Picoduino from themakerspace.com is great. Have used it in a bunch of projects. They also have a shield adaptor if you want to use standard shields.


G.

I have 2x Series 1 chip antenna models in a project of mine and am far than impressed with the range. The 2 devices are in adjacent rooms with an open door and plasterboard between the rooms - distance is no more than 10 metres, and the comms is certainly not 100%. Even standing in the way is enough to block the comms. So if you go with the chip antennas make sure you take that into account.

Just my experience... your mileage(!) may vary...


G.

I have an EyeTV Hybrid and have never had any luck getting TVOut to work with it, which is a shame as it would make recording demos etc much easier!


G.

Hi all,

I've completed my most-recent project which basically tells me when the International Space Station (ISS) is overhead my home, and whether or not it will be visible. It consists of 2 pieces - firstly a Python app that scrapes data from a website and transmits customised data via XBee modules to an Arduino-based (Ardweeny) remote unit with a LCD and RGB LED. I've designed this in such a way as it can be configured to track a number of different satellite (eg changing it to track the Hubble Space Telescope would take about 30 seconds changing a config file for the Python app).



I've written the project up in more detail here.

My young kids love the RGB LED - they go a little nuts with the pulsing green light - meaning the next pass will be visible to the eye, and flip-out with the pulsing purple meaning the ISS is overhead! We've made quite a few trips outside to watch the ISS pass through the night sky. It's such an amazing achievement for mankind to have this first real home-away-from-home, and seeing the wonder in my kids eyes as they stare up at it pass over our home is a lovely feeling.


Cheers,

Looks like a nice screen but if all you want are simple soft buttons it might be overkill. Doesn't seem like you'd need an arduino with that screen either as it provides a lot of onboard computing.

I started doing something low tech with printed paper buttons under a Nintendo DS touch panel. Only a few bucks for that plus the arduino. Might not fit your needs though if you want a dynamic display with animation etc...

The only silly question is the one you don't ask! :-)

G.

What's your project? What are your requirements for the display? There's quite a few avenues but knowing what you intend doing always helps...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_over_twisted_pair#Cabling

I think you'll find it will interfere - just because it's not a certain format doesn't mean the Xbee won't see it and try to interpret as something usable... so why not just use different pins for the Xbee comms and avoid any possible headaches...?


G.

Mark, all I meant to infer was that the "dot" is nothing magical or esoteric. No offence was intended - and I certainly wasn't implying anyone was dumb.

Any library you're using will have source files that exposes the functions you can access. Hopefully most libraries would include some samples or a readme to explain a bit more, but if nothing else you have the source code - and learning is fun! We've all been there! :-)


Cheers,

Nick was even more correct as he mentions the user of members variables as well!

It's the syntax used to call a function of an object. Standard stuff really.

Somewhere in your code you'll have something like:

Stepper stepper1;

So stepper1.setAcceleration calls the setAcceleration function of your stepper object, passing it the value in brackets (ie 100.0 in your case).


Cheers,

I've been playing with this and have made a few improvements to the Python side (bearing in mind this is my first foray into Python!). It's basically extra error handling and some basic logic so that commands are only sent once to the Arduino side - not everytime the Python code reads the same tweet over and over. No rocket surgery going on that's for sure!

Code:

import serial
import urllib
import time
from xml.dom import minidom
ser = serial.Serial('/dev/tty.usbserial-A700eUdm', 9600)
twitteruser = "iArduino"
urlparts = ['http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=from:', twitteruser, '&rpp=1']
url = ''.join(urlparts)
print(url)
# init alarm OFF
alarmON = 0
while(1):
# get the data from twitter
xmldoc = minidom.parse(urllib.urlopen( url ))
# pull the first tweet out - if there is one
data = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('content')
if len( data ) > 0:
#retrieve tweet and force uppercase
tweet = data[0].firstChild.data.upper()
#split into space delimited tokens
tokens = tweet.split(' ')
numTokens = len( tokens )
if numTokens > 1:
# split the tweet using space char as delimiter
message = tokens[ 0 ]
if message == "HELLO":
print("hello back!")
elif message == "ALARM":
command = tokens[ 1 ]
if command == "ON" and alarmON == 0:
print("ALARM ON")
alarmON = 1;
ser.write('1')
elif command == "OFF" and alarmON == 1:
print("ALARM OFF")
alarmON = 0
ser.write('0')
else:
print("alarm status quo")
else:
print("Unrecognised command!")
else:
print("Nothing to do")
else:
print("No tweets!")

time.sleep(5)

I'm using the iPhone Twitter app (free), so whilst the SMS control is cool and works just as well - the Twitter app is cheaper (SMS's are 22c a pop down here!).


Cheers,

Anyone attending Maker Faire in a couple of weeks? Looks like I'll be in the area for a couple of weeks so will be heading along to take a peek at what it's all about.


Cheers,
Gavin.

Addition has higher order of precedence, so the compiler shouldn't be getting that mixed up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operators_in_C_and_C%2B%2B#Operator_precedence) - however the brackets are a good idea for clarity anyway.

What type are your variables?

Did you honestly believe someone had figured out how to control an Arduino with *nothing* else but a cell phone...? Really...? 

Everyone who has an Arduino has a computer - so no *extra* hardware is required.

Great work bilbo - I got a variant of this working already - it's very cool. Keep us posted on any updates.


Cheers,