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The PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Protocol

June 12, 2011 by Chris
USB seems to have taken over the mouse and keyboard protocol scene which means there's a ton of 'leftover' PS/2 mouse and keyboards abandoned in offices and schools. Today's article gives you the understanding of the PS/2 protocol needed to put these abandoned I/O devices back to work without as much software overhead as is required for implementing USB.

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Power Supply for Experimenters

June 11, 2011 by Chris
When working on your own DIY experiements, a rockhard and reliable power supply is a must have. An often overlooked type of power supply is the one in your computer. Most CPU power supplies convert 120VAC into 3.3v, 5v and 12v DC with very high current ratings. This article describes how to mod your desktop to give you these options.

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How to salvage parts from PCBs

April 10, 2011 by Chris
For any hacker, a valuable and free resource comes from old or recycled parts. Dead or broken PCB's usually only have 1 bad part, with the rest still fully functional. Today's tutorial shows you a great on-the-cheap method for salvaging parts from a PCB.


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Serial/PS-2 AT Keyboard Interface

April 8, 2011 by Chris
If you've ever been curious how PS/2 works or how to build a text terminal serial interface, this project explains how to do both! PS/2 communication from a Keyboard is interpreted by a PIC and sent serially to a desktop computer. The theory is very well explained with no details left out, a great project for beginners!


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Long Range IR Beam Break Detector

March 29, 2011 by Chris
For applications where you need to be able to check for movement and alignment, long range IR can be the answer. Whether you need to set a home location on a moving device, or track movement on a machine, a beam break detector can be your low-cost solution. This project write-up shows you how easy it is to make one, and how well it works.


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MSP430 Launchpad Dev Board

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.


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ARM TV-Based Oscilloscope

February 25, 2011 by Chris
This formal project shows you how to make your very own oscilloscope using an ARM processor. The write up is in the form of a documented contest entry pdf, along with the abstract description. The software, hardware schematics and everything you'd need is there!



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Reverse Engineering an LCD Display

February 11, 2011 by Chris
Reverse Engineering is an important skill for electronics hobbyists because very often you will run into something you want to use, but don't know how. An LCD is a tough thing to reverse engineer, but this tutorial shows you one approach to figuring out how to get things working.


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PIC Microcontrollers – Free eBook!

November 2, 2010 by Chris
If you are curious to learn more about PIC microcontrollers here is a professionally written e-Book all about PICs. There are a lot of example programs and configurations and the eBook guides you through what they do and how you can use them.


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Phone Recorder Project

October 27, 2010 by Chris
If you're curious about how telephones work and how to actually record and play back sound files using a microcontroller you'll want to read this project write-up. The phone line is connected to a PIC which collects that data and can save it as a wave file for you to play back and listen to.


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