Posted June 26, 2014 by Chris

Today we’re happy to announce that lesson 1 of our new course: An Introduction To FPGA And CPLD is live. Here’s an overview of the lesson:

"Want to learn about FPGA and CPLD? Please start here! This lesson explains the course content, what expectations you should have and what parts are needed for the course."

Posted June 25, 2014 by Chris

"I have to admit, I am usually not the biggest fan of interpreted languages and high level programming. But in this case, they were very convenient.
This is thus a small article about what you can do in 3-4 hours with Matlab and a FTDI USB connectivity to your project. As an example, here is a project where my webcam output gets displayed on my led matrix."

Posted June 23, 2014 by Chris

Thanks to continued support and feedback from all of YOU, we are excited to announce that the 5th course of PyroEDU: An Introduction To FPGA And CPLD will begin this week! Here’s a preview of the course overview:

“This course is meant to create a pathway into learning about FPGA and CPLD electronics, for people who are scared of the code, tools and general trickery that usually comes with it. A hands-on approach is taken in this course through a combination of lecture and experimentation to teach you about the different features of both the development tools and languages used in the world of FPGA. Additionally, visuals are used throughout lectures like step-by-step schematic building and line-by-line code explanations so that everything gets explained.”

This course comes right on the heels of An Introduction To Microcontrollers and as such, it will use knowledge from that course to further expand to the world of programmed logic and hardware. Also, thanks again to all of our kickstarter backers who originally got us started! Read more at the course page at PyroEDU

Posted June 22, 2014 by Chris

"This is a quick guide with a bit of extra info (pin configurations etc..) that I’ve learnt along the way on how to use the L293D with the Arduino, showing that we can: A) Use a supplemental power source to power the DC motor B) Use the L293D chip to drive the motor C) Use a switch to change the direction of the motor."

Posted June 21, 2014 by Chris

"A year ago I have acquired a pure SNES console without any additional peripherals…The next step was straightforward: purchase or develop a flash cartridge for the SNES…"

Posted June 19, 2014 by Chris

"…Shortly after the handheld Open SciCal got picked up, I got an order for a few Open SciCal’s, hand-made, with the wi-fi attachment, and to be delivered to an address in downtown Manhattan. I did a little more research, and it turns out that they’re going to be used by an actual trading firm on Wallstreet…..I asked for an example in source code, and here it is – very simplified, and coded up for Yahoo finance…"

Posted June 18, 2014 by Chris

"This project aims to create an open source wildlife tracking collar system to help conservationists protect the last 2000 lions living in the wild in Southern Kenya, and safeguard the Maasai herders cattle, restoring Maasai-land to a working ecosystem."

Posted June 17, 2014 by Chris

"…In order to solve a debate, the facility wants to track the released fawns to monitor their progress. If the fawns are alive three weeks after release then it is obvious that the herd is feeding them. The facility has a limited budget so I am building the tracking devices for them. The tracking collars will be GPS based so that the facility staff will not require advanced radio signal tracking skills."

Posted June 16, 2014 by Chris

"…I decided to give my Raspberry Pi something interesting and colourful to do – light painting. A happy day of geeking saw my brother and I pull together a wireless remote-controlled, battery-powered, Raspberry Pi light painting robot. It’s not perfect, but we think the initial results are pretty good for a day’s work and I thought I’d share some notes and photos in case anyone else is interested."

Posted June 15, 2014 by Chris

"I wanted to make a simple circuit for my lover, so I came up with using four 7-segment LEDs to make the word “LOVE” for her….List of materials: Four 7-segment LEDs, Resistors, A wooden prototype board, USB cable cord, Solder iron, Paper Clip, A plastic box, Red papers."