In Part 1 of “Inside a $34 Smartphone” we poked at the software side of the dirt cheap Huami H3 smartphone.
We now know the phone is a Spreadtrum SC6825 passing off as a MediaTek. Using fake branding that combines Huawei and Xiaomi into Huami – something less than either.
(Speak Russian? Vlad translated this post!)
This Huami H3 smartphone cost me $34US (210RMB) in January. It’s sold with a 5 inch screen, Bluetooth, WiFi, 4G cell connectivity, Android 4.4 and an 8 core processor.
On Friday I tweeted this:
Wonder if Linus sees any connection between running an avowedly unpleasant project, and most of younger gen not getting involved. #lca2015
— Angus Gratton (@projectgus) January 15, 2015
This post expands on what I meant.
Continue reading
It’s possible to blacklist a single USB device from connecting to Linux, while allowing similar USB devices to connect. In my case, I wanted to disable my laptop’s built in Bluetooth host (a USB device installed inside the laptop). However I wanted a second USB Bluetooth host, integrated as part of my new WiFi card, to still work.
I’ve been a bit lax with the blog updating. In Part 1 of this post I promised Part 2 “soon” and here it is, eight weeks later. Oops.
This two-post series, aimed at embedded device beginners, explains some differences between Arduino and Raspberry Pi. In this second part we’re going to focus on one particular issue – “real-time” constraints. We’ll also quickly look over some of the alternative devices available.
Decisions, Decisions…
“If I can buy a Raspberry Pi so cheaply, why would I ever use an Arduino for an electronics project?”
I often hear this from people who are new to embedded programming and electronics. This post is the first of two, aimed at beginners in the embedded world. We’ll go over some of the differences between a typical Arduino and a Raspberry Pi, and the reasons you might want to use one or the other for a project.
This post is about last month’s Shenzhen Maker Faire. It follows on from Shenzhen Trip Part 1.
Shenzhen was my first Maker Faire that wasn’t “Mini”. Mini Maker Faires are organised externally to Make Magazine but under license, and there have been two of those in Australia – Melbourne in 2012 and Sydney in 2013. Both were great fun, but I was looking forward to attending a “Big” Maker Faire.
Earlier this month I was lucky enough to head over to Shenzhen, China, for Dangerous Prototypes’ Hacker Camp and Maker Faire Shenzhen. I flew over with Jon Oxer (from Freetronics), and Mitch Davis (from Hackvana) was on our flight as well. Good Melbourne contingent!
Ian from Dangerous Prototypes has put a great series of day-to-day blog posts up on the Hacker Camp mini-site explaining the full program, so I won’t bore you by repeating them. Needless to say he and Jin, and the other organisers, did an insanely great job of showing us all the things they love about living in Shenzhen. I want to highlight just a few things from the trip that stood out for me.
I’ve been messing around with Bluetooth Low Energy on a few projects lately. There’s some fun stuff out there, but like a lot of embedded stuff it can be a bit tricky in a non-Windows environment (I run Linux whenever I can.)
One module I’ve come across is the Laird Technologies BL-600 Series. The BL-600SA is a complete, FCC module certified, Bluetooth Low Energy systems-on-a-chip. It costs $13US in single quantity at Digikey.
Inside the metal can the BL-600SA is actually a Nordic nRF51822 Cortex M0 microcontroller with built in Bluetooth Low Energy, bundled with its supporting components and a chip antenna.
Misappropriating discount store LEDs to improve the illumination in my microscope.
