February 2012
12 posts
Tutorial: Analog input for multiple buttons – Part...
This is chapter forty-six of a series originally titled “Getting Started/Moving Forward with Arduino!” by John Boxall – A tutorial on the Arduino universe. The first chapter is here, the complete series is detailed here. Welcome back fellow arduidans! A while back I described how to read multiple buttons using only one analog input pin. However we could only read one button at a time. In this...
Tutorial: Analog input for multiple buttons – Part...
This is chapter forty-six of a series originally titled “Getting Started/Moving Forward with Arduino!” by John Boxall – A tutorial on the Arduino universe. The first chapter is here, the complete series is detailed here. Welcome back fellow arduidans! A while back I described how to read multiple buttons using only one analog input pin. However we could only read one button at a time. In this...
Initial review: Hakko FX-888 Soldering Station
Introduction During many years of orbiting around the world of electronics and related fields, soldering was not really one of my strong points. After moving more seriously into this field it occurred to me that my choice of soldering weapons played a part in the end results. So a few days ago I pulled the trigger and ordered my first “real” station – the Hakko FX-888. Opening… After waving...
Project: Clock Two – Single digit clock
Introduction Time for another instalment in my irregular series of clock projects. (Or should that be “Time for another instalment in the series of irregular clock projects”?) In contrast with the extreme “blinkiness” of Clock One, in this article we describe how to build this single-digit digital clock: Once again the electronics of the clock will be based from an Arduino-compatible board...
Is this the world’s smallest Arduino-compatible...
Introducing the Freetronics LeoStick – one very small Arduino Leonardo-compatible board, in the format of a typical USB memory stick – the board for integration into smaller projects, on-the-go fun when travelling, or minimalism-enthusiasts: Whether or not the LeoStick is the world’s smallest Arduino-compatible board – it’s pretty darn tiny – for example: Note that the length includes the...
Experimenting with Surface-Mount Component...
Now and again I have looked at SMT (surface-mount technology) components and thought to myself “I should try that one day”. But not wanting to fork out for a toaster oven and a bunch of special tools I did it on the cheap – so in this article you can follow along and see the results. Recently I ordered some ElecFreaks SOIC Arduino Mega-style protoshields which apart from being a normal...
February 2012 Competition
It’s that time of the month again so we are running another competition. This month we have two prizes. Let’s check those out then follow up with the rules of entry. Prize One is a brand new Freetronics EtherMega board – the mother of all Arduino-compatible boards. As reviewed recently, the EtherMegacombines the power and versatility of the Arduino Mega2560, a microSD card shield, a full Ethernet...
Review - Freetronics EtherMega
In this review we take a look at what is possibly the most fully-featured Arduino compatible board on the market today - the Freetronics EtherMega. This board combines the functionality of an Arduino Mega2560, a microSD card shield, and an Ethernet shield that supports power over Ethernet with optional 802.3af standard. So instead of having these three mashed together at a great expense: ...
Review - Freetronics EtherMega
In this review we take a look at what is possibly the most fully-featured Arduino compatible board on the market today - the Freetronics EtherMega. This board combines the functionality of an Arduino Mega2560, a microSD card shield, and an Ethernet shield that supports power over Ethernet with optional 802.3af standard. So instead of having these three mashed together at a great expense: ...
Results – January 2012 Competition
Hello Readers The January 2012 competition has now closed. For the curious, the questions and answers were: Q – What does the acronym PWM mean? A – Pulse-width modulation Q – How many LEDs are contained in the Freetronics DMD? A – 512 Q – How many digital I/O pins on an Arduino Mega2560? A – 54 Q – What type of processor core does the PIC32 (from the Uno32 review) use? A – MIPS (or to be more...
January 2012
8 posts
Project: Clock One
Introduction For some strange reason I have a fascination with various types of electronic clocks (which explains this article). Therefore this project will be the start of an irregular series of clock projects whose goal will be easy to follow and produce interesting results. Our “Clock One” will use a Freetronics Dot Matrix Display board as reviewed previously. Here is an example of an...