Microchip PIC chips could have been the Power Behind Arduino

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Gerry Sweeney writes:

As I understand it Microchip are in the silicon chip business selling micro-controllers – actually Microchip make some really awesome parts and I am guessing here but I suspect they probably want to sell lots and lots of those awesome parts right? So why do they suppress their developer community with crippled compiler tool software unless you pay large $$$, after all, as a silicon maker they *NEED* to provide tools to make it viable for a developer community to use their parts? It is ridiculous charging for the tools – its not like you can buy Microchip tools and then use them for developing on other platforms so the value of these tools is entirely intrinsic to Microchip’s own value proposition. It might work if you have the whole market wrapped up but the micro-controller market is awash with other great parts and free un-crippled tools.

Arduino Bot tweets temp/humidity updates

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While testing out various sensors, Steve from Hackshed.co.uk thought it would be fun to make the Arduino actually tweet out what the current status of our office is. “The Arduino records the current, minimum, maximum and temperature change as well as humidity and then sends out a tweet to a Twitter account with an update every 15 minutes.” The project uses an Arduino Uno/Leonardo, Ethernet Shield and mini-breadboard holding a DHT11 Digital Temperature/Humidity Sensor with 5K pull-up resistor. The code incorporates the Arduino Adaftuit DHT Library and
Arduino Twitter Library.

For more details visit Hackshed.co.uk.

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

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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:

  • Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch it every Sunday, right here on the blog
  • Tweet-a-PCB Tuesday. Follow us and get boards in 144 characters or less
  • Facebook PCB Friday. Free PCBs will be your friend for the weekend

Some stuff:

  • Yes, we’ll mail it anywhere in the world!
  • Check out how we mail PCBs worldwide video.
  • We’ll contact you via Twitter with a coupon code for the PCB drawer.
  • Limit one PCB per address per month please.
  • Like everything else on this site, PCBs are offered without warranty.

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.

Night light 2.0, part II

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Kevin Rye built this Night Light 2.0:

And there it is. Definitely not my best work, but it’ll do. I just wanted to use up that last PCB left over from the Tesseract build. I guess it was better to use the PCB for something rather than have it sitting in a parts drawer.
I imagined the entire cube being lit up, but seeing as the LED board is sitting on top of the ATtiny breakout, only the top half of the cube is illuminated. Not exactly what I had envisioned, but it does give off a nice swirly red and yellow glow.

Universal digital timer 4 – Proof of concept

Zoltán Gömöri  writes:

I started the development of the counter. First of all I should proof if I can create a display/button matrix which can handle the two display digit and the two pushbuttons.
I picked the double multiplex display a fist of diodes and pushbuttons and a launchpad. Here is the result.
I’ve topped the original expectations 8 digi + 8 pushuttons instead of 2 + 2.

Emulating the Apple HD20

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Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires  writes:

So how does it work? First off, we can assume that raw data bytes are sent and received in serial fashion using NRZI encoding on the ReadData and WriteData lines of the floppy connector. While the DCD documents don’t specifically mention this anywhere, it’s a safe assumption because the floppy interface is powered by the Mac’s IWM chip (Integrated Wozniak Machine), which is hard-wired to send and receive data this way. So the main questions surround exactly what data bytes are sent and received, and when, and how the other lines on the floppy connector are used.

SquareWear Mini chainable color LED matrix and animation design tool


Ray Wang writes about his recently completed project, the SquareWear Mini with All-New Chainable Color LED Matrix, and an Interactive Animation Design Tool.

The goal is to make standalone programmable color display gadgets. The LED matrix is chainable and can be seamlessly extended in both X and Y directions. The SquareWear Mini is essentially an Arduino running at 3.3V and 12MHz. It plugs directly to the LED matrix, and has built-in USB port, temperature sensor, light sensor, buzzer, Lithium charger, and 16KB EEPROM. I wrote a software in Processing that communicates with SquareWear with HID Serial, and allows the user to interactively design pixel patterns and even animations with sound. Check the video and my blog post for details.

Project details can be found at RaysHobby.

Via the contact form.

Pick and Place USB control software

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Brian Dorey posted an update on his DIY Pick and Place machine USB controller board, we wrote about it previously:

After completing our DIY Pick and Place machine USB Controller Board we needed to rewrite the controller software to drive the pick and place machine.
The new Pick and Place software is written in C# and we used Visual Studio 2013 to write the application. The application is based on the previous version which communicated with the SmoothStepper Ethernet board via Mach3.

Mailbox wireless alert project

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If you are waiting for some electronic parts to be delivered the wait can be agony. It is especially painful when you learn your parts which you desperately need have been sitting in your mailbox for most of the day because the mailman came early… This problem is solved by this Mailbox Wireless Alert Project. Re-purposing an off the shelf inexpensive wireless alarm system is all you need. The wireless sensors have great range and lots of them have phone capability, some can even SMS you when there is an alert. Why re invent the wheel when there is a box of electronics that was built for a different purpose that is adaptable to solve your pressing issue.

Via Hacked Gadgets.

High altitude balloon electronics

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Erdabyz writes:

I’m part of a students association and we’ve had a helium tank in our place since 2003 which is still almost full. None of the current members knew where it came from until recently (turned out that we had a RC blimp of some sort back in those days…). So some time ago a member proposed that we could spend it in a high altitude balloon. Being electronics enthusiasts we thought about building our own electronics for the payload, trying to fit as much as possible in as few grams as possible. For now it’s planned that the probe will have an APRS tracker, an emergency 433MHz tracker, a GPS module of course, a GSM module for sending a SMS with the landing position if network is available, a board with lots of sensors (temperatures, atmospheric pressure, light intensity, gamma/cosmic radiation, 3D acc+gyro+mag, humidity and probably wind speed (we’re still not sure if that would be possible with a cheap, lightweight sensor). The whole thing will be controlled by a PIC32 and powered by 3xAA Lithium energizer batteries which are safer than lipos and tolerate very well low temperatures. It will log all its data into a microSD card.

Via the project log forum.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

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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:

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

App note: using external memory with PIC24F/24H/dsPIC33F devices

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Here’s an app note from Microchip on Interfacing external memories using Parallel Master Port (PMP) module.

This application note describes the methodology to use the Parallel Master Port (PMP) module to interface with external data memory; either external Flash or external RAM. This application note also lists the APIs and describes how to implement different types of interfaces.

App note: microcontrollers and triacs easily connected

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Here’s an application note from NXP on how to easily connect main triacs and microcontrollers.

This application note describes the easy connection of NXP LPC microcontrollers and three – quadrant (Hi-Com) triacs to control any resistive or inductive load at mains voltage. A one-for-all control method is presented that uses an innovative, patented, current zero-crossing detection method without need for a shunt resistor in the load current line.

DCC/TAPR video: FreeDV, CODEC2 and “The HT of the Future”

In this presentation from the 2013 Digital Communications Conference, Bruce Perens K6BP discusses FreeDV, CODEC2 and “The HT of the Future”. Bruce is active in advancing interest in open-source digital voice to Amateur Radio on both HF and VHF/UHF. Here he also discusses D-STAR and Yaesu’s controversial new proprietary VHF/UHF digital amateur radio communications protocol.

OctoPROBER rev0 board update

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Parker Dillmann posted an update on his OctoPROBER board  an 8 channel K-type thermocouple temperature logger, we wrote about it previously:

I was having an issue with the FT230X being active while the 3.3V rails being turned off. The FT230X would backfeed voltage down the TXRX lines into the propeller which would power the 3.3V rail to ~2.7V causing the soft power switch circuit to turn on. I fixed this by running the RESET pin of the FT230X to the propeller and pulling it up to the switched 3.3V rail. The propeller can control whether the FT230X is in suspend mode or is active. Pulling RESET low will HI-Z the TXRX pins and allowing the propeller to turn off the soft power circuit completely without voltage backfeed.

ATX Breakout Board V1.1 Acrylic case back in stock

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The ATX Breakout Board v1.1 Sick of Beige case is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This case is designed to be simple, cheap, and easy to assemble. The ATX Breakout Board is sandwiched between two laser-cut acrylic sheets, and the whole assembly is held together with aluminum screws and standoffs.

This is a minor update with the secondary ground and -5volt post holes cut, and a ventilation opening over the big resistor.

Check out our tutorial on how to customize Sick of Beige cases.

You can get one for $4 at Seeed Studio.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

buspiratev38 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. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every week:

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Week in (p)review February 07, 2014

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Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon.

Coming up:

  • Free PCBs via Facebook on Friday
  • App notes on the weekend
  • Free PCB Sunday
  • Free PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday
  • Weekly roundup and preview every Friday

Temperature Shield for BBA3, part II

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Kevin Rye  posted an update on his Temperature Shield project we covered previously:

It’s amazing how close I came to matching my 3D model! It’s just like I imagined it.
I had already loaded my sketch before assembling it, so it was just a matter of crossing my fingers and plugging it in.
Boom! It works like a charm! I really like the green.