Messages

1

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: Help programming the TinyScreen+

« on: January 14, 2022, 02:05:04 PM »

Hiya,

Were you able to upload the example in the first tutorial?

To see the right board's port, you want to make sure the hardware is turned ON and you are selecting the right items in the Arduino IDE.

You should be able to select "TinyScreen+" for your Board under the "TinyCircuits SAMD Boards" option found in the Tools/Board menu. The SAMD21 processor is made by Atmel, but it is not an 'ATMEL' board, so that would be incorrect to select.

There's a photo reference here for what to select: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Help/Upload_Arduino_Programs/#tinyscreen

The 'Arduino as ISP' shouldn't be an option from what I can tell. the two options you need to change in the Tools menu are the board (TinyScreen+) and the Port (COM# (TinyScreen+)) - everything else you should be able to leave as the default selections. Then just press the 'Upload' arrow button.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,
Réna

2

Thumby / Re: Playing Gameboy Games on Thumby

« on: January 13, 2022, 05:11:31 PM »

This is awesome!

3

Tiny Arcade & Pocket Arcade / Re: flaw with the Game Development Tutorial

« on: January 13, 2022, 01:21:55 PM »

Hi there,

It looks like the ALPHA variable is only explicitly shown to be added to the GameTutorialSprites.h file. It's mentioned in this step of the tutorial 'Adding Bitmap Sprites': https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Help/Developing-a-Game-For-Tiny-Arcade_Tutorial/#adding-bitmap-sprites

It looks like the line"const uint16_t ALPHA = 0x1111;" that's included in the GameTutorial.ino file at the end of the tutorial is partially shown in a few places of the tutorial (like in this step: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Help/Developing-a-Game-For-Tiny-Arcade_Tutorial/#exporting-binary-files-from-the-arduino-ide), but you're correct that the value assigned isn't mentioned, which leaves the tutorial incomplete. I'll add the line to the tutorial so that no one else faces the same problem. Thank you for letting us know about the issue!

Cheers,
Réna

4

Wirelings / Re: Help with code

« on: January 11, 2022, 07:02:02 PM »

Hi there,

I ran your program through diffchecker (https://www.diffchecker.com/diff) with the pulse sensor wireling example from the setup tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Wirelings/Pulse-Oximetry_Wireling_Tutorial/
I attached a picture of what this difference looks like.

It looks like you never update the sensor, or store any data from it for that matter. In the loop() you use the pulseSensor.begin() function. So instead of polling for new data each loop, you are re-initializing the sensor. The delay is also far too large - some discussion on why that is.

I advise going through the tutorial linked above.

Cheers,
Réna

5

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: Limitations on Stacking Modules

« on: January 11, 2022, 01:34:54 PM »

Hi there,

There are some limitations to consider pin-wise. We have a compatibility matrix for all of our boards that aren't compatible with each other due to pin conflicts, and workarounds for some that are compatible with a few extra steps (mostly resistor/address changes): https://learn.tinycircuits.com/TinyDuino_Overview/#tinyshield-compatibility

Power can definitely be something to take into consideration when you are working with a battery-powered project, but many times you can make compromises on the project by limiting polling times or using low-power modes on devices/sensors that have those modes available - or getting a bigger battery if you can't make compromises. The current consumption information for all of our boards is available on the product pages under Tech Specs and in the dropdown Technical Details menu on each tutorial (https://learn.tinycircuits.com/) page - you can use the current consumption info to help you calculate how long a battery might last with your project, more discussion on that in this Arduino forum thread: https://forum.arduino.cc/t/calculating-power-consumption/50820

Feel free to ask more questions if you need more details on clarification on anything!

Cheers,
Réna

6

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: TSV File Size

« on: January 05, 2022, 07:46:58 PM »

Hiya,

The files are converted using FFmpeg and are not compressed or made smaller, they are resized. The .tsv file contains the same number of frames and audio data as the original and is not smaller or compressed because the microcontroller used in the TinyTV is not powerful enough to be able to decompress these large video files.

The TV can only play .tsv files with the way the software is written.

The 8GB card included in the TV kit is large enough to fit 3-5 full movies (depending on the actual length of the movies), but if you would like more video time than that, you can absolutely get a larger micro SD Card to fit as many videos as you'd like. Keep in mind, the battery in the TV will only play around up to 5 hours of video on a full charge (less time with brighter videos, potentially more time with darker videos).

If you want to use a larger SD Card, just be sure to reformat it to FAT32 before adding .tsv files so that it's readable by the TV program.

I hope that helps! Would love to see how you customize/paint your TV! 

Cheers,
Réna

7

Thumby / Re: Thumby Serial Connection

« on: January 04, 2022, 06:34:51 PM »

Hiya there,

Since no port is coming up at all when the Thumby is turned on - it's possible that the cable you are using does not have the necessary data lines for communicating with the Thumby. Many Micro USB cables have just the power and ground wires to charge or power electronics.

Do you have any other cables you could try? Or are you able to transfer data with that cable in a different way - possibly by transferring files or pictures from a different device?

Let me know if that helps!

Best,
Réna

8

New Product Ideas / Re: TinyZero/Addition of PH connector for INT1

« on: January 03, 2022, 04:56:34 PM »

Greg,

We likely won't pursue a different version of the TinyZero unfortunately since it's difficult to stock and manufacture different versions of any product for a company of any size.

I recommend using thinner wire for the solder point and limiting the contact of other items or surfaces with the soldered wire. We haven't bought this wire exactly, but we have something similar and it's regularly what we would use for something like your project: https://www.amazon.com/Solder-Flexible-0-25mm-Copper-Wrapping/dp/B008AGUCWW/ref=asc_df_B008AGUCWW/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167153365865&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6121982080359427693&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1023522&hvtargid=pla-310428807515&psc=1

I hope that helps.

Best,
Réna

9

Wirelings / Re: Help with MAX30101 Library

« on: December 28, 2021, 05:16:28 PM »

You can download the library from this section of the pulse tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Wirelings/Pulse-Oximetry_Wireling_Tutorial/#materials
The library was written by us, so it's available through our tutorial or our github.

For help downloading the library, you can follow either Method 2-3 from this tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Help/Installing_Libraries_Tutorial/

Hope that helps!

10

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: Tiny TV Arcades

« on: December 27, 2021, 03:26:08 PM »

I bought myself some tiny ducks because I could not stop thinking about them!! The Etsy painter gave me a little holiday wreath as well! Thank you so much for sharing the tiny find.

They blend in perfectly with all the other tiny things on my desk in the office.

11

General Discussion / MOVED: Accelerometer Units/Dog Fitbit

« on: December 21, 2021, 09:43:42 PM »

This topic has been moved to Wirelings.

http://forum.tinycircuits.com/index.php?topic=2392.0

12

Wirelings / Re: Accelerometer Units/Dog Fitbit

« on: December 21, 2021, 09:41:33 PM »

Hiya,

There's some example data of the accelerometer output available in the tutorial via a plotted graph: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Wirelings/Accelerometer_Wireling_Tutorial/

That data will probably not be helpful since I was just waving the accelerometer around before I took that screenshot. The best way to know the change in accelerometer values is to test with the real situation/factors that you will be working with.

I will offer a few words of caution with the pulse oximeter - these sensors are very sensitive in general and this hardware in particular takes a few readings over multiple seconds before being able to print values to some degree of accuracy. For a human, this means holding a finger gently and very still over the red LED of the wireling sensor for a few seconds in order to get a reading. Most real world pulse ox's are embedded in some sort of pinching-finger-apparatus to keep the sensor still with even pressure over the course of a few seconds - at least the ones I've encountered. I'm not sure if the pulse oximeter will be usable with a dog without some sort of fixture (and possibly some hair shaving).

It sounds like a fun project and I would love to hear more about your execution and results! Pictures of the puppy would be an extremely welcome bonus. (Sorry if the pulse info is a bummer.) It reminded me of this neat turtle tracker project I saw a bit ago using our hardware: https://www.hackster.io/brian-k2/accelerometer-and-data-logger-for-small-animal-research-c877c6
The accelerometer code in that project might help!

Cheers,
Réna

13

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: file conversion

« on: December 21, 2021, 09:19:26 PM »

Hiya,

Check these few things:

• The title cannot be longer than 50 characters
• The title cannot include characters/symbols outside of A-Z, 0-9
• Some videos could be corrupted from the original mp4/source file - make sure the source video is playable on your device
• Some source files can be protected by a DRM - make sure you have the ability/license/permission to alter or re-distribute the video

Let me know if any of those tips help!

Best,
Réna

14

General Discussion / Re: Robot from YouTube 5 years ago Build info or insight on how it's made

« on: December 20, 2021, 12:50:53 PM »

That prototype unfortunately never made its way to a project or further than that demo video. The files were created by a sculptor friend, Jason.

Here's a tutorial he wrote up on the process: https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/news/new-machines?_pos=8&_sid=9ba67cf7e&_ss=r

His patreon if you were interested in his other work: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3278712

15

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: Files/Channels

« on: December 20, 2021, 12:46:24 PM »

Glad to hear those tips helped!

Would love to see your paint job or hear about how the gift-receiver reacts to it!