Good morning, reality! Thanks! Fu** you, too!

Since one of the reasons to start building the PiCaSU was to reacquaint me with coding through a project, I was very happy to recieve the components and get started. Developing on/for a remote RPi seems to be quiet a hassle, though. The most effecient way for development seems to be a remote desktop-session, which I strongly dislike. As soon as I achieved a working app-core and changes become less frequent, I will try to switch to a purely git-based workflow - thus allowing anyone interested to join in.

My learning-curve regarding Python is starting out somewhat flat, to be honest; the resulting level of frustration is high. I successfully soothe myself by telling me that the project is an ambitious one, for someone who has not coded a single line for years. Let’s stay on track…

An update on the parts list

While ordering the parts, I included a somewhat major change: The original display, that was intended as a mere viewfinder, was exchanged for the official RPi-touchscreen. This will allow a better image-quality in the viewfinder and controlling the entire device via a touch-UI. On the plus-side, this frees more GPIO-pins. Sadly, it also added to the total price. I’m positive though, that it’s going to turn out as a good investment.

A second change, though of a more preliminary character, happend regarding the camera. For ease of support and the price, I started to develop the PiCaSU around the original RPi-camera v2.1. Image-quality seems reasonable at a first glance and the issues regarding focus seem to have been properly adressed, based on my observations (n=1, it doesn’t get more significant ;-) ). As soon as I established a decent touch-control, I will try different focus settings and cheap smartphone lenes. Depending on the results, I may even skip the more expensive module in the final build.

Whats ahead?

I will use my spare time to get the coding done. Since I have a major exam coming up in spring, I will need to focus my attention on rather un-techie matters, though. My next fix of nerdstuff, electric radiation and mate-drinks will be the 34th Chaos Communication Congress - 34C3, which I was looking forward to since last december.

TL;DR

• Re-Learning how to code is giving me trouble
• The project turns out to be more complex than expected
• Remote development feels uncomfortable
• I upgraded the display to the official RPi-display
• For development - and possibly for future productive use - I switched to the original RPi-cam v2.1
• My professional life will keep me occupied, all builds will continue in the scarce, remaining spare time
• I am attending 34C3 as a visitor. It’s gonna be awesome.