lduncan Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 For those interested, here is a update on the controller I am working on. http://www.nzreefs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37#37 It has changed a lot since the beginning of the year. But i've finally settled on what components I will use. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Boards have arrived, got a photo up: http://www.nzreefs.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=15 Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Want another beta tester? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 What i'll probably end up doing is putting together a couple of complete systems, and send them round NZ, and people can try/test it. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Let's see...2500 pins to solder, let's say 2 pins per minute on average that's 1250 minutes. Call that 21 hours including breaks...$30/hr for labor, you going to charge $630+ for them? hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Let's see...2500 pins to solder, let's say 2 pins per minute on average that's 1250 minutes. Call that 21 hours including breaks...$30/hr for labor, you going to charge $630+ for them? hehe. Sorry Ira, i wouldn't get out of bed for less than double that hourly rate. Prototypes are expensive. The boards themselves cost $800 (for min 4) so that pic is a $200 piece of laminated fibreglass and copper, then there are the components on top of that. A single protoype with all the other components will probably cost me a couple thousand, in raw materials. But once the proto is finished and working. I can send them to some chinese sweat shop and have them manufactured for next to nothing. :lol: Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 $30/hr? Hahaaa, that would almost be an insult! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 yes an insult Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 You wouln't get out of bed for less than $60hr? Damn I am in the wrong business. I would kill people for $60hr. $30 is an insult? Damn any of you guys got any work going? Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Consultancy Pies. If I wasn't at Uni, i'd be charging $90/hr +, and still be one of the least expensive in town. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Shit guys are in the wrong game, pet shops make $100 hr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 hahaaaa, funny coz it's (probably) true :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 I dunno if i'd kill people for $60 an hour, but I'd definitely hit them with a makeshift blunt object for $60 an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bainorama Posted June 16, 2005 Report Share Posted June 16, 2005 It looks like you're pretty much building a computer. Why didn't you just buy a small form factor PC and build a simple I/O module? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2005 Several reasons. 1 Size. This will be much smaller than even the smallest form factor PC 2. Cost - By the time you design the IO required and interface it to a PC, you might as well put you're own cpu in their. 3. Power - this will consume about 3 watts. PC you are talking orders of magnitude more power. 4. It will hopefully form the basis of an entirely separate commercial product. 5. I had to think of an idea for my final project for university. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Another update http://www.nzreefs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=56#56 Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Looks good, cant wait for the full version, Could be a good seller in the states if the price is competitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted June 28, 2005 Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Why not use a handheld device like a PDA or similar? Certainly would look swanky and they have nice screens these days and are cheap as chips. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted June 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2005 Cost, and specialised hardware. If you use something like a palm, you still have to design additional interface hardware like analogue inputs etc. It's expensive. I haven't received the LCD yet it's still on backorder. There are many options for this including color PDA type displays. The one I have on order is a small 128 x 64 graphic module with a white backlight. The board will obviously be packaged in a professional looking case etc, and like i said before, it is also going to form the basis of another commercial product i'm looking at developing. It's still very much a prototype. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted July 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2005 A little bit of progress. SDRAM is working now, and it's successfully running linux 2.4.27 kernel. Ethernet is not working yet. Need to write a driver for it. I've been able to get version 2.6.12 of the kernel built and running yet. But that is the version i'm hoping to use. So things are moving a little slower than i was hoping, but still chugging along. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Major progress. Got version 2.6.12-rc1 of the linux kernel built, ethernet drivers written, and the board is now live on the internet! Got to http://lduncan.dyndns.org and the page which loads is being served by the board. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 nice work, when can i test it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 when it's finished Around Christmas I should hopefully have a couple of fully assembled units. Next week... a live video feed from ChCh, all going to plan. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted July 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 As promised. A live video feed from ChCh, served by the controller. It's probably a bit dark, and it's just a cheap webcam so the image isn't that flash. It is better with more light. The "streaming" is not how it will be done. At the moment it's just a meta refresh ("client pull") which only allows a max frame rate of 1fps. I should be able to get 10 to 15 fps without to much trouble, using a "server push" approach. I just need to get php compiled for this to work. Resolution is set at 352 x 288, cause my upstream BW is limited. Here's the link again http://lduncan.dyndns.org Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 playground?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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