MEP EP#70: Bits Flying In

Podcast Notes

• Parker
  • Ordered Compressor IoT Board. Will start on the Software side.
  • Wrote an article about PCB board outlines and what to watch out for. Will be released next week.
  • Defining planes in DipTrace with board outlines vs Eagle.
  • Parker has Vias that haunt him. Bad pinout designs for ICs can cause unnecessary vias in board layout. The LSM9DS1TR is an example of one.
• Stephen
  • Synthesizer Update
    • MIDI code problems and triumphs
    • Audio clip of before tuning and after tuning.
    • Frequency doubles for every ½ volt you put in for the VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator).
    • Zener diode – Zener diodes leak – caused huge calibration issues with synth.
    • The Zener diode was installed to prevent over voltage of the ADC.
    • Lower frequencies were really sharp, higher frequencies were flat. Plot of IV curve now matches with data sheet.
    • Basically Stephen characterized the Zener Diode leakage current!
  • Article series for the synth – on modules and theory of operation. Block diagrams and explain how these work.
• Pick Of the Week (POW)
  • Doomed Thermostat
    • Honeywell Prestige Thermostat
    • STM32F429 processor ARM9 processor
    • This is starting to be the 1337 version of blinky. Hello Doom?
    • It runs doom!
• Rapid Fire Opinion (RFO)
  • TI reference design TIDA-01243
    • USB Type-C™ and Power Delivery Minidock With Video and Charging Support Reference Design
    • 20V 3A (60W)
  • Procedural generating random medieval cities – HackADay
    • Great for D&D.
    • Generate a city on the go.
    • Cool color scheme.
    • 3D printing D&D figurines? Stephen goes back on his opinion of 3D printers.
  • Raspberry Pi named a finalist for national engineering award – Electronics Weekly
    • Raspberry Pi has been named as one of this finalists for this year’s coveted MacRobert Award, the innovation prize awarded each year by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
    • 1% of the Global PC Market

Are you interested in seeing a blog series for the synth we’re working on? Let us know!