Python scripting is no longer reserved for Kicad layout: now you can make changes to schematics, or wholly generate circuit assemblies, with the skip library, which is a general purpose s-expression file parser and manipulator with a whole bunch of kicad-specific enhancements. Someone called it “openSCAD for schematics”, and it’s a good analogy. I’ll use…

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The FeelTech/FeelElec arbitrary waveform generators are cool, inexpensive, signal sources that provide a whole lot of functionality, and work well from low frequencies up to tens of megahertz. But, boy, do I hate twiddling with buttons, changing settings a single digit at a time. The answer–for test harnesses, remote control and just plain ease of…

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Nothing beats a scripting engine when it comes time to customize and psypnp provides both cool scripts to use with OpenPnP right away, and a set of python modules to make creating your own really easy. The project is split into two parts: a set of scripts that automate away a lot of the drudgery…

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Device Druid version 3 is out and about! There’s a new look, a host of new features, etc but what I’m most thrilled to announce is support for both Raspberry Pi and Android. To celebrate, here’s a little video walkthrough of getting a GUI running on a Raspberry Pi in a couple of minutes. We’ll…

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You’re creating a stand-alone module to bundle a few hardware sensors, or have an independent microcontroller that stays awake and needs to wake the main system depending on configurable environmental triggers. What’s the easiest way to let this unit receive orders and communicate results? An I²C slave! Inter-Integrated Circuit–I²C–is specifically designed to provide an easy…

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It started with the best of intentions, as these things are wont to do. What had begun as a test script, nothing more than the stub of an eventual server side implementation to catch data coming in from an embedded device, was quickly morphing into an actual project. Hm… getting serious and valuable: time to…

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Operating your Arduino project has never been sweeter.  Version 3 of device druid is out in beta and you can try it out to give a little feedback on what’s awesome and what needs a bit of work.  The new Druid Builder requires no installation, as its now available online, and the client is smoother…

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A beta version of Druid Builder, the drag & drop Arduino UI creation app, is now available for Linux. Check out the video for instructions. The linux edition of builder uses Coraline to run the ionic framework app under Linux, while providing access the SQLite and device info using coraline’s plugin system, so in short…

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Cordova-ubuntu is dead! Long live Coraline! Though my focus is circuitry and embedded systems, I wind up developing a lot of apps for Android or Windows but also a few for Linux, like device druid.  On this Linux side, I’ve been counting on the Ubuntu support from cordova, but now that I’ve upgraded to 17.x…

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I’ve had a few requests from visitors to my old (and now defunct) electrons site for the AVR Makefile.  Originally created in 2003, and finally included in the resources for an AVR-related Linux Journal article back in 2005, it turns out it’s still pretty useful so I’m replicating the original Makefile and instructions here, with…

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