The blog has sat idle for more than a year, and I'm sure that any visitors between then and now have been disappointed by the lack of content (and there's been quite a lot of content planned that's yet unwritten), but progress has been made in the interim. I've redesigned the PCBs completely (they now use surface-mount components, RJ12 connectors instead of pin headers for communication, and proper IDC connectors for the main I/O interfaces), I've decided on a more expensive but much (much much much) less labor-intensive solution for valves, and I now have an oscilloscope that will be quite helpful for troubleshooting if necessary (like, for example, the I/O isolation board with the seemingly glacial-speed optoisolators). I'd like to write posts about the SPI interface, about some of the component choices, about how the code works, and a lot of other things that deserve at least a few paragraphs worth of detailed explanation. I'd also like to get a diagnosis and start some sort of treatment for ADHD, but that requires me to stop procrastinating and actually make some progress.
I've learned a lot since I started this blog, and I'm sure I've plenty more to learn before the project is finished (and who knows how long that will be yet). I've learned a lot about python, about electronics, about pneumatics, and about my variety of personal challenges. I don't want to get too existential, but I'm looking forward to moving forward after all this time.
