About me:
My name is Randy Schafer, CEO and founder of EarthLCD and EarthMake. I've been involved with technology since the dawn of the personal computer era and have created and marketed scores of products since 1978. I've made money, lost money, made friends, lost friends, laughed and cried but had mostly fun and enjoyed working with (and meeting) a lot of smart passionate people along the way. To hear all my stories would take many weeks and beers. Since I've now old enough to get the 55+ senior discount at IHOP the stories are getting harder and harder to remember or maybe there's just too many and my bit bucket is over flowing. My current passions include EarthLCD's arLCD (an Arduino combo with an ezLCD Smart LCD and Arduino At Heart Product that was the first dual processor Arduino and makes it easy for someone to put a color TFT touchscreen in their project.
My name is Randy Schafer, CEO and founder of EarthLCD and EarthMake. I've been involved with technology since the dawn of the personal computer era and have created and marketed scores of products since 1978. I've made money, lost money, made friends, lost friends, laughed and cried but had mostly fun and enjoyed working with (and meeting) a lot of smart passionate people along the way. To hear all my stories would take many weeks and beers. Since I've now old enough to get the 55+ senior discount at IHOP the stories are getting harder and harder to remember or maybe there's just too many and my bit bucket is over flowing. My current passions include EarthLCD's arLCD (an Arduino combo with an ezLCD Smart LCD and Arduino At Heart Product that was the first dual processor Arduino and makes it easy for someone to put a color TFT touchscreen in their project.
How I got to today:
Since my first computer in 1978 I've had always liked a language that was easy to use and interactive like Basic. Instant command line feedback takes the frustration out of programming because you do something in seconds and get a result immediately. Whether that passion for instant was created because I'm ADHD or impatient (a good entrepreneurial habit) or just knowing I failed right away and could figure out how to pass right away or just because I live in the 'I want it now' culture of America. I'm not sure. My first computer was a TRS-80 with 4K Basic programming language and 4K RAM, lol. It was an interpreter so the results were instant. Since becoming involved in Maker Products first with the arLCD in the Arduino world and then the Raspberry Pi with the Pi-RAQ. Since I liked to build products and am a hardware for ever I struggled for two years to get into the Arduino market and honestly it's a little expensive so has sold below my expectations. The Pi got me more excited because pi is more adaptable to be used in OEM products as we did with the pi-RAQ. I have customers putting it in vending machines for instance. And python on the Raspberry Pi which we use for all our demo's on the pi-RAQ is as close to ease of use as I've found to the Basic on my old TRS-80. So I've rambled a bit but I just wanted you to understand the thoughts and experiences that are helping create the upcoming pyOpy maker platform and community.
A moment of inspiration:
An engineer and long time friend Ken Segler here at EarthLCD first made me aware of python and when he discovered MicroPython by George P. Damien running on an ST arm microcontroller we thought it would be cool to have it run on the latest ezLCD the ezLCD-405. ezLCD's were originally designed to be a user interface (hardware and software) for embedded manufacturers of Medical devices, Instruments and Industrial equipment. Basically the easiest way to add a modern color TFT touchscreen UI to a product. For over 11 years and thousands of units it has done just that. One of the frustrating things for a want it know entrepreneurs is the 6-18 month delay from first purchase to real orders from our customers. The good news unlike the latest gadget they will build with the ezLCD for 5 to 10 years. From robots to lab rat environmental control to quilt making to nuclear plant monitoring the ezLCD family has found it's niche. The ezLCD is a client (like a terminal) to the customers controlling processor. Adding Python we can now make the ezLCD a stand alone controller and allow for faster design in by our customers. All of sudden it was working and ken made an editor in QT that would work on linux windows and mac! It also can include the firmware updater for the ezLCD (and any future board we make!)
Since my first computer in 1978 I've had always liked a language that was easy to use and interactive like Basic. Instant command line feedback takes the frustration out of programming because you do something in seconds and get a result immediately. Whether that passion for instant was created because I'm ADHD or impatient (a good entrepreneurial habit) or just knowing I failed right away and could figure out how to pass right away or just because I live in the 'I want it now' culture of America. I'm not sure. My first computer was a TRS-80 with 4K Basic programming language and 4K RAM, lol. It was an interpreter so the results were instant. Since becoming involved in Maker Products first with the arLCD in the Arduino world and then the Raspberry Pi with the Pi-RAQ. Since I liked to build products and am a hardware for ever I struggled for two years to get into the Arduino market and honestly it's a little expensive so has sold below my expectations. The Pi got me more excited because pi is more adaptable to be used in OEM products as we did with the pi-RAQ. I have customers putting it in vending machines for instance. And python on the Raspberry Pi which we use for all our demo's on the pi-RAQ is as close to ease of use as I've found to the Basic on my old TRS-80. So I've rambled a bit but I just wanted you to understand the thoughts and experiences that are helping create the upcoming pyOpy maker platform and community.
A moment of inspiration:
An engineer and long time friend Ken Segler here at EarthLCD first made me aware of python and when he discovered MicroPython by George P. Damien running on an ST arm microcontroller we thought it would be cool to have it run on the latest ezLCD the ezLCD-405. ezLCD's were originally designed to be a user interface (hardware and software) for embedded manufacturers of Medical devices, Instruments and Industrial equipment. Basically the easiest way to add a modern color TFT touchscreen UI to a product. For over 11 years and thousands of units it has done just that. One of the frustrating things for a want it know entrepreneurs is the 6-18 month delay from first purchase to real orders from our customers. The good news unlike the latest gadget they will build with the ezLCD for 5 to 10 years. From robots to lab rat environmental control to quilt making to nuclear plant monitoring the ezLCD family has found it's niche. The ezLCD is a client (like a terminal) to the customers controlling processor. Adding Python we can now make the ezLCD a stand alone controller and allow for faster design in by our customers. All of sudden it was working and ken made an editor in QT that would work on linux windows and mac! It also can include the firmware updater for the ezLCD (and any future board we make!)
Not spilling the beans:
I'm not going to spill all the beans today but the pyOpy is obviously got the something to with the py programming language. And maybe something to do with microcontrollers and control. The pyOpy will be low cost and take the best ideas from the Arduino and Raspberry Pi communities. And one can not forget the original easy to use embedded microcontroller product the BasicStamp from Parallax. It will also be designed to be worthy for education, one off prototypes and commercial manufacturable products. Since I've built maker, end user and OEM and integrator products over the last 37 years expect an attempt to solve all these masters!
Stay tuned the adventure has just begun!!
