Raspberry Pi Pico and the Next Generation

  • Be sure to checkout “Tips & Tricks”
    Dear Guest Visitor → Once you register and log-in please checkout the “Tips & Tricks” page for some very handy tips!

    /Steve.

  • BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware

    To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.

    GRC's “BootAble” freeware allows anyone to easily create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.

    The participants here, who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience, their successes and some frustrations with booting their computers into FreeDOS, have created a valuable knowledgebase which will benefit everyone who follows.

    You may click on the image to the right to obtain your own copy of BootAble. Then use the knowledge and experience documented here to boot your computer(s) into FreeDOS. And please do not hesitate to ask questions – nowhere else can better answers be found.

    (You may permanently close this reminder with the 'X' in the upper right.)

H

hfwarner3

New member
Sep 30, 2020
1
1
Has anyone else been playing with the Raspberry Pi Pico?

I have picked up a few each time I stop by Microcenter. My daughter (14) thinks they are cute and that was all the opening I needed. We gave a couple of them "legs" by soldering on the pins. After just one session of showing her how to solder, she had it. She is a natural and now solders better than me!

We have written some simple programs in MicroPython using Thonny - starting with just making the built-in LED blink. Her second project was to set up a button and an external LED with a resistor on a breadboard. She updated her blink program to turn on the internal LED and wait for a button press. Once a press is detected, it turns off the internal LED, turns on the external LED, waits for half a second, and resets everything back to the initial state. She will be taking this to school on Monday as an extra credit project for her "Introduction to Technology" class.

She is very interested in lights for her room and I would love to help her build a controller for a string of LEDs she could hang in her bedroom. Does anyone have any suggestions for an easy-to-use, inexpensive string of LEDs that could reach around an entire 9x9 bedroom?
 
  • Like
Reactions: tonkei
Very cool!

My adult son has a full led light setup he controls with both a pi and an app on his phone. He started with an inexpensive generic set of strip lights from Amazon before upgrading when he moved into his new place. Sorry I don't have any details on the strip lights, but they worked great.

I do know his initial setup didn't included a wifi controller, only remote. He ended up adding that capability.
 
I watched a YouTuber showing how to connect some stuff up to one and thought I gotta learn more hardware. I haven't used a soldering iron since I was a teen... and I didn't really know what I was doing back then... just adding a reset switch to a Vic-20 and stuff like that. I tried soldering RAM expansion into one, but I think my techniques were bad, and I probably cooked my chips.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dan Linder
  • Contains 1 staff post(s)
New RAM and errors caught by Memtest86+
Replies
14
Views
1K
Hardware
Dan Linder
Dan Linder
Tazz
The DiskMantler - hdd destruction
Replies
1
Views
369
Hardware
PHolder
P
D
QNAP + Debian, vs. Raspberry Pi + External drives?
Replies
11
Views
2K
Hardware
doopy
D
Tech323
ZimaBoard and SR6
Replies
14
Views
4K
Hardware
DanR
D
bhelman
  • Question
EdgeRouterX and UISP Network Management
Replies
2
Views
1K
Hardware
AlanD
A
Top Bottom
Back