Taken with a PalmPix camera...

[alexpgp]

This photo was taken in low ambient light, with no flash, using a Kodak PalmPix camera, which hooks onto the sync port of a Palm III and uses the Palm's software and storage to turn the combo into a cheap digital camera.

I've resampled the image from 640 x 480 to 320 x 240 and saved it as a 70 dpi JPG with 25% compression.

The specifications on the unit are as follows: The lens on the unit is f/2.0, with a focal length of 6.1 mm and a focusing distance of from 36 inches to infinity. The shutter speed varies from 1/15 to 1/500 of a second.

The quality of the photo is not stellar, but neither is the price of the unit ($99 at the local Franklin Covey store). Futhermore, I suspect it would take better pictures given more light to play with.

The subject, BTW, is yours truly, at his position in the MCC, during a break in the action.

Cheers...

Comments

Not too bad

[velocity.livejournal.com]

That is actually a better image than I would have suspected. For some strange reason I had it in my head that the Palm Pix only took B&W pics. I don't know where I got that from.

And by the way, Alex. Thats a good picture of you too.

Re: Not too bad

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Well, the "image" that appears on the screen of a non-color Palm III is a 4-bit grayscale smudge, but the unit does 24-bit color.

I'm sure I'll find a use for it.

Thanks for the kind assessment of the dude in the image.

Cheers...

Re: Not too bad

[velocity.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean. It probably works in the same way that the old B&W Mac SE30 used to have the ability to connect to an external color monitor.

One more thing, I was trying to figure out who you look like in that picture. It finally occurred to me...Michael J. Fox. And I mean that as a compliment. Hey, at least I didn't say that you looked like my dad!

...

[bryn.livejournal.com]

Hehe.. you remind me so much of my dad (that's a good thing).

P.S. Do you know the codes for typing Russian characters? I keep trying to show my online friends what I'm learning in my Russian class, but I don't know how to type most of it. Thanks=)

Re: ...

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

A good thing, eh? I guess, then, I'll take that as a compliment.

It's generally not easy to get non-ASCII characters to show up well without some coordination, especially online. In particular, the side doing the receiving has to know how to represent the incoming data, which might be in Russian, or Greek, or Chinese, or what have you.

For example, right now I'm using a Windows machine, configured with the appropriate fonts and keyboard to do Russian. The next paragraph consists of the Russian word "Moskva" (the name for Moscow - spelled in this paragraph using Latin characters).

Москва.

Unless your browser is set up to expect Cyrillic characters, you'll probably see a six characters that look nothing like Russian (more than likely vowels with diacritical marks over them).

One alternative is to go with images (such as BMPs or JPGs). Still curious?

Cheers...

Re: ...

[bryn.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... looks like Russian to me. I guess this computer supports it. How'd you do that?

Re: ...

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Assuming you have a Windows machine:

Click on "Start"; then on "Settings"; then on "Control Panel."

Open the "Add/Remove Programs" icon.

Click on the tab at the top that says "Windows Setup."

Scroll down the list to "Multilanguage Support."

Click the check box to install it. Click on OK.

(At this point, depending on how your box is set up, you may need to insert the Windows CD so the appropriate files can be copied over.)

Once multilanguage support is installed, repeat the procedure for getting to the Control Panel, then open the "Keyboard" icon. Click on the "Language" tab at the top. Click on "Add"; select Russian. Close the Keyboard dialog by clicking on "OK." Again, you may have to insert the operating system CD.

Reboot your machine. When it comes back up, you should see a small blue box in your system tray (lower right hand corner, next to the time). It should read 'En' (for 'English', natch).

Press the left Alt key and then the Shift key; the 'En' in the box ought to change to 'Ru'. Now try typing.

You should see Cyrillic.

Hope this helps.

Cheers...

coolness

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Ooooh monitors. Scrumptious. Random digression: Working for NASA was my dream when I was very young. Somehow, watching the Challenger accident in kindergarten didn't dampen my enthusiasm. Having the Air Force tell me I was too short to be an astronaut and my glasses would keep me from being being a fighter pilot.. well that was more crushing.

Re: coolness

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

No disrespect for the USAF intended, but there are a lot of astronauts who are neither in the military nor pilots.

Taking the liberty of quoting from a JSC Web page on astronaut selection and training (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/factsheets/nasapubs/9707006.html):

Mission specialists have similar requirements to pilot astronauts, except that the qualifying physical is a NASA Class II space physical, which is similar to a military of civilian Class II flight physical and includes the following specific standards: for vision-distance visual acuity - 20/200 or better uncorrected, correctable to 20/20, each eye. For Blood pressure-Same as for Pilots. Height requirements for mission specialists are between 58.5 and 76 inches.

The application package may be obtained by writing to the Astronaut Selection Office, Mail Code AHX, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058-3696.

Cheers...