Fletchtronics

Just a quick post today. Some nice software was written for the DIY game pad that didn't get produced. The MCP3204 driver is in particularly good shape to be distributed as a stand-alone item.

There is an example schematic using this chip on the Using Userial Tutorial.

So here it is. Current version is 0.1. It is released under the terms of the Apache License version 2.0.

Download MCP3204 AVR Driver, version 0.1.

Configure chip select and the actual SPI pins for your particular AVR model in MCP3204.h.

#include <MCP3204.h>
...
MCP3204_Init();
uint16_t ch0_val = MCP3204_Read(MCP3204_CH_0);


Note: it's very likely that this driver would also work for MCP3208, but I don't own one to test it. If any readers wish to supply a patch I would be open to adding it.

From December 26 2009 through January 4 2010, I invite you into the process of building Bumble-B's. I'll build ten per day and video record the entire process.

While building, I'll chat all about Fletchtronics and how I started up a hobby / part-time evening business that is paying for itself and not breaking the bank.

A blog post with a more detailed description of the content, and room for Q&A in comments will accompany each video.

Update: Here is a link to all the 100 Bumble-Bs in 10 Days blog posts.

This tutorial explains how to connect a Bumble-B to an MCP3204 analog to digital converter and read the analog values using the userial program supplied with Bumble-B. The tutorial should work well for other boards that userial runs on, consult your local documentation for the correct pins.

Bumble-B and MCP3204 Breadboard Test Setup

Hopefully this tutorial will also give the basic idea of how to use the SPI features of userial more generally. This enables you to communicate between Bumble-B and interesting new devices without writing new software to test the peripheral.

UPDATE: Preorders are closed. This product is not going to be created because of lack of interest. We will probably offer a game pad at some future time, but not this one. Meantime, you can build your own joyticks and gamepads using Bumble-B

The DIYPad is coming soon to fletchtronics! It is a hand-held game controller that shows what the Bumble-B is capable of.

It's the perfect gift for anyone curious about microcontrollers and electronics who also has an interest in making or playing computer games. The DIYPad is a kit that requires soldering, so make sure you have a soldering iron and some solder handy.

The supplied Bumble-B ships with joystick firmware pre-installed that will work on any operating system that supports USB HID joysticks. That includes pretty much all modern computer operating systems and platforms. The full source code is supplied (see below for link), ready to be expand and enhanced with custom code.

So if you've been reading fletchtronics.net you've been hearing a lot lately about Bumble-B. I promise to blog about something else soon, just this one more :-)

Swarming Bumble-Bs