A few weeks ago we posted an editorial about the lack of complete open source support for Microchip’s chipKIT Arduino-compatible hardware. Marc from Microchip writes: We’ve been reading the blogs and comments, and do agree with you. Though we are a corporation, with a lot of suits (not really, actually I think we have a […]
Category Archives: PIC
chipKIT followup and interview with elektroniktidningen
Swedish publication elektroniktidningen did a short interview and writeup [machine translation] about our chipKIT editorial. Here’s the English Q&A from our emails: Did you get any feedback from Microchip on this issue? The other companies involved in chipKIT – the hardware designer, the software developer – left comments on the article. Nobody from Microchip has […]
Editorial: Our friend Microchip and open source
Microchip jumped into open source last spring with the chipKIT Arduino-compatible development boards and open compiler/IDE. They wanted to tap the existing tutorials, enthusiasm, and customer base of Arduino community, and they were going to play nice with open source. A review of the chipKIT situation today is disappointing. The compiler still replies on closed […]
Announcing an open source USB stack for PIC 18F and 24F
Good news everyone! A new free and open source USB stack is now available for PIC microcontrollers. Today we finished testing and prepared a simple echo test that works with PIC 18F and 24F. We hope a demo release will get more developers involved. A release package and overview are in the forum. As always, […]
Animatronic neck
Chris from Pyroelectro is now experimenting with adding a new dimension to this robotic face, an animatronic neck: Having already built the eyebrows, eyes and mouth for our animatron, the final step will be to affix it to a neck so that it can rotate left and right, and tilt up and down. This means […]
Followup: chipKIT network shield price, source, and more
Gene Apperson from Digilent gave us more background on the chipKIT network and I/O shields: Price of the Basic I/O Shield: I was surprised at how high our cost was on this board. I had originally thought we would be able to sell it for $25, but there is no way we could get enough margin […]
chipKIT network and I/O shields
Joe Desbonnet writes: Microchip and Digilent have announced new IO and networking shields for the chipKIT (a PIC32 based Arduino clone) Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions, and Digilent, Inc. today announced expanded capabilities for the 32-bit PIC32 microcontroller-based chipKIT™ Development Platform for the Arduino™ community. First, the companies […]
Animatronic mouths
Chris from Pyroelectro wrote previously about his work developing robotic eyebrows. Now he’s experimenting with adding a new dimension to this robotic face, an animatronic mouth. Here’s another article I thought you guys would enjoy…..this article shows you two simple methods for building a believable robotic mouth. One articulated using a Servo and moveable, the […]
BSD Unix on PIC32 microcontroller
RetroBSD is a UNIX port that runs on the PIC32 microcontroller: The system is targeted to a market of small embedded systems. Main features include: Small resource requirements: RetroBSD requires only 128 kbytes of RAM to be up and running user applications. Memory protection: Using hardware mechanisms, kernel memory is fully protected from the user […]
More on PIC configurable logic cells
Here’s some more info on the new PIC microcontrollers with configurable logic cells. felix52 tipped us to a Configurable Logic Cell Tool from Microchip: The intention of this User’s Guide is to assist the reader in becoming acquainted with the Configurable Logic Cell (CLC) Configuration Tool. It will explain how to setup the tool and […]
1.2 kA motor driver circuit based on the PIC16F877
rsdio writes: This thing puts out so much torque that it has to be run at 3/4 power to avoid slipping the clutch! Features: Programmable current limit 100-1200 motor amps, automatic over-temperature current limit cut-back, water-cooled copper heat sink, low-loss IGBT modules, and motor overspeed limit. Processor: Microchip PIC 16F877 This small yet powerful microcontroller […]
Robotic eyebrows
Chris from PyroElectro sends this link to his simple animatronic project using a PIC 18F452: This project serves as an introduction into animatronics by using some off-the-shelf hobby servos as actuators to move a pair of eyebrows on a dummy face. The project shows animatronics newbies how even a pair of eyebrows with limited movement […]
Jaluino Bee v2.0 board winner
Today we announce the winner of the Jaluino Bee v2.0 board. There were lots of funny project ideas, thanks for your submissions. Congratulations to ech0s, his idea for a space balloon logger scored him the Jaluino Bee v2.0 board: This nice board could be sent to near space with an high altitude balloon. The RTCC and […]
Reminder: Jaluino Bee v2.0 board giveaway
Today is the last day for the Jaluino Bee v2.0 board giveaway. If you’d like it just leave a comment on yesterday’s post with a funny project idea. We’ll give it away later in the day.
Giveaway: Jaluino Bee v2.0 board
Tomorrow we’ll give away a Jaluino Bee v2.0 board. If you’d like it just leave a comment on yesterday’s post with a project idea.
Jaluino Bee v2.0 board giveaway
Sebastien Lelong gave us a Jaluino Bee v2.0 board to give away. Leave a comment on this post with a project idea, and it could be yours on Thursday. By Sebastien’s request, this week we’re looking for the funniest project idea. Jaluino Bee is a 5x5cm board, using SMD components, is powered by PIC18F27J53, provides USB, RTCC, […]
Sjaak explores tiny, powerfull PICs
In the forum we get questions like ‘what PIC should I use’ or ‘is this the right PIC for my purpose?’. We mostly use big PICs with lots of I/O, plenty RAM, and heaps of Flash. Not because we really need them, but because we are lazy and sloppy coders. We tend to forget about […]
App note: BodyCom
The BodyCom system is a new short-range wireless connectivity technology that uses the capability of the human body to transport a few signals that provide intuitive, simple, and safe communication between two electronically compatible devices. Communication between BodyCom system devices occurs when they are within a few centimeters of the human body: a simple proximity […]
OpenPicus WIFI development board winner
Today we announce the winner of the OpenPicus WIFI development board. There were lots of creative project ideas, thanks for your submissions. Congratulations to Tom, his idea for WIFI-controlled theater props scored him the OpenPicus starter kit: I build custom lighting, props and scenic effects for the theatre.As these things are very mobile on the stage, […]
Infrared serial link using PIC18F452
Chris from PyroElectro writes us with this useful project to communicate serial data over an infrared link. Here’s an article that explains how to create a wireless infrared transmitter using an IR LED and a wireless IR receiver using a phototransistor to make a communication system. Asynchronous serial is transmitted over this link at 9600 […]