Those look awesome, but why are they $50? What's so expensive on the board? If they were $25 I would get half a dozen... I guess the BBB will have to do for now...

 I went to the webpage and looked down at the other items offered ....

    "Mini I2C Real Time Clock (RTC)" is list priced at $18.99. It is the ETT DS1307 Mini-Board which can be bought multiple places for $6.90 to $10.00" I sell it here at Wulfden for $8.00:

     http://www.wulfden.org/DataLogger/index.shtml
 
More power to you if you can get people to pay that much ... but still .....

Cheers ... BBR

I am looking to "Arduino-ize" an ATMEGA168 board with a 20 MHz resonator on  it. I know about the define in the bootloader for CPU frequency. Can anyone give me a headstart on tracking down  the CPU freq stuff in the core? What place(s) need I look?

thanks ... cheers ... BBR.

hi i understand what you did, what im trying to say is that my cable (TTL-232R-5) that i bought from mouser doesn't do what your does. it may be a version thing, it may be a marginal thing. all im saying is that if it doesnt work for me, theres a chance it doesnt work for a bunch of cables and that can make for frustrated customers.
you may want to verify it with a couple different cables to make sure!

That is  the cable I am running, but I run on a MacBookPro under OSX 10.4.10 ... I have a java problem with Arduino 0009 on my Windows partition I recently thoughtlessly let that upgarde to Java 1.6 . I have to take it over  to my actaul Windows box whihc still has Java 5 (I hope) and see if I can get it to run there .... I will bet that is what it is! Redmond cannot do anything right especially Java!

 cheers ... BBR

Here's photos of the mod for the FTDI cable for the BBB. Th first shows the 6 pin connector and the cap soldered to pin 6, RTS#



The second shows how I tack soldered the other end of  the cap to the reset switch



Its pretty straight forward ...

   cheers ... BBR

I have developed an inexpensive (kit is $4, 3/$10) serial adapter called the P3 that can be used to program the BBB as well as me a 232/TTL interface that Paul and I will begin marketing next week, my goal tomorrow (oooops, later today) is to adapt that for auto-reset ...

whats the TTL interface, is it a MAX232 based thing or a FTDI based thing?

  limor

No its some resistors and a diode feeding a two gates of a hex inverter, which is why an hour ago I made it work with auto reset with just the addition of 2 10k resistors and a cap and one of the heretofore unused gates on the 74HC04.

Max23x is an 'expensive' proposition, if you use  the 232 you are paying in real estate with 5 electrolyics, if you use the 233, you paying in cash with an expensive chip.  I took the front end used by the PICAXE to protect the TTL (3 resistors and a diode) and the inversion of the 7404 family. For autoreset, I added 2 resistors to protect the TTL front  and  the cap for the flagging and used another gate to invert and I have a solid reliable 3 and 5 volt interface that I can sell in kit form with a PCB for $4-5 each and still make a reasonable profit to pay for more R&D for even more toys ...

 cheers ... BBR

  I have been working with PaulB on things Arduino with his Bare Bones Board. Paul was initially dismayed because the FTDI TTL-232 cable he uses only supports RTS/CTS, no DTR, and felt that 'autoreset' was out without a redesign or a hack on the IDE. I harbored a suspicion that we might be OK after all, that there might be a simple fix.

So few devices implement a complete set of signals that many drivers have RTS and DTR chained together, either hard coded or someting user configurable. I suspected that the FTDI cable and its driver having only RTS/CTS just might be that way and that it would respond by flagging RTS when commanded to flag DTR. So having nothing to loose but a $0.05 cap and a minute with the soldering iron, I took a 0.1 uF cap with long leads and ran it from pin 6, farthest right from the reset switch (the green wire on the FTDI cable) over to the reset switch and tack soldered it to the side.

I fired up Arduno-0009 and sure enough, I got a reset and a program load, but with the usual interminable wait for the timeout.

I took out my avrisp mkii and my burning jig and burnt a Diecimilia Bootloader and 'voila' I had a Bare Bones Board with autoreset and instant start. This simple modification will work for  Rev B and Rev C  Bare Bones Boards.

Its a real clean hack and doesn't look bad either. I will take pictures tomorrow.

I have developed an inexpensive (kit is $4, 3/$10) serial adapter called the P3 that can be used to program the BBB as well as me a 232/TTL interface that Paul and I will begin marketing next week, my goal tomorrow (oooops, later today) is to adapt that for auto-reset ...


ciao ... BBR

for (int i=0; messageline != '\0'; i++)

I never thought about this construction, great tip, thanks!

This is a great contribution. I have been trolling the forum lately looking for Arduino> Hardware info to use in teaching, as my students always want to hook up the oddest things...  In that light, I added your GPS code example to the Playground.

 This is puzzling ... in char2string() you tie off messageline with a 0. So why are we adding code to do the byte-banging  of the string out tha already exists in the Serial core library????  Why not just replace this code

//----------------------------------------------------------------
  char2string();
  if (strncmp(messageline, dataformat, 6) == 0 & i>4)
  {
      for (int i=0; messageline != '\0'; i++)
    {
      Serial.print(messageline, BYTE);
    }
  }
//-------------------------------------------------------

with this code

//----------------------------------------------------------------
  char2string();
  if (strncmp(messageline, dataformat, 6) == 0 & i>4)
  {
      Serial.println(messageline);
  }
//-------------------------------------------------------

Or did I miss something?

cheers ... BBR

brianbr,

Here is code that I used to test the 24LC246. It's working fine and I also have a RTC on the buss. It's mainly a tweaked example from the Playground. Hope it helps.

Code:

/* Simple read & write to a 24LC256 256K EEPROM using the Wire library.
 * Addresses are ints - 0000-7FFF (32767) Data is bytes (8 bits x 32767 = 256K)
 * Functions for R/W of single byte or a page of bytes. Max page is 28 bytes.
 * SETUP:           _ _                                
 * Arduino GND- A0-|oU |-Vcc  to Arduino Vcc
 * Arduino GND- A1-|   |-WP   to GND for now. Set to Vcc for write protection.
 * Arduino GND- A2-|   |-SCL  to Arduino 5
 * Arduino GND-Vss-|   |-SDA  to Arduino 4
 *                  ---       (A2, A1, A0 to GND for 1010000 (0x50) address.)
 *                            If set to Vcc adds to address (1010,A2,A1,A0)
 */

 oooppps, operator head space error. I had the 'sense' of WP backwards. I  pulled WP up to Vcc. I need to cut the trace and ground it.

 Thanks for the help.  Will take your code and run it as soon as I fix the proto-board.

 cheers ... BBR

Has anyone actually gotten the code in the Playground to work talking to a serial EEPROM like a 24LC256? I have a board setup with a DS1307 RTC and a 24LC256 sitting on the SDA/SCK lines. I have the DS1307 running, so I know the I2C hardware and Arduino Wire library is OK. I am 99% sure  the 24LC256 is set up and connected OK. I have played with the code  there trying to write random bytes to locations and reading them back, and no matter what I write I seem to only get 0x00 or 0xFF back.

Anyone have any luck yet? Anyone have a completed library for serial eeproms?


cheers ... BBR

Hey ...does  anyone remember the famous (infamous???) HC4LED units??? Well, they are back ... at least for a little while

Terry Hitt of Hitt Consulting (the "HC" in "HC4LED") bought them off eBay. They were salvaged from a cable TV set top box. Nobody knew what to do with them and they were sold off by the pound.

The unit has four seven segment LED displays and an SPI chip on board. It requires only a simple SHIFTOUT command with two I/O lines (Data and Clock) and optionally a third line to enable/disable (alternately it can simply be grounded). It became a big hit. Pretty soon there was code for Parallax BS1, BS2, SXB, and Propeller, Picaxe, various PICs (ASM and BAS), AVRs, Arduino, etc.



In fact, the most sophisticated library/driver object that has been written for the HC4LED units is for the Arduino. It can even do long ASCII string left scrolling text. Just search the Playground.

Sparkfun got ahold of some and they began selling them as well is Hitt Consulting. And then the well ran dry. If you look about the net you will find any number of HC4LED web pages pointing to the "no longer in stock" webpage at Sparkfun as well as the no longer registered www.hc4led.com some of them loudly lamenting the absence of this neat little unit. Well ... lament no more! Terry found a carton with a little over 250 more of these units. We made a deal and they are now for sale here, while they last.

 http://www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/HC4LED/index.shtml

I want to spread them around, so no bulk sales. For now I will sell up to four units per order. The webpage has a link to the newly updated docs and to an open file download directory for every piece of HC4LED code I could get my hands on (BS1/PROP1, BS2, SXB, Propeller, PIC asm and basic, Picaxe, Arduino, etc

I started with 251 units and there are about 180 left available.

--
cheers ... brian riley, n1bq, underhill center, vermont
The Shoppe at Wulfden
http://www.wulfden.org/TheShoppe/

Is there going o be a June Meeting??? June 21st ??? Willoughby and Baltic???

 cheers ... BBR

It's tentatively scheduled for Saturday, the 17th of May.  Does that work for people?

Doesn't work for me this month at all. Have you a target date for June?

cheers ... BBR

I talked to PaulB today, he is coming up from Providence, and I will be down from VT ...  I have set a side some 'good stuff' to donate for 'door prizes' or however you want to hand them out, plus I will have Freeduino boards (BBB, RBBA, RBBB, FTDI USB-TTL cables, LCD displays, etc) for sale

cheers ... BBR
http://www.wulfden.org/freeduino/freeduino.shtml

I am planning to drive down from Burlington VT area, leaving about 0900 via  I-89 to WRJ, VT,  and Concord, NH then south on I-93 returning after the meeting ... anyone along the way want a ride?

I am bringing  several of my projects and a small assortment of my Freeduino stuff ... some BBB and RBBA and RBBB kits and serial LCD displays and controllers. I will have my bootloader burner rig for anyone who wants needs to burn a chip and a few spare 168's if needed

Brian Riley
http://www.wulfden.org/freeduino/freeduino.shtml

While I live in, comparatively, nearby Vermont I would be interested in getting together with Montreal Arduinos ...

On the 27th of October there is an indoor hamfest (ham radio/electronics fleamarket) in Longueuil. I plan to be  there to sell the stuff I handle in my webstore http://www.wulfden.org/Arduino/freeduino.shtml. If there were enough interest in getting together I would consider renting a second ten foot table space so we could have room to play. I plan to have a full range of the things I sell including my new line of Arduino related kits and material. I will have chips with bootloaders, BBBs, breadboards, LCD displays and serial backpacks, etc. I plan to bring my burner rig so you can bring your own chips to burn bootloaders if you want.

It will cost $5 to get in, that is beyond my control. On the other hand there will also be a lot of bargains (and junk) to be had. the details are:

Saturday, October 27
Hamfest de Rive-sud de Montréal - Longueuil, Québec
Location: Place Desaulniers, 1023, Blvd Taschereau, Longueuil, QC
Vendors 06h00 - General Admission 09h00 - 13h00 Talk-in: VE2RSM 145.390 (-)
Information E-mail: ve2fda@rac.ca
Web page:http:// http://www.raqi.ca/~ve2clm/hamfesta.htm

 cheers ... BBR

Just a quick reminder ... the hamfest ... at Longueuil is this coming Saturday. It's open fom 0900 to 1300, I will be here at least an hour early to set my stuff up. I will have my range of Arduino compatib;le kits based upon Paul Badger's BBB abd RBBA,  serial programming adapters, FTDI USB-TTL serial cables, breadboards, power supplies, LCD displays, and serial LCD boards, and a lot of other stuff. I also will have my Mac laptop and my bootloader burner and a stash of ATmega168-20PU chips. I offer the use of  the setup to burn bootloaders  on your own chips and will sell you a chip, if you need one, at a very modest markup.

I will also have with me for handling and play,  two LilyPad Arduinos and one of Lady Ada's Breaduino boards, as well as an not too old NG board and a Diecemila with one of Lady Ada's new shield boards.

Cheers ... BBR