It sure would be nice if people who start these
projects would shoot a message off to the
comp.robotics.misc news group to try and minimize
overlap. The current state of affairs is
that there are plenty of projects and very
little of the hardware from the projects
is interoperable.
-Wayne
Disclaimer: The last URL is mine and I started
it back in 1998.
Actually, the interface is 0-5 volt logic levels, using 2400 baud 8N1 (1 start bit, 8 data bits, no parity bit and 1 stop bit.) It is really quite easy to talk to a RoboBrick.
The whole concept of distribution installation
is getting a little frayed around the edges.
Installing a distribution made sense when
everybody had CD drives and few people broadband
connections. It is making less sense now.
It will make even less sense 5 years from now.
Why not do something new for a change?
How about a distribution that is only
available on the net? How about using a P2P
caching file system?
Think in terms of something that is a cross
between NFS (20 years old) and BitTorrent.
For example, when I access:
/global/redhat.com/rh10.2/usr/bin/{some_program}
it goes off and downloads and locally caches
the binary. If it needs any librarys, it
downloads and caches them as well. The bottom
line is that the user only downloads those
files that they actually use and they do not
have to decide beforehand what they want.
Just use it! If it isn't cached on your disk,
the system fetches it. If you want to upgrade,
just change your path from:
/global/redhat.com/rh10.2/usr/bin
to:
/global/redhat.com/rh11.0/usr/bin
No install program needed, just start using
the new bits. When a cached file hasn't been
used in a year or so, it just gets deleted by
the underlying system.
Please note, the Open Source community does
not have to figure out how to charge for
files downloaded, unlike some big commercial
software companies out there. Thus, the
Open Source community can make it easier
to install and upgrade than the commercial
counterparts.
Yes, I'm glossing over a bunch of very
important issues (security, multiple platforms,
configuration files, load distribution, etc.),
but it is time for people to start thinking
about doing things in new ways rather than
the way we were doing them for the past 10-30
years. I'm suggesting that we actually innovate
for a change.
With the proliferation of journals and
conferences, it can be real difficult to
obtain a copy of all of the relevant papers.
Journals are expensive and even a well endowed
university libraries is unlikely to have
funds for all of them. Conference proceedings
are even harder to track down.
Frankly, there needs to be a high level change
in behavior in the academic community. They
need to reaffirm their commitment to the wide
spread dispersal of knowledge. With the advent
of the Internet, the academic community needs to
broadly embrace electronic distribution of
research documents instead of paper only.
Alas, most URL's go stale in 6-9 months, so
the maintanence of electronically distributed
papers needs to be worked.
I would recommend two policy changes:
The university/college community needs
to create the concept of an archival
quality repostitory for electronic
documents. Documents put into such
a repository would be freely (as in
beer) available `for eternity'. A URL
into an archival quality repository
would *not* break. Part of the mission
of such a repository would be dealing
with document format evolution.
For tenure considerations, the
college/university administration needs
to make a statement that they will only
consider electronic documents that are
stored in archival quality repositories
the tenure track consideration.
Yes, the journal and proceeding editors
will howl in anguish, but eventually some
sort of compromise will be reached.
The Art of Illusion 3D modeller is written in
Java and runs on the Linux, Mac, and Windows
platforms. (It does not currently use the
Java3D interface, because that has not yet
been licenced for the Mac platform.) Here's
a URL:
While it is interesting to think about getting
software patents thrown out as being
unconstitutional, the reality is that there
are large vested interests that want to
keep them.
The more important issue is that people who
contribute to open source software do not
have an umbrella corporation to protect their
assets in the event of a patent infringement
conflict. Thus, when an individual OSS
contributor gets a "cease and desist" letter
for patent infringement, there is real
motivation for the indiviual contributor
to come to terms.
One possibility is to create a corporation in a
country outside the United States that "owns"
open source softare. The primary purpose such
an OSS corporation is to shield the assets of
individual OSS contributors. If this OSS
corporation is incorporated in a country that
does not support software patents, a patent
infringement suit gets pretty interesting.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's one:
Here's another (warning only 128 kbps uplink):
It sure would be nice if people who start these projects would shoot a message off to the comp.robotics.misc news group to try and minimize overlap. The current state of affairs is that there are plenty of projects and very little of the hardware from the projects is interoperable.
-Wayne
Disclaimer: The last URL is mine and I started it back in 1998.
Actually, the interface is 0-5 volt logic
levels, using 2400 baud 8N1 (1 start bit,
8 data bits, no parity bit and 1 stop bit.)
It is really quite easy to talk to a RoboBrick.
-Wayne
The whole concept of distribution installation is getting a little frayed around the edges. Installing a distribution made sense when everybody had CD drives and few people broadband connections. It is making less sense now. It will make even less sense 5 years from now. Why not do something new for a change? How about a distribution that is only available on the net? How about using a P2P caching file system?
Think in terms of something that is a cross between NFS (20 years old) and BitTorrent. For example, when I access:
it goes off and downloads and locally caches the binary. If it needs any librarys, it downloads and caches them as well. The bottom line is that the user only downloads those files that they actually use and they do not have to decide beforehand what they want. Just use it! If it isn't cached on your disk, the system fetches it. If you want to upgrade, just change your path from: to:No install program needed, just start using the new bits. When a cached file hasn't been used in a year or so, it just gets deleted by the underlying system.
Please note, the Open Source community does not have to figure out how to charge for files downloaded, unlike some big commercial software companies out there. Thus, the Open Source community can make it easier to install and upgrade than the commercial counterparts.
Yes, I'm glossing over a bunch of very important issues (security, multiple platforms, configuration files, load distribution, etc.), but it is time for people to start thinking about doing things in new ways rather than the way we were doing them for the past 10-30 years. I'm suggesting that we actually innovate for a change.
-WayneWith the proliferation of journals and conferences, it can be real difficult to obtain a copy of all of the relevant papers. Journals are expensive and even a well endowed university libraries is unlikely to have funds for all of them. Conference proceedings are even harder to track down.
Frankly, there needs to be a high level change in behavior in the academic community. They need to reaffirm their commitment to the wide spread dispersal of knowledge. With the advent of the Internet, the academic community needs to broadly embrace electronic distribution of research documents instead of paper only. Alas, most URL's go stale in 6-9 months, so the maintanence of electronically distributed papers needs to be worked.
I would recommend two policy changes:
My $.02,
-Wayne
The Art of Illusion 3D modeller is written in Java and runs on the Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms. (It does not currently use the Java3D interface, because that has not yet been licenced for the Mac platform.) Here's a URL:
http://www.artofillusion.org/It is under a GPL license and seems to be pretty easy to use (i.e. not nearly as confusing as Blender is to initial users.)
Your milage may vary.
-Wayne
While it is interesting to think about getting software patents thrown out as being unconstitutional, the reality is that there are large vested interests that want to keep them.
The more important issue is that people who contribute to open source software do not have an umbrella corporation to protect their assets in the event of a patent infringement conflict. Thus, when an individual OSS contributor gets a "cease and desist" letter for patent infringement, there is real motivation for the indiviual contributor to come to terms.
One possibility is to create a corporation in a country outside the United States that "owns" open source softare. The primary purpose such an OSS corporation is to shield the assets of individual OSS contributors. If this OSS corporation is incorporated in a country that does not support software patents, a patent infringement suit gets pretty interesting.