PICAXE 14M Board

I recently bought a PIC-AXE starter kit from Sparkfun in an effort to get more embedded/ microprocessor programming experience. The compiler uses a very simple high-level language (BASIC), so it was easy to pick up.

I wanted to start out with a 'Hello World'-type project. Since interfacing with an LCD is much more complex, i just went with blinking an LED. The logic for this operation was incredibly simple - just 5 lines of code:

main: high 0
pause 1000
low 0
pause 1000
goto main

Building the circuit was slightly more tricky, but still easy. I made a mistake that I had to fix before it worked. Since I'm using the project board, which has all the 14M's outputs going through the ULN2803 (Darlington transistor array), I had to connect the LED in series with a 330Ω resistor, between 4.5V and the transistor output pin. Initially, I had it between the output pin and ground, so it didn't work.

Such a simple circuit, but it represented a big break through for me in the learning process. I'm looking forward into digging more into Picaxe Microcontroller Projects for the Evil Genius. I really like this book so far...(and no, not just because of the title)!

Here's my beautifully soldered board ::toot toot::

 

MobiDevDay 2011

This weekend I got the opportunity to attend MobiDevDay in Downtown Detroit at the Compuware building. This event is a gathering of mobile developers and enthusiasts in the area. We network and learn from each other through a series of lectures and presentations.

At the event this time, there were presentation on Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7, Kinect, and a few other development technologies.

Going into the event, I was excited at the prospect of getting an introduction to more platforms, as well as possibly learning more about iOS and Android. I was certainly not disappointed!

I attended sessions on XCode, iOS Programming with Blocks, Intro to Android 2.x, Intro to Windows Phone 7, and Connect with Kinect. Each of these sessions served as an introduction, or overview, but the presenters each gave their own contact information, as well as links to resources for the topics which they presented.

Definitely looking forward to networking with the people I met at this event, and becoming more involved in the local developer's communities in and around Detroit!

iPhoDroid: My Adventure

A couple weeks ago, I heard about the iPhoDroid project. At the prospect of dual-booting my iPhone with iOS and Android, my palms got sweaty and my knees got weak. It felt like the room was spinning and my tongue got numb.

So I decided to give it a shot.

I read up about the project and the prerequisites, and got everything I needed to get this accomplished. One of the requirements was that the iPhone had to be jailbroken (check!) not by Spirit (DOH!)*. So I went through the process of restoring my iPhone to 3.1.2 and then jailbreaking with Pwnage Tool (my favorite anyway).

 *In a moment of sheer curiosity a while back, I jailbroke with Spirit...it was so easy, it made me wonder why people would go through any OTHER methods of jailbreaking. 

Motorola 68000 Programming

Funny how if you truly have an interest in something, you'll come back to it. In college, I had a terrible experience with assembly programming. My professor, who was probably a skilled engineer at work, regrettably was not a very good teacher. It was obvious that he knew the material, but could not find an efficient way to communicate the concepts to the class. As a result of that, I was kind of turned off by 68k programming.

Recently, the urge to learn assembly has crept back in my mind, and I picked up my book again and downloaded the Easy68k IDE. I'm currently strengthening my foundation of the 68k processor and microprocessors in general. Now that it's not in a forced, stressful environment, it's actually much more enjoyable. I see how this could have been fun in college, under the right circumstances lol.

Here's some progress on the subject.

Eclipse and Java for the Total Beginner

So I decided to get serious about learning Java today. I took a course in college, but it didn't really prepare me as much as I'd like. These tutorials that I found are really helpful. They are not only filling in the gaps I missed in Java and OOP, but teaching me the features and functionality of the Eclipse IDE as well.

I am getting to implement various aspects of Agile/ XP Methodologies. I'd previously read about these, but am now getting a chance to put them into practice. I am learning about Unit Testing and Test-Driven Development, by creating test cases before the classes. I am also building competency using JUnit testing framework, and the Eclipse IDE as a whole.

In addition to these video tutorials, I'm also taking online training on Principles of Object-Oriented Programming
through my job. The goal is to be a more well-rounded programmer with a strong understanding of fundamental primciples. Eventually, this will help me properly dive into Android programming as well.

Check out the Java tutorials out if you're interested!

Aahhhh, so THAT'S the big deal about 4G

I decided to do some reading on 4G and see what all the fuss is about.

Now I know.

If my understanding is correct, it just switches all communications to a really fast IP-switched data network. In contrast, 3G used circuit-switched technology for voice and IP for data. 4G implements VOiP for calls, so there's no need for separate networks for voice and data. And looking at the theoretical speeds (100 Mbit - 1Gbit/ sec), I can clearly see what the commotion is about. I would LOVE to work on implementing this network. Can't wait till I can at least access it here lol.

My iPhone 4 Story. . .

So, on June 24, the new iPhone 4 was released. I had no intentions of getting one on that day. I just said that I'd upgrade my 3G to iOS 4 and jailbreak it to get multitasking and whatnot. However, after work I decided to head to the mall anyway, just to see what was going on. I fully expected the Apple store to be sold out, and all the lines long gone.

Upon arrival at the mall, I encountered a line of people stretched all the way down the hall from the Apple store (those who had pre-ordered online), as well as another line which stretched the other way down the hall (for walk-ins). . . so I said I'd wait in line.

After waiting for about 2 hours (and getting free food, courtesy of Apple), one of the Apple store employees came out, counted the people in line, stopped at me, looked me directly in the eye with the "damn, homie" look and said "sorry dude, looks like we won't have any phones from you on back." I said ok, but decided to wait until the last one was sold before I left.

About a half hour later, he came back, counting again. This time, he stopped about 10 people ahead of me and told us that there DEFINITELY wouldn't be any phones for us, but that we could put our names on the priority reservation list to be informed as soon as the store gets more. Lots of people left at this point. But once again, I said ok, but decided to wait until the last one was sold before I left.

Ten minutes later, the regional manager, who happened to be in this particular store, comes out and says, "right now there are no more iPhones in stock, however I'm going to call all the other stores in the area an and see if they have extras that they can bring." And they did...1 hour later, I left the Apple store with my new 32 GB iPhone 4.

I wish the people standing with me in line who punked out could see this.