Start with your libraries. If you try to browse your libraries in the 4.x Control Panel, you’ll get warnings about all the libraries that are too new. Make list of those libraries.

For each library on your error list:

• Open the library in EAGLE 5.x.
• Choose “File->Export…” and choose “Script” from the popup menu.
• Name the script file after your library (e.g. “analog_devices.scr”). I saved the script in the same directory as the library.
• Close the library.
• Move the library file (e.g. “analog_devices.lbr”) and backup files (”analog_devices.l#1″ through “analog_devices.l#9″) to a safe place.

For each script file (e.g. “analog_devices.scr”) you saved:

• Create a new library in EAGLE 4.x.
• Choose “File->Script…” and select the .scr file.
• Close the library. You’ll be prompted to save the library. Give it the same name as the original library.
• Delete the script file.

Now you’ve got your libraries rebuilt. Next up, your schematics. Download the ULP file “export-schematic.ulp” from the EAGLE Web site.

For each schematic file:

• Open the schematic in EAGLE 5.x.
• Choose “File->Run…” and choose the “export-schematic.ulp” file from where you downloaded it.
• The ULP will write out a file named “temp.scr”, in the same folder as the schematic file.
• Close EAGLE 5.x.
• Open EAGLE 4.x.
• Create a new folder for the 4.x version of your project.
• In the new folder, create a new schematic.
• Choose “File->Script…” and open the “temp.scr” script file you saved from EAGLE 5.x. It’ll take a while if your schematic is substantial. If you get questions about moving one net into another, say “yes”.
• Close the schematic, saving the file to the 4.x project folder you created, and using the same filename as your EAGLE 5.x project.

Next, your PCB layouts. Download my ULP file “export-board-layout.ulp” (derived from “export-board.ulp” from the EAGLE Web site).

For each board:

• Start EAGLE 5.x.
• Open your board file. Don’t do ANYTHING else at this point, or your export script file will get weird.
• Choose “File->Run…” and choose the “export-board-layout.ulp” file from where you downloaded it.
• The ULP will write out a file named “temp.scr”, in the same folder as the board file.
• Close EAGLE 5.x.
• Open EAGLE 4.x.
• Open the 4.x version of your schematic.
• Choose “File->Switch to board”.
• Allow EAGLE to “create from schematic”.
• Choose “File->Script…” and choose the “temp.scr” file you saved in an earlier step.
• Close the board, saving the file to the 4.x project folder you created, and using the same filename as your EAGLE 5.x project.

Whew. Not easy, but a whole lot easier than re-entering the schematic and board layout for a 100-component design… I hope this is helpful to somebody!

Well, I saw on SlashDot today that some researchers at Stanford plan to offer a Frankencamera, an inexpensive, open platform for still camera algorithm development. I’m anxious to see this camera produced and what people will do with it.

If you haven’t been following this project, the idea is simple. You’re at Maker Faire. You’ve never seen Make: TV before. You have a USB drive in your pocket. You walk up to our quaint, blinking machine, plug in your USB drive, choose an episode of Make: TV, and download it to your USB drive so you can take it home and watch it.

Here I am demonstrating it, appropriately enough, to John Park, the host of Make: TV.

And here’s an assemblage of video I shot of people using the dispenser.

We were still putting on finishing touches and tweaking code a couple hours into the first day of the expo, but once we got the kinks worked out, it hummed along nicely. About five percent of visitors had problems with our machine. We identified two circumstances: NTFS- or HFS-formatted drives, and FAT32 drives that appeared to have no partition table. If we do this again next year (if Make: TV Season 2 gets funded), we’ll definitely try to solve these shortcomings for in Dispenser 2.0!

Thanks to Nick at Twin-Cities Public Television for his support on this project. Thanks to Brian for his help coding the software. Thanks to Don and Jason of Dorkbot PDX for their ideas and material/moral support. Thanks to James Provost for whipping up some graphics on super-short notice. Thanks to my wife for her user interaction suggestions (many of which I stubbornly ignored at my peril). And thanks to my dad for his woodworking help and various material contributions.
]]> http://www.sharebrained.com/2009/06/09/make-tv-dispenser-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.sharebrained.com/2009/06/09/make-18-review-chronulator/ http://www.sharebrained.com/2009/06/09/make-18-review-chronulator/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:03:42 +0000 jboone http://www.sharebrained.com/?p=226 Well, my last post about Make Magazine turned out to be premature. The review of the Chronulator, slated for volume 17, was bumped due to space constraints. But in the latest issue, Make Volume 18, there is now a Chronulator review! You can find the review in the Toolbox section, page 159, titled “Like Clockwork”.

John Park, the host of Make: TV did the honors, and really dug the kit. Sadly, his most excellent Chronulieta cigar-box Chronulator, which he built for the review, was not pictured.

One editorial comment: I must defend my engineering prowess by mentioning that the Chronulator consumes 200 microamps, not 200 milliamps as the review states. At 200 microamps, that’s more than a year on two AA batteries!

The process has been slow-going. It took a while to design the user interface (big push buttons!), design a control circuit board, and set up a little Linux computer to run it all. Last weekend, we finally got to the step of building the cabinet. It doesn’t look like much yet, but just wait…

This is astounding craftsmanship. I must say I am humbled. I never imagined my modest little clock kits would be worthy of such incredible attention and craftsmanship. It gives me immeasurable delight to know I am, in some very small way, helping to bring these beautiful works of art into existence. I’m so grateful for the opportunity. Thanks to all of you.

Here’s a picture of John’s handiwork. Very nice!

If you have a Chronulator and haven’t sent us pictures or posted them to Flickr, what are you waiting for? Send them to ideas@sharebrained.com or post them under the Flickr tag “chronulator”.

Thanks again to everybody who’s been asking for Chronulators for months now. I hope you agree the new design was worth the wait.

I’m so excited and so relieved. And so tired. I was up until 4:30AM, attempting to resolve a bootloader problem. There were competing issues… I want the Chronulator to run on worn-out AA batteries, meaning approximately 1.8 volts. According to the Atmel microcontroller specifications, the chip can only run at 4MHz, at a voltage that low. But all the Arduino bootloaders are compiled to run at 8MHz, 16MHz or more. There’s the conflict. I had to recompile the Lilypad Arduino bootloader with a few tweaks. Messing with a crucial piece of code like a bootloader is rather nerve-wracking. So I tested, tested, and tested some more. I also had to mess around with the AVR microcontroller fuses — a risky affair, I’ve learned. I managed to brick one of my boards because I set the microcontroller fuses wrong. Fortunately, I was able to evolve a scripted process that will practically eliminate this sort of error as I burn the Chronulator software on each chip I ship.