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WhiteWizzard
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Joined: 05/04/2013
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2817

Posted: 01:35am 18 Apr 2014

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All,

I would like to be the first to congratulate Geoff on his outstanding work over the last few months with his brilliant MicroMite creation.

For those of you that don't yet know, it is finally in Silicon Chip Magazine which is appearing on sale now.

Geoff did start a new thread a little while ago with a post that I have included below.

However, rather than respond on that post I thought it better to give the thread a 'better' title that would hopefully grab peoples attention.

So please may I ask all of you that have been involved in some way with Geoff's MicroMite to join me and show your personal gratitude to him by leaving a post on this thread.

And do also include a quick line as to what you did, or indeed have created, or are working on!

This thread should then make great reading for Geoff in his time off and hopefully bring a smile to his face!!

So thanks once again Geoff - your continued effort is very, very much appreciated. Now hurry up with the MzMite

Regards,
White Wizzard

Geoffg said I would like to thank all who helped in the beta test program for the Micromite.

In the end there were 52 beta testers actively playing with the firmware and I have lost count of the number of bugs and corrections to the manual that were found. In addition there were many great suggestions that found their way into the firmware. Even if you did not find a bug it was still a great help to know that all parts of the firmware were thoroughly explored and tested.

This was truly an international effort involving a lot of people and it is amazing that something so complex has gone from an initial code stage to a final polished piece of software in such a short time. It is something that one person could not have done and I am grateful for everyone's help.

Now that the final version is released people will be able to ship pre-programmed chips and modules to users safe in the knowledge that a programmer will not be needed to fix a bug (famous last words). My plan is to let the current version run for as long as possible and I do not plan to release an update unless a serious bug is uncovered. In the longer term I have plans to add some important features like wireless module support but in the meantime we can get on with using the little fellow.

So thanks again to all the dedicated beta testers, you should give yourself a pat on the back!!

Geoff

For everything Micromite visit micromite.org

Direct Email: whitewizzard@micromite.o

CircuitGizmos

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Joined: 08/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1425

Posted: 04:20am 18 Apr 2014

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Geoff your work is outstanding!

It inspired my 500 page "book" and is inspiring another book - real printed kind this time.

It is starting to roll as a popular product. People are becoming aware of the Maximite family of devices and more and more projects are being built around the core of your design.

More newbies are being exposed to programming through the environment that you made for them.

More people are interfacing easily to electronics for simple to complex projects.

Excellent work! I look forward to what is next. Thank you Geoff!

Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite

viscomjim
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Joined: 08/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 925

Posted: 04:40am 18 Apr 2014

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Hi All,

I want to personally thank Geoff for this outstanding accomplishment. It has completely changed my outlook on creating (making) again. The uMite allows newbies and seasoned pros a very inexpensive yet powerful tool to develop virtually anything. I can't thank Geoff enough. As far as a project is concerned using the uMite...

Working on a vending machine completely controlled by uMite. I/O includes a bill acceptor, 2004 LCD display, 16 key keypad, magstripe reader for age verification, motion contoller board, real time clock, I2C GPIO expander, GSM cellular interface. The magstripe reader, motion controller and cellular use serial, so I am using 1 28 pin uMite to handle the magstripe reader and real time clock solely to read the license and compare to today's date and spit out a yes or no to a 44 pin uMite (whitewizzard board) that handles everything else. This machine will handle 33 different products with a total load of 356 containers. It will do age verification prior to anything else, collect the cash, dispense a product and broadcast any alarms or relevant info and its inventory every night to the owner using text messaging, plus some other cool attention grabbing features.

Here is a link of the actuator being run by the uMite. I will post more stuff as time permits.

Video of Actuator

Thanks again Geoff - and WhiteWizzard and everyone else on this forum for all the great information and assistance.

Dave Everett
Regular Member

Joined: 24/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 43

Posted: 01:38pm 18 Apr 2014

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I Can't say enough good things about the guy. Brilliant little products from a selfless guy.

Dave Everett

Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9308

Posted: 02:28pm 18 Apr 2014

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I am always amazed at how quickly bugs are fixed in any of Geoff's stuff. Some things take years for a simple bug fix to be released, others acknowledge the bug, but don't bother to fix it at all.

I am using the full-size MM as the controller for my security system, and am just about to include the code from CG to drive a dot-matrix printer, so that it can print out messages received on a line-by-line/message-by-message basis - something that dot-matrix printers still excell at.(Hi CG!)

As for the MicroMite, I have not actually included it in any product as yet, as we have just exited the beta testing, but I fully expect to port many of my PICAXE products to the MicroMite. HOWEVER, the PICAXE does still hold the trump card(for me) for the most flexible in terms of pin assignments(just about any pin on the M2 series can be input, output, serial I/O or ADC, but that is just the differences in platforms)

The MicroMite has amazed me with things like memory available, speed and really only needing ONE external component to get it running, which must rate as one of the most lean of systems out there today - it's very hard to have a zero external component system.

I am sure that the number of SERVO commands will be a BIG hit with robotics fans, among other things.

I have to wait another week or so before I will be able to get my hands on the May issue of SC, and that seems like such a long time to wait!!!!

Congratulations to Geoff, and I hope he has a nice holiday - send us a photo from the San Francisco Bay Bridge - I understand the vista is amazing from there.

Edited by Grogster 2014-04-20

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

bigmik

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Joined: 20/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2914

Posted: 02:46pm 18 Apr 2014

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Yes!

Thanks Geoff, Your support has been excellent.. Any tiny bugs seems to be fixed almost before they are mentioned..

I feel that the uMite is now a very mature product and any future enhancements can only make it a step closer to perfection.

Kindest Regards,

Mick

Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<

Lou

Senior Member

Joined: 01/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 229

Posted: 08:06pm 19 Apr 2014

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Geoff,

Thanks for the uMite, what a great product.

Now it's time for more new projects using it, let the imagination run wild !!

Lou

Microcontrollers - the other white meat

viscomjim
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Joined: 08/01/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 925

Posted: 03:14pm 06 May 2014

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I added a bit more video of the progress of my uMite vending machine. The uMite is positioning the actuator shown in the previous video to the different product locations. The uMite also handles the initial homing routine so it knows where things are located after a power up. uMite turns out to be a great little controller.

Thanks Geoff!!!

video of uMite vending machine

Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 9308

Posted: 03:25pm 06 May 2014

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With that as a demo, the uM might be able to be used as a controller for an elevator!

I was always going to make a model elevator - something to practise the programming on. Might have to look at that now!!!

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

panky

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Joined: 02/10/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 1101

Posted: 10:09pm 08 May 2014

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My thanks also Geoff,

I have had great enjoyment re-associating myself with Basic and projects based on the xMite family - I have most models and just love the "hands on" functionality.

Thanks again,
Doug.

... almost all of the Maximites, the MicromMites, the MM Extremes, the ArmMites, the PicoMite and loving it!

DoodaDay

Newbie

Joined: 24/02/2014
Location: United States
Posts: 3

Posted: 04:50am 09 May 2014

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Many thanks to Goeff and everyone else who contributes to this project!

I am working on various motor control and instrumentation projects related to 3D printing and HAM radio.

This project allows me to work on the problems I want to solve. I came upon it when I asked myself "Why am I wasting so much time on problems others have already solved?"

All of the *Mite variations have a perfect balance of simplicity and utility that lets me 'just get on with my work'.

Thanks!

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