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The new MSP430FR5994 Launchpad - A FRAM Solution!
Back in May I described a sensor board I was developing as part of a hand held instrumentation project I am engaged in at work.I am pleased to report that this sensor board is progressing well and we...
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A Perfect Storm
myStorm uses a unique low cost approach to provide system integrationI had been wanting to create an FPGA board for some time - especially now since Clifford Wolf's open source ICE Storm toolset is...
View ArticleOpen Source tools for FPGA Development
This post comments on the rise in popularity of FPGAs in the hobbyist & maker communities - thanks to some open source tool chains.For many years, the FPGA silicon vendors, Altera, Xilinx and...
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Nano Computing
Small Is BeautifulAt just $2.40 Nano 3 packs an Arduino into just 45 x 18mm!I bought my first pair of Arduino Nano boards back in 2009, and I remember paying about £20 each for them.As we all know,...
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A Review of Tiny Languages - Part 2
Tiny Languages - for Tiny Boards!It's a couple of weeks since the first part of this thread reviewing some Tiny Languages where I looked at some minimal BASIC and Forth-like languages.Inspired by these...
View ArticleA Review of Tiny Languages - Part 3
Last time I explained how to add more functionality to Txtzyme to build up a more versatile language that I call SIMPL.In this post I look at a couple of ways to perform program flow control.The latest...
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WiNode 5 Update
Two weeks ago, I posted about an update to the WiNode, well here's that long awaited update - now that I have finished the pcb layout and submitted it for manufacture.The board has had some radical...
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A Universal Microcontroller & FPGA Breakout Board mounted on WiNode 5
Last November, I devised a new compact pcb footprint on a 50 x 50mm board, and I have started to create a number of boards based on this format.In November's blogpost, I speculated about using the...
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Fignition Revisited
The original WiNode 4.0 plus Evita video board Recently I have been thinking again about simple 8-bit computer systems. By simple, I mean understandable, to me, and those that don't rely on 20 million...
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Experimenting with New Devices - Part 1
If you were to summarise the developments in microcontrollers over the last few years, you might suggest the movement to 32-bit, mainly through ARM devices, and the rise in open source hardware and...
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Experimenting With New Devices - Part 2
The '5969 Launch Pad - an ideal experimenting platform for FRAMIn this post I look at ways in which to get the most performance out of a small computer system based around the MSP430FR5xxx with...
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Building WiNode 5 - Part 1
Bare Board, 2 layer, 50mm x 50mmTwo weeks ago, you may remember I finished the pcb layout for a new microcontroller board - WiNode 5 - based on my 50 x 50mm standard board footprint.Minimum Build.With...
View ArticleBuilding WiNode 5 - Part 2
Pin MappingWiNode 5 is the successor to earlier WiNodes that were based on the 28 pin DIL ATmega328. The ATmega1284 offers significantly more features and GPIO pins, 32 compared to the 20 of the...
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Building WiNode 5 - Part 3
Some five years have passed since the original WiNode design, and WiNode 5 - consider it to be the Anniversary Edition, has tried to build upon some of the changes that have happened over the...
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The Great MSP430 Bootloader Swindle
Bootloading Blues.The MSP430 is a great little micro, and with some proper marketing, it could easily have provided an alternative to the AVR and PIC. However unclear, obfuscating, archaic...
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More MSP430 Machinations
In the last few weeks I have been acquainting myself with the MSP430 - as a possible low cost candidate for future projects.There are literally hundreds of different variations of the MSP430 - and to...
View ArticleMSP430 Serial Communications
Fun with the MSP430F2013.I have been playing about with the MSP430F2013 for a couple of days now - and finding out what a wonderful little microcontroller it can be.It really is short of both flash...
View ArticleMore Nano Computing - The "Universal Microcontroller"
In this post I discuss the idea of a "Universal Microcontroller" - a 40 pin plug in module that can host mcus from a variety of different manufacturers and families. It is based around a standard 40...
View ArticleInterfacing SPI SRAM & FRAM to the MSP430
This week I have mostly been experimenting with the low end MSP430 series of microcontrollers using the standard entry level LaunchPad.So far, I have looked at serial communications, ADC interfacing...
View ArticleSIMPL for Beginners - Part 1
It's almost 3 years since I started on the SIMPL project, it has come a long way since it's early beginnings.This first post, in a series, is a "catch-up" for those that have come late to the...
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