Measuring temperature in a PC should be easy: after all, most mainboards have extensive monitoring capabilities for temperature and voltage levels built-in. Unfortunately, very few of these facilities are documented properly, and software support is lacking. Instead of trying to navigate the maze that is lm-sensors (which isn’t even available for FreeBSD), I decided to look for some USB-based solution.
There’s a reasonably cheap chinese USB thermometer called TEMPer. I got mine from Brando for 12 Euros. It’s a USB-to-serial chip from WinChipHead. It’s DTR, RTS, and CTS lines are used to connect a LM75 I²C temperature sensor. To talk to the LM75, you need some bit-banging driver.
I’ve put together a command line utility for the TEMPer that can program the built-in thermostat (TEMPer has a LED connected to that output) and print out temperature measurement data. It does it’s job, and might serve as an example on how to do I²C over a simple interface.
I just got home from my historical train club VVM’s xmas party, just to find this. Just the right thing for all us ferrosexuals.
The Norwegian broadcaster NRK recently made a 7 hour program about the very scenic train journey from Bergen to Oslo. The program was hugely successful (the TV version offered interviews and various things along the ride). The raw film from the front camera is now being offered as a free Bittorrent download under a CC license.
We were in need of replacement hardware for our two Shuttle K45 we’re using as servers, since one of them developed a case of capacitor plague, and the Asus Pundit4 P5G41 turns out to be a nice choice. It’s compact, features a LGA 775 socket, two DDR2 sockets, space for one 3.5″ and one 5.25″ drive (SATA only), and even has a serial port built right into the case (we’re big fans of serial consoles).
This model seems to be relatively new (introduced apparently in the fall of ’09), and I couldn’t find any pics of the innards. I’ve added a couple of interior photos to our wiki. Enjoy!
Heute ist unser langjähriges Stammlokal, die Lotusblüte in Eppendorf, durch einen Brand schwer beschädigt worden. Zum Glück hat sich lediglich der Koch leicht an der Hand verletzt, als er versucht hat, den entstehenden Brand in der Küche zu löschen.
Ein echter Schlag ins Kontor! Mit dem BSD-Treffen sind wir morgen erstmal im Leon, Koppel 1, 20099 Hamburg.
This New York Times article explains a few of the drivers for the pricing models in the U.S., which is quite different from many European markets.
“The whole pricing thing is weird,” said Barry Nalebuff, an economics professor at the Yale School of Management. “You pay $60 to make your first phone call. Your next 1,000 minutes are free. Then the minute after that costs 35 cents.”
The trailer for this new movie is very intriguing. No release dates yet, it seems.
A young student uses his phonecam to shoot interviews with the staff of a New York fashion house, and posts them online without the interviewees’ knowledge or consent. A runway accident turns into a murder investigation, then, “denial leads to devastation.”
David K. Smith beschreibt, wie er eine Modellanlage im Maßstab N (1 zu 160) als Modell für eine Anlage im Maßstab Z (1 zu 220) gebaut hat. Das Modell hat also Maßstab 1 zu 35200! Mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit die kleinste Modellbahn der Welt.