Submitted by drew on

 

 
When you create a project in MPLABX, none of the files that it creates can be used to open MPLABX. Instead, you have to open MPLABX and then open your project by navigating to it (or leave it open in MPLABX when you close the IDE). I have devised a means to open a project in MPLABX by double clicking on a file.
 
(MPLABX is based on Netbeans version 6, so I imagine something similar could be done to open Netbeans projects. I'm not familiar with the native Netbeans or other types of Netbeans projects, so I'm just guessing here.)
 
Basically, it works by saving a script that opens MPLABX with a command line, sending it the project's folder path. I rename the script file with extension ".mplabx" and then set up an association that calls the scripting engine for that type of file. I chose to use VBScript as the language for this.
  1. Create a VBScript file. See attachment for source code. It looks for a folder that ends with ".X", in the same directory as the script file. If more than one is found, it looks for a folder with a similar name as the script file, e.g. MyProject.mplabx will open the project in the folder named MyProject.X.
  2. Rename the script file to ".mplabx".
  3. Add an association to the Windows registry for opening .mplabx as a file that can be run by the Windows scripting host. The most important part here is the HKCR\MPLABXFile\ScriptEngine\(Default Value) needs to be set to "VBScript". The attached registry file sets up this association and sets the icon for the new file type. This reg file is based on the built-in .vbs and VBSFile keys.
  4. Add an environment variable named "MPLABX" which points to the installation location of MPLABX. The command sent by the script uses that variable to determine the location, like this: "%MPLABX%\mplab_ide\bin\mplab_ide.exe"
 

 

Tags
Software
Windows

Converting version control repositories from Bazaar to Git (bzr to git)

Submitted by drew on

Bazaar is great on Windows. Several years later, git's tools for Windows still.... (ahem) are lacking or too commercial. However, official development on it has ended and git is so much more popular now. So I think the time has come to convert all my beloved bzr repositories to git.

First we need note some prerequisites:

Adding a hardware clock to Raspberry Pi (DS3231)

Submitted by drew on

The popular clock module is uses the DS1307 real time clock chip, which is not very precise. For just a few dollars more, you can get a module with a much more precise DS3231 RTC chip. The one I got was SunFounder's module from Amazon for $9 (free shipping for Prime). It plugs right onto the Raspberry Pi's 40 pin header and doesn't even interfere with the plastic case I have. I have a Model B, but this module should also work on Model A and Model B+. The instructions refer to DS1307, but the chips use the same I2C commands, so it also works for DS3231.

How to run a PiPresents show when you don't have a Raspberry Pi

Submitted by drew on

PiPresents is some pretty cool software that will run a PowerPoint-like presentation. But with lots more flexibility. It was originally written for the Raspberry Pi.

However.... perhaps someone else has your Pi. Perhaps you don't even have one. It is possible to run a PiPresents show on  your good ol' desktop computer (Windows, Linux, or Mac). Here's how.