http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic hourly 1 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://gmane.org/img/gmane-25t.png http://gmane.org http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151188 Recently I've had to install or replace some 35A equipment that comes from Switzerland with US colour code wiring scheme (how this is legal in Australia is another matter). Anyhow, the original equipment has been wired by licensed electricians, some use white as active others black, the supplier is not helpful as the schematics actually list. L1 White L2 Brown L3 Black Now in Europe and AUS/NZ the equipment is 230-240Vac and only have active/return/earth and in the US 208Vac (didn't know the US had 208 volt supplies). I've done an internet search and looked up my trusty Tandy everything electronic book (circa 1978) and I'm getting mixed messages most state black as active, but a few websites say white. So would some one form the country across the pond set me right and help me sort out this shocking state of affairs? Thanks Colin Oh yes they're Starbucks coffee machines for the curious. -- cdb, 7/10/2008 -- colin< at >btech-online.co.uk cdb 2008-10-07T11:28:04 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151165 I think this is really bad decision. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081005/bs_afp/stockschinapolicy Again I think that brokers will earn huge returns but the stock market investor will suffer even more. Xiaofan Xiaofan Chen 2008-10-06T23:41:44 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151148 Hey its been a wile. I have a pic16f648a I am using to control two motors- on/off with direction control (no speed control). the "headturn" motor is the one with the issue here. I have a strip of black at both stops of head travel, with an optical encoder (sensor gos low when dark). I am using relays to change direction of current flow to the motors (relay of = forward. relay on = reverse). What I need this section of code to do is, "turn head to stop point- wait 2 seconds - than turn head back to first stop point" when I compile and run: Main call Turnhead_f nop goto $-1 -It turns and stops on its stop point. However when I compile and run: call Turnhead_f movlw 0x02 call Delay_s call Turnhead_r nop goto $-1 -It turns and stops on its stop point, waits 2 seconds turns back to its start point then turns back to the forward direction, and travels past its stop point and crashes against its hard stop!!! ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Turnhead_f bsf headturn btfss feedback_head ;wate for white goto $-1 btfsc feedback_head ;wate for black goto $-1 bcf headturn return Turnhead_r bsf direction_head nop bsf headturn btfss feedback_head ;wate for white goto $-1 btfsc feedback_head ;wate for black goto $-1 bcf headturn nop bcf direction_head return threewheeler7 2008-10-06T20:23:24 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151147 Hi all, Looking for advice on any pitfalls or recommendations for putting an AC transformer (pretty small - 110VAC primary, 9VAC secondary, 2.8KVA) onto a PCB design. Post transformer, I'll do the classic rectifier make of diodes (1N4004s)/LM7805 equivalent/bypass caps. Any pointers appreciated! -marc Sent from my iPhone Marc Nicholas 2008-10-06T20:18:31 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151144 Scary reading: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/01/wikipedia_and_naked_shorting/ Peter Peter 2008-10-06T18:37:09 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151139 <http://www.national.com/an/AN/> AN-4 Monolithic Op-Amp (1968) ... AN-1898 LVDS Repeaters (Sept. 2008) -- Martin Martin 2008-10-06T16:57:16 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151131 Over the years I have accumulated some IT stuffs. Now I am not that interested in them but occasionally I will switch them on just to see if they are alive or not. Just wondering if you have some ideas of reusing them? You might want to share your experiences as well. 1. Palm IIIxe bought in year 2000 I was using it as a eBook reader and basic PDA function. But it is not expandable. The battery life (2 AAA rechargeable) is still good. 2. HP Jonarda 545 PocketPC 2002 bought in year 2002 I was using it as a PDA and even bought a Wifi adapter for it but I did not use it so often as I bought a notebook (Dell 600M) for study. Later I gave it to my wife as a Electronics dictionary using MDICT. Now she has the Nokia E71 and I am not so sure how to effectively use it again. The build quality of the PDA is really good and the rechargeable battery still can last one week or more with casual use. The interface seems to be faulty now so I could only use IRDA as the transfer method if I need to use ActiveSync. The charger works fine. 3. An old NEC MobilePro 400 Windows CE 1.0 Handheld with 2.0 ROM upgrade, bought 2nd hand in 2001 (for about US$35), just curious about Windows CE at that time. Microsoft was rather stupid to ask the user to use double click on handheld PC. The battery life (2 AA rechargeable) is quite bad but it comes with an AC adapter along with the docking station (serial port). It has also an PCMPIA card slot but PCMCIA CF card adapter does not work. It is also too slow to be useful. So I will only keep this as a collectible. 4. The Dell 600M (bought back in 2003) now has a problem. It seems to me that the motherboard keyboard controller is faulty now since it keeps sending random keys. I tried to remove the keyboard connection and use an external USB keyboard without success. It is running Windows XP and Fedora Core 6 but I could not effectively disable the on-board keyboard controller. 5. There are many other small items, like an old Ethernet ADSL modem (Speedstream 5260), SoundBlaster Life sound card, and some of the old items that I could not use any more: two AGP graphics card, 2x512M DDR RAM now that my old desktop is dead (Gigabyte motherboard NF3 based chipset with ADM Atholon 64 3000+, most likely the motherboard is faulty), a DVD writer. I also got an extra PCI Wireless card. I was thinking of getting a 2nd hand motherboard+CPU to revive the PC but later decided against the idea as new sets are also very cheap. The missing item is a home server which match the 42 inch HD Ready LCD TV, not one more ugly PC. Maybe Wii can act as the home server but it seems not powerful enough. An XBOX 360 would be a better bet. Or maybe an ASUS EEEbox will do. 6. I also got the extra Linksys WRT54G from my brother (I gave him my Linksys USB Wifi Adapter). Not so sure how to use it effectively. 7. And then I have the old cell phones like Nokia 8250 and Nokia 3350. I'd like to use the Nokia 6280 my wife was using before she got the E71. Somehow it does not like my SIM card. It reports "SIM card rejected". The same SIM card works with other phones at home including the E71, just not the Nokia 6280. And other SIM cards works with the Nokia 6280. Unfortunately I am using the prepaid service and they do not allow number retention for prepaid customers. Take note we do not have locked phones here in Singapore so it is not an issue with locked phone. Xiaofan Xiaofan Chen 2008-10-06T14:09:13 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151129 I'm using the PIC32 parallel module to talk to a Samsung LCD controller (S6D0144), and am unable to get them talking to each other. I'm hoping someone has some experience with either the PMP module, the samsung controller, or one of the family to help me get started. Display: http://www.newhavendisplay.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=524/category_id=240/home_id=165/mode=prod/prd524.htm I've run out of things to check, so any help would be appreciated. Right now I have the PMP setup as follows: #define PMP_CONTROL (PMP_ON | PMP_READ_WRITE_EN | PMP_CS2_CS1_OFF) #define PMP_MODE (PMP_IRQ_OFF | PMP_MODE_MASTER2) #define PMP_PORT (PMP_PEN_OFF ) #define PMP_INTR (PMP_INT_OFF) My first boneheaded move was hooking up the low 8 bits and then find out that 8 bit mode runs on the high 8 bits. Rather than ripping them up I connected the other 8 so I'm running 16 bits now. I'm manually controlling RS and CS at the moment (I'm slowly removing the PMP from the equation since I've never used it before and have little confidence that I've set it up correctly) -Adam M. Adam Davis 2008-10-06T13:53:34 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151118 Let me say right off the bat, that I am not suggesting not using comments at all. The problem I see is that well-meaning programmers use comments to try to make up for the shortcomings of their code. I think they should practice writing self-documenting code, because it has several important advantages over comments: - Function and variable names rarely get out of date - Good names eliminate the need for line-by-line comments - You cannot "forget" or "put off until later" naming a function or a variable - It helps the programmer maintain code cohesion, by focusing their attention on the purpose of the function This last point is very significant, IMHO. Comments are passive -- you use them to describe what a function does, often after you've already written it. A well chosen name actively shapes the implementation of a function. If a piece of code you're trying to put into the function does not agree with the name, you know you should either change the name, or (which happens more often) put the code into another function. I believe that the real purpose of comments is to provide the context, to explain *why* something is being done (never *what* is being done). If you follow the principles of tight cohesion, and keep the functions short (20 lines or less, is my rule of thumb) you can name the function in a way that describes exactly what it does. This goes agains the principle of loose coupling. The function should only be responsible for itself. It has no business knowing anything about the function(s) that are calling it, or what they're doing with the return value. That's actually an excellent argument for not commenting every line. Use the space you would otherwise waste on comments, to create a descriptive function name. Make it as long as necessary. If the name is too long, it will tell you that the function is doing too many things, and needs to be broken down into smaller, more cohesive functions. Why?! Characters in symbol names are *free*. Your suggestion goes against the recommendations of leading programmers, and common sense. [snip] Make the function name more vague -- to save three letters? Functions are verbs, which act on nouns (variables). Therefore, a function name must have a verb in it, to help improve understanding. Moreover, a lot of times you have no other option but to use a "Get" and a "Set". For example: void SetOvenTemperature(int temperature); int GetOvenTemperature(); So, change the function name to say exactly what it does. Put the comment inside the function name, and you won't have to remember to copy/paste the comment everywhere you use it. Unfortunately, neither comment makes sense in the context of the application: http://www.jasonhsu.com/swrwatt-c.txt If they did, then I would suggest something like: if ( FinallyReachedMinimumLevel() ) LightMinimumLevelLed() or if ( IsAboveSafeOperatingLimit(ForwardVoltage) ) SoundCriticalAlarm(); Another great reason why you shouldn't use them: you don't know whether the comment truthfully describes what actually happens. Put the comment in the name instead. Agreed. "Magic numbers" should be avoided. Again, the usefulness of these examples is limited because they don't reflect what actually happens in Jason's code. It's not "Minimum Level" or "Safe Operating Limit", it's just a value that Jason is using to determine whether to light a particular LED in the LED bar. IMHO, comments have three uses: - Provide context - Explain why something is being done in an unexpected way - Seve as crutches when I'm too lazy to come up with a good name Only the first two uses are legitimate. I still use the third one occasionally, but I always try to go back and refactor the code to make the comments unnecessary. To me, comments are red flags that mark spots in my code that need more work. Best regards, Vitaliy Vitaliy 2008-10-06T04:20:25 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151116 I just went to look at the tagging guidelines to see what would be appropriate for my next post, and found that the recent changes ([TECH], changes to [EE] definition) haven't been incorporated: http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist/index.htm Russell, would you mind updating the page? Vitaliy Vitaliy 2008-10-06T02:23:57 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151113 I thought about [OT] as my question is automotive, but these batteries seem to be common in many applications, and I wasn't aware of them, perhaps others aren't too/either Went shopping for a new car battery this morning and came back empty-handed. Because for the first time I was offered the choice between a "traditional" lead battery and a lead-calcium, which was 30% more expensive, and had a 2-year warranty vs a 1-year According to http://landiss.com/battery.htm "Older vehicles with voltage regulators set at about 14.0 volts simply will not fully charge lead/calcium or hybrid batteries. Stories abound of cars with older regulators leaving their owners stranded on cold mornings shortly after a "new, improved, maintenance-free" battery was installed. Even two weeks of sitting in the garage, with no load other than the electric clock and burglar alarm, can discharge a battery if the voltage regulator prevented it from being properly charged" The vehicle that needs the battery is an '89 Toyota XL s/w, which is an "older vehicle" I guess Anyone adjusted their regulator, had unexpectedly poor performance, or had strandedment issues as above with lead-calcium ? Jinx 2008-10-06T00:53:27 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151112 WFT Electronics 2008-10-05T23:47:35 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151111 WFT Electronics 2008-10-05T23:40:31 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151088 I am in the design stages of a product that may use the NXP BGB203. I think Vitaliy makes a module that uses this chip. I may use the module from Vitaliy. The basic idea to have a mystery box ( *mb ) that accepts from 2 to 10 BlueTooth ( BTAM ) audio modules. Each module ties into an analog audio mixer located in the *mb. The *mb also has a BlueTooth Control Link. ( BTCL ) The BTCL can be used for controlling linking and for configuring the audio mixer. A BT equipped laptop or iPhone can be used for this purpose. People who want to audio conference [ using BlueTooth headsets ] link into the *mb. There is one BTAM per conference member. Each member of the conference can adjust their input volume level. All audio inputs can be heard by conference members. In addition, a laptop ( or other device ) can be BT linked into the conference for recording purposes. 1) Is this a reasonable approach to designing a mystery box for conferencing ? 2) Has anyone used the BGB203 for wireless stereo PCM audio transfer ? I cannot find any data about this. Cedric Chang WFT Electronics 2008-10-05T06:13:09 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151061 Chanaged tag. ----- Original Message ----- From: "WFT Electronics" <wft.electronics< at >gmail.com> To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist< at >mit.edu> Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2008 13:46 Subject: [OT] : Free -- precision optically flat glass plates Vitaliy 2008-10-04T21:31:43 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151059 about 12 by 12 inches Cedric Chang WFT Electronics 2008-10-04T20:46:25 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151058 If anyone is interested I will send them images. Cedric Chang WFT Electronics 2008-10-04T20:44:43 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151057 I am in the design stages of a product that may use the NXP BGB203. I think Vitaliy makes a module that uses this chip. I may use the module from Vitaliy. The basic idea to have a mystery box ( *mb ) that accepts from 2 to 10 BlueTooth ( BTAM ) audio modules. Each module ties into an analog audio mixer located in the *mb. The *mb also has a BlueTooth Control Link. ( BTCL ) The BTCL can be used for controlling linking and for configuring the audio mixer. A BT equipped laptop or iPhone can be used for this purpose. People who want to audio conference [ using BlueTooth headsets ] link into the *mb. There is one BTAM per conference member. Each member of the conference can adjust their input volume level. All audio inputs can be heard by conference members. In addition, a laptop ( or other device ) can be BT linked into the conference for recording purposes. 1) Is this a reasonable approach to designing an *mb for conferencing ? 2) Has anyone used the BGB203 for wireless stereo PCM audio transfer ? I cannot find any data about this. Cedric Chang WFT Electronics 2008-10-04T20:23:46 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151040 I'm using an Antenova Radionova RF antenna module which includes a SiRF III chipset: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?name=627-1019-ND Unfortunately the data sheet is behind a registration wall at antenova.com (grrrr...) It's not outputting any data (TX on oscilloscope) at all - I expected that even if it were in binary mode it would. Further it's consuming very little current (1.2mA) so I suspect it's not tracking at all. When it powers up it consumes about 50mA, then 28mA, then 32mA in a period of a few seconds, then drops to 1.2mA Have you used a SiRF III that acted in this manner? Can it be configured to act this way on powerup, and this is normal for binary mode? Any input would be helpful, thanks! -Adam M. Adam Davis 2008-10-04T14:39:55 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151032 China newsletters opt in - WARNING: Notional tag violation commencement / Here we go again ... :-) Summary: I'll be in China for slightly over 2 weeks. 1 week or so on business - the remainder visiting a friend in the farthest city fron the sea on earth - Urumqi.(Look it up). Beyond Mongolai, beyond the Gobi desert, almost beyond the Goblin City. I hope to see some interesting non-business things this trip. Hopefully via Xian (Terracotta Warriors), 2.5 day train ride across China, just possibly to Kashgar. Ferry Hong Kong Shenzhen. Sure to be SOME interesting things happen along the way. So - If you want to receive my China informal newsletters forward this email with the subject line unchanged and YES in the first body line to apptechnz< at >gmail.com . Delete the rest if desired. Some prior YES'ers didn't get my last emails. I'll try to include everyone this time and send a bit more and more interesting copy. The 2nd half should help. If you said YES last time I may opt you in - anyone can be opted out on requst at any time. NZ - Brunei - Hong Kong - Shenzhen - Shijiazhuang - Ningbo - ?Xian? / ?BJ? - Urumqi - ?Kashgar? - Shenzhen - Hong Kong - Brunei - NZ. ___________________________ Longer version: I'm off to China on October 9th (4am!) 2+ week or so in China. First half business. Via Brunei coz the fare was literally half price. HK to Shenzhen by ferry - never enter HK proper. Night at Shenzhen then off the Shijiazhuang - about 2 hours land travel sw of BJ. Then Ningbo (Yangtze delta just below Shanghai). Spanning the bay is the longest ocean crossing bridge in world - 35 km. While away, as time allows I send an email 'newsletter' of sorts to interested people. This is largely not technical but may make comment on related technical issues, interesting things that happen social comment of sorts and more. Also possibly a link to a photo site but that may come later. May also include a degree of 'spiritual comment depending on circumstances - nothing heavy probably but if that's anathema then tune / drop out now. SO If anyone is interested in receiving these missives (if they happen) then please reply using China Calling in the subject line (as above) to apptechnz< at >gmail.com Ignore if not of interest - such things intrigue some and bore others. Recipient address lists are usually visible but so far spammers are not liable to be recipients. May go to BCC depending. You can ask to be taken off the list at any time. Address not used for any other purpose. Russell McMahon Apptech 2008-10-04T11:48:29 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic/151028 used for disposing the nuclear garbage, crazy ideea. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/02/space.elevator/index.html Vasile Surducan 2008-10-04T06:26:58 Search the mailing list at Gmane query http://search.gmane.org/?group=$group=gmane.comp.hardware.microcontrollers.pic