Author Archives: John Roach

About John Roach

Currently attending Hacettepe University Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Student, programmer, amatuer poet and writer. His hobbies include chess, playing the piano and writing stories.

Putting Humpty Dumpty Together

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I have been going through many projects these last few days so that’s why you haven’t been receiving any updates. However my work load has lessened a bit hence the update.

I will be posting my collision detection software (for a 3D world using only one webcam). You will be able to find it on GitHub.

I will like to show my fellow system admins one of the switch’s we are using in the company we work. I think it will make you smile.Image006 (2) As you can see the whole thing is a mess and very scary. We are to re-cable the whole thing once I find some time. The switch is actually under power lines.  So lots of interference. Thanks to some miracle the system still works.

I will take a photo of the new version once I fix the whole thing. If I ever find any time. After all I’m the only IT/Software Developer guy throughout the company.

 

Another photo I wish to share is of my cubicle. Below is my comp and table.

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As you can see from the photo I have a nice little corner. The computer is custom made. i7-960 with 6 gigs of ram. The motherboard is true SATA3 so is the hard disk. I very much like my machine. I installed Fedora 15 and Windows 7 64-bit Prof. Dual boot. Very happy over all.

These days I’m writing in Python and C++. So I have been using the new Eclipse IDE. The new Indigo Eclipse is very good. Uses less RAM and less CPU.

For my PHP programs I have been using the new Netbeans 7.0.1. However because of the poor Python support (you have to install a Netbeans 6.8 version plugin which under certain circumstances crashes the whole Netbeans) I really don’t like it. That said the PHP support looks good.

Talking of PHP we moved our http://rentech.com.tr server to Media Temple.mt-120x60-lt They have good service however it really is expensive. I wish they gave a little more RAM without costing an arm and a leg. The whole thing is just too expensive. However the speed is far superior than HostGator which was our previous server host.

opendns_logo_300I have also moved the whole network to OpenDNS. We were able to stop botnet activity thanks to the switch. It seems one of the computers got infected even though all the PC’s have anti-virus’s. The company was also able to put up some much needed web content filters. Of course now everyone blames the IT guy for the whole thing.

And that is that really. I will probably be buying an Android phone soon. Everything is grand these days. Couldn’t finish my “IP Home Automation Load Balancing” paper yet. I just really didn’t have the time. Was mostly working on my collision software these days.

I may be going back to USA. I really am not sure when it will be happening.

Below you will able to see some pretty pictures I took with my soon to be old phone.

Oh yeah… I wish to ask… Doesn’t it bother you when your door is kicked and you are checked up every so often as if you were in prison? I get really annoyed when my door is opened without a knock these days. I mean. Privacy people!

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Fork me on GitHub

Going somewhere yet not moving…

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Image017

    Watching the countryside rise and fall like waves ready to hit our steel boat that huffed it self on to the tracks like a beast after good game. The morning cold reminds me of my idiocy of not bringing my jacket. The hot coffee I made 5 o’clock in the morning warms me and assists me to forget my many past mistakes.

    I am on the road to Eskişehir Osmangazi University. A quick drive to the train station [many thanks to my dad here], a fast rail train ride and a bus ride takes me to my destination.

   In the university I will be attending summer courses that I have to take. Probably the last summer course I will ever take.

I will be posting as much photos I can of Eskişehir. It is a beautiful city. Something I really didn’t expect.

I am very busy this summer. I have started a job in RENKO LTD. [www.rentech.com.tr] and alsoImage018 I am working on second home automation based paper with my good teacher Dr.Ali Ziya Alkar. I have some network simulations to do which has proved a little difficult. However I am confident that I will overcome such difficulties.

I have also updated my CV. It now includes my L33T skillz and my pending patent.

I will soon be posting some projects over at https://github.com/ so please fork me! Smile

Please do continue to read me!

Have a nice day!

Blinking lights MSP430 FG461x

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Photo of two experimenter boards for the MSP43...

Image via Wikipedia

I have been working on MSP430 for sometime now. It is an TI (Texas Instruments ) chip. Very fun to play with. We are using a MSP430FG461x series experimental board. This little experimental board has all the bells and whistles one may need to create any application from a home automation controller to a simple step-motor driver. TI provides very good documentation for this grown up toy.

Our first lab homework for this baby was :

By using the MSP430 FG4618 Microcontroller, write a program that controls the LED #1, #2,#4.When we perpetually push the two buttons at the right bottom corner of the board, all ofthe LEDs turn on.When we push perpetually one of the buttons, only the LED #4 blinks, the others turn off.When we push no buttons, the LED #1 and #2 blinks complementarily and the LED#4 turnsoff.

My biggest problem with this exercise was to find what led was connected to what port. However in the end I figured it all out.

Below you will find the program :

 

 

#include <msp430xG46x.h>

void initPortPins(void);

void main(void)
{
	 WDTCTL=WDTPW + WDTHOLD;
	 initPortPins();
	 while(1) {
	 	if (P1IN == (0x00))
	 	{
			P2OUT |= 0x06;
			P5OUT |= 0x02;
		}
		else if (P1IN == 0x03)
		{
			P2OUT &= 0x00;
			P5OUT &= 0x00;
			P2OUT |= 0x02;
			__delay_cycles (40000);
			P2OUT &= 0x00;
			P2OUT |= 0x04;
			__delay_cycles (40000);
		}
		else
		{
			P2OUT &= 0x00;
			P5OUT &= 0x00;
			__delay_cycles (40000);
			P5OUT |= 0x02;
			__delay_cycles (40000);
		}
	 }
};

void initPortPins(void)
{
  P1DIR = 0x00;	// Set P2.2,1 as outputs
  P5DIR = 0x02; // Set P5.1 as output
  P2DIR = 0x06; // Set P2.1 to 1
};

Emotiv, what the future will bring?

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3_bigBased on the latest developments in neurotechnology, the Emotiv EPOC is a revolutionary, new personal interface for human computer interaction.The Emotiv EPOC is a high resolution, neuro-signal acquisition and processing wireless neuroheadset.  It uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expressions and connects wirelessly to most PCs.

Now think of connecting your home appliances, your car and your PC to this magnificent gadget. The possibilities do seem limitless. Emotiv seems to have the best learning algorithms available in the consumer electronics world which makes it possible for prospective developers to develop 3rd party applications and interfaces. Just watch the video below! And yes the developer tools can work with Microsoft Visual Studio Smile 

 

EMOTIV Demo