Visit to Exeter Pi Jam – April

I went up to the Exeter Pi jam today and took my old AIY voice kit with me, spent some time with Trevor trying to get this working.

We downloaded the image from the AIY Projects website. As my version of this was, we think from 2017, (or that was the date on the magazine I got with it) then we tried the two images that were released for that year.

We downloaded and wrote the image fine, but both kernel panicked when booted, so further investigation needed.

Other projects included a weather station and a cycle helmet equipped with two cameras and some neopixel strips.

Next Event

• Next Exeter Pi Jam, Exeter Library. Sat 3rd May 10am to 12

Tags

#Exeter,#Event,#RaspberryPi,#Projects,#Hacking,#Making

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Minecraft Pi Edition revival

It looks like there are moves to revive the Minecraft Pi edition that came with earlier versions of the Raspberry Pi OS Raspbian.

So far, there is a github repository for this.

I have no more information, however, I first read about this on the Luanti Matrix channel, so that may be a good place to at least discuss further.

Tags

#MinecraftPi,#RaspberryPi,#MineCraft,#Luanti,#Matrix

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Tinkerers Meeting – April 2025

The next meeting of the Tor bay Tinkerers group will be on Saturday 26th April 2025 at 9:30

We meet at:-

STEAM Cafe & Discovery Centre 13 Torbay Road, Paignton.

Possible topics

TBC

• Dragster Race Car update
• Snap Electronics
• Controlling Cnc Machines with Arduino (TBC)
• Other projects

To give you an idea of what we have been up to, please see the write-up from March

If you would like to ask any questions, please see our Facebook page

Links

• Arduino
• Raspberry Pi
  • Raspberry Pi 5
    
  • Raspberry Pi 4
  • Raspberry Pi 3
• Humble Bundle – Embedded Intelligence

Tags

#Torbay,#Tinkerers,#Electronics,#Hacking,#Arduino, #RaspberryPi,#Making

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Tinkerers Meeting – March 2025 – Write Up pt 2

Another post with the videos from the meeting.

• Video 1 – Drag car
• Video 2 OA Robot
• Video 3 – Trains
• Video 4 Micro:bit car

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Tor bay Tinkerers group will be on Saturday 26th April 2025 at 9:30

Tags

#Torbay,#Tinkerers,#Electronics,#Hacking,#Arduino, #RaspberryPi,#Making

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Tinkerers Meeting – March 2025 – Write Up

Meeting held at STEAM Cafe & Discovery Centre 13 Torbay Road, Paignton.

It was just myself and Helen again this month, but we were busy testing Helen's Robot Drag car, this can now go the distance in <2 seconds, which is the target time. It does seem to spin after slowing down.

The Obstacle avoiding (OA) robot now works, and now has two programs attached to it, one is the OA mode, and the other it is programmed to moved around as if dancing.

The code is now on my laptop, so can be uploaded as needed, depending on what is required.

We also had a look at the Micro:bit car that belongs to Lucy M, this again works, beeps, the LEDs are a little bright, which is great in the dark.

I also had a look at the Snap Electronics kit and built up a few basic circuits including a transistor Amp.

A basic LED with switch

Transistor (NPN) amplifier with LED off

Transistor (NPN) amplifier with LED On

Transistor (NPN) amplifier with instructions.

The STEAM discovery centre also has a nice train set. This is Thomas the tank engine themed, but has track, points to change tracks and carriages for the trains.

If you would like to ask any questions, please see our Facebook page

Links

• Arduino
• Raspberry Pi

Tags

#Torbay,#Tinkerers,#Electronics,#Hacking,#Arduino, #RaspberryPi,#Making)

Links

• Arduino
• Raspberry Pi

If you would like to ask any questions, please message Helen via our Facebook page

Tags

#Torbay,#Tinkerers,#Electronics,#Hacking,#Arduino, #RaspberryPi,#Making

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Tinkerers Meeting – March 2025

The next meeting of the Tor bay Tinkerers group will be on Saturday 29th March 2025 at 9:30. Just reposting this as a reminder.

We meet at:-

STEAM Cafe & Discovery Centre 13 Torbay Road, Paignton.

Possible topics

• Dragster Race Car update
• Testing IR robot car – This should now be fixed
• Micro:bit projects

To give you an idea of what we have been up to, please see the write-up from Feb 2025

If you would like to ask any questions, please see our Facebook page

Links

• Arduino
• Raspberry Pi

Tags

#Torbay,#Tinkerers,#Electronics,#Hacking,#Arduino, #RaspberryPi,#Making

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Amazon's Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

Posted to the Fediverse yesterday. This is a stark warning about how technology can do what it wants, and how when we don't have access to the code that makes it work, we don't know what it is doing.

A good reason to support software freedom

• Amazon's Ring used to spy on customers

You are better off with a RaspberryPi and a Camera Module along with a suitable programming language such as Python and hacking your own.

We can perhaps discuss at a future STEM Group.

Tags

#Amazon#Ring,#Privacy,#Spying.#Alternative,#FreeSoftware,#Python,#RaspberryPi,#CameraModule,#Hardware,#Hacking

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Code Club 17/9/2022

The next Paignton Library code club is on 17th September. There will be the usual mix of coding, troubleshooting and discussions. I

We now have some of the Vodafone resources so will be sharing them if anyone is interested.

We still have a few printed resources, which will be binned if no one wants them. Simple fact is, we are running out of space.

Links

• Paignton Library
• Code Club
  • Projects and activities
  • Environment
  • Space Projects
  • Scratch
• E-safety * Vodafone digital parenting
  • Social media Checklist
• Online information
• Sense about Science
  • Sense about Science – peer review
• Supporting critical thinking and reliability online
• LateX Bibliographies

Tags

#CodeClub,#Information,#RaspberryPi,#Troubleshooting, #esafety,#misinformation,#SenseAboutScience,#Vodafone, #DigitalParenting,#StudySkills

Next session

• Next Week is the STEM Group meeting 10/9/2022
• Next Code Club is Saturday 17th September 2022.

Please contact Paignton Library for details and booking.

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Code Club 3/9/2022

The next Paignton Library code club is on 3rd September. There will be the usual mix of coding, troubleshooting and discussions. I should have some e-safety resources too.

Links

• Paignton Library
• Code Club
  • Projects and activities
  • Environment
  • Space Projects
  • Scratch
• E-safety * Vodafone digital parenting
  • Social media Checklist
• Online information
• Sense about Science
  • Sense about Science – peer review
• Supporting critical thinking and reliability online

Tags

#CodeClub,#Information,#RaspberryPi,#Troubleshooting, #esafety,#misinformation,#SenseAboutScience,#Vodafone, #DigitalParenting

Next session

• Next Week is the STEM Group meeting 10/9/2022
• Next Code Club is Saturday 17th September 2022.

Please contact Paignton Library for details and booking.

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