#Neuractor and such
14 messages in this thread
Okay, I see my error – "Home Shop Machinist" is a magazine. Though it was
a company supplying machinist stuff for the home market. Can't remember
seeing the rag on any magazine stand.
Don't have room for any machining equipment. Would definetly be handy to
have for doing mechanical projects. Can only get so much done at the
workplace's machine shop – and really hate to ask.
US CyberLabs appears to have a bunch of kits. Things like a simple
68HC705 development system, simple receivers/transmitters, programmable
battery chargers, some kind of DSP products, and a myraid of other stuff.
Noticed this from one of their ads in a copy of "Nuts & Volts" I picked up
at the Dayton HamVention a couple of years ago.
gattling gun – awesome! Wonder what our bleading heart politicians with
our overkill gun control laws would think about that <grin> It's for pest
control, really.
73, Kelly
68HC705 development systems, eh? We have been wondering if the reason for the
delay in the Neuractor shipping is due to the current scarcity of the 68HC705.
Apparently they are just about impossible to get right now.
Yeah.. the bleeding hearts would have a fit if anyone had a gattling gun.
ere ibut here in Vancouver a few days ago, Mel Hurtig's daughter was shot at
with a 'zip gun' made from what looked like bicycle parts. Fortunately for her,
the bullet only grazed her arm, leaving a very minor scratch, and a hole in her
jacket. What got to me was the comment by her father, who, as you know, is the
leader of the National Party. He said that it's ironic, because his party is
the only one that favours a ban on handguns.
When I saw him making this statement, my jaw nearly hit the floor. Yeah, Mel.
Sure. With a ban on handguns, that fellow would not have been able to walk into
his local sporting goods store, buy that zip gun, register it, and shoot your
daughter.
-larry
Had no idea the '705 were in such short supply right now. It must be one
of the most popular microcontrollers out there right. Must just be the
little guys who are having a tough time getting them.
Motorola must be slipping behind. When I was talking to Electrosonic or
Motorola (both, actually) back in early december, there was mention of
long back orders, even for common chips like op-amps. Was trying to get a
new FM receiver chip that was released in two versions, and had to settle
for the other version. Only minor differences between the chips – had to
run one external jumper and can't use a ceramic resonator for a
discriminator coil (didn't want to any way). Nice little receiver chip.
Already have it interfaced to an 68HC11 and MC145170 synthesizer chip.
Took me a while to remembr who Mel was. Then I remembered the Canadian
Air Farce shows from before the elections! I can understand a ban on hand
guns – that makes sense and has worked well. No need any changes there.
Now if only we had a system so we could own a couple and stored securely
at the Canadian Customs so we can pull them out of storage when crossing
the border going south into the wild frontier, then have Customs secure
them on the trip back home <grin>.
Haven't been watching the BCTV news (or much of any other news) the last
few days, so never heard of the zip gun incidence with Mel's daughter.
Too many crazies out there, and the pansies in Ottawa wont do anything
about real deterant incarceration. They seem more occupied with taking
the guns away from the police and giving them the stupid pepper spray!
73, Kelly
How do you like the 68HC11?
I got my little steper circuit stepping from the parallel port of the 3000 last
night, and after a couple mods that it needs, I'll be starting to play with a
68HC11 with the idea of having it control the stepper. I should be picking up
the chip and a prototyping board today.
-larry
The 68HC11 isn't too bad of a chip. I get to do some real assembler
programming! Am starting to learn about all those memory addressing modes
I ran away from on the 680×0.
My biggest problem is trying to remember what resources are available on
the HC11. Then decided to stick to the ones I need and ignore the rest.
Brilliant, huh!
Using the 68HC11A1P, one of the originals, but it does the job. The board
it comes on (designed by a member of TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio
Corporation)) is designed to act as a deviation meter, once interfaced to
a receiver. It is used in Expanded mode, comes with a 32k EPROM, room for
32k RAM, synthesizer chip, VCO circuitry, op-amp, serial-parallel shifter,
and LED display driver, PAL for chip select, and a TC232 RS-232 driver.
The kit of parts goes for about US$99. This configuration doesn't leave
much in the line of discrete i/o available, but is enough for the original
application, and the application I am putting another one of these units
to use for.
This other one still uses the synthesizer chip, but use an external VCO –
part of the receiver chip circuitry on another board. The serial-parallel
shifter was used to hold the pattern for the LED display, and used a
couple of transistors to select which digit to turn on. I have this
connected to a 2 line by 40 character LCD display instead. Took me two
days to get the software working (stupid mistake!) to drive the display.
Since I can't read back form the display, have to use delay loops to give
the display enough time to digest anything sent to it.
All four A/D channels are in use, just as in the original Deviation Meter
design. One channel monitors the VCO tuning voltage (don't do anything
with this except display it), one channel watches the Received Signal
Strength, and the last two channels what the + and – peaks of the
discriminator output. I will eventually use these two channels to track
the incoming signal to follow the doppler shift of the satellite's
signal.
Right now I have a performance problem to work out with the current setup
for the satellites. Might have to get a new modem/TNC (Terminal Node
Controller) for the satellite stuff. Should know what I am going to do by
the end of the weekend.
Would have been nice if this board used one of the newer version of the
'HC11 that offered two more ports. Then I could waste time trying to
interface to the graphical LCD displays.
Just received the Winter/94 issue of Motorola's "Update" rag (BR128/D).
Motorola now has a available a number of libraries for downloading into
the TPU (Time Processing Units) on the 68332 and 68HC16 to give them new
functions. They have added functions like "Multi-phase Motor Commutation
(COMM)", "Hall Effect Decode (HALLD)", and a couple of new Stepper Motor
functions. Bunch of others, too. These can be downloaded from their MCU
BBS (512-891-3733). There are printed application notes avaialable for
these functions. Looks like time to order more App Notes.
Well, it is -32C outside. Snowmobiling is out of the question, so I get
to spend the day playing in the shack, and see if I can make some headway
on my poor thru-put on the birds.
73, Kelly
Sounds like you are enjoying the 68HC11. I am currently trying to digest all
the info in the reference manual. It looks like it'll be more than adequate for
the task.
Thanks for the heads-up on the appnotes and downloadable libraries. Are the
ones for the 68HC16 compatible with the 68HC11?
-32C? Gadzooks, man! You would willinly live in an area that can get that cold?
+8C here, so snowmobiling is also out of the question for me. 🙂
-larry
Larry, the HC11 is a nice family. Would be nice to have some of the
capabilities of the HC16 – I am never satisfied!
The TPU (Time Processing Unit) has NO relationship to the HC11. This
is the special block in the MC68332 (and a couple other MC683xx
devices), and some versions of the HC16 (not the Z1, which I have one
of). (I am a sucker for evalution kits). The HC16 is upward
compatible with HC11 code – very similiar cpu.
But there is a fair bit of code for the HC11s available on the MCU
BBS. Just checking the file list, and don't see anything for stepper
motors.
Will have to check closer – may be some stepper motor code for the '05
or one of the others on there. The BBS is free, and they support up
to 9600 bps, MNP5. I just ordered a supra 14.4 data/fax modem
(CDN$225 or US$169, with Caller ID and Silent Answer) so hope to get
on the BBS some more, plus some others.
The cold wx beats being rained on for 9 months of the year! I lived in
Sunny Rupert, and spent time in Vancouver. I'd rather shovel (and play
in) the snow. Got up to a Balmy -18C Sunday. Spent about 7 hours
outside.
73, Kelly
I'm still reading, learning about the HC11. It really is a marvel.
The Supra is great. I've had one for ages. CallerID is real fun. I
won't leave my machine open for access unless I run my CallerID ARexx
thingy.
Well, I have to disagree on the cold. I don't enjoy shovelling snow,
and cannot imagine actually playing in it. I do not enjoy snow or ice
or cold in the least, but I don't mind some rain.
Larry,
Be sure to get all the books for the HC11.
The Reference manual (M68HC11RM/AD, I have a rev. 3 copy) gives a good
deal of information on using the various subsystems.
You MUST get the Technical Data manual for the version of the HC11 you are
using. For the A8, A1, and A0 versions, it is MC68HC11A8/D (again, my
copy is revision 3).
What comes in handy is the Programming Refernce Guide, and it must be for
the version of the HC11 you are using. For the A8, A1, and A0 versions,
it is MC68HC11A8RG/AD (I have revision 1).
(Did I give you this info before? Sure feels like familiar typing!)
If you don't have a copy of these already, get them from your local
Motorola Sales office: Applications and Product Literature BR-135/D
(latest revision is 11), and Technical Literature and Information
Guide BR101/D (rev 16 is the latest). These both have a light green
cover.
If you think the HC11 is neat, wait until you see the MC68332. The
Serial Peripheral Interface in the HC11 looks pathetic next to the
'332's Queud (how ever it is spelled) Serial Peripheral Interface.
But then, there is such a thing as overkill, depending on the
project!
Bell Canada just dropped the rates a bit for CallerID, but still a tad
on the expensive side. I think the new rate is $3/month. Something
that would be nice to play with, but don't keep the computer on all
the time, so unless I get a stand alone decoder, would be of limited
value. But even this would be useless right now – I don't believe
CallerID (or any of the other options Bell offers) are available
here. Local office is still a mechanical system – they can't even
trace phone calls!
Hey, if anybody says to you I'm crazy, don't try to defend me – I am!
My displeasure of the west coast winter rainy weather came about as I
had to do a fair bit of work outside (wiring houses). When the
temperature was +10C (or cooler), and drizzly outside, it made for
real uncomfortable working conditions. Out here, I have had to work
outside at -20C, and as long as there is no wind chill, it is no big
deal – even if you have to take your gloves off for a few minutes to
work with small parts (like 1/4" nuts).
Current Wx is about -32C, but I get to work in the Recovery Boiler, to
see why one of the Pacer (Cegelec) drives (250HP Pulse Width
Modulated 600V 3 Phase drive) keeps tripping on Over Current. I
think the CPU board (okay, actually two CPUs on the one board) keeps
loosing it's mind. Find out soon enough. We have two of these
drives, and regret getting them, but the Great Lakes mill in Thunder
Bay has over 20 of these drives, and they REALLY regret it! You want
to see some big cap's blown up? I had the guy doing an I/R heat
survey (checking for hot spots in electrical equipment) look inside
of one of the drives, and the capacitors were 85C above ambient!
73, Kelly
Let's see.. I have the ref manuals (two of them.. one Moto, one
Toshiba, and another Toshiba manual that really doesn't say what it
is. When I pick up the board, I'll be getting the Specific chip
manual. The '332 sounds interesting, but again, on the HC11, the
price is right. REAL right.
So, Larry,
Tell me about this 'HC11 board you are getting at the "REAL" right
price.
Hey larry,
a friend of mine says to get the 68HC11P from motorola, they offer a
development kit for $68.11 or something like that… might be worth a
call. he got his through school.
Mark, you missed Larry, and hit me! Ouch.
What version of the 68HC11 is in the dev kit, and what is the order number
for it?
73, Kelly
Well i tried,
to be honest i dont have a clue.. i need to learn more about them my
self as they seem to be the unit of choice in mobile robots.
ill have to shoot some mail to him at school (VA TECH) and see what he
can supply.
-mark-
ps its 13F here.. brrrrrr.