6 replies to this topic

[Frank]

I've been reading the Netduino and the Arduino forums, and many websites, with a smile on my face. And I've already sold my soul to a couple of the business websites. It makes my wife shiver a bit, bit buying a goody has become almost too easy !

I guess I need to do a little bit of history, so you will know where I am coming from. I'm a retired geek, or as my friends say, retired and a geek. In olden days I was a amateur radio fan, a tinkerer, a packrat, and had a mutitude of fun jobs. In the beginning, I started with a Commodore PET, 6502 assembly, and some enjoyable years not putting my Liberal Arts background to use. I worked for a local manaufacturer, Maintenance, ET, tech, equipment design,etc. Generally if there were two wires attached, and someone had troubles, I got called. Was I any good? Nah, just stubbord and pigheaded. But it was always new everyday. I loved it. My packratting increased. My garage hasn't had many days when it could hold a vehicle !

Back in the late 1970's I 'discovered 'C'. Life was getting better. Then I switched jobs, went to work for Corning in Maine, same type of work, but with a large network and all of 7 computers. Lots of programming, equipment building,amateur radio started to lose my interest. Lots of C code, DbaseII, and a manufacturing floor that was always looking for more and more automation. It was hard not to smile, most days.


Ok, I'll stop this history. Needless to say, I retired about 8 years ago. I have a multitude of hobbies that keep me 'busy'. But, I missed my Visual Studio, a large budget for equipment, and the thrill, to me, of making something move or turn or light up, or ship parts out the door. I have a sympathtic wife, but the equipment and software budget was , and is, pretty small.

Along comes Visual Studio Express, C#, and I was smiling again. Beating a keyboard always seems to be fun, even when I'm beating my head against it trying to figure out a problem. But, the thrill of hardware and software, and something happening just wasn't there. I tried a couple of the small PC boards, and they were interesting, but again, without a budget of any size, sort of a dead end.

Relax, I'll stop the history, Really. Because I picked up an Arduino. And now have a Netduino on the way.But, I can hear the folks saying, why are you babbliing on about all this history stuff. Old guys and their old stories!

Because I keep reading about newbies getting into both the Arduino and the Netduino. And a good many of them are sorta having fun. Hardware and software are intimidating when taken together. And when you've spent good money, and are only worried about will it hurt the parts, or the computer, or if it is 'right', much of the fun is gone. And that has been sticking in my head for a month. It doesn't have to be!

If you've read the topic description, or any of my other posts, you know where this is going. Try picking up parts at the dump, the Transfer Station, trash collection day. I say it, but I've never taken it any further than that. I'm going to try to make my point clearer, and hopefully make the hardware and software more enjoyable. I headed out to the local dump, in my small Maine town. This is not a techie town. Let's see what I can come up with in the coming weeks , and maybe make this more enjoyable for some.
Or not. If no one thinks this makes sense, or is not rational, or not soemthing anyone will do, let me know. After 35 years in IT, I've got thick skin! I have an Arduino, and a Netduino on the way. No fancy equipment, a multimeter.

[Eric Burdo]

Welcome Frank! I don't have as much history as you... but similar tendencies (the pig-headed part at least!). And... A welcome from Maine here (Bangor area).

[Chris Walker]

Frank, What an awesome background and story. Are you going to post here and keep us in the loop as you find parts and build new things with your Netduino? Or if you have a blog, at least post links here? I'm personally looking forward to reading your adventures. Welcome to the community, Frank. Chris

[Frank]

Thanks for the Welcome Chris and Eric ! And always a welcome excuse to head to the Waterboro Dump, ie the Transfer Station. Like most places these days, they have a Recycling trailer, and a place for electronics. First stop today, the Recycling trailer, but it's been emptied out. Lots of time folks throw some real junk in here because they don't have to pay for it that way. Over to the electronics trailer. This is not really dump picking territory, but the attendants know me, and I can usually peek and poke around. The cardboard container has mostly TV's today. There's a HP scanner in the bottom, but it looks pretty grungy. I leave it. But there is a smallblack case with a display on it, looks like something off a treadmill or exercise bike. Lots of time these are good for parts, and they're low voltage, usually double AAs. I put pictures up to show what this is. Not a great find, buy hey, at least I'm not salting the mine making it look good. Somedays you strike gold, somedays not. http://waterboro.smu...005016059_tLafc Once I get this home, I put in a set of batteries. I always like to know if something is really broken, or good and just thrown away. The display starts up when put in new batteries, the thing changes mode when I press the red button on the front. A wire and connector probably went to a magnetic pickup on a wheel. The display is one that sits on a piece of conductive foam, and I've found them useless. Maybe someone else has found a use ? Bottom line, I end up with a battery holder for 2 AAs, a small crystal which I put in a junk box, and a case. There are a couple of ceramic capacitor on the board, but they are real small and almost no leads on them. I leave them. So, I've taken it apart, killed a couple minutes eyeballing it, googled the company to see if there is a manual available(apparently not), and ended up with a small display case, a battery holder, and screws. Worth the time? I was going to the dump anyway, so I guess yes. If you're a real beginner, just starting in electronics, spend a couple minutes and look stuff like this over. Figure out what the individual parts are. This is not rocket science. There are resistors, capacitors, buttons, cases, displays, ICs, connectors. Many times you can Google something and find out what it is, what it did, and what the parts are inside. The same goes for many IC's, Google the number, often you can still find spec sheets. People always ask, what about tools to do this? First, this stuff is from the dump. Don't spend money or too much time taking it carefully apart. Unless you think it might be workable and you want to use it ! I find that a small screwdriver, regular and especially a Phillips are the biggest help. Removing parts, I have a small soldering station, and solder wick for removing parts. The little digital multmeter I use happens to be one I got from the dump. Replaced the batteries and it works fine. Whatever you use, take a few minutes and learn how to figure out reading resistance. Amd above all, ask questions. Most people don't mind questions. If you are playing around and get smoke, oh well, it came from the dump ! Do be careful. DOn;t just plug stuff in without thinking a bit. I manage a trip to the Waterboro Dump a couple times a week. Who knows what I'll find next week ! That case from this week will hold an Arduino or a Netduino. Someone on here was building in air freshner containers. Now that one I hadn't thought of ! Feel free to ask me questions.

[Chris Walker]

Loving this... Can't wait for the next installation.

[Omar (OZ)]

HA NICE! Dude I love this, I think I might take a trip to the nearest electronics recycling place soon. I like the advice and tips you got going on here, thanks a lot

[MarkWill]

Frank, I'd consider myself a newbie (in terms of playing around with the "physical computing" element). But, aside from that, our backgrounds are similar - I had a Commodore Pet, used dBase II (my university thesis used it), I programmed in 6502 and eventually moved on to VS 200* and C# (a good deal of my play time has been in C#/ASP.Net). Any, like you, my Netduino is on it's way :-) One difference is that I don't have an Arduino. So, my learning curve is going to be an interesting one. The one thing that worries me a bit if my life-long tendency (and a sad one!) to move from hobby to hobby! I hope this will stick but I am pretty sure a really important part be finding a project that really grabs my interest. That won't be for a while since I have so much to learn (the basics) but, beyond that, I know I'll need a real focus eventually. So, I'm regularly thinking about that key project that will challenge me and interest me. I'll be watching your experiences with interest. Thanks. Mark