Do you believe you can get a 3watts debian box? Those power saving 'geeks' show how amazing you can do with equipments on hand, as drawn in following lines:
Peplink Manga (integrated) 3.1 2.3 kWh /month
x86 laptop plus Linksys switch 24.3 ~ 17.8 kWh /month
Debian Mac Mini plus Manga switch 15.2 11.1 kWh /month
For more detailed info, refer to here
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Sunday, May 22, 2005
[UtilRec]: Metric Conversion Tables
I always forgot the how to convert from metric to imperial measurement,
as I seldom use imperial or US measurement. The tables below may help
when you forget it.
Another interesting metric conversion table for cooking is below:
| US/Metric Conversion Tables | ||
| Area Conversions | ||
|
|
||
| Multiply | By This Number | To Convert to: |
| hectares | 2.47 | acres |
| square kilometers | 0.3861 | squaremiles |
| square meters | 1.196 | square yards |
| acres | 0.4047 | hectares |
| square feet | 0.09290394 | square meters |
| square inches | 0.00064516 | square meters |
| square miles | 2.59 | square kilometers |
| square yards | 0.83612736 | square meters |
|
|
||
| Length Conversions | ||
|
|
||
| Multiply | By This Number | To Convert to: |
| centimeters | 0.03281 | feet |
| centimeters | 0.393700787401575 | inches |
| cubic meters | 35.3145 | cubic feet |
| kilometers | 0.62 | miles |
| meters | 3.2808 | feet |
| meters | 39.3700787401575 | inches |
| meters | 0.0006214 | miles |
| meters | 1.0936 | yards |
| millimeters | 0.0393700787401575 | inches |
| feet | 0.3048 | meters |
| inches | 2.54 | centimeters |
| inches | 25.4 | millimeters |
| miles | 1.609347 | kilometers |
| yards | 0.9144 | meters |
|
|
||
| Mass (weight) Conversions | ||
|
|
||
| Multiply | By This Number | To Convert to: |
| grains | 0.0648 | grams |
| grams | 0.002205 | pounds |
| metric tons | 0.9842 | tons (long 2240lb) |
| metric tons | 1.1023 | tons (short 2000lb) |
| grains | 0.0000648 | kilograms |
| grams | 15.4324 | grains |
| pounds | 0.4535925 | kilograms |
| tons (long 2240lb) | 1.016 | metric tons |
| tons (short 2000lb) | 907.1848 | kilograms |
| tons (short 2000lb) | 0.9072 | metric tons |
|
|
||
| Temperature Conversions | ||
|
|
||
| To Convert | Do This | Results in: |
| Fahrenheit | (ºF - 32)/1.8 | Celsius |
| Celsius | ( ºC * 1.8) + 32 | Fahrenheit |
| Celsius | Add 273.15 | Kelvin |
| Kelvin | Subtract 273.15 | Celsius |
|
|
||
| Power(Energy) Conversions | ||
|
|
||
| Multiply | By This Number | To Convert to: |
| British thermal units | 1055.056 | joules |
| calories | 4.1868 | joules |
| kilowatt-hours | 3600000 | joules |
|
|
||
| Volume Conversions | ||
|
|
||
| Multiply | By This Number | To Convert to: |
| Canadian Gallons | 4.5461 | liters |
| hectoliters | 2.8378 | U.S. bushels |
| liters | 0.2642 | gallons |
| liters | 0.1135 | pecks |
| liters | 1.8162 | pints (dry) |
| liters | 2.1134 | pints (liquid) |
| liters | 0.908 | quarts |
| liters | 0.9081 | quarts (dry) |
| liters | 1.0567 | quarts (liquid) |
| cubic feet | 0.02831685 | cubic meters |
| cubic inches | 0.00001639 | cubic meters |
| cubic yards | 0.7645549 | cubic meters |
| fluid ounces | 0.00002957 | cubic meters |
| fluid ounces | 29.57353 | milliliters |
| gallons | 0.00378541 | cubic meters |
| gallons | 3.7853 | liters |
| pecks | 8.8096 | liters |
| pints (dry) | 0.5506 | liters |
| pints (liquid) | 0.4732 | liters |
| quarts (dry) | 1.1012 | liters |
| quarts (liquid) | 0.9463 | liters |
| U.S. bushels | 0.3524 | hectoliters |
Another interesting metric conversion table for cooking is below:
Conversion Table for Cooking
- U.S. to Metric
- Capacity
- 1/5 teaspoon = 1 ml
- 1 teaspoon = 5 ml
- 1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1 fluid oz. = 30 ml - 1/5 cup = 50 ml
- 1 cup = 240 ml
- 2 cups (1 pint) = 470 ml
- 4 cups (1 quart) = .95 liter
- 4 quarts (1 gal.) = 3.8 liters
- Weight
- 1 oz. = 28 grams
- 1 pound = 454 grams
- Metric to U.S.
- Capacity
- 1 militers = 1/5 teaspoon
- 5 ml = 1 teaspoon
- 15 ml = 1 tablespoon
- 30 ml = 1 fluid oz.
- 100 ml = 3.4 fluid oz.
- 240 ml = 1 cup
- 1 liter = 34 fluid oz.
- 1 liter = 4.2 cups
- 1 liter = 2.1 pints
- 1 liter = 1.06 quarts
- 1 liter = .26 gallon
- Weight
- 1 gram = .035 ounce
- 100 grams = 3.5 ounces
- 500 grams = 1.10 pounds
- 1 kilogram = 2.205 pounds
- 1 kilogram = 35 oz.
- Cooking Measurement Equivalents
- 16 tablespoons = 1 cup
- 12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup
- 10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 2/3 cup
- 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup
- 6 tablespoons = 3/8 cup
- 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup
- 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
- 2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup
- 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 1/6 cup
- 1 tablespoon = 1/16 cup
- 2 cups = 1 pint
- 2 pints = 1 quart
- 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
- 48 teaspoons = 1 cup
stardict on debian (voice problem)
My stardict on debian has never output any voice util 10 mins ago.
You can see the problem here
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, 2004-10-22 at 11:31 +0800, Zhao Li wrote:
> > > > hello,
> > > > i'm a newone of debian. moved from fedora just now.
> > > > and now i met a problem about audio.
> > > > i installed kernel 2.6 and enabled alsa modules.
> > > > seems everything is ok before i try stardict, i.e., i can use aplay,
> > > > alsaplayer, active arts based on alsa, etc.
(gnome-sound-recorder does > > > > not work, i think it is normal, as i start arts, right?)
> > > > i installed voice files for stardict, however, i cannot hear any
> > > > voice from it, while i can use artsplay to play these .wav files. ( i
> > > > can hear voice from stardict under fedora core 1-2 with alsa+arts)
> > > >
> > > > who can help me, highly appreciate.
.................
I ask the author of stardict-ed () why?
Thank him so much, the reason is quite simple.
stardict use two methods for playing wav files:
on Windows it use PlaySound (WIN32 API)
on Linux gnome_sound_play (Gnome API).
So if you not use Gnome and use Window Manager/Desktop Environment which
have its own API for work with sound, may be some problems with sound
output. For example, if you use KDE it blocks /dev/dsp, so
gnome_sound_play didn't work.
stardict-ed use three methods for playing wav files:
all that use stardict +
if it compiled without gnome support for play wav files
((./configure --disable-gnome-support))
it execute "play" utility ("play" utility is part of sox package).
You can change play command for whatever you want,
just change in preference dialog appropriate value,
but before doing make certain that it play wav file,
if you call it with wav file as argument.
For example in KDE "play" command didn't work:
$play /usr/share/stardict/sounds/buttonactive.wav
sox: Can't open output file '/dev/dsp': Device or resource busy
> > >
> > > On Fri, 2004-10-22 at 11:31 +0800, Zhao Li wrote:
> > > > hello,
> > > > i'm a newone of debian. moved from fedora just now.
> > > > and now i met a problem about audio.
> > > > i installed kernel 2.6 and enabled alsa modules.
> > > > seems everything is ok before i try stardict, i.e., i can use aplay,
> > > > alsaplayer, active arts based on alsa, etc.
(gnome-sound-recorder does > > > > not work, i think it is normal, as i start arts, right?)
> > > > i installed voice files for stardict, however, i cannot hear any
> > > > voice from it, while i can use artsplay to play these .wav files. ( i
> > > > can hear voice from stardict under fedora core 1-2 with alsa+arts)
> > > >
> > > > who can help me, highly appreciate.
.................
I ask the author of stardict-ed () why?
Thank him so much, the reason is quite simple.
stardict use two methods for playing wav files:
on Windows it use PlaySound (WIN32 API)
on Linux gnome_sound_play (Gnome API).
So if you not use Gnome and use Window Manager/Desktop Environment which
have its own API for work with sound, may be some problems with sound
output. For example, if you use KDE it blocks /dev/dsp, so
gnome_sound_play didn't work.
stardict-ed use three methods for playing wav files:
all that use stardict +
if it compiled without gnome support for play wav files
((./configure --disable-gnome-support))
it execute "play" utility ("play" utility is part of sox package).
You can change play command for whatever you want,
just change in preference dialog appropriate value,
but before doing make certain that it play wav file,
if you call it with wav file as argument.
For example in KDE "play" command didn't work:
$play /usr/share/stardict/sounds/buttonactive.wav
sox: Can't open output file '/dev/dsp': Device or resource busy
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Self-replicating Robots
From http://abc.net.au/science/news/tech/InnovationRepublish_1365242.htm
Engineers in the US have created a machine out of intelligent cubes that can make copies of itself.
They say it is a small step towards developing robots that can repair and replicate themselves in space or hazardous environments where it is difficult for humans to venture.
Assistant Professor Hod Lipson of Cornell University led a team that reports the research in today's issue of the journal Nature.
"Self-reproduction is central to biological life for long-term sustainability and evolutionary adaptation," say the researchers.
"Although these traits would also be desirable in many engineered systems, the principles of self-reproduction have not been exploited in machine design."
The machine Lipson's team developed is made up of a set of modular cubes, called molecubes, which each contain the machinery and a computer program necessary for self-replication.
The 10-centimetre cubes use electromagnets on their faces to selectively connect and disconnect from each other and they draw power through contacts on the surface of the table they sit on.
Each cube is divided in half along its diagonal and this enables a robot made of a number of the cubes to bend and move its own, and other, cubes around.
The researchers have shown how a robot made of a stack of cubes can replicate itself.
camera For a video of the replication process, click here (requires Windows Media Player).
"A three-module robot is able to self-reproduce in just over 1 minute," say the researchers.
The robot bends around, moving its own cubes and new cubes 'fed' to it by the researchers. Because it is not possible for the original robot to reach across another robot of the same height, the new robot must assist in completing its own construction.
"Although the machines we have created are still simple compared with biological systems, they demonstrate that mechanical self-reproduction is possible and not unique to biology," the researchers say.
"The design concept could be useful for long-term, self-sustaining robotic systems in emerging areas such as space exploration and operation in hazardous environments, where conventional approaches to maintenance are impractical."
Imitating life Australian robotics expert, Associate Professor Richard Willgoss of the University of New South Wales, says mechanical replication provides building blocks towards doing a lot of other things that biological systems do, albeit at a much larger scale.
"If biology does it so well, why can't we do it too."
Willgoss, who is working on a modular robotic arm, says intelligent modules can communicate with each other, as cells in the immune system do.
He says such developments could lead to robotic systems that provide "tool kits" capable of, for example, making a vehicle one day and a bridge the next.
The idea is that if a module breaks down the robot can repair it, or perhaps a whole entire new robot can be built.
"If we can make robots that have distributed intelligence, we can perhaps give them a global request and they'll do the rest for us. It's very fanciful but you have to start somewhere," says Willgoss.
Grey goo from nano-robots While these self-replicating robots are 10 centimetres across, some scientists have discussed the idea of self-replicating robots the size of molecules.
This has led to the nightmare scenario of self-replicating nano-robots, or nanobots, reducing the Earth to a mass of seething "grey goo".
So do the new developments make this more likely?
"The intelligence behind making that assembly could easily be taken down to the nano scale but the practicality of making the unit is a different matter," he says.
"We've gone to the micro scale where we're making tiny little cogs in wheels on a substrate with integrated circuits but nanotech involves the atomic scale and that requires very specialised equipment to do that."
Engineers in the US have created a machine out of intelligent cubes that can make copies of itself.
They say it is a small step towards developing robots that can repair and replicate themselves in space or hazardous environments where it is difficult for humans to venture.
Assistant Professor Hod Lipson of Cornell University led a team that reports the research in today's issue of the journal Nature.
"Self-reproduction is central to biological life for long-term sustainability and evolutionary adaptation," say the researchers.
"Although these traits would also be desirable in many engineered systems, the principles of self-reproduction have not been exploited in machine design."
The machine Lipson's team developed is made up of a set of modular cubes, called molecubes, which each contain the machinery and a computer program necessary for self-replication.
The 10-centimetre cubes use electromagnets on their faces to selectively connect and disconnect from each other and they draw power through contacts on the surface of the table they sit on.
Each cube is divided in half along its diagonal and this enables a robot made of a number of the cubes to bend and move its own, and other, cubes around.
The researchers have shown how a robot made of a stack of cubes can replicate itself.
camera For a video of the replication process, click here (requires Windows Media Player).
"A three-module robot is able to self-reproduce in just over 1 minute," say the researchers.
The robot bends around, moving its own cubes and new cubes 'fed' to it by the researchers. Because it is not possible for the original robot to reach across another robot of the same height, the new robot must assist in completing its own construction.
"Although the machines we have created are still simple compared with biological systems, they demonstrate that mechanical self-reproduction is possible and not unique to biology," the researchers say.
"The design concept could be useful for long-term, self-sustaining robotic systems in emerging areas such as space exploration and operation in hazardous environments, where conventional approaches to maintenance are impractical."
Imitating life Australian robotics expert, Associate Professor Richard Willgoss of the University of New South Wales, says mechanical replication provides building blocks towards doing a lot of other things that biological systems do, albeit at a much larger scale.
"If biology does it so well, why can't we do it too."
Willgoss, who is working on a modular robotic arm, says intelligent modules can communicate with each other, as cells in the immune system do.
He says such developments could lead to robotic systems that provide "tool kits" capable of, for example, making a vehicle one day and a bridge the next.
The idea is that if a module breaks down the robot can repair it, or perhaps a whole entire new robot can be built.
"If we can make robots that have distributed intelligence, we can perhaps give them a global request and they'll do the rest for us. It's very fanciful but you have to start somewhere," says Willgoss.
Grey goo from nano-robots While these self-replicating robots are 10 centimetres across, some scientists have discussed the idea of self-replicating robots the size of molecules.
This has led to the nightmare scenario of self-replicating nano-robots, or nanobots, reducing the Earth to a mass of seething "grey goo".
So do the new developments make this more likely?
"The intelligence behind making that assembly could easily be taken down to the nano scale but the practicality of making the unit is a different matter," he says.
"We've gone to the micro scale where we're making tiny little cogs in wheels on a substrate with integrated circuits but nanotech involves the atomic scale and that requires very specialised equipment to do that."
Friday, May 06, 2005
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Tips: Categorize Blogger Posts (version2)
In a previous post, a tip to build blogger category list is given. It is a trick based on a site search engine --- pico. The idea is simple: for a post belonging to a category, insert a keyword that appears only in this category, and provide a list, where each entry links to a search result of 'pico'.
The reseaon to use pico is for it can rebuild index when u want, and it can index words in very detail.
The shortcoming of pico is that it can only rebuild index on demand, it will never index automatically. Now, I shift from pico to blogdigger, a very nice blog search engine. You can see the effect of blogdigger in the right panel's category list. Most parts are the same as the previous post.
The reseaon to use pico is for it can rebuild index when u want, and it can index words in very detail.
The shortcoming of pico is that it can only rebuild index on demand, it will never index automatically. Now, I shift from pico to blogdigger, a very nice blog search engine. You can see the effect of blogdigger in the right panel's category list. Most parts are the same as the previous post.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Changing of site search
I want to change my site search engine to blogdigger. Seems it only index the rss/atom, and does not crawl history posts, so, I ask blogger to list all posts I made, hope blogdigger can work properly.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Blogdigger + Ping-o-Matic
To increase visibility of your blog, to send a XML-RPC ping to those blog search engine is a good idea. Ping-o-Matic thus is a super idea that let u ping multiple engines in one click. Even you can just bookmark pingomatic and ping engines by access this bookmark only.
Maybe u think to ping those engines is not important at all, as they will crawl ur site soon or later. I also think so until today.
Now, I found blogdigger is another super sevice i love so much. It provides search features like those of PICO, i.e.; it can index all details in ur blog, unlike google search that only do very rough indexing. After each time u post on blog, and ping blogdigger, it will reindex ur blog, thus, research results of ur blog will be updated automatically.
What a goodie.
However, blogger cannot ping blogdigger itself, i doubt. So, after u post on blogger, just by one click on ur ping-o-matic bookmark, then u can get up-on-date index provided blogdigger. Is that attractive?
Good luck
Maybe u think to ping those engines is not important at all, as they will crawl ur site soon or later. I also think so until today.
Now, I found blogdigger is another super sevice i love so much. It provides search features like those of PICO, i.e.; it can index all details in ur blog, unlike google search that only do very rough indexing. After each time u post on blog, and ping blogdigger, it will reindex ur blog, thus, research results of ur blog will be updated automatically.
What a goodie.
However, blogger cannot ping blogdigger itself, i doubt. So, after u post on blogger, just by one click on ur ping-o-matic bookmark, then u can get up-on-date index provided blogdigger. Is that attractive?
Good luck