Salgat's Journal

Getting Sid Meier's Gettysburg! to work on Windows 7

2011-06-15T11:42:00.008-04:00

On an unrelated note, to pass time while doing my Chinese lessons I have been playing simple old PC games. Since Sid Meier's Gettysburg! is an old favorite (along with Heroes of Might and Magic III and Caeser III), I decided to install it. Unfortunately it won't install by any normal means, but there is a simple trick you can do to install it quickly.

First go to the Windows Start Menu and search the "cmd" application, and right click and run it as administrator.

After you run it as administrator, go to the directory of your CD drive (or virtual mounted drive) and run the setup, as shown below,

My CD drive was the E drive so I used that. After running this, the installation will come up as normal, and you can go about installing. Be sure to install the "Windows XP patch" found below.

http://www.firaxis.com/games/downloads.php

As a side note, I'll put up pictures and other details from my stay in Shanghai, it's long overdue!

Blocked websites in China

2011-05-08T05:34:00.002-04:00

As I type I am using the University of Michigan VPN (it allows me to use the internet as though I am in Michigan) and already hitting some blocked websites. I'll edit this throughout the summer but so far the blocked sites are as follows;

www.facebook.com

translate.google.com

www.google.com

www.blogspot.com

First few days in China

2011-05-03T16:58:00.007-04:00

So this summer I decided to study abroad in China at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Since I want to pursue an additional Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, studying abroad will enable me to graduate in Winter 2012, only 1 additional semester after I finish my Electrical Engineering degree.

Before I go to Shanghai however, I decided to go to Harbin first to visit a girl I know. Since I've been here she's been showing me around and helping as my guide. The trip to Harbin took roughly 41 hours, with the bulk of the time spent in Korea where I had to wait 18 hours for a plane to Harbin. The trip to Korea from Seattle took about 11 hours, although the plane ride was actually quite enjoyable. The planes had entertainment systems for everyone, with LCD screens on the back of every seat headrest. On it were games, music, and movies available to see. Additionally, the plane provided unlimited drinks and 2 meals, along with a snack. I got to sit on the window side and as a bonus a cute Korean girl who just finished studying abroad in Canada sat next to me. Her English wasn't great but we did have a lot of fun together, we even played multiplayer together on a couple games on the LCD screens.

With the wait being 18 hours in Korea, I had to find a way to kill time. The bulk of my time was spent on my laptop on a bed/sofa/couch thing they had in the lounge area, where I slept for the night. Finally when my plane came I could go the next morning. Going on the plane to Harbin was very crazy, as I was the only white person on the plane. I sat next to a young Chinese married couple who were very curious, and we talked a little. They were coming back to Harbin from Japan to visit their daughter. When I finally arrived to China, I went through an incredibly surprising simple and easy security process. I simply showed my papers and was on my way out. My friend met me and we took a bus to Harbin. She beforehand had reserved a room at the "Meijia" hotel for me in Harbin, and when I got there I paid for a week. It came out to 200RMB per day or 30.80 dollars a day. This is incredible because it includes everything, a kitchen with a fridge, a big screen TV with cable, a western bathroom, and a nice queen sized bed, along with a great view of the city.

On my first day we went out to a large supermarket to buy water, since the running water in China is often dangerous to drink. It came out to about a dollar for a 4 liter water jug, which I bought two. Afterwards we ate at this Chinese restaurant whose logo was similar to KFC's. I've noticed 3 different places with the iconic black and white face with surrounding red color logos, they don't seem to care that it is copying! At the place we ate Bao Zi and Tsung Zi, along with a warm soy soup that had beans in it, very good. It came out 40RMB for 5 Bao Zi, 2 large Tsung Zi, and the two bowls of soymilk soup. Later we went to Pizza Hut to grab drinks and a dessert. The drinks were a iced fruit milk tea and a mango smoothie, the dessert was this custard with fruit jam.

The next day we decided to go to Sun Island. Before though, we walked around Harbin and found this strange restaurant and ate there. It is strange because it was incredibly filthy and was a very small room with the kitchen right next to the entrance. The room to eat in was literally 2mX4m, only enough room for 4 people to eat! The food was very good though, a huge bowl of noodles cost only 5RMB (less than a dollar)! It was also very very spicy, I loved it. I also drank an iced tea, they seem to be becoming more popular in China.

After we ate we went to the bus station. While waiting we talked to a woman and her daughter. The daughter seemed very curious that I was white, and the mother asked about me. Very interesting. The bus ride to Sun Island was very full, there was so many people in it. When we got to Sun Island we visited a large building that was like a science center for children. It had 4 floors of activities and included an IMAX movie which we saw, although it was definitely too small for IMAX. It was still very fun though, and was 3d along with having compressed air and water vapor spayed for added effect. The movie was about a baby turtle trying to survive its first day.

After the science center we went to the Sun Island park and walked around. People were very curious, with many staring at me and a few saying "Hello!" in English. Of course I always say hello, as it is fun although very strange to have such curious people talking to you. Sun Island was a lot of fun, and I got to see some really cool things, including some Chinese geese and a pond full of frogs. We got to eat the classic "meat on a stick" which was also very good. The park is very large, and very popular with the locals. I'd liken its popularity to that of maybe Detroit's Henry Ford's Greenfield Village. While there we even rented a 2 person bicycle that we rode around in. Afterwards we ate at Pizza Hut (her first time eating a Pizza) and again had drinks. For a large pizza with stuffed crust, 2 smoothies and a dessert it only cost about $12 American dollars.

On the third day we set out to buy a train ticket to Shanghai. When we got to the train station we first ate though, and had two bowls of noodles. The people there were very curious! When we went to buy the train ticket, it ended up costing about 280RMB, and I think it will take about 30 hours to get to Shanghai! (AHHH) After buying the ticket we went to this huge underground clothes market. People there were so curious, especially the younger people. A few girls said hi and when we were eating at the food court a girl was walking and kept staring at me from far away so I waved. She smiled very big and told her friends who also looked, then I waved again. Very cute.

So far my trip in China has been amazing. Today we plan on going to Fangfang's school to eat some of her food and meet some of her friends. I hope her friends like me, since I did bring them so much American candy! (and some T-Shirts) I've been having so much fun, and can't wait to have more!

So far, so good!

2010-10-25T18:29:00.002-04:00

The semester is going great so far. I did really good on my 320 midterm, and did good on the EECS 451 exam! I still have to take EECS 312 midterm (tomorrow) and get back my 230 midterm on Wednesday. Overall I'm confident in this semester, and am excited!

The class I like least is easily Technical Communication 300. That class is a pain for a 1 credit course! I have to do an oral report tomorrow night after my midterm! Oh well, just glad it will be over with after this semester. EECS 312 is probably the one I'm least confident in, simply because it's such a strange class. I feel like it's a combination of EECS 320, EECS 270, and a little of EECS 427. The class is just very strange, and the homework is often not fully covered in class/the book in a clear manner. In addition I heard that the professor grades really harshly. I love the professor and I love what I'm learning, but it's stressful none-the-less!

My social life this semester is also very good! I've made many friends, have met many people I knew in previous classes, and have learned a lot from those I've befriended. Surprisingly I have met many people from China. I had a couple of Chinese friends last year who transferred from Shanghai but all of my classes this semester have a huge proportion of transfer students. The ones who I have made friends with though a very awesome, and it's always fun getting to know people from other parts of the world. I look forward to seeing who else I can meet. University of Michigan has really helped me to meet all kinds of people, from the Ivory Coast of Africa, to Ukraine, to China, to Korea, Malaysia, Australia, and so on.

School is fast approaching!

2010-08-09T01:40:00.003-04:00

In 4 weeks the Fall semester starts. I'm extremely excited and am anxiously waiting for the semester to start. In preperation for the semester, I bought and am reading all the books assigned for my Fall classes. I'm almost done with the first (EECS 320) book and am about to start my EECS 451 textbook. I also read a great Mechanical Engineering book last month and am halfway through a Chemistry book I bought. I'd also like to get in two books on UNIX and UNIX Networking by the end of the summer. Before the semester starts I'll make a follow up post listing all the books I managed to cover in the past 6 weeks.

I have found that I am very ADD when it comes to reading. To solve this I listen to music and alternate between reading and working out. I bought a workout bench for $75 and am loving it. I use it for all my dumbbell exercises. I've been working on a home server and created a Wiki for personal reasons, my workout routine is on there. This routine is a huge enhancement from my original workout routine. I researched all the major muscles and found dumbbell exercises that focus on each. Unfortunately I discovered muscles I haven't even touched! One being the "Pectoralis Major". I tried lifting some 35lb on it and that was not going to happen. I ended up pulling a muscle. I'm sore as hell today but it's gotten a lot better, I should be fine by tomorrow or the day after.

In addition to all my reading and exercising, I also have news about my internship. With only 3 weeks left, I'm anxious to finish it on a good note. Visteon has been good to me, the directors even took all of us out to a baseball game (Tigers vs. White Sox). It was in a suite, very nice! I have a meeting with my director, my supervisor, and my supervisor's boss. I essentially get to explain everything I did. I did quite a lot, so I'll have no problem discussing it all with them. I learned a lot this past summer and am extremely glad I took this position over going to Taiwan.

With the summer almost over, I have a lot to finish up. I've kept contact with friends to a minimum, have been focusing on my work, and am going to finish this summer having accomplished a lot. I will be ready for next semester! I will do great. I am so excited.

Summer has come

2010-06-26T23:46:00.004-04:00

The semester is over and I have begun working at a business called Visteon. They are a parts supplier, with Ford being one of their main customers. My work as an intern involves essentially doing every job that the other engineers either don't have time to do or don't want to do. I have a suspicion that since the job I was hired to do fell through, they are just giving me other engineer's jobs now. I first developed a program that acted as an engine audio simulator, to be used in a government study on how sound effects pedestrians (such as blind folk). I then got to strip out the Video electronics in a F-150 truck, and then install a radio system along with new speakers and amplifiers in a 2008 Malibu. That job was really interesting, considering nothing fit and I had to hand fabricate all the adapters to mount everything to the car. After finishing that job I started another programming job implementing a FFT/3rd Octave Analyzer for this Audio Studio program.

I'm excited about next semester, I have 5 classes (one of which is a 1 credit course), 4 EECS classes. One of them looks really hard, I have no idea what the outcome of the semester will be. Thankfully another of the classes looks really easy, as it covers everything I already know and is lab oriented. I hope to take my major design course in the winter, EECS 470. Designing a processor in Verilog.

Life is looking up for me, things are for the most part going my way and I have ordered and am reading several technical books right now. I've decided to diversify my knowledge. I didn't really realize it before, but I have a wide range of skills that gives me an edge over most other people out there. Thanks to my electronics technician education I have an insight into practical electronics and design that most people haven't touched, and in addition I've taken several classes related to the mechanical aspect of engineering, including manufacturing design and robotics. I hope to expand my knowledge even more, and intend on taking a diverse range of Electrical Engineering courses as I finish my degree.

I haven't really kept up to date on this blog like I would have liked, but I intend on changing that. I'll try my best to go back to my original once a month updates, especially since this is a very important time in my life. I'm excited, anxious, and optimistic. A few rough things have happened this past semester, but I can't say that my experience this past year was bad, in fact I wouldn't have it any other way. I've learned so much, and going to a big college like the University of Michigan, I feel like I'm finally getting the social experience I never got a chance to have at Monroe County Community College. So excited to see what happens in the future, wish me luck everyone!

Second Month of the Semester!

2010-02-12T20:18:00.004-05:00

With midterms coming out, a lot of time is currently spent studying! On top of that my friend (who with her 4.0 is just getting plenty of interview requests!) has been asking for help on improving her interview responses. We've been lately going over all these crazy questions, known as "microsoft questions", trying to have fun while simultaneously preparing. On top of that we have gone through answering generic questions such as "tell me about a problem you faced and how you solved it" or "how did you deal with working with someone you hated" and so on. She's done a great job so far and it really has shown with her interviews. My hopes are that my experience with my personal projects will get me the opportunities I want, I have so much experience that I really feel it gives me the edge against even some of the top people here at school. We'll see though. I'm really excited about the summer though, I recently joined another research group and as a backup plan I always have two research groups to work with over the summer. It's nice having a backup plan!

Midterms and Thanksgiving

2009-11-22T10:33:00.003-05:00

Midterms and Thanksgiving are coming up, only one more month of school left. I'm doing great in EECS 215 (circuits) and EECS 270 (digital) but only decent in EECS 280 (C++). If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I hate high level programming. Not so much hate, more like just don't enjoy. Hopefully I can stick to C and ASM and lower level programming concepts when I get into the workplace. Unfortunately there's not much to say for now, expect updates in the weeks to come.

All good so far

2009-10-17T00:23:00.002-04:00

I've been able to keep up my confidence so far, everything seems to be going great. Really enjoying my professors and I have two wonderful friends who have been crucial to my success thus far(I'm very lucky!) As of now I've been putting some effort into getting a summer internship, we'll see what comes up. I wish I could say more about what has been going on but school is quite consuming of my time. I'm still working off my lazy habits; I used this week's exams as an excuse to slack off on next week. With a 4 day weekend I'll play catch-up. Meeting a friend over the weekend to get most of next week's work out of the way. After this semester I'll be able to really gauge what I can expect in the future.

First week over!

2009-09-12T23:25:00.003-04:00

The first week of school is over. It feels like going to college for the very first time. I am so excited to have a chance to really prove myself, it is very exhilarating. I've been devoting a lot more time to my studies and am readying myself for the exams and labs. This first month will be a true gauge of what's to come.

Just got back from camping

2009-08-23T21:35:00.003-04:00

I went camping up at both the mouth of the Tahquamenon river and at Muskellunge Lake. My sisters, dad and I left on August 15th and I drove home with my dog Charlie this past Friday. Had a ton of fun, and played my Gameboy Advance a lot to pass the time. Unfortunately the game I bought for the trip was a counterfeit so I lost my save file after beating it (22 hours gone!). I'm in the process of getting a refund, the knucklehead actually expects me to send him back an illegal copy of the game before I get the refund, I'm pretty sure that violates some kind of copyright law. On top of that, as I was driving home a cop's lights went off right behind me. I got over and slowed down, and he shut his lights off and passed me. Guess going 10 over the limit was too slow for him haha.
When I got home two books were waiting for me, OpenGL Distilled and an Embedded Linux book from OReilly, can't seem to remember the name though. Almost done with the embedded book, I bought Running Linux and Linux Device Drivers to read next. I really enjoy learning about Linux, would love to make my own board and get Linux up and running on it.
Overall I'm having a lot of fun this month, and am excited that school is starting soon. I have all my books bought (probably saved around $120 by buying mostly used) and am hoping everything goes well for a research internship this year for school credit. I have pictures of my trip on my phone, I'll be sure to upload them. I especially am anxious to post the pictures of the night my cousin and I slept in this driftwood shack we found on the shores of Lake Superior at Whitefish Point. It was amazing being able to watch the stores and hear the waves crashing as we laid there, although it was a bit cold and windy. Good times.

Sushi!

2009-07-31T23:53:00.012-04:00

Last week I went to Meijer with Cheng and his brother and we bought some supplies for Sushi. Here are the results!

This fine piece was the first roll made. The ingredients included Avocado, Shrimp, Egg, Cream Cheese and what appears to be a chopped seaweed and sesame seed mixture put on the rice. Very delicious, and as you may notice the tail was left on the last Shrimp to make it reminiscent of the "Dragon".

Here is Cheng spreading some うなぎのたれ(Unagi no Tare) or Eel sauce onto this fine Sushi roll. I nicknamed it the "Salamander" due to the stripes of Avocado and Smoked Salmon laid over the top of the Sushi. The inside contains Scrambled Egg, Cream Cheese, Imitation Crab, and Avocado.

Here is a picture of Cheng in the kitchen. I consider him my Sushi sensei.

As you can see, Cheng is big on being very hygienic when dealing with Sushi, as he washes his hands before handling the Tempura Shrimp.

Heaven on a platter.

My favorite dish that day. Cheng made Sushi using both half sheets of Nori and full sheets. The full sheets were used for the larger dishes. The Eel Sauce really works with this dish.

A closeup of one of the platters. So delicious!

And of course the master of Sushi himself!

Google Voice

2009-07-07T20:31:00.001-04:00

So I got a Google Voice account, pretty awesome. Now I can comfortably give away my new phone number! I love google. I have them handle my e-mail, my searching, now my phone, and someday I hope the same for whatever else they come up with.

Call me! (734) 265-0307

Nunchuck!

2009-06-23T23:50:00.005-04:00

While working at my research fellowship, I am provided with the opportunity to demo some of the stuff I'm doing to high schoolers next month. I wanted to do something interesting, and decided to use the Wii nunchuck as an example of an interface device that is used with the I2C that I implemented. As of now everything is working great (it's cool to get consumer electronics, especially video game devices working). I plan on writing a small java terminal game where the player is controlled by the nunchuck. Something more interesting than seeing data from the nunchuck. I'll have pics up tomorrow.

Jack Kent Cooke Fellowship

2009-06-08T20:49:00.002-04:00

Have been participating in a research fellowship for the past few weeks at University of Michigan. For those interested, I created a link at urop.salgat.net

Grades are in!

2009-05-10T16:19:00.004-04:00

Received a B in Linear Algebra, was to be expected. Here's to the summer!

Internship

2009-04-30T01:18:00.002-04:00

Just received a letter stating that I was selected to receive a Jack Kent Cooke Fellowship for this summer. If I am chosen by a faculty research sponsor I get to spend either full or half time (40 or 20 hours a week) doing research at UM-Ann Arbor. I am really excited at this opportunity, and am very thankful to Mr. Harrill and Dr. Naber for providing the recommendations that made this possible. Here's to hoping everything goes smoothly!

Finals Week

2009-04-27T21:30:00.002-04:00

Today marked the first day of finals week. My finals include Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Engineering Physics, and Computer Science I (C++). Today I finished the Differential test, and tomorrow is Engineering Physics. For whatever reason I am really relaxed, who knows why.

I was getting sick of studying this past weekend and took an hour to write a little paper that introduces the basics of C programming, download-able here (pdf warning). It's nothing special, and I don't intend to distribute it like I did with my AVR screencast tutorial. Something fun to do I guess.

Back from SAE funded trip to Cobo.

2009-04-20T23:28:00.003-04:00

Just got back from a trip to the Cobo center to watch a presentation on the Honda Insight and the Hondajet, presented by Yasunari Seki and Michimasa Fujino of Honda. That Hondajet is pretty awesome...

1 Month Left!

2009-04-01T20:12:00.006-04:00

One month left of school! Just finished the Linear Algebra test covering eigens. I feel I did good, but I goofed up on the last problem. I made the foolish assumption to rely on my calculator. I used rref on a matrix with a variable, and since the rref function for the 89 runs it symbolically, it did not care about the fact that one of the row operations it made would be undefined at h=6. Lesson learned, never go beyond reduced echelon form (ref) using the calculator.

In other news, I've been messing around with Gameboy assembly. I decided to pick a very simple commercial platform to work with, just for the sake of learning (and fun!). The gameboy architecture is very simple and easy to work with, and after scouring the four corners of the internet through mountains of dead hyperlinks, I gathered up the necessary resources to both compile assembly into a gameboy ROM and even found a nice tile editor that outputs to Gameboy format. Since this is the original one, all I have to worry about is pixelated images with 4 colors. I don't intend to delve too deep into it all, just make a simple game to learn a bit about it. The Z80 like architecture is very familiar looking and has some interesting changes for use with the Gameboy. I chose to stay away from C simply because the libraries out there were next to non-existent and I wanted as much control and experience with the raw hardware as possible. As of now I have just a sprite that moves around the screen with arrow keys, but we'll see what I come up with in the future.

Accepted!

2009-03-19T21:47:00.004-04:00

Accepted to University of Michigan - Ann Arbor for the Computer Engineering program! While optimistic, I still realize that I need to make sure I can obtain the funds to afford to go there. We'll see what happens, pretty excited, but also have to keep in mind that I need to make sure I do well in Linear Algebra. Had a 70% my first test which even with my recent 98% test score is making life real hard in that class. Only time will tell!

UPDATE: Was just accepted to University of Michigan - Dearborn, in case I decide to go there instead.

Studying!

2009-02-08T01:35:00.002-05:00

Nothing really interesting happening, just studying a lot these past 2 weeks. Received a 96% on my Physics test, but I have no idea how I'll do on the Linear Algebra test this Monday. It's not so much knowing the content as knowing all the terminology, which is a pain. Three different ways to represent the same thing, along with each having it's own terminology as to how to do the same thing. Oh well, just gotta keep studying.

It's always slow at the beginning of the semester.

2009-01-25T20:56:00.003-05:00

Nothing new really going on. I do have FAT32 down and hope to have a SD card breakout board ship to my house soon so I can start learning how to interface with that. Hope to be able to setup a simple SD Card reader, possibly have an interface through UART to my PC for a terminal style interface. I am pretty disappointed with the resources for learning how to navigate the FAT32 filesystem. It came down to 2 sites I used to learn it, the official specifications given by Microsoft (which are in some other language) and a guide by this guy that was not specific enough for me. After creating a partition on my hard drive, zeroing it, and putting FAT32 on it, it finally became clear to me. It's pretty simple when it's all laid out for you.

Vacation!

2008-12-23T21:16:00.002-05:00

Well, grades are in, and all As except for Engineering Physics 1. Received an 88% in the class, which was just not enough for an A. I still was ranked second in the class, so I guess that helps soothe the hurt of my second B haha. I registered for next semester, with my classes being as follows,
3 Credits = CIS 150 - Computer Science 1
3 Credits = MATH 251 - Introduction to Linear Algebra
3 Credits = MATH 273 - Introduction to Differential Equations
5 Credits = PHY 252 - Engineering Physics II

Only 14 credits as opposed to the 19 this past semester, hopefully I'll have more free time for personal projects. All fun classes, I'm very excited! I also submitted my application to University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, I really want to get in. Still don't know if I'll be able to afford it though, lots of scholarships and loan stuff to apply for and look into.

Homestretch

2008-11-21T20:05:00.003-05:00

Less than 4 weeks left! Grades are doing good, have all As except for Engineering Physics, with an 88% in the class. Calculus 3 is a definite A, as I had the highest test score last time (98%) and just need a B on my last test to keep my A. Physics is my main focus, I really need to get an A on the next test. I also need to finish up my biographies for Art Appreciation. Lots of work to finish this semester up, but I'm looking forward to it! (especially finishing my toolbox in MECH-102 for my pops).

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-22T23:25:00.004-04:00

Happy Halloween! Well, at least for next week! Received a 88% of my latest Calc 3 test, which is pretty good. I have a feeling that it'll be hard to get any lower than a B, but I really need to get enough to receive an A in the class. Tomorrow I receive my Physics and Statistics tests back, pretty sure I'll do fine.

New Project, Blender!

2008-10-17T20:32:00.003-04:00

Above is a picture of my first blender project. For some time I wanted to monkey around with 3d, and decided to give it a go with blender, a free 3d studio (and a very nice one). I really enjoyed the first project, which I followed using a really nice and simple tutorial. Although I don't plan on doing anything amazing as far as 3d modeling, it is a nice skill to have just for fun/if I ever go into a project requiring test models. I uploaded a video of my first animation just for the hay of it, pretty similar to the one presented by the tutorial. Below is my animation and a link to the tutorial.

http://www.gryllus.net/Blender/LearningUnits1_6.html

New e-mail working, along with some updates

2008-10-12T01:20:00.003-04:00

Nothing new or exciting happening, but I did get salgat@salgat.net up thanks to zoneedit and Google domains. Test next week for math, 2 tests the week after for Physics and Statistics. Anyways, it is 1:30Am and I haven't really done much math homework, although the test is Wednesday. Going to do most of it tomorrow, save Tuesday for Physics. Tuesday I plan on also getting a table in my room and setting up my microcontroller "lab." I may start crunching homework in order to find more time for my hobby stuff, I have this book C Primer Plus that I may start cracking at. I have found that my biggest issue is not the language as much as the compiler. I am still not familiar with how to control the compiler to do what I need it to do, linking and whatever other things exist out there, along with the best techniques to use with programming. I'm afraid if I go too far I'll develop a horrible approach to programming haha. Well, October has arrived, and I am thinking of going out and getting some Apple Cider, which sounds delicious right about now...

First round of Exams are over

2008-10-03T19:14:00.005-04:00

Last week I received all my test grades back. First the good news, 94% on my Calc 3 test. Hurrah to Vectors! Now on to Physics...64%!

When I saw this test score, I had this feeling of grief that I really screwed up. This was made even worse because I snuck a view at someone elses test grade as I walked in, 84% on his. As we went over the test, I realized one reason why I did so bad, I wrote the answers to one question on the wrong part of the test, and he never marked it off. Thankfully he allowed me to get the extra 12 points for it, boosting my grade to a 76%. Unfortunately, I discovered two days later that the equations sheet I was handed for the test was missing half the equations! I lost at least 5% of my test grade due that. I showed this to my professor the next day, but he showed me in the top right corner that it said "Page 2 of 2." Although it isn't exactly fair, I don't hold it against him for not compensating for the lack of that half of the equations sheet that everyone else was able to use. I gained a life lesson from this experience, I need to be very proactive about making sure that I get what I need, to check these things over, and I know I can make up for it in future tests (afterall, my test score was 3rd highest in class, not counting those lost points from missing half the equation sheet). Furthermore, he did provide an extra credit lab that I was able to complete for an extra 5 points (which essentially, or at least for the most part makes up for that test goof up). Overall my professor is pretty cool, and I enjoy his humor.

I received a 88% on my Statistics test, and have an A in that class. I still have to play catch-up on the papers for Art class (behind one week), and need to finish 3 sections of Math homework tomorrow, along with finding time for Physics. Overall, this semester is doing fine, and although I'm pretty pressed for time during the week, I am enjoying it. All this commotion is helping pass the time, 5 weeks have already passed!

I have some plans for the new XMEGA 8-Bit AVRs coming out sometime later this year, or early next year. I'm going to limit my classes as much as possible next semester, probably will only take a C++ programming course, Engineering Physics 2, Introduction to Linear Algebra, and Introduction to Differential Equations. I hope time isn't constrained for that semester, I really want to play with my microcontrollers!

Too much work

2008-09-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

Math consumed my entire weekend. I have no time for my electronics. I'm bummed. Next week is 3 tests, I still have 3 more chapters to finish homework wise in Calculus 3 before I will be ready for Wednesday's test, the teacher crammed in 4 chapters last Thursday. Engineering Physics test also coming up, should do well, but still have homework for that to finish also (2 chapters). Statistics is my one salvation, I hope. I have to do some homework for it, which will be due either Thursday or next Tuesday, but the problem is that it requires the lab which is open at the worst times for me. Hopefully I can do it all on Wednesday. Typically the first string of tests sets the mood for how things will be in the future, and gives me an accurate idea of what the teacher's expectations are for us. Wish me luck!

IMTS 08

2008-09-13T17:28:00.005-04:00

Just got back from IMTS 08, located in Chicago at the McCormick Center. Was pretty fun, and saw a lot of machine tools. The robotics impressed me the most, Fanuc did one heck of a job with their huge displays. One had a robot holding a car frame, with some 10 welders working on it. Overall I had a lot of fun, and was able to stay in a nice hotel and everything. Thanks goes out of Monroe County Community College for paying for all of this!

A few updates...

2008-08-14T18:28:00.003-04:00

Nothing too exciting to post about, but a few things have changed recently. My job status has changed, I only work Fridays at SHAINC as of now, and am picking up a new job as the Electronics Student Assistant at Monroe County Community College. Not sure if I'll keep my SHAINC job, I know it's only Fridays, and it is an extra $80 a week, which is a lot, but thats a whole day each week that isn't devoted to potentially more important things. At SHAINC they want me to setup a new inventory system to make things easier, I plan on just setting up a bar code scanner and having a database store the inventory and its location. The main issue they have with inventory is not finding something that is in the back room, but whether or not it's there to begin with. This will take out that difficult process of finding this out.

I've been wondering if I should change my plans about College. While I really want to go to Lawrence Technological University for my Electrical Engineering Technology degree, I've been thinking of going to University of Michigan - Ann Arbor or Dearborn instead and pursuing a Computer Engineering degree first. I really love Computer Engineering, and I know this is what my future career will be. Instead of paying $21,000 at LTU for a Technologist degree, I may be better of paying $11,000 per year for 2 years and going for the Computer Engineering degree. I seem to have all the requirements for UM fulfilled by the end of this year, and if I do get accepted to UM Ann Arbor I will likely take that route (7th in the country for Computer Engineering). I know for a fact that UM Dearborn will accept me, and while they are still prestigious, I'm not sure if I will take that route. The one thing really swaying my opinion is the facilities. LTU's facilities are...archaic. I visited once, and was pretty dissapointed. They are a great school, but nothing compared to the godly North campus of UM. I'll send in my applications to the three schools probably in November/December and see what scholarship I can get. I know a lot of people will say so and so school is over-rated, but with over $700 million invested in the engineering department, it's hard to argue with one of the country's best engineering schools.

Schools over, still busy with work though!

2008-06-28T23:04:00.002-04:00

Spring semester has finally finished. I earned a 907/1000 and reached (barely) the 4.0 mark. My passion for that class quickly sank, and near the end I was heavily procrastinating. I am very happy that the class is finished with. Technical Writing was a very interesting class, but with my time devoted to work, I just couldn't appreciate the work I had to do, since it was usually on limited time and therefore rushed. I'll definitely make sure not to have a job interfere with school this Fall semester.

I earn $12/hr for an electronics assembly company. Although the pay is very nice, at $16 in gas per day working and 1.5 hours spent driving each work day, the pay after factoring in these two variables comes out to only be $8.42 an hour, a very significant decrease ( ( 8 * 12 - 16 ) / ( 8 + 1.5) ). Although I haven't told my manager or anyone at my company yet, I may stop working at my company sometime in August in favor of a tutoring job. I was offered the tutoring job by Monroe County Community College, and the job provides a wage of $7.15/hr with reduced tax. In essence, I would earn $1 an hour less than at my current job. In addition, I wouldn't have to work Fridays, freeing up more time for school. My current job is somewhat stressful, usually because I'm constantly being rushed to finish jobs that require absolute perfection. It does get old fast when your boss is giving that angry look of "why aren't you done yet!??!?!" when you know that you are going as fast as reasonably possible. This just introduces more stress on the job and makes me cause more mistakes, which I really don't need once school starts again. I don't need the responsibility and concern of doing jobs and trying to maintain what is going on while trying to learn several subjects at school. I really like my job, but it is becoming more unrealistic as I work there longer for me to continue working there. I can't say anything for sure, but with another student being hired to do the same job as me, it will help if I decide to depart from the company.

I have finally received a hard copy of my diploma. Although my education is far from over, it is nice to have a diploma that represents two years of hard work, along with a nice official transcript showing my good grades. I achieved Summa Cum Laude, and feel that this diploma is just one more tool that will help me to get an engineer internship next semester. With experience at an electronics assembly company, experience tutoring for electronics and mathematics, and my personal hobby knowledge of digital electronics, I really hope that I can get a Computer Engineering Internship. Those type of internships seem rare, so all I can do is hope and constantly keep an eye out for opportunities.

I also spent a decent chunk of change for Pimsleur's Japanese 1. I bought it used on Amazon for half the price, and plan on re-selling it soon. I am currently on Track 9 of 30 and feel like I am learning a lot. I can ask basic questions like what are you going to buy or eat, can say good morning and afternoon, and other basic things. Since I drive 45 minutes to and from work everyday, that extra 1.5 hours time is put to good use studying a language. I decided to learn Japanese for two reasons, one being that I have no radio and so have a lot of free time when driving for something like this, and secondly, this is a skill that I have seen in several job listings. I love Japanese entertainment, and have no issues with spending otherwise wasted time learning something like this.

Updates with Pictures!

2008-05-25T22:59:00.010-04:00

I decided to upload several pictures to show what exactly my little area looks like. I keep my soldering stuff off to the side, since what I mainly do deals with plug in prototyping and breadboarding. I realize my area is messy, but I do get things done.

This is my desk's electronics section, situated to the right of my computer. Since most of what I do involves interfacing the computers to program the microcontrollers, it works out to be a great spot. I'm thinking about putting a table next to my desk, but my parents probably won't like that idea. As you can see, my power supply is still being used to its fullest, making that $50 investment so worth it. You can also see my programmer and my STK500 and some paperwork.

Heres a closer shot of my microcontroller, GLCD, and the power supply. As you can tell it is extremely messy with wires, but as far as I'm concerned if they are connected right then why bother wasting time neatening it up. As you can see there is a Slurpee positioned right next to a power supply and sensitive electronics. I did not put that there, and I only realized it was there after I started taking pictures.

Here is the JTAGICEMKII that I bought recently. This thing is amazing, and was totally worth the investment. In fact, the debugger came in real handy earlier.

Just thought I'd include a picture of the STK500 since it is lying right next to the JTAGICEMKII. On the far right you'll see the header that connects to the JTAGICEMKII, which is very nice for quick programming and debugging.

And finally, a picture of my GLCD in action. Unfortunately when moving all the equipment for the electronics lab renovations at my college I forgot to backup all the programs onto my flash drive. I spent today redoing the entire program, and was able to make a better version of it. I next want to make it go through images like a slideshow, and that will require use of the PROGMEM feature of the AVR to prevent each picture from being loaded directly into RAM upon startup. Each 128x64 pixel monochrome image takes up 1024 bytes, or a quarter of the RAM.

Well, there it is, my work area. It isn't much, but it will be much once I get the STK600. I can't wait to move onto more advanced areas such as GPS, Wireless communication, Color GLCDs and 32 Bit processors.

Just received the JTAGICEMKII!

2008-05-24T09:59:00.004-04:00

I am the proud new owner of the new JTAGICEMKII! I consider it to be a present to myself for taking up this job. It was very expensive, but very awesome. You could look at it as an investment, since its use covers nearly all the AVR devices. This thing both programs and debugs in real-time. When running AVR Studio 4 you simply choose the jtagicemkii as your debugger platform and the rest is done automatically. Instead of the usually debugging which is done all in a simulator on your computer, this thing works in real time single stepping through your program and displaying each step on your microcontroller. I am just amazed at this thing. No more worrying about whether or not it will run correctly after loading the entire thing onto the flash. With this I can manually guide the microcontroller through its functions and see for myself what is going on (instead of hoping that a 50mS blip of port changes worked correctly). I'm thinking about buying myself one more toy over the summer, the STK600. The STK600 will allow me to expand my options to the SMD world, and give me access to the AVR32 line of microcontrollers. I definitely want to have a good go at trying 32 bit processors, especially since I have a programmer (the jtagicemkii) that will work for the AVR32. This programmer/debugger cost me about $300, and the STK600 costs $200, not including the two socket adapters I'd buy for it. All together I'll probably need to spend $400 on it to get the best selection, opening up my options to most of the ATMegas, the CAN AVR, the AVR32 Flash microcontrollers, and finally I expect it to come with the TQFP-100 socket allowing me access to the ATXMegas coming out soon. Is it worth the investment? Well, $700 for the ultimate AVR setup should be worth it.

The only reason I'm planning on getting all this stuff is that it does dramatically aid my education in the field I am majoring in (Computer Engineering). Knowing this stuff will give me an edge over other people. On top of that, it seems as though I may be working more than I originally expected. Lately I have been working full time hours, and have been working late and through my lunch. This all equates to cash that I can use for both school and my personal hobbies. To put it simply, this past week more than covered the cost of the device I'm using now. I'm still saving the majority for school, but buying things like the jtagicemkii gives me an incentive to work and grows my hobby options. The unfortunate drawback to working is that it heavily cuts into my hobby time. I figure if I'm going to sacrifice so much time for work, I might as well make up for it. Hopefully my boss hires another part-timer so I can have more time for my personal work. I love my job, but it is taking up so much time.

Working Now

2008-05-10T20:19:00.003-04:00

I now am an employee of SHA INC, an assembly company that takes printed circuit boards and adds the components to them. My job so far seems to be operating the machines that place the components onto the boards. I'm very happy to have this job, and the pay is good (although if gas goes high enough it may not be so great haha). Although this job is in a different area of electronics than what I'm going into, I still enjoy the first-hand experience I get from this. I've always wondered how they produced these things. The company has one location and is family owned, and seems to do mainly prototyping (but not always). They take jobs ranging from 1 to 300 (and even more) PCBs to assemble. My only concerns about working there is that they may want me to work more than I first expected, which could mean a lot less personal time for my hobbies. I was really hoping to get started on my K&R and haven't read that much due to work. I usually fall right to sleep when I get home. This seems like a good job though to keep through school until I am ready for a higher level job (something along the lines of design and engineering). In addition to operating the machines, I also help around with odd jobs and even have the opportunity to use Visual Basic, which coincidently I decided to take last semester as an optional class. Visual Basic is used in Macros for Excel, and they seem to use quite a lot of Excel.

I also received my grades for the Winter Semester. I am glad to say that I was able to get all A's. All the A's I received were expected except for Sociology. Sociology was a wild card, and I was pretty confident I was going to receive a B in the class. Oh well, all for the better. This Thursday my Spring semester starts, I am taking Technical Writing as an online class. I really hope that with my job and class I will find a good amount of time for my personal studies, I really hate to sacrifice my education at this point.

Good News!

2008-04-25T19:50:00.005-04:00

Sparkfun's GLCD

The other day I was awarded, by Mr. Harrill, the "Outstanding Student Award" for Electronics and Computer Technology. I was honored by him two days ago at the Meyer theater and my family attended (including my sister's boyfriend). This honor is definitely a resume booster. On top of that, I received a call the same day for a potential job. I was out when I was called, and had to call back. I go in for an interview on Thursday, after all my finals are finished. I'm really excited, if I am able to get the job this will be my first real job in electronics. I also receive my Electronics and Computer Technology Associates Degree after I finish this semester, and I expect to have at most one B for this semester (in Sociology). This has been a great week, and I'm really happy.

In addition to all the important things, I also have finally gotten a GLCD to work properly. Mr. Harrill purchased one a few weeks ago and unfortunately it only came with a single page for a datasheet that gave a potentially wrong pinout. The darn thing wouldn't work after 3 hours, and after extensive debugging of the program I checked the wiring over again. I happened to touch the controllers on the back of the GLCD and noticed they were extremely hot. After that fiasco I went and bought my own off of Sparkfun since they provided heavy documentation (to note I was the one who told Mr. Harrill to buy the faulty GLCD from Mouser). The Sparkfun GLCD used the same controllers and after plugging everything in the program worked great. As of now it is a very simplistic program that displays a line (simply to test the thing). I intend on making a quick picture displaying program for it after I finish with finals this upcoming week. It should be great for the presentations we (Mr. Harrill, Alex and I) do for the Electronics section at various High Schools. Mr. Kelly and Alex suggested a simple game, which I probably will end up doing. A simple scroller where you control a horizontally stationary sprite that navigates through a path, similar to this.

Over this weekend I have to wrap up studying and any leftover homework. If we manage to box up most of the lab (for the lab renovations) before the weekend I will be able to finally start reading K&R. Ugh, 8 classes with 8 tests next week. Thankfully I only have 19 credits next Fall semester, the free time for personal projects and a possible job will be amazing. Below is my schedule for the Fall,

ART-155-01 (13466) Art Appreciation
MECH-102-01 (13902) Manufacturing Processes
MATH-162-02 (14052) Introduction to Statistics
PHY-251-01 (14065) Engineering Physics I
MATH-271-01 (14061) Calculus III

Don't mind the Art Appreciation, that's for the Computer Engineering Degree. After all, I need to be "well rounded." :)

Learning C Programming

2008-03-24T01:06:00.006-04:00

I've decided to take up learning C for the AVR 8-bit microcontroller. Although I enjoy programming in ASM, larger scale projects require C programming. I suppose the LCD program was a wake up call as to how useful C programming is. I wanted to create a function in C that would output a string to the LCD display. Essentially I wanted to be able to type LCDPrint("Testing!"); and have "Testing!" appear on the display. After a few days working with C, I came up with a simple program that does just that. Arrays are fabulous for just this type of thing, and this was a great chance to learn the language.

Mr. Harrill, my electronics professor, has requested a project on outputting a keyboard to a LED display. I plan on interfacing the keyboard to an LCD display and then having that output go to the larger LED displays. This LCD program I made is the first step in that process. Since I don't want to have a large bundle of wires going to every LED controller or setting up extra hardware such as shift registers on the LED end, I need to work on doing USART communication between microcontrollers, and also interfacing with a keyboard. The keyboard seems to be quite easy, since I could probably setup an interrupt based system where it reads the bit value after each clock pulse. USART will be used simply because it's easy to use and is supported by nearly all AVR microcontrollers. I wish I had more time to work on all this, I barely had time to setup the LCD program. As stated earlier, classes, in this case macroeconomics, are crowding up my free time. Anyways, attached in this post is the program to interface with the 2x16 character LCD.

EDIT: Oh and did I mention I got a new job at the college?

LCD Interfacing Program: http://salgat.googlepages.com/LCDInterface.zip

Pictures and a Video of my Simple DVM Project

2008-03-07T19:17:00.005-05:00

Today I took some pictures and a video of my DVM project. I really wish I had potentiometers to calibrate this thing, oh well, this is more of a learning project than anything else.

A picture of the DVM in action!

A view of the entire circuit, although the voltage dividers are kind of hidden behind the LCD display.

This video shows it in action. This circuit uses a ATmega644 microcontroller.

Attachments,
Picture of Assembler/Simulator: http://salgat.googlepages.com/simulation.JPG

Project Folder including Source Code: http://salgat.googlepages.com/AVRDVM.zip

Updates on my Life

2008-03-06T23:48:00.005-05:00

Just wrapped up a project I have been working on the past 2 mornings. I wanted to learn both ADC and the 2x16 character LCD, so I found a suitable project to incorporate them both, a simple DVM (digital voltmeter). The result is quite pleasing! In under 300 bytes I made a simplistic program that outputs "Voltage: XX.XV". The internal 2.56V reference isn't working for some reason, so I just used two 330 Ohm resistors in series to half 5V into 2.5V. If you take that along with the divide by 10 resistor network for the ADC input and the 10% tolerances of the resistors, it becomes understandable why it isn't perfect in accuracy (at lower voltages, the accuracy is within .1V, while at the upper limit around .8V). Since I knew anything beyond the tenths place wouldn't be close to accurate, I chose to use only 8-bit accuracy for the conversion. The program runs great and the display updates ~4 times per second (although this restriction is strictly aesthetic). The total cost of this high impedance DVM with decent accuracy is around $10, and higher accuracies will be obtained once I find more accurate resistors and fix the internal reference voltage problem.

I wish I could say that my devotion to my electronics is equivalent to my devotion to my school work. I have neglected all my school work this entire spring break, and now have 3 days left to play catch up. I hate to say hate, but I am absolutely sick of all my classes not related to my major electronics. Sociology, Business Management, and Economics in particular are becoming a nuisance. I find myself diverting almost all my attention from electronics to maintain my performance in those classes (although I do admit that I spend almost all my time on Friday-Sunday on Video Games, but that is to keep me sane through the rest of the week). As much as I love school, I dislike classes that while provide some life-long benefit, tend to be unnecessary. $1,400 and ~140 hours of my time going towards those classes, I hope that later in life they make up for their cost.

Another class that I have an aversion to is Visual Basic Programming. Although the class is neither required nor necessary by any means, I still decided to take it due to the many employers out there asking for experience with it. I absolutely enjoy programming in Assembly. The feeling of absolute control over what I am doing is amazing. My comparison between learning Assembly and learning Visual Basic is the difference between learning Math and English. I don't receive the same enjoyment from designing windows and programming in a manner where the computer does everything for me. I suppose it's the syntax that gets to me. Assembly on the AVR consists of 120 instructions. That's it, no more, no less. Visual Basic consists of thousands of different rules and instructions, all of which I have to learn. I have never liked English class, and I did poorly in my Intro to French Class. I am not surprised that I have a B in Visual Basic. I have found that the greatest challenge in taking 24 credits this semester is not the work, but the lack of interest. Last semester was heavenly, all electronics classes and a math class, which is why I could handle 23 credits with all A's. This semester however, I find it hard to find any interest in 5 of my classes. The possibility of several B's this semester is strong, but I'll probably drudge through it and increase my grades anyways. After all, I really would like a Scholarship or two for Lawrence Tech.

All As

2007-11-06T23:55:00.001-05:00

On every midterm I took I received an A. Very pleased. The only classes that are wild cards as of now is Calculus 2 and Medium Voltage. Although I have an A in both classes, Calculus 2 always hold some amount of unknown in how difficult the test will be, and Medium Voltage, another class I have an A in, has the final remaining which is worth 50% of my grade. I have so much homework to catch up on; Electronics 2, Microcontrollers, Circuit Analysis, and Calculus 2. Last Winter Semester I waited until the last minute to finish the work, and I know now not to do that. This weekend I am dedicating myself to Calculus. Next weekend, well Microcontrollers I suppose.

In other school related news, I have a rough idea of what classes I will be taking this 2008 winter semester,
BMGT-201-01
ECON-251-01
ELEC-138-01
CIS-152-01
SOC-151-03
ELEC-136-01
ELEC-141-01
ELEC-144-01

8 classes for a total of 24 credits. This is nearly double the workload of my first semester of college. The 3 electronics classes and CIS-152 Visual Basic Programming should be of no concern, but Sociology, Business Management, and Economics are the beasts to tackle. I can easily handle 23 credits under my belt, but save for Calculus 2 all the classes I am currently taking are ELEC classes. Maybe this is a chance to prove to myself my limits. As much as it pains me to say this, the standards at community college are lower than at universities. Perhaps the workload of next semester will be a way for me to balance that difference. When I transfer to Lawrence Tech I plan on taking credits nearing 20, so I have to prove that I can handle it. If I succeed this winter, then maybe I could justify taking 30 credits... Haha, that'd be crazy! Well, if a 3.7 GPA afforded me 23 credits, then I will be able to tear down any concerns with my 3.92 GPA. Speaking of restrictions, I have to hurry and get Intro to Programming waved so I can take Visual Basic Programming!

Hate for Homework

2007-11-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

After next Wednesday (11-07-07) I will be able to report all my midterm grades. I'm a bit curious of my score for the test I took yesterday in Medium Voltage. The only concern I have with my academic performance is the homework that I still need to complete. If there is one thing I hate it is homework. Homework is typically busywork given by teachers who want to make sure you're busy even outside of their class. Others think of homework as a way to practice on what you learned, and to hone your knowledge of the material covered in class. I consider homework to be a lazy tool used by educators who assume that homework will be affective as a means of learning and becoming better. For many, including me, homework is nothing more than an annoyance I mindlessly burn through in an attempt to get it done with. I do it for the grade, not to learn.

In all the classes that require homework, I have never found it to be helpful, not even once. But, for the classes that give out homework as supplemental and optional, I have found it to be extremely beneficial. In my Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 classes, homework assignments are given but are optional and are not graded. In this way, I can focus on problems that I am not familiar with, and know what material I can use to be prepared for class. If anything, the optional homework guides me and prepares me. The same can be said true for my Chemistry class that I took my freshman fall semester. Although homework was given, it was optional and was not graded. I used this homework as a means to know what would be covered in the tests and through that I was able to achieve an A in the class. When homework is optional, it becomes a tool to be used when needed.

I cannot say the same about required homework assignments. Although I have scored 90%+ on my Electronics 2, Microprocessors and Circuit Analysis classes, I have yet to even start on the homework. If I have proven my knowledge of the material through tests, why must I still do the homework? Why is it required in the first place? In some ways I don't hold it against the professors who assign the homework, as homework is a traditional part of education. Hopefully educators will eventually overcome this widely held belief that homework should be required as a means of succeeding and understanding the class. Anyways, I have homework to do, even if I won't remember a thing from it as I mindlessly drudge through it.

87.7~%!

2007-10-22T23:18:00.000-04:00

Earlier today I received my score for my math test. To my joy, I received 79 points out of a total of 90 points. As much as I hate getting a B on my math test, I'm still glad that it wasn't the train wreck that I was somewhat concerned with. For this quarter, my tests average to a 93.4% for each test. Those are scores I can be confident with. Mrs. Shepard said that this section was the hardest covered, so I expect better performance in the future. A part of me is a bit regretful in not studying harder, or even completing all the homework. I could have easily achieved a solid A if I had studied my trig identities and did what was assigned (in fact, I am confident that I would have received around 100% if that was true). Mathematics relies on two things, perfection, and a solid grasp of the underlying concepts. Thankfully my experience goofing off in High School has proven to be a valuable lesson.

In high school I didn't care much, and much like a calculator only learned the methods to solving problems. By not understanding the concepts behind the work I did, I suffered both in problem solving, that required a strong grasp on how to use these ideas, and suffered in building upon that knowledge when new concepts were introduced (if you don't understand what you are doing now, its really hard to understand anything else!). College for me was a nice restart, both in electronics and math. If there's one thing I make sure of, it's that I understand what I am doing! (although my mind does wonder in Electronics 2...)

Halfway through, Midterms and my new best friend.

2007-10-20T00:10:00.000-04:00

Midterms started unofficially with a math test this past week. Unfortunately the review for the test was a lot easier than the actual test, so I had a false sense of security going into the test. I failed to remember all my trig identities(sin(x)^2 = (1-cos(2x))/2) and the integral of cosecant. I passed my last math test with a 99%, so I'm hoping for a B on this test. With a B I can easily make up for it with my other tests, and I may even be able to pull off an A in the class if I get a C on the test(I'm pretty confident in at least achieving a C). If all else fails, I still have the opportunity to make up one test at finals. College is important to me, so I do always make sure to cover my bases. While on the topic of math, I recently purchased a used Ti-89 Titanium. The titanium is, at least in my opinion, the best calculator on the market to own for Calculus. It has a built in solver that handles anything, derivatives, integration, and anything else you can think of. It's a dream come true for me, and I love the diversity of programs available for it. I even have a PLC simulator on my calculator!

Next week I have four midterms, DC motors, Circuit Analysis, Electronics 2, and Microcontrollers. I'm confident in my abilities with Microcontrollers, my favorite class this semester. As for the others, Electronics 2 and Circuit Analysis will provide a challenge, but DC motors should be mediocre in difficulty, at least from what the teacher has provided for sample questions.

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbons was just released. As I type this my computer is upgrading from 7.04 Feisty Fawn. Although I'm on top of my Linux, Python has been receiving some neglect. With so much going on(school...school...and more school), I rarely have motive to read my Python books on my free time. I hope over the holidays I can dedicate more time to Python, but with learning assembly I may dedicate more time to that instead. I'm probably going to purchase a microcontroller kit at the end of the semester and study assembly for the 68k processor(the processor used on my calculator). Electronics can be so overwhelming, so many things I wish I could learn!

School has started..and I have a cold!

2007-09-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

School started last week on a Thursday, which meant I only had one day of school that week. This past week was close to a full week of school, with only Monday off(due to Labor Day) and only having not taken one class, which is scheduled only on Mondays. After taking 6 of my 7 classes, I can say that I'm fairly happy with my schedule. Everyday gives me at least 2 hours break, and on Thursdays I have a 7 hour break, which I use to catch up on school work. Combine that with a 3 day weekend, and I have plenty of time for rest and homework.

My main concern, Calculus 2, doesn't appear to be that bad. I was able to complete all but 2 problems from the assignment given to the class(a total of 20 problems on it), and even spotted out 2 errors made by the teacher. We are using the books from last semester, which means I saved roughly $150 on a book. I still have to purchase a Ti-89 Titanium calculator, but even for $100 I'm still glad it is required. This gives me a reason to buy a very nice calculator that will help a lot, not only for Calculus but also for Engineering Physics that I will be taking either next semester or next Fall.

Coincidently, on the first day of school I was fortunate enough to start having acute sore throats in the morning everyday. Since the symptoms were happening only after I slept and have been going on up until now, I was pretty worried. Finally the full fledged sickness came out today, and I'm just glad I know what it is now. It feels like it's finally going away, and I should be fine after a few more days.

I also did a major overhaul on my Python game(a lot more efficient and easier to modify). I'm not sure if I'll continue working on it, since I want to move onto GUI applications in Python. In fact, I ordered wxPython in Action a few days ago. My Circuit Analysis class has had some homework on Series and Parallel circuits, so I developed a Python program to compute all values for it, including Voltage, Current, Power, and total Resistance. I intend to enhance it more and make a GUI for it.

My first real mini-game!

2007-08-26T14:06:00.001-04:00

This has to be the first real game that I have created, and it is of course in Python. The game reads your last input, and if it is one of the arrow keys, it will shift the map according to the direction you chose. It was slapped together pretty quickly, so the mechanism to exit and the display are very simple.

So far Python has been great, although I am not going as fast as I would like to in terms of reading my books. I've read roughly 150 pages in the Programming Python book and about 50 pages in the Python in a Nutshell book. I have decided to read through the latter book in order to get a better understanding of the foundation, and to better remember everything I learned from my first book. I setup a LAMP server with FTP and SSH access on my laptop(soon to be on a regular desktop computer), the URL being http://salgat.homelinux.net, and am hoping to do some CGI with Python on that server.

School is coming up, so this week is when I start going to bed earlier, start gathering materials needed, and review all the materials from last Spring and Winter semester. The main focus of my review will be Calculus. With so many classes, I'm nervous about my ability to focus on Calculus 2. The saving grace for me is that homework wasn't bad in the Spring semester, although we received a weeks worth every day, and if I can handle 3 hours and 30 minutes of Calculus 1 three times a week, 2 hours of Calculus 2 two times a week should be bearable. With 6 classes of electronics, and 3 having Mr. Harrill in them, I know I will do fine and be happy with my schedule for the next 3-4 months.

The program is packaged in a format commonly used on Linux, but if you are using Windows, be sure to download a program such as 7-Zip or winrar to open this package. To run the program, go to the directory that the files were unpackaged, and simply double click it(this is for Windows, remember that Python needs to be installed).
Attachment: minigame.tgz

Nearing completion of my book, very anxious!

2007-07-22T19:08:00.001-04:00

5 Chapters left, or roughly 100 pages to go until I finish Learning Python(the book). I'm very excited, soon I will be able to move onto Programming Python and start to do some real programming. Unfortunately with all the excitement of finishing this book comes the anxiousness of wanting to start the next book. I started reading Learning Python the second week of this month(9th or 10th, can't remember which), and after 3 weeks I am already becoming very familiar with the language. My hopes are to have this book finished by Wednesday. Chapter 25 is really short, some 10 pages long, so I will probably finish that tonight, leaving me with 4 chapters to read over the next 3 days. I will be able to read two chapters at work Tuesday, so I can almost guarantee finishing by Wednesday.

My second year of college(and fourth semester) starts next month also, August 30th, two days after my birthday! With only a month left until school I feel a need to start moving through my Python studies a little faster, this fall I have 23 credits, and although the only concern is Calculus 2 as far as difficulty, I am still kind of weary about having so many classes. Heres a list of the classes I have(in no particular order),

ELEC-133-01 = Circuit Analysis
MATH-172-01 = Calculus II
ELEC-211-01 = Med Voltage Power Dist Systems
ELEC-137-01 = Microprocessors
ELEC-134-01 = Electronics II
ELEC-130-01 = Introduction to PLCs
ELEC-126-01 = DC Motors and Controls

7 classes in total, thank goodness they are all classes I will enjoy. I love electronics, and math is an awesome subject, so I should be fine this upcoming semester. If homework is the equivalent to what it was last Winter when I had 17 credit hours, then I should have plenty of time on the weekends to continue studying Python. Thank goodness, even with so many credits, that I could maintain having Friday off. The extra money saved from not having to drive 35 miles on Fridays really helps.

I'll probably get back to my book in an hour, going to grab something to eat soon and just browse some of my favorite sites, such as Digg, Slashdot, AllaboutCircuits, and so on.

Bought more Python books!

2007-07-21T11:56:00.001-04:00

My virtualized server of Windows XP running my bot
(apparently I overwrote this image with another, stupid me for using a generic "desktop.jpg")

In my quest to learn all that is Python, I purchased 2 more books, Python in a Nutshell, and Python Cookbook. I am close to finishing my Learning Python book, as of now I am halfway through chapter 23, only 6 chapters left! After I complete Learning Python, its on to Programming Python and studying my other two books. At some point, probably when I near completion of Programming Python, I may purchase wxPython in Action, which has gotten great reviews. I really want to be able to program with a good GUI module that will allow me to work well under any platform, not just my native Ubuntu Linux OS.

The issue of understanding Classes is taken care of, I now understand it well! It turns out that the first part of the section on Classes was talking about examples of Classes more than actually teaching and explaining it. My main concern though is doing well on the assignment problems at the end of the section for when I finish this chapter today. I often get stuck and have to refer to the Appendix for hints and answers.

On a side note, my bot for Diablo 2 seems to be on an item slump, have yet to find anything in a while. Right now it only does Pindle runs, but hopefully with my saved up fg I should be able to afford good equipment to run Kukbot for all the major bosses in the game, then the real income starts! As I listen to my Windwaker music, I'm considering getting on Starcraft. Jason and I played last night and easily won, and I could really go for some more.

Try out my Python game I made a while ago, it plays Tic-Tac-Toe(crude AI and horrible programming, but it still works!). To run it under Linux, simply go to the directory of the file in your terminal and type "python tictactoe.py".
Attachment: tictactoe.py

Pythons a Pain

2007-07-18T22:32:00.001-04:00

Earlier this month I bought a book on Python(the programming language). I really want to expand my abilities with not only electronics but computer technology, so naturally learning programming languages will help. I bought the book Learning Python, and after some 300 pages I am at chapter 20 of 29. I also bought Programming Python, a massive 1,500 page book that expands upon Learning Python. I should be finished with my first book by the end of this month, and when I'm close to finishing it I will purchase the cookbook and reference book for Python. I eventually want to move on to C++, and I feel that by learning a high level language will allow me to get into the "feel" of programming, from which I can expand to more complex languages while still being able to use Python as a scripting language. I'll admit, I do get stuck quite often on learning Python, but I believe it is only because this book likes to really go heavy on descriptions, while I learn best by examples. Classes is a little confusing, so I'm hoping I get it down pretty fast.

First Entry

2007-02-20T01:35:00.000-05:00

This is a place to post my thoughts. Lets see how this works.