more stm discovery f3 links

STM has a repository of sample code for the discovery board. I need that for finding out how to make calls. I am more of a monkey see, monkey do kind of programmer. I'll use the manual if I have a question about a call, or can't find and example. I find it faster to find some code that mostly does what I need, and adapt it (reuse!). Most of the ST site is full of javascript pop ups that probably work on other browsers, but on Mandriva running Linux, the popups get lost, and make navigation complex (probably windows would be similar, but I am not going to try to find out. The manual is a PDF file, which is fine, I can download that and have a copy any time I need it. Some of the confusion too is all the devices that you can get data for.

The example code includes code for the on chip peripherals, not so much for the off chip items like the accelerometer, compass and gyro. I'll still have to dig for that.

Then of course, yesterday hack-a-day had a template for setting up discovery board projeccts.  I'll have to look at it now, since I have a link to it. He has something similar to code bench but for gcc-arm-embedded toolchain. That is good. I should be able to follow some of that work and get some ideas.

On my facebook post, I suggested I was building an autopilot. This can be the hub of various peripherals, including the autopilot. Unless one gets a direct route, the heading might not matter, but the IMU should allow guidance point to point, as good or better than the GPS. 


News on the JXD S5110 front...

My son has tuned in to the whole retro gaming with game pad buttons. He is probably playing the game as much, or more than he was before (that is good and bad). I spent some time with it also, when he wasn't around. The OTG port was just sitting there, and I finally got around to plugging a mouse into the port. It worked! so if he gets bored with the retro games, he can plug a mouse into it, and use it like a touch screen. The usability is going up! I won't show him the HDMI port, or he'll probably want to play all his games on the big screen.

More people are following, so tell your friends!

good luck

I got a couple days...

Before the MAX31855's show up. So I can afford some distractions. The STM32F3 discovery board I ordered showed up. This board will probably be pretty useful. I still want to do some instruments, and this could be the strap down IRU maybe. It seems to have enough GPIO pins on the board to maybe even be an air data computer by adding a couple pressure sensors to it. It only has USB IO so connecting it to an Android might be a challenge.

I've been listening to the GoogleIO podcasts and the Android library has a nice IO library that allows similar calls for Bluetooth and USB. I think it requires 4.1 though, and may or may not have backward compatibility. I really feel I missed out on this years conference. I don't know why it wasn't even on my list this last year. They gave away a really cool ADK kit that is like an alarm clock, but allows many development options, including demo code for connecting euther Bluetooth or USB.

I figure between the ADK libraries and some demo code for the STM32 discovery board, I ought to be able to connect them together. I need to play with USB hubs though. The physical connectors are either USB minis or USB micros and nothing has a A connector. The discovery board has two USB mini connectors, and the tablets and phones have USB mini connectors. I believe the phones support USB On-The-Go so that should work, but I still need a cable. That is there I think the HUB would work, since I have plenty of A to Mini and A to micro cables.

Sure enough, once you start looking, good things happen! There are A female adapters to mini and micro B connectors, or individual ones. This is going my way now.

Some phones have gyros, and most have compasses with accelerometers, so why have this board in the plane? Few tablets have gyros, and that is what I want in the dash of the plane. The compass may not work in all orientations, or near whatever is in the panel either. Having this board allows placing the gyros and compass in known good locations, and having the air data information integrated will allow any tablet to be used, and know it will work at all times.

I may not finish this in the next couple days, but that is OK. I have plenty to follow up on, and read about and plan. Give me a couple months, and I think I'll have something working.