[TriEmbed] Learning Curve

Fri Apr 17 11:12:02 CDT 2015

Hi Pete,

In regard to what are you saying ?
On Apr 17, 2015 12:09 PM, "pete at soper.us" <pete at soper.us> wrote:

>  Keep in mind that there are many MANY interested folks that are not on
> this list.
> -Pete
>
>
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "Jon Wolfe" <jonjwolfe at anibit.com>
> To: <triembed at triembed.org>
> Subject: [TriEmbed] Learning Curve
> Date: Fri, Apr 17, 2015 11:20 AM
>
> This is the kind of thing I would *really* love to expand my business to.
> In fact, it's sort of part of my mission statement. I've been trying for
> the past year to turn my passion/hobby into my profession, and I kicked it
> off by becoming a parts distributor. I've mentioned to some how reselling
> has been a little less than rewarding. It's not that I don't like doing it,
> I do. However, after recently doing my taxes, it's apparent that reselling
> is not going to be any sort of business stepping stone to bigger and better
> things. I was so close to breaking even that my entire profit for last year
> was less than what I make in one day as a consultant. And that's on top of
> the fact that I can't match the prices of most of the big-time hobby
> electronics site.
>
> One thing that I have had a desire to do is be part of education in the
> Hobby Electronics and embedded development space. A lot of the original
> ideas I've been cooking up center around that theme. That is why I made the Graphical
> Robot Programming Tool <https://anibit.com/3pi_programmer_windows>. I
> think there several "tiers" that exist for education and training programs.
> The graphical programmer is aimed at kids and non-technical adults, but I
> think there is another area that seems underserved, and it of particular
> interest to me that that is the group of the kind of people who might be
> inclined to check out Triembed for the first time. It's people who might
> have a little electronics or programming knowledge and want to go to the
> "next level". For the Arduino example, it's a great tools for absolute
> beginners, but as your AVR and C++ programming skills grow, it starts to
> become an obstacle to doing more advanced software design and development.
>
> I'd absolutely be interested in putting together some sort of program for
> people who want to learn embedded C/C++ and are ready or almost ready to
> move past the Arduino.
>
> How much interest is there among this mailing list for something like a
> several session class in AVR and/or Arduino programming(this would be a
> separate distinct thing from Triembed)? Would it be something you'd be
> willing to take a paid class in? If not that topic, is there an interest in
> something else? My specialties lie in embedded and desktop/mobile software
> development and digital electronics.
>
> I've put together a survey here
> <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lJeUbzZxauLuYmlxXwiVOeCYjN27ZjR98_bQb2XzG3Y/viewform?usp=send_form>,
> if anyone is interested in giving me feedback on interest in classes.
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Jon
>
>
>
> On 2015-04-15 22:36, John Rock wrote:
>
>  I'd sign up for Embedded Software Engineering 101.
>
>
>
> I find the TriEmbed meetings great, but a bit over my head (at least at
> this point in my journey).
>
>
>
> John Rock
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* TriEmbed [mailto:triembed-bounces at triembed.org] *On Behalf Of *Christopher
> Svec
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 15, 2015 16:15
> *To:* burrsutter at gmail.com
> *Cc:* triembed at triembed.org
> *Subject:* Re: [TriEmbed] Learning Curve
>
>
>
> There are two types of people in the world: those who think there are two
> types of people in the world, and those who don't. :-)
>
>
>
> I used "maker" vs "engineer" as if they were two mutually exclusive
> ecosystems, but really I think the "maker" vs "engineer" distinction is
> just two very fuzzy regions on a spectrum, with all sorts of different
> tradeoffs between them.
>
>
>
> I love the question of how to go from Arduino to "lower level" embedded
> stuff, without a stop at an engineering degree along the way.
>
>
>
> This free edX course covers some of the "engineering" side:
> https://www.edx.org/course/embedded-systems-shape-world-utaustinx-ut-6-02x
>
>
>
> But aside from that I don't know of any prepackaged resources. I hope
> other people do!
>
>
>
> I've considered putting together an "Embedded Software Engineering 101"
> type of class, but wasn't sure if there was any audience for such a thing.
>
>
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 3:31 PM, Burr Sutter <burrsutter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 9:35 AM, Christopher Svec <
> christophersvec at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Great! That leads to another question: which ecosystem?
>
>
>
> I would classify the products you've listed (Arduino, RaspPi, Spark, etc.)
> as mostly from what I call the "maker" ecosystem, meaning they're
> "batteries included" products useful in prototyping and product/experience
> exploration. And the products you've called out are definitely the top ones
> in that ecosystem.
>
> Another ecosystem is what I call the "engineering" ecosystem, meaning
> embedded products intended for high volume and high reliability products;
> it's anything you might want to manufacture and ship a bunch of (and not
> have them fail in the field).
>
>
>
> I have been asking about the "maker" vs "engineering" distinction in other
> forums.  Some folks believe there are two different universes, some think
> that one is merely an extension of the other, that there is a spectrum (not
> binary) of skills engineering/crafting for different needs/requirements.
>
>
>
>
>
> The "maker" and "engineering" ecosystems can both create a product that
> does the same thing, but cost, design time, scale, reliability, etc. will
> be quite different.
>
>
>
> Does that make sense?
>
>  Totally
>
>
>
> I am interested in the "starting as a maker" and then "becoming a real
> engineer" journey.   I feel that one can learn a lot in the
> Arduino/RPi/Spark/Intel Edison world and then begin to learn ARM's
> mbed...then TI/FreeScale/SiliconLabs.  What are the stepping stones (for
> someone unwilling to go back to school for an electrical engineering
> degree)?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> (See? I love questions! :-) )
>
>
>
> Thank you very much for your responses! :-)
>
>
>
>
>
> -svec
>
>
>
> Chris Svec
>
> Senior Principal Software Engineer
>
> iRobot
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 9:20 AM, Burr Sutter <burrsutter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> I think that is a perfectly fair question...my focus is on learning at
> this time, trying to understand the overall ecosystem.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 8:20 AM, Christopher Svec <
> christophersvec at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Yes! I totally agree about the growth of our once-very-niche industry.
>
>
>
> Another question to consider is "what are you trying to do or accomplish
> as an end-goal?", in addition to the "where to invest time & energy to
> learn" question.
>
>
>
> You can spend the rest of your life testing & learning each new platform
> or dev board or widget that comes out - and there's nothing wrong with that
> at all! Especially if pure learning is your goal.
>
>
>
> But is that what you're after?
>
>
>
> (I'm a fan of frequently backing up and asking the big picture "why?"
> questions.)
>
>
>
> -svec
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 8:05 AM, Burr Sutter <burrsutter at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> The world of embedded microcontrollers has seen some dramatic growth (from
> my perspective) and it is tough to figure out where to invest my learning
> time & energy.
>
>
>
> I have followed this path so far:
>
> 1) Arduino
>
> 2) Raspberry Pi
>
> 3) Spark Core
>
> 4) Intel Edison (just using it as a Linux box so far)
>
> 5) TI SensorTag
>
> and played a bit with the NXP LPC1768 running mbed (http://mbed.org/)
>
>
>
> Mostly I have been simply playing with the various "developer kits" where
> my mission is on detection and connection - trying to understand what can
> be sensed and how to get the data back to the cloud.
>
>
>
> How do you all feel about mbed? Is that worthy of expending
> dozens/hundreds of hours of learning time? And if so, which of the various
> ARM/mbed-based hardware vendors are interesting to you?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Triangle, NC Embedded Computing mailing listTriEmbed at triembed.orghttp://mail.triembed.org/mailman/listinfo/triembed_triembed.org
> TriEmbed web site: http://TriEmbed.org
>
>
> --
>
> Jon Wolfe
> Anibit Technology LLC.
> https://anibit.com
>
>
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>
>
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