CAT | Projects
My research group just recently sent an IC out for fabrication… here are a few of the more interesting stats:
- Size: ~2.5 x ~2.5 mm
- Technology: 90 nm
- Components: ~2.86 million transistors
- Team: 2 lead designers, 1 pad designer, 1 undergrad, & 1 advisor
- Sleep: 5 total hours between Wed. morning and Mon. afternoon
All I have to say is, thank goodness this is over… it’s been quite an experience, but I certainly don’t regret the fact that I’ll never be going through this again. 
I’m so giddy right now… my Henceforth I will be referring to this project as a “Segue” rather than a “Segway”. The later is simply a play on words used by Segway Inc. I’m choosing to abandon this pun and label my home-built-two-wheeled-self-balancing-personal-mover a “Segue”.segue motors arrived in the mail yesterday and they have got to be some of the most amazing examples of precision mechanical engineering I’ve every worked with. Here are the specs… prepare to be amazed:
- 24-36V Operation
- 1.6 HP
- 825 in/lbs Torque
Want to run Ubuntu on your EeePC? I did, and here’s how I did it.
1) Create a bootable Ubuntu USB drive with UNetbootin. (mirror)
2) Run the RiceeeyTweak utility to customize Ubunutu for the EeePC. (mirror)
That’s it, all your hardware should now be configured and your system optimized. 
So, I’ve always been very oppose to Apples emulation of the OS X interface in their Windows version of iTunes. It’s poorly implemented, slows down iTunes, hogs system resources, and is just buggy. So rather than continue to complain, I’m doing something about it. I’ve started a new programming project I’m dubbing kTunes. Essentially, I’m attempting to clone the iTunes interface using entirely windows GUI elements, while keeping the core iTunes system under the hood. The end result will hopefully be a custom, Windows-friendly frontend to the iTunes backend which should provide quicker response time and a more unified system environment.
As an example, here are two screenshots. The first is Apple iTunes in Windows Vista upon just being launched (the black regions will clear up as I start playing music, but represents a MAJOR bug). The second image is an early version of kTunes. I’ll post more as I continue development.
The Segway project I started nearly two years ago has officially been resurrected! This includes a complete overhaul of the entire control system. Here are the block level diagrams outlining the sensor data acquisition, processing IO, and motor driver management. I should have updated components coming in early next week, so hopefully this whole thing will be integrated before too long.
I’ve had a lot of people asking me how they can get a copy of The Receipt film and/or soundtrack. My recommendation is to purchase it straight from the source here. Sure, you could get the soundtrack from iTunes, but it’s cheaper from the RiverBend Films store… so take that leftover money and treat yourself to a gallon of gas.
Print the following barcode… bring it to any major music retailer… ask them to scan it… see what comes up in their system.
Hint: It’ll be “The Receipt Soundtrack”… and yes, the store can special order it that way.
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The Receipt Release Date: Apr 15, 2008 |
The “C-Ville Weekly“, a Charlottesville News and Arts Magazine, wrote an article about “The Receipt”. The following is a quote from their coverage, check out the whole thing through the link below:
As promised a few days ago, here’s a link to the NBC 29 coverage of “The Receipt”… they use a *.wmv stream, so the file quality is pretty bad. Plus, they won’t let you watch it on Firefox (again, stupid, I know). But, if you’re willing to deal with it, here’s the video clip.
Also, here’s a screen capture of the news story they ran. It’s essentially a transcript of the report they ran on air. Enjoy!
