Ok, this is an embarrassing problem. I’m using AVR Studio 6.1 beta (6.1.2440), and about every 5-10 times I build my solution, the Benny Hill chase music starts playing! I have visual studio 2010, and it doesn’t do it. I’ve googled for viruses, but found nothing. Windows defender found nothing. (My box is pretty well locked down – I don’t run as administrator). It seemed to start happening after I installed the LUFA via the gallery – this may be a coincidence. Have I found an easter egg? Can it be turned off?
I’m working on a little timekeeper project that works similarly to those word clocks, but it will be wrist-mounted. I have to make this little guy tiny, so I’m going with all SMD and to light the 21 LEDs, I’m using a 5-pin Charlieplexing scheme. To give back to the community (and FWIW), I am writing up my understanding of and methods for implementing Charlieplexing on an Atmel ATmega328 AVR (or Arduino). This first part of the 2-part series goes over the concept of Charlieplexing. The second article will show my homemade quality control methods and Arduino and AVR C code. I hope someone finds the write-up useful!
I’m lucky enough to own an Apple Extended Keyboard II, which belongs to my Macintosh SE. Unfortunately, it wasn’t doing much good connected to my rarely-used SE. So, I figured it would find a better home on my desk at work, where I spend the day pounding away on a crummy keyboard anyway.
The Apple Extended Keyboard II is a dream to type on because it uses mechanical switches. And I lucked out: Apple made a lot of revisions of this keyboard with cheap switches, but it turns out that I got one of the good ones. Mine is a USA model with authentic Alps Cream key switches.
The biggest stumbling block to the project was the computer’s interface. The Apple Extended Keyboard II is from the days of ADB, or Apple Desktop Bus. The internet revealed two possible solutions: An expensive and sometimes-hard-to-find adapter by Griffin, or a $16 microcontroller and some DIY elbow grease. Naturally, I chose the latter.
Ladyada and pt had an old NeXT keyboard with a strong desire to get it running on a modern computer. These keyboards are durable, super clicky, and very satisfying to use! However, they are very old designs, specifically made for NeXT hardware:, pre PS/2 and definately pre-USB. That means you can’t just plug the keyboard into a PS/2 port (even though it looks similar). In fact, I have no idea what the protocol or pinout is named, so we’ll just call it “non-ADB NeXT Keyboard”
There is no existing adapter for sale, and no code out there for getting these working, so we spent a few days and with a little research we got it working perfectly using an Arduino Micro as the go between. Now this lovely black deck works like any other USB keyboard. Sure it weighs more than our Macbook, but its worth it!
The aim of this post is as a starting point for making your own DIY MIDI controller. Although many MIDI controllers can be purchased off the shelf, there may be times when a DIY approach is more economical or more appropriate in terms of specific design and mapping.
This is one of the simplest MIDI controllers that I can think of – it is just a pot (i.e. “knob”) that sends USB MIDI continuous controller data on CC#1, channel 1.
Hardware needed:
• 1 x Teensy board with pins
• 1 x USB A to B mini cable
• 1 x 100kΩ B-type potentiometer
• 1 x mini breadboard
• 3 x breadboard jumpers (can use a jumper kit for instance)
Software needed:
• Arduino IDE
• Teensyduino
• A digital audio workstation (DAW) such as Ableton Live
The Teensy is a complete USB-based microcontoller development system, in a very small footprint! All programming is done via the USB port. No special programmer is needed, only a standard “Mini-B” USB cable and a PC or Macintosh with a USB port. This is the latest version, 2.0.
Key Features:
USB can be any type of device
AVR processor, 16 MHz
Single pushbutton programming
Easy to use Teensy Loader application
Free software development tools
Works with Mac OS X, Linux & Windows
Tiny size, perfect for many projects
Available with pins for solderless breadboard
Comes with assembled Teensy board (ATmega32u4 with bootloader preinstalled) and header to allow easy breadboarding. We suggest using AVR-gcc (like WinAVR) with the LUFA library or ‘Teensyduino’ Be sure to check out the multiple resources available at PJRC!
Teensy 3.0 is a 32 bit ARM-based, breadboard compatible development board that you can program using the Arduino IDE. Teensy 3.0 runs sketches much after than 8 bit Arduino boards, has higher performance peripherals, and is available at Adafruit now.
I’m Paul Stoffregen, creator of the Teensy board and software. Phil Torrone asked me to share some of the details of making Teensy 3.0 here on the Adafruit blog.
Click “read more” for details of the latest software update, real-time clock support, touch sensing, bugs recently fixed, development on the XBee, SdFat and FastSPI libraries, and some discussion of issues porting Arduino libraries to run on a 32 bits processor, and remaining challenges to be addressed in the next software updates.
NEW PRODUCT – Teensy 3.0 + header. Teensy 3.0 is a small, breadboard-friendly development board designed by Paul Stoffregen and PJRC. Teensy 3.0 will bring a low-cost 32 bit ARM Cortex-M4 platform to hobbyists, students and engineers, using an adapted version of the Arduino IDE (Teensyduino) or programming directly in C language.
Based on a 32 bit ARM chip, Teensy 3.0 aims to greatly increase the computing capability and peripheral features, but maintain the same easy-to-use platform that has made Teensy 2.0 so successful.
Please note: Teensy 3.0 and 2.0 are not official Arduino-brand products. Although the Teensyduino IDE has been adapted so that many simple Arduino projects will work with the Teensy, there will still be a lot of libraries and shields that will not work with this device! If you’re new to microcontrollers, we suggest going with a classic Arduino UNO since all Arduino projects, examples and libraries will work with it.
Perhaps at your hackerspace you have a pile of “badass gauges” and want to do something with them. How about a USB interface, a laser cut enclosure and an RGB status indicator LED?
SevenBlocks is a digital clock resembling a classic red on black alarm clock, featuring a mechanic seven segment display of solid blocks moving into the viewers space. Over a hundred years ago the seven segment display was born and they became ubiquitos in our daily lifes. Thousands of segments are guiding us throughout our life, without us spending a single thought on this beautiful invention.
SevenBlocks is a digital clock resembling a classic red on black alarm clock, featuring a mechanic seven segment display of solid blocks moving into the viewers space.
See https://github.com/kiu/SevenBlocks for Bill Of Materials, DXF files, Eagle/Gerber files and source code.
- All files are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0)
My project with Adam Mayer at NYC Resistor to read every PROM that we find continues into its fourth version. The latest is most compact and flexible yet — the entire design piggybacks a pjrc Teensy++ on the 40 pin DIP ZIF socket from Adafruit Industries with almost no wiring and is super flexible. It can reroute the pins in software, so most any five volt DIP ROM, EPROM or EEPROM can be read.
Teensy++ (AT90USB1286 USB dev board) + header! The Teensy++ is a complete USB-based microcontoller development system, in a very small footprint! All programming is done via the USB port. No special programmer is needed, only a standard “Mini-B” USB cable and a PC or Macintosh with a USB port. Its the big sister version of the popular Teensy board we carry, this board has tons of FLASH, RAM, pins and more. This is the latest version, 2.0.
Key Features:
USB can be any type of device
AVR processor, 16 MHz
Single pushbutton programming
Easy to use Teensy Loader application
Free software development tools
Works with Mac OS X, Linux & Windows
Tiny size, perfect for many projects
Comes with headers pins that you can solder on to plug it into any solderless breadboard
Comes with assembled Teensy++ board (AT90USB1286 with bootloader preinstalled) and header to allow easy breadboarding. We suggest using AVR-gcc (like WinAVR) with the LUFA library or ‘Teensyduino’ Be sure to check out the multiple resources available at PJRC!
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Back in March, I released the design for the BB-313, a breadboarding platform for the ATTiny2313/4313. After some great feedback and many requests, I’m happy to announce I’ve started selling the PCBs.
These are nice, lead-free boards with a good-quality silkscreen, and they’re available in any color you want, as long as it’s green. Boards are $5/each + $2.50 shipping within the US. Check out the PCBs section of the project page to place an order or for more information.
Thanks to everyone for their amazing feedback and support on this project — the enthusiastic response means that I can continue to develop and share new open hardware designs.
Note: these PCBs are being sold directly by me (johngineer), and not by Adafruit.
A follow-up to my Arduino Leonardo pinref, I’ve created a reference sheet for the Adafruit ATMega32u4 Breakout board. Useful for seeing at a glance which pins can do hardware PWM, have an ADC, or can trigger low-level interrupts.Very handy for breadboarding.
The reference is available and as an image or a PDF: the full-size image is here; you can download the PDF here, or from the product page (under ‘downloads’). The PDF prints onto a standard 8.5×11 sheet, with the board at 2x the actual size.
Printable catalog (PDF)
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