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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/recording_emotions_with_the_emotiv.html
My son got one of the Emotiv headsets as a college graduation present. It's pretty amazing tech, early-adopter gear, for sure, but with tons of potential. He's already coming up with ideas for game designs and art installations controlled by it (he has a degree in game design). In this video, Robert Oschler, of Robots Rule, uses his Emorate software to demonstrate the power of "affective computing," using computers to detect and react to human emotions. Here he uses various emotional responses to index, bookmark, and navigate a video using the Emotiv headset and Emorate.
Emorate
More:
Controlling a robot with the Emotiv EEG headset
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August 31 2010, 12:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/flash_your_computer_bios_with_openb.html
Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:
If you've ever bricked the BIOS on your PC, then you might appreciate the Openbiosprog-spi project by Uwe Hermann. It is designed to be able to reprogram any flash memory that uses the serial peripheral interconnect bus (SPI), which could come in handy if you need to restore a botched firmware upgrade.
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Digg this!August 29 2010, 12:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/dirt_cheap_50_android_tablet_protot.html
Seriously, I've spent more on dirt for our backyard garden than you'd end up paying for this tablet from Allgo Systems. Technology demonstrations, such as in the accompanying video, lower barriers of entry and expose new possibilities that normally wouldn't exist. For a few dollars more than the leading name brand microcontroller board you could have a complete system with I/O, display, storage, etc. I know it's like comparing apples to oranges, but it does get you wondering. What sort of projects would you build with cut-rate tablet hardware? [via liliputing]
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August 24 2010, 7:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/robotic_ball_rolls_via_phone_contro.html
Gearbox's smartphone-controlled ball looks quite cool, offers much potential for creative game ideas -
So basically how HTC/Android/Apple make smart phones, we make smart toys. Our first smart toy is a robotic ball that you can move by tilting your phone in the direction you want the ball to roll. We are then leveraging the connectivity and computing power of the phone to create a fully interactive experience for the user. Our first app for the ball is Sumo. I throw my ball on a table, you throws yours on the table and then we can try and sumo each others ball off the table.
[…]
Aside from the games we produce we are also opening up the APIs for the ball so any app developer with no hardware knowledge can build their own games or applications and bring them to the real world.
Very cools - definitely a ball you'll want to avoid getting stuck in a tree/roof/traffic. More info and more example app ideas on
Gearbox's site. [via
TechCrunch]
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Digg this!August 6 2010, 9:30am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_hack_the_make_digital_editio.html
Ouch! Clever forum member pulletsforever wanted to be able to read MAKE on his iPad, and in the process of poking around, found a security vulnerability that lets anyone download complete PDF copies of the MAKE digital edition, for free! CoverLeaf (the company that hosts MAKE digital) techs tell us they're working on a fix as we speak.
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Digg this!August 3 2010, 10:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/diy_graphing_calculator_made_with_b.html
Sick of being harassed just for trying to extend the functionality of your graphing calculator? Matt from Antipasto Hardware has the solution with his 100% Open Source HW/SW R-Based Graphing Calculator. Based around the Beagleboard embedded Linux hardware, it can run the sophisticated R programming language. Looks great! Of course, the hardware costs a bit more than the proprietary calculators. Anyone want to port this to Android?
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Digg this!August 2 2010, 9:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/the_humane_reader_a_20_computer.html
The Humane Reader is a low-cost device which can bring a five thousand book library into a home or school which has no other access to internet content. The Reader can be produced in quantity for approximately $20 per unit, and uses any existing television set as a display device for Wikipedia or other content. It is available to NGOs, educators, non-profits or other aid agencies.
Features:
Atmega328p Microcontrollers - one for video, one for USB, and one for general computing.
NTSC/PAL composite video output for display on any TV
B&W 38x25 character text or simple graphics display
VT52 + H19 video terminal emulation
Accepts PS/2 Keyboard
Micro-SD Card Reader
PWM Audio output
Completely Open Source design
Infrared LED and reciever
Micro-USB powered
Fully programmable USB controller (atmega328p) allows use as a variety of USB slave devices
Main MCU is serial programmable via USB
Expansion headers compatible with most Arduino expansion shields
4 input buttons
Optional aluminum case with powder coat finish
Programable using C/C++ libraries, or via Arudino IDE
Uses Tellymate Project code for vt52 video output
Uses AVR V-USB firmware to implement a USB device
[Thanks, Hans!]
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Digg this!July 18 2010, 11:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/vintage_pc_ads.html
July 15 2010, 12:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/appeliza_and_appinventor.html
Brief video show AppInventor in action
Robert Oschler, from RobotsRule, sent us an excited message about Android AppInventor and the application he made with it, AppEliza, a modern take on the classic Eliza therapy chat-bot:
AppEliza is a free ELIZA style therapist chat-bot for Android phones. You talk to it and tell it your problems, and it responds via Text To Speech. It can also echo your conversation to a Twitter account. AppEliza incorporates Google's speech recognition web service and the Eyes-Free Text To Speech package, the former is part of every Android phone and the later is a free download from the Android Marketplace.
The excitement here isn't the app since AppEliza is a simple pattern based chat-bot that reacts to trigger words and phrases, mainly those dealing with feelings and family, and uses the power of ambiguity to "fake it" the rest of the time. The excitement is due to AppInventor, the tool that was used to create AppEliza in a single day, except for the Twitter support that I added to it this morning and that took a little over an hour.
AppEliza is not up on the Android Marketplace yet but the APK file can be found on our servers as a free download. This web page has the download details.
Hyperbole is a huge problem on the web but I feel confident as a veteran developer to call AppInventor one of the best rapid development tools I have ever used and I am astonished at how fast I am able to create Android applications.
AppEliza
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Digg this!July 14 2010, 7:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/invisible_computer_mouse_is_perfect.html
Love your mouse, but tired of having to cart it around everywhere? Well, then you might be interested in Mouseless, a project by Pranav Mistry of the MIT Fluid Interfaces Group. The project forgoes the physical device we think of as a mouse, replacing it with an infrared laser and webcam pair that allow you to mimic the gestures you would normally make with your button-adorned friend. It's a pretty simple idea, really: the laser projects a line across your workspace, and the camera uses blob tracking to figure out where your hand is, and when you lift up a finger. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that they have released any source code- anyone want to try to re-build this using openFrameworks? [via technabob]
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Digg this!July 4 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/fifty_years_of_squares.html
Sci-fi and horror author extraordinaire, John Shirley (whom William Gibson dubbed "Cyberpunk Patient Zero"), sent me a link to this fascinating article about the birth of the square pixel in digital imaging. The piece starts out:
Russell Kirsch says he's sorry.
More than 50 years ago, Kirsch took a picture of his infant son and scanned it into a computer. It was the first digital image: a grainy, black-and-white baby picture that literally changed the way we view the world. With it, the smoothness of images captured on film was shattered to bits.
The square pixel became the norm, thanks in part to Kirsch, and the world got a little bit rougher around the edges.
Now, at the tender age of 81, Russell Kirsch is determined to fix his "mistake" rather than just feeling bad about it:
Kirsch's method assesses a square-pixel picture with masks that are 6 by 6 pixels each and looks for the best way to divide this larger pixel cleanly into two areas of the greatest contrast. The program tries two different masks over each area -- in one, a seam divides the mask into two rough triangles, and in the other a seam creates two rough rectangles. Each mask is then rotated until the program finds the configuration that splits the 6-by-6 area into sections that contrast the most. Then, similar pixels on either side of the seam are fused.
Here's a picture of his son today (now 53), using Kirsch's new variably-shaped pixel method (seen on the right).
[Thanks, John!]
Circling the square
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June 28 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/turn_an_old_router_into_a_repeater.html
I love it when the internet seems to magically anticipate your needs and provides the info you desire. Such was the case today when, just last night, I thought I needed to finally break down and figure out how to seriously boost the wi-fi range in our house (which is too unreliable on the other end of the house, non-existent in the basement). Via Steve Roberts and Facebook came a link to this how-to on Lifehacker. Kevin Purdy shows you how to configure an old router to act as a wi-fi repeater via the magic of DD-WRT. Hey, I have an old Linksys router... [Thanks, Steve!]
Turn Your Old Router into a Range-Boosting Wi-Fi Repeater
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June 15 2010, 7:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/the_sound_of_one_hand_programming.html
Gosh, I love the resourcefulness of our readers. MAKE subscriber Matt Daughtrey writes:
My left arm has been recently sidelined by surgery. I'm a developer and wanted to keep my productivity as high as possible during my recuperation, so here's an approach to one-handed touch typing that others might find useful.
With a little Sugru, some ShapeLock, a cannibalized wireless USB keyboard, and the Auto Hotkey program, Matt was able to create a three-button keypad to trigger a "mirror mode" on his regular keyboard so that he can touch-type with his "good" hand while the other hand recovers from the surgery.
He explains how it works:
The left side of the keyboard is mirrored onto the right-side keys and the idea is that the muscle memory you developed for your left hand when you learned touch typing maps over to your right hand without too much trouble. You can switch between the normal right side of the keyboard ('YUIOP' etc) to the mirrored side ('QWERTY' etc) with the click of a designated button. And it works!
One Handed Keyboard
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June 3 2010, 12:15am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/stained_glass_motherboards.html
June 1 2010, 11:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/buggy_slot_machine_reports_40m_payo.html
Back in March, Louise Chavez placed a 40-cent wager at a slot machine at the Fortune Valley Casino in Central City, Colorado. When the wheels stopped spinning, the machine told her she'd won the jackpot:
People were coming up to me saying I won $42,000,000, or at least $42,000. Lights were flashing, it sounded like a fire truck, the screen said 'see attendant.'
The casino claimed it was a glitch, returned the $23 she'd put into the machine, bought her breakfast, and comped her a free room for the night.
Now, per this story in IEEE Spectrum, the Colorado Gaming Division has completed its investigation and determined that the reported payout was, indeed, the result of a bug caused by "two Showcase Showdown awards occurring quickly after each other while the Grand Game bonus feature was already in play." [Thanks, Glen!]
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Digg this!May 29 2010, 10:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/diy_see-thru_tablet.html
Check out this DIY tablet mod from Chinese modster pandepig (google translation).
Tear apart a plain vanilla 12" laptop and stuff it in a clear polycarbonate laptop cover.
Add a touchscreen, controller, secure everything with some spacers, and you've got yourself a pretty decent frankenpad. This tablet runs Windows 7, but I'm sure you could run just about anything on it. [via shanzai.com]
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Digg this!May 17 2010, 5:45am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/google_makes_french_fries_with_a_po.html
This is just a commercial, really, but it's pretty entertaining. Google advertisers wanted to push their whole "Chrome is fast" angle and so they set up and filmed a series of "tests" where they trigger some fast real-world event and load a page in Chrome at the same moment. Guess which process finishes first every time? Yeah, OK, that was an easy one. It's hardly "science"--not even the watered-down television kind--but it is, in fact, fairly amusing to watch a potato get blasted through a fry-cutter and into a vat of cooking oil. They also spray paint onto a giant ear model using acoustic waves and zap a tiny pirate ship with a Tesla coil. The making-of video is recommendable, as well, for the bloopers. [Thanks, Alan Dove!]
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May 7 2010, 12:28am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/small_form_factor_homage_to_the_alt.html
Maker Bob Alexander has built this awesome small form factor, Core i5, Windows 7 computer inside of a case that's an homage to the Altair 8800. He found the case on eBay and it looks like the type used on the Altair 680. He built the front panel himself. Nice work, Bob!
Mini Altair 8800 PC
More:
Remembering Ed Roberts, the father of the personal computer
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April 25 2010, 4:01pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/apple_e_twitter_machine.html
I just got a tweet from @yergacheffe letting me know that my @johnedgarpark Twitter avatar made me look young in 8-bit.
Why does he have my avatar in 8-bit? Because he took an Apple //e and wrote a bootable 5.25" Twitter floppy for it! This all makes me immensely happy, because I, too, spent my formative years in front of an Apple //e.
In his own words:
The Apple II has an 8-bit 6502 CPU running at 1 MHz, so it can literally execute thousands of instructions per second. In other words, it's about a million times slower that the computer you are using right now. So I wasn't about to write a networking stack or Twitter client on the Apple II itself. Just like the TweetWall the communication with Twitter would happen on a PC and the Apple is just used for display.
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Digg this!April 25 2010, 2:30am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/embeddedspark_2010_challenge_1.html
The folks at Microsoft emailed us details of their upcoming embeddedSPARK 2010 Summer Challenge:
Launching on April 27th, we present to you the embeddedSPARK Summer Challenge, the Premier Windows Embedded Hobbyist Competition Summer version, based on Windows Embedded Standard!
The contest will launch at ESC Silicon Valley, unfold over the summer, and conclude with the finalists presenting live on stage in ESC Boston in September!
The grand prize is a whopping $15,000.
You can sign up for the contest here.
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Digg this!April 20 2010, 12:01am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/clever_laptop_decals_riff_off_apple.html
Snow White is from Etsy seller coolskins, and Eve avec serpent from IvyBee. What other clever "Apple" motifs could we think of? Eris, maybe? For the Discordians in the audience?
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April 12 2010, 5:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/handy_reverse_image_search_engine.html
The same helpful commenter who gave me a hand on this morning's mystery dentist office flyer post also hipped me to the wonder that is TinEye, a Heaven-sent search engine that lets you upload or link to an image, and then finds other instances of the same image, or cropped or resized versions of it, all over the web. Sort of like Google's Similar Images, but with the ability to directly upload your query image. Next time I have a mystery photo, I'll know where to go. [Thanks again, David Beckford!]
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Human-shaped bed
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Digg this!April 8 2010, 5:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/diypad_a4_chip_teardown.html
The folks at iFixIt hired the computer forensics muscle of Chipworks to X-ray, cross-section, grind through, and thoroughly photograph the Apple A4 processor used in the iPad. Here's some of what they found:
* The A4 package has three layers: two layers of RAM (Samsung K4X1G323PE), and one layer containing the actual microprocessor.
* This Package-on-Package construction gives Apple the flexibility to source the RAM from any manufacturer they want--they're not locked into Samsung.
* It's clear from both hardware and software that this is a single core processor, so it must be the ARM Cortex A8, and NOT the rumored multicore A9.
* We don't expect to find any markings from PA Semi, Apple's recent acquisition, but it's safe to assume they played a major role in designing this package.
* Every iPhone processor that we have dissected has had a Samsung part number on the processor die. We have not found any such Samsung markings on the A4 (outside of the DRAM), perhaps the clearest sign to date that Apple is now in firm control of their semiconductor design.
* Software benchmarks indicate that the A4 has the same PowerVR SGX 535 GPU as the iPhone 3GS, but verifying this via hardware analysis is quite difficult. If this is true, and it likely is, graphics performance on the iPad is fairly poor relative to the screen size.
* There's nothing revolutionary here. In fact, the A4 is quite similar to the Samsung processor Apple uses in the iPhone. The primary focus of this design was minimizing power consumption and cost.
IFixIt also identified several other manufacturers, including Linear Technologies, Intersil, ST Micro, NXP, Cirrus Logic, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom. More information on these parts can be found toward the end of the teardown.
Chipworks' lab is still running full-tilt, analyzing the iPad, and they'll be updating their site as they discover more.
Photos courtesy of iFixIt and Chipworks.
A4 Teardown
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April 6 2010, 12:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/03/more_thoughts_on_coder_barbie.html
On Mashable, math teacher Rebecca Zook weighs in on the whole Computer Engineer Barbie (aka Coder Barbie) "controversy" with "Why Computer Engineer Barbie Is Good for Women in Tech."
While some have embraced Coder Barbie, others have attacked the concept, saying that her pink laptop, sparkly leggings, and trendy glasses are "too feminine" to be realistic.
The critics imply that real coders aren't feminine, and feminine coders aren't real. But women shouldn't feel like they have to stop being feminine to work in technology.
[Thanks, Ed Troxell!]
Why Computer Engineer Barbie Is Good for Women in Tech
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Digg this!March 11 2010, 8:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/mouse_usage_visualization.html
Architect Alan Tansey of Brooklyn, NY traced his mouse movement for one day. Click the image to see it full-sized.
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Digg this!February 26 2010, 3:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/ascii_keyboard_emulator_makes_conne.html
Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:
Flickr user llemarie wanted an easy way to upload programs to an Apple I replica computer that he was building, because typing them in by hand was tedious and error prone. To solve the problem, he used an Arduino to build this ASCII keyboard emulator, allowing him to copy and paste programs over to the computer with ease. Of course, it's kind of funny to use two powerful computer to program one hobby computer, but for expediency it can't be beat.
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Digg this!February 24 2010, 4:15pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/glove_mouse_is_perfect_wintertime_c.html
From the MAKE Forums:
Forum user thetanktheory built this Glove Mouse to help improve his FPS game skills:
Built from an old laser mouse and some random parts i had lying around. This is a first version and I have quite a few improvements in mind (already working on the next one) but, it functions a lot like I hoped it would. It makes those quick, twitch-reactions in FPS' much easier. Currently I need to move the buttons over a bit and center the laser a bit more. I plan to add a few more mappable buttons, figure out how to implement a scroll-wheel, lower the laser assembly's profile, and cover all the functional parts.
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February 18 2010, 8:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/inside_the_magic-1_homebrew_cpu.html
Phillip covered this awesome homebrewed CPU before, but there's now more info on the builder's site and a series of videos showing it in action. Visitors to the 2007 Maker Faire Bay Area may remember seeing the Magic-1 and meeting its builder, Google engineer Bill Buzbee. The project is incredibly well documented on the site. You can even telnet into the Magic-1, running 16-bit Minix at a scorching 4.09Mhz, to play the original Adventure game, or run classic apps like Eliza and Conway's Life. Retro-geeky good times!
Homebrew CPU
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February 18 2010, 6:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/building_a_cpm_68k_computer_from_sc.html
João Silva's latest project is to build his own computer from scratch, and it looks like he is off to a great start. Based around the Motorola 68000 processor, he is attempting to build a system that can run the CP/M-68k operating system. Besides just figuring out how to wire the chips up correctly, he is also working on getting a compiler set up so that he can write C programs for his system. It's an ambitious project which harkens back to the good old days of building computers in one's garage using discrete components. I look forward to seeing his progress!
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Digg this!February 17 2010, 3:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/maker_birthday_douglas_engelbart.html
Chances are you have Douglas C. Engelbart to thank for what you're holding in your hand right now.
I'm talking about your computer mouse, of course.
Dr. Engelbart was born on this date in 1925. In 1967, while working at the prestigious Stanford Research Institute, he applied for a patent on an "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System," which issued in 1970, although, per his Wikipedia article, he never actually received any royalties on it. He has been widely honored for his contributions to human-computer interface development.
Dr. Engelbart has four children and nine grandchildren, and today he's 85. Congratulations and happy birthday, sir!
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Digg this!January 30 2010, 8:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/imac_shelf.html
Nice homemade back-of-iMac shelf solution, I'm sure this will be a product soon :)
Dylan writes -
5" x 8" x 1/2" oak cut at an angle to match the slant of the iMac stand. Drilled all the way through 1" from edges at 1/4" diameter. 17" x 1/4" steel rod bent into "U" shape with brake line (rubber hose) fit on flat edge to provide grip and protection. Tapped the ends at 1/4 x 20 and fit regular bolts on the end for now. Will put wing nuts on at later time for easier adjustment, though can be adjusted to fit at any point on stand with a wrench. Would also like to add small cable spool to the underside to provide better cable management.
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Digg this!January 24 2010, 8:10am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/remake_macbook_hidden_in_an_actual.html
This thing is called "BookBook" and it's available from TwelveSouth for $80. Would be an easy remake, though, if you could find an appropriately-sized book. Besides the cool factor, disguising your expensive laptop as an old book has obvious security advantages. [via Geekologie]
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Digg this!January 23 2010, 9:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/boost_a_3g_signal_with_a_saucepan.html
Teemu shares a quick & easy method for improving signal reception with a 3G modem using nothing but a USB extension cord + cookware. Makes sense considering similar methods employed for use with wifi adapters - mayhaps something a bit more parabolic may be in order?[via Slashdot]
Related:
HOW TO - Uni-Directional WIFI Range Extender
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December 31 2009, 7:00am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/learn_to_write_games_using_python.html
Interested in learning how to program, or know someone who is? Then you might want to check out Al Sweigart's free book, Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python. Now in it's second edition, the Creative Commons-licensed book was written to help anyone, young or old, learn to program in the powerful Python language.
From the introduction:
Programming isn't hard. But it is hard to find learning materials that teach you to do interesting things with programming. Other computer books go over many topics that most newbie coders don't need. This book will teach you how to program your own computer games. You will learn a useful skill and have fun games to show for it!
This book is for:
- Anyone who wants to teach themselves computer programming, even if they have no previous experience programming.
- Kids and teenagers who want to learn computer programming by creating games. Kids as young as 9 or 10 years old should be able to follow along.
- Adults and teachers who wish to teach others programming.
- Anyone, young or old, who wants to learn how to program by learning a professional programming language.
It looks like it could be a great place for a budding programmer to start, and since it available online for free, why not check it out? [via O'Reilly Radar]
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Digg this!December 29 2009, 3:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/how-to_make_a_wooden_keyboard_enclo.html
This great tutorial on building a wooden keyboard case is just the tip of the iceberg at Matthias Wendell's impressive "woodworking for engineers" site. [via Hack a Day]
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Digg this!December 9 2009, 11:05am | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/spark_project_3_post_4.html
In my previous post, I finally started to make some progress with my Windows Embedded CE project. I was able to get a simple test application running which could send and receive messages via a serial port on my iCop eBox 2300 computer. I first sent messages to a host computer using an RS232 crossover cable. Once I confirmed that there were no problems sending and receiving messages or changing the baud rate, I cut the cable and plugged in a pair of XBee modules in place of the crossover cable. I wasn't ready to install custom device drivers in my Windows Embedded CE operating system image, so I used an XBee serial explorer ordered from SparkFun to connect an XBee to the eBox computer. After confirming that everything was working as expected, I was ready to modify the serial port test application to run my wireless light controller.
The secret sauce is my home-brew Arduino clone running from a capacitive power supply.
More about that next week!
Before I continue, I want to briefly reflect on some of the steps required to get my program to finally work. I initially suspected that I had a serial port buffer overrun problem, since I couldn't send messages longer than 16 characters. When I noticed that my serial port test program would hang at the end of a serial port transmission of any length, I started to think that the problem may be interrupt related instead of buffer related. If the serial port call was waiting for a "buffer empty" signal before it returned control to my program, hanging at the end of a transmission meant that it never got that signal. Since I had been editing a number of serial port settings in the BIOS and registry while trying to disable or reroute serial debugging messages, I might have inadvertently modified a critical registry key. Rather than retrace my steps and restore the factory settings, I started with a clean copy of the BSP to build the operating system image. I had also notice that many of the build directories for my Visual Studio 2005 installation were pointing to a more recent version of Visual Studio on my computer. After mapping all the directories to the correct location, I rebuilt the operating system using clean copies of all the drivers and BSP.
Finally, everything worked flawlessly when I tested the new operating system with the simple Visual Basic serial port terminal example from Samuel Phung's Windows Embedded CE 6.0
online resources.
Follow along at the
SPARK site!
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December 8 2009, 3:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/openframeworks_for_magic_projection.html
Zach Lieberman's been working with the Virtual Magician on Magic Projection 1.0, an OpenFrameworks-based projection system for interactive magic shows. Very cool!
More:
The EyeWriter
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Digg this!December 7 2009, 1:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/google_public_dns.html
Google Public DNS - handy... just remember 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 - my ISP's DNS is always slow, this one and OpenDNS are better. There is a lively debate in the comments about how freaky it may or may not be to give google this type of access/control, etc of your internets, join in!
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Digg this!December 3 2009, 12:14pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/spark_project_3_post_3.html
In my previous post, I described how I was able to program an iCop eBox to transmit date using an XBee wireless link. The program was written in Visual C++ and executed serial port commands to send data to a host computer. I had previously set up the XBees to communicate at 115,200 baud, but the Visual C++ serial port configuration defaults to 9600 for the baud rate. I was able to find sample code for It and it was relatively straightforward to add code to my program whichchanged the baud rate to the desired value.
Then things got a little strange. I noticed that every time I ran my program, it would hang after the serial transmission. I also found that the program would crash if I tried to send more than 16 characters. There's a long list of possible causes for such crashes, and I started to debug them one by one. The important part of this story is the outcome. Honestly, debugging can be unpleasant. I like a good challenge and have always enjoyed solving puzzles, but that's not how I wanted to be spending my time with these SPARK projects. So back to the outcome of the story. After taking many small steps backwards in the debugging process, I finally managed to make a huge leap forward, out of programming darkness. I now have a Visual Basic program running on my iCop eBox, and it's sending and receiving data from another computer using XBee transceivers.
Why is this so great? That's a fair question. Read on at the SPARK site for the answer!
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December 1 2009, 5:00pm | More »
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I posted to blog.makezine.com
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/support_your_laptop_with_a_monster.html
Regular laptop stand too boring for your taste? Check out the monster monster notebook stand instead. These are already pretty neat, but I think they would be 200% more awesome if the legs actually moved, turning the laptop into a creepy monster robot. Anyone want to get on that? [via technabob]
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Digg this!November 30 2009, 3:00pm | More »
