After my last attempt at getting MyOpenLab to work on macOS, I posted my question on the MyOpenLab Facebook group, where I was given the following response: Hello, what version of MyOpenLab, Java and OSX are you testing? You could test the most recent development version: https://myopenlab.org/…/distribution_macosx_3.12.1.zip The fail could […]
Geeky
323 posts
Following on from my recent post about Glastonbury’s fun and exciting 5G report, I have had the chance to review the full report in more detail, the one that was pulled from the website and replaced with the executive summary… The executive summary is a dull document, that has redacted […]
I have a selection of common-ish values of components I use in my designs. I bought a Starter kit of 0805 size Surface Mount Resistors from Electronic Things a while ago, this gave me most of the values that I have made spaces for in my boxes. I also have […]
At work, I am trying to make some automated test equipment, (I also have some personal test equipment to automate as well). At work I use MS Windows 10 for my laptop, home I use macOS, and for embedded test equipment I am planning on using Raspberry Pi and Pi […]
Over the last year, Glastonbury Town Council has been doing a “fact-finding” mission on the impact of 5G on human health so they can work out if they should promote the roll-out of it in Glastonbury. I suspect this is at least partially in response to the Glastonbury Festival trials […]
On LinkedIn a while ago Glen one of the reps at Würth Elektronik offered free PCB fidget spinners. I asked nicely if MiniBoyGeek could have one, and as such one was delivered, I am glad I opened the bag before giving it to him. A fun little build of 9 […]
A while ago I managed to get Libvert running on OS X. Sometime last year, things were changed in the Brew.io version of LibVert that caused you to no longer be able to open the information screen on VMs that you are running. The problem seems to be that the […]
On Facebook a friend of mine put out the following request: Calling all 3D printer friends. Can you print up some visors for the doctors and nurses. There’s a plan somewhere of how to do it using a 2l bottle as the visor and the 3D printer bit as the […]
Every so often I update my CV, I am not a huge fan of Microsoft Word, or other Word Processors. Texmaker is a free open source LaTeX editor that works cross platform, on my Mac it makes generating my CV simpler. My CV is now stored in my GitHub account […]
This work from home thing means that I am working in the home office. Time to finish typing it up. And getting all the small things put into the right boxes etc.
I have got my PCB rule business card PCBs back from JLCPCB, so now to check everything works and build one up
The Mystery of Mc vs. Mac This page will attempt to solve the mystery of Mc versus Mac, the alphabetization of Mc, as well as the mystery of the raised c often used in Mc. Historically, Mac was a surname prefix for Irish or Scottish sons. Many people believe that […]
It has been a while since I have tried getting CARLA to run. After doing fair amount of poking, and prodding including trying to compile Unreal Engine for use on the NVIDIA Jetson Nano; I was unable to get Unreal Engine running on the ARM® A57 architecture. Since then I […]
I downloaded Notability to give it a try, back to back with Goodnotes, both are about the same price from the App and iPhone/iPad stores, I bought both the Desktop and the iPad app to test on my iPad mini, with my apple pencil, and the desktop app to test […]
One of the things I use my iPad mini and Apple Pencil is taking notes on components from the data sheets. I also have a iPad keyboard case that allows me to use my iPad as a very small laptop, or have the screen propped up for use as a […]
I have spoken to Pycom support about the problems I was having updating the expansion board, and it turns out its a known issue with Mac OS 10.15 due to the security settings in the new version of Mac OS. However the expansion board should have come from the retailer […]
One of the problems I have when designing PCBs, or working in CAD with a view to 3D printing it is easy to loose sight of how big things on the screen are in real life. A lot of the time when you move away from working with through hole […]
Like the bearing size code, resister values for LEDs is something that I keep needing to work out, or just go back to my nominal somewhere between 200 Ω and 1 kΩ rule of thumb. While I could work it out every time I need it using and then chose […]
Since I got Pycom working on my Mac, I can now update the firmware on my expansion board, the DFU updater is available in Brew, which we should have installed in the last post. From the Updating Firmware page we can download the correct firmware file; I have the Expansion […]
I have bought a Pycom makr WiPy to have a play with Micro Python, the recommended IDE is atom with Pymakr Atom Package, however it doesn’t work out the box as designed due to an issue with Atom and Pymakr. After you have installed Atom from atom.io, you can open […]
On Saturday Tamarisk, MiniBoyGeek, Thinkl33t and I went to The MAD Museum in Stoke-on-Trent with Emily and Glen. We also found a nice little vegan coffee shop called Plantarium. Emily made Tamarisk and I a Flappity Bat for Christmas: Go look at her shop!
tl;dr; I have not yet managed it… but if you read on you will see where I am currently up to, and where I think I can go. I am reading the University of Toronto’s “Self-Driving Cars Specialisation“, one of the tutors is Paul Newman from Oxbotica: Be at the […]
If you do any amount of design with 3D printers, sooner or later you will find your self using bearings between two bits to help them move; normally you will reach for a “skateboard bearing” or a 608ZZ, however if you need a size that is not a 608ZZ the […]
I just realised that in Part 1 and Part 2 that I didnt discuse how to go from Datasheet to Fusion 360, While I am not going to cover how to do the drawing in great detail, there are plenty of sites which tell you how to make drawings in […]
Following on from From Datasheet to KiCad Component – Part One, I had got as far as making the footprint in KiCad the Footprint Editor, The layers I have built it out of look like this: Now we have the footprint finished for Type C (I also did Type A […]
Recently the BBC wrote an article online with the headline “Does 5G pose health risks?”, the first section was: The 5G mobile network has been switched on in some UK cities and has led to questions about whether the new technology poses health risks. So what are the concerns, and […]
One of the simpler inputs to add to a microcontroller is a switch, I have chosen to use the ones I have added to KiCad for my Swarmbot. Most people who add microswitches normaly use something like the following circuit on a Digital in Pin. When the Switch is open […]
I found some cheap small microswitches on AliExpress, working backwards I found the same switch part numbers, and subsequently found a Switch Data sheet for the same size part. I use a mix of Fusion 360 and KiCAD for design, so I CADDed up the three flavours of microswitches, using […]
This is version one of a set of Left-hand Switches made for MiniBoyGeek’s Duplo Railway Yes there is already a version two waiting to print, with additional check rails and re-designed mechanism: You can find it on ThingiVerse here
I found the ‘Picktor’ Pick and Place head for retrofitting on a 3D printer on Thingiverse (GitHub) As designed it uses a Nema 17 stepper motor, however I suspect that will be too big for my design. I got 3 x Nema 14 stepper motors from an old RepRap Huxley, […]