Tech Adventure 2009
Spent all day today at Tech Adventure, with three Compukit UK101 machines. In fact, in addition to my three machines, there was a fourth, highly modified, Compukit brought in by David Stevenson. That one also operated for most of the day, with such features as a 32-line text display and 32k of dynamic RAM. In fact, the machines all performed well in spite of the usual problems of power supply overheating. The original UK101's voltage regulator heatsink was way too small for the power dissipation. The Dragon 32 that I took along as a backup ran the occasional game of Ghost Attack, a thinly-disguised version of Pac-Man.
Also at Tech Adventure was a RepRap machine, busily making door-handles and coathooks. Some much more intricate 3D printing examples were displayed, but for ease of demonstration, it made simpler shapes. Ultimately, a machine like this can make parts that can be assembled into new RepRap machines. I was very impressed with a display of tiny microcontroller-plus-LCD projects by Jason Wright, including one with a pair of LCDs in some old ViewMaster eyepieces, making a 3D stereo display (of a tumbling Elite ship). Nice to see laptop trackpads used on those projects, too. The next stand to mine featured several retro computers, all loading software from MMC Flash memory cards. Seeing the BBCs with Microvitec Cub monitors on little stands reminded me that I should get some stands for use at the Maker Faire. There were three robotics projects from UWE, an automatic sentry robot, a hexapod walker and a chess-playing robot arm. The hexapod featured legs made by a 3D printer. There was also an intriguing idea for connecting a BBC Micro to a TCP/IP network by using an ethernet interface with built-in TCP protocol stack.
Some photos from Richard Huish, builder of the Robot Sentry are here, and photos from Jason Wright are here.
I now have all the UK101 (and Dragon 32) gear safely back home, and am planning for the Maker Faire in Newcastle in two weeks time. And after that, Dorkbot Bristol on March 21st.
Also at Tech Adventure was a RepRap machine, busily making door-handles and coathooks. Some much more intricate 3D printing examples were displayed, but for ease of demonstration, it made simpler shapes. Ultimately, a machine like this can make parts that can be assembled into new RepRap machines. I was very impressed with a display of tiny microcontroller-plus-LCD projects by Jason Wright, including one with a pair of LCDs in some old ViewMaster eyepieces, making a 3D stereo display (of a tumbling Elite ship). Nice to see laptop trackpads used on those projects, too. The next stand to mine featured several retro computers, all loading software from MMC Flash memory cards. Seeing the BBCs with Microvitec Cub monitors on little stands reminded me that I should get some stands for use at the Maker Faire. There were three robotics projects from UWE, an automatic sentry robot, a hexapod walker and a chess-playing robot arm. The hexapod featured legs made by a 3D printer. There was also an intriguing idea for connecting a BBC Micro to a TCP/IP network by using an ethernet interface with built-in TCP protocol stack.
Some photos from Richard Huish, builder of the Robot Sentry are here, and photos from Jason Wright are here.
I now have all the UK101 (and Dragon 32) gear safely back home, and am planning for the Maker Faire in Newcastle in two weeks time. And after that, Dorkbot Bristol on March 21st.