Matt's Nifty Projects

• POHPIC: Production PIC Programmer
• RSWG: Rotating Sprocket Wheel Lissajous Generator
• DSA2D: Discrete Logic Dual Slope Analog to Digital Converter
• PIC Based Imaging Sonar
• Walking Robot
• TiniGPS: A web accessible GPS receiver
• Scanned Manuals
• Powder Coating Booth

Design Quality

Conceptual integrity: The design is as simple as necessary and is an elegant solution to the problem. It's conceived by no more than four minds.
Abnormal conditions: The design responds in a controlled and predictable manner to abnormal conditions.
Standard performance: The design meets all standard application requirements, not just the specification.

• Matlab Math software, though pricey. In my ample spare time I will be trying out Octave.
• CCS Compilers Full disclosure: they gave me a copy to evaluate in exchange for the link below, but I'm going to look at it as honestly as possible. I will post a review once I've had some quality time with it.
• MPLAB Pretty much the most important tool to have if you're using a PIC.

• Tektronix 543A oscilloscope- and amazingly, it works, though the potentiometers are a bit flaky, and the triggering is crappy. To help it along I also have the plug-ins:
  • Type CA
  • Type H
  • Type 53/54C
• Tektronix 11402 Digitizing Oscilloscope. Probably paid too much for the mainframe on eBay (I bid without looking at the shipping, doh!), but it is a really nice scope. If only it was the scope I spent so much time on when I worked for the Army, a DSA602A- That scope kicked ass. We even used it for a while as the receiver for a Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Synthetic Aperture Radar. It came without any plugins, but I was able to pick up:
  • 11A34 4 input plugins (2 of 'em).
  • 11A33 Differential comparator
• Tektronix 7904 Oscilloscope. A kick-ass analog scope with a 500MHz input bandwidth. For the times you need an analog scope but you just can't afford a digital scope that would emulate an analog scope. On it, I have:
  • 7A16A vertical plugins (2)
  • 7B92A Horizontal plugins (2)
• Hewlett Packard 1653B Logic analyzer. Another eBay find that was too good to be true- the seller promised that it had the pods... but it didn't. It was really cheap, and in the end, the refunded the not insigificant shipping in consideration, so they ended up getting positive feedback.
• Stereo microscope and stand. This was a Craigslist find, and I had to figure out how to mount the microscope to the stand, but some work with poplar, a sander, drill press and so forth, came out with a pretty good solution.
• Dumont 1100P oscilloscope- dead. It was working in XY mode when I stored it, but I finally got a reproduction of the manual, and now I don't even get a trace. Gonna be harder to fix now. But on the other hand, it should be worth it, since it is a 100 MHz oscilloscope, which is better than my Tektronix boatanchor.
• General Radio (GR) 1191B counter- beautiful, but dead. All the nixie tubes work, but it does little but contribute to entropy. I've also been looking for documentation for this, so if you have something that could help, I'd appreciate anything you could offer.
• OS-8E/U oscilloscope- Military, made under contract by Carol Electronics, Martinsburg, WV. It is a bit flaky, but it works. It is a nice conversation piece. I said it works, I didn't say it worked well. Thanks to the actions of a generous fellow named Manny (and my own effort in the scanning), I now have a manual for it- from 1954, revised in 1958 (you can get it from the "manual" link above).
• TS352 B/U Multimeter- another piece of military test equipment that works really well, though I'm afraid I'll never be able to find new batteries for it, though there are some work-arounds with traditional batteries that I need to try.

This page was last modified 53 weeks ago, on Wed Mar 4 2009.