henrygr

What about Mandriva? I'll tell you why i'm asking. My main worry is compatibility with mobo, touch-screen etc, and mandriva seems to have a better support. I also need a good GUI for the touchscreen, as this is for live situations- ie no mouse, and happier about it too!! Keep the comments coming, Thanks.

If you use solid 2mm wire (like solid- not strands) should work. You will also have the fascia unit to gice extra support to the switch mechanism itself.

Actually, I see hoe youe messed up on the height now. Knob on left- Distance from base of pin to top of button = x Knob on right- Distance fron base of pin to top of base = x. The difference is the buttion on the right. So cut one of those buttons, shove it up the rear ens of the knob on the left, solder solid wire to the pins of the small knob and use tension to pull it into place on the PCB. At least that way the resistive tacile feel to both will at the least be similar. Like the photo by the way. You should give it a title- "Three knobs and a noob at ordering parts" he he he.......

What height do you want. The little, the large or an in betweeny thing?

Midi box of the month even. They are excellent. Well done.

Its a great machine, the JW50, or at least was in 1992 when I bought it. I want to use the case to buils a new system, both PC and MIDIbox based, but the system is all built onto one board, and I need the space for the upgrade.

Thank you. It seems a lot easier to move across to LINUX now than it did when I sfirst considered it some time back. Think I will definitely go for it on one system anyway...... ;D

This is working. Not rocket science, bur not the easiest thing in the world to build either Will need to put a cross cap between the Vs and Vd close to the drawbar mechanism to cut down on superflous spillage (old machinery, old contacts). Any suggestion for a value?

Anyone here able to point me in the right direction for a move to Linux. I want to rid myself of the Windows ball and chain, and run a PC for a live environment in a more efficient manner. Needs to run Win32 VSTi's though.....bit like Muse Receptor. Any tips would be much appreciated. Mark. :)

I use M-Audio stuff. For recording at home I have a 1010LT run from a studio master spirit desk. For live, I use the ever popular 2496. This is a great little card, and it is cheap enough to start with also. Funny you should have posted today, as I am in the middle of building a PC into my keyboard. I got this on ebay http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130059189209 for a steal, as well as a tulatin CPU for same price, so I will be posting a fuller srticle later on, as I am also building hammond M1 drawbars on to the keyboard surface (just finished those last night). Will run NI B4, Lounge Lizard, Steinberg The Grand 2 and Edirol Hyper Canvas for everything else. A kind of cut down package especially for live playing. As long as there is MIDI out on the machine, you're good to go. Set it up to MidiOx, see what type of information is output when using the preset buttons, and if you want, change what they do by using MidiOx as a filter between your keyboard and your software. Look into it. It's a free program, and the best out there..... Only thing I want to look int now is a shift toward LINUX, as I want the smallest system possible to run this in as hassle free an environment as possible, but that is for another post.

Does this mean, for once and for all, that we will be able to control drummers!!! ;D

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought the purpose was to directly control machanical parts with the midi 'protocol', as is already done with motor faders. Is it not the point that, lets say, a 5v pusle from an AOUT will 'kick' something off, then using AIN to determine position? ???

.......that makes about 1500 of us here on the forum, sorry, 1501.........

Well, laugh all you want. I'm going to make one. And get a T Shirt that has "SLOTH" written across it. And I might even paint myself black and white and get some orange fluffy head phones. We'll see who's laughing then.... ......he he he......

So. Now we know what it is not. Next..... Have you mounted the MIDI plugs to the core that came with SmashTV's package? CHECK all connections at capacitors and at the voltage regulator. Any chance of a photo of the soldering on the back? What version of Java are you using on the PC? (beta versions will 90% of the time cause annoyances). As Ithink of things for you to check, i'll keep posting.... That okay with you? Mark :)

Did you try it last night with the 9v battery connected?

Just realised that I posted this whole thing in the wrong area of te forum. Apologies. :o

That actually looks familiar. Got thinking last night after my last post, and got a hunch that that might happen. It's happened to me once or twice before. It is all total garble that comes about as a result of runnung the PIC, and more importantly- trying to upload to the PIC, at low power. So, what needs to be done is to upload the Bootstrap, and Mios (the bios and the operating system for choice of a better comarison), and this is the method- step by step. Bare with me if you have completed some of these steps- just want to make sure we are singing off of the same hymn sheet. BTW- Stick with the battery, a 2amp power supply is a bit too powerful!! a)Get a copy of Mios Studio- http://www.midibox.org/mios_studio/ if you have not done so already, and install. Read the instructions on the page, as it requires Java to be installed on your OS. Also download the lastest vesion of the MIOS skeleton from here http://www.ucapps.de/mios/mios_update_v1_9c.zip. Unzip the file to a folder on your desktop. We will come back to it later. b)Go to Midi>Midi Set Up and click (or press Ctrl+R) c)In the left pane select "Mios Studio Out Port", and in the right pane, click the name of the Midi in port of your PC. d)Click on "CONNECT" at the bottom of the page. e)In the right pane select "Mios Studio In Port", and in the left pane, click the name of the Midi out port of your PC. f)Click on "CONNECT" at the bottom of the page. g)Close this window h)Click on "Midi>Midi Monitor IN" and "Midi>Midi Monitor OUT" or Crtl+O and Ctrl+I. This will give us ring side seat of all the action. (now where did I put the popcorn....) :D i)Wipe the popcorn grease off of your hands, and click "Mios>MIOS Hex File Upload" or Ctrl+U j)On the right hand side, click the checkbox "Manual Mode- Don't use feedback from core" k)Click on the tab "Hex File", and navigate to where we unzipped our file earlier on the desktop. Double click the folder that is the model of what PIC you have, bouble click "Burner" and select the file. l)Now, turn on your Core Module, and as soon as you see some infromation appear on the Input Montor of Mios Studio, click on the tab "Start" in the MIOS Hex File Upload window. (This is an opportune time to finish the popcorn, as this takes a wee while...) m)When all is done, wait about four seconds, then power off the core. n)Again, click on the tab "Hex File" and navigate once more to the folder that represents your PIC, Double click "Midi", and choose the file "mios_v1_9c_pic18f***.hex". Steady now son, I can see the grin on your face!! The f*** stands for your model of PIC! (Cheeky git!) >:( o)Power back on the Core, and as in step 'l', as soon as you see some infromation appear on the Input Montor of Mios Studio, click on the tab "Start" in the MIOS Hex File Upload window. When all is done, wait about four seconds, then power off the core, wait another four, and power back on. I think that is about the size of it. Sorry if I was long winded, but at least you know the exact routine. I am, of course, and as ever, open for correction. Mark. :D

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D LOLOLOLOL S**t. I just laughed for five minutes solid. Think i'll have a can of beer now, it's like being at the pub. Anyways, went searching after my last post and got this https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=pages&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fpages.google.com%2F&ltmpl=yessignups&passive=true 100mb free web space from Google with page creators. Check it out. If you need a gmail invite, PM me. Mark

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9902727147.html Could this be the basis of thereamin in the 21st century?

Thanks for the info Jidis. I must say though, I love your photograps better when you can see your feet...he he. I forgot to mention a switch I pulled out of a Serial Port box a while back. You know the boxes i'm talking about- the pre-USB days when the change over switch for a printer between two PCs cost a fortune. Well they can be found still, and cost only a couple of Euro. No, although the parallel post is only a 25 pin connector, the switch in it was actually a 2 pole 32 way single throw switch (did I get that in the right order?) So there is a simple cheap solution. You can then use the metal box it comes in for growing seeds in, throwing at your neighbours dog (with a big piece of elastic attached so that it coms back to you, but wathch your head) or even, come to think of it, a MIDIbox enclosure! I like the bankstick idea best, as it involves no mechanical parts though. I program in C, but am a loss of where to start/what the hell it actuallly does. Can someone point me to a "Bankstick For Dummies" page? Thanks. Will report on my findings. Oh yeah, Jidis, where do you upload all your photos. It's like you're the MIDIbox roving reporter with all the pin ups you do. They are excellent!! Mark.

Connecting 5v regulated supplies to J2 is a great idea for final builds- not recommended for troubleshooting. Do the 9v battery. Trust me. 8)

Oh yeah, I'm a chef by trade, so here is a trade secret. Second hand or defunct and broken kitchen equipment is lying around nearly every hotel in the world. It is thrown out only when the political will od the head chef motivates him to hire a skip or contact a recycling firm- and they cost big money. Not nice having a chunk of your bonus package going into throwing things out, is it? So most will jump at the chance of having someone take it out of their way for free. And yes, it's all made of high grade stainless steel!!! Keep cookin' Mark.

FYI http://www.hackaday.com/2005/03/27/cut-sheet-metal-with-your-homemade-laser/

I have a niggling feeling that your problem lies here Antimon. It may provide the voltage, but not enough amps. I thought of this because in the past when powering my core with 9v batteries (much handier for setting up you system, as you are not tied down by wires) the unit would behave erratically as the battery started to lose its charge. On inspection with a multimeter, voltage showed up perfectly, but funny enough, i COULD NOT UPLOAD OR DOWNLOAD anything to the mios. Sound familiar? Also, you say 7.5V, however, you haven't said how many milliamps it provides- another very important factor. You would need, at a guess, to use a 750 m/amp adapter at 7.5v, and about 500 m/amps at 9v. Somehow I have a suspicion that your adapter is only operating at about 150 m/amps (you said "cheap"). Not enough juice, especially where LCD's are concerned. I also gather that your internet connection is at work, and your core is at home. Som on your way home tonight, get a good Duracell 9v battery, power up your core with that, and try again. Regards, Mark.