Stocktaking

At the hardware group on Thursday, when we were talking about hardware for new members. We have a kit of parts that we make available for those who want to have a play with Arduinos and I realised that I had absolutely no idea how many devices I had in stock. So on Friday I spent a while going through all my little boxes from China and counting devices.

I then thought it might be a good idea to label some boxes for all the various bits and pieces. I thought I could use a whiteboard maker to write the stock levels on the printed labels. When I use something I can then just rub off the number and write another one. You can trace the evolution of the labelling process above through:

• Using these printed labels with big letters is fun

• I’d better switch to smaller text, running out of labelling tape

• Ah. No labelling tape left. Let’s just write letters on insulating tape…….

Connexin Live

I can’t help thinking that HullOS has a much better ring to it…

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Hull Arena marvelling at how Hull could put on such a fantastic digital awards ceremony. Today I’m at the same place marvelling at how Hull can host a splendid technical event. One of of the first thing the delegates were told about Connexin was that they are a Hull company. Born and bred. And proud to be here.

Connexin are a local company with global plans and big hitting partners in the form of Cisco. A Cisco person had even flown all the way from San Francisco to speak at the event. The theme was something very dear to my heart; Smart Cities. We heard from Hull City Council and Hull University about their ideas for the future and from folks from Newcastle about what they had been up to.

These are challenging and exciting times for local government. Challenging because budgets are being squeezed as never before, and exciting because technology is showing real potential for improving the lives of the people that the councils serve.

It was great to hear all these inspiring plans being laid in Hull. I couldn’t stay to the end unfortunately, I had to go and see how the Hardware Group at c4di was getting on. The answer, by the way, is very well. We’ve got three new members who’ve turned up and want to have a go with the Arduino. I’m putting together some kits for them for the next meeting. You can come along and have a go too if you like. The next meeting is on the 11th of October at c4di, starting at 6:00 pm.

Cloud Connected Camping Lights

I was in the Pound Shop over the weekend looking for camping lights. What with we me going camping in a month or so. I'm going to the Electromagnetic Field event at the end of August, and I've been buying sleeping bags and contemplating life under canvas for a few days. 

I found a likely looking light in a camping shop for a fiver but being from Yorkshire I thought I'd take a look at cheaper solutions. I found the lights above, packed in a nice little box, for a pound a pop. Astonishing value, so I bought four. 

Then I got to thinking about making the light more interesting. I've done this kind of thing before and I had some pixel rings and Wemos devices lying around, so I thought I'd have a go. Worst case I'd break a light that cost me a pound. 

This is the light dismantled. I undid the screws that held the base on popped the top off and then slid the transparent cover down and off the bottom of the light. Then I used a knife blade to pop the plastic reflector off the top to reveal the pcb that holds the 11 white leds. I'm going to replace this with a 16 led neopixel ring which just fits. You can get these rings for around 8 pounds, or much less if you're prepared to wait for them to arrive from China. 

The plan is to fit the led ring a shown above, drill some holes in the plastic support and run the wires behind through them, providing a connection and also holding the ring in position. I can bring in the hot glue later if I want to make things even more secure. 

I held the led ring in position, scratched marks on the reflector and then drilled the holes. I'm not very pleased with the bottom hole, but I don't think anyone will see it. I'm only using three of the connections, but I drilled four holes so I didn't have to remember which was the one I don't need. 

These are the wires that I made up for the connections to the led ring. I used solid core wire. I'm connecting to the ground, 5Volt and Data input lines using black, red and white wires. The colour of the wires doesn't matter much, as electricity doesn't seem to care about wire colour.

If you read the Adafruit help pages for the Neopixel ring they talk sensible things about series resistors and capacitors that you can add to improve the signal to the led ring and reduce the chances of damage. I'm leaving those out because I like to "live on the edge", but you might want to add them if you build a light like mine. 

This is the led ring after I fitted it to the reflector with the wires pushed through the appropriate holes. Looks quite tidy to me. Next up we have to take a look at fitting the processor board to the light. 

This is how the lamps are made. They have a slide switch which controls power to the led ring. It's a bit hard to see, but there's a series resistor on the positive side which is wired from the battery terminal to the switch. I'll use the switch to turn the device on and off. 

I'm going to add an ESP8266 device on the Wemos platform. I love this device and configuration, and it just fits. It will give me WiFi for connectivity and my plan is to port my wedding light software onto the Wemos platform. 

This is the device with the signal and power wires soldered in. For some reason I was nervous about soldering solid core wires onto the Wemos PCB and so I soldered in some jumper cables instead. I've done this before and it's a good trick. Rather than soldering a socket and then plugging into it (and having the worry that the plug might come out) instead I just solder the plug straight in. I'll cut the plugs off the other end and wire things up by twisting wires together, soldering them and covering with heatshrink tubing. Probably not as posh as using proper connectors, but much cheaper and at least as reliable.

I'm using one data pin to control the lights. Just because I'm moody, I decided to solder this wire in directly. I stuck the Wemos device onto the back of the reflector using some sticky velcro tape that I got from Maplin. I'm really going to miss that shop.

This is the completed processor fitted to the reflector. I've done the wiring and so I now just have to power up the device to get it going. This is also a useful stage to reach because now that I've connected the power lines for the leds and the processor together I can plug the Wemos device into the PC using a USB cable and test that the lights work. So I did this. There will now be a short break while I get the software together. 

Writing the software took longer than I expected because I found a bug. However, once I'd fixed that I turned my attention to the base of the light. I soldered some new wires to the switch and onto the battery terminals. Now I just have to connect the red and black cables to the ones on the processor and I'm good to go. 

This is the lights and the power all soldered together. I've made the wires much longer than they need to be, this is so that it will be easy to pop out the reflector and re-program the Wemos when I find another bug.

This is the light in action, just after I'd asked it to turn green.

I'm presently using MQTT to connect to the Azure IOT hub and sending text commands to configure the light. The commands are a subset of the HullOS language that I've been using on the Hull Pixelbot. Next I want to make a controller device that pushes commands up into the cloud to tell the light what to do. 

If you're looking for something to play with I can strongly recommend this light. There's a reasonable amount of space to play with - I'm thinking of adding a temperature sensor so that the light can change colour depending on how warm it is. I've discovered that I can perform my light flickering at the same time as wait for MQTT server commands and it all seems to work splendidly. I'll put the code up on GitHub when I've tidied it up a bit. 

With a bit of care you could  take the original 11 pixel ring and cut the tracks on the pcb so that each led could be controlled individually, perhaps by an Arduino Pro-Mini to get a really cheap controllable light device. 

Make your own Theremin. Sort of.

A Theremin is a musical instrument that you control by waving your hands. It's used a lot to provide spooky sounds for science fiction and horror movies. A "proper" theremin uses a tuned circuit that is which is controlled by the player waving their hands near a couple of antennas. 

I thought we could have a go at making something similar using just a light sensor and an Arduino, so I've come up with the circuit above to get started. You can find the detailed instructions here. We've been using these little exercises at the c4di Hardware Group, which met again today and will meet again on Thursday 5th July. Sign up here if you want to come along and make some annoying noises....

Working with the Arduino at the Hardware Group

I really must take more, or at least some, pictures of the Hardware Group at c4di in action. But I'm always too busy talking about stuff to get out the camera.

Anyhoo, we had a great meetup today. We've got a bunch of new members who are just getting started, so we've put together some tiny hardware kits that they can use to get started. Like those "Build an Aston Martin in easy steps" magazines that you can buy in the new year, If you want to pick up a kit and have a go, come along to our next meetup on the 7th of June. You can sign up here. 

Hardware Meetup - now with biscuits

I had to tear myself away from a really good conversation to take this picture

We had another really good Hardware Meetup at c4di yesterday. Three new folks turned up and we’re going to start working with Arduino devices at the next session. We’re assembling some kits and some content to get folks playing with hardware. The idea is that you spend a princely five pounds on a starter kit containing an Arduino and some lights and switches. And then over the next sessions we’ll introduce other components to play with. If you fancy coming along, you’d be more than welcome.

The next meeting is on the 17th Mary at c4di as usual. Only now we have coffee, tea and biscuits. And hardware. It would be great to see you. 

esp8266 wacky wifi

one way to get a screenshot....

This is rather weird. It all started when I got my old Nexus 7 tablet out of retirement. I'm doing some upgrades for the web server for the Raspberry Pi event coming up, and I wanted to use the Nexus to see if the web site would work on an Android powered browser. 

One of the applications on the Nexus is a WiFi analyser that I've used to pick and choose my WiFi channels. When I fired it up I noticed a few strange transmitters which were taking over the spectrum (as you can see above). 

I finally tracked this down to the esp8266 devices that I use in Hull Pixelbots. For some reason, when they wake up, they start doing things on WiFi channels. I've no idea of the precise meaning of this transmission, but I don't particularly like it. It turns out that if you turn off the WiFi before you do anything else (even turn it back on to connect to an access point) then you don't see this. 

I'd love comments from anyone else who've seen this, or has more knowledge of what is going on. In the meantime all my programs now start with:

WiFi.mode(WIFI_OFF);

Another awesome Hardware Group Meetup

Why I like c4di. 2.4 Gigabytes to download. In a couple of minutes. 

I keep taking my camera to our Hardware Meetups with the intention of getting some pictures of what goes on, and then getting into so many chats about different things that I completely forget to get any pictures. 

It happened again tonight. We had some new members with awesome ideas about projects they want to build. And folks I've seen many times were rocking up with some splendid new stuff that they had made, or were working on. With the LoRa project just around the corner, you really should come along if you've any interest in making interesting stuff. 

The next meeting is on 3rd of May. Sign up here. 

Hardware

We had another superb Hardware group meetup at c4di tonight. Two new members, plus a host of others braved the horrid snow to come and talk tech. I was telling everyone of my problems with my soldering iron, which had come un-soldered (see above) leading to some nice "Catch-22" issues (in the end I bought another iron and mended my "proper" one).

Plans are afoot for another soldering evening, and a "build your own LoRa node" event too. Turns out that it's all happening..

Using an osciloscope

I actually had to use my oscilloscope last week. First time in ages. I'd quite forgotten how useful it is to be able see signals on wires. I'm thinking of running a "What is an oscilloscope and why is it a good idea?" session at the c4di hardware club. 

c4di Hardware Group Monster Meetup

Actually we didn't have any monsters turn up. But we did have a lot of people. Hayden was running a soldering masterclass. I was talking about Hull Pixelbots to a whole bunch of students who turned up to find out what we're about. Brian showed off a work in progress which simulates Hull Pixelbot movements in a nifty Python program. And we did some work with one of our youngest attendees, who's trying to make a remote controlled missile launcher (but only a small one).

We were playing with these super-cheap wireless devices. Connect a transmitter to an output pin on an Arduino, wiggle the pin up and down, and the receiver will wiggle an output up and down at the same time. So you can send messages wirelessly from one Arduino to another.

In the past I've not had much success with these, but we tried the RadioHead library and it seems to work rather well, We're going to look into adding a carefully crafted antenna to try and improve the range. And have a look at other wireless options too. 

It was great fun. If you fancy coming along,  the next one is on the 1st of March starting at 6:00 in c4di. 

Arduino Retro Computer

Derek put me onto this. It's a retro computer made from two Arduino devices, one of which generates VGA output. Many years ago I discovered that people were using PIC devices to produce video output, this does something similar with an Arduino to generate VGA video. It uses a tiny interpreted basic that is not a million miles away from my HullOS software, although the Basic implementation uses a lot more gotos....

Super Duper Hardware Meetup

We had a really good hardware meetup today at c4di. A whole bunch of new members turned up. along with a bunch of "regulars".

I did a talk about the latest developments on the Hull Pixelbot front. The system that controls the Hull Pixelbot has been renamed "HullOS" for marketing reasons, and is now available on GitHub. There's also a manual for the new scripting language supported by HullOS and an editor program you can use to create HullOS scripts and load them into the robot. 

Finally, I've added the DXF files for laser cutting Hull Pixelbot chassis components, along with STL files for the 3D printed parts that you need as well.

I'll be adding more Hull Pixelbot stuff in blog posts over the next few weeks. 

There were lots of really interesting conversations going on all round the room, which was great. We've still got room for more though, the next meetup is on the 15th of February. You can sign up here. 

An MP3 player for 88 pence

I remember when mp3 players first came out. They weren't cheap. Now they are 88 pence. Brian showed me one at the Hardware Group on Thursday.

Going to the group is always a calculated risk for me, in that people frequently show me things that I want to buy one of. Mind you, at 88 pence each I can afford to go mad and order a number, so I've bought 5. 

They can be controlled by an Arduino (or any other device with digital I/O) or directly. You'll need a micro-sd card to hold the music and a speaker of some kind of course, but I'm thinking of using them to make an orchestra of Hull Pixelbots.....

Awesome Hardware Meetup

We had a great hardware meetup today.  There was chat about Pixelbots. LoRa and we even manage to get some video out of my ten pound dashboard camera. 

If you fancy learning more (or even something) about hardware and stuff, then you should come along. The next meetup is on Feb. 1st. You can sign up here. 

Lora at the c4di Hardware Group

We had a great hardware meetup tonight. I showed off a bit of the latest Hull Pixelbot scripting stuff (once I'd got it to work - note to self - don't turn up with a machine and think you can install the software and it will just work. Doesn't happen). 

Then we talked a bit about Lora (or low powered radio to you). I've blogged a bit about this in the past but now we want to take things a bit further, and get going making Lora stuff. We've got all kinds of plans, none of them involving world domination. At least that's what we're saying for now. 

Anyhoo, expect to hear more about our Lora plans in the not too distant future. It looks like a great technology to get in on the ground floor of. If you fancy getting involved you should come along to our next meetup and utter the magic phrase "I fancy getting involved". You can sign up for the next meetup here. 

World's Smallest Arduino compatible board at c4di Hardware Group

Did you know that the worlds smallest Arduino compatible device is made in Hull? I didn't until Hayden turned up with one at the hardware group at c4di tonight. He's designed and built a lovely little device. I've played with tiny Arduinos before. They are usually a bit hard to connect to a computer because they lack a proper usb connection and are a bit under-powered when you get them going. 

The device that Hayden has made gives you serious computing power in a device you can hang off any micro-usb cable and program using the standard Arduino SDK. It puts a 48 Mhz  device with 256K of ROM and 32K of RAM onto your fingernail. You can find out more (and buy one for yourself) here. We had it flashing a led, which is probably not really the best use of its power, but it is a start....

It was a great meetup. We had some new folks turn up keen to learn, and some who had brought things to talk about. You can sign up for the next one on Thursday 7th December (and you should) here.

Plenty of Hardware at c4di

We had a great meeting at the Hardware meetup this week. We had digital video, DC motor control, Lora networking and transistor insights. And some new faces. If you want to come along you can sign up here. 

This is what I was working on. I had another Lora node receiving the messages. When it works properly I'm going to take the plastic cover off the display.....

Hardware meetup, with hardware

It's coming to something when I'm too busy having an interesting time to get around to taking pictures. But that's how it was at the Hardware meetup tonight at c4di. Ross was trying to get his Gameboy emulator to run off a rechargeable battery. He has the not unreasonable desire to be able to play games while the battery is charging. And one of his power supplies keeps glitching and cutting out. We actually used a soldering iron to try and fix things, but by the end we were perhaps a bit closer to getting everything working as it should. And we are having a lot of fun in the journey. And Paul showed me a bunch of very impressive stuff he had a hand in making work. 

All good stuff. More in two weeks. 

Microsoft Surface Ergnomic Keyboard and Bluetooth

Ha. It works now I've replaced the Bluetooth adapator. So, pro-tip. If you want to use the Microsoft Surface Ergnomic keyboard with your desktop under Windows 10 I would suggest that you use the Pluggable Bluetooth USB adaptor. This works a treat. If you've got a Surface Pro 3 I'd advise you not to get this keyboard at all, or at least try it to make sure it works before you part with any cash.

I'm hammering away at the keyboard now and I like it very, very, much. My previous keyboard, the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort one, was very good but it lacked the numeric keyboard and arrow keys that I'm used to. Mine version of the Sculpt Comfort also has the American keyboard layout which works fine most of the time, but had me keeping an old keyboard around (really) just so I could type the backslash character. Which I can type just like this now: \\\\ Yay.