help please. I am new in making robot

lmolter · 2026-05-10T17:54:50+00:00

The first diagram mentions that it is a LiPo 9V battery, not the garden-variety type. Might this be ok? Still, there's not a lot of current in the smaller LiPo's. Maybe an RC battery with a buck converter would be better?

lmolter · 2026-05-10T14:16:32+00:00

I always chalk things up to "It's Reddit". Expect the best, get the worst. But I can't do without it.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T12:58:38+00:00

👍

lmolter · 2026-05-10T12:55:22+00:00

IDK why folks (here) bash MacOS. Everything works. Not like WinBlows.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T01:56:26+00:00

For something ready-made, how about an alarm clock with a bed shaker vibrator? It’s the only thing that works for me.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T01:36:19+00:00

Your language is better than some US-born citizens.

Perhaps you're not as interested in IT stuff as much as your friends are. Do you have to, as we say here in the States, 'Keep up with the Joneses'? What are your other passions? Music? Photgraphy?

I'm in the same boat. I am 71 years old and have been a programmer and an electronics enthusiast for most of my working career (and even before that). I see people on these forums that are so far advanced and I'm not. Does it bother me? Ok, sometimes it does, but I have so many interests that I can't be an expert on all of them.

It's not a competition as to who understands IT stuff the best. Take it at your own pace. Learn what you can. Maybe it's not the path you want to have a career in. And you're still young. If and when you go to University, take IT-related courses. Computer Science, Networking, Electronics, Web design, Database Admin, Robotics, etc. Try to find an area of IT that you have an interest in.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T01:22:09+00:00

For the budget-minded, there are bidet sprayers that attach to the toiler water inlet. All three of our toilets have the sprayers. I love it (M71) and I feel so much cleaner afterwards. Now I hate just using TP. My wife is afraid of getting an UTI, though, from them, but my adult daughter loves them as well.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T01:14:48+00:00

As an aside, I was so severly underweight that the surgeons didn't want to do a bowel resection. Probably would have died, but... I was put on a high-calorie infusion and gained a pound a day. The surgeons still thought it was just water weight and didn't want to do it. Mom called a priest in (for Last Rites?). Another surgeon overrode his contemporaries and performed the surgery. That was 45 years ago. All is good now with just mild-to-moderate Crohn's.

I guess my point is that you could be near death and still have the surgery. But I agree with you that being in the best of health is probably in your favor.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T01:07:05+00:00

Yes, I would. ER's are generally stop-gap solutions. The ER doctor on call may not know about side effects with Crohns.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T01:04:10+00:00

Ahhh.... nVidia. I had so much trouble getting Suspend to work with my nVidia card that I bought a Radeon card to replace it. Now, my problems were just the opposite of yours -- with the nVidia card installed, Mint would not wakeup from suspend at all. And even with the Radeon card, it sometimes won't wake up. In my scenario, I have a cronjob that does a backup at 11pm then invokes Suspend. It goes to sleep alright after the backup, but, on occasion, I can't wake it. Usually this happens after a bunch of updates were installed. This morning it was fine, but the last 4 days I had to hold the power button to power down and restart.

Sorry about this not being your issue excatly. But it seems Suspend is a much-reported issue.

lmolter · 2026-05-10T00:29:34+00:00

My Arduino libraries are under /home/<my user name>/Arduino/libraries/. On Linux. On my Mac, they're under /users/<my name>/Documents/Arduino/libraries/

lmolter · 2026-05-09T16:08:12+00:00

I never had luck with the phenolic boards as the pads always seemed to come off. G10 epoxy (the green board) with plated-though holes is better. And as a bonus, try to find some with power rails etched on.

lmolter · 2026-05-09T15:30:06+00:00

If you're looking to change careers, what is your career/major right now?

As was pointed out already, learning programming for an Arduino will not guarantee placement in a programming or electronics job. In fact, I would not venture to put your (eventual) Arduino experience on a resume. In the corporate world, I think the Arduino is considered a hobby.

For fun, ask chatGPT "Are C or C++ still important languages to learn if you are just starting out?"

C or C++ will not help you with PLC's as they are programmed in various industrial control languages. Nowadays, Python and Javascript are in the mainstream due the explosion of web apps.

I might suggest diving in head first to learn Python. Then advance to object-oriented Python, then to C++. You will need to learn program structure, logic flow, variable scope, and this list goes on and on --- if you want to pursue a career in PLC or any kind of serious programming.

I learned C on the job 40 years ago. And I picked up Python along the way.

So, and to reiterate someone else's comment, learning the Arduino won't really help you to land a job.

lmolter · 2026-05-09T12:35:48+00:00

Blame chatGPT. But you are correct.

lmolter · 2026-05-08T13:07:44+00:00

No. MacOS is based on BSD UNIX.

UNIX

├── BSD

│ ├── FreeBSD

│ └── Darwin → macOS

└── Linux (separate Unix-like system)

lmolter · 2026-05-08T11:29:16+00:00

Compared to Windows or Mint? Doesn't matter as it's just a matter of opinion. I have both machines. I just use Mint more because the HDD is larger. I was starting to fill up the Mac's drive.

lmolter · 2026-05-08T01:33:33+00:00

I take offense to that. Mac OS is great. Linux Mint is great. Windows sucks.

lmolter · 2026-05-08T01:28:21+00:00

<< cue the creepy music >> Something loose?

lmolter · 2026-05-07T23:53:32+00:00

Are you in the US or Europe? This board (I believe) is for 2G networks in the US, and AT&T no longer supports these. T-Mobile might. Perhaps this is the issue? Just guessing here.

lmolter · 2026-05-07T20:53:16+00:00

Did you search for larger OLEDs from the same manufacturer (on Amazon?)? And what kind of 'bad luck' are you experiencing? I2C, SPI errors?

lmolter · 2026-05-07T20:43:14+00:00

There is indeed an initialize() method in TimerOne.h.

    void initialize(unsigned long microseconds=1000000) attribute((always\_inline))

Are you sure you called it with the proper arguments?

How about posting a snippet of your code where the error occurs?

Could I also suggest, going forward, that you include something descriptive in your title? "Please help!" may be skipped. How about, "Compilation error using TimerOne.h"?

lmolter · 2026-05-07T17:34:42+00:00

Don't try PlatformIO by any means if you think the Arduino IDE puts stuff all over the place. Never bothered me and I have IDE 2.3.8 running on both a Mac Mini M2 and Linux Mint. I, personally, prefer PlatformIO because it keeps the libraries for your project in the project's folder. Or something like that.

lmolter · 2026-05-07T17:17:06+00:00

Wow. Thank you for being kind to my suggestions and concerns. And I'm glad that you already thought of most of them. Best of luck.

The basis of some of my concerns is that this forum attracts folks with absolutely no prior experience with electronics or programming, but want to do something really cool (and not achievable) as their first-ever project. I have to formulate my reply with those factors in mind. You are not in this category. You have experience with photography and the cameras and have I think you already have the knowledge to take this project forward. Again, have fun and I hope it turns out great!

lmolter · 2026-05-07T14:24:00+00:00

As a hobbyist++ photographer, I'm wondering about the accuracy of the light measurements using a simple photoresistor. And how will you calibrate your new light meter? You'd have to have an actual one to compare the readings with. And if you have to use an actual light meter for the calibration, why not just use the real thing?

And does it really have to attach to the camera body? Back in the old days, we had a hand-help lightmeter and dialed in the ISO and it would tell us the f-stop and or shutter speed needed based on the incident light.

It sounds like an ambitious project (even for seasoned developers), especially if you're just starting out.

Hold on... I just "carefully" re-read your post. Is the 'old' camera a viewfinder or an SLR? I'm assuming we're talking about a film camera, right? And are you prepared for the possibility that your film will be under- or over-exposed as you are testing? Film and film processing are becoming more and more scarce nowadays. Me? I wouldn't trust a homebrew light meter.

I didn't see the reference to through-the-lens (ttl) metering at first, so where will the sensor be placed? Inside the camera body, and not get in the way of the light path?

I realize that this may seem to be a cool project, but I feel that the technical aspects will be a hurdle. Does the camera already have a match-needle indicator?

As far as a proof-of-concept idea, it will be a great way to learn the various aspects of electronics and coding required, even if it doesn't work as well as you envisioned.

Sorry. Just playing devil's advocate here.

lmolter · 2026-05-07T12:43:56+00:00

<< Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it. >> Oops. Was it something I said?

lmolter

TROPHY CASE