Maker Faire Denver this weekend (Oct. 13-14)

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Maker Faire Denver is this weekend, October 13th and 14th:

Maker Faire Denver is entering its second year as the only Feature Maker Faire in the Rocky Mountains and surrounding states! It features awe-inspiring maker creations, hands-on activities for makers of all ages, presentations and competitions. We are also dedicating ourselves to growing our engagement with social impact makers.

 

Look for our Drew Fustini (@pdp7) in purple!

Maker Faire Denver this weekend (Oct. 13-14)

Open Hardware Summit highlights by Leslie Birch

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Great post by Leslie Birch about the Open Hardware Summit last week:
Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) recently held its Open Hardware Summit in Boston. For me this is one of the few times during the year that I get to hear about open source hardware projects directly from creators and users.
It’salso a fine time to play with some tech on location and network with people that have the DIY bug. Public Lab was in the mix with Jeff Warren talking up his reverse engineered toaster design for OSHWA’s new certification process and Bronwen Densmore wielding the new community microscope kit.
Open Hardware Summit highlights by Leslie Birch

Open Hardware Summit: video recording of talks

UPDATE: the talks are now available as individual videos on YouTube

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The annual Open Hardware Summit took place on September 27th at MIT, and all the exciting and insightful presentation were live streamed to YouTube!

The live stream is broken into morning session and afternoon session.

Morning schedule:

9:00 AM Door Open!
10:00 Opening Remarks:  Michael Weinberg, OSHWA President
10:15 Eric Von Hippel: Economics of Open Hardware
10:45 AM Surya Mattu: Approaching adversarial research
11:00 Oluwatobi Oyinlola: Hyperloop: The rLoop Journey
11:20 Sara Chipps: C++ API for Kids
11:35 Robin Getz: Open Source Software Defined Radio
11:55 Evan Raskob: Livecoding 3D printing: experiments in live computational sculpting
12:10 Adam Benzion: How to build a huge open source community (without being a total sellout).

Mario Gómez : Building Resilience With Public Institutions and Open Hardware

 

Afternoon schedule:

1:45 PM Neil Gershenfeld: How To Make (almost) Anything
2:20 PM Joseph Apuzzo: MicroPython on ESP32 and LoBo
2:45 PM Jodi Clark: OpenCosplay, Teaching the Next Generation
3:00 PM SURPRISE SPEAKER YA’ALL
3:45 PM Tarek Loubani: Gaza tourniquet: Making lifesaving medical devices under fire
4:00 PM Stephanie Valencia: Creating a more accessible future with OSH
4:15 PM  Amitabh Shrivastava: Programmable-Air
4:30 PM Ted Hayes: How to Put A Neural Network on an Arduino and Why
4:45 PM Closing Remarks: Alicia Gibb, OSHWA Director

If you enjoyed these talks, please consider joining the Open Source Hardware Association (OSWHA)!

And follow Open Hardware Summit on Twitter for update on 2019 – we’ll be in China!

Open Hardware Summit: video recording of talks

Creating KiCad Parts From A PDF Automagically

 

For anyone out there who has ever struggled finding a part for Eagle or KiCad, there are some who would say you’re doing it wrong. You’re supposed to make your own parts if you can’t find them in the libraries you already have. This is really the only way; PCB design tools are tools, and so the story goes you’ll never be a master unless you can make your own parts.

That said, making schematic parts and footprints is a pain, and if there’s a tool to automate the process, we’d be happy to use it. That’s exactly what uConfig does. It automatically extracts pinout information from a PDF datasheet and turns it into a schematic symbol.

via Creating KiCad Parts From A PDF Automagically — Hackaday

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Open Hardware Summit badge: adapter board for USB-to-serial cable

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UPDATE: this PCB design replaces the perf board version

The 2018 Open Hardware Summit badge features an ESP32 microcontroller running MicroPython firmware.  The firmware provides a Python interpreter prompt (REPL) on the serial port which allows interactive programming of the badge!

This post describes how to connect an FTDI 3.3V USB to serial cable to the J1 header on the badge.  In addition to the serial console, this adapter board for the J1 header enable new MicroPython firmware to be flashed on to the badge.

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First, solder a 2×3 pin header socket on to the badge at the J1.  Alternatively, a strip of 0.1″ header sockets could be cut into two 1×3 pieces.

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Here is a Fritzing diagram (PDF) of how to solder this J1 adapter board onto a perf board:

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Note: I re-purposed the OHS18 badge add-on proto dev board to act as a generic perf board.

The slide switch on the adapter board will allow the ESP32 to enter programming mode by connecting the IO0 pin on J1 to ground.  The push button on the adapter board will reset the board by connecting EN pin on J1 to ground.

If you have the serial port open in a terminal emulator, then you should see this after switching into programming mode and pressing the reset push button:

Screenshot from 2018-10-03 22-48-12

Build the MicroPython firmware for the ESP32 on the badge by following these directions in the GitHub repo README.

To flash the ESP32, close your terminal emulator program so that esptool.py can open the serial port (which is /tty/USB0 on my Linux computer):

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Switch from programming mode to serial console mode so that IO0 pin on J1 is no longer grounded.  Then open the serial port in your terminal emulator again (115200 baud, 8-N-1) and press the reset push button:

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You should see the output from MicroPython firmware running.

To use the interactive Python prompt (REPL), press the menu button on the badge (the icon with pencil and paintbrush) and select Serial REPL from the Available Apps menu:

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The terminal emulator connected to the serial port should then display the interactive Python prompt (REPL).  You can type in MicroPython code to experiment:

Screenshot from 2018-10-04 11-39-40 (2)

Here is an exmaple that displays text on the e-paper and prints that values from the accelerometer:

import gxgde0213b1
import font16
import machine
import struct
from ohsbadge import epd
from ohsbadge import fb

epd.clear_frame(fb)
epd.set_rotate(gxgde0213b1.ROTATE_270)
epd.display_string_at(fb, 0, 0, "Welcome to OHS 2018!", font16, gxgde0213b1.COLORED)
epd.display_frame(fb)

i2c = machine.I2C(scl=machine.Pin(22), sda=machine.Pin(21))
i2c.writeto_mem(30,0x18,b'\x80')
ACCX = struct.unpack("h",i2c.readfrom_mem(30,0x6,2))
ACCY = struct.unpack("h",i2c.readfrom_mem(30,0x8,2))
ACCZ = struct.unpack("h",i2c.readfrom_mem(30,0x10,2))
print("x={0} y={1} z={2}".format(ACCX[0], ACCY[0], ACCZ[0]))

Photo of the text displayed on the e-paper:

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Resources:

Open Hardware Summit badge: adapter board for USB-to-serial cable

Open Hardware Summit badge: Magic 8-Ball app

Thanks to @Steve Pomeroy for creating this MicroPython demo app for the Open Hardware Summit badge:

ohs18apps/magic8ball.py

# created by Steve Pomeroy https://hackaday.io/xxv
# modified by Drew Fustini to run once and exit
#
# blog post:
# https://blog.oshpark.com/2018/10/04/open-hardware-summit-badge-magic-8-ball-app/
#
# photo gallery:
# https://photos.app.goo.gl/f1y8PSHfYAaa4xTu7
#
# transfer to Open Hardware Summit badge using FTP:
# https://oshwabadge2018.github.io/docs.html#uploading-over-ftp

import gxgde0213b1
import font16
import font12
from machine import I2C, Pin, TouchPad
import struct
import time
import urandom
from ohsbadge import epd
from ohsbadge import fb

class TouchButton(object):
   def __init__(self, pin, on_pressed, threshold=400, debounce_ms=50):
       self._touchpad = machine.TouchPad(pin)
       self._on_pressed = on_pressed
       self._threshold = threshold
       self._debounce_ms = debounce_ms
       self._down_ms = None
       self._pressed = False

   def read(self):
       if self._touchpad.read()  self._debounce_ms:
                       self._on_pressed()
                       self._pressed = True
       else:
           self._pressed = False
           self._down_ms = None

# from Magic 8-Ball app by Steve Pomeroy https://hackaday.io/xxv
# github.com/oshwabadge2018/ohs18apps/blob/master/magic8ball.py
class MagicBall():
   def clear_screen():
       epd.initPart()
       epd.clear_frame(fb)
       epd.display_frame(fb)

   def show_message(message):
       epd.init()
       epd.clear_frame(fb)
       epd.display_string_at(fb, 0, 52, message, font16, gxgde0213b1.COLORED)
       epd.display_frame(fb)

   def read_accel(i2c):
       i2c.writeto_mem(30, 0x18, b'\x80')
       x = struct.unpack("h", i2c.readfrom_mem(30, 0x6, 2))
       y = struct.unpack("h", i2c.readfrom_mem(30, 0x8, 2))
       z = struct.unpack("h", i2c.readfrom_mem(30, 0xA, 2))
       return (x[0], y[0], z[0])

   def get_orientation(i2c):
       new_orientation = None
       pos = MagicBall.read_accel(i2c)

       if pos[2] > 13000:
           new_orientation = "upright"
       elif pos[2] < -13000:
           new_orientation = "prone"

       return new_orientation

   def main(f):
           phrases = ["It is certain.", "It is decidedly so.", "Without a doubt.", "Yes - definitely.", "You may rely on it.", "As I see it, yes.", "Most likely.", "Outlook good.", "Yes.", "Signs point to yes.", "Reply hazy, try again", "Ask again later.", "Better not tell you now.", "Cannot predict now.", "Concentrate and ask again.", "Don't count on it.", "My reply is no.", "My sources say no.", "Outlook not so good.", "Very doubtful."]
           i2c = machine.I2C(scl=Pin(22), sda=Pin(21))
           epd.init()
           epd.set_rotate(gxgde0213b1.ROTATE_270)
           epd.clear_frame(fb)
           epd.display_frame(fb)
           prev_orientation = None

           keep_on = [True]

           def exit_loop():
               keep_on[0] = False

           exit_button = TouchButton(Pin(32), exit_loop)

           while keep_on[0]:
               exit_button.read()
               orientation = MagicBall.get_orientation(i2c)

               if orientation and orientation != prev_orientation:
                   if orientation == 'upright':
                       MagicBall.show_message(urandom.choice(phrases))
                   elif orientation == 'prone':
                       MagicBall.clear_screen()
               prev_orientation = orientation

ball = MagicBall()
ball.main()

This Python file can be transferred to Open Hardware Summit badge using the FTP server built into the MicroPython firmware.

Resources:

Open Hardware Summit badge: Magic 8-Ball app

Hardware Happy Hour (3H) Chicago is Wednesday, October 10th

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The next Hardware Happy Hour (3H) Chicago is Wednesday, October 10th, at Haymarket Pub!

https://www.meetup.com/Hardware-Happy-Hour-3H-Chicago/events/255180311/

This group is based upon the idea that you are interested in hanging out and discussing hardware. Please bring a piece of hardware to show off or talk about. Are you interested in hardware, but you haven’t built anything yet? Show off software you have built! Or come prepared to talk about the projects you want to build.

There are no organized talks, it’s literally a show and tell at a bar or restaurant. In case you missed it two paragraphs ago, bring hardware. Seriously, just bring anything to talk about 🙂

Hardware Happy Hour (3H) Chicago is Wednesday, October 10th