ejs

a snaphot of time

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Weekend project – USBasp

Sep 21

Posted by ejs in Hobbies, programming | 1 Comment

I had some ideas to go out before, but as i got terrible cold last Friday, I had to postpone all of them.

I feel a bit better today, so decided to build USBasp – an USB port ISP programmer for Atmel product family. I used STK 200/300 dongle before, but it works from parallel port only.
USBasp: fresh PCB
Lets start: the schematics is from http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/ . You can find some schematics and pre-routed PCB’s there.

What I need is USB B type or MiniUSB connector, SMD parts, small footprint, single – sided PCB. The one I liked is by Thomas Pfeifer, http://thomaspfeifer.net/atmel_usb_programmer.htm. The problem is I found no files for Eagle there and had to re-create the PCB.

Additional features are:

  • RC filters on MOSI, MISO and SCK lines to suppress ringing, as suggested in AVR Freaks forum;
  • Signal from oscillator (XTAL1) is routed to the pin 3 on IDC connector via jumper – a handy feature to debrick the MCU if you accidentally fused external oscillator;
  • Inductor on the power line.

The PDF files with the layout are here, an A6 – size mirrored image for direct printing on OHP is here.

Added on 2008-10-01:
USBasp top side, populated
USBasp bottom side, populated
First, it works. Both connected directly or via USB hub.
Second: don’t create anything while you are ill. Actually, pin number 5 on miniUSB connector MUST be grounded, while pin number 4 can be grounded or left floating. I’ve used i jumper wire to solve the issue.

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Hacking the FlexLM keygens

Aug 21

Posted by ejs in Hobbies, Software | Comments off

Ok, it’s ugly and illegal, i know. The information here is for educational purposes only.

Sometimes i’m asked to “cure” one or another product, protected by registration or network license manager, like FlexLM. And you know, a lot of keygens for these product found in the Internet, do not work. The usual error is “Internal Error #{1..6} – Please be sure the app is running and on the license screen!”. What’s wrong, why the keygens from the glorious crack groups do not work any more?

Search on the Internet revealed almost nothing: from “the kyegen does not work” to “it works perfectly”, some says one must use genuine windows the keygen to work (wow…).

Let’s start a little investigation. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s go get lost

Feb 25

Posted by ejs in Hobbies | 1 Comment

Full trip (amost)Actually, up to Munich i had no GPS signal when the Asus was charging in the car cradle – a stupid problem.
When surfing web in Munich I’ve found a patch to solve the problem in WM5 from the same Asus. After this everything went fine and you can see the whole journey here.
Asus had solved this problem in later firmware releases for WM5 as well as for WM6. So, let’s start exploring Italy: Full trip (amost)
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Creating eye-candy from dead i-GO tracks

Feb 24

Posted by ejs in Hobbies | Comments off

sample track

As, I’ve mentioned earlier, we had a pleasant trip through Italy the last summer. I have recorded the whole trip to my GPS unit using i-GO navigation program. Seems like 10 second recording intervals are fine and the track is quite precise and smooth.
Unfortunately, during upgrade from WM5 to WM6 I had to reinstall i-Go and all tracks just dissapeared from track list in i-GO. Stupid me, i HAD to save ‘igo.db’ file somewhere.
I found no way to put them back, so let the fun begin.
A short glimpse into one of the files and..

...
$GPGSA,A,3,04,20,13,23,31,11,,,,,,,2.0,1.2,1.6*33
$GPRMC,061120.287,A,5414.2734,N,02337.5314,E,54.08,261.55,290707,,,A*50
$GPGGA,061121.000,5414.2726,N,02337.5281,E,1,06,1.2,152.2,M,31.0,M,,0000*54
...

Hey, do You think the same way? Yes, it’s NMEA data in plain text.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Screen change for Asus MyPal 639

Feb 22

Posted by ejs in Hobbies | 2 Comments

little hand

The unit served as almost perfect GPS navigator for our summer trip though the Italy. One regular February evening i took my Asus PDA and…
Yep, a small problem. And a serious one.

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ESR meter

Dec 7

Posted by ejs in Hobbies | No Comments

partly assembled ESR meter board

Sometimes i need to check the ESR values for second-hand or fresh electrolutis capacitors. Although ESR meters are available, it’s hard for me to spend a lot of bucks on one of it. So: the schematics is from ludens.cl, the case is from local supplier (a low-cost analog multimeter from China).
OpAmp, resistors and SMD capacitors are mounted. Black stripes at the bottom are milimeter marks on the metal ruler.

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A new inhabitant

Apr 15

Posted by ejs in Blogroll | No Comments

Strage things happens.

We have a new inhabitant. Hope it will become a huge German shepherd, but today it is small, curious and a bit upsett five weeks old puppy.

For now, take a look at this page .

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On the temperature

Jan 19

Posted by ejs in Blogroll, Car | No Comments

I don’t like it. The temperature at 8:00AM in the morning was -27°C.

Cool. But not for my car. It did not start. Even with a booster. The battery is definetly dead.

It started at last after a battery was charged for a half an hour.

Wire size calculations ;)

Jan 17

Posted by ejs in Car, Hobbies | No Comments

Q: Given a single 0,35mm² copper wire, how much current it will handle?
A: ~60A

Stupid me. Used DIY regulated transformes to start my Alfa Romeo today and hooked on the wrong connector. Alfa started. The insulation on the wire made a blue smoke, but … still working 😉

Anyway, got 6mm² wire for replacement.
It’s time to replace car battery too, i think. Or check the generator.

PCB for Atmega

Nov 13

Posted by ejs in Blogroll, Hobbies | No Comments

515

As promised earlier, i started the temperture controll project.
The last Atmel AVR in DIP package i had went to some ‘black box’. Have no sources for firmware, so i don’t want to touch it now.

It happens i’ve got Atmega8 in TQFP package. The only problem is the connection of TQFP to veroboard is either complicated or expensive. Read the rest of this entry »