Enabling Composite Video on the Mele A1000 Set Top Box (AllWinner A10)

Just a quick program to enable the composite video interface on the Mele A1000 Set Top Box.

 /***  
  * Small program to enable composite video (NTSC) on Mele A1000  
  *  
  * Based on information from   
  * http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/04/28/how-to-create-your-own-debian-ubuntu-image-for-mele-a1000-allwinner-a10-based-stb/  
  * which shows how to enable the VGA interface  
  *  
  * Copyright (C) 2012 Lawrence Yu  
  *  
  * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated   
  * documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation   
  * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software,   
  * and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:  
  *  
  * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of   
  * the Software.  
  *  
  * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO   
  * THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE   
  * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,   
  * TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE   
  * SOFTWARE.  
 ***/   
   
 // --------------------------------------------------  
 // Includes  
 // --------------------------------------------------  
   #include <stdio.h>  
   #include <fcntl.h>  
   
 // --------------------------------------------------  
 // Constants  
 // --------------------------------------------------  
   #define DISP_CMD_TV_ON       0x180  
   #define DISP_CMD_TV_OFF      0x181  
   #define DISP_CMD_TV_SET_MODE    0x182  
   #define DISP_CMD_HDMI_OFF     0x1c1  
     
   #define NOARG 0x00  
   
 // --------------------------------------------------  
 // Global Variables  
 // --------------------------------------------------  
   int g_display;  
   
 // --------------------------------------------------  
 // Functions  
 // --------------------------------------------------  
   void cmd(unsigned long cmd, unsigned long argval) {  
     // Variables  
       unsigned long args[4];  
       int      ret;  
         
     // Send the command  
       args[0] = 0x00;  
       args[1] = argval;  
       args[2] = 0x00;  
       args[3] = 0x00;  
       ret = ioctl(g_display, cmd, (unsigned long)args);  
       printf("Sent Command %02X(%02X) = %02X\n", cmd, argval, ret);  
   }      
   
 // --------------------------------------------------  
 // Main Functions  
 // --------------------------------------------------  
   int main(int argc, char const *argv[]) {  
     // Initialize the display  
       g_display = open("/dev/disp", O_RDWR, 0);  
   
     // Turn off the HDMI  
       cmd(DISP_CMD_HDMI_OFF, NOARG);  
   
     // Turn off the TV  
       cmd(DISP_CMD_TV_OFF, NOARG);  
     
       // Set the TV Mode  
       cmd(DISP_CMD_TV_SET_MODE, 0x0e);  
   
     // Turn on the TV  
       cmd(DISP_CMD_TV_ON, NOARG);  
   }  

Better Remote Desktop Resolutions on Linux

Did you know you can remote desktop into a linux machine and have the remote desktop resolution be much larger than the physical screen attached to the actual linux machine? I have a linux machine with an old 14" LCD that could only go up to 1024x768. My main development machine has 1600x1200 monitors. I found it was possible to have the remote desktop session be at the full 1600x1200 even though the monitor connected to the linux machine could only go up to 1024x768.

Simply use the following command:

xrandr --output VGA-0 --panning 1600x1200

Now your remote desktop session will be displayed as if it were on a 1600x1200 monitor. Development bliss...

If you primary monitor is not "VGA-0", replace "VGA-0" with your monitor. To find out the names of your monitors, just run xrandr without any parameters

xrandr

Creating a Production Rails 3.1 Server (Ubuntu 10.04 LTS)

The following are instructions on how to create a production Rails 3.1 Server using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Download the Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS 64 bit Server ISO from here and install it. Install the "LAMP Server" and "OpenSSH Server" packages when prompted.

Install prerequisites

sudo apt-get install build-essential libyaml-dev zlib1g-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev libopenssl-ruby apache2-prefork-dev libapr1-dev libaprutil1-dev

Download the Ruby source code and compile it

cd ~
mkdir ruby_src
cd ruby_src
wget http://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.9/ruby-1.9.3-p0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf ruby-1.9.3-p0.tar.gz
cd ruby-1.9.3-p0
./configure
make
sudo make install

Verify Ruby installed correctly

ruby -v

Expected output is "ruby 1.9.3p0 (2011-10-30 revision 33570) [x86_64-linux]"

Download the RubyGems source code and compile it

cd ~
mkdir rubygems_src
cd rubygems_src
wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/75573/rubygems-1.8.12.tgz
tar -zxvf rubygems-1.8.12.tgz
cd rubygems-1.8.12
sudo ruby setup.rb

Verify RubyGems installed correctly

gem -v

Expected output is "1.8.12"

Install Rails

sudo gem install rails

Verify Rails installed correctly

rails -v

Expected output is "Rails 3.1.3"

Install Phusion Passenger

sudo gem install passenger
sudo passenger-install-apache2-module

Configure Apache by adding these lines to /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

LoadModule passenger_module /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/passenger-3.0.11/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
PassengerRoot /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/passenger-3.0.11
PassengerRuby /usr/local/bin/ruby

Configure your rails application by adding these lines to /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, assuming the name of your app is Mytest. Make sure to change the ServerName to the name of the server.

      <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName www.yourhost.com
        DocumentRoot /usr/local/mytest/public
        <Directory /usr/local/mytest/public>
           AllowOverride all
           Options -MultiViews
        </Directory>
      </VirtualHost>
    

Restart Apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Modify the Gemfile to include execjs and therubyracer if needed. Then run "sudo bundle install"

Rails application housekeeping

sudo bundle update
RAILS_ENV=production rake db:create db:schema:load
rake assets:precompile
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Ruby On Rails 3.1 Cheat Sheet

* To create a new application use the rails new command. Replace MyApp with the actual name of your application.

rails new MyApp

---

* If running Ruby On Rails 3.1 on Ubuntu, you will encounter an error stating " Could not find a JavaScript runtime". To fix this locate the Gemfile in the root of your application and append the following two lines

gem 'execjs'
gem 'therubyracer'

then, to update the bundles run the following command

bundle install

---

* To run the development webserver for your application use the following command

rails server

Then from any web browser, navigate to port 3000 of your Ruby on Rails server. In my case the machine name is testror. Substitute with your server name or ip address.

http://testror:3000

---

* To manually work with the sqlite database, use the sqlite3 command followed by the name of the database file

sqlite3 development.sqlite3

To show a list of tables while inside sqlite use the .tables command

.tables

To exit sqlite use the .exit command

.exit

---

* To search for the first record which matches in a database table bound to a model use

@info = Info.find(:first, :conditions => [ "name = ?", "a"])

---

* Variable Scoping

$ - a global variable
@ - an instance variable
[a-z] - local variable
[A-Z] - constant
@@ - class static variable

How to shutdown ubuntu server properly

The right way to shutdown an ubuntu server is simply

sudo shutdown -h now

Notice the -h option. Without that the system doesn't really shutdown and you end up at the Recovery Menu which is really annoying on a headless server.

2.3 Drill Format in Eagle

Just a tidbit for anyone else who runs into this problem. To change EAGLE 4.16r2 to use a 2.3 leading zero drill format modify the following sections of the eagle.def file in your installation of eagle.  The eagle.def file is located in the bin directory of your eagle installation.  Relevant changes are shown highlighted in red.

[EXCELLON]

Type     = DrillStation
Long     = "Excellon drill station"
Init     = "%%\nM48\nM72\n"
Reset    = "M30\n"
ResX     = 1000
ResY     = 1000
;Rack     = ""
DrillSize  = "%sC%0.4f\n"        ; (Tool code, tool size)
AutoDrill  = "T%02d"             ; (Tool number)
FirstDrill = 1
BeginData  = "%%\n"
Units    = Inch
Select   = "%s\n"                ; (Drill code)
Drill    = "X%05.0fY%05.0f\n"      ; (x, y)
Info     = "Drill File Info:\n"\
           "\n"\
           " Data Mode         : Absolute\n"\
           " Units             : 1/1000 Inch\n"\
           "\n"

Just Why does 2.3 leading zero even matter?  I'm not sure it really even does anymore.  Many years ago when batchpcb and golden phoenix PCB first hit the scene they were pretty stringent on the drill file being a specific format.  I think the process of submitting PCBs has advanced far enough now that nobody may even care how screwed up the drill file is, but since I have always had good success sending it in the required 2.3 leading zero format, i figure why change a good thing.  I did recently send some boards to SeeedStudio in a quite messed up drill format and they processed it just fine so maybe nobody really does care anymore.

CGCC now at version 1.01

CGCC v1.01 is now available

small bug fixes

• Fixed a problem with postfix decrementor i.e. "x--" not working
• Added instructions in README to create symbolic link for CGCC.py

Link: CGCC v1.01