Last Modified: August 7, 2011
Intro
The Cogwheel Nixie Driver board allows for serial communcations over USB and optionally Bluetooth. Future versions may include other methods, but these notes should apply to any abstraction which results in the board’s serial port being visible on a PC.
B7971x8 Perl Script
The following Perl script was used to test the B7971 during development. It has been tested under Windows XP. Download it Here by saving the link. Follow the instructions in the comments at the top to install Perl and get it running.
#! C:\perl\bin\perl.exe # # B7971x8.pl - Diagonstic Utility for communicating with Cogwheel Nixie System Driver board when configured # to drive 8 B7971 tubes # # Usage: # # perl B7971x8.pl # # This will run the script. As shipped it will communicate on COM3, and run a list text in the # array $AllCmds. Commends preceded with a # are interpreted locally; #P means pause. #D means delay # # Known to work under Activestate Perl for Win32 5.10 or later. Download from # http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads Note, you will need to install the following # two Perl modules: use Time::HiRes qw (usleep); # If you get a 'missing package' type "ppm install Time-HiRes" use Win32::SerialPort;# If you get a 'missing package' type "ppm install Win32-SerialPort # To do this, from the cmd prompt type 'ppm', the app should start, Click View->All Packages, then # in the search box type Time::HiRes, then Click Action->Install, Then search on Win32-SerialPort, # and also mark it for install. Then do a File->Run Marked Actions. Verify you can communicate # with the Driver Board using a general purpose terminal emulator program (described in the documentation) # You may need to adjust this port setting: # my $PortName = 'COM3'; my $PortObj = new Win32::SerialPort ($PortName) || die "Can't open $PortName: $^E\n"; # $quiet is optional $PortObj->user_msg(ON); $PortObj->databits(8); $PortObj->baudrate(57600); $PortObj->parity("none"); $PortObj->stopbits(1); $PortObj->handshake("none"); $PortObj->buffers(4096, 4096); $PortObj->write_settings || undef $PortObj; $DelayTenths = 150; $AllCmds=<<EOF; #P wir 5 tfx 1 txo c f #D 120 txt ! txt Cogwheel txt Circuit txt Works txt B7971 X8 txt B7971 X8 txt Nixie txt Clock txt And txt Display txt ! txt Use txt BuiltIn txt Font Or txt Program txt Indi- txt vidual txt Elements txb 00010002000400080010002000400080 txb 00100020004000800100020004000800 txb 01000200040008001000200040008000 txb 10002000400080010002000400080000 #D 120 txt ! txt Lots txt Of txt Effects txt ! txo c s txt Shift txt Words txt On txt Or txt ! #D 450 txo c o txt Shift txt 1 by 1 txt ! txo c f tfx 1 #D 120 txt Simple txt Blink txt Between txt Messages txt Or txt ! txo c f tfx 2 D 250 txt Fade txt Between txt Messages txt ! #D 150 wis 0 tfx 3 txt Wipe txt R to L txt ! wis 1 txt Wipe txt L to R wis 3 #D 350 txt ***Or*** txt **Wipe** txt Random wis 2 wir 2 #D 120 txt Wipe txt Faster wir 8 #D 400 txt Wipe txt Slower wir 4 #D 120 txo c f tfx 4 wis 2 txt Or txt Wipe txt With txt FX txt ! wir 5 txo c f tfx 2 #D 120 txt Cogwheel txt Circuit txt Works txt B7971 X8 txt B7971 X8 txt ! tfx 2 ymd EOF $AllCmds2=<<EOF; wir 5 tfx 1 txo r f #D 55 txt X txt XX txt XXX txt XXXX txt XXXXX txt X txt XX txt XXX txt XXXX txt XXXXX txt !ABDCEFGH txt !0123456 txt !ABDCEF txt !01234 txt !ABDC txt !012 txt !AB txt !0 txt !AB txt !012 txt !ABDC txt !01234 txt !ABDCEF txt !ABDCEFG txt !01234567 txo c f txt !ABDCEFGH txt !0123456 txt !ABDCEF txt !01234 txt !ABDC txt !012 txt !AB txt !0 txt !AB txt !012 txt !ABDC txt !01234 txt !ABDCEF txt !ABDCEFG txt !01234567 txo l f txt !ABDCEFGH txt !0123456 txt !ABDCEF txt !01234 txt !ABDC txt !012 txt !AB txt !0 txt !AB txt !012 txt !ABDC txt !01234 txt !ABDCEF txt !ABDCEFG txt !01234567 EOF $AllCmds3=<<EOF; wir 5 tfx 1 #D 75 txt !XXXXXXXX txt ! txt !XXXXXXXX txt !X txt !XXXXXXXX txt !XX txt !XXXXXXXX txt !XXX txt !XXXXXXXX txt !XXXX txt !XXXXXXXX txt !XXXXX txt !XXXXXXXX txt !XXXXXX txt !XXXXXXXX txt !XXXX EOF sleep 2; $PortObj->write("\r"); sleep 2; my @Cmds = split "\n", $AllCmds3; my @Cmds = split "\n", $AllCmds2; my @Cmds = split "\n", $AllCmds; while(1) { RunEm(); } exit; sub RunEm() { foreach $m (@Cmds) { # Leading / in stream is a command to us and not the clock if (!($m =~ /^#/)) { print "$m\n"; $PortObj->write($m. "\r"); } else { if ($m =~ /^#P/) { ($p1,$p2) = split $m,' '; print $p2; print "(Pause: ?)"; $m = <STDIN>; } elsif ($m =~ /^#D/) { ($p1,$DelayTenths) = split ' ',$m; print "(Setting Delay to $DelayTenths)\n"; } } $Dly = 25; $Dly = $DelayTenths if ($m =~ /^txt/); $Dly = $DelayTenths if ($m =~ /^txb/); foreach $x (1..$Dly) { usleep (10000); } } } # === =cut txt BUILT-IN txt CHARSET: txt ABCDEFGH txt IJKLMNOP txt QRSTUVWX txt YZabcdef txt ghijklmn txt opqrstuv txt qxyz0123 txt 456789!" txt #$%&amp;amp;amp;amp;'()* txt +,-./_;< txt =>?@[\]^ =cut .
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