Gadjet's Blog

Micro Oscilloscope

2011-07-05T20:50:00.001+01:00

Sometime ago I blogged about an interesting micro oscilloscope, (post) well it's now available to buy in the UK from www.coolcomponents.co.uk for £31.

I like the idea of this scope but it's a bit small but I beleive that it will get a PC based front end to view the scope data on the PC, this may be a cheap alternative to the picoscope!

iSmart TFT Modules

2011-07-05T20:41:00.003+01:00

I've recently discovered these iSmart TFT modules, which combine an ARM9 processor core with a 480x272 colour resistive touch display, 24 I/O lines, RS232, USB, I2C interfaces and an RTCC plus more!

The module uses its own programming language to control a collection of pre-defined screens, up to 100,and also control the I/O and external interfaces. These programmes are written in a text editor and stored on a uSD card, when the module powers it runs a file called TU480a.mnu, this contains the code.

The language is very different to C and is an object orientated type more like html, each "entity" is given a style, this is then used whenever the entity is used on the screen.

The website can be found here

The programme can be loaded into NAND so it can be run without the uSD card inserted and you are able to send data to and from the screen via the serial port so I assume it will work in conjunction with the Arduino platform, at least that's what I'm hoping!

So far I've just loaded a couple of screens, which I generated in Open Office Draw and then grabbed the screen and re-sized to fit, and then added a couple of touch areas to switch between them.

For the Arduino community there is the problem with there being no libraries so everything would need to be done in code and also another thing to note is that it's not open source code or hardware.

The price is around 90 Euros + VAT for the 4.3 inch version

First project with the Jeenode and GLCD

2011-05-27T15:39:00.004+01:00

Having had my Jeenodes for a while now and eventually got some code to actually work, reading DS18B20s and displaying the results on a 16x2 line display, I fancied getting to grips with the GLCD, also from Jeelabs.

This is just a project to help me learn about the hardware and software, it may be useful in to someone out there. I've tried to put plenty of comments in the code, mainly so I remember what I did when I look at it in two weeks time.

My target project is to create a portable (small) display that I can control the central heating from, i.e. room temp., heating on/off and hot water temp. control. This project is the prototype phase.

At first it was a bit of a slog trying to understand the glcd library and how to send float variables to the screen (C++ is a new language for me), after that came the RTC coding to get the time on the screen, especially with leading zeros.

What I eventually came up with was a display showing the time, with leading zeros (thanks to 'sprintf'), two temperature inputs and a trend line showing just over two hours history for the current temperature.

The temperatures are derived from two DS18B20s connected to port2, adding extra sensors should be easy enough. Each sensor has a Max. and a Min. point displayed.

The trend line is generated by sampling the temp. every minute, based on the now.minute() value from the RTC and then plotted between rows 40 to 60 using the glcd.setpixel command and the map function to map from 10 to 30 degrees C. This time could be altered to be shorter or longer, as desired.

The hardware is basically a Jeenode V6, GLCD PCB and display, RTC plug (Port 3) and a DS18B20 soldered to a small prototyping board plugged into port 2.

DS18B20 on the Left and the RTC plug on the Right

On the DS81B20 PCB there is also a three pin right angle connector for the exernal DS18B20 probe, bought from Ebay.

The sofware is based on the Jeelabs demo sketches from Jeelabs rtcplug and the GLCD demo sketches.

The temperatures are also sent out over the serial link to the PC, formatted as they are seen on the GLCD.

There are still some issues and some improvements to be made:-

The DS18B20 disconnected detection doesn't seem to work.
If the DS18B20 is disconnected and then, when reconnected, the Max temp. reads 85 Deg.

Future improvements

To set the time I used another sketch but I plan to add the ability to set the time using my VB software from the PC.
Automatically alter the trend line scale based on the readings.
Round up the temp. for the pixel to the nearest degree.
Make the trend line update in seconds and put it in a variable.

Next steps

Learn how to send/receive remote data from other Jeenode/Uno
Find out if I can use different size fonts on the GLCD (not the really big ones)

Sketch below: -

/* Based on Demo display for the Graphics Board and the rtcplug.pde from Jeelabs
 2010-11-14 <jcw@equi4.com> http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
 
 Added DS18B20 sensors and RTC plug
 Displays time, internal and external temp with min and max readings there is also a trend
 line drawn at the bottom of the LCD.  It samples the current temp. every minute, using RTC,
 and draws a pixel at a point between row 40 to 60, using the map command for temp's between
 10 and 30 degrees.  It takes 126 min's to draw the line then it clears the line and
 starts again.
*/
#include <GLCD_ST7565.h>
#include <Ports.h>
#include <RF12.h> // needed to avoid a linker error :(
#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
#include <OneWire.h>
#include "Wire.h"
#include <RTClib.h>
#include <DallasTemperature.h> //Version 3.6
#define ONE_WIRE_BUS 5  // DS18S20 Temperature chip i/o on pin 5 - Port 2

GLCD_ST7565 glcd;

EMPTY_INTERRUPT(WDT_vect);

OneWire oneWire(ONE_WIRE_BUS);// Setup a oneWire instance to communicate with any OneWire devices
DallasTemperature sensors(&oneWire);// Pass our oneWire reference to Dallas Temperature. 
// Global variables
char outBuf [25];
int MaxTempIn=0; //hold max temp value
int MinTempIn=500; //hold min temp value, pre load with 500 because the first test is against the temp val * 10  
int MaxTempOut=0; //hold max temp value
int MinTempOut=500; //hold min temp value, pre load with 500 because the first test is against the temp val * 10 
int LastMin; //Hold last min value
int x=1; //counter for trend line
int Ypixel; // Y value for trend line
// Insert the ID of your temp sensor here, for the sketch, visit here
// http://www.hacktronics.com/Tutorials/arduino-1-wire-address-finder.html
DeviceAddress insideThermometer = { 0x28, 0x2F, 0x8A, 0xEE, 0x02, 0x00, 0x00, 0xE9 }; // none probe
DeviceAddress outsideThermometer = { 0x28, 0x60, 0x3A, 0x10, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x38 };
DeviceAddress WaterThermometer = { 0x28, 0xB3, 0x58, 0x18, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x2B };
class Sleepy;

// RTC based on the DS1307 chip connected via the Ports library
class RTC_Plug : public DeviceI2C {
    // shorthand
    static uint8_t bcd2bin (uint8_t val) { return RTC_DS1307::bcd2bin(val); }
    static uint8_t bin2bcd (uint8_t val) { return RTC_DS1307::bin2bcd(val); }
public:
    RTC_Plug (const PortI2C& port) : DeviceI2C (port, 0x68) {}

    void begin() {}
    
    void adjust(const DateTime& dt) {
        send();
        write(0);
        write(bin2bcd(dt.second()));
        write(bin2bcd(dt.minute()));
        write(bin2bcd(dt.hour()));
        write(bin2bcd(0));
        write(bin2bcd(dt.day()));
        write(bin2bcd(dt.month()));
        write(bin2bcd(dt.year() - 2000));
        write(0);
        stop();
    }

    DateTime now() {
       send();
       write(0); 
        stop();

        receive();
        uint8_t ss = bcd2bin(read(0));
        uint8_t mm = bcd2bin(read(0));
        uint8_t hh = bcd2bin(read(0));
        read(0);
        uint8_t d = bcd2bin(read(0));
        uint8_t m = bcd2bin(read(0));
        uint16_t y = bcd2bin(read(1)) + 2000;
    
        return DateTime (y, m, d, hh, mm, ss);
    }
};

PortI2C i2cBus (3); //RTC on port 3
RTC_Plug RTC (i2cBus);

void setup () {
DateTime now = RTC.now();
LastMin = now.minute(); //Store minute value for use in Draw Graph

// Set serial speed
  Serial.begin(57600);
  // Start RTC
 RTC.begin();
// Power down the Transceiver
    rf12_initialize(1, RF12_868MHZ);
    rf12_sleep(0);
// Start the temp sensors    
    sensors.begin();

// set the resolution to 12 bit
    sensors.setResolution(outsideThermometer, 12);
    sensors.setResolution(insideThermometer, 12);
 //sensors.setResolution(WaterThermometer, 12);
    Wire.begin();

 // Initialise the GLCD
    glcd.begin();
    glcd.backLight(255);
    glcd.drawString_P(0,  10, PSTR("       Now  Max  Min")); //Set the column titles
    //glcd.drawLine(0, 8, 120, 8, WHITE);
    glcd.drawRect(0, 8, 128, 56, WHITE);
    glcd.refresh(); // Update the display
}

void loop () {
 DateTime now = RTC.now();
  sensors.requestTemperatures();// Trigger all the temp sensors to carry out a temp. conversion 
  Sleepy::loseSomeTime(2000); // Do nothing for n seconds, slow update OK
 
  printTemperature(insideThermometer); // Read in the temp. data from the inside sensor
  printTemperature(outsideThermometer); // Read in the temp. data from the outside sensor
  UpdateTime();
  //Trigger a pixel to be drawn on the history every minute
  if(now.minute() > LastMin) {
    DrwGraph();
    LastMin = now.minute();
  }
  if(LastMin > now.minute()) {
  LastMin=1; //reset to 1 as rollover to next hour.
  }
  glcd.refresh();
 }
 
void UpdateTime(){ 
 DateTime now = RTC.now();
 sprintf(outBuf, "Time %02d:%02d",now.hour(), now.minute()); //Format the time without seconds
 glcd.drawString(3, 0, outBuf); //Print to Screen RAM
 Serial.print(now.hour(), DEC);
    Serial.print(':');
    Serial.print(now.minute(), DEC);
    Serial.print(':');
    Serial.print(now.second(), DEC);
    Serial.print(" - ");
    Serial.print(now.day(), DEC);
    Serial.print('/');
    Serial.print(now.month(), DEC);
    Serial.print('/');
    Serial.print(now.year(), DEC);
    Serial.print("\n");
  }

void printTemperature(DeviceAddress deviceAddress) {
int temp2; // Create variable to hold the int value of the float without the decimal 
float tempC = sensors.getTempC(deviceAddress); // read the specific sensor called from loop.

if (deviceAddress == insideThermometer){ //Display Internal Temp

if (tempC == -127) {
      glcd.drawString(10,  20, PSTR("Error"));
} else {
  temp2 =tempC *10 + 0.5; // make now temp decimal value into an integer. remove decimal point
  Ypixel = temp2/10; // Store Y pixel value temp for trend line
  if (MaxTempIn < temp2){ //Set MaxTempIn to temp2 if higher than old MaxtempIn
    MaxTempIn=temp2;
}
if (MinTempIn > temp2) { //Set MinTempIn to temp2 if Lower than old MinTempIn
 MinTempIn = temp2;
}
  // Print Inside Temps, Now, Max and Min.
  //Format the integer back into integer and decimal 
  sprintf(outBuf, "In    %d.%d %d.%d %d.%d",temp2/10, temp2%10,MaxTempIn/10, MaxTempIn%10,MinTempIn/10, MinTempIn%10); 
  glcd.drawString(3, 20, outBuf); //Print to Screen RAM
  Serial.print("      Now  Max  Min");
  Serial.print("\n");
  Serial.print(outBuf); //send data to host 
  Serial.print("\n");
}
}v 
if (deviceAddress == outsideThermometer){ //Display Outside Temp
if (tempC == -127) {
      glcd.drawString(10,  30, PSTR("Error"));
} else {
  temp2 =tempC *10 + 0.5; // make now temp decimal value into an integer. remove decimal point
  if (MaxTempOut < temp2){ //Set Max temp2 if higher than old Maxtemp
    MaxTempOut=temp2;
}
if (MinTempOut > temp2) { //Set Min temp2 if Lower than old Mintemp
 MinTempOut = temp2;
}
// Print Outside Temps, Now, Max and Min.
//Format the integer back into integer and decimal 
  sprintf(outBuf, "Out   %d.%d %d.%d %d.%d",temp2/10, temp2%10,MaxTempOut/10, MaxTempOut%10,MinTempOut/10, MinTempOut%10);
  glcd.drawString(3, 30, outBuf); //Print to Screen RAM
  Serial.print(outBuf); //send data to host 
  Serial.print("\n");
}
}
}
void DrwGraph(){ //Plot next pixel of temp history
if (x < 126){ //Check if the end of the visible screen is reached
x++; //Increment x for next pixel
// draw pixel, Y value mapped from temp value to Y pixel range, reversed.
glcd.setPixel(x,map(Ypixel,10,30,60,40),WHITE); 
}
else{
glcd.fillRect(1,40,126,20, BLACK); //Draw rectangle in Black to erase previous line
x=1; // Start at left hand of visible screen again.
}
}

Really Really small Oscilloscope

2011-05-19T13:24:00.004+01:00

I came across this post on the Jeelabs website and thought it was worth posting.

Dual Channel Oscilloscope and waveform generator

This thing is about the size of a 9V PP3 battery, based on an ATXMEGA32A4 processor with a 0.96" white OLED display it includes the functionality of a dual channel oscilloscope, multimeter, protocol sniffer and waveform generator.

It can be found here and there are some videos of it in operation here.

Multimeter mode

The firmware can be updated but it needs a special USB/programming cable and it will, in the future, be connectable to the PC and use PC based interface.

The waveform generator operates independently from the scope function so you can apply the signal to a filter circuit and watch the results on the scope.

It's also possible to write your own software and use it for other projects, there is one picture on the site showing it displaying temperature from a DS18B20. I think this requires a special programmer though.

All for a price of $49, a bargain!

I don't know about availability in the UK but If anyone sees it for sale in the UK please make a comment.

Next consumer computing phase ?

2011-05-10T18:41:00.002+01:00

Every now and then something comes along that changes people's attitudes towards technology, for me there was VHS/Betamax video recorder, the Commodore VIC20, the BBC Micro, the CD player, to name a few.

For me, the main impacts have always been with the introduction of new computing technologies, like the first Toshiba dual floppy DOS based laptop I had access to at work, closely followed by my own 286 Turbo PC I built at home.

The last key step in computers, for me, was the Netbook, inspired by the goal to supply cheap computing to the third world it soon became a whole new platform that was so much more portable.

Of course there is tablet computing but as yet I've not found the need to spend the money to go there!

Now there is a branch of computing technology to embrace and it looks like it will be very affordable, the Raspberry Pi.

Being developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK registered charity, they hope it will become an ultracheap computer platform to be used to teach childeren about computing. It may even be cheap enough for them to be given to school children, around £15.

The ultra small device features an HDMI port at one end and a USB port on the other.

There is a Youtube video here.

Free Web based Autorouting software

2011-05-09T18:51:00.000+01:00

In my internet travels I came across a really useful site for autorouting PCBs, the application is Java based and runs from the website.
It's compatible with most main PCB design SW like the free version of CADsoft-Eagle and even though it's still in the development phase, its on-line version is free to use.
So if you've got a nice Arduino clone design and you want to optimise the PCB by reducing the amount of vias you have then give it a try, if you haven't got a PCB ready then you can still give it a try with the demo files supplied.
The site can be found here http://www.freerouting.net/

Jeenodes are here

2011-05-08T17:07:00.001+01:00

At last my Jeenodes arrived and I started to programme them with some of the code I was using on the Arduino UNO to display temperatures from a DS18B20 on the LCD.

I was now using the I2C LCD interface from Jeelabs (LCD Plug) so I used the Demo LCD sketch from Jeelabs and modified it using the Dallas temperature library to read a DS18B20 conected to port 4.

Jeenode V6 with DS18B20 and I2C LCD

I have the Graphic board on order so I can use a large display and, using the code from Jeelabs, create a remote temp. sensing and control unit for my central heating control project.

The built in 868MHz Transciever will allow comm'.s back to the control unit in the airing cupboard.

Hopefully with the efforts made by Jeelabs to extend battery life I hope to get months of usage from a couple of AA batteries.

Using Notepad++ with Arduino sketches

2011-04-28T13:16:00.007+01:00

After using both the Arduino IDE and VB express I'm always a little disappointed at the lack of helper features in the Arduino IDE, of course it is a little unfair to compare the two when you consider the differences in available resource! the Arduino IDE is still pretty good.

Functions contracted

I have used Notepad++ for some time as a general text editor on my PC and I thought I'd give it a try as an editor for my pde files.

Well I think it's brilliant, you can get it to group things like functions and 'if' statements and, more importantly, the comments.

This makes it much easier to navigate and edit your sketch as you can view it as a list of minimised comments and functions and expand each one for editing as required.

There are shortcuts which allow you to expand all, at different levels.

Another good feature is the automated colouring of key words and you can even add your own key words.

With Arduino set to external editor this gives a much more user friendly interface I realise there are other options to get a more professional UI, like Eclipse etc but this is a lot easier to set up.

Download Notepad++

Shield data

2011-04-17T17:08:00.001+01:00

Just a quick note, a friend sent this link to me for Shield information.

http://shieldlist.org/

It contains a list of loads of Shields for the Arduino along with information on which pins they use and which are still available.

Thanks Nick.

Set the time on your DS1307 with the Arduino

2011-04-13T17:34:00.003+01:00

After getting my DS1307 RTC working I thought it would be easier to set the time using an app (can I call it that?) on the PC that uses the PC time.

The code base that I used/modified to read and write to my DS1307 was from here, this uses a UNIX time code to set the time.

The app should be used in conjunction with this Sketch, or derivative that uses the same method to set the time. You can also see any serial data sent back from the Arduino in the 'data received' window.

Now I'm not an expert in VB programming but I like the occasional challenge so here it is, please use it and modify it as you like, I got most of the instructions using Google anyway.

The idea is that the computer time is split out into the separate boxes, not necessary but clearer for me to programme.

The 'T' box continually updates to create the UNIX time code and is sent to the Arduino/RTC when the 'Send' button is clicked.

To install the App: -

Get it from my dropbox public folder here.
Extract to a folder on your PC.
Run the setup to install.
Run the programme.
Select the comm port (plug in Arduino first).
Select the baud rate to match the Arduino.
Click Connect.
Click Disconnect before exiting the app.

Any problems or suggestions please use the comments.

23/4/11 - Post updated - Link to Arduino sketch corrected.

5V from 3V with Energizer

2011-04-13T17:03:00.000+01:00

Some time ago I saw some Energizer emergency phone chargers for sale in a local cheap store, these were £1.99 each (usually £12.99, I think) anyway I bought several of them because the batteries that came with them would cost more than £2 for two. (not the ones shown in the picture)
Some time later it dawned on me that these were basically step up converters, 3V to 5V!

So I turned this

As it comes ..

Into this

Emergency charger with USB cable added

A portable 5V supply for anything with a USB power plug, I've also seen single AA emergency phone chargers and I suppose these will do just the same.

You can prise apart the body of the charger (there are clips inside that will release, with some teasing) and remove the 3.5mm socket from the circuit board inside the top silver part then the hole left was just the right size for the USB socket and lead I had lying around from another project or you could use a power tip for the other supply connecter for the Arduino.

Remove 3.5mm Socket (right) and add cable (left)

You could also remove the small circuit board and use it with another battery holder or even inside your final design.

Due to the higher mAH rating of the AA batteires I think they will last a lot longer than a PP3 9V battery.

JeeLabs JeeNode

2011-04-09T19:48:00.004+01:00

Whilst looking around the net for information on the Arduino project I come across a few variants on the theme, this one struck me as particularly useful.

This site is run by a guy called Jean-Claude Wippler, he has created his own version of the Arduino called the JeeNode.


JeeNode V5

This derivative of the Arduino is a much slimmer device, intended to form part of an environment monitoring network around a house, the main thig about this design is that it includes a built in wireless transciever which allows these things to talk to each other without having to buy an Xbee board for your Arduino. (You can get two of these for not much more than one Xbee)

It uses the same programming IDE as the Arduino.

The pinout interface for the JeeNode is quite different to that of the Arduino, he has setup 4 ports that can be connected to various sensors like temp, humidity and many more using I2C. To make programming easy he has also built a ports library.

The wireless interface is also made easy to use with a custom library, this enables you to send and recieve serial data without worrying about any data protocols at either end. Each device comes pre-programmed with the libraies needed and can talk to each other out of the box, all you need to do is follow the tutorials on the site.

The other thing that interests me, when combined with the wireles capability, is the nice graphical LCD screen.

Graphical LCD

The Screen comes with a PCB that plugs onto the JeeNode and along with a single AA battery holder/stepup invertor you would get a complete wireless screen showing information from the main unit and even sending data back.

Complete Wirelss screen

The one thiong you'd need to get though is a FTDI programming lead because, unlike the Arduino, it doesn't have the USB programming interface. I found mine here.

I found all this at Jeelabs, based in the Netherlands.

Arduino Project

2011-04-05T21:02:00.000+01:00

Project layout - Click for larger image

This is the layout of my project so far, it includes a 4 line 20 character LCD, an DS1307 Real Time Clock module and a DS18B20 Digital temp. sensor.

The idea is to control my central heating with a bit more user friendliness so there is the LCD to display information and I'm also writing a PC programme to interface via the USB lead to the Uno, this will allow a graphical interface to set on/off times, temperature profiles based on time of day, outside temp., water temp. and room temp.

All this is quite far off at the moment but so far I've integrated SW from various sources to initialise and read the Temp sensor and RTC and drive the LCD.

Main Components

Firstly the Arduino Uno purchased from coolcomponents
Temp Sensor - DS18B20
This temp. sensor is slightly different than the ones I've used before, instead of it being an analogue sensor with so many mV per Degree C it is a digital device that coverts the temp to a digital value within the device and can be converted in code directly to a temp. reading. There are a couple of other advantages to using this device, it can be used over a relatively long distance without any calibration issues and it can be used in two wire mode. This also came from coolcomponents.
Real Time Clock - DS1307
This module uses a RTC IC, two pull-ups and a 3V Lithium battery (which should last 10 years), this was sourced off Ebay.
4x20 LCD - I had this in my box of parts but they can easily be found on Ebay.

Project so far

More later .....

Arduino - Open source hardware and software platform

2011-04-04T23:09:00.001+01:00

I've just discovered the open source HW and SW platform called Arduino, this platform allows inexpensive prototyping of your ideas. Your Ideas are called "sketches" and are similar to the C type programming language, not that I've done any programming in C!

The UNO

The Arduino range includes several different types of processor/PCB arrangements from the "UNO", which I bought, to the very small "Nano".

The Nano

The software "Sketches" are written in an open source IDE, available from the website www.arduino.cc, this allows you to write and download the software to the target board.

The really good thing about the design is that they have all the I/O on header pins along each edge of the PCB allowing addon PCBs, called Shields, to be stacked on top of the main processor PCB, if it's an UNO or Mega, the smaller boards use DIL sockets to connect to other circuits using breadboard for example.

Due to the open nature of the whole enterprise there are quite a lot of third party addons that can be found on the Internet especially on Ebay, things like:

Ethernet adapter boards
LCD displays
Prototyping boards
Wireless adapters (WiFi, Bluetooth etc.)
Relay boards for switching mains equipment
H-Bridge motor controllers
Servo Controllers
Real Time Clock

Most of these addons come with Arduino Libraries which give simplified commands to allow quick and easy configuration of the Shields.

The UNO comes with a surface mount LED connected to Pin13 on the PCB so it is very easy to write your first programme, for example the first code to try from the Arduino site would be: -

/*
  Blink
  Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
   This example code is in the public domain.
 */

void setup() {                
  // initialize the digital pin as an output.
  // Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards:
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);     
}

void loop() {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);   // set the LED on
  delay(1000);              // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);    // set the LED off
  delay(1000);              // wait for a second
}

All you need to do is copy and paste this code into the Arduino IDE software and squirt it down to the board via the USB connection and the LED on the PCB will start to blink.

At the moment I'm putting together an Uno with a Real Time Clock, LCD display and a couple of temperature sensors to control my central heating and hot water, I'm also hoping to control it via the USB connection using a Visual Basic programme on a PC, I'll add more details to the blog as I progress.

Acer Revo 3600 and XBMC

2010-02-13T18:55:00.009Z

Acer Revo 3600
Having tried a couple of different media centres, none of them gave the same wonderful experience of the original Xbox paired with XBMC.

The last media streamer I used, to replace the Xbox, was the WDTV Live, this was very good at playing anything I asked it to including 1080p.

Although it was good I still missed the fantastic interface of the XBMC software with its skinnable interface and its rich feature list.

One of the main reasons I think XBMC is so good is that it's open source and written by people who use it, therefore it has all the features that you'd think of yourself. This is where, in my opinion, other media streamers fall down, their interfaces are more 'Corporate' written to a budget and a timescale.

After getting the Revo 3600 from Ebuyer, (Linux, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD) the first job was to install XBMC for this I used the XBMC Live version, which contains its own small footprint version of Ubuntu and once installed it boots up in around 20 seconds straight into XBMC.

The Revo comes with a lite version of a Linux operating system, which opens up into a simple menu allowing browsing, music and chat.

Other options are to install Windows or Ubuntu as the main operating system and install XBMC as a programme, this is a good option if you want to other things with the PC like browsing the net or reading email etc.

I installed XBMC live using an external USB CD drive and chose the install option from the startup menu, using the whole drive.

There are a couple of issues you need to sort out with the Revo to get a good media centre, the remote control and surround sound.

The remote control can be a standard Windows media centre remote control, mine worked straight away or you can get the original xbox DVD remote working if you have some knowledge of Linux and can configure Lirc.
The surrond sound was a bit more tricky, the Revo 3600 doesn't come with a TOSLINK SPDIF output like its big brother, the 3610, but you can get Dolby Digital by using a USB to SPDIF converter.

Finding a USB to SPDIF converter took some time, the most popular one was a 'Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro' but this was difficult to buy in the UK due to it not meeting some EU requirements so I had to take a gamble on a converter I found on Ebay, although the description

of this item was very vague and looked like it might only support stereo PCM from the optical output I decided to take a gamble and ordered it. The gamble paid off as it outputs multi-channel audio from the Toslink output.

To find this converter, google

'USB2.0 6 Channel 7.1 External Audio Sound Card S/PDIF'

One tip though, if you can find it from a UK seller check their feedback first because some sellers say they ship from the UK but actually ship it from Hong Kong.

Things still to do

I'm using the Ethernet connection on the back of the Revo for my network connection but I would like to get the Wireless function working in XBMC Live but it's proving a bit difficult....... oh well you can't have everything.

Various external Battery Options for the Iphone....

2008-10-17T13:21:00.016+01:00

I had a good look around Ebay the other day to see what was available for charging the IPhone/Ipod whilst away from a mains socket.
I was quite surprised at the amount of different battery options, primarily from China and Hong Kong.
Below is a list of the things I found, I've not personally bought any of them but I have bought stuff from HK before and I had no problems.

The first I came across was a simple plugin external battery designed to plug in the bottom of the IPhone/Ipod, this one has a 1000 mAH Li-ion battery.
There is also a pass through connector on the bottom so you can connect the battery / Ipod to the PC, you also charge the battery by using the Ipod sync lead and connecting it to the PC.

There were also some variations on this that were more shaped to match the IPhone/ITouch when in use. I found this available form HK and the UK for around £11. (in Black, White and Silver)
There is also a version with a slightly lower battery capacity (800 mAh) but with a solar cell built in to allow the battery to be charged whilst in the sun.

The next one I found does two jobs, it acts as a jacket with a battery, 2200 mAh, and also a stand/dock for use on the desk.
This I only found in HK for around £15 inc. Del.
Again all the charging of the Li-ion battery is done using your existing sync cable.

The next one is just a jacket that fits around the IPhone 3G and contains a 2400 mAh Li-ion battery and also a 1.5W speaker, this allows you to listen to the audio as the jacket covers up the normal audio aperture. again this battery is charged by using the IPhone/Ipod sync lead that came with your IPhone/Ipod.

This option is a bit more expensive at around £25 and can be found in HK or UK.

The last one is a leather flip case that includes a Li-ion battery within the case and a connector at the bottom.

The battery is 2100 mAh and you charge it using your sync cable, I only saw this item available from HK.

Of course there were many other types of batteries for the IPhone/Ipod including AA battery holders with the Ipod connector and all round chargers with a Li-ion battery and a kit of connectors for many different gadgets, some even have solar panels to recharge the Li-ion battery so, in theory, they should always be topped up and ready for use.

The new Android G1 open source phone

2008-09-23T21:19:00.010+01:00

Today saw the launch of the new open source phone, T-Mobile in conjunction with HTC and Google presented the new Android G1 phone in New York.

Having recently bought the new IPhone 3G I must say I've been drooling over the new G1 the interface looks as good as if not better than the IPhone and the best bit of all is that it will be free of the overbearing limitations set by Apple and allow the creation of innovative , and hopefully free, applications, after all the IPhone is still basically crippled as an Internet browser, try watching news clips on the BBC news site ...... IT DON'T WORK ..... %*&£**$!"!%

Due for release in the US in October with a UK release in November it shouldn't be long before the Apple IPhone is really put to the test...........

More portable batteries

2008-09-14T11:44:00.006+01:00

Just came across these portable chargers, for charging mobile phones or anything that will charge using a USB charging lead.

They come in two sizes 2200 and 4400 mAH and they both have a USB socket for the charging output.

They are found here www.just-mobileonline.com and they do have UK stockists.

Reading a review on iLounge it appears they will charge the Iphone 3G.

Car Charger Problems

2008-08-23T19:49:00.006+01:00

As the new Iphone 3G no longer uses the Firewire pins to charge, my existing in-car charger, I used for the ITouch, doesn't work so I had to buy a replacement.

I looked on ebay first but even though they were cheap I thought I would look for a well known make for a change after all I'd spent a lot of money on the Iphone.

I went into the O2 shop to see what they had and came out with a nice looking xtremeMac car charger for £14.99, it looked good and was nice and slim.

I tried it and it charged my Iphone no problem, job done...... or so I thought!
The next day I was driving along listening to the radio and I was getting quite a lot of interference which was not normal, I soon realised that the interference was only present whilst the Iphone was charging.
On further investigation I proved that the source of the interference was the new charger.

I took back the charger and got a refund and I was going to get a Griffin Powerjolt from Carphonewarehouse but as I passed Halfords I noticed they sold the Griffin Powerjolt and it was only £9.99 instead of the £14.99 Carphonewarehouse wanted.
The Griffin Powerjolt works a treat and no interference and you even get another USB to mini A cable to add to the collection.

Nice little portable charger for Ipod/Iphone

2008-08-17T10:07:00.013+01:00

I came across this Ipod/Iphone charger the other day in B&Q and after a search on Ebay I found it for £7.99 including postage, BARGAIN!
It retails for £19.99 and comes with two Energiser Lithium AA batteries.

It uses a fold out connector at the rear that forms the holder for the Ipod.

It also acts a a stand for the Ipod/Iphone whilst charging.

On the bottom it has an adjuster than alters the distance between the connector and the back of the charger so it will fit a nano all the way upto the Iphone 3G and Yes it will charge the 3G Iphone.

All in all a very nifty device that will keep you going when you're no where near a mains socket.

3G Iphone the good, the bad but at least not Ugly

2008-08-16T19:07:00.010+01:00

Having owned an Itouch for nearly a year and absolutely loving it, it seemed a natural progression to go for the Iphone that had all the other options I was missing with the Itouch.

So I finally gave in to temptation and bought an Iphone.

After about a week the list of things I didn't like about the Iphone grew longer and longer.

I think if I'd bought the Iphone straight away all the fantastic things about the interface and usability would have offset all the negative things I keep on finding but as I bought the Itouch first I'm already used to the good things the only extra features are to do with the phone and I really can't believe some of the things that Apple have not done!!!

Just to reiterate I really love the ability to browse the web with a good fast browser and I can get my read Ebooks using the large screen, for this alone I wouldn't be without my touch/Phone.

As I get to use the phone side of things I'm very disappointed with the lack of effort Apple seem to have put into the phone software functionality, this may be on purpose so we all buy new ones every 12 months when they add features that are already found on most other phones today.

My findings based on a standard non Jailbroken Iphone running 2.0 and if anyone can tell me how to do some of the the things listed below then please
let me know.

No ability to connect my bluetooth headphones, sorry! you can pair them and they are usable for the phone audio but they will not play the music from the ipod, this is absolutely non-sensical. Having browsed the Apple forums this is by design!!!
There is basically no easy way to change most of the sounds used for events such as recieving emails - Ringtones require renaming an mp3 file to an mpr and then putting them into the ringtone section of Itunes.
SMS tones can not be changed, other than those default ones, unless the Iphone is jailbroken and other SW used.
You can not do a lot with bluetooth, like receiving contact information or files from another phone via bluetooth.
You can not use the IPhone as a bluetooth Modem, as many if not all other bluetooth modern phones. (You can get around this with a jailbroken Iphone and some jiggery pokery).
There are no profiles for the settings of ringtones etc. I use this feature with my Nokia E50 and some 3rd party SW to automatically switch to meeting profile during a calendered meeting.

There are plenty of good things (well some...) about the Iphone that I love: -

The large very readable screen.
The very well thought out browser interface and touch screen concept although I miss being able to make a drawing on the screen with the accuracy I had on My HPHx4700 PDA and a stylus.
It's really good a playing music.
You can access Iplayer, Video only though.

Some of the things that aren't so wonderful: -

You can't listen to radio 1, 2, 4 etc on the web or Iplayer because the Ipod only supports Quicktime.
In a similar vein to 1. you can't watch any of the BBC news videos, this is a pain because if you had a PPC phone you'd be able to see them.
For the 3G Iphone Apple removed the ability to charge from the firewire pins on the plug, this means that many of the speaker docks and chargers you've used for the 1st Gen Iphone no longer work ???? My USB charger for the car will not charge the 3G Iphone but the same cable in the Apple charger works fine.

I think the problem is that the USB data lines are open circuit on third party chargers and need to be pulled to the 5V supply through some resistors, I'm working on modifying my chargers to work and hopefully I can get my Intempo speaker dock to work with the 3G Iphone.

There are probably a few more things that are not as good as they could be, I'll find them sooner or later, I just hope that Apple sort out many of these issues with SW updates sooner rather than later but I won't be holding my breath.......

Xbox USB port Details

2008-02-04T22:32:00.003Z

After dismantling your Xbox and removing the hard drive assy. you should be able to see two of the controller port, 3 and 4, remove the two screws holding it in place, disconnect the connecter from the motherboard and pull out the whole assy.

Once the Assy has been removed you can prise off the metal covering from one of the ports, this will allow access to the wiring.

At this point you can solder the USB connector on to the existing wires if you want only have the USB connector temporarily or use a long cable and feed it out the back.

I decided to permenantley replace the port with a USB interface as I planned to use XBMC and I would like to play stuff from a USB stick.

I cut away the port 4 connector and used a hot melt glue gun to fix the new USB connector in its place.

Once completed you just reassemble the XBOX and then you can softmod the unit using your USB memory stick to load the gamesaves.

Recycling an old Xbox

2008-01-05T18:52:00.002Z

Over Christmas I bought an original Xbox from a friend for a tenner, I'd heard you could use some software called XBMC to convert it into a media streamer for under the TV and I thought I'd give it a go........ Well it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought as getting hold of a mod chip was a non starter because of the age of the xbox no one sold them anymore. So it was the "soft mod" route then....
Apparantely there are three games out there for the Xbox that will allow a software exploit on the Xbox to unlock it; the games are: -

Splinter cell
Mechassault
007 - Agent Under Fire

How it's done
After tracking down one of the above games on Ebay you need to get two files on to the hard disk of the xbox, this is usually done using the "Action Replay" unit, which allows game saves to be saved and read from a memory card, these can be transferred from the PC to the xbox.

The Action Replay units were about £20 but I came across another way to do it without buying the Action Replay kit.

The game ports on the Xbox are apparantley USB ports with one extra cable, for a light pen, so it's possible to attach a USB socket to the Xbox, plug in a USB memorystick and use this to transfer the files from the PC to the Xbox.

Once the files are on the Xbox you just use the game to load the gamesave and this will run the exploit to unlock the Xbox, then you can connect the Xbox to your PC via the ethernet connection and ftp the files for XBMC to the Xbox and Bob just might be your uncle!

My Bit
Most of the information is in tutorials already done and I will put the links on the blog for these as I don't really want to write them again, my contribution is how to set up your Xbox with a USB port.
More Later .......

A few days with the ipod touch

2007-12-11T22:40:00.000Z

Well after a few days with the Ipod Touch I 've really started to like it even more, I've now installed a good ebook reader which allows me to read my existing Ebooks.

The application 'Books' is not a highly polished piece of software but after the hard work getting the book from a .lit file on my PC to a HTML file on the Ipod (about 1 hr) the actual reading experience is really good, much better than MSreader on my PDA.

The steps were: -
1. convert the lit file to html using a free converter "ABC amber lit converter"
2. Remove all the
tags using search and replace.
3. Separating the whole book into chapters which speeds up the book loading, this can take 1/2 hour for a big book.
4. Get the files onto the Ipod using the Ibrickr programme.

All this was achieved an a knock down cost of £0.00.

As I've said before I don't know why Apple are not exploiting the fantastic abilities of their device, maybe they plan to in the future.....

My new Ipod Touch

2007-12-07T14:03:00.000Z

Well after much agonising about whether to go for the Iphone or not it suddenly occurred to me that I could get the full experience of the Iphone without the phone bit for a lot less money by buying the Itouch.

Iphone over 18 months = £900 'ish

Ipod Touch 8GB over 18 months = £199

Well it's nearly Christmas so I chose the Itouch for a present and I must say I was absolutely amazed by this device, using is is an absolute dream.

Everything is so simple to use and setup, it detected my wireless connection and asked for the password and connected without any messing about in settings etc.

The screen is fantastic, even better than my hx4700 and I've always classed that as a great screen.

Once I'd unlocked it I got access to a huge list of third party applications, without even having to search round the net on my PC, it was all possible on the Itouch.

I installed the web mail, notes and google maps apps from the iphone so as long I as I have a WiFi connection I get my email.

I'm over the age of 40 and my eyesight is just starting to age and seeing all the text on my Imate Jamin can be a struggle and trying to increase the font size took a lot of research on the web and even then it wasn't brilliant do to the screen not handling some of the larger text very well.

Having said all that there are some issues which irk me to say the least such as the lack of memory expansion, in this day an age that is just STUPID!!!! COME on APPLE think of the consumer!

Those that like to fiddle with the settings and themes shouldn't be disappointed though as once it's jailbroken you can fiddle until your hearts content.

Another nice feature would be Bluetooth and a navigation application, with already having WiFi I wouldn't have thought it too difficult to add Bluetooth.

I think Apple missed a trick, with navigation, Bluetooth as well as the photo, video and music capabilities it would be a real killer device. (although it was probably a calculated omission)

I don't own an apple and I'm not really an apple fan but I can really say this device is a pleasure to use.

It should’ve had ……

Incorporated IR or RF receiver so that you could use a remote without a universal dock.
Wireless headphones option via Bluetooth or WiFi maybe
Memory card slot.
Some buttons on the front, at the top, to pause/play skip etc, (like the some phones have). The old ipod video with the click wheel was easy to pause/play whilst in my shirt pocket because you could press the buttons, now you have to powerup the ipod to pause etc. another reason for bullet point 1.

At last a Blog

2007-12-05T14:48:00.000Z

Well I've messed about for a while thinking about a blog, I've done a web site, well out of date now, but at last it's time try blogging, here goes .....