Singapore Maker Faire 2012: ‘Get your stuff made’ presentation

 

Get Your Stuff Made presentation! Ian talked about the ways open source is currently manufactured, and outlined the package we send to Seeed Studio to start a new project.

 

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Confusion over SDR# vs OpenSDRSharp


As you may have noted in our previous posts, there exists an excellent piece of software written for use with the RTL-SDR dongle known as SDR#. If you’ve tried it you know it’s incredibly user friendly and provides immediate, full-featured use of the RTL-SDR dongle out-of-the-box. The only downside, of course, is that it’s developed for Windows since it’s written in C#. (Linux users report success running it under Mono.)

According to a blog posting on Reddit RTLSDR, there appears to be an attempt to subvert the SDR# user base with allegations that SDR# was somehow violating the GPL by embedding RTL-SDR support in the download, and that SDR# can no longer be used with the dongle.

Youssef, the developer of SDR# has countered that any licensing questions have been resolved between himself and Osmocom and changed the download structure accordingly. He also opines that the attempt to divert users from SDR# to some forked project may be an attempt to spread malicious code in the growing SDR community given the popularity of the RTL-SDR dongle.

You can read Youssef’s position in full on the SDR# downloads page.
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App note: Charge pump DC-DC converters

Here is an app note from Maxim describing the theory behind, and implementation of charge pump based DC-DC converters.

Charge pumps are often the best choice for powering an application that requires both low power and low cost. This application note discusses integrated charge pumps and explains how to calculate power dissipation in a charge pump.

Try your hand at DEFCON 2012 decryption challenge


At the recently concluded DEFCON 20 conference in Las Vegas, attendees were presented with this decryption challenge by KoreLogic Security. Take their collection of encrypted password hashes and a bundle of encrypted files and see how many you can crack. File types are from various systems, including UNIX servers, Windows AD, LDAP servers, webapps, etc. The encrypted files can be of any type, including .doc, .zip, private key files, etc.

At the conference, teams were given 48 hours to see how many they could correctly crack, and prizes were awarded to the highest scorers.

THE CONTEST IS CLOSED. However, if you didn’t get a chance to attend this year and want try your hand at cracking the hashes and files you can still give it a try. The contest rules can be found on the KoreLogic site. The challenges data file can be found here. The challenge password hash file bundle can be downloaded here.
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App note: Slave I2C communication and setup on PIC devices with MSSP modules

Here is an app note from Microchip describing how to setup, and implement slave I2C communication on Pic devices with MSSP modules. It also features assembler code for PIC18s and PIC16s.

Many devices in the PICmicro family have a Synchronous Serial Port (SSP) or Master Synchronous Serial Port (MSSP). These peripherals can be used to implement the SPI TM or I2C communication protocols. The purpose of this application note is to provide the reader with a better understanding of the I2C protocol and to show how PICmicro devices with the SSP or MSSP modules are used as a Slave device on an I 2 C bus.

Workshop Update for August 3rd, 2012

Today we took a stroll trough Singapore, and visited the local Hackerspace. We posted live pics on our twitter feed, and re-uploaded them to the blog.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Singapore Maker Faire which we’ll attend, be sure to stop by if you’re in the area. We’ll be tweeting pictures live from the Maker Faire.

The I2C slave issues with the Bus Pirate Demo Board v5 were finally resolved today. We are happy to say that the PIC16F is now capable of emulating a 24LC01 I2C EEPROM in all modes of operation, supporting both v3 and v4 of the Bus Pirate.

We added some new parts to out Eagle part library, and started a Eagle tutorial for next week.

Global Geek Tour Singapore: Updates from Singapore

Today was our first day the Singapore Global Geek Tour. We visited some electronics shops, and had some chow.

We’ll make a full report when we get back, but in the meantime we posted some pics from today on our Tweeter feed. First stop was the Koba electronics shop pictured above. Rest of the pics are below.

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Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters

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 a every week:

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Car Kracker hacks auto ISO 9141 data bus

Nicholas McClanahan over at GadgetGangster has written an article about their new project known as Car Kracker. It’s an automobile data bus interface based on the Parallax Propeller which interfaces with the data bus connector on select BWM, Mini and Land Rover models. It allows you to access, add and upgrade features such as add an Aux-In or music jukebox, remap steering wheel buttons, remove the Nav warning screen and display text like emails and SMS on your Sat Nav, radio, or dashboard. You can also acccess performance data and sensor readings.

The circuit couldn’t be simpler: a transistor, diode, six resistors and a micro SD card slot mounted on a Propeller shield. You can download the Propeller code here. Background on the project’s development can be found here. For those intereted in a kit, GadgetGangster has one available.

The project was also discussed on this edition of The Prototypers audio podcast.

Week in (p)review August 03, 2012

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
  • 3D model on Monday
  • Eagle parts and tips on Tuesday
  • Free PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday
  • A new tutorial on Wednesday
  • Workshop video on Thursday
  • Weekly roundup and preview every Friday

What are you hacking this week?

Guest review: Atten PPS3203T 3 channel 3A programmable power supply

JuKu wrote about his latest purchase, the Atten PPS3203T 3 channel 3A programmable power supply. It features 2 0-32v channels and a single 0-6V channel, as well asRS-232 and GPIB (IEEE 488.2) interfaces.

I wanted an economical three output power supply (+- 15V or so for analog, 5V or 3.3V for digital) with voltage and current monitors an all outputs. You would think there are a lot of those, but the three monitors turned out to be a rare feature. I didn’t have much choice; I got an Atten PPS3203T and paid about 253€ + tax + shipping.

Read his mini review below.

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Workshop Update for August 2nd, 2012

Today we flew Air Emirates to Singapore. It was 104F in Dubai when we arrived at midnight. So hot the toilet and urinal water was steamy. Strange.

We ate Indian at a Hawker stall (see picture above) in Little India, Singapore. There are more Singapore pics on twitter.

Tomorrow is the Singapore Global Geek tour. We’ll be tweeting live with Kelvin, Darell, and others staring at 10:30 AM Singapore time. This weekend is the Maker Faire, and then we hope to have a quick meetup with the ever-famous Bunnie of Chumby fame.

Back in the workshop demo board firmware development continues today. Most of the day was spent familiarizing ourselves with the board, and the PIC’s datasheet.

We added the  USB-A Female SMD connector to our part library.

Bus Pirate and Open Bench Logic Sniffer: Reverse engineering an RF light switch

Skywodd tweetted about reverse engineering an RF 433MHz light switch (machine translation) using Arduino, Bus Pirate, and the Open Logic Sniffer.

You can get Bus Pirate for $30, or grab a Logic Sniffer for $50. All including free worldwide shipping.

Via TweetDeck.

Indian PCB Association Expo 2012

Viswa wrote to us about his visit to the Indian PCB Association Expo 2012 held in Bangalore. This fall we hope to go to India to check out the electronics markets and open source scene. Preparations are in progress, but it is the most complicated Geek Tour we’ve ever attempted. Viswa has been helping us with contacts for a PCB factory tour.

We knew about the inexpensive Seeed Studio’s PCB Service and I set to find what PCB prototyping services were available near home.   The participants of expo include few big Indian PCB manufacturers, EMS, Equipment and service providers and many international PCB equipment suppliers.

I expected many more PCB manufacturers. But, only few participated. We would like Indian readers to try out these PCB manufacturing services and write a review about cost, quality and customer friendliness in the forum.

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WORKSHOP VIDEO #32: Zoom H1 v2 sound test and Singapore Maker Faire

We got tired of using integrated cam mics for our videos so we bought a Zoom H1 v2 recorder ahead of our Singapore Maker Faire visit. This quick workshop video tests our new sound setup.

In our previous Global Geek Tour videos we had to shout for anything to be heard by the integrated camera microphones.

In Shenzhen the constant drone of construction during the intro and ending meant screaming the bits. This led to awkward karate chopping hand motions for some reason.

On the Star Ferry in Hong Kong there was an Aussie family a few rows away. The dad yelled ‘cut’ after our 3rd take, and got down right aggressive after the 4th. We assume his kids and wife were so embarrassed by his display that it was punishment enough. Hey-oh if you’re out there, you know who you are…

The Zoom H1 should resolve these issues. We’ll wear lapel mics and talk in a normal or quiet library voice. As you can see in the video, the difference is night and day.

Be sure to follow our Twitter feed for live updates from Singapore. We’ll copy the important stuff to the blog for the Twitter haters. If you want to see it live though, or care about Ian’s airport-based grumblings, you’ll need to check Twitter. You don’t have to join, you can just click the link and see the latest posts.

We’ll be back next week with videos from the trip.