three hgs will be mission ready by the end of today. I'm aiming for Wednesday as the launch day. The three mission leaders will be cravitz, barthel and bell. I've only got pesky little details to wrap up: get the log cards in each hg, fill up the third hg with sample cases. Finally, I'm ready.
On the chief willy front, I managed to get a mac mini on ebay for $200, and it should arrive this week. Then I'll get it set up to serve the cbtsa site, and eventually, communicate with the river fleet.
As for the rovers, I should have all the gear I need this week. I'm getting the vdip1 from England- thats the thing that will connect the arduino to the phone via usb. There also the USB cable that connects the phone to the mac, and thats in its way too.
Basically, by the end of the week, I should be ready to begin those two efforts in earnest.(chief willy underfoot and the earth rovers).
No progress on eb1 mobile this week, but thats fine. Time for that later.
June 2008 Archives
After much thought I've decided the way to with the chief is a Mac mini. What's the point of beating myself up trying to figure out how to use a more complicated CPU when the mini will fit perfectly with plenty of room left over for Micro-controllers, sensors, devices. So I'm looking, in case anybody has one to sell. Plus I'm on scouring ebay for original mac minis.
Chief Willy's hull needs a wash and a touch up. I removed the stamp and the siteplayer module today. I should use them for some alternate project, but for now they're on ice. I also removed the old grill which is a rusted mess. I'm going to be much more particular about the insides this time, I want it to look fantastic. I'll probably paint the mini and stencil the insignia on it. Can't wait for that. Or perhaps a different treatment would be more appropriate, like a sticker.
As far as what sensors Willy will be fitted with, definitely GPS, but temperature, humidity, proximity, and light would all be interesting candidates. It will be the host server of the CBTSA website, and it should also receive messages from the Earth Rovers, and post those messages to the web. So it's going to need a dynamic DNS. Fun.
The Nokia 6620 is the first smartphone for the Americas market optimized for use on new high-speed EDGE networks. The powerful Symbian OS-based Series 60 platform allows for the creation of richer applications. It contains a 65K color TFT screen for viewing still images and video clips captured by the integrated VGA camera. The wide range of the newest multimedia features give Nokia 6620 owners a multitude of ways to capture, share and enjoy content.
jsd assures me this Papi will do the trick.
I was very lucky to be able to meet with my old professor (he's not actually old, he's only two years older than I am) last weekend. He had a few recommendations.
Movies:
Artist:
Small board computers:
Artist grants:
UFOs
Cellphones, WiFi, and Cancer
I found my way to the site of Terry Creer this morning, who has build a radio controlled lawnmower by combining an electric wheelchair with a lawnmower.
link
He's replaced the joystick on the wheelchair with an RC receiver, and built his own transmitter. The thing is pretty beautiful and horribly dangerous. Doesn't look like it would be too terribly expensive, certainly not more than an RC car powerful enough to carry the weight needed to be EB1. I would just leave out the lawnmower part, and replace that with the cart.
I think this direction makes a lot more sense than the RC car, because I'm not very confident those will be able to carry any weight. An electric wheelchair will be more than sufficient.
link
He's replaced the joystick on the wheelchair with an RC receiver, and built his own transmitter. The thing is pretty beautiful and horribly dangerous. Doesn't look like it would be too terribly expensive, certainly not more than an RC car powerful enough to carry the weight needed to be EB1. I would just leave out the lawnmower part, and replace that with the cart.
I think this direction makes a lot more sense than the RC car, because I'm not very confident those will be able to carry any weight. An electric wheelchair will be more than sufficient.
At long last, the fleet is prepared. Missions begin Next week.
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AIM IM with matt.
10:28 AM
matt: Give me an elevator pitch to get John Bruzzo on board. What's this project about?
Charles Truett: I've created my own space program to explore earth
Charles Truett: i'm building a fleet of exploratory rovers to gather data and physical samples
Charles Truett: to create my own scientific record
matt: Nice.
matt: I can sell that.
Charles Truett: John would be an engineering consultant to make my earthbase mobile and RC
Charles Truett: did i already give you my sketch?
Charles Truett: I did right?
matt: No. Just a photo.
Charles Truett: oh hold on
matt: Send it to my hotmail
Charles Truett:
Direct Instant Message session started
10:30 AM
matt: Then I can show it to John.
Charles Truett: that's what i want
matt: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Charles Truett: ok, i'll send it
matt: Awesome. Gotta bolt.
Direct Instant Message session ended
AIM IM with kalamari2000.
10:02 AM
Charles Truett: http://flickr.com/photos/38891067@N00/2567715618/in/photostream/
Charles Truett: that's right bitches
Charles Truett: ok you need to give me 2 minutes of your time
kalamari2000: go
Charles Truett: i lost that auction
kalamari2000: suckasss
Charles Truett: i want to know what excactly I need to buy
kalamari2000: you need to get sniping software
Charles Truett: can i get any phone with GSM/GPRS?
Charles Truett: i'd really like one with a camera
Charles Truett: but i need to know the basic stuff i need
kalamari2000: I think this is the list
kalamari2000: N70, N90, N91, 3230, 3300, 6155, 6170, 6230, 6230i, 6235, 6255, 6260, 6630, 6650, 6670, 6680, 6681, 7270, 7600, 7610, 7700, 7710, 9300, 9500
Continue reading chat with jsd about phones for the rovers.
I've been working for a few weeks on the new Hunter Gatherer vehicles, and I've made some great progress. This past sunday I was able to get six of the new ones painted, and tonight hopefully I'll be able to stencil on the insignia. The painting process was pretty easy and the colors came out better than expected.
Continue reading Hunter Gatherer Fleet gets a fresh coat of paint.
