Electronics – Page 3 – Geronimo/370

Totem Mini Lab – replacement Lab Board

Posted on2017-12-20

Totem Mini Lab – replacement Lab Board Today I received a replacement Lab Board in which the guys of the Totem team made improvements, amongst others, based upon my tests and suggestions. Here’s the contents of the package. A new test will follow: SaveSave SaveSave… Read the rest

Totem Rotary encoder – explained

Posted on2017-12-182021-11-12

Totem Rotary encoder – explained How does it work? I was fumbling around with the Totem Mini Lab’s Side Panel 1, especially with the rotary encoder that s mounted on this side board. At first, I could not make heads or tails from it, but, using my oscilloscope, I’ve figured… Read the rest

TotemDuino connected to MacBook!

Posted on2017-12-14

TotemDuino connected to MacBook! After some mailing back and forth with the Totem team, they found a solution. Oddly enough, it’s a solution I tried, but it did not work the first time. It appears one has to install the Prolific USB-to-Serial drivers. Installation log Here’s what I did now:… Read the rest

Totem Side Panel 1 – rotary Encoder

Posted on2017-12-08

Totem Side Panel 1 – rotary Encoder I did some further investigation into the working of the rotary encode in the Side Panel 1. At first, I could not make heads or tails from it, but I think I’ve figured it out now. It appears that both connections – labeled… Read the rest

Totem Mini Lab – testing the Side Panel 1

Posted on2017-12-08

Totem Mini Lab – testing the Side Panel 1 The Side Panel 1 is powered from the Mini Lab board, using both its 3,3 Volt and the 5 Volt connections. NOTE: it is very important to set the Side Panel 1 to the same voltage as has been set in… Read the rest

Totem Mini Lab – Side Panel 1

Posted on2017-12-05

Totem Mini Lab – Side Panel 1 I suppose in thanks for my review and for making contact between the Totem team and a Dutch distributor, they decided to send me a pre-production version of their Side Panel 1. Functions It’s a board with a couple of functions that make… Read the rest

Totem Mini Lab – first review

Posted on2017-12-03

Totem Mini Lab – first review A couple of weeks ago I came across the site of Totem. They make interesting stuff! Amongst other things they produce what they call a “Totem mini Lab” (see picture on the right, click for larger image). This seems a good setup for lesson… Read the rest

Totem Mini Lab Testing – feedback

Posted on2017-12-02

Totem Mini Lab Testing – feedback I sent my test results to the Totemmakers team and they responded to my findings. Voltage measurements The voltage measurement is about 40-50 milliVolts of in idle mode. Their response: “To test if 0.5V input channel is okay, just connect 0.5V input channel and… Read the rest

Totem Makers – frame for Raspberry Pi

Posted on2017-12-01

Totem Makers – frame for Raspberry Pi Done testing, tonight I decided to make a frame for my Raspberry Pi 3 B with touchscreen. It was inconveniently laying on my desk, leaning on some awkward extenders; flimsy at best. I cut some Totem beams at the right lengths, mounted them… Read the rest

‘Lab’ description

Posted on2017-11-25

‘Lab’ description I made a new description of my electronics lab (or workbench) and the equipment and tools that I use here. I’ve tried to do so in categories. The most elementary tools and equipment has been described. … Read the rest

IoT : Internet of Things – Raspberry Pi Zero W

Posted on2017-10-25

Raspberry Pi Zero W Wow… I say again: wow… I keep getting amazed by the sheer size of credit-card sized computers. The newest one (that I know of) is the Raspberry Pi Zero W. See picture on there right. For you to be able to see the size I made… Read the rest

8 bit computer, solution for the microcode

Posted on2017-10-09

8 bit computer, solution for the microcode As I mentioned in this post, I was looking for a solution to program a couple of EEPROMs that are going to hold the microcode for my 8 bit computer. Using an Arduino Nano, I created a solution that also uses a python… Read the rest

8 bit computer, building up the Control Unit

Posted on2017-09-30

8 bit computer, building up the Control Unit Here’s the start of the building of my Control Unit:… Read the rest

8 bit computer, storing the microcode, solution

Posted on2017-09-30

8 bit computer, storing the microcode, solution I have a solution for the micro code predicament mentioned before. I’m using an 8KB EEPROM memory chip (the AT28C64). These memory chips will be divided into four segments, each holding pieces of microcode. Decoding instructions This microcode will be addressed as follows:… Read the rest

8 bit computer, microcode challenges

Posted on2017-09-24

8 bit computer, microcode challenges My 8 bit instructions can have up to 8 microcode steps each; I defined up to 24 control signals (thus needing 3 bytes per step); So in the Arduino Nano I’m using, I have to define them as uint32_t variables (which are 4 bytes long).… Read the rest