Engineering & Technology

Discover Cancer and Sagittarius compatibility in love. Learn how emotional Cancer and adventurous Sagittarius can balance each other for a unique and passionate relationship.

If you are deeply regretting letting go of some of your older game consoles, it’s time to wipe those tears away and get your Pi ready for Retrom. PiMyLifeUp shares.

Retrom is a relatively new software designed to be a central place to host all your games. While this game library focuses on retro games, it still works as a good hub for your more modern games.

One of the neatest things about Retrom is that it will automatically scrape your folders for your games. As long as they are organized in a way the software expects, it will build out and fetch information about each of your retro games.

Retrom even features a sleek web interface that you can use to easily browse and manage your retro game library. You can even download your games to your local machine with just a click of a button.

This week’s EYE ON NPI knows where New York Hottest Club is at, it’s the Teledyne FLIR Lepton® 3.1R Pocket-Sized Thermal Camera, a bite-sized full-featured video camera for remote thermal measurements.

With a resolution of 160×120 pixels, remote temperature measurements of -40°C to +300°C, and the size of a coin, this camera can be embedded into any kind of product, whether it’s running Linux, RTOS or a plain old microcontroller. Thermal cameras are multi-purpose, with usage in medical, industrial, construction, maintenance and security industries.

Use them to make sure equipment is running at the right temperature and not overheating, that insulation for a room is performing adequately, locating people or animals, or detecting fevers without touching.

FLIR makes the best low-cost, small-size thermal cameras and they’re available off-the-shelf at DigiKey for quick integration. Each camera outputs either a simple grayscale-valued frame or one with a false-color RGB888 palette – the palette can be configured over I2C.

The Lepton 3.1R is one of a series of cameras available from FLIR, including the Lepton 2 and 3.5. What’s great is all have the same physical pinout and shape that can plug into a socket.

This is great for manufacturing yield and field repair: the expensive module is placed last in the manufacturing line so earlier yield issues don’t affect it. Also you can swap different resolution/FOV modules to customize for the end-user. For example, the Lepton 2 is a little less expensive but has only 80×60 pixels. Or you can upgrade to the Lepton 3.5 with similar resolution but a narrower FOV. Note that the FOV will affect the distortion greatly: a wider FOV requires a lens to focus the IR emissions but will fisheye the middle and compress the edges.

There’s software from Teledyne FLIR that will “de-warp” the 3.1R’s output, using Open CV, to give you more realistic imagery.

To learn how to work with these modules, we recommend the Lepton engineering integration guide. Unlike the simplest thermal camera modules and sensors, which use only I2C, or the most complex USB-video output devices, the Leptons use a combination on I2C for configuration – called the CCI Command and Control Interface – and SPI for VoSPI – a.k.a. video over SPI.

This makes them possible to integrate with a wide range of microcontrollers or microcomputers.

As mentioned before, you don’t solder the cameras to the PCB. Instead they are plugged into a common Molex 1050281001 socket which is only $1 at DigiKey and comes on a pick-and-place reel.

If you want to get started very quickly, DigiKey and GroupGets have partnered up to offer a wide range of breakout boards, USB adapters and dev-boards that feature the Teledyne FLIR Leptons.

GroupGets also published firmware and example code to get you started with their products so you can quickly evaluate the Lepton and make sure it will work and what resolution/FOV is ideal: simply swap the different models in and out of the Molex socket.

GroupGets also works with makers to get their prototypes to market, working with DigiKey for part sourcing so if you have an idea and need a help making it to production check them out!

If you need a high-quality thermal camera that is plug-and-play, easy to integrate and at a great cost, the Teledyne FLIR Lepton 3.1R Pocket-Sized Thermal Camera is hot hot HOT and in stock right now for immediate purchase from DigiKey.

Order today, pick up an eval board too, and you can be measuring the world around you by tomorrow afternoon.

See the video below:

See the manufacturer’s video:

 

The Raspberry Pi makes for some fun Halloween projects. Eugene Tkachenko uses a Pi 5 and an AI Camera to craft up some scares.

In a quiet suburban neighborhood, October had arrived, and the air buzzed with Halloween excitement. At the same time, a new Raspberry Pi AI camera came into my hands, and that means it’s time to scare someone. People often fear AI because they believe it will take away jobs, but this time, it will help me create a new kind of fear.

Checkout the GitHub and Instructable for full details

Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! All month we’ll be bringing you ideas and projects for an Electronic Halloween!

Working on a project for Halloween this year? Share it with us in the comments below, the Adafruit forums, Facebook, Discord, Instagram or Twitter [aka X]– (tag your posts #ElectronicHalloween). You can also send us a blog tip!

Get inspired with the Halloween Gift Guide

New Products 10/25/2024 Featuring Adafruit VCNL4200 Long Distance IR Proximity and Light Sensor – STEMMA QT / Qwiic! (Video)

• iFixit FixHub – Power Series Smart Soldering Iron (0:10)
• Adafruit CP2105 Friend – USB to Dual UART Serial Converters (1:35)
• Adafruit VCNL4200 Long Distance IR Proximity and Light Sensor – STEMMA QT / Qwiic (3:05)

What is the purpose of nostalgia? Do we turn to our old favorites to escape a chaotic present? Do we re-visit old haunts, old meal, old TV show, old movies, to find a new script for our lives? In the case of video games, some turn to retro games for a simpler, more direct approach to game mechanics. Why struggle through the 135th patch for the latest AAA video game when you can settle down to the 8-bit sounds of a Nintendo classic, or the two-color adventures of an Atari 2600 game?

If retro gaming is your jam and Raspberry Pi is your tool, have a look at Retrom, a new-ish software that could be the central place to host your games. Here’s more from PiMyLifeUp:

One of the neatest things about Retrom is that it will automatically scrape your folders for your games. As long as they are organized in a way the software expects, it will build out and fetch information about each of your retro games.

Retrom even features a sleek web interface that you can use to easily browse and manage your retro game library. You can even download your games to your local machine with just a click of a button.

See more!

Are you subscribed to the Adafruit Youtube channel? If you’re not already subscribed, click here! http://adafru.it/subscribe . It’s a free and easy way to keep up with our newest episodes. Here’s some of what we’re up to.

• Electronics Show and Tell Wednesdays 7:30pm

Electronics show and tell every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET.

• Adafruit Ask an Engineer LIVE 8pm Wednesday!

Every Wednesday night at 8pm ET join us for our weekly live video & chatroom! Visit http://adafruit.com/ask for more info. You can ask anything about electronics, kits at Adafruit or just stop in to meet other makers who are building cool things!

• 3D Hangouts – Thursdays

Hang out with Noe & Pedro Ruiz every week and discover 3D printing! Get your 3D news, projects, design tutorials, shop talk and more each week..

• New Products – Updated Fridays

Each week Ladyada shows the newest great electronics at Adafruit!

• Live from the desk of Ladyada

Join Ladyada streaming live for circuit board layout design, code writing, surface mount soldering and more fresh engineering and even some gaming! If Ladyada’s working on it, you’ll find it here first.

• Chip Shortage

Chip Shortage includes videos about the ongoing chip shortage in the electronics industry. Adafruit founder Ladyada discusses the current state and highlights products that are hard to get or possibly “unobtainium”.

• John Park’s Workshop

Project builds, hacks, and mods from John Park’s Workshop!

• Advanced Manufacturing: Made in NYC by Adafruit!

This playlist highlights Adafruit manufacturing right here in NYC!

And so much more!

Candy Bucket GIF Player Eyes Learn guide in the Adafruit Learn System!

Create not-so-subtle candy preference GIF eyes for your trick-or-treat bucket! This is a public service that will assist others in providing you with only the good candy, and none of the bad candy this Halloween!

The MONSTER M4SK can play back your animated GIFs, stored right on the board’s QSPI — use the built-in buttons to switch between them, or let them automatically cycle.

Check out the full guide!

Don Wilcher uses a Raspberry Pi Pico to build an adjustable clock with an LED display then integrate the clock with a vintage Radio Shack Science Fair Microcomputer Trainer programmed to function as a 7-bit binary counter.

Long before the Heathkit 6800 microcomputer learning system, the Arduino Uno, or the Basic Stamp, there was Radio Shack’s Science Fair Microcomputer Trainer kit. Introduced in 1985, this easy-to-program kit was intended to teach users how microcomputers worked.

In this project article, we’ll upgrade this vintage microcomputer by building and adding an adjustable Raspberry Pi Pico clock with an LED display. After assembling the hardware, we’ll program the trainer to operate as a 7-bit binary counter. Before any of that, though, let’s spend some time learning about the trainer’s features—and, in particular, about the TMS1100 microcontroller at its core.

Don adds a Raspberry Pi Pico programmed in MicroPython, making an adjustable digital clock.

Read the details in the post here.

On the heels of #SepTandy, Adafruit is celebrating #ShackToberFest, a celebration of all things Radio Shack and Tandy. Tag your social media posts #ShackToberFest!

 

#circuitpythonparsec
Place object on the screen using touchio and vectorio.
code example: https://github.com/jedgarpark/parsec/blob/main/2024-10-24/code.py
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4116
To learn about CircuitPython: https://circuitpython.org

Canada’s a big country — like, really big. And with all that space, it’s no wonder there are some pretty massive cities to go along with it. From coast to coast, the largest cities in Canada aren't just sizable in population; they cover a ton of land too.

Tropical environments are often home to countless reptiles, like snakes, alligators and lizards — the type of wildlife you might expect to encounter during a vacation to one of the Hawaiian islands. But is this the case? Does Hawaii have snakes?

A chicken snake is a type of snake known for raiding chicken coops to eat eggs, birds and small mammals, such as rats and mice. This behavior makes these reptiles both a friend and a foe to farmers.

Today, we’re going to dive into the world of a perplexing and somewhat notorious creature: the snakehead, aka snake fish. These predatory fish are known for their long, snake-like bodies, aggressive hunting style, and ability to survive on land. What's more, they’re an invasive species in many parts of the world, including the United States.

Today, we're going to talk about a snake that glides through the trees of Central and South America: the parrot snake: These slender, vibrant creatures might look delicate, but they're expert hunters with some cool adaptations that help them thrive in the tropical forests.

Instructables user ulmerju made a DrinkTimer powered with a Raspberry Pi Pico that glows with NeoPixels:

DrinkTimer measures the time a glass is lifted and, ideally, emptied. The duration is displayed on an OLED screen, which also shows the current time, fastest, and average drinking times.

The experience is enhanced with NeoPixel LED rings, creating vibrant light shows that amplify the party atmosphere. Additionally, a plotter and 3D printer were used to craft the enclosure and other components. This project not only adds a fun element to your next party but also offers a fantastic opportunity to delve into the world of microcontrollers and creative electronics.

Read more

The Python for Microcontrollers Newsletter is the place for the latest news involving Python on hardware (microcontrollers AND single board computers like Raspberry Pi).

This ad-free, spam-free weekly email is filled with CircuitPython, MicroPython, and Python information (and more) that you may have missed, all in one place!

You get a summary of all the software, events, projects, and the latest hardware worldwide once a week, no ads! You can cancel anytime.

11,429 subscribers and growing

Try our spam-free newsletter today! 

It arrives about 11 am Monday (US Eastern time) with all the week’s happenings.

And please tell your friends, colleagues, students, etc.

Please sign up > > >

The Adafruit Feather ecosystem is so rich with hardware diversity, we wanted to share them, one each day. Today is the Adafruit 15×7 CharliePlex LED Matrix Display FeatherWing – Green!

You wont be able to look away from the mesmerizing patterns created by this Adafruit 15×7 CharliePlex LED Matrix Display FeatherWing.  This 15×7 LED display can be paired with any of our Feather boards for a beautiful, bright grid of 105 charlieplexed LEDs. It even comes with a built-in charlieplex driver that is run over I2C.

We carry these FeatherWings in five vivid colors – this is the Green matrix.

What is particularly nice about this Wing is the I2C LED driver chip has the ability to PWM each individual LED in a 15×7 grid so you can have beautiful LED lighting effects, without a lot of pin twiddling. Simply tell the chip which LED on the grid you want lit, and what brightness and it’s all taken care of for you. You get 8-bit (256 level) dimming for each individual LED.

The IS31FL3731 is a nice little chip – and it runs happily over 3.3V power. Inside is enough RAM for 8 separate frames of display memory so you can set up multiple frames of an animation and flip them to be displayed with a single command. Since it uses I2C, it takes up only the SDA/SCL pins on your Feather and can share those pins with other I2C devices and sensors.

USE

The Adafruit 15×7 CharliePlex FeatherWing Guide provides details and use examples.

Video:

First it was the TRS-80 computers, then it was PC (almost) compatibles. Everyone can remember Radio Shack/Tandy hardware. But what about the media/storage?

Two years ago I needed some new old stock 1.2M IBM style floppy disks for my IBM PC/AT work. I looked on eBay and this pack was going for the same amount as the rest.

First, it is Radio Shack branded. It has a plastic case (listed as “$1.39 value!) and finally it was shrink wrapped. I bought it even though I was looking for diskettes I could use. They are so iconic.

It looks like the lifetime warranty isn’t a good bet, as Radio Shack went out of business.

We can remember yesteryear and our memories visiting “The Shack®”

On the heels of #SepTandy, Adafruit is celebrating #ShackToberFest, a celebration of all things Radio Shack and Tandy. Tag your social media posts #ShackToberFest!

Young maker Steel428 crafted this spOooOOoky haunted building with some simple supplies and LED lighting. Via Instructables:

In this project I’m going to show you how to make a hunted building that is very easy to create and super fun to make. This project will help you with taking measurements and also making yourself an effective spray painter. I made this project for the fun and joy of it.

Check out the full project!

Looking for a last minute costume or prop? The MONSTER M4SK was made for quick and easy Halloween fun. Head over the Adafruit Learning system for some spectral suggestions. If you order RIGHT NOW you could score some savings.

It’s Saving time! Subscribers to the Newsletter get 15% off The Halloween Gift Guide with the Code HALLOWEEN15

Working on a project for Halloween this year? Share it with us in the comments below, the Adafruit forums, Facebook, Discord, Instagram or Twitter [aka X]– (tag your posts #ElectronicHalloween). You can also send us a blog tip!