Where is Centore?

I keep it updated – scroll to the bottom!

2018

  • May 19 – June 18: Orange, CT
  • June 18 – 20: Rhode Island
  • June 20 – 23: Orange
  • June 24 – 26: Dublin
  • June 26 – 27: Belfast
  • June 27 – 29: Glasgow
  • June 29 – July 2: London
  • July 2 – July 4: Paris
  • July 4 – 6: Milan
  • July 6 – 8: Venice
  • July 8 – 12: Innsbruck
  • July 12 – 14: Munich
  • July 14 – 17: Interlakken
  • July 17 – 18: Amsterdam
  • July 18 – 20: Gent
  • July 20 – 22: Lviv
  • July 22 – 23: Kolomiya
  • July 23 – 25: Ivano-Frankivsk
  • July 25 – 30: Lviv
  • July 30 – Aug 19: Vorokhta
  • Aug 19 – 21: Lviv
  • Aug 22 – 25: Kyiv
  • Aug 26 – Sept 1: Edinburgh
  • Sept 1: Dublin
  • Sept 1 – 14: Orange
  • Sept 14 – 16: Toronto
  • Sept 16 – 18: Menlo Park
  • Sept 18 – Oct 5: Seattle
  • Oct 8 – 19: Menlo Park
  • Oct 22 – Nov 21: Seattle
  • Nov 21 – 24: Orange
  • Nov 24 – 30: Seattle
  • Nov 30 – Dec 13: Orange
  • Dec 13 – 29: Seattle
  • Dec 29 – Jan 1: Lviv

2019

  • Jan 1 – 11: Vorokhta
  • Jan 12 – 13: Montreal
  • Jan 13 – Feb 1: Seattle
  • Feb 1 – Feb 3: Philadelphia
  • Feb 3 – Mar 3: Seattle
  • Mar 3 – 5: Menlo Park
  • Mar 5 – May 2: Seattle
  • May 3 – 4: Toronto
  • May 4 – 5: Orange
  • May 5 – 25: Seattle
  • May 25 – 27: Edmonton
  • May 27 – Aug 3: Seattle
  • Aug 3 – Aug 18: Seattle Plast Tabir
  • Aug 18 – Sep 13: Seattle
  • Sep 13 – Sep 15: Toronto
  • Sep 15 – Nov 8: Seattle
  • Nov 8 – 9: Leavenworth
  • Nov 9 – 23: Seattle
  • Nov 23 – Dec 1: Orange
  • Dec 1 – Dec 21: Seattle
  • Dec 22 – Dec 29: Orange
  • Dec 29 – Feb 21: Seattle

2020

  • Feb 21 – Feb 23: Banff
  • Feb 23 – Dec 16: Seattle
  • Dec 16 – Jan 20: Orange

2021

  • Jan 20 – Jun 26: Seattle
  • Jun 26 – Jun 29: Index, WA
  • Jun 29 – Jul 21: Seattle
  • Jul 22 – Jul 23: Orange
  • Jul 23 – Jul 24: Scituate, MA
  • Jul 24 – Jul 31: Orange
  • Jul 30 – Aug 1: Wilmington, DE
  • Aug 1 – Aug 17: Orange
  • Aug 17 – Dec 16: Seattle
  • Dec 16 – Dec 18: Orange
  • Dec 18 – Dec 19: Boston
  • Dec 19 – Jan 11: Orange

2022

  • Jan 11 – Jan 14: Seattle
  • Jan 14 – Feb 25: Lynnwood, WA
  • Feb 25 – Mar 2: Baltimore
  • Mar 2 – Mar 7: Atlanta
  • Mar 7 – Jun 15: Lynnwood
  • Jun 15 – Jun 17: Orange
  • Jun 17 – Jun 19: Whippany, NJ
  • Jun 19 – Jun 24: Orange
  • Jun 24 – Jul 2: Bobriwka
  • Jul 2 – Jul 6: Orange
  • Jul 6 – Aug 5: Lynnwood
  • Aug 5 – Aug 8: Skykomish
  • Aug 8 – Sep 6: Lynnwood
  • Sep 6 – Sep 9: Cedar Creek, TX
  • Sep 9 – Sep 16: Lynnwood
  • Sep 16 – Sep 19: Toronto
  • Sep 19 – Sep 26: Whitby, ON
  • Sep 26 – Sep 28: Toronto
  • Sep 28 – Oct 7: Orange
  • Oct 7 – Oct 8: Boston
  • Oct 8 – Oct 9: Providence, RI
  • Oct 9 – Oct 12: Orange
  • Oct 12 – Dec 20: Lynnwood
  • Dec 20 – Jan 12: Orange

2023

  • Jan 12 – Jan 16: Toronto
  • Jan 16 – Feb 10: Lynnwood
  • Feb 10 – Feb 12: Philly Deb
  • Feb 12 – Feb 17: Lynnwood
  • Feb 17 – Feb 20: Banff
  • Feb 20 – May 5: Lynnwood
  • May 5 – May 7: Harrison Hot Springs, BC
  • May 7 – May 17: Lynnwood
  • May 17 – May 19: San Francisco
  • May 19 – Jun 18: Lynnwood
  • Jun 18 – Jun 24: Orange
  • Jun 24 – Jul 1: Bobriwka
  • Jul 1 – Jul 6: Orange
  • Jul 6 – Sep 15: Lynnwood
  • Sep 15 – Sep 18: Index, WA
  • Sep 18 – Nov 14: Lynnwood
  • Nov 14 – Nov 17: Denver
  • Nov 17 – Dec 16: Lynnwood
  • Dec 16 – Dec 29: Orange
  • Dec 29 – Dec 30: Rumford, RI
  • Dec 30 – Dec 31: Center Harbor, NH
  • Dec 31 – Jan 1: Charlestown, RI

2024

  • Jan 1 – Jan 4: Orange
  • Jan 4 – Jan 7: NYC
  • Jan 7 – Jan 12: Orange
  • Jan 12 – Jan 15: Philly
  • Jan 15 – Jan 20: Orange
  • Jan 20 – …: Lynnwood

Backpacking Europe

I did a European backpacking trip for 10 weeks and wanted to share what I brought with me (edit: I’ve since updated it with new opinions for what I ideally would have brought with me having the experiences I have now).

The Main Stuff

  • Tortuga Setout Travel Backpack ($199)
    Pretty much the greatest travel backpack I’ve seen. There are better reviews online, but a summary:

    • Easy to access clothing
    • Doesn’t look too touristy
    • Comfortable
    • Sturdy, well made
    • Lots of space
    • Just the right amount of organizational pockets
    • I also modified this backpack myself by sewing additional straps onto it for holding a sleeping bag and tent, allowing it to be used as an acceptable hiking backpack in a pinch.
    • Make sure to do something to make your bag stand out (for easy identification, esp. at baggage claims), like tying a ribbon to it. I personally sewed some Ukrainian embroidery onto the front of mine.
  • Packing Cubes ($23)
    Offers much better organization for all your clothing than just throwing it in the bag.
  • Travel memory foam pillow ($25)
    I like sleeping. Some people like the neck pillows better. I don’t.
  • Large 24×48″ microfiber towel ($12)
    This dries quickly and is perfect for travel. Needs washing every 3-4 days. Many hostels have towel rentals for ~$5 and I ended up doing that most of the time because those towels are so much better, but this is an acceptable backup for hostels which don’t have them.
  • 2 large wet/dry bags ($11)
    Use one for dirty clothing and one for moist things like bathing suits or towels. Be careful — the zippers will break if you over stuff them (maybe bring an extra just in case).
  • Larq Bottle ($118)
    Self-cleaning water bottle which kills all the bacteria for you. Fill up right from your sketchy tap and don’t worry about regularly cleaning the water bottle. You won’t get sick (though it doesn’t filter, e.g., lead or chemicals). Insulated to keep it cold. Battery lasts about a month, and recharges by usb. The 17oz is a bit too small in my opinion (I bought it when it was the only option and later upgraded), I would go with the 25oz.
  • Assorted zip-lock bags
    Seriously cannot recommend this enough. Just keep a bunch in your bag. You will use them.
  • Luggage Locks (2 for $15)
    Great for locking your backpack zippers and for locking hostel lockers which don’t include a lock.
  • 3 Pens, Small Notebook
  • Passport belt ($15)
    Keep your passport, important papers, and extra money with you at all times, but well hidden and away from pickpockets. Make sure to also scan your important documents (especially passport), send them to family members, and store them securely online so you can access them if your documents are stolen and need to go to an embassy to be issued a new passport.

Laundry

Tons of travel blogs recommend laundry soap bars and sink stoppers and the like so you can wash clothes in the sink. Don’t do that – it’s a waste of backpack space and time, and drying your clothes by hanging them in a hostel is a nightmare. Every non-shitty hostel has self-serf laundry services for like $6. Just do that every few days.

When you do laundry at the hostel, do all your clothes together in one batch (yep, you can mix whites, colors, and reds!), just make sure to set the temperature to cold (30-40°C, 80-100°F) so the colors don’t bleed. If something is really dirty, wash it separately with warmer water.

Outfits

Pack outfits which can be mixed and matched very easily! I packed:

  • 1 pair navy chinos
  • 1 pair khaki shorts
  • 1 pair dark blue jeans (the American Eagle stretch ones are well worth the investment)
  • 1 pair basketball shorts
  • 1 pair pajama pants
  • 3 plain t-shirts
  • 2 henleys
  • 2 short sleeve button-downs
  • 1 long sleeve button-down
  • 1 hoodie
  • 1 pair durable sneakers, preferably water-resistant
  • 10 pairs of boxer briefs
  • 1 travel rain jacket ($99)
    REI has some nice ones. The key here is that you can pack it into a small bag in your day pack. Also make sure it’s actually waterproof — many of the travel “rain jackets” are just water resistant — they leak and are completely worthless crap.
  • Smartwool socks ($18 x 6 = $108)
    “Holy shit so expensive”. Yeah but they’re extremely comfortable and if you air them out at night then you can get 3-4 days out of them between washing, which means less stuff you need to keep in your backpack. They also last forever.

Liquids

  • Quart sized bag (2 for $13.99)
    The maximum sized bag you are permitted to put liquids and creams in for your carry on. Unfortunately, many airports (e.g. Heathrow) don’t accept these bags so might not be able to actually use them for that purpose. However, they are nice for holding all your charging cables or small liquids containers.
  • Travel Bottles ($12.99)
    • Shampoo
    • Conditioner
    • Face wash
    • Body wash (do not use bar soap, it is a PITA to use in hostel showers and gets disgusting when you keep it wet in your bag)
    • The caps do crack if you drop them so be careful. It’s worth keeping these in a ziplock so you don’t find yourself with a backpack full of shampoo.
  • American Crew Forming Creme ($18 x 4 = $72)
  • Toothpaste

Other Toiletries

  • All Purpose Gillette Styler ($20)
    It’s not what I use at home (that honor goes to the Philips Norelco Series 5100) but this is so tiny, just needs a AAA battery, and does a very good job with maintaining my stubble. It just takes a little bit longer and doesn’t have super fine-grained length settings.
  • Immodium ($14)
    Because when you get the shits in the middle of a hiking trip in the Alps, you’re gonna really wish you’d brought these. It’s one of the few medications where you can’t just tough it out for a couple of hours until you can get to a pharmacy. Keep it in your day pack. Seriously, do not omit this.
  • Shower wipes ($10)
    In case you can’t get to a shower. Yes, I actually used them on my trip. About 4 times.
  • Deodorant
  • Portable tissues
  • Toothbrush

Phone Service

You have a few options for getting phone service abroad.

Google Fi ($20/month for 0GB, $80/month for 15GB data, lower fees the less data you use)

I can’t recommend Google Fi enough. You transfer your regular number to it, and the plan just works in ~170 countries. If you don’t want to transfer your number and just want to use Fi for your trip, then you can order service with a new number and just cancel it at the end of your trip. I switched from Verizon to Fi completely and haven’t looked back. The service in the US is slightly worse than Verizon, especially in more rural areas, but Fi is so much better in every other way that it makes up for it.

You have to pay about $0.10/minute for calls, but if you call over data using the Google Hangouts app then they’re free! The major downside is that it only works on a handful of phones (get the Google Pixel 3 or 4). You can even add another SIM card to a Pixel at the same time and flip back and forth in the settings – I use this in Ukraine because locals have exorbitant fees when calling American numbers. If you don’t expect to be calling local numbers much then don’t worry about that.

Update: Fi is now available for iPhones, though it needs some manual setup, and the voicemail app doesn’t work correctly (though you can still use voicemail).

I really recommend this route for most people because it’s so nice to just walk off the plane and have service, without worrying about exorbitant fees or sketchy local phone companies you know nothing about.

Local SIM (About $40 extra/month)

Buy a phone plan in the country you land in. Any plan purchased in the EU will work in any other EU country (but keep in mind that all European countries are not in the EU!) There are often expensive fees for international calls, so it’s best to use Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or similar to avoid these. Make sure your phone is unlocked before you leave your home country, otherwise it will not accept international SIM cards. Get in touch with your phone company to find out. You will also not have service when you first land, so combine this with “Pay international fees” for emergencies.

Pay international fees (About $10 extra/day – $310 extra/month)

Most companies charge about $10/day for each day you use your plan abroad. This is great for emergencies or short trips, but will cost an absurd amount for long trips. Make sure in advance that your phone plan supports this. Also be aware that if data doesn’t work when you land, you may need to turn data roaming on in your settings.

Some people also just leave their phone on airplane mode with wifi, and only use their phone plan in emergencies. This is a great way to save money, but it can make life difficult sometimes without maps, uber, etc. Wifi can also be super spotty outside of big cities. I don’t recommend doing this.

Electronics

  • Huge portable battery ($40)
    You won’t always have an outlet. This is a lifesaver. You can charge your phone about 4 times with it before it needs to be recharged.
  • Universal adapter kit ($9)
    Converts any plug to any other plug. Note that THESE DO NOT CONVERT VOLTAGE. Most phone and laptop chargers accept multiple voltages (they’ll say that they accept a range of something like 100-240V on them). Hair straighteners, blow dryers, and the like usually do not accept multiple voltages and would need a voltage transformer, not just a plug adapter, or you will fry them. It’s typically much easier to just buy or rent compatible appliances in Europe than to lug around a voltage transformer with you, as they are quite heavy and large.
    Note that the British Isles and the rest of the Europe use different plugs. All of Europe uses 220V electricity. North America uses 110V.
  • USB Charger ($36)
    Provides 3 USB ports and 1 USB-C port. Convenient cord length and can charge the new MacBooks over USB-C too (although a bit more slowly than the official charger).
  • MacBook Pro ≥2016 ($$$)
    I thought about getting a shit laptop for the trip, but ended up deciding to bring my nice one because, well, I didn’t pay for it to sit in a closet, and it’s really nice to have a decent laptop for when you’re planning your trip and excursions. For some peace of mind, I just bought an insurance policy for it which covers most types of damage and theft.
  • Glass Phone Screen Protector ($8)
    Getting a glass phone screen protector is a great way to prevent your screen from cracking on your trip, while not feeling like one of those crappy cheap plastic ones. The last thing you want is to be dealing with a cracked phone screen while travelling. I like the brand amFilm.

Booking Hostels

Use hostelworld.com to find a nice hostel. Then, check the hostel’s website to see if they offer a better price (they often do)! Also, this is not the time to try to save 5 quid. Spend a little bit extra and it will pay for itself. A nice hostel makes or breaks your experience – you’ll sleep more comfortably, get a nice bathroom, have laundry facilities, be close to the city centre, etc. Skimp out and you’ll find yourself with wobbly beds, bugs, cold showers, and a $20 uber into town each day. It’s not worth it. I usually aim for at least 8.7 stars or so. Expect to pay in the ballpark of $30-40/night, though prices vary considerably by location.

Tours and Activities

I recommend planning the countries and cities yourself, but within a country tours are a great way to see some of the more obscure sights over the course of a few days! Some people like doing tours which bring you from country to country too – I can’t speak from experience here, but from what I’ve heard the experience tends to be more cursory, and you have fewer opportunities to meet new people or do random things on your own!

Other Apps

  • TripAdvisor
    Use this to find great restaurants in your area
  • Skiplagged and KAYAK
    Compare flights
  • Rome2rio
    Find transportation
  • Flixbus
    Private bussing company with nice busses
  • Visit a City
    Find great itineraries for popular attractions
  • Google Photos
    Take tons of photos, back them up online, and delete them off your phone to save storage
  • Google Maps
    It has an offline mode now! Learn how to use it before you leave!
  • Google Translate
    You can take photos to translate! Learn how to use it!
  • Uber
  • Airbnb
    If travelling with multiple people this can be cheaper than a hostel.
  • Booking.com
    If you also want to look at hotels
  • Where is Public Toilet
    Exactly what it sounds like

Couchsurfing?

I didn’t have a super positive experience with it. You meet plenty of people in hostels and don’t get stuck with some weirdo for the weekend that way. But maybe you’ll have better luck! I know some people who like it.

Cash

Keep a couple hundred USD in your passport pouch which can be converted in an emergency. Use cash machines in big cities. Don’t expect cards to be accepted in rural areas, and don’t expect cash machines to work in rural areas. Most cash machines will charge you a small fee.

Keep in mind that most European public toilets require about 1€ cash to enter. Many don’t accept bills. So, seriously, keep a few coins in your pouch for emergencies. Get these before you leave.

Credit

Get a credit card without international fees. I’m a big fan of the Amazon prime credit card — 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases, 1% on everything else, and no international fees. Canadians, I know this card isn’t available to you so I can’t make a recommendation – just check Google :).

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Planes

With airplanes there is a serious chance of lost luggage, and if you’re backpacking that can be an absolute nightmare to get resolved. Pay extra for a decent airline if you’re going to be checking your luggage – skytraxratings.com/airlines is a good place to check. Also be aware of the maximum carry-on luggage weight, because it’s usually less than you think. If you absolutely must check your luggage, make sure to pack your day pack with at least the bare minimum (phone charger, underwear, socks, toothbrush, deodorant)

Anecdote: LOT lost my luggage twice on one trip – both on my outgoing and return flight. My luggage had my suit in it as well as ski equipment, and replacing everything cost me about $900 and an enormous hassle. They refunded me $76.34 because most of my purchases weren’t necessities. Fuck LOT.

Trains

Trains are a great way to travel around and see Europe, plus the views can be amazing! They’re also often much cheaper than airplanes, so much more comfortable, and they won’t lose your luggage. You generally want to look up the national website for the trains in whatever country you’re trip will be starting in. Also buy tickets at least a week or two in advance, as the prices often skyrocket right before your trip (I ended up paying like $250 for a last minute Paris-Milan ticket because I forgot to book it sooner).

Busses

FlixBus is popular in Europe, especially in Central Europe. It’s a private company and the busses are often nicer than trains, although the routes might not be as scenic and they don’t have dining on the bus, unlike long-haul trains. Many cities also don’t have great train routes between them and need like 4 transfers – FlixBus can be faster than trains in these situations.

Travel Passes

  • Eurail Global Pass ($1300 for 3 months, unlimited travel)
    Gets you free travel on most trains and ferries in the EU (except in Great Britain), and discounted on almost all the other ones. See all the benefits. It’s often not worth it — do the math for your trip. I bought it but ended up spending more on the pass than I would have had I just bought tickets, especially since many trains require you to purchase a seat reservation separately from the ticket. Also, many of the benefits are a hassle to claim, like discounted ferry tickets which I could only claim in person rather than buying online, which meant I couldn’t reserve my seat in advance since I wasn’t going to travel to the docks a week in advance just to buy a ticket. I ended up just paying the full price online for that ticket.

Recovering FreeNAS Corrupt Flash Drive

This is rough documentation from when I was recovering a FreeNAS server. I could not access the ZFS filesystem, as per most instructions, because some of the sectors were bad and it wouldn’t load.

Extracting the config file

  • Used DDRescue-GUI to dump an image of the drive
  • Wrote a very quick and dirty script to search for the ASCII string “SQLite format 3” within the image, and then outputted “SQLite format 3” and the following 20MB of data, or up until the next “SQLite format 3”. There should be about 5 files outputted (use extension of .db).
  • Loaded each of the SQLite files into SQLBrowser, which is very tolerant of extraneous data. If it has issues maybe you could use a hex editor like Hex Fiend to try to chop off the tail until it loads, but I did not need to do this.
  • Export the file as SQL, create a New Database, and import the SQL file. The newly created database file will be in a clean format readable by FreeNAS.

Import in the web GUI

  • You need to be running the same version of FreeNAS that the db was made from
  • The version number can be found by running:
    strings -t d recoveryFile.img | grep “FreeNAS-”

    • Note that this returns some incorrect results which are examples in strings, like this:
      192050567     “””Return the full version string, e.g. FreeNAS-8.1-r7794-amd64.”””
    • The correct line will look something like:
      944741376 FreeNAS-9.1.1-RELEASE-x64 (a752d35)

LabVIEW in Linux

I needed LabVIEW for a school project and, naturally, needed a way to get it to work in Linux! It took some hassling my school’s IT department but eventually they managed to get an iso image from NI called lv2013SP1pro-linux.iso. How you procure either an iso or a physical cd will be up to you. Godspeed.

Installation involved jumping through some hoops but here’s what got it to work:

Ubuntu 14.04 and Freya:

$ sudo apt-get install lib32z1 lib32ncurses5 lib32bz2-1.0 lib32stdc++6
$ sudo apt-get install libxinerama1:i386

Ubuntu 16.04 and Loki:

$ sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install libz1:i386 libncurses5:i386 libbz2-1.0:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libxinerama1:i386
$ sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386

Freya:

$ sudo apt-get install libglu1-mesa:i386

Ubuntu 14.04:

$ sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386

All systems:

$ sudo apt-get install xfonts-75dpi xfonts-100dpi

Ubuntu 14.04 and Freya:

$ sudo cp /usr/lib32/libbz2.so.1 /usr/lib

All systems:

Reboot. You actually need to reboot here otherwise the program installs in Chinese. Why? No idea.

Extract the iso into a new folder by opening it with Archive Manager. CD into that folder.

Ubuntu 16.04 and Loki:

$ cd bin
$ sudo apt install fish
$ fish
$ chmod a+x *
$ exit
$ cd ..

All systems:

$ sudo sh ./INSTALL

I just pressed “y” for all the installation options. If you need to conserve space you could probably press “n” for the examples, documentation, and such.

You should be able to open the application now from your menu. By default the fonts are hideous and adjusting them is very much trial and error because some fonts make LabVIEW go back to Chinese. Here are the settings I used which work pretty well:

Tools → Options → Environment → Fonts

Adjust each of the 3 fonts (Application, Dialog, System) to:

Font: B&H Lucida
Size: 12

Restart LabVIEW completely.

At last I’ve got a pretty solid version of LabVIEW running. The functions window seems to be a little bit wonky but I usually just use Ctrl+Space for inserting stuff anyways.

LabVIEW 2013 running in Elementary OS

LabVIEW 2013 running in Elementary OS

Ukraine (2016)

Background

Traveled to Ukraine for 4 weeks to study the language at a university, get exposed to the culture, and meet family for the first time. All-in-all I had a great time, improved my command of the language, met plenty of lifelong friends, and can’t wait to go back!

Lviv

Most of my time was spent in Lviv, the cultural capital of the country.

Carpathian Mountains

I also spent a week in the Carpathian Mountains and hiked up Hoverla, the tallest mountain in the country.

Fortresses

Because, why not?

Paper Projectiles (2016)

Competition

Build a robot which accepts a flat sheet of paper, modifies it, and launches it. The robot whose projectiles go the farthest wins.

Result

Significant mechanical issues. Finished middle of the pack in the competition. The video above is edited to show off intended operation.

My Responsibilities

Lead electronics team in engineering and programming with microcontrollers, sensors, power, and other electronic components. The goal was to have the robot work completely autonomously, although this was never realized from start to finish due to the aforementioned mechanical issues.

Smart Mirror (2016)

Project

Engineer something. Our team built a Smart Mirror.

Features

  • Text shows up but mirror is still usable
  • Time
  • Weather
  • Google Play Music
  • Spotify
  • Google Calendar
  • Gmail
  • Multiple Users
  • Pin authentication

Technology

Raspberry Pi connected via HDMI to a monitor behind a two-way mirror. The main program running on it was written in Python using the tkinter graphics library.

My Responsibilities

Worked with team of 5. I was responsible for backend programming. This mainly comprised authenticating and obtaining data from services (ex mail, calendar) and parsing it into a simple format. It also included obtaining playlist information and playing music from Google Play Music and Spotify. Another teammate wrote the GUI. I was responsible for designing the API between the GUI and the backend in advance and for integrating the two components once both were ready.

Gallery

Additional Links

Final Memo

Source Code

Electrometer (2016)

Project

Come up with a cheap way to communicate with the 1984 Keithley 617 Programmable Electrometer over USB.

Result

Stable serial communication using Arduino UNO.

Gallery

Additional Links

Github

Article

I needed a way to get data from a Keithley 617 Programmable Electrometer to a computer. The instruction manual for it is copyright 1984, so it obviously doesn’t simply use USB or  another modern serial protocol. The only data output is an IEEE-488 port (some call it GPIB).

DISCLAIMER: This tutorial is provided AS-IS. I am not responsible if you destroy your electrometer. I am not an expert with the IEEE-488 protocol and do not guarantee that my implementation is 100% correct. This tutorial assumes that you know what you’re doing and does not go into the details. That being said, this worked fine for me (after I realized that I originally misidentified a pin) and would be surprised if it didn’t work for you.

The front of the 617:

The front of the 617

The IEEE-488 port:

The IEEE-488 port

Reading the manual revealed that it is possible to put the device in a simplified communication mode called talk only mode. I used mode 41 because the data output is simpler.

Screenshot-from-2016-03-19-103218

After that, I stripped open an IEEE-488 cable, identified the wires with a multimeter, and soldered them up to an Arduino. The pinout can be found on Wikipedia. This was long and tedious. Note that about half the wires are ground and I just twisted those together and connected them to an Arduino ground pin. You can use any of the input pins on the Arduino, including the analog pins (although I didn’t use pin 13 because the debug light makes communications wonky sometimes).

A beautiful soldering job

The Arduino code I wrote is available on Pastebin. Simply update the defines at the top of the program with the Arduino pins you actually used. I also wrote a python script which can be used on the computer for reading data into a file, but you can also just use any serial monitor of your choice at 9600 baud.

The completed setup