Linux Format forums

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:16 am

Author: Larry

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:16 am

EMC Gets a New Name:

With the approach of four thousand views, it's evident that there's no shortage of interest in this particular facet of the open source spectrum. As is usually the case with open source, the evolutionary process occasionally hits a bump, or fork in the road. This time around, it's a name conflict with an international IT company. It would seem that EMC and EMC2 which stood for the Enhanced Machine Control project were also the registered initials of this other company. Rather than go head to head for the rite to use these three letters, an alternate approach was chosen. As was announced, it was decided to re-brand the project as LinuxCNC. It is also claimed that the LinuxCNC name was granted a sub-license of the LINUX trade mark from the Linux Foundation. The original text of this announcement may be found at linuxcnc.org under Forum/Forum Announcements. So, in the future, I will be referring to this suite of programs as LinuxCNC.

To date, I have begun to find videos on, "You Tube", listed under this new name. In addition, now that things have settled down, there is also a new release, version 2.5.0, of the project under the new name. These files are available on the linuxcnc.org web site. Should you decide to try it, do let the rest of the community know of your trials and joys by posting your story on this thread.

Enjoy

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:31 pm

Author: Larry

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:31 pm

Guy, this one's for you:

In honor of the festival celebrated at the end of this month, I suggest the following. Imagine you're Captain Picard. You're stuck on the Ferengi's home planet, and you need dental work. Since the Ferengi are highly profit motivated, they would not waste a live doctor on a human. Hence you find yourself strapped to a dental chair with your mouth braced open. The room darkens. From the ceiling, this device descends and begins crawling up your chest. Right before bedtime, play the following video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quN37YskoaM

Now, turn the lights out.

Pleasant dreams!

Re: Star Trek Replicator

guy — Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:10 pm

Author: guy

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:10 pm

Larry,

Do be careful if you are considering a neutrino cocktail. If you make its time run backwards (and you have to get your neutrinos in the appropriate energy band before they will do this), you can drink your cocktail before you have poured it. If you buy one just before closing time, it will not be poured and you will create a temporal paradox. OK you get a free drink because the barman never took for it either, but trust me, suffering a temporal paradox is worse than paying. Safer to mix with lower-energy neutrinos - at least, until you have got the hang of things.

Also, neutrinos oscillate between the three different flavours, so over time these will blend in standard proportions relating to the time spent as each flavour. If you still want the rush of higher energies and time runs backwards, your drink will taste unoriginal at first, but let it stand and it will regress towards its starting proportions and un-lose its character. Wait too long of course and poof! it pours itself backwards and you lose your drink entirely. The secret is plain to see - you must know as precisely as possible when it is going to be poured.

My replicator is immune from these problems, firstly because I construct it using the optimum flavour mix, so stabilising the material properties, and secondly of course because there are no licensing laws for replicators, thus avoiding any risk of temporal paradox.

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:41 pm

Author: Larry

Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:41 pm

Hi Guy, and Nerdy-ish:

Due to extensive interest, as expressed by the number of views, and responses generated, I noticed that this thread has spawned a second page. It is interesting to note that this thread has experienced over 1000 views in its first 30 days of existence. Compared to other threads in this discussion group, this is very rare.

The nature of forums naturally precipitates references to previous comments made by others. In an effort to minimize page flipping due to references I previously cited, I will now list all of my cited links again.

Websites:

http://www.linuxcnc.org

http://sites.google.com/site/calculatingrisk/Home/cnc-mill

YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EYaM4FkASA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnABuOOoi5w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFZGpES-St8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nFglhjFml4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4OTtFpZV7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssrf9PtJIzU&NR=1

Nerdy-ish:

The last time I replied to two separate postings, I replied to you second. This time I'll reply to you first. Thanks for the clarification of your posting on October 6th. In all honestly, I was not sure weather to take you seriously or not. In either case, I am not offended. However, it did afford me the opportunity to address the possible misgivings that some of the other readers might have had. Should you desire to make any future comments, they would be most welcome.

Guy:

I want to congratulate you on your latest, or is that past, then again it might be future technological conquest. Before you break out the champaign, you would do well to consider some marketing problems lurking on your event horizon (Pun intended). First neutrinos come in three flavors, Electron, Muon, and Tau. Since the last two don't mix well with vodka, you'll also need to invent Peach, Lime, and possibly Mandarin Orange. That feat alone should net you the Noble prize for physics as well as the Ig Noble award for, well � hmmmmm - I'm sure they'll dream up something. You might well be the first scientist to hold both awards. Maybe even in the same year. We could combine the two awards ceremonies into one gala event! Now that's something the dinosaur media could really get their teeth into. Second, neutrinos have a very small magnetic moment, 10 to the −19 μB (For the benefit of all you iPad, iPhone, and LSD users, that's a really really small number). That fact alone would make for terrible puppy, gold fish, and space alien refrigerator magnets. This could lock you out of that lucrative world wide market forever. The last, but yet unthinkable, possibility is that the CERN experiment is flawed. That would cause your entire empire to come crashing about your ears!

You would do well to heed all of the above advice and take appropriate action immediately! Do keep us posted as to your progress.

IF YOU DARE!

Re: Star Trek Replicator

guy — Thu Oct 06, 2011 10:26 pm

Author: guy

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 10:26 pm

My latest replicator design is constructed entirely of neutrinos. Since these travel faster-than-light, hence backwards in time, it will construct its own predecessors.

You may laugh, but as proof of this, consider that none of its predecessors yet exist!

Bwaaa hahahahaha the world is, I mean will be, I mean was, mine all mine!!!!

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Nerdy-ish — Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:11 am

Author: Nerdy-ish

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:11 am

Larry wrote:

OK Nerdy-ish, it's your turn:

To begin, I want to stress that I'm not an attorney. Therefore you are not to take any of this as professional legal advise. When faced with legal issues, especially international law, it is highly recommended to seek the advise of a legal professional. Having dispensed with the usual C.Y.A. disclaimers, it's time to share some of my personal opinions, and experiences.

IANAL, but I posted my comment as a sarcastic joke. With today's litigious world, nothing would surprise me if a replicator came into existence being sued over it's existence.

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Fri Sep 30, 2011 7:08 am

Author: Larry

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 7:08 am

Update:

After posting my reply of September 25, 2011 I had a number of conversations with friends asking how the, �Y and Z�, axis are converted. I want to assure everyone that conversion of the, �Y and Z�, axis are virtually identical to the, �X�. The, �Y�, axis conversion is exactly identical. The mechanical mounting of the motor to the, �Z�, axis is, due to space limitations, somewhat different. Since the machine you convert will likely not be of the same model, or make, the actual mechanical adapters you will need are left as a trivial exercise to the ingenuity of the builder. The electronics for all three axis are exactly identical, and therefore shown only once. Once again all of this information is available at:

http://sites.google.com/site/calculatingrisk/Home/cnc-mill

Since the same referenced reply, I have also found two youtube videos showing the EMC2 software controlling actual robots. You may view these here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4OTtFpZV7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssrf9PtJIzU&NR=1

Do take the time to check out both URLs. They are all well worth the view.

Enjoy!

Re: Star Trek Replicator

M-Saunders — Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:33 am

Author: M-Saunders

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:33 am

Larry wrote:

it would be nice to have an archive link directly below all of the tuxradar links on your home page.

It's already there -- click "Older posts". Then you can cycle through pages in the archive using links at the bottom.

M

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:41 am

Author: Larry

Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 1:41 am

Hi Mike:

It's good to hear from you. In all seriousness, before I start my reply, I would like to congratulate you on your ongoing efforts toward inventing your own OS. This is no small undertaking. Your perseverance is an example to all others attempting to bring an open source project to the stage of popularity.

On the less serious side, so as not to be left out, I have decided to develop my own OS. Not wishing to rush things, I'll be launching mine in the year 2055. That's when Intel, under intergalactic agreement, rolls out their 1024 bit centa-core processor. On that very same day, I'll be taking advantage of secret inside information, and parade out my own, �Fault Free�, OS. I simply call it, �Empire�! No happy kitties here, my trade mark's a thermonuclear mushroom cloud! Displayed in hologram of course. To heck with warm and fuzzy, I'm going for the big kahuna! After infecting, I mean auto-installing, on every existing piece of known electronic equipment; I'll roll out my ultimate information coup. Via my proprietary telepathic cyber-mouse, I'll gather and sell all of the personal information of every life form dumb enough, I mean capable of activating it. At first, I thought my company motto should be, �Do no evil�. It has a nice ring, but sounds just too close to that other company. I therefore settled on, �Never give a sucker an even break�. It seems more to the point.

Returning to the mundane things of life, It's probably time for me to comment on your reply posting. I didn't mean to imply that the information was no longer available. In fact, I did mention that the information was still available on, �tuxradar.com�. I guess my point is there is no handy archive link on your home page. This is just a wild guess on my part, but from your page layout I'm assuming your CMS is Drupal. Yes, among the many other things I use to torment myself, I also do web development for fun and profit. If my guess is correct, I can fully appreciate the effort involved in modifying an existing, �Theme�, to reflect anything new. That said,(You must have guessed this was coming) it would be nice to have an archive link directly below all of the tuxradar links on your home page. It seems to me to be a more intuitive aid when searching for older material.

OK Nerdy-ish, it's your turn:

To begin, I want to stress that I'm not an attorney. Therefore you are not to take any of this as professional legal advise. When faced with legal issues, especially international law, it is highly recommended to seek the advise of a legal professional. Having dispensed with the usual C.Y.A. disclaimers, it's time to share some of my personal opinions, and experiences.

First, I feel there is, in general, an exaggerated unrealistic fear of the patent, �Boogy Man�. Referring to my earlier post, I was careful to construct a scenario where the company either abandoned support for the product, or had ceased doing business altogether. Should there be notice of infringement, these two items go a significant way to produce an outcome in your favor. Having said that, it is only fair to support the original manufacturer as long as they continue to support the product in a non onerous way. This should continue be true unless some entity has developed a replacement component found to be superior in either quality, or durability compared to the original, (This can, and usually does, make for an interesting court case!). By custom, and sometimes by legal requirement, manufacturers tend to post a list of pertinent patent numbers on their products. When in doubt, download the patents from one of the online repositories. After reading these patents, you will quickly find what was legally granted as protected intellectual property. You'll be surprised to discover just how little is really protected. Further, you will discover that most of what constituted this product is part of the free public domain. This can occur either by virtue of expired patents, copyrights, or longstanding established custom and commerce. The last part of the previous sentence is what protects you from paying royalties to someone for using the concept of a wheel on the bicycle you just built.

Should you be served with a reasonable notice of infringement, the usual course of action is to simply remove the product or information from the market accompanied by a big, �I'M SORRY!�. Problem solved. In theory, you could be pursued for financial loss, but the property holder would have to prove, among other things, prior knowledge of the protected property. Moral, do your patent search on someone else's computer; preferably in another city. LOL! It is interesting to note that what usually fails in a protected mechanical device is usually not intrinsic to the intellectual property grant. Therefore, the act of carefully crafting a replacement part that only repairs what is worn usually excludes you from liability.

Taking all of the above into account, there is an intricate distinction in case law between an entity affecting a repair, as in performing a service, as opposed to someone producing a large quantity of items for sale, as in manufacturing. If you decide to support a discontinued product by supplying large numbers of replacement parts for sale, you had better also have retained a high power law firm to defend you. Such is the cost of doing business in the modern world. On the service side of things, the act of renovating an antique auto, and then publishing the method of your restoration, is generally acceptable. It is this service side of things that I am confining my above solutions to. Not mass producing replacement parts!

Regarding any of my above opinions, I do invite comment from the legal community. After all, this is a thread on a, �Discussion Forum�. I'm sure we could all benefit from your legal expertise.

In the matter of your expressed doubt concerning the existence of such a repair device, I again refer you to the youtube videos I cited at the beginning of this thread. It is not just one device, but rather a family of devices that perform these feats. Rite before your eyes, you can view parts being created from blank stock. Of particular interest is a web site I recently became aware of. This web site is provided by a person I know very well. Until recently he was keeping this information private. He has recently, as evidenced by the posting at the bottom of the web page, released this information under the creative commons copyright.

You can view the site:

http://sites.google.com/site/calculatingrisk/Home/cnc-mill

[Note: Should the embedded hyperlink fail to appear, manually enter the following URL �http://sites.google.com/site/calculatingrisk/Home/cnc-mill� into your browser search window]

The page I direct you to is a description of the conversion of a milling machine of Taiwanese manufacture that you could replicate as well. Both the author and I share the opinion that the quality of machine tools from Taiwan is of a higher quality than what is available from mainland China. All of this information arose from an undergrad project pursuant to the attainment of a Bachelor of Science in both Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. He is currently in graduate school pursuing a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering.

On this page, figure 1.7 � 1.8 depict conversion of the, �X�, axis of the machine. Conversion of the, �Y and Z�, axis remain. Figure 1.1 shows the computer running with the EMC2 software hosted atop an Ubuntu platform. One thing of importance here is that it is running on a real time kernel. This is a significantly modified standard kernel. The purpose of a real time kernel is to guarantee certain high priority events, as in stepping a stepper motor, to occur at a specific time.

One last thing, before I end up describing the whole article, is to direct your attention again to figure 1.1. The monitor displays a window with a blue background. This is the TKEMC user interface. To my knowledge, this is the oldest interface used on the EMC2 project. This interface was written using the TCL/TK computer language. Since, if possible, I can't resist looking under the hood, I had to learn the TCL language. It has since become one of my favorites. There are more recent user interfaces written in Python. That's the beauty of open source. You can pick your own platform.

I do want to emphasize that this web site is not exclusively devoted to machine control. Rather it's an eclectic ensemble of various research pursuits. From a preliminary article describing the construction of a scanning tunneling atomic microscope, to such mundane pursuits as installing a working hot tub.

I suppose inspecting a contour at the atomic level while soaking in a tub with your girlfriend might have some redeeming intellectual value. Then again, one is only twenty something for, well � er um � ten years.

Do check out the web site. It's a fun adventure.

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Nerdy-ish — Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:41 pm

Author: Nerdy-ish

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:41 pm

If such a device ever existed, I'm sure you would be sued into oblivion for aiding "Intellectual Property theft."

Re: Star Trek Replicator

M-Saunders — Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:36 am

Author: M-Saunders

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 11:36 am

Lo,

Larry wrote:

In my previous post, I sited a presentation by Karen Sandler as being present on the home page of LINUX Format. Since then, the link has evaporated into cyberworld thin air. Such is life on the world wide web. I mentioned that the link seemed to be pointing to, �tuxradar.com�. That link is still there, however; I believe a more stable source for this video, at least currently, is on YouTube.

The TuxRadar post embeds the YouTube vid, so it's the same thing. And the LXF front page just shows the 10 most recent posts on TuxRadar for space reasons.

Nothing gets deleted -- it just moves further back in the archives

M

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:14 am

Author: Larry

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 6:14 am

The location of information over time is perhaps the least stable aspect of the internet. You book mark a location for some relevant content, only to find the next time you click on the book mark, the information is no longer there. So it is with my last post on this topic.

In my previous post, I sited a presentation by Karen Sandler as being present on the home page of LINUX Format. Since then, the link has evaporated into cyberworld thin air. Such is life on the world wide web. I mentioned that the link seemed to be pointing to, �tuxradar.com�. That link is still there, however; I believe a more stable source for this video, at least currently, is on YouTube. Go to YouTube, in the search box type, �OSCON 2011: Karen Sandler�. This should bring up the intended video. I believe if you read my previous post without first seeing the video, the content of what I am saying loses some of its relevance. So please do view the video, then read my previous post.

As long as I again enjoy the privilege of your attention, even though it is not quite on topic for this thread, I truly believe you will find it enjoyable. While looking for the previous referenced video, I discovered yet another presentation that I think is really heart warming. The video is also on YouTube. You can find it by typing the following in the search box, �OSCON 2011: Jim Zemlin�. The exact video you are look for is, �OSCON 2011: Jim Zemlin, �2011: The Bizarro World of Computing�. As many of you already know, Mr. Zemlin is the executive director of the LINUX foundation. His presentation, among other things, chronicles the advancement the open source community has made. In a world when many of us feel that we are banging our heads against a brick wall, it's very gratifying to hear just how far we've come.

Please view this, and enjoy.

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:14 am

Author: Larry

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:14 am

Thanks Guy. I guess the benchmark for a complicated panel truly is when you have the memory of an android, but you still can't locate the shields button. Where's Spock when we need him.

In other news, I had an opportunity to view a link on the home page of LINUX Format. It's current position is on the right side about half way down the page. The link is entitled, �Karen Sandler: Freedom from my heart to the desktop�. This link is apparently pointing to tuxradar.com. Do take the time to view the video. I do wish it could be in a format other than, �shockwave flash�, still the content is worth the view. Her presentation was delivered at OSCon,(open source convention). By her own claim, she was an attorney for the Software Freedom Law Center. She has since resigned to assume the new position of executive director of the GNOME project. I was gratified to discover that her views on the transparency of both hardware and software closely parallel mine. It was even more encouraging to hear these views coming from someone so high in the hierarchy of the free software community. As I have previously stated, we can either carve out a part of this technology for the people, or the proprietary community will get it all.

In that spirit, I would like to congratulate, LINUX Format staffer, Nick Veitch for his continuing articles surrounding the Adruino processor board. He is really doing a great job acquainting a large group of the software development community to what can be done with a software hardware implementation. Indeed, my motivation for presenting you with the LINUX EMC2 suite is for the same reason. That software suite punches a gaping hole in the barrier between software and hardware. Though I must confess, my work in the software hardware world is a bit more hard core, the Adruino is still a great place to start. I started out with the, �PIC�, series of micro-controllers manufactured by Microchip. When I began, the PICs could be burned, but you had to use an ultraviolet light to erase them. There were no readily available boards. What you did was get the PIC data sheet, and the PIC applications manual. From these books, you cooked up your own circuit and board. It was much harder work, but it was also much more gratifying. My work with microprocessors goes even further back than that. In the 80's, I built, from scratch, a microcomputer with an Intel 8085 CPU, 4k of AMD static ram, and some assorted parallel port peripherals. The CPU clocked at a blistering 4Mhz. In the classic style of the Data General NOVA2, and NOVA3 mini computers, it even had a window with the top row of 16 red light emitting diodes being the address bus, and the bottom row of eight leds being the data bus. When it was running, it really put on quite a light show. Yes I wrote programs for the NOVA2 in assembly. Don't ask me to do that today, all of that knowledge has rotted away from my memory.

With the head of the GNOME project in concurrence, the time has come, for at least part of the time, to put down our development software, and pick up our soldering irons.

IT'S TIME TO TAKE OUR HARDWARE BACK!!!

Re: Star Trek Replicator

guy — Sat Sep 10, 2011 6:42 pm

Author: guy

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 6:42 pm

Meanwhile, let's visit the USS Enterprise with her new user interface.

Re: Star Trek Replicator

Larry — Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:52 pm

Author: Larry

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:52 pm

Hi Guy:

You were rite. My neighbor bought a brand new Microslop license. His wife bought the wrong tablets. When she ran the machine, it made a snarling noise, broke the cut glass goblets, and stopped working. When the service center was called, the attendant logged on, and did an anti tamper harassment reset. Lucky for the wife, no harm was done to the unit, but she received three demerits, you are only allowed twelve. She also made a list of defective users to watch. When asked about restitution for the goblets, she was told their license didn't cover artistic glass. They would need to purchase an expensive system upgrade. Grudgingly, they went back to the store and bought the upgrade. Returning home, they plugged the upgrade, complete with genuine Microslop hologram, into the control panel face. After power up, the control panel suddenly went blank, then new windows, and new buttons appeared. Big problem, there were no labels on anything. Calling the service center again, they were told they needed advance service permission to plug in the new upgrade. You guessed it, another demerit. The center logged in and told them they needed to select a language lock in. Lock in? What's a lock in! They were told to be more courteous, or this call would be terminated! They both apologized for asking an inappropriate question. The lock in proceeded. The attendant told them that normally the upgrade would take one minute, but since they were on a list of defective users, it would take an additional three. You're license only allows ten. After one minute, the labels appeared along with a gentle pastel blue backlit Microslop hologram. After three more, the hologram turned from blue to dark red signifying a defective user. At the bottom, a warning message appeared admonishing them to properly set all 128 user configuration switches, or Microslop would not be responsible for any damaged dishes. All configurations are plainly explained in the eleven-hundred page user manual available from Microslop publishing. They took a deep breath, crossed their fingers, and pressed the quick setup default settings button.

Days passed, the Mrs. bought only the most expensive Microslop tablets from the most expensive Microslop franchised store she could find. They only used crack proof plastic dishes, and cast iron pots that would not break even if you dropped the Microslop machine on top of them. The unit uses a lot more electricity, and strangely, the genuine Microslop hologram, which is in the shape of an eye, seems to be following them about the kitchen. Then again, these perceptions are probably only the musings of a paranoid user who secretly desires to use only open hardware appliances.

Weeks later, they received a letter from Microslop. The first lines of the letter are as follows:

�Thank you for using genuine Microslop. By purchasing only genuine Microslop, you can be assured of 24 hour 7 day a week customer service that only a proprietary hardware supplier can provide. Remember, when you buy an open hardware appliance, you might risk damage to your dishes, injury to your person, wasteful power consumption, or the loss of your home. At Microslop, our motto is, �Remember, you can sleep easy with Microslop!�.

At this time, we invite you to browse the enclosed brochure of other fine Microslop family products. Rest assured, all Microslop products are completely interconnectable. Indeed, unless you buy two or more Microslop licenses, many of our features may not be available.�

The letter goes on to report how well the company is doing financially, and thus you can be assured of continued service.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get the RedSplat home. It seems they won't deliver it unless I purchase a service contract. Rest assured, I'll get it home. Even if I have to build a pickup truck from scratch!