Re: [9fans] Twente '9con -- some photos

[Axel Belinfante <Axel.Belinfante@cs.utwente.nl>]

well, if this thread had not moved (degenerated? :-)
in this direction I probably would never have posted this whole story
(could be I mentioned some of it earlier on 9fans, I don't remember) -
so thanks to all who contributed to it! :-)

Axel.

> How cool... and to think I was just being a smart a$$... :P
> 
> 
> On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 16:18:22 +0100, Axel Belinfante
> <Axel.Belinfante@cs.utwente.nl> wrote:
> > > I'll bet cooling isn't a problem on this device, then... ;-)
> > 
> > right. :-)
> > 
> > on the device under discussion there is another device:
> > a grey box hidden behind the oven -- you can only see the
> > cables leading to it on e.g.
> > http://www.insultant.net/nl/2004/Twente9con/DSC00582.jpg.
> > The grey box is linked to the plan 9 system via a parellel port.
> > 
> > The grey box houses a webcam (currently not connected,
> >  it was used until we switched to non-transparent coffee pots)
> > and some electronics that has the parallel port connection.
> > 
> > The big photo behind the sofa under the world map, e.g. in
> > http://www.insultant.net/nl/2004/Twente9con/DSC00585.JPG
> > http://www.cs.utwente.nl/~belinfan/Twente9con2004/Large0/0020.jpg
> > shows the insides of the grey box, and some of the people
> > responsible for its existence (student doing the work, supervisors).
> > 
> > A coffee maker receives its power via this grey box.
> > The electronics can measure the power consumption
> > of the coffee maker in some rough steps:
> >  - 0 watt (machine off)
> >  - 100 watt (keep coffee warm)
> >  - 2000 watt (prepare coffee)
> > This info is made available over the parallel port.
> > The electronics can also cut the power to the coffee maker
> > if the right command is send to the parallel port.
> > (to switch the coffee maker off if it has been on too long)
> > 
> > There is a daemon on the plan 9 machine that looks at
> > the parallel port and polls for the coffee maker status,
> > and makes it available in a small fs.
> > 
> > The red bar at the bottom of the screen in
> > http://www.insultant.net/nl/2004/Twente9con/DSC00581.JPG
> > is based on stats(1), it shows when coffee was being prepared.
> > It uses the parellport watching fs.
> > 
> > The info used to be made available via the web
> > and via some client programs on the users' desktops
> > but is currently not completely operational.
> > Older info is at http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/~slurp/
> > 
> > The system was developed under linux. When the system (disk)
> > broke, a while ago, I set it up again, and moved it to plan 9 -
> > it was a good pretext to get a plan 9 machine up and running
> > as 'hobby project'. By the time I was ready to tackle (port to plan 9)
> > the simple image processing software that took the webcam
> > picture and looked in it for evidence of 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%,
> > 10% of coffee, or no coffee, or no pot, the coffee maker was
> > replaced by one that uses non-transparent coffee pots
> > (and no longer has the small heater to keep coffee warm).
> > A bit later I upgraded the hardware, and the 'new' machine
> > no longer has the two parallel ports needed to connect
> > both quickcam and power consumption measuring hardware,
> > so the quickcam is not used currently.
> > 
> > 
> > Axel.
> > 
> > > On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 09:46:41 +0100, Devon H. O'Dell
> > > <dodell@sitetronics.com> wrote:
> > > > Dan Cross wrote:
> > > > > Joseph Stewart <joseph.stewart@gmail.com> writes:
> > > > >
> > > > >>Thanks for the photos... I was wondering; in the photo DSC00582.JPG,
> > > > >>is the device the gentleman has his coffee cup on, is that some new
> > > > >>hardware Plan9 has been ported to? I'd sure like to hear some detail
> > > > >>on this!
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's called a `table.'  I don't thi
> nk
> > > > > it'll run Plan 9.  :-)
> > > > >
> > > > >       - Dan C.
> > > >
> > > > I'm pretty sure it was a refrigerator, actually... ;)
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Person who say it cannot be done should not interrupt person doing it.
>  -- Old Scottish Proverb