Setting up Base in Slovenia

[vk6zgo]

Yeah im looking into a few open-source monitoring devices.
Not too sure what the key measurements are in agriculture? I assume things like temperature,light and water levels are important.
Yeah, awesome place otherwise, need to set up my workshop and get building asap!

Finally arrived, what a beautiful place.
Still haven't found anything remotely technological out here, but its still nice.
Anyone into agricultural monitoring?

It might be worth looking into-----I used to live in the WA Wheatbelt,& it was a fairly big deal there.

Most of the gear seemed to be to control the quantity of seed,fertiliser,etc which was being applied.
All that stuff is expensive,& farmers try to get "the biggest bang for their buck!"
Probably worth having a bit of a chat with some farmers,& maybe look at some agricultural publications.

[nctnico]

This thread is hilarious. Ok, I understand those from 'merica. Most of them don't know where to pinpoint Europe on the map. But most shocking is that guys in Europe don't have a slightest clue about this part of Europe. Some facts, Yugoslavia is dead almost 25 years (thank God  ) and we have never been behind the iron curtain or had any relationship with the Soviets since 1948.  Just my two cents.     

You are probably right but to me former Yugoslavia still has a stigma of being a war zone.

[zapta]

I love chicken souvlaki.

That's a French dish, Slovenia is known for its pasta.

[Shock]

I love chicken souvlaki.

That's a French dish, Slovenia is known for its pasta.

When in Rome do as the Irish do.

[avian]

Hi XaroRSA,

welcome to Slovenia! I'm the author of the blog Lovro linked.

Regarding where to buy electronics:

There are two general electronic component shops in Ljubljana that will sell small quantities to individuals. They both also send orders by mail.  As Dave said, neither will want to bother with you too much unless you are spending a lot of money with them. Expect to have to come back the next day for your order if you're buying more than a few items. But they serve their purpose well enough when you need an odd resistor in a hurry.

• http://www.ic-elect.si/ - typically better stocked in semiconductors.
• http://www.hte.si/ - good to call them before hand and check if they have your item. Their inventory tracking is kind of buggy.

There's also http://www.conrad.si/ (they have a physical shop as well in Ljubljana), but as Sprocket said, it's typically more expensive.

You can also find other shops that are specialized in cetain items (batteries - http://ebax.si, etc.), but often you will have to specifically ask them to sell to an individual.

When these are not enough, Farnell Slovenia (http://si.farnell.com/) is your best bet for internet ordering. Note that when buying things on the internet from outside of EU you might have to pay tax and import duties. Also, our customs might take a week or two to process your shipment. You will find that internet shops sometimes won't ship to Slovenia eventhough they say they ship to Europe.

Other places to check out

• https://www.kiberpipa.org/ - Kiberpipa is Ljubljana's oldest hackerspace. It's a bit messy right now after moving to a new location, but they just got a new 3D printer. There are regular talks and meetups and there are a few of us there that are into electronics.
• http://hekovnik.si/ - Something between hackerspace and a start-up incubator. Sometimes also a nice place to hang out even if you're not in the start-up scene and has an occasional hardware-related event.
• http://www.elektronik.si/ - A quite popular Slovenian forum about electronics. I don't find their community particularly inviting, but YMMV.

I'm working at Jožef Stefan Institute on wireless sensor networks (http://sensorlab.ijs.si/). I'm not involved in any project about agricultural monitoring, but we have had a few of those in the past. If you'll visit Ljubljana I would be happy to buy you a beer and chat about it.

Have fun!
Tomaž

[XaroRSA]

Hi Tomaz!

Thank you for the relevant and helpful post!
I will be sure to take you up on that beer when I'm in Ljubljana.
Will send you a pm or e-mail when the time comes.

For now I will browse those suppliers and start preparing a few projects.

Hi XaroRSA,

welcome to Slovenia! I'm the author of the blog Lovro linked.

Regarding where to buy electronics:

There are two general electronic component shops in Ljubljana that will sell small quantities to individuals. They both also send orders by mail.  As Dave said, neither will want to bother with you too much unless you are spending a lot of money with them. Expect to have to come back the next day for your order if you're buying more than a few items. But they serve their purpose well enough when you need an odd resistor in a hurry.

• http://www.ic-elect.si/ - typically better stocked in semiconductors.
• http://www.hte.si/ - good to call them before hand and check if they have your item. Their inventory tracking is kind of buggy.

There's also http://www.conrad.si/ (they have a physical shop as well in Ljubljana), but as Sprocket said, it's typically more expensive.

You can also find other shops that are specialized in cetain items (batteries - http://ebax.si, etc.), but often you will have to specifically ask them to sell to an individual.

When these are not enough, Farnell Slovenia (http://si.farnell.com/) is your best bet for internet ordering. Note that when buying things on the internet from outside of EU you might have to pay tax and import duties. Also, our customs might take a week or two to process your shipment. You will find that internet shops sometimes won't ship to Slovenia eventhough they say they ship to Europe.

Other places to check out

• https://www.kiberpipa.org/ - Kiberpipa is Ljubljana's oldest hackerspace. It's a bit messy right now after moving to a new location, but they just got a new 3D printer. There are regular talks and meetups and there are a few of us there that are into electronics.
• http://hekovnik.si/ - Something between hackerspace and a start-up incubator. Sometimes also a nice place to hang out even if you're not in the start-up scene and has an occasional hardware-related event.
• http://www.elektronik.si/ - A quite popular Slovenian forum about electronics. I don't find their community particularly inviting, but YMMV.

I'm working at Jožef Stefan Institute on wireless sensor networks (http://sensorlab.ijs.si/). I'm not involved in any project about agricultural monitoring, but we have had a few of those in the past. If you'll visit Ljubljana I would be happy to buy you a beer and chat about it.

Have fun!
Tomaž

[dannyf]

But most shocking is that guys in Europe don't have a slightest clue about this part of Europe.

Fortunately, America doesn't yet have a monopoly on morons.



They come in all shape, form and nationality.

[jpb]

This thread is hilarious. Ok, I understand those from 'merica. Most of them don't know where to pinpoint Europe on the map. But most shocking is that guys in Europe don't have a slightest clue about this part of Europe. Some facts, Yugoslavia is dead almost 25 years (thank God  ) and we have never been behind the iron curtain or had any relationship with the Soviets since 1948.  Just my two cents.     

You're right of course but a little harsh. Yugoslavia under Tito was a communist state and bordered the communist states of the Soviet Union so conflating them is understandable. Similarly, to some of us 25 years is not a long time.

[jpb]

Careful about Digikey and Mouser - both will ship to Europe, but they are completely US-based (no EU warehouses), so you will get hit with ridiculous shipping charges, import/custom fees and VAT. The customs and VAT varies between countries and it is UPS (or whoever they use to ship) collecting it, so don't be surprised by the total cost of your order doubling easily when the package arrives and the UPS guy hands you the bill!

Oh and at least Digikey will often give you trouble with credit cards and various idiotic US export forms to make sure that you are not going to build a ballistic missile with your $0.01 SMD resistors or a PIC ...

I just ordered from Mouser a few days ago, they added VAT but as my order exceeded £40 there was no shipping and it arrived the next day. Very similar to Farnell except Farnell have a lower limit for getting free shipping.

I am in the UK so you may be referring to the rest of Europe. (We are still in the EU despite the rise of UKIP! )

[GK]

Similarly, to some of us 25 years is not a long time.

Going further off topic..... I remember being dragged to an ethnic restaurant around about that time and my grandfather (an ex SS NCO) getting into a mildly testy argument with the owner who by then was pretending that his restaurant wasn't Yugoslav, due to the shit storm overseas, as he explained it. I think my grandfather got shitty with people denying their national identity, as he saw it.

The only thing on the menu that looked remotely pleasing to my eyes back then was "hamburger". I wasn't much of a hamburger fan though and I didn't really like beef too much by then either. I remember hoping that this hamburger won't have too much of a patty in stuffed into it. Well what I got was a medium sized plate sporting a single freaking ~200mm diameter, ~ 30mm thick rissole. WTF? There was a slice of tomato and a little parsley on the side for garnish. I ate that.

[zapta]

Going further off topic..... I remember being dragged to an ethnic restaurant around about that time and my grandfather (an ex SS NCO) getting into a mildly testy argument with the owner who by then was pretending that his restaurant wasn't Yugoslav, due to the shit storm overseas, as he explained it. I think my grandfather got shitty with people denying their national identity, as he saw it.

It's understandable that Yugoslavs and ex SS people do not get along ;-)

http://www.historynet.com/invasion-of-yugoslavia-waffen-ss-captain-fritz-klingenberg-and-the-capture-of-belgrade-during-world-war-ii.htm

[XaroRSA]

Hi Peeps, soz to resurrect this thread, but quick question to the slovenians again.
Where is the best/cheapest places to buy hardware basics, such as nuts,bolts, washers and rods?
I know of Bauhaus, but I doubt they the cheapest around.

Regards

[free_electron]

I love chicken souvlaki.

That's a French dish, Slovenia is known for its pasta.

French ? FRENCH ? Souvlaki is greek !

[free_electron]

This thread is hilarious. Ok, I understand those from 'merica. Most of them don't know where to pinpoint Europe on the map. But most shocking is that guys in Europe don't have a slightest clue about this part of Europe. Some facts, Yugoslavia is dead almost 25 years (thank God  ) and we have never been behind the iron curtain or had any relationship with the Soviets since 1948.  Just my two cents.     

I was born and raised in europe. When i left school in 1989 none of these countries existed. Estland Letland Lithuania, Slovenia , Croatia ,Tshechia. I would not be able to point to them on a map

Portugal, spain,france,germany,england,ireland,belgium,the netherlands,poland , sweden,norway , italy,switzerland and finland i can show you. Anything else is in the 'red zone' (in the early 80's those were colored red because they were communist.

Every fart that is released over there wants to be an independent state. Yet they all want to belong to the unified europe. What an oxymoron...

[Towger]

Exactly. There was just a big area called the USSR.
Actually we had a Hungarian in our class at school. Don't know how they got out, but I think his father was an IT expert.

[Dave]

It's understandable that Yugoslavs and ex SS people do not get along ;-)

You would think that. Not long ago the right wing party erected a statue for the 32 fallen Slovene Home Guard members (national traitors and Nazi collaborators) in Grahovo.
It might be worth mentioning that the current leader of the biggest right wing party was found guilty of accepting bribes and got sentenced to 2 years in prison. People stupid enough to support this guy (and there are many) are going to escort him on his way to prison this Friday.

Germany condemned the use of any Nazi related symbols (even the rock band Kiss has to use a different logo when they have gigs in Germany, because the two S-es in their original logo look similar to the SS logo). Using Nazi symbols in Germany is not just frowned upon, it's illegal. Slovenians erect statues for these people.

This is my first and last political rant, promise.

[zapta]

French ? FRENCH ? Souvlaki is greek !

Yes, it's Greek, and you can find good one over the hill at Vasilis @ Santa Cruz.  We go there often.

[GK]

It's understandable that Yugoslavs and ex SS people do not get along ;-)

You would think that. Not long ago the right wing party erected a statue for the 32 fallen Slovene Home Guard members (national traitors and Nazi collaborators) in Grahovo.
It might be worth mentioning that the current leader of the biggest right wing party was found guilty of accepting bribes and got sentenced to 2 years in prison. People stupid enough to support this guy (and there are many) are going to escort him on his way to prison this Friday.

Germany condemned the use of any Nazi related symbols (even the rock band Kiss has to use a different logo when they have gigs in Germany, because the two S-es in their original logo look similar to the SS logo). Using Nazi symbols in Germany is not just frowned upon, it's illegal. Slovenians erect statues for these people.

This is my first and last political rant, promise.

Well, it was the anti-fascists that forced the Yugoslav government to abandon its pact with Nazi Germany, giving Hitler cause to invade the "treasonous" nation in 1941. The Nazi’s never really had a great deal of trouble finding sympathetic support amongst fascists of nearly any flavor, or other ideologues with whom they shared a common enemy – enemies such as communists and Jews.
For example the virulently Catholic Ustaše which based much of its ideology on contemporary Nazism whilst maintaining strong ties to the Vatican, with attendant clerical support. The Ustaše were even strange bedfellows with the Bosnian Muslims, due to their shared hatred of Jews and principally Orthodox Christian Serbs. From memory I think the number of Christian Serbs killed by their collaboration in 1941 is estimated at 600,000 or thereabouts. The Bosnian Muslims Mujos were promptly canalized into the Waffen-SS. Even as late as 1943, ~20,000 Mujos were formed into the SS Handschar Division, to assist with Nazi activities in the former Yugoslavia.
There was some degree of falling out between the Nazis and the Ustaše towards the end though, as the Ustaše wasn’t sufficiently committed to the extermination of Jews, sparing some that pledged to convert to Catholicism.

You can’t really compare modern Germany with the current state of the former “Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes”. The former, being a strategic barrier to the spread of Soviet communism, was neutered by the Allies and essentially forced to reform itself. The latter was neglected and left to rot. The genocide of 1941 of course was the precursor to the “ethnic cleansing” of the relatively recent Kosovo war – but that time ‘round fascist Christians killing Muslims. Hatreds, divisions and decades-old sympathies for defunct and morally bankrupt ideologies will continue to simmer away in that backwards part of the world for a while yet.