rePalm project from Dmitry.GR As I mentioned, none of the native API of PalmOS 5.x was ever documented. There was a small number of people who figured out some parts of it, but nobody really got it all, or even close to it. To start with, because large parts are not useful to an app […]
Author Archives: DP
App note: Consideration of self pollution reduction for electronic systems
App note from ON Semiconductors on EMI self pollution. Link here (PDF) This application note will address the problem of Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) self pollution in which one part of an electrical systems such as cell phones and consumer electrical products emit radiation that interferes with the operation of other parts of the system.
App note: 1 kV SenseFET integrated power switch
App note from ON Semiconductors on their FSL4110LR power switch for SMPS power supplies. Link here (PDF) Some industrial equipment that are supplied from a threephase AC power source such as industrial drives and energy meters often need an auxiliary power supply stage that can provide a regulated low-power DC source for analog and digital […]
Temperature/weather station
B. Perry writes: I’ve always been fond of the popular Nixie clocks made from old surplus Soviet nixie tubes. Nixie tubes are no longer made, so they’re hard to acquire. Instead, I took inspiration from “Lixie” displays and made my own Nixie-inspired, LED-powered display. And in an unusual twist (for me, anyway), I didn’t make […]
A low cost 2-4 GHz Downconverter from off the shelf dev boards
Ian Wraith designed and built a low cost 2-4 GHz downconverter for an SDR, that is available on Github: I recently became interested in exploring some of the signals found in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. The problem is that my favourite SDR (Software Defined Radio) an Airspy R2 only covers up to 1.7 GHz. Initially […]
MAKERVILLA 3.0
MAKERVILLA is back! It will be held 31 July – 2 August 2019 at the National Design Centre Singapore. MAKERVILLA 3.0 is a 3-day creative learning experience (CLX) design conference for local and international makers, practitioners & educators to gather under one roof for a time of learning, dreaming, hacking and sharing of ideas. Find […]
#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 […]
Spectrometer on PC
Boris Landoni over at Open Electronics writes, “We use the platform based on the AMS sensors in combination with the Personal Computer and thanks to an ad hoc software we trace on the screen the spectrum curves resulting from the analysis performed.” More info on Open Source Project page.
6CY7 dual triode valve amplifier
Josh built this 6CY7 dual triode valve amplifier: I’ve always wanted to know what the “tube magic” was all about. There is much opinion in the science of music production, probably because music and its perception is highly personal and subjective. Ive always imagined that since transistor amplifiers were “perfect” with their large amounts of […]
App note: Programmable analog functions
Another app note from ON Semiconductors about various digital potentiometers application. Link here (PDF) Analog circuits are made programmable by using digital potentiometers (POTs) to vary the key circuit parameters. This application note provides the analog design engineer with basic reference designs and circuit ideas for controlling the key parameters of analog circuits using digital […]
App note: Digital potentiometer (POT) to control LED brightness
Controlling LED brightness through digital potentiometer and a LED driver from ON Semiconductor. Link here (PDF) Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) require a regulated current, and their brightness is proportional to the current that flows through them. Some LED drivers use an external resistor to set the LED current. A digital POT can replace a discrete resistor […]
Run a Korg SQ-1 Sequencer from a 9V Stompbox supply
Run a Korg SQ-1 Sequencer from a 9V Stompbox supply: The Korg SQ-1 is a great little sequencer, and one of my favourite bits of kit for its simple hands-on feel and penchant for lucky randomness (I have 3 of them!) I tend to use it in a live setup with no computer but […]
Simple NTP clock using USB display module
Dilshan Jayakody writes: Simple NTP clock is a maintenance-free clock application developed to work on single-board computers like Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi, etc. This clock application uses the Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) to get the time and display it on seven segment display which I designed. This application is designed to work on most of […]
#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 […]
Bitcoin mining on an Apollo Guidance Computer: 10.3 seconds per hash
Ken Shirriff implemented the SHA-256 hash algorithm and ran it on the vintage Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) that they’re restoring: We’ve been restoring an Apollo Guidance Computer. Now that we have the world’s only working AGC, I decided to write some code for it. Trying to mine Bitcoin on this 1960s computer seemed both pointless […]
‘No-Parts’ temperature measurement with Arduino Pro Mini
From the comments on our ESP8266 temperature logger post, Edward Mallon writes: The ESP8266 has a hardware watchdog timer, so you could probably use that to measure temperature to much better resolution that you’d get from a DS18B20. We get better than 0.003C using the technique with cheap Pro Mini Clones Ooops, I missed an important […]
App note: High density serial flash addressing
Old app note from Macronix about accessing high density serial flash. Link here (PDF) Many consumer products have converted or are converting from parallel flash to SPI serial flash. Generally, high end applications require higher memory density, but in the past, serial flash densities were limited to 128Mb due to addressing constraints.
App note: USB On-The-Go (OTG) basics
USB OTG explained in this app note from Cypress Semiconductors. Link here This application note discusses several aspects of OTG functionality. The note introduces end-applications and different types of cables and connectors involved with OTG. It also describes the OTG protocol state changes when both Mini-A and Mini-B devices are connected .The host negotiation protocol […]
Acorn BBC Master and electron cartridge breakout
The Acorn Master cartridge breakout board by Simon Inns: This project provides a simple breadboard adapter/breakout board for prototyping cartridges for the Acorn BBC Master and Acorn Electron 8-bit computers. The design consists of two PCBs, the first plugs into the computer’s cartridge slot and the second is designed to plug along the edge of […]
USB seven segment display module
Dilshan Jayakody published a new build: This project is about an open source, USB based, 10 digit seven segment display unit. This unit is specifically designed to work with POS systems and banking applications. Initially, this system is developed to work with PC based systems, and later it was modified to work with other platforms […]