Two of the reasons wewrw already mentioned:
1 - I've got IDE interface "for free" in from the processor chip, just needed connector.
2 - CF cards are higher capacity.
3 - I can download CF and ATA specs from the Internet, while SD (when I checked it) was much more difficult to get.
In the article I was only describing CF working in "true IDE" mode, inside the cameras thy usually do not use it, so do not care much about the problem I've got. But it is important if you try to connect the camera with a simple adapter instead of the HDD
It seems that Google is doing a good job blurring the faces in France - but that spoils imagery.
Maybe, a person should have a right to "immortalize" herself by opting in (and proving it was actually him/her)?
That probably will not work either - too few people will ether bother to opt in.
Maybe - no need to prove identity? Just auction those blurred persons, so you can buy yourself a place in different nice places all over the world by just Photoshoping your photo on top of somebody's body? Save kerosene and reduce emissions?
You are right - you can not copyright schematics - redraw it preserving the netlist and it will not be covered by the original copyright.
But we are comfortable with the GPL for our products (http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/cameras) - hardware board is more dead than alive if you take away the FPGA code (GPL-ed) and the software (GPL-ed, based on GNU/Linux). Our hardware evolved in parallel with the code that was ported/modified to run on the newer boards.
So theoretically - yes, it is possible to make a copy of the hardware itself not being bound by the GPL terms, but the result will not be really useful. Building a non-free derivative you will not be able to use our FPGA (http://wiki.elphel.com/index.php?title=FAQ) code - it is all compiled at once (you may say "statically linked") so it is not possible to add proprietary module to the existent code.
And working with the free hardware for more than 6 years I can confirm that in this area demand is much higher than the offer, that keeps us in business.
When I was younger (it was in the USSR) we did it differently. Bought nice vanilla ice cream (0.48 rubles a brick), melted it, mixed with different things like chocolate, nuts, bananas, berries. Then used a styrofoam box, put a plastic film inside and poured a layer of about 1 cm deep. Then - some liquid nitrogen on top, another layer - more liquid nitrogen.
It was not ready for consumption immediately as some chunks were really cold, so it went into a fridge for an hour or two. After that - we had wonderful ice cream cake for a party, perfectly smooth - fast freezing prevented ice crystal growth, no mechanical mixing was needed.
> Free and open source software are great. I can get the source code, study it, modify it, and recompile and install it if I like. Cool.
Yes, it is somewhat more difficult to do that withe the open hardware, but not impossible.
First of all - you definitely can study the open design, those who are developing hardware know that working designs can help them to create their own, it saves their time. Then - FPGA code is still considered as "hardware" and it really has hardware performance. With the open FPGA code you can do exactly like you wrote: study-modify-recompile-install (and then run, of course). Yes, that requires you to have the same hardware (like you have to have a computer to run your code).
Of course, I understand - you already have a computer but not the open hardware design and you need to invest money to get it - just downloading the code is not enough to copy the hardware even if you build it yourself. Solution that I see is to make open hardware that is already competitive with the out of the box functionality, not as a "development board" or "evaluation kit" that you need to invest a lot of your time to make it useful. High-end hackable device is more attractive. You all know of many hacks applied to devices without manufacturer support (at best), there is a visible demand/low offer in this segment and so some business opportunities.
The FOSS going mainstream adds to the demand for the similar hardware - that opens more opportunities for hardware vendors.
No, it is the opposite. I believe you can legally install some of your software to BSA members computers/networks and watch if they steal any of the copyrighted (GNU GPL) code.
Unfortunately it is yet difficult to design hardware using only the GPL-ed software. Sometimes - even running of GPL-ed OS - until recently fro FPGA design I had to use Xilinx software on other OS - Linux version was much worse (I had frequently ssh to my computer after it stopped to respond to any keypresses). Now it is better, and I do not need that OS for this job anymore.
But for PCB design I still need a combination of the proprietary OS with proprietary EDA software - even if I would pay at least twice more for the free software if it could do the job with the same convenience.
So we too provide hardware documentation as pdf files. Actually, each of our hardware products has tarball with all the source code (software and FPGA) sufficient (combined with other free software available) to regenerate the bootable firmware (original or modified) inside the flash image itself.
I would not agree that pdf is like binary - it is more like printed source code that you still can use to build the code if you type good enough:-)
You can make nice fireballs about 5mm in diameter that live for several seconds and bounce. I did that in two ways:
- lit the tin foil (tin, not aluminum) with electrical arc and
- melt tin in a piece of glass tube, hit it so the glass is really liquid an then shake off the drop of tin so far protected from the air by melted glass - it will ignite when exposed to air.
In both cases you will get a nice jumping fireball. If you release it over paper slope it will leave brown spots with varying distances between them demonstrating the acceleration.
Actually, I got the idea that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is kind of a state religion after moving to Utah and watching similarity in many of the small everyday things. Different ideologies and goals, but visible features looked very similar to me.
Authorities in the USSR never claimed to have communism - it was just a religious goal, an unreachable desire - and the people treated it accordingly, the reality of the communism was similar to the reality of the Heaven - you have to have faith in it.
Yes, it does. But the state religion of the USSR has evolved from that really far. Maybe like the other state religion I had a chance to observe since I left the USSR? Disclaimer: Now I live in Utah, USA
Soviet Union was never a "brutally secular state" - it was always a very religious state. State religion was weird there - it promised "Communism" in the "near future", not the afterlife, but it still was very similar.
Now the table has turned, and the CPSU (or in Russian) is replaced by Russian Orthodox Church and there are definite advances to bring religious studies (only Orthodox, nothing for other Christians or Muslims) to schools in Russia.
Disclaimer: I've spent most of my life in the USSR.
Any team that uses innovation-friendly OS might benefit next year from donation of a really high-res/high frame rate camera that runs GNU/Linux?
Just ask.
But isn't it true that the Administration has already done what were their wet or wild dreams? All these breeding/training grounds created? All this enormous hatred towards US in the Middle East (if only)?
When I signed up for T-mobile last December (I wanted the single phone that works in US and Europe) I started to receive some junk messages from mobilebabes.com (it happened first right in the store). I did not really use the phone and for the whole month it was laying turned off. To my surprise I received a bill with $20 charges for "Premium Services" and was told these charges were legitimate and come from some "3-rd party", not T-Mobile. After several hours of waiting on the phone and they told me that it was previous owner of the number who signed up fro the service and I have to contact the service provider and unsubscribe. I was also told that they can not remove the MMS service (I don't need it - just voice, text messages and Internet) so the only what they can do is change my number. It costs $15, but they will not charge me.
After that we exchanged many dozens of emails - but from their side it was usually a robot. And the name (like "Christina" below were probably randomly generated - it was never the same when I replied. Inside part of the emails was also generated from the standard snippets (like "today I spent more than an hour studying your account...") - they never answered the questions I asked, substituting my questions with some standard ones
Dear Andrey Filippov,
Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. My name is Christina and I will be assisting you today......
And it took me three months until they compensated me their porno-charges. The text messaging service (I'm paying for) does not work, but I'm just completely tired communicating with those robots to fix it. I should write some script to do that for me - then there will be equals.
Nobody was able to answer - if the only way to stop MMS messages coming to my phone is to change it's number - does it mean that anybody who knows my number can send me pay-per-message junk?
All color cameras already have IR cutoff filter, but it can be close to the sensor (so you'll get some reflection).
The easy mod can make you perfectly safe - add an additional external IR cutoff filter and better attach it with some angle to the optical axis. Ideally have it made from non-flat glass (like zero-strength glasses). If they will try to blind with strong light pulse - they'll get sued by blinded people who wear glasses.
"...Furthermore, because our network and software is proprietary, demand for stolen eSlates will be minimal - they simply will not work for uses other than those for which they were designed.":-(
You'll never get the electric field strong enough to bring protons together - it is the same crap as bottled fusion.
Real cold fusion is about meso-atoms that are much smaller because muons are heavier than electrons. And so they could be moved closer to each other while being still neutral.
Use Google - http://www.google.com/search?&q=mesoatom+fusion
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/cameras
Two of the reasons wewrw already mentioned: 1 - I've got IDE interface "for free" in from the processor chip, just needed connector. 2 - CF cards are higher capacity. 3 - I can download CF and ATA specs from the Internet, while SD (when I checked it) was much more difficult to get.
In the article I was only describing CF working in "true IDE" mode, inside the cameras thy usually do not use it, so do not care much about the problem I've got. But it is important if you try to connect the camera with a simple adapter instead of the HDD
It seems that Google is doing a good job blurring the faces in France - but that spoils imagery. Maybe, a person should have a right to "immortalize" herself by opting in (and proving it was actually him/her)? That probably will not work either - too few people will ether bother to opt in. Maybe - no need to prove identity? Just auction those blurred persons, so you can buy yourself a place in different nice places all over the world by just Photoshoping your photo on top of somebody's body? Save kerosene and reduce emissions?
You are right - you can not copyright schematics - redraw it preserving the netlist and it will not be covered by the original copyright.
But we are comfortable with the GPL for our products (http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/cameras) - hardware board is more dead than alive if you take away the FPGA code (GPL-ed) and the software (GPL-ed, based on GNU/Linux). Our hardware evolved in parallel with the code that was ported/modified to run on the newer boards.
So theoretically - yes, it is possible to make a copy of the hardware itself not being bound by the GPL terms, but the result will not be really useful. Building a non-free derivative you will not be able to use our FPGA (http://wiki.elphel.com/index.php?title=FAQ) code - it is all compiled at once (you may say "statically linked") so it is not possible to add proprietary module to the existent code.
And working with the free hardware for more than 6 years I can confirm that in this area demand is much higher than the offer, that keeps us in business.
When I was younger (it was in the USSR) we did it differently. Bought nice vanilla ice cream (0.48 rubles a brick), melted it, mixed with different things like chocolate, nuts, bananas, berries. Then used a styrofoam box, put a plastic film inside and poured a layer of about 1 cm deep. Then - some liquid nitrogen on top, another layer - more liquid nitrogen.
It was not ready for consumption immediately as some chunks were really cold, so it went into a fridge for an hour or two. After that - we had wonderful ice cream cake for a party, perfectly smooth - fast freezing prevented ice crystal growth, no mechanical mixing was needed.
Really delicious!
> Free and open source software are great. I can get the source code, study it, modify it, and recompile and install it if I like. Cool.
/low offer in this segment and so some business opportunities.
Yes, it is somewhat more difficult to do that withe the open hardware, but not impossible.
First of all - you definitely can study the open design, those who are developing hardware know that working designs can help them to create their own, it saves their time.
Then - FPGA code is still considered as "hardware" and it really has hardware performance. With the open FPGA code you can do exactly like you wrote: study-modify-recompile-install (and then run, of course). Yes, that requires you to have the same hardware (like you have to have a computer to run your code).
Of course, I understand - you already have a computer but not the open hardware design and you need to invest money to get it - just downloading the code is not enough to copy the hardware even if you build it yourself. Solution that I see is to make open hardware that is already competitive with the out of the box functionality, not as a "development board" or "evaluation kit" that you need to invest a lot of your time to make it useful. High-end hackable device is more attractive. You all know of many hacks applied to devices without manufacturer support (at best), there is a visible demand
The FOSS going mainstream adds to the demand for the similar hardware - that opens more opportunities for hardware vendors.
No, it is the opposite. I believe you can legally install some of your software to BSA members computers/networks and watch if they steal any of the copyrighted (GNU GPL) code.
Maybe I'm just lucky, but I'm sure it is possible to make living of the hobby not just for me.
My little secret is that the market demand for open (and modifiable) hardware is higher than the offer. And that keeps us busy.
Unfortunately it is yet difficult to design hardware using only the GPL-ed software. Sometimes - even running of GPL-ed OS - until recently fro FPGA design I had to use Xilinx software on other OS - Linux version was much worse (I had frequently ssh to my computer after it stopped to respond to any keypresses). Now it is better, and I do not need that OS for this job anymore. But for PCB design I still need a combination of the proprietary OS with proprietary EDA software - even if I would pay at least twice more for the free software if it could do the job with the same convenience.
:-)
So we too provide hardware documentation as pdf files. Actually, each of our hardware products has tarball with all the source code (software and FPGA) sufficient (combined with other free software available) to regenerate the bootable firmware (original or modified) inside the flash image itself.
I would not agree that pdf is like binary - it is more like printed source code that you still can use to build the code if you type good enough
You can make nice fireballs about 5mm in diameter that live for several seconds and bounce. I did that in two ways:
- lit the tin foil (tin, not aluminum) with electrical arc and
- melt tin in a piece of glass tube, hit it so the glass is really liquid an then shake off the drop of tin so far protected from the air by melted glass - it will ignite when exposed to air.
In both cases you will get a nice jumping fireball. If you release it over paper slope it will leave brown spots with varying distances between them demonstrating the acceleration.
Thank you, but I neither complain no apologize for the place where I'm born. And I'm proud to be Russian.
Actually, I got the idea that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is kind of a state religion after moving to Utah and watching similarity in many of the small everyday things. Different ideologies and goals, but visible features looked very similar to me. Authorities in the USSR never claimed to have communism - it was just a religious goal, an unreachable desire - and the people treated it accordingly, the reality of the communism was similar to the reality of the Heaven - you have to have faith in it.
Yes, it does. But the state religion of the USSR has evolved from that really far. Maybe like the other state religion I had a chance to observe since I left the USSR? Disclaimer: Now I live in Utah, USA
Soviet Union was never a "brutally secular state" - it was always a very religious state. State religion was weird there - it promised "Communism" in the "near future", not the afterlife, but it still was very similar. Now the table has turned, and the CPSU (or in Russian) is replaced by Russian Orthodox Church and there are definite advances to bring religious studies (only Orthodox, nothing for other Christians or Muslims) to schools in Russia. Disclaimer: I've spent most of my life in the USSR.
It was just the 3-rd post.
Any team that uses innovation-friendly OS might benefit next year from donation of a really high-res/high frame rate camera that runs GNU/Linux?
Just ask.
But isn't it true that the Administration has already done what were their wet or wild dreams? All these breeding/training grounds created? All this enormous hatred towards US in the Middle East (if only)?
When I signed up for T-mobile last December (I wanted the single phone that works in US and Europe) I started to receive some junk messages from mobilebabes.com (it happened first right in the store). I did not really use the phone and for the whole month it was laying turned off. To my surprise I received a bill with $20 charges for "Premium Services" and was told these charges were legitimate and come from some "3-rd party", not T-Mobile. After several hours of waiting on the phone and they told me that it was previous owner of the number who signed up fro the service and I have to contact the service provider and unsubscribe. I was also told that they can not remove the MMS service (I don't need it - just voice, text messages and Internet) so the only what they can do is change my number. It costs $15, but they will not charge me.
...
After that we exchanged many dozens of emails - but from their side it was usually a robot. And the name (like "Christina" below were probably randomly generated - it was never the same when I replied. Inside part of the emails was also generated from the standard snippets (like "today I spent more than an hour studying your account...") - they never answered the questions I asked, substituting my questions with some standard ones
Dear Andrey Filippov,
Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. My name is Christina and I will be assisting you today...
And it took me three months until they compensated me their porno-charges. The text messaging service (I'm paying for) does not work, but I'm just completely tired communicating with those robots to fix it. I should write some script to do that for me - then there will be equals.
Nobody was able to answer - if the only way to stop MMS messages coming to my phone is to change it's number - does it mean that anybody who knows my number can send me pay-per-message junk?
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22As+a+record+stor e+owner%2C+my+business+faces+ruin%22 :-)
All color cameras already have IR cutoff filter, but it can be close to the sensor (so you'll get some reflection). The easy mod can make you perfectly safe - add an additional external IR cutoff filter and better attach it with some angle to the optical axis. Ideally have it made from non-flat glass (like zero-strength glasses). If they will try to blind with strong light pulse - they'll get sued by blinded people who wear glasses.
"...Furthermore, because our network and software is proprietary, demand for stolen eSlates will be minimal - they simply will not work for uses other than those for which they were designed." :-(
You'll never get the electric field strong enough to bring protons together - it is the same crap as bottled fusion.
Real cold fusion is about meso-atoms that are much smaller because muons are heavier than electrons. And so they could be moved closer to each other while being still neutral. Use Google - http://www.google.com/search?&q=mesoatom+fusion
To submit an entry for the "Open Source Initiative of the Year" you have to fill out MS word (entry_form_2005.doc) file.
If it is that short - half of the Earth (population) will still survive.