Sony Ericsson posts instructions for hacking their Android phones

Recent news regarding Sony and hackers does not generally relate to cooperation. However, Sony Ericsson’s new openness to hacking of their Android phones is a different story. Their Developer Blog has posted detailed instructions on how to build a Linux kernel and flash it to their Android phone.

This is supposedly to continue their open dialogue with external developers begun with the earlier launch of their bootloader unlocking site.

This article is an interesting read for Linux users even if you don’t own a Sony Ericsson phone.

Via Digit.

Bitbang VGA from an SD card slot

The Ben NanoNote is a cheap netbook without VGA video output. This hack connects a VGA cable to the SD card slot and uses software to bitbang a VGA signal.

This hack is accomplished using the Universal Breakout Board (UBB) which slides into the SD slot providing access to these signals. The UBB interfaces with the VGA connector via a handful of resistors. The schematic and code for the Ben are posted on the project’s site.

Thanks Kelvin! Via the contact form, originally Slashdot.

 

Altera releases new Quartus II v11.0 with Qsys

Quartus II is Altera’s comprehensive IDE for system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) design, including CPLD and FPGA development tools. They have just released their new Quartus II Software v11.0. The free downloadable web edition includes the Qsys system integration tool in production release, promises up to 2X higher interconnect performance compared to SOPC Builder, improved design reuse and supports hierarchical systems. Altera also says it has additional Cyclone® IV GX and MAX® V device support, an enhanced Chip Planner with improved usability and the free and updated ModelSim®-Altera® Starter Edition simulation tool.

Download the free web edition here or request a DVD copy.

Raspberry Pi tiny Linux computer platform

This tiny USB stick PC was featured on Slashdot and many other sites. It’s intended as a $25 throw-away computer education tool, and uses an ARM11 with 128MB of RAM:

David Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine running a version of Linux. The cost is only $25.

Braben says he hopes to be distributing the Raspberry Pi device within the next 12 months.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Arduino MIDI RGB display interface

Here’s a MIDI keyboard interface project from SuLuLab. It uses an Arduino, MIDI Shield, addressable RGB LED strip based on chip HL1606, 5VDC 1.5A PSU for strip supply (USB port current is not enough), and the Arduino’s FastSPI_LED library.

MIDI messages from the keyboard (real or simulated on PC) enter the MIDI Shield’s MIDI IN and are presented to the Arduino serial port. The Arduino firmware interprets the MIDI messages NoteOn NoteOff, associates each key on the five octaves (60 keys) keyboard to a strip LED and lights it with color associated with the note. In the firmware to control the strip we used the FastSPI_LED library that allows you to address every single LED and turn the desired color (R, G, B).

For more details and to download firmware see the SuLuLab website and scroll to bottom of page for English version.

Canadian lab prototypes “PaperPhone”

Cellphones have been getting lighter and smaller with each new release. If researchers at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada have their way, the next gen phones will be paper thin. They recently unveiled the prototype of their “paperphone”, a smartphone prototype using a 3.7″ electrophoretic E Ink display which was built with E Ink’s Broadsheet AM300 prototyping kit. The hardware includes a Gumstix processor and Arduino microcontroller. In this prototype, all sensor recognition takes place in a connected laptop running Cycling 74’s Max 5 programming environment.

For more info visit the Human Media Lab.

The researchers plan to release more information at the next week at the Computer Human Interface conference in Vancouver.

Via Betanews.

Free PCB Sunday: XC9500XL CPLD breakout

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 XC9572XL CPLD breakout PCBs.  Ever get stuck choosing the right logic chip combination or voltage level translator? Give up the hunt and create your own custom logic chip. CPLDs can give you the logic you need, with the pinout you want, while saving board space and board revisions.

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

  • Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, right here on the blog
  • 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

You can get the XC9572XL development board for $15.
Continue reading “Free PCB Sunday: XC9500XL CPLD breakout”

TINA TI: Free SPICE-based analog simulation program

TI has a free SPICE-based analog simulation program:

TINA is an easy-to-use, powerful circuit simulation tool based on a SPICE engine. TINA-TI is a fully functional version of TINA, loaded with a library of TI macromodels plus passive and active models.

TINA-TI’s new version 9.0 has changes from Version 7.0 in the following areas:

  • Schematic Symbol Editor (useable with the Macro Wizard) is included, so you can create your own symbols for imported SPICE macromodels.
  • Macros do not have to be from TI – you can import anyone’s SPICE model now!
  • Does not require active or non-linear components for analysis (so you can now run a circuit using just passives).
  • TINA-TI includes Initial Condition and Nodeset components
  • TINA-TI includes Linear and nonlinear controlled sources (VCVS, CCVS, VCCS, CCCS), and the Controlled Source Wizard.
  • TINA-TI now allows WAV files to be used as stimulus (signal sources). You can play calculated waveforms on PC’s multimedia system, and export calculated waveforms as a *.wav file.
  • TINA-TI has Multi-core processor support; this along with other optimizations makes simulations run 2-20 times faster.
  • Schematic file import/export in XML format
  • Block Wizard included for making block diagrams
  • TINA-TI has more SPICE models and example circuits included.
  • Circuits developed in TINA-TI 9.0 will work with TINA Industrial version 9.
  • TINA-TI Version 7.0 is forward compatible with Version 9.0, and version 9.0 supports saving schematics in version 7.0 format.
  • Available in English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Russian versions.

Thanks McZ!

App note: Control high-voltage LEDs with low-voltage pins

rsdio writes: Although this circuit does not directly show how, you can use the same idea to make a 3.3 V tolerant I/O pin control an LED with a much higher voltage. The caveat is that all of the current still passes through the I/O pin, but at least you can control several LEDs in series to get more brightness without the necessary higher voltage posing a problem.

A Darlington transistor pair should allow the current to be increased beyond the I/O pin limits, thus breaking free from both voltage and current limits. The latter is left as an exercise well beyond the app note’s content.

Although many LED-driver ICs operate at relatively low voltage, this application note shows how to operate the MAX6974 at higher voltage by adding a common-base-transistor level shifter, allowing it to drive multiple LEDs in series.

Geek vending machine has got it all!

Now here’s our idea of a modern, well stocked vending machine! This machine at Metrix Create:Space, a Seattle-area hackerspace, dispenses just about everything you need when you get the hunger to develop hits: Arduinos, USB cables, breathalyzer kits, LEDs, breadboards, the works. Oh yeah, it has snacks, candy bars and bottled water too.

UPDATE: Rsdio commented to inform us that this machine also carries the Bus Pirate! Our thanks to rsdio and Metrix!

Via Wired.

Parallax GPS + Arduino

Here’s a good video from Kevin Darrah for those new to GPS basics demonstrating how to interface the Parallax GPS module with the Arduino. Note that while this video is based on the discontinued PMB-248 module, Parallax indicates that their current PMB-688 module is pin compatible (as far as TTL interfacing is concerned) and will function as indicated in the video. (The main difference between the two modules is that the PMB-688 lacks the RS232 interface pins found on the PMB-248.)

25A 14V step-down regulator with integrated FETs

McZ writes in with an impressive step-down regulator:

The TPS56221 is a high-efficiency synchronous switcher with integrated FETs, which achieves a power density of greater than 200W/in3 with greater than 90 percent efficiency at high loads. The easy-to-use SWIFT step-down regulator supports 25-A point-of-load designs for telecommunications, networking and other applications.

App note: Low-cost circuit converts clock to low-distortion sinewave

rsdio writes:  nothing beats a pure sine wave oscillator, except another pure sine wave oscillator at a similar frequency:

This circuit derives a pure sinewave from a crystal-controlled clock source by using a ring counter to remove the highest-amplitude unwanted harmonics, and filtering the result with an 8th-order lowpass, switched-capacitor elliptic filter (MAX7400).

Outdoor temperature data server using Picaxe-08M

Max Carter likes to experiment with Picaxe microcontrollers. He was looking for a way to take readings of the outdoor temperature and make the data available on the internet. He devised a project requiring minimal hardware, consisting of a Picaxe-08M, LM34 temperature sensor and a few discrete components. He programmed the Picaxe to take readings from the temperature sensor and communicate the temperature data to a PC via the serial port. (Note the absence of a need for a TTL-RS232 level converter chip, thanks to the Picaxe!) He then wrote the server configuration code and software for the PC to make the data available via the web. You can check out the online output from this project showing the temperature at Max’s place in Wyoming!

You can read the full details and download the PC and Picaxe code on Max’s website, along with his other informative Picaxe tutorials.

(Of course, if you’re so inclined, you could try eliminating the need for the PC in this project by using our Web Platform, available for $40 including worldwide shipping.)

pyBusPirateLite support for Windows

There is a new version of pyBusPirateLite, the Python library for interacting with the Bus Pirate.  It now supports Windows versions of Python.

You can download the latest version from the Bus Pirate SVN Repository, or a package containing just pyBusPirateLite.  See the wiki page on Bus Pirate Scripting in Python to get started.

Free USB Infrared Toy v2 PCB via Facebook comments

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

This week we’re giving away two USB IR Toy v2 PCBs. Use a remote control with your computer, view infrared signals on a logic analyzer, or capture and replay remote control buttons. USB Infrared Toy v2 has higher-power infrared transmitter and several new features:

  • 100mA constant current IR transmitter with improved range
  • Infrared frequency measurement
  • Pin breakout area

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

  • Free PCB Sunday. The classic. Every week, right here on the blog
  • 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

Get IR Toy v2 for $22.05 at Seeed Studio, including worldwide shipping.

Continue reading “Free USB Infrared Toy v2 PCB via Facebook comments”

App note: developing embedded graphics applications with PIC® MCUs with integrated graphics controller

Microchip has a new application note for developers designing their first MCU graphics related application. It describes the definitions and terms relating to graphics applications, and discusses the theory, necessary decision factors, hardware considerations, available microcontrollers and development tools. This is a fairly comprehensive doc, starting out with the basics and moving quickly to complex material.

The Microchip Graphics Library v2.11 is discussed in this note is distributed along with the Microchip Applications Library and is available for download at http://www.microchip.com/MAL.