While the methods/ideas NASA is discussing might be different, the idea of dynamically bending a wing in flight is nothing new. Aside from the Wright brothers original wing warping systems to effect control (prior to the idea of control "surfaces"), many times dynamic bending has been used to cut down resonant occillation in the wing structure of certain larger planes (like the Starlifter). These systems use hydraulics and cable systems, along with computer controls, to reduce the occillation of the wings while in flight, where the wings would "flap" up and down, producing large stresses on the wing...
I have heard that a ship can be sunk if an underwater eruption causes enough bubbles to be formed around the ship to lower the density of the water, thus causing the ship to sink because it displaces more of the less dense medium.
Has such a weapon ever been devised or built? Just imagine, a "bomb" that goes off under a ship, releases a huge gas "bubble", which the hull "falls" into, to be swallowed instantly under the ocean, before the crew can even react...
Although you may have to add extra chip(s) - polish up those SMT soldering skillz...
On a project I help out with, hacking the Acer NT-150 (see above link), on the majority of our boxes we had what appeared to be pads for a serial port, and we could plainly see empty pads for the serial driver IC - problem was we didn't know what IC.
A few people started doing tracing and such, and thought it was a Maxim part - since they did the free-sample thing on the part, one individual who had experience with SMT rework got what he thought was the right part, soldered it in - and it didn't work.
Soon thereafter another individual posted on our mailing list that he thought he had an NT-150, and had hooked up a serial mouse and a NIC - which we thought was absurd, since the thing didn't have a serial port that we knew of - he posted pictures of his box (a USWest Webvision box or something), and sure enough, he had a serial port. We had him post the part number for the driver IC, and it was a Maxim part, but it wasn't the one our other guy used. He ordered that part - _unsoldered_ the wrong one, and re-soldered the right one in, and "voila", free serial port to add a mouse, or anything else.
In the course of doing that, we have a few tutorials/notes on doing SMT rework with a low-wattage (15 watt) soldering iron, and plenty of patience, if you need to do such things.
Follow the traces back from where the connector should go - see if there are any breaks where resistors, caps, transistors and such might go. Sometimes they mount these, but not the connector (in our case, we had pull-up resistors already mounted next to the serial driver pads, just no chip). Other times, they don't. The other thing to keep in mind is whether the board is dual trace PCB, or multi-layer - if it is multi-layer, and the connector is soldered through the hole, it might actually connect with a middle layer as well (a layer you can't see). I don't know how you would connect with such a middle layer, except maybe to tin the connector, insert, and solder, and the reheat would melt it.
The key to most homebrew SMT rework is patience, and a steady hand (very steady). There is also a certain type solder you need to use, not 60/40 - it is a special solder meant for SMT work, and is a bit more expensive than the regular stuff. Also, apply heat very sparingly, to avoid lifting pads (which is VERY easy to do in SMT rework, from what I understand). If you are really intent on attempting this, I would go out and get some junk boards (drive controller boards from old hard drives are good for practice, to get a feel for working in a tight area, old ethernet cards is you want to practice for more space, and old sound cards sometimes have lower pin count SMT ICs to practice on) and practice removing and replacing components first, to get the hang of it.
I have been involved in the hacking of the Acer NT-150 set-top box for quite a few months now (check out the link above). The box is quite low power (AMD 586/133), and will just barely play MP3s, once a hard drive is connected.
One thing that popped up in our discussions about how we could play MP3s, and still have power to do other things (or at least play MP3s at a higher quality) was the concept of using the NT-150 as a client, and streaming the MP3s off a server, over the network interface, then piping the resulting audio to the sound card.
None of us have done this yet, but we did manage to find a few GPL'd bits of code that supposedly do it (links are on the site). Basically, you have a back room server doing all the decoding, and the client merely handles the redirect to the audio device, which uses very little processing power. I would imagine that a similar method could be used for other streams as well (though it would probably require a much better CPU than what is in the NT-150).
They make a machine that has OK specs, and can probably do what you need it to do, is pretty cheap, and looks to be PC standard based. Not sure if the low price ($199) will get you a machine with normal video out, or only VGA, and I don't know whether you have to have the internet service they provide or not to get the deal - but might be worth looking into.
One other thing - a few months back/. had an article about homebrewing a 1U web server - it used an AMD 586/133 as well, but I am sure something else could be used - I doubt you will be able to get away with using no fan on the CPU, unless you use a custom xtra large heat sink - most CPUs don't run that cool, and for what you will be doing (and considering how much will be on board and handled by the CPU in some manner - video mostly, but sound and ether to a minor extent as well), a fan will almost surely be needed. It won't be that loud, though - so don't worry too much about it (aside from electrical noise isolation, of course)...
It is called Freedom VR - two versions are available, one written in Java, and a new Alpha version written in Javascript. The Java version has more features, but the Javascript version is faster, and best of all, GPL'd (and I would bet the features would be dead easy to add):
This system is something the company I currently work for is using for reporting. It consists mainly of three parts:
1) The report server 2) The development IDE (Workbench) 3) The report viewer
The report server is what actually runs the report - it interfaces with the web server you aare using to parse reporting requests, then runs the report, builds a DHTML page with the report result, and sends it back through the web server to be delivered to the client. The reports can be downloaded/printed by the client as PDF files (we are working on a way of making it a single step process - harder than it sounds). In some way it is possible to print from the server to a networked printer (this is an area I am not too familiar with).
The development IDE is where you create the reports - you can use simple wizard functions to create "ad-hoc" type reports relatively quickly, then you can flesh them out further with code (using a customized form of VB script), to allow a ton of functionality, from simple linking/drill down reporting, to custom reports that change depending on what data is wanted (I have created reports using it that look the same, but I didn't want to write two seperate reports, so I made one report that changes based upon a parameter passed into the report from the input form/URL). The IDE is drag-and-drop simplicity, very much like developing under VB (it is like VB for reporting) - drag text controls, size them, set properties, double-click and add custom code, then compile and run!
Finally, the report viewer is an application that allows the running of the reports without using a server - it is basically a desktop based viewer.
The downsides to all of this? Windows-based, and expensive. But overall I think it is a great product - it is almost possible to create a website based on nothing but reports. One could do the same using PERL or Python, or some other language (like Java, even C/C++) - but the ease of creation won't be there, and you won't have the "same-on-paper-as-on-screen" type print capability, either.
The one thing I don't get - why the need to print to paper? Why not just regenerate the report when you need to view it?
Think of it as the difference between being told a close friend of yours was shot and killed, versus being right next to the individual when it happened.
In both scenarios, there is major grief, and shock, but in the latter, there is extreme shock.
I had read about torture and the Inquisitions many times prior to seeing the exhibit, and I knew and comprehended the misery that people suffered. It wasn't until I saw the the actual devices used, in person, that I really understood the level of fear and misery - I knew there was misery, I understood there was misery - but seeing these instruments, knowing that some were actually used, was like a sucker punch in the gut - a new understanding of a level of misery, and cruelty that no mere knowledge could impart.
Torture is still used as a common means to obtain confessions around the world.
One of the more heinous methods of torture used today is water torture:
You are bound on your back, a funnel is put in your mouth, your nose is closed, and water is poured in. You have two choices: drown, or drink the water. Most choose number two. But the water keeps coming, and your belly fills up. When your stomach is full to a certain point, then the real point of the torture begins: You are beat with a paddle, stick or bat on the stomach - repeatedly, to confess! You must confess! Needless to say, you either puke the water back out and have bruises, at which point the torture is repeated, until you confess (then you are likely to be burned at the stake, or something else - or you die from your injuries), or your stomach bursts, and you die an agonizing death of internal bleeding and extreme pain.
This museum viewing (it was a "self-guided" tour) was not something for kids - in fact, one had to be 18 or older to enter, no kids allowed. To illustrate:
One particular device that was shown was used on individuals who were found to homosexual, or had extramarital affairs (both male and female) - a wooden pyramidal shaped wedge was mounted on a tripod like structure, and the accused was suspended above it, and repeatedly dropped on it so that it would pierce their anus or vaginal area, until they confessed, or died. Sometimes weights were applied to the ankles. Any movement of the accused would only increased the pain. It is worth remembering that these sessions were generally public, and drew large crowds, as well.
I am not trying to be disgusting, or get a rise out of people with this comment - I am merely trying to illustrate the impact these exhibits had - how they drove home the point that we are at base uncaring animals - and how throughout history, and even today, we seek to demean others through the most painful and violating ways...
I don't think you did, nor do I think you meant to. I only wrote my comment because torture, in the collective mind of society, has become something that happens "elsewhere, elsewhen, and to somebody else". Off hand comments, like the one you made, further perpetuate this largely unconscious notion.
I had read several books and articles on torture and the Inquisitions, but it wasn't until I stood before the instruments of its application that I fully understood the horror of those times, as well as the horror of torture people have faced in recent times, and alas, today.
On a slight more lighthearted note (just slightly)...
One thing I found odd - was that most of the collection displayed in the museum came from two different individual private collections - in other words, somewhere in the world there are individuals who collect these type items, actively seeking them out (and they must be active, and relatively wealthy as well - I say this because one of the instuments on display was a winch, which had been in use on a farm for centuries, and was identified as part of a torture system by the collector, who then purchased it - furthermore, much of the collection consists of large devices, which requires space to store properly). I found this at once odd (because what kind of person would do such a thing?), disturbing (once again - what would drive a person to collect it), and insightful (because destroying these devices does the world no good - it is only through open display and discussion can we as a society move past the need for harming each other in order to extract so called "truths")...
As an owner of a A1200 (that's Amiga, folks), which had an external powersupply (actually, so did the A500, and A600), they SUCK! Why?
Trying to find a place for it was always a pain, because the cables came out front and rear. It was a nightmare. If it weren't for the location of my desk at the time, it could've been stepped on or tripped over. It was the only thing I hated about my A1200.
As far as noise is concerned, I doubt the fan in the power supply is noisy. I have a test setup right now with an ATX powersupply sitting out openly on my desk, and when it is on, it is all but inaudible. Even in a case, I doubt it it very loud (BTW - why all this talk about loudness? I don't mind the sound of computers - give me the thrum of a computer room A/C and powersupply system for company any day!).
I can only see one way having an external supply would be a good thing, and that would be if it had plugs for everything - no more wall warts, only one AC plug, everything else plugs into the powersupply. I am imagining something like a beefy looking power strip - it could even have a built in UPS for certain components. I would be even willing to bet the monitor could run off of such a system (maybe - I have a portable tube based TV that runs off a 12 volt/1 amp wall wart - of course, it has a small screen - maybe a larger monitor couldn't do it).
I would think you could actually build something like this yourself - getting large amperage bare power supplies isn't a big problem, so just build a case, add some custom cables... The only issues I can see you running into would be possibly noise (electrical) and voltage/current drops/sagging (from excess length of runs for the cables)...
Ok, this time it is lawyers instead of torture. But, I don't see that much difference, really.
trentfoley, I fully support your opinion and ideas on this whole thing - you are most certainly correct that the corps are acting in a similar way as the Catholic Church did so long ago...
But to say a horde of lawyers is anything like torture only belittles the actual hell that torture is.
Want an eye-opening experience?
Go to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park in San Diego, California (USA). They currently have an exhibit (or at least they did when I was there in February) on torture, the Inquisitions, and the machines/devices used.
Oh sure, they have your standard rack and Iron Maiden (actually an 18th century period-repro of the original), guillotene (sp?) and thumbscrews. But there are other devices there - some reproductions, some actual devices that were once used. All with descriptions detailing how they were used, why (ie, the "crimes") and when. The horrors one used to (and in some regions today, still have to) have to endure just for being a woman, or being a "fool" (or a loudmouth, or similar) are sobering, to say the least.
And disgusting.
I entered into that exhibit with curiosity - I exited ashamed of being human.
Considering that the hamburger joint was a good 100 feet away, and that it flame cooks them on an open grill (suffice to say, this wasn't a McDs or Booger Sling), had there been gas fumes that far away, everyone pumping would be dead (lack of oxygen), and the Circle K would have exploded long ago (actually, the burger place I mentioned is called Lucky Boy, near the corner of 16th Street and Osborne in Phoenix, AZ - great burgers, if you don't mind the wait).
Currently, I have two PCs (one running Linux, always on, with a UPS, and the other Windows, hardly ever on nowadays) sitting under a folding table, which sits in the middle of the room. A 19 inch monitor sits on top of the table, with a keyboard in front of it, a printer and scanner on one side, and a hub (which is hooked to a cable modem/router combo in a back room, with another PC on it - but it isn't the problem) on the other. I have a ton of cables everywhere running along the floor on the back - a real rat's nest. There are other cables running to/along the ceiling for power, telephone, networking, and sound, as well. The two machines are connected to the monitor via a cheesy 4 port rotary switch, which drives the monitor and keyboard - I have two different mice, one for each machine.
This is turning out to not be an optimal solution for me.
It is better than what I had, because now it is easy for me to work on the boxes when I need to - go to the front of the desk, pop the cables off, pull the case out, and play - before I had my desk against a wall, and it was hell to reach under, pull the machine out a bit, undo the connections, then to redo the connections, I had to use a flashlight, because there wasn't enought light.
Anyhow, I am looking for something better - and cheap - to handle the switching (I could add two more machines to my setup, but the hell in cabling and such that would mean - shudder), plus, I would like my machines to be farther "away" from the table.
I have thought about a custom rackmount solution (building my own rack, etc), maybe mounting the motherboards in the rack on pull-out shelves, and provide a custom cooling solution, but the switching issue is still there - if I could make the shelves pull-out style, the ease of working on everything would be easier, but I still wouldn't have any way to switch the monitor/keyboard/mouse.
I wonder whether I should go with using USB for the keyboard and mouse (will this work under Linux? I am using SuSE 6.3 right now - with a patched 2.2.14 kernel - and the other machine is Win 98) - or stick with PS/2 keyboard/mouse - and switch all of that - gah!
I am needing a custom switching solution - cheap to boot. There are commercial systems, but the price rises ultra-rapidly once you get past 2-3 pc's...
IIRC, most tall buildings already use stacked elevators - 2 or three cars on top of each other, to carry more passengers (mostly at beginning and end of day rushes)...
Someday I'll show you the gouge in the screwdriver that I accidentally shorted across live AC current.
Yeah, I did that once - but with one of those changable bit screwdrivers - let's just say you can't change the bit anymore (it is now welded).
Actually, the worse electrical "shocking" experience I ever saw happened near a gas station at a Circle K. Across the way, a guy was working on an A/C unit on top of a hamburger joint. Well, he fucked up, and forgot to turn the power off. All I remember was that I was pumping gas, then I heard the unmistakable sound of an electrical arc (like from an arc welder), but MUCH louder. I turned, and saw this guy stumbling back (damn near fell off the roof!) away from a two foot long "jet" of electrical "fire" shooting out the side of this A/C unit. Lasted for about a second, then stopped.
I am not sure I would hire that company for my A/C repair needs...
...the movies of zooming in on cities were pretty cool, the real areas that are interesting (and at the same time, saddening) are the animations showing population growth (and the surrounding effects), large lake "seas" drying up, and the deforestation of the rain forest (that big green thing near the equator that keeps the earth habitable, by being a CO2 sink - of course, I would like to see if other areas have increased in forest growth - not necessarily just in the tropical regions - oh well)...
I've noticed the trend of moving away from wire-wrap in the hobbiest arena, and the move toward SMD. It has been going on for some time, but where it is really evident is in the current scene of hacking NCs.
I run a web site (link off my main site, above) for hacking the Acer NT-150, and recently a few of our members managed to solder an SMD part in order to gain access to a "disabled" serial port (ie, the pads for the chip were there, and the socket holes were there, just those two parts were missing). It had a small number of pins (28?), and when mounting, tended to slide on the surface of the pads, because the top surface was curved. The members mentioned getting the corners tacked down, then going for the rest of the chip.
So far, three members of our group have been successful - one even managed it without any former SMD experience! I haven't got any SMT experience myself, but I am even tempted to try it out (the part is a MAX part, and can be gotten as a free sample).
I like wire wrap, but it is limited to certain designs. However, the majority of hobbiests don't tend to do high speed designs, so it hasn't been much of a problem. Anything higher, and going to a regular PCB, then to SMT designs - has tended to be the route...
1. Walking over and flipping a switch is more intuitive by far, but if you have to have a centralized interface, more than likely you will want to be comfortable while doing the configuration, which means sending the video to a TV, and using a pointer of some sort (remote control style). If you have at least one screen in each major room and bedroom, you would never be far from a place to set things up.
2. Same for the info screens. But this information could be served up on standard LCDs, even made wireless - all the info on most info screens is text only. There is no real need for the fancy graphics (with the exception of a weather map, say)...
3. I would select the audio from the room I was in, rather than setting a room from another location - this would allow me to tune the settings to how I want them while I was in the room. Simple LCDs could work here again. If you had to have the special stuff, once again you would be in a room where there would be a monitor...
4. Place a 6 inch LCD in the wall, in addition to the regular LCD - display the video on that. If you are in a major room, once again, you will have a monitor at your disposal.
One key to all of this would be to have a PC in every major room - which would serve as an "entertainment/productivity" hub for the room. Everything (video/audio/data) would be served up by a massive server - network the house using 100BaseT (or fiber, if you can afford it). Each computer would handle decoding the data streams and piping the output to the connected speakers and monitor for the room. You could build the PCs into the walls, if you wanted (use those all-in-one motherboards, that have audio/video and networking on-board, and build a custom vent system to keep it cool while in the wall).
I made my original suggestion for those on a budget, for those kind of people who don't have money to throw around. If you have the money, what you suggest can easily be done, but I still hold by my original speculation that you would be looking at $1000 or more per panel. If this doesn't faze you (sends me reeling, personally), go for it...
He didn't fight back, he used words that were deemed "violent" by the administration.
Now, imagine if he had "snapped" in another way when he was being picked on - but instead of using words he used his hands, his body:
Wrapped his hands around the kids neck and squeezed for all he was worth - looked around with wild eyes and a frothing mouth - he would of course have to pick the time to "snap", say off school grounds - maybe meet them for a fight or something.
In a fight - there are no rules - use whatever you got. BTW - you have a mouth - one that can rip flesh! Remember that! Gouge eyes - make them remember the beating you give them! Grab a rock or a brick, or a board - dirt, anything!
Is it me, or is there less fights in schools? Are kids afraid of getting shot later - perhaps...
First off, ask yourself - is there really a need for a large, graphical touchscreen for most applications? You probably won't be surfing the web standing in the hallway, and the only reason you would want large graphics would be for artwork or something - and unless you are willing to spend >$1000 per panel, you won't be getting a really large and clear display anyhow.
What to do, what to do...?
Go here - and hook yourself up with some low cost (compared to LCD touch panels, that is) LCD displays and keypads from Matrix Orbital. They are cheap, low power, small, easy to program and communicate with (via a serial cable - which makes the basement server idea an easy possibility - provided you use a multiport board or something), backlit - some have graphics even! You can use everything from a 12 key keypad to a full AT keyboard on select modules.
Some of the smaller ones would easily mount in a 4 way electrical box, making installation a breeze. Run some DC power and a serial cable (using CAT3 or something), and you're set.
Most applications don't need more than the 12 key (heck, many need less) - think temperature control, stereo control, light control - simple apps that could be automated. With the larger text LCDs and mini AT keyboards, your could do simple email terminals, kitchen recipe terminals, perhaps even a funky Lynx web browser!
For anything else (security cams, quick web browsing), run that data to custom entertainment PCs next to the TV.
I currently live in what my GF and I affectionately call the "70's Mystery Mansion" - think of the ugliest damn block constructed home you can think of, add avocado and rust colored carpet, popcorn ceilings (with sparkles!), and dark walnut paneling - and there ya go!
Anyhow, when we moved in (it is a rental), I decided to get @Home service (we are too far out for good DSL), and we needed to wire up a LAN so both my machines and my GF's machine could share the modem.
We now have 3 machines on the network, and can actually put more on - I use a FreeSco box for NAT/routing - works pretty sweet.
Anyhow, one thing I did in order to wire the house, since I didn't want to crawl in the attic (think a basketball court size attic, with blown in insulation throughout, and you will understand why I don't like going up there) to run cables, was to run the CAT5 along the molding the edged the paneling along the ceiling. Where I had to traverse rooms, I simply drilled through the wall.
If you pull the molding back, you will probably find you have a bit of room for one or two runs of CAT5 or CAT3 (most likely only one). Simply place the wire in the crevice, and attach the molding back, using care not to nail through the wire (baaad).
If you use CAT3 instead of CAT5 it will be a bit cheaper, plus, because of the tight bends anyhow, you probably won't be able to run over 10 MB (10BaseT). For cable modem sharing, this isn't a problem. However, if you will be doing a lot of internal network sharing or such, go another route. I must say this method has worked great for me, and the CAT5 I did use came from a leftover pull from my employer, that they pulled from the ceiling...
I have one those as well - I picked mine up at a "fill this bag for a dollar" yard sale - managed to get both it and an 80's cd player in the bag. The cd player didn't work - but the Video Music did. One of the knobs was cracked on the part that grabs the shaft of one of the potentiometers, but that was easily fixed with superglue.
I like to hope I will be if the time comes. To do anything less is to declare you are less than human, and do not deserve the fundamental rights to privacy of which that entails. To bow down is to be in bondage - an animal.
That's an awful lot of punishment to endure to make a point. Does anyone make moral stands like this anymore, in the face of handcuffs, jailtime, etc?
Hardly anyone does - I would do it to prove a point, if not to the few around me - at least to myself, to know I won't bow down to a faceless, corrupt system, no matter the consequences.
In the face of a prejudiced media and society? You're just going to be branded as an unruly wacko.
Like I noted in my post, I relise that - and that alone frightens me...
It occurs to me we have the oppression we do because nothing like this ever happens.
It so rarely happens - when it does, it can sometimes be powerful - witness what happened in the wake of Rosa Parks. We just need more people to stand up for their beliefs.
OK, well points 1 and 3 are well taken, but in a closed system point 2 is kinda moot - that is, there won't be a problem if the system is completely closed, as there won't be any open flame, and if the oil gets beyond its smoking point, you have bigger problems with the system.
Still, points 1 and 3 kill the idea completely anyhow (though I wonder how fast a solvent it is - if it is a good solvent, why did people immerse thier motherboards in it - ignorance?). So, the idea would be to get a fluid with as high a specific heat as water, non-flammable, non-conductive, and doesn't act as a solvent. Fluorocarbons are an answer, but most aren't very environmentally friendly, and none are very cheap. I am thinking something like Fluronert might work - but all of that gets into a realm of of chemical workings that I don't understand.
Distilled/de-ionized water could be used instead - less conductive, anyhow...
Slashdot Mirror
While the methods/ideas NASA is discussing might be different, the idea of dynamically bending a wing in flight is nothing new. Aside from the Wright brothers original wing warping systems to effect control (prior to the idea of control "surfaces"), many times dynamic bending has been used to cut down resonant occillation in the wing structure of certain larger planes (like the Starlifter). These systems use hydraulics and cable systems, along with computer controls, to reduce the occillation of the wings while in flight, where the wings would "flap" up and down, producing large stresses on the wing...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I wonder if this has ever been attempted:
I have heard that a ship can be sunk if an underwater eruption causes enough bubbles to be formed around the ship to lower the density of the water, thus causing the ship to sink because it displaces more of the less dense medium.
Has such a weapon ever been devised or built? Just imagine, a "bomb" that goes off under a ship, releases a huge gas "bubble", which the hull "falls" into, to be swallowed instantly under the ocean, before the crew can even react...
Possible?
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Although you may have to add extra chip(s) - polish up those SMT soldering skillz...
On a project I help out with, hacking the Acer NT-150 (see above link), on the majority of our boxes we had what appeared to be pads for a serial port, and we could plainly see empty pads for the serial driver IC - problem was we didn't know what IC.
A few people started doing tracing and such, and thought it was a Maxim part - since they did the free-sample thing on the part, one individual who had experience with SMT rework got what he thought was the right part, soldered it in - and it didn't work.
Soon thereafter another individual posted on our mailing list that he thought he had an NT-150, and had hooked up a serial mouse and a NIC - which we thought was absurd, since the thing didn't have a serial port that we knew of - he posted pictures of his box (a USWest Webvision box or something), and sure enough, he had a serial port. We had him post the part number for the driver IC, and it was a Maxim part, but it wasn't the one our other guy used. He ordered that part - _unsoldered_ the wrong one, and re-soldered the right one in, and "voila", free serial port to add a mouse, or anything else.
In the course of doing that, we have a few tutorials/notes on doing SMT rework with a low-wattage (15 watt) soldering iron, and plenty of patience, if you need to do such things.
Follow the traces back from where the connector should go - see if there are any breaks where resistors, caps, transistors and such might go. Sometimes they mount these, but not the connector (in our case, we had pull-up resistors already mounted next to the serial driver pads, just no chip). Other times, they don't. The other thing to keep in mind is whether the board is dual trace PCB, or multi-layer - if it is multi-layer, and the connector is soldered through the hole, it might actually connect with a middle layer as well (a layer you can't see). I don't know how you would connect with such a middle layer, except maybe to tin the connector, insert, and solder, and the reheat would melt it.
The key to most homebrew SMT rework is patience, and a steady hand (very steady). There is also a certain type solder you need to use, not 60/40 - it is a special solder meant for SMT work, and is a bit more expensive than the regular stuff. Also, apply heat very sparingly, to avoid lifting pads (which is VERY easy to do in SMT rework, from what I understand). If you are really intent on attempting this, I would go out and get some junk boards (drive controller boards from old hard drives are good for practice, to get a feel for working in a tight area, old ethernet cards is you want to practice for more space, and old sound cards sometimes have lower pin count SMT ICs to practice on) and practice removing and replacing components first, to get the hang of it.
Good luck!
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I have been involved in the hacking of the Acer NT-150 set-top box for quite a few months now (check out the link above). The box is quite low power (AMD 586/133), and will just barely play MP3s, once a hard drive is connected.
/. had an article about homebrewing a 1U web server - it used an AMD 586/133 as well, but I am sure something else could be used - I doubt you will be able to get away with using no fan on the CPU, unless you use a custom xtra large heat sink - most CPUs don't run that cool, and for what you will be doing (and considering how much will be on board and handled by the CPU in some manner - video mostly, but sound and ether to a minor extent as well), a fan will almost surely be needed. It won't be that loud, though - so don't worry too much about it (aside from electrical noise isolation, of course)...
One thing that popped up in our discussions about how we could play MP3s, and still have power to do other things (or at least play MP3s at a higher quality) was the concept of using the NT-150 as a client, and streaming the MP3s off a server, over the network interface, then piping the resulting audio to the sound card.
None of us have done this yet, but we did manage to find a few GPL'd bits of code that supposedly do it (links are on the site). Basically, you have a back room server doing all the decoding, and the client merely handles the redirect to the audio device, which uses very little processing power. I would imagine that a similar method could be used for other streams as well (though it would probably require a much better CPU than what is in the NT-150).
You might also look into this company...
They make a machine that has OK specs, and can probably do what you need it to do, is pretty cheap, and looks to be PC standard based. Not sure if the low price ($199) will get you a machine with normal video out, or only VGA, and I don't know whether you have to have the internet service they provide or not to get the deal - but might be worth looking into.
One other thing - a few months back
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
It is called Freedom VR - two versions are available, one written in Java, and a new Alpha version written in Javascript. The Java version has more features, but the Javascript version is faster, and best of all, GPL'd (and I would bet the features would be dead easy to add):
Freedom VR
On a similar vein as what you have already tried, check out the Badtech Office Tour...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
There are many solutions out there to do web based reporting - from homebrew to megabuck applications. Here is one of latter:
Actuate's e.Reporting Suite
This system is something the company I currently work for is using for reporting. It consists mainly of three parts:
1) The report server
2) The development IDE (Workbench)
3) The report viewer
The report server is what actually runs the report - it interfaces with the web server you aare using to parse reporting requests, then runs the report, builds a DHTML page with the report result, and sends it back through the web server to be delivered to the client. The reports can be downloaded/printed by the client as PDF files (we are working on a way of making it a single step process - harder than it sounds). In some way it is possible to print from the server to a networked printer (this is an area I am not too familiar with).
The development IDE is where you create the reports - you can use simple wizard functions to create "ad-hoc" type reports relatively quickly, then you can flesh them out further with code (using a customized form of VB script), to allow a ton of functionality, from simple linking/drill down reporting, to custom reports that change depending on what data is wanted (I have created reports using it that look the same, but I didn't want to write two seperate reports, so I made one report that changes based upon a parameter passed into the report from the input form/URL). The IDE is drag-and-drop simplicity, very much like developing under VB (it is like VB for reporting) - drag text controls, size them, set properties, double-click and add custom code, then compile and run!
Finally, the report viewer is an application that allows the running of the reports without using a server - it is basically a desktop based viewer.
The downsides to all of this? Windows-based, and expensive. But overall I think it is a great product - it is almost possible to create a website based on nothing but reports. One could do the same using PERL or Python, or some other language (like Java, even C/C++) - but the ease of creation won't be there, and you won't have the "same-on-paper-as-on-screen" type print capability, either.
The one thing I don't get - why the need to print to paper? Why not just regenerate the report when you need to view it?
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Think of it as the difference between being told a close friend of yours was shot and killed, versus being right next to the individual when it happened.
In both scenarios, there is major grief, and shock, but in the latter, there is extreme shock.
I had read about torture and the Inquisitions many times prior to seeing the exhibit, and I knew and comprehended the misery that people suffered. It wasn't until I saw the the actual devices used, in person, that I really understood the level of fear and misery - I knew there was misery, I understood there was misery - but seeing these instruments, knowing that some were actually used, was like a sucker punch in the gut - a new understanding of a level of misery, and cruelty that no mere knowledge could impart.
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Torture is still used as a common means to obtain confessions around the world.
One of the more heinous methods of torture used today is water torture:
You are bound on your back, a funnel is put in your mouth, your nose is closed, and water is poured in. You have two choices: drown, or drink the water. Most choose number two. But the water keeps coming, and your belly fills up. When your stomach is full to a certain point, then the real point of the torture begins: You are beat with a paddle, stick or bat on the stomach - repeatedly, to confess! You must confess! Needless to say, you either puke the water back out and have bruises, at which point the torture is repeated, until you confess (then you are likely to be burned at the stake, or something else - or you die from your injuries), or your stomach bursts, and you die an agonizing death of internal bleeding and extreme pain.
This museum viewing (it was a "self-guided" tour) was not something for kids - in fact, one had to be 18 or older to enter, no kids allowed. To illustrate:
One particular device that was shown was used on individuals who were found to homosexual, or had extramarital affairs (both male and female) - a wooden pyramidal shaped wedge was mounted on a tripod like structure, and the accused was suspended above it, and repeatedly dropped on it so that it would pierce their anus or vaginal area, until they confessed, or died. Sometimes weights were applied to the ankles. Any movement of the accused would only increased the pain. It is worth remembering that these sessions were generally public, and drew large crowds, as well.
I am not trying to be disgusting, or get a rise out of people with this comment - I am merely trying to illustrate the impact these exhibits had - how they drove home the point that we are at base uncaring animals - and how throughout history, and even today, we seek to demean others through the most painful and violating ways...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I don't think you did, nor do I think you meant to. I only wrote my comment because torture, in the collective mind of society, has become something that happens "elsewhere, elsewhen, and to somebody else". Off hand comments, like the one you made, further perpetuate this largely unconscious notion.
I had read several books and articles on torture and the Inquisitions, but it wasn't until I stood before the instruments of its application that I fully understood the horror of those times, as well as the horror of torture people have faced in recent times, and alas, today.
On a slight more lighthearted note (just slightly)...
One thing I found odd - was that most of the collection displayed in the museum came from two different individual private collections - in other words, somewhere in the world there are individuals who collect these type items, actively seeking them out (and they must be active, and relatively wealthy as well - I say this because one of the instuments on display was a winch, which had been in use on a farm for centuries, and was identified as part of a torture system by the collector, who then purchased it - furthermore, much of the collection consists of large devices, which requires space to store properly). I found this at once odd (because what kind of person would do such a thing?), disturbing (once again - what would drive a person to collect it), and insightful (because destroying these devices does the world no good - it is only through open display and discussion can we as a society move past the need for harming each other in order to extract so called "truths")...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
As an owner of a A1200 (that's Amiga, folks), which had an external powersupply (actually, so did the A500, and A600), they SUCK! Why?
Trying to find a place for it was always a pain, because the cables came out front and rear. It was a nightmare. If it weren't for the location of my desk at the time, it could've been stepped on or tripped over. It was the only thing I hated about my A1200.
As far as noise is concerned, I doubt the fan in the power supply is noisy. I have a test setup right now with an ATX powersupply sitting out openly on my desk, and when it is on, it is all but inaudible. Even in a case, I doubt it it very loud (BTW - why all this talk about loudness? I don't mind the sound of computers - give me the thrum of a computer room A/C and powersupply system for company any day!).
I can only see one way having an external supply would be a good thing, and that would be if it had plugs for everything - no more wall warts, only one AC plug, everything else plugs into the powersupply. I am imagining something like a beefy looking power strip - it could even have a built in UPS for certain components. I would be even willing to bet the monitor could run off of such a system (maybe - I have a portable tube based TV that runs off a 12 volt/1 amp wall wart - of course, it has a small screen - maybe a larger monitor couldn't do it).
I would think you could actually build something like this yourself - getting large amperage bare power supplies isn't a big problem, so just build a case, add some custom cables... The only issues I can see you running into would be possibly noise (electrical) and voltage/current drops/sagging (from excess length of runs for the cables)...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Ok, this time it is lawyers instead of torture. But, I don't see that much difference, really.
trentfoley, I fully support your opinion and ideas on this whole thing - you are most certainly correct that the corps are acting in a similar way as the Catholic Church did so long ago...
But to say a horde of lawyers is anything like torture only belittles the actual hell that torture is.
Want an eye-opening experience?
Go to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park in San Diego, California (USA). They currently have an exhibit (or at least they did when I was there in February) on torture, the Inquisitions, and the machines/devices used.
Oh sure, they have your standard rack and Iron Maiden (actually an 18th century period-repro of the original), guillotene (sp?) and thumbscrews. But there are other devices there - some reproductions, some actual devices that were once used. All with descriptions detailing how they were used, why (ie, the "crimes") and when. The horrors one used to (and in some regions today, still have to) have to endure just for being a woman, or being a "fool" (or a loudmouth, or similar) are sobering, to say the least.
And disgusting.
I entered into that exhibit with curiosity - I exited ashamed of being human.
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Considering that the hamburger joint was a good 100 feet away, and that it flame cooks them on an open grill (suffice to say, this wasn't a McDs or Booger Sling), had there been gas fumes that far away, everyone pumping would be dead (lack of oxygen), and the Circle K would have exploded long ago (actually, the burger place I mentioned is called Lucky Boy, near the corner of 16th Street and Osborne in Phoenix, AZ - great burgers, if you don't mind the wait).
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Let me first describe my computing area:
Currently, I have two PCs (one running Linux, always on, with a UPS, and the other Windows, hardly ever on nowadays) sitting under a folding table, which sits in the middle of the room. A 19 inch monitor sits on top of the table, with a keyboard in front of it, a printer and scanner on one side, and a hub (which is hooked to a cable modem/router combo in a back room, with another PC on it - but it isn't the problem) on the other. I have a ton of cables everywhere running along the floor on the back - a real rat's nest. There are other cables running to/along the ceiling for power, telephone, networking, and sound, as well. The two machines are connected to the monitor via a cheesy 4 port rotary switch, which drives the monitor and keyboard - I have two different mice, one for each machine.
This is turning out to not be an optimal solution for me.
It is better than what I had, because now it is easy for me to work on the boxes when I need to - go to the front of the desk, pop the cables off, pull the case out, and play - before I had my desk against a wall, and it was hell to reach under, pull the machine out a bit, undo the connections, then to redo the connections, I had to use a flashlight, because there wasn't enought light.
Anyhow, I am looking for something better - and cheap - to handle the switching (I could add two more machines to my setup, but the hell in cabling and such that would mean - shudder), plus, I would like my machines to be farther "away" from the table.
I have thought about a custom rackmount solution (building my own rack, etc), maybe mounting the motherboards in the rack on pull-out shelves, and provide a custom cooling solution, but the switching issue is still there - if I could make the shelves pull-out style, the ease of working on everything would be easier, but I still wouldn't have any way to switch the monitor/keyboard/mouse.
I wonder whether I should go with using USB for the keyboard and mouse (will this work under Linux? I am using SuSE 6.3 right now - with a patched 2.2.14 kernel - and the other machine is Win 98) - or stick with PS/2 keyboard/mouse - and switch all of that - gah!
I am needing a custom switching solution - cheap to boot. There are commercial systems, but the price rises ultra-rapidly once you get past 2-3 pc's...
Has anybody had and tackled this problem before?
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
IIRC, most tall buildings already use stacked elevators - 2 or three cars on top of each other, to carry more passengers (mostly at beginning and end of day rushes)...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Someday I'll show you the gouge in the screwdriver that I accidentally shorted across live AC current.
Yeah, I did that once - but with one of those changable bit screwdrivers - let's just say you can't change the bit anymore (it is now welded).
Actually, the worse electrical "shocking" experience I ever saw happened near a gas station at a Circle K. Across the way, a guy was working on an A/C unit on top of a hamburger joint. Well, he fucked up, and forgot to turn the power off. All I remember was that I was pumping gas, then I heard the unmistakable sound of an electrical arc (like from an arc welder), but MUCH louder. I turned, and saw this guy stumbling back (damn near fell off the roof!) away from a two foot long "jet" of electrical "fire" shooting out the side of this A/C unit. Lasted for about a second, then stopped.
I am not sure I would hire that company for my A/C repair needs...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
...the movies of zooming in on cities were pretty cool, the real areas that are interesting (and at the same time, saddening) are the animations showing population growth (and the surrounding effects), large lake "seas" drying up, and the deforestation of the rain forest (that big green thing near the equator that keeps the earth habitable, by being a CO2 sink - of course, I would like to see if other areas have increased in forest growth - not necessarily just in the tropical regions - oh well)...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I've noticed the trend of moving away from wire-wrap in the hobbiest arena, and the move toward SMD. It has been going on for some time, but where it is really evident is in the current scene of hacking NCs.
I run a web site (link off my main site, above) for hacking the Acer NT-150, and recently a few of our members managed to solder an SMD part in order to gain access to a "disabled" serial port (ie, the pads for the chip were there, and the socket holes were there, just those two parts were missing). It had a small number of pins (28?), and when mounting, tended to slide on the surface of the pads, because the top surface was curved. The members mentioned getting the corners tacked down, then going for the rest of the chip.
So far, three members of our group have been successful - one even managed it without any former SMD experience! I haven't got any SMT experience myself, but I am even tempted to try it out (the part is a MAX part, and can be gotten as a free sample).
I like wire wrap, but it is limited to certain designs. However, the majority of hobbiests don't tend to do high speed designs, so it hasn't been much of a problem. Anything higher, and going to a regular PCB, then to SMT designs - has tended to be the route...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
1. Walking over and flipping a switch is more intuitive by far, but if you have to have a centralized interface, more than likely you will want to be comfortable while doing the configuration, which means sending the video to a TV, and using a pointer of some sort (remote control style). If you have at least one screen in each major room and bedroom, you would never be far from a place to set things up.
2. Same for the info screens. But this information could be served up on standard LCDs, even made wireless - all the info on most info screens is text only. There is no real need for the fancy graphics (with the exception of a weather map, say)...
3. I would select the audio from the room I was in, rather than setting a room from another location - this would allow me to tune the settings to how I want them while I was in the room. Simple LCDs could work here again. If you had to have the special stuff, once again you would be in a room where there would be a monitor...
4. Place a 6 inch LCD in the wall, in addition to the regular LCD - display the video on that. If you are in a major room, once again, you will have a monitor at your disposal.
One key to all of this would be to have a PC in every major room - which would serve as an "entertainment/productivity" hub for the room. Everything (video/audio/data) would be served up by a massive server - network the house using 100BaseT (or fiber, if you can afford it). Each computer would handle decoding the data streams and piping the output to the connected speakers and monitor for the room. You could build the PCs into the walls, if you wanted (use those all-in-one motherboards, that have audio/video and networking on-board, and build a custom vent system to keep it cool while in the wall).
I made my original suggestion for those on a budget, for those kind of people who don't have money to throw around. If you have the money, what you suggest can easily be done, but I still hold by my original speculation that you would be looking at $1000 or more per panel. If this doesn't faze you (sends me reeling, personally), go for it...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
And while I admit I may have missed it somewhere in there - I don't think I saw a real concern we should be having right now regarding any new bus...
Think content-control. DMCA. MPAA. Nightmare city.
Think encryption throughout the bus, licences for hardware, and NOTHING for GPL open source-based systems.
As been stated by others, there is no real need for a new bus - unless you start thinking about copy prote... oops, I mean CONTENT CONTROL...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
He didn't fight back, he used words that were deemed "violent" by the administration.
Now, imagine if he had "snapped" in another way when he was being picked on - but instead of using words he used his hands, his body:
Wrapped his hands around the kids neck and squeezed for all he was worth - looked around with wild eyes and a frothing mouth - he would of course have to pick the time to "snap", say off school grounds - maybe meet them for a fight or something.
In a fight - there are no rules - use whatever you got. BTW - you have a mouth - one that can rip flesh! Remember that! Gouge eyes - make them remember the beating you give them! Grab a rock or a brick, or a board - dirt, anything!
Is it me, or is there less fights in schools? Are kids afraid of getting shot later - perhaps...
Alright - I will stop rambling now...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
First off, ask yourself - is there really a need for a large, graphical touchscreen for most applications? You probably won't be surfing the web standing in the hallway, and the only reason you would want large graphics would be for artwork or something - and unless you are willing to spend >$1000 per panel, you won't be getting a really large and clear display anyhow.
What to do, what to do...?
Go here - and hook yourself up with some low cost (compared to LCD touch panels, that is) LCD displays and keypads from Matrix Orbital. They are cheap, low power, small, easy to program and communicate with (via a serial cable - which makes the basement server idea an easy possibility - provided you use a multiport board or something), backlit - some have graphics even! You can use everything from a 12 key keypad to a full AT keyboard on select modules.
Some of the smaller ones would easily mount in a 4 way electrical box, making installation a breeze. Run some DC power and a serial cable (using CAT3 or something), and you're set.
Most applications don't need more than the 12 key (heck, many need less) - think temperature control, stereo control, light control - simple apps that could be automated. With the larger text LCDs and mini AT keyboards, your could do simple email terminals, kitchen recipe terminals, perhaps even a funky Lynx web browser!
For anything else (security cams, quick web browsing), run that data to custom entertainment PCs next to the TV.
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I currently live in what my GF and I affectionately call the "70's Mystery Mansion" - think of the ugliest damn block constructed home you can think of, add avocado and rust colored carpet, popcorn ceilings (with sparkles!), and dark walnut paneling - and there ya go!
Anyhow, when we moved in (it is a rental), I decided to get @Home service (we are too far out for good DSL), and we needed to wire up a LAN so both my machines and my GF's machine could share the modem.
We now have 3 machines on the network, and can actually put more on - I use a FreeSco box for NAT/routing - works pretty sweet.
Anyhow, one thing I did in order to wire the house, since I didn't want to crawl in the attic (think a basketball court size attic, with blown in insulation throughout, and you will understand why I don't like going up there) to run cables, was to run the CAT5 along the molding the edged the paneling along the ceiling. Where I had to traverse rooms, I simply drilled through the wall.
If you pull the molding back, you will probably find you have a bit of room for one or two runs of CAT5 or CAT3 (most likely only one). Simply place the wire in the crevice, and attach the molding back, using care not to nail through the wire (baaad).
If you use CAT3 instead of CAT5 it will be a bit cheaper, plus, because of the tight bends anyhow, you probably won't be able to run over 10 MB (10BaseT). For cable modem sharing, this isn't a problem. However, if you will be doing a lot of internal network sharing or such, go another route. I must say this method has worked great for me, and the CAT5 I did use came from a leftover pull from my employer, that they pulled from the ceiling...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I have one those as well - I picked mine up at a "fill this bag for a dollar" yard sale - managed to get both it and an 80's cd player in the bag. The cd player didn't work - but the Video Music did. One of the knobs was cracked on the part that grabs the shaft of one of the potentiometers, but that was easily fixed with superglue.
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
I like to hope I will be if the time comes. To do anything less is to declare you are less than human, and do not deserve the fundamental rights to privacy of which that entails. To bow down is to be in bondage - an animal.
That's an awful lot of punishment to endure to make a point. Does anyone make moral stands like this anymore, in the face of handcuffs, jailtime, etc?
Hardly anyone does - I would do it to prove a point, if not to the few around me - at least to myself, to know I won't bow down to a faceless, corrupt system, no matter the consequences.
In the face of a prejudiced media and society? You're just going to be branded as an unruly wacko.
Like I noted in my post, I relise that - and that alone frightens me...
It occurs to me we have the oppression we do because nothing like this ever happens.
It so rarely happens - when it does, it can sometimes be powerful - witness what happened in the wake of Rosa Parks. We just need more people to stand up for their beliefs.
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
OK, well points 1 and 3 are well taken, but in a closed system point 2 is kinda moot - that is, there won't be a problem if the system is completely closed, as there won't be any open flame, and if the oil gets beyond its smoking point, you have bigger problems with the system.
Still, points 1 and 3 kill the idea completely anyhow (though I wonder how fast a solvent it is - if it is a good solvent, why did people immerse thier motherboards in it - ignorance?). So, the idea would be to get a fluid with as high a specific heat as water, non-flammable, non-conductive, and doesn't act as a solvent. Fluorocarbons are an answer, but most aren't very environmentally friendly, and none are very cheap. I am thinking something like Fluronert might work - but all of that gets into a realm of of chemical workings that I don't understand.
Distilled/de-ionized water could be used instead - less conductive, anyhow...
Worldcom - Generation Duh!