Final Thoughts on Linux

I've been using computers for a while now, but always running Mac OSX or Windows. However, recently I've tested the Linux waters. I installed both OpenSolaris and Ubuntu to see what all the Linux hype was all about*.

OpenSolaris

Open Solaris is pretty cool looking. It has neatly structured top and bottom bars that are simple and avoid clutter. The workspaces are useful as the user can easily switch between 4 desktops. I especially like the idea of having a built-in software catalog which can be used to find all kinds of programs to download.

I have a strict policy on free things: never complain about something that costs you nothing. This is something that seems to have slipped the minds of a lot of free software users**. That said, OpenSolaris is not without flaws. When I was entering my information into the computer after I first turned it on OpenSolaris asked me for a username and password, which the computer said were optional. I decided to enter in a password later, so I left the text fields blank. Later when the computer restarted there was a prompt for a username and password, which did not exist. I reinstalled Open Solaris from a disk that I fortunately had on hand. When my computer was fully operational several errors popped up on the screen saying that it could not connect to the wireless network I had. I used Sun's tech support forum at opensolaris.org and this is the response I got:

Do you have security enabled on your wireless network (ie router or access-point)? Your driver may not be capable of security like I just found out with the iwh0 driver....

Alternatively are you using DHCP or static as you would need to turn off nwam if using static.

Or if go to console and su to root, then use ifconfig coupled with wificonfig to create a profile and setup auto-dhcp or plain dhcp for your adapter - that may help!

Just a few thoughts anyway :-)


Rather than go through all of the "coupling" and "ifconfiging" I decided to try out Ubuntu next.***

For the record, it seems that my case was an isolated incident as I found very few other reports with the same errors, all in all OpenSolaris isn't a bad Operating system.


Ubuntu

When I installed Ubuntu it connected to my wireless network with ease, and Firefox was neatly tucked in the top bar. The username and password prompt screen looked really cool, I almost felt like I was in 24****. For some reason my sound was not working on Ubuntu while it worked on other Operating Systems I tested. However, like OpenSolaris it has an easy to use software installer built in which I liked using, along with a built in internet radio and some kind of iTunes-like music software. Ubuntu is fun to use and very aesthetically pleasing, especially all of the super cool 3D sleep mode animations.

Linux is fantastic as it is free, and there are all kinds of open source variations out there. I'm glad to see that there are options extending beyond the world of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.



Footnotes:


*: Seriously, have you seen these Linux guys wearing their "Hacking is not a crime" T-Shirts?
**: Just look at all of the less-than-constructive criticism new game programmers get on the App Store and on Flash portals.
***: You may be chuckling at my wifi ignorance, but to me most of that message was like spanish to me (ask my spanish teacher and you'll know what that means).
****: Minus the dramatic sound effects and spinny chairs (I have to keep dreaming about a chair that can rotate a full 360 degrees).

Theoretical Thursday: My Idea Formula

BW Science Labs has been a great place, and a lot has been done throughout the past ~16 months, however there was a problem. Posts were diminishing as if all the good "scientificy" (a phrase I coined long ago) articles had been used up. I was often nervous to post an article that was not completely perfect, and as a result many great posts never saw the light of day. Should I post about something if its only an idea? What if the experiment failed miserably?

I believe I have solved this problem. Theoretical Thursdays are relaxed, and hopefully fun, articles on ideas and thoughts I've had over the past week that will be published every* Thursday.

Late the other night I was thinking of what new articles to write on BW Science Labs and what I was going to have for breakfast the next day when an idea storm** hit me. I got 6 new solid article ideas along with the idea for Theoretical Thursdays and perhaps a second type of post which you'll see on Sunday.

I have a weird way of coming up with ideas. My peak for brainstorming is at about 10:00 to 12:00 pm, which is about the time I'm supposed to be dreaming about a flying spanish tests or yet another oh-so-tempting Apple iTouch update that cleans out my wallet. However, with my totally accurate not at all made up Idea Formula*** I can utilize this time to figure out how to build my next robot or use RFID tags to track my brother****.


(Number of Awesome Ideas) = [(Hours Past Bedtime)² x (Liters of Caffeine)] / [(Homework) x (Number of Tests Tomorrow)²]


The original idea of BW Science Labs, Science Quarterly, and Sliced Bread***** was formulated through this equation.

On a more serious note I would like to say that Theoretical Thursdays are simply something to look forward to once a week, and I'll be sure to keep up the normal articles, hopefully at an accelerated rate.



Footnotes:


*: unless zombies are at my front door or I'm stuck in the middle of the wilderness hundreds of miles away from the nearest wi-fi hotspot.

**: Yeah, I coined that phrase too.

***: Use Einstein's Special Relativity equation E = mc² to find out how relatively accurate my equation is and then Émile Borel's probability equation to figure out if the above answer is probably true.

****: Currently under development.

*****: Did they have caffeine back then?



If you think Theoretical Thursdays are a good idea or a bad one please let me know by commenting below or emailing me.

NASA Hubble repair mission- meeting the "Repair man" of Hubble

During the school year time is scarce. It has to be hunted for and captured like an elusive animal. However, despite this crisis of time, I still managed to go to a three hour lecture given by astronaut John M. Grunsfeld at a local hotel. It was worth every second. Grunsfeld and his team had just returned from a mission to repair and re modify the Hubble space telescope, making this latest mission Grunsfeld's fifth time in space. Grunsfeld modestly calls himself "the repair man of Hubble", though I can't think of any other repair men who attended MIT and later Cal Tech.

I found Dark Matter to be the most interesting topic of discussion tonight, and it brought me back to the good old days of seventh grade me visiting the Stanford Astrophysics and Cosmology center, and spending the entire time talking with a freshman at Stanford about Dark Matter and Energy.

Grunsfeld's arm was in a sling, after his space suit pulled his arm when working on the Hubble recently. Essentially John Grunsfeld has achieved every supermarket shopper's goal: having the best answer to the question you're asked at the checkout line: "So, what happened to your arm?".

"Oh, you know, just pulled it while replacing CCD cameras on a space telescope the other day. No big deal."

Now Launching: The BW Science Labs Store

Today, after a great deal of work, a storefront for BW Science Labs has finally been created. The BW Science Labs Store currently has one product, the Vivus the Robot kit.

When I was prototyping possible kits, the question I asked myself was this: What kit do I wish I had when I was starting electronics? With the Vivus the Robot kit, I believe I've found the perfect solution, a robot that's great for beginners yet still advanced enough to provide a good educational and fun experience.



The store is in an early stage no doubt, but I hope to add more products to it soon.

Liam Nesson + Astrophysics = ??

Today I noticed the release of a new mini-documentary on Hulu, narrated by none other than Liam Neeson. Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity is a great little movie that provides a good basic introduction to black holes so the non-astrophysicist can understand the core concepts. I was happy to see that the producers included some information on wormholes and white holes as well, two important ideas that are sometimes overlooked. Its always interesting to me to see something on Einstein and his theories. His perception of spacetime (yes, one word) is incredible to say the least.

Seeing this documentary was perfectly timed for me, as I've just gotten around to finally reading Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is also a Nova host from time to time. If you find this interesting, check out Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, the very book that sparked my interest in physics. What I really like about astrophysics is how little is really understood, and the universe is just waiting to be discovered.

DIY Navigation Robot

Seeing that this is the 100th post on BW Science labs I thought that merited a really cool post. BW Science Labs now has a mascot named Vivus the GoBot.

Vivus the GoBot has been under development for a long time. I chose to use the picaxe axe023 microcontroller board because it was low cost and small. The geared motors I used were very frustrating to assemble as it was made of lots of tiny pieces with little instruction on assembly. However, they had a good gear ratio and were very low cost considering the alternatives (pricing $15 for one little motor should be a crime!). I would have liked to use different bumper switches, but the Omerons were the only ones I could buy and were cheap, they actually ended up working really well. I used a 6v power supply which was heavy, but also great because I ended up not needing to solder in a voltage regulator. I would have liked to add two more wheels, but refrained from doing so because of the cost ($4.95 for 2 wheels?!). I used two tongue depressors as a chassis as they ended up being nearly the perfect size. I tried to accomplish this project without soldering because I don't have good ventilation and my respirator broke. However, this paid off big time as I would easily reconfigure wires in 1/3 of the time it would have taken me if I had soldered the joints.

Anyone who has ever attempted to build a robot from scratch know the challenges it presents, often time resulting in failure if one tiny thing goes wrong like using a different transistor than you should or accidently giving your bot one volt too many (Both of these mistakes I have made during other attempts). This is by far my best robot, and its nice to know that its possible after failing so many times.

By far the hardest part was coding Vivus. The picaxe microcontroller runs on BASIC code, which was created in the late 60's. I spent at least 4 hours testing tons of code bit by bit to get it to finally work.

And of course, every cool robot needs its own cool movie.



Or watch Vivus the GoBot DIY Robot directly on YouTube.

Orion Programming: A new Division of BW Science Labs

BW Science Labs has had a lot of behind-the-scenes work done lately, an while the actual blog may have seemed desolate and un-updated, much work was being done. One of many of these projects is Orion Programming, a new division of BW Science Labs. Orion will be my portal for all of the software I write, since this blog is currently incapable of hosting files and embedding Flash projects.

The Orion Programming site was built primarily in preporation for my first Flash and ActionScript 3 game ever, which will hopefully be released sometime this week. I haven't built a web-based game since my early days as a young(er) programmer using MIT's Scratch, and while its artwork is ugly at best, I'm very happy with the 700-800 lines of code that have gone into this project.

Going slightly off topic, I am also working on a new robot whose aim is to be as low cost while still advanced as possible. Right now it doesn't look like much, but when it does I'll write up more about it.

It's good to be back in the normal flow of BWSL projects, as always let me know your thoughts and ideas via commenting on this post or pinging me via email.