Software, hardware, and technical documentation

About

On this page you'll find some of the software, hardware, and technical documentation that I've created.

GIS

Here are some tools that can be useful for GIS work:

Geo::Index (offsite link)

Perl module for creating in-memory geographic point indices. Once indexed, fast searches can be run. This module supports search by radius, by bounding box and by proximity.

This module is also available via CPAN (offsite link).
Slippy map generator for QGIS

Python script to generate slippy map tiles from within QGIS. Similar in functionality to the QTiles plugin but faster and without the annoying rendering errors at tile edges.
Google/OSM to TMS tile renamer

Simple BASH script to rename map tiles from Google Maps/OpenStreetMap format to Tile Map Service format.
Useful GIS commands

A set of commands for common GIS tasks using GDAL, OGR, and QGIS.
UTM ↔ WGS84 conversion in C++

C++ functions to convert between UTM and WGS84. The code should also work fine under C99.

Other code

Here is some additional code that I've written:

Checksum tools (offsite link)

This is a collection of scripts that can:
- Verify the integrity of files.
- Find and/or remove duplicate files.
- Find files that differ between two directories (or that only exist in one).
- Move files across devices while ensuring their integrity.
A sister project (jpeg_checksum_tools) has similar functionality but is specifically tailored to EXIF-tagged JPEG files.

Perl

Here is some of the Perl modules that I've written:

Geo::Index (offsite link)

Perl module for creating in-memory geographic point indices. Described under GIS, above.
Log::Selective (offsite link)

This module is a logger with adjustable verbosity for commandline programs. Different verbosity levels can have different colors and styles applied and specific functions or methods can get extra verbosity.

Additional functions are provided for displaying summaries of all warnings or errors encountered. Stack traces can been shown on demand or whenever there are warnings or errors.

Tweaks and fixes

GPU acceleration for Firefox

Explains how to enable GPU acceleration for both rendering and video playback on Linux systems.

The focus is on Ubuntu and NVidia GPUs but it is applicable to all OS/GPU combinations.

3D printing / OpenSCAD

OpenSCAD is a functional programming language for creating 3D solid models using constructive solid geometry.

These are OpenSCAD scripts that I've written that can be used to create highly-customizable 3D models suitable for printing.

(All links are offsite)

Knobs

These can be used with smooth, flattend/D-shape, or knurled shaft potentiometers as well as board-mounted trimmers.
Coin cell battery model

Supports all cell sizes listed in the published standard (IEC 60086-3).

Custom sizes can also be generated.
USB light controller

Adaptation of an off-the-shelf motion sensing LED light to instead control USB-connected lights.

Includes the parametric model and describes the required and optional circuit modifications.
PCB cutting guide

Guide designed for cutting printed circuit boards with very high precision.
Vases

Highly-customizable Ikea-inspired vases.

Can be used to generate replacement or additional copies of a number of discontinued designs. Wholely-unique designs are also possible.
Angle gauge blocks

Set of angle gauge blocks for measuring small parts. Includes a bespoke storage case.

The size, angles, and number of gauges are customizable as is the case.
Trowel cap

Protective cover for trowels/paint scrapers.

Adding Bluetooth to a Garmin ForeTrex 101

A simple modification to add Bluetooth output to a Garmin ForeTrex 101 GPS. I'm using this to provide location data to an Android tablet that doesn't have a built-in GPS.

Parallax Propeller

I've written a few things for the Parallax Propeller microcontroller:

24-channel LED driver with 8 bit per channel PWM (offsite link)
Unicode character mappings for the Propeller ROM font (offsite link)
ILI9325 LCD driver
SSD0332 greyscale LCD driver
MCP79410 RTC driver

LED strip light circuits

Ikea DIODER schematic

This is a schematic of the controller board for the Ikea DIODER LED lights.
Pulse width modulator circuits

Dimmer circuits for RGB and monochrome LED light strips along with sensors to turn the LEDs on when the room lights turn on or when a person enters the room.
24-channel LED driver with 8 bit per channel PWM (offsite link)

A microcontroller-based multi-channel dimmer.

tabby - X11 driver for the Tabby graphics tablet

This program provides an X-Windows driver for the original Tabby graphics tablet. Also included is reverse-engineered documentation of the Tabby serial protocol.

Migrating a Linux boot partition to RAID-1

This document explains how to convert the boot disk of a Linux system to a bootable RAID-1 (mirrored) array using the native Linux drivers.

IFSwitch

IFSwitch is a small utility that allows one to dynamically choose the network settings of a Linux system. It is designed primarily for laptop users who want to easily change their network address depending on whether they are at home, at work, etc.

ISpy

ISpy is a simple network monitoring tool for Linux and Unix systems. It watches a user-defined set of ports and sends an email alert when any of the monitored ports changes status. I used this for monitoring before I started using Netsaint (offsite link).