Steve McClure

A 'How to' book for those wishing to build a Home Automation / Home Security system. A LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) design for a Web-Based Home Control / Security Application is provided (full source code included). This book is applicable to both the seasoned Embedded Software Engineer and to the Hobbyist who just wants to learn a little bit about writing code. But what of the novice? What of the person who wants to gain some understanding in making an embedded software product? Do they need a Computer Science or Electrical Engineering degree before they can even begin to learn how to program an embedded system? All too many books discuss such programming from an advanced level. Well, this book is not like that at all. The idea is to get anyone that is interested in embedded programming up and running in a short period of time. The language of choice today is C or C++. For an easy entrance into this world of programming the C language was chosen for the code examples presented within this book. A home control lighting and security system is the ideal application and by the time you have finished you would know how: - To install LAMP (Linux, Apache (Web Server), MySQL and PHP) on your PC computer - To backup/restore your Linux hard drive - To automatically execute your application at system startup - To apply Java Script, MySQL and PHP to your own Web page - To build C applications that communicate over serial ports - To build C applications that use MySQL - To write a complete Home Control / Security application - To have your application send email messages with WebCam images - To have your Home Control / Security application speak messages - To compute and utilize sunrise and sunset times for each day of the year Oh And there's one added bonus. With this system you do not require any monthly monitoring fee. Since your Home Control / Security application simply sends you an email when it detects an intruder, you can immediately go home or call a friend or neighbor to check on the house. No need to fork out money each month for some 'service' charge. They say that knowledge is power. That may be true, but to sit at home using your iPAD or iPHONE (or some other Tablet, or even a web page on one of your computers) and to bring up your Home Control web page and click on a button to turn on a light or to initiate a sequence of events for evening television viewing, well, that is really neat. And this book presents all this information to you in an easy to read form. So now is the time to get into some fun and start programming an embedded application

This is the third book of Stryders Odyssey, a SciFi / Fantasy series. The ARK starship known as SolStar is now on its way to Shangri Prime. This is a confederation of worlds which is under the influence of the Order, a secret society that has a sphere of influence that traverses many star systems. Sam and Cody are introduced to new characters who have their own part to play in the saving their world. Ver 1-147] ...and did I tell you there are more spaceships and traveling through portals and visiting other worlds and, well, you're just going to have to read about it yourselves... For readers with a heart for adventure... Excerpt... To Jon and Clara it was bad enough that their son Sam was to stryd to some strange world. But what made matters worse was the added danger that was involved. Someone had harmed the Elder Pantir. This certainly made Clara more than a little anxious. Like every parent they did not wish to place their children in harm's way. But to aid the Elder, this was of prime importance. For this was a man who had assisted in returning their son to them. They could not refuse to reciprocate an offer of help. Cody, of course, also wanted to go. It took great restrain to have him agree to Gill's request. He was needed on SolStar. He, like Talin and her brothers, were to continue their training on board the starship. They were still teenagers and like most who are young, what they thought they knew outweighed their actual experience. It would take time for them to realize this was the case. For as every wise person knows, only when you realize that you know nothing, have you truly started on the road to discovery. Excerpt... With that Gill closed the door and started the engines. He ran a quick systems diagnostic. He marveled that it indicated all was well. Over the years he had developed a great respect for the shuttle designers and seeing the craft in its present condition his faith in their work was strengthened even more. He applied power and the shuttle slowly lifted off the ground. Then he turned the craft to face the storm. Seconds later it was making its way from under the cliff overhang with the freedom of the sky waiting above. Excerpt... Steadily the allied shuttles dropped closer toward the sun. They positioned themselves in a similar configuration to the enemy vessels and likewise assumed a geometric tetrahedral arrangement with each allied craft being the same distance from its closest neighbor. The only difference was in their orbital position for the allied vessels were several thousand miles higher in altitude.

Beyond Limits is the autobiography of Steve McClure, one of the world's top rock climbers. From his childhood encounters with the sandstone outcrops of the North York Moors right up to his cutting-edge first ascents such as Overshadow (F9a+) at Malham, Steve explores his deep passion for climbing and how it has dictated and shaped his life.

This Guidebook reviews the Software Development and Engineering Principles involved in the Design of Embedded Computer Systems. The reason behind developing this book can be answered by the following question. What does an embedded software engineer produce? Now most people would say 'prototypes' and this might seem like the correct answer but it is not. The correct answer is that the engineer produces documentation, documentation that shows other people how to understand and build the product. Now imagine that you are a software engineer who has newly joined the company and you have been given the unenviable task of maintaining an existing product. Why was this work given to the new guy? The answer is that no one else in the company wanted to tackle this project. Why? Because there is no documentation. So to figure out what the product does and to fix the bugs the new guy (or gal) has to reverse-engineer the source code. So the money that management thought they saved when some code was quickly thrown together by a software engineer (who has since left the company) they now find that several times more is being spent to fix up all the bugs and possibly add on some minor enhancement. This type of problem occurs when there is no development procedure. Which brings us to the Guidebook. The Guidebook provides a standard procedure which may be used by the Systems, Software, Embedded, Firmware and Hardware departments. Various design and development documents are produced at specific points in the project and are passed out for review prior to being used by other team members. By having this consistency the entire team now know which design elements will be produced and the need for implementing any reverse-engineering will be eliminated. Product costs for maintenance will be greatly reduced. Manufacturing and Test departments will now have the necessary details with which to complete their work. For shouldn't the designers who intuitively understand the product be the ones to write down their knowledge such that it can be passed on to others? By presenting these steps in the form of a Guidebook which is distributed to the engineering team, it then identifies the documents that are to be generated, when they should be produced, who should create them and who should be involved in the review process. This keeps the entire team synchronized, fully aware of their responsibilities. Now some companies do have such procedures but they are long-winded and stored away in some unknown location on a harddrive. But a bright red Guidebook that clearly spells out the development process. Now wouldn't that be worth having? Prease refer to The Handbook version which includes the information presented in The Guidebook but in addition provides detail gleaned by the author during his 30] years of experience in this field of engineering.] Please refer to The Handbook ] LAMP Project version which includes an additional embedded Linux project to implement a Web-based Home Control / Security System (source code listing provided).] Use the Author's Link to obtain access to these and other books.]

This Handbook reviews the Software Development and Engineering Principles involved in the Design of Embedded Computer Systems. The reason behind developing this book can be answered by the following question. What does an embedded software engineer produce? Now most people would say 'prototypes' and this might seem like the correct answer but it is not. The correct answer is that the engineer produces documentation, documentation that shows other people how to understand and build the product. Now imagine that you are a software engineer who has newly joined the company and you have been given the unenviable task of maintaining an existing product. Why was this work given to the new guy? The answer is that no one else in the company wanted to tackle this project. Why? Because there is no documentation. So to figure out what the product does and to fix the bugs the new guy (or gal) has to reverse-engineer the source code. So the money that management thought they saved when some code was quickly thrown together by a software engineer (who has since left the company) they now find that several times more is being spent to fix up all the bugs and possibly add on some minor enhancement. This type of problem occurs when there is no development procedure. Which brings us to the Handbook. The Handbook provides a standard procedure which may be used by the Systems, Software, Embedded, Firmware and Hardware departments. Various design and development documents are produced at specific points in the project and are passed out for review prior to being used by other team members. By having this consistency the entire team now know which design elements will be produced and the need for implementing any reverse-engineering will be eliminated. Product costs for maintenance will be greatly reduced. Manufacturing and Test departments will now have the necessary details with with to complete their work. For shouldn't the designers who intuitively understand the product be the ones to write down their knowledge such that it can be passed on to others? By presenting these steps in the form of a Handbook which is distributed to the engineering team, it then identifies the documents that are to be generated, when they should be produced, who should create them and who should be involved in the review process. This keeps the entire team synchronized, fully aware of their responsibilities. Now some companies do have such procedures but they are long-winded and stored away in some unknown location on a harddrive. But a bright green Handbook that clearly spells out the implementation process along with detail gleaned from the author's 30+ years of experience in this field of engineering. Now wouldn't that be worth having? Prease refer to The Guidebook version which only provides the project development information.] Please refer to The Handbook ] LAMP Project version which includes an additional embedded Linux project to implement a Web-based Home Control / Security System (source code listing provided).] Use the Author's Link to obtain access to these and other books.]

This book reviews the Software Development and Engineering Principles involved in the Design of Embedded Computer Systems. A LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) design for a Web-Based Home Control / Security Application is also provided (full source code included). This book is applicable to both the seasoned Embedded Software Engineer and to the Hobbyist who just wants to learn a little bit about writing code. Information gathered by the author's 30+ years in the field is discussed as he presents what works and what does not work with regard to embedded software engineering. This will help engineers but will also be an aid in assisting those who are tasked with managing the design of an embedded application. But what of the novice? What of the person wanting to gain some understanding in the field of embedded software engineering? Do they need a Computer Science or Electrical Engineering degree before they can even begin to learn how to program an embedded system? All too many books discuss such programming from an advanced level. Well, this book is not like that at all. The idea is to get anyone that is interested in embedded programming to be up and running in a short period of time. The language of choice today is C or C++. For an easy entrance into this world of programming the C language was chosen for the code examples presented within this book. But what programming application should be tackled? An embedded application is a program that continually executes on a computer system and as it does so, it interacts with its environment. A home control lighting system would be the ideal application and by the time you have finished you would know how: - To install LAMP (Linux, Apache (Web Server), MySQL and PHP) on your PC computer - To backup/restore your Linux hard drive - To automatically execute your application at system startup - To apply Java Script, MySQL and PHP to your own Web page - To build C applications that communicate over serial ports - To build C applications that use MySQL - To write a complete Home Control / Security application - To have your application send email messages with WebCam images - To have your Home Control / Security application speak messages - To compute and utilize sunrise and sunset times for each day of the year Oh And there's one added bonus. With this system you do not require any monthly monitoring fee. Since your Home Control / Security application simply sends you an email when it detects an intruder, you can immediately go home or call a friend or neighbor to check on the house. No need to fork out money each month for some 'service' charge. They say that knowledge is power. That may be true, but to sit at home using your iPAD or iPHONE (or some other Tablet, or even a web page on one of your computers) and to bring up your Home Control web page and click on a button to turn on a light or to initiate a sequence of events for evening television viewing, well, that is really neat. And this book presents all this information to you in an easy to read form. The book is also written in such a way that it may be used by both small and large engineering companies. By the time you have completed its reading you will have learned that an embedded project is much more than simply writing software code. It is an entire documentation process of which code amounts to but a small percentage. The reason software generally takes a long time to develop (and costs even more to maintain) is simply because this design process is often overlooked or bypassed. For a fully documented design is required by all company departments in order for them to successfully complete their work. So now is the time to get into some fun and start programming an embedded application

This is the second book of Stryders Odyssey, a SciFi / Fantasy series. The ARK starship known as SolStar has been found and we begin to learn of its secrets. A failed attempt by the 'Order to take control of the ship has instigated the Council Directive. The starship's course is set. The vessel will visit each of the nine colonized planets and will not proceed without the relevant council representatives being onboard. But the next planet is not as expected. When the shuttle attemps to land the onboard systems fail and a grand sailing adventure to the northern kingdoms must be undertaken to prevent the 'Order from achieving its goals. However help is available in the most unlikely of places. Ver 1-223] ...and did I tell you there be Dragons For readers with a heart for adventure... Excerpt... Cody put on a brave stance and walked across the intervening gap. He was now standing face to face with a real live dragon. Again he felt he had been lied to for the dragons of myth and legend were real. The proof of it was standing directly before him looking him right in the eye. Cody looked back at the Elder. The old man simply held up his right hand. Then Cody remembered he was to touch the side of the dragon's face. He turned back to face the creature and lifted up his hand and gently touched its face. Before he could think of what to do next a loud and very clear thought burst into his consciousness. "I am told you are not to blame." it simply said. "I, I, I am not so sure." Cody stammered back. "A wise answer from one so young. The Elder has shown me what had happened, nonetheless I will expect you to attend the healing ceremony." At that the great beast turned and leapt from the cave. Cody started breathing again. "He expects me to attend the healing ceremony. But I don't know how to heal anyone?" Cody said out loud. "Then it is high time you learnt." said the Elder. "We will have the afternoon to work on that for the healing ceremony will take place at moon rise and the great King of the Dragons will be most upset if his daughter is not healed. "The great King of the Dragons? Who's that?" Cody asked. "You've just met him." said the Elder. Excerpt... Then the old man wanted to make some tea. Of course it had to be herbal tea. So it was back upstairs to the garden. Cody was told to search for a specific plant. He couldn't find it anywhere. Eventually the old man found what he wanted. As far as Cody was concerned it just looked like some old dandelions. Then they had to wait for the kettle to boil. Then the tea was too hot and they waited for it to cool. Cody was beginning to lose it. He was sure he was going to end up as dragon food. "I don't know if I can do this." he cried out. "Good." the old man answered. "That was the first lesson." Excerpt... "Young man," he spoke loudly as he looked down at Berry, "Your actions today have saved the ship and all onboard." So saying, the Captain lifted the young lad onto his shoulders and placed his cap upon the boy's head. "To the crew of the Anistoria " he cried loudly. "I give you the newest member of our company " Then he called out "What say you to Ensign Berry " A deafening response was heard from them all. The youngster replied with the broadest of grins.

This is the first book of Stryders Odyssey, a SciFi / Fantasy series that will take the reader on adventures to other worlds. When Sam goes camping in the woods near his home town of Big Bear, it is a time when he comes in contact with more than just the local wildlife. He travels through a portal and learns that the human spirit exists on other worlds besides his own. For this discovery will take him to the nine colonized planets on a search to find those with the rings of council. But be mindfull of the 'Order for they have their own agenda. Ver 2-14] ...and did I tell you there be Starships Excerpt... Cassie (short for Cassandra) had just arrived as one of the replacement astronauts to the International Space Station. This being her first night in space, she found it very hard to sleep; she was simply too excited. She floated round the station until she came to the Tranquility Module. She recalled that this was where the Cupola observatory was located. Now the Cupola was a dome that was comprised of seven distinct windows and they gave the viewer one of the best views of the Earth from the station's 230 mile high orbit. As she stared down upon the Earth a glint of something yellow caught her eye. She thought nothing of it at first but afterwards she wished she had triggered the high speed cameras. For it was only when the band of yellow light coalesced into a solid object that looked remarkably like a starship that it really got her attention. It was at least a hundred miles away and so quite far, but then the craft itself was very large, even for that distance. Before she could catch herself she blurted out, "Please tell me somebody else saw that?" Her request was answered by silence. But that night she saw an up-close version of the same event replay itself in her dreams. There was a flash of yellow that came together to form itself into a sleek starship which drifted by the International Space Station as she herself was looking out the Cupola. As it passed by it then did a graceful 90 degree counter-clockwise roll. She knew there was some writing down the side of the vessel but she just couldn't manage to resolve the letters. Also, for some reason, she felt she had seen two young men standing in the forward section. The ship steadily disappeared into the distance. Cassie turned over in her sleep. "I wonder who I ask for a transfer?" she murmured. Excerpt... Up the proa rose as it was carried towards the crest of the great wave. In a trice Great-grandfather had overcome his fears and for the second time in his life, with adrenalin now surging through his old body, he found new strength to surf his outrigger at the top of the hundred foot rogue. Keanu looked back at his 'Grandfather just as an intense flash of light illuminated the wave and the entire night sky. The picture of his 'Grandfather riding his outrigger would now be forever etched in his mind for all time. Keanu had seen his Great-grandfather act out his tale. It hadn't been imaginary fiction after all. It had all been for real. It was then when Keanu moaned to himself. For now, just like his Grandfather and his Great-grandfather, he too had a story to tell, and he also knew from first-hand experience that no one he told would believe him.

Presented from a coaching perspective, this rock climbing instructional book helps you learn how to succeed at one of the toughest sports. Containing inspirational photos and funny illustrations, it focuses on the improvements that climbers can make immediately, without embarking on lengthy training programs.