Linux launched from new US site

As well as being a new commercial launch site in the US, it turns out that MARS/Wallops’ initial launch featured a Linux-based tactical satellite, “The [. . .] independent embedded consulting firm developed, ported, and integrated the Linux kernel, device drivers, and other related system software, so that NRL engineers could ‘concentrate on the RF mission,’ ” so in this sense at least, Linux really was faster. (-:

It turns out that as well as TacSat-2, fired off last weekend, the previous incarnation, TacSat-1 — to be launched next year — was also Linux-based; “With less than a year to design and build a satellite, this team used existing sensor hardware, industry-standard parts, shell scripts and our favorite OS to make the project come together.”

TacSat-2 is one of a set of five USAF satellites designed to fly from the new launchpad, which now admits to an official name: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS).

For those PowerPC fans out there, both TacSats so far feature integrated PowerPC chips running on a 2.4.25 kernel.

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new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b...

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

Plantagenet Penguinista

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