RE: "Connect with The Ben Heck Show" is Live!

michael_squires2 — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 20:20:56 GMT

Hi my name is Michael the United Kingdom (leeds) I'm loving your show and watch it every day or night... I I've got a raspberry pi 3 and was just wondering if you could help me.. I've recently bought a raspberry pi 3 and want to build a robot car witch I bought the kit.. I I'm need help with the coding... I PLEASE HELP ME thanks..

Michael squires

RE: "Connect with The Ben Heck Show" is Live!

faraway — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 14:26:59 GMT

I've only just discovered this channel on YouTube, I really am enjoying it and wish I'd found it earlier. I'm 69 and I'm a retired teacher of Craft, Design and Technology trained at Middlesex University, England. My last project was to take a team from Science Skills High School, Brooklyn to the finals of the F.I.R.S.T competition at Disneyworld, I think that was 2001.

I learned to program Basic on a Sinclair Spectrum a machine I really liked and am now running BASin on this PC. There's a hell of a lot more I'd like to say but better keep this short.

I'm a novice at computers and electronics, any experience of the latter gained from one of my many hobbies, model railways. In fact my interest in this general area was reawakened by my wondering whether I could build a better control system than Lionels which I can't afford anyway since I have to live on a low fixed income which rules out a lot of possibilities but I was always good at junkshop engineering.

My very limited electronic experience ended with discrete components and electro mechanical switches (I love electromagnetic relays!), I have only the vaguest idea of how a transistor works and solid state is just way past me, okay not quite but effectively I'm an ignoramus.

My son was a navy E.E doing radar on an Aegis ship and he wants me to get to know the Raspberry Pi as he's sick of hearing about the wonders of the Zilog Z80! I, for my part would love the ZXSpectrum Next if it ever gets built for sale. So i wondered if i could figure out how to build a machine that had the advantages of both and fully portable with the ability to drive small robotics devices controlled via its Basic (preferably or something as helpful and user friendly) perhaps using something like the Sinclair edge connector that was attached to the main bus or maybe with some more modern form of output port allowing more lines and more flexibility. My son assures me that the Raspberry Pi is the 21st century Spectrum and can do a whole lot more yet remains low cost, easy to use and just all round wonderful!

Hope that introduction was useful and perhaps you might consider a project such as this? I doubt i could manage on my own and Daniels far away from me here in the sticks of VA's Eastern Shore.