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ericStimmel

...excerpts from my studio work at cranbrook...

update on recent successes....

Friday, December 23, 2005
fixed one of the big problems i was having with the computer configuration.... changed the /etc/resolv.conf to reflect my wireless nic ip address... the default was set to something else. anyway, this fixed the dynamic dns auto-update [ hooray! ] and it also made gpsd start on boot, which was on my list to fix, but i didn't really think this would solve that problem [ bonus ].

i really need to take some pictures of this... maybe later today.

semester break

Monday, December 19, 2005
semester break is here... that means the thesis is looming. i'll give this some thought in the next couple weeks and post here...

frustration

Thursday, December 15, 2005
so i spent the last 6 hours trying to get the computer to auto-update it's ip address... with no luck. what now.

testing some video

Wednesday, December 14, 2005
okay, i've made some headway on the stompbox. i'll go into that soon enough... actually i'd like to get a few other things figured out here tonight before i spend time writing about it.

however, i've been talking to shan [ one of the metals students taking an elective in architecture this semester ] about projecting a time delayed video on the underside of the trailer.... the idea is to mount a small webcam to the back of the trailer that will record to some [ possibly remote ] location and then when it stops, that video will be played back and projected onto the modified underside of the trailer... so, things to figure out:

--how to record video to a local or preferably offsite location at a managable size [ test resolution and frame rate as well as different codecs... ]
--how to access that video when the vehicle stops...
--probably some other things too...

in the meantime, here's a test video [ via YouTube because i've heard that it's better to vlog ]



struggling

Saturday, December 03, 2005
well... there's a bit of a steep road ahead here. with regard to the part of our group project that i am focusing on, that little part that i proposed which seemed so attainable now is becoming more difficult with each passing day...

since my last post which was [ ouch ] november 16th. almost three weeks ago... anyway, since then i have changed my plan. i'm using a soekris net4521 [ basically a linux router ] which was a project i first heard about from a colleague and then found in issue 03 of make magazine... anyway, i am working to build it as described in that project [ see stompboxnetworks ] before making a few small modifications to it. you can see a picture of the box below
building a stompbox
it runs on a customized distribution of pebble linux, a small version of debian [ very small actually... it runs on a 128MB compact flash card ] so here's what i've done so far and a couple notes about what i still need to do:

-bought almost everything [ still waiting on the wifi card, but this isn't critical for my application ]
-set up the verizon wireless card and checked connection on a PC laptop
-installed the USB card and verizon wireless card
-installed and configured [ via hyperteminal on a pc ] the OS on a 128MB CF card [ i'd like to figure out how to do this with a mac... been trying using Zterm, but i have to go from USB to a null modem cable and i'm not really sure that works to begin with... anyway, i can't get into the machine via my mac yet ]
-partitioned a 1GB CF card with the OS on the first partition. i'd like to get this configured so that i have some storage on the card for pictures.
-set up a webpage with the php script i found in the forums but still need to set up mysql and get the thing tuned to my particular devices, file locations, addresses....
-i'd like to try to get some video out of this box to show a slide show on the vehicle... nothing too demanding, but this would require some tricky maneuvering and some luck.

thats about all i have right now... off to try to see if i can get the gps unit to show a location.