The term 'Cognitive Radio' that Mr. Mitola uses isn't a new idea. The ultra-wideband concept touches on it, and I've been wondering for a LONG time (like 5 years now) why I haven't seen any products along this line. We've had LOTS of ISM bands and other publically-usable frequencies available for right now... and in the future, intelligent devices may do away with spectrum assignment anyhow. Let me explain.
The best phrase I can come up with to describe this idea would be 'intelligent rf multifrequency use'. Basically, software and hardware are to the point that a radio device should be able to detect signals in the bands around it, and select unused frequencies dynamically to bond together for communication. Setting aside current frequency restrictions, the idea is that I can take a swath of bandwidth, for instance, say 100mhz to 5ghz. I can utilize ALL of this spectrum for my communications. But, because different frequency bands have different propagation capabilities and may require different power needs, they may not all be suitable. Much as Mr. Mitola says, the software can detect what is available and use it. It's up to the software to determine that it is attempting to communicate to a base station 10 miles away, therefore it needs to boost power output to X level on certain bands, Y power level on other bands, and not use certain bands that may fall within this swath of bandwidth because they're already occupied. This is the UWB concept writ large; intelligent devices allow us to forego spectrum allocation in preference of allowing devices to do this for us.
The second part of this is what exists now. We have several frequency ranges used for different types of communication.. 2.4ghz for 802.11b, 1900, 1800 and 900mhz for GSM/CDMA/TDMA, 5ghz for 802.11a, and 9 and 11ghz spectrum bands for other protocol standards. A device which can pass packets to a handler that chooses the best path for them based on availability, cost, latency, reliability, etc. isn't that difficult.. it's just a matter of getting it done. For now, the first products I expect to see are dual-band APs and dual-band NICs (e.g. Linksys or someone coming out with a 2.4/5 hybrid that only works with their own equipment, proprietary, since there's not a standard for it (YET!!!!)). Next would be an intelligent device that can communicate with the major network systems, pick the best, most reliable, and fastest path(s) and send data across them. For instance, a device that can talk GPRS, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, and so on... and pick which transport is the most suitable to the application and the environment.
What the next generation of wireless systems needs to be is an open platform. If a hardware vendor would get a clue, realize that by modularizing the systems instead of trying to integrate everything, making standard interfaces between the modules, document the interfaces between the modules well, and write a GOOD API for their phone, they'd see a market open up that they haven't even considered yet. The wireless phone manufacturers are stuck in the 'phone-centric' world, where data is an addon and isn't a core function of the device, and the PDA folks think that voice is secondary, and tend to overlook things like usability for features. So you compromise. Make a phone with standard, modular systems (GPRS handler, 802.11b handler, 802.11a handler, IP handler, GSM handler, CDMA handler, etc) and develop the interface based on embedded software (Linux!), and let the imaginations of the world's free markets make your device take off. By standardizing the interfaces, documenting them, and not treating the phone as a 'closed system' like most celphones nowadays still are (starting to change a little, but not much), you open the system to the smaller innovators who can create things for your phone that you've never thought possible.
It boils down to a few core ideas. 1. An open hardware platform with an embedded OS and interface capability for third party software, as long as it is ergonomic, compact, light, and so on, and HIGHLY USABLE!!!, will drive the market for this device like the 3com folks did when the Palm Pilot first came out. Without all of the software for the palm pilot available on the web, its' functionality would be severly limited, and it would never have gotten as popular as it is today. Palm started the movement, now most of the PDAs on the market have this ability.
2. Use of multiple frequencies, which are selected by software, will be the driving factor for the tech industry for quite a while. By developing intelligent devices which can auto-allocate their needed bandwidth and are POLITE with each other, eventually spectrum allocation can be phased out. No more bandwidth auctions;-) (poor FCC)
3. In the current market, there is an immediate opportunity for the development of a multi-frequency transport system. Be it bonded-together 802.11b and a, or whatever, it'll come to be. Especially if you can take the concepts used in IMA (or any inverse multiplexing type of scheme) and combine multiple smaller frequency swaths into one big pipe... 54mbps + 11mbps, and it'll work when either one is present at whatever rate it can get. I'm limiting myself to big-market tech at the moment, but this sort of idea could include Ricochet and any of the other pre-existing proprietary wireless networks out there, if they'll hop on the bandwagon.
4. There is also a current need for the development of 'available-frequency' systems. FCC regs be damned, with intelligent devices which adhere to pre-defined standards, frequency allocation isn't necessary. Automatic selection of band ranges will become commonplace; but right now it needs to be pioneered, and we just can't leave it to Bell Labs or MIT to come up with it... with the right minds, this could be solved today.
What this whole diatribe boils down to is simple. I want a phone with a qwerty keyboard, that can talk to any ip-capable device and merely act as an ip gateway (e.g. using ir or bluetooth to let a laptop use your cellphone to talk IP wirelessly). Applications capability, for IM apps such as AIM or Yahoo Msgr and other ip-capable software, a standard media type (such as CompactFlash or SmartMedia) on which all of your information short of the phone's ID number(s) and other key configuration details is stored. Pop your SmartMedia drive into your pc's card reader, download your Outloook Address book to it, etc etc. With bluetooth, you could do it wirelessly.
It's not that hard. The idea is simple. The components are sufficiently advanced. The problem is the companies are too busy trying to give the user what they think the user wants instead of letting the user have access to it all and letting the user decide what he needs to use.
With wet dreams of my 21G device dancing in my head.....
What I don't understand is the lack of devices that are moving towards open frameworks. We're currently looking at devices attempting to perform multiple functions; instead of using proprietary memory and so on, why not use the existing modular solutions we have now?
I don't see why a SmartMedia or CompactFlash card couldn't be used to store address books, mp3s (to be used as ringtones, no less!) camera snapshots, and any of your other pda-style functions. Include bluetooth, infra-red, and a usb port. (possible addition of a usb->serial device for terminal emulation?) Design it so that via usb, bluetooth or infra-red, it can act as a data connection for the laptop (passing IP packets to the GPRS handler or some such!?) At the same time, publish the internal specs (interface specs for the packet engine, cellphone subsystems, and display), and base it on embedded Linux.
Design side, the SideKick seems to be moving in the right direction, except for the flimsiness. A full keyboard is important to most geeks, as is hand-holdiness AND comfort while using like a phone.
Anyone have any other design suggestions? Maybe someone will actually LISTEN?!
Oh come on now. You know that the only reason these online retailers are collecting taxes is so that they can a. keep the cash if never asked for it and b. cover themselves if they get asked for retroactive taxes.. plus while they hold the cash they can collect interest on it.
Sales tax is an un-necessary thing. If America would recognize the benefits of an 18% flat tax system and would decide to return most power to the states, we could afford to feed every hungry person in the US, give jobs to all of the jobless, so on and so forth.
Karl Marx would be proud of us, with our 'graduated' income tax structure.... his communist models use a very similar structure to avoid taxing the wealthy at the top of the pyramid.
I mean, they might be interested in helping with and/or providing logic / software for control and stabilization based on attitude, in addition, possibly control based on shift of body attitude, like a hang-glider, but based on posi sensors or something. Possibly in return for sponsorship (big SegWay sticker on the back, or maybe DEKA gets first dibs on production or some such).
I'd love to see the plans for this released on the 'net. I'm no machinist, but I know some guys who are pretty capable. I'm sure the four of us could team up to build one of these... as long as we could scrape up the cash. If it's possible, that'd be very cool, even if they had to be purchased (just make it reasonable!).
I was thinking as well, the platform isn't very production-capable due to the suspension system. The person belts in like the Bell Rocket Belt did, suspended in a chest harness, and skydiving-style leg straps. That means, that controlling the machine relies on the ability of the user to keep himself on his elbows on the control bars, while the leg straps help suspend him. This isn't really a good way to make a widely-accessable vehicle. Besides the fact that the unavoidable high weight issues require some sort of feet, the system itself needs to carry the user, much as a car does. There should probably be a SMALL plate at the bottom, connected by a pair of rods (or a large single rear rod) to the chassis. This could also be the basis for the body-orientated direction control. I would think that in addition to this, the chest harness would be used, and in addition, making the joysticks adjustable for height and so on would be an option. Also, there could be a fold-down adjustable seat that the user could sit on as well. The feet could be deployable for landing, and there could be a collapsing-into-backpack capability (the footrest retracts, the seat/footrest folds backwards, the nozzles all fold in, the joysticks fold inwards and stow behind the user, and he walks around with a relatively heavy backpack (or possibly it could have wheels to roll around on).
This is just an outpouring of my stoned mind, please forgive anything that doesn't make sense.
Merry Christmas and all that jazz, -cheezus_maximus (new nick coming soon!!)
Also, on a side note; Why is it that I have seen NO UWB-style products on the market? What would be so hard about building a modular system that would use whatever available freq, whether it be 2.4 or 5 or 900MHz or whatever. I'm not a ham (I'd like to be one, but haven't had time to study code exam or money to buy gear) but I understand something about data transmission; what would be so hard about inverse-multiplexing these streams; or at least multi-pathing packets or SOMETHING. I mean, it would likely have to be steered, or at least directional LOS or something, elsewise it could knock out everything in a band (maybe it could just rob 1 or 2 channels from a band or something). I'm not a rf engineer, or FCC regs geek, so I have no idea of the laws governing this; is this the concept behind the UWB shite being pondererd on now?
Question; why couldn't Ricochet start transmitting on their own freqs as well as adding the 2.4 and 5ghz frequencies for added bandwidth? I mean, if they can put up repeaters in large enough numbers to satisfy their lower frequencies, they can certainly add 2.4 and 5ghz onto them within the power limits allowed and re-deploy them ONLY in major population centers at first, etc. etc., and offer higher bandwidths using the public spectrums of frequencies available. If they can use their existing RF usage hopping and tracking layer 2 capability (which I'm not very familiar with, admittedly) and apply it to these higher frequencies, wouldn't this be possible? I mean, all 2.4 and 5ghz equipment doesn't HAVE to be WiFi.... and if they've already got the hardware designers for their own gear, they can probably have them redesign for this application easily.
Any thoughts on this? I admit, I don't know much about the technical back end of the Ricochet/Metricom stuff, but I'm guessing the same usage can be applied to the different spectrums.
Oh yeah, if ya'll actually use this idea, like, send me some cash or something.;-)
-cheez
Re:Just what you need...
on
Landshark
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· Score: 1
Scientists determine whether rain or lake water is acidic by measuring its pH (the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a scale of 0 to 4). A value of 7 is considered neutral, whereas values less than 7 are acidic and values over 7 are alkaline or basic. A change of one unit on the pH scale represents a factor of ten in acidity; for example, a solution with a pH of five is ten times as acid as one with a pH of six (Somerville, 1996, p.174).
-- End Quote
So for every point of pH increase, it's a factor of 10 increase in the effect.
-- Same Source
As lakes and streams become more acidic, the amount of fish, aquatic plants and animals that live in these waters decrease. Although some plants and animals can survive acidic waters, others are acid-sensitive and will die as the pH declines. Plants and animals living within an ecosystem are highly interdependent. If acid rain causes the loss of acid-sensitive plants and animals, organisms at all trophic levels within the food chain may be affected which then causes a disruption to the entire ecosystem.
-- End Quote
The same effects occur when the pH of a body of water becomes too basic. Acid-dependant creatures suffer and die. (hint: the human body requires a certain pH to exist. Raise or lower that pH to your peril!)
Nothing does well in an overly acidic or alkaline pH medium, least of all the human body! Just as acid rain can destroy a forest and alkaline wastes can pollute a lake, an imbalanced pH continuously corrodes all body tissue, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like corrosives eating into marble. If left unchecked, an imbalanced pH will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neural firing of your brain... An imbalanced pH interferes with all life itself!
Although it may generally go unnoticed and undetected for years, an imbalanced pH (either consistently too acid or alkaline) leads to the progression of most, if not all, Degenerative diseases including Cardiovascular Disease (the #1 killer in the U.S.), Cancer (the #2 Killer in the U.S.), and Diabetes, as well as the never ending frustration of excessive systemic weight gain.
Someone explain to me why the Brits should be appalled at the US plug design? Their close neighbors over the chunnel use a 240v standard two-prong plug that consists of two round pins that are BARE to the base (about 3/8"+) and that are exposed while plugging them in. Granted, nowadays most european sockets are recessed, so that by the time the pins are hot, the base of the plug is close to (or has passed) being at the level of the socket, but a lot of the older plugs I've seen are as bare as can be.
The whole reason the US has the 120v standard is to reduce the problem with electrocution. At 120v, if you get shocked, you have a very significant chance of surviving (like, 90+%, guesstimated). I've been shocked many, many times in the course of my lifetime by 120v current, and it didn't do much more than make me tingly and lightheaded for a few minutes. In Europe (and England) the current is 240v, so if you get shocked, you're close to / are dead. I've never gotten a 240v shock (I'm no electrician, and dryer plugs are simple) but I imagine that it'd be a hospitalizing shock.
Therefore, the whole reason we use the 120v standard is to allow the use of the simple plug type called the 'edison plug' and to prevent self-electrocution by determined do-it-yourselfers.
In addition, using the two-prong plug adaptors sucks... they are oval shaped and fit down into the recesses, and I always feel like I'm going to get shocked pulling them out.
I'm currently in the process of setting up a basic community wireless co-op in my little town. I'm opening a store downtown (for a different business project) but plan to put an AP there to service businesses in the area. I'm currently going el-cheapo, with linksys WAP11s and high-gain omni antennas. In your opinion, is there a 'perfect' setup for each implementation type, e.g. long-range backhaul vs. wide area coverage, consisting of a WAP and antennae, to provice access. And how does cost balance out for you if you go for the more expensive Orinoco APs or some such?
Look, it's simple. All you need to do is take a flat directional patch antenna, like one of these [hyperlinktech.com] and put it somewhere under the eaves. Paint it the color of the house and that should be it. 8dbi is the smallest one, and that should be plenty of gain for this application. They even make 'em up to 14dbi, but they're 8.5" at that point.
If this doesn't solve the issue, I don't know what will.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.04/approtec. html
Check out this, the MoneyMaker pump. Man-powered irrigation. This is the way to bring computers to impoverished nations... let them irrigate and farm, and then eventually they can buy their own computers.
I am running a small wISP from my home using Linksys WAP11 (v.2.2) WAPs. I have one here at home, and am attempting to get the second set up at a small store I own roughly a mile (LOS) away. I have been attempting to increase my range (right now I have 3 customers, but I have very little coverage area, so I can't attract more), so I am working with external antennae.
I have two 15dbi gain omnidirectional antennas that I'm attempting to use, connected to the WAPs by a 75' run each of LMR-400 (-3dbi every 40ft) cable. The antennas are from Comet, but are very similar to the Hyperlink 15dbi omni antennas for 2.4-2.45ghz. The issue I'm seeing is this: When I connect the 15dbi antenna to my WAP, I see no change in signal strength. Even if I don't use the 75' cable, and switch to an 18" pigtail, I see no change in the Signal Level on my Orinoco PCMCIA card. None at all. When I put the second antenna on the PCMCIA card (15dbi on the wap, 15dbi on the laptop) and it's all of 20 feet away, I see a marginal gain in signal strength. By marginal I mean my strength goes from -82 to -78.
Considering what I know about wireless and radio, I should be seeing a better gain than that. I am currently waiting on a 5dbi omni to test with to see if it helps at all, in case the two antennas (bought concurrently and of the same make/model/manuf) are bad or were mis-labeled. One of the few questions that I have raised is as follows: I live about 75 yards from high-tension power lines. These are tri-phase lines, that should cause harmonic disturbance based on 60hz. I'm wondering if they aren't causing any problems. They shouldn't, (sixth harmonic and all that stuff) but I don't know what else to make of this. (I do plan to take the antenna and WAP and laptop elsewhere to test in the near future). In any case, short of buying a parabolic or patch antenna for the point-to-point to my store, or adding an amplifier (geez, those things are pricey), I am hoping someone can give me some idea what the issue is. I have submitted this to the BAWUG (www.bawug.org) users group mailing list, to no avail. I've also searched the web, high and low, for more information.
A couple of other questions I have are: 1. Does anyone know what the default power output of the Linksys WAP11 Version 2.2 is, and is there a way to alter it? (at 100mA my setup will still be FCC-legal). 2. Short of pole-mounting the box (and pissing off my HOA) I am using long cable runs. Even if I shorten the cable run to 18", I see no change. Any thoughts on why that might be?
Any help would be appreciated. If someone can give me the help to get this working, I might be willing to throw in a small reward of some sort.
The mediocrity of the windup of the Mode series
on
Piers Anthony Unbound
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· Score: 1
Most frustratingly, he did not address the last novel in the Mode series and it's seeming need to wrap up the entire series in the last third of the book (4 book series from Piers without a reason?). I LOVED the Mode series, and when I heard there was a new book out, I was very excited. The excitement didn't last long into the book. I would have appreciated some insight into the reason why it was written (maybe just to close out an open series? Just for the sake of writing a fourth Mode novel? To finance the new Linux move?) but I have none. Are there others out there with the same outlook on this series?
Ferry Corsten Cosmic Gate Blank and Jones DJ Tiesto Paul Oakenfold DJ Jean DJ Taucher Paul Van Dyk Yves DeRuyter Timo Maas Alex Morph Johan Gielen Kai Tracid
These are all trance.
And of course, the 'electronica favorites' fatboy slim the chemical brothers the crystal method the dust brothers etc.
It's amazing that Piers and I grew up learning the same computer systems. I laughed at his 'Author's Note' talking about CP/M and MsDos and their apartment buildings. I must say, I was quite disappointed with the resolution of the Mode series. I was VERY into that series after the third book was released. But when the fourth came out, it spent half a book trying to be the next installment, and then went to wrap everything up in like 100 pages. This guy did that, he got this, this chick went here, etc. It was extremely uncharacteristically rushed of Mr. Anthony to do such a thing, and I'm wondering if, after years of it sitting in a file somewhere, Mr. Anthony didn't polish it up and finish it out as a 'filler' piece. It truly bugged me. No offense, Mr. Anthony, but what happened?
Slashdot Mirror
The term 'Cognitive Radio' that Mr. Mitola uses isn't a new idea. The ultra-wideband concept touches on it, and I've been wondering for a LONG time (like 5 years now) why I haven't seen any products along this line. We've had LOTS of ISM bands and other publically-usable frequencies available for right now... and in the future, intelligent devices may do away with spectrum assignment anyhow. Let me explain.
;-) (poor FCC)
The best phrase I can come up with to describe this idea would be 'intelligent rf multifrequency use'. Basically, software and hardware are to the point that a radio device should be able to detect signals in the bands around it, and select unused frequencies dynamically to bond together for communication. Setting aside current frequency restrictions, the idea is that I can take a swath of bandwidth, for instance, say 100mhz to 5ghz. I can utilize ALL of this spectrum for my communications. But, because different frequency bands have different propagation capabilities and may require different power needs, they may not all be suitable. Much as Mr. Mitola says, the software can detect what is available and use it. It's up to the software to determine that it is attempting to communicate to a base station 10 miles away, therefore it needs to boost power output to X level on certain bands, Y power level on other bands, and not use certain bands that may fall within this swath of bandwidth because they're already occupied. This is the UWB concept writ large; intelligent devices allow us to forego spectrum allocation in preference of allowing devices to do this for us.
The second part of this is what exists now. We have several frequency ranges used for different types of communication.. 2.4ghz for 802.11b, 1900, 1800 and 900mhz for GSM/CDMA/TDMA, 5ghz for 802.11a, and 9 and 11ghz spectrum bands for other protocol standards. A device which can pass packets to a handler that chooses the best path for them based on availability, cost, latency, reliability, etc. isn't that difficult.. it's just a matter of getting it done. For now, the first products I expect to see are dual-band APs and dual-band NICs (e.g. Linksys or someone coming out with a 2.4/5 hybrid that only works with their own equipment, proprietary, since there's not a standard for it (YET!!!!)). Next would be an intelligent device that can communicate with the major network systems, pick the best, most reliable, and fastest path(s) and send data across them. For instance, a device that can talk GPRS, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, and so on... and pick which transport is the most suitable to the application and the environment.
What the next generation of wireless systems needs to be is an open platform. If a hardware vendor would get a clue, realize that by modularizing the systems instead of trying to integrate everything, making standard interfaces between the modules, document the interfaces between the modules well, and write a GOOD API for their phone, they'd see a market open up that they haven't even considered yet. The wireless phone manufacturers are stuck in the 'phone-centric' world, where data is an addon and isn't a core function of the device, and the PDA folks think that voice is secondary, and tend to overlook things like usability for features. So you compromise. Make a phone with standard, modular systems (GPRS handler, 802.11b handler, 802.11a handler, IP handler, GSM handler, CDMA handler, etc) and develop the interface based on embedded software (Linux!), and let the imaginations of the world's free markets make your device take off. By standardizing the interfaces, documenting them, and not treating the phone as a 'closed system' like most celphones nowadays still are (starting to change a little, but not much), you open the system to the smaller innovators who can create things for your phone that you've never thought possible.
It boils down to a few core ideas.
1. An open hardware platform with an embedded OS and interface capability for third party software, as long as it is ergonomic, compact, light, and so on, and HIGHLY USABLE!!!, will drive the market for this device like the 3com folks did when the Palm Pilot first came out. Without all of the software for the palm pilot available on the web, its' functionality would be severly limited, and it would never have gotten as popular as it is today. Palm started the movement, now most of the PDAs on the market have this ability.
2. Use of multiple frequencies, which are selected by software, will be the driving factor for the tech industry for quite a while. By developing intelligent devices which can auto-allocate their needed bandwidth and are POLITE with each other, eventually spectrum allocation can be phased out. No more bandwidth auctions
3. In the current market, there is an immediate opportunity for the development of a multi-frequency transport system. Be it bonded-together 802.11b and a, or whatever, it'll come to be. Especially if you can take the concepts used in IMA (or any inverse multiplexing type of scheme) and combine multiple smaller frequency swaths into one big pipe... 54mbps + 11mbps, and it'll work when either one is present at whatever rate it can get. I'm limiting myself to big-market tech at the moment, but this sort of idea could include Ricochet and any of the other pre-existing proprietary wireless networks out there, if they'll hop on the bandwagon.
4. There is also a current need for the development of 'available-frequency' systems. FCC regs be damned, with intelligent devices which adhere to pre-defined standards, frequency allocation isn't necessary. Automatic selection of band ranges will become commonplace; but right now it needs to be pioneered, and we just can't leave it to Bell Labs or MIT to come up with it... with the right minds, this could be solved today.
What this whole diatribe boils down to is simple. I want a phone with a qwerty keyboard, that can talk to any ip-capable device and merely act as an ip gateway (e.g. using ir or bluetooth to let a laptop use your cellphone to talk IP wirelessly). Applications capability, for IM apps such as AIM or Yahoo Msgr and other ip-capable software, a standard media type (such as CompactFlash or SmartMedia) on which all of your information short of the phone's ID number(s) and other key configuration details is stored. Pop your SmartMedia drive into your pc's card reader, download your Outloook Address book to it, etc etc. With bluetooth, you could do it wirelessly.
It's not that hard. The idea is simple. The components are sufficiently advanced. The problem is the companies are too busy trying to give the user what they think the user wants instead of letting the user have access to it all and letting the user decide what he needs to use.
With wet dreams of my 21G device dancing in my head.....
-cheezus_es_lard.
What I don't understand is the lack of devices that are moving towards open frameworks. We're currently looking at devices attempting to perform multiple functions; instead of using proprietary memory and so on, why not use the existing modular solutions we have now?
I don't see why a SmartMedia or CompactFlash card couldn't be used to store address books, mp3s (to be used as ringtones, no less!) camera snapshots, and any of your other pda-style functions. Include bluetooth, infra-red, and a usb port. (possible addition of a usb->serial device for terminal emulation?) Design it so that via usb, bluetooth or infra-red, it can act as a data connection for the laptop (passing IP packets to the GPRS handler or some such!?) At the same time, publish the internal specs (interface specs for the packet engine, cellphone subsystems, and display), and base it on embedded Linux.
Design side, the SideKick seems to be moving in the right direction, except for the flimsiness. A full keyboard is important to most geeks, as is hand-holdiness AND comfort while using like a phone.
Anyone have any other design suggestions? Maybe someone will actually LISTEN?!
Indentify? What, is the unique ID so that the RIAA can indenture you while you work off the money you owe from your MP3 collection?
Oh come on now. You know that the only reason these online retailers are collecting taxes is so that they can a. keep the cash if never asked for it and b. cover themselves if they get asked for retroactive taxes.. plus while they hold the cash they can collect interest on it.
Sales tax is an un-necessary thing. If America would recognize the benefits of an 18% flat tax system and would decide to return most power to the states, we could afford to feed every hungry person in the US, give jobs to all of the jobless, so on and so forth.
Karl Marx would be proud of us, with our 'graduated' income tax structure.... his communist models use a very similar structure to avoid taxing the wealthy at the top of the pyramid.
I mean, they might be interested in helping with and/or providing logic / software for control and stabilization based on attitude, in addition, possibly control based on shift of body attitude, like a hang-glider, but based on posi sensors or something. Possibly in return for sponsorship (big SegWay sticker on the back, or maybe DEKA gets first dibs on production or some such).
I'd love to see the plans for this released on the 'net. I'm no machinist, but I know some guys who are pretty capable. I'm sure the four of us could team up to build one of these... as long as we could scrape up the cash. If it's possible, that'd be very cool, even if they had to be purchased (just make it reasonable!).
I was thinking as well, the platform isn't very production-capable due to the suspension system. The person belts in like the Bell Rocket Belt did, suspended in a chest harness, and skydiving-style leg straps. That means, that controlling the machine relies on the ability of the user to keep himself on his elbows on the control bars, while the leg straps help suspend him. This isn't really a good way to make a widely-accessable vehicle. Besides the fact that the unavoidable high weight issues require some sort of feet, the system itself needs to carry the user, much as a car does. There should probably be a SMALL plate at the bottom, connected by a pair of rods (or a large single rear rod) to the chassis. This could also be the basis for the body-orientated direction control. I would think that in addition to this, the chest harness would be used, and in addition, making the joysticks adjustable for height and so on would be an option. Also, there could be a fold-down adjustable seat that the user could sit on as well. The feet could be deployable for landing, and there could be a collapsing-into-backpack capability (the footrest retracts, the seat/footrest folds backwards, the nozzles all fold in, the joysticks fold inwards and stow behind the user, and he walks around with a relatively heavy backpack (or possibly it could have wheels to roll around on).
This is just an outpouring of my stoned mind, please forgive anything that doesn't make sense.
Merry Christmas and all that jazz,
-cheezus_maximus (new nick coming soon!!)
Also, on a side note; Why is it that I have seen NO UWB-style products on the market? What would be so hard about building a modular system that would use whatever available freq, whether it be 2.4 or 5 or 900MHz or whatever. I'm not a ham (I'd like to be one, but haven't had time to study code exam or money to buy gear) but I understand something about data transmission; what would be so hard about inverse-multiplexing these streams; or at least multi-pathing packets or SOMETHING. I mean, it would likely have to be steered, or at least directional LOS or something, elsewise it could knock out everything in a band (maybe it could just rob 1 or 2 channels from a band or something). I'm not a rf engineer, or FCC regs geek, so I have no idea of the laws governing this; is this the concept behind the UWB shite being pondererd on now?
In confusion,
-cheez
Question; why couldn't Ricochet start transmitting on their own freqs as well as adding the 2.4 and 5ghz frequencies for added bandwidth? I mean, if they can put up repeaters in large enough numbers to satisfy their lower frequencies, they can certainly add 2.4 and 5ghz onto them within the power limits allowed and re-deploy them ONLY in major population centers at first, etc. etc., and offer higher bandwidths using the public spectrums of frequencies available. If they can use their existing RF usage hopping and tracking layer 2 capability (which I'm not very familiar with, admittedly) and apply it to these higher frequencies, wouldn't this be possible? I mean, all 2.4 and 5ghz equipment doesn't HAVE to be WiFi.... and if they've already got the hardware designers for their own gear, they can probably have them redesign for this application easily.
;-)
Any thoughts on this? I admit, I don't know much about the technical back end of the Ricochet/Metricom stuff, but I'm guessing the same usage can be applied to the different spectrums.
Oh yeah, if ya'll actually use this idea, like, send me some cash or something.
-cheez
One if by land, One++ if by C.....
pH changes are incredibly dangerous for local wildlife and animal life (including fish, reptiles, AND mammals) who use the water as a drinking source.
-- Taken from Acid Rain and North America:
Scientists determine whether rain or lake water is acidic by measuring its pH (the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a solution on a scale of 0 to 4). A value of 7 is considered neutral, whereas values less than 7 are acidic and values over 7 are alkaline or basic. A change of one unit on the pH scale represents a factor of ten in acidity; for example, a solution with a pH of five is ten times as acid as one with a pH of six (Somerville, 1996, p.174).
-- End Quote
So for every point of pH increase, it's a factor of 10 increase in the effect.
-- Same Source
As lakes and streams become more acidic, the amount of fish, aquatic plants and animals that live in these waters decrease. Although some plants and animals can survive acidic waters, others are acid-sensitive and will die as the pH declines. Plants and animals living within an ecosystem are highly interdependent. If acid rain causes the loss of acid-sensitive plants and animals, organisms at all trophic levels within the food chain may be affected which then causes a disruption to the entire ecosystem.
-- End Quote
The same effects occur when the pH of a body of water becomes too basic. Acid-dependant creatures suffer and die. (hint: the human body requires a certain pH to exist. Raise or lower that pH to your peril!)
-- Lifted from Wellness Garden:
Nothing does well in an overly acidic or alkaline pH medium, least of all the human body! Just as acid rain can destroy a forest and alkaline wastes can pollute a lake, an imbalanced pH continuously corrodes all body tissue, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like corrosives eating into marble. If left unchecked, an imbalanced pH will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neural firing of your brain... An imbalanced pH interferes with all life itself!
Although it may generally go unnoticed and undetected for years, an imbalanced pH (either consistently too acid or alkaline) leads to the progression of most, if not all, Degenerative diseases including Cardiovascular Disease (the #1 killer in the U.S.), Cancer (the #2 Killer in the U.S.), and Diabetes, as well as the never ending frustration of excessive systemic weight gain.
-- End Quote
-- cheezus_es_lard
Someone explain to me why the Brits should be appalled at the US plug design? Their close neighbors over the chunnel use a 240v standard two-prong plug that consists of two round pins that are BARE to the base (about 3/8"+) and that are exposed while plugging them in. Granted, nowadays most european sockets are recessed, so that by the time the pins are hot, the base of the plug is close to (or has passed) being at the level of the socket, but a lot of the older plugs I've seen are as bare as can be.
The whole reason the US has the 120v standard is to reduce the problem with electrocution. At 120v, if you get shocked, you have a very significant chance of surviving (like, 90+%, guesstimated). I've been shocked many, many times in the course of my lifetime by 120v current, and it didn't do much more than make me tingly and lightheaded for a few minutes. In Europe (and England) the current is 240v, so if you get shocked, you're close to / are dead. I've never gotten a 240v shock (I'm no electrician, and dryer plugs are simple) but I imagine that it'd be a hospitalizing shock.
Therefore, the whole reason we use the 120v standard is to allow the use of the simple plug type called the 'edison plug' and to prevent self-electrocution by determined do-it-yourselfers.
In addition, using the two-prong plug adaptors sucks... they are oval shaped and fit down into the recesses, and I always feel like I'm going to get shocked pulling them out.
I'm currently in the process of setting up a basic community wireless co-op in my little town. I'm opening a store downtown (for a different business project) but plan to put an AP there to service businesses in the area. I'm currently going el-cheapo, with linksys WAP11s and high-gain omni antennas. In your opinion, is there a 'perfect' setup for each implementation type, e.g. long-range backhaul vs. wide area coverage, consisting of a WAP and antennae, to provice access. And how does cost balance out for you if you go for the more expensive Orinoco APs or some such?
Thanks for the advice.
Look, it's simple. All you need to do is take a flat directional patch antenna, like one of these [hyperlinktech.com] and put it somewhere under the eaves. Paint it the color of the house and that should be it. 8dbi is the smallest one, and that should be plenty of gain for this application. They even make 'em up to 14dbi, but they're 8.5" at that point.
If this doesn't solve the issue, I don't know what will.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.04/approtec. html
Check out this, the MoneyMaker pump. Man-powered irrigation. This is the way to bring computers to impoverished nations... let them irrigate and farm, and then eventually they can buy their own computers.
I am running a small wISP from my home using Linksys WAP11 (v.2.2) WAPs. I have one here at home, and am attempting to get the second set up at a small store I own roughly a mile (LOS) away. I have been attempting to increase my range (right now I have 3 customers, but I have very little coverage area, so I can't attract more), so I am working with external antennae.
I have two 15dbi gain omnidirectional antennas that I'm attempting to use, connected to the WAPs by a 75' run each of LMR-400 (-3dbi every 40ft) cable. The antennas are from Comet, but are very similar to the Hyperlink 15dbi omni antennas for 2.4-2.45ghz. The issue I'm seeing is this: When I connect the 15dbi antenna to my WAP, I see no change in signal strength. Even if I don't use the 75' cable, and switch to an 18" pigtail, I see no change in the Signal Level on my Orinoco PCMCIA card. None at all. When I put the second antenna on the PCMCIA card (15dbi on the wap, 15dbi on the laptop) and it's all of 20 feet away, I see a marginal gain in signal strength. By marginal I mean my strength goes from -82 to -78.
Considering what I know about wireless and radio, I should be seeing a better gain than that. I am currently waiting on a 5dbi omni to test with to see if it helps at all, in case the two antennas (bought concurrently and of the same make/model/manuf) are bad or were mis-labeled. One of the few questions that I have raised is as follows: I live about 75 yards from high-tension power lines. These are tri-phase lines, that should cause harmonic disturbance based on 60hz. I'm wondering if they aren't causing any problems. They shouldn't, (sixth harmonic and all that stuff) but I don't know what else to make of this. (I do plan to take the antenna and WAP and laptop elsewhere to test in the near future). In any case, short of buying a parabolic or patch antenna for the point-to-point to my store, or adding an amplifier (geez, those things are pricey), I am hoping someone can give me some idea what the issue is. I have submitted this to the BAWUG (www.bawug.org) users group mailing list, to no avail. I've also searched the web, high and low, for more information.
A couple of other questions I have are:
1. Does anyone know what the default power output of the Linksys WAP11 Version 2.2 is, and is there a way to alter it? (at 100mA my setup will still be FCC-legal).
2. Short of pole-mounting the box (and pissing off my HOA) I am using long cable runs. Even if I shorten the cable run to 18", I see no change. Any thoughts on why that might be?
Any help would be appreciated. If someone can give me the help to get this working, I might be willing to throw in a small reward of some sort.
Thanks!
www.bawug.org
Most frustratingly, he did not address the last novel in the Mode series and it's seeming need to wrap up the entire series in the last third of the book (4 book series from Piers without a reason?). I LOVED the Mode series, and when I heard there was a new book out, I was very excited. The excitement didn't last long into the book. I would have appreciated some insight into the reason why it was written (maybe just to close out an open series? Just for the sake of writing a fourth Mode novel? To finance the new Linux move?) but I have none. Are there others out there with the same outlook on this series?
Based on the fact that you liked Sasha and Digweed, I pulled from a list of trance artists. Hope that gives you about what you're looking for.
-cheezus_es_lard
Ferry Corsten
Cosmic Gate
Blank and Jones
DJ Tiesto
Paul Oakenfold
DJ Jean
DJ Taucher
Paul Van Dyk
Yves DeRuyter
Timo Maas
Alex Morph
Johan Gielen
Kai Tracid
These are all trance.
And of course, the 'electronica favorites'
fatboy slim
the chemical brothers
the crystal method
the dust brothers
etc.
have fun!
It's amazing that Piers and I grew up learning the same computer systems. I laughed at his 'Author's Note' talking about CP/M and MsDos and their apartment buildings. I must say, I was quite disappointed with the resolution of the Mode series. I was VERY into that series after the third book was released. But when the fourth came out, it spent half a book trying to be the next installment, and then went to wrap everything up in like 100 pages. This guy did that, he got this, this chick went here, etc. It was extremely uncharacteristically rushed of Mr. Anthony to do such a thing, and I'm wondering if, after years of it sitting in a file somewhere, Mr. Anthony didn't polish it up and finish it out as a 'filler' piece. It truly bugged me. No offense, Mr. Anthony, but what happened?
Thanks-
cheezus_es_lard