February 5, 2016
Hello! My main task for this week has been becoming familiar with the software that I'll be working with for the rest of my project. Unfortunately, I have been largely unable to do so because of some unforeseen technical difficulties. The main problem has been installing and using the "OpenCV" software, because apparently either my computer doesn't like to do what it's told, or the software encounters some bugs when being installed by new users.Since I do not have the technical know-how to fix all the software problems, I have been relying on my advisor to remedy these issues. In turn, he has to identify the problems and try to come up with solutions. Needless to say, the process takes a while, so not a whole lot of progress has been made on the actual project front.
On the upside, I have gained some general computer skills. Specifically, I have become more familiar with Terminal, which is an old school computer interface that preceded the type of user interface you and I are familiar with today. It looks like this:
and it used to be the way in which people navigated their computers.It can be used to install packages, manipulate files, and even wipe the entire hard drive, among other things. I have discovered that it also has some cool built in functions like games (you can imagine the amount of free time I have while waiting for complicated solutions), and I have had to use it to implement some of the solutions my advisor has come up with.
While the technical difficulties are certainly a setback in the progress of my project, it is nothing I cannot overcome with a little bit of overtime. And anyway, I think I've made pretty good use of the unexpected free time.
Hi Jacob,
ReplyDeleteLooking at this screen reminds me of this old Zenith I used in college. All this DOS stuff would appear every time it came on and I actually had to give it a command. Good times.
I'm so glad that this is not the norm anymore!
DeleteHey Jacob, your project sounds fantastic, (even though it may be difficult work)! How do you think you'll help inprove USGS ASC's image matching algorithms? (And what's that "Antelope Above the Yampa" jpg you got there?) ;)
ReplyDeleteIt is very difficult to work! Well, I don't believe I'll be doing a whole lot to change the actual software that's already written. I'll be doing some, but the most coding I'll be doing will be to implement the matching algorithms. Most of my project will be testing the algorithms on different conditions in order to determine which algorithm (there are several) work best under which conditions (scale differences, lighting differences, etc.). That's how I'll be helping to improve the algorithms. (That jpg is an actual antelope above the Yampa River that I used in a presentation for GCY last year).
DeleteHa! This is cool. You explained the purpose of your project in your last post very well. I understood it, even though I know basically NOTHING about programming. What are you using Terminal for? Do you need to be in the Terminal interface for the OpenCV software?
ReplyDeleteI don't really need Terminal for the OpenCV part, but I do need it do some "housekeeping" on my computer. For example, updating several of the programs I'm using to run the code requires using Terminal, as well as altering the environment in which I'm running the code.
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