Introducing the Bumble-b and using it to control a LED matrix October 8, 2009
Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, Electronics, Hamakor, ITU, diy, open source, programming.Tags: bumble-b, diy, Electronics, howto, leds, linux, open source, programming, usb
2 comments
The Bumble-b
Hi all,
The past week I have been playing around with my new Bumble-b, as I mentioned in my last post. Basically what I did with it is control an LED matrix. After doing that I made it in to a USB Device! Thanks to the simple library LUFA. Now I can use a simple echo > /dev/ttyACM0 command to send a text message to the display. Meaning that I have now /dev/matrix!
In this post I hope to explain how to use the Bumble-b, a programmable USB chip, including its own built in programmer, for just $20. I would also like to encourage people here in Israel to start playing with this, since its cheap and easy to order way to get started with amateur electronics.
Here is a quick introduction video (followed by a detail post):
What is the Bumble-b?
The bumble-b is a USB programmable AVR chip with a programmer built in to it (called a breakout board). It is an AVR chip, meaning that its based on something that is widely used (the model is at90usb162). Moreover, since it has a USB connector right on it , this makes the creation of USB devices really simple. But not only USB devices alone.
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Connecting a programmable chip to a remote Controlled Car September 11, 2009
Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, Electronics, Hamakor, ITU, linux, open source, programming, wireless.Tags: C, Electronics, hacking, howto, linux, open source, programming
18 comments
Car and the breadboard
Hey all,
I have been playing with electronics the last few days, and I thought I might show you the outcome.
I basically took a remote controlled car, and connected it to a 16F84 programmable chip, and now I can control the car using C code.
Although I am using a car in this guide, you should be able to close and open any kind of switch. Anything under 15 volts.
For people who have don’t feel like reading all this (and also for those who do), here is an action-packed video of the outcome:
After you saw that, here is how I did this.
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Astrophotography Using Canon Camera’s Hack Development Kit August 16, 2009
Posted by GuySoft in Astronomy, Crictor, Hamakor, ITU, diy, linux, open source, programming.Tags: Astronomy, basic, camera, chdk, diy, ffmpeg, hacking, meteors, negev, open source, programming, video
9 comments
Hi all,
I am going to explain here how I managed to use the Cannon open source hack development kit , known as CHDK, to photograph stars and even create neat movies of the stars motion.
It all started this Monday, I was lucky to see that there is going to be Perseids meteor shower, a day in advance. So I had time getting the code ready before it was too late. I thought I would go somewhere next to Jerusalem and photograph, but in the end, friends of mine (Shy and Anna) from the Israeli Astronomy Association, which I am part of, told me they are going down south to the dessert, far away from light pollution, to take count of the meteors for the IMO. So I joined him, and my data is also available.
Before all the technical stuff, here is a video I made that shows you what this all comes to:
Now back to CHDK, and how this was done.
What is CHDK? And how do I install it?
CHDK is a firmware addon for Cannon powershot digital cameras. It supports most of them, mine is a simple powershot A590, costs to date about 700 NIS. Moreover, since its an addon, it will not void warranty, and can’t damage your camera. It has a lot of features (including games and an e-book reader!).
Live CD that turns any computer to an OLPC October 14, 2008
Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, Hamakor, linux, open source, programming.Tags: linux, olpc, sugar, live cd, programming, debian
5 comments
