xplorer2 File Manager

I have been using the xplorer2 file manager on Windows for a few years.  I found it when I was looking for a dual-pane file manager that could also handle webdav folders.  Below is a screenshot that showing dual pane mode running on the developer's computer.  I also like to use the custom command feature with WinMerge to compare source code directories.

Special offer extended: January 5 xplorer2 is the BitsDuJour.com deal of the day on sale for $15 US. 

Android ADK Development Boards

Developers using Google's Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) now have more choices of hardware.  Initially the ADK supported the Arduino Mega2560 ($65 assembed from Adafruit) with Oleg Mazurov's USB Host Shield ($25).

Here is the current list from the Android Developers ADK page.

Arduino Mega ADK - available from the Arduino Store and Radio Shack $84.99

DIY Drones PhoneDrone Board for Android $99

mbed has a few solutions...

Microchip - Two boards are available, the PIC32 DM320412 (not yet for sale actually), and the PIC24 DM240415 $79.

Modern Device's Freeduino USB Host Board $79

RT Corp - RT-ADK&RT-ADS $389.03 (31,500 Yen)

Seeed Studio Seeeduino ADK Main Board $79

Sparkfun IOIO for Android (beta support) $49

Parallax Stamp and Boe-Bot Kits on Sale

If you are interested in  the BASIC Stamp by Parallax, the acitvity kit shown below is on sale for $49 US at the online store (normally $79).

They also have a Boe-Bot kit on sale for $179 with Li-Ion Robot Power Pack and Charger (currently low stock on this item).

Another option for Parallax kits is your local Radio Shack.  On a recent visit, the store closest to me had a few smaller Parallax BASIC Stamp kits, as well as an Arduino and some Velleman kits.

SparkFun Free Day 2012

In a few weeks SparkFun Electronics will be having free day where random visitors to the website will receive a $100 gift certificate.  The fun starts on January 11th, starting at 9AM Mountain Time.

Sparkfun is a great resource for your electronics needs.  In addition to parts and kits, you can find a tutorials like this one on selecting an accelerometer breakout board, and some interesting competitions like the autonomous vehicle competition.  I found a connection with a local school, teacher Steven Kennedy from Orchard Park High School is profiled in this SparkFun ad.  If you click the previous link you can see the full resolution and you can see from the poster he even has his own youtube channel for student projects.

TI Fixed Point DSP Kit Sale

Texas Instruments is offering a 16-bit fixed-point DSP development kit for $55 until the end of the year, the C5535 eZdsp USB Stick Development Kit, normally priced at $99.  The processor is advertised as the industry's lowest-cost and lowest power DSP in its class.  Included in the kit is a free software framework for USB audio class and HID.

Robotshop Taking Over The World's Robots

Robotshop is already the leading source for robots, now they want to control all of them with the MyRobots.com portal. The service is currently in beta, but free, so you might want to register now to try it out. The site lets you monitor and control your internet enabled robot with an open API.  If your robot doesn't have an internet connection, the MyRobots Connect kit will let you access the serial port of with an XBee wireless transceiver.

Another part of MyRobots.com that is under development is the Robot App Store, where you can sell your robot enabled apps that can run on the robot or in the cloud.

Of course, if you don't yet have a robot, you can buy one already compatible with the site from Robotshop.  Shown below is the Arduino compatible DFRobotShop Rover.  They have a lot more than robots, including development boards, soldering equipment, 3D printers and test instruments.

Electronic Guitar Pickguard

Eli Hughes, a research engineer and consultant, entered the Freescale Make It Challenge for Kinetis MCUs with an active guitar pickgaurd that really works as you can see from the video.

For the technical details on this design see this deep dive video by Eli.  It is pretty interesting how complex this design was for the contest.  He does a great job making the physics and math behind it understandable.

Freescale Single-Chip ARM With DSP and LCD Controller

The new K70 MCU from Freescale for graphics LCD applications features an ARM Cortex-M4 with DSP and floating point extensions.  A stand-alone development board is available and is compatible with the Frescale Tower System, the TWR-K70F120M for $109 US.  If you want to use it in a tower, the TWR-K70F120M-KIT also includes the elevator modules and serial module for $179.

EEWeb Featured Engineer

Today I'm the featured engineer on EEWeb.com.  You can read a short interview about my interests in electronics and my electrical engineering career (and see a geeky picture of me).

EEWeb is a electrical engineering community site with sections focusing on analog design, RF design, power management, embedded design, test and measure, components and PCB design.  There is also a forum, jobs and even an original electrical engineering comic.

Micron Technical Notes Aid Board Bring-Up

You might not expect more than a datasheet from a memory company, but Micron has many useful technical notes for both hardware and software development.  Many are especially helpful for bringing up new hardware.    Below are some examples:

Software development

• Initialization Sequence for DDR SDRAM
• NAND Flash Performance Increase
• Wear-Leveling Techniques in NAND Flash Devices
• Enabling a Flash Memory Device into the Linux MTD
• Bad Block Management in NAND Flash Memory

Hardware design

• Calculating DDR Memory System Power
• Bypass Capacitor Selection for High-Speed Designs

General/Introductory

• NAND Flash 101 - An Introduction to NAND Flash and How to Design It In to Your Next Product
• Understanding Signal Integrity
• Evaluating Tools that Measure Storage Device Performance

There are many more notes for specific technologies and device families.

• Booting from Embedded MMC
• Boot-from-NAND Using Micron®  MT29F1G08ABB NAND Flash with the Texas Instruments™ (TI) OMAP2420 Processor

Micron also has software device drivers, example code, and Linux patches to use with its memory.

• BeagleBoard SPI NAND MTD for Linux 2.6.33
• NAND Hamming Code Software