Status report from the southern Taiwan boondocks
LoopyByteloose
Posts: 12,537
I have had a few bad days for electronics. The TV box for my VGA died last night, and today it seems my wifi router has gone haywire. I am suspecting lightning strikes from a passing typhoon have taken their toll.
In any event, I had to go shopping for a new TV box as the problems were obvious with the digital microcontroller being adelled. I could get audio and select channels, but the actual video display seems to have gotten stuck on one channel.
I was very surprised to see that the local electronics shops have stocked Arduino Uno boards and even an Arduino educational package. For many years, the most they had were 8051/8052 board kits.
They have never stocked BasicStamps or Propellers. Just showing them a Propeller Demo Board led them to be very perplexed. So I wonder how Arduino has managed to go where Parallax has never been.
Also, a few days ago, I had to visit the local bookstore for an English text. I looked in on the shelf of electronics texts (in Chinese) and saw a new title on the Raspberry Pi, as well as a text on the Arduino, and several Maker books.
It seems that in Chinese, someone is actively publishing.. but the Propeller is not included. I wonder how this will all play out. The realities are that some hobby microcontroller are now making their way to retail electronic shelfs and books are in bookstores.
As for myself, I think I will skip the Arduino and Raspberry Pi... but for others they may be the only locally accessible items.
In any event, I had to go shopping for a new TV box as the problems were obvious with the digital microcontroller being adelled. I could get audio and select channels, but the actual video display seems to have gotten stuck on one channel.
I was very surprised to see that the local electronics shops have stocked Arduino Uno boards and even an Arduino educational package. For many years, the most they had were 8051/8052 board kits.
They have never stocked BasicStamps or Propellers. Just showing them a Propeller Demo Board led them to be very perplexed. So I wonder how Arduino has managed to go where Parallax has never been.
Also, a few days ago, I had to visit the local bookstore for an English text. I looked in on the shelf of electronics texts (in Chinese) and saw a new title on the Raspberry Pi, as well as a text on the Arduino, and several Maker books.
It seems that in Chinese, someone is actively publishing.. but the Propeller is not included. I wonder how this will all play out. The realities are that some hobby microcontroller are now making their way to retail electronic shelfs and books are in bookstores.
As for myself, I think I will skip the Arduino and Raspberry Pi... but for others they may be the only locally accessible items.
Comments
Getting a Prop here is a long winded and expensive procedure.
The Raspberry Pi is not a worry, it's welcome, it's in a totally different ball game to Props and Arduino's etc.