Aeronetworks sro - Airborne Linux

If you need to calculate the Radar Cross Section of something, then this installation guide for Puma-EM may help. You can get Puma-EM here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/puma-em/ You may also need FreeCAD, Meshlab and GMSH or GiD, to prepare the mesh files: http://www.aeronetworks.ca/2014/12/freecad.html Note that the mesh size typically needs to be about Lamda/10, which at 10 GHz amounts to about 3 mm. Puma-EM on Ubuntu Linux ======================== To ensure that you have a fast system, do a minimal install of the Ubuntu server edition and then add LXDE to make it more usable. Get Ubuntu Server 14.04.2 LTS version here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server Make a virtual machine: Create a new Virtualbox VDI VM for Ubuntu 64 bit Linux and a 20 GB dynamic disk. Select the LTS CD image in the Storage section of the VM settings and boot. Press Enter a few times to accept the defaults Make a user account: user / ...

I used to think that one is safe against search and seizure of computers and phones at Canadian borders, but no more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/alain-philippon-phone-password-case-powers-of-border-agents-and-police-differ-1.2983841 When I travel to the USA, I upload my encrypted data to a FTP server and take a Kindle with me.  The border guards can have fun with that all they like.   Now I'll have to do the same when I go home too - ridiculous. I should be able to enter my own country without being harassed at the border! I do think that sanity will prevail in the end, but until it does, rather mail/courier your computers and equipment to wherever you are going, or beg/buy/borrow something at your destination and travel light. It is much the same as travel with medication - take the prescription with you and buy new medicine at your destination - and never, never, never take unidentifiable scary white powders with you.  Years ago, we had huge trouble in Paris b...

Apparently, the NSA stole the keys to the GSM kingdom.  It was already clear that GSM is not secure and two heads of state were annoyed by the Yanks listening in to their calls already, but this is ridiculous:  https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/19/great-sim-heist/ What is clear, is that the US government doesn't care how much damage the NSA causes to states and corporations the world over.  This is a Dutch/French company, NATO members and the NSA did them in to the tune of half a billion Dollars, with hardly a peep from any politician anywhere.  If your computer system is not secure, then you can lose your business thanks to the US military, whether you are an ally, at peace, at war or neutral.  With such friends, who needs enemies? The CTO of Lenovo has now proven himself to be just as clueless as a previous CTO of Sony: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/lenovo-superfish/ They all failed to understand that if you subvert thousands of computers, then ...

I stumbled upon a source for some cool old stuff called Magic Eye tubes.  The shop is in Chelyabinsk Russia, called Tubes Store. Here is a nice VU meter video: http://tubes-store.com/product_info.php?cPath=31_59&products_id=5 While browsing there, I decided to make a little(!) audio amplifier to hook to my Mac, get a couple of Magic Eye tubes to use for a VU meter (blah) or robot eyes (yes!) and some Nixie tubes for a clock or digital read-out, or goodness knows what, so I ended up buying a handful of brand new old junk. Skeleton of FR4 on a wood base - It sounds great! Now the problem is getting high voltage transformers and capacitors that can handle >200 Volts.  Everything in my junk box is low voltage and will go pop, just like the weasel of yore. When I built radios and avionics at Grinel, there was a huge 15 Kilowatt Klystron valve sitting in the store across the hallway - a relic from a previous radar project.  That thing was about 1...

What? Herman uses Windows? Shock, horror... My first desktop computer - if you could call it that - was a Commodore Vic 20 - ugh.  The second one, was an Apple IIe, which was probably the first desktop computer worthy of the name.  Since then, I have used many, many systems, including Sperry, UNIVAC, Varian, DEC and some that nobody ever heard of. As far as Microsoft operating systems go - if you can call them that - I have used practically every version of everything O'l Billybob ever made.  I even once received a cheque from Microsoft for one of their infamous illegal business practices lawsuits that they lost ( Corel, Novel, Lotus, DEC, SAMBA, SCO, Stacker, Trumpet, Sierra... ).  So I have a kind of love/hate relationship with MS and avoid their products wherever possible, since they can destroy a computer business competitor without batting an eye and leopards never change their spots. If it is Free, Take Two! You can download a Windows 10 ISO file for f...

The bane of computer programming is the Makefile . As soon as there are more than one source file and a library, a Makefile becomes essential and generating one can be painful.  The Makefile syntax reminds me of a sendmail configuration file, which looks like someone banged his head on a keyboard: # This rule ensures that all local mail is delivered using the  # smtp transport, everything else will go via the smart host.  R$* < @ $* .$m. > $* $#smtp $@ $2.$m. $: $1 < @ $2.$m. > $3 dnl Way back in the dark ages, before there was m4 , I actually edited a few sendmail files by hand - that was how I earned my UNIX beard - but good grief... Same as with sendmail , you should never edit a Makefile manually these days.  It is a total waste of time.  There now are nice and simple utilities to do it for you! GCC -MM If you have a very simple project, then gcc can generate the Makefile for you: $ gcc -MM *.c > Makefile $ make Error...

Until about 20 years ago, most desktop and portable computers had serial and parallel ports built in.  Those ports were great for controlling and testing home brew gadgets.  Modern machines are blessed/cursed with USB ports, which are just getting more and more complex. The result is that if you want to do anything at all in your Underground Lab or Rooftop Radio Shack, you need an Arduino,  a Raspberry or a Beaglebone embedded computer. However, every respectable engineer has two or three FTDI USB to RS232 serial adaptors lying in a drawer (to control his Raspberry or Beaglebone).  These adaptors are great, since they effectively insulate your target system from your expensive computer, therefore whatever goes wrong on the far end, is unlikely to fry your machine and they are delightfully hackable. I prefer the dongles made by SerialComm .  They are cheap and both RS232 and RS422/485 are available. You can also get ones from Sparkfun that are even more...