Be the signal » embedded http://bethesignal.org where we're going, we don't need roads... Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:52:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Looking for a simple GPS receiver http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/05/07/looking-for-a-simple-gps-receiver/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/05/07/looking-for-a-simple-gps-receiver/#comments Mon, 07 May 2007 03:22:09 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/05/07/looking-for-a-simple-gps-receiver/ Continue reading →]]> Dear Lazyweb,

I am looking for a simple GPS receiver for my laptop. Ideally, it would disappear into one of the PCMCIA or SD slots, but I am having a tough time finding something like this. Alternatively, if Bluetooth is the only sensible answer, tell me I’m dreaming, and perhaps suggest one that will work well with the 770 and my laptop. I am dipping my toe into the river of GPS for the first time, so any help from experienced users will be greatly appreciated!

I shouldn’t have to mention my operating system of choice, should I? He’s fat, he’s happy, he’s a penguin… :-)

Love, Jeff

Update: Okay, everyone’s telling me that only a doofus would get a non-Bluetooth GPS unit. Simon Rumble pointed me to some very simple, good quality, inexpensive ones that charge over USB and have Nokia-style batteries (you can find them all over eBay). Of course, now I’m looking into it, I’m getting the taste for one that does logging… :-)

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/05/07/looking-for-a-simple-gps-receiver/feed/ 25 Ubuntu goes mobile too! http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/05/06/ubuntu-goes-mobile-too/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/05/06/ubuntu-goes-mobile-too/#comments Sun, 06 May 2007 12:19:08 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/05/06/ubuntu-goes-mobile-too/ Continue reading →]]> Right before we launched the GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative, Intel went public with their sexy Mobile Internet Device prototypes, running Red Flag and Ubuntu. They’re Linux based, and use Nokia’s Hildon interface architecture, developed for the N770 and N800 web tablets… So it’s fantastic to see Canonical and Ubuntu come to the table with a new mobile operating platform effort, Ubuntu Mobile.

This is very cool news, demonstrating the power of shared efforts up and down the stack and between players, and the industry embracing GNOME as a mobile environment as much — perhaps even more so — as a desktop environment.

There will be discussions about Ubuntu Mobile at their developer summit this week. Sadly, the announcement was way too close to the event for many of the active upstreams to participate. Hopefully, this year, Canonical and Ubuntu hackers will be at GUADEC in force!

Canonical are looking for mobile hackers, too!

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/05/06/ubuntu-goes-mobile-too/feed/ 4 Major GNOME announcement next Thursday http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/16/major-gnome-announcement-next-thursday/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/16/major-gnome-announcement-next-thursday/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:31:53 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/04/16/major-gnome-announcement-next-thursday/ If you were wondering what this obtuse, xkcd-inspired stream of numbers meant…

with a little inspiration from xkcd’s “dream girl”

Now I can reveal a little more, as per www.gnome.org…

Teaser

If you love GNOME, and you’re near Santa Clara next Thursday, come and see us! :-)

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/16/major-gnome-announcement-next-thursday/feed/ 0 Spooks dig GConf http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/11/spooks-dig-gconf/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/11/spooks-dig-gconf/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:51:19 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/04/11/spooks-dig-gconf/ Continue reading →]]> At the recent SE Linux Symposium, James Carter of the NSA spoke about using GConf as a user space object manager. The paper covers the application of Flask principles (and SE Linux in particular) to user configuration, and is well worth reading, even if you’re not astronautically familiar with SE Linux itself. Definitely recommended for GNOME folks interested in deep desktop security issues.

Executive summary: Even the NSA want us to merge the gconf-dbus branch! Let’s get this done before they do it behind our backs. ;-)

NSA describe GConf
The NSA knows how GConf works.

Update: The links to the presentation and full paper were not obvious enough as a caption to the slide. :-)

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/11/spooks-dig-gconf/feed/ 5 A Stream of Numbers http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/03/a-stream-of-numbers/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/03/a-stream-of-numbers/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2007 05:45:02 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/04/03/a-stream-of-numbers/ with a little inspiration from xkcd's 'dream girl'

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/04/03/a-stream-of-numbers/feed/ 8 Missing you at BOSSA http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/03/13/missing-you-at-bossa/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/03/13/missing-you-at-bossa/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:16:11 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/03/13/missing-you-at-bossa/ Continue reading →]]> Unfortunately I’m not in Brazil for BOSSA this week due to illness — not even healthy enough to argue with my doctor about it. Missing Brazil again! Gah. :-( I wouldn’t normally announce my non-presence at a conference here, but it looks like I’m still on the agenda, and a few people have pinged me to catch up during the event.

For those in Recife this week, have fun at BOSSA, the INdT folks certainly put together an awesome conference!

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/03/13/missing-you-at-bossa/feed/ 0 QoTD: Emmanuele Bassi http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/03/09/qotd-emmanuele-bassi/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/03/09/qotd-emmanuele-bassi/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:20:09 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2007/03/09/qotd-emmanuele-bassi/ Continue reading →]]> “So, waiting for Project Ridley to come to the rescue is not going to cut it anymore: if you are proposing to move some functionality from a library to GLib or GTK+ be prepared to work on the whole code and not only on your pet feature.” — Emmanuele Bassi, Of Angels and Angles on improving the GTK+/GNOME platform

Platform hacking has been culturally unsexy since GNOME 2.0, but in recent times, has become one of the most important and exciting areas of the project. There are also lots of jobs around for great GNOME platform hackers, so if you want to earn a crust doing cool GNOME hacking, these are the skills to have.

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2007/03/09/qotd-emmanuele-bassi/feed/ 0 Im in ur Javur, releasin ur codes http://bethesignal.org/blog/2006/11/14/im-in-ur-javur-releasin-ur-codes/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2006/11/14/im-in-ur-javur-releasin-ur-codes/#comments Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:14:53 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2006/11/14/im-in-ur-javur-releasin-ur-codes/ Im in ur Javur, releasin ur codes

Java is Free. Crack now. Analysis later.

]]> http://bethesignal.org/blog/2006/11/14/im-in-ur-javur-releasin-ur-codes/feed/ 1 Clutting Edge http://bethesignal.org/blog/2006/06/23/clutting-edge/ http://bethesignal.org/blog/2006/06/23/clutting-edge/#comments Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:22:40 +0000 Jeff Waugh http://perkypants.org/blog/2006/06/23/clutting-edge/ Continue reading →]]>
OpenedHand Clutter

OpenedHand have dropped another love bomb on the GTK+/GNOME embedded scene — Clutter, a simple scenegraph/canvas API for doing pimped-out, full screen, kiosk/television style user interfaces with GTK+, GStreamer and GL. Take a look at the examples included in the tarball, and their snazzy Opt presentation tool. It’s early days, but Clutter is already looking very sweet.

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