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424 discussions

AlienCortex AV
by Eddie Chan 29 Jun '11

29 Jun '11

hi all, Following from last FPGA talk; I just want to bring to the attention that there a new Kickstarter project called "AlienCortex AV" which support the Open Core standards. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/794668827/aliencortex-av eddie

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Re: [oshug] [Open Manufacturing] Fwd: Open hardware anemometer
by John Griessen 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

> From: *christopher west* I've decided to design > my own PCB from scratch. I'm a electronic engineer by trade so this > shouldn't cause to many headaches but if this is too difficult I will > consider using an Arduino. Have you considered using pcb and gschem for the electronics? There's a supportive list and good ways to get library schematic symbols and pcb footprints besides making your own. if you have any pointers I would > be very great full. > > Regards, > Chris West great full. --> grateful. Have you done much market research on the commercial competition? There are plenty of weather stations proven and working, so all you can hope for is a cost reduction, and it might be tough to beat standard prices as they've been evolving for so long. But, if you think prices are easy to beat, that's a good reason for open hardware. The functions of a weather station barely make a microcontroller breathe hard, so I immediately think, "What else could you add in the microcontroller part to make a weather station better?", and it strikes me you should use a higher level language than C for the code, and so users can adapt their stations -- use them as development platforms. Then you have a wider market -- scientists start to be interested, tinkerers of course, and developers of instrumentation setups. Otherwise your market is just other EE/CS types, (if they like C). What I like is python-on-a-chip, running on micros like STM32 or MC13224v. See http://www.redwirellc.com/store/node/1 http://mc1322x.devl.org/ http://www.futurlec.com/ET-STM32_Stamp.shtml The STM32 stamp board can run elua, a version of lua: http://www.eluaproject.net/ That's another high level language that some say is good for rapid development. I've not tried it yet, but it looks like time. John Griessen

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Open hardware anemometer
by christopher west 25 Jun '11

25 Jun '11

All, I'm been mulling over the idea of making a no moving parts anemometer and releasing everything to the public. I thought that this would be the best place to start discussing the idea. My plans thus far; The main part of this project are the micro-controller and the ultrasonic sensors. For the micro-controller I'm going to use a Microchip PIC as I've have experience with these. I have thought about using an Arduino but this project will be as much about discovering if I can use open-source tools from start to finish as having a working system at the end. To that end I've decided to design my own PCB from scratch. I'm a electronic engineer by trade so this shouldn't cause to many headaches but if this is too difficult I will consider using an Arduino. The ultrasonic sensors can be used to calculate wind speed and direction. The basic idea is to use a set of sensors perpendicular to each and calculate the time delay or Doppler shift to find out where the wind is coming from. I haven't decided which is the best way to do yet so I'm going to incorporate both. The rest of it will use RS232 for communication. For power I'm hoping to incorporate a battery/solar power unit. The anemometer will have the following basic sensors; Pressure, Humidity, Temperature in shade and direct sun light. As for the open-source tools; Since I'm going to be using Microchips PICs there are in beta trials of there new open-source embedded IDE which is called MPlab X[1], which is based off netbeans so it aligns nicely with my needs. For the embedded C compiler my initial thinking will be to use SDCC[2] but that depends on what PIC I select or I might be able to use GCC but I'm not sure. For the electronic design I'm think KiCAD[3] as it I've played around with it in the past and I've quite liked it. Finally for the physical design I plan to use Freecad[4] it may not be very full featured but I'm hopeful it will be useful. I'm also trying to think of a project name at the moment and I'm very open to any ideas? Please let me know what you think and if you have any pointers I would be very great full. Regards, Chris West [1] MPlab X: http://microchip.wikidot.com/ [2] SDCC: http://sdcc.sourceforge.net/ [3] KiCAD: http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/ [4] FreeCAD: http://free-cad.sourceforge.net/

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Re: [oshug] sourcing ADK boards
by Paul Downey 25 Jun '11

25 Jun '11

> Interesting question that caused me to Google around a bit. > Looks like the question should include "at a reasonable price" Indeed! We joked that there must be a silk-screen layer for each colour in the Google logo, but I don't think that's the case. Nigel's points about the unusual USB interface and the economics of a small number of Androids with the latest version sounds most likely. I'd imagine the size of market will change, so was puzzled why we're not seeing a flood of cheap clones. > I am thinking that a whole OSHUG session is needed for this, including input > from someone who's created a ADK setup with alternative hardware at a > reasonable cost. Do we know anyone? heh, I asked this question in preparation for talking to Android people at Google about the ADK on behalf of OSHUG, and our proposed OSHcamp in October. I'll report back on both as soon as I know more! -- Paul (psd) http://blog.whatfettle.com

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sourcing ADK boards
by Paul Downey 25 Jun '11

25 Jun '11

I wondered if anyone here knows where we can get our hands on Android ADK boards? Are they really still expensive and difficult to find? If so, does anyone know why? -- Paul (psd) http://blog.whatfettle.com

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Meego gathering at Skills Matter 5th of July
by Thibaut Rouffineau 24 Jun '11

24 Jun '11

Hi I was wondering if anyone was interested in a meetup in London around Meego? I am trying to put together a regular meetup on the subject, and we'll be starting on the 5th of July! The meetup will be talking Meego and Meego development... there are quite a few project committers and hackers coming to the event from across the UK. The event is sponsored and free to attend http://ce1.com/intel/2011/londonappuplab/ (it's on an Intel page as they're sponsoring the whole thing but this doesn't mean that ARM or Tegra ports are not discussions are not welcome :D). If you're available on the 5th feel free to register and come! I hope this can be useful, and look forward to seeing you soon! Cheers Thibaut

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Bristol Braille Hardware Developments
by Edward Rogers 22 Jun '11

22 Jun '11

OSHUG members, We thought it might interest some of you to know what developments are occurring within Bristol Braille Technology at the moment. As was discussed in OSHUG meeting no.10, BBT is seeking to address the gaping absence of affordable Braille hardware. We have no grand announcement as such, but important steps are being taken nonetheless. The latest news item can be seen below; but it is worth checking the site regularly as there will more than likely be an increased volume of news from now on. http://bristolbrailletechnology.com/#news.22-06-2011-prototype Yours Faithfully, --------- Ed Rogers, Director, BBT Ltd. ed.rogers(a)bristolbrailletechnology.com +44(0)7908 569 214 www.bristolbrailletechnology.com ---------

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OSHUG #11 — Goes to Canterbury!, Thurs 23rd June (Collaboration, building communities, surface mount adventures)
by Andrew Back 26 May '11

26 May '11

OSHUG #11 — Goes to Canterbury! (Collaboration, building communities, surface mount adventures) On the 23rd June 2011, 18:00 - 20:00 at School of Engineering and Digital Arts, Jennison Building, The University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NT, (51.298383, 1.064172) Register: http://oshugcanterbury.eventbrite.com/ Lanyrd: http://lanyrd.com/2011/oshug11/ For our 11th meeting, we are visiting the School of Engineering and Digital Arts at the University of Kent. Trains run regularly to and from central London and take approximately an hour. For anyone wishing to stay overnight please: http://oshug.org/other/canterbury-bnb-2605.pdf . - Open Source Hardware Collaboration An assessment of the current state of the art in hardware collaboration through a tour of a series of Open Source Hardware projects. How easy is it to discover projects, view and understand their designs, build your own version and contribute changes back? Paul Downey (psd) is a doodling software hacker, former member of Osmosoft--a small Open Source software team--where he represented BT at the W3C, a co-organiser of OSHUG and a co-founder of SolderPad, a collaboration platform for electronic design. - Building open, communicating communities The hardware engineering community is typically seen as fragmented, closed and conservative, shackled by the dependency on restrictive closed-source tools. Thankfully, we are now at a time where this is changing. In this talk, Saar Drimer will discuss his efforts to bring the FPGA community together so we can reach the level of sharing and project integration that the open source software community currently enjoys. The end goal is to reach a state where projects are integrated in a similar way to what Linux's package mangers enable: "sudo apt-get ddr2-controller". [Background reading]. Saar Drimer is an experienced hardware engineer. In the past he's hacked the UK's Chip and PIN payment system, and advocated reproducible research practices in the engineering sciences. Now he's working on boldport, an "IndieEDA" company that aims to make HW/FPGA easier. - Adventures in working with surface mount devices An ambitious open source hardware project--Amino--recently called for Alan Wood to uplift his home lab to support prototyping, testing and basic production using surface mount devices. Alan will be sharing with us some of the things he has learnt, and giving us a run through what you might require in order to tackle working with surface mount devices yourself. Rather than using expensive off-the-shelf tooling, Alan will be covering a number of affordable approaches that make this possible without breaking the bank. Alan Wood originally trained in systems engineering, got lost in software engineering and open source for a decade, before returning back to his hardware roots via the open source hardware and makers movement that has gathered momentum over the last few years. Note: Please aim to arrive for 18:00 - 18:20 as the event will start at 18:30 prompt. Parking is available at the Jennison Building, however, please ensure that you are parked within a bay. -- Andrew Back mailto:andrew@carrierdetect.com

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Open Hardware Summit 2011.
by Andrew Back 23 May '11

23 May '11

Hello, It was just announced that this will be taking place on 15th September in New York: http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/ Cheers, Andrew

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Community Server/Networking Project in London
by Thomas Wright 16 May '11

16 May '11

I would appreciate it If you could take a couple of minutes to have a look at the link below and if anyone is interested in getting involved it would be great to hear from you. http://www.shoestringnetworks.org/ Many Thanks Thomas (thomas(a)shoestringnetworks.org)

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