Tyrell's World

Stagnating Computer Display Resolutions: Why Consumers Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:04:00 +0000

I bought a laptop in 2005; It was towards the high end of what retailers carried in stores at the time, although it was on clearance, making way for the Windows Vista machines that replaced it, and I got an employee discount on the display model. It was a good deal.

It had a 15.4 inch screen at 1280x800 resolution.

Since then, Apple came out with the Retina Displays on their mobile devices, and has shuffled in an era of pushing their 27 inch displays with 2560x1440 resolution for some time now.

One would then assume that a laptop built in 2012 would be boasting improved resolution in both dimensions... Yet my fairly high end Toshiba is shamefully left behind with 1366x768 resolution. What gives?

See, Apple is pushing the pixel density envelope, so to speak, but the rest of the industry is stuck following some TV standards game like they've realized consumers don't WANT a computer, consumers want a TV that they can browse the internet with...

I watched it happen while I was working at a major office supply store: The marketing material on these laptops started changing to claim that these laptops supported "Full HD" resolutions... Which were oddly lower resolution than the laptops they were replacing... Yet, consumers flocked to them, like they were somehow better; Apparently the ability to watch Bluray at it's native resolution has gotten everyone so happy in their pants that higher resolutions don't even occur to them. Good job consumers, you have successfully turned your laptops into very powerful televisions. And how many of you actually have bluray players that can use those "Full HD" displays? Well, let's just say that my expensive high end laptop didn't make the "Contains a bluray player" cut.

Recently Toshiba announced the pending release of their new line of "4K HD" laptop displays... The price of which are unknown, but "Expensive" seems to be a safe guess. You can read about them here: http://betanews.com/2014/01/06/toshiba-unveils-first-ever-4k-laptops-but-do-consumers-actually-need-them/

Does content exist at that resolution? No... Does a laptop user need that aspect ratio? No. Even if they COULD use it, could one even see pixels that small on a 15 inch screen? I would argue nay.

Do *I* need a 4K resolution display? No, never... But do I want it, because it's the only way I can break this "Full HD" artificial limit on screen resolution? Well, I guess I don't have an overabundance of choice, do I?

Thoughts on servers, virtualization, Linux and BSD

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 07:36:00 +0000

I've been studying for my RHCSA/RHCE exam; While I have been reading a book on the subject, the primary study technique has been to build a full server at the house, featuring all the software that needs to be configured on the practical exam. I should be VERY ready when I finally walk in to take the exam, probably early next month.

Of course, it hasn't always gone smoothly... I initially built it in VMs on Citrix XenServer, but because each environment needed dedicated system resources, I ran out of RAM rather quickly. Next, I tried putting everything on one install, which seemed to be working alright until I turned on the router/firewall... Then everything inside the network, and everything outside the network worked... But aside from the firewall itself, nothing running on the server was accessible anywhere... I could probably fix it somehow, but from a security perspective, having it set up that way was still wrong.

I am now rebuilding the entire server system on three Linux Containers. Although, before a few days ago, I had never heard of them, so I've been researching them, and eventually on comparisons between them and FreeBSD jails. See, I had been operating on the belief that NetBSD was the Most Secure Operating System Ever™, and FreeBSD, it's close cousin, and it's Jails, MUST be similarly secure; I wondered how Linux Containers compared to that Holy standard.

In this vein, I found this blog post: http://aboutthebsds.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/freebsd-jails-are-a-huge-security-danger/. I was confused by it; How had I come to be so far off base? It occurs to me that IF FreeBSD jails were as good as they claim, then how the hell did the people that broke out of those jails on iOS actually do it? Maybe there's a thread of truth in that post.
I'm still a bit skeptical; I mean, this is a Linux guy bashing BSD... No one is surprised by this. Still, it appears to be well researched... This guy MIGHT know what he's talking about. I have read a lot on the blog now, the latest being this post: http://aboutthebsds.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/bsd-vs-linux/. All of the points make a lot of sense... At least logically. And it REALLY paints a terrifying picture of BSD.

Of course, I'm a Linux guy, so why do I even care about BSD at all? Well, one thing was FreeBSD Jails... But, apparently, they aren't what I ACTUALLY want. Another thing is ZFS; But even while I was writing this post, I was reading this article: http://www.eall.com.br/blog/?p=2481, and that has me rethinking that plan too... I'll have to read more on THAT subject as well.

So I'm building my servers on Linux Containers and (Where necessary), in Linux Kernel-mode Virtual Machines. Hopefully this will give me some reliability against my former problems, and maybe some security bonuses as well!

Why am I thinking so much about Digital Voice modes?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 21:16:00 +0000

I have a project I would like to do... I want to be able to remotely lock/unlock my car, remotely start the car in the morning, and to be notified remotely if the alarm is going off. Some commercial products do some of those things; Certainly, the locking, unlocking, and remote starting are easy... As long as I'm in range of a key fob transmitter. In the modern era, even the rest of it is doable, given cell phone technologies (See the Chevy commercials that allow you to do all of that from your smartphone.) But what if the car is outside of my office building, and I'm working on the far side and can't hear the alarm? Or if I'm in a building that doesn't have cell service? Or if I'm at the mall, and I want the car warm when I get there?

Ham radio transmitters have more power than the keyfobs, and would probably solve some of these problems; Ham radio repeaters often have better coverage than cell towers, and would also largely solve the problem; The APRS network, as one example, has entirely decent national coverage, and can relay messages across RF and the internet to get a message across the country. Clearly, to get what I want, I need something from the amateur market.

SO, a couple of years ago, I started researching various digital modes for this purpose... POCSAG was nice, as it can provide the telecommand services I need... However, it's one directional, and the car wouldn't be able to report back it's success on a command, or tell me of a problem. APRS is bi-directional, and supports telemetry and text messages... I could build an interpretter that could use text messages as commands... But it's certainly not very battery efficient... Maybe a combination of the two: POCSAG for telecommand, APRS for telemetry... Keep the pager on all the time, but the APRS only boots up in the case of an event.

But then the idea of D-STAR occurred to me... It's getting good press, it supports voice and text messages, and it is designed for amateur radio; It's neat, because it carries your callsign as the radio ID, and can do call routing based on your callsign. However, through research, I found that the equipment isn't very well built, as Icom doesn't have any competition in the market... And the spec is poorly written, with the FEC in the datastream, NOT the voice stream, perpetuating lost packets and slow resync on the fringe of each repeater's coverage.

ETSI DMR, and particularly MotoTRBO, seemed to solve those design failures, and was just downright awesome, with 2-timeslot TDMA, and built in telemtry and telecommand. The only downside was the lack of datastream callsign radio IDs... Leading to some questionable legal issues in my project.

Also, in all cases, the price is absurd. I can't afford it, none of my friends can afford it, and to make my project work, I would need to buy TWO radios just to have no one to talk to...

Yet, I am following all of these forums about D-STAR, D-STAR GMSK Nodes, MotoTRBO, DMR-MARC, etc. I could BUY a MotoTRBO radio, add a GMSK node, and have DMR, D-STAR, and analog all in one radio, all for less than the cost of one of each! But... I still wouldn't have anyone to talk to... And it would be rediculous overkill for my car project.

The fact of the matter is that I can't afford any of those radios... None of my friends can, either... And if I can't talk to my friends, I'm just not interested. Further, if I can't use them in the back country, when I'm stuck in the snow and need a recovery, then it's pretty much useless.

My emotional mind is super curious and wants to build a D-STAR gateway at home... But my logical mind tells me that doing so would be a waste of time and money. I want to be on the cutting edge, but in the real world, I just need what works... At at this moment, FM voice is what works.

As for my car project... It will stay on the back burner for a while... And if I ever get around to doing it, the POCSAG telecommand / APRS telemetry idea is probably my best bet. I just wish I could get myself to emotionally calm down about this digital voice stuff...

NMEA Sentences, Kenwood Sentences, and the G6APRS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 22:09:00 +0000

This afternoon, Don Arnold (W6GPS) wrote on the G6APRS forums on Yahoo a rather informative post about how support for the full set of APRS icons and such are supported inside the AvMap G6APRS:
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 10:15 AM, <w6gps@yahoo.com> wrote:

this is clearly Yeasu. The Kenwood sentence is not proprietary. Argent and Byonics use it and they have not been sued. I guess the Idea of Yeasu having a function call Kenwood sentence in there radio is not cool..but any way if Yeasu created a P YEAD wpl instead of P KWD wpl and if parsed the same Avmap could also add the process this prompt command to the string and you would get all these features..
now using Magellan or Garmin format selection does not create a conflict. But to have the word Kenwood as a menu Item in a Yeasu radio I think wont happen...call it APRS Format with a PKWDWPL command prompt
and the Avmap will reconize the command then parse the string out correctly..But as far as I can see I cannot even get the wpl sentence out of the FTM400. Don

---In G6APRS@yahoogroups.com, <g6aprs@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

So who's to blame here? Is it Yaesu's fault for not
implementing/supporting the Kenwood proprietary sentence format. Or is
this a case where it's "proprietary" and therefore Yaesu can't
implement or support it even if they wanted to?

New to the group (first post!), so sorry if this has been explained before.

Thanks!

-- Daniel - KJ4DAJ

In response, I felt it was important to make the following technical response:

I have noticed two things that happen on this list far too frequently: 1) Fancy terms like "NMEA," "Sentence," and "PKWDWPL" or "$GPWPL" get thrown around without any explanation, and 2) The assumption that the audience is a bunch of industry experts is made rather falsely. Let me do my best to break down these terms for the benefit of the general public, who might not know the difference between a "Computer," a "Hard drive," and the "Screen."

The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) wrote a bunch of communication standards back in the '80s to specify how navigation equipment, weather instruments, mechanical and electrical sensors, autopilot, and other boat electronics communicate together; This standard was called NMEA 0183. Think of NMEA 0183 as the boating world's version of the onboard computer in your car, except that it's expandable and is supported by a bunch of different manufacturers. Remember that by 1993, when GPS first became available to the public, NMEA was already an established standard; The data we are trying to use today was not forseen by it's developers.

On the wire, NMEA 0183 uses RS-422, which is electrically similar to but not quite the same as the serial port on your computer (RS-232); It sends pulses of 1's and 0's using ASCII characters. Radio people will understand it, as it's not entirely unlike the over-the-air standards used in our digital modes. SO, these 1's and 0's form words and sentences, much like written language; So when we say "Sentence," we mean literally a sentence with words of data.

I've been researching this NMEA sentence stuff for some time now (The last two years, anyway). Each sentence starts with a $, a data type, and then the information carried by that data type, and ends with an *, a check sum and a carriage return. GPS data starts with $GP, and is followed by a wide range of specific datatypes; Of interest to this group might be the $GPWPL sentence, which carries a waypoint to be displayed; It carries only a name and a location, and sometimes whether or not the waypoint is moving. TECHNICALLY, our use of $GPWPL is wrong... The dreaded breadcrumb trail that some older Garmins are famous for is actually the CORRECT behavior, as each one of the $GPWPL lines is supposed to be displayed as a NEW waypoint... It's intended as a method of distributing a waypoint between multiple chartplotters on a boat.

So far in my research, I have been refusing to even look at the official spec, because to do so might compromise some future projects I may work on; and have been looking at the reverse engineered spec instead. Let's just say that it's a mess... For some interesting reading on the subject, check out this: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=801.

The reason I mention it is this: The NMEA sentences are incomplete, even in carrying just GPS location data... The data spit out by a standard GPS may or may not carry elevation, or error rate, or any other combination of important data. Many manufacturers use custom fields (Identified with a $P, followed by a three digit manufacturer code, followed by 2-5 digit data type code; In the case of Kenwood, this is a $PKWDWPL for the Kenwood custom waypoint sentence) that fix these oversights in the spec. Unlike the $GPWPL sentence mentioned before, the $PKWDWPL sentence is designed to specify a temporary waypoint, one that gets deleted when the next waypoint from that callsign gets sent. It's pretty neat... As it's designed by radio engineers for the purpose of supporting APRS, rather than boat engineers with the purpose of communicating with boat navigation equipment. Just a few thoughts on the Kenwood sentence... It is called such because it's a Proprietary Sentence from Kenwood (From NMEA's perspective), not because Kenwood is protecting it; As Don has mentioned, several other manufacturers support it, and it's fairly well documented when you know what to look for.

The reason I've been researching this stuff is this: GPSd is the daemon responsible for interpreting GPS data on Linux, and by extension, Android; It's capable of spitting out NMEA sentences, and also a more complete sentence developed by them for use with software based on their libraries; Because their sentence fills in the gaps left in other GPS manufacturer's implementations, it's output can be used more reliably than the input data. It's pretty cool...

Also interesting are the Automatic Information System (AIS) sentences, which are designed to carry data similar to APRS but engineered for boats (Boat identifier, boat name, length, bearing, destination, size, etc.). The advantage being that AIS is standardized by NMEA, and is supported by a wide array of chartplotters and GPS units; The disadvantage is that AIS's icon set only includes boats... Far from complete for APRS use. However, being similar to APRS, it also carries a lot of the data we care about; Namely, the identifier, name, and velocity; However, because all boats are at sea level, it does NOT carry elevation.

Finally, I dream of someday writing a library that converts between the AIS sentences and the Kenwood sentences, the hope being that I can use a amateur radio TNC, paired with am AIS Chartplotter, and display APRS data in a more complete form than the $GPWPL sentence currently allows.

I also dream of a day when I can use ONE G6 with TWO TNCs and radios, and be able to participate in both VHF APRS and UHF high speed APRS simultaneously... It SHOULD be as easy as plugging in a multiplexer, but I can't afford one... So maybe with this software I want to write, I will be able to use a Raspberry Pi as a cheap multiplexer.

I hope that this post gives some insight into how this stuff works, and when Don throws around these terms, people can better understand what he's talking about; And should any of my dream projects come to fruition, this may be a good reference for what it's all about as well ;)

--

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that this post may come off in a derogetory tone; It's the furthest thing from my intention to offend anyone. Specifically, with regard to my comment "who might not know the difference between a 'Computer,' a 'Hard drive,' and the 'Screen.'"I didn't mean it as a put down, and I'm sorry if it came off that way... In fact, I meant the exact opposite; Allow me to explain:

I only use that example because 1) most of my readers WILL know those differences, and might understand how others might not... And 2) it describes many of the people in my life... Including my own parents, who are professionals in their own fields, and know a great deal more about the law and real estate than I ever will (My mom is a lawyer, and my father is a real estate developer). Further, I'm a Geography major, and some of my college age classmates are unaware of the technical aspects of what a computer is, despite using them on a daily basis; That said, they probably know more about things like map projections, slip faults, and tree rings than most IT professionals do. Just because you aren't an expert in all fields doesn't mean your not an expert in something... And it certainly doesn't mean that your an idiot.

All I'm saying is that, in all things, it's important to assess your audience. And on a mailing list that targets radio experts, throwing around technical developer nautical terms might not be the best path to a conducive learning environment.

Kenwood TM-D710 vs. Yaesu FT-8800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 05:26:00 +0000

In preparation of moving from Reno, NV to Portland, OR, and in anticipation of my friend getting his ham radio license after the move, I installed ham radios in both his Mazda Tribute, and my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee... The hope was that we would be able to use MURS frequencies to communicate between the two cars and the moving truck as we drove up...

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get our hands on the antennas before we left Reno... ON the plus side, we didn't have to illegally use MURS frequencies without type-approved radios... On the downside, the drive was WAY more sketchy than I would have liked :/

BUT, with a Ham Radio Outlet in town, we were finally able to finish both radio installs after the move... And I have programmed two different club's repeaters into the radios. It's exciting... I really love having the radio equipment properly installed in my daily driver again ;)

--

And I'm just going to throw it out there: Every time I have to mess with the Kenwood TM-D710, I fall more in love with it... It has a truly amazing feature set, everything from the built in APRS, to the selectable display color, to the fact that the display shows BOTH the frequency and the memory name AT THE SAME TIME... It's very much the best radio I have ever used.

While I got this radio for it's APRS functionality, I'm not using anymore; We have a Byonics TinyTrak4 and a Motorola Maxtrac serving those needs now. Portland has a lot of UHF high-speed APRS activity... I may get an NMEA multiplexer to run my AvMap G6 on both VHF through the TT4 and UHF through the TM-D710 at some point in the future... But for the moment, I kinda like having both sides of the radio available for voice.

--

By comparison, my friend's Yaesu FT-8800 is a feature-rich radio, and is considerably cheaper... Especially at the FANTASTIC price he got his for. It lacks the APRS, but I don't think I miss it; I prefer the wider feature set of the TT4, and not losing one of the receivers to that use; We will eventually get our hands on another Maxtrac and a TT4 for him. I'm also liking that it can demodulate AM, which is fun for monitoring the airport approach frequency.

But it has a separate memory bank for the left and right side receivers... Which is kinda weird. Also, like most ham radios, you have to chose between the frequency or the memory name. I'll use the memory names I used on my Wouxun to solve the problem (Last three digits of the frequency, with the first three letters of the location name), but it's really not as convenient.

I also don't like that I have no choice but to use both receivers; The TM-D710 allows you to disable one side or the other, which is REALLY nice. As it is, I just turned down the volume on the right side, and set the controls to the left... But it clutters the screen, and uses slightly more power, all for no gain in his current use case.

--

I really love my TM-D710... When it comes time to load MY jeep with a radio, I'm defiantly going to get another Kenwood. I'll probably skip over the D710, and drop down to the TM-V71... But it's a much better radio, and I don't mind spending the extra money.

FCC Type Approval, Part 97, And You

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 02:56:00 +0000

From time to time, a cheap radio will come out of China. These radios have been coming out with quite a bit of frequency as of late, and they will often hit the markets before they get Type Approval to be sold to licensed Amateur Radio Operators. This is perfectly legal, as Part 97 does not require Type Approval... Despite this, many Part 97 licensees still get a bit queasy if a radio doesn't bear a Type Approval sticker, and it will often be cited by critics as a reason to never touch the radios.

The lack of Type Approval happens for many reasons, but more often than not, it has nothing to do with spurious emissions... The radios seem to be of good engineering design, and will often gain type approval shortly after release. As means of an example, might I suggest the Wouxun KG-UVD1P: A very popular radio by all accounts; I carry it as my primary portable radio, and so does my wife. We are both fans; Living on a college budget, we can't afford the big name radios, and certainly can't afford the risk of them being stolen. As of late, the Beofeng UV-5R has beat the Wouxun's price point and filled the same void for a new round of users. Both models were sold initially without Type Approval stickers, and were met with skepticism; More recently, both have been carrying Part 90 Type Approval stickers, proving that no spurious emissions are produced, and the criticism was silenced.

Part 90 is a commercial radio service; Licenses are sold to businesses, schools, public safety, and government agencies. The business is licensed for the frequency, and the business gives out radios to their employees. The operators themselves are not licensed, and are not required to know FCC rules; As such, they can not be trusted with the power to modify the radios settings. No, it's nothing RF related that prevents these radios from getting type approval. Rather, it's the ease with which the radio can be modified to another frequency.

Licensees under Part 97 of the FCC rules, on the other hand, ARE individually licensed, they DO know the rules, and they then can be trusted with a frequency agile radio. Further, Part 97 operators are encouraged to experiment and to modify their radios. As such, type approval is not applicable, and is not required.

It's important to note, that in the form I received my Wouxun KG-UVD1P, it can not be used in Part 90 frequencies. In order to do so, it must have it's firmware modified. This restriction satisfies the FCC's rules governing Part 90 devices, and so it received Type Approval. In order to be used in Part 90 frequency space, a qualified technician must modify the radio's software to cover those frequencies, and enable a software lock that prevents users from modifying the settings. All the Type Approval sticker means is that the qualified tech is authorized to do so with this radio.

Don't get me wrong, Part 90 type approval is a nice addition to a radio... It proves conclusively that, as the radio comes from the factory, it doesn't produce spurious emissions But as a Part 97 user, it's far from necessary and far from something to prevent one from buying the radio.

Encouraging experimentation while maintaining interoperability: A commentary on "Going Digital"

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:10:00 +0000

How does one experiment with new modes, thus advancing the hobby and the radio art, while also maintaining interoperability, a necessity in a radio service dedicated to emergency communications and the maintanance of an international community?

In this month's QST, David Sumner, ARRL CEO wrote a letter regarding Digital Modes in Amateur Radio. He said it better than I can... So I have posted the letter to my website for everyone's reading pleasure. The original can be found on Page 9 of March 2013's issue of QST.

The letter addresses the issues of interoperability and experimentation, which are concepts often at odds. Certainly regulations would promote and maintain interoperability, but such regulations would stiffle advancement; Voluntary standards don't inhibit development, but certainly don't encourage change; A free marketplace will promote advancement, as the standards that matter will be the ones that succeed - However, such a market creates a chicken and egg problem, no one will buy a technology unless the community is there, and the community may not exist unless someone buys the technology... The risk exists that seperate standards may be adopted regionally, discouraging national or international interoperability.

The problem doesn't have an obvious solution, and certainly no solution is proposed in the letter, only the suggestion that any experimentation should be done using codecs that inherently promote interoperability, such as Codec2. It's a long-shot to hope for commercial support of such an adoption... And such hope even alienates existing and growing incumbent communities, such as those surrounding DMR, P25, and D-STAR.

Still, hope should be maintained... For hope is all that will promote open experimentation and development that may someday solve these problems. Maybe the problem isn't as Mr. Sumner suggests at all... Maybe no problem exists at all: The Amateur Radio Service has the fundamental purpose of advancing the communications and technical phases of the radio art; As long as the radio service has engineers, experimenters, and just plain curious people, interoperability will come as a result.

Runbo X5

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:42:00 +0000

I want a Runbo X5: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/15/runbo-x5-x3-x1/

Let's be clear: It's a 4.3 inch smart phone, running Android 4.0.4 with a 1Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage; All of that with a TRULLY MASSIVE battery, beating out the Droid RAZR Maxx HD by 500mAh (3800 vs 3300).

It's all the power of my Motorola XOOM, in the small ruggedized package of a smartphone. And at the low price of $380 to boot! Considering the Droid RAZR Maxx HD is nearly $300 ON CONTRACT, this really is a good deal.

But none of that is what REALLY excites me... No, the most exciting feature is the 1 watt 70CM ham radio transmitter. Sure, would be better if it was dual-band; But hey, 70cm has lots of activity, and I don't know if I want to deal with the 2M crowd anyway.

So... I'm pretty serious when I say I would like to get this beast... IF all my followers pitched in $20 a piece, it would only take 19 people to get me to there...

A More Educational Club

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:28:00 +0000

Backstory

When I was a kid, I was very interested in how things worked. I would string together D Cell batteries with scotch tape, trying to power a lightbulb (My understanding of AC and DC has since improved); My favorite book in elementary school was The Way Things Work by David Macaulay, which I was completely convinced could be used to design and build all sorts of useful things (My understanding of scale has since changed: I now know that the device they described as an amplifier is in fact a transistor); I would take things apart, and only sometimes get it back together. You know, normal boy things ;)

My parents encouraged the behavior by buying me electronics kits... Things like the crystal radio from Radio Shack. I also somehow acquired every electronics lab kit all my friends had that they found boring, and worked cover to cover learning the schematics and symbols.

My dad also told stories about going to the junk yard as a kid, with the kid down the block, and gathering enough junk parts out of Motorola car stereos to build a transciever to talk to Australia with. Who knows if the stories are true... But all of these experiences added up to my having this fantasy that getting a ham radio license opened a door to a wonderful world of not just communications, but also learning, experimentation, and personal advancement. So at 14, I read my way through the ARRL's study manual, and passed my no-code Tech license in August of 2001. My parents bought me a good starter station: A mobile 2M Yaesu, a decent antenna, a SWR meter, and a power supply. Looking back, some mistakes were made (That CB SWR meter doesn't give very good readings in the 2M band, but hey, you have to start somewhere... And my parents were doing their best). I set up my station in the back of my closet (I had an alcove in the back intended for storage, but perfect for a kid to use as a ham shack). I was a 14 year old kid, no relevant experience to call from in my family, so my parents called up a local ham to come over and help me learn how to use my radio...

Bit then a strange thing happened... The guy they called was old enough to be my grandpa, and was negative about everything: He hated that my shack was so inaccessible he hated that my radio was a Yaesu, he even seemed to hate that I was so young... Despite trying to read the manual for my radio with me, we never did connect to any local repeaters, and he could only conclude that my CTCSS encoder was broken, and that I needed a new radio; He recommended Icom. I listened to the repeaters for a few weeks, but decided that the only conversations being had were about the weather or about the operator's wife's health... Certainly nothing a 14 year old would find interesting.

So my radio got turned off, and only 10 years later when my license expired, did I decide I was going to either let it expire, or I was going to become very active. I went with the latter. It turns out there was nothing wrong with my radio, it just required more settings than that guy was willing to find. I moved my station out of my parent's house, and into my Jeep. I joined ARES, joined a local club's email reflector, and was participating in events.

The Amateur Radio Community

Since my reawakening in the hobby, I have upgraded to General Class, I have done emergency communications both through the school and through ARES, and I have participated in several large local events. I am a college student, so I don't have the time to devote that I would like to. Besides, the truth is that I got into this hobby looking for a challenging environment in which I can learn about electronics, do experiments, and otherwise drive the development of the technical phases of the radio art... Communications is a secondary concern. I needed a forum of like minded people to help me get ahead.

When I transferred, I took advantage of the opportunity to start a club at the University of Nevada. I have also helped get the ball rolling in getting the local community college. It was my hope that if I was surrounded by other college students, I would be able to fulfill my long time goals in Amateur Radio.

I have been working on these student clubs for three semesters now, and a few truths have become evident:

Recruitment at a college is hard. Most students will listen to what I have to say, sign up for more information, then never show up. From those I have spoken with, it seems the idea of studying for and passing an extra test (No matter how easy I assure them it is) is too much commitment in their busy schedules.
School politics is counterproductive, but unavoidable. There was a club at UNR in the past; They have a long history, and a BIG file with the student union. They also have a bunch of equipment in a shack in a small room off the end of the IEEE lounge... And there is a group of boosters, supporters, and alumni that have been meeting every Monday morning for the better part of 3 decades, irrespective of students to support... Unfortunately, the boosters don't have any pull with the school to speak of, and the school doesn't want us passing through the IEEE lounge to get to our shack for security reasons. Therefore, we have a constant uphill battle to use our own equipment.
Students don't like old people. Sure, it's superficial, but it doesn't change the fact that if we schedule a meeting, and the boosters show up, students will only be seen once.

Without students, I don't have a club, and I certainly don't have my forum of likeminded individuals. Despite the apparent natural association of college students and learning, it's just not real.

A Club That Emphases Learning

Amber has long told me that if I want to find a group that thinks like I do, I'm just gonna have to start it myself. It didn't work at the college, but maybe that's just because students aren't the right body to recruit from. Rather, I need to start the learning environment, and recruit from the body of existing hams.

SO the club I seek needs to offer classes; I can do that! Amber and I can teach the Tech and General class licenses, and basic electronics, and advanced communications. Once we get our Extra class licenses, we can teach that, and even sign up to be VEs and conduct the tests. There is useful knowledge to be garnered from the FCC's Commercial Operator's License series; We could teach those tests, then arrange for the exams and get the club members licensed in both ladders. Finally, one could do the OSHA Tower Climber cert, and such a club's members could even start getting jobs.

As the membership gets more and more trained, experimentation would be natural. Of course, no two Hams have the same experiences, and we all could learn something from someone else. Projects would naturally flourish in our meetings and on our website. All we need to do is be there for each other to bounce ideas around. And as interesting things come up, we can add relevant classes to the class schedule.

THAT is the group I want to be a part of!

Core Values

The free flow of thought and learning requires certain core values; It is my belief that among these values are the following:

Education must be accessible. A group of one educated person won't be very successful if there's no one else to bounce ideas off of. The more accessable the education is, the more people there will be at the end of the path. SO, to achieve this, the classes must be held somewhere easy to find, somewhere open to the public, and somwhere that people feel welcome.
Education must be affordable. Even with the FCC's restrictions on fees collected at exams, many VECs will simply max out the fee they are aloud to collect. It's my belief that testing should be free, particularly in a non-commercial, voluntary service such as Amateur Radio. I constantly offer to offset the cost of testing for hopeful hams to help get them through the door... Some clubs do the same. But there's one VEC that doesn't charge at all: Laurel VEC. I would love to be the first VE team in Nevada authorized under a free VEC. Classes could be offered for free (Or at the cost of materials), and testing that ISN'T free could be at least partially subsidized by the club.
Education must be continuous. Most hams stop learning when they have their license; Even the adventurous only go so far as the modes in the hobby. No one ever seems willing to go outside their comfort zone, to truly understand the rest of the hobby, or the rest of the technical field. A club that promotes education should have an endless series of courses, be it licensing FCC licensing or electronics theory, there is always some other class the group could offer to it's members or to the community.
Experimentation must be encouraged: Training and meetings are great, but they don't lead to understanding. Only when you have hands on experience does the learning really begin. So a web forum should exist for the exchange of ideas, and the group should encourage meetups for subgroups to play out ideas.
The club shouldn't be a club: Most amateur radio clubs focus on owning and operating equipment; Be it repeaters, or a contest station, or a packet network... No one seems to focus on members. A club that focuses on education should be different, it should focus on the ideas the members have. Now, this doesn't mean they SHOULDN'T operate a repeater; If the membership wants a repeater, the club should find a site, and assist in all the aspects of getting that repeater online. It's just that the repeater shouldn't be the soul focus of the group overall.
The club shouldn't be a time dump. You aren't learning if your too busy settling drama, or busy organizing events, or busy being a leader. Sure, there should be officers, but they should only be there to keep the order, not to be the glue.

I'm sure there are other things that the club I seek would provide... But this list is a good point to start with.

Now the hard part... How does one make all of that happen?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 08:30:00 +0000

I am very VERY far behind on posting here... I have a list of posts I intended to make, but because of their age, the details have grown thin. Still, I will post them here now, post dated to when they were relevant .. Therefore, please go back and check the posts dated from September onward.

Additionally, I have created websites for myself! For radio specific projects, please visit KD7KUJ.US; For more general projects, including (At some point in the future) my GIS projects, please visit TYRELL.JENTINK.NET.

And because of the creation of those websites, I do expect to keep this blog more up to date. Thank you everyone for your understanding.

Summits On The Air

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 07:05:00 +0000

As many (OK, all) of my friends know, I'm an Amateur Radio Operator, callsign KD7KUJ. It's actually a pretty big deal to me, and anyone who faithfully follows my blog can expect to see quite a few posts about radio in the near future.

Recently, in my Geography Field Methods class, we took a 4 day field trip to Yosemite, the Alabama Hills, and the White Mountain Range. I took my radio, and programmed the CARLA Repeater System (http://www.carlaradio.net/), hoping to stay in contact with some of my friends back in Reno when my cell phone wasn't working. All in all, it was a fun trip. I learned a lot about geography, saw some really cool geology, and even spent some time in the Alabama Hills, where a great many movies were filmed (In fact, we camped in that place between Germania and Spain where Russel Crow found renewed spirit to get home in Gladiator). On the last day of the trip, we hiked to the peak of White Mountain, east of Bishop, CA. From that peak, I talked to people throughout California via a repeater in Tonapah. They mentioned that if they tracked such things, I would win the award for "Highest checkin to the system." Well, that is certainly a pretty cool distinction, and I wanted to get more involved in that aspect of the radio art.

Summits On The Air (SOTA) is an achievment program where you earn points for "Activating" mountain tops on the radio. The basic premise is that you hike to the top of a mountain with a radio and an antenna, and you talk to people from that peak. More information about the program can be found at http://www.sota.org.uk/. I have known about this program for quite some time now, but my experience on White Mountain really drove me to research it a bit more. I think I'm addicted...

I know it's late in the year for this, but I want to start "Activating" summits every weekend that I can do so safely. I wanted to do Mt. Rose last weekend, but timing didn't work out. I guess Rose is out now that it's covered in snow (I'm not snowshoing up to the peak... I'm crazy, but not THAT crazy). But there are plenty of other peaks in the area that won't be impossible to achieve year round; I guess I should start coordinating with my friends ;)

Pacificon 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This weekend, Amber and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Pacificon 2012, and the ARRL National Convention in Santa Clara, CA. We were there primarily for pleasure, but we also took care of some business.

I recently developed a script that uses GDAL 1.9 to convert USGS Topo Quad DRGs to a format compatible with Google Earth and the AvMap G6. There were some problems with my download process, and so some quads are missing accross the country, but I have posted to my website (kd7kuj.us) quads for the vast majority of the country.

Because of these map contributions, AvMap added me to the Beta testing team for their APRS model of the G6. They also generously donated a G6, Kenwood TM-D710, and a Byonics TinyTrak4 so that I can become proficient with them and help provide support to the community.

The G6 and the TM-D710 arrived in the mail just in time for me to mount them in the car and program them to work with each other on the trip down to Pacificon. I was extremely impressed with the combination; Once configured, they work seamlessly together, and make a very strong in-vehicle navigation and communications system.

A few quirks about them: Because I have recently been playing with CARLA, and because CARLA uses a dual tone system, I was disappointing to find that the TM-D710 doesn't support encoding and decoding 2 different tones. The manual suggests that you can program an Odd Split, and that MAY support two tones... But I haven't tried it yet. Also, the G6APRS beeps with every exit, with a popup notification saying to stay on the freeway... I think the beep is excessive and can get annoying. If anything, it has a tendency to cause one to tune it out; So that if something important DOES come up, your likely to miss it due to inattentiveness. For what it's worth, while many people complain about the messaging features between the G6 and the Kenwood not working, I would argue that messaging isn't a feature most people use, and so it's not the end a big deal.

When down at the conference Amber and I had the opportunity to put some faces with the names and callsigns we had been talking to on the air. It was a fabulous opportunity to socialize and learn some stuff... Particularly, we rather enjoyed meeting the ARRL's education team; Amber is a secondary education major, so the opportunity to see how Ham Radio can interface with a classroom was a fun experience.

We also got to spend some time together, and went over the hill into Santa Cruz for several hours of playing on the beach. Really, I loved the trip, and look forward to going back next year!

Married

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Amber and Tyrell Jentink are pleased to announce their Marriage! <3 15th="15th" 2012="2012" b="b" california="california" nbsp="nbsp" or="or" photos="photos" portola="portola" september="september" tyrellandamber.net="tyrellandamber.net" visit="visit">

That's right, I got married. It was really pretty awesome... We rented out the Western Pacific, Feather River Route museum in Portola California, and had a beautiful little ceremony. The wedding party and guests all rode the train to the wedding site, where we had a 1950s era fire engine as our backdrop for the ceremony. Amber's dress was beautiful, as is traditional, she surprised me by not letting me see it until she was walking off the train at the ceremony site. We had photos taken of everyone in attendence, and all got back on the train, to return to the museum, where our reception was held in the dining car. Everything was catered by our fantastic cousin, with the generous assistance of our roommate; Dinner was amazing, everything was perfect! After dinner, we had the dance in the baggage car, which was perfect; I was surprised that it was so spacious maybe erroring on the side of too much so! And the night ended with a beutiful night sky, where the rural setting allowed the wedding party to enjoy the stars and share some laughs. All in all, a major success, and I'm very proud to call Amber Jentink my wife <3 div="div">

The risks of WiFi

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:58:00 +0000

And almost certainly illegal, and very certainly immoral...

I follow this blog... http://nonbovine-ruminations.blogspot.com/ It's pretty good. Talks about all kinds of nerdy stuff, including ham radio and computers and technology and pretty much everything I find interesting. You should all go read through some of the archives, they really are a good read. But the most recent post is the one I will refer to in this post. It was about the dangers of unencrypted networks. I have long known the powers of Airsnort, Aircrack, and other tools used for monitoring wireless networks. I knew you could listen to, and record anything that is ever sent over a wireless network. I thought it was cool... But it was complicated, and I didn't really care...

But that blog post referred to a Firefox extension called Firesheep, http://codebutler.com/firesheep, which will happily record packets, focusing primarily on usernames and passwords to websites that it cares about. And when you click on a person's username? It logs you in as them. Super easy, super creepy. Now, like I said, this is almost certainly illegal, and I don't suggest anyone use it... I do suggest, however, that you all go into your Facebook settings and turn on HTTPS. And I suggest you get smart about where you log into stuff. And if your on an unencrypted network, be careful about what data you enter. Cuz this is just stupidly easy to use.

As a last thought, TMCC and UNR both encrypt their wireless networks now. Therfore, it is safe to use your computer and browse to your hearts content in those locations. Still, a bit of vigilance can go a long, LONG ways....

BPMDJ on Fedora 14 x86_64

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 May 2011 05:45:00 +0000

It's not typically my style to do how-to's. It's my general impression that by the time I do something, it has been done by dozens before me. However, it appears that in this time, that's not the case.

OK, first a little background:

I have a music library of a decent size: Just shy of 83 hundred tracks of CD quality FLACs. I have spent quite a bit of time standardizing the storage schema, so that all the folders are sorted uniformily and all the files are named appropriately. I then used MusicBrainz Picard to tag the albums, and EasyTag to tag the miscellaneous collections. After all of that, I can say with some comfort that my collection is at least uniform and that it's tags are correct.

The next big thing for me is to be able to create playlists that are good for working out. I have been reading about how matching your music's beats to your workout will help you workout longer and more efficiently, and I have installed a couple apps on my phone that will match music to your jogging pace automatically, IF your music is already tagged for such magic.

And so this brings me to my problem: Tagging upwards of 8 thousand songs BPMs by hand isn't a task for the feint of heart, or for those who have jobs. As such, I have spent several months questing for the very best BPM counter for linux. I have tried various products, such as a plugin for Amarok, a hidden feature of Banshee, etc. but none of them ever worked for me. In all my research, people kept pointing towards a product called BPMDJ (http://bpmdj.yellowcouch.org), but it's not available in binary form.

This leads to the extended problem: I spent MONTHS not able to compile the stupid thing. Well, today, hours of fiddling and a very decently worded bug report later, I was successful, and this is the process:

1. I installed all the dependencies months ago, and so this list may be incomplete... If anyone finds a problem, please let me know and I will update this post. Basically, the following command (as root) should get the job done:

yum install qt-devel alsa-lib-devel fftw fftw-devel mpg123 lame vorbis-tools mplayer

2. I downloaded the source from http://bpmdj.yellowcouch.org/
3. Per the instructions on their home page, and because Fedora is always just a little bleeding edge with their packages, I had to patch symbol.h to be compatable with the QT packages included:

Change:

Symbol() : text(NULL)

{

};

To:

Symbol() : text((const char*)NULL)

{

};

4. Because of a bug in the BPMClock driver (http://bpmdj.yellowcouch.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1298), you also have to patch bpmclock.cpp to include the following include line:

#include

5. You can now move on with the steps as intended. Create a defines file, mine looks like this:

CPP = g++ -g -O3 -Wall

RCC = rcc

UIC = uic-qt4

MOC = moc-qt4

CFLAGS += -D COMPILE_ALSA

LDFLAGS += -lpthread -lm -lasound -lrt -lfftw3

QT_INCLUDE_PATH = -I/usr/include/QtGui/ -I/usr/include/QtCore/ -I/usr/include/Qt/

QT_LIBRARY_PATH = /usr/lib64/libQtCore.so.4

QT_LIBS = -lQtGui

BITS = 64

6. Run the make command, and everything should play nice. I then moved bpmdj, bpmplay and bpmdjraw to/usr/bin, and added it to my Application Launcher, and it seems to be working... Now on to the original goal and question: Will this read and tag all my files? Only time will tell.

These instructions successfully build the program and get it installed. In my next post, I will explain how to setup and use the program.

The FCC doesn't require search warents?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:44:00 +0000

OK, I'm going to take a strongly political slant today, instead of my normal technological one.   Good luck!

As many of you know, I am an Amateur Radio Operator, and as such, I get a lot of information about goings on amongst the various radio services.   Today, in a newsletter from the Amateur Radio Relay Legue, there was an article about an individual in California who is causing major interference with a local fire station's radio equipment with their CB radio.   It is the job of the FCC to force compliance among all the radio licenses, settle disputes, etc, and so it is clearly in their realm to do an investigation. In this case, agents from the FCC made several visits to this CB operator's house, requesting to inspect the equipment for compliance, and the operator denied them access without a search warrant. In response, the FCC has submitted an order that revokes the person's license to operate, instituted a fine, and deemed the operator as being out of compliance with rules for not allowing the inspection of his equipment without a warrant.

OK, here's where my feelings fall on the subject. The FCC was doing their job by responding to the Fire Department's request, their investigation was thorough and well done, and they hadn't stepped on anyone's rights by requesting to inspect the equipment. Additionally, I feel the operator in question was correct in refusing them without a warrant, on the following grounds: Yes, the license for any radio license gives the FCC the privilege of inspecting your equipment for compliance, and an operator should honor their request. However, that does not make the FCC more important than the constitution... If this operator didn't want the FCC on his property, their only course of action is to revoke his license and possibly assess a fine for the interference alone... The equipment inspection should be used only to PROTECT the operator, not as a means of intimidation.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think this operator is in violation of his licence, should have it revoked, and should be fined. I think $7000 is excessive and unconstitutional, and I think the FCC should not be making any wars over the Search Warrant issue.   I don't think they have overstepped their authority in this case, but I think the agents chose poor wording and have opened themselves to a lawsuit. In fact, if such a lawsuit gets filed, I will side with the operator on the subject, as the agents stating they don't need a warrant indicates a blatant disrespect of the constitution from the FCC, and from the Executive Branch as a whole.   They need to be put in check. As a means of clarification, here's the 4th amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Certainly, the person can have their license to operate revoked. But their property can not be inspected or seized without a warrant from the judge.

Cell Phone data plans

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:45:00 +0000

T-Mobile recently ran a commercial that states that they offer data plans starting at $10 a month... Well, I went and found out what that means: $10 for 200MB a month. I then installed an app on my phone called "Stats Free" to calcuate my data usage, cleared it's logs, deleted all my local email cache and then I synced my 3 email accounts back on, and updated a few apps that were out of date... I blew through 17.8MB in 10 minutes. Sure, abnormal behavior. However, I am a pretty heavy data user, and I wanted to get a number that represented what I might actually use in a month, without having to wait that long... Assuming I can keep myself under that much in an entire day (I mean, I DO have WiFi at work and at home... How hard can it be?), I would still require a 500-600MB per month data plan.

So much for T-Mobile's "Cheap" plans...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:29:00 +0000

I have been researching handheld GPS devices recently, mostly out of personal curiosity about what's available, but partly out of interest of getting a device I can load my own maps onto and take backpacking.   Not wanting to settle for anything less than the best, I am torn between the Garmin GPSMAP 62 and the GPSMAP78.   They are largely the same GPS, but the 78 comes preloaded with nautical maps, and the 62 covers Topo 100K maps... Either way, I would be replacing the onboard stuff with Topo 24K maps, so the preloaded stuff is not a determining factor... In the end, I will just have to hold them and see which one feels better in my hands.

That being said, the maps I can buy from Garmin are only of a certain amount of utility... They are nice, but they only give me what Garmin wants me to have, and that simply won't do. As a student of Geographic Information Systems, I need the ability to load GIS data onto my device, and to get data back off again.   I am largely annoyed by the lack of consumer grade devices that have this ability.

In an attempt to get what I need without dropping nearly $3 grand on one of these bad boys: Trimble Nomad 900GXE, I discovered this cool software called OziExplorer.   I'm pretty stoked about the idea... It converts tracks and points to Shapefiles (.shp) and back again.   It's neat stuff.

There's also the constant nagging from the back of my mind that I should try to get GrassGIS running on one of my linux machines... Maybe I can get someone to buy me the hardware in exchange for my research and my skills....

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=63802
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=63603
http://www.google.com/search?q=Trimble%C2%AE+Nomad%C2%AE+900G&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=Trimble%C2%AE+Nomad%C2%AE+900G&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=1vY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbs=shop:1&ei=RUwiTfmXOIbSsAO9jsGRCg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&ved=0CBkQ_AU&biw=1920&bih=866&fp=9bef8cda26d1a6ec
http://gpstracklog.com/2006/01/using_gis_data__1.html

I want an iPad...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:01:00 +0000

The iPhone was a very useful device for me for a very long time. I used the iPhone, and then the iPhone 3G, for almost 3 years.   It was a solid upgrade from my Palm Treo, and it did everything I ever wanted it to.   Eventually, I switched to T-Mobile, and being a nerd, I wanted the freedoms that Android provided, and that Apple refused me.   So now I use a Garminfone.   But I still honor what the iPhone brought me and I appreciate it's innovations.

I will not be owning another handheld Apple device.   The innovations that they bring are no longer relevant to me.   However, being a college student, I do resent certain historically accepted truths: I hate expensive text books, I hate taking notes on paper, I hate teachers that don't let me use a laptop in class...   The iPad seems to be attempting to change some of these things.

The iBookstore is seeking to bring textbooks to a mobile platform.   This should make buying books CHEAPER, not to mention quite a bit lighter.   What student DOESN'T look forward to dumping their heavy backpacks?   It also opens the door to interactive learning techniques that are not currently available.   The iBookstore doesn't currently have ANY of the text books I needed this semester, but Apple stands to profit form this, and they know it.   Knowing their history with iTunes, I have no doubt that I will be saving more than the cost of an iPad before I graduate in 3 years.

Once I have my text books on my iPad, there will be no excuse for my teachers to not let me take notes on my iPad as well.   The fantastic interface and apps available on the iPad will make scribbling all over my books, on "Note pads" next to it, and linking in web sites far easier than anything before... Imagine what Microsoft Office OneNote could have been if it was integrated with your text books?   If these abilities are not already in the iPad, shame on Apple, and shame on the third party developers.   I am confident that the open ecosystem of the App store will provide SOMETHING that gets these things done.   Additionally, the iPad gets far better battery life than my laptop, and it is simply better suited for my needs anyway, given the proper software.

I was initially concerned about taking notes on the device, and not being able to print.   I thought I would use Google Docs as a replacement, but alas, they did not support editing on the iPad.   However, Apple has now announced that they are bringing printing support to the device, eliminated one of my biggest detraction. And as if that isn't enough, Google has announced that they are allowing the iPad to edit Google Documents.   Even if no one develops a OneNote-for-your-textbooks type app, Google Wave and Google Docs will find a feasible solution.   And since Google owns me anyway, this can only be a good thing.   I welcome Google's cloud into my learning experience, and I am confident they will keep the innovations coming.

But I don't think I can justify buying a device for school that doesn't provide something for me for entertainment and after college as well.   Being able to watch movies is great, and the iPad has plenty of options built in to that end.   Additionally, VLC has developed an iPad version, bringing the many media formats that Apple doesn't endorse to the device.   Gaming is always a fun distraction too, and the iPad is certainly strong in that as well.

But the iPad is lacking in one glaring way, and this is the culmination of this blog post: The lack of FaceTime.

There is a Camera Connection Kit for the iPad.   It is used to connect your camera or your SD card, or by some innovative people to attach a hard drive, to your iPad, and it lets you copy videos and images from your camera.   It even supports USB headphones, microphones, and MIDI devices.   It is everything you expect from a USB port on your computer, simply missing drivers for certain devices.   And one such device I miss is a webcam driver.

Apple is playing up Facetime, bringing it to the iPhone, the iPod touch, and probably to PCs and Macs in the near future. They bill it as an open standard (Although I havn't seen any competing apps yet), and that will surely mean it comes to Linux and Windows soon enough, not to mention the eventual entry into Android and other mobile platforms as well.   With all of these devices running FaceTime, it would be a shame to not have it on an iPad, especially when the interface is already available.

I wouldn't mind having a built in camera in my iPad, possibly both a front facing and a rear facing one.   But what would REALLY excite me is being able to plug my Logitech Pro 9000 into that bad boy, and have it load into Facetime.   My webcam is better than any built-in cameras, it's microphone kicks ass, and I can place it and point it anywhere, regardless of how I hold the device.   Additionally, they already know that taking pictures on a REAL digital camera is better than doing it on a built in sensor, hence why they built this adaptor in the first place.

I call to apple, PLEASE provide us with FaceTime's wonder, but PLEASE don't make us suffer with sub-par hardware... let us choose our hardware, and let us use Facetime on all of our devices.   That is my one and only bar on getting the iPad.

Removing software features, feature clutter, and what to do about it

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:59:00 +0000

The other day, Google Reader did some spring cleaning.   They removed a couple features, added some new ones, and generally did things that make me happy.    However, they admit that it's not going to make everyone happy, and linked to a couple articles on the subject.   One such article is the Adobe one referenced to in this blog.

Now, first off, it DOES hurt to lose features.   It is NICE to know that when you rely on a feature, it might stick around for a while, and when it doesn't, it hurts.   But in my life, there has never been a time where it hurt me in the long run.   I have had friends who stuck with older versions of Firefox to keep particular features, but even they have all now upgraded.   I guess the biggest victims are those who use websites (Facebook has had this problem on several occasions), and iPhone apps, where you don't have the OPTION to switch back to an older version.   For them, there may not be a true alternitive, but this blog intends to give some options.

Feature clutter is a big problem.   I use some VERY high end products in my career, namely ArcGIS and AutoCAD Map 3D, which have more features than any one person will ever use in their entire career.   In fact, my GIS teacher said once that every task you will ever do can be done equally well with no less than 3 different tools, and no one of those is any better than the other, you must simply know which works best for you. AutoCAD has a similar problem.   This is the kind of thing that I would like to see removed from those apps...   However, they have a creative solution, one that Adobe does in their latest versions of Photoshop.

In that Adobe article, they describe a tool called Configurator.   I have not used Adobe's particular tool, but AutoCAD has something that matches that explanation almost to the T.   What it does, is allow you to pick and choose which tools you want displayed, and where you want them.   AutoCAD goes so far as to ask you on first-start which default settings you want to use, giving options for several past versions. Once done, you can then mix-and-match which new features you want in your menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts. It is an extreme example of giving the users every feature that has ever existed in AutoCAD, and allowing them to make it their own. ArcGIS isn't as customizable, giving only the option to create custom "Toolboxes" to store your most common tools, but it really is nice to have every tool that ever existed at my finger tips, just in case I need the features of one, that arn't met by another. Both allow you to stick toolbars anywhere on the screen, either as a stand alone box, or they can snap to any of the 4 sides of the screen, or the 4 corners; The options are endless in that regard. Photoshop, I'm sure, lies somewhere between the two, and other examples may exist.

Now, these are EXTREMELY complex apps, used by proffessionals who know what they want and will work to get it. They also cost a small fortune (ArcGIS will run $3-4 thousand just to get started, significantly more if you want some of the bigger extensions), so losing a feature might cost a user a lot of money. So what about the normal, every day user apps?

Having options on the DVD that don't install by default is nice. Being able to customize your toolbars and menus to fit your needs is really handy.    Having a deprecated feature find it's way into the Extras folder on the DVD is probably the best option of all, then if you can track witch extras are being added, you can get a feel for what direction you need to go in for future releases. Firefox does this with it's extensions and toolbars, and we are beginning to see it gain traction in other web browsers as well.   On the iPhone, this could be done through the "In-App purchases" feature of the app store, even as free "Purchases".

It IS hard to remove features, but as Adobe has demonstrated, it's really not the end of the world. In my experience, customization is the answer... Maybe others can offer other suggestions in the comments section here ;)

Apple might be on to something...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 May 2010 03:37:00 +0000

Before I get to the link, let me get into a debate I have been having with myself, often at the expense of those around me...

Apple has done an amazing thing with the iPhone/iPod touch, by making a device that is just amazingly intuitive, with amazing hardware, software, and a fan base that will never let it fail.   They continued that success with a great app store, which allows a person to expand the functionality of their already amazing phone.   They then carried those inovations, and many others into the iPad.

Poor naming aside, I think the iPad is an amazing product for a select group of people.   Finally, students and profesionals can find a home in the Apple sub-notebook environment (I am including handhelds in that catagory for the purposes of this discussion).   The iPad trully is better than a netbook in every way that it was designed.

My conclusion here is that Apple has built a device that is trully amazing. It seems to be the perfect combination of software and hardware.   Finally, what makes it such is the wild success of the app store.

However, Apple is very tyranical in how they run the app store.   Sure, they want to make sure all the software in their store works to their standards and maintains their philosophies.   To that end, they are entitled.   On the other hand, there are those of us that want to be able to install anything we want, and Apple won't allow us to.   We must resort to jailbreaking to get back the control Apple has taken.

This brings me to the article.   Steve Jobs is right, Apple has the right to make any mandates on their store that they feel is correct.   Ryan Tate is ALSO correct in that users deserve the right to run software they want, weather it meets Apple's standards or not; Further, developers deserve the right to market to those who do not share Apple's beliefs. And thus is the debate...

The debate might be a small one on a device like the iPhone or iPad.   They are, afterall, merely advanced handheld devices.   No one expects anything more than what's in Apple's walled garden.   However, rumor has it that some future version of Mac OS will have a similar App Store.   And I have to say that I agree such a move is likely.

The App store is brilliant for most of the people out there.   It provides easy, one stop access to all the available software titles, and it keeps them up to date easily, forever.   Linux distrobutions have software management systems that are similar to that end, and I defend them tooth and nail.   The entire system is simply brilliant.

However, where Apple's app store diverges from the software management systems on Linux is simple, but vitally important:   Even though a linux distribution has it's own repositories, with the software they have tested and recommend, it is still possible to add OTHER software sources.   Apple has their source, and that is it.

I can't morally suggest that Apple should release the control they have over the app store.   It provides a great solution for the mass majority of the people who use their devices, and it keeps all software on the device up to date.   But before I can endorse further advancement of the App store into the mac world, I have to see the ability to add other sources. I would be happy if it was hidden, difficult to enable, and came with a warning that says "Adding other sources is not recommended, and may give you access to software that may void your warranty, please proceed at your own risk"... As long as it IS there, and it is official.

This is the solution I envision to the debate that Mr Jobs and Mr Tate had in that email thread, and if they hope to release the app store to full sized computers, I suggest that it is the ONLY solution that will save Apple.

I only hope that if ANY system gets an app store with third party repositories, that they ALL do.

Christains, Calendars, and... THIS IS FREAKING WEIRD...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:50:00 +0000

OK, I ranted once to some of you (A long LONG time ago... It's not even in my Gmail logs anymore ;) ) about how Easter is based on being the 14th day after the middle of the moon cycle in march... Or SOMETHING LIKE THAT... And how I feel like it's wrong for Christians to critisize "peagans" for astrology, yet Christains base one of the biggest holidays of the year off of moon cycles? WTF...

Anyway, this rant isn't about that. This rant is about the Julian VS. the Gregorian Calendars.

It comes up, because I was reading about the Tunguska Event (AKA, the totally badass explosion that happened in Russia for some unknown reason... Probably a meteoroid or comet exploding in the atmosphere, creating the equivolant of a large nuclear bomb, knocking down HELLA trees.... But I digress...) and it mentioned a discrepency in the dates... Apparently Russia was using the "Julian Calandar" at the time, while much of the rest of the world was using a "Gregorian Calandar." Some difference of 16 days or something like that.

Anyway, so I decided that I needed to look up the difference between the calendars, and this is where shit got weird: It's all based on how the Julian Calendar had a leap year every 4 years, but that messed up the lunar calandar. Apparently gaining a day every 300 years... So after 1200 years, the Catholics looked at the moon and said "Damn, we are 3 days behind the moon... Easter is wrong!" I guess it also caused a conflict where Easter would fall in the middle of Rome's birthday, which is a "Pegan Holiday" and we can't overlap that, no, that would be wrong too...

Anyway, long story short, they cut out a bunch of leap years... Something to the effect of "Every year devisable by 4 will be a leap year, unless the year is devisable by 100, in which case it WON'T be a leap year, unless it's a year devided by 400, in which case it WILL again." Or something like that. In other words, 2000 will, 2004 will, 2008 will, 2012 will... But 2100 won't, and 2200 won't, and 2300 won't. But 2400 will! Stay on your toes!

Anyway, so I guess it's more correct now... But why the hell did it have to be fixed JUST FOR EASTER!

And what happens every 100,000 years (or so) when we loose a day they didn't account for? And what about the decaying orbit of the earth? And...

OK, I'm done.

Here are my sources:

Tunguska Event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Julian Calendar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar

Gregorian Calendar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

GIS, Montana, and how Nevada just sucks

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:29:00 +0000

There is a certification I want, called the GIS Professional Certification, but I'm no where near qualified for it yet. I need 2 more years of work experience before I can get it. But I was hoping to get it as soon as I can, because it's sort of a rare thing, and if you have it, you can go and get a job just about anywhere.

In Nevada, that is... Apparently the same isn't true in Montana... I have been on their mailing list for 2 days, and they are planning their regional user group meeting in Cor D' Leign, ID this upcoming April, so the mailing list is pretty active. First of all, the fact that they have a user group so big that they need to plan 3 months in advance puts Nevada to SHAME. But what was more interesting than that, is that every email I have gotten so far, the senders have GISP in their signature blocks.

Furthermore, they are trying to get presenters for the conference and they are making a big deal about how that earns you BIG points for the GISP cert application... Which means EVERYONE is trying to get it up there!

I may be the biggest fish in the waters here, just by getting a degree in this stuff... Which I thought meant I would be REALLY big up there, considering they don't even offer a GIS degree... But then I just come to realize that their surveying degrees kick our GIS degree's ass...

That, coupled with the Surveying program's department head saying a high percentage of his graduates are currently unemployed, pretty much says to me that the GIS community is flooded up there, and I'm not the best in the area... At best, I am the same as everyone else, and I lack a local connection to put a good word in for me...

Conclusion: I was convinced I had a one up on the world no matter where I go... But now I am afraid that I'm just up a creek without a paddle.

I also know Utah, Colorado, and Arizona all kick our GIS program's ass as well... And California has the Spatial@UCSB program starting up, which means I don't stand a chance there either... So shit... I may just be in the wrong field.

When I started GIS, all the statistics were saying GIS would be the fastest growing field (Behind medical) in the next 10 years. Apparently I just accidentally hopped on a bubble that is popping as we speak :(

And even if my hopes for a unification of GIS and Civil Engineering does happen... I'm still a solid 5 years away from being able to get in that money pit either.... Frankly, the next 5 years scare me shirtless :(