Monthly Archive: January, 2021

My main reason for Chatterbox was to have something with a well-defined target that I could focus on for a few weeks and get my head away from all the open-ended projects I was being overwhelmed by. About a year on I realise it wasn’t the best choice. Making noises with microcontrollers turns out to also be open-ended. But I...

I’ve recently had three funny near-coincidences. Not the oh wow! kind for anyone but me. Fun though. First, the other day, I was feeling bad for Marinella. She’s a medic, has been deep in the Covid thing, testing folks up in the hills. Had ordered a ultrasound scanner for her own use, but was getting a bit frustrated by it’s...

A Friend on Facebook, Kicki, just made my mind buzz. Her post started “Is it possible to 3D print a Menger sponge, M >= 3, and if so, would anyone with a 3D printer make me one?“. (My italics, hee hee, right approach). I don’t have a 3D printer, but my response would be, well yeah, probably quite easily. But...

Breadboards are a wonderful aid to electronic prototyping. They are small plastic blocks with lots of electrical sockets that will accommodate components or wires. Typically you have 2 horizontal rows of sockets in the middle which are lined up to take standard chips with 0.1″ leg spacing and vertical rows at either side, typically used for power rails. The name...