I am fine today.
I believe all of us are very familiar with open source software where we are not only granted the right to use the software free of charge, the source code of the software is also available for us to study, to modify or to improve. Linux and OpenOffice are two good examples.
There is also open source film such as Big Buck Bunny which was created with the Blender Open Source Software. The film is short but the effect is stunning :-) You can grab a copy at here. If you are curious enough and also have plenty of time, you can even download the entire source file, and then spend days and nights to study how the film was made.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a book called Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware, and I only realize that there is such thing as open source hardware.
What is exactly Arduino? Arduino official website gives the following description:
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.
Basically, Arduino comes with the necessary programmable hardware together with the programming tool. We just need to hook up the hardware to the computer through a USB printer cable and then download whatever program that we have written to the hardware. The program contains instructions to hardware on what it should do.
I found a local supplier of the hardware at http://www.myduino.com and mail ordered the Roboduino Romeo board (hardware) at a cost of RM150 including the postage.
The board is especially designed for robotic application as it comes with 2 way DC motor driver and wireless socket.
There are plenty of projects available online that we can build. I have completed a simple LED chaser project with Daniel. We will experiment with other projects and we hope that we are able to build a robot eventually :-)
Roboduino Romeo
The LED Chaser
See you next post :-)
3 comments:
Hi David, I'm glad you've discovered Open Source hardware! I hope you find Practical Arduino useful and I'd be interested to hear about anything you build using techniques discussed in it.
this one sounds interesting. Can buy it directly from the shop instead of mail order?
Hi Jonathan, it is such a surprise to receive a comment from you - the author of Practical Arduino! The book is definitely useful but I think I certainly need some times to pick up electronics again. I have even forgotten how to read the color code of resister which I remembered very well about 20 years ago :-( I will start with simple project first and then venture something as layout in your book. I will let you know if I manage to come out something based on your book :-)
Hi Wee, yes, it is very interesting. Mail order is simpler than purchasing it from the electronics shops. I have checked, those two electronics shops in Puchong. They didn't sell the board. I can order for you if you are interested. The guy who sell the board is from Johore. Just transfer the money and the board arrives 2 or 3 days later.
David
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