(Now a bi-weekly program)
October 1, 2013
"Ad Hoc Session"
What happens when schedules collide and the regular hosts aren't around to run the show?
Well, the show goes on anyway! ... Python, Raspberry Pi, Tablets, Android programming and Small Dev Boards
Overview
When Joe and George had last-minute work and family schedule conflict at the appointed hour, and thus were unable to be present to run the show, a number of the regular attendees of the CWTD decided to have some discussion anyway ... with some great topics!
With great thanks to Terry WB4FJI for the notes, we are happy to recap some of the discussion and information links here on this page.
73, George N2APB & Joe N2CXAudio Recording ... Sorry, this session was not recorded :-(
Discussion Notes:
<19:05:07> *** You are now talking in channel: "QRP Homebrewing"
<20:11:41> "Alan W2AEW": Joe - are you going to be at the IEEE North Jersey show on Thursday?
<20:11:42> "Alan W2AEW": http://sites.ieee.org/northjersey/events/2013-ap-mtt-symposium/
<20:37:15> "Bob - N2OJJ": love the Pi
<20:37:35> "Bob - N2OJJ": hate the 3.3v gpio
<20:42:07> "Ray K2ULR": need to QRX
<20:42:11> "Bob - N2OJJ": fldigi works OK on pi if you overclock the pi
<20:43:21> "Terry WB4JFI": The UDOO board?
<20:45:04> "Charles WC5MC": http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135235611947
<20:45:29> "Terry WB4JFI": The Udoo board: http://www.udoo.org/
<20:45:35> "Charles WC5MC": http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135341370451
<20:46:20> "Terry WB4JFI": Another link on the UDOO: http://elinux.org/UDOO
<20:47:18> "Bob - N2OJJ": mcm electronics has the A's
<20:47:26> "Bob - N2OJJ": b's too. a's much lower power. good for sd logger stuff
<20:51:00> "Terry WB4JFI": here is a Linux-based tablet that is on Kickstarter, they have a new version coming out: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pengpod-true-linux-tablets-and-minipcs
<20:54:28> "Terry WB4JFI": and here's a real interesting board that's about to start shipping (shud be good for SDRs), the Parallella: http://www.parallella.org/
<20:55:20> "Bob - N2OJJ": cool tablets they also show a peng stick one of those android media sticks with their os
<20:56:44> "Bob - N2OJJ": i almost bought an android on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/200913520647?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
seems better than a chromecast
<21:02:09> "Bob - N2OJJ": yes, also did an fm bc transmitter
<21:02:19> "Bob - N2OJJ": really neat
<21:03:28> "Ray K2ULR": FM BC? That's neat, too!
<21:06:27> "Bob - N2OJJ": thats ok i got good stuff to read tonight
<21:15:01> "Terry WB4JFI": http://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/DPSummary/Descanso4--Voyager_new.pdf
"Ad Hoc Session" Notes from the Oct 1, 2013 episode of CWTD
From Terry WB4FJI ...
Here is the data from the text window of the ad-hoc discussions on Oct.1, 2013 for QRP Homebrewing/CWTD, plus some high-points from my memory.
At the beginning, we discussed the Elecraft KX3. There was some questions as to how it compares to the FT-817 and the Icom 703.
Raspberry Pi:
Joe "JJ" Jesson KC2VGL suggested that he might be able to discuss various ham-related Pi projects during a future CWTD episode.
Two additional projects that were brought up were using the Pi as a WSPR transmitter (Google is your friend):
and using the Raspberry Pi go generate FM broadcast-band signals:
There is a magazine that is sort of neat ... http://www.themagpi.com/ You can download individual issues, or subscribe to to it, I believe.
It was mentioned that the Raspberry Pi "B" had some additional hardware (such as the Ethernet port), but the "A" used less power, which could be of interest in low-power applications.
Python:
The October issue of Nuts And Volts also has an article on beginning Python.
In addition, to that, I have found a couple of O'Reilly books on Python to be useful:
Learning Python, by Mark Lutz
Programming Python, also by Mark Lutz
Another useful mini-book: Python Pocket Reference, also by Mark Lutz.
I also got the book wxPython in Action, by Noel Rappin and Robin Dunn from Manning Press(?), for programming in wxPython.
I purchased some of these books from O'Reilly when they had a sale on, others I got from Amazon. I mentioned in the session that I prefer C, because I don't trust any language where white-space in significant.
Python is even worse in that the AMOUNT of whitespace is also important. But that's just me!
iPpad & iPhones:
There was some talk about iPad/iPhone versus Android programming, with a lengthy discussion of the benefits & challenges on using Android. Comparisons between Android and more generic Linux distributions were also talked about.
Small Development Boards:
Toward the end, some other small development boards were mentioned, mostly using ARM/Cortex processors.