Aduino Sunday MkII

[Dominic]

Folks

I think it's time we organised another Arduino event (Feb or March?)
This time we can do both beginners and progressors. I'd like to make
this a money making event that uses the whole hackspace. I thought
doing this on a Sunday before worked well though I'm happy to drop the
ice-cream related "Sundae" title.

My plan is to make Budget kits from Oomlout available (cost £40) with
the Arduino Uno. I may also make some Arduino Uno's available on their
own. Would ordering some shields be a good idea? We could use our Ada
Fruit discount for some additional bits (though this is a BIG payment
upfront with a VAT and handling charge on collection from Royal
Mail).

I wonder if we could even make it a quarterly thing? Please could you
let me know the follow:

Volunteer's for teaching/facilitating the event?
Suggested dates for this event?
Suggested content for the event?
Anything else?

Lots of discussion please thanks.

Dominic

[Russell]

Oh yes pleasee. I have my arduino now and I can make an LED flash on
and off
I'm eagre for more.

We are even thinking of calling our child Arduino or Hardwin if it's a
boy!

How about Ellie wire for a girl? or Ada Fruit ?

[Spandex]

On 03/02/2011 13:16, Russell wrote:

> We are even thinking of calling our child Arduino or Hardwin if it's a
> boy!
>
> How about Ellie wire for a girl? or Ada Fruit ?

We have a baby girl due in April and the missus has already vetoed the
name "Amazing Beeblebrox". I think she's making a big mistake.

Matt Spandex

[Iain Sharp]

I've taught a one-day Arduino workshop for beginners before.It uses a different (cheaper and simpler) set of parts to the Oomlout kit. No motors or servos though (but these could be added).

Details are in day 2 of this course:
http://www.lushprojects.com/electronicsforartists/index.html

If it's a weekend when I am around I am happy to do again.

Iain

[Dominic Morrow]

Iain

That would be great. We'd like to use the Oomlout kit as it's a good way for us to generate much needed revenue. We can also offer the cheaper DIYduino with a workshop fee too?

Regards 

Dominic

Sent from my iPhone

[Russell]

If I understand it correctly , after you have programmed and debugged
in your Arduino you can pull
the chip out and put it in a home made tiny board to imbed in whatever
you want.
That little board is the DIYarduino right?
I'd love to be able to make those

[John Crouchley]

I am willing to come along and do whatever is needed.
John.

[Michael Erskine]

This is an opportunity to build some ardiuino-based
detectors/indicators for the Hackspace (reporting back to the server).
Temperature, lights left on, PIR, doors ajar, fridge smells bad, that
sorta thing.

Regards,
Michael.

[Dominic Morrow]

MIchael - Perhaps but it's also a great way of making some revenue... "(pocket) Change we need"! Am I a huge capitalist or something?

John - Brilliant news! Do you have a date in mind?

Sent from my iPhone

[James Hayward]

How about Sunday 27th Feb, March 20th or March 27th?

I'll be able to be around to help out, and even attend!  I may have a few people who would want to attend as well - how do we feel about kids (accompanied, obviously)?

Do Oomlout let us do a sale-or-return with the kits?

J

[Dominic]

March 20th and March 27th both look feasible. Feb 27th is too soon for
the advertising etc.

We need to pick one of those too. My preference is March 20th as my
Mrs is doing a mock exam in Cambridge the day before and she's booked
the day after off as holiday. This gives me the opportunity to also
book the Monday off thus not getting ear ache about "always being away
at the weekend with my nerdy friends" (I don't know WHAT she
means...).

D

[Dominic]

I've done a doodle poll....

http://www.doodle.com/hfh9t8kyk2g93733

> > J- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Michael Erskine]

On 8 February 2011 14:25, Dominic <notti...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I've done a doodle poll....
>
> http://www.doodle.com/hfh9t8kyk2g93733

I've put down both dates as OK but I'm not 100% about the 20th
(nowhere to make a comment on the doodle poll!)

[Iain Sharp]

Might be OK on 27th but not sure. I've put it down as a "yes", but no promises!

Iain

[Dominic]

Ok ... Arduino Sunday Mk II will be on Sunday 27th March 2011

Put it in your diary. This event will be limited spaces. If you are
interested in teaching/facilitating the event let me know. If you are
interested in joining a workshop let me know. We will be charging for
this event, but there are likely to be a range of pricing options.
I'll be sending out some sort of registration with prices on later.

The basic cost to attend brining your own Arduino will be £20. Budget
kits (including the Uno) will be available on the day priced at £40.
Other items such as shields may also be available.

Watch this space and www.nottinghack.org.uk for information!

Dominic

> > (nowhere to make a comment on the doodle poll!)- Hide quoted text -

[John Crouchley]

I will help out in any way that is useful.

-----Original Message-----
From: notti...@googlegroups.com [mailto:notti...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Dominic
Sent: 11 February 2011 13:36
To: Nottingham Hackspace - Nottinghack

[Matt]

On 11/02/2011 13:35, Dominic wrote:

> Watch this space and www.nottinghack.org.uk for information!

Website is looking great btw. Nice work. Infinitely preferable to
Meetup.com IMHO.

Matt Spandex

[James Hayward]

Don

Do we have the kit to lend to someone? Say if they are not sure and don't want to spend £40 yet? We could even rent it, for say a fiver?

Also, if someone already has an arduino, what other kit will they need for the 101 workshop?

Just so I can get people interested!

J

sent from my HTC Desire

[Adam Hillson]

I have a couple of universal chip programmers (one budget range, one
£1k+) that could be available to use if people end up wanting to make
something dedicated like Michael is talking about, as you wouldnt want
to waste a whole Arduino.

"This is an opportunity to build some ardiuino-based
detectors/indicators for the Hackspace (reporting back to the
server).
Temperature, lights left on, PIR, doors ajar, fridge smells bad, that
sorta thing. "

[Michael Erskine]

On 14 February 2011 13:24, Adam Hillson <adam.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a couple of universal chip programmers (one budget range, one
> £1k+) that could be available to use if people end up wanting to make
> something dedicated like Michael is talking about, as you wouldnt want
> to waste a whole Arduino.

That sounds like one rung above my current position! I'm happy to
prototype if someone wants to take it to a cheaper platform. We could
always use a Breaduino (http://appliedplatonics.com/breaduino/) or
similar when it's working, to keep compatible and stay cheap.

In general, I tend to shy away from any high cost or hard-to-obtain
tools and kit because it makes it harder for anyone to follow in your
footsteps! That's what I keep going on about in the pub when I say
something needs to be "accessible"!

Michael.

[Dominic]

James

> Do we have the kit to lend to someone? Say if they are not sure and don't
> want to spend £40 yet? We could even rent it, for say a fiver?

Arduino's wont be made available for rental. There is nothing to stop
someone borrowing an Arduino but they'd need to pay the £20 workshop
fee.
It's worth noting that the last time we did an Arduino day we have 20
kits to sell and we sold 20 kits. This time I anticipate that we will
sell out, as well as provide more one-on-one and project support for
those who already have done some work with Arduino.

The budget kit is exceptionally good value. To buy it directly from
Oomlout.com costs £40.43 plus P+P. Here one only pays £40 and it
includes tuition and workshop. Bargain!

I think there is scope for a "getting to know Arduino" night perhaps,
for those who are not sure at all about Arduino. These workshops are
very popular so we'll probably not struggle to fill the spaces (as yet
undecided) with those who'd want the kit. Because the new kit has the
Uno I'd not be surprised if a number of progressors also purchased
this cut price kit too!

I can also reveal that this kit will have an Arduino holder that will
be especially branded (at no extra cost) with the Hackspaces logo!
W00T!


> Also, if someone already has an Arduino, what other kit will they need for
> the 101 workshop?
If someone wishes to bring their own Arduino they need not bring any
other items as we should be able to provide the necessary kit for them
to use on the day. They need only pay the £20 workshop charge.

Hope that helps.... who is Don?

Adam

Any kit you'd like to bring down and share only enhances the
experience as far as I'm concerned! Sounds awesome!

Dominic

On Feb 14, 9:05 am, James Hayward <jhayward1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Don
>
> Do we have the kit to lend to someone? Say if they are not sure and don't
> want to spend £40 yet? We could even rent it, for say a fiver?
>
> Also, if someone already has an arduino, what other kit will they need for
> the 101 workshop?
>
> Just so I can get people interested!
>
> J
>
> sent from my HTC Desire

> On 11 Feb 2011 13:35, "Dominic" <nottingh...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Ok ... Arduino Sunday Mk II will be on Sunday 27th March 2011
>
> > Put it in your diary. This event will be limited spaces. If you are
> > interested in teaching/facilitating the event let me know. If you are
> > interested in joining a workshop let me know. We will be charging for
> > this event, but there are likely to be a range of pricing options.
> > I'll be sending out some sort of registration with prices on later.
>
> > The basic cost to attend brining your own Arduino will be £20. Budget
> > kits (including the Uno) will be available on the day priced at £40.
> > Other items such as shields may also be available.
>

> > Watch this space andwww.nottinghack.org.ukfor information!

>
> > Dominic
>
> > On Feb 8, 7:14 pm, Iain Sharp <sharp...@pinedragon.com> wrote:
> >> Might be OK on 27th but not sure. I've put it down as a "yes", but no
> >> promises!
>
> >> Iain
>
> >> On 8 February 2011 15:06, Michael Erskine <mse...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> >> > On 8 February 2011 14:25, Dominic <nottingh...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >> > > I've done a doodle poll....
>
> >> > >http://www.doodle.com/hfh9t8kyk2g93733
>
> >> > I've put down both dates as OK but I'm not 100% about the 20th
> >> > (nowhere to make a comment on the doodle poll!)- Hide quoted text -
>

> >> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[James Hayward]

> Hope that helps.... who is Don?

God only knows :) But that helps loads, thanks!

J

[Adam Hillson]

On Feb 14, 2:04 pm, Michael Erskine <mse...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> That sounds like one rung above my current position! I'm happy to
> prototype if someone wants to take it to a cheaper platform. We could
> always use a Breaduino (http://appliedplatonics.com/breaduino/) or
> similar when it's working, to keep compatible and stay cheap.
>
> In general, I tend to shy away from any high cost or hard-to-obtain
> tools and kit because it makes it harder for anyone to follow in your
> footsteps! That's what I keep going on about in the pub when I say
> something needs to be "accessible"!
>
> Michael.

That is pretty much exactly what you would want to do.

Basically, make it work with an Arduino then you can just copy the
chip into another atmel and throw it on a breadboard/etched board with
the supporting components + what ever extras you connected to the
Arduino IO pins.

My programmer is very much overkill for doing this - I have it for
other reasons and its more than paid for itself by now :) My "budget"
programmer is also still overkill and was only £60.... So its still
accessible.

However, I'm not a huge Arduino fan - But my tools are available when
you need to program a dedicated chip rather than waste a Arduino doing
something trivial. When you have a working prototype created I would
be happy to move it to a cheaper platform... Soldering/programming is
more my speciality and have no problems with SMD so we would go with a
very compact surface mount design. Infact, matt could etch the boards
and I could solder them up? I was down for the PCB workshop, however
my interests were more in the software design side (as I would never
etch my own board - id just send off and get one made).

This way, Matt could show me the design part and I could show him the
technique for surface mount - sounds win-win-win to me (Hackspace, Me,
Matt) :)

[Adam Hillson]

Ok, just looked into parts...

For the basic Breaduino (obviously without what ever sensors/support
components) would cost around £40 for 10 + Blank PCB's & Etching
costs. They are obviously not so good for prototyping, but for a
permanent solution its much better than leaving an arduino or 2 wired
up.

[Martin Raynsford]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arduino-MEGA-board-fully-assembled-/280479423464?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414de05be8

 

I got my arduino mega for £24, to convert it to a permanent solution I would just take off the connectors and solder wires into the holes.

I agree with the whole arduino is overkill aspect, but I can't argue that it is cheap and the bootloader makes it very accessible. Factor in time and effort required to design and build my own boards and it's well worth the £24. I've designed boards as my job, when I come home I just want something that works.

My next project will probably boil down to some blinky lights with fading PWM and I'll be doing that on the arduino too.

[Adam Hillson]

£24 vs £4

You could put it on breadboard in about 15 minutes. Etching part I was
talking about was just for me and Matt to get some experience from
each other.

Also, Id imagine the hackspace has more time/people available to
design/make stuff than cash.

[Adam Hillson]

Oh also, the point is I can program the bootloader onto the chips for
use in our own design - so its just as accessible.

[Adam Hillson]

Also I ment veroboard, not breadboard.

[Martin Raynsford]

£40 for 10, ah reread,

I expect I would have gained more knowledge by building and flashing mine from scratch, but it was paid for by an art student who wanted some help with her project so that was nice

[Matt Lloyd]

Adam, the offer of access to your programmers is great.
Although ArduinoISP firmware means that its quite easy to use an
arduino to bootstrap more
blank atmega328 chip's or even programm other chips in the Atmel
range, i myself have use
it to program the smaller ATtiny2313 with John Crouchley's I2C-LCD firmware.

Micheal's Hackspace Instrumentation
(http://wiki.nottinghack.co.uk/wiki/HackSpace_Instrumentation) project
is likely to bean on going development at the hackspace so it will be
easier to make each new addition as a stacked
shield, or a soldered addition to a protosheild, so giving up an
arduino for this would beat having to
re-design, etch and solder a custom pcb ever time we want to add a
cool new feature!

Anyway back to the topic:- Aduino Sunday MkII
Ill be there and hopefully this time with a printing RepRap.
I will be happy to help anyone with there existing project's or even
starting new ones.

Micheal's if you want to start putting together some ideas on were to
start with the Hacpspace instrumentaion we
could rig up the first prototypes throughout the day!

'RepRap' Matt

[Dominic Morrow]

It's a great offer from Adam to broaden the range of skills folk can pickup at the workshop. It's starting to look like it's going to be quite a romp.

I like the idea if doing the Hackspace telemetry with Arduino because it gives a point-to example of what Arduino is/does and may afford a future opportunity to get new people into it (and thus into a workshop... and then into MY ARMY OF MINIONS MuHaha ha MuHaha ha hemmmm...ooops sorry).

Dominic

Sent from my iPhone

[David Hayward]

Taking an arduino prototype to a cheap board is exactly what I'd like to learn. I put an arduino mini in the milk bottle lights and it felt like such a waste for what it was doing.

David

[Adam Hillson]

On Feb 15, 9:14 am, Matt Lloyd <dps....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Adam, the offer of access to your programmers is great.
> Although ArduinoISP firmware means that its quite easy to use an
> arduino to bootstrap more
> blank atmega328 chip's or even programm other chips in the Atmel
> range, i myself have use
> it to program the smaller ATtiny2313 with John Crouchley's I2C-LCD firmware.

I did say the Arduino isn't really my thing :-). I did pick one up
some years ago, but never really did a great deal with it... displayed
some text on a HD44780 LCD then left it alone.

> Micheal's Hackspace Instrumentation
> (http://wiki.nottinghack.co.uk/wiki/HackSpace_Instrumentation) project
> is likely to bean on going development at the hackspace so it will be
> easier to make each new addition as a stacked
> shield, or a soldered addition to a protosheild, so giving up an
> arduino for this would beat having to
> re-design, etch and solder a custom pcb ever time we want to add a
> cool new feature!

Makes sense, however I did say when its finished :-)

To be honest, It's just an excuse to go through the design stage of a
PCB with the software, and I can go through SMT soldering with you.
Skills trade, just what a hackspace is all about :-)

I could bring my soldering iron, hot air rework station and programmer
so you can try before you buy, as we did talk about equipment at the
PCB workshop.

Also, Dominic I'm happy to bring bits and pieces I have - however by
the sound of things, there isnt going to be much use? (i.e. no blank
atmels and no DIY boards). Although I can bring stuff down just for
people to look at or play with if you want?

[Adam Hillson]

On Feb 15, 10:24 am, David Hayward <nachi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Taking an arduino prototype to a cheap board is exactly what I'd like to
> learn. I put an arduino mini in the milk bottle lights and it felt like such
> a waste for what it was doing.
>
> David

You replied while I was writing out my lengthy reply.

If you have a project in mind, we could do that if you want? Im happy
to bring my tools and work on it with you. I'm not extremely
interested doing the whole Arduino workshop and would be happy to
split off and do this.

[Adam Hillson]

Oh also,

My original idea was based on the fact (or so I thought) that you are
going to need more than 1 Arduino due to distances between sensors/
computers/etc? with the reduced price on making a DIY one with minimal
components is that you could have them all over the place where they
need to be.... will just be a case of collecting all the data?

[Michael Erskine]

Yup, that's probably the case - I'll get a few component-only
boarduinos for the deployment.

[Adam Hillson]

I'd just buy the atmega chips, rest is just resistors and caps.
Arduino bootloadet is readily available. Would avoid the markup of
getting a "proper" kit.

On Feb 15, 8:10 pm, Michael Erskine <mse...@googlemail.com> wrote:

[Dominic Morrow]

What's a "proper" kit?

Sent from my iPhone

[Tony]

Arduino's sold as arduino's. Adam is suggesting just buying the atmel
chips and programming the bootloader to save on the arduino brand
markup.

On Feb 16, 6:10 pm, Dominic Morrow <nottingh...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> What's a "proper" kit?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>

[Adam Hillson]

"Proper" Boarduino around £10
ATmega328 = £4
+ few caps/resistors/other extremely cheap stuff

If you buy 10 ATmega328's they drop to £3 each and this is from RS -
could probably pick them up from my chinese supplier with my monthly
order for much less.

Once the bootloader is programmed on the chip, you can pop the chip
into your arduino to program/test and then remove it and put it on
some veroboard or spider wire it for your actual use.

[Dominic]

I've changed the name of this thread so as not to side track new
visitors to the google group who might want to know more about the
Arduino Sunday event.

Dominic

[Adam Hillson]

Sorry!

[Dominic Morrow]

Adam

No need to be sorry lots of emails and discussion is really really great. What I wanted was for all the awesome discussion to continue but on a different subject line! Look forward to seeing you down at the Hackspace soon.

Dominic

On 17 February 2011 08:19, Adam Hillson <adam.h...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry!

--
Dominic 

Nottingham Hackspace Organiser 

For more information about the Hackspace please visit us at

www.nottinghack.org.uk