31st Jan

A hole appears in the office wall! Making more room for the accounts dept. to move in.

Setting up the Raspberry Pi

Downloaded the latest image tonight, thought I'd list the changes I make to make things easier next time!

1. Install RDP so that I can remote control it.
Info on this from http://www.raspberrypiblog.com/2012/10/how-to-setup-remote-desktop-from.html
basically just run

sudo apt-get install xrdp

and then use mstsc to connect.
2. Get SSH running.

I did try to connect remotely using Putty and an SSH connection but it just didn't work. The command

sudo apt-get install ssh

was used to check that SSH was installed (it was) but it didn't seem to be running.

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start

caused the service to start and

sudo update-rc.d ssh defaults

will make it start each time. I can now connect to the command line from windows.
3.Thought I'd give an actual application a go.

I found this post and this one or this one! about using the Raspberry Pi as an airplay receiver so here goes!
The Raspberry Pi is already working so step one is to install the shairport airplay emulator.

sudo apt-get install git libao-dev libssl-dev libcrypt-openssl-rsa-perl libio-socket-inet6-perl libwww-perl avahi-utils libmodule-build-perl

git clone https://github.com/njh/perl-net-sdp.git

git clone https://github.com/albertz/shairport.git

cd shairport
make

sudo -s 

perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::SDP'

cp shairport.init.sample /etc/init.d/shairport



This will install the required bits and pieces, next this command will make sure that the system is compatible with ios6  git clone https://github.com/njh/perl-net-sdp.git perl-net-sdp cd perl-net-sdp perl Build.PL sudo ./Build sudo ./Build test sudo ./Build install cd ..then we can install the actual application,
git clone https://github.com/hendrikw82/shairport.git cd shairport make
khbdsvb

# Change to our home directory, install all the packages we need.
cd ~
apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libcrypt-openssl-rsa-perl libao-dev libio-socket-inet6-perl libwww-perl avahi-utils pkg-config git emacs
git clone https://github.com/albertz/shairport.git
cd shairport
make
# Install Net::SDP Perl module
sudo -s
perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::SDP'
# Demote the onboard soundcard and allow USB soundcards to become default
# Add 'options snd_bcm2835=-2'
# Comment out line 'options snd-usb-audio index=-2'
emacs /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf 
# Copy the example init script
cp shairport.init.sample /etc/init.d/shairport
# Edit the init script to point to Shairport
# NAME=RecordPlayer
# DAEMON="/home/pi/shairport/shairport.pl"
emacs /etc/init.d/shairport
update-rc.d shairport defaults
reboot

1. 
   

30th Jan

More Pi - Try to get the Raspberry Pi to work. SSH connection fromlaptop to Pi up and running.

29th Jan

The Raspberry Pi is now connected to the TV in the play room. Might use it for something now?

28th Jan

William "helped" me build this model of a 4 stroke petrol engine tonight. I've challenged him to describe how it works by the end of the week!

27th Jan

Cath

26th Jan

More snow overnight but thaws expected today

25th Jan

Canada

24th Jan

A dog made of soap

23rd Jan

William

22nd Jan

Snow

21st Jan

Luke in the snow

20th Jan

William and Luke on the Berrys Walk

19th Jan

"Testing" Posh Tea

18th Jan

The country grinds to a halt with the snow.

17th Jan

Tower Bridge - Scout Style

16th Jan

Me

15th Jan

Flash Power from 1/64 to 1/1

14th Jan

Changing Light.
With Cath acting as a short notice model I took five photos moving the flash from 90° left through to 90°right.
Flash at 1/16 power 200iso F8 1/200

13th Jan

Snow - well a little bit.

Arduino display and keyboard

Bought an LCD display and keyboard this week, so had a go at hooking them up this afternoon. The display is connected to an I2C bus and also reads the keys pressed on a keypad. Here is the script that I have used - it is just a quick check that everything works. At the moment I'm not sure what I'll use it for but need to sort out some better cables, mine were a bit cobbled together.

#include <bv4618_I.h>
#include <Wire.h>

BV4618_I di(0x31,9); // 0x62 I2C address (8 bit)

void setup()
{
}

void loop()
{
const char kb[]={0xee,0xde,0xbe,0x7e,0xed,0xdd,0xbd,0x7d,0xeb,0xdb,0xbb,0x7b,0xe7,0xd7,0xb7,0x77};
char tmp;
  // set up display geometry
  di.setdisplay(4,20);
  // set up keyboard scan codes, alter the above constant array
  // this will depend on how the keypad has been wired
  di.setkeycodes(kb);
  // clear screen
  di.cls();
  di.puts("Display Test");
  di.rowcol(2,1);
  di.backlight(1);
  
  // This requires a wire from the INT pin of the BV4618 to pin
  // D9 on the Ardino. The pin is specified in the constructor
//  while(1) {
//    if(!di.keyint()) {
//      tmp=di.key();
//      if(tmp > 9) tmp+='A'-10;
//      else tmp+='0';
//      di.putch(tmp);
//      di.putch(' ');
//    }
//   }
  // This does not require a wire as it poles keys for a value
  // other then 0. di.keys returns the number of keys in the 
  // buffer
  while(1) { // do forever
    if(di.keys()) {
      tmp=di.key();
      // Take the position in the array and convert it into the key that is pressed.
      if(tmp < 3) tmp+=49;
      else if (tmp == 3) tmp+=62;
      else if (tmp < 7) tmp+=48;
      else if (tmp == 7) tmp+=59;
      else if (tmp < 11) tmp+=47;
      else if (tmp == 11) tmp+=56;
      else if (tmp == 12) {
        tmp+=30;
        di.backlight(0);  // Just messing
      }
      else if (tmp == 13) tmp+=35;
      else if (tmp == 14) {    //# Key moves down a line
        tmp+=21;
        di.crdown();
        di.backlight(1);
      }
      else if (tmp == 15) tmp+=53;
      di.putch(tmp);
      di.putch(' ');
      // a delay releases bus - no keys will be lost as the BV4218
      // will capture every keypress for when the cpu comes back
      delay(500); 
    }
   }
}

It's really just a variation of the example file provided.

12th Jan

William bakes a cake

11th Jan

Moo

10th Jan

Tried some cobwebs and some misty night shots but settled on Luke's lights.

9th Jan

Oil on Water

8th Jan

Some people see a dripping tap as a problem, others see an answer as to what to photograph tonight.

7th Jan

Got a cheap close-up filter today.

6th Jan

As well as taking Luke on a bike ride, a few hours work and a party for Ruth's birthday I made some bread.