Re: using breadboards

Hi Juan and Tyler and Ken and all --
I'm entering this thread late but wanted to say that with a little sight 
(enough to see circuit diagrams on my CCTV but not enough to see the holes and 
pins on the breadboard), I was able to get through my digital logic and comp 
architecture classes with no problem -- in fact, I found the digital logic 
class to be one of the most fascinating classes I took as an undergrad.  In 
that class we went from low level circuits to the final project of building our 
own programmable calculator.
My comments: I had no trouble managing the breadboard as I found I could do 
everything I needed to do by touch -- and in fact, because I was extra careful 
in building my components, I frequently found myself finishing my project early 
and leaving the lab, while my sighted counterparts were ripping the wires out 
and starting over for the third time.
The circuit diagrams i think may be the biggest barrier for totally blind 
students.  If I were to go back to that time of my life having no vision, I 
think I might need tactile representations of the diagrams, some of which got 
pretty involved.  Juan, what did you use for circuit diagrams that made it 
difficult? I'm not saying it should have been easy, just that having no vision 
may have had a major impact.
Good luck Ty, and I'll keep that graduation date in mind...
--le




----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Juan Hernandez 
  To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 10:55 PM
  Subject: RE: using breadboards


  Hi Tyler,

  I really applaud your wanting to do circuit work.  but good luck finding text 
books and such.  When I was finishing up my computer science degree, I had to 
take a computer archetecture course.  basicly this was circuit design and such. 
 this was the hardest course I've ever taken.  I have since forgotten 
everything I learned in that class.

  I know the ideas, enough to code my own operating system and such, but I have 
no interest in that field.

  I have only heard of one eelectrical engineer ever that was blind.  maybe 
you'd be the second one, but who knows.

  Keep hacking, but just remember this is like 1000 times harder than anything 
software related you'll ever do.

  Juan   



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tyler Littlefield
  Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 2:40 PM
  To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Subject: Re: using breadboards


  I graduate this may, I believe.
  Maybe I won't go that route. I'm interested in OS design, making something 
work.
  I really want to just write a basic shell, though I doubt my OS will be the 
next windows on the market, I want to get things working.
  I started playing with something, but after I got it to boot up and 
everything I wasn't able to find a way to test what I wanted to see if it works.
  Basically I'm looking for another solution besides just windows and linux 
dev. I want to start playing with new technologies learning how things work, 
making things go bang, etc.
  Any other ideas would be great. I won't give up on learning about circuitry, 
but it's hardly a career option for me.

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Ken Perry 
    To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 3:34 PM
    Subject: RE: using breadboards


     

    You are looking at the wrong place for making a PDA even if it was just for 
you personally.  I said 274 for the development board after you design the 
software on that and decide what components you want for example the 274$ 
development board I spoke of came with y-fi, 2 usb ports, blue tooth, and some 
other things like keyboard input which you would have to design.  Of course a 
finished product would not need all of those or it would be a Pac mate.  Anyway 
the thing is you buy one dev board and develop your PDA idea.  When you're done 
you get the company who made the dev board to make you 5000 of them and your 
off and running with the next Victor stream.  Now I am not talking from left 
field.  I would suggest you call Marc at Levelstar and talk to him.  He 
developed the brail plus and Icon hardware and he will be able to explain it 
much better when I was talking to him the other day he said and I quote, "you 
may think you want to get into hardware design but you don't believe me you 
don't."  You really need to talk to people already in the industry.

     

    I also know of another device that was a Linux pda that never made it to 
market because it took 6 months to get a bread board working for it because you 
have to match up the daughter boards and get all the polarities and voltages 
right and in this case it was a sighted person doing  it and he smoked a few 
components just getting it to work.  After that he had to get some kind of 
software to actually compile and work on it.  Why would you want to go through 
that kind of hell when you can purchase a development board from either Samsung 
or hell there are lots of companies that you can get atom dev boards from and I 
am not even sure my $274 is the lowest cost I did see one that was $1000 for a 
dev board and it was a 4 inch by 3 inch board that was pretty much a laptop in 
a  tiny box.  These dev boards come with an operating system that works on 
them, heck most of them come with both windows CE and Linux so you can choose  

     

    Shrug do what you want but the work you will have to put into a PDA is not 
worth it.  This is the last I will say, without any other questions,  because 
if you want to fight with it more power to you just know you are in for a long 
hard road to get nowhere and by the time you get there your device will be so 
far behind the times it won't be worth having.  For example if you are planning 
on making this for more than yourself it costs in around $2000 to $5000 just to 
get your power supply tested and passed all the regulations.  That's just one 
of the things you will have to do with your own design.

     

    By the way as a side note, Tylor when do you graduate from High school?  
This has nothing to do with what you're doing I am just interested.

     

    Ken 

    From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tyler Littlefield
    Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 4:43 PM
    To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: Re: using breadboards

     

    I figured I was totally scrued up.

    It's just something I want to do.

    I have an idea for a PDA I would like to build that sounds fun, just my 
personal little PDA. I could totally customize it, and it would be cheaper than 
anything I could buy more than likely.

    I also want to just learn how these things work. I've often found them 
interesting.

    I have been digging around for some electronics tutorials, but haven't 
found all that much that doesn't consist of a ton of pictures, etc etc.

     

      ----- Original Message ----- 

      From: The Elf 

      To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

      Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 2:34 PM

      Subject: Re: using breadboards

       

      lol, odd list to send this to, but I used to do modular electronics, so 
your in luck. 

       

      firstly, that setup will not do the job, you need to find a basic 
electronics tutorial and read it, smile, not ragging on you, just the truth.

       

      there are basic principles that you haven't grasped yet.

       

      for a battery charger, you need the 110 volt (wall) plug, a transformer,  
you need a full  wave rectifier (I'll explain in a minute) and you may want 
some filter capacitors, though there not really needed for a bat charger. 

       

      now then, your first mistake is that your setup would have put wall type 
current, called AC for alternating current, into resisters and batteries which 
are DC (direct current) devices , that's a large shocking flam buoy recipe.

      number two, you said resisters to bring the current down, yes resisters 
will drop current, but not in the way you need it to, this kind and type of 
current step down is done with a transformer (that's why so many things with 
removable wall plugs have that large box either at the wall end, or in the 
middle of the cord, the box is mostly the transformer that reduces the voltage 
and changes the amperage of the wall current. 

       and without the full or half wave bridge rectifier I mentioned before, 
your still plugging DC parts into an ac circuit, another flam buoy!

      the full wave bridge rectifier I have been mentioning is the component 
that changes the AC current coming out of the transformer into DC current for 
the batteries to charge off of.

       

      here is the correct series of components for a simple power supply:

       

      1. 110 volt power plug, which you attach to a specific set of contacts on 
a 110 AC to... (output voltage equals the number of batteries going into the 
battery holder, times 1.5 volts) so if you have a battery clip for 2 batteries, 
then its 3 volts, if its four then it's six volts) AC transformer (note here, 
all the transformer does is change the voltage and amperage of the power, not 
its type, at this point you still have AC current running through the thing).

      3. to the output side of the transformer you attach the input leads off 
the  full wave bridge rectifier (this is the device that changes the power from 
AC, to DC so its the same type of current as your batteries).

      4. to the output side of the FWBR you can either: 

      4-1. insert two filter capacitors to screen out noise the circuitry 
generates, but this is not needed in a simple charger(*note,! the filter 
capacitors have to be hooked up the correct way, one end is positive one 
negative). 

      or, 

      4-2. attach your battery holder, making sure you get the polarity of the 
wires correct to the battery holder , or your making a loud bang and a lot of 
stink and a hazard out of your batteries.

         

        another point, this simple setup has no way, like many chargers you buy 
do now a days, to tell when the batteries are fully charged, and stop trying to 
charge them, and this will heat up, and eventually give you another ka boom.

         

        the circuitry for a regulator is not to hard, but I can't pull it out 
of my head like I can a simple power supply. 

         

        that is the basics of a power supply and it will work as a charger. and 
it will not cost much, but why reinvent the wheel, unless your going to try for 
some work in the electronics field? which I would not advise, some of the stuff 
is extremely complex, and some of it quite delicate, and none of it is marked 
in a method that can be  read with our current tech abilities. 

         

        laters,

        inthane

        ----- Original Message ----- 

        From: Tyler Littlefield 

        To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

        Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 12:06 PM

        Subject: using breadboards

         

        Hello,

        I'm looking to start using breadboards to create some small things.

        I'd like to start off with something small, possibly a battery charger 
or something similar.

        I found a small tutorial on instructables, but not totally sure how to 
get going.

        It explained how things work somewhat, but not accurately enough for me.

        It mainly used pictures to explain, which didn't do me a whole lot of 
good.

        Any ideas on how I can set this up?

        I understand the polarity--hooking one negative end to the positive etc 
so that the circuit forms a loop, I'm just not sure how to do what I want.

        So, here's my idea.

        If I figure out the layout, I can set up a power cable going from the 
outlet to the breadboard.

        Then I can place in jumpers to bridge the gap.

        I can take the 120 volts down to 9 with some resisters (?) and hook a 
battery pack to the other end that will charge the batteries.

        I'm thinking I'm way off, but... ideas would be great.

        If I could, I'd like to set it up so it'd charge like 4 at once, then I 
could cut down the 120 to 36. Possibly put in a heat sink to keep it from 
getting really hot.

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