Category Archives: how-to

Measure liquid flow rate with Arduino

The Makers Workbench shares this project which measures the rate of liquid flow using a Seeedstudio Water Flow Sensor and Seeeduino. This is part of their Arduino Controlled PC Liquid Cooling project. The flow sensor uses a simple rotating wheel that pulses a hall effect sensor. By reading these pulses the Arduino mathematically calculates the […]

Laptop touchpad interfaced with Arduino

Here’s an interesting article showing how to interface a common laptop touchpad with an Arduino. Metku’s project connects the Data, Clock, +5 V and ground connections on the touchpad to Arduino Pins 5 and 6, and power connections. Sample code is included, and the Arduino/Wiring library provides the necessary codehooks. In the video they demonstrate […]

Processing and Arduino in Tandem: Video Mixer and Audio Visualizer

Oreilly is making available a free online course dealing with Processing and Arduino combined to produce a video mixer/audio visualizer. Led by instructor Joseph Gray, the course takes place Fridays @ 10am PT February 25 & March 11, 2011. Each session is 120 minutes. You may view the course live online for free; thereafter, to […]

Arduino and GSM cellular tutorial – Part 2

Tronixstuff has released Part 2 their tutorial series on using a GSM cellular modem with the Arduino. In this part they cover how to use the telephone network to control an Arduino board via a SM5100B Cellular Shield. This segment is the latest is a series of Arduino tutorials posted by Tronixstuff.

How-to use OLS to debug fpga

Jack Gassett put together a series of videos, at The Gadget Factory demonstrating how to debug the internal logic of an fpga using the open workbench logic sniffer. “When I was debugging the UART communications last week I discovered a new way to debug internal FPGA logic. I put together a screencast for those who […]

RBox: DIY 32-bit game console

Rossum has released the schematic and the code for a 32-bit video game console. This prototype was constructed using a LPCXpresso devkit available at Digikey. You’ll need to replace the stock 12mhz with a very common 14.318mhz crystal. The analog joystick is a replacement part from a PSP. Features include 320×240 composite or s-video output […]

Arduino and GSM cellular tutorial

Tronixstuff has produced the first part of their tutorial series on using a GSM cellular modem with the Arduino. In this part they cover hardware interfacing and testing, sending a text message, and embedding data within a message. This segment is the latest is a series of Arduino tutorials posted by Tronixstuff.

Simple GPS display using Attiny2313

In his project, Binu from avrprojects.info interfaces a ProGin SR-87 GPS module with an ATtiny2313 and 2×16 LCD to generate a running lat/long display. The device also will store one static location, and produce an audible alert each time that location is reached. (More locations could be provided for in code, but the project assumes […]

Beginners guide to open source AVR dev tools

Interactive Matter has produced a detailed tutorial on developing software for the Atmel AVR with AVR-Eclipse, AVR-GCC & AVRDude. Designed for beginners, following these steps will result in the installation of a full fledged IDE, with code completion, one click building, no make files and buttons to flash the AVR.

Xilinx free FPGA/CPLD design tutorials

The Arduino platform and bare microcontrollers are good ways to get started in developing embedded systems. But the way of the future is clearly CPLD and FPGA architecture. These devices are not simply a new type of chip, but a new and interesting design and development frontier. Their programs are developed using several methods, including […]

How to write a flash bootloader for the PIC16 and PIC18

Here’s an application note with comprehensive information on how to write your own bootloader for the Microchip PIC16 and PIC18 families. Microchip also has provided a link to the code development software. Good reading for both the beginner and experienced coder.

Bus Pirate as a serial IO bridge

Joe Desbonnet demonstrates his use of a Bus Pirate as a serial-to-PC IO bridge with a PIC 16F327A. The PIC is simultaneously connected to a PICkit2 programmer, and this setup allowed him to communicate with the newly programmed PIC using serial commands in a prototyping environment. A good basic how-to post, including sample Bus Pirate […]