Midlife space nostalgia
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 1-NOV-2009 07:13
So, Space is becoming more prominent again. The Cold War space race is history, and nuke research is no longer a driver for space research but with the Augustine Report, things seem to be moving again.
http://gizmodo.com/5393755/an-astronaut-explains-how-well-fall-in-love-with-space-again
How much of this is down to midlife space nostalgia? The kids I grew up with watched Star Trek, Dr Who, Battlestar Galactica etc, and read scifi, and dreamed about visiting deep space. Now, members of my generation who went into science and tech are old enough to make things happen. We've got the experience and authority in our fields to make things possible. And midlife is a time for nostalgia.
How many of the people with influence at NASA are 40-somethings who finally have the means to realise their teenage dreams?
http://gizmodo.com/5393755/an-astronaut-explains-how-well-fall-in-love-with-space-again
How much of this is down to midlife space nostalgia? The kids I grew up with watched Star Trek, Dr Who, Battlestar Galactica etc, and read scifi, and dreamed about visiting deep space. Now, members of my generation who went into science and tech are old enough to make things happen. We've got the experience and authority in our fields to make things possible. And midlife is a time for nostalgia.
How many of the people with influence at NASA are 40-somethings who finally have the means to realise their teenage dreams?
Form factors and price points
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 20-JUL-2009 07:58
I'm OK with most of the jargon of our profession, but there are two expressions I can't stand:
"Form factor" = geometry
"Price point" = price
"Small form-factor PC at a favourable price point" = small cheap computer
"Form factor" = geometry
"Price point" = price
"Small form-factor PC at a favourable price point" = small cheap computer
iPhone development
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 10-JUL-2009 09:19
Well, it's been a busy year since I last posted. I am still doing my voip work but am also CTO of Macfarlane Engel and Associates, an 'innovation management' company. http://www.macfarlaneengel.com .
At the moment the big thing for us is iPhone development. I'm now working on my second iPhone app -- it's a bloody cool platform to code for once you've got your head round the documentation. Obviously (NDA) I can't talk too much about the details but what we're doing is definitely cutting-edge and very challenging! And a HUGE amount of fun too!
My new iPhone G S should be arriving soon ...
At the moment the big thing for us is iPhone development. I'm now working on my second iPhone app -- it's a bloody cool platform to code for once you've got your head round the documentation. Obviously (NDA) I can't talk too much about the details but what we're doing is definitely cutting-edge and very challenging! And a HUGE amount of fun too!
My new iPhone G S should be arriving soon ...
I am back, and programming Python now ...
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 21-AUG-2008 21:42
Well, it's been a very strange year indeed, and not very geeky, with a lot of upheavals in my personal life. However, I'm not going to blog about those ...
I have discovered Python, in a big way. It all started because I got involved with a project (very strict NDA) for a client that uses Python. I'd never really looked at it before ... my coding history was Fortran (at first), then C, C++, Genstat (an obscure statistical modelling package with a powerful Fortran-like scripting language [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenStat[/url]), lots and lots of Perl for web backends and web crawling, some Java (which I've used a lot but never really liked), some PHP (which I have never and will never like) and a tiny smidge of C# ...
Well, I am seriously enthusiastic about Python. Not quite in the same way Pentecostalists are about God, but not far off.
I can use it for:
- web backends using Django
- my mystery top-secret project with a tight NDA
- Asterisk AGI scripting
- the icing on the cake: Apple Cocoa projects
It is also fast becoming the language of choice for mobile devices, a field I am increasingly involved in:
Around the world on a recumbent bike ...
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 14-JUL-2007 14:28
A friend just sent me this after I mentioned that I'd like to travel by land (as much as possible) from NZ to UK one day.
This guy went from Japan to Switzerland on a recumbant cycle.
(Scruss, this one's for you!)
This guy went from Japan to Switzerland on a recumbant cycle.
(Scruss, this one's for you!)
Who needs 128k RAM anyway?
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 13-JUL-2007 16:41
A friend's blog on a Sinclair Spectrum emulator jerked me into 80s computing nostalgia. I started hunting around for Dragon 32 stuff.
I came across this classic quote from THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL DRAGON USERS GROUP.
... the Dragon+ board, sure, it has its uses, but all most people want is a straight rep1acement for the 6847 chip and a modified ROM, to provide an 80 column display with true lower case. Not difficult, surely?. Who NEEDS 128k anyway?...you have to be an exceptionally bad programmer to use THAT much memory!.
I came across this classic quote from THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL DRAGON USERS GROUP.
... the Dragon+ board, sure, it has its uses, but all most people want is a straight rep1acement for the 6847 chip and a modified ROM, to provide an 80 column display with true lower case. Not difficult, surely?. Who NEEDS 128k anyway?...you have to be an exceptionally bad programmer to use THAT much memory!.
Organic farming could feed the world
By Rob Scovell, in
Other stuff, posted: 13-JUL-2007 00:07
This is a very pleasing piece of news ...
http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12245&feedId=earth_rss20
It seems that it is not unreasonable to suggest that the all food could be 'organic'. (Yes, I know that all food is organic, but you know what I mean.)
http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12245&feedId=earth_rss20
It seems that it is not unreasonable to suggest that the all food could be 'organic'. (Yes, I know that all food is organic, but you know what I mean.)
How to get started with Gumstix
By Rob Scovell, in
Small Computers, posted: 12-JUL-2007 23:20
Dealing with the Gumstix reminds me of when I first installed Linux on a 486 way back in 1997. There is documentation, but it assumes you know what you are doing and what the terminology means ... and you go round in circles wondering where you can find an entry point.
Sometimes in the Gumstix wiki, it is hard to tell if the sections on some pages are stages in a process, or options.
I am putting this post out there in case it gets Googled by any other Gumstix n00bs such as myself.
Here are some n00b observations on how to prepare yourself to drive this baby. Some of them apply to generally small/embedded Linux computers.
You should know your way around Linux before you mess with a Gumstix.
Perhaps I should qualify that. Knowing your way around Linux makes this easier, but this could be an old-school way into Linux for a Linux newbie. There are no nice pretty graphical wizards to help you through the process. I suppose I could do a grumpy old man act and say that if struggling with self-referentially opaque documentation was good enough for me back in the 90s, it's good enough for anyone. If you want to learn Linux the hard way, get a Gumstix.
Corollary: make sure you know at least a little bit about Linux kernel compilation.
You will need to do this quite a lot to get your Gumstix to do what you want.
Play around with buildroot on your development PC first.
Buildroot is the compilation kit for small Linux computers. To create Linux installations for Gumstix, you use buildroot on a big Linux PC to create the OS that you will install on the Gumstix. Get to know buildroot very well. Go through the packages using 'make menuconfig' to see what options you can (and need to) configure. Practice compiling kernels. Practice compiling packages. Do this thoroughly before you even think about unpacking your Gumstix. This is the advice I would have given myself before I started if I had known that this is the advice to give. It would have made following the instructions easier.
Prepare to do without your usual tools.
'Less' is not installed by default, leaving you with 'more'. Bash isn't there either. See it as an exercise in tool dieting. You can't do a quick apt-get to install missing tools. Neither can you compile stuff on the Gumstix. This is perhaps obvious, but it is like having children. You sort of know what it's going to be like, but you don't really know until you experience it. This is a good opportunity to finally get around to getting your head around vi. (Hmmmm ... more 'old school' thoughts ... maybe anyone who aspires to be a Linux Alpha Geek should be required to install something on a Gumstix first ... perhaps it should be first-semester stuff on any Computer Science course.) Oh, and top isn't there either.
Get in some supplies of your favourite stimulant drink.
Take notes and blog.
The more people who blog about their Gumstix experiences, the more resources there will be on the Interweb-thingy about this, and the less reliant we will be on the sketchy details on the Gumstix wiki.
Don't re-flash the factory-flashed flash. Boot from MMC/CF instead.
Be kind to yourself. You might end up having to send it back to the USA to get it reflashed, which costs a fortune in shipping. (USD 45 each way for shipping plus the flashing fee.) USE THE CF/MMC CARD FOR YOUR CUSTOM INSTALLATIONS AND LEAVE THE ON-BOARD FLASH ALONE. This is especially true if you have a Gumstix with no serial port.
Setting it up to boot from MMC or CF is not all that straightforward because you have to create two buildroot target filesystems. The first loads into RAM and boots the second. This is very fiddly and is the main reason why you should play around with buildroot first, so you know what you're doing. I didn't, and I wasted a lot of time. But then, I didn't know what I didn't know until I found out I didn't know it.
Corollary: don't change the factory configuration files.
You run the risk of not being able to ssh into the thing. Leave well alone.
Next ... installing Asterisk on Gumstix ... watch this space ...
Sometimes in the Gumstix wiki, it is hard to tell if the sections on some pages are stages in a process, or options.
I am putting this post out there in case it gets Googled by any other Gumstix n00bs such as myself.
Here are some n00b observations on how to prepare yourself to drive this baby. Some of them apply to generally small/embedded Linux computers.
You should know your way around Linux before you mess with a Gumstix.
Perhaps I should qualify that. Knowing your way around Linux makes this easier, but this could be an old-school way into Linux for a Linux newbie. There are no nice pretty graphical wizards to help you through the process. I suppose I could do a grumpy old man act and say that if struggling with self-referentially opaque documentation was good enough for me back in the 90s, it's good enough for anyone. If you want to learn Linux the hard way, get a Gumstix.
Corollary: make sure you know at least a little bit about Linux kernel compilation.
You will need to do this quite a lot to get your Gumstix to do what you want.
Play around with buildroot on your development PC first.
Buildroot is the compilation kit for small Linux computers. To create Linux installations for Gumstix, you use buildroot on a big Linux PC to create the OS that you will install on the Gumstix. Get to know buildroot very well. Go through the packages using 'make menuconfig' to see what options you can (and need to) configure. Practice compiling kernels. Practice compiling packages. Do this thoroughly before you even think about unpacking your Gumstix. This is the advice I would have given myself before I started if I had known that this is the advice to give. It would have made following the instructions easier.
Prepare to do without your usual tools.
'Less' is not installed by default, leaving you with 'more'. Bash isn't there either. See it as an exercise in tool dieting. You can't do a quick apt-get to install missing tools. Neither can you compile stuff on the Gumstix. This is perhaps obvious, but it is like having children. You sort of know what it's going to be like, but you don't really know until you experience it. This is a good opportunity to finally get around to getting your head around vi. (Hmmmm ... more 'old school' thoughts ... maybe anyone who aspires to be a Linux Alpha Geek should be required to install something on a Gumstix first ... perhaps it should be first-semester stuff on any Computer Science course.) Oh, and top isn't there either.
Get in some supplies of your favourite stimulant drink.
Take notes and blog.
The more people who blog about their Gumstix experiences, the more resources there will be on the Interweb-thingy about this, and the less reliant we will be on the sketchy details on the Gumstix wiki.
Don't re-flash the factory-flashed flash. Boot from MMC/CF instead.
Be kind to yourself. You might end up having to send it back to the USA to get it reflashed, which costs a fortune in shipping. (USD 45 each way for shipping plus the flashing fee.) USE THE CF/MMC CARD FOR YOUR CUSTOM INSTALLATIONS AND LEAVE THE ON-BOARD FLASH ALONE. This is especially true if you have a Gumstix with no serial port.
Setting it up to boot from MMC or CF is not all that straightforward because you have to create two buildroot target filesystems. The first loads into RAM and boots the second. This is very fiddly and is the main reason why you should play around with buildroot first, so you know what you're doing. I didn't, and I wasted a lot of time. But then, I didn't know what I didn't know until I found out I didn't know it.
Corollary: don't change the factory configuration files.
You run the risk of not being able to ssh into the thing. Leave well alone.
Next ... installing Asterisk on Gumstix ... watch this space ...
Google Desktop for Mac breaks mdimport/Spotlight
By Rob Scovell, in
Unix (BSD, Darwin, Linux), posted: 12-JUL-2007 20:09
I installed Google Desktop a couple of weeks ago. It broke stuff like Terminal so I picked it out of my filesystem ... or so I thought.
I was poking around in my /var/log/system.log file to sort out an NFS problem when I saw hundreds of these, every 10 seconds:
Jul 12 21:13:44 Laptop crashdump[404]: mdimport crashed
Jul 12 21:13:44 Laptop launchd: Server dd6b in bootstrap bd27 uid 502: "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Vers
ions/A/Support/mdimportserver"[403]: exited abnormally: Segmentation fault
Jul 12 21:13:45 Laptop crashdump[404]: crash report written to: /Users/robscovell/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/mdimport.crash.log
So I looked in /Users/robscovell/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/mdimport.crash.log
and what did I see ... :
Command: mdimport
Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/Spotlight/mdimport
Parent: GoogleDesktopDaemon [36]
Version: ??? (???)
PID: 8243
Thread: 0
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x0001) at 0x60000010
A full bug report will be made to Google Labs!
I was poking around in my /var/log/system.log file to sort out an NFS problem when I saw hundreds of these, every 10 seconds:
Jul 12 21:13:44 Laptop crashdump[404]: mdimport crashed
Jul 12 21:13:44 Laptop launchd: Server dd6b in bootstrap bd27 uid 502: "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Vers
ions/A/Support/mdimportserver"[403]: exited abnormally: Segmentation fault
Jul 12 21:13:45 Laptop crashdump[404]: crash report written to: /Users/robscovell/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/mdimport.crash.log
So I looked in /Users/robscovell/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/mdimport.crash.log
and what did I see ... :
Command: mdimport
Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/Spotlight/mdimport
Parent: GoogleDesktopDaemon [36]
Version: ??? (???)
PID: 8243
Thread: 0
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x0001) at 0x60000010
A full bug report will be made to Google Labs!
USB Stick RAID
By Rob Scovell, in
Small Computers, posted: 12-JUL-2007 12:52
This article claims to turn an ordinary nerd into a "SUPER LINUX GURU".
Yes, it shows you how to create RAIDs on USB sticks.
The article is not entirely serious ... but I *can* see some uses for such a thing.
Here are instructions for a floppy disk RAID.
Why? Here's why:
"Why not? I had just set up my 2 firewire drives and thought, "Can I RAID USB Floppy DRIVES"? I happen to work for Y-E DATA which is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of USB Floppy Drives, so I have access to these things. I had just been going through a pile of returns testing the drives for failure. There are always a few that are fine though, so I got 5 of them for this very important scientific feat."
Yes, it shows you how to create RAIDs on USB sticks.
The article is not entirely serious ... but I *can* see some uses for such a thing.
Here are instructions for a floppy disk RAID.
Why? Here's why:
"Why not? I had just set up my 2 firewire drives and thought, "Can I RAID USB Floppy DRIVES"? I happen to work for Y-E DATA which is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of USB Floppy Drives, so I have access to these things. I had just been going through a pile of returns testing the drives for failure. There are always a few that are fine though, so I got 5 of them for this very important scientific feat."
