User talk:Fraser
From Cricut Hacking Wiki
Hey, I've got a hex dump up in my user namespace: User:Coda/Hexdump. Do you think you could be of any help trying to figure out what I'm looking at? Coda 19:15, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
I've renamed a couple of pages (CSharp because # isn't allowed in titles, First Generation Hardware, and Second Generation Hardware) and added a Python code sample. Please update the front page. And speaking of Python, well, now you can definitely see I'm a programmer. Coda 14:31, 16 January 2012 (UTC)
Thanks, I really am still figuring this out. Take a look at the Formatting Test Page I've been making alot of structure changes for the wiki, but haven't rolled them out public. Thanks! Fraser 17:20, 16 January 2012 (UTC)
New functionality added in the latest revision of CraftRoom: You can now "link" a physical cartridge to your CraftRoom account, which I presume uses the same serial number write as Gypsy. I intend to get a hex dump of the registration process. I'm pondering over whether or not this is a good idea to document, though; it would be pretty unethical if we released a way to remove the serial number from a linked cartridge and resold it. Coda 01:05, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
- I agree it's probably not the right information to release. Is there a way the information can be used for good? Provocraft have a tendency to sue, when their bread and butter products viability is threatened. They got really serious about suing when one company released an enhancement to their software that allowed the user to "backup" the data from the cartridge.
- I started to recreate the schematic for the Cartridges but I'm not sure how the information would be used. I can't think of a bad use, or a good use. Any thoughts? Fraser 01:40, 21 January 2012 (UTC)
- I can totally think of a good use for understanding how the cartridges work, if it gives us a way to create custom cuts on first-gen HW or the Expression 2. It wouldn't help with the Mini, of course; that would require getting CraftRoom to recognize it. (CraftRoom loads all of the cartridge information from the Internet and just uses the cartridge in the device as a license key.) Also it's possible to control first-gen hardware through the cartridge port -- the Gypsy does exactly this -- and it may be possible to do the same with second-gen hardware (the Gypsy may just need a FW update). Being able to dump the ROMs is really just a side effect that we don't even have to care about because you can get all of the information from CraftRoom anyway. Coda 00:08, 22 January 2012 (UTC)
Are you staff here? The owner, perhaps? I'd like to talk a little about some anti-spam measures, since recently at least the spam has been drowning out the legitimate content in the recent changes page. Coda 04:39, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
I'm not a Bureaucrat, but I have Admin rights. I can't give you admin, but I would happily vote for you to get admin if you want it.
I see what you mean about the recent changes, it's mostly user account creation. I've been pretty good about deleting orphan pages a couple of times a week. I think locking down the main page has kept most of those users from being successful in their vandalism.
As I've said before I'm really new to this and open to all suggestions. Fraser 17:24, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
- The recent changes page is my primary way of using this wiki. It's the best way to see what other people have been working on. So keeping that as clean and uncluttered as possible is a plus for usability. I got your e-mail and I've sent a mail to the owner. Coda 18:32, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
- Hmm... I haven't heard back yet. Coda 15:32, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
Sorry to hear that. Is there any changes I can make that will improve "Recent Changes" page? I found a personal setting that allows the items to be grouped on a daily basis by the edit type, so all the new users end up on a line, and the deleted pages are on a line. Fraser 16:52, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Well, I can at least look for that setting on my own account; that'll help... I was just hoping to make the registration page less bot-friendly. Coda 02:55, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
Good idea with the backlinks, but if I may make a suggestion, perhaps you should put it as a "See Also" section at the bottom and/or make a category for commands with the main command table being the category's description page (which will add a "Categories" block at the bottom with a backlink). Coda 17:32, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
I was doing that because the pages showed on the "Dead-end pages" report in Special Pages. It was kind of busy work to show that I haven't forgotten about the wiki. I have a new puppy so that has used up alot of my free time. Please, show me with an example on one page and I'll run with it. Thanks again for the feedback. Fraser 22:36, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
Table Formatting
Hey, I noticed you're the author of the Formatting Test Page and also an admin. Could you add the CSS for wiki tables to MediaWiki:Common.css? Then we can make nice tables by simply adding class="wikitable" to a table. That would be much cleaner than the Template:Cricut Command stuff currently used by the commands page. I think this should be the correct css, although I can't test it myself since user skins are disabled.
table.wikitable {
background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #F9F9F9;
border: 1px solid #AAAAAA;
border-collapse: collapse;
color: black;
margin: 1em 1em 1em 0;
}
.wikitable th, .wikitable td {
border: 1px solid #AAAAAA;
padding: 0.2em;
}
.wikitable th {
background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #F2F2F2;
text-align: center;
}
.wikitable caption {
font-weight: bold;
}
.wikitable, .thumb, img {
page-break-inside: avoid;
}
And this might be a question for the owner rather than an Admin, but installing ParserFunctions would help with a lot of formatting challenges on the wiki.
--Q 23:14, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
- I've been watching some of your changes and I'm happy to help where I can but as you noted I'm only an Admin, not the Owner so I can't install files to the server. I'm still new to all of the formatting so I know what a pain the tables can be and they still don't look that good. The owner while not very active has been very friendly in the couple of email exchanges I've had with him. I suggest contacting him.
- Fraser 19:56, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
- As an admin you should be able to change commons.css. Can you give it a try?
- BTW, thanks for responding so fast. It's a pleasure to have a responsive admin on a little wiki like this. As for the owner, just setting up the wiki is contribution enough. I can work around the lack of extensions.
- --Q 08:10, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
- Your suggestion seemed easy, let me know if it works like you expect. I haven't spent much time with the Cricut lately but my current direction is to see about creating custom firmware that will allow other PC software to use the Cricut like any other craft paper cutter.
- --Fraser 17:58, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
- Perfect! That simplifies making tables enormously. Thanks!
- I've been trying to get libcutter to work from a mac. The FTDI drivers seem finicky (or maybe some other problem) so this doesn't work perfectly, even after you get everything to compile. I'll hopefully contribute back some info here once I get it working.
- --Q 20:57, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
Discussion Forum
This wiki has some good info, but it's not great for discussing problems or asking questions. Do you know if there are any mailing lists/forums/irc rooms devoted to cricut hacking? --Q 21:08, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
- I don't know of any. Since the encryption key for 2nd Generation Cricuts isn't known, and with the lawsuits Provocraft has won, there hasn't been nearly the interest in the Cricut. They are still doing some cool stuff, I have a non-working Cricut Imagine, that I am going to look at closer when I get off my current project. Fraser 14:53, 23 October 2012 (UTC)
