Just a quick update to about the SD Bootloader I designed a few posts ago. Well, the PCBs have arrived and last week I took a soldering iron to one of them and gave it a quick test One side of the board is effectively an Arduino, so without plugging it in to the RC2014, I […]
So, the RC2014 is great. I can run Microsoft BASIC and program it from there, and as long as I am using a terminal emulator, I can copy & paste to save and load programs. Alternatively, I can write Z80 code using an online compiler then download it, copy it to USB stick, move it […]
A little while back, Nottingham Hackspace got the opportunity to buy a bunch of Minimus V1 AVRs at a very good price. Not being one to turn down a bargain, I bought a few of these little critters to see what they can do. On paper, they look great. USB programmable micro running an Atmel […]
If you’ve been reading this blog in cronological order, you’ll know about the FTDI adapter I made for the Z88. If you don’t read this in order, you’ll know about the Minimus programming I’ve been doing and what the Minimus is (note that I’ve not blogged about that yet… be patient!) Now to turn […]
One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is the general purpose input output (GPIO) pins. They allow it to interface with other circuits. The Arduino, however, is all about connecting with other stuff, and with analog input and PWM output, it’s better at it than the Pi. But the Pi has more processing […]
First of all, allow me to apologize. I set up my Tweeting front door at the end of 2011. Its only about 6 weeks away from 2013 now! So, what is a Tweeting front door? Well, its a regular front door that sends a tweet every time it is opened. Why would anyone want to know […]
A while ago I started logging temperatures to Pachube via a Nanode. For the most part this works fine, but sometimes something breaks and I might lose a few hours or days worth of data. It might be the Nanode that’s gone down, or Pachube, or (most likely) my Internet connection. So I decided to […]
If you have seen my previous blog entry, you’ll know I have been playing around with an ATtiny85 for an upcoming project (more on that later…). Using an Arduino (or, in my case a Xino from Ciseco) is easy enough, but when a sketch needs lots of tweaking to fine tune it, it means the […]
One of the most appealing things about the Arduino and ATmega328 is their size and simplicity. After working with desktop and server computers for years I just loved how a small little chip could be programmed easily to achieve things that I cannot get a full blown computer to do. I have never been a […]
I’ve been working on a few Arduino projects recently that will hopefully result in varying levels of home automation. The effect so far has been to stick a box here, plug this in there, and dangle a wire from over there, with a general haphazard (with emphasis on the ‘hazard’ bit in some places!) outcome. […]
These days displays are all digital readouts or multifunction LCD screens that give you indications of pretty much everything that’s going on. What seems to be lacking though is a good old fashioned analog dial with a needle pointing at a number. Of course, a dial is normally limited to a single use, but I wanted to […]
As regular followers of the blog will know, I love Arduinos and all the stuff they can do. Those that know me will also know that I don’t love Christmas, particularly the seasonal decoration stuff. So this project was a nice mix of the two! I decided to make myself some Arduino powered Xmas lights […]
This week I… Built a Xino Basic for Atmel as sold on http://shop.ciseco.co.uk This is sold as a kit that anyone with even the most basic of soldering skills can put together. This is just about the cheapest way to get an Arduino compatible board that fits the standard Arduino shields. It also boasts a […]
I’ve been messing about with Arduino derived micro controllers, and have been looking for a way to get them to send simple messages to and from each other. Something simpler than TCP/IP (which requires special hardware and relatively large libraries to run it), but more generic and flexible than just connecting an output pin on […]
A couple of days ago I got a Xino board like this one. Not is this about the cheapest way to get an Ardunio compatible microprocessor, but it has the benefit of a nice little prototype area on board too. So, although it fits standard Arduino shields, many simple projects can be completed on just […]
A decent multimeter is great, but there’s times when you just want to have a quick check to see what signals are high, low or neither. A logic probe is ideal for this, but the cheap ones are about £15+, so I decided to build my own. For less than a quid!
A couple of months ago I bought a Nanode, which required self assembly. Whilst I was building it, I thought it would have been nice to get a photo of each stage of the build. Well, when I bought my second Nanode, I decided not only to photograph it, but to make a little animated […]