RE: using breadboards

True enough and I was looking at some of the stuff coming out for the Google
phone did you know a lot of the gaming companies are coming out with games
like Guitar Hero on the Android platform?  What I see in the next 3 years is
a blurring of the lines of what is a desktop and what is a PDA.  The IPhone
has games showing up like F-18 fighter.  I mention games because they are
the heavy weight applications.  What I see coming is the day when you carry
your Personal computing Device with you in the form of a USB stick or Flash
drive component.  Then you just slap it into your home stereo for speakers
or Flat screen TV for Monitor or if you're at school you will not need
desktops you will just slap your personal unit into your work station and
your off and running.    Already the IPhone is starting to become accessible
and so is the Android phone.  It has some ways to go but it is getting there
fast.  Microsoft is rolling out Windows 7 which will work on those net books
and if Jaws and Window-eyes don't go with the flow System access will.
System access is selling a version for net books right now with xp for only
$150 so the truth is the way to go is to develop for a platform that exists
and just make it better accessible.

In fact a better way to do a Braille plus like device is to get one of the
new atom net books from dell for $349 that has a 32gb flash drive and 2gb of
ram and put Orca on it and go nuts.  Now I am not saying get away from
things like the Braille plus or victor stream or Icon for the end device but
you can create everything you need using the hardware and OS that exist then
have one of these companies create a smaller device for you.  Of course if
you go with the Android phone which I have on my desk at the moment you
don't really need to get smaller just more accessible.

Ken
-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alex Hall
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 7:28 PM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: using breadboards

I have no experience here, but I would just like to say that you 
are right about developing things from scratch and foregoing the 
already invented wheel for your own.  Look at the braillenote: 
this March will mark the very first time a braillenote is able to 
use any sort of instant messenger.  A year and a half ago was the 
first time SSL was supported, and we have yet to see a reliable 
bluetooth stack or G wifi that does not require very specific 
settings to work smoothly.  All this, and the bn is based on 
Windows, but it has a special program called keysoft on it that 
completely hides Windows functionality and implements that 
functionality only when necessary; some things are built into 
keysoft itself, like the bluetooth stack, and some are based in 
Windows, like javascript support; keysoft is what slows down the 
development of new features on the bn family of products.  The 
Braille Plus has none of these problems because it is just an 
adapted Linux box with special hardware and a rewritten 
interface, which is how users can run command-line apps (sorry, I 
am a Windows user) on a Plus or Icon.  Just my 2 cents.

Have a great day,
Alex

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Ken Perry" <whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Date sent: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:57:18 -0500
>Subject: RE: using breadboards





>I think you again are barking up the wrong tree.  So you write 
your own
>shell.  (I have done this )  What then?  To make it useful you 
need
>applications for it.  You will have to write them all.  You would 
be better
>off getting involved in something like the Google Android 
operating system
>or OE Linux at the ground level.  If you do something like that 
you're in on
>the low level of both devices and software and you can make a 
large
>difference.  The Android operating system is made for all mobile 
devices so
>you could both start from scratch and get the support of a 
community.  The
>problem is in the past a lot of blind or disability companies 
have created
>things from scratch and when you are all done you end up with a  
device that
>is so behind the times no one wants to use it.  Same goes for 
software you
>will spend more time making your shell interact with things that 
are out
>there because your users will want to chat with his friend on Msn 
or print
>her papers to that usb printer.  So look more into getting 
involved with
>things like OE Linux or Android or things of that sort and you 
will learn
>the same amount your thinking of while making a huge difference.



>Ken



>From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tyler
>Littlefield
>Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 5:40 PM
>To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: using breadboards



>I graduate this may, I believe.

>Maybe I won't go that route.  I'm interested in OS design, making 
something
>work.

>I really want to just write a basic shell, though I doubt my OS 
will be the
>next windows on the market, I want to get things working.

>I started playing with something, but after I got it to boot up 
and
>everything I wasn't able to find a way to test what I wanted to 
see if it
>works.

>Basically I'm looking for another solution besides just windows 
and linux
>dev.  I want to start playing with new technologies learning how 
things work,
>making things go bang, etc.

>Any other ideas would be great.  I won't give up on learning 
about circuitry,
>but it's hardly a career option for me.



>----- Original Message -----

>From: Ken Perry <mailto:whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

>To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

>Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 3:34 PM

>Subject: RE: using breadboards





>You are looking at the wrong place for making a PDA even if it 
was just for
>you personally.  I said 274 for the development board after you 
design the
>software on that and decide what components you want for example 
the 274$
>development board I spoke of came with y-fi, 2 usb ports, blue 
tooth, and
>some other things like keyboard input which you would have to 
design.  Of
>course a finished product would not need all of those or it would 
be a Pac
>mate.  Anyway the thing is you buy one dev board and develop your 
PDA idea.
>When you're done you get the company who made the dev board to 
make you 5000
>of them and your off and running with the next Victor stream.  
Now I am not
>talking from left field.  I would suggest you call Marc at 
Levelstar and
>talk to him.  He developed the brail plus and Icon hardware and 
he will be
>able to explain it much better when I was talking to him the 
other day he
>said and I quote, "you may think you want to get into hardware 
design but
>you don't believe me you don't."  You really need to talk to 
people already
>in the industry.



>I also know of another device that was a Linux pda that never 
made it to
>market because it took 6 months to get a bread board working for 
it because
>you have to match up the daughter boards and get all the 
polarities and
>voltages right and in this case it was a sighted person doing  it 
and he
>smoked a few components just getting it to work.  After that he 
had to get
>some kind of software to actually compile and work on it.  Why 
would you
>want to go through that kind of hell when you can purchase a 
development
>board from either Samsung or hell there are lots of companies 
that you can
>get atom dev boards from and I am not even sure my $274 is the 
lowest cost I
>did see one that was $1000 for a dev board and it was a 4 inch by 
3 inch
>board that was pretty much a laptop in a  tiny box.  These dev 
boards come
>with an operating system that works on them, heck most of them 
come with
>both windows CE and Linux so you can choose



>Shrug do what you want but the work you will have to put into a 
PDA is not
>worth it.  This is the last I will say, without any other 
questions,
>because if you want to fight with it more power to you just know 
you are in
>for a long hard road to get nowhere and by the time you get there 
your
>device will be so far behind the times it won't be worth having.  
For
>example if you are planning on making this for more than yourself 
it costs
>in around $2000 to $5000 just to get your power supply tested and 
passed all
>the regulations.  That's just one of the things you will have to 
do with
>your own design.



>By the way as a side note, Tylor when do you graduate from High 
school?
>This has nothing to do with what you're doing I am just 
interested.



>Ken

>From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tyler
>Littlefield
>Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 4:43 PM
>To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: using breadboards



>I figured I was totally scrued up.

>It's just something I want to do.

>I have an idea for a PDA I would like to build that sounds fun, 
just my
>personal little PDA.  I could totally customize it, and it would 
be cheaper
>than anything I could buy more than likely.

>I also want to just learn how these things work.  I've often 
found them
>interesting.

>I have been digging around for some electronics tutorials, but 
haven't found
>all that much that doesn't consist of a ton of pictures, etc etc.



>----- Original Message -----

>From: The Elf <mailto:inthaneelf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

>Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 2:34 PM

>Subject: Re: using breadboards



>lol, odd list to send this to, but I used to do modular 
electronics, so your
>in luck.



>firstly, that setup will not do the job, you need to find a basic
>electronics tutorial and read it, smile, not ragging on you, just 
the truth.



>there are basic principles that you haven't grasped yet.



>for a battery charger, you need the 110 volt (wall) plug, a 
transformer,
>you need a full  wave rectifier (I'll explain in a minute) and 
you may want
>some filter capacitors, though there not really needed for a bat 
charger.



>now then, your first mistake is that your setup would have put 
wall type
>current, called AC for alternating current, into resisters and 
batteries
>which are DC (direct current) devices , that's a large shocking 
flam buoy
>recipe.

>number two, you said resisters to bring the current down, yes 
resisters will
>drop current, but not in the way you need it to, this kind and 
type of
>current step down is done with a transformer (that's why so many 
things with
>removable wall plugs have that large box either at the wall end, 
or in the
>middle of the cord, the box is mostly the transformer that 
reduces the
>voltage and changes the amperage of the wall current.

> and without the full or half wave bridge rectifier I mentioned 
before, your
>still plugging DC parts into an ac circuit, another flam buoy!

>the full wave bridge rectifier I have been mentioning is the 
component that
>changes the AC current coming out of the transformer into DC 
current for the
>batteries to charge off of.



>here is the correct series of components for a simple power 
supply:



>1.  110 volt power plug, which you attach to a specific set of 
contacts on a
>110 AC to...  (output voltage equals the number of batteries 
going into the
>battery holder, times 1.5 volts) so if you have a battery clip 
for 2
>batteries, then its 3 volts, if its four then it's six volts) AC 
transformer
>(note here, all the transformer does is change the voltage and 
amperage of
>the power, not its type, at this point you still have AC current 
running
>through the thing).

>3.  to the output side of the transformer you attach the input 
leads off the
>full wave bridge rectifier (this is the device that changes the 
power from
>AC, to DC so its the same type of current as your batteries).

>4.  to the output side of the FWBR you can either:

>4-1.  insert two filter capacitors to screen out noise the 
circuitry
>generates, but this is not needed in a simple charger(*note,! the 
filter
>capacitors have to be hooked up the correct way, one end is 
positive one
>negative).

>or,

>4-2.  attach your battery holder, making sure you get the 
polarity of the
>wires correct to the battery holder , or your making a loud bang 
and a lot
>of stink and a hazard out of your batteries.



>another point, this simple setup has no way, like many chargers 
you buy do
>now a days, to tell when the batteries are fully charged, and 
stop trying to
>charge them, and this will heat up, and eventually give you 
another ka boom.



>the circuitry for a regulator is not to hard, but I can't pull it 
out of my
>head like I can a simple power supply.



>that is the basics of a power supply and it will work as a 
charger.  and it
>will not cost much, but why reinvent the wheel, unless your going 
to try for
>some work in the electronics field? which I would not advise, 
some of the
>stuff is extremely complex, and some of it quite delicate, and 
none of it is
>marked in a method that can be  read with our current tech 
abilities.



>laters,

>inthane

>----- Original Message -----

>From: Tyler Littlefield <mailto:tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

>To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

>Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 12:06 PM

>Subject: using breadboards



>Hello,

>I'm looking to start using breadboards to create some small 
things.

>I'd like to start off with something small, possibly a battery 
charger or
>something similar.

>I found a small tutorial on instructables, but not totally sure 
how to get
>going.

>It explained how things work somewhat, but not accurately enough 
for me.

>It mainly used pictures to explain, which didn't do me a whole 
lot of good.

>Any ideas on how I can set this up?

>I understand the polarity--hooking one negative end to the 
positive etc so
>that the circuit forms a loop, I'm just not sure how to do what I 
want.

>So, here's my idea.

>If I figure out the layout, I can set up a power cable going from 
the outlet
>to the breadboard.

>Then I can place in jumpers to bridge the gap.

>I can take the 120 volts down to 9 with some resisters (?) and 
hook a
>battery pack to the other end that will charge the batteries.

>I'm thinking I'm way off, but...  ideas would be great.

>If I could, I'd like to set it up so it'd charge like 4 at once, 
then I
>could cut down the 120 to 36.  Possibly put in a heat sink to 
keep it from
>getting really hot.




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