Author Archives: the machinegeek

Arduino + MQ3 = alcohol breath tester

This the season for good cheer, and what can be more cheerful than a project that’s as much fun to use as it is to build? How about a homebrew alcohol breath tester? Daniel Andrade shows how to build just such a device using just an Arduino, MQ3 alcohol sensor and a handful of resistors […]

Codebox: save Arduino sensor data to Google

Many are familiar with how to read data from Arduino into Processing. One such example varies the a PC’s onscreen graphics relative to the intensity of light on an LDR. Here MAKE presents a project which web enables Arduino sensor projects, allowing Processing data to be communicated and stored in a Google spreadsheet doc.

Google app inventor open to all

Google has opened up its App Inventor Android development GUI for public use. Formerly offered on an invitation only basis, the app inventor is a browser based IDE for Android apps. While it has its downsides including closed source, mandatory Google registration, no WiFi modules, and the need for a web connection (since compiling of […]

Falling sand game on FPGA

Skyler Schneider at Cornell University has produced a very comprehensive description of a falling sand game project using an Altera Cyclone II on the DE2 dev board. The Verilog source code listings demonstrate the level of coding required to produce dynamic video representations in a gaming environment. Via Hack a Day. Schneider’s project is a […]

Plumbing: Parallel programming for the Arduino

Concurrency.cc has introduced Plumbing, a Creative Commons licensed introduction to programming the Arduino using the programming language occam-pi. The tools are open source and facilitate parallel processing within the Arduino. The most recent versions for Windows, Mac and Linux are available for download. Check our the free PDF book download.

Electronics behind the homebrew TSA style scanner

Here Jeri Ellsworth concludes her presentations on a homebrew TSA type body scanner by focusing on the components and coding. An FPGA is used for processing of the video signal as an alternative to a PC. The use of a “virtual ground” is an interesting aspect of the signal amp circuit.

How to write a flash bootloader for the PIC16 and PIC18

Here’s an application note with comprehensive information on how to write your own bootloader for the Microchip PIC16 and PIC18 families. Microchip also has provided a link to the code development software. Good reading for both the beginner and experienced coder.

Peer to peer control network uses TV spectrum white space

New patent application #20100309806 describes a peer to peer radio system designed to utilize the “white space” between TV channels. The system receives data from RF and geolocation sensors and processes them along with information from the FCC’s white space database to assign operating frequencies on a dynamic basis.

New satellites can be monitored on your scanner

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has posted a list of frequencies used by new experimental satellites. The birds were launched from Alaska in November, and transmit digital data beacons and relayed communications using the AX.25 protocol. The frequencies are in the 144 MHz and 440 MHz range amateur radio bands and can be received […]

Fritzing

If you want to try your hand at creating an illustration or PCB of your electronics project, check out Fritzing. It’s an open source GUI based program that allows users to document their prototypes, share them with others, show them in a presentation, and create a pcb layout for professional manufacturing. Windows, Mac and Linux […]