phone, wp
0

Steam Live gets a huge update.

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Alex

Steam Live has received yet another huge update, this time adding some great new features and fixing some of those other little niggles! It’s an application that has been around for a while now and after a long stream of Continue Reading →

Blog Steam Live Windows Phone
0

C#: Class Member variable called ‘type’ causes weird compile issues caused by AVAST Antivirus.

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Alex

Problem: Try and use this class in any C# project and it won’t work, it will give errors after compiling that it can’t copy the exe/dll with the following errors codes (warning MSB3026: and error MSB3027: and error MSB3021:) Renaming the ‘type’ Continue Reading →

Blog error MSB3021:, error MSB3027:, warning MSB3026:
0

Windows Phone C#: “Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.” on LongListSelector Fix

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Alex

Came across a very weird problem today that has occurred on my application Steam Live which I’ve never come across before… On a certain Steam Profile I’d get a crash with the following message: “Layout cycle detected.  Layout could not Continue Reading →

Blog C++, Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete., Windows Phone
0

Windows Phone 8.1 DirectX Sample Landscape mode broken / rotation doesn’t work.

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Alex

The Problem: When the phone is in landscape mode, the rendered area isn’t rotated on screen! As you can see, the image on the right is when it is in portrait mode, the one below is when in landscape. The problem Continue Reading →

Blog C++, DirectX, DirectX Rotation, Windows Phone Rotation
LinkedIn: Alexander Houghton

Recent

  • Visualising SRGB & Gamma Correction
  • Redirect all stdout/stderr to console
  • Increase Windows Console Line Limit
  • Faster Compiling: Visual Studio Unity (Jumbo) Builds
  • Programming a Digital Potentiometer (MCP4131) With Raspberry Pi & WiringPi
  • Connecting to Raspberry Pi direct to PC via Ethernet
  • C++ unique/shared ptr custom deleters
  • Raspberry Pi/C++ Log Class
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