Advogato blog for alexr

10 Sep 2001

Mon, 10 Sep 2001 17:46:44 GMT

Hmm, still have no idea about the name of the project i'm working on.. On the other hand, server script in Python works perfectly, i've killed some bugs here and there and it's working fine.

The things currently implemented in the server are very limited. There's no authentication method at all, and I'm still thinking about the correct way to deliver neighbour information to clients. In current implementation, the client has to be connected to the server at all times, sending GPS position information at specified intervals. The server hits the client with information about locations of all other clients as soon as the client reports his location - which is rather dumb :).

I wonder if I'm reinventing the wheel here...

6 Sep 2001

Thu, 6 Sep 2001 16:37:21 GMT

Yesterday was a very busy day - didn't have any time to do anything.

I've hit off the day today by making a small simple threaded server in Python. That's what I like about Python, the development process is extremelly fast.

I am thinking about having a server like this as a central point of the Car-GPS-MP3 system (I really need a better name for this). It will serve the clients with information about similar neighbouring systems and their playlists, since I really don't like the idea of clients probing other clients for patterns and playlists.

Maybe the clients could broadcast that information for others to pickup, but it doesn't seem reasonable enough.

Hmm.. The central server could also log driving patterns of all clients, and send out recomendations to clients with similar interests. Then, GSM Mapping software should use that info to map the driving pattern of those clients.

4 Sep 2001

Tue, 4 Sep 2001 09:09:03 GMT

The Car-GPS-MP3 project is coming along just fine, but a bit slow. The SOLO machine is developing some hardware problems, and the reason is still unknown.

There is a company here in Iceland that's offering 512Kbit/s wirelless connection throughout wider Reykjavik area. I am seriously thinking about getting one of those gadgets to use with the car system. The Ideas of usage are still popping into my mind, since it would be rather silly to use it for Web-surfing while driving..

dmarti suggested a very interesting idea to use the wireless connection. I already have a small GPS logging device in my car, which logs the GPS coordinates at 5sec intervals onto a builtin flash-memory. He suggested that I can use that together with wireless link and MP3 streaming to share music recomendations with drivers that have the same system, and similar driving patterns.

In 10 days, I'm removing the GPS logging device from my car to extract all the information from it and analyze it. More to come later...

12 Mar 2001

Mon, 12 Mar 2001 10:07:18 GMT

The floppy on the SOLO machine died. So I just got the LS120 drive instead. Quite a bargain, i must say. 120 Mb will be more than enough to boot Linux, X and Java applications for the GPS system.

Still thinking about the HDD, since there is no external connection for the drives, so I can't use the external HDD box for MP3 storage. BUT, I'm gonna purchase the 10GB internal HDD from Gateway distributor to store all the stuff.

Right now, I am looking at the NOKIA PC-Card GSM modem (you just stick a SIM card in it, and put the modem in the PC-Card slot). Don't think that Linux supports it, but since I have all the specs on the modem, it shouldn't be a problem to write a device driver or somethin'.

Fun never seems to stop. :o)

9 Mar 2001

Fri, 9 Mar 2001 09:32:09 GMT

I just got the Gateway SOLO 2550 laptop, which was dropped on the floor by a marketing guy. HDD is broken, keyboard bended, CD-ROM doesn't work and floppy is giving some trouble now and then.

So, I took the poor fella' and now thinking what to do with it. It has a lot of CPU power so there got to be a solution to put this broken baby in the works.

Managed to compile and boot the kernel from the floppy, so there is something to be done with it. I think I'll put it in my jeep as a MP3 player or a GPS station.

Pure fun!

5 Sep 2000

Tue, 5 Sep 2000 02:03:12 GMT

Who says that Apache cannot be build with DSO support under SunOS5.6? I did, apparently. I am forced to take it back. I did managed to compile it. :)

I am so happy.

4 Sep 2000

Mon, 4 Sep 2000 17:51:45 GMT

Heh.. SunOS is a wonderfull platform, if you don't mess with it.. I got an UltraSparcII with SunOS 5.6 to install and configure Apache+Tomcat. Well, the person who played with that machine before me, played a little bit more than I expected. Spent first part of the day just cleaning the machine up.. Whoa, was that a MESS!

Spent most of my day left installing JDK1.2.2, Apache and Tomcat onto a SunOS 5.6. Well, JDK needs a SunOS Patch to work, Tomcat source needs Ant and Tools (of course), and under SunOS you cant build DSO modules with Apache.. *sigh*

As I said, SunOS is a wonderfull platform..

3 Sep 2000

Sun, 3 Sep 2000 21:02:26 GMT

Just played a little bit with Advogato's engine.. Successfully changed (and undo the changes) to a project not created by me.. I wonder if that is really smart?

OK, we all know that we are good people.. But someone can screw up the entire Advogato project pages.. *grin*

3 Sep 2000

Sun, 3 Sep 2000 20:52:27 GMT

This Tomcat is really anoying me. Spent entire day trying to get servlets working. The so-called example configuration that comes with Tomcat is (to put it gently) not working. *sigh* JSP works fine, and servlets are working fine on port 8080, but.. With Apache - NOOOOOOOOOO..