Category Archives: computers

Add a potentiometer to your microbit

Posted on February 14, 2017 by blogmywiki

I had a 10k potentiometer lying around that I saved from some junked electronics – it may have been a volume control or something, I can’t remember. Today I found a use for it when I found this excellent web … Continue reading →

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Lightbulb moment: learning logic gates with switches

Posted on January 31, 2017 by blogmywiki

I introduced logic gates to year 9 again this year. Last year we did the theory, filled in truth tables and then I got them to built half and full adders in logic.ly – which was fine, they really got … Continue reading →

Posted in computers, education | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Arduino composite video out using only 3 resistors

Posted on January 15, 2017 by blogmywiki

It’s supposed to be easy – 2 or 3 resistors and you can get your Arduino micro controller to produce low-resolution black and white composite video. Well, it wasn’t for me. It took me hours to get it working, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, computers, hardware | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

The truth about cats AND/OR dogs

Posted on January 15, 2017 by blogmywiki

Here’s an activity I think you could do with almost any year group in KS2 or KS3. You could use it to teach about the origins of modern databases in Hollerith’s punch cards used to collect US census and immigration … Continue reading →

Posted in computers, education, ICT | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Trash can PC

Posted on December 30, 2016 by blogmywiki

Here’s how I got a useful, working PC for next to nothing. SonB and I found a couple of old PC chassis dumped on the street a year or so ago, both missing hard drives but we took the memory … Continue reading →

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