I read about a wonderful development platform for embedded projects (NewScientist May 1 Pg. 26) based on the Game Boy Advance portable gaming system. The great thing about this platform is the price. For about $70 you can get a device with all this:
2001 Game Boy Advance
Screen size: 240*160 - 2.9"
Screen type: Colour 8 or 16bit
CPU: 32bit ARM7
CPU Clock: 16.78MHz
Video RAM: 96kB
Working RAM: 32k + 256k
Power: 2AA - 80mA
Sound: 4ch stereo + 2pcm
Keys: 6 + Control pad
Link Port: <2MHz, Bootloader
Cartarige slot: 3V multiplexed bus
It is great to have this many features and power but figuring out how to get a development system based on the GBA might seem like a lot of work that would outweigh the benefits of this cheep hardware. However, for about $160 this work has already been done for you with the Xport 2.0. This might seem like a lot of money for a development system but if you look at the costs for any other development system for an embedded processor it will cost at least this much and in the end you don’t get all the features that come with the GBA. One could create this development system on your own but why when it would end up costing as much to have prototype board made and would take months of development time.
I have recently purchased a GBA from my fiancée’s little brother who had upgraded to the Game Boy Advanced SP. The Xport 2.0 works on the SP as well but I think is overkill and has fewer input buttons. I also like the fact that the GBA uses standard batteries so I won’t have to worry about buying expensive replacement batteries from Nintendo. I can also have a pair of batteries in the charger at the same time as I am using another pair in the GBA unit so that I can continually use the GBA. The EDN article Gaming as Serious Business describes potential and actual applications of the Game Boy as an embedded system.
Stay tuned for further information on the progress of this project.
Saturday, June 5, 2004
Tuesday, June 1, 2004
I am geek
I just found out about ctags for vi today and it made me the happiest person on earth! I am geek!
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Some New Info
I have been busy lately! It has been a good busy. I finally got a job. I am working for SigmaTel. They are a semiconductor company here in Austin. I had another offer in California as a Contractor making a little bit more but the cost of living probably would have ate up the difference. The offer in California would have been just north of San Fran near the Nappa Valley area. NICE, right! Well, I wanted a full time position. I just do not enjoy interviewing. Life is full of choices, you know. It would have been quite an experience I am sure.
The other big news in my life is that I proposed to Christine. I am still waiting for an answer but I am hopeful. JK :) She said yes. It was a pretty interesting proposal that I will go into more at a later date. She will be moving to Austin in a couple of months. She was able to transfer with her company to do her stuff in the southwest. :) So as you can geuss life is pretty good.
The other big news in my life is that I proposed to Christine. I am still waiting for an answer but I am hopeful. JK :) She said yes. It was a pretty interesting proposal that I will go into more at a later date. She will be moving to Austin in a couple of months. She was able to transfer with her company to do her stuff in the southwest. :) So as you can geuss life is pretty good.
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Yahoo Rules
Why Yahoo Mail Rules:
- Integrated into my homepage along with all my other links and information that I use
- Same interface available worldwide
- It automatically scans all attachments and downloads for viruses without having to purchase or download additional software and updates to every box that you own or will use.
- Will be my address for the rest of my life regardless of who my ISP is
- FREE (as in beer)
- Very, very little spam makes it into my inbox
- No software running on your machine
- Impervious to simple buffer overflow hacks and attacks
- No software to update ever
- OS independence!!!
- Address book is not on your local machine and therefore if your machine is compromised it will not spread to everyone you know
- Much less obtrusive advertising than other free email providers (mail.com)
- Not owned by a predatory monopolist (hotmail.com)
- It just works! You don't have to know anything about computers. Isn't that what everyone really wants out of a tool (mac)?
Why Yahoo Mail Sucks:
- It might be a bit slower than other locally run email programs especially if you are trying to access your email through a low bandwidth connection.
- There are potentially more privacy concerns with storing all your email on a remote server. However a novice or even intermediate computer user will probably leave themselves more open to privacy concerns than having them stored on yahoo's servers
- They are not saints and you still have to watch out for changes in there User Agreements. Like humans every company has the potential for great acts of evil and great acts of goodness. No company is always one or the other (except for Microsoft).
- Formatting of the messages is more limited
For my personal use I find that the positives far outweigh the negatives. I am almost always on a broadband connection so execution speed is not a problem for me. The limited formatting does not bother me. In fact I am a big fan of straight text emails as opposed to HTML emails. It’s a big waste of space if you ask me. Include the URL in the text if you must have some HTML. I am already running a browser so it will take me less time to click on a link than to have browser software running in addition to my email client. Those are my thoughts on Yahoo Mail.
- Integrated into my homepage along with all my other links and information that I use
- Same interface available worldwide
- It automatically scans all attachments and downloads for viruses without having to purchase or download additional software and updates to every box that you own or will use.
- Will be my address for the rest of my life regardless of who my ISP is
- FREE (as in beer)
- Very, very little spam makes it into my inbox
- No software running on your machine
- Impervious to simple buffer overflow hacks and attacks
- No software to update ever
- OS independence!!!
- Address book is not on your local machine and therefore if your machine is compromised it will not spread to everyone you know
- Much less obtrusive advertising than other free email providers (mail.com)
- Not owned by a predatory monopolist (hotmail.com)
- It just works! You don't have to know anything about computers. Isn't that what everyone really wants out of a tool (mac)?
Why Yahoo Mail Sucks:
- It might be a bit slower than other locally run email programs especially if you are trying to access your email through a low bandwidth connection.
- There are potentially more privacy concerns with storing all your email on a remote server. However a novice or even intermediate computer user will probably leave themselves more open to privacy concerns than having them stored on yahoo's servers
- They are not saints and you still have to watch out for changes in there User Agreements. Like humans every company has the potential for great acts of evil and great acts of goodness. No company is always one or the other (except for Microsoft).
- Formatting of the messages is more limited
For my personal use I find that the positives far outweigh the negatives. I am almost always on a broadband connection so execution speed is not a problem for me. The limited formatting does not bother me. In fact I am a big fan of straight text emails as opposed to HTML emails. It’s a big waste of space if you ask me. Include the URL in the text if you must have some HTML. I am already running a browser so it will take me less time to click on a link than to have browser software running in addition to my email client. Those are my thoughts on Yahoo Mail.
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Imagine a World...
Imagine how different our world would be if the person that the majority of Americans had wanted to be president the 2000 election had become our president...
I started thinking about this again after I read an article about another recount in Florida where Dick Gephardt beat Kerry 2-1! Bush won in Florida by 537 votes.
The next scary thing to think about is the fact that with some electronic voting machines (one of which I voted on yesterday) there is no capability for a recount because there is NO PAPER TRAIL! This is a very scary situation in which hackers could very easily decide an election and nobody will ever know what happened. I made a stink about this at the polling station (probably not the right venue) and then went home and wrote to the Secretary and to the paper asking them to fix this problem. And they say Window$ has security holes!
I would ask anyone that votes on eletronic voting machines to write their Secreatary of State to demand that there votes be verifiable.
I started thinking about this again after I read an article about another recount in Florida where Dick Gephardt beat Kerry 2-1! Bush won in Florida by 537 votes.
The next scary thing to think about is the fact that with some electronic voting machines (one of which I voted on yesterday) there is no capability for a recount because there is NO PAPER TRAIL! This is a very scary situation in which hackers could very easily decide an election and nobody will ever know what happened. I made a stink about this at the polling station (probably not the right venue) and then went home and wrote to the Secretary and to the paper asking them to fix this problem. And they say Window$ has security holes!
I would ask anyone that votes on eletronic voting machines to write their Secreatary of State to demand that there votes be verifiable.
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
Now Time For Some FUN!
Well it seems as if the primary is all but wrapped up. Now its time for some fun! Its time to get president Bush out of Washington. To quote a bumper sticker I saw the other day:
"Save the environment: Plant a bush back in Texas!"
I received notification of a chance to help do just that and I signed up to volunteer with moveon.org. I would encourage others to do the same. I know that many of you do not have as much free time as I do but I would ask you to give what you can. You can volunteer at the following link http://www.moveon.org/pac/pledge/?id=-3126228-MqNDrCFbBTfbnXPySvNynA . Please help get the US back to the people or at the very least away from Bush.
Here is an interesting link I site I found today.
"Save the environment: Plant a bush back in Texas!"
I received notification of a chance to help do just that and I signed up to volunteer with moveon.org. I would encourage others to do the same. I know that many of you do not have as much free time as I do but I would ask you to give what you can. You can volunteer at the following link http://www.moveon.org/pac/pledge/?id=-3126228-MqNDrCFbBTfbnXPySvNynA . Please help get the US back to the people or at the very least away from Bush.
Here is an interesting link I site I found today.
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