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Arduino xbee shield

I tried out the xbee v1.1 shield. This model is one of the “L” shaped shields. I’m not impressed, in fact I think this shield is useless unless you intend to only have this shield and no others. The problem is the serial connectivity uses the ICSP header on the Arduino. All the shields I have seen, don’t pass this connector up the next shield.

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Building brackets from acrylic

 

After a recent trip to my local Tap Plastics, I came away with some raw materials. I had an idea in mind to use 1cm by 1cm rods to build mounting brackets. Acrylic is much cheaper than metal, can be cut with a Dremel or hack saw and doesn’t short your PCB’s.

 

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Subversion, mod_evasive, and the dreaded PROPFIND 403

There are many postings across the internet from people who are have problems with subversion repositories reporting PROPFIND 403 errors. There are three basic problems that can cause this error:

  1. directory permissions don’t match the user that Apache runs under.
  2. the “authz” config file has a problem with it: misconfiguration, bad paths, etc.
  3. mod_evasive is catching multiple and fast HTTP calls by your subversion client and returning the 403 error.
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Blu lipo batteries

Tonight I soldered Deans connectors on some “Blue” brand lipo batteries. I have two of these, one for the Arduino, and one for the motor system. These have a much higher amp/hour rating than AA’s, and will quickly repay the investment after several charges.