Inventory:
- Dell R720 [Dual Xeon E5-2660v2 2.2GHz; 256gb; Dual 750w] ($220)
- Dell 1100w power supplies ($60)
- Lexar 480gb SSD ($25)
- HDD Cadyy SSD ($5)
- 5 x 3tb SAS HDD ($45)
- Dual Nvidia P40 [24gb; 3840 cuda cores each] ($440)
​- 3D Printed Server Stand
Total =  $795cdn

A good programming assignment would be to generate a Cylinder Maze for 3D Printing. 

Some requirements:

• 2 Slots for traversing through the maze, 180 degrees from each other.
• Multiple Start Points, but only 1 End Point
• Maze must wrap horizontally
• Algorithm to assess the difficulty of the maze

References:

Spherical Maze Generation
www.cs.umd.edu/users/mount/Indep/Xue-Li/xue-scholarly-paper.pdf

​

The following are the SunExpert (and ServerWorkstationExpert) magazines that have been scanned in and turned into PDFs.  The plan is to import them into Archive.org when I have a chance to add the Meta Data.  

If anyone has any of the missing issues, either as paper copies or PDF, let me know.  

Volume Summary:

1991 - SunExpert (Mar, May, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec)
1992 - SunExpert (Jan to Dec)
1993 - SunExpert (Missing Aug, Sep, Oct)
1994 - SunExpert (Missing Sep)
1995 - SunExpert (Only have Jan)
1996 - SunExpert (Only have Oct, Nov)
1997 - SunExpert (Missing Feb, Jun)
1998 - SunExpert (Jan to Dec)
1999 - ServerWorkstationExpert (Jan to Dec)
2000 - ServerWorkstationExpert (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr)

Issue Specifics:

ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n01-1999-01.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n02-1999-02.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n03-1999-03.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n04-1999-04.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n05-1999-05.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n06-1999-06.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n07-1999-07.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n08-1999-08.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n09-1999-09.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n10-1999-10.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n11-1999-11.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v10n12-1999-12.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v11n01-2000-01.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v11n02-2000-02.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v11n03-2000-03.pdf
ServerWorkstationExpert-v11n04-2000-04.pdf
SunExpert-v02n03-1991-03.pdf
SunExpert-v02n05-1991-05.pdf
SunExpert-v02n08-1991-08.pdf
SunExpert-v02n09-1991-09.pdf
SunExpert-v02n10-1991-10.pdf
SunExpert-v02n11-1991-11.pdf
SunExpert-v02n12-1991-12.pdf
SunExpert-v03n01-1992-01.pdf
SunExpert-v03n02-1992-02.pdf
SunExpert-v03n03-1992-03.pdf
SunExpert-v03n04-1992-04.pdf
SunExpert-v03n05-1992-05.pdf
SunExpert-v03n06-1992-06.pdf
SunExpert-v03n07-1992-07.pdf
SunExpert-v03n08-1992-08.pdf
SunExpert-v03n09-1992-09.pdf
SunExpert-v03n10-1992-10.pdf
SunExpert-v03n11-1992-11.pdf
SunExpert-v03n12-1992-12.pdf
SunExpert-v04n01-1993-01.pdf
SunExpert-v04n02-1993-02.pdf
SunExpert-v04n03-1993-03.pdf
SunExpert-v04n04-1993-04.pdf
SunExpert-v04n05-1993-05.pdf
SunExpert-v04n06-1993-06.pdf
SunExpert-v04n07-1993-07.pdf
SunExpert-v04n11-1993-11.pdf
SunExpert-v04n12-1993-12.pdf
SunExpert-v05n01-1994-01.pdf
SunExpert-v05n02-1994-02.pdf
SunExpert-v05n03-1994-03.pdf
SunExpert-v05n04-1994-04.pdf
SunExpert-v05n05-1994-05.pdf
SunExpert-v05n06-1994-06.pdf
SunExpert-v05n07-1994-07.pdf
SunExpert-v05n08-1994-08.pdf
SunExpert-v05n10-1994-10.pdf
SunExpert-v05n11-1994-11.pdf
SunExpert-v05n12-1994-12.pdf
SunExpert-v06n01-1995-01.pdf
SunExpert-v07n10-1996-10.pdf
SunExpert-v07n11-1996-11.pdf
SunExpert-v08n01-1997-01.pdf
SunExpert-v08n03-1997-03.pdf
SunExpert-v08n04-1997-04.pdf
SunExpert-v08n05-1997-05.pdf
SunExpert-v08n07-1997-07.pdf
SunExpert-v08n08-1997-08.pdf
SunExpert-v08n09-1997-09.pdf
SunExpert-v08n10-1997-10.pdf
SunExpert-v08n11-1997-11.pdf
SunExpert-v08n12-1997-12.pdf
SunExpert-v09n01-1998-01.pdf
SunExpert-v09n02-1998-02.pdf
SunExpert-v09n03-1998-03.pdf
SunExpert-v09n04-1998-04.pdf
SunExpert-v09n05-1998-05.pdf
SunExpert-v09n06-1998-06.pdf
SunExpert-v09n07-1998-07.pdf
SunExpert-v09n08-1998-08.pdf
SunExpert-v09n09-1998-09.pdf
SunExpert-v09n10-1998-10.pdf
SunExpert-v09n11-1998-11.pdf
SunExpert-v09n12-1998-12.pdf

One thing that I'm interested in are non-intuitive solutions.  Like when a problem is solved in a unique novel way and not something that one would expect.  

Delta Arm Robot - When you think about it - if someone asked you to design a robot arm that picked up things, you would probably model it after a human arm. You probably wouldn't think to use they 3 robot arms suspended from above and use a vacuum suction cup as the gripper.

Just received these NeXTWorld magazines.

1992

Winter 1992 (Volume 2 Issue 4)

1993

Feb/Mar (Volume 3 Issue 1) (2)
April/May (Volume 3 Issue 2) - 2 copies
June/July 1993 (Volume 3 Issue 3) - 2 copies
August 1993 (Volume 3 Issue 4) - 2 copies
September 1993 (Volume 3 Issue 5)
October 1993 (Volume 3 Issue 6) - 2 copies
November 1993 (Volume 3 Issue 7) - 2 copies
December 1993 (Volume 3 Issue 8) - 2 copies

1994

January 1994 (Volume 4 Issue 1)
February 1994 (Volume 4 Issue 2) - 2 copies
March 1994 (Volume 4 Issue 3) 
April 1994 (Volume 4 Issue 4) - 2 copies

Other

​Pamphlet from NeXTWorld magazine. 

The first issue of NeXTWORLD magazine was printed in 1991. It was published in San Francisco by Integrated Media and edited by Michael Miley and later Dan Ruby. It was the only mainstream periodical to discuss NeXT computers, the operating system, and NeXT software. The publication was discontinued in 1994 after only four volumes. [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT]

PBS Nova documentary about the Darpa Grand Challenge.  It's interesting to see the comparison of approaches between Stanford and Carnegie Mellon. 

www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/about.html

How close are we to virtualization of a person? The technology developed over the past 1-2 years is really impressive.

Step 1 - Scan in a Person.  One company that does full-body scans is Artec3D (https://www.artec3d.com/handheld-3d-scanners/shapifybooth).

Step 2 - Create animations from the scanned 3D model. ​

Next Phase: Step 4 - Construct Hologram or 3D projection onto a Mannequin (later a robot that moves).

Next Phase: Step 5 - Develop chat bot for talking with your supervisor (just negate anything he says and you will do fine).

Looking back at the year, I was thinking what software and hardware have I been the most happy with.  

Hardware:

• Apple MacBook Pro 13" (2009 and 2010) - I have two of these devices. One for personal use and one for business. They are seriously great laptops.
  
• Asus Transformer Mini T102HA - this is a 10.1" tablet with an attachable keyboard and stylus. I had wanted a device that I could a) read PDFs papers with and underline text; and b) write notes. I also didn't want to pay $1200 for something like a Microsoft Surface or an Apple iPad Pro. Instead I purchased this device for $299 and was surprised that it also ran Windows 10. I loaded Synthesis (www.synthesis.info) onto the device and was really surprised it had the power to run it.  
• Nvidia Cool Master 590 case (home -built computer) - Still an awesome case. 
• Raspberry Pi Model 3 B - powerful enough to run a NAS (www.openmediavault.org).
• Seiki 4K 39" monitor (SE39UY04) - great large monitor for development and display.

Software:

• VirtualBox - My default virtualization software (I also have VMWare and Parallels)
• Skype - Its surprising how often I use Skype and how well it works.  
• Balsamiq Mockup 3 (www.balsamiq.com) - A very good application for mocking up GUIs.
• NotePad++ (www.notepad-plus-plus.org) - An excellent text editor.  
• Synthesis (www.synthesis.info) - Even though I co-developed the software, I use it alot for academic literature searches.
• Open Media Vault (www.openmediavault.org) - Network Attached Storage software. 
  
• Etcher (www.etcher.io) - software to write ISO files.
  
• PDF XChange Viewer  (https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer)

Development Software:

• IntelliJ (www.jetbrains.com/idea/) - Java IDE
• WebStorm (www.jetbrains.com/webstorm) - HTML/JavaScript IDE
• RStudio (www.rstudio.com) - R IDE
• OxygenXML (www.oxygenxml.com) - XML Editor (with great support for DITA)

Software that I would have liked to have tried:

• InfoGraphics (http://www.jumsoft.com/toolbox-for-ms-office/) - Interesting Templates. (Pictogram/Pictograph)
• Timeline 3D (https://www.beedocs.com/timeline3D/mac/) 
• Office Timeline (www.officetimeline.com)
  

The following are Java related items in the collection. It includes Java hardware, Java Development IDEs, Java commercial packaged software, and Promotional Items.

JavaStation-1 (1996-2000)

Was a Network Computer (NC) that was created to run only Java Applications. Could be considered a Thin Client today.

Codename was Mr. Coffee.

 100 MHz MicroSPARC IIep CPU 
​

JavaStation-NC (JavaStation-10) (1996-2000)

Was a Network Computer (NC) that was created to run only Java Applications. Could be considered a Thin Client today.
​
Codename was Krups. 

 100 MHz MicroSPARC IIep CPU ​

Java Ring (1988)

A ring-mounted Java virtual machine compatible with the Java Card 2.0 .  It was given to attendees of the 1998 JavaOne conference.

Based upon a iButton (1-wire) design. The ring could be connected to a RS-232 interface for transferring data. The interfaced pictured has two mounts to allow joint authentication to occur.  

Sun SPOT Java Development Kit (2007)

Sun SPOT stood for "Sun Small Programmable Object Technology". It was a sensor node technology for a wireless sensor networks. The device used IEEE 802.15.4 for networking,and used the Squawk Java virtual machine.
​

Borland JBuilder

IBM Visual Age for Java

Microsoft Visual J++
​

Symantec Cafe

Code Warrior for Java
​

Sun Java Desktop System (2003)
​

Sun ONE Starter Kit

Sun Star Office 6.0