The February and March 2018 editions of Nuts & Volts featured my article detailing the Arduino Graphics Interface (AGI) project which described a general-purpose hardware and software platform that could draw graphical objects onto the face of any analog oscilloscope. A reader challenged me to see if the AGI concept and software library could be ported to the newer and faster TEENSY 3.6 processor. This article describes the new and improved TEENSY Graphics Interface project that implements a fully operational “CRT Clock” as a working demonstration of a TEENSY based graphics platform.
When my wife and I moved into our current home a few years back, it didn’t have a doorbell. We live on a quiet cul-de-sac, so it really wasn’t a problem as we had few callers. After a while, I installed a wireless doorbell that lasted about three years. Recently, after writing the series of articles on “A Digital Analog — When a PIC Can Replace a 555,” I decided to make one using a PIC.
This fun, elegant, and useful project pulls data from the Internet so a series of useful displays can show all kinds of cool info in real time from your mantel or bookshelf in this impressive platform.
In our previous article, we discussed the circuit and code for each of the core components for our Weather Gauge. We took a deep dive on how the stepper is wired up and the node.js code that drives it. Now, it’s time to put it all together and light it up in this final installment.
This fun, elegant, and useful project pulls data from the Internet so a series of useful displays can show all kinds of cool info in real time from your mantel or bookshelf in this impressive platform.
In this first article of a two-part series, we’ll discuss the circuit and code for each of the core components for the weather; take a deep dive on how the stepper is wired up; then learn about the node.js code that drives it.
The Macchiato is a build-it-yourself/do-it-yourself (DIY) miniature eight-bit, polyphonic, digital music synthesizer kit. Derived squarely from the circuitry roots that are deeply entrenched in the pioneering work of American synthesizer maestro, John Simonton of PAiA fame and the legendary analog 1980s Pro-One synthesizer from Sequential Circuits, this offering from Zeppelin Design Labs is much more than just a kit.
I find medical instruments like an ECG-EKG unit really fascinating. To be able to watch the electronic firing signals of a heart is mesmerizing and informative. For parts costing less than $50, I built a unit that plugs into my laptop computer’s microphone input jack and displays stunningly clear ECG waveforms. The unit worked beautifully when I tested it on myself, my wife, and friends.
Sure, launching model rockets is cool and all, but what if you could incorporate some science and learning into the fun, too. How high did it go, exactly, and what did it do along the way? What happens when the rocked drifts to Earth out of sight? The flight computers described here have the ability to collect data; control other payload instruments (cameras, sensors, radios, etc.); trigger activities in flight, such as igniting a second-stage motor or deploying parachutes or glider wings; send simple telemetry data via a built-in transmitter; and act as a radio beacon to find the rocket once it's landed.
Want to be sure you’re playing musical chords correctly? This unit will tell you if you are and display a light show in the process. I stumbled upon this circuit while trying to design a custom frequency tuner for my guitar and is hands down the best sound to light device you could ever build.
This unique timekeeper will have you seeing stars ... even the same skies the Spanish missionaries observed back in the 1600s!
This article shows you how to build a really cool 3D cube with a 4 x 4 x 4 monochromatic LED matrix which has a total of 64 LEDs.
