[Swansea Hackspace] Ideas for workshops

[Justin Mitchell]

On Wed, 2013-07-31 at 17:28 +0100, Graham Owens wrote:
> I think other ideas that were mentioned were:

Thanks for all these ideas guys.

My first tutorial covered connecting LEDs and switches, and demonstrated
the importance of debouncing switch inputs. but didnt otherwise go into
the reasons why.

I can see the argument that we should include at least some simple
explanations of the why, although i am unsure the best way to deliver
that. I felt that the worksheet approach worked well, with everyone
working at their own pace leaving me free to give specific help where
required. So i suppose i should try to work some explanations into the
worksheet where possible.

I also plan to put the resulting worksheets and support materials online
for future, and other peoples, reference.

> Communicating with a microcontroller from a PC.  I think this is the
> technical workshop for a week monday.
Yes, thats my plan.

> I have 2xPickit 3's that I can bring (Mabey a 3rd and a Pickit 2)  So
> if anyone needs to use one, they are more than welcome.
That would be very helpful, last time we all had to share the one
pickit2 i brought.



I am trying to put together a list of components for the starter kit to
base these tutorials on. It doesnt have to contain everything we might
cover, like servos etc, as we can always do booster packs later. I was
hoping to keep the cost under a tenner each, but have enough components
to cover plenty of tutorial options, and allow some tinkering.

So far i have come up with this list, can people please give their
suggestions:

PIC16F1455 
MB102 Breadboard
Jumper wire kit
Long pinned header for programmer connection
USB Uart board and cable (possibly CP1202 based)
LEDs a handful of different colours + limiting resistors
Small push button switches
Piezo Buzzer
LDR and/or Thermistor

I also need to get an idea of how many people would like to buy these
kits so i can bulk order the components to save us money.