Here is a review of the Raspberry Pi from the forum: This is my “home” forum for embedded stuff, as the community here is good. Though I note Raspberry Pi (here forward R-Pi) has its own forum (I’m teholabs there). I wonder how many persons here got one? I ordered on day 1 (March) and […]
Author Archives: DP
Second generation IOIO Android USB board is in the works
Ytai has been working on the second generation IOIO, a USB development board for Android OS devices. The next version will feature USB on-the-go (OTG), meaning it will be capable of both acting as a USB host, like the current version, and as a USB device. The next generation of IOIO will be a USB […]
EAGLE PART: Incremental encoder with switch
Rotary encoders are an easy way to add user input to a project, especially for stuff like menu selections. Turn the knob left and right, push down to select an option. We’ve used encoders in several recent projects. One problem we had was that the knob overlapped another part. After a quick measurement with digital […]
Dual-output DC/DC power supply for AMOLED
Rsdio tipped us to a dual-output switch mode power supply reference design based on the MAX17116. The part and reference circuit can provide both negative and positive supplies to AMOLED displays. The MAX17116 includes two current-mode 1.4MHz switch mode power-supply (SMPS) regulators for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays. The positive supply is provided by […]
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: Avoid clock stretch in I2C with Atmel tinyAVR
Here is an app note from Atmel describing how their TWI (I2C) peripheral, found in tinyAVRs, avoids SCL clock stretching. This application note describes a TWI slave driver for the ATtiny20 and ATtiny40. Aslave software driver is included. The application note explains how the TWI SCL clock is not stretched, provided that the AVR clock […]
App note: USB/UART/Ethernet/SD card bootloader for PIC32 microcontrollers
A PIC32 bootloader that supports about every update channel possible: UART, USB-HID, USB-MSD, Ethernet, or SD cards. This application note describes how to use bootloader to upgrade firmware on PIC32 devices without the need for an external programmer or debugger. The source code consists of following implementations of bootloader, 1) UART 2) USB device based […]
PixelController LED control software update
Michu made some improvements to the open source PixelController software. This app is intended to control various light-show drivers such as the Art-Net, Mini-DMX, LPD6803 and Seeedstudio’s Rainbowduino. I’m updating my PixelController software and did some major updates like an integrated GUI, Color Sets etc. Take a look at the Screenshot, the code is on […]
DIY TV B GONE built into a Nokia phone case
Exapod built the USB IR Toy on a DIY PCB and programmed it with the TV B GONE firmware. To give it a stealth touch he stuck it into an old Nokia phone case. It’s powered by the phone’s battery, which runs 4 IR diodes for extended range and usage time. …found an old nokia […]
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 June 01, 2012
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. Workshop Video: Get your open hardware manufactured OHS 2012 talk proposal: A sketchy history: USB and open hardware OHS 2012 idea: Who’s doing indy cottage manufacturing? OHS 2012 poster proposal: Get your stuff made: open hardware manufacturing 3D […]
Rosin giveaway winner received his prize
When we got back from our Global Geek Tour in Shenzhen we giveaway some rosin bars, for homemade flux. Ginpb wrote to let us know he received his. All that is left is for him to mix it with some alcohol, and he’ll have flux. I finally took 2 minutes to upload photos. Why is […]
Workshop Update for May 31st, 2012
Today we made a video of the Get your Stuff Made presentation. We also worked on cleaning up the Bus Blaster v2/3/4 buffer logic. Design of the badge for New York Maker Faire started in full. It has options for through-hole or various surface mount part sizes. The picture above is of the latest design. […]
OHS 2012 idea: Who’s doing indy cottage manufacturing?
There’s a lot of people doing small scale manufacturing now. A lot of it is open source related, much isn’t. Identifying the various groups and their association with open source is an idea inspired by a discussion with Jeff from MightOhm. It’s not fleshed out enough to submit this time, but we’re posting it up […]
OHS 2012 poster proposal: Get your stuff made: open hardware manufacturing
Open Hardware Summit talk, poster, and demo proposals are due today. As always, we post our conference applications to give you an inside look and a template for your own submissions. We want a backup if the USB vendor ID proposal isn’t accepted, so we submitted the ‘Get your stuff made‘ presentation as a poster. […]
OHS 2012 talk proposal: A sketchy history: USB and open hardware
Open Hardware Summit talk, poster, and demo proposals are due today. As always, we publish our conference applications to give you an inside look and a template for your own submissions. This year we revised and resubmitted a talk proposal on USB vendor IDs and open source. This was rejected last year, though the two […]
MCP2200 breakout board free PCB build
Ginpb built the MCP2200 USB to serial breakout board free PCB. He had to improvise a little with the quartz crystal, but in the end everything worked out. Here is my free PCB build. I really hate those tiny 12 MHz crystals, I couldn’t find them anywhere, why not to use most common hc49. If […]
Workshop Update for May 30th, 2012
Today we submitted one talk and two poster proposals to the Open Hardware Summit. We’ll post those, including an idea we didn’t submit, tomorrow. A big box of PCBs from Seeed Studio’s Fusion PCB service came while we were away, today we grabbed them at the post office. We continue to develop the Part Ninja […]
Connecting a smart house over the CAN bus update
Rynius is automating his house using the CAN bus. He hit some issues with noise in the cabling, which he identified and documented the fix. I had trouble finding wire for the bus and ended up using security cable. Unfortunately it picked up a 60 Hz wave, so I had to add some caps to […]
HOW-TO: Create Eagle parts with pins that have the same name
Most chips have multiple power pins that need to be connected to the same power supply, but Eagle doesn’t allow you to give 2 different pins the same name. This short tutorial shows how to get around this and name multiple part pins the same thing. Keep reading below, see our other Eagle tutorials here.