Bus Pirate and the MCP4725 DAC via I2C

Bus Pirate and the MCP4725 DAC via I2C.  Wow.  What a mouthful.  Following up on one of the most popular posts (SparkFun DAC Breakout Board Tutorial) in this guide we will take a look at controlling the MCP4725 DAC via the I2C protocol using a Bus Pirate from Dangerous Prototype.  Before we get started let’s…

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Expanding Your Horizons … And Your Ports

One frustrating aspect of designing a project around a microcontroller is the realization that you don’t have enough GPIO pins to drive all the all components you want to include. If you are lucky there are larger chips with the same architecture you have chosen (think going from and Arduino Uno to an Arduino Mega)….

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Rise of The Purple Collar Worker

A little background in case you’ve never heard the terms blue collar or white collar jobs. To be a blue collar worker was to hold a job that tended to be more physical labor and less education.  Whereas as white collar workers tended to be the office drones, sometimes requiring college education.  Blue collar tended to…

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Maker Lessons from Cooking

You may not have an electronics laboratory or woodworking shop at your home, but chances are you do have a kitchen. There is also a chance that every now and then you use for it’s intended purpose of cooking food. In my mind cooking is the original Maker skill. Instead of mixing together electronic components,…

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Prototyping Workflow using the Silhouette Portrait

Long the tool of choice of scrapbookers and wedding invite makers, the humble electronic tool is finding itself more and more a part of industrial design workflows. Known to many as a Cricut machine (Cricut being a company that manufacturers these tools, think Kleenex versus tissues or Windex versus window cleaner) these “CNC knives” are very…

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GoR 21: Not Your Grandpa’s DIY

Gears of Resistance Episode #21 for 17 April 2016   http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/GOR/2016/GOR_0021_17APR16.mp3   This week we cover: Arduino MKR1000 Hackster.io Johnny-Five.io JavaScript Robotic Framework MPLABX Xpress IDE Embroidered Antennas Sewing Loops Mandrels (for making wire loops and coils) Silhouette Portrait 2D Design: Pixelmator  |  AutoDesk Graphic 3D DESIGN: SketchUp   |  AutoDesk 123D Design Pepakura Designer Matboard Airbrushing Super…

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Making BIG Things In SMART Ways

If you are interested developing a lightweight project management ethos, may I recommend these four books: Creativity, Inc. : Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland The Project Manager’s Guide to Mastering Agile…

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Passion. It Makes All The Difference.

I was recently asked to help mentor some upcoming graduates with their interviewing skills. Aside from the perfunctory suggestions of showing up on time and bringing extra copies of your resume, the most important thing I stressed was you must, above all else, exude passion. Here’s the reality.  Universities are cranking out degree holders at…

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SPP 78: Gravity in Meatspace

S.T.E.A.M. Power Podcast #78 for March 6, 2016 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/SPP/2016/STEAM_0078_6MAR16.mp3 This week we cover: Gravitational Waves Discovered Ex-NSA Chief Agrees with Apple Teaching Math Using Dance and Theater Google Invents Needless-Needle MIT Brings IFTTT to Meatspace Mattel’s $300 Toy 3D Printer [Download] For more tech news and how-to’s visit the blog, follow along on Google+, and check out our YouTube Channel. Or listen…

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GOR 20: Bus Pirate Says ‘01010010’

Gears of Resistance Episode #20 14 February 2016 http://greenshoegarage.com/podcast/GOR/2016/GOR_0020_14FEB16.mp3   This week we cover: Occipital Structure 3D Scanner | Meshmixer | Meshlab | Netfabb Glowforge Inventables Carvey Desktop CNC Router Bus Pirate Saleae Logic Analyzer Don’t forget this is a great time of year to go through your lab or workshop and tidy up.  Get rid of…

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