Author Archives: DP

New scripting tool makes PICkit3 compatible with PICkit2

Microchip released a scripting tool for the PicKIT 3 that essentially turns it into a PicKIT2. Why do that? There’s a huge software ecosystem for PicKIT2, it’s a popular programmer and debugger that’s been around for year. In version 3 Microchip completely changed the PicKIT and made it incompatible with the existing software.  The downside […]

Laser cut case for the Logic Sniffer and the Buffer Wing

PariahZero laser cut some black Delrin plastic to build a case for the Logic Sniffer. He also designed a detachable case for the Buffer Wing. If you are interested in the source SVG files for laser cutting, contact him in the forum. I’ve used laser-cut 0.125″ black Delrin plastic; I felt the extra strength (vs. […]

Workshop Update for May 29th, 2012

Proposals for the Open Hardware Summit will be submitted tomorrow. We’re proposing a talk on USB IDs again, updated with a nod to OpenMoko’s USB VID and ethernet MAC giveaway. Based on last year’s summit line-up we think the USB talk probably won’t be accepted (again), so we’re also submitting it as a poster so […]

#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 […]

Soldering Iron Driver v1.5 assembled and enclosed

Pjkim assembled his Soldering Iron Driver v1.5 free PCB and enclosed it into some Tupperware. He had some problems with the firmware, but he eventually got it to work as intended. The LCD works, the iron gets hot and I can solder stuff with it! What do you call the first functioning of a soldering […]

Workshop Update for May 28th, 2012

Today we had meetings, cleaned up the workshop, and worked on our application to the Open Hardware Summit. OHS applications are due the 31st (Thursday), we’ll post ours as soon as it’s done. We continued updating and cleaning up our Eagle part library, and made some adjustments to a soon-to-be-released PCB. Capacitor measurement in now […]

#Twatch clock grabs time from network

David turned the Twitter streaming #Twatch into clock that pull time from a SNTP network server. The coding is done, and it’s available for download. David also included documentation in the download package, as well as on his blog. The zip file has complete source, firmware, and a PowerShell module for using the LCD emulation. […]

SARduino644 Arduino project board v1.0

Space Age Robotics Arduino-compatible project board hit version 1.0: I’ve made a new release, v1.0, of the SARduino644 board: There are some more photos and details here The main changes are better prototyping area (separated from the MCU pins) and more power rails. I also put the auto-reset circuit in (now that I have an […]

Flexible 3D printing material from Shapeways

Shapeways sent an email blast about new flexible 3D printing materials: We just launched our first fully flexible material for 3D printing. This is our only material that is made to bend, and from what we can tell, the only highly flexible 3D printed material accessible for everyone. Elasto Plastic is still experimental, so put […]

App note: Switching regulators for poets

The basics of SMPS design, written by the late analog guru Jim Williams: A problem is that while everyone agrees that working switching regulators are a good thing, everyone also agrees that they are difficult to get working. Switching regulators, with their high efficiency and small size, are increasingly desirable as overall package sizes shrink. […]

App note: Voltage translation circuits

Here is an app note from Texas Instruments describing how to implement basic voltage translation circuits in your design. Today’s complex electronic systems involve a multitude of power planes. In order for these mixed-mode systems to operate  properly, some type of voltage translation or clamping is necessary. This allows the different input/outputs (I/O) to communicate […]

App note: Low-cost, low-distortion square to sinewave signal converter

Convert square wave clock signals to low distortion sinewaves: This circuit derives a pure sinewave from a crystal-controlled  clock source by using a ring counter to remove the highest-amplitude unwanted harmonics, and filtering the result with an 8th-order lowpass, switched-capacitor elliptic filter

App note: Analog sensor signal conditioning circuits

An analog sensor outputs a voltage relative to whatever it measures, as opposed to digital sensors that provide the reading as a number. These voltages sometimes need to be conditioned to be useful. Microchip describes various analog sensor conditioning circuits: Analog sensors produce a change in an electrical property to indicate a change in its […]

Panelizing multiple PCB on a single cheap PCB service

Schazamp made an instructable on how to get multiple PCB onto a single cheap PCB service, like Seeed’s Fusion, or ITead’s Open PCB. The process involves merging the gerber files with GerbMerge. just wrote up an instructable about how you can easily panelize PCBs for SeeedStudio’s Fusion PCB service. I thought it might be of […]