DShapiro said:
I'm assuming that you do have access to one
Yes I do. 95089 is available here. I didnt know it was obsolete. I am using it cos its logic interfacable and UM91214B cant generate all 16 tones. only 12.
DShapiro said:
Not sure about bulky and costly, but what's the problem anyway?
There is no problem. I am just not getting the point in adding more intelligence than is required in there.
Do you want to control your robot with a computer? If yes, you will need some sort of interface. Also you will need some sort of programming of the PC. BTW How do you currently get the soundcard to generate DTMF tones at the press of a key (I presume)?
There you are
, I need an
interface, not another computer.
I wrote software that reads the keyboard presses, generates the wav data corresponding to the desired dtmf tone and writes it to the soundcard.
This produces audible tones at the line out of the soundcard. A FM TX takes it from there and transmits it to the robot. Yes its programming and its software that does the major part of the job but it runs inside the computer itself. and its written in C and fed in using the keyboard not with a uC programmer/flasher which I would have to build.
Let's assume that you use the PC parallel port to output 2 low bits out of 8 every time you wish to generate a DTMF combination. In order to do that, you will need a program to translate say a keypress on the PC keyboard into a 2-of-8 pattern, and to write it to the parallel port. Can you implement that program?
Yes. I can. its peanuts. A loadable kernel module is all that you need.
In fact, it can also be done more easily in the usermode also.
Agreed. Microcontrollers can assume multiple personalities, that's one nice thing about them. But then even this seemingly simple task requires quite a bit of effort - mainly intellectual, and quite a bit of expertise. Generating DTMF tones, scanning the key matrix, polling the PC interface are three asynchronous tasks, and while not rocket science, implementing them in a proper way is certainly not trivial.
Right! its not trivial and more importantly not justified if you belive in simplicity. It simply is weird to have a uC + its required components (thus a tiny computer in itself), with hours of programming. All this to make it do what a tiny chip can do all by itself :!: what do we gain by having a uC :?: if we need processing, why not do it in the first computer itself (a P IV 2.8 GHz), why send the data out to a uC to do the job :shock: IT outsourcing maybe :roll:
I forfeit. Hands down. And I'm not being sarcastic: I just learned a lesson (again): whatever satisfies YOU is the best solution.
And I am begining to learn that its probably better to challenge the project requirements than to meet em :lol:
Having worked in robotics with neural networks, mapping and planning, image processing and multi-sensor fusion all on-board I truly appreciate the freshness of your setup: DTMF, an FM transmitter, and FM radio receiver, and may I guess up to 12 relay contacts? Keep up the good work!
I am sorry I missed that one. Are you suggesting that I also program the uC to do the job of a FM TX, FM RX and the 12 relays ? Having developed software for information/network security for the US defense/government, NSA etc, I dont think I will be able to do that.
And why would I have relays in my robot. I use a cheap and easily available ROHM chip to convert logic to high current which drives my robots.
I love the idea of uC, but I would have it in the robot first, second in the remote control. At this point I am looking for a peripheral to the controlling computer not a sub-computer.