PocketC.H.I.P. – Blog. by Next Thing https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com News & Notes. Process & Projects. No BS. Srsly. Thu, 09 Nov 2017 03:16:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.5 All that Good Pre-Order Shipping Info! https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/all-that-good-pre-order-shipping-info/ Thu, 16 Jun 2016 15:59:31 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=660

Pre-orders are shipping soon and we’re just as excited as you (this post assumes that you pre-ordered and are excited).

UPDATED: For more up-to-date shipping information and estimates, please visit the NTC forum.

Pre-order shipments are scheduled to begin on June 25th!  Address confirmation emails will be sent over the next 48 hours. If for some reason you do not receive the email, you can confirm your address at track.getchip.com.

TL;DR

  • Address confirmations are necessary.
  • We’re shipping by order number, in batches over the next month.
  • Orders with PocketC.H.I.P. may be delayed slightly.
  • Shipping takes 2 weeks on average and is trackable.
  • Customers outside of the US may be subject to duties and taxes.

Now for detailed information in larger than fine print…


Address Confirmations Are Necessary

We’re only shipping to confirmed addresses because we want to be sure your pre-order gets to you. It is better to catch an address change before shipping than after. If you haven’t moved, confirmation is a breeze.


Order Number

We will ship to those who confirmed their address according to order number. Those who pre-ordered on Cyber Monday will have their orders shipped first.


Shipping in Batches

With tens of thousands of pre-orders, we’ll be shipping in small, manageable batches. Based on our recent experience fulfilling Kickstarter rewards, it may take up to 4 weeks to fulfill all of the pre-orders placed to date.

While it’s difficult to say exactly when your pre-order will ship, we can narrow it down a bit. The following are estimates based on pre-order date, and assume you confirmed your address. If your pre-order includes a PocketC.H.I.P., your shipment may not make these estimates.

  • NOV 2015 pre-orders are estimated to ship by JUN 30.
  • DEC 2015 – JAN 2016 pre-orders are estimated to ship by JUL 9.
  • FEB 2016 – APR 2016 pre-orders are estimated to ship by JUL 17
  • MAY 2016 pre-orders are estimated to ship by JUL 22.
  • JUN 2016 pre-orders are estimated to ship by JUL 25.

PocketC.H.I.P.s

The response to PocketC.H.I.P. has been nothing short of overwhelming. We’re already moving forward with another manufacturing run but the lead time for PocketC.H.I.P.’s battery grew while purchasing components, resulting in a slight delay in our production schedule.

If your pre-order includes a PocketC.H.I.P., your package may not ship until the last week of July. We recognize this is not ideal and we’ll be as transparent as we can throughout this process.


Shipping

Once your pre-order ships, you’ll be emailed a notification with a tracking number. Shipments come from our warehouse in Hong Kong. On average, Kickstarter backers in the US received their shipment two weeks from their notification.


Duties & Taxes

 

All shipments outside of the United States may be subject to additional duties and taxes. These are based on the value of the items in your pledge. Each country has a different cutoff amount. For more information, check your national government’s customs policies.


Tracking

Over the course of its journey, your shipment may appear “stuck” in one location for several days. It is still in transit, either between scanning points or moving through customs.

Once it arrives in your country, last-mile delivery is handled by your local postal service, which may provide an accurate delivery estimate.


Thanks for your enthusiasm and your patience through the shipping process. Your pre-order will be on its way in no time and it will be worth the wait.

If you have any questions, please check the NTC forums or email ahoyahoy@nextthing.co.

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Resources to Help You Learn PICO-8 Game Development https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/resources-to-help-you-learn-pico-8-game-development/ https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/resources-to-help-you-learn-pico-8-game-development/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2016 17:00:10 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=476 Kurtz and Joseph White Working on PICO-8 for PocketC.H.I.P.

Joseph White, the creator of PICO-8, Chatting with Kurtz at the NTC office

PocketC.H.I.P. comes with a free copy of PICO-8, an 8-bit game console perfect for developing your own custom video games. Unlike most game consoles, all the games for PICO-8 are free to download and open source ready to be hacked.

Of course, you’ll need to learn a bit about programming to take advantage of access to the source code. Here are a few resources to get you started programming for PICO-8.


The PocketC.H.I.P. Docs Explain PICO-8 Basics

Start with the PocketC.H.I.P. docs. While they won’t teach you how to program, they explain all the ins and outs of the PICO-8 game development tools. Once you’re familiar with where the tools are located in PICO-8, and what you can do with them, then move on to more technical PICO-8 material.


Read the PICO-8 Fanzine

Compiled by superfans of the console, the fanzine is my personal favorite resource for learning PICO-8 programming. Each issue is available as a “pay what you want” PDF or a ~$10/issue old-school print edition.

Averaging at least 40-pages an issue, the zine provides instructions how to create games from scratch, compose sound effects and a custom soundtrack, and even highlights which games well written enough that it’s worth time to study their source code. There are more issues in the works, but these four should get you well on your way to PICO-8 game creation!


Watch PICO-8 Video Tutorials

Visual learners will find PICO-8 video tutorials a great way to learn game development. Simply google for PICO-8 tutorial and you’ll get tons of hits. I’ve found the video series by Rabidgremlin particularly helpful. It walks you from your first line of code all the way until you have a fully working game.

Matt Tuttle’s four-part video series is a must for anyone interested in better understanding the sound effects and music tools of PICO-8.

And, we have a few short PICO-8 videos starring Kurtz that are worth a quick watch too. Check them out in our YouTube channel.


Consult the PICO-8 Manuals

manual

For a more technical resource, the PICO-8 manual gives a good overview of the application. It’s a dense read, but a great reference to keep handy. YellowAfterLife created a cheat sheet version of the manual that’s easier to navigate, but is still a quite technical.

If you’re completely new to programming, bookmark these resources, but look to the fanzine and videos first. The manual and cheat sheet are helpful references, but they are not the best place to start for beginners.


Learn from the Community

Make sure to take advantage of the community’s knowledge! Our forum has a dedicated PICO-8 section and there are always people ready to help answer questions. Also, browse by the official PICO-8 forum hosted by Joseph White’s Lexaloffle.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list of resources on PICO-8. If you find one that’s not mentioned in the post, be sure to share it with the rest of the community on our forum.

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How I Became a Hacker Using PICO-8 on PocketC.H.I.P. https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/how-my-programming-journey-began-with-free-software-pre-installed-on-a-49-gameboy/ Thu, 02 Jun 2016 18:07:01 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=478 Playing the PICO-8 game Celeste on Mega PocketC.H.I.P.!

Playing the PICO-8 game Celeste on Mega PocketC.H.I.P.!

To be completely honest, I didn’t get PICO-8 the first time I saw it back in October of 2015. At first glance, it was difficult to see why I’d love game developer software.

Now it’s June 2016, PICO-8 ships for free on PocketC.H.I.P. and I can’t stop playing with it.

PICO-8 is a modern interpretation of the 8-bit game consoles of the 1980s. Having grown up with the SNES and the SEGA Genesis, I was game to be thrown back into my childhood. Knowing that PICO-8 provides you all the tools needed to change any aspect of any game is a cool thought, but outside of context, it can be a difficult concept to grasp. Then I became obsessed with Celeste, a 2D jumping, puzzle game, and the gaps began to fill in themselves.


Leveling Up

Celeste is difficult, but in the best way. The puzzles themselves are challenging, as is the execution necessary to complete them. It’s beautifully rendered, the sound effects are fun, and the music is still stuck in my head. It’s the kind of game that you want to be really good at.

PICO-8_5

When I started playing, I was anything but good.  I wasn’t able to make the jump on the first level (yes, the first…) so I opened the editor to explore the creative tools PICO-8 offers. Discovering the map editor, I added a few ‘bridges’ to make level one a bit more beatable. It took about a minute and a half to make the change, load the game with my change and beat the first level.

PICO-8_9

Of course, level two was difficult as well, but the experience of changing the game was a game-changer for me. In addition to playing, my brain was actively looking what I would change next.


Change Everything

PICO-8_5
Celeste looks great as a redhead, but after entering the game editor, I thought “what if she went punky and dyed her hair neon green?”

PICO-8_6

After reloading the game with the hair change, I found that when she jumps, her red ‘roots’ show. If this ‘hair trail’ wasn’t in the sprite editor, how could I change it?


No Cheat Codes, Just Source Code

The answer certainly would lie in the source code. Somewhere. To be honest I still haven’t found it. While searching, I was distracted by a handful of other lines of code, namely the line that controlled Celeste’s jump height.

PICO-8_8

Thus began an intense period of trial and error, adjusting single values in the code to see what would happen to the gameplay experience. Speed. Acceleration. Gravity. Thanks to the help from a young girl at Maker Faire, I’m now experimenting with removing entire lines. Like the line that controls the death on the spikes. Exploring the source code is now just as much fun as the game itself.


The Game Within the Game

So now Celeste represents two different games for me. One in which I try to become the world’s best Celeste player (on PocketC.H.I.P.). That crown will be hard to win. Tina has been speed running Celeste for a month now, and she is really good.

PICO-8_9

The other in which I dig through code to see what I can change. Now that my feet are wet, I’m looking to see what lessons I can transfer to the other games available. It’s a sense of discovery that I’ve not had in a long long while and I hope (and foresee) others having a similar experience. Hacking PICO-8 games is fun and an organic introduction to the way games work.


What lies ahead

splore

With the tools available, the next step is making my own game. While I’ve not had the time yet, Crunch has! Using the tutorials in the latest PICO-8 Fanzine, he was able to make a game from scratch on PocketC.H.I.P. in around 3 hours. Check out CrunchBall.

I can’t wait to play (and hack) the games the C.H.I.P.ster community creates following Crunch’s footsteps. I’ll see if I can’t get him to write briefly about his experience. You hear that Crunch?! You’ve been challenged!

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This Is How We Made the 7’5″ Tall Mega PocketC.H.I.P. https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/this-is-how-we-made-the-75-tall-mega-pocketc-h-i-p/ https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/this-is-how-we-made-the-75-tall-mega-pocketc-h-i-p/#comments Thu, 26 May 2016 16:00:42 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=580

Creating a monstrously large version of PocketC.H.I.P. took three months of planning, and a mad-sprint to finish in time for Maker Faire Bay Area.

Sharps and Jordan designed Mega PocketC.H.I.P. to be a 7’5″ tall working replica of PocketC.H.I.P.. This mega device not only had to look and operate exactly like PocketC.H.I.P., but also had to be entirely powered by C.H.I.P.! And just like Mega C.H.I.P. before it, all of the Mega PocketC.H.I.P. design files had to be open source.

Designing

drafting-crop

Early frame prototypes were draw out on paper and whiteboard until a simple-to-assemble and built-like-a-tank design was achieved. We joked that Mega PocketC.H.I.P. had to survive hordes of children mashing buttons for three days straight –and, no joke, that’s exactly what it was up against.

With every angle and plane measured of PocketC.H.I.P., Sharps and Jordan had to settle on a scale for Mega PocketC.H.I.P.. From the outset, Dave wanted Mega PocketC.H.I.P. to be taller than him. His towering 6’5″ height, available arcade buttons, TV costs, and standard sheet material sizes were all factors determining the final Mega PocketC.H.I.P. scale.

Mega PocketC.H.I.P.’s Mega Plans

An early draft called for using only one sheet of material for the entire surface of Mega PocketC.H.I.P.. This approach is similar to how PocketC.H.I.P. is a single printed circuit board. However, using one single 4′ wide sheet of material would not make Mega PocketC.H.I.P. tall enough. Instead, we used two sheets of 5′ wide material, which allowed us to create a Mega PocketC.H.I.P. with enough height to tower over Dave.

AFRAME

Luckily the scale created by using two 5′ wide sheets worked well with the 100mm arcade buttons that we wanted to use, and made it fairly easy to source a TV with appropriate dimensions. Once the height and width were finalized the Mega PocketC.H.I.P. to PocketC.H.I.P. scale was set at approximately 13.6:1.

With two weeks until Maker Faire we were fairly confident with the design, we just had to build it.

A Two Week Build Sprint

Routing out room for each button

Before the Robots — routing out room for each button

Constructing Mega PocketC.H.I.P. took every moment of the remaining two weeks. Sharps and Jordan led the charge assembling the frame and keyboard, with help from Jerrick. Jordan wired the keyboard with electronics help from Jose and Langley.

The build was a team effort!

Crunch, Jose, Langley, Alex, and Tony created a scaled-up version PICO-8 to meet the newly available screen realestate output from the HDMI DIP, and wrote a program to parse button input from the mega keyboard.

Mega Frame Assembly

Applying the white PVC to Mega PocketC.h.I.P.

Applying the white PVC to Mega PocketC.h.I.P.

Since we wanted the mega pieces to be perfect, and to make assembly faster, we contracted out CNC machines to quickly fabricate the wooden keyboard frame, the white PVC front, all the vinyl graphics and lettering, and metal welded A-frame.

Once all the these pieces were delivered, we assembled the plywood and steel tubing that make up the main A-frame structure of Mega PocketC.H.I.P.. The white PVC exterior, arcade buttons, wiring, and the jumbo 65″ TV all were added shortly thereafter.

Mega Wiring

Wiring the keyboard buttons to a Teensy 3.2

Early version of the keyboard wiring

In the first version of the wiring, we used fancy snap-tight terminals for every place a wire connected with a button. This worked and looked tidy, but we had doubts about the connectors withstanding the heavy use during the faire.

Not willing to take any chances, we completely rewired the keyboard the night before loading it onto a faire-bound truck. The time, we used good old solder to guarantee a reliable, durable connection. It was all hands at the soldering stations for this late night sprint.

Late night team soldering saved the project!

Late night soldering teamwork saved the project! #NoFilter

Each of the sixty Adafruit arcade button was inserted into the PCB plate, then grouped into rows and columns, and wired to the Teensy 3.2 microcontroller.

Mega Keyboard Software

Langley testing the Teensy keyboard code

Langley testing the Teensy keyboard code

The keyboard software runs on the Teensy and continuously scans for simultaneous row and column input. Since no two keys have the same row and column combination, you can determine exactly what key was pressed by reading the two values. This keyboard matrix design is a commonly used solution when you need to build a custom keyboard.

Finishing Touches

Break time!

Jerrick, Sharps, and Jordan carefully applied vinyl lettering to the keyboard.

Adding lettering and artwork to Mega PocketC.H.I.P. required scaling up the silkscreen files we use for PocketC.H.I.P. and used a vinyl printer to cut everything out.

To help precisely place the lettering we pointed a projector showing the desired keyboard layout and aimed it at the blank PVC. With a steady hand and careful eye the lettering was applied without too much hassle, and the mega replica was complete.

Booth Tested, Maker Faire Approved!

We Won! The Make: editors awarded Mega PocketC.H.I.P. two Editor's Choice Blue Ribbon

We Won! The Make: editors awarded Mega PocketC.H.I.P. two Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbon

Mega PocketC.H.I.P. withstood three days of intense button mashing and looks nearly as good as when we first unveiled it. All the hard work paid off. We’ve reassembled Mega PocketC.H.I.P. back in the office right next to Mega C.H.I.P. and use it for PICO-8 gaming breaks –especially Crunch Ball.

Did you take any photos of Mega PocketC.H.I.P. at Maker Faire? Share them with us on the forums or tweet at us @nextthingco.

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PocketC.H.I.P.’s Grand Day Out: Maker Faire Bay Area 2016 https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/pocketc-h-i-p-s-grand-day-out-maker-faire-bay-area-2016/ Tue, 24 May 2016 18:35:28 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=563

Last weekend we took Mega PocketC.H.I.P. and pockets full of PocketC.H.I.P.s to Maker Faire Bay Area. Attendees got a chance to play PICO-8 games, code them, and even got a peek at the PocketC.H.I.P. user interface.

This is the first time we’ve taken PocketC.H.I.P. to a public event and it did not disappoint. The booth was packed all weekend and Mega PocketC.H.I.P. won two Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbons from Make: magazine.

For those of you who were not able to make it out to the event, you’ll find some photos from the three days we spent at the Faire below. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth, it’s always a pleasure to meet C.H.I.P.sters and Pocketeers in person.

If you took any pictures of our booth, share them with us in our forums or tweet us @nextthingco.

We Won! The Make: editors awarded Mega PocketC.H.I.P. two Editor's Choice Blue Ribbon

We Won!

NTC_Makerfaire_220516048

Miles and Quincy designed a great denim filled booth, where every pocket is filled with a PocketC.H.I.P..

Wise move to team up with Richard, he's a Celeste expert!

Wise move to team up with Richard, he’s a Celeste expert!

Miles keepin it real

Miles keepin it real at our packed booth.

Dave shared our design requirements for PocketC.H.I.P.

Dave shares some of the design decisions we made while building PocketC.H.I.P.

NTC_Makerfaire_230516301

PocketC.H.I.P.s for every pocket!

NTC_Makerfaire_230516290

Thomas showing off PocketC.H.I.P..

PICO-8 lets you play games and change the source code.

Reading the Celeste source code.

Tina sharing some PICO-8 tips.

Tina sharing some PICO-8 coding tips.

NTC_Makerfaire_220516226

Warning! PocketC.H.I.P. is known to cause smiling!

Too focused on PICO-8 to smile for a photo with Miles.

Too focused on PICO-8 to smile for a photo with Miles.

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Try PocketC.H.I.P. at Maker Faire Bay Area! https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/try-pocketc-h-i-p-at-maker-faire-bay-area/ Tue, 17 May 2016 19:13:21 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=536
Super-Mega PocketC.H.I.P. with Dave for scale

Super-Mega PocketC.H.I.P. with Dave for scale

Come see, use, and learn about, PocketC.H.I.P. this weekend during Maker Faire Bay Area, May 21-22 in San Mateo, CA.! This is your first change to get your hands on PocketC.H.I.P..

And don’t miss Dave’s talk, PocketC.H.I.P. or: How and Why We Made the SciFi Device from our Childhood, Sunday at 4:00 PM on the Center Stage.

Go Hands-on with PocketC.H.I.P.

map

The Faire is the first major public appearance of PocketC.H.I.P. and we can’t wait to share our work with you.

We’ll be based in Expo Hall (aka Zone 2) in our Super-Mega booth full of PocketC.H.I.P.s.

Maker Faire Hours

  • Saturday, May 21 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
  • Sunday, May 22 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

If you’re in the area and attending the Faire, make sure to stop by and say, “Ahoy!”

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PockulusC.H.I.P. or: How an April Fool’s Joke Turned PocketC.H.I.P. into the Most Affordable VR Headset in the World! https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/pockulusc-h-i-p-or-how-an-april-fools-joke-turned-pocketc-h-i-p-into-the-most-affordable-vr-headset-in-the-world/ https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/pockulusc-h-i-p-or-how-an-april-fools-joke-turned-pocketc-h-i-p-into-the-most-affordable-vr-headset-in-the-world/#comments Fri, 01 Apr 2016 08:24:02 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=418 Some assembly required

Some assembly required

PockulusC.H.I.P. started as a joke. But then we actually got it working. That’s right, the most affordable standalone virtual reality headset in the world started as a joke and it works!

PockulusC.H.I.P. is an example of just how flexible and extensible PocketC.H.I.P. is. In addition to the things we’ve already shown you with PockulusC.H.I.P. –playing games and making music — we designed PocketC.H.I.P. to be built upon, hacked, and extended. Our 3D printable Pockulus bezel is just the first after-market modification for PocketC.H.I.P., with many more in development.

All it takes to turn PocketC.H.I.P. into PockulusC.H.I.P. is a 3D printable VR bezel. It’s outfitted with two lenses (to give you the perfect 3D perspective) that compression fit into the PocketC.H.I.P. enclosure. Just strap PockulusC.H.I.P. to your face and experience the new reality!

Thomas looked at how other inexpensive VR devices integrate their electronics with headsets. Finding a design close to PocketC.H.I.P.’s viewing angle, he adapted the bezel to fit the PocketC.H.I.P. screen size and snap-fit tabs.

VRi

Printing the VR bezel takes about 20 hours, though your print time will vary based on printer and slicer settings. Dial up the resolution and print slowly, since this hunk of extruded plastic will be pressed against your face. Go for a comfort fit by adding foam padding for hours of painless, uninterrupted play.

Print your own today!

Print your own PockulusC.H.I.P. VR Bezel today!

But a solid case design is only half of PockulusC.H.I.P.’s magic. Mednafen, the multi-console emulation software, takes PockulusC.H.I.P. out of this world. Plus, it has support for our favorite VR platform. Yes, that’s right, Virtual Boy!

Crunch_Pocuolus

At the command line, simply type the following:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install mednafen

Track down some homebrew ROMs, and then launch Mednafen with this monstrous single-line command.

mednafen -video.fs 1-video.driver sdl -vb.default_color 0xff0000 -vb.3dmode sidebyside -vb.xres 470 -vb.yres 272 NAME_OF_ROM

Of course, make sure to replace NAME_OF_ROM with the path of the ROM file you want to play.

PockulusC.H.I.P.

PockulusC.H.I.P.

We’re so excited to get PocketC.H.I.P. in your hands and see what the you can do with it. Tell us how you’re planning to modify PocketC.H.I.P. on the forums or tweet us @nextthingco!

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PocketC.H.I.P. Does Field Repair with C.H.I.P.py Ruxpin https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/pocketc-h-i-p-does-field-repair-with-c-h-i-p-py-ruxpin/ Tue, 29 Mar 2016 19:44:55 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=396 CHIP in the Wild

Does a bear C.H.I.P. in the woods?

We were out in a field taking pictures of C.H.I.P.py Ruxpin –as you do when you have a C.H.I.P.-powered talking bear– and I wanted to get C.H.I.P.py to comment on the weather.

Lacking my laptop and with no clue of C.H.I.P.py’s IP address, what was I to do? Easy. Use three wires to directly connect C.H.I.P.py and PocketC.H.I.P.. With a few commands on PocketC.H.I.P., it’s easy to setup a connection and gain shell access to the bear (or any other device with exposed TX, RX, and ground). Here’s how I did it.

Parts

  • Three wires (18 AWG) – these don’t need to be fancy wires, but if you want to make them more robust, twist the wires using a drill, add header pins, and heatshrink tubing. Here are some great cable creation tips.

Tools

  • PocketC.H.I.P. – you could also use C.H.I.P. to connect to other devices using the same commands, however, since there’s no screen on C.H.I.P., I didn’t use it.

Connect to CHIPPY

1. Connect to target device

The connection between the two devices needs to share a ground wire and cross the TX and RX wires. The main reason I made this fancy wire is to have a cable with the TX and RX lines already crossed. This way I don’t have to think about wiring, I just make sure the ground pin is plugged into the proper pin.

Ground — Ground
TX — RX
RX — TX


CHIPpy Connected to PocketCHIP

2. PocketC.H.I.P. Setup

Power-on PocketC.H.I.P. and launch a terminal from the drop down menu.

sudo su

Stop the tty that’s running on /dev/ttyS0 using systemd.
systemctl stop serial-getty@ttyS0.service

Ensure the wires are connected correctly (something my fancy cable already takes care of), then grant permissions to root for PocketC.H.I.P.’s /dev/ttyS0.
chmod a+rw /dev/ttyS0

Connect to
cu -l /dev/ttyS0

To end the cu connection, simply type ~. and the connection will terminal.

Note: Learn more about cu here.


This method is great for more than just talking bears! When I need to setup a C.H.I.P. and don’t want to lug out a monitor and keyboard this is my default approach. Best of all, this trick works for any computer or device that exposes Ground, TX, and RX pins and has a UART. So the next time you need to access an unconfigured device, grab three wires and PocketC.H.I.P.!

CHIPpy Header

Posing with PocketC.H.I.P.

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Secure-A-C.H.I.P. https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/secure-a-chip/ Tue, 22 Mar 2016 13:00:35 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=308 Security is a big deal. Everyday brings a new story about how hackers are creating networks of bots and stealing information and identities.

It’s easy to dive into using C.H.I.P. without thinking about this stuff, so we want to provide some guidelines on how to make your C.H.I.P. secure. This is especially important if you’re working with C.H.I.P. remotely on a network. You’ll not only want a secure C.H.I.P., but you’ll want the process as streamlined as possible.

Here’s some tips on making it easy to log into your C.H.I.P., make logging in more secure, and make your C.H.I.P. unique so you know it’s yours.


There are three parts to this:

  • Change the default password
  • Change the host name
  • Create a password-free login between one computer and your C.H.I.P.

That last one may not sound very secure, but it’s actually more secure than typing in a password each time, and allows for automated management of your C.H.I.P.. Super slick!


CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD

passwd

It’s so easy, but you probably haven’t done it. From a terminal on C.H.I.P., simply type the command below and follow the prompts.
passwd

Now enter your new password into your password manager. What? You don’t have one? You should – that way, you can have more secure passwords and store them securely. Just research “password manager” in your favorite search engine for your operating system, and come back here when you are done.

Note: Also, make sure to change your root password as well!


CHANGE YOUR C.H.I.P. NAME

hostname
Every C.H.I.P. ships with a default computer name of “chip.” This has little influence on security, but if you are working with more than one C.H.I.P., it’s easy to get lost if they all have the same name. If you have more than one C.H.I.P. on the network and you type ssh chip@chip.local, how do you know where you will end up?

You don’t, really. So the first thing I do with a new C.H.I.P. is give it a new hostname. There’s two places you need need to change the word chip to your new name:
sudo nano /etc/hostname

and

sudo nano /etc/hosts

If you changed chip to totopo you can now ssh chip@totopo.local. If you reboot, you’ll see a new prompt that looks like: chip@totopo:~$.


FREE YOUR MIND AND YOUR PASS(WORD) WILL FOLLOW

ssh-keygen
When I’m working with a C.H.I.P. remotely, it gets irritating to constantly enter my password, especially if it’s a long, weird, secure password. I also like to sometimes run things like an automated update to several computers at once with rsync, and I don’t want to have to enter in a password. Good thing there’s a cure for my ill!

In Linux or OS X, open a terminal and generate an SSH keypair:
ssh-keygen -t rsa

Hit return for all questions, do not enter a password when asked.


Moving On…

Copy this key to C.H.I.P.’s root directory with scp:
scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub chip@totopo.local:~/

Login to C.H.I.P.:
ssh chip@totopo.local
and enter your password to login.

Note: If you haven’t setup zeroconfig — that’s what enables you to use .local addresses — check out out the docs for instructions.

You may need to create a .ssh directory on C.H.I.P.:
mkdir .ssh

Now add the public key from your computer to C.H.I.P.’s log of authorized keys:
cat id_rsa.pub >> .ssh/authorized_keys && rm id_rsa.pub

Finally, you have to set up your permissions on C.H.I.P. so this key can be accessed when you try to log in:
chmod go-w ~ && chmod 700 ~/.ssh && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys


Windows Does It Differently

For Windows, the process is more involved, since the OS does not have built-in support for generating a key. If you are using PuTTY, a free SSH client, and don’t have PuTTYgen already, you can download it here.

Launch the program, and then click the Generate button. The program generates the keys for you. Hit return for all questions, do not enter a password when asked.

Save the key by clicking the ‘Save Private key’ to a file named “id_rsa.pub” to PuTTY’s keys folder (this is setup in PuTTY’s configuration panel in Connection/SSH/Auth). You will need to copy this file to C.H.I.P. with pscp (PuTTY scp). If you are using the Chrome terminal emulator Secure Shell or cygwin for your Windows terminal needs, the process is more or less the same as it is for Linux and Mac


YOU DID IT!

Your C.H.I.P. is now secure and even easier to use!

Got more security questions or solutions? Head over to the forums to ask and share with the community!

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PocketC.H.I.P. Goes Tintyping https://ntcblogbackup.wpengine.com/pocketc-h-i-p-goes-tintyping/ Thu, 17 Mar 2016 19:15:03 +0000 http://blog.nextthing.co/?p=94

Gus and PocketC.H.I.P. (also pictured: me, ruining a perfect photo) Photography by Patrick Demmons

I made a ridiculous claim the summer after our Kickstarter campaign.  I would not shave until we started shipping C.H.I.P.s.  Committed, my appearance slowly got out of hand.

Gus was also growing out his facial hair, in preparation for a grizzled drivers license photo.  We joked we both looked like Civil War veterans. After months of talking about it, we took a half day to take period photos in period costumes.  We also brought PocketC.H.I.P..

Our photographer, Patrick (www.revivaltintype.com/latest) was more than down to help. What began as a joke became an awesome exploration of craftsmanship and a photochemical science we take almost entirely for granted with the advent of digital photography.

Art in the Chemistry

Wetplate tintype photography is a complex photochemical process that is an art form in and of itself. It starts with an aluminum trophy engraving plate covered in a silver nitrate bath comprised of two different solutions: One controlling exposure or ‘film speed’, the other controlling contrast. When exposed to a (blindingly) bright light, the nitrate reacts and creates a negative etch on the metal.

Immediately after, it’s dipped into a development solution, which transforms the exposed area down to pure metallic silver and removes the excess particles from the plate. The result is a positive image of silver on black metal.

If that sounds complicated, it is. Tintype photography is very much a handmade process. Each image improved on the last, with Patrick subtly balancing the exposure and contrast solutions.

A few shots in, he yelled from the darkroom, “Get your camera ready, you’re gonna want to record this one!” So I did…

One thing I loved about Patrick’s style is he works within his medium to deliver something truly special. Because of his chemical concoction, the ‘film’ exposed more towards ultraviolet on the color spectrum. This means two things:

  1. Blues really pop, like my denim jacket or my beautiful blue eyes.
  2. The sun’s effect on your skin is more pronounced, allowing for an incredible skin texture imperceptible to the naked eye.
GustavoTinType

Look at the rich detail in Gus’ face!!! Photography credit: Patrick Demmons

Patrick clearly loves the process. He grabbed the above shot of Gus to snap a quick picture once it had developed. He had dialed in his mixture and was clearly proud of his work. It reminded me of the joy that comes from making something, an excellent feeling coming from an afternoon outside of the office.

Do I recommend tintyping? Hell yes! Seeing the process in person is awesome and the photos last for 180 years. There’s something special about a handmade item from a craftsman.

Now, apologies, but I must groom myself before PocketC.H.I.P.s ship in May. I’m going to trim my face. So is Gus and his wife Shelly couldn’t be happier.


Make sure to share your C.H.I.P. portraits — digital, film, or even tintype — with us on the forum and tweet us @nextthingco!

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