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Internet of Things (IoT) / Physical Computing

what does that have to do with physical computing?

also, hell no. matlab makes my eyeballs bleed and cry, at the same time.

i imagine the lower level language those things are coded with is even harder to grasp.
 
wearables ... lilypads ... AUUG motion synth ... lots of MIDI stuff coming along, as well as all of the VR/3D stuff ... Leap Motion ...
 
So. Many. Things.
 
Most of the most current devices have a *nix on the board now, so you can handle them the way you've been developing everything else (if you are an open source developer, I guess, that is) ...
 
I've been doing a lot of tinkering w/ the credit-card-sized computers and I absolutely love them ...
 
I program poorly in a bunch of languages =) ...
 
oh i see. i assumed physical referred to like... those hand crank calculators or what ever...
those old mechanical computer systems they used to aim ship artillery... that sort of thing.
 
Vertically Challenged said:
I'm looking at embedded computing to make a decent grow controller for lights, co2, temp and humidity with datalogging and timelapse (Via webcam) Ideally with a variac to control fans.
 
There's a lot going on in that space ...
 
I have some gear from Apitronics that I'd backed before I stopped growing my peppers ...
 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lthiery/apitronics-wireless-platform
 
I need to get that project going soon, actually ... as I want to grow a couple of types of peppers again, next season ...
 
 
Here's a camera I'm waiting on, that's going to be used similarly ...
 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2081058999/lamobo-d1-develop-your-own-mini-camera
 
 
And the Mobius action-cam's are interesting in the GoPro space (more inexpensive):
https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/
 
Good stuff.
 
Here's to hoping some other folks appear in here, and are tinkering ...
 
lucilanga said:
 
What is the purpose of varying the speed of fans ? I mean for pepper growing ...
 
I sell indoor grow systems with my own customer vertical planter for my specific setup fan speed control is good though certainly not essential. Whilst the tech is rather simple to make a saleable product is more complex especially with solenoids and relays needed for control.
 
grantmichaels said:
no punch-cards required, lol
what im thinking of is even cruder than that.
punch card machines had logic gates etc.
Vertically Challenged said:
I'm looking at embedded computing to make a decent grow controller for lights, co2, temp and humidity with datalogging and timelapse (Via webcam) Ideally with a variac to control fans.
check out PLC systems... its easier than coding with fancy numerical methods to store data and read signals from sensors etc. PLC systems just require sensors w/ embeded transducers. yea these sensors are expensive, but what ever, those crapy little pcb mounted sensors are garbage for the most part.

speed controlling a single phase motor is a bad idea... unless the fan motor has multiple taps. its generally not at all power efficient, and a variac wastes a tremendous amount of power.
the simple solution is to simply turn off multiple smaller fans/blowers with a multi stage thermostat system.
alternativly dc fans are available i suppose, tho not cheap. 3 phase fans and blowers can be speed controled with vfd's etc, but not all motors are designed to operate well when slowed down.
 
I do turn fans on/off using a thermostat but unfortunately the public wants what it wants and I've been asked to supply a fan controller.
 
Ultimately I have to supply what people want even if I would do things differently I will put my POV over but sales will dictate strategy.
 
Some people value fan volume over power efficiency I think this is why controllers are so popular I don't give a shit.
 
So I play with all of it.

The instant feedback loop helped me become a better programmer

My current project is a beaglebone with a touchscreen. It asks questions if you get the answer right it does a light show and some spiny stuff. Else it buzzes
 
frosty said:
So I play with all of it.

The instant feedback loop helped me become a better programmer

My current project is a beaglebone with a touchscreen. It asks questions if you get the answer right it does a light show and some spiny stuff. Else it buzzes
 
Couldn't agree more. Trying to do webdev as a hobby while working as much as I do (60-85 hrs/wk) doing cad/cam, just didn't work out well - the tech becomes obsolete too quickly.
 
I switched to hardware a year or so ago, and I've been having more fun ...
 
I just organized all of the gear I've acquired, and I'm looking forward to getting back into it after New Year's (when my work slows for a while) ...
 
I've done a little, but I've been sort of acquiring gear in the background during my busy season and am looking forward to getting a little bit more serious in a couple of months ...
 
There's a lot of interesting containerization tech that's kind of hot right now (ie Docker) that has the capacity to make the most tedious aspect of dealing w/ the devices a lot less painful ...
 
I mean, at the same time, I can't believe people are bugging their own houses these days (Amazon Echo, Nest, Smart TV's) ...
 
I guess it doesn't really matter when you are already walking around w/ a fabulously powerful sensor in your pocket whose gyro knows when it's your gate, or someone else's, LOL ...
 
My interest in programming is perhaps more aptly a fear of having to live far into the future not knowing how to.

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UDOO Quad =)

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Tessel

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cubie2

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RIoTBoard

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Raspberry Pi B+

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Banana Pi

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Edison

I just have to get through a couple more months, then it's on like D'Kong! ...
 
Nice toys you got there!
I must say you do have some badass boards.
How do you choose 'em ? :) Resources? Price?
 
To tell you the truth, I would feel bad to put such boards to read temperature, humidity, rain etc.
I already do something like that and only because I am too lazy to build a proper sensor and a receiver unit.
Instead I use a cubie to get the data from cheap chinese weather-station sensors using rtlsdr and further push the data via wifi.
And that's because I cannot get those cheap things to reach batman's bunker in the first place.
It doesn't make me feel I've put the cubie to a good job.
Mind you, that's an older cubie ;)
 
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LOL.

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Parallella ;)

i'm *just* getting into my dvb-t, which is going very slowly as i've no experience w/ ham or shortwave etc ...

shortwaveology.net is must-see if you haven't already ...

when i rage-quit webdev, i bought a bunch of h/w to target ...

i'm bouncing around between languages ... i'm genuinely equally bad in a number of them ...

i'm not a talented programmer, truth be told. i kind of hate it, but, find it somewhat unavoidable somehow ...

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Hummingboard i2eX

i think that's it for the cool stuff ...

i have a half-dozen arduinos and a bunch of beaglebone blacks (b's and c's) and a couple of Yun devices (yun, dragino, etc) ...

i was getting into cryptocurrency a little bit, but the required hardware for mining effectively became cost prohibitive a year or so ago ...

there's too many choices!!!
 
grantmichaels said:
i'm *just* getting into my dvb-t, which is going very slowly as i've no experience w/ ham or shortwave etc ...
 
If you ever plan on getting a ham licence, definitely go for it!
 
grantmichaels said:
i'm bouncing around between languages ... i'm genuinely equally bad in a number of them ...

i'm not a talented programmer, truth be told. i kind of hate it, but, find it somewhat unavoidable somehow ...
 
 
Somehow I find that hard to believe, I also think self-judging is a poor metric for programming skills.
Anyway, it's a huge jump from webdev to embed dev or even system programming.
You're probably already better than you think ;)
 
lucilanga said:
Somehow I find that hard to believe, I also think self-judging is a poor metric for programming skills.
Anyway, it's a huge jump from webdev to embed dev or even system programming.
You're probably already better than you think ;)
 
It's genuinely true. I mean, I understand the space VERY well ... but have almost no practical experience coding against a vertical ...
 
I know the basics of a large amount of the surface area of most all of computing, but really never have taken the time to deep-dive into anything in particular ...
 
I am equally mediocre using vim or emacs or an IDE ... I'm no better or worst whether it's mac, pc, or linux ...
 
I have done a little C, Erlang, JavaScript, Lua, Ruby, Python, Go, Rust, Clojure, Chicken Scheme, Common Lisp, and even less Factor, Forth, F#, C# ... but that's the thing, I can do basic -> medium complexity things w/ each, and am a master of none ...
 
If you look at how I approach doing CAD/CAM comparatively, I happily use CadKey/KeyCreator (lightweight solution versus say Autocad) and am never even looking for an alternative ... I can do pretty  much everything using the tool I've mastered. It's a better place to be, certainly.
 
Even in terms of grilling ... I'm happy w/ a Weber ... I can cook a lot of different types of stuff on a grill, compared to most everyday folks ... but again, I'm getting mileage out of the simplest thing ... don't get me wrong, I'll pick up a Big Green Egg one day, but not having one isn't keeping me from anything (save maybe tandoor chicken, but I digress) ...
 
Anyways ... in contrast, look at that collection of IoT devices ... totally the opposite ... total nerd boner bullshit, each bought as if it was going to be "the one" that excites me to launch or something ...
 
There's something about programming that makes it impossible for me to settle, and for that reason, I'll be forever mediocre until I manage to dive deep into something and finally become a craftsman ...
 
At least I know what it feels like to be a craftsman from doing my real work ... but it's not what I've done w/ my time spent around programming, I'm afraid! ...
 
Hopefully I grow into being a better coder, eventually ...
 
I'm not in a hurry, thankfully.
 
Cheers!
 
This is my basic IoT template. It needs some cleaning up but I think it is so much simpler than the other code I've seen.  It is written in python on the raspberry pi. I'll send the html code later. Anyway this serves a webpage (button.html) with a button. When you push the button pin 7 goes high.
I have a little more complicated code I use for a lock. You punch in the password on your phone and voila' you unlock the door. I have tried power transistors, SCR, Mosfets blah blah. The best, simplest way to control devices is a relay board. They're cheap and easy... like me.
 
import flask, flask.views
from flask import Flask
from flask import render_template
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
## remember you have to run with root privilages
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
GPIO.setup(7,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(7, 0)
app=Flask(__name__)
app.secret_key="bacon"
#the new template has a post function
@app.route('/' , methods =['GET', 'POST'])
#this is our function
def hello():
 #set the status  
    device='lamp'
    status='off'
    if flask.request.method=='GET':
        return render_template('button.html', device=device, status=status)
      
    elif flask.request.form['submit']=='on':
        device='lamp'
        status='off'
        GPIO.output(7, 1)
    elif flask.request.form['submit']=='off':
        status='on'
        GPIO.output(7, 0)
   
    return render_template('button.html', device=device, status=status)
if __name__=='__main__':
# I generally find the debugger annoying but occasionally I have to run with it
   # app.debug='True'
    app.run(host='0.0.0.0')

I'm teaching a class on the raspberry pi. If you are in wilmington de ping me. I'll try to check in a few days.
 
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