Steve's personal blog

Build Indicator Part 2 (The firmware)

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:38:36 +0100

This is part 2 of the Build Indicator series. Part 1 the construction of the hardware is here.

The firmware is written using the Arduinos own programming language which is much like C/C++, using the IDE provided its easy to develop the code and push it down to the Arduino.

I decided that as the Arduino has 13 IO pins it would be a shame not to make these available for 6 build indicators so 6 individual projects could be monitored. Ive not used OO to implement the code so its a little messy with individual arrays for project status, red and green led pins which are indexed based on the project number. I think you can create classes but this has to be done in external C++ files so for a simple application like this I didnt worry to add that extra complexity.

Serial (RS232) communications is used to send a status message down to the Arduino build indicator to update the project status.

The full Arduino build indicator code can be download here.

License : Please use, copy and modify this code as you wish, all I ask is that you dont take credit for the bits I wrote. You should ensure its fit for purpose before using it.

Variable declaration :

    1 /*

    2   Build Indicator (c) Analysis UK Ltd 2008

    3  *

    4   Digital Pin Assignments:

    5   0 - RX

    6   1 - TX

    7   2 - Project 6 - Green LED

    8   3 - Project 6 - Red LED

    9   4 - Project 5 - Green LED

   10   5 - Project 5 - Red LED

   11   6 - Project 4 - Green LED

   12   7 - Project 4 - Red LED

   13   8 - Project 3 - Green LED

   14   9 - Project 3 - Red LED

   15   10 - Project 2 - Green LED

   16   11 - Project 2 - Red LED

   17   12 - Project 1 - Green LED

   18   13 - Project 1 - Red LED

   19  */

   20 

   21 #define VERSION "1.0"

   22 

   23 // Project not enabled of not connected.

   24 int PROJECT_OFF = 0;

   25 

   26 // Project build failed

   27 int PROJECT_FAIL = 1; // 001

   28 

   29 // Project build good

   30 int PROJECT_GOOD = 2; // 010

   31 

   32 // project building from a failed project.

   33 int PROJECT_BUILDING_FAIL = 5; // 101

   34 

   35 // project building from a good build.

   36 int PROJECT_BUILDING_GOOD = 6; // 110

   37 

   38 // Maximum number of projects.

   39 int maxProjects = 6;

   40 

   41 // Project status codes.  Indexed by project.

   42 int projectStatus[] = {

   43   0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};

   44 

   45 // Pins for the Red LEDs.  Indexed by project.  

   46 int redLEDPin[] = {

   47   13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3};

   48 

   49 // Pins for the Green LEDs.  Indexed by project.

   50 int greenLEDPin[] = {

   51   12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2}; // pins 0 and 1 reserverd for RS232.

The arrays redLEDPin and greenLEDPin represent the pins to use for the red/green leds and are indexed on the project number (i.e. project 0's red led is on pin 13). The array projectStatus holds the status of the project and again is indexed by the project number.

Setup:

   54 // run once, when the sketch starts

   55 void setup()                    

   56 {

   57   // Initialise the ports for output to drive the LEDs

   58   for (int i=0; i<maxProjects; i++) {

   59     pinMode(greenLEDPin[i], OUTPUT);    // sets the digital pin as output for the green/blue part of the tri color LED

   60     pinMode(redLEDPin[i], OUTPUT);      // sets the digital pin as output for the red part of the tri color LED

   61   }

   62 

   63   // Setup Serial communications

   64   Serial.begin(57600);

   65 }

The setup method iterates through all the projects setting up the pins designated as leds for output and then sets up serial communications at a baud rate or 57,600. Fortunately the Arduino takes care of the difficult serial comms bits for us.

Main Loop:

   67 // Main loop, runs over and over again

   68 void loop()                     

   69 {  

   70   // Check and Read settings from PC

   71   ReadCommands();

   72 

   73   // Update the LED's to indicate project status'

   74   UpdateLEDs();

   75 

   76   // Idle.       

   77   Idle();

   78 }

   79

The loop method is the main application loop that the Arduino will enter once setup is complete and will keep repeating.

Within loop we call 3 basic methods, ReadCommands() which will check the serial port for commands from the host, UpdateLEDs() which will update the leds based on the project status and Idle() which just inserts a small delay but can be used for other background tasks.

The comms protocol is a fairly simple one. All messages should start with a byte value of 2 and terminate with a byte value of 3 so the Arduino can easily know when a instruction has been received.

To update a project status send the ascii string @P[x]=y with x being the project number 1-6 and y being the status (0, 1, 2, 5, 6).

To query the version number of the firmware send ?V.

Ive stolen the comms protocol from another project Im working on with the Arduino that has more commands and queries so Ive based all commands where the Arduino has to do work on the @ character and all queries on the ? character to help separate out the commands and queries.

RS232 Message handling:

   86 // Read commands sent from the PC

   87 void ReadCommands() 

   88 {

   89   // Check if serial data available, if so then read this in

   90 

   91   // Read all from the serial port until no more bytes available looking for the

   92   // start byte (1) of a message.

   93   while (Serial.available()) {

   94     //read the incoming byte:

   95     int incomingByte = Serial.read();

   96 

   97     // Start identifier.  STX

   98     if (incomingByte == 2) {

   99       // Found start byte now read in until we get the end of message byte.

  100       ReadSeialCommand(); 

  101       return;

  102     }

  103   }  

  104 }

  105 

  106 // Read a command from the serial port.  Read until the read byte

  107 // is an end of message (new line) indicator.

  108 void ReadSeialCommand() {

  109   // Expect maximum of 25 bytes (normally 6)

  110   byte buffer[25];

  111   int index=0;

  112 

  113   while (true) {

  114     if (Serial.available()) {

  115       // read the incoming byte:

  116       int incomingByte = Serial.read();

  117 

  118       // Terminating byte

  119       // Wait for ETX (End of text - transmision)

  120       if (incomingByte==3) {

  121         ProcessRequest(buffer);

  122         return;

  123       } 

  124       else {

  125         buffer[index] = incomingByte;

  126         index++;

  127       }

  128 

  129       // Check for buffer overflow and give up if it has.

  130       if (index>25) {

  131         Serial.print("Error:Buffer Overflow.\n\r");

  132         return;

  133       }

  134     }

  135   }

  136 }

  137 

  138 void ProcessRequest(byte request[]) {

  139 

  140   boolean processed = false;

  141 

  142   // Check for Query commands (? at the start)

  143   if (request[0] == 63) {

  144     // Query

  145     processed = ProcessQuery(request);

  146   } 

  147   else if (request[0] == 64) {

  148     // Set (@P[x]=0) - Set Project x = status.

  149     processed = ProcessSetValue(request);

  150   }

  151 

  152   if (!processed) {

  153     Serial.print ("Error:Unknown Request.\n\r");

  154   } 

  155 }

  156 

  157 boolean ProcessQuery(byte request[]) {

  158 

  159   boolean processed = false;

  160 

  161   switch (request[1]) {

  162   case 86: // ?V - version

  163     processed = SendVersion();

  164   default:

  165     Serial.print ("Error:Unknown Query.\n\r");

  166   }    

  167   return processed;

  168 }

  169 

  170 boolean ProcessSetValue(byte request[]) {

  171 

  172   boolean processed = false;

  173   byte command = request[1];

  174   // Allow ascii version of the fan number.

  175   //Position 2 should be [

  176   byte project = request[3] - 48; // 48 = 0

  177   //position 4 should be ]

  178   //position 5 should be =

  179   //position 6 should be the raw value.

  180   byte value = request[6];

  181 

  182   switch (command) {

  183   case 80: //@P[x]=y Set project x status y.  y is ascii version of the status (0-9).  so subtract 48.

  184     processed = SetProjectStatus((int)project, (int)value - 48);

  185     break;

  186   default:

  187     Serial.print ("Error:Unknown set command.");

  188   }

  189 

  190   return processed;

  191 }

  192 

  193 boolean SendVersion() {

  194   Serial.print ("Version=");

  195   Serial.print (VERSION);

  196   Serial.print ("\n\r");

  197   return true;

  198 }

  199 

  200 // Set the status for the project.

  201 boolean SetProjectStatus(int project, int status) {

  202 

  203   if (projectStatus[project-1] != status) {

  204     projectStatus[project-1] = status;

  205 

  206     // Build failed.  Flash the red LED briefly to get attention.

  207     if (status == 1) {

  208       digitalWrite(greenLEDPin[project-1], LOW);

  209 

  210       for (int i=0; i<6; i++) {

  211         digitalWrite(redLEDPin[project-1], HIGH);

  212         delay(100);

  213         digitalWrite(redLEDPin[project-1], LOW);

  214         delay(100);

  215       }

  216     }

  217   }

  218 

  219   return true;

  220 }

  221

The method ReadCommands() will read the input buffer until it receives the start byte then call ReadSerialCommand() which reads the rest of the command into a buffer until it received the end byte. Ive limited the buffer to 25 bytes which should be plenty and if this overflows then we just abandon it. Their is no timeout between receiving the start and end bytes so this could cause a problem if the end byte is not received.

Notice in the method SetProjectStatus() that the project index used is -1 from the project value sent. When sending commands the first project is project 1 however the Arduino uses 0 based arrays.

In SetProjectStatus() if the project state changes to be failure (value 1) then the red led is flashed 6 times to draw attention to the indicator.

Project State Indication:

  222 boolean UpdateLEDs() {

  223 

  224   for (int i=0; i<maxProjects; i++) {

  225     int greenLEDStatus = LOW;

  226     int redLEDStatus = LOW;

  227 

  228     switch (projectStatus[i]) {

  229     case 0: // NC

  230       // No acton

  231       break;

  232     case 1: // Fail

  233       redLEDStatus = HIGH;

  234       break;

  235     case 2: // Good

  236       greenLEDStatus = HIGH;

  237       break;

  238     case 5: // Building from a Fail build

  239     case 6: // Building from a good build

  240       greenLEDStatus = HIGH;

  241       redLEDStatus = HIGH;

  242       break;

  243     default:

  244       redLEDStatus = HIGH;

  245       break;

  246     }

  247 

  248     // Determine project LED pins and set them appropriatly.

  249     digitalWrite(redLEDPin[i], redLEDStatus);

  250     digitalWrite(greenLEDPin[i], greenLEDStatus);

  251   }

  252 }

In the method UpdateLEDs() we update the led status based on the project status.

If you are wondering what happened to status codes 3 & 4 Ive used a bit based project status. 0001 (1) is fail, 0010 (2) is good, 01xx is building so 0101 (5) is building from a previously failed state and 0110 (6) is building from a good previous good state.

If you want to use indicators other than leds for your project state then you can update the UpdateLEDs() method with another way to indicate the project status (maybe a LCD panel?).

Thats basically the firmware, not much to it, the Arduino does most of the work for us which is the best bit!

To program the Arduino connect it up, install the drivers (my Vista x64 and Vista x86 installs got the drivers from Windows Update without a problem and also installed the VCP virtual com port drivers). Open up the IDE, ensure the board and serial port are correct and load the build indicator firmware, then hit the upload to I/O board button.

In the next entry Ill talk about the PC application to drive the Arduino.

Build Indicators revisited

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Thu, 3 Jul 2008 01:39:08 +0100

Some time ago I posted about a USB Snowman build indicator, the problem with the first version was the USB IO board I used, its availability was limited and the output was designed as a current sink rather than source, so some modifications had to be made to the board, which isnt really ideal.

Recently I came across the Arduino project, an open source hardware solution and one of the little Diecimila boards provides a perfect base for revisiting the build indicator. The SnowMan is still in use at home and I wanted one for work as well so I figured Id make another build indicator based on the Arduino.

The 13 IO pins can sink or source up to 40mA which is ideal for driving the tri-color led used by the build indicator. The led requires 2 current sources and has a common cathode. The Arduino has a USB interface that provides normal serial port communications to the host PC so interfacing is easy as well.

This time instead of a snowman I decided to use a Xmas tree. They are very similar, basically a lump of plastic with a 5MM LED mounted inside. The Arduino provides multiple IO ports of which Im using only two and the intention here is to provide some common functionality so that the device could be easily adapted to other forms of build indication (Switching relays, multiple project build indicators, other leds, buzzers etc).

Removing the base and replacing the led is a simple job, either use a flat screwdriver or use the cable exit to push off the base off.

Pull out the led fitted into the tree using the cable. This is no longer needed.

Now glue the base onto the top of the box the tree is to be mounted on. Previously I used a black ABS box but this time Im using a ice blue box and this has worked out much better for aligning the parts and seeing the leds on the Arduino board (RX/TX when programming), and also appeals to the inner geek a little more now that the workings can be seen.

Drill a hole through the middle of the base so that it will line up with the middle of the x-mas tree. This is best done with the base stuck to the box as it holds it in place and ensures every thing lines up. The hole should be about 7-8mm so that the LED + resistors pass thought easily.

Now we need to prepare the led. Using a standard Tri-Color led (Ive used Red + Green) we need to fit a current limiting resistor to the supply legs. One for the red and one for the green component of the led.

Using the datasheet for the led the voltage drop across the red Led is about 2V, this leaves a drop of 3V across the current limiting resistor as its driven from a 5V source. Im going to drive the Leds at 30mA, so we will need a 100R resistor for the red Led.

The green led has a different voltage drop across it (3.4V) so we need to do the same calculation for that and again aim to drive it at 30mA which means we need a 53R resistor, as I only had a 56R resistor to hand Ive used that which gives us about 29mA current flow.

The data sheet gives luminous intensity for both red and green at 20mA and the green is much brighter than the red so we may wish at a latter date to play around with the drive current to get a better balance when both red and green are on.

Trim the red and green legs of the led fairly short but leave enough to solder on the resistors and attach these. Next connect a cable to the other side of the resistors and to the common pin on the led. If you prefer you can attach the resistors to the Arduino connector and solder the cable directly to the led.

I used 2 core screened cable as this happened to be what I had to hand and as it turns out by tinning the screen and soldering to the led common pin gives a good sturdy way to physically push the led into the socket in the tree (and pull it out again!). I also put a bit of heat shrinking around the connections to prevent them shorting out.

Now we need the connection to the Arduino board, the led is connected to pins 12, 13 and GND. This is easy as they are all close together and as an added bonus the Arduino already uses an onboard led on pin 13 for status when starting up which means that the tree flashes when the Arduino is starting up, its easy to use other pins if you prefer.

Ive used a standard 0.1" Molex connector (The type used for 3 pin PC fans), the PCB version is ideal, but soldering the led connecting wire to the PCB side and plugging it into the header in the Arduino rather than mounting it on a PCB.

Note that in the photos the red cable is actually for the green led and the blue one is for the red led. It doesnt really matter a great deal which way round they go as long as you get the correct resistor matched up with the appropriate led. However the default in the firmware is that the red led is on pin 13 and green on pin 12.

Next drill some holes in the base of the box and mount the Arduino. Note that one hole is smaller than the others so I ended up using only 2 mounting points due to my lack of any 2mm bolts.

The advantage of using a translucent box is finding the place to drill a hole of the USB connector. I elected to use a cone drill and just have a circular cut out for the USB cable to go through, it doesnt look all that professional but it was quick and it worked a treat!

Next its just a matter of screwing everything together.

I put 6 small feet on the base of the box as well. Why 6? With sticky feet one always falls off (especially with commercial products!) and then it rocks, with 6 you still have some stability to the device if one falls off.

Now all thats needed is a little firmware to run the Arduino and some software for the PC to put it to use but thats going to have to be the subject of the next posting(s).

Recent Site Outages

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Wed, 4 Jun 2008 01:56:26 +0100

Apologies for the recent outages on a number of the Analysis UK websites, these included BookSwap.ws, Dollars2Pounds, Pounds2Euro and all the other exchange rate sites as well as this blog.

On Saturday the hosting provider had an explosion and fire at one of it's data centers hosting one of servers. Initial estimates that were given made it look like it would be quicker to leave the sites (it was a Sunday and their usually quiet on Sundays) and wait for the host to get the power back on.

Unfortunately it didnt resolve that well, after many hours of delays some power was restored but floor 1 had even more damage than was anticipated and power was much slower at being restored, this unfortunately eat into most of Monday (UK time), however Monday evening all was back and well.

I got home Tuesday tonight to find yet another apology from the company saying that this time the generator powering floor 1 had failed and they were sourcing a new one, this took a significant amount of time, especially given how much they like to state N+1 redundancy (i.e. a spare generator should have been to hand anyway). Updates were slow, uninformative, vague and at the point of being misleading Ive have yet to see any photo's of anything as well. Eventually power returned at about midnight UK time on Tuesday/Wednesday, so fingers crossed nothing else can go wrong in this world class N+1 redundancy data center!

Sincere apologies to all those affected, this one is going firmly into the experience category and Im extremely unhappy this has taken so long to resolve, I will look to do more to improve this and hopefully The Planet will learn and improve (if they have any customers left after this!).

I read on GoDaddy some time ago about a problem they had and that they didnt have geographical redundancy, if your running a serious e-commerce operation and have enough cash for some spare servers get them now and with a different host in a different [part of the] country.

BTW - If you have .co.uk domain names with GoDaddy be sure to renew them extra early as they claim they have to renew them at least a month early, then before the 20th of that month (unless I was getting some BS from the customer support as to why they canceled 4 of my domains over 1 month before the renewal date!).

Mid May Madness

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:26:00 +0100

Now the summers on its way Im sure you want to be spending less time watching your computer start and more time enjoying the better weather.

So for a limited time Ive reduced the price of LazyLoad from $29.99 to $9.99. Why not take the opportunity to purchase LazyLoad at the special price of $9.99 and reduce the amount of time your staring at a computer waiting for it to be usable.

Ive also introduced some extra purchasing options, for home users a family pack provides a great way to get LazyLoad on every machine in the house, for commercial users Ive added some site license options.

About 7 months ago I launched LazyLoad and at the time I intended to write a short blog post to talk about it. Well 7 Months latter Im finally getting their, me and blogging just are not getting along.

LazyLoad is designed to take the strain from you computer whilst it starts. Simple really! When you buy a new computer its always nice and quick, then years latter youre reduced to sitting waiting for it to start up and become usable.

One of the main culprits of the slow start is all the programs that start when Windows starts. Have a look at your notification area (bottom right of the screen), just how many programs have you got running in the background lots? Chances are that each one of these starts when Windows starts.

What happens when Windows Starts? Once youve logged in then all of the programs in your Startup folder get started along with those listed in a special part of the Windows registry. They all get started at about the same time, this becomes a problem as they all need to be loaded from disk, they all need processor time to run, they all need to be put somewhere into the system memory.

One of the major problems with this becomes the hard disk, to load all the programs the head in the hard disk needs to move to the track the programs stored on and read the data. At the same time another application is asking for its data from a different area and so the head has to move again to the new location, possible not having completed the first request, so in the end the hard disk is shuffling the head back and forward over the disk to find what it needs.

To reduce the strain on the hard disk and provide a smoother startup LazyLoad allows you to schedule the loading of your applications a specific time after your computer has started. By stopping all the applications from loading at once the system is able to concentrate on a few specific tasks and get these done quicker the net result is your machine becomes usable much earlier.

LazyLoad is free to try for 30 days so if youve not already tried it then download a copy. If you like it then purchase if license whilst its on special offer.

Earthquake in the UK!

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:16:51 +0000

Minor tremors felt here in Cambridge, thought I was going crazy and fired up Twitter to see other reports, news starting to come through on sky news sometime after.

Turns out I wasnt imagining things! Apparently 4.7 on the Richter scale.

Unusual to get this in the UK. Only minor here in Cambridge, like a helicopter flying over the house and the only thing to shake was me and the study lamp!

Just woken up and want to get your PC fired up quickly to check out Sky News, BBC News or Twitter? Waiting for lots of background applications starting that you dont need and just want to fire up a browser quickly? Check out LazyLoad to delay the stuff you dont need immediately so you can get started sooner.

Just for fun.

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:58:17 +0000

Sometimes you just have to join in the fun. I read that Stephen Colbert had announced his candidacy for president, and well I had a domain name that wasn't really doing much so I figured I'd join in the fun a little as well.

So to show my support,Steve 2 Win (http://www.Steve2Win.com) has been thrown together and released to the wild, just for fun you understand!

BTW - No snowmen were hurt in the production of the website!.

Putting the SnowMan to work : Cruise Control .Net Build Status Monitor.

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Mon, 7 May 2007 02:40:29 +0100

So X-Mas has long gone (well at least at the time of writing) and Im left with two issues, first I want to monitor the status of my builds easily, secondly I have some left over USB SnowMen.

Their can be only one thing for it. Time to get the screw driver and glue out and turn the snow man into a build status indicator.

Now ideas like this are far from new, Ive read of teams using Lava Lamps to indicate the status of their builds and the latest sources of CCTray show signs of X10 control, Jeff Atwood covered the subject using a BetaBrite LED sign, Mike Swanson used an Ambient Orb and Scott Quibell has used the Dell XPS Leds as a build monitor.

So now for my addition to the world of varied build monitors, what else but a color changing snow man!

A Good build and the snow man is green:

Building the Application the snowman goes yellowish (Green+Red):

Failing the build the snowman goes red (Dont mess with an angry snowman!):

This gives a nice feedback on the build status, doesnt require the addition of mains electric (its USB powered), and doesnt rely on X10 which Ive found to be problematic in a work environment due to mains born noise and its a bit of a weird thing so always good as a conversation point.

The parts required:

A USB SnowMan about £6.

A USB Mini-Bee IO device or something similar that can source 2x 25mA outputs. (£25)

A small box,

A Red+Green 5mm TriColor LED (£0.25)

Some cable and some glue.

In the next blog posting I will describe construction (well modification really) of the hardware and the one after that the simple mods to CCTray to kick the snowman into life.

Pound breaks the 2 Dollar point.

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:41:26 +0100

Today the Pound has broken the 2 Dollar exchange rate, this is apparently a 15 year high for the Pound against the US Dollar.

Dont forget if you want to check out the exchange rate on your mobile phone or other mobile devices you can browse to D2P.mobi, Dollars 2 Pounds for your mobile.

Screen shot from Dollars2Pounds showing todays rate above the 2 dollar point:

Pound touches 14 year high against US Dollar

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 03:19:59 +0100

The BBC is reporting that the Pound reached a 14 year high against the US Dollar during Monday.

I dont have 14 years worth of data in the Dollars2Pounds exchange rate database, but heres a chart of what the last 5 years looks like.

(Apologies for the Y axis label problem, Excel has decided not to allow me to show the full label I have no idea why, Ive tried allsorts).

I'm currently working on adding charting to Dollars2Pounds.com, however this is in a big queue with lots of other things I need to be working on so isnt happening as quickly as I would like its also reliant on me finding a charting package that I like, and Ive not had much luck so far.

If you want to play with a chart in Excel your self you can use Dollars 2 Pounds exchange rate history page and Excels Web Query.

From Excel select :
Data -> Import External Data -> New Web Query

In the Window that opens enter the Rates History URL.
(http://www.dollars2pounds.com/RatesHistory.php?Base=USD&To=GBP&Days=60)

Select the arrow pointing to the date title of the rates table, it should turn to a tick

Click on Import, select where to import the data to in the Import Data window and wait whilst Excel gets the data.

Your spreadsheet should now look something like:

Now, if like me your in the UK, its a great time to buy software, components, domain names and the like from US sources as everythings practically half price!.

Please remember the actual exchange rates you receive from your credit card, money transfer or other currency conversion will differ from the rates published, please check the rate offered by the company converting your currency first and remember that conversions are an approximate indication only and cannot be guaranteed by Analysis UK.

Implementing GTD SOP #2 with the help of Dinner Timer Lite.

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:00:16 +0100

Once again Bob has a fantastic suggestion to help us get things done on his ToDoOrElse.com blog, the basics of GTD SOP #2 are that you spend 48 minutes working with an allowance of 12 minutes slack time every hour (although Im hoping this doesnt apply to 24 hours a day although it sure feels like it sometimes!).

Every now and then I find another use for Dinner Timer Lite. Today is no exception, with some very simple modifications to the settings Dinner Timer Lite makes a great timer for GTD SOP #2 (IMHO!) - not to mention that the timer Bob recommends is out of stock at Amazon.com as I type this and Dinner Timer Lite is available as a free download!

Dinner Timer Lite is a free PC based timer originally intended to help me reduce the number of meals I burnt because I returned to the PC to work and forgot to set the timer in the kitchen or when I did it went off and I kept working thinking I would just do another 30 seconds when it was really 5 minutes extra.

Configuring Dinner Timer Lite for GTD SOP #2

From the main menu choose Settings -> Options.

On the General Options tab set the following:

Default timer run time : 60 min.
End point close warning time : 12 min.
Over end point first warning time : 4 min. (or as you feel appropriate)
Secondary over end point warning : 8 min. (again as you feel appropriate)
Stop all notifiers after end point: 10 min.

That has set up the timer to run for 60 minutes by default, warning me 12 minutes before the hour is up (i.e. 48 minutes after the start), then again warning me at the end of the hour, combined with two possible over run warnings at 4 and 8 minutes in case I keep slacking! as if that would happen! and a stop at 10 minutes in case I have wandered away from the PC.

Naturally when you are working you dont want to be clock watching but you might just want to see how long till you get some slack and at the same time its good when your slacking to see how long you have left so lets setup the opacity of the timer.

The settings here are :
Timer stopped : high visibility.
Timer running : Low visibility.
48 Minutes up : good visibility.
Time up : high visibility.
Over run slacking : full visibility.

Getting notified:

The current release version of Dinner Timer Lite features 2 styles of notification (future versions have some more notifiers currently being written).

Here are how I have configured Dinner Timer Lite :

Select both bubble and sound notifiers on the notifiers tab.

Click Bubble Notifier then the Edit Settings button to open the options for the bubble notifier.

From the top drop down box work your way through the various options, setting the Action as Run Once or Dont Run where you dont want a bubble to appear.

The text will appear in a bubble pop up from the system tray area when the appropriate event occurs.

Started : "Timer started"
Stopped : "Timer stopped"
EndPointClose: "Slack Time, you now have 12 mins slack time to surf and make a cup of Tea!" (This event is the one set to occur 12 minutes before your hour is up).

EndPoint: "Time to get back to work remember to restart Dinner Time Lite" (occurs when the 60 minutes is up).
EndPointMissed1: "Stop slacking and get back to work"
EndPointMissed2: "Thats enough slacking you won't get anything done"

Naturally you may wish to change the messages for ones that are a little more motivational (or polite)!

Next set up the sound notifiers in a similar way. I would suggest you use a sound on the start event so you know for sure that the volume is working when you start the timer!

When setting the sounds use the Run Once or Run Twice Action options otherwise the sound will keep going until you stop and that would likely ruin your 12 minutes of slack time!

You can choose your own sounds if you dont like any of the built in ones, they were chosen to get attention. Sound Rangers is a great site to get a variety of sound effects from.

If you dont want sound notification or bubble pop up then unselect that notifier.

NB: sound configuration and notifier selection changes only takes effect when the application is restarted for Version 1.0

Thats it for configuration of Dinner Timer Lite, next lets put it to use.

Using Dinner Timer Lite:

Returning to the main window we see the 60 min default value in the drop down in the menu strip. If you want to work longer (or shorter) change the time here, but you will still only get 12 minutes slack time (sorry!)

When you are ready to start working hit the Start button.

The timer updates to show the time remaining, the start and completion times and how long the timer is running for, as well as a progress bar showing oddly enough the progress through the hour.

The timer also updates its transparency to the low visibility state (not shown in the screen shot), clicking on the minimize button sends Dinner Timer Lite to the tray, hover over it to get the time remaining for the hour. When its slack time we get prompted with a balloon from the system tray and some weird noise from the speakers, then when its time to get back to work more balloons and noises!

When youve finished your slack and are ready to start back remember to hit Stop and then Start again to start the next hour. And if you were slacking more than you should have been the timer keeps counting past the hour so you know how much work you skipped.

Cooking dinner whilst working.

Naturally if you are like me and stick some food in the oven and return to the computer to get a bit more work (ok, slack) done then just start up another Dinner Timer Lite and set the timer to run for how long your food needs cooking whilst the other GTD SOP #2 timer is running, however be warned that the settings will now be to warn you 12 minutes before dinner is ready as the settings are global.

Other uses of Dinner Timer Lite?

If you have found Dinner Timer Lite useful for timing something that you thing others would also benefit from then drop me a line, post a comment or something and I will look to add details about it and see if some simple improvements to Dinner Timer Lite can make it a better product.

Demon regrade fiasco : Day 34

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 00:45:17 +0100

Today I received a very nice and apologetic letter from Demon in response to my complaint I sent them on Day 16. The letter basically stated that my comments have been noted and my suggestions will be considered along with a lot of the usual reasoning for the FUP.

One thing that gets me is I still dont see how the implementation that Demon have taken for the FUP will work. Its measured over 30 days, so month 1 you download everything in site, get all your Amazon unboxed downloads, update your Napster tracks, catch up with the latest updates on C4s broadband download and BBC 2s downloads, Sky by broadband so on and so forth and you can easily go well over the download limit, I get the impression I could just leave the PC on downloading day and night on my 6Meg (should I say, up to 8Meg) connection, then next month you get capped so you spend the month doing little and picking up your email, follow that with the month after then you could hammer the connection again.

Now if I was to do that the FUP would work for every other month but be completely pointless for the high bandwidth months. Now granted the FUP worked for me and got me onto a more expensive account as Im sure it will have done for a lot of others, but this package is three times the regular package so Im sure lots of people will save their downloads for every other month and rack up high bandwidth usage then, how is that going to help Demons other customers who share the exchange? I dont think it is. If it was capped after the FUP limit for the rest of the month that would have a much more helpful impact on the other customers. Anyway, Im sure it will all sort its self out.

Now just to help matters, not only did It take a total of 17 days from the date I ordered the regrade but had I have been a new customer I would have got a free modem and free installation and it would probably have been done a lot quicker, however because Im a loyal Demon customer I got no modem and a £40 bill for the pleasure Demon you sure do know how to rub salt into a wound!

OK, now hopefully thats all behind me and I can get on with business and surfing, lets just hope I have no reason to contact customer support!

Demon regrade fiasco : Day 17

nospam@example.com (Stephen Harrison) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:24:03 +0100

So this morning I again phoned Demon support, initially they claimed I had regarded from Home Office to Business then back to Home Office again, however that got resolved quickly and I was told my account was a Business account, so I guess it was just the dedicated Business broadband support line that was wrong yesterday evening.

This time I was told that the cap would be removed from the account within the next 12 hours, this was at 11am, at 11pm the cap would be lifted for the day anyway so I thought that I wouldnt really not know until the next day, so they might just as well have given me another one of the 24 hours brush offs.

Amazingly enough today the cap appears to have been lifted, I guess I must now be a proper business class customer, few what a relief!!!

Two other important things happened today as far as Demon go, I send a letter of complaint to their head office and I got a letter from them saying how sorry they were that I was closing my old dial up account, which I moved away from 4-5 years ago! Now thats efficiency!!! (note hint of sarcasm).

The more observant may have noticed that Ive included Saturdays and Sundays in my Day numbers, when Demon tell you a regrade will take 10 days thats 10 working you have to read the small print, I think this is quite deceptive really 10 doesnt sound to bad, just a bit more than a week but when you think about it really its 2 weeks, 14 REAL days, naturally 10 days sounds better.

I guess its only fair to say that when I post a book the confirmation email says 1-2 working days, thats because the delivery people dont work Sundays but I do explicitly state working days.

Maybe if you are a business youre probably not to bothered about weekends, but for consumers and people like myself, both a consumer and micro ISV weekends are very important so 14 days (2 weeks) is really the number you have to think off and all of a sudden that sounds a lot longer. (something like 40% longer). I guess the only time its useful is if you order on a Saturday or Sunday then its actually 12-14 real days, I cant help think being up front and saying 2 weeks would be better.

Now all I have to wonder is why it took 17 (real) days to sort this out when it was just a regrade, the line was already there, from what I can tell BT had their bit nailed in 2-3 days, so that leaves 14 days of pen pushing I guess. It does make me wonder if I hadnt done anything how long this would have taken to resolve.

I only have a few concerns left, hopeful the cap removal wasnt just a temp thing today and wont reset its self tomorrow, hopefully in 30 days time Demons computer wont automatically decide it doesnt know Im a business customer and recap me/

My biggest concern however is that nothing else will happen to my line that requires Demon customer support to do anything because Im not actually sure they are capable of doing anything to support their customers (or at least in a reasonable efficient manner) and for this reason alone I have to consider Demon unsuitable as a Business broadband provider and inadequate as a home Broadband provider.

Hopefully this will be the last you will hear of me complaining about Demon, if its not then Im likely to need to be in a padded cell as this has just been such a frustrating experience its driven me crazy every day.