Saturday 23 July 2011

keyboard code

I've fixed most of the major issues with the keyboard, so without further ado here be code:


and header file:



There's probably far better ways of doing most of it, the status lights still do nothing and I had to do a rather annoying workaround so that rightctrl+z  works properly (and other key combinations that start with 0xE0)


Advice/suggestions would be brilliant :)

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Keyboards 4: The LCD of Awesome!!!

The LCD screen arrived today, it was remarkably easy to wire up and get running. I ended up using a couple of the analogue inputs as digital outputs and I've still got 4 pins left over..

I also plumbed in the LED which turned out to be very bright green and tweaked the code to make it flash while the keyboard is sending data. This is almost the most annoying thing on the planet, only second to the American pronunciation of the word "solder".

pictures!!

From keyboard



From keyboard

Cheers to ByVac Electronics for the LCD of awesome :)

Monday 18 July 2011

Keyboards 3: The Tidying of USB

I finally got round to replacing the usb ports on the keyboard yesterday
I've gone for a standard socket for the spare port on the hub and a mini-b connector for the host connection (i figure there should be plenty kicking around now that mobiles have switched to micro usb)

also: hotglue.

From keyboard


Naturally they're somewhat wonky, I might straighten them at a later date..

Stay tuned for the next instalment: Keyboards 4: The LCD of Awesome
(coming in 2.5+((effort*lazy)/awesome) days)

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Drill Battery Charger

A few months before I moved to sunny Scotland my dad passed on his nice bosch drill set, which kicked around for a while and now that I want to use it, I discover the charger's dead!


AL 60 DV 1411 charger From drill charger

To the workshop, Batman!

Tuesday 12 July 2011

toasty modem!

BT business broadband modems run hot (at least the 2Wire ones do). They also have no heatsinks or fans, but then at "room temperature" this isn't a problem.
The problem arises when you put said modem in a smallish room with about 800w of computing equipment and two people. On a warm day the room hit's between 25 and 27°C and the modem gets a little flakey.


Enter: the big fan!

From modem

I chose this one because it runs quite happily on 5v and is nice and quiet, screwed it onto the lid of a spare modem and swapped the lids over this morning. (hopefully) problem solved!