Setup of Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager on Synology

This took me a while to find.  Hoping to spare you that time, I thought I'd share.

If you are installing the Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager on a Synology device running Docker, you'll note that you need to explore the container filesystem in order to locate a file named "admin.password" in order to log into the application as administrator and complete setup.

Getting to this file on the Synology is not particularly straightforward.

Also, the hints Sonatype provides for the file location is not correct, at least in my instance which is "Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager OSS 3.20.0-04".

To find the file:

1. Establish an SSH connection to your Synology unit.
2. Elevate your permissions using Sudo.
3. Assuming your Docker instance is installed on volume1, change directories to /volume1/@docker/volumes
4. You may see one or more subdirectories here.  I only had one, and the directory name is a long GUID.  Change to this directory.
5. Notice that the important file named "admin.password" is located here, not where they tell you.
6. use the command "cat admin.password" to list out the contents of the file.  The password will be quite long.
7. Go back to your browser and log into your Sonatype instance using this password.
8. Enjoy.

If any of this is unclear let me know and I will provide more instructions.

Is Blogger still a thing?

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here.  I suppose it's because I got involved with Google+, but also I've been busy starting up a robotics company in my spare time.

Tomorrow, 7/7/17, at 7am, I'm finally putting my first product, Simula, officially up for sale at http://www.ChicagoRobotics.net.  It's been a remarkable amount of work getting to this point, and I loved every minute of it.  I had to teach myself robotics from the ground up, including circuit design, 3D modelling, circuit board manufacture, behavior tree development... man when I look back at all that it really looks daunting.  It's a good thing I was too stupid to come to my senses and stop myself, because it's not really rational.

Well anyway, I'm back, and I'll be posting more.  I'm just wondering if Blogger is the right place these days... fortunately I'm all wired up with Google Analytics so I'll be able to figure out where exactly is the new hotness.

Here is a video that describes Simula:

Projects & Snow globes

Project teams are like snow globes; they function best after a good shake-up.

Eagle PCB to Autodesk Inventor - how to do it

This is mostly a note to myself, but I thought I'd share it in case it helps somebody.

To get an Eagle PCB board outline & drills into Inventor, you use the DXF export utility in Eagle.

Before exporting, make sure Eagle is only displaying the following layers, assuming you're using the default layer setup:
17 - Pads
20 - Dimension
44 - Drills
45 - Holes
46 - Milling

(Note, you might want to select additional layers, but I'd start with these first, because Inventor chokes on more.)

Next, click File/Export/DXF and save your file someplace.  I stick them in a sub-folder of my Eagle project named "Export".

Now go to Inventor and open the DXF file.  An import routine will be triggered, use these values:

Selective Import, layers 20 and 44.  Look at the drawing to confirm you're getting what you want.

Check - Wires
Specify units - mm (if that's what you used in Eagle)
Check - Constrain End Points and Apply Geometric Constraints
Select "New Part - Project wires to 2D sketch"
Mapping options - Check "Map all layers ... single sketch"

Click Finish.

Tada!  There is your board as an Eagle sketch, properly sized, ready for extrusion.

Now, you might ask, "Why are you displaying those layers in Eagle for the export, but then ignoring them in Inventor?"  The answer - it looks like Eagle has a bug.  Without enabling all those layers, the drills don't come across.  At all.  Frustrating, but surmountable.

Also... if you're getting your boards made by OSHPark.com, then you can go ahead and extrude the board at 1.8mm in thickness.  This is the same value for both 2 and 4 layer boards.

Meshbot 2 chassis design released

I published "Meshbot 2" my second 3D printed robot chassis design on Thingiverse, you can check it out here.

So many grindstones, so little nose

I'm so thankful that I get to do the kind of work I do.  Writing software is a blast!

Human evolution - Selfishness vs. Altruism

Just read a great article:

http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/human-nature-needs-be-back-business?google_editors_picks=true

In it, there is a nice quote from Darwin.  This side of Darwin's thinking was ignored by his robber-baron lauding "social Darwinist" contemporaries:

An advancement in the standard of morality will certainly give an immense advantage to one tribe over another. A tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy, were always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection.

This perspective was not ignored by Kropotkin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin#Cooperation_and_competition

Kropotkin was misunderstood and belittled by his western contemporaries, as Gould describes in this great article:

http://www.marxists.org/subject/science/essays/kropotkin.htm