What a great evening of hacking and chat.
Started with a bit of a discussion about the Brighton Mini Maker Faire and how great it was, favourite displays and that there was a lot of interest in the hackspace. Also, looked at how to do better at the next event we attend.
- A couple of people were working on their Raspberry Pis. Getting then sorted and working.
- Some work ULN2003 Darlington Pairs to drive a DC motor (not stepper) Lock picking discussion.
- Hacking the TL-WR703N. This is a small wireless router. It has N150 wifi, ethernet and USB port that supports 3G Dongles, so you can enable wireless anywhere using a 3G dongle. Even better it is hackable and there is a version of [Open-WRT] for it. Once the firmware has been flashed you now have the freedom to do with it as you wish. It even has a UART interface that needs 2 wires to be solder to get access to it. So, you can connect through a web browser, ssh or serial. Lovely little bit of kit and costs less than £20
- There was also work being done on PIR sensors, and switch arrays.
There was also a great discussion about providing light and educational resources to under developed countries. With the cost of technology coming down and the range of options increasing it is becoming more possible to provide light into a home for less than 10p a week. At that level it can make a significant difference to safety, quality of life and also the options for learning and developing.
Andrew Patience