Frank documented his music playing alarm clock build. This Instructable has 18 steps (with demo examples for each building block) and 5 appendices, with about 90 files and pictures, including logic analyzer files/screencaps, expected terminal output, USB device dumps. I sincerely hope you explore all my efforts. I covered everything from SD cards, FAT file […]
Author Archives: Ian
ANTI-SPAM MOD: Disable links to fight spam in phpBB3
Spam poured in after our recent move to a phpBB3 forum. Captchas, registration questions, and other measures only stopped the stupidest scripts and annoyed everyone. No more of that cat and mouse game, we’re trying something new. We deny spammers what they want: most links are now disabled for new users and guests. This dead-simple […]
Bus Pirate: Python script for sht1x/sht7x sensors
Frank wrote a python script that reads the sht1x/7x temperature and humidity sensors using the Bus Pirate. Script source is in SVN. Via the forum. Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
Daft punk coffee table/display
Sam documented his daft punk coffee table/display build. Yes, I know this has been done before, but I wanted to build my own, using as few parts as possible. I built this as a table top or wall mount model, but it can be scaled up to make a coffee table. I built it as […]
Open source hardware symbols for PCBs
Here’s a followup to the open source hardware logo post. NBitWonder has some of the design candidates in an open source eagle library. Thanks Ben! Via the comments.
WIFI development board with a PIC24FJ and MRF24WB0MB
Sjaak found another WIFI development board with a PIC24FJ and MRF24WB0MB wireless module at Sure Electronics. This is similar to the OpenPicus we covered earlier, but not open source and without the friendly development environment. Thanks Sjaak!
OLED display with the Bus Pirate
Die Schatenseite demonstrates an OLED display (original , machine translation) with the Bus Pirate. Via eHajo, a Bus Pirate distributor in Germany. Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
NESBot: Arduino powered robot beating Super Mario Bros
Peter documented his NES playing robot build. I recently uploaded the details of a project of mine, the NESBot, and I figured you guys might be interested. This is an arduino based bot which can play back tool assisted speedruns on the NES. If you’ve ever seen the “Super Mario Bros 3 beat in 11 […]
Week in (p)review: February 13, 2011
Don’t forget to share your current project in the comments or the forum. This week our favorite project gets a free SOIC protoboard. Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week: Jawi released a new version of his client for the Logic Sniffer. This supports new features in the experimental Verilog core from […]
Free PCB Sunday: xQFP breakouts
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 we’re giving away two […]
CPLD breakout board PCBs
A box of PCBs just arrived with the new CPLD breakout board designs. The top board is for the XC9500XL family (XC9572XL), the other boards is for a CoolRunner-II (XC2C64A). Check out the quick start guides for these parts. Both boards have all the pins broken out to header, and jumpers for IO voltage selection. […]
App note: Bridge from USB to I²C
rsdio tipped us to an app note on interface circuits: hmm… breakout board candidate? This circuit provides a direct I²C interface to your PC’s USB port. A USB to 1-Wire® dongle supplies the PC with a 1-Wire master, which controls a 1-Wire I/O extender. This I/O extender has two bidirectional open drain ports, which the […]
Return-to-zero engineering comic
Return-to-zero is a new comic strip for engineers: We bring to light the “Engineers World” with lab humor, exploding circuits, and of course making a sport out of solving the trickiest of engineering problems. We’re also big fans of xkcd, another long-running tech geek and engineering comic. Thanks Elaina! Via the contact form.
Web Platform: C# GUI interface to web server
M0KHZ wrote a C# Windows GUI to interface the web platform server over a network. Having great fun (and learning) from the Web Server platform – here on my bench for the last 4 days :), my thoughts are now turning towards a Windows GUI interface to toggle LED2, plus anything else I hang off […]
555 based fuel injector tester
Makerdino shared his 555 Based Fuel Injector Tester in the project log forum: I’ve posted this one elsewhere but it’s a work in progress so I figured I’d share it here. I spent about four hours today reworking the schematic and the next step is to make a PCB, solder up the components to it […]
App note: One-wire control of SPI peripherals
rsdio presents: 1-Wire network via an SPI-compatible display controller. To produce the 3-wire SPI™ interface required by a MAX7221 display controller (active-low CS, DIN, and CLK), this 1-Wire network serially addresses three 1-Wire switches (DS2413). The first switch creates Chip Select directly (active-low CS), the second creates the serial-data line directly (DIN), and the third […]
Bus Pirate in a matchbox
Christoph sent pictures of his simple recycled Bus Pirate case made from a matchbox. More awesome DIY cases. Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors. Via the contact form.
Open source documentation templates
nbitwonder has some open source documentation templates for electronics experimenters: We created a set of open source documentation templates in LaTeX (the typesetting language, not the material). With them, makers and hobbyists can develop better documentation for their projects by focusing on the content of their documentation and not the formatting. Grab the latest version […]
OpenPicus wireless development platform
OpenPicus is working on open source wireless hardware and a free application development platform. The current WIFI hardware has a PIC 24FJ256GA106 microcontroller, and an MRF24WB0MA module provides the wireless. An Arduino-like IDE has libraries and frameworks to simplify wireless development. If you have the grit to develop a wireless app without a proper debugging […]
MAX11209/MAX11211 18-Bit, ultra-low power, delta-sigma ADCs
rsdio presents: MAX11209/MAX11211, ultra-low-power, high-resolution, serial-output ADCs Pin-compatible versions of the 24-/20-/16-bit family Low 150µA supply current is ideal for portable sensors Includes four GPIOs that can be used for external mux control When used with the specified data rates, the internal digital filter provides more than 100dB rejection of 50Hz or 60Hz line noise