Geeks on Tour

You may like this photo taken this afternoon on the A1(m) travelling back to the north-east from Nottingham



2 Nokia 770's side by side in a incar holder. the one on the left (mine) is running Maemo Mapper navigation with a bluetooth GPS unit, and the one on the right (james') is running CarMan engine diagnostic software showing live engine data collected by a bluetooth ODBII inteface plugged in to a socket in the car's cabin. Unfortunately my camera phone is rubbish. We also took some with James' phone, and I may post them later if they are better.

We downloaded and installed carman over a 3G mobile phone connection. We were also running Satnav software on James' phone connected to another bluetooth GPS receiver.

Maemo Mapper came into it's own though as a zoomable moving map, as the M1 northbound was closed. The conventional satnav was trying it's damnest to get us back on the M1 as soon as we turned off. MM just let us zoom out and look to plan our own route across to the A1, using it as an electronic road map.

The other major plus of MM over conventional satnav, is the ability to use satellite images as the map which is very useful when navigating complex road networks in a strange town.

'bout time I started using this thing!

Well I signed up for this back in 2005, when I was bored at work one afternoon, and have let it stagnate ever since. So here goes with the intro. I intend to start posting much more frequently, about my interests and gismos, and what I do with them.

Geek stuff includes a Mythtv system with 4 tuners, and a Nokia 770 internet tablet. Oh! and I'm also into RC helicopters, just not very good with them!

first entry

I've finally created a blog, somewhat surprising, considering most people who know me reckon I'm a bit geeky.

Stuff that makes me tick includes bicycles and cycling, especially moultons (google it if you're not sure), Walking and technology. I'm a keen user of Mythtv. Mythtv is a PVR, similar to tivo or Sky+, but free, runs on a std PC, and is very cool and expandable. (www.mythtv.org) I'll add at somepoint why I think it's great, and what my setup is.