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.

Comments

US Government Rules Linux a WMD

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:US Government Rules Linux a WMD

[grub]

armylinux.com seems /.ed too, so George will have as much luck finding those WMD as he is the ones in Iraq..

Lovely!

[grub]

Just the perfect thing to use on a certain company in Utah..

more links

[klocwerk]

also at mini-itx.com,
ammobox pc
another one
aaaand yet another

-your friendly mini-itx loving geek

Re:more links

[mrtroy]

mini-itx is DELICIOUS and very NOURISHING

when I get a little spare cash im getting a mini-itx machine setup to solve all my living room business.

EXCELLENT and TASTY.

ammo box

[korgull]

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.

Re:ammo box

[JesseL]

You can get 150 rounds of .50 BMG tracers sent to your house for $199 from right here, they're not any more restricted in most of the USA than any other ammo. I don't know why you would think they would be more of a problem to check on a plane than any other ammo. For info on firearms and ammo in checked baggage look here.

Re:ammo box

[JesseL]

I'm not aware of any state that has a ban on .50 BMG ammo. I believe there are some states with restrictions on the use of tracer ammo on state land due to fire danger.

The temperatures required to start "cooking off" ammo are never going to happen in the cargo hold of a plane unless it crashes and burns. Remember that this ammo is intended to be chambered in machine guns that get very hot after a few hundred prior rounds.

I've never heard of any legal requirements on ammunition shelf-life (In fact I regularly see pre-WWII surplus ammo advertised for sale). There is no licensing of AP or other exotic ammo, the only restrictions I'm aware of are that hollow points are illegal in New Jersey, and AP ammo is banned from importation or production in calibers for which handguns are chambered, there may be other state and local regulations. Buyers of ammunition must be 18yoa for rifle ammo and 21yoa for handgun ammo.

I suggest you look over these FAQs from the BATF.

Re:ammo box

[ThisIsFred]

No really, take a look at Ammonman's shipping information page. There is listed all the states to which they cannot ship the ammunition. And it isn't .50 BMG specifically, it's everything.

Remember that the BATFE only handles federal law. State and local laws apply as well. :)

There is a federal law requiring that "handgun" ammo only be sold to those 21 and older? When was that law passed? What's "handgun" ammo?

Question: Which of these are "rifle ammo," and which are "handgun ammo?"
.357 S&W Mag. :: .45-70 Gov't :: .223 Rem. :: .44 Rem. Mag.

(hint: it's a trick question)

Embedded.

[mindstrm]

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.

Re:Embedded.

[Miniluv]

DirecTivo is technically more of an embedded system than a standalone Tivo, in that the DirecTivo is technically a satellite receiver, that happens to also have some linux stuff bolted on to do PVR functionality. The Tivo is just a nifty case around a PPC processor and a harddrive which has a TV-IN card.

A real embedded system is the controllers for, say, an automated automobile assembly station. The device builds cars, it just happens to have a brain composed partly of linux/qnx/tron/winCE/PalmOS to do the car building.

Re:Embedded.

[gl4ss]

there's one definition i like (don't know how accurate it is): if it is obvious that there is a computer inside it isn't embedded(that is, when you use the thing you know and think that you're working with a computer).

Re:Embedded.

[tuffy]

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.

Linux in an ammo case is clearly "embedded", much like american journalists.

How many people

[TerryAtWork]

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?

Re:How many people

[Voivod]

A) None, B) no.

And sorry to break it to you, but people have been putting Linux in missiles, tanks, and all sorts of other deadly devices for years. I work for an embedded systems company and I do Linux developer support all the time for people in the defense industry. Once they figure out how to get some pseudo real-time behavior out of Linux, they are very comfortable with it.

Re:How many people

[Xzzy]

> Kick my ass - I deserve it.

You doofus, you're not supposed to be graceful about having your foot stuffed into your mouth. Rather, to be a TRUE geek, you are required to fly into a spitting rage, construct a multi-paragraph essay defending your point. You are to conjure up as many off the wall and ill-supported arguments as you can in an effort to win the debate.

As an aside, "winning" is not defined in terms of making anyone actually agree with you. "Winning" is defined as beating the subject to death until no one wants to hear about it again, and ceases posting to the thread. By getting in the last word, you will have earned the right to say you won the argument. If these people in the future act like you're a nimcompoop who doesn't know jack, it's just because they're jealous and closeminded.

You got a lot of work to becoming a forum junkie.

Re:How many people

[Zachary Kessin]

I don't think you can pull your code from linux, you can stop working on it.

But lets be honest this is not a military use of linux, its putting a board into an empty ammo box. Its no different than putting a PC motherboard into any other kind of strange box.

Personally I would like to see a very small and cheap linux server something about the size ofa large book, that I can drop onto my lan and use as a development database platform.

Holy Case Mods Batman

[pope1]

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.

Use Army Mobile Linux!

[Tumbleweed]

Travel to far away web sites.
Chat online with exciting, unusual people.
Then DDOS them!

Sad thing is...

[FileNotFound]

..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..

Once Again

[stratjakt]

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.

Re:Once Again

[stratjakt]

And therein lies the challenge, the solution to which would impress me.

The fan doesn't have to sit on the CPU as per convention, in such a small box you could set it up such that air is drawn through a front vent, channelled through the heatsink, and funnelled straight out the back. You turn the seeming disadvantage of very little space into an advantage (no stale air pockets, constant flow like a little windtunnel)

This is the approach I'm taking with my portable arcade project, and it works exceedingly well. I'm actually getting better cooling than the stock intel heatsink was giving me, and all from one of those cheap "drive cooler" deals, with the three little 40 mm fans that fit in a 5.25 bay and a 1u rackmount heatsink.

My next series of problems is the back i/o panel. I plan to hardwire an AV socket from a butchered SNES so I can use one of their AV cables, as well as a generic power cable (PSX or stereo kind)

I'm no engineer, and I'm sure there are folks out there who can solve such problems much better than I.

big deal

[Anonymous Coward]

My gIrlfriend (obviously imagInary) built a mini ATX clone in a Tampex box...

Show us something 0rIginal.

text

[yerdaddy_777]

The site looks slow so here is the text:

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 /srv/www/web1/html/includes/sql_layer.php on line 249

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

Re:Sad thing is...It's not how you look, but...

[FileNotFound]

So if we manage to stick a computer in your brain case? Then by your logic it isn't anything special.

Well..yes and no. See the thing is that in that case they are simply using the case. If for example they used a fully functional ammo container, with the ammo still in it, and it did something useful. Then yes, it would be newsworthy.

If for example it was a gun with Linux on it that kept count of bullets fired, barrel wear, ammo left in clip, average recoil per shot etc. That'd be cool.

In the case of the article, the original functionality is lost and replaced by a PC.

So your argument does not apply as stated. 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..

Disturbing

[SCO Linux]

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.

Re:Disturbing

[Tristan Tzara]

Death is inevitable; what might matter is who dies when, and why. Some disagreements are worth fighting for, and cannot be solved any other way.

This is nothing.

[Tristan Tzara]

Fit a Linux machine into a .50 caliber *cartridge* and we'll be talking.

Re:wow AMAZING

[stratjakt]

Gimme a link to the sump pump article. We've had a ton of rain this summer, and I'm constantly running down to the basement to make sure my sump pumps are working, paranoid of the consequences should they fail. The ball cocks (heh) on the little sliding pole get gunked up so easily and refuse to move (and turn on the pump). Especially considering they sit in sludge 24/7.

I'd love it if they'd email me when they come on, shut off, especially when the water level rises and they dont come on.

A buddy of mine had about 80 grand worth of damage to his newly finished basement when it flooded.

Web enabling my sump pumps is news I can use!

Silver bullet?

[Atario]

...where MS's monopoly is the werewolf?

Filk version of "Werewolves in London", anyone? Maybe "Werewolf from Redmond"?

Dammit, I made one of these

[NetDrain]

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.

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

:D

Re:Homer sez: Booorrring!

[mrpuffypants]

Goddamnit!

Here's the real link!

Mis-Labeled and Old-Hat

[nurb432]

First of all, sticking a pc board in a box doesnt automatically make it 'embedded'.

"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 ... hohum..

This could help find the WMD...

[Art_Vandelai]

1. Paradrop cases of "ammo" into Iraq. Let the Iraqis take and hide in their weapons caches.

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!

Skeleton mod!

[RobertB-DC]

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...

Armed geeks

[aWalrus]

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.

Times are a changin.

[wideBlueSkies]

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.