2011-01-13 01:53 [commit] Xiangfu Liu: new package: offrss and some depends pakcages http://qi-hw.com/p/openwrt-packages/1c605fe 2011-01-13 01:56 [commit] Xiangfu Liu: new package: timidity, MIDI files player http://qi-hw.com/p/openwrt-packages/49ec918 2011-01-13 02:37 does anyone know if Ben has a backup battery (or capacity?) for HW clock? 2011-01-13 02:37 i noticed it is reset to start of epoch when Ben is _fully_ discharged 2011-01-13 02:48 kyak: no backup battery for HW clock. 2011-01-13 02:51 xiangfu_: ok, thanks 2011-01-13 02:52 though Ben can usually live throught the night without external power supply, i sometimes forget to connect it to laptop in the morning :) 2011-01-13 02:53 then i find it blacked out 2011-01-13 02:53 maybe i can make it produce sound signals via cron when the battery level is low 2011-01-13 02:53 roh: (sanded) good. i was already getting a little scared by the powers of your laser cutter :) 2011-01-13 02:54 this would be cool 2011-01-13 04:22 [commit] Xiangfu Liu: fixed section display not correct in ben nanonote http://qi-hw.com/p/gmenu2x/91d3fea 2011-01-13 04:33 [commit] Xiangfu Liu: gmenu2x: update http://qi-hw.com/p/openwrt-packages/f07d355 2011-01-13 04:46 interesting. this is a complete ben: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/rework-20110112/ 2011-01-13 04:46 and this is just the PCB: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/rework-20110113/ 2011-01-13 04:47 still need to get rid of the "mountain", but it seems that lcm may also play a role in making things a little messy 2011-01-13 05:09 wpwrak: I introduced the cmdline patch on the kicad list, and someone replied. so that's a start... 2011-01-13 05:09 what I need to do now is to move to the latest kicad version first. 2011-01-13 05:09 do you mind if I just pick the latest and see whether it builds? (forward-port the patches) 2011-01-13 05:10 hmmm. thinking about this maybe we should decouple the use of KiCad at Qi, and trying to upstream the cmdline patch. 2011-01-13 05:11 I could make a subdirectory in kicad-patches, like kicad-patches/upstream 2011-01-13 05:11 then work there to bring the patches into an upstreamable format 2011-01-13 05:11 yeah I think that makes more sense than trying to sync this task with our own use of KiCad 2011-01-13 05:11 let me know if you disagree... 2011-01-13 06:11 going to the latest sounds good to me. always better to stay close than to try to delay the inevitable for too long 2011-01-13 06:11 wpwrak: yes but I think I need to decouple the upstream patches from the ones we are using. 2011-01-13 06:11 there will be feedback, and I have to rearrange patches etc. 2011-01-13 06:12 if the latest version looks good with our designs, then we should update the version we generally use as well 2011-01-13 06:12 and I may need to uptick very frequently 2011-01-13 06:12 anything else is just confusion ;-) 2011-01-13 06:12 that will be a mess if it's the same base we are building our 'daily use' KiCad from 2011-01-13 06:12 sure, doesn't make sense to update every five minutes while merging 2011-01-13 06:12 I got another quite encouraging reply on the list, so now I guess I'm obliged to actually do something :-) 2011-01-13 06:13 at least it seems the KiCad community is functioning, that's good 2011-01-13 06:13 (checking the list) haven't caught of for weeks ... 2011-01-13 06:13 sure, I will just try to get this upstream, then unsubscribe 2011-01-13 06:13 unfortunately it's quite a bit of work, oh well 2011-01-13 06:13 hacking codes is far easier than communicating, understanding, and reaching consensus 2011-01-13 06:17 well, the reactions are good so far. communication seems to be working ;-) 2011-01-13 06:25 hmm, so much about using a "clean" clock :-( http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/rework-20110113/ 2011-01-13 06:27 oh wow, that's a lot worse than before :-) 2011-01-13 06:30 it does show that the chip seems to prefer a sinusoid clock, though. that's useful information. 2011-01-13 06:30 i kinda wonder why going from a complete ben to just the main pcb improved things so much, though. for comparison, here are yesterday's results (full ben): http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/rework-20110113/ 2011-01-13 06:31 (i had to go to the bare pcb because the board wouldn't fit into the 8:10 slot in the case anymore) 2011-01-13 08:35 hmm 2011-01-13 08:36 Mauro_R: wpwrak : technology : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiJeHHGqSSw 2011-01-13 08:36 let me see ... 2011-01-13 08:40 jaja :-) it's the last technology ... ecologic .... 2011-01-13 08:40 you must keep safe of don't burn your parts ;-p 2011-01-13 08:41 burning wood isn't that ecologic... and btw steam explosions are dangerous 2011-01-13 08:42 afaik they were the main problem that prevented the development of the steam engine at the beginning 2011-01-13 08:45 lekernel: I'm sure that it's more ecologic than the batteries ... 2011-01-13 10:12 zrafa: (bike) cool ! ;-) 2011-01-13 10:17 maybe, maybe not. I haven't done the math, so I won't jump into saying which is more ecologic. it's not an easy question 2011-01-13 10:18 but it sure is more dangerous than batteries 2011-01-13 10:18 lekernel: I mentioned our emi tests to Adam, he was very happy to hear that such a complex board passed on most tests right away. 2011-01-13 10:19 when I described the one failed esd/field test to him, he asked in which area the sink was, but I told him we were too lazy to track that down, going for the whole metal sheet instead 2011-01-13 10:19 except that maybe DIY batteries might done the same way as this steam engine, i.e. with open acid and nasty chemicals just waiting to spill on you when you fall :) 2011-01-13 10:19 we suspect it may be the dram area, right? 2011-01-13 10:19 wolfspraul: yeah, probably 2011-01-13 10:19 I don't want to do random layout changes in rc3 though, that sounds riskier to me than just going with the metal sheet for now 2011-01-13 10:20 laziness is good. gets things done fast 2011-01-13 10:20 one day if someone has time and energy, that person can track down the sink more precisely... 2011-01-13 10:20 and attaching a metal shield to the DRAM alone can also be more expensive and complicated than the whole sheet 2011-01-13 10:20 sure I'm not complaining. the metal sheet is the right approach now, not risky layout changes. 2011-01-13 10:20 well we could try to make changes in the layout 2011-01-13 10:21 metal sheet is only a few tens of cents, and simple assembly... 2011-01-13 10:21 but it will be hard to make the right changes there that actually fix the issue, and be without regressions too 2011-01-13 10:21 yes yes :-) 2011-01-13 10:21 we are on the same page 2011-01-13 10:21 I am just telling you about bringing Adam into this. 2011-01-13 10:21 no layout changes in rc3 to try to fix this potential dram esd/field sink issue 2011-01-13 10:22 no, sure not 2011-01-13 10:22 you could add extra copper to the pcb 2011-01-13 10:22 but we may want to fix the boot problem as early as rc3 2011-01-13 10:22 it would not be too unusual in adam's experience. just fyi. we will not do it, no worries :-) 2011-01-13 10:22 the pcb is already full of copper 2011-01-13 10:22 yes, agreed 2011-01-13 10:23 we are on the same page 2011-01-13 10:25 at some point I need to decide the size of rc3 2011-01-13 10:25 I'm thinking 50-100 2011-01-13 10:25 tough decision again 2011-01-13 10:25 I think we have to be brave and believe in the product :-) 2011-01-13 10:26 I will start sourcing a few things already, anything with lead time > 4 weeks. 2011-01-13 10:26 just fyi 2011-01-13 10:26 lekernel: acid, nasty chemicals ... also, solid batteries are less eco than burn wood or coal ... 2011-01-13 10:27 lekernel: but I understand your point, burn wood isn´t good enough ... 2011-01-13 10:30 re 2011-01-13 11:20 [commit] Xiangfu Liu: gmenu2x: add a new theme http://qi-hw.com/p/openwrt-packages/9186e37 2011-01-13 11:29 wpwrak: are the openmoko gerber files available somewhere? 2011-01-13 11:29 I can't find them 2011-01-13 11:30 not available 2011-01-13 11:30 really?! 2011-01-13 11:30 wow... 2011-01-13 11:30 yeah sounds like dark age from our perspective nowadays :-) 2011-01-13 11:31 as some of my last official function at Openmoko, I released netlist, board outline and a few other small things under a cc license, to help jumpstart gta02-core. 2011-01-13 11:31 but the full GERBER files, or PADS Layout files, were never published 2011-01-13 11:34 amazing that project still got so popular 2011-01-13 11:34 indeed 2011-01-13 11:35 no features, lots of bugs, little openness... 2011-01-13 11:35 lekernel: only partoally available - the outside layers 2011-01-13 11:35 lekernel: it was still the most open at its time ... 2011-01-13 11:36 probably has to do with the average hacker's interest for communication networks :) 2011-01-13 11:36 that too :) 2011-01-13 11:37 the case was finally open isnt? 2011-01-13 11:38 kristianpaul: the CAD files have been published, yes 2011-01-13 11:38 wonder how usable those are 2011-01-13 11:38 kristianpaul: me too ;-) 2011-01-13 11:41 lekernel: it was popular for 2 reasons imho 2011-01-13 11:41 one was the time of the announcement 2011-01-13 11:41 the Symbian dark age 2011-01-13 11:42 don't forget, this was _before_ the iPhone, before Android 2011-01-13 11:42 I would have killed someone to get out of this Symbian hell. 2011-01-13 11:42 I was working in the smartphone industry, and had been tortured by Symbian suits for years. 2011-01-13 11:42 there was a lot of anger built up there, and Palm Treo was only partially able to benefit from that 2011-01-13 11:42 so the promise of an 'open' platform was wildly welcomed 2011-01-13 11:43 nowadays the iphone and android platforms are considered the 'open' ones, with 100k+ apps etc. 2011-01-13 11:43 so that was the first reason 2011-01-13 11:43 announcing an open phone platform in late 2006 was just perfect 2011-01-13 11:44 second reason was gross brutal over-promising 2011-01-13 11:44 bad that no one software stack was succeeded 2011-01-13 11:44 back then I was clueless so I couldn't tell how bad it was 2011-01-13 11:44 but today I know :-) 2011-01-13 11:44 LiMo seems failed 2011-01-13 11:44 MeeGo is half-life 2011-01-13 11:44 it's like I make an announcement today that Sharism Ltd. will ship a competitor to the Airbus A380 in May this year. 2011-01-13 11:45 so OM had a history of again and again and again over-promising 2011-01-13 11:45 against all reason, almost insane 2011-01-13 11:45 over-promising will always give you some popularity first :-) 2011-01-13 11:45 those were the 2 reasons for me 1) timing 2) over-primising 2011-01-13 11:47 I had no idea, when I acquired an ebook of Gibson's Zero History to read on my BNN, that it would feature a Neo so heavily. 2011-01-13 11:47 (Just started reading it.) 2011-01-13 11:48 Neo in fiction, maybe that's where its actual natural habitat was from the beginning... 2011-01-13 11:55 wolfspraul: well, sharism vs. a380 is exaggerating a little :) with a better hw team and a more realistic approach for the software, i think things could have turned out much better 2011-01-13 11:55 wolfspraul: and of course, management that is a lot less fond of u-turns :) 2011-01-13 11:57 wpwrak: I stand behind sharism vs. a380 2011-01-13 11:57 it was just gross, really. 2011-01-13 11:57 there is a difference between what you want to do, and what you can do 2011-01-13 11:58 but it was also the reason for the popularity, of course 2011-01-13 11:58 popularity = delayed frustration 2011-01-13 11:59 so that's exactly what happened later 2011-01-13 11:59 anyway we are learning, and still around. :-) 2011-01-13 11:59 I'm quite optimistic actually... 2011-01-13 12:00 wpwrak: the dynamics of competition among the companies openmoko was compared with are very tough. so with those comparisons, it never had a chance, from day 1. 2011-01-13 12:00 Palm tried the same thing with the Pre, they invested ca. 400 million USD, and even that was not enough. 2011-01-13 12:01 to get into that league, you need multi-billion USD investments, and most importantly you need very strong partners 2011-01-13 12:02 wolfspraul: yeah, i was thinking more of the technical side - make a device that works properly, hw and sw. i think that would have been feasible. 2011-01-13 12:02 wolfspraul: maybe the competition would then have trampled openmoko anyway 2011-01-13 12:02 you need scale, rock solid partnerships 2011-01-13 12:04 wolfspraul: yeha, no idea how/if it could have scaled 2011-01-13 12:05 wolfspraul: of course, had openmoko been successful in making the first usable open phone, maybe the partners would have come on their own 2011-01-13 12:06 I'm not using one any more, but my partner is certainly suffering through waves of scalability problems from Peek, Inc. 2011-01-13 12:08 Every time their marketing is successful, their infrastructure shudders. 2011-01-13 12:16 the "mountain" is rather persistent 2011-01-13 12:16 http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/rework-20110113/ 2011-01-13 12:17 now i tried it with an external antenna. not much of a change. then with a cable straight to the usrp (having a bit of trouble keeping the power down without changing the gain) 2011-01-13 12:20 hm, looks better with lower gain. here it is. 2011-01-13 12:21 yeah just wanted to say - even with external antenna looks similar 2011-01-13 12:22 yup. so it's not over-the-air self-interference 2011-01-13 12:23 still don't entirely trust the clock. maybe i'll try a board with a crystal. 2011-01-13 12:23 but first a bit more power bypassing 2011-01-13 12:25 there's also an interesting change between the complete ben (with lcm) and just the main pcb. the latter has a lot less noise. it could be just some field distortion caused by the extra metal objects, of course. 2011-01-13 12:46 alright. some more unlikely causes ruled out. 2011-01-13 13:01 I would suggest the following: 2011-01-13 13:01 -1 =>  00 2011-01-13 13:01 -0 =>  01 2011-01-13 13:01 +0 => 10 2011-01-13 13:01 +1 => 11 2011-01-13 13:01 wpwrak: ^^^^ 2011-01-13 13:01 aha ! 2011-01-13 13:02 hum.... I am not entirely sure -0=+0. I would say that +0>-0. Remember 2011-01-13 13:02 that the point is to use as much info as you can 2011-01-13 13:02 from fabrizio 2011-01-13 13:02 maybe it's time to ask sige ? 2011-01-13 13:03 hmm i want have something working with satellites at least before ask 2011-01-13 13:04 or ask for 6-8 bits ADC... ;) 2011-01-13 13:04 well, you can pick one interpretation and just work with that. it shouldn't fail too badly if you're wrong 2011-01-13 13:05 sure 2011-01-13 13:06 my trouble now is converting imaginary data to real.. 2011-01-13 13:06 i need read more 2011-01-13 13:08 ah, entering the joyful part of signal processing ;-) 2011-01-13 13:09 :D 2011-01-13 13:51 this looks like a step in the right direction. last two entries on http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/rework-20110113/ 2011-01-13 13:57 indeed, slowly though. interesting stuff. 2011-01-13 13:58 intersting ... as soon as i connect the scope - on either side of the DC-blocking cap (!), the clock collapses :-( 2011-01-13 13:59 wolfspraul: (slowly) yeah, every single decibel puts up a fight :) 2011-01-13 17:04 [commit] Wolfgang Spraul: added cad/Makefile to automate svg2pdf and dxf2png http://qi-hw.com/p/m1/72c2bda 2011-01-13 19:29 new gmenux theme is nice, but... some apps icon tell more than you can expect from a command line/ncurse interface.. talking from eye candy perspective 2011-01-13 19:53 kristianpaul: you mean they look too good? 2011-01-13 19:53 which ones in particular do you have in mind? 2011-01-13 19:53 yes too good 2011-01-13 19:53 mutt 2011-01-13 19:53 sdvc may be 2011-01-13 19:53 no more 2011-01-13 19:53 hah, with mutt you picked the wrong one. 2011-01-13 19:53 why? 2011-01-13 19:53 I think it's the best email client in the world, the icon cannot possibly look too good :-) 2011-01-13 19:53 (just kidding) 2011-01-13 19:53 i use mutt 2011-01-13 19:53 ah ok 2011-01-13 19:54 if the icons are misleading, that's not good. I didn't look at them one by one yet, but I like that things look better now. 2011-01-13 19:54 wolfspraul: couldn't agree more :-) 2011-01-13 19:54 sure looks good 2011-01-13 19:54 looks 'too good' is a tough argument to make 2011-01-13 19:54 wolfspraul: (regarding the best email client) 2011-01-13 19:54 but I will keep your feedback in mind and pay attention when I test the next image... 2011-01-13 19:55 maybe all console/ncurses apps should have a common theme or 'hint' that they are console based? 2011-01-13 19:55 yeap ! 2011-01-13 19:55 snownews is tricky i think is console app but  the icon make you think other thing 2011-01-13 19:56 ah yes, thats newsbeuter style 2011-01-13 19:59 mutt logo is actually a dog btw 2011-01-13 20:00 snownews have right logo 2011-01-13 20:00 interesting 2011-01-13 20:02 or at least webpage favicon 2011-01-13 20:02 any way, just saying :-) 2011-01-13 20:03 he i love this logo http://wiki.mutt.org/mutt.gif 2011-01-13 20:08 Int'l shipment release !! 2011-01-13 20:08 i hope thats good, sounds good in spanish 2011-01-13 20:09 wpwrak: are you aware of fedex procedures? 2011-01-13 20:09 "El envío internacional fue liberado" means it passed customs isnt? 2011-01-13 20:11 yes normally that means it's released from customs 2011-01-13 20:11 very good :-) 2011-01-13 20:11 although I have to say I never once had a customs problem in Colombia 2011-01-13 20:15 kristianpaul: passed customs. next, it should go to the local distribution center, and very soon thereafter (typically within an hour), on the delivery car 2011-01-13 20:20 wpwrak: sure, i already pay customs ;) 2011-01-13 20:23 oh, how did you do that ? normally, fedex pay and you then pay them 2011-01-13 20:23 hehe 2011-01-13 20:23 i call 2011-01-13 20:24 fedex webpage is slow 2011-01-13 20:25 i pay them 2011-01-13 20:27 (fedex) 2011-01-13 20:28 maybe their payment procedure differs from country to country 2011-01-13 20:29 sure 2011-01-13 20:29 if dont pay they dont move a finger 2011-01-13 20:29 so this time i call soon and pay first to avoid delays.. 2011-01-13 20:30 this people is so lazy.. 2011-01-13 20:30 and what will you be getting ? 2011-01-13 20:31 MM1+, Nannote (for a friend) microSD -> 100mil header breakout cable,  Scope meter !!! 2011-01-13 20:32 i hope pick it tomorrow if the package deliver to Cali (i worh there) but deliver is set to Buga, and they SLOW DOWN all up to 2 days because they dont cover intermediated cities... 2011-01-13 20:32 s/worh/work 2011-01-13 20:33 DHL do cover intermediate cities but i guess is expensive 2011-01-13 20:34 (lots of stuff) wow ! btw, i think the device you'll get is called just "scope", not a "scope meter" 2011-01-13 20:34 ah ok 2011-01-13 20:34 (complicated delivery) hmm, seems quite limited indeed 2011-01-13 20:35 DHL and fedex should have about the same prices. but i don't know if they charge extra for remote locations 2011-01-13 20:36 DHL is cool, they deliver the wikireader to my mother at her office with their OWN 2011-01-13 20:37 i had some bad experiences with DHL. stuff getting stuck at customs and dhl being very unhelpful about it. 2011-01-13 20:38 fedex uses a third party to deliver to city where i live, i dont like that 2011-01-13 20:38 hmm 2011-01-13 20:38 well UPS is the other choice 2011-01-13 20:38 but thats luxury here 2011-01-13 20:42 ah, scopemeter is a hand oscilloscope? 2011-01-13 20:42 yup 2011-01-13 20:42 the one you're getting is a little bigger :) 2011-01-13 20:42 oh, of course i have a multimeter ! 2011-01-13 20:42 *meter > hand then? 2011-01-13 20:42 ;) 2011-01-13 20:42 hmm snownews looks promising, i'll keep an eye on it 2011-01-13 20:46 Hilbert Transform C implementation...