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Richard Earley writes:
>
> Have you tried using the computer monitor? ie: display the bar code on your
> computer screen and scan along the code? this may make a simple scout/code
> pilot programmer possible.
Even better, flash a big square in the same pattern as a bar code.
Hold the Micro-Scout up to the screen.
--
-russ nelson <sig@russnelson.com> http://russnelson.com
Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | "Ask not what your country
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | do for you..." -Perry M.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.robotics, Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com> writes:
> Richard Earley writes:
> >
> > Have you tried using the computer monitor? ie: display the bar code on your
> > computer screen and scan along the code? this may make a simple scout/code
> > pilot programmer possible.
>
> Even better, flash a big square in the same pattern as a bar code.
> Hold the Micro-Scout up to the screen.
>
> --
> -russ nelson <sig@russnelson.com> http://russnelson.com
> Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | "Ask not what your country
> 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to
> Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | do for you..." -Perry M.
But that requires timing on the part of the computer. A simple display of a bar
code could also be posted to a web page for access by all....
-Rich
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Richard Earley <richard.earley@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> But that requires timing on the part of the computer. A simple display of a
> bar code could also be posted to a web page for access by all....
Couldn't you use an animated gif?
--
Matthew Miller ---> mattdm@mattdm.org
Quotes 'R' Us ---> http://quotes-r-us.org/
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In lugnet.robotics, Matthew Miller writes:
> Richard Earley <richard.earley@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > But that requires timing on the part of the computer. A simple display of a
> > bar code could also be posted to a web page for access by all....
>
> Couldn't you use an animated gif?
I just tried this by modifying the PS barcode maker Doug Eaton posted. I made
one 'bar' and one 'space' as a 256x256 GIF and merged them with gifmerge as
directed by Doug's PS (plus all space lead-in/lead-out). I played this back at
various speeds with xanim, and none of them triggered my microscout (with the
brightness at 100% and the microscout against the screen). With my monitor's
60Hz refresh I have to slow it down a bit to make sure the animation speed
dominates rather than the monitor refresh rate.
VLL from the scout is transmitted much faster than a monitor could (without a
dedicated driver of some sort). It also only works if the bright red LED is at
point-blank range to the microscout's input (my LEGO fiber optics haven't
arrived yet, curses).
If someone could make this work it would be trivial to put up a CGI script that
let people enter scripts and get back a GIF which would program their
microscout. I don't think monitor brightness is going to be sufficient,
though.
--Ben
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The usual caveats with respect to refresh timing apply to all
suggestions about displaying something on a computer screen.
Think about watching a picture of a TV set on TV. The image seems
to creep and only part of it is displayed at any given time. Eye strain
is caused by looking at slow scanning monitors. Electronic eyes are
even more sensitive to this flashing. Some have a low-pass filter
in them to discard noise. The Micro Scout may or may not have this
ability built in.
I hypothesize a refresh rate of 85 Hz and a long persistancy phoshor
monitor would be the baseline for keeping the screen registering as
white between successive scans.
A more accurate way to do this would be to paint the square every
time the screen refreshes during the verical blanking period. This
is very hardware and OS specific but a generic tool may have already
been created and be floating around the net. Check if source code
exists for those watches and other devices that are able to read
the flashing screen. I would be very interested in knowing the
rate at which the watches were programmed and learning if they are
tied to the vertical refresh rate.
I cannot test any of these theories. I have a laptop with an LCD.
Its refresh characteristics are totally different with a very long
persistancy (1/5 second versus 1/85 second.)
Doug
Ben Jackson wrote:
>
> In lugnet.robotics, Matthew Miller writes:
> > Richard Earley <richard.earley@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > > But that requires timing on the part of the computer. A simple display of a
> > > bar code could also be posted to a web page for access by all....
> >
> > Couldn't you use an animated gif?
>
> I just tried this by modifying the PS barcode maker Doug Eaton posted. I made
> one 'bar' and one 'space' as a 256x256 GIF and merged them with gifmerge as
> directed by Doug's PS (plus all space lead-in/lead-out). I played this back at
> various speeds with xanim, and none of them triggered my microscout (with the
> brightness at 100% and the microscout against the screen). With my monitor's
> 60Hz refresh I have to slow it down a bit to make sure the animation speed
> dominates rather than the monitor refresh rate.
>
> VLL from the scout is transmitted much faster than a monitor could (without a
> dedicated driver of some sort). It also only works if the bright red LED is at
> point-blank range to the microscout's input (my LEGO fiber optics haven't
> arrived yet, curses).
>
> If someone could make this work it would be trivial to put up a CGI script that
> let people enter scripts and get back a GIF which would program their
> microscout. I don't think monitor brightness is going to be sufficient,
> though.
>
> --Ben
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Richard Earley writes:
> But that requires timing on the part of the computer. A simple display of a bar
> code could also be posted to a web page for access by all....
Relative timing is all that's needed. All you need is a wait()
routine which waits a consistent amount of time. Then you call it N
times, based on the width of the bar code you're trying to simulate.
--
-russ nelson <sig@russnelson.com> http://russnelson.com
Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | "Ask not what your country
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | do for you..." -Perry M.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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|
Perhaps an animated GIF file consisting of a black or white square that alternate
where the timing is specified in the GIF file and executed by the computer. This
would still be able to be posted on web sites.
Brian
Richard Earley wrote:
> In lugnet.robotics, Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com> writes:
> > Richard Earley writes:
> > >
> > > Have you tried using the computer monitor? ie: display the bar code on your
> > > computer screen and scan along the code? this may make a simple scout/code
> > > pilot programmer possible.
> >
> > Even better, flash a big square in the same pattern as a bar code.
> > Hold the Micro-Scout up to the screen.
> >
> > --
> > -russ nelson <sig@russnelson.com> http://russnelson.com
> > Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | "Ask not what your country
> > 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to
> > Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | do for you..." -Perry M.
>
> But that requires timing on the part of the computer. A simple display of a bar
> code could also be posted to a web page for access by all....
>
> -Rich
--
______________________________________________________
Brian Johnson
Broadband Network Division
C-Cube Microsystems, Inc.
email: bjohnson@c-cube.com
phone: 1-408-490-6702
fax: 1-408-490-6570
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