s1axter posted on Wed. June 27th 2007 at 11:44 AM PST
As I tend to do when I'm all out of things post I was browsing youtube and came across pyrofer's user page. This guy works with the small 128x128 Nokia LCDs and PICs to make some cool 3D cubes and a clone of boulderdash.
The video is of a clone of Boulderdash running on a PIC 12f683 and a Nokia 3310 LCD.
firewire posted on Fri. June 22nd 2007 at 09:01 AM PST
Yah we all know that Doom has been around since the start of the "Gamers" era and your all probably sick of hearing about it. I figured since this wasn't about the game really and just a crazy PC mod that it was ok.
This guy spends his time making crazy computer systems, and by crazy I mean modded to the extreme. So I guess he decided to do a Doom 3 mod. All I can say is wow this guy has some amazing talent. Its more a work of art than a mod. With functional steam vents air locks and a feel like it came directly out of the game itself he definitely did an amazing job.
I don't really have much time to talk about it and I will probably edit this post later so that I can talk about it more but you can view the final beast here. If you would like to read through the entire post you can view that here.
s1axter posted on Thu. June 21st 2007 at 08:03 PM PST
Sometimes it gets hard to surf around and find a cool link/project on the net, especially when you work at a real job all day. So it seems like every other site has submit links, why not GI?
We've been talking and some day we will give away stuff to people who submit stuff or leave comments, so check back. Until then, entertain yourself with this! A Doom clone running on a TI-83... well it looks like an emulator but still. Looks like this has been around for a while but it's the first time I've seen it.
s1axter posted on Wed. June 20th 2007 at 10:54 PM PST
Today our review of Embedded Linux Primer showed up on Slashdot and one of the comments was about eLinux.org, a wiki for embedded Linux. I think I stumbled upon this on day but didn't save the URL.
I took a look around and there is a lot of information there, if you are an embedded Linux engineer or just interested take a look.
There were also some comments on the review about my statement that the device drivers chapter was a little weak. I guess I should have chosen my words a little better than saying I was expecting to be a driver guru at chapters end. The thing I was disappointed about was the lack of information on how the kernel interacts with hardware on a low level. The chapter gave a cursory overview of making a driver shell that said "loaded" "unloaded" and that's about it.
Thanks a lot to all who stopped by today and come back soon!
s1axter posted on Mon. June 18th 2007 at 11:52 PM PST
Another embedded contest for all those embedded developers out there!
Microchip and Circuit Cellar are running the Microchip 16-bit Embedded Control 2007 design contest . This contest is for any solution commercially available 16bit MCU or DSC and is open to anyone 18 and older who doesn't work for Microchip.
The prize breakdown is $5000for first place, $3000 for second and $1750 for third. There are also 7, $750 prizes for subcategories:
1. Effective Use of SMPS Resources (for example resources found on dsPIC30F2020)
2. Effective Use of Motor Control Resources (for example resources found on dsPIC30F2010)
3. Use of Smart Sensing Methodologies
4. Connected (Communications) Applications
5. Effective Use of Peripheral Pin Select (for example resources found on PIC24FJ64GA002)
6. Effective Use of DSP technology
7. Best Use of Bonus Parts
All entries must be written using PIC assembly or C30 compiler and be submitted before October 16, 2007.
s1axter posted on Thu. June 14th 2007 at 11:49 AM PST
Last weekend the Robotics Society of Southern California held its June meeting in Fullerton, CA. I was unable to go, and after taking a look at the pics in the June write up I kinda wish I had. Every month or two the RSSC has a small contest for those in attendance. In May there were two contests; navigate a hallway and follow a wall. This month was a little more complicated, find the power outlet in the room and move to it (insert plug optional). Even though there was a passive reflective indicator on the outlet, I didn't expect to see many bots complete this, but three did! The one that impressed me in the club write up was the bot "T" by Jim Ubersetzig. From the write up:
"Jim built his own sensing device to find the outlet. It consisted of a laser and 3 light sensors mounted in an empty 35mm film canister which was mounted on two RC servos so that it could rotate 360 degrees. ... His robot would scan the room until it found the outlet, then approach the outlet making occasional steering corrections and usually lowered a pointer right onto the outlet. As usual, he did all this with a Basic Stamp with 26 bytes of RAM."
Wow! Congrats to all those who made it to the outlet.
s1axter posted on Mon. June 11th 2007 at 09:11 AM PST
Geeksinside.com reviews Prentice Hall's publication of Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach.
" Embedded Linux Primer is written to introduce engineers and designers to using the Linux operating systems for embedded applications"
If you are an embedded engineer or an aspiring embedded engineer this book is a great addition to the library. Check out the full review here: http://geeksinside.com/review.php?r=3
Boulderdash clone on a PIC
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
As I tend to do when I'm all out of things post I was browsing youtube and came across pyrofer's user page. This guy works with the small 128x128 Nokia LCDs and PICs to make some cool 3D cubes and a clone of boulderdash. 
Today our review of Embedded Linux Primer showed up on Slashdot and one of the comments was about 
Another embedded contest for all those embedded developers out there!
Who is the coolest robot character in the movies? I threw up a poll with five characters, vote on the right and let us know!
Last weekend the Robotics Society of Southern California held its June meeting in Fullerton, CA. I was unable to go, and after taking a look at the pics in the June write up I kinda wish I had. Every month or two the RSSC has a small contest for those in attendance. In May there were two contests; navigate a hallway and follow a wall. This month was a little more complicated, find the power outlet in the room and move to it (insert plug optional). Even though there was a passive reflective indicator on the outlet, I didn't expect to see many bots complete this, but three did! The one that impressed me in the club write up was the bot "T" by Jim Ubersetzig. From the write up:
Geeksinside.com reviews Prentice Hall's publication of Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach.
