Do you have a bike trip computer that makes you enter a 4 digit number when you power it up?
Does that number correspond to the number of mm circumference your bike tire is?
Did you also loose the manual like I did?
Well, you're in luck then.
I got a different road bike for this year, and the tires are clearly a different size than my Mountain Bike's. What that meant was I'll need to remember a new number for when my trip computer battery dies. But what's that number in the first place?
For my trip computer (A Generic Schwinn one) I found an online scanned version of a similar manual. That manual gave my bikes wheels (28.0" Dia.) a nominal circumference of 2237mm per rotation.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Double check those DRC's
I have some good news, and some bad news.
First,
The PCB's have been made and are on their way here! Which has me pretty excited.
Next, the new version of the LED cube controller looks like it will be a sinch to use. Also on that the order for a bulk bag of 1000 Blue LEDs has been made. Meaning I'll have boards and LEDs in a couple of weeks. Next I have to get the lead out on ordering all the components.
Then, there was -minor- bad news. I was putting together a BOM for all of the parts. Just adding on values to things that I know I didn't add to yet. I noticed an overlap of 2 parts on the board. There is a current limiting resistor underneath a hole for the USB port. Means when get that board there will be metal connecting it to ground. Unless I manually Isolate it. Luckily I guess(?) the circuit is just for the power LED. So if I ignore it altogether and just roll with no power LED (just the confirmation Ding in windows when you plug it in) that should be fine for now. Everything else looks fantastic I think.
On the LED Cube Visualizations front:
Some new (soon hopefully) visualizations in the pipeline include:
The Snake Game so far has been somewhat tricky to implement. I dunno why I think it should be easy. Maybe its the 3D messing with me.
Thats where we are at right now, soon with the PCBs here I'll order components (takes a Day). Then the firmware and software is more or less done. Just tweaking. On top of that there will be a new version of the LED designer specifically for 8x8x8 grids when I get those parts working. I want to focus on creating a nice clean cube first. Because the last one worked, this next one I want to look fantastic.
That's all for now.
First,
The PCB's have been made and are on their way here! Which has me pretty excited.
Next, the new version of the LED cube controller looks like it will be a sinch to use. Also on that the order for a bulk bag of 1000 Blue LEDs has been made. Meaning I'll have boards and LEDs in a couple of weeks. Next I have to get the lead out on ordering all the components.
Then, there was -minor- bad news. I was putting together a BOM for all of the parts. Just adding on values to things that I know I didn't add to yet. I noticed an overlap of 2 parts on the board. There is a current limiting resistor underneath a hole for the USB port. Means when get that board there will be metal connecting it to ground. Unless I manually Isolate it. Luckily I guess(?) the circuit is just for the power LED. So if I ignore it altogether and just roll with no power LED (just the confirmation Ding in windows when you plug it in) that should be fine for now. Everything else looks fantastic I think.
On the LED Cube Visualizations front:
Some new (soon hopefully) visualizations in the pipeline include:
- Random Walking Points / Structures
- Beizer Curves/Loops Animation
- Conways Game of Life (Edit: "works")
The Snake Game so far has been somewhat tricky to implement. I dunno why I think it should be easy. Maybe its the 3D messing with me.
Thats where we are at right now, soon with the PCBs here I'll order components (takes a Day). Then the firmware and software is more or less done. Just tweaking. On top of that there will be a new version of the LED designer specifically for 8x8x8 grids when I get those parts working. I want to focus on creating a nice clean cube first. Because the last one worked, this next one I want to look fantastic.
That's all for now.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
New Batch of PCBS ordered!
Theres finally been some success coming from this desktop! After the first phase of the LED cube was up and running (not fantastically, but it did the trick).
(Phase 1 Exit video, I need a better camera holy crap)
Anyway the next cube phase is going to be pretty neat. I've gone ahead and ordered 10 prototype PCBs which incorporate all of the prototype boards that I made to get this thing running. This means it hopefully will be possible to give away a LED cube kit that is just a soldering kit. I'd like to eventually do just that. Selling something I made is a ways down the road. I want to make sure everything is good first.
The more interesting part is that I've ordered another set of 10 prototype PCBs for my Modular LED cube system. This one's different from the 5x5x5 one because it's powerable up to 64x64x64 LEDs (2^18= 262 111) Which is a hell of a lot of LEDs. The computer power supply being used for it is absolute overkill, but I wanted to try and use that as well. I think as a possible future "improvement" I might make a power supply board (or source a +5V power supply).
The last PCB Ill hopefully be getting is a Kill-A-Watt V2 PCB. It's the same basic functionality as the kill-a-watt already, with the major exception that you can plug it into your computer over USB and monitor real time power requirements. What makes this interface even better is that if you use a pair of Xbee's it could even be possible to get data wirelessly! All of that would be wayyyy down the road from now; but its something that could potentially be done.
I guess we will have to wait and see what shows up in a few weeks!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Ordered some new screens!
So I think I've been stagnated on a lot of my projects because I'm bummed out I can't get one of my graphical LCDS to work.
First, I purchased a Graphical OLED display, this one from Newhaven Displays
Its supposedly has a rise and fall time of around 10us. Which means I can do some very high frame-rates with it (even if I do things at 100fps, that's 3 orders of magnitude longer than the minimum switching time).
I'm really hoping I'll have an easy time interfacing this with my USB kit. then we can make some interesting patterns on it, and eventually work on a couple of projects that I think would be neat. Namely some embedded gaming solutions. Im psyched to get them when they come.
Next, I thought I need some simple yet powerful enough LCD's for debugging and showing off basic information.
I picked up a couple 2x16 character LCDs. Three namely; I want to use one in a "kill-a-watt" style power metering device. Another for generic debugging. Finally one for Home circuit breaker and a DIY signal generator generic power supply.
Hopefully they show up soon.
First, I purchased a Graphical OLED display, this one from Newhaven Displays
Its supposedly has a rise and fall time of around 10us. Which means I can do some very high frame-rates with it (even if I do things at 100fps, that's 3 orders of magnitude longer than the minimum switching time).
I'm really hoping I'll have an easy time interfacing this with my USB kit. then we can make some interesting patterns on it, and eventually work on a couple of projects that I think would be neat. Namely some embedded gaming solutions. Im psyched to get them when they come.
Next, I thought I need some simple yet powerful enough LCD's for debugging and showing off basic information.
I picked up a couple 2x16 character LCDs. Three namely; I want to use one in a "kill-a-watt" style power metering device. Another for generic debugging. Finally one for Home circuit breaker and a DIY signal generator generic power supply.
Hopefully they show up soon.
Monday, January 23, 2012
On Applying for Jobs
For the last couple of weeks I've been basically unemployed. Beyond the odd-job for a friends/family company I've had the luck of being on the job hunt.
I have to say, so far this has not only been the most unrewarding thing I've done this year; it's also a task that seems like a burden to do.
I don't think I had the mentality that many university graduates get that there will be people jumping from all over to give them work. It seems like its just a necessary evil if anyone ever wants to get a job; at least if you don't know someone. Which is where I fit in.
The last 3 or 4 Jobs I've had were all on referral. I didn't give anyone a resume, I barely had anything that can be called an "interview," and since maybe 2008 I haven't actually had to "Job hunt." Now, coming back to this process has been very frustrating. I feel like from the beginning the job application process is gamed from both sides. Which is why the entire framework for an application I think needs to be reconsidered and reworked. Especially with the new tools that both employers and job-seekers have at hand.
I have to say, so far this has not only been the most unrewarding thing I've done this year; it's also a task that seems like a burden to do.
I don't think I had the mentality that many university graduates get that there will be people jumping from all over to give them work. It seems like its just a necessary evil if anyone ever wants to get a job; at least if you don't know someone. Which is where I fit in.
The last 3 or 4 Jobs I've had were all on referral. I didn't give anyone a resume, I barely had anything that can be called an "interview," and since maybe 2008 I haven't actually had to "Job hunt." Now, coming back to this process has been very frustrating. I feel like from the beginning the job application process is gamed from both sides. Which is why the entire framework for an application I think needs to be reconsidered and reworked. Especially with the new tools that both employers and job-seekers have at hand.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
I never Learn...
I've been playing around with this LED Cube Project for a little while now. After burning myself Friday for hastily making the cub itself. It's come full cycle and bit me again.
This time I put some LEDs in backwards.
So if you are building a project. Take the time to look over the simple things. Sure you just Soldered 25 Led's together. Simple stuff. Check to make sure they are in the right orientation. Because chances are after doing it 150 times you'll screw something up. It saves time in the long run finding a fault early on than debugging and rebuilding sections of the previous step. It's also made this proof of concept look a little junkier than what I wanted.
This time I put some LEDs in backwards.
So if you are building a project. Take the time to look over the simple things. Sure you just Soldered 25 Led's together. Simple stuff. Check to make sure they are in the right orientation. Because chances are after doing it 150 times you'll screw something up. It saves time in the long run finding a fault early on than debugging and rebuilding sections of the previous step. It's also made this proof of concept look a little junkier than what I wanted.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Ouch!
Took a little over 3 weeks, but I've finally christened this soldering iron with flesh. (which soldering iron? Why my new Hakko FX-888!)
Soldering today I managed to graze the tip with my index finger. Leaving a nice blister right now. Thats smarts!
The PSA of this blog would be to double check where your hands are with respect to the tools you are using. Burns hurt more than cuts. I really want to keep on soldiering through the LED Cube right now, but damn I don't want to get too close to that iron anymore.
Soldering today I managed to graze the tip with my index finger. Leaving a nice blister right now. Thats smarts!
The PSA of this blog would be to double check where your hands are with respect to the tools you are using. Burns hurt more than cuts. I really want to keep on soldiering through the LED Cube right now, but damn I don't want to get too close to that iron anymore.
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