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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
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
So can you also set up a cron job to clean the litter box?
It's OK! I'm a limo driver!
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.
What are they teaching young admins in college these days, anyway?
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 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?
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
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
http://www.linuxjournal.com.nyud.net:8090/article/ 7403
a device that would automatically disperse a yummy fish
Over how wide an area?
if the server hosting his site is the same server feeding the cat, a new cat may be needed in a couple days
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
Mirrordot mirror
my karma ran over your dogma
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!
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:
doesn't he feed on cats?
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
Cheaper? My cat brings home half her food. And has the sense to not eat her own shit.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Wow...imagine a feral pack of those!
AT&ROFLMAO
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.
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
... 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.
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.
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.
My cat brings home half her food.
:(
Yeah. Mine does that too. Gross, isn't it? I wish she'd either eat the whole thing or leave the other half outside.
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...
And to automatically dispose of the deceased felines, you could automate a catapult. You probably couldn't patent it though, since I believe the French use of the device to dispose of cats in Monty Python and the Holy Grail constitutes prior art.
Dear Kitty,
I hacked you a delicious bass.
C'mon, baby, kiss The King.
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!
Fuck you, I'm a retard and I find the comparison to Windows progammers offensive!
... the cats to?
OH... it provides food FOR the cats. Silly me.
cat already accepts stdin on Unix.
;^).
What'd be more interesting is tac - which works like cat, except backwards
and then spends the next 2 hours throwing up plastic-coated furrballs.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
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]
You got it all wrong. The proper way would be
/dev/mouse
cat <
you should rethink your position as a cat owner
When are you all going to get it straight that you do not 'own' a cat? Its impossible. because the cat will never aknowledge it.
OTOH, the cat may own you...
while (!learned) {
To a dog, you are the Master;
To a cat, you are just staff;
}
--
Cheers, Gene
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
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
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.
by clicking here.
Best regards, A.C.
"I don't understand peoples desire to needlesly complicate simple projects."
Not every project has to be uber-practical, especially when somebody's lookin to expand their knowledge and have a little fun.
I swear, some people here need to have their nerd license revoked.
"Derp de derp."
Cotton and Tulip have been fed 5557 times
Meow?
Hopefully it ran out of food after the first few 100 clicks!
M0571y H@rml355.
Anyone with cats knows that this should read:
You need the gown, towel, satchel, and junk mail extension for that.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?