Well after months I finally started working on this project again.  I figured since Halloween is only a month and a half away I’d better get it done.

Graveyard skulls have put together some good construction instructions here:

• Motion Servo Assembly
• Jaw Servo Mounting
• Skull Plate Mounting
• Mounting the Eye Kit
• Hooking up the SSC-32
• VSA Programming 101

They also added a new Eye Kit for the skulls which I may add next year.

OK, now on to my first singing test.  I found a cool pirate song called “ I Once Wend Down to Kingston Town” by Amateur Hour – Pirate Copy.  The great thing about this song is that it is Open Source and covered by the Creative Commons license.

As with most of the 3-Axis skull projects on the net I used Brookshire Software VSA (Visual Show Automation).  It costs about $60 which isn’t too bad.  It also has a demo version but it doesn’t allow you to save all your hard work.  I eventually will write my own program to interface with the Playstation 2 controller but I have slacked off too much this year and will have to do that next year.

Here is a video I posted on YouTube:

It’s been pretty quiet on the KludgeGuru front for a month while I impatiently waited for my AVR JTAGICE mkII clone to be returned from china.  If you didn’t read the two posts linked to above the basic story is I purchased the clone and when I got it the debugging capabilities didn’t work.  So I returned it where they were able to repeat the error I was getting and instead of sending me a new one they shipped it back to the manufacturer in China and said it would be 3-4 weeks for repair.  11 weeks later I got it back…now that’s what you call great service. 

Here is the timeline of my correspondance:

January 20th – I shipped the unit back

Vendor (January 23rd) – Hi, I tested your mkii clone and as you said, the debugging mode doesn’t work.  I will have to ship it to the manufacturer for a repair.  The whole process can take 3-4 weeks, as they are closed right now because of Chinese New Year celebration.

Me (February 17th) – Do you have an update on when I can expect to have my mkII clone back?  It’s almost been 4 weeks.

Vendor (February 17th) – It was Chinese New Year Holidays and they started working at the end of last week.  It will take another 2-4 weeks.

Me (March 16th) – It’s been another 4 weeks any news on the MKII clone?

Vendor (March 16th) – I know… long delay.  Last week the manufacturer told me that they fixed the MKII clone, and I ordered some additional stuff to ship all together back to the US.  It should be here by the end of this week or beginning of next week.

Me (March 27th) – It’s almost been another two weeks.  Do you have an update on this item?

Vendor (March 28th) – I am starting to worry too… as I said, it was shipped more than 2 weeks ago with other items I purchased to them but I haven’t received anything yet.  If by the end of next week I don’t get the unit back from China, I will ship you a new unit.

Vendor (April 1st) – I got the device back.

Me (April 1st) – Did you happen to test the debugging to see if it works now?

Vendor (April 1st) – I tested it and it works.

April 8th – I finally received it!

The good news is the guy was nice and responded to my email quickly.  It just was a shame I had to wait 11 weeks to get a mkII clone when I received a defective product.  I still think that if you purchase something that doesn’t work the store should replace it with a new one that does work.

Also I tested the mkII clone and the debugging does work now.  I was using a friends JTAGICE for awhile but he needed it back so now I can finally continue working on my projects that I started a couple months!

UPDATE:  I can program micocontrollers using the JTAG interface but the SPI interface does not work…If I could go back I would have spent the extra money and purchased the real thing.

In my Internet travels I ran across this neat little device called the WholeHouseFMTransmitter.  It is basically what it’s name says it is, an FM transmitter for the entire house.  With this device I connect it to my server’s audio output port and then just shuffle through my MP3 collection.  I then can tune to my own personal radio station using any FM stereo around the house or in the garage.  Actually I can receive my radio station within a block of my house while the transmitter is in my basement next to my big metal furnace.  I’ve thought about moving the transmitter to the attic to get a greater range but it works just fine where it is.

The transmitter is pretty small.  It’s measurements are 3 3/8″ x 2 1/2″ x 3/4″.  The front of the transmitter has a power button and some logo stuff.

The power is supplied through a power jack on the side.  It uses 5VDC I couldn’t see any current rating on their website.  It has four different ways to power it, shown below.  I use the USB power adapter so it is power directly from my server.  The USB power adapter is retractable, I think it is only about 3-4 feet long which I think it should be longer but it works.

Wall Outlet (110/220V AC)

Car Adapter (12/24V DC)

Computer USB Adapter

Plus, batteries (takes 3 “AA” batteries and will run about 110 hours)

The audio input is a 1/8″ (3.5mm) headphone jack.  This is very nice since you can use about any audio source, such as output from computer, ipod or any MP3 player.

On the other side there is a set of three dip switches.  These are used to select the frequency or FM radio station the transmitter broadcasts on.  If you set the frequency to the same channel as a nearby radio station you wont get as good of performance.  You should set it to an unused channel between radio stations.

On the back of the transmitter is the channel selection guide.  This shows the dip switch positions to select the desired FM frequency or channel.

So I’ve got this hooked up to my server computer.  I’ve set my server to automatically start my favorite MP3 player software Winamp when windows loads.  The only problem I found was that after running constantly for a couple days Winamp would tend to freeze causing the MP3 currently being played to do a 1 second loop which sounds terrible.  To solve this I decided to restart my computer every night.  Being a big fan of batch files I created a batch file to restart my computer.  My batch file only contains one line:

shutdown /r /t 60 /f /c “Restarting for daily reboot…”

The flags I used are as follows:

• /r  -  Shutdown and restart the computer
• /t xxx  -   Set the time0out period before shutdown to xxx seconds.  The valid range is 0-600, with a default of 30.
• /f  -  Force running applications to close without forewarning users.  (The /t flag also implies the /f flag but I put it in anyway just for kicks)
• /c “comment”  -  Coments on the reason for the restart or shutdown.

I use a neat little windows utility called Task Scheduler to schedule my server restart in the middle of the night.

How To Schedule Tasks in Windows XP

While scheduling tasks you basically just browse for the batch file then set when you want the task to run and how often.

1. Operating system – WinXP
2. Personal files such as family pictures, home movies & mp3s
3. Backup of personal files
4. Media drive containing ripped DVDs

I used to setup hard drives 2 & 3 in a RAID 1 which is a mirrored raid array.  That way both hard drives contain the exact same data so if one ever failed I would not loose the data.  Since then I’ve found that sometimes I erase data that I don’t mean to and sometimes it’s hard to get it back.  So I came up with a solution.  I use a batch file to backup my data nightly to from hard 2 to hard drive 3.  That way if I delete some data it actually doesn’t get deleted off my backup drive.  If I overwrite something I didn’t mean to I have until the nightly backup to retreive it.  The dos utility xcopy works great for that.  Here is a link to an xcopy users guide http://www.seqsoft.com/xcopy_ug.pdf

In the batch file I start off by saving the date and the start time to two variables:

SET DATE=%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~10,4%
SET START=%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

I then use xcopy with a bunch of switches to copy any new data to the backup hard drive.  I also create a log file called InProcess.log so I can go back later and check that everything is working alright.

xcopy /d /c /e /r /y /f e:\ f:\ >f:\backuplog\InProcess.log

Here is a list of the switches I use:

• /d  -  Copies files changed on or after the specified date.  If no date is given, copies only those files whose source time is newer that the destination time.
• /c  -  Continues copying even if errors occur.
• /e  -  Copies directories and sub-directories, including empty ones.
• /r  -  Overwrites read-only files.
• /y  -  Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.
• /f  -  Displays full source and destination file names while copying.

I then specify the source drive e:\ which is my personal files drive.

Next the destination drive f:\ which is my backup hard drive is specified.

Then I tell it to white to a log file instead of to the screen using >f:\backuplog\InProcess.log

After the xcopy command I save the end time to a variable:

SET END=%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

I then rename the InProcess.log file that was created to a date and time stamp that says what time the process was started and what time it ended.

rename f:\backuplog\inprocess.log “%DATE% %START%-%END%.log”

So I save all of these lines into a batch file called backup.bat.  Here is what the entire batch file looks like:

SET DATE=%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~10,4%
SET START=%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

xcopy /d /c /e /r /y /f e:\ f:\ >f:\backuplog\InProcess.log

SET END=%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%

rename f:\backuplog\inprocess.log “%DATE% %START%-%END%.log”

The batch file is great but I need a way to automate it so I don’t have to remember to run the batch file whenever I want to backup my data.  It’s also nice to schedule the backup in the middle of the night when I most likely won’t be using my computer to access the server.  I use a neat little windows utility called Task Scheduler.

How To Schedule Tasks in Windows XP

While scheduling tasks you basically just browse for the batch file then set when you want the task to run and how often.

There are other solutions for backing up data but I like batch files, it’s free, easy and I don’t have to use some third party program.

I prefer to have an operating system that has a Graphical User Interface (GUI) rather than a command line interface.  It’s my opinion that the command line interface is powerful but it is also very archaic.  I’d prefer to have a GUI for my main operating system with a command line utility.

I did try installing Ubuntu on my server and it took a few days to get it working and configured the way I wanted it.  I have my server in my furnace room and there isn’t room in there for a monitor or keyboard so I remote into it to manage it.  With the Ubuntu install everything was working fine until the remote desktop stopped working.  I spent a couple days trying to figure out how to fix it and I finally got frustrated and installed Windows XP on it.  It took me a couple hours to get it installed and everything setup and I rarely have problems with it.

My choice of Windows XP to use as my server operating system mostly was decided for my experience with windows.  If I had more experience with another operating system such as Linux then I might have chosen it.  

• File Server – A central place that our family pictures, videos & music are stored.
• Backup Server – The server does a nightly backup of our family pictures, videos, music…etc.
• Web Server – The server also hosts my www.kludgeguru.com website.
• Media Server – I also keep all of my ripped DVD collection on the server that can be access to stream movies to any PC or TV in the house.
• Personal FM Radio Station – I have my favorite MP3 collection transmitted on an FM channel that can be tuned to using any standard radio within a block of my house.

My Server Tips Index:

1. 02-04-2009  -  Operating System
2. 02-07-2009  -  Backup Files Using a Batch File
3. 02-11-2009  -  Personal FM Radio Station

I’ve started building my 3-axis talking skull using the Lindberg Complete Kit from www.graveyardskulls.com.  Unfortunetly GraveYardSkulls has not completed the instructions for this kit so I kind of had to make it up as I go.  The assembly is fairly straight forward but there are some parts I’m not so sure on.  I’ve started a thread on the GraveYardSkull forum about the instructions and Joel says he is working on them.  Look for updates here.

I’ve started the servo plate assembly.  The servos basically just slide through the rectangular cutouts and are secured using screws.  The back servo is also mounted with a bracket that will be connected to the servo rod later.

Here is the servo plate before installing the servos:

Here is the “bottom” view of the servos:

Here is a view that shows how the pivotrod bracket is attached:

Here is a “top” view of the servos on the servo plate:

Next I attached the pivot rod to the pivot rod bracket. There are three mounting holes in the bracket so the pivot height can be adjusted. I think it works best using the middle hole:

Next I attached the servos to the pivot rod using the pivot joints. I also replaced the circular servo arms with modified 180º arms. I basically just cut off half of the arm to make a 90º arm:

Here is a close-up of one of the pivot joints. The pivot joint arm is made using a threaded rod pressed into the pivot joint. The pivot joint is attached to the servo arm using a small pivot ball…it looks like a small version of a trailer hitch ball.

Well, that’s how I assembled the servo plate. I’m sure once GraveYardSkulls finishes their assembly instructions they will have more detailed pictures of the assembly process. Maybe when I assemble my 2nd skull I’ll take more detailed pictures as well.

Now that I’ve got my firefly test LEDs to fade in and out randomly (Project: LED Firefly Lights – Post #4 Random Fade Test) I’ve decided to try to replicate what real fireflies look like when they flash.  I’ve found this video on youtube that shows how they flash and it also shows a some LED firefly lights a company in California has made called FireFly Magic.

For the code I mostly just inverted the DelayOn and DelayOff. I did add an extra #define to take the place of the direction 1 or -1 so I could easily change the speed at which I change the LED brightness. I also changed the name of the fade variable in the LED structure to FadeDelay. To see the old version of the code check out Post #4.

Here is what the test fireflies look like now; they don’t blink as fast as real fireflies my wife prefers them to go a bit slower. The speed can easily be changed by changing the #define constants.

Here is the new code:

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#include <avr/io.h>
#include <avr/interrupt.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
volatile unsigned int vCount = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTA = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTB = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTC = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTD = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTE = 0;
 
#define cLED_CNT 16
#define cFADEDELAY 3
#define cDELAYOFFMAX 1500
#define cDELAYON 1
#define cBRIGHTMAX 100
#define cFADESPEED 5
 
struct LED
{
  char Port;
  char Bit;
  int Brightness;
  int Direction;
  int DelayOn;
  int DelayOff;
  int FadeDelay;
};
 
volatile struct LED LEDArray[cLED_CNT];
 
 
/* Main Function */
int main(void)
{
  int vI;
 
  /* Initialize Timer0 */
 
    // Enable timer0 compare interrupt
  TIMSK0 = (1<<OCIE0A);
 
    // Sets the compare value
  OCR0A = 12;
 
  // Set Clear on Timer Compare (CTC) mode, prescaler
  TCCR0A = (1<<WGM01)|(0<<WGM00)|(3<<CS00);
 
  /* Initialize Ports for output */
  DDRA = 0xFF;
  DDRB = 0xFF;
  DDRC = 0xFF;
  DDRD = 0xFF;
  DDRE = 0xFF;
 
  /* Initialize LED Array */
  for(vI = 0; vI < cLED_CNT; vI++)
  {
    if (vI < 8)
    {
      LEDArray[vI].Port = 'B';
      LEDArray[vI].Bit = vI;
    }
    else
    {
      LEDArray[vI].Port = 'D';
      LEDArray[vI].Bit = vI - 8;
    }
    LEDArray[vI].Brightness = 0;
    LEDArray[vI].Direction = cFADESPEED;
    LEDArray[vI].DelayOff = (rand() % cDELAYOFFMAX) + 1;
    LEDArray[vI].DelayOn = cDELAYON;
    LEDArray[vI].FadeDelay = cFADEDELAY;
  }   
 
  // Enable Interrupts
  sei();
 
   // Main program loop
   while(1) {   }
 
   return 0;
}
 
/* Handle Timer Interrupt */
ISR (TIMER0_COMP_vect)
{
  int vI = 0;
 
  vCount++;
  if (vCount >= 100) vCount = 0;
  if (vCount == 0) 
  {
    //vPORTA = 0xFF;
    vPORTB = 0xFF;
    //vPORTC = 0xFF;
    vPORTD = 0xFF;
    //vPORTE = 0xFF;
  }
 
  for (vI = 0; vI < cLED_CNT; vI++)
  {
    if ((LEDArray[vI].Brightness <= 0) | (LEDArray[vI].Brightness == vCount))
    {
      switch (LEDArray[vI].Port)
      {
        case 'A': vPORTA &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'B': vPORTB &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'C': vPORTC &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'D': vPORTD &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'E': vPORTE &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
      }
    }
    if (vCount == 0) 
    {
      LEDArray[vI].DelayOff--;
      if (LEDArray[vI].DelayOff == 0)
      {
        LEDArray[vI].DelayOff = 1;
        LEDArray[vI].FadeDelay--;
        if (LEDArray[vI].FadeDelay == 0)
        {
          LEDArray[vI].FadeDelay = cFADEDELAY;
          LEDArray[vI].Brightness += LEDArray[vI].Direction;
          if (LEDArray[vI].Brightness >= cBRIGHTMAX) 
          {
            LEDArray[vI].Brightness = cBRIGHTMAX-1;
            LEDArray[vI].DelayOn--;
            if (LEDArray[vI].DelayOn == 0)
            {
              LEDArray[vI].Direction = -1 * cFADESPEED;
              LEDArray[vI].DelayOn = cDELAYON;
            }
          }
          if (LEDArray[vI].Brightness <= 0) 
          {
            LEDArray[vI].Direction = cFADESPEED;
            LEDArray[vI].DelayOff = (rand() % cDELAYOFFMAX) + 1;
          }  
        }
      }
    }
  }
  //PORTA = vPORTA;
  PORTB = vPORTB;
  //PORTC = vPORTC;
  PORTD = vPORTD;
  //PORTE = vPORTE;
}

In the previous post I showed how I faded an entire bank of LED lights. Since then I’ve added another bank of LEDs to make sure my code works with multiple banks. So the total LED count is 16. I connected the LEDs through a resistor to Ports B & D on the AVR Butterfly as shown in the picture below. I had to disconnect the piezo speaker on the back of the Butterfly since it is also connected to pin 5 of Port B.

I’ve been playing around with randomizing the LEDs so they don’t all turn on and off at the same time.

To create a random number in C you can use the rand( ) function declared in the stdlib.h library. In my code I use the following statement to generate a random delay for each LED.

LEDArray[vI].DelayOn = (rand() % cDELAYONMAX) + 1;

LEDArray[vI].DelayOn is an integer variable that is part of my LED structure used to store the random number in.

rand( ) function returns a pseudo-random integral number in the range 0 to RAND_MAX where RAND_MAX = 0x7FFF which is declared in the stdlib.h library.

% Modulus computes the remainder that results from performing integer division.

cDELAYONMAX is a constant I declare to give me the maximum random number I want to generate. Currently I’ve set this to 1500.

I’ve created an LED structure to group the variable I need to control the LEDs.

struct LED
{
  char Port;
  char Bit;
  int Brightness;
  int Direction;
  int DelayOn; 
  int DelayOff;
  int FadeSpeed;
};

Port variable sets the Port the LED is located on.
Bit variable sets which pin the LED is located on.
Brightness variable controls the current brightness of the LED in percent 0 to 100.
Direction variable controls whether the LED is fading in or out. 1 is in and -1 is out.
DelayOn contains a random number that sets how long the LED will stay on.
DelayOff contains how long the LED will stay off.
FadeSpeed controls how fast the LED will fade on and off.

Here is a video that shows the LEDs randomly fading in and out:

Here is my code, it may not be the best way to do it but it works:

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#include <avr/io.h>
#include <avr/interrupt.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
volatile unsigned int vCount = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTA = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTB = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTC = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTD = 0;
volatile unsigned char vPORTE = 0;
 
#define cLED_CNT 16
#define cFADESPEED 5
#define cDELAYONMAX 1500
#define cDELAYOFF 5
#define cBRIGHTMAX 100
 
struct LED
{
  char Port;
  char Bit;
  int Brightness;
  int Direction;
  int DelayOn; 
  int DelayOff;
  int FadeSpeed;
};
 
volatile struct LED LEDArray[cLED_CNT];
 
/* Main Function */
int main(void)
{
  int vI;
 
  /* Initialize Timer0 */
 
  // Enable timer0 compare interrupt
  TIMSK0 = (1 << OCIE0A);
 
  // Sets the compare value
  OCR0A = 12;
 
  // Set Clear on Timer Compare (CTC) mode, prescaler
  TCCR0A = (1 << WGM01) | (0 << WGM00) | (3 << CS00);
 
  /* Initialize Ports for output */
  DDRA = 0xFF;
  DDRB = 0xFF;
  DDRC = 0xFF;
  DDRD = 0xFF;
  DDRE = 0xFF;
 
  /* Initialize LED Array */
  for(vI = 0; vI < cLED_CNT; vI++)
  {
    if (vI < 8)
    {
      LEDArray[vI].Port = 'B';
      LEDArray[vI].Bit = vI;
    }
    else
    {
      LEDArray[vI].Port = 'D';
      LEDArray[vI].Bit = vI - 8;
    }
      LEDArray[vI].Brightness = cBRIGHTMAX;
      LEDArray[vI].Direction = -1;
      LEDArray[vI].DelayOn = (rand() % cDELAYONMAX) + 1;
      LEDArray[vI].DelayOff = cDELAYOFF;
      LEDArray[vI].FadeSpeed = cFADESPEED;
  }
 
  // Enable Interrupts
  sei();
 
  // Main program loop
  while(1) {   }
 
  return 0;
}
 
/* Handle Timer Interrupt */
ISR (TIMER0_COMP_vect)
{
  int vI = 0;
 
  vCount++;
  if (vCount >= 100) vCount = 0;
  if (vCount == 0)
  {
    //vPORTA = 0xFF;
    vPORTB = 0xFF;
    //vPORTC = 0xFF;
    vPORTD = 0xFF;
    //vPORTE = 0xFF;
  }
 
  for (vI = 0; vI < cLED_CNT; vI++)
  {
    if ((LEDArray[vI].Brightness <= 0) | (LEDArray[vI].Brightness == vCount))
    {
      switch (LEDArray[vI].Port)
      {
        case 'A': vPORTA &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'B': vPORTB &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'C': vPORTC &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'D': vPORTD &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
        case 'E': vPORTE &= ~(1 << LEDArray[vI].Bit);break;
      }
    }
    if (vCount == 0)
    {
      LEDArray[vI].DelayOn--;
      if (LEDArray[vI].DelayOn == 0)
      {
        LEDArray[vI].DelayOn = 1;
        LEDArray[vI].FadeSpeed--;
        if (LEDArray[vI].FadeSpeed == 0)
        {
          LEDArray[vI].FadeSpeed = cFADESPEED;
          LEDArray[vI].Brightness += LEDArray[vI].Direction;
          if (LEDArray[vI].Brightness <= 0)
          {
            LEDArray[vI].Brightness = 0;
            LEDArray[vI].DelayOff--;
            if (LEDArray[vI].DelayOff == 0)
            {
              LEDArray[vI].Direction = 1;
              LEDArray[vI].DelayOff = cDELAYOFF;
            }
          }
          if (LEDArray[vI].Brightness == cBRIGHTMAX)
          {
            LEDArray[vI].Direction = -1;
            LEDArray[vI].DelayOn = (rand() % cDELAYONMAX) + 1;
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
  //PORTA = vPORTA;
  PORTB = vPORTB;
  //PORTC = vPORTC;
  PORTD = vPORTD;
  //PORTE = vPORTE;
}

I finally tried out the AVR JTAGICE mkII clone.  AVRSTudio connected to it just like it should.  It downloaded the latest firmware.  I connected to my AVR Butterfly and it read the device signature.  Everything was looking good until I tried to debug my code.  Whenever I entered debug mode the JTAGICE mkII clone would time out and disconnect from AVRStudio.

I was a bit discouraged and I had to figure out if I was doing something wrong or if I got a bad programmer.  One of my friends had a JTAGICE mkII from atmel that was not a clone so I borrowed it and tried it.  It didn’t have any problems in debug mode.  So I did get a bad programmer.

I contacted the vendor where I purchased the programmer and he said to ship it back and they will test it.  So I shipped it back to them and a few days later I got this response:

Hi, I tested your mkii clone and as you said, the debugging mode doesn’t work.  I will have to ship it to the manufacturer for a repair.  The whole process can take 3-4 weeks, as they are closed right now because of Chinese New Year celebration.

So the good news is they had the same problem I was having with it.  The bad news is they will not be sending me a new one, instead they are sending it back to China for repair.  So far I’m not all that impressed with the clone.  I think if you receive a device that does not work they should replace it with a new one instead of sending it back for repair.  Maybe in a month (hopefully) when I get the clone back it will work as it should.

To see a list of other AVR programmer/debuggers check out my AVR Programmer/Debugger post.

EDIT:  I finally got it back see here AVR JTAGICE mkII clone – Review (Final)