Tinito informs us that a new STM32F4 discovery board has been announced, featuring a 2.4″ QVGA TFT LCD (apparently without touch sensor), 64Mbit of SDRAM, a Gyro and all pins available through pin headers. The data brief is available for download and the board lists for $24USD.
Via the contact form.
Simon Schubert writes, “I am happy to announce that we have a self-hosted toolchain: The MC HCK can now act as SWD debug adapter for other MC HCKs, without requiring any other external debug adapters or development boards.”
The MC HCK (pronounced: “McHack” [mæk hæk]) is a small, cheap, and versatile ARM Cortex-M4 based microcontroller platform.
The MC HCK is entirely open source and created by the community, from geeks, for geeks.
einball built a switch that turns the heater on to make the room comfy using an Arduino:
As the walls are quite thick, it takes a while for the electric heater to heat the room. Afters about an hour the temperature reach comfortable levels. The solution was to built some kind of switch that turns the heater on to make the room comfy. A networked solution was the best way to achieve this.
I used an Arduino and a Network shield to hook the thing up to the TCP/IP network. After I successfully connected to the home network I wrote some code to let the Arduino deliver a simple webpage to the client. When the client clicks on one of the two links showed on the site, the Arduino either ties a pin to VCC or to GND.
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:
Dobrica writes, “I’m in the process of setting up my HTPC, so I ordered USB IR Toy to be able to turn TV on without using remote control.”
Result it fw_update for PIC 18F2550 which IR Toy uses , updated wiki page about IR Toy firmware update on Linux and comment on bug tracker. Hopefully, this will help someone else instead of learning all this stuff, which was fun in itself :-)
You can get IR Toy v2 for $22.05, including world wide shipping.
TI has announced their latest LaunchPad evaluation kit. The new MSP430F5529 USB LaunchPad Evaluation Kit includes USB 2.0-enabled MSP430F5529 16-bit MCU (up to 25 MHz), 128KB Flash, 8KB RAM and a 12 Bit SAR ADC. Also included are eZ-FET lite (the open source onboard debugger with application UART) and the standard 40 pin LaunchPad connector for interfacing with BoosterPacks. The supporting software has a newly updated USB Developer’s Package, including a free code generation tool and HID, MSC, and CDC USB stacks. There’s also Energia, the open-source IDE based on the Wiring framework, now including support for the 5529 USB LaunchPad.
The board is available from TI for $12.99 including shipping.
Rupert Hirst has written a detailed article on his AVR V-USB media volume control:
My most rewarding projects are the ones which i actually use. I like my audio gear so, this was the perfect companion project!
On my desk i have a headphone amplifier for my AKG K702’s headphones, below it i have my self built Onixia integrated amplifier for my bookshelf speakers. I have been thinking about making a global volume control for both devices for quite some time… here is the results of my efforts.
A self-powered battery tester with an EFM32 by Hlipka:
So the idea that came to my mind was: why not build a proper battery meter which can give real and accurate numbers. That can’t be so complicated! And since the EFM32 is so low-power, why not make it powered from the battery I’m currently measuring? Drawing some additional microamps from it can harldy change the results…
In an effort to resume previous work [A, B, C, D] on developing a crystal oven for radio frequency transmitter / receiver stabilization purposes, the first step for me was to create a device to accurately measure and log temperature.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “Precision temperature measurement”
Davide Gironi posted an update on his AVR Atmega dehumidifier controller board we covered previously:
The main issue that i’ve fixed is the microcontroller crash, that happens sometimes. I’ve noticed that sometimes the controller stop running, crash or doesn’t works as expected.
After some experimets, i’ve noticed that probem was due to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), EMI happens when the compressor and fan starts or stops.
The Arduino crew has announced the Arduino Yun. This latest addition to the Arduino family is a “combination of a classic Arduino Leonardo (based on the Atmega32U4 processor) with a Wifi system-on-a-chip running Linino (a MIPS GNU/Linux based on OpenWRT). We embedded the Linux machine directly on the PCB of the Arduino Leonardo and we connected the two so that from Arduino it’s very easy to run commands on the Linux side and use it as an Ethernet and Wifi interface,”
Visit the product page for more information, or download the datasheet.
The Arduino store lists the Yun for €52.00.
Jechavarria shared some tips and tricks on using the 24LC256 I2C EEPROM memories:
I resume this brief series of articles with another device I usually use. It’s the popular 24LC256 I2C EEPROM memory, from Microchip. First of all, you can find the datasheet here. This memory has a 32K x 8 bytes of capacity (36768 bytes if you prefer), and can works between 1.7V to 5.5V, with a maximun clock frequency of 1MHz (FC model with Vcc > 2.5V). Of course, it’s compatible with the 100khz and 400khz standard speeds. Here’s a block diagram of this memory.
Gerry Sweeney wrote a post on his blog detailing his DIY HP/Agilent 53131A 010 high stability timebase option:
I decided to make a clone 010 option board for my counter using a second-hand OCXO bought from e-bay. I designed a PCB to get a professional finish as well as a reliable upgrade for my counter. The main goal was to make an option board that just like the original could be automatically calibrated using the internal software and front panel controls so I had to use the same DAC chip (which is now obsolete) and basic topology of the original option board to make it work.
Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “DIY HP/Agilent 53131A 010 high stability timebase option”
Here’s a music player project based on 555 timer chip by RimstarOrg:
This is a music player I made for my entry for the 2013 Ottawa Mini-Maker Faire. It’s based on the popular 555 timer chip.
My main design criteria was that it had to be far more robust than my previous music player that used pencil marks for the resistors. Those pencil marks wore away from the paper moving over them and taking away the pencil lead.
It was an overwhelming success, basically going through 14 hours of almost constant play at the Maker Faire, not to mention being cranked vigorously by countless kids (though I did have to repair the crank early on.)
Via Hacked Gadgets.
Rohit Gupta cannibalized parts from an old PC and made a lab agitator from a salvaged CD-ROM drive. “It is a homebrew replacement for a chemistry lab shaker that prevents sedimentation. It has variable shaking rates and also an end stop detection to enhance the stability of the machine overall.
It is quite useful when we need to shake the PCB in Fecl3 solution and also helps cool hot milk.
The build files and source code is all open source and easy to make as maximum parts are sample from TI and most hobbyists have a busted CD ROM in their parts collection.”
The main electronic components are an MSP430 and L293D H bridge motor controller.
You can find more photos and project details on Rohit’s Indian Tinker website.
Via the contact form.
Kerry D. Wong posted an update on his semiconductor V/I curve tracer we covered previously:
In my previous post, I showed my design of a semiconductor V/I curve tracer and discussed its theory of operation in detail. As promised, I will share some of the test results here. If you have not read my previous article, I would recommend that you take a look at it first.
The prototype was built on three small perfboards. Ideally, you would want build on a properly designed PCB as the excessive wiring introduces some unwanted noise (more on this later). Nevertheless, this is a quick way to build a proof-of-concept prototype.
TasksOfOhm has posted a detailed tutorial on building OpenWRT on TL-WA801ND v2 :
After getting some details about the board it was time to create a build environment. In my case this was just about copying one of the VMs I have prepared just for this purpose. The build environment requires a Linux machine whereas it doesn’t really matter which flavour it is. After everything is set on the VM the very first step is to create a user under which the build will be performed. I created a user ‘openwrt‘ for this and switched user to it.
The new MSP430 selection guide is available from download from TI. This 25 page PDF provides an overview of the MCU line, dev boards and supporting peripherals.
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.
