Beautiful Bezier Curves
Welcome to the show
Full transcript available here.
00:20 M5Stack Cardputer (Tod #1)
- M5Stack Cardputer
- ESP32-S3-based (WiFi & BLE) little ‘portable computer’ w/ display and keyboard in a little case
- But it also has: microphone, speaker, microSD slot, IR, 1400 mAh battery & magnet & Lego connection
- Only $30!
- Keys are very tiny
- Included “apps” on the demo program are: BLE keyboard, Python REPL, …
- Available in the US from Electromaker.io which ships from Mouser
- Also, supported on CircuitPython!
4:29 RadioFreeFedi and Faircamp (Paul #1)
- RadioFreeFedi
- How to listen
- State of the station
- Support / donate
- Faircamp and code repository
- Follow axwax on Mastodon
Some of Paul’s picks:
9:55 PlumPot KiCad Tutorials (Tod #2)
I have finally made the jump from Eagle to KiCad. After 20 years of Eagle. A video series that really helped me was PlumPot’s video playlist on Youtube.
- PlumPot KiCad Tutorials
- PlumPot is Keri PLUMstead and JP POTgieter
- Goes from installing KiCad, to creating symbols & footprints to to ordering PCBs with gerber files
- An older series (KiCad 5), but still really helpful
- Because goes into some of the tricky details that haven’t changed much, like adding 3d files, clearance & track rules, blind vias, differential pairs, and more
15:31 Meet the Maker: André Costa (Paul #2)
André Costa is the creator of rpilocator and the Pico W Air - Wireless Air Quality Monitor.
- Find a Raspberry Pi with rpilocator
- MagPi article about André and rpilocator
- Pico W Air - Wireless Air Quality Monitoring
- CircuitPython HTTP Server
- Follow André on Mastodon
18:09 Algorithm videos by Freya Holmér (Tod #3)
Freya is a game dev who codes tools and shaders for Unity but also creates these highly instructive and very beautiful videos about algorithms that are useful in game design but also in generative art and embedded computers.
“Lerp smoothing in broken” – Lerp (“linear interpolation”) is used to smooth movement of an on-screen element It’s similar to a common sensor filtering technique called “exponential smoothing” and both suffer from similar issues when the “frame rate” or “sample rate” change.
“The Beauty of Bézier Curves” – Bezier curves always kinda mystified me, this video shows how they work.
“Why can’t you multiply vectors?” – In the microcontroller space, if you use attitude sensors (gyros/accelerometers) or are making a little game (like my circuitpython-staroids, you’ll need to know how to manipulate vectors. This video breaks down how vectors work, shows how to modify and combine them to get what you want.