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.
NXP has announced the LPC800-MAX – an mbed/Arduino development board based on the LPC812 – which will be released in April 2013.
NXP is working with key partners to develop LPC800-MAX, a development board which combines mbed, LPCXpresso and Arduino connectivity, allowing users to choose and work with their favorite elements from each environment. The breakthrough interoperability of the LPC800-MAX development board is made possible thanks to the unique flexible switch matrix feature introduced in the LPC800 family of microcontrollers, which allows users to configure nearly any pin for any available function. Further, with the new mbed USB onboard interface, users can choose if they want to use cloud-based mbed tools for development, or if they would rather use an off-line tool chain, such as the LPCXpresso IDE, for development and debugging. The board will be available in April for a suggested retail price of € 16.00.
For more details on the LPC800-MAX dev board, visit Lpcware.
More development on the Bus Pirate Edu Kit documentation. The image above demonstrates the need for a breadboard wiring diagram, where each connection corresponds to the coordinate on the breadboard.
Elpis shared his GSM/GPRS micro dev board in the project log forum:
It is a 70×43.7mm control board (the PCB is made from SeeedStudio) designed as a part of a bigger project. But since the beginning I was trying to make it as a general-purpose development board for the Telit GL865 GSM/GPRS module. At this version (v1.0) the PCB contains two general LEDs, one carrier connection status LED, two analog sensors (temperature and humidity), a LiIon battery charger with power path control, a reset button and the SIM connector at the bottom.
Via the forum.
Embedded Lab’s new version of MAX7219 based 4-digit serial seven segment LED display:
This (SPI7SEGDISP4.40-1R) is a revised version of the previous SPI seven segment LED display (4 digit) board that displayed numerals and decimal points. The new version has a better quality seven segment LED display (LTC-4727JS) with three extra LED segments, as shown below. The additional colon segments are useful in projects where you need to display time (HH:MM or MM:SS).
Dilshan Jayakody presents an alternative design for LS7220 base code locking systems:
LS7220 is a “hard-wired” code-locking system, but this simulated system provides both “hard-wired” and customizable (re-programmable) code locking options. This re-programmable feature provides some higher degree of protection to the system and it allows user/administrator to change system’s code at any given time by without changing the wiring layout(s) of the system.
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.
The DP6037 Protoboard v1 PCB is back in stock at Seeed Studio. A multipurpose 0.1″ pitch prototyping board that fits a DP6037 acrylic case.
The mbed MCU platform’s SDK is now open source. The mbed crew reports,
The mbed Software Development Kit (SDK) is a C/C++ microcontroller software platform already relied upon by tens of thousands of developers to write code for ARM microcontrollers. It has always been free for commercial and noncommercial use, but this latest release under an open source license will extend its applicability further to be relied on in more commercial, open source and educational projects.
Visit mbed.org for downloads and more information.
Viswa via the contact form.
Today we mostly worked on the documentation for the upcoming Bus Pirate Edu Kit. We tidied up the 3D models, and started writing up the individual exercises. High resolution version (1280px) of the image above is available in our SVN.
Rwinscot posted about his RickPAW RGB encoder w/ LED ring project. It’s a encoder breakout board, with a ring of LEDs designed to display the current position of the encoder. The LED’s and encoder are controlled via a microcontroller which can be interfaced with, through a serial port.
Going to try a mix-and-twist on the rotary encoder…
Via the forum.
Here’s a tutorial on the TOS-100 Arduino stepper driver shield.
The TOS-100 is an Arduino compatible Shield capable of driving one stepper motor up to to 1.7A that utilizes the Trinamic Motion Control TMC260 motor driver chip. For added compatibility with other arduino shields, the TOS-100 allows you to choose nearly any pin for any signal.
Here’s an SpiroGraph 3D laser projector controlled via an Arduino:
Reflect a laser beam off mirrors mounted on three fans to display a ‘wild’ 3D spirograph type pattern on any surface. Provide fan speed control (manual or automatic) to adjust the displayed patterns. Full electrical schematic and source code follows.
Via Hacked Gadgets.
Wedecon Electronic Design located this post on the Texas Instruments blog highlighting the problems presented in PCB design by parasitic effects caused by rapid high current transients and high frequencies. You can view the post Everything is Part of the Circuit on the TI blog.
Via the contact form.
Erdabyz has been working on a quadcopter to fit in a 5x5cm PCB:
This is something I’ve been working on these days. The other day I was thinking about what would be the coolest possible thing you could fit in a 50x50mm 2 sides PCB. How about a quadcopter?
Via the forum.
0.5mm pitch xQFP breakout boards are back in stock at Seeed Studio. These boards make your QFP prototyping faster and easier. They’re available in 0.50mm, 0.65mm, and 0.80mm pin pitch for just $3.
Here’s an antenna selection guide from Texas Instruments. What we find interesting are the various comparisons of 2.4 GHz wireless antennas and the linked documents which describe how to design them.
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:
HexBugs are a product of Innovation Labs First, Inc. which retail for about $11 pretty much everywhere electronic gadgets are sold. They are a tiny robotic crawling device with a minimal ability to sense sound and proximity and react in a simplistic preprogrammed manner to avoid obstructions. As purchased, they have no provision for modding the bot’s firmware.
In this 8-part tutorial, the crew from Applied Inspirations spills the beans on the hardware and software they’ve developed for controlling these critters. They focus on the Original version of the HexBug, and dissect its innards, then proceed to explain their mods to the bug, adding a new PCB with PIC 12F675 8-pin MCU, a piezo buzzer, blinkable ‘Eye’, low battery detection, and light level detection. Their tutorial includes the schematic and code downloads in assembly and a Hex file.
Applied Inspirations also have PCB’s and related accessories for sale to assist in modding HexBugs.
Check it out!
Atmel AT01095: Joystick game controller reference design
This document (PDF!) shows the implementation of a joystick game controller based on the Atmel ATxmega32A4U microcontroller. This design allows users to control the mouse cursor and simulate left/right clicks from a personal computer (PC) or laptop via push buttons on the joystick of a game controller.
