Somewhere start 2002, i made a tool for playing darts. Well … keeping score and history
I was multiuser, multigame with statistics and undo. You could click on the little dartboard what your have thrown on a real board. It just kept score and told you best finish options.
Screenshot below was a digitized picture, no way accurate. Versions later the board was realtime drawn with GDlib and pixelperfect. It even showed you previous throws.
At the end of the game it should give you the hotspots you have thrown.
The script which tracked a certain webpage realtime was using something like a pixel tracker. But it was a complete logo.
I created a cgi-bin bash script which, when called, just printed a jpg with the correct headers, and because the server was in my room, it played a soundfile over the speakers also.
Just place the following part somewhere in your webpage
#!/bin/sh
echo Content-type: image/jpeg
echo
cat /var/lib/httpd/htdocs/banners/logo.jpg
bwavplay /data/test.wav > /dev/null
echo ACCESS | mail 0612345678@gin.nl -s "Archive Site Accessed"
Build a hardware webcounter (it was a thing back then) , i used below schematic. Wanted to use huge 7 segment displays but never got around it to buy the large ones.. It was easily converted to multiple segments. I think i used 4 and pulses where send via a parallel port.
Old webcounter schematic
The three (my case four) buttons are to get the counter in sync with my real counter which was a CGI script. It generated html code with took numeric images and displayed these on a page, the state was stored in a file. No numbers where send to the counter, only a pulse. So no synchronisation! Not the way to do this nowadays!
Joystick recorder
I designed a joystick movement recorder for a school project.
You could record movement, and press a button to start recording. (and starting the game) It was not really usable. Because, it needed a higher recording rate, a game which always reacted to the player in the same manner. Only made a half proof of concept.
Drawing images using lasers
For another school project i wanted to be able to draw figures using a laser. One of my teachers fixed a meetup for me with a guy attending university in Enschede. He was using lasers to scan miniscule objects using a laser in groves something resembling a longplayer record.
I wanted to use two DACs to control the movement of two mirrors. But i’d had to take into account the speed of the movement and the weight of the mirrors, else images where distorted.
He gave me a schematic which used: 2 controllabe video disc mirrors, light split glasses and amplifier part.
Previous project with Oscilloscope drawings helped, with understanding those problems. https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/1992/01/01/oscilloscope-graphics-using-a-amiga-bonus-vectrex/
I’ve still got the components, except for the high grade laser i lend from a friend. But a simple laser pen should suffice
Using a steppermotor controller with two motors. A video capturing device (videoblaster) and a mini B/W camera.
Web interface with glassbuttons effects which i rendered using Bryce.
Up/down/left/right and diagonal
Red double speed green single speed
Reset view
2 Presets with save and recall
Setup with parallel cable
Written software in html and some CGI scripts. Perl and C.
#include <asm/io.h>
# C Code for moving left
int main(int agrc,char agrv[])
{
int i,wachten;
int richting1[8]={0x27,0x2d,0x1c,0x0d,0x03,0x09,0x38,0x29};
int richting2[8]={0x29,0x38,0x09,0x03,0x0d,0x1c,0x2d,0x27};
ioperm(0x378,3,1);
ioperm(0x37a,3,1);
wachten=100;
for (i=0; i<=7; i=i+1)
{
outb(richting2[i], 0x378);
outb(1, 0x37a);
usleep(wachten);
outb(0, 0x37a);
usleep(wachten);
outb(1, 0x37a);
usleep(wachten);
}
return(0);
}
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Perl CGI script
# Uses 204 no content trick to stay on same page
use LWP::Simple;
my $img = get ('http://10.1.0.1/cgi-bin/left.cgi');
print "Status: 204 No content\n\n";
Streaming video was done using progressive JPG push. Later i used the capturing command in the loop below.
#!/bin/sh
# push jpg, and update after 1sec
# output mime header
echo Content-type: multipart/x-mixed-replace;boundary=--WebcamRules\n
echo
echo --WebcamRules
# create stream
while true; do
echo Content-type: image/jpeg
echo
cat /var/lib/httpd/htdocs/webcam.jpg
echo
echo --WebcamRules
sleep 1
done
The date of this post is when we worked on GMC’s GPC, but i’ll post some other own made hardware related to domotica.
Relais card + one wire temperature sensor (rs232)1Wire to RS232DS18B20
GPC Original Page: https://gpc.metro.cx/gpc/README
This DIY home automation was written by GMC in C. Later we made little microcontroller prints, which could control/switch lights and more.
PIC16x84
We uses GPASM as assembler
Bigred soldering PIC boards like control units and pic-programmers Below a Infrared receiver (Using Lirc)SchematicPower partPIC Print
One of my schematics
What is this?
=============
This is the Global Premises Control package. It is intended to be a
complete solution to the DIY home automation. It provides you with a
daemon which will centralize all control functions, and some custom
programs for sound, remote control and things like that.
The first steps to realizing the goal was made by Koen Martens. He wrote
the first daemon and made the first support programs. Other people got
interested and ported the GPC package to their homes. Since then it seemed
wise to coordinate development to prevent from having three different
versions of the package. It is currently under development and is far from
complete.
History
=======
15-03-98 - The first initiative
With the help of Henri Aanstoot and Marco Geels the first
cables were mounted in the ceiling at Waalstraat 136. This
involved re-dedicating some high voltage lines for the low
voltage used by GPC equipment.
The next few days Koen Martens spend his time writing software
to switch on the lights (which was not possible without
software anymore :). This software was very rudimentry and
did not feauture the daemon yet.
28-03-98 Version 1.0 was born.
The need for a global way to control the premises arose, and
Koen Martens decided to write a daemon which would control the
input and output lines, with support programs for the logic.
This resulted in global, the gpc daemon.
Running on different servers there were programs to control
lights and lightswitches (light_control), sound (sound) and
the alarm clock (wakeup).
10-06-98 Version 2.0 (r0.2.0) was born.
The support programs containing any logic had vanished,
instead the daemon had all the logic encoded in it.
03-07-98 Version 2.0 still.
- Added remote control receiver code.
29-11-98 GPC r0.3.0
- Started coordinated development
11-12-98 GPC r0.3.1
- Security support included, providing a (basic) interface
for protecting variables with passwords on a security level
clearance basis.
- Global notify protocol added, clients can now register one
or more variables. This makes the old (0.3.0) polling method
obsolete thus reducing the network load dramatically.
- Logging library added.
Development
===========
The development is done on the following beta sites:
- Subnet
Location : Waalstraat 136, Enschede, Netherlands
Site coordinator: Koen Martens AKA gmc (gmc@freemail.nl)
Site description: Single floor appartment
3 occupants (1 human, 2 rats)
P60 32MB RAM running linux
486 8MB RAM running FreeBSD
486 8MB RAM running linux
DEC Writer
WYSE terminal
The 486 linux machine has the daemon, and is
hooked up to the premises.
The P60 has a sound card and a RC receiver.
- Lip-on-ice
Location : Lipperkerkstraat 321, Enschede, Netherlands
Site coordinator: Willem-Jan Faber AKA aloha AKA xtz ( And Henri Aanstoot AKA Fash)
(w-jfaber@freemail.nl)
Site description: Three floor house
Four occupants (3 male, 1 female)
Connected to three other premises.
Computer list not yet in!
- Venom
Location : P. Mondriaanstraat ??, Almelo, Netherlands
Site coordinator: Sebastiaan Smit AKA venom (wssmit@freemail.nl)
Site description: Three floor house
Three occupants
4 computers
If you would like to join the development, mail me at gmc@freemail.nl.
In progress
===========
The following projects are in progress right now:
- A script language to describe the control logic for the daemon
Koen Martens
- An cgi interface for the http connectivity
- Support for sharing variables on multiple daemons
Usage
=====
Use is for your own risk. We can not be held responsible for any damage
resulted from running any of this software.
Keeping that in mind, usage is very simple but work needs to be done on
the documentation :)
DIY door sensor using a bend CDROM and a sensor i got
I’d would send a signal to our computers and playing a sound sample on our sound system. Also a IRCbot named (lampje) would mention “Backdoor open” in our own channel. (We where running our own IRC servers, interconnected .. because we can. A average of 3 Clients per server sound the way to go .. LOL ) Lampje the IRCbot also controlled the livingroom light and more.
Later we started Intranet Club Enschede, which was the birth of Icecrew.
Some explained website building, browsing the net, and tools to use.
Bigred and me build the network, and services which where used for demonstrations. We also helped with solving network related problems.
Interview Radio Oost
Above was done with my little DIY streaming webcam. (progressive push jpg cgi script, see other post)
I found some text/log about this day (found a scanned item first, then i used namazu .. i love namazu, it found the original ascii text file. (Dutch only)
Zaterdag 20 September 1997
--------------------------
's ochtens om 8 uur wakker gemaakt door Marco.
Ik was nog een beetje ziek, maar toch maar de 2 pc's ingepakt.
(die van Miko en die van mij)
Ook Marco z'n pc met cd-brander stond al in de auto.
Omdat het een kleine opel kadett was moesten we behoorlijk proppen.
Ondertussen had ik al overgegeven maar ik kon moeilijk thuisblijven want ik moest het netwerk voor die dag nog aan de praat zien te krijgen.
Na een 'bumpy ride' in de Kadett waren we eindelijk op de plaats van bestemming.
Hier aangekomen bleek dat waar we de pc's neer moesten zetten, toch verder van de ISDN-aansluiting was als verwacht.
Moest ik nu mijn pc (welke als proxy-server/firewall moest werken) nu in dit kantoortje staan en dan een coax naar de rest van de pc's of moesten we voor een lang ISDN kabel zorgen?
Omdat de Webcam aan mijn pc zat moesten we eigenlijk een langere ISDN kabel hebben.
(Het was ook nog een probleem met de ISDN aansluitingen omdat de beide aansluitingen die de PTT had aangelegd al bezet waren i.v.m. de telefoonaansluitingen)
Nadat we 1 van de aansluitingen eruit hadden getrokken bleek dat he helft van de telefoons in het gebouw niet meer werken.
Na bij de PTT kabel's te hebben gekocht (1x 10 meter en 1x 25 meter plus en tussenstukje 62 gulden nogwat)
Kon ik eindelijk beginnen met het opzetten van de proxy server.
(Ondertussen nog even iemand van een netwerk-kaart voorzien en andere problemen opgelost)
Ook de netwerk instellingen moesten marco en ik bij iedereen behalve Miko en mijzelf veranderen.
(Komt er ook nog 1 zeuren over Office enzo)
Na wat aanpassingen werkte de proxy-server en de webcam.
Ook de http-server op Miko's pc werkte tegelijkertijd.
We werden ook nog geinterviewed door radio-oost ofzo. Dit wilden we tegelijkertijd via de webcam op internet laten zien, maar dat kon niet want die radio-meneer moest
zijn microfoon via de telefoon laten werken om rechtstreeks in de uitzending te komen.
Dus de proxy-server maar even uitgezet en het interview als avi opgenomen.
Later nog een website gemaakt met wat foto's van die dag erop.
Voor de volgende keer moet ik wel zorgen dat ik ook Irc en Mail via de proxy kan laten werken.
Op de terugweg nog een paar keer problemen gehad met de auto, deze viel zomaar uit.
Na met een startkabel tegen de stuurkolom de auto weer aan 't starten te hebben gekregen.
Liet marco de startkabel maar tussen de deur van de auto, zo kon hij nog een paar keer de auto simpel starten door de startkabel (welke van onder de moterkap kwam) tegen de stuurkolom te houden.
Website with pictures, avi part probably contained the streaming webcam part
Roalt helped me to get my first Linux system running.
I don’t know if it was a floppy install or cd-roms.
I remember buying cdrom sets like these at our local computershop for later installs.
A year later my system was reinstalled with Slackware by Gmc. Although Roalt helped me getting started with Linux, i’ve learned a lot from Gmc.
First time i saw an Unix system was at my friend Richard when i was 16-ish. It was a commercial unix system he had on loan. Later he installed Minix or something simulair. This was all pre-linux
I used the Slackware distribution for a long time, but tried others also.
List of Linux distributions and other Unix variants i remember.
Suse
Redhat
Gentoo
Fedora
Centos/Rocky
Bsd
Aix
Solaris
Debian
Ubuntu
Mint
Damn Small Linux
Backtrack
Kali
OpenZaurus
Slax
Puppy Linux
Linux Router Project
"If something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing."