It’s the last day of our week-long Dangerous DSO adventure. Yesterday we simulated the analog front-end and found a few changes to test. First, we’re going to increase the ADC buffer gain to 2. That should make vertical offset adjustment easier. Second, we’re going to try a more refined input range divider with a 900K […]
Category Archives: Development
DIY PCB breakout boards
Have a new component that’s not pin compatible with a breadboard? Chris from Pyroelectro has a new tutorial describing how to make your own custom PCB breakout boards. In this video he demonstrates how to build a board for an ethernet connector. Follow his plans and you’ll have a system to tackle the non-standard footprint […]
KTechlab IDE for microcontrollers and electronics
KTechlab is an open source IDE for microcontrollers and electronics design and works with Linux systems. It includes a simulator for analog and digital circuits and incorporates a C compiler. You can download the user manual in PDF here. The software is available from Sourceforge.
Dangerous DSO part 3: Messing with the front-end
Yesterday we looked at how the Dangerous DSO analog to digital converter works, and it turns out to be a pain in the butt. It only measures a 1volt (1Vp-p) range between 2volts and 3volts. That’s not a very useful range for an oscilloscope, so we need an analog front-end that transforms the input signal […]
Arduino based Android Open Accessory Development Kit
Joe Desbonnet informs us of the release by Google of their Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK). Interestingly, the ADK is Arduino based! The Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) provides an implementation of an Android USB accessory that is based on the Arduino open source electronics prototyping platform, the accessory’s hardware design files, code […]
Freescale Make It Challenge
Freescale announced their 2011 Make It Challenge! The contest has two tracks: one for designs using the Tower System, and a second for designs with the Mechatronics Robot Platform. In order to enter the contest, you have to register for and attend the 2011 FTF Americas conference June 20-23, 2011 in San Antonio, TX. While […]
Energy harvesting wireless sensors use TCP/IP
EnOcean has introduced a line of energy harvesting wireless sensor modules. Designed to function without the need for an external power source, these modules, ranging from a simple push button to transceiver gateways and programmable system components, are designed to operate in the 315 MHz and 868 MHz unlicensed bands. Unlike sensors using proprietary RF […]
Design of next-gen RF remote controls
In this article from EETimes Europe, Cees Links of GreenPeak Technologies discusses some of the issues facing designers of next-generation RF remote controls. Topics relating to minimizing power consumption, the RF4CE ZigBee standard and interoperability are highlighted.
VirtualBreadboard 4.3.3
VirtualBreadboard 4.3.3 is a Windows GUI program that lets you simulate and develop embedded applications that use microcontrollers. It essentially lets you assemble virtual components on screen and auto generate code. Currently some Microchip PIC16 and 18 devices are supported, as well as Arduino. In addition a wide variety of simulated components such as LCD’s, […]
ENC424J600 breakout board tested
jpm successfully tested our stalled ENC424J600 ethernet board with a PIC32: I used Microchip stack at SPI speed 20MHz. Quicker about two times than ENC28J60.
Keyglove Arduino/AVR-powered keyboard substitute
Here’s a keyboard-glove prototype in development by Jeff Rowberg. The Keyglove is a glove-based USB input device that provides full keyboard control, designed for wearable and mobile computing and to assist the disabled. According to Jeff: The Keyglove is a portable Arduino/AVR-powered glove that uses touch combinations (for keys) and an accelerometer (for the mouse) […]
Fedora Electronics Lab Linux distro
Kelvin writes to inform us of a Fedora Linux distribution particularly keyed toward electronics experimenters and developers. The Fedora Electronics Lab includes design tools for ASIC Analog Circuit Design and Simulation, ASIC Layout, DRC and LVS, Digital Simulation and Verification, RTL and logic synthesis design flows, Circuit and PCB Layout, Micro Controller (µC) Programming and […]
STATUS UPDATE: Bus Blaster v2
We’re trying a new Monday post with status updates on new projects currently in production. This will cover project development, and gritty details like last minutes changes and production problems. Bus Blaster v2 is going to rock! The design is so flexible and fun, we can’t believe it wasn’t the standard FT2232 JTAG debugger design […]
Flexible PCB, self-adhesive, component adapters
Protoflex is a set of flexible circuit board stickers for SMD development. Peel off a footprint, stick it on 0.1″ protoboard, and solder surface mount parts directly on the sticker. Brilliant use of flexible PCBs. Thanks Kelvin! Via contact form.
Parts: pogo pins, jumpers, resistor kits, more
Today a parcel come in with lots of goodies from MDFLY. We are prototyping a lot so every useful gadget that helps us a lot. Follow below for a look at the jumper cables, resistor kits, and pogo pins in this order.
DIY soldering station
Ever want to design your own soldering station? Sqkybeaver is workshopping a soldering station driver board in the forum now.
Updated Fritzing release
We previously highlighted Fritzing, 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. The developers have released an updated version, which contains a number of improvements including a completely new autorouter, improved footprints for […]
Atmel releases AVR Studio 5 beta
Atmel has released the beta version of their Atmel® AVR Studio® 5, the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for developing and debugging embedded Atmel AVR® applications. Version 5 provides one development environment for all 8-bit and 32-bit AVR microcontrollers. Features include an integrated C compiler, new project wizard, and an improved editor displaying code suggestions, shortcuts […]
Wanted: Dedicated Logic Sniffer test squad
Development on the Logic Sniffer client is blazing forward. Jawi, and a few new contributors, are adding features daily. The development team is looking for a few dedicated beta testers on various platforms. The squad will test whether a pending release is functioning properly on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, before it goes live. If […]
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) […]