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 […]
Author Archives: DP
Soldering Iron Driver v1.5 built with a DIY PCB
Download the source files from our SVN, mask the copper layer with toner-transfer, or UV exposure method, and etch the board with some acid. Once complete you’ll have your very own home-built Soldering Iron Driver v1.5. This is what Alex has done, and so far he seems happy with it. Ok, here is a pic […]
PIC18F2550 breakout board free PCB build
Fcobcn built the PIC18F2550 Breakout Board free PCB. The PIC18F2550 is a really popular USB chip from Microchip. There are lots of projects floating around the internet for it, as well as some of our own, like the USB IR Toy, USB LCD Backpack, etc… This is a breakout board for the 28pin SOIC package […]
Bus Pirate v4 back in stock
Bus Pirate v4 is back in stock at Seeed Studio. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff. It’s got a bunch of features an intrepid hacker might need to prototype their next project. v4 has some great new features, but if you want a tool that “just works” […]
Workshop update for May 21st, 2012
Today we’re getting back to the workshop from our Bay Area Maker Faire visit. Over the next few days you can expect the full coverage, and a few videos. Be sure to check out our Twitter feed for lots of pictures from the Maker Faire and the after party. In the workshop we are figuring […]
Bay Area Maker Faire 2012: ‘Get your stuff made’ presentation
Great turnout for the Get Your Stuff Made presentation! Ian talked about the ways open source is currently manufactured, and outlined the package we send to Seeed Studio to start a new project. Power Point Open Office PDF
Liquidware Amber 7” open source hardware Android tablet
Liquidware is developing a 7” open source hardware Android tablet called Amber. The Amber is a 7” projected capacitive tablet driven by a 1 GHz, ARM Cortex-A9 OMAP3730 from Texas Instruments. We’ve customized a version of Android Gingerbread 2.3.4 to run on the Amber, and its 2 USB host ports offer high-speed USB and serial […]
USB IR Toy shield free PCB build
Toasterbotics blogged about his free USB IR Toy shield PCB build. This board turns your Arduino into the IR Toy. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer. Via the contact form.
App note: The FET-OR connection for power supplies
Here is a reference design from Maxim how to built a circuit that would seamlessly switch to the secondary power supply if the primary fails. This power-supply sequencer senses a loss of the main supply voltage and, by controlling the two FETs, automatically switches the load to the secondary (backup) supply.
Bay Area Maker Faire 2012 preview
Starting to get busy at the Dangerous Prototypes booth! For live updates from the Bay Area Maker Faire check out our Twitter feed. More pictures below
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: ATtiny40 Qtouch reference design
Here is a reference design from Atmel designed to demonstrate the Qtouch capabilities of the ATtiny40 microcontroller. Only one pin, and a PCB pad is needed to make a capacitive touch button. The reference design is to demonstrate the capabilities of the Atmel ATtiny40, which supports QTouch, the latest capacitive touch technology. The technology requires […]
App note: Collection of Jim Williams’ app notes
In June 2011 the electronics world lost a great man, Jim Williams. He was a analog circuit guru, and a scientist at Linear Technology. Here is a collection of some of the app notes he wrote. Via the Amp hour.
Bay Area Maker Faire 2012: Setup
Here are some pics we took while setting up at the Bay Area Maker Faire. If you are visiting, be sure to say hi at our booth (#2). For live updates from the Maker Fair check out our Twitter feed. More photos below the fold.
App note: Driving analog inputs of SAR analog to digital converters
Here is an app note from Microchip describing how to drive analog inputs of Successive Approximation Register analog to digital converters. Driving any A/D Converter (ADC) can be challenging if all issues and trade-offs are not well understood from the beginning. With Successive Approximation Register (SAR) ADCs, the sampling speed and source impedance should be […]
Workshop Update for May 18th, 2012
Today we’re is setting up our booth at the Bay Area Maker Faire, and digesting all the tacos from yesterday’s Dangerous Taco Crawl 2012. Firmware for the Part Ninja is making progress. It is now capable of figuring out the part, and its pinout, with consistency. There’s still some calibration to be done, but all […]
Using a Wii Nunchuk as an earthquake sensor
Here is an open source earthquake sensor based on the Wii Nunchuk. A Teensy is used to read the I2C accelerometer output: This article explores the suitability of a Wii nunchuk based USB accelerometer as an earthquake sensor for the Quake-Catcher Network (QCN) project. It examines the nunchuk over several metrics: precision and range, frequency response, […]
Dangerous Taco Crawl pics
Thursday before Maker Faire is the Dangerous Taco Crawl through the Mission District, starting at the Noisebridge hackerspace. Many will start. Not all will finish. Huge thanks to Zach, Jaren, Vin, Fin, Kieth, Josh, John, Louis, Chris, and Jeff. Twelve hackers conquered the taco crawl in 2012. Saturday starts MF2012. These pictures came from the […]
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. This week we have a guest PCB, Simplecortex board. Use your coupon to pick this PCB, or […]
Week in (p)review May 18, 2012
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon. WORKSHOP VIDEO: How we prepare for the Bay Area Maker Faire HOW-TO: Visit Bay Area Maker Faire 3D Model: USB Persistence of Vision Toy v1c Workshop Update for May 17th, 2012 Workshop Update for May 16th, 2012 Workshop […]