Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
Grahame, Your comment nagged at me, so I did include Huffman compression and got nearly 100k of text down to 48k. I wrote a program to take a text file and output it a line at a time to a file I can directly include in my AVR code, along with the Huffman tree and a symbol table for looking up the string addresses. It took me a few days, including a 40 hour day over a weekend, but the satisfaction pays for all. On Sunday, July 6, 2014 10:38:12 AM UTC-7, Grahame Marsh wrote: Pete, snip Did you use any compression for the text? I just about doubled the number of proverbs I could fit in doing so. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/a1c4c70d-eece-4552-bb15-abd7364f53f9%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
Grahame, Thank you for the idea. I looked at the proverb list on your site, but in the end I used a combination of several other lists that includes quotations. I have other kinds of list I've been putting together, including bible verses and latin epithets, but regrettably I have only one lifetime and many other things to do with it. The basis of this clock was a full calendar that I wrote some years ago. It knows how to work out all the special days, including Easter, and has a variety of messages for all of them. Apart from what I put in, it will store user messages in EEPROM for birthday and anniversary reminders, etc. American calendar, though - perhaps I should do a British calendar version and send it to my mother. She would appreciate the bible verses. I made the prototype with some HP LED dot matrix displays I had laying around, HDSP2503 - simple parallel interface - but they cost nearly $50 each and the clock needs two, so my attention turned to the VFDs. I considered using compression, but I had 64k of flash available and found it difficult to fill it up even uncompressed. Besides, see comment above about number of available lifetimes. Here's a pic of the HDSP clock. I have a bag of Noritake graphic VFDs that I rescued from a dumpster, complete display, serial/parallel. I haven't quite decided what to do with them. It seems sacrilegious to waste them on text or numbers. Maybe I'll do a clock with rolling graphic numbers like an odometer. Pete https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T2Jb_ePgwnY/U7pg5AP7T1I/ALo/0pzZDFZpsQs/s1600/HDSP+clock.jpg Pete, I'm glad you found the ideas useful. I have a much larger proverb list which I chose from for my proverb generator when I became short of flash. I can let you (or anyone else) have it to play with. It includes a lot of other sayings, almost duplicates and the Way of Mrs Cosmopolite (Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett). Also here http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/The_Way_of_Mrs._Cosmopilite I also have a few hundred proverbs in French (somewhere). Did you use any compression for the text? I just about doubled the number of proverbs I could fit in doing so. I have a few 20x4 Itron display but I have been seriously distracted by scope clocks. They requires just 5V and generate all the required VFD voltages and multiplex signals, and have a simple parallel interface. I was going to use a SD card for text storage as simple ascii files so they could be edited on a PC and then the SD card transfered into the clock/proverb. With just a 1 MB card that is almost infinite storage. Cheers Grahame -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/edbc605a-1062-44b1-9697-9ff0fddc5dd6%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
Thank you both for the very creative ideas. I'm hoping to find some inspiration in them as a staring point in one of my own projects (when I finally get around to actually building something from scratch again). I'm still a beginner and have really only hand crafted a single digit numitron clock on my own. I'm hoping to move on to a VFD next and this type of thing would go well with the IV-17s. I also have a Noritake I got as a free sample that I might play around with also. On Mon, Jul 7, 2014 at 5:29 AM, Grahame Marsh grahame.ma...@googlemail.com wrote: Pete, As always it is interesting to hear what you have put in. I might ask you for some of your lists when I get back to proverbs - I fancy a scope clock that includes a scrolling proverb display. The other list I meant to mention are Blake's rhyming couplets (A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage etc) which go very well mixed in with proverbs. Having only one lifetime and what to play with during that lifetime is unfortunately a problem we all share. (Back to servicing the kitchen range) Grahame -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CAJrqPH8SEEeeAM%2B4UTCxp%3D6AtFZz7rRrb1oUe6PDuVfRXbsZPA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
Pete, I'm glad you found the ideas useful. I have a much larger proverb list which I chose from for my proverb generator when I became short of flash. I can let you (or anyone else) have it to play with. It includes a lot of other sayings, almost duplicates and the Way of Mrs Cosmopolite (Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett). Also here http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/The_Way_of_Mrs._Cosmopilite I also have a few hundred proverbs in French (somewhere). Did you use any compression for the text? I just about doubled the number of proverbs I could fit in doing so. I have a few 20x4 Itron display but I have been seriously distracted by scope clocks. They requires just 5V and generate all the required VFD voltages and multiplex signals, and have a simple parallel interface. I was going to use a SD card for text storage as simple ascii files so they could be edited on a PC and then the SD card transfered into the clock/proverb. With just a 1 MB card that is almost infinite storage. Cheers Grahame On 24/06/2014 10:18, petehand wrote: Inspired by Grahame Marsh's approx and proverb clocks (http://www.sgitheach.org.uk/vfd3b.html), here's my effort. ... I ended up with less than 128 bytes of Flash memory free and not a single unused byte of EEPROM, which gives me great satisfaction. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com mailto:neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dd3a2e0f-50b4-4605-9de4-f645475744b1%40googlegroups.com https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dd3a2e0f-50b4-4605-9de4-f645475744b1%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=emailutm_source=footer. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/53B98980.3060205%40googlemail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
Very nice! Any chance of a kit? On Jun 24, 2014 5:18 AM, petehand peteh...@gmail.com wrote: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PS9IlBAtXJ4/U6lB_VHaIFI/AK0/DbcReEmHYo8/s1600/P1010711.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Mp4oF93gc-w/U6lCJX-V8zI/AK8/U4GdQuIFxuE/s1600/P1010709.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PS9IlBAtXJ4/U6lB_VHaIFI/AK0/DbcReEmHYo8/s1600/P1010711.jpg Inspired by Grahame Marsh's approx and proverb clocks ( http://www.sgitheach.org.uk/vfd3b.html), here's my effort. It tells the date and approximate time (nearly ten to three etc), has a complete calendar of US special days including the ones that move (eg it shows Easter correctly for the whole 21st century), a thousand different proverbs and quotations, and 366 historic birthdays, one for every day of the year. (I was torn who to pick for December 25th. The obvious would be Jesus Christ, but I opted for Sir Isaac Newton instead.) Additionally you can put in 30 messages of your own, such as birthday or anniversary reminders, to show on specific dates, plus sixteen of your favorite witty sayings or scurrilous remarks to show up at any time. I ended up with less than 128 bytes of Flash memory free and not a single unused byte of EEPROM, which gives me great satisfaction. Since the LM9022 is going out of style, I used an Si9986 H bridge (U4, bottom right) for the filament AC, driven by the processor off the oscillator that generates the 35V. A pair of HV5812s drive the 16 grids and 16 anodes at a multiplex frequency of 1kHz. There's an ambient light sensor above the display for automatic brightness control. It plugs into any USB port for power, which is also the way you edit the personal messages. A supercap keeps time for a day or two when it's unplugged - personal messages are stored in EEPROM and won't be lost. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dd3a2e0f-50b4-4605-9de4-f645475744b1%40googlegroups.com https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/dd3a2e0f-50b4-4605-9de4-f645475744b1%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=emailutm_source=footer . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CAJrqPH_iBioNGrzT9anbK%2BEnZ%2BUnek2aAHrWvmOvzdruR%3D7tNw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
In principle yes, but it's difficult to put together a kit for a surface mount project. For one thing, I can't program the QFP processor chip until it's soldered into the board. I can do you an assembled board if you like. On Wednesday, June 25, 2014 3:51:02 AM UTC-7, William Lee wrote: Very nice! Any chance of a kit? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/a5e01ce2-155b-4c07-8dbf-bff681ddbe5e%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] A use for all those Itron displays I've got in the garage
Hi, petehand wrote: I can't program the QFP processor chip until it's soldered into the board. If you really want to do that for a small number of kits, I found that it can be done by just putting the chip on top of the footprint on the PCB (otherwise empty, except for the programmer connection) and pushing it down with your thumb during programming. A gold-plated PCB seems to work best. I have programmed about 100 controllers this way over the last few years and didn't have any problems. Best Regards, Arne -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups neonixie-l group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/53AB4B4B.6040405%40blinkenarea.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
