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Showing posts from January, 2011

Building ROS from Source

Update : as pointed out in the comments below, instructions are available on the ROS wiki . I couldn't find any instructions for this. So, after some poking around, here's the quick version (on Ubuntu Lucid): sudo apt-get install svn build-essential cmake libboost-all-dev liblog4cxx10-dev svn co https://ros.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ros/trunk ~/ros_src export PATH=$PATH:~/ros_src/bin export ROS_ROOT=~/ros_src export PYTHONPATH=$ROS_ROOT/core/roslib/src:$PYTHONPATH make rosmake roscpp_tutorials I had to fix a few missing includes in core/roscpp/include/ros/xmlrpc_manager.h and core/roscpp/src/libros/param.cpp but YMMV. If you haven't heard of ROS , check it out!
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Review of Fable III

Damon says : Fable III is the most disappointing sequel since The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . Laura says : I was disappointed. The worst part was that the game was okay - maybe a 6/10 or 7/10 thanks to the Darkness Incarnate quest. It wasn't great, but it wasn't so poor that I felt I could legitimately hate it. The graphics are fun if cartoony, the sound is good, the gameplay is easy , the customization is almost non-existent, and the story is mediocre at best and boring at worst. Oh, and for some of the achievements you need an Xbox Live account, which annoys me to no end. The environment in Fable III is as rich as ever. Plenty of different regions, all with different climates, peopled by various citizens/denizens/enemies that change as you play. As always, the people of Albion are incredibly chatty, but since Lionhead seems to have supplemented the new stuff they recorded with all the random NPC comments from Fable II, there is enough variation to not drive you crazy
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Flying the Parrot AR.Drone with a Wiimote and Nunchuck

I received a Parrot AR.Drone for Christmas this year! However, I don't have an iPhone and that makes it harder to get started. So far, the best solution I've found is flying it with a Wiimote and Nunchuck. Checkout the source for FitAR.Drone . Download osgi.core.jar from the OSGi Alliance  and copy it to the FitAR.Drone source directory. Import the project into Eclipse. Add all the JARs in the source directory to the project's build path. Now, connect your computer to the ardrone_xxx ad hoc network and check that Bluetooth is enabled on your computer. Then, build and run Main.java from org.fitardrone.main and follow the directions printed to the console: press 1 and 2 together on the Wiimote to initiate the connection, wait for the console to indicate that the Nunchuck was found, press 1 to take off, and fly! Oh, and: press 2 to land, home to kill the motors (i.e. emergency), use the D-pad to turn and adjust altitude, and use the analog stick to move. The
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How to Flash a Lego NXT Brick on Ubuntu

Flashing the Lego NXT brick on Ubuntu is pretty straight forward: Download the latest firmware (or any other firmware of your choice). Download  libnxt , patch in the bug fix , and build it. sudo apt-get install build-essential libusb-dev scons cd libnxt-0.3 scons Put the NXT brick into firmware upload mode by turning it on and then pressing the reset button for four seconds. At this point, the screen should be blank and the brick should be making a clicking noise. Use fwflash to flash the new firmware. Using sudo avoids potential USB permission issues. cd libnxt-0.3 sudo ./fwflash xxx.rfw Rejoice!
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