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Mobile Linux Project In Ammo Canister
Chaosrider writes "Army Linux is a mobile development platform constructed from a 50-caliber ammunition canister. This site documents the development of an embedded Linux project, which features a backlit LCD screen, a VIA technologies Mini-ITX form factor motherboard and a 1U power supply. The site covers construction techniques, costs and hardware installation." The site also points to a similar PC-in-ammo-box project at Epiacenter.com.
After intense lobbying by Microsoft, the United States today recognized Linux as a weapon of mass destruction. The breaking point was apparently news that Linux now runs in an ammo canister. "We plan to wipe out Linux where ever it may be... and hopefully there's lots of it in Iraq!" said President George W. Bush.
Just the perfect thing to use on a certain company in Utah..
Trolling is a art,
...a beowulf cluster of these...
Check out this case mod that was at Quakecon. It doesn't run Linux but it still looks damn cool!
The guy that built it actually changed all of his cable ends to fit into the custom plugs on the front of the case. He did a REALLY great job!
here's the picture
also at mini-itx.com,
ammobox pc
another one
aaaand yet another
-your friendly mini-itx loving geek
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
Seems not very portable to me if you need to catch a flight.
I would love to see thos efaces at the check-in counter.
The idea of an embedded system is one that seems to be badly distorted nowadays..
.
A small, but otherwise fully functional PC in a strange case is not an embedded system.
The computer that handles your car's internals is an embedded.
Your tivo is kind of an embedded system... not sure on that one.
But a full on PC inside something weird certainly isn't.
As it was once described to me.. an embedded system is a computer inside something that isn't a computer. A case doesn't count.
Those little boards the size of a dimm slice with a processor, ram, i/o, and other stuff on them are good for embedded work.
It's not about what version of linux runs, or what OS, or even what it does.. but a PC in a disguise is still a PC, not embedded.
Are going to pull their code from Linux now that they know it will be used to kill people?
Can you even pull your code from Linux?
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Thats a pretty interesting design, i love how computers are working thier way into stranger and smaller containers all the time.
I really think there will be a market for Computers As Art someday. Like a woodcarving with a server in it, for some establishment that wants an ultra-fancy kiosk.
Or maybe we'll see a return of the "Electronics in Victorian Style Furniture" that was popular in the 30's, 40's.
/* * pope1 */
I am sure the nice people at airport security will let you through with an ammo box full of electronics.
LIVE, Love, die
Travel to far away web sites.
Chat online with exciting, unusual people.
Then DDOS them!
It was only a matter of time before some cheap geek figured out they could stick a micro board in one of those $8 ammo cannisters you find at surplus stores and regged a nifty domain name for it. I know people and companies that have been sticking embedded stuff in the 50cal and 7.68 carbine containers for ten years..
Really, this article should be (-1, Obvious), if not (-1, Been-there-done-that)..
.sig: Now legally binding!
..that this wouldn't be news at all if it ran say WindowsCE.
Come on, there is nothing special about a case mod.
This is almost as bad as that Apple Ie project..whoopdie doo..
In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!
An article about shoving an epia board into something other than a PC case. I get it already, the boards are small.
It goes without saying, of course, that this wouldn't be news if the installed OS was anything but lunix.
They epia boards are relatively gutless, and frankly the "easy way" to make a small form factor PC. I want to see some FlexATX boards with honest-to-god processing power in these boxes.
Myself, I'm working on fitting a flexATX board with a P3 800 (I cant remember the model now, I got it on eBay for 20 bucks on a whim) into a hacked PSX arcade stick. With built-in tv-out and mame it'll make a really funky portable arcade. Of course, I have big heat issues and others to solve, which makes it fun.
I've built other boxes with great success using Shuttles spacewalker mainboards (I think the FV25 is the greatest thing since sliced bread for a small, cheap, but useful PC)
I dunno, this just isnt all that interesting. You may as well just crazy glue a Zaurus inside the ammo box. It'll be faster.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
... to shoot people with.
Thank you, but I prefer waiting for the special edition depleted uranium release.
server bombed out
A similiar mod was just featured on Tech-TV last week. I can't get to either site at the monent for obvious reasons -- so I don't know if it was the same one. I think I've seen a lot of these of late. Must be an Iraqui War meme at work.
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
Cute mod. I have an old ammo box laying around. The site almost makes me feel like making one, but not quite.
So if we manage to stick a computer in your brain case? Then by your logic it isn't anything special.
My gIrlfriend (obviously imagInary) built a mini ATX clone in a Tampex box...
Show us something 0rIginal.
The site looks slow so here is the text:
/srv/www/web1/html/includes/sql_layer.php on line 249
error in sql-statement: mysql_query, err-no: 1040
qry: update nuke_counter set count=count+1 where (type='total' and var='hits') or (var='MSIE' and type='browser') or (var='Windows' and type='os')
description: Too many connections
error in sql-statement: mysql_query, err-no: 1040
qry: select year from nuke_stats_year where year='2003'
description: Too many connections
Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in
error in sql-statement: mysql_num_rows, err-no: 1040
description: Too many connections
error in sql-statement: mysql_query, err-no: 1040
qry: insert into nuke_stats_year values('2003', '0')
description: Too many connections
Ammo boxes may be great for storing ammo, but fire a few /. readers at them, and the bottom falls out. Maybe they should have used a crate from a 500lb cluster bomb...
Mine means my own, but how can this be if I owe for it?
Now THAT's what I call a killer app!
You had me right up to this point. If you think these two qualities coexist in any nation-state then you are an even bigger dumbass than the remainder of your post implies.
now stick a lego up your ass
The site appears to be slashdotted, and I haven't actually been able to see it myself, so I hope that what I'm about to say isn't overly judgemental. I just don't understand what this fascination with military hardware is about, and I find it somewhat disturbing. A computer constructed from a 50 caliber ammunition cannister? Why on earth would someone want that? Why would you want hardware that reminds you of a technology that's been used to kill hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people? Why is that supposed to be fun or amusing? It's sad that in this time of warmongering world leaders that ordinary people so readily embrace symbols of the military and the culture of death that surrounds it.
Putting a COMPUTER inside of a rectangular metal BOX? This man is a genius! No wonder he has an ENTIRE DOMAIN for this AMAZING ONE-OF-A-KIND project.
.. Metal .. AND RECTANGULAR IN SHAPE AMAZING!!!!!!
It inspires me to TAKE DOWN the motherboard I have hanging from the chandelier by a FIREWIRE CABLE and create my own AMAZING METAL BOX. I hope he doesn't have a DESIGN PATENT on this AMAZING ONE-OF-A-KIND project!!! A Box
Seriously this is about as exciting as toast. There was an article in Linux Journal about putting your sump pump on the web which I found much more interesting.
I, for one, welcome our new military overlords. Oh wait...
just so you know.
Fit a Linux machine into a .50 caliber *cartridge* and we'll be talking.
looks EXACTLY like a PHP runtime error!
Usually, in English, objects that have the consistency of Jell-O aren't described as a shaft.
I have been looking for a strange case to stick my new PC in. I have found it! (Though I think I'm going to do something Navy.)
Thank you again slashdot.
...where MS's monopoly is the werewolf?
Filk version of "Werewolves in London", anyone? Maybe "Werewolf from Redmond"?
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I have a 30mm ammo box Linux machine sitting right next to me that I built in August of 2001 from sheer boredom. Apparently the editors didn't like my submission, oh well.
:D
Take a look yourself here. It's running Gentoo now instead of Redhat, and there have been some other subtle modifications in that time, but it's largely the same machine. And 30mm explosive rounds are a TON more manly than wimpy 50 caliber. hehehehe
it's not any revelation that you can run linux on miniATX's, and there are certainly cooler casemods out there...
You're right, thank god he's running XP and not Linux. Now we can say that XP zealots are killers, paedophiles, faggots and fat geeks who live in their basement.
Sounds like we found the computer used to write the blaster worm...
But seriously folks...
First of all, sticking a pc board in a box doesnt automatically make it 'embedded'.
... hohum..
"Embedded" is more about using cpu power in non-PC applications. its not about making small PC's
Secondly, so what? Those boards are behing shoved in all sorts of strange 'boxes'... This is just yet another
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I have actually been spending the last few days looking at the VIA EPIA mobo's. For less than $200 you can get everything you need except RAM, HD, and PSU. The thing keeping me from pulling the trigger is a kinda yucky trend of so-so linux support. For example, the M10000 (Which is the 1Ghz VIA system) is pretty cool (even though it needs a fan, unlike the lower end models), but the hardware MPEG is not supported under linux... And it looks like VIA is willing to take compatability where they can find it. If you read a lot of the forums, it seems like a lot of hackers are using winXP instead of linux.
Same PC...new box
What your really need is a total conversion.
My PC is in a 25mm ammo box, but with much more customizations.
www.zapwizard.com/lanpc
This project is da bomb!
Make linux, not war.
noticed the epia site having touble. http://www.thexdershome.com/Armybox/page1.html trying to get armylinux.com http://www.thexdershome.com/armylinux/www.armylinu x.com
Keep trying though, and remember: practice makes perfect!
my embedded systems run windows too.
haha! nice one.
2. CIA makes a discrete phone call to SCO.
3. SCO sends an army of lawyers over to Iraq to sue anyone with "ammo".
4. ???
5. Profit!
So what happens when one of his custom-plug peripherals breaks? More blood, sweat, and tears......
It would make the foundation for a kickass Linux game distribution, since all the important hardware would be on the same board, and thus standardized.
Kind of like the Indrema, only real.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Does this make Linux bullet-proof or just provide ammo for anti-MS fanatics?
More ammunition for Linux.
Ammo Arcade
The toggle "safety" power switch is what totally "makes" this one IMHO
E.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
I can't access the links but it reminds me of a picture.
No GNU has been Hurd during the making of this comment.
*Distant Rumbling*
Private: Sarge, w-what's that sound?
Sarge: It's the servers! Grab some firepower, kid! We're being slashdotted!
My Ammo box PC is better!. [livejournal.com]
this PC is da bomb, man !
can anybody tell me why Americans are so fascinated by guns and ammo?
Didn't Slashdot have an article about putting a webserver in a bullet some time ago? Their reasoning must be something like this; guns are cool, linux is cool, let's combine them! That's like, really creative and newsworthy.
Let me give you nuts a wet dream tonight: Imagine an American flag, running Linux!
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
I'm not sure it would be so great. Hardcore gamers change their gfx card every week (well every 6 months) or so. That's not possible with a "all-in-one" motherboard. Unless you add an AGP port.
No GNU has been Hurd during the making of this comment.
Carrying one of those around might invite trouble/scrutiny from the authorities (especially if flying) due to it being in an ammo box. There is still a lot of terrorism hype and unfortunate anti-gun attitudes these days.
Yoshi of TechTV's The Screen Savers also built a PC in an ammo box..
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
It would apply if you said "if we managed to stick a computer in your skull after removing your useless brain". Even then I'd say it's nothing special, although somewhat cool in a gothy sort of way...
Someone, someday, will have to make a "mod" using one of those high school classroom skeletons. Now *that* would be a gothy mod:
* Motherboard (including the processor, or heart of the system) suspended in the chest cavity.
* Hard drive (long-term memory) mounted in the cranium.
* Power supply (fuel source) clamped to the spine below the ribcage, where the stomach once resided.
* Eye sockets would be a good place for your HDD activity and power lights. Also on the skull are the logical locations for the speaker and microphones.
* The right hand would hold the power cord. In the left, the peripheral connections (USB, mouse, keyboard, etc).
* Of course, the connector for the screen should be at the base of the skull. The location of the game controller port will not be discussed here.
* And to top it all off, a watercooler for the overclocked CPU can have piping and radiators throughout the body! An appropriately-colored fluid would help with leak detection.
Ooh, this is now getting *too* creepy.
On the other hand... it could be worse. Gunther von Hagens has some pretty extreme "case mods" at his BodyWorlds expositions...
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Judging from the comments in this story I have to say... The amount of /. geeks that "have an ammo box lying around somewhere" is somewhat scary.
Overcaffeinated. Angry geeks.
See story at: link
-MattT *** Not speaking for my employer, or any other sentient beings ***
Hackers have been working feverishly to get an embedded linux small enough to be fully functional inside a can of Spam. The project makes use of a 10GB IBM Microdrive, a custom power supply, and a hacked Palm device.
Iva Knowlife, the project leader for the linux-in-spam project, Spamix, stated that while it won't have any display or input devices, it supports gigabit ethernet and has a high geek factor, so the whole world should know about it. When asked what the practical purpose was, he said "Hell if I know, probably none... but isn't it cool?" Another project member, known only by his handle L4m3rB0y, stated "D00d, it makes a great anti-spam filter for my GNU/Sendmail server!" When asked if this can't already be done on the same machine a lot faster and at no additional cost, L4m3rB0y got agitated and only replied with a terse "Shut up, man!" He was about to say something else, but his mother called him upstairs for lunch.
Spamix is expected to be released in kit form with an expected retail price of $99. Interested parties will need to supply their own hard drive, gutted Palm internals, and empty luncheon meat container.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
My Dad used to use an ammo box as a toolbox. It was just the right size to carry the socket sets and wrenches he used for automotive work.
He'd get a good kick out of seeing a computer running out of one.
wbs.
Huh?
***A bit offtopic, but...
I wish there were provisions in the GPL (and in other Open Source licenses) prohibiting the use of OSS in weapon systems (or anything else designed to kill or destroy anything but pixels), unless maybe if ALL the involved developers specifically agree to such use. It is my understanding that the open-source/free software movement's goal was to improve some things in humanity's scheme, not bring further destruction.
For example, I don't believe ALL the people involved in Linux (Linus being the first) would specifically agree to having their work being an instrument of Death & Destruction(tm), so one can wonder about the philosophical approach to such a problem - Free Software belong to all but can it be used for absolutely everything?
I, for one, absolutely refuse that any of my work may be used (directly or indirectly) as an instrument of death. I don't want one of my icons or programs to be linked - and thus associated - to somebody's death or misery. I wonder how other OSS contributors here would react if such a thing came to their knowledge, or if it's already come to their mind if it's happened. Any opinions?
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
Christ, this article sucks. The site is /.'ed, but who cares? It probably runs something like this:
I found something roughly square shaped. I used some stuff to make a template. I cut out stuff with a dremel. I mounted stuff (particularly a mini-ITX board) in the rectangular box.
Big. Fucking. Deal.
Aren't there more interesting things out there? Putting up shit like this, and you wonder why people want to read through the submission trash heap? Go read some journals, and you'll find stuff far more interesting than this.
It's a box. With a computer in it. OMFG! That roxxors!!!
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Don't hate the tool; try to make sure it isn't abused.
Way to go!
What's the point in putting it in a container marked "DANGER! .50 CALIBUR BULLETS!" when you can't get it passed the x-ray machine to board your plane at the airport?
"But, it can't go in there! My computer's flash ram ROM will be ruined!"
"Step away, Sir. We're calling the police to dispose of this deadly cargo. Say hello to Bubba for me, at Pound-me-in-the-ass Federal Penetentiary"
"[while unbuckeling shoes and belt] Yo, whutcha 'n far, nerd?"
"Please be gentle..."
Any closed system which runs an OS and code is an embedded system. There's no "more" or "less" about it.
If you take a PC and make it into a cash register it becomes an embedded system even.
I just did it with a microATX mobo running a 2.4C and a radeon 9600 ;)
It may not run Linux, but this mod is much cooler IMHO.
Seriously, what do you expect? Some of the images are 2Mb and need to be shrunk on screen to be seen!
If you wanna post pics of your latest project, think about the design of your site, us who call ourselves slash have little mercy for ye of large files.
What does the guy expect? Some of the images are nearly 2Mb and need to be resized to be seen on-screen.
If you are going to post snaps of your latest project, please consider the design of your site - for we who are slash have little sympathy for ye of large files...
This is just regular PC Linux. Real embedded Linux runs on ARM, PowerPC etc CPUs.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I really wonder how a Beowulf Cluster of these would look like.
- "They misunderestimated me."
Just looking at this picture, you can see a switch protruding from the case, and two uncovered connectors.
Back in the Army, we built a car radio in a ammo box, to protect it from the usual wear & tear in a combat vehicle, and to camouflage it, because listening to the radio other than our MIL SPEC'ed ones was not something terribly tolerated.
But - we built it with rubber spacers between the casing and radio, a nice flap to protect the connectors, "hostile environment" jacks, and so on. And it survived 4 years of military service in different vehicles, in different climates, and always handled by my drivers (a durability test by itself).
Sad to look at that case mod (such a fad these days), but nice to remember bygone days, even if they weren't all happy.
an anonymous coward, not any longer on active duty