Tech Advice for all, and for all subjects

[mdmf007]

This is the place to drop your tech questions playa project or not in hopes that a burner would know the answer and be able to point you in the right direction.

Ill start - Anyone know why the "F" i keep getting "Runtime Error - do you want to debug?" in IE, especially on the BM home page? and is there an easy fix.

[DVD Burner]

have you installed all of the service release packs? and what are you running?
windows, winxp, osx?

The webteam are sticklers and pretty good about their code.

[mdmf007]

Windows XP Pro, on a P4 x2 at 3Ghz.

SP2 is onboard, and windows does its thing every night to update. so I am clueless.

thanks

[DVD Burner]

IE 6 or 7? and do you have Flash installed?

[BitterDan]

[DVD Burner]

Nice!

That was easy. Wish I had thought of that.

[BitterDan]

And there probably nothing wrong with their code. I assume it's validated HTML/CSS with a little javascript. IE loves to throw errors. You would only want that feature enabled if you were doing web development anyway.

[DVD Burner]

I dont think that's on by default is it?

Why was it turned on if it is the case that it was in the first place 007?

[BitterDan]

Yeah it shouldn't be on unless you turned it on or you have something like Visual Studio installed. Actually, I think installing Java SDK also flips that switch in IE.

[DVD Burner]

Yeah it shouldn't be on unless you turned it on or you have something like Visual Studio installed. Actually, I think installing Java SDK also flips that switch in IE.

Nope, I've never had that happen.


Hope I dont get jinxed.

[BitterDan]

There's always the old Microsoft standby:







Reinstall Windows

[DVD Burner]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


It ca be fixed. I"d be surprised if that was not the solution.

[mdmf007]

excellent - that solved my problems.

thank you very much

next problem

[Box Burner]

Started having video problems with the video and nothing seemed to fix it so I decided to remove the video card and re-enasble the onboard video card. When I opened the case the first thing I spotted was that the heat sink for the video card was lying in the bottom of the case. Anyone know what the best type of glue is to re-attatch the heat sink to the video processor?

[DVD Burner]

Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/PC-Cooli ... -Adhesive/

[BitterDan]

Hmm, are you sure the heat sink was "glued" on? Typically they are held in place by clips. If it is with clips then you will need to clean both the top of the processor and the bottom of the heat sink and reapply some thermal contact goop (you can get this at radio shack or any computer parts store) and then reclip the sink. If it is glued then I am not really sure because I have never glued one down. The glue would have to be able to withstand a lot of heat I would assume.

Additionally, you mentioned that the video had gone to crap already. If that's the case then the card is probably already fried. I've actually had a video card start smoking before and that was with a heat sink.

[DVD Burner]

Nice again.

[Dork]

And there probably nothing wrong with their code. I assume it's validated HTML/CSS with a little javascript. IE loves to throw errors. You would only want that feature enabled if you were doing web development anyway.

Actually, there is a call to a javascript function that doesn't exist. Bad coders! Bad!

[DVD Burner]

[DVD Burner]

Dork is really on it.


Awesome!


Great thread 007.
i'm sure that helped Dork and the webteam out.

[Dork]

So I have one... let's say I want to write a program that takes input from a couple hundred switches, and outputs to a couple hundred single-color LEDs. Is there a relatively simple hardware solution for this?

[BitterDan]

Way to go Dork. You stopped the momentum of the thread with a question too complex for us!

Seriously though, I am not sure I can help with this one but if you give a few more details I might give it a go. You say that you want a "program" (which I assume means computer driven) that takes the "input" from switches (this is where I get confuse, are these like push buttons?) and "output" to a colored light.

From the description I envision that you are working on something like this:

o = switch
! = light

oooooooooo --> !!!!!!!!!!
oooooooooo --> !!!!!!!!!!
oooooooooo --> !!!!!!!!!!
oooooooooo --> !!!!!!!!!!
oooooooooo --> !!!!!!!!!!

Maybe I am totally off base about what you are looking for but it seems to me that it's a 1:1 relationship between the switch and the light. If that is the case then there shouldn't be a need for a "program"; just a simple circuit that opens and closes on switch push.

Is this what you are looking for? If not, can you give any more detail without jeopardizing your project?

[mdmf007]

Id bug the guys that had the flame effects at about 9 30 and esplanade, it went woosh / woosh / woosh in patterns. They had some customs script written and an awesome scree based interface.

[DVD Burner]

Is Dork really serious or is he just trying to though everyone for a loop?

[Dork]

Sorry for the vague description. It's probably something I wouldn't actually complete so I was shy about explaining it in too much detail

It's not a simple 1:1 relationship - it's a bunch of on/off switches being read by a computer, then a bunch of LEDs being turned on/off by the computer in a sequence based on the inputs. It's not as simple as turning on one LED when the matching switch is triggered.

So basically, I need to be able to collect a bunch of on/off inputs and control a bunch of LEDs.

[stargeezer]

If you are serious about hundreds of inputs and outputs, if you have the skills, you would be better off designing a board rather than trying to buy one. A commercial product would be rather expensive. On the other hand, if you are just wanting to throw green stuff at the problem, you should look at Data Acquisition Cards, also known as DAQs. I have not seen one for the number of pins that you will need, but it has been a while since I looked. In a former life, I used to require something very similar, but I would design them for the specific application and I also had a corporation footing the bill. Depending on what this board connects to, you could significantly reduce your pin count and cost if you were to go with virtual switches on a monitor and toggle them with the mouse. On the output side, there are also some interesting options rather than using hundreds of I/O pins, but they also add complexity to the system.

[BitterDan]

Hmm, while I don't think I can solve your problem it does give me a great idea for a different project. I am going to tinker with a circuit board and lights myself.

[DVD Burner]

In Montreal they have a place called Addisons. They have the exact parts and all you are looking for and it's all at an excellent price. The place is awesome.
I cant remember what the web address is and I dont think they sell across the net but I will ask my friend and as soon as I get the info I'll post.
The place is well worth the time if you need any........ANY kind of electronic parts. Actually better than zacks when it was in san fran.

[BitterDan]

Hey Dork, would I be correct in the assumption that when a "switch" is pushed a series of lights would turn on or off depending on your program? Is pushing the switch a manual process (meaning that someone physically depresses a button)?

[mdmf007]

http://www.pyrosystems2000.de/pm2000.htm

we were using super expensive custom built stuff to proram explosions for a mine. Now we use off the shelf hardware built to control fireworks displays. he simple ones have 128 channels, and canbe timed to a hundredth of a second.

they have some other products available as well.