The rePaper development boards from Pervasive Displays come with a driver board that is powered from 3V and has level shifting on all the I/O pins so it can be used with 5V microcontrollers such as the Arduino. The PCB also has a lot of driver circuitry required to keep the display running smoothly such a temperature sensor, FLASH memory and ZIF socket. All signals are broken out to a 20 male socket header on the left. A 20 pin socket/socket cable is included to make wiring easier and there’s also some extra-long header so you can plug these wires into Arduino header or a breadboard.
The display is 2″ diagonal and 200 x 96 resolution true eInk graphical display. These are intended for use as small dynamic signage in grocery stores since a barcode displayed on it can be scanned by a laser barcode-reader. The display does not require any power to keep the image and will stay ‘on’ without any power connection for many days before slowly fading. Of course, its also daylight readable and is very high contrast. This makes it excellent for data-logging applications, outdoor displays, or any other ultra-low power usages
RePaper/PDI have provided a suite of example code for Arduino UNO/Leonardo and Mega, as well as a driver compatible with the Adafruit GFX Library. Now you can program this display with the same library as all our TFT LCD and LED matrix displays!
“Let rise at room temperature” is a common instruction in bread recipes, with “room temperature” being about 70 F (21.1 C)*. For various reasons, however, this temperature can be hard to find in my apartment in Berkeley, California, and so my bread doughs sometimes rise far too slowly.
One day, I realized that my Arduino Uno microcontroller could help solve this problem. I had earlier configured it to measure milk temperature during yogurt making, and realized that would be a short leap to use it to control the air temperature inside a container, thereby creating a stable and warm location for dough fermentation and proofing (a “proofing box”). My idea was simple: an incandescent light bulb in a clip-on lamp as the heat source, a temperature sensor, a switch that turns the light bulb on and off, and the Arduino to control the switch. Basically, as one person who heard my plan put it, “It’s an Easy-Bake Oven!”
But how would I switch the light bulb on and off using the low voltage, low current digital outputs on the Arduino? A relay could be wired in and the lamp could be hacked, but that would be bothersome and potentially dangerous. Then I learned about the Powerswitch Tail II. This easy-to-use device allows your Arduino or other controller to switch on and off an A/C powered device, like a lamp, coffee maker, hot plate, and so on. By connecting a digital output line and ground from the Arduino to the + and – inputs of the Powerswitch Tail, the connected device can be switched on and off. No cutting, soldering or taping required, just connect and go…..
Powerswitch tail 2: The Power Switch Tail II is a smart alternative to slicing apart power cords to wire up your own relays. Its a compact 120V 3-pronged extension cord, with a relay board embedded in the middle. Connect to the relay using two screw terminals and activate by providing a 3 to 12V signal (3mA current draw at 3V, 30mA at 12V). The relay can switch 15 Amp resistive loads such as heaters, small skillets, lights, etc. An LED indicator above the terminals will help you with debugging. (read more)
The PANdora Box can send one of 16 messages selected by the brass knob connected to a rotary encoder in the center of the base section. The smoky plex allows the various parts within to be seen, aided by an LED strip light of variable color and intensity, and mirrors on the interior walls. Wacky button sounds are played by the Wav shield as the user rotates the brass knob through each message. Pressing the brass knob instructs an Arduino to send the selected Wav file name across the PAN to the remote listeners which then find and play the Wav file, with, or sometimes without, a preamble. The preamble can be selected from a list appropriate to the message, such as creaky doors, or impersonations. The message itself is usually something useful (but not always) like Kids, please take out the garbage.
The Pareto Principle — also known as the 80/20 Rule — is the idea (originally from economics, but now applied in many ways) that 80% of results stem from 20% of the effort.
Devoted film fans will spend countless hours and hundreds of dollars (occasionally even thousands) to create flawless replica props for their personal collections. The iconic eye of HAL 9000 from 2001: a Space Odyssey is one such object of desire…popular enough that detailed (and pricey) licensed reproductions exist. This is cool stuff! But if we relax our criteria just a bit, you or I can turn out a pretty decent, recognizable facsimile in a weekend for just a small fraction of the cost. The 80/20 rule in action!
We’re not selling a prop or even a kit here…that would raise a big licensing stink, so please don’t ask. What follows are some ideas on creating one yourself. Much like our not-a-Back-to-the-Future-clock project, the concept came about when customers noted that a component already in our shop resembled an unrelated film item — in this case, our Massive Red Arcade Button and HAL’s distinctive lens.
Well, he sent us an update with more behind-the-scenes details, including how he uses our LED Illuminated Pushbuttons in his work:
I just posted my tech talk video that describes how the controller works with the drum machines.
And I did a blog post about some of the problems I encountered while building the controller, gave your awesome square LED arcade buttons a shout, and posted my Arduino code.
Here are more details from his site about the Meganome:
The Meganome is inspired by the monome controller and powered by an Arduino Mega. Like other grid controllers like the Launchpad and Push, it has performance modes for triggering drums, playings synths, and launching clips and effects. I like the feel of arcade buttons and look of exotic hardwoods, so mass-market products just weren’t right for me.
LED Illuminated Pushbutton – 30mm Square – A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but this LED illuminated arcade buttons is in a class of its own. It’s similar in size to an arcade button (and will fit in holes drilled for ‘standard’ 30mm buttons) but has a built in LED that can be controlled separately from the switch action – either to indicate or just to look good. (read more)
This is a mockup of the matrix and animations for my backpack project. The nice thing is the running light configuration only uses 60ma and the brake lights spike at 400ma for short periods. The turn signal mode stays under 300ma.
Our latest wearable project is this Sparkle Skirt, which twinkles as you move. This is a sewing (no soldering) Flora project using 12 color-changing NeoPixels and the Flora accelerometer/compass module. Spikes in the sensor readings cause the pixels to flash, and sparkle. The pixels are sewn to the skirt’s lining and are diffused by the outer layer of fabric, whether it be a sheer overlay or a cutout lace design.
If a skirt doesn’t appeal to you, use this circuit and code on a hat, a belt buckle, and even a blinky dog collar.
My nearly year-long project starting with a design concept and finishing with a prototype is almost done. There’s more tweaking to do, but I’m happy to announce this week I’ll be posting several articles on the building of my Solar Outdoor Robot here on Polyideas. I’ll be posting four different articles, each focusing on a different part of the build.
AS SEEN ON SHOW AND TELL! - Each Saturday night at 9:30pm ET is the electronics show and tell on Google+! Keep an eye on Ladyada’s G+ page and drop a comment on the weekly announcement to show your project on the on-air hangout!
Our latest version of this popular shield has all the features of the popular original, but comes pre-assembled. You can be up and running with it in less than 15 minutes – saving data to files on any FAT16 or FAT32 formatted SD card, to be read by any plotting, spreadsheet or analysis program. This tutorial will also show you how to use two free software programs to plot your data. The included Real Time Clock timestamps all your data with the current time, so that you know precisely what happened when!
The data logger is a reliable, well-rounded and versatile design. It is easily expanded or modified and come well supported with online documentation and libraries.
This page describes how you can use an Atmel ATmega32U4 (e.g. an Arduino Leonardo, Teensy or clone) and a DCF77 receiver to build a (hot-pluggable) HID USB real-time (radio) clock (I’ve named it dcf77-hid-usb-rtc), for usage with Linux systems.
Because it is a radio clock, it will always have the exact time, at least as long as it will receive a signal from the German DCF77 time code transmitter in Mainflingen. So it is perfectly usable as a reliable stratum 0 time source for your network (if a resolution of one second fits your needs). As this isn’t a scientific paper about accurate and reliable real-time clocks, I will not go further into the details of time keeping. As a first step you might read the Wikipedia article about NTP.
It’s my second project in a small series about hot-pluggable USB RTCs. I’ve described my first project here: How to build an USB real-time clock (usb-rtc). A third one might follow.
The overall cost for one of those thingies I’m describing here is about 25€, which isn’t really cheap. But I find it a valuable thingy because the result is a hot pluggable RTC, usable by almost any device which has USB. So it’s very likely you will use it for much longer than the computer you currently want to build or search it for….
FOURTEEN year old Aidan Temple will be presenting a Master Class on the Arduino at the Powerhouse Museum on 6 June 2013, as part of the Vivid Sydney Ideas program.
The “Master Class in Reverse” program, according to Lily Katakouzinos, the manager of contemporary programs at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum, acknowledges a paradigm change in the way knowledge about technology is disseminated today.
Young people today are more adaptable to technology, and the Internet has enabled interested and motivated self-learners to boost their knowledge outside of the traditional school-based educational framework.
“Things have changed and kids can really teach us adults new ways of thinking and doing,” said Katakouzinos. “We thought it would be cool if adults could be taught about new technologies like Arduino and Raspberry Pi.”
The Adafruit 6 second electronics film festival!#adafruit6secs
Call For Entries: Announcing The Adafruit 6 second electronics film festival! Share your cool project in 6 seconds of video and win up to $600 at the Adafruit store, with six runners up winning $60 store credit each.In a 6 second video, we want you to share the best project you’ve made. Be sure not to use any copyrighted music, video, etc. This should be all your project, all by you. The Adafruit team will be looking on Twitter, G+/youtube and beyond for Vines, 6 second videos and more tagged with #adafruit6secs. The deadline is 6pm ET, 5/6/13. The Adafruit team of judges will pick their favorites and announce the winner on May, 12th at 6pm ET.
tl;dr – Post a 6 second video of your electronic project(s) using Vine on Twitter and tag it #adafruit6secs !
The Adafruit 6 second electronics film festival!#adafruit6secs
Call For Entries: Announcing The Adafruit 6 second electronics film festival! Share your cool project in 6 seconds of video and win up to $600 at the Adafruit store, with six runners up winning $60 store credit each.In a 6 second video, we want you to share the best project you’ve made. Be sure not to use any copyrighted music, video, etc. This should be all your project, all by you. The Adafruit team will be looking on Twitter, G+/youtube and beyond for Vines, 6 second videos and more tagged with #adafruit6secs. The deadline is 6pm ET, 5/6/13. The Adafruit team of judges will pick their favorites and announce the winner on May, 12th at 6pm ET.
tl;dr – Post a 6 second video of your electronic project(s) using Vine on Twitter and tag it #adafruit6secs !
Inspired by Dug the dog from Pixar’s “Up.” Made using Arduino Pro, Adafruit Wave Shield and Hall effect sensors, electronic surplus and craft store detritus.
Printable catalog (PDF)
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