On Not Watching TV

Sometimes some aspect of life can disappear and you don't even notice for a long while...

A while back we stopped paying out Comcast bill.  They eventually shut us off, and a few weeks later some guy showed up and retrieved the cable boxes when I wasn't home.

At some point after several weeks of no TV, I realized that the TV no longer worked!

We still have internet and NetFlix, still have the HDTV in the basement for NetFlix BlueRay, and all the XBoxen, Wiii, etc. so it's not like we are unplugged.  We watch TV shows, but when we want to, on our schedule.

So some thoughts are in order in regard to the great wasteland that is TV.

• Wow, the house is quieter in the evenings. Before, there was always the TV in in the evenings and loud too.
• Everyone is doing more interesting things, at a minimum on the computers instead where it is interactive activities.
• The stress of TV is gone, let me explain: Most TV shows, if you get far away and listen to the voice tone instead of the actual words, are all people with tons of stress in their voices.  The 'reality' shows which Weird Al parodies so well, are all borderline psychotic people emoting about some tragedy.  The predominant emotions on TV are stress, fear, violence, fright, anxiety and such.

It is probably 'writing on the wall' that my TV could disappear and I didn't even notice for a few weeks.  The networks are doomed.

TF

On Raw Salad

So after reading a raw foods book, where they suggest you eat only live food, and another book by Art DeVany about paleofitness, I have been eating more salads.

So I bought a organic salad mix of baby greens in a plastic box.  I didn't have any salad dressing, so I just ate from the box like the leaves were potato chips.

Wow, each type of leaf has a unique flavor.  When you drown a salad in dressing, you miss what the actual salad tastes like!

It sort of surprises your tongue when you put in a leaf, since you never know what a given leaf will taste like.

TF

NetLib C++ bug fix in Advanced 3D Game Programming with DirectX 10.0

Ok,
I'm using NetLib and got a packet to transmit and receive, but there was a crash.

In QueueIn.cpp in AddPacket the line

pPacket = *d_packetsUnordered.begin();

Throws on the first packet.
Just before that line you need...

if(d_packetsUnordered.size() > 0)

{

TF

 

 

Notes on I2C and SSI bus implementation

A quick note:

When you implement I2C and/or SSI you must implement timeouts and anit-lockup code.
Both busses are driven with statements like

while(some flag)  wait forever.

And you can get locked up if there is a single clock glitch.


void I2CResetLoopTimer(int i2cDeviceIdx)
{
  xI2CConfigHandle h = I2CDevices[i2cDeviceIdx];
  h->loopTimer = xTaskGetTickCount();
}


int I2CHasError(int i2cDeviceIdx)
{
  xI2CConfigHandle h = I2CDevices[i2cDeviceIdx];
  portTickType dt = xTaskGetTickCount() - h->loopTimer;
 
  return dt > 200 ||
    I2C_GetFlagStatus(h->i2cDevice, I2C_FLAG_TIMEOUT) ||
      I2C_GetFlagStatus(h->i2cDevice, I2C_FLAG_PECERR) ||
        I2C_GetFlagStatus(h->i2cDevice, I2C_FLAG_AF) ||
          I2C_GetFlagStatus(h->i2cDevice, I2C_FLAG_ARLO) ||
            I2C_GetFlagStatus(h->i2cDevice, I2C_FLAG_BERR);
}


int I2CHasErrorAndClear(int i2cDeviceIdx)
{
  if(I2CHasError(i2cDeviceIdx))
  {
    I2CClearError(i2cDeviceIdx);
    return true;
  }
  return false;
}

And an example loop.

int WhileBusy(int i2cDeviceIdx)

{

  xI2CConfigHandle h = I2CDevices[i2cDeviceIdx];

  

  I2CResetLoopTimer(i2cDeviceIdx);

  while (I2C_GetFlagStatus(h->i2cDevice, I2C_FLAG_BUSY))

  {

    if(I2CHasErrorAndClear(i2cDeviceIdx))

    {

      return false;

    }

    

    portYIELD();

  }

  return true;

}

TF

I2C Reset on ST Microsystems Processors

So,
You have a ST processor (e.g. STM32F103) and a I2C device.  If the device, bus, or processor gets a bit error in the I2C bus, it will lock up the bus.

After trying many solutions, this one works...



void I2C_ResetAndInit()
{

/* This shuts off power to the I2C circuit on the processor. */
I2C_DeInit(I2C1);

RCC_APB1PeriphClockCmd(RCC_APB1Periph_I2C1, ENABLE);
RCC_APB2PeriphClockCmd(RCC_APB2Periph_GPIOB, ENABLE);

/* SCL  pin enable */
GPIO_InitStructure.GPIO_Pin = GPIO_Pin_6;
GPIO_InitStructure.GPIO_Speed = GPIO_Speed_50MHz;
GPIO_InitStructure.GPIO_Mode = GPIO_Mode_AF_OD;
GPIO_Init(GPIOB, &GPIO_InitStructure);

/* SDA pin enable  */
GPIO_InitStructure.GPIO_Pin = GPIO_Pin_7;
GPIO_Init(GPIOB, &GPIO_InitStructure);

I2C_StructInit(&I2C1_InitDef);
// 400 khz.
I2C1_InitDef.I2C_ClockSpeed = 100000;
I2C_Init(I2C1, &I2C1_InitDef);

I2C_Cmd(I2C1, ENABLE);
}

And for the I2c Device out there on the bus...

Oh, we are using RTOS so that is the delayt and tick stuff.

portTickType Baro_LastErrorMessageTime = 0;
void BaroResetChip()
{
if(xTaskGetTickCount() - Baro_LastErrorMessageTime > 10000)
{
Baro_LastErrorMessageTime = xTaskGetTickCount();
mainMessagePrint(ROUTE_HALL, "Baro failed, reset.");
}

I2CClearError(I2C_DEVICE_BARO);

// Turn the baro power off and then back on.
// You DID put this in your design, right?
// Also, many I2C chips have a reset line that will do the same thing.
SetPwrBaro(0);
vTaskDelay(3000);
SetPwrBaro(1);

I2C_ResetAndInit();
}

In summary, the important pat is you must either reset or power cycle the I2C device, and you must use DeInit to power cycle the I2C internal device on the CPU.

TF

XNA Steam side by side configuration

Quick Note:

I had a side by side configuration error when trying to run my C# XNA Steam app on a clean machine.

Short Answer: The problem was that my dll I wrote to mediate between XNA C# and unmanaged C++
was compiled in debug mode instead of release mode.

This happens because the VC redist package is for release only.  You can not redistribute the debug version.
Once I recompile for release and moved the .dll and such into my steam release area it worked fine.

TF

P.S. I will be making the SteamLink source available to the Steam guys so they can give it out to developers.
That will save tons of time for other people.

STM32F103 System Reset

OK, a tough one to find.

If you want to cause the processor to reset its self, you are looking for NVIC_SystemReset in the core_cm3.h file!

TF