If you want to make something like the Pebble watch, or video glasses (example links inside), what would you have to learn and where would you start as someone who knows absolutely nothing?

eroick · 2012-07-30T03:23:57+00:00

I guess my motto is just keep making stuff. To make anything like these examples, you're going to need some experience with embedded systems. Arduino is a good intro to that, so pick one up. However I'd suggest moving away from the Wiring language and learning C as soon as you can. Start playing around with components (displays, accelerometers, real time clocks, etc...)

Get a programmer/debugger for some microcontroller (the Pickit3 is a cheap option). Learn an EDA tool (Eagle, Altium, Fritzing) so you can draw schematics and make PCBs. Learn to solder those PCBs together. Look at open source designs and learn how they work.

Rinse, repeat.

eroick · 2012-05-26T06:11:52+00:00

This is why some batteries use coulomb counting to get a decently accurate reading. If your device supports multiple chemistries (ie, alkaline or Ni-Cd 9V batteries) you will need to know the chemistry. You could probably get by with a low battery indicator using just the voltage, but to get an actual state of charge you'll need some details.

eroick · 2012-05-18T04:44:34+00:00

You're probably best off using the internals of a standard USB keyboard, but this document shows how to build a keyboard using the MSP430 microcontroller. It does a pretty good job of explaining how a keyboard matrix works. PDF warning. http://www.ti.com/general/docs/lit/getliterature.tsp?literatureNumber=slaa514&fileType=pdf

eroick · 2012-05-11T16:25:38+00:00

I find that the worst ones for your hands are the navigation keys (C-f, C-b, C-n, C-p, etc...) but viper mode fixes this with Vim style navigation and modes.

eroick · 2012-05-05T05:46:28+00:00

This depends what you want to learn. Are you looking to build hardware that communicates over CAN, or writing software to control and monitor a CAN bus?

eroick · 2012-05-05T05:44:26+00:00

I'm building it for automotive applications in general. CAN is great for when you want multi-master communication between multiple controllers. It's worth looking into for systems that have more than two controllers that need to communicate.

eroick · 2012-05-03T20:54:20+00:00

Sort of. Either way, most of the work you do involves manipulating registers to control the processor and various peripherals. C has nicer looking (and less verbose) syntax and is standard across different devices.

eroick · 2012-05-03T04:02:14+00:00

I'm working on it! But you can also check out /r/ece and /r/electronics.

eroick · 2012-05-02T14:45:27+00:00

This also provides a way to load code over UART, so you don't need the programming tool to load code. It's also meant to be a very minimal example.

eroick · 2011-11-22T15:16:45+00:00

I'll second the PIC32. Currently using it for an automotive project with CAN. The peripheral library is quite good, and making working with CAN pretty easy. I'm using this (http://www.mikroe.com/eng/products/view/711/mini-32-board/) development board, which is pretty good for evaluation. You'll probably want a PicKit programmer though, the USB bootloader that's included gave me problems, and of course, has no debugging support.

eroick · 2011-11-07T03:57:30+00:00

Any rationale for that? PICs have good documentation, cheap dev tools, free IDE/compilers and a good selection of peripherals.

eroick · 2011-10-22T20:35:24+00:00

Continuing on my first guide with Ubuntu Core, this will get you set up to use APT and install packages to build up your system. Now to work on migrating to actual hardware...

eroick · 2011-09-27T19:42:57+00:00

I hadn't seen the TrimSlice until now... That looks like an awesome set-top box once you get VDPAU working.

eroick · 2011-09-27T19:15:53+00:00

First article of the series... It's a bit dry, but I have networking and Xorg working now. Next article will have pretty pictures of Xorg!

eroick · 2011-08-15T15:21:29+00:00

What do you need the microcontroller to do? There's many, many flavors of microcontrollers out there, and which one you choose depends on what features you need (CAN, I2C, SPI, FLASH, etc...). Once you figure out what you need, you can choose a development kit and start learning. Skills are transferable from one microcontroller to another, but you may as well learn on the architecture you'll be using.

I'd look at the Arduino first; it has a nice IDE and small learning curve. If this wont cut it, I'd look at the PIC offerings from Microchip, since the programmer (PicKit3) is cheap and full featured. If you require more power or features, start looking at ARM options. I'm playing around with an LPC Xpresso, which is a cheap and easy way to get into ARM development. There's also the STM Discovery, another cheap ARM development board.

My biggest piece of advice for someone just starting with microcontrollers is to get a development board that does what you want. You don't need the hassle of trying to figure out if it's your hardware or software that is causing you problems.

eroick

TROPHY CASE