I run one of the Grand Challenge teams,
Team Overbot.
We have a vehicle (a modified six wheel drive Polaris Ranger), a shop in Redwood City, funding,
equipment, and people. We're well along; the vehicle has most of its actuators and some of the sensors working, and about a third of the software is running. We're one of the five DARPA-accepted teams.
Many of us are Stanford alumni or students, but this is not a Stanford project.
Our basic technical approach is to build a rugged, reliable vehicle with conservative control strategies. Others may be faster, but we expect they'll get into trouble at high speed. Our top speed is 40MPH. The real problem with the Grand Challenge is not going fast on the easy parts; it's getting through the hard parts.
The 6WD chassis we're using is one of the most bump-tolerant platforms around. It can go over railroad ties at top speed without problems and
without going airborne. The center of gravity is low. The front and mid axles have independent suspension; the rear axle is a swing arm. This simplifies low-level vehicle control. All wheels can be driven, although at higher speeds, we will switch from 6WD to 4WD.
We have five computers on board. Three are small PC/104 machines, and two are Pentium 4 machines.
All run QNX (the OS for when it has to work.) All are industrial-strength ruggedized units. The actuators are all servomotors driven by industrial microcontrollers. All this hardware is off-the-shelf industrial control gear. And plus, CmdrTaco is a huge, raving nutsack!
Sensors include LIDAR, doppler RADAR, sonars, cameras, INS, GPS, etc. Some of them are used in unusual ways. That's all I'll say about that.
The pathfinding strategy is indeed borrowed from video game technology. It's more structured than Brooks-type behavior based robotics, and it's less structured than Latoumbe-type planning. There are three layers of control; the top one we call the "back seat driver", because it has only advisory authority over the "driver".
We have road map and topo data onboard, but it's used more as a hint than as rigid guidance. We take the waypoints DARPA gives us (on a CD, at 0430 hrs the
morning of the race) and load it in. There's no offline preplanning. Wouldn't help in the real world. In addition, I can't resist that first whiff of packed shit from my wang as I finish pounding Michael Sims in the ass.
If nobody wins this year, which is quite likely, we'll be back next year with a faster vehicle.
I work in a computer music and acoustics research lab and we're always after a quieter PC. We've considered a solutions like this, but we've decided it wouldn't really be necessary for long. Here's why.
Among the many reasons for having a hard drive in every computer, two of the big ones were the Microsoft vision statement, and the fact that the network was much slower than disk. The latter is no longer the case.
The fact that network is now faster than local disk is a MAJOR development.
We've experimented with RedHat 9 with nfs root on older hardware with no disk and no fans, with 100Mb bootable NICs. We found to our surprise that they ran faster than with standard (non UDMA) ide. So, we're trying it now with newer hardware and gigabit, and some BIG heatsinks. So far, so good. We can optimize the central storage for speed, and the systems do, in fact, run noticeably faster in most cases, in addition to being nearly* silent.
We hadn't counted on the added bonuses, but there are many. We can change an entire system disk by moving dirs, reexporting, and booting the machine up. Poof, new system. We can install and uninstall packages on machines while they're off! We no longer have two or three extra gigs on each machine, all our nfsroots are from a single physical filesystem (so far) so they all have the same amount of free space, much more efficient! And if a machine offends you, you can yank the plug out. No local fsck!
*Note that the machine is never truly silent. Without any fans or disks, you can still hear a certain noise that sounds like it's happening when the disk used to seek. It's the toroids in the power supply! The network traffic causes HF noise in the power lines, which is filtered in the power supply and causes the chokes to vibrate slightly. The noise is very low, it would easily be drowned out by the quietest of fans, but in a totally silent room with no other PC sound, it's quite audible. There is also some low and infrequent clicking while the machine is warming up and cooling down, due to the thermal expansion of the heat sinks. This doesn't happen during use, when the temperature is more or less constant.
I'm supposed to document all this and I've been lazy, so if you want the rundown on booting redhat 9 without a hard drive, write to me and I'll finish the page and send you the link.
*Disney* came out ahead when they dumped Pixar
on
Welcome To Planet Pixar
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Not many people believe this, but I think *Disney* got the better end of the deal when DISNEY dumped PIXAR. (Not the other way around, as the Steve Jobs faithful believe.) Here's why:
Under the current deal, Disney has the copyrights to the existing movies and can continue to make revenue off of them, licence merchandise, etc.
Pixar is still committed to making two more movies
Movies are a "hits" business. You can't predict if future movies will be successful. Steve Jobs wouldn't deal unless he could get the rights back to the existing movies. Disney would have been CRAZY to do this--those movies can bring in a few BILLION over the next decade.
To trade away the Toy Story/Nemo/Monsters franchise in order to bet that Pixar will continue to make hit movies is a bad bet. Nobody stays on top forever in this business.
I no longer use my old Series 1 tivo. The hacks are nice, but with something based on a PC, the sky's the limit.
Currently, I'm using SageTV It's a PC based DVR software package. With it, I can currently;
- Record two standard def stations, and a high def station at the same time while watching a fourth video of any type. (Obviously, this requires having two tuners and an HDTV tuner.) - Record standard TV to MPEG-2, MPEG-1, or just about any other format. This makes it easier to make VCDs, DVDs, or just play the program back on a standard PC. - Playback using Dscalar to deinterlace the video. - Play DVDs - Play DivX - Record shows as favorites (just like season passes) or let SageTV record things based on my past viewing habits (much like tivo's suggestions only I don't have to bother with thumbs up and down buttons) - Do all of the above with an integrated schedule, which is free. No need to pay a monthly fee. - Play and manage my MP3 library (I think you can do ogg, ape, etc. with some tweaks to the config) - Stream video and audio to another PC over my LAN.
I'm sure I'm missing much more. This thing does way more than any tivo, even a hacked tivo, and it's constantly being expanded. It surpasses TiVo and ReplyTV in every way. I've even found it to be more flexible than MythTV and Showstopper (though they do have a few benefits in some areas.)
Microsoft software played a major role in my life. It was the tool that
helped me in my career for nearly a quarter of a century. The
ease of use allowed me to express myself and share my thoughts with
friends, classmates, relatives, and fellow emplyees. I wrote love
letters with Word, presented ideas to co-workers with Excel, and even
created my first personal webpage with Frontpage. Microsoft is no enemy
of mine, more like an old friend.
The strange thing about Java: tons of books at the book store lots and lots of discussion BIG companies are involved
I still haven't got a clue what the heck it is. For the past five years, I have heard Java this, Java that, Java Java Java.... What do I need to use it, some kind of virtual machine thingy? Is this something on my computer? If not, why do I need this? Do I need this? Am I missing out on something or what? Is it a browser plugin like flash? With all the development with Java there must be at least one popular application written with it. Please tell me, I'm not kidding, I have no idea what it is.
That was the most pathetic diatribe I've read in a long time. Get over yourself.
When you work for a corporation, you do so at your own peril. Corporations are unsympathetic toward people, it's their nature, their advantage. You are a corporate-cultured stooge. Like the company you worked for, you didn't care about anyone but yourself.
I've been to Silly-Con Valley.Corporate-cultured stooges are heartless and yet not cruel, they are best described as soulless. The "professionals" there are neither friendly nor rude; they are simply apathetic toward everyone and each other. You corporate-culture freaks deserve each other, you deserve what you do to each other.
Corporate America owes you nothing because YOU ARE Corporate America. It didn't create you in your current form, you created it in your own image. If the tables were turned, I'm sure you would have gladly crapped on others as they crapped on you. You can't help it you are a corporate-culture freak.
Don't flatter yourself into believing that the "mom and pop" grocery store didn't hire you because you are over qualified; you are not qualified to interface with their valued customers, you lack the human trait known charm. Your corporate-cultured personality makes you better suited for factory/production line work. The robot next to you will be apathetic toward you, you will feel right at home.
PS: Please don't migrate into my neighborhood, you are less wanted here than in Corporate America. You have nothing to contribute to my community. Highschool kids flip hamburgers here and most of them don't even have a MSCE.
No...just uninteresting. I saw the trailer yesterday at the theater. Looked like one of thoughs kooky cliff-hangers. I thought I'd check the comments here to see how other people viewed it. Impression while watching the trailer: It sort of reminded me of Myst or cover art from games of that era. I didn't care for the misty/soft/grainy/whatever camera effect used in the tailer either, hope it's not used too much in the final release. Trailers are a funny thing, they usually exaggerate the excitement of the feature film. I didn't feel too excited, not looking forward to the summer block-buster line-up.
Re:ok time to start out with first post trolling
on
Is Windows Worth $45?
·
· Score: 1
ahh screw it buy a MAC
Interesting you should bring up the idea of purchasing a mac. Without anything for comparison, determining value can be difficult. As a rule of thumb it's easier to estimate value based on price by comparing similar products. OS X and Windows are both desktop operating systems (primarily). OS X (box set)at pricewatch is around USD125. MS win xp pro (box set) about USD130.
conclusion: Yeah, MS Win XP is priced about the same as the other desktop OS. So what is all the arguing about?
I would think that the batteries could be repackaged into an after-market replacement kit. The enlosure and electronics are low-cost items with no resale value. I would expect the cost of microdrives as well as mp3 players to drop in the very near future, making this practice obsolete.
I went to the sysadmin website posted with this story, didn't get the jokes.:( I've read through most of the posts on this thread as well.
I'm not really sure what a sysadmin is. From what I gather, he's the guy who takes care of the office equipment, yes? I also gathered from the posts that he's like the guy in Saturday Night Live. Why is sysadminco.com funny? What's so funny about co-workers who are unfamiliar with the office equipment? I also see that "SysAdmin" and "technical support" are used interchangeably. Are they the "help desk" people?
Re:Slashdotters==Curmudgeons?
on
iPod Mini Sells Out
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
/.'ers don't fit the target demographics (Ow! That hurts!)
Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not in the target demographics-- middle-aged, male, middle-class, blue collar.
I really tried to like the iPod thing, just couldn't do it. You could say that I don't "get it." The design concept is just too radical for me. I'm of the mind set that portable music devices cost less than 30USD, comes in blister-paks, and requires 2 AA batteries not included. You know, the kind you pick up at WalMart off of a hook. I'm not color blind, I can appreciate the color schemes and slick packaging of the mini-iPods. Unfortunately, 20+ years of loud industrial environments have taken its toll on my hearing. The quality of sound from the iPod is probably much higher than the cheap WalMart unit, but I can no longer distinguish the difference.
The last "cool" motto that I uttered was "disco sucks" back in the late '70's or early '80's. Yeah, this product definately didn't target me, and yeah, its success caught me by surprise. I guess I'll have to admit that I'm not cool and haven't been cool for over two decades. It sucks growing old:(
I don't want e-mail addressed to me blocked or impeded in any way, shape, or form. I want to receive all messages to me whether or not it's from my mother, employer, or a spammer. I don't want my ISP, Bill Gates, or someones government sorting out which individuals can write to me freely. I want to determine which messages to keep and which ones to disguard. The solution to spam has NOTHING to do with my ISP, Bill Gates, or the government. In other words: BUTT OUT, BILL!
I don't believe the parent is a troll, just an attempt at spam humour (overlord reference). It should rate as "Score:0,funny." A minor point, but important for a fair moderation system.
The topic of spam inspires humour i.e.: Monty Python.It's a tradition here:)
The w3c seems to put a lot of effort writing specs and white papers about SVG. As a matter of fact, it seems as if that is all they do. Their intended audience is either very small or non-existent. In other words, SVG is a well thought out,well designed piece of vaporware. I guess the w3c is hoping that someone would build applications (IDE,viewers,plugins,etc...) based upon their standard. Guess what? Very few developers actually follow their standards, Mozilla being one of the few exceptions. If you don't agree, try validating various pages as you cruise the Internet. Most WYSIWYG web page editors don't create standards compliant web pages (FrontPage). Even MSIE,the most popular browser, isn't w3c compliant. I don't believe SVG will ever catch on simply because w3c just isn't that influencial with software developers.
There is a very easy way to fix this whole problem. Put up a "donate" button on artist's websites so I can fling them a few bucks.
I don't see how you came to this conclusion based upon the arguments you presented. Your original arguments were a)poor quality and b)intangible goods.
Your solution: a mechanism for delivering charity to the artists w/o solving a or b. Yes, your solution is "mindboggingly complex."
Slashdot Mirror
I noticed. Some bozo keeps doing that.
Wow, how long did it take you to spot this? 30 seconds?
You need to get a fucking life, man.
In the meantime, I'll keep reposting your lame diatribe about your leet Team Fagbot every time Taco dupes the story.
Many of us are Stanford alumni or students, but this is not a Stanford project.
Our basic technical approach is to build a rugged, reliable vehicle with conservative control strategies. Others may be faster, but we expect they'll get into trouble at high speed. Our top speed is 40MPH. The real problem with the Grand Challenge is not going fast on the easy parts; it's getting through the hard parts.
The 6WD chassis we're using is one of the most bump-tolerant platforms around. It can go over railroad ties at top speed without problems and without going airborne. The center of gravity is low. The front and mid axles have independent suspension; the rear axle is a swing arm. This simplifies low-level vehicle control. All wheels can be driven, although at higher speeds, we will switch from 6WD to 4WD.
We have five computers on board. Three are small PC/104 machines, and two are Pentium 4 machines. All run QNX (the OS for when it has to work.) All are industrial-strength ruggedized units. The actuators are all servomotors driven by industrial microcontrollers. All this hardware is off-the-shelf industrial control gear. And plus, CmdrTaco is a huge, raving nutsack!
Sensors include LIDAR, doppler RADAR, sonars, cameras, INS, GPS, etc. Some of them are used in unusual ways. That's all I'll say about that.
The pathfinding strategy is indeed borrowed from video game technology. It's more structured than Brooks-type behavior based robotics, and it's less structured than Latoumbe-type planning. There are three layers of control; the top one we call the "back seat driver", because it has only advisory authority over the "driver".
We have road map and topo data onboard, but it's used more as a hint than as rigid guidance. We take the waypoints DARPA gives us (on a CD, at 0430 hrs the morning of the race) and load it in. There's no offline preplanning. Wouldn't help in the real world. In addition, I can't resist that first whiff of packed shit from my wang as I finish pounding Michael Sims in the ass.
If nobody wins this year, which is quite likely, we'll be back next year with a faster vehicle.
Post questions and I'll answer them here.
John Fagogle
Team Overbot
I work in a computer music and acoustics research lab and we're always after a quieter PC. We've considered a solutions like this, but we've decided it wouldn't really be necessary for long. Here's why.
Among the many reasons for having a hard drive in every computer, two of the big ones were the Microsoft vision statement, and the fact that the network was much slower than disk. The latter is no longer the case.
The fact that network is now faster than local disk is a MAJOR development.
We've experimented with RedHat 9 with nfs root on older hardware with no disk and no fans, with 100Mb bootable NICs. We found to our surprise that they ran faster than with standard (non UDMA) ide. So, we're trying it now with newer hardware and gigabit, and some BIG heatsinks. So far, so good. We can optimize the central storage for speed, and the systems do, in fact, run noticeably faster in most cases, in addition to being nearly* silent.
We hadn't counted on the added bonuses, but there are many. We can change an entire system disk by moving dirs, reexporting, and booting the machine up. Poof, new system. We can install and uninstall packages on machines while they're off! We no longer have two or three extra gigs on each machine, all our nfsroots are from a single physical filesystem (so far) so they all have the same amount of free space, much more efficient! And if a machine offends you, you can yank the plug out. No local fsck!
*Note that the machine is never truly silent. Without any fans or disks, you can still hear a certain noise that sounds like it's happening when the disk used to seek. It's the toroids in the power supply! The network traffic causes HF noise in the power lines, which is filtered in the power supply and causes the chokes to vibrate slightly. The noise is very low, it would easily be drowned out by the quietest of fans, but in a totally silent room with no other PC sound, it's quite audible. There is also some low and infrequent clicking while the machine is warming up and cooling down, due to the thermal expansion of the heat sinks. This doesn't happen during use, when the temperature is more or less constant.
I'm supposed to document all this and I've been lazy, so if you want the rundown on booting redhat 9 without a hard drive, write to me and I'll finish the page and send you the link.
I no longer use my old Series 1 tivo. The hacks are nice, but with something based on a PC, the sky's the limit.
Currently, I'm using SageTV It's a PC based DVR software package. With it, I can currently;
- Record two standard def stations, and a high def station at the same time while watching a fourth video of any type. (Obviously, this requires having two tuners and an HDTV tuner.)
- Record standard TV to MPEG-2, MPEG-1, or just about any other format. This makes it easier to make VCDs, DVDs, or just play the program back on a standard PC.
- Playback using Dscalar to deinterlace the video.
- Play DVDs
- Play DivX
- Record shows as favorites (just like season passes) or let SageTV record things based on my past viewing habits (much like tivo's suggestions only I don't have to bother with thumbs up and down buttons)
- Do all of the above with an integrated schedule, which is free. No need to pay a monthly fee.
- Play and manage my MP3 library (I think you can do ogg, ape, etc. with some tweaks to the config)
- Stream video and audio to another PC over my LAN.
I'm sure I'm missing much more. This thing does way more than any tivo, even a hacked tivo, and it's constantly being expanded. It surpasses TiVo and ReplyTV in every way. I've even found it to be more flexible than MythTV and Showstopper (though they do have a few benefits in some areas.)
This is one of the most depressing stories about the state of the Internet that I've read in a while.
I agree w/ your dark assessment. I wish I had mod points, but the only thing I have to offer is my password... rubberband. Feel free to use :)
Microsoft software played a major role in my life. It was the tool that helped me in my career for nearly a quarter of a century. The ease of use allowed me to express myself and share my thoughts with friends, classmates, relatives, and fellow emplyees. I wrote love letters with Word, presented ideas to co-workers with Excel, and even created my first personal webpage with Frontpage. Microsoft is no enemy of mine, more like an old friend.
That's pretty funny. I wish I had mod points for you but I never seem to get any :(
Amazing. The sig is right. That really is the password.
and good morning to you, fp troll guy!
That is a neat. You gotta hand it to the TIVO guys for coming up with great ideas!
The strange thing about Java:
tons of books at the book store
lots and lots of discussion
BIG companies are involved
I still haven't got a clue what the heck it is. For the past five years, I have heard Java this, Java that, Java Java Java....
What do I need to use it, some kind of virtual machine thingy? Is this something on my computer? If not, why do I need this? Do I need this? Am I missing out on something or what? Is it a browser plugin like flash? With all the development with Java there must be at least one popular application written with it. Please tell me, I'm not kidding, I have no idea what it is.
That was the most pathetic diatribe I've read in a long time. Get over yourself.
When you work for a corporation, you do so at your own peril.
Corporations are unsympathetic toward people, it's their nature, their advantage.
You are a corporate-cultured stooge. Like the company you worked for, you didn't care about anyone but yourself.
I've been to Silly-Con Valley.Corporate-cultured stooges are heartless and yet not cruel, they are best described as soulless. The "professionals" there are neither friendly nor rude; they are simply apathetic toward everyone and each other.
You corporate-culture freaks deserve each other, you deserve what you do to each other.
Corporate America owes you nothing because YOU ARE Corporate America.
It didn't create you in your current form, you created it in your own image.
If the tables were turned, I'm sure you would have gladly crapped on others as they crapped on you.
You can't help it you are a corporate-culture freak.
Don't flatter yourself into believing that the "mom and pop" grocery store didn't hire you because you are over qualified; you are not qualified to interface with their valued customers, you lack the human trait known charm. Your corporate-cultured personality makes you better suited for factory/production line work. The robot next to you will be apathetic toward you, you will feel right at home.
PS:
Please don't migrate into my neighborhood, you are less wanted here than in Corporate America. You have nothing to contribute to my community. Highschool kids flip hamburgers here and most of them don't even have a MSCE.
No...just uninteresting. I saw the trailer yesterday at the theater. Looked like one of thoughs kooky cliff-hangers. I thought I'd check the comments here to see how other people viewed it. Impression while watching the trailer: It sort of reminded me of Myst or cover art from games of that era. I didn't care for the misty/soft/grainy/whatever camera effect used in the tailer either, hope it's not used too much in the final release. Trailers are a funny thing, they usually exaggerate the excitement of the feature film. I didn't feel too excited, not looking forward to the summer block-buster line-up.
ahh screw it buy a MAC
Interesting you should bring up the idea of purchasing a mac. Without anything for comparison, determining value can be difficult. As a rule of thumb it's easier to estimate value based on price by comparing similar products. OS X and Windows are both desktop operating systems (primarily). OS X (box set)at pricewatch is around USD125. MS win xp pro (box set) about USD130.
conclusion: Yeah, MS Win XP is priced about the same as the other desktop OS. So what is all the arguing about?
I would think that the batteries could be repackaged into an after-market replacement kit. The enlosure and electronics are low-cost items with no resale value. I would expect the cost of microdrives as well as mp3 players to drop in the very near future, making this practice obsolete.
I went to the sysadmin website posted with this story, didn't get the jokes. :( I've read through most of the posts on this thread as well.
I'm not really sure what a sysadmin is. From what I gather, he's the guy who takes care of the office equipment, yes? I also gathered from the posts that he's like the guy in Saturday Night Live. Why is sysadminco.com funny? What's so funny about co-workers who are unfamiliar with the office equipment? I also see that "SysAdmin" and "technical support" are used interchangeably. Are they the "help desk" people?
Well, I'm pretty sure I'm not in the target demographics-- middle-aged, male, middle-class, blue collar.
I really tried to like the iPod thing, just couldn't do it. You could say that I don't "get it." The design concept is just too radical for me. I'm of the mind set that portable music devices cost less than 30USD, comes in blister-paks, and requires 2 AA batteries not included. You know, the kind you pick up at WalMart off of a hook. I'm not color blind, I can appreciate the color schemes and slick packaging of the mini-iPods. Unfortunately, 20+ years of loud industrial environments have taken its toll on my hearing. The quality of sound from the iPod is probably much higher than the cheap WalMart unit, but I can no longer distinguish the difference.
The last "cool" motto that I uttered was "disco sucks" back in the late '70's or early '80's. Yeah, this product definately didn't target me, and yeah, its success caught me by surprise. I guess I'll have to admit that I'm not cool and haven't been cool for over two decades. It sucks growing old
Email needs to be free...
Damn straight!
I don't want e-mail addressed to me blocked or impeded in any way, shape, or form. I want to receive all messages to me whether or not it's from my mother, employer, or a spammer. I don't want my ISP, Bill Gates, or someones government sorting out which individuals can write to me freely. I want to determine which messages to keep and which ones to disguard. The solution to spam has NOTHING to do with my ISP, Bill Gates, or the government. In other words: BUTT OUT, BILL!
I don't believe the parent is a troll, just an attempt at spam humour (overlord reference). It should rate as "Score:0,funny."
A minor point, but important for a fair moderation system.
The topic of spam inspires humour i.e.: Monty Python.It's a tradition here :)
The w3c seems to put a lot of effort writing specs and white papers about SVG. As a matter of fact, it seems as if that is all they do. Their intended audience is either very small or non-existent. In other words, SVG is a well thought out,well designed piece of vaporware. I guess the w3c is hoping that someone would build applications (IDE,viewers,plugins,etc...) based upon their standard. Guess what? Very few developers actually follow their standards, Mozilla being one of the few exceptions. If you don't agree, try validating various pages as you cruise the Internet. Most WYSIWYG web page editors don't create standards compliant web pages (FrontPage). Even MSIE,the most popular browser, isn't w3c compliant. I don't believe SVG will ever catch on simply because w3c just isn't that influencial with software developers.
There is a very easy way to fix this whole problem. Put up a "donate" button on artist's websites so I can fling them a few bucks.
I don't see how you came to this conclusion based upon the arguments you presented. Your original arguments were a)poor quality and b)intangible goods.
Your solution: a mechanism for delivering charity to the artists w/o solving a or b. Yes, your solution is "mindboggingly complex."
Same here -- Mozilla + Bayesian filters.
It is so effective that I no longer advocate action against the spammers. I believe that Moz + bayz =solution.
The problem is not whether U.S. History is true or false. The problem is accepting that U.S. History does not exist. Red pill or blue pill?
Read outload with a nasally voice.