#“Using a Wii Nunchuck instead of Cheese to control i-Racer RC car on @Raspberry_Pi and @Arduino”
Following up from the Cheese After the enormous attention that the Cheese Controlled Car got, my thoughts moved to what else we could use with the i-racer. Two immediately came to mind: the Wiimote and a mousepad. But both went in directions I didn't expect. I'll write up the mousepad at a later stage but this post is about the Wii. »
#“Ron Swanson is the Patron Saint of Makers - His Finest Moment on Parks and Rec”
I am going to miss this show so much when it ends. Leslie needed two wedding rings asap. Ron took care of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YAhykMMxc
When I grow up, I want to be Ron Swanson. »
#“Electronic Tinkering on the @Raspberry_Pi and @Arduino”
I’ve been lucky to-date that I haven’t killed the RPi stone dead with my little projects. I find the simplest way to help avoid any catastrophic shorts is to use an old 40-core IDE cable (note, the “newer” 80-core ones don’t work even tho they fit). I Dremeled mine last week to fit in this very nice inexpensive case.
In many ways, that GPIO header on the RPi is like the expansion port on the ZX Spectrum. »
#“Absolutely loved @conorjh’s love letter to 1983 and home computing”
Even if he did have a stinky VIC-20 instead of a ZX Spectrum. Colour clash was a feature dammit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUjLP7rthfg »
#“The Cult of Done Manifesto”
I feel a bit stupid that I only just discovered this 4 year old post by Makerbot’s Bre Pettis via Sean Bonner. Everything about it resonates with me. Not in some GTD process way but in an attitude to everything.
Like most people I’ve had my phases in the past of analysis-paralysis. What-if, what-if, what-if?
I now try as much as possible to just do it. »
#“MaKey MaKey + Raspberry Pi + iRacer + Bluetooth = Cheese Controlled Car (CCC)”
When Santa told me that he was getting an i-Racer remote controlled car for Fionn, I was very excited. This is a remote controlled car that, on the surface looks very crude. Heck it doesn’t even come with a remote control.
That’s because it’s Bluetooth-controlled! You can install a simple Android App, pair with the car and control it either with on-screen controls or using the accelerometer in the phone. »
#“ScriptCraft - A Minecraft mod that lets you build using Javascript”
Walter has just posted his ScriptCraft code to GitHub. This Minecraft mod lets you create buildings etc using only Javascript. Very very cool indeed. I’ll be trying it out later with some of the kids. My Minecraft experience is minimal so I’ll let them guide me.
He has included an example cottage script which should be a good starting point for a lot of people. »
#“Wondering how hard it would be to create your own electronic toy? @sifteo says pretty hard!”
We’re all guilty of under-estimating how hard it is to do other people’s jobs. After reading M. Elizabeth Scott’s fabulously detailed blogpost on Adafruit about the creation of Sifteo’s second generation toy, I’ll never do that about toy makers again!
The post dives deep, real deep. As an old Embedded Fart, I revelled in every little detail. »
#“Imagine if Minecraft was the trigger to get a new generation of kids programming?”
If you want to know what the social network of the future will look like, forget twitter, facebook & App.net. Look at Minecraft Walter Higgins (@walter) August 14, 2012 Walter thinks that the next big Social Network will be Minecraft. I think he might be on to something. Our kids either love playing it or watching their older siblings do so. »
#“Conor’s 2012 @Raspberry_Pi Christmas Gift Guide”
This post was prompted by @mollydot asking me last night on Twitter what accessories make sense if you are buying a Raspberry Pi as a Christmas Gift and@jkeyesrightly suggesting that a post with links would be useful.
I really think this Christmas could be a lovely replay of 1982 for a lot of people, like me, who got their first home computer that year. »