I've been super busy lately!

[brad]

Hi everyone, just thought i'd drop in and let you know what I've been up to.

I managed to secure a job with the new contractor out at the airforce base that I work at (praise God!) We are going through quite a big transition process so I don't have a whole heap of time to spend on my projects etc... So I havn't been very active around here.

Something that is pretty cool though is that all of the students I teach will be given windows based tablets to use which is great news for me because it means I am able to develop apps for them as part of my work to help them in their learning, so I am looking forward to that!

I hope everyone has been keeping well and I certainly look forward to making some sort of new LED game system and posting it on the site in the near future!

[bitfogav]

Hey Brad..

Things are just about getting there on this side of the world, Ive also been quiet busy with alot of work things going on this time of year, so my projects and programming time have been a little slow so far this year

Glad that you've managed to secure a job with the new contractor

[Chuckt]

Congratulations!

I built a mini organ from a kit that uses an AT Tiny and I built a Minty Boost kit (cell phone charger using 2 AA batteries) but it doesn't work with my phone and I'm not sure if it works:(

I'm in a similar situation where I'm employed, my employers are selling the company but haven't told us and we have a lot of questions.

I'm perplexed as to which major direction to go in in terms of computer development.

I'm having major work done at my house right now and I am just busy with life in general.

[brad]

Great to hear i'm not the only busy one out there!

Not so good to hear about your work there Chuck but i'll certainly remember to keep you in my prayers that everything will happen for the best.

As for your charger, have you simply tried connecting a multimeter to the output to see what you get? (5v i'm guessing should be there...)

[Chuckt]

Thank you. I'm just accepting that we change and situations don't and it will all be for the best.

I used my multimeter but I got 3 and 5 volts so I'm not sure but it might be time to check the batteries on the multimeter.

[brad]

3v at the input and 5v at the output?

[Chuckt]

I was using fresh and good batteries and I got both 3 and 5 volts at the output but I thought it was because I wasn't holding the probes still or because the meter needs a new set of batteries. The first build didn't work and the instruction talked about a short I could make for phones that can tell the charger isn't USB so I just think it is that the phone might not be compatible. I emailed the people who produce the kit and they wanted me to post a picture online and at this point I don't think it is worth it because I have a lithium USB charger for emergencies.

I am perpelexed and have been deciding whether I should buy a book on bare metal (assembly language) programming for the ARM chip in the Raspberry Pi, buy a Minimig, an Apatco 6502 computer, just get a book on ARM programming for the ST Discovery / Cortex F4 board or get a Uzebox kit which is basically an Atmel chip and an SD card slot but you have to know "C" to do programming. I already have a Raspberry Pi but I haven't hooked it up yet.

[brad]

Sorry for the late reply Chuck.

Does the voltage drop when you connect the phone to the charger? perhaps it is trying to draw too much current?

I myself have been researching the raspberry pi. A very nice piece of kit for such a great price.

I have seen that python seems to be the language of choice for the raspberry pi's. have you thought about getting into python?

[Chuckt]

The power was fluctuating on my multi-meter. I thought I needed new batteries and I have to find a screwdriver to investigate.

Since the Raspberry Pi has HDMi, it might be possible to get a Lapdock for cell phones that the Raspberry Pi could plug into. I was looking at one for the Beaglebone Black but finances won't let me chase my dreams this year so I will have to study and work with what I have.

I saw this video on the Beaglebone Black using the Motorola Atrix 4G Lapdock and thought the Raspberry Pi could plug into it too with HDMI:

http://www.ti.com/product/am3359

I think this is the same lapdock:

http://www.amazon.com/AT-Laptop-Dock-Mo ... B004M17D62

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-Atrix- ... 999wt_1170

The lapdock is a portable game changer and it makes such small units more tangible making people like me wanting one which means that if you were to produce "how to" videos, you could drive up sales to your store in a heartbeat.

I'm probably only going to get this book on how the Cortex F3 works:

The Definitive Guide to the ARM Cortex-M3, Second Edition [Paperback]
http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Guide- ... rogramming

Until I make more money, my Arduino(s), my Raspberry Pi (old edition), my Pikit 2 with pics, and my ARM development boards are all I have to work with which most people will say are enough.

I would like to get "Python Programming For Kids" but we'll see. I wanted to develop the STM32 board into a SBC and therefore Python isn't really on my priorities right now but learning is on my priorities.

[brad]

The great thing is is that there is plenty of material online for you to study while you save up for what you want

Speaking of which, I have been getting into Visual Studio 2012 which is free (for the express edition) and have been learning to program windows metro apps.

One day i'll get back into making some microcontroller projects!

[Saimaster13]

Visual Studio is pretty cool, I've started making a game with it (XNA, C#). I have been making it as a computer game, but eventually I may look into what other devices i could port it to.

Also, I've been making a clock with a speech chip (the one Chuck talked about here). I do not like the quality of the voice spoken, but I am looking into programming it and stuff to see if I can make it sound more clear.

[brad]

Sounds cool! i've never ventured into XNA, or game development like that for that matter.

Do you have any screenshots or is it a bit of a secret at the moment?

As for the clock, I'm guessing it tells you the time when you press a button or on the hour etc...

Maybe you could make it into the most annoying clock ever and have it speak out every single second