Author Archives: steve

Message to Eaton: Help would be appreciated!

Posted on February 27, 2012 by steve

Looking over my Google Analytics pages I’m seeing a few hits each week that appear to be coming from Eaton corporate networks. Welcome! FYI, I’ve been receiving quite a few messages from people who really like their HHB hardware. Most … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | Tagged | 1 Comment

Hacking Eaton HomeHeartbeat Part 6: Autopsy

Posted on February 26, 2012 by steve

Well, the good news is that I got an entire day to dissect the HHB base station, and now have a much more thorough understanding of the inner workings of the device. The bad news is that I managed to … Continue reading →

Posted in ZigBee | Tagged | 3 Comments

New MSP430 Tutorials

Posted on February 6, 2012 by steve

Gustavo Litovski has posted an updated version of his MSP430 tutorial on his site This is a nice concise introduction to the platform. Code examples use IAR, but should be fairly portable to other compilers. Another complete set of tutorials … Continue reading →

Posted in MSP430 | Leave a comment

AnyDisplay Supported Displays

Posted on January 27, 2012 by steve

Here’s my initial list of displays which will be supported by AnyDisplay. Currently working on a breakout board for the Sharp MLCD devices which should make these easier to work with. Display Type Price Size Resolution Colors Controller Sharp LS013B4DN02 PNLC … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, Display | Tagged | 6 Comments

AnyDisplay: Unified library for graphical displays

Posted on January 1, 2012 by steve

OK, I admit it.  I have a weakness for displays.  Most of the projects that I’ve got in the hopper include some sort of graphical display.  While the ubiquitous LCD character display may be inexpensive, I find them to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, Display | Tagged | Leave a comment

Freeduino Runtime Boards

Posted on August 14, 2011 by steve

Assembled a batch of Freeduino runtime boards (from nkcelectronics.com, a mere $1.99 each).  Waiting on some back-ordered DIP-28 sockets from Mouser and I can finish the set. These are neat little boards, Arduino stripped down to bare essentials.

Posted in Arduino | Leave a comment

Windows 7 – OK, so it doesn’t suck.

Posted on August 4, 2011 by steve

July kept me insanely busy.  My daughter underwent extensive surgery at the end of June and had some complications.  She is fine now and recovering well, but the month of July is an insane blur.  In any case, I’m back … Continue reading →

Posted in Operating Systems, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Excellent Online Arduino Tutorial Series

Posted on July 2, 2011 by steve

Excellent tutorial series from John Boxall on Tronixstuff.  Lots of great information and great product ideas.

Posted in Arduino, Electronics | Leave a comment

Serial Backpack for Avago HDLx-2416 Using Teensy

Posted on June 23, 2011 by steve

I purchased an Avago HDLS-2416 display from eBay a while back for my refrigerator monitor project (Fridge Squid FTW!).  This is a really nice compact 4-character 5×7 alphanumeric display, extremely bright and readable. Unfortunately it was the wrong part; the 2416 … Continue reading →

Posted in Arduino, Electronics | Tagged | 2 Comments

Don’t Be Afraid of Surface Mount Components!

Posted on June 21, 2011 by steve

While taking stock of the components I had on hand last weekend I found a small box of sample components that I had ordered from Maxim a while back; Two each of several components: DS2717 RTC, DS2438 Smart Battery Monitor, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1-Wire, Electronics | Tagged | 2 Comments