Martin's Atelier
Articles grouped by date
2010-06
A short program to find caches which are described in English. Very handy when caching abroad!
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
I wanted a toy language model so that I could write software which would identify the language of text.
The motivation for this is simple: given a list of geocaches, which ones have descriptions which I can understand!
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
A recipe for apple cake.
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
How to compile Arduino code from the command line.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Jun 2010
Getting an ARM toolchain on MacOS 10.6
I'm starting to play with ARM microcontrollers, and building a toolchain is a necessary step. Here's a log of my experiences.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Jun 2010
2010-05
Self-help notes on using the bus pirate on MacOS—mainly links to other documentation.
Martin Oldfield, 26 May 2010
2010-04
Unicode games with perl, MySQL, and XML
Not for the first time I wasted a few hours getting Unicode things to 'just work' in a Perl project which mixed XML and MySQL. Hopefully these notes will prevent another repetition.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Apr 2010
2010-01
In practice I find that the tracklogs stored by my Garmin GPS receiver are quite noisy. gpsbabel easily filters the data, but having forgotten the relevant rules once, I thought I'd document them here.
Martin Oldfield, 04 Jan 2010
2009-12
Some brief notes on places to drink in Paris.
Martin Oldfield, 15 Dec 2009
Some brief notes on places to eat in Paris.
Martin Oldfield, 15 Dec 2009
On of the Internet's recurring memes is a world where families have children until they have a son, then stop. There seems to be a fairly common misapprehension that this will lead to some asymmetry of sexes in the next generation.
This short note explores this question: we quickly see that symmetry is preserved, but then spend time exploring what's going on in more detail.Finally we introduce a new element to the model which, on its own, favours neither boys nor girls, but allows social engineering to skew the sex distribution.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Dec 2009
Faking geocaches in Garmin GPX files
Garmin GPS receivers have a special mode to handle geocaches, but it's not been clear to me how the gadget decides which waypoints are geocaches. These brief notes describe something which works for me.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Dec 2009
2009-08
The tools I use when playing with PIC microcontrollers
Martin Oldfield, 18 Aug 2009
2009-06
Although the Arduino is very convenient, I wanted to build my own from parts you can buy from RS or Farnell. Rather than cloning the Arduino, I took the opportunity to make some changes: I removed the USB/Serial interface because I've got a ICSP programmer, but added crude support for dual AA battery support. The AA cells suggest a good name: the AArduino!
Martin Oldfield, 16 Jun 2009
I have a bunch of virtual Debian machines on a Xen box. When they were installed I used etch, but I've just moved one domU to lenny: here's my crib sheet. I suspect it won't be generally useful.
Martin Oldfield, 08 Jun 2009
2009-03
At a recent dinner party, one of my guests couldn't eat starch. This didn't seem compatible with my desire to serve tiramisu, but happily the lure of creamy coffee proved enough of an inspiration to find a solution: instead of coffee soaked sponge use coffee jelly.
Martin Oldfield, 22 Mar 2009
2009-02
I find it hard to remember the options I need when calling avrdude, but I don't know enough to work them out reliably every time. So, here's my handy cribsheet.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2009
MacOS X and the Olimex AVR-ISP500
How to make the Olimex AVR-ISP500 work on MacOS 10.5.6: install version 1.005 of the firmware.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Feb 2009
A simple Perl script to generate blank stripboard templates.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Feb 2009
2009-01
Some brief notes on places to eat in London.
Martin Oldfield, 29 Jan 2009
Places to eat in the Lake District
Some brief notes on places to eat in the Lake District taken on a trip in September 2008.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2009
2008-08
Replacing a Logitech Mouse Button
How to fix a dodgy button on a Logitech mouse: the key was finding a replacement for the Omron D2FC-F-7N.
Martin Oldfield, 05 Aug 2008
2008-02
Recent versions of Microchip's TCP/IP stack (after version 4.11) use a new filing system and web server: MPFS2 and HTTP2. Microchip supply a Windows program, MPFS2.exe to manage things, but this is quite inconvenient for people on Linux or OS X. These Perl programs try to help.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2008
2008-01
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
2007-11
Controlling things over Ethernet, here a hung ADSL modem, with the PIC Mini Web from Olimex. This is more of a brief sketch, to test the blogging software, than anything too deep or insightful.
Martin Oldfield, 13 Nov 2007
The first article
Martin Oldfield, 13 Nov 2007
Articles grouped by subject
AArduino
Although the Arduino is very convenient, I wanted to build my own from parts you can buy from RS or Farnell. Rather than cloning the Arduino, I took the opportunity to make some changes: I removed the USB/Serial interface because I've got a ICSP programmer, but added crude support for dual AA battery support. The AA cells suggest a good name: the AArduino!
Martin Oldfield, 16 Jun 2009
ADSL
Controlling things over Ethernet, here a hung ADSL modem, with the PIC Mini Web from Olimex. This is more of a brief sketch, to test the blogging software, than anything too deep or insightful.
Martin Oldfield, 13 Nov 2007
apple
A recipe for apple cake.
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
Arduino
How to compile Arduino code from the command line.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Jun 2010
Although the Arduino is very convenient, I wanted to build my own from parts you can buy from RS or Farnell. Rather than cloning the Arduino, I took the opportunity to make some changes: I removed the USB/Serial interface because I've got a ICSP programmer, but added crude support for dual AA battery support. The AA cells suggest a good name: the AArduino!
Martin Oldfield, 16 Jun 2009
I find it hard to remember the options I need when calling avrdude, but I don't know enough to work them out reliably every time. So, here's my handy cribsheet.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2009
MacOS X and the Olimex AVR-ISP500
How to make the Olimex AVR-ISP500 work on MacOS 10.5.6: install version 1.005 of the firmware.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Feb 2009
ARM
Getting an ARM toolchain on MacOS 10.6
I'm starting to play with ARM microcontrollers, and building a toolchain is a necessary step. Here's a log of my experiences.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Jun 2010
Atmel
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
AVR
MacOS X and the Olimex AVR-ISP500
How to make the Olimex AVR-ISP500 work on MacOS 10.5.6: install version 1.005 of the firmware.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Feb 2009
AVR-ISP500
I find it hard to remember the options I need when calling avrdude, but I don't know enough to work them out reliably every time. So, here's my handy cribsheet.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2009
MacOS X and the Olimex AVR-ISP500
How to make the Olimex AVR-ISP500 work on MacOS 10.5.6: install version 1.005 of the firmware.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Feb 2009
avrdude
I find it hard to remember the options I need when calling avrdude, but I don't know enough to work them out reliably every time. So, here's my handy cribsheet.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2009
bars
Some brief notes on places to drink in Paris.
Martin Oldfield, 15 Dec 2009
batteries
Although the Arduino is very convenient, I wanted to build my own from parts you can buy from RS or Farnell. Rather than cloning the Arduino, I took the opportunity to make some changes: I removed the USB/Serial interface because I've got a ICSP programmer, but added crude support for dual AA battery support. The AA cells suggest a good name: the AArduino!
Martin Oldfield, 16 Jun 2009
bus pirate
Self-help notes on using the bus pirate on MacOS—mainly links to other documentation.
Martin Oldfield, 26 May 2010
cake
A recipe for apple cake.
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
command line
How to compile Arduino code from the command line.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Jun 2010
D2FC-F-7N
Replacing a Logitech Mouse Button
How to fix a dodgy button on a Logitech mouse: the key was finding a replacement for the Omron D2FC-F-7N.
Martin Oldfield, 05 Aug 2008
Debian
I have a bunch of virtual Debian machines on a Xen box. When they were installed I used etch, but I've just moved one domU to lenny: here's my crib sheet. I suspect it won't be generally useful.
Martin Oldfield, 08 Jun 2009
electronics
A simple Perl script to generate blank stripboard templates.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Feb 2009
ethernet
Controlling things over Ethernet, here a hung ADSL modem, with the PIC Mini Web from Olimex. This is more of a brief sketch, to test the blogging software, than anything too deep or insightful.
Martin Oldfield, 13 Nov 2007
Flash
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
Garmin
Faking geocaches in Garmin GPX files
Garmin GPS receivers have a special mode to handle geocaches, but it's not been clear to me how the gadget decides which waypoints are geocaches. These brief notes describe something which works for me.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Dec 2009
gcc
Getting an ARM toolchain on MacOS 10.6
I'm starting to play with ARM microcontrollers, and building a toolchain is a necessary step. Here's a log of my experiences.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Jun 2010
geocaching
A short program to find caches which are described in English. Very handy when caching abroad!
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
Faking geocaches in Garmin GPX files
Garmin GPS receivers have a special mode to handle geocaches, but it's not been clear to me how the gadget decides which waypoints are geocaches. These brief notes describe something which works for me.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Dec 2009
gpsbabel
In practice I find that the tracklogs stored by my Garmin GPS receiver are quite noisy. gpsbabel easily filters the data, but having forgotten the relevant rules once, I thought I'd document them here.
Martin Oldfield, 04 Jan 2010
GPX
In practice I find that the tracklogs stored by my Garmin GPS receiver are quite noisy. gpsbabel easily filters the data, but having forgotten the relevant rules once, I thought I'd document them here.
Martin Oldfield, 04 Jan 2010
Faking geocaches in Garmin GPX files
Garmin GPS receivers have a special mode to handle geocaches, but it's not been clear to me how the gadget decides which waypoints are geocaches. These brief notes describe something which works for me.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Dec 2009
Lake District
Places to eat in the Lake District
Some brief notes on places to eat in the Lake District taken on a trip in September 2008.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2009
language model
A short program to find caches which are described in English. Very handy when caching abroad!
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
I wanted a toy language model so that I could write software which would identify the language of text.
The motivation for this is simple: given a list of geocaches, which ones have descriptions which I can understand!
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
Logitech
Replacing a Logitech Mouse Button
How to fix a dodgy button on a Logitech mouse: the key was finding a replacement for the Omron D2FC-F-7N.
Martin Oldfield, 05 Aug 2008
London
Some brief notes on places to eat in London.
Martin Oldfield, 29 Jan 2009
MacOS
Self-help notes on using the bus pirate on MacOS—mainly links to other documentation.
Martin Oldfield, 26 May 2010
MacOS X
MacOS X and the Olimex AVR-ISP500
How to make the Olimex AVR-ISP500 work on MacOS 10.5.6: install version 1.005 of the firmware.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Feb 2009
Makefile
How to compile Arduino code from the command line.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Jun 2010
I find it hard to remember the options I need when calling avrdude, but I don't know enough to work them out reliably every time. So, here's my handy cribsheet.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2009
Microchip
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
minty boost
Although the Arduino is very convenient, I wanted to build my own from parts you can buy from RS or Farnell. Rather than cloning the Arduino, I took the opportunity to make some changes: I removed the USB/Serial interface because I've got a ICSP programmer, but added crude support for dual AA battery support. The AA cells suggest a good name: the AArduino!
Martin Oldfield, 16 Jun 2009
Mouse
Replacing a Logitech Mouse Button
How to fix a dodgy button on a Logitech mouse: the key was finding a replacement for the Omron D2FC-F-7N.
Martin Oldfield, 05 Aug 2008
MPFS2
Recent versions of Microchip's TCP/IP stack (after version 4.11) use a new filing system and web server: MPFS2 and HTTP2. Microchip supply a Windows program, MPFS2.exe to manage things, but this is quite inconvenient for people on Linux or OS X. These Perl programs try to help.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2008
MySQL
Unicode games with perl, MySQL, and XML
Not for the first time I wasted a few hours getting Unicode things to 'just work' in a Perl project which mixed XML and MySQL. Hopefully these notes will prevent another repetition.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Apr 2010
Olimex
MacOS X and the Olimex AVR-ISP500
How to make the Olimex AVR-ISP500 work on MacOS 10.5.6: install version 1.005 of the firmware.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Feb 2009
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
Paris
Some brief notes on places to drink in Paris.
Martin Oldfield, 15 Dec 2009
Some brief notes on places to eat in Paris.
Martin Oldfield, 15 Dec 2009
patch
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
Perl
A simple Perl script to generate blank stripboard templates.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Feb 2009
Recent versions of Microchip's TCP/IP stack (after version 4.11) use a new filing system and web server: MPFS2 and HTTP2. Microchip supply a Windows program, MPFS2.exe to manage things, but this is quite inconvenient for people on Linux or OS X. These Perl programs try to help.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2008
perl
Unicode games with perl, MySQL, and XML
Not for the first time I wasted a few hours getting Unicode things to 'just work' in a Perl project which mixed XML and MySQL. Hopefully these notes will prevent another repetition.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Apr 2010
PIC
The tools I use when playing with PIC microcontrollers
Martin Oldfield, 18 Aug 2009
Recent versions of Microchip's TCP/IP stack (after version 4.11) use a new filing system and web server: MPFS2 and HTTP2. Microchip supply a Windows program, MPFS2.exe to manage things, but this is quite inconvenient for people on Linux or OS X. These Perl programs try to help.
Martin Oldfield, 23 Feb 2008
An easy way to patch recent versions (e.g. 4.16) of the Microchip PIC TCP-IP stack to work with the Atmel flash EEPROMs on Olimex boards.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2008
Controlling things over Ethernet, here a hung ADSL modem, with the PIC Mini Web from Olimex. This is more of a brief sketch, to test the blogging software, than anything too deep or insightful.
Martin Oldfield, 13 Nov 2007
PostScript
A simple Perl script to generate blank stripboard templates.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Feb 2009
probability
I wanted a toy language model so that I could write software which would identify the language of text.
The motivation for this is simple: given a list of geocaches, which ones have descriptions which I can understand!
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
On of the Internet's recurring memes is a world where families have children until they have a son, then stop. There seems to be a fairly common misapprehension that this will lead to some asymmetry of sexes in the next generation.
This short note explores this question: we quickly see that symmetry is preserved, but then spend time exploring what's going on in more detail.Finally we introduce a new element to the model which, on its own, favours neither boys nor girls, but allows social engineering to skew the sex distribution.
Martin Oldfield, 06 Dec 2009
recipe
A recipe for apple cake.
Martin Oldfield, 11 Jun 2010
At a recent dinner party, one of my guests couldn't eat starch. This didn't seem compatible with my desire to serve tiramisu, but happily the lure of creamy coffee proved enough of an inspiration to find a solution: instead of coffee soaked sponge use coffee jelly.
Martin Oldfield, 22 Mar 2009
restaurants
Some brief notes on places to eat in Paris.
Martin Oldfield, 15 Dec 2009
Some brief notes on places to eat in London.
Martin Oldfield, 29 Jan 2009
Places to eat in the Lake District
Some brief notes on places to eat in the Lake District taken on a trip in September 2008.
Martin Oldfield, 20 Jan 2009
starch free
At a recent dinner party, one of my guests couldn't eat starch. This didn't seem compatible with my desire to serve tiramisu, but happily the lure of creamy coffee proved enough of an inspiration to find a solution: instead of coffee soaked sponge use coffee jelly.
Martin Oldfield, 22 Mar 2009
stripboard
A simple Perl script to generate blank stripboard templates.
Martin Oldfield, 10 Feb 2009
tiramisu
At a recent dinner party, one of my guests couldn't eat starch. This didn't seem compatible with my desire to serve tiramisu, but happily the lure of creamy coffee proved enough of an inspiration to find a solution: instead of coffee soaked sponge use coffee jelly.
Martin Oldfield, 22 Mar 2009
Unicode
Unicode games with perl, MySQL, and XML
Not for the first time I wasted a few hours getting Unicode things to 'just work' in a Perl project which mixed XML and MySQL. Hopefully these notes will prevent another repetition.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Apr 2010
xen
I have a bunch of virtual Debian machines on a Xen box. When they were installed I used etch, but I've just moved one domU to lenny: here's my crib sheet. I suspect it won't be generally useful.
Martin Oldfield, 08 Jun 2009
XML
Unicode games with perl, MySQL, and XML
Not for the first time I wasted a few hours getting Unicode things to 'just work' in a Perl project which mixed XML and MySQL. Hopefully these notes will prevent another repetition.
Martin Oldfield, 17 Apr 2010