Tag: STEM

Bluetooth Circuit Playground What!

So anyone who has worked with me knows that I am a huge fan of Adafruit’s Circuit Playground development boards. It has been a huge help in getting people started with programming hardware because you can do so much with it before you even start plugging in other things.

I was so excited when they came out with the CP Express because now I could use Blockly to help even younger hardware developers on their way to making cool things. However, the MicroBit did offer a few more tantalizing options that made me choose it over the CP Express. Now it is hard to compare the two platforms because they both have a lot of value in different ways, but the one thing that stood out about MicroBit was Bluetooth Low Energy. The CP Express has IR communication and that is nice, but it is only line of site and that makes it hard to do projects that would involve networking. So the MicroBit typically would win out with projects that needed wireless communication.

Now with the introduction of CP Bluefruit this issue is solved an so many ways. I could see this coming based on some posts and a demo a few weeks ago on Ask an Engineer, but I was not sure if there would be a price increase with the new BLE support. Well it looks like not only is there no change in price, but the jump from and M0 to M4 Cortex processor makes this thing even more powerful as well.

I am supper excited about the idea of doing IOT workshops where the students get to program the devices that get networked. Basically this makes every CP Bluefruit into a smart light with a host of sensors on them. This could help students design and code puzzles for an escape room project… so many cool things that this can do now that is has BLE.

For now this is an Alpha version of the CP Bluefruit and that means that some hardware may change, but it is working for Arduino IDE and Circuit Python. Hopefully they will have a Blockly option soon as well. Not really time to start getting these for schools yet, but worth testing out as an early adopter and to keep an eye on for the near future.

More Info:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4333

Playing around with Make Code Arcade

I have been having a little fun with the new MakeCode Arcade platform. I am excited to see what other people can do with it so I have been figuring out some basic game play stuff with my own game. Now I give you Princess Cake Eater!

This is a mini quest game complete with an NPC, obstacles, and even a bad guy. Try it out and let me know what you think. Continue reading Playing around with Make Code Arcade

MicroBit, Adafruit Crickit, and MakeCode Robot!

I am trying out a new robot kit that I want to teach with. It was a bit tricky to get things to run with batteries, but I just added a 5V 2Amp voltage regulator on there and it is working like a champ. This is part of a build workshop at Living Computers Museum on Saturday. Continue reading MicroBit, Adafruit Crickit, and MakeCode Robot!

Wireless NAT server E-ink badge with Apache, PHP, SQL, Media Wiki, and MQTT

Intro

This will walk you through setting up a Raspberry Pi Web server with Raspbian Buster Lite. The following services will be installed and available by the end of this tutorial.

  1. Apache web server
  2. MySQL database
  3. PHP
  4. MediaWiki
  5. MQTT

Continue reading Wireless NAT server E-ink badge with Apache, PHP, SQL, Media Wiki, and MQTT

What is the best programming language?

The thing I get asked the most by parents and people trying to figure out how to get into the tech world is where to start. While a knowledge of at least some hardware is important, this post will be more focused on the structure of programming languages and why it is better to know one over another. This really boils down to the common modern day argument over C++ vs JavaScript vs Python. Continue reading What is the best programming language?

Holy @#$% it’s the White House!

 

I got an email from the Senior Adviser of Making at the White House. Now it was mentioned to me, by friends at Adafruit, that they would be putting my name in with a list of Makers for the White House to connect with. Still it just hit me as I responded to the email that I am responding to an email from a senior staff member at the frig’n White House!

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I have never been in this kind of position before. People normally think I am a crazy man when I go on about how important the Maker movement is to our future. We are the world’s new R&D community and the best of us share information and collaborate with everyone else.

Makers are kicking ass all over the world and I am just glad to be a part of it.