The Maker Blog
Seeed Studio now carrying Leaf Labs Maple.
cgantt — Tue, 06/29/2010 - 11:38
Does your project need more power than your Arduino has? Seeed Studio is now carrying Leaf Labs Maple which is a dev platform built around the 72 MHz ARM Cortex M3. In the past, ARM processors were notoriously unfriendly in non-professional environments due to proprietary tool chains and unfamiliar instruction sets. Because of this, they were conspicuously absent from classrooms and hobbyists’ workbenches. Leaf aims to change this by providing an ARM tool-chain built from open source components and a programming environment that is intuitively easy to use. For those of us who love and are familiar with Arduino, Maple is offered in an Arduino-compatible format, complete with Arduino pin layouts and programming environment…More after the jump…
We would like to welcome Protostack as one of our site sponsors!
cgantt — Fri, 06/04/2010 - 22:19
Not long ago we blogged about Protostack releasing Version 1.4 of their Atmega 8 dev board. Well today I would like to announce protostack as one of our new site sponsors. Protostack offers a nice selection of electronic gear including innovative stackable prototyping boards. They have sent us a nice care package for us to play with including an Atmega 8 dev board kit complete with a USBASP programmer. We will have full write ups and tutorials on the kits as well as a special article on their stackable protoboards in the comming weeks. We are also working on creating a tutorial series on using the USBASP programmer to program your Atmega Micro Controllers. So head over to Protostack's website and check out what they have to offer and when you are done check out the other cool features they offer on the site such as: Tutorials, Discussion forum, and even a place to showcase your project's photos. We have some photos of the gear they sent us after the jump...
Now Sort DigiKey Items by Price!
cgantt — Wed, 05/12/2010 - 10:02
Digi-Key Sort By Price
Every budget conscious maker out there who uses Digi-Key has wished for a sort by price option. No one really knows why Digi-Key does not include this option, although some speculate that it involves deals between component manufacturers and Digi-Key. That has changed for Firefox and Chrome users thanks to the work of a maker named Alex Leone. He has created a Greasemonkey script that downloads the Digi-Key results and sorts them by price... more after the jump
Our first order from Seeed Studio arrived today !!!! YAY!
cgantt — Thu, 02/04/2010 - 18:45
Our first order from Seeed Studio came in today. It took about 12 days to arrive from China but it was well worth the wait. A few weeks back I commented in a tweet that I was considering using a Rainbowduino from Seeed Studio in my Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 case mod. It would be used to control the RGB LED accent lighting. Fan at Seeed Studio commented back saying that he was keeping... more after the jump
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 build. UPDATE 12 Jan. 2010
cgantt — Tue, 01/12/2010 - 11:35
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Case Mod Update
I spent last night tearing down the LCD Screen I plan on using in the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 case mod. The screen is a recycled PS2 LCD screen that was intended to be attached to the PS2 Gaming console. It made the console somewhat portable. These screens are fairly easy to interface via a VGA connection using a D-sub connector. So click here and check out the full update.
Hackable things: Warpia Wireless USB A/V Adapter Set
cgantt — Sat, 12/19/2009 - 06:37
Hot New Products!
Warpia Wireless USB A/V Adapter Set
Wirelessly connecting your computer to your TV, projector, or monitor just got easier with the new Warpia Wireless USB A/V Adapter Set (HDMI+VGA). Its as simple as pluging the adaptor into your deskop, or laptop and hooking the receiver up to your display device. We will bereviewing one of these devices in the coming weeks and will report back with the final results. So if you had one of these how would you hack it into your project? Let is know in the comments. In the mean time click here and read the full press release.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 build. UPDATE!!!
cgantt — Fri, 12/11/2009 - 01:56
ARPAT digital camo stencil designs completed.
Tonight I sat down and sketched out the stencil designs and then layed them out in photoshop for a more precise design. Check out the full update here.
Seeed Studio creates multicolor PCB
cgantt — Tue, 12/01/2009 - 11:35
Seed Studio has been turning electronics into art for a long time now and recently they set out to creat a multicolored PCB. After a lengthly negoation period with several PCB fab houses they found one who was willing to do a multi color solder mask at an affordable price. They had the bottom of their "Rainbowduino" LED controller Arduino add-on board colored in RGB blocks. So what does this mean for the average everyday hacker? Nothing at the moment but this is a step in the right direction. Soon we will be able to order our PCBs with custom printed multicolored solder mask graphics. You can read the full article on Seeed Studio's site.
TheMakersWorkbench Forums are now online!!
cgantt — Wed, 11/25/2009 - 06:06
We have added a small forum to the site. TheMakersWorkbench Forums is a place where you can post your projects and discuss everything from Arduinos to RepRaps. We are still working out some bugs and adding features. Currently you can only post in BB code and there is no WYSIWYG bb code editor avaliable for the current Drupal core but that may be changing soon. There is a list of avaliable bb codes in every section of our forums to help you out.
Johnathan Ward's MTM A-Z PCB milling machine update!!
cgantt — Tue, 11/24/2009 - 22:03
Yesterday we reported on an awesome little PCB milling machine named the MTM A-Z made by a MIT student named Johnathan Ward. Not much info was avaliable about the project on Mr. Wards site so we sent him an email. He quickly replied and here is what we found out... More after the jump.
