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2019/01/24 Linux.conf.au 2019: Using Open Hardware from my shirt to OS testing for Google's Fuchsia
π 2019-01-24 01:01 in Arduino, Electronics, Linux
I've been going to linux.conf.au for 18 years now (since 2001), and presented a fair amount of linux talks related there, but the big change for me was the open hardware miniconf that started in 2010. Thanks to its projects every year, I got to learn a lot about microcontrollers and some about electronics.
This talk was my first non linux talk which detailled everything I learned from those miniconfs and projects I worked that stemmed from them. I presented it at LCA 2019 Christchurch.

you can find the talk pdf here: http://marc.merlins.org/linux/talks/Using_Open_Hardware/Using_Open_Hardware.pdf (you'll want this one to get all the clickable links in the slides)
you can view the talk slides in html here or below:

Talk video below:

I arrived the sunday before the conference and helped out the open hardware organizers with a bit of last minute setup. I also got to do some last minute testing and tuning of my panels:

hacked up ESP32 with level converters on breadboard to run 3x 64x32 SmartMatrix panels with SmartMatrix::GFX
hacked up ESP32 with level converters on breadboard to run 3x 64x32 SmartMatrix panels with SmartMatrix::GFX

64x64 P3.8 SmartMatrix::GFX panel vs 3x 64x32 SmartMatrix::GFX P4 flexible panels vs 4x 16x16 FastLED::NeoMatrix P10 panels
64x64 P3.8 SmartMatrix::GFX panel vs 3x 64x32 SmartMatrix::GFX P4 flexible panels vs 4x 16x16 FastLED::NeoMatrix P10 panels

After finishing the code tuning and demos just in time, gave a 20mn miniconf talk on the history of linux.conf.au hardware miniconf. I went through how much I learned from those confs and what I was able to achieve as a result. I sure got to learn a lot about microcontroller and driver programming:




I wasn't able to bring my burning man 4096 neopixel matrix, it doesn't even fit in my car, but the irony is that my small 64x64 rgbpanel has the same resolution and fits easily in my backpack
I wasn't able to bring my burning man 4096 neopixel matrix, it doesn't even fit in my car, but the irony is that my small 64x64 rgbpanel has the same resolution and fits easily in my backpack

The 64x64 compact display is showing the hand X-ray here
The 64x64 compact display is showing the hand X-ray here

A few days later, I gave the longer version of my talk at the main conference. By then it had grown to over 160 slides in a 45mn slot, or 16 seconds per slide. Ooops...

  • The full talk went into details on what I learned in the hardware hacking field, a lot of it was simply electricity, U=RI, wires, pre-made components (small inline volt/amp meters, DC-DC converters, and so forth).
  • I also gave a is a quick summary of my hacking an arduino board to turn it into a sleep analysis machine, a longer talk I gave elsewhere in 2012.
  • There is a section on what I learned from Tridge and RC planes with ardupilot
  • I had to mention microcontroller hacking and driver writing for IoTuz on ESP32 given how much I learned from it
  • And IoTuz got me to write a primitive Neopixel driver for ESP32, a very slippery slope that led me to many LED projects
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2015-01-06_Driver-for-direct-driving-single-to-3-color-LED-Matrices-with-software-PWM.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2017-04-03_Arduino-328P-Uno-Teensy3_1-ESP8266-ESP32-IR-and-Neopixels.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2017-04-24_Adafruit-GFX-on-NeoMatrix-and-RGB-Matrix-Panel-Demo.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2017-06-02_LED-Pants-and-Shirt-Programmed-With-Arduino-on-ESP8266.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2018-04-23_FastLED_NeoMatrix-library_-how-to-do-Matrices-with-FastLED-and-Adafruit_GFX.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2018-05-29_EDM-Party-Shirt-powered-with-FastLED_NeoMatrix-and-Adafruit_GFX_-plus-160Wh-_10Ah-4S_-worth-of-lipos.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2018-07-13_AnimatedGIFs-for-SmartMatrix-or-NeoMatrix-_Neopixel-WS2812B_-from-SDcard-or-SPIFFS_-on-Teensy-3_x_-ESP8266_-or-ESP32.html
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino/post_2018-07-30_Building-a-64x64-Neopixel-Neomatrix-_4096-pixels_-running-NeoMatrix-FastLED-IR.html
  • https://github.com/marcmerlin/SmartMatrix_GFX
  • and for good measure the talk ends with how I was able to apply some of that knowledge to design simple solutions for hardware testing racks for Google's Fuchsia on arm platforms.


  • Hopefully the talk and/or slides are useful to you. Links:

  • http://marc.merlins.org/linux/talks/Using_Open_Hardware/Using_Open_Hardware.pdf
  • http://marc.merlins.org/linux/talks/Using_Open_Hardware
  • http://marc.merlins.org/perso/arduino
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeBXCCabo0
  • 2019/01/21 Donkey Car with Tensorflow Video Analysis at Open Hardware Miniconf at Linux.Conf.au 2019
    π 2019-01-21 01:01 in Arduino, Linux
    This year, the Open Hardware Miniconf team designed a donkeycar for us at LCA 2019 Christchurch. It's a car that navigates by itself using its onboard camera connected to a Raspberry Pi using training video data gathered and analysed offline by tensorflow. That sure was an ambitious project!

    I arrived the day before to help finish up the kits for the next morning:



    the cars were eager to perform :)
    the cars were eager to perform :)

    Andy and Jon who ended up working all night to make sure the kits would work the next morning
    Andy and Jon who ended up working all night to make sure the kits would work the next morning


    The next morning, we showed up to build the kit:




    rPi with custom last minute hat for the donkey car
    rPi with custom last minute hat for the donkey car

    done!
    done!

    Jon gave a talk about the car design
    Jon gave a talk about the car design

    Nice way to support 5V neopixels on 3.3V microcontrollers
    Nice way to support 5V neopixels on 3.3V microcontrollers

    We then had a few talks:



    Including mine on the history of linux.conf.au hardware miniconf


    After the miniconf, we had a few tries at getting our own cars to self drive after training:


    I decked out my car with neopixels, because bling! :)
    I decked out my car with neopixels, because bling! :)


    2019/01/21 Linux.Conf.au 2019 in Christchurch
    π 2019-01-21 01:01 in Linux
    This year, LCA was back in New Zealand in the city of Christchurch.


    nice car parked outside
    nice car parked outside



    The first day, I went to the Open Hardware Miniconf to build a monkey car with video analysis fed to tensorflow

    LCA had lots of attendees as usual, enough ot overfill the main keynote room. The usual suspects/friends were there as usual:







    Ah yes, the shirt and glasses, that's because of my talk Using Open Hardware from my shirt to OS testing for Google's Fuchsia

    Lots of talks, thankfully they were recorded as there were 2-3x as many talks as I was able to see:



    really nice keynote showing how to hack insulin dispensers to deliver the right amount at the right time
    really nice keynote showing how to hack insulin dispensers to deliver the right amount at the right time



    Commodore 65 slide presentation program
    Commodore 65 slide presentation program

    fpga based cell phone running alongside a commodore 65 fpga, awesome
    fpga based cell phone running alongside a commodore 65 fpga, awesome







    Rusty's keynote for the win :)
    Rusty's keynote for the win :)



    the first LCA in 1999
    the first LCA in 1999

    Rusty gave a few talks since then :)
    Rusty gave a few talks since then :)


    very interesting talk on how painful it was to take over grsecurity maintenance
    very interesting talk on how painful it was to take over grsecurity maintenance

    Random pictures:

    love this little laptop I found
    love this little laptop I found

    As usual, nice parties in the evenings: speaker dinner, professional DNS, Penguin Dinner, and nice adhoc BBQ on friday:











    And just like this, it was conference close:




    next year will be the Gold Coast
    next year will be the Gold Coast

    thank you, come again :)
    thank you, come again :)


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