MK14 Programming Interface

[Slothie]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

As I read it, DA52 has tried using a USB camera (post #156) and is suffering a lot of lag.

Historically speaking USB comms had to go through a bit of a bottleneck on the Pi since all USB traffic went through one narrow channel, or that was my understanding - That may have improved on the later models.

Imagine trying to initiate an action on the online connected MK14 and not seeing it respond for several seconds, it would be like trying to speak while listening to your own delayed voice.

The 'proper' cameras for the Pi seem to have their own exclusive highway over which to communicate with the Pi.

That is largely true. Early Pi's used the USB channel for its ethernet link too, which meant they were sharing bandwitdth on a single hub.The newer Pi 4 has a faster USB interface (up to 10x!) with more channels but the concern still somewhat applies. The Pi has a "CSI-2" fast serial interface on most models (other than the compute modules). The version of the Pi camera for the Pi Zero is half the price of the one for the larger PI's but can be connected to them with an adapter cable as the size of the connector is different on the Zero, but the signals are the same. The big problem I saw for my application is the cable is rather short but that would not be a problem in other uses.

For this application, however you could set a USB camera to quite a low resolution (320 x 200) which is pretty fast and low lag.

[SiriusHardware]

Camera connection cables for the 'proper' CSI connected cameras are available in various lengths from third party Pi resellers like Pimoroni or The Pi Hut (just two of several such suppliers, other suppliers exist).

[SiriusHardware]

Just came across this, a short Youtube video from Dave showing his 'load via a webpage' setup (discussed earlier in this thread) in action. Hadn't noticed it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq6K6SKH3e0

I find I always have to wade through a lot of chaff when looking for any new MK14 computer material which may have been posted because there is an MK14 Assault Weapon, MK14 Spitfire, MK14 Torpedo...

[SiriusHardware]

Just realised the video linked to in the previous post was in fact linked to earlier in the thread and I even watched it at the time. I had no memory of having done so. Worrying.

[DeltaAlpha52]

Yep - posted it last year - was looking at a "web enabled" MK14 but have not yet found a video interface that can display the MK14 along side the interface screen. Partly a problem of mounting the camera, partly creating the web pages, and partly that I've had to do a move of my workspace and not yet got a space to experiment with the MK14.

Maybe in a bit as a mate has got himself a 3D printer and is looking for projects to print.

David