#robotics Logs

Jun 15 2012

#robotics Calendar


00:13 tsmeow-afk pets while watching the flashy lites on the scr
00:15 furrywolf mrrf :)
00:22 furrywolf bbl, wolfy bedtime
00:22 katsmeow-afk gnites
00:24 furrywolf :)
00:56 katsmeow-afk ok, i need something to put in the bottom of 5gal buckets so they take only 2gal - 3gal of dirt to fill them, for planting small veggies in
00:56 katsmeow-afk something besides more dirt
00:56 katsmeow-afk something that weighs less than dirt
00:57 katsmeow-afk i know what might be ideal, but it's left in Fla
00:57 katsmeow-afk so all i can come up with that weigh nothing and uses up 3 gal of space is a 3gal bucket :-/
01:17 rue_mohr 6!=7 is true, but (6!=7) is false, I WILL HUNT THIS BUG DOW AND DESTROY IT!
01:17 katsmeow-afk I HOPE SO!!
01:20 katsmeow-afk Second, the first planting of tomatoes is essentially finished after a month or so, and it is necessary to plant a second crop of tomatoes to extend the harvest. Unlike the first planting, it is essential to get the second crop of tomatoes in before the end of July. Planting later than July usually results in essentially no harvest.
01:21 rue_mohr rain rain rian rain rain
01:21 katsmeow-afk now?
01:21 rue_mohr been nuthin but
01:22 rue_mohr ok I think I know how to fix this
01:23 rue_mohr during the operation priority evaluation I remove the actual brackets
01:28 rue_mohr Type: Parenthisis Content: "(" Priority: 0
01:28 rue_mohr Type: Variable Content: "d" Priority: 0
01:28 rue_mohr Type: Operator Content: "!=" Priority: 0
01:28 rue_mohr Type: Constant Content: "6" Priority: 0
01:28 rue_mohr Type: Parenthisis Content: ")" Priority: 0
01:28 rue_mohr ok
01:29 rue_mohr Type: Parenthisis Content: "(" Priority: 0
01:29 rue_mohr Type: Variable Content: "d" Priority: 0
01:29 rue_mohr Type: Operator Content: "!=" Priority: 90
01:29 rue_mohr Type: Constant Content: "6" Priority: 0
01:29 rue_mohr Type: Parenthisis Content: ")" Priority: 0
01:30 rue_mohr normally != is priority 10, its adding 80 to it cause of them parenthisis
01:34 katsmeow-afk o
01:36 rue_mohr hmm if your doing something and go to ask someone a question, if they dont know, they are just confused, and if they do know, they tell you its futile cause its ben done before...
01:36 rue_mohr hows your motor going kat?
01:38 katsmeow-afk my paws hurt, distracted by the cellar pool-tank and plumbing, the fast-approaching deadline for any garden this year,
01:39 rue_mohr hmm trying to free the head of the linked list isn't working
01:39 katsmeow-afk how's youe mecha coming along, rue?
01:40 rue_mohr :( I didn't wokr on it today
01:40 rue_mohr I tink I'm waitng for bearings from china
01:40 rue_mohr my cutting disks are in vancouver
01:40 rue_mohr I should see them in a week or so
01:41 rue_mohr typedef struct eqLL_s {
01:41 rue_mohr eqNode_t * Head, * Tail;
01:41 rue_mohr } eqLL_t;
01:41 rue_mohr void eqNode_DeleteNode(eqNode_t * this){
01:41 rue_mohr if (this->rhs != NULL) this->rhs->lhs = this->lhs;
01:41 rue_mohr if (this->lhs != NULL) this->lhs->rhs = this->rhs;
01:41 rue_mohr
01:41 rue_mohr free(this->detail);
01:41 rue_mohr free(this);
01:41 rue_mohr this = NULL;
01:42 rue_mohr }
01:42 rue_mohr so when this->lhs == NULL
01:42 rue_mohr uh
01:43 rue_mohr hmm
01:43 rue_mohr have to repoint the head
01:43 rue_mohr so maybe I should copy the rhs to the current and delete it
01:43 rue_mohr but, what if its the tail
01:43 rue_mohr hmm
01:44 rue_mohr this needs much thought
01:46 katsmeow-afk it always does
01:46 katsmeow-afk that's what thinking chairs are for
01:52 rue_bed zzzzz
01:53 rue_bed it should be possable to boil the linked list down to just 1 node
01:53 rue_bed so, something went awry
05:39 Tom_itx http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Keyboard_bubbles_up_from_touchscreen_when_typing_deflates_when_done-article-fajb_haptic_technology_jun2012-html.aspx
05:41 Tom_itx http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Communications_processor_is_full_featured-article-ICDjh16_Jul2012-html.aspx
08:10 katsmeow-afk just when i think i find something new, i read it's authored in part by Push Singh :-(
08:21 katsmeow-afk wow, they took him off Wikipedia too
08:22 Steffanx What are you talking about katsmeow-afk ?
08:23 katsmeow-afk umm, "just when i think i find something new, i read" = "i found something i thought was new to read"
08:23 katsmeow-afk "it's authored in part by Push Singh" = "Push Singh wrote and/or contributed to it"
08:24 Steffanx whatever
08:24 katsmeow-afk ":-(" = "i am sad the article is old, and that Push Singh killed himself 5 years ago, and that the article is just now found"
08:24 katsmeow-afk you asked what i was talking about
08:24 Steffanx zlgo
08:24 Steffanx zlog
08:25 Tom_itx also known as a ghost writer?
08:25 katsmeow-afk Tom, he wrote a lot when he was alive
08:25 Tom_itx why did they take him off wiki?
08:26 katsmeow-afk Chris McKinstry was a very similar Ai researcher, same fields of work, same approaches, both suicides not far apart
08:26 katsmeow-afk dunno
08:26 katsmeow-afk This page has been deleted. The deletion and move log for the page are provided below for reference.
08:26 katsmeow-afk 10:01, 7 June 2007 Radiant! (talk | contribs) deleted page Push Singh (Died before becoming famous. Sorry, but Wikipedia is not a memorial.)
08:27 Tom_itx govt funded suicide?
08:27 katsmeow-afk shit , they need a new definition of "famous" then
08:37 Steffanx katsmeow-afk has a wikipedia page too?
08:37 Steffanx You deserve it :P
08:38 Steffanx Me too
08:38 Steffanx I redefined "famous"
08:40 katsmeow-afk it's a good example of why you cannot count on even basic articles to be online the next time you look them up, it's why i archive anything worth reading
08:40 katsmeow-afk i have the deleted wikipedia article, it's how i know it was deleted
08:42 katsmeow-afk sheesh i need a hd box, even this puter has only 20gig free out of 700gigs installed
08:43 m_itx gives katsmeow-afk a couple 2TB dr
08:45 katsmeow-afk thanks :-)
08:47 Tom_itx mmm 1tb $119
08:47 Tom_itx sata 6
08:47 katsmeow-afk 6??
08:47 katsmeow-afk did 3 ever get out to the public?
08:47 Tom_itx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
08:48 katsmeow-afk SATA 6.0Gb/s
08:48 katsmeow-afk iirc, that's sata level 3
08:48 Tom_itx 2TB is cheaper than 1
08:49 Tom_itx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145369
08:50 katsmeow-afk thing is, 1) i have no sata on any mobo i have (cept maybe one), B) no platters on any hd can sustain sata 3 buss speeds
08:50 katsmeow-afk Over the years the industry has increased bus bandwidth from PATA through SATA 1.5 Gb/s and SATA 3 Gb/s to keep up with the demand for higher transfer rates. The next evolution of bus bandwidth has now been achieved with the introduction of SATA 6 Gb/s, (SATA 3.0).
08:51 Tom_itx 32mb cache
08:51 Tom_itx that's 3x bigger than my first hdd
08:51 tsmeow-afk knows that fee
08:52 katsmeow-afk what's worse, when i bought my first 64k of ram, a horribly slow 100ns speed, it was $100 on sale, so 32 megs of it would have been $50,000
08:53 rizlah ...
08:53 Tom_itx it would have kept you warm at night
08:53 katsmeow-afk that too
08:53 rizlah Guaranteed some government agency thought 50k for 32m was worth it.
08:53 Tom_itx holy shit how big are they up to now??
08:53 Tom_itx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844
08:54 Tom_itx put 8 of those in a raid
08:54 rizlah Tom_itx: Hitachi does 4TB
08:54 katsmeow-afk i still prefer my approach, if i can pull it off: 20 pata drives at 133 ata6 = 21Gb/s
08:54 Tom_itx i don't like hitachi drives
08:55 Tom_itx or mitsubishi
08:57 Tom_itx i'm not actually sure what brand is more reliable nowdays
08:59 katsmeow-afk me either,, altho i have preferred Maxtor, a few yrs ago they rebranded some company they bought and sold them as Maxtor, and Early WesternDigital were junk, but i have more of them running now than anything else, and they are holding up
09:00 Tom_itx most of mine are wd and maxtor now i think
09:00 katsmeow-afk the rebranded company was junk
09:01 katsmeow-afk i actually atm have boxes of hds full of data that's not online anymore, and not enough computer to plug them all in,, not that adding puters is the right way to deal with that
09:02 Tom_itx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227771
09:02 Tom_itx free shipping
09:02 katsmeow-afk part of my fear with hds is the OS getting hold of the data, locking it as "in use" so it cannot be read, making an idiot math error so it gets overwritten, etc etc
09:03 katsmeow-afk yeowch
09:03 katsmeow-afk well, it's way cheaper than buying 32Mbytes in 1980
09:04 Tom_itx PCI-e
09:05 katsmeow-afk ya know, years ago you could buy harddrive controller cards you could plug mobo ram into, use as cache or ramdrive, ran faster than SSD ram does now
09:05 katsmeow-afk i have no pci-e
09:05 Tom_itx Max Sequential Read: Up to 2000 MB/s
09:05 Tom_itx Max Sequential Write: Up to 2000 MB/s
09:05 katsmeow-afk my stuff still works, but it's real old in puter terms
09:05 Tom_itx mine is too
09:05 Tom_itx i have one pcie
09:06 Tom_itx on my atom
09:07 katsmeow-afk my info tells me Walmart has two big servers, 48terabytes of ram
09:09 katsmeow-afk 18wheeler car carrier rolled and caught fire, sooooooo not the right way to "keep the shiney side up"
09:11 Tom_itx full?
09:11 katsmeow-afk yep
09:11 Tom_itx where/
09:11 Tom_itx ?
09:11 katsmeow-afk i am hoping he tripped over a certain grey RX-7 and squashed it
09:11 Tom_itx i could see that on I40 toward NC
09:12 katsmeow-afk you have good eyes
09:12 Tom_itx they drive nuts there
09:16 katsmeow-afk not finding urls for the car carrier overturning
09:16 katsmeow-afk it was this morning, last i heard only one lane on I-59 still blocked, in ala$#%&^#bama
09:19 katsmeow-afk MORGAN CITY, LA (WAFB) - St. Mary Parish put up more than $3 million for a Convention and Visitor's bureau. It was less than six weeks from completion when suddenly, "A painter was in there today (Thursday), and he noticed a crack in the sheet rock."
09:19 katsmeow-afk Stansbury said the Convention and Visitor's bureau sank about five feet. She said the building was engineered according to soil samples taken at the site, but at the end of the day, they built on a swamp. Stansbury said they were very much aware they were building on a swamp.
09:19 katsmeow-afk Engineers and architects are investigating, but no clear answer as to what went wrong.
09:19 katsmeow-afk http://www.wtvm.com/story/18791048/visitors-center-sinking-into-swamp
09:19 katsmeow-afk pics
09:24 rue_mohr a=(2+3)*3 -->> 15 it seems that as long as the first element isn't a parenthisis, it works ok
09:25 katsmeow-afk look at the freaking cannon this alabama cop is carrying while looking for someone : http://raycomgroup.images.worldnow.com/images/1661750_G.jpg
09:30 katsmeow-afk "hold on while i get this thing lowered to shoot at you! hey bubba, hold the other end of this thing while i point it at that there guy"
09:50 furrywolf from the description of it suddenly sinking, it was probably built over a sinkhole, and sufficient geological work was not done to detect this.
09:50 furrywolf "The guy came in. He said something doesn't look right. (Told everyone) get out of here, and then it sank,"
09:50 furrywolf settling into a swamp doesn't cause that.
09:53 furrywolf I don't think there's much limestone in that area, so probably flowing underground water.
11:32 katsmeow-afk Updated: Friday, June 15 2012 11:34 AM EDT2012-06-15 15:34:04 GMTover 47 minutes agoJun 15, 2012 10:34 AM CDT
11:32 katsmeow-afk (RNN) - Tropical Storm Carlotta is now a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.The storm is situated 330 miles southeast of Acapulco, Mexico.Copyright 2012 Raycom News Network. AllMore >>
11:32 katsmeow-afk Tropical Storm Carlotta is now a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. The storm could become a Category 2 as it approaches the Pacific coast of Mexico.
11:52 katsmeow-afk wait, sat images show it is not over Mexico traveling westward towards the coat, it's over the Pacific, traveling eastward towards the coast
11:52 katsmeow-afk i wish they'd be more clear on these things, it was real ambiguous
12:04 furrywolf I think the first project for today is going to be re-routing some of the electrical wiring I need to move to cut the water heater access door wider.
16:33 damian_ I would like to buy a computer like the raspberry pi so I can run linux and php on it, any suggestions?
16:33 damian_ I did also consider the beagleboard
16:34 ace4016 anything in the ITX form factor?
16:34 ace4016 gumstix?
16:34 damian_ I... didn't even think of using a normal motherboard in a different size... thank you for opening my mind to possibilities
16:35 damian_ I'll look into gumstix
16:36 damian_ eh, looks kinda expensive to get gumstix compared to pi or beagle
16:36 damian_ I think beagle was $70 or somn
16:37 furrywolf just helped someone buy a new truck... '87 f-250 4x4, 460, warn 8274 winch, $400. runs and drives great, 130k miles, only a couple small dents.
17:31 ace4016 man...i want to work on an automated personal transport system
17:32 damian_ I have a bunch of channels open I thought that was for a linux one :D
17:32 tsmeow-afk puts a avr and relay on ace's trebu
17:33 ace4016 lol
17:46 zhanx evening
17:50 Tom_itx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32CkOkpOcSc
17:50 Tom_itx aka abcminiuser author of LUFA
18:50 zhanx YES! cable is back up
18:53 damian_ anyone have opinions on the raspberry pi? I'm considering buying one for my first project
18:56 Tom_itx does anyone have one to form an opinion about?
18:58 damian_ even opinions based only on information would be nice, I haven't delved into the realm of small computers or other CPU architectures at all
18:58 damian_ even general information would be useful
19:22 damian_ are GPIO pins just on/off or can their voltage/amperage be varied?
19:22 Tom_itx on off
19:22 Tom_itx ~20 ma if you're lucky
19:22 rizlah I want something like that, not sure if I should go for a BeagleBoard or something
19:23 damian_ hmm, I was thinking to use it for a speed controller, then again I dunno how exactly a speed controller works...
19:23 damian_ I have so much to learn
19:27 Tom_itx pwm
19:49 Triffid_Hunter damian_: don't use a pi for a speed controller, use an arduino
19:50 Triffid_Hunter damian_: the pi is an application processor, it's designed for games and multimedia and serving files and stuff like that, it is not designed for hard realtime GPIO tasks
19:50 Triffid_Hunter damian_: however the arduino has built-in hardware timers that are specifically designed for PWM amongst other things
19:52 zhanx heck use an arduino to talk to the pi
19:52 Triffid_Hunter damian_: if you want to do the sort of processing that the pi is good for but the arduino can't handle, use both
19:52 Triffid_Hunter damian_: ie pi for processing, arduino for hard realtime
19:52 Triffid_Hunter also check out the mk802 if the pi isn't fast enough ;)
19:53 zhanx or the maple
19:53 Triffid_Hunter isn't the maple really expensive?
19:54 FreezingCold Thoughts on community college for two years in robotics?
19:54 FreezingCold That or complete my last two years at high school
19:54 Triffid_Hunter ah, maple is a cortex-m3 board, that's not gonna run linux ;)
19:54 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: don't let school get in the way of your education. every single decent engineer I've met coming out of school/college was good despite the education rather than because of it
19:55 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: so view the institution as simply a way to get a piece of paper that says you know stuff, teach yourself independently of them
19:56 FreezingCold Triffid_Hunter: The program I'm interested in is a technician program, so it's more hands on than university. I'm just wondering if you guys think it's a good bet or not for work
19:57 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: yeah do it
19:57 FreezingCold Don't get me wrong, I would love to take the program just for the fun of it, but my parents are the ones who have to decide because I can't legally drop out of high school yet on my own
19:57 FreezingCold I know this is just IRC, but how would you say the job market is?
19:57 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: just don't expect to use that as your sole source of technical education and end up as a good engineer, pursue other avenues outside school as well
19:58 FreezingCold Triffid_Hunter: Just wondering, any examples?
19:59 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: sure, I'm 100% self taught in engineering, I've previously worked with australia's largest research organisation making robots and I've recently been picked up by an american startup for my skills
19:59 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: and I don't have any degrees at all
19:59 FreezingCold Nice! If you don't mind me asking, how's your pay?
19:59 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: and /everyone/ I've talked to says that you get a few decent engineers out of college but 95% of them aren't worth the paper they bring with them to the interview
20:00 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: not amazing at the moment since it's a startup, getting 65k
20:01 FreezingCold dude, that's sick for no degrees/paper in that area!
20:01 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: :)
20:01 FreezingCold Out of college, what are my chances of actually getting work out of there?
20:01 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: CSIRO put me on a no-pay trial for a couple of months because I had no paper, at the end of it they started me 8 pay grades above uni grads because I really knew my stuff
20:02 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: 1) stop thinking college paper is worth heaps, that gets you past HR but isn't worth crap when they sit you in front of an actual engineer
20:02 Triffid_Hunter at that point you need to actually know some stuff, and also demonstrate ability to self-teach about things you don't know
20:03 FreezingCold I guess I'm thinking about the college paper because if I do it, I won't be a high school grad
20:03 Triffid_Hunter the paper getting you past HR is worth it if you can handle the slog
20:03 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: pff there are /heaps/ of options to get a high school graduation later on if you need it, should be able to go to a technical college and knock over 2 years of high school in 6 months
20:04 FreezingCold That's my view too, hopefully my father will go for it
20:04 eezingCold s
20:05 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: ring up some colleges, get /all/ the info first
20:05 FreezingCold Triffid_Hunter: I've already been accepted into the program :)
20:05 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: parental units and others tend to be impressed when they find out you've done the running around, got the proper info, considered your options and made a choice
20:05 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: good practice for demonstrating that self-teaching ability later on too!
20:05 FreezingCold actually no, they were unhappy I was making plans without them lol
20:06 FreezingCold Go figure ;)
20:06 FreezingCold How are my chances for being able to get a job after college?
20:06 FreezingCold I'm still planning on university after, but just wondering
20:06 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: first realise that I'm in Australia, the job market here is totally different
20:08 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: having said that, my impression is that there's plenty of positions for people who know their stuff.. the kind of places you want to work at will consider your blog of all your personal projects.. get stuff posted on hackaday and things like that :)
20:08 Triffid_Hunter the kind of places that say 'no paper no chance' generally aren't that interesting
20:08 FreezingCold true, I do enjoy looking into projects, should probably actually get around to doing some :)
20:09 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: do it. got a projects budget? wrangle one. get an arduino, breadboard, etc. do something cool, blog about it.
20:09 Triffid_Hunter do your tech.ed at the same time but don't consider it as primary education.. primary should be your tinkering
20:10 Triffid_Hunter pick a project where you know how to do half of it, learn the other half, complete the project.
20:12 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: when you enter the job market, your resume should basically be 1) taught self lots of cool stuff, completed interesting projects 2) have piece of paper
20:14 FreezingCold Thanks for the advice :)
20:16 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: you're welcome. remember: happy people have life == learning == art. good engineers approach engineering as an artform :)
20:18 FreezingCold I'm nowhere near this yet, but do you think going to university after is a good plan?
20:18 FreezingCold sadly it looks like I'd be getting no transfer credits
20:19 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: yeah, same deal though. you're doing it for exposure to stuff you may want to teach yourself, and for a bit of paper to get your foot in the door
20:20 FreezingCold I'd already have community college though
20:20 Triffid_Hunter FreezingCold: they will teach you cool and useful stuff, but it's frequently hidden amongst a bunch of crap and their teaching methods are dreadful, don't think you can go and be educated, you have to educate yourself
21:09 zhanx i love high speed internet
21:09 zhanx turns out, I cut the line putting in my garden
21:09 Tom_itx oops
21:10 zhanx yep
21:10 zhanx since it was out of place and I called the dig line
21:10 zhanx they marked the driveway and left, I tilled the backyard and guess what
21:11 FreezingCold zhanx: People in my house have done that
21:11 zhanx FreezingCold: it didn't go out the same day which makes me think i cut it but when i was out weeding i stepped in the right spot and finished it
21:12 zhanx only took like what a week to have the cable company fix it?
21:12 zhanx turns out they ran two lines to this house
21:12 zhanx the marked the wrong one
21:23 zhanx thinking i need to ground up redesign my delta bot
21:24 zhanx the 4th axis of z is lacking
21:29 zhanx thinking chain driver
21:29 zhanx i got bike chains
21:30 zhanx rue
21:37 zhanx ok i will redo it myself
21:48 rrywolf shares pizza with katsmeow-
21:48 furrywolf someone bought me pizza!
21:48 rrywolf is ha
21:48 furrywolf every day I don't have to feed myself, my finances improve.
21:50 Rayston anyone here from AZ?
21:51 furrywolf not I.
23:04 zhanx told the telemarketer hold on the zip tie aint im place and the bitch is still moving, he hung up on me. wtf
23:05 ace4016 lol
23:05 rue_mohr zhanx,
23:06 zhanx yep i know wrong but funny
23:06 ace4016 zhanx, 4th axis as in the rotation of the objected being picked up or so?
23:06 rue_mohr :) good one
23:06 rue_mohr may I use that?
23:06 zhanx yes
23:06 rue_mohr sweet.
23:07 rue_mohr whts this about bike chain?
23:07 zhanx z is hieght
23:07 ace4016 oh, you're calling the 4th z
23:08 zhanx yes
23:08 zhanx i have a normal delta
23:08 ace4016 thought z, y, and x would use the same actuators
23:08 zhanx with a extra z
23:08 ace4016 ?
23:08 zhanx maybe i should called it h
23:09 zhanx the base / top of the z can move higher
23:09 ace4016 ah
23:29 rue_mohr / delete that from this.
23:29 rue_mohr void eqLL_Delete( eqLL_t * this, eqNode_t * that ){
23:29 rue_mohr
23:29 rue_mohr }
23:29 rue_mohr oh yea
23:37 rue_mohr (d!=6) -->> 1 YES!
23:38 rue_mohr (d==6)|(d==7) -->> 0
23:38 rue_mohr 0: (RW) d = 5.000000
23:38 rue_mohr SWEEEET
23:44 Tom_itx sounds like rue_mohr is making progress
23:46 ace4016 <opinion>your code conventions are terrible</opinion>
23:47 rue_mohr you dont like my object c?
23:51 furrywolf any chance someone in here has a stack of 40mt starters they want to pull the solenoids off and send me?