[dorkbotdc-announce] REMINDER - Tuesday 25 November - DorkbotDC Meeting!

[Dorkbot DC]

HELLO FINE DORKS! (THIS IS THE FINAL REMINDER...BEAR WITH US.)

TIME FOR THE NOVEMBER DORKBOTDC MEETING!

Please disseminate widely.
More info and mailing list management at:
     http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotdc/
.....................................

ALWAYS FREE!

WHAT: November 2008 DorkbotDC meeting
WHEN: Tuesday, November 25th, 7 PM - 9 PM (ET)
WHERE:
     Smith Hall of Art, Room 114,
     George Washington University
     801 22nd St NW
     Washington, DC 20037
     Google map: http://is.gd/2FEs
WHO:


ALDEN HART : Practical Microcontroller LED Designs--lessons and gotchas
from prototype to production

LED projects are a popular topic these days. This talk covers some
microcontroller LED projects Alden has done ranging from at-home
projects to manufactured units. Alden will have a variety of projects
that should perhaps not have been attempted - such as "Balls on Sticks
and The Low Rider Christmas", "Silent Music Box", and "10mi2 Lucites".

The talk will cover practical lessons that resulted, including:

     - Color theory, transformation and perception as related to LEDs
     - LED driving and dimming techniques, multiplexing - and some
workarounds to common problems
     - PIC16F917 assembly programming, optimization, and tricks. Open
sourcing the control stack from these projects.
     - How can this all be done as cheaply as possible?

We may also get into some of the more arcane details about circuit board
design, manufacture, and assembly; surface mount at home, mechanical
considerations, and other topics.