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..::hagar::..
Administrator
Old klik fart
Registered
2/20/2002
Points
3029
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2nd February, 2012 at 9:45:47 PM -
I am currently planning the series of articles (and videos hopefully) on interfacing MMF2 with electronics, which I mentioned on my first news post  .
Currently I am aiming to try and keep the materials cost as low as possible for two reasons : it's a hobby for fun and secondly if people do not enjoy electronics I do not wish cost to be a significant burden. Hence I am trying to maximise the number of things people can build with a fixed set of parts.
Each article will build upon the previous one in terms of complexity, leading up to some hopefully pretty cool projects
Proposed series:
1) What you need, Microcontrollers, The Arduino and a blinky "hello world"
2) Basic communication to the PC, reading sensors and displaying data
3) Basic analogue components and their uses: diodes, resistors, capacitors and NPN transistors.
4) A simple temperature monitoring device.
5) A programmable persistence of vision "wand", with patterns programmable in MMF2
6) Pulse width modulation and motor control
7) A low cost light based Theremin using MMF2 with pitch and volume control.
If anyone has any projects they would really like to see, please chip in  .
n/a
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Sketchy
Cornwall UK
Registered
11/6/2004
Points
2477
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3rd February, 2012 at 12:13:08 AM -
What I would like:
* USB control - without installing any extra interface cards in the computer (or any extra software beyond a .dll file),
* Perhaps eventually Bluetooth control (I believe the interface cards are still too pricey to use in my project),
* Control of multiple servo motors - including winch servos with continuous rotation,
* Control of RE-380 / RS-550 class electric motors, via an electronic speed controller.
If I'm honest, the other stuff doesn't really interest me, as I have no practical application for it.
It would be nice if you'd use a Pololu servo controller, as they're smaller and I already have one, but that's probably asking a little too much 
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1350
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..::hagar::..
Administrator
Old klik fart
Registered
2/20/2002
Points
3029
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5th February, 2012 at 1:45:45 PM -
The little projects are really aimed at teaching people a bit of electronics, whilst building something moderately fun and cheap. I want to keep the course simple, but not too simple that it merely becomes a parrot fashion experience i.e. repeat what I do and all will be fine, this seems to be the way things are going elsewhere and I dislike it!
I have looked at the Pololu servo controller. I would much rather people used an Arduino to be honest. There is lots of support, daughter boards (shields in arduino speak) and projects already out there for people to try after the course. Also the arduino uses C, with simplified initialisation and IO functions. The Pololu thing looks a mix of BASIC & Forth (both of which IMO should no longer exist!). Being able to program in C is a good transferable skill to have, where as the scripting language for the Pololu is a dead end in terms of transferable skills.
Anyway in answer to the original questions:
* All you will need is a USB A to B lead, the type used on printers and scanners. You will need the FT232 driver, although windows 7 and Ubuntu have these inbuilt (well they set it up automatically for me with no problems). Control will be done using an MMF2 extension and nothing else .
* Bluetooth modules can be brought for respectable money now (I brought one years ago for about £50!)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Wireless-Bluetooth-RF-Transceiver-Module-RS232-TTL-3-3VDC-30ft-High-Quality-/320794974743?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item4ab0deda17
Tempted to have a go at doing some basic rf control 
* I have some servos somewhere, some I have already modified for continuous rotation (wondering if I have any standard ones spare). The PWM motor control aims to cover controlling servos and plain vanilla DC motors.
* I have no ESC controllers (I used to race petrol remote control cars, not much use for them!). Such devices should accept a standard 50 Hz servo PWM signal. If we can control a servo, we can control a bigger motor via an ESC.
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eliris
Registered
5/14/2010
Points
551
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21st February, 2012 at 2/21/2012 10:40:11 AM -
a chiptune software that uses a midi input will be great, or a gameboy ported and can be read by a mmf2 program
or a security cam will be nice too
Digital art:
http://stevennomena.blogspot.com
Website&demos:
http://eliris.freeiz.com
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..::hagar::..
Administrator
Old klik fart
Registered
2/20/2002
Points
3029
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22nd February, 2012 at 2/22/2012 1:44:48 PM -
Making an interpreter for MMF games for a GBA/DS etc (if I have understood you correctly) and the associated hardware would be a vast project even for a competent software and hardware engineer.
I want to keep the projects simple and cheap for newcomers to electronics. The other 2 projects are feasible though. Hopefully the first article should be up next week .
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Va1entine
Registered
12/14/2003
Points
367
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22nd February, 2012 at 2/22/2012 4:11:02 PM -
Some of the stuff this community can create is unreal. Sounds exciting Hagar!
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..::hagar::..
Administrator
Old klik fart
Registered
2/20/2002
Points
3029
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23rd February, 2012 at 2/23/2012 5:24:19 PM -
Cheers, I would really like to see more people doing hobby electronics and actually making things.
Less and less people seem to make things themselves as time progresses and I think its bit of a shame. I shall post later on my latest build, my valve amplifier
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Jenswa
Possibly Insane 
Registered
8/26/2002
Points
2217
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23rd February, 2012 at 2/23/2012 8:13:18 PM -
Cool, can I finally hook up things from my ever growing spare box of electronic parts.
I probably love interfacing from html5 too, but that might leave some security holes open just waiting to be abused.
Check out DTV Boxes http://ow.ly/k13fh (work in progress)
Download hh_beer.zip from http://ge.tt/4d07kPc/v/0 and hhxl.zip from http://ge.tt/3kbXlPc/v/0
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