A useful test device

[kareno]

To quickly test my latest monitor I programmed my PICxie box to output a test card pattern to an ultra bright LED.

The idea is you can hold it behind a new disk/drum to get an idea of what the final monitor will be capable of.

My PICxie box has a potentiometer connected to an analogue input and this is used to vary the frame rate so that I can just run the disk/drum motor off a fixed supply (i.e. no with sync)

I think such a tool could be built to look like a sonic screw driver! LED one end, frame rate knob the other. There could even be a multi-position switch on the side to select a test card!

A PIC can easily do this and could even do greyscales (or perhaps RGB).

Has anyone ever wished they could reach for something like that?

[Roland]

I think its a great idea - and I was just wondering what to do with some spare PIC chips when I stumbled across this post

On a similar but simpler note I've been thinking about building a simple LED flasher just to provide a light to manually synchronise the disk with. I find I keep turning the room lights on and off when experimenting with my non synchronised monitors and this doesn't work well when they are fluorescent tubes!



Roland
(been an awfully long time since I last posted here - but I'm slowly catching up on my reading )

[kareno]

The Orton labs have been busy! Not quite a sonic screwdriver though...

Roland, I'm sure I've seen your website on my travels. You made a monitor with a horizontally mounted nipkow...?

[Roland]

Looks great - and I see you've built a fair bit of flexibility into it. I've yet to look at programing a PIC chip to output an NBTV video signal. I'v done one or 2 basic PIC circuits - but my first proper PIC project was going to be a disk synchronisation mechanism.

Yes - my website is the one with the horizontal disk monitor. Happened a bit by accident - but the format works suprisingly well even with an 8" hand punched card disk. I think the CD disk backing it makes it ridgid enough.

Since then I've been working (very slowly) on a very conventional vertical monitor based around a club 12" disk purchased a few years ago. It has manual speed control and Klaas Robers excellent single FET driver - though I'm using an IRF540 as thats all I could get locally. After a lot of fiddling with LTSpice I've managed to build my best amplifier/LED array yet - though currently not working as I think I've blown the IRF540. Tonight's job is to fit the spare.

BTW very impressed with your Kerplunk mirror screw. There is certainly more to life than Nipkow disks

Roland.

[Lowtone]

It is a good idea, it could be nice too if it could also send the signal by wire

esit : you can add those too if you want