ReplicantFX's chip can be used to control a string of LEDs similiar to what we saw in the MR sabers... however, creating such a string can be a challenge, unless you pull one out of the MR itself...
However the board that would need to be created would need to have outputs for each segment of the strip, I believe MR used 5 sections? And the programming on the SD card would have to time the "extend/retract" effect.
The ability to control LED strings is a good thing, I think. With a few folks working on and making gigantic strides on the LED strings like those shown by Makatosai, it would be beneficial to be able to hook this style of blade to this new board.
Even if the LED strings are not the most durable, they can be impressive, and sometimes, just looking cool is enough.
LOL... the problem lies between what Tim@TCSS is REALLY responsible for and what people THINK he's responsible for.
As an example... look at PC manufacturers.... everbody complains about the tech support they provide but +90% of the time there's absolutely nothing wrong with the hardware. They have something configured wrong or connected wrong.
I can certainly see his point.
exactly, as a sysadmin for a fair sized corporation I have one credo, NEVER underestimate the power of human stupidity, I can't count the number of times I've seen someone do something stupid frying their machine and show up at my lab expecting me to fix it or pull a new one out of my ass, and thats just in the last month...Originally Posted by TroyO
regardless of weather your actually responsible for something, as soon as people associate you with it, they'll start pestering you for help.
like I said.. I guess its nature of the beast.. and "I" didnt think it brought any more problems then already in use. (as far as people complaining to Tim..)
although if the point was/is to cut down on another point of entry for complaints I can see that.. I was just saying people are going to complain no matter what.
or always look for a source of blame/help...etc.
doesnt make anyone more or less responsible..
I mean to me, Tim is responsible for selling/delivering the product you purchase in the store.
Meaning the parts come in good condition, and nothing DOA if electrical in nature.
bad solder, bad programming, blowing out LED's.... I mean they could 'try'..but would you really take responsibility? I think its absurd.
That being said... people don't always understand that they are responsible for their mistakes... ask anyone who deals with the public on a day to day basis... I believe there was an excellent quote in Men In Black that described a person vs people perfectly...like I said.. I guess its nature of the beast.. and "I" didnt think it brought any more problems then already in use. (as far as people complaining to Tim..)
although if the point was/is to cut down on another point of entry for complaints I can see that.. I was just saying people are going to complain no matter what.
or always look for a source of blame/help...etc.
doesnt make anyone more or less responsible..
I mean to me, Tim is responsible for selling/delivering the product you purchase in the store.
Meaning the parts come in good condition, and nothing DOA if electrical in nature.
bad solder, bad programming, blowing out LED's.... I mean they could 'try'..but would you really take responsibility? I think its absurd.
But with the way this was going (and may still be going) Tim (TCSS) & Tim (ReplicantFX) are both going to get a ton of e-mails when/if this goes live... TCSS because its his forums... and ReplicantFX because they are working on the individual chips... and some people are going to believe at the end of the say, if their boards do not work, they fault will lie with ReplicantFX... and he will have his work cut out for him trying to troubleshoot individual applications with different board specs with one chip...
and I doubt I know enough to help him with that portion yet.
OKay, I don't want to blow off these concerns. They are very important issues. But I see things getting derailed into debate and think we should refocus here. Once we have something that people who are not handy with a soldering iron are interested in building, we can look at the situation and move on then. It may be that it appears such a daunting project that very few people are willing to go to the effort. We will just have to wait and see
Getting things back on track. I am very interested in the MR style led blades. Just thought I would throw this out there
http://www.instructables.com/id/Dart...D-light-saber/
I came across this some years ago when thinking about my first saber. Building LED chains isn't that hard. But as somebody said on another forum (sorry for not crediting you directly, I am about to start class and can't spend the time looking your name up, You know who you are). The most difficult part is finding the correct LEDs. Your standard Radio shack parts will not do. Has anyone found out what LEDs makototsai uses?
SOrry I was not trying to throw into a debate... definately not my intention...
But as far as the chains of LEDs... I do not know off hand what is used by makototsai uses, but I can definately find some LEDs with the dispersal pattern out the sides of their diode that will light up a blade pretty well. It'll be interesting to see, but My feelings are that the blade should be enclosed in styrofoam much like the MR, which was probably done as much to protect the LEDs as it was for diffusion. The styofoam core and the corbin film would probably work very, very well for a blade...
I'll work on my test board and see if I can get a ramp up effect working. (anyone have an MR blade with the wires still attached to the bottom? that will be a good control subject while I work on getting another option... I just need the LED string and foam...
Our sabers can't repel idiots of that magnitude!
Just had to say it...
Actually, if we stick to schematics and code posting (which I thought was the original intent of the thread) but no discussion of sales of kits/built boards, then Tim (TCSS) shouldn't get too many idiot emails. I'd like an inexpensive board that's better than a Hasbro (in some as yet to be quantified way), but certainly is not as capable as a CF V4.0. If we begin trying to duplicate the exact functionality of someone's retail board, don't expect them to be nice about it. If we help another retailer increase their competitiveness, don't expect their competition to be nice about it. If we produce a design that's not in direct competition, but is ok for the weekend hacker without much discretionary income, then it's a plus for Tim (TCSS) since it will produce more saber builders (thus, presumably more sales of saber parts at TCSS) and the retailers still have the edge in quality. I seriously doubt that we can produce a board that duplicates a CF's functionality for significantly less than the cost of a CF. In fact, I don't think we should try. Those that want to do this should read some of the earlier posts in another thread where someone appeared to be explicitly trying to reverse engineer Erv's boards. If that happens, you've opened yourself up to a lawsuit. Whether it's Hasbro, MR, Erv, Tim (ReplicantFX), or Joe-Bob's Front Porch Cheapo Lightsaber Sound Boards, you've actually committed a crime by copyright/patent infringement.
I don't see anyone here really talking about offering kits for this...
but that is neither here nor there right now. The thing with this idea is to share knowledge and ideas, so that whoever wants to tackle the project can build and design their own board to put into their saber.
Something to keep in mind since copying and law suits were brought up is: using this code, and our ideas/schematics, someone can build a chip with all the good stuff we come up with (if we come up with it) and produce these boards for a profit.
we'd have no say in that matter, as we offered everything for free and had no rights to any of it. So if that time comes, I hope we don't start seeing anyone complain. ReplicantFX's chips are protected in such a way that no one will be able to use his firmware elsewhere... so their interests are protected with their investment.
No one here is trying to reverse engineer anyone's boards, if for no other reason than respect for Erv or Corbin, or whoever else makes boards. And ReplicantFX is not trying to take anything away from TCSS.. so there should be no bad blood there.
So for now, lets keep such negative thoughts away, as we do not want to stifle this project even before it gets off the ground.
In some way, shape, or form, this idea is going to compete with other sound boards... It might be on a different tier than a CF, or an ultrasound... or even an MR / hasbro... but it doesn't mean that it won't end up competing with features eventually. Open source will mean it will continue to grow and evolve as new ideas crop up... and as long as the research and R&D is done on the level, competitors shouldnt have an issue with it, as its not an "all in one, pre-built solution" ~Chris
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