OSHW Laptop developed by Olimex

Olimex is working on an Open Source Laptop ( FLOSS ) that will allow DIY development of a laptop.








tags:   777OSHWLaptop    777Olimex   777DIY

Fighting Crime using tech to trip up criminals

Here i am focusing on property theft... a very annoying behaviour humans indulge in ....

Overview
I am interested in making theft less profitable.  I want to dissuade a thief from continuing her craft.  I am not interested in capturing, incarcerating , punishing crooks.  I think those efforts largely fail.  If they worked then America with the largest population in prison would have no theft.

One possibility is to use honeypots .... this is a lure to identify theft-prone individuals.  The lure has a trigger and a camera or other recording devices.  Now we know who is theft prone.

Hiding articles from a thief works well.  Most crooks "case" a location before making a move.  If no goodies are to be seen, the thief moves on.  Of course , this means someone other than you suffers a theft.

Making a thief uncomfortable can work.  Loud sirens , voices out of no-where , stinkbombs , fake barking dogs, etc. may drive a thief away.  

In addition , a clever homeowner will want detectors that warn of Carbon Monoxide , Natural Gas , Smoke & Fire , Gushing Water ( GW ) , ......


Honeypots
Things can be left out in places where a thief will be enticed.  A good joke can be had by those luring the thief to the item.  If the item is moved illegally .... lots of fun things can occur.  A stink bomb can be activated.  The item can do something strange and alarming.   We can have lights , camera , action.
Honeypots can be placed inside, outside , in cars , .... your imagination is the limit.
Good Triggers

There are lots of nifty triggering devices that can be built from common items.

One of my favorites is the common mouse trap.  If a mouse trap is jarred , the trap snaps shut with enough energy to accomplish many things.  A stink bomb can be activated.

Putting a sugar cube between the jaws of a clothespin is a great way to detect water.  When the clothespin shuts .... it can activate an electronic switch.

Signage

Cameras

disguised cameras

fake cameras

stinkbombs

http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/Stink-Bomb-Recipe.htm

buy stink bomb prank…. trigger with mousetrap

Audio warning  Scary sounds

use cheap sound playback device

Fake Barking dogs

Lighting
Triggered security lights

Water alarm

       sugar cube and annuciator   ( can be sound, light , tweet , email , ….. next door neighbor )

       water shutoff

             dribble when on vacation

CO alarm

Carbon Monoxide alarms may come in combo with explosive gas alarms and smoke alarms ( ~$60 )
see photo at end of this article

Natural Gas alarm

Often comes in combination with a CO detector.... for ~ $60

Fire detector

Pricing runs from $10 and up

Best practices for cars

       Lock or unlock …… it depends.  I have had cars where the windows were broken multiple times by stereo thieves.  I gave up locking such cars.  I put notices in the windows advising that the doors were unlocked.  I have always wanted to stop the thief while avoiding as much thief caused damage as possible.

       discouraging the criminal from messing with a car or truck....

One option is to have a vehicle stop working a short time after the thief takes it.

Best practices for backyard and garages

    Is it better to have high fences, short fences, no fences ?

Best practices for delivered packages

   Delivered packages should be left by a delivery person where they are safe or at least not easily visible by the public.

Clever locks   ( invisible , magnetic , ...... )

   Locking devices can be made that are easy for the owner to operate and very hard for the thief to operate.  One scheme is to have hidden locks with unusual keys.

   magnets

Motion Sensors
PIR    Pyro Infrared   cost $9 and up


Walk by Inspections by Neighbors

Using cheap Android Tablets

Magnets
NeoDymium magnets are probably the strongest magnets you can buy.  They can be salvaged from discarded hard drives ( one of my favorite activities ).  You can buy them online.  They are kind of hard to find locally.... usually because they are mis-identified.
Another fun magnet type is Hematite.  Not as strong as Neodymium but very pretty.


Magnets can be used to trigger a switch if an item is moved.  This can be done using a reed switch.  A reed switch closes in the presence of a strong enough magnetic field.


===========================
tags:   777CrimeFighter   777Theft    777honeypot   777stinkbomb  777locks  777crime   777safety

Great Cow Basic

From: Chris Roper <caroper@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: [OT] Robots as an educational tool for kids

Date: 2015m11d 13 at 13:02:32 MST

To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>

Reply-To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>

It may be worth having a look at Great Cow BASIC, It can program most if

not all the PIC 10/12/16/18 Devices as well as some AVR Devices, has a nice

IDE that is easy to use and generates more efficient code than XC8 in my

limited experience. It also has a graphical programming tool specifically

for kids and a decent text compiler / Assembler for more mainstream

applications. Free and Opensource. I am seriously considering it as a

teaching tool for all skill levels as well as having developed a couple of

simple applications with it (An alarm System for my apartment and an

automated test rig for a PIC32 Based production board)

Here are some links to have a look at:

http://gcbasic.sourceforge.net/

http://www.greatcowbasic.com/

How to buy
http://www.howtronics.com/CHIPINO_c_11.html

I have no business relationship to this product
=============================

Tags:   777BasicLang   777GreatCowBasic  777Basic

      author/editor :  99guspuppet

Gear play info about gears

http://www.smallgears.com/

http://www.sdp-si.com/   Stock Drive Products

worm gears can be enveloping ( hourglass ) .  the engaging gear can be enveloping as well.

http://conedrive.com/Explore-Cone-Drive/double-enveloping-technology.php

Web-based gear simulation

http://www.gearsket.ch/#     http://www.gearsket.ch/#58ee8aebf116a32b

http://www.gearsket.ch/#19572238e3552331   <===  multi-gear wrench drive

By Frank Leenaars, Department of Instructional Technology, University of Twente

Source code at https://github.com/frankleenaars/gearsketch

Licensed under the MIT license

GearSketch lets you easily draw, connect and animate gears and chains. Best used with a touchscreen device.

https://github.com/frankleenaars/gearsketch/wiki

desired updates to gearsketch

  #1   add ability to change gear properties ( number of teeth , color )  

  #2  optional box attached to gear , chain , shaft …..  that shows angle  ( degrees & radians ) or travel

  #3  add shaft object

  #4  add worm gear object

  #5  set play speed ( 100% <==> 1% )

  #6  add static images to simulation ( boxes , circles , text )

  #7  attach images ( sprites ) to gears & chains

  #8  add switches that detect trigger object on gear or chain

Demo hand icon by momentum (http://momentumdesignlab.com/)

-->

Frank Leenaars

http://www.utwente.nl/bms/ist/en/medewerkers/Promovendi/frank_leenaars/

F.A.J. (Frank) Leenaars, MSc.

Contact information:
Room: Phone: Email:	B220 0031 53 489 4492 f.a.j.leenaars@utwente.nl
Short bio Frank Leenaars (1984) studied computer science (BSc) and psychology (BSc, MSc) at the University of Twente. For his master’s thesis he examined the use of self-generated drawings to facilitate the construction of formal models. He started his PhD research at the department of instructional technology in July 2009.
Research interests Science education, inquiry learning, external representations, drawing, modeling.
PhD project During the final years of primary education, development of scientific literacy is an important objective, for instance in the domains of geography and biology. For older students, constructing models of studied systems can be an effective way to enhance understanding of these systems. This study concerns the introduction of model construction activities to science education in primary school. The main focus will be on a representation of scientific models that is understandable and usable by students in the target population (fifth grade).

Scratch

99guspuppet   121517762013SCRATCH    version 2

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/43759180/#editor     

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/43761182/#editor

SNAP

http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html

Information from gearsketch source code

Generated by CoffeeScript 1.6.3

buttons   play , clear , cloud , help

“chain" is equivalent to belt

“momentum" appears to be gear speed

penMove can be dragging ( center ) , momentum ( not-center )

“board" is a gear sketch

New gear is created

if (idealTrueAreaRatio > 0.80 && idealTrueAreaRatio < 1.20 && t > MIN_GEAR_TEETH) {

x = sumX / numberOfPoints;

y = sumY / numberOfPoints;

return new Gear(new Point(x, y), 0, t);

functions……………..

loadDemoMovements

boardUploaded

Advice about JS

 I suggest using Chrome's developer tools, it doesn't just have the console, but an element inspector, and a resource tracker (resource tracker is invaluable when working with JSON and AJAX, since invalid json will fail silently)

up vote 5 down vote

You don't need to upload the JS file to a server to test it. Just write an html and declare the js binding <script             src="js/yourJSFile.js"             type="text/javascript"></script> Edit the JS file in your favorite editor and then refresh the page to test it. For unit testing the best option is Selenium. It allows you to record an interaction with the browser and then play it back. ============================================== tags:  777gears               author: 99guspuppet

Teaching Robotics

Teaching robotics can be very fun.  Keep in mind that each student responds to different approaches and materials.  Some students are visually oriented , some are hands on , some love to read , some respond to lectures.  Allow the students as much autonomy as practicable.

Below are some preliminary ideas for introducing the subject of robots.

Dissect

 gather some ( salvage ) common robotic electronics and dissect them

       printers  ( steppers , motors , belts, slide rods , gears )
       scanners

       hard drive
       RC models .... cars, boats , drones
a salvage yard may donate some of the above

       

Elements of robots

demonstrate common elements of robots

make a kit

motors

screw positioner

sensors

gears

Action video

      put together video of robots in action 

             long on action… short on words

      tree climbing

      quadracopter

      sea going   diving
       pipecrawling

         see examples below

Robots in Film
      Iron Giant
      Lost in Space  ( best is at minute 9:00 )
      Iron Man   ( is he a robot ? )   sometimes the suit is used without a man in it
   
      poll of best robots in film

Simulations

   simulation software

    gears            http://geargenerator.com/

 

Programming

Scratch

Python
      Pyro

Development Boards that may be useful
Chipcon and GreatCowBasic


=====================================
Robots in Action

=======================================
Suspense ......  things to follow up on
http://www.tensorflow.org/    googlized  machine intelligence
==================================================

tags:  777robotics  777education  777teachingRobotics   99guspuppet

1990 Miata engine idling problem

In this photo you can see the AFM ( air flow meter ) as the "U" shaped black spot in the center of the photo.  The black cover peels off to reveal the inner workings.  All of the airflow from the air cleaner goes through the AFM.  The air cleaner is under the AFM.

Debris is silicon sealant that I started scraping off the cover

There is a black arc the wiper travels on as AFM flap rotates.

There is a switch ( upper right ) that closes when the AFM rotates.

Below are some photos of the ECU ( engine control unit ) located under the passengers feet.

Vacuum tutorial
http://www.camaros.org/pdf/timing101.pdf


tags:   777miataEngine   777miataidling

Dell D3100 Docking Station works great with Mac Laptop

One problem...... the two attached displays seem to blink off once and while.  This problem appears to be associated with power supplied to peripherals attached to the Dell unit.
I would recommend powered USB hubs.



Using very successfully  ..........   I love this device.

MacIntosh MacPro Laptop with USB3.0 port as link to the D3100
                  I am using OS X 10.10.5
Two HDMI displays
Ethernet cable
USB 2.0 hub   ( for isolation and to reduce connector wear )
USB mouse
USB drawing pad
Powered external speakers

I used HDMI to DVI adapter since my monitors did not accept HDMI cables.
   The adapters were $3 each from eBay.

For the Mac I had to download a driver.

http://www.displaylink.com/support/mac_downloads.php)

If this link quits working... contact me at cinternational.com and I will try to help.

I bought this Dell unit used for $80.
I have no connection with Dell.


777D3100   #DellD3100   777DellD3100      99guspuppet