Robotics

Building A Homebrew Robotic Lawnmower? 486

Posted by simoniker from the rotors-of-death dept.
mmonkey writes "With the seemingly small amount of summer we get here in the UK, the last thing I want to be doing on a sunny day is mow the lawn. So I started thinking "surely a light-ish lawnmower could 'gain' a couple of motors, and suddenly be computer-controlled?". Then I started thinking about stuff like obstacle avoidance, optimum path planning, guidance system, how to get pretty-looking stripes, and I realised that it's actually a potentially complex (read: fun) thing to do. So, have any Slashdotters done this before? Did you modify an existing lawnmower or build a whole new one from scratch? What motors work best? For that matter, what type of mower works best? I know you can already get these, but that detracts from both my geek-drive and my wallet, both of which I'd prefer to keep as full as possible."
Software

The Latest And Greatest Console Applications? 618

Posted by timothy from the oggenc-sure-works-nicely dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While the 'Linux on the desktop' battle has yet to be won, KDE and Gnome are making great progress. There are too many apps to list on the cutting edge of software development for the X environment. But what about those of us stuck with old machines? Or who just want to work with the console? What console-based apps, that are undergoing just as much development as their X counterparts, do you use? Things like instant messengers and bittorrent clients, for example..."
Space

Would You Move to Space? 145

Posted by Cliff from the real-estate-in-zero-gravity dept.
garyebickford asks: "Slashdot discussions on the SpaceShipOne flight talked about whether folks would take the flight if offered. It reminded me of a question that used to go around. If you were offered the opportunity to move permanently into space - perhaps an orbital environment, or asteroid (mining?) or another planet, etc. - and you had an 80% chance of living five years, would you take it? What if your chances were 50%?"
Graphics

Hiring Artists for Open Source Projects? 73

Posted by Cliff from the sights-and-sounds dept.
MikeFM asks: "What is the best way for an Open Source developer to hire artists to provide graphics, music, and other artwork for Open Source projects? I need to hire such people and I'm not sure where to go or how best to spell out the terms of the contract so that it's okay to release the works for hire as Open Source. I'm willing to pay but can't afford to pay a lot. It seems to me that providing artwork for an Open Source project sounds like great exposure to art students and artists still early in their career but how do I find these people? I've posted ads in the local schools and art stores.. what else can I do?"
Security

Internet Accessible Home Security Systems? 54

Posted by Cliff from the monitoring-your-home-while-away-from-home dept.
PenguinRadio asks: "I'm about to embark on trip and while the thousands of dollars of computers are protected by a PIX firewall and whatnot from viruses, I'm now kind of wondering about the physical security of my 'server room' that I've built in my house. Basically, an Internet accessible burglar/fire alarm. Has anyone found a good residential security system that can be remotely checked or monitored from the other side of the world? I'd especially like the capability of look in on any security cameras (rather than setting up a simple webcam) and monitor any alarm logs. ADT and Brinks didn't seem to have anything readily visible on their website, and I'm not quite up for an X-10 version of a security system."
Businesses

Building a Better Office 828

Posted by Cliff from the constructing-a-comfortable-working-environment dept.
xjrfx asks: "I'm in charge of setting up a new office for my company. I want to make the place as worker friendly as possible, comfortable enough that long hours don't seem like banishment to a beige hell. I was hoping to get some input from Slashdot regarding past office experiences, good and bad. What amenities/factors cause you to love or hate your office? If you could create your perfect office how would it work?"
Television

Streaming Your Cable TV Over the Net? 61

Posted by Cliff from the taking-your-TV-shows-with-you dept.
johnrob asks: "I have a TV tuner card, and would like to run a daemon on my computer which will stream the tv signal (reduced resolution) over the network. The idea is to poke a hole in my home firewall, and be able to connect to my static IP from any wired place in the world and watch my cable/satellite tv. Here is my question: does anyone know of any software that will take a tv card as an input and serve streaming content to connected clients (i.e. real media, windows media, or some other client)? Or, perhaps there is a specific TV tuner card which comes with this software?"
Communications

Cross-Platform VoIP Software? 205

Posted by timothy from the triplatform-at-least dept.
feilkin writes "With the release of Skype's Linux client, I'm wondering about alternatives. Namely, cross-platform solutions for voice communication. I've got friends who are using Windows, Linux and OSX, and I'm hoping that there is a way to communicate with all of them. I myself am using Linux, and I haven't been able to find any solutions that seem fitting to my situation completely. Does anyone have a solution that'll be useful on all three platforms, or solutions that may be coming in the near future?"
Communications

Modem Success Stories With Linux? 127

Posted by timothy from the external-and-pcmcia-modems-work-well dept.
lasindi writes "Whenever I install Linux, I have trouble with the modem (unfortunately I'm stuck on dial-up). On the first installation, I found out it was a Winmodem and when I tried the solutions and drivers offered by linmodems.org, it still wouldn't work. I finally got an Intel PCI modem, but Intel only provides drivers that work on the 2.4 kernel. I have also have a Conexant modem lying around, but I found out that the only drivers that work for it are provided by Linuxant. These drivers, however, cost money (unless you want to crawl along at 14.4 Kbps for free) and are closed-source. I've found that, although I have five modems, I can't run any of them at full speed under the 2.6 kernel. I would like to know how common such problems are and how Slashdotters have gotten around them."
Security

How To Avoid Viruses At Windows Install Time? 833

Posted by timothy from the good-luck-with-all-that dept.
reallocate writes "Can a home user install and update Windows without being attacked by a virus or worm? I'm a Linux user; have been since 1995. Recently, I needed to install Windows XP Pro on a home desktop machine with a Roadrunner cable connection. I tried twice. Both times, the machine was attacked and rendered unusable before I was able to pull down the first update from Windows Update." Read on for more details of what went wrong and when.
Businesses

Interviewing Your Future Boss? 447

Posted by Cliff from the putting-forth-pointed-queries dept.
crimethinker asks: "I am an embedded systems engineer for a small division of a large company. Up to now, we have managed to get by with little more than a 'team lead' position, but as our division grows, they are looking to hire a full-on engineering manager. I was one of the candidates, with my current boss's favorable recommendation, but I withdrew my resume when they told me the job was all paper and schedules; I'd never touch code or hardware again. Now the VP has a 'short list' of candidates, and has invited me to be one of the interviewers. Yes, you read that correctly: I will be interviewing the person who will become my boss. So, I put the question to you, Slashdot: what questions should I ask my prospective boss?"
Security

Restricting Wireless Access on Campus? 89

Posted by Cliff from the dynamic-access-allotments dept.
Diety_in_A_Minor asks: "How would one set up a wireless network on a campus such that restrictions can occur by classroom? My back of the napkin solution would be to relate MAC addresses to class schedules, and have the DHCP server allow access to student-registered MAC addresses only during specific times. Although possible, this solution requires tremendous maintenance. What other solutions are there? One class in a building will require restrictions, while both classrooms adjacent to it need open access."
Hardware

Organizing Home Network Cables? 85

Posted by Cliff from the untangling-the-rat's-nest dept.
not-so Anonymous Anonymous Coward asks: "A few years ago, while finishing our basement, we wired each room of our house with two CAT-5 and two RG-6 cables. All of the cables were run to a central place in the basement, with the intent of building a "cabinet" to house and better organize the cables. Well, it is time. As you can see from the pictures, it is a jumbled morass of spaghetti. So I'd like to get ideas from the Slashdot crowd as to how to finally organize this mess, build the cabinet, etc., etc. No doubt there are many other readers in a similar situation, wanting ideas for organizing all the communications/network cables in their home."
Technology

Technological Solutions for the Partially Sighted? 24

Posted by Cliff from the living-in-a-darkening-world dept.
Jakeg asks: "My gran is currently losing her vision at a rapid rate and I'd desperately like to use technology to help her as best I can. She's used email on a computer before but is generally nervous of computers and technology. She's applied for talking books which come on tapes and CDs, some using DAISY . Can anyone here who is themselves partially sighted/blind, or knows someone who is, suggest what else I can do/buy for her? I was thinking perhaps of an DAP (MP3) jukebox loaded with her favourite music and audio books (which I could download from where?), which I could add more to every now and then. Solutions -must- be very easy to use, especially without good vision. I have a budget of around UKP500 (US$800)."

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