Electronics for Bharat

Moving to Kicad

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:44:30 PST

We have taken the decision to move to Kicad for good reasons.

We were using the Hobbyist version of Eagle and had the following limitations:

Multi-layer not possible
Board Size Limitations

Although our Eagle library was functional with every day components, still we struggled when we had to introduce new components. And most of the OSS hardware supporters were using Eagle, so we kept working with it. However recently the board size needed was much bigger and we could not fit the schematics in one page. We were circumventing this disadvantage using multiple boards but it was still a handicap. Thus we turned towards completely open source solution!

We had evaluated Kicad back in 2010 but were not satisfied. However as time passed Kicad became considerably better and much more stable. Then we started noticing many people are developing libraries for this tool. This is active and updated FAQ for this tool. This tool is Multi-platform which makes it even more advantageous. Although Eagle supported the same feature but you need to buy one more license if there are 2 PC using the tool.

Thus in all support for Kicad has grown and it made perfect sense for the future developments. It would be one time effort of porting and creating libraries. We would try to document the process so that more people can use this wonderful tool.

Here are a few links that help you to get resources on Kicad:
Download Link: http://kicad.sourceforge.net/wiki/Downloads
Home Page: http://kicad.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page
Libraries : http://www.kicadlib.org/
Schematics Library Generator: http://kicad.rohrbacher.net/quicklib.php

We are presently working on making an easy to use Module & Library generator for Kicad using Python. We would be posting on that development soon.

Independence Day for Bharat 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:11:00 PST

हम 'इलेक्ट्रोनिक्स भारत के लिय ' यह प्रण लेते है की हम अपने देश के स्वाभीमान को सर्वोच स्थान देंगे |

हम सब अपने रचनात्मक कार्यो को इस लक्ष्य पर केन्द्रीत क़रेगे |

| वन्दे मातरम |

Bus-Pirate broke down

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:48:58 PST

We were disabled recently as our trusty tool the Bus-Pirate just broke down.

Possibly it was wrong voltage levels that took it out. Now we cant get the Supply command 'W' working.
Most of development uses this nice little device. Now we have to order a new Bus-pirate to continue our projects. Mostly repair work for this one would take more time which we are always short of. Well we would post an update once we are back with a new one.

Nanoscale wires defy quantum predictions

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:24:04 PST

Atomic-scale electronics follow classical, not quantum, rules.

B. WEBBER

Atomic electrical components conduct just like conventional wires, giving a new lease of life to Moore's law. - Nature

Microchips could keep on getting smaller and more powerful for years to come. Research shows that wires just a few nanometres wide conduct electricity in the same way as the much larger components of existing devices, rather than being adversely affected by quantum mechanics.

As manufacturing technology improves and costs fall, the number of transistors that can be squeezed onto an integrated circuit roughly doubles every two years. This trend, known as Moore's law, was first observed in the 1960s by Gordon Moore, the co-founder of chip manufacturer Intel, based in Santa Clara, California. But transistors have now become so small that scientists have predicted that it may not be long before their performance is compromised by unpredictable quantum effects.

Resistivity, a measure of how much a material opposes the flow of electrical current, has previously been shown to increase exponentially as the width of a wire decreases below 10 nanometres, which would impede the performance of devices with atomic-scale components.

News via Adafruit blog.

Bread Board Tips and Tricks: Beginner to Proficient

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:21:42 PST

We have all used breadboards, or those who plan to jump into the fascinating world of electronics need to know about them. This article focuses on introducing breadboards inside out, to help people use them and prototype their innovations faster. We would walk through Bread board concepts, connecting various chips & devices, efficient prototyping and documenting the designs.

[1] What is a Bread Board ?
Bread Board or more precisely Solder-less Bread Board is one of the essential tools for any one stating with electronics or microcontrollers. It is useful for both Pro's and beginners alike. Here are pictures of the different breadboards that one can find.

Older Variety widely available in Bharat(India)

Newer Variety slightly Costly in Bharat(India)

Smaller ones (Half Size) available from Adafruit

Oldest form of Bread boards (Not available now)

More recent Transparent Fancy bread board from Sparkfun

Apart from the above breadboards are also available in kit form. Which include optional Power supply Connections and other connectivity options.

With Power supply from Sparkfun

[2] General know how on Length Units used in Electronics.Going forward in this tutorial it is important to note that we would be using a particular unit a lot of times "mil" or also popularly known as "TH". It is 1000th of an Inch. Here is a conversion table that might come in Handy.

1 Inch =>  1000 mil  =>    2.54 cm =>    25.4 mm

1 mil  => 0.001 Inch => 0.00254 cm =>   0.025 mm

Also:
1 mm => 0.1 cm => 39.37 mil=> 0.03937 Inch

It is important to know this conversion as most of the Printed Circuit Board unit are in "mil" and the data-sheet units are in "mm". There has always been a classical fight between the more accurate one. However most of the things in PCB arena are still in "mil" and using mm means using 4-6 decimal precision in the current boards.
Thus we prefer to use the "mil" unit more than mm. However we would try to provide a proper conversion available for the parts that have been measured. There is a handy converter available in the blog which can convert in any direction either "mil" to mm or vise-versa.

[3]Cool Bread Board tricksWe have collected a set of great bread board tricks that are a real time saver.

Space Saving Resistors

In this case, one end of each resistor is pushed into the solder less breadboard, while the other end of each resistor has a wire soldered to it. The other end of the wire connects to the appropriate LED segment.

CR2032 Battery Holder for Breadboard

Easy way to connect the common CR2032 Battery needed for RTC or even MSP430.

Power Supply for Bread boards

Simple 5V power supply for Bread board this above is an Instructable that you can build your self.
Commercial ones are also available from: Adafruit, Seeedstudio, Sparkfun

How to use Surface mount components on bread board

This is an easy way by soldering the terminals of the commonly used SMD resistors, capacitors or even transistors to the bregs they can be inserted easily into the breadboard.

SD Card Breakout with Headers

An easy way to make a makeshift but reliable SD card holder for the bread board.For some additional tricks refer to 43oh Blog.

Masking Tape for Circuit Labeling

Use of Masking tape to mention helpful references. Also this would be helpful in removing the circuits when you don't need them on the bread board any longer.

Home Made breadboard !!

You can make your own bread board using IC DIP sockets by joining them together in the same fashion as in bread boards.

Or even Simpler use IDE Cables

Power your Bread board using USB

This is quite handy specially when you are out and still want to do some prototyping. All you have to do is connect the USB of your Laptop or Card USB mp3 player charger and they you go.

DIY Modules for faster prototyping

These modules are some of the common things that you might use. So its a good idea to make some of them. They you dont need to rig up the same old circuit again and again.

Highly Recommended Bread Board Tips

The are the tricks that we use commonly. Thanks to this Instructable we have great ease in our prototyping efforts.

Bread Board Jumpers

The secret of all hackers success with breadboards. These are indispensable and high recommended to buy one set. Its a one time investment though not so costly, but its just eases rigging up circuits a lot. These are available commercially from: Seeedstudio

Or you can make them your own

These jumpers are made using berg pins and some heat shrink sleeves on normal wires.

Update: 23,January,2012
Here are some more Tricks from Vitya

Soldering SMD IC for Bread board Use

Using hot-glue some basic vero board and careful soldering we can have SMD IC right on the Bread Board

LED Strip for Bread Board

A nice LED strip that can save a lot of space and rig up time designed by Vitya. Visit his blog for more info.

Buttons for Bread Board

Easy to use 8 button for bread board use. Can help to offload the de-bounding circuit from bread board to save space.

Grand 6-Digit LED(7-Segment) Display Module

Definitely a useful and bold type of display while bread board. This offloads the circuit needed for decoding BCD to 7-Segment Display from the bread board.

Thanks to Vitya for the links.

"Well this is far from Complete So we would keep adding more and Help Us Fill in more details"

New Version of L.A.T.H.I Coming up

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:24:20 PST

We are developing a new version of LATHI which would be optimized for power and functionality. The first prototype has now been complete and being tested.

This time it will have the Li-Ion rechargeable batteries. And a better speaker. We have already tested the GSM and GPS related functionality. We have changed our main microcontroller from PIC32MX360F512L to an MSP430 to gain power advantage while losing on processing power. The Accelerometer here is the same MMA8453Q we discussed some time ago. Even the same breakout module is being presently used. We have estimated that the battery life can be expected to be easily 3 Months !!. We would keep posting updates as we progress. The aim now is to make this into a complete manufacturer-able product.

WolframAlpha FM Synthesizer

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:36:05 PST

This is a nice way to simulate the modulation effects.
From http://codehop.com/wolframalpha-fm-synthesizer/

Economic Shift Register interfacing

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:33:26 PST

We came across an interesting technique of interfacing Shift Registers. We all know that the Shift Registers need 3 I/O lines to interface at minimum.
However if we can cleverly time the Load and Clocking pulses to get the job done:

The above circuit times the PL pulse of the 74HC165 with the Clock pulse. It uses the limit of the CMOS threshold levels in 74HC14.
Even more interesting is that if this could be done over a single I/O line by alternately configuring it as an input or output.

For Detailed info Refer:
http://www.openmusiclabs.com/learning/digital/input-matrix-scanning/hacks/

Compiling mspdebug for Windows using MinGW

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:52:38 PST

We were trying to compile the windows version of Mspdebug from its source.
In this post we would detail the dependencies that needed to be taken care off and how to make the Mspdebug-0.18 build with MinGW.

First let us browse the setup:
1. We need Latest version of the MinGW installed presently using :gcc version 4.6.1 (GCC)
2. Download the Old Regex utility from GNU http://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/regex/ file regex-0.12.tar.gz

3. Download the Mspdebug-0.18 http://sourceforge.net/projects/mspdebug/files/mspdebug-0.18.tar.gz/download
Note: Make sure that MinGW in in the path along with Msys for the binutils

Building the Dependency of the regex in MinGW
1. Extract the regex-0.12.tar.gz file in a directory say regex-0.12
2. Compile the files: gcc -g -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -I. -c regex.c
3. Now make the lib file: ar ru libregex.a regex.o
4. Copy the files to the respective directories:
libregex.a => [MinGW dir]\lib and regex.h => [MinGW dir]\include
Here are some quick commands:

cp libregex.a ..\MinGw\lib 

cp regex.h ..\MinGW\include
Thanks to kemovitra blog for help.

Update:
Also possible to Get the more recent(2007) Regex Package mingw-libgnurx-2.5.1:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Other/UserContributed/regex/mingw-regex-2.5.1/

File modifications for including LibUsb-Win32 used in MinGW:
1. Need to change #include<usb.h> to: #include <lusb0_usb.h>

2. Each of the following files need to be modified:
mspdebug-0.18\util\usbutil.h Line number: 22
mspdebug-0.18\drivers\olimex.c Line number: 23
mspdebug-0.18\drivers\rf2500.c Line number: 22
mspdebug-0.18\drivers\ti3410.c Line number: 23

Compiling the Mspdebug:
1. Use the command: make WITHOUT_READLINE=1
2. If this works then you have a mspdebug.exe ready !!

Next we need to try out using this to program the MSP430 chips.

MSP430F5310 Breakout

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:03:32 PST

We recently developed our first MSP430F53XX breakout board. This board was targeted for developing advanced applications on MSP430.

We have hosted this project as an Open Source Hardware project on Github.
https://github.com/boseji/MSP430-LaunchPad-Innovation/tree/master/hardware/5310breakout

Here is a preview of the schematics:

This board can be programmed using the TI LaunchPad also.
http://www.43oh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1853

We would be revising this to make a Booster Pack for the TI LaunchPad.

Removal of old Serial Port entries and COM port Re-assignment in Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 07:22:28 PST

Many time we have see that we are stuck with some odd serial port Numbers such as COM58, COM86 and all. We were bugged up with this issue as we have several Bluetooth dongles and each creates it own set of 10 COM ports!
To make matters worse when the 2-digit COM numbers is exhausted then 3-digit code like COM103 or COM112 are listed. Most of the Serial port terminal programs support only 2-digit code. And if you happen to have some old piece of software that expect the COM to be a single digit one like COM3 or COM9 then you hit the road block.
This problem has happened to us several times. We found some quick workaround to fix this. The platform being Windows XP Professional in consideration, but should work for Windows 7 also.
Here are the steps to achieve this:

Open Regedit :

From Start Menu click on Run and then type regedit in the text provided
Make sure you are logged in as Administrator in Windows XP else in Windows 7 it would ask for Administrator permission.

Navigate to the Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/COM Name Arbiter

Looks something like this:

Regedit Window showing the CommDB option
Now Right click on CommDB and click on Modify...
This will show a window like this:
The Value of the CommDB would be some thing like COMDB = FC FF FF 03... or some thing similar. Now this indicates the number of ports occupied in binary. Each bit represents a COM port slot being occupied.
For Example if you have COM1 , COM2 and COM4
then COMDB = 0B 00 00... in => Binary (0000)u (1011)l = (0D) hex
So accordingly first calculate the value of the COM ports that you have on your PC at all times and cleat off rest of the bits.
For our case we have COM3 at all times representing the built-in Modem so our value would be Binary (0000)u (0100)l = (04) hex
Here is the modified window:
Note: Make sure you dont add additional bytes to this entry or it would cause System Crash
This completes the second step

Navigate to the Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/HARDWARE/DEVICEMAP/SERIALCOMM

Here you can see all the COM ports currently present or are plugged into the computer
For our case we don't have any other ports than the Modem so here is how it looks like:
If you need first uninstall the ports from pc and check if they are update here.

Navigate to the Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Ports

Here you would be able to see all the assigned COM ports available
This is how it would look like:
Delete the COM ports that you don't need. For Example we needed only COM3 rest all COM port entries can be deleted.
Make sure you dont delete any other ports else System Crash

Now reboot the PC

Now when ever you plug in the new hardware if it shows the old port then just uninstall the driver and plug it back again. It should get a new port assigned.

For more info Read the following:
http://www.digi.com/support/kbase/kbaseresultdetl.jsp?id=274

TI Unleashed the Revolution (Palm Sized) - BeagleBone

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 06:42:49 PDT

BeagleBone is a new development board from TI in the BeagleBoard Series. This brings nearly the same power of the other Beagleboards right into palm of your hand.

This board contains the AM335x Family of Sitara Arm(r) Cortex-A8 processor.
Here are some vitals about this board:

Board size: 3.4" x 2.1"
Processor: 720MHz AM3358 Family of Sitara Arm(r) Cortex-A8 processor
Link: http://www.ti.com/am335x (Ref Manual)
Memory: 256-MB DDR2 RAM
USB: 1-port USB 2.0 host, 1-Port USB Debug + Serial Terminal using FT2232
Single cable development environment with built-in FTDI-based serial/JTAG and on-board hub to give the same cable simultaneous access to a USB device port on the target processor
Ethernet: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
On-chip Ethernet, not off of USB
Expantion: 3.3-V 2× 46-pin peripheral with multiplexed LCD signals and battery-control expansion headers. Industry standard 3.3V I/Os on the expansion headers with easy-to-use 0.1" spacing
Shipped with 2GB microSD card with the Angstrom Distribution with node.js and Cloud9 IDE
Easier to clone thanks to larger pitch on BGA devices (0.8mm vs. 0.4mm), no package-on-package memories, standard DDR2 vs. LPDDR, integrated USB PHYs and more.

Have a look the the Current Beagleboard Flyer to compare with the other boards.
If you are wondering where to plug in the display then worry not there is a DVI-D board that gives the DVI monitor port and the audio connections.
Here is a video that show it all:

We can wait to grab of these - Hope it would be same for you too :-)

Happy Deepawali 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:39:09 PDT

We would like to wish you a Prosperous, & Happiness filled Deepawali(दीपावली).

Remove Trace of USB Devices plugged into a PC

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:37:26 PDT

We found a little piece of software that could help to remove the trace of USB devices such as Pen Drives, Flash Disks, or your custom hardware. We were trying to check the USB driver installation of one of our projects. However we had to manually remove its presence by deleting registry keys. Sometimes if the wrong key deleted the whole Virtual systems would crash. So we were in trouble.
Well NirSoft’s USBDeview helped us out of this trouble.

This is a free utility that you can download from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html

Note: In order to make sure you can uninstall the devices you need to run this program in the Administration logon.

Flying Saucers: Superconductor Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:53:22 PDT

We came across this innovative video showing the Magnetic Levitation using super cooled materials.This demonstrates Quantum Trapping phenomenon in super conductors at low temperatures.

Android on X86: We have Google's Power

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:23:59 PDT

We were overjoyed to hear that Intel x86 can now run Android. That would mean the Host and Targets can some day have the same platform for development. This is Great news!!
Here is the link to the Project page:
http://www.android-x86.org/
or
http://code.google.com/p/android-x86/

Here are the Official Intel Website giving the Instructions to installing Android on x86:
http://edc.intel.com/Software/Installation-Guides/Android/

Here is the Video of Android Running on Intel N450 based Systems:
This is the Link: http://edc.intel.com/Video-Player.aspx?id=3778
If you wish you too can buy these boards here:
Intel Atom Dev Kits Link

Let us know if you get some of them..

Small is IN:Single molecule is tiniest electric motor ever

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:43:36 PDT

There has been a remarkable advancement in performing Molecular arrangements which pave way for useful NanoElectronics in the Future. Here is what we came across recently:

The smallest motor ever made and that's why its contesting in the Guinness World Records.

Molecules have previously converted energy from light and chemical reactions into directed motion like rolling or flapping. Electricity has also set an oxygen molecule spinning randomly. But controlled, electrically-driven motion – necessary for a device to be classed as a motor – had not yet been observed in a single molecule.
To address this, E. Charles Sykes at Tufts University in Boston and colleagues turned to asymmetric butyl methyl sulphide, a sulphur atom with a chain of four carbons on one side and a lone carbon atom on the other. They anchored the molecule to a copper surface via the sulphur atom, producing a lopsided, horizontal "propeller" that is free to rotate about the vertical copper-sulphur bond

Catch it @NewScientist

Audioino: Arduino programmable via sound card

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:30:27 PDT

Here’s a unique way to program an Arduino chip: using your computer’s sound card! Chris from the hobby-roboter forum provides the details on this amazing hack in his forum post.The process simply requires the Atmega168 to be programmed with Chris’ special audio bootloader. The whole project requires only the addition of three resistors, two caps, an LED, audio jack and reset switch. Thereafter programs are developed in the Arduino IDE, then the hex is uploaded to the Audioino via Chris’ Java program (contained in the source code zipped file.)This is a really cool hack, reminding some of us how we loaded programs into the CPU memory using cassette recorders back in the day.

via DangerousPrototypes.com

New PCB's from Seeedstudio's Fusion Service

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 06:20:35 PDT

We were trying out new sources to get some PCB's from. SeeedStudio provides an innovative and cost effective PCB making service called the Fusion Service. We have now evaluated this service for our MSP430 boards. The quality of PCB was really good for the price.

There are several size options also available(5cm x 5cm & 10cm x 10cm are our most used.
For Bharteya(Indian) Comparison here are the General prices that we have seen:
a. 5cm x 5cm PCB Double Sided
        Local Vendors: INR1050    (3-5 Quantity & Only One Side Silkscreen)
       SeeedStudio:     INR667.2   (Including Shipping , 10Quantity & Both Sides Silkscreen)
b. 10cm x 10cm PCB Double Sided
        Local Vendors: INR1520     (3 Qunatity & Only One Side Silkscreen)
        SeeedStudio:    INR1334.4 (10 Quantity, Including Shipping & Both Side Silkscreen)

In all we are very Happy with the Service & PCB from SeeedStudio and we thank them for this wonderful quality service.

We are going for another round of PCBs and hoping that we get them soon.

MinGW: Made Easier

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:57:42 PDT

We had initially covered a tutorial to Install MinGW environment. Now the installation has become even easier with the Automated MinGW Installer . This is a single executable file that needs to be downloaded and it would take you through the entire process.

Here are the links:
> Source for the Automated Installer:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/Automated%20MinGW%20Installer/mingw-get-inst/
> Good Introduction to the Instal process
http://www.mingw.org/wiki/Getting_Started
&gt: Our Tutorial & Articles on MinGW
http://m8051.blogspot.com/search/label/MinGW

Inflatable Antenna from GATR

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:20:17 PDT

We came across the remarkable innovation that makes it possible to have remote stalactite communication and still has portable infrastructure. GATR Technologies has developed an antenna that can fit right into your backpack.

This is an inflatable 1.2-metre satellite antenna that can fit into a backpack and be carried by a single person. It is a double-layered sphere with one layer a nylon mesh and the other made from sail material. The antenna is in the centre. The receiving dish divides the sphere's interior into two chambers and by applying pressure to one chamber you can push the antenna into a parabolic shape. The company already sells a larger, 2-metre version but this one is small enough to fit in an airline's hand luggage area when folded.

For Further info have a look at the following links:
http://www.gatr.com/
http://www.gatr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=71
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/07/inflatable-antenna-you-can-sti.html

MMA8453Q Accelerometer Breakout - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:07:13 PDT

We had built the MMA8453Q accelerometer breakout board. We could not test it since long.
For the Circuit we followed what the Datasheet said:

We only had to map it to our pin Configuration as stated earlier.
For testing we used the Famous Buspirate from Dangerous Prototypes.

We wish to Thank Dangerous Prototypes for creating such a nice tool.

Here is a picture of what we were working:

And here is the Command Sequence:

HiZ>m
1. HiZ
2. 1-WIRE
3. UART
4. I2C
5. SPI
6. JTAG
7. RAW2WIRE
8. RAW3WIRE
9. PC KEYBOARD
10. LCD
(1) >4
Mode selected
Set speed:
1. ~50KHz
2. ~100KHz
3. ~400KHz
(1) >1
READY
I2C>W
POWER SUPPLIES ON
I2C>[ 0x3A 0x0B 0x01 ][ 0x3A 0x0B 0x01 ]
I2C START BIT
WRITE: 0x3A ACK
WRITE: 0x0B ACK
WRITE: 0x01 ACK
I2C STOP BIT
I2C>[ 0x3A 0x0D [ 0x3B R ][ 0x3A 0x0D [ 0x3B R ]
I2C START BIT
WRITE: 0x3A ACK
WRITE: 0x0D ACK
I2C START BIT
WRITE: 0x3B ACK
READ: 0x3A NACK
I2C STOP BIT
I2C>

As you see in the Last Lines it prints 0x3A which is the "who am I" kind of address for MMA8453Q.
Note: SA0 is High so the Write address is 0x3A and Read Address is 0x3B

Here is the Commands that were sent:
1. Wakeup command: [ 0x3A 0x0B 0x01 ]
2. Read the "Who am I register" : [ 0x3A 0x0D [ 0x3B R ]

So the Accelerometer is working and now we can conceal the chip package in glue to make it into a robust chip form factor. Next on the list is using it in an actual application.

We would post more updates on that soon. Let us know your comments.

Scripting Android(SL4A) with Python on LG Optimux P500

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:13:32 PDT

We got our first Android Phone LG Optimus P500 with Android 2.2 Version. This phone has 512MB of internal RAM which is good to give a decent performance. We did not limit us to this, we wanted to make some good use of this mobile. So the Idea came that we can try to have a programming environment right int the Android Phone.
We knew that there is a complete development environment available to use PC as the host and develop applications for Android. But we wanted some thing easier. Something that could help us get Python on Mobile.
We found Scripting Layer for Android brings scripting languages to Android. SL4A in short.

Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A) brings scripting languages to Android by allowing you to edit and execute scripts and interactive interpreters directly on the Android device. These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to full-fledged Android applications, but with a greatly simplified interface that makes it easy to get things done.
Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale. Python, Perl, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, JavaScript, Tcl, and shell are currently supported, and we're planning to add more. See the SL4A Video Help playlist on YouTube for various demonstrations of SL4A's features.

We wanted Python so we went for Py4A - Python for Android.
This is the version of Python that's built to Run with the SL4A and includes various functionality such as Blue-tooth Encryption etc.

[1]
Here is a list of files that you need to download:
sl4a_r4.apk: The SL4A Frontend
http://android-scripting.googlecode.com/files/sl4a_r4.apk

textedit-sl4a.apk: Editor for the scripts
http://android-scripting.googlecode.com/files/textedit-sl4a.apk

PythonForAndroid_r5.apk: Python Interpreter for SL4A (Or the latest version available)
http://python-for-android.googlecode.com/files/PythonForAndroid_r5.apk

Python Modules:
pyephem-3.7.4.1-py2.6-linux-armv.egg
http://python-for-android.googlecode.com/files/pyephem-3.7.4.1-py2.6-linux-armv.egg

PyBluez-0.19-py2.6-linux-armv.egg
http://python-for-android.googlecode.com/files/PyBluez-0.19-py2.6-linux-armv.egg

pycrypto-2.3-py2.7-linux-armv.egg
http://python-for-android.googlecode.com/files/pycrypto-2.3-py2.7-linux-armv.egg

Now after you have all these files in the Phone in a separate Directory say "/sdcard/Develop/"
You are ready to go for the Installation.

[2]
Steps for Install:
- Install the sl4a_r4.apk File (Make sure you have install from Unknown source option enabled in settings)
- Install the textedit-sl4a.apk and PythonForAndroid_r5.apk
- After this transfer the SL4A and TextEdit applications to SD card from settings
- Open the Python for Android App and click on Install
(The App would now download the nessary files automatically. So make sure you have your internet connection ON in the mobile)
- After the Extraction is done it would show that the installation has been successful, Now click on Import Modules and sequentially install the modules one after another. (All three of them)
- Exit the Python for Android App and then run the SL4A app to get the SL4A Frontend running.
(Dont miss this else like in the Video the programs wont run)
- Now go back to Home screen keeping the SL4A running in background - Run the Text Edit App
- Browse the SD Card for "sl4a" folder in which the "scripts" directory contains the "HelloWorld.py"
(should be "/sdcard/sl4a/scripts")
- Now you can edit the file and save it
- Go back to Home screen and Open the SL4A app again. Click the Option button to refresh the files
- Single click on the HelloWorld.py shows the activity bar. (this contains the "Terminal Run" or "Edit" Options)
- Click on the Terminal icon to Run the Modified HelloWorld.py
- You see a terminal window automatically pop out and then says "Hello World"
- Now you would be prompted to Exit the Terminal so click "Yes"
That's It - You have successfully executed your first Python Script on Mobile.

[3]
Here is the Video that Demonstrates all procedures after the Files are Downloaded:

MMA8453Q Accelerometer Breakout - Soldering can be Art

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:16:50 PDT

Check out the Update: MMA8453Q Accelerometer Breakout - Update

Well we have been busy all this time so you see not much of blog activity. However our pursuit on creativity continues.
We were trying out the Freescale's new Accelerometer MMA8453Q which we procured recently.
The problem with this chip was that it was a QFN-16 package and so tiny that we did not believe it could be soldered in any way even if we get a PCB done.
So, so... This was a job for the Wiring Pen we described earlier.

We first soldered the Chip to a piece of veroboard using FeviQuik (conventional Cyanoacrylate adhesive).

Picture of the Chip glued on to the veroboard

Bottom view of the chip showing pin descriptions

Then we did the fine art work of wires using the Wiring Pen and made a breakout.

Breakout pin configuration

We have tested this out and its working!!

As requested here are steps that can help you build your own QFN breakout:
[1] Invert the chip and fix it onto a small piece of Vero board as shown in the First Picture above.
You can use the Cynoacrilate Adhesives (like Fevi-quick we have in Bharat) for this purpose.
But be careful they are extremely poisonous and you can hurt your self it fall any where other than desired.
[2] Identify the Pin 1 location and the desired pin configuration as shown in the Bottom View picture of the chip. Then map it to the desired breakout you would like to have as showing the Breakout Pin configuration picture above.
[3] Solder the Berg pins carefully in the breakout positions as decide in the mapping.
[4] Apply the No-Clean flux on the bottom of the chip and the pins.
[5] Take the Wiring Pen and tin the tip of the wire with fresh solder uncovering the insulation. The length of the uncovered insulation to be as small as possible.
[6] Carefully take a minute ball of solder on the soldering Iron tip and attach this wire to the pin
[7] Next measure the distance to the Berg pin by taking the Wiring Pen near to it so that the wire automatically unrolls. Now cut the wire to be soldered on the berg pin.
[8] Tin this end of the Wire which we just obtained using fresh solder and then fix it the berg pin soldered point by applying the soldering iron and inserting the wire into the solder. This makes your first pin ready.
[9] Using a pain of Pins as probes measure the continuity for this connection in the multi-meter. It should be as low possible but dont press the pins hard else they might damage the joints.
[10] Not continue the steps from step [4] for all the pins you need to take out.
[11] Once done clean the entire thing in a small bath of IsopropileAlcohol to ward off all the unwanted flux or the resin residue from the solder wire.

Thats all for the process.
Thanks for your interest. Let us know your feedback in case you would like a Video demonstration.

Check out the Update: MMA8453Q Accelerometer Breakout - Update

Quick Response Code: Details

noreply@blogger.com (Boseji) — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:23:16 PDT

We always wondered what and how the QR code came into play. This remained a shady fact that we used it couple of times on the mobile phone for URI catching but never got to find the real designs behind the screen.
Until Recently we found this:

Source: Wikipedia

In fact the QR Code is covered by a Patent 6,494,375 from Denso Wave.

We found even more detailed picture:

Source: QRME

The data contained in the QR Code is an amazing 4,296 Characters of text or 7,089 Digits or simply 2,953 Bytes. This means a complete HEX file for a small microcontroller can be embedded into one QR Code. Or think even better. A whole Letter that you send on a page can converted into a few QR Code Symbols !!

Many of the Mobiles and App sources such Google App Store Zxing provide API that help to encode data in QR Code format.

We are hoping to utilize this technology and cover the easy to implement QR Code in many of our projects.

Scan for your self....

For more Details Visit:

Wikipedia Article on QR Code:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code

QRME Website for more Documentation on QR Code:

http://www.qrme.co.uk/qr-code-resources/understanding-a-qr-code.html

Denso Wave's Website on the Code Implementation details:

http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/aboutqr-e.html

Quick QR Code Generator: (We like this one!!)

http://www.the2dcode.com/qr-code-generator