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The LCDuino-1 I/O processor - by amb and linuxworks


n_maher

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Being a programmer (probably my main forte, for those that think I'm a goofball at everything), I approve. Will definitely be following this closely.

well, a lot of the source is 'up there'. http://www.netstuff.org/audio - start there and (for now) click on the large text names of the projects and that will send you to the firmware source area. its a mess right now (org and code wise) but at least the code does run and once its integrated (more libraries, less inline stuff) it will be a lot more manageable.

it has lots of comments in the code and that should help a lot, too, I hope.

some of the projects use different levels of the lcd interface. initially, I was following the design of this:

AI-1 ("All-in-one") Remote

and he had the lcd on the analog pins (as a whole bank, for ease of use in simple 'write to whole port at once' methods). I lived with that for a while and life was good.... until I needed more pins ;) so the lcd got moved around quite a bit as I added different devices that would hang off this chip (the x10 firecracker takes 3 pins, the PGA vol control chip takes 3, i2c 'bus' takes 2, IR takes 1, lcd backlight takes 1 (pwm) and so on. its a balancing act of pins vs functions. ultimately, the port-expander (chip to the right) was called into service to hide the lcd behind and let him do the work for a 'cost' of only 2 common i2c bus pins. deal!

I left in the realtime clock from tom's design and even the supercap, as well. tom had so many good ideas, I have to throw a lot of credit his way. we both started some of this stuff in terms of camera remote control and then he took it and expanded on it a whole lot. years later, I stumbled on his web page and that finally pushed me enough to dive into the whole arduino thing. I plan to port his code over (to use the i2c port expander and IR for input) and so there will be a 'camera app' that runs on this platform, as well.

so, if you want to start reading, check out tom's page. and his source.

and the simplest of mine is probably the motor-pot source code:

http://www.netstuff.org/mvc-master/firmware/arduino/

no lcd stuff; just reading the IR sensor for remote button presses (from a sony dvd player remote) and mapping the 4 arrow keys to 2 speeds of up and down, on the motor pot (a fast-up and a slow-up; and down, as well). mute is via a relay and you can enable input selection easily, as well (have discrete leds show the input that is selected).

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I want one to set the volume and output bias on my upcoming 'stat amp. That would be cool...

Welcome Linuxworks.

thanks ;)

I had thought about a multi-dmm (sort of) display to help set things like bias.

after going thru a b22 setting, it would be nice to 'watch' a few things at once. even help with doing a delta between 2 things and showing when its 'low enough'.

there are 4 unused analog-ins on this chip. send in a 0-5v dc signal and you get 10 bits (0..1023) scaled value. that may be enough.

else, there's a really high (20 or 24bit) a/d that has been written up. its a $10 or $15 chip (not cheap) but its very high res. if you could switch that around (somehow; relays?) to the various test points, that would be a 'muxed dmm' of sorts. then just spray the diff voltages at uppper left, upper right, lower left, lower right of the display. like that.

yup, thought about it. ;)

even a 'environmentals' page on an amp. place voltage sensors on the rails, temperature sensors near inlet,outlets, if you have fans, add rpm sensors and have the ard. keep track of that. bonus points if you have thresholds and want to alarm (or 'fix things') if an alarm is triggered.

welcome to 'enterprise class' audio systems!

(semi serious)

add in a web-reachable ip presence and you have something really interesting.

(make things read-only, though. imagine if someone broke in and set your bias TOO high on you? lol! time to reset my AMPs password. ha!)

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Jesus this seems cool. I have no idea how I could ever implement such a thing in a build.

the hardest part is cutting the front hole. well, I think it is ;)

its just a 'controller' and a volume control board (in one config).

vol control board will have inputs and outputs (like a pot). there will be some set of wires that goes to the controller board but it will be documented what goes where.

if you like the default programming, then you simply build the boards, hook up the wires and give it power. the LCDuino-1 only need 5v (for itself). diff vol control (and relay boards) need diff other voltages, perhaps.

also cut a round hole and some bezel for the IR sensor led thing. wire that to the board with 3 wires (ground, + and signal-out). no big deal.

the pga board I use only need 3 cpu wires going to it. again, just a 3 wire bundle or ribbon cable of whatever you have lying around.

this should be a pretty easy build. I'm on my 3rd board done, already (lol). I'm busy replacing all the perf-board versions with nice clean pc board ones.

some kind of front bezel would be nice. this is an area that could use a little creativity and some help from you casework gurus out there.

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I went thru a bunch of closed-source hardware and software partial-solutions - mini boards that did this or that - and got tired of having to work it that way. the arduino 'way' is to release source and make it easy and affordable for anyone to get the source, modify things and push it back into the device. *they* now control what this thing does, not the manufacturer. I kind of like it, this way ;)

*cough*StinkingCommieBastard*cough* ;)

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You can actually buy square, hexagonal, and octagonal "drill bits." They are not really just simple drill bits, but you can drill square holes with slightly rounded corners using these things.

Here's some information about how they work:

http://upper.us.edu/faculty/smith/reuleaux.htm

MW article about the Watts Bros floating chuck - Page 2 - The Home Shop Machinist & Machinist's Workshop BBS

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I'll even let you borrow my rectangular drill bits for cutting the front panel hole. :P

my square drill bits are broken.

I can't find replacement square bearings! oh noes.

You guys think you're being cute, but I can drill square holes!

Amazon.com: DELTA 14-651 Professional 1/2HP Bench Mortising Machine: Home Improvement

I can mortise really nice rectangular holes too. taunt.gif

Not sure if you're familiar with the tool, but it has a square chisel that surrounds the drill bit. The chisel cuts through like butter, because there's virtually just the corners left for mortising, after the drill bit hollows out the center.

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Would it be possible to hook this up to the Buffalo32 to control volume and make it display bit and sample rate, filter settings etc? I'm waiting for the TP doohickey, but it will be a long wait I think.

I don't have any info about the ESS sabre chip (datasheets are not public, subject to NDA, which really rubs me wrong). But if the chip supports volume control via an I2C serial bus, then yes, you could do it. As for any of the other features you mention, I don't know what info is available on that board, so you'll have to do some research on your own. Some additional hardware may be required.

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I don't have any info about the ESS sabre chip (datasheets are not public, subject to NDA, which really rubs me wrong). But if the chip supports volume control via an I2C serial bus, then yes, you could do it. As for any of the other features you mention, I don't know what info is available on that board, so you'll have to do some research on your own. Some additional hardware may be required.

Yeah, I kind of figured it would work, but I forgot about the NDA :( Time to do some digging :)

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