Surface Tension
Last updated: 19 Apr 2023 - 21:43
Just less than a year ago I decided it would be interesting to try out a Microsoft Surface as an alternative to an Android tablet and maybe more portable than my venerable ThinkPad T430. I got a cheap unit from eBay to try it out, it's a Surface Pro 5 so pretty old now. Of course I didn't want to use Windows on it and I was thrilled with how easy getting a nice Linux install was on this very Microsoft hardware. I didn't do anything particularly special to get it running, just followed the instructions on GitHub.
For the most part my experience with the platform was good. Performance was pretty good. The pen and touch screen worked pretty well. I used it for coding, PCB layout, lots of FreeCAD work and even a bit of gaming via Steam. I only had 8GB of RAM which would probably have been okay but the ultra high definition display meant that apps were taking a lot more RAM than I'd expected and it very easily ran out of memory.
Midas Graphic OLED
Last updated: 11 Nov 2020 - 11:31
I recently included a Midas Graphic OLED 128x32 pixel display in a product I'm developing at work. The OLED is available from Farnell for a very reasonable £7.61. It's got a 0.1" pitch header for comms and 4 M2 mounting holes which makes it ideal for DIY/prototype products that don't have custom enclosures to mount a bare LCD glass panel nicely.
The big problem is the documentation which is worse than non-existent. It's confusing, misleading and in places just plain wrong. The datasheet seems to have been assembled by someone copying and pasting bits from the controller datasheet with no understanding of what the product does.
I eventually figured it out and got it working, so here are my notes.
MacAllister 36V Lithium System Clearance
Last updated: 09 Apr 2015 - 19:38
About 2 years ago British DIY store B&Q started stocking a 36V lithium battery based garden tool set. I picked up the mower and the strimmer which was all I needed at the time. You could buy individual tools and batteries separately, the battery pack is an impressive 36V 2.6 or 4Ah lithium pack. Initially the 2.6Ah pack was around £100 and the 4Ah was around £130. I've always been thinking it would be an interesting pack to use for other things but at that price hadn't got around to it, however about a month ago the line was discontinued and piles of the batteries can be found in B&Q stores all over the country for around £30.
KiCAD Forums
Last updated: 30 Aug 2014 - 16:08
A few weeks ago Chris Gammell (of The Amp Hour and more recently Contextual Electronics) has released his set of KiCAD videos, and set up a forum for users to discus the software, all available on the new kicad.info site. I've been using KiCAD for about 6 years now (I looked up my first PCB order I designed with it and it was September 2008) and whilst I happily recommend it to anyone who wants to get into PCB design, I've completely forgotten how complex it is to learn to use. I think the video series is a great starting point and the forums are a good way to troubleshoot specific issues you have. There are a good number of people on there now but the more people, the better the range of discussion. There are a couple of existing mailing lists for KiCAD, the developers mailing list on Launchpad and a users mailing list which is a Yahoo group that always gave me a really terrible user experience. The new forum is much more intuitive and interactive.
Engineering Glossary
Last updated: 24 Aug 2014 - 22:06
One of my contacts at Element 14 got in touch last week to let me know they've been putting together an Engineering Glossary. There's a good range of terms there with brief definitions. The great thing about a subject specific list like this is that you know you're going to get the thing you're looking for rather than the same acronym in a completely unrelated field. It isn't a wiki, so you can't add or update definitions but there's a feedback form on the page if you want to send in a comment.
Tools: Mini Reamer
Last updated: 10 May 2014 - 12:50
Mini Reamer: A very handy little tool of high quality.
Stripboard construction and home-made PCBs are going out of fashion these days, but for the odd power supply or prototype they're still often worth doing. One of the most annoying problems I regularly face when building things (especially power supplies) on stripboard is components with leads too big to fit. Most cheap stripboard tends to use punched holes between 0.8 and 1.0mm in diameter (about 40 thou). With power-handling components particularly leads can be 1.0mm or even bigger, and they just won't push through the board. Opening out holes with a craft knife can be tricky, and having a range of tiny drill bits can be costly (especially as they're really easy to snap). The best solution is a mini reamer.
Novena Open Source Laptop
Last updated: 30 Apr 2014 - 21:06
The idea of an open source laptop makes me feel the same excitement I felt using Linux for the first time over a decade ago.
Earlier this month Andrew "bunnie" Huang, hacker of the Xbox (read the book) and creater of the Chumby announced a crowd funding campaign for his Novena open-source laptop. I'd heard about the project before and liked the design. In fact I have several almost identical system level designs in my engineering notebook waiting for me to have the time and money to make one myself. Since it is unlikely I'd ever get around to building anything that costly or complex on my own I'm really excited to hear that I can buy one of someone else's design.
OKI Metcal PS-900 Soldering Iron Review
Last updated: 28 Aug 2012 - 13:41
OKI PS900: The complete OKI PS-900 kit (plus a couple of extra tips).
Having a really good soldering iron can really affect the range of parts you can use in projects and the time it takes you to do things. I've been using a Weller TCP iron that was originally owned by Tektronics for many years and it has been a great tool (and still is!) but upgrading this to lead free can be pricey and the temperature control in these old mechanical irons can make switching from soldering pads connected to hairline tracks to pads connected to ground planes a little dangerous for the components. I had a couple of bits of 0.5mm pitch soldering to do, so before I got started I decided to get a new lead-free compatible iron. After some research I settled on the OKI PS-900 soldering station.
Schmart Board Review
Last updated: 10 Jun 2012 - 21:10
48 pin LQFP: A small STM32 processor broken out to 0.1" pitch.
There are lots of cases these days where the chip you want to play with are just not available in a through-hole variety. This is a real nuisance for hobbyists and even professionals who want to prototype a sub system before designing the PCB. You can get custom PCBs in small volumes very cheap these days but sometimes you lack the time or skills to make a custom PCB for simple jobs. There are a few suppliers of break out boards but they tend to be wildly over-priced cheap small PCBs with nothing remarkable in terms of features. SchmartBoard seems to be different, a few weeks ago I go sent a package of them for review and decided to look into what makes them special.
Derby Mini Maker Faire 2012
Last updated: 05 Jun 2012 - 14:36
I was at Derby Mini Maker Faire this weekend and really enjoyed the day. Got a few bits to tinker with from some of the stalls and saw lots of interesting projects. I was hanging around the Bristol Hackspace stand for a good chunk of the day and we had a few interesting projects on display. The now famous musical bicycle wheels, Barney had his twitbeeb project running which provided a twitter fall on a BBC model B using a Raspberry Pi. My Pong 2 game was on display as well. London Hackspace had an enormous crazy golf course built all around the hackspaces area. A robotic xylophone from Brighton was playing most of the day and there were occasional appearances from a Dalek.