Model Train Control Using Your PDA

Hey, can I control you train...? by ahooton · 2003-05-01 15:03 · Score: 2, Funny

Hmmm... OK, now that I see it in print, maybe it's not such a great pick-up line after all...

But ... by B3ryllium · 2003-05-01 15:03 · Score: 3, Funny

I want to be able to drive my car with my PDA/Cell phone.

I want to be able to fly a remote control helicopter, too!

Re:But ... by papadiablo · 2003-05-01 15:18 · Score: 5, Funny

I want to be able to drive myself with my PDA, creating an infinite loop of me controlling me through my PDA controlling me through me controlling me through my PDA through controlling me through me controlling me through my PDA....
Re:But ... by B3ryllium · 2003-05-01 15:35 · Score: 2, Funny

hahah :) That's ten times better than mine.

No, wait ... infinite times better! wee! :)
Re:But ... by tegeus · 2003-05-01 21:59 · Score: 1

replace yourself with a very small shell script?
Re:But ... by water-and-sewer · 2003-05-02 06:43 · Score: 1

I'll be interested when PDAs are given the ability to flush my toilet. Since 90% of the time I'm using a PDA I'm also on the throne, that will truly be the pinnacle of usability.

click *here* to flush.

plugged up. do you want to flush again?
*yes* *no*

--
If this were Usenet, I'd killfile the lot of you.
Re:But ... by UserGoogol · 2003-05-02 13:03 · Score: 1

Piece of cake. Sure, it might not be a shell script per se, but it is a script. And very small.

<?php
function control_me($command)
{
return control_pda($command);
}

function control_pda($Command)
{
return control_me($Command);
}

control_pda("post slashdot");
?>

--
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor

0 posts and already slashdotted... by overbored · 2003-05-01 15:09 · Score: 5, Informative

Here's a mirror.

Re:0 posts and already slashdotted... by dr_dank · 2003-05-01 15:26 · Score: 5, Funny

Slashdotted? Nah, I prefer to think of it as derailed!

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the fish.

--
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Re:0 posts and already slashdotted... by ergonal · 2003-05-01 18:19 · Score: 1

But at least when you click on the image it loads instantaneously ;)
Re:0 posts and already slashdotted... by chrj · 2003-05-02 03:17 · Score: 1

Their fault.. shrinking the fullsize image via to get thumbs isn't really a Good Thing.

You forgot the [tm] part :-)

direct links by shird · 2003-05-01 15:09 · Score: 5, Informative

The direct links which seem to work better than the main page: (couldnt post anon for some reason, excuse the karma whoring)

--
I.O.U One Sig.

Re:direct links by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 16:07 · Score: 1

(Score:4) --- (couldnt post anon for some reason, excuse the karma whoring)

I guess you are excused ^^. anyway, i don't think that many people will be bitching about karma whores, since it takes effort to post anon.

--
YOU SUCK BALLS!

Slashdotted by Snoopy77 · 2003-05-01 15:11 · Score: 3, Funny

Was he running his website on his PDA as well? Did we crash his train too?

--
"She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis

Re:Slashdotted by Snoopy77 · 2003-05-01 15:32 · Score: 3, Funny

That's sweet coming from the guy who wrote this

--
"She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
Re:Slashdotted by Znonymous+Coward · 2003-05-01 15:34 · Score: 2, Funny

Yikes! I shouldn't throw stones in a glass house.

--
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
Re:Slashdotted by QQ2 · 2003-05-01 18:30 · Score: 1

Hehehe,
This reminds me of a little competition a dutch sience magazine once wrote.
I believe it was the universety of Hamburg that had a web controlled rc train.
One of the editors of that magazine did a little stroy about the RC trains and mentiond as a sidenote that anyone who would send him a picture of the trains derailled or otherwise crased would receive a free subscritpion till the end of the year.
Next month 4 people had actually amanaged to make it crash (on 3 separate occasions) and they were kindly requested by the hamburg universety to sod off
Re:Slashdotted by stinky+wizzleteats · 2003-05-02 06:06 · Score: 1

I believe it was the universety of Hamburg that had a web controlled rc train. One of the editors of that magazine did a little stroy about the RC trains and mentiond as a sidenote that anyone who would send him a picture of the trains derailled or otherwise crased would receive a free subscritpion till the end of the year. Next month 4 people had actually amanaged to make it crash (on 3 separate occasions)

I can just see the security advisory on this:

Denial of service attack against model train

Risk: High

Certain firmware revs of model trains have been found to be vulnerable to a remote denial of service attack by moderating remotely controlled throttle and switching functions...

Re:Isn't this kind of pushing it? by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 15:12 · Score: 3, Funny

you are SOOOO talking to the wrong people.

--
YOU SUCK BALLS!

Sad... by c0dedude · 2003-05-01 15:14 · Score: 2, Informative

Yeah, here's the google cache Jeez, were they hosting the server on the Palm?

--
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?

Ah, memories by TheBracket · 2003-05-01 15:25 · Score: 5, Interesting

This reminds me of when I was young. My father and I built a trainset controller from Maplin Electronics; each train had a small circuit board added (with a unique ID number), and we could give each train individual commands. Once we had that running smoothly, we used an old Dragon 32 to build a complete train management system (in 6502 assembly, if I remember rightly; the Dragon was a bit limited, so we ended up writing the programs on graph paper, validating them, converting the notation to hex and poking it - before saving a memory dump). I remember being particularly happy with our simulated inertia system, even if it did make crashes more likely!

Projects like this are a lot of fun, and a great way to get into electronics.

--
Lead developer, http://wisptools.net

Re:Ah, memories by markov_chain · 2003-05-01 16:39 · Score: 1

This reminds me of when I was young.

Let me guess, all sections of your railroad track went uphill! :^)

--
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Re:Ah, memories by terrymr · 2003-05-02 03:34 · Score: 1

Time to show the nerdiness ... that would be 6809 assembly on a dragon 32 :-)

Sorry, but ... by DogIsMyCoprocessor · 2003-05-01 15:27 · Score: 3, Funny

this won't be cool until you can use a Palm to make 2 model trains collide and explode like in the Addams Family.

--

"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."

Re:Sorry, but ... by Skater · 2003-05-01 23:47 · Score: 2, Interesting

Actually, you can. Having used a DCC system, you'd be amazed at how quickly and easily things can get out of control, even with only two trains! The good news is that the Digitrax system has a "panic stop" button that stops all the trains. The bad news is that sometimes that's easy to forget when you need it.

Last time I visited my parents, I had to catch one of my dad's engines as it rolled off the platform from just such an incident. (Fortunately, he was controlling them at the time; I just happened to be standing in the right area.)

--RJ

Re:..umm by RevAaron · 2003-05-01 15:28 · Score: 2, Insightful

Umm... How long have you been reading slashdot? Most of the stuff that gets posted is like this. Pointless to some. Hell, plenty of it is worse- this is actually cool and useful (although for only a small subset of humanity or even nerdom). This is nerdy, and hence it is worth being posted.

--

Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad

My experience with model trains.. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-05-01 15:30 · Score: 2, Funny

When I was in public school my friend's dad had a model train set up in one room in his basement. We were never allow to go in there, he was afraid we'd break something. You might think this kind of "forbidden fruit" would be beyond temptation to two young boys, but you'd be wrong. I never went in that room, and I never wanted to either.

Moral of the story.. even though you think model trains are great, most people don't give a shit.

Re:My experience with model trains.. by Neuropol · 2003-05-01 15:40 · Score: 1, Funny

Should the phrases "freind's dad" and "forbidden fruit" be in the same story?
Re:My experience with model trains.. by gr0ngb0t · 2003-05-01 16:57 · Score: 1

especially when "two young boys" and "temptation" are also mentioned in said post...

Model Trains are cool by Rolo+Tomasi · 2003-05-01 15:34 · Score: 1

I've always wanted to build a really detailed diorama with model trains and a little city. In fact, I'm gonna do that when I retire ... some 40 years from now. I just hope I'm going to find my bookmark for this story when that time comes ...

--
Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?

Re:Model Trains are cool by budgenator · 2003-05-01 17:00 · Score: 1

a lot of people do some realy detailed stuff, the wife wanted a layout in the garden in G gage (45mm track) the scale is 1:24 for wide gage, 1:22.5 for narrow gage, until she saw the price for rolling stock, box cars go for $80.00! The Nice thing is the scale is 1/2 inch to the foot so you can build realistic stuff from scratch if you want; I've seen trestle bridges 6 feet above the ground on the web. This scale is normaly used out doors, you can get steam locomotives, and I really mean steam loco's not just electric that look like steam, they use alcohol to fire the boiler, $435.00 for one locomotive.

--
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Re:Model Trains are cool by 91degrees · 2003-05-01 21:31 · Score: 1

Yeah, they're expensive, but large stream powered models are fantastic. I saw a layout with radio controlled trains. It's nice to have that sort of flexibility.
Re:Model Trains are cool by jhawkins · 2003-05-02 00:53 · Score: 1

I get to play with a set of 12 inch to the foot scale steam and diesel trains :) Sometimes when I come home from working on my 1:1 scale trains, I play with my 1:160 scale trains. Here's some pictures and some more. The organization I belong to.
Re:Model Trains are cool by budgenator · 2003-05-02 05:50 · Score: 1

thanks for the link to the pics, they were cool. If you ever get to metro-detroit Mi area you got to go to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, it's a must see if you're into historic trains plane and cars.

--
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds

Shades of the MIT model railroad club! by Ungrounded+Lightning · 2003-05-01 15:46 · Score: 1

What goes around comes around.

--- and around
--- and around

--
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way

What about other electrical devices? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-05-01 15:48 · Score: 3, Insightful

It's great that someone has figured out how to control model trains with a palm pilot, but think of how useful a Palm could be to control various appliances and circuits in your house. This has been done with computers, but it isn't too practical. But with a Palm, imagine... You wake up in the morning, find the Palm Pilot on your night stand, and push a button to start the coffee maker. Did your kids leave the lights on in a dozen rooms in the house, and you've just settled down to watch the game? Turn 'em all off in a snap with the Palm Pilot by your side.

Re:What about other electrical devices? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-05-01 18:50 · Score: 2, Interesting

Palms are great for reading in the dark at night or in the morning under the covers. The palms with green backlighting are actually especially good at this, since the lighting is so soft. Recently I've been thinking about hooking up some bluetooth connectivity to my desktop which I leave on at night to mask out background noise (I live in LA.) With bluetooth I could browse through the library I have on the desktop and download whatever I feel like reading.

Similarly, a bluetooth enabled palm could make household control comfortable and simple enough to be practical -- even just for basic things like lights and heat. Since I already have the thing there to read with anyway I might actually use it to turn a light on sometime.

The point here is that the utility doesn't really come from the Palm, it comes from the Palm plus a bluetooth connection, which is something we're just getting started with.

(In real life this would probably be a lot more easy to implement on a Zaurus, but if I feel like writing the code on both sides for the Palm I *could* do it.)

Re:Choo Choo Choo by Znonymous+Coward · 2003-05-01 15:49 · Score: 3, Funny

How about we work on CONSTRUCTIVE projects that would make this world a better place.

Or at least someting cool like...

VNC Server for Toasters and Light-Switches

and

TCP/IP Enabled Lego Bricks

--

Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.

yes, but... by Pig+Hogger · 2003-05-01 15:50 · Score: 1

Does it wheelslip? Bails-out? Puts-it in the 8? Allows you to put 5 pounds of brakes only? Isolate a traction motor? Has a ground relay?

And, most importantly, can you do a 14L with it???

Re:yes, but... by Kaimelar · 2003-05-02 07:26 · Score: 1

Does it wheelslip? Bails-out? Puts-it in the 8? Allows you to put 5 pounds of brakes only? Isolate a traction motor? Has a ground relay?
Wow. That was a heck of a lot better than the, "Does it run Linux?" that I expected from the subject. Now, if only I knew what any of those questions meant . . . :-)
Re:yes, but... by Pig+Hogger · 2003-05-02 07:34 · Score: 1

Wheelslip: the name explains it all; the wheels start spinning 'cause you put too much power.
Bail-out: releasing the engine brakes but keeping the train brakes on (they are braked separately).
Put it in the 8: full throttle. Throttles (normally) have 8 notches, plus "Idle".
5 pounds of brake: trainline braking effort is measured by the number of pounds you decrease the air pressure (no pressure = full emergency braking).
Isolate a traction motor: remove the power from 1 axle, because the motor is damaged.
Ground relay: protection device against short-circuits.

Re:Choo Choo Choo by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 15:52 · Score: 2, Insightful

a while back there was the article about how to turn a floppy disk into the enterprise from star trek (why i even bothered to clarify that here is beyond me). It was kinda gay, but a lot of people that day put up pictures of their attempts at it. It was cool because everyone has a spare floppy disk, and many a /.er likes star trek. in the end, i found i actually enjoyed the article, simply because people were doing it and posting pictures. Now this one, i'm not going to see a picture of your attempt, and (as you mentioned) not too many people have trains and a pda and want to do this (the enterprise thing took five minutes).

but who am i to rant and rave about the poor quality of these articles? after all, i'm only here because i'm wasting a little time right now. and if it was realy that bad, i'd just leave, the internet is a big place.

--
YOU SUCK BALLS!

... the real thing. by hopscotch · 2003-05-01 15:54 · Score: 5, Interesting

The locopalm is nice, however ...what is really amazing are the goals my 9 year old met to be able to Rent-A-Locomotive at the Golden Gate Museum Railroad!

His face was full of delight as he drove an actual locomotive (under an engineer's instruction, of course).

Sometimes there's nothing quite like the real thing.

--Hopscotch

Home computing came from a model railroad club. by Ungrounded+Lightning · 2003-05-01 16:01 · Score: 3, Insightful

Who really cares? everyday i keep seeing the same bullshit. Guy controls train with PDA. whoohoo. instead of posting constructive topics, we get this weird shit.

You are apparently ignorant of history. Much of compter science came from a model railroad club.

The MIT model railroad club, to be exact. See Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution for more details.

These are the folks who brought you emacs, time-sharing, and open source.

So don't be surprised at the occasional computer-controlled-model-railroad story on slashdot. That's what they were trying to do in the FIRST place.

It's nice to see that its finally working. B-)

--
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way

Re:Home computing came from a model railroad club. by Mittermeyer · 2003-05-02 12:17 · Score: 1

Not to mention that model railroading got Disney to build Disneyland because he wanted a bigger train set then Ward Kimball, which forced him to do Wonderful World of Disney which drove more money which got him to create the ultimate fantasy layout DisneyWorld and a rather terrifying planned community, EPCOT.

Yep, model railroaders are scary.

--
________________________________________ History Must Not Fall Into The Wrong Hands ___________________________________

Re:Why?... by pummer · 2003-05-01 16:02 · Score: 1

yeah i need to learn how to use teh [br]

sorry

hmmm, no answer by PsychoElf · 2003-05-01 16:02 · Score: 1

now if only they could get their website to handle more traffic...

a better title would be by JeanBaptiste · 2003-05-01 16:02 · Score: 2, Funny

When geek cultures collide... pda's and model trains? throw in linux and its a geek paradise...

Re:..umm by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 16:02 · Score: 1

this is actually cool and useful

cool? yes. useful? no!

--
YOU SUCK BALLS!

Re:shit thats just silly by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 16:10 · Score: 3, Funny

wont even get your ass laid

i dont know about you, but i don't like it when my ass engages in sexual activities...

--
YOU SUCK BALLS!

Didn't buy it for a second by Faust7 · 2003-05-01 16:11 · Score: 1

Forget that crap about PDAs making you more productive by keeping useless contact lists and appointment reminders.

I've known better about that sort of thing ever since I discovered ZShell for the TI-85.

--
The coolest voice ever.

Re:Choo Choo Choo by stmpynode · 2003-05-01 16:18 · Score: 1

I actually do have a train and I own a Sharp Zaurus. When I saw the article I was instantly interested in doing that with my PDA. I will definately have to look into it.

--

Blah.

Re:Choo Choo Choo by deadsaijinx* · 2003-05-01 16:24 · Score: 1

well, tell me if you ever post some pix of it or the like. still, you are a rare one amongst the /. crowd for havin both the props and the desire to do it

--
YOU SUCK BALLS!

Re:Choo Choo Choo by edhall · 2003-05-01 16:32 · Score: 3, Informative

You don't know your hacker's lore. This article is about as on-topic as Slashdot gets.

-Ed

Can't read the article, but ... by siliconwafer · 2003-05-01 16:41 · Score: 2, Informative

Computer controlled model trains have been around for awhile now. It's known as direct command control (DCC) and it's a well known standard among serious model railroaders. I believe its specification is also defined by the National Model Railroading Association (NMRA).

Basically, the flaws of regular DC model railroading are as follows: Each locomotive picks up DC power from the rails, and therefore, it is not possible to have two trains moving in different directions or different speeds unless the sections of rail are insulated. DCC was brought about, which allows each locomotive to be addressable, and "command controlled". A "decoder" is installed in each locomotive, which receives the command. The decoder is really just a PIC.

I wonder if this the technology discussed in the article (which I can't get to right now) is a DCC derivative of some sort?

Re:Can't read the article, but ... by siliconwafer · 2003-05-01 16:52 · Score: 1

Thanks to someone posting a mirror, I've answered my own question. This does use DCC -- direct command control. :)

Re:Where's my anon posting?! by satanami69 · 2003-05-01 16:42 · Score: 1

Guess I'll join in too. Does anyone have a mirror site for ./ that doesn't have Ads, dupes, trolls, or AC?

No. Well back to work then.

--
I really hate Dan Patrick.

Re:This is a protest of Slashdot's banning of anon by HidingMyName · 2003-05-01 16:47 · Score: 1

Great self portrait, the likeness is uncanny.

Re:Why?... by Alien54 · 2003-05-01 16:51 · Score: 3, Informative

Applying technology to running trains goes far back in the geek tradition.

MIT is famous for their train club, which goes way back

Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT

Note that Steve Russel's development of the first video game is tied in with his time at TMRC. Note also many geek terms originated here (As seen in a dictionary derived from one originally written in 1959 by Pete Samson)

The real world engineering problems in running trains are also a good education

--
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"

Someone please tell me... by thetelepath · 2003-05-01 16:53 · Score: 1

why do all the screens look poorly pasted on in photoshop except for one? particularly in this one. i wouldn't think they should need to do that.

--
Because it's about grace. It really is about grace.

Re:Choo Choo Choo by uberdave · 2003-05-01 17:08 · Score: 2, Insightful

1)How many /. users own a fully working train set that they currently USE.
2)How many /. users also own a PDA.

I don't know about 1, but I imagine quite a large percentage of slashdot users own pdas. (Furthermore, I would imagine that among the slashdot users who do own a fully working train set, the percentage also owning a PDA would be even higher.)

The idea of using a PDA to control a model train fits in VERY well with the theme of slashdot. It is a cool hack. There needs to be more of this kind of story posted here. It is a story of individual initiative and inventiveness, rather than corporate greed and legal entanglements. It is a story that inspires people. How much more constructive and good for the world do you want?

--
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad

Re:Why?... by budgenator · 2003-05-01 17:14 · Score: 1

3) how many /. even know what a z80 is?

zilog has made z80's from about the middle 1970's, and their unbeatable performance is every probably what force intel to spend the bucks needed to produce the 8088 that was used in the original ibm pc and the 8086/8087 series. I didn't even know the company was still in business.

--
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds

Re:..umm by RevAaron · 2003-05-01 17:22 · Score: 1

Not useful? Ha! It is totally useful- but as I said before, for a small subset of people. For model train enthusiasts, this project is indeed useful and has the potential to become even more so. For me and probably you, no it's not useful- but I don't have an interest in model trains.

Likewise, C++ isn't useful to me, although it certainly is to many other folks 'round the world!

--

Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad

Futurama by rf0 · 2003-05-01 17:34 · Score: 1

Remind me of a scene where Fry gets a Lucy Lui bot. Scenes goes like

Fry: "I Love you"
Lucy "I love you"
Fry: "I love you"

Professor: "Oh my God she's stuck in an infinite loop and hes a blithering idiot"

Class :)

Rus

--
Cheap UK and US VPS

Shameless plug for TMRC Spring Open House by TotalFailure · 2003-05-01 17:45 · Score: 1

If anyone will be in the Boston area on Saturday (tomorrow, May 3rd), TMRC is holding its Spring Open House from 2-5 in room N52-118 on the MIT campus. Come see our new control system in action. Lots more information (maps, etc.) at tmrc.mit.edu.

Tom O'Reilly
TMRC Treasurer

Re:Why?... by K8Fan · 2003-05-01 17:47 · Score: 1

The first third of Stephen Levy's excellent book "Hackers" centered on the Tech Model Railroad Club. According to Levy, they were the first group allowed free, unlimited to a computer to essentially play with. The book is a great read, even though it ends at a point where Richard Stallman was pretty much in the wilderness hacking on GNU. I'd love to read a "Hackers II".

--
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb

My model train story :( by l810c · 2003-05-01 17:49 · Score: 3, Funny

Got a new train set and several buildings, etc for Christmas many years ago. Spent weeks building a 4'x8' table. Used the green bag-o-grass and glue instead of the paper, Huge Paper mache mountain with bridge, roads, buildings, street lights. Had everything installed, but not completely wired. That upcoming weekend I was going to finish everything. Hard Freeze in late February and a pipe in the Kitchen upstairs bursts. It must have been 2-3am and many, many, many gallons came down right on my mountain and then on my trains and then on the floor. The mountain melted, trains and track rusted, base was brown and the carpet was green.

Just thought I'd share...

Re:Choo Choo Choo by DrMrLordX · 2003-05-01 18:03 · Score: 1

It might be cool if you could stage your own AmTrak-style derailments.

Yeah yeah, mod me down if you want. I liked making dangerous rides in Rollercoaster Tycoon too. It's amazing how high you can fling coaster cars into the air with incomplete track . . . wheee

stupid people by chocolatetrumpet · 2003-05-01 18:34 · Score: 1

Reading stupid /.ers trying to talk about model railroading is like reading about a bunch of normal people talking about computers.

"Yeah but it wouldn't be cool unless the scroll wheel makes the two windows collide and the screen explode like in Star Trek!"

--
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.

A real train simulator by zutroy · 2003-05-01 19:07 · Score: 4, Informative

Reading this story got me interested in what kinds of railroad simulators are available online. BVE is a cab-view simulator that has a decent collection of real-world trains and tracks for you to try out (sorry, it's windows only). If you've ever wanted to drive a train on the London Underground, here's your chance.

That's why! by John_Renne · 2003-05-01 20:21 · Score: 1

After all these years I found the reason my father wouldn't let me operate my minitiature trains. I guess he was affraid I was too young to own a PDA ;-)

--
/(bb|[^b]{2})/

Real reason by Zakabog · 2003-05-01 21:01 · Score: 2, Funny

Forget that crap about PDAs making you more productive by keeping useless contact lists and appointment reminders. Here is the real reason PDAs exist

This isn't the reason PDAs exist, it's just the real reason why most geeks will never get laid.

Geek 1: I can either save that girls number on my PDA, or free the memory up so I can use it for my train controlling app.
Geek 2: There are girls, and phone numbers all over this planet, how many train controlling PDAs are there!?!?
Geek 1: You're right! Train controlling app it is!

Re:Choo Choo Choo by doublehelix_nz · 2003-05-01 21:44 · Score: 1

i want a beowolf cluster of PDAs to find a cure for cancer. a cure for aids. and, if its not too much trouble, to co-ordinate the assaination of both Bill Gates and George Bush.

dh.

PS. also a soution to the slashdot effect.

Score -1:Overly unwanted use of `Funny` Flamebait by trezor · 2003-05-01 21:45 · Score: 1

If you're gonna fly a plane using your PDA... For God's sake, don't use Windows CE or PocketPC! Worms/Virii could do massive dammage there :-)

--
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.

You're 4 years behind the times Slashdot! by Dolemite_the_Wiz · 2003-05-01 22:51 · Score: 1

Undergrad Computer Science Students were creating, from scratch, in 10 Weeks, technologies such the ones mentioned in the article in the days of NT 4 over Serial connections.

You can do better than that guys!

Dolemite

--
Save the World! Use a Quote!

Process control system for ~$200 by cryofan2 · 2003-05-01 23:21 · Score: 1

This sort of mass produced hardware for 200 or so, total, is going to put a lot of process plant control manufacturers out of business.

--

Sig:
Navy nuke sub lifestyle?

Re:Why?... by liooth · 2003-05-01 23:37 · Score: 1

Short answer: At least ONE.

Not so short answer: I like all of my currently 17 model trains and I like both of my Palms. This seems to me to be one of the more entertaining uses for my "external memory".

Re:shit thats just silly by StormReaver · 2003-05-02 00:44 · Score: 1

"wont even get your ass laid

i dont know about you, but i don't like it when my ass engages in sexual activities..."

Everytime something "nerdy" appears on Slashdot, we get a whole chorus of people complaining that Slashdot users won't get laid. This happens every single time.

I can't help but think that this falls under the, "I think thou dost protest too much" category.

so that's what PDAs are for? by calethix · 2003-05-02 00:45 · Score: 1

"Here is the real reason PDAs exist""

And all this time, I thought the purpose of PDAs was so you could entertain yourself in boring meetings and yet, look like you were taking notes. I mean come on, with that IR port so you can play IR Pong with the person across the table??

Re:Choo Choo Choo by uberdave · 2003-05-02 02:26 · Score: 1

Well that's easy. Give Billy cancer, and give George aids. Suddenly cancer research funding will go through the roof, and the government will release its "top secret" aids antidote. :-)

While finding cures for diseases is a noble goal, it requires equipment that is beyond the reach of most hobbyists.

Many that live deserve death; and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them Frodo? Do not be too quick to deal out death in judgment. Even the wise cannot see all ends.

As much as I may disagree with their influence in the world, assasinating people who you don't like, or who's political views you do not agree with, does not make the world a better place. It makes it a worse place.

--
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad

That's nothing... by azav · 2003-05-02 03:19 · Score: 1

If you really want to see something, check out http://www.marklin.com and http://www.marklin.com/digital/

They've had computer controlled train mods since the 90's

--
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...

For a change, by inertia187 · 2003-05-02 03:41 · Score: 1

Imagine a beowulf cluster running one of these! Get it? Instead of the other way around?

--
A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.

Re:Score -1:Overly unwanted use of `Funny` Flameba by B3ryllium · 2003-05-02 03:51 · Score: 1

Well ... I was referring to little RC helicopters with onboard video cameras, like the kind used in movie productions. But yes. What would you use? QNX?

You think thats great... by bmcphall · 2003-05-02 05:49 · Score: 1

Look what my company wants me to play with.

Life sized Remote Controlled Trains!

Re:Why?... by UserGoogol · 2003-05-02 13:15 · Score: 2, Informative

I suppose you haven't heard of TMRC. Doing neat stuff with a trainset is our common geek tradition.

Observe the Jargon File's view of it:

TMRC: /tmerk'/ n. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, one of the wellsprings of hacker culture. The 1959 "Dictionary of the TMRC Language" compiled by Peter Samson included several terms that became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see esp. foo, mung, and frob). By 1962, TMRC's legendary layout was already a marvel of complexity and has grown in the years since. All the features described here were still present when the old layout was decomissioned in 1998 just before the demolition of MIT Building 20, and will almost certainly be retained when the old layout is rebuilt (expected in 2003). The control system alone featured about 1200 relays. There were scram switches located at numerous places around the room that could be thwacked if something undesirable was about to occur, such as a train going full-bore at an obstruction. Another feature of the system was a digital clock on the dispatch board, which was itself something of a wonder in those bygone days before cheap LEDs and seven-segment displays. When someone hit a scram switch the clock stopped and the display was replaced with the word `FOO'; at TMRC the scram switches are therefore called `foo switches'. Steven Levy, in his book "Hackers" (see the Bibliography in Appendix C), gives a stimulating account of those early years. TMRC's Signals and Power Committee included many of the early PDP-1 hackers and the people who later became the core of the MIT AI Lab staff. Thirty years later that connection is still very much alive, and this lexicon accordingly includes a number of entries from a recent revision of the TMRC dictionary. TMRC has a web page at http://web.mit.edu/tmrc/www/.

--
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor

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Model Train Control Using Your PDA

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