Bitcoin is a digital currency that is designed to work like cash. I first heard about it in the June 2012 edition of the IEEE Spectrum magazine. The idea of a digital currency that was not centrally controlled and worked like cash intrigued me, and the fact that it appeared in the primary magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers added credibility. So, I decided to check it out.

The goal of this project is to write Amiga OS 4.x graphics drivers for R5xx and higher graphics cards, both 2D and 3D. One of the motivations for this is that, my computer vision research extensively uses shaders that are present in modern GPUs. None of the existing supported graphics cards for Amiga OS 4.x support shaders.  Shaders are rapidly becoming an essential component for running newer games. Rather than write 3D drivers from scratch, Gallium3D - the new driver system for MESA - will be used.

Many people have been asking me for advice as to which Radeon HD graphics card they should buy for their Amiga. So, here are my recommendations. For the lazy, there is a quick summary at the end of the page. But first, a quick disclaimer:

This page lists all hardware that has been tested with the RadeonHD.chip driver.

Wow! It's been years since I last posted an update on this blog. If you're wondering what I've been up to, then I suggest you check out my company's website: keasigmadelta.com. Anyway, I've been working on something new. It's something completely left field for me; not tech. related at all. The idea popped into my head as I was out for a walk, and was so compelling that I had to make it happen.

The announcement of Warp3D Nova in late March 2016 caused quite a bit of excitement. It's a new and modern shader-based 3D graphics API, and it opens up new possibilities. However, those possibilities only matter if people (software developers) turn them into reality.

If you're interested in doing postgraduate (a.k.a., graduate for North Americans) or postdoctoral research in aerospace engineering, then you may want to check out my brother's research group at Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada):
Ryerson Aerospace Control Systems Research Group

The Warp3D driver for Southern Islands GPUs has been in the hands of users for months now, so this blog post is well overdue. I always intended to give you a glimpse into the development process for this driver, and even saved screenshots regularly during the development process. I just never managed to find the time to publish it. So, I've stolen some time out of my schedule to finally get it online.

Whilst the SubVersioN (SVN) repository acts as a backup in many ways, it is still worth making a backup. The repository holds more than just a backup of the developer files, it holds a record of every change that anyone has ever made to the source files.The Trac project pages can also hold important information. Given that keeping this data is critical to a software project's existence (and possibly the livelihood of the company/induviduals that own it), it is worth protecting.

Kia-Ora! Welcome to HDRLab. My name is Hans de Ruiter, and this website is devoted to various software development/engineering projects of mine (mostly Amiga OS 4 related) and anything else that I find interesting (e.g., electronics, mechatronics, or anything engineering related).  If you're into technology, building things, or are just curious, browse through this site using the menu above, or have a look at the recent updates below. Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions.