*NEW* USB Input/Output Board -- Fusion Brain

[ukchris]

greenman100 - Three months ago (January 26th) I paid you for some circuits you were going to build for me that might take "up to a month". Three months later you will not respond on AIM and I have heard nothing. I am obviously disappointed and do not know how else to contact you. Please let me know what the story is and/or refund my money ASAP.

Chris.

[2k1Toaster]

I would love to give you all an update on how the board i have is doing... but i havent even gotten that far yet

I've been busy working on the VB6 code to control it, which is about to be done. So after that ill have to get a power adapter for the board so i can run it on my computer to test it.... Really wish it had a 12v computer adapter

Anywho, check your mail Nick.

David

Nice work. And I replied too.

wish I knew how to do something with that vb6 file


well I started to build my primary interface, still have to wire up all the control wiring & add a bunch of diodes... I used 5v reed relays, coulda did it all transistorized I guess, but I'm just working with what I have laying around right now & this'll do it,

I also had to drop the 12v output to 5v, the rf board I'm interfacing too is actually 6v, but should be fine with 5v I think... range would decrease a lot, but I'm only transmitting a few ft. & this has a 1 mile range

I haven't had a chance to really play around with the software much, so if this is a stupid question then sorry, but I have a question:

my remote interface uses 4 buttons, & each one when pressed for 500ms does one function, & when pressed for like 2 seconds does another... & there are also other functions that require 2 of these buttons pressed at the same time...

I was planning on having each function I want on a seperate button skinwise, & to have each use a seperate output, there may be multiple outputs going to the same button in some cases, because there just a different timing...

I can isolate each with diodes of course,& use a seperate output from the fusion for each function, but I was wondering if there was a way to have let say one skin button activate output 1 for 500ms, & then another button to activate the same output but for 2 sec.s, & then the same for the other outputs, & then if there was a way to have a skin button activate 2 outputs simultaniously for a predetermined time also...

I guess this would conserve outputs for me, & I could just use 4 of my outputs to do up to 12 functions....



I'm guessing this may be difficult for you to & may not even be useful for everyone, truth is, if multiple board's are down the road then it don't even matter, but just thought I'd ask anyway

Yes both things will work. Right now the different length pulses are functional. This is how to do that:

Make your ouput an animation with 1 frame being on, and then in the repeat section, make the # of repeats equal to "t_on/t_a" where "t_on" is the time you want the output to be on for and "t_a" is the time that is set for the animation time in FusionForm.skin. Then when you turn on the output, it will go for t_on milliseconds and shut off again.

So for a 500mS pulse with your animation update set to 100mS, make the animation repeat 5 times. Pretty straightforwards.

The tying outputs together so when you push output 1 it also turns on output 2 sort of thing, is in the works. Not complete yet though. So look forwards to that.

[turbocad6]

cool, so i'll just wire it up as 4 outputs & then may add 1 or 2 for testing for now...

stupid question, but any chance of being able to embead a window in the skin, like a video feed from a camera... I could use the fusion as a tilt/pan control... my main reason again for this project is remote access & monitoring, & this would make it really complete

[2k1Toaster]

cool, so i'll just wire it up as 4 outputs & then may add 1 or 2 for testing for now...

stupid question, but any chance of being able to embead a window in the skin, like a video feed from a camera... I could use the fusion as a tilt/pan control... my main reason again for this project is remote access & monitoring, & this would make it really complete

Honestly, that for now is beyond the scope of my programming knowledge. Interfacing with the windows API was hell for me, but I got it working. I am sure I could figure it given enough time, but right now I have absolutely no idea how to do that.

So once i get the rest of the stuff figured out, Ill take a stab at it, but no promises.

[turbocad6]

no problem, I could always just run the video along side the skin too & still use the fusion for tilt/pan....

I just had another thought... maybe I could embead your skin in rr, & also embead the video window.... hmmm, gotta play with that, that sounds doable I think

[turbocad6]

ok, how about different ranges for an input? say I want to monitor my fuel level since I'll be remote starting & running it sometimes, so I want to use one input for the fuel float... it'll be a variable resistance, from maybe 0ohms to maybe 20k? I would want it to lets say trigger a different graphic for different points along this resistance path... rather than a complicated flash gauge done outside the skin, I could show level as maybe 10 parts, 1/10th to full lets say... is this a possibility? temperatures could also be done this way rather than just a digit, I mean it's not a flash gauge, but it could still be a gauge or sorts & done with a graphic instead of a digit display..., the acuracy & resolution will depend on how many "steps" there can be, but for simple monitoring, 10-12 steps should do it...

[2k1Toaster]

ok, how about different ranges for an input? say I want to monitor my fuel level since I'll be remote starting & running it sometimes, so I want to use one input for the fuel float... it'll be a variable resistance, from maybe 0ohms to maybe 20k? I would want it to lets say trigger a different graphic for different points along this resistance path... rather than a complicated flash gauge done outside the skin, I could show level as maybe 10 parts, 1/10th to full lets say... is this a possibility? temperatures could also be done this way rather than just a digit, I mean it's not a flash gauge, but it could still be a gauge or sorts & done with a graphic instead of a digit display..., the acuracy & resolution will depend on how many "steps" there can be, but for simple monitoring, 10-12 steps should do it...

Currently the program cannot do this. This would however be nice to have.

The only thing would be where on the screen to put it? All the space right now is taken by the rectangular buttons. A thermometer or a fuel guage or something would take quite a bit of screen realestate. I could make it so that if you click on the button a new window can pop-up with the graphic, much like the graph displays now. My understanding though is that you want all this info on one screen though right?

Maybe I can make a graphical or textual display option in the settings, but it would be one or the other, not both...

[turbocad6]

oh, I thought the buttons are movable, & I thought that would mean also resizable?

so you mean that the default layout is it & can't be changed in a skin? what do you mean by movable buttons then?

[2k1Toaster]

oh, I thought the buttons are movable, & I thought that would mean also resizable?

so you mean that the default layout is it & can't be changed in a skin? what do you mean by movable buttons then?

Yes the buttons are moveable, but not resizeable.

I can make them resizeable, but the text might not fit on them...

Ill make an option in the skin to display the text or not then...

Alright, I will make them resizeable, and optionally display nothing. Then I will work on the multiple image thing. This might take a while because it was not not at all what I had orignally programmed for. Give me a few days.

[turbocad6]

hey man, don't want to be a pain in the ***, but that would really make the interface highly customisable... just lose the text & the graphics can do it all, the universalness of this module would go well with the universalness of very flexible skin possibilities too I think...

a bunch of square buttons are kinda cool, but like this an image can be used & you could just touch the image in different spots for control with visual feedback.... the possibilities are huge...