lsh3rd wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:20 am
... but tying all the subsystems together seems to be shrouded in a certain amount of mystery...
Because that's where the trouble lies in any engineering project! That's where the complexity is hiding.
Increases in scope & complexity
- Spinning a motor on a bench is a project that takes x time, money and effort
- 10x: Spinning that motor in a meaningful way on a car is another project
- 10x (again!): Simplifying this so a normal person that doesn't know you can use it like a normal car
The further down you move in that list, the more decisions you have to make, and the more freedom there is the more ways are of doing things, so you can quickly end up with a system of which only one in the world exists!
Hitting a moving target
Additionally we have the problem that knowledge rots fast because the space is still expanding at a rapid pace (it's the internet in 1999 all over again!). Especially with new components being unlocked by J&D and others on a regular basis (opening up new avenues!). Your build also depends on your budget and your locality, Europe and North America have different pools of parts available, different legalities by country.
On the other end there is foundational knowledge that holds for decades and hasn't changed much.
Linking Wiki & Forum
All that said, linking wiki pages back to forum threads that are still developing and vice versa is a good thing to do. I have done that a few times, and eventually the more permanent threads will turn into wiki pages (if we do it).
- Screenshot from 2022-12-06 11-50-45.png (15.42 KiB) Viewed 11793 times
Describing learning paths for others
If you think there is a "path" that needs a simple description make a wiki page for it, with links into it and links out of it where you can go at the end of that "path", people will then traverse it and contribute. Nothing worse than an orphan wiki page.
The knowledge base will grow organically and a bit messy but with time we will tidy up the most commonly traversed paths.
Focus time
Given the vast amount of areas one can learn about you have to be relentless in prioritising what you are working on not to get tangled up in details and end up never developing anything "complete", there is no way you can read everything, so you might as well start with meaningful intermediate steps, no need to program your indicators with funny lights if you haven't got a car that drives/charges (unless your goal is indicators and not a full car!)
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