Author Archives: DP

Open 7400 prize: Digilent Analog Discovery bench tool

Digilent donated 2 Analog Discovery mixed signal bench tools to the Open 7400 Competition.  Get your entry in and this and other cool hardware can be yours. Analog Discovery is a 100 MSPS twin channel oscilloscope, 2 channel function generator, 16 channel digital logic analyzer, and 16 channel digital pattern generator with a USB interface. […]

Announcing the Open 7400 Logic Competition 2012

By popular demand the Open 7400 Logic Competition is back! Build a kooky, intriguing, or over-complicated project that makes use of a discrete logic chip and you could score some amazing sponsor swag. 7400 TTL, 4000 CMOS, logic built from discrete transistors, or logic implemented in a CPLD – it doesn’t matter. Just have fun […]

Internet Protocol v6 running on MSP430 with ENC28J60

XPG is developing an IPv6 stack for the MSP430 microcontrollers using the ENC28J60 Ethernet IC for MAC/PHY. He demonstrates his proof-of-concept by having the MSP430 send HTTP requests to a custom PHP server at a push of a button, as seen in the video above. Now, as the 2553 only has 512 bytes of RAM […]

App note: High-speed ADC Layout tips and tricks

Here is an article from Electronic design covering some interesting tips and tricks for high speed ADC layouts: There is no way to cover all the specifics when designing a high-speed, high-resolution converter layout. Each application is different and sometimes unique. However, these key points will be useful to designers in better understanding their future […]

App note: Power conversion, measurement and pulse circuit collection

Here is another circuit collection from Linear Technology. This one covers power conversion, measurement, and pulse circuits. This ink marks LTC’s eighth circuit collection publication. We are continually surprised, to the point of near mystifi cation, by these circuit amalgams seemingly limitless appeal. Reader requests ascend rapidly upon publication, remaining high for years, even decades.

App note: Switch mode regulators for battery powered systems

Maxim describes various SMPS regulator topologies for battery powered systems. Isolated and non-isolated topologies are covered: This tutorial presents an overview of regulator topologies for battery-powered equipment. The discussion covers linear regulators, charge pumps, buck and boost regulators, inverters, and flyback designs. The importance of peak current is explained, and schematics of each topology are […]

App note: Capacitive touch sensors with metal coverings

Usually capacitive touch interfaces can’t be used with metal coverings, but Microchip’s Metal Over Cap overcomes this limitation: As a user interface, capacitive touch has several advantages: it is low power, low cost, simple to implement, reliable mechanically, and it allows designers a great deal of freedom in the shape of the buttons. However, for all […]

Workshop Update for August 31st, 2012

Made changes to Open Hardware Summit presentation based on comments, thanks everyone! Received second H1N recording device for our workshop video at Sjaak’s place this weekend. Making contact with New York City hackerspaces for our upcoming visit. If you’re planning to go to Maker Faire or Open Hardware Summit in NYC you are welcome to […]

The Curious C-Beeper capacitance measurement

Check out Alan Yate’s video about the Curious-C Beeper: When a capacitor is touched to the probe, the probe beeps at a frequency that varies with capacitance. The frequency change is so steep with capacitance that tiny capacitors may be precisely matched or an exact fixed value may be selected to replace a trimmer in […]

Olimex: A13-OLinuXino-WIFI Developer edition now available

A13-OLinuXino-WiFi boad (Rev-B) for developers is now available: Olimex has released the A13-OLinuXino-WiFi boad (Rev-B) for developers. It can be ordered for EUR 55 (incl. free shipping) via the Olimex web store. VAT will be added if you have no EU VAT-Id. A13-OLinuXino-WIFI – completely assembled and tested (SD card not included) with WIFI 802.11n […]

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 a every week: Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, […]

Week in (p)review August 31, 2012

Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. Workshop Video #37: USB and Open Source presentation 2012 first run through XC9572XL CPLD development board and USB and serial enabled LCD backpack are back in stock Bus Pirate RFM12B radio data module demo Bus Pirate v3.5 free […]

EEWeb PULSE: Bus Pirate as low-cost JTAG programmer

Frank noticed this article on EEWeb PULSE about Programming With Low-Cost JTAG Tools (PDF!) that references the Bus Pirate: If you’re not a big fan of building it yourself, then you could use one of the (X)SVF players that are available on the internet. Notable is the Bus Pirate from Dangerous Prototypes. Originally designed as a tool […]

Scratch and dent boards winners

Today we announce the winners of the 5 special coupon codes that can be redeemed for any one of these boards. Congratulations to Tom Price, his idea for a guitar gadget with an accelerometer as a sensor scored him special coupon code: Would like an accelerometer breakout for a no-moving-parts wah wah pedal… pretty please! The idea […]

Workshop Update for August 30th, 2012

Finished Open Hardware Summit presentation draft and did a first run through for today’s workshop video. Ordered another H1N recorder for a workshop video with Sjaak this weekend. Talked to a casting director about DP being on a TV show. That’s not happening, this time. Mailed out a ton of stuff. If you’re still waiting, […]