Category: electronics

Next Project: Atari SDrive by C.P.U.

Published November 3, 2008

I think I’ve found what I want to do for my next electronics project. Fitting with my usual idea of taking another OSS project and adding fit and finish (and hopefully accessibility) polish to it, I want to take Atari SDrive by C.P.U. and make a new PCB and enclosure for it, and possibly sell some of the PCBs.

I intend to make the following changes from the current design:

· SIO connector to the Atari. Option for DB15.
· SMT parts.
· Double-sided PCB with soldermask.
· Different enclosure design, possibly with different label / pushbutton / switch configuration.

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SIP via Asterisk on Nokia E51

Published October 24, 2008

My current cell phone is a Nokia E51, one of Nokia’s more recent Symbian Series 60 cell phones. Beyond being a decent phone with a decent camera it also happens to do 802.11 wireless and be a SIP endpoint.

In short, this means that my cell phone can also be a VoIP client. Today, thanks to , my phone is working for making actual calls out via the public internet, into a server, then into the phone system.

Since there were a few quirks with getting this going I wanted to document the settings used in the phone for connecting to the Asterisk-based server.

First, make sure your phone has a valid wireless network connection available, which is done via Tools → Settings → Connection → Access points. Without a configured, functional AP your phone won’t be able to connect to the internet.

Now, to configure the phone itself, the following settings must be made:

Tools → Settings → Connection → SIP settings
Profile name: NameGoesHere
Service profile: IETF
Default access point: (Pick your access point from before.)
Public user name: sip:c0nsumer@sip.host.com
Use compression: No
Registration: Always on
Use security: No

Tools → Settings → Connection → SIP settings → Proxy server
Proxy server address: sip.host.com
Realm: asterisk
User name: c0nsumer
Password: PasswordGoesHere
Allow loose routing: Yes
Transport type: UDP
Port: 5060

Tools → Settings → Connection → SIP settings → Registrar server
Proxy server address: sip.host.com
Realm: asterisk
User name: c0nsumer
Password: PasswordGoesHere
Transport type: UDP
Port: 5060

Tools → Settings → Connection → Internet tel.
Create a profile with a name of your choice, then associate the SIP profile created earlier with this. This will set up one profile which can then be used to make calls across the network via VoIP.

After this, set your new NameGoesHere profile as the default via Tools → Settings → Connection → SIP settings → Options → Default profile.

With these settings your phone will always connect to the AP whenever it is found and register with the VoIP server. It will then be able to make and receive calls. Setting Registration to When needed makes the phone prompt before connecting to the AP and the SIP server when an attempt to dial an internet call is made. Inbound calls will not work in this case.

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Phones Should Ring

Published September 22, 2008

Danielle just sent me a link to this comic, xkcd #479, saying that it is me. Yes, I don’t like musical cell phone ring tones.

The ringer on a phone is designed to be an interruption. It’s point is to draw your attention to the fact that someone (or something) is calling you. It is to notify you that something requires your attention. For maximum effect the noise doing so should be distinct from other day to day noises, perhaps even slightly bothersome; exactly the same as an alarm clock sound. Therefore, I don’t understand why someone would want a favorite song of theirs to be providing this notification.

I really wonder why would someone want their favorite song’s hook being used as a device to grab their attention and prompt them into action. Are people trying to turn themselves off to something?

This thought doesn’t even begin to touch on how many musical ring tones happen to be in a frequency range which doesn’t do a good job of standing out from background noise, making it so that the user doesn’t hear their phone when it rings. Or what about those which start out quiet enough that the first five seconds of ringing isn’t particularly audible. Isn’t the point of having a phone ring so that one can hear it?

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Stony Creek Mountain Bike Videos

Published September 16, 2008

I mounted my old Coolpix 5400 on the handlebar of my bike in order to get some video of bike rides.

Yesterday I decided to go for a bike ride at Stony Creek, but before doing that I grabbed some small pieces of non-slip foam and some cable ties and strapped my old Nikon Coolpix 5400 to the handlebars of the bike. (This is how it looked when riding.)

The resulting videos aren’t great, as being mounted on the handle bars made the video jerky and noisy, with every little movement, bump, and vibration translating into shake, blur, and noise. However, I think they are interesting enough, and in one of them you can even watch me fall.

These videos are only short, couple minute segments of what I feel are some of the more interesting pieces of single track at Stony Creek. Length was limited by the recording time of the camera.

Here’s the videos on YouTube in high res, including the one of me falling (#3):

· The Pines #1
· The Pines #2
· Roller Coaster #1
· Roller Coaster #2
· Roller Coaster #3 & Me Falling
· Roller Coaster #4
· Roller Coaster #5
· Marker 26 to 25
· Back to Parking Lot

The original, and thusly higher quality, MOV files straight out of the camera at https://nuxx.net/videos. Just be warned, they are large:

· stony_creek_15oct2008_pines_1.mov (46.3 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_pines_2.mov (46.4 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_1.mov (45.9 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_2.mov (25.5 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_3.mov (24.8 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_4.mov (45.7 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_rollercoaster_5.mov (38.8 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_to_parking.mov (46.6 MB)
· stony_creek_15oct2008_up_mount_sheldon_26_to_25 (22.5 MB)

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Esquire Is Good For Something

Published September 10, 2008

The front page e-ink display and PCB from the cover of the October 2008 issue of Esquire magazine.

Yes, I too picked up a copy of the October 2008 issue of Esquire. The magazine itself is going in the trash, but I pulled the front panel apart so that I could poke with an e-paper / Electronic Paper / E-Ink display. I must say, this is a very nice, very high contrast display. If this were put in some more portable, more durable, more cost effective form than the Kindle (and without the data network crap) I could see myself getting one to use for reading.

When the magazine was sitting on the front seat of my car, glancing over at it reminded me of $RANDOM_NEAR_FUTURE_SCIFI where magazines are shown sitting on tables and racks blinking and flashing away. To be honest, I found it as irritating as a banner ad. I hope this isn’t where things actually go tech-wise.

Also, when I arrived home today I noticed a lot of dust and cut marks in the asphalt near my garage door, which makes me believe that something is being done about the sunken area there. What’s strange is that it’s been like this for years without issue. I’m not sure why it’s being fixed now.

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Bike Photography and GPS Fixin’

Published August 18, 2008

Yesterday I headed out to the grand opening of the Skills Park at Stony Creek Metropark. I’d intended to ride a bit, but I ended up spending most of my time there just taking photographs like the one above. (That one was taken by sitting under the gap in the Flo the Fro stunt and using the Peleng 8mm fisheye. If you’d like to see more of the photos, take a look at the album entitled Stony Creek Skills Park Grand Opening.

After getting home and meeting up with Danielle we went and got food, swung by my work to pick something up, went to Best Buy to grab a pack of universal screen protectors for my new phone (eek, expensive!), then I came back here and fixed the Garmin Edge 305 I’d previously mentioned. My first attempt was to bridge the connector PCB to the main one with wires, but there wasn’t quite enough room for them. Instead I just ran the battery pack wires directly to the related test points on the main board then sealed the thing up with hot melt glue.

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Crooked Tree

Published August 15, 2008

I really like riding past this tree on the portion of the mountain bike trails known as The Snake at Stony Creek Metropark. This tree keeps leaning further and further over, and I imagine that soon it’ll actually fall and make for a log to be crossed. There’s something I really like about coming around that corner and having to lean under it.

Yes, I know the photo is really blurry. Sorry, it was getting dark and 1/7th of a second is hard to hand hold, especially after climbing a bunch of grinding hills. Here is a clearer photo of the same tree and my bike, but from an angle which doesn’t show the tree and trail as well. Also, a few more biking photos have been posted to my catch-all biking around local places album, if you’d like to see them.

Next time I’m out I’ll try and take a picture of the corner at the top of The Snake which I previously couldn’t make it past, but was able to easily ride through twice (out of two attempts) tonight.

A friend of mine is having problems with his Garmin Edge 305 GPS. He’s reported that it will periodically turn off while riding, which seems to be attributable to the battery contacts in it losing contact briefly, so he asked if I’d take a look at it. It seems that the unit has a set of pressure contacts which connect the battery, speaker, and USB connector to the main board, held in place when the unit is glued shut. This set of flexible pins has to make contact with this PCB while the whole unit is mounted on a bicycle bouncing down rocky and rooty trails.

I think that to fix this I’m going to fit two wires for power from the non-contact part of the pads on the back panel to test points on the main PCB. This should ensure that the power connectors are always good. USB and speaker probably aren’t as critical, and I don’t want to try and cram too many wires into a housing not designed for them. I’ll give this a go tomorrow as tonight I’m relaxing.

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Nokia E51 Fr1st Post

Published August 14, 2008

The first image taken with my new phone, a Nokia E51.

My new phone, a Nokia E51 arrived yesterday, but due to some issues at work I didn’t have enough time last night to open the box.

Tonight I did so, took some photos (to be posted later) and dropped my SIM into the phone and tried it out. So far, it’s great. The casing is nice, it’s reasonably sized, the buttons feel good, and the camera works great. The image above is scaled down to the same resolution as my old phone did natively.

If you’d like to see the full-res image it’s here, while this page contains the resized version. Note the EXIF header, which has been confirmed by jhead and will make sorting images captured for my moblog album much easier:

c0nsumer@reason:/Volumes/MMC/Images> jhead 14082008.jpg File name : 14082008.jpg File size : 310470 bytes File date : 2008:08:15 01:58:28 Camera make : Nokia Camera model : E51 Date/Time : 2008:08:14 21:47:38 Resolution : 1600 x 1200 Flash used : No Focal length : 4.9mm Aperture : f/3.2 Whitebalance : Auto
c0nsumer@reason:/Volumes/MMC/Images>

Now it’s time to relax, particularly after this last week of work. Hmm, maybe more poking with the phone, though… It’s nice to see OBEX working via Bluetooth.

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New Phone Ordered

Published August 10, 2008

I’ve brought up the possibility of acquiring an iPhone a couple times previously. While I still feel they are really nifty devices I’ve decided to instead replace my failing and almost four year old Nokia 6600 with an unlocked Nokia E51 purchased from Amazon for $249.99.

I currently have T-Mobile service, out of contact, with me paying around $40/mo for 600 anytime and unlimited night and weekend minutes. This price is right in line with other contract-based deals, but is without the contract restrictions. I should just be able to drop the SIM from my 6600 into the E51 and have it work. If I were to purchase an iPhone I would have to sign on with AT&T for ~$70/mo (plus taxes and fees) for the next two years after spending $300 on the phone. This is lots cheaper and should still meet all my phone wants and needs.

The E51 has received good reviews, and seems to be a descendant of the 6600. Beyond the basic modern phone stuff it has/is:

· (Supposedly) supported by iSync.
· 2 megapixel camera.
· 802.11b/g with VoIP (SIP endpoint, I believe) support for on WLAN.
· Browser / email client / multi-platform IM client and some office-type apps.
· Metal case.

It seems like it’ll be a pretty nice phone. I find it strange that none of the US providers offer this as a bundled / packaged phone but that might be because it’s a basic office-type phone without full keyboard, shiny (and very profitable) media service tie-ins, or a particularly shiny UI. I anticipate it’ll just be a decent, usable smartphone without being overly large or expensive.

I hope I can use the VoIP (SIP?) client, but I think I might have to talk with about that, as he both knows scary amounts of telephony stuff and can provide such a service.

If you’d like to read more about the Nokia E51, here is its page at Nokia’s US site.

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8GB iPod Touch For Auction / Sale

Published July 27, 2008

Due to an interesting series of events (more on this at some point in the future) my sister has had to purchase a new computer and such for herself. As part of her purchase of a Macbook she received an 8GB iPod Touch for free (after rebate). She doesn’t need the iPod, so I’m attempting to sell it for her.

I am currently selling it via eBay auction #290249097988 with a starting bid of US$1. If any of you are interested in purchasing it I can make it available outside of eBay. I expect that we’ll get somewhere around US$240 for it once the auction has closed, but I’d take US$220 cash (or equivalent). This goes for folks overseas or not. Yes, that’s a much better price than you’ll pay for one at a store.

This is a brand new iPod purchased a couple of weeks ago at the local Apple store at the Partridge Creek shopping center. It comes with the original receipt, so there should be no problems with any sort of warranty support on it. It should also be quite easy to get the 2.0 firmware (jailbroken or not) on it, if you so desire.

So, anyone want it? Otherwise I’ll just leave it up to the eBay peoples…

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