Brendan Powers writes, “I’ve recently finished my DEC VT100 BeagleBone mod project. You can find the details, including schematic and board files here.” He’s designed an STP add-on board for the VT100 series terminals that allows the use of an internal BeageBone instead of an external serial connected computer.
Via the contact form .
Raj writes:
This is about my new project, which is a High-Voltage Seven Segment LED Driver with a serial interface. The goal is to simplify the interface of bigger seven segment display modules to 5V microcontrollers. The project provides a TTL SPI interface of MAX7219 to input display data from a 5V microcontroller and outputs functionally compatible with MAX7219 outputs but with an enhanced capability to drive high-voltage (HV) LED display modules with forward voltage up to 24V.
Dmitry had a OTP/eToken in his gadget collection which he no longer needed. He decided to crack open the device to see what was inside and shares his findings in this blog post. He found a Microchip PIC16F913 and ICSP connect points, which allowed him to reprogram the device into a keychain-sized timer.
Via the contact form.
Bus Pirate v3.6 universal serial interface is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This is the updated v3.6 in a standard PCB footprint. You can get a simple laser-cut acrylic protector for this board for only 3 bucks.
Bus Pirate is a hacking multi-tool that has the capability to interface with most IC bus protocols used in the electronics industry today.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.
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.
Kerry Wong posted an article on interfacing the TLV5620 with an Arduino:
TI’s TLV5620 is a budget 4-channel 8-bit DAC. While it is designed primarily for running with a power supply between 3V and 3.6V, it can be powered by 5V as well given its wide supply voltage range. With a TL431 voltage reference (2.5V), the DAC output can cover 0-5V with the RNG bit set. It is very easy to interface TLV5620 with an Arduino. The code below illustrates how this is done
In this video Dilshan Jayakody demonstrates his open hardware project the LMD18245 micro-step stepper motor driver:
This article describe the LMD18245 and PIC16F877A base 16 step bipolar stepper motor driver which is design to work with 12V 18º bipolar stepper motors. In this design we use pair of LMD18245 DMOS full bridge motor drivers to control 2 phases of the stepper motor and PIC16F877A MCU is used as controller.
Project schematics and firmware source codes can be found at elect.wikispaces.com.
Viktor wrote a post on his blog detailing his DIY test leads:
The result is that now I have proper test leads with resistance of less than 0.1 ohm per meter.
This is a measurement of one of my new test leads
Also, with this method now I can have as many test leads of any length as I want. All this with recycling old materials in my home. And a few minutes’ work.
I think it’s worth it!
Via the contact form.
TomKeddie posted his xQFP80 +50 Protoboard free PCB build:
Am running learn to SMD solder workshops at our local hackspace. SMD October uses the qfp surface mount protoboard to build a basic leonardo using the adafruit 32u4 schematic
Schematic is from Adafruit at raw.github.com/
I used my free pcb build to build the master for the class.
The sketch I’m using has a button on DI2 to change the blink rate and a blue LED on DO13.
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.
Abstract: Many embedded applications share information with external devices, and the preferred connection between devices is asynchronous serial communications. The multicore architecture of the P8X32A enables the designer to create and deploy device-to-device communications strategies with no impact on the primary application code. In this example a deployed communications support cog manages data between the main application and the serial I/O firmware, using VB.NET and the P8X32A QuickStart board.
You can download the code and AN018 app note from Parallax Semiconductor.
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:
In this presentation from the InfoSec 2013 conference held October 3, 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky, Mehdi Sabraoui discusses the relative insecurity of SCADA network protocols. He covers the Sixnet Tools, taking advantage of a proprietary communication protocol supported by nearly all of Sixnet’s SCADA devices to compromise these devices across a network.
Mehdi is a Computer Science graduate student and researcher at the Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville specializing in information security.
(While we note that the Sixnet link above is temporarily offline, here’s a link to a recent ICS-CERT bulletin relating to Mehdi’s work and discussing Sixnet undocumented function codes.)
An app note from Maxim: Lithium-Ion battery recycling made easy
This application note describes how to recycle lithium-ion (Li+) batteries from older devices for use in other electronic devices, such as toys. This can all be done without the need for a microcontroller (or the required software). One challenge is that the battery charger in these older devices cannot usually be reused. The designer needs to create their own charger circuit, which this application note explains how to do in detail.
A similar version of this application note was published in Elektor magazine in June, 2013.
Bus Pirate v4 is back in stock at Seeed Studio. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff. It’s got a bunch of features an intrepid hacker might need to prototype their next project.
You can get a Bus Pirate v4 for $40, including worldwide shipping.
This video by Ray Wang demonstrates HID-class USB serial communication for AVRs using the V-USB library:
Serial communication is helpful for debugging and checking sensor values, and HID-class means it can work on all operating systems without driver installation. This is useful for many software-only USB projects such as based on ATmega328 or ATtiny45/85. To receive and send messages between the device and host, I wrote an HID serial monitor, similar to a standard serial monitor, using Processing.
You can find his post at RaysHobby.
Via the contact form.
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:
Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters”
Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week. Free PCB Friday is coming up soon.
Coming up:
ezflyr posted another cool project in the project log forum, the GPS to Xbee Bridge:
Here is my latest project, a ‘GPS to Xbee Bridge’. This project utilizes a USGlobalsat BR-355 GPS receiver, and an Xbee module to wirelessly transmit a GPS-derived time/date info packet to a variety of home-brew clocks around my home! These clocks consist of an odd mix of Nixie Tube clocks and GLCD clocks that I’ve design and built over the years! The design is based on a PIC 18F14K22 processor which receives and parses incoming NMEA data from the BR-355 GPS module, and an Xbee or Xbee Pro wireless module. These packets are transmitted every 15 seconds!
Cypress Semiconductor and element14 are sponsoring the PSoC 4 Smarter Life Design Challenge. The contest will seek applicants to be one of ten RoadTest challenge competitors who will build “Smarter Life” projects to enhance their home, office and / or car using the PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit. Each competitor will also receive $500 budget to purchase additional components to help reach their goals and a 12 month license for CadSoft Eagle Pro.
The competition will run from October 28, 2013 through January 17, 2014. Competitors will be judged on their creative fulfilment of the challenge and by the quality of media produced during the course of their projects: blog posts, videos and designs, all of which will be posted on element14’s Cypress PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit group.
Visit the element14 contest page for project rules, prizes and project ideas.
