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  <title><![CDATA[Swindon Hackspace]]></title>
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  <link href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/"/>
  <updated>2013-09-25T22:03:47+01:00</updated>
  <id>http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/</id>
  <author>
    <name><![CDATA[Swindon Hackspace]]></name>
    
  </author>
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  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Meeting Report - 3rd July 2013]]></title>
    <link href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/2013-07-03-meeting-report/"/>
    <updated>2013-07-03T00:00:00+01:00</updated>
    <id>http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/meeting-report</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Quite a busy night at the Swindon Hackspace tonight. Welcome to the five(!) new people who turned up to see what we get up to at our weekly meetings, hope you had an enjoyable evening and we’ll see you again next week. Along with the regulars it made for a pretty full room. After resetting a few trip switches to sort out some power issues the evening got underway with a bit of chat about what we do, complimented by drinks and some biscuits brought in by a couple of our regulars, James and Jess.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/2013-07-03-meeting-report/Hackspace.jpg" alt="Hero" /></p>

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<p>James and Jess also turned up with some funky little electronic Cube World games, so we all spent a while trying to work out what they do. As far as we managed to work out, each cube contains a little character who you can control and play a simple game with. Clip the cubes together and the characters will move between the cubes and interact with each other. Information on the internet seems sparse, even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radica_Games">Wikipedia</a>  doesn’t appear to have a page. There is a <a href="http://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/i6063.pdf">manual</a> available for download from the Mattel website and plenty for sale on <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=mattel+cube+world+series">ebay</a> if you fancy getting some.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/2013-07-03-meeting-report/CubeWorld.jpg" alt="Cube World Series" /></p>

<p>In the mean-time people rummaged through the selection of 3D printed items Steve had brought in and he chatted with some of the newcomers about 3D printing showing off some of his excellent 3D prints and designs.</p>

<p>Simon brought in the <a href="http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1206?osCsid=31b1a0e3c1d9c27c6c802d752bd477c5">robot arm</a> he’d recently bought for the <a href="http://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/">Swindon Museum of Computing</a> <a href="http://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/exhibitions/2-current-exhibitions/108-robots-revealed">robots revealed exhibition</a>.  He was having some trouble getting it to work reliably. After a some messing around we discovered that powering the servos from 6V rather than 5V resolved the problem. There is a short video of it in action on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEHG0bBv5ys">YouTube</a></p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/2013-07-03-meeting-report/RobotArm.jpg" alt="Robot Arm" /></p>

<p>The hackspace has recently been working on getting an old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HERO_(robot)">Heathkit Hero</a> robot to work (but we’ve not been making much progress recently in all honesty!)  One of the members has 3D printed some replacement parts for the arm and we need to replace some of the wiring inside after it was, er, accidentally shorted out during some testing.  It has been commandeered back into the museum for the robot exhibition so we spent a bit of time refitting its outer panels and reattaching the repaired arm ready for display.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/2013-07-03-meeting-report/Hero2.jpg" alt="Hero" /></p>

<p>As a few members headed off home leaving the die-hards, James set up the oscilloscope to have a poke around in his Blu-ray player with the hope of doing some hacking on it and we pondered the issues we’ve been having with the internet connection recently.</p>

<p>All in all a fairly busy and entertaining evening. Sorry if I’ve missed off anything else that people were doing but there way too much going on to see and hear everything.</p>

<p>Rob.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Gyrobot Resurrection]]></title>
    <link href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/gyrobot-resurrection/"/>
    <updated>2013-06-28T00:00:00+01:00</updated>
    <id>http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/gyrobot-resurrection</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Gyrobot was made available to the <a href="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/" title="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/">Swindon Museum of Computing</a> on Hackspace night; 19th June 2013 for their upcoming <a href="http://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/exhibitions/2-current-exhibitions/108-robots-revealed" title="http://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/exhibitions/2-current-exhibitions/108-robots-revealed">Robots Revealed</a> exhibition.</p>

<p>For those that are not familiar with Gyrobot, it was my (Steve Wood) entry into the UK Robot Wars series 6 and 7, back in 2002.</p>

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<p>Gyrobot originally started its journey in 2000 with myself, a Robot Wars fan deciding to design and build a Swindon entry for the UK version of Robot Wars. 3 years later and after 1 failed audition, it appeared on Series 7 which was filmed in Nottingham August 2003 and screened in November.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/gyrobot-resurrection/gyrobot.jpg" alt="Gyrobot" /></p>

<p>This entry was named Gyrobot from the word Gyrate which is to spin/revolve and to rotate in circles, and erm - robot! Also “Gyro” is short for gyroscope, a device that spins. I have now affectionately adopted this name for many of my online avatars, my design and 3D printing company is unashamedly named after it too (<a href="http://www.gyrobot.co.uk" title="http://www.gyrobot.co.uk">Gyrobot Ltd</a>).</p>

<h2 id="interesting-facts-about-gyrobot-">Interesting Facts About Gyrobot :</h2>

<ol>
  <li>I believe Gyrobot is the smallest heavyweight in the world (100kg category). Challenge this fact if you can. Dia 700mm x 150mm.</li>
  <li>Gyrobot has no interior orientation, top can be bottom and bottom can be top, a truly symmetrical robot in all directions.</li>
  <li>Gyrobot has no weak side, all angles of opponents attack are catered for.</li>
  <li>Gyrobot’s best form of attack is it’s defence. To get near it be prepared to get damaged!!</li>
  <li>The energy stored in Gyrobot’s 35 kg outer weapon rim when up to full speed (750 RPM) is 40KJoules (Validated by two independent sources). Compare that with current Hypnodisc’s 12KJoules. Energy is even higher when Gyrobot is in full body spin mode.</li>
</ol>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/gyrobot-resurrection/gyrobot_closer.jpg" alt="Gyrobot_closer" /></p>

<p>Either come along to the <a href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/about/#weekly-meetings" title="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/about/">Swindon Hackspace</a> on a Wednesday night or the <a href="http://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/exhibitions/2-current-exhibitions/108-robots-revealed" title="http://www.museumofcomputing.org.uk/exhibitions/2-current-exhibitions/108-robots-revealed">Robots Revealed</a> exhibition at the <a href="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/" title="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/">Swindon Museum of Computing</a> for the next 6 months to have a closer look, but please - not available to hack, one false move and it bites back hard ;-)</p>

<h2 id="further-gyrobot-information-">Further Gyrobot Information :</h2>

<p>Original Website:
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve-wood/home.htm" title="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve-wood/home.htm">http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve-wood/home.htm</a></p>

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KaWaZ5FgJeg" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6dnohbcRkms" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[First Year Anniversary Meet Up]]></title>
    <link href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/first-year-anniversary-meet-up/"/>
    <updated>2013-06-13T20:06:00+01:00</updated>
    <id>http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/first-year-anniversary-meet-up</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>On June 5th we celebrated our 1st year anniversary. Rather than attend a usual meet we decided to relocate the Hackspace to the more informal surroundings of the <a href="http://swindonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/sir-daniel-arms.html" title="http://swindonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/sir-daniel-arms.html">Sir Daniel Arms</a> for a bite to eat and some drinks:</p>

<p>We met at the <a href="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/" title="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/">Museum of Computing</a> between 6:30 and 7pm, left a map to the pub for any late shows before taking the short walk down town. An unusual collection of reprobates we must have looked, but soon realising that we actually fitted in quite well with the other townsfolk. It’s cool not to be cool I always tell my kids.
<!-- more --></p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/first-year-anniversary-meet-up/Sir Daniel Arms.jpg" alt="Sir Daniel Arms" /></p>

<p>When we arrived at the pub, it was surprisingly busy, with all the tables seemingly taken. However we soon flexed our substantial muscles and hacked together a collection of smaller seats, stools, loungers to make some sort of makeshift eating area.</p>

<p><strong>Our simple pub review:</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Beer was great, prices were very cheap, food was ‘fine’, bartender girl was the most miserable ever, waitress however was nice and chatty.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Those lucky attendees who turned up were rewarded with a hot off the printbed Swindon Hackspace multi-coloured poker chip, worth 1 Gigillion credits, accepted in no respectable establishments worldwide. Even the waitress was curious as to what it was, “a badge of shame” she was told, only surpassed by McDonald’s zero stars:-</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/first-year-anniversary-meet-up/3D Prints.jpg" alt="Sneak preview of the new Swindon Hackspace Logo" /></p>

<p>Tony showed a collection of prints from his new Replicator 3D printer. Looking forward to seeing some more.</p>

<p>Conversation was good, many subjects covered and not all hackey. We sort of flirted with the following ideas, but nothing as usual in concrete:-</p>

<ul>
  <li>Collaborative Hackspace projects (3D printer).</li>
  <li>Visit to Bristol and possibly Oxford Hackspaces.</li>
  <li>Contact first timers for feedback.</li>
  <li>Another publicity drive.</li>
  <li>Some web site glitches which need to be discussed with Jamie.</li>
  <li>Increased blog activity, which is why I was volunteered for this entry ;-)</li>
</ul>

<p>Which leads me to signing off this entry with a congratulations to hackspace members on achieving our paper anniversary.</p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Twitter To Teletype]]></title>
    <link href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/"/>
    <updated>2012-11-06T20:06:00+00:00</updated>
    <id>http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>The <a href="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/">Museum of Computing</a> in Swindon has a working Teletype and a desire to get it to print out tweets as part of a display in the museum.  Since the <a href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk">Swindon Hackspace</a> is based in the museum it was a perfect project for hackspace members.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/Teletype.jpg" alt="Teletype" /></p>

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<h2 id="current-loop-interface">Current Loop Interface</h2>

<p>The teletype uses a current loop interface to communicate with other (teletype) devices.  The current loop interface is similar to a standard RS232 serial interface found on a PC except rather than using changes in voltage to represent 0’s and 1’s it uses changes in current.  Data is sent at 110 baud - very slowly compared to modern standards, but this is as fast as the teletype can print characters and it has no means to buffer the data it receives.</p>

<p>After a few failed attempts and fried components a circuit was built to convert from RS232 serial into current loop using…. [ <em>what?, circuit diagram?, any more info?</em> ]</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/CurrentLoopConverter.jpg" alt="Current Loop Converter" /></p>

<p>The teletype also uses a slightly different character set to standard ASCII so a character set conversion was required.  This conversion implemented in the C# code running on the Raspberry Pi. This also allowed for use of some of the mechanical functions of the teletype such as the bell which you can hear ring as the teletype prints out a tweet</p>

<p><a href="https://github.com/snhack/TwitterToTeletype/wiki/images/TeletypeCharMap.png">Character Map Table</a></p>

<h2 id="mechanical-issues">Mechanical Issues?</h2>

<p>The teletype is mainly a mechanical device and contains only a single circuit board consisting of a few resistors, diodes and transistors <em>photo required</em>  Many of the hardest problems to overcome turned out to be mechanical rather than electronic or software problems.</p>

<p>Upon initially managing to send data to the teletype over and RS232 port and via the current loop converter many characters were being printed out incorrectly.  After reading the teletype manuals found online it was discovered that there was a mechanical adjustment lever at the back of the teletype which controlled the alignment of some cogs used in decoding the character data sent over the current loop.  After a few minor adjustments with this lever most characters now print correctly.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/LeverPostion.jpg" alt="Lever Position" /></p>

<p>You may notice that the teletype still occasionally prints the wrong character.  This is down to mechanical issues rather than any software or electronic fault and is simply due to the age of the machine and worn mechanical components.</p>

<h2 id="whats-with-all-the-noise">Whats With All The Noise?</h2>

<p>Because the teletype is a mechanical device which uses moving parts to decode the data it receives it has to be running continuously and hence makes a lot of noise even when not printing text.  In order to minimize the noise generated when the teletype wasn’t printing anything a circuit was created using an ATTiny2313 (similar to the programmable chip used in an Arduino) and a relay to turn the power to the teletype on just before data was due to be sent and off once the printing was complete.  This chip was also programmed to bridge the connection from USB on the Raspberry Pi to the serial data that was needed to send to the current loop converter to talk to the teletype.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/UsbSwitch.jpg" alt="USB Switch" />
<img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/UsbSwitch2.jpg" alt="USB Switch" /></p>

<h2 id="getting-tweets-and-putting-it-all-together">Getting Tweets And Putting It All Together</h2>

<p>A C# application was written to connect to the twitter API and pickup tweets sent to the museums twitter account.  Running under Mono on Linux, this software then communicates with the ATTiny micro-controller via a USB to serial converter and sends instructions to turn the teletype on.  It then sends the text of the tweet in 50 character chunks (due to memory limitations on the ATTiny) to be forwarded on to the current loop interface at 110 baud and finally the teletype prints out the tweet.</p>

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_HGV4Ppnx14" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/TeletypeComplete.jpg" alt="Complete" />
<img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/twitter-to-teletype/TeletypePaper.jpg" alt="Printing" /></p>

<h2 id="more-information">More Information</h2>

<ul>
  <li><a href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk">Swindon Hackspace</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/">Museum of Computing</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33">Model 33 Teletype on Wikipedia</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_loop">Current loop on Wikipedia</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://github.com/snhack/TwitterToTeletype">Source Code</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a></li>
</ul>

<p><em>This article was originally posted at: <a href="https://github.com/snhack/TwitterToTeletype/wiki">TwitterToTeletype/wiki</a></em></p>
]]></content>
  </entry>
  
  <entry>
    <title type="html"><![CDATA[Resources for Using Git]]></title>
    <link href="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/resources-for-using-git/"/>
    <updated>2012-09-29T20:35:00+01:00</updated>
    <id>http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/resources-for-using-git</id>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Here’s some basic resources to get started pushing code to github.</p>

<p>Note: As well as computer source code, git is useful for tracking changes to anything that can be represented as plain text, e.g. <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/08/bundestag/">German Law</a>.</p>

<p>The simplest use of git is to create the repo locally, stored in the same folder as the source (known as the working tree) and named <code>.git</code>.</p>

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<p>To <a href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-init">initialise</a> a new git repo, simply run <code>git-init</code>.</p>

<div class="bogus-wrapper"><notextile><figure class="code"><figcaption><span></span></figcaption><div class="highlight"><pre><code class="sh"><span class="line"><span class="nv">$ </span><span class="nb">cd </span>my-project
</span><span class="line"><span class="nv">$ </span>git init
</span><span class="line">Initialized empty Git repository in my-project/.git/
</span></code></pre></div></figure></notextile></div>

<p><a href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-add">Add</a> any new or changed files you want to track, then <a href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit">commit</a> those changes to the repo.</p>

<div class="bogus-wrapper"><notextile><figure class="code"><figcaption><span></span></figcaption><div class="highlight"><pre><code class="sh"><span class="line"><span class="nv">$ </span><span class="nb">echo </span>About My-Project &gt; README.md
</span><span class="line"><span class="nv">$ </span>git add . <span class="c"># add all files recursively</span>
</span><span class="line"><span class="nv">$ </span>git commit -m <span class="s1">&#39;First Commit&#39;</span>
</span><span class="line"><span class="o">[</span>master <span class="o">(</span>root-commit<span class="o">)</span> cdab15f<span class="o">]</span> First Commit
</span><span class="line"> 1 file changed, 1 insertion<span class="o">(</span>+<span class="o">)</span>
</span><span class="line"> create mode 100644 README.md
</span></code></pre></div></figure></notextile></div>

<p><a href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-log">View recent commits</a> using <code>git log</code>.</p>

<div class="bogus-wrapper"><notextile><figure class="code"><figcaption><span></span></figcaption><div class="highlight"><pre><code class="sh"><span class="line"><span class="nv">$ </span>git log
</span><span class="line">commit cdab15f2036b0b8b1c8fbfceab6357c8e56a0d5f
</span><span class="line">Author: Jamie Osborne &lt;jmeosbn@your-email.com&gt;
</span><span class="line">Date:   Sat Sep 29 23:30:20 2012 +0100
</span><span class="line">
</span><span class="line">    First Commit
</span></code></pre></div></figure></notextile></div>

<h2 id="documentation">documentation</h2>

<p>Git itself can be installed from <a href="http://git-scm.com/downloads">git-scm.com</a> if your OS doesn’t already include it. The same site also hosts a copy of the <a href="http://git-scm.com/docs">documentation</a>, as well as the <a href="http://git-scm.com/book">Pro Git book</a> which is a great place to start learning git.  Pro Git is also available as a commercially <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1430218339?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=prgi-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1430218339">printed book</a> from Apress, and as a free <a href="https://github.s3.amazonaws.com/media/progit.epub">ePub</a>, <a href="https://github.s3.amazonaws.com/media/pro-git.en.mobi">mobi</a>, or <a href="https://github.s3.amazonaws.com/media/progit.en.pdf">PDF</a> download.</p>

<p>If you don’t fancy reading an entire book, then this <a href="http://www.vogella.com/articles/Git/article.html">Git Tutorial</a> gets straight to the point for those already familiar with the concepts of version control.  There’s minimal explanatory text, but full command examples for most operations; making it a useful resource for commands you use rarely and need to quickly relearn.</p>

<h2 id="graphical-interfaces">graphical interfaces</h2>

<p>While it’s good to know how to use git from the command line, it’s worth getting a GUI for easier building of commits etc. (you could also integrate it with your favourite editor and diff viewer)</p>

<p><a href="http://github.com/">Github</a> offers their own <a href="http://mac.github.com/">Mac</a> and <a href="http://windows.github.com/">Windows</a> GUI clients, which have the advantage of closer integration with some of github’s features, such as organisations and the “Clone in Windows/Mac” button found on each repo on github.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/resources-for-using-git/promo-screenshot.png" alt="GitHub for Mac" /></p>

<p>They do lack some more advanced features though so I mostly prefer <a href="http://gitx.laullon.com/">GitX</a> on the Mac, though <a href="http://git-scm.com/downloads/guis">plenty more GUIs</a> exist on various platforms.</p>

<p><img src="http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/resources-for-using-git/commit.png" alt="GitX" /></p>

<h2 id="other-info">other info</h2>

<p>Btw, if you just want to share some code snippets somewhere while maintaining versioning etc., then check out <a href="https://gist.github.com/">gists</a>, a feature of github.</p>

<p><em>This article was originally posted at: <a href="http://jmeosbn.github.com/blog/resources-for-using-git/">http://jmeosbn.github.com</a></em></p>
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