Monthly Archives: July 2017

Quick Post: My New SBC Computer – the Asus Tinkerboard

Posted on by
Reply

A while back I picked up a Raspberry Pi 3 and turned it into a NAS and LAMP stack server (Apache, PostgreSQL, Mysql, PostGIS, and so on).  Later I came across forums mentioning a new entry from Asus into this space called the Tinkerboard.  Now I’m not going to go into an in-depth review since you can find those all over the Internet.  However, I do want to mention a few things I’ve found and done that are very helpful.  I like the board since it’s supports things like OpenCL and pound for pound is more powerful than the Pi 3.  The two gig of RAM vs one with the Pi 3 makes it useful for more advanced processing.

One thing to keep in mind is that the board is still “new” and has a growing community.  As such there are going to be some pains, such as not having as big a community as the Pi ecosystem.  But things do appear to be getting better, and so far it’s proven to be more capable and, in some cases, more stable than my Pi 3.

So without much fanfare, here are my list of tips for using the Tinkerboard.  You can find a lot more information online.

  1. Community – The Tinkerboard has a growing community of developers.  My favorite forums are at the site run by Currys PC World.  They’re active and you can find a lot of valuable information there.
  2. Package Management – Never, EVER, run apt-get dist-upgrade.  Since it’s Debian, the usual apt-get update and apt-get upgrade are available.  However, running dist-upgrade can cause you to loose hardware acceleration.
  3. OpenCL – One nice think about the Tinkerboard is that the Mali GPU has support for hardware-accelerated OpenCL.  TinkerOS an incorrectly named directory in /etc/OpenCL which causes apps to not work by default.  The quick fix is to change to /etc/OpenCL and run ln -s venders vendors.  After doing this, tools like clinfo should properly pick up support.
  4. Driver updates – Asus is active on Github.  At their rk-rootfs-build site there you can find updated drivers as they’re released.  I recommend checking this site from time to time and downloading updated packages are they are released.
  5. Case – The Tinkerboard is the same size and mostly the same form-factor as the Raspberry Pi 3.  I highly recommend you pick up a case with a built-in cooling fan since the board can get warm, even with the included heat sinks attached.
  6. You can follow this link and install Tensorflow for the Pi on the Tinkerboard.  It’s currently not up-to-date, but much less annoying than building Tensorflow from scratch.
  7. SD Card – You would do well to follow my previous post about how to zero out a SD card before you format and install TinkerOS to it.  This will save you a lot of time and pain.  I will note that so far, my Tinkerboard holds up under heavy IO better than my Pi 3 does.   I can do thinks like make -j 5 and it doesn’t lock up or corrupt the card.

I’ll have more to say about this board later.

Another Fixed GNIS Dataset

Posted on by
Reply

When I went to import the latest GNIS dataset into my local PostGIS database, I found that it contains the same issues I’ve been reporting for the past few years.   You can find my fixed version of the dataset here.

As a disclaimer, while I used to work there, I no longer have any association with the US Geological Survey or the Board of Geographic Names.

For those interested, here is the list of problems I found and fixed:

ID 45605: Duplicate entry for Parker Canyon, AZ. The coordinates are in Sonora, Mexico.
ID 45606: Duplicate entry for San Antonio Canyon, AZ. The coordinates are in Sonora, Mexico.
ID 45608: Duplicate entry for Silver Creek, AZ. The coordinates are in Sonora, Mexico.
ID 45610: Duplicate entry for Sycamore Canyon, AZ. The coordinates are in Sonora, Mexico.
ID 567773: Duplicate entry for Hovey Hill, ME. The coordinates are in New Brunswick, Canada.
ID 581558: Duplicate entry for Saint John River, ME. The coordinates are in New Brunswick, Canada.
ID 768593: Duplicate entry for Bear Gulch, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 774267: Duplicate entry for Miners Coulee, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 774784: Duplicate entry for North Fork Milk River, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 775339: Duplicate entry for Police Creek, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 776125: Duplicate entry for Saint Mary River, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 778142: Duplicate entry for Waterton River, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 778545: Duplicate entry for Willow Creek, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 798995: Duplicate entry for Lee Creek, MT.  The coordinates are in Alberta, Canada.
ID 790166: Duplicate entry for Screw Creek, MT.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 793276: Duplicate entry for Wigwam River, MT.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1504446: Duplicate entry for Depot Creek, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1515954: Duplicate entry for Arnold Slough, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1515973: Duplicate entry for Ashnola River, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1516047: Duplicate entry for Baker Creek, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1517465: Duplicate entry for Castle Creek, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1517496: Duplicate entry for Cathedral Fork, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1517707: Duplicate entry for Chilliwack River, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1517762: Duplicate entry for Chuchuwanteen Creek, WA.  The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1519414: Duplicate entry for Ewart Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1520446: Duplicate entry for Haig Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1520654: Duplicate entry for Heather Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1521214: Duplicate entry for International Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1523541: Duplicate entry for Myers Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1523731: Duplicate entry for North Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1524131: Duplicate entry for Pack Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1524235: Duplicate entry for Pass Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1524303: Duplicate entry for Peeve Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1525297: Duplicate entry for Russian Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1525320: Duplicate entry for Saar Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1527272: Duplicate entry for Togo Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1529904: Duplicate entry for McCoy Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 1529905: Duplicate entry for Liumchen Creek, WA. The coordinates are in British Columbia, Canada.
ID 942345: Duplicate entry for Allen Brook, NY. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 949668: Duplicate entry for English River, NY. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 959094: Duplicate entry for Oak Creek, NY. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 967898: Duplicate entry for Trout River, NY. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 975764: Duplicate entry for Richelieu River, VT. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 1458184: Duplicate entry for Leavit Brook, VT. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 1458967: Duplicate entry for Pike River, VT. The coordinates are in Quebec, Canada.
ID 1028583: Duplicate entry for Cypress Creek, ND. The coordinates are in Manitoba, Canada.
ID 1035871: Duplicate entry for Mowbray Creek, ND. The coordinates are in Manitoba, Canada.
ID 1035887: Duplicate entry for Gimby Creek, ND. The coordinates are in Manitoba, Canada.
ID 1035890: Duplicate entry for Red River of the North, ND. The coordinates are in Manitoba, Canada.
ID 1035895: Duplicate entry for Wakopa Creek, ND. The coordinates are in Manitoba, Canada.
ID 1930555: Duplicate entry for Red River of the North, ND. The coordinates are in Manitoba, Canada.
ID 1035882: Duplicate entry for East Branch Short Creek, ND. The coordinates are in Saskatchewan, Canada.
ID 1782010: Duplicate entry for Manitoulin Basin, MI. The coordinates are in Ontario, Canada