#pi-zero

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Cyberpunk themed pip-boy. One of two projects I want to finish this week!

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Portal’s Wheatley Part 27: February 2019

Bluetooth Connection:  We have always planned to have Wheatley will be controlled by buttons on the Portal Gun. Originally we’d intended to install a Wiimote in the portal gun along with the Pi-Zero. We have tested connecting and controlling the Pi with a Wiimote. However, this would require two concurrent Bluetooth connections to the Pi in Wheatley. We have redesigned this to have a thumb-stick and buttons connected directly to the Pi-Zero in the portal gun. Thus, only one Bluetooth connection to worry about. In effect, we’re building a custom remote control using the Pi-Zero that communicates to Wheatley over a Bluetooth connection.

We found a great Pi-Hat from Ada-Fruit that makes attaching a thumb-stick and multiple switch inputs. This is their Arcade bonnet that allows a joystick, 7 switches, and a speaker to be easily connected to the Pi/Pi-Zero. With a bit of luck (and time) our Portal Gun will also make the proper firing sounds!

We have the Pi-Zero sending commands to Wheatley over Bluetooth and then echoing the command/menu option on a small led screen that will be installed on portal gun. The following photo shows the menu item:   “Ani” – Animation submenu….  “W Pick Me Up”  which is one of the animation scripts.

We also spent a lot of time working on writing the software to handle error conditions on Bluetooth correctly along with a “heartbeat” between the Pi and Pi-Zero to determine if a disconnect occurs. Even more time was sorting out how to make the receive functions “non-blocking”… ie the receive does not stop and wait for data. It checks to see if data from the Pi-Zero has come in and if not it allows the program to work on other items.

Bluetooth is good for 30 – 50 feet.  Thus we need everything to behave properly when one walks away from Wheatley and have it reconnect when you return.

Battery Life:  We are using a 12v, 11ah lead acid battery to power Wheatley and the cube lights. This will be mounted in the cube and it is also an effective counterweight. The challenge is knowing when Wheatley is running low on power since Wheatley does not have an attached screen. Thus, we’re adding a volt-meter by the on-off switched inside the cube.  The photo below shows the volt-meter (in green on the right) as the battery is being recharged.

If we find that battery life on Wheatley is too short, we can add a 2nd battery that will just drive the lights in the cube. The Portal Gun will use a USB power stick.

Eyebrow and Eyelids: These are currently just  brass frames and we had planned to cover them in styrene. We tested several glues including 2-part epoxy, CA, and commercial contact cement. Nothing seems to bond well to both brass and styrene. 

The covering will be painted and it needs to be light as both of these frames are articulated by servo’s. The outside center covering of Wheatley will still be styrene as that needs to be dent resistant. The good news is that the outside covering will be screwed on. In contrast, the eyelids and eyebrow are somewhat protected. We’re going to test convering them in high quality poster board/card stock, which should bond well to brass with epoxy.

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Finally getting back to my pi-top. Cyberdeck inspired, dockable, 5" tablet. The rough fit worked and everything turned on. Just a little more soldering and I'll be ready for gluing and sanding.

It would be done if I weren't trying to shoehorn an esp8266 dev kit in the case. Still trying to figure out it it'll fit a usb sound card too.

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My Cyberpunk inspired 'Cyberdeck' progress update.

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My handheld Pi is almost done. Just a few final touches left. I have to do some custom stickers, install a little software, and maybe another coat of paint.

I've got Android dev installed, foe the built-in ESP8266. I use a lot of these in my projects, so it's fun to have a pocket system to code on.

I also have movies, music and emulators.

So, LSDJ is high on the list.

I'm ordering some SIM GSM modules. Ideally I'll be able to plug them into the ESP, and use that to make calls.

I haven't installed GoLang on it yet, but I've been playing with LiteIDE, and that's in the future.

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Some people were asking for an internals shot of my 5" pi tablet. So, if you want to see what's inside the box, here you go. Probably the most interesting thing is the integrated Wimos D1 mini.

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Syndicate is the most Cyberpunk game ever made. Fight me.

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Test fit for the first add-on for my growing wearable computer collection. I made an external monitor that magnetically attaches to the main unit, for parties and shows. I think it will make Halloween parties more fun if people can see what I'm doing while I'm doing it.