So it's been a pretty busy year on this blog, not so busy for actually making stuff, but pretty busy on the basic fundamentals of how things work that will allow people to design and make their own stuff.
I ended last year by promising to move the coding lessons into a space of embedded programming, that never really happened, but I'm going to try and make it happen this year.
This was the year that I decided to stop hanging around waiting to get around to building a 3d printer and decided that I'd buy one. probably not as fun as building my own and certainly not as informative, but definitely the best way to be able to print stuff for projects, instead of making a whole new project.
As I did last year, I'm just going to stop a moment and create a page that looks back over the last year and what I've written about here.
So the first thing I did was a round up of the previous years projects and posts, I think that this is a pretty good way to re-cap things, let me plan what I want to go onto make, or explain in the coming year.
Same post different year 2011 post index
This was also the year that I got myself a 3d printer, and I think the year that 3D printing finally became affordable to the non-hardcore enthusiast. There are people out there who believe the fused filament 3D printing is the future and the answer to all life's problems, that these should be in every home, and shipped out to rural Africa. I don't.
I don't think that Fused filament 3D printing will ever be a consumer technology suitable for every household, it's fiddly, things go wrong easily. you have to know what you're doing, modeling anything good is complicated, each printer, and even each roll of filament might have slightly different parameters that it operates well at.
3D printing
In light of having a 3d printer, I have written some posts about 3D printers:
When I ordered the printer
A basic guide to 3D modeling (making a calibration object
The 3d Printer finally arrived
Setting up the printer: Levelling the print bed
I've also made 3D printing projects:
Projects
Fixing the printer
Remaking and improving parts of the printer
Finaly making something on the printer
As well as regular electronics or woodwork projects.
Fixing an amplifier
Making a geeky notebook
Making another red-light torch
Installing a computer in a car!
Fixing the amplifier again
guide to splitting a house antenna
Making a towel ladder
General Stuff
I decided to branch out a little and write a guide to RAID in computers, at some point I have made this blog a strictly making sort of blog. but I like computers also, and I thought that my blog, which is the idiots guide to putting shit together, should involve something on putting together computers.
A short and sweet guide to RAID
I also did a tutorial post on counting in different bases, this was mostly so that future code and electronics lessons would make more sense. -I only really want to explain a principal once, not keep repeating myself. generally if you read a lesson and it makes no sense, then it's probably because you skipped a lesson.
A short and sweet guide to counting in different bases
Coding
C and Pointers
Using the malloc function
Accessing files
Writing files
structured data types
model of network software
Dealing with errors
creating a server program
Creating a client program
The code lessons I did this year have had more complex themes about them, they are still very basic, but they've moved on from this is an integer to looking at memory access, arrays etc, working with files, and looking at complex storage structures such as structs. and this is kind of my point about following things in order. when I was making speakers, I published a lesson on French polishing before posting the walk through of the build process, I did that because French polishing was needed to complete the speakers and I didn't want to need to repeat stuff. or go too far off the point.
The same with the coding lessons. if you miss structs out, then you have a problem when you come to sockets since the connection parameters are stored in a struct.
Electronics Lessons
Finally I did a lot of electronics lessons posts this year.
I started by introducing a few more components, and posting a theoretical home automation system to turn on lights and heating.
Then I looked at building power supplies for projects using transformers.
It's almost embarrassing that it's taken me nearly two years to finally cover the 555 timer. and to introduce op-amps and circuits for both.
After introducing these components I started getting into digital systems, logic and gates, and introduced a few tools for designing systems, and went through from start to finish a binary - hexadecimal display system using 7 segment displays, and exactly how to minimise logic circuits, both in terms of expression, and in terms of gate re-use when building larger system.
Looking at modulation types
Investigating relays
Introducing thermistors
Introducing Light dependant resistors
Basic analogue control for home automation
A look at the transformer (sadly not the robot in disguise"
Rectifying diode bridges
looking a transistors in long tailed pair configuration
Simple power supply circuits
introducing op amps
Simple op-amp circuits
More simple op-amp circuits
Zener Diodes
More simple power supply circuits
Simple power supply circuits
introducing the 555 timer
Looking at the whetstone bridge circuit
Introducing Digital logic
How to write logic expressions
How to reduce logic expressions algebraically
How to investigate logic with truth tables
Using NAND as the universal gate
Reducing logical expressions graphically with karnaugh maps
creating a logic circuit to convert binary to hex display
reducing gate count by building in blocks
making gates from transistors
Reducing logic expressions with lots of terms.
So, in this coming year I am hoping to do a few projects involving the Raspberry pi that I got for Christmas, introduce a few more logic circuits, do some coding lessons on Micro controllers and write up a few projects that I did last year. (and the year before in some cases).
Happy new year!
No comments:
Post a Comment