What's consuming your time today?

I was going to make this a thread discussion all the self-centered reasons that I've been quiet, but I figured it'd be more interesting as a "What sort of interesting things is everybody playing around with" thread.

As everybody I'm sure everybody is aware, I've been quiet on the Redline front for a while. This has been due to a long chain of distracting things (school, work, vacations, other hobbies, waning interest, thomm's meltdown, etc.), but most recently it's been due to my latest acquisition. A brand new canine of the electronic type, a Beagle Board!



Yeah, I know, boring as all get out. Feel free to skip the rest of move straight to posting your own uninteresting pursuits. . . . and to echo another forum member "what a fucking nerd I am "

It's a tiny (3" x 3"), fast (600MHz ARM Cortex A8), low power (maybe 2W under heavy load), cheap ($149), and it runs Linux. I received it 2 weeks ago and have spent a large portion of the intervening time overcoming one hurdle after another on my way to turning into something useful (it's OK, though, I bought it as a learning project more than anything else and learning I most certainly am). Started with getting a serial console, which required all sorts of very specific cables and adapters. Then moved on to figuring out what I might want to boot from (went with the Ångstrom demo image and a copy of Deblet I happened to have lying around on the SD card I used), then getting that setup (good thing I had the N800 around to handle that). After that, well, actually getting it booting, figure out the proper bootargs, load up the kernel, finally get to a desktop, but, oops, USB OTG isn't working. Try another partition, try another set of bootargs, try another kernel—there we go!

After a lot of suffering I've finally gotten to the point where I can at least look at and use something pretty. Now I just need to get it connected to the internets. . . .

So, what fun and exciting (or lame and excruciatingly boring) things have the rest of you been up to?

Oh, and unrelated, here's a picture of an alien.

Getting A.R.S.E. set up, and killing the syslogd process, as it was using 1.01 GB of ram.

I spent my week-end enhancing optto to get warning signs before sharp turns, bumps and dips. This is really cool (you'll see that when you join next rally).
I enhanced other things too, but unseen while playing ...

Speed, I had to kill syslogs too. I dont know if yours was hard but mine kept on coming back with full load on my cpu (around 90%).
I post the solution because I spent a hard time trying different so-called solutions which did not work. I needed the 2nd fix (the 1st did not work) :

Code:


""syslogd" process taking 100% CPU under Mac OS X 10.5.4

After updating to Mac OS X 10.5.4, users have found that the process "syslogd" is swamping the CPU, causing the computer's fans to spin excessively and resulting in poor overall system performance.

As described by Apple Discussions poster benevision:

"After updating to 10.5.4 update everything is very s-l-o-w. With Activity Monitor running I can see the CPU is running at 100% just about all the time. The top process in the list is #13 "syslogd" (root). Close second is bzip2 (root)."

The "syslogd" process is a utility that the OS uses to turn over system log files by using the "bzip2" utility to compress them and creating new ones when the files get to a certain size. This helps conserve space and makes it easier to search log file contents.

While this problem has been reported by some as being associated with the Mac OS X 10.5.4 update, it is known to occur in all versions of Leopard and its exact cause is uncertain. Regardless, the problem appears to reside with syslogd's interactions with the Apple System Log facility database; removing that database appears to fix the problem. Additionally, users have found that removing and recreating the system.log file also may help the problem.

Fixes

Remove the Apple System Log database Open the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities and run the following set of commands:

* sudo launchctl stop com.apple.syslogd
* sudo rm /var/log/asl.db
* sudo launchctl start com.apple.syslogd

These commands stop the syslogd process and then remove the database, then restart the process again. It is unadvisable to remove the database while the process is running. If the CPU still begins running at 100%, try applying the second fix.

Remove and recreate the system.log file

In the terminal run the following set of commands:

* sudo launchctl stop com.apple.syslogd
* sudo rm /var/log/system.log
* sudo touch /var/log/system.log
* sudo launchctl start com.apple.syslogd"


GeneralAntilles wrote:I've been quiet on the Redline front for a while ...

glad to see yea breathing GA, pleasure seeing your posts as usual. as to your project good luck, for that stuff is way above my head here

theSnail .@y wrote: ... I had to kill syslogs too.

thanks for the tip ... this may help amped and others with their "graphics stutter" problem in redline

i myself have been busy with work, redline, women, work, redline, women, work, redline, women ... oh yea eating and sleeping sometimes

leoantix wrote:
... women ...

GeneralAntilles wrote:This has been due to a long chain of distracting things (school, work, vacations, other hobbies, waning interest, thomm's meltdown, etc.),

GA, you are missing the races so far. I would you back online with us. I still have saved replays of some our races.

What consuming my time? Anything to escape from annoying.

...annoying the forum with stupid questions while sitting at work and at home simultaneously thanks to VNC... also recovering from my first try at paintball (indoor) yesterday, LOADS of fun! I had a crappy mask that ensured I got a face full of paint and shell. It was a bachelor party, at one point they set up the bachelor on one wall, everyone else on the other wall, and blew the whistle for him to run the length of the room while we blasted him. The exercise was repeated for the best man -- GG!

GA who? WHO ARE YOU!?

amped™ wrote:GA who? WHO ARE YOU!?

If you're younger than him, better learn to block.

djpimley wrote:

amped™ wrote:GA who? WHO ARE YOU!?

If you're younger than him, better learn to block.

lol. i kid of course.... wish GA would busy himself with releasing the r/t

amped™ wrote:

djpimley wrote:

amped™ wrote:GA who? WHO ARE YOU!?

If you're younger than him, better learn to block.

lol. i kid of course.... wish GA would busy himself with releasing the r/t

and updating the Porsche, and releasing that other Porsche, and finishing up the BMW, and yet another Porsche, oh, and one more Porsche.

Yeah, my list is long. Renesis was the only thing that got me to a 1.0 with the 968c. Now, well. . . .

If anybody's interested in picking these up from me, well, they're up for grabs.

Too many Porsche's!!

Long lists are a bad idea. Pick one and do it, that's my advice.

slowDan wrote:
Long lists are a bad idea. Pick one and do it, that's my advice.

Yeah, I always stumble on the finishing up part, though. :\

GeneralAntilles wrote:and updating the Porsche, and releasing that other Porsche, and finishing up the BMW, and yet another Porsche, oh, and one more Porsche.

perhaps, is the porsche your favorite car?

DonaemouS wrote:

GeneralAntilles wrote:and updating the Porsche, and releasing that other Porsche, and finishing up the BMW, and yet another Porsche, oh, and one more Porsche.

perhaps, is the porsche your favorite car?

Nah, probably one of my top-3 marques, but not my favorite. That honor might have to go to the Lotus Elise . . . I've got a picture around here somewhere. . . .

GeneralAntilles wrote:and updating the Porsche, and releasing that other Porsche, and finishing up the BMW, and yet another Porsche, oh, and one more Porsche.

Can you PM me a list of exactly what you have up for grabs? You know I only made the 190 because you had already booked the E30 M3.

Tomte wrote:
Can you PM me a list of exactly what you have up for grabs? You know I only made the 190 because you had already booked the E30 M3.

Well, let's see:

BMW E30 M3 - Exterior model is largely finished (pylons need work and it needs a spoiler), physics are meh.
Dodge Challenger R/T - Exterior model is largely there, just need some grille details and headlamps, and the hood needs to be revised to match the correct model. Physics are pretty tasty.
Porsche 962c - Released, needs some touch up and improvement.
Porsche Carrera GT - Partially finished model, not much else.
Porsche RS Spyder - Model is roughed out, nothing else is done.

I've got a late-model 911 of some sort and and a DBR9 that're based on pre-built models I got from somewhere. The 911 is a reduction job that you probably don't want to bother with, but the DBR9 is actually pretty decent, it just needs a little detail work to get the model in shape. No physics for it, though.

e30 m3 PLEASE!!!

Porsche 962c - Released, needs some touch up and improvement.

please dont touch this car! its perfect!

slow wrote:
please dont touch this car! its perfect!

Graphics and sound fixes only, I assure you.

As soon as i read M3 i took a look at what model was the E30.

yummmh

Someone make the DBR9, damnit! then use the model to make the DB9R (that won't cause any confusion...).

I wish I had some kind of nerdy project going on that I could share with you, but my life is a bit dull at the moment.

Boring stuff first: I'm writing a master thesis on the auditory icons (system sounds) of Windows Vista. My method will mainly be structuralistic analysis. Due spring '09. This seems to drain all my free time, so in the next months I need to find a way to have fun every now and then without it compromising my reading and writing.

Redline related:

Smoothing the vertices of the control line offset chicane at Lyngaas using roadcones as aim points, combined with some high school geometry, a great number of Redline relaunches and lots of elbow grease. I've tried four different approaches, and each one seems to be better than the previous.

C14ru5 wrote:I wish I had some kind of nerdy project going on that I could share with you...

This week I have been mostly watching vids like this...



...and then realising that I probably missed a good race by watching the hills and trees to closely.

theSnail .@y wrote:I post the solution because I spent a hard time trying different so-called solutions which did not work. I needed the 2nd fix (the 1st did not work) :

I've been looking for this post since last night. After getting some video stuttering while my graphic settings were lower then I've ever set them... and seeing a very decent framerate 35 /45 , I decided to launch activity monitor.
Damn CPUS were running 100@ almost ALL THE TIME. (G5 Dual 2Ghz) I restarted my system, launched nothing but Activity monitor and still processors maxing out.....
Just ran the solution 1 command lines...as per Snail... and system now running at 30/50 % when in lobby or idle, but still hitting 100% when racing monaco with F1.

I proceed to solution 2..... and wow.... CPU now running at 10/50% looking better Select play on line.... start monaco with F1 car.... maxes out at 100% at starting line... and settles back at 50% while racing. By the way, I've stepped up graphics also and still getting better CPU performance.

Merci pour cette solution. and I hope it takes care of some of this stuttering. All this started back at 10.5.4 update I believe, but not 100% sure.

SF