I have not provided an update on my programming projects for quite awhile, so I thought I would use today’s blog post to describe where I am on the things I have started.
The volcano computer: This project is still in process with a little bit of a diminished sense of urgency because Mount Saint Helens has not been to active lately and there is so much snow in it right now that it would not be possible to helicopter the thing down in there anyway. Nevertheless, progress continues. I stole the camera from Evan for another project, so he is working on integration of the GPS time data capture capability until I send him back the camera. We hope this will be ready by late March or early April.
Bleax (Betty Blonde Accumulator of Comix): I continue to make a little progress every week with this program. Lately I have worked on preparation of the GUI to control the scanner. I found a Python scanner library for both Linux and Windows that will be perfect to both control the scanner and keep the cross platform functionality of the program. I use this program every day. We really could not do the Betty Blonde comic without it. I have cut the amount of time it takes to convert one of Kelly’s drawings from the raw, inked panels to a finished strip up on the website from about a half an hour per strip to less than ten minutes. The scanner program will cut that down to about a couple of minutes per strip for those strips for which I do not have to make modifications in GIMP. This is hobby stuff now, so I do not anticipate I will be able to finish this until sometime this summer.
KamVu: This is my standalone machine vision library. I have actually been working on this pretty heavily. The main infrastructure of the program is under the LGPL license, but I have been adding some proprietary, application specific functionality to the program to allow some friends to use the libraries in their commercial applications. I have actually been working on this pretty heavily. It is amazing how many opportunities popped up after this got started. It works great, I have started adding some OpenCV based functionality, as much for the opportunity to learn as for any need. KamVu can still be found here.
C++/KDevelop: Christian now has KDevelop loaded on his computer. I need to get him started back into his C++ Primer Plus book. He has really started to grasp the theory and it is way over due that he start using the C++/OOD stuff that he has learned. The reason we just load KDevelop is because Nokia bought the QT libraries and converted their license to the LGPL license. They are a great set of libraries and now that the license is right, it will be a super way to get programming experience that is valued by industry in a world class Integrated Development Environment. Still, we cannot let this distract us from our completion of the ham radio. We will start as soon as we can, but really jump into this hard in the summer.
HELLO KEN …JUST TALKED TO BRYAN AND HE TOLD ME YOU WERE BUILDING A HAM RADIO …THAT IS GREAT !!! I AM A HAM WITH A GENERAL LICENSE …MY CALL IS W6EKO …LET ME HEAR FROM YOU ABOUT YOUR RADIO PROJECT …73’S RON & DONNA
PS: A GOOD SITE TO GO TO IS QRZ.COM ITS ALL ABOUT HAM RADIO AND YOU CAN LOOK UP MY CALL W6EKO AND SEE MY RIG ..I HAVE ADDED SOME EQUIPMENT SINCE THAT PICTURE WAS TAKEN ….
Very cool, Ron. I think I vaguely remember talking to you about that. We started this because a Ph.D. electrical engineer with whom I work said building a ham radio is a great way to learn radio and electronics theory. We are using a kit used by Freshman electrical engineering students at Cal-Tech. We also got the textbook they use when they take the course. After we have assembled the book, Christian and I are going to read the textbook aloud together, tweak the radio, build an antenna, learn Morse code (the radio is not a voice radio), and hopefully pace the General Class test. We have the study book for the Technician Class test, so we will do that first. Thanks for the comment. Please check in every now and then.
P.S. Do you have a blog?