4 ms·

Don't forget to keep it powered while it's in the drawer so you could ssh and build something really awesome. Maybe it's a personality flaw, but I get plenty o

by Y_Y 7y ago

Don't forget to keep it powered while it's in the drawer so you could ssh and build something really awesome. Maybe it's a personality flaw, but I get plenty of satisfaction from just reading blog write-ups if things I could have done with my tech junk, without all the associated time invested. It's much easier to vicariously enjoy projects like these, which is why I think drawer-dwelling is an inevitable destiny for most of these widgets.

gambiting 7y ago
Well, same reason why so many people watch playthroughs of difficult games on YT without playing the games themselves. There is a pay off for seeing what you could do if you had the time or motivation to do so.
agumonkey 7y ago
My flaw regarding SBCs, is that I want to master the whole stack (what variant of linux.. , how is <multimedia server> is written,...), yet I don't have the context to, so I get fed up with almost good use cases and lose interest. That's also why I'm tring microcontrollers, it's back to low level, less shiny projects, but mentally saner.
- burk96 7y ago
  Any suggestions on microcontrollers? I love my pi but I've been wanting to try my hand at something a little less, desktop-like.
  - jbay808 7y ago
    I love the TI launchpads. http://www.ti.com/design-resources/embedded-development/hardware-kits-boards.html#launchpad http://www.ti.com/design-resources/embedded-development/hard... Seems like the number of them has gone way up so if you don't want to waste time thinking about which one to try, here are some suggestions. Cheap and minimal ($10): http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2et http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2et High spec for things like motor control ($34): http://www.ti.com/tool/LAUNCHXL-F28379D http://www.ti.com/tool/LAUNCHXL-F28379D
    - jrockway 7y ago
      I would recommend taking the path of least resistance and getting something Arduino compatible. After ignoring it for years, I tried it out last week. It is very easy to use. And the M0- and M4- based boards are very capable. The Adafruit Trinket M0 was what I needed for a recent project. It's $8 and tiny. The feather boards also look very neat, if you need BLE, the ability to stack peripherals, etc. They all integrate with Arduino so you can be up and running in a minute. (They also support Python running on the device, which is maybe even easier than Arduino.)
  - thedanbob 7y ago
    The ESP8266 is a fantastic platform and Adafruit has some great breakout boards for it. I’ve heard good things about its successor the ESP32 as well.
  - Rebelgecko 7y ago
    ESP8266 or the ESP32 (if you want something beefier that also has bluetooth) give fantastic bang for your buck, especially if you get them from a trustworthy-ish store on Aliexpress
  - Nullabillity 7y ago
    STM32s have great Rust support[0] if that matters to you. Personally I strongly prefer the embedded_hal[1] and RTFM[2] APIs over the Arduino ones, although the peripheral coverage is a fair bit weaker. Their DISCOVERY kits[3] (preassembled boards that are ready to program, just like Arduinos) are ~$20, and also double as programmers if you eventually end up designing your own boards. [0]: https://docs.rust-embedded.org/discovery/index.html https://docs.rust-embedded.org/discovery/index.html [1]: https://github.com/rust-embedded/embedded-hal https://github.com/rust-embedded/embedded-hal [2]: https://github.com/japaric/cortex-m-rtfm https://github.com/japaric/cortex-m-rtfm [3]: Such as https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32f3discovery.html https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32f3discovery.html
benj111 7y ago
"Maybe it's a personality flaw" I'm sure it's a 'flaw' that most of us have. I also like getting grand plans for a (hardware) project, ordering the parts from Ali express, then losing interest before the parts have arrived, so they still end up in 'the drawer'.

by Y_Y 7y ago

gambiting 7y ago

Well, same reason why so many people watch playthroughs of difficult games on YT without playing the games themselves. There is a pay off for seeing what you could do if you had the time or motivation to do so.

agumonkey 7y ago

My flaw regarding SBCs, is that I want to master the whole stack (what variant of linux.. , how is <multimedia server> is written,...), yet I don't have the context to, so I get fed up with almost good use cases and lose interest. That's also why I'm tring microcontrollers, it's back to low level, less shiny projects, but mentally saner.

burk96 7y ago
Any suggestions on microcontrollers? I love my pi but I've been wanting to try my hand at something a little less, desktop-like.
- jbay808 7y ago
  I love the TI launchpads. http://www.ti.com/design-resources/embedded-development/hardware-kits-boards.html#launchpad http://www.ti.com/design-resources/embedded-development/hard... Seems like the number of them has gone way up so if you don't want to waste time thinking about which one to try, here are some suggestions. Cheap and minimal ($10): http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2et http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2et High spec for things like motor control ($34): http://www.ti.com/tool/LAUNCHXL-F28379D http://www.ti.com/tool/LAUNCHXL-F28379D
  - jrockway 7y ago
    I would recommend taking the path of least resistance and getting something Arduino compatible. After ignoring it for years, I tried it out last week. It is very easy to use. And the M0- and M4- based boards are very capable. The Adafruit Trinket M0 was what I needed for a recent project. It's $8 and tiny. The feather boards also look very neat, if you need BLE, the ability to stack peripherals, etc. They all integrate with Arduino so you can be up and running in a minute. (They also support Python running on the device, which is maybe even easier than Arduino.)
- thedanbob 7y ago
  The ESP8266 is a fantastic platform and Adafruit has some great breakout boards for it. I’ve heard good things about its successor the ESP32 as well.
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  ESP8266 or the ESP32 (if you want something beefier that also has bluetooth) give fantastic bang for your buck, especially if you get them from a trustworthy-ish store on Aliexpress
- Nullabillity 7y ago
  STM32s have great Rust support[0] if that matters to you. Personally I strongly prefer the embedded_hal[1] and RTFM[2] APIs over the Arduino ones, although the peripheral coverage is a fair bit weaker. Their DISCOVERY kits[3] (preassembled boards that are ready to program, just like Arduinos) are ~$20, and also double as programmers if you eventually end up designing your own boards. [0]: https://docs.rust-embedded.org/discovery/index.html https://docs.rust-embedded.org/discovery/index.html [1]: https://github.com/rust-embedded/embedded-hal https://github.com/rust-embedded/embedded-hal [2]: https://github.com/japaric/cortex-m-rtfm https://github.com/japaric/cortex-m-rtfm [3]: Such as https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32f3discovery.html https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32f3discovery.html

benj111 7y ago

"Maybe it's a personality flaw" I'm sure it's a 'flaw' that most of us have. I also like getting grand plans for a (hardware) project, ordering the parts from Ali express, then losing interest before the parts have arrived, so they still end up in 'the drawer'.