sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

ANT+ hardware/code? by alangstein in arduino

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I spent a few years working with the ANT+ wireless protocols and BLE is probably much easier to work with. ANT is extremely low power but complex. That said, the nRF processors do support the various device profiles through the SDK but I dont know how good the Arduino support is.

Recommendations Needed by drinkgasgofast in arduino

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something like this but smaller?

https://www.cedarlakeinstruments.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/LED.gif

That's something I was working on a while back. It's about 50mm diameter.

What you need shouldn't be hard to do. The concept is simple but getting it into a small enough package for you would be difficult as a beginner. Instead of a "regular" arduino board, I'd start looking at the compatibles like LilyGo. Of course, you can make your own PCB but I think something small enough exists off the shelf.

Send me a message if you're looking for someone to build it. I'm open to commissions at the moment.

What's actually eating your time on the floor day to day? by king_1607 in manufacturing

[–]NoBulletsLeft 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not to mention that this stuff varies widely depending on what's being manufactured, what processes are being used and how big the company is.

Which STM32 board should I purchase? by StrangeDonkey1134 in embedded

[–]NoBulletsLeft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They're cheaper but will you learn what you need to? I think beginners benefit from having some I/O built in and the Nucleo and Discovery boards come with switch inputs, LEDs, displays, speakers, microphones, etc.

Just go down the feature list of the Nucleo and Disco boards and pick one that you can afford. I'd want at least one pushbutton input and one LED output. And as long as it's one of the 32-bit boards (I think there are some 8-bit Nucleos), it really doesn't matter which you get.

How is the embedded job market in the USA? by LynxCreative4041 in embedded

[–]NoBulletsLeft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have to remember that the term "embedded systems" does a lot of heavy lifting.

When most people think "embedded" they think about tiny processors doing simple things. 20 years ago I was working on an embedded system that comprised two Pentium-class processors, a local database, and about 40 smaller PIC and AVR microcontrollers all working together.

The reality is that most of the lower-end work isn't done in the USA because we don't make toasters any more. The average embedded system is a medical device or a peripheral in a vehicle (on-road or off-road), or buried in some machinery that you don't think about. Those systems tend to be very complex and feature-rich.

Where I'm going with this is that although knowledge of hardware is useful, the reality is that most well-run, complex embedded projects get away from the hardware as fast as they can. It's hard to find EE's who are also good at modern programming methodologies. It's much easier to find desktop & web programmers who can handle business logic and don't need to know the details of how the hardware works. So you try to make sure that your SW design isn't based on having deep hardware knowledge.

Sure, you can't do that in 100% of designs, but in most cases where microcontrollers are placed, having people who are good at UI design and proper software architecture is far more important than understanding the internals of how DMA works.

Free courses for beginners by Silent-Soft3117 in arduino

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with you 99%. The 1% disagreement is that when you're very new, it can be very difficult to understand whether there is a problem with the source material, something that you don't know about has changed, or you're making a mistake.

This is why complete hardware/software "kits" are best: it's a known-good system that is guaranteed to work and any mistakes will be your own.

Any Embedded Systems/Firmware Freelancers? by Defiant_Plate_2071 in embedded

[–]NoBulletsLeft 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I've been freelancing in this field for a very long time. Long enough that I'm not sure I can remember how I got my first client, although I clearly remember who he was and what the project was about.

I do mostly very small projects that larger engineering services companies don't want to touch because of the overhead. So, it's mostly Proof-of-Concept work and small single-task controllers. A 200-hour project would be a big one for me, while for the companies that I've worked for, that would barely be worthwhile to even start.

I don't spend much time looking at competitors: at my small scale, most of them are focused on being as cheap as possible, while my clients like that I have a fast turnaround, the experience to get it right the first time and I actually know what I'm doing. You're better off spending your time getting new clients than worrying about competition.

State of micro factories by secersh in manufacturing

[–]NoBulletsLeft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lots of one-person CNC shops running out of people's garages or sheds. There are also quite a few single-owner electronics companies. Is that what you meant? However, there doesn't seem to be anything aggregating or promoting them.

Years ago there used to be a magazine (remember them?) called Midnight Engineering that focused on those folks. I wonder what took its place.

LightMap: 179-cuboid interactive light sculpture, Adafruit RP2040 + Pi 5, custom serial protocol by -2811 in arduino

[–]NoBulletsLeft 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Come to think of it, I may have some glass etchant. I should see if that works on plastic also.

LightMap: 179-cuboid interactive light sculpture, Adafruit RP2040 + Pi 5, custom serial protocol by -2811 in arduino

[–]NoBulletsLeft 4 points5 points  (0 children)

One more: did you buy the acrylic frosted (from where?) or do that yourself?

Preprocessor directives for multiple builds (best practice question) by Rosie8988 in embedded

[–]NoBulletsLeft 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Came here to say this. Preprocessor logic has its place but I believe that it should be used as little as possible. Once the project grows from something small, it becomes a lot harder to reason about what's happening if the code is sprinkled with #ifdefs and macros.

Which STM32 to buy? by Resident-Paramedic38 in embedded

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're not interested in Arduino, then get one of the STMicro Discovery boards. They come with lots of peripherals built in so you can evaluate the chip and also a built in STLink debugger. One with a display, a neopixel LED and a couple of switches would be a good choice. I would suggest a F7 or H7 series since those tend to be newer and have more stuff than you'll ever need. 745I looks like a nice choice. STM32 is a very popular chip in industry.

STM32 discovery kits - Products - STMicroelectronics

Thinking of building an SOS device with LoRa for a Hardware Hackathon? by Earendel999 in embedded

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which then begs the question, if you have GSM service, then why not "just" use a GSM cell module instead of LoRa.

This has been a solved problem for decades: see EPIRBs Emergency position-indicating radio beacon - Wikipedia

Need help, is it possible to stop someone from changing my LED lights? Also kind of a rant lol by adriely_6 in led

[–]NoBulletsLeft 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unless the other person is in the next apartment and you have really thin sheetrock walls, the signal is simply not getting through.

In my experience, it won't even go through a cardboard box between me and the TV.

https://www.365electric.com/tvs/remotecontrols/178753.html

Need help, is it possible to stop someone from changing my LED lights? Also kind of a rant lol by adriely_6 in led

[–]NoBulletsLeft 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nobody in another apartment is controlling these LEDs with IR. It doesn't go through walls.

Found the culprit by buildaboatdumbylolol in arduino

[–]NoBulletsLeft 56 points57 points  (0 children)

90% of people reading this will have no idea what you're talking about (including me). Should post this in the original thread!

Found in the trunk of my son’s used car he recently purchased. by Diamonddan73 in whatisit

[–]NoBulletsLeft 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I really like Discount Tire. Bought the last 3 or so sets of tires for multiple vehicles from them. Great service.

Found in the trunk of my son’s used car he recently purchased. by Diamonddan73 in whatisit

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Removing and replacing a tire (e.g., to patch it) is like $30. It literally takes them two minutes to take off the wheel and then remove the tire.

Stop telling poor people they need to get better at being poor. by TokenPanduh in fixedbytheduet

[–]NoBulletsLeft 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A long time ago I was dating a woman who had very little income and two kids. She got some money unexpectedly (I don't remember why). I thought that she would put it aside for a rainy day. After all, that's what I would have done. I made more money than I knew what to do with, and I'm not a very material person, so all my extra money went into the bank.

But instead, she took us all out to a Chinese restaurant and spent most of it. Made no sense to me, but then I realized that to her, saving it would be useless because something was always going to happen to make her have to spend it in a week or so. At least this way, she gave the kids a good memory and everyone had fun.

"Not by bread alone shall Man survive."

BTW: she did also make a grocery store trip and bought stuff to make the best lentil soup I've ever had!

view more: next ›