Posted April 30, 2011 by Chris

For anyone who has spent some time doing EE or CS work, they will have strong opinions for why one side is more important than the other in electronics. I ran across this article that explains the difference between both sides with a bit of humor and insights.

Posted March 27, 2011 by Chris

This semi-new development set was a war-waging act by Texas Instruments to force their way into the hobbyist market. Put out in mid 2010, the MSP430 launchpad has all the features of all the other PIC or AVR’s in the world, but at the price of less than $10 a unit, it a bargain for any DIYer.

Posted March 20, 2011 by Chris

Persistence-Of-Vision or simply POV as it is known has become a popular idea to play with recently with all sorts of different POV applications being created. This project uses the theory of POV to create a global map or earth as we know it. All software and hardware details are in the google code project.

Posted March 2, 2011 by Chris

Taking a break from projects for the day, here’s a good article I found directed at people starting out with PIC microcontrollers, although the rules generally apply to all micros with a few exceptions. Bookmark this one, as these are really the laws of the land when it comes to PICs.

Posted February 3, 2011 by Chris

This huge chess board called ‘Monster Chess’ is made completely of legos. It is fully automated and moves by itsself. Take a look at the project write-up for some awesome action videos and pictures of the entire setup.

Posted February 1, 2011 by Chris

The servo motor and the dc motor have one simple difference: one is inherently controlled while the other is not. This guide goes through the specifics of when to use which type of motor.

Posted January 21, 2011 by Chris

While there are no real electronics involved in this prank, it would be awesome to do on a roommate. Encase their entire desktop keyboard in jello! The write-up has very detailed pictures showing you exactly how to do it without causing too much harm.

Posted January 9, 2011 by Chris

Ping pong ball lights are not as difficult to build as you might think. A normal strand of christmas tree lights combined with some tricky and ping pong balls yields these cool looking things. The project write-up has a step-by-step guide for building them yourself.

Posted December 28, 2010 by Chris

While perhaps dull to the lay-man, generating vga signals is more difficult than it seems. This ATtiny cranks out the proper signals to display a few test colors on a vga input monitor. The code is short and sweet and the schematic is even more simple.

Posted December 23, 2010 by Chris

USB has come to the forefront of importance and so knowing how to build firmware to interface properly is important. This hack brings to the ATtiny USB capability and while only USB 1.1, it still opens up a world of opportunity. Check the project write-up for source code and hardware schematics.