I just finished a project that involved video processing in a portable, wirelessly connected, package: a perfect opportunity to get to know the newer Raspberry Pi Zero W.  Here I’ll go over a few lessons learned while making this little computer truly mobile.  The main point of interest is power: power (as in applied voltage),…

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It was already sizable, but then it just kept getting bigger and bigger… The long awaited update to druid4arduino is finally on its way–it’s currently awaiting publishing in the app store–but it took a whole lot longer than expected, in part because of the enormous endeavour it morphed into along the way. It began with…

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The next version of druid4arduino is ready and I think it’ll be awesome! I’ll be posting updates here, and there’s a dedicated project site in the works.  Some parts of druid4arduino have yet to be implemented in the newer version, but the changes make it worthwhile anyway, and those functions will be implemented in future…

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Designed to interact with a 16-bit I/O expander, the firmware was ready for testing.  Though I was still waiting on parts, I wanted to make sure it would all work as expected.  What’s an impatient developer to do?  Create his own SPI slave to replace the missing part, of course! If you’ve gotten anywhere beyond…

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As a follow-up to my intro/tutorial, I’ll go over a few more lessons learned using Kicad including some tips that should be of help to anyone embarking on a similar journey. The power module project was selected for a first adventure using Kicad as it was relatively small while being non-trivial.  The circuit holds around…

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Months ago, I was forced to get a new laptop (thanksalot, kitty!) which uses an Intel HD Graphics 520 graphics card.  When I got around to working on druid4arduino I hit a mystery bug with the display, as described previously. In short, a nice black window that wouldn’t display anything but the void.  Development was…

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Kicad is an cross-platform, open source, electronics design suite.  I’d toyed with it in the past, but had never made it to actually designing real projects with it until recently.  Here, I’ll go over my experience and initial impressions, and provide a few pointers and resources for anyone curious about trying it out.  We’ll tour…

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I recently received a little adjustable power supply, purchased off ebay for dirt cheap.  It’s pretty nice, so if you’ve been considering something similar have a gander at the video: It can take between 4.5 and 23V in (recommended to stay below 20V) and has a 1.5V drop-out.  It’s claimed that it can source up…

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The vagaries of life and a few real clients got in the way of druid2 development until recently.  I was all set to get going when the angry and fickle 4-legged god I live with changed my plans a bit… Thanks, kittie.  I’d been thinking of a new laptop anyway and managed to get one…

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Hallo all… An updated, more powerful and much improved versions of druid and SerialUI are on their way in the coming weeks.  I’m looking for a few people who’d be willing to act as beta testers for the new versions–the more hardware, and platforms, you have access to, the better but any supported combination should…

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