OpenCircuits:Community portal

Welcome to Open Circuits. This is a good place to talk about Open Circuits, as a whole.

We have 794 articles now. Yay!

Anti-Vandalism Bot

It is my opinion that this should be the top goal for this site to accomplish.

We recently updated the $wgSpamRegex ( http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:%24wgSpamRegex ). It should block nearly all of the kinds of spam we've been seeing in the past. (Use Meta:Sandbox for testing). --DavidCary 08:46, 6 June 2007 (PDT)

The problem is, that this is not a one time thing. It must be updated regulary, so it also works for new kinds of spam --SebDE

Seeing a lot of stubborn spammers. Can we implement some kind of ip blocking mechanism?, that blocks repeated spam ip's for a week or so. Here's a list of known spammer ip.

Blocking based on IPs might be usefull if it uses a maintained black or gray list, but the kind of IP blocking is used around here doesn't help much. --SebDE

Disabling edits from users that aren't logged in might help a lot: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Faq#How_can_I_prevent_editing_by_anonymous_users.3F --Mzandrew 14:16, 8 September 2007 (PDT)

DavidCary wrote: "We want a system in a way that makes it very easy for anyone to help us." on his User Discussion page.

But it wouldn't hurt if the creation of new sites would be logged in users only. (Would reduce the need to delete certain articles over and over again) --SebDE

Or if someone's not logged in, could we enable a captcha so that the spammers would at least have to do it manually? Here's the ReCAPTCHA extension for mediawiki sites: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ReCAPTCHA There's also the ConfirmEdit extension. http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmEdit --Mzandrew 13:38, 9 September 2007 (PDT)

That is way to overdesigned if you know what I mean. And just btw it is hell for accessibility. I would rather see the use other techniques like wgSpamRegex and the use of a maintained IP black list first before using such ugly things... --SebDE

Obviously other methods are not working, I think captcha could be a hell for accessibility, but it is only when editing. I think is much worst for accesibility the incredible amount of spam that is attacking the wiki than captcha (think seriously about it)Garrocha 10:43, 27 December 2007 (PST)

I have a whole bunch of PIC projects and things I think I can do to contribute to this Wiki, but the spam here is way way out of control. I'm looking at the change logs and I'm seeing 20+ spam edits per day. I'm not so sure I want to contribute if my contributions are going to be destroyed in a matter or days. I think requiring a logon to make changes would cut out most of the spam. At this point, the problem is so bad that making things alittle harder for people to make changes is probably worth the benefits.

Also, this isn't directly related to spam, but it would be nice if the site didn't put nofollow on all the URLs. I think more people would be willing to add project info pages to the wiki if they new it would make them more visable in search engines. The wiki is small enough at this point that if people start abusing this it would be easy to ban or delete their account( assuming the change is made to require a login to make edits) Mzoran 21:42, 14 October 2007 (PDT)

electrical mailing lists

Yahoo claims they have 1,831 electrical engineering mailing lists. What would be a good way of letting the people on those lists know about the Open Circuits wiki, without spamming them? --DavidCary 13:30, 31 May 2006 (PDT)

• Publish cold fusion howto :-)
• Send one email/week and only once per list. And be on topic, listen carefully for responses.

Freqmax 16:24, 30 July 2007 (PDT)

about Open Circuits

So, is there any connection between http://OpenCircuits.org/ , http://OpenCircuits.net/ , and this http://OpenCircuits.com/ wiki? --DavidCary 23:47, 13 June 2006 (PDT)

No. There is no connection between any of http://opencircuits.com and the other websites listed. Chazegh 02:55, 18 June 2006 (PDT)

web rings

Document an original microcontroller project and join a PIC webring, or AVR webring. 20 June 2006

audio electronics

Is there some other wiki for people to talk about audio electronics? Or is this Open Circuits the best wiki for talking about things like "Analog Devices AN-221: The Alexander current-feedback audio power amplifier" by Mark Alexander ?

I think I would prefer to offload all the audio electronics controversies to some other wiki (but which one?). Still, it would be nice to have some "tips for high-power electronics" here. I imagine that tips page would list the various quirks of high-power MOSFETs, BJTs, TRIACs, and IGBTs, and (given a particular motor or speaker or other load) how to select one over the others, and various ways of working around those quirks. --65.70.89.241 07:17, 10 August 2006 (PDT)

I just joined Open Circuits. I have been servicing and designing audio equipment for several years (Recording consoles a specialty) I hope you will have a section for audio electronics. I also work with video projection systems and theatrical lighting (stage struck at an early age) I play electric rock-blues guitar, so I also am interested in tube guitar amps (Marshall and Boogie). And there is a big difference in what a guitar player thinks an amp should do, and what a recording engineer wants an amp for. I think these are valid points for discussion. I've also got an interest in power supplies (my experience is mostly with linear, but I've started learning about switching designs). In fact that brings me to my question, I have some regulator designs based on the 723 that I'd like to share. How do I go about doing that? I built a replacement for a console /- 18V @6A supply when I couldn't find the original regulator devices. I used 723s with external series pass devices. The unit has been working for close to 10 years now, so I think the design is worth sharing. Is anyone interested?

I also research discrete op amps like the Jensen 990. I've been working (on and off for years) on a clone of that using more modern, easily available parts and devices. Anyone else? Finally, in response to the first entry in this section, I too read that application note in Analog Devices Audio/Video Reference Manual. My copy is dated 1992. I've repaired a lot of amplifiers, but haven't built any. If anyone else is hip to this amp I'd like to hear about it. It is a very unique design. I also like the A75 amp design from Nelson Pass and Norman Thagard, and the Leach Amp by Marshall Leach. The last two are pretty normal as far as design goes, not as adventurous as the Alexander with its current-feedback approach. Aloha, RAF--66.8.194.185 14:04, 18 May 2007 (PDT)

automotive electronics

Is there some other wiki for people to talk about automobile electronics? Or is this Open Circuits the best wiki for talking about things like "experimental Do-It-Yourself programmable electronic fuel injection controller"? Or should we just point people who want to talk ECUs (engine control units) to the MSEFI discussion forum, even though it sadly lacks a wiki? --DavidCary 22:36, 2 July 2007 (PDT)

inviting bloggers to open circuits

how to connect a JTAG probe to a Nokia phone

I'd like to invite bloggers such as GyrosGeier to edit OpenCircuits. Rather than just spamming him, I think he would be more inclined to help out if we answered one of his questions first -- such as "If you have information on how to connect a JTAG probe to a Nokia phone, please let me know." Maybe I should start a page on JTAG... --DavidCary 09:37, 22 September 2006 (PDT)

The Hacked Gadgets blog also has a bunch of cool electronics. --DavidCary 11:58, 5 January 2007 (PST)

red links

The default skin at OpenCircuits currently has "red links" = page exists, "dark red links" = page does not exist.

I find that confusing. (But not as bad as the wiki that has some links black-on-white, indistinguishable from normal text).

work-around: Register (it's free, and you don't have to give any personal information), then choose the "preferences" link in the far upper-right corner and then pick any other skin.

The other skins have coloring that you may be more used to from other wiki: "blue links" = page exists, "red links" = page does not exist.

--DavidCary 08:58, 18 December 2006 (PST)

• • • Guys, the red color on links is AwuFul, it brings ppl headaches.

That's the only reason I cant participate ***

--Takeda 16:38, 29 September 2007 (PDT)

inviting people from other forums to open circuits

Lots of people talk about circuits for LED lighting at http://candlepowerforums.com/ . Perhaps we can talk some of them into contributing here -- perhaps using a page or two of Open Circuits as a FAQ for LEDs and drive circuits.

tool lists

Should we have an entire page on "tools", and mention it on the main page? That risks listing *every* tool anyone has ever heard about, like the page at http://massmind.org/techref/tools.htm . Yes, I'm responsible for uglier bits on that page; I think the wide variety of oscilloscopes are particularly confusing. How could we cut through the confusion?

I see the "techniques" page already has a list of software tools. Perhaps it would be nifty to have a short list of all the tools necessary for each technique? Then a beginner would have a better idea of what tools he really needs to get (rather than looking at a huge list of every tool, and wondering for each one, "Am I going to regret buying it when I see it gathering dust? Or am I going to regret not buying it when I need it during a midnight debug session?").

--DavidCary 08:37, 24 January 2007 (PST)

Requests For Help

Thanks for your help with the camcorder mic.

sample component

What is the purpose of the Sample Component ? --DavidCary 16:27, 7 May 2007 (PDT)

---

current surge and battery life

Hi,

currently my board is using a 3V battery, in every 40msec it will turn on its RF to communicate with the base station. I face a problem here is that my battery life is badly affected. Turning on the RF with cause a current surge.

Will this surge affect my battery life? If I use a supercapacitor does it helps?

-- User:203.120.164.208 04:14, 30 April 2007

MIDI electrical interface

In my opinion, the MIDI interface got a lot of things right that too many later interfaces still trip over.

• http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/LINK/F_MIDI.html -- ASCII schematics
• http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/30/how-to-control-csound-with-a-custom-midi-controller-hardware/ -- hand-sketched schematics
• http://www.midi.org/about-midi/electrical.shtml "MIDI Electrical Specification Diagram & Proper Design of Joystick/MIDI Adapters" -- well-drawn schematics
• Wikipedia: The MIDI 1.0 Protocol
• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Behringer_FCB1010_MIDI_Pedal

It may look simple, but too often people try to "improve" it by adding or removing things without understanding, ending up with a worse system.

Is there any other wiki that is more appropriate for explaining the low-level details of the MIDI electrical interface, and *why* it was done that way?

I would be most interested in discussing new communication interfaces -- but is this really the right wiki? Or would http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Serial_Programming or the PICA wiki be better for discussing improvements? --DavidCary 13:21, 21 June 2007 (PDT)

IC design

What do you think about http://makeyourownchip.com/ ? Should we talk about VLSI design ("VLSI: designing electronic chips") here at Open Circuits? Or is there a more appropriate wiki somewhere else? --DavidCary 15:59, 26 June 2007 (PDT)

electronics infoline

So have you seen "Free electronics projects" http://electronicsinfoline.com/ "with Photo Preview" ? --DavidCary 00:28, 1 July 2007 (PDT)

generating a netlist with a "C++" program

The "Support Electronics for ATLAS Muon CSC" documentation claims that "The design was captured with C++. There are no schematics." and lists the C++ source code.

How did they do that? --DavidCary 01:15, 3 July 2007 (PDT)

rocket electronics

Is there another wiki that talks about rocket electronics? Or is this Open Circuits the best place to talk about ground support electronics (such as Launch Controllers) and onboard electronics (such as one flight computer or another flight computer )? --DavidCary 14:21, 15 July 2007 (PDT)

Minimig

I have created pages about the Minimig project which is running an Amiga 500 in a Xilinx FPGA. It's rather a work in progress, than a static documentation. I hope nobody minds. Freqmax 18:35, 27 July 2007 (PDT)

Open Science

So does/should Open Science ( http://openscience.org/ ) have any relation to Open Circuits ? --68.0.120.35 00:13, 5 August 2007 (PDT)

LaTEX math markup

I wrote a quick howto on figuring out resistor values, but it looks bad without latex math markup enabled. Here's what I wrote as it appears on open circuits: http://www.opencircuits.com/Talk:Relays Here's how it appears on wikipedia (with math markup enabled): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mzandrew/Sandbox

Anyone know if this is a quick thing to enable for open circuits or if it's involved?

Mzandrew 14:16, 8 September 2007 (PDT)

---

SPAM DELETED!

I deleted a whole bunch of links that had been placed at the top of this page, probably by the same AH that did it to my page. I think the best solution would be to make it so no edits are possible without being logged in. Then there will be a record of who does this kind of thing. Then they can be banned from the site. I don't think that defeats the purpose of an open wiki environment, it simply means you have to register to contribute.

--RAF 10:30, 21 December 2007 (PST)

At least this page is still OK. The Spam AHole hit my user talk page again today. This is very aggravating.

--RAF 06:54, 22 December 2007 (PST)

I agree. Annoying. I'm starting to "semi-protect" most pages so they can only be edited by logged-in users. I'm leaving a couple of pages wide open as a honeypot and/or test pages, so I can make tests and ban spammers without touching good pages. I think the $wgSpamRegex and/or ReCAPTCHA would be a better way to deal with spam. But my attempt to set them up isn't working yet. Sorry. --DavidCary 10:28, 3 January 2008 (PST)

Release 2.0

New Release 2.0: Open Source Hardware by Jimmy Guterman

Does Guterman know about Open Circuits yet? --DavidCary 01:04, 4 January 2008 (PST)

tech-assist

Should we invite the nice people at tech-assist http://tech-assist.org/ to use the Open Circuits wiki? --DavidCary 20:38, 15 January 2008 (PST)

A post I left at the Schmartboard mailing list.

Last week I posted to the Schmartboard mailing list asking about more interface types for their system. I made reference to sites like this and pleaded the case of individuals wishing to make projects that interface a little better than the methods available now. Neal Greenburg(VP in sales) replied that they had been kicking ideas around like what I was proposing for a while, and that he would like to get some feedback. So, if you're interested, head on over and pipe in. The basic request I made was asking for common internal pc interfaces(PCI, PCI-e, AGP, ISA, etc..) to be included as an attachable module.

The reason for my request was that this would allow organizations such as this one to develop hardware that is now unachievable at a decent prototyping price(quantities in the single digits). Their modules allow robust SMD hardware to be hand soldered and connected to other modules, but interfacing to a pc or other system is limited to rs232. I left a much more in depth post there, and if you're interested, you can find it there.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/schmartboardsv/

I'm not affiliated with schmartboard in any other way than as a customer. I'm sorry if this is seen as spam, it's not intended to be. If the general consensus is that this is spam, feel free to delete it.

Thanks for your time, take care. Jonkopp 13:49, 20 January 2008 (PST)