Current Per Pin - Part 2
This time, Andrei concludes his investigation of electric current by looking at LEDs and the ability of microcontrollers to supply current..
Read MoreImagine a World of Robots
Robotics may actually be impossible. I wonder if I should tell anyone.
Read MoreCurrent Per Pin - Part 1
In this post, Andrei's 50th (yay), we start looking at electric current. First a crappy explanation of what current is, then a few examples of current draw to give a feel of current scale. Finally, an experiment.
Next week we'll apply this to LEDs and our processors. Stay tuned.
Read MoreA Robot By Any Other Name
Every robot needs a name.
Read MoreMy Arms! They Are Here!
I want to make a robot typist. Of course, I'm going to need some arms.
Read MoreLooking Out For Number 1
This week Andrei presents a pin 1 spotting guide. Chips, circuit boards, and connectors are all numbered, and this is your guide to figuring out what on your schematic is where on a circuit board.
Plus Penguin music.
Read MoreESE101: Switching from Assembly to C Part 2
Today we install a new version of CCS and start learning C with a basic blinky program.
ESE101: Switching from Assembly to C
"Assembly is good, assembly is fun! But use C when you need to get things done!"
- Elecia White
Read MoreI Apply SPI: Good Vibrations
This week, we take a look at the firmware involved in using the SPI bus. From the function calls to control the select pin then send out some data via the SPI bus, the form and specifics of the command structure for an accelerometer, and then we get some data flowing.
Busted data sheets, 16-bit values, and right handed chips - how can you pass this up?
Read MoreI Apply SPI: Making Connections
This time, Andrei blends together schematics and oscilloscope traces, pours over data sheets and diagrams, and sifts through the jargon of SPI.
The result is a richer understanding of SPI with a side of CubeMX parameters.
Read MoreI Apply SPI: Scrawls and Traces
Once we get into the nitty-gritty of SPI, there is going to be a lot of schematics and oscilloscope pictures that we have to figure out. Now is the time to get up to speed on schematic notation and oscilloscopes.
Read MoreDMA - Monster Machines Moving Massive Memory Mounds
Need to move big amounts of dirt? You could use a tea spoon or something designed for the job, like a dump truck, or a really big dump truck.
In our programs, occasionally, we have to move large blocks of data. We can move it item by item, or bring out the data moving dump truck of computing, DMA.
This week, Andrei presents two examples of using DMA (with code included).
Read MoreDMA - A Little Help From My Friends
Do you need to shoot out a block of data to your SD card and polling is getting you down? Is your system getting crushed by UART interrupts? Direct Memory Access (DMA) is the answer.
DMA is really useful, but it's treated like computer voodoo by many. This week Andrei introduces us to the concepts behind DMA and gives a few examples.
Read MoreWhat Are the Tricky Parts of Embedded Development?
In this installment in my continuing series about the tricky parts of embedded systems, I discuss some important areas that are often overlooked or undervalued.
Read MoreEmbedded Software: The Tricky Parts
This is an overview post for the whole tricky series. It will get updated with new posts as they are published.
Read MoreDiscovery: UART Input
Andrei is back from his Christmas hiatus and brings us a post introducing getting input from a UART.
Previously he had covered output using printf, a helper function called _write, and the HAL routine to send data out of the UART. This time we use the other half of the UART, a different HAL routine, _read, and getchar.
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ESE101: Finally an MSP430 Timer Example!
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of clocks -- and lights -- and MSP430 timers."
Discovery: UARTs Part 3 - The Final Step
This week Andrei explains how to get a UART working using Cube. How to get printf working. And introduces the newlib standard library.
This is Andrei's final blog post of 2016, and it'll be useful for your Christmas break project where you learn about ARM processors using CubeMX and ST's Discovery board.
Read MoreDiscovery: UARTs Part 2 - Connections
Using the UART on our Discovery board requires a little extra hardware before we can use it for debugging.
This week, Andrei reviews some of the ways to hook the Discovery board to your PC.
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