MeanPC Weekly #5 - Camping, the Amp Hour, and Near Space flights

1. The first item this week is totally unrelated to technology, as a matter of fact it's anti-technology.  Sometimes it's nice to go somewhere that your cell phone doesn't work and get some peace and quiet - to disconnect for a little while.

We went camping.  We hooked up the popup camper and rolled out.  5 miles down the road, we blow a tire on the camper.  I pull the spare off the back, locate the jack and lug wrench and get to work changing the tire.  The lug wrench is the wrong size.  We hop in the car, and go to a Target which is right down the street.  Target doesn't have lug wrenches.  So we find an AutoZone and buy the 4-way lug wrench tool.  I change the tire, we go to a gas station to top off the air in the tire and we get back on the road.

Five miles from the campground, blam!  The spare blows.  I yell some obscenities, pull over to the grass, disconnect and start driving home.  It's Sunday afternoon, and every tire place we call is closed.  Even if we find a tire at this point, we'll be changing the tire and setting up in the dark.  We grab some dinner and go look in a Walmart just for the hell of it.  They actually have the tire we need, mounted on a rim and ready to go.  So we go home to sleep, our popup camper abandoned 2 hours away.

A terrible start to our weekend.  We've already lost half of our time fooling with the tires.  The next day went extremely smooth and we ended up having a good time though.  Enjoy this quick video of our trip:



2. I've found another interesting Podcast.  It's The Amp Hour, a weekly electronics show featuring Chris Gammell, a young American electrical engineer, and Dave Jones of The EEVBlog.  Dave and Chris complement eachother well, with a nice juxtapostion of Chris, the young, nerdy, straight-laced American against the wacky Australian Jones.  You won't find another podcast like this one, with their in-depth electronics discussions.  Check them out.

3. Had no idea relatively inexpensive weather balloons were being used by amateurs to get near-space video and photo footage.  For well under a $1000, you can send a balloon up with several cameras and get some extraordinary views.  The expense comes in tracking the balloon so you can recover your gear.  You'll need to send some type of GPS receiver up, and have that receiver transmit it's position so you can race to the landing spot when it touches down.  Watch this video, then be sure and research it some more on your own. These balloons have the capability to go up to 120,000 feet in the air.  One photo I saw at Instructables even shows a crystal clear picture of a satellite orbiting below the balloon!  Awesome!

I just love these projects where people are taking videos and photo from model rockets, balloons, kites, even quadcopters.

Custom search results - bad for you and bad for Google

Sometimes I like to stay within the realm of the known and familiar.  A lot of times I will order the same thing at a restaurant that I go to a lot.  I find being around people I know well preferable to being around strangers.  Familiarity is more comfortable.
I don't need familiarity in my Google searches.  I don't want Google to use my past activity to determine what search results to show me.
When I do a Google search, I want the Google algorithm paired with my ability to construct an intelligent search string to product e the most relevant, generic results possible.  I don't want results that are custom tailored to my past activity.
There is a button in the upper right that lets you select between generic and 'custom tailored' search results, when you are logged in.  I continually hit this button, but each time I reopen the browser, Google has defaulted to the custom search result view again.  The best sure-fire way to disable the feature is to log out of Google altogether.  Why is it that companies like Google and Facebook tend towards opt-out feature rollouts instead of opt-in?
In my particular case, when I search for something to do with robotics, Google will give special preference to my own blog posts and pictures.  Why in the world would I want my own blog post to show up as a search result when looking for new information?  I already know the information in my own blog - I wrote it myself!  What good is a vanity search result?  Answer: zero.  It's worthless!
This new feature doesn't affect Joe Blow who doesn't use any of Google's products except for search.  He isn't logged into Google anyway, so it's not on.
My internet experience is highly Google-centric so it's inconvenient for me to ever log out.  Between Gmail, docs, Blogger, Analytics and AdSense I need to be logged into Google anytime I'm online.
Will you please give me a way to permanently opt out of custom search results?  They go against everything I always thought Google search results were supposed to be.   The entire world bought into the almighty Google algorithm - let us keep it.  For unknown topics, the Google algorithm is smarter than I am, so don't let me dumb my own results down.

How to cut in corners logically and other painting advice

Purdy 2 inch, 100% nylon, angled brush.

I have some really good advice for cutting in the edge between the wall and the ceiling.  First of all - I tried blue tape and it bled through.  I did a little research and found that maybe Frog Tape would be better, with its 'paint block' technology.  One of the comments said to just buy a good Purdy brush and cut it in by hand.  That sounded like the best course of action to me.

So I go to Home Depot and buy my Purdy 100% Nylon, 2 inch angled brush - $15.00.

I get back and very meticulously start cutting in the wall, taking great care not to cross over to the ceiling.  The ceiling already had two coats of it's final color, so it was good to go.

After painting one wall, I walked to the center of the room and looked at my work.  It looked like utter shit.  I was so careful not to get paint on the ceiling that I didn't get the paint all the way into the corner.  So I started thinking...

What would be worse - to paint too much on the ceiling or not to paint enough on the wall?  After a quick 'hmmmm' I realized that I should always make sure that I completely cover the wall, all the way into the corner, even if I get a smidge on the ceiling every now and then.  Any given point on the wall that is painted in such fashion will look perfectly cut in from anywhere in the room, except for perhaps directly under the ceiling at that point.  And that's only if the observer happens to be looking straight up when under that spot.  And why the hell would they be doing that?

Moral of the story - when cutting in between the wall and the ceiling - make sure you get the wall paint ALL the way into the corner and you will be fine.  Take my advice with a grain of salt though - when I was in the service, once of my troops would jokingly call me Sgt. GoodNuff from time to time. :)

My second bit of advice - never use a cheap roller handle.  I had to replace a broken one the other day, and I grabbed the first cheap one off the rack thinking it wouldn't matter.  When I got back home and started painting I found out it did matter of course.  Not only was my hand hurting from holding that wretched smalls, uncomfortable plastic handle, but the roller itself would flex under any pressure.  This meant that unless I made a constant, conscious effort, the roller would not make flat contact with the wall.  Uneven pressure between the wall and the roller cover will give your paint a case of the runs.  Back to home depot and 5 dollars later I had a roller frame with a big wooden handle and much thicker steel.

Third bit of advice - go ahead and buy the Purdy brush.  It's expensive, but it's worth it.  It holds more paint, lays more paint down on the wall faster, and leaves a nice even finish.  It's also much more predictable when cutting in.  

Fourth bit of advice - always keep plenty of paint on your brush or roller.  If your brush or roller is dry, you are either taking the paint you just put on off, or messing up the finish of the paint you have already applied.  Especially when cutting in, you should keep a ton of paint on the brush so you can 'push' the bead of paint into place.

Fifth bit of advice - I expect I will get blasted for this, but I buy cheap roller covers.  I never wash them, they go straight to the garbage.  I'm sure the Purdy covers are wonderful, but the worst part of painting is cleaning up, right?  I haven't had bad results out of the 6 for $9 variety yet.  I'm not buying the cheapest, but I'm certainly not paying top dollar either.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional painter.  I'm not even good at painting.  These are just some observations I've made over the past couple of weeks of painting a 750 square foot apartment in my "free" time.

MeanPC Weekly #4 - Crikey!, free schwag from TI and All About Circuits

Free schwag from Texas Instruments! A TI shirt, coffee mug,
electronic pen and more from the 'Make the Switch to TI MCU's'
contest.  I love free stuff!

1. I've been watching a very interesting video blog lately, the eevBlog.  It's hosted by a zany Australian electrical engineer, David Jones.  He was a full time design engineer until his YouTube videos, website and forum got so busy he was able to make a full time living from them.  This guy is funny, smart and entertaining.  If that wasn't enough, he often uses words likes Crikey, beauty!, mains and Yanks.

2. My free schwag from TI came in!  It was a BIC pen box chock full of goodies.  Everything in the box was branded with 'Make the Switch to TI MCU's', so this stuff is very exclusive.  I don't think you can buy it anywhere.  Texas Instruments sent me a T-Shirt, coffee mug, 3-mode LED flashing pen, notepad, badge lanyard and a PC case sticker.  Beauty!

The fine folks at Texas Instruments sent me the box-o-schwag because I won the 'Make the Switch to TI MCU's' contest for the month of February 2012.  I wrote a post detailing my experience with the MSP-430 MCU, in which I linked to my blog post detailing my first MSP-430 project.

I haven't used the MSP-430 as much as I would like yet, because the learning curve is certainly sharper than the Arduino's.  There's no doubt the TI offering is a good choice in many scenarios because of the low cost, extremely low power consumption, and ease of programming.  You can buy an MSP-430 development kit here for only $4.30, and that's including shipping.

3. AllAboutCircuits.com is a fantastic electronics resource I just found.  It's a complete e-text on electronics.  It's a complete lecture video series on electronics.  It's also a huge forum with over 150,000 members.  Definitely worth checking out!

Have a great week! 

The Arduino and experiential learning

Lego Mindstorms Suduko solver.

Notice the title of this post is 'Learning with the Arduino' and not 'Learning the Arduino'.  Since I've had my Arduino, I've learned a hell of a lot about electronics.  I've learned much more than I ever learned through formal education.

The best learner will be someone that is self-motivated.  My introduction to the Arduino was happen-stance.  I happened to see a video of a project someone had built with a LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit on YouTube.  I began looking at more and more of these projects, and thought this could be something my kids would be interested in.  The truth was, I was the one interested in building these cool devices.  I was looking at creations people built that could analyze and solve Sudoko puzzles, solve a Rubik's cube in no time flat, or even balance itself in the form of a mini-Segway.

Who wouldn't want to build these cool devices?  Some of these devices are able to do things that humans can't do, and people are making them from inexpensive toy parts!  So I decided to buy a Lego Mindstorms set for my 9 year old daughter.

I started second-guessing myself.  What if she didn't like it?  I would hate to spend all that money on a Mindstorms set, just to have it sit there unused.  Maybe I should just buy her an electronic project kit like I had when I was a kid.  If she showed an interest in that, then I would put the money up for the Mindstorms kit.

So I started searching for a suitable electronics kit to buy.  I happened to come upon the Arduino, which I had never heard of in my life.  Then I started browsing the web and YouTube to see what kinds of things people were building with their Arduinos.  It turns out, people were building even more fantastic devices with the Arduino than they were with the Lego Mindstorms kit.  Not only that, but the Arduino Uno board only cost $30!  What a deal!

So I ordered a board and a book.  Then I realized I would have to buy parts so she could actually make something with this thing.  I bought everything she would need to build all of the projects in the book: Arduino: A Quick Start Guide.  I think I ended up spending around $150 on everything.

It was a mistake, I should have just bought the Mindstorms kit.  The Arduino, book, and serious looking real components didn't look like fun to her and didn't capture her imagination.  It didn't look like a toy at all, and certainly didn't look like it was either easy or fun.  Fail.  Bad father.

So I tinkered around with the kit.  At first I was just playing around with LED's.  Then servos.  Then sensors.  Before I knew it, I had built and coded a robot from scratch.  Sure, I got a lot of help from searching the web and asking a few questions - but I was able to build an autonomous robot by myself within just a few weeks.  I was proud of my creation, and could see endless possibilities for more creations ahead of me.  I was hooked.

So now I've learned quite a few more concepts.  I've learned how to drive motors using PWM (pulse width modulation), display messages on serial and parallel LCD displays, solder and desolder components onto boards effectively, and I've even learned quite a bit about the mechanical aspects of robot building.

It seems like each time I try to do something new with the Arduino, I end up learning way more than I bargained for.  For instance, I simply wanted to display text.  I saw that some LCD displays required 7-8 pins or more, while some LCD displays only required 2.  I ordered one of the serial displays that only required two pins.  I didn't realize it at the time, but before I could use that display, I would need at least a rudimentary understanding of the i2c protocol.  Until I got the serial LCD display, I didn't know i2c existed - now I find out you can attach a virtually unlimited number of i2c devices to your Arduino using only one pair of wires!

Each new thing I have tried to accomplish with the Arduino has turned out the same way.  I concoct something I want to accomplish.  I research and order the parts.  The parts come in and I research more to learn how to use the parts.  Many times I'm having to learn other sub-skills before I can accomplish what I originally set out to do.

The net result is that my experience with trying to build things with the Arduino has turned out to be the best learning experience of my life.  I have learned more about electronics, programming, and mechanical design in the past couple of months than I have learned in a lifetime of occasional tinkering.  It all started with the Arduino.

The Arduino is just the catalyst for my knowledge seeking.  The availability of cheap parts (amazon and ebay) certainly helps.  If I had to buy everything from my local radioshack, I probably would have never even gotten started due to the expense.  The competitive nature of the internet market has driven parts prices down to ridiculous levels so that I can buy whatever components I like.

The vast availability of knowledge has helped too.  At any given time I can ask a question on any number of forums and have multiple answers from experienced electronic hobbyists and even electrical engineers.  Add to this online texts, sites like Arduino, Instructables, LMR and eevBlog and the resources at my disposal are unlimited.  And virtually free.  All it requires is my passion and time.

The Arduino has made me passionate to teach myself electronics.  The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know, and the more I want to learn.  I am also learning all the time that the possibilities of things that we can create for ourself is limitless.

And I do mean limitless.  It is even possible for me to create a prototype of a project using the Arduino and a breadboard, create a PCB in a software package called Eagle, and send my design and a few dollars to China to have my product manufactured.  For just a few hundred dollars I could bring a new complex product to market.   People are doing it everyday.

I in no way mean to eschew formal education.  I hope that developments boards such as the Arduino will drive more students to be passionate about technology and want to build and create things instead of just become another user.  If young people are given tools like Mindstorms and Arduino early on, perhaps it will propel a whole generation of electrical and mechanical engineers.

Imagine a high school class in which kids built projects using the Arduino, computers and mechanical concepts such as woodworking and milling.  The ultimate shop class that would teach several disciplines at once, and it would actually be FUN!  High school kids would line up to take a class like that.  Some would go on to take up engineering in college.  Even those that didn't would learn that they can build things, fix things, and think for themselves.

The Arduino has been a catalyst for a wealth of experiential learning for me, and hopefully the start of a lifelong hobby.

Now I just gotta go buy my daughter that Lego Mindstorms set...

Sainsmart LCD keypad Arduino shield review

Sainsmart LCD Keypad Shield

Watch my video review of the Sainsmart LCD keypad shield on YouTube

I bought the Sainsmart LCD keypad shield on eBay, shipped directly from China.

The LCD keypad shield is super-easy to use.  I just connected it to my Uno and it's ready to go.  The shield uses the standard LiquidCrystal.h library.  There is some example code, a manual and some other info for the shield at the Sainsmart LCD keypad shield WIKI.

The LCD shield uses digital pins 4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10 for the display and uses Analog pin A0 for the keypad buttons.

I would only use this shield if I were running a program that was using nothing but this shield.  I don't see an easy way to gain access to pins 11,12, and 13.  You are able to solder headers on to access Analog pins A1-A5, and digital pins 1,2,and 3.

Amazon Kindle Fire - long term review after extensive use

I've had the Amazon Kindle Fire since Christmas day, so I've been using it for about 48 days now.  I've used it fairly extensively since then, probably around 2 hours per day on average, so I have a pretty good idea now of the strengths and weaknesses of the device.

I find that around 75% of the time I want to use a computer, I reach for the Kindle Fire instead of choosing to sit in front of a desktop or use my laptop computer.  A lot of this is due to the form factor of the tablet, rather than the specific implementation of the Fire.  Sitting back on the easy chair or the couch with the Fire is way more relaxing and comfortable than sitting hunched over the laptop.  The fact that I reach for the Fire when I could reach for the laptop is a pretty good endorsement for the Fire.

The screen still looks wonderful, of course.  I do find the Fire to be a bit heavy at times, so it takes some maneuvering to get comfortable with it when reading or watching a movie in bed.

The battery life is pretty good, which is should be since the battery comprises a large percentage of the Fire's width and weight.  I've yet to time it, but I imagine you can get around 6-8 hours of 'heavy' usage, watching movies or browsing websites.  You might be able to get even more if just reading books at a reasonable screen brightness level.

The downside to the big battery is that it takes a long time to charge it.  I'm getting charge times from a nearly dead state to full charge of 4-5 hours.  Fortunately, with the long run time, I only need to charge it every couple of days.  One other charging issue I have is that the micro-USB connector that the Fire charges through happens to be the same size as my cell phone charger.  We have 3 or 4 micro-USB wall chargers around our house.  Some of them will charge the Fire and some won't - I've managed to mix my Fire charger up with my cell phone chargers and I'm not sure which is which anymore.  Not a big deal, but it can be a PITA sometimes.

Still missing the physical volume controls.  As a matter of fact, a friend of mine was telling me a funny story about the Fire's volume control.  He thought the volume control was turned down and started watching some "adult entertainment".  The volume was actually at max, and when the screaming sound started coming out of the Fire, he freaked out.  He tried to cover up the speakers, then was feverishly trying to adjust the volume but he had already woke his wife up with the noise.  BUSTED!  He told me he even contemplated smashing the thing against the wall to turn it off.

That friend is also a good testimonial case for the fire.  He is a total techno-phobe - doesn't even have an email account or know how to use a computer at all.  His wife gave him the Fire for Christmas, and he loves the thing.  He carries it in with him everyday to work, and uses it on every single one of his breaks.  He uses it for movies, music and Words with Friends.  The custom Fire interface is so simple to use, he learned how to use it very quickly.  He loves the thing, and I was very surprised how someone so non-technical took to a device like the Fire so quickly and completely.

I had posted before about not being able to scroll on some sites, especially Google sites.  This phenomenon seems to occur less and less now.  I have found a work-around.  When the Kindle won't scroll on a web page, I use multi-touch to resize the screen slightly and then the scrolling will work.  Still some bugs to work out with the browser, but it seems to be working better and faster than when I first got the Fire.

The other thing I find that I really miss are Google apps.  I want apps for Gmail and Youtube on the Kindle Fire.  My Android phone versions of those two apps is so much better and easier to use than the mobile sites I have to access on the Kindle Fire.  I wish Google and Amazon could put aside their differences and give us some friggin' Google apps.

I had high expectations for the Kindle Fire, and overall the Kindle Fire has either met or exceeded those expectations.  I love my Fire, and everyone I know that has one loves theirs too.

MeanPC Weekly #3 - Robot eyes, i2c LCD's, glowing tubes and TI schwag

A glowing vacuum tube audio amplifier.

Yet another week where I have failed to make enough time for electronics.  I spent a total of about 2 hours fooling around with the Arduino this week.

#1 - Ordered 6 more HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensors.  One stationary one on the front of a robot is just not enough.  I've considered mounting one on a servo and having the HC-SR04 scan back and forth, and I will probably still do that just for fun....but when you can buy the things for $3.82 shipped, why not just put two or three of them on the bot instead?  These things are tons of fun, and they look like creepy eyes.

#2 - Finally got my serial LCD working.  I bought this LCD panel on eBay a while back, and just now tried to  use it.  The library files linked on the eBay ad didn't work - I guess they're not Arduino 1.0 compatible.  I then tried several other library files from around the net and none of them worked.  I finally went to the product page for the DFRobot i2c LCD1602 Module and there was a link to a library that worked perfectly.  The eBay LCD display is a knockoff of the DFRobot display apparently.  The eBay model says 'yWROBOT' on the PCB instead of DFROBOT.

In any event, the display works great, and the white on blue lettering is crisp and bright.  This LCD module only uses two pins - analog pins A4 & A5 on the Arduino Uno or pins 20 & 21 on the Arduino Mega.  Not only does the display only use 2 pins, but you can connect a virtually unlimited number of other devices on the i2c bus on the same data pins concurrently.  If you would like more information on the i2c bus, this would be a good place to start.  The link does give the disclaimer that it is not Arduino 1.0 compatible, but it is still a good read and knowledge jump start.

#3 - Was browsing and happened to see a vacuum-tube stereo amplifier.  These things are so friggin' cool.  Inefficient, dangerous and a little pricey, but I have got to build one some day.  For sheer charm, transistors and IC's got nothin' on vacuum tubes.

#4 - Got an email from Texas Instruments.  Turns out I won their 'Make the Switch' contest for the month of January.  They are sending me a limited edition 'Make the Switch' t-shirt and other fun prizes.  I simply wrote a post in their 'Make the switch to TI MCU's forum' and my post was randomly selected.  If TI's chips were as easy to program as the Arduino, they'd make some serious in-roads in the hobbyist market.  You gotta give it to their marketing department - they are trying like hell.  I'll show you guys what my TI prize pack looks like once I get it in the mail.