Date   : Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:53:37 +0000
From   : philip pemberton <philpem@...>
Subject: Re: Them pesky case stickers (was 1MHZ SCSI/ATA board.)

Quoting Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>:

> Annihilannic wrote:
> > Wouldn't it be nice if... machines had built in GPS so you could log in 
> > and ask "Where are you??".
> 
> heh heh, yep.

Hmm, I've got an Axiom SandPiper GPS and a Matsushita-Panasonic "Tracking"
antenna somewhere. Built the thing to run off a 3.6V rechargeable lithium-ion
pack actually, but it'll run quite happily on any supply from 3.5V up to
about 4.8V.

I once ran it off a pack of Duracell AAs. They didn't last very long - 2h20m
IIRC.

> Although I did write a 3D app that would let you click on a machine name and
> it'd zoom in to where it was located in the building (it was primarily 
> designed for finding people rather than hardware :)

That sounds pretty nifty.

> Of course it relied on the locations database actually being kept up to date,
> which wasn't likely to happen in the long run (I used to be as guilty as 
> anyone else for that, liberating hardware from other projects that hadn't
> been 
> used in a while for whatever latest and greatest thing I was working on!)

What about tracerouting the machine? Keep the list of routers up to date, then
you can at least figure out where the packets are going and pin down the machine
that way. I don't think Ethernet switches have MAC addresses though, especially
not the £25 unmanaged 10/100 switches.

> I do remember my uni trialling active badge systems back in the early 90's -
> I 
> suppose that'd work equally well for hardware. Expensive though I suppose. 
> Maybe this is one useful app for RFID, assuming that there are enough RFID 
> readers dotted around a building...

# trace-machine proteus
looking up id... 0x49BFDEAD-0x39EADFEA
rfid ping... found... localising...
machine location: building CS, floor 3, room 8

Actually, that could be kinda fun... maybe have a few lower power transceivers
in each room and use them to triangulate the position of the machine...

"Never lose an expensive server again!".. well, unless someone steals it
that is...

-- 
Phil.
philpem@...          
http://www.philpem.me.uk/