postbag topics

[BennehBoy]

I used to quite enjoy reading the postbag topics on the old forum, does anyone else miss that?

It's a good way to see what people are up to, and to discover new possibilities/toys.

For example I got an RPI4 today. I've gone on to install Raspberry Pi OS on it, Arduino, koendv's package file for arduino_stm32 1.90, and also vscode. I'm amazed what a ~60GBP machine can do. Dev env in your pocket so to speak - I'm using it headlessly from my windows desktop using xrdp.

[ag123]

for my postbag, i've kind of 'swtched to' stm32f401cc in place of the old blue pil et.a.

i recently got a bunch of these
viewtopic.php?p=5668#p5668
^ they seemed mildly cheaper than the 'we act' style boards
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001049840288.html
but the 'new' board has different pin outs and uses a micro usb rather than usb-c connector. i'd still prefer the usb-c connector as it is more rugged
the only other thing about these slightly 'cheaper' boards are that they have mounting holes and as well the board is slightly wider
it is quite a thing as some of the 'popular' chips are literally *sold out* despite their rather premium prices e.g.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4382
there have been stories on the news about auto manufacturers can't get chips

and as the discussions in this thread goes
viewtopic.php?p=6403#p6403
i ordred 2 pieces of VL53L0X interestingly a laser lidar time-of-flight range finder from st
https://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photo ... 53l0x.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ca ... xt=VL53L0X
the little product ad from adafruit looks interesting
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3317
i'm not sure what i want to do with it but this gadget sounds like a too 'james bond' style gadget to miss to have around. it certainly beats a tape measure, but that it is less accurate

oh and recently spied some cheap and rather decent looking bldc motors couldn't resist the lure and got a few piece
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002175696952.html
i think it should be quite feasible to run them with stm32 and perhaps with l293d as drivers
https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/l293.pdf

off-topic: for my rpi4, its performance is so good i used it to crunch rosetta@home during the covid season
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 9&t=271933
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/foru ... =&start=60

[mrburnette]

I have always wanted a IR camera... I worked with one in research around 1976.

I finally gave myself one for my 70th birthday.
https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Sized-Rea ... B07GBVPNDR


I selected the lower resolution over the higher resolution because "higher" in this case came with a much wider lens.

Hot water kettle

CoffeePot.png (95.73 KiB) Viewed 6233 times

CAT- ruler of house (C.A.T. == Cantankerous Animal of Terror)

Bella.png (84.98 KiB) Viewed 6233 times

[BennehBoy]

I could do with one of those, I'm sure my loft insulation needs improving, snow always melts pretty quickly on my roof

[BennehBoy]

So my mania over board acquisition continues.

I got one of these in the post today: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/tiny-2040

[ag123]

with the emphasis on tiny arduinos, i'd guess one day we'd need to confront micro connector based arduinos where the pins are spaced 0.5mm apart. but it seem tiny is what everyone wants

[mrburnette]

...
but it seem tiny is what everyone wants

Small often means, as in this case, limited pinout availability (and significantly inflated pricing.)

PiMoroni-2040.JPG (77.34 KiB) Viewed 6134 times

Obviously, this breakout then becomes limited in project capability.

Remember when folks would just dead-bug wire ICs to get to small?

deadbug_85.JPG (31.97 KiB) Viewed 6134 times

Image from: https://www.instructables.com/Deadbug-an-SMD-ATTiny85/

[ag123]

this is one of those i've always been awed by it
http://elm-chan.org/docs/wire/wiring_e.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5MNLTc7YhY
but i'm unsure if i'd even be able to do that.

i'd guess i'd 1st learn how to solder a stm32 on a smd board. nevertheless the deadbug technique is useful, i'd probably try those on the ble castellated module i got but i do not know what to do with it

[BennehBoy]

Those photos remind me of the wire wrap prototyping I did back in the 90's whilst at Uni. Scary.

[ozcar]

for my postbag, i've kind of 'swtched to' stm32f401cc in place of the old blue pil et.a.

I have what is probably a lifetime supply of F103 blue and black pills. That is not saying much really, as so far in my lifetime I've only used about 1.5 of them. Truth be known, for the sort of things I do, lowly AVR based Nanos or Pro Micros are all I need.

Some time ago I got a couple of F303CC black pills, thinking that a bit more RAM, the FPU, DACs and OPAMPs must surely be useful for the small increase in cost. Then I spied F411CE some-shade-of-black pills and I just had to get a couple of those. They have provision for a SPI flash chip to be added - my SMD soldering skills are practically non-existent, but on a good day I could maybe manage to do that. So perhaps you could say I have switched to the F411, but I have yet to find a real use for them (or the F303s).