Messages

1

DACs / Open Laser Show DAC (USB)

« on: December 31, 2011, 07:18:53 pm »

Hi everyone.

I am posting some specs and a link to a relatively new USB DAC on the block.   The Open Laser Show DAC (or OLSD for short).

It is based on a Arduino microcontroller shield format and sports some basic but very useful specifications:

    * Scan Rates: 1 kpps to 30 kpps
    * XY Resolution: 12 Bits
    * Color Resolution: 3 bits (for a total of 512 colors - 8 shades of gray)
    * Colors: Red, Green, Blue outputs
    * TTL Shutter Output
    * Built in test patterns accessible by button.

These are the specs for version 3.   Version 4 sports 32k colors (32 shades of gray) and a reduced IO count.   It is totally open source.   Here is a link the main web page:

http://www.fab-favreau.com/index.php/Main/OpenLaserShowDAC

Not only is it a USB DAC but it also can function as a standalone test device.  It features built in test frames (Quadrature, Laser Media, ILDA, and a few others) that can be displayed at different speeds and in greyscale or full color.  The board includes a button to switch the unit into test frame mode.   Since an Arduino can be run on batteries it can do this independently of a host computer.

No finished boards or kits are available at this time, however I do have some V3 bare boards if anyone is interested.   Price for the bare boards are $5 plus whatever shipping is.

--- Happy New Year! ---

2

Other software / Monkey Tools V1.2

« on: October 10, 2010, 08:51:58 pm »

A new version of Monkey Tools is is available.  It is at   V1.2 now.
 
  Here is what is new:
  Fixed saving of blanking properly (also loads   properly too)
Added the circle tool (did   nothing before)
Fixed   the Undo so it does not crash.  It effectively has 1 level of Undo...   the second time you invoke
undo you redo the undo.
Start     the application maximized 
  Oh and of course there is an installer for it now.
 
  There are of course lots of stuff to do in it... however it is much more   useful now.  It is free for the downloading.
 
  Link: http://www.fab-favreau.com/laser_show_software.html

3

About This Forum / Re: Donate!

« on: September 08, 2010, 02:07:25 pm »

Where is the paypal donate button?

4

Construction / Re: TEC cooled Al chunk for greenie modules

« on: July 17, 2010, 11:48:13 pm »

Well that certainly looks cool!  literally and figuratively!   How did you make those?   Tools, steps, etc?  I can't ever get anything I make with metal to turn out that nice.

5

Open Laser Show Controller / Activity

« on: June 30, 2010, 03:28:13 pm »

So I have noticed that this is a great idea but not so much interest in it.   I have been working on this a while... Things I have learned:


Dev C++ does not make great DLL's
Visual Studio does make great DLL's
 
The idea could stand to be refined some with the help of programmers with more experience with writing applications and displaying laser artwork...


We could use more sample/actual applications that use this... I am sure there are plenty of testers out there.


Any comments .. etc...?

6

Audio / Re: The return of bliss in my lving room!

« on: June 02, 2010, 10:54:19 pm »

Nice setup.  I am disappointed to not see any folded horn subs...

7

Free Art ! / Re: Binary Counter

« on: June 02, 2010, 01:14:55 pm »

Now all we need to is to have a video of each one of these "took only a few minutes in laser boy" creations so the rest of us can learn how and to make it more popular.

8

Lasers / Enter the Cheap 445nm Diodes

« on: June 02, 2010, 01:13:12 pm »

There is a group buy on PL for 445 nm diodes pulled from a Casio XJ-A130


I ordered 1 diode and as soon as I get it up and running I will post some pictures and such.


Link to a post on Laser Freak in German on the matter:


http://www.laserfreak.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=47902


They are selling for around ~$60 USD apiece.  I don't think they know the exact specs yet but they have been run over 100 mW and some at 470 mW (not sure the longevity...).   


Here is the post on PL:


http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11279


Don't shoot me for posting a link... please...


Cheap Blue for Everyone!

9

And Now For Something Completely Different! / Re: I have a new spawn....

« on: April 01, 2010, 03:22:54 pm »

Speak for yourself.  I think it is cool and a reminder we are all human... well most of us.

10

Joint Development / Re: Combining Forces - Collaboration

« on: March 18, 2010, 04:04:52 pm »

Links are OK.   I think an ISO should be released occasionally so that people don't have to go everywhere to get it all.   Sometimes links go bad... things disappear.

I would like to approach the authors requesting money for a functional demo version maybe...  like shareware...

Who knows... I don't have all the answers.

I would like to see an ISO.

Probably to answer my question is:

1) Assemble the big list of programs and stuff to put on it.
2) Build an ISO and overview document (HTML)
Release Round 1
3) Build all the rest of the documentation...
Release Round 2
4) Occasionally go through and update it.
Release Successive Rounds...

Thanks for everyone's input so far.

11

Joint Development / Re: Combining Forces - Collaboration

« on: March 18, 2010, 12:07:58 pm »

So how do we proceed with this?   Does anyone have any experience with anything like this?

I have released software before and made DVD's and ISOs so it is like this but does anyone have any ideas to get started quickly and not get bogged down in detailing ourselves to death?

12

Joint Development / Re: Combining Forces - Collaboration

« on: March 05, 2010, 11:41:48 pm »

Good Call


Updated list:

Drawing/Editing Software:
Laser Boy
LWave
Monkey Tools
ILdA SoS$
Laser Cam$
Sagamon Editor
Sergey's Tools
C4R0's Bitmap Tracer
Some Other Bitmap Tracing Tool I can't remember the name of...

Show Creation and Playing:
LFI Player
Spaghetti $
PopelScan

Sound Editing:
Audacity

Documents:
List of DACs along with build instructions and schematics
Adam's Scanner Tuning Tutorial
How To Laser Boy
I like to burn things with lasers, i.e. maybe laser shows aren't for me.
How To Make a Laser Projector (what parts do I buy?)
How to create a laser show from A to Z (artwork to show creation)
- in other words now that I have this software, how to be productive with it
Laser Safety?
* Keep in mind we don't have to write all of this... we could make PDf's of web pages,
and posts that are out there already with permission of course).

Frames/Artwork/Shows:
Test Frames (not from Pangolin)
Sample Shows for Spaghetti
Sample Shows for PopelScan
Sample Shows for LFI Player (does anyone have any?)

13

Joint Development / Re: Combining Forces - Collaboration

« on: March 05, 2010, 01:30:01 am »

I got it!  I got it!  Here is the name for the group:

Laser Boyz Club

You gotta be down with the LBC.

14

Joint Development / Re: Combining Forces - Collaboration

« on: March 05, 2010, 01:20:41 am »

Independent Laser Display Association ! :0 Just kidding.

Looks like we have something to go on.

About charging for software.  There are some hobby software that costs money.  Albeit not very much... you put a few not very muches together and you get too much some times.   One of goals of this would be to reduce that.   I am sure we could put something together which wouldn't cost anything except our time to put them together.   Any thoughts on this? Lite versions for free?

*** The first place in my opinion to start is identifiying what software packages go in and what documentation needs to written.  Think of this kind of like a Hobby laser Show CD compilation.  Here is a list I have so far (if your software costs > $100 it does not make it to the list).  Software that has a price tag gets a $ next to it.

Drawing/Editing Software:
Laser Boy
Monkey Tools
ILdA SoS$
Laser Cam$
Sagamon Editor
Sergey's Tools
C4R0's Bitmap Tracer
Some Other Bitmap Tracing Tool I can't remember the name of...

Show Creation and Playing:
LFI Player
Spaghetti $
PopelScan

Sound Editing:
Audacity

Documents:
List of DACs along with build instructions and schematics
Adam's Scanner Tuning Tutorial
How To Laser Boy
I like to burn things with lasers, i.e. maybe laser shows aren't for me.
How To Make a Laser Projector (what parts do I buy?)
How to create a laser show from A to Z (artwork to show creation)
- in other words now that I have this software, how to be productive with it
Laser Safety?
* Keep in mind we don't have to write all of this... we could make PDf's of web pages,
and posts that are out there already with permission of course).

Frames/Artwork/Shows:
Test Frames (not from Pangolin)
Sample Shows for Spaghetti
Sample Shows for PopelScan
Sample Shows for LFI Player (does anyone have any?)

Most of the above software really does have any good set of how to documents with it.

I think the main point is that everything a hobbiest needs is in one place.

That is all I can think of...

15

Joint Development / Combining Forces - Collaboration

« on: March 04, 2010, 01:54:36 pm »

Everyone,

I would like to propose a collaboration on a software package.   By package I mean group of software packaged together... not really one single piece of software.

One thing that I have been thinking about for a while is that there is no good "does it all" software for hobbiest.  I know... Laser Boy does alot but it does not make it really easy to make a show and it does not talk directly to an output device...

The one thing that other companies excel at is offering a complete solution.

Now we do have really great and inexpensive solutions for individual problems however no one stop shop.  Hobbiest have to go all over the place to get all of their software needs.

What about getting together and assembling a group of applications that cover everything you would need to create and display laser shows.   Writing a how to for it.

It could be sold or given away.. depending on the contents of the package.

What do you guys think?