Perversions of an Engineer
Around one year ago I ordered some of those supposedly wonderful TI eZ430 “Hackable” Watches but only received them last October since I had to wait for the 433Mhz version. Three months later I finally decided to have a go at trying it out and wrote a Python library for in the process.
Silly video first…
Continue reading “TI eZ430 Chronos Watch + Python Library + Remote Control”
Couldn’t resist extending the software test on the mecanum wheel base…video comes later this time…
The ‘quick and nasty’ software files are still the same as in the previous post. Pure software test only, couldn’t resist the temptation to try it via WiFi on a stock Chumby instead of USB tethering. As such the hardware frame is a bit too flimsy and the batteries aren’t enough to power the Chumby without brown-out resets. These will be improved upon soon 🙂
This demonstrates the ‘touch’ (initialize) and ‘swipe’ (move/offset) control on touch screens. Will try the DeviceMotion Javascript API on iOS 4.2 devices (iPhone 4G/iPad) if I can get my hands on that filth… 😛
Continue reading “Chumby + iPhone + Android + Mecanum Wheels”
Mecanum wheel rover/robot base for around $25! Or around $110 with a 454Mhz Linux Processor with touch screen and wifi (Add Chumby + Servo controller). Read on for build instructions. Continue reading “Mecanum Wheel Base”
This is probably the most ridiculous way to reverse engineer something to date… a Chumby, an EasySync CAN Sniffer, PHP and JavaScript… but it works.
Continue reading “Reverse Engineering the Mazda CAN Bus – Part 2”
After getting my EasySync USB-Can Adapter it was time to resurrect the mChumby project. The interface GUI design hasn’t changed much, namely because its been lying idle but I figured it is good enough to try putting it onto the car for a test run.
I didn’t want to fiddle around with getting power to the Chumby, so the test is simply using my trusty old laptop and the EasySync adapter. Only the speedometer, the tachometer and the accelerator pedal position is attached because again I’m too lazy to fiddle with my cable layout and as such its connected to the Mazda HS-Can bus only rather than the MS-Can where the goodie trip computer information is contained.
Almost every concoction of technology is used ranging from CAN, USB, PHP, HTTP, Shared Memory, XML, Flash, to an obscure programming language called HaXe. Here is the result :-
The toys just keep coming in! Another one of those wallet killing impulsive orders whilst I was sick in bed last week just arrived today, a USB-CAN bus converter module by EasySync that promises a great interface and should work in Linux! This will give a little bump start to my Mazda CAN Bus / mChumby projects.
Note : EasySync UK’s online form doesn’t allow international shipping but a short E-mail or two managed that. There is a US subsidiary with US and international shipping, but the international shipping rates on the US site is plain ridiculous [$68USD to ship a $88 device to Australia].
Note 2 : I hear the interface is mimicking the Lawicel CAN-USB interface…only hearsay…
Plugged it in – didn’t work. Doh! Took a peek at the manual and website, nothing on Linux other than “Linux drivers provided”… So much for the marketing material, guess I have to try make it work myself. (Yes I got it working, read on for the quick run-down post aimed at helping others)
Continue reading “EasySync USB-CAN Bus Adapter – Works great in Ubuntu after some fiddling”
This is one of those posts where the sole purpose is for me to upload a few photos for a forum 🙂
I was shopping the other day and came across these cut tin can lolly containers in the shape of a fridge…”That’ll be a great Chumby shell! All I’ll need to do is make a cutout at the front and a couple of holes at the back!”
Just thought I’ll do a quick test tonight with a chisel and a hammer… wasn’t too bad but I did it in a rush so there was an uncoordinated side cut…need to file it a bit…
The idea is to put a USB hard-drive in the ‘fridge’ as well and voila home media/web server 🙂
Working a 70 hour week dampened my enthusiasm for the MChumby but I managed to scrape a couple of hours today to try my hand with HaXe + Flash to prototype the Chumby Interface.
A few interesting tidbits were learned from the experiments :-
A bit of background and a demo video of the widget on the Chumby after the break.