Electronics

Workshop: build your own digital clock

We are building a digital clock to our own taste. The workshop offers an interesting mix of soldering, 3D printing and laser cutting. The individual steps can be carried out in any order. On the day of the workshop we will split into 3 groups for this. The workshop mainly serves as a way into the project. Finishing it then happens at your leisure during Starship Factory’s opening hours (see opening hours).

Electronics beginners workshop

On 02 May at 19:00 an electronics workshop takes place at Starship Factory. This workshop is aimed at electronics beginners looking for their first way into electronics. Depending on the participants’ interests we will cover the following topics: Resistance, voltage, current. What are they? Simple resistor circuits Voltage dividers Calculating series resistors, and LEDs Simple transistor circuits The participation fee is CHF 15, one drink included.

Raspberry Pi workshop

On 29 October there is another Raspberry Pi workshop at Starship Factory. Part 1: getting to know the Raspberry Pi Get to know the Raspberry Pi 3 and build a wireless access point with it. Part 2: Raspberry Pi *blink* Learn to control simple electronics and let it become a thing of the internet.

Raspberry Pi crash course

On 29 June a crash course on the Raspberry Pi takes place at Starship Factory. We will show you what a Raspberry Pi is, how to hold it properly, what power it eats and what entertaining things you can do with one kept in species-appropriate conditions. Raspberry Pis and accessories are provided, and using examples we will learn how to carry out projects like the ones in this great online tutorial yourself, at home or here in the space.

Saturday is Arduino Day!

On Saturday, 2 April 2016, the time has come: Arduino Day is upon us! A few highlights of the day: 16:00: HelvePic32: Arduino-compatible microcontrollers to build yourself, by Dr. Mathias Wilhelm 18:00: GePS – the gesture-based audio performance system by Cedric Spindler This and more on Saturday, 2 April 2016 from 13:30 at Starship Factory, Auf dem Wolf 13, Basel. Anyone who likes is welcome to bring their Arduino or other microcontroller along and get advice, exhilaration and inspiration from us. We look forward to seeing you!

2 April: Arduino Day 2016 at Starship Factory

On 2 April 2016 the international Arduino Day takes place again. And this time too we at Starship Factory will be putting on a varied programme. A few highlights: For everyone curious and new to it, Christoph from Starship Factory gives an insight into the Arduino world: what is an Arduino? What do you do with it? How can I dive into the Arduino world myself, right here? Dr. Mathias Wilhelm presents his HelvePIC32 project, an Arduino-compatible microcontroller to solder together yourself. Cedric from CS Audio Design presents his Gesture Based Performance System (GePS) in a workshop, which turns body movements into music. The detailed programme with all the activities will be published shortly. But do not wait for it — put 2 April in your calendar today!

Solar-powered final approach computers for spaceships

At today’s Starship Factory session we worked on running embedded computers off batteries. The OpenVario flight computer is powered by the solar cell via a regulator. The battery serves as a backup and should allow around 18 hours of offline operation. On the side we consumed streams from the Chaos Communication Congress and Mate.

Workshop for women: help, my clothes are glowing!

On Sunday, 19 April 2015 from 14:00 to 18:00 there is a workshop by women for women: Do you find ordinary clothes too boring too? With EL wire you can add glowing messages in many different luminous colours! And with our T-shirt film you can put a non-glowing message underneath.

Arduino Day on Saturday, 28.03.2015

This Saturday, 28 March 2015, is international Arduino Day! From 14:00 to 18:00 you can bring your own Arduino projects to us at Starship Factory, talk about microcontrollers, or find out what an Arduino actually is. There is bound to be an exciting new project in it for someone. Do you not have an Arduino of your own, or are all your Arduinos already tied up in other projects? No problem: Arduinos and other microcontrollers are available here at Starship Factory too, for a contribution towards costs.

Arduino ISP programmer

There are lots of things you can build with an Arduino. The prerequisite, though, is being able to program the microcontroller sitting on the Arduino — that is, to put into words the computer understands what the microcontroller should do, and to store the result on the microcontroller. Programming microcontrollers is, surprisingly, a task you can carry out perfectly well with an Arduino. Some enthusiasts have already looked into the problem and written Arduino programs for programming microcontrollers. Here are a few examples:

The CHF 10 UPS power cable

Every now and then in life you come across devices such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) which deliver power not through the familiar Swiss mains plug but through the pin-laden partner of PC power cables, the C14 plug. Often you can only connect devices with PC power plugs there, because the only cables on sale have that same C14 plug on one side and the C13 plug you know from PCs and microwaves on the other.

Soldering workshop with Mitch Altman on 20 May

Mitch Altman from the hackerspace “Noisebridge” in San Francisco has announced himself as our guest. On 20 May at 18:00 he will be giving a soldering workshop here at Starship Factory. It is suitable for beginners who have never soldered and are looking for an easy way in. The kits, on the other hand, are varied and interesting for the more advanced too.

Soldering case prototype ready for use

In preparation for soldering workshops away from home, we picked up a case cheaply and filled it with soldering equipment. You could now simply grab it and travel somewhere with it to solder. The interior still needs some work, though, so that before long you only have to open the case to solder with it, instead of laboriously taking all the parts out and placing them on a table. If you can look past that, the case already works excellently.

Farewell to a kit

Last week we received post from our friends in Mannheim. The parcel contained an electronics kit with a microcontroller and a display, which RaumZeitLabor had declared discontinued. The remaining kits were sent off as a farewell to friendly hackerspaces all over Europe, to carry the project to its grave with dignity.