Pete Brown's Blog (POKE 53280,0)
Pete Brown writes on a variety of topics from XAML with the Windows Runtime (WinRT), .NET programming using C#, WPF, Microcontroller programming with .NET Microframework, .NET Gadgeteer, Windows on Devices, and even plain old C, to raising two children in the suburbs of Maryland, woodworking, CNC and generally "making physical stuff". Oh, and Pete loves retro technology, especially Commodore (C64 and C128). If the content interests you, please subscribe using the subscription link to the right of every page.
Archive for tag:
geek
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The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to
makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, Arduino,
AVR and other MCUs, CNC, 3d Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics
Studio, Electronics, General Maker stuff, and more. If you have
something interesting you've done or have run across, or you blog
regularly on the topics included here, please send me the URL and
...
Published
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 |
Tagged:
Commodore, Gadgets, geek, c64, Netduino, Electronics, Gadgeteer, 3d-Printing, MakerRoundup, Maker, AVR, Arduino |
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My son is 6 1/2 and my daughter is 4. Today, my wife had some of
my children's homeschool friends over. One of them is a 10 year old
boy.
He saw Windows 8 on my 6yo son's laptop upstairs and said "You
have Windows 8?!?". He was very excited because he didn't have it
yet himself. He started telling my son all about Windows 8 and
what's coming. This is a 10 year old boy, mind you.
UP...
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I just received a bunch of packages from both Secret Labs and
GHI Electronics. The Secret labs packages contained their brand new
Netduino GO. The GHI package contained the FEZ Cerebus Starter kit
I ordered.
This post looks at the new Netduino GO and briefly compares it
to the .NET Gadgeteer (Cerebus and others). I also build a couple
simple example applications using the Netduino GO ...
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At the South Florida Code Camp last week, I presented the ".NET
Micro Framework and .NET Gadgeteer". The primary demo was the
Gadgeteer diaper monitor, but I also showed off hardware, wired
some LEDs to the Netduino etc.
PowerPoint Slides
Attached to this post
Demos and Code
The .NET Gadgeteer Diaper Alarm Part 1 (Moisture Sensor)
Building a .NET Gadgeteer Comp...
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As software developers, we hear a lot about Open Source
Software. I'm a big fan of OSS, and think it's one of the single
most impactful things that has added to the collective knowledge of
the developer community. Microsoft has several larger open source
projects and software. For example, ASP.NET MVC is open source
software, and the .NET Micro Framework is a full apache-license and
com...
Published
Friday, February 24, 2012 |
Tagged:
Gadgets, geek, Netduino, Micro+Framework, Electronics, Gadgeteer, Arduino, Open Source, OSH |
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Over the past year or so, I've really gotten interested in
alternative processors. It started as simple .NET Micro Framework
devices and them moved to C++ directly on Micro Controllers, and is
now expanding to include those interesting processors that sit in
between the bests that run our desktops and the tiny ones that run
hobby boards.
Most processor discussions these days are aroun...
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The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to
makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, CNC, 3d
Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics Studio, Electronics, General
Maker stuff, and more. If you have something interesting you've
done or have run across, or you blog regularly on the topics
included here, please send me the URL and brief description via the
con...
Published
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 |
Tagged:
.NET, Commodore, Visual-Studio, Synthesizer, geek, c64, Robotics, Electronics, MakerRoundup, Maker, AVR, Arduino |
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For anyone interested in open source microcontroller
development, or why boards are named with *duino type names, this
1/2 hour documentary is a great watch.
http://vimeo.com/18539129
Arduino.TheDocumentary.2010.English explains the origin of the
Arduino in a relatively non-technical interview-based documentary
style, with interviews for people involved in the creation, as well
...
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The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to
makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, CNC, 3d
Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics Studio, Electronics, General
Maker stuff, and more. If you have something interesting you've
done or have run across, or you blog regularly on the topics
included here, please send me the URL and brief description via the
con...
Published
Saturday, January 7, 2012 |
Tagged:
.NET, Hobbies, Synthesizer, geek, Micro+Framework, Electronics, 3d-Printing, MakerRoundup, Maker, AVR |
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Over the Christmas break, I decided to replace my great Samson
C01U mic with something a little more high end. Today was the first
day I really got to try it out at work.
Criteria
I knew I wanted a new mic, but there were some specific things I
was looking for. For the new one, I had the following criteria:
Not a USB mic. Straight XLR
Must sound good for close-talking voice o...
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I'm working on the user interface for my MIDI Thru Box, and will
need some number of buttons on the front panel. I'm not sure how
many yet, but it'll be at least four and maybe as many as eight.
The thing is, I didn't want to use up eight IO ports on the
Netduino just for handling buttons. A button is essentially a 1 bit
value; it's either on or off.
For the other installments in th...
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In addition to all the programming projects I have in my
backlog, plus things like migrating my website to a new provider
(and finishing migrating the old irritatedvowel hobby pages), I
have a number of fun maker-type projects I want to work on in the
near (and distant) future. In most cases, the projects would
require learning something very new - that's the appeal. If I can't
learn so...
Published
Thursday, August 18, 2011 |
Tagged:
Home-Renovation, Hobbies, CNC, Synthesis, Synthesizer, Gadgets, geek, Steam-Engines, Netduino, Micro+Framework, Robotics, Electronics |
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Today I spent a little time at the drill press in my shed, and
made a huge mess with aluminum and cutting fluid.
Before you read on, here are the other installments in this
series. You may wish to look them over first.
Part
1: Initial Circuit Design and Prototyping (also includes parts
list and info about the rack case)
Part 2: PCB Layout and Manufacturing
Part 3: Manufa...
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Last month, I got to sit down and record a great interview with
Carl and Richard of .NET Rocks. I had a great time chatting with
them about everything from Silverlight and WPF to the Commodore 64
to the .NET Micro Framework, MIDI and manufacturing your own
circuit board.
Carl and Richard talk to Pete Brown from Microsoft about the
cool things he's working on, including building a Co...
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While at MADExpo last week, I interviewed
several members of the Menchville High School Robotics team. They
brought their awesome robot to demo, and explained how the team and
the program works.
MADExpo
2011 Menchville Robotics Team
I wish we had this when I was in high school! Of course, they'd
have had to be steam powered back then ;)
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The custom circuit board arrived from PCB-POOL while I was away
at MADExpo. Of course, I couldn't wait to put it together. In this
part of the series, I'll assemble the circuit board. For
information on the previous steps, and more photos, please see
these blog posts
Part
1: Initial Circuit Design and Prototyping (also includes parts
list and info about the rack case)
Part 2: ...
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The .NET Micro Framework is a free and open source
version of the .NET Framework, created by Microsoft, and supported
by both Microsoft and the community. The current production version is
4.1 and supports C# development. The latest beta, version 4.2, adds
support for Visual Basic as well as several Microsoft-contributed
and community-contributed features.
The .NET Micro Framework, Ap...
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Today, I received another update on the manufacturing process.
The earlier update today was named "UV Curing" and arrived at 10am
this one is named "Surface finishing" and arrived at 1pm (eastern).
The update was sent by email as well as made available on their
site, as it was previously. For information on previous steps,
please see these blog posts:
Part
1: Initial Circuit Design...
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Here's a brief update on the PCB manufacturing process for my
MIDI Thru Box. For more information, see
Part 1:
Initial Circuit Design and Prototyping
Part 2: PCB Layout and Manufacturing
When I checked the site the other day, it said that the board
had passed all checks and was in production. Interestingly enough,
they also tell you who processed your order and wh...
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In part 2 in this series, I look at what it takes to design and
manufacture a board (or, at least, to send one away for third-party
manufacturing). For more background information on the project, see
Part
1.
Disclaimer. I'm new to electronics. Very new. Like, no
background in the theory at all. I'm learning this stuff on the
fly. If something I've done doesn't look like a best prac...
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I had to replace a bad USB hub over the weekend (I replaced both
with two identical powered hubs), and ended up doing some USB
troubleshooting at the same time. As you probably know, not all USB
ports are created equal, and some things (like my Novation
X-Station and my Samson C01U) are both very picky about where
they're plugged in.
In any case, I mentioned on twitter that I thou...
Published
Monday, June 13, 2011 |
Tagged:
Gadgets, geek |
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I like gadgets - not normal gadgets like iPods and Zunes and
smartphones (although I have my pile there). I like things like robots and
robot arms and synthesizers and DIY synth kits and
synth
kits based on classic Commodore chips, and Netduino and FEZ
.NET Micro Framework boards and more. Well, you get the
picture.
I've always thought robotic arms were very cool to play with,
and m...