CHIP by Next Thing Co. – Quicker Setup (Headless, without a screen!)

I got my C.H.I.P. computer a little while back, but I found the setup instructions very convoluted, especially for setting it up without plugging it into a screen as I’m used to doing with a Raspberry Pi. So now that I’ve combed through the documentation for entirely too long, I hope I can help others save some time. For simplicity I’m mainly covering use on Windows, as the Linux instructions are actually better documented.

1. If you were a part of the first shipment, you may need to run this Boot Repair Tool to fix the originally shipped firmware.
2. Connect the CHIP to your computer by micro-USB cable (if not already done for the boot repair). The full size USB there might work as well, but I haven’t tried.
3. SSH into the CHIP through the serial connection, as detailed here.
   The Windows instructions using Putty come after the Linux ones. Find your COM port number in the Device Manager, then on Putty connect using:
   
   • Connection type: Serial
   • Serial line: COM[number]
   • Speed: 115200
   • Once it connects, login with:
     • Username: chip
     • Password: chip
     • Alternately, you can log in directly to root with the same password.
4. Now that you’re finally in, connect to Wifi using these instructions. Basically:
   1. Find nearby networks:
      chip@chip:~$ nmcli device wifi list
   2. Connect!
      chip@chip:~$ sudo nmcli device wifi connect '(your wifi network name/SSID)' password '(your wifi password)' ifname wlan0

DONE!

You may want to run a sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade. If, like me, you really don’t have a screen to plug it into, the next step is to get VNC or X11 forwarding set up. Instructions for this will be about the same as any other Linux machine. I followed the instructions for setting this up on Raspberry Pi, here:

1. Install VNC server.
   chip@chip:~$ sudo apt-get install tightvncserver
2. Run it to prompt password setup.
   chip@chip:~$ tightvncserver
   Pay attention to the number it gives the desktop.
   New 'X' desktop is chip:1
3. Find its IP address on your network.
   chip@chip:~$ ip a
   And it will come up with a few devices, but we want the IP under “wlan0”. Something like:
   4: wlan0: [........]
inet 192.168.1.122/24
4. Connect using a VNC viewer from any computer on your network.
   We’ll use the IP address we found, and at the end put the number it gave us when we set up tightvncserver.
   
   And you’re in! No extra monitor required!
5. If you want the VNC server to run automatically on every boot, you’ll need to create the script mentioned at the end of those instructions, here.

And NOW you can finally get to all the fun stuff following the intro steps in the documentation that require GUI usage.

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$15 LED Vehicle Footwell Lighting

LED Footwell lighting can be done DIY amazingly cheap, especially considering dealerships like to charge as much as $400 for it.

Required tools/parts (if buying uncut LED strips):

• Soldering iron (and preferably some experience)
• Spare wires to use between strips
• (Optional) Wire connectors to be able to easily disconnect portions of lighting and wires

People are always posting their car mods online, so it’s very easy to find How-to’s for your specific vehicle. I found one particularly great post on the Camaro5 forums by “AUS10BMX”, here, that was very useful for help with installation.

Here are the basics:

1. Get some LED strip from eBay for about $10, in whatever color you prefer, or even RGB for around $20.
   These strips come in long strands that have to be manually cut and soldered to wires and connectors. Pre-cut and wired strips can be found for a little extra cost, but you don’t get nearly as much length of lighting.
2. Find wiring harness to wire LEDs into, as well as a “ground” connection.
   This is the most important part. For newer cars, there will be a wiring harness under the driver’s side dash which will include the dome light power wire, which is the direct power line for the dome light. The details can be found by Googling your vehicle model and “dome light wire” or “dome light wire tap”. By plugging into this power source, we don’t need to worry about turning our LED lighting off and on, as it just does so whenever the dome light does, primarily when the doors open and close. For older cars, this may take more effort, as the dome light wire may be routed somewhere entirely different.
3. Measure lengths for strips under dashboard and spaces between where wires will have to be routed.
   Keep in mind, the space between the driver’s side footwell and passenger’s side sometimes has a hole or just a snap-on cover that can be opened to route wires through. This,obviously, is useful for hiding the wires and making the exact length of the wire cuts less important.
4. Cut strips to length to fit under dashboard on each side.
   For me, this was about 11 inches.
5. Solder wires (and optionally, connectors) onto cut LED strips.
   This is, of course, the most difficult and time-consuming part. Using bulk LED strips, the wires and connectors will have to be hand-soldered and installed. As mentioned, if it’s worthwhile to you, you can get pre-wired LED strip at slightly higher cost. eBay and Amazon have a massive selection of “footwell LED strip” ranging from $10-$30.
6. Install it!
   Use the adhesive on the back side of the strips and plug the wires into their places. I also reinforced the adhesive with clear packaging tape over it.

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For more specific details, consult the Googles! I’m sure someone in the world has done it for your particular car. For my specific build, I wish I had taken more pictures, but the linked post by AUS10BMX has all the necessary info. I’ll try to get an Instructable posted, but until then, there is a very detailed Instructable by “ecellingsworth” that my be useful, here.

Resources:

• DIY : Footwell Lighting Install – Dome/Toggle Switch – by AUS10BMX
• Dome Light Triggered LED Footwell Lighting for a 2010 Honda Fit – by ecellingsworth
• LED Strips on ebay
• My build photo album

$32 Fly-Sky 2.4G CT6B 6-Channel Transmitter

Well I know it’s been a while, school’s kept me pretty busy lately. I haven’t done much work on my projects, but with a new job this semester, I have finally been making enough to get some cool new parts I’ve been dying for!

Since I intend to eventually get a quadrocopter or airplane drone going, I figured I might as well finally buy myself a transmitter.

I’d take my own photo, but this one’s better.

It can be found on hobby sites like Nitroplane or xHeli, and Amazon.

It might not look like much, but this 6 channel transmitter is fully computer programmable and adjustable, has “bind and fly” transmitter/receiver pairing, and only $32!

Sparkfun has an awesome tutorial for using the receiver with Arduino, and I found this detailed tutorial for setting up the transmitter, along with all the drivers, software, and other resources.

It’s all super easy to set up, I’ll have a short servo test video up soon.  This thing should make that and all my RC projects a whole lot easier. I plan to set this thing up on my ReboundBot, along with a video camera and some xBee’s to transmit to my computer.

 

EDIT: Check out my Arduino class for this radio receiver in this post.

Resources:

• Transmitter Software and Driver Download + Tutorial
• T6 Manual
• Sparkfun: Arduino + receiver tutorial

$8 Bluetooth Module – JY-MCU BT_BOARD

from Ebay

Just Got this awesome little thing in from ebay. Using the default settings you can just plug-n-play, it’s automatically visible to other Bluetooth devices as “linvor”.

I intend to use it with my Arduino projects, it works perfectly plugged straight into the Arduino’s Serial ports.

Being as cheap as it is, I haven’t seen any official documentation on this thing, but just Googling around I’ve found a lot of people talking about it and how to change settings and such.

Here’s a little example of its usage with the Arduino. I’m working on a Micromouse project and had some example code loaded to receive Serial input commands. Then since my computer’s bluetooth adapter hasn’t come in yet, I used a free Android app I found, Bluetooth SPP, to send and receive commands.

Pretty pointless usage for the time being, but it’s a cool example of the capabilities.