10:00
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Starbucks Coffee, Tea, Bagels, and
Pastries
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10:15
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LEGO MindStorms and pbForth - CH
Ting
"I bought a MindStorms set as a Christmas present for myself. I wanted to
evaluate pbForth and see how it works. I constructed a Rovobot and got it to
follow a black line. I will talk about pbForth and give some demos."
Ting bought a Legos
Mindstorm for $200.
The computer was unable to communicate with the robot due to the overhead
fluorescent lights.
Version 2.0 of the software uses a USB interface to an IR transceiver, older
version used RS-232 interface
- Robot:
- 32 Kb of firmware that includes 4 demo programs
- processor is a Hitachi H8/300, an 8/16 bit processor
- runs on 8 AA batteries
- 3 motor drive ports and a 2-way IR port
- 3 sensors - 2 touch sensors and a light sensor for line detection
- Questions:
- can the robot be cloned with an ARM chip?
- can A/D, D/A, I/O bits be added?
- Options:
- PB
Forth, a public domain ANS standard is available
- 12 K, but some tools missing
- BricX CC firmware (Control Center) -
Bricx Command Center 3.3
- Windows program that communciates with the Mindstorm
- supports PB Forth and C programs
- Ting's experiences:
- he can download PB Forth
- can't download multiple lines of source code
- can download source code one line at a time
O' Reilly - Unofficial
Guide to Lego Mindstorms Robots and
Online
Resources
- VEX is a modular robot sold by
Radio Shack
- Starter
Kit $300
- a $20 ultrasonic distance ranging module is available
BAYLUG is the Bay Area Lego User's
Group
- Wegmuller
- Lego models and ideas
- Lego train on
gauge one track
Lego's drag-and-drop visual programming is reminescent of
Kim Harris' D-charts in Forth
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11:30
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More New Products - Dave Jaffe
Dave will survey some newly introduced microcontrollers, I/O peripherals, and
gadgets that are interesting and can provide useful and unique capabilities to
Forth embedded systems.
Presentation in PDF with web links
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12:00
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Lunch - go to TOGO's or bring your own
meal and stay at Cogswell
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13:00
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Introductions, Announcements, Rumors,
Gossip, and Random Discussions
- From Bob Nash:
- Lantronix
XPORT
- embedded device server (ethernet)
- Digital filter DSP devices:
- Saelig
Signal Wizard II for audio frequencies
- $400 board - 4-channels
- Quickfilter
QF4A512
4-channel programmable signal converter - 32 pin part
- $200 for 2-channel development kit, $20 for chip
- programmable gain
- 188 Khz bandwidth
- anti-alias filter
- 12 / 16 bit A/D convertor
- SPI port
- available from Mouser
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13:15
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LabVIEW and the South African Large
Telescope (SALT) - Dirk De Mol (National
Instruments)
LabVIEW is a dataflow language used in the control and instrumentation world. A
short overview will be given of its structure, constructs, functions, and
grammar. SALT, a 10 meter-class telescope
will be discussed as a case study.
- Labview can write Excel files and do FFTs
- user designs front panel and Windows
- $100 for student version
- $2000 for full version
- can produce .exe file that does not need a runtime environment
- runs on Mac and Linux as well
- Labview Embedded - product for chips
- SALT - South African Large Telescope - 11 meter
- uses Labview for telescope control
- scheduling program is written in
MPE Forth
Slideshow in PDF - 8.88 Mb
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14:30
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"Watergate" and Forensic
Engineering - Jay McKnight
FIG member Jay McKnight was one of the "tape experts" on Judge John
J. Sirica's panel that advised him in 1973 about the "missing 18
minutes" in Nixon's tapes. Jay will show and discuss slides from the
report, and/or answer your questions. The full report describing the techniques
that they developed is online at the AESHC website under the heading
"Forensic Audio Engineering".
AP photograph from SF Chronicle -
January 19, 1974
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