Category Archives: documentation

Open Hardware Summit 2012: USB and Open Hardware presentation

Here is a recording of the “USB and Open Hardware: A Sketchy History” presentation Ian gave at the Open Hardware Summit 2012. The presentation covers the history and conflicts between USB and Open Hardware. Audio feed is direct from the H1N and a lapel microphone. Shaky cam by our very own Mad Skillz. Ian tried […]

STM M24LR04E-R 4-Kbit dual interface EEPROM with RFID

STMicroelectronics has introduced the M24LR04E-R 4-Kbit Dual Interface EEPROM with RFID. “The M24LR04E-R device is a dual-interface, electrically erasable programmable memory (EEPROM). It features an I2C interface and can be operated from a VCC power supply. It is also a contactless memory powered by the received carrier electromagnetic wave. The M24LR04E-R is organized as 512 […]

Try hacking your own Defcon 20 badge mockup

If you didn’t get to DEFCON 20 this year you can still try you hand at badge hacking. This year’s badge featured the Parallax Propeller chip and they’ve now released essential files that allow you to create your own functional replica badge. Links have been provided for the schematic, firmware, and code examples using the […]

Freescale RF engineering tools app V1.0

If you need to do RF related computations on a regular basis, now there’s an app for that! Freescale has released their FREE RF Engineering Tools App V1.0. “The RF Engineering Tools app is a compilation of calculators and converters that can assist the typical RF designer, university student, professor and other members of the […]

NASA open source documentation

As part of the Open Government 2.0 initiative, NASA has been assembling a collection of links to open source code and projects on their open.nasa.gov site. “open.nasa.gov is a collaborative platform for the open government community to share success stories and projects they are working on. The content on this site is written by NASA […]

Tech doc: Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and Coupling Structures

Drone writes to inform us about the release of a major tech document from the early days of microwave development. The seminal 1963 1,096 page tome on microwave filters by Matthaei, Jones, and Young, “Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and Coupling Structures” has been released to the public via the U.S. Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). […]

Tech bulletin repository covers RF and more

Drone sends a link to a repository with 13 years of technical bulletins produced and edited by English Amateur Radio operator John Stockley G8MNY. “Each bulletin is listed by topic and may be downloaded individually in PDF format. Many bulletins cover RF-related topics, but there are a lot of other subjects covered as well. These […]

CSUN GNU Radio tutorials

GNU Radio is a free and open source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It runs on Linux machines and works with varied SDR hardware platforms from the $20 RTL-SDR through the $1,500+ USRP products. Many online tutorials we’ve read either take an overly simplistic approach, or assume that […]

RX62N free online university course plus textbook

If you’re in line to receive the RX62N Demo Board from Renesas, here are some links you’ll want to check out. The University of North Carolina (UNC Charlotte) has a complete online Embedded Systems Course designed specifically around the RX62N board. The course has a complete series of lecture and lab videos and can be […]

NXP RF component manual

NXP has released the 16th edition of their RF component manual. It covers the full line of NXP RF offerings including their core technologies QUBiC4 and LDMOS, GPS LNAs, medium power amplifiers, IF gain blocks, satellite LNB ICs and CATV modules, amplifiers (low noise, variable gain, medium power and high power Doherty amplifiers), mixers, IQ […]

Free Raspberry Pi ezine: The MagPi

The third issue of The MagPi, the Raspberry Pi community’s free-to-download magazine has been released. This issue includes articles on Debian essentials, GPIO interfacing for beginners, making ribbon cable and more. All issues of The MagPi are available for download from the MagPi magsite. Ash, Jaseman, Meltwater, Chris and The MagPi team are looking for […]

Ettus LiveUSB SDR environment

Ettus, manufacturers of the USRP line of SDRs, has announced the availability of a customized bootable USB drive for USRP/GnuRadio development. The LiveUSB SDR Environment is a 16 GB USB 3.0 drive with Ubuntu 11.10 (64-bit), USRP Hardware Driver (UHD), GNU Radio, OpenBTS and associated documentation preinstalled. Ettus notes that this drive is compatible with […]

Openmoko USB product ID and IEEE OUI (Ethernet MAC address) range available

Kelvin informs us that Openmoko is making available USB Product ID and IEEE OUI (MAC Address) allocations to the community. According to the Openmoko wiki, “As the Openmoko products have been discontinued, Openmoko Inc. is opening up the use of its Vendor ID for use by the Free and Open Source software and hardware communities. […]

Free ebook: Virtual Justice

Virtual Justice is a book concerning the laws of online worlds which author Greg Lastowka has made available free online. Virtual Justice is a comprehensive examination of the application of law to the virtual environment. It includes coverage of case precedents, virtual property law, gaming, hacking and copyright. The 241 page PDF may be downloaded […]

Online vintage tech library

tubebooks.org – Vintage info from the age of vacuum tubes tubebooks.org  Vintage info from the days of vacuum tubes Kelvin informs us of an online stash of vintage engineering docs at tubebooks.org. He especially recommends you check out the technical books section/link. Tubebooks is “a collection of vintage engineering texts, vacuum tube datasheets, and other […]