http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Interfacing/Firmata

http://inhocsignovinces.net/2008/10/30/breakfast-serial-for-arduino/

Kind of hard to troubleshoot a problem with such little info, but the usual stuff to check would be

[1] Got the right bits of code in the right place? e.g. only the arduino bits uploaded to the arduino, only the processing bits run in the processing IDE (gotta ask - it's been done wrong before...)

[2] correct serial port selected in the processing sketch - remember it's not always the same number as in the arduino IDE

I'm sure there's a much more elegant way, but I'd start with

Code:

Serial.print("Sensor 1 = ");
Serial.print(sensor1_val);
Serial.print("              Sensor 2 = ");
Serial.print(sensor2_val);
Serial.print("              Sensor 3 = ");
Serial.print(sensor3_val);
Serial.print("              Sensor 4 = ");
Serial.println(sensor4_val);

Yep check out the "physical pixel" example code - it's built right into the Arduino IDE!

Of course you wont use the processing code to send data to your arduino, but rather write your own VB code. the example arduino code should be what you are looking for though.

Yep you are looking at it incorrectly.

You need to use flash to send a message to the arduino board. This will be through the serial port, it will be up to you what format, could be something a simple as a stream of 64 bits representing the on/off state of each square.

Then you need another different program, written in the arduino IDE, compiled and written to the arduino board, which takes the message from flash, and converts it into the format that the LedControl library needs, and sends it to the max7219 IC.

So just to reiterate, two totally different programs.

Sorry if I have mis-interpered what you are asking, and I have told you stuff you already know.

Alex

I'm an aeronautical engineer, and my experience has been that strain guages are a pain in the arse to use. we actually did 3 day courses to learn how to properly apply them. It's a pretty complex process to get right.

I would say that they are pretty expensive to use in a hobby project where you have a reasonable chance of stuffing up, plus they need a signal amplifier.

That said, go for it if you think you can do it!

Hey,

Soudns good.

Did you get a pair for $10, or $10 each end? Any sources besides Jaycar and Altronics?

Alex

Mikal,

Thanks heaps for your TinyGPS library.

I'm trying to use the TinyGPS library together with ladyada's AF_SDlog library. Unfortunately at the moment it seems they are not playing nice.

At the moment I've got a simple logging to SD sketch working, but as soon as I add

Code:

#include <TinyGPS.h>
TinyGPS gps;

I can no longer access the fat16 filesystem on the SD card - the AF_SDlog library reports a "Can't open filesys" error.

I'm looking through the libraries trying to find out what's incompatible - but I'm not a strong coder - anything past the standard arduino commands and I'm starting to get out of my depth.

Do you have any ideas or hints on where specifically I could look? Could it be a case of the 1k RAM limit being reached on a '168? Seems like an unusual symptom of that though.

Thanks for your help,

trialex

http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10&sessid=df9a5feff4fb420c8f84e02ab2761d70

plus your normal usb cable

I don't have an adapter to test with, but could you jumper the RX TX pins, power it up, open a serial terminal program (e.g. puTTY) and see if what you send out is looped back to you?

So what happens on startup, if you don't do a pinmode() on a particular pin? Does it default to either input or output?

Interesting.

What if you left the pins as "undefined", as in not either INPUTS or OUTPUS? Would that have an effect on the consumption?

Yeah now that I think of it, not sure. I think maybe I was thinking of when you use avrdude from the command line, there is a difference and you need to select the part as '328P.

Still, check that the board you have selected is Arduino with 328, not just Duemilanove

Are you 200% sure you've got the right chip selected in the Tools -> Board menu?

If you bought the ATmega328 separately remember the '328 is not the same as the '328P

Here's mine if you are looking to compare different alogrithms. It's pretty much cut'n'paste from the Ardupilot project

/*************************************************************************
 * //Function to calculate the distance between two waypoints
 *************************************************************************/
float calc_dist(float flat1, float flon1, float flat2, float flon2)
{
float dist_calc=0;
float dist_calc2=0;
float diflat=0;
float diflon=0;

//I've to spplit all the calculation in several steps. If i try to do it in a single line the arduino will explode.
diflat=radians(flat2-flat1);
flat1=radians(flat1);
flat2=radians(flat2);
diflon=radians((flon2)-(flon1));

dist_calc = (sin(diflat/2.0)*sin(diflat/2.0));
dist_calc2= cos(flat1);
dist_calc2*=cos(flat2);
dist_calc2*=sin(diflon/2.0);
dist_calc2*=sin(diflon/2.0);
dist_calc +=dist_calc2;

dist_calc=(2*atan2(sqrt(dist_calc),sqrt(1.0-dist_calc)));

dist_calc*=6371000.0; //Converting to meters
//Serial.println(dist_calc);
return dist_calc;
}