smashtv

hehe, I'm losing my touch, that one could be read in less than half a day! ;D You are on my brainwave on this. Also on my brainwave. My apologies, I know the sudden lack of mental capacity (on my brainwave) hurts..... :P ;D Best Smash

Double posting=bad....I merged the two threads here. ;)

Hi guys! What is happening is frustration on both sides....The "old schoolers" see the same questions over and over, most are covered between the forum+wiki+ucapps.de and have simple answers....The new guys usually come ready to learn but there is so much info here that it is hard to know what to read/learn next for some of them. Some show up with skills that allow them to fill in the knowledge not specifically covered here that they need to build, but many show up with no experience and the MIDIbox providing the push they need to learn some electronics skills. So with that in mind, I ask: Should there be an all-inclusive step-by-step guide for each app assuming the builder knows nothing about electronics? Would the builder learn more or less with this approach? Just thinking/wondering out loud a little here..... ;) It puts a little perspective on things when you realize there is only one man on the planet who truly understands every aspect of the MIDIbox, the rest of us are all newbies in that light. ;) Wow I'm slow today! "Warning - while you were typing 6 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post." ..... No edits/review....I'll let it ride. ;D Best Smash

I'm still around, trying to catch up from travel and digging through quite a few emails that landed in my spam folder that I had not noticed.... :-\ Best SmashTV

Ok.....time for some moderation here..... We do not approve of pirated software/cracks/shared serials here, and actively discourage such use. We also do not play software police by reporting every infringement to the publisher immediately.....that brings unwanted bad attention from publishers that would think bad of our whole community for one persons mistake. So when this issue comes up again (it will, as it has in the past before most of you came here) the right response is an email or msg to an admin so we can handle it correctly and in private, not what has gone on here...... (In simpler language, we reserve the right to privately tease/ridicule/yell at people in these situations, since that is much more effective than random users playing bad cop at random times.) ;) Best Smash

Hi guys Talking about pro/legend/silkscreen PCBs here are several things to consider: A single large PCB might cost less in the long run (one setup vs. several), but the various controls need different spacing from the panel (LEDs + encs on the same PCB can be done, but LCD + encs will leave ya with short shafts) Separate PCBs make several setup charges, but allows for a little flexibility when its all mounted under the panel. Some things like the LED matrix are hard to layout on a single-sided PCB without a lot of wasted real estate and jumpers, but things like encoder + button boards could be single sided to save a little on overall cost. That said if you guys will figure out an estimate of basic specs (how many boards needed per unit, how many square inches per board) I'll see what pricing I can get from the various fab houses I use. Not volunteering to do the layout, but I'll help get them made if the price for pro fab is decent. ;) Best Smash

Hehe they could have made it home quick if only Cha-ka had not unchecked "use feedback from Core" in MIOS Studio..... ;D The Marshalls working hard on a new sequence for their upcoming arena tour.... Best Smash

No bridges. ;) Take a look at my infopages http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/info.html for the different modules if you have not seen them already. Best Regards Smash

Hi all! Just a quick note to let everyone know about a change in procedure with my shop, I am now shipping all 18F452 pics with both the Bootloader and MIOS. You will still need to upload your chosen app, etc. via MIDI and MIOS Studio.....The immediate advantages of this change are that it allows me to properly test the bootloader/TX+RX pins and a properly wired LCD works immediately....."Ready" :) To attempt to avoid confusion the label on the PIC has changed: If your label looks like this: Your PIC was shipped with only the bootloader burned on it. You will need to upload MIOS and then your chosen app (via MIDI). And the new label: Has the bootloader version, MIOS version, and header ID on it. These need only an app upload via MIDI, MIOS is already there. Questions/comments? Back to the kit mill with me.... ;) Have fun and Best Regards! SmashTV

Heya guys IRC just does not work for me anymore, my net connection has been ultra flakey since the "upgrade" of my hoods' cable system (they swapped all amps for more total bandwith....catv, telephone, and net)....Would not be an issue except i'm almost in the shadow of an extremely powerful AM station, and they are still trying to find/fix everywhere the signal is leaking in. So with constant resets of my connection IRC is a no-go. It has been an issue for months now, and I'm sure it won't last forever since my connections are free until it is resolved. It looks like all the cable guys live on my street since the vans are parked up and down the street all the time..... ::) Best Smash

I moved the other thread about this same issue (now known as "Toneburst MIOS Upload Issues Thread 2") here in hopes we can end this crossposting madness. ::) Best Smash

Hi Alex....Sorry your having troubles...... "update_without_installed_mios.hex" is the wrong file, you should be sending "mios_v1_9c_pic18f452.hex" Best Smash

Cadsoft Eagle. Is there anything else? ;D Back to the kit mill.... Best

Wow deja-vu! ;) Sorry to come into this one late, trying to catch up on forum reading too Back in 2003 we had a thread going about this stuff: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php?topic=748.0 Those router bits I mention are still my favorite for proto work, and at the risk of repeating myself check this image: [img width=460 height=420]http://www.avishowtech.com/temp/P1010121b.jpg The board clamped in as bare uncut copper, and the tool shown made all the holes and cuts. This board was drilled and edge routed in less than 5 minutes, I'm wanting to say the tool speed was around 25,000 rpm. This shows how much sideways load these bits will take, I guess I'm trying to say it would be perfect for your adventures in pocket milling. :) The pattern is quite similar to some dental burr bits. Steve I'm sure you have figured out you can turn the depth gauge on that dremel press slightly to make up for some positional accuracy slop, and uncoil the lift spring a turn or more to get a better balance (that you don't have to fight) on the z-axis......If not those two tweeks will make life way more fun on that press. ;) Also as much as I love the add on no-key dremel chuck, it almost doubles the amount of runout error compared to using the collet setup that comes stock on the dremel. An HF cross-slide vise will be the most accurate low cost way to do clean pocket mills with the dremel press, but you might want to pick up an extra length of pipe with the same diameter as the dremel press "main column", as the stock column/pipe is too short to get the tool above some of the cross-slide vises. :) A pair of magnetic soft jaws for the slide vise (also at HF) will make holding the board without bowing it from the required tension a non-issue. Not picking on ya or your methods, just trying to pass along what I found when walking the path you are on now, hopefully saving you some time or frustration...... ;) best Smash

Good eye, That's the one! ;) Back in the less copyright-fixated, rather wild western days of the web, I snuck him in as a bullet point graphic on my long gone coinop site. It was a trivia thing, a way to kick the guys reading my site into good memories mode, since in 1995 it had only been about a decade since they had seen it on massive backdrops used on a Van Halen tour and tour shirts. :D Somewhere on those California highways there is at least one place you can see him done in a massive neon sign, over the years quite a few have sent me pics or even video of "little man". One of these days I'm sure I'll have to pick a different avatar, but I doubt I'll find anything that kicks the wayback machine for us 80's kids like this does. ;) Best Smash

Right, thanks for correcting my poor choice of words. I tend to refer to anything that triggers an IRS audit as not legal. ;) It's not on my site, I don't need the issues that come with sharing my address with anyone who has net access. I think I'll pass on this transaction, If we can't get out of confrontation mode before the sale, I don't think either of us will be happy after the sale. Its never been about money for me, so its very important that everyone on both ends is pleased. best regards SmashTV

Sorry, been ill, have not replied to anyone lately, don't take it personally. Using cash, no (mailing cash is not legal).Using a US Postal Service money order, yes. Yes, but not for anything but an in-person transaction.....I would love any secure alternative to credit cards and PayPal. You won't find any legitimate business in the US that accepts cash in the mail for a long list of reasons....Why would you expect me to or criticize the fact that I don't? You are kidding right? At around 5% (a low rate compared to most merchant accounts) PayPal and the CC companies make more from some of my store items than I do! Don't get me wrong, I am very outspoken about the evils of unsecured credit for the average guy (3+ trillion $ credit card debt in the US alone!), but you can easily turn your cash into remote buying power with a simple (usually free) bank account and debit card. Makes trading across borders a non-issue. I am also one of those guys who pays with cash and laughs at the snooty clerks who act put out by touching it. Must be fear of the complex math skills required to make change. ;) Best SmashTV

Thanks guys! I did a postal run yesterday and got the ones I already had packed launched towards a few who are waiting, and I'll be spending the rest of the weekend in catch-up mode. best Smash

Hi all! Sorry I have been AWOL over the last weeks......too much time working in the heat slowed me down quite a bit, then a sinus infection put me down for a few days....having had enough of that, it was time for a round of antibiotics. Unfortunately after taking just one I learned the hard way that I am allergic to this particular one.....so more days in bed, so dizzy I could not even walk! The worst was the full body rash+itch, now thats down to just a mild irritation, and I can walk again without locating the floor at high speed. ;) I'm doing a lot better without the doc's "help" by attempting to drink my weight in fluids every day, dosing on vitamins, high protein food, etc. I'm happy to be alive at this point, but feeling bad because I let everyone who's waiting on an order or an answer down, and I can only imagine the amount of messages waiting that I have not seen. I have a stack of orders packed that is waiting for a postal run I did not make, and more that need packed. If you are waiting, know that I have not forgot and will be shipping as soon as possible. Nothing is taking higher priority as I get my strength back, and I won't be doing any of the shows I had booked so I can properly recover. My partners and crew @ the production co. are the best, handling all of the tasks I am supposed to be there to do. Refunds are available and easy if you are tired of waiting, and to everyone waiting thanks so much for your patience. I'm off to dig through this huge stack of incoming parts boxes (can't even see my office floor!) and make up some kits. Again thanks, and best regards Tim aka SmashTV

The SOIC is not bad, but the SSOP is from hell. :-\ I agree...with a good tip on a temp controlled iron and a little patience these are not bad at all to solder. SOIC was my stop on the SMD party train.... ;) Still useable but you will hate life. Forget it with a contact iron, and plan for some time on an air rework rig to get anything useable. The pins are -really- close together, a magnifying glass is a must. My rework setup has a 2mm nozzle and I still have to go over them several times before they will pass testing.Here is an picture (sorry about the low res) of a PGA2500 sitting atop a 16 pin DIP to give you a scale reference/clue into the world of pain your in for when soldering these. :) Anyone know if the toaster oven guys might have a solution for soldering these that's repeatable? Shifting gears..... ;) For a look at TI's suggested implementation/layout for the 23xx, check out the doc for the 2310 eval module. Even though the eval PCB is multi-layer, a SS layout without jumpers would be possible. It remains to be seen how the lack of optimal ground/power planes will hurt quality/performance. There is a nice photo there on page one of TI's board layout, and page 6 has the schemo to back it up. I found it interesting that they provide jumpers to power the board from the same +5vdc rail on both the analog and digital side, is this a hint that this was much more of a bad idea with the crystal csxxxx devices these are pin compatible with? :) (would love some opinions on this, and whoever builds first needs to jumper one up this way to see how bad it would affect quality!) Gotta run....Best Regards Smash

Keep in mind the CORE brighness circuit does some current limiting, so shorting R7 on the display gets you to the same situation as with typical LCDs without a limiting resistor on board....most displays without a limiting resistor just have the LEDs wired to pins 15 & 16. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I -think- these displays will run fine with R7 shorted as long as the backlight power is coming from the usual CORE setup......If the current is too high a 10ohm won't protect it anyway. Back to the kit mill.... ;) Best Smash

R12 is just a pull-up resistor, R4C+IIC -might- work without it (many variables come into play here like cabling, what exactly it's connected to, how clean your power supply is, etc.) but it's a good idea to add it to avoid issues if cabling to anything IIC. Best Smash

I'll chime in with a "yeah-what he said!" and a couple of hints at more info on driving relays..... http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/mbhp_doutR3.html under "Alternate loading for driving relays:" shows how you can load ULN2803s in place of resistors on my DOUT boards, for driving relays directly. (this "mod" follows TK's schematic for relay drive, found here: http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_doutx1_reed_relays.pdf) The guys on the MIDIfication forum section are the experts at DOUT+relay drive. Best SmashTV

Raph,It is possible to gain a bit on the brightness, but know that too much current can do more than just toast the LEDs, it can heat up the glass enough to cause loss of contrast and permanent distortion. Since I have never tinkered in this direction with these I don't know how much is too much, so some careful experimentation is required on your part. :) That said..... R7 on the display is used for current limiting, by jumpering over it or replacing it with a jumper you will get a little bit more brightness out of it. To easily see how much, crank the brightness pot on the core and temporarily bridge the resistor using a small pair of needle nose pliers for a quick non-permanent jumper. If this gets you where you want to be on brightness stop here. :) If you need more brightness (heeding my warnings above about current and heat), you can change the value of R4 on the CORE. R4 limits the current to a range most useful with common backlights. How much is too much? I have no idea with these....But in past experimentation with LED backlights on other LCD modules I know that with most it's possible to overheat the glass to the point of distorting the image way before the LEDs die from overcurrent. Fire it up, let it run for an hour watching for change in image quality, color distortions around the ends of the glass, etc. The modules I have abused this way in the past were warm or hot to the touch under this kind of abuse. These displays have 6 LEDs each, with three along each edge lighting a diffuser. The LEDs are through-hole, so you can see the leads/connections on the backside of the module. Let's make this reply a two-fer : This is not quite the same issue JD, it sounds like your backlight is either not getting any voltage or there is a defect on the LCD module itself. Some easy testing to determine what's up is to put your meter leads on pins 15 and 16 at the module, set for DC voltage. Pin 15 is negative and pin 16 is positive, if the polarity is reversed the LEDs won't light. If you see +4-5vdc here the LCD module has issues, check/reflow the soldering on R7 (one side first, let it cool, then the other side else you will remove it). If still no backlight send it back to me and I'll replace it. If you don't have 4-5vdc here, there is a wiring or connection fault, check everything associated with the brightness circuit on the CORE (solder connections ok? Transistor in the right direction? correct resistors in the right places?) Let me know what you find.... Best Smash

No. Best SmashTV