Author Archives: the machinegeek

Arduino Ethernet + SD card tutorial

Ladyada has posted this detailed tutorial over at Adafruit on using Ethernet and SD card with Arduino. It describes how to use the Arduino to browse files on an SD card remotely. This tutorial is targeted at those who already have quite a bit of Arduino or microcontroller experience and are ‘fluent’ in C/C++/Java!

Lattice launches “Do-It-All PLD” design challenge

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and UBM Electronics have announced the Lattice “Do-it-All PLD” Design Challenge. The objective of the Design Challenge is to foster a social community in which electronics engineering contestants can use the Lattice MachXO2™ Pico Development Kit to create designs for evaluation by a panel of expert judges. The Design Challenge will take […]

Looking up at the spy

When spy satellites peer down at you from over head, what can you do? Well, if your’re Thierry Legault and Emmanuel Rietsch you look back! The pair of enterprising Frenchmen have modified a consumer-grade telescope, added a small motor, hand-held controller and a video camera. The result is a do-it-yourself satellite tracker capable of recording […]

Epson S4E5A0A0 Inertial Measurement Unit

At recent international trade shows Epson debuted the S4E5A0A0 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). An inertial measurement unit senses inertial motion consisting of angular rate sensors on three axes and accelerometers in three directions. IMUs are primarily used to measure and control the behavior of mobile objects. The IMU includes triple gyroscopes and a tri-axis accelerometer, […]

EKOPath 4 Compiler Suite going open source

PathScale has announced that the EKOPath 4 Compiler Suite is now available as an open source project and free download for Linux (RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and 11, and Ubuntu 10), FreeBSD and Solaris. According to the press release: This release includes documentation and the complete development stack, […]

XBee wireless interface tutorial

Chris from PyroElectro has posted this tutorial on interfacing with XBee. He writes: Getting started with XBee can be tricky, even though it shouldn’t be. Here is a drop-dead simple guide to using XBee modules out of the box. The tutorial shows you how to build a wireless interface with XBee modules between two PIC […]

App Note: wireless home security implementing KEELOQ® and PIC®

KEELOQ® is an authentication system designed by Microchip. It’s based on a proprietary, non-linear encryption algorithm that creates a unique transmission on every use, supposedly rendering RF replay attacks useless. The algorithm uses a programmable 64-bit encryption key unique to each device to generate 32-bit hopping code. In this new app note, Microchip presents a […]

Kinect for Windows SDK beta released

Microsoft has released the beta of their Kinect for Windows SDK. The Kinect for Windows SDK beta is a programming toolkit for application developers. It enables the academic and enthusiast communities easy access to the capabilities offered by the Microsoft Kinect device connected to computers running the Windows 7 operating system. The Kinect for Windows […]

Gear: Parallax Propeller emulator/debugger

While it’s been around for a while, few users of the Parallax Propeller are aware of of the debugger known as Gear. Gear is an open source Propeller emulator, with support for step through debugging and component plug-ins. It runs under Windows XP and requires .NET 2.0. It does not appear as full featured as […]

Joe Grand’s laser range finder

Joe Grand has finished work on his Laser Range Finder (LRF) project. This project, which has been in development in cooperation with Parallax Inc., is now in final beta testing. Check out Joe’s development diary for all the exhaustive details and links to development videos. Joe reports that after final tweaking is completed, he expects […]

Hacking a PIR RF signal with PIC 12F683

Deepak from Mindfront.net acquired a PIR alarm sensor module which transmitted a digital code over 433 MHz RF to signal an alarm receiver. The problem: he didn’t have the factory receiver. So he set out to sniff the transmitted RF signal using a RCR-433-AS receiver module with the data out fed into an oscilloscope. This […]

Free ESC virtual conference June 16, 2011

ESC Silicon Valley is presenting a free virtual conference on June 16, 2011, from 8 AM to 3 PM PT. The lineup includes a fireside chat interview with Steve Wozniak, as well as presentations on Cortex M4 development, Android development, agile software development techniques for embedded systems as well as modern network security protocols for […]

Freescale publishes open sample data sets for inertial and magnetic sensors

On working with the MMA7260Q accelerometer Mike Stanley from Freescale semiconductors writes: There’s nothing like looking at the raw data, running it through an algorithm and viewing the results to cement an understanding of the technology. Later, I gathered an appreciation for the need to be able to reproduce my results from one run to […]

EasyMSP 0.8.2 Beta2 released

MattTheGeek has released his early project code for EasyMSP, which allows MSP430 users to run Arduino code with few modification, thanks to EasyMSP’s AFI, or Arduino Function Interface. The purpose of this project is to create a user friendly dev environment for MSP430 MCUs, seeking to accommodate both beginners and advanced users by providing the […]

Extreme electric motorcycle uses Arduino

This article from MIT News highlights the MIT Team’s recent entry into the Isle of Man TT Race, a speed competition for all-electric vehicles conducted over a 37.7 mile circuit. Race coordinators put up a prize of £10,000 for the first electric bike to finish with an average speed of 100 miles per hour or […]

OHANDA: Open Source Hardware and Design Alliance

OHANDA, the Open Source Hardware and Design Alliance is an initiative to foster sustainable sharing of open hardware and design. The idea is for designers and manufacturers of open source hardware who wish their work to conform to the “Four Freedoms” of open source hardware to label their work the above “OH&A” insignia, thus making […]