EChing

Hello All, this is a fun and simple Arduino project. No soldering. The parts are straight forward: I already had all of them when I got the idea for this project.

These eChing (electronic I-Ching) results are for entertainment purposes only!

The genesis for my eChing actually comes from reading P.K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle in which several characters often rely on the iChing for decision-making. PKD himself used it to advance in the writing of this novel.

My version is electronic: you push a button and it will randomly chose a hexagram among the 64, displaying the pattern and the number so that you can easily consult the book for explanation.

One Arduino Board; we used an Uno

Small breadboard

8 male-to-male wires & 9 female-to-male wires

One 8 x 8 LED dot-matrix for displaying the hexagram pattern

One 4-digit 7-segment clock display for the hexagram number (TM1637Display)

One 220-ohm resistor

One battery case with a barrel connector (and switch); 2 AA batteries

I Ching book; I got mine free from a Free Little Library. You can easily get one at a used bookstore.

Don't forget to choose your board from the list in the Arduino IDE!

You can use our code in the file below; it contains comments and documentation for legibility.

Two libraries are used, for controlling the dot matrix and the 4-digit display: LedControl from https://github.com/wayoda/LedControl for the LED dot matrix, and TM1637Display from https://github.com/wayoda/LedControl for the 4-digit display.

Of course you can download the code after you've wired the circuit but I think it's more satisfying to be able to use the device once the wiring is complete.

Red wires are for power, and black wires go to ground; other data wires are uniquely colored for clarity.

If you have any problems, write me a note and I'll help.

Press the button in the middle of the breadboard to have your fortune told or at least to get random advice for some fork in your road.

And I will leave you with number 42.