Pico 1/2 /Picomite PDB

[granz]

Thanks for the info, will check it out. I've not had much time lately, been doing cleaning n working.

I know the feeling. It's terrible when "real life" gets in the way of our hobbies.

[JKnightandKARR]

Thanks for the info, will check it out. I've not had much time lately, been doing cleaning n working.

I know the feeling. It's terrible when "real life" gets in the way of our hobbies.

I know the feeling...

[granz]

Well, I got the second set of 37 Sensors pack - about a week early. Nice!

Unfortunately, the sensors were individually packed in anti-static bags - WITH NO LABELING AT ALL.  I had to take each one out of its bag, compare it with the over-all page with pictures of all the sensors, and then find the equivalent sensor in my nice plastic case, so that I could put the duplicates into the correct compartment. Two of the hall effect sensors (the "Hall Magnetic" and the "Analog Hall") are unlabelled, except for the _tiny (nearly unreadable - even with two magnifiers) print on the sensor itself. I still need to check those tiny numbers and try to decide which is "magnetic" (I thought that all hall effect sensors were magnetic) and which is "analog." 

[JKnightandKARR]

Well, I got the second set of 37 Sensors pack - about a week early. Nice!

Unfortunately, the sensors were individually packed in anti-static bags - WITH NO LABELING AT ALL.  I had to take each one out of its bag, compare it with the over-all page with pictures of all the sensors, and then find the equivalent sensor in my nice plastic case, so that I could put the duplicates into the correct compartment. Two of the hall effect sensors (the "Hall Magnetic" and the "Analog Hall") are unlabelled, except for the _tiny (nearly unreadable - even with two magnifiers) print on the sensor itself. I still need to check those tiny numbers and try to decide which is "magnetic" (I thought that all hall effect sensors were magnetic) and which is "analog." 

Don't you just HATE that crap??  How hard is it to label?? I'll start on this after I get my CodeName: Gizmo done.

[granz]

I'll start on this after I get my CodeName: Gizmo done.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[granz]

I was browsing the Raspberry Pi Pico subreddit, and came across this:

Is this possibly the perfect Pico prototype board?
https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberrypipico/comments/1rso62r/is_this_possibly_the_perfect_pico_prototype_board/


He placed a Pico in the middle of the breadboard and hooked it up to the different components on the module. It looks interesting, and somewhat like what you were describing for your PPDB project. I checked out eBay for any and saw one, with the original books from Forrest Mims - I met him and he is a pretty cool guy, and good at talking science. I am thinking of getting it.

While looking for that Electronics Learning Lab, and other things, I saw:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/188098088174

This is a more modern version, and looks even more like the project that you described.

Any way, these might give you some more ideas/motivation on getting going in development of your idea.

How are you doing with this any way?

[Jason D.]

I have the exact same prototype board, I'm pretty sure I even have the books that go along with the board. I found that board to be very helpful while reading through the books when I didn't even know how to combine discrete electronic components. I recall there being a more advanced set but it was difficult to find the books to the prototype board and books not flowing well all the time. I think the more advanced board also does some programming. But I gave up when I was told about the propeller 1 and Parallax had a bunch of teaching kits to learn so many topics. As a novice, I found the ability to program a micro controller to be so much more efficient than laying out a bunch of individual parts and wires to connect everything together. I still need to learn how to use those online companies that make single to multi layer boards for customers. That would be another useful skill to know.

[granz]

I have the exact same prototype board, I'm pretty sure I even have the books that go along with the board. I found that board to be very helpful while reading through the books when I didn't even know how to combine discrete electronic components. I recall there being a more advanced set but it was difficult to find the books to the prototype board and books not flowing well all the time.

Are you talking about the Electronic Learning Lab, from Radio Shack? That is the one that I am thinking about buying. There are several of them on eBay, but I'm looking at the one above, as it includes the two manuals. I think that the documentation is what makes, or breaks, this type of "lab" (including all of those old "XXX-in 1" kits, which were great.) Forrest Mims did a great job of documenting his stuff. When I met him, I offered him one of my "Engineering Notebook" products. I was pretty proud of that book, but he was already firmly established in his methods and declined (politely, of course.)

I think the more advanced board also does some programming. But I gave up when I was told about the propeller 1 and Parallax had a bunch of teaching kits to learn so many topics. As a novice, I found the ability to program a micro controller to be so much more efficient than laying out a bunch of individual parts and wires to connect everything together. I still need to learn how to use those online companies that make single to multi layer boards for customers. That would be another useful skill to know.

Yes, the Dragon12-Plus 2 board includes a 68HCS12 micro-controller from Freescale (successor to Motorola's MC6800 line of microprocessors/micro-controllers.) It runs the Buffalo monitor from the Motorola MC68HC11 controller, and can control all the micro-controller functions, including writing/loading new software. There is a good description of the trainer at: https://www.trainer4edu.com/dragon12/dragon12_plus2_9s12_hcs12/index.html, including a long list of included features. It looks nice, and the eBay price is pretty reasonable, but I will probably not jump on that one. It is ironic, because I really like the Motorola MC6800/02 (from when I taught them) but never really latched on to the 6809, nor any of the Motorola micro-controllers. 

[granz]

Arrghh! - NO! I was just about to jump on that Electronics Learning Lab (I just sold that T600 (https://savagechats.com/index.php?topic=417.0) when I remembered that I already have too many projects. Now, that Radio Shack product looks really cool - and with the Pico on it, even better - but I really need to focus, and cut back so I can focus better. Besides I already have two "learning lab"-type things (three if you count my Notebook Workstation (https://zappbots.altervista.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=327) and don't really have time/space for more - as cool as they are.

[Chris Savage]

Arrghh! - NO! I was just about to jump on that Electronics Learning Lab when I remembered that I already have too many projects.

<snickers> 

[granz]

<snickers> 

Yep, I like the nuts and the caramel in Snickers bars.




       

[Jason D.]

Art,

I should have been more clear, I have the 500 in 1 Maxitronix kit, which is the kit that was difficult to find the books to work through the projects. The Maxitronix kit has a chip in the center of the board that can be "programmed" to teach some fundamentals of programming, as well as many other components. I did find some type of literature that flows with the Maxitronix kit pretty closely, but I don't recall what literature that is.

As far as the Radio Shack electronics learning lab, looks like I actually have 2 of them, I used several of the Forrest Mims publications to work through his books to learn how to use discrete components.

[granz]

Art,

I should have been more clear, I have the 500 in 1 Maxitronix kit, which is the kit that was difficult to find the books to work through the projects. The Maxitronix kit has a chip in the center of the board that can be "programmed" to teach some fundamentals of programming, as well as many other components. I did find some type of literature that flows with the Maxitronix kit pretty closely, but I don't recall what literature that is.

Oh yeah, I saw that, and that is another one that I almost bought (still having to fight myself about wanting to spend the money .) The best that I was able to find out about the controller on that board is that it is a 4-bit computer. That probably means that it is a TI TMS-1000 series chip. Those were fairly common in these learning kits. The Radio Shack computer trainer used one of those for its on-board computer.

As far as the Radio Shack electronics learning lab, looks like I actually have 2 of them, I used several of the Forrest Mims publications to work through his books to learn how to use discrete components.

Nice, two of those! Lucky guy.

Have you looked into "upgrading" them (like the guy on that sub-Reddit)? Maybe adding a Pico, an Arduino or even a full Raspberry Pi? There is a version of MMBASIC (the language on which the PicoMite is based) specifically for the Raspberry Pi; you can load a GPIO library before running the MMBASIC language and have full control of the GPIO pins. I can hardly wait for some time to put this on one of my Pi computers.

Another thing that I have seen, which may be interesting for you, is to connect them together. The DEC H-500 logic trainer (https://hackaday.io/project/170232-dec-h-500-computer-lab-reproduction) was like that - some people were able to gang a couple (few?) together to build a full CPU. Michael Gardi, the designer of that reproduction talked about doing that with his model. There is also a (much) cheaper version, built on a 4" X 4" board (able to get the ultra-cheap PCB build prices) at: https://www.instructables.com/CompuLab-a-DEC-H500-Inspired-Logic-Trainer/. That author also mentions ganging multiple boards to provide additional capabilities.

[Jason D.]

Art,

I dont really think about doing any projects anymore, I still take care of my wife everyday and I think her illness as surpassed any help from any electronics project I can accomplish, It takes a human to interact with her because humans have intuition.

However, I do think a lot about leaning how to control DC motors and learning there control system. I have made my wife a couple of stroller buggies with motors on them to climb a 15% grade hill with ease, so she can watch me do DownHill Mtb racing. I think I could benefit from walking next to the buggy instead of behind it so I can talk to my wife or look to make sure she is ok. That is hard to do when I'm 2 feet behind her using the controls to drive, steer, or brake the buggy. I'll see if I can attach a picture.

[granz]

Woah, off-road wheelchair; nice.

So, what do you need in terms of help with walking next to Lisa, rather than behind her? Is there some kind of remote access (jack, or wireless of some kind) that you could tap into to hack another type of remote that you could carry while walking?


EDIT: If we continue this work on a remote for Lisa's chair, this should probably be moved to another thread. Until then, how could a Pico PDB, or another one of the "lab" boards above help you? Could we do a super-rapid design of an extremely portable version for you?