Your latest purchase

[TomGeorge]

I'm really missing the fun of keeping the turbo spun-up, and the kick-in-the-back of a stick shift.
Driving the automotive equivalent of a PS2 is dull. I call it "the milk float"

I even tested a VW plug-in hybrid with a dual-clutch, flappy paddle thing, but it just wasn't the same.
(that, and the fact that the 30km-range battery (whoop-de-do) took up all the space my scuba gear is supposed to live in, plus, I don't trust VW. And there was no spare wheel.)

Avoid dual clutch gearboxes like the plague.
Overly complicated device that tries to guess your next move.

[TomGeorge]

My home DMM, less than $30.00 AUD, died yesterday, so must look inside and see what I can hack/use.

I went to my local electronics supplier this morning and picked up this;

• Voltage ac: 400mV, 4V, 40V, 400V, 600V (±0.8%+6d)
• Voltage dc: 400mV, 4V, 40V, 400V, 600V (±0.5%+4d)
• Current: 400µA, 4000µA, 40mA, 400mA, 20A (dc ±1.0%+10d), (ac ±1.5%+10d)
• Ohms: 400, 4k, 40k, 400k, 4M, 40M Ω (±0.8%+1d)
• Temperature: -20°C to 1000°C (±1.0%+10d)
• Freq. range: 1Hz to 30MHz (±0.5%+4d)
• Continuity: Less than 50Ω (±10Ω)
• Capacitance: 4nF, 40nF, 400nF, 4µF, 40µF, 200µF 3(±3.5%+8d)
• Transistor test: Measures hFE
• Diode test: Included­
• Display: 3.75 digit LCD, 3999 count

$53.50 AUD.. So I have upsized.

CAT II meter with a set of nice CAT III leads and good backlight.

Tom...

[aarg]

This week, built a PC based on the AMD Ryzen 5 to replace my main system that had a motherboard failure. But the bigger change is a leap from W10 Pro to Linux Mint. I like it so much, I plan to give a donation. MS will never get another penny from me unless it's via a refurbished system or gift.

[TomGeorge]

Hi,
Getting a project sorted out for Halloween crazed 4yo grandson.
Got these Gravity UART MP3 voice modules.
https://core-electronics.com.au/gravity-uart-mp3-voice-module.html



Works well, but makes clicking noise when changing volume, will have to investigate.

Tom...

[wilykat]

A bunch of WS2812b LEDS on individual PCB.  Allows me to vary the spacing, unlike the ribbon version which has them on fixed length and is a bit tricky to solder cut segment

[bonny221]

The last thing I bought was a bicycle and it was one of my best purchases in my life. I don't understand why I haven't done this before. It's so cool, just get on your bike and go wherever you want. You can take friends with you and go to the forest, or to the park, or just ride around the city. It is also very convenient, because where I always went on foot, now I ride a bike, and it's very fast. Now I can get to the supermarket in 5 minutes, although I used to go 20 minutes. Very cool thing.

[larryd]

Accelerator for Krazy CA glue.

Amazon

[westfw]

I picked up a couple of "PIC32CM MC00 Curiosity Nano" boards ( https://www.microchipdirect.com/dev-tools/EV10N93A )


It looks as though PIC32Cxxx are going to be Microchip's re-branding of ARM microcontrollers, and this board is the first out of the gate.  It's a 5V, 48MHz, 128k/16k Cortex M0+ chip, more-or-less supposed to be like the "SAMC" chips, perhaps with somewhat different peripherals (and cheaper.)

I've been interested in 5V ARM chips for a while now, and this one seems "most likely" to become arduino-like.

[TomGeorge]

Hi,
My Digirule 2U turned up the other day, fitted battery all seems good, just got to find some time to plug it into the PC and have a play.




Only hassle is the silly little USB socket, no need for something as small as that, better with the good old type B, a grownup's USB connector.

Tom...

[wilykat]

I picked up a couple of "PIC32CM MC00 Curiosity Nano" boards ( https://www.microchipdirect.com/dev-tools/EV10N93A )


It looks as though PIC32Cxxx are going to be Microchip's re-branding of ARM microcontrollers, and this board is the first out of the gate.  It's a 5V, 48MHz, 128k/16k Cortex M0+ chip, more-or-less supposed to be like the "SAMC" chips, perhaps with somewhat different peripherals (and cheaper.)

I've been interested in 5V ARM chips for a while now, and this one seems "most likely" to become arduino-like.

I've been meaning to graduate beyond AVR, there's limit to what they can do mainly due to slower clock speed.  Can this one do color NTSC signal without needing external part like video generator IC?  16MHz Arduino generally are limited to black and white only

[westfw]

Can this one do color NTSC signal without needing external part like video generator IC?

I don't think so.  It's certainly not designed to do so.
NTSC is pretty much dead, anyway :-(

[wilykat]

Some of us still like to use CRT TV for older video games.  Some games don't look "right" on LCD because they were designed around the fuzzy CRT.  Also consoles with light guns do not work at all with LCD, and Sega 3D system do not work with LCD at all.

A simple color bar generator is around $50 or so, I was hoping to do a DIY version that just spits out the 8 color bars plus black and white square on bottom so I could test if the color is working and not very fuzzy.  Most CRT TVs made in US in latter 80s and all of 90s usually have composite input.  RF modulator can be cannibalized from old non-working game system, they usually take composite, audio, 5v, and gnd and spits it out at channel 3 or 4

[jimLee]

It's got five; problem is, I keep getting confused for an Uber.

(the other problem is, it's an automatic - I feel like I should have to surrender my testicles)

HAHAH! Try driving this!


Manual gear box with no syncros at all. Takes fancy footwork to not grind the gears to death.

-jim lee

[ballscrewbob]

HAHAH! Try driving this!


Manual gear box with no syncros at all. Takes fancy footwork to not grind the gears to death.

-jim lee

Good old fashioned double de-clutch footwork tap dance. 
For those too young to know what double de-clutch is look up some videos to the old time shuffle.

 

[TomGeorge]

My mum was in the Australian Army during WW2, driving trucks and buses around the country.
She learnt all her driving and car maintenance craft from the army.
Double de-clutch on a hill was one of the major tests at Bandiana Base in Victoria.

I learnt it, because if my mum could do it so could I...

When she came out of the army, her civilian license was endorsed with all her army license endorsements.

In the late 60's my mom used to drive the local  CFA fire truck (Austin Truck) into town for its regular service, a great drive as my brother and I would go along.

Tom...
PS, My latest purchase 512GB SSD to replace the crashed HD in my works laptop.