Latest part to be added to our Eagle library is a 4way + a button surface mount joystick. Featured in mobile phones in the pre-touchscreen era, these devices are nifty to use with menus.
Author Archives: DP
#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: Lamington market Mumbai, India
Heart of Lamington market . Oldest street. Many big names in India got started here. Follow the pics live with our twitter feed. More pics below the fold.
Workshop Update for October 22nd, 2012
We ran around Mumbai. Avoided the drum sellers like the plague. Also didn’t but the giant inflatable clubs. That’s what we call success. Did not get killed by wild traffic. Bought Sjaak an LCD, touch screen, and a really wild joystick. Bought the fabled counterfeit flash drive. 32 GB for $2…. yeah right. Well investigate […]
7400 competition entry: Random number generator
Mike posted his hardware RNG based on discrete logic chips for the Open 7400 Logic Competition. Generating truly random numbers using a purely digital circuit is not possible – after all, digital logic is supposed to give the same results given the same input! This circuit cheats a little – a 4049 is used in […]
Mumbai’s Manish Market on our Global Geek Tour of India
Here are the first images from our Global Geek Tour of India. This batch of images was taken at the Manish market in Mumbai. We are twitting the pictures as we take them, so tune in to our twitter account, or wait till we post them on the blog. Check out lots of pictures below […]
3D Model: Soldering Iron Driver v1.5
Today’s 3D model is the recently released Soldering Iron Driver v1.5. For now we’re only selling PCBs for $7 at Seeed. The project is purely experimental, and only supported as far as the community is willing to support it. The board is through-hole only, requiring a 24V AC fused mains transformer. The completed PCB is […]
Soldering iron driver v1.5 PCBs are available at Seeed
Hardware hacking is more fun with open source, DIY tools. That’s why Arhi designed a completely open soldering station controller motherboard. And we designed a through hole version that is now available as a PCB only at Seeed for $7 The completed PCB is the heart of a soldering station, able to control several types […]
xQFP breakout boards back in stock
xQFP breakout boards are back in stock at Seeed Studio. These boards make your QFP prototyping faster and easier. They’re available in 0.50mm, 0.65mm, and 0.80mm pin pitch for just $3.
App note: Eliminating audio system noise from HDTV
How HDTV systems impact audio noise, and how to limit it: Ensuring a pop and click free audio signal chain requires careful design on behalf of both the hardware engineer and software engineer. This article discusses how hardware system and software functionality issues cause pops and clicks and how engineers can prevent them
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 […]
App note: Microchip’s serial EEPROM cross reference guide
A handy serial EEPROM cross reference guide from Microchip. Lists devices from Atmel, Catalyst, Fairchild, Philips, Rohm, ST, and Xicor that are interchangable with Microchip’s serial EEPROMs
App note: Successful PCB grounding with mixed-signal chips
Here’s a tutorial from Maxim describing how to ground chips that use both analog and digital signals. The article goes into current path theory, and provides tips on how to improve your signal integrity in mixed signal devices. This tutorial discusses proper printed-circuit board (PCB) grounding for mixed-signal designs. Because these components govern the high-uptime […]
App note: Switching regulator power loss
Here’s a video from Linear Technology explaining why power loss is a more important factor than efficiency in switching regulators. Comparing the efficiency of two different switching regulators can be, and usually is ,misleading. Efficiency is a misleading number for comparison of switching regulators. The efficiency number can be manipulated by the input and output […]
7400 Competition Reminder: Entry deadline is October 31st
Just a reminder to all potential entries that the deadline is October 31st. You now have less then 2 weeks to submit your entry. Good luck! Build something that uses or abuses a logic chip and get amazing boards, tools, and other swag. The Open 7400 Logic Competition promotes awareness of the basic building blocks […]
Workshop Update for October 19th, 2012
Final preps before our Global Geek Tour of India. Packing, and check in, done. We finalized the presentation we’ll hold at the Center for Internet & Society office in Bangalore on October 24th. The ongoing saga with the TFT breakout board continues. We’re contemplating how to support the BF flag in the HD44780 emulator version.
7400 competition entry: Passive RFID Tag from 7400 discrete logic
Check out Bertho’s RF74xxID, a multifunction passive 7400 RFID tag for the Open 7400 Logic Competition. RF74xxID: A passive RFID tag built entirely with 74xx logic chips. The tag supports the setting of any ID by means of DIP switches, can send data using two encoding schemes and has configurable baud rate. The tag is […]
Organizing your surface mount component hoard
Keeping track of all the strips of surface mount components you’ve amassed can be a pain. Some people stick them in large compartmentalized boxes, others get the expensive metal storage drawers. Here is a simple and cheap DIY method to keep your SMD components organized. All you need is a soldering iron, a metal ruler, […]
Python module for transmitting and receiving infrared signals with an IR Toy
Crleblanc wrote a Python module for transmitting and receiving infrared signals with the IR Toy. It’s tested under Linux, Raspberry Pi, and is expected to work under Windows as well. It’s open source and hosted on the the Python Package Index (PyPI) linked above. I played around with the IR Toy python example and took […]
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 […]