Logic Pirate is back in stock at Seeed Studio. It is an inexpensive, yet capable open source logic analyzer. It can sample 8 channels at 20 million samples per second, and may be overclocked for even faster acquisitions. It’s designed to support the open source SUMP logic analyzer protocol with software available for most operating systems.
You can get a Logic Pirate for $30.
Angus describes on his blog how he used the Bus Blaster to recover a bricked CC3D board:
A few months ago I went to upgrade my OpenPilot CC3D board an something went amiss and I ended up trashing the bootloader. I didn’t have a SWD dongle to reprogram it with so its been collecting dust. I just purchased a v3 bus blaster for a different project I’m working on and it has a SWD firmware so I thought I’d try and recover the CC3D. Below are the steps I used.
More details at Angus Ainslie’s blog.
The Bus Blaster is a high-speed JTAG debugger for ARM processors, FPGAs, CPLDs, flash, and more. You can get a Bus Blaster v3 for $34.95 at Seeed.
Kuba Tyszko built a free USB IR Toy PCB. With the USB IR Toy you can use a remote control with your computer, view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, capture and replay remote control buttons.
If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
Dilshan Jayakody writes:
TEA5767 is electronically tuned FM stereo radio receiver from NXP for low voltage applications. TEA5767 based radio modules are now common in the field and this project is based on Samsung TT-502 radio module. The main objective of this project is to design low cost FM tuner based on this TT-502 / TEA5767 module and commonly available electronic components.
In this receiver the main controller is ATmega8 MCU, except to that TDA2822 is used as AF power amplifier, PT2257 is used to control the volume. In this given design MCU, PT2257 and TEA5767 radio module is set to work with 3.3V power source. LD33V voltage regulator is used to obtain 3.3V from supply voltage.
Project files available at elect.wikispaces.com.
A DIY PWM to PPM converter using an Arduino Pro Mini from Al Prettybong. Oscar wrote a post on his blog detailing how Al made it:
For radio receiver, there are a few output signal formats. The traditional and also most common type of RX signal is the PWM and basically PWM requires 1 cable per channel. PPM is now getting more and more popular, because it can handle all 8 channels in 1 signal wire.
Via OscarLiang.net.
The crew from AnalysIR has written up an article on Simple Infrared PWM on Arduino. This third part of a series will show you how to send Infrared signal using the Hex representation:
In Part 1 of this series, we demonstrated how to send signals using soft or Simple Infrared PWM on Arduino. In our Part 2 post we looked at sending RAW IR signals – specifically a RAW NEC signal and a longer RAW Mitsubishi Air Conditioner signal using soft PWM. We have since improved the PWM method shown in Part 1 & Part 2 to provide better performance and improve portability. In this Part 3, we will take the signals from Part 2 and show how to send them using their binary (or Hex) representation, which can save lots of SRAM in many projects, particularly when dealing with longer AC signals.
kevinhub88 writes:
This post describes Mesa-Video, a low cost, low power, small size and fully Open Source Hardware and Software solution for providing 800×600 digital video for Arduino ( and other ) microcontrollers. Mesa-Video makes it quick and easy to display text and 24bit color graphics from any MCU using a single UART serial port pin. Applications for Mesa-Video are embedded projects requiring video output and embedded developers wanting real time visibility into their system operation. Mesa-Video is the 1st of multiple Mesa-Modules planned.
More details at Black Mesa Labs site.
Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week:
Some stuff:
We try to stagger free PCB posts so every time zone has a chance to participate, but the best way to see it first is to subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook.
Ken Shirriff writes:
The IBM 1401 mainframe computer was announced in 1959 and by the mid-1960s had become the best-selling computer, extremely popular with medium and large businesses because of its low cost. A key component of the 1401’s success was its 4,000 character core memory, which stored data on tiny magnetized rings called cores.
The core module is surprisingly complex, as can be seen above, with thousands of tiny cores mounted on red wires. The module consists of 16 frames stacked together and requires a large amount of wiring. The remainder of the article will dive into the details of this core module. (For an overview of the 1401, see my articles about Bitcoin mining and fractals on the 1401.)
Details at Ken Shirriff’s blog.
Felix of LowPowerLab writes:
Another node type is now available on the Gateway automation interface: a sprinkler controller. This is achievable through a board I designed to be able to control many outputs. I call this board IOShield and it features two 74HC595 serial to parallel shift registers.
The IOShields are daisy chainable and can take 24VAC through a buck regulator. Wireless control is done with a regular Moteino or MoteinoUSB and in a daisy chain only the first board would need the regulator and Moteino.
Project details at LowPowerLab blog.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Moteino IoT sprinkler controller automation”
Rui Santos shared a tutorial on how to control your ESP8266 from anywhere in the world:
The most common questions I get about the ESP8266 WiFi Modules are: “Is it possible to control my ESP8266 from anywhere in the world?” and “How can I control my ESP8266 from anywhere?”.
I’m happy to announce today that I have a solution for that problem.
With the new version of Home Automation Server you can add an ESP8266 to your dashboard and control your ESP8266 GPIOs from anywhere in less than 5 minutes!
More details at Rui’s Random Nerd tutorials site.
Check out the video after the break.
Via the contact form.
Continue reading “How to control your ESP8266 from anywhere in the world”
Radical Brad over at the 6502.org forum has been working on this cool 7400 logic VGA video game system, Vulcan-74:
The Goals…
- Video must be perfectly stable VGA, putting out 256 colors at a resolution of 400×300 using an 8 bit color space divided into RRR-GGG-BB
- Video must include full 256 color 400×300 bitmapped screens with a seamless double buffer for high speed animations and high detailed images
- The GPU system will include a high speed (20MHz) blitter system capable of dealing with moving variable sized bitmaps from a dedicated 1MB memory bank to the back buffer independent of the 6502 CPU. The entire GPU must be made ONLY of 7400 logic parts
- The sound system will be minimum 4 independent digital sound channels, and include its own 1MB independent sample SRAM. Much like the Amiga, the sound system is independent of the CPU, and again all made with 7400 logic parts
- The completed system must be capable of impressive games (Amiga quality), not just some simple tile engine. All games will load only from an external EEPROM (cartridge) via onboard 7400 logic based loader. No external processing will be allowed
- The CPU will be a 65C02 only. No 65C16, as this is too new for my system! The 6502 will run at 16MHz minimum, using whatever IO decoding tricks I see fit. Bus pirating illegal opcodes, etc. Prelimanry tests have shown stable operation at 20MHz using a ROMless system running from 10ns SRAM
Project info at 6502.org forum.
Check out the video after the break.
Via the contact form.
Application note regarding proper usage of LDO from Analog Devices. Link here (PDF)
A low dropout (LDO) regulator is capable of maintaining its specified output voltage over a wide range of load currents and input voltages, down to a very small difference between input and output voltages. This difference, known as the dropout voltage or headroom requirement, can be as low as 80 mV at 2 A.
Current portable devices often require up to 20 low dropout linear regulators. Many of the LDOs in today’s portable devices are integrated into multifunction power management ICs (PMICs), highly integrated systems with many power domains for audio, battery charging, housekeeping, lighting, communications, and other functions.
As portable systems rapidly evolve, however, the integrated PMIC cannot keep up with peripheral power requirements. Dedicated LDOs must be added in the later stages of system development to power such optional items as camera modules, Bluetooth®, WiFi®, and other bolt-on functions. LDOs have also been used to reduce noise, to solve voltage-regulation problems caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI) and printed circuit board (PCB) routing, and to improve system power efficiency by switching off unneeded functions.
This application note reviews the basic LDO topology, explains key specifications, and shows the application of low dropout voltage regulators in systems.
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 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 two random commenters will get a coupon code for the free PCB drawer tomorrow morning. Pick your own PCB. You get unlimited free PCBs now – finish one and we’ll send you another! Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:
Old but still good technical note from Analog Devices on USB isolation. Link here (PDF)
Currently, iCoupler® digital isolation technology is capable of transferring data at rates ranging from DC to about 150Mbps, which is adequate for transferring serial data to support low (1.5Mbps) and full (12Mbps) speed modes of USB. There are three places where isolation could be introduced, in the differential transmission lines D+/D–, between the controller and the transceiver, and between the controller and the system controller. Unfortunately, the trend toward higher levels of integration incorporates the transceiver and controller interfaces into the system controller, leaving only D+/D– data lines available outside of the controller for isolation.
This is an extremely challenging place to try isolation because there is no flow of control signals, and data is a combination of single ended and digital signaling. With current isolation technology, the most practical place to isolate is between the system controller and a stand-alone USB controller/transceiver where signals can be unidirectional and logic level. In many cases this means bypassing inboard controllers and adding a discrete USB controller.
An application note (PDF!) from NXP on how to calculate the power dissipated by the triac:
This Application Note describes how to calculate the power dissipation for triacs and Silicon Controlled Rectifiers. Thermal calculations are also included to help the circuit designer to predict the maximum junction temperature or calculate the required heatsink thermal resistance. Four
worked examples ensure that all the power and thermal questions that arise during the design process are covered.
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:
Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”
Ondřej Karas writes, “One year ago, I published two posts about PWM module driven by IQRF. But there is also another way, how to generate PWM signal from IQRF TR module only. Just simple use PIC peripherals. This post is based on one of Advanced examples, which is part of IQRF Startup Package.”
More details at DoItWireless project site.
Bartimaeus made a laser cut acrylic case for the Logic Pirate. This case is up on Thingiverse.
You can get a Logic Pirate for $30.
Rupert Hirst writes:
For a while now, I have been toying with the idea of modifying a transcriber foot pedal into a programmable HID device. This could be useful for those complicated keyboard macros , Push to Talk or even for a more natural feel in racing type games, although not with proportional control.
Your feet are generally wasted whilst sat at the computer, other than tapping to a beat. With a whole industry and trend built from standing desks and the health issues in the media regarding sitting for hours at a time, maybe it’s time to get a free leg exercise.
Meet the Olympus RS-24 foot pedal… sporting three proprietary software driven functions, rewind, fast forward and listen, all your secretary could ever dream of.
Project info at Rupert’s RunawayBrainz blog.
