I’ve got a Wifi outside of my network for guest and emergency. ( 2 SSIDs)
Then a main Wifi router in my livingroom, one in my workshop/studio and one in the Attic (Electronics Lab)
So three main Wifi AccessPoints. These all have the same SSID’s but on different frequencies. That way i’ve got roaming in and outside my house. Also some virtual accesspoints are configured. I’ve got a main, folkband, IOT, guest-inside all on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
I watched a lot of YT presentations about Mikrotik Wifi.
So I ended up with DFS safe channels 20Mhz for 2.4 and 20/40Mhz Ce for 5Ghz. (subchannels for each after some frequency scanning) (2.4 does a failback to 20Mhz whenever there is even one client detected which connects only on this band. Such as some old IOT stuff) 2.4 in only 1,6 and 11 no overlap, each on another device. 300Mbps is sufficient for my wifi 🙂
I’ve got accesslists in place and i’m going to read into kicking a client when the signal strenght is below -50dB
80386 (DX) Computer
Besides my 8088 and 8086 machines I needed a machine which could run our old demo’s. So I bought a new toy.
It has 8Mb Ram and runs at 40Mhz.
I’ve noticed that many of my VGA register manipulation code, can’t be run on a modern VGA monitor, I need to use a CRT for that .. Another thing to buy
Needed to fix arduino code, due to the TFT_eSPI library issues. And I’ve got a S3 with another resolution, but that was an easy fix. Then needed to reinstall nodejs with another version. Had to modify the code because the tcp server would not start. Weird errors logging, but in the end fixed … very cool
I probably end up designing a 3D printed case that looks like a monitor or tv.
Last week I got my 1.2MB 5.25″ drive. And tested it with the fluxengine. Now i can read old 5.25″ disks again. And convert these to disk images. Amiga/Atari ST/C64 (single side) and my old MSDos disks. (That’s what I’m using, the fluxengine can read many more)
Why single side C64? you ask? Those are flippy disks, that means they are single sided and you flip the disk in the drive to read the other side.
Why can’t the fluxengine read those?
There is only one sensor in my drive.
Reading side 2 without turning the disk won’t work, the sectors are in reverse! (Maybe there is a trick to read in reverse? Fluxengine is reading and decoding raw disk sectors, but i have to read into this)
Note: The 1541 Drive for the commodore’s is a complete 6502 computer with 2x 6522 VIA and ram/rom chips! (2016-15 2K x 8 bit Static RAM / 27128 16kb x 8)
I started printing the bottom, no problem there. But because of the large size of bottom and top. (Both about a day of printing) I had to change the filament. But I didn’t have a good look at what I took! Below is what you get when printing PLA and switch to PETG!
Temperatures for PLA: Tool: 200 and bed 50 Temperatures for PETG: Tool: 240 and bed 70
So 12 hours printing and I had to start again.
I could not remove the knob, else I would have removed the beige front and spray painted this black.
I just took a 12mm x 60mm piece of wood, and made a slit for the acrylic plastic using a circular saw, and removed a part for the back-plate using a wood router. I found a piece of acrylic in my shed, cut it to the right size using the circular saw. Slapped some paint on the wood.
I want to be able to use the sdk whenever i want, so i made a sliding window thingy. ( With wooden handle so the frame looks intact when closed. )
Then I 3D printed some holders, which I designed using Openscad.
Busy day: I’ve airbrushed some 3D pieces a few days ago, but i need 50 or so more. Meanwhile is was reinstalling octoprint, and making a new version of my Bluetooth page flipper. (Android Music Sheet Pedal Thingy. Which i also didn’t post apparently) But the main project was this:
I was curious how fast the stepper motors are on my laser cutter. And for what can we utilize this!
So I took a Raspberry Zero and some rotary encoders, lets make an etch-a-sketch like thingy.
Some rotary encoder modules I had.
Next to do: 3D print a pen holder, and alter the code to enable the laser when moving!
CODE
Below code uses a simple rotary class, and generates control GCodes for the steppers/Sculpfun
import time
import serial
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from encoder import Encoder
def valueChanged(value, direction):
print("* New value: {}, Direction: {}".format(value, direction))
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
e1 = Encoder(20, 21, valueChanged)
e2 = Encoder(16, 12, valueChanged)
x = 0
y = 0
arduino = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 115200, timeout=.1)
newx = 0
mystringx = ""
newy = 0
mystringy = ""
arduino.write(str.encode("G00 G17 G40 G21 G54\r\n"))
arduino.write(str.encode('G90\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('M4\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('M8\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('G0 X41.5Y36.05\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('M3\r\n'))
#arduino.write(str.encode('G91\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('G1 X2.5F6000S0\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('G1 X0\r\n'))
arduino.write(str.encode('G1 Y0\r\n'))
try:
while True:
data = arduino.readline()[:-2] #the last bit gets rid of the new-line chars
if data:
print (data)
arduino.write(str.encode("G1 F10000\r\n"))
newx=e1.getValue() *5 + 100
newy=e2.getValue() *5 + 100
mystringx=f"G1 X{newx}\r\n"
mystringy=f"G1 Y{newy}\r\n"
# print(mystringx)
arduino.write(str.encode(mystringx))
arduino.write(str.encode(mystringy))
except Exception:
pass
GPIO.cleanup()
Below some examples and connection diagrams to control displays. More code and complete schematics will be added on this page or on a separate projects page.
UPDATE 20230119 Cost of 20×4 display in 1998
LCD
I’ve used a LCD display like this (HITACHI HD44780) on my PC in the 90s, and also written code to use this as a monitoring device on my amiga.
On Linux i used LcdProc – This module also was equiped with a serial connector
Some arduino’s have embedded displays like those i’ve used for a Lora project.
No usedWifi packet monitorLora test
Other means of connecting : SPI
SPI connected display
Nextion
Nextion is a Human Machine Interface (HMI) solution combining an onboard processor and memory touch display with Nextion Editor software for HMI GUI project development.
Using the Nextion Editor software, you can quickly develop the HMI GUI by drag-and-drop components (graphics, text, button, slider, etc.) and ASCII text-based instructions for coding how components interact on the display side.
Nextion HMI display connects to peripheral MCU via TTL Serial (5V, TX, RX, GND) to provide event notifications that peripheral MCU can act on, the peripheral MCU can easily update progress, and status back to Nextion display utilizing simple ASCII text-based instructions.
edit cmdline.txt
add "fbcon=map:10 fbcon=font:ProFont6x11 logo.nologo"
at the end
edit config.txt
add between custom comments at the bottom
dtoverlay=piscreen,speed=24000000,rotate=90
# Or check http://www.lcdwiki.com/3.5inch_RPi_Display
Above display’s i’ve used for Picore Players and the Lidar POC
To try: Getting above display running with a arduino https://github.com/PaulStoffregen/XPT2046_Touchscreen
Raspberry HDMI display
Easiest of them all, just connect with HDMI, there is a adaptor for hdmi-hdmi (versions 1,2,3) and hdmi-mini-hdmi for RPi4 variants.
Epaper and 7-Segment displays
Other means of displaying information are for example
Epaper
ESP with epaper module, disconnected power for a while, artifacts appear.
7 Segment displays
I used a lot of 7-Segment display’s in the past. They look cool and are hardcore.
My homebrew computer uses this
Nixie tubes!
And there are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube .. I’ve never had those
Above bigger 2D display i used with Wled and a digital microphone, so its sound reactive. The lower part i got in recently .