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ElectricRCAircraftGuy / eRCaGuy_ComputaPranksta_Support

Public support for my "Computa Pranksta" mouse jiggler device I sell on Amazon and elsewhere.
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eRCaGuy_ComputaPranksta_Support

Public support for my "Computa Pranksta" mouse jiggler device I sell on Amazon and elsewhere.

This device is a mouse jiggler. It keeps your computer awake. It can also be used to have some fun with your friends (please don't take it too far--it's meant to be used in good, friendly gest--not for any type of malicious purposes).

GETTING STARTED:
>> Main Links <<

Table of Contents

  1. Thank You!
  2. Email
  3. Status
  4. Buy on Amazon here!
  5. Main Links:
  6. Product Images
  7. How to program/reconfigure it
    1. 1. In as few words as possible
    2. 2. Brief programming description
    3. 3. Quick Reference Sheet
  8. Support
    1. Email / Submit an Issue here on GitHub
    2. Wiki
    3. FAQ
  9. License
  10. CAD Files for a 3D-printed case
  11. Credits and Base Technologies

Thank You!

Thank you for ordering the Computa Pranksta mouse jiggler device. It can be both fun and useful, and I hope you use it wisely and honestly and better your skills throughout your life.

I made this while learning to program. I thought it was so amazing that a tiny little microcontroller (microprocessor) could do all this and more, and I wanted to share it with others to help fund my personal projects to do even cooler stuff, so that’s what I’m doing here. I studied programming using https://www.arduino.cc, blogs (here is mine), https://stackoverflow.com (here is my profile), https://www.adafruit.com, https://www.sparkfun.com, https://www.instructables.com (here are my instructables), YouTube (here is my channel), and other resources online, and I wrote this code in my free time over the course of 2 years while I was in the US Air Force. My wife flashes it to the chip. Your purchase helps fund future projects.

I ask that you please don’t harm your employer with it. It was intended to do good, not bad. Gaining back some freedom (and time) from an employer that won’t let you set your screensaver settings is good. Getting paid for doing nothing in place of doing the work you are contracted and paid to do is bad. It is up to you to decide how to use it. If you have a lousy or unfulfilling job, I encourage you to do all you can to improve your skills and find a new niche in life where you can use your special gifts and talents to make money and make the world a better place.

It should be the end goal of any professional to reach such a high level of skill at what you do that you are no longer limited by your abilities; but rather, you are limited only by your imagination.
\~Gabriel Staples, 25 Feb. 2014

Reach your true potential.
\~Gabriel Staples, 20 July 2020

Again, I sincerely thank you for your purchase. It makes me thrilled and happy that you have chosen to buy this product.

Email

Contact me at the email below if you have any problems or if the product malfunctions.

Status

It is functional and for sale!

Buy on Amazon here!

Main Links:

  1. How to program/reconfigure it
  2. YouTube Getting Started Videos:
    1. How to Use & Configure the Computa Pranksta USB Keyboard & Mouse Prank Device
    2. [MOST COMMON REQUEST!] Reconfiguring the Computa Pranksta for use as a USB Mouse Jiggler to keep your screensaver off
  3. Main "user manual" online: https://www.electricrcaircraftguy.com/2017/04/computa-pranksta-user-manual.html
  4. FAQ
  5. Support Requests or questions: https://github.com/ElectricRCAircraftGuy/eRCaGuy_ComputaPranksta_Support/issues --> click the "New issue" button on the right. You may need to create a free GitHub account.
    1. Note: these support requests are publicly visible. If you need it to be private for some reason, email me using the email at the top of my "user manual" page above.

Product Images

(click an image to enlarge it)

How to program/reconfigure it

For a detailed video demonstration of this process, see the YouTube videos in the "Main Links" section just above.

1. In as few words as possible

  1. Plug it into a Windows computer and open a text editor (Notepad).
  2. Press Scroll Lock 5 times to enter programming mode.
  3. Reconfigure it with Scroll Lock and Caps Lock.
  4. Press Scroll Lock 5 times to save and exit programming mode.
  5. Use it in any computer.

2. Brief programming description

  1. Plug it into a Windows computer, and give it a minute to start working. It should begin to drag your mouse cursor to the lower left corner of the screen, and slowly type random characters periodically.
  2. Once you see it working, open up a text editor (Notepad is recommended) and press Scroll Lock 5 times to enter programming mode. Refer to the bottom-right of the "Quick Reference Sheet" just below. It will type out some text into Notepad to indicate it is entering programming mode.
  3. Now, in programming mode, you can cycle through the various modes using a series of Scroll Lock and Caps Lock key presses. Refer to the bottom-right of the "Quick Reference Sheet" just below for details.
  4. When done choosing the modes you like, press Scroll Lock 5 times again to save the settings to the device's internal memory and exit programming mode. Note: the Notepad text editor will remain open. Your new modes will now be in effect.
    1. So long as you pressed Scroll Lock 5 times and saw it type out the text indicating it was saving and exiting programming mode, you can now unplug the device and plug it back in, even moving it to a different computer if you like, and its settings will still be saved, since they are saved internally on-board the device itself, NOT on your computer. (For details for fellow nerds, see here.)
  5. If you have further questions you can reach out to me via my business email on the product label or found under the "Contact Me" tab at the top of my website here, where the user manual is stored.

Thanks to Ebay buyer love_harleys who helped draft this brief programming description.

3. Quick Reference Sheet

(click to enlarge, then use Ctrl + + and Ctrl + - to zoom in and out in your browser. To scroll up/down and left/right on the image, first click on it with your mouse, and then use your arrow keys)

Support

Email / Submit an Issue here on GitHub

You can either:

  1. (Recommended, if you're ok with your support being public to help others with the same question): sign in with a free GitHub account and click the "Issues" tab at the top and create a "New issue". Note that this issue will be publicly visible by anyone. This also gives users a chance to help answer each others' questions.
  2. Or, click the "user manual" link just above, and email me privately at the email address shown at the top of that page.

Wiki

There is a public wiki for this project here, which is editable by anybody. If you'd like to contribute to the wiki or edit it, just sign in with a free GitHub account and edit the wiki directly.

FAQ

See a list of Frequently Asked Questions here.

License

The license for all content in this repo not otherwise already bound by another license is:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

For terms, see:

  1. License Deed (plain English terms): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
  2. Legal Code: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode

CAD Files for a 3D-printed case

See the cad_files folder for downloads.

  1. cad_files/Thomas_Edgar

Credits and Base Technologies

As is the case with most projects anyone does, I am standing on the shoulds of giants. Here are some giants who have come before me to make this technology possible.

The Computa Pranksta relies on the following technologies, in rough order from what I consider "highest level" to lowest level.

  1. Arduino: the Pranksta uses the Arduino ecosystem, including the IDE. Arduino is amazing. I'm a professional software developer today, because of Arduino. Thank you Massimo Banzi, Arduino, and others!
  2. Digispark - the device hardware is based on the open source Digispark, by DigiStump. DigiStump is awesome. So glad they exist. They were kickstarted, you know, in late 2012!
    1. Here's the hardware schematic from Digispark
    2. Online source:
      1. DigiSpark pg --> Resources --> "Schematics"
      2. direct link
    3. Hardware license: CC-BY-SA 3.0
    4. Note: it appears to me that diode D3 shown in the DigiSpark schematic is backwards, but I haven't confirmed with them to be sure.
  3. Adafruit USB Keyboard and Mouse Library: "TrinketHidCombo", with my changes
    1. License: LGPL 3 or later
  4. Micronucleus: this is the bootloader which allows me to upload my custom firmware which makes the Computa Pranksta a Computa Pranksta
    1. License for the bootloader only, not what has been uploaded by it: GPLv2
  5. V-USB: the software implementation of low-speed USB which allows the USB-incapable microcontroller which runs this device to bit-bang out the USB protocol. This is amazing. Micronucleus requires this. This is what makes Micronucleus able to communicate over USB, and it's what powers the underlying USB protocol to allow the Pranksta to become a USB HID keyboard and mouse combo.
  6. AVR Libc: the C library implementation for the microcontroller in use; a key component to make it programmable.
  7. gcc: the compiler which turns C and C++ code into machine code which can be run by the computer processor inside the Computa Pranksta. This is a beast. Perhaps 100 man years of work have gone into its creation.

Also:

  1. Linux Ubuntu: the free and open source, and no cost (free does NOT equal no-cost!) operating system I now use for all of my development and programming of the devices before I mail them out to Amazon for fulfillment. I used to use Windows for all development, but have slowly gotten rid of Windows. Today, all the computers in my house run Linux Ubuntu, including the ones used by my 3 and 7 year old kids, and my wife's computer too. My wife flashes all firmware from a Linux computer using micronucleus at the command-line. Thank you wife, and Linux.

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