The project
Hahaha, too funny
http://www.linuxkungfu.org/images/fun/geek/project.jpg
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
s1axterCircuits, electronics, hacks, software, firmware and anything else cool
Digital logic VHDL traffic controller
Due to a number of requests for info on the VHDL traffic light controller video on youTube, I thought I would post a quick write up.
"In college my Junior year lab included a project to construct a simple traffic light controller using only digital logic. This means no microcontroller, no 'if' statements nothing but pure hardcore logic. The intent of the lab was to implement a state machine in a realistic application. This article is a collection of pictures and a very general explanation of my solution, plus a VHDL implementation of it."
If you are interested in digital logic or VHDL, take a look.
Article: http://geeksinside.com/articles/8/Traffic-Light-Controller/
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvSwrPh7X2g
Slackware File Server How-To
Back in July 2007 I posted an article on setting up a Slackware file server using Samaba. In the latest rewrite of GI the article was lost since it was not a review. Well, tonight I updated the site a little more and make the 'reviews' section an 'articles' section and reposted the Slackware How-To.
http://geeksinside.com/articles/7/Slackware-12-File-Server-HowTo/
There are a few more articles I want to post so look for some cool stuff!
Guitar USB Mod
Take a look at this tutorial from PC Magazine on adding an M-Audio Micro USB audio interface to a guitar. The Micro USB comes with M-Audio's Session software for recording your newly modded guitar. This isn't something for a guitarist with a favorite guitar as you need to drill and route out part of the body.
http://machrone.net/usbguitar/
Tesla Electric Car
Oooooo I want one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1C44JQU7Pc
Original 1970 Game Source
In 1970 civilian computing was in it's infancy. Few had access to computer systems, and even fewer knew how to program them. Programs and games written for timeshare mainframes were developed and, due to lack of persistent storage, lost. Our partner site myBitBox.com recently found the full source code for a game developed by a high school student on a timshared mainframe back in 1970; Highnoon.
From myBitBox.com:
Highnoon is a BASIC game developed by a student from Syosset High School, NY in early 1970 on a timeshared computer system. The game is single player and set in the Wild West. The objective of the game is a show down between you and Black Bart. Turns are taken to either move closer, run or shoot. Both the player and Bart have four shots and the odds of hitting each other increase as you close the 100 paces between you.
The creator recalls Highnoon was written on a timeshared system leased by Syosset High Scool from 'Call-a-computer' company (Later named Advanced Systems Labs) on Long Island, NY. The program is written in early BASIC and is less than 4 pages printed out. Development was all done via teletype terminal dialed into the server with a maximum user storage of 6.4K. Due to the limited persistent storage, other programs including Highnoon were transfered to paper punch tape off the mainframe. The author still has a copy of the binary program file and an ASCII print out of the code.
Highnoon was a popular game on the Call-A-Computer system and the compiled version was included as a system wide game by administrators.
myBitBox.com has taken the code and made a emulated (and basic) version of Highnoon that is playable using a web browser. The game can be found here: http://mybitbox.com/highnoon/.
Is Vista a product of Second-system effect?
Did Microsoft fail the Second-system effect with Vista?
The Second-system effect was coined by Fred Brooks in his book The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering and describes how an engineer's second project is the most dangerous he will ever design. Personally I think Windows Vista is a shining example of this.
While it is the ump-teenth version of Windows, Vista is the second in the series of Windows that focus on the enhanced UI aspects of the system. For those who remember, XP's Luna interface was a major selling point back in 2001; Windows XP: user interface by ZDNet. Well with Vista's new interface Aero the UI is a main focus point again.
Now looking at the broad picture, people over all liked the XP Luna look, businesses adopted it and people didn't really get confused with the green start menu. Now 6-7 years later Microsoft did it again but this time took UI design and went way over the top, redesigned everything from the networking to the file browsing. Soon after Vista's release it became clear that this totally redesigned UI was too much for the average user to handle, "Deny or allow?". Now some people will say, "Look at a Mac, it has a totally different UI from Windows". Yes you are right it does, however people know this, they try the Mac, they like it, loathe it, or they learn it. Microsoft Windows has (at least for the past 13 years) had the same desktop look and feel and people expect that. I know all the Windows boxes I work with I change over to the 'Classic Theme' just to get the same feel across all machines.
I wouldn't be surprised if the next version of Windows or the first service pack for Vista contains the option to dumb down the eye-candy back to a simpler version. And if this 'third-system' generates a better response I think it will clearly indicate Vista is Microsoft's Second-system.
What is the state of web development?
What standards are in place for front end web development? It seems to me very few. Other than programming languages and protocols, the land of web development is a free-for-all. I remember 7 years ago I took a media class and the teacher said "Browsers are wider than they are tall, try and use scalable wide layouts". I've also read articles about making a site that is the new version of the web-safe color argument, "better safe than sorry use less than 800 px wide fixed layouts". Years ago it was all about getting the important information above the fold, now with blogs and dozens of posts that is next to impossible. Originally banner adds were ok, then popup ads were the devil and having ads on your pages wasn't always a good thing. Now with discrete text ads that are relevant to the page they aren't overly invasive any more.
My question is, what works for the average viewer. Now the average viewer is different for each site however what do people in general like to see? Dynamic or fixed layout? A wide jam-it-all-in-above-the-fold site? Relevant ads? 800px or 1024px fixed?
Once some of these questions are answered the technical questions start. Should I favor firefox or IE or both? AJAX or pure server side? Lots of javascript goodies or smaller/faster pages? How should the DOM be laid out, lots of divs/spans and CSS or is less more?
And of course the question every custom app developer asks: Can some software do it better?
I am an engineer, not a web developer so some of these questions might be well documented in a graphical design class. However for almost all of the points I've mentioned I've read logical arguments on both sides.
I go back and forth all the time so I figured I'd post on it.
SMD Soldering Resource
Make Magizine had a post today that was a collection of Surface mount device (SMD) articles aimed at the home hobbyist. Titled SMD Soldering (surface mount device soldering) the post has links to a Sparkfun Electronics article on soldering SMD devices using their Simon kit. There are also some cool links and a video on scrounging SMD parts from old computer boards and building an SMD friendly soldering iron.
It's really helpful when you find a link dump all on one topic. So take a look and bookmark!
BTW: Sparkfun's Simon looks really cool but I like the Numeric Simon we did :-P
Future Engineers
You ever meet a kid and instantly know they will be an engineer in the future? I think these kids qualify
Sick CG!
