Blogs

This post is about installing Debian (BeagleBone Black – 2GB eMMC) 2014-03-27 and Flashing the eMMC using a Mac running OSX 10.9 Mavericks. I decided to get a head start on using Debian with the BBB which is soon to tbe the default OS installed on them. These are the steps I used today to get up and running: Download image from http://beagleboard.org/latest-images – BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.4-2014-03-27-2gb.img.xz Use Unarchiver to extract disk image – BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.4-2014-03-27-2gb.img Download PiFiller to copy the disk image to the SD card – https://ivanx.com/raspberrypi/ style=“padding:4px;background:#000;display:inline-block;margin: 4px 0;” Run PiFiller and follow the directions Choose the disk image Insert the SD card Verify that PiFiller has found the correct device Some more verifying, click OK a couple of times Now wait awhile, it took about 20 minutes on my MacBook Pro Holy Cow! The dialog box opening and closing gets really annoying to watch! All set when you get the “Your SD card is ready” message Eject the SD from the Mac OS then remove it from the computer With the BBB unplugged, no network, USB, video, power cables, insert the SD card into the BBB style=“padding:4px;background:#000;display:inline-block;margin: 4px 0;” Get ready: When plugging in the BBB you will need to hold down the Boot button until all 4 USR lights turn on – While holding down the Boot button insert a 5V 2A power supply, release the Boot button when all 4 USR lights turn on Now the USR buttons should start blinking in a seemingly random pattern, this should go on for 20 to 60 minutes depending on the OS and SD card When the USR lights all light-up again the eMMC has been flashed with Debian Remove the power adapter Remove the SD card ...

These academic things always have such ridiculously long titles <sigh>, the full title is " The Art of Conflict Management: Achieving Solutions for Life, Work, and Beyond “. I was looking for a non-fiction book to give a listen-to and I always give The Great Courses on Audible a look when searching for such a thing. I have listened to some of the Great Course lectures that I did not enjoy but a couple of them have been surprisingly good, so I am always willing to give them a try. ...

I recently bought a BeagleBone Black (BBB) and am having a great time with it. From the website beaglebord.org: BeagleBone Black is a $45 MSRP community-supported development platform for developers and hobbyists. Boot Linux in under 10 seconds and get started on development in less than 5 minutes with just a single USB cable. What I Bought I bought my BBB from Makershed as a part of a kit which included the book Getting Started with BeagleBone by Matt Richardson and a handful of electronic components. The kit is not bad, but I feel like it is overpriced, especially for someone who has a lot of components already. ...

After seeing a really cool telepresence robot using a BeagleBone at an Atlanta JavaScript Meetup I just had to get one. I ended up buying a Beagle Bone Black (BBB) from MakerShed in a kit that included some components and a paperback of Getting Started with BeagleBone. While waiting for the BBB to arrive I started reading the book on Safari Books Online and ended up never reading more than a couple of pages from the printed book. I was more comfortable reading the book on an iPad using the Safari Books Online app. ...

On Target is the second book in the Gray Man Series. This book has many more thoughtful moments than the first book of the series but is still chock-full of action and a bit of suspense. Jay Snider returns as narrator and does a great job once again, I can’t imagine anyone else being the voice of Court Gentry. ...

The Gray Man novels begin with Court Gentry on the outs with the CIA and working as a killer for hire with a conscious. If that sounds familiar and derivative it is because it is. But the Gray Man is his own character with is own emotions and beliefs. This is Mark Greaney’s first novel and it is a winner, full of action, intrigue, and twists Gray man does not disappoint. ...

Written and set in the 1980’s, Footfall is a science fiction novel about the Earth being attacked by aliens from Space. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle do an amazing job of story telling, character development, and language. A big part of the story is the language used by the aliens; which is something I generally do not like in science fiction books. A bit of foreign language or difficult slang is ok for flavor, but a lot of it just makes a story very hard to read and follow. If I had bought this book as a paperback and tried to read it, there is a good chance I would not have made it all the way through, but as an audiobook it was fantastic. ...

For a 39-year-old story this one holds up pretty well and it is fun to see the origin of many of the themes in more modern science fiction stories. I really enjoyed the idea that every time they get in a ship and head off to war they return hundreds of years later; it is an intriguing idea. So after one battle they return to find earth a very different place and the most experience veterans in the war even though they do not feel like it. ...

I want so much more! Roadside Picnic is a collection of stories, they contain the same characters, but they happen at different times, sometimes decades apart. They are great stories, great beginnings of larger stories… I would love to read a much longer story about Red Schuhart, he is such a great character and his story in this universe is so appealing to me. Robert Forster does a great job narrating the audiobook. ...

Man-o-man, I like me some Bill Bryson. I think I would buy audio recordings of his compilations of the nightly news… Oh wait, I think I just did. “One Summer” really does feel like a compilation of newspaper articles from around 1927 sprinkled with insights and ideas that only come from hindsight. I enjoyed this book more than At Home, but less than A Short History of Nearly Everything. ...