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maker

A new FreeCad book appears....

Earlier I posted about FreeCad and how Jo Hincliffe (@c0ncreted0g) had started a series of how-to guides on using the package. These guides have been thrown together and published by Hackspace Magazine! Grab yourself a copy for free here

piwars

PiWars and Small Robots at Calderdale College

Before the end of the summer term in 2020 an introductory microcontroller session was ran using tinkercad to simulate basic electronics with a micro:bit. As this sparked an interest in the students I decided to enter a college team into to 2021 PiWars competition. As we had two groups

bluetooth

micro:bit radio bluetooth bridge

We all know that the micro:bit is unable to use bluetooth or radio functionality at the same time. However...what would happen if we gave the sending micro:bit an extra external bluetooth interface?

maker

FreeCad....

Yes...I know it's been a while since the last post but I've recently started playing around with freecad Partly to start getting geared up for PiWars and partly to get the ender 2 gainfully employed and not sat there looking forlorn. It's certainly a bit of a giggle to

robots

A summer of Robot building at the library

With the school summer holidays on the horizon, the idea of a robot building workshop was pitched to Kirklees Libraries who showed interest. A few potential ideas/designs were discussed and the one that seemed to fit all the correct holes was the PounderBot. The Pounderbot was a design created

python

PyGame Invaders

It began in a galaxy far far away...actually it didn't really but started here on Earth.

micro:bit and the quest for speakers

Now we all know that the micro:bit can make noise either with makecode or Python but out of the box its quite a quiet little thing. Luckily you can use some crocodile clips to connect a pair of standard headphones or use the amp:bit but these keep the

microbit

micro:bit and sharing sensors with a Raspberry Pi

"Can a Raspberry Pi use the sensors on a micro:bit?" This was the question that was asked whilst sat in the pub the other evening. A few evenings later a micro:bit was connected via i2c to a Raspberry Pi and i2cdetect was ran on the Pi: pi@raspberrypi:

microbit

micro:bit and searching i2c

Whilst this is more of a bookmark for myself it may be handy for others who are playing with the i2c bus. If your unsure if the i2c device you have connected up is working then it's a good idea to scan the i2c bus and see whats available. The

microbit

micro:bit and the blue micropython

One of the more interestng parts of the micro:bit is the bluetooth module. With this its possible to, amongst over things, flash the device and also control external bluetooth devices. However due to various technical reasons this built-in Bluetooth functionality is not available when using micropython. However its possible

microbit

Robot driving in Leeds...

As normal these things start with receiving an email mentioning that there is this really cool event happening and would you like to take part. The event is question was the Make:Believe event held at Leeds City Museum as part of the Leeds International Festival. Joining forces with Phil

microbit

A few notes on I2C and the Picon Zero....

Picon Zero is an Intelligent robotics controller for the Raspberry Pi. A built-in processor handles all the direct communication between the parent controller and any attached devices and motors. Whilst primarily an add on for the Raspberry Pi, due to it using I2C for communications, it is possible to use

microbit

micro:bit and fusion (sort of) power...

An interesting new accessory appeared on my desk recently in the form of a solar power supply for the micro:bit. The power supply, designed by Seenov, consists of a rechargeable battery with a associated circuit board and solar cell and provides a regulated output of 3.3 volts. Their

raspberrypi

Sometimes you just dont have any internet...

A tweet on twitter led me to this discussion on Github. The short version of it is that how could you install the Mu editor onto a fleet of Raspeberry Pi in a school classroom environment where the network can not or will not allow them to connect to the

raspberrypi

micro:bit and a Pi with a touch of Python

By now you should be aware of the Mu micropython editor for the micro:bit. Its a self-contained version of the same editor that can be found on the microbit.org However, for use, it needs to be installed onto your system. But how do you use it when your

microbit

micro:bit and the Bit:2:Pi

During a previous experiment in getting the micro:bit to talk to 4tronix Piconzero it was suggested that the 'jumper wire lashed together' micro:bit dev board and Pimoroni Black Hat Hack3r could be replaced by a purpose built board which would allow the micro:bit to talk to Raspberry

microbit

micro:bit and the Picon Zero

"A wise maker always ensures any components are serviceable before use" - Rule of Making No. 624 Now with that in mind this article would have probably been wrote earlier had it not been for a dead motor. A new one took it's place connected to a Picon Zero. A

microbit

micro:bit and the PCF8591

Shopping around for some components I came upon this module. It is based upon the PCF8591 chip which contains 4 analogue inputs and one analogue output and has the following sensors on board to play with: * Light sensor * Thermistor * Potentiometer This module can be communicated with over i2c and is

microbit

micro:bit ftp?

After creating an awesome project that has stored data in a file on the micro:bit your probably wondering how to retrieve this data. You could sit down and devise some sort of interface to display the file contents line by line on the micro:bit display but you could

microbit

micro:bit at the library

"Yeah, and you could also buy some to loan out like books" That's the statement that grew into an idea which ended with forty micro:bit being added to the catalogue at Kirklees Libraries. It came about at a meeting about if any support could be given to the Family

microbit

Files on a micro:bit?

Some ideas require that small amounts of data be saved for future use. It would be ideal if this was possible on the micro:bit. MicroPython provides the tools to allow this. MicroPython is an implementation of Python 3 that has been developed to run on microcontrollers with a version

random

Resetting a Nook Simple Touch

As per normal, when a new device has been purchased it tends to cause an cascade of devices being handed down to other members of the family. In this case a purchase of a Kindle Paperwhite meant that the previous Kindle was given to the another family member and their

microbit

Micro:Bit Playground - Starter Kit

By now you should have heard about the micro:bit. It's a nice little board to play around with and is fulfilling the intended role as a simple device to introduce children to basic computer science. Out of the box the sensors on the board and a five by five