Great!, I've got Ubuntu 8.4 installed so that you should pretty straight forward then.

I looked for a "how to install avrdude" on mac and that looks complicate. I've put the avrDude folder in my home directory and tried your command line but that didn't work. I added sudo but it gave me a warning, so I am not really sure if I should do this.

I am going to try it on linux tomorrow as it might be simpler and I don't mind messing around the linux computer as I have nothing on it.

Thank you for helping me.

Hi every one.
It might be a stupid quetsion but you know what people say. There is no stupid questions.

Anyway I can't remember which of my boards have which code on it.
I don't want to look at all my programs and guess which one is the right one and then overwrite the precious code on the board.
So is it possible to download ( decompile? ) the code from the board to the arduino software. Maybe there is a anti-Arduino that transform machine code to Human code.

Thanksssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Hi all,

I just bought a PIR sensor from Maplin, would it be possible to have your view of it?

The sensor is a MQ1510 from IFSAC. Here want I have:

12+ -   N/C   TT   LED-
  | |       | |    | |    |
  | |       | |    | |    |

and the some pins I can switch to set the pulse and enable the led ( I think ).

I'm not sure if I have to use the N/C or TT. I believe that the sensor output 1 for movement and 0 for none.

I just don't want to damage my arduino board by doing something foolish. I think I can calibrate and test it without the arduino as a I presume the LED turn on for movement.  

ant advices?

cheers

Oh I wasn't trying to show of. I am also learning as I am doing it. I think I am so happy to have this working that I had to say it.
It's really a pain when you are a newbee like me and you don't have any pictures to look at in a tutorial. I think I will take the time to do a small one with picts.

Making it talk to Max is also my next step after the capacitive thing. I hope I will be as lucky. Your midi idea might be a good one actually.
Are you going to try with this tutorial ?
http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Labs/MIDIOutput

Hi, got mine from maplin ( HEF 4051 BP ).
At first I tried to follow your pictures and the tutorial but I was confused.
Your pictures relate to the right hand diagram from the tutorial ( logic symbol ). That's what confused me.
I followed the left hand diagram ( pin configuration ) and only the tutorial and now it works like a charm.
Obviously I had to had a analogueRead to read the thing. I think all your trouble scared me  

Daniel:
I don't understand why the tutorial as a beginSerial instead of the Serial.begin. Is it because of a old version, or the code is for wiring?
And I didn't use any capacitor.

Tomorrow I will try to adapt the capacitive thing to the multiplex.

Do you think that one of us should do a simple tutorial with pictures on how to wire a multiplex and rewrite the code so it actually do something when the arduino is wired properly. I am happy to do it, but I won't do it directly as I have lot of work. I still don't know what pin 6 and 7 (E and Vee) are for, ground access ?

cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrs  :-*

Thanks Nick.
I knew the 2 first links but I could find the 4051, I am sure it's because I really don't know much about electronics.
I only used Rapid once for buying vibration tilt sensors.
It's true that maplin don't give the data sheet online ,you have to ask by mail for it !!!!  :o

Thanks for replying. Jameco looks good but it's the US and I live in the UK.
They will receive two 4051 next monday at my local maplin. If they are the right ones ( hope so ) that will mean that UK people will know that they can find them there.
good luck for with yours  

Not sure but I think I found it at maplin ( uk ), the 4051:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=31820&doy=17m9#overview

So I could try to buy two directly from my local Maplin and try the thing before I order more online.
Please could anyone could confirm that I am looking in the right direction   :-/

If it works I am also going to try to use it with the "arduino as a capacitive sensor" ( http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1171076259 ). This technique is really great, the guy who done that is really good.
I imagine I would need two 4051, one for demultiplex and one for multiplex as the technique need two pin ( 1 input 1 output ) for each sensor.

Anyway if it works I will put the code and picts as a tutorials for people like me who doesn't know much about electronic.

Tutorials with pictures are the best way of doing them, and it doesn't take that much time to add picts to a tutorial.

ps: any idea about my question on the difference between the 3 products and/or which one is the one from the tutorial?

Hi, I am trying to sort that on my own but I think it's time for me to ask.

I need a mutiplexer so I can multiply my analog input, but I am new to electronic ( not to programming ).
I was wondering what was the difference between the 3 items from digkey ( I will use the UK shop ).

Digikey  Part numbers
497-1361-5-ND      HCF4051BEY      
568-1689-5-ND      HEF4051BPN      
MC14051BCPGOS-ND      MC14051BCPG

I was also wondering if those items works the same way as the one in the playground tutorial. As I am new to electronic it would make my life easier if I could just follow the tutorial  

if people are interested, here is a link to our project: http://www.sonicbody.co.uk

Thank you for your help

Cheers, I still have my qt140 ( 4 input ). I am going to try with this first.

 :'(
ok ok, I was expecting that kind of answer. That would have be to good. I never really used qtprox product, except a qt140 but I didn't do the wiring on my own.
Also as a neewbe in the electronic world, not finding any tutorial on one of the qtprox's touch sensor used with the arduino scared me a bit.
But hey, I need to grab mysef by the hand and create new neuronal connection in my brain by learning something completely new.
I probaly be screaming for help in a week or two as I will be lost in the datasheet/wiring thing.
Cheers for your help Daniel, it seems that you are helping a lot on this forum. Thanx a lot.

Hi, I can't make this work on my own, I am trying but the result is dodgy.
I am trying to use the "arduino as a capacitive" ( http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1171076259 ) technique with a HEF4051BP ( multiplexer 4051 ).

So I am using two 4051. One for the Output ( on pin 8, digitalWrite ) and one for the Input ( on pin 9, digitalRead). I am managing only one of the eight ports on the 4051s for the moment to make it simpler and more clear. The two 4051 are triggered by the 3 same pin so they are "synchronize". I tried to used different pins for triggering the two 4051 but it seams just a bit slower and I imagine that would make my life more complicated when I will be trying to read the 8 pins of both 4051 ( and it doesn't sound logic to me anyway).

Everything works nicely when I am just reading pin8 with pin9. But If I use the capacitive technique everything goes mad. I think it's somehow normal to have higher values then usual when using a 4051 but here the values keep going up and up and up! That's not normal.

Don't really know what to do, I can put pictures and the code if someone is keen on helping on this one. If someone knows the solution or could help I would then be able to do a nice tutorial ( with picts ) to give my contribution to the community. I think that if this combination works ( capacitive + 4051 ), that would be a useful and cheap solution for more than just myself.

cheers.  

ps: I am French by the way.