Microchip and Digilent are having a chipKIT design contest. The contest revolves around the chipKIT PIC32-based Arduino compatible platform.
The contest has 3 different categories. One is for applications using available shields and libraries. Another is for custom library development, and the final is for custom hardware projects.
Prizes include up to $4000 in cash credits at Microchip Direct and Digilent for your favorite hackerspace or educational institution.
Schazamp got restless waiting for the Sick of Beige version of the Bus Pirate v4, namely V4c, to become available at Seeed. He decided to start a PCB order himself. If you’d like to get one from him, head to the forum and leave him a comment.
Nevertheless, I want to order a batch of canonical v4c PCBs, which I can send to anyone for $4 or $5.
Options: If we want them to be red, it will be $5, if green is okay, $4.
I might be able to panelize them, if enough people are interested, which will also help lower the cost. This means I’ll have to cut them on my band saw, which may slightly affect the quality of the nice rounded edge (since I’m not a CNC machine).
You can get a Bus Pirate v4 (non SoB) for $40, including worldwide shipping. Version 4c should become available in a few moths or so.
Via the forum.
We soldered on the nixie project, preparing to demo it in tomorrows workshop video. Picked up an extra soldering iron too, so three people can work on it at once. A new batch of PCBs arrived from Seeed Studio, we started soldering on those.
Ihsan donated 2 Little Wire kits to the Open 7400 Competition. Get your entry in and this and other cool hardware can be yours.
Little Wire is multi-featured USB controlled open source hardware tool packed in a minimal form factor designed by Ihsan Kehribar. Even though it has minimal form factor, it’s packed with full of features. There aren’t any SMT components involved, so it is very suitable for beginners to assemble.
Thank you to Ihsan for sponsoring the 2012 Open 7400 Logic Competition!
Schazamp built an ATX Breakout board free PCB. The ATX breakout board routes the -12, 3.3, 5 and 12 volt ATX outputs to screw terminals, each protected by a 1.25 amp resettable polyfuse.
Here’s my ATX breakout board assembly. I am not happy with the binding posts, but I had them from another project, and couldn’t find better ones here in town for less than $3 a pop, so I’ll wait until I can find a deal or have a mouser or digikey order to go out…
Thanks again Ian and Co. for the free PCBs!
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.
Available for $13.80 at Seeed Studio.
Via the forum.
Brightbluejim let us know that the OLinuXino-Micro ARM9 Linux board is available at Mouser for $30. It runs at 454 MHz, has 64 MB of RAM, an SD-card reader, TV PAL/NTSC video output, one USB High-Speed host port, and an a Pi-tossing 60 GPIO pins broken out.
Via the comments
Over the last week we re-visioned the ATX power supply breakout board in KiCAD, free of the confines of Eagle’s 100mm by 80mm cell. We chose the ATX board because it’s already at the limit of the free version of eagle, and it’s filled with big connectors that can’t be miniaturized.
This version builds on the already popular ATX Breakout Board v1.1, but adds new features and hackability. Stuff that simply wouldn’t be possible without the unlimited routing area available from the open source alternative to our usual program.
Features of the ATX Breakout Board V2:
Expect a full report on our KiCAD experience tomorrow. More about the updated design below. Comments and suggestions are always welcome, leave them in the comments here, or head to the forum.
5 more new prototypes on the bench. First the big chips then the little stuff.
A clear laser-cut acrylic project case kit that fits Sick of Beige DP5031 PCBs (50mmx31mm) is now available at Seeed for $3. We’re adding case sizes as you ask for them, so if you’d like a specific one please give us a shout.
Protect your project from electrical shorts and fingers, but keep it accessible for hacking and showing off.
Sick of Beige basic case v1 is designed to be simple, cheap, and easy to assemble. The project PCB is sandwiched between two laser cut acrylic sheets, and the whole assembly is held together with aluminum screws and standoffs.
It’s easy to get your project to fit the case. Drop a PCB footprint on your Eagle schematic, and then route your project on the board template. KiCAD footprints coming soon!
Sick of Beige v1 DP5031 project case is available at Seeed for $3.
Gelbanana tested 3 HV SMPS Nixie power supplies for their efficiency. The tested ICs were the always popular NE555 timer, the MC34063 buck/boost controller, and the MAX1771 boost controller. The MAX1771 was the most efficient, but it also costs 10x more than the other two ICs tested. Table with the results of the test can be found below the fold.
Today I’ve decided to test the efficiency of the different design of HV SMPS that I’ve built a while back. I used a 240v neon bulb which I salvaged from a panel mount light indicator. The bulb draws about 1.5mA and I’ve used 2 pieces. MAX1771 have the best efficiency but comes with a pricey price tag.
Continue reading “Testing the efficiency of Nixie power supplies”
SJaak refers us to this article by Paul Stoffregen about how they test new Teensy 3.0 boards using a “testbed of nails.” Essentially the Teensy 3.0 crew has developed this testing interface which gives them a way to test every new board by bringing it into contact with the test jig’s pins. The result is a quick go/no-go indication via the green and red LEDs on the testing board.
More information can be found on the project’s Kickstarter page.
Via the contact form.
Today we built up 14 Nixie Display boards, trying to figure out how to connect the sockets without stripping 240 individual 3″ wires.
We also started working on some illustrations for the OHS 2012 USB presentation. We made some models, and are in the process of rendering them. You can check out a preview video of the presentation here.
In hardware design we fixed an error on the ATX Breakout Board V2. The voltage adjustment pots had their pins connected backwards.
Amani64 donated 2 Amani F2 FPGA development packs (Amani F2 FPGA Shield, bitJTAG JTAG Programmer, MCU Dev Kit) and 2 Amani GTX CPLD development packs (Amani GTX Programmable Logic Shield, 4-Digit Seven-Segment ASM).
Thank you to Amani64 for sponsoring the 2012 Open 7400 Logic Competition!
Jawi continues to make excellent progress with the cross-platform Open Logic Sniffer client. Version 0.9.6 final is out. Check out the change log below.
Development on the next version is already started. For starters, it will include a serial console that allows you to debug serial communications (a la Tera Term). Also, support for the long awaited HP16550 style triggers is under development…
Get a Logic Sniffer for $50, with free worldwide shipping.
Via the forum.
A few months ago a big traveling part box started in the forum. It’s currently working its way through Europe to India. To cut down the costs of intercontinental shipping, several US members got together and started one too. The picture above is just one member’s contribution, there’s lots of other good stuff inside.
It’s Time to start a U.S. only box of parts. Same rules as before.
Rules:
– Take the parts out you can really can use.
– Replace them with parts you can’t use (please add an equal amount of stuff)
– Send the box to the next person within a week.
– post a picture of what you got out of it and a small description what you are planning to do with
– No address information in this topic Please use the PM system for thisThis will be a large flat rate priority mail box and will cost around $16 to ship.
Via the forum.
Added IN-12 Nixie socket (pictured above) and the IV-22 VFD socket (picture below) to our Eagle parts library. As you may have noticed from our recent updates, we’ve been playing around with Nixies and VFDs a bit lately…
Continue reading “Eagle Parts: IN-12 Nixie and IV-22 VFD tube sockets”
Kenneth Finnegan has posted details on controlling Numitron tubes using the ATTiny2313 MCU. Numitron tubes are filament display devices which require only 2-3 volts instead of the much higher voltages required by Nixie tubes and VFDs. He uses an Allegro A6278 LED driver (which he found in his parts collection and no longer manufactured, but any constant-current driver will work). He wrote a simple piece of code that cycles through all the digits 0-9.
Further details, schematic and code can be found on Kenneth’s blog.
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:
This little VFD cutie comes from our trip to akihabara in Tokyo last year. A block of 6 of these will go on the Nixie vfd thing.
All six tiny VFD tubes we got in akihibara last year will probably fit in one Nixie block on this Nixie thing.
