Other projects

Some of the libraries needed by TuxCAD have been used for the rapid development of other programs. Therefore, the GUI of all programs looks very similar and by using dynamic libraries it saves system resources.
Well, I like to buy electronic components sold as special offers, which I try to control by Linux. This has the advantage, that the loss is not too large, if a project fails, but has the disadvantage, that you might have problems getting the mentioned devices. Maybe there's someone, who has already such a device and wants to use it with Linux. Most projects are not finished, yet. Often, I stopped developing when the desired functions were ready. Of course they can be used for your own extensions.
Well, here is the list of my projects. The libraries, which are needed for compilation can be found at the download page. You should install these libraries, first.

LCD-display Toshiba DG036Z

This project allows the controlling of a Thoshiba DG036Z LCD display, which has a resolution of 120 to 48 pixels in graphic-mode or 6 lines of each 20 characters in text-mode. There's also variable backlight. The module has a T6963C controller and will be connected to the PC via a parallel port. The modules were sold by Pollin-Electronics (www.pollin.de), but I think they are unfortunately sold out. The module was deliverd with a short documentation which described the connection, the power supply and a command description. Also I received a floppy with a simple demo application for DOS - but I haven't tested it.
Because the controller can be found on other LCD-modules (even with higher resolutions), my library should also control these displays - but on strength of the missing hardware, I wouldn't guarantee for this !

Download dg036z-src.0.01.tgz (37.4 kBytes)

ELV digital analyzer module

This is a digital I/O-module having 12 input- and 12 output channels. The module is available from ELV Electronics (http://www.elv.de). It will be shipped with a useful DOS program, but it is probably compiled with an older verion of Turbo Pascal, and so,it will not work on faster machines, because it crashes during a calibration loop at the program start. My program runs at least on my 1.4 GHz Athlon.

Card reader

As first utilization of the digital analyzer, I connected it to a Panasonic ZU-95103030Se card reader. This model was long time available at Pollin-Electronics for about five Euros. Although, the reader can read chip-cards, but I confined to ejecting an inserted card and reading the information stored on the magnetic tracks. The module will be connected to some channels of the digital analyzer. Because of the rather slow speed of the analyzer, there can be only read one track at a time. Also, the card must not be pulled too fast in order to keep the sampling rate in a valid range.
Download analyzer-src.0.01.tgz (29 kBytes)

XMetex

Some Metex mulitmeters are equiped with a serial interface. Having a proper connection cable you can read the measured values. The used protocol is very simple and there can be only read about one value per second. Due to a defect Conner harddrive (bug in cache controller), I lost a newer version of the program and was so frustrated, that I didn't rebuilt this version again. Hence, ther are only a few features left. If there are many requests, I may continuing the development ...

Download xmetex-src.0.01.tgz (26.5 kBytes)

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