Call for participation -- first draft

[nilcum]

Do you own a soldering iron? Can you program in your sleep? Would you like to have sex with your computer?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you may be interested in Tantalus -- the newest project from Milovana. This notice serves as an official call for project participation!

What are we wanting people to do?
- Develop physical devices to be used interactively in webteases
- Develop software to interfaces with the new hardware
- Standardize an open set of interfaces to be used in other projects
- Have a lot of fun while contributing to this community

What do I need to join?
- An interest, if you have limited computer science and electrical engineering background we need people that can test new hardware before it's release. Tester beware.
- Programming skills. Language of choice is C/C++ with the Win32 API.
- Hardware skills. Synthesizing functional circuits that meet a given requirement.
- Money, hardware is not cheap - especially development platforms. Everything is coming out of our own pockets. So, if you would like to donate financially to an open project that will be free for everyone to use we will gladly accept your contribution.

If you are interested, please PM me with how you wish to contribute. If all is well, you will be granted access to a restricted hardware forum on Milovana.


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Wanted to get thoughts. I'll likely go through a couple more revisions before posting but that is the general idea.

[seraph0x]

There are a few phrases that I would formulate differently:

"What are we wanting people to do?" -> "What can I do to help?"

"What do I need to join?" -> "What skills are you looking for? - Any of the following:"

"you will be granted access to a restricted hardware forum on Milovana" -> "you will be granted access to the internal forum of our Hardware team"

I think there is also some redundancy between the "tasks" and the "skills" lists: To develop software of course you need to program. Maybe we could drop the list with the skills and add "Buy and test new devices before they are made public" to the first list. I think it would be a good idea to make sure beta testers have to (at least partially) finance the hardware they test, because otherwise we'll have too many of them.

Please don't expect much of a response to this call, we are looking for some very highly skilled people who we can't even pay. But it's still important that we make this announcement since even one additional developer would be help the project a great deal.

One more piece of advice: These calls for participation are much more effective if you can prove that you are for real. So if you can couple the call for help with an announcement of previous successes, preferably with tons of pictures - it will be much more effective.

I'll post how I would write this announcement in a minute.

[seraph0x]

Do you own a soldering iron? Can you program in your sleep? Would you like to have sex with your computer?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you may be interested in Tantalus -- the newest project from Milovana. This notice serves as an official call for project participation!

What can you do to help?
- Help us develop physical devices to be used interactively in FlashTeases
- Help us develop software to control the new hardware
- Help us define an open standard so our hardware can be used by other developers
- Test the hardware that we create
- Donate to the Milovana Hardware team - hardware is not cheap - especially development platforms
- Introduce us to other hardware projects - do you know somebody working on similar ideas?
- Have a lot of fun while contributing to this community

I want to help, what do I need?
- To become a Tester, you need some very basic computer and electronics knowledge. You are responsible for your own safety and you will have to partially finance the hardware you're testing.
- Software developers, our language of choice is C/C++ with the Win32 API.
- As a Hardware developer you need to be able to synthesize functional circuits that meet a given requirement.

If you are interested in the project and/or wish to contribute, just send nilcum a PM. If all is well, you will be granted access to a restricted hardware forum on Milovana.

[neo2199a]

Hello,

Is this software and hardware development still active? If so, I would like to help out. I have been doing some development on my own in a similar fashion.

[seraph0x]

No, right now I don't think anybody is actively working on it.

The source code is available here:

http://mv.openmoon.org/svn/tantalus/

(I think it should be public, if not let me know and I'll make you an account.)

All the hardware developments are pretty much documented in this forum.

If you wanna pick it up again or post your own results and ideas for discussion, you're most welcome!

[Bandit224]

I can help. The private message nilcus leads to a 404 error. I'm a student of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, so my skills are limited, but I'll try.

[PiJoy]

Do you own a soldering iron? Can you program in your sleep? Would you like to have sex with your computer?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you may be interested in Tantalus -- the newest project from Milovana. This notice serves as an official call for project participation!

What are we wanting people to do?
- Develop physical devices to be used interactively in webteases
- Develop software to interfaces with the new hardware
- Standardize an open set of interfaces to be used in other projects
- Have a lot of fun while contributing to this community

Nilcum,

I'd like to get more involved in this effort. I have experience designing electronic and mechanical hardware for patient contact (read safety aware) in the US. If you look at my forum posts, you'll see that I have both interest and many of the relevant skills.

I've seen a couple similar projects trail off before getting to anything particularly useful. I think that's probably due to people having limited time, and people not sufficiently interested in standardizing on anything except their own designs. http://wiki.opendildonics.org is one such. There are already a number of reasonably open interfaces that might be adopted for this project, instead of devising yet another interface. Among these are

http://firmata.org/wiki/Main_Page (primarily designed to control Arduino-based hardware)

http://www.hth.com/filelibrary/pdffiles/snap.pdf (A very open, generic protocol)

http://opensoundcontrol.org/files/OSC-Demo.pdf (A MIDI-based protocol for sensors, etc.)

Choosing or (re-) designing a protocol is a tough thing, especially among people voluntarily working on an open project. One of the key issues is choosing/designing an interface that is general enough to cover current and (reasonable guesses of) future needs, without being too complex for people to do anything with it before the initial enthusiasm dies back.

I've had a little contact with the owner of opendildonics.org, and it's possible he'd willing to work with us in some fashion.

I'd like to be involved. May I please join this group/project?

-- PiJoy

[nilcum]

PiJoy,

Of course, lets do it! I want to be more involved myself. So, I would love to build the next generation of sex toys with you. I've only recently found time to return here but where I really want to take our first project is to enable the flash teases to control a vibrating bullet. Something simple enough that anyone with the right instructions could build their own. If we build it they will cum.

Also, I am right with you regarding reuse of opensource components. Especially in regard to firmeta. These weren't around when I originally started this project.

Pop by chat sometime and let's come up with a plan for what needs to be done.

Thanks!

[Bandit224]

"enable the flash teases to control a vibrating bullet."

awesome!

Where in chat should we drop by?

[nilcum]

Whichever room has the most people in it . I am usually on pretty early for the US. Before 8PM EST.

[Nezhul]

You'd better helped seraphox finish the new engine...

[PiJoy]

PiJoy,

Of course, lets do it! I want to be more involved myself. So, I would love to build the next generation of sex toys with you. I've only recently found time to return here but where I really want to take our first project is to enable the flash teases to control a vibrating bullet. Something simple enough that anyone with the right instructions could build their own. If we build it they will cum.

Also, I am right with you regarding reuse of opensource components. Especially in regard to firmeta. These weren't around when I originally started this project.

Pop by chat sometime and let's come up with a plan for what needs to be done.

Thanks!

Nilcum,

I'm happy to work on this project with you and others. However, I think some discussion/clarification of the project's goals and constraints would be very helpful, before we go down any path too far. Here are some of the issues I'd like to air, and see what others think:

* Simplicity vs. extendability:

* Time (and skill) vs. Cost

Here are my key thoughts about the above two issues:

Regarding simplicity vs. extendability:
if we make the device too simple (with little to no extendability), then it may not be worthwhile for users -- or not worthwhile for very long. Just turning one channel of vibe on/off is better than nothing, but without some extendability, I fear it won't be enjoyable enough to be more than an oddity. On the other hand, a simple design, one that just turns a vibe on/off is probably easier for non-techies to make. For myself, I'd rather tilt to the more extendable side of this trade-off; however, I'm probably not typical of those interested.

Regarding time (and skill) vs. cost:
We could build a controllable vibe in a number of ways, the lowest cost (in $) generally will require more tech skills and time. If we want to make the design easier from a skill and time point of view, then the cost would probably be greater. (Fewer choices for components, etc.) On this, I'd be tempted to go for the lower-cost, more time/effort side of this trade-off. But again, I'm probably not typical of those interested.

I'd be very pleased if others would post their opinions on these (or related) topics.

Thanks for your time and attention!

PS Chat seems to be down. Any idea when it'll be back up?

[Snare]

I am interested in joining this project. I have a basic engineering background seeing as I am still in school studying to become a mechanical engineer. I could join on as a beta-tester/bug-finder or just another mind to bounce ideas off of. As far as my expenses go I don't think I can donate any money to the site without hurting my wallet more than it already is, but with the knowledge I already have and will be learning I could probably build the prototypes you guys can come up with by myself to see if they work. Well let me know if I qualify.

Snare

P.S. Nilcum if you would like to know the extent of my knowledge just PM in in the Chat Rooms. My closed door policy doesn't work on you.

[Bandit224]

Regarding simplicity vs. extendability:

We should make the device as re-usable as possible. There is much more potential than just simply operating a vibe: someone someday might wanna rig it to operate pumps, estim devices, fucking machines, or something else, and making it too simple kills those possibilities.
In the nature of designing things, starting off designing it to be able to use all those devices would be too difficult. As a result, the first prototype would be something painfully simple to reach the first goal (i.e. a vibe that can only go on and off), and then build up from there. To keep things simple for people that need simplicity, we can always just leave that version, or some other version, as the "simple" version.

I would like for the device to try to use standardized parts if possible (i.e. connect internally to a usb plug/wire, so that it doesn't have to be manually wired into a desktop or laptop), but that is more cost and extendability than it is simplicity.


Regarding time vs. cost:
I vote slightly lower-cost, more time. We can cut lots of costs and time by using standard things, like laptops, but the choices for components, and versatility, need to be there, especially for inputs and outputs to the controller. I would like to see the device be able to operate with other sex toys (I feel safer using a generic, but pricey, store-bought vibe that is controlled by the device, which we created, than manually creating the vibe itself). $20 to $50 is easily comfortable range for me; $100 is hurting, but not an absolute ceiling.


TL;DR
I prefer a controller device that can't do anything on its own, but can operate cheaper. or most, off-the-shelf sex toys, and to just consider the cost being the device and maybe the cheapest off-the-shelf from a list of off-the-shelf that we believe (or have tested) to be compatible.


P.S. To Snare, I believe Nilcum is talking about how expensive it would be for each person to build their device, and not about donations to the website.

[PiJoy]

@Bandit224,

Thank you for commenting on the two issues I raised for discussion. I hope others will follow your example and post their opinions.

I was thinking about maybe putting up an online poll, but right now it seems there aren't exactly mobs of people interested. Oh, well. I still hold out hope that if we build it, they will cum! (And yes, I know I didn't originate that clever revision of the line from Field of Dreams.)