Sunday, July 26, 2009

How to Send Binary File to Serial Port Under Linux

Recently I need to send a binary file to a device connected to the serial port of my PC. Under windows I can use the 'send binary file' in teraterm, how about under minicom?

The solution is simple, if your serial port is COM1:

cat [filename] > /dev/ttyS0

Or if you are using some kind of USB to serial converter:

cat [filename] > /dev/ttyUSB0

Note: The number could differ depending on your system configuration, it could be /dev/ttyUSB4 for example. To check what is the number, do a 'ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*'

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Dead Wood Syndrome

When a tree grows big enough, some branches will stop functioning, and they become dead wood. Similarly, when a company grows to a certain size, some people will stop contributing positively, and literally, they are also becoming dead wood.

For a company, the problem doesn't stop at the productivity lost from the dead wood employees. Due to the nature of dead wood, they will sap energy and productivity away from those good employees. 'Good employees' in this context refers to productive and contributing people in a company. Eventually the good ones will either feel overloaded or frustrated because of the under-appreciation from the management. In one way or another, they can and will find a better place to work .

What runs parallel with this is Gresham's Law: bad money drives out good.

I am witnessing the exact problem now in my company. The incompetent people are driving out a good engineer. This makes me to rethink my career path...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Love Story

Recently my colleague told me there is a song which is a hit called "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. He knows that because his daughters like it very very much.

The music video looks nice, mainly because Taylor is pretty. Lyrics-wise I have nothing much to talk about because it is the standard stuff. Nevertheless, it is still worth a look if you have nothing much to do.


Saturday, July 04, 2009

Wishing Myself A Happy Birthday

Just come home from a drinking session with colleagues, however today I really had no mood to drink. It is July 4. For all these years, I never forget this day....

I like this song, its title is: wishing myself a Happy Birthday... Hope you like it...