Hello World via. MSP430 (TI Launchpad)

My box of TI Launchpad’s arrived on Friday, but I have only had the chance to start playing with them today, naturally the first port of call is to get the hello world application working, as such, here is my version of Hello World for the MSP430 running on the TI Launchpad.

Just for those who don’t know or are unsure, the default Hello World application for a Microcontroller is to get an LED blinking.

/*
 
$TITLE		:	TI Launchpad MSP430G2231 Flashing LED Example.
 
$Author		:	Steven from http://hackdev.com
$Version	:	0001
 
*/
 
#include 
 
int main(void) {
 
	//Stop Watchdog Timer
	WDTCTL = WDTPW + WDTHOLD;
 
	//Configure Port Directions
	P1DIR |= 0x41;		//0100 0001
 
	//Loop forever
	for(;;) {
		//Produce a delay
		unsigned int i = 50000;
		while(i>0) {
			i--;
		}
 
		//Toggle the LED pins using XOR.
		P1OUT ^= 0x41;
	}
 
}

The Arduino Brain Machine

First off, if this thing messes up your brain, its your own fault and not my problem.

Getting back to my late night hackery, I was kinda bored last night and unable to sleep; but I was previously reading about brain machines (Thanks Hack A Day), they seem to be getting quite popular all of a sudden. So I decided to try my hand at it and I built a very basic pair of glasses, and a little bit of Arduino code to pulse the lights at a specific frequency. I did like the affect it had, it was very relaxing; which is strange to say the least as your having bright lights flashing in your eyes… Anyways, I then remembered Mitch Altman’s brain machine based on a POV kit from LadaAda and set out to find the source code for it. I was not disappointed, and immediately began porting it over to the Arduino. Now, keep in mind this was done at 3am with NO CAFFEINE and a bit of sleep deprivation thrown in so there probably will be bugs and discrepancies. The things I know of so far are:

  • No Button to start the cycle
  • Doesnt stop (or maybe it does and I just didn’t give it long enough)
  • Frequencies are not exactly the same (But I think they were a few points of a Hz off due to the timing of the AVR)

I have not tested the audio bit yet as I was too lazy to fire up the soldering iron again to build the audio filter circuit.

int leftEye = 13;
int rightEye = 12;
int leftEar = 11;
int rightEar = 10;
 
char brainType[] = {
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  't',
  'a',
  't',
  'a',
  't',
  'a',
  't',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  't',
  'd',
  't',
  'd',
  't',
  'd',
  't',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  't',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  'a',
  'b',
  '0'
};
unsigned long int brainDuration[] = {
  600000 ,
  100000 ,
  200000 ,
  150000 ,
  150000 ,
  200000 ,
  100000 ,
  300000 ,
  50000 ,
  600000 ,
  100000 ,
  300000 ,
  200000 ,
  300000 ,
  300000 ,
  150000 ,
  600000 ,
  150000 ,
  10000 ,
  150000 ,
  600000 ,
  10000 ,
  100000 ,
  10000 ,
  100000 ,
  10000 ,
  300000 ,
  150000 ,
  10000 ,
  150000 ,
  300000 ,
  150000 ,
  10000 ,
  200000 ,
  50000 ,
  200000 ,
  150000 ,
  150000 ,
  200000 ,
  100000 ,
  250000 ,
  50000 ,
  600000
};
 
void delay_one_tenth_ms(unsigned long int ms) {
  delayMicroseconds(ms*100);
}
 
void blink_LEDs(int duration, int onTime, int offTime) {
  for(int i=0; i<(duration/(onTime+offTime)); i++) {
    digitalWrite(leftEye, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(rightEye, HIGH);
    delay_one_tenth_ms(onTime);
    digitalWrite(leftEye, LOW);
    digitalWrite(rightEye, LOW);
    delay_one_tenth_ms(offTime);
  }
}
 
void do_brainwave_element(int index) {
  if(brainType[index] == 'b') {
    blink_LEDs(brainDuration[index], 347, 347);
    tone(leftEar, 14);
  }
 
  else if (brainType[index] == 'a') {
    blink_LEDs(brainDuration[index], 451, 451);
    tone(leftEar, 11);
  }
 
  else if (brainType[index] == 't') {
    blink_LEDs(brainDuration[index], 835, 835);
    tone(leftEar, 6);
  }
 
  else if (brainType[index] == 'd') {
    blink_LEDs(brainDuration[index], 2253, 2253);
    tone(leftEar, 2);
  }
 
  else {
    return;
  }
}
 
void setup() {
  pinMode(leftEye, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(rightEye, OUTPUT);
}
 
void loop() {
  tone(rightEar, 400);
  int j=0;
  while(brainType[j] != 0) {
    do_brainwave_element(j);
    noTone(leftEar);
    j++;
  }
  noTone(rightEar);
}

Now, I didn’t bother trying to figure out why the Arduino IDE was fighting with me over the struct, so I just made two indexed arrays instead (remember, no caffeine). Also, this code is not complete. It is all based on Mitch Altman’s brain machine code, posted below.

/*
Sound & Light Machine
Firmware
for use with ATtiny2313
Make Magazine issue #10
Mitch Altman
19-Mar-07
*/
 
#include              // this contains all the IO port definitions
#include       // definitions for interrupts
#include           // definitions for power-down modes
#include        // definitions or keeping constants in program memory
 
#define TIMER0_PRESCALE_1 1
#define TIMER0_PRESCALE_8 2
#define TIMER0_PRESCALE_64 3
#define TIMER0_PRESCALE_256 4
#define TIMER0_PRESCALE_1024 5
#define TIMER1_PRESCALE_1 1
#define TIMER1_PRESCALE_8 2
#define TIMER1_PRESCALE_64 3
#define TIMER1_PRESCALE_256 4
#define TIMER1_PRESCALE_1024 5
 
/*
The hardware for this project is very simple:
     ATtiny2313 has 20 pins:
       pin 1   connects to serial port programming circuitry
       pin 10  ground
       pin 12  PB0 - Left eye LED1
       pin 13  PB1 - Right eye LED1
       pin 14  OC0A - Left ear speaker (base-frequency)
       pin 15  OC1A - Right ear speaker (Offset Frequencies for binaural beats)
       pin 17  connects to serial port programming circuitry
       pin 18  connects to serial port programming circuitry
       pin 19  connects to serial port programming circuitry
       pin 20  +3v
    All other pins are unused
 
    This firmware requires that the clock frequency of the ATtiny
      is the default that it is shipped with:  8.0MHz
*/
 
/*
The C compiler creates code that will transfer all constants into RAM when the microcontroller
resets.  Since this firmware has a table (brainwaveTab) that is too large to transfer into RAM,
the C compiler needs to be told to keep it in program memory space.  This is accomplished by
the macro PROGMEM (this is used, below, in the definition for the brainwaveTab).  Since the
C compiler assumes that constants are in RAM, rather than in program memory, when accessing
the brainwaveTab, we need to use the pgm_read_byte() and pgm_read_dword() macros, and we need
to use the brainwveTab as an address, i.e., precede it with "&".  For example, to access
brainwaveTab[3].bwType, which is a byte, this is how to do it:
     pgm_read_byte( &brainwaveTab[3].bwType );
And to access brainwaveTab[3].bwDuration, which is a double-word, this is how to do it:
     pgm_read_dword( &brainwaveTab[3].bwDuration );
*/
 
// table of values for meditation
//   start with lots of Beta (awake / conscious)
//   add Alpha (dreamy / trancy to connect with subconscious Theta that'll be coming up)
//   reduce Beta (less conscious)
//   start adding Theta (more subconscious)
//   pulse in some Delta (creativity)
//   and then reverse the above to come up refreshed
struct brainwaveElement {
  char bwType;  // 'a' for Alpha, 'b' for Beta, 't' for Theta, or 'd' for Delta ('0' signifies last entry in table
  unsigned long int bwDuration;  // Duration of this Brainwave Type (divide by 10,000 to get seconds)
} const brainwaveTab[] PROGMEM = {
  { 'b', 600000 },
  { 'a', 100000 },
  { 'b', 200000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 'b', 150000 },
  { 'a', 200000 },
  { 'b', 100000 },
  { 'a', 300000 },
  { 'b',  50000 },
  { 'a', 600000 },
  { 't', 100000 },
  { 'a', 300000 },
  { 't', 200000 },
  { 'a', 300000 },
  { 't', 300000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 't', 600000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 'b',  10000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 't', 600000 },
  { 'd',  10000 },
  { 't', 100000 },
  { 'd',  10000 },
  { 't', 100000 },
  { 'd',  10000 },
  { 't', 300000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 'b',  10000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 't', 300000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 'b',  10000 },
  { 'a', 200000 },
  { 'b',  50000 },
  { 'a', 200000 },
  { 'b', 150000 },
  { 'a', 150000 },
  { 'b', 200000 },
  { 'a', 100000 },
  { 'b', 250000 },
  { 'a',  50000 },
  { 'b', 600000 },
  { '0',      0 }
};
 
// This function delays the specified number of 1/10 milliseconds
void delay_one_tenth_ms(unsigned long int ms) {
  unsigned long int timer;
  const unsigned long int DelayCount=87;  // this value was determined by trial and error
 
  while (ms != 0) {
    // Toggling PD0 is done here to force the compiler to do this loop, rather than optimize it away
    for (timer=0; timer <= DelayCount; timer++) {PIND |= 0b0000001;};
    ms--;
  }
}
 
// This function blinks the LEDs (connected to PB0, PB1 - for Left eye, Right eye, respectively)
//   at the rate determined by onTime and offTime
//   and keeps them blinking for the Duration specified (Duration given in 1/10 millisecs)
// This function also acts as a delay for the Duration specified
void blink_LEDs( unsigned long int duration, unsigned long int onTime, unsigned long int offTime) {
  for (int i=0; i<(duration/(onTime+offTime)); i++) {     PORTB |= 0b00000011;          // turn on LEDs at PB0, PB1     delay_one_tenth_ms(onTime);   //   for onTime     PORTB &= 0b11111100;          // turn off LEDs at PB0, PB1     delay_one_tenth_ms(offTime);  //   for offTime   } } // This function starts the Offset Frequency audio in the Right ear through output OC1A  (using Timer 1) //   to create a binaural beat (between Left and Right ears) for a Brainwave Element //   (the base-frequency of 400.641Hz is already assumed to be playing in the Left ear before calling this function) //   and blinks the LEDs at the same frequency for the Brainwave Element //   and keeps it going for the Duration specified for the Brainwave Element // The timing for the Right ear is done with 16-bit Timer 1 (set up for CTC Mode, toggling output on each compare) //   Output frequency = Fclk / (2 * Prescale * (1 + OCR1A) ) = 8,000,000 / (2 * (1 + OCR1A) ) void do_brainwave_element(int index) {     char brainChr = pgm_read_byte(&brainwaveTab[index].bwType);     if (brainChr == 'b') {          // PORTB &= 0b00001100;  // (for debugging purposes only -- commented out for SLM)          // PORTB |= 0b10000000;       // Beta       // start Timer 1 with the correct Offset Frequency for a binaural beat for the Brainwave Type       //   to Right ear speaker through output OC1A (PB3, pin 15)       OCR1A = 9637;  // T1 generates 415.024Hz, for a binaural beat of 14.4Hz       // delay for the time specified in the table while blinking the LEDs at the correct rate       //   onTime = 34.7ms, offTime = 34.7ms --> 14.4Hz
      blink_LEDs( pgm_read_dword(&brainwaveTab[index].bwDuration), 347, 347 );
      return;   // Beta
    }
 
    else if (brainChr == 'a') {
         // PORTB &= 0b00001100;  // (for debugging purposes only -- commented out for SLM)
         // PORTB |= 0b01000000;
      // Alpha
      // start Timer 1 with the correct Offset Frequency for a binaural beat for the Brainwave Type
      //   to Right ear speaker through output OC1A (PB3, pin 15)
      OCR1A = 9714;  // T1 generates 411.734Hz, for a binaural beat of 11.1Hz
      // delay for the time specified in the table while blinking the LEDs at the correct rate
      //   onTime = 45.1ms, offTime = 45.0ms --> 11.1Hz
      blink_LEDs( pgm_read_dword(&brainwaveTab[index].bwDuration), 451, 450 );
      return;   // Alpha
    }
 
    else if (brainChr == 't') {
         // PORTB &= 0b00001100;  // (for debugging purposes only -- commented out for SLM)
         // PORTB |= 0b00100000;
      // Theta
      // start Timer 1 with the correct Offset Frequency for a binaural beat for the Brainwave Type
      //   to Right ear speaker through output OC1A (PB3, pin 15)
      OCR1A = 9836;  // T1 generates 406.628Hz, for a binaural beat of 6.0Hz
      // delay for the time specified in the table while blinking the LEDs at the correct rate
      //   onTime = 83.5ms, offTime = 83.5ms --> 6.0Hz
      blink_LEDs( pgm_read_dword(&brainwaveTab[index].bwDuration), 835, 835 );
      return;   // Theta
    }
 
    else if (brainChr == 'd') {
         // PORTB &= 0b00001100;  // (for debugging purposes only -- commented out for SLM)
         // PORTB |= 0b00010000;
      // Delta
      // start Timer 1 with the correct Offset Frequency for a binaural beat for the Brainwave Type
      //   to Right ear speaker through output OC1A (PB3, pin 15)
      OCR1A = 9928;  // T1 generates 402.860Hz, for a binaural beat of 2.2Hz
      // delay for the time specified in the table while blinking the LEDs at the correct rate
      //   onTime = 225.3ms, offTime = 225.3ms --> 2.2Hz
      blink_LEDs( pgm_read_dword(&brainwaveTab[index].bwDuration), 2253, 2253 );
      return;   // Delta
    }
 
    // this should never be executed, since we catch the end of table in the main loop
    else {
         // PORTB &= 0b00001100;  // (for debugging purposes only -- commented out for SLM)
         // PORTB |= 0b00000010;
      return;      // end of table
    }
}
 
int main(void) {
 
  TIMSK = 0x00;  // no Timer interrupts enabled
  DDRB = 0xFF;   // set all PortB pins as outputs
  PORTB = 0x00;  // all PORTB output pins Off
 
  // start up Base frequency = 400.641Hz on Left ear speaker through output OC0A (using Timer 0)
  //   8-bit Timer 0 OC0A (PB2, pin 14) is set up for CTC mode, toggling output on each compare
  //   Fclk = Clock = 8MHz
  //   Prescale = 256
  //   OCR0A = 38
  //   F = Fclk / (2 * Prescale * (1 + OCR0A) ) = 400.641Hz
  TCCR0A = 0b01000010;  // COM0A1:0=01 to toggle OC0A on Compare Match
                        // COM0B1:0=00 to disconnect OC0B
                        // bits 3:2 are unused
                        // WGM01:00=10 for CTC Mode (WGM02=0 in TCCR0B)
  TCCR0B = 0b00000100;  // FOC0A=0 (no force compare)
                        // F0C0B=0 (no force compare)
                        // bits 5:4 are unused
                        // WGM2=0 for CTC Mode (WGM01:00=10 in TCCR0A)
                        // CS02:00=100 for divide by 256 prescaler
  OCR0A = 38;  // to output 400.641Hz on OC0A (PB2, pin 14)
 
  // set up T1 to accept Offset Frequencies on Right ear speaker through OC1A (but don't actually start the Timer 1 here)
  //   16-bit Timer 1 OC1A (PB3, pin 15) is set up for CTC mode, toggling output on each compare
  //   Fclk = Clock = 8MHz
  //   Prescale = 1
  //   OCR0A = value for Beta, Alpha, Theta, or Delta (i.e., 9520, 9714, 9836, or 9928)
  //   F = Fclk / (2 * Prescale * (1 + OCR0A) )
  TCCR1A = 0b01000000;  // COM1A1:0=01 to toggle OC1A on Compare Match
                        // COM1B1:0=00 to disconnect OC1B
                        // bits 3:2 are unused
                        // WGM11:10=00 for CTC Mode (WGM13:12=01 in TCCR1B)
  TCCR1B = 0b00001001;  // ICNC1=0 (no Noise Canceller)
                        // ICES1=0 (don't care about Input Capture Edge)
                        // bit 5 is unused
                        // WGM13:12=01 for CTC Mode (WGM11:10=00 in TCCR1A)
                        // CS12:10=001 for divide by 1 prescaler
  TCCR1C = 0b00000000;  // FOC1A=0 (no Force Output Compare for Channel A)
                        // FOC1B=0 (no Force Output Compare for Channel B)
                        // bits 5:0 are unused
 
  // loop through entire Brainwave Table of Brainwave Elements
  //   each Brainwave Element consists of a Brainwave Type (Beta, Alpha, Theta, or Delta) and a Duration
  // Seeing the LEDs blink and hearing the binaural beats for the sequence of Brainwave Elements
  //   synchs up the user's brain to follow the sequence (hopefully it is a useful sequence)
  int j = 0;
  while (pgm_read_byte(&brainwaveTab[j].bwType) != '0') {  // '0' signifies end of table
    do_brainwave_element(j);
    j++;
  }
 
  // Shut down everything and put the CPU to sleep
  TCCR0B &= 0b11111000;  // CS02:CS00=000 to stop Timer0 (turn off audio in Right ear speaker)
  TCCR1B &= 0b11111000;  // CS12:CS10=000 to stop Timer1 (turn off audio in Left ear speaker)
  MCUCR |= 0b00100000;   // SE=1 (bit 5)
  MCUCR |= 0b00010000;   // SM1:0=01 to enable Power Down Sleep Mode (bits 6, 4)
  delay_one_tenth_ms(10000);  // wait 1 second
  PORTB = 0x00;          // turn off all PORTB outputs
  DDRB = 0x00;           // make PORTB all inputs
  sleep_cpu();           // put CPU into Power Down Sleep Mode
}

Linux Firewalls – Attack detection and response with iptables, PSAD, and FWSNORT.

I seem to work best at night, it’s dark out, and generally quite dark inside too; there is more bandwidth because it is off peek, and in general there is nobody coming over or phoning and interrupting me. Incidentally, its also when I do the majority of my reading, at home; in bed, at night. Much more pleasant that way…
PSAD
Anyway, the latest book I have been reading is called “Linux Firewalls – Attack detection and response with iptables, PSAD and FWSNORT” by Michael Rash who, incidentally runs CipherDyne.org – the site where PSAD, FWSNORT and a fair few other Linux and security tools are developed. Now, you may think that with a title like that your going to have to know a lot about Linux and Firewalls before you begin but that is simply not true, Linux Firewalls takes you right from the very start of how iptables works to manually porting Snort rules over to iptables for detection, and in my humble opinion, it does a damn good job of it. In fact, it done such a good job of it, I have used the reference firewall scripts and PSAD configurations to install and configure iptables and PSAD on my new VPS, which I will hopefully be moving some of my sites to.

Some of the things you should probably have already if you want to get the best out of Linux Firewalls is…

  • A comfortable familiarity with the distribution of Linux you wish to use.
  • Basic understanding of how networks communicate.
  • Reasonable understanding of how TCP works (ie. the three way handshake)
  • Reasonable understanding of how UDP works
  • A system to test this stuff on, if you don’t have a system to test this stuff out on, you could always set up a few virtual machines using VirtualBox or VMWare.
  • A will to learn about this kind of stuff

Missing any one of these things (except the will to learn, thats pretty important) probably isn’t going to be a huge deal, but if your missing a lot of them, you might struggle a bit with some of the concepts.

Here is a sample of one of the basic Linux Firewall scripts that I have adapted from the book…

#!/bin/sh
 
#Port and IP addresses changed to protect the innocent.
 
IPTABLES=/sbin/iptables
MODPROBE=/sbin/modprobe
 
### Flush existing rules and settings. Set to default drop.
echo "[+] Flushing existing iptables rules..."
$IPTABLES -F
$IPTABLES -X
#$IPTABLES -t nat -F
$IPTABLES -P INPUT DROP
$IPTABLES -P OUTPUT DROP
#$IPTABLES -P FORWARD DROP
 
### Load the connection tracking modules. Not going to bother with NAT
echo "[+] Loading conntrack support..."
$MODPROBE ip_conntrack
$MODPROBE ip_conntrack_ftp
 
### Input Chain
echo "[+] Setting up INPUT chain..."
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -m state --state INVALID -j LOG --log-prefix "DROP INVALID " --log-ip-options --log-tcp-options
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -m state --state INVALID -j DROP
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
 
### Allowing Broadcasts
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -d 255.255.255.255 -j ACCEPT
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -d x.x.x.x -j ACCEPT #Replace the x's with your network's broadcast address
 
### Anti-spoofing measures
#$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -j LOG --log-prefix "SPOOFED PKT "
#$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -j DROP
 
### Accept rules...
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT #All local connections
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 --syn -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT #Webserver
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 22 --syn -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT #SSHd
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 1000 --syn -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT #Webmin
$IPTABLES -A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type echo-request -j ACCEPT #Accept Ping's
 
### Output Chain
echo "[+] Setting up OUTPUT chain - Allowing all!"
$IPTABLES -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT
 
### Forward Chain
echo "[+] Setting up FORWARD chain - Nothing to do."
$IPTABLES -A FORWARD -j LOG --log-prefix "DROP FORWARD " --log-ip-options --log-tcp-options
$IPTABLES -A FORWARD -j DROP

I hope that this impromptu book review is of at least some help to you.

Side Note: The bold bits in the posting are for a little test that I  am doing on keyword density… I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Hats off to Godaddy

First, I would like to point out that this is not a paid blog, It is only my opinion.

I have been using Godaddy for my domain name registration now exclusively (except for one .ie domain name) for a few years, ever since I lost the first domain name I ever had due to a registrar cock-up. When I made the switch it was pretty bewildering, I didn’t know what I was doing with their control panel, I couldn’t find things, in fact I really didn’t like the console, however things have changed over there and the domain management tools are really quite nice, any time one of my domains is updated for new DNS servers or contact information, the change happens quickly and I receive a notification about it. Since switching I have never lost a domain or even come close to it, I can configure automatic renewal for ones I want, manual for others etc… so it really quite suits me, the most impressive thing I found with Godaddy though is the support they provide to their customers.

One night when I was bored online, I was looking at the Godaddy website and spotted Bob Parsons blog, the CEO of Godaddy. Now, while he does often give some good, solid advise, his video’s are never boring. This particular night I was feeling a little bit cheeky so I decided to leave him a comment thanking him for his good tips and the great service I received, and through in a sneaky ‘by the way, any chance of a free shirt?’ on the end. The following day, I received an email from Bob’s PA asking for my shipping address and shirt size. A couple of weeks passed and I had forgotten about the whole thing when a package arrived for me through Fed Ex. A package of two Godaddy t-shirts. Not alone was Godaddy / Bob / Bob’s PA kind enough to send little ‘ol me (the shirts were XXL, so maybe not that little?) two Godaddy t-shirts, but they also covered the $27.50 Fed Ex shipping and handling charges.

How’s that for customer service?

In short, Godaddy runs a tight ship, and runs it very well. The folks over there have successfully secured my past, present, and future business.

LED Matrix Displays

*Updated small bug where I forgot to enable the system afterwards…

I’ve managed to pick up a few LED matrix displays from Sure Electronics that use the HT1632 LED Matrix driver, as such, I have written a new library for the Arduino project to make use of the displays, I haven’t done anything in relation to generating characters for them or doing any scrolling, but I can now pretty much call all of the features of the handy driver. There is still some work to do on cleaning up the library and adding some more functionality, but it does indeed work as it should. Here is the source…

/*
 
    Holtech HT1632 Driver Class (Header)
    Values taken from Datasheet...
 
*/
 
#ifndef HT1632_h
#define HT1632_h
 
//Data Mode
#define HT1632_CTL_COMMAND      0x04    //Preceeds all _COMMANDS_ to the system
#define HT1632_CTL_WRITE        0x05    //Write data to the RAM
#define HT1632_CTL_READ         0x06    //Read data from the RAM
 
//Command Mode
#define HT1632_CMD_SYSDIS       0x00    //Turn off system oscillator and LED duty cycle generator
#define HT1632_CMD_SYSEN        0x01    //Turn on system oscillator
#define HT1632_CMD_LEDOFF       0x02    //Turn off LED duty cycle generator
#define HT1632_CMD_LEDON        0x03    //Turn on LED duty cycle generator
#define HT1632_CMD_BLINKOFF     0x08    //Turn off blinking function
#define HT1632_CMD_BLINKON      0x09    //Turn on blinking function
#define HT1632_CMD_SLAVEMODE    0x10    //Set slave mode and clock source from external clock, the system clock input from OSC pin and synchronous signal input from SYN pin
#define HT1632_CMD_RCMASTER     0x18    //Set master mode anc clock source from on-chip RC oscillator, the system clock output to OSC pin and synchronous signal output SYN pin
#define HT1632_CMD_EXTCLK       0x1C    //System clock source, external
#define HT1632_CMD_COM00        0x20    //N-MOS open drain output and 8 COM option
#define HT1632_CMD_COM01        0x24    //N-MOS open drain output and 8 COM option
#define HT1632_CMD_COM10        0x28    //P-MOS open drain output and 8 COM option
#define HT1632_CMD_COM11        0x2C    //P-MOS open drain output and 16 COM option
 
//Command Mode - PWM Settings
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM01        0xA0    //PWM 1/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM02        0xA1    //PWM 2/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM03        0xA2    //PWM 3/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM04        0xA3    //PWM 4/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM05        0xA4    //PWM 5/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM06        0xA5    //PWM 6/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM07        0xA6    //PWM 7/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM08        0xA7    //PWM 8/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM09        0xA8    //PWM 9/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM10        0xA9    //PWM 10/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM11        0xAA    //PWM 11/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM12        0xAB    //PWM 12/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM13        0xAC    //PWM 13/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM14        0xAD    //PWM 14/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM15        0xAE    //PWM 15/16 Duty
#define HT1632_CMD_PWM16        0xAF    //PWM 16/16 Duty
 
#include "wProgram.h"
 
class HT1632 {
    public:
        HT1632(byte data, byte wclock, byte chip0, byte chip1=NULL, byte chip2=NULL, byte chip3=NULL, byte rclock=NULL);
        void ChipSelect(byte chip);
        void ChipRelease(byte chip);
        void SendCommand(byte command, byte chip=0);
        void WriteBits(byte bits, byte mask);
        byte ReadData(byte address, byte chip);
        void Clear(byte chip=0);
        void WriteData(byte address, byte data, byte chip=0);
        void Init(byte chip=0);
        void BlinkMode(bool blink=false, byte chip=0);
 
    private:
        byte _DATA;
        byte _WCLOCK;
        byte _RCLOCK;
        byte _CHIP0;
        byte _CHIP1;
        byte _CHIP2;
        byte _CHIP3;
};
 
#endif
/*
 
    Holtech HT1632 Driver Class
    Some functionality inspired by westfw from this thread: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1225239439
 
*/
 
#include "wProgram.h"
#include "HT1632.h"
 
HT1632::HT1632(byte data, byte wclock, byte chip0, byte chip1, byte chip2, byte chip3, byte rclock) {
    //Set the I/O Directions
    pinMode(data, OUTPUT);
    pinMode(wclock, OUTPUT);
    if(rclock) {
        pinMode(rclock, OUTPUT);
        _RCLOCK = rclock;
    }
 
    pinMode(chip0, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(chip0, HIGH);
    _CHIP0 = chip0;
 
    if(chip1) {
        pinMode(chip1, OUTPUT);
        digitalWrite(chip1, HIGH);
        _CHIP1 = chip1;
    }
 
    if(chip2) {
        pinMode(chip2, OUTPUT);
        digitalWrite(chip2, HIGH);
        _CHIP2 = chip2;
    }
 
    if(chip3) {
        pinMode(chip3, OUTPUT);
        digitalWrite(chip3, HIGH);
        _CHIP2 = chip2;
    }
 
    _DATA = data;
    _WCLOCK = wclock;
}
 
void HT1632::ChipSelect(byte chip) {
    switch(chip) {
        case 0:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP0, LOW);
            break;
        case 1:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP1, LOW);
            break;
        case 2:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP2, LOW);
            break;
        case 3:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP3, LOW);
            break;
        }
}
 
void HT1632::ChipRelease(byte chip) {
    switch(chip) {
        case 0:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP0, HIGH);
            break;
        case 1:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP1, HIGH);
            break;
        case 2:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP2, HIGH);
            break;
        case 3:
            digitalWrite(_CHIP3, HIGH);
            break;
    }
}
 
void HT1632::WriteBits(byte bits, byte mask) {
    while (mask) {
        digitalWrite(_WCLOCK, LOW);
        if (bits & mask) {
            digitalWrite(_DATA, HIGH);
        } else {
            digitalWrite(_DATA, LOW);
        }
        digitalWrite(_WCLOCK, HIGH);
        mask >>= 1;
    }
}
 
void HT1632::SendCommand(byte command, byte chip) {
    ChipSelect(chip);
    WriteBits(HT1632_CTL_COMMAND, 1<<2);//3 bit command id
    WriteBits(command, 1<<7);//8 bit command
    WriteBits(0,1);//There's one extra bit in commands that dont matter...
    ChipRelease(chip);
}
 
byte HT1632::ReadData(byte address, byte chip) {
    //Do stuff here to read the data from the chip...
}
 
void HT1632::Clear(byte chip) {
    ChipSelect(chip);
    for(int i=0; i<256; i++) {
        WriteData(i, 0);
    }
    ChipRelease(chip);
}
 
void HT1632::WriteData(byte address, byte data, byte chip) {
    ChipSelect(chip);//Select the chip...
    //Send the WRITE command...
    WriteBits(HT1632_CTL_WRITE, 1<<2);  //3 bit command
    //Send the Address...
    WriteBits(address, 1<<6);   //7 bit address
    //Send the data...
    WriteBits(data, 1<<3); //4 bit data
    ChipRelease(chip);//Release the chip...
}
 
void HT1632::Init(byte chip) {
    SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_SYSDIS); //Disable system
    SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_COM11); //PMOS drivers
    SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_RCMASTER); //Master mode
    SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_SYSEN); //System Enable
    SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_LEDON); //Enable the display
    Clear(chip);
}
 
void HT1632::BlinkMode(bool blink, byte chip) {
    if(blink) {
        SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_BLINKON, chip);
    } else {
        SendCommand(HT1632_CMD_BLINKOFF, chip);
    }
}

Just a general update…

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted  anything, I’ve been very busy lately but since I’m out sick now for a few days, I have a bit of time to update…

If you have tried to play Fallout 3 using an Asus branded NVidia card, and it crashes stating “Fallout 3 has stopped working” every time you try to load a new game, check and see if you have Asus Gamer OSD installed, if you do, get rid of it. Something the overlay does interferes with the game  and causes this to happen…

I have been doing some more work on the lighting for the man cave so I have some Python code that will pull the Average color (not the most predominant, yet, wont be hard, but I am lazy) so here it is, please keep in mind its not nice, fast or clean… for high res images it takes a few seconds to do its thing…

#!/usr/bin/env python
 
#
# PIL Image Module Handbook - http://www.pythonware.com/library/pil/handbook/image.htm
#
 
from PIL import Image
from optparse import OptionParser
 
def processImageAverage(imageFile):
    image = Image.open(imageFile)     #open the image for processing
    pixels = list(image.getdata())    #break the image down into a list of pixels, each pixel contains a list of red,green,blue
 
    totalpx = 0 #set some default values to start counting...
    redpx = 0
    greenpx = 0
    bluepx = 0
 
    for pixel in pixels:    #loop through the lists and build the values.
        totalpx += 1
        redpx += pixel[0]
        greenpx += pixel[1]
        bluepx += pixel[2]
 
    redavg = redpx / totalpx   #generate the averages
    greenavg = greenpx / totalpx
    blueavg = bluepx / totalpx
 
    print "\nTotal Pixels:\t", totalpx     #and write them out.
    print "Red Average:\t", redavg
    print "Green Average:\t", greenavg
    print "Blue Average:\t", blueavg
    print "HEX Color:\t#%x%x%x" % (redavg, greenavg, blueavg)
 
def main():
    parser = OptionParser("Usage: %prog source")
 
    (options, arguments) = parser.parse_args()
    if len(arguments) != 1:
        parser.error("Please specify a single input file.")
 
    processImageAverage(arguments[0])
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

I have a new job now, I’m no longer a software validation engineer (tester), I’m now an IT Support Engineer (IT Techie…) which is kinda nice….

Well… that is for now…

€1366.07 down…

So I have been doing some serious work on my mancave during my two weeks off, so far I have all of the walls battened, the new door fitted, and two of the walls wired for mains sockets. I have even been picking up some additional parts that we are not quite ready yet, such as a roll of CAT6 cable, CAT6 wall outlets with faceplate’s, 17 double gang switched sockets and much much more… all in all its coming along nicely. No photo’s taken as of yet though, I really should have taken some at the start and all the way through as it would have been quite a good evolution slide show, but alas its too late now… we did run into a few issues though, the garage is still crammed full of stuff and there is not much room to move around in it so that has been slowing us down a lot, however there is nowhere else to put it so it has to be this way for now I’m afraid :(

Another issue we’ve encountered was that the cavity blocks haven’t aged all that well and are quite hard, like flint even, so masonry nails havent been working out too well on that, so as a more expensive, and time consuming work-around, we have been using nail-anchors and manually drilling for each baton… not the most fun thing in the world, but at least its progress…

As a side note, from working out in the cold weather all week I seem to have gotten another cold :(

I Hate Webdesign

Did I mention lately that I hate webdesign? no? let me explain…

While I am quite proficient at writing backend systems in PHP and mySQL, or even taking an existing design and twising it around, chopping it up and changing things, I have no artistic taste when it comes to actually designing things. I have taken on a job for a client, and I now feel that I am out of my depth, it doesnt help that I have absolutely no specification what so ever, none, nada, ziltch… but even still, I should be able to come up with something suitable, but I cant, its just not coming to me… It’s not a particularly complex website, its basicly an online brochure for a catering company so I have settled on using the website baker CMS for doing all of the backend management, it doesnt really need anything more complex than that to do what it needs to do, however this means that 90% of the work to be done on this site is purely design, look and feel… and I hate it.

So far, my design consists of a solid, light coffee color background, some red (to slightly pinkish) text, and a white box with a border… really… is this the best I can do?

To the Man Cave!

UPDATED: Syntax Highlighting for code blocks.

Purpose: A man cave is loosely a male-only space to retreat to, watch sports matches, or play video games. According to psychiatrist and author Scott Haltzman, it is important for a man to have a place to call his own, referring to a male area to retreat to. Some psychologists claim that a man cave can provide refuge from stressful surroundings and be beneficial to marriage.

Via: Wikipedia

So I have committed myself to building one of these, at present, I have a 15′ x 15′ garage space, ready for the taking. I plan on turning the space into a male friendly (read: full of beer) area with a home cinema setup, a bar and some cool and interesting technology. To date, I already have the Projector & Screen, some basic fittings, some decent insulation for the roof, 2x Wireless access points with which I will be building a P-T-P link, and lots of ideas…

One of the things that I want to do is to install an all LED lighting system composed of high output RGB LED’s – My idea for this is to use an I2C bus linking all of the LED modules with the info and the power over CAT5; as such, I have begun development. I bought some small 3W RGB LED’s from Deal Extreme for developing my proof of concept modules. My PoC so far is comprised of an Seeeduino Mega as the LED controller and unfortunately as I havent made as much progress with my BifferBoard as of yet, I’m currently using a Bus Pirate (v2go) for controlling the I2C bus, the protocol Im using is quite simple, you send the write address of the unit, a # character and then the hexadecimal RGB values, as such the full pallet of colors is available and can be looked up online or from the majority of graphics programs… There are a few points to consider for what you want to use as the LED Controller, if I beef up my C skills, I do intend on moving away from the Arduino plaform and migrating to a smaller lower specced Atmel or PIC uC – resulting in lower costs… the controller so far has a few features…

  • The Default (Startup) Color is programmable from the I2C bus so if there is a power failure etc… the lights will return automatically to a known state.
  • The controller is bus configurable to be Common Cathode OR Common Anode
  • There is more to add here as I complete them, such as disco mode or fade mode, or pre-defined sequences…

I have taken a photo of the test setup I have at present and will provide the sourcode below, I have also been working on a Processing application to play with the idea of doing something similar to the Phillips Ambilight tv where depending on the image on my screen, the lights in the mancave will be a particular color, while I will also post the code for this, its not commented, or pretty, or even working at this point so your on your own with it… I will update as time goes on… anyways, enough jibber jabber, time for some actuall images and real code…

General (Outdated)  Flowchart for the controller:

Picture of the test setup…

And as promised, here is the source for the Arduino:

/* 
 
Arduino I2C RGB LED Controller
 
EEPROM Map:
  0x00  configuration block
  0x01  red pwm value
  0x02  green pwm value
  0x03  blue pwm value
 
*/
 
#include
#include 
 
//PIN Definitions
#define addr0      2
#define addr1      3
#define addr2      4
#define addr3      5
#define redPin     7
#define greenPin   8
#define bluePin    9
 
//Global Variables
byte redPWM = 0;
byte greenPWM = 0;
byte bluePWM = 0;
byte configBlock = 0;
byte i2cAddress = 0;
byte i2cData[4] = {0, 0, 0, 0};
boolean processQueue = false;
 
void setup() {
 
  //Set PIN I/O's
  pinMode(redPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(greenPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(bluePin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(addr0, INPUT);
  pinMode(addr1, INPUT);
  pinMode(addr2, INPUT);
  pinMode(addr3, INPUT);
 
  //Enable internal pullups
  digitalWrite(addr0, 1);
  digitalWrite(addr1, 1);
  digitalWrite(addr2, 1);
  digitalWrite(addr3, 1);
 
  //Set I2C Address...
  //i2cAddress = (digitalRead(addr0) | digitalRead(addr1) | digitalRead(addr2) | digitalRead(addr3));
  i2cAddress = 7;
 
  //Register an event to fire when we receive I2C data then join the bus...
  Wire.onReceive(grabData);
  Wire.begin(i2cAddress);
 
  //Grab previous settings from EEPROM...
  configBlock = EEPROM.read(0);
  redPWM = EEPROM.read(1);
  greenPWM = EEPROM.read(2);
  bluePWM = EEPROM.read(3);
 
  //Set the PWM outputs for the LED(s)
  setPWM();
 
  //I think we're ready to enter the main loop now...
 
}
 
void grabData(int data) {
  int i = 0;
  while(Wire.available()) {
     i2cData[i] = Wire.receive();
     i++;
  }
  processQueue = true;
}
 
void setPWM() {
    if(configBlock == 'A') {
    analogWrite(redPin, 255 - redPWM);
    analogWrite(greenPin, 255 - greenPWM);
    analogWrite(bluePin, 255 - bluePWM);
  } else {
    analogWrite(redPin, redPWM);
    analogWrite(greenPin, greenPWM);
    analogWrite(bluePin, bluePWM);
  }
}
 
void updateEEPROM() {
  EEPROM.write(0, configBlock);
  EEPROM.write(1, redPWM);
  EEPROM.write(2, bluePWM);
  EEPROM.write(3, greenPWM);
}
 
void loop() {
  //Check to see if we have something to do...
  while(processQueue == false) {
    //Do nothing... but do it quickly!
    delay(1);
  }
 
  switch(i2cData[0]) {
    case '#':
      //we have a color
      redPWM = i2cData[1];
      greenPWM = i2cData[2];
      bluePWM = i2cData[3];
      setPWM();
      break;
    case 'D':
      //We're setting the default startup color...
      redPWM = i2cData[1];
      greenPWM = i2cData[2];
      bluePWM = i2cData[3];
      updateEEPROM();
      setPWM();
      break;
    case 'C':
      //we're changing the LED type
      if(i2cData[1] == 'A') {
        configBlock = 'A';
      } else {
        configBlock = 'C';
      }
      updateEEPROM();
      break;
    default:
      //do nothing...
      break;
  }
 
  processQueue = false;
}

And here is the source for Processing:

import processing.serial.*;
 
PImage myImage;
Serial myPort;
 
float[] redpx;
float[] greenpx;
float[] bluepx;
 
float redtotal;
float greentotal;
float bluetotal;
 
int imgWidth;
int imgHeight;
 
void setup() {
    //println(Serial.list());
    myPort = new Serial(this, "COM13", 115200);
 
    myImage = loadImage("red.jpg");
    myImage.loadPixels();
 
    redpx = new float[myImage.pixels.length];
    greenpx = new float[myImage.pixels.length];
    bluepx = new float[myImage.pixels.length];
 
    for(int i=0; i> 16 & 0xFF;
        greenpx[i] = myImage.pixels[i] >> 8 & 0xFF;
        bluepx[i] = myImage.pixels[i] & 0xFF;
    }
 
    for(int r=0; r < redpx.length; r++) {
        redtotal += redpx[r];
    }
    redtotal = redtotal / redpx.length;
 
    for(int g=0; g < greenpx.length; g++) {
        greentotal += greenpx[g];
    }
    greentotal = greentotal / greenpx.length;
 
    for(int b=0; b < bluepx.length; b++) {
        bluetotal += bluepx[b];
    }
    bluetotal = bluetotal / bluepx.length;
 
    int serialData[] = { 91, 32, 48, 120, 48, 69, 32, 48, 120, 50, 51, 32, floor(redtotal), 32, floor(greentotal), 32, floor(bluetotal), 32, 93, 13};      //used for i2c control through a bus pirate
    //int serialData[] = { 'R', floor(redtotal), 'G', floor(greentotal), 'B', floor(bluetotal), 'C', 'A', 'U' };      //used for serial control through rs232
 
    for(int j=0; j 0) {
       String inBuffer = myPort.readString();
       if(inBuffer != null) {
        println(inBuffer);
       }
    }
 
    myImage.updatePixels();
}