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Suggest a project for me

awinning

Hi,

 

I've really enjoyed being on element14, and it has reawakened my desire to actually play around with electronics. I think the main spur has been reading about the Arduino like boards coming onto the market now. At the moment we have three Multicomp Arduino clone boards here, the Amicus board, which is an Arduino clone with a PIC controller here, and mbed. I think personally I'd like to try the PIC programming, but if anyone thinks the AVR or mbed is easier to get into, I'm open to convincing.

 

About me,

I graduated in 1996 with a BSc in Electronic Systems. Since then I have worked in a number of publications writing about electronics, but not practising. My favourite subjects were digital design and C programming. Currently I'm working on this, which hopefully you are all familiar with.

 

About the project,

I'm looking for something to ease me back into electronics. I want to use either one of the Arduino clone boards or an mbed. I'd hopefully be designing a shield/board for the chosen dev kit using EAGLE Freemium. The project should be fairly cheap and at an intermediate level, I'd like to stretch myself a bit while learning (and hopefully you are all going to help me through image).

 

Any and all suggestions welcome!

Parents

  • I know how difficult it is to come up with a good project for  yourself. I spend most days finding answers to peoples' problems, so it  seems unnatural to think of problems of my own image

     

    The Scooter 'Puter looks very cool indeed, but there is no reason to build exactly the same  thing. The touch LCD Arduino module looks nifty, but not exactly cheap!  One alternative that many hobbyists use, is replacement LCD modules for  Nokia phones. They are only 50mm or so across and 128x128 pixels, but  they have their own onboard display processor that is pretty easy to  program. I wouldn't want to leave a big $200 screen on my bike, but a £5  one is no problem. If you didn't want to use an expensive Arduino, then  use something like an ATMega or PIC18 on a breadboard, and build your  own PCB. However, I think the MBED would be perfect for you. You could easily just start by making a battery monitor like the original builder, then see where your imagination takes you! In the first instance it only need be a box with a pcb in to connect the mbed, the display, some switches and i/o lines.

     

    As an aside, I see Farnell have some colour OLED + touch screen modules in stock - I must make a mental note of that, it might come in handy!

     

    Another idea that might interest you, is a tent alarm. I was thinking of something along the lines of a motion sensor, a bluetooth module and a cannibalised cheap pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Use the bluetooth to arm/disarm it like car central locking, and when it activates, it sends a text message to a predefined number. If you go to music festivals you will know how difficult it sometimes is to locate your own tent. With a system like this, you could text your own tent, which could then flash a light velcroed to the highest point.

     

    *Scratches chin*

     

    Mike

Reply

  • I know how difficult it is to come up with a good project for  yourself. I spend most days finding answers to peoples' problems, so it  seems unnatural to think of problems of my own image

     

    The Scooter 'Puter looks very cool indeed, but there is no reason to build exactly the same  thing. The touch LCD Arduino module looks nifty, but not exactly cheap!  One alternative that many hobbyists use, is replacement LCD modules for  Nokia phones. They are only 50mm or so across and 128x128 pixels, but  they have their own onboard display processor that is pretty easy to  program. I wouldn't want to leave a big $200 screen on my bike, but a £5  one is no problem. If you didn't want to use an expensive Arduino, then  use something like an ATMega or PIC18 on a breadboard, and build your  own PCB. However, I think the MBED would be perfect for you. You could easily just start by making a battery monitor like the original builder, then see where your imagination takes you! In the first instance it only need be a box with a pcb in to connect the mbed, the display, some switches and i/o lines.

     

    As an aside, I see Farnell have some colour OLED + touch screen modules in stock - I must make a mental note of that, it might come in handy!

     

    Another idea that might interest you, is a tent alarm. I was thinking of something along the lines of a motion sensor, a bluetooth module and a cannibalised cheap pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Use the bluetooth to arm/disarm it like car central locking, and when it activates, it sends a text message to a predefined number. If you go to music festivals you will know how difficult it sometimes is to locate your own tent. With a system like this, you could text your own tent, which could then flash a light velcroed to the highest point.

     

    *Scratches chin*

     

    Mike

Children