I have already done some work on the CamControl software. As always, I use Linux as my development host. I use avr-gcc to compile my software and avrdude to download it via the ISP. Unfortunately I don’t have a JTAG which kind of complicates development, but with such a simple controller I can live without it.

A few words why I have chosen the Olimex AVR-MT-128 board. This board has all the major features I was looking for in a rather compact package:

• LCD (unfortunately without backlight)
• Five keys for navigation
• A LED (which turned out to be wired parallel to the relais, so it’s rather not so useful, as the relais triggers whenever the LED is toggled)
• 16-bit PWMs for servo control (8-bit is not enough for smooth servo movement)
• Buzzer for notification when a job is done
• Plenty of IOs for additional stuff (rotary encoder, AF and shutter control, additional LEDs etc.)
• 4Kb of RAM (should be more than enough)
• 4Kb of EEPROM (nice to persistently store some settings)
• 128Kb Flash (more than enough)

Well, that’s about it. A rather nice board in my opinion. I plan to package it in a nice little enclosure and add a battery. So this could be used standalone without the mechanical construction. Might be useful when I just do timelapses etc. instead of always carring around the panorama construction.

I develop the software as an open-source project, partly because I use open-source components but also because I like the open-source paradigm. The source code repository is hosted on my github account here. I have ported QuantumLeaps QP-nano framework, which is a really nice small event-based operating system for small microcontrollers. I also use avr-libc which offers superb utilities for the AVR microcontroller line.  I have already implement a simple keyboard driver and the basics for a menu system. Based on avr-libc I also written a LCD driver. This all works really well so far.

Inspired by this I decided to build my own version of a panorama system.

The system, called CamControl for now (fancy name eh?), will have the following features:

• Automatically capture full and partial panoramic pictures
• Capture timelapse pictures
• Capture HDR picture series
• Capture long shutter pictures

After some research, I have decided to buy the following components to build my camera control system:

• 2x SPG785 Pan from ServoCity, one with 3:1 and one with 5:1 ratio gears (213 $)
• Olimex AVR-MT-128 board (45 Euro)
• Olimex AVR-ISB500 programmer (30 Euro)

This are the most important components which will let me develop the software. For the mechanical construction I will have to buy some more stuff, but this can wait until my servos arrive (they are backordered). The Olimex stuff already arrived and I have already started development of the software. More on this later.

Well, we’re going to have a little LAN party in a few weeks and we will do a little Duke Nukem 3D revival (DNF is never going to be released anyway). Good old times! But wait, we used to have those gorgeous 3-button mice back in the days, they were called Logitech Mouseman, and had an awesome design (and most importantly 3 big mouse buttons and NO wheel). Logitech even did a “gamers edition” of the Mouseman design called the “Wingman Gaming Mouse”. Well, the only drawback was that optical mouse sensor systems were not invented back then (as was the mouse wheel, fortunately). They used these little balls to detect motion, which were constantly attracting dust, getting dirty and unresponsive all the time. So we thought, why not take these dusty old mice and upgrade them with an optical system. Today me and a friend did a first prototype. It won’t win a beauty contest yet, but it works perfectly fine! Here are a few pictures:

After I have built myself an LN1176 compressor a few month ago, which I used quite often for the last album I worked on with a friend, I decided to build myself a Pico compressor. I have ordered the PCBs a few days ago, they will probably arrive next week. My intention is to use this compressor to gently compress mixes at the beginning of a mastering chain. I’m still looking for a decent DIY EQ, but I did not yet find what I’m looking for. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to build the Pico.

This weekend I took some time to experiment with my Arduinome, primarily using the pages application. This is great stuff! I did a little setup consisting of Ableton Live, pages, my BCR-2000 as well as some external gear, the x0xb0x and the Korg Radius. I routed the MIDI signals from pages through Live to my x0xb0x and the Radius, and routed the audio output of these synths back to Live, spicing them up with some effects controlled by my BCR-2000. Also I added an Impulse patch in Live to get some drums. A rather simple but very effective setup. Fun to jam anyway!

Note to myself: I really need to get myself a camera, so I can video document things like that.

My Arduinome is finally alive! With a little tip from Nils, I got the current firmware working. As I suspected, the firmware is broken with the current Arduino release. Using Arduino 11 solved the issue. Unfortunately I connected the columns of the matrix in reversed order, so I had to do some soldering too.

Initial tests with some Max/MSP scripts as well as Seven Up for Live are very promising. Although the keypad feels a bit flimsy, the keypresses seem to be accurate and to the point. I have not had any missed keys yet, fine! I’m very happy with it.

Now it’s time to do some practicing with Seven Up and maybe a first video on youtube.

Thanks to all the people involved in the Arduinome project. You did an awesome job!

Today, I had some time to work on my Arduinome. I already have prepared the button and led matrix as well as the shield PCB two days ago. Initial tests with the current Arduinome firmware were not that successful, leading to a strange led patterns on power up, as well as random crashes of the software. So I was worried about some mistakes I did with the hardware. Checking all the leds and switches manually revealed that there were no mistakes on the hardware, therefore there had to be something wrong with the firmware. Some initial hacking on the firmware allowed me to test the hardware, and proofed that basically everything is working. My current guess is that the firmware is broken with the newest arduino framework. I will have a better look and try to fix it. Maybe I’ll even rewrite the firmware from scratch, not using the arduino framework. Stay tuned …

My arduinome shield PCB has finally been shipped. The last missing part of my adruinome is on the way now. Many thanks to unsped for organizing and managing that group buy. I guess I will finish my arduinome just before christmas!

I just read a note that unsped is going to receive the shield PCBs in the next few days. Great news, as this means that I’ll be able to finish my arduinome shortly. I did not want to spend the effort and build the shield myself on veroboard, when I’m going to exchange it with a proper PCB anyway. But I can’t wait to finish my Arduinome!

Today I have been working on the Arduinome. First, I cut and filed the corners from the button PCBs, then I soldered all the diodes and LEDs. After that, I assembled the frontpanel. All that is missing now is the shield board as well as the wiring. As I have to wait for my shield PCB for another 2 weeks, I wonder if I should build the logic on a veroboard, and replace it later. I’ll see …