|
|
|
What should I know about my Granddaughter's Wii?
|
|
Member
1 product review
|
26. December 2009 @ 20:53 |
Link to this message
|
My granddaughter was given a Wii, ...
... with two remotes, two 'plus' adapters, an attachment with a joystick and two buttons, and a second attachment with two joy sticks and many buttons. She was given many 'discs'. Then she looked at me, the retired computer consultant.
In Hostile Territory
Now, I've not a clue about 'game' machines, except the graphics hardware is very advanced. Even her 'disc', which I assume is pressed onto a CD, won't mount on Debian GNU/Linux, which is a feat in itself.
I'm very impressed with the programming, by the way. However, I'm the type who can't drive a car without understanding its mechanics. I cut my teeth on Hollerith cards, so computers I understand.
Land of Computing
What processor does this have? Does the software speak an augmented OpenGL? Is that relegated to the operating system? What operating system runs the Wii? Is it proprietary or a hack of Linux? How do the remote gizmos communicate with the 'sensor': infrared flashes, Bluetooth-protocol radio waves, induction from an electromagnetic field?
What is the Intelligent Way to run a Game?
I shall read the posts on backing up one's game disc, so one can play only the backup. However, I have little initial hope for a disc that doesn't mount. The instructions suggest I can copy selected games to a tiny SD card. I can probably find some 4 or 8 GB ones. Is this what one inserts and plays games from daily?
Seeking On-line References that address the Above
The above is too much to answer, and they only suggest my questions. Normally, I should spend two weeks reading randomly anything on the Wii. However, given their popularity (I tried swordplay and crushed them), queries such as mine are likely on the minds of many other 'old guys', who can boot Unix on a toaster, but are lost around their granddaughter's new toy.
Are there any good, technical documents or information out there? Any good reading for us aged, ignorant people? I pose this general question because I suspect many would like to know about the Wii.
Thanks in advance!
|
Member
1 product review
|
7. January 2010 @ 17:53 |
Link to this message
|
Thanks to dailun for recently answering some questions above and referring me to the
start of the Wikipedia's many articles on the Wii's hardware and software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii
From additionally reading the documentation of
GameCube Linux:
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Main_Page
and the code and header files of several applications on sourceforge:
http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_s...i&search=Search
I find myself no longer clueless, just ignorant. As I focus now on learning the intricacies of 'Animal Crossing', I offer my current dumb guesses on how aspects of the Wii works. Those who know might like to correct me?
Though there are roughly four possible methods for a remote to communicate with a base station (infrared lights, Bluetooth, WiFi, and cable), the remote appears to use only Bluetooth when communicating with the console. The IR bar above the television appears to be a horizontal string of LEDs. This may allow the remote to determine its distance to & from the screen, and left & right from its center (but not up & down). How it does this puzzles me, but there appears a 'dot size' associated with each flash; if the measure of 'dot size' is a real number, the comparative sizes may roughly determine the apex of a very skinny, horizontal triangle. Just a guess.
For those games, such as Kendo, that require up & down, one first aims the remote at the center of the screen (the tilt meter helps to calculate the height of the remote). This is just guessing on my part. I'm also guessing as well one isn't expected to travel around the room while playing. :-)
Although it would appear that the remote only receives IR, and doesn't flash itself, this is uncertain. However, it would appear that the WiFi transceiver on the console is there only for networking with Nintendo or another console.
The remote appears to have buttons, a speaker (combining four sounds for a voice), a vibrator, four LEDs, a battery voltmeter, tiltmeters, and accelerometers. From the lag seen in baseball, for example, I'm guessing the processor's computations couldn't accurately or rapidly separate the rotation along axes perpendicular to the remote (baseball) from that along the remote, so a new extension was added to solely report rotation about the axis along the remote (spin in bowling).
The nunchuk has two buttons, a joystick for movement in a horizontal plane, and a tiny accelerometer (as that in the extension). Motions that don't require much computation are fast (left jabs in boxing), whereas motions that do may be very slow, if possible (right hooks).
Owning a Mac, I can understand the processors and 512 MB of flash memory (though the specs here report much less), and dailun has helped me understand how to use the SD & SDHC cards, USB, and other topics ill-explained in the documentation. However, dailun has not pre-read and does not share in any of the above errors. :-)
Here I end with a Wikpedia link of interest to avid users:
Wikipedia on the AA Rechargable Battery acceptable to Nintendo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_metal_hydride_battery
Edited by Gneiss1 to correct typos.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. January 2010 @ 19:42
|
|
