moebius

Hi. No double posts about one matter. "Soulseek" doesn't really sound like a place to hang among midiboxers. For those interested, there is a channel called #midibox at the EFnet irc network. Moebius

That is a bold statement, Steve. Maybe You should see my previous post in this thread, maybe? It's up to You, if You just want to give an apology to the people involved or send the files to cadsoft.de for analysis. Moebius

It uses 5VDC from the PSU as a reference for the regulator. Another thing why I'm pissed about this forum is the post Where You say that "transformers degrade at the time and that is why You see higher voltage at the output" -- Yup, please correct Your post and please, guys who know better - correct these things. Please. For HL-SDK, Yes. I guess, You can use that ratshack trafo, it will deliver enough voltage here. Just check how much the Amp rating is. Moebius

If You're referring to the hot-melt glue usually used with so-called hot glue guns - forget about it. It's great for securing wire bundles inside the chassis, but it won't work holding the panel stand-offs. "Crazy glue" really doesn't work either as it doesn't stick that well in bare metal to metal connections. Any slowly drying liquid 2 component epoxy glue should work, these make extremely firm contact as long as left alone to dry after the positioning. Moebius

The schem didn't look that bad and I can't see why it wouldn't work. (Do some PWM and You could also fade in/out the backlight *grin*) Hmm.. Guess which "MB Hardware Platform" page at uCApps.de will answer this question... Moebius

Hi. Machined-pin sockets should offer better reliability over the time (better contact with IC pins). And You can (usually) solder these from both sides of the PCB, which is extremely useful feature for those DIYers making double-sided boards for home ecthing (You can use IC socket pins as vias between the sides). (Uh, and I have also suggested using the extra space under the machined sockets for adding small axial capacitors between ICs power pins for bypass duties) Moebius

Hi. I'm not a fan of vector or veroboards either, but actually MBSEQ is pretty straight forward wiring effort. The real fun only begins with matrixed frontpanel stuff. I think the biggest problem with "a standard PCB layout" is the wasted PCB estate, because I'm guessing that these would have to be manufactured by a 3rd party?! It's costly to produce large PCBs mostly populated by bare copper ;) (On the other hand, I can't see why this couldn't be done with one-sided boards and with large enough demand produced by Mikes Midibox Shop, http://www.mikes-elektronikseite.de/midiseite.htm) Moebius

Yup, It looks like a great candidate. As far as I remember, there is no need for AIN board as Pins used for analogue inputs in the PIC are not in use by standard MBSID application. Use the Forum search and You should find detailed instructions how to add Joystick to the MBSID. Moebius

Hi, I called the local (Finnish) nameity and FeCl wasn't on the list of the "Toxic Chemicals" to be disposed as "Toxic Waste". :D There You go! Back to the Lazertran - could any REAL European organise a group buy? Pseudo-political rant: It's sort of weird, that we westerners are agreeing on the most things, but Brits still have their pound (also for measuring weights, in non-ISO standards), the dissidents and the criminals of the Europe dumped to the Australia and the Northern america have their Dollars :D Moebius

Well, The group buy idea was really suggested by someone called TK. Strangest things - like I've seen that nick before? (You can also see this in the AOUT parts list) Just for a support, I'm in for 2 MAX525s and the reference chips. The price breaks in maxim-ic's online shop aren't that good, really. stryd_one: Basicly the ICs used in SHX8 are obsolete. SHX8_LC is an option, but nobody has realized it yet. Moebius

The voltage reference isn't that important - as long as it's stable ;D CV is anyway trimmed by Opamps after Max525s, I think. Moebius

It is not about convincing others, but about the truth. OK? I'll be calling our local environmental center if they even have any rules about disposing FeCl. Moebius p.s. Look at my previous postings. Are You only an enviromentalist about this issue?

Hi there! Neither of the Midibox stores are "general electronics" stores. As a DIYer (or as consumer) You should realize doing business for such a small community with low profits needs some planning, right? Doing 100 core kits is no problem, those will be sold. But buying say, 50 MAX525 is a risk investment. It's about the demand. Maxims price breaks start at 25 pieces and it's still expensive (this is for RoHS compliant MAX525BCPP+, $21.99) So, start up a group buy effort in the "fleamarket" and lets see how many people are interested. Moebius/ Samppa

Heh, You live and learn! ;D Like my friend told me just few days ago: If one disk breaks in a Sun Blade, be sure to order replacements for ALL the disks, because in one month they're all gone bad. (disks come from the same batch and MTBF is about the same) I think dcr10 deleted his posting for no reason - nobody did step on the others feet, I guess. Current hosting by Twin-X has been pretty solid, if You're having troubles accessing the forum, it's because recovering the websites hosted by him. Moebius

This is true. But my argument is: used FeCl isn't really enviromentally harmful. See this link: http://web.archive.org/web/20041029030141/http://www.inchem.com.ph/fecl3.htm I might not be the guy seeing the whole picture, but think about how much wastewater runs in the pipelines? How much does pouring FeCl really affect the system, as I have and have used 'so called' chlorite cleaning fluid, which is a popular product. Moebius

Well, I have used 2 methods: One is the good old, just putting used, diluted solution down the drain. (mind the possible stains). Once it enters the sewer it will be diluted even more and it's not really that reactive anymore. You'll probably have noticed this, when using old solution that is only "hand warm".. it takes hours to etch away 35um copper. Last time I used a recycled 5 Liter plastic canister as a ecthing tank and when the solution didn't ecth properly anymore, I just threw the whole thing to the trash can. I'm not feeling guilty about it. Throwing away leftovers from the 60/40 solder after a soldering session is more dangerous to the environment. But WE as hobbyists are not to blame in any case - the whole consumerism, the idea of disposable goods, instant gratification and the capitalistic utopia of the constant growth is more or less to blame about this mess. Moebius, feeling sorry about pseudo-political rant in this posting.

Can You offer anything that 1and1.com can't offer? (it's my preference) *.midibox.org is these days hosted in pretty stable server(s) - Thank, Twin-X! But lack off clustering with daily backups sounds, uh, sorta unprofessional :D Moebius

<bitchin' on> Hmm.. I hope I'm not stepping on anyones feets here or getting another ban. ;D <bitchin' off> <sarcasm on> But dcer10 - Why don't You start supplying MAX525s and the reference chips? </sarcasm off> The information I'm representing here might have came from the private conversations and not intended for the public, but I'll take that risk. There was a time, when SmashTV's midibox shop didn't have LCD displays available, but those were requested from Smash regularly. Because those who ordered wanted a complete solution from the one place. After a few lengthy discussions with him, he decided that it's worth the risk to bulk order displays - more or less to keep customers happy. Anyone of You can just GUESS how the business model for a "midibox shop" (Mikes or SmashTVs) is build. "Keep the customers happy and You'll get a dime from a dollar". LCDs were a risk investment for Smash, a few or more were broken and his pricing really doesn't even give back the time (= money) spent in the effort of testing every individual display ect. --- This leads to the original request. What does (in the MAX525 page) $11.95 @ 1k mean - You'll have to invest to the stock (equals money), just sitting in Your drawer and wait for orders. There's nobody in the Midibox community who could take that risk. Moebius

The topic says it all. Moebius

MTE - are links fixed. And opens on Eagle freeware 4.13. Moebius

It's probably a trouble of the CadSoft.de, makers of the software. They keep f**king up the fileformat while trying to fight against the software piracy and WE legal users are the victims. I can open both versions in Eagle Freeware v4.13. What is Your version? Maybe doing saving from my version would allow You to open those too. Moebius

Yeah, Thanks for the cool link! ;) Must try ecthing a frontpanel sometime. (only done it to make paint stick better to the aluminium) Actually, I disagree a bit. Lets say, the strong points of the FeCl are: It smells sorta bad, it stains everything - But it's not really that poisonous or environmentally harmful. I'm not saying You should try it as a blender for Your favourite Vodka or to do etching in Yer moms kitchen sink, but used and diluded solution can be easily disposed. Probably the domestic cleaning fluids You're using to TRY rinse off FeCl stains are more hazardous to You and the environment. Moebius

Thx, Dude! Decided to drop by as I had already been looking in these things (Matrix 1000 does it similar way as MKS-30 I happen to own). I didn't locate High Speed clock in the Matrix schems (well, I only had a quick look), but in a MKS-30 it is an LC osc (this is where the tuning takes a place, inserting a small random fluctuating voltage would probably make it more analog sounding ::) ) which is then buffered, going to pre-scaler (4-bit counter, probably used for octave switching) and then to the 8253s. 8253s handle generating pitch, (including pitch bends and 2nd osc detune), before the waveform converter. One last note: These DCO driven waveform converters aren't going to produce nice sawtooth or triangle waves for many octaves without active compensation of the waveform converter. You'll see a note in CEM3396 datasheet about that. Moebius

You want a set-and-forget solution. This is how DCO synths at that era were made. High speed clock signal divided down to audio frequencies by a 8253 or 8254 programmable counter chips. This way You'll only need to bit bang counter registers when the note frequency is changing and the uC has time to do such non-trivial tasks as CV generation and multiplexing, midi i/o and maybe user interface handling ect. For that "analog" drifting feeling CEM could be driven with something as simple as http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs159/vco4069.html VCO. Moebius