chicken

Here's a tutorial on programming a graphical UI in Google Chrome to display data received over serial
http://www.lucadentella.it/en/2016/06/07/chrome-app-e-comunicazione-seriale/
via Dangerous Prototypes.
 
I meant looking into this topic for a long time. For serial communication like in this tutorial, but also USB for a portable upgrade application via a custom USB BSL implementation.
 

Here's a tutorial on programming a graphical UI in Google Chrome to display data received over serial
http://www.lucadentella.it/en/2016/06/07/chrome-app-e-comunicazione-seriale/
via Dangerous Prototypes.
 
I meant looking into this topic for a long time. For serial communication like in this tutorial, but also USB for a portable upgrade application via a custom USB BSL implementation.
 

Here's a tutorial on programming a graphical UI in Google Chrome to display data received over serial
http://www.lucadentella.it/en/2016/06/07/chrome-app-e-comunicazione-seriale/
via Dangerous Prototypes.
 
I meant looking into this topic for a long time. For serial communication like in this tutorial, but also USB for a portable upgrade application via a custom USB BSL implementation.
 

Here's a tutorial on programming a graphical UI in Google Chrome to display data received over serial
http://www.lucadentella.it/en/2016/06/07/chrome-app-e-comunicazione-seriale/
via Dangerous Prototypes.
 
I meant looking into this topic for a long time. For serial communication like in this tutorial, but also USB for a portable upgrade application via a custom USB BSL implementation.
 

Today Hackaday featured someone that replaced the innards of a Casio watch with an MSP430FR6972
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/gutting-and-rebuilding-a-classic-watch/

 
Very well documented on GitHub, including more pictures:
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto
 
If the author is on 43oh:

A quick web search (duck duck go: at command set +class "HC-05") turned up a bit of docs (on slideshare) that mentions it.  From what I read (not the whole thing) it looks like many of the parameters are in hex for many of the commands.  The next entry in the document, for example shows that for "AT+IAC=<PARAM>" that the default value is 9e8b33.
 
So I'd try converting 99 to hex (63) and sending:
 
AT+CLASS=63
 
(Note: I'd've put in a link to the documentation, but as a new member here, I didn't want to run the risk of being marked a spambot due to having an offsite URL in a short reply.)
 
Hope that gets you going!
 
UPDATE:  I just read the appendix in the above document, and it contains an appendix that appears to be a description of the class field.  It says that it's a 32 bit field, and shows various tables describing what the bits mean in various instances.  (It's rather more complex than I'd've thought, as there are about 6 pages containing nine tables covering subsections of the 32 bit number.  Kind of interesting.)

Hi Roboticus,
 
You are correct,  the parameter values to AT+CLASS= are hex numbers. There is a overview in the Bluetooth spec about formatting and interpreting the 32 bit class value (CoD). I am not going to learn all that now but have learned enough to carry forward with this application.
 
Here is a translation between what is sent to the AT command and what is seen on the Android side
 
/* Android Java code segment */
BluetoothClass bluetoothClass = btDevice.getBluetoothClass();
int deviceClass = bluetoothClass.getDeviceClass();
int majorDeviceclass = bluetoothClass.getMajorDeviceClass();
 
Apparently the default in the HC-05 is that lowest two bits of whatever hex value is sent to AT+CLASS= are set to 0 by the time it can be picked up on the Android side by deviceClass = bluetoothClass.getDeviceClass(); The majorDeviceclass is coming in at 0x100.
 
Here are a few test cases I tried
 
AT value(hex, binary)                deviceClass          majorDeviceClass  
128, 0001 0010 1000      0x128          0x100
129, 0001 0010 1001      0x128          0x100
12A, 0001 0010 1010      0x128          0x100
12B, 0001 0010 1011      0x128          0x100
12C, 0001 0010 1100      0x12C          0x100
12D, 0001 0010 1101      0x12C          0x100
 
There are also web sites where you can enter the characteristics of your BT device and it will generate a CoD (class of device) hex number for you.
 
Hope this info is useful to someone out there.
 
Thank you,

You guys are a though crowd today
 
Fist of all, Herzlich Willkommen auf 43oh @@mathiasbuder
 
I don't think that comparing this project to an off-the-shelf MP3 player is useful, comparing to an Android tablet even less so. A customer for this BoosterPack will buy it as a tool to experiment and build their own contraptions (e.g. a radio clock?).
 
MP3 shields for Arduino are a more relevant comparison:
Adafruit sells their Music Maker shield for $30, based on the same IC but seems to have a lot less functionality (no recording, no buttons, no optional display). Sparkfun's MP3 Player Shield is $25, again only audio out. Seeed's Grove Serial MP3 Player is $15, again no recording. There are shields on Ebay for around $10 that support recording, e.g. this one. But software support is probably much worse than with Adafruit et al.  
So your price may be a bit high compared to the competition, even when accounting for the superior functionality. On the other hand, there's nothing like this for TI LaunchPads yet, so there can be a markup within reason. The higher the price the more you will have to justify it with very good support with beginner friendly libraries (Energia) and documentation.
 
Given the small TI LaunchPad ecosystem, I wouldn't expect a lot of sales, even at a lower price point. Sales will most likely be driven by publishing interesting projects based on your BoosterPack that others want to replicate. Think Hackaday, Instructables, etc.
 
My final advice after selling a few hundred of my own widgets: Don't under-price yourself. Making and selling hardware takes a lot of time and money. When your little side project happens to be a success and turns into serious work, it is important that it will pay for your expenses and then some. If it doesn't sell because it was too expensive, you at least learned something and had fun doing so (just don't fabricate 100's of them upfront).
 
Ignoring the business side, I still think it's a nice project. I have an older version of that MP3 chip sitting in my drawer since 10+ years and never came around actually putting it to good use.

I have an Energia project that seems to go astray under rare and seemingly random circumstances - it can occur anywhere from hours to months apart and I haven't been able to pin the cause down.  It starts right up again after a reset.  It isn't critical if it is down for a minute or so but I am usually not around to reset it manually.  However, I can monitor things in the firmware and tell when things are not working correctly.
 
In this situation it is easy enough to force a reset from Energia by writing to the watchdog timer and control register with an improper password.  For example, in the following sketch the green LED will not turn on and the red LED will start flashing again after the reset.
void setup() { pinMode(RED_LED, OUTPUT); pinMode(GREEN_LED, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(RED_LED, LOW); digitalWrite(GREEN_LED, LOW); } void loop() { unsigned int i; for (i = 1; i < 5; i++) { digitalWrite(RED_LED, HIGH); delay(500); digitalWrite(RED_LED, LOW); delay(500); } WDTCTL = 0x00; // causes a reset for(; { digitalWrite(GREEN_LED, HIGH); // this line is never reached } } Note:  This is not using the watchdog timer in the normal fashion as Energia uses it for other timing functions.  It is just a easy way to force a reset if needed.

You guys are a though crowd today
 
Fist of all, Herzlich Willkommen auf 43oh @@mathiasbuder
 
I don't think that comparing this project to an off-the-shelf MP3 player is useful, comparing to an Android tablet even less so. A customer for this BoosterPack will buy it as a tool to experiment and build their own contraptions (e.g. a radio clock?).
 
MP3 shields for Arduino are a more relevant comparison:
Adafruit sells their Music Maker shield for $30, based on the same IC but seems to have a lot less functionality (no recording, no buttons, no optional display). Sparkfun's MP3 Player Shield is $25, again only audio out. Seeed's Grove Serial MP3 Player is $15, again no recording. There are shields on Ebay for around $10 that support recording, e.g. this one. But software support is probably much worse than with Adafruit et al.  
So your price may be a bit high compared to the competition, even when accounting for the superior functionality. On the other hand, there's nothing like this for TI LaunchPads yet, so there can be a markup within reason. The higher the price the more you will have to justify it with very good support with beginner friendly libraries (Energia) and documentation.
 
Given the small TI LaunchPad ecosystem, I wouldn't expect a lot of sales, even at a lower price point. Sales will most likely be driven by publishing interesting projects based on your BoosterPack that others want to replicate. Think Hackaday, Instructables, etc.
 
My final advice after selling a few hundred of my own widgets: Don't under-price yourself. Making and selling hardware takes a lot of time and money. When your little side project happens to be a success and turns into serious work, it is important that it will pay for your expenses and then some. If it doesn't sell because it was too expensive, you at least learned something and had fun doing so (just don't fabricate 100's of them upfront).
 
Ignoring the business side, I still think it's a nice project. I have an older version of that MP3 chip sitting in my drawer since 10+ years and never came around actually putting it to good use.

You guys are a though crowd today
 
Fist of all, Herzlich Willkommen auf 43oh @@mathiasbuder
 
I don't think that comparing this project to an off-the-shelf MP3 player is useful, comparing to an Android tablet even less so. A customer for this BoosterPack will buy it as a tool to experiment and build their own contraptions (e.g. a radio clock?).
 
MP3 shields for Arduino are a more relevant comparison:
Adafruit sells their Music Maker shield for $30, based on the same IC but seems to have a lot less functionality (no recording, no buttons, no optional display). Sparkfun's MP3 Player Shield is $25, again only audio out. Seeed's Grove Serial MP3 Player is $15, again no recording. There are shields on Ebay for around $10 that support recording, e.g. this one. But software support is probably much worse than with Adafruit et al.  
So your price may be a bit high compared to the competition, even when accounting for the superior functionality. On the other hand, there's nothing like this for TI LaunchPads yet, so there can be a markup within reason. The higher the price the more you will have to justify it with very good support with beginner friendly libraries (Energia) and documentation.
 
Given the small TI LaunchPad ecosystem, I wouldn't expect a lot of sales, even at a lower price point. Sales will most likely be driven by publishing interesting projects based on your BoosterPack that others want to replicate. Think Hackaday, Instructables, etc.
 
My final advice after selling a few hundred of my own widgets: Don't under-price yourself. Making and selling hardware takes a lot of time and money. When your little side project happens to be a success and turns into serious work, it is important that it will pay for your expenses and then some. If it doesn't sell because it was too expensive, you at least learned something and had fun doing so (just don't fabricate 100's of them upfront).
 
Ignoring the business side, I still think it's a nice project. I have an older version of that MP3 chip sitting in my drawer since 10+ years and never came around actually putting it to good use.

You guys are a though crowd today
 
Fist of all, Herzlich Willkommen auf 43oh @@mathiasbuder
 
I don't think that comparing this project to an off-the-shelf MP3 player is useful, comparing to an Android tablet even less so. A customer for this BoosterPack will buy it as a tool to experiment and build their own contraptions (e.g. a radio clock?).
 
MP3 shields for Arduino are a more relevant comparison:
Adafruit sells their Music Maker shield for $30, based on the same IC but seems to have a lot less functionality (no recording, no buttons, no optional display). Sparkfun's MP3 Player Shield is $25, again only audio out. Seeed's Grove Serial MP3 Player is $15, again no recording. There are shields on Ebay for around $10 that support recording, e.g. this one. But software support is probably much worse than with Adafruit et al.  
So your price may be a bit high compared to the competition, even when accounting for the superior functionality. On the other hand, there's nothing like this for TI LaunchPads yet, so there can be a markup within reason. The higher the price the more you will have to justify it with very good support with beginner friendly libraries (Energia) and documentation.
 
Given the small TI LaunchPad ecosystem, I wouldn't expect a lot of sales, even at a lower price point. Sales will most likely be driven by publishing interesting projects based on your BoosterPack that others want to replicate. Think Hackaday, Instructables, etc.
 
My final advice after selling a few hundred of my own widgets: Don't under-price yourself. Making and selling hardware takes a lot of time and money. When your little side project happens to be a success and turns into serious work, it is important that it will pay for your expenses and then some. If it doesn't sell because it was too expensive, you at least learned something and had fun doing so (just don't fabricate 100's of them upfront).
 
Ignoring the business side, I still think it's a nice project. I have an older version of that MP3 chip sitting in my drawer since 10+ years and never came around actually putting it to good use.

You guys are a though crowd today
 
Fist of all, Herzlich Willkommen auf 43oh @@mathiasbuder
 
I don't think that comparing this project to an off-the-shelf MP3 player is useful, comparing to an Android tablet even less so. A customer for this BoosterPack will buy it as a tool to experiment and build their own contraptions (e.g. a radio clock?).
 
MP3 shields for Arduino are a more relevant comparison:
Adafruit sells their Music Maker shield for $30, based on the same IC but seems to have a lot less functionality (no recording, no buttons, no optional display). Sparkfun's MP3 Player Shield is $25, again only audio out. Seeed's Grove Serial MP3 Player is $15, again no recording. There are shields on Ebay for around $10 that support recording, e.g. this one. But software support is probably much worse than with Adafruit et al.  
So your price may be a bit high compared to the competition, even when accounting for the superior functionality. On the other hand, there's nothing like this for TI LaunchPads yet, so there can be a markup within reason. The higher the price the more you will have to justify it with very good support with beginner friendly libraries (Energia) and documentation.
 
Given the small TI LaunchPad ecosystem, I wouldn't expect a lot of sales, even at a lower price point. Sales will most likely be driven by publishing interesting projects based on your BoosterPack that others want to replicate. Think Hackaday, Instructables, etc.
 
My final advice after selling a few hundred of my own widgets: Don't under-price yourself. Making and selling hardware takes a lot of time and money. When your little side project happens to be a success and turns into serious work, it is important that it will pay for your expenses and then some. If it doesn't sell because it was too expensive, you at least learned something and had fun doing so (just don't fabricate 100's of them upfront).
 
Ignoring the business side, I still think it's a nice project. I have an older version of that MP3 chip sitting in my drawer since 10+ years and never came around actually putting it to good use.

You guys are a though crowd today
 
Fist of all, Herzlich Willkommen auf 43oh @@mathiasbuder
 
I don't think that comparing this project to an off-the-shelf MP3 player is useful, comparing to an Android tablet even less so. A customer for this BoosterPack will buy it as a tool to experiment and build their own contraptions (e.g. a radio clock?).
 
MP3 shields for Arduino are a more relevant comparison:
Adafruit sells their Music Maker shield for $30, based on the same IC but seems to have a lot less functionality (no recording, no buttons, no optional display). Sparkfun's MP3 Player Shield is $25, again only audio out. Seeed's Grove Serial MP3 Player is $15, again no recording. There are shields on Ebay for around $10 that support recording, e.g. this one. But software support is probably much worse than with Adafruit et al.  
So your price may be a bit high compared to the competition, even when accounting for the superior functionality. On the other hand, there's nothing like this for TI LaunchPads yet, so there can be a markup within reason. The higher the price the more you will have to justify it with very good support with beginner friendly libraries (Energia) and documentation.
 
Given the small TI LaunchPad ecosystem, I wouldn't expect a lot of sales, even at a lower price point. Sales will most likely be driven by publishing interesting projects based on your BoosterPack that others want to replicate. Think Hackaday, Instructables, etc.
 
My final advice after selling a few hundred of my own widgets: Don't under-price yourself. Making and selling hardware takes a lot of time and money. When your little side project happens to be a success and turns into serious work, it is important that it will pay for your expenses and then some. If it doesn't sell because it was too expensive, you at least learned something and had fun doing so (just don't fabricate 100's of them upfront).
 
Ignoring the business side, I still think it's a nice project. I have an older version of that MP3 chip sitting in my drawer since 10+ years and never came around actually putting it to good use.

It looks like the author also made a tool to use EnergyTrace without needing to install CCS, might be worth a look:
 
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/energytrace-util

Source code is super simple, since the MSP debug stack is doing all the work.
 
Just quickly compiled it on my PC, looks great! Just spits out a continuous stream of values, which you can pipe into a gnuplot etc.
 
Turns your launchpad into a current sensor for any (3.6v only) application.

Today Hackaday featured someone that replaced the innards of a Casio watch with an MSP430FR6972
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/gutting-and-rebuilding-a-classic-watch/

 
Very well documented on GitHub, including more pictures:
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto
 
If the author is on 43oh:

Today Hackaday featured someone that replaced the innards of a Casio watch with an MSP430FR6972
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/gutting-and-rebuilding-a-classic-watch/

 
Very well documented on GitHub, including more pictures:
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto
 
If the author is on 43oh:

Today Hackaday featured someone that replaced the innards of a Casio watch with an MSP430FR6972
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/gutting-and-rebuilding-a-classic-watch/

 
Very well documented on GitHub, including more pictures:
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto
 
If the author is on 43oh:

Today Hackaday featured someone that replaced the innards of a Casio watch with an MSP430FR6972
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/gutting-and-rebuilding-a-classic-watch/

 
Very well documented on GitHub, including more pictures:
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto
 
If the author is on 43oh:

Today Hackaday featured someone that replaced the innards of a Casio watch with an MSP430FR6972
http://hackaday.com/2016/05/30/gutting-and-rebuilding-a-classic-watch/

 
Very well documented on GitHub, including more pictures:
https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto
 
If the author is on 43oh:

@@greeeg I was referring to the OPT8320, which includes the SOC.

80x60 at 1000fps sounds cool. I wonder what one could do with these... Ping Pong robot?
 
The package is BGA, but only one row around the edge with 0.45mm pitch. Should be doable with regular PCBs from OSHPark et al.

The 2nd generation Kinect that shipped with the Xbox One uses time of flight to calculate depth. There's a nice summary of the method here: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanielLau/20131127/205820/The_Science_Behind_Kinects_or_Kinect_10_versus_20.php. It also explains the structured light system used in the original Kinect and compares the pros and cons of each system.
 
Regarding the sensor and controller being separate chips, I think that may be unlikely to change. The sensor is made using a "chip on glass" process which I suspect isn't ideal for the controller. Also, keeping the controller off the sensor die avoids any problems with it heating the sensor (which would increase the noise level).
 
EDIT: About 30 seconds after posting this I found the OPT8320, which does integrate the controller and framebuffer memory into a single CoG package. That one's only 80x60 pixels, however.

This is a quite exciting new sensor. The development kit is prohibitively expensive and the chip driver is 256BGA, but at around $50 for the raw sensor capable of 150 fps of 320x240 with distance, this is cool.
 
Time of flight pulses out light/IR and counts the sub nanoseconds it takes to bounce back.
 
The specs are pretty impressive for an early model.
 
http://www.ti.com/product/OPT8241
 
Ideally I would prefer the device and driver chip were paired on a board, but hopefully these will be popular and warrant more integrated solutions.