My Blog

For years and years,  robots have been in the forefront of science fiction. From the simple Class M-3 Model B9, General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot to R2-D2 to Data, robots of all types have been integral to our sci-fi endeavors.

I believe I will focus on R2-D2 today.

Artoo-Detoo, or R2 for short is a character from the Star Wars universe.  George Lucas’ major creation and, some would say, definitive science fiction of our time.  (Star Trek fans would be quick to disagree, of course, but I have the luxury of loving both the creations of Mr. Lucas and Mr. Roddenberry.

R2 is an Astromech Droid who, cinematically speaking, shows up aboard the Tantive IV along with Princess Leia.  Soon after, while being fired on by an Imperial Star Destroyer, he ends up on Tatooine and into the hands of Jawas.  Next our little buddy is purchased by Owen Lars, step-uncle to Luke.

Astromech Droids are a versatile series of utility droids made for the maintenance and repair of starships and related technology.  Equipped with many tools on retractable appendages, they are used both inside and outside for their primary function.  Often stored in recessed compartments, they generally stay out of the way and behind-the-scenes until needed.  R2-D2, clearly, is a bit of a rebel in that regard.  In addition to their repair and maintenance abilities, Astromech units are capable of the extremely complex calculations needed for hyperspace travel.  The seemingly unending array of tools with which these droids can interface with other computer systems and droid also allows for translation from machine-language to something more easily understood and diagnosed by their organic owners.  Also capable of speech, of a sort, (some call it binary, though I think that is a misnomer since there are far more than 2 sounds) R2 can get his point across even to those who can’t exactly understand him.

In closing, I leave you with this mildly amusing video of R2-D2 being …. obtuse

(I reccommend muting this, as the song is… a little annoying.)

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/6S4GVnV2b1Y" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

Sorry this is a bit shy on the length and quality I’d have liked.. I can only plead how unrealistically difficult life has been these last couple months as to why my work has gone down to such a huge degree.

Share This

If every computer had a Gandalf firewall, there would be no successful virii.  Or is it viruses… hmm. I think there was an informal decision that for computers, its virii, and for colds, its viruses.. but anyway, I digress.  Almost everyone who has spent any time online has been the victim of some malicious software.  All of us have gotten spam, most of us have gotten spyware, many have received viral software..and I don’t mean a marmot on youtube.  I remember a few years ago when you had to get extra programs like nukenabber to avoid ‘nukes’.  I’ve always had an interest in computer security, both the hacking and prevention thereof.  I read a good bit on phreaking years ago as well.  Some of the ways thieves would rob ATMs was very creative, and a little scary, come to think of it.  I’m studying for Computer Science: Programming now, but Computer Forensics is always a path I can keep open if the old spark ignites again.

I’ve been really slow the past few weeks on assignments and blog entries.  As it turns out, working full time, planning a wedding, and taking classes is a huge time drain.  The wedding was Saturday, and I’m exhausted, but now I have one less thing to steal my time, so hopefully I’ve enough time to play catch-up.

Share This

That’s just good life advice.  I expected the Randy Pausch video to be a typical ‘school’ type assignment.  I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.  This was a truly good man…and a great one too.  (Yes, there is a difference.)  I never really kept up with the whole VR thing when it started catching on, but his program was probably really amazing to be a part of.  I only hope I can exhibit such humility in the face of adversity, while maintaining the level of energy and…well… life he showed in the lecture video.  Opposite of may ‘required’ things students experience in school, I feel genuinely enriched to have seen this video.  Thanks for that little assignment.

As to early impressions of Scratch.. where do you start.  I suppose you start with the phenomenal ease-of-use factor.  It takes at least some of the intimidation of programming away by providing a clear and easy understanding of what you’re doing, and how it will affect the program.  I’m still personally batting a few different ideas around and so have a couple of programs in the works, but we’ll let the final choice be a surprise next week.  There are times I would like it to be more powerful, but I think that would increase its complexity and defeat the purpose.  I suppose my experiences in java and c++ are clashing with the intended usage of scratch in that respect.

All things considered, this week’s work has been some of the most enjoyable in this class for me.

Share This

I’m late again on my blog, but better late than never, I always say!  I was quite delayed this week in helping move Mr. Finney.  And this little wedding I’m planning for Oct. 29th..

This week we learned about databases and finished up our .html experience.  I’m not 100% satisfied with the smoothness/gloss of my page, but being a little ocd isn’t always good for timeliness.  I learned about iframes, embeds, divs, and new tags that didn’t exist last time I played with html.  It’s a very interesting study to see how the language has morphed and grown over the years.  CSS’s seamless integration into html is a very cool little feature.

As to databases, well… they’re databases.  They’re not terribly interesting, however useful.  I never realized how poorly the earlier databases were put together, so I’m very glad we’ve moved on to newer styles.

Share This

So this week we began our first foray into making a webpage.  At least, I’m assuming it was the first for some of the class.  I found this assignment particularly interesting, due mostly to how much the html language has changed in the last several years.  Gone are the days of <body bgcolor=#FF77F00>.  Now we’re into the style tags.  I expected I’d pick up such a simple language without even needing to consult the tutorials more than refreshing my mind on the order of the tags and which ones had changed.  Apparently my mind is more slippery than it used to be.

I decided to include a few of my hobbies that I should probably keep quiet…But why would I try to preserve dignity with you, my friends. My little website will include information about World of Warcraft, Minecraft, and I haven’t fully finished the third part. I believe it will either be music (particularly my time in the Pride of the Southland marching band), or my enjoyment of cars.

I’ve always enjoyed website design, and in the past most of my sites have revolved around gaming.  In highschool I had something like 8,000 hits on my Final Fantasy VII website, and back then, this was a notable number of visitors.  I wonder if my blog will see more than 2.

Share This

Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

0100100100100000011000010111000001110000011000010111001001100101011011100

11101000110110001111001001000000110011001101111011100100110011101101111011101

00001000000111010001101111001000000111011101110010011010010111010001100101

0010000001101101011110010010000001100010011010010110111001100001011100100

11110010010000001100010011011000110111101100111001011000010000001110011011

011110010000001001001001000000111011101101001011011000110110000100000011

0100101101110011000110110110001110101011001000110010100100000011010010111

0100001000000110111001101111011101110010110000100000011101100110010101110

01001111001001000000110110001100001011101000110010100101110001000000010

00000100100100100000011010000110000101100100001000000110000100100000

0110011001100001011011010110100101101100011110010010000001110100011100100

1101001011100000010000001100011011011110110110101100101001000000111010101

110000001000000110111101110101011101000010000001101111011001100010000001

10111001101111011101110110100001100101011100100110010100100000011101000110

1000011010010111001100100000011101110110010101100101011010110110010101101

1100110010000101100001000000111001101101111001000000100100100100000011

0001101100001011011010110010100100000011101000110111100100000010000010

11010010110101101100101011011100010000001100001011011100110010000100000

01110100011011110110111101101011001000000111000101110101011010010111101001

11101001100101011100110010000001100001011011100110010000100000011101000

1100101011100110111010001110011001000000111011101101000011010010110110001

1001010010000001101001011011100010000001100001001000000111011101101000

0110100101110010011011000111011101101001011011100110010000100000011011110

110011000100000011000010110001101110100011010010111011001101001011101000

111100100100000011101110110100001101001011011000110010100100000011101100

1101001011100110110100101110100011010010110111001100111001000000110011001

1000010110110101101001011011000111100100101110001000000010000001010000

011011000110000101101110011011100110100101101110011001110010000001100001

00100000011101110110010101100100011001000110100101101110011001110010000

0011010010110111000100000011101000110100001100101001000000110110101101

0010110010001100100011011000110010100100000011011110110011000100000011

000010110110001101100001000000111010001101000011010010111001100100000

011010010111001100100000011100110111010001110010011001010111001101110011

0110011001110101011011000010110000100000011000100111010101110100001000

00011101110110111101110010011101000110100000100000011010010111010000100

001

(I apparently forgot to write my binary blog, so I will include it now, very late.  I had a family trip come up out of nowhere this weekend, so I came to Aiken and took quizzes and tests while in a whirlwind of activity while visiting family.  Planning a wedding in the middle of all this is stressful, but worth it!)

Share This

This week saw the ALS system used.  I didn’t expect to do much in sembly language this semester, Not completely as out of hand as I expected it to be.  I had an emergency trip out of town so I won’t be writing very much, but If I get home before midnight tomorrow we’ll see about adding more.  Greetings from Aiken, SC, pstcc.

Share This

My theoretical computer build would be as follows. As this is all solely theory, I’ve made no real consideration for price. The system would be designed primarily as a gaming platform that could handle any other activities I could dream up. Serious photo editing would be easily handled, as well as extreme multi-tasking. The price comes in at just under $7,000.00.

Input Devices:
Keyboard:Logitech G19 ($158.00)
Mouse:Razer Naga ($70.00)

Output devices:
Monitor:[2x] Asus VE258Q ($260.00 ea.)
Speakers:Logitech Z906 500W 5.1 ($340.00)
Headset:Logitech G35($78.00)

Hardware:
CPU:Intel Core i7-990X 3.46GHz 6x($1000.00)
Motherboard:ASUS Rampage III Black Ed.($560.00)
GPUs:[3x] GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB GDDR5($600.00ea.)
Sound Card:Creative Sound Blaster X-fi 7.1($150.00)
Power Supply:Enermax Maxrevo series 1350W Modular ($280.00)

Storage and Drives:
RAM:[2x] G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB (4x4GB)($300.00ea.)
SSD:OCZ Agility 2 (200GB)($400.00)
HDDs:[2x] Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 7200rpm($140.00ea.)
Blu-Ray Burner:LITE-ON 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X ($115.00)
DVD Burner:Asus 24x DVD+rw($20.00)

Accessories:
Printer: Konica Minolta 1200x600dpi Color Laser Printer ($212.00)
Scanner: Canon 9000F ($174.00)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X RC-942 ($200.00)

When working with sensitive electronics, always make sure you’re in a clean, static-free environment. I would clear the kitchen table and get out my static mat. Once strapped up, I would start with the thermal paste on the cpu and fan assembly and attach to the motherboard. I went with an LGA 1366 socket, so nothing fancy. Next, I attach the motherboard to the case (don’t forget the spacers!) and put the motherboard tray back into the case. Secure the bottom-mounted power supply carefully. Very carefully insert the sticks of RAM into their slots. I’ve always been scared of how much pressure you have to use to get memory in, but push until the locks click into place. Now its time to space the three video cards. This may seem like overkill, and perhaps it is, but this machine can handle nearly anything. Once the cards are seated firmly and interconnected, the SSD and HDDs are mounted in the bays. Now its time to find room for the sound card. I’m not particularly worried which slot this goes in, as I use the headset most of the time, so slightly lower sound quality if I’m forced to use pcie x1 instead of 2.0 isn’t a concern. Now we mount the blu-ray and dvd drives and make sure they’re secure. After all the various cards, sticks, and drives have been placed and secured, it is time to route the cabling. I’m always very careful to make sure nothing is in a place where it could wiggle and hit a fan. Most newer cases have a space ‘behind’ the motherboard on one side for cable routing to keep things clean and pretty, so use it. Once everything is routed and connected, close up the case and connect the monitors, keyboard, mouse, and peripherals. Time to boot up!

As to why I chose particular components of this build…

For the Keyboard and Mouse, I went with what I knew in the Logitech G19, several programmable macro keys on either side of the traditional board with a small display at the top and center. The Naga is something new to me, but I’ve heard and read rave reviews.
I realize that larger monitors are available, and not too expensive now, but I like the size and especially the contrast ratio/color richness offered by the Asus monitor I already have. I’ve had much experience with the Logitech product line, so the speakers and headset were also an easy pick. I currently own and use the G35 Headset, and by far, it is the best sound for the dollar I’ve found.

As price was a non-issue for this exercise, I decided to go with the Core i7 6-core intel chip. Current applications would be hard-pressed to truly tax this monster, but build for the future, right? Asus hasn’t let me down with their boards before, and I expect this to be no exception. The Rampage III supports up to 48GB Ram, and has 4 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots as well as 6 SATA 3gb and 2 sata 6gb connections. Another, perhaps unintended feature, is the spacing of the pcie slots, allowing me to space my 3-way SLI video cards to keep everything cool. I included a sound card from Creative Labs that supports 7.1 surround to push the speakers. To manage the power, I chose a modular 1350 PSU from Enermax. Modular design makes for a cleaner case.

In the Storage department, I stopped the spree at 16GB DDR3 2200 RAM. Such high-speed memory will feel like more than just 16gb for quite a long time (as far as computer hardware is concerned, at least). I picked up an OCZ SSD on which I would load my OS and any applications I used very frequently. To compliment this, I included a pair of 2TB 7200 Western Digital Caviar Blacks. I’ve always been a fan of Western Digital’s drives, and have yet to have a bad experience. To round things out, we have a Blu-Ray burner, and a second DVD-R drive just in case.

Since I wasn’t sure where to include the case, I called it an accessory. CoolerMaster makes excellent cases if you don’t mind a bit of size and flash. This case has 5 3.5″ bays inside, with 9 expansion slots. Their company name says a lot about their cases, and this one comes with 1x140mm rear fan, 2x200mm fans (side and top), and a massive 230mm fan at the front. Temperature is a hardware killer, so this case is like insurance. Other accessories include a color laser printer, and a flatbed scanner. I don’t have a lot of personal experience with these peripherals, so I decided to go with names I knew.

As you can tell by the links, I chose to get everything from Newegg, since I’m familiar with their return policies, and have had great dealings with them in the past.

Share This

My name is Aaron Ridenour.  I’m currently pursuing a CS: Programming degree here at PSTCC.  I got married in May of this year, so things are looking up!  My love affair with Technology and Computers began with the Atari way back in the early 80s, and its kept up (for the most part) since then.  Like most of my generation, I had a mean nintendo thumb and got hooked early.  Now I’m looking to get involved with the other side of the programs and secure a solid career.

Share This