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Hi,
just a short technical question...
DataLink, what a Beomaster talks through, with for instance a Beocord. Is that the same signal as the Beomaster gets from the remote?
Could a Beocord or BeogramCD be fitted with a IR eye (from a xtra speaker kit or similar) on the datalink pins of the 7pol DIN?
BR //Goran
No, it's not the same. Datalink between BM and it's components is a 7 bit serial format. The IR format is quite different and is described in the datalink schema document on-site.
You need to put a micro controller in between to convert the signals in order to do what you want. Not that difficult, it you know how to do it.
/ Johan
Tack Johan,
I gott the idea from the posts regarding the thing in your avatar
Since I could not read out of your earlier posts that it was not the same data language, you can easily conclude that I'm not skilled enough to do it...
cheers
Johan: The IR format is quite different and is described in the datalink schema document on-site.
The IR format is quite different and is described in the datalink schema document on-site.
Sorry but what is described in the document and where can I find it? I can't open the .zip file on the beotech site, if that was the one you had in mind.
thanks in advance
/Goran
BeoLignage:Sorry but what is described in the document and where can I find it? I can't open the .zip file on the beotech site, if that was the one you had in mind.
That's some ancient link that hasn't worked for a long time. The correct one is under user manuals > music systems > BeoLink products > MCL2 I think... it's incomplete but enlightening.
--mika
The IR format (which is very similar to the MCL2 format) is described in the document. You can find it at Main Site -> Products -> User/Service Manuals -> Music Systems -> BeoLink Products -> MCL2 -> Technical service manual.
Thanks, both of you!
//Goran
Johan:EDIT: Mika beat me to it... :-)
But yes, Datalink is much simpler. You can tell that from the fact that for example a Beogram and Beogram CD are just the same on Datalink (you can swap their cables on a Beomaster, and they'll still continue to work normally, just with new roles¹) whereas they are obviously different commands on IR.
¹if the Beogram is a line level device, i.e one with a built in RIAA pre-amp
After that I have read through the MCL2 doc, I'm certain that I can't pull off a project like this.
But Johan, if you don't mind me asking, what background do you have, to make a thing like the one in the avatar, and I mean programing wise then.
What would a good beginners project be to learn more about programing of this type.
Is "Raspberry Pi" a good base for experimenting, and by the way, have any of you beoworlders made any fun beo implementation with the help of a "Pi"
I think a microprocessor such as http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/index.html would be easier to to work with. the format for the Ir is described here http://www.mikrocontroller.net/attachment/33137/datalink.pdf
If your German is up to par there is a lot of inspiration here http://www.ulf-kiener.de/
Keep us in the loop...
Well, if you have no experience at all this kind of project might be a bit steep, especially if you have no programming skills.
I woud suggest you start by googling a programming beginners guide / tutorial. Pretty much any language will do, C, Java, C# etc. Learn the basics of programming, but do it on your computer, not on a microcontroller. Later you will have to use C, but you can learn to program in any language and then move to C.
When you feel a bit more confortable I suggest you get an Arduino board (you can get those at Kjell & co.) and start hacking. Get a pushbutton or maybe a rotary encoder (or potentiometer) and a couple of LEDs (you will need some resistors as well) and make the leds blink when you push the button or something like that. You will find thousands of examples on the web that you can just copy and alter ever so slightly to figure out what's going on.
If you can make that happen, then you pretty much have what it takes to program one of those converters. It's really the same thing.
I don't recommend that you use the Raspberry Pi for a project like this as it's much more complex and has an operating system etc. that will interfere with you. The Arduino (or Teensy) boards are very powerful yet simple, and they have tons of available pins that you can hook things up to.
I'm a programming language researcher, and for me the programming is usually not the problem but the electronics design. I'm learning more and more every day though, so it's getting better.
Cheers
I can echo most of what Johan said.
The problem with the Pi is that it doesn't have that much free I/O to the outside world in the form that us electronics tinkerers would like. It's more like a full desktop computer (with Linux OS) stuffed on a tiny board. In a sense that's also less of a challenge - if you can make something happen on a full computer, you can probably do it on a Pi. But the full OS underneath also makes some things more difficult.The Arduino style controllers are much more down to earth and easier to use for precise timing, for example.
Maybe you could use an MCL2AV which already have de datalink connectors.
//Bo.A long list...
Bos00: Maybe you could use an MCL2AV which already have de datalink connectors.
That should work just fine. But, then you won't get to build your own thing. :-)
Johan: But, then you won't get to build your own thing. :-)