Blog

GitHub for Beginners: Incrementally Adding Features to your Code

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction What is GitHub and Version Control, and Why is it useful? What Really Happens Installing Software Cloning (Checking out) Code Creating a Branch and Publishing the Branch Editing Code and Committing Code Creating a Pul...
- 23 Jun 2023
Inkplate 2

ralphjy

Back in December of last year I backed a Kickstarter campaign by Soldered Electronics for the Inkplate 2 - a 2.13" e-paper display with an ESP32 microcontroller. I received my unit about a month ago, but have been busy with design challenges and...
- 16 Jun 2023
Oscillator design

strb

I was surfing the net looking for inspiration to build something new to me when I stumbled across Building a Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) by shabaz . His blog post inspired me quite a lot, but also showed me the amount of work a...
- 8 Jan 2023
Rapidly learning KiCad PCB Software within 5 days: And where I got to, a year on!

shabaz

It’s been almost exactly one year since I decided to try using KiCad, to migrate off EAGLE CAD. I was a newcomer to KiCad, but it was possible to feel comfortable enough with KiCad 6 within a week, to the point of producing my first PCB with it...
- 28 Dec 2022
Easy, Cost-Effective Bluetooth LE (BLE) with Dialog DA14531MOD

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction What is it? Working with the Module KiCAD Symbol and Footprint Debugger Tool Software Development Building Code Controlling an LED Running the Firmware from RAM Connecting and Controlling the BLE Device Writing the Fi...
- 18 Jul 2022
Energy Saving: Building a Microcontroller-based System Power Controller

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Using It I2C Instruction Set (a) Wake every n seconds (n is between 5 and 255) (b) Wake every n minutes (n is between 1 and 255) (c) Read Inputs (d) Write Outputs (e) Write to RAM (f) Read from RAM (g) Set RTC Time (...
- 28 Jun 2022
AUDIO MEASURING SYSTEM BASED ON HP 8903A

michaelkellett

AUDIO MEASURING SYSTEM BASED ON HP 8903A This is a project that brings together a few long-term plans of mine and (I hope) combines them into a useful system for measuring audio devices. The key components are: HP 8903A – a mainly analog...
- 27 Feb 2022
Building a USB-C USB-UART Board

shabaz

Introduction USB-UART devices provide an interface between a host computer and a peripheral device, connecting between the USB port and a serial connection called a serial UART. Nearly all microcontrollers have a serial UART, and sometimes it can be ...
- 17 Feb 2022
Building cheap case for USB audio card called SkySong

jgrzybowski

Cheap case for USB audio card called SkySong Goal+ cheap and useful case for SkySong USB audio card;+ appearance of device suitable to wooden and black case of headphone amp;+ case must increase total weight of device due to lightweight USB card, whi...
- 5 Feb 2022
Building cheap headphone amplifier integrated with DAC

jgrzybowski

Cheap headphone amplifier integrated with DAC Goal+ good quality headphone amplifeier;+ good quality DAC;+ integrated device for cost reduction (one power supplly and one housing);+ headphone amp. and DAC board must have common voltage of power suppl...
- 22 Jan 2022
Building compact size cubic micro-atx PC case from plexi and 3D printed parts

jgrzybowski

Building compact size cubic micro-atx PC case from plexi and 3D printed parts Goal+ cheap PSs dedicated for special purposes (like VHS grabbing and video compressing);+ based on standard size components (for excellect ratio efficiency / cost);+ as sm...
- 22 Jan 2022
KiCad 6 Unofficial Quick Start Training / Guide Video

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Video Contents PCB Editor Configuration Screenshots File->Board Setup->Design Rules->Constraints File->Board Setup->Design Rules->Pre-defined Sizes File->Plot File->Plot->Generate Drill Fi...
- 17 Jan 2022
Building a Mini 5V Supply in a DB-25 Shell

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Circuit Construction Output Noise Summary Introduction This is quite a niche blog post, but may be relevant for anyone who needs a simple, quick, low-noise power supply! This project is PCB-less, it can be very qu...
- 27 Nov 2021
Building a Simple Radio - Part 2 - Final Assembly

shabaz

Way back in June, I was Building a Simple Radio Receiver that was intended to be solderable by kids, low-cost, and almost guaranteed to work the first time, owing to its simplicity, requiring no adjustments or trimming.Unfortunately, other work got i...
- 19 Sep 2021
Copper Clad Prototyping Tools

shabaz

Following on from a Project14 discussion DIY 100kHz VCO - Build & Test on copper-clad board techniques for prototyping, I was curious to know how I could improve my current method of using a craft knife to cut channels for creating isolated...
- 30 Aug 2021
First Steps with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Chips

shabaz

Introduction What is DSP? Installing the Software USBI Board ( EVAL-ADUSB2EBZEVAL-ADUSB2EBZ ) Turning an LED on and off A Simple Audio Effect Summary IntroductionThis blog post relates to a simple digital signal processing setup, ...
- 17 Jul 2021
Building a Simple Radio Receiver

shabaz

Introduction Radio Circuit Amplifier Circuit Power Entry Circuit Board Wiring Diagram Soldering Enclosure Components and Parts List Potentiometers Speaker Parts List Summary IntroductionThe aim of this project was to d...
- 26 Jun 2021
Working with Surface Mount Devices (SMD) and Breakout Boards

shabaz

Introduction SMD Proto Board Features Ordering Them Other Surface Mount Ideas Tools Components Summary IntroductionGrowing up, using perforated board (Perf-Board) and Stripboard were the ways things got prototyped. With surf...
- 26 Jun 2021
Building a Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO)

shabaz

Introduction What it is? Oscillator Design Output Spectrum Stability Output Filter Circuit Diagram Using a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Components Summary Introduction This blog post covers the construction of a voltage-controlled oscilla...
- 28 Mar 2021
Building a Fast Edge Square Wave Generator

shabaz

Introduction How does it work? Building It Parts Trying It Out Summary IntroductionSometimes it’s useful having the ability to generate signals with sharp edges! It can be handy for time-domain reflectometer (TDR) experiments or for...
- 6 Feb 2021
SEGGER's J-Link OB and BBC HiFive Inventor educational kit

jomoenginer

I found this quite interesting. The BBC Doctor Who HiFive Inventor Coding Kit is a very cool implementation of the RISC-V architecture (150-MHz SiFive FE310 RISC-V) making it accessible for youngins' which includes narration of tutorials by Jodi...
- 26 Jan 2021
Mini Experimenter: Connected Science Experiments with Casio and IoT

shabaz

Introduction What else is out there? How does it all fit together? Thunderboard Sense 2 ESP32 Boards/Modules What Protocols are used? Low Layer Protocol High Layer Procedures Custom Procedures Coding the Protocols Debugging the C...
- 29 Dec 2020
Low Battery Warning Indicator

shabaz

IntroductionI like building battery-powered circuits, but always in the back of my mind is the thought that I really ought to provide a ‘low-battery’ indication! Since it isn’t usually a core feature of the project, it often gets forgotten. This ultr...
- 22 Sep 2020
ARMP - (Nearly) Complete Schematics

michaelkellett

I had hoped to to have completed the basic design by now but I've spent a lot of today thinking aboutpower supplies, but not getting quite far enough to commit to paper (or CAD).The idea was always to have a a separate power conversion board, so ...
- 23 Aug 2020
ARMP Processor and Display

michaelkellett

15/08/2020This is still very much work in progress. I've confirmed my primary choice of display, the Riverdi RVT43ALBFWN00, available from Mouser and RS.It has an SPI interface over a 20 way FPC and uses a Bridgetek controller chip. This is ...
- 15 Aug 2020