TIL about Xbee WiFi

Xbee, one of the popular wireless modules for Arduino and the like, now comes in a WiFi version (802.11b/g/n) allowing us to connect more directly to the Internet/network without having a intermediate host to relay the data. Should be interesting to play with.


... the XBee Wi-Fi offers 802.11 b/g/n networking and flexible SPI and UART serial interfaces. Because the module includes the 802.11 b/g/n physical layer, baseband MAC and TCP/IP stack, developers can add Wi-Fi to their products simply by connecting to the XBee Wi-Fi's serial port. The XBee Wi-Fi is fully tested at manufacture and comes with modular certification for the U.S., E.U., Canada and a number of other countries, further reducing the time to market, development expense and design complexity.

XBee Wi-Fi development kits are available now for $149. For more information about the XBee Wi-Fi, visit http://www.digi.com/xbeewifi.

TIL about Netduino/Plus

TIL about Netduino and Netduino Plus, an alternative/improved version of the Arduino...

Netduino is an open source electronics platform using the .NET Micro Framework (not Microsoft .NET). Featuring a 32-bit microcontroller and a rich development environment.

Interface with switches, sensors, LEDs, serial devices, and more.

Offers 20 GPIOs combined with SPI, I2C, 2 UARTs (1 RTS/CTS), 4 PWM channels and 6 ADC channels.

.NET Micro Framework combines the ease of high-level coding and the raw features of microcontrollers. Enjoy event-based programming, multi-threading, line-by-line debugging, breakpoints and more.

3rd-party accessories offer pre-built functionality like GPS location, servo control and battery power. Netduino is also pin-compatible with Arduino shields.

Netduino is an open source electronics platform. All design files and source code are included.


Netduino Plus

Netduino Plus includes all hardware features of the Netduino, plus MicroSD storage capabilities and an Ethernet jack for fast integrated IP networking.


Sounds pretty good. I'd like to get the Plus version to try it out.

DSO Quad Clone

Here's another interesting one from the DealExtreme shop in HK:


DS-203 3.0" LCD Pocket Mini Oscilloscope

They're selling it for $174 shipped, or about $25 cheaper the the original. I don't see any reviews yet, but it should be interesting to see how this one works out as well.

Creepy bento?

Eat me!

Pretty creative... I can't decide if it's cute or creepy.

Western Digital Passport Essential 1TB Review

The WD Passport Essential SE 1TB looks smaller, more square compared to my Passport Essential 500GB drive as you can see in this picture:



It's USB 3.0 and comes with a 1-ft cable, but it's still backwards compatible and will plug into a standard USB 2.0 socket on the computer, or alternatively, the drive can take a standard USB 2.0 micro USB cable. The cable is pretty short for my desktop use (should be ok for laptop where the drive will be beside it), but I do have a USB 2.0 extension cable on my computer that I always use for USB drives and that works just fine even with the stock cable.

Speed is around 30MB/s on my USB 2.0 system copying to the drive on average, and I believe around 50MB/s on USB 3.0.

It comes with its own backup software called SmartWare for Mac & Windows. I didn't try this myself as I'm going to use this to store videos. But I also just prefer TrueImage and robocopy to create a mirror image or copy of my hard drive for backups.

DSO Quad

I want one! Need to save up for it... [@seeedstudio.com]

Feature: 

• Pocket size and light weight
• Two 72MS/s analog channels, plus two digital channels
• Signal Generator 
• Auto Measurement
• Various Triggering Option
• Easy waveform storage
• Firmware upgrade
• User applications
• Open source 

Specifications

• Analog channel * 2 : [CH_A]  [CH_B];
• Digital channel * 2 :   [CH_C]  [CH_D];
• Vertical Scale: 20mV-10V/div (x1 probe);
• Vertical solution: 8 bit ;
• Input coupling: AC/DC ; 
• Max input voltage: 80Vpp (x1 probe);
• Storage: 4K per channel
• Software trigger type: edge, pulse, level (to be added)
• Hardware trigger type: edge
• Trigger source: CH1/CH2/EXT
• Test Signal generater: 10Hz to 1Mhz 
• Storage: internal 2MB USB disk
• Auto measure: Vmax, Vmin, Vpp, Vavr, Vrms, Freq, Period, Pulse, Duty
• Cursor measurement: Level, Voltage
• Display mode: CH1, CH2, EXT, CH1+CH2, CH1-CH2, CH1*CH2
• Sampling mode: real time
• Sampling rate: 1kSa/s - 72MSa/S
• Power: Lipo battery
• Dimension: 98 * 60 * 14.5
• Weight: 80g (without battery)
• Accesories within Pack: 2 mueller mcx osilloscope probe, 2 digital probe, 

GIF

GIF animation.

Samsung Captivate Download Mode

Bricked your Samsung Captivate or Galaxy S phone? I did... Good thing someone discovered that you can apparently force these into download mode with a little poking in the USB port even when the usual keys don't work.



The magic number appears to be 300K or 301K connected to pins 4 & 5. I used 3x100K resistors salvaged from an old PCI card.




With the phone off, just insert the USB contraption and it automagically goes into download mode. Now, just reflash the right firmware... Phone saved!

CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD

The power to our house is usually reliable, but the last time it "blipped" for a second, it took down one of my computers. So, I decided to get a UPS for it...


CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD

• 1000 VA/600 Watts
• Adaptive Sinewave UPS technology (works with newer, more efficient PFC power supplies)
• Automatic voltage regulation (AVR)
• GreenPower UPS technology
• Enhanced Multi-function LCD diagnostic display
• Tower form (3.9" x 9.1" x 10.4")

The LCD display shows voltage I/O, events (# of blackouts occured, etc.), time left, battery level, output power VA and watts in actual value or percent. It normally turns off after a few seconds, but can also be set to always stay on.

The buttons are used for turning on the display, switching between displayed info, silencing the alarm, event counter reset, initiating a self-test, etc.

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S / Captivate

Someone found a way to unlock these things. In summary:

1. Root the phone.
2. Get Terminal Emulator from the Market, or use "adb shell" if you have the Android SDK.
3. Type: busybox grep -E ^[0-9]\{8\}$ /efs/nv_data.bin
   
   On mine, I get something like:

   12345678
   12345678
   00000000
   00000000
   00000000
   00000000
   

   It's 8 digits. Repeated 2x. It's not 00000000. As you can see, it's pretty obvious on my phone.
4. Pop in your "foreign" sim, and enter the code when prompted.
5. Bye AT&T...

Shiny Nano v2

Oooh... A new DSO Nano from SeedStudio.



Muuuust resist...

New Phone

Got a new phone! A Samsung Captivate, aka AT&T's version of the Samsung Galaxy S.

Bus Pirate!

Pictures of the Bus Pirate I got from SeeedStudio... I bought and was going to use the SeeedStudio case, but after trying it out, I thought it was hard to get access to the headers if needed, so I shrink-wrapped it.

Owon Oscilloscope Battery

I wanted a battery pack for an Owon PDS5022S oscilloscope, but didn't want to pay the $70~80 (yikes!) for the one that Owon sells.

Some poking around shows that the scope consumes around 1Ah, charges at around 8.5v 300mA when on AC power and turned on. The original batteries are rated 7.4v 8Ah. It looks like an ordinary 2S lipo can be used, so I gave it a try...

DSO Nano Clone

I just saw these at DealExtreme:



They appear to have an mmcx connector instead of the 3.5mm that SeeedStudio uses. I wonder what else is different inside?

They're selling the probe/battery-less version for only $55 USD shipped. The full version is 70 USD or 72 USD (not sure exactly what's the difference). The prices are definitely tempting.

I'm thinking of getting the cheap probe/battery-less version, but I wonder how easy would it be to find or make those mmcx probe though... It's the first time I've seen one of those.

AVRISP mkII - USB powered target

I was using an Altoids 9V-to-5V tin can regulator to power a target AVR under AVRISP mkII, but I thought it would be nice if I could simply use the 5V from the USB.

I found some examples using Google. Here's what mine ended up like...

DSO Nano Surgery

My DSO Nano came with a crooked 3.5mm socket. It worked, but there was quite a bit of friction from the plug rubbing on the case.



I wasn't too sure about opening up a new Nano, but the problem was annoying enough, and in the long run, it probably wasn't good for the socket or the PCB, so I disassembled and attempted to fix it...

Beeping Liftmaster 915LM Mod

The Liftmaster 915LM is a wireless garage door monitor that basically blinks an LED whenever it detects an open garage door. I wanted to mod it to give me an audible warning instead of just blinking an LED...

Cheap probe for DSO Nano

DealExtreme 100MHz probe ($6.04 shipped) + SeedStudio BNC adapter ($1.50 + sh) = ~$7.54.

Also made a breadboard-pluggable one. Plug connection: Tip of plug is positive, everything else is negative.

DSO Nano Stand

Here's my DSO Nano stand... You only need a few thousand dollars in debt... ;)



If it's not so obvious, it's a folded-up old credit card (rebate CC actually).

DSO Nano Tour

My DSO Nano...

The Nano is an $89 open-source (hardware & software) portable 1MHz oscilloscope from SeeedStudio.

AVRISP mkII / AVR Studio in Windows 7

Trying to learn a bit more about AVRs, so I got an Atmel AVRISP mkII programmer.



Unfortunately I ran into some problems with the software in Windows 7 x64...

Hello World!

This is one of the first things I tried when I got an Arduino Duemilanove, a simple sketch and circuit that displays the uptime.

A few jumper wires and viola... Arduino makes it easy to play with LCDs even for noobs like me.