From tori.breitling at gmail.com Sat May 23 09:30:43 2009 From: tori.breitling at gmail.com (Tori Breitling) Date: Sat May 23 09:30:52 2009 Subject: [dorkbotaustin-blabber] intro and questions Message-ID: <6de7be6b0905230630s4ed16406l8b8b16ecb22c6755@mail.gmail.com> Hi all, I just joined this list, so am not sure who all is out there, but I'm User Experience professional by day who is starting to get into electronics as a hobby. Right now I'm trying to work my way through "Making Things Talk," which focuses on networked computing using the Arduino. My questions for y'all are: Is there an electronic parts place in Austin where bits can be found other than Radio Shack? Is there anyone on this list who is exploring experimental user interfaces? Thanks! Tori -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotaustin-blabber/attachments/20090523/c0952d54/attachment-0001.html From erik at debill.org Sat May 23 09:47:32 2009 From: erik at debill.org (Erik DeBill) Date: Sat May 23 09:47:43 2009 Subject: [dorkbotaustin-blabber] intro and questions In-Reply-To: <6de7be6b0905230630s4ed16406l8b8b16ecb22c6755@mail.gmail.com> References: <6de7be6b0905230630s4ed16406l8b8b16ecb22c6755@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Fry's has a better selection of items than Radio Shack, but they still seem short on sensors. It seems like they're largely aimed at people who repair electronics or companies that run out of standard items, as opposed to tinkerers. Also, I've noticed that proto boards are cheaper at Radio Shack (go figure). If anyone knows of any other places, I'd love to hear about it. On May 23, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Tori Breitling wrote: > Hi all, > > I just joined this list, so am not sure who all is out there, but > I'm User Experience professional by day who is starting to get into > electronics as a hobby. Right now I'm trying to work my way through > "Making Things Talk," which focuses on networked computing using the > Arduino. > > My questions for y'all are: > > Is there an electronic parts place in Austin where bits can be found > other than Radio Shack? > > Is there anyone on this list who is exploring experimental user > interfaces? > > Thanks! > Tori > > > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with > electricity.......... > ......................... http:// > dorkbot.org ........................... > ........................................................................ From dondavis at reglue.org Sat May 23 10:25:47 2009 From: dondavis at reglue.org (Don Davis) Date: Sat May 23 10:25:45 2009 Subject: [dorkbotaustin-blabber] intro and questions In-Reply-To: References: <6de7be6b0905230630s4ed16406l8b8b16ecb22c6755@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4A18076B.80004@reglue.org> MC Howard has a large (somewhat haphazard, worth seeing) selections of electronics parts. http://www.yelp.com/biz/howard-m-c-electronics-inc-austin Erik DeBill wrote: > Fry's has a better selection of items than Radio Shack, but they still > seem short on sensors. It seems like they're largely aimed at people > who repair electronics or companies that run out of standard items, as > opposed to tinkerers. Also, I've noticed that proto boards are cheaper > at Radio Shack (go figure). > > If anyone knows of any other places, I'd love to hear about it. > > > > On May 23, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Tori Breitling wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> I just joined this list, so am not sure who all is out there, but I'm >> User Experience professional by day who is starting to get into >> electronics as a hobby. Right now I'm trying to work my way through >> "Making Things Talk," which focuses on networked computing using the >> Arduino. >> >> My questions for y'all are: >> >> Is there an electronic parts place in Austin where bits can be found >> other than Radio Shack? >> >> Is there anyone on this list who is exploring experimental user >> interfaces? >> >> Thanks! >> Tori >> >> >> ........................................................................ >> .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... >> ......................... http://dorkbot.org ........................... >> ........................................................................ > > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ......................... http://dorkbot.org ........................... > ........................................................................ From nick at resistive.net Sat May 23 12:56:54 2009 From: nick at resistive.net (nick@resistive.net) Date: Sat May 23 12:57:03 2009 Subject: [dorkbotaustin-blabber] intro and questions In-Reply-To: <4A18076B.80004@reglue.org> References: <6de7be6b0905230630s4ed16406l8b8b16ecb22c6755@mail.gmail.com> <4A18076B.80004@reglue.org> Message-ID: <57282.71.145.181.160.1243097814.squirrel@www.resistive.net> I could spend all day in MC Howard, it's definitely worth checking out, just to see it. On the internets, All electronics has a good selection and a great website http://allelectronics.com/ Digikey probably has almost anything you need but their website isn't as great. http://www.digikey.com/ I've played with user interface stuff a little bit - I built an organ controlled by light (not a raging success) and have don't some GPS-controlled stuff. What kind of projects are you working on? > MC Howard has a large (somewhat haphazard, worth seeing) selections of > electronics parts. > > http://www.yelp.com/biz/howard-m-c-electronics-inc-austin > > > Erik DeBill wrote: >> Fry's has a better selection of items than Radio Shack, but they still >> seem short on sensors. It seems like they're largely aimed at people >> who repair electronics or companies that run out of standard items, as >> opposed to tinkerers. Also, I've noticed that proto boards are cheaper >> at Radio Shack (go figure). >> >> If anyone knows of any other places, I'd love to hear about it. >> >> >> >> On May 23, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Tori Breitling wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> I just joined this list, so am not sure who all is out there, but I'm >>> User Experience professional by day who is starting to get into >>> electronics as a hobby. Right now I'm trying to work my way through >>> "Making Things Talk," which focuses on networked computing using the >>> Arduino. >>> >>> My questions for y'all are: >>> >>> Is there an electronic parts place in Austin where bits can be found >>> other than Radio Shack? >>> >>> Is there anyone on this list who is exploring experimental user >>> interfaces? >>> >>> Thanks! >>> Tori >>> >>> >>> ........................................................................ >>> .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with >>> electricity.......... >>> ......................... http://dorkbot.org >>> ........................... >>> ........................................................................ >> >> ........................................................................ >> .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... >> ......................... http://dorkbot.org ........................... >> ........................................................................ > > ........................................................................ > .........dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity.......... > ......................... http://dorkbot.org ........................... > ........................................................................ > From tori.breitling at gmail.com Sat May 23 15:29:07 2009 From: tori.breitling at gmail.com (Tori Breitling) Date: Sat May 23 15:29:19 2009 Subject: [dorkbotaustin-blabber] intro and questions In-Reply-To: <57282.71.145.181.160.1243097814.squirrel@www.resistive.net> References: <6de7be6b0905230630s4ed16406l8b8b16ecb22c6755@mail.gmail.com> <4A18076B.80004@reglue.org> <57282.71.145.181.160.1243097814.squirrel@www.resistive.net> Message-ID: <6de7be6b0905231229o6df00b8fvf79e071620100235@mail.gmail.com> Thanks all. I hadn't even considered Fry's and never heard of MC Howards. So far I've bought everything online. Nick, mostly right now I'm just trying to get things - anything- to work. :) Mostly I'm trying to learn how to read sensors, and then do something with it. Today's frustration is trying to get a Memsic accelerometer to work with my Arduino, and read to a Processing sketch which displays a disc to correlate with the tilt and rotation. The disc doesn't respond to movement, so i don't know if i'm not getting serial data, or if the sensor range is out of whack... or something else altogether. -tori -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://music.columbia.edu/pipermail/dorkbotaustin-blabber/attachments/20090523/077bf5a8/attachment.html