Posts by gbrnt@hackers.town
(DIR) Post #APjfd6PUUzFRKexsNk by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-11-18T17:48:46Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Thinkpad dock! Thinkpad dock!
(DIR) Post #APqDKLWoapOV23CvNw by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-11-21T21:38:59Z
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@piggo Depends if filament manufacturers actually care about matching the colour they say it is
(DIR) Post #AQoR0NjziIUEwfLGls by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-10-11T20:31:12Z
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Electro-sax project post:One of my long-running projects is a MIDI-powered saxophone I'm calling the "electro-sax". The aim is to make something that's fun to play and feels fairly close to a real sax, so I can practice quietly.The full thread about this is back on my old account @gbrnt@mastodon.technology but unfortunately that will be gone soon. I'll try and briefly summarise the project here before I carry on.Current versionThe current version uses custom-made switches based around conductive silicone making contact against a PCB. It uses a pressure sensor to detect blowing and I've made some progress on a bite sensor using a force sensitive resistor. It feels good to play!Previous iterationsFirst test to see if I could get kinda close with no effort. Used MX-style keyboard switches for keys and a homemade breath sensor made from cardboard, a plastic bottle top, a balloon, an IR LED and a photodiode. Surprisingly good to play, but the keys didn't feel right because their actuation point was way too early.Capacitive touch version with adjustable 3D printed breath sensor. Big breath sensor improvement but the capacitive keys were horribly non-tactile to play.Microswitched based version - didn't go far with this at all because all the clicking was horrendous.Hybrid capacitive+mechanical switched version. This is where it gets good. You press on a lever that resists your finger, but your movement is sensed capacitively. Was very tedious to calibrate every time you wanted to use it (and after readings drifted a bit).Current version - conductive switches, off-the-shelf pressure sensor for breath sensor. The palm keys still don't feel quite right as they actuate too early.
(DIR) Post #AQoR0OT10uV1CIPDwe by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-10-11T20:39:15Z
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@gbrnt@mastodon.technology Some photos of the previous iterations for context - I meant to put these in the first post.
(DIR) Post #AQoR0RJYQXiK1p0D7A by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-19T21:47:15Z
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Yessss they arrived! I couldn't resist populating one of the electro-sax PCBs even though I'm missing one capacitor value and one connector. The pasting went pretty well, although I did get some bridges on the QFN chip. First time I've done a QFN and the bridges appeared to go with a quick wipe from a soldering iron.My multimeter's battery died so I had to improvise by hooking it up to a bench power supply. It worked and as far as I can tell so far everything is soldered ok!
(DIR) Post #AQoR0RrwMhDfkT5fiC by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-20T20:33:45Z
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Hmmm, the RP2040 UF2 bootloader works just fine - it shows up as a drive and I can put files onto it. When it reboots into operational mode it doesn't obviously do anything. e.g. the USB "hello world" example doesn't show up as a serial port. Micropython didn't work out of the box but the image was made for an actual Pi Pico so I'm not particularly surprised.I need to write a test program using the SDK to try just flashing an LED, and hopefully that'll get me on my way.
(DIR) Post #AQoR0SbJdzW21CJuRE by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-20T21:06:33Z
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Does picotool info showing program information mean that the QSPI flash is working, or is that info stored on the #rp2040 ? I may just not be putting the pin number in correctly (or my LEDs could be the wrong way round!), but this isn't working at the moment.
(DIR) Post #AQoR0TCXPbI1sdjdSK by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-20T21:09:22Z
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Actually picotool verify verifies that my blink sketch is correctly flashed - there's no way that the QSPI isn't working then, is there? If my multimeter wasn't dodgy (it wasn't just a dead battery) I'd check some pins. Maybe it's time to bring out that cheap Hantek scope.
(DIR) Post #AQoR0TjVR1f3Wt9xqK by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-20T21:20:00Z
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I think this person has the same problem as me: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=313306The RP2040 is trying to access the QSPI flash as if it's a Winbond one when it isn't (because I couldn't get them). So I just need to change it to use a more generic boot stage 2.
(DIR) Post #AQoR0UEhZ2cB5dksT2 by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-20T22:46:56Z
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Errr tusky ate my post but the solution suggested in the thread did work for me, and now I have blinky lights!
(DIR) Post #AQoR0Ui7ne9OYtWNKS by gbrnt@hackers.town
2022-12-20T22:48:02Z
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IT LIVES!
(DIR) Post #ASbli0fE657ADiAB04 by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-02-12T15:42:50Z
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Has anyone here made a 3D model of their house for testing out decoration, furniture, etc?We haven't bought the place yet but I've vectorised the floor plan and I'm thinking of using #FreeCAD to create a model. That lets us have some fun while we're dealing with the legal side.
(DIR) Post #ASbpAhUUlEh514W3ns by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-02-12T16:31:11Z
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@piggo Oh wow I remember looking at that with my dad maybe a decade ago and it looked old then! Did it work ok for you?
(DIR) Post #ATbulESYsvIxURch3Q by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-03-14T13:29:53Z
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@piggo One of my colleagues has used them, I'll ask him
(DIR) Post #ATbulFDi3d1DqfgLXk by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-03-14T15:33:02Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@piggo No suggestions unfortunately :( Apparently only half the line was out when he was looking and we just got what was available and didn't have all the features we didn't want
(DIR) Post #ATkqyW1L9lKKRbeG8W by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-03-17T22:07:59Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@dwarf I love your avatar!
(DIR) Post #AWWSu8bXaVhN2G19eq by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-06-09T17:58:03Z
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@piggo Looks like a neat setup! Do you have any trips planned?
(DIR) Post #AWWa0fVYrip2V6HXpg by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-06-09T19:09:42Z
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@piggo What about a dynamo hub? Or is it a bit late for that?
(DIR) Post #AXFLNQXhYkMnFvUpHM by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-07-01T09:34:54Z
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@piggo Do you mean single ones or an array of them? Maybe you're looking for a bottom-entry connector?
(DIR) Post #AXOZufIardMQMJoPse by gbrnt@hackers.town
2023-07-05T19:11:06Z
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@piggo Sounds like a nice trip, thanks for sharing it!I can definitely recommend trying out hammock camping - I used to but haven't since university