Slashdot Mirror
Linux-Based Cat Feeder
prostoalex writes "Chris McAvoy is a UNIX administrator and an owner of two cats. So as a natural application of his work to his hobby he built this Linux-based cat feeder. A little hardware hacking and Python scripting can get you a device that would automatically disperse a yummy fish at specified intervals."
Someone has been watching too much Back to the Future.
Nice to see some tech details instead of just pretty pictures though.
Linux, Linux, please deliver~
I thought that feeding time was the only time that most cats paid any attention to you. Why on earth anyone would want to take that away I will never know.
moo.
I'd ask if this was completely nessicary, but knowing the forgetful habbits of nerds...
Hell I'm suprised fluffy aint dead already.
there, i said it
Insert obligatory "What if it was windows" insult here.
..I've been fished to death!
What does it feed the cats to?
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Hmmm.... I could have used something like this in the HHGTTG text game.
So can you also set up a cron job to clean the litter box?
It's OK! I'm a limo driver!
Every time I use a CAT in Linux my files change.
It amazes me how few people realize that to have a healthy house cat you should be feeding it nothing but biscuits and what it hunts itself. An automated fish dispenser. Bet the cats fat, lazy and losing its teeth.
There's a new Cringely for those looking for stuff that matters...
I have 3, and these egotistical bastards only give you attention when they want, not when you want. One of them is extremely friendly when the bowl is empty. Other than that, he sleeps all day.
I don't want one unless it is also usb powered.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
What are they teaching young admins in college these days, anyway?
damn those elusive < >'s
You forgot to redirect it... looks like you're eating the cat food yourself!
/dev/cat
cat food >
and it runs linux!!!
finally a solution to the feral cat problem! Open Source ROCKS!!!
and I think my dog will love it... she doesn't seem that fond of cats.
what? read the article? excuse me... I only read titles... I'm American! If you don't get the meaning in that title... that's your bad.
anyway... cat eating robots... my god what will they think up next!?
-pyrrho
I can see a lot of use for a system like this. Not so much day-to-day, but there are times I'm on vacation, traveling for business, working strange hours that throw off the "feed cat" routine, etc. Being on something like Linux (or anything I could ssh into) would be really nice so I could dispense food manually when I was away.
And for those of you who are sick of getting up to open the door for your feline friend, you'll be happy to know that problem has been solved as well.
I understand that the submitter is just confused between dispense and disburse, but I know for a fact that I never want a fish, yummy or otherwise, dispersed in my home.
..to get more time with your computer and ignore the only other living thing(s) in your household?
"a device that would automatically disperse a yummy fish at specified intervals."
I'm reading this on Valentine's day. Alone. And this news excites me.
Dear God, why was I even born?
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:FiCMnb9IkuUJ:ww w.linuxjournal.com/article/7403+How+I+Feed+My+Cats +with+Linux+%7C+Linux+Journal&hl=en&client=firefox -a
Bah. On my system, cat and fish come preinstalled.
So all I need to do for the specified interval bit is add a line to my crontab that looks something like this:
1 * * * * "cat /usr/local/bin/fish | twofish | blowfish > seuss.fish"
the closest a linux geek ever gets to pussy.
This reminds me of the old UNIX joke:
$ cat "food in tin cans"
cat: cannot open food in tin cans
Of course, BSD's "cat: food in tin cans: No such file or directory" doesn't have quite the same effect.
Next project, a Linux-based gumball machine.
:-M
if you made a cat litter cleaner that picked up all my cat's sh*it, bagged it and throw it out in the morning trash... using linux!
Coderz 4 Life
18 comments and /.ed
Maaybe he should invest more time ina good Linux server then in his cat feeding moster.
Slashdot 1|0 Productivity
A little hardware hacking and Python scripting can get you a device that would automatically disperse a yummy fish at specified intervals.
Throw in a little Slashdotting and the fish is cooked to perfection!
Direct away from face when opening.
maybe she thought it would be so much cooler if the food server handled requests properly.
Regular intervals... - sheesh! Humans just don't know how to do such a simple thing like make a cat happy!
605413? Yes, it's a prime.
http://www.linuxjournal.com.nyud.net:8090/article/ 7403
a device that would automatically disperse a yummy fish
Over how wide an area?
Good thing this is Linux, because otherwise the cat would starve.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
if the server hosting his site is the same server feeding the cat, a new cat may be needed in a couple days
How purrrfect.
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.
cats won't want to eat linux!
-pyrrho
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you cat fanatics? I've been sitting here on my sofa in front of a cat (a sealpoint siamese) for about 20 minutes now while attempting to get it's attention away from a bug on the floor. 20 minutes. At home, with my labrador cross, which by all standards should be a lot dumber than this cat, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that.
In addition, during this attention seeking attempt, my children's attention is also held by the cat. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even trying to get the remote from my partner fails.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while dealing with other cats, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a cat that fetches as much as it's canine counterpart, despite the cat's faster ambulatory system. My terrier with one ingrown toenail runs consistently faster than this siamese at times, as the cat is often completely asleep. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the cat is a superior animal.
Cat addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a cat over other faster, cheaper, more affectionate animals.
Cat: Fish!
M: Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
C: Fish!
M: Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
C: Fish!
M: Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
C: Fish!
M: Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
C: Fish!
M: Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
C: Fish!
M: Today's fish is trout a la creme. Enjoy your meal.
C: I will!
cats, like basement trapped boys, have little else to do than figure out how to hack the machine.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Sounds fishy to me.
until I root your box and make your cat fat.
0wn3d
Mirrordot mirror
my karma ran over your dogma
The cat food, and the cat itself!
I really hope he built a limiter into the device on the other end. When the /. crowd gets a hold of the link to the feeder, look out...
"Do not drill any holes in your cat - it will not like it."
-- Nick Davies
Can't have the cat eating and not exercising, that wouldn't be too healthy.
:)
Too bad using a laser to exercise a cat is patented.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Cats are perfectly capable of eating in moderation. If you're going away for a week, leave your cats enough food and water for a week and they'll be fine.
What would really be useful is a version of this that dispenses dog food.
Remember the days when Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility?
Here is the link to the working 'feed my cats' page.
/. his lucky cats :)
http://kittens.lonelylion.com/index.py
Go ahead
You can program it to a solenoid on the front door. If someone opens the door, the robotic scooper is automatically put in "turbo" mode, rakes and shoots a sandy shit at you at 50mph. Hacking. It's just not for coffee machines anymore.
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.
The early insider-only reviews contain the following highlights:
Jeez, if you're gonna be running it on your cat feeder, shouldn't you be using NetBSD? Or is it more horsepower than you need? :P
What happens if the cat doesn't eat the fish at the same rate that they're dispensed? A pile of rotten fish for the owner to dispose of when he/she gets home?
doesn't he feed on cats?
The item serves well as a caricature of most "embedded Linux" stories here. This problem could be solved with a microcontroller that costs at most couple of dimes, with a few K of code. Using Linux (with a multi-meg kernel and umpty-megahertz processor) is an absurd waste of resources for this application, and a offense to decent engineering sensbility.
Is it really a good idea to project an image of I-don't-care bloatware, Linux-uber-alles insensibility, Linux just because it's Linux despite the application?
Turn off the alarm clock before going on vacation.
Otherwise your neighbors will short out your power with a paper clip and then have to feed the cat through the crack under the door.
But my cat isn't linux based. Any time I try to open its source it scratches the hell out of me.
I laughed my @$$ off at this post.
I thought it was funny.
from a slashdot perspective it's insightful... a lot of geeks just went... "good point... perhaps I should modify my fish dispersal plans"
-pyrrho
Don't knock it; it feeds at least a handful of programmers as well.
...but also not quite as prone to breakdown and therefore the best-kept secret in litterbox land...
Meet Omega Paw's self-cleaning litterbox!
i live just outside town, and people inside town when they dump their unwanted cats they end up around my house, i taken to feeding them, but after the cats eat i shew them away for the day because if they hang around the back yard they would kill birds that come to visit my bird feeders, this is a daily routine...
The poor cat is gonna starve since we slashdotted it...
I thought it was a feeder for a linux-based cat
Wow...imagine a feral pack of those!
AT&ROFLMAO
With all the great geek toys out there. Why in the HELL would something that dumps food out for a cat even be considered high enough on the list to be on page one of slashdot? I mean, really? Next thing you know "oh look, it bakes your bread, slices it, and THEN TOASTS IT!"
http://www.linuxjournal.com.nyud.net:8090/article/ 7403
Since it's pretty much down.
Man hacks computer to feed cat.
That's nothing.
My cat hacks on my computer all the time.
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
Given the low cost of the mini, is there really any excuse to do this on a Linux box?
Some big, ugly, noisy PC, ugh.
The small form factor makes it ideal for projects like this. And it's so quiet you can still hear your cat purring when it sits right on top of the mini.
I mean considering the solid BSD based nature of OS X and the elegant Apple aesthetic, I really think the cat would be more likely warm up to a new iFeeder rather than some generic Linux POS box.
I think iTunes integration would be pretty easy to do to. This is a serious advantage that no other OS can offer. Then kitty can be informed of cat food refresh by the playback of an appropriate song. Perhaps something by the Jingle Cats?
I'm currently working on a mod I call the iFlush which uses the mini to automate the process for toilet flushing. The great thing is how well the mini's white and silver style complement my porcelain and steel bathroom environment.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
UUOC - Useless use of cat.
Ok, so I'm a dog person.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!
http://www.rustyrazorblade.com
As a Linux hobbiest and cat hater, I have been developing a machine to automatically identify and destroy common house cats, but I've had a problem luring them in to my yard. This automatic goldfish dispenser might be just what my plan needs to finally come to fruition.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
cat food > /dev/cat
/dev/cat, have the raw byte instruction sequence required to make the dispenser operate stored in a file /food, and then, indeed, you simply add
/food > /dev/cat
Now if you were a serious UNIX and hardware hacker you'd have your cat feeding system work by regsitering the food dispenser as
30 9,18 * * * cat
to your crontab.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Back in school (10 years ago) I heard about an american man who had computerized his whole home with a C64 and lots and lots of gadgets.
:)
One oncluded the cat feeder, where the cat pulled a lever with his foot, and a cat-cracker came out. Unfortunatly, the cat got too fat he figured so he made it so that he needed to push 1time the first, 2 for the next, third times for the fird etc and resetted the value at sertain intervals.
He had automated watering etc too, this was just one small part.
Total geek
Albert
I think that crazy lady who lives by the railroad tracks is gonna need a Beowulf cluster of those things...
Here all night, try the fish (if it isn't Slashdotted.)
Did anyone besides me see that as "Cat-Based Linux", the first time you looked at that? C'mon, after the article about the model train computer, anything's possible!
My Systems
... Encoding in the 70Kg food cartridge will automatically expire in 60 days - necessitating the purchase of additional Tasty-Gates(tm) cat food.
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
Who has a Linux-based cat? Mine is like, flesh-based.
I'd recommend a TI-82 based pawprint verification tool or a laser-pen retina scanner.
Paul Grosfield - the quicker picker upper.
From the web interface to the feeder at http://kittens.lonelylion.com/index.py, the cats seem to be getting around 2 fish treats per second right now. That's two happy kitties, unless they're caught in the dispenser's paddles, of course.
Since it's coming up to the end of another academic year I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain how lucky you Americans are to have a fraternity system.
;-)
English Universities are so dull by comparison. Like most students in England I had to rent private accommodation for my second and third years, but it never occurred to us to build a whole culture around collectively renting a rather dilapidated house in Clapham. It wasn't even single sex accommodation, so we couldn't engage in the fun and games of para-homosexual activities - Girls just don't have the same grip on your loyalties as your Greek brothers.
And while cliques certainly form in English Universities, the are all much too boring to come up with the idea of hazing. I fondly recall diving off a weir and almost drowning when I was 12 because everyone said I was chicken. If only it had been possible for me to gain respect in later life through similar tests, and if these tests could have been combined with pseudo Masonic rituals culminating in the awarding of a little badge, then that truly would have made my time at University worthwhile. And while I still have friends from University, these friendships seem so hollow compared to bonds of fraternal brotherhood since they are not based on solemn vows of fellowship, mutual sacrifice, group solidarity and owning the same poxy little badge.
Then there's sheer joy alcohol seems to bring fraternity members. By the time I went to university the delights of getting dangerously drunk at parties had started to seem mundane. But to American students in fraternities, the bravado of excessive alcohol consumption is a an exciting new and illicit game where you can prove yourself worthy to all your male friends and simultaneously circumvent college alcohol policy - thereby proving what a rebel you are too. Gosh.
I am also rather fond of the references to ancient Greece. It reeks of a history far nobler and grander than anything a British University can instill its students with, and the wearing of togas must make it seem as authentic as a ploughman's lunch.
I think what I am trying to say is that Fraternities give young Americans the chance to grow up in their own time, and that it is regrettable that no similar opportunity is afforded to European Students. In particular, I find it sad that even some American students forego the opportunity to wear togas and claim to be Greek. Really this should be mandatory, so every graduate will be secure in the knowledge that they have gained something much more valuable than a degree from an American University - a little badge with some Greek letters on it.
Although I am not American, I admire the system so much that I would dearly love to become an honorary member of a fraternity. I have set my heart on becoming an alumnus of Theta Omicron Sigma Sigma Epsilon Ro Sigma. I do so hope this is possible.
Don't forget before you set it running to hang your gown on the hook, put your towel over the drain, put the satchel in front of the panel and put the junk mail on the satchel.
Because I know plenty of "linux geeks" with nice homes, nice cars, and nice girlfriends.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Interesting article, but it wasn't clear to me exactly what they were feeding the cats to.
Well this answers the 'Can/Will they put linux every where?' questions.
Of course, it still leaves the 'Why put linux every where?' question unanswered...
Wait!
Does it run Lin...
Oh, wait, never mind....
Somebody HAD to say it!
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
A cat is safe at the house for the weekend if you leave plenty of food and water. A dog, will eat all the food when he sees it then puke.
:-)
Linux-based dog or fish feeder would have been more useful.
This guy needs a PC running linux to make a cat feeder? Back in the day we did this kinda thing with a clock crystal and a couple of flippty-flops. And we had to walk to the electronics store in 4 feet of snow, up hill both ways!
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
... will it run Linux? If so, imagine a beowulf...
I'm not even going to finish that.
Random question... how hard would it be to modify this thing to dispense baby food?
...cos if he was using windoze someone could hack his cat.
if(catlbs > 0.25){
return(false);
}
Ok so he didn't do it in java.
Will the computer tell you if your cat died?
System.out.println("ttyl");
Maybe, but my cat runs this in its brain's cron:
/paw/at/owner/until/awake > /dev/cat
30 5 * * * cat
This is a nice mirror Use the mirror. Enjoy the mirror. Love the mirror. blah blah.
Too bad there's not a webcam of the pile of kitty treats in front of the server. Over 3000 treats have been dropped, but no indication of the timeframe.
I wonder if the web spiders feed the kitties...
Huh?
I thought only old people in Korea fed their cats?
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
*clap* *clap*
Dear Kitty,
I hacked you a delicious bass.
C'mon, baby, kiss The King.
I was hoping for it to have an electric can opener and a way to scoop out the wet food to mix with the dry food, for a complete cat meal. Not just treats. I mean, I know my cat only loves me because I feed it but I could deal with the lovelessness if I didn't have to get up once a day to feed it. Damn needy cat.
while true; do echo "food" | cat; sleep 1; done
`cat` will never go hungry again
RP
Please stop posting all of the stories that are months old. I come to Slashdot for news about current events in computing, Linux, etc. It is getting really old coming here looking for new articles to see something that I read a month ago in Linux Journal and was available in Dec. of last year. Find something new instead of posting stale filler stories.
meow-~ $ echo "Meow meow meow meow" > food
meow-~ $ cat food
Meow meow meow meow
meow-~ $
My cat doesn't like having the contents of her gut replaced at feeding time. I do `cat food >> /dev/cat` to make her happy.
Some nerve talking about healthy cats while you let yours run wild to get injured, sick, poisoned, killed, etc.
I don't think that I'd trust Windows to feed a pet. Not a pet that I cared for, at least. One BSOD and your cat will slowly starve to death...
I don't understand peoples desire to needlesly complicate simple projects.
An animal food dispenser needs to run a simple script to release food at pre-programmed times. A cheap microcontroller is perfectly adequate for doing this. Heck, a 555 timer would be sufficient.
Requiring a Linux based system for this doesn't seem like much of an advantage. It's needless bloat, and complete overkill. Sometimes the simplest solution is the most elegant and reliable.
Who needs a multi-tasking operating system, complete with file system and memory managment support for something as simple as a food dispenser?
I'm pretty sure this guy could pick up an electronic animal feeder from any pet store for $50, and use his knowledge for something which is actually useful.
Looks like he's running his web server on it also. Hahahahahahahaha!!!!! Sorry...
"Garrick, please kern the double underscores in listing 2."
Garrick, please remove the editor's comments next time!
For something like this, why go to the trouble of using a Basic Stamp? Some easier ways:
1)Just use the parallel port. It's easy to write logic levels to it.
2)Use a usb->parallel adapter such as the DLP-245M ($25).
3)Use a PIC properly. Something like a PIC 16F84 or 16F871 will do it. A PIC + programmer will cost less than the Basic Stamp, (the PICs themselves are about $2), and really easy to program. They include many things like an ADC, PWM, Serial UART on chip, and run raw assembler.
Having seen the Stamp module, I dislike them intensely. They make the devices harder, rather than easier to use (essentially by programming a BASIC compatibility layer on top of PIC ASM), much more expensive (slower, less ports), and less functional (less internal functions available). Furthermore, the PIC Assembler is much easier than x86 or z80, or even, dare I say, Basic!
Less shit happens if you are responsible and keep your cat indoors where its safe. Especially if you are going to criticize other people for their cat care habits.
"My cat's breath smells like cat food." or "My cat's name is mittens."
00 FF
... the cats to?
OH... it provides food FOR the cats. Silly me.
It will never work out between Tux and my kitten... the penguin is MUCH too cool for her. ;-)
ZX2C4
cat food /dev/cat && cat poop
My cat doesn't like having the contents of her gut replaced at feeding time. I do `cat food >> /dev/cat` to make her happy.
Based on the GPs post, this criticism is uncalled for (if you were trying to make a joke I am rejecting it as it is not clever enough to make up for its technical short comings).
The > notation means that the shell will open the file with O_TRUNC, however on FIFOs, and terminals O_TRUNC must have no effect. It is therefore quite uncommon to have char devices that do anything special when O_TRUNC is used.
You will rarely see shell scripts that bother to use >> when writing to char dev nodes.
Your attempt at clever correction does not fit this time.
Everyone on slashdot spamming his cats with treats.
Join in the fun!
Have you metaroderated recently?
Meow!
Cotton and Tulip have been fed 3747 times
"I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you eat that."
cat already accepts stdin on Unix.
;^).
What'd be more interesting is tac - which works like cat, except backwards
Love ya see you do it with Windows, buddy....
and then spends the next 2 hours throwing up plastic-coated furrballs.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
fyi the actual lyrics (as appeared on one particular bag of meow mix) are:
Not only does,
Meow mix taste great,
It is nutriently [sic] complete too.
Salmon flavor,
Chicken flavor,
There is more of too!
Notice that, yes, they rhymed too with too. I never understood why no one else ever picked this up. Even doing a google search of "not only does" "meow mix taste great" nets zero results. Am I the last source of this knowledge on the planet? I suddenly feel my own impending doom.
Sounds like a good idea at first, but then a few years later when you try to sell it.. "I'm sorry, sir, but this computer has been flagged."
No response from the web server. Perhaps it's hosted on a Shrödinger web server?
What you say!!
Definately fish feeder. One of the more common causes of death among fish is the fishsitter overfeeding. Fish have this nasty habit of "looking hungry" even after they've eaten enough. However a fish can look hungry. You're honestly better off just not feeding your fish than having someone do it for you even if you're gone for a week. Actually, especially if you're gone that long. What kills the fish is a buildup of uneaten food that starts to rot and... okay. This is getting too in depth for a response to a joke.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
I just want to know when they come out with a cat that runs linux.
From the author's web site: "The kitten feeder is an honest to goodness device attached to a Linux Server in Chris and Camri's apartment. If you click on the fish, you'll be dropping a little stinky fish treat into Cotton and Tulip's Bowl." >>>"Cotton and Tulip have been fed 3945 times"
This isn't the sig you're looking for... Move along.
have set my heart on becoming an alumnus of Theta Omicron Sigma Sigma Epsilon Ro Sigma.
Just stay away from the salad at THAT house, man. . .
"No beer until you finish your tequila!" -Leela's Dad
In Version 2.0, the core team comes along and performs the following optimizations:
/dev/cat to /dev/catfeeder. /dev/cat pointing to the cat itself. Reading /dev/cat blocks until the cat is hungry. /dev/catfoodbin. Reading /dev/catfoodbin returns the number of feedings left in it.
1. rename
2. add
3. add a device for
4. add crontab entry corrected to take advantage of these capabilities.
Then the source forks when a Microsoft astroturfing campaign tries to add DRM to the cat food (see that other Funny post)
Enhanced to extinction. There ya go.
[Error 407: No signature found]
1. It's pretty cool.
2. It's very imaginative.
3. I wish I could do things like that.
That said and out of the way, I'd like to say something about how wrong I think this is.
If you don't want to take care of your cats or if you cannot take care of your cats, don't have cats. It might be one thing if you were in the business of raising cats for some profitable reason and you needed some more efficient way to do 'whatever.' But if these are pets we're talking about, this is no way to care for a pet.
I could expand my point to caring for children and discussing "parental controls" and other devices, but it goes too far and should go without saying, so I'll just say it about cats -- if you don't want to care for your cats, don't have cats. If caring for them should be such a burden, you should rethink your position as a cat owner.
Personally, I'd LOVE to be able to have a puppy or some such animal. (I'm not a cat person though.) But I can't care for a pet. I work too much and it would be bad for any pet I might own. I couldn't care for it and so I don't have one... wish I could... and having a machine take care of a pet wouldn't be my way of enabling myself to have a pet. Having a pet isn't only about me -- it's about the pet too.
see subject
This has got to be the absolutely least geeky thing I have seen linked to by /.
/dev/tty" would have worked just as well).
/. will post an even better story, about someone who figured out how to defragment their Windows XP box...
This guy fumbled around and managed to loarn how to use a basic stamp (high-tech, I know), and did some very, very basic python code ("echo COMMAND >
Next week, hopefully
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
How is this Offtopic? The guy talks about this Garrick person several times in his story, but never explains who it is.
And he's a pompous, nose-tweaking irritating Arse. When he speaks, he makes very tonal, nasal sounds.
In fact, he's pretty homely as well. Figures that cats are his main friendship.
Hi Chris! Go flogg yourself!
Definitely should be Tau, but oh well... I suppose that might just be part of the whole troll.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
You got it all wrong. The proper way would be
/dev/mouse
cat <
"Cotton and Tulip have been fed 4209 times" /.'d the poor cats. At this rate they will weigh 30 lbs each. Not to mention the stinky fish budget is going to increase exponentially.
In a few seconds time the number was up to 4215
Good going guys, you've
I hope it's better than my Microsoft Windows-based cat feeder.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
As ever cat owner knows... wouldn't energy likethis be better spent someing up with an OSS automated solution to cleaning the catbox?
I can scoop food all day without issue, but the catbox...ugh.
I thought the web was supposed to bring breaking news at light speed around the globe, not report on a magazine article that's been in print for two weeks after a months lead...
he _is_ using a simple microcontroller.
The linux system is just there so that the microctonroller can be interfaced with his network, and the internet, so that one can feed the cat through a browser.
overkill perhaps, but pretty useful IMHO while you're away on a trip.
once you go slack, you never go back
the builder of the feeder is OWNED BY two cats.. not the owner of...
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
Noone at /. has a subscription?
once you go slack, you never go back
well, more accuratly:
Announcements about what Linux runs on, has now jumped the shark.
It runs on everything.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
it would have to dispense herring.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Unfortunately by the time it finished compiling, the cat starved to death.
with a remote cat protocol
the dog will then eat its puke.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Damn it, has everyone forgotten the old jokes?
cat "food in cans"
Unfortunately, it does not give the funny answer ("...cannot open...") on a lot of platforms these days.
Geek enough? Let's see...bonus points for 1 word replies or clever longer ones.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
definitely
by clicking here.
Best regards, A.C.
From the cat feeder home page:
"Cotton and Tulip have been fed 4725 times"
poor creatures...
Holy shit that was funny
Nunchucks don't kill people NINJAS kill people
Couldn't resist.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
but you need to find the mojo fish. You have to walk around in the water near the top right of the screen and walk in a square like the electric slide. You might get into a random battle with a tentacle monster (so labeled, but it uses the river octopi sprites)
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
add /dev/cat pointing to the cat itself. Reading /dev/cat blocks until the cat is hungry.
;-)
So... a non-blocking operation in other words?
Looks like the server is a bit slashdotted, lets hope he's not hosting this site from the cat feeder, or his cats could go a little hungry
Then again, how do you explain "kitty was slashdotted" to your tearful younger sister?
God, I miss Fluffy!
Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
I was considering a modification of this unit to work for my pet WaterDragon.
It would be great for distributing frozen mice (keeping them frozen with a peltier module) and letting them thaw (the other side of the module) before distributing them.
Problem is, once he found out that it was running Python, he ran away from it. But then, most lizards have a fear of snakes.
BAH!
I have video, and photographic proof of prior use of a LASER to tease a cat from 1978.
What a chickenshit patent!
...to what does it feed them?
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
I'm allergic to cats you insensitive cod!
Vikki has told me that it's not a PIC processor, but an AVR chip, developed on a ATMega8L and implemented on an AT90S2313. Sorry, PIC fans, she hasn't used those for a while now :(
Lemon curry?
Anyone knows a python can kill a cat.
Solution to that: TFT monitors. Our cats were NOT happy when we replaced the two CRT pc monitors and the CRT TV with TFT screens - but at least now I can clearly read my screens... A swishing cat's tail over the screen doesn't make for good productivity or gaming!
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
And Rho, not Ro.
You didn't rtfa did you... It's not embedded linux. He's attached the feeder to his Linux box via a serial link so that he can drop treats to the cats via the internet, i.e. when he's at work.
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
He should have built a proper medicine dispenser
first...
Anyone with cats knows that this should read:
/.ed!
How long would it take a script kitty to hack this thing?
It's a living critter needing love and the occasional ball of string and random small birdy to kill for amusement
feed it by hand
learn to love your pussy
So does that mean linux is giving up trying to be the no.1 OS for humans?
The following statement is true
The preceding statement is false
Don't you mean "slave"?
-jeremy
This was in the linux journal months ago :P
It still does in Solaris 10.
Chris McAvoy is a UNIX administrator and an owner of two cats.
Is this a new competitor for Tucows?
the computer crashed and you come back a week later and your cat's dead...
...but can it keep the fish from slipping down the drain before you can grab it?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."--Feynman
The Linux-based cat feeder is cool high-tech, but there's still a very efficient, economical way to feed your cat.
Mount a bird feeder on a 1-foot tall pole. Fill it with birdseed. Release cat into yard.
Not only does this provide your cat with plenty of fresh food, it gets kitty some exercise and reduces the potential sources of bird droppings on your freshly buffed car.
Can I patent this, or does Bill Gates already own it?
TLR
A man no more knows his destiny than a tea leaf knows the history of the East India Company
The problem with open source rocks is that you have to pretty good with a chisel to do much modding. I haven't seen someone REALLY at rock modding for several hundred years, and I'm pretty sure they worked on commission.
Never confuse volume with power.
It's over-kill. All you need is a simple timer device.
Shameless plug: http://www.crazy-hacks.org/wiki/index.php?title=Ho w_I_Feed_My_Cats_with_Linux.
For more crazy projects, you can visit the Crazy Hacks wiki.
Do any straight men own cats?
That's the best worst joke I've ever seen on Slashdot. Moderators look and learn!
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
It's no wonder slashdotters don't get laid.
A better thing to do is alway's leave the food dish out from the start when they are kittens. The cats learn to regulate their eating. They only gorge themselves when you take away their dishes. I know that this approach works with Cats as it works with my cats and the cats my wife had when she was younger. I grew up with Dogs and always heard that Dog's will gorge them selves. However, now that I have learned that cats only gorge themselves when the food is taken away I am wondering if this would also work for dogs.
We've been using this for years:
http://www.autopetfeeder.com/p_feeder.asp
Not a DIY, but hey, it works like a charm, and the cats love it.
-SJW
this is the only way a slashdot reader could get pussy
Assuming the cats are neutered, it would read something like: "Linux administrator with experience in remote maintainance of Eunuchs systems"
We pray for the end of ignorance and superstition
All your bass are belong to us?
=)
Don't ping my cheese with your bandwidth!
i am surprised his cat feeder isn't slashdotted yet
Come on! A basic stamp? And needs to be serialed to the PC to run? Mine links through TCP/IP and has temperature regulated water, liquid level sensing, and dietary monitoring software!
CAT JUSTICE
Sounds like a penguin feeder to me!
Ahhh... Tux living the life of luxury, with his Linux boxen satisfying his every whim... erp- now they're forming a rebellion...
According to the site (which has been up for about a month):
/.
Cotton and Tulip have been fed 7356 times
I take it we can add an obiese cat to the negative effect of
My sister leaves her cat alone for three or four days once in a while (with plenty food and water). Never the less she always found feathers and other bird remains in her service room when she returns. One time her cat got into the living room with a chicken leg in his mouth... a raw and partially frozen chicken leg, probably taken from a neighbor kitchen.
16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
sounds like cats aren't the only ones happy using it.
what about Stone Henge?
sorry, GNU/Stone Henge.
-pyrrho
From the link:
Linux Journal Is Currently Unavailable Due to a DDoS Attack
Sorry for any inconvenience.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
1 fish 2 fish Red fish Blue Fish. A couple of LED's and we got us a party.
My Doom. The gift that keeps on giving
This reminds of http://www.drivemeinsane.com