Re: Solar charger (was Re: News Openmoko Shop Pulster)

2009-05-30 Thread Peter Harrison
I thought I would provide some of my experience with using solar
power. My experience involves using a 12v panel. You can get 12v
panels from all kinds of places. In order to step down 12v to the
required 5v you will need an efficient dc converter:
http://us.100y.com.tw/PNoInfo/21207.htm

Do NOT use a 5v regulator as you will dump half the power directly
into the regulator as heat. That is not only a waste of power but
potentially a fire risk. From there you can get a connector to the NEO
USB and simply wire in the power. I actually had a PhidgetServo board
and wired the power directly into it. To get my NEO to charge I had to
turn on the external charging and set to 500ma.

The point here is that you will need 5v x 500ma = 2.5W in order to
supply that kind of juice. This power is only available in full
exposure. It also does not account for any conversion loss. I
recommend using a 5W panel. Obviously if you can get a 6v or 5v panel
you could use a basic regulator without much trouble.

This is not a kind of panel you can carry around easily. Some
'chargers' on the market have such low surface area they have no
realistic chance of supplying the kind of juice required for charging
in a realistic time frame.

Here is panel I'm using:
http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4a21d7f801e681262741c0a87f3b06ee/Product/View/O3345

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Subversion access to new project

2008-07-24 Thread Peter Harrison
I'm not sure who to email about this issue; but I have opened a openboat
project on the projects area, but I can't seem to commit anything. I have
used both dav and ssh. I have created a directory structure with my work to
date, then run:
First method is ssh:
svn import . svn+ssh://[EMAIL PROTECTED]/svnroot/openboat--message
'Initial import'
and I get:
Permission denied (publickey).
svn: Connection closed unexpectedly
I am not asked for a password.

The other method is https:
svn import --username cheetah100
https://svn.projects.openmoko.org/svnroot/openboat
and I get:
svn: Can't create directory '/svnroot/openboat/db/transactions/0-1.txn':
Permission denied

Am I doing something wrong here? Should I contact someone at openmoko?
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Re: tmobile GPRS

2008-07-12 Thread Peter Harrison
On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 7:31 PM, Jim Morris [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Has anyone managed to get GPRS to work via tmobile (or anywhere) on the
 freerunner (GTA02)?

 I followed the instructions for ppp on the wiki, and especially the one
 that says it worked for
 tmobile wap. But I keep getting Connect script failed when run in debug
 mode, and not much else.

 It seems the instructions were for gta01, should it still work?


First thing to do is look at the log file and check out what command is
failing. I use GPRS on the Neo1973, and it took a bit to get it working with
the local provider. The first step was looking at the log file in /var/log
and working out why it failed.

Also, I disable gsmd and turn on the gsm device in my script. If gsmd is
still operating it doesn't work for me, and gives me errors when giving AT
commands. Not sure what the FreeRunner is like at this point of course. And
of course these issues may have been worked out by now, but I don't know for
sure.
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Re: robotics anyone?

2008-07-12 Thread Peter Harrison
As I posted earlier, I have already been using the Neo1973 as a main CPU for
my solar powered robotic boat. I am using it with Phidget controllers which
are USB based. Phidgets have API's for C#, C, Java and Python.  I'm using
the Python API. The Neo is an ideal robotics platform with communications
and navigation built in.

I'm looking forward to the FreeRunner because I will be able to power the
device directly off a 5v supply. Ideally I want to be able to shut down and
restart the Neo using a timer or other interrupt based approach. This way
the Neo can be shut down if there is low battery, and restarted when the
solar panels charge the battery sufficiently. Currently I can't do this with
the Neo1973 - which is a limitation.

On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 7:09 AM, andres [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  Hi,

 Sorry to be a little OT

 but It looks like a dream
 FreeRunner board as a robotic platform for  $100

 Anybody doing anything related?


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Re: Robotics and Openmoko

2008-07-11 Thread Peter Harrison
I have a blog at:

http://www.devcentre.org

Under the science tab I've got all my Open Boat content, with articles
from conception to implementation. I've made some mistakes along the way,
some quite expensive - such as blowing up a motor controller by plugging it
into the wrong polarity, and I am still to have a 100% operational boat.
However, I'm not far away.

I've just been made redundant through restructuring so I have some time to
write up things in some more detail.

My next challenge is developing the magnetic compass hardware and software.
I know there are commercial compasses, but they are kind of expensive. I'm
going to use two hall effect sensors and see if I can write the software to
interpret the readings from these sensors.

I've also been writing a simulator which will be able to test the software.
And yes - I will be releasing all the source very soon. It was suggested I
add to the Wiki projects page as well - so I will. As you can see I have a
bit on my to do list now :)



On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 11:25 PM, Risto H. Kurppa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Cool project! Indeed Freerunner makes some new applications possible
 as integrated wlan-gps-gprs-accelerometer-wifi device.

 Is there some web page or blog or feed or something I'd use to see how
 you're doing with the project? (I think this mailing list has way too
 much mails to actually be able to follow some discussion :)

 r


 --
 | risto h. kurppa
 | risto at kurppa dot fi
 | http://risto.kurppa.fi

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Re: questions about our mailinglists

2008-07-06 Thread Peter Harrison
I was a little confused about all the lists myself. I have started
developing apps on the Openmoko, but not for the core - aka I doubt my apps
would ever be distributed as part of a standard distro as they focus on
robotics. I think it would be good to rationalise the number of lists. Right
now I simply subscribe to many lists.

On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 1:48 PM, Sean Moss-Pultz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Dear Community

 We want to simplify around key communication points. What do you think
 of the following:

   1) Combine 'openmoko-devel' and 'distro-devel' into one list -- called
 'devel'.

   2) Remove 'device-owners'.

   3) Remove 'hardware'.

 Any concerns / comments?

   -Sean

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Re: ancient hardware?

2008-07-06 Thread Peter Harrison
I wouldn't focus on the age of the hardware at all.

The real question is whether this will be a hardware platform that others
will be able to build innovation on top of. With phone companies making
available only applications which earn them money you have not really seen
the same kind of innovation that we saw in the PC space in the early 90's.

It will no doubt be a success in its own right, but what about other
ideas...

* IP phone over Wifi and integrate with Asterisk IP phone systems - changes
to GSM outside the office.
* In car navigation system.
* Low cost taxi fare system.
* Courier driver system that minimizes route time and allows dispatch to
communicate.
* Robotic platform and robotic control
* Hospitals - used by nurses and doctors for prescriptions and observations
as low cost tablet.

The Neo could open up hundreds of vertical market opportunities that the
Telco's currently have no interest in tapping. If you think that the Neo is
simply a different kind of iPhone you are missing the point. Many
applications may use GPRS, but may not even implement phone functionality.
Some may not even use GSM. To me the attraction is that it has been designed
from the ground up to run Linux, and there is a dedicated team working on
the frameworks that will make delivery of these applications possible.
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