Archive for November, 2010


The Business Value of Open Source Software

Filed Under: TOG, Ubuntu by tdr — 1 Comment
November 19, 2010

Our Table. I blured out the other person as I never asked him if I could put this photo up

As I mention last week, I planned to along to an event being organized by Enterprise Ireland and the Enterprise Europe Network Ireland called the Business Value of Open Source Software. The event was held last Tuesday in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry. This was very handy for me, as I was in DCU all morning finishing a project.

Talks

I was amazed at the quality of the talks. All the speakers were great public speakers. It reinforces the need for me to continue improving my public speaking skills. The two speakers to stand out for me , were Simon Phipps and Mark Shuttleworth.

Simon gave a great talk on the business value of open source. He explained why you need software freedoms. The talk clearly showcased the advantages of using open source. I liked the talk very much. It was great to hear a different side of why to use open source . A lot of other open source talks I have been try to get you to use open source for philosophical reasons . Simon explained you should use open source in order to stay flexibly and agile in the business world.

Table

For the coffee break and networking session of the event their were a number of tables set up outside. A few different Irish open source providers were their with all their bells and whistles set up. As I mention last David from Enterprise Ireland offered me a table at the event.  For the TOG table we had our Makerbot a few posters and lots of Ubuntu Cd’s along with us. As with other events I have taken the Makerbot too, people love to know what it is. We had lots of people come over asking about. I talked to loads of people about hackerspaces and Ubuntu. It was great to meet some follow hackerspace members who were up from 091labs for the event. Overall the it was worthwhile having the table at the event. I am not sure any of them will be new TOG members but the overall awareness was definitely raised.

Tags: , , ,
Comment

Sugru Masterclass

Filed Under: arduino, microcontrollers, Workshops by tdr — 1 Comment
November 17, 2010

Sugru is like a modeling clay when you take it from its pack. Once it’s exposed to air, it cures to a tough flexible silicone overnight using the moisture in the air. Working time = 30 mins. Cure time = 24hrs (3-5 mm deep).

So a few months ago at a Make night I came to use Sugru for the first time. I started out trying to make some new feet for my laptop. It turned out to be a disaster. I did not leave it anywhere near long enough to set. I ended up with bits of orange silicone on the bottom of my laptop.

So hearing that the inventor herself Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh would be doing a event in the Science Gallery I decided I would head along and give Sugru another go. I took along  a new breadboard I had. I wanted to add a Power Female Jack Connector to the board. This would allow me to easily use a 12v power supply with my breadboard. Also I had an Seeeduino Mega with me that I wanted to add feet too.

After a little talk with the inventor, I set out to to make my feet and attach my connector.  Second time round I found it much easier to work with Sugru. I left it to dry over night and it all worked perfectly. I loved meeting the inventor and working with it . I am not sure if I would have enough uses to go out and buy lots of it. I guess time will tell. For  all of you open source people out there you could try and make some Oogoo, a home-made Sugru substitute.

Tags: , ,
Comment

Ubuntu cds

Filed Under: Ubuntu by tdr — 3 Comments
November 11, 2010

It started off with me letting people know I was attending  a great event next week. The Business Value of Open Source Software. Then the suggestion came out that we(ubuntu-ie) should give out the rest of the ubuntu 10.10 cds we had left. It turns out that we had a huge demand for the cds .We were sent 250 and now we had only 15 left. Cztab comes to the rescue. Within minutes of mentioning it on IRC, she had a shipit order placed for 100 cds. That was Tuesday and now Thuresday I get a knock on my door. A box of 100 ubuntu waiting for me.

After emailing the organizers asking could I give out the ubuntu cds, they offered us a table during the networking part of the event. I think I did not make myself clear as I had my Ubuntu-ie hat on and not my TOG one , as he now asked could TOG do a table at the event. So it started off that I was just going to listen to a few great talks and no I am running a table at the event. Its funny how things snowball.

*EDIT* Update

To find out how the event went click here.

Tags: , ,
Comment

Outputting to a HD44780 LCD

Filed Under: arduino by tdr — Leave a comment
November 5, 2010

To save me looking at the serial monitor or the times I don’t have my arduino attached to a computer.  I bought a LCD screen. I use to have but I used it for a project some time ago. After a bit of ebay browsing I found a 20 character 4 line display. That would suit my details down to the ground. While I was at it I decided to order a new breadboard and some jumper wires(very handy). The order was from the US so just over a week I got a nice box with all the bits I ordered.

Interfacing with the HD44780 LCD.

Taken from Fritzing LiquidCrystalDisplay example

The HD44780 is one of the most common LCD screens for embedded
projects around. The screen is very easy to hook up to an arduino. There is already a great library to get you started LiquidCrystal . I wirted mine up as showen on the right.

Opening up the Arduino IDE I just selected the HelloWorld example from the LiquidCrystal Library. Their example is made for a 16 character 2 line display. If your screen is different you need to change line 45. for me it changed to lcd.begin(20, 4).

And now you should have “hello, world!” displaying on your screen.

There are loads of examples showcasing the features of this library.

Tags: , ,
Comment

Acer Aspire One Black Screen (BIOS corrupted)

Filed Under: Uncategorized by tdr — 1 Comment
November 4, 2010

After using my laptop all, I turned it off for a while as I was attedning a talk in Engineers Ireland. On the bus on the way home I switched on my laptop on to pass the time. I found my laptop would not boot.  The power light would come on, the fans woulod spin but notting on the screen. After a bit of googleing this morning , I found the answer. The BIOS was corrupted. I then attempted the fix and all work out in the end. My aspire one is alive again.

Details of the fix.

  1. Download the BOIS from here.
  2. Format a usb Flash drive to FAT.
  3. Copy the files you download to your flash drive.
  4. Rename 3309.fd to ZG5IA32.FD.
  5. Put the flash drive into the left hand side usb port.
  6. Hold fn+esc and press the power button.
  7. The power button should start to blink.
  8. Press the power button once and wait.
  9. You laptop should not reboot and hey its working again.
Tags: , , , ,
Comment