Topics

1

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / LowPower library for TinyScreen+

« on: December 02, 2016, 11:39:14 AM »

For my watch project, I want the uC to generally be asleep, and awaken on any button press. Since the TS+ uses the ATSAMD21G18A and this is supported by the Low-Power library (https://github.com/rocketscream/Low-Power) I want to assume this can all work, but I have a few questions:

• has anyone used this that might have code to share
• can I set things up so that any button press will awaken the device
• there's a caveat about SAMD core requiring a patch for external interrupts to work -- any guidance on doing this?

2

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / What library to use for TinyScreen+ RTC?

« on: November 26, 2016, 06:29:40 PM »

Is there a sample project that utilizes the built-in RTC of the TinyScreen+?

3

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / TinyScreen+ capabilities vs. NotSoTinySandwich

« on: April 26, 2016, 04:44:29 PM »

I have a watch project that I need to get back to. It uses the TinyScreen, TinyDuino, TinyRTC and lithium battery all stuffed in your 3D printed
watch case. The TinyScreen+ appears to have all that built in. Which leads to a couple of questions:

1. Is there a backup battery for the built-in RTC?
2. Will you be making a "watch case" to accommodate the new module?
3. Should I expect a difference in power usage? Are there lower power modes in the older or newer hardware?
4. The most problematic aspect of the project at the moment is the need to take it apart to charge it. You have to pull apart the sandwich,
    add in the USB board, charge the battery, take apart the sandwich, put it back together without the USB, and re-assemble. Will there be better
    charging options for a watch?

Thanks!

4

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Need help creating Library

« on: January 17, 2016, 10:32:49 PM »

I've been working on a library that is intended for projects that use the TinyScreen. So in my library's .h file, I started by saying:

#include <Arduino.h>
#include <TinyScreen.h>

In my test project, I include my library's .h file as well as TinyScreen.h and when I do so, I get a bunch of errors saying that I'm redefining stuff. However, if I remove it and instead rely on its inclusion in the test project, I get errors indicating that TinyScreen does not name a type. And if I add the #include <TinyScreen.h> in the library's .cpp file, I still get the "does not name a type" error.

What am I doing wrong? What's the right way to approach this?

5

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / TinyScreen -- Is it possible to measure strings?

« on: January 08, 2016, 11:31:01 AM »

In order to display strings centered, it'd be helpful to know how much space a given string will take up, esp. if they aren't known at build time. I see that there are 12 varieties of liberationSans available: 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 22 pt in both "normal" and narrow. It looks like, for instance for the 8pt, you have a table "liberationSans_8ptDescriptors" which has these widths and the FONT_INFO struct tells me what the starting character is. So if I could retrieve that info, I could probably do what I need, but there appears to be no "getFont" method, and the font parameters in the class are all private. Oh the other piece of info I need is how much space there is between characters? Is it one pixel?

I guess what I am inclined to do at this point is to define my own function, e.g. setFontX which will call the TinyScreen's setFont method, but which will also remember it in a global so I can later retrieve it for measuring strings.

Any better ideas? Any chance of getting a getFont or getFontDescriptor method?

6

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Questions about "dumb watch" project

« on: January 02, 2016, 08:48:37 AM »

I have begun work on a watch project, but it is not a connected watch. I'm just using the TinyScreen for the display. I'm planning to have a TinyDuino, the RTC board, and the display. I guess my questions revolve around battery life, as I'd like to have it powered by the coin cell, and last a long time. In my plan, the display remains powered off until the user presses a button to have the time displayed. Here are a few questions for starters:

• Will those three boards fit just fine in the watch case?
• Can a button on the screen trigger an interrupt so the CPU can sleep?

I'm guessing that if the answer to 2 is no, I'm pretty much sunk already. And if that's so, I'd suggest that it might be nice for a future rev of the board to have one of those buttons available that way, perhaps by cutting a trace and soldering a jumper. Anyway, if I can't use the coin cell, I guess I can use the lithium battery, but that means having to also include the USB board for charging, and makes maintenance a hassle, unless *4* boards plus battery fit in the 3D printed case.

Any other thoughts/advice?