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Got the NeoPixels working
Date: 3/3/2016 Tags: mc2	I've got around to working on the MC2 again. Last I got up to was getting the NeoPixels working and for some reason none of them would light up. To isolate the issue I used the bread board to step the data signal from 3.3v up to 5v. As you can see it works great. Now I know the NeoPixels themselves, and their connections are good I can get to work finding the issue on the peripheral board.
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Core Text LOL
Date: 3/2/2016 Tags: scribe mac	Sometimes you just have to laugh. I let XCode 7 install. And now I get the choice of the 10.11 SDK or the 10.11 SDK. Apple have finally removed the ATSUI API I was using to draw text in my Mac ports, causing compilation errors. So time to pull out the partially complete CoreText implementation and get that working. Not quite there yet ;)
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Merry Christmas
Date: 24/12/2015 Tags: scribe linux	I think for the first time ever? There is a simultaneous release of Scribe on 3 different platforms: Windows, Mac AND Linux. The new v2.1.3 build is tri-platform. The Linux (x64) build is a GTK2 app and runs ok on Ubuntu and Arch. Well that's all I've tested at this point. It also runs on a Raspberry Pi 2 although it's a little slow. I know because I got bored and tried building it while working on some MC2 stuff. Links to the i.Scribe builds: Win32 Mac32 Linux64
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Portable OpenSSL for Linux
Date: 21/12/2015 Tags: shared-object linux openssl scribe	A year ago I worked out how to make a portable build of OpenSSL for Mac. And now with the imminent release of the Linux build of Scribe I need to do the same with the Linux build of OpenSSL. After downloading and unpacking OpenSSL I configured it with: ./config shared -DPURIFY The reason for adding the -DPURIFY #define is to suppress valgrind errors related to uninitialized memory usage. Once that is built I had a look at the shared object paths with ldd: matthew@ubuntu:~/Downloads/openssl$ ldd ./libssl.so.1.0.0 linux-vdso.so.1 => (0x00007ffc0e197000) libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f5c5ab6c000) libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f5c5a7a7000) libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f5c5a5a3000) /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f5c5b1c1000) So it's not portable yet. I initially tried using the chrpath command but it can only modify existing RPATH records. My binary doesn't have any RPATH yet. So that didn't work. The next thing I tried was the patchelf command from here: http://nixos.org/releases/patchelf/patchelf-0.8/ After building and installing I issued this command in the OpenSSL folder: patchelf --set-rpath '$ORIGIN' ./libssl.so.1.0.0 Now to check if libssl pulls in the local libcrypto: matthew@ubuntu:~/Downloads/openssl$ ldd ./libssl.so.1.0.0 linux-vdso.so.1 => (0x00007ffcdce86000) libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /home/matthew/Code/Scribe/trunk/./libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f39b99d8000) libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f39b9613000) libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f39b940f000) /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f39ba0a5000) Yes! Now this build can be installed in the same folder as the Scribe binary and Scribe will use it without interfering with the system OpenSSL which is often out of date, or not built with -DPURIFY or missing.
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Portable OpenSSL for Linux

Date: 21/12/2015
Tags: shared-object linux openssl scribe

A year ago I worked out how to make a portable build of OpenSSL for Mac. And now with the imminent release of the Linux build of Scribe I need to do the same with the Linux build of OpenSSL.

After downloading and unpacking OpenSSL I configured it with:

./config shared -DPURIFY

The reason for adding the -DPURIFY #define is to suppress valgrind errors related to uninitialized memory usage.

Once that is built I had a look at the shared object paths with ldd:

matthew@ubuntu:~/Downloads/openssl$ ldd ./libssl.so.1.0.0 
	linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007ffc0e197000)
	libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f5c5ab6c000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f5c5a7a7000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f5c5a5a3000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f5c5b1c1000)

So it's not portable yet. I initially tried using the chrpath command but it can only modify existing RPATH records. My binary doesn't have any RPATH yet. So that didn't work. The next thing I tried was the patchelf command from here:

http://nixos.org/releases/patchelf/patchelf-0.8/

After building and installing I issued this command in the OpenSSL folder:

patchelf --set-rpath '$ORIGIN' ./libssl.so.1.0.0

Now to check if libssl pulls in the local libcrypto:

matthew@ubuntu:~/Downloads/openssl$ ldd ./libssl.so.1.0.0 
	linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007ffcdce86000)
	libcrypto.so.1.0.0 => /home/matthew/Code/Scribe/trunk/./libcrypto.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f39b99d8000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f39b9613000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f39b940f000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f39ba0a5000)

Yes! Now this build can be installed in the same folder as the Scribe binary and Scribe will use it without interfering with the system OpenSSL which is often out of date, or not built with -DPURIFY or missing.

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Scribe 2.1
Date: 27/10/2015 Tags: scribe	Well it's been most of a year since I said anything about Scribe v2.1, and the list of changes hasn't moved forward much in that time. There are a few reasons for the slow progress, but it mostly boils down to: Working on various music projects, including a audio/video mix down of a band that shot a live set earlier in the year and a cover of New Day. Working on the MC2 foot controller. And the old RSI is back to haunt me. Anyway there is some good news. The integration of Aspell is complete. Scribe v2.1 will come pre-loaded with a spell check and it will download and install dictionaries on the fly with no user intervention. Well you'll need an internet connection for that part, but once installed it'll work offline. Secondly I'm in the middle of doing a fairly thorough rewrite of the Help files. Which includes fixing some things in the HTML rendering. Reviewing all the parts of the application that have "Help" buttons (or should have "Help" buttons) and making sure they work correctly. Updating all the pages with current information. It's actually a big slab of work. Lots of cross referencing things and checking the UI and source code so I accurately describe the functionality. I'm not much of a tech writer so it's tedious for me. Anyway there is now a beta release online for v2.1. I look forward to getting feedback on what works and what doesn't.
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MC1 flash procedure update
Date: 19/10/2015 Tags: mc1	The original MC1 flash procedure involved having to use an actual parallel port. For this reason I have kept an old PC running XP around. Just to flash the firmware from time to time. As it didn't work so good on Windows 7 or pretty much any Mac. Then a few months ago someone was asking about the possibility of using a USB in circuit programmer like this. So seeing as they are dirt cheap on ebay, I bought one to try out. Compiling the code into AVR instructions is accomplished with the WinAVR tool chain. I'm using the latest release. However there is one gotcha when installing. Do NOT install it into a folder with brackets in the name, like say: C:\Program Files (x86)\WinAVR This causes make.exe to crash. No I'm not kidding. The next issue is the Avrdude binary that comes with the WinAVR compile is just a little too old to know about the usbasp programmer. So that needs to be updated to something recent. Just unpack that file into the bin folder of the WinAVR install, overwriting the existing avrdude files. Check that the version available on the command line is correct by running it without any arguments. Next the usbasp needs a driver to work in Windows (7 in my case). You can get that here. I didn't have much luck with the installer, but if you go into the Device Manager, right click on the usbasp device and install drivers from that menu. Then select the folder where you unpacked the drivers. On my machine the device driver takes 10 seconds to connect so give it time before trying to flash the firmware. Finally the actual command you use to flash the firmware is: avrdude -c usbasp -p m128 -U flash:w:main.hex Where 'main.hex' is the compiled binary. It's faster and easier than the old PonyProg2000 method, and scriptable. Just put it in the makefile. Less mucking around. Now I'll have to find another excuse to have an old PC lying around. Maybe LAN games with the lad? :D
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MC1 flash procedure update

Date: 19/10/2015
Tags: mc1

The original MC1 flash procedure involved having to use an actual parallel port. For this reason I have kept an old PC running XP around. Just to flash the firmware from time to time. As it didn't work so good on Windows 7 or pretty much any Mac. Then a few months ago someone was asking about the possibility of using a USB in circuit programmer like this. So seeing as they are dirt cheap on ebay, I bought one to try out.

Compiling the code into AVR instructions is accomplished with the WinAVR tool chain. I'm using the latest release. However there is one gotcha when installing. Do NOT install it into a folder with brackets in the name, like say:

C:\Program Files (x86)\WinAVR

This causes make.exe to crash. No I'm not kidding.

The next issue is the Avrdude binary that comes with the WinAVR compile is just a little too old to know about the usbasp programmer. So that needs to be updated to something recent. Just unpack that file into the bin folder of the WinAVR install, overwriting the existing avrdude files. Check that the version available on the command line is correct by running it without any arguments.

Next the usbasp needs a driver to work in Windows (7 in my case). You can get that here. I didn't have much luck with the installer, but if you go into the Device Manager, right click on the usbasp device and install drivers from that menu. Then select the folder where you unpacked the drivers. On my machine the device driver takes 10 seconds to connect so give it time before trying to flash the firmware.

Finally the actual command you use to flash the firmware is:

avrdude -c usbasp -p m128 -U flash:w:main.hex

Where 'main.hex' is the compiled binary. It's faster and easier than the old PonyProg2000 method, and scriptable. Just put it in the makefile. Less mucking around.

Now I'll have to find another excuse to have an old PC lying around. Maybe LAN games with the lad? :D

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