Some new toys at the lab
In-counter barcode scanner has arrived and is setup for testing at the lab. This is for the self-checkout project. Erik has a dollar bill validator for us. Info on the wiki: http://www.757labs.org/wiki/Projects/selfcheckout
Our friend Lyman dropped off some older but fun toys for the lab, including two HID readers and some protocol converters. We've tested it, and we were able to read HID fobs and cards via RS232. This is going to be very useful! It will probably wind up as part of the lab's access control system.
Geoff dropped off a Motorola HC11 development kit. Bart in NYC gave us a Parallax Board of Education kit (Basic Stamp) and some accessories (along with other goodies.) While in NYC several of us bought some low cost arduino microcontroller development kits as well. In addition to the TI MSP430s that should be arriving. The lab is well stocked for microcontroller projects!!
Next HOPE preperation continues…
757 Labs is once again supplying the video distribution network for the HOPE conference in New York City. System consists of machines doing live encoding of video (DVD quality), transporting it across a network from the 18th floor to the 2nd floor, and then showing the video on various projectors and displays. And a management system, text overlay of anonymous comments, and more.
MIDI dabbling
On Friday last week a few lab members got together and toyed with electronic noise creating toys. It may become a regular meeting. Interested? Ping MarkG!
Travis versus Oracle LED sign by Sunrise Systems
The green 12' long (in 3 segments) LED scroller sign that Travis has been hacking on is looking AWESOME! He's got a half brightness feature implemented, and is now driving all 3 sign segments off of a single arduino microcontroller. The sign is neat in that there are 3 parts that plug together (it was some sort of expandable system.) The control software was DOS based, and the original control board set never worked right. Some mods were needed to each module to make it go. Overall though, it's looking great. The new code on the arduino controller will support using the sign as a frame buffer from another computer, and Enferex (Matt) has something wild in store for it!
Vizio TV guts
We finally took apart the Vizio 42" EDTV set that came to us for free (but had a cracked LCD.) No luck in finding a replacement panel. The working board set will be sold to hopefully cover some lab costs, meanwhile there are some odd left over parts. There is a trippy diffuser that was used on top of the backlights but before the LCD panel. A cracked LCD panel which serves as a conversation piece, and a backlight with 20 CCFL florescent lights in it.
GV42L is the model.
Travis playing with Vizio backlight diffuser plastic.
Rock the Fail Crane!
Enferex and I had spent some time (along with others that were at the lab on various days) updating the Skill Crane to run on a more modern setup. It was fully streamed 24x7 via Justin.TV and had the ability to submit moves without page refreshes. Also, the player's name and coordinates of play were burned into the video real time. It was great. But then the hard drive in the computer randomly died. Not just a click of death, it's a clack of death.
Some of the information was saved, some of it is in svn. The system will be back in a week or so. Perhaps sooner with the long weekend.
757 Labs at Fantasci 2010, other marketing
We're doing a little marketing of the lab around Hampton Roads. We were helping out at the Freeplay table at Fantasci over the weekend, and ran a short video about the lab (also posted to youtube.) A few people asked about the lab, and promotions for the Freeplay retro and modern gaming event (Aug 7th, www.sevagaming.com for more info) went well. In addition to this, some other ads were distributed at a few places in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
It was a good time supporting a local con, and I hope to do it more in the future. The HAMFest in September should be home to our next "booth."
www.rocktheskillcrane.com will be back shortly!
The internet connected skill crane is undergoing a major upgrade in internet playability, and is currently down. It will be back with live video of the crane combined with superimposed player names/coordinates in the video. Matt has already re-written the C program, the only stumbling block is a network bandwidth issue.
D-Link DES-1024D switch repair
We got hold of two D-Link DES-1024D 24 port unmanaged network switches that are totally dead. Out of warranty. No power, no lights, no life.
Fix was 1000uf 10v caps, 2 of them, on the power supply board. C6 and C5.
They are working and on the shelf if anyone in the lab needs one for a project. Not of the grade acceptable for the lab's infrastructure, but good for quick project and temporary expansion.
Dlink, D-Link, dead, no lights, hardware version A1.
Sanyo PLC-XU86 projector, PJLink, automation
A few weeks ago I noticed the Sanyo projector at the lab has to be switched to widescreen to properly show a movie. Since the projector implements PJLink, an open TCP communication spec for automation system control of projectors, I figured it would be possible to pass all the remote control options through the network from the AMX system to the projector. I was wrong. PJLink seems to only offer power on/off, input, and some bulb info.
The projector comes with a utility to control the projector from a PC called PJControl. Sounds like PJLink, but it's not. Sam helped, and we logged it using a winsock logger. Here is what it takes to control the aspect ratio from an automation system or other software. The protocol is a bit annoying, each command is sent on a new TCP session.
Connect on port 10605, send PS(CR), disconnect. Connect on port 10605, send "CF SCREEN WIDE(CR), and disconnect. If you want Normal 4:3, change the 2nd command to "CF SCREEN NORMAL(CR)"
Sanyo does publish a list of all the other control commands, but I don't have the link handy.
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