Microchip Puts Up Two $1000 Prizes For USB And TCP/IP Stacks!

September 15, 2011 by Jack Buffington 37 Comments

microchip_call_for_open_source

A couple of weeks ago we put up a post titled Addressing Microchip’s open source problem where we talked about some of their shortcomings as far as open source code goes, specifically the TCP/IP stack and the USB stack. The comments were predictably fairly negative. The interesting part here is that Microchip actually listened. If you read through all of the comments, you will get a bit of an inside look at what is going on internally at Microchip. At the very end, [Marc] from Microchip left a couple of comments outlining a pair of prizes for independently ported stacks for TCP/IP and USB. Microchip can’t fully open the ones that they have because of legal reasons so they need the help of the development community and they are putting up $1000 for each one to prove that they are serious. If you follow this link you will arrive at a page outlining the rules for the contest.

The gauntlet has been dropped! Do you have chops to pull this off and earn yourself a cool $1000?

Video – Eagle CAD’s CAM Processor

September 14, 2011 by Jack Buffington 2 Comments

Here is the next installment in our series of Eagle CAD videos. In this video we skip ahead a bit and show off the CAM processor that you use to create the files necessary to have your circuit boards be manufactured. After watching this video, you will know how create a new CAM program, load a circuit board into the CAM processor, tell it where to save your files, and actually use it to create the files.

We’re skipping ahead today because of a screw up on our part. We meant to show the layout portion of the program today but edited the wrong video… We’ll show layout next week. After that, we will show the completed circuit board and solder the parts onto it.

If you are itching for some Eagle CAD layout info, you may be interested in some supplementary videos that we have uploaded to our Youtube channel. In those videos, we show how to use the most important features in the layout portion of the Eagle CAD.

Have you missed the previous videos? Here are some links to them:

Schematic and the beginning of a custom part: [click here]
More custom part stuff: [click here]

Video is after the break:
Continue reading “Video – Eagle CAD’s CAM Processor” →

Announcing Our Next Theme: ATtiny Hacks

September 12, 2011 by Jack Buffington 34 Comments

ATtiny Hacks Theme Banner

It is time once again to announce a new theme. This time around, we have chosen to highlight projects built around the ATtiny series of processors. These are 6 to 32 pin AVR processors that run up to 16 MHz and have anywhere from 512 Bytes of flash with 32 Bytes of RAM to 16K of Flash with 512 bytes of RAM. We’re guessing that this will be a pretty popular theme since so many people are using Atmel processors these days. If you have a project that you would like to see on Hackaday that is using an ATtiny processor, please hit us up on our tip line. If we like it, we may we choose to feature it in one of our daily themed hacks.

To kick off this theme, here is a nice write up about a stepper motor driver based around the ATtiny13. This project reads the analog value on pin B4 and adjusts the speed of the stepper motor. It is well documented and includes source code.

Weekly Roundup 9/10/11

September 10, 2011 by Jack Buffington No comments

In case you missed them, here are the most popular posts from the previous week.

Our most popular post was one of our Engine Hacks about a remote control airplane built by [Bruce Simpson] that has a pulse jet attached to it. It’s noisy and fast! Want to wake up the whole neighborhood, fly one of these around early in the morning.

Next up is this post about an unique window display that [Alex] built which draws onto the glass using a pair of stepper motors and a felt tipped pen. He is using processing and an arduino to control the motors. The end effect is that this device can draw gray scale images.

After that is another one of our Engine Hack posts where we show a lawn mower that has been converted to run on steam. This one is most definitely a hack and seems somewhat dangerous to boot.

This post shows off a working PIP-Boy 3000 created by [MyMagicPudding]. If you are a fan of Fallout, this is one to check out.

Finally, this post shows off a very large 3D printer that can print items as large as 15.8″ x 15.8″ x 12.7″. This is a custom built device and has a very nice writeup showing how it is put together.

Engine Hacks – Tesla Turbines

September 9, 2011 by Jack Buffington 20 Comments

Engine Hacks Theme banner

You probably weren’t expecting a project based on [Nikola Tesla’s] work to show up during the Engine Hacks theme. Most people know of him because of his pioneering work with high voltage equipment. Never the less, [Tesla] designed a device that later became known as the Tesla Turbine. Tesla turbines are made out of a series of thin disks attached to a central rotor. Air or steam is injected into the closed turbine housing at the outer edge of the disks. It swirls around through the turbine blades and eventually exits near the rotor. This type of turbine can achieve very high rotational speeds but doesn’t have a lot of torque, which limits their usefulness. Check out this instructable that shows you how to build your own Tesla turbine out of hard drive platters.

We have featured a Tesla turbine in the past on Hackaday. In this previous post, [Rick] shows us how to carve a pumpkin with a skill saw blade that is powered by one of these turbines.

Video: Learning Eagle CAD Part 2

September 7, 2011 by Jack Buffington 7 Comments

This week we are continuing on with our multi-part series where [Jack] shows you how to use Eagle CAD. This video continues where last week’s video left off by showing how to create a custom part and how to use the schematic editor. If you haven’t seen last week’s video, you can find it here. Also, check out our youtube channel where we have uploaded several supplementary videos that go into further detail about many of the tools that are commonly used in the schematic editor. After watching these videos, you should have all of the knowledge that you need to start designing the schematic portion of a circuit board.

This is a fairly long video, clocking in at about 25 minutes, so be prepared to dedicate a chunk of time.

Weekly Roundup 09/03/11

September 3, 2011 by Jack Buffington No comments

In case you missed them the first time, here are our most popular posts from this past week.

Our most popular post was about a ‘flashlight’ build. We are using the word flashlight loosely since this monster can draw up to 500 Watts!

Our next most popular post was about another [Jörg Sprave] project where he has built a very large slingshot that can shoot shot puts. He then proceeds to destroy a car with it.

This post describes an open-source Segway. It is built around an ATmega644 has a nice professional look to it.

If you live out in the country and have a problem with rats, this post could be for you. In this post, we look at [Snypercat’s] build where she has mounted a camcorder onto the scope for her pellet gun and also attached an infrared light source so that she can snipe rats at night.

Finally, we have a post about a custom V-12 Kawaskai Voyager. If you are looking for a great way to draw attention at your next motorcycle rally, this post might give you some inspiration.