Posted July 15, 2011 by Chris

Today’s article should interest those of you in manufacturing and motion control industries because it deals with the programming style known as ladder logic. The article explains how you can use their custom software to do ladder logic on a PIC or AVR microcontroller. Ladder logic is a type of graphical programming that has been popular in the PLC industry for many years.

Posted July 10, 2011 by Chris

Here’s a quick article comparing 3 popular, low cost, easy-to-use and low power LCD’s. The article gives you comparisons between them all along with example code and resources for getting started with them. So if you’re looking for an LCD for your project, or just need some reference material, take a look at this one.

Posted July 2, 2011 by Chris

FabISP, is a system for using some custom work of an ATTiny to do in-system programming. The article shows you this process, from design in schematic, to board layout and firmware. All the project files are there for download along with a parts list. This is a well documented design of a programmer, so if you’re looking to learn more on PCB and AVR, take a look.

Posted June 29, 2011 by Chris

The PCI bus architecture has existed for a long time and as antiquated as the design is, it still works very well and exists in most modern consumer computers. But, haven’t you ever wanted to make your own PCI card? This article goes step-by-step through the process of building a PCI Interface using a Xilinx FPGA to do the heavy lifting. Verilog source code and hardware schematics are included with the article.

Posted June 28, 2011 by Chris

“There are many DIY versions of WWVB clock designs available on the web. Commercial “atomic” clocks are inexpensive and widely available, but I wanted to try my hand at designing one to gain insight into WWVB reception and to learn a little about programming a PIC microcontroller.” See the article for source code and schematics for making your own Atomic Clock!

Posted June 25, 2011 by Chris

If you have ever wanted to learn how SD card interfacing words, this a great article to read. It covers the very basics of connecting a PIC to write and read from an SD flash memory card using SPI. The article has tons of pictures, the code, the schematic and more than enough details to help you make your own.

Posted June 23, 2011 by Chris

“Codebending is the exploration of software with ‘patch points.’ Patch points expose the inner workings of computer programs, and allow for atypical connections between things like games, music making software, office suites, etc.” This article explains the more intricate details of artistic electronics through a process called codebending with an instrument that looks like it came straight out of google labs.

Posted June 19, 2011 by Chris

For the AVR gurus out there looking to test out making their own programmer, here’s a USB AVR Programmer that does ISP style programming. The article includes PCB schematic and layout along with the AVR firmware. A useful and good project for AVR fanatics as an extra programmer is always welcome in your toolbox.

Posted June 8, 2011 by Chris

This is a great old-school article about how embedded systems used to be built. The article explains how to use a Motorola 6809 with some ROM, RAM and peripheral devices connected up to the address and data bus. A memory map is built up and rom programmed with some code to get things going. The author has all schematics and firmware available for download.

Posted June 7, 2011 by Chris

There’s nothing too complex about this LCD clock circuit, so its a great project to build if you want to get started with the MSP line of microcontrollers from TI. The article describes how things work, includes schematics and firmware for the MSP. The system runs off of the single battery coin cell, as all the ICs are low voltage.