Category: Perverse Applications of Science…

Just a quick and nasty python library for configuring/reading/writing to the GPIO header on the Chumby Infocast.  Probably can be adapted to be used on the Chumby Hackerboard quite easily.

Source code here :- http://code.google.com/p/madox/source/browse/trunk/chumby/chumby.py?r=5

Example usage :

chumby:/mnt/storage# python -i chumby.py

>>> import chumby

>>> gpio = chumby.GPIO()

>>> gpio.set_direction(0xFF)

>>> gpio.write_output(0xFF)

>>> gpio.clear_output(0xFF)

>>> gpio.set_output(0xFF)

>>> gpio.toggle_output(0x01)

>>> gpio.toggle_output(0x01)

>>> gpio.set_drive(0x55,0xAA)

Works quite well. Need to tidy it up and maybe add i2c support…

Did you know…

A Baby Orangutan B-328 can be be purchased from RobotSimple for $19.45 USD with free worldwide shipping?

Add to that a nRF24L01+ module that can be purchased from their eBay store for $6.93 USD with free worldwide shipping?

That’s $26.38 USD for two modules that can form the basis of most little robot projects, remote control toys or remote sensor applications.

Not affiliated with either store, just a happy customer 🙂

Note : Baby Orangutan may need to be modified to use the two modules together

e.g. I’m removing the LDO voltage regulator and driving both the nRF24L01+ module and the Baby-O using a 3.3V LiFePO4 battery, connecting to the ‘Vout’ pin of the BabyO.  Connecting 2 LiFePO4 batteries (6.6V) to the Vin gives me some ooomph to drive motors using the onboard TB6612PNG H-bridges.

Oh and those dual shock USB controllers on eBay that go for $6 delivered (‘free worldwide shipping’) have two nice joysticks and 2 motors inside 🙂  Joysticks can easily be interfaced to the Baby-O and the motors can be used for…well anything.

Small frame to put the Infocast PCB + WiFi Riser PCB on, if you saw the 3rd Mecanum wheel test video you might have seen the WiFi Riser PCB shaking like hell 🙂  This puts a stop to it.

Speaker and Bend sensor connector is blocked off.  If anyone is interested in the STL’s, drop me a note and I’ll email it to you.

Quick and nasty rub’n’buff is quite nice, beats plain white but the photos don’t really show it well.

Just got my 3 Insignia Infocasts (3.5″) today, so I immediately tore one apart for a quick tear down.  Photos ahead along with side-by-side comparisons to the Chumby One (PCB), and I found a naked Chumby Classic lying next door too…

I had pretty low expectations of the Best Buy Insignia Infocast, considering the price (It was on sale for $39.95 over Xmas!) and the photos from Billy’s Tear Down (Link here).  Bunnie’s (the hardware guru/designer) blog had fantastically detailed photos which showed the main PCB with dodgy connectors…

My actual first impression is that the Infocast actually bests the Chumby One at least in industrial design of the case, if not the build quality.  The shiny plastic does make it lose a few points as it won’t age as well as the Chumby One, but overall it is very well built.

Read on to view the gallery of pics!

Continue reading “3 Generations of Naked Chumbies”

Video first this time…

Continue reading “Mecanum Wheel Base Software Test”

That’s just the index fingers… I swear…