All posts by Windell Oskay

About Windell Oskay

Co-founder of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

Reminder: Microcontroller classes this week at TechShop

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   ATtiny2313

Tomorrow (Monday 3/3/08) at TechShop in Menlo Park, CA, I’m giving another AVR intro class. These classes have been big, lively, engaging and interesting, with a lot of good questions– two sessions are scheduled this month:

Monday, 3/3/08, 6:30-8:30 PM, and

Saturday, 3/22/08, 1:00-3:00 PM

Seminar: Introduction to AVR Microcontrollers

AVR microcontrollers are powerful and versatile single-chip computers that cost only a few dollars each. You may have noticed that a number of our interesting projects are based around these, using them to make smart little toys and machines.

This class is aptly billed by TechShop as “How To Use AVR Microcontrollers in Your Projects.” Indeed. We’ll be bringing along a number of our cool AVR-based Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories projects from to show off some of the things that you can do with these little marvels, and how you might go about doing it.

Formal class description: “AVR microcontrollers are powerful, versatile and inexpensive single-chip computers that are remarkably easy to program in C, using entirely free and open-source tools that run on Macs, Windows, and Unix-like operating systems. In this practical introduction to AVR microcontrollers, we’ll take it from the beginning so that you can get started using them for your own cool projects. Some topics to be covered include: different types of AVRs and how to pick one for your application, getting a programmer, installing software tools, how to get started actually programming them, and how to download and run your code on the microcontroller. Class format is a one hour lecture followed by show-and-tell demonstrations and ample time for questions.”

Sign up here.
   

Seats are still available in one other microcontroller project class:

Soldering Project: Build a Micro Readerboard

A fun little soldering class, where you can customize the phrases in and build your very own LED Micro-Readerboard. It’s a cute little toy that spells out a preprogrammed messages (e.g., your name– for an LED nametag!), one letter at a time, on its display. In the class, you get to choose what messages to put on your readerboard, solder it together and take it home. It’s a neat, self-contained project that’s a great example of what you can do with a little AVR microcontroller; a perfect “my first microcontroller” project for anyone who hasn’t played with one yet. This is an intermediate soldering class; some prior soldering experience is needed. Other than that, no prior knowledge is assumed, so this class is great for kids too.

Next Classes:

  • Saturday, 3/8/08, 1:00 PM
  • Saturday, 3/22/08, 4:00 PM

Sign up here!

This entry was posted in Education, EMSL Projects, Microcontrollers and tagged , . Bookmark the Permalink.

Linkdump: February 2008

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“Peggy,” A Light Emitting Pegboard Display

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Resist1- Wall hanging

With all the cool things that you can do with LEDs today, there is still one thing that’s lacking: simplicity. If you want to run a bunch of LEDs at a time, you usually end up spending a fair bit of time worrying about series and parallel combinations, matching brightness, and picking load resistors. Or, if you’re a beginner, maybe you only get one third of the way through the previous sentence– wondering if you’re already in over your head.

Suppose that you want to make a big LED display for your window or wall: maybe it’s your logo, a symbol, your favorite 8-bit character, or maybe even a sign that spells out words like “OPEN” or “ON AIR.” How do you go about it? The usual DIY solution involves drilling holes in a panel to fit your LEDs, then spending a heck of a lot of time wiring everything up– ending up with one resistor per LED (and a three-dimensional mess if you happen to look at the back side of the panel). And, if you do everything in the most obvious ways, it can even end up consuming a surprising amount of power.

While I have certainly spent my share of time constructing things with the aforementioned technique, at some point it becomes clear that there has to be a better way. In this day and age, shouldn’t LEDs be about as difficult to play with as, say, a Lite Bright? Today we are releasing a new open-source hardware and software design that takes some of the sting, complexity, and mess out of playing with LEDs. It’s a versatile and powerful light-emitting pegboard that lets you efficiently drive hundreds of LEDs in whatever configuration you like, without so much as calculating a single load resistor.
Continue reading “Peggy,” A Light Emitting Pegboard Display →

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Learn about microcontrollers at TechShop in 2008

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Starting next week and over the next few months, I’ll be teaching several different self-contained microcontroller-oriented classes at TechShop, at different levels of skill and with different emphases:

 

 

  • Soldering Project: Build a Micro Readerboard
  • Soldering Project: Build an AVR Programmer
  • Seminar: Introduction to AVR Microcontrollers

The classes are held at TechShop, a San Francisco Bay Area “open-access public workshop,” located just off of 101 in Menlo Park, where you can go use a wide range of tools to make things, and take all kinds of classes.
   

Soldering Project: Build a Micro Readerboard

This is a fun little soldering class, suitable for anyone with a bit of soldering experience (even youngsters), where you can customize the phrases in and build your very own LED Micro-Readerboard. It’s a cute little thing that spells out a preprogrammed messages (e.g., your name), one letter at a time, on a single-character alphanumeric display. In the class, you get to choose what messages to put on your readerboard, solder it together and take it home. It’s a neat, self-contained project that’s a great example of what you can do with a little AVR microcontroller. This is an intermediate soldering class; a little bit of prior soldering experience is assumed. The class typically runs about 90 minutes, but soldering experts will finish more quickly and we’ve reserved space for two hours just in case. Class size is limited to 5 students.

This class is scheduled to be given

  • Saturday, 2/9/08 1:00 PM
  • Saturday, 2/23/08 4:00 PM
  • Saturday, 3/8/08, 1:00 PM
  • Saturday, 3/22/08, 4:00 PM

Sign up here.

 

And speaking of AVR Microcontrollers….
Seminar: Introduction to AVR Microcontrollers

ATtiny2313AVR microcontrollers are powerful and versatile single-chip computers that cost only a few dollars each. You may have noticed that a number of our interesting projects are based around these, using them to make smart little toys and machines.

This class is aptly billed by TechShop as “How To Use AVR Microcontrollers in Your Projects.” Indeed. We’ll be bringing along a number of our cool AVR-based Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories projects from to show off some of the things that you can do with these little marvels, and how you might go about doing it.

Formal class description: “AVR microcontrollers are powerful, versatile and inexpensive single-chip computers that are remarkably easy to program in C, using entirely free and open-source tools that run on Macs, Windows, and Unix-like operating systems. In this practical introduction to AVR microcontrollers, we’ll take it from the beginning so that you can get started using them for your own cool projects. Some topics to be covered include: different types of AVRs and how to pick one for your application, getting a programmer, installing software tools, how to get started actually programming them, and how to download and run your code on the microcontroller. Class format is a one hour lecture followed by show-and-tell demonstrations and ample time for questions.”

This class is scheduled to be given

  • Tuesday, 2/5/08 6:30-8:30 PM
  • Saturday, 2/23/08 1:00-3:00 PM
  • Monday, 3/3/08, 6:30-8:30 PM
  • Saturday, 3/22/08, 1:00-3:00 PM

And speaking of programming….

 

Soldering Project: Build an AVR Programmer

USBtinyISP, assembledIn this class you will solder together, test out and get to take home a USB programmer for AVR microcontrollers. With this hardware tool and free cross-platform software, you can use your computer to write code for and program these little one-chip wonders.

This is an Intermediate Soldering Project; you must have prior soldering experience. You are encouraged, but not required, to bring a laptop along. (If you do bring your computer, you should have a chance to install the necessary software and test it out with your new programmer.)

Class size is limited to 5 students.

This class is scheduled to be given

  • Saturday, 2/9/08 4:00-6:00 PM [Full!]
  • Sunday, 2/24/08 2:00-4:00 PM — Just added!
  • Saturday, 3/8/08, 4:00-6:00 PM [Full!]

Sign up for these and other TechShop classes here.

This entry was posted in Education, EMSL Projects, Microcontrollers and tagged , . Bookmark the Permalink.

New goodies at the Evil Mad Science Shop

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10 mm LEDs   10 mm pink LEDs
10 mm pink LEDs   10 mm pink LEDs

Big, bad, beautiful and bright 10 mm diffused PINK LEDs, just the thing to help you make that ultra-geeky Valentine’s day gift! Seriously hard to find. Cheaper than diamonds.
[Product page]

(Remember: What better way to say “I love you,” than with the gift of doped semiconductors exhibiting radiative recombination properties?)

 

22-pin dip socket
DON’T FEAR ART.

High-quality black and white vinyl stickers, 8.5″ x 1.5″, $1.00 each. [Product page]

Lots of people are apparently afraid of LEDs and wires. Show them that you aren’t.

 

And some less flashy goodies:
using lead forming tool

Resistor lead forming tools, as seen in this article.
[Product page]

 

 

ZIF Socket

20-pin DIP ZIF sockets. Cheap.
Perfect for programing ATtiny2313’s or other small DIP microcontrollers.

[Product page]

 

Also recently added, for those of you that find this sort of thing exciting: surplus 22-pin sockets and 10-pin headers. (Yow!)

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