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CSMBC

MIR Beta is Up and Running

I’ve been working on various aspect of the server for the last 6+ hours or so. I was finally able to get the Dell PowerEdge SC420 server up and running after having some issues with Fedora Core 4 and the graphics card. For some reason, FC4 can’t figure out how to get the graphics to display properly. After searching for the Internet and reading some Linux sites, I finally determined that FC4 cannot be run on the SC420. However, FC3 (that would be Fedora Core 3) can. So I downloaded FC3, it only took like 6 minutes per an ISO (I had a 1Mbit+ connection!!), and installed that. I was able to get everything working and the IceCast2 Server Installed. So right now I have a beta stream up and running.

I also figured out the PCClub thing. Some where, at some point in time, the order was lost or misplaced. I really don’t know who lost it and I really don’t care. What I do care about is how PCClub is handling it. They are working very closely with me and seem to be committed to get my order in, figure out if there is anything we can change to get the order out sooner, and the shipping it ASAP. So chalk another one for PCClub.

MIR Getting Closer To Launch

I just got back from a Radio Shack run to get some last minute cables and other supplies that we needed. Still no word on the PCClub package that we so desperately need.

More Equipment Setup

I went back to the CSMBC studio and setup more of the equipment and created a list of everything we need. It’s going to be tight, but we should be broadcasting before the 17th.

Equipment Has Arrived!

I talked with John Kane yesterday, and he said that equipment that CSMBC ordered from Dell and PCClub had been ordered and had been shipped. I also talked with Derek Morgan and he said that he also saw boxes from BSW USA, so that meant that everything we ordered should have arrived. Unfortunately, when I got in to the office, only items from Dell and BSW USA had arrived. So I set up one of the studios and some of the equipment from BSW USA. I also took the streaming server home so I could get it set up. So that’s what I’m working on now.

More Hurdles for CSMBC

We have our money, we have our shopping list. But now we have to jump through some more hoops to get our stuff. We’re having to work with the Finance and Operations department to get some music licensing issue taken care of now. Ugh.

My Last Day as a FreeMan…At Least For Now

Today is pretty much my last day as a free man. Tomorrow I start my intern ship at Nordstrom’s. I’ll go right from that to setting up the MIR station at Mines, then school starts on the 23rd of August. School will be be pretty much non-stop until mid-December (end of Fall semester). That will be my first break. Of course, that will only last for about a month, just long enough to catch my breath. Then I start up again mid-January and go at it again until school gets out in May. w00t!

UW Makes DARPA Cut?

I looks like UW has made DARPA’s cut for the 2006 Grand Challenge, although it’s not that obvious. A picture of UW’s vehicle cross-referenced with a DARPA press release (PDF) lead me to that conclusion. This is rather exciting news since I worked on a similar (concept?) vehicle last year at UW.

I hope that Mines gets on the boat and starts a Grand Challenge vehicle soon. I would do it myself, but my plate is pretty much full for the time being with new CSM Broadcasting Club and whatnot.

I Love It When People Think I’m Wrong and I’m Not

Every once in a while, some idiot who thinks they know everything questions my authority and is dead wrong. It becomes even more aggravating when said person works under you and despite not know what they’re talking about, they still talk about it anyways. Such is the case of John Bishop (name changed to protect the guilty). My favorite part was when John and his “friends” noted a blatant inaccuracy in your numbers for how many people could listen to the stream at any one time inside the mines network. You stated that the network was more than capable of handling 5000 users at 128kbps. This comes out to 640000kbps, or 640Mbps. This happens to be more than six times the 100Mbps that the Mines LAN runs at, a fact the members of the committee that also work in networking will notice. Even if the LAN is Gigabit this would take a very significant portion of the entire bandwidth available. Just thought we’d point out some problems and technical inaccuracies in the report that was turned into the tech fee committee.”

While the numbers do look like it would be impossible, it is, in fact, not. Due to the miracle of multicasting. Perhaps the best part is that John was at the meeting with Academic Computing and Networking where they specifically brought up the issue of multicasting and I explicitly said, “Yes, we will have multicasting.”

So what does this teach you? Andrew is always right1

  1. execpt when he’s wrong ↩