Ubuntu to the rescue

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Jul 032010
 

I’m not one of “those” guys, really. You know the ones — the zealots who claim that their favorite OS or application is and will be forever more the end-all-be-all of computing.

As a rule I recommend and use the best tool for the job – whatever that might be. My main laptop is Windows XP, my family and customers use just about every recent version of Windows or linux.  In fact, my own servers are a mix of Win2k*, RedHat, CentOS, and Ubuntu, my other laptop is Ubuntu and I switch back and forth between MSOffice and OpenOffice as needed.

Today surprised me though. I realized that I had become biased against Ubuntu in a very insidious way— My expectations were simply not high enough. What’s weird about that is that I frequently recommend Ubuntu to clients and peers alike, and my company (MicroNeil in this case) even helps folks migrate to it and otherwise deploy it in their infrastructure! So how could I have developed my negative expectations?

I have a theory that it is because I find I have to defend myself from looking like “one of those linux guys” pretty frequently when in the company of my many “Windows-Only” friends and colleagues. Then there are all those horror stories about this or that problem and having to “go the long way around” to get something simple to work. I admit I’ve been stung by a few of those situations in the past myself.

But recently, not so much! Ubuntu has worked well in many situations and, though we tend to avoid setups that might become complicated, we really don’t miss anything by using it – and neither do the customers we’ve helped to migrate. On the contrary, in fact, we have far fewer problems with our Ubuntu customers than with our Windows friends.

Today’s story goes like this.

We have an old Toshiba laptop that we use for some special tasks. It came with Windows XP pro, and over the years we’ve re-kicked it a few times (which is sadly still a necessary evil from time to time on Windows boxen).

A recent patch caused this box to become unstable and so we were looking at having to re-kick it again. We thought we might take the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7. We wanted to get it back up quickly so we hit the local store and purchased W7pro.

The installation was straight forward and since we already have another box running W7 our expectations were that this would be a non-event and all would be happy shortly.

But, no. The first thing to cause us trouble was the external monitor. Boot up the laptop with the monitor attached and that is all you can see — the laptop’s screen was not recognized. Boot up without the external monitor and the laptop’s is the only display that will work. I Spent some time searching various support forums for a solution and basically just found complaints without solutions.

After trying several of the recommended solutions without luck I was ready to quit and throw XP back on the box. Instead I followed a hunch and forced W7 to install all of the available patches just to see if it would work. IT DID!

Or, it seemed like it did. After the updates I was able to turn on the external display and set up the extended desktop… I was starting to feel pretty good about it. So I moved on to the printer. (more about the display madness later)

We have a networked HP2840 Printer/Scanner. We use it all the time. Joy again, I discovered, the printer was recognized and installed without a hitch. Printed the test page. We were going to get out of this one alive (still have some day left).

Remember that scene in perfect storm — They’re battered and beaten and nearly at the end. The sky opens up just a bit and they begin to see some light. It seems they’ve made it and they’re going to survive. Then the sky closes up again and they know they are doomed.

W7 refused to talk to the scanner on the HP2840. That’s a game changer in this case — the point of this particular laptop is accounting work that requires frequent scanning and faxing so the scanner on the HP2840 simply had to work or we would have to go back to XP.

Again I searched for solutions and found only unsolved complaints. Apparently there is little to no chance HP is going to solve this problem for W7 any time soon — at least that is what is claimed in the support forums. There are several workarounds but I was unable to make them fly on this box.

Remember the display that seemed to work? One of the workarounds for the scanner required a reboot. After the reboot the display drivers forgot how to talk to the external display again and it wouldn’t come back no matter how much I tweaked it!

Yep– like in perfect storm, the sky had closed and we were doomed. Not to mention most of the day had evaporated on this project already and that too was ++ungood.

We decided to punt. We would put XP Pro back on the box and go back to what we know works. I suggested we might try Ubuntu– but that was not a popular recommendation under the circumstances… Too new an idea, and at this point we really just wanted to get things working. We didn’t want to open a new can of worms trying to get this to work again with the external monitor, and the printer, and the scanner, and…

See that? There it is– and I bought into it even though I knew better. We dismissed the idea of using Ubuntu because we expected to have trouble with it– But we shouldn’t have!

None the less… that was the decision and so Linda took over and started to install XP again… but there was a problem. XP would not install because W7 was already on the box. (The OS version on the hard drive is newer). So much for simple.

Back in the day we would simply wipe the partition and start again — these days that’s not so easy… But, it’s easy enough. I grabbed an Ubuntu disk and threw it into the box. The idea was to let the Ubuntu install repartition the drive and then let XP have at it — Surely the XP install would have no qualms about killing off a linux install right?!

In for a penny, in for a pound.

As the Ubuntu install progressed past the repartitioning I was about to kill it off and throw the XP disk in… but something stopped me. I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it… so I let it go a little longer, and then a little longer, and a bit more…

I thought to myself that if I’ve already wasted a good part of the day on this I might as well let the Ubuntu install complete and get a feel for how much trouble it will be. If I ran into any issues I would throw the XP disk in the machine and let it rip.

I didn’t tell Linda about this though — she would have insisted I get on with the XP install, most likely. After all there was work piled up and this non-event had already turned into quite a time waster.

I busied myself on the white-board working out some new projects… and after a short time the install was complete. It was time for the smoke test.

Of course, the laptop sprang to life with Ubuntu and was plenty snappy. We’ve come to expect that.

I connected the external monitor, tweaked the settings, and it just plain worked. I let out a maniacal laugh which attracted Linda from the other end of the MadLab. I was hooked at this point and so I had to press on and see if the printer and scanner would also work.

It was one of those moments where you have two brains about it. You’re nearly convinced you will run into trouble, but the maniacal part of your brain has decided to do it anyway and let the sparks fly— It conjured up images of lightning leaping from electrodes, maniacal laughter and a complete disregard for the risk of almost certain death in the face of such a dangerous experiment! We pressed on…

I attempted to add the printer… Ubuntu discovered the printer on the network without my help. We loaded up the drivers and printed a test page. More maniacal laughter!

Now, what to do about the scanner… surely we are doomed… but the maniacal part of me prevailed. I launched simple scanner and it already knew about the HP2840. Could it be?! I threw the freshly printed test page into the scanner and hit the button.

BEAUTIFUL!

All of it simply worked! No fuss. No searching in obscure places for drivers and complicated workarounds. It simply worked as advertised right out of the box!

Linda was impressed, but skeptical. One more thing, she said. “We have to map to the SAN… remember how much trouble that was on the other W7 box?” She was right – that wasn’t easy or obvious on W7 because the setup isn’t exactly what W7 wants to see and so we had to trick it into finding and connecting to the network storage.

I knew better at this point though. I had overcome my negative expectations… With a bit of flare and confidence I opened up the network places on the freshly minted Ubuntu laptop and watched as everything popped right into place.

Ubuntu to the Rescue

In retrospect I should have known better from the start. It has been a long time since we’ve run into any trouble getting Ubuntu (or CentOs, or RedHat…) to do what we needed. I suppose that what happened was that my experience with this particular box primed me to expect the worst and made me uncharacteristically risk averse.

  • XP ate itself after an ordinary automatic update.
  • W7 wouldn’t handle the display drivers until it was fully patched.
  • W7 wouldn’t talk to the HP2840 scanner.
  • Rebooting the box made the display drivers wonky.
  • XP wouldn’t install with W7 present.
  • I’d spent hours trying to find solutions to these only to find more complaints.
  • Yikes! This was supposed to be a “two bolt job”!!!

Next time I will know better. It’s time to re-think the expectations of the past and let them go — even (perhaps especially) when they are suggested by circumstances and trusted peers.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I’d started with Ubuntu and skipped this “opportunity for enlightenment.” On the other hand, I learned something about myself and my expectations and that was valuable too, if a bit painful.

However we got here it’s working now and that’s what matters 🙂

Ubuntu to the rescue!

Open Source Robotics To Save The Gulf?

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Jun 142010
 

I was pondering the oil spill in the Gulf, my work in automata, my fascination with robotics, and my friends with boats in Pensacola. Then I had another one of my crazy ideas — Hopefully it’s crazy enough to attract some interest and maybe even get done — so I thought I’d share. (That’s what blogs are for right?!)

What if we (collectively) develop an open source project to build (or refit) a fleet of small autonomous boats to patrol the Gulf looking for oil to collect and separate from the water. Here are the key points:

  • The craft are small and slow moving so they are not dangerous. They should be just large enough to carry a useful amount of collected oil, and just fast enough to get out of their own way and survive in the ocean.
  • The control systems are a collection of relatively simple, dedicated, open-source components designed to fail safe. If one subsystem doesn’t get what it expects from another subsystem then the robot stops and waits (signals) for help. More sophisticated systems can interact with the simpler control subsystems for exotic behaviors– but the basics would be very close to “hard-wired” reflexes.
  • Broken parts can be easily swapped out. Upgrades are equally easy to deploy by replacing swappable components with better ones.
  • Each is equipped with a centrifuge and a scoop/skimmer. It’s instincts are to seek out oil on the surface and turn on it’s skimmer while it slowly moves through that patch of ocean. The centrifuge separates the oil from the water. The water goes back in the ocean, the oil goes into the tank.
  • When a robot finds oil it tells it’s friends via radio using GPS to identify it’s location. Along the way it can gather other data that it can get for free from it’s control system’s sensors such as temperature, wind data, an any other data from attached sensors.
  • The instincts of the robots are based on a collection of simple behaviors and reflexes (more later).
  • Each has an open tank in back where the separated oil is deposited. When the robot detects that it’s tank is sufficiently full (or that it otherwise needs service/fuel) it will drive toward a barge where it will wait in line for it’s tank to be pumped out and it’s fuel tank to be topped off.
  • It might even be possible to make solar powered versions that do not require fuel — they would sleep at night. This kind of thing might also be a backup system to get the robot to safety in case of a main engine failure.
  • Endurance and autonomous operation are key design goals. These do not need to be (nor do we want them to be) big or fast or even particularly efficient. The benefit comes from their numbers, their small size, their ability to collaborate with each other, and their “always on” attitude. Since they work all the time and do not require human intervention they do not have to be powerful— just persistent. Their numbers and distribution are what gets the job done.
  • Since the robots are unmanned there is little exposure hazard for people (or animals). Robots don’t get sick — they may break down, but they don’t care how toxic their environment is during or after they do their job. These in particular are ultimately disposable if they need to be.
  • The subsystems should be designed so that they can be used in purpose built craft or deployed in existing craft that are re-purposed for the task.

Instincts (Roughly in order of priority):

  • Robots prefer to keep their distance from anything else on the surface of the water. They can do this with simple visual systems (or expensive LIDAR, or whatever folks dream up to put on their bot). Basically, if it doesn’t look like water they don’t want to be near it — unless, perhaps, it’s oil on top of water.
  • Robots prefer to stay within a minimum depth of water. The more shallow the water gets the more the robot wants to be in deeper water. The safety limits for this can be partially enforced by separate sub-systems but the primary goal is for the robots instincts and natural behaviors to automatically achieve the safety goals “as a matter of habit.”
  • Robots like to be closer to other robots that are successful — but not closer than the safe distance described earlier. If they get too close to something then the prior rule takes over. This allows the robots to flock on a patch of oil without running into each other. They will also naturally separate themselves in a pattern that optimizes their ability to collect oil from that patch. As a matter of safety they will also stay away from other vessels even (perhaps especially) if they don’t act like other robots.
  • Robots like to be in places they have not been before. This instinct causes them to search in new places for oil.
  • If a robot can’t get close enough to a patch of oil because other robots have already flocked there then the robot will eventually stop trying and will go search somewhere else.
  • Robots like to be closer to shore (but not too close -see above) rather than farther away. This gives the robots a tendency to concentrate on oil that is threatening the coast and also minimizes the possibility that the robot will be lost in the deeper ocean. Remember the other rule above about keeping their distance from everything— that will keep them from getting too close to shore too. “Close to something” includes being in water that is too shallow.
  • Robots shut down if anything gets too close to them. So, if they malfunction and get close to something else, OR, of someone else gets close to them then their instinct is to STOP. This behavior allows authorities to approach a robot safely at any time for whatever purpose.

What I envision here is something that can be mass produced easily by anybody with the will and facilities to do it. All of the hardware and software components would be open-sourced so that they can be refined through experience and enhanced by everyone who is participating.

It seems to me that the problem with the oil that is already in the Gulf is that it is spread over a very wide area and it is broken up into lots of small patches that are too numerous to track and manage from a central location.

A fleet of robust, inexpensive, safe, autonomous skimmers would be able to collectively solve this problem through a distributed intelligence. Along the way the same fleet would be able to provide a tremendous amount of information about conditions that is currently not available.

The design is simple, and the craft are expendable. Since each is collecting oil that is in the water, and shouldn’t be, if there is a catastrophic failure of a robot and it sinks then the result is that the oil it collected is back in the water. Not great, but also not worse than it was before the oil was collected in the first place.

If this idea catches on then I believe we (collectively) could produce huge numbers of these in a very short time – and each one would contribute to solving a problem that is currently not solvable. Also, as the technology is refined, the same systems would be available for any similar events that occur later… After all, the world is not going to stop drilling for oil in the deep oceans (or elsewhere) until it is all but gone. That is an unfortunate fact, in my opinion, but a fact none the less.

I believe also that the technology that would be developed through the creation of this fleet and the subsystems that support it would be useful for many other purposes as well… ranging from automated search and rescue to border patrol and anti-terrorism efforts.

This is a rough draft taken from the back of the envelope.

Let me know what you think!

I would love to work on a project like this. 🙂

I would love even more to see LOTS of folks working on this.

—

PS. Just before pushing the button I had another idea… (as I often do). What if the robots also had behaviors that allowed them to bucket-brigade oil toward collection points. So… if a slow moving robot could not possibly make it out to the barge from it’s station near the shore it would instead make a trip toward the barge and upon meeting up with one of it’s buddies it could hand it’s cargo off— Consider a kind of dance— the bot giving leads the bot that’s accepting — it dumps it’s cargo into the water just ahead of it’s buddy and it’s buddy scoops it up. At the very least the oil is farther from shore, and at best most of the transfer is completed safely without any single robot needing the range or speed required to make the entire trip to the collection point… In fact, this could be the primary mechanism— bots could dump their cargo in a collection area – a safe distance from the barge. Then other specialized equipment could safely collect it from there…

Only half-way through the snow storm

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Feb 062010
 

Just after we moved here a dozen or so years ago we had a snow storm that was pretty good. It was quite an adventure.

At one point I had to abandon our car in a grocery store parking lot and walk home. On the final stretch of that walk I tried to take a short cut down the hill behind our house and had to abandon the attempt and go around — the snow was up to my waist and 5 minutes of effort would get you only a few meters progress. — I could see the house, and Linda could see me.. we waved, and I turned around to walk the rest of the way on the roads which were just a little better.

The lentil soup w/ ham was amazingly good after that long walk home to our cozy house. We still try to recreate that experience from time to time.

This storm is bigger than that, but we’re not going out in it except to shovel a bit and have some fun. This time we’re well prepared and perhaps a little less adventurous.  The boys are having a blast — I hope they’re building some happy memories along with their snow forts. I’m sure they are.

In the midst of all this I can’t help but think of the homeless though. The sleeping bags MicroNeil purchased for TOP arrived on Friday. The original plan was for them to go to DC this weekend. The weather had other plans — We’ll push to get them delivered as soon as possible after the storm. I know the folks at TOP are anxious too.

As the snow falls outside my office window my mind drifts back to home, to the boys playing outside, to the beauty of it, and the memories we’ll make of it.

This kind of snow is the stuff of legend… the kind of thing that only happens around here once or twice in your childhood and maybe a few times in your life. That keeps it special. For folks who live much north of here it’s probably just another snowy day.

For us here in the mid-Atlantic it happens just often enough; and when it does it’s an opportunity for everyone to pause and reflect – to change their lives for a few days, talk to their neighbors, have a few adventures, and make some memories – stories they can share.

To quote Ernest T Bass: “I was right there in it!”

If you’re here in it with us, or otherwise in similar circumstances, we wish you well and hope all of your adventures ultimately turn into happy memories.

The rest is pictures…

TOP of the New Year for Sniffy

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Dec 312009
 
Sniffy New Year 2010

Sniffy New Year 2010

A New day, A New year, A New decade, Another chance to make things better… To do something good in a sustainable way so that we can build on it and make a lasting difference.

One of the things I do is develop technology for filtering out bad email (spam, scams, viruses, “malware”). The goal is to protect people from the predators out there and help to make sure the Internet has a chance to achieve it’s potential for good.

Of course, doing that means that my team and I spend a lot of time wading through the worst stuff on the ‘Net. Honestly, sometimes I really hate that job – wallowing in humanities filth for hours on end can really bum you out.

What started as a nuisance has grown into something much more sinister. Today spam and other malware is produced largely by organized crime. Their “business” is well funded, sophisticated, and ranges from presenting you with uninvited advertisements to hacking your computer, money laundering, identity theft and fraud, all the way to human trafficking, cyber warfare and terrorism.

I invite you to view this TED talk on the intricate economics of terrorism:

http://www.ted.com/talks/loretta_napoleoni_the_intricate_economics_of_terrorism.html

As a result of this phenomenon everyone who provides services on the Internet must now spend a significant amount of money and effort to protect themselves and their customers. It has become a necessity.

It’s very depressing. I know I would like to spend that energy doing more positive work – not just holding back the darkness.

I don’t let that stuff keep me down, but thoughts like that float around in my brain with all of the others looking for ways to connect. Sometimes they connect in surprising ways and call me to start out in new directions.

The other day I was pondering all of this while shopping for a gift for my brother. He enjoys camping, and reading, and this year in particular he’s become interested in outdoor survival books (Man vs Wild kinds of stuff). I had picked up a book about surviving on K2 and was looking for something to add when I wondered into the camping isle and came face to face with a sleeping bag…

This wasn’t what I was looking for but it struck a nerve. Just recently I had made a live recording for Evergreen Church where they were interviewing some folks from TOP (Teens Opposing Poverty). The stories these folks told about living (surviving) on the streets of DC had stuck with me. Evergreen Church teens regularly work with TOP and the church has been collecting sleeping bags to donate to TOP for their next trip into DC.

Teens Opposing Poverty

Teens Opposing Poverty

Just then it occurred to me that I had another opportunity to do something good. As Steve Jennings (Executive Director of TOP) puts it: “Sleeping bags are like gold to homeless people… The need for sleeping bags never goes away.”

For the month of January MicroNeil will donate a new sleeping bag to TOP for every new customer that subscribes to Message Sniffer.

This is a way we can convert some of the darkness generated by the blackhats into light (and warmth) and hopefully make a difference when it matters most. It’s very cold on the streets of  DC in January –and this year we just had two feet of snow!

I’m also hopeful that this promotion will call more attention to TOP and efforts like it. TOP in particular is focused on engaging and connecting young people with homeless folks in a meaningful way– and reconnecting the homeless with their community. These connections are in many ways more important than providing critical services and materials because it’s the connections that translate into hope and opportunity.

http://www.teensopposingpoverty.org/

Hello world!

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Dec 172009
 

Greetings earthlings! — I really should stop saying things like that, or the villagers might show up. But, what do you say on the Hello World! post of a new blog? Believe it or not, it’s not in the handbook.

No matter. It’s done now.

If I’m lucky, I’ll delete this and replace it with something better before anybody sees it … (hehehehe).

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