Gyro Rigidity and Drift

I am working with the Microstrain 3DM-GX3-25 and to better understand how to use it, I have also been studying the exact mechanism on how all its components work together. A part I found difficult as a novice engineer was how the gyro and the accelerometer work together. A key component of understanding the two’s collaboration is the drift that gyro experiences. This is a super short clip on YouTube that I found which sums up why the gyro is only good in the short run.

Lua Table Concatenation / Merge

Recently I had a need to concatenate a few tables in Lua and thought that it might be useful to share for those who may need to do something similar. A very simple three line function that can be expanded to accommodate even more tables as need be.

 

What Laptop to Use?

So I am at a technological cross-road again. Since January 2014, I have been using the DELL M3800 workstation laptop, and so far, this laptop has been brilliant for me. A stunning display, high quality hardware, amazing design from a company that is not Apple, and a great support in DELL ProSupport. While everything was perfect with this machine, there was one simple problem. This laptop had some serious coil whine issues.

Now, when I bring up the coil whine issue, something immediately that goes through people’s minds are that I am being a bit too sensitive. However, when I pay over $3,000 USD for a product, I expect the product to be somewhat near perfect. Hence, I talked with DELL, and they were more than willing to exchange it for another M3800 to see if the exchange unit would work out. In my case tho, that wasn’t the best of the choices either tho…

When I received my exchange unit, I was quick to send back the original one, and only later did I find out that this exchange unit had even greater coil whining issues! So right now, I am at a cross-road between the followings:

1. Get a refund from DELL and choose a different laptop

2. Stick with this laptop until DELL finds a solution to this

The M3800 has been perfect for me in every dimension except for this coil whining issue, which is why I am a little hesitant to move away from it. With Apple due to implement a big change to its laptops in the second half of this year doesn’t make things any better, as I would much prefer to wait than get something that will be outdated pretty soon.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a laptop then?