Ken,
I do that same sleep trick with some of my startup scripts too!
I can't tell you how much fun I've had with BirdCam. It's been so enjoyable, and I've actually learned a ton in the process. My Android phone did a pretty cruddy job with video too, but it takes amazingly high-res photos and has been running nonstop for almost a year now. Good luck on your CarCam project!
That's really awesome about your Linux use with senior citizens. It crushes the stereotype that only young geeks can use Linux, which is great. Also, isn't it fun to see people just "use" Linux, and not think or care about it? I loved watching kids in the K12 school I worked in use thin clients and not realize it was different from any other computer they use.
Thanks again for the message--Shawn Powers
Regarding Shawn's "rc.local, Cron-Style piece in the June issue's upfront section, I use heyu for home automation running on an Eee PC that auto-restarts after a power outage. Attempting to start heyu before the boot process is finished causes problems so, I use the following:
@reboot /bin/sleep 120 ; /usr/local/bin/heyu_startThe sleep 120 causes a 120 second delay of the heyu_start script.
Your BirdCam has inspired me to stick an old Linksys router in my car with a laptop and Android phone. It works in video mode but is blocky, so I'm going to try your conversion of still shots to video soon.
I've got a small group of senior citizens converted to Linux here in Newark, Ohio, USA. We share a 12-seat classroom with the other operating system and iPad classes. The local computer society, of which we are members, is ~180 members stron,g and we are loosely associated with the local Licking County Aging Program.
Consider this a thank you to you personally and the magazine staff in general.
Ken Bixler
