I am an electronic hobbyist for over 35 years ,
I had the chance to learn hardware on the first development boards and computers (Sym 1, Rockwell AIM 65, PET 2001, Apple // …).
I developed many things as analog to digital boards, digital outputs, commands and relays ...
For the last twenty years I focused on software and project management and didn't develop hadware anymore. I didn’t keep aware of development platforms and stopped being interested in electronics.
But, three years ago, I went to an electronic reseller to get a soldering iron and other stuff.
I don’t remember the discussion with the technician but after a few minutes he presented me the Arduino platform.
Wonderful !
A complete, easy to use microcontroller board with digital and analog input / outputs a complete open source IDE, a lot of peripherals, and an enthusiastic community.
Yeah I was back on track !
I immediately started buying components, buttons, lcd display, sensors, breadboards, an Arduino Mega, a Raspberry PI and other things to make a lot of cool experiments.
Prototyping today is easy , fun and effective.
Unfortunately I live in Nantes and work in Paris. Each week I leave home to Paris to be back on friday. As I have free time on the evening in Paris, I alternatively need my equipment in Paris or at home.
Wonderful, I was looking for a new project. Lets do this one : a transportable electronic development environment.
Of course, this immediately raises the features question :
Autonomous power
Integrated screen
Soldering Iron, tools
voltmeter, oscilloscope, function generator ...
As I am an Agile coach I applied to my project, the lean startup method :
First create the Minimum Marketable Product and then use it. Then we wil see what are the cool features to add.
So I decided to start version 1.0 with the following features :
- Arduino connected to Raspberry PI via USB.
- Removable parts
- Unique 5 volts power supply with power button
- Powered usb hub for Raspberry PI
- Two breadboard areas for the two controller boards
- Case for electronic components, wires ...
Finding elements, buying parts and assembly have taken less than a day.
First of all find an old briefcase
Then provide a unique switching power supply for
- Arduino
- Raspberry
- USB Hub
- Breadboards
I find this one powerfull enough : 100 watts - 5 VCC
Here is the power mounted in the briefcase. All fasteners are made by scratches
Here is the case layout with a double bottom to hide the cables and a unique on / off switch for both components.
I used the remaining space to put boxes for components, wires etc.
Icing on the cake, I can put a small portable oscilloscope in the box (or a multimeter)
Note that we need a keyboard and a mouse that fits in the box.
So we got a complete autonomous plug and play prototyping system.
Next step will be to improve autonomy with a battery and an lcd screen.
Nice if you have suggestions
To be continued
