RAREblog

I'm stuck at home and have seized the opportunity to prepare for a workshop that will link the Shrimp and the Raspberry Pi. I love reusing previous projects. This one combines two bits of software that I prepared earlier :) Twitter client meets Morse Code flasher The core idea is simple. The project listens to what's happening on Twitter, and displays selected tweets by flashing the contents in Morse Code. You could do this using the Pi on its own, or the Arduino on its own, but the project is easier and more reliable if you combine the strengths of both platforms. Why the Pi? It's possible to run a Twitter client on the Arduino but you're pushing the hardware to its limits. I've found some Arduino Internet libraries to be unstable, and your application is likely to be using most or all of the Arduino's limited program and data memory. The Pi's memory is roughly a million times larger than the Arduino's RAM, and Internet applications are ...

Shrimp and Pi I'm excited that I've been asked to run a workshop in April at #CG3 - the next Covent Garden Jam. Contents and date to be decided, but I've had at least one request for a Shrimp and Pi session, which would be a lot of fun. There are a couple of ways that you can connect the Shrimp to a Raspberry Pi. You can use the CP2102 USB-to-serial converter normally used to program the Shrimp, or connect the Pi's serial port on the expansion header to the header on the Shrimp. Either way you can then program the Shrimp via the Pi using the Arduino IDE, and use Serial communications to send data between the Pi and the Shrimp. I have a fun application in mind, and it should be easy to set up as it combines one of my first bits of software on the Pi with a sketch from my Life after Blink workshop (see below). I'll tell you more when I've got it running :) Shrimping It solo! A couple of people have lamented that they couldn't attend last Satu...

Last Saturday I went to the monthly Raspberry Jam at Southend-on-Sea to run another Shrimping It! workshop. I've run several of these before but this is the first one I've run at an event that focusses on the Raspberry Pi . Arduino and Pi There's a growing interest in using Arduinos (or clones) in tandem with the Raspberry Pi.  Cefn Hoile, father of the Shrimp Arduino clone, has even co-authored a book on the subject . Alex Eames, of RasPi.TV fame, has a project called RasPiO Duino on Kickstarter . Its Arduino-compatible board sits on the Raspberry Pi header, and you can program and control the AVR chip from the Raspberry Pi. The Kickstarter is still open. If you want a RasPiO Duino, back it today ! I've been keen on the approach for a while, and I use it in C3Pi. It's not surprising that many Raspberry Jams now encourage talks and workshops on the Arduino, and that's why I was at the Southend Jam. Making the Shrimp and other attractions I...

Make your own Arduino clone I've just come back from a Shrimping workshop at the /dev/winter conference in Cambridge. I've run quite a few of these workshops now, and they have all been fun. Participants build the Shrimp , a low-cost Arduino clone on a breadboard, and start learning to program it using the Arduino IDE. The Shrimp was developed by the Makers of Morecambe. The Morecambe Maker I've met is Cefn Hoile; he maintains the website and provides kits at an unbeatable price. ...and what to do next Several of the workshop participants asked for advice about what to do next. There's a huge amount of information about Arduino techniques, libraries, shields and projects, but that's a problem in itself. Where do you start? One option is to take the free Life After Blink e-course I put together for people who'd attended my Shrimping It! workshops. It's a series of online lessons, along with a google groups support group. At some stage I wil...

I took C3Pi to the Elephant and Castle Mini Maker Faire a few days ago, but had to leave early since he suddenly stopped working. At the time I blamed a loss of battery power, and thought that he'd wiped the file system on his SD card. Various holdups meant that I have only just been able to try to fix the problem which turns out to be rather simpler. C3Pi has two controllers on board: a Raspberry Pi model B+ does the thinking, and a Teensy 3.1 controls his motors. The Pi B+ uses a micro SD card but when I removed it the card was even more micro than usual: half the card had been broken off! I have no idea how this happened but poor old C3PI is off the hook. He's now back in action with a newly-flashed SD card and will soon be getting the first of a series of upgrades. I mentioned that I had only just been able to get around to investigating the problem. I spend several days after the Faire learning about wearable electronics. I'd been asked if I could help with a weara...

From Wembley to Southend Adafruit Gemma This evening I'm off to Createspace in Wembley to work on some wearable electronics. I'm helping with a wearable electronics workshop at this weekend's Southend Raspberry Jam , and I need to practice! I've been to several Raspberry Jams at Southend, and thoroughly enjoyed them. There's always a strong local presence as well as a group of regular visitors from further away. Great talks and workshops - whether you're an beginner at making things or an old hand, you'll find interesting and helpful people. Createspace Createspace is my nearest maker space. I've been to the London Hackspace, which is awesome, but it takes me a while to get there from home. Createspace has an impressive collection of facilities and is much easier for me to get to. They have open nights, and there's a regular meetup for electronic hackers. Gemma and Flora Tonight I'll be experimenting with Adafruit's Gemma and F...

C3Pi from above I went along this morning to the Elephant and Castle Mini Maker Faire to introduce C3Pi to some of my fellow makers. The event was extremely well organised and I had no problem finding my desk and setting up. Before long C3Pi was running through his paces - fairly limited at the moment, as he still has no sensors and is controlled by a very simple command line interface. That's about to change, thanks to Joe Walnes' brilliant websocketd - more details below. In spite of his limited repertoire C3Pi soon made new friends and performed admirably. It's always a little nerve-wracking when he runs on a desktop. He has been known to get over-excited and career off in unexpected directions, but this morning he behaved himself... Power problems ... until just before lunchtime, that is. I'm still not certain what happened, but I think C3Pi's batteries ran low. What I know is that the ssh session connecting my laptop to the Pi suddenly starte...