Unallocated chords on the Twiddler can be programmed to produce any character or string that you want. You are welcome to add mappings, but please don't erase those that belong to others (we probably need some coordinated way of doing this).
For the faint of heart, we have a single wrist-mounted keyboard (which is impossible to touch-type on), as well as several small, standard-layout keyboards (which are not very portable). Simply detach the twiddler keyboard connector and replace it with the keyboard of your choice.
When you are developing code on the wearables, you will find it easiest to login to them remotely from a desktop machine (even while wearing the device).
In general, you should only use this button to turn on the system. Pressing it when the system is already on potentially puts the machine in a bad state. There is one exception to this: if the machine is already on and in a funny state, the best thing to do is hold the button down for several seconds. This will turn the machine off and will be indicated by the power light going off. You can then reboot the machine by tapping the power button again (of course, the machine will have to perform disk repairs on reboot). Only use this technique if nothing else works. If you are able to login to the machine (either from the console or remotely), you are better off shutting down the system cleanly.
When you initially power up the computer and you are using the Twiddler keyboard, the bios will complain about not being able to see a keyboard (if you are using the HUD, look directly at the LCD element do not user the mirror - the image at this stage is not bright enough to see the reflection). I don't know whose fault this is, but the solution is to hit F1 on the twiddler (this is the NUM, ALT, and A keys all at once). This will bring up the linux lilo boot prompt. You then just need to wait for the login prompt.
As a precaution on boot, the machines automatically schedule themselves to shut down after 3.5 hours. If you are not heavily loading the processor, then the machines will happily and cleanly shut themselves down. This also means that you should only boot a processor when it has a fresh battery (or is on shore power).
A heavily loaded processor drops the battery life to about 2 hours. If this is your situation, then you are responsible for monitoring the battery status yourself. You can do this by pulling the battery out of its pouch and punching the button on the front (all without disconnecting it from the power cable). The battery will light up a number of LEDs indicating the power remaining. If only one red LED comes on, please shut the machine down immediately.
To shutdown the machine, execute /sbin/shutdown -c
to cancel
the automatically-scheduled shutdown, and then a /sbin/shutdown -h
now. Before doing this, make sure that no-one else is on the
machine (via finger). Also - make sure you use
the /sbin version of shutdown.
Once you run a battery down, please make sure that it gets on a charger. An alternative to running on batteries is to connect to shore power. The battery charger has a connector that can be used in place of the one for the battery (both connect to the main processor unit). To disengage, squeeze both sides of the connector and pull (gently). When you boot a machine on shore power, make sure that you cancel the automatically scheduled shutdown.
The robotics lab will generally be occupied during the day (especially after 11 am). Please make yourself known to whomever is in the lab before you touch the wearable equipment. We will set up some specific times that the lab will be open. You are also welcome to find Andy or Jad in their offices for lab access. Note that there is a lot of other equipment in the lab space; please do not touch any of the robots or their components. If you need to borrow tools (for use in the lab) you are welcome to do so - but PLEASE ASK FIRST.
The wearables are available for checkout, as are the battery chargers, and extra keyboards (including the one wrist-mounted keyboard). You must sign out each piece of equipment before it leaves the room. For the time being, use of the equipment is restricted to the CS building, the 3rd floor of the LGRC, and the EdLab (in LGRT). You are personally responsible for any equipment that you check out. If a hardware problem develops while a machine is in your care, then YOU are responsible for making sure that it gets fixed. This does not necessarily mean that you have to personally solder things back together, but you need to take the steps to make sure that it is fixed by someone. Please do not do any hardware servicing without checking with Andy first.
Whenever you have the computers in public spaces (or private spaces with lots of foot traffic), please keep the computer attached to your body -- REALLY.
We will not have any formal means by which a machine is allocated to a particular group. As the homework assignments and projects begin, you should tend toward using one or two machines (hopefully with minimal overlap with other groups). This will make the process of keeping ones' files in sync much easier.
Each working group should only check out a single machine, unless the work explicitly calls for more than one. In the latter case, please give priority to groups without machines. Note that there are others not directly involved with the class who have work to do on these machines.
Three of our Xybernauts are equipped with Heads-Up Displays (sound works on two of these); two are equipped with wrist-mounted displays. Depending upon demand for the different configurations, it is conceivable that we can swap a wrist-mounted display for the HUD on neo to create a 3rd sound-capable HUDed machine. But - please ask first.
Last modified: Tue Jan 30 18:55:44 2001