[TrueNash]

Sweet! What parts?
Got mine a couple of days ago, haven't had time to do anything but mess around with LEDs so far, but when I do, theres a box of old RC planes, cars and helicopters in my garage that are getting the chop.

[DrLuke]

Results:
Electrical explosions: 5
Electrical shocks: 2
Casualties: 0

[turby]

If I get one, I'll order one of those LCD text screens, see if I can find a keyboard with an easy interface and make a command line :)

[ddrl46]

Can you do anything usefull with a LCD screen from a mobile phone?
Also, trying to make a voltage increaser with some caps to fry some resistors.

[Borsty]

This might not be arduino related but I also worked with some avr's some time ago.

Some stuff:
VU display on a b/w lcd (Video sync broke when youtube decided to go hd)

@ddrl46 yes you can do useful stuff with mobile phone lcds
I once wrote a small rs232 (serial connection) to lcd thing so I could write to the screen easily from another controller:

Also calculating mandelbrot sets on an 8 bit processor ftw

[ddrl46]

Nice work.
Going to disassemble my old phone :D.

[TrueNash]

I found my old GBA and got excited about the screen, but apparently it's not possible to do anything with it *sad face*

[evilking1]

http://hackaday.com/2008/11/19/how-t...ial-interface/

Maybe this would work with the screen?

[TheBoff]

Borsty posted:

This might not be arduino related but I also worked with some avr's some time ago.

Some stuff:
VU display on a b/w lcd (Video sync broke when youtube decided to go hd)

@ddrl46 yes you can do useful stuff with mobile phone lcds
I once wrote a small rs232 (serial connection) to lcd thing so I could write to the screen easily from another controller:

Also calculating mandelbrot sets on an 8 bit processor ftw

How did you write the screen control library? I've got honestly no idea where you'd start - did you manage to find a manual after getting it off the phone, or something?

I'm really impressed by that!

[Borsty]

Yep, found a technical manual for the display used by the siemens s65, made the voltage pump for the background light and wrote a small lib for the avr (needs SPI interface) which contains all of the commands.. pretty straight forward.

And I bought the screen on ebay for like 10€ back then :P

If I remember correctly the only commands I used was to setup the orientation, the start and end coordinate and then wrote the 16bit color data to it, all the text rendering, lines etc were custom.

[DrLuke]

This is me trying out a piezo-sensor.

Sketch:

int read0;

void setup()
{
}

void loop()
{
  read0 = analogRead(0);
  analogWrite(11, read0);
}

[ddrl46]

Looks nice. Smash that table smash it :3:.

[Zero-Point]

ddrl46 posted:

Nooooooo DrLuke whyyy!!!
[/sarcasm]

Found some cool parts in a old electronic box. Going to make some cool stuff with it :D.

Electronic boxes are treasure chests of wonder and mystery! :D

[ddrl46]

Hell yeah.

Gotta find some old toys .

[Little Green]

This looks like something I'd enjoy a lot! I'm keen to get into this but just have a few questions if anybody could help :)

Is it worthwhile getting the mega? I seriously doubt I'd need the extra pins but I'm not sure how complex a program can be before you start having issues with the Duemilanove. I'm leaning towards the Duemilanove, but if it's worth the extra $10 - $20 I could be persuaded to buy the mega.

Is the protoshield + mini breadboard a useful thing to have? The starter kit I'm looking at on ebay doesn't have it, just a separate breadboard. I'm assuming you'll have no problems doing the same things without the protoshield, but it'd just be more convenient and tidy. (here's the link if anybody could tell me whether it's a decent buy http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ARDUINO-2009-...item1e5a0ec6d2)

The other option is to just buy the board and perhaps protoshield and forget about the kit - just buy components as they're needed.

Basically I just need a few pointers before I go ahead and buy one.

[ddrl46]

1. If you are going to do huge projects that need much pins, or going to connect 2 lcds to it, then yes.
2. It's usefull because it gives you more 5V and GND connections. The starterpack at Adafruit has a breadboard to stick on top.
3. ?
4. Adafruit

Edited:

We also got a arduino group, join us!
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Arduino

[TheBoff]

You will absolutely need a breadboard and wire kit of some description, Little Green, unless you don't want to do anything more complex than blink an LED.

[DrLuke]

An arduino Duemilanove is enough to start with. Get a duemilaonve first.


Holy moly, 2 color LED!

The finding of this LED really surprised me (found it in an old CD-Rom drive as I was about to throw it away).
After a few tests I got the idea of writing a small sketch that randomly fades it into different colors.

Sketch:

int grold = 0;
int reold = 0;
int cycles;
int grdif;
int redif;
int grdif1;
int redif1;
int green;
int red;

void setup()
{
}

void pulse(int gr, int re, int del)
{
  gr = constrain(gr, 0, 254);
  re = constrain(re, 0, 254);
  grdif1 = gr - grold;
  grdif = abs(grdif1);
  redif1 = re - reold;
  redif = abs(redif1);
  cycles = max(grdif, redif);
  for(int forv = 0; forv < cycles; forv++)
  {
    if(grdif1 > 0)
    {
      if(green != gr)
      {
        analogWrite(10, green++);
      }
    }
    if(grdif1 < 0)
    {
      if(green != gr)
      {
        analogWrite(10, green--);
      }
    }
    
    if(redif1 > 0)
    {
      if(red != re)
      {
        analogWrite(9, red++);
      }
    }
    if(redif1 < 0)
    {
      if(red != re)
      {
        analogWrite(9, red--);
      }
    }
    delay(del);
  }
  grold = gr;
  reold = re;
}

void loop()
{
  pulse(random(0,254), random(0, 150), 3);
  delay(3);
}

[Agent766]

That's pretty cool. Maybe make it fade slower like a mood light?

[Elspin]

Update of the program I'm working on.

[quincy18]

Elspin posted:

Update of the program I'm working on.

Awesome shit

Pretty cool dude.

[benjgvps]

Jonathan1321 posted:

I really want to start learning this but i am a bit worried about if i am capable of doing it or not, Can anyone recommend me a good site to learn some basics. Do you write the code in visual studio? I am doing some small console applications in VS08 atm in college but i find it hard as shit to understand and the code looks quite different.

http://www.lulu.com/content/1108699
This helped me out a ton, sure I'm still awful, though I am able to do something, from there you can experiment. Start at the basics and walk your way up to something.

[DrLuke]

:ohdear:

Youtube screwed it up a little, sorry. The flash at the end is really the last time this LED is going to shine, then it made a quiet "plop" and burned out (all in infrared spectrum)


Burnt another LED, this time with a better cam and sound:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/DSC03381.JPG
http://filesmelt.com/dl/DSC03384.JPG

Also, guys, if you ever try this:
!!! NEVER HOLD THE LED IN YOUR HANDS !!!
You'll get bad burn, even after 2 minutes the LED was really hot, and I couldn't touch it for more than 3 seconds.

[PvtCupcakes]

My Arduino Duemilanove arrived today. :buddy:

[DrLuke]

PvtCupcakes posted:

My Arduino Duemilanove arrived today. :buddy:

Enjoy :)

[PvtCupcakes]

The Arduino IDE 0018 just came out January 29th.
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Doesn't look like anyone has posted it yet.
The only reason I found that out is because I just got my Arduino today.

[DrLuke]

PvtCupcakes posted:

The Arduino IDE 0018 just came out January 29th.
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Doesn't look like anyone has posted it yet.
The only reason I found that out is because I just got my Arduino today.

Yeah, it's pretty cool! Make sure to check out the new tone() and noTone() commands! :iia:

Example of what I did: http://filesmelt.com/dl/ArduinoTones.wma

void setup()
{
}

void loop()
{
  tone(10, random(100, 7000));
  delay(100);
}

Bonus: http://filesmelt.com/dl/music.wma
e-cookie to everyone who can guess what game that is from!

[ddrl46]

No idea, but it's cool.

[DrLuke]

ddrl46 posted:

No idea, but it's cool.

Ok, I got the beginning wrong, but it's quite a long time since I played it the last time :P

but the phone ringing sounds identically!

[ddrl46]

Hahahaha, awesome.

[Mr.Hoff]

Add me to the list - Arduino Duemilanove

I've also got some projects here - http://forum.zomgstuff.net/forumdisplay.php?f=437

[ddrl46]

There you go, with the awesomeness of Hasselhoff.

[benjgvps]

Very interesting find I meant to post a while ago:
http://code.google.com/p/webduino/

Seems much easier to do web based controls with the Ethernet Shield.

[Nipa]

I have an Arduino Duemilanove since December '08. I haven't used it in a while. Yesterday I recoded my POV thing, if that counts for anything.

[ddrl46]

Those guys at www.makerbot.com are awesome. They used a Arduino Mega on their Cupcake CNC.
If i only had the money...

Edited:

Those guys at www.makerbot.com are awesome. They used a Arduino Mega on their Cupcake CNC.
If i only had the money...

[ddrl46]

Found 5 motors in old CD drives, also found 2 lasers :D.

[rathat48]

I have one, really fun, it's simple but they can do awesome complex things, still learning the code but Im already good with electronics so I can build some cool things, but they don't all work because im new at programing it.

[ddrl46]

Bought a laser pointer, going to use it for some epic arduino stuff :P.

[DrLuke]

How to build your own linear* Potentiometer
* more or less linear

Holy shit? What is this? Build your own potentiometer?
Yes! It is done in less than 5 minutes and works incredibly well!
Now let's get started with the 3 simple steps


step 1: Collect the needed materials

http://filesmelt.com/dl/DSC03387.JPG

You'll need this
- paper
- 1 pencil (make sure it's a graphite pencil or anything else that is conducting)
- 2 crocodile clips (3 if you want to fix the probe)
- 2 medium length wires, one red and one black
- 1 longer wire acting as the probe

step 2: Drawing time!

http://filesmelt.com/dl/DSC03389.JPG

Draw a line using your pencil. It has to be really thick, so apply some pressure while drawing!

step 3: Assembling

http://filesmelt.com/dl/DSC03396.JPG

Connect the wires to both ends using your crocodile clips and plug them into GND and +5V.
Plug in the probe into any analogRead pin you wish, but the example sketch uses pin 0.
I also bent over the end of the probe. That way it can slide better on the paper!



That's it!
Congratulations, you just built your own potentiometer. Awesome, isn't it?

[ddrl46]

You can build your own resistor the same way.

Nice tut though. going to put it on Sketchuino when it's done.