rsdio tipped us to an app note on the MAXQ61C 16-Bit Microcontroller with Infrared Module.
Increase the Life of Battery-Powered Equipment with 200nA Stop-Mode Current and Widest Operating Voltage. 200nA stop-mode current greatly extends battery life. Programmable IR timer simplifies programming.
Thanks rsdio!
Andrejk uses an individually-controllable Christmas lights to indicate the presence of someone on his IM contact list.
Via Hack a Day.
Many are familiar with how to read data from Arduino into Processing. One such example varies the a PC’s onscreen graphics relative to the intensity of light on an LDR.
Here MAKE presents a project which web enables Arduino sensor projects, allowing Processing data to be communicated and stored in a Google spreadsheet doc.
Google has opened up its App Inventor Android development GUI for public use. Formerly offered on an invitation only basis, the app inventor is a browser based IDE for Android apps. While it has its downsides including closed source, mandatory Google registration, no WiFi modules, and the need for a web connection (since compiling of apps occurs “in the cloud”), the Inventor does allow the development of apps incorporating Bluetooth client and servers (allowing interaction with microcontroller projects), built-in Lego Mindstorms code modules, and barcode reading.
Via Engadget.
Skyler Schneider at Cornell University has produced a very comprehensive description of a falling sand game project using an Altera Cyclone II on the DE2 dev board. The Verilog source code listings demonstrate the level of coding required to produce dynamic video representations in a gaming environment.
Schneider’s project is a good reminder that real-time graphics on constrained hardware is still one of the more rewarding corners of FPGA work. The same Cyclone II family has been used in university labs to prototype everything from retro arcade clones to slot-machine display controllers, and the rendering constraints are tighter than anything you’d encounter building a Florida online casino front end or a mobile weather app. For anyone looking to sharpen their Verilog skills on a visual project, falling sand is a solid starting point.
A new Miniscope v4 is available for download. This app turns the Bus Pirate into a low-speed oscilloscope. Setting and configuration help is on the wiki. Currently Windows only.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors Adafruit, Open Source Control Systems, and eHaJo.
Thanks Terry!
Via the contact form.
This USB AVR programmer is built on a breakboard.
What to get started with AVR? Check out our AVR quick-start guide.
Via Hack a Day.
Concurrency.cc has introduced Plumbing, a Creative Commons licensed introduction to programming the Arduino using the programming language occam-pi. The tools are open source and facilitate parallel processing within the Arduino. The most recent versions for Windows, Mac and Linux are available for download.
Check our the free PDF book download.
The power of microcontrollers is limited relative to FPGAs. Nevertheless, Das-labor has developed a set of implementations of different cryptographic algorithms in C designed to function within the limited memory space of microcontrollers.
Check out the Avr-Crypto Wiki.
Hold surface mount parts in place while you solder with this ingenious improvised component clamp.
Via Hack a Day.
We love homemade SMD boards. This simple MP3 player is based on the VS1011 MP3 decoder chip, with a PIC 16LF88 feeding it bytes from an SD card. Nice work!
New to PIC 16F? Check out our PIC quick start guide, it’s got the minimum circuit you’ll need to get running with a PIC today.
Via Hacked Gadgets.
A batch of Logic Sniffer boards are for sale at the Gadget Factory now.
RivalCorp hacked a Gameboy to produce VGA output. Tapping into signals for Vsync, Hsync, clock, and two data pins, he piped them through an Altera Cyclone II FPGA (DE1 Development board) to produce VGA output.
Here Jeri Ellsworth concludes her presentations on a homebrew TSA type body scanner by focusing on the components and coding. An FPGA is used for processing of the video signal as an alternative to a PC. The use of a “virtual ground” is an interesting aspect of the signal amp circuit.
Fell did a small write up on using the Bus Pirate and the AR1010 FM radio module. Includes a simple python script using pyBusPirateLite that tunes the AR1010 to a particular station using the Bus Pirate.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors Adafruit, Open Source Control Systems, and eHaJo.
eHaJo is the first reseller to carry the Bus Pirate LCD adapter. Lots of LCD adapters have been sold, but we haven’t heard much from users. We’re hoping that means everything is working great.
eHaJo has the Bus Pirate, LCD adapter, probe cable, and case in stock and ready to ship. Learn more about becoming a Dangerous Prototypes distributor.
Embedded lab has designed a Christmas message board using the PIC 16F688, an old printer power supply, BC547 transistors and LEDs.
It has been a while since a demonstration was posted. We whipping up new projects for you like the USB LCD backpack, HVP adapter, Buspirate v4 prototype, breakout boards, and several other project that are TOP-SECRET but will be released soon! Now that everything is at to manufacturing, we have some time off for our family and for fun stuff. So we found a bit of time to connect interesting stuff to the Bus Pirate and see what makes things tick.
We are always on the look for new and interesting things, and we were exited when we saw that they stocked several OLED displays. OLEDs are just like LEDs, but are more power efficient (glass display module is rated 8.2mW). Displays using LED provide a large viewing angle (>160 degrees) and good visibility (contrast ratio >2000:1). Together with the low power requirements they are ideal for small battery powered devices like MP3 players. Downside is the degradation of the OLED, as the brightness will fade after many hours of use. Lifetime according to the datasheet is 10.000hrs, but burning in will probably happen sooner.
OLED demo continues after the break.
Get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors Adafruit, Open Source Control Systems, and eHaJo.
Continue reading “DEMO: 96×16 OLED display”
rsdio tipped us to an app note on a Boost driver for long LED strings.
The long strings of LEDs commonly found in TV and display backlighting, street lights, and parking garage lights require a current driver capable of producing high voltages. This reference design provides such a driver using the MAX16834, and demonstrates how very-high dimming ratios can be obtained.
Thanks rsdio!
MMA7455L is an inexpensive 3-axis accelerometer with adjustable measurement range of 2/4/8g. It can communicate with microcontrollers through an SPI or I2C interface.
This chip is only a few dollars in onesies, but it comes in a leadless LGA-14 package. It’s a challenging chip to solder, so we though a inexpensive breakout board might be useful.
What can you do with it? We’re using it to track hand motion with the USB POV Toy.
Check out the resources for this breakout:
Get the MMA7455L breakout board for $15 at Seeed Studio. That’s about $5 cheaper than other accelerometer breakouts we’ve seen recently.
Is there a chip you’d like on a breakout board? Let us know in the comments.
