Roland Tanglao's Weblog

(Part 2 of my Bug Adventures series, for more real time wiki action check out my Bug Adventures wiki where I flesh out my thoughts before posting them here!)

Why doesn't my GPS aka BUGgps seem to work? By "not working", I mean it doesn't get a GPS satellite lock which results in a Java exception for those using the high level API and void values e.g. "$GPGLL,,,,,022837.595,V*1D "for apps reading the RAW GPS sentences.  My guess is it's a low level software bug that will be fixed in the "real soon now" R1.4 software release. Note that I have attached the external antenna and put it on the window sill where my other GPSes (Nokia LD-4W, Nokia E71) have no problems obtaining a GPS lock!

Herewith my debugging notes:

1. http://bugcommunity.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=351 seems to be the definitive source of how to fix your GPS! the fix in the thread:
   
   1. "navigate the front-panel menu to the GPS module and you will be able to see fix: True/False and IOX, which is the value of the IOX register:"
      1. (front panel led sequence is: modules->GPS->IOX) I get 0x63 which means
         1. bit  0: 1 == no GPS fix, since fix is active low
         2. bit 1: 1 = no overcurrent condition
         3. bit 2: 0 = no wakeup from sleep
         4. bit 3: 0 = don't know what this is, guess is 0 means don't download firmware
         5. bit 4,5 unused
         6. bit 7,6 0,1 == external antenna
            
2. Other people's code I have tried
   
   1. GPSRawFeedExample always outputs "V*blah" which I think means void!
      1. e.g. $GPGLL,,,,,051302.397,V*10
   2. GPSLoggerSimpleGUI - the GUI doesn't work but at least the program doesn't crash :-)
   3. GPSLogger2 creates a zero length file in /tmp but does nothing else e.g. /tmp/GPSSun Jan 04 20:25:49 UTC 2009.log
   4. GpsLogger_1.1 java.lang.NullPointerException
      at com.buglabs.bug.module.gps.GPSModlet.getLatitudeLongitude(Unknown Source)
   5. My friend Simon's app has the same bug as GPS Logger 1.1 i.e. java.lang.NullPointerException
      at com.buglabs.bug.module.gps.GPSModlet.getLatitudeLongitude(Unknown Source)
      1. Simon's guess: the NMEA sentence they are getting from the underlying
         hardware isn't quite in the format they expect, so they end up trying
         to get a double out of the string  ","
      2. http://lists.buglabs.net/pipermail/bug-dev/2008-December/000167.html seems to be the same problem!
3. Evidence that this is a Bug that's being worked on:
   1. this fix went into  svn trunk (svn://svn.buglabs.net/bug/trunk  ) on December 14, 2008, http://svn.buglabs.net/svn/!revision/7632
      // default to passive (external) antenna, until
      // such time as we have confidence in the internal            
      // antenna's ability to obtain a fix          
      log.log(LogService.LOG_DEBUG, "GPSModlet defaulting to passive (external) antenna");              
      setPassiveAntenna();       

Real artists ship! My Bug Labs Bundle Arrived today. Check out my BUGbundle unboxing pics (including the nice touch of the team's signatures inside the box.). The Camera module is on back/order but I received a cool von Hippel hacking module as a bonus for the delay. Now for some GPS hacking. Oh, and if anyone else in Vancouver has a BUG, contact me and let's get together to exchange notes!

We don't have real free movement of goods between Canada and the USA because the process (at least 15 minutes, probably more plus crossing the border which involved a 1.5 hour wait today) to pay GST and PST and duty takes too long when a consumer imports something into Canada from the USA. Why not streamline it? It's almost as if we don't want to have real free trade!

BTW the above form is the one that was used when I paid my GST and PST for the Bug from Bug Labs which was shipped to Blaine, Washington and imported by me into Canada today. More on the Bug later

Can't wait to get my Bug and my full suite of modules. It'll be a Bug Labs hacking kind of Christmas!

QUOTE [From Bug Blogger » Blog Archive » Manufacturing Update]

Starting November 17th we will start shipping the latest BUGbundles to customers with a goal of having ALL backorders fulfilled by December 1st. From that point forward we will be in a position to ship all our customers their new BUGs within 2 days of placing their order. We also have a number of exciting, new modules coming available within the next few weeks so stay tuned!

END QUOTE

Beside delaying my Bug yet again (so first September and now November), this is another indicator of how deep this recession is (or will be). I don't recall a hardware manufacturing gadget crash during the dot com collapse!

QUOTE [From Bug Blogger » Blog Archive » The Credit Crisis in Action]

Over the past couple of months I’ve been reading with great interest all the postings on how the current economic crisis can/can’t, will/won’t effect the start up world. Having lived through the 2001 - 2003 nuclear winter, I feel strongly that no one will be spared, irrespective of how big your company is.

This reality scored a direct hit last week when we got a call from the CEO of our contract manufacturer (domestic, not overseas). Their credit lines were pulled by their bank (one of the big ones) because they had violated some terms of their loan agreement. While in the past, this type of thing was met with a “let’s work it out” type of attitude from the bank, instead given the credit crisis, that attitude disappeared. Consequently, they closed the facility where our product was being built.

As a result, we needed to immediately pull all our inventory, test fixtures, and packaging out of their facilities. To say the timing was terrible is a grave understatement. Our products were literally on their assembly lines, on schedule for our early October shipping deadlines.

END QUOTE

Ooops forgot to blog about Mobile Camp Vancouver 2 unconference (topics and sessions decided the day of, all welcome from users to hard core devs to artists and sales and marketing folks!)

Here are my session ideas

• • session on SIFT Mobile Muse social media aggregator for SMS, video, photos, etc
  • Bug Labs - my Bug arrives in late September, app brainstorming session
  • BIKUX - linux stamp/beagle board/crazy apps on a portable connected solar powered Linux computere brainstorm session (e.g. games and geo apps)
  • Reinventing Nokia mobile  - Brainstorming session on cool things Nokia could/should do in light of the iPhone, Android, etc - I am going to Finland on September 8th for a Nokia Conference and might be able to give this feedback to them directly

As well i'd like to work with John Biehler, Parveen Kaler and others on some iPhone sessions:

1) state of jail break
2) tethering
3) app development commiseration (that NDA s*xors)
4) what's on your iPhone i.e. fav apps

See you all on Saturday September 6th at WorkSpace in Gastown!

 

My Bug Bundle has been delayed until September. Bug is switching to Poky Linux and they closed a 3rd round of funding. I am still very enthusiastic about The Bug but it's hard to be an enthusiast when you are itching to experiment and shipment is delayed by 3 months. And as I have said before I don't really like simulators. Oh well, perhaps I'll activate one of my dormant iPhone application ideas!

Herewith my Grassroots Open Mobile Web presentation (original PDF) that I presented Monday April 14, 2008 at the Open Web Vancouver conference.

Presentation Links:

• Chumby
• Bug Labs
• How a Bug could save the US Government 100s of millions of dollars
• Bunnie's Blog about awesome Chumby hacks
• OSGI Java components whitepaper (used on the Bug)

The presentation was a lot of fun to put together and present. Next year, I hope to present a followup with my musings on the actual real Bug and any OSGI Java components that I manage to get working.

I want the entire suite of Bug Modules but I live in Canada. I tried to order with my Canadian Credit Card with a US Shipping Address but as I suspected, it didn't work. Thanks to the fine folks at Bug Labs for their patience in dealing with my multiple emails on this subject! It's not the end of the world but it's a bit disconcerting to see that despite "free trade" and "globalization", things haven't progressed since I was a kid ordering software and other gadgets from the USA in the 1970s and 80s, i.e. it's still ludicrously difficult to get gadgets over the border. Can we have a Schengen like zone between Canada and the USA please?

My First SXSW08 session is Peter Semmelhack CEO of Bug Labs on Hardware Mashups - The Long Tail of Gadgets

- the Pizza Tail of consumer electronics

- pepperoni is hard, long tail is the cheese

- cheese == every device you have ever wanted but couldn't find

- Bug Labs inspired by Lego

- e.g. after 9/11 living in Manhattan, he wanted device that woke up ever 5 minutes and posted GPS position on a map, couldn't find it at best buy

- reason? economics

- need to sell lots of them, hits based business, no hits, out of a job

- margins are decreasing: China, Walmart

- have to: 1. come up with hit which is hard, 70% of time wrong about hits

- Nokia 30% of 2007 revenue came from products introduced in Q4, very few companies can do this, go Nokia go!

- consumers want control e.g. Tivo can control TV and pause it

- model is old i.e. throw it away and buy a device i want

- what if we could build what we wanted?

- should be able to get it and go build what you want

- how do we make 'world of atoms' behave like 'world of bits'?

- open source and open models are powerful ways to enable consumers to innovate

- with software can easily combine and innovate

- with hardware it's much more difficult: 1. electrical engineer, industrial designer, logistics genius, need to be all of these things 2. manufacturing 3. inventory 4. distribution

- hard to innovate in all these ways

- software idea is relatively frictionless, just distribute it on internet

- for hardware, need a company unlike software

- e.g. Lego Mindstorms has provided platform for me to build a robot

- buy gadget not for physical form factor but for a reason e.g. sweep floor

- looks like software i.e. standard platform to build on top of

- platform is way to innovate in physical space

- being cheese will be profitable

- Bug Labs modules have braille! some blind folks loved that, great story

- great example of GPS tracker for $2k replaced by 2 bug labs modules for $200

- can fill niche of 1000 or 10000 with Bug Labs device with software provided by community

- aggregate these niches in a way that makes sense economically

- 1000 entrepreneurs selling devices built on top of platform = millions of bucks

- future is connected = gadget nets = network of devices 'facebook of gadgets'

- will happen in 5-10 years, based on physical platform

- will be bottom up approach

- Q: could bluetooth and network take the place of hardware glue? A: application has to talk to hardware, we can innovate ourselves bottom up or wait for 'big guys'. Proprietary companies can't compete with open models.Hard to start a Microsoft type company today. Model is MySQL which was bought for 1 billion; Sun realized community is more valuable

- Q: how do you make a profit A: radical openness == want to be different, every thing is different, everything is open source on their site on March 17th when they launch, give people the appropriate tools and they will create awesome things, believe in power of community, will get more out then they put in; no licensing fee

- Q: Is early adopter market big enough? A: it's 2-3 billion market just for early adopters worldwide. look at pcs? without early adopters no innovations visicalc. trying to find a way to provide a hardware platform to build what they want! bugnet community = repository of apps 1. innovator comes up with cool device 2. somebody "consumes" it 3. can make single function device out of what i design i.e. rapid prototyping platform 4. no hard lock in to their platform can move java program to another device e.g. can't move nokia app to apple or vice versa, that's old model

- will provide service to make beautiful device after you prototyped it on the bug - they don't become orphaned still part of the community

- balance between optimization and customizability today we only have "optimized obsolete in 6 months market", there is room for another model

- Q: green framework for consumer innovation? A: cellphone with lithium batteries is a disaster. modular devices can become other devices, plastic is recyclable, no toxic paint used. is there a cost? yes, won't look like an iPhone!