Linux Journal | December 2009 | Issue
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Player Project | Mesh Potato | LTSP | Beagle Board | Boot Times LINUX JOURNAL ™ Intro to Embedded Linux Multiple OS EMBEDDED Desktops Mesh Potato— Custom Wi-Fi Since 1994: The Original Magazine of the Linux Community Hardware DECEMBER 2009 | ISSUE 188 | www.linuxjournal.com Player Project | Mesh Potato | LTSP | Beagle Board | Boot Times | Open Phone? | Boot Times | Beagle Board | LTSP | Mesh Potato Project Player CoroWarePlaying with the CoroBot Build a Humidity Controller Reduce Boot Time on Embedded Systems NEW COLUMN: DECEMBER 2009 ISSUE 188 Economy Size Geek $5.99US $5.99CAN REVIEWED: 12 VUZIX VR920 VIDEO GOGGLES 0 09281 03102 4 THANKS9 MILLION CUSTOMERS HAVE VOTED. FOR MAKING US THE WORLD’S #1 WEB HOST! Your loyalty has helped make us the leading web hosting provider worldwide. 1&1 was built on a foundation of innovative products and outstanding reliability, and we continue to strive to bring you high-quality products at affordable prices. 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Call 1-877-GO-1AND1 Visit us now www.1and1.com 11AND1_p01.inddAND1_p01.indd 1 110/16/090/16/09 66:23:51:23:51 PPMM lj188_dec2009bu:lj_template_current060704.qxt 10/16/09 8:01 PM Page 2 DECEMBER 2009 CONTENTS Issue 188 FEATURES EMBEDDED ON THE COVER • Intro to Embedded Linux, p. 50 44 50 54 62 • Multiple OS Desktops, p. 73 PLAYING WITH INTRODUCTION: CONTROLLING REDUCING • Mech Potato—Custom Wi-Fi Hardware, THE PLAYER A TYPICAL THE HUMIDITY BOOT TIME IN p. 68 PROJECT EMBEDDED WITH AN EMBEDDED • Playing with the CoroWare CoroBot, p. 44 Programming SYSTEM EMBEDDED LINUX • Build a Humidity Controller, p. 54 mobile robots The common LINUX SYSTEM SYSTEMS • Reduce Boot Time on Embedded Systems, p. 62 to interface with parts that go It’s not the heat; The years fly, but sensors, actuators into an embedded it’s the humidity. the seconds can • New Column: Economy Size Geek, p. 30 and robots. Linux system. drag on forever. • Reviewed: Vuzix VR920 Video Goggles, Jeffrey Ramsey p. 40 Kevin Sikorski Johan Thelin Christopher Hallinan Cover image courtesy of CoroWare. 2 | december 2009 www.linuxjournal.com Your Applications Will Run Faster With Next Generation Microway Solutions! TriCom™X Terafl op GPU Computing s1$2$$2)NlNI"AND(#! &OR7ORKSTATIONSAND(0##LUSTERS s#ONNECT8©4ECHNOLOGY s.6)$)!4ESLA©'05WITH#ORESON/NE#HIP s«SEC,ATENCY #5$!©3$+ s3WITCHLESS3ERIAL#ONSOLE s.6)$)!1UADRO0ROFESSIONAL'RAPHICS s.ODE7ATCH©2EMOTE-ANAGEMENT s!-$&IRE3TREAM©'05 3TREAM3$+WITH"ROOK (EADERSTOFANS VOLTAGES "-#INTERFACEAND TEMPERATURES /N/FFANDRESET SERIALCONSOLESWITCH 23 $AISY CHAINCONNECTORS )NlNI"ANDOR 'IG%CONNECTOR -ELLANOX#ONNECT8 )NlNI"AND(#! NumberSmasher® ,ARGE-EMORY3CALABLE3-03ERVER s 3CALESTO4"OF6IRTUAL ™ 3HARED-EMORY FasTree X s 5PTO#05#ORES s-ELLANOX)NlNI3CALE©)64ECHNOLOGY s 53YSTEM)NCLUDES s1$2$$2)NlNI"AND3WITCHES 1UAD#ORE#05S s-ODULAR$ESIGN s 1$2«SEC"ACKPLANE s'"SEC"ANDWIDTHPER0ORT s13&0)NTERCONNECTS s)NlNI3COPE©2EAL4IME$IAGNOSTICS Call the HPC Experts at Microway to Design Your Next High-Reliability Linux Cluster or Infi niBand Fabric. 508-746-7341 Sign up for Microway’s Newsletter at www.microway.com DECEMBER 2009 CONTENTS Issue 188 COLUMNS 18 REUVEN M. LERNER’S AT THE FORGE 2009 Book Roundup 22 DAVE TAYLOR’S WORK THE SHELL Calculating the Distance between Two Latitude/Longitude Points 26 KYLE RANKIN’S HACK AND / Message for You Sir 30 DIRK ELMENDORF’S ECONOMY SIZE GEEK A Pico-Sized Platform with Potential 40 VUZIX VR920 80 DOC SEARLS’ EOF Is “Open Phone” an Oxymoron? REVIEW 40 THE GOGGLES, THEY DO SOMETHING Kyle Rankin 36 DISCRETE GEOMETRY VIEWER 68 MESH POTATO INDEPTH 68 THE MESH POTATO Next Month: AMATEUR RADIO Everybody loves a good Spud! What do New Orleans, Galveston, Grenada and southern Sichuan have in David Rowe common? Each was the site of a devastating natural disaster that knocked out communications into and out of the area except for Amateur (Ham) Radio. 73 ISOLATED MULTISESSION WORKSTATIONS What do Guglielmo Marconi and Linus Torvalds have in common? Each had an itch that needed scratching. Marconi’s ushered in the era of radio Access Ubuntu, Windows, Mac OS communications and Linus’ launched the Open Source revolution. and Citrix from the same workstation. Jorge Salgado What happens when Amateur Radio and open source combine? Magical things. From software modems to knowing exactly where you are, and IN EVERY ISSUE telling the world about it, next month, we are going to look at some of the ways these two areas of innovation have intersected and the results 8 CURRENT_ISSUE.TAR.GZ of these interactions. 10 LETTERS 14 UPFRONT 34 NEW PRODUCTS USPS LINUX JOURNAL (ISSN 1075-3583) (USPS 12854) is published monthly by Belltown Media, Inc., 2211 Norfolk, 36 NEW PROJECTS Ste 514, Houston, TX 77098 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Houston, Texas and at additional mailing offices. 65 ADVERTISERS INDEX Cover price is $5.99 US. Subscrip tion rate is $29.50/year in the United States, $39.50 in Canada and Mexico, $69.50 elsewhere. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Linux Journal, PO Box 16476, North Hollywood, CA 91615. 78 MARKETPLACE Subscriptions start with the next issue. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #41549519. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2 4 | december 2009 www.linuxjournal.com Executive Editor Jill Franklin [email protected] Senior Editor Doc Searls [email protected] Associate Editor Shawn Powers [email protected] Associate Editor Mitch Frazier [email protected] Art Director Garrick Antikajian [email protected] Products Editor James Gray [email protected] News Editor Justin Ryan [email protected] Editor Emeritus Don Marti [email protected] Technical Editor Michael Baxter [email protected] Senior Columnist Reuven Lerner [email protected] Security Editor Mick Bauer [email protected] Hack Editor Kyle Rankin [email protected] Virtual Editor Bill Childers [email protected] Contributing Editors David A. Bandel • Ibrahim Haddad • Robert Love • Zack Brown • Dave Phillips • Marco Fioretti Ludovic Marcotte • Paul Barry • Paul McKenney • Dave Taylor • Dirk Elmendorf Proofreader Geri Gale Publisher Carlie Fairchild [email protected] General Manager Rebecca Cassity [email protected] Sales Manager Joseph Krack [email protected] Associate Publisher Mark Irgang [email protected] Webmistress Katherine Druckman [email protected] Accountant Candy Beauchamp [email protected] Linux Journal is published by, and is a registered trade name of, Belltown Media, Inc. PO Box 980985, Houston, TX 77098 USA Reader Advisory Panel Brad Abram Baillio • Nick Baronian • Hari Boukis • Caleb S. Cullen • Steve Case Kalyana Krishna Chadalavada • Keir Davis • Adam M. Dutko • Michael Eager • Nick Faltys • Ken Firestone Dennis Franklin Frey • Victor Gregorio • Kristian Erik • Hermansen • Philip Jacob • Jay Kruizenga David A. Lane • Steve Marquez • Dave McAllister • Craig Oda • Rob Orsini • Jeffrey D. Parent Wayne D. Powel • Shawn Powers • Mike Roberts • Draciron Smith • Chris D. Stark • Patrick Swartz Editorial Advisory Board Daniel Frye, Director, IBM Linux Technology Center Jon “maddog” Hall, President, Linux International Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law, Stanford University Ransom Love, Director of Strategic Relationships, Family and Church History Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Sam Ockman Bruce Perens Bdale Garbee, Linux CTO, HP Danese Cooper, Open Source Diva, Intel Corporation Advertising E-MAIL: [email protected] URL: www.linuxjournal.com/advertising PHONE: +1 713-344-1956 ext. 2 Subscriptions E-MAIL: [email protected] URL: www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe PHONE: +1 818-487-2089 FAX: +1 818-487-4550 TOLL-FREE: 1-888-66-LINUX MAIL: PO Box 16476, North Hollywood, CA 91615-9911 USA Please allow 4–6 weeks for processing address changes and orders PRINTED IN USA LINUX is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. 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