Learn Digital Electronics With Me

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I was looking to do some online learning as that’s something I like to do from time to time to keep the synapses firing. So I started thinking ‘well, what’s interesting and something I haven’t done before?’ I realised that even though I’ve been using, playing and working with computers for nearly my entire life, I didn’t really understand how computers actually worked. I mean at the chip level, at the electronics and electricity level. Sure I sort of have an understanding of binary and I’ve made some simple circuits with an arduino. But I really didn’t understand exactly what was happening under the hood of a computer.

What I found out is amazing. I fell down a fantastically interesting rabbit hole of information as I dug into the subject. When you understand, even at a very basic level, what an achievement digital circuitry and miniaturisation are, it’s incredible to believe the human ingenuity that built these devices. These incredible accomplishments are built on the shoulders of giants going back centuries to pioneers in mathematics, physics and electrical research. Absolutely fascinating subject and makes the little boy in me wish I had gone into electrical engineering.

I put together a series of links for anyone who’s interested in learning more about how computers and digital electronics work through from early history to transistors and logic gates to some heavy geekery about silicon foundries pumping out chips and a lot more in between. Enjoy perusing these links.

I started with the Computer Science Crash Course series of videos on Youtube. This series is a great (but very fast) intro to really every aspect of computing from earliest to origins to modern software development. This really piqued my interest, particularly how computing evolved in its infancy with Babbage and Lovelace then on to the Turing Machine.

I found the section on logic gates really interesting and fishing around for some more information, I came across this phenomenal article called Using Basic Logic Gates – With & Without Arduino with really good explanations of all the types of logic gates. The article also has a tutorial for wiring up an arduino as a logic gate emulator that looks really interesting and is on my list of things to do.

I came across another really interesting series of videos on Youtube called The Evolution of CPU Processing Power. This was also a really fascinating series that had a lot of good information on how CPUs are built but also a lot of additional information on the instructions sets and operating systems that are built on top of the CPU.

I found another great series of article called How CPUs are Desgned and Built. Lots of great info here as it goes into a lot of detail. Of particular interest are some photos of the chips with an electron microscope so you actually get a sense of how incredible it is that these devices have been miniaturised to the extent they have. We just sort of nod our heads when we hear about billions of transistors on a chip but the engineering and science behind the fabrication is incredible.

Next I found some great learning resources from SparkFun on Digital Logic and What is Electricity?

Here are another two reference resources for learning electronics and digital circuits:

I took a little historical aside to learn more about Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace.

Then I found probably what has been the best resource for me personally to really understand how computers work. This course from the Raspberry Pi Foundation called How Computers Work is really clear, concise and graspable for a lay person to really grok on to (like the title says) how computers work, down to the transistor and electricity level. I highly recommend it.

Through this course I found this great tool from Circuitverse for designing logic gates of your own. It’s real fun to play with.

Also through the RPi course, I found this fantastic emulator of the little man computer trainer from the ‘70s. Actually see the computer work at bits and bytes level in binary, awesome learning tool!! I actually wrote some simple assembly code for the first time in my life. This is one of the coolest things I found on this exploration. Here’s an even more advanced version

Finally (and roughly at the time of this writing) I’ve found the mac daddy of all DIY home electronics projects… Build an 8-bit computer from scratch A series of youtube tutorials about building an 8 bit computer entirely by hand on breadboards. You can see the computer work at the electrical circuit level that you build yourself. This would be a dream project for me. I’m just watching the video series and that’s super interesting and I’d love to build one myself some day.

I hope you enjoy these links if you like learning about electronics.

How you can block your own traffic from your Shopify store's Google Analytics

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Tl;dr:

Block yourself from appearing in your own Google Analytics data using this extension on chrome… Block Yourself from Analytics

~~~~~~~

A commonly used method for blocking your own internal traffic is to exclude certain IP addresses or ranges using a filter in Google Analytics. This is something I’ve seen done at practically all the places I’ve worked going back a long time. I’m building a Shopify store and as it’s early days and the store isn’t live yet, practically 100% of the traffic at this point is me. Needless to say, I don’t want to see that traffic. Those numbers will heavily skew the numbers when the site is just getting started and traffic is low.

I’ve got an issue though and it must be a fairly common problem for other people now that so many folk are working from home due to Covid. Since I’m using my home internet connection, I have a variable IP address. This is a very common set up for home internet users. So since I’m unable to reliably know my IP address is not changing, I needed to find another method to block traffic.

After some googling, I came across some resources for addressing this problem in a couple of ways through cookies, custom dimensions and filters. These methods relied on the use of Google Tag Manager as well as GA. Here’s links to those resources which you may find useful…

How do I exclude internal traffic in Google Analytics?

#GTMTips: Simple Way To Exclude Internal Visits From Google Analytics

I am doing some refresher training on GA at the moment through Google Analytics Academy so this was a timely chance to use the skills I was covering in the classes. I dutifully set up my custom dimension and filter in GA as well as configuring tags, triggers and variables in GTM. I was configuring all this to be served through my Shopify store.

Here’s the rub… Shopify has a particular way of implementing Google analytics at the template level. You configure your analytics ID as a setting in Shopify which then gets passed to GA code in the template. You can include the GTM code snippet through the Shopify interface as well. However, it’s not recommended to use GTM to send your analytics hit data. Both of the methods I found required my custom dimension to be set through this tag. This gave me problems implenmenting the cookie based solution.

I did get pretty close to get the solution working. I was able to set my cookie on a hidden internal page and then record that cookie as a custom dimension in google. But I was not able to filter myself out of the data based on the cookie.

Eventually, I found a Chrome extension Block Yourself from Analytics that solves this exact problem. You add the extension and configure the domains you want to block. The extension handles the rest. I installed it and it’s working pretty well so far. Next, how to remove all those query strings…

Tips for 3D Printing N00bs

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

… from a 3D printing n00b.

I’ve spent a good number of hours now working and learning on my Anet A8 3d printer. The printer was given to me by a former colleague intact but not functioning properly. I let the printer sit on the floor of my garage for a good 8-12 months before I finally cleared a space on the workbench in preparation of figuring out how to get it to work.

To say I had a lot of problems getting the printer to work properly is an understatement. There was a lot of Murphy’s law going on where if something bad could happen it did. I physically broke parts of the machine, I bricked the main board firmware, I had electrical faults that could have been fire hazards that I needed to repair. The list goes on, disaster after disaster. I would say to anyone interested in these cheap 3d printer kits to prepare yourself for a lot of work.

But I persevered and finally, finally have the machine in good working order and also feel like I have learned the core knowledge required for basic FDM 3D printing using PLA and PETG. I’m far from an expert but I’ve learned a lot of lessons so I’d like to share with you dear reader a few random tidbits of advice I learned the hard way….

Try to control ambient temperatures

Given that the temperature of both your hotend and bed are crucial to successful printing, being able to control the ambient temperature in the space where your printer is located is pretty important. My printer is in the garage which is very drafty. The temperature in the garage largely depends on the temperature outside and this as you know can vary widely in a place like London. In cold conditions, I pretty much can’t print at all in the garage.

Since the ambient temperature in my printing space varies this means to some extent I have to vary my hotend and bed temperatures as well. Being able to maintain consistent ambient environmental conditions removes the need for making these tweaks. Having a space to operate your printer with a stable environment gives you a consistent baseline for the temperatures of your hotend and bed.

Be really careful during firmware updates

I was flashing my firmware and the IDE I was using to transfer the config files from my computer to the printer was hanging. I made the mistake of switching off the machine while the process was still running. Maybe I had no choice and the process would have hung forever anyway but shutting off the machine mid-flash bricked the mainboard on the printer. Disaster. Fortunately I have an Arduino Uno and that can be used to restore the bootloader on the printer mainboard but it was painful. Thanks to a very helpful video from Daniel at Crosslink I was able to get the information I needed fairly quickly. However, fixing the issue required wiring the Arduino directly to the printer mainboard. So to sum, don’t do what I did. :)

Cleaning the hotend nozzle

Q-tips work well for cleaning the hot end nozzle between prints. The Q-tips are able to grab the oozing plastic very effectively. However, Q-tips are not environmentally friendly (sustainability of 3D printing in general is a topic for another post) so I’ve switched to using paper towels that have been sprayed with an alcohol solution. This is less convenient as you have to be careful about burning yourself on the hotend but the result is good. I mix 25% rubbing alcohol to 75% water in a spray bottle for the solution.

Also, I often remove the fan vent to clean the nozzle and forget to put it back on when I start the next print. Remember to put the fan vent back on (facepalm). It drives me nuts when I do that.

Read the readme file

I download most of my stl files from Thingiverse and there is a readme file included in the zip file. I’d suggest always reading the file as you may find a lot of good information relating to your slicer settings.

Consider the orientation of your print on the bed

I print on a glass bed and use binder clips to hold the bed to the stock aluminium bed. I’ve had lots of prints fail because I didn’t think about the orientation of the hot end assembly and in particular my inductive sensor. My setup has my sensor in front and to the left of the hot end. There’s been a number of times where my sensor has crashed into the clips causing the print to fail because I didn’t think about the orientation of the model on the bed vs where the clips are located. Remember when laying out your model in the slicer to think about where an obstruction (like a binder clip) might be located.

Easy automation

I use a smart plug on the outlet where I keep the printer plugged in. I can turn the printer on and off remotely (remember it’s out in the garage) which gets the Octoprint server up and running without needing to go outside. Then, using Octoprint, I can preheat the printer before I go out to start the printer (you should generally let the printer heat up for ten minutes to let the metal expand). Finally, if I leave the garage while the printer is running, I can turn off the printer remotely when the print is finished, which I can confirm using the webcam through Octoprint.

To sum up…

So there you go… a few easy, n00bish tips I’ve learned on the way. I hope they can help you avoid some of the pitfalls I’ve fallen into while learning how to operate my Anet A8. Thanks for reading!

Meet my Anet A8 DIY 3D Printer

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Didn’t curate a list of good links this week so posting about my 3D printing side project. Here’s a bit of information about my Anet A8 3D printer. If you’ve never heard of the Anet A8, its a cheap but capable 3D printer you can buy from sites like GearBest. I was given one intact but non-functioning by a guy from work. Trying to get it to work has meant lots of time on youtube, stackoverflow and reddit. It’s a bit maddening really.

There is one interesting non-Anet A8 link I’d like to share that concerns the use of 3D game engines in animating video for TV and movies. If you’ve seen the series The Mandalorian, you might not be aware that most of what you are seeing was developed and rendered by the same game engine that Fortnite uses. This method for creating video is going to become huge. ILM reveals how it used Unreal Engine for ‘The Mandalorian’

Here’s some information about the Anet A8 that I’ve found useful as I’m working on getting mine up and running. If you’re learning about or trying to set up and configure an Anet A8, these might help.

Once it’s working, I’ll do a proper post with some prints but here she is in the meantime.

The Anet A8 in my shop

Surfing Route 3 Wave on the Black River

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When my Dad moved house several years back, he gave me a couple of old VHS tapes of mine that had been stored in the basement. I finally took the time to watch them (it’s not easy finding VHS players these days!) and found this old clip of me ripping it up on Route 3 wave on the Black River in Watertown, NY.

I spent about 18 months living in Old Forge, NY in the late ’90s working for Whitewater Challengers as assistant manager of one the bases. We spent lots of afternoons out on the Black, both on the Route 3 wave and Hole Brothers. Seeing this old clip brings me back (sigh). A big shout out to Bone wherever you are.

Sorry for the poor quality of the video but it is a 20+ year old VHS tape that I filmed with my phone.

Links of the week - February 10, 2020 Edition

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Some interesting things to read that I found during the week of February 10th, 2020 …

Technology–>Robotics–> Robots at Work and Play

Great visual pictorial of the wild form factors being used for robotics for all kinds of purposes.
Government–>Regulation–> Government minded to appoint Ofcom as online harms regulator

First of two stories this week concerning Ofcom. Part of a wide trends of governments globally catching up on regulation of the big tech platforms, Ofcom has been granted regulatory authority ‘to enforce rules to make the internet a safer place’.
Research–>Reports–> Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2019

Second from Ofcom, extensive research and reporting on kid’s use of and attitudes towards media.
Places–>Paris–> A Black History Tour of Paris

This post caught my eye because I stayed on Rue de La Huchette years ago on my first visit to Paris. We went to le Caveau and had a blast listening to live jazz and dancing, so much so I’ve been back on subsequent visits. Great place for a night out if you’re in the city of light.
Taleb–> Commencement speech from American University of Beirut

‘If you give advice, you need to be exposed to losses from it.’ From 2016 but still germaine.
Sport–>Kayaking–> A Kayaker and a 134-Foot Waterfall. What Could Go Wrong?

Some amazing paddling and great interactive experience from the Times.
Work–>Sales –> 101 Examples of Features Versus Benefits

I had cause this past week to write a bid for work that I’m keen to win. I tried to position our pitch from the customers perspective and lead every response with benefits they would recieve. This article helped give me some ideas on how to frame my responses.
Tech–>Home Automation–> Thinking About Smart Home Automation

I’ve got a keen interest in home automation the potential for using this tech to maximise energy efficiency in the house. I’ve tried to do a lot of low-fi fixes (e.g. new seals around windows & doors) and higher-fi like smart thermostat and led bulbs. Blake Niemyjski takes it the next level. My new hero in the space.
Parenting–>Healthy Bodies–> How to Make Kids Comfortable in Their Own Bodies

I’ve got a three year old daughter and I already worry about this stuff. The constant messaging to kids and especially girls is pernicious and ever prevalent. Here’s some good advice if you have these kinds of issues in your life.
Music–> Otha Fish

Pharcyde, the song I’m listening to as I’m just about to push this commit…

see you again soon!

Links of the week - February 2, 2020 Edition

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Some interesting reading I found during the week of 03/02/2020…

Politics–>Brexit–> James Ball on Media Coverage

Some smart commentary on media coverage (and non-coverage) in the British press during the Brexit saga.
Politics–> Why Is Everybody So Damn Angry?

I’ve come across a book called The Revolt of the Public by a former CIA analyst named Martin Gurri. Martin was an early recogniser of how and in what ways the avalanche of data created by the digital revolution would start to affect polities around the world. This podcast is an interview with the author.
Tech–>AI–>Chatbots–> Towards a Conversational Agent that Can Chat About…Anything

…from Google of course.
Tech–>AI–>Drones–> The Navy’s Surprise Unmanned Fighter Is a Glimpse of War’s Near Future

Continuing automation and weaponsiation of technology and quite a clever approach from the U.S. Navy. Meets a specific mission (use case) with a (relatively) low-fi way to defeat defenses (using unjammable short range communications).
Tech–>Ben Evans–>State of the industry–> Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Always outstanding work from Ben Evans. Smart commentary and analysis of the current state of the digital industry. As always, eye popping numbers. Both the slides and the presentation are worth your time if you work in the industry in any capacity.
Tech–>Games–> Revealed: The largest video game development cities in the UK

My brother in law just started for a Danish casual mobile gaming with an office in Derby of all places. So I was interested to find that Derby isn’t even in the top 20 cities for gaming companies in the UK.
Life–>Clay Christensen–> How Will You Measure Your Life?

Clay Christensen is well known as the author of The Innovators Dilemma alongside many accolades and achievements in his life. He passed away recently. I came across this article written by Clay that was posted by an old uni buddy of mine’s LinkedIn page who had been in one of Clay’s classes. Reading this article just lets you see the man’s character absolutely shine through the words. R.I.P.

see you soon!

My first year allotment, then and now

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Bit happenstance really but I had the opportunity to lease an allotment plot from the council which I took late last year (2018). I had grand dreams of neat rows of beautiful and bountiful crops but the reality was far from the dream.

I made probably every mistake in the book from digging over seed to letting big patches of the plot go to seed. I couldn’t remember where I had planted what. And the reality is most of the time, all you do in the allotment is dig, and dig and dig.

The allotment in April 2019

There were successes however as well. The strawberries grew well and late into the season. The potatoes fed us all summer long. I grew a bunch of nice big squashes.

Now I am putting the plot to bed for the winter. That mostly means shoveling a thick layer straw and horse manure all over the place. Then I’ll leave it and start again in the spring.

The allotment in October 2019

The two pictures are a before and after shot, taken in April and October. Obviously the sunny day in October helps quite a bit for the picture but I’m sure you can see the difference.

Photo - Arduino Uno Macro

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Was tinkering with my Arduino and happened to have my SLR with a macro lens to hand so took this snap which I thought came out pretty well. SO much so I decided to post it on Unsplash. No downloads yet tho!

First visit to spurs new stadium

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

… and it was to see an NFL game of all things. Lucked upon a free ticket to see Bears vs Raiders which I believe was the first NFL game to be played in the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium. The new stadium really is impressive with great atmosphere inside. Can’t wait to get to see Spurs play which will hopefully happen this season.

As I was approaching the stadium with my companion Rob, we were discussing how modern the stadium was and how it had the longest bar in Europe. I said I would be really impressed if we could walk in right up to the bar and order a beer with no wait. Sure enough, that’s exactly what we were able to do. Shame that Spur’s put the price up an extra £1.50 per pint for the NFL fans. Boo Spurs!

Anyway, here’s a view from our seats in the south stand of the pre-game…