This blog has been written for those who are interested in the development of Globe and the design behind it. I have tried to keep the engineering terms to a minimum leaving it accessible to all, but if you do come across something that you don’t understand please do write a comment and I will …
28: Programming a Spartan 6 with a Raspberry Pi
For anyone who is interested in programming a Spartan 6 FPGA directly from a Raspberry Pi’s JTAG pins. Step 1 – Install Open OCD sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install git autoconf libtool make pkg-config libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev telnet git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/openocd/code openocd-code cd openocd-code/ ./bootstrap ./configure –enable-sysfsgpio –enable-bcm2835gpio note that there should be double hyphens …
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27: Mid-February Update
So this is just a mini update on what’s been going on over the last few weeks. The PCB soldering and testing is coming along nicely – so far I have tested the new voltage regulators which are working fine, the Molex Edgemate connector, and the Raspberry Pi SODIMM socket. The next stage is to …
26: Mechanical updates
As you have likely seen, the Globe prototype was a mechanical monstrosity, comprised of a hefty steel frame, top, bottom and rear panels, and corner protectors, a 3 phase squirrel cage motor and a 70cm 38.1mm diameter aluminium shaft. Aside from being obscenely heavy, it was also rather expensive, so my focus at the moment …
25: PCBs v0.6 have arrived
The new PCBs (I always buy two in case there is a problem with one) arrived earlier this week and I am currently awaiting the delivery of all the components. Once they arrive I can hopefully get this PCB up and running as soon as possible. Below are the major differences between this version compared …
24: All systems go
We have been funded on Kickstarter, which is great! It will be another couple of weeks before any money shows up in the business accounts so in the mean time I can be doing a load of admin. I will be migrating this blog from wordpress.com to wordpress.org over the next couple of days. Theoretically …
23: Live on Kickstarter again
New link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/205276705/globe-a-spherical-persistence-of-vision-display After a cock up with the title (mostly my fault) the project has been re-re launched with its lower funding target. Everything else is pretty much the same, the only major difference is that Globe will have an acrylic display case rather than glass, saving a load of money and therefore allowing me …
22: Gearing up for Kickstarter…again
So the first campaign didn’t succeed, but nor did it completely flop. Of the £60,000 target we hit about the £22,000 mark, with a few people dropping out along the way when success was clearly unlikely. I want to say a huge thank you to all of my backers who helped get the project this …
21: And we are live on Kickstarter!
Kickstarter Link Video Link I have done it, I have spherical pushed the button. Now all I can do is wait and hope. To my first two backers I want to say a huge thank you for taking a leap and getting the ball rolling. I finally decided to do away with the different flavors …
20: Nearing the end
So last Friday wasn’t the day…nor was any day this week, however the end is in sight. It’s been a trying week, soldering HDMI cables onto connectors…again…and again inside of a metal box, chasing down potential shorts and generally getting annoyed with some of the design choices I made long ago. So far I have …
19: All coming together
I finally have all the pieces of the puzzle; the shaft is anodised, the laser cut steel plates are in and painted and the pulleys have finally turned up. My aim is to have the Globe prototype completed by the end of this week and the Kickstarter live early to mid next week so I have a …