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  • Author Author: crimier
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Clarification of my lack of participation and apologies +current state of the project

crimier

Hello!

I'm one of those people who has been selected to participate in this exchange. Unfortunately, my involvement in it was close to zero. I did have a hard time fullfilling my obligations to Element14 community and the participants of this contest. I had external circumstances that made it quite problematic for me to participate, the most important being clinical depression, which I still feel like I'm yet to get rid of even though it's been a year since I started my medication. Unfortunately, a recession happened due to severe health issues of my girlfriend and it complicated nearly every aspect of my life, leading to me being almost dropped out of my university - thankfully, I got a last chance to reinstate and managed to do so. It had crippled my ability to manage my work as well as I thought I could when I was applying for this challenge. I apologise for letting you all down, and it's solely my fault.
That doesn't mean I've finished any work on my project. I have managed to put the interfacing part together and even exceed my own expectations of what it could become. What I have now is a framework that exposes a display and keypad combo to an arbitrary number of applications which can then make use of them. This makes it a simple yet effective control system for any Linux-driven device, from Raspberry Pi boards to desktops, routers and other Linux-running home appliances, and it's astonishingly cheap - I can add this system to anything for around 10$. You can write various applications for it, for example, one that lets you control your network interfaces or connect to WiFi, one that lets you read your Twitter feed, one that controls your home automation setup and one for general system control such as shutting down or rebooting the whole system. And I'll make it so that applications will be really simple to write, possibly producing a couple of general-purpose tools in the process =) I just wish I could have completed and presented it earlier, then think I could've had seen it being used in some of projects you guys have developed.
Right now, I have a LiIon-powered Raspberry Pi setup that I use both as my desktop computer (hey, I submitted this blog entry using it ;-) ) and a portable music player, and I have written an application that enables me to switch tracks and control volume of my music player. The next application I'll write will probably be a task manager, the one we use for keeping schedules and so on - or maybe a camera app, because as for now I don't have any appliance with a camera, except for my 5-year-old tablet with a 2MP one =) The system already has quite a lot of planning put in it, and I'll soon add lots of crucial elements facilitating application creation, as well as re-build parts of the system re-buildable before it's too late, since its functionality is already limited in some aspects compared to what it could achieve.
I plan on taking the next month off to work on it, and I'm sure I'll be posting my results here. See, I currently am bound contract that requires me to build a control system for 30 Modbus-controlled devices, operating them by a given scenario - as well as build a lot more of those devices =) Sure is a fun thing to implement in Python, and I'll get money which will allow me to live at least the next month without worrying much about money, which is what's necessary now for me to be able to fully dedicate my time to a project that requires as much work as this one. I'll be able to build a better enclosure for my PipBoy (cardboard just doesn't cut it, even if it's painted silver with spraypaint ;-) ), as well as finally let myself stuff it with all the electronics I've dreamt to put in it. I know I'm already outside all the terms, but I know this project is worth it and I feel obliged to finish it, not only because it's fun and useful, but also because I promised all of you to do so by my participation. So during the October, I'll be posting here in this competition blog, or elsewhere on the site if this blog gets closed.
Sorry, guys, no photos now, but I'll soon assemble a second system using a RPi and PiFaceCAD which will be able to take photos - using my system, of course =)

  • Hi Arsenjis,

     

    to be honest, the only think I complain respect some projects is the almost total lack of continuity in posts and comments. Despite the fact that it was mentioned just in the challenge roles, the point is that one of the more interesting and useful aspects of this community is the continuous flow of information, critics, knowledge and problems exchanged between users. Ignoring this aspect automatically put yourself to the border, and this exactly the opposite of what this group of collaborative persons will do.

     

    In a more general view, AFAIK it is my opinion that many users think to element14 as a sort of permanent exhibit of good projects, good ideas, well done solutions and so on. Instead this should be, in my opinion, the place where a doubt or an issue should be posted first, the right place where many other are happy to support as this is the philosophy of Element14 so why not? Frankly I disagree the apologies before, when there was plenty of time after: to ask, to explain, to discuss.

     

    Just a personal vision of the things. Enrico

  • Hi Arsenijs


    Sorry to hear you had such problems.

    I believe your project is a great one and offers a lot of possible features, aside from appearance, and I hope you'll find resources to continue and finish it.

    With Fallout 4 launch around the corner (November 11) the "Pip Boy" returned to my attention and after I finished the current project (Cybernetic Interface) I'll start to build one of "Pip Boy 3000" variants.


    All the best

    -=Seba=-

  • Hi Arsenijs,

     

    I too struggle with medical issues.  Sometimes you want to try a project only to be over come by events.

     

    Letting the community know your issues helps us better judge your progress.  I had to withdraw from a challenge last year when I came down with some problems that I still have not resolved.

     

    So do your best, keep us informed and we hope you have better luck in the future.

     

    DAB

  • I think everybody, except the Pi Desk guy, bit off more than they can chew on this one.  I think there was only 1 completed project that could be called "done" out of all them  image  This challenge should of ran 6 months.

     

    I know next I have learned not to go so low level and spend more time using prefab components and write less custom code. Its a learning process!

  • Even I couldn't work on ideas that i had given for this challenge. As a working professional had to travel for business trip which consumed whole time of design challenge. I hope to complete same ideas even if I am out of competition because those are really interesting ideas which people would love to see.

     

    Regards,

    Shrenik