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February 17

Nerdy Ramblings 7

Woohoo!!!!! I found my dart board program. It turns out I did back it up to an obscure location on my computer.

If anyone is interested in messing with it, you will need Visual Basic Express 2008 and SQL Express 2008. I have put the original visual basic project files up on my "SkyDrive".

See, I am not a complete Idiot...... Some parts are missing...... Embarrassed

11:13 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Computers and Internet

February 15

Nerdy Ramblings - 6

Well, I was going to share my source code for the dart board program with Gabe, and made a frightening discovery.

I have lost my original program (due to my own ignorance), and must rewrite the program from scratch. My goal for the moment is to bang out new code by the end of the following weekend.

Since the original project was started, Microsoft has released Windows Vista, Visual Basic Express 2008, and SQL Express 2008. Therefore, I am going to start the program over from scratch, armed with the new operating system, and their new developer tools. Right now my plans are to make the source code available to the public when I am done.

Gawd!!!! I hate being brainless!!! It makes my head whistle on windy days, and causes me to have to redo projects I have already done once.

As my grand pappy, Ol' Reliable, used to tell me, "Son..... You are the creator of your own agony...."

I will post more as I get some time.

11:54 PM | Add a comment | Permalink | Blog it | Computers and Internet

February 09

Nerdy Ramblings 5

I have just heard from a friend Gabe, who has pointed me in the right direction.

"Thank you Gabe"

The dartboard does require a switch response time of less than 1ms. Gabe told me about Hagstrom Electronics, who make a USB Keyboard encoder with a 12 x 12 matrix for connecting switches. For an additional $75 they will custom program the response time to less than 1ms for use with a dartboard.

They sell a "KE-USB24" that should work with the custom programmed response time. You can read more about the KE-USB24 at http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/products/ke_usb24.html.

This should allow me to program the key responses to match the work I have already done, and finally get the project finished this year. *grin* All I need is just a little more free time.

Once I scrape up some extra pennies, and get further along on my project, I will post some more information.

February 15

Nerdy Ramblings 4 - Need another strategy.

I have talked to a tech at x-keys about my issue with my dartboard. Here is the conclusion on using the dart board with x-keys:

The x-keys matrix board requires the switch closure to last a minimum of 30 ms. Manually pressing a dart board segment with my finger works perfectly; unfortunately, when throwing a dart at the board the switch closure last less than 30 ms.

After talking to the tech, I found out that this is by design to eliminate false signals due to noise.

Well.... To make a short story long, or vica-verse...

I am researching other alternatives with the Parallax Basic Stamp.

As an added note....

I had a friend come by, who was bragging on his new z-board (gamer's keyboard) for World of Warcraft. Not to be completely out done, I told him I may just hang my dartboard beside my desk, and setup macros. That way, I can just reach over and hit a segment on the dartboard to perform different actions.

January 22

Nerdy Ramblings 4 - Another snag

Well, I have the dart board assembled and connected to a computer using a USB Cable.

It all looked good, and tested good when I pressed on each segment of the dart board.

I received a response on the computer that cooresponded to the keys I had programmed. I have programmed the x-keys matrix board to respond with a "row - column" character string to represent which segment was pressed. Therefore, if I press a segment, I would receive "1 - 1", "8 - 11", etc.

This all looked good. I was ready to bang out the final code to have my dart board program receive input from the dart board, when I decided to try testing one more time. The only difference is this test used actual dart throws. I threw a dart, and did not get a response on the computer. After a few more throws, I did not receive any response. However, if I manually press on the segment with the dart, I would get a response.

I narrowed the problem down to one of two possibilities.

The darts are not hitting hard enough to close the mylar switch contacts
The x-keys matrix board does not have a quick enough response time to detect the switch closure.

To test for the first problem, I began "whizzing" the darts harder and harder at the dart board to see if I could get a throw to register on the computer. There was no luck in getting a response on the computer.

This got me thinking. As I began fanning the smoke from my face... *grin*

I examined the original circuit board from the dartboard. I noticed that the traces from the switch matrix connection run directly to individual pins on the cpu. Ok... I figured that the cpu may have output pins that I might be able to tap into that would allow me to get this information to the computer via a serial or usb port.

I then began to scour the Internet for any pinout information on an arachnid cpu. This must be a trade secret, because there is nothing to be found regarding this individual chip.

I did come across a couple of interesting possibilities. I came across the Parallax Basic Stamp and the A-Wit CStamp, which are programmable micro controllers. I have been researching both of these options for a few days. I may have to program my own micro controller and interface it with my computer. Both chips have test kits that they call a BOE (Board of Education) that will connect to a PC.

I have sent an email to X-Key's tech support to inquire about the response time of their matrix board. Once I hear back from them, I will have a better idea about what my next move is going to be.

I have included a picture of the assembled dart board to date.