Trash Container Coded in P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. The pattern on this trash container was really interesting to represent, and made me look closely at the edges with the filled in shapes.

Railing Coded With P5

I made a series of graphics with code on the theme of creating graphic representations of things around me that I find interesting to look at. I used P5 to create graphics and posted the series on Glitch. I sit by this railing each morning while I have a cup of coffee and it was an interesting challenge to represent the rungs as 3d shapes in 2D, though annoying to use so many 'magic numbers.'

Several Vacuum Fluorescent Displays

I have found, scavenged, and lit up four vacuum fluorescent display now, and look forward to many more. I find them beautiful both in the quality of their light and the complexity and fragile appearance of their circuitry.

Vacuum Fluorescent Display Adventures

I found an old 1986 microwave up the street to take apart. My favorite part to salvage from microwaves is the turntable motor but this one had a very special numerical display. I could see it wasn't your usual LED display but is encased in glass and filled with interesting metal plates and fine filaments.

Summer PD In Electronics

This summer I did some self-guided PD in basic electronics guided by my son's interest in learning about it. It has been a wonderful thing to do together, plus I've learned a ton. I probably would have covered what we did this summer in one week in Electronics 101 in college but the time has given us the opportunity to really let things sink in and follow up on our own questions. Here is the website that guided our experiments. This All About Circuits textbook written by Tony R. Kuphaldt explains things well but most importantly asks the learner to find their own resources for the experiments, which has been one of the most enlightening parts of the experience. Below I outline our activities and learnings, and some reflections.

Raspberry Pi Classroom Table Timelapse Documentation

After trying to document spring plant and tree growth with a Raspberry Pi timelapse setup I found the variation in lighting over long periods of time produced a lot of bad footage. But I figured using this in the classroom to do timelapse recordings of students working at the table could be useful and not face the same problem of changing lighting conditions. So I created a mashup of my old Replicator 2 3D printing monitor with the timelapse program that conveniently attaches to our hanging outlets and managed to bang out a pretty quick set up for this. I start the program by logging in to a headless Raspberry Pi Zero wifi and the pi waits for a button press to start snapping pictures at 5 second intervals for 15 minutes.

Minecraft with Python: RaspberryJam Mod on Linux

The steps to set up Python coding in Minecraft on Linux were a little tricky to figure out so here they are for reference:

OS

Ubuntu 18 installed on PC

Install Python 2.7 or 3

Reinventing the Mallet

I've been making scrap wood mallets for a couple weeks now and I can't stop. For one thing I do like them as a tool; multi-purpose, perfect for knocking things that a hammer would damage or require careful aim for. But also they are simple to make, yet require enough forethought to meet some basic requirements; that the head not fly off, that it satisfy size and proportion constraints, that it not split apart. There are many videos on how to make an awesome mallet and I did watch them. But obtaining just the right heft by filling inner pockets with BBs or creating interlocking parts with dowels is not what I'm after.

Raspberry Pi As Media Server

I'm mounting my media hard drive containing music, photos, and file backups to my Raspberry Pi 3 B+. I'm putting some resources here to remember how I set it up and some leads to fix a bug I'm experiencing, namely that the Raspi won't encode accented characters and replaces them with question marks, so iTunes can't find the files for those songs or the artist folder in the library.

Makerspace Project: LED Side-lit Acrylic Signs

One of my favorite projects over the last couple years to do in our maker-space classroom is side-lit acrylic signs. The project has evolved a bit as I have improved the design of the signs and workflow for students and it is now in a place I really like.