Category: Software

General-purpose computers doing something specific

Vacuum Tube Lights: Poughkeepsie Day School Mini Maker Faire 2016

Should you be around Poughkeepsie today, drop in on the Poughkeepsie Day School’s Mini Maker Faire, where I’ll be showing off some glowy LED goodness:

21HB5A on platter - orange green — 21HB5A on platter – orange green

The 5U4GB side lighted dual rectifier looks pretty good after I increased the phase between the two LEDs:

5U4GB Full-wave vacuum rectifier - cyan red phase — 5U4GB Full-wave vacuum rectifier – cyan red phase

A gaggle of glowing vacuum tubes makes for a rather static display, though, so I conjured a color mixer so folks could play with the colors:

Color mixer - overview — Color mixer – overview

Three analog potentiometers set the intensity of the pure RGB colors on the 8 mm Genuine Adafruit Neopixels. A closer look at the circuitry shows it’s assembled following a freehand “the bigger the blob, the better the job” soldering technique:

Color mixer - controls — Color mixer – controls

The blended RGB color from a fourth Neopixel backlights the bulb to project a shadow of the filament on the front surface:

Color mixer - bulb detail — Color mixer – bulb detail

It’s worth noting that the three Genuine Adafruit 8 mm Neopixels have a nonstandard RGB color layout, while the knockoff 5050 SMD Neopixel on the bulb has the usual GRB layout. You can’t mix-n-match layouts in a single Neopixel string, so a few lines of hackage rearrange the R and G values to make the mixed colors come out right.

An IR proximity sensor lets you invert the colors with the wave of a fingertip to send Morse code in response to (some of) the vacuum tubes on display nearby. The sensor glows brightly in pure IR, with all the other LEDs going dark:

Color mixer - controls - IR image — Color mixer – controls – IR image

The switch sits in a little printed bezel to make it big enough to see. The slight purple glow in the visible-light picture comes from the camera’s IR sensitivity; you can’t see anything with your (well, my) unaided eyes.

The “chassis” emerged from the wood pile: a slab of laminate flooring and two strips of countertop, with a slab of bronze-tint acrylic from a Genuine IBM PC Printer Stand that had fallen on hard times quite a while ago. Bandsaw to size, belt-sand to smooth; nothing particularly precise, although I did use the Sherline for coordinate drilling:

Color mixer panel - drill setup — Color mixer panel – drill setup

That’s laying it all out by hand to get a feel for what it’ll look like and drilling the holes at actual coordinates to make everything line up neatly.

Hot melt glue and epoxy hold everything together, with foam tape securing the two PCBs. Those cap screws go into 10-32 brass inserts hammered into the laminate flooring strip.

There’s no schematic. Connect the pots to A0 through A2, wire the Neopixels in series from D8 with the bulb LED last in the string, wire the prox sensor to D9, and away you go.

It’s fun to play with colors!

The Arduino source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Color mixing demo for Mini Maker Faire
	// Ed Nisley – KE4ANU – November 2016

	#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

	//———-
	// Pin assignments

	#define PIN_NEO 8 // DO – data out to first Neopixel
	#define PIN_HEARTBEAT 13 // DO – Arduino LED

	#define PIN_FLASH 9 // DI – flash button

	#define PIN_POTRED A0 // AI – red potentiometer
	#define PIN_POTGREEN A1 // AI – green potentiometer
	#define PIN_POTBLUE A2 // AI – blue potentiometer

	//———-
	// Constants

	#define PIXELS 4 // number of pixels

	#define PIXEL_RED 2 // physical channel layout
	#define PIXEL_GREEN 1
	#define PIXEL_BLUE 0

	#define PIXEL_MIX (PIXELS – 1) // pixel with mixed color

	#define PIXEL_FLASH (PIXELS – 1) // pixel that flashes

	// update LEDs only this many ms apart (minus loop() overhead)
	#define UPDATEINTERVAL 25ul
	#define UPDATEMS (UPDATEINTERVAL – 1ul)

	//———-
	// Globals

	// instantiate the Neopixel buffer array
	// color order is RGB for 8 mm diffuse LEDs, GRB for mixed 5050 LED at end

	Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(PIXELS, PIN_NEO, NEO_RGB + NEO_KHZ800);

	uint32_t FullWhite = strip.Color(255,255,255);
	uint32_t FullOff = strip.Color(0,0,0);

	// colors in each LED
	enum pixcolors {RED, GREEN, BLUE, PIXELSIZE};

	uint32_t PotColors[PIXELSIZE];

	uint32_t UniColor;

	unsigned long MillisNow;
	unsigned long MillisThen;

	//– Helper routine for printf()

	int s_putc(char c, FILE *t) {
	Serial.write(c);
	}

	//——————
	// Set the mood

	void setup() {

	pinMode(PIN_HEARTBEAT,OUTPUT);
	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,LOW); // show we arrived

	Serial.begin(57600);
	fdevopen(&s_putc,0); // set up serial output for printf()

	printf("Color Mixer Demo for Mini Maker Faire\r\nEd Nisley – KE4ZNU – November 2016\r\n");

	// set up pixels

	strip.begin();
	strip.show();

	// lamp test: a brilliant white flash on all pixels
	// pixel color layout doesn't matter for a white flash

	printf("Lamp test: flash white\r\n");

	for (byte i=0; i<5 ; i++) {
	for (int j=0; j < strip.numPixels(); j++) { // fill LEDs with white
	strip.setPixelColor(j,FullWhite);
	}
	strip.show();
	delay(500);

	for (int j=0; j < strip.numPixels(); j++) { // fill LEDs with black
	strip.setPixelColor(j,FullOff);
	}
	strip.show();
	delay(500);
	}

	// lamp test: walk a white flash along the string

	printf("Lamp test: walking white\r\n");

	strip.setPixelColor(0,FullWhite);
	strip.show();
	delay(500);

	for (int i=1; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) {
	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,HIGH);
	strip.setPixelColor(i-1,FullOff);
	strip.setPixelColor(i,FullWhite);
	strip.show();
	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,LOW);
	delay(500);
	}

	strip.setPixelColor(strip.numPixels() – 1,FullOff);
	strip.show();
	delay(500);

	MillisNow = MillisThen = millis();

	}

	//——————
	// Run the mood

	void loop() {

	MillisNow = millis();
	if ((MillisNow – MillisThen) >= UPDATEMS) { // time for color change?

	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,HIGH);

	PotColors[RED] = strip.Color(analogRead(PIN_POTRED) >> 2,0,0);
	PotColors[GREEN] = strip.Color(0,analogRead(PIN_POTGREEN) >> 2,0);
	PotColors[BLUE] = strip.Color(0,0,analogRead(PIN_POTBLUE) >> 2);

	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_RED,PotColors[RED]); // load up pot indicators
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_GREEN,PotColors[GREEN]);
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_BLUE,PotColors[BLUE]);

	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_MIX,strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_RED) \|
	strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_GREEN) \|
	strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_BLUE));
	if (PIXEL_FLASH != PIXEL_MIX) {
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_FLASH,strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_MIX));
	}

	if (LOW == digitalRead(PIN_FLASH)) { // if flash input active, overlay flash
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_FLASH,0x00FFFFFF ^ strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_FLASH));
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_RED, 0x00FF0000 ^ strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_RED));
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_GREEN,0x0000FF00 ^ strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_GREEN));
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXEL_BLUE, 0x000000FF ^ strip.getPixelColor(PIXEL_BLUE));
	}

	UniColor = 0x000000ff & strip.getPixelColor(PIXELS – 1); // hack to rearrange colors for 5050 LED
	UniColor \|= 0x00ff0000 & (strip.getPixelColor(PIXELS – 1) << 8);
	UniColor \|= 0x0000ff00 & (strip.getPixelColor(PIXELS – 1) >> 8);
	strip.setPixelColor(PIXELS – 1,UniColor);

	strip.show(); // send out colors

	MillisThen = MillisNow;
	digitalWrite(PIN_HEARTBEAT,LOW);
	}

	}

view raw ColorMixer.ino hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2016-11-12

Phishing Knows No Bounds

This appeared on The Mighty Thor’s phone during a Squidwrench meeting:

BofA Phishing

“To maintain a secure banking environment” seems diagnostic of a scam.

Discouragingly, some of our banks still send emails with clicky links using third-party mail servers, so checkonlineinfo.com doesn’t seem any more suspicious than, say, Schwab’s customercenter.net.

A pox on their collective backsides!

2016-11-09

Raspberry Pi Streaming Radio Player: Improved Pipe Handling

My Raspberry Pi-based streaming radio player generally worked fine, except sometimes the keypad / volume control knob would stop responding after switching streams. This being an erratic thing, the error had to be a timing problem in otherwise correct code and, after spending Quality Time with the Python subprocess and select doc, I decided I was abusing mplayer’s stdin and stdout pipes.

This iteration registers mplayer’s stdout pipe as Yet Another select.poll() Polling Object, so that the main loop can respond whenever a complete line arrives. Starting mplayer in quiet mode reduces the tonnage of stdout text, at the cost of losing the streaming status that I really couldn’t do anything with, and eliminates the occasional stalls when mplayer (apparently) dies in the middle of a line.

The code kills and restarts mplayer whenever it detects an EOF or stream cutoff. That works most of the time, but a persistent server or network failure can still send the code into a sulk. Manually selecting a different stream (after we eventually notice the silence) generally sets things right, mainly by whacking mplayer upside the head; it’s good enough.

It seems I inadvertently invented streaming ad suppression by muting (most of) the tracks that produced weird audio effects. Given that the “radio stations” still get paid for sending ads to me, I’m not actually cheating anybody out of their revenue: I’ve just automated our trips to the volume control knob. The audio goes silent for a few seconds (or, sheesh, a few minutes) , blatting a second or two of ad noise around the gap to remind us of what we’re missing; given the prevalence of National Forest Service PSAs, the audio ad market must be a horrific wasteland.

The Python source code as a GitHub Gist:

	from evdev import InputDevice,ecodes,KeyEvent
	import subprocess32 as subp
	import select
	import re
	import sys
	import time
	import logging

	Media = {'KEY_KP7' : ['Classical',False,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://stream2137.init7.net/listen.pls'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP8' : ['Jazz',False,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://stream2138.init7.net/listen.pls'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP9' : ['WMHT',False,['mplayer','–quiet','http://live.str3am.com:2070/wmht1'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP4' : ['Classic 1000',True,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://listen.radionomy.com/1000classicalhits.m3u'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP5' : ['DCNY 911',False,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://www.broadcastify.com/scripts/playlists/1/12305/-5857889408.m3u'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP6' : ['WAMC',False,['mplayer','–quiet','http://pubint.ic.llnwd.net/stream/pubint_wamc'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP1' : ['60s',True,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://listen.radionomy.com/all60sallthetime-keepfreemusiccom.m3u'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP2' : ['50-70s',True,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://listen.radionomy.com/golden-50-70s-hits.m3u'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP3' : ['Soft Rock',True,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://listen.radionomy.com/softrockradio.m3u'%5D%5D,
	'KEY_KP0' : ['Zen',True,['mplayer','–quiet','-playlist','http://listen.radionomy.com/zen-for-you.m3u'%5D%5D
	}

	CurrentKC = 'KEY_KP3'

	Controls = {'KEY_KPSLASH' : '//////',
	'KEY_KPASTERISK' : '******',
	'KEY_KPENTER' : ' ',
	'KEY_KPMINUS' : '<',
	'KEY_KPPLUS' : '>',
	'KEY_VOLUMEUP' : '*',
	'KEY_VOLUMEDOWN' : '/'
	}

	MuteStrings = ["TargetSpot","[Unknown]","Advert:","+++","—","SRR","Srr","ZEN FOR"]

	MuteDelay = 8.0 # delay before non-music track; varies with buffering
	UnMuteDelay = 7.5 # delay after non-music track
	Muted = False # keep track of muted state

	MixerChannel = 'PCM' # which amixer thing to use

	logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s %(levelname)s:%(message)s',filename='/tmp/Streamer.log',level=logging.INFO)
	logger = logging.getLogger()

	# set up event inputs and polling objects
	# This requires some udev magic to create the symlinks

	k = InputDevice('/dev/input/keypad')
	k.grab()

	kp = select.poll()
	kp.register(k.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)

	v = InputDevice('/dev/input/volume')
	v.grab()

	vp = select.poll()
	vp.register(v.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)

	# set up file for output tracing

	lw = open('/tmp/mp.log','w') # mplayer piped output

	# set the mixer output low enough that the initial stream won't wake the dead

	subp.call(['amixer','sset',MixerChannel,'10'])

	# Start the player with the default stream, set up for polling

	print 'Starting mplayer on',Media[CurrentKC][0],' -> ',Media[CurrentKC][-1][-1]
	logging.info('Starting mplayer on %s -> %s',Media[CurrentKC][0],Media[CurrentKC][-1][-1])
	p = subp.Popen(Media[CurrentKC][-1],
	stdin=subp.PIPE,stdout=subp.PIPE,stderr=subp.STDOUT)

	pp = select.poll() # this may be valid for other invocations, but is not pretty
	pp.register(p.stdout.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)

	print ' … running'

	#——————–
	#— Play the streams

	while True:

	# pluck next line from mplayer and decode it

	if [] != pp.poll(10):
	text = p.stdout.readline()

	if 'ICY Info: ' in text: # these lines may contain track names
	lw.write(text)
	lw.flush()

	trkinfo = text.split(';') # also splits at semicolon embedded in track name
	# logging.info('Raw split line: %s', trkinfo)
	for ln in trkinfo:
	if 'StreamTitle' in ln: # this part contains a track name
	NeedMute = False # assume a listenable track
	if 2 == ln.count("'"): # exactly two single quotes = probably none embedded in track name
	trkhit = re.search(r"StreamTitle='(.*)'",ln)
	if trkhit: # true for valid search results
	TrackName = trkhit.group(1) # the string between the two quotes
	print 'Track name: ', TrackName
	logging.info('Track name: [%s]', TrackName)
	if Media[CurrentKC][1] and ( (len(TrackName) == 0) or any(m in TrackName for m in MuteStrings) ) :
	NeedMute = True
	else:
	print ' … semicolon in track name: ', ln
	logging.info('Semicolon in track name: [' + ln + ']')
	else:
	print ' … quotes in track name: ', ln
	logging.info('Quotes in track name: [' + ln + ']')
	if NeedMute:
	print ' … muting:',
	if Media[CurrentKC][1] and not Muted:
	time.sleep(MuteDelay) # brute-force assumption about buffer leadtime
	subp.call(['amixer','-q','sset',MixerChannel,'mute'])
	Muted = True
	print 'done'
	logging.info('Track muted')
	else:
	print ' … unmuting:',
	if Muted:
	if Media[CurrentKC][1]:
	time.sleep(UnMuteDelay) # another brute-force timing assumption
	Muted = False
	subp.call(['amixer','-q','sset',MixerChannel,'unmute'])
	print 'done'
	logging.info('Track unmuted')

	elif 'Exiting.' in text: # mplayer just imploded
	lw.write(text)
	lw.flush()
	print 'Got EOF / stream cutoff'
	logging.info('EOF or stream cutoff')
	print ' … killing dead mplayer'
	pp.unregister(p.stdout.fileno())
	p.terminate() # p.kill()
	p.wait()
	# print ' … flushing pipes'
	# lw.truncate(0)
	print ' … discarding keys'
	while [] != kp.poll(0):
	kev = k.read
	print ' … restarting mplayer: ',Media[CurrentKC][0]
	logging.info('Restarting mplayer')
	p = subp.Popen(Media[CurrentKC][-1],
	stdin=subp.PIPE,stdout=subp.PIPE,stderr=subp.STDOUT)
	pp.register(p.stdout.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)
	print ' … running'
	logging.info(' … running')


	# accept pending events from volume control knob

	if [] != vp.poll(10):
	vev = v.read()
	lw.write('Volume')
	lw.flush()
	for e in vev:
	if e.type == ecodes.EV_KEY:
	kc = KeyEvent(e).keycode

	# print 'Volume kc: ',kc

	if kc in Controls:
	print 'Vol Control: ',kc
	try:
	p.stdin.write(Controls[kc])
	except Exception as e:
	print "Can't send control: ",e
	print ' … restarting player: ',Media[CurrentKC][0]
	logging.info('Error sending volume, restarting player')
	pp.unregister(p.stdout.fileno())
	p = subp.Popen(Media[CurrentKC][-1],
	stdin=subp.PIPE,stdout=subp.PIPE,stderr=subp.STDOUT)
	pp.register(p.stdout.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)
	print ' … running'
	logging.info(' … running')


	# accept pending events from keypad

	if [] != kp.poll(10):
	kev = k.read()
	lw.write("Keypad")
	lw.flush()
	for e in kev:
	if e.type == ecodes.EV_KEY:
	kc = KeyEvent(e).keycode

	if kc == 'KEY_NUMLOCK': # discard these, as we don't care
	continue

	# print 'Got: ',kc

	if (kc == 'KEY_BACKSPACE') and (KeyEvent(e).keystate == KeyEvent.key_hold):
	if True:
	print 'Backspace = shutdown!'
	p.kill()
	logging.shutdown()
	q = subp.call(['sudo','shutdown','-P','now'])
	q.wait()
	time.sleep(5)
	print "Oddly, we did not die…"
	else:
	print 'BS = bail from main!'
	logging.shutdown()
	sys.exit(0)
	break

	if KeyEvent(e).keystate != KeyEvent.key_down: # discard key up & other rubbish
	continue

	if kc in Controls:
	print 'Control:', kc
	try:
	p.stdin.write(Controls[kc])
	except Exception as e:
	print "Can't send control: ",e
	print ' … restarting player: ',Media[CurrentKC][0]
	logging.info('Error sending controls, restarting player')
	pp.unregister(p.stdout.fileno())
	p.terminate() # p.kill()
	p.wait()
	p = subp.Popen(Media[CurrentKC][-1],
	stdin=subp.PIPE,stdout=subp.PIPE,stderr=subp.STDOUT)
	pp.register(p.stdout.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)
	print ' … running'
	logging.info(' … running')

	if kc in Media:
	print 'Switching stream to ',Media[kc][0],' -> ',Media[kc][-1][-1]
	logging.info('Switching stream: ' + Media[kc][0] + ' -> ' + Media[kc][-1][-1])
	CurrentKC = kc
	print ' … halting player'
	try:
	p.communicate(input='q')
	except Exception as e:
	print 'Perhaps mplayer died?',e
	print ' … killing it for sure'
	pp.unregister(p.stdout.fileno())
	p.terminate() # p.kill()
	p.wait()
	# print ' … flushing pipes'
	# lw.truncate(0)
	print ' … restarting player: ',Media[CurrentKC][0]
	p = subp.Popen(Media[CurrentKC][-1],
	stdin=subp.PIPE,stdout=subp.PIPE,stderr=subp.STDOUT)
	pp.register(p.stdout.fileno(),select.POLLIN + select.POLLPRI + select.POLLERR)
	print ' … running'
	logging.info(' … running')

	print 'Out of loop!'
	logging.shutdown()

view raw Streamer.py hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2016-10-21

HP 7475A Plotter: Coordinate Pruning

The original SuperFormula equation produces points in polar coordinates, which the Chiplotle library converts to the rectilinear format more useful with Cartesian plotters. I’ve been feeding the equation with 10001 angular values (10 passes around the paper, with 1000 points per pass, plus one more point to close the pattern), which means the angle changes by 3600°/10000 = 0.36° per point. Depending on the formula’s randomly chosen parameters, each successive point can move the plotter pen by almost nothing to several inches.

On the “almost nothing” end of the scale, the plotter slows to a crawl while the serial interface struggles to feed the commands. Given that you can’t see the result, why send the commands?

Computing point-to-point distances goes more easily in rectilinear coordinates, so I un-tweaked my polar-modified superformula function to return the points in rectangular coordinates. I’d originally thought a progressive scaling factor would be interesting, but it never happened.

The coordinate pruning occurs in the supershape function, which now contains a loop to scan through the incoming list of points from the superformula function and add a point to the output path only when it differs by enough from the most recently output point:

    path = []
    path.append(Coordinate(width * points[0][0], height * points[0][1]))
    outi = 0
    xp, yp = points[outi][0], points[outi][1]
    for i in range(len(points))[1:]:
        x,y = width * points[i][0], height * points[i][1]
        dist = sqrt(pow(x - xp,2) + pow(y - yp,2))
        if dist > 60 :
          path.append(Coordinate(x, y))
          outi = i
          xp, yp = x, y

    path.append(Coordinate(width * points[-1][0], height * points[-1][1]))
    print "Pruned",len(points),"to",len(path),"points"

The first and last points always go into the output list; the latter might be duplicated, but that doesn’t matter.

Note that you can’t prune the list by comparing successive points, because then you’d jump directly from the start of a series of small motions to their end. The idea is to step through the small motions in larger units that, with a bit of luck, won’t be too ugly.

The width and height values scale the XY coordinates to fill either A or B paper sheets, with units of “Plotter Units” = 40.2 PU/mm = 1021 PU/inch. You can scale those in various ways to fit various output sizes within the sheets, but I use the defaults that fill the entire sheets with a reasonable margin. As a result, the magic number 60 specifies 60 Plotter Units; obviously, it should have a suitable name.

Pruning to 40 PU = 1.0 mm (clicky for more dots, festooned with over-compressed JPEG artifacts):

Pruning to 60 PU = 1.5 mm:

Pruning to 80 PU = 2.0 mm:

Pruning to 120 PU = 3.0 mm:

All four of those plots have the same pens in the same order, although I refilled a few of them in flight.

By and large, up through 80 PU there’s not much visual difference, although you can definitely see the 3 mm increments at 120 PU. However, the plotting time drops from just under an hour for each un-pruned plot to maybe 15 minutes with 120 PU pruning, with 60 PU producing very good results at half an hour.

Comparing the length of the input point lists to the pruned output path lists, including some pruning values not shown above:

Prune 20
1 - m: 5.3, n1: 0.15, n2=n3: 0.80
Pruned 10001 to 4856 points
2 - m: 5.3, n1: 0.23, n2=n3: 0.75
Pruned 10001 to 5545 points
3 - m: 5.3, n1: 1.15, n2=n3: 0.44
Pruned 10001 to 6218 points
4 - m: 5.3, n1: 0.41, n2=n3: 1.50
Pruned 10001 to 7669 points
5 - m: 5.3, n1: 0.29, n2=n3: 0.95
Pruned 10001 to 6636 points
6 - m: 5.3, n1: 0.95, n2=n3: 0.16
Pruned 10001 to 5076 points

Prune 40
1 - m: 3.1, n1: 0.23, n2=n3: 0.26
Pruned 10001 to 2125 points
2 - m: 3.1, n1: 1.05, n2=n3: 0.44
Pruned 10001 to 5725 points
3 - m: 3.1, n1: 0.25, n2=n3: 0.32
Pruned 10001 to 2678 points
4 - m: 3.1, n1: 0.43, n2=n3: 0.34
Pruned 10001 to 4040 points
5 - m: 3.1, n1: 0.80, n2=n3: 0.40
Pruned 10001 to 5380 points
6 - m: 3.1, n1: 0.55, n2=n3: 0.56
Pruned 10001 to 5424 points

Prune 60
1 - m: 1.1, n1: 0.45, n2=n3: 0.40
Pruned 10001 to 2663 points
2 - m: 1.1, n1: 0.41, n2=n3: 0.14
Pruned 10001 to 1706 points
3 - m: 1.1, n1: 1.20, n2=n3: 0.75
Pruned 10001 to 4446 points
4 - m: 1.1, n1: 0.33, n2=n3: 0.80
Pruned 10001 to 3036 points
5 - m: 1.1, n1: 0.90, n2=n3: 1.40
Pruned 10001 to 4723 points
6 - m: 1.1, n1: 0.61, n2=n3: 0.65
Pruned 10001 to 3601 points

Prune 80
1 - m: 3.7, n1: 0.95, n2=n3: 0.58
Pruned 10001 to 3688 points
2 - m: 3.7, n1: 0.49, n2=n3: 0.22
Pruned 10001 to 2258 points
3 - m: 3.7, n1: 0.57, n2=n3: 0.90
Pruned 10001 to 3823 points
4 - m: 3.7, n1: 0.25, n2=n3: 0.40
Pruned 10001 to 2161 points
5 - m: 3.7, n1: 0.47, n2=n3: 0.30
Pruned 10001 to 2532 points
6 - m: 3.7, n1: 0.45, n2=n3: 0.14
Pruned 10001 to 1782 points

Prune 120
1 - m: 1.9, n1: 0.33, n2=n3: 0.48
Pruned 10001 to 1561 points
2 - m: 1.9, n1: 0.51, n2=n3: 0.18
Pruned 10001 to 1328 points
3 - m: 1.9, n1: 1.80, n2=n3: 0.16
Pruned 10001 to 2328 points
4 - m: 1.9, n1: 0.21, n2=n3: 1.10
Pruned 10001 to 1981 points
5 - m: 1.9, n1: 0.63, n2=n3: 0.24
Pruned 10001 to 1664 points
6 - m: 1.9, n1: 0.45, n2=n3: 0.22
Pruned 10001 to 1290 points

Eyeballometrically, 60 PU pruning halves the number of plotted points, so the average data rate jumps from 9600 b/s to 19.2 kb/s. Zowie!

Most of the pruning occurs near the middle of the patterns, where the pen slows to a crawl. Out near the spiky rim, where the points are few & far between, there’s no pruning at all. Obviously, quantizing a generic plot to 1.5 mm would produce terrible results; in this situation, the SuperFormula produces smooth curves (apart from those spikes) that look just fine.

The Python source code as a GitHub Gist:

	# Adapted from Chiplotle plotter library:
	# http://cmc.music.columbia.edu/chiplotle/

	from chiplotle import *
	from math import *
	from datetime import *
	from time import *
	from types import *
	import random

	def supershape(width, height, m, n1, n2, n3,
	point_count=10 * 1000, percentage=1.0, a=1.0, b=1.0, travel=None):
	'''Supershape, generated using the superformula first proposed
	by Johan Gielis.

	– `points_count` is the total number of points to compute.
	– `travel` is the length of the outline drawn in radians.
	3.1416 * 2 is a complete cycle.
	modified to prune short plotter motions – Ed Nisley KE4ZNU – October 2016
	'''
	travel = travel or (10 * 2 * pi)

	# compute points…
	phis = [i * travel / point_count
	for i in range(1 + int(point_count * percentage))]
	points = [tools.mathtools.superformula(a, b, m, n1, n2, n3, x) for x in phis]

	# scale and prune short motions
	path = []
	path.append(Coordinate(width * points[0][0], height * points[0][1]))
	outi = 0
	xp, yp = points[outi][0], points[outi][1]
	for i in range(len(points))[1:]:
	x,y = width * points[i][0], height * points[i][1]
	dist = sqrt(pow(x – xp,2) + pow(y – yp,2))
	if dist > 60 :
	path.append(Coordinate(x, y))
	outi = i
	xp, yp = x, y

	path.append(Coordinate(width * points[-1][0], height * points[-1][1]))
	print " Pruned",len(points),"to",len(path),"points"

	return Path(path)


	# Run Superformula plots

	if __name__ == '__main__':

	override = False

	plt = instantiate_plotters()[0]
	# plt.write('IN;')

	if plt.margins.soft.width < 11000: # A=10365 B=16640
	maxplotx = (plt.margins.soft.width / 2) – 100
	maxploty = (plt.margins.soft.height / 2) – 150
	legendx = maxplotx – 2900
	legendy = -(maxploty – 750)
	tscale = 0.45
	numpens = 4
	# prime/10 = number of spikes
	m_values = [n / 10.0 for n in [11, 13, 17, 19, 23]]
	# ring-ness 0.1 to 2.0, higher is larger
	n1_values = [
	n / 100.0 for n in range(55, 75, 2) + range(80, 120, 5) + range(120, 200, 10)]
	else:
	maxplotx = plt.margins.soft.width / 2
	maxploty = plt.margins.soft.height / 2
	legendx = maxplotx – 3000
	legendy = -(maxploty – 900)
	tscale = 0.45
	numpens = 6
	m_values = [n / 10.0 for n in [11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31,
	37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59]] # prime/10 = number of spikes
	# ring-ness 0.1 to 2.0, higher is larger
	n1_values = [
	n / 100.0 for n in range(15, 75, 2) + range(80, 120, 5) + range(120, 200, 10)]

	print " Max: ({},{})".format(maxplotx, maxploty)

	# spiky-ness 0.1 to 2.0, higher is spiky-er (mostly)
	n2_values = [
	n / 100.0 for n in range(10, 60, 2) + range(65, 100, 5) + range(110, 200, 10)]

	plt.write(chr(27) + '.H200:') # set hardware handshake block size
	plt.set_origin_center()
	# scale based on B size characters
	plt.write(hpgl.SI(tscale * 0.285, tscale * 0.375))
	# slow speed for those abrupt spikes
	plt.write(hpgl.VS(10))

	while True:

	# standard loadout has pen 1 = fine black
	plt.write(hpgl.PA([(legendx, legendy)]))
	pen = 1
	plt.select_pen(pen)
	plt.write(hpgl.PA([(legendx, legendy)]))
	plt.write(hpgl.LB("Started " + str(datetime.today())))

	if override:
	m = 4.1
	n1_list = [1.15, 0.90, 0.25, 0.59, 0.51, 0.23]
	n2_list = [0.70, 0.58, 0.32, 0.28, 0.56, 0.26]
	else:
	m = random.choice(m_values)
	n1_list = random.sample(n1_values, numpens)
	n2_list = random.sample(n2_values, numpens)

	pen = 1
	for n1, n2 in zip(n1_list, n2_list):
	n3 = n2
	print "{0} – m: {1:.1f}, n1: {2:.2f}, n2=n3: {3:.2f}".format(pen, m, n1, n2)
	plt.select_pen(pen)
	plt.write(hpgl.PA([(legendx, legendy – 100 * pen)]))
	plt.write(
	hpgl.LB("Pen {0}: m={1:.1f} n1={2:.2f} n2=n3={3:.2f}".format(pen, m, n1, n2)))
	e = supershape(maxplotx, maxploty, m, n1, n2, n3)
	plt.write(e)
	pen = pen + 1 if (pen % numpens) else 1

	pen = 1
	plt.select_pen(pen)
	plt.write(hpgl.PA([(legendx, legendy – 100 * (numpens + 1))]))
	plt.write(hpgl.LB("Ended " + str(datetime.today())))
	plt.write(hpgl.PA([(legendx, legendy – 100 * (numpens + 2))]))
	plt.write(hpgl.LB("More at https://softsolder.com/?s=7475a"))
	plt.select_pen(0)
	plt.write(hpgl.PA([(-maxplotx,maxploty)]))

	print "Waiting for plotter… ignore timeout errors!"
	sleep(40)
	while NoneType is type(plt.status):
	sleep(5)

	print "Load more paper, then …"
	print " … Press ENTER on the plotter to continue"
	plt.clear_digitizer()
	plt.digitize_point()

	plotstatus = plt.status
	while (NoneType is type(plotstatus)) or (0 == int(plotstatus) & 0x04):
	plotstatus = plt.status

	print "Digitized: " + str(plt.digitized_point)

view raw PlotterShapes.py hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2016-10-20

ATM Error Message

Saw this after fat-fingering my PIN at a drive-up ATM:

ATM Screen Display Error Message

That’s off-putting, isn’t it?

2016-10-19

Reticle Guide for Ruler Quilting

I made the pencil guides to help Mary design ruler quilting patterns, but sometimes she must line up the ruler with a feature on an existing pattern. To that end, we now have a reticle guide:

Ruler Adapters - pencil guide and reticle — Ruler Adapters – pencil guide and reticle

The general idea is that it’s easier to see the pattern on paper through the crosshair than through a small hole. You put the button over a feature, align the reticle, put the ruler against the button, replace it with pencil guide, and away you go.

The solid model looks much more lively than you’d expect:

Ruler Adapter - reticle - Slic3r preview — Ruler Adapter – reticle – Slic3r preview

Printing up a pair of each button produces the same surface finish as before; life is good!

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Quilting Ruler Adapters
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU October 2016

	//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly

	inch = 25.4;

	function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);

	//———-
	// Dimensions

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	Offset = 0.25 * inch;

	Template = [2.0,2*Offset,3.0];

	NumSides = 16*4;
	HoleSides = 8;

	//———————-
	// Useful routines

	module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) { // based on nophead's polyholes
	Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);
	FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);
	cylinder(d=(FixDia + HoleWindage),h=Height,$fn=Sides);
	}


	//———-
	// Build them

	translate([-Template[OD],0,0])
	difference() {
	cylinder(d=Template[OD],h=Template[LENGTH],$fn=NumSides);
	translate([0,0,-Template[LENGTH]])
	PolyCyl(Template[ID],3*Template[LENGTH],HoleSides);
	translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
	cylinder(d1=2*Template[ID],d2=Template[ID],h=Template[LENGTH]/3 + Protrusion,$fn=HoleSides);
	translate([0,0,Template[LENGTH] + Protrusion])
	mirror([0,0,1])
	cylinder(d1=2*Template[ID],d2=Template[ID],h=Template[LENGTH]/3 + Protrusion,$fn=HoleSides);
	}

	translate([Template[OD],0,0])
	difference() {
	cylinder(d=Template[OD],h=Template[LENGTH],$fn=NumSides);
	for (a=[45,135])
	rotate(a)
	cube([0.70Template[OD],0.15Template[OD],3*Template[LENGTH]],center=true);
	}

view raw Ruler Adapters.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

2016-10-17

Pencil Guides for Ruler Quilting

Mary has been doing Ruler Quilting and wanted a pencil guide (similar to the machine’s ruler foot) to let her sketch layouts before committing stitches to fabric. The general idea is to offset the pencil by 1/4 inch from the edge of the ruler:

Ruler Adapter - solid model — Ruler Adapter – solid model

That was easy.

Print three to provide a bit of cooling time and let her pass ’em around at her next quilting bee:

Ruler Adapter - Slic3r preview — Ruler Adapter – Slic3r preview

Her favorite doodling pencil shoves a 0.9 mm lead through a 2 mm ferrule, so ream the center hole with a #44 drill (86 mil = 2.1 mm) to suit:

The outer perimeters have 64 facets, an unusually high number for my models, so they’re nice & smooth on the ruler. Even though I didn’t build them sequentially, they had zero perimeter zits and the OD came out 0.500 inch on the dot.

The chamfers guide the pencil point into the hole and provide a bit of relief for the pencil’s snout.

If I had a laser cutter, I could make special rulers for her, too …

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Quilting Ruler Adapters
	// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU October 2016

	//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!

	ThreadThick = 0.25;
	ThreadWidth = 0.40;

	HoleWindage = 0.2;

	Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly

	inch = 25.4;

	function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);

	//———-
	// Dimensions

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	Offset = 0.25 * inch;

	Template = [2.0,2*Offset,3.0];

	NumSides = 16*4;
	HoleSides = 8;

	//———————-
	// Useful routines

	module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) { // based on nophead's polyholes
	Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);
	FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);
	cylinder(d=(FixDia + HoleWindage),h=Height,$fn=Sides);
	}


	//———-
	// Build it

	difference() {
	cylinder(d=Template[OD],h=Template[LENGTH],$fn=NumSides);
	translate([0,0,-Template[LENGTH]])
	PolyCyl(Template[ID],3*Template[LENGTH],HoleSides);
	translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
	cylinder(d1=2*Template[ID],d2=Template[ID],h=Template[LENGTH]/3 + Protrusion,$fn=HoleSides);
	translate([0,0,Template[LENGTH] + Protrusion])
	mirror([0,0,1])
	cylinder(d1=2*Template[ID],d2=Template[ID],h=Template[LENGTH]/3 + Protrusion,$fn=HoleSides);
	}

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2016-10-13