$10,000 Linux distro

[RicInOR]

Includes the AR.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/08/gun-linux-on-the-range-with-trackingpoints-new-ar-15s/


Available this fall.

Read More

 

[Morpheus]

I'm guessing their parts of the OS won't be open source. ;(

Of course, if they are dropping all the money to do the development I don't blame them.

 

[Pandaz3]

Me and Linux have never quite hit it off. I have tried at least 15 distros, downloading most, buying some and always going back to Windows. I have a Mix of Win 7 and Win 8.1. I hate 8.1 for desktops, great on my Surface 2 Tablet though.

Anyway it's already programmed on this sight system so I will go out and but a lottery ticket to finance one.

 

[Gunguy45]

Believe it when I see it.

That you can make an optic for a really solid (as in not cheap) rifle that will calculate ballistics and wind and range isn't at all hard to imagine. Believing that you can do the same for an AR platform with a 16-inch barrel and mil-spec? Show me the money.

And no, if I'm looking to put $10k into a rifle, it isn't going to be some buck-rogers thing. I'll take PROVEN state-of-the-art optics and .50 or .338 lapua from people who make guns to kill lots of people at very long ranges, thanks. Lot's of those on the market. All you need to do is learn to be as good as the platform. (I know, that's not easy, but what in life worth doing really IS?)

When the USMC jumps all over this, or for that matter the SEALS or Rangers, I'd be interested in a second look. If it's even CLOSE to what these guys are claiming outside a $10k rifle to start with, why is the military totally ignoring it?

 

[Pandaz3]

Gunguy, I don't think you saw pages 2 and 3
" Earlier this year, the company successfully hit a plate-sized target with a .338 Lapua Magnum round at a distance of 2.12 miles (3.41km), a feat which required elevating the rifle's barrel"
That's only a partial quote, but some of what I think you might have missed. It also says the Army is doing some tests.
That said It might be better suited to something like a Armalite AR31. or a Barrett. I don't see the weight being good on a AR15 or even a AR10.
Like you I think I would opt for some high dollar "Normal" optics.

 

[JRuby]

I have had a bit of experience with IBM's version of Redhat Linux- such as used on the Hardware Management console - or on other appliances. I have also played with; Free BSD, Unbuntu and Suise I wonder what version they will be using for this product. If they are using open source then they are going to have to provide that code back to the open source foundation or face legal challneges - if not then they are paying a for a companies proprietary code which is partially why this is so expensive.

 

[Koda]

would they have needed to change the Linux kernel or just develop their own proprietary program to run off it?

 

[JRuby]

That is a really good question - The closer you can tie the application to kernel the better the performance "should be" - either way I would want access to the source code and this is one of the big costs. In any case you are going to have to create device drivers and that requires coding - this in a sense protects your work. Yes a lot can be done with shell scripting but that also exposes your code to others, it is also relatively slow and in comparison to a binary takes a lot of space. One thing about Unix is that there are many ways to perform the same job - some better than others.

 

[Koda]

What I understand about Linux is its extremely stable and so the programs that are made with it are as well. ... so they wouldnt need, necessarily, to modify the kernel and could keep their program (code) proprietary and thus charge whatever they want for it.
I *think* this is how Google is making money from Android....

 

[Stomper]

Nothing like a "Guerrilla K.I.S.S." to keep it real.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

DOS, Windows, and MacOS9 were what was needed in order to run PCs decades ago when personal computers didn't have enough space or horsepower to run Unix. As PCs progressed, Linux which was originally Unix-lite became an option. Today, personal computers can run full blown, posix compliant versions of Unix, like BSD. Macs run on a BSD Unix kernel which Apple has modified for their own purposes, but is still basically a standard version of Unix. Open a Terminal window on a Mac and you are in the underlying standard Unix environment, which can be modified to suit your own tastes. Windows is still not quite there. Linux has now expanded to the point where it's pretty much a flavor of Unix.

I'm sure these folks have made their own special Unix/Linux kernel, picking out those pieces necessary to their application and paring off the rest. They've probably also written their own drivers for their proprietary hardware. That's the beauty of modern Unix/Linux. The kernel can be scaled to run a wrist watch, or it can be scaled to run the space shuttle. I don't believe these folks have modified the native code at all. That would not be necessary for their purposes and it would be a huge undertaking. I would expect that they have made their own kernel and written something in some flavor of C that's compiled into machine code. Once you have a compiled machine code module that loads into your device the application is going to be about as fast and stable as anything else you could come up with.

 

[JRuby]

I have made a career out of recovering unix /Linux systems for enterprise purposes - thought much better than windows I would not trust my rifle based on the next version of unix being downloaded correctly or that the Linux operating system was having a good day. The OS's are so superior today but there are very few I would trust with my life without a backup or contingency plan. That's just me.

 

[Koda]

So it sounds like a company can modify the linux kernal as they wish and not have to release their software product as open source and thus can charge as much as they want?

Looking at the article it seems like a scope that compensates for human movement... you tag the target, hold the trigger down and move the rifle around until the crosshairs/POI lines up with the target tag and the rifle fires automatically at that moment! Eliminates human compensation of windage, trajectory etc.

 

[RicInOR]

Just speculating, what are the legal ramifications if you electronically trigger the rifle.

That is, You focus on align the cross hairs behind the rifle, but let the computer fire the round when the system is in proper alignment?

Not to mean - the gun is in some kind of rest which the computer adjusts and you are using a app some where.