Computer Graphics VRML World File

Here is a copy of the VRML World file for the VRML Assignment #1.

Patrick McNeil VRML Assignment

Computer Graphics Assignment #1

For the first semester in Computer Graphics CISD-792 at Nova Southeastern University, we need to create a spinning cube in OpenGL.  As part of the project I created the attached video of my first assignment.

In addition, there is a second portion to use VRML to create a table with four objects with specific functions.

• Red Cylinder is drag able anywhere on the table

• Dark blue octagon extruded pyramid is clickable and performs sentry movement around the perimeter of the table

• Green cone when clicked moves up off the table and then rotates in two directions and the returns back to the beginning position

• The light blue pyramid flashes through a range of colors

Reinstalled Computer For Christmas

I ended up reinstalling my computer over the Christmas break because of some issues with the configuration.  I have decided to try to utilize a development VMWare workstation (Running Ubuntu) instead of trying to use the Windows host OS as a pseudo development environment.  This configuration should make development much easier.

I am also reconfiguring my web site trying out Weebly for the hosting or if I am just going to use the current Blogger for the main CMS.  The Blogger seems much easier and more appropriate at this point.

One of my projects I am looking at doing right now is creating a set of common configuration for Cisco network equipment and best practices (OSPF configuration, BGP, etc.).

Preparing for a UCS Rack Server Install

Today, I am getting ready to install a new UCS Rack server system at a customer location.  They have four Cisco UCS rack systems (two R200 and two R210) systems.  They are using iSCSI for their SAN connectivity (versus local storage).   The plan is to use the R210 servers for the a MySQL cluster and the two R200 systems as CMTS pollers.  The CMTS pollers are basically just SNMP pollers for the system that will both perform the polling function.

The UCS systems are connected to the a Nexus 2000 running of the Nexus 7000 switch infrastructure. This configuration was very similar to that of the Nexus 5000/2000 combination (after doing the appropriate software upgrades of course).

First Post Trying Out Blogger

This is a first post just trying out Blogger versus hosting my own Wordpress Blog.  I liked the Wordpress blog (hosted on my home server), just thought I would try to see if I can go to a blended hosting solution with free Google services using my Google Apps custom domain.

Next step is to try to import my current Wordpress blog into Blogger.

Back to Work on Java SNMP Polling

I am working on a project for a customer that utilizes the Java SNMP polling components I created for the SNAT project a while ago.  The application is a full management application for a CMTS reporting application.  The application will use the Java SNMP polling components for the backend data collection.  The front end is written in PHP / AJAX with a Google maps API integration.

The main components of the application are the ability for customers to access their network performance statistics and see current availability information.  The technicians have the ability to see the overall status of the network (including a list of nodes that are linked on the same piece of fiber / copper to help troubleshoot issues more easily.

Finished the Google Wave Usability Testing Paper!

I have been spending a lot of time working on the usability testing of Google Wave for my final research project in the HCI class.  Things went well overall for the testing (especially considering that Google Wave is in a preview / pre-beta mode).

The hardest part of the process was getting the Google Wave invites.  I have an account (so I can invite others), but it took almost a week to get the invites.  Which normally is not too bad of a deal, but because of some procrastination on my part, we got the invites worked out just a couple of days before the usability study was scheduled with my participants.

Overall, we had three people familiar with computers, but not computer experts by any means.  All three participants were familiar with computers in general and I had done a little one-on-one training with them before hand and provided them the link to the Gina Trapani's Complete Guide to Google Wave (http://completewaveguide.com).  However, the participants were not overly familiar with using Google Wave.

The study consisted of the following simple tasks:

• Create a Grocery List


• Copy Text from a Document


• Create a Birthday Card

Overall, the participants did well on the study (as far as following the instructions of the study).  The birthday card was the only component they were not very successful and creating.  The difficulty is in manipulating the position of the images within the document itself.  Although it is an issue with Google Wave, this is not really what Google Wave was designed for (desktop publishing).  Additionally, Google Wave is not really even in beta yet, so there are some rough edges.

The grocery list worked out the best (not that I would expect real-world application of this).  I think distributed groups brainstorming on a common idea is the current best real-world case for Google Wave.