First project of the year - I2C Controllable RGB LED Nodes

I actually started this project during the last week of 2009, and is one of the primary reasons I resumed blogging. Go figure, I haven't actually gotten around to posting it until now!

While I primarily focused on RF engineering in school, I have always had an interest in lighting, especially solid state lighting (LEDs). I have also always been in awe of those computer controlled animated Christmas light displays like that of Carson Williams back in 2005 or so.

More after the break...

Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope and Linux - Part 2

Well, after further investigation, I'm a dumbass.

The Python library I linked to in my previous post predates the usbtmc kernel module - it's libusb based!

So after "modprobe -r usbtmc" and running an example which sends *IDN? to the device, I get:


adodd@quadmonkey:~/Documents/ds1052e$ sudo ./usbtmc.py
[sudo] password for adodd:
Rigol Technologies,DS1052E,DS1ED113506705,00.02.02.02.00
adodd@quadmonkey:~/Documents/ds1052e$


IT WORKS! However, I'd like to try and find some documentation on the kernel module based approach, since it's likely more up to date.

Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope and Linux - Part 1

I just received a new piece of test equipment today, a Rigol DS1052E oscilloscope from Saelig.  After powering it on and connecting one probe, I decided to see if I could interface with it in Linux.  I've done some interfacing with test equipment in Linux before using USB-to-GPIB interfaces, but this instrument has serial and raw USB.

Trusty Google has yet to provide me any information about this combination, so I decided to start by plugging the scope into my Ubuntu machine.  dmesg output and more after the break.

A new beginning

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I had a Livejournal account. I have not posted to that account, and while it still exists, it represented a very different phase of my life.

For that reason, I've moved to Blogspot and started fresh. Compared to my previous effort in blogging, this will have somewhat of a different focus. Rather than focus on personal issues, I plan on focusing more on various hobby projects.

More to come in the next few days... Over the holiday vacation I started a project that I need to start documenting, and I expect the oscilloscope arriving Thursday should lead to a few other small efforts.