Help on what to buy for PC Temp project

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brpc
 
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Help on what to buy for PC Temp project

Post by brpc »

I created a sleeper PC with an old IBM case, but ripped out *all* the guts in the name of space and airflow.

The only hitch is that I have a cd drive slot at the top that I can't get rid of, so I was thinking rather than blocking it off completely, I'd make it useful. I want to put a custom temperature readout there. I have some general idea of what I need but would like some feedback/confirmation that I'm on the right track.

I'm assuming I'll need to use a microcontroller with arduino for this instead of circuitpython because it is easier to communicate with the host PC?

I already have a 5v 16mhz Metro Mini (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2590) which I think will work? and I was going to connect it to a quad led digit display w/ i2c backpack (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1911) or this 16x2 display + i2c backpack if I was feeling fancy (https://www.adafruit.com/product/399 and https://www.adafruit.com/product/292).

Is this all I would need? I have plenty of extra usb headers left on the motherboard, so I was going to just connect it internally: header->usb plug adapter->usb cable-><this project>

My primary concern is the communication with the host PC.

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brpc
 
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Re: Help on what to buy for PC Temp project

Post by brpc »

bump?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Help on what to buy for PC Temp project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Either Arduino or CircuitPython are capable of communicating with the PC via USB/Serial. But you already have a Metro Mini, so Arduino would be the way to go. The Metro Mini is more than powerful enough to do temperature monitoring, but doesn't have enough horsepower for an interpreted language like Python.

Either of those displays would work nicely. Choose the one that looks best with your system design.

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brpc
 
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Re: Help on what to buy for PC Temp project

Post by brpc »

Wonderful- sounds like I'm on the right track.

Is there a good guide or introduction for communicating over usb/serial? I have found some tutorials on the internet, but they don't go in-depth on establishing communication.

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Re: Help on what to buy for PC Temp project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Here is a tutorial with example code that covers both sides of the communication: https://www.meccanismocomplesso.org/en/ ... unication/

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