Arduino

Arduino UNO SMD Amnesia

MRI Amnesia

On the Janurary 15, 2011 edition of Adafruit’s “Ask An Engineer” live video chat, I heard LadyAda mention something about “Arduino Amnesia.”  After investing the situation a little further, it turns out there are some Issues with the new Arduino UNO Smd edition.

A bug in the new bootloader can be triggered on power-cycle causing the SMD version of the board to not load the previously stored sketch.  The good news is there is already a fix for the bug.  Either return the board to your Official Distributor or use a ISP to program the new bootloader.

Issues (if I could even use that word) like this makes Open Source Hardware fun!

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Arduino

millis() Tutorial: Arduino Multitasking

After working through these exercises, check out this article on how to avoid rollover or reset mills().

After learning how to flash a single LED on your Arduino, you are probably looking for a way to make cool patterns, but feel limited by the use of delay(). If you ask in the forums, you get told to look at the “Blink Without Delay” example. This example introduces the idea of replacing delay() with a state machine. If you’re confused how to use it, this tutorial is setup to take you from blinking two LEDs with delay, to using an alternate method, right down to how you can use millis().

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Around The Web

IBM’s 2010: 5 for 5

From the company that brought us, “There is a worldwide need for no more than 5 computers”. IBM is announcing 5 Innovative Technologies we will see over the next 5 years.

In summary they are:

  1. 3D Communications
  2. Batteries that use air to recharge
  3. Citizen Scientists (Sensors Everywhere!)
  4. Personalized Commuter Information
  5. Smarter Energy Grid
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Around The Web

iPad/Arduino Controlled KegBot, by Yelp

Engineers at Yelp have put together an Arduino and iPad controlled Keg-o-rator.  By swiping their RFID they can track how much a person is drinking, collect statistics about how others enjoyed the beer (by rating it), and maintain a leader-board of the office.  Everything used in the project is based on off-the-self components.  My guess is that they are communicating between the iPad and Arduino over the iPod Dock’s i2c interface.  It looks like they are using the PodGizmo iPod Dock Conntector Breakout board available at Kinetka Systems.  Drink up!

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Purdue Boilermakers are MAKERS!

I am a Maker at Purdue

George at nbitwonder caught this outside the Armstrong Hall of Engineering Purdue while walking to class.  The signs read:

I think work should be about making things work.  Better.  Faster.  Smaller.  Smarter.  So I build bridges between what’s known and what’s not.  I tinker.  I toil.  I write poetically in an abundance of languages (including code).  I hack.  I dissect.  I have an insatiable desire to un-complicate the complicated.  I am easily inspired.  I believe that just because it hasn’t been thought of doesn’t mean it won’t be.  Potential is my thrill ride.  Imagination is my most-used tool.  I am a maker, and I am what moves the world forward.

The QR code at the bottom right of the poster decodes to:  http://www.purdue.edu/makers

Always good to see I picked the right school for my EE degree!

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