I Can't Touch My Toys: Arduino & RapsberryPi.

It's been quite a long time here. I have been busy with work, roaming and taking pictures. A lot is happening that I don't really know how it occurred and to control it. My site is up and looking fab. Friends think I'm ignoring them, ... a lot's happening!

The past month has been awesome with the festive season, family engagements and working on so many different things: photography, graphic design and many more than with my toys: arduino and raspi. Sometimes, I feel I am a disappointment, letting go the zeal with which I fought so hard to get my kits. Each and every new day, I dream of new projects but never get the time to sit my ass down and work on. There's never been a single day I've woke up with no thoughts of my toys, yet 'no action'.  I feel I'm wasting them.

As I write this, I'm preparing to go to the MIT funded FABLAB at the Takoradi Technical Institute. I think, I can do much when I'm  with a group of similar interest. I want to learn basic electronics, soldering and many simple basic things which will help me in my projects. I want to be part of a local group just like the London Arduino Group I join on facebook. They always send me interesting event invites and seek my opinions on many things, sometimes, I ignore them. Why ain't many people in Ghana not interested in this arduino, raspi thing? Are they any interest group at all?

I know a friend +Edward Pie who is deeply into Microcontrollers and Robotics, maybe, it's time we associate 'more seriously' and benefit from each other. I know of The African Robotics Network(AFRON), I'm on their mailing-list, but I don't know how I can leverage on that. The Ghana R obotics Academy Foundation is doing well with LEGO MINDSTORM NXT.  Should I do that instead? I perfectly think I can do more with my kits than using NXT/LEGO MINDSTORM?

Now, I'm confused. Somebody help!

I Have A RaspberryPi!

I have been silent here for a while, sorry, school wasn't fun anymore; exams, project presentations and documentation et al. Thanks be to the Creator, all is over. My final semester has really taught me lessons and challenged me to do things I once dreamed of. Yes, I have awesome dreams. :)

"I like that you have great dreams. You know the problem with you is always proving the reality of your concepts", my supervisor retorts.
— Kobe Subramaniam (@kobebigs) June 24, 2013

I once told my friends I wanted to study electronics and build robots (I have always wanted to build a robot), they badly pulled my legs. That did not stopped me, I kept a lot of dreams to myself and shared not with them. I knew someday these dreams will be materialised. At Barcamp Takoradi 2010, I met the TTI Fab Lab and lo and behold, the journey for the search of knowledge on electronics begun.

My last days in school, CapeVars was magical. I cried sometimes. I had a tall list of projects and did not  know which to do and where to start. I discussed these with lecturers and friends and finally settled on an arduino-based temperature monitoring system with SMS capabilities (using Falcom Samba75 GSM modem). I went in for this because of the arduino! I wanted to know what/how it is and works. And whiles I worked on my project, I did tried out other basic stuffs.

On submission of my final year project, I was promised a Raspberry Pi in return of the  arduino kits I used. I got excited, but never knew what followed. I had to present a real project idea, make sketches and prove what it  is, uses and what I hope to learn from it. I failed on the first presentation, I was not well convincing. I could not just say the type of processor the RasPi uses, upon all the weekend reading and study. I guess I had to much on my mind.

I want to weep. My supervisor is among the cool inspiring hearts I have ever met. God bless you Dr. Farahmand!
— Kobe Subramaniam (@kobebigs) June 7, 2013

First, I got arduino kits for my project and now he's given me a raspberry pi ... How best can I express my gratitude to him!
— Kobe Subramaniam (@kobebigs) June 7, 2013

I am getting a #raspberrypi today. I have put together an awesome proposal to win the bid. So help me God!
— Kobe Subramaniam (@kobebigs) June 24, 2013

Yesterday, I got up fully prepared with less #vim to get the RasPi. I missed the set time and had to wait for 6:00pm to show up. At 6:30pm, "So what do you intend to do with it, what do you have?" the first question went. A sudden dumbness struck me, I managed to say a few things about the board and the projects. In a blink of an eye, I saw a blue box with the inscription "MAKE: kits for the maker in all of us", a Raspberry Pi Starter Kit from makershed?  There I remembered something he said on the first bid, "I got no one to give it to, you have to prove a reality in your concepts". "Hope you know the worth of this? It is expensive, it's not just the board, it contains many things to get you started, here you are, all the best." Silence griped me as I stretched out my hands for the box. "You have to update me on whatever you do with it. In two (2) months time, I expect a report. All the best in Kenya!, Good bye."

I just did not believed what had happened till I got home. The MAKE: Raspberry Pi Starter Kit costs around US$125.00. The box had everything without an SD card and one of the locks for the MAKE: Pi Enclosure was missing. I had decided to do something over the night, all plans had to come to a halt  cos I had no SD card. I am going for one today and start the hacking and tinkering.

I just do not know what to do, all I say is thank you, Dr. Farahmand, you are a real gem. I am not going to rest on my oasis, I will do my best to get the best out of this gift.