Video editing, and filming ate most of our day. We did get some time to finalize our part kit list. We found a few eBay suppliers offering good wholesale prices. SMD transistors, and diodes are a bit harder to find. We also made some tweaks to our partlist to accommodate easier-to-source parts. Secret project firmware […]
Author Archives: DP
MegunoLink tools talk to serial port devices
MegunoLink is a utility to create a communication link between PCs and serial port devices such as the Arduino. … useful tools that interact with an Arduino-style board (or other MCU with serial data). The software is called MegunoLink, from BlueLeafSoftware in New Zealand. Megunolink has many useful features, and we’ll run through them briefly […]
NEW PROTOTYPE: ATX Breakout Board
Latest designs and full project overview are available on the ATX Breakout Board wiki. Old ATX computer power supplies are cheap-to-free, and make great lab supplies with lots of power at several common voltages. The ATX breakout board brings all the power pins to screw terminals for easy access. For a modicum of safety, a […]
Arduino based hexapod robot
Exapod designed this Arduino based hexapod robot as a final exam project. The Arduino was used for the prototype, final version will use his ORbit16 development board we wrote about previously.
PIC12F development board
Raj designed a development board for the PIC12F 8pin microcontrollers. It features a reset button, a 5v power supply, programing header, breakouts for all the pins, and a small prototyping area. He had 12 PCBs manufactured, and is selling 5 of these for $7.99 a piece. The following project board is designed for fast and […]
Workshop Update for June 27th, 2012
Today we cleaned up the workshop for tomorrow’s video, we checked some bug fixes on the Bus Pirate firmware (look for a new release soon), and started a Mouser order to be placed tomorrow. We also went over our partlist, and started gathering information on how much a basic kit of our most commonly used […]
Poor man’s pogo test pins
To test his LCD launchpad booster packs, Robg improvised some DIY test connections. Using slightly larger than standard male headers and some rubber-bands, he is able to make solder-less contact between the Launchpad and his LCD booster pack. Via 43oh.
New app for Mac gives speech to your Arduino
Here is a voice synthesizer app for Mac giving your Arduino speech capability. You simply send strings over the serial port and the app reads them out. Speech for Arduino supports all voices on your Mac. You are able to change the pitch, rate, and volume straight from the window. You can also use various […]
Dual 4 digit 7-segment display board with SPI interface
Raj built a dual, 7-segment, display board with SPI interface. The board is based around the MAX7219 8x 7-segment display driver, which receives commands over SPI, and drives the display accordingly. The new display features eight 7-segment displays arranged in two rows of four digits. The on-board MAX7219 driver enables you to easily add eight […]
Fixing the EDID ROM of a monitor using the Bus Pirate
Matthias fixed the EDID ROM of his Samsung monitor using the Bus Pirate. He documented the whole process on his blog. Also included is a tip on how to connect the Bus Pirate to I2C line through the VGA, or DVI cable. This post is about fixing a broken EDID ROM in a monitor. There […]
Workshop Update for June 26th, 2012
Today we assembled an update to the IR Toy, and a secret project PCB. We prepared for the release of two new projects later this week. Completed website and server updates, Twitter and Facebook should both be connected to the blog again. The secret project gave us grief today. The LCD started spewing out garbage. […]
USB Infrared Toy v1.1 free PCB build
Exapod built a USB IR Toy v1.1 free PCB. With the USB IR Toy you can use a remote control with your computer, view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, capture and replay remote control buttons. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, […]
SYN Shop Vegas hackerspace receives a package from Dangerous Prototypes
We sent over some of our stuff to the SYN Shop Vegas hackerspace. Krux filmed the un-boxing. Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping and Logic Sniffer for $50.
#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 […]
Unbricking a MacBook with the Bus Pirate
Unbricking a Mac Book with the Bus Pirate. He documented the entire process on his blog, with step by step instructions. In my tinkering with EFI I attempted to flash some backdoored firmware to a test MacBook that was kindly donated to science by a friend of mine. This resulted in the bastard doing the […]
Logic Sniffer client 0.96 beta 3 is released
Jawi made excellent strides with the cross-platform client for the Logic Sniffer. Last week v0.96 beta 3 was released. The latest release features an improved UI, as well as dual/quad mode SPI decoding. Most of the UI repainting bugs should be squatted by now (at least the most annoying ones ;)), and some small improvements […]
Workshop Update for June 25th, 2012
Today we made some site updates: The tracker now allows ready only, WordPress publish bug fixed by deactivating (non functioning) Google+ integration plugin. We also sent two new project sales pages to Seeed, which should be up in a day or two. Work on the secret project firmware continues. Today we implemented a buffer that […]
Guess what it is and get a free PCB of it
Matseng made a contest in the forum. If you guess what the PCB is, he’ll send one over. This PCB is exactly the same size as a credit card and have the XMega, a Lipo battery and charger, a MicroUSB for comms and charging, a buttload of tactle switches and a bunch of 7-segment displays […]
Big box of parts exposed
R3tikus received the Big box of parts and made a video (in Spanish) showing all of it’s contents. We had lots of stuff hanging around since our move to the new workshop, so we decided to send it around to forum members in the big box of parts. People take stuff out, and replace it […]
Replace a dead surface mount regulator with a through-hole part
Flavor accidentally shorted the power on his Open Bench Logic Sniffer 3.3volt regulator and blew it out. With some quick thinking and a TO-220 through-hole voltage regulator his Logic Sniffer was back in business. Via the forum.