The Torrible Toolset: yesxortor release 0.3 and a new project
yesxortor release 0.3 and a new project
Published: 2022-11-16
The Torrible Toolset, Release 0.3
The changes are:
The transport tool 'yt-dlp' has implemented the feature already implemented in yt-dl to fetch the 'embed' data from a Rumble HTML page to obtain video download access. Thus, this code is no longer used in yt-dl, as yt-dlp does it. Thank you, yt-dlp developers!
Using yt-dlp -f - one can see the available formats, and particularly the codes for them, for a site and a particular video. The codes for Rumble have been obtained. yt-dl now extends the 'format' specification available for youtube videos to Rumble.
Summary: Better Rumble support. Rumble seems to have stopped blocking Tor too, which is nice.
Install and update details have not changed. See previous documentation.
ais2udp
A new project has been tested. Using GNU/Linux Software Defined Radio and the GnuAIS tool, with a VHF antenna, one can received the radio broadcast messages of inter-ship communication. This information is filtered to be only the MMSI messages and then re-published on the loopback address as UDP data. This makes it available for other software, particularly those which can plot this data on a map.
The prototype was successfully tested. The data available locally was compared with that available via global AIS data mapping services and showed that data displayed by the global service was also visible locally. Unsurprisingly, data unknown to the global service was also shown, and updates were far more rapid based on the local antenna's information delivery than the web based system which was reporting on the entire globe.
So, happy developer and captain!!
[Image: output from ais2udp as read from the loopback network. lat/long are “censored” or my location would become known. Apart from that, this is real live ship data recorded by a local antenna using SDR and GnuAIS as republished on the loopback.]
[Image: what the ais2udp data looks like when used in the mapping application. Note the window showing ship information. Again coordinates are removed.]
This real live data as read by a local antenna listening to VHF inter-ship signals.
aisWakeUp
An extension project is a ship collision warning mechanism based on this data. The core algorithm of the predictive collision warning system is understood, but the "devil is in the details". Work will continue in collaboration between the developer and captain until a stable prototype is developed.
This will take several months. It may produce a cheap, sturdy and useful collision warning system for non-commercial sailors.
There was a beautiful moment in discussion between developer and captain in which the developer realised that they were "over engineering" the design. The mission is not detail. The mission is to wake up the skipper and have their brain deal with the threat. Computers can only do so much, and programmers should be more aware of this. An excellent learning opportunity for the developer.
A great prize for any software developer is to have a “customer” who knows what they want AND is very close to the hardware which gathers and transmits the data.
He is the skipper. He is responsible for the safety of the vessel and crew.
Stuff needs to work.
Postscript
I misclicked and sent an email notification for this “non-news” article. My apologies.
For those who are “new around here”, there are over 200 articles in the “back catalogue” many of which still hold relevance. Some of these articles sit in the “thoughts for the day” or “soctech” or other categories of publication. These explore more esoteric ideas or examine the relationship between society and technology, for example.
One old article examines the first time that China ever invited another nation to joint military exercises on its territory. The article attempts to desconstruct the obvious propaganda video released by China of the event. Much can be learned from propaganda if one understands its purpose.
Sources
yesxortor, YesXorNo, launchpad.net
ais2udp, YesXorNo, launchpad.net
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Copyright and Licensing
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The software to which this article refers is licensed under GPLv3.