Each Friday, Sparkfun uploads a new video showcasing some of their recent products. One of June 28th’s new products was an ISP adapter that uses Pogo pins. This is great for programming multiple boards or if you just want to load the boot loader without soldering headers. I couldn’t pass it up as I program many boards without soldering headers. By the following week I had the kit in hands, ready to solder up! This kit is great. It’s easy to solder together by following the SFE assembly video. Here are a couple of pictures of me assembling. You can pick one up here: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11591, at a great price. It’s definitely worth it!
Another Toaster Reflow Oven Part One
As Friedcircuits grows, the need to produce more at once increases. Before making the OLED backpacks I was hand soldering each product. During the development and fundraiser stages, I figured it would be a good idea to look into a better way to manufacture them. After researching and talking to a few people, I decided to go with a custom-built reflow oven. Well, really, it’s a converted toaster oven, just modified to suit my needs. I used resources from across the Web that I’d like to bring together in one post as well as my experience. Reflow Oven Parts Here is a list of my parts for my build: Arduino Shield PID Controller from RocketScream Arduino Uno R3 from Sparkfun …
Maker Faire 2013
Join @friedcircuits on Twitter for live Maker Faire coverage! https://www.twitter.com/friedcircuits If you’re attending this year’s Faire, tweet us if you’d like to meet-up!
LED Matrix Link, Wedding, Twitter, and WiFly
I just wanted to make a quick post about the LED Matrix Display project. This past week I received a WiFly Shield from Sparkfun.com. This will allow more flexibility at the wedding as I am not sure how I am going to setup Internet access. The most difficult part of the WiFly shield was getting a working library to compile on the Arduino Due as it is a new microcontroller and the Arduino IDE 1.5.2 is still in beta. LED Matrix Links, Arduino Due and SFE WiFly Shield After trying the Sparkfun library and not being able to compile, I commented on someone with the same issue. After talking back and forth he had a forked library that ended up working. The great people …
BeagleBone Black packs 1GHz ARM CPU, 512MB RAM for just $45
Just got an email this morning from Newark that you can -order the BeagleBone Black. Great new price and improved hardware. By the time I checked it said 0 available, but it looks like you can still checkout. Hopefully I can get one this summer. Here is the info posted by Engadget: The BeagleBone might be just the piece of hardware for the DIY set itching to boot Linux in 10 seconds, but the freshly unveiled BeagleBone Black packs an even greater punch — and the same speedy start times — at just half the price of its predecessor. The $45 credit card-sized package totes a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 3D graphics accelerator, a pair of PRU 32-bit RISC CPUs, 2GB of built-in storage …
LED Matrix Master Fundraiser on Tindie
LED Matrix Master You can support the fundraiser here: https://tindie.com/products/FriedCircuits/led-matrix-master/ Over the next two weeks we will be running a fundraiser to “kick start” the LED Matrix Master. If successful, the PCBs will be ordered and it should be about 3-4 weeks to start shipping. Thanks for your support. Each fundraiser you support helps build FriedCircuits and fuels development of new products. We have a few more designs in the works including entry into the home automation field. If there are any ideas you would like to see, feel free to contact us. The LED Matrix Master is a microcontroller (Arduino compatible Atmega328p) in the same form factor as the LED Matrix Link. After programming you can easily mate it with …
LED Matrix, Wedding and Twitter – Updated
The main driving force to develop the LED Matrix Link was to display messages at my wedding in May. The idea was to have guests be able to send messages to it during the reception. I decided to use Twitter since most people use it and there are plenty of code examples to get me started. Good thing I have a Ethernet shield I got on clearance at Radio Shack, perfect project to put it to use. I am not sure this will be the final design since I have to figure out the best way to get Internet at the reception. Scrolling text from Twitter on Arduino MegaEthernet Shield When I started writing the code I only had two LED Matrix Links to play …
LED Matrix Link: Last day of fundraiser
Today is the last day to get in on the LED Matrix Link. You can get yours on Tindie: https://www.tindie.com/shops/FriedCircuits/led-matrix-link/ If you are unable to get one today, they will be in stock in about 2-3 weeks. After the fundraiser you can sign up to be notified on the Tindie product page.
MAX7219 and eBay fakes
I have been receiving feedback that I can use eBay suppliers to lower my price on the MAX7219. I had previously considered that option, but after some research I have found that a lot of people are receiving counterfeits on eBay. While some counterfeits may work, their reliability is questionable and that would make my product unreliable. I do not believe that it is “good business” to support businesses and companies which pirate technology and sell it as if it were legitimate. I sincerely hope everyone understands why I am skeptical about using an unknown supplier for parts. Here is a good forum post about coming across the fake variety: http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?22481-Real-or-fake The more units I can sell initially will increase my …
LED Matrix Link on Tindie
The LED Matrix Link is now on Tindie. You can find it here: https://www.tindie.com/shops/FriedCircuits/led-matrix-link/