todbot blog

listComPorts – Windows command-line tool for USB-to-serial

todbot — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:55:21 +0000

Did you know each Arduino has a unique serial number in its USB interface that you can use to distinguish one Arduino from another? If you deal with multiple Arduinos, knowing exactly which one is plugged into your computer can be a real time-saver. But actually getting at this serial number and mapping it to COM ports can be challenging.

For Windows computers, here’s “listComPorts”, implemented both in GCC C code and in VBScript, both available from my usbSearch github repository.

It gives the COM port number, the manufacturer name, the USB Vendor ID and Product ID (VID & PID) and [...]

Invisible Accent Light with BlinkM MaxM & FreeM

todbot — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:22:53 +0000

Sometimes you just want a little extra light in a room. With RGB LED tape, you can put light anywhere. But controlling its brightness and making it the color you want is a bit harder. A BlinkM MaxM can easily control LED tape, either as a stand-alone device, with an Arduino, or your computer via a LinkM. Stand-alone mode is great if you want a specific color or color pattern (the BlinkMSequencer makes this really easy) For this installation, I added a FreeM to the MaxM to let you control the light with a standard [...]

I’m a video star on Slate, sort of

todbot — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:39:35 +0000

SlateV had a feature on 3D printing and Makerbots entitled “How to Print a Bicycle”. Bre of course was the spokesman. About halfway through it though, my friend Jon saw my face. Whoop, I’m famous! Okay, so maybe not famous exactly. But they did feature one of my creations.

While I think it’s cool they used my laser-cut iPhone stand as the representative of what Thingiverse is about, they probably should have used something 3d printed instead of laser cut. :)

From Illustrator to Eagle: Vector graphics in circuits

todbot — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:30:25 +0000

Eagle is a great cross-platform, free-for-non-commercial-use tool for many of us designing own own circuit boards. But it has a pretty glaring omission: the ability to import vector artwork to use as board outlines, logos, etc. You can import bitmaps via the finicky “import_bmp.ulp” ULP add-on, but bitmaps can’t work for board outlines. So we struggle with Eagle’s rudimentary vector drawing tools or have boring rectangular or circular boards. I think I’ve found a way to robustly transfer vector artwork from Illustrator to Eagle. Below I show an “amoeba” vector shape in Illustrator being [...]

BlinkM Cylon mkII

todbot — Mon, 30 May 2011 06:32:04 +0000

For Maker Faire this year I made a second version of my BlinkM Cylon: BlinkM Cylon mkII. This is not a very cost-effective way of getting a Cylon effect. It however is a good way of showing how to wire up multiple BlinkMs with a long cable, using our new WireM cabling kit for BlinkM. And unlike normal Cylon circuits, this has full RGB color effects and gradual fading.

Here’s a quick video showing it in action.

BlinkM Cylon mkII consists of: - 13 BlinkMs (one for each of the tribes of Kobol) - one WireM cabling kit for BlinkM, consisting [...]

NFC & RFID on Android, my Where2.0 2011 talk

todbot — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:38:52 +0000

I was invited to be a speaker at O’Reilly Where 2.0 Conference. It’s a conference mostly about mapping technologies, location-based services, and interesting new location-aware mobile apps.

I spoke about RFID and NFC, in the context of the release of the new NFC-capable Android phone, the Google Nexus S. Having an RFID reader in a phone could cause a big change in how we interact with the world around us. I talked about what RFID and NFC technologies are, how they work, some examples of them in the world and on Android, and how to add [...]

BlinkM Smart LED as the Smallest Arduino

todbot — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:17:29 +0000

Did you know you can run Arduino programs on tiny BlinkM Smart LEDs? It might make BlinkM the smallest Arduino so far. To use a BlinkM as an Arduino, all you need is the free Arduino software, a low-cost AVR programmer, some wire, and a BlinkM.

Here’s a quick video showing how it all works.

BlinkM Capabilities as an Arduino

The BlinkM board doesn’t have nearly the I/O pins and other features of a real Arduino board. But it is very tiny. Here are its capabilities: - 0.4″ square (MinM), or 0.6″ square (BlinkM) - 8MHz clock speed - [...]

Using FreeM with BlinkM MaxM

todbot — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:13:33 +0000

While FreeM is mostly designed to work with BlinkMs and MinMs, it can be made to work with MaxMs. FreeM cannot supply the power that MaxMs need (250mA and FreeM can only supply up to 100mA), but there are other ways. One way to do it is to power the FreeM from the MaxM’s built-in 5V power supply.

To do this, get a MaxM, a FreeM, a small scrap of wire, and a 12VDC power supply.

Remove the “pwrsel” jumper and wrap the small piece of wire around all three pins of the “pwrsel” jumper. Then plug the [...]

BlinkM Battery Pack HowTo

todbot — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:41:20 +0000

Make a long-lasting, rechargeable battery pack for your BlinkM MaxM, BlinkM, or BlinkM MinM using just pliers, no soldering!

BlinkMs are perfect for portable, stand-alone uses. There are many ways to hook a BlinkM to battery sources. Here’s one way that works for all BlinkMs.

BlinkM Battery Pack: Step 1: Get all the parts together

Parts are:

- BlinkM MaxM, BlinkM, or BlinkM MinM

- 4xAA battery holder with switch, like this Jameco one or Mouser one

- 4xAA NiMH batteries (not alkaline!)

- 2×8 IDC crimp connector (FCI 71600-308LF), from Digikey 609-3570-ND or Mouser 649-71600-308LF

Tools you’ll need: - pliers with wide jaws to crimp - cutters [...]

WiFi for Arduino with Asus WL-520gu

todbot — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:48:42 +0000

I love Arduino but its lack of wireless bugs me. And it sucks that WiFi Shields for the Arduino cost as much a cell phone. I want something cheap. Turns out, small, cheap WiFi routers like the Asus WL-520gu can run the DD-WRT Linux firmware and act as serial-to-network gateway for Arduinos (or most any other USB device). Here’s how to do it.

(Hey, is this a Wifi-controlled BlinkM? I think it is.)

A quick video showing a router acting as a serial-to-network gateway:

This is not that new of a concept, hacking Linux onto a router for some [...]

ReflashBlinkM: Update your BlinkM’s firmware

todbot — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:32:45 +0000

All BlinkM-family devices can have their firmware updated. This makes them great for tiny development boards for ATtiny processors. ReflashBlinkM is an application that makes it easy to put back the original firmware or update a BlinkM to the latest firmware.

Previously you needed an AVR ISP programmer like the AVRISPmkII or the USBtinyISP. Thanks to the ArduinoISP sketch that ships with Arduino, if you have already have an Arduino, you can easily reflash your BlinkM with new firmware.

The ReflashBlinkM application is a tool for Mac OS X and Windows that uses ArduinoISP to help you reflash BlinkMs to their default [...]

SoftI2CMaster: Add I2C to any Arduino pins

todbot — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:14:01 +0000

Ever wanted to use any pair of pins for I2C on Arduino, not just the dedicated pins on Analog 4 & 5? Me too, so I made a quick little Arduino library called “SoftI2CMaster”, available in the “blinkm-projects” Googlecode repository.

Get it here: SoftI2CMaster.h, SoftI2CMaster.cpp.

It’s still a work in progress, but it can write data pretty successfully and do it over longer cables than normal.

For the VIMBY/Scion Hackerspace Challenge, I created an array of BlinkM MaxM-powered accent lights for the device we made. Because the I2C cable was longer than a few feet, the normal Wire library that [...]

Hacking USB HID for Easy Tethered Ubicomp

todbot — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:31:04 +0000

At this years Sketching in Hardware conference, I gave a talk on the general approach I used to create LinkM, ThingM’s USB-to-I2C adapter for programming and controlling BlinkMs. I called it “Hacking USB HID for Easy Tethered Ubicomp” (4.8MB PDF) to give it a form that fit within some of the larger issues I’ve been dealing with in creating easily usable ubiquitous computing devices.

USB has many different (and confusing) aspects to it. I’ve long advocated the creation of a set of libraries and patterns to make “driverless” USB a reality. A sort of training wheels for USB. [...]

ThingM at Maker Faire 2010

todbot — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:51:08 +0000

My company ThingM had an official presence at Maker Faire this year. We were showing off the BlinkM line, including the new BlinkM MinM and the LinkM USB BlinkM controller. It was a lot of fun. And packed!

(click any photo to go to larger version on Flickr)

We were in the Maker Shed building, right underneath the Arduino banner, so we got lots of awesome questions about Arduino. The most common: “So I just picked up this thing that says ‘works with Arduino’…well, what *is* Arduino?” It was so great to see so many people interested [...]

MobileMe Free: iPhone to iCal OTA syncing

todbot — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:05:19 +0000

I’ve been frustrated with my calendars not being in sync between my iPhone and my Mac’s iCal. I’ve inadvertently double-booked myself many times. I didn’t want to spend $99 a year for MobileMe because I already spent a lot on remote servers and don’t need most of what MobileMe offers. I just want calendar syncing. The below has been described by many others, in much greater detail and clarity. This is really a list of things I did so I can remember it.

The essential idea is both iCal and the iPhone Calendar program can talk [...]