Week in (p)review: May 06, 2011

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:

  • We’re preparing for Maker Faire, more next week
  • Bus Blaster v2 restock is coming, more CoolRunner-II dev-boards too
  • By request the PIC USB LCD backpack is going into production
  • Lattice CPLD and Altera CPLD dev-boards are about ready. This probably won’t be a product, but there will be free PCBs
  • More updated release packages
  • App notes and datasheets all weekend
  • Free PCB Sunday
  • Project status updates on Monday
  • Free PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday
  • Tool post on Thursday
  • Free PCBs via Facebook on Friday
  • Weekly roundup and preview every Friday

What are you hacking this week?

USB Infrared Toy release package v2.0

Over the last few weeks we did a massive cleanup and reorganization of our SVN code repository. Most projects now follow a standard directory structure. All our in-progress and stalled project files are now completely open and available to anyone. We also included all the manufacturing resources used to initiate production at Seeed, and the original artwork and diagrams used in the documentation. The final step of the cleanup is to release packages and source archives for each project.

Updated source archive and user packages for the USB Infrared Toy
are now available.  This package covers USB Infrared Toy
v1 and v2.

You can get IR Toy v2 for $22.05, including world wide shipping.

GOP_XC9572XL mini CPLD module

Oho-Elektronik.de has a couple intersting CPLD and FPGA development boards with a bread-board friendly DIL pinout on the bottom.

All the boards include an oscillator and power supply. They don’t look open source, but it could be good for a remake.

    Thanks cuagn! Via the contact form.

    CPLD VGA resistor DAC

    Chris from Pyroelectro informs us of his new tutorial describing the design of a VGA controller that uses a resistor DAC to create 512 unique VGA colors. He uses an Altera CPLD and VHDL code to create all the video signals. The theory, hardware schematics and software are all explained and available for viewing/download at his site.

    Thanks Chris! Via the contact form.

    B-Squares™: modular solar powered electrics

    Jordan McRae was interested in integrating solar energy into his projects and professional designs. After months of experimentation he came up with the design for B-Squares™.

    As he describes the project:

    B-Squares is a 3D modular electronics system with an emphasis on (but not limited to) solar power and expandable energy storage. Each Square has a magnetic contact on each of the corners which allows the Squares to easily snap together without wires. The magnetic contacts are also used to transmit electric signals between the Squares. This design allows users to quickly assemble Squares into arrays, with power flowing through the array via the corner contact, without wiring or soldering. Also, due to the use of multiple magnetic contacts on each Square, the overall circuit of the array can quickly be changed simply by rotating one of the Squares – for instance, the color of the LED Square can change with a flip or a rotation. 

    To date, the project includes squares for a 0.25 W solar panel, a AAA battery power pack and multi-color LEDs. Other squares accommodate iPhone/iPod docking as well as an Arduino square and a proto-square.

    Check out the B-Squares™ Kickstarter page for more information.

    Freescale Make It Challenge

    Freescale announced their 2011 Make It Challenge!

    The contest has two tracks: one for designs using the Tower System, and a second for designs with the Mechatronics Robot Platform.

    In order to enter the contest, you have to register for and attend the 2011 FTF Americas conference June 20-23, 2011 in San Antonio, TX. While the registration fees for this con run around $950 (through May 27, 2011), the prizes are substantial, including $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000 prizes in each category, as well as a grand prize of a Freescale Motorsports VIP Weekend package.

    Check the Freescale site for full details and contest rules.

    Web platform release package v1.c

    Over the last few weeks we did a massive cleanup and reorganization of our SVN code repository. Most projects now follow a standard directory structure. All our in-progress and stalled project files are now completely open and available to anyone. We also included all the manufacturing resources used to initiate production at Seeed, and the original artwork and diagrams used in the documentation. The final step of the cleanup is to release packages and source archives for each project.

    Updated source archive and user packages for the Web Platform are now available.

    You can get  Web Platform for $40, including worldwide shipping.


    Microcontrollers and simple wireless data transfer

    Getting started with microcontrollers and simple wireless data transfer:

    I thought you guys might like this article, it shows you how to get started using those $10 433 MHz RF tx/rx pairs. The article explains the theory, shows an example schematic for receiver/transmitter and has the project firmware for both available for download.

    Video below.

    Via the contact form.

    Continue reading “Microcontrollers and simple wireless data transfer”

    STM32VL-Discovery with ChibiOS/RT

    Getting started with STM32VL-Discovery board and ChibiOS/RT:

    ChibiOS/RT is a complete, portable, open source, compact and extremely fast Real Time Operating System.

    ChibiOS/RT offers an excellent support for the STM32 platform. All drivers are “native” in order to minimize the memory footprint, the bulky ST library has not been used (but is supported).

    The STM32 on the board is packed with peripherals, especially communication ports and timers, there is a lot that can be done with this “low end” part.

    Thanks Nexus! Via the contact form.

    Sensing Platform: open source hardware and software sensor platform


    The Sensing Platform was originally developed by the members of the FAMiLab Hackerspace in Orlando, FL as part of the 2011 Greater Global Hackerspace Challenge sponsored by element14. As they describe it:

    The Sensing Platform is a set of hardware and software tools that allow students, educators, researchers, and “makers” to easily collect data from multiple, disparate sensors, and then transmit the sensor data into a “hub” which allows for easy display, graphing, and logging of the sensor data. The Sensing Platform and its components are useful in school laboratories or anywhere sensor data needs to be collected as part of a learning process.

    The project is open source, and utilizes Arduino and Processing. Here are links to the code for both hub and nodes and the bill of materials. They plan to offer this project in both kit and preassembled form in the future.

    TI’s ultra-low-power MSP430FR57xx FRAM microcontrollers

    TI has has announced their MSP430FR57xx ultra-low-power ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) line of 16-bit microcontrollers. Their stated benefits are the ability to write data more than 100 times faster with power consumption of 250 times less than flash- and EEPROM-based microcontrollers. They are also code compatible with other MSP platforms.

    The on-chip FRAM allows data retention in all power modes, supports more than 100 trillion write cycles, and delivers a new dimension of flexibility by allowing developers to partition data and programming memory with changes in software.

    These chips come in several package types, including TSSOP and VQFN, and TI states samples are available. You can check the listing of chips and their specs here.

    TI is taking advance orders for the $29 MSP-EXP430FR5739 Experimenter Board, which is a development platform for the MSP430FR57xx devices.

    Using Bus Pirate with Arduino IDE

    tayken successfully reprogrammed the ATmega168P using the Bus Pirate with Arduino IDE.

    Yesterday, a friend from Tokyo HackerSpace said that he bought an DIY Arduino kit. The problem is that the ATmega168P does not come with the required bootloader. Just the same day I bought two FreakDuino boards and tried to use them to flash the bootloader with no luck.

    This morning an idea popped up in my mind to use the Bus Pirate with avrdude.

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

    Maker Faire 2011: Your help needed

    Maker Faire is the World’s largest hands-on DIY festival. We’ll be at the Bay Area fair later this month,  along with the Gadget Factory and other makers, in the Seeed Studio booth. Flights are booked, hotels reserved, and new business cards just arrived.

    Stop by to mess with a Bus Pirate, IR Toy, or Logic Sniffer. We’ll also have some new prototypes to play with, like the Bus Pirate v4, POV Toy, Dangerous Superprobe, and more. Our roving blogger who will also cover the entire Maker Faire throughout the event.

    Your feedback will help us figure out what we should do. Here’s some of our ideas, what do you think fits with the hands-on demonstration theme of Maker Faire?

    Most of our projects need a USB connection, so we plan to take a couple junk laptops with Linux installed.

    1. Bus Pirate. We have a demo board with a bunch of different parts that are easy to explore. It’s simple to demo an EEPROM write/read, etc, but it might be too involved for a hands-on display. Do you have any ideas for a hands on demo?
    2. IR Toy v2. This is an easy one. One click start’s Jawi’s impressive OLS client and anyone can point, shoot, and visualize a remote control signal. A more indepth demo could clone a signal and play it back to a second IR Toy.
    3. Logic Sniffer. Also easy. Connect an OLS to a device and record the output. Jawi’s OLS client is intuitive and easy to use.
    4. POV Toy. If it’s done this will be an easy thing for anyone to play with that doesn’t need a PC.
    5. Superprobe. Doesn’t need a PC, but it’s helpful to have a sheet of instructions. A breadboard with some parts to measure is a simple hands-on activity.
    6. Web platform. Unfortunately internet is not available, or we’d do a giant interactive online art piece with the web platform so everyone could be involved.
    7. You can bet there will be free PCBs!

    Are we going the wrong direction? Would it be more interesting to do stuff with kit-biz, hardware design, surface mount soldering? Maybe we should build, test, and debug a project live.

    If you were there, what would you like to do or try? What would be cool and interesting, and not just another attempt to sell you stuff?

    Continue reading “Maker Faire 2011: Your help needed”

    Setup MSP430 peripherals with point and click GUI

    TI launched a new point and click GUI that configures MSP430 peripherals. Just select your options and C configuration code is generated. This could be a huge time saver for even experienced developers. Less time digging in a datasheet? Sign us up:

    the Grace software platform [is] a free visual plug-in that enables developers to easily enable and configure ultra-low-power MSP430 microcontroller peripherals through a graphical user interface (GUI). With Grace software, developers can interact with buttons, pull-down menus and helpful pop-ups to generate easy-to-understand C code that automatically configures the low-level register settings of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), operational amplifiers (op amps), timers, serial communication modules, clocks and other peripherals.

    Video below.

    Thanks Markus! Via the contact form.

    Continue reading “Setup MSP430 peripherals with point and click GUI”

    Energy harvesting wireless sensors use TCP/IP

    EnOcean has introduced a line of energy harvesting wireless sensor modules. Designed to function without the need for an external power source, these modules, ranging from a simple push button to transceiver gateways and programmable system components, are designed to operate in the 315 MHz and 868 MHz unlicensed bands.

    Unlike sensors using proprietary RF protocols, EnOcean sensors are able to communicate via TCP/IP networks, which means that when installed, the energy use of any web-connected building can be managed from another web-connected device.

    Examples of these modules include switches, solar sensor modules (pictured above), and bidirectional serial interface modules with programmable API.

    The equipment is said to be low cost, with an example street price for the TCM200C 315 MHz bidirectional serial interface (which uses the API library) in the $50 range.

    Interesting equipment to know about should you encounter it in your hardware or RF hacking. Here’s the manual for the user programmable API.

    Jameco Puzzler: a non-electronic voice transmitter?

    The legendary Forrest M. Mims, III, created the above puzzler for Jameco. If the radio DJ performing a show while perched on the construction boom drops his cellphone, how can be proceed with his radio show if he is prohibited from touching the ground?

    Visit the Jameco site for more details, hints and the solution to this puzzler.