Computer

6502 and Wozmon

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Ben posted a youtube about Wozmon running on his 6502.

In 1976, Steve Wozniac wrote what’s commonly known simply as Wozmon.

Wozmon is a machine-code monitor program written by Wozniak for the Apple 1. In Only 256 bytes ! Being pure 6502 code easily adaptable.
A monitor program allows you to view/edit and run machine code using simple commands.

I’ve got a different setup as Ben’s computer.
But changing the necessary, and it will run on my 6502.

I’m not using rs232 voltage levels (-7 till -25 and +7 till +25 volts).
I’m using a usb serial uart standard 5v leveling stick …

For address decoder see other post

Simplified schematic of my UART/ACIA

Compiling the Wosmon gave me an error, DEC is not a valid opcode for a bare 6502 .. but we have a 65c02.
Solution: Add -c02 extra opcodes 

error 1 in line 187 of "wozmon.s": illegal operand types
>                DEC                    ; Decrement A.

# fix .. add -c02
vasm6502_oldstyle -c02 -Fbin -dotdir wozmon.s

Below Apple I Manual with the sourcecode for Wozmon

apple.applei.1976.102646518Download
Computer

Debugging a cool robot

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A friend bought a mini robot for his son.
But it didn’t work as it should.

No way i let this opportunity pass to play with it!

This is the one:
https://elektronicavoorjou.nl/product/maqueen-plus-v2/
Maqueen Plus V2 – Geavanceerde STEM Educatie Robot voor micro:bit

https://wiki.dfrobot.com/SKU_MBT0021-EN_Maqueen_Plus_STEAM_Programming_Educational_Robot#target_0

So you can program this in a blockly like manner.

Problems we encountered:

  • Uploading didn’t work
    Solution: Using chrome it had access to the usb port to upload, firefox didn’t work
  • The program didn’t compile, faulty or zero size hex file.
    Solution: Wrong Maqueen library was in the examples
    (After changing, needed version update also, see below)
  • Not everything is in Dutch (I like English, but this is for the boy), maqueen V2 needed a lot of translation.
    (So we joined https://crowdin.com/project/makecode/nl to help translating the libraries)

Apparently my AI camera can be connected to this robot!

HuskyLens Test
Computer

GLaBios and own code

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Altered glabios to run code at F600:0000 instead of basic rom.
(Needs to have code to check if rom exists)

My test code and generating rom is below:
It should set leds on the keyboard to on .. we will see tomorrow.

NAME mycode
.model small
ORG 0h

.code
start:	mov al, 11000000b
        out 80h, al
loop1:  nop
	jmp loop1
ORG 1fffh ; end of rom
	db 0
END

makefile is:

@ECHO OFF
MASM /DARCH_TYPE="T" /DCPU_TYPE="V" MYROM;
LINK MYROM;
EXE2COM MYROM.EXE
REN MYROM.COM MYROM.ROM

That looks okay!

MOV AL = B0
C0 = 11000000
OUT = E6
80h = 80h
90 = NOP
EB = relative jump
FD = -3 to NOP instruction

Computer, IOT / Domoticz

Shelly Dimmer and NodeRed an update ..

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Shelly Devices

Our bedroom has a shelly dimmer, this one is connected with a wall switch and is being controlled by Domoticz, Home Assistant and NodeRed.

I had to fix some stuff, so this was a perfect time to jot down some notes.

I’ve wired it up like this:
(I’ve got a Line wire in my ceiling socket, so i placed the module there instead of the wall socket)

Configure the Shelly as mentioned in the manual. After that do the following:
Advance > Developer settings :
(Enable CoIot if you want a easy auto detect for Home Assistant)
Enable MQTT (This will DISABLE cloud ! )
Server: the ip number of your Mqtt Broker

Next I did was:

Now the wall switch will change/toggle what the current state is.
(If the light is off, and you switch it on using Mqtt, you probably needed to hit the switch two times to turn it off again. Not so with this setting.)

My Nodered Flow ( Not using the Shelly palette nodes in this example)

The Mqtt IN node sets the state of the switch when you use the wall switch!
Cozy turns light on at a specific level.
The slider send an off command when 0% selected, else an on command and the sliders value.

# Cozy function
msg.payload = {};
msg.payload.turn="on";
msg.payload.brightness=30;
return msg;

# Slider function
var varlevel = msg.payload;
msg.payload = {};
if(varlevel == 0){ 
msg.payload.turn="off";
} else
{
    msg.payload.turn="on";
}
msg.payload.brightness=varlevel;
return msg;

DashBoard

The Flow

[
    {
        "id": "32d1c58277d38408",
        "type": "ui_switch",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "",
        "label": "Bedroom lights2",
        "tooltip": "",
        "group": "c387df0cfc06c60e",
        "order": 3,
        "width": 0,
        "height": 0,
        "passthru": false,
        "decouple": "true",
        "topic": "",
        "topicType": "str",
        "style": "",
        "onvalue": "on",
        "onvalueType": "str",
        "onicon": "",
        "oncolor": "",
        "offvalue": "off",
        "offvalueType": "str",
        "officon": "",
        "offcolor": "",
        "animate": true,
        "className": "",
        "x": 220,
        "y": 940,
        "wires": [
            [
                "df432d3faea35f38"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "fb12eddd50d3013e",
        "type": "ui_slider",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "",
        "label": "Bedroom Lights2",
        "tooltip": "",
        "group": "c387df0cfc06c60e",
        "order": 4,
        "width": 0,
        "height": 0,
        "passthru": true,
        "outs": "end",
        "topic": "",
        "topicType": "str",
        "min": 0,
        "max": "100",
        "step": 1,
        "className": "",
        "x": 230,
        "y": 900,
        "wires": [
            [
                "d9c299ec7c0c82b0"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "d9c299ec7c0c82b0",
        "type": "function",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "Get level",
        "func": "var varlevel = msg.payload;\nmsg.payload = {};\n\nif(varlevel == 0){ \nmsg.payload.turn=\"off\";\n} else\n{\n    msg.payload.turn=\"on\";\n}\n\nmsg.payload.brightness=varlevel;\nreturn msg;",
        "outputs": 1,
        "noerr": 0,
        "initialize": "",
        "finalize": "",
        "libs": [],
        "x": 460,
        "y": 900,
        "wires": [
            [
                "315ffbe441467c10"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "df432d3faea35f38",
        "type": "mqtt out",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "",
        "topic": "shellies/shellydimmer-CFE204/light/0/command",
        "qos": "",
        "retain": "",
        "respTopic": "",
        "contentType": "",
        "userProps": "",
        "correl": "",
        "expiry": "",
        "broker": "8c74c5f6.9a7a48",
        "x": 800,
        "y": 940,
        "wires": []
    },
    {
        "id": "315ffbe441467c10",
        "type": "mqtt out",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "",
        "topic": "shellies/shellydimmer-CFE204/light/0/set",
        "qos": "",
        "retain": "",
        "respTopic": "",
        "contentType": "",
        "userProps": "",
        "correl": "",
        "expiry": "",
        "broker": "8c74c5f6.9a7a48",
        "x": 780,
        "y": 900,
        "wires": []
    },
    {
        "id": "15f1c904607a0adc",
        "type": "function",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "Cozy",
        "func": "msg.payload = {};\n\nmsg.payload.turn=\"on\";\n\nmsg.payload.brightness=30;\nreturn msg;",
        "outputs": 1,
        "noerr": 0,
        "initialize": "",
        "finalize": "",
        "libs": [],
        "x": 450,
        "y": 860,
        "wires": [
            [
                "315ffbe441467c10"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "57fb1210d37e5325",
        "type": "ui_button",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "",
        "group": "c387df0cfc06c60e",
        "order": 5,
        "width": 0,
        "height": 0,
        "passthru": false,
        "label": "Bedroom lights2 Cozy",
        "tooltip": "",
        "color": "",
        "bgcolor": "",
        "className": "",
        "icon": "",
        "payload": "",
        "payloadType": "str",
        "topic": "topic",
        "topicType": "msg",
        "x": 240,
        "y": 860,
        "wires": [
            [
                "15f1c904607a0adc"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "30cba96b08f3b830",
        "type": "mqtt in",
        "z": "746c372deb597681",
        "name": "",
        "topic": "shellies/shellydimmer-CFE204/light/0",
        "qos": "2",
        "datatype": "auto-detect",
        "broker": "8c74c5f6.9a7a48",
        "nl": false,
        "rap": true,
        "rh": 0,
        "inputs": 0,
        "x": 240,
        "y": 1000,
        "wires": [
            [
                "32d1c58277d38408"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "c387df0cfc06c60e",
        "type": "ui_group",
        "name": "Bedroom",
        "tab": "f177532a78f3f1d2",
        "order": 3,
        "disp": true,
        "width": "6",
        "collapse": true,
        "className": ""
    },
    {
        "id": "8c74c5f6.9a7a48",
        "type": "mqtt-broker",
        "name": "IPBROKER",
        "broker": "IPBROKER",
        "port": "1883",
        "clientid": "",
        "usetls": false,
        "compatmode": true,
        "keepalive": "15",
        "cleansession": true,
        "birthTopic": "",
        "birthQos": "0",
        "birthPayload": "",
        "closeTopic": "",
        "closePayload": "",
        "willTopic": "",
        "willQos": "0",
        "willPayload": ""
    },
    {
        "id": "f177532a78f3f1d2",
        "type": "ui_tab",
        "name": "House",
        "icon": "dashboard",
        "order": 1,
        "disabled": false,
        "hidden": false
    }
]
Photography

A vacation in numbers and about taking pictures

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Italy 2023

Pictures : 2633 mobile + 2425 dslr
Movies : 52

Highest point: 1214m (Vesuvius)
Lowest: -40m

Pizza’s eaten:
Too many ( sometimes 2 times a day), it was hard to get something else to eat besides Pizza and Pasta.


Oldest building : 500BC

Km walked: 220Km
Km driven: ? (calculating) Will update when i post something about unwritten traffic rules in Italy.

Types of transport: Plane, train, metro/subway, bus, scooter, bike, car, walking

Temperature high: 32
Temperature low: 16

About the photos .. it finally happened.
More mobile photos where taken than with our trusty Nikon!
(Read our New Zealand post, why trusty .. rain damage on both Mobile and Nikon D750)

Some data about longer trips since 2010

This has multiple reasons:

  • Coline took loads of mobile phone pictures.
    (I was mostly in charge of the Nikon)
    She is trigger happy ..
  • We didn’t take the big camera always with us at night, going for dinner.
  • Sometimes it was too hot for me to focus on taking good pictures.
  • I didn’t make panoramic and time-lapse photos.

Why still use dlsr?

  • Better sensors (larger image chip) Small image ICs give more cross noise due to the image pixelsensors being to close to each other)
    So more pixels does NOT equal better images!
  • More control over your settings.
  • Better lenses and faster. Better aperture equals better DOF!!
    (Depth of field)
Computer

Bios hacking

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Followup on :

Old mystery motherboard and Bios hacking

I wrote a little python script which checks the checksum of a Bios.

In a previous post i used hexedit to play around changing a Bios dump.

Below posted python script calculates the checkum using the following:

Add all bytes in the file and do a modulo 256 on this number. The output should be 0.

My previous edit gave me a output of C2, so I changed an unused byte FF into (FF-C2) 3D.
No more checksum errors when booting!

Next to do, get a Bios like Glabios or PcXtBios to start my own code from a secondary Eeprom.

import sys

# Bios sum modulo should be 0
# edit  last or unused byte to fix
# python bios-checksum-test.py MYROM.edit.checksum
# 0

f = open(sys.argv[1],'rb')
m = f.read()
print  '%x' % ( ( sum(ord(c) for c in m) & 0xFFFFFFFF ) % 256 )

Python3

import sys

# Bios sum modulo should be 0
# edit  last or unused byte to fix
# python bios-checksum-test.py MYROM.edit.checksum
# 0

f = open(sys.argv[1],'rb')
m = f.read()
checksum =  ( ( sum((c) for c in m) & 0xFFFFFFFF ) % 256 )
print(checksum, 'in hex =', hex(checksum))
Photography

Transform photos using gimp

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Just back from my 3 week trip to Italy.
Made 5000-odd photos.
Using my posted scripts they are easily sorted.

But some are crooked, lets fix them.

Not a straight horizon:

Lets open this photo in Gimp

Easy to fix:

  • Open in Gimp
  • Go to measure tool
  • Orientation – auto and transform layer
  • Select the horizon on the left (do not release the mouse button) and draw to the right
  • Press straighten

Easy ..

Another fix below : Perspective

Sometimes you want to look straight at a picture, but when taking a picture there is something preventing this.

  • Other tourists won’t move away from a information sign, so you have to take the picture from an angle.
  • The image is far up a wall.
  • Or as in example below, the Roman mosaic is on the floor, no way to take a picture from above.

From left transformed to the right image
  • Open in gimp
  • Select from tools > Transform Tools
  • Handle transform or press SHIFT-L
  • Select a corner and drag, repeat until satisfied
Computer, Music

Spotify control using python

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For usage in this project:

RFID music playlist genre selector.

Goto https://developers.spotify.com and add a APP

Write down the Client_id Client_secret and Redirect URL (callback)

Create a bash and python script

#!/bin/bash
export SPOTIPY_CLIENT_ID=2f660e11e70743febdxxxxxxxxxxxxx
export SPOTIPY_CLIENT_SECRET=b0741452a4fe43xxxxxxxxxxxxx
export SPOTIPY_REDIRECT_URI="http://localhost:8080/callback"

python3 spot.py $1

spot.py

import spotipy
from spotipy.oauth2 import SpotifyOAuth
from pprint import pprint
from time import sleep
import spotipy.util as util
import sys

username = "username"
scope = "user-read-playback-state,user-modify-playback-state,playlist-read-private"
util.prompt_for_user_token(username,scope,client_id=SPOTIPY_CLIENT_ID,client_secret=SPOTIPY_CLIENT_SECRET,redirect_uri=SPOTIPY_REDIRECT_URI)

sp = spotipy.Spotify(client_credentials_manager=SpotifyOAuth(scope=scope))

# Shows playing devices
res = sp.devices()
pprint(res)

myurl = 'spotify:playlist:' + sys.argv[1]

# Change track
results = sp.start_playback(context_uri=myurl, offset={"position": 1})

## Change volume example
#sp.volume(100)
#sleep(2)
#sp.volume(50)
#sleep(2)

playlists = sp.user_playlists(username)

playlists = sp.current_user_playlists()
for playlist in playlists['items']:
    print(playlist['id'] + ' ' +  playlist['name'])

Run bash script as follows.

playlistplayspotify.sh 0bJvpsn0TDxxxxxxxxxxxx
(0bJvpsn0TDxxxxxxxxxxxx – is playlist ID, as example below)

OUTPUT:

python3 spot.py 0bJvpsn0TDxxxxxxxxxxxx
{'devices': [{'id': 'e86eada2a91e29a396acxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
              'is_active': True,
              'is_private_session': False,
              'is_restricted': False,
              'name': 'laptop',
              'type': 'Computer',
              'volume_percent': 100},
             {'id': '8571468b6c41973ccb0axxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
              'is_active': False,
              'is_private_session': False,
              'is_restricted': False,
              'name': 'DESKTOP-xxxxxxx',
              'type': 'Computer',
              'volume_percent': 76},
             {'id': '6c592503aa5a22b2fbdxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
              'is_active': False,
              'is_private_session': False,
              'is_restricted': False,
              'name': 'TX-NR1030',
              'type': 'AVR',
              'volume_percent': 41}]}
0bJvpsn0TDxxxxxxxxxxxx Best Classical Music Of All Time
5aL9jeGMCAxxxxxxxxxxxx Programming music
37i9dQZEVCxxxxxxxxxxxx Discover Weekly
6pEJuA1UYJxxxxxxxxxxxx Highland/Small/Border Pipe Music
5p8Tabf5Zwxxxxxxxxxxxx Folk Instrumentals ( Celtic, Irish, Nordic, ... )
1oy8Ek4ddBxxxxxxxxxxxx Lounge
37i9dQZF1Dxxxxxxxxxxxx Irish Folk
etc etc
Computer, Tech

Checking faulty chips/hardware

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When I fix old hardware I often use a flir camera.

My brother gave me his CAT S60 mobile phone. Which has a flir camera, he used it when he was a voluntary fireman.

Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation

Soo .. when testing hardware. I do the following.

  • Clean the motherboard
  • Check chip pins
  • Press all chips/ic’s in their sockets
  • Test the power supply disconnected. ( Most will give a higher voltage when nothing is connected )
  • Measure the resistance of the board (sometimes)
  • Check if the machine can be started.

Now it gets interesting. Sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes the machine runs like it suppose to do.

But old hardware can be faulty or connections are bad. IC’s run hot and they stop working. ( Untill they are cooled enough or they stop forever 🙁 )

So I start monitoring the temperature when I boot the machine. Sometimes components heat up very fast. I use my finger and the flir camera.

These are pictures from my 8088. Nothing runs hot

Computer

Old mystery motherboard and Bios hacking – followup

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Old mystery motherboard and Bios hacking

The board seems to be a X Golden Board, except for the missing logo on the motherboard.

Downloaded pcxtbios and compiled the eproms native in linux. So i don´t have to use dosbox any more.
https://github.com/virtualxt/pcxtbios

cd pcxtbios
edit make_linux.sh if needed
./make_linux.sh

and you should end up with
eproms/27512/basicfc.rom
eproms/27512/basicf8.rom
eproms/27512/basicf6.rom
eproms/27512/pcxtbios.rom
eproms/27512/basicfa.rom
eproms/27128/basicfc.rom
eproms/27128/basicf8.rom
eproms/27128/basicf6.rom
eproms/27128/pcxtbios.rom
eproms/27128/basicfa.rom
eproms/27256/basicfc.rom
eproms/27256/basicf8.rom
eproms/27256/basicf6.rom
eproms/27256/pcxtbios.rom
eproms/27256/basicfa.rom
eproms/ibmxt/u18.rom
eproms/ibmxt/u19.rom
eproms/2764/basicfc.rom
eproms/2764/basicf8.rom
eproms/2764/basicf6.rom
eproms/2764/pcxtbios.rom
eproms/2764/basicfa.rom

I didn’t have enough 28C64, but the 28C256 has the same pinout. It just lacks A14 and A13

So I flashed the compiled ROMs for basic to different Eeproms

minipro -w ./2764/basicfc.rom -p AT28C64
minipro -w ./2764/basicf6.rom -p AT28C64
minipro -w ./27256/basicfa.rom -p AT28C256
minipro -w ./27256/basicf8.rom -p AT28C256

These roms need to be placed in sockets ROM6,5,4,3

ROM7 (BIOS)fe00:0-ffff:ffff
ROM6 Basicfc00:0000-fdff:ffff
ROM5 Basicfa00:0000-fbff:ffff
ROM4 Basicf800:0000-f9ff:ffff
ROM3 Basicf600:0000-f7ff:ffff

Machine Code monitor/editor

I tried to find a machine code monitor for 8088 rom, but did not have any luck there.

I tried mumon88, but that didn´t work.

"If something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing."