Instructables

Rickharris

Senior Member
I read Makzine blog http://blog.makezine.com/and Instructables http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/?sort=RECENT , Some of which I even find interesting and informative.

It is visible that there is an effort being made to (re) educate at least the interested part of the world in technical doing rather than using.

However it is also clear that their microprocessor approach is very biased towards products other than Picaxe (no names no Pack drill!)

May I suggest - nay encourage - everyone here to post an instructable involving a Picaxe - They do not need to be complex - a simple LED flasher for example would do - obviously if your capability is higher than more complexity would be interesting.

LED flashing in various ways including Manukas Morse beacon
Simple Robots
Charliplexed arrays of LEDs
Sound - Tune based projects
Single 7 seg display message box (displays message serially 1 letter at a time)

The possibilities for using the Picaxe in fairly simple projects is huge lts not let the opposition have it all their own way :)
 

slimplynth

Senior Member
Well I feel motivated now Rick, good rallying speech :)

Did a quick Ecoogle (I think that word should be added to the Oxford concise - sounds like it should already be in there anyway :D)

"Picaxe site:www.instructables.com" = 959 hits

"Pickaxe site:www.instructables.com" = 129 hits

"A~@uino site:www.instructables.com" = about 24,000 hits

That's a lot of catching up to do but people on this forum definitely thrive on a challenge.

Best Regards

Lee

(Oooh - I got one, I pledge an Instructable before the end of next week - currently tied up - banging my head against an MS Access brick wall 24/7 for work)
 

manuka

Senior Member
Rick: Good idea, but (ahem!) were you still on your first Sunday morning coffee when typing that entry- it came over a tad disjointed my end!? Mind you the words waxed lyrical as the cafeine kicked in.

A quick "PICAXE" Instructable glance shows quite a swag there already, although for some reason my active Brain Boxed PICAXE entry doesn't show up. It's worth posting some YouTubes as well of course- this gets considerable following & IMHO quick (searchable) findings are easier to organise & post that many Instructables. Hence my SMT "Hell" .

I've found quite a bias/disregard towards other micro systems (no names you'll undestand) exists in certain quarters, & it's such that many prospects perhaps never get to hear of PICAXE possibilities. It's rather akin (ah-still on the coffee theme) to thinking you always have to buy cafe coffee, & then hearing incidentally that you could in fact make it yourself at home- perhaps cheaper & better. Stan.
 
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Dippy

Moderator
I think it's a great idea.
So many places are almost obsessed with using a hardweeny.

And as greeny issues are very trendy right now, here's an example of arduino-itis.
http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php/board,45.0.html
- In many of those threads Arduino rules - I see PICAXE gets a mention!

To keep everything looking impressive I reckon neatness would 'advertise' the product in a good light.
... hopefully avoiding such poor quality examples as this.
http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8881.0

Do you think it would be a good idea for potential Instructable PICAXE projects to be posted here first for a 'peer review'?
It's not an attempt to make people blush, but not-very-smart project may reflect badly on PICAXE ... and, boy oh boy, is there some carp on Instructables.
 

moxhamj

New Member
I've done a couple for picaxe http://www.instructables.com/member/Dr_Acula/

I'd post the exact links, but the Instructables site seems to be down at the moment - connection keeps timing out. And that is a bit of an issue if you are half way through writing something up. I found it easiest to write it in Word first, even to the point of embedding pictures to see what it looked like, then finally copied it over to Instructables. That works, but you then do have to go back and change all quotes and a few other characters as they don't copy over properly.

Instructables are a great way to get something read by lots of people. Not many things an individual writes can be read by 75,000 people like this one http://www.instructables.com/id/Control-real-world-devices-with-your-PC/ - even publishing something in the print press.

There are some great projects here on the forum and it would be good to see them published more widely.

Addit: Instructables seems to be back online now.
And tiny postscript: In the topic of this thread Instructables has been spelt Istructables.
 
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Dippy

Moderator
Haha, well spotted Drac :)

But, that raises an important point about the correct spelling of keywords/tags.
... unless everyone searching spells them wrong as well then it could cause a problem.
We don't want to loose our way when searching.
 

Dippy

Moderator
"Consider - if a word was spelt wrong in the dictionary, how would you know? "
- good point. I certainly wouldn't ask a teacher if it was right ;)

Maybe you could also suggest: if 99.999% of the population spelt a certain word incorrectly, and they all spelt (spelled) it incorrectly the same way, then maybe that should become the correct spelling?

Loose and lose seem to be popular candidates.
Anyway, I'm off to watch the Grand Pricks now.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Changed the heading, and perfect timing for the reminder that the GP's on.
 

boriz

Senior Member
In principle, I agree about the extra exposure, but I personally detest the inscrutables site. It’s so full commercial claptrap, I find it all but unusable. I’ve been essentially boycotting it for a year or more.

No reason why we can’t start our own Picaxe version of the site though.
 

Rickharris

Senior Member
Rick: Good idea, but (ahem!) were you still on your first Sunday morning coffee when typing that entry- it came over a tad disjointed my end!? Mind you the words waxed lyrical as the caffeine kicked in.

...

.
:) Sorry for the haste and the spelling - My spell checker ignores the titles for some reason. We are looking after 2 lively dogs at present and typing early in my morning with a dog patting your hand every other letter is very distracting.

F1 GP bit of a procession.
 

slimplynth

Senior Member
"Consider - if a word was spelt wrong in the dictionary, how would you know? "
- good point. I certainly wouldn't ask a teacher if it was right ;)

Maybe you could also suggest: if 99.999% of the population spelt a certain word incorrectly, and they all spelt (spelled) it incorrectly the same way, then maybe that should become the correct spelling?

Loose and lose seem to be popular candidates.
Anyway, I'm off to watch the Grand Pricks now.
I oft' suggest to people, unsure on choice of spelling to type both into google and go with the one with the most number of hits... 'ask the audience' approach hasn't failed yet. Like the idea of peer review, though the mods already do much to help, didn't want to suggest adding to their charitable workload. That said, constructive criticism should be welcomed by all in any aspect of life - no need to blush, who is perfect after all?
 

SAborn

Senior Member
One thing i found anoying on this site was not being able to view the attachments etc without being a member.

If the average person could view the data without needing to join then this site would be close to a Picaxe instructable site as is for many projects.

I understand not being able to post to the site without being a member, but why block others from viewing the information posted on this site.

It did not make sense to not share the data to a wider field.
 

AndyGadget

Senior Member
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Dippy

Moderator
Yes, that's a very fair point SABorn, there may be a good reason.

Well I was using "Peer review" in a loose(!) sense.
I get the feeling that all the mods have full time jobs, but others will have more time to give things a rough check and make suggestions. It wouldn't have to be a full-blown editorial and assessment - just something to help avoid big blunders. After all, a boo-boo posted that leads to a pop! followed by that thin whisp of magic smoke may also lead to a little unhappiness.

Some of the Instructable examples I've seen indicate a real novice level of electronics knowledge , yet, simply because they have been published, imply that they are a 'reference'.
Many people copy and then have problems - as a result of the often flawed assumption that because it's on the Net that it must be right.

So, a little nudging and helping prior to publication would help everyone I would have thought.
That's one of the reasons why the Big Boys do peer review.
It's like when people go to Drac for a second opinion about a nasty little rash they have :) .

And yes, GP has gone back to boring.
I haven't kept up with it, but what's happened to Brawn?
And I see Cosworth is back, who own's them now?
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The trouble with using search engine hits or their suggestions to determine spelling is that it often perpetuates wrongness which has taken hold and you're up against English and American English spellings. Then there are words which have definition differences but get confused and used wrongly, for example - licence and license.

And none of that gets round the wrong words being used in the first place; despite what they may believe, no one currently posting here has electrocuted themselves in the past.

Dictionaries are only another short click away within a search engine, so best to go to a definitive source.

Interesting reading : http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
 

Rickharris

Senior Member
And yes, GP has gone back to boring.
I haven't kept up with it, but what's happened to Brawn?
And I see Cosworth is back, who own's them now?
Brawn sold out to Mercedes - the Silver arrow is back and has brought HRH Schumacker out of retirement. Came 7th.

Cosworth is still promoted as Ford but who owns it - your guess. I know a substantial level of their engineering is done in China - a neighbours son works for them in China.

On the sujbcet of spleinlg three is smoe rseaerch taht syas that as lnog as the fsrit and lsat letetrs are corerct tehn the oerdr of the letrets in beewten don't mttaer vrey mcuh beuacse of the way we raed.
 

Dippy

Moderator
Oh.

GSK are moving a lot of R&D to China too.


"Schumacker"...?
- oh, yes, I forgot.. you're looking after 2 lively dogs.:)
 

moxhamj

New Member
Cobblers indeed! Even if you don't speak German you can take a guess what these chaps are up to here http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuhmacher

Re Instructables - yes something changed about a year ago and now you need to be a member or something to access all the information. My old membership is still valid but does anyone know what the rules are for someone joining up now?
 

womai

Senior Member
I found Instructables to be quite valuable to get a project known to a large number of people. Not only visitors to their site, but popular content their quickly gets referenced by many other sites as well.

As for Picaxe related postings there, my contribution to that (the Picaxe oscilloscope) is already up to over 50000 visitors, so I'd guess I may have brought the Picaxe a few new users... And my follow-on project there (well, not directly Picaxe related, but again an oscilloscope) went to over 30000 visitors in well under a month. Quite hard to achieve that exposure through any other means, especially considering that it comes without any cost to the publisher.

As for the requirement to be a registered user to see the attachments, yes that seems weird to me as well.
 

Rickharris

Senior Member
Cobblers indeed! Even if you don't speak German you can take a guess what these chaps are up to here http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuhmacher

Re Instructables - yes something changed about a year ago and now you need to be a member or something to access all the information. My old membership is still valid but does anyone know what the rules are for someone joining up now?
They made it pay for PRO- status - giving you some of the facilities that were available for free.

My old, none-pay, account still works for me though.
 

moxhamj

New Member
Thanks hippy. I was wondering why it would't show all the steps on one page any more. These are now "pro" ie PDF Downloads,Customized PDF's,All Steps Viewing

The pdf download was handy when you wanted to save it 'offline'. Still, Instructables reaches a lot of people. Make magazine is another place to reach lots of people - publish something on 'Make' and then google search it a few days later and it can 'go viral' which is fun to watch. But it can be tricky. You have to grab the imagination of the reader instantly, plus show them something simple enough that they feel they could build it themselves in an afternoon. That is a real art (something I have not mastered as I tend to overcomplicate things).

I have to say that manuka is our resident antipodean expert for publishing complicated things in a way that anyone can understand. Plus (biased comment alert...), I like breadboards too!
 

manuka

Senior Member
Dr_A: You're too kind, but don't expect us Kiwis to now let your cricket captain miss the next match so easily.

Decades of teaching increasingly leaves me appreciating that most technical learners come with little knowledge,& many comprehend even less unless initially fired with some "can do" enthusiasm. You can't beat a spot of "bubbly things & explosions" to trigger youthful interest!

Recent UK "The Queen invented the telephone" publicity is probably not far off the mark with most Western youngsters. At a tertiary level there seem many who struggle to tie their shoe laces or hold a screwdriver.

Stan.- who's getting too old for the energy demands of education!
 
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Dippy

Moderator
Worrying.
So, I assume most school children don't know that Louis Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the Moon?
And that he was accompanied by Buzz Lightyear playing trombone.
 

papaof2

Senior Member
At a tertiary level there seem many who struggle to tie their shoe laces or hold a screwdriver.
Did I do something unusual in giving the granddaughters (ages 5 & 8) toolkits (kid size hammer, screwdrivers, etc) last Christmas? As they know what the tools are named and how to hold them - does that mean they can skip some levels in school? ;-)

They also received wooden birdhouse kits, so we spent a couple of hours in the garage nailing the birdhouses together and painting them.

John
 

MPep

Senior Member
Did I do something unusual in giving the granddaughters (ages 5 & 8) toolkits (kid size hammer, screwdrivers, etc) last Christmas? As they know what the tools are named and how to hold them - does that mean they can skip some levels in school? ;-)

They also received wooden birdhouse kits, so we spent a couple of hours in the garage nailing the birdhouses together and painting them.

John
They should now graduate from university!! They probably know more than many now-a-days.:eek:

A friend of mine, a technology teacher, mentioned a few years ago that the (NZ) government wants designers, so as long as they (12 - 14 year olds) can draw what they want to make, and then manufacture something that sort of resembles that, then that is good enough.

This friend taught ME, at school, proper usage of tools, how to hold them etc. I now consider this info very valuable.

In my view, this is an appaling state of affairs.
Usually, 1 designer creates enough work for many engineers/technicians.

Oh and of course these days we need a swarm of lawyers too!:D
 

moxhamj

New Member
Re manuka "Dr_A: You're too kind, but don't expect us Kiwis to now let your cricket captain miss the next match so easily."

For those who don't follow cricket, poor Michael Clarke had to abandon a match against NZ in order to rush back to Australia to sort out some relationship issues. He did kind of leave the team in the lurch a bit, but on the other hand, he did have a very good reason for doing so http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/bingles-diamond-ring-cycle-a-busted-flush/story-e6frg6nf-1225840648538
 

kd5crs

Senior Member
Hi Brian,

Just checked out your Instructable. Looks great. Love the music.
Just to be sure, the blinds do not retract, but only open and close etc.?
Thanks! It has been languishing in the "Completed Projects" forum for a couple months now, which apparently no one reads. :+D

The blinds do not have a motorized retract feature. My wife specifically required that raise/lower remain hand operated, which saved me the trouble of having to find a motor with enough oomph to do it. I got it working semi-reasonable on my test blinds, but the takeup reel was not easy to hide.

In practice, this is how they get used:

1. At 30 minutes past sunrise, the blinds open to their first stage, which lets in light but maintains privacy.
2. Usually when I get out of bed to get breakfast, I fully open the blinds that look into the backyard.
3. If the house detects that everyone has left the house, it closes all the blinds.
4. At 15 minutes before sunset, the house closes all the blinds.
5. Eventually, the house computer will do an around the house temperature request of the blinds and log the temperature of each room... but we're not there yet. The blinds part is done, still working on the central controller.

So, the upshot is much more natural light, and some savings on electricity. Also, we no longer have those mornings where we realize we left the blinds open all night.

Brian
 

MPep

Senior Member
Thanks! It has been languishing in the "Completed Projects" forum for a couple months now, which apparently no one reads. :+D
Not so much as no-one reads it, as I haven't made time to :). Well done.
 

boriz

Senior Member
Dippy: There are a lot of folks in their 20s who'd think Elvis & Darth Vadar were also with them.
And 90% of the population of the planet think stuff only happens because it's "Gods will". I really hope aliens aren't watching us. It would be so embarrassing.
 
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