Your latest purchase

[TomGeorge]

Quartet Glass Dry Erase Board, Desktop Computer Pad.

Apple users bling!!.
Maximise space by not having it, then you have no space taken up!!!

[larryd]

Apple users bling!!.
Maximise space by not having it, then you have no space taken up!!!

I have a PC   

I just wanted a surface to quickly draw and write on, dry erasable.


Has a pull out side drawer for Arduino junk stuff

[TomGeorge]

I can see method in the madness, good to jot down urls and stuff.

I just wanted a surface to quickly draw and write on, dry erasable.

If I want to quickly write something down, then later erase it, I just commit it to "memory"

[larryd]

 

[Qdeathstar]

the dry erase board looks like the perfect place to store all yours passwords.

[larryd]

[larryd]

VL53L0X Time-of-Flight Distance Sensor



https://www.ebay.com/itm/1Pcs-VL53L0X-Time-of-Flight-Distance-Sensor-Breakout-GY-VL53L0XV2-Module-Arduino/174076920526?hash=item2887cb02ce:g:oxgAAOSwUMpds~Tw

[larryd]

Just received 25PCS Pro Mini atmega328 Board 5V 16M Arduino.
10 days.
~$1.65 each

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25PCS-Pro-Mini-atmega328-Board-5V-16M-Arduino-Compatible-Nano-NEW-M43/351492812532?hash=item51d69aaef4:g:Go4AAOSwjVVVyM5V

[Qdeathstar]

I got sine super cheap nanos that we're still attached together on a pcb one time... issue was about 50 percent of them were doa...

[TomGeorge]

Hi,
I suffer from Peripheral neuropathy, side effect of chemo, and using a keyboard of the elcheepo types that are around, even on expensive laptops are not the best for me to use.
The minor lack of feeling and the sometimes pins and needles means as I type sometimes I hit a key, but not hard  enough.
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/neuropathy

The solution is a PROPER keyboard, one that clicks and has PROPER mechanical switches.
They are are still made, the gamer enthusiasts are a market for these keyboards.

So being frustrated with everytime I type the word "output", I usually get  "outut", I bought a PROPER keyboard.

I got it from DickSmith Online as it is local to me and they delivered in two days.
I didn't pay $119.00, just $35.00, they were on discount.

Best computer buy I have ever made, should have done it earlier, much improved typing and output...

It came with a circus of LED effects, on startup it does a Nokia Snake chase around the keys.

For data entry at work I also have a USB numeric keypad, great as well cos I'm left handed and any extended keyboard has them on the right (wrong) side, this way I have it on the PROPER side the left.

Tom....  
PS, they aren't RGB LEDs, the colours you see in the picture are the only colour each of the keys glows, they just strobe and pattern shift.

[ballscrewbob]

I love my semi mechanical keyboard !
Its just a single colour backlit only a cheaper chinese one but has the feel so much closer to the older keyboards in usage.
I bought another identical suspecting that it may not last or the legends would wear out but here I am two years later and the other one is still in the box.

click, click, click

I did swap out the mouse that came with it as I almost needed two hands to operate it or felt like somebody was making me do finger stretching exercises

It also survives all the dust down here in my dungeon too.
Take it out to the garage and zap it with the compressor once in a while and not managed to send the key caps into orbit either. Normally 100 PSI would do that.
Don't ask how I know but it sounds like a machine gun and is now my prefered method of pulling off the caps on most other keyboards I am tearing down.

[ballscrewbob]

My latest actual purchase is one of these.



Not tested it yet and been waiting a long time for them to become available again from here.

Such a simple and elegant way of doing this.

[wilykat]

Prototype of my Arduino compatible UNO board with CH340G serial chip:




Using OSHPark service with After Dark option. Color is approximation since OSHPark can only display previews in purple form.  I'll probably end up being the only one with UNO compatible board using black board and clear mask.

Got to wait for all the parts to arrive before I can assemble it and see if it works or if I need to go back to the drawing board and fix something.  Might swap the old USB B port with micro since the A to micro B are more common these days than old B plug.  Not touching C yet, it's a bit tricky due to extra wires that needs to be correctly done to make it work as legacy USB 2.0   This page explains the pitfall of using C port with USB 2.0 support: https://hackaday.com/2019/07/16/exploring-the-raspberry-pi-4-usb-c-issue-in-depth/

Suggestion for names?  After Darkuino? Something that won't infringes copyright (ie can't mention Arduino at all) before I release the final gerber files.

[larryd]

WILYNO

Did you confirm the hole spacing between D7 and D8 ?

Is there a PWR LED ?

[westfw]

Might swap the old USB B port with micro

I have come to appreciate the physical robustness of full-sized USB-B connectors :-(
Although I'm pretty enthusiastic about the CH340E modules, as shown here.  micro-USB connector, USB-serial chip, power and traffic LEDs, all in a module about the size of a full-sized USB-B (and about the same price, too, if you buy the modules from China and the full-sized connectors from Digikey.  Sigh.)