Archive for the ‘ arduino ’ Category
Continuing on in the (Long) line of arduino+rss hacks, here is some python code that parses a gmail rss feed. This is a throwback to the post that started it all, the arduino gmail notifier. The original code was tweaked a bit to display the subjects of new mail on an lcd screen.
Continuing on the line of arduino+rss hacks, here is some python code that parses Tweets. By changing the rss feed you can either follow one person’s tweets, or you can access your “follow” feed (i.e. everyone you follow on twitter.com) In order to do the second option you will have to supply your login credentials.
I just whipped up this script that checks and displays the weather through rssweather.com. As always, it requires feedparser, an arduino, and a lcd screen. It is currently configured to read Burlington Vt’s weather, so if you don’t live there – change it in the python file. Check out the commenting for more info. Click here to download the zip file. Arduino rss reader – Weather module
For those of you just tuning in – you might want to check out the original arduino rss reader post for more details
Also check out the twitter feed reader.
My last project, the arduino gmail checker really opened my eyes to python/rss/arduino integration. I branched out from there to use feedparser for more conventional rss reading and I ended up with a python script that pulls in your friend updates from facebook. That was cool watching it scroll by in terminal, but I decided to geek it up a bit and make it display out through a serial lcd. Nothing is more distracting than a lcd flickering constantly at your desk!
Here’s a pic of it doing it’s thing.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypshRUC20sw[/youtube]
Here’s how I did it.
I’ve been really interested in doing J4mie’s Physical Gmail Notifier ever since it came out in February. I only recently dropped into the project and got to learn a lot about python, plists, and arduino auto-reset functionality. I’m going to share what I’ve learned because I think there are lots of other people out there struggling to make it work. This page doesn’t really offer much that J4mie didn’t already say – it just says it in a different way.
I’ll post the code below – one issue with the way J4mie posted his was that it appended line numbers to everything and messed with formatting. Python is _really_ picky about formatting! All of the files are zipped HERE. It consists of three documents -
1) one python script that logs into your gmail rss feed and checks your total number of new messages. It then sends either an ‘m’ or an ‘n’ to the serial port.
2) one arduino sketch that tells the arduino to turn on or off a light based on the serial input
3) one .plist file that tells your mac (sorry pcs!) to run the python script every 60 seconds. If you run windows or linux then I’m sure there is something you can do to schedule this. You could also just set it to loop until quit. (to quit a script in terminal hit control-c)
In making my list annual of goodies I usually look for other people who have compiled “gift guides” aimed specifically at geeks like me. Usually they are written for the wrong kind of geek, and are full of things like star trek stuff, D&D, LEGO, or model airplane parts. All of those things are definitely geeky, but are not what I am looking for. Last year I bought and Arduino largely due to the 2007 arduino gift guide put out by MAKE mag
This year they have a $20 and under guide (no doubt influenced by the recession!) but no arduino-specific guide. I decided to put the things I have been pining over, as well as the things I have been really enjoying into a list. I will put a few of the tastier options below, but I decided to create an amazon list so that anyone interested can go to one spot and buy within a few clicks!
There are some tools in there, some shields, as well as some arduinos for newb and seasoned professionals.
The coolest thing I am excited about is Ladyada’s electronic toolbox. It is a TON of tools that she put together into one beginner kit. This is seriously everything that you would need to go very far with an arduino. It certainly is enough to get you well on your way!
From her site, the kit contains:
30W adjustable temperature soldering iron (Model XY258)
Soldering stand
Solder, rosin-core, 0.031″ diameter, 1/4 lb (100g) spool
Solder sucker<
Solder wick/braid 5ft spool
Panavise Jr
Basic multimeter (model MAS830)
Diagonal cutters
Wire strippers
Micro needle-nose pliers
Solid-core wire, 22AWG, 25ft spools
Half size solderless breadboard
5V power supply kit –
ALL FOR $100 Bucks!!
If your geek guy/gal has been in ‘the game’ for a while then they have probably grabbed most of these items already. It might be a good idea to look and purchase items separately to ‘fill in the gaps’ though. If you are shopping for a newbie, then you are in luck. With this tool kit and a few things to solder together they will be very happy come christmas!
As I reviewed previously, the book Making Things Talk
is a great book for figuring out communication into and out of an arduino. It has a lot of different examples in it from entry level to advanced.
Sometimes it’s the simple things that make things easier. When a mechanic has the right tool it can turn a 3 hour knucklebuster into a 5 minute breeze. Read more
I’m currently working on a project that requires the Arduino to accept serial input from my mac. This would ordinarily be fine, but the auto-reset function means that the arduino resets whenever I send it data, and then it forgets the data!
I emailed Paul at Modern Device company to ask if there was an easy way to remove the auto rest function. Luckily there is! He said that the capacitor closest to the reset button is the one responsible. To remove auto reset you can remove the cap, cut the trace above or below the cap, or even remove the dtr line from the ftdi cable!
Here is a shot showing the assembled board. The cap is the blue guy poking out from behind the reset button.
Last night I built two Freeduino Bare Bones Boards. I had two kits. One was from Moderndevice, and one was from MAKE. They were essentially the same kit, but different versions. There was one resistor difference I believe. The first kit took me quite a while to put together – probably about an hour. The second kit took about half of that. They were really quite straightforward. Put the parts in in the order they suggest and solder them up. You could even put them in in the wrong order – it would just make holding them in the board while you flip it over harder.
There were two sticking points in the instructions – (1) they say you need 4 of the small caps and they give you 5. You really need all five. (2) for some reason I read the debugging instructions at the end to say “troubleshoot if the light doesn’t turn off” as opposed to “if the light doesn’t turn on”
Here is a pic of the back of the lcd. It shows that the JPE and JPB pads have been soldered closed. Those correspond with (0 to +5v) and inverted.
Here is the code I used to test it. I got my start by changing code from djmatic.
Read more
I have always been interested in Lego NXT. It seems like a really easy way to get into robotics, and programming. I have never really figured out how functional it is in the “real world” (whatever that means)
The other day a coworker was really pushing the idea on me telling me I needed to buy a kit because it was so easy to build things. Now I really struggle with the arduino most of the time, but I enjoy the struggle, and I know that if I ultimately build something then I can replicate it fairly cheaply. That is my issue with NXT. It is REALLY expensive. It is expensive for legos, it is expensive for a microprocessor, and it is expensive for the peripherals. I think I’m past the target age of these things, but regardless, I priced out how much it would cost for me to “replicate” an NXT kit with and arduino.
