Robotification

My Install Guide

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:08 +0000

Before you start

Backup all data to removable drives (run a full image backup in win 7)
Ensure you have all the required drivers (or a second pc to download them)
Create a bootable install USB using the Microsoft Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool

Install software:

Security

Virus Scanner

Drivers

Network
Video
Others

Utilites

Productivity

Microsoft Office
Adobe Reader
Firefox Browser
GIMP
Inkscape
Microsoft Visual Studio
Windows Live Messenger

Entertainment

Diagnostics

Linked software is OS/Freeware.

FTP Folder Copy/Move with Date Time Batch Script

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:54:40 +0000

I decomissioned my DNS-323 NAS which was setup to automatically copy scanned pdf’s off my Brother MFC-440CN Scanner. This meant I needed to re-write my scanning copy shell script to run as a batch script on my main computer.

Re-writing the script was harder than I anticipated. The command line ftp client on windows expects you to know the names of each file. It does however have the ability to run a script file full of ftp commands. So the solution to getting the script working was:

Run a temporary script for ftp to get a file listing
Run another temp script for ftp that fetchs and deletes each file in the file listing.
Cleanup/delete temporary scripts/files

What it does:

Moves files from the specified ftp directory to the specified local directory prepended with the date and time.

Usage

Create a .bat file with the script below. Then set the parameters at the beginnng of the script as follows:

set server= the ip address of your ftp server (in my case my scanner)
set fetch_directory= the directory on the ftp server to copy/move files from
set target_dir = the directory on the local computer to copy/move the files to

The Script

SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
@echo off

:: downloads then deletes ftp files from the given location

set server=192.168.1.6
:: no trailing / on fetch dir path
set fetch_directory=/BROTHER
:: no trailing \ on target dir path
set target_dir=c:\Users\myusername\Docs\Scan
set temp_script_file=ftp_script.txt
set temp_dir_list=ftp_file_list.txt

:: create temp file with ftp script to output file list
echo open %server% > %temp_script_file%
echo. >> %temp_script_file%
echo mdir %fetch_directory% %temp_dir_list% >> %temp_script_file%
echo y >> %temp_script_file%
echo bye >> %temp_script_file%

:: now run the script with ftp
ftp -s:%temp_script_file%

:: now we have a list of the files in the ftp directory

:: now make a script from the file listing to copy each file.
echo open %server% > %temp_script_file%
echo. >> %temp_script_file%
echo lcd %target_dir%  >> %temp_script_file%
:: copy each file to a dated file locally
for /F "tokens=9 skip=3" %%i in (%temp_dir_list%) do (
SET get_file=%%i
echo binary >> %temp_script_file%
echo get %fetch_directory%/!get_file:~0,-1!  "%target_dir%\%date:~10,4%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~4,2% %time:~0,2%.%time:~3,2%.%time:~6,2%.%time:~9,2% !get_file:~0,-1!" >> %temp_script_file%
echo delete %fetch_directory%/!get_file:~0,-1!  >> %temp_script_file%
)
echo bye >> %temp_script_file%

:: now run the new script
ftp -s:%temp_script_file%

::remove temporary script files
del %temp_dir_list%
del %temp_script_file%

What I look for in a phone

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:02:23 +0000

3.5mm Audio Jack
Micro SD Slot
MP3 & AAC Player
2G & 3G on Bands of my Carrier
Bluetooth
Wifi
Tethering and/or hot spot function
Camera – Capable of taking shots of paper/books/white boards
Easy to Use and responsive interface (it must go fast regardless of what it looks like)
Keyboard
Good Call Quality
Speakerphone

This allows:

Email/SMS
Clear calls and group calls with speakerphone
Ability to copy documents and white board work
Google Maps for navigation
Internet for Laptop on the go

Printable Notebook with check boxes

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:00:29 +0000

I am proud to present the first version of the Robotification Notebook. It is a pdf that you can print on your office copier in duplex book mode to make a notebook. It is ruled with checkboxes and date and heading spaces at the top and halfway down the page.

For best results select DUPLEX and Stable BOOK:

______________
|            |
[]           |
|            |
|            |
[]           |
|____________|

where

[]

is a staple.

Acronym Builder

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:40:38 +0000

Enter words for acronym seperated by spaces:

Acronyms:

Using Food Dye Colouring as Ink

admin — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:43:03 +0000

A new set of generic ink cartridges for my ink-jet printer costs around $25 which is too much considering I only get about 10 (colour) pages from them as the printer uses up ink over time keeping the heads clean. So when I was at the supermarket and noticed that 50ml of food colouring is only $1 I had to try using it for printing. Also assuming it would work I bought some rice paper for edible printing!

WARNING: This may well destroy your print heads and thus your printer. Food Colouring may become toxic during the printing process. Try only at your own risk.

Ingredients

Gloves (unless you are happy to have coloured hands)
Sink/Basin (ink is going to spill, its part of cartridge refilling)
Blue Food Colouring (for Cyan)
Pink Food Colouring (for Magenta – I used Red and it made everything a bit dark when printing)
Yellow Food Colouring (for Yellow!)
Black Food Colouring (for Black – I wish I had bought some – my printing was not edible because had not replaced my black)
Syringe (try to get a non-sharp one, if you order one off deal-extreme like i did be very careful since there is no guarantee it is sterile)
Instructions for refilling your printer cartridges (search the web – mine were simple enough not to need any)
Rice Paper (It needs to be as thin and bendy as possible)

Step One: Flush Out Cartridges

The first thing I did was inject my cartridges with water and then empty it out using the syringe. I did this a few times until as much as possible of the previous ink was removed.

Step Two: Determine Capacity

I did one final flush with water to determine the capacity of the cartridges before I was working with the food dye. Its much better to have the cartridges nearly full than overflowing everywhere. My cartridges have an interesting micro/mini fluid network in them which meant it was only easy to half fill mine.

Step Three: Fill Cartridges

Fill the syringe with the measured capacity of ink and inject it into the corresponding color of ink cartridge. Then re-install them into your printer.

Step Four: Cleaning

If you haven’t printed in colour for a while like me you’ll meed to run your printers cleaning cycle a few times to bring your print head back to life. I had to run mine about 10 times however if you print colour regularly this should not be a problem. You can check the print heads are clean properly by printing a test page. If you click my test pages image to the right you can see how the print head slowly comes back after many runs of the cleaning function.

Step Five: Test Print Image

Now that everything should be working it is time to print a test image. I chose a full A4 color wheel to test with to get an idea of how well the colours are produced by food colouring. I think you’ll agree from the images below it works fairly well. On my print the pink/purples don’t come out very well. I think that is because I used red dye for magenta rather than pink, unfortunately my supermarket was out of pink food dye.

Step Six: Rice Paper

I cut some of the rice paper to roughly A5 and put it in the printer. It worked the first time printing a chocolate flake pattern. However on subsequent tries the rice paper was too britle and broke up in the printer. To overcome this problem I taped the rice paper to an A4 sheet and then printed on it. This worked much better, however It still cracked a little when cutting it. I am sure a better rice paper can be found just not at my local supermarket.

Cake!

Unfortunately was unable to sample it as I had not replaced my black ink with food dye.

Conclusions

Food Colouring works just as well for general printing like reports with graphs and word art etc.
Photo’s will probably come out looking a little off.
Only time will tell if the food colouring is damaging the print heads.

This could be a great way to do custom decoration on cakes or other foods (Christmas/Birthdays/Halloween). I’ll try and put an update on this post a month or two down the track to let you know if the print heads got damaged or are still working.

Adding Aux Line-in (and USB Power) to an 03 Subaru Impreza Stock Radio

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:53:45 +0000

I was impressed with Jordan’s simple hack to add an auxilary input to a stock stero head unit and had to try it myself. As my head unit is rather busy on the front panel I routed the input jack into the back of the tray above. I also added a USB charging socket using a 7805 Voltage Regualtor and the data line configuration from Ladyada’s Minty Boost.

WARNING: Obviously opening up your radio and cutting/soldering risks breaking it and will most definitely void your warranty, be prepared to buy a new head unit if it all goes wrong.

Step One: Removing the Head Unit and Cage

On many Subaru’s you have to remove the centre console in order to remove the head unit cage. However on my 03 Impreza Sportswagon all you have to do is pop open the drink holder above the stereo and then gently pop the trim off from around the head unit. Unfortunately I did not figure this out until I had removed my entire centre console! So hopefully the same won’t happen to you.

Step Two: Locating the Radio Lines

I’d recommend reading Jordan’s Post as a reference. You will need to dissasemble your stereo until you can find a point on the circuit board where you can safely cut the radio lines (FM or AM) and then reconnect them through the 3.5mm switching socket. Try and find points where components are soldered in to add your wires, soldering to a track is virtually impossible.

If you can’t locate the lines, you will need to do some diagnostics with a multimeter or give up.

Step Three: Wiring Up the Switching Socket/Jack

From wikipedia in a 3.5mm stereo jack the tip is left channel, the ring is the right channel and the Base/last ring is the ground. You will need to look at the data sheet from your socket to determine which pins are which and then solder a wire to each. The pictures show the wiring I used for a socket I bought from Jaycar in Australia.

Step Four: Cut the Radio Left and Right Lines and Solder in the Socket

Since my stereo has the radio on a seperate little board inside, I severed the connection between the radio and main amp board for the two FM channels. In retrospect I would have been better finding a section of track to cut as the connection between teh two boards was really strong and I had to use a drill to cut away the connections.

Once the connections were severed I connected the OUT wire connections from the socket to the amplifier side of the lines and the IN wire connections to the Radio side. I soldered the ground wires to the same ground pin on the amplifier side of the stereo (green wire in step five picture).

Step Five: Test Connections with a Multimeter Then Glue

Set the multimeter to the beep test (resistance) and check that none of your lines are connected to each other and also that they are connected to the board (probe your connection and next connection along track). Once the connections are checked then you need to glue down the wires so they do not come loose during your next rally.

Step Six: USB Charging Circuit

For the charging circuit I soldered together a USB Socket and the components on the left as per the diagram. Covering the entire circuit in electrical tape to protect it and then soldering it to the VCC and Ground of the stereo. Once again I checked the connections and glued to hold in place.

The data lines attach into the resistor ladder network in order to be held at 2 volts each. This tells many products (Ipods etc – see the minty boost compatability list) to charge and draw half an amp.

Click the diagram for larger image.

NOTE: If you use a USB cable socket as I have you will need to thread the cable through the tray before soldering up the charging circuit.

Step Seven: Mount the connectors

Carefully re-assemble your stereo and route the cables out the back (you may need to bend the casing or drill a hole).

Drill a hole for the 3.5mm socket and mount it into the plastic tray using the screw on the socket and with glue at the back.

If your USB socket is a cable like mine, wrap some electrical tape around the cable as pictures to stop it pulling through and breaking the soldered connections.

Step Eight: Re-install

Plug in your stereo before re mounting and turn it on. Be ready to turn it off quickly if there is any smoke, sparks, or bad burning smells, if this happens then something is wired wrong, dis-assemble and re-check everything.

If it powers on without issue check the CD, AM/FM etc are all working as well as your new auxilary line in. Onces it is all working remount the stereo and re-attach the trim etc.

All Done!

A free feedback / help button for your website with HelpMe.js

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:01:16 +0000

If you use a service like getsatisfaction.com or snapabug.com they will charge you upwards of $20 a month for the privelage of having a ‘feedback’ tab/button on the side of your website and the ability to accept feedback. Granted they give you lots of features to manage and track your feedback, but if you just have a small site it is an unjustifiable cost.

Thats why I made a free JavaScript called ‘HelpMe’ that you can include in you web pages that displays a ‘help’ tab/button on the side of your web page and links to a Google Docs Form or just creates a pre-formated email for your user to send to you.

Setup is easy:

Download HelpMe.zip and unzip it.
Open helpme.js with a text editor and fill in the values under the //Settings section
1. If you are using a Google Docs Form just place the url for your form in the setting b.googleFormUrl .
2. If you are using email then enter your email, subject and body in place of the examples and make sure that b.googleFormUrl is set to “” (blank).
Save helpme.js
Upload the helpme folder including ‘helpme.js’ and ‘helpme.png’ to the root of your website.
Place the tag