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Friday, September 11, 2009

buy don't build

Digikey 768-1016-ND


Another great example of buy don't build is this RS232-TTL to USB cable from FTDI.

We use a serial port for debug output, and had this goofy little rs232 level converter board that was usually strung into a serial->usb adapter.

Now we can put a small connector on this cable and have a nice professional looking debug cable and no dangling PCB precariously strung into the laptop.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

SPI ethernet MAC/PHY


How cool is this? With just adding 1 chip select, 4k of code space, and hundreds of bytes of RAM you can be firing off UDP packets.

Olimex makes the nice little ENC28j60 module, and the uIP stack runs with or without an RTOS.

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Monday, April 21, 2008

CEM-1203 buzzer

I think the hardest thing about hardware is finding the part you need in the vast array of parts out there.

This CEM-1203 looks like a serviceable buzzer (one of 932 on digikey) that SparkFun uses on their Simon game.

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

$30 ARM7 mini-kit


TI MSP430 and Silicon Labs have low cost tool-stick style boards, but this is the first ARM7 based one I've seen, and it's only $30!

Digikey linkage

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Monday, December 31, 2007

USB device controller round up

USB, oh why aren't you easier to use?

Here's a short list of glue logic chips to make USB easier to use.
* Elan Digital: http://www.emc.com.tw/twn/pc_usbm_ds.asp
* NETCHIP: http://www.plxtech.com/products/net2000/
* Future: http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/FT8U232AM.htm

Important update on the FTDI chip: no speaky like a mouse. Their knowledgebase isn't linkable but here's the quote:
Our devices do not return the correct USB device descriptors to be USB HID class or USB Mass Storage class. It may be possible to write a filter driver that will make our chip appear to be a HID or mass storage class device, but to do this would involve a lot of work.

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Monday, November 19, 2007

AT91CAP MCU + FPGA goodness

AT91CAP Customizable Microcontrollers from Atmel

This combined MCU and FPGA platform from Atmel looks like it would be great for ASIC prototyping, but it doesn't look like there's a mature set of infrastructure around it yet- boards, RTOS's, etc.

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

good jumpers

Ya know, it's the obvious things that are hard to find these days.

I particularly like these jumpers, though I guess I should refer to the by their technical name: shunt. they have a little bar on the top that you can hook a probe onto, or solder a wire to.


Mouser P/N
649-68786-202LF

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

LM70 & LM35: nice little temp sensors

The LM35 high precision temp sensor looks like a great part, particularly if you get it in the metal case package. It outputs 10mV/deg celcius.

The LM70 has less precision, but is only $2.00 and has an SPI interface.

LM35CAZ on digikey
LM70CILD on digikey

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Wednesday, September 06, 2006

HD44780 parallel LCD displays

Good resources for HD44780 LED displays.

HD44780-based LCD Modules

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Monday, June 19, 2006

Industrial Workbenches

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Soldering Iron and Test Leads Digikey order

Chronicle of a digikey order:

EC1302B-ND SOLDERING IRON 20 WATT W/EPH101
So I was a total lamo and left the soldering iron on over the weekend. Three days into this week and the tip melds to the heating element and the iron won't get hot. Related events? You be the judge.

This iron takes the EPH tips, which are the smallest Weller makes. It makes soldering 0805s a breeze, and would likely be fine for 402s. However you can really feel the 20W power limiation when you're soldering a pad attached to a whopping ground plane.

EPH106-ND TIP REPLACEMENT SCREWDRVR .062"
Hopefully the chisel tip will help with the thru hole soldering of ground pins.

501-1166 SMD GRAB CLIP-BANAN PLUG 24" BLK
501-1167 SMD GRAB CLIP-BANAN PLUG 24" RED
501-1168 SMD GRAB CLIP-BANAN PLUG 36" BLK
501-1169 SMD GRAB CLIP-BANAN PLUG 36" RED

Pomona discontinued their minigrabber leads. Now they only offer these two tined SMD grabbers. Will update with how well they work

501-1043 PATCH CORD STKG BANA PLG 18" BLK
501-1044 PATCH CORD STKG BANA PLG 18" RED

Standard bananna to banna leads.

J340-ND CONN PLUG BANANA SOLDERLESS INSU
J153-ND CONN JACK BANANA INSUL NYLON GRE

Nice for grounding things around the lab. I added a ground jack to my keyboard for no hassle connection of the ESD mat.

60-2-5-ND SOLDER-WICK NO-CLEAN .060" 5'
60-4-5-ND SOLDER-WICK NO-CLEAN .110" 5'

The easy-cheapo brand from Digikey was really crummy last time. I wanted more Techspray #3 solder braid, but digikey does't distribute them. I imagine the name brand SolderWick should work pretty well.

I also wanted to order Fluke TL910 test leads with the real fine points, but digikey doesn't distribute them either. They're on the to buy list for Mouser though.

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