4 ms·

Doctor Who HiFive – Inventor Coding Kit

31 points by talles 6y ago

neilv 6y ago
Looks like it's RISC-V (SiFive FE310-G003 SoC). https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/19/bbc_doctor_who_sifive/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/19/bbc_doctor_who_sifive...
- chubs 6y ago
  In the screenshots on the site, I saw an 'from esp32 import *' which might mean it's an ESP32? The photo of the circuit board however clearly shows an SiFive chip so i'm a little unsure to be honest!
  - lights0123 6y ago
    See these pictures: https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/12/16/new-products-bbc-doctor-who-hifive-inventor-complete-kit-computer-only/ https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/12/16/new-products-bbc-doctor... It has a SiFive processor, an ESP32, and a Cortex-M4 http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1844104.pdf http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1844104.pdf
bArray 6y ago
Probably won't be around for long as the lead actor seems to be set to exit [1]. Also I don't think Doctor Who pulls in the audiences it used to. [1] https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/scifi/2021-01-03/jodie-whittaker-leaving-doctor-who/ https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/scifi/2021-01-03/jodie-wh...
- smeej 6y ago
  It doesn't have to change with the Doctor. Having it just be from 13's Doctor even after she leaves doesn't make it less cool or engaging. It's not like anybody stopped loving David Tennant or buying related toys when Matt Smith showed up.
- h0l0cube 6y ago
  [2] https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php Looking at the long term trends, the mid 70s was the zenith for Doctor Who, the late 80s it's senescence. Numbers have been trending down for some years now back to those 80s levels.
  - lvturner 6y ago
    I'd be watching it, but they pulled it from Netflix and BBC iPlayer Geo-locks me out.. I'm sure I could find a source for it, legitimate or otherwise - but I lost motivation.
  - bArray 6y ago
    I can't suggest that it will repeat the previous decline, but the reboot was dark and gritty with consequences. The latest season was light and meaningless, there's not been any real build up in the story. To me the biggest loss was Russel T Davies [1] and Steven Moffat [2], then bringing on Chris Chibnall to be the show runner [3]. I also don't think it helps that the BBC are on some kind of a morality crusade at the cost of good content in some cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_T_Davies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_T_Davies [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Moffat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Moffat [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall
- mhh__ 6y ago
  > Also I don't think Doctor Who pulls in the audiences it used to. The show is in a weird place at the moment - the ratings aren't bad enough to justify cancellation, but the show just doesn't really work properly. Jodie's run has been a bit of a dud - although Capaldi was probably impossible to follow.
  - dbt00 6y ago
    Chibnall's not the writer Moffat or Davies was, but really nobody's been as popular in the role as Tennant and it's not clear someone can be. Ratings have slowly trended downward since his peak.
  - tragomaskhalos 6y ago
    When I was a lad, a story spanned 4 or even 6 episodes so had time to evolve properly, and of course gave the famous cliffhangers at the end of each episode. This mechanism worked really well, even if the writing was often iffy. The modern scheme of parcelling an entire story in a single extended episode, otoh, hardly ever works, because there just isn't time for the viewer to get invested in what's going on. The New Year's day one, for example, seemed to be entirely resolved in about 10 minutes, which was just flat.
dTal 6y ago
The core idea of capturing a child's imagination with a learning toy by framing it as an object from the universe of a beloved TV show is a great idea. I can see some flaws in this particular implementation. The Doctor Who tie-in is very unevenly applied - the toy shares no visual design elements with the TV show, and I think the example project of "intergalactic weather service" would have strained my suspension of disbelief even as a child (while "Send and receive emojis" represents complete abdication of the attempt). However, they do seem to have gone to a lot of trouble on the art side, with illustrated "story mode" lessons narrated by Jodie Whittaker herself. One can only hope the plotting is of a higher quality than recent seasons of the actual show...
- enw 6y ago
  I also find the weather example a bit funny. "Remember kids, if you want to ask for weather, don't forget to send the API key from the previous step in an HTTP header named x-rapidapi-key!"
- mhh__ 6y ago
  > One can only hope the plotting is of a higher quality than recent seasons of the actual show... Maybe we'll find out there's a "Timeless ISA" made by Intel which is really RISC-V all along!
  - a9h74j 6y ago
    Plot twist: New Intel CPUs discovered to be running Minix on a RISC-V core.
- kiddico 6y ago
  I'm surprised they didn't model it after the sonic screw driver[0] somehow. I think they would have had issues getting that LED grid to fin nicely on it. The design they went with looks rather straight forward and easy to make and assemble as well. Can't imagine aligning all the parts in a thin shaft would make assembly very easy. Actually, I'm not really that surprised they didn't model it after the sonic screwdriver. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_screwdriver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_screwdriver
wegs 6y ago
Looks like a Micro:bit, but: * Proprietary * Around 4x the price * With less community * With worse documentation. * With some learning pathway based on Dr. Who videos, which you can't preview before buying * 5x the speed, colored LEDs, an oversized case and wifi. I like Micro:bits, but part of the appeal is I could buy four of them to start off with, and expect to buy more over time. They're cheap enough to power projects, and they can communicate with each other. I also really like Makecode with the Micro:bit. It seems a lot nicer than Tynker. Doesn't really do it for me. What would do it for me is a Micro:bit-compatible device with a basic touchscreen. One of the limitations of the Micro:bit is limited input. If I have Micro:bits controlling lights, or robots, or whatever, it'd be helpful to have a single "master" controller where I can control things from.

31 points by talles 6y ago

Looks like it's RISC-V (SiFive FE310-G003 SoC). https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/19/bbc_doctor_who_sifive/ https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/19/bbc_doctor_who_sifive...

chubs 6y ago
In the screenshots on the site, I saw an 'from esp32 import *' which might mean it's an ESP32? The photo of the circuit board however clearly shows an SiFive chip so i'm a little unsure to be honest!
- lights0123 6y ago
  See these pictures: https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/12/16/new-products-bbc-doctor-who-hifive-inventor-complete-kit-computer-only/ https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/12/16/new-products-bbc-doctor... It has a SiFive processor, an ESP32, and a Cortex-M4 http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1844104.pdf http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1844104.pdf

bArray 6y ago

Probably won't be around for long as the lead actor seems to be set to exit [1]. Also I don't think Doctor Who pulls in the audiences it used to. [1] https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/scifi/2021-01-03/jodie-whittaker-leaving-doctor-who/ https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/scifi/2021-01-03/jodie-wh...

smeej 6y ago
It doesn't have to change with the Doctor. Having it just be from 13's Doctor even after she leaves doesn't make it less cool or engaging. It's not like anybody stopped loving David Tennant or buying related toys when Matt Smith showed up.
h0l0cube 6y ago
[2] https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php Looking at the long term trends, the mid 70s was the zenith for Doctor Who, the late 80s it's senescence. Numbers have been trending down for some years now back to those 80s levels.
- lvturner 6y ago
  I'd be watching it, but they pulled it from Netflix and BBC iPlayer Geo-locks me out.. I'm sure I could find a source for it, legitimate or otherwise - but I lost motivation.
- bArray 6y ago
  I can't suggest that it will repeat the previous decline, but the reboot was dark and gritty with consequences. The latest season was light and meaningless, there's not been any real build up in the story. To me the biggest loss was Russel T Davies [1] and Steven Moffat [2], then bringing on Chris Chibnall to be the show runner [3]. I also don't think it helps that the BBC are on some kind of a morality crusade at the cost of good content in some cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_T_Davies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_T_Davies [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Moffat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Moffat [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Chibnall
mhh__ 6y ago
> Also I don't think Doctor Who pulls in the audiences it used to. The show is in a weird place at the moment - the ratings aren't bad enough to justify cancellation, but the show just doesn't really work properly. Jodie's run has been a bit of a dud - although Capaldi was probably impossible to follow.
- dbt00 6y ago
  Chibnall's not the writer Moffat or Davies was, but really nobody's been as popular in the role as Tennant and it's not clear someone can be. Ratings have slowly trended downward since his peak.
- tragomaskhalos 6y ago
  When I was a lad, a story spanned 4 or even 6 episodes so had time to evolve properly, and of course gave the famous cliffhangers at the end of each episode. This mechanism worked really well, even if the writing was often iffy. The modern scheme of parcelling an entire story in a single extended episode, otoh, hardly ever works, because there just isn't time for the viewer to get invested in what's going on. The New Year's day one, for example, seemed to be entirely resolved in about 10 minutes, which was just flat.

dTal 6y ago

The core idea of capturing a child's imagination with a learning toy by framing it as an object from the universe of a beloved TV show is a great idea. I can see some flaws in this particular implementation. The Doctor Who tie-in is very unevenly applied - the toy shares no visual design elements with the TV show, and I think the example project of "intergalactic weather service" would have strained my suspension of disbelief even as a child (while "Send and receive emojis" represents complete abdication of the attempt). However, they do seem to have gone to a lot of trouble on the art side, with illustrated "story mode" lessons narrated by Jodie Whittaker herself. One can only hope the plotting is of a higher quality than recent seasons of the actual show...

enw 6y ago
I also find the weather example a bit funny. "Remember kids, if you want to ask for weather, don't forget to send the API key from the previous step in an HTTP header named x-rapidapi-key!"
mhh__ 6y ago
> One can only hope the plotting is of a higher quality than recent seasons of the actual show... Maybe we'll find out there's a "Timeless ISA" made by Intel which is really RISC-V all along!
- a9h74j 6y ago
  Plot twist: New Intel CPUs discovered to be running Minix on a RISC-V core.
kiddico 6y ago
I'm surprised they didn't model it after the sonic screw driver[0] somehow. I think they would have had issues getting that LED grid to fin nicely on it. The design they went with looks rather straight forward and easy to make and assemble as well. Can't imagine aligning all the parts in a thin shaft would make assembly very easy. Actually, I'm not really that surprised they didn't model it after the sonic screwdriver. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_screwdriver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_screwdriver

wegs 6y ago

Looks like a Micro:bit, but: * Proprietary * Around 4x the price * With less community * With worse documentation. * With some learning pathway based on Dr. Who videos, which you can't preview before buying * 5x the speed, colored LEDs, an oversized case and wifi. I like Micro:bits, but part of the appeal is I could buy four of them to start off with, and expect to buy more over time. They're cheap enough to power projects, and they can communicate with each other. I also really like Makecode with the Micro:bit. It seems a lot nicer than Tynker. Doesn't really do it for me. What would do it for me is a Micro:bit-compatible device with a basic touchscreen. One of the limitations of the Micro:bit is limited input. If I have Micro:bits controlling lights, or robots, or whatever, it'd be helpful to have a single "master" controller where I can control things from.