In post https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/11/25/disk-troubles-or-missing-old-skool-hardware/ i mentioned the serial connectors i’ve bought to connect the Laser XT to my Workstation to transfer files.
The null modem i’ve made is like mentioned on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_modem
I’ve used the loopback handshaking using 3 wires. ( Only using a DB25 and a DB9 on the other end )
So i configured the Linux side as follows.
I’ve tried two usb to serial converters.
Both when trying on windows 10 are not supported any more
Dec 14 17:34:40 zspot kernel: [ 1082.299607] usb 1-4: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
sudo stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600
Then i start dosbox. To enable a com port i have to enter:
serial1=directserial realport:ttyUSB0
Starting Norton Commander and selecting COM1
After a few seconds i got this ..
What else is there to check? At least i’ve still got the Flux Engine!
I never look in the mirror, so why do i need one? The mirror foil was already ugly in the corners. There were bumps. Never finished a proper interface
This one was made using a touch screen, so there are always fingerprints you could see
I’m going to use the display for an in-house small Escape Room idea i have.
Only the time part still worked, but i could not find the right cables for the touch part. The buttons displayed are meaningless anyway 🙂 Just a mockup
Mirror part was done using a Safety/One way mirror foil. Cut a part as large as you screen, spray a little water and stick it on.
At some point i displayed Dashticz on there. Apparently i started playing with a magic mirror setup in 2015, according some timestamps of code on my fileserver.
I previously had these smartplugs flashed with EspEasy (I hate cloud enabled devices) I will post something about flashing these and others. Maybe … because you can find a lot of information on the internet. But i’ve used several tools, and made tools for this process. ( Raspberry Zero mobile tool and 3D printed PCB holder for example)
Well ..
I was using these devices in our previous home using curl commands and on a main wifi network. So i have to change the SSID and migrate from Espeasy to ESPhome so i can use these devices with Home Assistant.
Step 1 : Start in Access Point mode and migrate to my current Wifi Iot network.
Using my phone i made the necessary changes.
Goto HomeAssistant and ESPhome (you need to install this first via HACS) Press the green + Add device and give it a name
Next select the device type (Sonoff S20 in this case)
Press install and select manual download
Above will compile a binary for the Sonoff device.
Go back to your Sonoff interface and go to the tools tab. We can reflash the device without connecting this with wires to our computer.
Press Firmware load and select your downloaded binary
Back in HA it should say “online”
Pressing edit gives us a config page. Nothing works .. yet We need to add some yaml entries. ( use https://esphome.io/devices/sonoff_s20.html )
binary_sensor:
- platform: gpio
pin:
number: GPIO0
mode:
input: true
pullup: true
inverted: true
name: "Sonoff S20 Button"
- platform: status
name: "Sonoff S20 Status"
- platform: gpio
pin: GPIO2
name: "Sonoff S20 Sensor"
switch:
- platform: gpio
name: "Sonoff S20 Relay"
pin: GPIO12
output:
# Register the green LED as a dimmable output ....
- platform: esp8266_pwm
id: s20_green_led
pin:
number: GPIO13
inverted: true
light:
# ... and then make a light out of it.
- platform: monochromatic
name: "Sonoff S20 Green LED"
output: s20_green_led
BeforeAfter
Now press install
Now we can use wirelessly to upload the config
After this the device can be discovered by HA
Click add, and use the encryption key found in the yaml config to add
And found this! The fluxengine https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine
An open source project using a small controller board. “Flashing” some software on the board and soldering a pinheader was easy. When connecting a flat cable and a floppy drive, you end up with a device which can read many formats. Including dos 1.44/720 and amiga.
Nice package it came in
Using the power from a sata/ide harddisk adaptor
Reading and writing a MSDOS disk, no problem. Imaging an amiga disk .. easy!
You need to compile some software, but it was well documented
I have several ip cameras which monitor movement in and around our home.
I’m using Zoneminder and other home automation systems but i want to scan through a bunch of files uploaded by the security cameras to my secondary fileserver.
So what is interesting?
Major movement compared to a base image
Movement compared to a previous uploaded image
Setting a threshold when to output information (note the 65% mark)
Looking at the output we see: At 76% of the captured images (image 1438) the threshold was above 3000 and the minus gives us the information of the difference between this image and the previous, the X marks the difference between current image and the baseline. | percent | image number | filename | difference | graphbar
Bash script:
#!/bin/bash
threshold=3000
baseline=$( ls SDAlarm*jpg | head -1)
previous=$( ls SDAlarm*jpg | head -1)
total=$( ls *.jpg |wc -l)
echo "Number of files : $total"
nr=1
ls *jpg | while read; do
graph="....................................................................................................."
diff=$(compare -verbose -metric MAE $baseline $REPLY /dev/null 2>&1 | grep all | awk '{ print $2 }' | cut -f1 -d. )
prevdiff=$(compare -verbose -metric MAE $previous $REPLY /dev/null 2>&1 | grep all | awk '{ print $2 }' | cut -f1 -d. )
line=$( echo "100 / $total * $nr" | bc -l | cut -f1 -d.)
line=$(( $line + 1))
#echo -n "$line | $nr | $REPLY | "
#echo $diff
draw1=$(( $diff / 100 + 1))
draw2=$(( $prevdiff / 100 + 1))
graph=$(echo $graph | sed "s/./X/$draw1")
graph=$(echo $graph | sed "s/./-/$draw2")
if [ $diff -gt $threshold ] ; then
printf "| %4s %% | %3s | %30s | %5s | %102s \n" $line $nr $REPLY $diff $graph
fi
nr=$(( $nr +1 ))
previous=$REPLY
done
Want to see only difference with previous image?
change:
if [ $diff -gt $threshold ] ; then into if [ $prevdiff -gt $threshold ] ; then
I bought a XT Laser/3 a while ago. And i wanted to get my old programs running on it again.
One of the disk i found was a 5.25 inch boot disk which should contain a boot demo i’ve made in the past with Edk. But it is the secondary drive in this system. Those old machines lack a bios you can change. And change A: for B: for example. Some machines had a program which could alter boot settings. (not this one) So i was playing with jumpers and dipswitches on the motherboard. ( Drive select / Termination / drive before or after the twist in the flatcable. )
Dipswitches on the motherboard
Wellll leave the boot order for now, i needed to get software on the machine using floppy’s. I could not find empty HD disks (1.44MB which i wanted to use) So i took a DD disk and a drill ..
(Image from the internet)
I bought an external usb floppy drive.
Now i have everything to get my programs on the msdos machine.
EXCEPT ….
Diskette didn’t work in the drives. So i bought new old stock diskettes online.
Now i have everything
WRONG again
Formatted 1.44 disk in USBfloppy drive .. OK Read in 3.5 drive on the MSDOS machine .. NOT OK Check drive in MSDOS machine .. is 1.44MB .. OK … check floppy controller in MSDOS machine .. NOT OKAY (720kb is 300kbits per second and 1.44 HD 500kbits per second) So i’m limited to 720kb due to the controller ..
Can the USB Floppy drive read/write 720kb disks .. NO! ( A cheap series made with drives only supporting HD disks )
Alternatives? .. Serial maybe, there is Norton Commander on the MSDOS machine so i could use “link”
Do i still have a USB-RS232 sub-d cable ? YES! Nullmodem cable? NO Make a null modem cable .. i’ve made those before .. BUT no sub-d connectors.
I’ve been throwing away too much in the past.
Now i have to buy those things again:
VGA – 8bit ISA – have 2 now Floppy drive – have one for 1.44 8bit soundblaster compatible – TODO Nullmodem – well i’ve bought connectors for those
I’m using domoticz as a 433->mqtt bridge, and some virtual devices i can toggle with curl (bash scripts)
I needed to make a custom 433 door sensor in Home Assistant with toggles to OFF after a few seconds. (There is NO off signal in this cheap sensor i’m using)
I’m changing the payload complete, to have a payload which matches the device class for door: (state with on/off) It was nvalue = 0/1
(Whenever the IDX changes, I only have to update this Nodered part) HA won’t notice the change.
var nvalue = msg.payload.nvalue;
msg.payload = {};
if(nvalue == 1)
{
msg.payload.state = "ON";
return msg;
}
AND after 5 seconds
msg.payload = {};
msg.payload.state = "OFF";
return msg;
