Welcome Arduino Yún – the first member of a series of wifi products combining Arduino with Linux

in Arduino by DP | 4 comments

Arduino_Y_n_iso

Welcome Arduino Yún – the first member of a series of wifi products combining Arduino with Linux:

Massimo Banzi announced it some minutes ago during his annual “The state of Arduino” presentation at Maker Faire Bay Area:  Arduino Yún  is the first of a revolutionary family of wifi products combining Arduino with Linux.

Yún means “cloud” in chinese language,  as the purpose of this board to make it simple to connect to complex web services directly from Arduino.

Posted in Arduino | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Minimalist AVR programmer

in AVR by DP | 2 comments

IMG_5985-1024x682

Philip Peter posted an article describing how he designed his Minimalist AVR programmer:

I always like a challenge, so when I saw [simpleavr]s vusbtiny programmer, I started to wonder how small I could make an AVR programmer. All in all I’m pretty pleased with the result.

The schematic is almost the same as the original one. I only added a LED an resistor to indicate a proper power supply.

Via Electronics Lab.

Posted in AVR | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Tutorial: Kali Linux with GNU Radio, GQRX and RTL-SDR dongle


If you’ve tried to install GNU Radio from binaries without success, this video from NeedSec is for you. He demonstrates how to intall GNU Radio on Kali Linux from source, and confirms operation of the RTL-SDR dongle using GQRX radio receiver software.
Continue reading →

DIY laser engraver

in DIY by DP | 0 comments

DIY-Laser-Engraver

Want a laser engraver for your workshop? Here’s an Instructable  by ianmcmill on how to build your own.

If you have some old donated scanners and printers chances are you have most of the stuff needed to make your own DIY Laser Engraver. The main thing that all laser engravers have in common is a method of moving a laser or set of mirrors in an X Y pattern. Scanners and printers have motors and rails that can allow for accurate motion so all that is needed to be added into the mix is a control system, some motor drivers and the laser system. ianmcmill shows us how he did it using an Arduino and 90 € of other various parts.

Via Hacked Gadgets.

Making chassis overlays with a Cameo

in DIY, tutorials by DP | 0 comments

cameo-overlay-7

Teletypeguy posted a simple how-to on making chassis overlays with a Cameo:

After finally getting stencils working with my Cameo cutter, I wanted to try making chassis overlays. Over the years I have spent good money getting polycarbonate overlays (7 to 10-mil) with rear silkscreen for connector identification and such, a flood-fill color, backed with 3M 467 adhesive, and die-cut with all the openings and outer shape. It’s a great way to allow multiple overlays to work for different products using a single chassis with a flexible common hole pattern, but pricey.

Via the forum.

Posted in DIY, tutorials | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Laser-cut records made from wood

in DIY by DP | 0 comments

article-2323708-19C11858000005DC-765_634x423

Here’s the world’s first Laser-cut records made from wood by Amanda Ghassaei:

You can now turn your favourite music downloads into playable records made from materials you have lying around the house.

Amanda Ghassaei, 24, from San Francisco has created the world’s first laser-cut wooden records using songs from Radiohead and Joy Division.
And the software engineer has made the instructions available to download, making it possible to create your own at home.

Via Adafruit.

Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading →

Posted in DIY | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Atmel Tech on Tour: Bringing hands-on technology training to you

in skills, tutorials by DP | 0 comments

banner_TOT-Microsite

Xykon writes to let us know about the new Atmel Tech on Tour events:

During this hands-on training, you will learn how to lower the power of your system designs using Atmel microcontrollers (MCUs) in conjunction with our wireless and touch solutions. Many of the lessons you’ll learn will be applicable to a wide variety of applications, such as process control nodes for monitoring and controlling systems used in factories, or general MCU systems requiring both wireless and touch user interfaces. Specifically we will focus on a mid-end thermostat that provides basic climate controls with additional sensing, control and interface capabilities. As part of the training, you will be able to walk away with an Atmel SAM4L-EK Evaluation Kit.

You can find the full event agenda here.

Via the forum.

Posted in skills, tutorials | Tagged , | Leave a comment

PCB a Week 10: Trifluxx

in PCBs, project logs by DP | 1 comment

SAMSUNG

Mats continues his challenge of designing one PCB every week.  In week 10 he came up with Trifluxx, a triangular PCB game:

I ended up with using resistor arrays instead of discrete 0805 resistors to save some space and the board can be used for both a sound reactive flasher or some kind of a 1/2/3-player game if the buttons are cut off and connected to the main board by wires. The center of the board will either have a 5mm thru-hole led for the game version or a condenser microphone for the flasher version.

The board is powered by a cr2032 coin cell mounted at the bottom of the board – all other parts are at the top.

Via the project log forum.

Posted in PCBs, project logs | Tagged | 1 Comment

USB Infrared Toy free PCB build

in builds by DP | 0 comments

5-19-13_

Chris built a USB IR Toy free PCB.  With the USB IR Toy you can use a remote control with your computer, view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, capture and replay remote control buttons.

If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer.

You can get IR Toy v2 for $22.05, including world wide shipping.

Via the contact form.

Dancing Lego and Five Servos

in R-Pi by the machinegeek | 2 comments


Pierre Villeneuve writes about his Dancing Lego robot project:

Its based on my Raspberry Pi, five servo motors, and Lego parts stolen from my son’s collection. The robot dances to some pretty groovy music, and there is a special appearance by Lego Batman.

In addition to the Pi, he uses a hardware 16-channel 12-bit PWM controller board from Adafruit to interface with the five servos.

For more info and source code visit Pierre’s Smoked Bits website.

Via the contact form.

Posted in R-Pi | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Bay Area Maker Faire 2013: ‘Get your stuff made’ presentation

14.si5lw

Great turnout for the Get Your Stuff Made presentation! Ian talked about the ways open source is currently manufactured, and outlined the package we send to Seeed Studio to start a new project.

Thanks to everyone who came to listen!

PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit annotation component file

I
If you are getting started with Cypress Semiconductor’s new PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit dev board here’s an interesting addition to the standard IDE. It’s a library of useful annotation components and macros by Cypkees, who describes: “The PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit component is an annotation component with active wire terminals to show how external devices should connect to the Pioneer kit. You can browse PSoC Creator’s library of annotation components and even make your own annotation components if we don’t have something you need. The above video shows the annotation component and some quick examples of how useful it can be.”

The PSoC4 Pioneer Kit library zip file can be downloaded here.

Via Element 14 Community forum.

App note: Build precise S/H Amps for fast 12 Bit ADCs

in app notes by DP | 0 comments

2013-05-20_0707

An app note from Analog Devices: Build precise S/H Amps for fast 12 Bit ADCs (PDF!)

S/h amplifier circuits will use one of several standard architectures: closed-loop or open-loop, and inverting or noninverting configurations. No matter what circuit type designers employ, they need to incorporate a high-speed amplifier to buffer the input signal and a switch to connect and disconnect the input signal from the hold capacitor. In addition, a FET-input amplifier is needed to buffer the voltage on the hold capacitor and drive an a-d converter.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

in Free PCBs by DP | 92 comments

chips

We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service.

This week two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB.

You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another!

Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

Continue reading →

Posted in Free PCBs | Tagged | 92 Comments

App note: In house unit with bluetooth low energy module hardware user guide

in app notes by DP | 0 comments

2013-05-19_2337

In house unit with bluetooth low energy module hardware user guide (PDF):

This document describes the design details of the In House Unit (IHU) project. It will guide the user to know and start the design based on this IHU board. It gives a clear concept of the entire design.

The IHU design with CSR Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE)module is a platform toevaluate the integration of the BLE module and the AtmelAVR XMEGAmicrocontroller.

The kit offers a fixed inteface with BLE and LCD and demos the basic communication between them. It is quite easy for the user to get started using AVR XMEGA peripherals.

Posted in app notes | Tagged , , | Leave a comment