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LCARS with Pi and a Prop — Parallax Forums

LCARS with Pi and a Prop

MagIO2MagIO2 Posts: 2,243
edited 2013-03-08 03:02 in Propeller 1
I can not resist any longer! As the project is not finished so far, I post it here in my personal HOME-Forum ;o) - once the project is in a better state I'll post in the projects forum including a full description.

What I have is a gadget-gangster propeller platform connected to a sender of a RC power switch. This is running a command-line interface using the programming-serial port. This serial port will sooner or later be connected to a raspberry pi, which is adding a nice web-GUI to the project. For this part I setup a GitHub-project. There you'll find some screenshots: https://github.com/MagIO2/Web2Home---lcars/wiki/Screenshots

The output currently is faked as I copied it from the terminal into the scripts, but hopefully it'll be real soon.

Comments

  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,665
    edited 2013-03-03 11:54
    LCARS is something I'm working on too (very slowly)...
    Had some failed attempts in the past but finally have all the parts to make it work on Propeller: VGA Graphics Shield, Font Editor, and converter from TriView 17" touchscreen output to PS/2.
  • MagIO2MagIO2 Posts: 2,243
    edited 2013-03-03 13:04
    @rayman:
    After starting the thread I saw the links to your threads in the list of similar threads ;o) Nice work!
    But as you know the propeller is not the best in high resolution, high color graphics and from my point of view a lot afford is needed. So, I let the propeller do what it's best in and let the browser take care of the rendering. (What would propably work nicely is to have all those files (*.html & *.js ) on a spinneret - the python script could easily be replaced).

    My goal is just to pick one of the cheap android devices you get these days and let it do the rendering by itself.

    Maybe some more details about the planned setup:
    1. Propeller with a lot of devices attached to it: IR Sender, RC Sender for power supply, RC sender for heaters.
    The propeller is run by an application OS, which allows to add as many SPIN subprograms (stored on SD Card) as needed. The programs can be started via Serial Interface or via internal timer.
    2. The raspberry runs a webserver and a python server which keeps the connection to the propeller. Pushing buttons on the LCARS-interface would simply send configurable commands to the propeller.
    3. n andriod devices will be spread in the house to connect via WLAN
    4. Maybe it will be opened to the internet
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,665
    edited 2013-03-03 14:08
    You're right about needing high color graphics. But check out the video in this thread:
    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/142007

    Using the SSD1963, one can do 24-bit color in VGA. I think VGA resolution is actually good enough for this.
  • MagIO2MagIO2 Posts: 2,243
    edited 2013-03-03 14:36
    I've seen the video. And for sure this is the best you can get with the propeller alone! But I also want to integrate a 3D wireframe of the house which can be rotated showing the location of all the devices ... and maybe some LAN cameras ...
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2013-03-03 15:10
    I'm hoping to add communication capabilities to a lot of our household stuff so it can be monitored from anywhere in the house or even on the road. I'm hoping I could eliminate questions like "Did we leave the oven on?" after being on the road for an hour.

    I'm planning on sticking a Nordic nRF24L01+ module on anything with electricity (well maybe not the nightlight). The Nordic modules are really inexpensive these days. I have an old buggy driver I keep meaning to update. I have a faster driver written but I need to remove some application specific parts before I can post it. (I also need a add some better Spin interface methods to the driver (written in PASM). It shouldn't cost much to have a bunch of these little Nordic modules on all sorts of devices. Some appliances could probably get by with just an ATtiny or equivalent for its communication needs and you could reserve Propeller boards for the appliances that need its power. (I also have an driver written for the ATtiny 84.)

    Sorry, I didn't have time to really finish my thought here.

    Edit(3/4/13): The uCs with the Nordic modules could then relay the information from the device it's monitoring to one of the more able controllers. This information could then be incorporated into master display.

    These Nordic modules have some automatic message repeat features but the uC would still need to keep track of messages to make sure all the information gets relayed.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2013-03-07 11:28
    Captain! Sensors indicate a CBS DCMA inbound... prepare for impact...
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,665
    edited 2013-03-07 13:57
    I'll claim "fair use"...
  • MagIO2MagIO2 Posts: 2,243
    edited 2013-03-08 01:05
    As stated in the screenshot (see my first post), in the beginning I hardcoded some propeller response into the LCARS Interface. This part is now running - the web interface really sends instructions and displays propeller feedback!

    Using a web-Interface and CGI-scripts means that some other program should keep the connection to the propeller alive. I found this nice python program, which redirects TCP traffic to a serial port: http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/examples.html
    So, the screenshot is still valid, but it's no longer hardcoded text that's being displayed.

    I guess I'll have no time to clean up the code and check it in in GitHub until saturday evening, but I'll do it as soon as possible.

    CBS DCMA? Did you hear from a LCARs project having problems with DCMA? I found PC-programs and web-pages using the LCARS design. I guess as long as you don't want to make money with it CBS should rather be happy to have such fans! And to be honest, the current state of my work is not a 100% clone.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,665
    edited 2013-03-08 02:36
    CBS made somebody pull their iPhone "Tricorder" app from the store because it used LCARS.
    They then launched their own LCARS apps from iPhone and iPad.

    So, you may not be able to sell something with an LCARS looking interface, especially if CBS
    is interested in the same market...
  • MagIO2MagIO2 Posts: 2,243
    edited 2013-03-08 03:02
    Let's see. I am not interested in making money with it, otherwise I'd not put the sources to GitHub. If they want to jump in the same market (home-automation with a LCARS look & feel) they are free to contact me to buy the rights of the sources I already have. Would probably save them some money for reinventing the wheel ;o) In the end the web-interface like I build it turned out to be a framework for building modular interfaces which can have any kind of look & feel.
    So, if CBS really complains, removing the LCARS layouts and plug in others is pretty easy.
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