Did you know I own a television? It’s that beast from the real estate office that closed in 2008. It’s in pristine condition and has the box for the channels that the government mandated, if it works, I mean. The rage is flat screens, so I’m going to dump this tube and use the space for a second work bench. Another thing I’ll never comprehend is how people can stand the taste of hard liquor. Gag me, here is a sampler of tequila. I once tasted this must have been twenty years ago and that isn’t long enough. That stuff is nasty. This says it contains strawberry cream flavoring. Anything would be an improvement. Stand by, here goes. Smacking sound. It is highly flavored, sweetened, and mixed with some kind of liquer. I cannot even taste the tequila. No, I would not drink this again.
You get a rambling blog today, the usual fare when I am working on a project and taking breaks throughout. Things aren’t really random, just that I don’t write the whole blog in one sitting when I’m on a mission. Take the topic of bed bugs. Weren’t they taking over America a not that long ago? Where did they disappear to? They haven’t made the news in months. So, what am I doing that’s got me so occupied? I have to impress the new band how fast I can learn the material, kind of reinforce their decision to chose me.
I’m cramming 1960s music like mad. The new band practices on Sundays and I should be able to play nearly a third of their material by then. It’s not so easy when all the tunes sound alike. One Chuck Berry is just as good as any other in my ear. I’m not neglecting my other hobbies over this. Since I retired in 1996, I don’t do anything eight hours a day without interruption.
I’ve been reading up on communications protocols with the Arduino. That’s going to be a task in itself. The 3D printers are getting affordable and there is talk of nanoparticles able to stop rust, what a boon that would be. I’m keeping busy. Music is just in the forefront for a while. I’ve got Buddy Holly coming out my ears. Theory: until the Beatles arrived, there were only two bass lines in the world.
Time to reassure you, the reader, that this blog is not affiliated with any outside groups and does not endorse any of the links to this work. Criticism of any type does not represent either support or opposition to any group or individual. This blog is for entertainment only and does not even represent my own personal views a lot of the time. Of course, should I be discovered and make millions, then I stand behind every word all the way and more. You can’t get much more wishy-washy than that.
An aside to those who keep pointing out a certain posted profile in Hollywood. Yes, I’ve seen it. No, I will not contact the woman in the photo. Yes, she has indicated an interest but I never replied. I don’t know her, but have seen her in my audience and I am not the least impressed by public her behavior or the type of males she goes out with. She is unaware that I recognized her picture. Is all this clear?
Last, and this is why you should always read to the end, it may be that JP may yet have that new (used) truck. I’ve advised him never to borrow for a vehicle; I made that mistake when I was 21. In this case, some careful husbanding of resources shows that a $6,000 price tag is not out of range. Florida is the used vehicle capital of America, so a little shopping around might rustle up something nearly luxurious. Either way, everyone is agreed that JP needs a vacation now. To the extent we are willing to bankroll it.
ADDENDUM
This is complicated material so skip it if you had an easy day. Despite our [club] realization that we cannot yet build a useful robot, we still investigate the technologies. One item is communication, that is, we have always understood that a real robot carries sensors that report back to Alpha One. This requires a set of rules called protocols and once again, the way they are taught is one huge load of donkey-doo.
We’ve decided one organized approach would be to look at wired systems first, then wireless transmission later. This is a semester in itself, as the process involves commands, registers, and a clear understanding of data organization. The only easy part is that the data is structured into groups of 8 bits called a byte. (Note that the actual transmission may involve multiples of 8, such as 16-bit and 32-bit arrangements, but we are focused only on the smallest usable chunk of 8.)
Most of us know parallel from serial, that is, whether the data is sent 8 bits at a time down a ribbon cable or 1 at a time down a single wire. Either way, it appears to my learning that the process is the same. A command sends data to a register, then the process repeats as fast as possible. If you are wise, your commands and register will also use exactly 8 bits, but engineers and programmers, one finds, are not at all that wise.
After several near-headaches, I’ve proposed the club choose serial wire communication, if only to avoid needing expensive ribbon cables to get anything done. What is happening during daily study (usually around one hour, the minimum an adult should study each day) is right now an intense review of all that significant bit and parity bit formatting we all learned back when and promptly forgot. If you think learning it was difficult, try implementing it.
For these and other reasons, I move that the club first look at a protocol named SPI, for “serial peripheral interface”. As usual, the information on this system is taught American style—that is, in pieces. And nowhere will the teachers say how many pieces there are, or where this piece itself fits into the puzzle, they will not even say it even fits the other pieces. They only want to sell you the book or the degree.
Another part of the difficulty is that, as grown-ups, we’ve been exposed to many of these pieces before. This makes it more than difficult to unlearn them in the context of where they are used. The SPI format has been around since 1970 and according to the Arduino site, it can be used to let two microcontrollers talk to each other. I am also taking a chance on the chintzy diagrams that show two wires, send and receive. This makes more sense to beginners. Based on little more than this, I’ve chosen SPI as our candidate. Wish me luck.
Here is a photo of a dud $3,600 circuit board being cannibalized. We are after those aluminum heat sinks. The disassembly would make a dandy tutorial if I videoed the process and systematically described the process, but for once, I’ve got too much on my plate. As a reward for reading this far, here is one of those gems of knowledge that comes only from experience. Time to get out of the bush league with soldering irons, here is the part the pros won’t tell you. First, get a hot soldering iron. After you burn the first few circuits and learn to solder, the amount of time you actually touch the leads is so short, you won’t even need a heat sink. Second, consider a super hot desoldering station. One touch and the part is either done or removed. Such an iron will pay for itself in salvaged parts in no time. And invest in a blade tip big enough to splay across at least three transistor leads at once.
