Month: May 2019

A Datasheet Manifesto For The 21st Century

May 8, 2019 by 25 Comments

Selecting electronic components can be a frustrating process, one of trawling through the websites of distributors such as DigiKey, Mouser, or RS, and then poring over manufacturer data sheets. These documents produced as detailed guides to the technical specifications of a device contain enough to give an engineer everything they need to incorporate it into their designs.

Unfortunately many datasheets fall short of the ideal, and have instead become marketing documents designed to “win the socket”. This is a problem that vexes Boldport’s [Saar Drimer], and he has written a personal manifesto outlining his vision to make the world of datasheets a better place.

It’s a common-sense designer’s wishlist, and it’s one we could completely get behind. Chief among his desires are web-readable datasheets as well as the ubiquitous PDFs, with full data in human and machine readable forms instead of tiny printed graphs and tables. He also makes a plea for better UX testing to combat the scourge of the inaccurate pad layout, to which we’d add providing footprints ready-made for all popular CAD packages. These and the rest of his manifesto would be a game-changer, and wouldn’t displace the existing paper or PDF sheet for those who still use them. Whether or not the manufacturers will take heed is anyone’s guess, but to have such an ideal laid out is a start.

If you’re not familiar with [Saar]’s work, you’re in for a treat. Boldport produce some of the most beautiful artistic PCBs, and we’ve featured them before more than once.

Thanks to our colleague [Ted Yapo] for the header image.

This Atomic Pi Eats Other Pis For Lunch

May 8, 2019 by 102 Comments

The world is full of single board computers that want a slice of the Raspberry Pi action. Most of them are terrible. But fools and their money, yadda yadda, and there’s a new sucker born every minute. The latest contender to the Raspberry Pi is the Atomic Pi. It’s an x86-based single board computer that costs $35, shipped to your door. Is it worth it? Is it even in the same market as a Raspberry Pi? Or is it just a small budget computer without a box? I have no idea.

With that said, the Atomic Pi comes with an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 with Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail). There is 2 GB of DDR3L-16000, 16 GB of eMMC, and an SD slot for storage. Connectivity is a full HDMI port (primary audio out), USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, a Mediatec RT5572 used for WiFi, a Qualcomm CSR8510 for Bluetooth 4.0, a “Legitimate licensed BIOS”, and a real-time clock. Overall, you’re looking at a top-of-the-line tablet computer from four years ago. One that would run Windows.

To use all the features of the Atomic Pi, you will need to buy a $15 breakout board to supply power to the board, and use a large industrial power supply, the kind you would normally find bolted to a RepRap or a homemade CNC machine. You will need to supply both 5 V and 12 V to the board if you would like to use the Class D audio amplifier, but if you only want to use audio over HDMI, supplying only 5 V will do. If you want to boot this board, it looks like you’ll need to bring a USB/TTL cable to make everything work. This may be a tough sell to a crowd with zero experience booting a bare Linux system. That said, it runs Nintendo 64 emulators well, which is the only reason people buy Raspberry Pis anyway.

Is the Atomic Pi the single board computer you need? I don’t know. But we’ve got an Atomic Pi on order, and we’re ready to go with a full review when it show up.

Arduino’s Pluggable Discovery Programs With Any Protocol

May 8, 2019 by 9 Comments

The first Arduino was serial, and over the decade and a half, this has been the default way to upload code to an Arduino board. In 2008, support for in-circuit programmers was added, and later port detection was added. The latest version of the Arduino IDE adds something new: pluggable discovery. Now any protocol is supported by the Arduino IDE.

This feature is the brainchild of [Paul Stoffregen], creator of the Teensy. If you’ve ever used a Teensy, you’ll remember the Teensyduino application used to upload code to the board. The Teensy uses HID protocol instead of serial for uploading. After working to improve the integration between the Teensy and Arduino IDE, [Paul] stated extending the DiscoveryManager. After some discussion with the Arduino developers, this feature was then added to Arduino 1.8.9, released a month or so ago.

There are some issues with Pluggable Discovery, most importantly that it doesn’t yet exist in the Arduino Command Line Interface (yeah, that exists too). If you’re looking to contribute to Open Source, that would be a nice project to pick up.

With the right JSON, and configuration, it is now theoretically possible to extend the Arduino IDE to any sort of protocol. This means (again, theoretically), it’s possible to update the firmware in your DIY MIDI synth over SysEx message, or a parallel port, maybe. Someone is going to upload to an Arduino board over PCIe, eventually.

Edge Lit Pendant, Is, Well… Lit

May 7, 2019 by 3 Comments

Acrylic is a great material. It’s not cheap, but it comes in a wide variety of colours and styles and can be used to make some very attractive projects. [Geek Mom Projects] is a big fan, and whipped up some fun pendants for a high school Maker Faire.

[Geek Mom] has long been a fan of edge-lighting, as it’s a great way to make beautiful glowy projects out of acrylic. In this case a fluorescent acrylic is used with white LEDs to generate an eerie green glow, though it’s also noted that the project can be done with clear acrylic and color-shifting LEDs instead for an equally cool look. If you’re filming a low-budget sci-fi film, this could be just what you need.

The pendants made a great project for young makers to learn about LEDs, electronics, and technologies such as lasercutting that were used to produce the parts. With copper tape used instead of soldering and a CR2032 battery used to eliminate the need for a current limiting resistor, it’s a very accessible project that most teens were able to complete without assistance.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen edge-lit pendants, either. Alternatively, if you need your acrylic bent, there’s a tool for that, too.

Arduino Leonardo Gets A Lockable Bootloader

May 7, 2019 by 19 Comments

Security is something that’s far too often overlooked in embedded devices. One of the main risks is that if the device doesn’t verify the authenticity of incoming firmware updates. [Walter Schreppers] was working on a USB password storage device, so security was paramount. Thus, it was necessary to develop a secure bootloader.

[Walter]’s device was based upon the Arduino Leonardo. Starting with the Caterina bootloader, modifications were made to enable the device to be locked and unlocked for programming. This can be done in a variety of ways, depending on how things are setup. Unlocking can be by using a secret serial string, an onboard jumper, and [Walter] even suspects a SHA1 challenge/response could be used if you were so inclined.

It’s never too soon to start thinking about security in your projects. After all, we must stave off the cyberpunk future in which leather-clad youths flick all your lights on and off before burning your house down in the night by overclocking the water heater. Naturally, we’ve got a primer to get you going in the right direction. Happy hacking!

The Sampler That Fits In Your Pocket

May 7, 2019 by 5 Comments

The future of the music instrument industry lies in synthesizers, and nowhere is this more apparent than the suite of tiny, pocket-sized synths more than capable of making bleeps and bloops. You’ve got tiny Korgs and Pocket Operators, and the time is ripe for people to wake up to tiny, pocket-sized synths.

The latest in a wide, diverse range of pocketable synthesizers is the Bitty. It’s a pocket-sized drum machine that’s the closest we’ve seen to a pocketable MPC to date. It’s a Kickstarter project that’s already completely funded only a day into the campaign.

The core of the Bitty is built around the Arduino, and for good reason. The last few years have seen some incredible advances in Arduino audio libraries, and this is no exception. The Bitty is built around the Mozzi library that gives it actual oscillators and ready-made wavetables. The Bitty comes with ‘software packs’ that include the Theremin Bitty, Techno Bitty, Basement Bitty, Trap Bitty, Lofi Bitty Bitty, and Beach Bitty. All of these are different sounds and samples, turning this tiny device into an all-in-one sampling solution. Seriously: look at how many Pocket Operators there are, how much they sell for, and realize this is a device that can download new samples and sounds. There’s a market here.

The Arduino-compatible Bitty is available on Kickstarter right now, with the base reward starting at under $100, with delivery in February, 2020. You can check out the video demo below.

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