Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CHIP Pro

nextthing.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 207 posts

Re: CHIP Pro

#181

Post by Retr0spectrum »

Razengan wrote: post #176
platz wrote: post #22

I have the chip, esp8266, rpi, teensies, trinkets, arduinos... I studied electronics principles and built various circuits.. yet I have no idea what I can practically use these devices for in my life. They all sit in a box and I have a hard time justifying buying more of them.

As a muggle, every time I see these things I can't help but wonder: WHY do we not have a good open-source gaming handheld based on one of these yet? Smartphones have all but killed the traditional physical-buttons Game Boy/DS/Vita model. Gaming on glass sucks, but people generally don't want to carry around another device in addition to their phone. I'm looking forward to the Nintendo NX, but I'm afraid a proprietary…

Your wish is granted: https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/

The only catch is that it's completely custom hardware and therefore rather expensive.

It would be nice if something similar existed that you just plugged a Pi Zero into.

Re: CHIP Pro

#182

Post by Razengan »

zhemao wrote: post #180
Razengan wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a muggle, every time I see these things I can't help but wonder: WHY do we not have a good open-source gaming handheld based on one of these yet? Smartphones have all but killed the traditional physical-buttons Game Boy/DS/Vita model. Gaming on glass sucks, but people generally don't want to carry around another device in addition to their phone. I'm looking forward to the Nintendo NX, but I'm afraid a proprietary…

Probably because that would be a legal nightmare. You'd have to get approval from all the companies that made the systems you're emulating and the companies that made those games (sometimes they're the same company). And I doubt they'd be interested in supporting a system that will eat into their own sales.

I'm sure the emulator side could be done "unofficially" (like a separate third-party download) so the guys making the hardware don't catch any heat.

Re: CHIP Pro

#183

Post by tomek_zemla »

platz wrote: post #22

I have the chip, esp8266, rpi, teensies, trinkets, arduinos... I studied electronics principles and built various circuits.. yet I have no idea what I can practically use these devices for in my life. They all sit in a box and I have a hard time justifying buying more of them.

Learning and prototyping are key uses. Both scenarios are not about end products, but can lead to great outcomes in the future. Especially if the users are young people that end up building things like satellites that can warn you about upcoming hurricane or pinpoint your location on the GPS smartphone map and other great inventions of humanity.

The software world metaphor: It is like your first programming manual that has examples and maybe even projects - they are not to be 'used' but 'learnt' from.

Re: CHIP Pro

#184

Post by seanp2k2 »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #164
detaro wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was something ESP8266 like with Ethernet, ideally even with PoE. WiFi is ok, but since I need a cable for power anyways it could carry the data just as well... (and WLAN spectrum is quite cramped here, and part of me wants to isolate everything into nice separate networks, just to be sure)

> "I wish there was something ESP8266 like with Ethernet" Perhaps you'll find this useful: http://hackaday.com/2016/04/01/ethernet-controller-discovere...

You can also do real Ethernet with a teensy: https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_Ethernet.html

Re: CHIP Pro

#185

Post by seanp2k2 »

Sanddancer wrote: post #45
IgorPartola wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raspberry Pis and CHIPs: good for a home automation hub of sorts or a thing where you want a portable computer capable of working with video, audio, or large volumes of data. Arduino et al: need to have buttons do more complicated things than buttons can actually do: slowly change light colors, actuate things, CNC, etc. ESP8266: sensors and remote controls for switches and such. Anything Arduino does above, except th…

I'd say the Teensy is in the Arduino++ camp there. It uses the same libraries, etc, just has more power processing, a pretty nice price, and some interface bits and pieces that are very nice, like being able to act as a usb device and host. A lot of hardware, I'd argue is better to be treated as a library -- there are libraries and hardware that have definite feature sets, some of which overlap, that allows you to ch…

Best feature on the Teensy IMO is usb native, so you can do stuff like emulate a USB keyboard or mouse. Many DIY keyboard projects use them as the brains. https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/projects.html has more ideas. Also works great for larger Ambilight displays than Arduino can handle.

Re: CHIP Pro

#186

Post by singularity2001 »

beardicus wrote: post #156
singularity2001 wrote: post #69

>> "GR8 pin names" 33-CSID4-SDC2-CMD-PE8 gotta be kidding

The first number, "33" is the pin number of the CHIP Pro, "CSID4-SDC2-CMD" are the functions, and "PE8" is the actual pin name from the GR8 module. The key on that diagram is confusing.

Thanks for explaining. (and thanks for agreeing that it is 'slightly' confusing)

Re: CHIP Pro

#187

Post by seanp2k2 »

samch wrote: post #132
platz wrote: post #22

I have the chip, esp8266, rpi, teensies, trinkets, arduinos... I studied electronics principles and built various circuits.. yet I have no idea what I can practically use these devices for in my life. They all sit in a box and I have a hard time justifying buying more of them.

I was in the same boat as you until I stumbled on a real, money-saving project. My PetSafe invisible fence wired transmitter blew out, and I wasn't keen on dropping over $100 on a new one. After dragging my feet for a few weeks and doing nothing about it, I realized that I could probably replicate whatever the transmitter was doing with my RPi. Sure enough, somebody online had hooked their transmitter up to an oscill…

Moteino is also cool for stuff like that. Works well with lots of existing sensors using 443 or 868/915mhz: https://lowpowerlab.com/guide/moteino/

Re: CHIP Pro

#188

Post by seanp2k2 »

Crosseye_Jack wrote: post #103
staticelf wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Media devices or home automation is two big players I would say. But I feel exactly the same as you. I used my rpi as a server for different things and I have used it as a media player. But now I want to build video surveillance and control it all with my rpi. Though, I live in an apartment so there is not a super large need which makes me prioritize other stuff since I don't really need it. Another thing I want to d…

You can get RF Controllable Wall Light switches that replace the existing switch. The ones in the UK commonly use 433mhz and a configurable static code to turn them on/off. The benefit of them are that you can still control them from the switch itself so you won't be looking around for the bloody remote, The in socket types have to have the wall switch on all the time so if someone turns the light off from the switch…

You can use a bus pirate as a LA instead of Audacity for these signals since they're so low-tech: http://tinkerman.cat/decoding-433mhz-rf-data-from-wireless-s...

Related, for OOK: https://www.embeddedrelated.com/showarticle/626.php

http://rayshobby.net/rftoy/ is also fun if you want a more "let me play with something that already works" type gadget.

Audacity does work well enough for IR though, and these are the best transceivers I know of: http://www.iguanaworks.net/products/usb-ir-transceiver/

Re: CHIP Pro

#189

Post by Razengan »

Retr0spectrum wrote: post #181
Razengan wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a muggle, every time I see these things I can't help but wonder: WHY do we not have a good open-source gaming handheld based on one of these yet? Smartphones have all but killed the traditional physical-buttons Game Boy/DS/Vita model. Gaming on glass sucks, but people generally don't want to carry around another device in addition to their phone. I'm looking forward to the Nintendo NX, but I'm afraid a proprietary…

Your wish is granted: https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/ The only catch is that it's completely custom hardware and therefore rather expensive. It would be nice if something similar existed that you just plugged a Pi Zero into.

Ah I remember the Pandora, but it's a lot more complicated and cluttered than what I meant. A gaming handheld wouldn't need a keyboard, for example.

Re: CHIP Pro

#190

Post by syngrog66 »

platz wrote: post #22

I have the chip, esp8266, rpi, teensies, trinkets, arduinos... I studied electronics principles and built various circuits.. yet I have no idea what I can practically use these devices for in my life. They all sit in a box and I have a hard time justifying buying more of them.

you can join an IoT DDoS botnet
Post reply on HN