Helpful + Nerd = Nerdful
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August 1st, 2010 Getting parts to make SALT water batteries with my son. We have been playing with numerous solar panels I bought the last couple months (solar cars, windmills and a H20 car in works). Will be playing with some other batteries once son is in bed with chemicals that are not so corrosive or well know. May 12th, 2010 My Asrock x58 SuperComputer mother board just fried on me (may 9th), it's a $300.00 piece that was obviously only meant to only last 1 year (well 1 year and 3 days in my case, I had it shipped May 10th, 2009 so I never got to even use it for a year). I did a bios update on Friday (had no reason to update, just did for heck of it), didn't have PC on much for Saturday. Then on Sunday morning about 5AM, after a couple hours or use it starts to smoke and shuts off for ever (tried to power on for half a second, then off again, tried to clear CMOS, took off all parts, no beeps even)! I have read that these older motherboards have voltage issues and there has been revisions since my ordering. I am also very upset as customer service from ASROCK.com has still not replied to my simple question (4th day waiting) about using a cheaper model of their boards with my SATA array. This is dissapointing as I spent my saved up money on a new portable internet tablet PC last month and also this blown PC has all my valuable work & documents on it (it's my workstation PC for my business). Now I have to go without a decent PC for a while. Also I am very concerned about loosing almost 5 terrabytes (4.5 TB) of data on my 3 SATA drives that I have hooked up as RAID 0 (appears as 1 big drive) if I do not get the same exact motherboard (I am afraid of this happening again if I get same product, I used to only get ASUS boards before this and none of them have ever failed in 10+ years).
Another issue I have is I am worried that this fried my CPU too that cost me almost $500! I won't know until I can get a replacement board. UPDATE May 14th: Customer support finally answered back but it's too late (took too long, almost a week) as I ordered another exact mother board as I really do need my PC working (will not do a BIOS update as I suspect this ruined my other one). I am hoping to get the old one RMA (returned under warranty) even though it fried couple days after guarentee (2 days should not be a big deal if you ask me). If I can get RMA'd, I will build a second PC for a backup computer for when disater strikes (failing hard drives, OS crash, power supply failure, etc) in the future. If I cannot, I will feel bad as I think if I didn't update the BIOS, I would still be using it! April 11th, 2010 Okay, I finally saved up enough PayPal money (actually have a some left over as I found one cheaper and better) and found a good match to replace my old fujitsu that I so loved (this one is better as the monitor swivels over to make it a full tablet PC and is multitouch screen, actually just dualtouch). It is an Asus Tablet (ASUS Eee T91MT-PU17-BK Tablet PC, mini convertible laptop with slower style Intel Atom CPU) with multi-touch (I can use 2 fingers at once). It's only a single 1.33 GHz Atom (least it is low power and helps battery last longer, I would prefer an Intel i5 Quad though) with a basic built in video card (I would prefer some kind of nice 3D graphics card), but it will be fine for text editing and USB programming the chips. I am not expecting it to be a super PC, just a Netbook and AVRer (it does well playing 720p divx and will hook up to my big screen LCD TV, so I am impressed). I bought it from NewEgg, here is the LINK. Will be a bit before I can arrange some time, I have made a bunch of obligations lately and will be out of town soon for vacation to Florida again, but at least I will be ready. Basically I am saying, BACK SOON! I figure that the other tablet is damaged from beach sand because when I took it apart for parts, there was a fair bit of sand inside which could cause sever damages. Now my new dual touch screen has no moving parts that could be bothered by sand! January 30th, 2010 Sorry I have been away so long from AVR scene. I have been anxious to work on some great ideas I have for some new AVR tutorials and videos, but my dedicated AVR computer is on the fritz (probably happened on trip back from vacation)! Soon my son will be in full time kindergarten and I will have my hobby time again... Fujitsu Stylistic ST4121 Dead: Darn! I went to get back into AVRing and my touch screen tablet PC I had all my stuff has finally died (screen won't turn on, not even external monitor output, but hard drive & fans power). I did most of my messing around in a small area and this old Fujitsu Stylistic ST4121 (from 2003 and has been used almost daily as a netbook or remotely controlling servers) was perfect. I will be glad to replace this unit (other than the cost) as I have to use add-on WiFi card, it's bigger than I really wanted, the battery is shot, and it's CPU is less than a 1GHz (933MHz) What I Want For Replacement: I see a company called Viliv and they have a neat looking model x70 with a 7 inch monitor tablet PC that would make a great replacement, here is a LINK. It's a Atom processor (low power) @ 1.2 GHz, built in WiFi/GPS/3G, camera and more, plus it is half the size of my old tablet! I can afford one of these myself, but the wife has excuses for me to not spend $600 for a new tabletpc, so let's make a deal! Best reason she gave was that it is not very powerful and lacks a dual touch screen (multitouch), but this should be a good replacement for what I want (I knew the limitations of my old one and I got good use from it). Another good reason is she wants a new couch set before I get a new toy... What I Am Willing To Do For Free Replacement: I wonder how I could get MyViliv.com to give me a free Viliv x70 in exchange for running a banner on my popular site FotoTrix.com (get's a couple million people visiting a year and it generates full-time income with sponsor ads) or sponsor this site. I could even promise to make all future NERDFUL.com videos (here and YouTube) with the UMPC in the shot with a tag related and a link. If anyone wanted to advertise on this site (Nerdful.com) or FotoTrix.com, you could buy me this (LINK to Wish List for $599) in exchange for advertising (no porn, no gambling, nothing illegal). I would even give a deal like a banner (GIF 468x60) for 1 year run on bottom of FotoTrix.com (current ad slots pay me $100 to $250 a month) and also on Nerdful.com for the life of site (5 years or more). This limited time advertising offer is easily worth over $1,200.00, so act fast because after March 30th, 2010 the offer will be denied (I will just have to buy my own, I can't wait all year). Call and leave a message @ 1-COWS-TELL-ME (yes it's real) or email nerdful@cowstellme.com. Just returned from vacation. Drove to Florida (took in sites along the drive) and rented ocean front condo in Saint Augustine. Swam with a 6 foot black tipped reef shark (responsible for almost 20% of shark attacks in Florida) and fed sea turtles in our front yard from my lawn chair. September 9th, 2009 Control AVR With Your Voice (Speech Commander): In previous post (link) I discussed ways of controlling 5 LEDs on or off. Well if you're using Windows with the AVR C source code supplied from previous post, you can install a freeware application from www.SpeakToPC.com that converts voice commands into computer tasks. Now you can tell your AVR projects what to do with voice commands! Screenshots:
Details: Once you have the Simon Says program installed (might need Microsoft drivers for speech recognition), load up template AVR.poz and then you should be able to speak out loud "all on" to turn all the LEDs on or "all off" to turn them all off. You will need a working sound card on your system and a microphone to pick up your voice. Basically this software will take speech commands and then send a value to the serial port (com5 in my case) that you setup. You can program up to 50 different voice commands! BTW: I am the creator of SpeakToPC.com and I programmed Simon Says in Visual Basic 6 to help my poor sore hands have a bit of a break... September 5th, 2009 Recent ATmega AVR Kit Purchases: *RBBB Arduino clone kit (ATmega328) is a mini board designed for those experimental applications that require small processors, such as wearable computing, near space experiments, toy prototyping, artist's projects or any use for a fairly small, low-cost microcontroller. As far as we know, it's the smallest and most low-cost Arduino-compatible available right now. Link: www.moderndevice.com/RBBB_revB.shtml *ATMEGA8 Development Kit. This kit contains what you need to start building ATMEGA8 circuits. There are also a number of smaller components which assist in getting the Atmega8 working. Link: www.protostack.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_20&products_id=22 *AVR ISP programmer are based on Thomas Fischl's USBasp design and connect to your computer's USB port. Not only are they quite compact, but the design is really elegant. The USB interface is achieved by using an atmega processor and the rest is done in firmware.
Link: www.protostack.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23&products_id=24 *MinyPOV 3, the microcontroller used for the MiniPOV2 is an Atmel 20-pin RISC device called the ATtiny2313 (ATtiny2313V-10PU). This chip was chosen because it is the cheapest one that has an internal oscillator (no external crystal/clock necessary) and enough I/O pins to give every LED a pin. Link: www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=20 UPDATE Sept 11th: Got the MiniPOV3 kit today and put it together (worked on first try), now just need to set it up on a fan or spinning mount. UPDATE Sept 12th: Recieved my RBBB kit. On site it said that it came with Freeduino bootloader, but the package says it has Diecimila/Duemilanove bootloader. It's missing the power jack (incomplete kit) so I am debating whether to use this on a breadboard or to solder it on to the PCB and wait another week for the part (GRRRRR, I hate waiting, I just want to play). UPDATE Sept 14th: All products recieved and missing pieces replaced. Control AVR With PocketPC or SmartPhone Using Terminal: In previous posts I have discussed controlling the AVR VIA serial UART using most of Microsoft's PC operating systems, but I failed to include their Windows Mobile and Windows CE platforms. I was sent a link to 2 freeware files for emulating HyperTerminal on PPC and WinCE (haven't tested them myself as my wife is using my Dell Axim for work, scanned for viruses only). As far as I know, you just have to transfer the file(s) to your pocket PC or smart cell phone (either with cable transfer or on a SD card) and then simply double click the file on your PPC to execute the program. I have a Windows Mobile emulator installed on my desktop computer and these files will run for me in Windows XP. Download PPC-Terminal.exe (12KB).
Download Smartphone-Terminal.exe (34KB).
Download TerminalClone.exe (25KB, for Windows PC).
I bought a USB breakout board to replace the NerdKit USB dongle and serial TTL converter board. It was really cheap on EBay (USB To TTL Converter Module cp2102 arm9 max232) and I could not refuse. It is a really handy board. It supplies power to the breadboard (USB powered). It is about 10% the size (5% the weight) of the NerdKit reader/writer/header and can be easily added to any project to make it a real USB device. Now we can also get rid of the 5volt voltage regulator as the USB supplies either 3.3V or 5V that is safe for our kit. Even if I cannot figure out how to use it on the NerdKit for programming a preloaded bootloader MCU, it will still be a grat add-on to include with projects I create (although I am sure it is a simple thing to make it work as a header to load C code to MCU). 
August 22nd, 2009 I am creating my own solution to cutting down some repetitive stress to my hands by moving some of the work to my feet (just simple clicking of buttons). I find that mouse clicking and page scrolling hurt the most. FooTime is a $199.99 product (quite expensive for what it does) and so far I have basically made a 4 button version without a mouse you move around (I find this bothers my knees anyhow). FooTime webpage: www.bilila.com/foot_mouse_slipper_mouse. DETAILS: In addition to its wide applications in ergonomics, rehab, assistive technology, clean room (lab), dirty room (car repair), cyber room (video game), etc, Footime foot mouse is also a very powerful input device for audio/video editor, animator, graphic designer, architect, composer, arranger, product designer (CAD, etc), CT scanner, software programmer or any intensive computer user. Even USB pedals and big button switches are like $50 and up (you only get one or two buttons), see here http://www.fentek-ind.com/FootPedal.htm. AVR Foot Mouse 2009: Now working on a embedded project using analog input devices (simple 2 wire on/off devices). It's going to be a foot PC mouse clicker for Windows! Read more... Future Project Ideas (parts needed):
I have so many ideas but I am limited to parts I can afford. I set up a DONATE (look to the top left of page in the menu) button for those who feel I deserve something as they have benefitted from one of my blog posts or used any of code. Got a Basic POV (persistence of vision) LED demo. It just shows a chaser back and forth type effect when waved around that looks like a saw tooth wave. Video this weekend and more info. Code is below:
August 17th, 2009 What Is A NerdKit? Was asked in email if this was a kit I had. Yes, it's from www.NerdKits.com and I am very happy with it. They should offer a kit that does not have a LCD as I find talking to Hyper Terminal convenient for testing and I want to create cheap projects to possibly market some day that do not really need an expensive LCD (for example, you do not need a LCD for most of my projects I blog about). Wish the kit came with a cheap servo motor and maybe a stepper motor. Definitely need more source codes (I am going to create a source code resource here soon), but I am finding if I do not use the libnerdkits as much, I can use source codes in C language used for some AVR Studio projects found on Google (or least give me an idea how the C code should be done, I am slowly learning the workings of C). NerdKit's guide (basically a PDF book on intro to embedded programming) was great for getting me making my first sample demo project (a digital thermometer that outputs to LCD or PC) step by step and told me why I was adding each component and what it did. Their videos are fun to watch and most have source codes to play with. I am glad I got this kit instead of an Arduino clone (the NerdKit feels more pure and innocent)! At first I was a bit frustrated, but I do not know C language (pro with Visual Basic, PHP, ASP), nor do I know electronics and I wanted to know everything in the first few days. Now I am getting the hang of it! If you already know C coding, you are already head of me. I am a middle aged man (almost 40) looking for a new hobby that had something to do with computers, robotics and programming. This seems like the great little escape I needed and even my 4 year old son is fascinated with some of the silly sample projects I have made. I showed my wife the traffic light project I made a week ago on my own without source code (I was pretty proud of myself), she laughed and said "So that that cost 85 bucks? Walmart has a whole train set with working lights for 20!". She doesn't get it and doesn't see the potential or the fun in doing it yourself. This kit gives me the same feeling I used to get playing with Lego as a young child (with a touch or a nerdy feel). There are many kits out there, but none quite like this. You
get a great 3 lined LCD (great for debugging or using in a prototype), a
serial/USB connection that communicates to and from PC, a bread board (you are
forced to learn electronics and a great guide to get you going your first day,
even a young teen can do this) and a bunch or parts to make a few projects
"right off the bat". Barebone Breadboard AVR Developer Kit: Read more... I just bought a Bluetooth wireless TTL (serial port replacement) from EBAY that will control and upload scripts to my MCU VIA USART at an even faster baud rate and it's cheaper than buying a USB to RS232 dongle with a serial header TTL DIY kit. I cannot wait to get it and figure out how to use it (hope it's not wasted money). Will be much easier without all these cables I have going on. Also, great way to talk to a robot VIA PC that moves around the floor. UB1-1111/1112 is a BlueTooth bridge that implements three different interfaces: RS232; USB; and SPI. It has a small surface mount form factor measuring 27.7x15.0 mm for 1112 and 22.5x16.0 mm for 1111. Implementing BlueTooth v1.1 it can reach 723.2 Kbaud data rate. It consumes 231mW during 723.2 Kbaud transmission achieving a typical transmission power of 3 dBm for 1112 and 2 dBm for 1111. I will post my results even if I do not get it to work. Also bought 4 micro servos that are used in RC airplanes (not high torque, just 9g). Buying a stepper motor next. Today I am going to figure out how to use a 2.25 volt (actually hardly a voltage in indoor light) 100mA solar cell as a photoresistor light sensor so I can post another video and demo. I guess it will also be able to be made into a voltage meter. Two Pinned Things As Sensors: A microphone, speaker or even our piezo can be used as a sound detector, see this link. A LED can be made to detect darkness (not good for light differences, but can tell difference between day and night). A motor can be used to detect turning. Almost anything that generates or converts mechanical energy to electricity in any minor way (low voltages and milliamps) can be hacked as a sensor for an AVR project. Infared LED can be used for sensing walls and other obstacles. Got a solar cell work as sensor (similar to a photodiode or phototransistor), but we are dealing with such low measurements with indoor lighting, that the noise/interference/EMF or whatever it is, is causing too much static and had to use another breadboard to take sensitive electronics away from the Atmega168 MCU (this helped lower interference greatly on a previous project involving a 3 pinned switch as input). Also by complete accident, wind up making a Theremin, a Geiger counter styled EMF detector and a funky noise maker (random beat/tone/beep, random timing/delay thingie) from same script (tweaked values) and same breadboard layout. See source code HERE for Geiger counter EMF detector (play around with tone frequency, remove/add delays) I will make a video this weekend. UPDATE: Can't get the BlueTooth to work (SMD modules are too small for me to work with without a breakout baord), but found a great USB powered replacement though. Servos have no datasheets, cannot figure out the timing to use with PWM and 50hz frequency pulses (NEED HELP). Controlling DC Motor With AVR: Here is a video of me controlling a 3V hobby motor by sending a pulse of current. It is the same setup & code as the 11 LED CHASER (a hack), except 1 LED has been removed (at PC5) and replaced with a N2700 (row 2-4, row 2 to GND, row 3 to MCU, row 4 to positive on motor, row 5 to positive rail plus to negative on motor) MOSFET setup to switch on a normal 3 volt hobby motor that requires more amperage (higher than the 40mA maximum that the ATmega168 can handle) than the MCU provides (also added a 5V voltage regulator as power supply is 6 volts). To avoid using a MOSFET, I could have used a pager motor (used for vibrator) that will run on 40mA) directly connected to the MCU and rail just like I do with the LEDs in my demos.
11 LED Chaser Effect (before hack above): I noticed that the whole right side of the NerdKit has 11 accessible ports that 11 LEDs will fit in just comfortably. I was told I could only get up to 6 or 8 LEDs using math to do it, but my old stubburn way of programming step by step in C easily allowed by to do these 11. Here's a video (barebones microcontroller on breadboard). I do not use any fancy math with my code because my video shows it running off 3volts (2 AA batteries), complicated programming would have caused the MCU to "brown out" (not function right and glitch) with only a 3 volt power supply. Below is my commented and refined 11 LED light chaser basic demo source code (if not using makefile from nerdKit, then put underscore in front of delay_ms to _delay_ms):
August 15th, 2009 Controlling AVR With DOS or Windows PC Or IIS Web Server: Here is a project (took me a few attempts to create, but I was persistent) that demonstrates how to control 5 devices (turn off and on LEDs or make new functions) using certain keyboard keys to operate. In this demo I take 5 LEDs in PB1 to PB5 and then assign numbers 1 to 5 on PC keyboard to turn on each individual LED and keys q,w,e,r,t to turn off each of the lights. This project communicates with your PC through a RS232 serial interface. Source Codes (Visual Basic, ASP, DOS, C, etc): Read more... UART/USART HELLO WORLD: Here is an AVR "Hello World" demonstration that writes "Hello World!" to your PC VIA serial to USB every 1 second (open hyper terminal to see). Download AVR project (Nerdkit code). I found software called Terminal (download) which is a great little portable application (needs no install, just run it) for talking & listening to your COM ports (works better than Hyper Terminal for Windows users) Playing Musical Notes With AVR: Also need to learn about oscillating (changing voltages rapidly) a piezoelectric buzzer to give the robot some 1bit sound effects. Here's some working & tested code I tweaked from nerdkits.com that plays several tones from low to high: http://nerdkits.pastebin.com/f5328d6f I am thinking I really need a ISP programmer and a bunch of chips as there are a few fun projects I would like to do like this and then sell the end results on ebay. Here's a great 6 LED chaser effect from HERE:
August 9th, 2009: I am learning how to make C code better & cleaner. Also notice how the delay has an underscore before it now as I updated my makefile not to have any of libnerdkits includes (I never did that with the previous codes I was trying to not use Nerdkit includes). It seems that skipping any NerdKit files gives us pure AVR programming say that was made using AVR Studio (I can find more source codes now), making this kit a complete and open source development board. I just wonder if I was to say start a scrolling LED clock as a full retail product (fully assembled), would I be allowed to buy my own cheaper MCUs without bootloader and use NerdKit's bootloader without owing them money on each unit? Here's code for a 1 way traffic light with some bit: Read more... August 9th, 2009: Well I got around to making my own 2-way street traffic light. Source code has no complicated math, just timed events that loop. Here is a video. Below is a photo & the source code (copy & paste), and the resistor near bottom center of breadboard was left in by accident from LCD I had hooked up earlier (not needed in this layout). Also, I cheated and didn't use resistors for the LEDs (why they are so bright), this would be more of a battery drainer in a real world application. I removed the USB to serial RS232 that writes the hex files to the MCU (not an ISP), now the circuit looks so basic and is now a working prototype of a (microcontroller controlling at least 6 devices) toy traffic signal set (could be used by kids when playing cars, train collecting enthusiasts, etc). Source Codes: read more... Had a dream that I hacked into my son's old Teddy Ruxben (story telling bear) where I made it talk evil and be animated creepily for a Halloween theme. It was controlled over an XeeBee wireless so it could jump in front of kids and not have a bunch of wires dangling to a PC. I haven't actually had a chance to do much since I got up as my son has wanted some of my attention as I have been a bit distracted from my father stuff since I got this AVR kit. I showed him some stuff it can do, and for a four year old he was impressed that the motor speed I could change just with the flasing LED script changed from 100ms waits to 1ms, now a motor apears to spin slow (bit of stepping, but he was impressed). But nows he bored because I cannot make a robot yet, but I said when I can, we will. I also warned him some of his old toys will have to be dissected for parts to a robot. August 8th, 2009: Ok, it's almost 5 am and I need to go to bed! I think I am finally starting to get how things work with AVR and kits. My first working code I got to work (without any walk through or tutorials) that blinks an LED every 100ms on a Atemega168 MCU on pin 26 (PC3):
The above code uses no libnerdkits include files supplied by the kit maker www.nerdkits.com, only includes provided by WinAVR/AVRdude. When I first got this kit about 60 hours ago, I thought I was only stuck using the files in libnerdkit which would limit the source codes and samples I could find on the internet, but thankfully I am not limited to only what NerdKits makes on the bootloader or with the include files. I was also falsely believing that these include files were on the MCU itself (but now realize these files are on my PC when I do the make command to compile). I guess I was assuming it was like PC where you can have different operating systems and I was thinking that NerdKit was some new unknown linux release but I was expecting Windows or something like that. Now I can understand better controling a simple on/off device. Next i will attempt to make it dim instead of flash on off, I'm assuming that has to do with pulse width modulation (PWM).Kind of like how you speed down/up and normal DC motor (usually goes almost full throttle). Then I will try a servo, 3V DC motor, and other parts that I have ordered. August 7th, 2009: I think I am getting this AVR stuff now (thanks to help on chat channel #AVR on irc.FreeNode.net). I still have some reading to do and parts to recieve. Much reading to do with links I have been given! Compilers and Tools for Atmel AVR Development Read more... August 6th, 2009: Here's a photo of my first ever test project I did yesterday (was too lazy to get digital image from camera earlier):
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