Topic: USB / TTL circuit info

[Fanny Pack]

Thanks for checking in and I'm sorry to hear about all of the stuff going on at home.  After being laid off and having to move across the country a few months back I know how stressful those life changes can be.

I'm wrapping up the driver for the USB micro device and should have it ready for testing soon.  Once you have some breathing room let me know and I can set you up with a build.  I'd like to hear how it works for you since I don't have the hardware. 

[James]

Any one of those things is very unfortunate, but to have all of them at once must be extra tough. I sure hope it all works out for the best.

I wish you well!

James.

[meandean]

  Best wishes, both of my brothers and I have had some difficult times times lately, too.

[Lazerjock]

Thank you all for your kind words.
I really appreciate friends like you.

Gary, I don't like to make people wait on me. Besides it will be a good distraction. So when ever you are ready for me to test just let me know.

Lazerjock
Chris

[Fanny Pack]

Well, I thought I was ready but I have since realized that I need to do a lot more configuration work before I want to give it out.  Mostly I sit around thinking of logical ways of making the configuration work.  The problem I am having to solve is how to make it so that person A can write a show that uses TTL devices X,Y,Z and let person B load that show who has TTL devices Q,R,S,T,U.  Additionaly, it may be person C writing the show who has no devices but is adding support for certain devices G,H,I to the show for someone who might have them.  In the end, there has to be the ability to map whatever was added to the show to whatever the end user has and make it so that the end user doesn't have to work too hard to configure it.  And finally, the TTL controllers may be totally different.  Who knows if it is hooked up to pins 1 of an EasyLase or pin 3 of a USBMicro?  Then, there is support for devices that might use more than 1 pin so that they are smarter.  There has to be a way of configuring what the different pin on/off states mean.   So, as you can see, it is quite the configuration nightmare!  The same type of situation exists for multiple projectors but since they all have a common ILDA interface there isn't much to worry about.  DMX should be simpler as well.  I haven't even started on that but most of the TTL stuff can be reused.  Most of the pieces of the puzzle are in place but I keep going back and forth on whether or not I like that.  Anyway, just letting you know whats going n.

[Fanny Pack]

To explain more, I am thinking of creating a Spaghetti library of TTL devices and each will have it's own unique ID (GUID).  There will be a "Generic 1 pin device" with a GUID that never changes and that will probably satisify 90% of the devices.  But, I can also define some 2 pin lumia device with defined states and if another person has that same hardware, the GUID will make it plug and play.  The problem is that I don't know of any off the shelf TTL devices.  It's hard to account for the homebrew stuff since you never know what you will need to control. 

I think that the first release will only support 1 pin devices (even though internally) I can handle multi pin devices.  As people want to add support for multi pin devices they can talk to me and we can figure out a plan. 

The problem only really exists when different people share shows since they might not have the exact same hardware. 

[drlava]

Hi Gary,

8-bit multiples for control devices are common.  each configuration event could have 2 rows of checkboxes, one row for turning bits on, and another row for turning bits off.  The bits that aren't checked aren't changed from their previous state.  Another option is to use bitmasking for the event but that might be less intuitive to many people.

[Lazerjock]

Wow how would have thought this would be so difficult.
Thanks for all of your hard work Gary.

Lazerjock

[Fanny Pack]

Yea, there will be a lot more to configure with this next release of Spaghetti.  But, I hope that the waying I am designing it will make it easy for people to understand and use.

[Fanny Pack]

Alright, I figured out how I want to do the configuration.  Now, I need some input from everyone who has TTL devices that they will want to control.  I am going to create some hardcoded configurations so things will be easier out of the box.

I need to know:
(1) What the device is.  (Name and description).
(2) Number of TTL pins it has.
(3) What the states of the pins mean.  For one pin devices, it would most likely mean On = High and Off = Low.  If you aren't sure what this means the contact me off line.

Thanks.

[Fanny Pack]

So, I spent two months adding multiprojector and TTL support and no one wants it?  LOL. 

[meandean]

  There's nothing like the satisfaction of doing a lot of work for nothing!

[Fanny Pack]

For the most part, I did it for myself but Laserjock expressed an interest in the TTL stuff so I made that a priority.  I guess the problem is that most people can only scratch enough stuff together for one projector and aren't really interested in the external DMX/TTL devices.   I actually thought about approaching some different folks on here to team up and design/produce some very simple/cheap off the shelf lumia wheels and things of that nature that could be bought and work out of the box.  But, I started adding up parts and the cost was higher than I wanted so I dropped the idea.  Instead, I may come up with some "plans" that I can post on my website.  I'd really like to get people interested in more than single projector shows and need the availability of hardware to drive that.  I'll should be done with the programming of it all very soon and will move on to the giant list of other things that need to be done for this release.

[Lazerjock]

You know I want it Gary.
I figured since I sort of started the whole idea that you knew what I had already. If not here you go:

1.    U401 USB Interface from CircuitGizmos.com
2.    16 I/O's
3.    Not sure, I think ON=Hi and OFF=Low

Chris
Lazerjock

[Lazerjock]

For the most part, I did it for myself but Laserjock expressed an interest in the TTL stuff so I made that a priority.  I guess the problem is that most people can only scratch enough stuff together for one projector and aren't really interested in the external DMX/TTL devices.   I actually thought about approaching some different folks on here to team up and design/produce some very simple/cheap off the shelf lumia wheels and things of that nature that could be bought and work out of the box.  But, I started adding up parts and the cost was higher than I wanted so I dropped the idea.  Instead, I may come up with some "plans" that I can post on my website.  I'd really like to get people interested in more than single projector shows and need the availability of hardware to drive that.  I'll should be done with the programming of it all very soon and will move on to the giant list of other things that need to be done for this release.

The idea of the TTL board was to allow people to use it any way they want. Thats why I provided the schematic showing what FET to use. This allows the user to connect almost any 12v device to the TTL board. If they want to control 110vac, use the FET to switch a 110vac relay. This opens a whole world of options.

With that said Gary, was making it user friendly by providing pre-set outputs.

I like the idea of providing Lumia wheels or at least the plans and maybe simple beam accuators using solinoids. I figure if people can build a projector they can cobble togother a simple Lumia wheel and beam pick off. Most of that info is out there already anyway.

Then again maybe I'm giving the average Joe too much credit.

Lazerjock