I'm very pleased for beeing in the APP chat for the first time!

Now my daughter is calling me! It's 8:40PM here & the bath cannot wait...

See you in the blogs!

@Garcia: Thanks for the tip.

see ya!

@Duane: I'm working with Linux over other Cortex based SOCS. I think is the best choice.

@rfindley: working with virtual machines as Host for the cross-toolchain is the most efficient option! I completely agree!

@Duane, I like to use pre-setup virtual machines from thoughtpolice.co.uk

I'll check that out. Thanks

I've got to head out too

@Duane, One of the Xilinx userguides for Linux has a tutorial for setting up an Ubuntu virtual machine for doing Zynq work.

Rfindley - I do have a VM Linux on my machine, but am far from a Linux expert. I've been trying to do my ZedBoard Linux work from Windows. I should see if it will be easier from the Linux VM

Closing down and running

@Duane, re:"Linux setup"... So far, I'm using a Linux virtual machine to compile the kernel, and will eventually add GCC on the board, so I can compile natively... which is my preferred mode of development whenever possible.

Toodles -- C U Next week

See ya

Hey -- my wife just emnailed me a picture of herself -- she is COVERED in....

... no, not chocolate or whipped cream...

... SNOW!!!

I just looked out of my office window and everything is white -- I'm going to have to shut down and run for the hills -- see you next week (you can all keep on chatting)

Those of you that are getting deep into the Zynq Linux - Do you do your work on a Linux-baset workstation or a Windows-based?

#mkr: That would be great, thank you.

No worries -- I just sent an email to my contacts at Xilinx -- I'll post the answer in the chat next week

@mkr: Just keep the kernel and bootloader oficially provided & then Google for "minimal armel Debian rootfs". There are plenty of resources, trust me!

@Max: That would be great, thank you.

@mkr, re:Debian distro...  So far for Zynq, I've only explored the Linux version in Xilinx's GIT repository.  Haven't looked for Debian.

@mkr: Any place I can download a Zedboard-friendly Debian SDcard image?

I can ask the folks at Xilinx and report back in next week's chat

@Max, I had a setback in my 'Brain Supercomputer' blog... I discovered that the Zynq 7020 doesn't have any high-speed SERDES.  Only the 7030 and 7045 do, and they're currently around $2500 per chip.

Sometimes I wish I remembered more of that software stuff from decades past

@Garcia @rfindley: Any place I can download a Zedboard-friendly Debian SDcard image?

@Duane: Max - Hmmmm. I started my career in software. :-)

But we love you anyway -- just another example of how tolerant we are here on All Programmable Planet :-)

But I got better

Hi Robin (a.k.a. rfindley) -- great to see you here -- I'm looking forward to seeing your blogs on the use of your Zynq board...

Max - Hmmmm. I started my career in software. :-)

@mkr: I'm a hardware design engineer by trade -- the software guys can preen themselves and "strut their stuff," but they would look pretty silly without hardware upon which to run their code...

@Garcia, I agree about Debian.  That's my usual go-to choice.

@Max: Yes, I did. I tried Ubuntu with some other Cortex A8/A9 boards before, but the performance depends heavliy on the quality of the ported code. Ubuntu seems to improve the performance on ARM with every recent release, but i'd love to try Debian/Arch to explore other options.

@mkr: Think Sheldon

LOL -- I love the way he puts Leonard down for being an "Applied Physicist" -- and the way he puts Howard down because he "only" has a Masters Degree

I'm in process if deeply exploring the boot process on Zynq.  Really hoping to get dual OSs running on my ZC702 board... Linux for processor0 and an RTOS on processor1

@mkr: Finally, I have some time to play with the Zedboard. Xilinux is already being transferred to the SD card. BTW -- has anyone heard of any other (besides Ubuntu) Linux distributions with Zynq support?

With the appropiated bootloader/kernel for the Cortex-A9 (the one you already have),  you can "play" almost any available root-filesystem (My recomendation: Debian performs very well in embedded systems!!)

Max - I wish I had been snoozing. It's been a fire fighting day

I'll be looking forward to Adam's RTOS blogs too.

@Duane: Ther's a lot of interesting stuff from when I was gone.

U snooze ... U loose :-)

I   haven't been able to read the Xlinxlinug blog yet, but I'm really interested in the what's and hows of Linux on the Zed board.

@Max: Some people did not understand why I want to work with hardware. Their argument was that the development is much easier with Matlab :). Some 'academics' don't really value engineers. Think Sheldon ;)

@all: Adam is planning a series of blogs on loading an RTOS only the ZedBoard -- I linked him up with the folks at Micrium -- their uC/OS-III RTOS is really good

Ther's a lot of interesting stuff from when I was gone.

@mkr: Did you see that recent blog from The Mighty Hamster?

@duane: ...am back just in to fo the chat to be over

Who says it's over? I'm just warming up!

Max - on the Beanie hat, tht's just going to have to be a surprise for my employer.

@Crusty: Washing up and Mrs Crusty calling bye all

Is this the real Mrs Crusty or the Imaginary one?

@mkr: I do agree with Jezmo about one thing -- some folks really do believe that they are better than others because they went to a certain university or have a certain background -- I've met folks who are rich and/or have gon eto a posh university and/or have got more degrees than you can swing a stick at, and I wouldn;t touch them with a barge-pole technology wise...

And I've met folks without money and/or a regular degree from a regular university (and/or no quallifiactions at all) who can run rings around me technology-wise

The bottom line is the old adage "Be true to yourself"

Argh... It's been one of those days. I got yanked away again and am back just in to fo the chat to be over

Finally, I have some time to play with the Zedboard. Xilinux is already being transferred to the SD card. BTW -- has anyone heard of any other (besides Ubuntu) Linux distributions with Zynq support? 

@Jezmo: There is whole world of knowledge outside the uni!

@Max In it's own way Max Headroom was a bit Orwellian

Washing up and Mrs Crusty calling bye all

@Jezmo: Never

I'm proud of you! :-)

@JezmoSSL: Note taken, thank you.

@crusty: I loved the idea of Blipverts

I think that it won;t be long before a lot of the stuff in Max Headroom will come to pass...

@Jezmo: ...don't get involved with people who think they are special because of where they went to uni...

But about that we shall say no more :-)

@Max I loved the idea of Blipverts

@Crusty -- I LOVED Max Headroom (can't think why)

Now I'm humming the tune to "Let's do the Time Warp again"

@Max Great Fan of Rocky Horror and also Max Headroom

RE "antici.........pation" ... who else is a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture SHow?

@JezmoSSL: Of course.

@jezmo: Now we are all gripping our seats in antici.........pation

@jezmo: Can I offer some advice mkr ?

We all know that you are going to, whatever mkr says :-)

@Jezmo: Of course.

@mkr: Duane is building a Robot Avatar (Click Here to see my blog on this) -- I think he will be really interested in what you've been doing

@Max: Thank you. I'll contact you in the next days. 

Thank you. I am just glad that it's finished. The design part was really fun, the writing and the experiments -- well, not so much :)

@mkr: The Design and Implementation of the FPGA Multiprocessor System for Mobile Robot Ego-motion Estimation from a Sequence of Images

And that's only the short version! (grin)

Sounds really interesting -- I want to hear more -- let's chat about this off-line (can you send me an email to max@CliveMaxfield.com after we finish this online chat)

mkr: Ok, here, comes the lengthy title: The Design and Implementation of the FPGA Multiprocessor System for Mobile Robot Ego-motion Estimation from a Sequence of Images

Congratulations!! A quite descriptive title!!

@Garcia: ...speech recognition seems black-magic for me just now.

If you wish, I can link you up with the folks at Sensory -- they might be able to tell you more (or they might not wish to) -- you can always email me outside this chat at max@CliveMaxfield.com

Ok, here, comes the lengthy title: The Design and Implementation of the FPGA Multiprocessor System for Mobile Robot Ego-motion Estimation from a Sequence of Images

@mkr: Well, I've finally finished my PhD -- very happy with that :)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

That must have take a huge amount of work

What is your PhD in?

@Max: I'll be anxiously waiting for the information!! I've been working with signal theory the last week (digital filter implementation mostly) and speech recognition seems black-magic for me just now...

@Duane: My employer is paying my way, so I have shirts and duty to them while U'm there as well

Does your employer know that -- in addition to their T-Shirt -- you will be sporting your All Programmable Planet Propeller Beanie hat?

Well, I've finally finished my PhD -- very happy with that :)

@Mkr -- you might want to "skim" the messages from th ebottom on upwards to "catch up" with what's going on -- alternatively you can just "jump in" and start a new conversation

@Max:  Maybe, but I doubt it - too far away.  Maybe if anyone comes to SPIE DSS in Baltimore - I could wrangle a day for that.

Jezmo - My employer is paying my way, so I have shirts and duty to them while U'm there as well.

Hi Mkr -- how are things with you?

Bye Tomii -- sorry you can't attend -- maybe Design East in the fall?

Hello everyone!

@Garcia: Following Design West I (or Duane or Jezmo or Warren or Adam -- anyone from APP who is speaking at the conference) will write blogs on all the talks we attend -- so hopefully we will have more info on how they do all this then

Whelp.  Y'all're talking 'bout a party I can't attend, now, so I suppose I'll get back to pretending to work.  Have a good week, folks, and avoid the bug!

@Jezmo: Pattern matching mostly garcia

I'm already thinking about it... thank you!

Re rooms at Design West -- my understanding is that even if thsi info isn;t up on th ewenbsite yet -- they already have the deals set up with the hotels -- so if you call you shoudl get the deal -- but it wouldn't hurt to wait another week or two

Re Rooms at Design West -- there are two main hotels right next to / part of the San Jose Convention Center -- the Marriot and the Hilton -- you can walk from either of them to the Convention center in a matter of minutes -- and you can walk from one to the other in a matter of minutes (like less than 5 minutes) - -I'll be staying in one of these -- not sure which one yet -- but it really doesn't matter -- the main thing is to say that you are attending Design West and you want the Design West rate

@Duane:  Never saw any fanstock stuff.  But I especially appreciate a space-based thing where people get dirty.  I always hated Star Trek stuff for just that reason.  I dig grease-covered engineers.  Surely Scotty at least had dilithium dust and carbon all over him after working on the warp drives...

Max,  Jezmo - I checked a week ago and the hotels weren't up yet.

And, I always liked Fanstock clips. The only problem with them is their size.

Re Rooms -- the conference has deals with hotels -- if these aren't already up on the Design West website they should be soon

Tomii - I introduced my son to Firefly and within just a few days, he had found a place to watch it on the Internet and had watched the entire series.

Max: "speech recognition -- even if you are in a crowded room"

The technical problem seems very similar to spread-spectrum communication: you can extract a meaningful signal from the noisy background by correlating with some known patterns.

But I cannot understand how they cope with variations in voice speed... 

Serenity was one of those rare cases (in my opinion) where the movie was as good as the series.

@Duane:  I bought the boxed set and watched them all in the intended order.  It turns the series into a many hours long movie.  They flow nicely from episode to episode.

Max - That's cool.

@Tomii, I loved Firefly (and Serenity movie).  A space western, just like Star Wars

Tomii - Firefly was great.

@Duane:  He said something to me about that.  it was along the lines of how great those things are for rapid prototyping.

@Duane @Jezmo -- FYI, soince you are both speaking at Design West, your badges will get you into any of the other talks (so I expect to see you at mine!!! :-)

Max - That would be an interesting session to attend

@Max:  Personally, I'm a big Firefly fan.  Too bad thay cancelled it..

@Duane "speech recognition -- even if you are in a crowded room" That would be impressive

The sensory guys in my blog are giving a presentation at Design West as part of our Processors and Programmable Logic track -- they say they will be bringing lots of "toys" to demo -- I really want to attend that talk

Sorry, still catching up on earlier subjects... The Minecraft thing is pretty cool. My kids play that and I've been amazed by what poeple do with it.

What really stood out on the Minecraft / AVR project is the fact that someone is still using fanstock clips screwed into a piece of wood for prototying.

@tomil Strange he has me on a diet 28 lbs since last August.

Here's a link to a blog I did on Red Dwarf a bit ago -- the scary thing is how many things I've blogged about over the years

@Crusty:  Given what my waistline has been doing recently, I'm betting its the same part that likes donuts...

Max - "speech recognition -- even if you are in a crowded room" That would be impressive

@Tomii: I'm beginnning to think so...  We're all just figments of Max's (surreal) imagination...

Wait untill you next look in a mirror and see what you are now wearing ... hope you enjoy the pink bunny slippers :-)

Maybe a better way of describing it is non-computer sounding speach.

@tomil If that is the case which part of his brain keeps it running?

@Duane: I find it pretty amazing how long it's taken computer speach to get to a point of reasonable clarity

I did some work on speech generation a few years ago -- it's a lot harder than you might think

The thing that really impresses me is the way the Sensory guys can do speech recognition -- even if you are in a crowded room like a party

@Duane The Acorn BBC B had decent speach from text 30 years ago

@Crusty:  I'm beginnning to think so...  We're all just figments of Max's (surreal) imagination...

Max - re your embedded speach blog. I find it pretty amazing how long it's taken computer speach to get to a point of reasonable clarity

Here's that link Hamster found to the "Talking Toaster" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec

@tomil Does that mean Max thought me up?

Sorry. I had to step away for a moment

Hola Garcia!!!

Hi "from Spain!"

Hi Garcia from Spain

@Max:  Yep.  He has some tri-colored LEDs wired up, and throwing different switches in the game lights different colors in the "real world"

of course, the "Real World" is open to debate, it seems.  Welcome to The Matrix.

Is it a scary thought to just me that Mxx might be God?

¡Hola! from Spain

@max Not getting a Captain Hook hang up ? tic toc tic toc

I loved the link Hamster found to the "Talking Toaster" sketch from Red Dwarf

What did you think about my Rise of Embedded Speech blog?

@tomii: when your character walks over and flips a switch [in the virtual world], it makes lights light up [in the real world]

I added the stuff in [ ] ... is this what you mean?

@All, at the moment I'be being "haunted" on all my web pages with adverts of geared clocks -- like when I just visited the "Minecraft on an AVR MCU" page given by @tomii -- there are all the clocks looking back at me -- after we finish here you might want to check out a blog I posted on Programmable Logic Designline a bit earlier today tha ttalks abouit this stuff -- see Dynamic pricing just tried to bite me on the bottom http://bit.ly/11C2TJL

He was showing it off to me a few weeks back.  Basically, when your character walks over and flips a switch, it makes lights light up.

He's also making glass PCBs.  He's doing some neat stuff in his basement.

@tomii: That Minecraft on an AVR MCU looks very interesting

@Tomil thats cool

@All:

A friend of mine (from work) built this thing.  Amazing stuff - I think you'll find it totally neat:  Minecraft on an AVR microcontroller

@All What would a techno corset be?

@Crusty: I was told that Sir Malcom Sargent used one

Someone else to watch out for :-)

@tomil @Max I hwas told that Sir Malcom Sargent used one but I never fitted him so I can not verify this

I heard from an old friend yesterday -- we used to work together back in England -- he sent me a picture of the two of us from circa 1982 -- I'm the good looking one on the right

@Max:  Yeah, that's kinda disturbing...

Hello Crusty (who assures us he's not into cross-dressing, but who knows more about men wearing corsets than I feel is good for anyone)

@Crusty:  Sure, I'll take one.  I'm losing my girlish figure (no offense to any girls in the audience)

@Duane: Toii is talking about the picture in thsi week's "Don't Forget This Week's Live Chat" blog

@All anyone want a corset fitted

@Duane: slang for a moustache/beard

Hi Tomii -- I really do think that was an interesting picture

Soup Strainer?

Hi Max. Things are good. Last week I was still in the middle of a bad cold/near-bronchitis thing. But I took the dr's advice and stayed home from work. I'm all better now.

Hey all.  two words: "Soup Strainer"

Hi folks

@Dunae: Brrr. We need more global warming

Don't joke about it -- I think we're going to get more than we want before too long...

I just heard from the Design West folks that the will be sending out a "Speaker's Kit" next week -- explains what we all have to do -- also includes a PowerPoint template

Hi Duane -- how are things?

Brrr. We need more global warming

It's cold and gray and wet and sleeting rain/ice here in "sunny" Alabama ... making me all nostalgic ... reminds me of summer in England

Hi there

Hi Jezmo -- what's the weather like where you are in the UK?

Ladies and Gentlemen ... Max has entered the building!

Our weekly chat will commence at 12:00 p.m. my time (Central USA Time), which is 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and 6:00 p.m. UTC/GMT (you'll have to work out your local time from these clues -- or you can use this handy-dandy Time Zone Converter).

As always, we will be following our usual practice of leaping from topic to topic with the agility of young, fearless mountain goats, so make sure you're wearing appropriate clothing!