Updates updates updates!
What have I been doing you ask?
Uni work. Far too much uni work for my liking. Well, it’s done now. For this year at least. So now it’s time for projects, SKYRIM! and work.

Let’s take a step back for a moment and I’ll explain one of my subjects that has kept me so busy. The subject known as ECTE350 Engineering Design and Management. Basically, at the start of the year we are put into teams of 8 and are given a theme. From this theme we must design a product, then build it. Following all regulations, much paperwork and what not. This years theme was “Aged and Disabilities care” and Team 8, also known as TSAM Tech designed and built the E-LINE. Pretty much, it’s an automated clothes line with various sensors to detected temperature, humidity, and light to detect when to draw the clothes line into the house through a window. It was also controlled by a wireless remote to move the line so it was easier for the disabled person to sit in their wheel chair and hang clothes with minimal movement.

Don’t listen to Jaqui. It’s her bra, not a swim top…

Here we can see the E-Line and TSAM Tech Team Members, minus Ru Qui, he missed the photo. We had to present our product at the annual Innovation Fair at UoW and the crowds vote on the products. This year we came third! So pretty much, this past semester at uni all my project mind set has been in this product.

Moving on.

What else. Tried to fix a mates monitor. That didn’t work. Backlights dead and I cannot find any visually dead capacitors. Bought a new Arduino Mini Pro on eBay. Just for shits and giggles. Noticed my TV has serial comms line for RS232 control. Winning! TV/XBMC remote all in one in the thought planning stages…

Yesterday, I started up on my Wireless glove gesture control mouse again. I have dubbed it the “RatGlove”. As it turns out, the learning curve between AVR micro controllers and TI micro controllers is quite steep. Not a huge fan of TIs Datasheets really. Too many references to other documents and poorly documented. I braved the datasheets and got my FR5739 board to work at the right clock speed and set up the USART interface properly so my serial LCD screen works with it all properly like. That took me 2 days alone. Oh well. Next is the accelerometer. I have a much better understanding of the ADC component of micro controllers now after my micro controller subject at uni. Hopefully I can decode the accelerometer stuff this time around.

See? Photographic evidence I am actually doing something other than Skyrim. Notice no super dodgy transistor array this time around, it’s a serial enabled 3.3V LCD available from LittleBirdElectronics. Quality aussie supplier. They get their stock from several other manufacturers, like SparkFun.

That’s pretty much it from me this time around. Just keep blowin’ shit up and taking names.