[project] Raspberry Picorder

[@RobTFirefly]

Awesome! Very proud that my hackaday project inspired this, you took it well beyond what I've been able to so far.

[@obso1337]

Couldn't have done it without ya. Thanks again.

[@jonny9884]

Grateful for what the both of you have done, shared. Not that I'd be able to follow in either of your footsteps, but it does my Star Trek: TOS heart good knowing their are those like the two of you out there doing more than wonderful, inspiring things like this !

[@clasicradiolover]

If you guys would put links to everything I want to do this.

[@benjibat4655]

Your videos are excellent and you certainly deserve more viewers.

[@obso1337]

I wouldn't mind more subs and viewers, but I'm just glad you watched it and enjoyed. Thanks!

[@christhornton3310]

I am in awe! I’ve watched this twice so far and I am going to try this out. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing work! Subscribed!

[@obso1337]

If you run into problems give me a shout. I'm happy to help in any way I can!

[@brookestephen]

Sensor Pallets are fascinating! I hope I can build one that builds 3D structures up from echo-location and low-power lasers. It would be a great start for doing 3D video recording!!

[@pitcleanup8547]

Fascinating! I am going to start developing with my Raspberry this week for my Polar Light TOS Enterprise! You did an amazing job and it was very inspirational!

[@damwaterthomas1980]

Kirk was like what is this on the viewscreen and and Mr. Spock was like Curious this is illogical to be shown on the view screen. Overall thank you for building this device inspired by the original Star Trek series.👏😀

[@haloscorp4U]

Excellent video and build! I know you have a bright future ahead of you.

[@DaveTheDrummer]

The interface has gauges spelled incorrectly as 'guages'. Hope that can be amended in the code when I come to build mine.

[@obso1337]

Hey can you tell me where you saw that! I want to make sure its fixed but not sure where it may be! Thank you!

[@aranjuez4411]

Awesome endeavor, buddy! Impressive work!

[@tjhaywood100]

That is tremendously cool!

[@captcorajus]

Dude... that's just awesome.

[@bobstro]

Looks like a fun project.

[@BobbyTB425]

I have a stapleton tricorder shell all painted and ready for electronics. As a disabled get I have working on props I can pay for electronics.

[@AirborneSurfer]

That's an awesome project, dude! I wonder if you could make the little detachable sensor bit with Bluetooth connectivity.

[@thewebexpert3311]

Have you added sounds yet? Is there any possibility of you (or someone else) putting together a kit, so that someone (like me) can do this with less effort than you did?

[@obso1337]

Hey! Nah I haven't added sounds yet. I'm going to do a followup to this build for sure in the future because after using if for a while I've discovered lots of things that make this build flawed. They are easily fixed though! I don't think I would ever make a kit (just because so much of this build is off the shelf or kludgy to put together) but I would definitely consider refining my documentation so others could more easily replicate my results. I am working towards that on my new site: squaredwave.com/wiki/index.php?title=Picorder I am also working on a successor to the Picorder 1. My next one will be built into a TNG Tricorder, so stay tuned for that! You can read about it here: squaredwave.com/wiki/index.php?title=Picorder_2

[@denniskruse4682]

Well, it took me a lot longer that I thought it would. Getting it to play on start up was the main problem. Never got it to start up right with crontab. Wasted a lot of time because the display resolution of the pi was picky - got nothing but black screen on some settings and I thought it was crontab's fault. So I kept trying to troubleshoot that. Then the image on turn-on was different from when the script was run after turn-on. So, used autostart and it was ok. Still amazed in the complexity of the code. I'm a copier/modifier. Did have a few issues: some scripts had spaces instead of tabs and python complained about that. Also, I got a lot of errors about the log file. Didn't look like the file name was defined. So I just remarked the out log references. Also, you had a 'quit' command to leave python, but no way to power down. I added code to power down when buttons 1&2 were pushed. Never was able to buy the 'store bought' enclosure. The cheap $60 'prop' was never available and didn't want to use a more expensive version. So, I bought a slightly larger enclosure and used that. Box like, doesn't look like the 'real thing'. Will post photos on my site later. anyway, great job you did!

[@obso1337]

I just want to thank you for reviewing my code and trying this for yourself. You've helped me realize a lifelong dream of contributing something to the greater electronics/software community. I can't wait to see how your turned out.

[@BobbyTB425]

I also have a TOS Tricorder it is a diamond select. Going to tackle this project.

[@nightflyer28]

This looks great. I've started work on a similar project, using a Pi 4b and one of the Marco kits sold on eBay. Found a nice little rechargeable battery pack made just for the Pi. The only major difficulties for me so far are: no software coding knowledge, technician-level electronics, and trying to find a display that won't take up space on the 40-pin, and will fit in the display section without extending beyond the edges or getting in the way of the LEDs and controls. That last one is the main hurdle to getting it together; I figure to use Phat Stacks for any sensor packages, do a multiple-item thing. Who made the display you chose? Also, I ran across the PicorderOS section in GitHub; hoping to make use of some of that to get a little practical functionality out of it once I've learned a bit more about the Pi and the software. Thanks for making that available to us NOOBS Newbs.

[@obso1337]

Hey thanks for your comments. I'm actually working on an update to this right now and hopefully will have a video out about it soon. I love the idea to use a pi4, I have a couple around the house and they are GREAT little SBCs in my opinion. I have some cautions that come to mind when you mention using one for a picorder, but these are just my thoughts they might not be catastrophic problems: First the Pi4 runs super hot, it may not take well to being in the enclosure, at the very least your temperature readings will be severly effected. You might want to try thermally insulating the sensehat (or whatever sensor you use) from it and try to add good ventilation to both areas. The second is the Pi4 might be a bit power hungry for a mobile application? I dunno. By doing the tr109 I learned I really did not appreciate how limiting power constraints were so I'd spend some time making sure whatever battery you choose can match the requirements of your system. SCREENS: The screen I chose is from adafruit, but it's important to note that the screen I went with in my build was a mistake. I didn't do my due deligence and the screen is actaully a 6 VOLT screen not a 5 VOLT screen. This caused flickering and poor performance. I have devised a solution but it is not elegant. I will have more information in the update video soon. My advice is to look into Luma.LCD a python library that supports a bunch of LCD displays using the SPI bus which has more wires to manage but its probably worth it in the long run. The ones I like (and have integrated into PicorderOS) are the screens that use an ST7735 IC as they are easy to use in my experience. Anything around 2.5" diagonally is in the ballpark of where you want to be (atleast for the screen on the diamond select toy I have) As yet the picorderOS software is not done for this TOS model of picorder to use SPI display, but I hope to do it soon. It should be trivial to adapt.

[@nightflyer28]

obso1337 - what was your solution to the display power problem? I’ve been looking around, and so far that’s the only one I’ve seen that could do what I want: fit in the display section, not take up GPIO pins, thanks to its RCA connection, and not get too much in the way of the LEDs and buttons on the right. The power thing is the big stumbling block for that. Of course, if it’s possible to set up that wiring with other displays, that’d be a plus. I want the left button to be a simple on/off button for the pi; was going to have it be that switch shown in the schematics as activating when the display opens, but that’d mean startup/shutdown with each open/close, so I decided I want that to just be a sleep/wake switch and on/off for the display only. Don’t really know how to do that yet, but that’s what I want. The middle button would push button- cycle through sensors and groups, while the right button would cycle through graphic formats: bar graphs, line graphs, etc. I’ve picked up a dual-fan item to handle cooling; I’ll have to move the battery section to make it fit, though. I found a Pi-specific smart battery thing on Amazon, does the job pretty well. I’m basically all set to go, the display is the only thing holding things up. Once that’s solved - well, that and that figuring out the push button cycle thing - I figure I can put it all together and set up the Phat Stacks as I go. I also found a couple of GPIO extension options; one’s just a chip, the other a whole card, and a third plugs in via USB, don’t even know if I can make that work with this. Clearly, I won’t have this done by next Tuesday. But it should be interesting to figure out.

[@obso1337]

@@nightflyer28 Hey! So I intend to do a quick little update about the picorder soon, but I'm still having problems with it. I like your ideas for your build! Theres so much cool stuff to integrate into Pi projects Im excited to see what you might come up with and maybe intergrate it into the next picorder which is well underway. Yeah I think the screen is still okay for this build. To fix the 5/6volt issue I used an off the shelf adjustable buck-boost convertor to give me 6 volts. That cleaned up the flickering and weirdness for the most part. I'm still getting some sporadic boot looping that I'm trying to track down. More details to come soon!

[@nightflyer28]

Cool, I’m looking forward to seeing more about how this build evolved. You wouldn’t happen to recall who made that adjustable converter, would you? I’ve decided that the Adafruit display is the right one, just because it uses the a/v port rather than taking up space on the GPIO, but haven’t found anything that’ll take it from 5v to 6.Lots of other ranges, but nothing so far that does that one. My PiCorder is coming along nicely; still need to fine-tune the plan for attaching a removable Phat Stack to the back, find out how to get push buttons on the display to cycle through functions and display graphic formats, work out how to extend the GPIO options, etc. I suppose it’d help if I wasn’t still at the Dick and Jane, See Spot Run level of software knowledge. Clearly I still have a few hurdles left to overcome.

[@GESSO217]

You're diagram is a little vague when it comes to connecting the components. Any chance you can release the wiring diagram?

[@obso1337]

Sorry about that, this video was made before I had really used any ECAD software. The wiring for this project is also deeply flawed just in general so I'm not sure people should attempt to duplicate it. I'm revisiting this project in tandem with my new Picorder so I've gone ahead and packaged the SVGs of the original build, as well as a KiCad project file for the new PCB I'm developing into a Git repo. Here is the repo with the latest files. github.com/directive0/TR-108 The kicad project file includes a schematic of the backplane. Theres also a teardown video that gives you a look at the basic design and wiring, but again yikes some of this wiring is baaaad news: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJLCnZyQYrqhac0 Thanks for checking this project out!

[@GESSO217]

@@obso1337 Thanks for the quick reply. This Picorder project is something I've been wanting to tackle for a while now. I have a Pi Zero and a suitable power supply but I wanted to do more research into assembly before ordering the sense hat and LCD. I have an LDC that's not quite the same as the one you used but it is designed for the Pi.

[@obso1337]

​@@GESSO217 No problem! Yeah the screen turned out to be a bit of problem since it is actually rated for 6 volts apparently? I had to add a buck/boost to get my 6 volts. I don't know if I'm going to swap it out since it really only needs 2 unique pins (6V and Composite Video) and the space to cram wires into that display module is tight. I'm not sure I'd be able to fit all the LED/button wires, 3V, GND and then ontop of the pins needed for the SPI screens I have. I set up a discord for folks making their own working tricorders (be they arduino, pi whatever). I call it "mycorder". Its not very big theres only a couple of us on there but if you want to chat more about your project I hang out there and its a good place to bounce ideas in real time. Feel free to join us: discord.gg/VbjYYdSZMb

[@mickikaufman5360]

Exceptional work. Did you ever have any prototype circuit boards made? Asking for a friend from the 23rd Century. Also wondering what you might change thinking about the Tricorder as a wearable and functional object that complements say, the Bluetooth Communicator? Would love to discuss.

[@mickikaufman5360]

Also, did you happen to do a design drawing or circuitboard for the human-machine interface, bridge i/o and power dip switches? :)

[@obso1337]

Hey! I never had the prototypes printed, and it turns out they were totally wrong anyways. At the github in the description is a SVG file that has everything I used for this video which includes a crude wiring diagram for the whole thing. I'd be happy to try and make a more concise one if it would be helpful. I've decided to make a subreddit for this topic so we can all work towards making personal tricorders possible by pooling our knowledge and resources. If you'd like to join head over to reddit.com/r/mycorder

[@mickikaufman5360]

Fabulous, will do! Thanks so much and congrats again on a really fine execution of your idea!

[@larasworld]

@@obso1337 Wish you would come out with a no solder kit, or a ready built model to sell. I'm legally blind and would love to have a working tricorder.

[@obso1337]

@@larasworld I'd love to do that. I'm working on an upgrade right now and I'll see if I can make something like that possible.

[@kennymoad873]

You know technically the sensor hat unit you purchased is technically the first tricorder because it was in space

[@clasicradiolover]

I definitely want to do this.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

hello where can i find a prop of the original tricorder at? Everywhere i looked i only found the playmate toy one.

[@obso1337]

They're hard to find these days. I'm thinking I might just model up STLs for a replica based on the DS one.

[@DiyintheGhetto]

@@obso1337 I know i found a few online but the cost is crazy. I'm looking for a way to 3D print one. But so far no luck trying to find a original 1.1 scale. Everyone i found are way smaller. :(

[@matthews8576]

Soooo cool. Great video.

[@heckyes]

Fucking awesome. It needs heart beat sensor, blood sugar, range finder as well! Make it happen! Don't forget the portable dongle thinger as well from TNG.

[@obso1337]

I'll get right on it ;)

[@chrisbutlerart]

I’ve been trying to imagine how to make the handheld sensor happen.

[@obso1337]

Yeah I've had some thoughts about that. You can get some BT stuff to integrate with existing python modules. Maybe something like that?

[@denniskruse4682]

Just starting to duplicate your project. Don't expect to make it perfectly, not that good of a programmer! Anyway, a few questions. When you turn on the tricorder, does it show the 'raspberry' image and then you start a python script? Can you explain that for me. Looks like the 'prop' tricorder won't be available from online store until March [at earliest]. So plenty of time to work on this project.

[@obso1337]

Hey there, glad to hear you're gonna take a crack at your own Tricorder! Yeah so when you power on the picorder it boots up like a regular Pi, but what I did is I added my python program to the crontab so it would start up automatically. Here's the problem though; if the program is executed before the window manager starts then the program will fail, I think because either the necessary dependencies don't have a chance to load or maybe a permissions problem. I never really figured out WHY it would fail but I got around it by adding a delay to the job. I don't have the file in front of me but I can try and find it for you. TL;DR: You need to A) make your python files executable using chmod, and then B) add them as a cronjob with an appropriate delay so they won't be called until the Pixel gui starts up.

[@TechTipsUSA]

You need atmospheric %numbers for o2 co2 N please

[@larasworld]

@obso1337 Wish you would come out with a no solder kit, or a ready built model to sell. I'm legally blind and would love to have a working tricorder.

[@obso1337]

Once I finish my new picorder I hope to release a single board solution for the picorder 1! I'll let you know!

[@davidnco1]

Is there anywhere were I can get that video of edith keeler and the old footage?

[@obso1337]

The github for the software should have it in the assets folder I think? It's called EKMD.mov github.com/directive0/picorder/tree/master/assets

[@LarryLeeMoniz]

After all of that work, and all of the preparation and resources, we don't even get a good look at the finished screen in action! I see this as sadly being a common recurrence in these types of videos. Quite unfortunate.

[@obso1337]

Fair point! When I make an update to this project I will be sure to include more examples of the interface!

[@pderham26]

Tablets and smartphones are not real computing? ...what?

[@denniskruse4682]

Made a short video of my project. No details, just showing the box and how it worked. Video kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5bTh5acdtWsbaM

[@JennyEverywhere]

Your backplane has another minor but annoying flaw. "Amospheric"? REALLY? Spock would raise an eyebrow at you for that one, my dude. Fix your silkscreen -- it's "Atmospheric", unless you're scanning the Amos Sphere or something...or it's a deep-dive VR device that takes you to Alfheim. (No, that'd be Amusphere..)

[@obso1337]

Hahaha thanks good catch. If I ever get the plane printed I will be sure to fix that error!

[@riseoftech4k332]

Cool man!!! im making videos like these.. could you come and check them out? thanks

[@blackbird1448]

This is the one you want! www.thewandcompany.com/tricorder/