Open Bench Logic Sniffer with OS X

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microtherion writes:

While trying to debug a High Voltage Parallel Programming experiment and trying to get an idea of the state of the 15 or so signals involved, I decided I had outgrown the ability of my Bus Pirate (which works quite nicely as a logic analyzer, but is limited to 5 channels, 4096 samples at 1MHz, and very simple triggers).  I decided on an Open Bench Logic Sniffer, made by the same people as the Bus Pirate, and working with the same logic analyzer clients.

Get a Logic Sniffer for $50, with free worldwide shipping.

HP laptop security flaw discovered using RTL-SDR

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Cronek reports discovering a security flaw in the microphone on certain HP laptops. Using his RTL-SDR dongle and SDR# he observed unusual signals around 24 MHz. He discovered that his HP EliteBook 8460p laptop computer was continuously and unintentionally transmitting the audio from the built in microphone at 24 MHz in FM modulation anytime the laptop was turned on.

You can read the complete post on Reddit.

Via RTL-SDR.com.

Yet another semiconductor V/I curve tracer – I

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Kerry D. Wong writes:

Semiconductor curve tracers were frequently used in analog circuit designs many decades ago, at a time when discrete semiconductor devices were in dominance and ICs were scarce. While curve tracers are no longer widely used nowadays due to the ubiquity of digital circuitry and computer aided designs, they are still quite popular in the educational world and among hobbyists. In this and the next post, I will discuss some of the design considerations of a curve tracer that I built and show some real-world measurement results.

#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.

Interfacing the ADS8328 to an MSP430

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juani_c has written an article detailing how to interface the ADS8328 to an MSP430:

The ADS8328 is a high-speed, low power, successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that uses an external reference. The ADS8328 has an internal clock that is used to run the conversion but can also be programmed to run the conversion based on the external serial clock, SCLK.

FriedCircuits inline voltage/current tester board

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Edouard gives us a preview of the new version of the in-line voltage/current tester board by FriedCircuits. He reports that the board is also compatible with the OLED Backpack (requires separate USB power source.)

Via the contact form.

Nibbler 7400 4-bit custom CPU update

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Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires posted an update on his Custom 4-Bit CPU:

Enough with the vague design talk – here’s the circuit schematic for the Nibbler 4-bit CPU! Click the image to zoom in to a full size view. For simplicity, this version omits some details like bypass capacitors, clock generation, reset circuitry, etc. The whole system fits on a single page, including the CPU itself and the I/O devices, so it’s easy to wrap your head around.

Except for RAM and ROM, all the chips shown here are common 7400 series parts. I haven’t selected a logic family yet, but most likely they’ll be 7400HC or 7400HCT, which require less power while offering similar speed to the more common 7400LS family.

MiniBasic on STM8


Joaquim reports, “Since I have the STM8S-Discovery I wanted to make a simple version of a BASIC interpreter for it. Had initially thought about converting BASIC to run on the ZX80 STM8S but eventually put that idea aside. Luckily I found this version on the net (Arduino Basic), and after some adaptation could include new commands for running this TinyBasic.”

Joaquim’s project description can be found here, with the source available on GitHub.

Change HC-05 Bluetooth module settings via AT commands

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TechBitar writes, “This is a utility that shows how to change the settings of the ubiquitous HC-05 Bluetooth module using the AT command set. The HC-05 comes with a rich set of AT commands to perform various tasks such as changing the module’s default settings including changing the pass code, the device name, and the baud rate. But the process of switching the HC-05 into ATcommand mode is not straight forward. I will do my best to illustrate the process in simple to follow steps. You can find the full set of AT commands in the attached datasheet.”

You can find his detailed explanation on Instructables.

Via the contact form.

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”

DIMBODY 3d desktop scanner


We previously covered Alessandro Grossi’s DIY 3d scanner. Now this project is becoming a start-up known as the DIMBODY. He describes, “DIMBODY is a 3d scanner, a digitalizer that allows you to take a physical object, and turn it into a digital 3D model on your computer.

DIMBODY is based of triangulation between laser plane and a CMOS monochromatic sensor, it acquires point coordinates of an object (point cloud). The point cloud is then transformed in a 3d surface by the software and saved as a STL file. Then you can print it in your 3d printer, or scale, transform, modify it in a CAD software.”

Via the contact form.

App note: digital constant current power LED driver

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Here is an app note from Microchip describing how a PIC12HV615 MCU can be used to implement a digital current control loop for power LEDs:

This document describes a power LED driver solution using the PIC12HV615 microcontroller (MCU). The PIC12HV615 is an 8-pin MCU with many integrated analog features. The LED driver circuit is a buck (stepdown) solution and the circuit presented here can operate from most any input voltage source as long as it exceeds the forward voltage of the LEDs to be driven.

Computer aided dispatch in a box

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Kenneth Finnegan has been working on computer aided dispatch project:

For these events, we usually have several dispatchers on different frequencies, and then build an entire computer network around them so that they can use a local HTTP-based computer aided dispatch (CAD) system to pass and log information.

The problem is that there are a lot of events in-between a sheet of binder paper and spending a month and a half building a computer network for ~100 computers. That’s where this project tries to solve the problem; a simple and clean box that you can plug into a WiFi router and in half an hour have a workable CAD network set up in a parking lot.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

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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”

Week in (p)review August 30, 2013

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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

PIC32mx based drum machine running in jam mode

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Matt posted an update on his drum machine with a new 32bit PIC and a new larger LCD we covered previously:

My initial prototype was based on a fairly common PIC available in DIP format, the PIC24FJ64GA102 which has 64kb of flash and 8kb of RAM.  As I started to build up the firmware I quickly found myself running out of space in the program flash memory for storing the audio samples so I moved up to another PIC24, the PIC24HJ128GP502. This PIC has twice the flash (128kb) which should be plenty for storing some decent quality audio samples. It’s one of Microchip’s high-performance line and runs slightly faster at 40Mhz over the 32Mhz of the PIC24FJ64GA102. This is useful as it allows for a higher frequency PWM period which is therefore easier to filter out with a simple RC filter.

Check out the video after the break. Continue reading “PIC32mx based drum machine running in jam mode”