headers
Forrest Christian | 12 May 12:16

[EE] Production Serial EEPROM/Flash programmer?

I'm going to be starting to use some of the small 8 pin Serial SPI 
EEPROM memories and would like to come up with a production-quality 
programmer for them.  On the PIC side, I'm using Olin's ProProg and it's 
working out well, and we like the way it works...  Insert chip, hit 
button, wait until LED comes back on steady, remove chip and repeat.  No 
need to have the computer on the same desk as the programmer (we have a 
table which parallels the desk with the computer on which we use for 
things which need the computer in a support role such as the ProProg).  
We just start the software and then it's just us, the chips, and the 
programmer.

So far, I haven't found anything both reasonably priced and seemingly 
production capable.   I'm about ready to build my own (after all it is 
only SPI flash), but would prefer to do something a little less 
drastic.  So before I did I figured I'd ask on-list.

Ideas?

-forrest

--

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
Permalink | Reply | 4 comments |
headers
Gordon Williams | 11 May 23:32
Picon
Picon
Favicon

[PIC] CCP1 Glitches in noisy environment (RC Tx)

Hi All,

I'm having problems tracking down the reason of some glitches occurring on
the CCP1 output and it is driving me a bit crazy.

I'm putting some smarts into a basic RC transmitter.  I've replaced the
current chip producing the pulse train to the RF section with a daughter
board and added a cell phone LCD, some switches and Serial port for input
and output.  The serial port and LCD (spi) work fine and they don't have any
glitches.  The 5 ADC readings for the joysticks (4) and battery voltage also
work well with only 1 bit of noise on a 10 bit reading (referenced to the
power and gnd lines).

The PIC that I am using is the 16F886.  Its supply is a 78L05 on the main
board and I have a 10uf Tant and three 0.1uF on the power lines on the
daughter board.  The daughter board is single sided with a ground plane pour
under the PIC and every else where I could.  Because I don't have ADC
problems or serial or spi errors that noise must be reasonably constrained,
I think.

I'm using CCP1 (pin C2) to produce the PPM that goes to the RF section.  It
is the standard PPM protocol (each channel pulse is 1 to 2 ms wide including
the following 0.3 ms pulse, repeated every 20ms).

Timer1 runs freely.  With a CCP1 interrupt (my only interrupt) I update
CCPR1 with the duration until the next transition high or low and the
CCP1CON bits to set the next transition in the correct direction.  My main
program clears a flag and that is all.

Most of the time it works perfectly and looks like:
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 2 comments |
headers
Cedric Chang | 11 May 22:07

[OT]: Another one bites the dust Science News

I have received Science News for years and the May 10, 2008 issue is  
a really major change for them.  I plan to ask for my money back.

1)  The issue weighs 2 to 3 times as much as it used to and the  
content level seems to have dropped.
2)  The issue is now filled with advertisements
                  inside back page ...... Learn to have better sex   
( full page )
                  outside back page     travel to Nova Scotia  ( full  
page )
                  pg 32  Hearing aids   ( full page )

                 10 full pages of advertising

3)  The issue is now full of pointless images
         for example :   page 24 is a full page image of human twins
                                   page 26 has a large photo of two  
women talking
                                   page 27 has a large bullet ( 1/8  
page )
                                   page 18 has a full page image of  
sparkly hexagons

4)  The issue reads more like PEOPLE magazine now.  Articles are much  
much longer now and have an author listed.
5)  The issue now has politics injected.  Page 36 is a full page  
about Science education.
6)  Page 30 and 31 is an explanation that nothing has changed  
really.  Outright lying using Orwellian double-speak.
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Enki | 11 May 20:29
Picon

[OT] NASA to Announce Success of Long Galactic Hunt


http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/may/HQ_M08089_Chandra_Advisory.html

--

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Wojciech Zabolotny | 11 May 17:38
Picon
Picon
Favicon

[EE]: GPS logger with voice recording - Wear balancing for SD/MMC card needed?

Hi All,

I'm just working on the open source GPS logger with voice recording (to
facilitate recording tracks for the http://www.openstreetmap.org project).

The current architecture includes:
GPS module - http://www.f-tech.com.tw/datasheet/GPS/FGPMMOPA2.pdf -
first tests show, that it performs very well even at low level of GPS
signal.
CPU - Atmega32 or PIC18F4550 - not decided yet (the second one could
provide the USB access to the stored content, but Atmega32 is easier to
program...)
Slot for the SD/MMC card,
The microphone amplifier with the AGC (based on SSM2165 or similar, eg
this one:
http://www.cyfronika.com.pl/kityAVT/avt2312pdf.pdf [Polish, sorry])
UI - very limited. LED diodes or LCD display showing the quality of the
GPS signal and current operating mode. Switch ON/OFF, switch
record/pause, unstable switch - record voice annotation.
Device should be safely operable when driving a car o a bike.

The track will be stored in the NMEA format (no problem with 1GB SD/MMC
capacity).
The short voice annotations will be stored in 8-bit 8kHz PCM (also no
problem with this capacity).

The most important problem I'm facing right now is: how to store the
information on the SD/MMC card to balance the wear?
Does the internal controller perform any block readdressing to balance
the wear?
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 3 comments |
headers
Olin Lathrop | 11 May 15:22

Re: [EE]: opinion on Willem programmer?

Byron Jeff wrote:
> The problem is that if you change the license significantly, and end
> users get screwed, with very limited access to source, and little or
> no ability to use that source in any productive way.

Now you're arguing what a good license should be.  "Good" depends on your
goals and measures.  The FSF wants to see executable software with no
restrictions.  That can be useful, but they ignore or usually not even
acknowledge that enforcing that decreases the choices of the end users.

If you really wanted to do something "good" for the end users then I think
using the GPL is not the right approach.  The GPL does force source of any
software that is derived from it to be open.  However to many that
restriction is too costly, so they don't use GPL code.  In the end the goal
of better and lower cost choices for the end users has not been served as
well as it could have been.

I was going to stop replying on this thread, but what made me respond was
your implicit statement that not having source to a program means you're
screwed.  This is of course totally rediculous.  A very tiny minority of end
users might derive some additional advantage from having access to the
source code for a app they are using, but the vast majority wouldn't know
what to do with it, and most of the ones that do have things to get on with
and don't want to bother messing with it.  Source code accessibility is way
overrated.

If you really want to make things as good as possible for end users, you
need to allow people to make a buck by doing so.  Most developers just don't
have the luxury like Richard Stallman has of forgoing compensation for
creating software.  If you want to harness their power, then you need to let
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 10 comments |
headers
Dennis Crawley | 11 May 14:39
Picon

[EE] Lenze inverter

Hi all.

I'm facing a burned Lenze E82EV751-2B and I hope to discover what causes
this failure.
"The notor disyuntor key was down", "The Lenze pcb is toasted", accordingly
to the
engineer description.
I didn't see it yet. All this things point to the motor, but may be someone
unpluged the mains while the machine was running... I don't know.

It is interesting because the Lenze has a very complex
system to defend it self against that:
• Short-circuit-resistant, protected against earth faults
  during operation
• Configurable current limiting, warnings and error
  messages in the event of overcurrents
• Protected against overvoltages and undervoltages
• Warnings and error messages in the event of
  overtemperatures on the frequency inverter
• Input for PTC or thermal contact and I2t monitoring for
  motor protection
• Motor phase failure detection
• Integrated brake transistor (up to 11 kW)
• Integrated RFI filters to EN55011 class A or B
  (device-dependent)

Any sugesstion in how to debug this, it will be very appreciated.
I don't want to just replace the inverter.

Regards,
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
cdb | 11 May 14:01
Picon

[OT] I wish to murder the extremely English language and any extremely gramaticals therewith

 The Employer

Our client is an international company that specialises in medical and 
life science products and equipment. Their reach here in Australia is 
national with a presence in all major cities for both sales, service 
and distribution. Their brand name is recognised globally and they 
have the ability to leverage of that and get them selves through the 
door of all their major clients. Their diagnostic division has been 
around for an extremely long time and they continue to invest in 
continuous product improvement ensuring they stay at the head of the 
pact. They have an extremely corporate profile that encourages ongoing 
training and development for their staff and ensure that your working 
experience is a positive one.

The Vacant Position

The position currently available is for an extremely stable team based 
out of Brisbane, that of their service division. The role as customer 
support engineer will see you doing a range of things including, 
installations, service and general maintenance. Mainly focussed on 
Brisbane metropolitan you may be required to do some regional travel 
form time to time but you will have plenty of notice if that does 
occur. The range of equipment you will be working on will cover 
diagnostic equipment in both the science and medical fronts and your 
customers will range form hospitals through to Universities. Not only 
will you be a technician but you will be the face of the company on 
the front line and you will need to build strong relationships as you 
go with each and every client that falls in to your territory. This 
role will involve ongoing training and development.
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 14 comments |
headers
cdb | 11 May 13:22
Picon

[AD]Elektor Magazine 2005 - 2007

 For sale in perfect condition (some fingermarks on the covers and 
2006 double issue is missing the cover)

10 magazines per year - A$50.00 for each year + P&P to your area of 
the world. 
Will consider selling individual mags, but prefer to sell as a 
complete year.

Airmail postage for 10 magazines is not going to be pretty, I suspect, 
will weigh mags and report back.

Colin
--
cdb,  on 11/05/2008

--

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
Permalink | Reply | 2 comments |
headers
Olin Lathrop | 10 May 14:13

Re: [EE]: opinion on Willem programmer?

Byron Jeff wrote:
> Where's the license? I looked on EmbedInc's software page, and
> downloaded the development software. The only license reference I
> found was in the aspic files:
>
> ;   ***************************************************************
> ;   * The contents of this file may be used in any way,           *
> ;   * commercial or otherwise.  This file is provided "as is",    *
> ;   * and Embed Inc makes no claims of suitability for a          *
> ;   * particular purpose nor assumes any liability resulting from *
> ;   * its use.                                                    *
> ;   ***************************************************************
>
> There was no separate license file that I could find and no such text
> in the .pas files.

The licenses are in the form of copyright notices in the individual files.
You must have found a really old one.  The one above isn't even a copyright.
The normal copyright for PIC source lets you use it any way you want but you
have to propagate the copyright notice at the start of the file unaltered.
In other words, I get credit in the source code, and any modified versions
fall under the copyright.

I'm not sure exactly what you downloaded, but to get the USBProg source go
to http://www.embedinc.com/picprg/sw.htm and download the Development
Software release.  The source files that are specific to the USBProg will be
in the SOURCE > PICPRG directory with names EUSB*.aspic and
PICPRG_*.INS.ASPIC.  For example, the EUSB_AD.ASPIC (A/D handler) module has
the normal copyright, and PICPRG_F30.INS.ASPIC (dsPIC programming algorithm)
module has the more restricted copyright.
(Continue reading)

Permalink | Reply | 0 comments |
headers
Enki | 10 May 03:18
Picon

[BUY] RCV420 4-20mA RX IC


	Hi,

	I need to buy 20 RCV420 4-20mA Receiver IC.
	Any source I found is out-of-stock.

	Thanks for any recommendation.
	Mark Jordan

--

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
Permalink | Reply | 3 comments |

Gmane