Sunday, November 06, 2011

tests and installation

As an initial preparation I went through each of the pieces and tried to think which parameters would be different in the gallery space. Since I wasn't sure which pc's I could use and they all vary in speed and the screen resolution wasn't completely clear either, the number of particles in each piece needed to be variable. More particles = fuller screen but slower response. I made these parameters variable so I could read them from a file. This means I can tune the installation in the space without doing a recompile.

To get final measurements of the screen sizes and for general sanity I did a pre-install test run.

As part of the installation process I made 6 identical usb disks which will auto boot into ubuntu and have all the kinect drivers installed and have the pieces on each disk. This will make the installation easier because I can borrow PCs from people and just pop the disk in and run up the work.

Prepare packing lists and order wood for the screens. Visit the gallery space again and measure and marked where everything has to go. Pack and early Saturday morning started the installation.
Lessons learnt: You can never have enough extension cables. USB cabling is difficult if you want the pc hidden and the sensor in an optimal position; need powered hubs and active USB extension. Bring food.

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