Training courses in Australia

G

GAP

Senior Member
Hi,

Does anybody know if there are training courses for beginners being offered in Australia?

I am particularly interested in classroom type courses in NSW but will consider correspondence courses.

The North West College in Rouse Hill, Sydney did run a 2 day course but that is not on offer anymore.

Thanks in advance for any info.
 
M

manuka

Senior Member
GAP: Training courses in what? Electronics? Micros? Programming? PICAXEs? Many institutions offer only much longer programs as part of certificates & diplomas -this is certainly now the norm here in NZ ...

If PICAXEs are your intention (good man!), then you may well be able to grab someone who'll show you the ropes at mates rates. Pop over to Wellington for a weekend & I'd maybe offer some PICAXE insights myself -check my style.

Over the ~10 years I've been using them in education,I've found many PICAXE learners become enthusiastic & motivated to the extent that they become quite self propelled once they've a grasp of basics. Best you specify your background & learning style ! Stan.
 
B

bluejets

Senior Member
Minimum basic electronics TAFE courses used to be 2 years ( 2 nights a week for 3 hours each)

This was for post-trade courses i.e. there was a pre-requisite for the above period.

Enquire at TAFE I would imagine.

I doubt you will get much out of a 2 day course.
 
G

GAP

Senior Member
Sorry should have been clearer PICAXE is what I am interested in.

The 2 day short course was in introduction to PICAXE and basically covered understanding the commands and ther functions etc that is what I am after.

I am struggling with the Basic language but have found Logicator and am experimenting with flow charts.

What I really need is some one on one instruction the get me started.

General electronics is no stranger to me as that is my base trade but I have never been imnvolved in programming at all.
 
M

manuka

Senior Member
OK! The key is to usually START SIMPLY! What sort of hardware setup do you have? What eventually do you want to do? Have you downloaded the Editor? What is your learning style - hands on, show & tell, listening, written etc? Do you have David Lincolns resource book ? Checked my past SiChip articles (referenced via www.picaxe.orcon.net.nz )?

IMNSHO put Logicator aside & spend the weekend flashing few LEDs with the key instructions HIGH,LOW,PAUSE.WAIT etc- it's said that just ~7 commands can get most folks to an "Aha!" stage.

Many Oz/NZ high schools are PICAXE orientated so maybe even ask if someone would show the ropes for a few $$? As Bomaderry is well out of Sydney (Nowra I recall) perhaps also look at a Skype etc? Stan.
 
G

GAP

Senior Member
manuka said:
OK! The key is to usually START SIMPLY! What sort of hardware setup do you have? What eventually do you want to do? Have you downloaded the Editor? What is your learning style - hands on, show & tell, listening, written etc? Do you have David Lincolns resource book ? Checked my past SiChip articles (referenced via www.picaxe.orcon.net.nz )?

IMNSHO put Logicator aside & spend the weekend flashing few LEDs with the key instructions HIGH,LOW,PAUSE.WAIT etc- it's said that just ~7 commands can get most folks to an "Aha!" stage.

Many Oz/NZ high schools are PICAXE orientated so maybe even ask if someone would show the ropes for a few $$? As Bomaderry is well out of Sydney (Nowra I recall) perhaps also look at a Skype etc? Stan.
Click to expand...

I have a programmer board, a PICAXE 08M2 and a breadboard.

I have been given a fairly complex program that I am trying to understand, what I am trying do is disect it and to achieve an understanding of someone elses program so that if I do not have their support then I can be independant.

The reason I am leaning toward Logicator is that I can relate far easier to a flowchart than to writting code.

Probably going about this the wrong way but hey that is just me.
 
S

SAborn

Senior Member
Probably going about this the wrong way but hey that is just me.
Click to expand...
I would agree about the wrong way part.

There is so much to be gained with a few leds and a simple circuit with a picaxe driving the leds, as Stan said start with a few simple commands and start to string a bit of code together, if it dont work then post your code here and we will help you get it working.

In next to no time you will be able to understand how the code works with different commands ...THEN worry about reverse engineering someone elses code.

You know the old saying about taking the bull by its horns or by its tail, ..... let go of the tail and grip the horns.
 
T

tinyb

Member
Look up some articles from 2004ish silicon chip about how to program the schools experimenters board. a series of 5 or 6 articles writen by clive that do a great job of introducing the simple then going onto harder stuff. I think you can purchase back orders from the website (PM me if you need help).
There are some great tutorials writen by people like westausie, saborn and hippy but need to search. the two books are a great help also - again search the forum for a thread dedicated to them.

I am happy to run a training course for you - $220 for 2 days, min of 10 people here in SA or plus expenses if over in NSW.

thanks
tiny
 
G

GAP

Senior Member
Thanks for that westaus55
I have already rung them and they only ran the course once 2 years ago hence this post.

manuka
What is the reason for not using it using Logicator?
I have used it to experiment and can now flash LEDs on and off.
It does do the writing for me but I can follow flow charts easily and logically.
Is it capable of allowing me to move to more complex programs or do I still need to write my own code for them?

From what I can see there appears to be face to face course available, so it looks like I am destined to self teach with help as SAborn has suggested.

Hope to hear from you guys in the future because there are probably going to be heaps of "help" post from me in the near future.
Thanks for making me feel welcome.
 
M

manuka

Senior Member
manuka
What is the reason for not using it using Logicator?
I have used it to experiment and can now flash LEDs on and off.
It does do the writing for me but I can follow flow charts easily and logically.
Click to expand...
By all means use it if it's your style! You'll probably find more powerful PICAXE commands & tricks need hands on coding, but perhaps let us know more of your project needs. Stan.
 
W

westaust55

Moderator
GAP said:
manuka
What is the reason for not using it using Logicator?
Click to expand...
One reason is that Logicator is a rather limited command set.
While you can learn some basics to get an LED flashing you will ultimately need to move to the text based BASIC language to greater flexibility and range of functions.

If you have a look in PICAXE manual 2 for those commands with a Logicator equivalent, there is a flow chart like icon at the top right hand side of the manual 2 pages.
Notice how you have gone through the commands from ADC related, through binBCDtoASCII, count and DAC related commands before you find a Logicator command icon at DEBUG. Then it is on through DEC(rement), Disable/enableBOD, Disable/EnableTime, EEPROM(Data), GET, various hi2c comms commands, before the next Logicator command at HIGH, skip the HSPI related commands before another Logicator command at IF...THEN.

In my humble opinion, you would be far better to take the plunge and get straight into the text based BASIC language and use the PICAXE manual 1 tutorials as a starting point.

Next reason is that the majority of folks here use the text based BASIC programming method and there is a greater likelihood of (and maybe quicker) response to your questions.
 
G

GAP

Senior Member
Thanks for the help and advice guys.
Nearly all my programs will be very simple ones, mostly centred around adding sounds and some animation to my garden railway.
Eg engine sounds as locos speed up or slow down, whistles/horns, crossing boom gates and signals.
I will mostly be driving either servos or LEDS so nothing to taxing for the brain.
I use 2.4Ghz remote control so a lot of PWM will be involved as well as LDR to detect trains.
This is only the start though.
 
M

manuka

Senior Member
OK- I recall model railroaders have already enthusiastically taken to PICAXEs, so check the likes of this site. You just have to love his servo controlled cowboy outhouse!
 
G

GAP

Senior Member
Thank you for the link that is exactly the type of thing I want to do.

I have now disected the program I have and now have a basic understanding of what I am looking at.

But stand by for some more questions when I confuse myself (that won't be long LOL)
 
J

joely87

Member
Hi Gap,

I have been working on a set of tutorial videos starting at a very beginner level. There are only about 10 videos up at the moment but I have many more planned and will take requests. They are probably not perfect, and are all recorded in one take but they do cover the basics and I use the videos to help teach my own electronics classes (surprisingly the students respond better to virtual me!).

Have a look and let me know if you have any specific tutorials that would assist you. http://www.teaching-innovation.com/videos/

Every thing I know came from the picaxe manuals and this forum!

Cheers, Joel
 
C

cravenhaven

Senior Member
If you want someone to chat too (face to face) about picaxe basic, I can help to some extent. For the next couple of months I am living not far from you, just up the hill on the way to Kangaroo Valley.
PM me if you like.
 
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