Amanda gave a Toorcon talk about the about the perils of the electronics design process. The hardware design process is fraught with pitfalls, from library component sketchiness, parts availability, erroneous data sheets, underestimates of complexity and long lead times. Designing good hardware on time, on budget and to specifications is like being in a knife […]
Author Archives: Ian
Free PCB Sunday: Bus Pirate v3 prototype
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 an updated […]
Speakers@Google: Nathan Seidle
Nathan Seidle, founder of SparkFun Electronics, spoke at the Google campus in May. Hear about the early days of SparkFun, and how they became the 800lbs gorilla of hacker hardware. Via Hacked Gadgets.
AVR Programming at Hack a Day
Don’t miss Mike’s tutorials on AVR microcontrollers at Hack a Day. Part 1: introduction Part 2: the hardware More to come.
Bus Pirate router rescue
It’s a lot of fun to develop the Bus Pirate, but nothing is more satisfying than hearing that it actually helped someone: I am trying to get a new router setup for when I move to a more permanent home here in a couple weeks. At some point I messed up a config file or […]
FreeRouting, an online autorouter tool
FreeRouting.net is an online autorouter tool for Eagle circuit boards. Plug in your files and get a routed board back. How successful was it with your design? Via the forum.
70 LED matrix in a jack-o-lantern
Hack a Day made a Jack-o-lantern that shows animations on a LED matrix. Mike shows you how to design and run a multiplexed display with an AVR. Then he guts a pumpkin and installs 70 LEDs with power tools. Gourds, LEDs, and power tools, what’s not to love? We’re big fans of blinken-pumpkins.
PIC LCD backpack with LCD Smartie
This is a prototype of the open source PIC LCD backpack driven by LCD Smartie over a USB virtual serial port. Follow our progress in the development thread.
Surface mount layout practice
Eagle class at [NSL] shows you how to re-route Evil Mad Scientist’s through-hole ‘Larson Scanner‘ into a single-sided surface mount PCB.
Bus Pirate PIC programming adapter
An experimental PIC programming adapter for the Bus Pirate is now available for $7 at Seeed Studio. This is unproven green label hardware. Only buy this if you want to contribute to PIC programming applications like piratePICprog. There is NO software support, and the final hardware will be slightly different. If you need this for […]
Bus Pirate firmware v5.9
Bus Pirate firmware v5.9 is ready to download. It’s been a while since the last release, this time we have some exciting new features and bug fixes. The Bus Pirate documentation has been updated to reflect these changes. This version includes awesome new terminal features. Up/down arrows scroll through the history, and left/right/delete/insert are supported […]
Bus Pirate: miniscope v3
miniscope v3 now has a wiki page. Learn how to use your Bus Pirate as a low-speed oscilloscope. Get a Bus Pirate for $30, including worldwide shipping at Seeed Studio. Adafruit also has the Bus Pirate and probe cables in stock and ready to ship.
No magnetics – ethernet coupling with capacitors
Ethernet devices are usually connected to the network though small transformers. In our projects, like the web platform and #twatch, these magnetics are integrated into the ethernet jack. Florin is working on an ethernet project where space and weight are critical. He decided to ditch the heavy magnetics and experiment with capacitive ethernet coupling. This […]
Clickable OLED display with ATMEGA32
The Teeny AVR Media Thing is a 96×64 OLED display with a click screen interface. It plays video and renders 3D graphics from an AVR32 ATMEGA32 8bit microcontroller.
Building a DC-DC power supply that works
rsdio tipped us to an app note on DC-DC power supplies: This article discusses important considerations when designing a DC-DC power supply. Topics include choosing the right DC-DC converter for the application; MOSFET gate capacitance; high switching frequencies and component size; equations and calculations; selecting peripheral components; component placement and trade-offs; grounding; load and line […]
Bus Pirate v4 rev 2 hello world
The second Bus Pirate v4 prototype passed the self test today. This update fixes a few minor issues in pin connections, and it’s the first prototype with the PIC 24FJ256GB106 that will be used in the final hardware. Follow our progress in the BPv4 firmware development forum.
Web Platform: FreeRTOS port
mattcallow has been working on a FreeRTOS port for the web platform. Grab it from SVN. Our SVN tutorial is here. Via the forum. Get an assembled web platform for $40, including worldwide shipping. Web platform v1.1 is in stock and shipping now.
Ril3y’s new Open Logic Sniffer case
Ril3y has a new laser-cut acrylic Open Logic Sniffer case. We covered a prototype case earlier. Don’t forget that we’re giving away one of his Bus Pirate cases. You can order the Logic Sniffer at Seeed Studio for $45, including worldwide shipping. Seeed now has probe cables for $6 each.
Papilio barcode genie, a barcode scanning kit
The Gadget Factory, co-designer of the Open Logic Sniffer, has a new portable barcode scanning kit based on the Papilio FPGA platform. It is called the Papilio Barcode Genie kit or Barcode Genie for short. It is a kit for the Papilio One that makes it easy to capture barcodes and save them to a […]
Logic Sniffer: IM-me USB dongle hacking
jrt reverse engineered the IM-me USB dongle using the Open Logic Sniffer. Video after the break. You can order the Logic Sniffer at Seeed Studio for $45, including worldwide shipping. Don’t forget that Seeed now has probe cables for $6 each. Via the forum.