I think model trains are awesome. Since I study programming, it came naturally to me that I would want to build a model train that is controlled by software that I write. Unfortunately that seemed
a little too improbable with my current conditions, so it got shelved, and it molded. I wasn't quite sure what to call it, I labeled this concept physical programming
. Probably a bonkers title,
but that is how it lived in my head for a while. Eventually I found myself on subreddits of interesting fun contraptions, (/r/doohickeycorporation/) and model trains.
Another time I was also growing a bit frustrated with some forms of advertising, so I contemplated using a Pi-hole, but realized that it wouldn't help much in my specific case. However the concept was planted, that it'd be cool to craft something myself with some microcontroller. I found out about the Arduino line of microcontrollers, and the accessibility, combined with all the stuff I saw online convinced me, that I should probably get one to learn something this Summer.
I got my hands on a Arduino Starter Kit R4 today. I picked this, because it has components which are surely to be compatible with one another, and a neat little guide was provided too. Sure I could have gotten cheaper clones, the blueprints are open-source, however official gave me the security that I won't have to deal with finding out what components to get and where, which was valuable, considering that I had known practically nothing about these components until a few hours ago.
Admittedly, this write-up is a little pre-mature, considering I'm not too far into it yet, practically only having done the first example project.
I never really engaged with electronics on this level. I did have physics classes but we never actually wired anything. After completing my first circuit to turn a light on with a button, I slowly modified
it. Now it has a blue LED, and a red LED, both with buttons, so you can turn them on independently. The inspiration was a police light. Of course there is nothing stopping you from pressing down both
of them at the same time, and the circuit is very basic. I'm just surprised with how much fun I had with something so simple. It must seem second nature to some, but novelty can craft very pleasant
experiences. Of course this was just electronics, and I have not touched programming it. I'm looking forward to the challenges offered by limited resources, and the environment where a C like language
can thrive instead of feeling tedious like on full computers
.
My goal, which probably isn't that advanced as I might believe it to be, is to have a little music player. The Piezo buzzer would synthetize audio, and buttons would allow stopping, playing, and cycling between hard-coded tracks. The LCD would show the name of the song, and perhaps even time.
I'm looking forward to making it real!
