64-bit IThumbnailProvider, BBC BASIC matrices and clocks

Friday, 16th October 2009

Work commitments have left me with little time to pursue my own projects of late, hence the lack of updates.

A chap named Jeremy contacted me with problems relating to the IThumbnailProvider code I'd posted here before. We narrowed it down to a 64-bit issue, demonstrated by the fact that the thumbnails appeared in the file open dialog of a 32-bit application, but not in Explorer. Not having a 64-bit version of Windows to tinker with, I was unable to help, but he found the solution was to register the assembly using the 64-bit version of regasm. You can read more about his experiences on his blog.

I had made a mistake in the BBC BASIC (Z80) for TI-83+ documentation, describing the old coordinate system in the graphics documentation rather than the current one (which is more closely aligned to other versions of BBC BASIC). I have uploaded a new version of the documentation to ticalc.org. This build also includes some basic matrix operations via the MAT statement. This statement is rather incomplete, but I've run out of ROM space (not to mention time) to implement it fully. Still, the bits that are there are quite useful, and a half-arsed implementation is better than no implementation... right?

HT1632 Clock

On a whim, I purchased a 32×8 LED display on eBay which I've (very) slowly been turning into a remote-controlled clock. A Sony-compatible remote control is used to type in the time, after which you can cycle through different styles with the channel up/down buttons and change the brightness with the volume and mute buttons. I'm using a 4MHz PIC16F84 to drive the display, with a DS1307 responsible for time-keeping and a 32KB 24LC256 to store the font data and text strings.

As well as dates and times, I thought a thermometer might be a useful addition so I put together an order for a DS18B20. It's silly to just order one thing, so I bulked up the order with one of the snazzy new PICAXE-20X2 chips (yes, they run a BASIC interpreter but the new 64MHz clock speed is certainly impressive). I find PICAXE microcontrollers invaluable for prototyping, being so very easy to use! smile.gif

In an attempt to broaden my horizons, I also purchased two AVRs, as I have zero experience with these popular chips. I went for the two ends of the scale as offered by the supplier - an ATmega168 and an ATtiny13. Having lost a battle with PayPal's cart (it kept forgetting old items as I added new ones) I neglected to purchase a D-sub hood so I'll be waiting until I can go and buy one before I start assembling a programmer. I was intending on going for the simple SI Prog, but if anyone has any suggestions for variations I'd be interested in hearing them!

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