Tagged “computers”

  1. Playing a file from SMB in VLC under Linux

    I found this to fix my problems when trying to play a movie under SMB (Windows Share) with VLC under Linux (Ubuntu, if that matters).

    • Open VLC
    • Go to Tools > Preferences
    • Under the header Show Settings (bottom left), select the All button
    • Select Input / Codecs > Access Modules > SMB on the left
    • Enter credentials
  2. Cheap internet bike racing part 5

    The project is pretty reliable now. I regularly train against previous rides. Having beat a previous time, it's quite exciting and stimulating to try to retain the lead. I have been dropping seconds quite frequently. All I have to do is keep going at it, and I'll be in good condition for a springtime time trial I'm training for.

    I also have added code to publish the times and distances to IRC. For example:

    *** #bike 1266376160 *** demobiker (~demobiker@xxx.com) has joined channel #bike <demobiker> 900.000000 0.008644 <demobiker> 1100.000000 0.010805 <demobiker> 1300.000000 0.012966 <demobiker> 1500.000000 0.015127 The format is:

    • Time in milliseconds

    • Distance in km

    Eventually, the software will be able to pull in competitors times and display the differences, just as it does with prerecorded times.

    Here's what I spent so far:

    • $20 for used bike trainer.

    • $3.50 for a female connector, used in the joystick.

    • $1.50 or so for postage. The magnet and sensor was donated.

    Pretty inexpensive. Hopefully some more people will join in and build similar projects.

  3. Cheap internet bike racing part 4

    Looks like the GUI I wrote in GTK seems to be stable, at least in the living room. I need to take it down to the bike. When I was running it yesterday, I got 3km into the ride when the program crashed. What a horrible feeling. I think I had some mutual-exclusion issues with how GTK handles threading. Seems to be stable now, so I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

    201002100531_Screenshot-BikeRacer2010.png

  4. Cheap internet bike racing part 3

    The sensor is hooked up and I've done a few minor time trials. With the data collection feature, I'm able to automatically generate plots of various practice runs.

    201002080318_bike.png

    In the above graphic, I have two of my runs, plus one of my son's.

    Total cost so far: $4.50 (I needed a socket for the connector, bought at Radio Shack). I had the rest of the parts at home, plus the reed sensor was sent by my dad ($1.50 or so, shipping).

  5. Cheap internet bike racing part 2

    For the internet bike racing project, I modified an old Gravis Gamepad Pro controller to have a stereo headphone jack connected to two of the buttons. The plan is to get a reed (magnetic) switch, connect it to the bicycle and have it tripped by a magnet on the rotating wheel. This then acts as if a button was pressed on the joystick, and signals the software to do some processing.

    (Image not found: DSCN1260.JPG)

    (Image not found: DSCN1255.JPG)

  6. Cheap internet bike racing

    My newest project is a way to race other people with bike trainers on the internet. My goal is to have this as inexpensive as possible - hopefully under $10 or so. I'm not as concerned about fancy graphics or racing courses as much as "am I winning?", and having a reasonable price. So far, I have a simple C program that reads the joystick and calculates the time and distance traveled.

    Distance (km) = 0.177 Time = 0:00:29.332 km/h = 54.025 Distance (km) = 0.179 Time = 0:00:29.452 km/h = 64.830 Distance (km) = 0.182 Time = 0:00:29.676 km/h = 34.730 Distance (km) = 0.184 Time = 0:00:29.876 km/h = 38.898 Distance (km) = 0.186 Time = 0:00:30.084 km/h = 37.402 Distance (km) = 0.188 Time = 0:00:30.284 km/h = 38.898 Distance (km) = 0.190 Time = 0:00:30.508 km/h = 34.730 Not too fancy so far, but data collection seems pretty good.

  7. Repairing Wii nunchuk

    Our Wii nunchuk broke. After disassembly, it was obvious that two of the wires in the connector end had broken off. I immediately did a search on the internet for information, and found useful diagrams at wiire.org. The problem I had was that the wire colors I had did not match the colors that they had posted. After disassembling both the controller and the connector, I mapped out the appropriate colors for my particular controller. If you have to repair your Wii Nunchuk, I suggest that you do the same to ensure that the wires are mapped to the correct pins. In particular, on the Wiire site, the red wire was connected to the +3V pin. However, on my controller, the red wire was connected to the clock line.

    Wiimote Bus Pins (6-pin proprietary connector on Wiimote)

    Looking into Wiimote (or at the exposed pins on the nunchuk connector):

    `

    | 1 3 5 | | 2 4 6 | |---| `

    * 1 (Red wire) - +3V - (Brown on my system)

    * 2 (Yellow wire) - Clk (Blue on mine)

    * 3 (Red wire) - Attachment detection? (No connection on mine)

    * 4 (No wire) - Unknown (unconnected at Nunchuk connector) (No connection)

    * 5 (Green wire) - Data - (Red on mine)

    * 6 (White wire) - GND - (Yellow on mine)

    * The shield wire (white on mine) was soldered to the metal housing.

    Wiimote Bus Pins (linear connector on Nunchuk PCB)

    . _ _ _ _ _ _ 1|_|_|_|_|_|_|6

    * 1 (Red wire) - +3V - (Brown on mine)

    * 2 (no wire) - N/C

    * 3 (Yellow wire) - Clk - (Blue on mine)

    * 4 (Green wire) - Data - (Red on mine)

    * 5 (White wire) - GND - (Yellow on mine)

    * 6 (Black wire) - Shield (GND) - (White on mine)

    Note that the +3v was labeled on the controller board, and was the pin closest to the cable. Another way over verifying this is to note that pin 2 has no wire going to it.

  8. Blood glucose meter - inside

    Page 43 of the December 7, 2009 issue of EE Times has an interesting examination of the internals of a blood glucose meter, specifically the Ascensia Breeze glucose meter manufactured by Bayer AG. What is most interesting is a lack of parts: an NEC 8 bit microcontroller, an ASIC coloumeter, and a 4K serial EEPROM are the only major parts (not counting crystals and capacitors). Looks like they could easily drop the EEPROM and reduce the parts count even further.

  9. Pounds makes sense in hexadecimal

    For years, I've wondered why there were 16 ounces in a pound. Then, being the computer geek that I am, it finally makes sense: ounces should be written in their native hexadecimal format. For example, a 1 pound 10 ounce steak would be written as 1.A pounds. 3 pounds, 15 ounces would be 3.F, and so on.

  10. Matrix X documentation

    Found in Matrix X documentation:

    The Template Programming Language (TPL) is used to specify the templates, which are merely TPL programs.

    High quality.

  11. 3D chat with only a webcam

    This application uses only a webcam to generate a psuedo-3d chat with no glasses required...extremely clever.

  12. Roller races in Erie

    A friend of mine forwarded an e-mail to me about some bicycling roller races being put on in Erie. Chris Coulston's e-mail reads:

    I recently put together a device which allows up to four cyclists to race one another on rollers. I made a video about the device and posted it on YouTube under RollerRace. The motivation for building this device was to hold Gold Sprints races. Together with the guys at Competitive Gear we will be hosting gold sprints at the Boardwalk Bar on Sunday January 25th in downtown Erie. Registration will start at 1pm, racing at 2pm. There will be a $5 registration fee, spectators are free and welcome. Each race is a 500m standing start race, run in an elimination form. Other races in different formats may be held, time permitting. The bar will be open and the kitchen should be serving. Please note that this event will be taking place in a bar serving alcohol, I'd advise leaving anyone under 21 at home. A variety of bikes in different sizes will be provided. All the bikes will be equipped with toeclips and straps, so your sneakers will work just fine. The Kreitler rollers being used will be equipped with fork stands so riding the rollers will be almost as easy as using your trainer. Of course you are encouraged to have fun and dress up in your team kit, a chicken costume, or a speedo/cape combination. So practice that high speed cadence and get the word out. Invite that neighbor who expressed an interest in cycling last summer.

  13. Recursive bedtime story

    My son wanted a bedtime story. Here it is.

    Once upon a time, there was a boy named William. He told his dad that he wanted a bedtime story. "Go to sleep," said his father. "Please?" asked William. "Oh, okay," said his father, "here it is."

    Once upon a time, there was a boy named William. He told his dad that he wanted a bedtime story. "Go to sleep," said his father. "Please?" asked William. "Oh, okay," said his father, "here it is."

    ...

    I did it three levels, and he got the idea.

  14. Windows 98 Annoyances

    I've been using XP/Vista/Ubuntu for a long time now, and I'm writing this remotely from an old Windows 98 machine. The machine is pretty slow, but the most annoying this is that this web site isn't displaying the images correctly. I don't know why, and I don't know if I'm going to bother to fix it; if you click on the links (picture border), the pictures show up ok, but they display with zero height.

    I guess I should fix this, but does anyone really use Windows 98 anymore? Oh yeah, me...

  15. The sound of horror

    If you need something to scare you, go to the hard drive failing page of horror sounds. It will want you to make you want to back up your data immediately.

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