Hello! I'm happy to announce that I've received a part of my kit already. Here's a list of what I've got:
- Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and 1 Model B+
- BitScope Micro
- PiFace Control & PiFace Digital
- GertBot board
- Raspberry Pi Camera
- Xtrinsic sensor board
- chipKIT board
- MicroStack accelerometer and GPS boards (without baseboard)
- WiPi dongle
I wonder if other parts will be sent as well. I know that by the rules the organizers are free to change the kit as they wish, it's mainly that I'd like to know whether I have to expect some more UPS deliveries... And parts, of course! =) MicroStack baseboard is something you'd definitely want to have with the according components - for the sake of checking whether they work.
I'll still be waiting for Wolfson audio card, RPi A+ and RTC. As I have some components I won't be using, I think I'll pair RPI A+ with GertBot board and make a robot. Always wanted to do something like that, and it'd be an excellent side project to couple with my PipBoy! Wolfson (okay, now Cirrus) card will be quite necessary as audio features are important to me. There's better DAC, line-in, stereo microphone setup, S/PDIF... My PipBoy will certainly have advanced audio playback&recording capabilities =)
So, here's a small overview. First of all... You get an 8GB microSD card with RPi2! Didn't quite expect that. It's pre-loaded with NOOBS. You don't get a card with RPi B+, though, but that's not a problem - cards are quite cheap =) I haven't received an A+ yet. They say it's so tiny and nice, can't wait =)
All the components are packed nicely in a box, with anti-static packaging and retail boxes for each of them. All the safety instructions and stuff like that are there, just as much as you'd need.
I won't be overviewing RPi boards, as people have done it before a lot =) Just will say that it'll be excellent to have 3. All the possible interactions and scenarios... Not to mention I already have 3 RPi boards in different setups around my room =)
Then, there's BitScope. Its packaging is quite good. Beware - you don't get any analog additions with it, like breakout for BNC and analog probes. Seems like you need to get them separately, should you want to debug something analog. =( Doesn't seem to be much of a problem, as you can easily make your own adapter for scope probes using just a BNC socket which I happen to have. They have a quite nice digital probes and USB cable, and the scope seems to be fit for forgetful people like me, it has 2 cheatsheets - one printed on the scope itself, one on a separate cardboard sheet. Nice! I've always wanted a logical analyzer + protocol decoder, and this evening I've understood how it works and successfully have decoded UART messages. If anybody needs help, I can make a guide - it was kinda tricky as I still haven't spotted any nice guide for BitScope Logic software.
I've noticed one thing. The analyzer - it's small, it's sleek and nice, as well as waterproof. Might be one of PipBoy additions! I sure will use it many times, mainly debugging hardware.
GertBot board is what I liked a lot. Board is well-designed, docs are available and easy to read, communication protocol is simple yet well-planned, not to mention that boards are stackable. Beautiful!
chipKIT might be tricky, as I still haven't understood what kind of programming language you need to use to make use of it. But so far it seems to be a nice addition to the kit - should I need to use Arduino shields, this will be the thing.
XTRINSIC-SENSE board is huge. Like, it has only 3 sensors and all the remaining space is not occupied... But will be a brilliant thing for prototyping, I'm sure about that.
MicroStack GPS is something I'll definitely use a lot. I need GPS, but don't happen to have any, and this will be the one I'll use in the actual PipBoy - for a lot of things, it being a wearable device for daily use. As for the accelerometer - honestly, the board is huge for such a small sensor =-) Will use it for prototypes, then just buy another accelerometer board for the actual device.
PiFace Digital IO... Well, home automation. One more thing to add to PipBoy would certainly be home automation control, and this shield... Needs 5V and has 5V outputs when all my relays already mounted in my house are 12V. But I'll sure make use of it - might need some resoldering here and there, such as changing ULN2803 IC power source and so on =) I just wonder why does it have the 40pin header when it seems to only use those pins that are available on 26-pin header as well. Could've made it work on the previous RPi versions as well -_-
PiFace Control and Display is a device I might just make drivers for to use with my Wearable Control System framework, as that also uses buttons and 1602 display, just connected a bit differently =) I plan on making it work, then sharing it so everybody could use it.
PiCamera... No comments. Great as always. I'm planning on making CSI->Ethernet port adapter in order to use longer cables with the camera and be able to connect/disconnect it easier. But that'll be later, now I just will need to check how it works =)
^Me trying to understand how logic analyzer's protocol decode works... I managed to get it working =)
^All the parts together. Awesome!
For my competitor colleagues and all the interested - guys, sorry for not having my project description blog entry yet. University takes a lot of time, but I hope I can get it posted around Friday. Good luck with your projects!
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