Routing High Speed Signals and USB

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Eventually in most hobbyists’ path, one will end up working with high speed signals. These days so many microcontrollers support USB and even ones that don’t can use software USB. Of course using a microcontroller is the answer to every engineering problem, right? Most of us just work with USB 2.0 connected directly to a microcontroller for uploading and serial communications. With advent of the USB Tester, I have learned more about USB than I ever thought I would. Recently I have dived into USB 3. Which compared to 2.0, is so much more sensitive to your PCB routing as I found through trial and error. I have seen many projects on the various blogs and for sale on the …

DP FreePCB Build: XT IDE Disk Controller Part One

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A few times a week Dangerous Prototypes does a give away for a free PCB. They have extra PCBs from prototyping that they offer up for grabs so you can try your hand at it. If you complete the build, then you can get another coupon. A few months ago I redeemed my free PCB coupon for the XT IDE Controller. It took some time to get the PCB and to order all of the needed parts, but finally everything was ready for assembly. I have to say this project was anything but cooperative but I finally finished the build. I decided to use a syringe of solder paste and re-flow it, which can be tricky without a stencil. Hence …

London Underground Circuit Map Radio

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Circuit Map Radio of London Underground A friend sent this to me a few weeks ago before it was popping up all over the web. I finally decided I might as well post it. It is pretty incredible and I wonder how many countless hours were put into it. Source: Yuri Suzuki on DesignBoom

Renesas Future Electronics Daughterboard

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After ordering the Renesas RX62N promotional development board I came across this daughterboard in the comments on Dangerous Prototypes. It can be found here, Future Electronics, for just a penny! The limit is four so I bought two. This way I can have two projects and easily swap them out. What those projects will be? I have no idea. I am hoping some of the IC’s I need to test will have a matching footprint on this board. I could also jumper it to an Arduino and use this board as a breakout. Future Electronics RX62N Daughterboard Remember, this is the bare PCB so you also need the connectors, which I have listed here. 26 Pin Male Header    SBH11-PBPC-D13-ST-BK 26 Pin Female Header    SFH11-PBPC-D13-ST-BK 26 pin headers for …