Blog

Using SWD with ARM Microcontrollers: An Introduction to Firmware Programming and Debugging!

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction What Problems are Being Solved? What are Debug Probes and Serial Wire Debug (SWD)? Protocol Engines: Proprietary vs CMSIS-DAP Which Protocol Engine Should You Use? OpenOCD: What Is It? Obtaining OpenOCD Board Conne...
- 3 Jun 2026
DexoPad — phone-as-keyboard-and-mouse for any USB host (ESP32-S3 + BLE, on Kickstarter)

Mengjie

The problem that started this Every developer hits this eventually: you have a computer that needs typing into, and the keyboard situation is wrong. Your laptop hard-crashed mid-task, and the only way out is a BIOS reset — but you don't ha...
- 28 May 2026
Programming a TI MSPM0 Microcontroller via USB UART

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Obtain a USB-UART Adapter Wire It Up! Obtain the MSPM0 Programmer Software Procedure Summary Further Reading Introduction The Texas Instruments MSPM0 series (PDF MSPM0 Product Portfolio) of microcontrollers a...
- 25 May 2026
push a data table to MSPM0L DAC with DMA

Jan Cumps

The DMA engine of the MSPM0 can move data between memory locations. In this example, a table of data is DMA-moved to the data register of the onboard 8-bit DAC. The name of the example in TI resource explorer is dac8_dma_function_generator....
- 25 May 2026
DMA move a table in memory with MSPM0

Jan Cumps

The DMA engine of the MSPM0 can move data between memory locations. In this example, a table of data is DMA-moved to address locations in SRAM. The name of the example in TI resource explorer is dma_table_transfer. DMA is set up in extended data...
- 23 May 2026
Microsoft Releases Source Code for DOS 1.0

Catwell

Developing a DOS operating system in the early days. (Image Credit: Rich Cini/Microsoft) Microsoft has been making its early operating system code available to the public over the past few years. In 2018, the tech giant open-sourced MS-DOS 1.25 and...
- 13 May 2026
New Operating System for the Z80 CPU - WOW

Catwell

Scott Baker’s RC2014 system featuring the Z80, CompactFlash, floppy, VFD, ACIA, and speech synthesizer. (Image Credit: Scott Baker) We all know the Z80 system has a long list of operating systems available, and now, there’s another one. ...
- 17 Apr 2026
ESP32 Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) Guide with a Jellyfish example

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction CYD Features Board Dimensions / Technical Drawing Is It Any Good? CYD Connections Reference RGB LED Micro SD Socket UART and BOOT pin Audio Output Spare Input/Output Connections Touch Interface TFT Screen, Backlight ...
- 29 Mar 2026
Wide 3D-Printed Breadboard Can Fit MCUs with No Wasted Pins

Catwell

Ludwin created four versions of the 3D-printed wide breadboard for different microcontrollers. (Image Credit: Ludwin) I love this. A brilliant idea. And, I so want these. Breadboards are useful for testing electronic projects. But they can’t s...
- 19 Mar 2026
Arduino Launches New Board Integrated With AI - VENTUNO Q

Catwell

The Arduino VENTUNO Q SBC is perfect for robotics development. (Image Credit: Arduino) Arduino recently announced the launch of a new single-board computer, the Arduino VENTUNO Q, which combines AI with real-time control. It features the Qualcomm Dr...
- 10 Mar 2026
I wrote a hands-on Raspberry Pi Pico 2 project book — free review copies for embedded developers

micheal.embedded

Hi everyone,I’m Michael I write embedded systems books for beginners and professionals. I recently released: Embedded Systems with Raspberry Pi Pico 2 and RP2350: Projects and Deep Dives The book is built around the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 powered ...
- 3 Mar 2026
Infosec Developer Emulates X86 Processer Using CSS

Catwell

(Image Credit: Growtike/Unsplash) You might think it is impossible to emulate an x86 processor using a web-based stylesheet language. Estonia-based infosec coder Lyra Rebane managed to pull that off in CSS without using JavaScript, WASM, or any othe...
- 27 Feb 2026
Availability of Bare-Die (KGD) MCU and Sub-GHz Transceiver (Standalone or Integrated)

cylee_acc

Hello, I am looking for a bare-die (KGD) version of an MCU (preferably Cortex-M3, M4, M33, or M7) and also a Sub-GHz RF transceiver, either standalone (TX/RX only) or with an integrated MCU. Could you please advise whether bare-di...
- 21 Feb 2026
Researchers Build Computer That Runs on Light

Catwell

Illustration of the team’s light-based computer. (Image Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09838-7) Researchers at Queen’s University have developed a light-based computer capable of performing a wide range of complex tasks, ...
- 13 Feb 2026
Polpotronics Launches PicoIDE, An Emulator for Retro Hardware

Catwell

xPicoIDE emulates hard drives and CD-ROM drives,replacing physical components in a vintage PC. (Image Credit: Polpotronics/Crowd Supply) While we love our old PC parts for the nostalgia, they can stop working at any time. Computer enthusiasts would ...
- 11 Feb 2026
The Future of RISC-V in Mainstream Embedded Design

Catwell

(Image credit: RISC-V) For the past 15 years, the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) has remained on the fringes of mainstream embedded design, offering numerous interesting benefits but deemed too immature to replace established alternatives...
- 7 Jan 2026
Top 10 Dev Boards in 2025: What’s Hot and Why?

Catwell

(Image credit: PXHere) Development boards continue to evolve as designers push for more computing power, lower power consumption, better connectivity, and integrated AI acceleration. The boards released over the last year reflect those notions, with...
- 12 Dec 2025
MSPM0 Open Drain IO duty cycle controlled by a timer

Jan Cumps

The Texas Instruments MSPM0 microcontroller has a few open drain IOs. TI calls them ODIO. In this post, I show that they can be controlled by a timer. More specific: one of the MSPM0 PWM peripherals will control the duty cycle of an open dr...
- 19 Nov 2025
switch up to 5V and 8 mA with MSPM0 Open Drain IO

Jan Cumps

The Texas Instruments MSPM0 microcontroller has a few open drain GPIOs. TI calls them ODIO. These are 5V tolerant, and can switch up to ( see jc2048 comment below) +-8 mA. The main purpose is to support multi-level IO. They&...
- 18 Nov 2025
pdsink: USB-PD 3.2 sink stack for embedded devices

pvit

USB-C PD is everywhere now, and a lot of embedded designs only need one thing: be a sink and behave correctly. In practice, available PD stacks usually come with at least one hard constraint: vendor lock-in / NDA / no public sources, tied to a speci...
- 16 Nov 2025
Smallest GPU in The World is All Set for Production

Catwell

The TinyGPU v2.0 converts 3D vector graphics into raster images. (Image credit: Pongsagon Vichit/X) Pongsagon Vichit, an FPGA designer and retro PC fanatic, recently announced TinyGPU v2.0. This GPU works like an independent processor, performing 3D...
- 14 Nov 2025
EasyL1105 GUI Composer Demo: JSON interface between MSPM0 and PC GUI

Jan Cumps

Texas Instrument's GUI Composer can be used to design with LCD displays. But it also has a useful API for the MSPM0: JSON communication over UART. This is a low footprint mechanism where you can exchange data with a PC GUI, or with another ...
- 16 Oct 2025
measure MSPM0 low power modes

Jan Cumps

In advanced XDS110 debugger use with EasyL1105 MSPM0 board: EnergyTrace I used TI's EnergyTrace to get the power use of a low power EasyL1105 design. To get at the current use at real low power modes, I use the design w...
- 11 Oct 2025
Low Power Compact LCD example for the EasyL1105 MSPM0 board

Jan Cumps

Port of Building a Low Power Compact LCD Display to TI's MSPM0 controller. I use EasyL1105: A Dev Board for the TI ARM Cortex-M0+ L-Series . This port can be used on any MSPM0 launchpad or board. LCD It's a low p...
- 10 Oct 2025
efficient sprintf() string format lib for lower range microcontrollers

Jan Cumps

I'm learning the ins and outs of an MSPM0 controller. I'm using an MSPM01105, that's low on power use. But also low on available memory.I tried to use the standard C library's sprintf() function in a project, to format a string with a few i...
- 4 Oct 2025