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World's First Linux Powered Rifle Announced
stevew writes "Following up our earlier discussion about whether guns should be self-aware comes the announcement of the world's first Linux-powered rifle. A startup attending CES was showing how their 'Precision Guided Firearms' would use customized, computerized scopes to assist with aiming. 'The Linux-powered scope produces a display that looks something like the heads-up display you'd see sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet, showing the weapon's compass orientation, cant, and incline. To shoot at something, you first "mark" it using a button near the trigger. Marking a target illuminates it with the tracking scope's built-in laser, and the target gains a pip in the scope's display. When a target is marked, the tracking scope takes into account the range of the target, the ambient temperature and humidity, the age of the barrel, and a whole boatload of other parameters. It quickly reorients the display so the crosshairs in the center accurately show where the round will go.'"
But does it run Windows?
Table-ized A.I.
Guns don't kill people, linux does.
Rifles are mechanical devices that inflict mechanical damage. I do not ever want that to change and decrease reliability by adding a computing layer in to the mix.
If you want to make the scope into a computing device that's fine. But I don't ever want to pull a trigger and encounter a segfault, or have the rifle fail to operate due to dead batteries, or have it fire unintentionally due to a bug in the code.
Just NO!
Now you can sudo rm rf the real world.
Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these babies!
Graybeard: "Oh my oh my, what would Sakharov think?"
Linux Kid: "Who is Sakharov?"
"Oh wait! I can't shoot anything because the screen's all blue!"
You are making me feel shame in my Emacs Cannon
Table-ized A.I.
Will it update my twitter status?
Linux doesn't kill people, Linux users do!
Imagine Beowulf armed with a cluster of these!
It's GNU/Linux, not GUN/Linux.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
If it has speakers mod it like this gun lol
"It's the year of the linux desktop...BECAUSE I SAY SO!"
http://defensetech.org/2012/01/31/sandias-new-smart-bullet/
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
I'm waiting for them to add small servos to the barrel for a feedback loop to compensate for weapon sway and etc. Real life hand-held autoaim weapons.
the game
I thing what we *really* need is a Linux powered blade (knife/sword/what-have-you). Why? So RMS can have his GNU slash Linux. *rimshot*
Where's the anemometer ? Wind has far more influence that the other factors, AND coffee...the scope should tell you not to drink any coffee for at least 3 weeks before use :P
It's like all the hackers of Unreal Tournament and Quake joined forces and created a new "skill enhancer".
what about big buck hunter?
You shot a doe to ranger station and pay $200.
...and digistruct back fully reloaded?
PossiBLY go wrong.
Heh. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong.
Finally .. a killer Linux portable
It's not right in a couple of ways.
Militarily Linux is something built by individuals and companies from all over the world in collaboration. something that was created by humanity as a species not as a nation or even a political group. Maybe there is nothing in the licensing of Linux to say it can't be used for killing but it certainly seems against the spirit of the endeavour.
Right now it's being made part of a hunting rifle and that is pretty sickening too. Hunting is a skill and this takes away from the skill part of hunting. Where is the challenge when all you need to do is waggle the gun barrel in the general direction of the target and the scope decides when to fire? It wouldn't be so bad if it was just taking a photo. Even though how much pride could you take from taking the perfect picture when the camera does the hard bit for you.
It is about as skilled as fishing with dynamite. What if these guns were used to extinct a species? I don't think people worked on Linux to help rich idiots ($7000 a rifle) pretend to be marksmen. Hopefully this is a venture which is going to fail.
I remember back when yugoslavia was falling apart I was on an Amiga channel and there were some young lads on there on both sides of the conflict desperately worried they would be drafted and be forced to fight on opposing sides. Still seems just as wrong now with the diversity of nationalities we share our common interests on line yet some of us be forced to take up arms by our psychopathic leaders of our great nations...
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
This is great for all us computer geeks who have dreamed of being sniper assassins. Even my sniper rifle runs linux!
Now that is what I call a "point-and-click" interface.
Coming soon:. Maces and clubs running BASH.
Why can't we go back to using jumpers to configure slot adapter cards? Why? I say!
RMS's Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun.
To overcomplicate a simple point and click interface.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
You've got to accept that FOSS etc can be used for good and bad. Internet? Great boon to humanity, also allows for research of home-made explosives and distribution of CP. Linux? Allows people to be in charge of their computers, for free, as used by North Korea and arms manufacturers. Personally I'm pro-gun-control, but you can't deny that this isn't quite an elegant bit of engineering, and they have every right to develop it.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
I wonder, does it come with commando line interface?
Aimbot hax0r I tell yaz!
The creepy thing for me is that my non-gun-shooting girlfriend told me last week that this would happen soon o_O
And Linux ? LINUX ??? Are you insane ? Why on earth... This must be an early Aprils Fools... If you told me it's all pure assembly or even an ASM bootloader and a few C coroutines... I would even have considered a micro kernel to get different scope manufacturers hot swapping... But Linux ?!
Use the right tools for the job !!!
Now our snipers can say "I'm gonna CTL-ALT-Delete you" when they take out a target....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I want to see this linked to Google Glass for proper smart-guns ala Aliens.
The OICW and XM25 both have (had, in the case of the OICW) a similar sighting system: ping the range (or enter manually) and the reticule will relocate to the correct angle to fire the grenade to have it land at/over/in the target location (depending on whether the round is meant to detonate above a trench, over a wall or through a window into a building).
I already told you. A 2 metre thermal exhaust port isn't much smaller than the womp rats I used to bull's eye back home.
Personally I'm pro-gun-control
Me too.
Gun-control: A steady hand
Microsoft drafts legislation classifying Linux as a munition.
RTFA indicates that this is almost identical to the ballistic computer (aka gunsight computer) found in practically any modern MBT or IFV. They've shrunk it down and merged it with a rifle. However, they've once again failed the "Just because we CAN, doesn't mean we SHOULD" question.
I saw this once before: Objective Individual Combat Weapon
It's what taking a $400 M-16 and mating it with a new 25mm grenade launcher, then running it through the Military Industrial Complex gets you: a $800,000 weapon that's too bulky to use, of marginal benefit, and of questionable utility.
Honestly, the Marine Corp and British Marines have a solution that works far better than either the OICW or this new gadget: it's called PRACTICE. I'm willing to bet that putting in a couple of dozen hours at a local shooting range would do the potential buyer of this gadget far more good. Not to mention saving them $15k or more. I also seriously doubt this "system" is rugged enough to be used (and abused) in the field for any length of time, even just for hunting. Even by pampered super-rich hunting dilettantes.
Sometimes, technology just gets in the way of getting things done.
There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
And a steady brain.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
I feel like Hans Reiser must have had a hand in this one.
If we can embed targeting and aiming, how tough would it be to add geolocation?
The firearm itself can figure out "Hey, I'm in a school, or a mall, or a cinema," and prevent a would be shooter from firing.
will acquire a whole new meaning.
Another case of gun nuts taking useful technology and exploiting it.
Yes. The hacker spirit lives.
We just had them ruin 3D printing. I guess Linux is next?
FYI, 3D printing lower receivers didn't ruin 3D printing. People with your attitude did. "Ahhh! It's a plastic gun! Overreact or it will kill us all!"
This+3-D printers = a little more power to the people. Also doubling of manpower for sniper teams that want to take risks (no spotter needed)
The great part of a sniper's work after he's in position and hidden is essentially calculus. The vector analysis that takes into account all these things and spits out windage and elevation. That and steady hands are all that's needed to place a shot with all the accuracy of which a rifle is capable.
Countering this trend toward more effective less educated sniper teams are a myriad of new technologies that a well funded country/group can/will soon be able to afford. These include vehicles (and bribes) that allow fast and silent insertion and egress, visible/ir/radio scattering camouflage, and other cute little bits of technology that allow better silence, tactics, information, and weapons.
My point? None really, just a few thoughts.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
The idea of "authorizing fire" isn't really a new paradigm. M-1 tank guns have worked like that since the 80s I believe, probably earlier. The gunner pressed 'fire' then the gun waited until it was actually on target until it fired.
All aircraft are similar... the pilot presses a button, that send a signals to a series of computers (potentially over thousands of miles for UAVs) letting them know that you want to fire, then the actual electrical charge is sent if it decides to fire. Guided Missiles since Vietnam... trigger authorizes them to explode, but you aren't guaranteed that they get the target you want, lots of Hollywood examples of making the missile kill the wrong target :)
Pedantically, pulling a trigger doesn't a fire a gun... it releases a locking mechanism which authorizes a firing pin to strike a primer (on most guns).
I guess what I'm guess at is that it's not a black/white 'fire / authorize to fire', it's a gray spectrum of complexity, and we fear (rightly so) that this complexity may reach a point where a failure in that system will result in the wrong person/people being killed... and then perhaps that it will fire at anything at all that we didn't consider 'authorized' fire. I think the first concern is already out of the barn, the second one is the one to be concerned with... will a weapon fire without authorization??? If so... bad.
That they have selected Linux is only significant in that it is free for them to use and actively developed. That by itself is just a drop in the barrel of the large number of device makers who select Linux to build their machines. Who is making such devices using Windows? I think no one. I know it has been tried in the past but I doubt it is going on at present. Perhaps someone will point out some examples to the contrary.
The industry recognizes Linux is great for these types of purposes. Virtually any purpose really. The real trick is the services and applications writing. Those are things which can be written for any OS and Linux may have some great tools available for it, but Windows, as far as I know, has the best. So 'free,' stable and actively developed is definitely winning the war over 'developers! developers! developers!"
WINE needs some serious development. SaMBa is pretty much there now isn't it? Linux is filling all the gaps left behind by Windows. Isn't it time it starts closing in even further?
Linux as a kernel to host applications is well established anyway. And yet, while companies such as the one I work for think nothing of buying Cisco (running Linux), Falconstor (running Linux) and VMWare (running Linux) I still hear many say that Linux is a toy for hobbyists. What has to be done to overcome that perception? These are people who see no problem with running Windows in mission critical situations. Disturbing.
It's the Replay function of the ZF-1!
Voilà, the ZF.1. It's light, handle's adjustable for easy carrying, good for righties and lefties, breaks down into four parts, undetectable by x-ray, ideal for quick discreet interventions. A word on firepower, titanium recharger, 3,000 round clip with bursts of 3 to 300, with a Replay button--another Zorg invention--it's even easier. One shot and Replay sends every following shot to the same location. And, to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies but goldies: rocket launcher; arrow launcher, with exploding or poisonous gas heads; our famous net launcher; and, the always efficient flame thrower--my favorite; and, for the grand finale, the all new Ice Cube System. http://www.uselessmoviequotes.com/umq_f004.htm
Whenever something new comes along we should be asking 'Can American's make it gun-related?'
Nah, someone will just do it with a chainsaw or a lawnmower if the urge strikes them.
We just need to add a voice now!
Good Decision!
DIe Die Die!
http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Shotgun_1340
Oh man, this takes all the fun out of shooting things:(
Does it work on heretics and xenos scum?
-- Cisk for the Cisk God
Gun control means hitting your target.
I fucking love gun-show bumper stickers.
They figure out how to pack it into a regular rifle, or a submachine gun, and we will have the target tracker from Human Revolution.
Now just need the augments for target tagging and THertz imaging through walls
Maybe they wanted a higher-level solution to easily draw the pretty HUD.
You are right though, Linux seems way too unreliable and unresponsive for something like a rifle.
Yay, now I'll have something to shoot my Android-powered oven with when it becomes self aware and attempts to cook my dog as revenge for not cleaning it.
Uh, wait ... never mind.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Does the HUD have a good scoring system?
like 10 points for joggers, 20 points for skateboarders, 50 points for little old ladies and 100 points for school yard playground?
then you could post your score to facebook or any social network and brag and compare with others!
Great. Another platform for people to NOT use Linux on.
You shouldn't need to ask. Of course we can and why wouldn't we?
You've got to accept that FOSS etc can be used for good and bad.
And this is good.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Fishing with dynamite requires real skill. Use too much and there's no water left. Use too little and you go hungry.
Aim bots are not allowed!
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Thanks for your continued zeal about all things guns 'n' tech, Slashdot editors! Because this is truly what the world needs.
FUCKIN AWESOME!!!!!
He could have just shot his wife and said Linux did it. He could have easily pointed the blame on the ReiserFS implementation supplied in the gun's particular kernel.
guess its to bsd now
Emacs has everything else, might as well add a cannon
I love tech like this, though I would only use it for target practice. Though i'd much rather an HMD that gave the same info and could give measurements of whatever you're focusing on. Some training with those would be excellent for architecture, construction, surveying, etc...
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
I think this should easily connect to a HP LaserJet, but also any Canon. Though, I'm told the cartridges are expensive.
Goddam aimbots.
I feel disgusted about linux being used in instruments of death.
...a Beowolf cluster of these....
This is not the first gunsight running under GNU/Linux. Many Sagem and Vectronix products already use it (like the Felin soldiers gunsights for example).
sudo make-me-a-sandwich
No thanks. They are simple mechanical devices that have been refined over thousands of years. There is no reason to make them more complex and unreliable.
I would be so afraid of a Kernel Panic.
I would think that Minix 3 might be more suitable, although I dare say Tiny Core Linux or some such would be responsive enough. What sort of CPUs do these guns use - ARM? Would power consumption be an issue here? Can't the kinetic energy produced by the recoil be enough to recharge the batteries for the next round?
This is one of the funniest comment threads I've read in a long, long time.
Anyway, I don't think this is a very good idea. Even if you ignore all the complications that come from the added complexity and potential failures of relying on a computer to help you use a tool that is almost exclusively used in split-second, life or death situations, I still think that the learning curve for properly aiming and shooting a firearm needs to remain nonzero.
I own guns, and I fully support the right to own guns. I know how much effort it took me to learn proper shooting techniques, and I know that this effort started (as it should, and as it almost always does) with proper safety and handling procedures. I've since taught my brother and my wife as I was taught, so I've seen both first and second hand how much practice and instruction you need to not suck at it.
I like that shooting is fairly self-regulatory in this way, since someone who has no idea what they are doing will have a hard time doing any serious damage with a weapon if they don't know how to aim it, or how to shoot it, or how to fix a jam, or even how to load a weapon and take the safety off. As cool as this scope sounds, I'm not comfortable with a gun that does most of this work for you.
Of course, there are always anomalies of people out there who will put themselves through this training and plan out an attack for months, but you are more likely to die by lightning strike than you are by mass shooting.
I worked on a much more advanced and ultimately classified project for the Navy SEALS that produced a 'first shot kill' gun sighting system for the SEALs in ... 1993. The sight was designed to go on crew served weapons and sniper weapons. It included aim point calculation, full ballistics computing, sensors, range finder, thermal and optical sighting, low light level, yadda yadda yadda. At the time the sofware was required to be ADA (thanks, DOD).
Just because you put a shiny Linux on something doesn't make it all new and stuff.
Anything that permits the creation of unlicenced firearms must itself be strictly licensed in order for firearms licences to be an effective means of keeping tabs on gun use. That's not overreaction - that's just understanding the nature of licensing. And there is no debate to be had on this point.
You can debate the suggestion that gun licencing should be strictly enforced if you like, but not the one that says if gun licencing is to be enforced, personal gun manufacturing must also be tightly licenced.
cnc's arent licensed. neither are drills. neither are stepper motors and heating elements.neither are arms or steel. it's what you do with them that's licensed.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
What happens when a kernel panic occurs?
Ammunition matters quite a bit. Often a round that is not part of the pattern of strikes on a target relates back to some difference in individual bullets even though they are the same brand and batch. It is easy to confirm as rounds fired by a gun locked in a shooting vice will tend to form a tight cluster with one or two oddball strikes outside of the cluster.
This is a good development but it is not equal to some smart weapons that can adjust their flight path while on the way to a target.
Its more like penises are ruined because they were used in a blowjob.
Guns are not bad things, even if they are something you are not comfortable with.
You can make a gun with a set of simple metal working tools.
Under current law, you can make a gun yourself, and use it (varies by state). But to sell it, you must apply for a serial number and affix it permanently to the weapon. There are a crap ton of regulations that make that process of making a manufactured gun legal to sell a rather fiddly and complex process.
Just took a whole new meaning.
I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
kernel panic! kernel panic! kernel panic! "help, Billy, the damn thing won't stop firing!"
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
chmod 222, CLICK!, SHIT!!!
chmod 666, CLICK!, CRAP!!!!
chmod 777, CLICK!, wft goddam piece of GRRR!
chmod, fuck it, pulls knife
Under current law, you can make a gun yourself, and use it
Which is absurd and illogical, assuming you have any gun control laws. Whether you believe in the right to own whatever guns you like or not, having some sort of licensing system that you can circumvent by making your own is ridiculous. It's like saying "you have to road tax for your car (in the UK), but if you build a car yourself you don't need to bother."
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
This is a neat system but it requires a lot of known information about the cartridge ahead of time (bullet weight, muzzle velocity, etc) to do the ballistic calculations in addition to some of the environment variables (cant, range, wind, etc).
It'd be cool if the scope could do some kind of impact POI tracking so that the displayed point of aim could be adjusted for the actual flight path of the bullet. This would allow it to compensate (or try to) for other variance in field conditions, such as differences in wind (shooting from cover to an open area), deviation in cartridge loads as well as shooter performance.
Now, I don't know how they would actually do this on the fly -- a sensor may be able to track a tracer round, but actual bullet impact at any distance would be hard to track.
Maybe it would be of value to shoot some quantity of test rounds at a target and then tell the scope where you aimed and where you hit and let it do some statistical analysis to figure out what's going on and then use that information in the field to at least partially compensate.
Not really. You don't need a license to own a gun. Most jurisdictions require you to have a license to carry a gun in public (concealed or occasionally open carry). Almost all the regulations in the US surrounding guns concern the sale or public carry/use of guns.
In the UK, if you built your own car and never drove it off your own property, would you still need to pay that road tax?
the location of control, alt and delete are hard to reach.
and rebooting, then running self-test can get your ass killed if you are not careful.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I worked on a much more advanced and ultimately classified project...
And why the fuck are you talking about it?
I am sure Linus is thrilled that his OS is installed on weapons.
geek n performer who performs morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken
Hadn't posted in a long time and . . .
I have been dreaming of something like this for YEARS!
I love target practicing, and varmint hunting, and this is awesome.
App needs to be ported to BSD ;-)
The jokes in here are memorable too.
SARAVA!
Mine is running BackTrack so after I kill someone my prints are removed from the gun and my bullet disintegrates taking the body with it.
Not to mention guns aren't licensed in the US, where the 3D printing guys were, either. Manufacturers ARE licensed, but only if they're producing guns for sale in which case they do need to serial number them and report the production to ATF--anyone may legal manufacture an unnumbered gun for his or herself, though. I think a lot of people didn't realize this and so didn't understand that the 3D printing guys weren't doing anything all that novel.
Case in point, I legally manufactured my own AK-pattern rifle--the receiver (stamped steel) was made from scratch--the other parts are readily available, but don't count as "the firearm." It's pretty easy for the mechanically, but does requiring some tools that are beyond what most people have at home. Including the tools I had to buy, the total cost was well above what I'd pay to buy one pre-built.
No worries, the gun will only fire if you have the right region code.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
This is Alex Jones and this is just another subversive attempt by the goverment to take guns away from the American people. Guns belong in the hands of loud mouthed, obnoxious, ignorant, ranting, government hating Americans like myself, not some foreigner from Finland. Sign my petition to deport Linus Torvalds now before it's too late.
It's actually also not true. In the US, you actually do need a government license to 3D print a gun legally. But don't let me interrupt you while you ignorantly flail around in these discussions.
In fact, tax advantages were one of the reasons kit cars have traditionally been so popular in the UK.
But the UK is simply out of control: showroom tax, road tax, total gun control, etc.
This must be the next big killer application.
And it only plays this one first person shooter game.
You can get most of the utility of this without modifying the trigger set like this, but still using that fancy scope. Just use those newer self guided bullets that Sandia recently developed.
Sandia bullets uses MEMS fins on the bullet with a forward optical sensor to detect a laser painted target. Since the scope for this rifle already must do laser ranging, keeping the target illuminated long enough for the round to hit is comparatively simple. Keeps you from having a fancy pants trigger that could fail. The gun still operates normally without a scope. Having the ballistic computer keep a tight targeting reticle for you simple improves the traditional ballistics, making it easier for the self guided bullet to do the final homing.
...if only to give that mentally-imbalanced hoplophobe, Bruce Perens, a stroke.