added 2014 posts

Gemfile

@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ source "https://rubygems.org"
 
 gem "github-pages", group: :jekyll_plugins
 gem "jekyll-include-cache", group: :jekyll_plugins
+gem 'jekyll-paginate'
 gem "webrick"

Gemfile.lock

@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ PLATFORMS
 DEPENDENCIES
   github-pages
   jekyll-include-cache
+  jekyll-paginate
   webrick
 
 BUNDLED WITH

_config.yml

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 title: Matthew Tran's Blog!
-description: >
-  Hi! I'm a human being who loves to learn new things and create cool projects.
+description: Hi! I'm a human being who loves to learn new things and create cool projects.
 repository: dragonlock2/dragonlock2.github.io
 base_url: ""
 url: "https://matthewtran.dev"
@@ -18,6 +17,7 @@ minimal_mistakes_skin: dark
 plugins:
   - jekyll-include-cache
   - jekyll-feed
+  - jekyll-paginate
 
 analytics:
   provider: "google-gtag"
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ analytics:
     tracking_id: "G-WH7WNE01V5"
     anonymize_ip: false # default
 
+paginate: 8
+paginate_path: /page:num/
+
 author:
   name: "Matthew Tran"
   avatar: "/assets/img/bio.jpg"

_posts/2009-12-31-paper-flashlight.md

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+---
+title: Paper Flashlight
+date: 2009-12-31
+categories: other
+excerpt: Where it all started. How I discovered my passion.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2009/waterfall-laquinta.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-9-19</sub>
+
+For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a maker. My parents told me that I started playing with Lego when I was one year old. Whether or not I did anything cool with Lego other than pressing bricks together and pulling them apart is another question entirely. I still remember all the fun I had putting together giant Lego sets during weekends. Then I’d take them apart and not rebuild them. Then I’d build something else with them. Back in elementary school, I always spent my free time in class making random things out of paper. I just liked working with my hands. At home, I was fascinated by chemistry. Every time I saw some chemistry set being sold I had to take a look. I just loved mixing chemicals together and seeing things happen.
+
+One day in 4th grade, I decided to remove the lightbulb from my microscope. I was intrigued by some aspect of it. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I was somehow able to connect that lightbulb to a battery and light it up. That was the eureka moment. Excitement rushed through me like current rushed through the lightbulb. From then on I just knew I had to continue exploring this topic further.
+
+After that, I tried to learn anything I could about electrical engineering. I didn’t really have any mentors or anyone that could help me, so I taught myself. Google and Youtube were my best friends in that regard. My dad did have an EE degree he didn’t use, but all he was able to teach me was how to strip wire. To be honest, that is an incredibly useful skill.
+
+For my first “project”, I tried to make a flashlight. It wasn’t really even much of a flashlight. It was just a tube of paper with some room for a AA battery and lightbulb and wires. I still remember wrapping a battery in aluminum foil to make a battery holder and wondering why it was heating up. Hint: I shorted it.
+
+Fast forward to 2011 and I learned about something called an Arduino. Controlling electronics using some text on a computer was really intriguing. My dad bought me an Arduino Duemilanove on Amazon and I got straight to learning. Starting with the blink sketch, I taught myself how to code, albeit ineffectively. I didn’t really learn how to code until Troy, where I had quite the eye-opening experience learning how to code for real. Learning CS at Berkeley was another eye-opening experience in its own right.
+
+In 6th grade, I was able to convince my dad to let me solder. I still remember him trying to teach me and burning himself in the process. I don’t have any pictures because I didn’t get a phone until late 2012, but my first soldering project was a gamepad of sorts for Arduino. Looking at the schematic, I was able to solder together the circuit for the MAX7219 controlling an LED matrix. Back in the day I thought that was so cool. It still is.
+
+Jump forward many years to junior year of high school. I was competing at the SciOly invitational held at UC Berkeley. While walking back from an event with my teammate Jared and his Berkeley friend, I mentioned that I liked electronics and coding. They immediately recommended the EECS major. In my head I was like “Hold up, there’s a major for that?” And that’s why I’m at UC Berkeley today majoring in EECS.

_posts/2013-06-10-gaming-computer.md

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+---
+title: Gaming Computer
+date: 2013-06-10
+categories: projects
+excerpt: For my birthday, I asked my dad if I could build my very own gaming computer. He said yes.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2013/gaming-lighting.jpg
+
+gallery:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2013/gaming-1.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2013/gaming-lighting.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+All the way back in 2013, I asked my dad if I could build a gaming computer for my birthday. I always had a tendency to ask my parents to fund my projects as my birthday present. My dad happily obliged because building a computer is a pretty good skill to have. If I remember correctly, my budget was somewhere in the range of $600 and I definitely made the most of it. The main specs to note are that it had an i5-3570k and Radeon HD 7850. Since building a computer is basically like Lego, I won’t bore you with the details.
+
+{% include gallery %}
+
+Over the years, I’ve made numerous upgrades to my setup. I’ve upgraded to a GTX 970. I’ve upgraded to a 27″ Dell U2715H monitor. I moved over to an SSD. I even bought a mechanical keyboard. Just a bunch of things to keep the computer up to date with the latest workloads I’d throw at it and improve the user experience. This computer really has been through quite a lot with me and has been invaluable as I’ve furthered my passion.

_posts/2014-01-04-coil-gun-v1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+title: Coil Gun v1
+date: 2014-01-04
+categories: projects
+excerpt: One of my earliest projects. It bridged my love of Lego guns with my newfound passion of electrical engineering.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v1.jpg
+
+gallery:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v1-open.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v1.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+Considering how much I liked building Lego guns when I was little, it naturally followed that I’d want to build an electric gun too. The gist of a coil gun is that a projectile is pulled toward the center of a coil. Once it reaches the center or at least some time around that, the coil is shut off, letting the projectile continue through the barrel. The timing is really important, but using a capacitor bank, which could dump its energy in a split second, made that part easy.
+
+To charge the capacitor bank, I used the flash circuit from a disposable camera. Those things can pump out like 300v from a 1.5v AA battery. The instantaneous current through the coil is enormous, so I had to use a TRIAC to do the switching. Anyway, here’s some pictures.
+
+{% include gallery %}
+
+To test the power, I actually made some ballistic gel but the coil gun pretty much only made dents. Here’s some videos of the coil gun firing.
+
+{% include video id="yjVss5yEzsw" provider="youtube" %}
+
+{% include video id="pX6GIcFsQIw" provider="youtube" %}

_posts/2014-04-27-coil-gun-v2.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+---
+title: Coil Gun v2
+date: 2014-04-27
+categories: projects
+excerpt: After finishing v1, I decided to crank things up and make a six-stage one. It was big, bulky, and barely functional, but a lot of fun to operate.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2.jpg
+
+gallery:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-1.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-2.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-3.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-4.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-5.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-6.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-7.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-8.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-9.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2-10.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/coilgun-v2.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+Soon after finishing v1, I decided to crank up the difficulty and make a six stage one. The premise of the design was to basically replicate the electronics of v1 but across six stages instead of just one. There’s some photodiodes right before each coil to determine when to fire each one. An Arduino served to read sensors and control each coil. I also added a strobe flashlight to the front of it. Here’s a bunch of pictures.
+
+{% include gallery %}
+
+Just for fun, I also decided to try to measure the speed of the projectile. I attached two photodiode pairs to the ends of an acrylic tube. I shot myself in the process, but got a rough estimate of 60mph. Here’s some videos of me shooting the coil gun.
+
+{% include video id="9MAGPcxKsnI" provider="youtube" %}
+
+{% include video id="vBMtScHNyqY" provider="youtube" %}

_posts/2014-05-18-robo-cross-2014.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+title: Robo-Cross 2014
+date: 2014-05-18
+categories: school scioly
+excerpt: An exciting event that came in from rotation that marked the start of my tinkering with robotics.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014.jpg
+
+gallery:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014-1.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014-2.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014-3.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014-4.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014-5.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/robocross-2014.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+An exciting event that came in for the SciOly 2014 season was Robo-Cross. I don’t remember too much about the rules, but I do remember helping out with the build process a good amount. Sadly, I had to do six study events that year which meant I couldn’t compete in Robo-Cross. Anyways, here’s some pictures of our robot.
+
+{% include gallery %}

_posts/2014-06-15-lego-crossbow.md

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+---
+title: Lego Crossbow
+date: 2014-06-15
+categories: projects
+excerpt: I've been playing with Lego for as long as I can remember. This was one of my favorite builds and surprisingly still intact today.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/legocrossbow.jpg
+
+gallery:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/legocrossbow-1.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/legocrossbow-2.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/legocrossbow.jpg
+
+gallery2:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/legocrossbow-metal.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+Lego has always been a huge part of my childhood. According to my parents, I started playing with them ever since I was one year old. One of the things that I kept on building and reiterating were Lego guns. Being able to shoot at something has always been fascinating to me. I remember always working on making each Lego gun stronger and stronger. Eventually, I got tired of reloading them all the time, so I looked into designs that were easily reloadable. I never had the right pieces for more complex designs, so I eventually settled on a crossbow. Surprisingly, its still in one piece today. Here’s some old pictures.
+
+{% include gallery %}
+
+By loading in a nail after the Lego projectile, I was able to barely pierce an Altoids tin.
+
+{% include gallery id="gallery2" %}
+
+Here’s a video of the crossbow in action.
+
+{% include video id="rtRS2m94RlE" provider="youtube" %}

_posts/2014-08-08-mobile-rc-robot-arm.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+---
+title: Mobile RC Robot Arm
+date: 2014-08-08
+categories: projects
+excerpt: During the summer before high school, I decided to try my hand at making my very own robot. It was the perfect opportunity to try a bunch of new things.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo.jpg
+
+gallery:
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-8.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-5.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-3.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-2.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-4.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-7.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-9.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-10.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-1.jpg
+  - image_path: /assets/img/2014/rcrobo-6.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+During the summer before high school, I decided to try my hand at building a robot. I took a good amount of inspiration from Robo-Cross at Muscatel. This was the perfect opportunity to try a bunch of things that I hadn’t done before. I feel like pictures will be worth a thousand words here so I’ll just post a bunch. Surprisingly, I actually took pictures of this project throughout the build process. The process was long and arduous, but I pushed through it and ended up with something that I was really proud of. The title of this project pretty much tells you everything you need to know about what it does.
+
+{% include gallery %}

_posts/2014-12-17-pvc-bow.md

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+title: PVC Bow
+date: 2014-12-17
+categories: projects
+excerpt: During the Hunger Games craze back in the day, I decided to take a look at archery. I ended up with something I want to do for a lifetime.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/pvcbow.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+Likely due to the Hunger Games craze back in the day, I really wanted to get into archery. Throughout my childhood and even now, I haven’t ever shown much interest in sports. For some reason, I was immediately drawn to archery when I found out about it. Later on, I realized that as an engineer at heart, I liked archery because I had to interact with a tool that I could endlessly tinker with and improve.
+
+Since I didn’t know if archery was just a phase or a lifelong hobby, I decided to build my own bow first. Going off online tutorials, I bought a couple of fiberglass rods to make the core of the bow and some arrows out of. Paracord served as the bowstring, although I later replaced it with a custom bowstring made of fishing line. The draw weight was about 40lb. which was heavy, but I got used to it. Here’s the one video I got of it.
+
+{% include video id="DT-cAYTV7Ns" provider="youtube" %}
+
+It’s safe to say that I knew I was going to be doing archery for a long time after that.

_posts/2014-12-27-pvc-compound-bow.md

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+title: PVC Compound Bow
+date: 2014-12-27
+categories: projects
+excerpt: Something fun I put together after I built a regular PVC bow.
+header:
+  teaser: /assets/img/2014/pvccompoundbow.jpg
+---
+
+<sub>Written 10-8-19</sub>
+
+After building a normal PVC bow, I decided to build a compound one. Mine didn’t have a let-off, but the pulleys still enabled a much smoother draw. It had similar power to the 40lb. PVC bow despite only having a 30lb. draw weight. Here’s the only video I have of it:
+
+{% include video id="bm1IR2uwWWI" provider="youtube" %}

_posts/2023-07-03-moving-to-jekyll.md

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 ---
-title: "Moving to Jekyll"
+title: Moving to Jekyll
 date: 2023-07-03
 categories: other
 excerpt: After several years on WordPress, I realized my use case would be better suited for a static generator like Jekyll. To better maintainability and security!
 header:
-  teaser: /assets/img/jekyll_logo.png
+  teaser: /assets/img/2023/jekyll-logo.png
 ---
 
 Nothing much to see here. The process was pretty smooth, only had to do a little custom HTML and CSS to get things more right.

_posts/2023-07-05-cheatsheets.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: "Cheatsheets"
+title: Cheatsheets
 date: 2023-07-05
 categories: school
 excerpt: A compiled list of the cheatsheets I made while at Berkeley.