The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is currently meeting in Paris, France, throuch March 30, 2012. “The mission of the IETF is to make the Internet work better by producing high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet.” The IETF Meeting known as IETF 83 has their […]
Category Archives: documentation
Free online DSP book
Squonk alerts us to a very interesting online resource. California Technical Publishing has posted a complete copy of The Scientist and Engineer’s Guide to Digital Signal Processing by Steven W. Smith, PhD. This 640 page volume covers all aspects of DSP and is both searchable online and downloadable. The site also includes links to software […]
Free Model Foundry: open source CPLD/FPGA simulation models
Here’s a site we found containing open source simulation models for system level verification of CPLD/FPGA devices. “Founded in 1995, Free Model Foundry (FMF) is dedicated to promoting standard modeling practices within the electrical engineering comunity. In particular, we support the use of VHDL, Verilog, and SystemVerilog modeling languages. They believe in free, open source […]
CORDIC for dummies
Drone writes: Here is a thread on the Parallax Propeller Forum discussing the downloadable document by forum user “Bean” called
Analog Devices op amp selection guide
Ian Griffiths writes to inform us of this Op Amp Selection Guide available from Analog Devices. This 58-page PDF offers a complete overview of their product offerings. As Ian G. points out, “it has 3 pages devoted to different terms used for describing op-amp characteristics and different op-amp types to help those trying to select […]
TI intros LM5017 100 V, 600 mA synchronous buck regulator
TI has introduced the LM5017 buck regulator. The LM5017 is a 100 V, 600 mA synchronous step-down regulator with integrated high side and low side MOSFETs. The constant-on-time (COT) control scheme employed in the LM5017 requires no loop compensation, provides excellent transient response, and enables very low step-down ratios. The on-time varies inversely with the […]
Adafruit launches Circuit Playground app
Adafruit has launched their Circuit Playground app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It provides a collection of reference formulas at the touch of a button, simplifiying calculations to make your project more fun. Decipher resistor & capacitor codes with ease. Calculate power, resistance, current, and voltage with the Ohm’s Law & Power Calc modules. […]
Arena PartsList free BOM management tool
Nabilt tipped us to Arena PartsList. It’s a BOM manager that’s integrated with the Octopart component database. It has neat functions like auto-fill, that automatically adds a part to your database directly from a sales page of a electronics component distributor like Farnell, Digi-Key, Mouser, etc… Octopart just tweeted a free tool for BOM management. […]
Xilinx free online Xcell Journal
Xilinx has released Issue 78 of Xcell Journal, their free online publication for embedded system and programmable logic developers. Each issue of Xcell has articles targeted at developers from every skill level, from beginner to expert. You can check out individual articles from this issue or download past issues back to 1988 at the Xilinx […]
6502 microprocessor documentary in the works
“THE 6502” is a documentary series by Jason Scott about the MOS Technology 6502 chip, the circumstances that lead to it and the experiences of assembly language programming. Funded in 2011, the project is expected to go for several years of production, interviewing dozens of figures related to this subject. Those familiar with machine language, […]
Using stepper motors as generators
Dino played around with some stepper motors by using them to generate electricity. The output is AC so he used a full-bridge rectifier, sometimes refereed to as the Graetz rectifier, to get a single direction signal, basically the absolute value of the sine wave. Check out the video to see it power LEDs, drive a […]
The impact of high pulse drain on CR2032 coin-cell battery capacity
If you design circuits powered by CR2032 batteries here’s an article located by Joe Desbonnet which you should consider: This is an interesting article on how the performance of a cell/battery under pulsed loads can vary dramatically depending on period, peak current, duty cycle and other factors. The article discusses the performance of a CR2032 […]
ITead mystery PCB: TFT digital picture frame by Erick Aubin
Arhi received a mystery PCB with his last ITead PCB order: TFT digital picture frame with in built Real-Time clock and thermometer Designed by: Erick Aubin I assume B1 is a big capacitor, something like 22000uF or similar (judging from the size), USB-BUB is some ft232 or similar usb 2 uart board, x1 is some […]
Dot-dash-diss: The gentleman hacker’s 1903 lulz
Fans of tech history may want to read Dot-dash-diss: The gentleman hacker’s 1903 lulz. This article appears on the NewScientist website and reveals that wireless hacking dates back to the time of Marconi! Any you thought you were onto something new with a walkie talkie on the frequency of the drive-thru order window…
TCPDUMP-fu
While most of us are familiar with packet capturing/sniffing programs such as Wireshark, it’s not always the most convenient or appropriate tool to use in every network monitoring situation. Henry Van Styn has written an excellent how-to tutorial on the uses of the Linux command line utility TCPDUMP, and why it may be all you […]
Site style guide update: being more SI conscientious
A few days ago Marvin pointed out that our number formatting is non-standard. Our style guide is based on Hack a Day’s and dictates units without spacing. According to the guide 10MHz is correct, 10 MHz is wrong. The SI standard is to use a space between the number and unit. We updated the style […]
Free download: Cory Doctorow’s MAKERS
If you’re looking for an open source read about open source this Christmas weekend, you might want to check out Cory Doctorow’s MAKERS. MAKERS is a cyberpunk novel set in Doctorow’s trademark near-future, covering the convergence of economic collapse and the open source/maker movement’s efforts to assemble the pieces to construct a New Work economy, […]
TIDeals on Stellaris dev board and Micrium OS textbook
TIDeals has announced two year end specials. “First up is the Stellaris Ethernet-enabled Intelligent Display Module with PoE RDK. Basically, this little number is the Stellaris Intelligent Display Reference Design Kit (RDK-IDM), and it offers a complete, open-tool graphical touch-screen user interface design solution for control, automation, and instrumentation applications. Included in the RDK-IDM is […]
Bus Pirate servo driver documentation
We added documentation for the Bus Pirate servo mode. This mode was designed to allow Bus Pirate users to quickly test RC hobby servos. Firmware v6 has an overhauled servo mode as requested by several users. To start this mode use the “S” command. Now you will be able to select the degree of movement […]
Nicolas Collins’ original hardware hacking manual
If you want to read an irreverent and unorthodox hardware hacking manual check out Nicolas Collins’ Original Hacking Manual. Weighing in at 128 PDF pages, this book is geared toward motivating beginning electronics experimenters to explore uses and abuses for common electronic components. Topics include basic electronics through integrated circuits and circuit bending of all […]