Monthly Archives: January 2011

Computers, Macs

upgrading an eMac … and what else?

Macs are great! Even when they are old, like the eMacs.eMac

An eMac with 700MHz can be upgraded to Leopard (Mac OS 10.5 – this is the last build for PPCs) but some challenges arise. First, the CPU speed, then the DL DVD reader, etc. Nevertheless with some patience it is possible to upgrade. Here’s some links that show you how. Enjoy the ride!

Because I didn’t have much time left I ended up just installing Tiger (Mac 10.4) with the single DVD. Here’s another link to show you how to install 10.4 or any other OS with an external firewire drive.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Mac_OS_X_10.4_without_DVD

When I have more time I’ll upgrade the eMac to 10.5.

Quadcopters

Quadcopter News

“EECS grad student Patrick Bouffard, working with Professor Claire Tomlin from the Hybrid Systems Lab, has used Microsoft’s Kinect controller to create a quadrocopter which can maneuver around obstacles autonomously. The developers attached the Kinect hardware to the device which delivers a point cloud to the on-board computer and allows the vehicle to map its surroundings and move about intelligently. A video documenting the project and posted on YouTube is on track for going viral.” Taken from…

http://eng-tips.nethawk.net/beta/blog/berkeley-engineering-grad-student-uses-kinect-to-create-flying-ai-robot

 

Quadcopter resources:

http://www.mikrokopter.us/