Re: gEDA-user: gschem: directly connecting two nets?
2011/1/24 DJ Delorie d...@delorie.com: Perhaps we need a concept of net with more than one name ? We'd have to define rules for DRC to follow. Multiple names for a single wire - this sounds like a good solution. Each gnetlist backend could then provide a net-unification function to map multiple input net names to single/multiple output netnames. DRC will be tricky, yes :) -- Krzysztof Kościuszkiewicz Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication -- Leonardo da Vinci ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
gEDA-user: gsch2pcb bug with '-' in filenames fixed
Hi folks, I just committed a fix for the bug in gsch2pcb that breaks things when footprint names contain '-'. Please test and let me know if you encounter any problems. Peter -- Peter Brett pe...@peter-b.co.uk Remote Sensing Research Group Surrey Space Centre ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gsch2pcb bug with '-' in filenames fixed
Peter TB Brett wrote: I just committed a fix for the bug in gsch2pcb that breaks things when footprint names contain '-'. Hey-Ho! This is good news! Too bad that the fix probably won't make it to the next release of debian stabel. ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak Email: k...@familieknaak.de Öffentlicher PGP-Schlüssel: http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x6C0B9F53 ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gsch2pcb bug with '-' in filenames fixed
On Mon, 2011-01-24 at 11:34 +0100, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote: Peter TB Brett wrote: I just committed a fix for the bug in gsch2pcb that breaks things when footprint names contain '-'. Hey-Ho! This is good news! Too bad that the fix probably won't make it to the next release of debian stable. ^ They release new ones of those? I thought that was a one-off event ;) I'm not sure this would qualify for back-port to 1.6.x anyway... but if we had enough testers, perhaps.. If not, 1.8.x is a way in the future yet. -- Peter Clifton Electrical Engineering Division, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, 9, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FA Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!) Tel: +44 (0)1223 748328 - (Shared lab phone, ask for me) signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gschem: directly connecting two nets?
I like the multiple names solution. I hadn't run into this issue until I came across gEDA symbols with hardcoded nets. Not a big issue, I tend to modify symbols now on a per project basis - so the need to have two net names for a single wire is much reduced. ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gschem: directly connecting two nets?
John Doty j...@noqsi.com writes: On Jan 24, 2011, at 11:57 AM, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote: Steven Michalske wrote: We would also need a way to force the chosen name of the net to choose when merging nets. e.g. When you merge a net named power with a net named 3v3_power, who wins? If a two pin symbol mediates the fusion, this would be determined by the connections to the symbol. The symbol would comprise a win-pin and a loose-pin. The winner would be the net that is connected to the win-pin. Works for the simplest case: net1 net2 ---(WP,LP) The combined net would be net1. But a little more complicated: net1 net2 net3 ---(WP,LP)(LP,WP)- Is this net1 or net3? At some point the user looses for his own stupitity. I'd just require a well defined topology, and tell the user if the resolution is not unique, then he has to accept arbitrary results, based on the random order of evaluation of the shorts. -- Stephan ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. Any suggestions? Are steppers or servos better for this use? What should I use to control them, Arduino or a generic motor control circuit? For background, I'm working as a programmer now, so I can handle the programming. My degree is in EE, but I haven't used it in ~20 years, so I'm kind of rusty on the electronics side but I'm sure it will come back. Dave ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
plug mode Renesas is currently having a design contest using their latest RX chips - the RX/62N. The 62N series has USB *host* and a bazillion timers, and can probably do everything you want in one chip. Search for rx600 on digikey, but they're in the $17 range. I'm also asking for feedback on my latest RX/62N breakout board, here: http://www.renesasrulz.com/thread/3369 - if there's enough interest, I'll redesign it for hand soldering and make a batch of blanks. /plug mode Coincidentally, I'm also doing some motor control stuff with the RX, although my motors are BLDC servos: http://www.delorie.com/electronics/rx/ I'm waiting for the 48v power supply and a paste stencil (and time) before moving to the next step. I think steppers are the right way to go. Easy to operate, easy to position, go round and round more than once. Controlling the steppers is easy, you just need a few N-mosfet transistors (or a dual H-bridge chip, I suppose). The tricky part is getting an MCU with USB host functionality. Most have USB device functionality. An alternate solution is to google for one of the bazillion parallel port to stepper interfaces, or a PCB USB to stepper controller. Why re-invent the wheel when you can just use a PC? The first hit on usb stepper control is http://www.stepperboard.com/, for example. ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gschem: directly connecting two nets?
The special symbols is supposed to fuse netnames as issued on the netlist, not labels on the schematic. --- If you are also fusing the copper on the board then I would kind of like to see that when I am viewing the schematic. You want to give the user a choice. If I pull up a component view then I want to see the signal names from the original designer. If I am traversing a hierarchy and open an instance view then I want to see the signal names that match the names in the parent instance. John Eaton ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Thanks for the suggestions, DJ. Unfortunately, there's really no room for a pc where I have the microscope set up, and most laptops don't even have parallel ports any more. Plus running a full-blown pc just to drive a microscope seems like rather a waste of electricity. -Original Message- From: geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of DJ Delorie Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:44 AM To: gEDA user mailing list Subject: Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors plug mode Renesas is currently having a design contest using their latest RX chips - the RX/62N. The 62N series has USB *host* and a bazillion timers, and can probably do everything you want in one chip. Search for rx600 on digikey, but they're in the $17 range. I'm also asking for feedback on my latest RX/62N breakout board, here: http://www.renesasrulz.com/thread/3369 - if there's enough interest, I'll redesign it for hand soldering and make a batch of blanks. /plug mode Coincidentally, I'm also doing some motor control stuff with the RX, although my motors are BLDC servos: http://www.delorie.com/electronics/rx/ I'm waiting for the 48v power supply and a paste stencil (and time) before moving to the next step. I think steppers are the right way to go. Easy to operate, easy to position, go round and round more than once. Controlling the steppers is easy, you just need a few N-mosfet transistors (or a dual H-bridge chip, I suppose). The tricky part is getting an MCU with USB host functionality. Most have USB device functionality. An alternate solution is to google for one of the bazillion parallel port to stepper interfaces, or a PCB USB to stepper controller. Why re-invent the wheel when you can just use a PC? The first hit on usb stepper control is http://www.stepperboard.com/, for example. ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Hmmm... Android to USB-on-the-go stepper controller? Anyway, if you decide to go the RX route, repost your question over on www.renesasrulz.com, you'll find more RX-specific help there. ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: Visual cue of zero length pin endpoint
Krzysztof Kościuszkiewicz wrote: One proposal would be to reuse endpoint marker of unconnected nets (same size shape). Another is to keep the current marker for longer pins, and below some configured length use a box-shaped cue (same as unconnected net). Opinions, other proposals? My proposal: Make all endpoints point-like. There is no point in having a direction of an endpoint. (pun intended) Put a blob with configurable size and color at the end of every pin. Make it stand out by default. This is a cue whose purpose is to be a visible reminder that there is an open end dangling in the circuit. This eye-catching marker should not print (in postscript). While at it: The marker should _not_ scale with zoom. Make this behaviour default, but optional. So the old behavior can be restored. ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak tel: +49-511-762-2895 Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik fax: +49-511-762-2211 Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de GPG key:http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmkop=get ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
David, To talk to the joystick, you will need a board with a USB host interface. I was just looking for such a beast and found an open source project called Ethernut. The project can be found at ethernut.org. They have several versions of the hardware and a new one, ver 5, with a USB host port should be out soon. Ethernut hardware can be bought from Egnite. I just sent them an email asking if the host port is supported in software and what tools are available for development. I expect a USB host interface will be much more work getting up and running. I'm not sure why this board is not shown on the egnite.de site. They also don't readily provide contact info. The only email address I found is i...@egnite.de. Another place to look is microcontrollershop.com. I see they have a large number of CPU boards and boxes with USB host ports. They are supposed to distribute the Egnite products, but I haven't found the Ethernut 5 there yet. Let me know what you find. I have a strong interest in this sort of board and software. Rick At 10:19 AM 1/24/2011, you wrote: Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. Any suggestions? Are steppers or servos better for this use? What should I use to control them, Arduino or a generic motor control circuit? For background, I'm working as a programmer now, so I can handle the programming. My degree is in EE, but I haven't used it in ~20 years, so I'm kind of rusty on the electronics side but I'm sure it will come back. Dave ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
gEDA-user: gerber outlines
I'm trying to provide Dorkbot PDX with gerbers for a two-layer circuit board. They require an outline gerber so I followed the [1]http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:pcb_tips#how_do_i_make_a_board_outlin e_to_go_with_my_gerbers_to_the_board_maker instructions by naming the active layer which for me was the component layer 'outline'. I then exported the gerber file and the outline gerber still shows nothing. The help link above makes it sound like PCB will generate the outline automatically to the 'outline' layer absolute edge. Do I have to draw these lines in or does PCB do this and what should I see when viewing the outline gerber layer? Thanks References 1. http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:pcb_tips#how_do_i_make_a_board_outline_to_go_with_my_gerbers_to_the_board_maker ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
That's the way to do it. Try checking the all-layers option. Also, watch out for spaces or capitalization in the outline name. ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gschem: directly connecting two nets?
Ouabache Designworks z3qmt...@gmail.com writes: The special symbols is supposed to fuse netnames as issued on the netlist, not labels on the schematic. --- If you are also fusing the copper on the board then I would kind of like to see that when I am viewing the schematic. PCB requires all connecting copper to be the same net(name). gnetlist needs to resolve merged nets to a single net. That happens now for hierarchy, except when a subcircuit shorts two higher-level nets. This could probably be fixed, with a warning and some arbitrary choice how the net is named. You want to give the user a choice. If I pull up a component view then I want to see the signal names from the original designer. If I am traversing a hierarchy and open an instance view then I want to see the signal names that match the names in the parent instance. There is no instance view in gschem. John Eaton NB, when resolving hierarchy, gnetlist keeps the netname of the outer level. Sometimes I'd wish it would keep the subcircuit netname. This would also resolve the case when a subcircuit shorts two outer nets. -- Stephan ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
Rob Butts r.but...@gmail.com writes: I'm trying to provide Dorkbot PDX with gerbers for a two-layer circuit board. They require an outline gerber so I followed the http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:pcb_tips#how_do_i_make_a_board_outline_to_go_with_my_gerbers_to_the_board_maker instructions by naming the active layer which for me was the component layer 'outline'. No. You need to add an extra outline layer, which is empty except for the board outline, which needs to be drawn as a closed seqence of lines (and/or arc?). I then exported the gerber file and the outline gerber still shows nothing. The help link above makes it sound like PCB will generate the outline automatically to the 'outline' layer absolute edge. No such automatism. Do I have to draw these lines in or does PCB do this and what should I see when viewing the outline gerber layer? Yes, you need to draw them. The fab gerber includes an outline trace, which is the 'absolute edge' of your design when there is nor outline layer. -- Stephan ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
Rob Butts wrote: The help link above makes it sound like PCB will generate the outline automatically to the 'outline' layer absolute edge. I tried to make the text more help text explicit: http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:pcb_tips?#how_do_i_make_a_board_outline_to_go_with_my_gerbers_to_the_board_maker ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak tel: +49-511-762-2895 Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik fax: +49-511-762-2211 Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de GPG key:http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmkop=get ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
So if in preferences I set the board size to 1550 x 1550 and draw on an outline layer a 1500 x 1500 outline the board size will be 1.5 x 1.5? On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 12:29 PM, Kai-Martin Knaak [1]kn...@iqo.uni-hannover.de wrote: Rob Butts wrote: The help link above makes it sound like PCB will generate the outline automatically to the 'outline' layer absolute edge. I tried to make the text more help text explicit: [2]http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:pcb_tips?#how_do_i_make_a_board_outl ine_to_go_with_my_gerbers_to_the_board_maker ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak tel: +49-511-762-2895 Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik fax: +49-511-762-2211 Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover [3]http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de GPG key: [4]http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmkop=get ___ geda-user mailing list [5]geda-user@moria.seul.org [6]http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user References 1. mailto:kn...@iqo.uni-hannover.de 2. http://geda.seul.org/wiki/geda:pcb_tips?#how_do_i_make_a_board_outline_to_go_with_my_gerbers_to_the_board_maker 3. http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de/ 4. http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmkop=get 5. mailto:geda-user@moria.seul.org 6. http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
... you can either rename a layer ... ... you can either rename an unused empty layer ... ... that exclusively contains the objects in the outline layer. ... in particular, no vias and pins. ... the width of the lines does not matter. The fab will cut the board at the center of the lines. Is this universally true? At least our milling machine mills the outline on the outer edge of the lines. The guy who runs the machine says, he cannot easily tell the programm to mill along a center line. I prefer to keep the line width within tolerances to both sides, so if the fab ignores my README specifying the centerline, it is no big deal. -- Stephan ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
At fabs, there's almost always a human looking at the outlines. In the no-touch cases I've seen, they always spec the centerline of a 10 mil line as the outline. Our fab drawing says exactly that too. ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
Thanks everybody! On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 12:53 PM, DJ Delorie [1]d...@delorie.com wrote: At fabs, there's almost always a human looking at the outlines. In the no-touch cases I've seen, they always spec the centerline of a 10 mil line as the outline. Our fab drawing says exactly that too. ___ geda-user mailing list [2]geda-user@moria.seul.org [3]http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user References 1. mailto:d...@delorie.com 2. mailto:geda-user@moria.seul.org 3. http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: git based wiki
On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:02:57 +0100 Kai-Martin Knaak k...@lilalaser.de wrote: Peter TB Brett wrote: Bonus points for syntax highlighting mode for Emacs. http://alexott.blogspot.com/2008/09/emacs-dokuwiki.html ;-) An example of IMHO *lovely* markup is reStructured Text. I like reStructuredText, although it may not provide the cleanest syntax when you want to do fancy things like math equations or trying heavily control the output. On the other hand, I find it extremely pleasant to write general text in rST, and there are Latex-PDF, HTML, and OpenDocument Text outputs available. Hmm. I see some issues: * Lots of evaluation of space, indention and empty lines in the syntax. Most markup languages avoid interpretation of white space for a reason. Here's my explanation of why this is a feature, not a bug: You can see the white space in the plain text, therefore it should have some corresponding effect on the output. White space for things like setting off a preformatted block or a block-quoted paragraph keeps the plain text clear and uncluttered. Blank lines should cause a paragraph break since they appear as a break in the plain text, etc. * The level of a section heading markup is determined implicitly by the order this particular style appears in text. This allows for interesting side effects. Remove a heading that happens to be a first in the text and you may shift the levels of text way down stream. Yes, you have to standardize on your header styles within a document. * There is no way to mark a column, or a row of a table as header. You can certainly have one or more header rows at the top of a table. I don't think you can have a header column as such, however, but you could make the first cell's text *bold* to achieve a similar effect. http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickref.html#tables * There is no caption to tables or images. Not true; at least you can caption images (I don't know about tables). See http://grub.gibibit.com/Journal#october-2008. * There is no way to mark up formulas. I haven't done math in rST myself, but here are some things I've found: * Thoughts from the Sage Math project regarding rST and math. http://wiki.sagemath.org/SphinxSEP * Sphinx has a plugin that allows both inline and display mode LaTeX math rendering. http://code.google.com/p/sphinx/source/browse/trunk/doc/ext/math.rst http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~creller/web/tricks/reST.html#math Regards, Colin ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: Fluky Fluky layout printing problem!
I changed the clearance and mask size of a foot print in a design. I saved the file. I then did View-Displayed element name-Discription. I then did Edit-Edit name of-text on layout and changed the name of the foot print file to the new file. I then saved the layout in PCB, exited PCB, restarted PCB and loaded the board again. I exported gerbers and the solder mask has not changed. Am I changing the footprint correctly? On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 2:21 PM, DJ Delorie [1]d...@delorie.com wrote: Orange means a short circuit. An easier way to update if you're using the importer, is to View-Displayed Element Name-Description and change it, then re-import. It will replace the footprint while retaining all the other information and position. As for the PDF, if you see the right thing in the PDF but it doesn't print right, the problem is between the PDF viewer and the printer. ___ geda-user mailing list [2]geda-user@moria.seul.org [3]http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user References 1. mailto:d...@delorie.com 2. mailto:geda-user@moria.seul.org 3. http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:19:53 -0500 David C. Kerber dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com wrote: Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. As far as the joystick goes, you might try to find a non-USB joystick. Maybe use a PlayStation 2 controller (two analog joysticks and multiple buttons for extra control features) or find a cheap analog PC joystick. Using USB where it's not suitable means you have a lot of extra complexity and overhead. Regards, Colin ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Actually, my first thought was to use an analog joystick, since I have one floating around somewhere, but I thought there would be more USB host controllers around for reasonable prices. It's not looking like that so far, so I may go with the analog option. If I do, then I have to be able to tranlate the pot value of the joystick to a speed signal for the drive motor. I'm still in the very early stages of this project, so pretty much everything is up in the air at the moment. D -Original Message- From: geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of Colin D Bennett Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 3:25 PM To: geda-user@moria.seul.org Subject: Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:19:53 -0500 David C. Kerber dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com wrote: Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. As far as the joystick goes, you might try to find a non-USB joystick. Maybe use a PlayStation 2 controller (two analog joysticks and multiple buttons for extra control features) or find a cheap analog PC joystick. Using USB where it's not suitable means you have a lot of extra complexity and overhead. Regards, Colin ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
The issue with analog inputs for joysticks is setting the zero point accurately. They tend to have a little drift which when controlling the speed of something makes that drift around. But maybe your software can create a dead band around zero and get rid of that. Rick At 04:41 PM 1/24/2011, you wrote: Actually, my first thought was to use an analog joystick, since I have one floating around somewhere, but I thought there would be more USB host controllers around for reasonable prices. It's not looking like that so far, so I may go with the analog option. If I do, then I have to be able to tranlate the pot value of the joystick to a speed signal for the drive motor. I'm still in the very early stages of this project, so pretty much everything is up in the air at the moment. D -Original Message- From: geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of Colin D Bennett Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 3:25 PM To: geda-user@moria.seul.org Subject: Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:19:53 -0500 David C. Kerber dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com wrote: Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. As far as the joystick goes, you might try to find a non-USB joystick. Maybe use a PlayStation 2 controller (two analog joysticks and multiple buttons for extra control features) or find a cheap analog PC joystick. Using USB where it's not suitable means you have a lot of extra complexity and overhead. Regards, Colin ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Does it have to be a joystick? I have found quite usable small touchscreen and one button. It is like trackpad in mouse size square box and my thumb pushes the button on the side. I use this with my PCB driller to place it right place. First I have to use footswitch to operate the arm and then I just slide drill to first hole and push the button. The arm lowers and I can see where the drill will actually contact. And I can't see my hand. Right hand is keeping door open and my left is operating the arm. My head is inside the machine. Just a thought. Hannu Vuolasaho Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:55:03 -0600 From: cullennew...@gmail.com To: geda-user@moria.seul.org Subject: Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors My first thought is FTDI Vinculum or something like it. I'm sure there are competitors as Vinculum has been around for a few years. I couldn't tell you if it is best inexpensive, but it at least looks fairly inexpensive. http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Modules/DevelopmentModules.htm#Vinculo -Cullen On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 9:19 AM, David C. Kerber dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com wrote: Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. Any suggestions? Are steppers or servos better for this use? What should I use to control them, Arduino or a generic motor control circuit? For background, I'm working as a programmer now, so I can handle the programming. My degree is in EE, but I haven't used it in ~20 years, so I'm kind of rusty on the electronics side but I'm sure it will come back. Dave ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Seems like you could just use this example, add a second axis, and replace the potentiometer with a 2-axis joystick. http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/StepperUnipolar http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/sens/27800-2-AxisJoyStick-v1.0.pdf - Original Message From: David C. Kerber dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com To: gEDA user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org Sent: Mon, January 24, 2011 4:41:25 PM Subject: Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors Actually, my first thought was to use an analog joystick, since I have one floating around somewhere, but I thought there would be more USB host controllers around for reasonable prices. It's not looking like that so far, so I may go with the analog option. If I do, then I have to be able to tranlate the pot value of the joystick to a speed signal for the drive motor. I'm still in the very early stages of this project, so pretty much everything is up in the air at the moment. D -Original Message- From: geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of Colin D Bennett Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 3:25 PM To: geda-user@moria.seul.org Subject: Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:19:53 -0500 David C. Kerber dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com wrote: Hi, electronics gurus! I'm looking for suggestions on the best inexpensive way to use a USB game joystick to control stepper or servo motors. The application is using a joystick to drive the the platform positioning knobs on a microscope, to help me keep the subjects in the field of view, while I'm photographing them. I'll also be adding the ability to trigger the camera shutter with the joy stick, but I don't anticipate any trouble with that part; it's the motion control side that I have no experience with. As far as the joystick goes, you might try to find a non-USB joystick. Maybe use a PlayStation 2 controller (two analog joysticks and multiple buttons for extra control features) or find a cheap analog PC joystick. Using USB where it's not suitable means you have a lot of extra complexity and overhead. Regards, Colin ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
On Jan 25, 2011, at 12:49 AM, David C. Kerber wrote: Thanks for the suggestions, DJ. Unfortunately, there's really no room for a pc where I have the microscope set up, and most laptops don't even have parallel ports any more. Plus running a full-blown pc just to drive a microscope seems like rather a waste of electricity. At Noqsi, we're starting to do jobs like this with an Armadeus board (http://www.armadeus.com/). Tiny Linux system with an attached FPGA for custom interfaces. Free/open software, firmware, and hardware. You could use the Linux USB infrastructure. [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of DJ Delorie I think steppers are the right way to go. Easy to operate, easy to position, go round and round more than once. Controlling the steppers is easy, you just need a few N-mosfet transistors (or a dual H-bridge chip, I suppose). I agree. John Doty Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd. http://www.noqsi.com/ j...@noqsi.com ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
On Tue, 2011-01-25 at 09:26 +0900, John Doty wrote: On Jan 25, 2011, at 12:49 AM, David C. Kerber wrote: Thanks for the suggestions, DJ. Unfortunately, there's really no room for a pc where I have the microscope set up, and most laptops don't even have parallel ports any more. Plus running a full-blown pc just to drive a microscope seems like rather a waste of electricity. At Noqsi, we're starting to do jobs like this with an Armadeus board (http://www.armadeus.com/). Tiny Linux system with an attached FPGA for custom interfaces. Free/open software, firmware, and hardware. You could use the Linux USB infrastructure. How much does the Armadeus board cost? We use this, which is (in spirit at least), similar: http://balloonboard.org/ (But the designs are open ;)) Prices depend on whether you want an FPGA (£300) or CPLD (£200) variant, and are available from http://iendian.com I had a meeting with their design team today, talking about open EDA tools and Open Hardware. Some of these guys are scary serious.. anyone else know someone with a pick+place robot in their garage? http://sites.google.com/site/balloonboards/people Might give you an idea of the people involved. -- Peter Clifton Electrical Engineering Division, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, 9, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FA Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!) Tel: +44 (0)1223 748328 - (Shared lab phone, ask for me) signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
David C. Kerber wrote: Any suggestions? A master student downstairs just started to do something similar. He needs to steer a target to wherever his femtosecond laser beam h happens to be. He settled for a Joy stick with switches rather than potentiometers. Speed is going to be controlled with a 12-way switch. Are steppers or servos better for this use? You'd have to define the metric of good in your case. Anyway, I would prefer steppers. They are much sloppy and much easier to control. What should I use to control them, Arduino or a generic motor control circuit? ATmega + dedicated power chip would be the no-fuss solution. Arduino is more sexy, though. ---)kaiamrtin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak Email: k...@familieknaak.de Öffentlicher PGP-Schlüssel: http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x6C0B9F53 ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
On Jan 25, 2011, at 9:53 AM, Peter Clifton wrote: How much does the Armadeus board cost? The embedded board itself is 118,00€ (full version). It's designed to be a mezzanine atop your project's main board. Of course, when starting, one typically doesn't have a main board so it's useful to get a generic main board with buttons, LEDs, connectors, power converters, etc. The lite version of that is 138,50€. John Doty Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd. http://www.noqsi.com/ j...@noqsi.com ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: Fluky Fluky layout printing problem!
Rob Butts wrote: I changed the clearance and mask size of a foot print in a design. How did you doe his? With the accel key [k] ? I saved the file. I then did View-Displayed element name-Discription. I then did Edit-Edit name of-text on layout and changed the name of the foot print file to the new file. I then saved the layout in PCB, exited PCB, restarted PCB and loaded the board again. I exported gerbers and the solder mask has not changed. Sounds like you assumed footprints in pcb work similar to symbols in pcb. By default, symbols are loaded from the lib on start-up of gschem. If symbols change in the lib they change in the circuit, too. Footprints in PCB are a different beast. They are instatianted by gsch2pcb. The layout itself has no connection to the library. Am I changing the footprint correctly? Did you see the mask grow or shrink when the solder mask layer is switched on? ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak Email: k...@familieknaak.de Öffentlicher PGP-Schlüssel: http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x6C0B9F53 ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: gerber outlines
Rob Butts wrote: So if in preferences I set the board size to 1550 x 1550 and draw on an outline layer a 1500 x 1500 outline the board size will be 1.5 x 1.5? Yes. (Unless you set the unit to mm...) ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak Email: k...@familieknaak.de Öffentlicher PGP-Schlüssel: http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x6C0B9F53 ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
On 1/24/2011 7:56 PM, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote: David C. Kerber wrote: Any suggestions? A master student downstairs just started to do something similar. He needs to steer a target to wherever his femtosecond laser beam h happens to be. He settled for a Joy stick with switches rather than potentiometers. Speed is going to be controlled with a 12-way switch. I don't think that's the way Goldfinger would have done it. Didn't he move the laser to hit the target? What should I use to control them, Arduino or a generic motor control circuit? ATmega + dedicated power chip would be the no-fuss solution. Arduino is more sexy, though. There are all sorts of MCU chips with built in motor control drivers. I know Luminary Micro (now part of TI) is big on motor control. Any MCU manufacturer with motor control capabilities in their products will have app notes on how to use it. Check the various ARM MCU makers. I bet others also have motor control peripherals. Rick ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: OT - Joystick control of stepper or servo motors
Rick wrote: He needs to steer a target to wherever his femtosecond laser beam h happens to be. He settled for a Joy stick with switches rather than potentiometers. Speed is going to be controlled with a 12-way switch. I don't think that's the way Goldfinger would have done it. Didn't he move the laser to hit the target? His laser was supposed to be cw in the visible, not femtosecond pulse in the far UV ;-) The laser in this case occupies half a laboratory with many optical pumps, beam shapers, delay lines, harmonic generation stages and is in need for meticulous alignment. ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak Email: k...@familieknaak.de Öffentlicher PGP-Schlüssel: http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?search=0x6C0B9F53 ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
