Category Archives: Development

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 […]

Open source documentation templates

nbitwonder has some open source documentation templates for electronics experimenters: We created a set of open source documentation templates in LaTeX (the typesetting language, not the material). With them, makers and hobbyists can develop better documentation for their projects by focusing on the content of their documentation and not the formatting. Grab the latest version […]

OpenMT: Open source Multi Touch

Open source Multi Touch, known as OpenMT, is an open source hardware project for developing multitouch applications. Unlike camera-based multitouch, OpenMT lets you make a thin, flexible multitouch surface. It is Arduino friendly and has been developed by Sensible UI in Seoul, Korea. Users can experiment with hardware development themselves with projects such as ArduMT, […]

Rapid app development with AVR App Builder

Imagecraft has released the demo version of their ICCV8 C compiler tool for Atmel AVR microcontrollers. The demo version is unlimited for 45 days, and code limited thereafter to 64K, non-commercial use only. One helpful feature in this IDE is the App Builder. This tool allows for quick setup of peripherals on a number of […]

HACK: Open source USB stack on MCP2200

Microchip has a new USB->serial converter chip called the MCP2200. We suspected they made this chip from a 20-pin PIC. The MCP2200 pinout is like other PIC uCs, and it has similar reset pin and internal voltage regulator circuits. We hooked up our trusty PICKIT3 and read the device ID. The MCP2200 was recognized as a […]

Python wins the TIOBE Programming Language Award of 2010!

Python wins the TIOBE Programming Language Award of 2010! Python programmers love this language’s simplicity and it has become a very useful tool for those who love fast prototyping and quick development time. It has been proven useful in a lot of areas: – GUI programming (such as wxPython) – Engineering calculations and computations (such […]

27C3: Building Custom Disassemblers

FX of Phenoelit recently presented a talk at the 27C3 CCC in Berlin, Germany on the topic of instruction set reverse engineering. Topics include obtaining byte code, analyzing it for basic properties, finding addressing modes, and implementing an IDA Pro processor module. The primary focus is on the transformation of byte code back into mnemonic […]

27C3: File – Print – Electronics

In this presentation from the 27C3 conference held recently in Berlin, Germany, Jeff Gough demonstrates the next step in hardware development, the circuit board printer. As an alternative to dependence on prefab dev boards and kits, Jeff outlines his efforts in reverse engineering an Epson inkjet printer to build a rapid prototyping machine for circuit […]

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 […]

System and method for intrabody communications

Here’s a thought provoking patent abstract, a “System and Method for Intra-body Communication,” US patent application number 20100305437 Among other concepts it refers to using the unique audio frequencies produced by teeth clicks as a means of communicating through the musculoskeletal system with a wireless wristwatch device!

Processor quick start guides

The new processor quick start guides were a big hit. Maff^ contributed a basic guide to the AVR, and Dpropicweb greatly expanded the PIC guides. We finished the MSP430 guide, and added new guides for the Coolrunner-II CPLD and Spartan 3 FPGA (in progress). Check out all the guides, and add one for your favorite […]

Processor quick start guides

Getting started with a new processor family is a minefield. Our new quick start guides for the PIC, LPC ARM, and STM32 ARM, are a collection of notes on these processor families. If you’re already familiar with one processor, these condensed guides can help you get started on a whole new platform without scouring the […]