Electronics

[sn00p]

I found a video of the system I developed using a Raspberry Pi (Think it was a Pi 2), this is quite a few years old.

The application is written using Qt and the GUI is a Qml frontend with C++ backend. It's a controller system that was used in our building, we developed all the hardware ourselves, it controlled lighting, fire alarms and heating, each room has it's own controller system using a ARM Microcontroller with ethernet interface.

 

[botfch]

So I’m lockdown bored and fusion 360 has added a electronics package so figured I may as well learn it.

Anyone recommend something that I can work on as an example that’s going to teach me a decent amount as well?

 

[sn00p]

So I’m lockdown bored and fusion 360 has added a electronics package so figured I may as well learn it.

Anyone recommend something that I can work on as an example that’s going to teach me a decent amount as well?

What do you know?

There are a load of books that vary in complexity on the theory of electronics, ones like "practical electronics for inventors" cover everything, but can be quite hard going.

Make magazine also has a number of books that are probably a better starting point, basic stuff.

 

[botfch]

What do you know?

There are a load of books that vary in complexity on the theory of electronics, ones like "practical electronics for inventors" cover everything, but can be quite hard going.

Make magazine also has a number of books that are probably a better starting point, basic stuff.

I know the basics and a bit of stuff around arduino.
I find I learn best when I try to just do it rather than following tutorials, just trying to think of something thats suitably complex enough but also interesting.

Ideally mixing sensors, servos etc intially I was thinking about some kind of robot.

 

[sn00p]

I know the basics and a bit of stuff around arduino.
I find I learn best when I try to just do it rather than following tutorials, just trying to think of something thats suitably complex enough but also interesting.

Ideally mixing sensors, servos etc intially I was thinking about some kind of robot.

Servos you will need PWM control, if you want to use an arduino then find a semi decent one, there are ARM based ones and you can pick up SWD debuggers for next to nothing, even segger the king of ARM debuggers sells "education" versions of the jlink for like 60 quid, I swear by the JLINK.

Sensors can be anything from analog to i2c or SPI. You'll need to get used to reading datasheets.

 

[197.]

Quick question regarding display settings on a raspberry pi, if I have a 7 inch screen but want to reduce the display area to 5 inches (for arguments sake) is it just a case of changing the display parameters?

Can't find a 6 inch touch screen therefore will have to do with a 7 and scale things down, so would rather be sure of the above before I go buying bits online.

Cheers!

 

[sn00p]

Quick question regarding display settings on a raspberry pi, if I have a 7 inch screen but want to reduce the display area to 5 inches (for arguments sake) is it just a case of changing the display parameters?

Can't find a 6 inch touch screen therefore will have to do with a 7 and scale things down, so would rather be sure of the above before I go buying bits online.

Cheers!

Computers don't measure display size in inches (DPI is a calculated parameter). They measure display size in the number of horizontal and vertical pixels.

The Pi will use whatever size display is connected to it, if it's not the displays native resolution then it's scaled, but that will produce a degraded image.

 

[197.]

Computers don't measure display size in inches (DPI is a calculated parameter). They measure display size in the number of horizontal and vertical pixels.

The Pi will use whatever size display is connected to it, if it's not the displays native resolution then it's scaled, but that will produce a degraded image.

Appreciate the reply mate, I fully understand pixel height/width, looking back my original post wasn't well written (coming across as a noob).

I see that I may potentially be decreasing image quality by scaling the image down, but i'd have a play with the different resolutions (native, then preferred ones) once i'd chosen the display height/width. I'm only interested in running one main application (carplay) so i'd experiment with what works best for solely that.

Good to know that it is possible to reduce the screen display area.

 

[197.]

Don't suppose anybody has a Pi 3 B+ for sale? Asking on here before I get one from elsewhere.

Edit: Also in regards to the post above, you can change the display window on a screen by editing the boot config file, but you will have to recalibrate the screen which is a PITA depending on the make and OS you're running. Ended up going for a different screen which was a million times better than the original 7 inch one I went for.

 

[Andy_con]

anyone got free time and interested in a project?

 

[197.]

anyone got free time and interested in a project?

Does it involving programming?

 

[Andy_con]

Does it involving programming?

Yep

 

[197.]

Yep

I’m out!

 

[Robbie Corbett]

I know the basics and a bit of stuff around arduino.
I find I learn best when I try to just do it rather than following tutorials, just trying to think of something thats suitably complex enough but also interesting.

Ideally mixing sensors, servos etc intially I was thinking about some kind of robot.

How did you get on with this? Whats the Fusion electronics sw like? Im assuming they just bought another company or something? Do you use Fusion professionally?

 

[botfch]

No I use Geomagic in work and fusion on my own stuff at home, I like it tbf it’s a nifty little program.

It’s really easy to use, did the 1hr tutorial on the official YouTube, then copied a few examples to practice.
I’ve vaguely got a project on the go to try and make something to give the standard clio radio bluetooth but keep all the controls working.
But like most things it’s finding the time to sit down and do it.

I believe it’s a program that used to be called EAGLE pcb design.

 

[Robbie Corbett]

Ahhh Eagle, that makes a lot of sense now. I use Altium and Solidworks which are both expensive but brilliant so it makes it tedious switching to something else, often though about using Fusion for private jobs as the SW renewal expensive.

You going in through the CD Changer input? I think thats what I would do.

 

[botfch]

Ahhh Eagle, that makes a lot of sense now. I use Altium and Solidworks which are both expensive but brilliant so it makes it tedious switching to something else, often though about using Fusion for private jobs as the SW renewal expensive.

You going in through the CD Changer input? I think thats what I would do.

Tbf I’ve found a lot of the time once you know one software it’s pretty easy to switch over. No way I’m paying 15 grand for Geomagic at home..

Yeah I’ve basically got a connects 2 box and a Bluetooth receiver I need to pull apart and model up as my starting point.

 

[Robbie Corbett]

I think your right with MCAD, I used Geomagic for a while before it was bought out by 3DS and it did everything I needed at the time, but the ECAD stuff I find very difficult to switch between. I've gone through a few now and am getting too set in my ways to switch!

But I really like the look of Fusion especially their CAM integration. Is it still all cloud based? Thats what put me off most when looking into it, that my design files were not stored locally (or something like that?)

 

[botfch]

I think your right with MCAD, I used Geomagic for a while before it was bought out by 3DS and it did everything I needed at the time, but the ECAD stuff I find very difficult to switch between. I've gone through a few now and am getting too set in my ways to switch!

But I really like the look of Fusion especially their CAM integration. Is it still all cloud based? Thats what put me off most when looking into it, that my design files were not stored locally (or something like that?)

You can export stuff so you can work offline but it’s a hassle.
I’m sure they do it on purpose to get everyone working online constantly.

 

[sn00p]

Autodesk have just s**t all over hobbyists with the new licensing for Fusion.

However, you can get a full edu version of Solidworks (including PCB which is actually Altium designer) for $40, search for EAA on the net.

You won’t be able to open the files in a commercial license of SW, but other than that it’s a full Solidworks for non commercial use.

 

[Robbie Corbett]

Autodesk have just s**t all over hobbyists with the new licensing for Fusion.

However, you can get a full edu version of Solidworks (including PCB which is actually Altium designer) for $40, search for EAA on the net.

You won’t be able to open the files in a commercial license of SW, but other than that it’s a full Solidworks for non commercial use.

Was it free before? Only £22 a month if you buy a years licence.

Trouble with the edu Solidworks is that you have to provide some evidence that you are in education which I don't think is difficult but you cannot use it for any paid work at all. Solidworks doesn't have Altium, it uses Circuit Studio which is available for free (as circuit maker) and although uses some of the Altium backend is a like a hamstrung version of Altium, probably as good or better than most of the free/cheap alternatives but very annoying to use if you are used to Altium full fat.

 

[sn00p]

Was it free before? Only £22 a month if you buy a years licence.

Trouble with the edu Solidworks is that you have to provide some evidence that you are in education which I don't think is difficult but you cannot use it for any paid work at all. Solidworks doesn't have Altium, it uses Circuit Studio which is available for free (as circuit maker) and although uses some of the Altium backend is a like a hamstrung version of Altium, probably as good or better than most of the free/cheap alternatives but very annoying to use if you are used to Altium full fat.

No idea, I am in a groups that are seriously pissed as they’ve removed a lot of the features that were previously included.

As I said, search EAA, anybody can be a member (it’s a aeroplane enthusiast group) and they have a deal with Solidworks, every member gets a free edu license. You don’t have to be in education, you only have to be a member of the EAA, $40 dollars a year and no hassles.

It’s not circuitstudio as far as I can tell, partly because I had a trial of that and there have been no updates to it for a couple of years and there have been to SW PCB, it may well be a hybrid, but it feels like designer to me. We actually have a license of Altium Designer for work, but obviously I’m not going to pay 7 grand for it to use at home. (Although I could just activate it on my PCB when I want to use it but then my colleague who uses it more than me wouldn’t be able to use it!)

I’ve used KiCad for open source designs I’ve done, specifically so that I can release the source files for others to use. It gets the job done, but it feels like a bunch of random programs bundled together (which is what it actually is) and it’s missing things like rip up track, I mean, seriously?

I actually used to write commercial PCB software so I’m pretty fussy when it comes to how it works as when you write your own you design it how you would want it to work.

 

[sn00p]

I just booted it up, yeah, you're right, it's definitely circuit studio derived. It's odd that they've not taken any of the work in that back to circuitstudio itself.

Still, $40 a year for a license of it and Solidworks is an absolute steal for hobbyists.

 

[Robbie Corbett]

I just booted it up, yeah, you're right, it's definitely circuit studio derived. It's odd that they've not taken any of the work in that back to circuitstudio itself.

Still, $40 a year for a license of it and Solidworks is an absolute steal for hobbyists.

I do not understand their business plan at all (Altiums). I've been trying to get a licence for their solidworks integration for about a year but they just want us to pay for a while solidworks electrical pack for like 4k. Altium (who advertise it) wont sell it. Now I can't be arsed so just live with STEP files.

Although with the full pack you can take a PCB including copper and silk into solidworks, then shuffle components around in either package which is supper useful when trying to pack boarding into odd shaped enclosures.

ps, sorry, thought you were just talking about the straight up educational licence, didn't realise EAA had such a decent deal, well worth it for learning/mucking about.

I absolutely hate Kicad but haven't used it for a few years. Started with Protel 99, then Orcad, then Allegro now Altium which for me is the most flexible for complicated designs. I have always dreamed about making my own ECAD software however I am the worlds worst programmer so thats as far as I got.

 

[sn00p]

Their current model seems to have been somewhat of a bait and switch. There’s circuit maker that’s free, but your designs are public. The current circuitstudio is sold by farnell, it’s reasonably cheap but hasn’t seen any updates for around 2 years I think. It’s effectively just circuitmaker with the ability to create private projects. The circuitstudio community aren’t best pleased that it appears to have been abandoned,

Then there’s designer, which has a lot of functionality, part of the selling point of that is the libraries, but I think they’re pretty poor and it seems to take an age after clicking on a library part for it to actually appear and be used.

They also have an online only package which they swallowed up from another company they purchased, you’d have to say that their interest is clearly in designer because of the revenue it produces, once you’ve used that you realise how much of a toy the others are, but, that’s not to say you couldn’t do decent designs in them. Things like the auto router in designer are pointless because it’s not helpful if it routes 90% of the board if the remaining 10% is unroutable.

Like I said before, I’m somewhat picky because I spent 10 or so years developing commercial PCB design software, so I find it incredibly frustrating when software can’t do something I consider basic...especially when you’ve written the code yourself before!

Yeah, the EAA deal is a steal if you’re a hobbyist, there’s no point in pissing about with hacked versions when you can get the full software for such a low cost. Solidworks is a fantastic piece of software.

Eagle always felt really clunky to me, it never felt great to use. I tried it a while back in fusion and got stuck almost immediately because it couldn’t do something that I wanted it to do, so I binned that experiment, with auto desks fail with the fusion product for hobbyists I can only see that pushing people towards the cheap Altium solutions even if they haven’t been updated for a while.