Fletchtronics

On the train on my way to work yesterday morning I was hit with an inspiration on how to build something like the hotpot and softpot potentiometers that sparkfun.com sells. Only, I wanted something that cost a bit less than $19. See? Commuting really is good for something!

Remembering back to my days as a troublemaking youngster, I recalled that putting 12 volts across the lead of a pencil caused it to glow brightly red (and then stink up the basement). So I knew that it would conduct and that it has resistance.

So I wondered if something as simple as pencil on paper could be used as a resistor. As it turns out, yes, yes it can.

Inside LUFA is a neat project called AVRISP. With this code, your BumbleB becomes a programmer for other AVRs. The project can be found in ./Projects/AVRISP. With a few changes we can use this code and BumbleB to program other AVRs and even other Bumble-Bs.

Bumble-B AVRISP -> ATMega168 Example

When building devices with USB capable microcontrollers, a quick and simple option for communicating with a host PC is to use CDC, a virtual serial port. This handy mechanism is built into all modern PC operating systems. However, the way you open a serial port, set line settings, and start speaking serial are very different between Microsoft Windows and POSIX based platforms. This library and program bridges the differences between the two APIs and supplies a console tool for making communication in scripts much simpler.

Fletchtronics is now offering the first in a series of Complete Solutions, a set of useful components and development boards.

Complete means centralized information. You won't have to search around the web for information about the component. All relevant links and immediately important information will be posted on the product page.