Thursday 15 November 2012

Install Arduino Uno drivers on Windows 8

Today I had to re-install my Arduino drivers because I've installed Windows 8. This was a problem because the drivers where not correctly signed. In Windows 7 you could ignore this, but in Windows 8 you need to boot in a special mode in order to avoid the safety measures.

On the Arduino forum there is a nice how-to available about how to install the Arduino Uno drivers on Windows 8.
1. Windows Key + R
2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00
3. Click the "OK" button
4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen
5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen
6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen
7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen
8. Click "Restart" button
9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen
10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
11. Once the system starts, install the Arduino drivers as you would on Windows 7
source: Original post on Arduino forums by Louis Davis

JY-MCU "linvor" AT Commands (change name of linvor)

Today I found out how to change the name of my "linvor" serial Bluetooth module to my desired name.
It's quite easy, however due the different baud rates you nee to experiment a little with them in order to get a good connection. So experiment with setting the baud rate in the Arduino code.

I connected the RX pin of linvor to pin 2 and the TX pin of linvor to pin 3 of the Arduino.
Then I changed the default SoftwareSerialexample of the Arduino IDE a little. Now the Serial.begin(rate); is set to 9600: Serial.begin(9600); which is the baud rate of the linvor.

/*
  Software serial multple serial test
 
 Receives from the hardware serial, sends to software serial.
 Receives from software serial, sends to hardware serial.
 
 The circuit: 
 * RX is digital pin 2 (connect to TX of other device)
 * TX is digital pin 3 (connect to RX of other device)
 
 created back in the mists of time
 modified 9 Apr 2012
 by Tom Igoe
 based on Mikal Hart's example
 
 This example code is in the public domain.
 
 */
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

SoftwareSerial mySerial(2, 3); // RX, TX

void setup()  
{
 // Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(9600);
   while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for Leonardo only
  }

  
  Serial.println("Goodnight moon!");

  // set the data rate for the SoftwareSerial port
  mySerial.begin(9600);
  mySerial.println("Hello, world?");
}

void loop() // run over and over
{
  if (mySerial.available())
    Serial.write(mySerial.read());
  if (Serial.available())
    mySerial.write(Serial.read());
}



Open your serial monitor and if everyting is correctly set up you should see: "Goodnight moon!"
If you receive weird symbols your baud rate is wrong.
After that send: "AT". It should send OK back.
Now you're able to configure the linvor. Send one command at a time.

List of available ATcommands:
Command
Description
Options
Response
AT+VERSION
Returns the software version of the module

OKlinvorV1.x
AT+BAUDx
Sets the baud rate of the module 
The command AT+BAUD8 sets the 
baud rate to 115200
1 >> 1200 
2 >> 2400 
3 >> 4800 
4 >> 9600 (Default) 
5 >> 19200 
6 >> 38400 
7 >> 57600 
8 >> 115200 
9 >> 230400
OK115200
AT+NAMEOpenPilot
Sets the name of the module
Any name can be specified up to 20 characters
OKsetname
AT+PINxxxx
Sets the pairing password of the device
Any 4 digit number can be used, the default 
pincode is 1234
OKsetPIN
AT+PN
Sets the parity of the module
AT+PN >> No parity check
OK None
source:http://wiki.openpilot.org/display/Doc/Serial+Bluetooth+Telemetry

Monday 12 November 2012

Free available tutorials related programming and computer programs

Hey there! Since about a year I'm busy with learning various computer programming skills. Currently I'm busy with the languages HTML, CSS and Javascript. Last semester I worked with Java/Android for an assignment at university.

For this I used video tutorials. Which work for me sometimes better than books. Before I started with Java programming, I searched for a source which offers free available video tutorials with good quality. I found several websites, but one site was for me the best. It's the website from Bucky Roberts: thenewboston.org.

What I really like about his tutorials is that he tries sometimes to make a joke in between the serious stuff. In this way even the boring parts of the tutorial become a little more interesting. Maybe you should just view a few video's of the subject you want to learn to try if his tutorials also work for you.

Currently he offers tutorials in various subjects. Some subjects are more explicit reviewed that others, but most tutorials are good enough to make a good start in the subject which you want to explore. As you can see in the list below he also offers some other subjects which you would not expect.

List of available subjects at this moment:

   Adobe:


   Computer programming:

Saturday 3 November 2012

Windows 8 Gestures and Keyboard shortcuts

Since the upgraded to Windows 8 Pro, I never used the touchpad of my Asus K53SJ at all. Until today and I missed the gestures which are present on many Windows 8 laptops.

That's why I started my search for the right drivers. Asus provides some drivers, but they only make the touchpad work for basic use.

If you want to make the Windows 8 touch-pad gestures work on your Elantech equipped notebook you have to install the latest drivers from this page. At this moment they are more recent and extensive than the drivers provided by Asus.

After the installation and the required reboot your mouse properties should show a Elan tab and the installed Elan PS/2 device in your mouse properties window.

Optionally you could also download the latest ATK package for Windows 8. It makes your keyboard (Fn) shortcuts work in Windows 8 style. This means you don't get those fancy pictures from Asus when you control for instance your volume, but the nice Windows 8 styled volume bar.