Re: Anyone use Linux?
Also, I had the honor of being interviewed by Ian Murdock (who invented debian linux) for his new company...
nahi yar... any anecdotes from the interview? plz share...
Re: Anyone use Linux?
Well, I didnt get that job, to be honest, I am an engineer, but at that time it was extremely hard to find a job as a design/electronics engineer, so I had to poke my nose into the CS side... However, now I am working as an engineer, Im designing AC Motor Drive Systems, its a pretty complicated product, involves alot of digital communication and power electronics. However, the best thing is the fact that linux has tools under GNU available for MISRA C which is used for embedded systems programming under the new revolutionary ARM processors that were releaesed a little while ago, and the results are just awesome. Alot of the CS shy electrical engineers are exploring linux and it is also said to be the next operating system for cell phones, much much more powerful than Nokia's symbian too!
Mr. Genius, they focused mainly on the embedded systems side when they interviewed me, as they wanted me to work on projects where microcontrollers were involved, due to my EE background. One thing (from the CS side) that I remember, that Mr. Murdock asked was whether I was heavily involved in some internet linux support club or not. They also asked me some basic programming questions, such as polymorphism and one question which caught me offguard was about pointers to functions (function pointers) which I never used since soph year lol! If you want, I can PM you the link of the company and you can try applying there, its a company based in indianapollis, I am sure they are hiring more people as they were embarking upon the phase to increase their technical man power in the company.
Re: Anyone use Linux?
^ wow
<!-- ======================================================= --><!-- Created by AbiWord, a free, Open Source wordprocessor. --><!-- For more information visit http://www.abisource.com. --><!-- ======================================================= --><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8"><title></title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @media print { body { padding-top:1in; padding-bottom:1in; padding-left:1in; padding-right:1in; } } body { text-indent:0in; text-align:left; text-decoration:none; font-weight:normal; font-variant:normal; color:#000000; font-size:12pt; font-style:normal; widows:2; font-family:'Times New Roman'; } table { } td { border-collapse:collapse; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; } p, h1, h2, h3, li { color:#000000; font-family:'Times New Roman'; font-size:12pt; text-align:left; vertical-align:normal; } --> </style> I am so glad i asked you that question.
I am so into embedded linux. Today I spent at least over 7 hours in an unsuccessful attempt on machine vision system for my embedded system.
Its based on video4linux API saved it in bmp format but all I see Is darkness (with c code).
I was about to break my cam plus my laptop but I will wait till tomorrow.
I have done microprocessor development for servo/dc motors(little ones).
I have made my own embedded OS twice.
I don’t even feel like looking at computer now. I am going watch tv now.
Re: Anyone use Linux?
cool, what microprocessor/controller did you use? As for the attempt, dont worry, thats part of the game man, the more ‘sir khapaying’ you do, the more your brain adapts and the more succesfull you will be when you engage in something similar in the future. I also did some small projects with servos a long time ago, even though what I am doing now is on a totally different scale, these drives run entire machine plants on 460VAC. If you dont mind me asking, how old are you? If youre in college, I commend you for doing all this, it will certainly help you when you move on for a career. Theres nothing better than using your hobbies (something you like) to help you get started with your career.
Re: Anyone use Linux?
I was kind of hoping you don’t ask me that question.
I used basic language processor basic stamp and atmel 8501. But I am going to start working on avr processor. I have worked single board computer. Analog bf533 linux based.
I have run a not very successful software business. Now I want to run a successful hardware/software business in pakistan. I have security/access control/cheap gps recievers on my mind.
:desimunda:
Re: Anyone use Linux?
Mr. Genius, they focused mainly on the embedded systems side when they interviewed me, as they wanted me to work on projects where microcontrollers were involved, due to my EE background. One thing (from the CS side) that I remember, that Mr. Murdock asked was whether I was heavily involved in some internet linux support club or not. They also asked me some basic programming questions, such as polymorphism and one question which caught me offguard was about pointers to functions (function pointers) which I never used since soph year lol! If you want, I can PM you the link of the company and you can try applying there, its a company based in indianapollis, I am sure they are hiring more people as they were embarking upon the phase to increase their technical man power in the company.
interesting... waise, i m not that 'cheetah' in linux, but PM me the link anyway.... i would love to see what they are looking for.
Re: Anyone use Linux?
.
AVRs good but I recommend going for the ATMEL Arm processor, trust me (especially for the stuff you want to design), that thing is a beauty, now that ATMELs fixed all the initial bugs! its called the AT91SAM7S256, I know the inside out now that I have worked with it.. lemme know if you need help!
Re: Anyone use Linux?
Few paindo question
Are there any c language compiler for AT91SAM7S256.
can i use STK500 development board($89) with out any extra extension to program AT91SAM7S256.
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=2735
If so does it have good documentation, some one scared me its hard to find any documentation
about how to connect different Uc with this board.
I was planning to buy that board in about 2 weeks I am so glad I spoke to you.
What kind of protocol suits with it ic2 Does it has the thing …hhhmmmmm uart to communicate with pc(With my Linux single board computer) ?
Re: Anyone use Linux?
Yes, ofcourse… ARM is meant for C, sadly assembly as much as I love it (gives you excellent control over timing), it can be a pain in the ass to write… I am using two compilers, two from the finest companies out there, Keil and IAR systems. However, these are kinda expensive and only large corporations can afford their licenses, so if you wanna save money, get the free ones under GNU that work with linux, believe me they are good! Keep in mind you require an optimized compiler for ARM, especially if you are making something for production. There are alot of issues once you get into the details, like if your C is a little rusty, you will have to do a crash course in embedded programming. Just to give you an example of how we can all miss things, I narrate something that happened today:
I had this flag which was just a precautionary flag declared to monitor one of the hardware systems (shortage of current to a hall sensor)… Now despite the fact that I simulated the shortage of the current, the flag never changed state. Seriously, I was about to pull all my hair with frustration as everything in the code seemed fine to me. Then I realized what a simple mistake I made, something I learnt in freshman year was being overlooked. Remember how you declare variables with the ‘volatile’ keyword? We probably ignored/forgot that since it didnt make a difference but it actually does!!! When an ISR occurs (isr in C can be said to be a function) but its never called in the main code, so some ordinary compilers with crappy optimization never let variables outside a function being accessed if they are modified by another function (in this case the ISR)… Because of that, my flag wasnt changing state becuse the dumb compiler didnt know an ISR can occur without being called, so I had to modify boolean flag_halltrip to volatile boolean flag_halltrip and vola!
The mistake I made above creeps into production, and alot of these ****ty kyocera cell phones hang up because of this simple reason, and you have to restart them or do hard resets…
[/quote]
can i use STK500 development board($89) with out any extra extension to program AT91SAM7S256.
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=2735
If so does it have good documentation, some one scared me its hard to find any documentation
about how to connect different Uc with this board.
I was planning to buy that board in about 2 weeks I am so glad I spoke to you.
What kind of protocol suits with it ic2 Does it has the thing …hhhmmmmm uart to communicate with pc(With my Linux single board computer) ?
[/quote]
You can buy the AT91SAM7S evaluation board for less than 100 bucks and its got alot more functionality, and ATMEL has awesome support for this line, just goto www.at91.com which is like avrfreaks, but is run by ATMEL themselves… The only problem with ATMEL is that they are slow in replying. Their rep for michigan is coming to meet me on the 19th Dec, and I have some questions for him and have heard good things about ATMELs field engineers so let see how it goes…
Btw, why do you want to use the I2C bus? do you have I2C EEPROM that you want to use? I would recommend using the SPI EEPROMs, as they have been out there for so long and for somethign so simple as an EEPROM, I dont recommend using that new bus. The AT91 does have two wire, but some people are having a hard time getting it working like they want it to… Thats the only thing on that chip I have not played with so far, as I tend to stick with the SPI for such stuff…
btw in a nutshell its got: advanced interrupt controller (kickass peripheral), spi, ssc (which is new, serial synch controller, kickass bus), a2d, pwm, timer, real time timer, USART (which has a built in rs485 mode unlike the atmega, and timeguard and IRdA), PIO, PDC (dma bus, which is what makes this chip so cool, you can do stuff without processor intervention) etc… there are lot of other features too, like a very nice watchdog and brown our manager and best of all USB!
btw, there are sample projects if you are new to the chip for every peripheral to get you started and accustomed to the new interface too! again, do check out www.at91.com great resources!
Re: Anyone use Linux?
oh i forgot to answer your UART question...
this chip is the BOMB when it comes to the USART!! rs485, manchester encoding, irda, you name it! its even got a very handy timeguard feature too! I am using it as a UART (not synchronous), and running it in normal mode via RS-485 as I am using it with a high frequency inverter drive, and because of noise issues rs-232 cant work, but since rs-485 relies on diffrential voltages, it works flawlessly.
btw, one thing i wanted to point out, since i made the same mistake a long time ago... rs-232 or rs-485 arent protocols, they are electrical means to transfer data, protocols would be modbus, or profibus etc... i remember i called it a protocol infront of my company's vice president of engineering in my first month lol and he actually took out some documentation and showed it to me it was kinda embarassing lol... wanted to point that out before you did the same thing ;)
Re: Anyone use Linux?
im willing 2 use linux … but if one of ya can provide me with these softwares
Autodesk’s ** Smoke … Inferno … Flame .. fire … lustre** ] www.autodesk.com
and massive Prime 4m www.massivesoftware.com
if u r ture linux user giv me these softs … n i will forget windows 4ever ]
Re: Anyone use Linux?
lol 
Re: Anyone use Linux?
nope.. the day it'll run Photoshop CS2 (no Gimp or other alternatives) and my PC games.. i'll look at it.
Re: Anyone use Linux?
I've tried GIMP and the only difference is the layout it uses less RAM and best thing about it is that its free :D
Re: Anyone use Linux?
if u're happy with Gimp than u may be able to do without Photoshop too and use simpler tools..
Re: Anyone use Linux?
**All Linux users would like to see this link
**
Re: Anyone use Linux?
thx for the link
Re: Anyone use Linux?
I am sorry for replying so late. That machine vision thing was driving me crazy but
but I got it working. It was That I wasn’t usin PACKED with structures .
I took two picture of mine with it. And saved it in bmp when I looked at the picture I saw an ugly/scary person staring at me:bummer:
I should look at the mirrior more often.
I looked at the Uc AT91SAM7S256 I think it doesn’t come in DIP(I think I am going to need DIPs for protoTyping).
Oh I meant to ask SPI not ic2 I was just too tired.
I know this code for linuix which can make parallel port communicate using SPI with Uc.
Those things you mention about AT91SAM7S256 are all I am looking for.
I am going look into it more plus I will also study projects/application notes too.
Now I am getting back to edge detection.:bummer:
Re: Anyone use Linux?
^ none of the new ones come in DIP, what engineers do is, they first use development boards to work, then when they are sure the chip cooks, they get their prototype boards fabricated, and then solder on a few by hand to see how it works, and then do revs... alternatively you can find a socket from emulation.com for this purpose, the package is called LQFP-64 which stands for leaded quad flat pack... dont get the qfp, as that thing is an ass to solder by hand, u'd have to use a reflow oven and that process manually is asking for trouble!
Re: Anyone use Linux?
Are you guys like computer engineers?