From the comments on our earlier CPLD post:
Programmable logic meets the Arduino. The Amani 64 is a low-cost entry-level CPLD development kit, stackable with the Arduino, other Amanis, and Arduino-compatible shields. The Amani 64 by itself is a capable embedded controller but becomes an even more powerful tool when teamed up with the Arduino or other Amanis.
Thanks Ante Vukorepa!
Shuckc posted a Linux guide to the web platform:
Web platform arrived today in the post, very impressed.
It was very simple with a Linux desktop to get the firmware flashed to the DP microchip TCP/IP demo using ds30 Loader, then to upload the Microchip demo apps. Here are some instructions using Fedora…
Get an assembled web platform for $40, including worldwide shipping. Also available at Australian Robotics. Web platform v1.1 is in stock and shipping now.
Thanks shuckc! Via the forum.
rsdio tipped us to some interesting parts and application notes: MAXQ1004 a 1-Wire and SPI Authentication Microcontroller.
Secure Your Application and Save Your Battery with an Authentication Micro That Consumes Only 300nA in Stop Mode
- Protects your investment with government-grade AES encryption
- Easily add authentication to your application using one of several interfaces (1-Wire, SPI™, GPIO)
- Minimal impact on battery-powered applications
- In-application programmable flash offers flexibility of communication protocol
Thanks rsdio!
The Department of Computer Science at ETH Zurich presents a paper documenting hacking techniques on Passive Keyless Entry and Start Systems (PKES).
The hardware setup seems simple enough. The group states:
The cable relay was performed with off-the-shelf coaxial
cables. We built two 30 m cables that we combined for the
60 m relay tests. We used a set of antennas, two small simple
home made antennas, and a large antenna for an improved
antenna-key range. We performed the attacks with
these antennas both with and without amplification. If the
LF signal near the car was weak we used a 10 mW low noise
amplifier to increase the signal level.
To summarize this hack, the small circular white antenna serves to channel the LF transmission from the car down the coax to a second antenna near the location of the owner’s key. The key then replies with authentication to the car over its usual UHF radio link which operates over longer ranges and involves no extra hardware. Obviously this will only work under limited unique circumstances where the key is left unattended but secured, such as in a parking attendant’s booth. Nevertheless, this illustrates a non-obvious, low-tech hacking vector.
StrangeParty demos how to use the Matrix Orbital 20×4 display with Arduino via I2C using the Wire library. The LK204-25 is a serial display, so connection to the Arduino requires just two wires to accept I2C commands and data. We expect this same procedure would work with other manufacturers’ I2C LCDs.
Simple and useful if you have a surplus serial LCD on hand, but not as inexpensive as using a parallel LCD with the LiquidCrystal library.
robots posted a brand new multi-platform update tool for the Logic Sniffer. It updates both the firmware and bitstream from a single application:
I am looking for volunteers to test it. Please just someone who has access to Bus Pirate, or other means of pic flashing. I have included several measures to protect the bootloader. But there is always a chance it will destroy its self. (The bootloader does not protect its self)
Get a Logic Sniffer for $50, with free worldwide shipping.
The Gadget Gangster has released part one of a three part tutorial on Propeller game development. With these 8-core chips going from less than $1 per core it’s worth a look.
last week we asked, what microcontroller architecture do you use most?
Many of our projects use 8 bit pic18 series micros, clearly a workhorse of our projects. But with only 16 votes total, our poll is probably not representative of the larger community. We have recently seen a audio spectrum analyzer using a pic18f4550. What kind of 8 bit hacks have our audience come up with? Send us a picture and a description of what you have been working on.
Honken’s new open source USB stack is running on a bunch of PIC 18Fs, even on the MCP2200 USB->serial converter.
Our next goal is to get it going on the PIC 24F. This port is the last major hurdle before producing Bus Pirate v4.
We’ll send you a free Bus Pirate v4 if you get the USB demo working on a PIC24F. The latest debugging details are in the forum, our source is in SVN.
The Bus Pirate v4 development hardware is available for $50, with free worldwide shipping.
rasmus posted an updated Logic Sniffer bitstream with a bunch of fixes to RLE:
32-bit (31-channel) RLE works as before.
16-bit (15-channel) RLE works (I think) but the client doesn’t support it yet. You’ll see the raw RLE data in the client.
8-bit (7-channel) RLE works with the same caveats.All RLE modes time out and go into normal sampling mode after 20 seconds if the memory isn’t full by then.
Please help test it if you have a chance.
Get a Logic Sniffer for $50, with free worldwide shipping.
Analog Devices, Inc. announces the release of the ADuCRF101, a fully integrated System On Chip (SOC) solution designed for low power wireless applications.
The ADuCRF101 integrates a low power Cortex-M3 core from ARM. It is a 32-bit RISC machine, offering up to 1.25 DMIPS peak performance. The Cortex-M3 MCU also has a flexible 14-channel DMA controller. 128k Bytes of non-volatile Flash/EE and 16k Bytes of SRAM are also provided on-chip. packaged in a 9 mm x 9 mm LFCSP.
The UHF transceiver operates using 2FSK/GFSK/OOK in the frequency bands 861MHz to 928MHz and 431MHz to 464MHz. Datarates from 1kbps to 300kbps are supported.
The SOC also integrates a range of on-chip peripherals including UART, I2C and SPI Serial I/O communication controllers, 6-Channel ADC, a 29-Pin GPIO Port, 8-Channel PWM, 2 General Purpose Timers, Wake-up Timer and System Watchdog Timer.
On-chip factory firmware supports in-circuit serial download via UART interface. Non-intrusive emulation and in-circuit download is supported via the serial wire interface. These features are incorporated into a low-cost Development System supporting this Precision Analog Microcontroller family.
The part operates from 1.8 V to 3.6 V and are specified over an industrial temperature range of -40°C to 85°C.
The datasheet is available for download, as well as a related video from Electronica 2010.
LVX systems is developing a system using led lighting to connect to the internet. modulation is done at frequencies that are imperceptible to humans. Will moths be the first biological organism to catch a computer virus?
Via Geek.com
The Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security (CAESS) published a very detailed paper outlining the use, and potential for abuse of modern automotive embedded electronic control systems.
Central to their work was the development of Carshark, a software tool for hacking the CAN bus on modern vehicles. (No, we do not know of site where Carshark can be downloaded.)
The group also has a FAQ page expanding on the paper’s topic.
Noting that WinAVR has been marked as inactive, Make Hack Void, a hackerspace crew from down under, has devised their own alternative: MHV AVR Tools.
They also are working on MHVLib – an efficiency oriented library for AVR microcontrollers.
Microchip has a new USB->serial converter chip called the MCP2200. We suspected they made this chip from a 20-pin PIC. The MCP2200 pinout is like other PIC uCs, and it has similar reset pin and internal voltage regulator circuits.
We hooked up our trusty PICKIT3 and read the device ID. The MCP2200 was recognized as a PIC 18F14K50! Save a few pennies if you need a 18F14K50 and buy the MCP2200 instead, the MCP2200 is currently cheaper than the blank PIC!
The firmware is probably based on the Microchip USB stack, but we’ll never know because the code is protected. Forget that! We decided to give it an open source firmware instead. Follow our hack below.
We released an MCP2200 breakout board earlier today, available now for $15.
Markus used an MMA7455L 3-axis accelerometer to detect the direction of the gravity in this cool demo:
I am using the MMA7455L breakout board to control a 3D cube displayed on a (SPI-modified Seeedstudio) OLED display.
My MMA7455L library is available in the forum.
Get the MMA7455L breakout board for $15 at Seeed Studio. Back in stock and shipping now.
Thanks Markus! Via the comments.
Our cheap 3-axis accelerometer MMA7455L breakout board is back in stock at Seeed Studio. This version has an X/Y/Z axis indicator on the silkscreen.
The MCP2200 is a new USB to serial converter chip from Microchip. Our MCP2200 breakout board brings all the pins to bread board friendly headers.
Read all about it on the MCP2200 wiki.
See our other Dangerous Breakout Boards.
Get the MCP2200 breakout for $15 at Seeed Studio.
Continue reading “NEW PRODUCT: MCP2200 USB to Serial breakout board”
In his project, Binu from avrprojects.info interfaces a ProGin SR-87 GPS module with an ATtiny2313 and 2×16 LCD to generate a running lat/long display. The device also will store one static location, and produce an audible alert each time that location is reached. (More locations could be provided for in code, but the project assumes the use of the demo version of BASCOM.)
This project also allows for the naming of the stored waypoint by entering up to 16 characters on a PC-AT Keyboard attached to the mini-din connector. (For those unfamiliar, the “10K SIP” in the schematic refers to a 10K bussed resistor.)
Source code in BASCOM along with a hex file is provided.
