smashtv

http://69.56.171.55/~midibox/forum/index.php?topic=1504.0 is the thread that all the old links point to. I changed it on the wiki, did you see it on any other static pages (not links in the forum)? Smash

Almost forgot to mention that the login is not the only reason I hate the current wiki, It has a bad habit of working as expected for a few days then hanging 100 bad processes on the database server. I can fix this, If I want to spend exponentially more time repairing what the fix breaks. Also it sounds like I'm super critical of this wiki, and I am, but I picked it, and it really was the best thing out there at the time, and it's still one of the best options out there. Sad that it's keeping a lot of webmasters from sleeping well... ;) Best! Smash

Thanks Julian for not giving up on the wiki! I am aware of the wiki issues, that damn wiki engine has done nothing but steal time from me since day one. The coding has been done by so many people (and it's in such bad shape) that when you fix one thing it breaks something bigger. I fought the authentication on it for over 10 hours before I got it to work, then it worked for about a week and broke. After that nothing I did to try to make it play friendly would break things in a bigger way (note to -any- developers, LDAP auth is not for applications like this!) That said I have been actively searching for a decent wiki engine pretty much since I installed that one. Decent in my opinion includes login or other verify before edits can be made, so the link farm spammers won't come along and destroy the work (they have hit the current wiki several times already). Decent also means not trying to provide every possible feature (like the BloatWareWiki we are using now). There is an engine that I think hold some promise, and I think the format/useability stomps the current wiki concept. Take a look at a test install of it here: http://www.avishowtech.com/wiki/. To edit use username:guest password:guest. (you have to be me to delete though!) This is a fresh install so nothing has been changed yet, please play with/test it and let me know what you think. The only reason I have not just replaced the old wiki with this one is security. This engine has it's own very simple login system, and that will have to be re-written to use the existing portal user database. So anyone with some PHP skills wants to help me tackle this, let me know and I'll make it worth your time. But in the meantime I'll keep trying myself, I think it's mostly syntax making trouble for me, so I'll keep breaking and fixing another install of this engine until I get it right (or someone helps!)...... Using the authentication built in to the engine is not really an option, since it would require hand editing a file every time I need to add a new user, and I absolutely want to keep everything to one login on the portal. Anybody good with PHP (or able to fake it better than me)? Best! Smash

If half of the SIDs they get their hands on are bad I would say they are sourcing production rejects. They are sensitive devices, but no way half the ones they see are that trashed (unless they are buying from the UK ebay guy that was shipping them in non anti-stat bags..........) Definitely sales language, otherwise they could not afford to sell them for 20 euro (considering the stated reject rate) Best! Smash

Hi MK! Sorry about all this. It's one of those things thats completely frustrating because I can't do anything about it..... What's happening quite a bit recently is that service providers are either blocking or deleting incoming mail from certain other hosts/providers. All it takes to get your site on the blacklist(s) is one person to catch a virus or worm that emails using the infected computer's address book, and you can imagine how many people have my domain name in emails on their computer...... To make the problem worse a lot of these providers are sharing blacklists with each other, depending on what anti-spamware that they are using on their mail servers, so coinoptech.com and avishowtech.com are already blacklisted with some email servers that have never passed any mail to or from me...... :( Kinda makes it hard to have an open community feel when you think the community's server is ignoring you! The not so easy simple way around this is to open a throw-away yahoo mail account (free) and use that to register, or if you like you can email me your info (chosen Username/password/email) and I'll create the account for you, ready to use. Keep in mind though that the same issues that keep the portal's emails from getting to you might keep us from seeing emails to each other........so PM is ok also........ Just so everyone knows, unless the portal's server is way over capacity it will send the confirmation email -when you hit the last button- on the registration. If the server is slammed with traffic, it switches to running email jobs every 15 minutes. So if you don't see an expected mail from the portal within 30 minutes it's not likely that it will ever make it to you. When I first became aware of all of this blacklisting stuff I installed a script that keeps an eye on mail flow, so it lets me know if it's not able to send confirmation mails or if there are other problems....... Any help or suggestions around this issue would be appreciated, but I'm afraid this is the state of all email worldwide for the forseeable future. Best! Smash

Many, many times over - both the Vishay xtal and Xicon caps from Mouser. I built a working core from the parts on the list before I released the list, and the Vishay xtal has shipped with around half of all of the core kits I have sold. The others I use (abracon) are just as good, and perform slightly better in extreme high EMI/ interference environments (the only good way to test a crystal,in the shadow of one of USA's most powerfull AM transmitters!) It's purely an availability issue that dictates which I use of the two manufacturers...... Absolutely. Reflow not just look. Is there soldering flux around these connections? I have seen flux conduct enough to cause high resistance short and keep the crystal from starting or other unusual behavior. Remember the caps are really only there to start the xtal oscillating, and don't really help things after it does. If these caps are too far different in value either naturally (from their 5% tolerance) or if one has changed drastically due to soldering overheat the xtal won't act right. Also if the xtal was overheated during soldering it can act like this, but they usually just die completely instead. As always, I'll burn the bootloader for anyone anytime, for free, even if you don't buy the pic or anything else from me. Also describe your power supply please, I helped a builder with xtal issues like this that completely went away when he changed power supplies, he was trying to use a switch-mode supply from and old computer, and it apparently had enough AC ripple on the 5V line to mess things up. BTW: I haven't forgot about the issue that got you to this point (Mac MIOS upload), I'll help you get that going after the core is happy. ;) Best! Smash

Hehe Moebius probably is, but I doubt I am! There are two sides......theory and practice.......Since I never seem to get more than an hour of tinker time these days that leaves me with only theory, and that makes me way more dangerous than a newbie, especially when I'm trying to help! ;D Best! Smash PS at least I can console myself with the thought that if I cause a MB to burst into flames with bad advice, I can pull fresh hardware from stock and send it out......Lucky for me so far they start working instead of flaming up! ;D

Hmmm...... from the look I assume they are Hakko: http://www.hakkousa.com/products.asp?PID=936-9 Notice that Hakko says these are discontinued..... Looks like the same iron is available from many companies, two vendors I use regularly sell an iron that looks identical/same specs..... I don't know the history/current practice of Hakko, but I do know a few things about offshore OEM, Here are possibilities: 1) they are manufactured -by- Hakko, and can be had in quantity from them without their logo. 2) they are manufactured -for- Hakko, and Hakko is just re-branding like MPJA and the other vendors. 3) they are manufactured by several companies (yes the exact same design, this meter is a great example of this practice, I can buy it from no less than three different manufacturers (same part number!) who are all separate companies, producing the same design (with color variants etc.). I need to ask the buyers how close those factories are to each other.....:) This is normal these days in China, and while it seems insane to the rest of the world to freely exchange/borrow/share/steal/manufacture designs and IP with your competition, its not so crazy when you realize that competition to them is units produced and sold, not innovation or feature differences. It's entertaining to watch (and participate in) a market that's not affected or diluted by brand recognition..... ;) Damn another novel! Sorry about that..... The true test will be to grab a Hakko tip, and see how it fits your iron.......If you have a Fry's Electronics nearby they should have tons of Hakko tips in stock that you can actually hold in your hand to see...... Best! Smash </edit broken quote>

haha not even! With the Wellers around I never have to "do time" on another iron....The price is definitely more realistic! I do expect a full report though......... ;D Are these Hakko, or MPJA re-brand from another company? Best! Smash

Slow down K! ;) Don't get frustrated, but we need better symptom infomation! Knowing what the error was might be a start to solving this... Again it's time to look at the error message and to test/verify your midi interface on the mac and on the core..... Not enough info to know what's going on yet! I can tell you that sysex upload on the MAC works fine for me as shown on 10.2.8..... Best! Smash

is answered by: That's the info I was looking for in the old emails, UI control encoders vs. normal encoders and the excellent ability to mix modes between the two...... Best! Smash

Last diagram is top down, shaft facing toward you/pins pointing away.It's the "top down" view for a PCB designer to use to describe the footprint. (I'm fighting the Eagle library editor now, as soon as I beat it I'll release an Eagle part library for the encoders) Very cool....let me know if you need anything (help or hardware).....I need to dig through some old emails, for more info about what to change on the encoder speed.....time for me to break out the iron and build some hardware.... ;D Best! Smash

HI James! Sorry about the confusion on the encoder pinning! I only tested for basic functionality (working with MIOS in different encoder modes) and durability. Every time I set aside a few encoders to build me another box, orders come in that wipe out my encoder stock (Thanks guys not complaining!) so I have not completed the box that would have showed me this issue......... What is the best way to correct this? Should I simply reverse the A and B pins on the pinout on my site, or is more documentation in order? I could document MIOS encoder modes also, if you let me know what works for you I'll add it to the docs. Best! Smash

I have not seen -any- issue since the switch (except the duplicate post thing I was joking about)..... Great work on the move BTW, it's a pain to change servers! Best Smash

Several possible explanations: 1) You partied too hard and are seeing double...... 2) Deja-vu.....there is an agent is nearby...... 8) 3) The truly l33t "China Super Ninja Bunny hacking team" has struck again...... 4) When the old board was imported some duplicate entries were made, the tip off is that the post count did not change. Best! Smash

I'm very biased toward Weller. They are expensive compared to the cheapo stations out there, but they last forever. I use a WTCPT that has served me for many years now. See http://www.elecraft.com/TechNotes/Ask_Dr_Solder.html for a talk about tip temp regulation, flux, etc. Best! Smash

Ahhhh! Having flashbacks........ ;)

I'm about to try an order or two with them. $2.50 per sq. in. will make a board the size of the CORE for around $15, realistically with my setup here I'm looking at an hour plus to make a prototype like that, maybe a little less if I'm sloppy. If I want to do solder mask and silkscreen add another half hour (at least!, and that's cheating with film). So I end up with the equation: In house: Bare board etched+drilled, no silk/mask+file prep/check plot+cleanup=1.5 hours Materials cost=average $5 Having them done with these guys: File prep/check plot from gerbers=15 minutes Total cost=$15 Cost difference=$10 Time difference=one hour or more No playing in the chemicals, no mess, etc. If the quality is anywhere near acceptable for prototypes this is a no-brainer decision! I'll do my best to resurect an old scanner that just landed in my lap, so everyone can see the quality with some hi res scans. Best! Smash

The SI-3554M crosses to an NTE931. The SI-3120M does not cross reference to any known part, but chances are it's a standard low-dropout 12v regulator.... Yes. Most decent broadcast gear has external fuses for each rail of the power supply. Best! Smash

The only clean/easy way is with a press brake or metal bending brake. Tons of info on the net about this, seems the net-saavy metalworkers are a friendly bunch...... :) Best! SmashTV

http://www.midibox.org/edrum/index.html for reading velocity sensitive drum pads to MIDI out..... Best! Smash

wow great find! The chips for the touch slider are $4.25 at Digikey. The important questions: 1. Could many of these work without error side by side? (from the datasheet it looks like they could be tuned for this). 2. By nature they are much lower resolution than a typical fader with only 128 steps, is that enough resolution to be useable/would it be difficult to make small accurate changes in "fader" position? This technology paired with an led strip to show position could be the motorfader replacement, make the LED strip bi-color and you could show fader position and VU meter levels at the same time on the fader......... Would be cool to build a box with no fader slots in the panel, the ultimate road use waterproof controller! I'll make board layouts for anyone ready to develop this into something we can test for proof-of-concept. Some MIOS coding to read the SPI is needed (anyone interested?) I won't pursue this further until -anyone- steps up to code for it.....I don't have those skills (yet)....... Best! Smash

Damn I bet you are screaming! :o Have you considered using a rail/captive nut combo like the blow molded effects racks (skb/gator)? This way you could use aluminum instead of steel (absolutely no fun hand-tapping threads in thick steel, the way my luck runs I would strip out some needed holes....) More info here and here. Best! Smash

Thanks guys! ;D There is nothing more fun than playing "trace tetris" on a single sided board. It's like a puzzle with many different possible solutions. Designing double sided or multi-layer stuff is way easier and not nearly as much fun........all that using shield layers to compensate for interference/bad placement.......too easy ;) I would like to move the DIN and DOUT to dual-row connectors on the ins/outs also in the future. Should save massive build time on each box (I hate crimping SIL pins, and I even have the correct crimper and an electric wire stripper!) Keep the suggestions/comments coming and you will see them in future revisions of the layouts I do......... Best! Smash

Hey all! New board layouts: SHX8_X2 and AIN_R2 The usual questions: The SH board won't be available as a pre-made pcb. There simply are not enough of the SH chips left to justify a run of boards. There is no .brd file for SHX8_X2, it's too large for Eagle freeware. The released .pdf file is made up of two EPS files from two separate .brd layouts. Yes I was bored on the road. ;) The new AIN boards will be shipping very soon, the AIN_V2 version is sold out and has been replaced by the new one (R2). The V2 docs are still up and won't go away. Have fun! SmashTV