[Bradford] Raspberry Pi Hackday

Tue Nov 27 11:14:16 UTC 2012

Hi

If there's still interest in attending the hack event this weekend then
check out the Cambridge Computer Labs tutorial on connecting a temperature
sensor to the Raspberry Pi (seems to be the best/most straight forward):
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/freshers/raspberrypi/tutorials/temperature/. The
biggest problem I've had is sourcing the parts we would need to build this.
Ironically, given the Pi was designed and is manufactured in the UK most of
the break-out boards are being developed by American companies. However, a
number of UK companies are importing these parts and reselling through
Amazon. So I've ordered the parts in the hope that they will arrive in
time! Bit of a risk, but they weren't that expensive and I really couldn't
find another option. So if anyone's got a cool software hack we could use
as a backup plan for this weekend I'd be interested.

Looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow,

Cheers.

Tom

On 22 November 2012 18:39, Alice Kaerast <alice at kaerast.info> wrote:

> I've been doing work on metrics collection and analysis tools recently so
> collecting sensor data from multiple devices is something I can easily do.
> That and the punch card idea though have been done previously, prizes tend
> to go to the people doing new development - even if it doesn't fully work.
>
> Depending on what comes up next week i should be able to get over to
> Bradford a little early next Wednesday. So we could discuss over pizza
> before the meeting, or after in the pub if people insist.
>
> Regards
> Alice
> On Nov 22, 2012 5:18 PM, "Tomas Holderness" <tomasholderness at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Yes I agree. I've seen from twitter that he was thinking of going to the
>> Pi event. Is anyone in contact with him, If not I can send him a message?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> T
>>
>>
>> On 22 November 2012 16:34, Dick Thomas <xpd259 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> if you are doing anything with the raspberryPI we should invite Gareth
>>> Halfacree as he literally wrote the book[1] on the PI
>>>
>>>
>>> [1]
>>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gareth-Halfacree/e/B0088CA5ZM/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1353602033&sr=8-2-ent
>>>
>>> On 22 November 2012 14:30, Brian <bradlug at techchico.org.uk> wrote:
>>> > My very first experience, before I was a student, was to use a PDP 11
>>> and
>>> > write a simple program, it was saved on punched tape. It computed some
>>> > numbers and then, to my great fascination, because it  included a loop
>>> > featuring  chr(7), or something like that, the bell on the terminal
>>> would
>>> > ring.
>>> > However, I am not one to dwell on past technology. It may be
>>> interesting to
>>> > observe what happened in times gone-by but I'd much sooner spend time
>>> > creating something new.
>>> > Brian
>>> >
>>> > ________________________________
>>> > From: Tomas Holderness <tomasholderness at gmail.com>
>>> > To:
>>> > Cc: bradford <Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk>
>>> > Sent: Thursday, 22 November 2012, 14:18
>>> > Subject: Re: [Bradford] Raspberry Pi Hackday
>>> >
>>> > Or, just to throw in another suggestion - anyone in the group who used
>>> to
>>> > use punched tape? My dad and I were chatting last week about how to
>>> make a
>>> > sensor for the RPi to read punch tape, and it generated some interest
>>> on
>>> > twitter: https://twitter.com/iHolderness/status/268092434209193985
>>> >
>>> > Cheers,
>>> > Tom
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On 22 November 2012 13:35, Tomas Holderness <tomasholderness at gmail.com
>>> >
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> > The event made slashdot this morning
>>> > (
>>> http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/11/22/0342241/entries-open-for-first-ever-24-hour-raspberry-pi-hackathon
>>> )
>>> > - cool, but slightly daunting! I'm still up for it, but think we need
>>> to go
>>> > in with an agreed idea. Will there be opportunity to discuss on
>>> Wednesday
>>> > (or after meeting)?
>>> >
>>> > The Open Web Apps idea sounds interesting and I'd be interested in
>>> hearing
>>> > more, though I've only just started experimenting with web stuff
>>> > (Javascript). Generally, some mix of Python, C and SQL is where I'm
>>> happiest
>>> > when coding,
>>> >
>>> > The ideas I had for the hack event revolve around using the RPi as a
>>> low
>>> > cost sensor platform to collect data (e.g. temperature), store it
>>> locally in
>>> > a database and then serve it to the web. I thought of this as
>>> sensors/motes
>>> > and the like are a big thing in the engineering world right now
>>> > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensor_node).
>>> >
>>> > Specifically for the hack event, I had thought about connecting an air
>>> > temperature sensor to the Pi, writing the software to read and store
>>> this is
>>> > SQLite/CouchDB, and then writing a web front-end either using a simple
>>> > python server or lighttpd/similar to serve this from the Pi. The web
>>> page
>>> > with the data could contain a map showing the sensor location and a
>>> tasty
>>> > visualisation of time-series air temperature (probably using something
>>> from
>>> > here: http://selection.datavisualization.ch/). Optionally, I had
>>> mulled over
>>> > adding batteries/solar panels to power the Pi, although power
>>> consumption of
>>> > wi-fi dongle would probably mean LAN cable only. This wouldn't be a
>>> true
>>> > sensor network set-up, but could be a nice use of the Pi in the time
>>> > available. What do you think?
>>> >
>>> > Cheers,
>>> >
>>> > Tom
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On 21 November 2012 21:14, Alice Kaerast <alice at kaerast.info> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > On 21 November 2012 20:56, Robert Burrell Donkin
>>> > <robertburrelldonkin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >> On Sat, Nov 17, 2012 at 9:18 PM, Tomas Holderness
>>> >> <tomasholderness at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >>> Hi all,
>>> >>>
>>> >>> I'm a Linux geek recently returned to Bradford from working up north
>>> >>> (Dave's
>>> >>> a family friend) and I was hoping to pop along to the next meeting.
>>> >>> However,
>>> >>> I'd also seen the pi bake-off hack event and would be well up for
>>> going
>>> >>> as
>>> >>> part of team if you're interested. I've got a pi already, and a
>>> couple of
>>> >>> ideas of things we could build.
>>> >>
>>> >> Are we going for it...?
>>> >
>>> > I think that probably depends on the ideas and the fit of skills.
>>> > Most recently my language of choice is bash and my skills are in
>>> > devops, though I can also do Ruby, Javascript, PHP and a little Python
>>> > and Io.
>>> >
>>> > I've been considering building a minimal OS capable of running Open
>>> > Web Apps for the Pi as one great project to look at.  Not sure we'd
>>> > get very far in a  day though.
>>> >
>>> > I'm certainly up for it if others are.
>>> >
>>> > Regards
>>> > Alice
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Bradford mailing list
>>> > Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk
>>> > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bradford
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>> >
>>> >
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> About.me http://about.me/dick.thomas
>>> Blog: www.xpd259.co.uk
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>>
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