Drone writes about a new 3d printer project he’s found: MakiBox A6 is a new crowd-funded project by Jon Buford in Honk Kong. Price is $300USD each plus $50USD International shipping. The basic kit includes all MakiBox parts with electronics and power supply and 1 kg of plastic (2 x 1/2kg spools of ABS). No […]
Category Archives: Development
XT-IDE adapter with CPLD v2 working
Pietja successfully built and tested our CPLD-based XT-IDE adapter v2. These boards give old XT PCs the ability to interface with IDE hard-drives and compact flash cards. There are still lots of these old boxes out there running medical and industrial equipment, and the XT-IDE cards keep them going with modern drives. The Vintage Computer […]
28c3: the FreedomBox
This lightning talk from the recent 28C3 conference in Berlin is a general introduction and status update on the development of the FreedomBox project. The FreedomBox is a personal server running a free software operating system and free applications, designed to preserve personal privacy by providing a secure platform upon which federated social networks can […]
Contiki on the web platform documentation update
Shuckc ported Contiki OS 2.5 to run on the web platform. Now some additional documentation is available to help get you started with this port. Contiki is an open source operating system for embedded devices. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6 internet protocols, and is not too taxing on memory, usually taking around 40KB of […]
MSP430 online code editior, compiler, and programmer
Here is an online IDE for MSP430 microcontrollers. You can edit your code, compile, and program it, all online. All that is required is to sign in with a Google account. You edit C-code within your web browser without having to install an IDE such as IAR or CCS on your computer. The files are […]
Tizen open source pre-release code available
The Linux Foundation Tizen Work group announces the availability of a set of pre-release tools to give application developers an early look at Tizen. “Tizen is an open source, standards-based software platform supported by leading mobile operators, device manufacturers, and silicon suppliers for multiple device categories, including smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, […]
DaisyLink Gadgeteer module connects many devices to one port
Here is module for the .NET Gadgeteer that allows you to connect other modules in daisy-chain configuration using only one port. This is a proof of concept for Arduino based Gadgeteer DaisyLink module.The Gadgeteer DaisyLink protocol allows to chain up to 126 various modules on one socket. The protocol is based on I2C-based EEPROM interface.
osPID, an open source modular PID controler
The osPID is an open source modular PID controller. PID is used to monitor a process and provide feedback, such as the temperature controller on a DIY reflow over or sous-vide cooker. The main board has an Arduino and a user interface panel with an LCD and a few buttons. Two daughter boards are used […]
Contiki 2.5 running on the Web Platform
Shuckc has successfully ported the Contiki 2.5 OS to the Web Platform. Contiki is an open source operating system for embedded devices. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6 internet protocols, and is not too taxing on memory, usually taking around 40KB of ROM and a few K of RAM. As I hinted last week (and […]
Open source USB stack freestanding demo
An open source USB stack has been in development in our forum for some time. Up until now it was integrated into the sources code of the specific devices we used like the Bus Pirate, or the IR toy. Now there is a freestanding demo available that can easily be ported to any PIC with […]
Bus Pirate and PiratePICprog programms PIC32
AndThen added support for PIC32 devices to PiratePICprog, the PIC programming application for the Bus Pirate. He needs help testing it. If you have a PIC32 and a Bus Pirate try it out. Please note: PIC32 programming does not require the Bus Pirate PIC programming adapter. Via the forum.
TI India design contest
Update from the comments: I’d think twice before entering. From the terms and conditions point 2: By making a submission as part of the TIIMDC, you expressly agree to irrevocably, perpetually and exclusively grant and assign in favour of Texas Instruments (India) Private Limited (TI), without any geographical restriction and on a royalty free basis, […]
Rhodes: open source HTML5 mobile app developer
Rhodes is a Ruby based open source cross-platform mobile app development tool and is part of the Rhomobile project. It allows you to develop HTML5 mobile applications on your computer with Rhostudio or in the cloud. If you’re new to mobile app development, the Rhomobile docs page is a good place to start. The tutorial […]
AVR-based PIC programmer update
Fezoj made some updates to the user interface of his AVR-based PIC programmer. The project supports the PIC24F microcontrollers used in the Bus Pirate. There’s still lots of work to be done on this project, so if you’d like to contribute join the discussion in the forum.
Logic circuits and computer memory are printed together on a sheet of plastic
Thinfilm Electronics and PARC developed a technology for printing semiconductors onto a plastic film. Last month, a small Norwegian company called Thinfilm Electronics and PARC, the storied Silicon Valley research lab, jointly showed off a technological first—a plastic film that combined both printed transistors and printed digital memory. Such flexible electronics could be an important component […]
Using pogo-pins for hardware testing
Here’s how Spark Fun uses pogo-pins to quickly test their products. Pogo pins are spring loaded pins that make quick connections to PCB test points. Test beds are made from a PCB that has pogo-pins aligned with with contacts on the device to test. Sometimes SparkFun includes a microcontroller on the test bed to interface […]
PreenFM open source FM sound module
According to its developer, French software engineer Xavier Hosxe, “PreenFM is a set of electronic components and C++ files that, when put together become a Frequency Modulation sound module.” It’s designed around a Leaflabs Maple Mini (available from Seeedstudio) and a collection of supporting components including EEPROMs, optocouplers, shift registers and op amps complemented by […]
AVR-based transitor tester
After our recent post about the commercial semi-conductor tester we started a discussion about building a similar open source project. What came up is this AVR based transistor tester (machine translation) by Markus. It’s built around an ATmega8 IC that interfaces with a standard HD44780 16×2 character LCD. The circuit that does the testing is […]
Breadboard limitations
We love breadboards, they make prototyping easy, but they have their limitations. The way breadboards are built imposes a low maximum frequency to the design, typically less then 50 MHz. This is due to the high parasitic inductance and capacitance on solderless breadboards. For designs that work at low frequencies, breadboards are the ideal tool […]
Arduino 1.0 IDE code available for preview
Arduino team member David Mellis says: I have Arduino 1.0 uploaded and ready for release, but it would be great if you could try it out as a sanity check before I announce it. You can find links to the download for Linux, OS X and Windows here. Via Adafruit.