Week 1

About

Week 1 was all about preparing ourselves for the Pre Fab training.Software installation and a bit of housekeeping at Fab was the Main Agenda

Day 1

Francisco Sanchez Arroyo started off the day with an introduction to Fab and Fab networks.He stressed on cutomisation at consumer level to minimise the wastage of resources time and money.He ran through the 9 principles at MIT Media Labs , emailing ethics and the stress of Fab Academy , mental and physical preparations for the same.

Importance of documentation was explained through various examples.Frank also helped us with key contacts in Fab Netowrk. Frank also mentioned his "3S" view in the case of projects

  • The good: Simple, well crafted
  • The vague: Overcomplicated, does not solve any problem
  • The bad: Poorly documented, horrible aspect
  • and that was all for Day 1.

    Day 2

    Its FOSS!
    The day was all about setting up Linux Distro ( Ubuntu 14.04 LTS) in our machines. I was already using Ubuntu 14.04 hence I was helping other make the installation.I had used Startup Disk creator to create a bootable Pendrive.The following issues were encountered during Ubuntu Installation in latest windows machines.

    Before doing anything DO A BACKUP

  • Unable to boot from Pendrive - [Soln] Disable Secureboot and enable legacy boot / CRM boot (in some machines)
  • Unable to access boot from device option - [Soln] A very complicated issue.Different manufacturers have different key combinations and some models may have a specific combination.Forums to the rescue !! , they helped me solve the issue
  • Making Space - [Soln] GPT partition tables are quite easy to manage.Windows does have some tools to shrink partition to make space , I used windows disk manager
  • Grub fails - [Soln] Quite a common issue.Used boot repair tool.To use the same ,run a live version via USB and install boot-repair tool on the USB flash. Run the tool and do as prompted.An internet connection is required for the same.

  • Adding "Open Terminal Here" Option

    	sudo add-apt-repository universe
    	sudo apt-get update
    	sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal nautilus-actions -y  
    

    Installing dependancies.Compiling and Installing Fab Modules.

    Installing standard libraries

    	sudo apt-get install python python-wxgtk2.8 python-dev python-pip gcc g++ libpng12-dev libgif-dev make bash okular libboost-thread-dev 		libboost-system-dev cmake
    

    Installation.
    Download the Fab Modules.Unzip and cd to the downloaded directory and run.

    	make fab 
    	sudo make install
    

    For help visit link

    Installing Kokopelli

    Kokopelli is a 2D tool , used to develop circuit boards
    Download the tool and run.

    	make fab
    	make install
    

    Navigate to bin and execute kokopelli in retro mode

    	cd bin
    	./kokopelli -r
    

    For help visit link

    Installing Antimony.

    This is quite a long process, lets start

  • Download and Install QT from here.Run the following code
  • 	chmod a+x filename
    	./filename
    
  • Install the following packages
  • 	sudo apt-get install build-essential libpng-dev python3-dev libboost-all-dev libgl1-mesa-dev lemon flex
    

    Updating GCC (if on Ubuntu 14.04)

    	sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
    	sudo apt-get update
    	sudo apt-get install gcc-4.9 g++-4.9
    	sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.9 60 --slave /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-4.9
    

    Clone Git and Make

    	git clone https://github.com/mkeeter/antimony 
    	cd antimony
    	mkdir build
    	cd build
    	~/Qt/5.5/gcc_64/bin/qmake ../sb.pro
    	make -j8
    	sudo make install 
    	./app/antimony
    

    For help visit here.

    Additional Package Installations

  • Openscad - Via Synaptic PM
  • Gimp - Via Synaptic PM
  • Inkscape - Via Synaptic PM
  • Cura -.deb downloaded directly from Ultimaker Website
  • Arduino IDE - Precompiled version downloaded directly via Arduino WebsiteAlso ATTiny Addon was installed via File -> Preference and adding the link
  • QCad - Via direct download from official website
  • Eagle - Via Synaptic PM
  • KiCAD - Via Synaptic PM
  • Wine - Via Ubuntu Software Center
  • Sublime Text Editor - Via Ubuntu Software Center
  • Day 3

    Setting Up Online Accounts
    We were to make sure that the following online accounts were available and ready to use

  • Google
  • Dropbox
  • Fablabs.io
  • git.fabcloud.io
  • Sketchfab.com
  • Youtube.com/Vimeo.com

  • Documenting Via Git(HUB)

    Installing and configuring Git , for a first time user.

    	sudo apt-get install git 
    	git config --global user.name "akshaim"
    	git config --global user.email akshai.kannan@gmail.com
    

    I had created akshai.github.io repo , so for creating this page. One can create only one page and it should be in the format username.gihub.io

    	git clone https://github.com/akshaim/akshaim.github.io
    

    Any changes made in the local repo has to be pushed to the online repo. So if its the addition of readme file

    	git add --all #an easy way to add files to the header.
    	git commit -m -q #-q represent a quiet commit , the summary is skipped.
    	git push -u origin master #pushing data to the branch master , authentication is required.
    

    Creating and adding SSH Key

    SSH Keys help in identifying machines holding local repo and hence help in skipping the prompt to enter account credentials".Go to the link for help.

    	ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "akshai.kannan@gmail.com" #generate new ssh key, click enter and then a passphrase.
    	eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"  #start ssh agent
    	ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa   #add key to agent , authentication required.
    	sudo nano ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub #use an editpr and copy the entire contents. 
    

    In the GitHub account settings , the copied key is to be added in the "Key" field in the Add SSH Key option

    General Guidelines to Documentation

  • Fab Academy 2015 Evaluation Checklist
  • Fab Academy Final Project Requirements

  • We are also to acquire skills in HTML so as to make effective documentations
    Rule of thumb for the resolution of Photos , stick to 800 * 600 px
    Create Mockups

    Things that should be kept in mind

  • Simplicity
  • TypoGraphy
  • Color Harmony
  • Day 4

    House Keeping

    Frank gave a briefing on Time Management.He stressed on the importance of parallel development so for Rapid Prototyping
    Then we we to find things which were out of place.Frank gave a rough outline for the Electronics lab , which was very disordered.The lab witnessed a whole deal of changes.Now we had more room to move around.
    The inventory management also received a major overhaul , spares and consumables were moved to a single place.
    Except for the removal of waste and the mechanical lab received no changes.