Ian is in Tokyo visiting the Maker Faire set to be held during the upcoming weekend (1-2 December). Our resident blogger Filip/arakis is back from our Shenzhen sourcing challenge, and is currently fighting jet-lag. Normal posting schedule will resume tomorrow. We continue to work on our xQFP breakout board updates. Currently we’re various researching QFP […]
Author Archives: DP
Online ASCII PCB and schematics editor
Shaos is working on an online “old school” ASCII PCB and schematics editor. It’s open source, and based on SQLite + Hope on the server side, while the client uses JavaScript + a bytecode interpreter. Currently it’s a shared sandbox with old good DOS ASCII and pseudographics “palette” (alternative Russian DOS codepage with some custom […]
Magic Mouth – an Arduino speech shield
Want to get your Arduino to speak? Here is an open source shield that will do just that. Magic Mouth is built on a single sided board making it easy to home manufacture. It uses an ATmega168 to generate speech, and it communicates with the Arduino over I2C. It’s an all through hole, single sided […]
Open 7400 first prize winner receives his Analog Discovery bench tool
Matseng shows off the prize he got for taking first place in this years open 7400 contest with his “Constant load with nixie readouts” entry. He chose to get one of the Analog Discovery bench tools Diligent was kind enough to sponsor the contest with. Analog Discovery is a 100 MSPS twin channel oscilloscope, 2 […]
DIY electroplating and CNC milling PCBs
Here’s a video made by Cpirius of DIY electroplating and CNC milling of PCBs. The electroplating process he uses is good for down to 26mil vias. It looks like cpirius has made a video of his entire PCB prototyping process: Drilling holes, electroplating, mechanically etching and cutting out the board. Read more about the electroplating […]
Loki – a new PSoC based development board
Nickjohnson posted his Loki PSoC based development board in the project log forum: Loki is an arduino-esque development board I’ve been working on based on Cypress’s underappreciated PSoC series of chips. The PSoCs are novel in that instead of predefined peripherals, each chip has a set of programmable digital logic blocks, as well as analog […]
#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs
Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch […]
Global Geek Tour: Visit Tokyo Hackerspace
Visiting Tokyo Hackerspace for a presentation on incorporating in Japan. More pics below the fold.
Embedded MP3 module
Boris shared a link to this article Embedded MP3 module: This embedded MP3 module is an universal and compact circuit (37 mm x 27 mm) for playing MP3 audio files. The MP3 module can be used in embedded systems. The MP3 files (up 65,536) are stored in a micro SDcard. Controlling the module could be […]
Introduction to cortex serial wire debugging, 3-part tutorial
Squonk refers us to this 3-part tutorial on the ARM SWD debug protocol. LPC ARM Cortex-based microcontrollers from NXP can be controlled via SWD, ARM’s Serial Wire Debug protocol and the Coresight register set which allow nonintrusive debugging. This blog post series summarizes use of the SWD protocol to do basic debugging functions on the […]
Bus Pirate on EEVblog
Dave over at EEVblog used the Bus Pirate in his demo. In the video he works on Mantis Elite 3D Stereoscopic microscope review from Vision engineering. See the Bus Pirate in the EEVblog after the break. Get an assembled Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
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 […]
KimCard KIM-1 6502 Single board computer emulator
Matseng shared his project KimCard KIM-1 6502 single board computer emulator in the project log forum, files available at github.
Seeed Studio EL Shield review
Bajdi writes: I won a Seeed Studio EL Shield in their monthly give-away. I’ve written a review and posted some videos on youtube of Seeed Studios EL products. The EL shield is the easiest way to control EL wire or tape with an Arduino. The shield is very well made, the high voltage electronics are […]
DIY low budget manual pick & place
Vpapanik shared a tutorial on how to make your own SMD pick and place machine: If you are dealing with tiny SMD parts (e.g. 0402 resistors and capacitors), a manual pick and place machine is a helpful piece of equipment for prototyping and small-batch manufacturing. On the other side, traditional SMD placement using precision tweezers not […]
Led matrix with HT1632C controller
Luca wrote a tutorial about LED matrices with HT1632C controller.
Evolve better control solutions with genetic algorithms
Brian writes: I wrote an article over at Microcontrollercentral about using Genetic Algorithms to optimize microcontroller algorithms; in this case a PID control loop. It was a new and fun way of thinking about programming, and I included some source code for anyone interested! Via the contact form.
3D KiCAD Parts using OpenSCAD and Wings3D
Christopher Woodall from HappyRobotLabs wrote to us with a short tutorial on how to use OpenSCAD and Wings3D to make 3D component models for KiCAD: I personally find it convenient to utilize OpenSCAD to make 3D models of most eletrical components, which are simple and easily defined parametrically in OpenSCAD’s language. OpenSCAD allows you to write […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get […]
Week in (p)review November 23, 2012
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. Shenzhen day 3: The North East quadrant Shenzhen day 2: South West quadrant Shenzhen day 2: Other stuff Shenzhen day 2: Meeting with shippers Shenzhen day 1: Hua Qiang Bei market Shenzhen day 1: Visit to Seeed Studio LogicBoost […]