Development

Novastar MCTRL300 basic control software

Code can be found at the Github repository. Builds/executables are not available but if anyone has use for them, I’d happily create one for you… What? Simple, basic control of brightness and test patterns/mode for the Novastar MCTRL300 (and possibly others, but I don’t have others to test). It does not allow you to configure your screen. It can be used during testing or (I can imagine) to give just this piece of software to a client to let him dim the screen when no technician is available.

Monday, February 13, 2023 | 2 minutes Read

DIY active / high impedance probe design

The “problem” I’ve been wanting to have an high-impedance (Hi-Z) probe for some time now. Up until now I’ve been searching for something like an HP 85024a which comes up on the second hand market from time to time. It would be overkill for my needs, but still nice… :) Recently I came across an old Elektor/Elektuur article from April 2004 titled “Poor man’s 1GHz active probe” by David Jewsbury. Some more research turned up the bachelor thesis of Thomas Hirschbuechler titled “Design of a low-cost 1GHz active probe”.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022 | 4 minutes Read

Setting up Visual Studio Code for Python development (on Linux)

Update January 2024: I don’t use many of the separate tools for linting/refactoring/formatting anymore in favour of Ruff. Configuration for Ruff has moved is done in my pyproject.toml template I’m still using AutoDocString to ease docstring creation and MyPy for type checking. Introduction The following is a brief guide to reinstalling/setting up Visual Studio Code (VSC) on a new Linux system. The main use is Python development. As such, it is very brief and mostly for my own documentation.

Monday, September 6, 2021 | 2 minutes Read

Using MicroPython (PyBoard V1.1) with Visual Studio Code

Warning This still isn’t working as I think it should. Especially the linting and autocomplete still doesn’t work (leaving only the PyMakr module which works partly, in fact). For example: import pyb still does not add autocompletion when typing something like s = pyb.<CTRL + SPACE>. Most likely this is because I used a combinations of tools that shouldn’t be used together. Need to spend more time on this… Intro I’ve recently started using a PyBoard for a project that I am working on. Writing code in an IDE, saving the files, then manually copying them to the board to test them gets tedious rather quickly. If you’re using Visual Studio Code, there are options to do almost everything from within the IDE itself. Getting things to work as they should took a bit of effort and head scratching. What I needed to do is documented below. Links to the sources of my information is at the bottom.

Monday, September 28, 2020 | 4 minutes Read

Wireless Tally for JVC GY-HM790 cameras: Part 1

Introduction I’ve been working on my wireless tally system for a while now. Apart from the connection to the camera (for which I want to use a different connector to alter the appearance of the camera as little as possible) it is finally finished. Looking back, this has taken me much more time than I expected. But as this was the first project that I wanted to do in a more professional way instead of just throwing something together that shouldn’t necessarily be a bad sign. I’ve tried to keep revisions of the schematics, board design and code, as well as a clear BOM that can be used as a guideline in the future, should the need arise.

Monday, March 31, 2014 | 6 minutes Read

Wireless Tally for JVC GY-HM790 cameras: Part 2

After lots of troubleshooting my wireless tally project/product is nearly finished. The prototypes have been tested in the field and proven to work as expected. Next up are the finishing touches: etching the boards with the final adjustments, populating them, programming the microcontrollers and fitting everything in the enclosures. An early prototype boards: An early version of the transmitter board. As a size reference: the top left pads are for a micro usb connector.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 | 1 minute Read

Wireless Tally for JVC GY-HM790 cameras: Part 3

Part number confusion As I am currently working on a project that involves XBee modules for wireless data transmission I had to look for the best type of module. There are a dazzling amount of different versions and plenty of websites that explain the the different lines of modules (Series 1, Series2, Pro vs normal versions,…). It was much harder to match the version and antenna type that I needed with the corresponding part number, and that is what I needed to order the correct one from suppliers such as Element14 and Mouser.

Monday, September 9, 2013 | 2 minutes Read

Dive light LED conversion

Introduction About two years ago I bought a Hartenberger “Maxi Compact” dive light for about €60. As this was a 10 year old dive light with a halogen bulb and a well-used battery pack I think that was a fair price. Anyway, the plan was to use the housing for a modded LED light. At first I just made a second battery pack, the first one was just (not) enough for one dive with the original bulb, so I needed a second one and charge one pack while diving with the other. Also bought a Graupner “Ultramat 14 Plus” battery charger as this was an affordable charger that can be used for a variety of different chemistries, but best of all, it has a port that allows for cell balancing. As I was using a 6S NiMH battery pack, that was a feature I wanted to have.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 | 5 minutes Read