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There are a few things that you should check. First, check that all of the LEDs are facing the same way. There is a “collar” around the base of each LED, on which is one flat facet. Check that all of those facets are facing the same way.
The charlieplexing scheme for the Bulbdial is described in some detail in this article:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2010/on-the-design-of-the-bulbdial-clock/ Each green LED is connected between one of LED1-LED6 and one of LED7-LED9. Check to make sure that all of R1-R10 are inserted properly, and to make sure that there are no accidental connections between the LED lines– you can check at the vertical jumpers. You may also want to read the detailed schematic, to trace between the microcontroller pins and each of the vertical LED lines, to make sure that the correct amount of resistance is between them.The Larson scanner code is for use directly with avr-gcc and avrdude, not with Arduino.
I like both of the ideas– about alternating the dots, or not flashing them.
Another (more severe) idea would be to go into what we call “VCR mode,” where the whole clock flashes as though it has lost power and does not know what time it is.Another (less severe) idea would be to use the “nightlight” as an indicator. If it’s in the slow-fading sleep mode, it’s had sync within the last 6 hours, if on steady, within the last 24 hours, and if blinking, not in the last 24 hours.The lower-right dot is a little underused; it indicates AM/PM in the mode with the second spinner, and could be repurposed as well.So yes, something is definitely wrong with either the plug, socket or board. :(
Please contact our store directly to see about getting replacement parts:Nice! We have some of those GPS modules, and have considered adding this as a “standard” feature– the one thing that we’re really not sure about is how reliable it will be for people to get a good GPS fix indoors. We’ll look forward to seeing it on Github. :)
Yes, the power LED and direction LEDs will be lit if the board is receiving power from either the 9 V power supply or (if that is not connected) USB.
If the steppers are humming or energized (resisting motion), then the 9V power is indeed reaching the board. That’s by far the best indicator.Are you receiving any error messages within Inkscape?If Inkscape is not giving you any errors, it sounds like a connection problem, as though the 9 V power supply is not connected. I’d suggest *unplugging* the 9 V power supply, plugging it back in, and trying again. Also, make sure that the EBB lights up when only the 9 V power supply is plugged in, that is, without the USB cable plugged in.
The FTDI friend (a) will work, but the simpler USB/TTL adapter (b) will not work. As it says there, “This cable is not good for Arduino re-programming.”
It sounds like you may have a bum EBB; please contact our store directly so that we can set up an exchange for you: http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/contact
Unfortunately, the plastic on *some* of these LEDs is backwards, and we didn’t catch it before they shipped. I apologize for this; we probably should have noticed and included an erratum with the kit about it.
The correct solution is to install the LED as instructed, with the long lead into the square hole. However, the plastic may be backwards from how it is pictured.
You might start here, with one of our “Basics” articles about using LEDs: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2012/resistors-for-leds/
It looks like the problem is that Windows 8 requires a new type of “signature” on the driver installer.
Here is a possible workaround found on another site:
1. Windows Key + R
2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00
3. Click the “OK” button
4. System will restart to a “Choose an option” screen
5. Select “Troubleshoot” from “Choose an option” screen
6. Select “Advanced options” from “Troubleshoot” screen
7. Select “Windows Startup Settings” from “Advanced options” screen
8. Click “Restart” button
9. System will restart to “Advanced Boot Options” screen
10. Select “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement”
11. Once the system starts, install the drivers as you would on Windows 7I *think* that you are referring to the LEDs located above
D21, D31,D32, D42,D43, D53,D54, D64,D65, and D16.These LEDs are all connected to signal line LED7. Check that resistor R7 is installed and is soldered correctly. Check that vertical jumper LED7 is soldered correctly.If things are still not working, carefully check the pins of the microcontroller, and make sure that each pin is soldered neatly and that there are no excessively “blobby” connections there.The USB driver is not actually related to Inkscape, but to communication between your computer and the EBB driver board. I am in contact with the author of that driver about this issue, and I will keep you up to date.
StippleGen was tested under 2.0b6; I have not tested it under 2.0b7, and we do know that there are changes that affect the compatibility with some of our other sketches.
For very large numbers of points, StippleGen is very slow. Depending on your particular application, you may be able to speed things up by breaking the image into smaller chunks that you render independently, or by running StippleGen repeatedly, with a lower number of points in each test.For a much bigger speedup, I’m afraid that the ToxicLibs voronoi routines are likely the holdup; using a computer vision software package, for example OpenCV (which can interface to processing) might be able to create a very large improvement.
