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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."
I always though "Payload" was a term used for viruses. Is there something you are not telling us?
...we've slashdotted his weather balloon!
scan the first page, neat project. Looked at one picture, and *WHAM* ./ effect.
/. End of Saddam's war machine.
*sigh*
We really dont need a war in iraq.. we just need to get the IP's of their main machines and post a story on
Guess I'll check back later tonight. Neat pictures though! I can see one being wallpaper in the very neat future.
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
Then it came back to earth, where a merciless slashdot crowd pounded the poor server into the ground.
Now all it needs is to be inside a submarine!
Sorry, but you've been beaten by a few years and several hundred miles. Linux has already been in orbit aboard the space shuttle several times.
The point isn't that it is running Linux, the point is that he made a really cool project that floated to 80,000 feet and took pictures, AND he got the whole thing back to retrieve the pictures. To me that is awfully impressive. The fact that it runs Linux was just one cool part of the project.
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
"The project was a great success, reached an altitude of 80,000 feet, and took some really amazing aerial photos."
Shortly after, we got a photo of a cartoon-esque hole in the ground shaped like a penguin.
Unemployment for me means sitting around the house reading /. and wearing sweaters because I don't have enough money to turn the heat on. Who has this much disposable cash when they aren't working? Still, very cool.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
StratOS
Oh, the humanity!!!
Ummm... It's dead Jim.
Sorry couldn't resist.
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.
The article would have been far more interesting if it was titled "linux hacker flies balloon and joins mile high club."
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
"Literally. I've created a web site documenting the construction and launch of a high altitude 'weather' balloon, with a payload that runs Linux. "
Now Linux users everywhere will know what the weather's like outside!
The PIII-450 is actually handling the load quite well now. I disabled the photo gallery and pointed the photo links directly to the static content.
Load average is less than 1 now.
I don't know what the hit rate and bandwidth utilization is like, but I'll do some Apache log analysis later and find out.
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....
...
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?
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
I've heard THAT one before, yeah a weather balloon. *wink wink*
Well I've got some Linux powered swamp gas over here.
What are you REALLY hiding!?!?
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?
Cached it here http://www.johnytech.com/baloon/ Go Easy on it. ;)
His Galleries never worked for me.
I Encrypt My IM's
HABET (High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology) is one organization that has been doing this for years (I believe there are many). About 4 years ago I helped on a project that used two cameras, one with color film and one infrared. The cameras were triggered based on GPS altitude data so we examine the resulting photos and determine the difference in atmospheric interference (the clouds and graininess you see in his pics) and potentially combine the data from the color and infrared film to eliminate the interference.
I don't know where the interference-correction went since I graduated and fled the state, but I do know that triggering the cameras based on GPS altitude worked because I wrote that portion of the PIC code. There's something very satisfying about lifting a payload a few feet into the air and hearing the cameras go *click* when you reach an altitude threshold. Kudos to this guy for making so many pieces come together.
-FF
SQUEAK, the Death of Rats explained.
That's Berkeley for ya...
Sometimes I wonder how the Santa Cruz Software Distribution flavor of Unix would have turned out...
Think about it. He built an autonomous system that went almost to the edge of space, recorded images and temperature data, and came back. I can think of a bunch of simple, fun, experiments one could do. Cosmic rays, UV astronomy, ozone measurements, etc etc.
If he flies that thing again, I'd like to help out.
Human genome = 3 billion base pairs = 6 GBit. Windows + Office = 20 Gbit. Which is more impressive?
Sure it's a cool geeky project and the pics and all are wonderful.
The impressive thing though is the way he has written it up and presented it in a clear concise readable style. An example to geeks everywhere that there is more to a project than just the tech. Equally important is being able to present the results of your creativity to others, both geek and mundane, in such a way that captures their imaginations and allows you to bring them into the excitement of your world.
> 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