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.
Supermicro / Ablecom SP302-1S Power Supply Failures
At my day job we're seeing some failures of Ablecom (Supermicro) SP302-1S power supplies. These SP302 units are used in 1u Supermicro servers. We had one failed one that was out of warranty, I decided to peel it open and see what went wrong.
Not surprisingly, a Teapo capacitor (1000uf @ 10v) was looking pretty bloated. Replacing it with a random pull that was laying around the lab fixed the power supply. More faulty Chinese capacitors. We've seen 4 more of these supplies fail at work, so my guess is all of them are suffering from the same issue. The other failed ones at work are under warranty, but I'm afraid the replacements will have the same faulty components.
Notes: Revision 3.1, Ablecom, SP302-1S used on Supermicro PDSMI+ system boards. Symptoms, units won't power on, LEDs blink faintly, repetitively, indefinitely. With working supply they come on, even with unit powered off.
(Blue electrolytic capacitor on edge of board is the replaced one.)
CNC (Gonna make you sweat)
Some parts are on hand for building of the 60" x 35" x ?" CNC router!
Still need wood, and some couplers, and all the other parts that we will find out we need once it's halfway done.
Ms. Pac-Fail
I think I'm a okay guy when it comes to electronics knowledge, but I have to admit. The monitor in Ms. Pac-Man is giving me a run for the money. I've replaced the normal common failure parts that are known. Haven't really made much progress. I might just go all out and replace the flyback. The monitor is a Wells-Gardner K7201, so it's a much newer monitor than the original. It looks really good (when working.) There are still some capacitors that haven't been replaced yet, which are next on my to-do list.
Arduino + old LED sign = Newness
TJ continues to make progress in converting an older 12' long (7 pixels high) green LED signboard to run from an Ardunio (Atmel 328) instead of it's original controller. With the new controller the sign will act as a frame buffer off of a host computer, allowing it to act as a spectrum analyzer and other neat effects not possible with most LED signboards.
AMX Automation System Updated
Some minor updates are active on the AMX system at the lab. First, the front screen now has the video projector bulb hour counter displayed on it. It polls the projector every 15 minutes for this. This is the first time I've ever read external data into the AMX system.
There is also a "suspend lab" button on the home screen. It will shut off all downstairs lighting, the arcade games, the projector, and set the volumes to 0.
757 Labs featured on AltDaily
Just a heads up, 757 Labs was featured in an article written by Matt Labarge, published on AltDaily! Check it out here!.
Thanks to Alt Daily for the mention and Matt for the article!
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- 757 CCC Comic & Cartoon Creators
- 757 Objective C Group Objective C and Cocoa programming group.
- 757 Python Users Group
- 757.rb Ruby Users Group
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