Greetings List Lurkers,
It is snowing like a bastard here in Barre this AM. Why the previous old
saying insists that bastards are involved somehow in frozen precipitation
is beyond me.
XTERRA
The project that seems to have eaten the week was not supposed to be a
project at all, but the installation of a modern, in this case "Android
based" radio, or more accurately an entertainment "head" in the Nissan
Xterra (aka the Bashist Deth Machine :^) has become my latest personal
project. However, as stated before, after spending 28 hours for the round
trip to DC in the car we really need to upgrade this entertainment center.
Who knew this project would break down into several steps each of which is
a project in itself.
- The Trim
- Hardware Test
- Software Test
- Installation
1. The Trim.
The latest in this area is that while the Chinese manufactures subscribe
to ISO 7736, a Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) standard for car auto
stereo apatures (single DIN=2"X7"), the American companies who make the
trim kits cannot accept this standard, and the result is frustration on
the part of this Downwardly Mobile American. We seem to go our of our own
way's to screw ourselves as a country, eh?
Got several non-ISO 7736 kits,and started carving the correct opening in
a Metra kit... (carving jeez...). Threw those away, (at $50.00 per) and
got the latest Metra, threw the trim away, and made new trim out of hobby
shop balsa, which I stained walnut. While not by any means perfect, it
gives the trim a kinda "hippy car" look, so we can move onto.
2. Hardware Test
The Chinese give you a plug one side of which fits their equipment and
the other end goes to god-knows-what kinda plug. After studying Youtube
till my eyes bleed, I discover that the connector they supply for external
connection is for a VW Jetta or somesuch. After documenting the color,
pin, number and function, I spend a day fashioning a tool
(out of and xacto blade) that can remove the pins from this connector.
Next I get out the eurostrips, screw them down in a line, jumper the
appropriate pins together, alligator clip this to the shop power supply,
set it for 12.15VDC and...
The damn thing takes off like a scalded cat. It is really something.
Running Android 5.1.1. it is truly slick. Hook up speakers, the GPS
antenna, an FM antenna, and the backup camera... Damn...
3. Software Test
So next lets load up file transfer software. The internal wi-fi talks to
the house wifi no problem. Try to load Android Tmux from the play
store... no dice. Try to get Android Developer Bridge going, no dice...
Let the research begin. How the hell did getting a new set of tunes in
the car get so dam complicated? This is were we are stuck.
4. Installation
While it involved a fairly pricey lunch I am confident that I will not
be installing the myriad connections to my transmission, breaks and
other car innards as well as somehow snaking video cable to the back of
the car for the rear view video in the snow. That said, this is not
likely to happen any time soon. The software, as usual has us pinned
down.
Why is it that all good projects eventually go to hell?
TRANTOR
Sadly this project while operating in development at the library had
little done to it, except that Marius delivered the production case to the
Meth Lab, which contains USB2.0 and a DVDRW. This will be the production
device. The first and second passes for Trantor are done. The second
pass, is in the Aldrich Public library for evaluation. We are indeed
using one of the original Gates Foundation grant based Dell machines.
Sarah the librarian wanted the actual pictures to be hot they are now.
So it is time to develop a development cycle... The vision is:
- Take the existing code
- edit it with enki, a restful editor almost built for the job.
- if necessary propagate the change using a shell script
(thank god for sed and awk)
- run "ctrantor.sh mkitso" which builds new web site from files
- check out the result... lather rinse repeat...
The hard part of this turns out to be getting:
1. enki running with the preview mode working
(invaluable once running)
2. getting sphinx running or maybe more accurately
3. making the system "sane" - a menu choice.
It was only this morning that I gained a partial victory in the enki
department. The ticket at this time appears to be to run under Linux Mint 18
as opposed to Ubuntu Trusty...
Connectivity:
As discussed previously, the advantage here is that are dealing with SoV DII
and the fact there is a MAC address they may already know caused trantor to
light up like a pinball machine on their 10.x.x.x net. This version of trantor
is where we have integrated everything into one package that runs in a non GUI
based linux session. The neat thing here is that the workstation continues to
act as a workstation. Now for remote shell. This turns out to not be so easy.
Going over to the library later today to get this working.
Hopefully I will be able to conspire with supertech librarian Jessamyn
West to figure out the connectivity side of this. So the trantor v 0.15
machine to the Aldrich, plugged it in, set up avahi bonjour and things
look pretty good. How to get this machine into a routable network is still
a bit of a mystery only solvable by DII.
Configuration Management:
As mentioned above, the trantor project now uses the new visualbash include
function to load up various scripts full-o-functional goodness. We are
maintaining the Trantor project on Github:
https://github.com/flintiii/trantor
As mentioned last week, I need to get this into some type of organized format
to put up on git hub, as this is something that will please both Chris Yarger
and Kevin Cole. Unfortunately enki ate my week.
The trantor project benefits itself as you can cut DVDs and USBs with great
ease and facility.
http://docbox.flint.com:8081/trantor
Restful Web Site:
Thanks to sphinx, we actually now have a complete set of disks starting from
LXFDVD154, thanks to Neil at Linux Format, and we may try expanding trantor to
include all the Linux Format DVDs since they started publication. Now that it
is installed at the Aldrich, next trick is to get trantor on the public web.
So the test of trantor up and running. If you want to see a preview try:
http://docbox.flint.com/~flint/trantor/test/
As you can see it contains all the scanned in CD covers and backs. CD cover
acquisition was accomplished with the use of gimp, a script-fu and something
called deskew. All the links rick-roll till I get the actual server online.
All that said sphinx now rocks my world. BTW the trick to sphinx is enki,
which is turning out to be a pain to install. I am getting interest from some
parties in contributing more stuff to trantor. Do not be bashful (pun?). let
me know if you want something faithfully curated and The real question here is
should I simply rebuild bosivt.org based upon sphinx? We could do it all in...
TECHNORUBBLE
The TechnoRubble Picking was a great success. A couple of weeks ago,
about half dozen geeks turned up and we cheerfully tore about a dozen VCRs
apart for about an hour. We then went back to Hedding and had the pizza of
victory! This meeting we are gonna untangle and back TechnoRubble out of
the big haul of stuff CVSWD got in last week.
- The Website http://technorubble.org,http://technorubble.com
The new donation letter has been updated. We skipped one of Doug Webster's
maker fairs this weekend. Just wanted a break.
Again, we need more TechnoRubble. The TechnoRubble untangling and packing is
part of that effort. Part of this effort was the donation letter. The idea is
to get people to mail their TechnoRubble to us in a USPS Flat Rate Box. I am
going to complete the donation process page as soon as I can and post it.
KINDLE LIBERATION FRONT
The new batch of kindles (at $33.00 each) came in this week, and one has
been shipped to the Kindlenista himself to see what magic he can work.
I have not had the time to test out this incredible hack, and it needs to be
tested. I think that Joe is going to do some testing using this method.
https://www.thanassis.space/android.html
...a serial port on ring and ground when you apply 3.3 volts to tip?
Speaking of the Hart, he was right that cheap Kindles were back for Black
Friday... (I shake my head in wonderment)
I really want a version of the Universal Insight Virtual Realty Glasses for the
Kindle. 3d Teleconferencing way cool!
VISUAL BASH:
The name of this game is we really need to clean up. Now that we have
the "include" function that is similar to the one in python (C and a lota other
languages :^) we need to git this.
http://docbox.flint.com:8081/visual.bash#ImportingFunctionBlocks
The "SanityScript" is still being born, but the next piece is a menu generator
that will allow you to test stub your "shi" files with a crude but working
"sh". Who knows where we go from there?
I will likely be needing to reorganize all of the visual bash functions into
functional includes... Possible include files are:
- ianda.shi - Identification and Authorization
- dvdusb.shi - DVD/USB utilities
- sanity.shi - System sanity tests
- maint.shi - Maintenance includes
- ops.shi - Operational includes
- dev.shi - Development includes
- sphinx.shi - Sphinx generator includes
- tiddle.shi - Tiddle includes...
I am ulikely to get any of this done during the meeting. Visualbash is really
fun to work on...
BAKEDAPPLES
These sites are mapped to the current wiki:
http://bakedapples.org/
http://bakedapples.net/
The Project that needs to show some sign of reserection I summarize below.
TADA
Is there someone who can help with this project? If so why can we move it
towards the goal line? The Adult Swim video network, soon to be the "TADA Show"
was clearly Effin's project. Is there a recursive acronym in here somewhere?
Hopefully this will be discussed on:
https://hangouts.google.com/hangouts/_/flint.com/tada
JARVIS ON JENKINS
A very quiet week for Jarvis on Jenkins.... So quiet I am about to throw
it under the project bus. The only development is while cleaning up I
found a bootable Jarvis micro SD card.
http://docbox.flint.com:8081/raspberry#JarvisOnJenkins
I wonder if Jarvis on Jenkins can be integrated into the PitchBox Garden?
Gardners talk to their plants don't they?
VINYL CUTTER
A completed project. We have more vinyl and blades coming. Cannot wait to try
cardboard. Got two orders in I need to do. That said where does the time go?
http://docbox.flint.com:8081/maker
I need to get
1. Dr. Mark a new logo in red and black.
2. Mike Destructo a logo he wants...
3DPRINT
Without a doubt the greatest waste of Flint time on the planet! That
said, we had great luck with openscad, brother Kevin's design software. We
got this damn thing to the point that I can produce the design of bezels I
need for the PiTchBox. Sadly I cannot print them because the printer is
screwed up. Thinking about inviting Toby from Filabot over and asking for
some help. This machine has only seen maybe 5 hours of actual operation
is that this lasted about ten days. Why is this so damn hard?
The 3Decology constructed around the HICTOP Prusa I3 3D Desktop Printer, has
helped a lot, at least there is a place to store the tools this thing needs.
The take away here is that 3D infrastructure is important to facilitate
printing. But more important is the ability to render designs from the head
into products.
http://docbox.flint.com:8081/3D_print
I am gonna learn this product or perish n the process. I need Bezels for
the...
PITCHBOX
Ordered a new lunchbox. Got it. It is a smiley face.. yuck. I see paint
in it's future.
You may have heard that the PiTch-Box is an enclosure built out of the shipping
case the Raspberry Pi Touch Display comes in. The power supply design is
actually coming along. The latest incarnation of the PiTchBox is the PiTchBox
LunchBox which should be up on the site.
http://docbox.flint.com:8081/PiTchBox
The wonderful thing about our current society is that there is a great deal of
activity in the area of basement agriculture. In the spirit of this and due to
the fact fall is on the way here in the Frozen North, I have ordered a basement
enclosure for growing plants in. The goal here will be to experiment with the
enhanced phosphor Grow Lights attached to the PiTchBox. This would Flint
Indoor Phosphor Enhanced Indoor Greenhouse to keep me sane this winter.
I got the tent in the mail two weeks ago... And I found the moisture sensors
this week (Yay!). More on this project as it unfolds (forgive the pun :^).
I hope to show Bit Ed one of the DC-DC converters, they are nifty, I will try
desperately to bring one today if I can find one.
The latest is that there is a git hub for this project which we are jointly
developing with the Arlington FOSS mob. Anyway, we need to continue to develop
the software and hardware PiTchBox library such as...
To summarize, the meeting today is again at 40 Washington Street, Barre, VT
05641.
Topics for discussion as usual remain:
- Open Source Educational Human Development
I am working on an idea... I am changing the priority of our
eternal needs, and placing education first.
- Maker Movement A Maker Space in Barre? Why not? Could it be that the
commercial power centers do not yet appreciate the value? I need to
revise my paper on this subject and get it out to Lucas Jensen
who has good ideas about a Barre Maker Space. Why not do digital stone?
- Move BOSI to become more git centric... develop gittlywiki... working!
check out tiddlywiki5 here: https://github.com/Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5
We still need to convert... Yea buddy... Shut up Effin.
- Blue Sky R&D, but in Vermont it will be Gun-metal Grey Sky(c) R&D.
- I fought the DREK and the DREK continues to win. Remember, What
really is holds us back is DREK!!! DREK is what happens to your
workspace (both hardware and software) when you fail to put stuff
away, or you let your friends or relatives use it. This is a cosmic
law. I am still fighting the DREK. How to get over it? Maybe slave
labor and more shelves...
These five points are becomming almost like policy!
Anyway, we have the technology and we will have Pizza tonight 5-7 at Hedding
UMC.
This is the official notice of the Barre Open Systems Institute (BOSI) Adult
Swim. For those coming in via the Google Plus and the Internet, and there are
folks who are gonna try, the swim stars at 6:00 PM EST.
Our ongoing major objective is to continue to try to figure out how to invest
the time and resources to turn the Barre Open Systems Institute into more than
just the Adult Swim technical clinic and more into a real learning facility.
One direction we have been working on is to begin thinking about classes. The
curriculum that I am most interested in is teaching documentation.
Once again, the goal of the meeting shall be as usual, to get organized and try
to get the various projects moving forward, despite DREK. We continue to wonder
about how to build the BOSI curriculum to this webpage:
*** Note this is broke as of this newsletter ****
http://bosivt.org/classes, Take a look if you dare...
Remember, the BOSI Adult Swim is essentially about helping out fellow users of
open source products in a clinic environment. Despite my very best of
intentions, the Adult Swim is really almost a perpetual Linux install-fest, and
only secondarily a learning environment,
The ever growing list of projects (now on our web site :^) includes:
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/vm - A Docker copy of VM370
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/kindle - The Kindle Liberation Front
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/pyrs - A pythonic interface to Income Tax?
- http://ledroid.org - Ok, this is a real project eh?
- http://bzinga.net - What happens when you combine Bash and Zenity?
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/nodejs - ok, it is on the list.
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/snobot - jesum they love this robot
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/furmon - monitor that pellet furnace
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/arduino - moving in the arduino groove
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/javajive - to get better at Javascript
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/tsp - Temperature Sensors Project
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/robotsrules - The quest for Roberts Rules -
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/visual.bash - Yea, I am not kidding...
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/mrtg - remedial raw mrtg for the slow...
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/raspberry - all versions
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/strembot.org - maybe a very cool project.
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/organized - oh please let me be organized!
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/music - this may be the least organized
site ever!
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/bb - A big noble idea.
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/grantbot - A less noble idea to feed the
big idea...
- http://docbox.flint.com:8081/gitlywiki - is tiddlywiki5 the answer?
Otherwise, Barre indeed remains a great venue for a Linux and Open Source
Software discussion and general system rejuvenation. Expect to be remotely
preached at on the various topics of Open Source and how I am confident it
shall cure all the evils and ills of this wicked world. In a perfect meeting,
people would come in, sit down, see the stuff we have been doing and hopefully
help us get the DIY stuff we are doing done, or maybe just fix a laptop.
So, do not forget that the Barre library stocks "Linux Format", and the latest
issue is on the shelf, and it is good. The DVD's are available to checkout and
copy, we shall to continue provide copies and isos of each and every one. I am
continuing to duplicate about a years worth of DVD's which is quite a task. You
may want to watch this space for developments.
Anyway, come and do open source stuff. For more information about the BOSI
Adult Swim meeting time and location try this:
*** Note this is broke as of this newsletter ****
http://bosivt.org/directions
Show up at Hedding UMC if you have questions or are interested in Linux or the
concept of free and open systems. Again, we are in the basement of the Hedding
UMC facility which is actually working out pretty well.
Somehow we need to make progress not more projects!!!
If you wish to be included on the "Linux_adult_swim" mailing list, send a
response to this note.
This is Flint signing off... I gotta go and install Mint on some other
unspecting machine.
I will continue to refactor this newsletter at some point in the future (do not
hold your breath :^)...
Kindest Regards,
Paul Flint
(802) 479-2360
(802) 595-9365 Cell
/************************************
Based upon email reliability concerns,
please send an acknowledgment in response to this note.
Paul Flint
Barre Open Systems Institute
17 Averill Street
Barre, VT
05641
http://www.bosivt.org
http://family.flint.com/flint
skype: flintinfotech
Work: (202) 537-0480
