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I was really impressed with a lot of things in this project. I think the encoder was the most impressive due to the many use cases for it. Closely followed by the oscilloscope. The VDS1022i really was quick and easy to use and clearly showed me what was going on. Oh, and the AD9833 was pretty good too. It just worked - did exactly what it claimed it would do.

Thank you for that feedback. Admittedly in this video I was focusing more on having clear audio and more efficient production techniques... And the content too 😉 The resolution, bps, frame rate, compression quality and other characteristics are all parameters that need to be balanced as I am learning a new (to me) skill. At the same time I do not want to generate an enormous video file either. The hardest part is knowing when good enough is good enough 😊

Thank you for the advice Steven. I am learning all the time.

*Velleman* even….

Thank you for the tip. Having (eventually) found the (now discontinued) Velleman MK105 kit, I would call the kit I made a knock off. The circuit looks the same, although the PCB layout and some components are different part numbers or values. I also found a number of other similar waveform generator kits that use different ICs and allowed frequency and duty cycle adjustments. The kit I made does none of that! Still, I am looking at those other kits... I might just get one!

Thank you for the detailed reply... so it looks like the kit it working correctly, it is just that it is not that good. As for a schematic, the kit came with nothing like that - literally I received a bag of bits. Researching similar looking kits, I found a circuit diagram (what I showed on the Amazon page). Anyway it was a fun build, and made good use of my gear (headset, PCB clamp and USB scope). I will dig out the details on those and update the description.

I have updated the video description with details of the gear I used.

@@ianneill9188Thanks. I have an Hantek 6022BE as my digital scope (I use it with and ols HP laptop with XP, because I find that it works better than with Win7), an small battery powered DSO150 for on-the-go needs and quick and dirty AF things and an old dual channel analog scope as my main scope.

@@ianneill9188 I built my function with a kit (actually two kits) XR2206. Long time ago, I built my first signal generator with XR2206(the original IC by the time) and I added many functions to it. So, I decided instead buying an already made one, to re-make the old one that I had, using two kits from Amaon. I modified them to be powered by a dual power supply (+/-5V stab with 7805/7905), recalculate the resistors and capacitors values (the range is from 4Hz to 1.1MHz), used a multiturn potentiometer to adjust the frequency. I also added an 74HC04 (all 6 inverters in parallel for max fan-out) for a 5V TTL output. The other kit I used to modulate in amplitude or to sweep the main oscillator with frequency up to 1KHz. I also added a frequency counter (another Amazon kit that came with crystal tester). What I still have to do, is to make a good output amplifier/buffer to isolate the IC from the output.

@@sebastian19745 I have been looking at other waveform generators. I had seen those based on the XR2206 and, as you say, go up to around 1MHz. I also saw many based on the ICL8038, but they only go up to around 50kHz. I think, though, something based on the AD9833 is what I will get. They are software controllable (with an Arduino or similar) and go up to about 12.5MHz. I am comfortable writing code for the Arduino, and the software frequency control offers a lot of advantages over pots.

Yes, the circuit was a big disappointment, both the function and the results. On the other hand, the scope was great and really helped me dig into those waveforms.

Thank you, Wendy. May I wish the same to you and your family, and a prosperous and happy new year too. Ian Neill

Thank you for the feedback. I do listen back, but always with headphones. I will checkout my mic settings without them too.

@@ianneill9188 Thanks for the kind reply. As an engineer I'm very interested -in general-in the "why" as well as the "what". However, the reason I watched your video was to solve a problem that I had (actually still have), which was trying to figure out the steps required to program my Nano via the serial port. However, there was so much extraneous information in your video that it was difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Might I suggest removing the non-essential stuff from the video and adding something like "Learn More" cards up in the corner. That would make the video much more useful to people who are primarily trying to solve a problem while giving you more videos to attract more viewers. With that said, my videos are nothing to write home about themselves so please take my comment in the spirit in which it's given. Thank you for taking the time to create this.

...Ditto!!! Some of us are older, & hard of hearing... { The distracting music in the background doesn't help much, either!!! :-( }

@@fredcooper2063 Thank you for the feedback. I can see that not having background music would help any volume and audibility that some listeners may have.

@@SRFDriver Thank you for the detailed feedback. Another comment has highlighted the background music. I am inclined to think that removing that could improve audibility issues generally. It is also a quick and easy fix!

Thank you. I (always) have a number of projects on the go. Writing a 6502 emulator, and my own monitor for it, is my current “mind worm”. At the moment I am studying addressing modes and how the cycle timings change when a page boundary is crossed... sometimes!

I have an old Belkin UPS and some small APC ones. I have replaced the batteries several times. Various makes, always 7Ah. What I find critical is the size and shape and the terminal size and placement. I have used Yuasa and others. I have the same battery models in both manufacturers UPSs - size, shape, terminals and capacity identical. Ian

@@ianneill9188 👍 cheers

I did look at that, even at a precision external reference. In the end I thought the 3.3v into an analogue input was the best compromise for ADC range and accuracy. It also gave me an easy divide especially as I was basing my divide on 15v, not 12v. As the Nano has more analogue inputs than the Uno I had lots anyway. I think that having to calibrate before every read was the unexpected surprise, but using a stable precision ref in the ref input would eliminate all this trouble.

I did have the calibration in the loop in a version of the code, but moved it to the setup as I thought it was overkill too. However I intend to return to this and measure the 5-ish supply more closely. At the minute I am assuming that my supply, while not 5, is stable. If I were on a battery, that would not be a good assumption. I think I was more shocked at how bad the usb supply can be, and that a 10% error in the 5v translates into a 10% error in what I measure. Thanks for the comment. It is encouraging to know I am not the only one that thinks about these sorts of problems.

Sounds like you have previously updated your nano bootloader, but without correcting the numbers in boards.txt. I think if you do it again, with the numbers fixed, then you will be good.

@@ianneill9188 Yes that all works absolutely fine following the process, thanks. Nano bootloader updated!

Thanks Henk. It is not too difficult, but message if you have any questions.

Thanks! I have learnt loads about python and Arduino while working on this. I hope you find it helpful too.

After a while the beeps were driving me nuts, and disturbing the dog too. So they can be disabled :-)

For the Uno I am aware of only 1, Optiboot. The bootloader issue really only seems to be a Nano issue. There are 2, one called old bootloader, and one that is not (and it is the same Optiboot bootloader as the Uno). If you have a Nano and you are using the old bootloader, then it will be called that in the Tools/Processor menu and the comm port upload speed is also 57600. If you can successfully upload code at 115200, then you have the new Optiboot bootloader. I will explain this more when I make a video of all the "fun" I have updating. Ian

It was interesting to find the buffer issue and the bug it exposed. Put in a bit of temp code using type() to discover the int/str issue. The buffer overrun took a cup of tea, while I waited to catch it. And then another cup while I proved the fix for it :-)

@@ianneill9188 😀

Yes, a lot of work. A lot more than I expected actually and that was why I was late posting it. I have more plans for the serial cmd system. I expect that to appear in the L18 solution.

I wanted something a bit more adventurous than a single box :-)

Thank you... I still have work to do to crack the issue I have when I give the balls a radius. Nearly there though - only when I get my head fully round the problem I will be able to code it.

I have not thought about a game engine. I think at the moment I am concentrating on learning how to do the basics myself, and learning to think more precisely in 3D, before I can let an engine take care of those details for me. I will take a look at Godot - I have not heard of it. Thanks for commenting.

@@ianneill9188 Gadot, and all game engines have a pretty steep learning curve.