Oscilloscope Doubles As A Serial Terminal

PC-based USB oscilloscopes are fast becoming all the rage. [Matt Sarnoff’s] Terminalscope takes the reverse approach, adapting an oscilloscope into a full serial terminal. You may have seen something similar before in the Dutchtronix/SparkFun O-Clock, but [Matt’s] project goes one further by adding a PS/2 keyboard port for full bidirectional serial communication, and with much sharper display resolution to boot.

The mostly VT-100 compatible Terminalscope is built around two AVR microcontrollers: an ATmega328P runs full-tilt to generate the video signal and handle serial I/O, while an ATtiny45 handles keyboard input to avoid interrupting the ’328’s duties. Rather than vector trace each character, a raster-scanning approach is used: the beam follows a fixed X/Y path (like a television), while modulating the Z input (beam intensity) to form an image. The device can be connected to a PC via serial port or USB-to-TTY adapter, or directly to another microcontroller to debug serial output.

We recently showed an oscilloscope being used as a multichannel digital logic display. The Terminalscope provides yet another use for this essential bench tool and could nicely round out a “poor man’s” testing setup. The schematic and full source code are available for download.

Garage Door… Packet Sniffer

Some type of logger or sniffer exists for almost every form of electronic communication. Your keystrokes, phone conversations, and wireless networks could all be monitored. In this awesome proof-of-concept project, [James] expanded that array to include garage door openers. After receiving a piece of chain mail which stated that criminals have the technology to record any remote code and play it back, [James] wondered if he could build such a device that would work on at least his opener model. Continue reading “Garage Door… Packet Sniffer”

Stop Light For HotWheels

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[Paul] wrote in to show us this little project he did for his kids. His children love playing with their toy cars. In an effort to give them even more fun while playing, [Paul] built a stop light for them. He’s using an ATtiny13 to run them and has the source code available on his site. Not only did the kids get a new toy, he got an excuse to go build something in his workshop.

Wireless RGB Light Bulb

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Want to make the above yourself? [Sprite_tm] did a thorough job documenting the build step by step (complete with pics, schematics, graphs, and links to the parts used). In summary, [Sprite_tm] busted open an Ikea CFL bulb to reuse the housing. Inside, he installed a scavenged power supply, ATtiny44, RGB LED module, and a radio receiver. A remote control allows [Sprite_tm] to change the lighting of his room to nearly any color. The cost of the project is a little under $30. The price tag isn’t so steep when one considers the insanely long lifetime of LEDs.

Etching Agitator

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDA16dfqgeg]

It might be a little bit of overkill, but this etching container agitator sure looks convenient. There’s not much to it technically, a small circuit with an ATtiny45. For those beginning with this stuff, he has written a pretty good tutorial on working with basic microcontrollers. If you are more interested in a tutorial on etching, we did a  guide on how to etch a single sided PCB.

AVR ISP Programming Via Arduino

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We found this Arduino AVR ISP programmer particularly interesting. AVR microcontrollers can utilize an interface called In-System-Programming. ISP allows the chip to be programmed or reprogrammed while in an actual circuit via a pin header. Atmel’s solution is the AVR ISP MKII programing tool. The MKII can also be reprogrammed just as an AVR. The difference here is that most people are not likely to modify the MKII to be used as anything but a programmer. On the other hand if you already have the Arduino, fetch the avr.isp.03 firmware and AVRdude. Then program a device, for example an ATtiny13 using the Ardunio as the programmer. All the project information is provided under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. On a related note we covered a Microcontroller cheat sheet which covers AVR devices and ISP pinouts.

World Smallest TV-B-Gone

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The TV-B-Gone has proven to be a dangerous and versatile gadget. At Interactive Matter, they created an even smaller version with more sneaking potential. Called the µTVBG, it packs an entire TV-B-Gone in a 1.4 x 2.5 cm footprint and even has room for a programming header. He found some high-powered surface-mount IR LEDs that would match the original TV-B-Gone’s power. To drive the board, they used a CR1220 button battery on the bottom of the board. The whole thing is smaller than your thumb and should be easier to hide next time you wreak havoc.