PyroElectro - News, Projects & Tutorials » misc projects http://www.pyroelectro.com PyroElectro.com brings you cool projects & tutorials that you can do at home. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:15:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Mandelbrot Set In Real-Time In VGA http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/02/06/mandelbrot-set-in-real-time-in-vga/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/02/06/mandelbrot-set-in-real-time-in-vga/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:15:06 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=4000
“Along the lines of 'high-performance' computation, I have collaborated with Joshua Wise to write (in Verilog) logic to draw a Mandelbrot set in real-time on a VGA monitor. The Mandelbrot set is a connected set of points in the complex plane that depends on an infinite iterative process to determine whether each point is in the set. At each iteration, the original starting point is added to the (complex) square of the previous point.”

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/02/06/mandelbrot-set-in-real-time-in-vga/feed/ 0 Fading LEDs via PWM http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/01/19/fading-leds-via-pwm/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/01/19/fading-leds-via-pwm/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:36 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3886
A very neat feature that PWM (pulse with modulation) offers is being able to control the brightness level of LEDs. By varying the duty cycle percentage, we can control the exact brightness of any LED. This article takes you through a simple example design step-by-step using a PIC microcontroller. The end result is an LED controller that can set an LED to 100 unique brightness levels.

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/01/19/fading-leds-via-pwm/feed/ 0 2012 Freeday At Sparkfun http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/01/11/2012-freeday-at-sparkfun/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/01/11/2012-freeday-at-sparkfun/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:56:37 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3822
“Free Day is the time when SparkFun gives back to our community and customers.This year we're giving away $200,000 to 2,000 lucky people, one hundred dollars at a time. When you fill out the captcha above (to prove you're a human), a request is sent to our servers where there is a Geiger tube hooked up. If the Geiger tube detects a particle of ionizing radiation during your request, you win! It's truly random! ”

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2012/01/11/2012-freeday-at-sparkfun/feed/ 0 Happy New Year – 2012 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/31/happy-new-year-2012/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/31/happy-new-year-2012/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:36:32 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3720


Happy New Year 2012





PyroFactor:
 
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/31/happy-new-year-2012/feed/ 0 Merry Christmas – 2011 http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/25/merry-christmas-2011/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/25/merry-christmas-2011/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:36:50 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3666


Merry Christmas 2011





PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/25/merry-christmas-2011/feed/ 0 DIY dsPIC breadboard http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/09/diy-dspic-breadboard/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/09/diy-dspic-breadboard/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:05:22 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3516
“This thing may remind you of an Arduino but it’s not, it’s not even an AVR but a dsPIC30F2012. Lots of times I want to try out something, but I’m too lazy to make the whole thing over and over on a breadboard so why not solder it together quick on a pref board so I can just stick it in.”

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/12/09/diy-dspic-breadboard/feed/ 0 Single-Digit Nixie Clock Driver http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/08/single-digit-nixie-clock-driver/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/08/single-digit-nixie-clock-driver/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:00:01 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3299
“A while ago I found a Burroughs B-5853 Nixie tube kicking around in the lab and decided that I should put it to good use. Since I only had one of this size, I wanted to make a single-digit display out of it. After I saw Jason Harper's Nixie clock gallery, I decided that one digit really could make a cool clock.”

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/08/single-digit-nixie-clock-driver/feed/ 0 Open 7400 Competition Winners http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/07/open-7400-competition-winners/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/07/open-7400-competition-winners/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:00:51 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3293
The winners of the 7400 logic competition were announced last week. PyroElectro's Masochist's Video Card won 2nd place and TTL Tilt Sensor won 3rd place! A lot of interesting and mostly DIY style projects were entered. Take a look through the winners list and you'll likely find a project that explains the details of something you've always wanted to make.

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/07/open-7400-competition-winners/feed/ 1 Digital Circuits: Traffic Light Control Circuit http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/01/digital-circuits-traffic-light-control-circuit/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/01/digital-circuits-traffic-light-control-circuit/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:00:13 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3244
“This electronic project based only on 74LSxx family and IC 555 as clock source. It's a digital logic circuit which means to build this Traffic Light Control you don't need a microcontroller or processor.”

The article describes the project in a lot of detail, so it's a good resource for anyone looking to brush up on their raw digital design skill-set.

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/11/01/digital-circuits-traffic-light-control-circuit/feed/ 1 Dynamic Ambient Color Lamp http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/10/22/dynamic-ambient-color-lamp/ http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/10/22/dynamic-ambient-color-lamp/#comments Sat, 22 Oct 2011 20:21:20 +0000 Chris http://www.pyroelectro.com/?p=3147
This article offers a very detailed write-up of how the author built an ambient lamp with network control capability. Software and hardware theory and design are explained thoroughly and available in the article, good for some light saturday-sunday reading.

PyroFactor:
Read
]]> http://www.pyroelectro.com/2011/10/22/dynamic-ambient-color-lamp/feed/ 0