tokenuser
08-03-2007, 04:00 PM
Here is the deal. My wife is an Assistant Professor, and she wants a visual tool for presentations, lectures, poster sessions, etc., that will update a 8-12 digit display (8 segment LED) at a set interval to represent the number of new articles being published in scientific literature, number of new web pages created, number of cancer patients reported, etc (big numbers that statistically increase at set - but variable depending upon the info being presented - interval). Something akin to the world population counters (http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/world/population.html) you find online.
I can solder, but it has been a long, LONG time since I have done more than mod an Xbox (or 7).
I know I need a counter circuit. I know it needs to be fed by a timer circuit.
As a simple "increase the counter by one every 3 seconds" type project, this isn't too hard, but by adding in the "start the counter at <insert 8 digit number>" and "add 1 every <insert variable> seconds", I am now at a loss. Especially since I am dealing with large numbers.
I suspect that using a STAMP kit might be the way to go. Something I can interface with a computer via a serial port to program in the starting value and increment might be OK (I can program assembler and C ... so thats not a biggie).
Anyone got some pointers for me? My wife tells me I have until 21 August. If this is something that is going to work, she will use if for her first text mining lecture of the semester.
I can solder, but it has been a long, LONG time since I have done more than mod an Xbox (or 7).
I know I need a counter circuit. I know it needs to be fed by a timer circuit.
As a simple "increase the counter by one every 3 seconds" type project, this isn't too hard, but by adding in the "start the counter at <insert 8 digit number>" and "add 1 every <insert variable> seconds", I am now at a loss. Especially since I am dealing with large numbers.
I suspect that using a STAMP kit might be the way to go. Something I can interface with a computer via a serial port to program in the starting value and increment might be OK (I can program assembler and C ... so thats not a biggie).
Anyone got some pointers for me? My wife tells me I have until 21 August. If this is something that is going to work, she will use if for her first text mining lecture of the semester.