Hi All,
I'm fairly new to Arduino; learning a lot from browsing the site, but I keep finding references to terms that are totally new to me. Is there an Alphabetical Glossary or something? I tried to find out what Flash is. A search found examples of how to use it, but I still don't know what it is or what it's for.
I do not know if it exists.
I think this is a good idea.
I agree! A glossary is a very good idea -- there are at least two definitions of "Flash" that I'm aware of, and a glossary would help to reduce the confusion.
But where should it go? In the "Playground" somewhere?
What dou you think the glossary should look like? As far as organization and content distribution?
My idea is something like this:
| A |
|---|
| Axample |
| Arduino |
| B |
| Bxample |
| Boarduino |
The table has to be styled ofcourse.
I can write a php/mysql driven app (not necessarily alone) so that we can contribute to such a glossary together?
Any ideas?
Do you mean something like this?
I found this a little while ago.
Seems quite useful as a start.
Gordon
One approach would be to start off using the Arduino wiki, you could have a table per letter with a row for each entry. Multiple pages would probably be needed as the number of entries increases. Not as elegant or flexible as a php database but very little effort would be required get started.
I have put an example in the wiki sandbox, scroll to the bottom of this page: Arduino Playground - WikiSandbox
If you want to go forward with this idea, perhaps one of the wiki experts could improve the justification and formatting.
Thanks AlphaBeta & Gordon, That's the kind of thing I was looking for. The basic form of the Freeduino page looks good, needs a lot more entries & a link from a handy place, maybe the Arduino home page? Also needs a better title e.g "General Reference of Terms" or something that most people will recognise.
Thanks mem, that could be the start of something really useful.
Just a thought, as I'm still feeling my way on the Internet & don't know if Wiki can work this way: could we have a setup where a newby types a term they don't understand into the Terms column & anyone who has the answer can add a description etc?
BTW I've been to the Playground & still not sure what Flash is. Software? I originally hoped it might be about connecting Arduino to a flash drive or card or something.
Just a mockup i did real quick:
The wikisandbox could do the trick, as you say, with a lot less effort.
rodmac: Flash - Wikipedia
Adobe Flash (software) and Flash memory are those most likely to get mentioned here.
The two kinds of Flash I was thinking of were:
- Adobe Flash, a web/browser scripting language used to create fancy animations in web pages. Often used for advertising and hence blockable with a browser add-on called "flashblock".
- Flash memory, a technology for erasible, writeable, read-only memory (if that's not too confusing already). It's a development of EPROM technology, whee the UV erase light is replaced by a fully electronic method. It's used for data storage in the Atmel AVR chips used in the Arduino, as well as in CF, SD and similar types of memory cards and USB drives.
There are a number of ways to connect the Arduino to a memory card. The easiest is probably an SD or MMC card. try searching the forums for "SD" or "MMC". MMC cards are often used in mobile phones, and smaller ones can be found cheaply on eBay. They're also easy to interface to via the Arduino's SPI interface.
Thanks for the info, Anachrocomputer. Your 2nd example seems to be what was referred to in the article I had seen. I must find out what that person was doing!
Funny thing is, your 1st example also taught me something. I have known about those memories for about 20 years, but only knew them as EEPROMS (Electrically Eraseable...etc). Flash memory is a better name to say, even if not quite as accurate. I don't think I could have got that from the index on the Freeduino site.
So far, the wiki idea proposed by mem is looking good for an index/glossary. Since my last post I have found out that it does work the way I had in mind. Is anyone with the necessary expertise interested in running with this? I have no idea how much work it involves. My experience is mainly in hardware, not much in software. I'm willing to contribute if it gets set up.
I keep wondering.... surely I'm not the first person ever to ask about a glossary on this forum?
Rodmac: You are the first I've seen, and google did not know of anyone else, as far as I can tell.
I spend a few hours with php/mysql and this is the result:
http://home.nith.no/~breale/ArduinoGlossary/
If some of you bothered to try it, and give me feedback, that would be great! It's in 'alpha' stage.
...is this something to invest more time in, or shall i forget about it?
Alpha Beta:
I tried it and found it easy to add a reference, despite the fact I've never seen that software before, so this part looks good. I would like to see the procedure for editing entries.
I'm not very familiar with forums yet; how do we get people to look at this if they don't see this thread? :-/
I tried it and found it easy to add a reference, despite the fact I've never seen that software before, so this part looks good.
Thank you!
I would like to see the procedure for editing entries.
This is not implemented yet, but i imagined a very similar interface as the 'add' form.
I'm not very familiar with forums yet; how do we get people to look at this if they don't see this thread?
As long as we are the only ones that finds this interesting, I guess the answer is: 'we don't'. :-/
EDIT:
I implemented it now. (now all users are enabled the edit and erase, but it's readied for user recognition.) I will disable editing the 'Arduino' gloss. It is possible that a user is restricted to edit only the glosses that user has created.
http://home.nith.no/~breale/ArduinoGlossary/
Implemented 'users' / login as well.
USER PASSWORD
alpha test
beta test
Now you can try to log in with different users. (alpha is default)
Any ideas/suggestions?
Sorry for bumping, but I am 23 548 letters into this project, so I might as well continue/finish it.
Search function is implemented.
I've been thinking about organizing the alphabetical cathegories in different pages. Think someone mentioned it here.
I also wonder if freeduino.org has got their data in some kind of database or if it is 'hard coded' in HTML. Maybe I'll send them a mail.
Still open for ideas/suggestions/questions.
I tried adding to a couple of entries using the "edit" function. I could only add 8 to 10 characters after "Breadboard" which was not my entry originally. After" Hall effect" (my test entry) more characters registered but eventually there is a limit. Is this how the alpha should be?
Also when I tried to correct my bad typing it didn't seem to work right. When I hit the DELETE key to change a letter in a word, the cursor always moved to the end of the word.
I couldn't quite understand what your EDIT meant in your recent post which included the link to the glossary. Is there a typo?
BTW I would not understand a word of Norwegian! :-?
'edit' are not for entering, just editing glosses that are already entered.
Try logging on, then hit the 'Add a gloss' link.
There is some bugs when trying to exceed the limits.
Gloss 20 letters
Description 150 letters
Link 60 letters
I think all of them are too restricted.
...Norwegian? :-X
Try this link: http://home.nith.no/~breale/ArduinoGlossary/index.php?view=glossary&user=alpha&modify=textarea&action=add
Thank you for feedback!
We have a small misunderstanding here. I think when you read the first sentence in my reply #16 you missed the word "to". I meant I was trying to edit.
I agree about the limits. Can they be extended, or are we stuck with them?
BTW I noticed this thread has been read 344 times. 300+ people with no interest or no opinion worth posting on such a general subject? I wonder if there is sufficient interest. 
Maybe we are like Galileo and even the Pope will see the "truth" eventually. 
I did miss the 'to' :-[
We are not stuck with the restrictions.
I also question if there is too little interest. I'll be extending the restrictions later today.
Any idea what numbers could be useful?