First Hack Session of 2010
hellocatfood
truly rested.
I'm in the process of organising the first fizzPOP hack session, which
is where I need your input. Which of the following dates should we
start back on:
* 20th January
* 3rd February
* 17th February
* Other (leave a reply with your preferred date)
Answers on this doodle poll please http://www.doodle.com/5p8gkihb44fgbpsq
Whatever the outcome I'll still need to get the green light from our
hosts. For the time being the sessions will still be held fortnightly
on a Wednesday at 6pm
Happy hacking!
genzaichi
sessions on any of those dates viable. I imagine we'll be needing to
pay for heating for another couple of months yet so we're back to
needing enough bodies to make the costs palatable when split between
the attendees...
Is it worth changing the wording slightly and approaching from the
angle of "if there are enough people, then the session will go ahead"?
So, the question we need to ask before that (we tried a couple of
different models last year):
how much do people think is a fair contribution for a hack session?
(usually 6pm - 10/11pm, free wifi, table space, pooled toolkits and
brains, basic kitchen facilities and now with added teabags)
We do have some revenue generated from the Howduino event we did in
November, however I feel there are better ways we can use that than
for subsidising the heating. What do you you guys think?
nikki
On Jan 4, 4:41 pm, hellocatfood <bv3...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Welcome to 2010! I hope everyone had a good break and is well and
> truly rested.
>
> I'm in the process of organising the first fizzPOP hack session, which
> is where I need your input. Which of the following dates should we
> start back on:
>
> * 20th January
> * 3rd February
> * 17th February
> * Other (leave a reply with your preferred date)
>
> Answers on this doodle poll pleasehttp://www.doodle.com/5p8gkihb44fgbpsq
hellocatfood
> angle of "if there are enough people, then the session will go ahead"?
Wording changed!
Just to recap, heating is £25 for the evening. Ideally we'd have 15
people paying £2 each but I think we could settle with 10 people to
ensure we don't dip too much into the money from the Howduino event.
Would people be happy to pay more, possibly up to £3 per person, if we
lowered the attendance threshold?
Antonio
Andrew Thomas
I'm currently ok for any of the three nights you mention and I'm happy to pay up to £5 for a monthly hack session if that helps.
Happy new year :-)
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: hellocatfood <bv3...@gmail.com>
Sent: 04 January 2010 18:22
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: First Hack Session of 2010
> Is it worth changing the wording slightly and approaching from the
> angle of "if there are enough people, then the session will go ahead"?
Wording changed!
Just to recap, heating is £25 for the evening. Ideally we'd have 15
people paying £2 each but I think we could settle with 10 people to
ensure we don't dip too much into the money from the Howduino event.
Would people be happy to pay more, possibly up to £3 per person, if we
lowered the attendance threshold?
Antonio
[The entire original message is not included]
Gareth Western
Gareth
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> .
>
>
G Bulmer
Feb.
Best Wishes for a Peaceful and Happy New Year
Garry
On Jan 4, 4:41 pm, hellocatfood <bv3...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Welcome to 2010! I hope everyone had a good break and is well and
> truly rested.
>
> I'm in the process of organising the first fizzPOP hack session, which
> is where I need your input. Which of the following dates should we
> start back on:
>
> * 20th January
> * 3rd February
> * 17th February
> * Other (leave a reply with your preferred date)
>
> Answers on this doodle poll pleasehttp://www.doodle.com/5p8gkihb44fgbpsq
genzaichi
poll Ant set up.
Was pleasantly surprised to see a whole bunch of other names already
there!
Check it out! http://www.doodle.com/5p8gkihb44fgbpsq
Healthy interest for all the dates, so I *propose* the following
Hack session, Wed 20th of Jan at The Edge, 6pm-10/11ish
£3 per person
How does that sound?
Do we need a sign-up list? Are they useful? Are they too much faff? Do
people know they're coming in advance?
If we can resolve to have healthy turn-outs then we don't really need
a sign up, but I think people flagging up somewhere that they're
probably coming and probably interested in working on x is good for
making sessions interesting.
Thoughts please!
nikki
Antonio Roberts
promising. I may be heading there today, so will give them a nudge.
Sign-up sheet on the wiki should be a regular thing, at least for
newbies to introduce themselves and for people to give a vague idea of
what they're working on.
Ant
2010/1/7 genzaichi <genz...@googlemail.com>:
hellocatfood
http://wiki.fizzpop.org.uk/20-01-10_Hack_Session and official
announcements will be coming later on in the day.
We spoke about doing workshops at fizzPOP (http://wiki.fizzpop.org.uk/
Workshop_Requests_and_Offers), so perhaps we can kick off the new year
with one?
Ant
On Jan 7, 11:06 am, genzaichi <genzai...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I took the liberty of adding people's on-list responses to the doodle
> poll Ant set up.
> Was pleasantly surprised to see a whole bunch of other names already
> there!
> Check it out!http://www.doodle.com/5p8gkihb44fgbpsq
Andrew Thomas
Sorry, I realised I won't be available for the 20th Jan. I'll still pay the
�3 next time, mainly as guilt money for misleading you :-(
Best wishes,
Andrew.
----- Original Message -----
From: "hellocatfood" <bv3...@gmail.com>
To: "Birmingham Hack Space" <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 2:13 PM
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: First Hack Session of 2010
Ant
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
genzaichi
particularly formal commitment...
I now have violin, a total of 3 accelerometers and a vibration sensor
- those of you who are coming on the 20th may with to consider ear
plugs ;-)
Anyone else got a particular project/experiment they'll be working on?
nikki
charlie pinder
interactive story where you can introduce characters from real life
...
c
Andrew Thomas
----- Original Message -----
From: "genzaichi" <genz...@googlemail.com>
To: "Birmingham Hack Space" <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 12:25 PM
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: First Hack Session of 2010
nikki
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antonio Roberts
ImageMagick is gonna be very very useful!
Ant
2010/1/8 genzaichi <genz...@googlemail.com>:
G Bulmer
Can you give me a link to your sensors? Are they analogue values, or
digital?
GB-)
genzaichi
Hi,
Yes, the vibration sensor is http://www.active-robots.com/products/sensors/sparkfun/09197.shtml
So first job is to think about the set up of the resistor and where to
measure voltage with the arduino.
The accelerometer I bought is a Mesmsic 2125 Dual-axis - various
tutorials around, so I'm assuming I can copy and paste to get numbers
out.
Next job there is to investigate hooking it up to a something visual
that can respond to the changing numbers.
The other accelerometers (thank you Andrew!) are a ADXL150AQC and a
ADXL150JQC
The violin is a quarter size Lark M5002-3 :)
n
Gareth Western
reader to work with my Arduino. I'm going to buy a soldering iron this
weekend so I'll bring that with me on Wednesday (if that's ok) and
hopefully be able to solder together the reader and get something
working.
The violin project sounds interesting. I look forwards to seeing that in action!
On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 12:25 PM, genzaichi <genz...@googlemail.com> wrote:
Tigershungry
by bringing along a pre prepared DIY kit, but then again you do always
need to learn the rules before you can break them.
On Jan 8, 12:25 pm, genzaichi <genzai...@googlemail.com> wrote:
Ben O'Steen
'Force Trainer' (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/7-13-years/bf1b)
to see about the best way to crack it open and pull data from it.
[I'm told by google that there is a couple of versions, but it
communicates with the base station in 3 byte frames, in theory two
bytes for the two brainwaves and a header/footer byte.]
I'll also be bringing along the components for my project to make an
emotion-reading keyboard (in other words, a keyboard that changes the
formatting of your typed text based on other factors, like keyboard
pressure.) I am looking for a more sensitive pressure sensor however,
any ideas? I DIY'd my own using some QTC compound and some 2p pieces,
but this responds best to larger pressures than I'd like.
Ben
G Bulmer
How thick can it be, i.e. thick can the thing that goes under the
keyboard be?
I haven't experimented with QTC (I have some 'pills' somewhere), but
I've been wondering about different levels of 'sensitivity' (I wanted
something relatively sensitive)
Rather than use two flat metal surfaces, have you tried making a
sandwich with different geometry's?
For example, I was intending to try a B&Q ball-catch:
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9370752&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=ball+catch&fh_eds=ß&fh_refview=search&ts=1264000280516&isSearch=true
This way you would cause more deformation over a smaller area with
less pressure.
I imagined that it would take a few experiments to get it on its sweet
spot.
Another thought is to use a pressure sensor. Freescale have a range of
devices.
Farnell have a reasonable search (a bit too expensive at Farnell
though):
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500006+1004252&Ns=PRICE_PLS_006_PRICE1%7c0&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=pressure&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&locale=en_UK&appliedparametrics=true&getResults=true&originalQueryURL=http%3A//uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp%3FN%3D500006%2B1004252%26Ntk%3Dgensearch_001%26Ntt%3Dpressure%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchallpartial%26No%3D0%26getResults%3Dtrue%26appliedparametrics%3Dtrue%26locale%3Den_UK%26catalogId%3D%26prevNValues%3D500006%2B1004252
If that works well, you could use a few rubber tubes under any
keyboard.
I've experimented with one of the more expensive pressure sensors
(about £12) with an Op Amp to boost the signal and it worked well, and
was quite sensitive.
A low-cost approach, which I think would take quite a lot of signal
processing, is to use capacitance.
Sandwich some rubber foam between two pieces of aluminium foil, and
see how big the capacitance change is when you press on it.
Use an Arduino pin as a digital output to put a charge on the two
'plates' and measure how long it takes to decay by flipping the pin to
be a digital input and timing its fall to a digital 'LOW'. You'd want
a separate 'standard' capacitor too so that you can measure the effect
of environmental changes (e.g. humidity), and filter them out.
There are a few light based techniques, but they may raise the
keyboard too much. For example If you wanted something fancy, shine a
small laser (under £2) at a diffraction grating (eBay are advertising
a gizmo with one for $4.99) and count the bands with a light sensor as
pressure is applied.
The movement may be enough to detect with a gyro, and an accelerometer
might be enough to detect the keys being 'struck' firmly.
I can think of a few other techniques, but I'd have to think about how
to extract the signal from the noise :-)
An alternative is to get a digital scales (e.g. in the Argos sale:-),
and see how they work.
HTH
GB-)
On Jan 18, 11:54 am, "Ben O'Steen" <bost...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
Gareth Western
contribute the £3 fee since i said i would be there. Hopefully see
y'all next time! -gaz
--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com
Ben O'Steen
> Ben
>
> How thick can it be, i.e. thick can the thing that goes under the
> keyboard be?
I was placing it under the front of the keyboard and using the upright
supports you get on the back of keyboards to raise the back of it - 1cm
thickness seemed fine.
This also worked the other way around, with the sensor at the back
resulting in a tilted keyboard.
>
> I haven't experimented with QTC (I have some 'pills' somewhere), but
> I've been wondering about different levels of 'sensitivity' (I wanted
> something relatively sensitive)
> Rather than use two flat metal surfaces, have you tried making a
> sandwich with different geometry's?
I tried a few different setups. The material itself seems to have a very
high pressure threshold and the conductivity responds (as far as I can
tell) in an almost exponential way once you pass its working(?)
pressure.
>
> For example, I was intending to try a B&Q ball-catch:
> http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9370752&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=ball+catch&fh_eds=ß&fh_refview=search&ts=1264000280516&isSearch=true
>
> This way you would cause more deformation over a smaller area with
> less pressure.
> I imagined that it would take a few experiments to get it on its sweet
> spot.
The ball-catch would likely increase the pressure in a given spot - I
can definitely see this lowering the amount of force you would need for
it to begin responding
>
> Another thought is to use a pressure sensor. Freescale have a range of
> devices.
> Farnell have a reasonable search (a bit too expensive at Farnell
> though):
> http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500006+1004252&Ns=PRICE_PLS_006_PRICE1%7c0&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=pressure&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&locale=en_UK&appliedparametrics=true&getResults=true&originalQueryURL=http%3A//uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp%3FN%3D500006%2B1004252%26Ntk%3Dgensearch_001%26Ntt%3Dpressure%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchallpartial%26No%3D0%26getResults%3Dtrue%26appliedparametrics%3Dtrue%26locale%3Den_UK%26catalogId%3D%26prevNValues%3D500006%2B1004252
>
> If that works well, you could use a few rubber tubes under any
> keyboard.
> I've experimented with one of the more expensive pressure sensors
> (about £12) with an Op Amp to boost the signal and it worked well, and
> was quite sensitive.
That could be pretty good :) I shall keep that in mind.
>
> A low-cost approach, which I think would take quite a lot of signal
> processing, is to use capacitance.
> Sandwich some rubber foam between two pieces of aluminium foil, and
> see how big the capacitance change is when you press on it.
> Use an Arduino pin as a digital output to put a charge on the two
> 'plates' and measure how long it takes to decay by flipping the pin to
> be a digital input and timing its fall to a digital 'LOW'. You'd want
> a separate 'standard' capacitor too so that you can measure the effect
> of environmental changes (e.g. humidity), and filter them out.
>
> There are a few light based techniques, but they may raise the
> keyboard too much. For example If you wanted something fancy, shine a
> small laser (under £2) at a diffraction grating (eBay are advertising
> a gizmo with one for $4.99) and count the bands with a light sensor as
> pressure is applied.
>
> The movement may be enough to detect with a gyro, and an accelerometer
> might be enough to detect the keys being 'struck' firmly.
I was thinking of attaching a microphone directly to the keyboard, to
see if the keys made measurably different sounds when you struck them
harder or softer. My instinct is that they do make differing sounds, but
I'm not sure the analog read on the arduino would be fast enough for me
to discriminate.
G Bulmer
Andrew Thomas has been doing some interesting experiments with an
accelerometer on his Arduino.
That might be an interesting thing to consider. It might be quite
direct!
Garry
On Jan 25, 10:21 am, Ben O'Steen <bost...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-01-20 at 07:56 -0800, G Bulmer wrote:
> > Ben
>
> > How thick can it be, i.e. thick can the thing that goes under the
> > keyboard be?
>
> I was placing it under the front of the keyboard and using the upright
> supports you get on the back of keyboards to raise the back of it - 1cm
> thickness seemed fine.
>
> This also worked the other way around, with the sensor at the back
> resulting in a tilted keyboard.
>
>
>
> > I haven't experimented with QTC (I have some 'pills' somewhere), but
> > I've been wondering about different levels of 'sensitivity' (I wanted
> > something relatively sensitive)
> > Rather than use two flat metal surfaces, have you tried making a
> > sandwich with different geometry's?
>
> I tried a few different setups. The material itself seems to have a very
> high pressure threshold and the conductivity responds (as far as I can
> tell) in an almost exponential way once you pass its working(?)
> pressure.
>
>
>
> > For example, I was intending to try a B&Q ball-catch:
>
> > This way you would cause more deformation over a smaller area with
> > less pressure.
> > I imagined that it would take a few experiments to get it on its sweet
> > spot.
>
> The ball-catch would likely increase the pressure in a given spot - I
> can definitely see this lowering the amount of force you would need for
> it to begin responding
>
>
>
> > Another thought is to use a pressure sensor. Freescale have a range of
> > devices.
> > Farnell have a reasonable search (a bit too expensive at Farnell
> > though):
> >http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=500006+1004252&Ns=PRICE...
Andrew Thomas
I'm hoping to put my accelerometer project on my website within a week or so. When I do I'll announce it at twitter.com/geocomputer (sorry, gratuitous hook for potential followers ;-)
By the way, reading your thread just now made me wonder if you've thought of using an led and light detecting diode/transistor (or ldf)? If they were both close together, and you had a piece of silvered sponge behind the key maybe, you could detect the light but then it would be cut out when the key is pressed down? Just a thought, and maybe cheap too.
Best wishes,
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: G Bulmer <gbu...@gmail.com>
Sent: 05 February 2010 02:41
To: Birmingham Hack Space <birmingham...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [birmingham-hack-space] Re: First Hack Session of 2010
Ben
Garry
--
Andrew Thomas
I'm getting on top of my web page writing backlog, so the arduino accelerometer project is now online:
http://www.geocomputing.co.uk/getpage.php?type=page&page=blueaccel3d
Only the vibration measurement part is properly covered, the vr will have to wait for another day. Soon I hope to do a page on high speed vertical accelerometer values: hopefully 200 points single axis over maybe 2-3ms.