I would definitely prefer a a face-face degree if at all possible but due to my current location and job this is just not possible.  My work will most likely pay for my degree and I would like to take advantage of this.  I was also thinking about the online MBA but I am just not interested in business.  As far as getting access to a lab and equipment, lets just say that my current job has some of the most expensive "toys" money can buy.  Getting lab time for testing purposes would not be a problem. 

I have poked around a little on the MIT site but I would like to get something to show for my efforts if possible.  If this isn't possible maybe I will settle for the MBA 

I am feeling the need to further my education but there are no university's near where I live and I cannot afford to quit my job and move.  I am looking for any recommendations anyone has for respectable schools that have online masters programs in electrical or computer engineering.

So far I have found a few schools that offer online masters programs but not as many  as I would think.  the only ones I have been able to find are Purdue, Drexel, Almeda?, Devry.  When I google online masters programs I get overwhelmed with sponsored sites and I do not want to end up on some mailing list for the next 10 years.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated especially from someone with firsthand experience.

DK

I love SPAM!!!



These are my favorite.....

try using the matrix display library found here:

http://milesburton.com/index.php/Arduino_%26_the_Sure_2416_Information_Display

The library is fairly easy use.  '

If you want to scroll the text across the two screens check out this thread:

http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1275865385/0

Right now there are some issues with the scrolling function being limited to 11 characters.  I have some crude work arounds if you are interested.

he at least needs a closeing bracket }

no loop?

I found this code really helpful:

8192 is the 8k sram of the mega is change for the 2k of the 328

Code:

Serial.print("free memory = ");
Serial.print(availableMemory());
Serial.print(" - memory used = ");
Serial.println(8192-availableMemory());

int availableMemory()
{
 int size = 8192;
 byte *buf;
 while ((buf = (byte *) malloc(--size)) == NULL);
 free(buf);
 return size;
}

It was found in this thread

http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1256142087/0

UPDATE: Also discussed here:

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/AvailableMemory

For the scale_knob value elseif's all of your <= should be >=.

other than that just trying to get a better understanding of the problem.

Does it still play the right notes, according to the dial position not the lcd text output?  or does it play the note displayed on the lcd not the dial position?

I am trying to pin-point the problem as being either an issue with the text output or with the makeshift potentiometer input.

What I would do is first verify the potenitometers input and which if statements you are entering.

so far using my example sketch (which only accesses the SPI SRAM) I am able to talk to it by connecting the SS pin of the SRAM to the PROG jumper (or place where a jumper should be) on the ethernet shield  This effectively shuts off the SPI interface on the WIZNET and pulls MISO into a high impedance state.

now to try out a sketch which makes use of the ethernet shield as well........

with a little research I believe that I found the answer to my problem.

The ethernet shield does not set its MISO signal to be high impedance when not selected so it cannot share the SPI bus with the other device.

I might have found a solution here:http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1248045864/0

I have connected the ethernet shield only sharing the 5V, 3.3V, GND,MISO,MOSI,SCK pins with the SRAM chip.  Everything works until I connect the MISO pin to the ethernet shield.

any thoughts???

Well Mavromatis you called it I have been running into problems with the ethernet shield and the SRAM.  

From what I understand SPI uses a selection bit to select which device on the bus to communicate with.  This should allow me to use both the SRAM and the ethernet shield. Right?

anyways when I do not use the ethernet shield I can use pin 9 as the chip select for the SRAM but it will not work with the Ethernet shield which uses pin 10 as its chip select.

I am stumped for now.  I will spend more time looking into it tomorrow.

I am using the atmega328.

Thanks.  From your mention of serial addressable ram I found this:

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/SpiRAM

which will give me 32K and a library is already written.

I have been running into a SRAM limitation problem in my latest preject.  I am building an embedded RSS reader however the size of SRAM available severely limits the size of the feeds I can access and display.

So far my options as I know are:

1) use EEPROM (still limited)
2) Use Flash (cumbersome to deal with strings)
3) Use external storage

I am leading toward external storage but not sure what would work best.  ANy ideas?

A few DB-50 cables would work.

<http://www.cables4computer.com/Cabling_Products/SCSI-1-Quality_External-SCSI_DB50_Male_to_Male_SCSI_1_Cable.html>

Of course you will have to purchase the corresponding ends to break out the connections or just cut off the ends and use the cable.