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Topics - Sleepwalker3

3
General discussion / Music for Hacking! - Def Con 21 and SOMA FM
Music for Hacking! - Online 'radio' station SOMA FM (Listener Supported) provided the music for the DEF CON 21 'Chill room' and at the moment they are continuing the theme with a special streaming using the same DJ's http://http://somafm.com/events/

SOMA FM rely solely on donations from listeners (eg. You) and have NO ADS! and because they're online, you can get them all around the world  :)    You don't have to donate to listen, but if you like them, please donate to help keep them on the air.

No I didn't attend DEF CON, not really into that scene, but I have been a fan of SOMA FM for some years and think this will expose SOMA FM to a wider audience and hopefully the Hacker community and readers here will appreciate their *many* stations and donate what you can to keep SOMA FM on line. You can even get a SOMA FM CD, Hoodie, T-Shirt, etc. depending on the size of your donation. http://http://somafm.com/support/

For those of you that haven't tried it, SOMA FM is an online radio station that has quite a few different 'stations' (over 35!) that cater for various genres, many of them not what you'd get on the normal junky repetitive commercial stations and no ads.
Whether you like a bit of Groove, smooth Soulful Vocals, some Indie Rock, Jazz, World Music, Ambient, Punk, Americana roots, Asian beats, Trip Hop, Trance or even something else (like DEF CON chillout music :), if you're not into the mainstream commercial crap, then SOMA FM will probably be something you'll like - and NO ADS!

To make it even better, they tell you every single song they play on the webpage, the Artist, Track name and Album - and all of them are tweeted too. Plus they have links so you can buy the music if you like it. In Windows Media Player, those song details comes up after you accept opening the link, so you get updated info as each new song is played. Did I mention no Ads? The music varies, so if you don't like a track, listen a bit later or try another SOMA station.

The main stations that I listen to are -
GrooveSalad - Chilled Grooves, quite a mix and very easy to listen to. The kind of thing you can leave on in the background all day and you'll be chasing track names in no time!  http://http://somafm.com/groovesalad/

Lush - Sensuous and mellow vocals, mostly female.  http://http://somafm.com/lush/

The Trip - For Trance lovers out there  :)  http://http://somafm.com/thetrip/

To check out all their stations  http://http://somafm.com/listen/  - Lots of different genres.


Many different streaming formats too, including Windows Media (select Windows Media link), so you are sure to find one you can handle and if not, try VLC player http://http://www.videolan.org/

If you find a station you like on SOMA, then please donate  http://http://somafm.com/support/


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4
General discussion / Ultrasound and Infrasound (and whatever other sounds!)
This post started from the DP blog post about an IR LED speed camera license plate blocker http://http://dangerousprototypes.com/2011/06/06/ir-led-speed-camera-license-plate-blocker/  This got into a discussion about the blinding effects of high intensity LEDs and I mentioned about the effects of Ultrasound. Shadowgps responded that it was Infrasound, not Ultrasound and it was getting a bit off topic, so I thought I'd bring this over to the forum.

Shadow GPS said -
Quote
It’s not called ultra-sound… It’s called infra sound and we are testing now as a way to disable people.


Well, no; in this instance I'm talking about Ultrasound - i.e. sounds above the normal range of our hearing, not Infrasound, that being below our range of hearing (or what is generally accepted as our range of 'hearing' as such). The Infrasound effect was, according to an article in 'Electronics Australia' magazine July 1996, an effect which had been a popular thing going around, but was thought to be (at least partially anyway, by way of one popular story that was going around) a bit of an urban myth, though there is quite likely some truth to it.

Note that I'm not suggesting that Infrasound wouldn't have a detrimental effect - FWIW I believe it would - I'm simply saying Ultrasound, at excessive levels, certainly does. The ultrasound effect was certainly proven and there are citations in a Wikipedia article also http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasound , with official health authority safety guidelines cited from Canada and the UK. One 'Health Canada' guideline ( Guidelines for the Safe Use of Ultrasound Part II – Industrial & Commercial Applications – Safety Code 24. Health Canada. ISBN 0-660-13741-0) claims that it has been calculated that ultrasound, in excessive levels, could cause death . There was testing done for military applications done (as you seem to suggest), which the EA article goes into. Unfortunately I can't post it, as although EA is gone (sadly), Silicon Chip magazine bought the rights to the content and it's probably still under copyright, but I'd be happy to email it to you under 'fair use' if you're interested.

According to the article, the military were using these measures as far back as WWII and I don't really doubt that. I've read other articles from engineers involved with experiments with large scale speaker arrays reporting inaudible ultrasonic frequencies that could be accurately 'sensed' from a hundred metres or more, even though the test subjects couldn't knowingly 'hear' the sound as such. Sorry I can't cite the article, as it was long ago, but if I stumble across it I'll get a copy of it.

I recall reading somewhere years ago (perhaps the article I mention, I'm not sure), that there had been some studies done on the Ultrasonic sound levels produced by buses braking in Sydney CBD and inner city suburbs, where there is a very large amount of buses used. According to my recollection of the article, the measured sound pressure levels were far in excess of what was 'expected' and were at potentially dangerous levels for human hearing. I've experienced myself, some very unpleasant effects from standing at the lights when buses were pulling up.

Excessive sound levels of just about any frequency would probably be damaging to human hearing, be they below our 'hearing' level, above it or within it (within our hearing range being well known and well documented). It also is reasonable to assume that if it has disruptive or damaging effects on people at one frequency, it could well affect them at other frequencies, so I don't doubt at all that excessive Infrasound would be a problem too, after all, it's all just excessive physical pressure in one form or another.
5
General discussion / Current Monitor
I spotted this article for a Current Monitor in a magazine many year ago. It monitors current and alerts you to changes, either up or down, as selected. Some years later I wanted something like this to investigate a problem and went looking for something like it on the net and found the article was actually posted on the net. It is marked as Copyright, so DP may not be able to post it. Not sure what the 'Fair Use' policies are in regards to this, but as it's on the net for everybody, I can certainly post a link to it :)

http://http://www.epemag3.com/lib/free_projects/lab_equipment/0202-%20Versatile%20Current%20Monitor.pdf
6
General discussion / PIC types for UBW
Can somebody who's up with the PICs please tell me what the difference is between the PIC18F45K50 and the PIC18F4550 and other pics with the 'K'. The only thing I've found is that the K have a 10bit ADC, the non-K has 12 bit and it seems the K has 2 comparators.

I'm looking at perhaps using these (or similar) in a UBW based project and the K version is about half the price. This application is purely bits/bytes in/out (maximum 5V Digital I/O wanted), no analogue, no PWM, etc., just plain I/O and of course the USB for use with the UBW firmware.

Would there be any changes likely to be needed to the UBW firmware (which is for the non-K) to make it work with the K versions?

Thanks
7
General discussion / MPLAB 8.x or MPLABX ?
I'm about to setup MPLAB to use a Pickit3, which initially will be used to program a BP and later for general PIC dev work. I read various stuff a while ago where a number of people were saying they didn't like MPLABX, it had problems, didn't do this or that right, was bloated, stick with MPLAB 8.x, etc.    That was a while ago, so the situation may well have changed by now. Would be good to get a bit of feedback on this from people in the know. Thanks
8
General discussion / Another BP build
Hi Guys,

Probably in the wrong section to post this, but here is a couple of pics of the BPV3.5a SOIC built from a DP giveaway (thanks DP :)
All pretty much standard, though as yet the LEDs haven't been fitted to the rear - I didn't realise at first that they had LEDs on the rear as well. All went together pretty quickly.  Putting it together using the circuit diagram, I initially fitted a MIC5205-3.3 to VR1 before remembering the article about oscillations with very low ESR caps. Sure enough, I got the low level oscillations at something around the 150-200mV mark. I later swapped to a NCP700BSN33T1G and that sawtooth oscillation disappeared, as others had found.

Thus far it's just been plugged in and the power LED come on and the PC recognised the FTDI. Next step is to program the Bootloader in (when I work out which one I need!) using a Pickit3 and then the firmware (whichever version that is - too many SVN entries/models/versions gets me bamboozled!)
9
General discussion / QFP Protoboard 0.65
I have a 0.65 QFP Protoboard http://http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/qfp-surface-mount-protoboard-065mm-p-785.html?cPath=44_46 courtesy of Lyn and DP (Thanks :)  But I found it is the type that doesn't have the mini USB area and unfortunately that is needed.

I've looked around Seeed and DP, but the only protoboards with USB I can find is the 0.8 / 0.5 Protoboard, but I need 0.65mm with USB. Is there a DP Protoboard with 0.65 and USB?
10
General discussion / Chart Software
I recently needed some charting software and found some free stuff called yEd which seems pretty good. I've found it easy to do things, without having to look up the help files much and it has some quite amazing 'sorting' sorts of features to clean-up your diagrams automatically, with numerous styles like flowcharts, network diagrams, Family Tree, 'Swimlane' diagrams, etc. It can import data from .xls and XML or just draw (drag/drop) stuff on the screen. It can also output to various formats like PNG, JPG,SVG and even PDF and SWF, but the really impressive feature is the automatic layout/arrangement abilities. There's even versions for Win, Mac and Linux. This could be really handy for making documentation for programs, projects, concepts, etc. and I could see it being useful for stuff DP do. If you need to do any charting type stuff, it's well worth checking out.

You can read a review of it here
http://http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/use-free-prgramm-create-great-flowcharts-and-diagrams.htm

You can see a quick 90 second video of it in action here (I highly recommend you watch this)
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OmSTwKw7dX4

and get the program and more details from here
http://http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.html

You can also see some really impressive examples here
http://http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_gallery.html

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11
General discussion / Free TI demo boards
A few days ago MachineGeek posted an article in the blog where Goran had tipped us off to a free TI breakout/demo board for high speed op-amps, what TI call an 'Analogue Evaluation Module'. I jumped on the site and found there was actually 3 different boards that TI was offering gratis - including freight covered.

I sent off for mine a few days ago when the blog post showed and they arrived today. I got 3 lots of different boards, DEM-OPA-SO-1A, DEM-BUF-SOT-1A and DEM-OPA-SO-2B, all sent by Fed Ex – Not bad delivery time considering they had to come all the way from Texas to Down-Under. I am in the industry, so it’s legit that I obtained these. I don’t have an application for them just yet, but I do have a project coming where I may need these and had already been looking around, hence me nabbing these while they’re available.  I've included some pics here.

The method of packaging was good, they put the PCB into a plastic bag and staple it to a piece of card, something like the thickness of a Christmas card.that then goes into a padded envelope and into the FedEx box. Thanks guys for the tip and thanks TI for making some good things available, it pays off in the long run when engineers use the products.
12
Bus Pirate Support / Parts list specifically for V3.5aSOIC
A BP V3.5a SOIC PCB is headed my way thanks to DP's Christmas giveaway - Thanks guys and a happy new year to you :)

There's a parts list for the BP, but it seems to be for one of the other versions. Where can I find a parts list for this version?
Also which firmware should I load it up with?  I assume a Pickit3 is OK to load the firmware?

Thanks
13
General discussion / Programming a Freescale MCF51JM128EVLK
Has anybody programmed, or know if you can program, a Freescale MCF51JM128EVLK with a Bus Pirate or Pickit3 ? I know you can get the USBDM pretty cheap, but if a BP or pickit3 (maybe the USBtiny even) could do it, that would be much more useful, especially for what will likely be a one-off Freescale coldfire project.
14
General discussion / Congratulations Ian!
Congratulations Ian on reaching a milestone 10,000 Posts! 7.92 posts per day an over 21% of all posts ! - Wow!  I'm sure I speak for everybody here when I say thanks to you and the rest of the DP crew, this is a great site and certainly my fav for this sort of thing.
Here's to the next 10,000                                                            . . .if your keyboard doesn't give up beforehand!
15
General discussion / Wireless keyboard on a small micro?
I'd like to use a micro board of some sort (eg. Teensy, a small PIC board, maybe one of the Arduino clones or some other small cheap micro board), to connect up to a USB wireless keyboard (say a common cheap Logitech) and have the Micro output a binary code (for arguments sake, you could say the ASCII code) as parallel data.

I saw some info recently on the Teensy3 that suggested it could work with a USB keyboard, but what about a common wireless one with just the usual little dongle plugged into the USB? I'm not sure if these still just look like a HID or if they appear as bluetooth or need some special driver that only runs under Win/Linux/etc. - anybody able to give me some info?

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