Florin likes the new MPLAB X:
…new functions like code auto-complete, the ability to preselect which tools are used on which project, history, its gonna be a hit. I think the most useful function in MPLAB X is the history which allows you to go back and remove modifications you’ve made to the code.
MPLAB X is the new beta IDE and compiler for Microchip PICs that works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Check it out.
Villamany got a cheap MD80 video camera from eBay. It has a really annoying feature, it prints the date on the video with no apparent way to disable it.
Armed with a Bus Pirate, he dumped the firmware, removed the date, and reprogrammed the camera. Original in Spanish (machine translation).
What are you hacking with your Bus Pirate?
You can get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors Adafruit and Open Source Control Systems. Each purchase supports further development of this open source project.
A box of parts arrived from Mouser today. We’re not affiliated with them in any way, just sharing our excitement over a big box of parts.
Continue reading “Parts! November 2010”
The Bus Pirate saves a router, and still has time to rescue a PC.
I had a dead PC after a BIOS update went wrong. flashrom and bus pirate to the rescue :-)
We always like to hear your Bus Pirate success stories.
You can get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors Adafruit and Open Source Control Systems. Each purchase supports further development of this open source project.
The hardware design process is fraught with pitfalls, from library component sketchiness, parts availability, erroneous data sheets, underestimates of complexity and long lead times. Designing good hardware on time, on budget and to specifications is like being in a knife fight. Hardware will cut you. I will present my methods for managing blood loss in the hardware design and production arena.
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 an updated Bus Pirate v3c PCB. These PCBs were intended to follow the current v3b production. They incorporate a centered, shrouded SMD header.
We had hoped that eliminating all thought-hole parts would make the Bus Pirate cheaper and faster to produce. Unfortunately the SMD header was difficult to find and more expensive than expected, so the through-hole header remains. Just ask for a PCB in the comments.
Get a Bus Pirate v3b for $30, including worldwide shipping at Seeed Studio. Also available at Adafruit and Open Source Control Systems.
Nathan Seidle, founder of SparkFun Electronics, spoke at the Google campus in May. Hear about the early days of SparkFun, and how they became the 800lbs gorilla of hacker hardware.
It’s a lot of fun to develop the Bus Pirate, but nothing is more satisfying than hearing that it actually helped someone:
I am trying to get a new router setup for when I move to a more permanent home here in a couple weeks. At some point I messed up a config file or two and locked myself out of all the lan subnets/VLANS. I had to pop open the case to get at the serial console. This is brought out to a row of unpopulated .100″ holes and operates at 3.3v levels. I of course had my Bus Pirate laying on my desk/workbench. In a matter of seconds I had the console up in a terminal window using the transparent pass through macro. A couple quick vi edits and the Ethernet connections were back up.
You can get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also available from our friendly distributors Adafruit and Open Source Control Systems. Each purchase supports further development of this open source project.
FreeRouting.net is an online autorouter tool for Eagle circuit boards. Plug in your files and get a routed board back.
How successful was it with your design?
Via the forum.
Hack a Day made a Jack-o-lantern that shows animations on a LED matrix.
Mike shows you how to design and run a multiplexed display with an AVR. Then he guts a pumpkin and installs 70 LEDs with power tools.
Gourds, LEDs, and power tools, what’s not to love? We’re big fans of blinken-pumpkins.
This is a prototype of the open source PIC LCD backpack driven by LCD Smartie over a USB virtual serial port.
Follow our progress in the development thread.
Eagle class at [NSL] shows you how to re-route Evil Mad Scientist’s through-hole ‘Larson Scanner‘ into a single-sided surface mount PCB.
An experimental PIC programming adapter for the Bus Pirate is now available for $7 at Seeed Studio.
This is unproven green label hardware. Only buy this if you want to contribute to PIC programming applications like piratePICprog. There is NO software support, and the final hardware will be slightly different.
If you need this for development and understand the risks, then feel free to buy one, we made them for you!
Bus Pirate firmware v5.9 is ready to download. It’s been a while since the last release, this time we have some exciting new features and bug fixes. The Bus Pirate documentation has been updated to reflect these changes.
This version includes awesome new terminal features. Up/down arrows scroll through the history, and left/right/delete/insert are supported for editing. The download also includes the first Bus Pirate bonus firmware. It includes a few extra modes we couldn’t fit into the main firmware.
Read about the firmware update process for the ds30 Loader GUI (Windows/Linux) and pirate-loader console app (Windows/Linux/Mac). This firmware requires the v4+ bootloader, be sure you upgrade to the v4 bootloader first if you still have bootloader v2.
What do you want in firmware v6?
Get a Bus Pirate v3b for $30, including worldwide shipping at Seeed Studio. Also available at Adafruit and Open Source Control Systems. Each purchase supports further development of this open source project.
miniscope v3 now has a wiki page. Learn how to use your Bus Pirate as a low-speed oscilloscope.
Get a Bus Pirate for $30, including worldwide shipping at Seeed Studio. Adafruit also has the Bus Pirate and probe cables in stock and ready to ship.
Ethernet devices are usually connected to the network though small transformers. In our projects, like the web platform and #twatch, these magnetics are integrated into the ethernet jack.
Florin is working on an ethernet project where space and weight are critical. He decided to ditch the heavy magnetics and experiment with capacitive ethernet coupling. This method uses only resistors and capacitors.
The Teeny AVR Media Thing is a 96×64 OLED display with a click screen interface. It plays video and renders 3D graphics from an AVR32 ATMEGA32 8bit microcontroller.
rsdio tipped us to an app note on DC-DC power supplies:
This article discusses important considerations when designing a DC-DC power supply. Topics include choosing the right DC-DC converter for the application; MOSFET gate capacitance; high switching frequencies and component size; equations and calculations; selecting peripheral components; component placement and trade-offs; grounding; load and line regulation; temperature sensitivity.
The second Bus Pirate v4 prototype passed the self test today. This update fixes a few minor issues in pin connections, and it’s the first prototype with the PIC 24FJ256GB106 that will be used in the final hardware.
Follow our progress in the BPv4 firmware development forum.
