Launching Crowdfunding Campaign in January

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
Tinusaur OLED SSD1306xLED Crowdfunding Campaign

It looks like that our most popular software library is the SSD1306xLED. This is a library for working with OLED displays based on the SSD1306 controller. So, we decided to create a Tinusaur shield to carry an OLED display and we’re thinking about putting it up for crowdfunding this January.

What could you do it a Tinusaur Board and an OLED display?

There is an internal temperature sensor built into the ATtiny85 microcontroller and you don’t need any external components to use it. You can read its value and show it on the display.

Tinusaur OLED SSD1306xLED
Tinusaur OLED SSD1306xLED measuring temperature and voltage

We’ve figured a way to measure the battery level (or the power supply voltage) connected to the ATtiny85 microcontroller by using the PB5 (that is the RESET pin, yes) and one additional resistor. It is not very precise but could give you an indication, at least.

DHT11 module
DHT11 Module

You could also connect one of those popular DHT11 sensor modules, measure temperature and humidity and show it on the screen.

BM180 module
BM180 Module

You could also connect the Bosch BMP180 sensor module and measure barometric pressure and temperature, and show it on the screen. That will also allow you to calculate the altitude – pretty neat, isn’t it?

The official announcement with information about the start date, goals and other details is coming up in early January.

We have just passed the 10% mark!

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
We have just passed the 10% mark!

Dear friends,

Thanks a lot for your contribution to the campaign and for the support of our project. We have just passed the 10% mark! As usual, our campaign goes slow but steady.

Please, if you can, spread the word about our project, share it with people that might be interested.

All the best,
Neven Boyanov
The TINUSAUR Team.

https://igg.me/at/tinusaur

 

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Tinusaur Crowdfunding Campaign on January 22nd 2018

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
Tinusaur Crowdfunding Campaign on January 22nd 2018

Campaign link: http://igg.me/at/tinusaur
Project link: /

  1. A small robot car that you could build yourself and program it to follow a black line on the floor.
  2. A small game platform, that you could build and program yourself.

Those are the Tinusaur project goodies. They can help you learn, teach and make things with microcontrollers, and have fun at the same time. This is what the Tinusaur project is about.

Next Monday, on January 22nd we are launching a crowdfunding campaign to make more of those fun projects.

Join us at http://igg.me/at/tinusaur and subscribe for updates about the launch.

 

Workshop: Assembling the Tinusaur Kit in Varna, Bulgaria

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
Tinusaur Workshop VarnaLab Varna Bulgaria

This Saturday, September 2nd, we will have one day workshop for assembling the Tinusaur kits for those who supported our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. It will take place in Varna, Bulgaria, our host will be VarnaLab – the local hackerspace.

Tinusaur Board Parts

We will learn the basics of electronic components, microcontrollers – ATtiny85 in particular and, of course, how to solder.

We will bring to the workshop soldering irons and all the necessary materials to do the job. Also, for those who were not able to get one of the kits during our Indiegogo campaign, we will have some for sale.

Tinusaur Workshop

At the moment we can organize such workshops only in Bulgaria but we’d really like to start doing this in other countries. Volunteers are very welcome. 🙂

This is the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/842138465944360/
If you’re around, you’re welcome to come.

 

Good news, dear friends, and supporters! All of the parts are here …

Posted on by Neven Boyanov

Good news, dear friends, and supporters! All of the parts are here (except some of the green 3mm LEDs) and we started packaging everything else (except some of the LEDx2 Shields).

Quick stats about the bundles we have to package:
— Tinusaur Board LITE: 559 pcs
— Tinusaur Board STD: 182 pcs
— Shield LEDx2: 179 pcs
— Shield EDUx4IO: 160 pcs

So, starting next week we will be shipping the first packages. You will receive an individual message through the Indiegogo messaging when we ship your perks.

All the best,
The TINUSAUR Team.

PLEDGE: We will make the Tinusaur Car

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
The Tinusaur Car Prototype

As you may have noticed we’ve extended our campaign by a couple of days to allow more people to get their perks over the weekend.

We’re 175% over our original goal, $4522 raised – with 12 hours still left to go.

We’re so excited that we’ve decided to make this pledge: if we reach 200% or $5000 (whichever happens first) before the end of the campaign (i.e. in about 12 hours) we promise that we will make the Tinusaur Car – a 2-wheel mini car that can follow a line – and we will make it available on our website.

We are already building a working prototype.
(picture above)

What can you do to help us reach our next goal?

  1. Go to our campaign https://igg.me/at/tinusaur support us – get a perk.
  2. Share our campaign link https://igg.me/at/tinusaur with your friends or through your social media channels.

Wish us luck for the next 12 hours!
The Tinusaur Team.

Funded 140% and only 16 hours left

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
Tinusaur Indiegogo Campaign 140 percent

We are 140% funded and there are only 16 hours left of our Indiegogo campaign.

This would’ve not happened without your support. 🙂

By continuing to support our cause you will help us get even more Tinusaur kits to our students.

Not interested in getting a Tinusaur board? You can donate to the project! Our promise: we will spend the money to bring the Tinusaur boards to even more students … as we’ve done it before.

Neither of those is for you? No problem. You could just share our campaign link https://igg.me/at/tinusaur to your social media channels such like Facebook, Twitter, or whatever you prefer.

Just a quick reminder: After the campaign is over the price of the boards, the kits, and the shipping will go slightly up so now is the best time get a bunch them.

Thanks again for your support.

Indiegogo Campaign is Almost Halfway Through

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
Tinusaur Indiegogo Campaign

Last week we’ve launched our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and, as of a few minutes ago, we’ve reached 1/3-rd of our goal already. 🙂

In case you’re not familiar what the Tinusaur project is about …

A small board with a tiny chip on it that comes as an assembly kit – a small package with parts and you get the chance to learn how to solder it. This circuit is so simple that there are very few things that could go wrong. It’s been around for over 3 years and used in schools and universities to educate young people in both hardware and software. With this campaign, you could help us produce more of the Tinusaur boards, bring the cost down to $3 per basic “lite” board and allow more people to be able to get them.

Tinusaur Indiegogo Campaign

The Tinusaur boards are powered by the Atmel ATtiny85 microcontroller. You could program your Tinusaur board with the Arduino development environment, or if you chose so – using the plain old C/C++ compiler, or … using whatever you prefer.

The success of this campaign will help us produce our boards and kits in much larger quantities and bring the coast down. That will allow us to have the basic “lite” boards for as little as $3/pcs – that will make them available for even more people.

Help us spread the word – just share it. But, if you like the idea and the project, you could back us up. Here’s the link: https://igg.me/at/tinusaur.

Thanks in advance for your support.

We’re planning to launch new Indiegogo campaign for $3 boards – next week

Posted on by Neven Boyanov
Tinusaur 3 Dollar Bill

With the growing interest in our project and kits, we decided to plan for and launch another Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign – next week.

The goals:

  • to make 1000 or more boards;
  • to bring the cost for the Tinusaur Board Lite down to $3 a piece.

The link for the campaign will be http://igg.me/at/tinusaur.

Some of our team members will be at the FOSDEM in Brussels on the 4th and the 5th next week – will be glad to meet anyone interested in what we’re doing.