Author: vicpimaker

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June 10, 2017 – Project Day

Saturday, June 10, 2017
9:30 AM

Q-College
Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC

Please join us for a discussion/learning day about embedded projects. Bring in your Raspberry Pi’s, ESP8266, Arduino, whatever, and ask/answer questions and share what you are doing.

Look forward to seeing you there!

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May 13, 2017 – IPv6 Part 2

IPv6 Fundamentals Tutorial (part 2)

  • Saturday,  May 13, 2017

    9:30 AM

Q-College

Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC (map)

We’ll recap what we learned in Part 1, and then expand our knowledge of how IPv6 really is different from IPv4 by learning about:

• Router Advertisements – Good info from the router

• Dive into DNS a bit more, learning about AAAA records

• Sniffing the network with wireshark

Resource: Craig Miller

See the full IPv6 tutorial  (all parts) on www.makikiweb.com

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April 8, 2017 – File Systems on the Pi

The Basics of Filesystems on the Pi

  • 9:30 AM

    Victoria Computer Club

    85A Burnside Rd West (at Wascana), Victoria, BC (map)

    Filesystems is what keeps track of the files on your Raspberry Pi. Linux supports several types of filesystems (including the ones used by Macintosh and Windows).

    Chris K. will cover the basics of filesystems in the context of the Pi. We will look at the boot sequence, types of filesystems and their specific usages, and then we will dive into the structure of the both the boot and root filesystem (rootfs) partitions.

    See the presentation material here.

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March 25, 2017 – Python Webservers

Python Webservers

  • Saturday, March 25, 2017

    9:30 AM

    Location:  Q-College

    Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC (map)

    Hayward will be talking about Python Webservers.  The presentation will cover the basics of what they are, how they differ from a traditional web server, and provide examples of (and discussion around) some projects that he has setup using a python web server.

    Presentation material is here.

    http://hayward.peirce.me/python-web-framework-presentation/

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March 11, 2017 – Intro to I²C on the Pi

Introduction to I²C on the Pi

  • Saturday, March 11, 2017

    9:30 AM

Location: Victoria Computer Club

85A Burnside Rd West (at Wascana), Victoria, BC (map)

I²C.  A common 2 wire bus, a brief background on how it works, and simple programming the Pi to read from and write to I²C devices on the bus. Devices include: External LCD display, 7 segment LEDs, and Addressable LED lights to name a few.

Join us and learn how to drive the I²C (pronounced eye-squared-see) from your Raspberry Pi.

Presentation pdf 

I²C Demos

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February, 25, 2017 – Python 6: String Formatting – tkinter

Saturday, February 25, 2017

9:30 AM

Q-College

Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC (map)

Why invent the wheel? Over the years Python has adopted of features from other languages, skillfully designed and proven useful and effective:

Two Python mini-languages: regular expressions, and string formatting.

As a plus an intro to Tkinter, the built-in Python GUI. Tkinter is a binding to Tk, one-half of the Tcl/Tk language, developed over the last 25 years.

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February 11, 2017- IPv6 Part 1

The future of the internet, Introduction to IPv6

Victoria Computer Club
85A Burnside Rd West (at Wascana), Victoria, BC (map)

The internet has run out of IPv4 addresses (as of Oct 2016). The future of the internet and networking will rely on the “new” IPv6 protocol.

There’s more to IPv6 than a really big address. Come and learn the basics of this foundation of the next generation Internet.

We’ll cover:

• Why do we need IPv6?

• Not your Grandmother’s IP

• IPv6 Addressing

• Hands on session (Please bring a computer for the hands on session: Pi, Laptop, BSD machine)

more …

Resource: Craig Miller

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January 28, 2017 – ESP8266

9:30 AM

  • Q-College

    Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC (map)

  • The VicPiMakers and Others, includes many devices besides the Raspberry Pi. At this meeting, Greg, will provide an over view of the  ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi chip with full TCP/IP stack and MCU capability. He will highlight several different modules and dev boards, and the software options of Arduino code, and MIcroPython. There will also be a hands on session with the ESP devices.

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January 14, 2017 – Blinky Lights on BSD

Blinky Lights on BSD (Beaglebone Black)

Saturday, January 14, 2017
9:30 AM

Victoria Computer Club
85A Burnside Rd West (at Wascana), Victoria, BC (map)

If you ever had questions on how to integrate multiple devices together with 21st century security all controlled via a simple (looking) Android App, you won’t want to miss this meeting.

Join us for a similar but different demonstration of controlling LEDs running on one of the “Others” (a Beaglebone Black) using SSH and BSD. If that wasn’t enough, Mark G will also be showing a Raspberry Pi camera used to confirm that state of the LED, all under the control of a custom Android App.

See the full project here.

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December 10, 2016 – A Christmas Tree

Tis the season, a Christmas tree with lights and music controlled by an Arduino!

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November 26, 2016 – Analogue Inputs

Analogue Inputs on the Pi

  • Saturday, November 26, 2016

    9:30 AM

  • Q-College

    Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC (map)

  • The Raspberry Pi has 30 GPIO pins, but none of them are analogue inputs. At this meeting, we’ll take a deeper look at how to take an analogue signal (like temperature) and connect it to the Pi, and access it via Python.

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November 12th Meeting: IoT Streaming

Raspberry Pi and IoT Streaming

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a hot topic. Join us, as we continue to explore the vast world of IoT using the Raspberry Pi. This weeks session will focus on IoT devices streaming data over the internet.

Saturday, November 12th, 2016
9:30 AM
Victoria Computer Club
85A Burnside Rd West (at Wascana), Victoria, BC

A full writeup for this presentation is available on the presenters website.

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October 22, 2016 – Python 5: Exceptions

Python provides for the raising and handling of exceptions. An exception is used primarily for managing an error situation but is also handy in other circumstances e.g. an exception is used internally to end loop iteration.

A full writeup for this session is available here.

Saturday, October 22, 2016
9:30 AM

Q-College
Suite 303 771 Vernon Ave, Victoria, BC

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July 9th Meeting

Serving The Web With A Slice Of Pi

Although small in size, the Raspberry Pi and other embedded Linux boards can be used as very capable web servers.

Instructor Don Woods will show you how to set up a Web server on a Raspberry Pi and get around the little snags to be able to access your Pi from outside your local network.

The entire tutorial is available here:

http://piserver.vicpimakers.ca/

Note: This will be our last Meetup before the summer holiday season. We will reconvene in early September. Have a good summer, y’all!

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June 25th Meeting

Low-cost High-quality PiFi Audio

Presented by Stuart Hertzog

Tired of iTunes? Time for PiTunes! — HiFi audio from your Pi.

You don’t need a PC or laptop to enjoy listening to hifi audio from your personal collection or Internet streaming. And you won’t have to endure the convoluted iTunes interface.

A low-cost Digital Audio Converter (DAC) or DAC and Amplifier such as offered by HiFiBerry or IQAudio will turn any Raspberry Pi2 or 3 into a low-cost and energy-efficient MPD audio server controlled from a Web browser or an iOS/Android app.

Join us as instructor Stuart Hertzog explains how to set up a DAC on your Pi and demonstrates the free and open-source Linux audio software PiMusicBox, Volumio, RuneAudio, and MoOde Audio.

Discover PiFi audio and a world of listening pleasure!

Check out the links for this presentation:

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May 14th Meeting

Using the GPIO Pins on the Pi – Part 2

By Deid Reimer

This meeting we’ll pick up on the Pi GPIO pins (Part 2), looking at input, using switches (push buttons). You’ll learn how to not only have your Pi illuminate lights or close relays, but also to take input via GPIO. Using the input and output GPIO capabilities of the Pi, one can create a home automation system, or even replace your “Nest” thermostat with the Pi.

Bring your Pi and get hands on help after the presentation.

Read the tutorial material

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April 9 Meeting

VNC on the Raspberry Pi

by Craig Miller

In this meeting we’ll learn:

  • What is VNC
  • Why would you want to use VNC?
  • Basic Networking
  • VNC Server, VNC Client
  • Other remote GUI methods, X-Windows
  • Demo

Bring your Pi if you have one so you can set it up for VNC access as the presentation progresses.

Outline

  • What is VNC?
  • Why would you want to use VNC?
  • Basic Networking
  • VNC Server, VNC Client
  • Other remote GUI methods

Read the Presentation