The neighborly Travis Goodspeed will be giving a workshop this Friday, September 3rd, at 7pm at Chicago's Hackerspace, Pumping Station: One, on building and using his GoodFET JTAG adapter:
http://pumpingstationone.org/2010/08/goodfet/
I thought it would be a good idea to spark a conversation on the GoodFET as it is great example of powerful Open Source Hardware & Software. It basic functionality is as a JTAG adapter built around the TI MSP430 microcontroller of which Travis is quite fond of. But the GoodFET firmware is capable of more. It evolved from the Bus Pirate and aspires to be the universal serial bus interface.
The GoodFET can also speak to and control a variety of RF chips it might be connected to. A great example of this would the excellent The Next HOPE badge that Travis designed:
http://travisgoodspeed.blogspot.com/2010/06/hacking-next-hope-badge.html
I saw the prototype of the badge when Travis visited PS:One earlier this Summer and it made up my mind to go to HOPE. I'm really glad I did as I was able to see the firmware in action on every conference attendee.
Has anyone built or use the GoodFET or Bus Pirate? I'm excited to build my first one and get rolling with the firmware this Friday night!
Cheers,
Drew