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Congrats! It's absolutely refreshing to dust off an old hobby and do something with it! I'm only 28, but during the pandemic I decided to dust off my old elect

Congrats! It's absolutely refreshing to dust off an old hobby and do something with it! I'm only 28, but during the pandemic I decided to dust off my old electronics hobbies that fell by the wayside when the mobile app boom started. Middle school and early high school me thought I was going into robotics, but the iPhone came out the year I started high school. When the App Store came out the following year, the smartphone revolution started, and about a year later I went all in on mobile apps and gaming for the rest of high school and my college years. Contract iOS and Unity3D work got me through college. It's somewhat ironic, because I haven't written or worked on a single mobile app since I left college (nor have I owned an Apple device). I ended up taking all of the knowledge of embedded Linux systems I gained doing robotics and started doing esoteric high performance storage virtualization systems as the starting point of my career. Never saw that one coming. I hadn't really done any serious hobby electronics in nearly a decade, but I've continued to lug all of the equipment around every time I move. So, I dusted off some old hardware and got hooked once again, only to find out that the AVR is old news and everyone is into ESP32 and ARM these days :)

bananabat 5y ago
Thanks! I've always been fascinated by electronics and I so envy people in that domain. I bought an Arduino board (sorry if that's totally kiddie to you) and some parts and so far, my son and I have made a little robot that runs very inefficiently on 9-volt batteries. I just want to plug the damn thing in to overcome the power issue.
- donquichotte 5y ago
  > I bought an Arduino board (sorry if that's totally kiddie to you) Not kiddie at all, AVR microcontrollers have been used commercially for ages and they have some properties that can be nice, e.g. they are fairly simple cores, they operate at 5V and their output pins can sink ~40mA, so you can easily e.g. drive a MOSFET gate. The Arduino ecosystem is huge and it's great to get things up and running quickly.
  - bananabat 5y ago
    Barely scratching the surface of that domain. I'm mostly enamored of enabling little automations in my other hobbies. Like moisture sensors and auto sprinklers for my indoor grow. One day, I'll do something about everything!
- qiqitori 5y ago
  (I don't know how much you know about electronics so sorry if I'm stating the obvious here) 9V batteries sound and look like they should last long, but putting 6 1.5V batteries in series should last much longer. 9V batteries have a typical capacity of ~550 mAh, 1.5V batteries (even rechargeable ones) have a typical capacity of 2000~3000 mAh.
  - bananabat 5y ago
    I'm glad my lil research has been validated. Last week I bought one of those adapter cases that accommodate 6 1.5Vs but have 9V terminals. Now how to tape that case to my little robot. And I don't know much, so thank you.
  - andylynch 5y ago
    Of course 9v batteries are just six 1.5 cells in a rectangular pack- often they are even made of round cells like AAA, only much smaller.
    - StevenWaterman 5y ago
      They're actually AAAA cells!
      - bananabat 5y ago
        How many As are there in batteries?
- robocat 5y ago
  The Arduino regulator can very likely take 10 Volts - although do check first. Advantages: fairly cheap, rechargeable, and you can give PowerBanks to kids or whatever when finished or if you upgrade to something better. Maybe get kids to help! > sorry if that's totally kiddie to you Things are only kiddie if you think they are (personally I enjoy learning from children). Worrying too much about what others think will hold you back from having fun! Enjoy the game programming!
  - bananabat 5y ago
    Thank you. I guess a lot of people (including me) can be apprehensive about wading into technical domains. I've run into some hostile online environments, for sure. But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn.
    - Teknoman117 5y ago
      > But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn. That's one of the things I miss about "the old Internet". I remember when I first started using it around ~2000 to communicate with other electronics hobbyists, back when avrfreaks was big or just random people's widget shops has forums. There seemingly wasn't the level of toxicity that exists today. The first time I think I ever ran into someone being toxic (directly to me) was about 2009. IIRC they were saying that because I wasn't an EE I shouldn't be attempting to help people or something (I was halfway though high school at that point).
      - bananabat 5y ago
        It's why I'm always grateful to stumble upon any community where the members are constructive.
        robocat 5y ago
        If a friend who knows nothing about computers asks me for help, they are often ashamed of their lack of knowledge. I usually can fix the problem. However I feel even more deeply ignorant than them, since I have spent my life working with computers and electronics. For example I might reinstall Windows, and my friend thinks I am a computer wizard, but I am fraudulent in my own mind because I didn’t actually diagnose the cause of their problem. By learning more we discover the depths of our own ignorance. I’m not sure how to nurture my own inner child of discovery and protect it from the unconstructive bullies in the world, or my own negative inner voices. We all have to learn our own techniques, since they have to be personalised to our own personalities. Anyway, good fortune on your own path of discovery, and thank you for publishing your journey. I do find it inspiring!

bananabat 5y ago

Thanks! I've always been fascinated by electronics and I so envy people in that domain. I bought an Arduino board (sorry if that's totally kiddie to you) and some parts and so far, my son and I have made a little robot that runs very inefficiently on 9-volt batteries. I just want to plug the damn thing in to overcome the power issue.

donquichotte 5y ago
> I bought an Arduino board (sorry if that's totally kiddie to you) Not kiddie at all, AVR microcontrollers have been used commercially for ages and they have some properties that can be nice, e.g. they are fairly simple cores, they operate at 5V and their output pins can sink ~40mA, so you can easily e.g. drive a MOSFET gate. The Arduino ecosystem is huge and it's great to get things up and running quickly.
- bananabat 5y ago
  Barely scratching the surface of that domain. I'm mostly enamored of enabling little automations in my other hobbies. Like moisture sensors and auto sprinklers for my indoor grow. One day, I'll do something about everything!
qiqitori 5y ago
(I don't know how much you know about electronics so sorry if I'm stating the obvious here) 9V batteries sound and look like they should last long, but putting 6 1.5V batteries in series should last much longer. 9V batteries have a typical capacity of ~550 mAh, 1.5V batteries (even rechargeable ones) have a typical capacity of 2000~3000 mAh.
- bananabat 5y ago
  I'm glad my lil research has been validated. Last week I bought one of those adapter cases that accommodate 6 1.5Vs but have 9V terminals. Now how to tape that case to my little robot. And I don't know much, so thank you.
- andylynch 5y ago
  Of course 9v batteries are just six 1.5 cells in a rectangular pack- often they are even made of round cells like AAA, only much smaller.
  - StevenWaterman 5y ago
    They're actually AAAA cells!
    - bananabat 5y ago
      How many As are there in batteries?
robocat 5y ago
The Arduino regulator can very likely take 10 Volts - although do check first. Advantages: fairly cheap, rechargeable, and you can give PowerBanks to kids or whatever when finished or if you upgrade to something better. Maybe get kids to help! > sorry if that's totally kiddie to you Things are only kiddie if you think they are (personally I enjoy learning from children). Worrying too much about what others think will hold you back from having fun! Enjoy the game programming!
- bananabat 5y ago
  Thank you. I guess a lot of people (including me) can be apprehensive about wading into technical domains. I've run into some hostile online environments, for sure. But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn.
  - Teknoman117 5y ago
    > But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn. That's one of the things I miss about "the old Internet". I remember when I first started using it around ~2000 to communicate with other electronics hobbyists, back when avrfreaks was big or just random people's widget shops has forums. There seemingly wasn't the level of toxicity that exists today. The first time I think I ever ran into someone being toxic (directly to me) was about 2009. IIRC they were saying that because I wasn't an EE I shouldn't be attempting to help people or something (I was halfway though high school at that point).
    - bananabat 5y ago
      It's why I'm always grateful to stumble upon any community where the members are constructive.
      - robocat 5y ago
        If a friend who knows nothing about computers asks me for help, they are often ashamed of their lack of knowledge. I usually can fix the problem. However I feel even more deeply ignorant than them, since I have spent my life working with computers and electronics. For example I might reinstall Windows, and my friend thinks I am a computer wizard, but I am fraudulent in my own mind because I didn’t actually diagnose the cause of their problem. By learning more we discover the depths of our own ignorance. I’m not sure how to nurture my own inner child of discovery and protect it from the unconstructive bullies in the world, or my own negative inner voices. We all have to learn our own techniques, since they have to be personalised to our own personalities. Anyway, good fortune on your own path of discovery, and thank you for publishing your journey. I do find it inspiring!