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Linux-Based Cat Feeder

Posted by timothy on from the happy-valentine's-day dept.

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."

9 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Slashdotted, here's the Google Cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Linkified: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:FiCMnb9IkuUJ:ww w.linuxjournal.com/article/7403+www.linuxjournal.c om/article/7403+How+I+Feed+My+Cats++with+Linux+%7C +Linux+Journal&hl=en

  2. Coral Cache Mirror by jong99 · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.linuxjournal.com.nyud.net:8090/article/ 7403

  3. Mirrordot Mirror by superatrain · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mirrordot mirror

    --
    my karma ran over your dogma
  4. Feed his cats by iMaple · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here is the link to the working 'feed my cats' page.
    http://kittens.lonelylion.com/index.py

    Go ahead /. his lucky cats :)

  5. Re:Litter box by wattersa · · Score: 2, Informative

    > So can you also set up a cron job to clean the litter box?

    No need for cron even-- just get Litter Robot, the self-cleaning robotic litterbox! It looks futuristic...oddly like one of those pods from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But does it run linux?

  6. Re:the world needs more vets.... by shawb · · Score: 2, Informative

    You mean healthy as in always getting fleas? Being exposed to such wonderful diseases as FIV, distemper and Feline Leukemia? Getting into fights with racoons, other cats, kids, dogs and cars? How about getting into that rat poison or pan of antifreeze that your neighbors left out? Being put to sleep because they bit your neighbors kid (Yes, some communities can force you to do that.)

    Cats that are regularilly allowed to roam live an average of less than three years. Cats that are kept indoors live an average of 15-18 years according to the Humane Society of the United States.

    And if your pets are not spayed or neutered, I suggest you go talk to some of the people who have to perfom euthanasia every day. Of shelters that responded to a federal survey of the 1,759,743 cats that entered shelters in 1997, 71.0%, or about 1.25 MILLION were euthanized. The actual numbers are actually much higher as not all shelters responded, and only shelters which can house over 100 animals were questioned for the survey. Many of these cats were euthanized simply because there are not enough homes available to place them all. And that's the cats that were lucky enough to make it to a shelter in the first place and don't die on the streets from starvation, cold, infected wounds, parasites, dog attacks, cruelty of strangers and on and on.

    --
    I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
  7. Re:Sounds like... by rob_squared · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't be ashamed to say it:
    It's red dwarf. www.reddwarf.co.uk

    --
    I don't get it.
  8. RTF by clymere · · Score: 2, Informative
    did you RTF?

    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
  9. Re:ALF by ari_j · · Score: 2, Informative
    Yep...
    ALF: [about Lucky, the cat] Last time I saw him he was high-tailing it out the window.
    Willie: And why was that?
    ALF: Cause I was chasing him with a fork.
    ...
    Brian: ALF wouldn't eat lucky, would he?
    ALF: I'm not saying nothing until I speak to my attorney.
    ...
    ALF: A minute and a half Luckmiester, then I'll be down on you like a buzzard on a gut wagon.
    ...
    [Lucky has died and the Tanners are having a funeral for him]
    ALF: I'm reminded of a prayer he used to recite every night before going to bed : "And if I die before I wake, chicken-fry me like a steak."
    ...
    [Also at Lucky's funeral]
    ALF: Where I'm from, this is ludicrous. It's like having a funeral for a hamburger.
    ...
    ALF: Raining cats? You open the skylight and I'll get the relish.
    ...
    ALF: Hey Willie. Let's throw a cat on the barbi.
    ...
    ALF: The only good cat is a stir-fried cat.
    ...
    ALF: [trying to hypnotize Lucky] You are getting sleepy. You... are no longer a cat. You are a bagel.
    ...
    Willie: There's more than one way to skin a cat.
    ALF: You've been looking at my recipe book.
    ...
    Gordon 'ALF' Shumway: Yo Kate, where do you keep your casserole dishes?
    Kate: Why?
    Gordon 'ALF' Shumway: The cat won't fit in the toaster. Never mind, I'll make a peanut butter sandwich, where's the blender?
    Of course, ALF's diet was not limited to cats...
    ALF: Oh, by the way, don't bother looking for your laxative on a rope.
    Willie: Oh, you mean my soap on a rope?
    ALF: Trust me on this one.