This is the first complete working prototype of the Bus Pirate v4. The final header will be shrouded. In a related development, McZ tipped us to the PicPack open source PIC USB virtual serial firmware. It could be just the thing we need for the Bus Pirate v4 (and the Infrared Toy and Logic Sniffer). […]
Category Archives: Development
USB POV Toy: miniscope v3
We wanted an easy way to see the accelerometer data from the USB POV Toy. We made a simple firmware that works with the miniscope v3 oscilloscope program. Instead of sending voltage readings, it sends the accelerometer data from one axis. This screenshot shows the change in readings while we wave the POV Toy back […]
USB POV Toy: Soldered prototype
Here’s the soldered prototype of the USB POV Toy. The first power up exploded a backwards tantalum capacitor with an impressive spark, but after that was sorted everything seems to be ok. The tiny MMA7455L accelerometer took a few tries to solder, but now we can access it with the Bus Pirate using I2C or […]
PIC LCD backpack with LCD Smartie
This is a prototype of the open source PIC LCD backpack driven by LCD Smartie over a USB virtual serial port. Follow our progress in the development thread.
Bus Pirate v4 rev 2 hello world
The second Bus Pirate v4 prototype passed the self test today. This update fixes a few minor issues in pin connections, and it’s the first prototype with the PIC 24FJ256GB106 that will be used in the final hardware. Follow our progress in the BPv4 firmware development forum.
Beta Microchip IDE for Linux, Mac
ahri tipped us to a new beta version of the Microchip development software for PIC microcontrollers, MPLABX. Looks like it’s Java based, and there’s Linux and Mac versions too. This will make a lot of people happy. Grab the preview here, and share your experience in the comments. We’re installing it now. Via the forum.
Big box of circuit boards
A box of PCBs just arrived from Seeed Studio’s Fusion PCB service. This batch includes: Bus Pirate v4 USB POV Toy Through-hole IR Toy PIC USB LCD backpack version We’ll be flinging lead today, watch for prototype updates later.
Preview: USB LCD backpack prototypes
Soldered prototypes for the FT232-based USB LCD backpacks. Check out the design on the wiki, and follow development in the forum.
mini USB LCD backpack
This is the mini version of the USB LCD backpack . It has only the IO pins required for the most common HD44780 LCD pinouts. Join the development discussion in the forum. Driver development is under way for LCDsmartie. We’ll be adding support to LCDproc too.
Computer controlled power supply update
The computer controlled power supply being developed in the forum is progressing nicely. We got a big boost when Fenugrec posted a few circuit simulations based on a common commercial power supply typology. The simulated circuit is now available as an Eagle Schematic. We also transcribed the “Dave sink” constant current load from DaveCAD to […]
FT232 LCD backpack update
Two alternative FT232 LCD backpack PCBs are in the forum. The first one (pictured above) supports standard H44780 LCDs, and graphic LCDs with some creative wiring. The mini version drops the extra IOs for graphics LCDs to get the smallest possible board. If you’ve got some time this holiday weekend, check out the development thread […]
Inexpensive multi-programmer update
An update of the inexpensive, medium-speed AVR/PIC/CPLD/Arduino programmer is posted in the forum. This programmer is designed for people who don’t own a programmer, and just want to rescue a bricked PIC or AVR. This version takes into account the pin connection diagram MichaelZ outlined during our last design review. The update has a single […]
Preview: Bus Blaster update
A newly updated Bus Blaster design is posted in the forum. The Bus Blaster is a high-speed JTAG debugger and flash ROM programmer based on the FT2232H USB chip. Development started in the spring, but stalled because we couldn’t find the right buffer chip. We wanted to support targets from 2.0volts to 5.0volts, but we […]
RIP: Easter Egg 4-28-2010 to 8-13-2010
Today is a sad day.. a very sad day.. With the release of firmware v5.6 we lost a beloved addition to the Bus Pirate: the new Easter egg. Starting in v5.0, including the first alpha release of the new terminal design, we included a new Easter egg. It was fun for us to write, and a pain to […]
Bus Pirate v4, IR Toy update, 3EEPROM PCBs
A big box of PCBs arrived from Seeed’s Fusion board service today. Here are a few of the boards that have been mentioned on the blog or in the forum: An updated 3EEPROM explorer board USB Infrared Toy manufacturing update Bus Pirate v4 prototype for developers Most of these boards won’t be available for months, […]
Preview: Inexpensive multi-chip programmer
This is a preview of an inexpensive, medium-speed AVR/PIC/CPLD/Arduino programmer. It’s designed for people who don’t own a programmer and just want to rescue a bricked PIC or AVR. The programmer uses the bitbang mode of a FT232R FTDI USB->serial converter chip. The same one used on the Bus Pirate and Arduino. There’s existing apps […]
Preview: Bus Pirate LCD adapter v2
This is a new LCD adapter for the Bus Pirate. The board has been tested, Seeed is building a manufacturing prototype now. The Bus Pirate LCD library in firmware v5.4+ will require this LCD adapter instead of the old v1 adapter. The v1 LCD adapter was based on a PCF8574 I2C IO expander IC. It […]
Free PCB Sunday: Bus Pirate v4 prototype
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few professionally-made PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week we’re giving away […]
Bus Pirate firmware v5.3 development
Bus Pirate firmware v5.3 is on track for release later this week. This will have some minor bug fixes, upgrades, and new features. You can download the latest nightly release from SVN. Nightlies are usually very stable, but new features may not be completely finalized. Reviewed and updated terminal text SPI sniffer update (reduced minimum […]
Bus Pirate v4, IR Toy updates
There is an update of the USB IR Toy and a new Bus Pirate v4 in the forum. Your comments and suggestions are needed to make these the best designs yet. These projects won’t be manufactured until the fall at the earliest, and probably won’t be available until next year. This preview release is part […]