RaspberryPi Schematics

Posted on April 25, 2012 by e8johan

As the model B of RaspberryPi has been released and deliveries are starting, the schematics have been made available. Great stuff!

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Old Magnets

Posted on April 20, 2012 by e8johan

My recollection from using floppy disks is that they where notoriously prone to failure. Now imagine trying to read you old collection of disks not used since the late 1990’s. Before you run off collecting your disk and run fsck or let Windows try to repair them, you should consider your options.

Special disk controllers such as DiskFerret help in this task. By increasing the sample frequency and storing data for analysis, even aged disks can be read and restored.

A story of the usage of such a device, in combination with some nice vintage hardware can be read at Jordan Mechner’s blog. He wrote Prince of Persia for the Apple II, and now, 20 years later, the source code has been recovered.

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Printing at Home

Posted on April 18, 2012 by e8johan

If you would have asked me two years ago if I’d have a cheap, reliable 3D printer at home, I would have laughed. And yet, here I am, waiting for a print to finish.

The printer in itself, a Huxley from eMaker (now RepRapPro), is a small miracle. Relatively cheap and reliable in operation. However, the big change is what you can create from home.

Being able to create an exact piece of plastic from a CAD drawing has revolutionized my ability to produce machinery. It might be to create a replacement part for something at home, and adapter, or a corner piece for something (I make way too many corners these days). Having a 3D printer really lets the inner child out. Nothing is impossible anymore!

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Simple Painterbot

Posted on April 16, 2012 by e8johan

After some inspiration from Lorenzo Bravi via makezine, built a small painterbot from a toilet paper roll, a small motor, a nut, a battery and some velcro.

Continue reading →

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The CPU Database

Posted on April 11, 2012 by e8johan

For all of you microprocessor historians out there, Stanford has composed a microprocessor database. It has information about performance, processes, relationships, micro architectures, etc. All readily available for searching, browsing or visualization.

via osnews.

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EagleUp

Posted on April 3, 2012 by e8johan

The EagleUp tool helps you generate nice 3D drawings from your Eagle PCB designs. The work is the result of the efforts from Jerome Lamy, an electronics design engineer. To get started, visit the nice video tutorial on the project site.

via make.

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3D LED Matrix

Posted on March 30, 2012 by e8johan

Fredrik Petrini has posted a detailed build instruction for a 3D LED matrix. That is, a truly three dimensional display with 125 pixels.

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Portable Electronics Lab

Posted on March 23, 2012 by e8johan

Built from an old laptop, sk7ca‘s portable electronics lab is quite impressive. It contains a generous breadboard area, an LCD display, a keypad, various inputs, outputs, sensors , gizmos and the now ubiquitous Arduino. What the video for a guided tour.

Continue reading →

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Searduino

Posted on March 21, 2012 by e8johan

When developing Arduino software, it is not always ideal having to rely on the cycle of life – code, compile, upload, test, alter, compile, upload, test, alter, comp…

The Searduino project (Savannah page) provides an, albeit limited, simulation of an Arduino system. The system is limited in the sense that it does not (at the moment) support shields. It does, however, provide mechanisms for automated testing, a simulated environment, and the ability to record rapid series of events for later analysis.

The tool is open source and aims to scratch an itch of educators using Arduino. Enabling the students to prepare for labs without needing access to hardware, as well as providing useful tips (ever forgot to set the mode of a pin?) instead of hours of debugging, the goal is to make one of the most available platforms around even more available.

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3D Printable Quadcopter

Posted on March 16, 2012 by e8johan

Thingiverse is a great site that we have mentioned before. Yesterday, the user swepet uploaded PL2Q Hugin. this is the second iteration of his 3D printable quadcopter design. Print, solder and fly. Finally a project where the sky really is the limit…

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