December 2008

Andrew showed us a program he wrote in Python. A free program, now in version 2.6, it is an elegant and simple language. Neville examined Oatley Electronics' K142 kits for driving stepper motors. Martin showed us a sound level meter with a three channel LCD display he made from a microprocessor. Wayne showed us a voltmeter and thermometer he built using the ADC converter in a PIC675. He programmed it to produce raster outputs of the measurements, and displayed them on the screen via the projector as a TV image.

November 2008

We made use of a new projector provided by our parent organisation, the Sydney PC User Group. It gives a better view with a wider screen, and can show photos using an SD socket and a remote control switch. Peter used these features to show some photos from his recent travels in Thailand. He also directed our attention to some free programs for PCB design listed in the September Elektor magazine, see http://www.elektor.com/panorama.

Wayne described some new applications he has made of the PIC, and discussed the PIC18F67J60. Andrew asked for suggestions for a small programming language for simple tasks, and mention was made of Python, Ruby, Rex, Perl, VB, AutoIT, and QT. Stuart showed the refinements he has made to his tiny language for the PIC. Les showed pictures of the CNC milling machine he made for his home workshop. He assembled it from a kit of modifications to a Taig milling machine. To mill an item he first draws it and its toolpaths in TurboCad, then manually writes the G-Code program, and runs it under Mach2.

October 2008

Steve showed some of the new features of the PICKit2. Martin showed his ET-ARM module and explained how to program  it, and also showed the Hope RF radio module. Andrew showed how he used two PICAXE08Ms to make a tester for the CR800 datalogger. Neville showed some movies of CNC lathes in operation, and reviewed Richard Wildey's Getting Started in CNC.

Bob showed how to register and login to the PIC Club webpage, so you can upload comments, articles, and pictures. Les described a data slicer filter he designed to improve radio reception. Martin showed the ET-ARM Stamp module, available from Futurlec.

August 2008

Alex demonstrated using HAPSIM, a software component simulator. HAPSIM simulates components such as buttons and leds in software, and can be used to run AVR microprocessor applications on a computer screen before committing to actual hardware. Stuart explained some details of his reduced instruction set language for PICs. Andrew discussed interfacing a PICAXE chip to the Xbee for wireless remote control, as described in http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/axe210.pdf .

July 2008

Peter showed us some articles from Elektor, EPE, and Silicon Chip magazines. Bob introduced us to Joomla, a webpage template that allows members to easily upload articles and comments. He proposed Joomla be used for the PIC Club website.

June 2008

Stuart continued his description of his tiny programming language for the PICs, that he introduced at the March meeting, this time showing us the interpreter. Peter showed some articles from the March Elektor magazine.

Martin showed the pressure/temperature monitor he built using an ATMEL HP03 sensor. He built it into a transparent floppy disk box, so all the components and the display could be seen from the outside without having to place components off the board and wire them up, and the flip lid gives easy access.

April 2008

Martin showed the accelerometer he built, using the ATMEL LIS3LV02D6 chip. He donated a couple of PIC display and development boards, which were auctioned off at a bargain price. Steve showed us Ted Rossin's website where a Logic Analyser based on a PIC873 is described. Andrew introduced Microchip's PIC24FJ family, a new range of high pin count (64/80/100 pin) devices with 64-256KBytes of flash memory. Les discussed the merits of the serial data formats FM0, FM1 and Manchester.

March 2008

Tony showed his stepper motor, operated by remote control. Stuart showed a tiny programming language he wrote for the PICs. He wrote an interpreter which is loaded into a PIC, enabling programs to be written in a few lines that would take several pages in Assembler.

February 2008

Steve showed his depth sounder alarm for a yacht, David discussed using the PICkit2 as a debugger.

January 2008

Tony showed the hardware he is developing for his solar tracker, Alex showed his Alpha system monitor that displays on a website environmental data of a remote site, and Neville suggested a User Language Program for the Eagle PCB Program.

2007 2009