This week-end shopping list

As much as I like Internet when I need to find some information or buy some stuff, I always prefer to buy from a local shop when the price is right (meaning rather close to what I can get online).

So I went last Saturday to my local electronics store (local being 50 kilometers though…) and bought more stuff that I think will prove to be useful. Quick list of the most interesting stuff:

• Bus Pirate and its cable: should help figuring out how to use some ICs and quickly prototype/hack some devices (I have a bunch of iButtons left from a few years ago),
• 2 more XBees (Series 1, can’t easily find Series 2 actually…): so now I have 4 which will make things more interesting,
• a Pololu 3pi robot (chassis, 2 motors, 2 wheels and a ball caster) with a shield for driving those 2 motors: will be my first experiment which robots,
• a BlueSMIRF module (Bluetooth module): I initially plan to use it with Amarino in order to control my hacks via an Android phone, but this will eventually be used also for wireless upload of Arduino sketches.

I actually intended to buy way more stuff but this is the only things they had in stock or they are selling. I need to order many things online now (I’ll post again with the new shopping list(s)).

Turns out yesterday I was able to quickly mount the Pololu robot. Unfortunately I miss some stuff in order to mount an Arduino on the chassis :-(

I also got a basic connection with the BlueSMIRF module: my MacBook Pro talking to the module. I need to go through its documentation though. I was able to talk to the module (in command mode) via a terminal, so I suppose this shouldn’t be that difficult to use :-)

Oh! I also found a way to get 2 desks: one for computers and another one for electronics. Now I have some space available on both desks which is really really appreciated!