#robotics Logs

Feb 05 2018

12:09 AM rue_: I wonder how much I can bore out of a M10x1 bolt
12:13 AM rue_: I bet I can take 7mm out of it
12:23 AM mrdata: sure, why not
12:24 AM mrdata: but what will go into the hole?
12:24 AM rue_: MR74ZZ apparently
12:24 AM rue_: and it'll take a 4mm shaft, to the encoder wheel
12:25 AM rue_: which sits between the CNC cut pcb and the 3d printed housing
12:25 AM rue_: along with an SMT reflective interrupter or two
12:28 AM rue_: and IF I CAN FIGURE IT OUT an etched tinfoil disc
12:44 AM mrdata: did you try the concentrated NaOH solution?
12:48 AM rue_bed: no new stuff
12:55 AM mrdata: stale NaOH becomes Na2CO3
12:55 AM mrdata: and pH drops from 14 to about 11
01:04 AM * mrdata serves himself a veggie chili
03:18 PM yuken: dunno if this is the right place to ask, but at my school we are doing some early-level robotics before I move on - https://www.fischertechnik.de/en/products/playing/robotics/522429-robotics-txt-controller
03:18 PM yuken: Anything to do with their open-source C++ compiler and all that jazz seems to have been lost to time. Only alternative is the $40 software, if I want to do this on my own laptop (as the school won't provide the software to non-school PCs). Any ideas?
03:29 PM mumptai: yuken, isn't txt a embedded linux with stm32 next to it? there is some opensource firmware for it iirc. with python support or similar
03:32 PM yuken: mumptai, I'm not 100% sure if I'd be allowed to do that, but assuming it doesn't remove the original firmware & is easily removable that could work.
03:33 PM mumptai: umm, not sure if it is non invasive in that sense
03:34 PM mumptai: probably voids the guarantee, and modifies the internal filesystem
03:34 PM mumptai: BUT i might be wrong, maybe everything runs from usb or sdcard
03:35 PM yuken: just looked it up, apparently it does run only from the SDCard
03:35 PM yuken: just removing it lets you boot original firmware
03:35 PM yuken: so that could very well work, allows SSH access and such too, that's nice. I just want to use my laptop at a desk rather than moving back & forth between the school desktops, and my laptop is much faster - don't have to wait 2 minutes for the software to start.
03:36 PM mumptai: and the stm32 rmeins unmodified? that might stop really bad things happening inside the electronics
03:36 PM mumptai: *yuk*
03:36 PM yuken: yep, it apparently does. No need to do anything to any internal memory, firmware, whatnot
03:36 PM yuken: it'll just automatically boot from the SD card
03:37 PM yuken: But, if all the open-source tools are gone from their site, that either means they've moved support away from that, which could mean the latest firmware might not allow custom boots, or the tools were simply outdated. I wonder which it is.
03:37 PM mumptai: not sure
03:37 PM mumptai: unlikely
03:39 PM mumptai: its a niche product at best, and the development was done by an external sub-contractor. so removing the GPL stuff would indicate also removing the linux and other GPL parts from the system on every system ever sold and in the supply chain
03:40 PM mumptai: and future units
03:40 PM mumptai: and paying someone to do the changes
03:40 PM yuken: You're probably right. Here's to hoping that still works.
03:41 PM mumptai: it would just be strange step, not an impossible one
03:41 PM mumptai: also not having it online might not violate the GPL yet
03:42 PM yuken: The product seems to not only be niche, but in German too. My English searches bring up nothing, because the small number of posts are mostly German.
03:42 PM mumptai: yes there is a forum
03:42 PM mumptai: but its almost 100% german
03:43 PM mumptai: gut wenn man Deutsch kann
03:43 PM yuken: It definitely uses Linux according to the site, open-source too, but... can't find the source anywhere.
03:44 PM yuken: They might be following different rules due to being based in Germany though, like how France has some weird laws around software patents
03:44 PM mumptai: nah
03:44 PM mumptai: let me check
03:45 PM yuken: ... Okay, so apparently I'm just stupid. The open-source archive for programming stuff is... right there...
03:46 PM mumptai: https://www.fischertechnik.de/-/media/fischertechnik/fite/service/downloads/robotics/txt-controller/documents/07-txt-open-source-archiv.ashx
03:46 PM yuken: C++, documentation and everything, they just moved it from where it was before, ffs.
03:46 PM mumptai: its not all source
03:46 PM mumptai: there are some binary blobs in there
03:47 PM mumptai: this is the community thing: https://github.com/ftCommunity/ftcommunity-TXT and http://cfw.ftcommunity.de/ftcommunity-TXT/de/
03:48 PM mumptai: ehh: http://cfw.ftcommunity.de/ftcommunity-TXT/en/
03:48 PM yuken: Thanks <3.
03:49 PM mumptai: I once tried to find out if I#d like to sue it for a non-FT robot, but finally dropped the idea due to the strange motor-driver
03:49 PM mumptai: its sufficient for what they do, but limited for my use
03:50 PM yuken: Well, I'm just in this class because it was somewhat interesting, simple and some credits that I need. Moving on to Arduinos and other stuff next year.
03:51 PM mumptai: (now i have a rpi3 and some stm32f4 nucleo board ... )
03:54 PM mumptai: I like that FT doesn't hide everything like the wiring, as lego does with its nxt and later