M0 on Bald Engineer

Arduino EEPROM stores any datatype

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 13:00:46 +0000

Funny how a simple idea can spider out into multiple paths. Arduino EEPROM seemed like a straightforward concept. A few a years ago it was as easy as having either 512 or 1024 bytes of flash memory. The Arduino IDE offered an EEPROM library which let you read and write a single byte. Today, however, with many different processor architectures saving data to EEPROM varies. It is now possible to save any datatype to EEPROM but not on all boards and not all using the same method.

Circuit Python adds Python to Microcontrollers

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 14:57:09 +0000

Back in 2013, a Kickstarter ran for a project to put a python interpreter on a microcontroller. At the time I could not see the benefit. Cool project, but I asked myself: “why?” On my last Adafruit order, I received a free Circuit Playground Express. The board comes with CircuitPython pre-installed. After playing with Circuit Python, or CP, I finally “get it.”

For Valentine’s Day, I made an animated LED heart for a new love in my life, Circuit Python. Well, love is a bit of a strong word. The past couple of weeks I have been l earning Circuit Python, and I am excited by what it offers.

Adafruit Feather Review and Selection Guide

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 14:04:17 +0000

Four days ago, I found out I needed to make a piece of a costume. The idea was to combine a TFT LCD with a microcontroller and Bluetooth Low Energy. I checked my microcontroller bin and found some Adafruit Feather Boards. In this post, I will introduce the feather family and provide a decision chart for choosing the right one for your project.

adafruit-feather-layout

The Feather board have a standard footprint and pinout. Most(All?) have a USB connector, a microcontroller, two rows of pins, and a battery charger. They measure 50.80 by 22.86 mm, which is 2.0 by 0.9 inches.