Peter's blog

Option 1: Lego Mindstorms NXT Software version 2.0 The first and the official programming option for the NXT is Lego Mindstorms NXT software version 2.0 that is based on Labview from National Instruments. It is delivered with 8547 LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0. Mindstorms software is a graphical programming environment. The programming is made connecting bricks and data lines. It is "a great tool" for learning and teaching programming, and it is also fun. It is possible to do non trivial tasks like multi-threading and functions. But for non-small programs it is not practical. Mindstorms software is used to make programs, to send the compiled programs to the NXT, to remote control the NXT, and to update NXT firmware. Both USB and Bluetooth are supported. I've tested it under Windows but it is also supported under Mac. It does not work under Linux. See my enhanced color sorter program: The main program. Note the two threads. The bottom is for the dispenser and c...

The bad news: My NXT brick was not working properly when I took it from the box. The sensor port 2 was not working. I do not think that there is warranty coverage for Lego Mindstorms in Brazil. I had no better option than try to fix it. The good news: Lego delivers all information about the NXT electronics and its embedded software. It is a true open source platform. I've downloaded the schematics from: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/support/files/default.aspx And I've noticed a missing component near the port 2. R59 was not there. For lucky it is a common 1k resistor. Thanks to my father's SMD lab, we were able to solder a new resistor, and push hot air over port 2 components. After that port 2 started to work. I'm deeply happy with Lego's open source policy for this product. I was wondering how happy I'll be when my car becomes open source. Lego gave us the power to fix the problem without any limitation. It is clear to me now that open source is gr...

Want to have some fun with Robotics? 8547 LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0 is the right kit for you!     Color Sorter with a bit more complex algorithm  To me Lego Mindstorms NXT is a dream come true. Why? Robotics! Robotics! Robotics! What's inside the box? - The NXT programmable Brick with Bluetooth, USB, 7 I/O ports for sensors and motors, speaker, buttons, and LCD display. - 4 Sensors: Ultrasonic, light and color, 2 touch sensors - Some cables - 600+ pieces for assembling machines animals and humanoids. - Software for Windows and Mac for programming the NXT. See Lego's official website

Both LVM and iSCSI are powerful and reliable. But there is an issue with the combination of both that made me fell completely lost more than once. The Scenario: iSCSI target / server is a Linux Box with LVM features iSCSI target / server exports disk, partition or LVM LV iSCSI initiator / client uses the exported volume as LVM PV All works perfectly until rebooting the iSCSI target / server The symptom: After rebooting the iSCSI target / server, it becomes impossible for the initiator / client use the exported volume as if it were deleted. The iSCSI target / server service itself is working properly but the exported volume is not. The cause: During the boot of the iSCSI target / server, its LVM liked the new found PVs / VGs / LVs. The iSCSI target / server has no idea about those new found are not for the local machine and it "locks" the VGs and LVs for local use. When iSCSI exports the LV, it will contain locked LVM volumes. This is why it becomes impossible ...

Fedora 16 Beta Feroda 16 Beta runs on the W501P without any major concern. The only issue I found is the Gnome onscreen keyboard that does not work well. Despite the onscreen keyboard, I did not found any serious issue when using Fedora on Iconia Tab W501P. I did no testing with ATI proprietary drivers on Fedora. Ubuntu 11.10 Ubuntu 11.10 also runs on the W501P but there are some details: 1 - When I allowed the installer to download updates during installation, the X did not work very well after first boot. So I installed it again and it is working pretty well without allowing the packages to be updated. I'll wait untill ATI driver supports the C-60 GPU until allowing updates. 2 - The ATI proprietary driver does NOT work with C-60 GPU. I've tried Ubuntu's two packages, "AMD Catalyst™ 11.9 Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver", and "AMD Catalyst™ 11.10 Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver". When using Ubuntu's package, an stamp with AMD ...

# Change /dev/video1 to your webcam device name # Change plughw:1,0 to your audio capture device. (Check /proc/asound/devices) # Change 1920 to the correct width of your webcam ( Check Cheese preferences ) # Change 1080 to the correct height of your webcam ( Check Cheese preferences ) $ vlc v4l2:///dev/video1 :input-slave=alsa://plughw:1,0 :v4l2-standard=0 :v4l2-aspect-ratio=16\:9 :v4l2-width=1920 :v4l2-height=1080 :v4l2-fps=30 :sout="#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,vb=5000,scale=1,fps=30,acodec=mpga,ab=128,channels=1,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ts,dst=/tmp/video-output.mpg},dst=display}"

Specs: Model Acer Iconia Tab W501P C62GO3iss P/N: LE.L0603.038 Model: EAB00 OS: Windows 7® Professional 32-bit Processor: AMD Dual-Core C-60 LCD: 10.1" Multi-touch HD LED LCD Memory: 2GB Memory Storage: 32GB SSD Card Reader: 2-in-1 card reader WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n & BT 3.0 + HS WWAN: 3G WAN Webcam: 1.3 Megapixel Battery: 3-cell Li-ion battery Software: Microsoft Office 2010 preloaded (purchase a license key to activate) Microsoft Office Starter 2010 Introduction: I was tremendously curious about the performance of both AMD C-60 processor and it's ATI GPU. I was expecting that it would be possible to play Full-HD flash movies at 30 fps. I'm at Czech Republic, and I ran to the first Acer Iconia TAB W501P that was available at http://alza.cz/ . The main differences to W500 is that the W501P has 3G modem and is equipped with AMD C-60 instead of AMD C-50. According to http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/apu/ultrathin/Pages/ultrathin.aspx#3 , the C-60 ...