As I sat down to write this introductory post, I turned to Aaron and said “Alright Aaron, It’s time to be witty.” Without missing a beat, he replied “Well, turn on the witty filter. And write something good for once!” So it is with those words of encouragement we bring you Idle Engineers, a place where we will share our hobbyist endeavors. Our goal for this blog is to document our projects in all their glory, or lack thereof. We encourage you to leave feedback and share our projects with others.
Background Check:
Aaron: As a recent Graduate from Oregon Institute of Technology with two BS degrees, I am well on my way to fulfilling my lifelong passion in computers and technology. Since age 5 I have spent most of my free time exploring new and exciting ways to apply computer and electronics technology to everyday life. With Chris, I am currently employed by a leading Energy company and enjoy applying my computer and electronics engineering skills professionally as well.
Chris: I am Graduate of Oregon Institute of Technology with a BS in Computer Software Engineering and a BS Computer Hardware Engineering, along with a Minor in Applied Mathematics and Business. I now work as a Software Engineer for a leading energy company.
Where It All Started:
Aaron and I have been working together on side projects for several years now. Our first project is still one of our favorites. For our Junior Project (while at OIT) we developed an open source, hand held gaming device. For this project we created a gaming platform that was flexible, portable, and robust. In just 4 months time we created a Linux based system with a 6-button interface through a custom USB keyboard (implemented on a PIC18). The device also boasted 4.3″ full color display and Bluetooth capabilities for file transfers to a host computer. We wrote our own implementation of Space Invaders for a demo game, and were able to play for over 2 hours before needing to be recharged.