Have you ever wanted to debug your microcontroller over USB-C?
(I’m talking JTAG/SWD, not just USB!) If you already have a USB-C connector, there’s no need to have an additional connector to program! (or Tag-Connect pads, which are super nice, but take up additional space) I’ll explain how I did it below.
NOTE: Much of this was originally a few Twitter threads back in 2022. I’m adding a lot of the original content from then, but with many updates, fixes, updated designs, and examples.
This was originally a Twitter thread back in March, 2020. After reading Molly White’spost about POSSE(Post (on) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere), I’ve decided to start posting everything here and just linking from other sites. I changed a few things so it makes sense as a blog post, but the content is practically the same.
Background
A few years ago, I found my dad’s college Digital Systems project notes. The task was to build a clock with 7400 series logic. I decided to try and re-create the project with components we bought together many years ago. You can find quality scan of dad’s project notes on github.
Ever wonder if your USB C cable is USB2 or USB3? Do you have some charge-only cables hiding in a box just waiting for the right moment to spoil your project plans?!
Fear no more!
I’ve made a simple board to test most of the things!
(This post is derived from my original twitter thread about it.)
It’s been over a year since I wrote about my weather station project. A lot of things have happened since, so I figured I would post an update.
Soon after returning from Mexico, I started thinking of the next version of the board. I didn’t want to continue using the XBee radios, so I decided to try out bluetooth again… In order to continue having a working weather station I kept the XBee radio and added Bluetooth support by switching to an NRF52811 microcontroller, which has the new LE coded PHY for Bluetooth, which, in theory, gives you much longer range. Using version 2 of the board, I was able to get Bluetooth working and brought up the new NRF52
I’m not sure exactly when I became interested in building a weather station. It was at least year or two ago… I remember seeing the Project Curacao 2 post on the SwitchDoc Labs page and thinking it would be fun to build something like it, but much more integrated. I’ve also never worked on “outdoor” projects and want to learn more about weatherproofing, solar charging, etc… (What I really want to do eventually, is build an ultrasonic anemometer, but I told myself I won’t start down that rabbit hole until I have a fully working weather station.)
Nui is an IR controlled volume controller for analog audio. It sits between your audio source and speakers and can amplify or reduce the volume using IR commands (and eventually BLE).
Why do I need this?
It all started because I have my trusty Logitech Z-2300 speakers and subwoofer I purchased back around 2004/5. They still work great, but instead of being on my computer, they are used for my TV. Unfortunately, the TV’s line out doesn’t honor the TV’s volume and is always outputting at max volume. Sure, I can get up and change the volume on the speakers themselves, but wouldn’t it be more convenient to do it with the TV remote?!
As you might, or might not have, heard, I left my last job in May. It wasn’t an easy choice., but after thinking about it for a very long time, I realized I wasn’t happy where I was and needed a break. When I had to explain my “employment status” to people, I decided that the term self-funded sabbatical was the most appropriate. Looking back almost 5 months later, It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.
A few years ago, I bought a couple of these analog gauges(galvanometers) at the electronics flea market. Like many other things I buy, they ended up in a box stored away in the closet… Not too long ago, stumbled onto Alan Wolke’s (@AlanAtTek) video about panel meters
After watching Alan’s video, I decided to pull the gauges out and see if I could make them do something useful. The first thing I looked for after taking them out was the range. The small text on the bottom left says FS=1-0-1 mA DC. I verified this by plugging it into my DC power supply like Alan suggested with a 10kOhm resistor and going from 0-10V. Unfortunately, my power supply doesn’t go negative, so I had to reconnect the meter by switching the two wires to test the negative region.
What is this? These are instructions for getting the Xilinx tools up and running on OSX to work with the Embedded Micro Mojo v3 FPGA development board.
Why am I doing this? I bought the Mojo v3 development board last year to start playing with FPGA’s but haven’t gotten around to using it. I figured now is as good a time as any to start…
Why not just dual boot into Windows or Ubuntu? I don’t really have a Windows machine anymore, and why dual boot when I can just use a virtual machine?! I’ve been playing with Vagrant and Ansible at work, so I figured I’d try them out here. My goal is to automate most of the annoying things to get a Xilinx development board working on a VM so that you don’t have to. I was able to get almost everything automated, except for the Xilinx ISE installation, since it requires some user interaction :-/
This year’s work holiday party was Back to the Future themed. I didn’t have any good costume ideas, so with a week to go, I decided to build a portable flux capacitor to bring instead.
I bought some clear tubing at the hardware store and cut the LED strips to size. I then used a Teensy LC that I got at the Hackaday Superconference with the FastLED library to start playing with the LEDs.
