Yep, it's out! This exciting new update to KSP adds docking and many new parts to the game, as well as marking the end of the "sandbox-only" game-play. Next update we will see the beginnings of a campaign in the works, as well as new features such as money, crew training, and things like that.
Unfortunately, this update is probably one of the buggiest ever released. In fact, unless all the settings are turned way way down, the game crashes every other craft launch. I have reason to believe that HarvestR is working on a hotfix for this issue, as it is preventing a rather large portion of the playerbase from playing, myself included. As soon as this is taken care of, I will try to get some screenshots uploaded for you all to gawk at!
The MATE ROV Competition is starting to get going again, in preparation for the 2013 contest. I have been the Public Informations Officer of a Ranger team for 3 years now, and so I have finally go it through my thick skull that it is important to begin research and concept designing earlier rather than later. To this end I have started to experiment with the Arduino microcontroller environment. My MATE team has always favored Arduino microcontrollers for their simplicity and versatility, not to mention the fact that there are hundreds of open source libraries and code examples available on the Web. By the way, I may use some MATE ROV terms, but I'm not going to explain everything. If you are interested in the MATE ROV competition, by all means visit their website: www.materover.org Arduino Rev 3 The Arduino Rev 3 has excellent functionality for pretty much any prototyping or microcontroller application you can think of. My goal is to use the R3 with multiple sensors, and display data from the sensors on either a Topway LMB162ABC 16x2 LCD display, or a Nokia 5110 84x84 GLCD screen.
In past years, the MATE competition has had a limit on the number of screens/displays used by a Ranger team. However, the rule manual isn't clear whether this includes small screens like the Nokia 5110, or just large monitors used for camera/diagnostics.
 Nokia 5110 I would much prefer to use the Nokia 5110 over the Topway display, because of its higher resolution. The ability to read data from multiple sensors at once verses scrolling data on a small screen is very desirable, especially in the timed MATE competition environment. With only 15 minutes to complete all the tasks, every spare second counts. With the Topway display I theoretically can display data in real-time from two different sensors at once. If I added a button or rotary switch I might be able to switch between sensor readings from up to 6 sensors, limited by the number of Analog input pins on the Arduino. With the Nokia I might be able to view even more data at once, perhaps 4 or more sensors in real-time.
I managed to have the display read sensor data from a photoresistor very easily, much to my own delight. Of course, this is all just experimental. I also have an Arduino Mega 2560 at my disposal, and I may end up using that in the actual ROV. And we would pretty much never have use for a light sensor, unless the MATE folks decided to throw in a new mission with that as a goal. What would be much more realistic would be measuring temperature, with the use of a thermistor. Thermistors are also analog, and function very nearly like a photoresistor. The difference between the two is that the photoresistor's resistance changes with varying light levers, whereas the thermistor's resistance changes based on temperature changes.
I have not been able to find anywhere, including on the Internet, how to use a thermistor to give a semi-accurate temperature reading. I plugged it into the same circuit as you see above, using a 10k resistor in line to ground. However, at room temperature the Topway displays 14. What does this mean? Exactly what value is this, and how to convert it to degrees Celsius? There are plenty of tutorials on the Internet about converting to Celsius, but none of them make sense in a way for me to use them with the Topway. If anyone who reads this post has an idea on how to use a thermistor with the Topway, please leave a comment and I will get back to you right away.
The Ultimate goal with this current experimental project is to have the Topway circuitry permanently soldered to its own PC board so as to eliminate all the messy wiring, and to be able to display data from two different sensors at once. However, I have had issues with connecting all the leads on the board. After I get some desolder braid and finish getting that put back together, I will upload some more pics of my project.
I will also upload some pics of the Nokia plugged into one of my Arduinos after I get it in a few days. Should be interesting, and hopefully won't be as difficult to get connected to the Arduino.
A photograph of a sign near Saugatuck, Michigan. C'mon, Democrats! Open your eyes and actually find out what has been going on over the last 4 years!
Yup, I'm back! I plan on uploading more pics of all the stupid things I'm doing these days. In fact, right now I'll give you a little update on the Nerd's life.
So, SLC has been over for a couple months now. What a blast! As a California 4-H Technology Leadership Team member, I had the responsibility to help take pictures and video for the afterglow, teach a workshop, and generally help out wherever someone needs tech support. Other than that, I got my own room and had basically no bedtime! This did lead to some rather tired days though. Ah well, I can't wait until next year!
I finished my Eagle Scout project with literally only a couple hours to spare.Now I need to hurry up and get a Board of Review going, before my 3 month limit expires. I'm not looking forward to it. Too much of my recent life has been spent by adults in authority shaking me around to suit their desires. :(
September was my county's County Fair. I had been raising a goat since July, working with it, walking it, and generally fattening it up to auction it off at the Fair. I also sent out about a dozen "buyers letters", with the intent of drawing bidders to the auction to bid up my goat. In the end, none of the companies I sent a letter to actually bid on my goat, but to other very generous bidders bid my goat up to $7.50/lb! Wow! I must say that the feeling of earning money in that way is very satisfying. Although if it comes to that, it is probably way faster to just get a job. :P
I've been playing a few new PC games recently, and I'll list them here. But I think you guys can all wait for a real inside look at them, right? I think I'll highlight a new one every couple days or so. I've been playing Descent 3, Minecraft, World of Tanks, Tribes Vengeance, Tribes: Ascend, Need for Speed World, and KSP. Look forward to more about these in the coming weeks!
0.16 has finally been released! Some of the new additions have been new larger parts, including fuel tanks, engines, and boosters. Also added were EVA's! That's right, now you can land on the Mun and control your crew members outside of your spacecraft!
Here is the second part of my construction of Mini Morgul. It's coming right along! I spent a couple hours on the reactor; D3Edit doesn't have an Undo function! :( Oh well, it's getting close to done now. I still need to playtest the Reactor Room, and change the atrocious textures.
This is the "Mini" version of this level, although the normal sized version will probably look quite different. This is my first D3 level, more to come!
I don't think most people even remember or know about Descent these days, but it was truly a revolutionary game back in its time.
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