At the end of last year I completed a project to build a Rasbperry-Pi-based DAC streamer. Effectively it was building a power supply for a Raspberry Pi zero and the connected Hifiberry DAC+ pro HAT. The idea of that power supply was to provide clean power to the DAC to ensure the best possible sound reproduction. Cutting a long story short: I misused that power supply a little for something else and because of that broke one of the TPS74A7 regulator modules which I chose because of their low noise capabilities. With the idea of rebuilding that channel with something new and with a little more ..read more

Introduction Circuit Building It Parts List Code Uploading the Code to the Pi Pico Summary   Introduction There is a kids' toy that is a pocket-sized voice/effects box. It has half a dozen buttons on the front, and whenever any button is pressed, a burst of audio is played. Such toys are cheap when released, but eventually can sell for quite a lot on ebay! I wanted to build something similar, i.e. from a birds-eye view there is nothing very original for this project, the end result is an open-sourced rip-off of the commercial products : ) See the two-minute video below for a demonstr ..read more

Introduction Pre-built Double Precision MicroPython Firmware Setting up the PC to build MicroPython Firmware Building a Release Version of MicroPython with Double Precision Building Latest Snapshot version of MicroPython with Double Precision Example Double Precision Output Summary   Introduction The Raspberry Pi Pico can be programmed in different ways, and the Python language is quite attractive. Code can be immediately typed at a prompt (known as a shell or console), or can be written in files and drag-and-dropped to the USB file storage drive letter that appears when you plug the ..read more

Introduction Working with the Pi Pico and CircuitPython Circuit Code Main code update_rotval function update_speedrange function Summary   Introduction This short blog post covers how I got a display and rotary encoderrotary encoder functioning with the Pi PicoPi Pico. The information here could be useful for many scenarios where a value needs to be dialed in, for instance, to control motor speed or to adjust the frequency of a circuit. My current use case was to control frequency.   The 1-minute video here demonstrates the project.   A slightly unusual LCD was used – i ..read more

I made a post about this Raspberry Pi focused project A Raspberry Pi project for childhood Educators...that doesn't cost a dime. and received some positive feedback. The event is open for another year. Maybe someone in the community is interested in participating.   There are two challenges for Astro Pi, ranging in length and complexity: Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. Young people can participate in one or both. In Mission Zero, young people write a simple Python program that takes a sensor reading and displays a message on the LED screen. This year, participation in Mission Zero al ..read more

I bought an AmScope trinocular microscope several years back and find it handy (but not a necessity) for the electronics I do.  Another reason I bought it was to entertain the grandkids and perhaps interest them in the natural world.  I like to use it with the eyepieces because of the stereo but the kids can't really get it adjusted correctly and from time to time it would be nice to capture an image or take a video.  A decent microscope camera costs $200 USD and up so here I look at DIY. I've tried various things like making a holder for my iPhone and playing around with the ..read more

I need a few more analog inputs on the RPI Pico for part of my upcoming Project14 build.   The venerable CD4051 seemed like a good fit, will run on 3.3V and is available in a 16-DIP package. Today I popped over to my local electronics/hobby shop (Sayal). I ended coming home with a 4051 Analog-Mux with a 1995 date code, from a semiconductor supplier I not familiar with AVG Semiconductors.   I wired up a resistor ladder long the 8 inputs just to give it a test run.   With a few lines of micropython: from machine import Pin, ADC from time import sleep MUXA0 = Pin(20,Pin.OUT) M ..read more

Does anyone have any insight into lan78xx usb driver support for the Raspberry Pi?   I am attempting to use a Microchip PoE USB-C device to enabling networking to a Raspberry Pi4B. The work is part of a RoadTest for Microchip PoE to USB-C® Power and Data Adapter .   A quick check with a command line lsmod shows no lan78xx driver. There is no /lib/modules/5.10.17-v7l+/kernel/net/usb to support the lan78xx as suggested in some posts I have found.   I did find this post https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Dual-Gigabit-Ethernet-Carrier-Board-for-Raspberry-Pi-CM4/   and successfu ..read more

The Raspberry Pi computer, Ed, made sleep difficult for an astronaut due to its LED display. (Image Credit: Astro Pi)   The Raspberry Pi Foundation outlined how its hardware ran thousands of programs developed by young students to the International Space Station. The European Astro Pi Challenge provided young people with the opportunity to develop programs running on Raspberry Pi computers aboard the ISS.  It offered two options for them to choose from, Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. Overall, 9,408 programs were written and ran for thirty seconds each on two Raspberry Pi Compu ..read more

Introduction Examples FIFO Blocking routines Non-Blocking (Polling) for FIFO Summary     Introduction   Earlier this week, I spotted that Arduino had updated their ArduinoCore-mbed Boards Manager files for Arduino Mbed OS RP2040 Boards to version 2.1.0.     The exciting part of this update is that it includes the pico-sdk multicore library, which I have been eager to try out for some time now.   Unfortunately for Arduino fans, there is no ready-made Arduino multicore examples available on the Arduino IDE. Instead you have to go to the Raspberry Pi Github ..read more