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Archive: Electronics
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April 24, 2007
DIY MIDI recording device
Here's a really cool AVR based MINI recorder that uses SD, and LCD and IR (remote) - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 24, 2007 06:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
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April 23, 2007
Open source hardware, what is it? Here's a start...
Open source hardware is a term we've used here on MAKE & CRAFT for describing some of the projects featured as well as some of our electronics kits. It was also the subject of a talk we participated in at the SXSW conference, but what is it?
There are a few definitions, some of which come from "open source software," which is usually considered software's "source code under a license (or arrangement such as the public domain) that permits users to study, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form."
So how does this translate to hardware?
Electronic hardware can be divided up into layers, each of which has different document types and licensing concerns.
Hardware (Mechanical) Diagrams
Dimensions for enclosures, mechanical subsystems, etc. For 2D models, preferred document type is vector graphics file, with dimension prints, DXF, or AI, etc.
Example: Motor-driven screw block from the RepRap 's thermoplast extruder head, an open source 3D printer.
Schematics & Circuit Diagrams
Symbolic diagrams of electronic circuitry, includes parts list (sometimes inclusively). Often paired with matching layout diagram. Preferred document type is any sort of image (PDF, BMP, GIF, PNG, etc).
Example: 3.3V and 5V regulator schematic from Chumby, the open source information device.
Parts List
What parts are used, where to get them, part numbers, etc.
Example: Parts List from the open source Roland 303 MIDI synth clone, the x0xb0x.
Layout Diagrams
Diagrams of the physical layout of electronic circuitry, including the placement of parts, the PCB copper prints, and a drill file. This is often paired with a schematic. Preferred distribution is Gerber RS274x and Excellon (for drills).
These are like PostScript for printers but the primitives aren't text and arcs, they're lines of solder and components.
Example: Board (.brd) files for the MAKE: Daisy Open Source MP3 Player.
Core/Firmware
The source code runs on a microcontroller/microprocessor chip. In some cases, the code may be the design of the chip hardware itself (in VHDL). Preferred distribution: text file with source code in it, as well as compiled 'binary' for the chip.
Example: Open core 8080 compatible CPU code snippet from executing the 8080 instruction set.
Software/API
The source code that communicates or is used with the electronics from a computer.
Example: A screenshot of the Arduino IDE showing a simple example program.
Each level can be open sourced, but the exact nature of what it means to open it varies. In practice, not every layer is fully open. Often only a subset of the layers are released, documented, or open source.
For example, the WRT54GL wireless router only has the firmware open sourced (GPL).
The Roomba robot vacuum has an "open" API (interface).
The Ambient Orb (information device) is not open source, but the schematics and parts list are documented and available for people to tinker with and possibly build their own.
There are ongoing efforts from a variety of groups and people who are trying to figure out how an open licensing of hardware might work too:
Projects are the the fun part: what are people actually doing? Here are a few examples (some previously noted) of projects that are close to "pure" open source hardware projects:
Arduino physical computing platform (just shipped 10,000!) - Link.
Chumby 'glancable' information device - Link.
MAKE: Daisy MP3 Player - An open source MP3 player - Link.
RepRap / Fab@Home - Open source 3D printer - Link.
Open Cores - A collection of VHDL cores for FPGA chips ("often cited as the first example of true OS hardware") - Link.
OpenEEG - An EEG design that is OS & available as a kit - Link.
x0xb0x - Roland 303 clone MIDI synth - Link.
Some of these projects don't provide everything in the most ideal way, or might use a non-open-source tool to modify, but it's a start -- this is all pretty new.
At MAKE & CRAFT, we're trying to foster this nascent hardware movement by encouraging our kit makers to consider open source hardware and a license that makes sense when developing kits with us. So far it's worked out, and we're looking forward to providing not only more open source hardware kits, but electronics that are more "open" than what's out there now.
Why is this a good thing? The most obvious one for MAKE & CRAFT is the educational benefits: an open source hardware project or kit allows makers to build something completely from scratch (etching boards, etc) or assembling a kit almost IKEA-style, but unlike assembling furniture, new skills and understanding of how things actually work can be learned. One could say the building of the electronics is the "compiling" portion of the project, similar to software. Events like dorkbot and our Maker Faire are places for participation, and online, Instructables.com is a great place to look.
What else? Fixes -- new features and the "peer production" of the electronics projects/kits usually lend themselves to better kits, communities, and for some makers making real businesses selling kits - Link.
All this being said, the pace is slow and steady; hardware moves slower than software now: fabbing, which may decrease but is unlikely to fully go away. And hardware seems to be in the same state software was in the 1980s; lots of commercial developers, very few open source developers (or like 1970s when only a few had computers at all). We'd like to see the world of hardware when there are millions of developers.
This is a start. We're interested in your feedback and thoughts, so post up in the comments!
Special thanks to Limor Fried, Nathan Torkington & Eric Wilhelm for their help on this overview.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 23, 2007 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets, Open source hardware |
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Blinkybug (Maker Faire version)
Obeyken shows you how to make Blinkybugs -
Blinkybugs are small, eletro-mechanical insects that respond to stimulus such as movement, vibration, and air currents by blinking there LED eyes. They're incredibly simple, yet have a certain lifelike quality.I've been making variations of these for a while now, and showing others how to make them at museums, fairs, workshops, etc. It isn't rocket science, but there's some tricky soldering involved, and they usually take a person at least an hour to put together for the first time.
I wanted to come up with a simpler version for the workshop I'm running at the upcoming 2007 Maker Faire (May 19 + 20 in San Mateo, CA). So after a bit of experimenting, I came up with this solder-free design that, with a bit of prep work, I think most folks should be able to put together in 10 minutes or so.
I'd like to share this new design here first and I'd love to hear any feedback... give it a try!
If you're going to be at Maker Faire this year, drop by my workshop and make a bug! If you aren't... why not?! :)
instructables : Blinkybug (Maker Faire version) - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 23, 2007 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Maker Faire |
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| Comments (1)
April 20, 2007
HOW TO - Double the range of your TV-B-Gone
Mitch writes -
Double the Range of Your TV-B-GoneWith a handful of parts, a solder iron, and about an hour, you can double the range of your TV-B-Gone (R) universal remote control.
TV-B-Gone remotes work great to turn off TVs anywhere you go. But they work even better when they have more power.
We will be adding one more IR emitter to a TV-B-Gone remote, and powering the resultant two IR emitters with larger batteries than the small coin cell battery in the stock TV-B-Gone.
instructables : Double the Range of Your TV-B-Gone - Link.
Related:
Ultra TV-B-Gone - 20 IR LEDs + 9V = 90 ft range! - Link.
TV-B-Gone hat - Link.
Get a TV-B-Gone @ the Maker store! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 20, 2007 12:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (5)
HOW TO - Make a homopolar motor
Here's how to make a homopolar motor extremely simple and TONS of fun - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 20, 2007 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (6)
Flame-The MIDI Talking Synth
Flame-The MIDI Talking Synth is freaking awesome - check out the media samples!
The FLAME MIDI TALKING SYNTH is a small-sized MIDI-controlled sound module based on the analogue Speakjet ™ chip, produced by the U.S. company Magnevation LLC. Originally designed for basic artificially generated speech output in American English tongue it was then refined and further developed as an 8-bit sound module with speech-like sounds and synthetic robot voices as well as beeps, alarms, noise and retro-style sci-fi sounds. Due to the structure of the Speakjet ™ (with its complex sound synthesizer, preset sounds and serial interface) it offers an impressive range of possibilities. It contains 72 speech elements (allophones), 43 sound effects, and 12 DTM touch tones. The idea was to create sounds, patterns and sequences in the 8-bit style of the 80s or other retro sounds for making music instead of just simulating speech. Most allophones can be tuned and used tonally. The FLAME MIDI TALKING SYNTH contains two Speakjet ™ chips to produce a richer and more complex tonal variety as well as generating a pseudo stereo effect.
FLAME - MIDI-TALKING-SYNTH - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 20, 2007 11:00 AM
Electronics, Music |
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Modified ink printer churns out electronic circuits
I've got to try this -
A desktop printer loaded with a silver salt solution and vitamin C has been used to produce electronic circuits. The UK researchers behind the feat say their experimental device could pave the way for safer and cheaper electronics manufacturing.Being able to print out electronic components and whole circuit boards could provide an alternative to current manufacturing techniques, which are energy intensive and environmentally unfriendly.
Printing conductive polymer ink (see Goodbye wires and silicon, hello plastic chips), or pastes containing graphite or metal particles are two existing options. But researchers at Leeds University in the UK wanted to avoid the solvents needed for these processes.
Modified ink printer churns out electronic circuits - tech - 18 April 2007 - New Scientist Tech - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 20, 2007 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (7)
MAKE @ the 1 millionth DIGG user party! & the Digg kit!
MAKE is at the 1 millionth Digg user party in San Francisco, there's a laser cutter here etching laptops from Ghostmarking and Adafruit released the Digg button electronics kit - we have soldering stations here and Diggers are building electronics as I type this, using the instructions on an OLPC - You can get the beginner open source Digg electronics kit here - Link. $ from the kit is donated to the EFF too!
Oh, Digg it!
The Digg kit - Link.
instructables : digg Button Kit v1.0 - Link.
Top photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 20, 2007 01:23 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
April 19, 2007
DIY Teatimer
Martin writes -
This is a short time timer made with an AT89C1051. It is supporting times from 1 minute to 12 minutes. You have been a lazy bone and now you have to work all night. So there is a need for strong tea. You start to make the tea, but you forget the time and it tastes: brrrr...
Teatimer - Link. Source and schematics included.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 19, 2007 08:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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Dish / Bev Jtag unit?
Techgadgetz sells all sorts of things like cheap cell phone jammers, but what really caught my eye was this JTAG programmer for satellites -- do people really hack their sat dishes with these? It unlocks free channels? Post up in he comments -
A Jtag is simply a device which communicates with your satellite receiver unit. It acts as an interface between your computer and satellite receiver. Simply unplug your satellite receiver, connect the wires to your receiver's jtag port as shown in the instructions, using either tape or just touching them with a soldering iron (recommended), clip the alligator clip to any ground point of your receiver, and plug the DB25 connector into your parallel port of your computer! It's that simple. To make it communicate with your computer, you will need the program jkeys. This will be emailed to you after your purchase.
Dish / Bev Jtag Unit - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 19, 2007 12:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (12)
April 18, 2007
Pololu Robotics and electronics
Pololu offers robot kits, robot parts and robot electronics and custom laser cutting - I haven't heard about these folks until recently but their stuff looks good! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 18, 2007 12:00 PM
Electronics, Robotics |
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| Comments (3)
HOW TO - Make a PS/2 Keyboard IR receiver
Raphael writes in -
Someone gave me a Kenwood infra-red keyboard, designed for some Kenwood audio equipment. In order to make somthing useful with it, I built a receiver which connects to a PC PS/2 port.
PS/2 Keyboard IR Receiver - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 18, 2007 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (0)
Power caps
Power Caps, by Estee -
Power. Capacity. Elegance. Without them, life is transient. Available in plus sizes only, where ever fine electronic components are sold.
Power caps - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 18, 2007 03:00 AM
Electronics |
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| Comments (0)
Hobby parts for articles
David is offering up a free graphics LCD if you cook up an article, he writes -
Submit an article to get valuable electronics components in trade for publication on this site. The free graphics LCD offer has been great fun and I still receive request for the LCD. Unfortunately many of those requesting the LCD do not have a web site. The solution is for uC Hobby to host their project articles.
uC Hobby » Blog Archive » Hobby parts for articles - Link.
Of course there are tons of places to post from projects, from Instructables to Flickr - but a free LCD is a good deal too!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 18, 2007 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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Spark Fun Electronics - new stuff
Spark Fun Electronics has some new stuff that is causing a paycheck diversion... (As always - MAKE isn't affiliated with them in any way, I just like their stuff).
This is the new alternative to MP3 decoding. The VS1000 is a super-slick IC from VLSI that decodes Ogg Vorbis encoded music files. It's open source so the price is cheaper! Way to go open source - Link.Spark Fun Electronics - Link.
If soldering tight pitch iPod connectors scares you, this breakout board will help! PodBreakout brings all 30 pins of the iPod connector out to nice 0.1" spaced holes - Link.
Olimex has done it again! Another great little eval board for the MSP430FG4619 microcontroller. Board features a color LCD, triple axis MMA7260Q Accelerometer, SD card socket, and a joystick button - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 18, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (5)
April 17, 2007
Oscilloscope art
Ivanjs writes -
If you've got a dual channel oscilloscope handy (got mine for $49 on ebay), you can create some amazing imagery using the X-Y mode setting and/or ADD setting).All you have to do is feed a separate signal (like a sine wave and a triangle wave for example) into each of the 2 channels, combine them into 1 signal using ADD, and adjust the signal frequencies til you get something like what you see below.
At some point, you hit a sweet spot that generates these images (these still images don't really do the moving images justice, but the imagery is still asthetically pleasing. Some of the moving images rival Hollywood monitor effects.
Scope Art - Link.
Related:
- Oscilloscope clock - Link.
- ScopeOnPC - Turn your PC into a an oscilloscope - Link.
- PIC Based Oscilloscope with LCD - Link.
- Using an Oscilloscope - Link.
- Vector-based Pong on an Oscilloscope - Link.
- Low cost oscilloscope - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 17, 2007 04:00 PM
Arts, Electronics |
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| Comments (1)
HOW TO - Decode IR signals with a guitar
Ben shows you how to decode IR signals using a guitar and a WAV editor - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 17, 2007 02:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
Permalink
| Comments (0)
HOW TO - Overclock your Nintendo DS Lite
Scott writes in -
This article shows how to mod your Nintendo DS Lite so that you can overclock it or underclock it any time you want, even in the middle of a game. It's great for adjusting the difficulty level of your games or getting extra CPU cycles for homebrew apps. It's a completely stealth installation, so you don't have to go cutting any ugly holes in the outside of your DS case.
Overclock your Nintendo DS Lite » Modd3d - Link.
Related:
- Turn your Nintendo DS into a PDA with DSOrganize - Link.
- DS-Xtreme Nintendo DS Media Enhancer (run homebrew easily) - Link.
- Nintendo DS homebrew guide (PDF) - Link.
- Use the Nintendo DS as Wi-Fi scanner - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 17, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gaming |
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| Comments (0)
April 16, 2007
WebCam servo control
C@PPER writes -
I needed a simple way to add pan and tilt capability to my LabCam from a remote location using a web page interface. Two RC servos and an ATmega16 was the solution. This project is fairly simple in nature, and was completed in less than a week.The two servos are attached directly to the webcam to form a gimbal. The controller consists of an ATmega16, a MAX232 IC, and a small 5V power supply.
The LabCam was already running on a Mepis Linux server using Camstreams to take snapshots at defined intervals. One of the guys at http://thegeekgroup.org helped me with the PHP code to output servo control commands from the Mepis PC serial port to the controller. The controller then adjusts the servos in response to commands received.
A custom web page on the Mepis server links both the snapshot photos and the servo control.
:: AVR Freaks - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 16, 2007 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
Permalink
| Comments (3)
April 14, 2007
Pocket Ignignokt - Make your own Mooninites
Riad has everything you need to make your own Mooninites (Gerber files, schematics and layout). He writes --
By now everyone's heard about the 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare. Unfortunately, as far as I know, no one has put any thought into mass producing more of these guys. Well, no more. Thom, a now-buddy of mine from Chicago, emailed me after he saw my Superbowl party window decoration to tell me that he thought it would be awesome to design a Mooninite PCB that could be built cheaply enough to be used as a throwie...I've got a 3x3.6" Ignignokt board sent off for manufacture just today. Since I needed it rather quickly, I didn't optimize for a one layer design, but I'm sure that people will be willing to do group buys and thus manufacture will be a reasonable option for everyone.
In 100 quantity, the parts come to about $5 plus a power source (batteries, et cetera). From pcbcart.com the board is about $2 in the
same numbers, so as long as people are willing to do group buys these should make very reasonable throwies.The design uses 60 LEDs and a power converter that I designed to be as cheap as humanly possible
Pocket Ignignokt, thanks Thom! - Link.
Related:
Schematics, info and gerbers mirrored.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Apr 14, 2007 06:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets |
Permalink
| Comments (14)
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