Category Archives: Computer geek stuff

Archiving photos

I’ve been thinking about how to archive my photos, for a wile now.
Do I keep the RAW file? Should I just keep 16bit PNG/Tiffs instead? What about the RAW editor that created the file that stores the changes to the image?
Also, how to keep myself and my wife happy, with high resolution images that she can view on her laptop, but don’t take a lot of time to view wirelessly.

So I think I’ve decided on a solution.

Keep the RAW files, with the accompanying .bib file that Bibble creates to store the modification data.
Monthly move data that is older then 1 year old to a separate folder that should get backed up, and then erased off the computer.

When working on images, and time comes to save them, save a “Proof” jpeg file which is 1024×786 resolution, and a “Full” jpeg file which is the full resolution.
The file name convention should be:
Proof/Full-description-date-time.jpg/CR2
This should allow for chronological sorting of files.

When images are copied from the camera, they are put in the “Unsorted” folder.
In Bibble, “Download” the files from the Unsorted folder to the appropriate location like I currently do.

VM Appliances

I never know where to find Virtual Machine Appliances especially for XEN.
This is a list of some sites that collect appliances:
http://www.virtualizationdaily.com/archives/23_sources-for-free-virtual-machinevirtual-appliance-images.html

Carputer

Need to decide how what I need to do to finish my carputer.
For starters, I should secure/blot down the center console. I’m not running any more wires through there anytime soon.
I should buy a powered 7 port USB 2.0 hub. Hopefully one that runs off 12v, but if not, have to make a 12V to 5V(or whatever the hub runs at) converter.
Plugged into it will be the volume control, the screen, and the …

Get the front speakers hooked up. All it needs is the wiring sorted out at the back, and at the front.

I need to build a front panel to cover the mess behind the dash. In the cover, will be 2 USB slots, one PC on/off switch,… what else. to put there?

Autonomous driver

I am still quite intrigued with the idea of a car driving itself.
So with that in mind, I figured I would outline some thoughts.
For starters, since i don’t have a vehicle outfitted with servos, I would start in the digital world.
Take the video output from a racing video game, and try to analyze it such that it is able to drive the virtual race car. Continue reading