Project:PipBoy 8000 PICS FIXED! 56K warn|big (?) update 06/28|*vfd help needed!!!!!*

sorry i promise this is the last time i make excuses but still no pics cable still at office and i feel like crap (toothache and headache don't mix well...) i promise pics will be up on monday or maybe sunday night

 

i'm catchin up withmyself slowly but surely

so as i said i tried to fit the lighting it 2 ways
really would've liked to go with 2 10cm green ccfls but alas this country is really short of anything that's modding related or simply cool
so i tried to fit in a 30 cm one here's the pics.

first: i tried it vertically here's how it looks then:

the back


the top


the front (in the back you can see a blue-purpe light that's my in project server )

the side

then i tried it horizontally (which didn't really fir ):

the side
it would look way much better this way unfortunately the ccfl won't fit tho maybe if i take it out of it's acrylic casing it will fit tho i doubt it (maybe if a place it a bit tilted but then the light coming from the vent grills wouldn't really be equal)


the back
looks really high tech doesn't it? i love it


the top
the placing doesn't really make a big difference here


the front again
here again there's not much difference but the bottom holes are a bit brighter which might be disturbing when i place the vacuum tubes (it might be so that the ccfl makes the tubes' light seem very dim or even invisible)

oh yea btw the pic are with my new digicam (Nikon Coolpix 5700) i love it some of the pics came out blurry because i didn't use the flash and i wasn't to be bothered with setting up my camera stand.

hope you like it

(wohooo 70th post! )

Edit:
sorry bout the large pics i'll resize them asap (ETA 1 hour)

 

great job there pal! keep it up

 

Keep that camera still!!!!! And, please, reduce your pics! I have a 1280x1024 screen resolution, but still it's difficult to see them!

 

as i already mentioned i'll resize the pics asap i'll write a post when they've been resized

 

okay so i've resized the pics so now all is fine. gonna get some metal mesh tomorrow (if from nowhere else then from a car speaker grill ) to make the front for the vacuum tubes I EMPHASIZE that only if all goes well!

as for the vfd (since i don't think too many of you here buy'em) here are some pics for the prog that controls it.

the name is:


and here's the control interface itself:


now the bad thing about this prog is that you can't make it read out values from progs BUT and a BIG BUT(T) you can "paint" images or create animations with it that you can export to a hex editor to implement the character code for the image to be displayed into a prog you can make(no not a lamer to this just having trouble putting thoughts to words). Just wanted to post this since noone ever showed these online. This is what noritake "factory bundles" with their 7000 series modules.

Cheers mates!

PS: papeniglio
the pics were of exactly that resolution originally

 

I Want Comments!

 

Great job! pic's are a little big and blurry but its looking great so far

 

You gotta post some less blurry pics first dude!! I can hardly see how it's gonna be with them shaky pics!!
I think it looks great..

 

Should get some more pics of it with more light, and for the night shots, keep that camera still
Pics are very blurry, heh.

Nice work, I like it!

 

Well i just saw that piloux was asked by valve for a demo case grats to him too bad i won't even get the chance of that happening to me by this mod since Interplay is down the gutter and i'd say that no matter what Herve Caen (sonovabi*ch CEO who took Iply and Black Isle to their doom) says Iplay is dead and so is Fallout 3 I doubt that anyone who's interested in this topic doesn't know of this site but i'll post the link anyway: No Mutants Allowed

too bad

 

okay not real update but some info nevertheless.

i downloaded all software avalible for the vfd module i ordered but i came to the conclusion that driving it with LCDC would be best but there are only definitions for the 128*32 and *64 800 series modules i've decided to take a peak into these in the hope to alter them to fit my 112*16 7000 series module but after the ferst few lines of code i got lost in it. so i'm really kindly asking the VFD gurus on the forums to help me out on this matter

pretty pretty please...

thanks in advance

 

sweet looking **** you got there! keep up the good work!

 

the case it really starting go get somewhere, nice work man - the VFD program looks like it was made in VB, im sure noritake or someone else has a opensource version of this software to control the VFD or other software to control VFDs like this one.. check it out man, i know that noritake has a Developer kit.

 

yea i have that developer kit but i'm not so good at programming to make it read out and print temp or rpm values on the vfd realtime that's why i need some help making a prog like that or making a lcdc module for it

 

took a few closeups from the top of the case few days back just wanna share them


here you can see i reinstalled the original antenna holder cos i decided to drop the rubber antenna thing since i've found it's original pull-out antenna (when deployed it's bout 2-3 metres long )


oky here you see the connectors on the top the 2 jacks are either in a 2 speaker setup as mic and headphones or in 4 speaker surround. now the other connector i'm still thinking what to make of it. either it will be a USB port or the center and subwoofer outlets for speakers. which should i do? i'm awaiting ideas and suggestions on this.



here you see what that other connector shaped bulk thingie is it's to hold the cover of the connector when it's in use

 

I really like the look of that! Are you going to paint it or do you prefer the weathered industrial look?

As for photographs: I realisise using a flash would spoil the lighting a bit. What you need to do is use a reflected light source behind the camera, and increase your exposure times a bit (the camera will do this in Automatic mode, so don't worry if you can't make manual adjustments) so it picks up all the LEDs nice and bright. For this to work you must use a tripod however. A mini tripod costs only a few bucks.

Another problem with such lower light exposures is that your autofocus won't work well; as such you can see your pics are not only shaky, but blurry as well. Use manual focus if you can, otherwise light the PC with a bright torch while pressing the shot button halfway, so the camera focusses, then while keeping the button halfway down turn of the torch, then press it fully to take the shot. Cumbersome, I know. That's why I prefer a manual option. But you could have someone else operate the torch.

 

nexxo: there's no problem i know all bout that i was just too lazy to bring out my tripod since it was night and i left it in the car after my weekend trip if i have the time i'll take new pics with it

about the painting: i will partly paint it the battered look will remain to represent the fallout looks but the grey andred-ish patches of paint will be removed and around the rivet's it will be rusted also all of the white vent-grills will be rusted and they'll get a bit battered (i think i'll hit one of the fins with a hammer on it or something so they don't look too new)

 

well bad news fellas
yesterday we had a storm and even bowling-ball sized ice pieces were falling ruining my car. the repairs will cost more than the car is actually worth (funny ha ha) cost will be round 1200 eur so my project budget gets a hars cut. i'm still getting the vfd but the paint and other things will be delayed severely sorry but that's life for ya

 

also my 200 gig hdd died today leaving me really short of any space (actually it's not completely dead yet but i won't risk it dieing before i can save the stuff from it) so this was kinda a sucky few days ....