Maker Shed kit lets you connect iPhone to Arduino — no jailbreaking!

MAKE announces the availability of the Redpark Breakout Pack for Arduino and iOS. This kit includes the only Apple-approved serial interface cable having a DB9 serial connector on one end and the iPhone connector on the other.
As MAKE describes it:

Exclusively in the Maker Shed, the Redpark Breakout Pack for Arduino and iOS makes interfacing your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with the real world easy! This bundle is known to work with Arduino and includes the Redpark Serial Cable for iOS, P4 Serial Breakout, and our Mintronics: Survival Pack. This is the development kit for the iPhone and iPad we have been waiting for!

Thanks Hoz, via the contact form.

App note: Microchip Ni-MH battery charger application library

Our app note for the day:

The Battery Charger Application Library easily allows
adding battery charging functionality to portable
applications. Since it is very compact (uses less than
2k words of program space and less than 128 bytes of
RAM) it fits on small, cost-effective parts like the 14-pin
PIC16F616. The library is available in a zip file.

A tale of two op-amps: A Hitch-Hikers guide to op-amp specs

A few weeks ago we covered the Touchstone Semi TS1001 ultra low-power and low-voltage op-amp. Ultrasounder commented:

Looking at the datasheet, the key [specs] reveal a very lousy, CMOS input-output opamp which is not speced for anything beyond audio. The GBW is 4KHz which means that the max frequency this thing can reliably amplify without clipping/distortion is right around 2KHz. This was my gripe when I had a phone chat with the marketing guy also running this competition…

We were intrigued and asked for a guest post with more info. What we got back was a brass-tacks guide to evaluating op-amp properties from a datasheet. Find out what it means to have a lousy, CMOS op-amp, and when it’s useful. Thanks for guest posting Ultrasounder!

Stealth mode startup Touchstone semi made waves by announcing a “Nano Watt Analog” that claimed the industry’s lowest active power consumption. The supply rail can be as low as 0.85V, and consuming a measly 5uA over its entire supply range, which tops out at 2.5V. The idea of operating an Op-Amp at 0.85V is intriguing enough and solves an age old problem of an Op Amp not having enough headroom when the CR2031 button cell is drained down to a 1V.

Now, how is that the TS1001 is able to operate down to 0.85V? The answer lies deep in the fabrication process technology used in the Op-Amp. One could only, guess that the Op Amp shares the same sub-nano meter technologies that is used in many of the latest generation Digital ICs, such as flash memories and MCUs that are able to operate down to a 1V at sub micro amp currents. Lower the gate threshold voltage, lower the supply voltage. On the flipside, the upper limit on the supply for the TS1001 is 2.5V.

Now how does the TS1001 really rank up to its immediate cousin its traits? Let’s do quick apples-apples comparison with another Ultra Low power Rail-Rail Op Amp from TI. The TLV2401 operates from a single supply from 2.5V to 15V.

Continue reading “A tale of two op-amps: A Hitch-Hikers guide to op-amp specs”

Radare2 open source reverse engineering software

Radare2 is an open source tool to disassemble, debug, analyze and manipulate binary files.

Edd at Canthack has posted a detailed example demonstrating use of Radare2 to reverse shellcode.

You may also want to check out the Radare talks and docs pages for more information on this tool. They have a 152 page book covering Radare version 1 available for download which covers many of the concepts also applicable to Radare2.

You can get Radare2 in a tar.gz package with instructions for installs on Linux, Mac OSX and Window on their download page.

Read the AK8975 magnetometer with a Bus Pirate

Reading the AK8975 magnetometer with the Bus Pirate:

I managed to mess up the ATAVRSBIN1 I got from Atmel during a [quadracopter crash]. After the crash I noticed it didn’t respond any more so I hooked it to my Bus-Pirate…

Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors.

Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB

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 we’re giving away two coupon codes for the fee PCB drawer to the first two commenters. Pick your own PCB.

Remember 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:

  • Tweet-a-PCB Tuesday. Follow us and get boards in 144 characters or less
  • Facebook PCB Friday. Free PCBs while you wait for the weekend
  • Free PCB Sunday, right here on the blog

Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB”

Cooking with Jeri: making chips at home – parts 1 and 2

Not content with making simple transistors at home, Jeri has moved up to making integrated circuits in her homelab. In Part 1 of this process she demonstrates how to cleave wafers, remove native oxide, test the dopant type with a hot probe test and loading the furnace.

UPDATE: Part 2 of this video is now available covering how to etch active areas, spin coat silicate dopants, diffuse source/drain, and test homemade nmos transistors and diodes.

DataBot haptic mouse

DataBot Mouse from Jan Barth on Vimeo.

The DataBot is a specially modified mouse prototype that communicates three different data properties to the user. For example, it can indicate the size of files, the user-assigned importance or the file’s relative activity (times accessed.) The hardware mod involves the installation of a small servo-motor inside an optical mouse which provides braking action to the mouse’s rollerball, thereby varying the rolling resistance to the user.

DaaBot was developed by Jan Barth and Roman Grasy, two Interaction Design students based in Germany, using Arduino and VVVV.

They’ve also developed a hard drive in a specially designed case which expands and contracts based upon the amount of space used.

For more details on this project, visit Roman Grasy’s code project page. We’d like to see the source and schematic on this.

Via WonderHowTo.

Bus Pirate: TMP102 I2C temperature sensor

Anthony interfaced the TMP102 I2C temperature sensor with the Bus Pirate:

This is a tiny I²C sensor which provides a great resolution (12 bits), accuracy (0.5° C), and nice features including programmable high/low alerting temperatures and low power consumption.

The ADDR/A0 pin allows for configuring the slave address to allow up to 4 devices on the same bus.

5-channel power-supply manager and intelligent fan control

rsdio tipped us to an app note on power-supply sequencers and voltage trackers:

here’s something for cloudform511’s Open Source Laptop, assuming it will need a fan

The MAX34441, PMBus 5-Channel Power-Supply Manager and Intelligent Fan Controller

Power supply/thermal manager provides unparalleled “black box” failure logging and energy efficient fan control

  • Provides predictable operation of up to five power supplies with the ability to measure power consumption and report faults
  • Saves energy and improves reliability by allowing the system cooling fan to be run at minimum possible speed
  • “Black Box” failure history enables rapid root cause determination and system performance improvements

Thanks for the tip rsdio!

Protopeller open source dev board


Adam Ward of Wardy’s Projects has developed his own Parallax Propeller dev board and is sharing the files under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license on Github.

Protopeller is a small, simple PCB design that provides a Propeller chip
with a regulated on-board power supply, an optional external crystal and
breakout connections for all of it’s 32 digital GPIO pins. There is also
an EEPROM chip to store the firmware for the Propeller to run, and an
FTDI header connector to allow the firmware to be uploaded from a PC.

Thanks Adam!

Altera’s BeInMotion FPGA motor control kit

In this video from Altera, they highlight the advantages of using FPGAs in motor control. The video is based on BeMicro’s BeInMotion SDK motor control kit from Arrow Electronics.

Looks interesting, however the $79 hardware kit isn’t yet in stock, and the BeMicro SDK is sold separately for $79.

A number of training workshops are planned where it appears you can get the hardware, software SDK and workshop registration for $145.

Arduino releasing new ADK, ethernet and sensor dev boards

According to the Arduino Blog they are in the process of releasing several new boards, including an Ethernet Board, Mega Sensor Board and Mega ADK.

The Arduino Ethernet combines a regular Arduino board with the Ethernet Shield into a single board designed to power your internet of things projects. It has the ability (if fitted with an optional module) to be powered directly from the ethernet cable using a standard called “Power over Ethernet“, this makes ideal for permanent installations in buildings and similar structures.

The Mega ADK is essentially an Arduino Mega 2560 with the addition of a USB Host chip that communicates with the phone and a beefy power supply (the board needs to be able to charge the phone).

The ADK Sensor Kit makes it incredibly simple to develop with the ADK because there is no need to know anything about electronics, small modular sensors and actuators plug on top of the Mega ADK letting you create protoypes or robust installations in minutes!

The ADK Sensor Kit look pretty comprehensive, but carries a whopping $350+ price tag.

They promise to post code examples for these new boards later this week.

Thanks Hoz, via the contact form.

Free PCB coupon via Facebook comments #2 and #10

Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. The #2 and #10 people who comment on this post at Facebook get a free PCB. More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday.

This week we’re giving away two PCB codes. Pick your own PCB from the free PCB drawer.

Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week:

  • Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, get free PCBs right here on the blog comments
  • Tweet-a-PCB Tuesday. Follow us and get boards in 144 characters or less
  • Facebook PCB Friday. Free PCBs while you wait for the weekend

Continue reading “Free PCB coupon via Facebook comments #2 and #10”

Week in (p)review: July 15, 2011

Facebook free PCB Friday is on the way. Don’t forget to share your current project in the comments or the forum.

Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week:

Coming this week:

  • The new theme should be ready
  • A preview of the new ChipKIT UNO knock-off and a few other new PCBs
  • Free PCB Sunday
  • Free PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday
  • A new partlist post on Wednesday
  • Free PCBs via Facebook on Friday
  • Weekly roundup and preview every Friday

What are you hacking this week?