[Coco] Re: Coco Digest, Vol 10, Issue 24

[jdaggett at gate.net]

No

I  have word wrap enabled. 

james

On 8 Aug 2004 at 10:03, Kevin Diggs wrote:

Date sent:      	Sun, 08 Aug 2004 10:03:38 -0700
From:           	Kevin Diggs <kevdig at hypersurf.com>
To:             	CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts 
<coco at maltedmedia.com>
Subject:        	Re: [Coco] Re: Coco Digest, Vol 10, Issue 24
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> Hi,

> 

>  Is my mail reader broken? Does everyone else see this with REALLY

>  long

> lines?

> 

>      kevin

> 

> farna at att.net wrote:

> > 

> > You're right -- I forgot the joysticks are basically potentiometers

> > for voltage, not resistance. Which puts me back to how the heck I

> > intended to read resistance with them. I had a simple circuit and

> > short routine for that, think I got it from a Rainbow program, but

> > probably not the one I was thinking about. I don't recall now, was

> > around 10 years ago that I stopped. Since the MC-10 only has a

> > serial port for useable I/O, and the CoCo board is just to big,

> > there's no point in pursuing this idea. Unless it was mounted in the

> > trunk... but then you have 8-10 feet of cable going to and from I/O,

> > which would just add resistance and cause other problems... yes, I

> > seem to recall considering and rejecting that idea! There would be

> > 3-4 feet of wiring from under the dash to under the hood anyway!  Oh

> > well, these are some of the reasons I dropped the project, plus

> > cost. Looks like the only snae way to go about it would be to use a

> > separate PIC controller and LED display for each gaug!

>  e.

> >  That's probably why a Dakota Digital gauge setup costs $500 for a

> >  six gauge system. I doubt I could build one for half that, plus I'd

> >  have to learn the programming.

> > 

> > The idea of programming a VIC-20 for all this is plain scary! I

> > don't know of anyone who really LIKED Commodore BASIC, though many

> > tolerated it (or just didn't know any better). I've seen the LED

> > graph type gauges, but would rather have a numeric readout as it

> > would be more accurate. LEDs in 5 mph steps would be good enough

> > though.

> > 

> > Reading all this stuff from you guys does give me the idea again,

> > plus I've been looking at comercially available digital gauges and

> > going into shock. Digital gauge technology is ancient now, there's

> > no reason for it to be so damned expensive! One processor should be

> > able to handle it all with a graphic display. An old 386 or 486

> > notebook has the power, but can't relocate the screen so easy. Maybe

> > I could find one of the early 386 tablet type computers used. That

> > might work for another car, but the shape of the dash in my 63

> > Classic would have to be altered to much, and I like the vintage

> > look. Altering the dash that much would destroy the "feel" of the

> > car.

> > 

> > The hurdles are what's causing the lack of interest more than

> > anything else! The task just gets more daunting the more I think

> > about it in a rational way. If the circuits you have drive LED

> > characters I might be interested, but not interested LED bar graphs.

> > Two digit display should be adequate, though I think I'd go with

> > three for the speedo anyway.

> > 

> > --

> > Frank Swygert

> > Publisher, "American Independent

> > Magazine" (AIM)

> > *Elite* publication for those

> > interested in all

> > aspects of AMC

> > history,performance,restoration,etc

> > .

> > (AMC,Rambler,Nash,Hudson,Jeep,etc.)

> > http:farna.home.att.net/AIM.html

> > (free download available!)

> > 

> > -------------- Original message from coco-request at maltedmedia.com:

> > --------------

> > 

> > > Message: 3

> > > Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 22:36:32 EDT

> > > From: KnudsenMJ at aol.com

> > > Subject: Re: [Coco] MC-10 Questions...

> > > To: coco at maltedmedia.com

> > > Message-ID: <88.110f96e5.2e46ebb0 at aol.com>

> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

> > >

> > > In a message dated 8/7/04 9:09:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

> > > farna at att.net writes:

> > >

> > > > The other gauges, fuel level, engine temp, oil pressure, and

> > > > possibly volts

> > > (

> > > > haven't figured out how to do that one yet, the other three are

> > > > simple variable resistances that I know the ranges for) could be

> > > > slower. The oil pressure will have a back-up warning light. The

> > > > numbers displayed will have to be on a graphics screen to be big

> > > > enough to easily see. I'd probably use

> > > a

> > > > mechanical hour meter under the hood and forget mileage, unless

> > > > I can find

> > > a

> > > > stand alone odometer instead of an hour meter.

> > > >

> > > > Heck, I've forgot how I measured resistance now!! I remember

> > > > using the joystick D/A inputs, but that's all. Got the idea from

> > > > a game that used a series of push buttons for a Jeapordy style

> > > > buttons connected to one port.

> > > I

> > > > think each button had a different resistance and the CoCo could

> > > > tell which button was pressed. Might have to have the gauges

> > > > work in 5 or 10 unit increments, but would be close enough.

> > >

> > > I think you're forgetting something -- that the Coco's joystick

> > > inputs measure Volts, period. Resistor hookups are just voltage

> > > dividers of a known external reference voltage, into a dependent

> > > voltage that feeds to the A/D joystick inputs.

> > >

> > > To monitor your car's battery voltage, which ranges between 12 and

> > > 15 or so, use a pair of fixed resistors to divide it by 3, so that

> > > range becomes 4 to 5 V (remember, the Coco joysticks measure from

> > > 0 to 5 V, no more).

> > >

> > > I think a competitor, maybe Apple, used a similar scheme to the

> > > Coco's, but had one of the resistors built into it, so the

> > > joystick was just a variable resistance. Not nearly as flexible as

> > > our Coco (but then, what was/is?) --Mike K.

> > 

> > Message: 9

> > Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2004 21:08:00 -0700 (PDT)

> > From: Robert Emery <theother_bob at yahoo.com>

> > Subject: Re: [Coco] MC-10 Questions...

> > To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>

> > Message-ID: <20040808040800.65286.qmail at web81508.mail.yahoo.com>

> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

> > 

> > --- farna at att.net wrote:

> > 

> > > You know, as I was thinking about that digital dash again,

> > Sounds like someone's been bitten by the bug again... :-)

> > 

> > <snip>

> > > avg. mpg and estimated distance on remaining fuel).  I doubt the

> > > MC-10 could do the analog gauges, I'd be happy with a big digit

> > > speed and smaller digit gauges placed around the central speed

> > > readout. That would have to be a graphics screen too.

> > 

> > Since either way it's graphics... the analog gauge would probably be

> > a lot less work than drawing numeric characters. Does the MC-10

> > support semigraphics modes? What about the high speed poke?

> > 

> > Back when you first posted about your desire to do this but thought

> > the CoCo was too big, I was going to say a VIC-20 would be a good

> > choice (but you said you'd lost the desire)... I have one (VIC-20)

> > that I'd considered using for everything but the speedo/tach. Those

> > were handled by dedicated circuits found in Radio-Electronics from

> > the early or mid 80's. Still have 'em if you're interested and I

> > know of a ~$35 kit (locally available) which is almost the exact

> > same circuit, designed to drive LED's.

> > 

> > --

> > Coco mailing list

> > Coco at maltedmedia.com

> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

> 

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