This post comes after having a few issues and deciding to redo my BeagleBone Black.Unlike the Raspberry Pi, there are few things you need to do, like loading the latest image, WiFi, and NTP. Your Beaglebone Black may not come with the latest image but after flashing there are still updates by running the opkg update and opkg upgrade. This takes a long time to run. Once complete, the SSH session will be disconnected and you can power cycle. If you have connection errors it’s a problem with DNS and you can add the feed URL to the hosts files. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/beagleboard/Kyq1NQOFSns Running an upgrade is optional; it will run fine without it. Download the latest image:http://downloads.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beaglebone/ Download the one with …
BBB: WebCam Streaming
After figuring out the Raspberry Pi camera module and getting MJPG-Streamer working I decided to try it on the BBB(BeagleBone Black). This should be easier as you are working with USB vs the RPi camera module which isn’t full developed. Thanks to Warren I already had a Logitech C210 camera I use for the Adaruit show and tells and video chating with family. Any UVC camera should work, you can check out this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_USB_video_class_devices. Fastest way to check is to plug it in and see if the system sees it as a camera. # lsusb – will show all USB devices on the bus. This doesn’t mean it has the driver. # ls /dev/ – will list all the devices in …
BBB: Adventures in ROS – Getting Setup
Originally written about a month ago when I started this project. I will be posting more as I make progress. Now that I finally have a Beaglebone Black, I can start to explore and have some fun. I want to get back to working on the SBot and with all the features I want to add, I was leaning towards an onboard Linux system with an Arduino or similar to do the low level timing stuff. Originally I wasn’t going to go the ROS route and write everything from scratch, but the more I dive into ROS (Robot Operating System), this seems the way to go. So first things first, get ROS running on the BBB and see what I can do …
Raspberry Pi Camera Module and Streaming
Now that the camera is connected it’s time to test it. I have always liked setting up a camera for real-time streaming, plus it’s helpful whenever I am away on a trip. With the PIR project, I could use that to record on motion instead of using image based motion. This would allow for no false positives, unless of course you have animals. You can use the standard mjpg-streamer but it can’t read from the camera module directly and therefore you need to save a file and then read it back. This would be a fast way to wear out your your SD card. I knew there had to be a better solution. Then low and behold I found this: https://github.com/jacksonliam/mjpg-streamer …
Another Toaster Reflow Oven Part One
As Friedcircuits grows, the need to produce more at once increases. Before making the OLED backpacks I was hand soldering each product. During the development and fundraiser stages, I figured it would be a good idea to look into a better way to manufacture them. After researching and talking to a few people, I decided to go with a custom-built reflow oven. Well, really, it’s a converted toaster oven, just modified to suit my needs. I used resources from across the Web that I’d like to bring together in one post as well as my experience. Reflow Oven Parts Here is a list of my parts for my build: Arduino Shield PID Controller from RocketScream Arduino Uno R3 from Sparkfun …
WiFi Thermostat Control Part 1
Living in an Apartment can be a challenge when it comes to home automation. Most projects require modifying or tapping into the building in one way or another. Our Apartment was remodeled before we moved in but they didn’t replace the aging thermostat. It is the old style with the lever on top that controls a glass tube of mercury. I knew I could replace the thermostat with some relays and a microcontroller or get a retail WiFi thermostat but I needed something that didn’t modify it in any away. Looking through my inventory of parts I remembered I had a micro servo from the Adafruit Motor Shield kit. This servo with a microcontroller and a Wifly radio would be perfect. The idea is that …
Sparkfun XBee Shield Fix
There is a known problem with the older Sparkfun Xbee Shield with Xbee Series 2 and the Wifly radio. It has to do with the level shifting on the DIN pin. They use a diode to drop the voltage which works for the regular Xbee Series 1 radios which have a built in pullup to VCC. The series 2 is not enabled by default and the Wifly’s don’t have the option at all. Here is a quick fix that will get you up and running in no time. As you can see in the picture I added a 10k pullup resistor between VCC which is 3.3V and DIN. Originally I was going to use a though hole part but realized it would be …
Disassembly of an 8 Pin Connector
For a new upcoming project I bought an 8-Pin Mini Din connector from Fry’s Electronics and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to take it part. They really should sell it to you separated so that you don’t have to disassemble it yourself, possibly damaging the connector. Now that I figured it out, I thought it would be a good idea to to share it since I couldn’t find any other sites. Unfortunately, their site doesn’t list it, so I couldn’t find the part to link to. The 8-din packaging with the other parts for the project At first examine of the part there doesn’t seem an easy way to take it apart without damaging it. Upon closer inspection it looked like …
Raspberry Pi and Motorola Lapdock
Last month I jumped on the fire sale clearance at Verizon for the Motorola Lapdock 100 (for the Razr). First thing I wanted to do is connect it up to the Raspberry Pi. To do this I had to order some cables and adapters. Here are the cables I ordered plus and the adapter to later use it with an Android stick. HDMI To HDMI Female F/F – For the Android stick or connecting to a regulator HDMI cable. 5FT 1.5m Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable – Convert Micro HDMI to full size. Micro HDMI Type D Female to Micro HDMI Type D Female – Join the HDMI cable to the Lapdock. USB 2.0 A Male to Micro USB 5 Pin B Male adapter cable – Donor for RPi USB …
DIY: Fume Extractor
Inspired by this post I decided to build a fume extractor. I hadn’t even thought about it until I saw this on Hack a Day. I have wanted to do this for a while. I had some points to use, which I redeemed on a Samsung 830 SSD, so in the same order I threw in the carbon filters which was the only thing I needed to buy to build it. Carbon Filters (5 pack)http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C5HUI8 The rest was parts I had laying around. I started with an old 120MM computer case fan that was removed when I bought new quieter fans. Dirty 120MM Case Fan As part of the fan I already had some plastic filter holders that attach to the fan. I washed …
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