"Favorite LeafLabs Project" Awards?

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"Favorite LeafLabs Project" Awards?

(9 posts) (4 voices)

Started 2 years ago by StephenFromNYC
Latest reply from feurig

StephenFromNYC
Moderator

Hello,

When I was reading a recent post by @joeferner ("USB Mass Storage Driver") I wondered if other forum users could have some fun by electing and then voting on their favorite LeafLabs questions, topics, or maple-related projects. This could be done once a year, or maybe two or three times a year if there are enough "nominees". It would be a simple way to give recognition to the users whose questions, topics, or projects have provided the most momentum to the LeafLabs class of microcontroller boards.

Any thoughts?

Posted 2 years ago #
crenn
Moderator

I like the idea, although gbulmer would probably win every year ;P

Posted 2 years ago #
gbulmer
Moderator

crenn - flattery will get you everywhere ;-)

Posted 2 years ago #
feurig
Member

I dunno @joeferner has done what most of us should have done a while ago. That and the midi implimentation that I havent gotten to would get my vote.

Posted 2 years ago #
gbulmer
Moderator

I think there are all sorts of interesting, helpful and useful things where we have some inkling of the outcomes.

Xavier did an FM Synth using Maple (Mini) http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=665
ala42 has done some lovely work, ported libmaple to STM32F4, and designed a 'copter controller
Siy did several great boards mentioned initially I think here: http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=1284
xpomvid made a quadcopter using Maple: http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=2239
Cren has worked on several parts of libmaple and SD cards
bubulindo has worked on making the built-in RTC usable
feurig & co. have made all those healthy Maple alternatives :-)

I am sure I am forgetting lots of other contributions, but these easily spring to mind.

However there may be many more projects that we never hear about.

I remember questions about brushless DC control, controlling a real engine, decoding Manchester encoded signals, how fast can pins be toggled etc. I don't know what eventually happened, and I am curious.

I am more interested in understanding what people have made than trying to identify 'favourites'. If folks will give more feedback to the forum because of 'favourites' bake-offs, then that is helpful to me.

(Full disclosure: I am not a member of LeafLabs staff.)

Posted 2 years ago #
crenn
Moderator

You're making it sound I've done a lot more than I actually have ;P And the SD cards is prodomately others work, I've changed a few things with the API and cleaned up the code a little, nothing huge though.

I've got a couple of projects happening currently half (or fully) based around the maple. First off is my Raspbian Rover, all of the motors, sensors and displays are driven by a Maple Mini r2 which is a slave SPI device of the RPi, nothing too exciting really. I'm also working on making an alarm clock and temperature datalogger using a 3.2" TFT display, I'm looking at later making a 3D printed case for it and integrate a LiPo battery charger into a PCB that utilises the STM32F1 (or F3 if it's cheaper, means a little more work though to port libmaple to the F3). I'm also working (loosely working more like it) on libraries to drive the TFT display more easily using adafruit's libraries, although I know others on the forum have done this previously although I need a custom library due to the fact I'm using a 16-bit port expander (MCP23S18) to drive the data lines, I'm actually writing a library for that as well. Trying to make writing data to the MCP23S18 as easy as writing to an internal register (it's going to be interesting if it actually works).

I'm still toying with the idea of making a brushless DC controller, although this will be possibly based around a PIC or AVR depending on the form factor. I'm thinking of trying to make a stepper motor replacement using a brushless DC motor, mainly for 3D printers.

You shouldn't forget about nully's work making a 3D printer driver board: http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=10140 Although it's more recently, I'm impressed by the simiplicity of the design and wanting to play with it myself when I finally build my 3D printer.

Posted 2 years ago #
StephenFromNYC
Moderator

@crenn,

When I first made the suggestion for a project (or thread topic) award I wondered if @gbulmer would win every time. My solution, to encourage other "nominees", is to give him the "Lifetime Achievement Award" which would make him ineligible for the annual award!

Any other ideas?

Posted 2 years ago #
gbulmer
Moderator

StephenFromNYC - I don't think I've done enough recently to even be nominated, so I'm not sure why I'd get a 'Lifetime Achievement' or be excluded if I do 'get my finger out' :-)

I am working on some software which might become useful if we ever get it working, documented and released.
I am also toying with a low-cost STM32 board (sub $8). Part of its purpose is a micromouse-robot control. Part of those reasons are for motor control, so I am an interested audience for Crenn's motor controller. I'm also interested in extending Raspberry-Pi.

As I wrote, I am more interested in learning from others, than awards. IMHO, encouraging folks to share what they are doing with Maple/STM32 is a 'good thing'. I am a bit concerned that rather than encouraging new talent, awards might get dominated by "The Usual Suspects". The old adage about only getting what you measure suggest the choice of awards and the process is critical.

I am happy to recognise what has been done. I am all for helping folks get into making, solving problems, creating products, learning, experimenting, and having fun.

Could we also try to support each other more concretely in doing new things?

If we are able to 'incubate' new projects the forum might attract as much energy, interest and knowledge sharing around new projects, as reports of what has already been done. (I haven't thought this through, just 'running it up the flagpole')

I feel that there aren't many places for folks to get good help and advice on low-level development (there are extremely helpful folks like clive1, my hero, on ST's STM32 forums, however they seem to be exceptional). There seems to be little guidance on the net or in college (that I can find) about how to test and debug 'close to the hardware'. IMHO Stackexchange is uneven, but does have good mechanisms to help the process along. I think we try to get some of those ideas across, and there are enough eyes+brains reading threads that people usually get high-quality help.

Summary: Awards seem to be fine for people who are likely to succeed anyway, however I am not clear how awards help people collaborate, improve, help others, and improve our quality of life, which are my stronger interests. That might be my cynical old fuddyduddyness, tainted by watching the Academy awards, or similar dross ;-)

Posted 2 years ago #
feurig
Member

Yeah!

Posted 2 years ago #

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