Halcyon Digital Research

Supercomputer on a Budget: Part II

James, Dave and John — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:01:28 GMT

Here's an update; I received �40 off a relative and I've decided to spend a majority of it on hardware for my machine.

Currently, the machine has a new lick of paint (black, of course), a new ethernet card and a new Sony CD-RW drive.

I tried using an NIC that I borrowed from college, but one of them was an ISA card that just refused to work (I suspect that ISA cards are aware of the fact that they are a massive waste of time and resign from functionality because they're ass-backward as hell) and the other one, a PCI Adaptec card, seemed to be completely broken. This new NIC is a 3Com Fast Ethernet 3c905B, and it worked the first time I tried it. It even supports DHCP, and it only cost all of �3.75 (including postage!), so I'm very pleased with that.

The CD-RW drive I bought yesterday is a Sony drive (it's installed in the machine and I can't be bothered to go upstairs to check the model) and it seems to work as a CD drive. The CDBurner app seems to pick it up as a CD-R drive and not a CD-RW, so I can't erase a disc to try it out. I may erase a disk on my main machine and see if it'll burn a few audio files - I can't seem to find an option for dragging and dropping files into a folder and burning it as a disc. Still, it's a little extra functionality, and the drive is much faster than the boring old Compaq one that was stuck in there before. It only cost �3 though, so I'm quite impressed.

Currently on the way in the post is a Zip250 IDE drive and a Matrox Millennium II graphics card. Combined, those items cost about �8. I need to find an appropriate drive bracket for the Zip drive if I want to use it properly, but I'm sure I could sandwich it between the CD drive and the floppy drive.

A friend of mine said he might have an old sound card floating about that I can have - so I should be sorted out for sound. Cheers Mark!

The only thing I can think of that needs adding is USB. I'm not sure if I can leave that for another time though.

The one thing that definitely won't be added is the second processor. I need a power module for each processor, and they are proving extremely difficult to track down. That's all I have to report on for now!

Supercomputer on a Budget

James, Dave and John — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:34:46 GMT

Here's a picture of my "supercomputer-on-a-budget" project. When I say budget, I mean budget. The paint job is currently done using a combination of black shoe polish and stencils.

My biggest problem with getting this project in motion was getting the operating system (BeOS) to recognise the SCSI hard drive, as it didn't support Compaq's SCSI controller. I borrowed another SCSI card from college and tried that - no joy. I decided that maybe if I try plugging it into the external SCSI connector on the processor cage, it might pick it up. Guess what! It did. Even better, I can now go out and kit the drive cage out with a luxurious five 18GB SCSI drives. But this is a budget supercomputer, so we can't do that just yet. The only problem with this solution is a very tightly stretched ribbon cable poking out of the back of an open PCI slot and then going directly into the SCSI port. Yes, it is unattractive, but this is a supercomputer on a budget, so I'm going to cut some corners.

Currently, the OS is installing. It will take a while as the machine is only a single core Pentium 3 at 550 megahertz. Still, it's pretty nippy and responsive with BeOS. When I can afford another processor (about �5 on eBay), this machine will scream. After the second CPU is installed, I'll probably be getting a sound card, and maybe a better graphics card. After that, a DVD reader and a CD burner. Wireless? It would be nice, but still, beggars can't be choosers.

Another Blog

James, Dave and John — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:18:49 GMT

http://allaboutimageediting.blogspot.com/

Check out the blog I made for college. It's not very full and probably won't be for a while, but nevermind.

There's also a partly-realistic image edit I did of Steve Jobs showing off the iMac with the "BUY NOW" screensaver from BeOS.

Converting System::String to char* and then to PVOID.

James, Dave and John — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:40:54 GMT

Here we are - a couple of months after I wrote my first article. It is definitely a longer-than-intended gap between posts. It�s not really that lack of code on which to post - it�s the lack of time to link the words together to correctly describe the ideas and aforementioned code.

So today I have decided to share a solution to a problem that bugged me for weeks. The problem appeared when I was attempting to write a Wallpaper Changer that would randomly pick a bitmap file from a given directory.

My idea was to use the System::IO::Directory:GetFiles function to pass all the file paths under a given a directory with the suffix .bmp to an System::String array. I then planned to get the length of the array and use that along with a random function to assign an object selected at random from the array to a string 'finalpath'. The final part of the code was supposed to be the easiest - using SystemParametersInfo with the SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER and 'finalpath' as arguments.

However, this is where the problem arose. When I tried compiling my code with VS2008 I got a C2664 Error (cannot convert System::String to PVOID). I tried for at least a week to find a solution on the internet by typing the error code into Google but found no solution. The next couple of weeks were spent doing massive of work, etc so no solution was even attempted during this time.

However, finally, by a miracle of God, I found a solution! The solution involves using
char* finalpath = (char*)(void*)Marshal::StringToHGlobalAnsi(path) to change System::String to char*. This can then be used in SystemParametersInfoA (the ANSI version).

You can download the code from: Drop.io

By:

~ Dave

Cyberdelia

James, Dave and John — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:34:58 GMT

A quick one - I've just opened a Hotline server.

People in IT, here's what you do!

1: Download Gloarbline. Click here. You will want Gloarbline Client for PC (second one down under the Client header). Choose a username and an icon.

2: Contact me on MSN for the login details. Add me! theradixcomplement@gmail.com

3: I'll tell you how to login to the server, and you will get familiar with Hotline as you go along.

Why a Hotline server? Well, it's a protocol which mixes IRC, IM and file sharing in one neat packet. It should be fun. It goes online part time tomorrow until next month where I can get a dedicated deck to run the whole show, 24/7 (with a day in the month of downtime to let the server relax and for some basic maintainance).

Ericsson T28 Review

James, Dave and John — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:04:07 GMT

The Ericsson T28 was a phone manufactured by (guess who) Ericsson in 1999 through to 2000. It was the lightest, slimmest phone at the time at just 81 grams. Some interesting features included an intelligent battery meter, which shows you how many hours the battery has left in talk time and standby time - a feature which, I'm sure, would be very much appriciated on many phones today. The active flip was the main selling point, as the keypad cover flip mechanism is spring loaded, sort of like the Matrix phone (trivia - it was a Nokia 8110, which did not sell with the spring loaded slide. It was a modification the directors made for the movie.) but a bit more modern. Better still, it is an active flip, which means opening the flip answers a call and closing it concludes the call.

The good stuff

The great thing about this phone is the size and the weight. It's small enough to fit into just about any pocket (even the tiny pocket on your jeans which inspired the iPod Nano) and the weight makes it extremely trouble-free to hold. It's just a little fatter in comparison to the Samsung Soul, but I really do mean by one millimetre. The phone doesn't seem to have the same height as the Samsung when closed (counting out the antenna), and it's ever so slightly smaller.

The buttons are a very sharp tactile affair - even though I found the Yes/No buttons to be ever so slightly difficult to push. Many users complain of the slow interface on the T28; after my tests, the menu seems to be just as responsive as a phone built in 2008.

One thing I love about this phone is the flip. I have read a lot of websites complaining about how flimsy and delicate the flip mechanism is; and I'll admit, the flip does feel like it might snap off. On the other hand, this particular phone has the model number worn away, the battery clip is missing, yet it still functions perfectly.

My favourite thing about the Ericsson T28 is the styling. It's very slick. Very slick. You could pull out this bad boy with a coffee and cigarette and people will want to be your friend. At least, that's what I like to think.

The bad stuff

The speaker shows no sign of increasing in volume, but it's loud enough to hear; and I'm not sure about texting being too much fun on this thing.

The ringtones suck apart from the basic ones, but there is a facility to program your own in. Unfortunately, you cannot select an SMS tone, which is annoying. Changing the profiles to silent is a fucking project. It doesn't help that the profile isn't called 'silent' like in most cases. No; instead, 'silent' is called 'meeting'. Why? Why not just have a mute button?

The charger I got with the phone is annoying as hell. It whines and buzzes; but not abnormally, because it's one of those "I'm a proprietary charger! Listen to me!" sort of sounds. It wouldn't be so bad if I had an overnight battery charger where you need to take the battery out of the phone, but unfortunately, all I got was Ericsson's stupid 'pop out' cable which takes forever to get in and end up breaking if the charger happens to be in a room it doesn't like.

Overall

Yes, it's old. Yes, it might not do Bluetooth or colour; but I ask you with your phone that washes your balls after a long hard day, does it do the one thing that makes it what it is? That is; is your phone really a phone, or is it a digital camera? I rest my case.

First Pedestrian Traffic Indexes

James, Dave and John — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:01:20 GMT

We've been working on the PTI idea I brought back from Reading festival. The algorithm is a secret, but you can view the results here:

ABERGAVENNY: 402
LONDON: 4260

We've established some benchmarks.

Under 200: Extremely low PTI
Over  200: Very low PTI
Over  400: Low PTI
Over 1000: Normal PTI
Over 1500: High PTI
Over 2000: Very high PTI
Over 2500: Extremely high PTI

Currently we are still working with the algorithm, but for now, it looks like Abergavenny is the best place to go if you like bare streets.

Windows emulation

James, Dave and John — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:25:12 GMT

Hello, it's James here posting from Windows 2000 under Parallels Desktop.

I'm pleased to say that Windows versions of our applications will be coming soon, as I now have a more direct way to test them on a Macintosh.

By the way... did you know my last post was from a HP Jornada 720?

Reading Festival

James, Dave and John — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:07:01 GMT

I got hold of a backstage/dressing room pass for the Reading festival this year. I was with Lady Sovereign if you must know, and she is a fantastic performer. Go check her out.

I brought back three empty cans of Relentless, a muffin and a new idea.

This new idea has an array of real-world applications and could assist with our everyday lives. I call this idea PTI - Pedestrian Traffic Index.

Much like the Humidex, the PTI would be able to give you a number based off of population statistics, sidewalk accidents, days of the week and employment statistics. The Pedestrian Traffic Index lets you calculate how busy a given area will be if you're walking. Lower PTI would mean predicted low traffic and low chance of pickpocketing, high PTI would mean more chance of congestion and theft.

I'll be working with this idea in the next few weeks. In the meantime... anybody have any idea about how to calculate PTI?

Upcoming tech review: Ericsson T28

James, Dave and John — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:27:35 GMT

People who know me know that I used to give technology reviews on a separate part of the site. It was fun, but I didn't ever link it to the home page, so nobody really saw it.

The next tech review will be on the Ericsson T28. The Ericsson T28 was a phone manufactured by (guess who) Ericsson in 1999 through to 2000. It was the lightest, slimmest phone at the time at just 81 grams. Some interesting features included an intelligent battery meter, which shows you how many hours the battery has left in talk time and standby time - a feature which, I'm sure, would be very much appriciated on many phones today. The active flip was the main selling point, as the keypad cover flip mechanism is spring loaded, sort of like the Matrix phone (trivia - it was a Nokia 8110, which did not sell with the spring loaded slide. It was a modification the directors made for the movie.) but a bit more modern. Better still, it is an active flip, which means opening the flip answers a call and closing it concludes the call.

Even today, I can imagine this phone being very slick, and I look forward to testing it out - and I only paid a tenner for the phone in it's box, including a spare battery, an array of chargers and a handsfree kit. You can see the eBay auction here.

I've only just won it, so it should be arriving sometime this week. I'll be taking photos and I'll tell you all about it.

LAN Chat

James, Dave and John — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:16:30 GMT

Here's a quick one - a chatroom that works over LAN. No IRC stuff, just open up and start chatting.

Get it from MacUpdate!

- James

The 10,000,000th Fibonacci number!

James, Dave and John — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:24:46 GMT

Why do some people start learning to program at such a young age? What drives them to struggle onwards without proper tuition � hacking functional code out of snippets found on the multitude of coding forums or trawling MSDN for hours to find the ~~blasted~~ API function they need?

When I ask myself those questions, having begun learning to code at the tender age of 15, I find no real definitive answer. I believe it was culmination of a lot of small things that resulted in me persevering and spending, on the odd occasion, a whole night trying to solve a particular problem. I suppose these included such things as an innate curiosity to the inner workings of programs and computers in general and a desire to impress my friends, family and teachers.
The initial questions were not entirely rhetorical � feel free to describe what inspired you to learn to program and what kept you going in the Comments.

It was a desire to impress friends and a teacher that drove me to write a Python script to generate Fibonacci terms. It started as a script that just printed one term after another up to x terms on the console. It then developed into a script where you entered the desired term and then it calculated that term and wrote it to a text file.

And this brings us nicely to the thing you�ve all been waiting for.....

THE 10,000,000TH FIBONACCI NUMBER!

Of course, I am not the only person to have calculated this term of the Fibonacci sequence annd I am definitely not the first. In fact, I know of a person who calculated the same number nearly three years ago. You can visit their site at http://bigzaphod.org/fibonacci/.

Well, it�s up to you now � you can either finish here having beheld the 10,000,000th Fibonacci number or you can go on to look at the code and the calculation specs...

Behold the code:


import time
import psyco
psyco.full()

location = str(input("Where should the output be placed?: "))
f = open(location, 'w')
a, b, c = 0, 1, 1
d = int(input("Term number: "))
print "Calculating..."
start = time.clock()
while c <= (d-1):
���a, b = b, a+b
���c = c+1
end = time.clock()
term_number = str(c)
fibonacci_number = str(b)
f.write(term_number + ':' + fibonacci_number)
f.close()
print "Finished calculations after", end - start, "seconds."
print ""

Now, I know what some of you programmers are thinking. You are wondering why I a) used Python and b) used a slow iterative algorithm.

I used Python over C++ because I believe Python is a lot better for mathematical calculations. There is no need to worry whether the memory allocated to int Number (type declarations in C++) is going to be big enough to store the required data. In C++, in order to work with massive numbers you have to go to the hassle of including special big number libraries like TTMath or the famous GMP. In Python, you just write the algorithm as normal and Python handles all the complexities for you. This makes it ideal for mathematicians who want to do some computer-aided calculations without too much effort.

Secondly, again for its simplicity I choose to use a slower iterative algorithm over a matrix based solution or one relying on Binet�s formula (as I would have needed to compute sqrt(5) or the Golden ratio to a sickening number of decimal places).

Finally, for those of you interested in hardware and calculation specs:

Processor: 2.00Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB
OS: 32-bit Windows Vista
Expected calculation time: 10-20 hours
Actual calculation time: 6 hours and 42 minutes.

By:

~ Dave

New design

James, Dave and John — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:16:31 GMT

Welcome to the new Halcyon Digital Research website!

We've abandoned the old fashioned HTML site for a shiny new PHP blog. Please bear with us as we add content - updates will be much more frequent from now on.