One product very similar to the Teensy USB development board are the open-source (hardware and software) avropendous boards, which now seem to be available in a DIP form factor ala the Teensy board, at a similarly low price. The AVRopendous-DIP ($22) uses the same AT90USB162 as the Teensy board, and allows selecting 5v or 3v3 [...]
I had a brief chance to play with some nixie tubes, specifically the nixie duo and driver kits from ogi lumen. The tubes themselves are beautiful and retro, and the ogi lumen driver and mounting boards provide a nice compact mounting for the display, which can be extended by simply plugging in more modules. The [...]
We live in an era of liberal return policies. After purchasing a defective item from a store, we’ve become accustomed to returning the item to the store in exchange for a working item. Ever wonder where those items go after they’re returned? It’s nice to imagine that they somehow make their way back to the [...]
As is typical, once I buy something they immediately annouce/release a newer, better version. I happen to notice an entry on Paul Stoffregen’s dorkbot blog that the Teensy has a new bigger brother, the Teensy++, which seems to be shipping already. While details seem to be thin on the ground at the moment, the major [...]
I enjoy working with leather. As a material, leather has a nice old-world feel to it, being nicely organic yet luxurious and strong. Often I’ve gotten some inexpensive gadget in a cheaply molded plastic case and have wanted to replace it with something more sturdy. Unfortunately in many of these gadgets the case serves a [...]
I like the idea of repurposing electronics. Occasionally I find something interesting and cheap that begs to be used in a new and interesting way. For example, from time to time the retailer Target releases gift cards with various electronic bits inside. These cards are effectively free since you can use the gift card’s value [...]
Don’t get me wrong, I think screensavers are a nifty invention. However, they can be a major hassle. Every time I sit down in front of my computer, I’m faced with the arduous task of wiggling the mouse in order to get rid of the screensaver. This got me thinking… If only there were some [...]
The Teensy board (tiny Atmel AT90USB162 USB proto board) from PJRC arrived today, and it is indeed very small. I gave the pre-packaged examples a try, using the command-line teensy_loader_cli application. Much to the credit of PJRC, the Teensy loader worked swimmingly on the first try. The blinky morse code example also built and [...]
Lately I’ve been exploring low-cost USB solutions for interfacing microcontrollers to systems without legacy serial or parallel ports. A obvious and popular solution is a USB to TTL-level RS232 converter. These are available as an on-board device (as seen in the official Arduino boards) or as a cable or add-on board (popular with the smaller [...]
After the Heathkits and Altairs of the 1970s went away, they left behind a sad landscape for electronics hobbyists. As a case in point, the handy local Radio Shack slowly shifted away from selling things useful to hobbyists, becoming just a re-branded electronics store and stocking very little in the way of components. Most of [...]