ms-fellag

If you want a "brief" history tour of the COSMAC Hardware under Chip-8 (From the ELF to the VIP) and the man behind it all (Joseph Weisbecker) then you're in luck because @TechTimeTraveller has just dropped a video on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Pdf8iRw5E (the history part ends around the 17min mark).

Wear it like a belt while attaching it to the laptop (If you don't mind looking a bit ridiculous).

Although I'd highly recommend putting some cloth around it, or fitting it through the belt loops of jeans/trousers to soften the inevitable 'yank' when it comes.

I will preface this by saying that i never built anything related to this, nor am i visually-impaired so take whatever i say with a grain of salt. However i have been interested in the subject on & off for quite sometime following some hype around Braille tablets a decade ago. (which sadly never materialized)

> 30 units of display thingy

They are usually called "Braille Cells" (sometimes called "piezoelectric braille cell") and have 8 dots (instead of the usual 6 for books) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Braille_Code] These cells are comprised of 8 levers. The "Dot" rises when a voltage is applied to a crystal that expands due to the piezo effect/bimorph.

Here is a video of someone taking apart a couple of them and showing the insides, driver etc.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmwFsTLkpa8 (it's not an in-depth look but just to get an idea)

You can read about how it works in more details here : https://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/9307/InTech-Analysis_and_des...

Okay now what? Well you could acquire some from ebay like this one i guess https://www.ebay.com/itm/255908240759?hash=item3b9551dd77

Or try to find something from Metec, i have seen their P20 as well as the B11 Module used with arduino projects several times, here is the website https://metec-ag.de/en/produkte-braille-module.php

They also sell "Braille Lines" which are combos : cells + backpanel/driver : https://metec-ag.de/en/produkte-braille-zeilen.php (If you find a way to buy them i would greatly appreciate you sharing it)

PS : These cells use 200V DC to work so your project will need a DC-DC converter. You can search for similar speccs to the official one on aliexpress or whatever https://metec-ag.de/downloads/dcdc-converter-5to200v.pdf

Finally you would need a brain for all this which could be the raspi directly or you might opt for using the raspberry-pi (for the ebook manipulation, character-to-dot conversion etc.. unless you decide to pre-format the files) in conjunction with an arduino (for the signal transfer/propagation.. you know sending the dot configuration)

Take a look here for some software inspiration (it also explains the signals the braille module would be expecting but you are better off looking at the Datasheet for anything serious): https://github.com/bertrandmartel/metec-braille-driver#more-...

Good luck.

---- Some more resources :

A nice video from "Applied Science" about a one Cell driver DIY project (He is i believe, using the P16 cell from metec) might help you decide whether to buy a backplane-driver or make your own [also the idea of putting a push-button underneath the braille-cell might be interesting to you for a selection mechanism maybe?] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-Fux86doQ

A video showing Metic P20 cells + backpanel + DC step-up converter driven by an Arduino Uno (it has no value other than to hopefully encourage you to pursue this project :D ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zqth08wQBs

Designing Braille System using P20 Braille Cells Presentation (a student project i think with a good overview of the minimum necessary parts and their functions you can skip to the 5min mark to avoid the usual academia-fluff) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAYB0g6LhVM

>Unrelated, but Fridman's proclivity for injecting Elon Musk as a discussion topic into the vast majority of his interviews is genuinely weird.

Or Aliens, or asking for the meaning of life.

Essentials, classic or fully-loaded version? and does it support ublock-origin?

This one maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwy-DWODAB8 ?

or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M7aIQf88m8

Hey thank you for this discovery. After every arch-install i think to myself i should probably automate this, and i only go as far as logging all the commands typed (mostly doing '# history > log.sh' and adding a few comments) and said file is is forgotten or i am trying something different for the next install (like desperately trying to make a CB3-131 Chromebook work nicely)

Here are the links for the lazy

[channel] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX_WM2O-X96URC5n66G-hvw

[the latest installment of Arch Monthly Install:Jan 2022] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7btEUHjECAo

>There's a lot of room for someone to create good tutorials and material for ramping up and out of Arduino. Would have helped me a lot, at least.

Good news they do exist (at least if i understood your statement correctly), You just need to search with the keywords "AVR", "atmega328", or whichever version you intend to use instead of "Arduino".

I attempted to make a simple PLC this summer and these resources were a great help :

[book] Make: AVR Programming https://www.amazon.com/AVR-Programming-Learning-Software-Tec...

and this complementary (or introductory) video to the book by the author i believe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERY7d7W-6nA

[Youtube-videos] A playlist of Cornell's ECE 4760 AVR Lectures by the very chill "Bruce Land" (from 2012) : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7F7ED1F3505D8D5

The course website (labs, exercises and readings) : https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/index_20...

Homeworks : https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/homework... Labs : https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/labs/old...

Although the course was centered around an atmega16 or something? i really don't recall sorry but the knowledge i gained was invaluable and easily transferable to a 328p.

Fundamentals of Microcontrollers - Arduino bare-metal breakdown (A playlist of a guy "Mitch Davis" exploring an atmega328 barebone and using tools like AVRdude etc..) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNyfXcjhOAwOF-7S-ZoW2...

Atmel Programming Tutorial (by Chris Dahms ) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoLaqVexEviMZu55Y4JO6...

Hope this helps.

Is this done with Home or Enterprise edition?

A couple of weeks ago i was surprised to discover his "16-bit Intel 8088 chip" poem : https://allpoetry.com/16-bit-Intel-8088-chip

I would beg to differ, what the whole "Install Gentoo" meme.

But maybe that joke has died down a bit lately?

[1] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/install-gentoo

If watching videos is compatible with your learning style then i highly recommend this whole series on Youtube about Op-Amps, the channel is called RSD-Academy.

This dude explained-it so well that i was astonished as to why i didn't 'get' before.

[the first video you can skip to 1:45] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OuUiwI8fDk>

[the whole series] <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL_nf1OmixTTd7rEoqoM6...>

There is also Dave Jones' op-amp tutorial at EEVBlog (if you like Aussie accents and a bit more detailed/technical explanation yet still targeted at beginners) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FYHt5XviKc>