Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!ucbvax!hplabs!hpl-opus!hpnmdla!hpsad!billk From: billk@hpsad.HP.COM (Bill Katz) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Christmas Lights Message-ID: <1840022@hpsad.HP.COM> Date: 19 Dec 89 03:30:26 GMT References: Organization: HP Signal Analysis Division - Rohnert Park, CA Lines: 38 >ifarqhar@mqccsunc.mq.oz (Ian Farquhar) writes: > >In article <1840021@hpsad.HP.COM> billk@hpsad.HP.COM (Bill Katz) writes: >> >> You want to talk about overkill in blinking lights... I have an >>8749 that runs 16 different patterns on a string of 16 LEDs. The catch is >>you do have to run a wire to each one. But that wasn't good enough. >> The mark 2 light blinker is a 68000 that can do 60 or 70 different >>effects on a 16 by 64 array of LEDs. I use this as part of a halloween >>costume. Of course with only 1024 solid state relays it would be possible >>to run an array of Christmas bulbs. >> >This is the best example of engineering overkill that I have yet heard >of! A 68000 to flash a few lights (running UNIX, maybe? :-) I hope you >are joking. > >Oh, well... > >Of course, you would not get the nice effects, but then it wouldn't have >a MIP behind it either! > But what great effects! I have chase lights in all different directions, text that can scroll everywhich way, random blinking... Heck, I even have subliminal messages built in. Now if only I could find a stadium that needed a fancy scoreboard :-) But, seriously it was more to teach me embedded programming and design of 68k based hardware (we use 68k's in most of the equipment we build here at work, so the parts are cheap, and we have emulators, compilers, and all the goodies one needs for these things). It was a fun project, despite being relatively useless. ______________________________________________________________________________ _ /| -ACK! Bill (the) Katz Internet: billk@hpsad.hp.com \'o.O' -PFHHHT! Hewlett-Packard UUCP: hplabs!hpsad!billk =(___)= -COUGH! Signal Analysis Div. Phone: (707) 794-2300 U -ACK! 1212 Valley House Dr. Fax: (707) 794-4452 Rohnert Park, CA 95428 ______________________________________________________________________________