Jay (Drawdio inventor) is teaching a cool course this semester at MIT about Radical Learning concepts on everything from hackerspaces to burning man to Montessori and back again. Here is the write up and this course has a trailer!
I was in the market for an oscilloscope, but I didn’t want to spend much. I found out about Rigol and their line of $300-400 scopes, and was getting ready to buy one. Then I found a post on how to make your DS1052E, which costs about $400 into a DS1102E, which costs about $700 with a simple firmware modification! I bought the scope right after, and I received it in the mail today. It’s pretty nice by default, but doubling the bandwidth is always a plus.
The DS1052E has a 50Mhz maximum frequency, but it has exactly the same hardware (as far as the reverse-engineering folks can tell) as the DS1102E, which has a 100Mhz maximum. This guide will show you how to make the switch very easily using Linux. You can do it in Windows too, but it’s a bit more involved, and Linux makes it really really easy.
A stunning, beautiful world awaits as you take on the challenge of bridging the chasm. Can you solve the puzzles and avert disaster?
Set in the picturesque surroundings of sparse deserts and dense forests it is your task to strategically design and construct an engineering masterpiece. Watch in eager anticipation as unsuspecting motorists, heavy freight trains and tourist riverboats approach. Will your solution stand up to the test or will tons of mangled steel be sent plummeting into the river below?
Bridge It shows off the very latest in cinematic gaming. Based on Chronic Logic’s award winning Bridge Construction Set (Pontifex II) and using the Auran Jet 3D engine running on NVIDIA’s latest GeForceFX hardware it offers a host of real time effects that surpass many pre-rendered scenes.
This is a free (open source) Python script for creating feeder sprockets for e.g. perforated tape or film advance. I wrote it for myself to generate SMD tape-and-reel feed sprockets, but it might also be useful for making replacement sprockets for 8/16/35mm film, microfilm and paper-tape systems whose original reader hardware no longer exists or is difficult to find replacement parts for. The output is a .DXF template suitable for laser cutting, 3D printing or CNC machining. “Documentation” below, but it should be pretty self-explanatory. It should work with any modern version of Python (tested on 2.6).
Don’t normally post corporate-y stuff here, but this is really cool. AeroVironment announced on Thursday that they have created a UAV that uses only flapping wings for movement and control. From the press release:
The milestone was part of the Phase II contract awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to AV to design and build a flying prototype “hummingbird-like” aircraft for the Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) program.
The final concept demonstrator is called the ‘Nano Hummingbird’ and is capable of climbing and descending vertically, flying sideways left and right, flying forward and backward, as well as rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise, under remote control and carrying a video camera payload. During the demonstration the Nano Hummingbird flew in and out of a building through a normal-size doorway.
EVERYBODY has at least one good invention up his sleeve—and now’s the time to cash in on yours!
Remember that idea you had last winter for a device to beat off air-raids? You always meant to get to work on it, but somehow never did. Or maybe you thought of a new kind of searchlight while working on your boat. Or a stunt which you believed would simplify minesweeping.
You’ve probably had ideas like these, or ones similar to them, at some time in your life and put them aside because you were ashamed to talk about them. Afraid your friends would ridicule you, or call you a nut.
What is “Ask an engineer”? From the electronics enthusiast to the professional community – “Ask an Engineer” has a little bit of everything for everyone. If you’re a beginner, or a seasoned engineer – stop in and see what we’re up to! We have demos of projects and products we’re working on, we answer your engineering and electronics questions and we have a trivia question + give away each week. Mosfet the cat stops by too. Previous chats can be viewed at http://www.adafruit.com/ask
NEW PRODUCT – Clear Enclosure for Arduino – Electronics enclosure – 1.0. We are very excited to have one of the first (and we think the best) Enclosure for Arduino & project box now available in clear plastic, the future! Here are all the details:
Dimensions: 3.6″ x 5″ x 1.35″
Injection molded clear plastic
Enclosure is easy to machine, drill, cut and shape to what you need
Brass screw inserts (can be used and reused many times, very durable!)
NEW PRODUCT – Nokia 5110/3310 monochrome LCD + extras. These displays were used in old Nokia 5110/3310 cell phones (before the smart-phone fad turned every cell phone into a TV). It’s a 84×48 pixel monochrome LCD display. These displays are small, only about 1.5″ diagonal, but very readable and come with a white backlight. This display is made of 84×48 individual pixels, so you can use it for graphics, text or bitmaps. These displays are inexpensive, easy to use, require only a few digital I/O pins and are fairly low power as well.
To drive the display, you will need 3 to 5 digital output pins (depending on whether you want to manually control the chip select and reset lines). Another pin can be used to control (via on/off or PWM) the backlight – the backlight LEDs are wired to a transistor.
The display driver is a PCD8544 chip, and it runs at 3.3V so you’ll need a 3V supply handy (you don’t need that much current though, maybe 10mA tops). Logic levels must be 3V to prevent damage but we include a free level shifter chip so you can easily connect it to 5V logic such as an Arduino.
The latest twist in Sony’s Canute-esque attempt to command the waters of userspace from the shore of vendordom: they have announced that any PS3 which they determine to be in breach of their rules will be permanently disconnected from the PlayStation Network. The difference here, of course, is that Canute was trying to demonstrate that even kings cannot control everything. There’s a lesson there, if certain parties could only be bothered to learn it.
Sony is fighting what may be a long, ugly legal battle to remove all traces of the PlayStation 3 hacks and cracks available online, and now the company has taken the fight directly to gamers. “Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently,” Sony announced today.
“By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve,” Jeff Rubenstein, Sony Computer Entertainment’s Social Media Manager, wrote on the company’s official blog.
Sony claims that the policy will not affect the vast majority of PlayStation 3 owners, and says that “circumvention devices and game piracy damage our industry and can potentially injure the online experience for you, our loyal PlayStation customers, via hacks and cheats.”
So there we are. If you’re running custom firmware, or have an open PlayStation 3, you may want to stay offline for a while. It is not currently known if there is some way for users to run hacked firmware and get around these bans, but one thing is certain: someone, or a group of someones, is already working on a solution to this newest wrinkle in Sony’s ongoing effort to keep the PlayStation 3 locked down tight.
NEW PRODUCT! netduino (.NET-programmable microcontroller) – Netduino is an open source electronics platform using the .NET Micro Framework. Featuring a 32-bit microcontroller and a rich development environment. Suitable for engineers and hobbyists alike.
Input! Output! Interface with switches, sensors, LEDs, serial devices, and more. Netduino offers 20 GPIOs combined with SPI, I2C, 2 UARTs (1 RTS/CTS), 4 PWM channels and 6 ADC channels. Code! Debug! Repeat! .NET Micro Framework combines the ease of high-level coding and the raw features of microcontrollers. Enjoy event-based programming, multi-threading, line-by-line debugging, breakpoints and more.
And its very expandable just like the Arduino! 3rd-party accessories offer pre-built functionality like GPS location, servo control and battery power. Netduino is also pin-compatible with shields. 3rd-party drivers are required for some Arduino shields. Design files included. Netduino is an open source electronics platform. All design files and source code are included. Learn from the designs. Remix, and enjoy the
freedom of open source. Comes with a free microUSB cable and 4 rubber bumpers.
NEW PRODUCT – Proto-Screwshield (Wingshield) kit! The next generation Proto-ScrewShield is a dual-purpose prototyping shield. Now only does it have a large 0.1″ grid prototyping area but it also extends the Arduino pins to sturdy, secure, and dependable screw terminal blocks. You even get a few bonus terminals for extra GND and four ‘free’ terminals for whatever connections you wish!
The stack-able wing design allows you slip this under any shield and still get easy access to the “analog” & “digital” ports of the Arduino. The ScrewShield can be stacked above or below pretty much every other shield.
1 large high-quality US-made PCB, specifically chosen for it’s excellent resistance to lots of soldering and desoldering (essential for prototyping boards)
Plenty of prototyping space, with power/ground rails
Diffused green power LED, extra diffused red LED for user choice (although we suggest to connect it to pin 13)
Reset button
2 sets of 6-pin stacky female header pins
2 sets of 8-pin stacky female header pins
Lots of 3.5mm terminal blocks to fill 36 breakouts on the board
Comes as a kit of all through-hole parts. You’ll need to assemble the kit using a soldering iron, diagonal cutters and solder but its an easy kit and should take less than half an hour.
Printable catalog (PDF) or (EPUB)
FEED