Messages

181

General Discussion / Re: Is there any "TinyCircuits for Dummies" info...?

« on: December 03, 2021, 02:27:46 PM »

Hello!

There are a lot of resources for getting started with Arduino systems: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage

We also have tutorials on our Wiki Learn site that includes a tutorial with example code for all of our products and other fun tidbits: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/

I recommend going through some of those high-level resources, but I also recognize being impatient as a similar-minded person. So I think starting with some bullet points on what you want your project to look like and do and then searching for something similar online that another person has done is likely the fastest way to get started.
For example, I made a little tutorial last Halloween using an LED to mimic a candle, so this might be a good project to start from: https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/learn/halloween-decoration-candle-flickering-tinylily-rgb-led

The above tutorial requires some soldering to get it as tiny as possible using our TinyLily products, but you could just as easily do the same project with our Wirelings - which are similar components, but allow you to plug-in sensors, LEDs, etc rather than needing soldering equipment. You could do the above project easily with the hardware in the RGB LED Wireling tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Wirelings/RGB-LED_Wireling_Tutorial/ (you can also add in extra LEDs since the RGB LED Wireling has an extra connector on the back to string as many LEDs as you want)

That's a lot of info! Let me know where you have questions and I'd be happy to clarify and help you pick the right hardware for your miniature lanterns!

Best,
Réna

182

General Discussion / Re: Looking for gift for electrical engineer

« on: December 02, 2021, 04:03:38 PM »

Hello!

We have tons of kits that are great for gifts for anyone, including engineers or tech-interested people who can look deeper into them to either customize or alter functionality. Our TinyTV is our most popular kit that allows users to interact with hardware directly during assembly, paint the TinyTV case, and add their own videos to fully customize it. Here are our most popular kits including the TV: https://tinycircuits.com/collections/diy-kits

That being said, the TinyTV isn't much of a challenge and users don't need to see the background software if they're not interested in that. Many just like having a TinyTV that plays their favorite shows or movies.

Our other more hobbyist kits that include sensors and other boards are great options for someone working on a DIY project, or someone that wants to learn more about embedded components. The Wireling kits are pretty neat! If they like plants, the Plant Monitor Kit would be a good option. Otherwise, the TV is great for movie buffs, and the Arcade systems are great if your dad likes retro video games, or writing their own games!

Let me know if you have any questions or need help picking something you think they'll love to tinker with!

Best,
Réna

183

General Discussion / Re: TinyCircuits + Alexa?

« on: November 30, 2021, 01:55:29 PM »

Hiya,

It's definitely possible to use Arduino products with Alexa, but depending on what you want to do it could be very possible or possible with some extra work with hardware or software depending on what you want to do. Do you have some boards already? What are you looking to do/make? More details help!

For example, there are tons of projects to look through that might be close to what you want: https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/projects/tags/alexa

Many Alexa/Arduino projects use the Arduino IoT Cloud for most of the work, and unfortunately, that requires some specific Arduino boards for compatibility if you were looking to use that method.

Let me know!

Best,
Réna

184

Tiny Arcade & Pocket Arcade / Re: Audio on Pocket Arcade

« on: November 23, 2021, 06:38:10 PM »

Brian,

So I know I've been a broken record with the FlappyBirdz example, but I found a different version than the one shared in the other forum thread that includes sound effects! Take a look at the toneDAC.ino file attached

I've never personally worked on a Tiny Arcade game or the sound effects, but I can try to point you in the right direction where I'm able!

There are also these games where the source code is available:
https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/games/tinystg?_pos=26&_sid=680a833bd&_ss=r
https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/games/super-otome?_pos=30&_sid=680a833bd&_ss=r
https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/games/169455239-tiny-invaders?_pos=31&_sid=680a833bd&_ss=r

Best,
Réna

185

Thumby / Re: Thumby development Discord server or something similar?

« on: November 19, 2021, 02:59:35 PM »

Hey everyone!

We didn't forget about the discord server, we've just been busy with all the logistics of the Kickstarter and getting parts, figuring out assembly steps, etc.

Here's our initial discord server you can join and chat in: https://discord.gg/vzf3wQXVvm (edited to make this link never expire)

Please please please let us know if you have any feedback or if you see any issues with the setup. We're new to discord so be gentle with us!

Best,
Réna

186

Tiny Arcade & Pocket Arcade / Re: Text/font

« on: November 18, 2021, 04:51:21 PM »

Brian,

You do need the displaybuffer() function in order to display sprites on the screen. If you look inside the function, the list of sprites in your program are cycled through and displayed one by one. You are welcome to come up with a different method, but this is how all of our game examples work.

You can download the full FlappyBirdz example here which might help: https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/games/178269895-flappy-birdz

Let me know if that helps or if you still have some things to work through!

Best,
Réna

187

Tiny Arcade & Pocket Arcade / Re: Text/font

« on: November 17, 2021, 06:33:11 PM »

Brian,

Can you attach your program with what you've changed? I'm not sure what you mean by flashing. Are you using the drawBuffer() more than once in your loop()?

Thanks,
Réna

188

Tiny Arcade & Pocket Arcade / Re: Text/font

« on: November 16, 2021, 12:06:27 PM »

With your current setup it looks like you need to modify the drawbuffer() function to incorporate printing text. We did something similar in the FlappyBirdz game with a score variable needing printed after being converted to a string. Here's a snippet of the solution in FlappyBirdz, you will likely come up with something more optimizedfor your program:

Code: [Select]

void drawBuffer() {
  uint8_t lineBuffer[96 * 64 * 2];
  display.startData();
  for (int y = 0; y < 64; y++) {
    for (int b = 0; b < 96; b++) {
      lineBuffer[b * 2] = TS_16b_Blue >> 8;
      lineBuffer[b * 2 + 1] = TS_16b_Blue;
    }
    for (int spriteIndex = 0; spriteIndex < amtSprites; spriteIndex++) {
      ts_sprite *cs = spriteList[spriteIndex];
      if (y >= cs->y && y < cs->y + cs->height) {
        int endX = cs->x + cs->width;
        if (cs->x < 96 && endX > 0) {
          int bitmapNumOffset = cs->bitmapNum * cs->width * cs->height;
          int xBitmapOffset = 0;
          int xStart = 0;
          if (cs->x < 0)xBitmapOffset -= cs->x;
          if (cs->x > 0)xStart = cs->x;
          int yBitmapOffset = (y - cs->y) * cs->width;
          for (int x = xStart; x < endX; x++) {
            unsigned int color = cs->bitmap[bitmapNumOffset + xBitmapOffset + yBitmapOffset++];
            if (color != ALPHA) {
              lineBuffer[(x) * 2] = color >> 8;
              lineBuffer[(x) * 2 + 1] = color;
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
    putString(y, score.x, score.y, score.stringChars, lineBuffer, liberationSans_16ptFontInfo);
    if (startScreen) {
      putString(y, 1, 38, score.stringChars, lineBuffer, liberationSans_10ptFontInfo);
      char hs[10];
      sprintf(hs, "%d", highScore);
      putString(y, 74, 38, hs, lineBuffer, liberationSans_10ptFontInfo);

    }
    display.writeBuffer(lineBuffer, 96 * 2);

  }


  display.endTransfer();
}


void putString(int y, int fontX, int fontY, char * string, uint8_t * buff, const FONT_INFO& fontInfo) {
  const FONT_CHAR_INFO* fontDescriptor = fontInfo.charDesc;
  int fontHeight = fontInfo.height;
  if (y >= fontY && y < fontY + fontHeight) {
    const unsigned char* fontBitmap = fontInfo.bitmap;
    int fontFirstCh = fontInfo.startCh;
    int fontLastCh = fontInfo.endCh;
    //if(!_fontFirstCh)return 1;
    //if(ch<_fontFirstCh || ch>_fontLastCh)return 1;
    //if(_cursorX>xMax || _cursorY>yMax)return 1;
    int stringChar = 0;
    int ch = string[stringChar++];
    while (ch) {
      uint8_t chWidth = pgm_read_byte(&fontDescriptor[ch - fontFirstCh].width);
      int bytesPerRow = chWidth / 8;
      if (chWidth > bytesPerRow * 8)
        bytesPerRow++;
      unsigned int offset = pgm_read_word(&fontDescriptor[ch - fontFirstCh].offset) + (bytesPerRow * fontHeight) - 1;

      for (uint8_t byte = 0; byte < bytesPerRow; byte++) {
        uint8_t data = pgm_read_byte(fontBitmap + offset - (y - fontY) - ((bytesPerRow - byte - 1) * fontHeight));
        uint8_t bits = byte * 8;
        for (int i = 0; i < 8 && (bits + i) < chWidth; i++) {
          if (data & (0x80 >> i)) {
            buff[(fontX) * 2] = TS_16b_Yellow >> 8;
            buff[(fontX) * 2 + 1] = TS_16b_Yellow;
            // setPixelInBuff(y,16+fontX,0);
            //lineBuffer[16+fontX]=0;
          } else {
            //SPDR=_fontBGcolor;
          }
          fontX++;
        }
      }
      fontX += 2;
      ch = string[stringChar++];
    }
  }
}

189

Tiny Arcade & Pocket Arcade / Re: Text/font

« on: November 12, 2021, 01:58:48 PM »

Hiya,

Can you share what hardware you are using and the entire program?

For sending text to a screen, you can look at the basic example for the TinyScreen library mentioned in this tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Processors/TinyScreen+_Setup_Tutorial/

Otherwise, if you are using Wireling screens, we have an example of text and sprites being printed to the screen at the same time: https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/learn/moving-and-making-graphics-for-a-wireling-0-42-0-69-0-96-screen

Let me know if those tutorials help!

Best,
Réna

190

TinyDuino Processors & TinyShields / Re: WiFi TinyShield SSL/HTTPS - Unable to get response from HTTPS request

« on: November 12, 2021, 01:55:30 PM »

Hello,

Did you set the wifi pins in the sensibo example? This line should always be in your setup loop when using our Wifi TinyShield:
WiFi.setPins(8,2,A3,-1);


It may help to go back to basics and get a simple WiFi connection working before adding the Sensibo API into the program. Try our getting-started example here: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Communication/WiFi_TinyShield_Tutorial/

Let me know how that goes!

Best,
Réna

191

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: Is it broken?

« on: November 09, 2021, 12:35:50 PM »

Wow, that looks awesome! I am glad the hardware fixed itself somehow.

Is the modification meant to be embedded in the score display or playfield?

Did you attach a different speaker to it? We would love to share your modification on social media if you were open to the idea! Or if you wanted to share it yourself and tag @tinycircuits we could repost whatever you share!

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'd be happy to help advise you on how to get your modification working!

Cheers,
Réna

192

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: Is it broken?

« on: November 05, 2021, 01:41:31 PM »

Sorry for letting this topic sit for so long. You can try re-uploading the program: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Kits/Tiny-Video-Program/

You should see a "Done uploading" message after uploading the program using the Arduino IDE.

Make sure you are making the correct selections in the Tools menu in the IDE, and that you go through the TinyScreen+ tutorial first before the tinytv program tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Processors/TinyScreen+_Setup_Tutorial/

Let me know how that goes!

Best,
Réna

193

TinyTV & Tiny Video Player / Re: Can't access settings menu & not work remote

« on: November 04, 2021, 11:18:48 AM »

Hello!

The settings menu software was updated in April of 2020 (as is noted at the top of the tutorial you linked), so if you ordered a Tiny Video Player kit from us or a distributor before then, you probably do not have the settings menu software. In that case, I would advise re-uploading the program: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Kits/Tiny-Video-Program/

If you ordered a kit after April 2020 from us, you should have the settings menu software. I would advise making sure you hold the top right button evenly when you turn the unit off and then on to access the settings menu.

The remote does not directly work with the Tiny Video Player kit. You would need to change the Tiny Video Player mode off, and the TinyTV mode on using the settings menu to be able to use the remote with the device. The remote only works with the TinyTV program because it is intended that the remote should be used with the TinyTV.

If you still cannot get the settings menu working, or if you wish to use the Tiny Video Player kit with lower volume, you can edit the Arduino program after downloading it from the above linked tutorial.

Best,
Réna

194

General Discussion / Re: I need a "tiny" help or direction

« on: November 03, 2021, 12:31:02 PM »

Hiya there,

The Tiny Video Player is a great kit for playing custom videos with sound in a small space, by converting videos using our free TSV Converter (https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Kits/TSV-Converter-Tutorial/) and placing converted videos on the SD Card. The screen included with the kit is 0.96" diagonally which equates to around 2.5cm. If your space is 50x50cm, then our stuff might be too tiny.

Since the video player kit comes with a speaker, do you think you will still need a Bluetooth speaker connection? I will be honest that programming Bluetooth is not a trivial process that I would recommend for beginners. Can you tell me more about what you envision your end product doing, or looking like so I can guide you on the best way, or workaround, forward?

Best,
Réna

195

Thumby / Re: Launch Multiplayer Games?

« on: November 02, 2021, 10:51:15 AM »

We do have a simple multiplayer game we have tested (it works!), but we haven't shared it anywhere just yet since there are some details to sort out since as is, it would be difficult to develop multiplayer games using it as an example without an API.

Ben is the one working on that, so I'll ask him to provide more details sometime today.