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May 25, 2000

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This is where I put news from my main page when it doesn't fit. I think I'll try to keep at least two weeks worth of news on the front page, but don't hold me to that.

  • Wednesday, April 5, 2000
    You may have noticed the infrequent updates on this page. It is a frequent occurance where an individual gets excited about something, works on it really well for awhile, then the steam slowly peters out. This is the case here. I am working on other parts of the site, though, I just don't update thi main page as often as I ought.
    My HAT page has changed, as well as the CM17A (X-10 Firecracker) page.
    My wife and I had our first child Tuesday, March 21, 2000, which is also slowing me down quite a bit... Actually, I should say it's speeding me up quite a bit, but he takes all my time, so the speed increase isn't noticable to you good folks.
    My plans for this site are to move the PIC information, and possibly electronics info, to a directory off www.ubasics.com instead of having it under /adam/. I would like this to become more of a good information site than a personal site. If you have any suggestions, requests, rants, etc, email me about it.
  • Thursday, February 17, 2000
    Well, I was under the mistaken impression that I would have more free time if I took only one class this semester, but I didn't count on Lamaze or Water Aerobics, which I am now also taking. Despite this I've been able to get quite a bit of work done on my Home Automation Terminal. Hopefully it will continue to progress quickly. I imagine that the end of March and all of April everything will come to a standstill as Raelyn and I have our first child...
    As an aside, I have become a FatBrain associate to compliment my Amazon association, so I can now offer you two different places to get books from. The prices are usually the same, but some like the service of one above the other. Go to my Book section now!
  • Monday, January 3, 2000 (better known as 19100 to my counter script... ;-)
    Long time, no update. After tackling Physics and Calc III last semester while working full time, I've decided to take it a bit slower. This semester I'm only taking Differential Equations, and should have more time for electronics and this site. We'll see...
    I'm still thinking about the direction and content of the site. I am considering getting another domain name for all of my electronics and PIC stuff.
    MPJA has 2x16 backlit LCD displays that are only $3.95 apiece. They have a non-standard connector which allows only 4-bit interfacing, but it is still completely HD44780 compatible. I have purchased a few of those, as well as their Sanyo 4x40 LCD display, which I would like to make a serial terminal out of. It did not come with data, and the connector does not follow the industry standard, so I determined the pinout, and hooked it up. Further details at my (new) LCD page.
  • Thursday, October 14, 1999
    My home network is set back up (Finally!), so things are running more smoothly now. As noted above I've chosen to move this web site to another service, Digital Space, which is less expensive, and provides more capabilities (such as mysql). Now I have a chance at organizing all those PIC resources... To help pay for this site I've become am Amazon associate, and will be posting books around the site where appropriate. Tell me if they are disruptive! Also of note is that I am trying out the CC5X C compiler from B. Knudsen Data. Oh, and Raelyn and I are expecting a new addition to the family on April 9th...
  • Thursday, August 12, 1999
    I finally wired up the basement a bit so I can set my bench back up. When it's all said and done I might post a picture or two for those interested in my setup.
    I still haven't gotten to the GPS receiver. Moving makes one very busy. I did take some time last night to decode the protocol for the CM17A X-10 computer interface. I'd like to use it in other electronics projects for home automation...
  • Thursday, July 29, 1999
    Moving day is tomorrow! Hooray! Raelyn and I are excited.
    I bought a Trimble SVeeSix-CM3 GPS receiver from BGMicro a bit ago. I found out it doesn't work well with a number of amplified antennas, and am still trying to get the right one. Orbistar has Trimble antennas that work with it for $45 (US), so I should have one of those in the next day or so. I'll soon have a GPS page up, complete with my exact (within the bounds of SA) location for anyone who wants to send any cruise missiles my way.
    I've also received more X-10 stuff, and have decided to wait to move into the new place before playing with it. I'll end up setting up a win95 computer with it and the Microsoft phone system on it. I wish the MS phone had a FreeBSD client!! (hahaha...That'll be the day)
  • Thursday, July 15, 1999
    I ordered the free X-10 Firecracker kit and was impressed enough to purchase a larger kit. I figured that I would be unable to make a home automation system as inexpensively as they were offering it. Plus it's been hacked extensively, and there are a multitude of programs for them in nearly every common OS. Also see Linux Home Automation.
    Shrikumar, a student in the Computer Science dept. of University of Massachusetts announced "a really tiny implementation of TCP/IP stack and a really really tiny web-server." Which was built into a PIC12Cxxx. Skeptics abound, and I can't say either way whether it is real or not, but go here and see what he has so say. Go to slashdot.org to read what others have to say. Me, I say, "Spiffy Cool Neato!" Now I'm waiting to see if it's for real.
  • Tuesday, June 29, 1999
    I took a much needed vacation, and a short break from updating my site. I'm going to focus a litle more on my company's web site ( http://www.ubasics.com/ ) for a bit, but will also keep working on this. There really isn't anything there right now, but that will change.
    My wife and I are purchasing a condominium! Finally get out of apartments. This means that for a few weeks I will be doing very little with either site, but also will have more space to work in and 'do' electronics and computers. Plus a greater degree of control over what I can do to the building... ;-)
  • Wednesday, May 26, 1999
    Straightened out the web server so I shouldn't need the start page anymore.
    Added an overview of DMX-512 to Electronics.
    Reformatted much of this site, fixed some inexplicably broken links.
  • Thursday, May 20, 1999
    Copied & reformatted David Tait's PIC Archive and PIC Links for this site, he will no longer host them.
    My wife, Raelyn, put up her web site.
  • Monday, May 17, 1999
    I put up some preliminary information on the protocol used to communicate with TI's Graphing calculators, specifically the TI-89.
  • Thursday, May 6, 1999
    I added a conversation about rotary encoders I had with another person on Usenet. It is under Electronics.
  • Wednesday, April 21, 1999
    Well, I finally pulled some time together to beat some sense into this site. There should be some information in each area now. I've put my newest program, "Gateway", up w/ source code in Computers.

Everything on/in this site is copyright Adam Davis, 1999, except where otherwise noted