In September, the long-rumoured Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was officially announced for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

While there was no formal mention of a Nintendo release, a Ubisoft Twitter account at the time posted and then removed a tweet making reference to a Switch version. Pre-orders for a Switch copy of the game also temporarily went live and this followed with box art surfacing online.

To top it off, another two retailer listings for a Nintendo Switch version of the game have now appeared in Greece (thanks, Nintendo Life user Geobros). These websites include GameExplorers and The Console Club. The same cover art is once again on display, and the release date is also 21st January next year, which lines up with the launch on other platforms.

Senior analyst at Niko Partners Daniel Ahmad (who previously implied the remake wouldn’t be coming to the Switch at all) more recently said a Nintendo release wouldn’t be happening “in January”.

Both of the above-mentioned websites have already revealed a local version of the recently announced Final Fantasy VII / VIII Remastered Twin Pack well ahead of its official announcement.

If we hear anything official about the upcoming Prince of Persia remake coming to the Switch, we’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, tell us if you would like to see this title released on Nintendo hardware.

while im here: 'atlanta' s3+s4 are going to be some of the best television ever made. sopranos only ones who can touch us.

— donald (@donaldglover) November 6, 2020

Ready, Steady, Go —-> Data Science by setting up Conda in your Computer

It has never been easier from the early python data tools invention than now, to set up an user environment in our own computer. Conda brings that easiness with it.

Conda as it defines itself is an “OS-agnostic, system-level binary package manager and ecosystem.”

The guiding principles of python are written by Tim Peters in  PEP 20 — The Zen of Python. One of the aphorisms mentioned in it is, “There should be one– and preferably only one –obvious way to do it.” Conda is an effort towards it not only for Python but other languages like R, Ruby, etc.

If you wish to read more about conda, read an excellent blog post written by Travis Oliphant. He’s the creator of Numpy and Scipy.

The best way to install Conda package manager for python is through any one of the two distributions,

• Anaconda
• Miniconda

Choosing Between Anaconda and Miniconda

Miniconda is a small, bootstrap version of Anaconda that includes only conda, Python, the packages they depend on. If you’re ready to allocate more space (around 3 GB), Anaconda is the best option. Anaconda will install a wide range of packages that you might need to deal with the data. Otherwise, Miniconda will serve the purpose and you can install any package as required.

To get an up to date and stable version of the software, installing from the official documentation is the best way to do so. We’ll provide you the links to the docs. The steps mentioned in the docs are very easy to follow like a cakewalk. Also, by the time whenever any of the links are dead, We’ll update them.

Installing Conda through Anaconda:

• Installing on Windows
• Installing on macOS
• Installing on Linux

Installing Conda through Miniconda:

• Installing on Windows
• Installing on macOS
• Installing on Linux

We didn’t provide all the instructions directly here on this page because it’s very easy and clearly mentioned in the docs. The theme of this article is only to provide you with the necessary information to choose between Miniconda and Anaconda.

The post How to Set Up Conda first appeared on Finxter.

Last modified on November 8th, 2020.

Internet of things (IoT) is fascinating. I am predominantly a web applications person. But sensors, LED display, chips, soldering and the collage of software with these “things” is exciting.

The credit card sized Raspberry Pi computer gives all the opportunity to experiment and explore IoT. I wrote getting started with IoT using Raspberry Pi and PHP a while back. Now I thought of extending that and write about my hobby projects that I do with Raspberry Pi.

I have been using Raspberry Pi to,

• Notify for new emails integrating GMail API.
• Show the number of unread emails.
• Monitor website uptime and notify if it’s up or down.
• Show traffic user count to my website integrating Google Analytics.
• Notify if there is a sale in my online shop.

Raspberry Pi is my hobby and I thought of sharing with you about these tiny projects. This will be a multi article series. Let us start with how to connect a I2C LCD display with the Raspberry Pi.

Then I will write about all the above items one by one.

I2C LCD display module

Widely popular are 16×2(LCD1602) and 20×4 (LCD2004) LCD displays. The below image shows a 20×4 LCD display module.

Three main reasons to choose this type of LCD display for IoT projects using Raspberry Pi or Arduino.

1. Economical to purchase. You can buy a 16×2 LCD module for just $1 USD.
2. It requires 5v to run and so we can hook it to Raspberry Pi and no dedicated power source required.
3. Consumes low current. You can keep it on 24×7 with backlight on without burning your purse.

Why I2C backpack?

These LCD modules have parallel interface. That will not be convenient to connect multiple pins to the chip and use them in parallel mode.

I2C is a serial bus developed by Philips. So we can use I2C communication and just use 4 wires to communicate. To do this we need to use an I2C adapter and solder it to the display.

I2C uses two bidirectional lines, called SDA (Serial Data Line) and SCL (Serial Clock Line) with 5V standard power supply requirement a ground pin. So just 4 pins to deal with.

When you buy the LCD module, you can purchase LCD, I2C adapter separately and solder it. If soldering is not your thing, then it is better to buy the LCD module that comes with the I2C adapter backpack with it.

The above image is backside of a 2004 LCD module. The black thing is the I2C adapter. You can see the four pins GND, VCC, SDA and SCL. That’s where the you will be connecting the Raspberry Pi.

The square blue thing with plus mark is used for adjusting the brightness of the display. The blue jumper is used to switch on or off the backlight.

Switching off the backlight may not be necessary. If you switch off, the characters will be barely visible. You can keep it on 24×7, it will not eat up power as it is a low power consumption device.

Logic converter

Raspberry Pi GPIO pins are natively of 3.3V. So we should not pull 5v from Raspberry Pi. The I2C LCD module works on 5V power and to make these compatible, we need to shift up the 3.3V GPIO to 5V. To do that, we can use a logic level converter.

Reference: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/faqs/#pi-power-gpioout

This is an important point and this is where a lot of beginners fail out. You may find some conflicting information in the Internet pages.

You might see RPIs connected directly to a 5V devices, but they may not be pulling power from RPI instead supplying externally. Only for data / instruction RPI might be used. So watch out, you might end up frying the LCD module or the RPI itself.

Required hardware list

• Raspberry Pi (I have used Zero W and you can use any model you have).
• LCD display with I2C adapter backpack (I have used 20×4, you can use as per your choice).
• 3.3V to 5V bi-directional logic level converter
• Breadboard
• Jumper wires

Pre-requisite

• Micro SD card with Raspbian OS
• 5.1V power supply (Official power adapter recommended)
• Memory card reader

Why official power adapter?

Why am I recommending the official power adapter! There is a reason to it. The cheap mobile adapters though guarantee a voltage, they do not provide a steady voltage. That may not be required in charging a cellphone device but not in the case of Raspberry Pi. That is the main reason, a USB keyboard or mouse attached does not get detected. They may not get sufficient power. Either go for an official power adapter or use the best branded one you know.

Headless

I have a headless setup. I am doing SSH from my MAC terminal and use VIM as editor. VNC viewer may occasionally help but doing the complete programming / debugging may not be comfortable. If you do not prefer SSH way, then you will need a monitor to plug-in to Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi LCD I2C Circuit diagram

I have used a breadboard, logic level converter, 20×4 LCD display module with I2C backpack and Raspberry Pi Zero W in the circuit diagram.

3.3V GPIO of Raspberry Pi is converted using a logic level converter to 5V to be compatible for the LCD display.

Raspberry Pi setup with LCD display module using I2C backpack

Programming

As you know my language of choice to build website is PHP. But for IoT with Raspberry Pi, let us use Python. Reason being availability of packages and that will save ton of effort. Low level interactions via serial or parallel interface is easier via Python.

I2C

We need the below two tools for working with I2C. So install it by running the following command in the RPI terminal.

sudo apt-get install python-smbus i2c-tools

Enable I2C

sudo raspi-config

The above command opens the Raspberry Pi configuration in the terminal. Under ‘Interfacing Options’, activate I2C.

sudo vi /etc/modules

Add the following two lines at the end of the file and save it.

i2c-bcm2708

i2c-dev

Then restart Raspberry Pi.

sudo reboot

Test I2C

To check if the I2C is properly connected and detected.

sudo i2cdetect -y 1

This will return a matrix with ’27’ highlighted, that means you I2C is detected and it is the address.

Install PIP

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python3 get-pip.py

LCD Library

We need a library to interact with the LCD module. There are many Python libraries available. I prefer RPLCD.

sudo pip install RPLCD

This will install the RPLCD library.

Raspberry Pi LCD Hello World Python program

LCDHelloWorld.py

Following code imports the RPLCD library. Then initializes the LCD instance. Then print the “Hello World” string followed by new line. Then another two statements. Then a sleep for 5 seconds and switch off the LCD backlight. Finally, clear the LCD screen.

# Import LCD library

from RPLCD import i2c # Import sleep library

from time import sleep # constants to initialise the LCD

lcdmode = 'i2c'

cols = 20

rows = 4

charmap = 'A00'

i2c_expander = 'PCF8574' # Generally 27 is the address;Find yours using: i2cdetect -y 1 address = 0x27 port = 1 # 0 on an older Raspberry Pi # Initialise the LCD

lcd = i2c.CharLCD(i2c_expander, address, port=port, charmap=charmap, cols=cols, rows=rows) # Write a string on first line and move to next line

lcd.write_string('Hello world')

lcd.crlf()

lcd.write_string('IoT with Vincy')

lcd.crlf()

lcd.write_string('Phppot')

sleep(5)

# Switch off backlight

lcd.backlight_enabled = False # Clear the LCD screen

lcd.close(clear=True) 

My next article in this series will be on how to integrate the GMail API and notify for new mails.

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Update: Well, that’s official, then – the Switch is missing out. Mass Effect Legendary Edition has been confirmed for current-gen Sony and Microsoft consoles (and PC) with next-gen enhancements on the way, but there’s no love for Nintendo’s console in this instance.

Original Story [Tue 22nd Sep, 2020 10:45 BST]: The heavily rumoured Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster release won’t be coming to Nintendo Switch as previously expected, according to VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb.

In a newly posted YouTube video, Grubb – known for his insider knowledge of the industry – briefly discusses the rumoured title, noting that Mass Effect is “definitely not” one of the seven games EA is planning to bring to Switch over the next year (thanks, VGC).

He explains that he’ll be able to share more details on the new release next week, and speaking on the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast, has also suggested that the remaster compilation will actually be titled ‘Legendary Edition’.

Just last week, a retail listing for the Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster was spotted for Switch before it was immediately taken down. This caused some to believe that it might appear in Nintendo’s Partner Showcase the following day, but that never materialised. It then reappeared at a second retailer, before getting taken down yet again. Both times, the game was listed as launching in October.

So is the game coming to Switch or not? Will it simply launch on Switch a year-or-so after it does on other platforms, explaining both the retail listings and Grubb’s comments? We’ll have to wait and see.

There are only a few days left in Unity’s 10th Anniversary MegaBundle X that we previously discussed here. Taking a quick look through the assets in the bundle it becomes clear that there are a number of assets that would be perfect for people looking to create a racing game. Today we are going to look at the following assets from the bundle:

Edy’s Vehicle Physics

This asset contains the logic you need to control your cars, from fast drifting sports cars to city buses.

EasyRoads3D Pro

Quickly and easily create and populate road networks using a simple spline based approach, both in the editor and dynamically at run-time, with a terrain aware system.

Toon Racing

A collection of toon shader styled racing cars, rally cars and monster trucks. It also contains several props, track pieces and more for creating a full racing game with a consistent art style.

UniStorm

Add dynamic weather systems, day/night cycles, pouring rain and more to your racing game with UniStorm.

Oak Trees Pack

They’re trees. Oak trees. There are 5 of them, enough said.

The above links contain affiliate codes that pay GFS a small commission if you purchase anything (thanks so much if you do!). Of course be sure to use the Bundle Link and not individual asset links to get the savings, at least until November 12th. You can learn more and see all the above assets in action in the video below.