I'm a software guy with a curiosity for electronics. I did a few boards in high school, but I'm almost a complete novice. I know the very basics, but no more.
I do have an idea for a project, but I want to know if this is something I should even consider starting out with as someone who doesn't know much of anything.
I basically want a infrared (or magnetic?) detector that detects when a light beam has been broken. This is for a model railroad project, so the emitter and receiver won't need to be placed more than a inch or two apart.
Now, as I wouldn't know where to begin with microcontrollers (this is where the problem is, I expect) I won't need any processing on the board. I do however want to be able to hook this up to a pc (usb, serial port, whatever) and write whatever logic I need there. Basically, I just want to be able to poll the circuit for it's current status (Blocked: true or false) at regular intervals. Having more than one detector is a plus.
What do you say? Way over my league? Is it possible to buy a kit, or the schematics for this? What do I need to hook something like this up to a serial port?
I do have an idea for a project, but I want to know if this is something I should even consider starting out with as someone who doesn't know much of anything.
I basically want a infrared (or magnetic?) detector that detects when a light beam has been broken. This is for a model railroad project, so the emitter and receiver won't need to be placed more than a inch or two apart.
Now, as I wouldn't know where to begin with microcontrollers (this is where the problem is, I expect) I won't need any processing on the board. I do however want to be able to hook this up to a pc (usb, serial port, whatever) and write whatever logic I need there. Basically, I just want to be able to poll the circuit for it's current status (Blocked: true or false) at regular intervals. Having more than one detector is a plus.
What do you say? Way over my league? Is it possible to buy a kit, or the schematics for this? What do I need to hook something like this up to a serial port?