One tiny megaphone
You often hear that to work with graphic displays on the Arduino platform you need to use a Mega or other high-performance board. I got curious about how much you can actually get done on an a measly Uno and similar boards based on the classic ATmega328P. You can find the ongoing results on my wiki.
The story so far: 128×64 and smaller monochrome displays are usable. The smallest TFT displays much less so.
About a week ago, I posted on G+ my concerns regarding the impact that Microchip’s purchase of Atmel might have for the Arduino ecosystem. Turns out I’m not alone, judging from the comments in the post from the Arduino folks that followed the same day.
Communities build incredible product loyalty, and open source (in addition to its other benefits) is an incredibly easy way to build community. Here’s hoping that Microchip realizes this and leaves a good formula alone.
The Arduino team have just released a new 32-bit board that targets IoT. Read about it here.
So there I was scratching an itch when I realized the scratch would make for a good Arduino library. AsyncTimer lets you create a timer that does something when you start it (or nothing if you prefer), then waits a predetermined time before doing something else. While it’s waiting, it doesn’t lock up your Arudino the way the delay() function does—it just schedules the time-out action to take place some time in the future.
If you’re not the RTFM type, you can just get what you need from the GitHub repository.
If you’ve opted to use a general-purpose IDE for Arduino development, perhaps in conjunction with a Makefile, it’s helpful to know what directories to point your IDE toward to get decent code completion.
To that end, I’ve added a list of the ones I know about to my wiki.
The folks at Arduino.cc are set to release what appears to be the Arduino Uno usurper. The Arduino/Genuino 101, in addition to being heaps faster, also has built-in Bluetooth LE and a 6-axis accelerometer. Co-developed with Intel, the board uses their Intel® Curie™ Compute Module. While not yet released, scuttlebutt says it’ll cost about the same as the Uno.
I’ve just published Volume-AlpsRK16814MG, an open source hardware design that integrates a high-quality Alps motorized quad potentiometer with an H bridge. The design lets you control the motor’s direction using two logic-level signals: VOL_UP and VOL_DOWN. The fact that it’s a quad pot means you can use it to control regular stereo volume by ignoring one of the dual gangs or a differential stereo signal.
Here’s the schematic* to give you an idea what it’s doing. Gerbers and PCBs are available at OSH Park.
*Subject to change!
Congratulating the core and the community for 10 years of creativity-enabling open source wonderfulness.
It’s still hovering around freezing, so I guess it’s time for another Arduino.
I got curious about how small I could make yesterday’s Arduino Pro Mini using through hole parts if I got rid of everything optional. And here’s the answer.
I got the board down to the width of the original Arduino Pro Mini: 0.6″. I wasn’t able to shrink the length any; it’s still 1.8″. It doesn’t have an on-board power supply, there are no LEDs, and no optional pullups for I2C/Wire. Totally minimal, baby. You can see for yourself in the schematic.*
As with yesterday’s offering, a PCB is available through OSH Park.
*Subject to change!
Because winters are sucky and the weather outside still not at all inviting, I decided yesterday to see how close you could get to making an Arduino Pro Mini with through-hole parts. The answer is about this close.
The main differences are the final product measures 1.1″ x 1.8″ rather than 0.7″ x 1.3″, two extra analog inputs available on the SMD version of the ATMEGA328P are missing, and the low-power configuration is a build-time option. Here’s the schematic* as it stands today.
If you’re feeling brave enough to build this thing, PCBs are available through OSH Park.
*Subject to change!