X-Git-Url: https://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/1cb13667e660131566cc5e893c62ae010dced0b6..5576b09b70c10ce2bee68871285b78fb4b0084ea:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index e4f95828a0..cd3da15dda 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,77 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + The space rover coquine, or how I ended up on the dark side of the moon + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_space_rover_coquine__or_how_I_ended_up_on_the_dark_side_of_the_moon.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_space_rover_coquine__or_how_I_ended_up_on_the_dark_side_of_the_moon.html + Sun, 2 Jun 2019 23:55:00 +0200 + <p>A while back a college and friend from Debian and the Skolelinux / +Debian Edu project approached me, asking if I knew someone that might +be interested in helping out with a technology project he was running +as a teacher at <a href="https://www.ecolefrancodanoise.dk/">L'école +franco-danoise</a> - the Danish-French school and kindergarden. The +kids were building robots, rovers. The story behind it is to build a +rover for use +<a href="http://blog.ecolefrancodanoise.dk/first-week-on-the-dark-side">on +the dark side of the moon</a>, and remote control it. As travel cost +was a bit high for the final destination, and they wanted to test the +concept first, he was looking for volunteers to host a rover for the +kids to control in a foreign country. I ended up volunteering as a +host, and last week the rover arrived. It took a while to arrive +after <a href="http://blog.ecolefrancodanoise.dk/model-moms">it was +built and shipped</a>, because of customs confusion. Luckily we were +able fix it quickly with help from my colleges at work.</p> + +<p>This is what it looked like when the rover arrived. Note the cute +eyes looking up on me from the wrapping</p> + +<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2019-06-02-robot-dark-side-of-moon-esken-med-det-rare-i.jpeg" width="32%" style="clear:left"/> +<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2019-06-02-robot-dark-side-of-moon-den-ser-meg.jpeg" width="32%" style="clear:left"/> +<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2019-06-02-robot-dark-side-of-moon-en-skrue-loes.jpeg" width="32%" style="clear:left"/> + +<p style="text-align:left">Once the robot arrived, we needed to track +down batteries and figure out how to build custom firmware for it with +the appropriate wifi settings. I asked a friend if I could get two +18650 batteries from his pile of Tesla batteries (he had then from the +wrack of a crashed Tesla), so now the rover is running on Tesla +batteries.</p> + +<p>Building +<a href="https://gitlab.com/ecolefrancodanoise/arduino-efd/">the rover +firmware</a> proved a bit harder, as the code did not work out of the +box with the Arduino IDE package in Debian Buster. I suspect this is +due to a unsolved +<a href="https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/pull/2703"> license problem +with arduino</a> blocking Debian from upgrading to the latest version. +In the end we gave up debugging why the IDE failed to find the +required libraries, and ended up using the Arduino Makefile from the +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/arduino-mk">arduino-mk Debian +package</a> instead. Unfortunately the camera library is missing from +the Arduino environment in Debian, so we disabled the camera support +for the first firmware build, to get something up and running. With +this reduced firmware, the robot could be controlled via the +controller server, driving around and measuring distance using its +internal acoustic sensor.</p> + +<p>Next, With some help from my friend in Denmark, which commited the +camera library into the gitlab repository for me to use, we were able +to build a new and more complete version of the firmware, and the +robot is now up and running. This is what the "commander" web page +look like after taking a measurement and a snapshot:</p> + +<img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2019-06-02-robot-dark-side-of-moon-commander.png" width="40%" border="1" align="center"/> + +<p>If you want to learn more about this project, you can check out the +<a href="https://hackaday.io/project/164082-the-dark-side-challenge">The +Dark Side Challenge</a> Hackaday web pages.</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + Nikita version 0.4 released - free software archive API server http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Nikita_version_0_4_released___free_software_archive_API_server.html @@ -691,50 +762,5 @@ Merk, betaling med bitcoin er ikke anonymt. :)</p> - - Debian now got everything you need to program Micro:bit - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_got_everything_you_need_to_program_Micro_bit.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_got_everything_you_need_to_program_Micro_bit.html - Tue, 22 Jan 2019 17:20:00 +0100 - <p>I am amazed and very pleased to discover that since a few days ago, -everything you need to program the <a href="https://microbit.org/">BBC -micro:bit</a> is available from the Debian archive. All this is -thanks to the hard work of Nick Morrott and the Debian python -packaging team. The micro:bit project recommend the mu-editor to -program the microcomputer, as this editor will take care of all the -machinery required to injekt/flash micropython alongside the program -into the micro:bit, as long as the pieces are available.</p> - -<p>There are three main pieces involved. The first to enter Debian -was -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/python-uflash">python-uflash</a>, -which was accepted into the archive 2019-01-12. The next one was -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/mu-editor">mu-editor</a>, which -showed up 2019-01-13. The final and hardest part to to into the -archive was -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/firmware-microbit-micropython">firmware-microbit-micropython</a>, -which needed to get its build system and dependencies into Debian -before it was accepted 2019-01-20. The last one is already in Debian -Unstable and should enter Debian Testing / Buster in three days. This -all allow any user of the micro:bit to get going by simply running -'apt install mu-editor' when using Testing or Unstable, and once -Buster is released as stable, all the users of Debian stable will be -catered for.</p> - -<p>As a minor final touch, I added rules to -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/isenkram">the isenkram -package</a> for recognizing micro:bit and recommend the mu-editor -package. This make sure any user of the isenkram desktop daemon will -get a popup suggesting to install mu-editor then the USB cable from -the micro:bit is inserted for the first time.</p> - -<p>This should make it easier to have fun.</p> - -<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - - -