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EFM8 Sound Synthesizer: From Square Wave to Sine Wave

EFM8 Sound Synthesizer: From Square Wave to Sine Wave

Part 1 in the “How to Make an EFM8-Based Sound Synthesizer” series, which will design a sound synthesizer that can play standard musical notes. We will accomplish this using a low-cost, small-form-factor EFM8 microcontroller in conjunction with a few external components and a speaker.


Projects Sep 04, 2015 by Robert Keim
Switch Bounce and How to Deal with It

Switch Bounce and How to Deal with It

In this article I will discuss what switch bounce is and some ways to deal with it. First I will take you through the theory, and later I will show you some ways to handle it in both hardware and in software.


Ambient Light Monitor: Using a Triac to Adjust Lamp Brightness

Ambient Light Monitor: Using a Triac to Adjust Lamp Brightness

Part 5 in the “How to Make an Ambient Light Monitor” series.


Projects Sep 01, 2015 by Robert Keim
An Introduction to the Wunderbar

An Introduction to the Wunderbar

Learn how to set up the Wunderbar platform to begin building your own IoT apps. This will demonstrate the "Can't Touch This" and "Tell Me When" demo applications to measure WunderBar sensors and perform actions based on them. Some of the major bugs are discussed.


Projects Aug 29, 2015 by Patrick Lloyd
Getting Started with PSoC®

Getting Started with PSoC®

Getting started with PSoC®, the Programmable-System-on-Chip by Cypress Semiconductor for developing and testing embedded systems.


Writing PICAXE BASIC Code - Part 1

Writing PICAXE BASIC Code - Part 1

This is the first in a multi-part series on writing PICAXE BASIC code. This article covers how to read PICAXE pin-out diagrams, a circuit for coding practice, and the general program format.


Make an Automatic Water Softener Reporter

Make an Automatic Water Softener Reporter

Create a smart home by displaying the current salt level of your water softener with the CC3200 and a proximity sensor.


PICAXE Programming Basics - Part 2

PICAXE Programming Basics - Part 2

This article is part 2 of a two-part series that introduces the tools and techniques for programming PICAXE microcontrollers. Part 1 focused on construction of a test circuit and the AXEpad IDE; part 2 covers the PICAXE Editor 6 IDE.


How to Use the Digital I/O on a BeagleBone

How to Use the Digital I/O on a BeagleBone

Beaglebone Black is the most recent incarnation of the Beaglebone open source hardware platform. For less than $50, the board includes Ethernet, graphics processing, 4Gb of nonvolatile storage, and ports supporting USB, HDMI, and Beaglebone's custom I/O add-ons, called "capes". Here's how to run some simple commands to toggle digital I/O on the board!


Projects Aug 17, 2015 by Nash Reilly
How to Use MAX232 to Communicate Between a PIC and a PC

How to Use MAX232 to Communicate Between a PIC and a PC

This is one simple way to control a LED, fan, relay or solenoid with a computer and a PIC.


How to Use a DHT11 with a PIC16F628A and LCD

How to Use a DHT11 with a PIC16F628A and LCD

How to read humidity and temperature from a DHT11 and display it on a LCD with a PIC microcontroller. In this example we're going to use a PIC16F628A.


PICAXE Programming Basics - Part 1

PICAXE Programming Basics - Part 1

This article is part 1 of a two-part series that introduces the tools and techniques for programming PICAXE microcontrollers. Part 1 focuses on construction of a test circuit and the AXEpad IDE; part 2 will cover the PICAXE Editor 6 IDE.


What are Integrated Development Environments?

What are Integrated Development Environments?

Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) are software applications that provide a programming environment to streamline developing and debugging software programs.


Ambient Light Monitor: Display Measurements on an LCD

Ambient Light Monitor: Display Measurements on an LCD

Learn how to use an EFM8 microcontroller to convert current and voltage measurements to digits that can be displayed on an LCD. We'll discuss a convenient way to report analog-to-digital conversion values that represent current and voltage amplitudes.


Projects Jul 26, 2015 by Robert Keim
How to Display an Image on an LCD using an EFM8 Microcontroller

How to Display an Image on an LCD using an EFM8 Microcontroller

Use the EFM8’s USB functionality to transfer an image from your PC to an LCD.


Projects Jul 24, 2015 by Robert Keim
How to Make an Interactive TCP Server with NodeMCU on the ESP8266

How to Make an Interactive TCP Server with NodeMCU on the ESP8266

Learn how to connect your device with Linux Screen using the built-in Lua interpreter to set up the file system and connect to the network. Then, learn how to automate the scripting process with Luatool and put it all together with a basic TCP server that can interact with a pulse-width modulated LED, a potentiometer, and a switch.


Projects Jul 22, 2015 by Patrick Lloyd
Guts of the IoT: Building NodeMCU from Source for the ESP8266

Guts of the IoT: Building NodeMCU from Source for the ESP8266

Compile and install NodeMCU on the ESP8266 IoT chip using Linux tools and the ESP Open Source SDK


Projects Jul 18, 2015 by Patrick Lloyd
Introduction to Arduino SPI Library with LTC1286 and DAC714

Introduction to Arduino SPI Library with LTC1286 and DAC714

Introduction to the Arduino SPI Library with example sketch for the LTC1286 12 Bit ADC and the DAC714 16 bit DAC.


Projects Jul 17, 2015 by Aaron Dennis
Communicating with an EFM8 Microcontroller via USB

Communicating with an EFM8 Microcontroller via USB

Many embedded applications benefit from a communications interface that allows for convenient data transfer between a PC and a microcontroller. This article explains how to use the virtual COM port library from Silicon Laboratories to send data from a Windows application to an EFM8 microcontroller.


Projects Jul 17, 2015 by Robert Keim
Displaying Characters on an LCD with an EFM8 Microcontroller

Displaying Characters on an LCD with an EFM8 Microcontroller

Learn how to design characters using an image editor and display them on an LCD controlled by an EFM8 microcontroller.


Projects Jul 13, 2015 by Robert Keim