Workshop Update for March 19th, 2013
We continue working on the Bus Pirate Edu Kit documentation. We continue working on the renders for documentation. The image above being the final render for the second exercise.
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Comments
What’s the purpose of the rendered images? They look great! Using the above image alone, I probably wouldn’t be able to re-create the circuit on the breadboard (something like a 2d wiring diagram would be more helpful for that).
I’ve only been following the edu kit development loosely, so I’m curious as to whether the rendered images are meant to take the place of wiring diagrams or not (feel free to just direct me to a link if I’m missing something basic here).
Eye candy, overview picture.. a more realistic picture of how it will look assembled.
each exercise will have one rendered image as above, one top down view non rendered, a schematic, and a wiring diagram..
excellent – sounds like there will be plenty there to help people figure out what’s going on. the renders are excellent eye candy ;-)
I agree, the renderings simply look awesome.
Just in case you guys from DP intend to use (perspective) renderings as wiring diagrams similar to the picture above, please pay attention to visibility issues: In the picture above, for example, you can’t see exactly where the green, cyan and vilet wires are connected. If you are not using perspective pictures for wiring diagrams, then forgive my little rant, please. :)
No problem, all comments are welcome, the renders are more only for front page, overview, not really intended to be used as wiring diagrams..
here is a link to a finished exercise which probably has the most wires.. the schematic and the top down view are intended for the wiring, as is the breadboard wiring legend below them.
http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate_Edu_Kit_Exercise_no.2
all the images are click to zoom in the documentation.
Thanks for the link Filip!
The full exercise looks great from a wiring perspective, having the schematic, top view, and an easy to understand net list should make life pretty easy for people. The legends on the breadboards also go a long way.
Since this is an “education” kit. . . Is the theory behind shift registers reviewed anywhere in the text (preferably graphically as well as a few prose). From an education perspective, it would probably be helpful – having something like this animated gif on wikipedia (or a series of stills if you’re in print) would be perfect (note the animation is PISO vs the SIPO that’s in the exercise).:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shift_register#Parallel-in.2C_Serial-out_.28PISO.29
So, possibly include a “theory” section that discusses the circuit’s components from a higher level perspective to help people understand what’s going on. Having a discussion on how the bits move around should really drive home the point.
Of course, if the purpose is to merely education someone on how to use the bus-pirate this probably isn’t really necessary. The existing pages do an *excellent* job of introducing the bus pirate commands in a fun way!
Also, a while back I had put in a request for the CategoryTree extension to be installed on the wiki – if you’re planning on putting all of the exercises into the same Category and directing people to the wiki for help, this would be a perfect way of navigating through them. Here’s an example of the “Category Tree” in action (see the top right hand corner of the page):
http://twilightrobotics.com/wiki/CNC_Milling_PCB%27s
The nice part is that all of the pages update automatically as pages are added to the category (although right now they appear to be un-categorized). Just one more thing to consider ;-)
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the Theory section idea, it indeed would be a geat addition, although we initially didn’t plan on it, we might add it after we finish all the exercises with the structure we have..
Is there some (even remotely) trivial way to embed a 3D image of the board, assembled, to a webpage?? Or even perhaps provide a SketchUp file for people learning to be able to zoom/pan/tilt?
With that said, I’m sure what you’re planning to provide with each step is sufficient, and the render looks like candy :)
Hmm there is a way, but it’s not the best looking. It looks like the 3D view over at a warehouse model..
example. http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=57ad7b115e4e6b87affb6580ab93be8&ct=mdsa&prevstart=0 you can zuum and spin the model 360, but you cant pan, and the resolution is not the best.. All off the BP edu kit models will be made available, through our SVN, and the 3D warehouse..