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Working on code to monitor various statistics on my PC from little IoT devices.
The PC companion app draws from all the sensors your hardware provides, such as cpu and gpu frequencies and temperatures or usage. These are just examples. There are a lot more.
Since there are so many, and the screens are small, I'm setting it up so you can drive multiple IoT devices from one companion app and have each screen display its own information (selectable by you).
Each screen can potentially display more than one sensor value. How many depends on the size of the display. The display scales, with clamping so it doesn't get too big or too small, and is completely elastic, resizing the display as necessary and rebuilding the display if new sensors are to be monitored or current sensors removed from the screen.
Here's what a packet looks like - sent over serial UART ten times a second:
typedef struct screen_packet {
constexpr static const int command = 1;
char format[16];
float value_max;
uint8_t icon[16*16*2];
uint32_t color1;
uint32_t color2;
bool hsv_color;
float value;
} screen_packet_t;
Basically a packet represents one sensor value. It has an associated icon, C format string (used by sprintf()), the max value, and color information (potentially for drawing gradients) plus the actual value itself.
This is enough to render one piece of monitor information. The serial sends a command id (always 1) followed by a count of packets, followed by the packets above. If the number of packets, and the first couple fields of each packet do not change, the screen is updated rather than rebuilt. Otherwise the entire screen is rebuilt (.NET devs think like controls are cleared and then InitializeComponent() is called again and the appropriate controls are recreated and added to the screen.
The other thing that's tricky is displaying the usage history plus current bar representing the current value (relative to the specified max value) - I've combined them so they overlay each other to save space, but drawing it is tricky, involving among other things, drawing a polygon filled with a gradient to represent the history graph. It also has to work on monochrome.
The firmware code so far is simpler than I expected it to be, considering, but I have yet to write the PC app* to test it with.
*I have a previous PC monitor PC companion app I wrote that I intend to modify but it's a lot of work because nearly everything has changed.
This requires a lot of creative problem solving but also a lot of fiddling as well as a lot of boilerplate garbage that I hate writing, particularly on the .NET side. That part is boring.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch/gfx
modified 20-Jun-23 9:41am.
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Impressive...gotta be fun! 
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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Some of it is. 
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch/gfx
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You know once you get past the head-to-keyboard, cursing, hair pulling it's fun.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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Some of us solved the whole hair-pulling issue back in our early 30's. 
Software Zen: delete this;
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I hear ya, I'm rapidly heading that way myself.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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My hair kept thinning and I kept cutting it shorter until I finally gave up and buzzed it off. I've been doing that myself for 30 years now. I don't pay for haircuts, shampoo, or worry about combing around the three cowlicks I had in my scalp.
The great irony in those thirty years is that my beard has come in rather nicely, even if it's mostly gray/white.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I had hair down to the middle of my back until about 6 years ago when it started thinning and I said the hell with it and started cutting short. As it keeps thinning I keep cutting shorter.
Always said; "Ain't nothing but a thing"
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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sounds like a thorough, handle everything, spec ... finessing a major requirement: "I have yet to write the PC app* to test it with."honey the codewitch wrote: Since there are so many, and the screens are small,
i'm confused: which screens are small ?
«The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch
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IoT screens. They come in a variety of sizes, but the largest one I have is 800x480. The smallest is 128x32 (monochrome)
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch/gfx
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honey the codewitch wrote: I'm setting it up so you can drive multiple IoT devices from one companion app
When one says "multiple" I usually think lots and lots.
The description makes me think of a NMS (Network Management System) design where it gathers from a EMS (Element Management System) systems.
Might be the case that reading about that type of infrastructure might either help and/or be interesting.
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Each device requires a USB cable - at least currently. A lot of the hardware it runs on (the vast majority of it, if not all of it) is wireless capable but the display would quickly drain any battery. So USB it is.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch/gfx
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Pattern can still apply.
The devices attach to the 'EMS' (just using that name). Via cables.
Then the 'NMS' captures data from the 'EMS' for display/management. The 'NMS' talks to 'EMS' any way you want.
Note not actually saying this applies at all to what you are doing but rather it is just a hypothetical idea.
Very long ago I interviewed with a company that managed fax machines (and/or printers?) that way.
I actually worked on several NMS/EMS systems (actual network management systems) but the idea was always interesting.
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Right now the working code can drive multiple displays across 12 different devices. However, all the displays show the same thing. This new code changes that, and allows a configurable amount of selectable sensor data to appear on each display
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch/gfx
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Wich library may i use for free to deskew images bmp?
Thanks.
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This is the wrong place to ask this: see the message at teh top of the page.
Please try again, posting your question here: http://www.codeproject.com/Questions/ask.aspx[^] and you should get a broader spectrum of answerers, and hopefully a sensible answer.
But when you do, please try to give as much info as you can on the problem and what you are trying to do to fix it, why that doesn't work and so forth: Remember that we can't see your screen, access your HDD, or read your mind - so we only get what you tell us to work on! The better the info you give us, the better the solution we can give you.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I'm not sure what you mean by Deskew but you might try GIMP[^], a very powerful, free image editor, an alternative to Photoshop.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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I'm guessing that the C# part means "I want to include this in my app" ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Ah, slipped by my my "read the entire message" filter.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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Home document appeal can be difficult to overcome (11)
Home: In
document: dom
appeal: it
can: able
Indomitable
Peter in 2780 was very close but no banana
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Pete aims kick at himself and misses. Well played sir, well played.
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For the second time today cheers Pete 
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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pkfox wrote: document: dom
appeal: it
?? Not seeing the connections here...
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Which part Derek ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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as highlighted.. "DOM" from "document"; "IT" from "appeal" 
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