The rantings of a geek

A more custom approach.

kaoskube — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:32:35 +0000

Problems. Bluetooth through centrafuse has a crazy long delay. Voice response scripts in my home automation software cause a random *.wav file to play right before my mic engages to hear my response to its query. And after I state my response that wav file continues to loop ( its the windows test trumpet sound btw) even over music/media. And add com port issues to the list. That means navigation and engine diagnostics fail.

Long, buggy story short, I want to try a more fine tuned hardware software combo. From my newly found interest in robotics I found www.parallax.com

They make almost everything I am looking for. Especially the custom voice recognition system and speech synthesis modules. Object tracking by cameras, color recognition, sensors of all types. My mind swims in the endless possibilities.
Www.sparkfunelectronics.com fills in the holes left from parallax’s offerings.

And one day I’m gonna do some serious damage with this open source jewel
Www.buglabs.net/products

I can’t fab…part 1

kaoskube — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:45:10 +0000

I ended up scoring a Samsung Q1 umpc as the main head unit. Its tablet pc layout makes it perfect for what I need. But I am not good at fabrication. Here is a pic of my first attempt.

Geez. Bad resize job on the pic. *taken down*
As a test I used modeling clay to make a “basic shape” and it worked well….. for about 10 minutes.
One day crusing through the streets of dallas I found a hobby store for rc cars and airplanes. They had a lightweight filler that I picked up. That didn’t work so well either. So I thought, what the heck just take a chance on the fiberglass reinforced bondo. It works. Very well. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on it, and it still needs a lot of work to look nice and smooth. Its taking forever because I am learning as I go. And what I have learned is sanding sucks. Unless you have a dremel, then sanding sucks with a dremel. I have also learned that most mistakes made with bondo can be fixed with sanding which, ironically, is why I went out and bought a dremel….

FAIL.

kaoskube — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:35:44 +0000

This morning I get close to work when the strangest thing happens. I’m listening to my music from the car pc when it slowly starts to die. I the song started to slow down, but not change pitch…. until it stopped all together.

Since I can’t test the system at the moment, I assume one of two possibilities. 1. Since I was actually thinking, ” I can’t believe this is actually working for 5 days now.” it went out, or 2. The partially failing hard drive decided to finally go out.

Anyways, when I try to turn the system back on, power is applied until the HDD starts to spin, then the system shutsdown instantly. Bad hard drive. Gives me an excuse to buy a 1tb drive this weekend from Frys.

So until payday, I’m going to pull the unit to relocate the components. Maybe the trunk, not sure just yet.

Hmm

kaoskube — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:24:18 +0000

My G1 comes today and I realized thatI should be able to Root the device then install a vnc client to use it as a secondary screen, plus tether it to my car pc.

Car PC Ideas

kaoskube — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:13:30 +0000

So I finally got my test system installed again in my Civic after having it out for 6 months this weekend. I’m not sure where the idea came from to put a pc in my car. When I started, I thought, “Hmm, this should be easy. Couple of hacks for some wires for power, about $600 and boom! a pc in my car!”

Yeah….that was over a year ago. And way over $600.

I started simple. Purchased an atom based intel motherboard, took some spare parts for memory hard drive dvd rom keyboard, etc. And a touch screen monitor. spent maybe 700 total. not too far over budget. Until I started to read. The more I read, the more I needed. The more I looked for what I needed the more I saw. Suddenly I was looking at Array Mics, bluetooth adapters, miles of wire ( lol ) speakers, amps….the possibility of a second job! J/k but it turned out to be a fun, challenging but expensive project. And here a year later it’s stable but no where near finished.

Pictures and more details to come of course but the specs follow:

Atom based 1.6ghz processor. This board draws 60w of power…nice

1gb ddr2

200gb hard drive

7″ Lilliput touchscreen

Gps, bluetooth, Game emulators ( Nintendo, Genesis, Super Nintendo PS One ), voice recognition.

Software: Vista 64 bit Streamlined , Centrafuse (Main car pc App)

Future Plans:
GET RID OF VISTA!!!! It loads very very quickly, being streamlined and all. Its just that some of these apps lean toward the homebrew side of things, the less I have to deal with software wise the better

Front and Rear Cameras,

Ultrasonic Range detection

Fusion Brain to handle sensors such as temp, light, motion etc

Push button start

Integrated Startup/Shutdown Controller

RFID for door locks

So far I am over budget, but having a blast!!!!

Stay tuned!

Wow

kaoskube — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:42:21 +0000

Today at work, the call volume dropped to almost 0 as Barack Obama was sworn in.that happens only during holidays… Oh and the super bowl. Can’t forget that.