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[on:]

hi,
i'm just getting into the arduino, don't know much about it though i do have experience creating other forms of interactive art environments.

just getting starting choosing the board and various morsels from sparkfun.com and i'll be getting a c/c++ manual soon.

anybody else around vermont/new hamphire interested in the same?

i'm in mid vermont, near white river junction.
i'd also like to come down to boston to see what's happening there if there are groups i could visit sporadically.

thanks,  seano

[Reply #1 on:]

Hi Seano,
I run a hackerspace down in Boston and we have an Arduino Users group meeting once a month. The next one is scheduled for Feb. 19th at 7pm. We also have open hack sessions on the first Friday of every month if you want to hang out and build things with others.

We also have a large fabrication shop with metalworking and woodworking tools for when you are ready to make the things that your Arduino controls.

The Arduino users group and the open hack are free and you can drop in.

We're located at 197a Elm Street in Somerville, MA (just outside of Boston and on the red line).  Check us out at Willoughby and Baltic, www.willoughbybaltic.com.

-Meredith

[Reply #2 on:]

Im from New Hampshire and would be intersted in Arduino junk. Hackerspace sounds cool im going to look into it.

EDIT: Noise nights sound very cool, exactly what im working on  8-)

[Reply #3 on:]

yeah!
awesome.
it's a trek for me to get down to boston, but i may even try for this coming session, the 19th.
thanks for responding to my post.

[Reply #4 on:]

Hi Seano,

I'd be in for an meetup in NH or Vermont.  I develop exhibits for the Children's Museum of NH and have had some fun creating Arduino based projects.  Email me if you need advice in getting started.  Check out Tom Igoe's book on Physical Computing, O'Reilly's Making Things Talk, and Electronics for Inventors.  The best way to get started is to pick a project and just jump in.  

Good luck!
Eric

[Reply #5 on:]

thanks, great reference materials. i'll take a look.
what part of nh are you in?

finally got my board in the mail along with massimo's book.
haven't got anything going yet.... though i am definitely feeling the learning curve.

i'm going to try to make the next session at the hackerspace in boston.

[Reply #6 on:]

I live in Newmarket and Work in Dover.  I wouldn't mind meeting in Manchester, NH (~40min).  Also, I worked with NHTI last year and they are starting to use Arduino's too.

When you begin your next project, let me know and I can help get you started in the right direction.  Maybe I'll see you at the Boston Meetup if I can make it.

[Reply #7 on:]

great,
i'll let you know where i get.
you know, i've had big learning just around getting the ability to code on my mac (loading xcode and still not quite there).
do you use a pc or a mac?

any way i can see things that you've done?

seano

[Reply #8 on:]

Hi Seano,

I use a PC, so setup was a breeze.  Was it difficult to identify the port (since Mac ports go by names?).  In the past, I have created:
- A music wall of 40 touch sensors that all trigger different instruments and notes via a Yamaha Synthesizer.  Uses 8 channel multiplexers
- A working sonar that plots distance and angle on a PC using Director
- Green screen exhibit that plays different video backgrounds (Arduino communicating to a Video Player via Serial)
-Binoculars that have been hacked with little LCD monitors that display wildlife videos.
-Simple Servo projects.
-Currently working on a virtual submarine interface that uses joysticks, diver levers, etc... to control 3 HD screens via Flash.  Having issues with the extended desktop space and the limitations of Flash.
-Also helping a friend develop a EL wire sequencer to show whale migration paths (7 paths of 16 EL wire segments each).  

Any projects you are working on?  

I think the next step for me is to learn a bit about programming the AVR directly.  I wonder if the Boston Meetup will have some AVR gurus.

[Reply #9 on:]

i could send you some pix, don't know if i can post them here.
for the moment no arduino projects under my belt, just projects using other means.

working on an interactive display wall that mixes colors based on viewer presence.

also: a film called JUMP (unrelated to arduino).

appliances that weep, murmur and moan based on viewer presence.

other art stuff.

seano

[Reply #10 on:]

Erk1313 very cool that you worked with the students at NHTI last year. I'm a second year student there right now and I have Luke who worked with the Children's Museum in my Advanced Electronics class.

[Reply #11 on:]

Great to hear! The students were a blast to work with and took on quite a massive project for their first encounter with the Arduino.  (i.e. they programmed the Arduino to read multiple joysitcks (both analog and digital) that fed serial data back and forth to a PC running Flash.  A second group programmed Flash using Actionscript 3 to control 3 large HD screens to simulate an ocean background.  

Phew... and that's not all.  They also had to deal with large animated sea creatures that would float around the screen, and move the background as if a submarine was turning.  In essence, creating a 30000 px wide loop of background.  Due to the size constraints of Flash, this required 3 instances of Flash communicating separately to the serial data of the joysticks.

Needless to say, a year's course was not enough time to finish the project, but they made excellent progress.  I hope to continue the project this year and put up a small plaque for their efforts.

-Eric

[Reply #12 on:]

Great work Erk, sounds like it was good fun!

- James
Covert Hypnosis

[Reply #13 on:]

I am aware that most people have no idea what the reasoning behind this little jaunt is. Although I don't think anyone really needs this knowledge as i'm just getting to grips with it to take part I think it would be helpful to look at some of the things which have influenced this.

[Reply #14 on:]

Last poster is SPAM.