XESS introduces their new XuLA-200 breakout board. The XuLA Board packs a 200,000-gate FPGA and a supervisory microcontroller into a 2″ x 1″ footprint (51 mm x 25 mm). XESS is committed to a completely open source design for this board which features a Xilinx XC3S200A Spartan 3A FPGA with 8 MByte SDRAM, 2 Mbit […]
Author Archives: the machinegeek
Model rocket GPS altimeter using Picaxe 18X
For his USC Rocket Propulsion Lab, Chris Fenton designed this project using a Picaxe 18X microcontroller which accepts a GPS NMEA data stream, pulls out the altitude and logs it to a 24LC512 external EEPROM. Upon recovery the data is then read from the EEPROM. Source code for the Picaxe and hand drawn schematic for […]
Arduino and TFT LCD tutorial
LCD displays of the 2×16 variety are a good way of getting feedback from your Arduino project. If you want a more enhanced visual experience, a thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD is the superior way to go. This tutorial by Tronixstuff describes a way use the the 4D Systems 1.44″ TFT serial interface LCD with Arduino. […]
Semtech RF data transmitter chips
Semtech has released a line of “power and go” inexpensive data transmitter chips. The new SX1240 and SX1242 ISM-band RF transmitters enable true data-in/RF-out capability, with only an external crystal and antenna impedance matching network needed. They simplify design by integrating “power-and-go modes,” which are pre-set for 434 MHz and 868 MHz (SX1240) or 345 […]
Tiny Femtoduino: smallest Arduino
Fabio Varesano has designed what is probably the smallest Arduino compatible board. He states: By using the QFN32 version of the ATMEGA 328p, 0.05″ connectors, 0402 components and removing everything not strictly necessary, I’ve been able to design and hand build an Arduino compatible board which is very small (20.7×15.2 mm) and ultra light (2g) […]
Atmega644 rock paper scissors game
Students Ling-Wei Lee and Kevin Tang at Cornell University developed a version of the rock paper scissors game using an Atmega644, CMOS camera module and a 2×16 LCD. Their project requires the human player to wear a glove that has black tape on each finger. Upon a signal from the LCD, the player plays their […]
Retro integrated circuit video
Here’s a half-hour video produced by Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation in 1967 describing the integrated circuit (IC), its design and development process, and giving examples of late 1960s uses of IC technology. Serves to provide some perspective on how the industry started, and how far we’ve come.
Infosec: using fuzzers to find vulnerabilities
Infosec Resources has a free online tutorial, An Introduction to Fuzzing: Using fuzzers (SPIKE) to find vulnerabilities. While not directly related to microcontrollers, this resource provides a hands-on guide to using open source Linux tools to find vulnerabilities in code on a networked Windows machine. To fully participate in this demo, you’ll need two machines […]
TI intros 16-channel constant current LED driver
Texas Instruments has introduced the TLC59282, a 16-Channel Constant Current LED Driver with 4-Channel Grouped Delay. According to the datasheet, this 24-pin SSOP device allows control of each channel individually controlled via a simple serial communications protocol that is compatible with 3.3 V or 5 V CMOS logic levels, depending on the operating VCC. Once […]
Arduino magnetic levitation project
mekonik has published complete details on his Arduino magnetic levitation project. Not content to settle for a typical “hello world” LED blinker as his first project, he supplemented the Arduino with an electromagnet, Honeywell SS19 Hall effect sensor, MC3401P op amp, NPN transistor and 1N4001 rectifier. The circuit essentially uses the small Hall effect sensor […]
MSP430 debugging with IAR
kphlight was working on a simple Pomodoro timer project using the MSP430 Launchpad, and wrote this Instructable on debugging using the IAR Embedded Workshop Kickstart, including the ability to make on the fly memory changes.
Logisim: graphical design and simulation tool
Logisim is an open source educational tool for designing and simulating digital logic circuits. With its simple toolbar interface and simulation of circuits as you build them, it is simple enough to facilitate learning the most basic concepts related to logic circuits. With the capacity to build larger circuits from smaller subcircuits, and to draw […]
Using watchdog timers in your AVR projects
Here’s an interesting tutorial from Embedds covering the use of watchdog timers in AVR and Arduino projects.
UPDATE: ARISSat-1 deployment delayed until July
UPDATE: According to information posted on the arissat.org website on February 13, 2011, the deployment of the ARISSAT-1 has been delayed until July, 2011. Project developers had originally announced that ARISSat-1 (f/k/a Suitsat-2), would be launched and transmitting by February 16, 2011! However, due to unforeseen problems, the actual deployment into space has been delayed […]
Open Source Hardware Logo
The Open Hardware Summit has released Version 1.0 of the Open Source Hardware Definition (OSHW). With this definition they would like to release a logo to be used to brand Open Hardware. Criteria: The logo for the Open Hardware Definition must: * Be easy to print/see on a PCB * Be easy to print/see on […]
Penguin Atmega32 game system
vladutz2000 has published plans for an overclocked Atmega32 based 8-bit game system. Dubbed the Penguin, this project runs the chip at 27 MHz instead of the usual 16 MHz and uses a 128×64 monochrome KS0108 based display along with a speaker and handful of resistors and pushbuttons. The schematic couldn’t be simpler and it, along […]
Brain wave monitor with Arduino + Processing
Frontier Nerds have been experimenting with brain wave tech as part of their Mental Block project. In this well documented project they take the headset from Mattel’s Mind Flex game and hack it to communicate with an Arduino board to measure brain waves and display their levels graphically on a PC via Processing. They chose […]
SCADA 101
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA) present a means of networking industrial infrastructure monitoring and control systems. From a central reading location a SCADA system can track a number of remote sites equipped with Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) or Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). The RTUs can measure an array of conditions and a wider […]
Rainbowduino coffee table
Sawomedia is the winner of the Seeedstudio Rainbow Carnival 2010 design contest. The winning entry was a RGB coffeetable using a handsoldered 64 Superflux Pixelmatrix and the Rainbowduino LED driver platform. It uses a 9V PSU, but can also use battery power. The supporting structure is made mainly from recycled materials. Seeedstudio is also a […]
Capacity tester for rechargeable batteries
BrianH has posted a useful Instructables project that tests the capacity of rechargeable NiMh and NiCd batteries. The circuit is based on an Atmega168, and functions by draining the AA batteries (from 1 to 3 batteries) then computes and reports the capacity in mAh. It uses a Nokia 5510 graphic LCD to report battery condition […]