If you don't understand Czech, turn on CC (captions) in the player before starting the video.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Nuts and bolts
Today I'm back with a now familiar picture of the Fanatik 1, this time with the major parts labeled.
The system is divided roughly in two halves, the left half being the 'compute' part and the right half being the 'graphic' part.
Let's start with the CP (Central Processor). This is an Atmel AVR microcontroller, specifically ATMega162. This chip acts as the CPU, having access to the system's memory and some of the peripherals.
The system is divided roughly in two halves, the left half being the 'compute' part and the right half being the 'graphic' part.
Let's start with the CP (Central Processor). This is an Atmel AVR microcontroller, specifically ATMega162. This chip acts as the CPU, having access to the system's memory and some of the peripherals.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Faster than a speeding Panda
It's been more than a hundred days since I placed a pre-order on the demonic box. While those guys are still trying to sort out their nubs I certainly haven't been biting my nails idly.
Immediately after placing my order I set upon a quest. A quest to construct my own computing device. An so, after more than three months of planning, designing, etching, drilling and soldering I proudly present to you (lots of drum rolls and dramatic chords..) the one, the only, Fanatik 1!
Fanatik 1 is a one-of-a-kind computer heavily inspired by the classic 80's microcomputers, specifically the ZX Spectrum.
I should get back to you soon with more details on the F-1. I will also present you with a series of quizzes. Today the question is simple: Try to name as many Speccy computer game protagonists as you can recognize etched on the Fanatik board. The winner will receive an original browser cookie.
Immediately after placing my order I set upon a quest. A quest to construct my own computing device. An so, after more than three months of planning, designing, etching, drilling and soldering I proudly present to you (lots of drum rolls and dramatic chords..) the one, the only, Fanatik 1!
Fanatik 1 is a one-of-a-kind computer heavily inspired by the classic 80's microcomputers, specifically the ZX Spectrum.
I should get back to you soon with more details on the F-1. I will also present you with a series of quizzes. Today the question is simple: Try to name as many Speccy computer game protagonists as you can recognize etched on the Fanatik board. The winner will receive an original browser cookie.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
And you though your dreams were weird
Last night I dreamt I was trying to provoke William Murdoch into inventing the water turbine. WTH?!
Monday, October 25, 2010
One, two, three... testing!
Many of you already know I've been busy with a 'top secret' electronics project. Especially Jakub has been nagging me to reveal something. Today I can share with you this photo of some mysterious tests that I've been performing. The results were satisfactory. That's all I will say for now. Mwahahaha!
For those less versed in electronics let me describe the action for you. What you see in the picture are three joined-up breadboards. On the breadboards we see some DIL ICs plus a bunch of wires and other stuff. The thing on the middle breadboard is a surface-mounted IC soldered to a home-made PCB which has pins on the bottom side and allows one to plug the chip into the breadboard.
And yes, the thing on the left side is a Logitronik II because George says every mad scientist should have a Logitronik II in their basement.
For those less versed in electronics let me describe the action for you. What you see in the picture are three joined-up breadboards. On the breadboards we see some DIL ICs plus a bunch of wires and other stuff. The thing on the middle breadboard is a surface-mounted IC soldered to a home-made PCB which has pins on the bottom side and allows one to plug the chip into the breadboard.
And yes, the thing on the left side is a Logitronik II because George says every mad scientist should have a Logitronik II in their basement.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Reading for week 32
The guys from the (presumably dead) TUNES project seem to have liked writing essays more than actually writing code. (At least I was not able to find any). Compared to their cloud-castle project, Sysel seems boring and pure mainstream ^_^.
They seem to have a clear opinion on microkernel OS design (calling it an abstraction inversion) which I recommend reading.
While cannot agree with everything therein, the article (or manifesto or whatever it is) accurately points out the principal weaknesses of microkernel design as such (as well as the faults in existing microkernel-based designs).
They seem to have a clear opinion on microkernel OS design (calling it an abstraction inversion) which I recommend reading.
While cannot agree with everything therein, the article (or manifesto or whatever it is) accurately points out the principal weaknesses of microkernel design as such (as well as the faults in existing microkernel-based designs).
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Ensnared by the magic box
The magical Pandora's box surely worked its magic on me. I am now on the waiting list for the Pandora Console having just pre-ordered (and pre-payed) it. Now I just have to bear with the incredibly looong waiting time. (Supposing I do receive the console, it will be a pleasant surprise if I receive it this calendar year. Surprise me.)
When I bought the Neo FreeRunner it was mostly for the sake of porting HelenOS to it as I am not really into smartphones. It is still a cool device, though, thanks to the integrated Wireless Ethernet, GPS and accelerometers (and the openness, of course).
With Pandora the situation is a little different. I really like old games and this is the retro gaming device. The real selling point for me is the keyboard (although it probably is not a great one). Pandora also has gamepad controls, but I don't really like gamepads, anyway. It also has integrated WiFi (just imagine the multiplayer possibilities!) So I definitely want to use it on gaming (you could call it love at first sight).
Porting HelenOS to Pandora should be relatively easy now, I should think, as I've already fixed the bugs that prevented HelenOS from running on a real ARM processor (despite working in emulators). Also, Pandora uses U-Boot just as FreeRunner does, so bootloader should not be a problem either.
Anyway it will be long before I have my Pandora, so I still have plenty of time to improve FreeRunner support :-)
When I bought the Neo FreeRunner it was mostly for the sake of porting HelenOS to it as I am not really into smartphones. It is still a cool device, though, thanks to the integrated Wireless Ethernet, GPS and accelerometers (and the openness, of course).
With Pandora the situation is a little different. I really like old games and this is the retro gaming device. The real selling point for me is the keyboard (although it probably is not a great one). Pandora also has gamepad controls, but I don't really like gamepads, anyway. It also has integrated WiFi (just imagine the multiplayer possibilities!) So I definitely want to use it on gaming (you could call it love at first sight).
Porting HelenOS to Pandora should be relatively easy now, I should think, as I've already fixed the bugs that prevented HelenOS from running on a real ARM processor (despite working in emulators). Also, Pandora uses U-Boot just as FreeRunner does, so bootloader should not be a problem either.
Anyway it will be long before I have my Pandora, so I still have plenty of time to improve FreeRunner support :-)
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