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As a result of Circuit City's demise, I picked up a Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF for 10% off. It turned out to not be that great a deal - and there are no returns (all sales final blah blah).

I had checked out the Linux-UVC compatibility list prior to the purchase - and the green checkmark indicated that I wouldn't have any issues. Unfortunately, the list is apparently old and I ran into the same problems that plague the rest of the newer (but not newest) Logitech webcams. The model I have has a new ASIC that causes issues with some USB controllers (mine), and results in camera hangups that require a replug to fix:

[566667.326280] usb 5-2.1.2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16
[566667.582562] usb 5-2.1.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[566667.584565] usb 5-2.1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=0994
[566667.584572] usb 5-2.1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=2
[566667.584575] usb 5-2.1.2: SerialNumber: FEDD0620
[566667.708117] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device <unnamed> (046d:0994)
[566667.741844] input: UVC Camera (046d:0994) as /class/input/input11
[566667.749022] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[566667.749028] USB Video Class driver (v0.1.0)
[566668.192587] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[566984.156115] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[574923.429272] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[574939.219807] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[574941.630850] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575011.593460] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575016.990770] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575018.980173] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575020.213718] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575021.501584] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575022.806163] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575024.072497] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575025.360760] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575028.903207] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575030.059617] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575035.453251] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575037.144294] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575038.364545] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575039.878514] uvcvideo: Failed to query (1) UVC control 1 (unit 0) : -110 (exp. 26).
[575108.063789] usb 5-2.1.2: USB disconnect, address 16

I got the above from luvcview and MPlayer randomly, and have to replug in the camera to get it to work again. mjpg-streamer didn't work at all, which I thought was odd.

So, without the return option, I connected it to my Mac mini. iChat recognized it without much effort, and I was able to get one of the CLI image grabbing utilities to work, wacaw.

Overall the 2 MP CCD seems to be of high quality, allowing me to capture at the maximum native resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels. I'm ont going to worry about the pan/tilt/zoom right now, because I have a feeling I'm not going to get anywhere with it. If it did work in GNU/Linux, I'd use the uvcdynctrl stuff.

Here's a sample image (click on it for the full PNG):

Who says they don't happen anymore. They do!

Stupid birds…

So, here's the weekend so far.

On Friday I went with some friends to The Mez in uptown Charlotte, which offers semi-yuppie dining, chill bar, and theatre. It ended up turning into a club at the end of the evening, actually. We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was a quite spectacular film.

On Saturday, I took down the tree, did some shopping and picked up a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. There was actually a 50% chance it wouldn't work with Linux, since there are some documented issues with the "0x0008" revision that were manufactured before December 2008. Unfortunatly, that's the revision I ended up getting (you can't tell by the box), so I'm going to return it today.

Also, when I was out and about, I saw a number of people wearing Carolina Panthers jerseys. Being completely oblivious to everything sports, I only realized the significance of it when my upstairs neighbors dropped by (first time I met them..) asking if I wanted to join their party and watch the game. Nice of them to ask, but little did they know that I am dumber than a doornail when it comes to sports. Anyway, the event was apparently one of the NFL Playoffs. The Panthers lost pretty badly to the Arizona Cardinals. Oh well.

Oh, and I made sugar cookies! They came out really nice.

Voxel's connectivity with AS11426 (erm, origin AS for the prefix my cable modem sits on..) seems to be on the fritz tonight. Connectivity is either completely gone:

traceroute to e.prolixium.com (71.75.171.110), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  voxel.prolixium.net (69.9.189.181)  0.560 ms
 2  0.ge1-4.dsr1.lga6.us.voxel.net (208.122.5.41)  0.435 ms
 3  0.te6-3.tsr1.lga3.us.voxel.net (208.122.5.229)  0.461 ms
 4  0.te6-1.tsr1.ewr1.us.voxel.net (208.122.20.129)  0.737 ms
 5  0.te1-2.tsr2.iad1.us.voxel.net (208.122.44.106)  5.414 ms
 6  ve16.tsr1.sjc1.us.voxel.net (208.122.63.234)  82.416 ms
 7  *
 8  r2-ca-tl3-cr2.nextweb.net (216.237.42.253)  263.735 ms
 9  r2-ca-tl3-cr1.nextweb.net (216.237.35.53)  124.170 ms
10  r2-ca-xrx-bsr.nextweb.net (216.237.12.26)  117.669 ms
11  r2-ca-tl3-cr1.nextweb.net (216.237.12.25)  161.347 ms
12  r2-ca-xrx-bsr.nextweb.net (216.237.12.26)  155.162 ms
13  r2-ca-tl3-cr1.nextweb.net (216.237.12.25)  244.001 ms
14  r2-ca-xrx-bsr.nextweb.net (216.237.12.26)  197.575 ms
15  *
16  r2-ca-xrx-bsr.nextweb.net (216.237.12.26)  240.853 ms
17  *
18  *

Or it actually makes it..

traceroute to e.prolixium.com (71.75.171.110), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  voxel.prolixium.net (69.9.189.181)  4.305 ms
 2  0.ge1-4.dsr1.lga6.us.voxel.net (208.122.5.41)  19.962 ms
 3  0.te6-3.tsr1.lga3.us.voxel.net (208.122.5.229)  5.059 ms
 4  0.te6-1.tsr1.ewr1.us.voxel.net (208.122.20.129)  1.053 ms
 5  0.te1-2.tsr2.iad1.us.voxel.net (208.122.44.106)  5.399 ms
 6  ve16.tsr1.sjc1.us.voxel.net (208.122.63.234)  82.536 ms
 7  covadwireless.net.any2ix.crgwest.com (206.223.143.31)  172.840 ms
 8  r3-ca-la1-cr1-gig0-2.nextweb.net (207.47.115.25)  291.442 ms
 9  ge-4-5.car1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (64.156.172.121)  165.170 ms
10  vlan99.csw4.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.68.20.254)  174.541 ms
11  ae-92-92.ebr2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.29)  164.388 ms
12  ae-3.ebr3.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.69.132.78)  173.119 ms
13  ae-7.ebr3.Atlanta2.Level3.net (4.69.134.22)  172.303 ms
14  ae-71-70.ebr1.Atlanta2.Level3.net (4.69.138.18)  165.585 ms
15  ae-4-4.car1.Charlotte1.Level3.net (4.69.132.161)  165.833 ms
16  ROADRUNNER.car1.Charlotte1.Level3.net (4.71.124.6)  166.966 ms
17  gig5-0-0.chrlncsa-rtr2.carolina.rr.com (24.93.64.22)  172.555 ms
18  srp1-1.chrlncdnb-rtr1.carolina.rr.com (24.93.67.165)  168.405 ms
19  gig0-1.chrlncdnb-ubr2.carolina.rr.com (24.93.65.162)  173.955 ms
20  cpe-071-075-171-110.carolina.res.rr.com (71.75.171.110)  134.626 ms

Either way, I'm betting Covad Communications (aka. nextweb) leaked one too many prefixes to Voxel through their peering at Equinix (SJC).

Ever notice the 'Cogent free' badge at the bottom of my page? Some other people love Cogent even more:

Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 15:06:27 -0500
From: neal rauhauser <nrauhauser@gmail.com>
To: nanog@nanog.org
Subject: Cogent haiku

 Cogent drops packets.
 Angry customers call. Twice.
 Admin writes haiku.

See the thread here. Too funny! I'm sure some Juniper software developers appreciate it, too.

TXT records are defined in RFC 1464. Original usages were host descriptions, hardware types, and notes. I'm glad people are still being creative with TXT records. Here's a few popular usages:

Routing

The Route Views Project offers the lookup of IP addresses to autonomous system numbers and prefixes via DNS TXT records:

(destiny:22:17)% host -t txt 182.189.9.69.asn.routeviews.org.
182.189.9.69.asn.routeviews.org descriptive text "29791" "69.9.160.0" "19"
(destiny:22:17)% host -t txt 182.189.9.69.aspath.routeviews.org. 
182.189.9.69.aspath.routeviews.org descriptive text "13237 29791" "69.9.160.0" "19"

The above means 69.9.189.182 is advertised as part of 69.9.160/19, originated from AS29791, and might be reached through AS13237, from the perspective of one of the route views nodes.

Wikipedia

Yes, you can get Wikipedia articles via TXT records:

(destiny:22:24)% host -t txt Internet.wp.dg.cx.
Internet.wp.dg.cx descriptive text "The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that interchange data by packet switching using the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). It is a \"network of networks\" that consists of millions of private and public, academic," " business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless... http://a.vu/w:Internet"

DNSBLs

Most people know about this one. A DNS Blacklist is a way of easily looking up an IP address to see if it's been blacklisted by a particular list. Great for mail servers to mitigate spam.

SPF

The Sender Policy Framework uses TXT records that are published to help prevent address forgery.

Update 2019-05-14

I've been informed that OpenSPF.org is gone now and to include the following link in this article:

What SPF Resources Are Available Now That OpenSPF.org Is Gone?