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CodeBug

davidlockett — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 01:42:58 GMT

Are there CodeBug grants or donations for classroom teachers?

RGB Wand for Codebug - mix and make

jlangbridge — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 20:07:43 GMT

I'm getting ready to go to a school in France to show off the Codebug, a cute little design that makes development easy. There are some great examples on the element14 site, and I found an example for an RGB wand, something my 5 year old daughter loved (she put on her fairy disguise and ran around with the Codebug until the batteries drained). However, if I want to show development to kids, I need something with a little more impact. So, with the RGB wand in mind, I went and made something else.

Take a breadboard, and 3 variable resistors. For this example, I'm using 4.7K versions. Hook one end to "Power", and the other to "Ground". Do the same for all three. Now, connect the middle pin to pins 0, 1 and 2. These will be R, G and B respectively. Add a ColourStar, wire everything up with the crocodile clips, and it's time to code.

The code is simple; we will set legs 0, 1 and 2 as analogue inputs. We'll also use the CoulorStar. We create a loop, one that will run forever. On each iteration, we will read in the values of pins 0, 1 and 2, and store them into variables; R, G and B respectively. Then, in another loop, we will turn each of the ColourStar LEDs to the value found on the analogue pins. Then repeat, forever. Here's what my setup looks like:

Flash the program, and play about. With each of the variables resistors at a zero value, the LEDs are turned off. With each of the variable resistors connected to Vcc, all three colours are fully lit, and the LEDs appear white (watch it, these things are bright!). What happens when you turn on blue with a hint of red?

With this, I hope my students are going to have fun, while learning about colours, and also about programming. I'll teach them programming, they will teach me about colours, since I'm totally colour-blind (almost black and white colour vision).

The entire project took about ten minutes, hunting down the final variable resistor included. The code itself was less than five minutes, it really is that easy to program these devices. I'll keep you updated on what my students think!

A huge thanks to element14 for the "Bit by the bug" campaign!

Codebug Halloween

cstanton — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 22:56:59 GMT

We needed some eyes for the Pumpkins we had in the Farnell offices:

https://twitter.com/Stanto/status/792340866123857920

Turned out pretty well:

https://twitter.com/FarnellNews/status/793093891004178434

Getting two of these to sync properly was a little trickier than I expected. I would have hoped that daisy chaining codebugs would be easy since they're affordable. Two worked, more would be trickier, though perhaps i2c would work out?

Finally a small codebug public evolution

balearicdynamics — Thu, 05 May 2016 17:08:55 GMT

Just to share a link on their blog that it is the worth to read

CodeBug – Blog – CodeBug's expansion port

Enrico

Learn about ARM CORTEX MCU DMA

martinvalencia — Thu, 05 May 2016 10:54:31 GMT

Good day

I would like to know if there is any document containing information on the application of DMA in applications?

Christmas Presents from Codebugs

Former Member — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 16:04:03 GMT

I made a rocket for my nephew for christmas, a colour star provides the engines and a codebug does the countdown sequence.

A 2L drinks bottle provided the fusilage and a cardboard box supplied the fins.

I had to sacrifice a better battery than intended as the cheap one kept turning itself off during the countdown (power save feature).

My brother-in-law was slightly disappointed witn the feedback, apparently the lego millennium falcon was quite expensive so becoming second best present was a little blow.

Here's the code.

Here's the video (you Tube)

I made four christmas trees with a codebug colour star on top of each (two daughters, two nieces).

The trees were made out of hardboard and covered with green paper, the colour stars were wrapped in tinsel (as a diffuser, they are two bright otherwise). A USB battery pack was used as the power supply.

Here is the code.

short (4 Seconds) video of it in operation

Codebug Tails, Available soon.

Former Member — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 14:44:13 GMT

It looks like the CodeBug will soon be sporting an assortment of glowing accessories, ColourTails are coming soon.

By the look of it we have a 5V multicolour LED with a single wire communication bus, possibly WS2811 or WS2812 based?

Credit for spotting this should go to MikeR (as usual).

Making an array?

michaelwylie — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 18:21:29 GMT

I've been working with the CodeBug for a few days now, and I can't seem to find a way to store an array. For example, I want an array of 256 chars, but this option doesn't seem to exist. Any ideas?

Repair CodeBug battery holder easy?

jkutzsch — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 00:36:12 GMT

Anyone had any issues with the battery holder on the back pulling away while having a battery in it?

We have been using the CodeBug for a bit now powered by USB and due to a Maker Faire this weekend went out and bought batteries to make it easy to show off. When my son handed it over to another young potential Maker it was accidently dropped onto the carpet in the store and the battery holder popped off on one side.

Should this be an easy repair via soldering? Should I do both sides just to be sure?

Thanks!

Controlling your bug with Arduino

Workshopshed — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 12:44:21 GMT

When the I2C code is installed on the bug you are not limited to controlling it just from a Pi. You can control it from other platforms that have I2C.

Mike has done a translation for Arduino - https://github.com/mikerr/codebug-arduino

Micropython

Workshopshed — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 12:34:55 GMT

I see it's possible to get MicroPython running on the bit, I wonder what is needed to get it working on the CodeBug?

ntoll.org ~ everything I say is false...

Codebug board schematics released

Former Member — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 11:06:11 GMT

Codebug have taken the first step in honouring their open source promise, they released the board schematics.

[quote]Firmware will be made available once 3rd party license agreements have been confirmed.[/quote]

USB port came off.

grahamchow — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 04:29:06 GMT

My daughter, who is 9, accidentally broke off the usb port off the codebug (who could not see that coming?).

I manage to solder it back on some how (I don't have any smd tools, so that was a small miracle). I'm actually going to get some paste.

I think they should have used a through hole mount for the USB connector or a better mounting strategy. I see the Raspberry PI does look better. I really think that if they are aiming for 7-10 yo, this would be essential even if it added a dollar or two to the cost.

Graham Chow

CodeBug Lands an Elektra Awards Nomination

spannerspencer — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 11:25:36 GMT

I just put a tick against this poll, and thought my CodeBug buddies in here might also want to cast a vote in the Elektra Consumer Product Innovation awards.

It's a decent list of kit that the CodeBug's up against in Electronics Weekly's readers' choice category, actually, including the Spectrum Vega and Pi-Top. But it's CodeBug all the way for me right now, natch

Anyway, there it is -- if you also want to stand up and be counted in this quick-fire electronics race, here's your chance: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electro-ramblings/general-electronics/elektra-2015-consumer-product-innovation-ye…

Codebug goes into suspend state

shabaz — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 18:04:36 GMT

Hi!

Does anyone know if the codebug has the capability to have its sleep disabled?

Currently it breaks programs that need to run for longer than three minutes.

I got mine through Kickstarter and I really like it

Former Member — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 01:32:36 GMT

I wish there would be more than only 5x5 LEDs to turn on/off, with perhaps a choice of colors. But I know this makes the device more expensive.

Help with a CodeBug Halloween Project

spannerspencer — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 17:50:29 GMT

S'up y'all!

Okay, I've been playing this one a little close to my chest, but I've reached that point where I could use a big of classic element14 community collaboration!

I'm pretty well on with the build, but looking at my calendar (I'm off for a week, and then in Rome for the Maker Faire as soon as I get back) I'm starting to think that it'll be a bit close to the bone in terms of getting it finished for Halloween. So I was hoping I could solicit a bit of assistance from you guys, who are invariably better with coding than I am! I'm pretty good with the hardware, but I fumble when it comes time to code.

Here's the project, followed by a specification I was hoping you guys could help me out with for programming the actual CodeBug.

Ghostbusters Trap - Desk Lamp

I'm a sucker for the pop culture references, and I've been working building a ghost trap from Ghostbusters, complete with working trap door mechanism, LED lighting, a footswitch and a miniature smoke machine. You know the one I mean (WARNING: don't look directly into the trap):

This will all be run by a CodeBug, of course, and I've had a degree of success in proving its ability to drive a servo to open the doors. However, the code I used seems a bit flaky (sometimes works, sometimes doesn't -- not sure if it's the CodeBug or the servo, to be honest), and I'd rather it didn't run the servo backwards and forwards if you hold the button down.

The actual trap is coming along very nicely -- it's mostly built, with a 5V power supply, and the servo in place to open and close the trap doors. I've hacked up an e-cig cartomizer along with a small priming pump to create the fog (using a blend of water and sugar glycerine to create the smoke -- no nicotine or strange poisons involved!), and I've butchered three ultra-cheap LED torches to get a very neat array of 27 white LEDs, all of which I'll post in a build along when it's all up and running.

But here's where I could use a little assistance...

Who Ya Gonna Code?

My efforts to pull everything together into a reasonably optimised block of code for the CodeBug have been limited, and time's against me. So here's what I'd like the CodeBug to do, which I was hoping someone with better coding chops could help out with.

On Power Up

Right at the outset, the CodeBug should set the servo's PWM to 170 via Leg 1, which closes the trap doors. This is just in case the doors were open when the trap was powered off.

Turning It On

The trap is turned on using a latching foot switch (first press closes the switch, second press opens it again). I was thinking of using Leg 0 as an input, which is grounded by the latching foot switch for the duration of the trap being on (on = doors open, lights on). When the foot switch is pressed (or latched) the following should happen, in this order:

- The fog machine is switched on for 5 seconds to generate a bit of atmospheric smoke. This will be achieved by switching a 5V relay and/or a transistor via Leg 3, as the fog machine takes more current than I suspect the CodeBug could handle (it gets a little hot).
- After five seconds, the PWM for the servo is set to 60 (opening the trap doors on top), which outputs via Leg 1. (Leg1 is connected to the signal lead on the servo).
- At the same time, the LEDs are switched on using a 5V relay and/or a transistor via Leg 4.
- The following animation is displayed on the CodeBug: http://www.codebug.org.uk/explore/codebug/1240/

At this point, the LEDs remain lit, the above animation cycles, and the doors remain open until the foot switch is pressed again.

Turning It Off

Once the foot switch is unlatched by pressing it a second time, Leg 0 is no longer grounded and the following happens in this order.

- The PWM for the servo is set to 170 (closing the trap doors on top), which outputs via Leg 1.
- The fog machine is switched on for 5 seconds to generate a bit of more smoke that'll seep out of the trap (as if there was a ghost inside).
- The LEDs are turned off.
- The following animation is displayed on the CodeBug for around two minutes: http://www.codebug.org.uk/explore/codebug/1241/

If anyone's got the CodeBug kung fu to help me out with that, Zuul will bestow her blessings upon you! And so will I

Ps. The full build along is coming soon!

Bluetooth control of Codebug

Former Member — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 14:52:08 GMT

MIke Redrobe has converted the Codebug I2C Libraries to C and is controlling his codebug through bluetooth with a bluno beetle.

Heavy Load Switching with CodeBug

spannerspencer — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 09:37:09 GMT

Has anyone tried switching slightly heavier loads using the CodeBug's legs, either using a transistor or a relay? I'm working on something that'll need to switch two loads on and off that I'm pretty sure would melt the CodeBug if I did it directly (maybe 1-2 amps each). I'm thinking that something as simple as a transistor, switched from one of the legs, would do the job, but thought I'd ask if anyone's experimented this as yet?

do we need to buy a battery for codebug to work

Former Member — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 11:29:23 GMT

do we need to buy a battery for codebug to work

pls let me know

CodeBug Driving a Servo

spannerspencer — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 18:31:31 GMT

I picked up a codebug the other day, when I met the guys who created it, and had a quick lash with it this evening. I've got a personal project in mind that involves driving at least one servo (probably two), and I was curious as to whether the CodeBug could be the brains behind it.

A little bit of jitter, but turns out it works pretty damn well! More than adequate for my project's needs (more on that as it takes shape. Hint: pop culture fans will love it!). Sorted!

players.brightcove.net/.../index.html

New scroll method that allows checks during the scroll period

gregoryfenton — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 13:20:12 GMT

Hi all

The standard scrolling message system has a major flaw for real-time activities - once it starts scrolling nothing can be done with the badge until it finishes the scroll.

I have rewritten the scroll method so it can be interacted with every time it updates the display where the 100ms delay occurs.

www.codebug.co.uk/explore/codebug/793/

Comments always welcomed

Greg

Tagging codebug into the message

I want a CodeBug

bluescreen — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 15:31:06 GMT

Not my finest post, but there it is: I wish I could get my hands on a CodeBug or two.

Sagar