Pumping Station: One

I am teaching a 1.5 hour intro to your Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera class on from 2pm to 3:30pm August 19th. The class, presented through Communiteach,  is free (free is good) and is being held at the Whole Foods at 1550 N Kingsbury. Everyone, especially members of the PS:1 community, are invited to attend.

Description: “Do you have a new DSLR camera that you’re trying to understand, or perhaps you’re not quite sure what all the knobs and dials on your existing camera do? Wondering why people get all worked up about JPEG vs. RAW (or what those even mean)? Intimidated or bothered by the all the bizarre lingo and jargon thrown about by other photographers? This LearnIt should help you get more comfortable with your camera and associated technology so that you can focus on what’s important: taking better pictures. Bring your camera with len, battery, and memory card as this will be a hands-on session. Point-and-shooters are welcome to join (particularly if you’re looking for guidance on shopping) but you’ll get the most out of the class if you have a camera you can work with.”

Date: Sunday, August 19th

Time: 2:00pm to 3:30pm

Location: Whole Foods, 1550 N Kingsbury

Cost: FREE

Registration: Sign up here.

PS:One is proud and delighted (and working tirelessly) to be a host of Mini Maker Faire Evanston on August 4 and 5!

Tickets are on sale now at MakerFaireEvanston.com.

We’ll be there running a booth (…and several members will have individual booths), hosting our regional hackerspace friends, the Power Racing Series races, and general volunteer work.

We hope you’ll all come take a look around the Faire, visit us, and say hello!

The first meeting of the Embedded Systems But Not Exclusively Raspberry Pi Interest Group (ESBNERPIG or just “NERP”) will be Monday July 30th at 7:00pm. Embedded provides a place to look at trends in embedded computing outside of the basic serial port connected or standalone Arduino. Open standards, embedded interfacing, industrial systems, 32-bit MCU’s, operating systems, development tools, hardware design, form-factors, vendors, and the inevitable competitors of the Raspberry Pi are a few ideas for discussion.

July 30, Jay will start things off with a high-level tour of the Raspberry Pi SBC (Single Board Computer). Those who own a Pi and haven’t booted it yet [me], or who’ve booted their Pi and said “now what?” can watch the demos and follow along to get started and get ideas for things to try. For those who’ve had success with their Pis, we’d especially like to hear from you and see what you’ve got.

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This Wednesday night is the triumphant return of Automation Night!

The second Wednesday of each month is our monthly Automation Night (AKA: DIY CNC night)!

Are you interested in automated manufacturing? Do you like the idea of owning your own 3D printer, laser cutter, automated mill, router table, or other automated tools? Then this is the night for you!

Automation Night is an ever-growing group of enthusiastic amateurs and professionals in the field of do it yourself automated manufacturing (ie 3D printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, cake frosters, etc) hardware and software.

Please come if you’re interested in learning more, already have an automated tool at home, want to show off your latest build, or just want to meet locals who are into this exciting technology!

• Who: Open to the public
• Where: Pumping Station: One, 3517/3519 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL
• When: Wednesday, July 11th, 7pm
• Cost: Free ($5 suggested donation for non-members to help us pay the rent)

General Schedule:

• 7-7:10: people show up
• 7:10-7:25: introductions round-robin
• 7:25-’till everyone leaves: schmoozing, machine assembly and show off, discussion of tools and techniques

Image: Modular Hollow Universal Joint by thingiverse user sirmakesalot

Do you need a midday Sunday social gathering? Do you like science, doing things rather than buying them already done, and beer? Then this event is for you!

Beer tasting: bring a few bottles of something you like that you think others may not know. We will do a potluck beer tasting. Tiny beer steins (for tiny beers) will be provided but bring your own chalice/mug/other drink receptacle if you prefer. Homebrews are highly esteemed, and you will get some beer peer review from your peers in beer!

After (and during) the tasting, we’ll discuss the science of beer brewing and other scientific questions and pursuits. Peer review of projects will happen if people have something to show; 300 seconds of non-fame with frequent interruptions.

For this Beer Church event, bring all the homebrewing equipment/supplies you have if you can, and are willing to let other people perhaps use! We’ll do a show and tell, and plan some home brewing events. If we’re feeling up to it and have enough gear and willing brewers, we’ll make it a brewing party! We have enough space now to brew! Make sure to bring a turkey fryer or propane based stove if you have one, as we don’t currently have a stove at the space.

You are of course welcome to come even if you do not consume beer or other alcoholic beverages! You must be 21 to drink at beer church. Come on down to 3519 N Elston for beer, peers, and brewers.

As  you may already know, Pumping Station: One is moving three blocks to a new location at 3519 N. Elston!  The doors open to members starting June 1st.

That means we have just one weekend left to pack everything up and get it moved!  Thankfully, much of it has already been packed and put in the classroom until it’s ready to go. However, there is still a LOT left as well as stuff like the loft to break down!

This Saturday and Sunday (May 26 & 27) we need EVERYONE possible to come out and help get this job done.  We have ~135 members now (YAY!).  If even a fraction of us can make the time to show up, we’ll get this job done in no time.  Work will start at 10am both days and will continue all day and into the night.  If we can get keys from the new landlord ahead of our June 1^st lease start, we will proceed to also move the equipment over and begin the process of setting up temporary areas (workshop, electronics lab, etc.)

We have more than enough work gloves to go around and the space will be providing food and beverages for all the workers.  All you need to provide is yourself ready and willing to get some work done.  However, if you happen to have any of the following supplies you can make available, it would be greatly appreciated:

• Hand carts
• Moving boxes
• Moving blankets
• Pallets (requires a pallet jack of some kind)
• Pallet jack (or equivalent)
• Packing tape, Markers, Blank labels (we already have these, so don’t spend money on more, but if you have extra just lying around please bring them along)
• Vehicles for transporting boxes (if we have the keys.  I’ll let everyone know what the situation is before the days)
• Large equipment dollies
• Family or friends willing to help out
• Anything else you think might be useful

Thank you everyone and I hope to see you all there,

Shawn Blaszak

image: flickr user ASurroca

Do you like beers and peers and find that your Sundays need more structure, such as drinking and doing science? If so, this event is for you.

Beer tasting: bring a few bottles of something you like that you think others may not know. We will do a potluck beer tasting. Tiny beer steins (for tiny beers) will be provided but bring your own if you prefer. Homebrews are highly esteemed, and you will get some beer peer review from your peers in beer!

After (and during) the tasting, we’ll discuss the science of beer brewing and other scientific questions and pursuits. Peer review of projects will happen if people have something to show; 300 seconds of non-fame with frequent interruptions.

You are of course welcome to come even if you do not consume beer or other alcoholic beverages! You must be 21 to drink at beer church.

There are loads of people who want to learn how to program, and thankfully there are loads of high quality free tutorials and classes from big names like MIT (the class a small group of us are currently using), Stanford, and Google, from start-up educational resources like Khan Academy or Udacity, and other free resources like Python-course.

All of the courses listed above teach the easy-to-learn Python programming language.

Starting Thursday, May 17th, every first and third Thursday of each month PS:One will hold Python Office Hours.  This is a chance for people learning to program in Python to get together for moral support, project assistance, and homework assistance.  We’ll have an experienced python developer or two on hand to help answer questions and explain difficult concepts, plus loads of students at all skill levels to provide assistance and community (there is no better way to learn than teaching!).

This is an “office hours” event with volunteer teaching assistants. The expectation is that students watch lectures, read tutorials and attempt homework on their own, then use this as a resource to aid in learning, not as a class, workshop, seminar, private tutor session, or other primary learning tool.

• Who: everyone is welcome, regardless of skill level!
• When: First and Third Thursdays of each month, 7pm, starting May 17
• Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N. Elston Ave, Chicago, IL
• Cost: Free ($5 recommended donation to help us keep the lights on!)

image: flickr user dougwoods

PS: in lieu of apples, our TAs prefer adult beverages as thank-you presents.

PPS: interested in becoming a TA for this series? Contact the author of this post.

This workshop is part two of a two part intro to the Arduino being held at Pumping Station: One. Part 2 is for people who have a working Arduino setup running on their laptops. The emphasis in part two of the Arduino class is on programming. We’ll assume that you know where the different types of pins are located on the board, and that you can run the blink example. Ask lots of questions!

You will need to bring a laptop. You will need an Arduino. The best choice is Sparkfun’s “Flex” kit http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10174 If you don’t already have an Arduino, Pumping Station: One will loan you a Flex kit to use during the workshop session. Ask lots of questions!

images are CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 sparkfun.com

Workshop contents:

• The Arduino language: a simplified mix of C and C++
• Programming basics and interactive demos
• Experiment time to play with programming examples
• The Arduino language – special libraries
• Experiment time to play with library examples
• Arduino shields and i/o modules (demo)

Instructor: Ed Bennett
ed at kinetics and electronics dot com
kineticsandelectronics.com

Tickets are $25 and available  through Eventbrite.