(Aside: a Joule is a Newton-meter.) What you're saying would be true for a regular soldering iron where you're wasting energy heating several grams of metal (and keeping it hot all the time) when the business end is only a few mm^2 surface area. We're going to have to wait for compact fuel cell technology to come out before that becomes practical.
What I am suggesting is an active delivery mechanism, so the heating only needs to happen on a few milligrams of heatable metal or other contact material. You're reducing the total volume of metal being heated so you don't need as much energy to get it to the same temperature.
I agree that a regular AA cell probably wouldn't be able to deliver the deep-discharge currents you would need to heat things up in a reasonable amount of time. You would have to use something like a supercapacitor to buffer the charge-discharge cycles. For manual soldering work, you only need to deliver heat to the point of contact for a short period of time relative to total on-time.
More experimentation is needed. No numbers were harmed in this qualitative thought process, just orders of magnitude.
Heh. The point I was getting at with this train of thought was that you wouldn't have to heat a huge stick of metal. You could make it AA-battery powered instead of wall-powered, and it wouldn't have to contain volatile fuels like butane to make it portable.
When you're done with it you wouldn't have to wait long for it to cool down before putting it back in a tool-kit or pocket.
Ah well, it was just an idea. Do with it what you wish; it's in the public domain now.;-)
Specs sheet sez "leaves bright/shiny solder joints after reflow", which begs the question how does the powder refract/absorb light before reflow? Powders tend to exhibit different optic properties from their more macroscopic solid equivalents.
In any case, it could serve as a simple automated trigger mechanism. Stop applying heat/light when it "gets shiny"...
So trying to heat it directly wouldn't work because heat gets sucked into the lead too quickly...
Sounds like you would have to use a hybrid approach. Heat the tip of something non-heat-conducting and touch that tip to the lead you're soldering. You would probably have to do this repetitively, in a pulsed manner - the tip acts as a small heat capacitor (for lack of a better word) that you're heating and cooling.
Hmmm... I wonder if one could design a heat pump like a charge/voltage pump.?. Think Taser mechanism with a diode/capacitor chain, only using optically-generated heat and TiNi alloy mechanical switching.
Do you happen to have a pointer to the archives of that discussion handy? I'm interested in reading them.
Looking at the R500 Solder Paste specs the peak temperature shown is 225C (437F). Paper burns at 233C (451F) and a magnifying glass can burn paper easily on a sunny day, so I would at least expect the magnifying glass approach to work.:-)
Thanks for answering my question (Q6), Scott. The IC example brings it home for me, given that it's my own area of expertise. A good part of the challenges I face day-to-day are coming up with simpler, non-proprietary test cases that capture the same symptoms and "reproducability" of a given bug.
I like the point you make, about maintaining proprietary and confidential test suites being a key ingredient in developing a business (aka making money and being profitable) based on Open Source solutions. The business relationship is built on trust and survives based on a sustainable, mutual relationship. It isn't dependent on code remaining secret, and if the relationship breaks down (lost trust and confidence) the business/individual using the software isn't stranded.
One of the bigger challenges facing open source projects as compared to their proprietary equivalents is how to manage confidentiality of test cases. With companies such as Red Hat and Ximian involved, it's certainly less of an issue for their core products and projects they over-see, but there will always be cases where there is friction when the best/only person who can fix a particular problem is on the outside, unable to work with the test cases in question.
What are your thoughts on this trade-off between test case management and confidentiality as it relates to proprietary v.s. open source code development?
Just FYI, there's also a company called Ball Semiconductor, Inc. that has been developing various design, manufacturing and processing technologies revolving around spherical semiconductors.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I did some stained-glass creative stuff at school... To solder the panes together, you had to wrap the edges of the pieces of glass with strips of sticky copper tape. From the description of the lame tape (so thin that it burns/melts really easily), the stained-glass stuff may be a better (future) option.
A search for "stained glass copper tape" on Google turns up a few sources.
First, congrats to the RIAA for shutting down a real piracy operation. However, if they wanted to get the idea across without messing with the facts, why didn't they say something like "...able to churn out X CDs a day..."? They obviously went through the trouble of doing some sort of calculation to come with that 156 burners = 421 average burners, why not put it in real world terms? Shouldn't be too hard to come up with really big numbers like:
(x_burners)(average_CD_burnt_per_minute)*24*60 Lets say average_CD_burnt_per_minute (aka burn rate) of a 20x burner burning a 70-minute CD is:
20/70min = 0.286 CD/min
You have a fascility churning out:
156*0.286*24*60 = 64,247 CDs/day
Now isn't that a much more impressive number? (assuming I've got me numbers correct; my brain only half-works on Sundays, which is how I average more than a whole brain during the week;-)
Re:educational value
on
LFS 4.0 Released
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Ditto on the educational value. I'd been using Linux in various forms since '93, but it wasn't until I started exploring LFS that I really began to understand and appreciate what went on behind the curtain.
I'd argue the "never in a production system" point though. For an average end-user, sure. But if you have a particular end use(r) in mind (robot control, wearable computer, multimedia entertainment, home automation, etc) then it may be easier to enhance an LFS recipe than prune back a generic distro.
Which would be why and what I'm playing with...:-)
I have it hooked into the system clipboard, so getting info to and from the RA is easy via that mechanism. The true power will come when/if there happens to be a way to "watch the keys". Kind of like a key-logger, but I'd rather not have it watching from the keyboard side; it should only be watching what's visible, not everything including passwords.
The challenge (learning curve on my part) is getting deep enough access to system level interfaces via Java... Focus-independent access to mouse and keyboard input streams. Also have to work up an ra-index wrapper; more a function of the JRAServer than JRAClient classes.
It's more general than e-mail, but in the wearable computing community, there's a little application called Remembrance Agent, written by Bradley Rhodes that many folks use. In terms of stand-alone UI, it's still quite primitive, but that's because it was built around dynamic hooks into Emacs.
I've been playing around with some Java-based wrapper code, to wrap the ra-retrieve executable in a Server and allow clients to access the data via sockets. I have a Java-based client coded up that hooks into the System clipboard, but it's still in alpha-mode. All GPL'd of course, but needs a little time to mature. It's a proof-of-concept, work in progress.:-)
Check out Brad's site for more insight into the work he did and is doing.
One of the most refreshing and enjoyable aspects of my university years was the opportunity to discuss what we were being taught with fellow students who actually wanted to learn. Anything less and it would have been mind-numbing highschool all over again.
The IEEE just released a new publication called "IEEE Pervasive Computing; Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems". You can track down a dead-tree edition (got mine in the mail a couple of days ago) or read it online if you have a digital subscription.
The first (paper) issue even includes a reprint of Mark Weiser's "The Computer for the 21st Century", Scientific American, 1991 article. A very interesting read, seeing how far things have and have not gone in ten years.
It's kind of like what happens when a tree grows through a chain-link fence, only with your finger. You get to that point of no return where the finger is easier to remove than the ring.;-)
Aside: I already have a permanent "dent" from my engineering ring, which I've had and worn longer than my wedding ring and TiAu ring.
While it's nice and all to build a whole new OS to accomplish what they're trying to do, couldn't all they're trying to do be accomplished using existing VNC and streamed media technology?
Terrorist organizations seem to thrive through anonymity and finding ways to circumvent traditional means of identity and authentication.
As others have said, the encryption cat is out of the bag; it's never going back. Even if they tried to back-door the "legal" tools, a message doesn't have to be encrypted to hide it's true meaning/contents. They can just as easily be hidden in plain sight/text.
...If we're going to control encryption usage then I'm sorry but we're just going to have to pass some laws to force people to use authorized spell and grammar checkers. All digital images must be taken on approved photographic equipment; tampering with image watermarks is a Federal offense. You will also be interogated by an AI on every message you craft to determine your true intent; non-standard word usage will be flagged and noted on your record. Hmmm... This is starting to sound a little like the language police over in Quebec...;-)
We need better ways to ensure the authenticity of people's identity, not easier ways to watch who we think we might be watching but aren't sure because we're too lazy to authenticate the source and destination through other means.
While it's nice to be able to travel in anonymity, places with security concerns can't afford the risk any more. I'm NOT advocating tracking everyone's movement and action without legal warrant. Attempt to control access, not content. If you are who you say you are, there shouldn't be any reason to interfere with your travel plans.
Ultimately, it's a tough call. But from my own travels I know I get a little concerned when security DOESN'T ask me any questions. On my last trip they did ask about my multitool in with my laptop; it was allowed then, but after these events I don't think I'll be packing it any more. I value my safety more than my privacy in these situations...
Last thing we want is Gattaca though... An extreme in controlling access...
Slashdot Mirror
(Aside: a Joule is a Newton-meter.) What you're saying would be true for a regular soldering iron where you're wasting energy heating several grams of metal (and keeping it hot all the time) when the business end is only a few mm^2 surface area. We're going to have to wait for compact fuel cell technology to come out before that becomes practical.
What I am suggesting is an active delivery mechanism, so the heating only needs to happen on a few milligrams of heatable metal or other contact material. You're reducing the total volume of metal being heated so you don't need as much energy to get it to the same temperature.
I agree that a regular AA cell probably wouldn't be able to deliver the deep-discharge currents you would need to heat things up in a reasonable amount of time. You would have to use something like a supercapacitor to buffer the charge-discharge cycles. For manual soldering work, you only need to deliver heat to the point of contact for a short period of time relative to total on-time.
More experimentation is needed. No numbers were harmed in this qualitative thought process, just orders of magnitude.
Heh. The point I was getting at with this train of thought was that you wouldn't have to heat a huge stick of metal. You could make it AA-battery powered instead of wall-powered, and it wouldn't have to contain volatile fuels like butane to make it portable.
;-)
When you're done with it you wouldn't have to wait long for it to cool down before putting it back in a tool-kit or pocket.
Ah well, it was just an idea. Do with it what you wish; it's in the public domain now.
Perhaps...
Specs sheet sez "leaves bright/shiny solder joints after reflow", which begs the question how does the powder refract/absorb light before reflow? Powders tend to exhibit different optic properties from their more macroscopic solid equivalents.
In any case, it could serve as a simple automated trigger mechanism. Stop applying heat/light when it "gets shiny"...
Interesting discussion happening here, thanks.
So trying to heat it directly wouldn't work because heat gets sucked into the lead too quickly...
Sounds like you would have to use a hybrid approach. Heat the tip of something non-heat-conducting and touch that tip to the lead you're soldering. You would probably have to do this repetitively, in a pulsed manner - the tip acts as a small heat capacitor (for lack of a better word) that you're heating and cooling.
Hmmm... I wonder if one could design a heat pump like a charge/voltage pump.?. Think Taser mechanism with a diode/capacitor chain, only using optically-generated heat and TiNi alloy mechanical switching.
Do you happen to have a pointer to the archives of that discussion handy? I'm interested in reading them.
:-)
Looking at the R500 Solder Paste specs the peak temperature shown is 225C (437F). Paper burns at 233C (451F) and a magnifying glass can burn paper easily on a sunny day, so I would at least expect the magnifying glass approach to work.
Why burn ants when you can put that magnifying glass to good use soldering circuits together in the summer sun? ;-)
Seriously though, wouldn't it be cool if someone modified a laser-pen (or appropriately set up fibre-optic light source) to serve as a soldering iron?
No more fumbling with hot-metal iron pens. Shutter the light and it's cold!
Thanks for answering my question (Q6), Scott. The IC example brings it home for me, given that it's my own area of expertise. A good part of the challenges I face day-to-day are coming up with simpler, non-proprietary test cases that capture the same symptoms and "reproducability" of a given bug.
I like the point you make, about maintaining proprietary and confidential test suites being a key ingredient in developing a business (aka making money and being profitable) based on Open Source solutions. The business relationship is built on trust and survives based on a sustainable, mutual relationship. It isn't dependent on code remaining secret, and if the relationship breaks down (lost trust and confidence) the business/individual using the software isn't stranded.
Thanks for the insight!
One of the bigger challenges facing open source projects as compared to their proprietary equivalents is how to manage confidentiality of test cases. With companies such as Red Hat and Ximian involved, it's certainly less of an issue for their core products and projects they over-see, but there will always be cases where there is friction when the best/only person who can fix a particular problem is on the outside, unable to work with the test cases in question.
What are your thoughts on this trade-off between test case management and confidentiality as it relates to proprietary v.s. open source code development?
Just FYI, there's also a company called Ball Semiconductor, Inc. that has been developing various design, manufacturing and processing technologies revolving around spherical semiconductors.
Others have mentioned SHOUTcast and CMJ. I also use Live365 (I pay for a subscription) to keep my audio pleasures broad while I work.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I did some stained-glass creative stuff at school... To solder the panes together, you had to wrap the edges of the pieces of glass with strips of sticky copper tape. From the description of the lame tape (so thin that it burns/melts really easily), the stained-glass stuff may be a better (future) option.
A search for "stained glass copper tape" on Google turns up a few sources.
Holy obfuscation Flying-Mammal-Man!
;-)
First, congrats to the RIAA for shutting down a real piracy operation. However, if they wanted to get the idea across without messing with the facts, why didn't they say something like "...able to churn out X CDs a day..."? They obviously went through the trouble of doing some sort of calculation to come with that 156 burners = 421 average burners, why not put it in real world terms? Shouldn't be too hard to come up with really big numbers like:
(x_burners)(average_CD_burnt_per_minute)*24*60
Lets say average_CD_burnt_per_minute (aka burn rate) of a 20x burner burning a 70-minute CD is:
20/70min = 0.286 CD/min
You have a fascility churning out:
156*0.286*24*60 = 64,247 CDs/day
Now isn't that a much more impressive number? (assuming I've got me numbers correct; my brain only half-works on Sundays, which is how I average more than a whole brain during the week
Ditto on the educational value. I'd been using Linux in various forms since '93, but it wasn't until I started exploring LFS that I really began to understand and appreciate what went on behind the curtain.
I'd argue the "never in a production system" point though. For an average end-user, sure. But if you have a particular end use(r) in mind (robot control, wearable computer, multimedia entertainment, home automation, etc) then it may be easier to enhance an LFS recipe than prune back a generic distro.
Is this the same robot that derived it's inspiration from Leonardo DaVinci's mechanical knight notes and studies of the kinetics of the human body?
Which would be why and what I'm playing with... :-)
I have it hooked into the system clipboard, so getting info to and from the RA is easy via that mechanism. The true power will come when/if there happens to be a way to "watch the keys". Kind of like a key-logger, but I'd rather not have it watching from the keyboard side; it should only be watching what's visible, not everything including passwords.
The challenge (learning curve on my part) is getting deep enough access to system level interfaces via Java... Focus-independent access to mouse and keyboard input streams. Also have to work up an ra-index wrapper; more a function of the JRAServer than JRAClient classes.
It's more general than e-mail, but in the wearable computing community, there's a little application called Remembrance Agent, written by Bradley Rhodes that many folks use. In terms of stand-alone UI, it's still quite primitive, but that's because it was built around dynamic hooks into Emacs.
I've been playing around with some Java-based wrapper code, to wrap the ra-retrieve executable in a Server and allow clients to access the data via sockets. I have a Java-based client coded up that hooks into the System clipboard, but it's still in alpha-mode. All GPL'd of course, but needs a little time to mature. It's a proof-of-concept, work in progress. :-)
Check out Brad's site for more insight into the work he did and is doing.
I have to say, I pity those students.
One of the most refreshing and enjoyable aspects of my university years was the opportunity to discuss what we were being taught with fellow students who actually wanted to learn. Anything less and it would have been mind-numbing highschool all over again.
The IEEE just released a new publication called "IEEE Pervasive Computing; Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems". You can track down a dead-tree edition (got mine in the mail a couple of days ago) or read it online if you have a digital subscription.
The first (paper) issue even includes a reprint of Mark Weiser's "The Computer for the 21st Century", Scientific American, 1991 article. A very interesting read, seeing how far things have and have not gone in ten years.
It's kind of like what happens when a tree grows through a chain-link fence, only with your finger. You get to that point of no return where the finger is easier to remove than the ring. ;-)
Aside: I already have a permanent "dent" from my engineering ring, which I've had and worn longer than my wedding ring and TiAu ring.
Just a followup to this. If/when you get a Ti ring, get in the habit of taking it off at night so it doesn't get stuck.
:-)
My wife got my a Ti-Au combo ring for X-mas; I wear it on my right middle-finger.
While it's nice and all to build a whole new OS to accomplish what they're trying to do, couldn't all they're trying to do be accomplished using existing VNC and streamed media technology?
The focal point is actually far in front of you. On my unmodified M1, I have to wear my glasses (I'm near-sighted) to read the display.
An interesting step forward. Since MPEG4 is the protocol behind video transmission over bluetooth links, can bluetooth-enabled HUDs be very far away?
:-)
Therein lies the potential for reasonable quality video from you cellphone/PDA/mobile-device...
I'm certainly looking forward to it.
Thinking aloud...
;-)
Terrorist organizations seem to thrive through anonymity and finding ways to circumvent traditional means of identity and authentication.
As others have said, the encryption cat is out of the bag; it's never going back. Even if they tried to back-door the "legal" tools, a message doesn't have to be encrypted to hide it's true meaning/contents. They can just as easily be hidden in plain sight/text.
...If we're going to control encryption usage then I'm sorry but we're just going to have to pass some laws to force people to use authorized spell and grammar checkers. All digital images must be taken on approved photographic equipment; tampering with image watermarks is a Federal offense. You will also be interogated by an AI on every message you craft to determine your true intent; non-standard word usage will be flagged and noted on your record. Hmmm... This is starting to sound a little like the language police over in Quebec...
We need better ways to ensure the authenticity of people's identity, not easier ways to watch who we think we might be watching but aren't sure because we're too lazy to authenticate the source and destination through other means.
While it's nice to be able to travel in anonymity, places with security concerns can't afford the risk any more. I'm NOT advocating tracking everyone's movement and action without legal warrant. Attempt to control access, not content. If you are who you say you are, there shouldn't be any reason to interfere with your travel plans.
Ultimately, it's a tough call. But from my own travels I know I get a little concerned when security DOESN'T ask me any questions. On my last trip they did ask about my multitool in with my laptop; it was allowed then, but after these events I don't think I'll be packing it any more. I value my safety more than my privacy in these situations...
Last thing we want is Gattaca though... An extreme in controlling access...
Having lost my own father to the very same cancer, I sincerely hope they had the same opportunity to say good-bye as we did.
The final downhill slide took only a matter of days, but you sure do make good use of them when the writing's on the wall!