Brian decided to close shop on the Cotex M3 development boards. His brainchild, the Eridani, is based on TI’s Stellaris LM3S3651 and features USB OTG functionality. He has stopped sales, and would like to sell off or trade leftover boards that need some rework. I have a hand full of Eridani’s that need rework. I […]
Author Archives: DP
Raspberry Pi model B gets double the RAM
R-Pi’s 256MB just doesn’t cut it for your Java application? The Raspberry Pi foundation let us know that all outstanding Model B orders will be getting double the memory. With this in mind, we’re pleased to announce that from today all Model B Raspberry Pis will ship with 512MB of RAM as standard. If you […]
Workshop Update for October 15th, 2012
Geek tour planning. Getting USB IDs from Microchip. Finalizing Bus Blaster v3, and v4 for a video this week. We emailed everyone who wrote, or commented about the geek tour with latest details, if you didn’t get an email please follow up through the contact form. Worked on today’s 3D model, and rendered it. We […]
7400 competition entry: Telemetry Beacon for HAM Sats
Mani entered a Telemetry Beacon for HAM satellites using Logic gates for the Open 7400 Logic Competition. The beacon controller is intended for telemetering of data available on board of the Ham radioSatellite (originally designed for the Indian Satellite VUSAT in Morse code so that the hamradio operators can decode the info without any costly and […]
Start-up guide to the Stellaris LaunchPad
Here’s TI’s quick start-up guide to their new Stellaris LaunchPad, which is a Cortex M4 based digital signal processor development board. Via Embedded Lab.
3D Model: Logic Shrimp v2b
Today’s 3D model is the Logic Shrimp v2b. The newer version uses the single 23LC1024 SRAM instead of four 23K256, and the serial data lines (SD0 – SD3) are now bi-directional. The Logic Shrimp is a 4 channel, medium speed, low cost logic analyzer with 256K samples and 20MHz top speed. Check out our tutorial […]
Flickering pumpkin LED designed in KiCAD
Add some LED goodness to this year’s Halloween pumpkins. This flickering LED design on a pumpkin shaped PCB was drawn up in KiCAD. Grab the design files from the low voltage labs site. It’s a simple schematic with just a switch, resistor, battery holder and 10mm LED. But makes for a nice easy project to […]
What’s the latest gear you’ve acquired?
The “I just bought this, and you what did you buy ?” thread is picking up steam. Hak8or’s latest grab is a AmScope SE400 series stereo microscope. It seems to be a popular choice for a good ~$200 microscope, as JuKu, and Matseng have these as well. Got some gear you’re proud off? Share it […]
App Note: Things to consider when designing a DC/DC power supply
Maxim covers some important things to consider when designing a DC/DC power supply. Topics include choosing the right DC-DC converter for the application; MOSFET gate capacitance; high switching frequencies and component size; equations and calculations; selecting peripheral components; component placement and trade-offs; grounding; load and line regulation; temperature sensitivity.
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: Proper grounding techniques FAQ
Here’s an FAQ from Analog Devices regarding proper grounding techniques. Engineer Walt Kester answers questions with references and schematics to better explain his points. All in all, a very good read that might help you catch stray signals problems in your next project.
App Note: Understanding and using power-on-reset and brown-out-detection supervisory devices
When a circuit powers up there’s all kinds of noise and ripples in the power supply. Many microcontrollers have a power-on-reset feature that keeps them reset until the power has stabilized. Without the reset, the chip might start running a program only to get hit by dip in voltage that freezes or resets the chip […]
App Note: Build your own laboratory precision voltage source
Annoyed with unstable voltage sources in your projects? EDN shows how to build a precision voltage reference and an output buffer for a high precision voltage source/sink. Grab the schematic off of EDN’s site.
Workshop Update for October 12th, 2012
We reshuffled the Global Geek Tour of India schedule a bit at the last minute. Added the Google layer map of the tour as well. Cleared pending forum support requests, thanks to everyone in the community who helps out on the forum and wiki! We searched, found, and wrote about the app notes that will […]
7400 competition entry: 4000 series CMOS 24 hour clock
Easton made this 4000-series CMOS 24-hour clock as a final high school electronics class project. Rather than using a microcontroller he chose to use CMOS ICs including a 4060 and 4013 to generate the 1Hz signal. This is the latest entry in the Open 7400 Logic Competition. For the last couple months a friend and […]
An open source electron tube catalog
Here’s your daily retro fix. Electrontubes is an open source database of old school vacuum tubes (electron tubes). It features pinout, footprint, and some basic information about each part. This is an open source electrontube catalogue. Its database contents base type, pin-out and some parameters of components. This database is refreshing continuosly. If you are […]
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 October 12, 2012
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon! WORKSHOP VIDEO #43: How we edit video INTRO GUIDE: Basic light emitting diodes (LED) 3D Model: VFD tube board Eagle Parts: TD62783 8Ch high voltage source driver and the 2.1mm barrel jack Bus Pirate and plasma TV parts […]
Global Geek Tour India 2012 update
Quick update on the India trip happening next week. So far 24 people are meeting up for a tour of wholesale markets, factories, and resellers in India. Our friends on the Oomlout team in the UK, persuaded by a flight in an A380, are joining us on the Bangalore and Kochi legs too. There’s a […]
Workshop Update for October 11th, 2012
Retrieved China visa. We got USB IDs sublicensed from Microchip, that are ready to go in a few new projects including the Part Ninja, and the 1.8” TFT LCD backpack. We’re working on a few bootloaders, and making a video/how-to about them at the same time. We starded a development page for the Logic Shrimp v2. […]