I’ll put them in first thing tomorrow with no photo 
if we miss the deadline you can have one on me 
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In the future if it’s urgent just let me know. You can join the bus pirate beta program, where I basically offload my e-waste on to others
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That would be wonderful. I run a program on weekends and during the summer that exposes under-served and economically disadvantaged youth to a variety of STEAM areas, and the grants from my employer are onerous and maddening. Anything you wish to offer would be beneficial and bring smiles and inspiration to the youth.
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Oh, we get it. Just tell us what you need and we will take care of it. You’re doing good work. 
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Hey @kd7eir
Would you be willing to message me? I am very interested in expanding on the informal tech social we currently hold. I have such a variety of electronics and mechatronics projects that we try to cater to each of the ~10 children that currently attend. My office is off limits, but we allow the use of 3d printers and similar tools that aren’t easily moved out to the common area each time. I have the stacking toolboxes on wheels that we keep all the equipment, tools, etc. in that are necessary to bring out each time.
I’d love some insight on how others such as yourself organize such events. We are not fortunate enough to have a makerspace or anything similar. I have been working on setting up a train the teacher program for advanced air mobility that teaches the childfen about the future of AAM and allows them to interact with drones and learn about the infrastructure required to scale across the U.S. The program is sponsored by D.A.S. in cooperation eith Kansas State University and Salina airport where the kids can learn about vertipirts and the different career paths for future autonomy.
I contributed to a white paper on the topic of the future of AAM and autonomous systems that is at publishing now and should be announced by the University once complete.
I’d love to hear from someone else contributing to the cause and hear your approach to help reach more of the community.
Thank you for what you are doing for your community and I hope you have interest in speaking.
Best regards!
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Presented without photos or description
- Infrared RX/TX IR Toy v3
- Dual RS-232 Plank
- Serial cable and adapter set for Dual RS-232 Plank
- Programming Voltage SMPS Plank
These are all the “HQ” versions using top shelf chips, caps, and LEDs. A “basic” version will follow, though that’s not working out so well for us at the moment After reworking 80 HGSemi RS-232 boards with 0.1uF caps (fixed it in the lab), none of the boards were any better. We’ll get there though.
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Thanks @ian! 5 of the kids birthdays are coming up, so I ordered what I could to give them some STEAM projects. The next order is mine though. 
All kids involved, not just the ones with birthdays, will be receiving new (to them) refurbed entetprise laptops with I5s and I went ahead and upgraded the ram to 16GB and dual booted linux and windows (this is how I found the difficulty building the firmware in Linux Mint 22). They were manufactured in 2018, but like new surprisingly including the charges and batteries. I wish companies would donate things like this instead of throwing them in dumpsters! I’m working on vinyl wrapping all of the covers each kids requested color or skin from amazon so we can tell them apart. I even wrapped the charger for them so there is no confusion. Ill see if I’ve got a photo of the first one wrapped…
Any way, you guys are the best! I added a 5XL to the arsenal because I had to. All of it comes from our pockets, but worth every penny. And you’ve allowed me the opportunity ro reach them things such as hot air rework, jumpers, debugging (although I’m slowley getting everyone setup still, so more to come), and so much more! Oh, and the soldering iron kit you guys managed to wrangle the peices together for a while back was helpful as well.
Not to mention the fun I get to have with the items for myself! Speaking of myself, i want to stickerbomb my cover on my laptop, so if a few random stickers land in the packing material, I’ll be sure to put them to good use. 
Happy hacking everyone!!! And sorry, I didn’t mean to jack the thread. To make it up to you, here’s that photo of the first laptop done. (I’ll add photos here asap. Maybe even before you get yours up on the site.) <Leaving comment for history, along with “pics or it didn’t happen” 
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I just ordered all four. Thank you for putting them up.
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Any chance this could work with the AnalysIR software?
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It will. I’ve been talking to them throughout the development and started with their sensor kit. AnalysIR already supports the USB IR Toy v1/2. I’ll implement the USB IR Toy protocol as a binary mode and that should do it.
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Photos from the photographer. First board with the laser etched pin labels on the header. It does scratch with use, but is more durable than a silkscreen and something is better than nothing.
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That is wonderful. Thank you.
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I’ve been traveling internationally, but I will certainly share my methods with you once I am back home.
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I just had my grant revoked because there is no evidence of the order for all four new products being shipped—“Your package is waiting to be picked up by the carrier.” The only information is that a shipping label was created ten days ago, but there is no further proof of shipping.
I have to repay the grant and have been blocked from receiving further grant approvals for orders from dirty PCBs.
They just notified me that all of my grant eligibility is being revoked, regardless of vendor.
Hi, that is really really awful. I’m really sorry that happened to you. The package was shipped via “American Special Line” service, it is a bulk shipment system where a ton of packages are shipped to a country and then dispatched from there, usually it is dispatched by your national postal service in this case USPS. The tracking number you were given was the USPS tracking number. The reason why it shows “Your package is waiting to be picked up by the carrier.” is that this package hasn’t been picked up by USPS in the United States just yet. It was shipped from Shenzhen China the same day you purchased and it is probably sitting somewhere in the US waiting for the local custom or sorting center to sort. Usually packages get delivered 2-3 days once USPS picks it up. Can we send you a shipping label that shows that we shipped the package? Will this help? Please let me know in support ticket. We will also contact the shipper first thing tomorrow to find out what we can do for you.
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No need to send me anything - their mind is made up. My employer/grant provider is a major defense contractor in the US, they are suspicious by nature of all dealings from foreign countries.
According to them, their analysis, based upon decades of shipments, is that the package has not been shipped to the US yet, based upon the indicated shipping date of 2 September 2024 and no indication of receipt in either the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach or the Port of New York and New Jersey.
They will lose their minds over a shipment with a value of ~$60.00, but not be concerned if a million or so dollars go missing. Typical US defense contractor priorities.
I’m having to surrender all items acquired through their grants. My entire outreach program has been cancelled.
I will re-purchase all items with my own funds to save the outreach program. I am also going to retire immediately so that I can devote myself full-time to outreach, 42 years of working is more than enough I believe.
This entire issue is ridiculous, and I consider it a deliberate attack on foreign commerce by my now-ex employer. I want everyone to know that this fiasco has not changed my willingness to deal with Dangerous Prototypes in any manner.
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Terrible, Kd7eir. And welcome to the retiree clan.
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Hi kf7eir, we created a support ticket and sent you a file with shipping price, date and your shipping information on it. It also shows the first item name, weight and box size. This is the closest “proof” I can find from my logistics company. I have a large shipment receipt as well but it includes other customers’ info so I can’t disclose it. If you have a chance please check it out on your order page.
I’m also going to send you a full refund including shipping cost. This is the least we can do for you.
It’s strange though because Dangerous Prototypes and WhereLabs are both American companies. DirtyPCBs, DirtyCables, Bus Pirate and many of our other projects are operated by an American company. You were billed by American company, your seller is American, not Chinese. A lot of our products are made and fulfilled from China however.
Sorry again! 
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Thank you, but that was not necessary. My ex defense contractor employer politically motivated this entire fiasco. They knew the shipment was coming from China.