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[04:20:58] <abcminiuser_> http://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/musical-studio
[04:27:13] <Tom_itx> Level: Raving Lunatic
[04:27:13] <Tom_itx> Joined: Fri. Jan 23, 2004
[04:27:34] <Tom_itx> explains alot.
[05:00:33] <LeoNerd> Kindof offtopic, but: anyone here familiar with the innards of avrdude? I'm looking around in the source code to see if I can find where it gets the HVPP/HVSP control stack from
[05:00:58] <LeoNerd> As far as I can see 'controlstack' only appears twice; once in the struct definition of an AVRPART, and once in the function that tries to read it. I don't see where it gets set
[05:09:02] <LeoNerd> Ahah! It's also set in config_gram.y
[05:14:18] <LeoNerd> ... which is read from a huuuge config file, whose contents get created by XSLT'ing the original AVR Studio XML file
[05:14:28] <LeoNerd> So it's still just an opaque blob of 32 bytes :(
[05:26:46] <LeoNerd> It's kindof upsetting that the only real insight we seem to have in public about how the HVSP controlstack works is from RikusW's decoding/disassembly of the actual STK500
[06:39:40] <Lambda_Aurigae> LeoNerd, or the datasheet.
[06:46:40] <LeoNerd> Lambda_Aurigae: the datasheet if what?
[06:46:43] <LeoNerd> of
[06:47:00] <Lambda_Aurigae> of any AVR...they tell you how to do HVPP or HVSP
[06:47:22] <LeoNerd> Er... I mean the STK500 controlstack
[06:47:34] <Lambda_Aurigae> oh.
[06:48:09] <LeoNerd> That 32byte opaque blob of bumbers
[06:48:12] <LeoNerd> numbers
[08:11:04] <LeoNerd> So if I want to make this HVSP burner on a real PCB, it seems the smallest run I can get made up for it is 5. But I only want one.
[08:11:14] <LeoNerd> One idea occurs to me that I could attempt to sell 4 of them :)
[10:52:20] <yoloBOYS> what kind of resistors should I be getting if I am working with breadboards and atmega328
[10:52:48] <LeoNerd> TTH ones?
[10:52:55] <LeoNerd> Not sure how else to answer that
[10:59:54] <yoloBOYS> like i see these resistors called chip resistors
[11:00:06] <yoloBOYS> I don't think that is what I want right now
[11:00:32] <kastein> no
[11:00:46] <kastein> you want through hole / axial lead resistors
[11:02:18] <specing> yoloBOYS: through hole
[11:02:44] <specing> yoloBOYS: and get a solderless breadboard
[11:03:37] <LeoNerd> Which is to say, er... a breadboard.
[11:07:08] <yoloBOYS> ok
[13:18:39] <yoloBOYS> wow nice
[13:18:46] <yoloBOYS> i can get sample microcontrollers
[13:20:23] <learath> cool, from who?
[13:22:56] <yoloBOYS> microchip.com emailed me
[13:23:41] <kastein> fuuuuck that
[13:23:48] <yoloBOYS> huh
[13:23:52] <kastein> microchip PIC is by far my least favorite architecture to use, ever
[13:23:56] <kastein> I wouldn't use those things if they paid me
[13:23:58] <yoloBOYS> i wouldn't know
[13:24:23] <yoloBOYS> are there basic reasons for that
[13:24:26] <kastein> AVR, ARM, or x86 is my usual choice, depending on cost/availability of products etc
[13:24:37] <kastein> horrible instruction set, crummy tools, annoying featuresets
[13:24:41] <LeoNerd> AVR has a fully-Free-and-free toolchain; PIC does not
[13:24:42] <yoloBOYS> ok
[13:24:47] <yoloBOYS> ok
[13:24:53] <kastein> yeah, you get to pay for crummy toolsets for PIC
[13:24:57] <LeoNerd> gcc-avr, avr-libc, avrdude, etc... all free. Equivalents do not exist for PIC
[13:24:58] <kastein> good ones are free with AVR
[13:25:45] <kastein> ARM is very large and you have to pay for some of the commercial grade tools for it (or can do it with free stuff, really) but the performance is worth it if needed
[13:28:34] <aandrew> PIC is terrible to work with because you're locked into their tools (shitty MPLAB IDE), their compiler (XC8/16) and currently they're going through a rather nasty low-stock situation that has parts out in the 32 week lead times.
[13:28:53] <aandrew> their PIC32 is just MIPS so you can use GCC but why bother? ARM's way cheaper and much better supported IMO
[13:29:03] <kastein> yeah
[13:29:12] <kastein> I took a course in college that required PIC usage
[13:29:20] <kastein> what I learned: don't ever use PICs, ever, again
[13:29:21] <aandrew> I used to be a huge fan of PICs in the 90s. Now I avoid them at all costs
[13:30:06] <kastein> 7 or 8 years later at my job I decided I shouldn't let personal bias get in the way of product selection, so I chose a few options from each product line and ended up choosing the PIC based on a few specs
[13:30:16] <kastein> immediately regretted it when it came time to write the firmware
[13:30:20] <kastein> and haven't been back
[13:30:24] <LeoNerd> Annoyingly I have a stock of about 5 PICs at home which are just sitting idle...
[13:30:29] <kastein> all AVRs and ARMs on this vehicle
[13:30:31] <LeoNerd> Including a rather nice silly-huge 40pin jobbie
[13:30:40] <kastein> LeoNerd: they make great caltrops
[13:30:44] <kastein> especially the 40 pin
[13:30:45] <LeoNerd> Eee
[13:30:50] <kastein> hahahahahahahahaha
[13:31:23] <kastein> the EE equivalent of a landmine/area denial weapon
[13:31:39] <kastein> sprinkle DIPs liberally and remove the light bulbs.
[13:31:42] <LeoNerd> Nah; BS1363s are worse
[13:31:57] <LeoNerd> "UK power plugs" to most people ;)
[13:32:06] <kastein> oh god
[13:32:28] <kastein> I take it you've never stepped on a lego brick barefoot
[13:32:47] <LeoNerd> Aaaaalll the time
[13:32:52] <aandrew> lego bricks are nothing compared to DIPs
[13:33:00] <kastein> yeah, DIPs actually draw blood
[13:33:01] <aandrew> and I imagine UK plugs are far worse
[13:33:26] <kastein> one time I accidentally stepped on a wire wheel for my drill that I'd left on the floor without thinking about it
[13:33:33] <kastein> the shank was up.
[13:33:43] <kastein> I still have that scar a decade later...
[14:18:07] <aep> jo, anyone knows how to get Tom_itx's USBTiny mkII working with avrdude?
[14:18:16] <aep> bought it ages ago and cant remember the instructions
[14:18:53] <aep> the website says it should just work, but i plugged it in and got nothing, no serial port or anything else,
[15:12:19] <Tom_itx> aep are you using it with windows or linux?
[15:18:31] <aep> got it working
[15:18:35] <aep> the instructions here seem wrong
http://tom-itx.ddns01.com:81/~webpage/boards/USBTiny_Mkii/USBTiny_Mkii_User_manual_index.php
[15:18:45] <aep> its not an at90usb162
[15:20:03] <Tom_itx> doesn't matter
[15:20:12] <Tom_itx> atmega32u2 are the same
[15:20:18] <aep> it did, apparantly. dfu-loader wasnt happy about it
[15:20:32] <aep> *shrug* works now, all happy :)
[15:20:41] <Tom_itx> well when you load the firmware yes you need the right chip but the firmware is the same for both
[15:21:00] <aep> ah
[15:21:11] <Tom_itx> that's the only time it matters :D
[15:22:46] <Tom_itx> look a little further down and you see i mention both chips
[15:23:37] <aep> right, obviously i didnt read that :P
[15:23:51] <Tom_itx> i can see how it could be a little confusing
[15:24:17] <aep> i automatically stop reading any instructions when a windows screenshot comes up, since that usually is stuff like "now make sure your computer is plugged in"
[15:24:51] <aep> anyway, the thing is awesome
[15:25:03] <Tom_itx> thanks
[15:25:13] <Tom_itx> ( i think so too ) :D
[15:25:34] <aep> it just works, unlike most other isps which dont emulate the avr thing, so all the software gets confused
[15:42:15] <xrlk> my resistors are shipping
[15:59:13] <[F_F]> hi
[16:36:55] <bigx> hello, I'm trying to create a c header to hold a font that I will use to display text on dot matrix display
[16:37:15] <bigx> but I cannot find a reliable tool, do you have anyone to suggest?
[16:41:13] <LeoNerd> imagemagick can likely output comma-separated hex values
[16:41:31] <LeoNerd> You could then #include it inbetween the static const uint8_t font[] = { ... }; braces
[16:49:26] <bigx> thanks LeoNerd
[16:49:32] <bigx> I need this kind of format
[16:49:34] <bigx> https://github.com/freetronics/DMD/blob/master/Arial_black_16.h
[16:49:42] <bigx> but the tool no longuer exists
[16:49:58] <bigx> (
http://www.apetech.de/fontCreator)
[17:34:46] <timemage> bigx,
https://code.google.com/p/pinguino32/source/browse/branches/pic32/C32/linux/tools/glcd/GLCDFontCreator2/?r=96#GLCDFontCreator2%2Fgui
[17:38:28] <bigx> oh i'll try it, thanks timemage
[18:13:59] <timemage> bigx, had problems running svn on it until i added options to trust cert and run in non-interactive.
[18:14:35] <bigx> i didn't face the problem
[18:14:44] <bigx> I created my font
[18:14:51] <bigx> https://gist.github.com/xseignard/0eb720a24e67aa322add
[18:15:05] <bigx> but the lib I use still struggle to display accentuated chars
[18:15:14] <bigx> https://github.com/freetronics/DMD
[18:15:50] <timemage> bigx, meaning you were able to build and run the font editor?
[18:16:47] <bigx> I finally use the one from
https://code.google.com/p/glcd-arduino/downloads/detail?name=GLCDFontCreator2.zip&can=2&q=
[18:17:18] <timemage> bigx, okay.
[18:18:42] <bigx> I'm doing 4 huge .srt file readers for a show, and the only problem I still have is this thing about accentuation
[18:18:45] <bigx> t:(
[18:20:36] <bigx> srt reader witten in node.js that sends UPD messages through ethenet over PLC to arduinos that drives 5 DMDs each
[18:22:02] <bigx> fun project, but the freetronics DMD lib is a bit obscure for me, since arduino and c are not my daily tools
[18:32:08] <timemage> bigx, i didn't actually follow what came before the bit about not finding the font creator.
[18:35:28] <Tom_itx> bigx i've got some fonts if you wanna look at em
[18:36:12] <Tom_itx> a dude i know had a 'font creator' but i tried getting the utility from him and he vanished
[18:36:45] <Tom_itx> for graphic lcds
[18:39:45] <bigx> Tom_itx, yeah sure, i'll be very pleased to give a try
[18:39:51] <bigx> thank you
[18:44:26] <Tom_itx> http://tom-itx.ddns01.com:81/~webpage/lcd_fonts/
[18:44:33] <Tom_itx> not all are fonts
[18:44:39] <Tom_itx> 3 are i think
[18:45:18] <Tom_itx> he had a utility that would convert truetype fonts
[18:59:38] <bigx> thanks Tom_itx, i'll give a try
[19:17:51] <bigx> Tom_itx, it's not the format the lib I use accepts
[19:18:13] <bigx> btw, I found the problem in the lib i use, but my knowledge in c is rather limited
[19:18:25] <bigx> the lib use char and not unsigned char
[19:18:56] <bigx> but I got weird ascii values
[19:19:11] <bigx> unsigned char myChar = 'é';
[19:19:22] <bigx> Serial.println(myChar);
[19:19:55] <bigx> returns 169 (which should be the ©) and not 233 (which is the é)
[19:20:08] <bigx> any idea?
[19:29:37] <Tefad> don't use non-ascii characters in your source
[19:30:07] <Tefad> escape the code.
[19:30:40] <Tefad> unsigned char myChar = '\xE9';
[19:39:21] <bigx> thanks Tefad
[19:48:52] <Tefad> you might be able to use UTF-8 in some toolchains and have it work as expected
[19:49:15] <Tefad> but it's always save to escape the codes if you know your target codepage
[19:49:26] <Tefad> safe even
[23:01:32] <jeremyabel> man I am so jones up to do some FPGA stuff right now
[23:08:21] <Tom_itx> http://tutor.awce.com/wpv-1.htm
[23:08:30] <Tom_itx> http://www.asic-world.com/verilog/veritut.html
[23:08:40] <Tom_itx> http://www.xess.com/projects/
[23:08:47] <Tom_itx> jeremyabel, get started!
[23:09:46] <Tom_itx> http://tutor.awce.com/pldx-1.htm
[23:11:14] <jeremyabel> thanks for hte links! I gotta get me a b oard first :P
[23:11:25] <jeremyabel> but these will be good to learn with, def
[23:11:49] <Tom_itx> http://www.digilentinc.com/
[23:11:54] <Tom_itx> they've got boards
[23:11:58] <jeremyabel> yeah, looking at the spartan3
[23:12:15] <Tom_itx> i have an old old one of theirs
[23:13:00] <Tom_itx> may as well go with spartan6
[23:13:18] <jeremyabel> yeah, have to look at the price of that vs the 3
[23:15:48] <Tom_itx> i use boards from mesanet on my cnc
[23:15:51] <Tom_itx> all fpga stuff
[23:16:12] <Tom_itx> he's done all the hard work on em though
[23:16:21] <jeremyabel> ah nice
[23:16:29] <jeremyabel> I want to try making a simple synth with it
[23:16:41] <Tom_itx> about all i've done with them is make custom bit files for them
[23:16:42] <jeremyabel> starting with just making a thing oscillate :P
[23:17:38] <jeremyabel> http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2 dang only $90
[23:17:39] <Tom_itx> http://tom-itx.ddns01.com:81/~webpage/emc/xilinx/xilinx14_install_index.php
[23:18:11] <Tom_itx> are you in school?
[23:18:15] <DarkDaemon> i have an atmega32u2, 3 DC motors (like this one
http://catalog.miniscience.com/catalog/motors/images/RE140RA_m.jpg ), and a couple of LEDs. I wanted to PWM the motors to make it look like a synchronized movement. I was going to do it powered by USB but it looks like i'll have to go to plan B
[23:18:19] <DarkDaemon> where I charge a lithium ion battery in the background and use it to power when needed. how can i figure out what voltage/amperage motor will do?
[23:18:20] <Tom_itx> get the academic discount
[23:18:24] <jeremyabel> Tom_itx: heh nope, been out for 5 years
[23:20:29] <Tom_itx> http://store.mesanet.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_62&product_id=291
[23:20:45] <jeremyabel> ah nice
[23:20:47] <Tom_itx> that's actually better and cheaper than the board i've got on my mill
[23:20:52] <Tom_itx> i paid 79 iirc
[23:21:08] <Tom_itx> and only have 48 io on it where this one has 72 io
[23:21:40] <Tom_itx> you map the built in functions he's provided with bit files you load with linuxcnc
[23:22:00] <jeremyabel> http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,789&Prod=NEXYS2 might go with this guy
[23:22:35] <jeremyabel> or the basys2, have to compare
[23:27:50] <DarkDaemon> anyone?
[23:30:33] <jeremyabel> oh, ##electronics
[23:31:20] <DarkDaemon> k :)
[23:32:35] <jeremyabel> (sorry, I don't know the answer, I'm sure others here would but nobody else is active so maybe someone in ##electronics is)
[23:33:29] <DarkDaemon> no problem!
