So, while playing around with the Animoog app, if you go into the setup menu there is a selection under ‘Refresh MIDI input(s)’ where  you can select ‘Off’ or ‘Network Session 1′.  This intrigued me!  Apparently you can use MIDI over the ‘Network’.  After some Googling I was still unclear on how to get this setup, so I thought I’d just tell everyone how I did it so you can get to making some cool tunes yourself.

I’m assuming your PC has iTunes installed and you have the Bonjour service that comes with it.  It should work without it but you lose the auto-discovery.  OK, so first thing you’re going to need is the Animoog app on your iPad.  Once that is installed, you’re going to need rtpMIDI which is available for free here.  (Download link on the top right).  I’m using Windows 7 64 bit for reference.  Once you download the rtpMIDI, unzip it and execute the .msi file to install it.  There is a better tutorial for installing rtpMIDI here so I won’t re-iterate everything.  The TL;DR version is Install, click Next, Next, Next, agree to anything that pops up, and done.

After the rtpMIDI is installed, run rtpMIDI from the start menu.  Click the + under ‘My Sessions’ and choose a new name or leave it as default.

Next highlight the (only) session and click the enable box on the right.  Now at this point Bonjour probably hasn’t caught up with you yet to display your iPad in the Directory box like mine.  If it does, click connect.  If it doesn’t click the + under Directory and type in the IP address of your iPad followed by :5004.  eg.  ’192.168.5.104:5004′ which is the case with mine.  You can get the WIFI IP address of your iPad by going to Settings ->General->Network->Wi-Fi->(Your Wi-Fi access point’s name) and you’ll see ‘IP Address’.  It’s usually something like 192.168.1.100 or so.

After adding an item in the Directory, highlight it and click connect.  If successfull it should show up in the ‘Participants window’.  Leave this application running.

OK, still with me?  Good.  Next, run Animoog, click on the top right where it says ‘Settings’, then on the left under ‘Refresh MIDI input(s)’ select ‘Network Session 1′.

At this point I’m going to presume that most software that uses MIDI output on  your PC will work, however I did not try them.  I’m going to use Fruity Loops Studio 9.

Once you fire up Fruity Loops, start with a fresh setup.  Goto Options->MIDI settings.  On the top you should see something similar to my screenshot.  The name of your ‘Session’ you used in rtpMIDI.  Highlight that MIDI Device, click Send Master Sync (so you can control BPM from FLStudio) and set the Port Number to 0.  Close this dialog.

Next, goto Channels->Add one->MIDI out.  On the channel settings, make sure you set the Channel to ’1′ and the Port to ’0′.

At this point you should be able to click the little virtual keyboard and hear it play on your iPad.

If this works, then you are all set up.  If not then either you missed a step or I forgot to mention the step (hah!).

You can start making your patterns with notes and hear them play back on the iPad.  You still have to setup your preset in Animoog on the iPad, and it doesn’t appear that all the functionality is supported.  Some notes don’t appear to work (things like pitch, etc.)  I presume if you had multiple iPads you could set them all up with different presets and make some really killer music.

And here is a quick little YouTube video showing it working.

SX2/CN2 tachometer kit in action

I ended up reverse engineering the protocol, building some less expensive kits, and documented how exactly I figured out the protocol. Along the way, I also discovered how to make the mill run in reverse!

If you wondered how a reverse-engineering problem like this is approached or what tools are used, this could be an interesting read:

http://macpod.net/misc/sx2_tachometer/sx2_tachometer.php

• Difference between CPLDs and FPGAs:

  • http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-fpga-and-cpld/

• VHDL Tutorial:

  • http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~ese171/vhdl/vhdl_primer.html

• Xilinx ISE Software (Windows or Linux, 32 & 64 bit available)

  • http://www.xilinx.com/tools/designtools.htm

• Digilent Xilinx FPGA Board:

  • http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,790&Prod=BASYS2

• Digilent Xilinx CPLD Board:

  • http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,400,798&Prod=CMOD

• Xilinx Platform USB Programmer:

  • http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=platform+xilinx&_sacat=See-All-Categories
    (you can program through the USB of some of the boards but you can do a lot more with a VHDL interface)

• How to install the cable drivers in Linux:

  • http://www.george-smart.co.uk/wiki/Xilinx_JTAG_Linux#Using_Xilinx_USB_JTAG_Programmers_under_Linux_.28Installing_Cable_Drivers.29

• Opencores.org: (open source hardware modules (“cores”) for FPGAs)

  • http://opencores.org/projects They have a lot including multiple CPU designs.

So me and the wife went looking for a light to add to his changing table, we found one at IKEA that we like but it’s a ceiling mount light with 3 individual 35 watt flood bulbs, with cartoonish fish as the housings.  I’m not about to drill a hole in the ceiling and install a wall switch (as the instructions state it’s supposed to be installed), so we looked around for something else but nothing caught our eye.

I decided to just get this fixture, and hack it.

In the lighting section of IKEA they have some DIY lamp kit, I just needed a cord since I’m going to be plugging this in the wall, and they’re pretty cheap.  So I grabbed the neon green one since it looks cool.

First thing I did was open everything up to see what we are dealing with…

The first part to tackle will be the cord, Unscrew the cord lock, slide it down.

Unscrew the lamp shade holder, then begin to crack the plastic housing.

Continue using pliers / snips to cut the plastic down to a little nub.

Next thing to tackle is the light housing.  A 3/8 drill bit should let you slide the plastic housing threaded area through but not the nub.  (slide the wire completely out, then stick the nub inside the housing and point to the outside.  You can then slide the wire and the wire nut back on and tighten it… You now have a nice clean wire grommet.  This also helps keep the insides from pulling out if it were to be tugged on.  You can wrap the wire on the inside using the existing square jig.

Next step would be to remove the grounding wire.  The cord from IKEA is only a 2 wire, and the ground wire precaution is usually because its an installed fixture.  If you have a 3 cord wire with a ground plug, feel free to connect it.  Mine doesn’t, I’m removing it.

You can next start to solder one of the pairs of wire, either the whites or the blacks.  After you solder it, its a good thing to use some shrink tubing on it to keep it from touching anything else.

Then it’s time to get a switch, make sure its rated for at least twice the current draw of the lamp @ 120 volts… in this case we have 3x35w bulbs, so my 3 amp switch is fine.  Solder 1 of the other color leads to one side of the switch, then the other wire of the other pair to the other side of the switch.  Finally we need to mount the switch.  In my case I needed to drill another 1/4 hole, and the switch came with mounting hardware.

It’s a good idea to double check your wiring and plug it in the wall and test it make sure its fine.  Now we screw in the mounting plate to the wall, and mount the fixture.

Lastly some cable mounts to keep the cord safely adhered to the wall, and routed to the outlet are nice.

And there you have it.  A fixture that was meant for ceiling mount and to be a permanent  fixture converted into an easily movable non-permanent lighting fixture.

Basically the rule to learn here is while your out looking buying products, its important to look past what it is, and try to envision how you can turn it into something better.

Hmm… What is a Netduino? Check out the next video from our Netduino Debut Tutorial for a demonstration!

The Netduino looks like an Arduino and it’s even compatible with the existing Arduino protoshields. However, it’s a completely different beast which can be programmed using Microsoft Visual Studio C#. Oh… It’s also Open Source. Pretty cool eh!

Me and my wife recently had our first child.  I’ve been trying to come up with some projects I can do for the kid.  Well, around this time of the year the fireflies go crazy around my house, so we came up with the idea to do led fireflies in a jar.  It should be something cool for him to stare at and is easy to build.

Schematics, C source code and hex file are available here on our wiki.  If you want to build one it should only take about an hour.

I’m planning on making a version 2 with some changes, stay tuned for that one.

[Show as slideshow]

PicKit2 Debug Express

Paul King has created the first tutorial called “Using the PICkit2: As a Programmer” of his planned series of PICkit 2 tutorials. This one covers setting up the MPLAB software and PICkit 2 programmer to quickly compile and program the 44 Pin PICkit2 Demo Boards.

Subsequent tutorials will cover using the programmer hardware as a Debugger, Logic Analyzer, Logic Output Tool, and a UART Tool.

Be sure to read David Powell’s “Programming PIC Microcontrollers in C” as a precursor to Paul’s series.

Happy Hacking!

Check it out Here!