I tried to buy some sockets for the FriendlyArm today for the serial ports and the interface port, no success so I'll need to try and work out what they are then order online.
I have found a useful website http://andahammer.com/
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Tuesday 22 May 2012
I've picked up a FriendlyArm Mini2440 (http://www.friendlyarm.net/products/mini2440) via ebay to experiment with. It runs the same chip as my Skywatcher Synscan Tour controller (I think).
It arrived loaded with Qtopia 2.2 Linux (discontinued). The Synscan Tour runs Windows CE which I think is available on disk for this along with an Android OS. The OpenMoko group has taken the latest version and extended it (http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Qt_Extended_Improved), not sure what would be involved in compiling that for this device but it may be a useful learning exercise at some point.
First up a bit tricky to use, the icon names were in Chinese characters although the text once I opened apps was generally in English. Found an option by tapping on the bottom left corner and one of the items has an associated image that looks like a group of ballons which when tapped got me to what turned out to be the Friendly Arm config screen. One of the Icons there is the Chinese flag floating just above (and overlapping) a British flag. That gave an option to change the language from Chinese to English. Now all the Icon names are in English.
The device has a Network port, an RS232 serial port as well as a few TTL serial ports, an expansion port, audio out, a USB port and USB hub, I2C, SD card socket and a bus expander as well as a resistive colour touch screen so should form a good basis for a control device.
No battery and the power usage rating looked a bit heavier than I'd like but I suspect that will drop with the display dimmed.
I would not recommend using the sunflower image as a background, really hard to see the icon's against it.
So far I've not managed to get networking going nor to get the device to recognise a webcam nor work with an external keyboard. I have been able to browse files on a micro SD in an SD carrier. No sign that it's recognised a bluetooth module plugged into the USB socket nor an Arduino Mega board.
It arrived loaded with Qtopia 2.2 Linux (discontinued). The Synscan Tour runs Windows CE which I think is available on disk for this along with an Android OS. The OpenMoko group has taken the latest version and extended it (http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Qt_Extended_Improved), not sure what would be involved in compiling that for this device but it may be a useful learning exercise at some point.
First up a bit tricky to use, the icon names were in Chinese characters although the text once I opened apps was generally in English. Found an option by tapping on the bottom left corner and one of the items has an associated image that looks like a group of ballons which when tapped got me to what turned out to be the Friendly Arm config screen. One of the Icons there is the Chinese flag floating just above (and overlapping) a British flag. That gave an option to change the language from Chinese to English. Now all the Icon names are in English.
The device has a Network port, an RS232 serial port as well as a few TTL serial ports, an expansion port, audio out, a USB port and USB hub, I2C, SD card socket and a bus expander as well as a resistive colour touch screen so should form a good basis for a control device.
No battery and the power usage rating looked a bit heavier than I'd like but I suspect that will drop with the display dimmed.
I would not recommend using the sunflower image as a background, really hard to see the icon's against it.
So far I've not managed to get networking going nor to get the device to recognise a webcam nor work with an external keyboard. I have been able to browse files on a micro SD in an SD carrier. No sign that it's recognised a bluetooth module plugged into the USB socket nor an Arduino Mega board.
Monday 9 January 2012
Picaxe
I've started trying to learn the basics of the Picaxe. I've picked up a 20pin starter board, some 20M2 Picaxe chips and a USB programming cable.
A bit of a shift in thinking to pick up Basic again, I've not touched it for years.
A bit of a shift in thinking to pick up Basic again, I've not touched it for years.
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