Zagadka's Site

I cooked a great steak and veggies on the bbq today. In less than 30 mins! Pumpkin, squash, carrots, brocoli the whole lot and two nice steaks on the bbq.

I didn't do much at all today. I played a lot of World of Warcraft mainly. I fixed the vacuume cleaner and started a mod on my Poweredge server. I've decided that I'm going to pull the hot-swap rack out of the bottom of one of the three Poweredge cases I have. It will then go into the main Poweredge server underneath it's existing hot-swap rack. That will mean 12 caddies If only I had a few 4port SATA RAID cards and 12 400 gig hard disks

I also looked at some code and circuits for the weather station platform that I want to build. Solar chargers and Maxim IC 1wire communication is what I need to read up on mainly.

More office organization, I moved a lot of stuff around for our office. So we can now walk around comfortably. There was a lot of stuff stored in there that didn't need to be in there.

I went out and installed a printer and laptop out north sydney way. A pretty un-eventful day =)

The current project I am workign on is a base for a weather station that will incorporate a SLA and Solar Panel with changer and what not to be used as a foundation to add modular sensors.

Today I continued setting up the retail office at Adelong. Lots of shuffling around. I was lucky, the desk that was in the office already only just fitted where we wanted it between the wall and a big steel cabinet full of paperwork. The networking is mostly centralised to a switch in this room, as is the PBX and security cameras. It's going to be nasty sorting out the cabling!

The backup script and web interface didn't get much attention today, I mainly worked on it's implementation documentation.

I had an on-site call today at a travel agency - took me hours to sort out the problem with the booking software they use. It turns out that the software only needed to be patched to make it compatible with IE7! It took 10 mins to solve once I got someone on the phone that knew what they were talking about!

Today I wrote the python script to read the database and perform the backups, well call rdiff-backup to do the backups anyway. It reads out all the machine and then all the folders for that machine that it needs to back up. The web interface I wrote yesterday is what creates the records. It will run on cron on the server.

I started work on a rainfall sensor. I figure it's going to be the most interesting. It's going to consist of a tube to collect water from a funnel. It will then internal probes so that I can measure the water level by measuring the capacitance on the probes. This will be done by a PIC reading the frequency that is outputted from a 555 Astable circuit with the timing capacitor being the tube and probes. With a known RA and RB We can calculate the capacitance or for a more simple approch just map the frequencies to the volume of water.

I really should get the receiver working!

Today I worked on an addon to an intranset web-app we wrote for one of our customers. This new addition will be used to schedule and monitor backups of various computers on the LAN and or at remote sites. I'm learning a lot of AJAX, we are trying to make it feel like software running locally as much as possible - rather than having to repetedly reload the pages as is the case with standard web forms.

I wrote the front end for the backup today - it needs a little tweak but works enough to implement. The front end writes records to the database detailing which machines need backing up and the paths that should be backed up. Tomorrow I will write the python script to hang off cron and actually read what it needs to backup from the database then do it, updating the status and statistics in the database as it goes. I figured it would be helpful to know when a backup fails or takes way too long, so I added start time, complete time and a status flag to the database as well. We can then see immediately what has failed. To be implemented from the "wish list" (ie stuff that isn't neccessary right now) are the reporting features and also size tracking for the backups. Might even add a status monitor type thing on the RAID server to make sure we're not cutting it too close with disk space.

Small tweaks are often the most handy. I made a very small tweak to the Drupal code that added the title in for me as you read it now - so I don't have to look at the date and type it.

I've completed some more renders and completed the schematic and routing of the TX Board MK2 with the DIP switch.

Lots of data entry today! It seems I can't escape entering stock take results! That's OK though, keeps it different - plus I didn't have to stand while doing it like in my previous job. Not to mention that there was only about 1/10th of the amount of stuff to enter.

I also moved around the office a bit to make room for our new photocopier that is imminently arriving.

I collected up all the stuff scored from the recent shop closures too and bagged it ready to take home. Lots of old stuff you just can't buy any more - like 20 and 40 pin DIL to Ribbon connectors for example. I'm sure I'll find a use for them eventually, maybe even in the buggy I want to build. Some other cool mentionable stuff - Lots of old 43XX and 45XX ICs, Some nice 2A circuit breakers that would go nicely in any 240V or power supply projects I might build, a number of bags of 1000 zener diodes in various types - the list goes on

I am still working on the 433MHz <a href="http://www.zagadka.org/?q=taxonomy/term/8">Wireless Sensor</a> project while on the train. I've nearly finished the revised TX board with a 4 way DIP switch as opposed to 4 sets of 2x3 DIL headers.

I added lots more photos today. I am currently adding more as I speak. Even the ones from Dolphines Point in Ulladulla where I decided to see "what my gear can do" when I took it out in a slight drizzle near the sea. It was great. The gear survived - as it should, something with that many rubber seals should be nearly waterproof! Some of the pictures are a tad foggy because of the water on the front element of the lens! It made for some entertainment for me anyway! It still doesn't top Dad's mate standing in the surf with his gear and tripod to get a shot.

Went to the doctor today and got something for the rash on my finger at last. Hopefully it will fix it. At least this doctor knew what he was looking at. Contact Dermatitis. Apparently detergents are a common cause. I reckon it was probably the Easy-Off BAM or somethiong that did it, that stuff is terribly caustic.

Played a good few hours of World of Warcraft. I got my character up to level 42 and was finally able to wear some gear that was crafted for me about 8-10 months ago! I've been trying to sort the cotf.guildhost.info site out and it appears to be running fine now on the new server.

I got myself a belt today finally. My nice belt I bought for my wedding broke in the weirdest place, you'd expect the belt to pull out of the buckle or something but it broke in the middle of the belt where the holes are. Weird. I have a nasty feeling this $10 belt from K-Mart will last longer than my $69 real leather etc etc belt that I had.

A new week. All of the gear we need is out of both the old Tandy and the David Reid stores which should save us some cash later down the track in shop fittings and consumables. I also partially set up an electronics workshop for the guys down stairs at Adelong which is something different. Next week will probably be setting up of office space for Adelong so that they can get cracking with sales and new business plans and stuff. That shop is going to hammer once the place is a little better organised and separated from its electronics tech business.

I am glad Tandy is gone though. Tandy was a pain, the treatment was poor and the pay was crap. But now, I have a job which far out-strips even a good retail job so I don't really give a shit to be honest... The variety is there which is important, but most important I have a boss that respects me and I am in a situation where I actually want to come to work! It's bloody terrific! He get's his mits on all sorts of work from Security Cameras to Websites to LAN installations for offices. If it's connected to a computer or even just electronic, we probably do it. The main focus of the business is POS (Point of Sale) which is still in development but currently running at a number of stores already.

Played some WoW and watched some Heroes today. Had a nice BBQ dinner - Some propper sausages, a few chicken kebabs, onions and potatoe chips which I cook on the grille.

I also added a heap of photos.

There were also a whole heap of screenshots, some pictures of my PIC work with the 16f877 and MAX232 Serial Chip.

Once I import my old blog + articles the mods will be back in here.

I have decided to design a wireless sensor system in order to learn about micro controllers, wireless communication and environmental sensing.

I am currently basing my design around a master receiver and wireless transmitter modules. The transmitter is able to select an ID for a sensor and "listen" for a readout. Ultimately the system will use trancievers and will communicate using the I2C protocol.

The design of the wireless sensors will be modular consisting of a transmitter board and a sensor board or only the sensor it's self. This will allow it to be used as a foundation for most types of sensors.

The transmitter module will have a 4 data pin input. This can be expanded with the upgrading of the decode/encode chip at each end. I have selected the SM5162/SM5172 pairs to multiplex, encode, decode, and demultiplex the data. The 4 bit limit on sensors can be upgraded by updating the SM5162/72 pairs to their various models up to a maximum of 6 bits. Addressing the modules is done using the addressing pins on the SM5162/72s. They have up to 12 tri-state pins for addressing themselves. As I have selected the "-4" version of the chips I will have 4 data bits and 8 tri-state address pins. This would be reduced to 6 address pins if the data pins were increased to 6 as in the "-6" model. In reverse; when 12 pins are selected for addressing only 1 data pin is available.

These tri-state pins will only be operated in digital however. When the pins are allowed sit in the third state, or "float" the chip consumes more power. This is not what we want for battery powered wireless sensors! The jumpers that set the address will allow a "float" state to be set but this is primarily to stop jumpering from +5V to ground. This will mean a 2x3 DIL header for each addressing pin. The alternative is using a 4 way DIP switch tied to +5V with pull-down resistors to make sure that the address pins do not float. Any extra address pins will be tied to ground.

The transmitter board will be fitted with an IC socket for the SM-5162, a 6 pin molex header for use with the sensor or sensor board, a 2 pin molex header for power from the battery and a four pin SIL female header. This will be used to fit the transmitter module into. The transmitter board will have a built in +5V regulator on board.. Six pins are supplied to the sensor board/sensor they will be 4 data bits, +5V and ground - This will allow a multitude of different designs to be connected to it. The clock speed of the SM5162 will be set using a 2x4 DIL header and a single jumper to select the appropriate resistor.

The receiver board will consist of a pic16f877, an SM5172, a MAX232 level converter, a +5V regulator and their supporting components. The clock speed of the SM5172 will be set using a 2x4 DIL header and a single jumper to select the appropriate resistor. These will match with the transmitters values as per the clock speed table in the data sheet. The receiver board will communicate with the computer via RS232 Serial.

Data is logged on the computer and inserted into a MySQL database along with an address and a date stamp. Data will then be able to be reported or extracted in a number of ways and/or displayed on a website.

Well, I don't know wether anyone will be able to see this today, or even tomorrow. I have switched the DNS over to point to the new server and my re-vamped site therein - which is what you are looking at.

I've just finished a late night cleaning binge. Now I can relax for the whole weekend!

This week has gone so fast!  

Had great fun on Sunday. I went over to Josh's house with plans of LAN/AD&D games. Well, in true LAN style - computers wouldn't talk, games wouldn't run and things just didn't generally work.

We finally sorted out a game or two of Counterstrike 1.6. The REAL counterstrike for all those "hardcore" CS fans =) Before it "went source" - I find that funny. A good game anyway. We had consumed copious amounts of Tooeys Old at this point. 6 Longnecks at this point - it was the best game of CS I've played for years. So much fun.

There is a funny story attached to that - the mouse. I normally carry a full kit of "crap", as Kel calls it, in my bag that will allow me to connect to almost everything with my Laptop. I've got serial-usb converters, Cisco Console cables, screwdrivers, box of computer screws, standoffs and thermal paste. I normally have in that kit a USB mouse, USB-PS2 Converter and a PS2-USB converter for good measure. In this case I had no mouse and no PS2-USB converter - so, without a mouse, we looked at some of Josh's, which were all PS2. Not giving up at this point, I set up CS to use the touch pad and to use the e and r keys for primary and secondary fire. This was a pretty good combination I found. I was pretty happy with myself. I did score a couple of head shots. I even managed to wipe Josh once! We then teamed up on the Counter-Terrorist side and kicked some ass. I found I did best with Josh covering me and sitting back with the SIG Scout (7.62 NATO, Scoped, Bolt Action) and picking off Terrorists.

Bugger... I haven't blogged for nearly a month!

Not much has changed house-wise. Liam is doing terrific. He went for his shots a while a go and was a little crappy for a few days but he's OK now. He's also rolling right over onto his tummy and back now, he tries very hard to crawl, but he needs to develop his arms a bit more - he doesn't quite have the strength to support himself yet. He gets very close! He also gets quite upset when he fails to crawl. He's a very determined bub!

On the work side of things, I've been offered a job doing website work and programming. I will also be doing a short  stint of retail work until we ramp up the work flow suitably. To start with I will be primarily working on websites/databases to bring up to date a backlog of customer requested modifications and updates. Some of these sites we will probably re-write making them database driven, providing interfaces for the customer to update their own content. Once all that is sorted, we are going to be working on the core business project - the POS. It's an Open Source Point of Sale program that is already implemented in a number of sites. Some of the things we will be adding to it are stock-control type operations - stock takes, adjustments etc. We also acquired code modules to interface with Ingenico EFTPOS PIN Pads. That will mean we get to do some interesting coding when we integrate that functionality into the POS!

Aside from those tasks, we will be doing network/POS installs, general tech-support and occasionally the odd custom PIC (I hope!) =)

I left Tandy in good graces, it was a difficult choice but I don't think I was doing the store Justice. I'm pretty tired of retail managing, my last few days were great though. It's unfortunate that I gained my motivation back when the new manager started. We re-merchandised a lot of the store in the last week. I even sold warranties and pulled descent sales!

My first Father's Day!

I finally got around to 7V modding the PowerEdge 2400 so that it's bearable. It's much, much quieter now! The spindle noise is whats loud now... 

I'm looking after Liam this weekend. Kel has taken a casual job. She loves it so far, helps her get out of the house for a while. I also re-arranged the entire living room today. It was crappily laid out. I swapped where the armchairs were to where the cabinet is against the wall. That way Liam has more empty carpet area to play on and everything fits better. I bought a Cisco Catalyst 2924M with two 100baseFX (ST Fibre Optic) modules with two ports each. It's a 24 port switch with two slots for modules.

I currently use MiniCom and a serial console cable to talk to it. I thought I'd try to get that working rather than the boring old HyperTerminal in windows. /dev/ttyS1 ftw! I am slowly learning some commands and procedures with the switch. I have turned off the fiber modules because they are unused [orange lights]. I also turned off the port that the wireless router is on as it's not configured yet. I love it!

Before this switch could go in, I had to do something about the noise! This switch is designed to run in an enterprise situation in a rack, in a closet or data center where no one has to live next to it. It's got three 80mm fans that run at 12 volts. Full speed. It literally sounds like a vacuum cleaner. The noise is second only to the PowerEdge 2400s (Which will be treated to a similar mod soon).

To make this switch suitable, I unplugged the three fans then made an external power cable for them. I did this rather than modifying the internal PSU or tapping one of the 12V lines. That way the internals remain as original as possible. A big variable voltage lab power supply is currently running the fans in the switch and in the ADSL router until I get time to knock up a quick variable power supply.

The best way to go was to stick some rubber feet on it and run the cables underneath, then it's nice and tidy.

 

Just recently I've been given a Cisco C3548 Switch to look at. This is a shit hot piece of gear. It, like most Cisco enterprise hardware, runs it's own operating system called IOS. Very cool. Unfortunately this one is buggered. It fails POST [Power On Self Test] on the Switch Core ASIC [Application Specific Integrated Circuit], that is what the amber port 6 'of death' means when it goes through POST. More specifically, after reviewing the output when it boots using a console cable, the buffers are shot.

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Theres not much happening lately. I have taken on some IT work, websites mainly. That's good fun. I'm learning a lot as I go too. I've learned heaps from the guy I'm working with.

We've sorted out Liam's room finally. He's not very keen on his bed yet. He slept the first time in it but doesn't want to sleep in it lately.

 

I've worked a fair bit on the design and structure of the suspension assembly to clear things up in Inventor. The suspension needs a big overhaul/re-design. Because of incorrect design the steer wheels toe in or out when the suspension moves.