Installation and Operation Manual
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Copyright © 1994-2022
Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the
following conditions are satisfied:
1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning.
µMC1 is a very inexpensive system for experimenting with motion control
using a stepper motor-driven linear stage and simple Arduino-compatible
microcomputer. In the Arduino lexicon, the PCB is not much more than
a breakout shield with input and output signals. However, it can also be
set up to interface to the µMD GUI with µMD0 capabilities.
While targeted for
experimenters, hobbyists, and researchers, there is no reason why
µMD0 can not also be of value in science and industry.
The hardware platform is a readily available very inexpensive
microcontroller development board which communicates via
USB to a Windows PC, laptop, netbook, or tablet. If not using firmware
that requires USB communications like µMD0, then the computer is
only required to compile and upload any firmware that changes.
All Rights Reserved
2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying.
DISCLAIMER
µMC0 is intended as in super simple test-bed for
for use in hobbyist, experimental, research, and other
applications where a bug in the hardware, firmware, or software, will not
have a significant impact on the future of the Universe or anything else.
While every effort has been made to avoid this possibility, µMC01is an
on-going development effort. We will not be responsible for any consequences
of such bugs including but not limited to damage to the construction crane you
picked up on eBay for $1.98 + shipping, financial loss from ending up in
the Antarctic when the compass orientation provided by
your home-built ring laser gyro was off
by 1,536 degrees, or bruising to your pet's ego from any number
of causes directly or indirectly related to µMC1. ;-)
Acknowledgment
Thanks to Jan Beck for providing support for enhancements
and bug fixes and tolerating my silly C coding questions.
He was also instrumental in developing the initial
µMD1 firmware and GUI. And for getting me interested
in actually getting involved in that project. If anyone had told me
six months ago that I'd be writing code in C, MIPS assembly language,
and Visual Basic - and enjoying it (sort of) - I would have suggested
they were certifiably nuts. ;-) Jan maintains the master GUI source code
as well as slightly different versions of both the µMD1 and
µMD2 firmware and a development blog on these and other projects.
While µMC1 is not directly related to these, the acknowledgment
still applies. ;-)
Introduction
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