Development Board for Wearable WS2812 LEDs

This board is designed to allow quick prototyping of wearable LED projects. It features an array of 24 WS-2812 RGB LEDs that are controlled by a single line from a microcontroller. Multiple boards may be daisychained together for larger arrays. When you are done prototyping your project, simply snap out the LEDs from the carrier board and sew them into fabric using conductive thread. Each WS2812 LED is a 5050 SMD RGB LED with an integrated WS-2811 controller. Communication speed is fixed at 800KHz. ...

January 2, 2014 · 1 min · Alastair D'Silva

Starter Schematics

One thing we find ourselves doing time and time again is dropping a microcontroller into a schematic, then wiring up a crystal, serial port, power filtering, etc. To save ourselves (and you!) time, We’re saving schematics with the initial parts already hooked up. To get your project going, grab one of the schematics and delete the parts you don’t need for your project. Download You can grab the latest development schematics from out GIT repository: ...

December 31, 2013 · 1 min · Alastair D'Silva

MHVBoard

The MHVBoard is a low cost Arduino clone, based off the Metaboard. It offers a TTL serial port, USB programming, ICSP, breadboard compatible headers and hardware already set up for software USB via V-USB. While the original Metaboard did not choose to issue a license, our revisions are licensed under TAPR Noncommercial Hardware License. Getting one You can pre-order an MHVBoard R7 from the MHVBoard Pozible project page. Features Supports native USB direct to the microcontroller via V-USB TTL level serial port Programming via USB Onboard prototyping area for additional hardware Shield compatible - Revision 4+ only Plugs into double-width breadboards (Revision 1-3), and single width breadboards (Revision 4+) Atmega328P microcontroller with 30kB flash, 2kB RAM, 1023Bytes EEPROM available ICSP header to update the bootloader All through-hole construction (except for a voltage regulator with large easy to solder legs) for easy hand assembly Supports Arduino and Flame runtimes, as well as raw AVR-GCC 20MHz clock - your code runs faster than the Arduino boards Pins labelled both with Arduino pin numbers and port/pin numbers Automatic detection of power source - USB or external power 4 mounting holes for extra stability AREF decoupled for improved ADC accuracy Onboard LED can be disabled to reduce loading on the line Up to 1A can be drawn from the 3.3V line, and 1.5A from the 5V line (when using an external power supply) Differences to the Arduino series Native USB interface for uploading (USBasp), no serial ports involved Serial port brought out on a TTL Header Arduino pins 2 and 4 are used for USB communication. If you connect additional hardware to these pins, your program should not use the USB port. This hardware should also be disconnected before connecting to your computer Arduino pins 0 and 1 are normally used for the Serial port, if your program does not use the Serial port (since USB is available), these pins are available for use Breadboard compatible pin headers (no shields) - Revision 1-3 Arduino shield and breadboard compatible headers - Revision 4+ 20MHz clock vs 16MHz on the Arduino Due to the additional filtering on AREF, it takes time for AREF to stabilize after a different reference voltage has been selected. The first reading after the reference has changed should be discarded. 3.3V current up to 1A (vs 50mA), and 5V current up to 1.5A (with a suitable heatsink on the 7805 regulator) Instructions R7 Assembly R2 Assembly Getting Started in the Arduino Environment Troubleshooting Useful Information Credits Big thanks go out to the many open-source and commercial projects that made this project happen. ...

December 27, 2013 · 3 min · Alastair D'Silva

Flame Runtime

About Having been frustrated with many of the inefficiencies of the Arduino core libraries, we have built an alternate set with performance and size in mind. Alastair has given a talk at the Canberra Linux User Group about this library - the slides can be viewed on SlideShare. Much of the efficiency gains comes from addressing some of the key design deficiencies of the Arduino runtime - we do not store pin/port information in tables in flash, needlessly preallocate objects nor dictate that excessively large buffers must be used. Instead, control of these are handed over to the developer at compile time. ...

December 26, 2013 · 4 min · Alastair D'Silva

AVR Tools

We have built our own set of tools in a WinAVR-like layout suitable for use as a replacement. Please note that no guarantees as to fitness or suitability are being made. In particular, bleeding-edge releases of GCC have not been tested as extensively as GCC 4.4.x, so use these builds at your own risk. For those building with AVR-Eclipse, a patch that teaches it about the new environment is available on the AVR Eclipse feature request tracker. To make life easier, I have a replacement jar available. Just copy it to eclipse/plugins after installing AVR-Eclipse. ...

December 25, 2013 · 2 min · Alastair D'Silva