State of PewPew for 2019-03-18 ****************************** News ==== * If you are reading this, you probably already know, but I will mention it anyways: we have a mailing list! Its address is pewpew@python.org and it is hosted bu the Python community, which is really great! * There is a new game available for PewPew, written by Christian Walther. It's a board game Othello (also known as Reversi), and it lets you play against a computer AI. It's available in the github repository at: https://github.com/pewpew-game/game-othello and to play it, all you have to do is to download the .py file, copy it onto your device, and select it from the menu. Don't worry about the opponent taking a long time to think -- it's a slow device. * Speaking of the repository, there has been a little spring cleaning in there and now all the repositories are organized in a logical way. Hopefully it will make it easier to keep them all up to date and to find what you are looking for. * With the beta version of the firmware, it's possible to program the PewPew Standalone devices as USB HID devices -- keyboards, mice or gamepads. There is a demo turning it into a gamepad: https://hackaday.io/project/159733/log/160090 Plans ===== * I'm experimenting with adding a small laser-cut piece of plastic to the bottom of the small standalone PewPews, to make them a little bit more convenient to hold. I should receive them tomorrow, and if they work, I will add the design files for them to the repository. Some photos of a wooden prototype here: https://hackaday.io/project/159733/log/152337 * I made a "how it would look like if it didn't have to be cheap" version of the PewPew Standalone, called PewPew Pro. It has additional 2MB flash storage for files, and a bi-color red-green display controlled with a separate chip, that can also do 255 brightness levels. Unfortunately I didn't have a display with square pixels, so this one has round. I don't have any plans for producing or selling this, but I will make the design files available for anyone who wants to try building their own. More info: https://hackaday.io/project/159733/log/160221-pewpew-pro * I plan to run a small workshop on game making here in Zurich, but first I need to prepare the materials for it, and that takes time. Hopefully I can get that done and run it withing a few weeks from now. * I continue to promote the project among any communities that might find it useful for teaching. If you know someone who would be interested, please let them know, or let me know about them so that I can contact them. * I'm running a secret project that I can't talk about yet, but one thing that I have already learned from it is that if you make over a thousand units of PewPew Standalone, you can get the production cost down to about $6 (from around $10 for small quantities that I did so far). Might be useful for anyone wanting to make and sell them (if you do, let me know, I can help). That's all I have for now, thank you. -- Radomir Dopieralski
Good news! I will look into the way the repository is organized now. My main interest (once my personal fun fullfilled ;) ) is to see if I can use it with kids in my code club. In the meantime, I'll try to record small video in french for them. On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 8:51 PM Radomir Dopieralski <sheep@sheep.art.pl> wrote:
That's a great debate we had in the past with the volunteers in my code club: is it worth it to have fully translated tools? For now, we help translation on UI and content to ease the learning process of younger kids. But we still confront them to english messages and such because they will have to deal with it (and a lot more answers to a search from the english version of an error message). In may we plan a meeting with french teacher, and the question will be asked. I'm curious to have their opinion on this topic. On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 11:07 PM Radomir Dopieralski <sheep@sheep.art.pl> wrote:
Hi everyone! Thank you Radomir for setting up the mailing list and taking the time to write a newsletter. Radomir Dopieralski wrote:
I was quite excited when you posted a picture of that layout on Twitter. It looked like it would do away with all the compromises you had to make to get the cost down, which (even though no small feat in and of themselves) are the main reason why my favorite is still the PewPew Lite. (I was guessing on a SAMD51 though :) - and I'm missing the regulator for USB power.) I would totally buy a PewPew Pro just to play with it. I wouldn't even mind trying to solder it myself, but I guess getting all the components and especially the PCB in quantities of 1 (or maybe better 2 or 3 in case I fry any) would be more expensive than it needs to be. Maybe you can produce a kit version if enough people are interested? -Christian
On Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:32:22 +0100 Christian Walther <cwalther@gmx.ch> wrote:
Ordering 3 PCBs from OSHPark shouldn't break a bank, and all the components are available form, say, Mouser at quantity 1 in reasonable prices (though you probably won't reach the $60 limit for free shipping, unless you order some extra stuff). The main problem is soldering the ISSI display driver chip, which comes in a QFN48 package that is a huge pain to solder by hand, even with a hot air gun. I do have a couple of SAMD51 chips in my drawer, but I didn't muster the courage to try them in any design yet. If I do, I will probably use an LCD display with it, because it would be such a waste to only have 8x8 with all that memory available. But for now I'm waiting for Adafruit's take on that, so that project is on hold. I didn't think USB power is so important. I mean, you need the batteries to play it anyways? -- Radomir Dopieralski
Radomir Dopieralski wrote:
That's reassuring. We'll see what I get around to. :) (There's more important things on my to-do list, such as a PewPew-based workshop.)
One of my colleagues at FabLab Winti has built a temperature-controlled reflow hotplate, maybe it would work with that. Interesting challenge, I have never soldered QFN packages by any method.
I didn't think USB power is so important. I mean, you need the batteries to play it anyways?
With toys that sometimes lie around unused for months, the batteries tend to be flat just in the moment I want to use them, so I generally like to have an external power option. -Christian
Good news! I will look into the way the repository is organized now. My main interest (once my personal fun fullfilled ;) ) is to see if I can use it with kids in my code club. In the meantime, I'll try to record small video in french for them. On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 8:51 PM Radomir Dopieralski <sheep@sheep.art.pl> wrote:
That's a great debate we had in the past with the volunteers in my code club: is it worth it to have fully translated tools? For now, we help translation on UI and content to ease the learning process of younger kids. But we still confront them to english messages and such because they will have to deal with it (and a lot more answers to a search from the english version of an error message). In may we plan a meeting with french teacher, and the question will be asked. I'm curious to have their opinion on this topic. On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 11:07 PM Radomir Dopieralski <sheep@sheep.art.pl> wrote:
Hi everyone! Thank you Radomir for setting up the mailing list and taking the time to write a newsletter. Radomir Dopieralski wrote:
I was quite excited when you posted a picture of that layout on Twitter. It looked like it would do away with all the compromises you had to make to get the cost down, which (even though no small feat in and of themselves) are the main reason why my favorite is still the PewPew Lite. (I was guessing on a SAMD51 though :) - and I'm missing the regulator for USB power.) I would totally buy a PewPew Pro just to play with it. I wouldn't even mind trying to solder it myself, but I guess getting all the components and especially the PCB in quantities of 1 (or maybe better 2 or 3 in case I fry any) would be more expensive than it needs to be. Maybe you can produce a kit version if enough people are interested? -Christian
On Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:32:22 +0100 Christian Walther <cwalther@gmx.ch> wrote:
Ordering 3 PCBs from OSHPark shouldn't break a bank, and all the components are available form, say, Mouser at quantity 1 in reasonable prices (though you probably won't reach the $60 limit for free shipping, unless you order some extra stuff). The main problem is soldering the ISSI display driver chip, which comes in a QFN48 package that is a huge pain to solder by hand, even with a hot air gun. I do have a couple of SAMD51 chips in my drawer, but I didn't muster the courage to try them in any design yet. If I do, I will probably use an LCD display with it, because it would be such a waste to only have 8x8 with all that memory available. But for now I'm waiting for Adafruit's take on that, so that project is on hold. I didn't think USB power is so important. I mean, you need the batteries to play it anyways? -- Radomir Dopieralski
Radomir Dopieralski wrote:
That's reassuring. We'll see what I get around to. :) (There's more important things on my to-do list, such as a PewPew-based workshop.)
One of my colleagues at FabLab Winti has built a temperature-controlled reflow hotplate, maybe it would work with that. Interesting challenge, I have never soldered QFN packages by any method.
I didn't think USB power is so important. I mean, you need the batteries to play it anyways?
With toys that sometimes lie around unused for months, the batteries tend to be flat just in the moment I want to use them, so I generally like to have an external power option. -Christian
participants (3)
-
Christian Walther -
Radomir Dopieralski -
Thierry Chantier