Taking Linux to New Heights

JimDog writes "Literally. I've created a web site documenting the construction and launch of a high altitude 'weather' balloon, with a payload that runs Linux. The project was a great success, reached an altitude of 80,000 feet, and took some really amazing aerial photos."

Comments

Re:Or.... not? (apologies)

[JimDog]

I actually thought this machine would be more up to the task. It's a PIII-450 with plenty of bandwidth.

I think it's the Perl CGI that runs the photo gallery that's killing it.

For the curious, the load average on the machine
is currently about 40 :)

OT: What are the server requirements to survive /.

[Eric Jaakkola]

Does anyone know what kind of bandwidth usage to expect when your site gets posted to /.? This guy admits that he thought his p3 450 with a "fat pipe" would handle the load, but I belive /. generates more than 60,000 hits per hour, or 1 thousand hits per second when a "interesting" story gets posted. Now, add in images or multimedia and you've really got some resource usage.

Poor guy, he spent too much!

[cybermace5]

Nice hack, but it can be done for much less money.

BG Micro sells Motorola OnCore GPS boards for about $20. They also have just the pigtail connector for a serial port, but who's complaining?

The single-board computer is nice, but you can find similar (and better) boards for much, much less than $200. Simply graze eBay for a few weeks, get a feel for what's there. I recently picked up a single-board for $40, comes with everything including four serial ports, and still retails for about $500. Same board that John uses in the Armadillo project.

And using Basic Stamps...well, let's just say I never liked the idea of paying $50 to $90 for the exact part I could buy from Microchip for a couple bucks. Nor the idea of writing slow code in Basic, as opposed to tasty assembler and absolute hardware control.

The chase description was great though; trucking down the freeway trying to log into a balloon that's well over any airline traffic, hoping it doesn't land in someone's windshield...or swimming pool. Makes the model rocket hunts of my youth seem pretty tame, even the time we found the rocket neatly draped on the front doormat of the mean neighbor lady's house....

Photos are fine ... however ...

[Greedo]

Look at this one. I hope you got permission from the San Jose Airport to do this. Don't the generally frown on people sending up ballons/model rockets/etc. in their airspace?

Other uses

[core plexus]

The ballon could be tethered and used as a relay for wireless net connection. Anybody tried this? Seems like it would overcome some line of sight restrictions. Only limits would be power and cables. Or maybe I am just blabbing away. (I'm not suggesting an 80,000 foot tether).

Man Gets 70mpg in Homemade Car-Made from a Mainframe Computer

Great project - some Qs?

[spludge]

This was a really neat project, a great combination of hacks! The writeup is great too, some serious effort went into that.

Since I see that you are reading the comments:

What was the total cost of the project?

At the beginning you said that you would call the FAA NOTAM when you were going to make the launch, did you make that call? If so what did they say? :)

Re:Great project - some answers

[JimDog]

> What was the total cost of the project?

Right around the $900 mark I think. I had intended to keep a really accurate account of that, but I've misplaced some of the receipts now. I also resold some of the hardware that didn't work out on eBay.

> At the beginning you said that you would call
> the FAA NOTAM when you were going to make the
> launch, did you make that call? If so what did
> they say? :)

I did call them. I told them I was launching a
weather balloon. They asked, basically, when,
where, how big, what's your name? Once I'd
answered those questions, they said, "Okay,
thanks." and that was it :)