Hello All

Have a great Holiday!!

Bye

Bye all folks , love you all fellows!

Yes the same Rich! bye

Bye for now all. Have a great rest of the year!

Anyway, JK, AD, nishant. Thanks for chatting. There is no chat next week due to the holiday. I will have a new chat schedule posted on Friday, I hope.

include thsi cable as an example, and others if you have them

Nishant, you can write that blog if you like. It has more impact coming from someone with direct experience

Well, guys. I am going to have to log off now, as well. The offices shut down all next week. so anything I want to have appear on the site must be in for editing by mid day tomorrow. So , I have blogs to write and edit and got to get to them

Shall I write that blog?

 Might make a good blog - let developers know that they cannot assume availability of even the simplest of things when their product is used outside of their home country.

If you aren't in Bangalore or Hyderabad in India , Good programmer/developer grade items / electronics arent found here

Rich, Its so much of an annoyance nothing is easily avaialble here in India

nishant. I don't blame him. It shouldn't have to come to that. Funny that the cable is such a problem. I'll bet the designers never gave it a second thought.

bye curt. nothing next week. Christmas and all. Back live in January tho

Yes rich and my dad is a real artist at electronics even he doesnt want to destroy the board with soldering

I had better go too.  My wife is demanding my labor.  See you next week!

Night JK

Sorry, I have been rather tied up to talk.

nishant. good luck with that cable. It's always aggravating when something simple like a cable holds up a project

Good night jk.  Nice chatting.

bye jk, thanks for chatting

HI Rich , I' still looking for a compatible cable for it ,however my Android mixing with Bluetooth and IOIO has been successfull , I got an email from sparkFun that they have it .

Bye JK

I don't know anybody that buys a home with CASH jk!   Maybe Bill Gates...  :-)

Nishant, how is that AOA kit working out? Is it helping you realize this wish?

The biggest wish I sport right now is making my own android board with a GSM module embedded in it just a different flavor of Beagle but then customised to insert all that I need

How are loan rates there? The US economy is depresses enough that home loans are about 3.5% here. If you can qualify for one, that is.

Buying a dwelling is a big step jk.

I guess I will try again to let folks know they are there and how to use them. Perhaps now that we have a substantial community it will catch on.

jk, thanks for the time verification. How is this time for you?

thanks, JK. I have been hoping to encourage increased use of the boards, but gained little traction so far. The reader boards are a bit hard to find, actually. I have proposed a change that would make them more readily accessible, with no response.

So what do jk and Nishant wish for next year?

I will remember that you're checking the next time my wife and I try to cook an Indian dish jk :-)

alas, nishant, I am not allowed to touch the site's code with a 3.087 meter pole. The site structure and operation is set at a corporate level. All I have control over is the content

My offer is to you both people who ever needs it!

jk, re: the reader boards, when you go to them, the most recent posts will be at the top. Also, the number of comments in the post is always listed. I look for those with only one comment (the original post) to see those that have gone unanswered.

nishant, is your offer to me or to curt?

jk, no the alerts only go to the folks who post something to which someone posts a response. I cannot have the site send an email to everyone when any post is made. It would alienate most members.

I can do scripting and all , I also do a lot of php for internet of things I can handle some site programming stuff if its okay!

I think a lot of us scan the messages several times a day.  If you post a question and one of us can help, you'll get seen -- even without an email.

jk -- the reader boards work too.  Post your question/problem and you'll probably get an answer.  I've done it several times with great results.

jk, the reader message boards are supposed to serve as such a forum, although in an informal way. Can they not be used in that way?

forum idea is good

fun idea on the flags. In November I had 138 visitors from China and 103 from Japan. Out of 43,000 visits. So not too big a percentage

"nation's flag, eh? wonder if that might tread on privacy issues?"

We can provide a small space on some corner of site where all the flag icons can marquee!

jk, the reader message boards are a place folks can put their queries in the hopes of an answer. And site moderators can be asked to review those boards from time to time and answer if they can. But there is no formal forum set up.

I'm not accessing ANYTHING yet Nishant :-)   But on the BeagleBone, it shouldn't be too difficult to get to the GPIO since there is support for it in the Linux that the BeagleBone runs.

A nation's flag, eh? wonder if that might tread on privacy issues?

And since you're going to "get tough" with the IT boys Rich -- how about including a national flag representing each of the countries you have signed on to MCC?  I think that would be pretty cool!  You should be proud of the international interest.  Do you have any China/Japan/Korea members?

"I've been trying to cross-compile Free Pascal code on a Linux PC so I can run it on an ARM BeagleBone.  New to me -- but no success yet :-)"

What you strive to achieve with the code , are you accessing lower hardware elements?

jk, almost missed your question. What kind of forum did you have in mind? We do have the reader message boards where folks can pose questions

I'll make the suggestion about the countdown clock. See what happens.

I've been trying to cross-compile Free Pascal code on a Linux PC so I can run it on an ARM BeagleBone.  New to me -- but no success yet :-)

Curt, not so sure. I have some 30% of my community in India. I think most of the other UBM sites are heavily US centric (like 90+ percent)

"Maybe a Countdown Clock -- minutes to chat -- would be useful on the home page also."

Yes I liked the idea

Not sure what you're asking Nishant

Maybe a Countdown Clock -- minutes to chat -- would be useful on the home page also.  Of course, that too would require the blessing of your IT squad :-)  But I bet there are other UBM sites that have the same issues with chat time.

Well, it is 9:20 am here in Washington state, so it's 12:20 pm in New York. so the chat has been going an hour and 20 minutes.

Fellows here tried out something new and different on christmas this time?

jk, yes it is technically the end, but I'm willing to stay on as long as folks need. I am wondering if my time zone converter is giving folks the wrong time.

Actually I opened a serparate window and open the world clock in it so that this time im not left , I looked out for time in manhasset

nishant, the popular items so far are bug-free tools and indexed documentation (so you can find the answers you need quickly)

I didn't know that :-)   I always go get the email, copy the link there and paste it into my browser.

Hi jkvasan.

So what is being too popular as a winter wishlist

?

Nishant, does the time zone converter I linked to in the blog about the chat lineup provide the wrong chat start time?

Curt, you can simply click on the latest post in the chat box on the home page, and it will take you to that chat.

@curt. wish I could, but I have no say over the structure of the site

its 10:45 at night

We're well Nishant. It's a bout 15 minutes past the scheduled end of the chat. What time do you have there?

Put a Chat Login Button on the HOME page Rich, so you can join the conversation with a single click.

Hello Nishant.

My regards to the fellowship . how is everyone?

One of the bloggers just emailed me asking if the link I sent out would take him here. I wonder if there is a time zone problem I don't know about?

Maybe the way forward is to talk to employers, who in turn could talk to the universities about such a program.

I like it -- and it would seem to allow our friends in India to join in.  I'd give it some time.

AD, thanks for the input. Later is better for me, too. Yes, no one took advantage of the better time for India/Europe, it seems.

I couldnt get any local colleges interested in such a course, Curt. There are some vocational schools that offer such, but only to those pursuing technical documentation as their career. Not to EEs who need to do this as a subset of their job

Rich

I think I preferred the later slot. It certainly doesn't seem to have added many new participants.

well, our hour's up already. AD, Curt, what do you think of this earlier time slot?

I wonder -- do any of our universities offer a curriculum in technical writing and document design? 

Oh yes -- I so appreciated docs that say "do this next... " and then tell you WHY you do it next.

True, you can't search a phone book looking for a cake recipe. Documentation is really a problem. Seems we are too much in a hurry these days creating the new and fixiing the old to write down what we did and why.

I'd also wish for some new strategies for documenting high-complexity systems like eclipse.  There's lots of information out there -- but it isn't organized right, I don't think.  Lots of the docs are written for the already-knowledgeable that have some idea of where to start. 

Using search to find something in a doc presumes that you've got the right doc to begin with :-(

Curt, no index at all? Is it electronic so that it is searchable?

AD, lol. Sounds like both will be very interesting blogs

I'd offer "indexed documentation" to the list.  Some of my docs are 500+ pages long, with no index!

I have a blog for January that is a scream of anguish on the use of Android, written after one of these episodes.

Havin said that, I actually have one for February which is more positive. After today, maybe it won't be so positive.

So, bug free tools are the top item on the wish list so far. ANy contenders?

I think Eclipse is a full time job AD -- so don't let it get you down :-)

AD, read through the posts on that forum. A lot of fine detail understanding is needed to find and solve these problems. I would imagine it takes weeks of intense study to learn enough about the tool to understand and fix these things. What a pain.

Rich

It now diagnoses a problem in my untouched xml file, that I have no idea how to fix. It also says I need to download even more updates which I am in the process of doing. I hope that allows me to return to a compilable program.

AD, I gather from the term 'supposed' that the fix doesn't

bye duane thanks have a great Holiday

Yes Duane -- have a good Christmas.  Do you have any kids?

Bye Duane,

happy holidays!

Rich

The problem and supposed solution are described here

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10030727/moving-and-vanishing-lines-of-code-trouble-with-eclipses-xml-editor

I just got a phone call that I have to attend to ao I've got to run. It was good chatting.

sounds like a problem with the text formatting. It probably wants to highlight the text by changing its color, and changes its color to the same color as the background

When you try to click on a line to edit it in one way ore another,  the line disappears- it's like whack a mole!

What's the problem with XML files on Windows 7?

Rich

Yes. And it was going well until 5 minutes ago.

AD - That's right. I rememebr you writing about that project.

AD, this your well-monitoring device?

Duane

I am using the Android tablet as a display/usier interface to a remote data gathering device

One of the challenges I have whenever I try to fiddle with Linux, is mounting external drives, like USB drives or SD cards. I've sometimes been able to auto mount them, but more often, have to type in a buch of instructions to get the drive accessible.

Now, "it's simply a matter of software". Yeah. Right.

I am hoping so. Its built in features solved most of the hardwre problems.

The Rasberry Pi approach seems like a good one to me.

The state info fades with time

yes, multitasking with a non-refreshed DRAM

AD  -What are you working on with your Android/Eclipse?

Sometimes I thinnk I spend more time just trying to remember where I left off and opening up all of the various pieces of reference material than I do actually coding or circuit designing.

yes, time to concentrate is a precious commodity

Rich - I find that to be the case too. I think if I could just get a few solid eight hour blocks, I'd be twice as far along on my robot as I am now.

Yes, that one. I feel it is going to need some long hours of concentrated attention to get past setup obstacles, and I can't manage to carve out a block. And if I try to do it piecemeal, I will waste a lot of time trying to remember where I left off.

Duane

Android is Java based. If Eclipse is java based also it must make for a devil of a time isolating one from the other. I don't think Eclipse is Java based, but I really don;t know

Rich - the TV to picture frame project?

I really like to concept of open source like Eclipse, but it seems to me that it's pretty common for the upgrade path to be messy.

I must admit I am approaching my little project with some hesitation, wondering what boatloads of frustration I am in for just getting the necessary tools installed and running

AD - Is Eclipse Java-based?

And also when you update it, there are no knock on errors with meaningless messages. I am now getting

[2012-12-20 11:24:04 - Dex Loader] SecurityException: Unable to find field for dex.jar

I've knnown some hardware designs where they did no production test. It was cheaper to replace a failed unit than to test them first

Probably - "Ship it and beta test the world."

Probably an upper management decision

AD, I can second that wish. Seems like software development is more concerned with adding features than fixing bugs

AD - Now that is a good wish!

What I haope for this year is fewer damn bugs in the software that i use. I am busy downloading an upgarde to Android/Eclipse because you can't edit XML filess in under Windows 7.

Rich - I 3D printer would be cool but mostly for non-structural items. I'd like to machine some off the load-bearing parts out of aluminum. If I can't find a way to economically do that, it will be wood.

sounds like it developed a mind of its own.

Rich - The phone can do all sorts of thinsg like that. It can change ring & text tones and volumes and who it will ring for based on location, time of day and amount of movement. It can even coordinate with my outlook calendar to silence during meetings. I set it up when I fisrt got it, but set it up wrong and now I can't quite tell what it;s going to do.

or do you need metal?

duane, would a 3d printer work?

What I really wish for this winter is a small CNC machine to helpe me make the mechanical parts for the robot.

That android phone feature sounds like the phone is a fashion accessory rather than a tool for communications. A new world

AD - A multiple personality robot will probably better match my scattered personality.

Duane

A robot with multiple personalities! You will need to desing a robot psychologist!

Rich -Something like that. :-) My Android phone has that feature. It lets me change the wallpaper, ring levels and things like that based on where I am.

Ah, so it "lets it hair down" when it gets to the bar

Rich - That's pretty cool.

AD - Partially that, but also adjusting personality based on where it is.

Ah, well that it can do. I read one time of a bicycle that had  GPS, not for navigating but for a burglar alarm. If it moved more than 50 feet without a security code being entered, it phoned the police to report itself stolen

Duane

Are you thinking of accessing floor plans based on the location?

Rich - That's about right, but I'm mor thinking of general location awareness. For example, determining who's house or office is it in at the moment.

That's quite good. All you need is four - three if you can dispense with altitude information

According to the documentaqtion with it, it shouldn't work well indoors, but I got about ten satilite locks on a lower story.

So, what's it for, this GPS? As I recall it only helps position you to within about 3 meters, and may not be all that effective indoors. You can't navigate a room with it, can you?

How well do the GPS things work indoors?

Hi AD, we were talking about the GPS system Duane is putting on his robot

Hi there

Hi guys.

Sorry I am a litlle late.

Pretty impressive

Supposedly this one is even capable of reading differential GPS and WAAS.

I did a survey of navigation methods way back when GPS still had only a half-dozen of its 24 satellites in the air. Very interesting stuff

It's about an inch square and talks over TTL level RS232

Cool. how little?

On the topic of technology wish lists - I just picked up a little GPS module to hook into my robot.

Anyone else on line?

Yes, it was a long one for her

Yeah, the snow was a bit of surprise

That makes for a long flight.

We almost had some snow earlier in the week, but it's mostly just ordinary Pacific Northwest rain down here.

She had a worse time. Blizzards in Denver delayed her flight. THen the plane taxied off and came back again with a mechanical problem

Well it snowed and rained yesterday, making getting to the airport to pick up my mother a bit dicey

Hi Rich - How's the weather up on the peninsula?

Just managed to get the computer booted

Good morning

Good morning / afternoon / evening

This Years last Chat section, hope to attend

No guarantees, but the industry is watching this site and may be inspired to act if enough of us want the same thing. Come chat on Thursday and talk about what we would like to see the MCU industry provide in the coming year.

Lots of us are looking forward to getting and giving presents in the next week or so. What would you like to receive from the MCU industry? Better tools? Lowered prices? Perhaps there is a functional mix you would like to see available in a single MCU. And if you would rather not think about work, tell us about some MCU-based gadget you would like to own or to see created. Let's all talk about what is on our MCU wish lists.