Software: Windows 8 works for me (so far)

I upgraded 2 home computers to Win 8 on the weekend.

One was my "main" homer laptop, and the other was my wife Jo's (VA3JOC) daughter's (she was visiting on the weekend). The interesting thing is that when she saw mine, she thought it looked "very cool" and just had to have it. I spend a few minutes showing her how to use it, and she loved it.

I did not find ANYTHING that I could not do (but note I have not tried a lot of ham sw yet). A couple of things I had to do a quick google for, but no problem. The new interface takes a few minutes to get used to, but I like it. The integration of old and new UI is a little weired, but that seems to be the only way that they could provide and environment to run old apps (all I have tried so far do). The switching back and forth is clean, and both old and new apps can be active at a time.

The online install and keep your data option worked fine for me (but I did have a data backup just in case :-)

IMHO bottom line is that kids/teens/young adults are going to love it (especially on a tablet), as will any "geeks" that love change. People who do not adapt well to change (i.e. don't like it when there cutlery is on the wrong side of the plate) will hate it.

If you bought (or buy) a new computer between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 you can upgrade online for $14.99 US at

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows/upgrade-offer

If you have an older computer you can upgrade for $39.99 US (for now) at

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy

p.s. have not been too active here later, but my basement finishing project is now 99% complete (just like they say in SW projects :-) All the furniture is in place in all the rooms, stuff stored away in closets and shelves (but needs some re-organizing). Just have to put up the projector in screen in the "home theater", install some taps and do some caulking in the bathroom. I am now starting to get the new shack sorted out and everything hooked back up. Should be back to some serious hamming and hacking soon!

Eric Pierce VA3EP - See the Disclaimer in the Introduction


© Eric Pierce and "VA3EP Amateur Radio And Other Geek Pursuits", 1952-2099. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eric Pierce and "VA3EP Amateur Radio And Other Geek Pursuits", with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Raspberry Pi - GPIO buffer and Webserver Questions

Doug emailed me with some questions:

> These days, embedded control generally means a web page for monitoring and controlling the device.

Well, IMHO the rPI makes this VERY easy, see

http://ve3epp.blogspot.ca/2012/08/raspberry-pi-display-time-on-rpi-web.html


> Need a small board that has a header that plugs directly into the rPi header

Check out this:

http://adafruit.com/products/914

This was mentioned in 

http://ve3epp.blogspot.ca/2012/08/raspberry-pi-home-brew-breadboard.html



> ... buffers for the GPIO lines -- not sure how to address direction.

IMHO Easiest to dedicate lines for out and in. Take a look at this:

http://ve3epp.blogspot.ca/2012/08/raspberry-pi-safely-interfacing-to-gpio.html (first part)

http://ve3epp.blogspot.ca/2012/08/raspberry-pi-why-74hc14n.html

I bought 10 74HC14N off eBay from a cdn supplier for $0.50 each. Looks like he still has some:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lot-2-74HC14N-Hex-Inverter-Schmitt-Trigger-Inputs-7414-QTY-2-/110787294662?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item19cb6ff5c6



> I am thinking seriously of included a dedicated Rs232 interface -- I am a
> big fan of using RS232 for automation interfaciing ( it is reasonable
> robust, and you can always go debugging without a lot of special equipment

Yes, I like good old RS232. If you don't need the full +/-12 volt swing, you can just do a 3.3 to 5 v ttl conversion. See above. Also see:

http://ve3epp.blogspot.ca/2012/08/raspberry-pi-more-about-serial-33v-ttl.html


> I am also interested in 1-wire interface.

Have not done much with this yet, but a lot of people have, see here



You may get the idea that reading some of my old blog posts MAY be useful :-)


Eric Pierce VA3EP - See the Disclaimer in the Introduction

© Eric Pierce and "VA3EP Amateur Radio And Other Geek Pursuits", 1952-2099. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eric Pierce and "VA3EP Amateur Radio And Other Geek Pursuits", with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.