Forum for Raspberry Pi, Arduino, IoT (Internet of Things) and other micro-controllers - Test the Water Poll

[Crossy]

OK, this is a poll to gauge the interest amongst our members for a forum dedicated to Raspberry Pi, Arduino, IoT (Internet of Things) and other micro-controllers.

 

The idea being to share projects, problems, code, solutions etc. etc.

 

There are already many dedicated fora across the net, but my experience as a reasonably skilled noob hasn't always been positive, with several sites having the attitude "riddle me this, Batman", making a simple question into a complicated answer.

 

Any thoughts please feel free to post here too.

[stouricks]

You even beat the BBC, who use the word StadiumS regularly. Love it FORA. Cheers.

Sorry I am OK on Windows but Raspberry is something I used to put on my cornet!

[Crossy]

To whet the appetite and give an idea of the sort of thing that can be done, here are a few of my projects.

 

A clock like your darling wife "Always Right".

 

Keep your koi happy with a level controller:-

 

 

Monitor that lumpy-lectric being supplied by PEA/MEA

 

 

And the ongoing project, monitor and control for a solar power system:-

 

 

 

 

[gamb00ler]

I've been on hiatus from my software job for 25 years so now I'm just a hobbyist.  The closest I ever got to working with hardware was writing one DEC device driver and one program to produce IBM format tapes on a DEC machine.  The rest of my IT experience was at higher levels of abstraction.  It's definitely too late for me to add much in the way of hardware skills.

 

I am currently working on a home network infrastructure design for our planned new home in Hang Dong.  I've just acquired my 1st Raspberry Pi 4 that will become a network ad blocker, NAS, torrent server, PLEX server and perhaps some small tasks I haven't yet planned for.  The Pi-hole ad-blocker was a dead simple install taking only a few minutes.  It took more time to setup the SSD to function as primary storage.  I'm also looking into configuring my own custom router hardware and software.  I think Virtual LAN's also look interesting and useful.

 

A diverse IT background however dated allows me to quickly identify the useful information from the not so useful Google query results.  Figuring out how to get the appropriate hardware/software package(s) installed and functioning will be as low a level as I trust myself.

 

Count me in????.

Edited May 6, 2020 by gamb00ler

[Metropolitian]

3 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

Count me in????.

So you are ????
 

I am more a hardware person and software is something I have had to learn but then easily forgot or at least drove me crazy at some moments ????

 

There was a time I wrote PLC and even has some BAS files in a old archive but now.. my level of coding doesn't exceed much as

10 printl("hello tvf");delay(1000)

20 goto 10

????

 

[gamb00ler]

Here's an interesting product.  It wouldn't take much computer hardware to create a copycat device.

https://meural.netgear.com/canvas/

 

A lot of the world's best artwork is already freely downloadable in fairly high quality.

 

I am tentatively considering flush mounting a device like this into a wall in our future house.  Physical access would have to be from the adjoining room/closet.  Probably it would have to do double duty as a TV.

 

I would have to leave out the gesture control and smartphone control app.  I wish I knew what it takes to develop an Amazon Alexa app that would add voice control to the device.

 

What's the cheapest/lowest power method to get 4K or 1080P(at least) output from a tiny computer?

[johng]

12 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Here's an interesting product.  It wouldn't take much computer hardware to create a copycat device.

I saw something similar  at a shopping Mall art exhibition a few years ago  they where showing

Mandelbrot fractals.

[OneMoreFarang]

I play around with Arduino since a couple of years and now also with the ESP32 (and ESP-IDF code).

I use the following sites to learn and share information:

https://www.arduino.cc/

https://arduino.stackexchange.com/

https://stackoverflow.com/

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/

https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf

https://platformio.org/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7_D0o48KbfhpEohoP7YSQ

 

I don't think another forum on Thai Visa makes much sense for the following reasons:

- There is little Thailand specific about these devices and their programming. Maybe shops in Thailand but I guess that's about it.

- The range of products and knowledge is so wide that I would be surprised if more than 2 or 3 people here would work on the same kind of (Thailand related) project. And if they work on something none-Thai specific there will be a lot more info in the existing forums.

 

This is a picture of a prototype of CAN-Bus logger with ESP32, real time clock and SD-Card which I am working on. How many people in Thailand would be interested to work on something that? And with interested I mean contributing and sharing, not just using what someone else developed. I am pretty sure the number is near to 0

 

So summary for me: If a new forum like that would be on Thai Visa then I would have a look at it. And if interesting questions or projects come up I might contribute. But if it's just a mini "Thai" version of what exist already all over the internet then I don't think it makes much sense.

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

So summary for me: If a new forum like that would be on Thai Visa then I would have a look at it. And if interesting questions or projects come up I might contribute. But if it's just a mini "Thai" version of what exist already all over the internet then I don't think it makes much sense.

 

Yeah, point very well taken. This would be a single forum on Thaivisa, like the Apple or Linux fora.

 

I use the major resources you point at above, there are also a couple I've not come across before too, so thanks for those (and that sort of information is also what I would hope gets shared). 

 

Something I have noticed with many of the forums is that some members have a "find out for yourself" or "I'm so clever, I know and you don't, here's a subtle but essentially useless clue" type attitude. If I have a question I just want a straight answer. I know I can get on the net and find out how to talk to an NTP server and get it to send me the time but why re-invent the wheel when there's always someone more knowledgeable than I who's done it before. Download the code, find out how it works and adapt for my purposes. Is that just copying someone else's work, possibly, but it is how an awful lot of the world works, just look at the music industry.

 

Another thing that irks, apart from some of the really awful coding practices that even I notice (straight line code anyone?), is code / code fragments with "deliberate" errors i.e. They won't compile for some obscure reason (you know, when the IDE throws an error but the actual problem is 10 lines away and not related to the error shown). Deliberate? I don't know. Annoying? Definitely.

 

I'd also hope it would introduce these beasties to those who wouldn't normally go anywhere near a microcontroller, "far to complicated for me". A few hours (and not a massive amount of dollars) later and they have a turtle following a line (or hopelessly chasing its tail coz they have a - in the wrong place), kid's stuff indeed, but aren't we all kids really?

 

 

[Crossy]

I'd also like to add that I don't intend this to be just software. These projects have hardware and software closely intertwined.

 

"I found this smart little module/shield for XYZ that does this" type thing is most welcome.

OR

"The PQR module from Whoever.com is great, but if you do this to it, it's so much better".

 

It's all about keeping the mind moving and having fun. I have a work colleague who is very heavily into Lego, he is definitely not 7  ???? 

 Combine your Lego with some simple electronics and the world, whilst not exactly an oyster, is fun.

 

 

[Crossy]

You could always emulate this classic:-

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

Something I have noticed with many of the forums is that some members have a "find out for yourself" or "I'm so clever, I know and you don't, here's a subtle but essentially useless clue" type attitude. If I have a question I just want a straight answer. I know I can get on the net and find out how to talk to an NTP server and get it to send me the time but why re-invent the wheel when there's always someone more knowledgeable than I who's done it before. Download the code, find out how it works and adapt for my purposes. Is that just copying someone else's work, possibly, but it is how an awful lot of the world works, just look at the music industry.

Thanks for your long reply.

I also read enough from the type of people you describe. We have also some of them here in the IT forum. But I also read too many questions from people who just subscribed to the forum (any forum) and who expect that others provide them with a full solution. It doesn't work like that - at least in my and many other regular member experience.

I like especially the stackexchange.com forums. Anybody can ask a question but people should:

1) Search in the forum if the answer or something similar was asked already. Read it and learn from it.

2) What are your ideas? What do you want to do? Think about it yourself first. And do some research yourself.

3) If you did 1 and 2 then feel free to ask. And don't forget to mention what you did in step 2 already.

In my experience that works often well. And if there are "teacher like" members with a bad attitude just ignore them and learn from the rest.

 

Additionally to that I think it's a good idea to read books and (since a few years) look at good YouTube channels.

One of my favorite channels is Dave with his EEVblog https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog

Another interesting channel is DiodeGoneWild https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQak2_fXZ_9yXI5vB_Kd54g

I understand if someone who just wants to have a blinking light won't spend many many hours just to learn the basics. But for people who are interested in the hoppy I can highly recommend these channels. 

[bluejets]

Built these couple of OLed gauges, details in the writeup.

 

 

As mentioned in the lockdown projects.docx RPM_Guage_TachoAdded.ino

FinalTempGauge19_3_20.ino

Edited May 9, 2020 by bluejets

[recom273]

I think it’s a pretty good idea.

 

I use raspberry pi to control my home and play about with Arduino projects, but that’s mostly a result of my 3D printing activities.

 

Sometimes we have specific needs here, I will want a HomeKit automated gate opener in the future, which will need some tinkering to achieve.
 

With regard to home automation / IoT, it’s good to know what other people are using or work arounds.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, recom273 said:

I think it’s a pretty good idea.

 

I use raspberry pi to control my home and play about with Arduino projects, but that’s mostly a result of my 3D printing activities.

 

Sometimes we have specific needs here, I will want a HomeKit automated gate opener in the future, which will need some tinkering to achieve.
 

With regard to home automation / IoT, it’s good to know what other people are using or work arounds.

And why would you want to look here for another forum and not use the existing international forums?

Project - Automated gate opener

https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=501566.0

I respect if you want another forum but I am wondering why.

[recom273]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

And why would you want to look here for another forum and not use the existing international forums?

Project - Automated gate opener

https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=501566.0

I respect if you want another forum but I am wondering why.

Because, like I said, it may be interesting to see what other people have done on a local level rather than an international level. Maybe share some companies.

 

I'm not too fussed either way tbh, If someone needs some help about microprocessors or SBC they can post in the IT forum, the questions I would ask would probably fit in the DIY / Building forum.

 

Just trying to support, thats all - Thanks for the link, I would probably just flash a esp8266 with HAA or eep-home anyway, but all research is good research.

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, recom273 said:

Because, like I said, it may be interesting to see what other people have done on a local level rather than an international level. Maybe share some companies.

Do you buy anything like that local?

I once checked in one shop like that in Fortune. All a lot more expensive than online from China.

Currently my only local source for electronic in general is ES https://www.es.co.th/index.asp

And walking around in Ban Moo.

[recom273]

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Do you buy anything like that local?

I once checked in one shop like that in Fortune. All a lot more expensive than online from China.

Currently my only local source for electronic in general is ES https://www.es.co.th/index.asp

And walking around in Ban Moo.

I was like was more thinking about local uses, like watering systems or electronic gate openers.

 

With regard to arduino, I did buy some things from tido technology, who are on Lazada, they are reasonably priced and helpful.

[Crossy]

Just a bump to garner a last few votes.

[VocalNeal]

About the IT/computer thing. Yes the programming is done via a keyboard maybe but surely the biggest problems will be interfacing? 

Ie. If I wish to turn or my roof fan when the temp. inside the roof space exceeds a certain value.

or turn on a pump when my fish pond level drops or..

It is sort of still electrical or automation based not IT.

 

Most professional "IT" guys i know wouldn't know which end of a hammer to use. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by VocalNeal

[Crossy]

Yeah, I'm debating where to position it, if it happens. We can do "aliases" so one actual forum can appear in several places, look at "Trip Reports" under the motorcycling forum, it leads to the same name in Travel.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

About the IT/computer thing. Yes the programming is done via a keyboard maybe but surely the biggest problems will be interfacing? 

Ie. If I wish to turn or my roof fan when the temp. inside the roof space exceeds a certain value.

or turn on a pump when my fish pond level drops or..

It is sort of still electrical or automation based not IT.

 

Most professional "IT" guys i know wouldn't know which end of a hammer to use. 

I am a IT guy and I know how to use a hammer. I even know how to repair motorcycles, the mechanical and the electrical part. ???? 

 

And about the "keyboard": I played with a few Arduino and ESP32 with Bluetooth connection to my mobile phone.

You could easily monitor the temperature on your mobile and you could set a temperature at which a fan should start and another temperature when it should stop.

One of the things which I like about the ESP32 is the fact that WLAN and Bluetooth are build in.

[VocalNeal]

Yes but you'll need to leave the phone in the roof and have a relay to start the fan. ????

 

 

[RichCor]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I am a IT guy and I know how to use a hammer. I even know how to repair motorcycles, the mechanical and the electrical part. ???? 

But do you know how to repair a motorcycle using said hammer? I've been sorely tempted to try.  (Couldn't be worse than when the local mechanics return my bike with whatever issue I sent it in with sent back unfixed.)

[OneMoreFarang]

10 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Yes but you'll need to leave the phone in the roof and have a relay to start the fan. ????

I hope you are joking but just in case you are not:

The system under the roof should work independent of your phone.

When the device under your roof has Bluetooth then you can connect (automatically) to your phone when you are near there. And when you did the programming accordingly then you will see on your phone the temperature under the roof. And you will be able to switch the fan in the way you like it. All wireless and from some distance (maybe 10m, not sure) away.

[Crossy]

Well it looks like Admin have said "no", so this idea gets relegated to the scrap heap. Oh well.

 

Thanks to everyone who voted and contributed to this thread. I will of course continue to post in the Electrical forum.

 

[johng]

I was going to tell my sorry/amusing tale of  spending 2 days trying to get some RGB  LED strips  working using a NodeMcu as the controller..to cut the story short all I managed was to be able to dim and turn the LED's off but no  red green and blue  just white.. ????

now I know why the LED strips where in the "recycle bin" where I "retrieved" them from..fake RGB ????   mind you I should have known as there where only 2 wires soldered on ????

 

[bodga]

I'm  not so up  on technology is this the kind of thing you mean? should be at  least some of  your  era