Windows 10 - How to set Power Management for Digital Acquisition & Control Systems.

When using Digital Acquisition & Control (DAC) systems sometimes you might find that you get timeout error messages, this can be caused by many factors. The quick and easiest is to make sure that the machine isn't set to sleep or the operating system allowed to control power management of the hard disk, USB sockets and the PCI Express

 It is also worth noting the hard disk free space, memory and when using USB make sure you're not drawing too much power from the sockets

Here are some screenshots of how to change them:

Type "Edit Power Plan" on the search bar and

Click on "Change advanced power settings"

Software tools

Here are some free software tools that I have found useful for work and personal use:

Type	Name	link	Windows	MAC	Linux
Text Editor	Atom	https://atom.io/	Yes	Yes	Yes
Text Editor	Brackets	http://brackets.io/	Yes	Yes	Yes
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
Video Capture	Open Broadcaster Software	https://obsproject.com/	Yes	Yes	Yes
Video Editor	DaVinci Resolve	https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/#	Yes	Yes	Yes
	-	-	-	-	-
Graphic Editor	Gimp	https://www.gimp.org/	Yes	Yes	Yes
Graphic Editor	Scribus ( inDesign)	https://www.scribus.net/	Yes	Yes	Yes
Graphic Editor	InkScape ( Illustrator)	https://inkscape.org/en/	Yes	Yes	Yes
PCB Design	KiCad EDA	http://kicad-pcb.org/	Yes	Yes	Yes
	-	-	-	-	-
FTP, SFTP, WebDAV	Cyberduck	https://cyberduck.io	Yes	Yes	No
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
IDE	Aptana Studio	http://www.aptana.com	Yes	Yes	Yes
IDE	Visual Studio Code	https://code.visualstudio.com/	Yes	Yes	Yes
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
Mind mapping	Mindmup	https://www.mindmup.com/	Online	Online	Online
	-	-	-	-	-
CAD	Onshape Free extends fully capable modern CAD tools to non-professional designers.	https://www.onshape.com/products/free	Browser	Browser	Browser
	-	-	-	-	-

How to make a USB flash drive Read-Only

a standard USB flash drive.  I decided to look at how I could use a standard flash drive as my old 256mb flash drive is getting old, so I investigated for other possible solutions and I found that the diskpart command line tool that is available on Microsoft Windows computers (and it's FREE) is able to make any flash drive Read-Only, this provided me with what I needed.
Here are the instructions on how to make a USB flash drive Read-Only.

1. Start by running a command prompt (as administrator)
2. Type "diskpart"
3. Type "list disk" and take note of the number for your flash drive
4. Type "select disk [USB drive number]" e.g. "select disk 3"
5. Type "attributes disk" to display the settings (see images below)
6. Type "attributes disk set readonly"
7. Type "exit", all done you can now test the flash drive to see if you can add or edit the contents of it.

When you need to add files to the flash drive, you will need to clear the readonly flag. Repeat steps 1 to 5 and then type "attributes disk clear readonly" then "exit"

Note: This method has been tested using FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file systems.

DISKPART command showing Read-Only flag is set to No

DISKPART command showing Read-Only flag is set to Yes

How to find out what your Public IP address

curl ipinfo.io/ip

curl -4 icanhazip.com

curl ipecho.net/plain

DSO Nano v2 Flashing BenF Firmware

To update the firmware on the DSO Nano V2 from SEEED you will need the "DfuSe Demonstration" software from STMicroelectronics to be able to flash the pocket oscilloscope.

The software is only for windows and tested on windows 7 64bit.

1. Down the DFuSe and DSO BenF Firmware v3.64
2. Install the DfuSe software http://bit.ly/um0412
3. Unpack the  DSO BenF Firmware v3.64
4. Plug in your DSO Nano v2
5. Press the DOWN arrow and switch it on, this will put it in DFO mode
6. Launch the "DfuSe Demonstration" software (fig 1)
7. In the Upgrade and Verify section click on choose and select the "DSO BenF APP v3.64.dfu" file (fig 2).
8. Click Verify after download.
9. Click Upgrade.
10. Click Choose again and select the "DSO BenF LIB v3.53.dfu" file.
11. Turn off DSO Nano and unplug it from the computer.
12. Firmware upgrade now completed fig 3

All files can be found here: http://bit.ly/2nYSmHx
More information about the DSO Nano v2 http://wiki.seeedstudio.com/wiki/DSO_Nano_v2

fig 1

fig 2

fig 3

How to install .net 3.5 Framework to Windows Server 2012 R2

If your application requires .Net 3.5 to run on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, you are more than likely to have a problem installing or if it does install not work.

How to install .Net Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2.

1. Insert server operating Disc or mount the ISO.


2. Open command as Administrator


3. Take not of the drive letter the O/S disc is mounted and if it isn't d: then you will need to change this part "/Source:d:sourcessxs" in the line below to the driver letter


4. Type : dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /all /Source:d:sourcessxs /LimitAccess 


5. The .Net framework 3.5 feature will install see fig 1


6. Under Roles and feature in the server manager you will now see dot net 3.5 installed see fig 2

Matlab - exit infinite while loop with a keypress

This code is for an infinite while loop in Matlab, it will check to see if the 'q' key has been pressed, it when then ask do you really want to quit (Yes/No) and then exit the while loop.

 

close
clear all
clc
figure('doublebuffer','on', ...
       'CurrentCharacter','a', ...
       'WindowStyle','modal')

t=text(.5,.5,datestr(now),'Hor','center');

while (1)
    
    % your code here
    set(t,'String',datestr(now));
    % your code ends 
       
    pause(.01); % added to pause and allow screen/ keyboard buffer to update

    if double(get(gcf,'CurrentCharacter')) == 113 % check if 'q' key pressed, change to 27 for escape
        choice = menu('Quit code yes or  no?','Yes','No');
        if choice==1 | choice==0
            break; % break from while loop
        end
        set(gcf,'currentch',char(1)) % Sets current char as 1 or it would just keep asking to quit
    end
   
end

set(t,'String','While loop exited, finished');
set(gcf,'WindowStyle','normal');