Mothership Hackermoms, a hackerspace for moms, is having a kickstarter campaign to help them equip a workshop and create a business incubator for moms. We were tipped about this from Akiba at freaklabs, whom you might recognize from our Akihibara electronics market video from earlier this year. Hi guys. I’m helping to raise funds for […]
Author Archives: DP
Workshop Update for November 7th, 2012
Today we finished up the Bangalore video that will go live tomorrow. This one was massive and took very long to assemble and cut. We’re also finalizing the Shenzhen Sourcing Challenge as well. A provisional schedule is up, and a map layer with some of the sights we’ll visit.
Digital LED scope (7400 late entry)
Check out Umair’s Digital oscilloscope, it was intended as an entry for the open 7400 Logic Competition. Unfortunately, it was entered late, and won’t be competing in the competition. We’re sorry for them, as this seems like an awesome effort. The oscilloscope has a bandwidth of 1KiloHertz. Yet it can just show the signal applied […]
PCB Visualizer – Free online PCB data verification service
PCB Visualizer is a free online PCB verification service. Basically you upload your gerbers, setup the design rule check (DRC), and you get a graphical representation of what your PCB will look like. It points out any problems that didn’t pass the DRC. Via Electronics Lab.
Digilent Design Contest US 2013
Digilent has announced their annual Design contest for 2013. The contest is divided by regions, so far only US and EU contests have been announced, but other regions are expected to follow as well. Basically you’re asked to design cool projects with Digilent gear which will be provided to you. Unfortunately the contest is only […]
Flying on Emirates Airbus A380, business class
It’s a giant, two-deck plane. Passengers take pictures and marvel at it while waiting to board. And wait you will, because boarding 500 passengers is an art no airline has yet to master. On the way to India and Singapore we scored the cheapest tickets on Emirates through Dubai. By total coincidence the Singapore flight […]
DIY hand-wound resistors
Need higher power resistors, or heaters, as we like to call them? Build them yourself. Matseng hand-wound 6 meters of 38AWG wire to build 12 ohm resistors. He used a pencil and some kapton tape as the base for the resistor. I needed two power (just ~1 watt) 12 ohm resistors for a project and […]
October swag bag: Web Platform
Earlier this year we added the Scratch and Dent category to our free PCB drawer. It’s a collection of hardware that failed Seeed’s quality control. Some have PCB errors, some have malfunctioning ICs, and some just cosmetic errors. T0mpr1c3 got a Web Platform out of it and tweeted about it. Dangerous Prototypes recently organized […]
7400 competition: Entries and reader’s choice
Here’s a (hopefully) complete list of entries in the Open 7400 Competition. Please share your favorites in the comments below, your favorites will receive a special reader’s choice prize. Voting ends in 24 hours. A few commentators will receive free PCB codes as a thank you for voting. Check out the list below. TV Auto-off […]
Workshop Update for November 6th, 2012
Bus Blaster v4 validation finished. Complete set of Sick of Beige basic cases will be available shortly. Received official looking business cards to satisfy the man. Took the day off of video, might work on it tonight. Still 13 minutes too long, but there is a lot of trash in here that is waiting for […]
Seeed Studio PCB resolution test
Matseng added some test patterns to his latest batch of PCBs to stress the limits of Seeed Studio’s PCB service. Seeed advertises 6mil/6mil in their specification, so Mats added concentric circles in 6mil trace/6mil space, 5/5, 4/4 ,3/3, and 2/2 sizes. As can be seen on the picture above even 3/3 mil seems almost perfect […]
555 based PWM generator free-form wire style
Another cool free-from wire circuit. Jeff designed this 555 based PWM generator in Eagle. He printed the trace layer and used it as a template for bending the wires. I built this 3D, freeform circuit as a test project. I’ve seen a few lately and love the way they look, and after making this circuit, […]
#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 […]
7400 competition entry: Lighting effects generator
Dmitriy entered his lighting effects generator into the Open 7400 Competition. The basis of the device is a multi-bit digital sequence generator that is implemented on a serial shift register [1]. The repetition period of the sequence is determined by the number of bit of a register and much higher than the repetition period […]
7400 competition entry: Animated LCD name tag
T0mpr1c3’s open 7400 Logic Competition entry is the Doctored calculator animated name plate: Here is another single chip dead bug offering. The circuit has been out there for at least a decade. Check out the video after the break.
7400 competition entry: Build your own FPGA
Nick’s Open 7400 competition entry is an FPGA that is implemented in 7400 series discrete logic ICs: Building a microcontroller or CPU out of discrete logic is a popular hobbyist pursuit, and it serves a useful purpose. Building a CPU from scratch teaches you a lot about CPU architecture and tradeoffs; it’s an interesting and […]
7400 competition entry: I2S DAC with a Class D amplifier output
This I2S DAC with a Class D amplifier output has been entered into the open 7400 competition. It uses a mix of 74HCxx and 4000 CMOS series logic ICs to achieve the desired result. My last minute entry to the 7400 series logic competition. I’m using a SN74HC132 hex NAND gate, a CD4094BE 8 bit […]
7400 competition entry: Signal strobe
Check out Matthew’s 7400 contest entry, a 74xx based signal strobe for emergencies, as well as search and rescue situations. This a signaling strobe, an enhanced one with a siren. My device is built off of 7400 NAND Quad Gate, 2x 7476 J/K Flip Flop, 7432 OR Quad Gate and 4x 555 Timers. Now of course, […]
7400 competition entry: A CPLD-based 8×8 game-of-life
Udif has entered a CPLD-based 8×8 game-of-life into the 7400 Contest. As can be seen on the picture, the design uses 3 of our CPLD breakout boards, which you can grab at Seeed for $15. The project was coded in Verilog, using many small modules. The reason for that was that I wanted to be […]
7400 competition entry: Constant load with nixie readouts
Want to test your power supplies? How about using a constant load with a Nixie display, built entirely out of 4000 series CMOS logic chips. This is a Constant Load generator that is controlled by a keypad. When I started this project I was not sure what it would end up being so I built […]