general-chat

[raw jasper]

hey, there is no need for the irony, not everyone has the means to justify spending 52$ on a hobby project

[violet parcel]

There wasnt any irony, English isnt my first language I was trying to be as a gentlest way I know of to point out without asking an LLm to copy-edit me to says that saying the real questions would be more more helpful for you. Im sorry if it sounded offensive

[sullen portal]

The updated version of that tutorial using an RP2040 Propmaker Feather is a lot simpler AND cheaper.

https://learn.adafruit.com/talking-d20-rp2040

You'd need to source the speaker elsewhere, but it's about $30-ish all total instead of almost $60.

[raw jasper]

It was mostly the ;) emoji that did it for me -- No worries, English isn't my first language either

[sullen portal]

Or switch to one of the other "8 ohm" speakers Adafruit sells that's small enough to fit.

[violet parcel]

could also use a board to run micro .net and runs nuget packages that roll dice and works on micro .net frameworks and that avoid all the other electronics but imho that isn't real electronics cuz it does what other devices can do and Id rather personally use electronics to do stuff that other hobbies cant

[winged oracle]

I'm sorry but I can't find the attached details on this page for d20 could you highlight them?

[violet parcel]

would 🙂 have been better here ? I didnt know how to convey that I had good intentions when I said my message and 😉 seemed to be the right way to says like, eye wink Im on your side...

[raw jasper]

Also @violet parcel do not ever think of using an LLM to copy-edit you. At least as far as I am concerned, I'd rather read "broken" human-generated English than "perfect" LLM output

[raw jasper]

I honestly do not know. I am far from an expert on emoji-based communication!

[violet parcel]

I know but I dont speak english well isn't it better than getting banned because I accidently said something offensive or that I didnt mean ? It it offends an llm safeguards surely it said it wrong...

[sullen portal]

You're sounding like a ChatGPT bot if you can't find the list of components on that page considering it takes up over 3/4ths of the page length.

[winged oracle]

First one it's a pack

[raw jasper]

I do not have the authority to ban you. And, as far as I'm concerned, any server that bans people before cross-checking intent is not worth being in

[winged oracle]

it's not that

[raw jasper]

Do not let the LLM salesfolks sell you your own insecurities back to you

[winged oracle]

Again I don't need this full "Adafruit RP2040 Prop-Maker Feather with I2S Audio Amplifier"

[winged oracle]

I just was trying to be nicer, but you can think that I am AI. I don't care

[violet parcel]

@sullen portal not sure what your point is roflmao. I mean copilot can 🤣

[winged oracle]

how much does it cost? @violet parcel

[violet parcel]

does what cost ? copilot ? came with windows

I aint paying for AI with cringe ethical takes and restrictions lol designed to protect their makers and convinced that anything it says is the holy truth. We have words for peoples who acts like that irl: arrogant annoying dunning-krueger person

[winged oracle]

of course not

d20

talking

I mean how much does it cost in total with all details

[violet parcel]

you could calculate yourself ?? why are you outsourcing that to random peoples on discord ? does this seems like a volunteer org to you ?

[violet parcel]

that sounded rude when you asks that btw

[winged oracle]

i can't

i don't see the details

which i have to buy

[stoic mesa]

this is one board. You can't get only part of it. (Ignore the photo, photo shows the board togther with additional components.)

[violet parcel]

you could click the links and adds up... there is a list of parts in the webpage, what is the problem here exactly ?

Are you not seeing the webpage or something ?

[stoic mesa]

so...

• propmaker feather, $20
• speaker, out of stock on adafruit, but easily available eslewhere, maybe $4
• battery, $7
• switch, $1
  total: $32
  plus the cost of 3d printing filament and misc items such as small screws and magnets

[violet parcel]

Id suggest pcb printing the feather to lower the cost even more since the schematic is open-source but so far I have no idea if you are trying to optimize for costs or simplicity or already have parts etc

cuz I still dont know what the X problem is that led to the X=>Y question

[stoic mesa]

that's not realsitic.
pcb manufacturing plus cost of parts will already be close to $20 - shipping from China will take another $20 (ignoring US tariffs set to start on May 2). and this is assuming you can do the assembly yourself - which requires solder paste, reflow oven, stencil and VERY high level of experience with reflow soldering.

If you want to order it assembled, your price will be much higher

[violet parcel]

but in #hw-design the other day they said it costs like 10$ for a single pcb ?! 😦

[stoic mesa]

bare pcb cost $2.
but then you need to add all components

[violet parcel]

Also me working with a metal knife on a live wire to change the connector: lol @ me being powered by 7.2V 2A...

[stoic mesa]

at some moment I replaced the connector on a 10-cell NiMH pack capable of 20A; do that, I needed to cut the wires with the flush cutters.

Cutting both wires at once.

That was... memorable

but I wouldn't suggest repeating that at home

[violet parcel]

yeah the LLMs freakouts and treat this the same as cutting a 80000kv power line .... which is very entertaining to me watching them freak out but 2A and 7.2V isnt dangerous at all wont even get a tingle I mean even a 9V battery at full amps only tingle the tongue...

I dont tend to open my chest cage when I work on electronics lol

and there is a built-in 1m ohm resistance on my body according to my multimeters so yeah...

2A in finger doesnt mean 10mA in the heart the body internal resistance is going to lower that a lot and 7.2V just dont push fast enough... but whatever seems like science comprehension isnt a thing anymore in 2025 ... it's 2A 7.2V so relax... that's like saaying I coul;d die if I brush on my arduino 800mA 5V when it's on... come on...

went fine just a little spark when it cut throught the wires lol it happens (it's NiMH not lipo) but it's ok I learned my electronics from electroboom

Now atleast I know they are charged, wasnt sure they came with charge from the factory 🤣

[stoic mesa]

7.2 v electrically is not dangerous to humans.
but shorting a powerful battery can lead to fire or explosion.
For example, a good 2s LiPo battery pack, even though it is only 7.4 v, can produce tens of amps, so shorting it can be very dangerous.

[violet parcel]

not really your oevreacting over low voltage/low amp which is misinformation/fake news just like the LLMs and Im sick of it because it's the plague of modern times

there no risks to human at low voltage and low amps

I can manage my own safety dont need condescending advice from peoples whod bully me irl anyway

so keep your own advice for yourself... so dont butt in my own security because Ill assume malicious intentions

I dont trust others with my safety - doing that is a good plan to die early like when they tell you to shelter in place during an incident in school or take the high-traffic stairs with others during fires

[fair summit]

Let's all cool the conversation down. If you feel like reacting, think twice. Thanks.

[terse lava]

So you were cutting and cauterization in one step. Can't blame you for trying to be efficient.😆

[sturdy dawn]

I forget who was helping me with emulator code. I'll try FCEUltra first. Been using that for longer that I can remember and it's also in C++

[bright veldt]

what are the actual bottlenecks for application development?

[sturdy dawn]

When you try to develop too many applications?

[raw jasper]

Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.
~ Zawinski's Law of Software Envelopment

[tardy badger]

I tell ya, I really enjoy being able to repair my own appliances. Just order some parts, they come in and I replace them in under an hour

[terse lava]

I had to fix my not too old oven last year. The oven was not heating up. Found one of the main contact pins for the relay driving the heaters was poorly soldered and eventually was no longer making contact. So didn't need to even order parts. I cleaned it up the burnt-ness then properly resoldered the joint.

Also found a bug in the code. 😆

[raw jasper]

Historically accurate too! :D

[stoic mesa]

I remember a question in some customer support forum:
"My computer stopped working, I opened the back cover and found this dead spider inside. SHoudl I get a new spider to replace him?"

[raw jasper]

May or may not fix your spider-related issues

[little quest]

Unless inside ur brain

[bitter badge]

A couple of months ago I was having a difficult time getting the QT Py CH552 working on my computer. I mentioned that I wanted to make an assembly programming tutorial series for it, if I could get it to work. I recently completed it, and I've published it on Substack as free content. (If you have any difficulties with the link, please let me know. I'm pretty new to Substack, and while I think I've got the settings right, it's possible I've messed something up.)

Anyhow, here is the table of contents with links to all of the individual posts.

https://techniumadeptus.substack.com/p/ch552-assembly-table-of-contents

(You don't have to subscribe to view any of the tutorials or this table of contents.)

[blissful oak]

hello folks. im wondering if anyone has used this project box before? https://www.adafruit.com/product/903

trying to figure out which batteries i could use in this enclosure

[charred lintel]

It depends on what other electronics you plan to fit in there.
You can check out some of the projects using it to get a better idea of the size https://learn.adafruit.com/products/903/guides

[dusk flax]

OMG I didn't know you could get all the guides for a project like that!!!!

[charred lintel]

Yep, they are linked at the bottom of every product page 🙂

[dusk flax]

Well, that link has been invisible to me until now...

[charred lintel]

It happens

[dusk flax]

I'm guessing I noticed it like 5 years ago and then forgot about it.

[rotund canopy]

Spending this much on one book nearly broke me

[stoic mesa]

I used such boxes before; they are nice.
I even made a small PCB that fits tightly inside, with mounting holes matching the supports in the box

[rapid geode]

wow, books are so cheap now.

[raw jasper]

Are you an immortal from before the invention of the printing press? :P

[solar kindle]

Gutenberg ruined the whole book experience for me. Print shops with all that new-fangled moveable type. Bah! Give me a good old-fashioned scriptorium any day.

[raw jasper]

The lack of liner notes by random monks really ruins the whole experience, doesn't it? :P

[crystal ore]

Nothing important gets written on that newfangled "papyrus" stuff anyway. It's so flimsy and fragile, let alone flammable! If you want people to really pay attention to your words, grab a stylus and start warming up your kiln for some clay...

[raw jasper]

Upgrade to Sumeria Excel Special BC edition now!

To be honest, at this point, I have been seriously considering throwing Windows XP and an era-appropriate version of office on some used thinkpad and using entirely it offline just for writing

No distractions, no "AI", no privacy hazards

[analog belfry]

Ladyada and PT also discussed your request on Ask an Engineer https://www.youtube.com/live/fVrmZe67Xcs?feature=shared&t=1896

[solar kindle]

Anyone have any experience with DigiKey's PCB service? The prices don't look too bad if you don't mind the "DK Red" limitations (e.g. you can get boards in any color as long as it's red 😄 ).

[tardy badger]

I haven’t used it but it’s pretty decent, comparable to Oshpark as they use the same PCB manufacturer

[night crescent]

Desk of Ladyada - Tariff Talk! ASK AWAY! 📦🌎💸

We're doing the show tonight or Tues, so much is going on. Lots more questions came in too! Post yours before we go live...

This week was not a big week for engineering because we're neck-deep in tariff management! We had a video on Wednesday about the first round of tariffs announced—they have since been ratcheted up to 20% + 125% = 145% minimum on products from China and Hong Kong. "Retaliatory" tariffs on products from other countries have been paused, but there's still a 10% global tariff.

Then on Friday, it looks like some HTS codes (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/clarification-of-exceptions-under-executive-order-14257-of-april-2-2025-as-amended/) were "exempted" temporarily (https://www.cbp.gov/). Let's take a look at the CBP (link) and the exempt tariff codes (https://hts.usitc.gov/) and see how they might apply to the kinds of stuff we use to do our electronics engineering.

The Great Search - How to Source Tariffed & Non-Tariffed Items on DigiKey
https://www.digikey.com/short/2nb7nzb3

Since this is the topic of the day, we'll be looking at how to purchase an item from DigiKey with tariffs in mind. DigiKey is a free trade zone, which means that if you're not in the USA, you will not have to pay additional tariffs on goods that are re-exported. However, for USA destinations, the new tariffs can add a significant cost if the component has its last manufacturing step in China.

Let's use the example of a simple I2C-controlled temperature sensor to see how our sourcing decisions may be impacted by tariffs.

[median viper]

@viscid folio last I checked like 1 day ago they said they will exempt the electronics component industry from tariff's (your lobby power), just to be sure, you might want to not make any orders and just sell what you have for awhile, I would advise against overpaying for something and the price goes right back down, unless you just LIKE sending the company paycheck to taxes 😦

[north robin]

All I want for Christmas is a Circuitpython API library for polar coordinates for the Adafruit 1.28" 240x240 Round TFT LCD Display

[sullen portal]

It's a single sin/cos pair to calculate though? Like what are you doing with/in polar coordinates instead of x/y?

[tardy badger]

I could see how it would be beneficial if you were making dial faces. But probably just a matter of doing the calculations yourself and translating to Cartesian coordinates

[sullen portal]

That was kinda my thought, like if it's only a few fixed angles you could store them in a list you calculate at startup, etc. And worst case a pre-calculated table of 1024 entries would be more precision than the perimeter of the display since that's only ~750 pixels circumference on the 240x240.

[vestal pier]

there's also tons of fast approximations out there

[jolly terrace]

Does anyone have advice for specing awg for lots of neopixels?

Its hard to weed through all the information each of it giving slightly different figures

I find that designing for worst case scenarios and full brightness always gives me these crazy high amps

[tardy badger]

I wouldn’t power more than like 2m of strips with one power supply, max brightness of the densest strips will draw nearly 4A at 5V. So 20W. (75 LEDs, 55mA a piece).

So like 40W minimum for 2m of strips

That’s quite a bit of power

[jolly terrace]

Indeed!

Im in the 8 amp range atm

[tardy badger]

Most custom controllers don’t exceed more than 50-60% brightness but it’s better to plan around max brightness due to surge current when you power on the strip

[jolly terrace]

agreed!

I guess Im just struggling with all the different conflicting sources on specing awg because they all seem to be so loose!

[sullen portal]

You're gonna also want to have multiple separate power injections for that much.

[jolly terrace]

that 8 amps breaks into 4 strips

at 12v

these are non neopixels

[thick wind]

A few capacitors can reduce the inrush from the power supply, and wires don’t always need to be specified for a short spike of current.

[sullen portal]

And there's no real conflicting sources as long as you actually find technical specs and not random 'LLM hallucation websites' made purely for SEO.

Like there's no real changes over the months/years for https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html checking with archive.org at https://web.archive.org/web/changes/https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html

[thick wind]

Most current ratings have to do with heat generation in wires so you’re usually focused on continuous current limits.

[sullen portal]

A lot of sites don't break it out into the separate solid-core versus various levels of stranded, that's probably the best chart I know of.

[jolly terrace]

so peep this

[thick wind]

Plus, there are deratings for how many wires are bundled together, how high the ambient temperature can get, etc.

[jolly terrace]

Im at 8 amps

so I think, 14 sounds great

[sullen portal]

Yeah, but the traces on the LED strand likely can't support 8 amps so you're gonna have multiple injection points, so say you inject power at 4 points? That's 4 * 2 amps, not 8 amps.

[jolly terrace]

then mcmaster says 14 can do 33 amps

[sullen portal]

But yes, 14 awg is a SUPER conservitive "lots of safety margin" option. Even super-flexible fine-stranded wire would support the peak likely amp draw.

[jolly terrace]

this is for a short run of a couple feet to a set of 4 strips each requiring 1.9 amps

[thick wind]

How many pixels are you running, and how bright do you need? 8A sounds like a very worst case, but I don’t think I ever asked how you got that number.

[jolly terrace]

Sorry, I started the conversation in regards to neopixels and then moved to dicuss some plane white 12v leds

[thick wind]

That’s fine, that changes surprisingly little relative to this conversation haha

[jolly terrace]

maybe my question should be how do I carry 8 amps

[sullen portal]

At 300VAC, the current ratings on the website I linked are at 1000V so it ends up a bit lower..

[tardy badger]

I use 18AWG for my boards that have 50 RGB LEDs on them, 100uF cap does wonders

[thick wind]

If you have to carry a lot of power across a significant distance, sometimes it’s better to run the power through the cables at a higher voltage, then use a switching converter to step the voltage down with high efficiency.

[jolly terrace]

thats valuabel advice thank you

[sullen portal]

But also are you powering the full 8 amps of neopixels in one long strip, or can you break the power up to inject it at like... both ends + the middle at least?

Even just 'both ends' would be 4 amps on each power feed instead of 8 amps.

[tardy badger]

Usually the pigtails off brick supplies with barrel adapters are long enough and rated for the load on them

[thick wind]

Also if you’re running 4 separate strips at 2A each, you can run separate wires for each, rated for a little over 2A; instead of a single wire for a full 8A.

[sullen portal]

Which is what I'd recommend too.

[jolly terrace]

and 2 is more like 20 awg

which is way more normal

cool

Its an assmebly thing, I prefer having fewer connecion points to the power suply

because someone else is making the final assembly

It seems like the answer to my question is, carry less amps

and stop trying to figure out optimal awg

[thick wind]

Yeah, for larger assemblies I’d recommend a bus bar for power distribution, but that’s basically the gist of it.

[jolly terrace]

love a bus bar

[thick wind]

The more current you try to run through a single wire, the higher your losses. If you can afford the extra runs, it’s often for the best.

[jolly terrace]

I did this build of a gaint jbl speaker with 8 strips of 60 neopixels

[thick wind]

If you’re bundling up the wires together, there’s some derating for that too so I’d probably say 4 runs of 18AWG is probably a safe bet?

[jolly terrace]

Heard

thank you hem

managing power and wires is a whole journey

I have 8 of these 4 strip configurations

[hollow flint]

What's the difference between https://www.adafruit.com/product/5615 and a bus bar?

[thick wind]

Bus bar typically has more metal so it’s usually rated for significantly higher currents.

[jolly terrace]

so Im powering them in sets of two with 200w power supplies

[sullen portal]

At that point likely want a tiny bus-bar assembly at the power supply end that breaks all the individual power leads to run the many smaller wires up to the assemblies.

[jolly terrace]

so I guess, between the bus bar and the power supply. thats a wire that will carry 8 amps

but the distance is so short I should be able to get away with like 16?

[sullen portal]

That might depend on the power supply, whats the raw connection to the power supply? Like are we talking a barrel jack or does it have terminals or a hard-wired pigtail?

[thick wind]

If you actually expect an output of 8A, I’d recommend 12 or 14 at least. If your 8A has a significant safety margin, I don’t think 16 will be a major issue.

[jolly terrace]

I expect 8

theyre white leds at 12v

I was thinking 12 but everyone looked at me like I was crazy

sorry for the confusion, I should have not confused the conersation with theroretical neopixel question

[thick wind]

Again, it’s all technically thermal, so if it’s not in open air I’d derate for that.

[jolly terrace]

open air chasis wiring

[thick wind]

And don’t worry, it’s general chat, usually is common for multiple discussions to happen in parallel.

[sullen portal]

14awg solid core would be my suggestion for the short power supply <-> bus bar run, since flexibility isn't really an issue there either as it'd be a fixed install point.

[jolly terrace]

let me draw a little diagram

[thick wind]

Oh, if you can use solid core 16 is more than fine. Problem is you need a better set of tools to get a good crimp on a solid wire.

For most wiring I generally assume 7-24 core unless told otherwise haha

[sullen portal]

I am the 'absurdly cautious' side of electrical wiring rating I admit. XD

[jolly terrace]

Im there with you wolfy

this thing Im thinking about now will be installed very publicly and Im on the more inexperienced side of things so my caution is running crazy and the awg's I want are getting low!

Truthfully, I dont think I can use a bus because I need it all to snap together so someone with no experience can assemble it

[sullen portal]

Oh the thought was the power supply + bus bar would basically be a "fixed unit" with only the feads from there off to the individual runs would be separate. All in one enclosure very short runs, etc.

There's lots of connectors that can handle 2A@12V for example so it could be literally plug-and-play past the bus bar.

[jolly terrace]

this is ideal from an assembly view because it fits with the logic of how the piece is constructed and will be assembled

I understand it now to be unideal from the perspective of power distrobution

I will continue to churn and consider all the amazing advice I have recieved here tonight

but theroretically, if I was going to have the connection between the plug and and the power suply carry 8 amps

I would want to go with something like 14 gauge at 7 to 24 cores?

[thick wind]

Bigger is better, up to what’s convenient for you. But yes, probably 14 minimum.

[jolly terrace]

I can get 14 bought if I can justify it, but its tough when the mcmastercar page says 14 can carry 33A

I work in scenic where people are pretty fast and loose with this stuff

a lot of it is, well, we got away with 18 in the past for leds so...

and then its like according to mcmaster 22 can carry 10 A

[thick wind]

All of these ampacities are going to be different for different codes. I’m used to a very conservative one, so my advice certainly errs on caution.

[jolly terrace]

respect to that hem

[thick wind]

It’s also worth noting this data sheet snippet is an AC rating, so it’s not going to be directly relevant in a DC application.

[jolly terrace]

Interesting!!!

[thick wind]

Though if my memory serves me right, they should be comparable if no frequency is mentioned…?

Ok now I’m about to open a couple cans of worms myself, aren’t I…

[jolly terrace]

according to my reading unless skin effec comes into play

can of worms is the correct phrase.... lost hours on this lol

Im just like why is mcmastercars rating so different from the engineering toolbox

[jolly terrace]

I think the answer lies in coninuous amp vs peak amp

[thick wind]

That would make a lot of sense.

[jolly terrace]

curious deffeniton

[sullen portal]

I mean... 14/2 solid core wire is only about $2USD/foot at home improvement stores, it's not a hard to get think in small sizes at least.

[whole jacinth]

ampacity for building wiring is an allowable maximum temperature for fire safety reasons

you might want heavier wiring than required by building codes, if you’re concerned about voltage drop

[sullen portal]

Or there's like 25-foot 14/2 low-voltage direct-burial rated stuff for only $16 or so when I check.

Which is more likely what your project would want is that sort of wire TBH.

[ornate kernel]

I'd like to buy a vowel...
I wonder if Scrabble tile values could be useful for stocking requirements. eg. stocking 100/Scrabble Value for each.

1 point - A, E, I, O, U, L, N, S, T, R.
2 points - D, G.
3 points - B, C, M, P.
4 points - F, H, V, W, Y.
5 points - K.
8 points - J, X.
10 points - Q, Z.
Current inventory lines up pretty close

[brittle linden]

I'm shopping for a new programming font. I've been using Adobe Source Code Pro, but thinking that there might be something better out there. I do mostly for C/C++ coding with a dash of Python. Any recommendations?

[sullen portal]

Cascadia Code has been my recent addiction since it uses advanced font rendering to do some nice merging/combining effects for common code formatting constructs in python/C while staying a monospace font globally.

[late fulcrum]

I've used Menlo and Lucida, these days I've been using Source Code Pro

[raw jasper]

https://tosche.net/fonts/comic-code :>

[raw jasper]

This has actually burned me in the past, so I now avoid these kinds of fonts

(I'm talking about interpreting -> as an actual arrow glyph etc)

[brittle linden]

I see the possible problem with Cascadia combining glyphs, but on first glance it's a bit more readable, to my eyes anyway. Thanks all for the recommendations!

[sullen portal]

"Cascadia Mono" is identical just without the combining glyphs enabled.

[jagged citrus]

yesterday i flopped an electronics test
half of the problems were about something i still truggle with to this day
the resistor color codes 💔

[sullen portal]

I hate 'rote memorization' based tests, when we've literally spent the last 20 years being able to carry entire libraries in our pocket.

[jagged citrus]

to be fair the test had some formulas (which were handy) and part of a resistor color table so it was mostly my fault forgetting how the value of the resistors were calculated

[night crescent]

The Great Search - How to Source Tariffed & Non-Tariffed Items on DigiKey 📦🌎💸
https://youtu.be/I-eD6FSM0bU

[rotund canopy]

These freaking tariffs ruined my month

[terse lava]

Yeah but to WolfWings point, color codes are great if you are testing to be a technician. For a developer, engineer, etc. the test should be about calculating the correct values of resistors needed. And these days, through hole resistors are a throwback especially with the easy to use tool and the cheap online board houses that can give you 5 PCBs for $5 coupled with a hotplate and some low heat solder paste, ANYONE can get a simple board up and running with SMT parts. There are no color codes on surface mount resistors.

[haughty solstice]

I've never soldered a surface mount anything in my life D:

My equipment is a blunt tip non-adjustable soldering iron with the roll of flux-core solder that it came with

I need to get a better soldering iron, preferably one with a point, and some flux paste. Maybe a hot plate one day, though all my components are through hole so that's not urgent

Oh and I have a helping hands station

[stoic mesa]

I started SMD by getting a cheap hot air rework station and a syringe of low temp solder paste

[hollow flint]

The description of https://www.adafruit.com/product/136 says it includes an Adafruit Parts Pal and a half-size solderless breadboard. Does that mean it includes two breadboards?

[charred lintel]

The Parts Pal seems to be a new addition "As of April 14, 2025", maybe because the old soldering vice was more expensive ... so it looks like yea, there are 2 breadboards now.

[sick apex]

might take a crack at building a mini CPU

you guys think i could use shift registers as CPU registers?

[hollow flint]

Have you looked at this YouTube series? https://eater.net/8bit

[sick apex]

yeah i've been watching his videos to build a CPU in a logic sim

not actually looked at the parts list

[hollow flint]

He sells kits to make your own, on his website.

[sick apex]

yeah ik, i was just gonna buy the pieces individually because i have a bunch of random components everywhere that i was gonna use

as messy as this is, it works pretty well so i mean i could build something similar

on a board

[hollow flint]

I noticed that they only included one in the main picture. After reporting a website error via their contact us page, they updated the wording.

[rough plume]

Hello!

I am extremely noob on LED and stuff, so Im sorry in advance.

I came here because I am in despair and google doesn't have a solution for this. I am currently doing a cosplay and the LEDs will be on my wig.

I bought these - https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0D91TQ3D7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Then, I also bought these - https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0C714G846?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 to make them light on during a convention.

All they do is show white. I cant control them. They dont turn on and off. They are simply... White.

Someone recommended me this discord server; can anyone explain/help me, please? I spent too much on materials. I can always ask for a refund on everything, but I would rather fix this.

I dont know any programing, but I am willing to learn. I only have one month to finish this.

This is how they are - https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fhelp-me-fix-my-led-doing-it-for-a-cosplay-1st-one-worked-v0-5z6chof998ve1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1500%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dd8b7f7b5fb101d74faadd3eaba8a27fa1bfbc844 instead of the RGB. They worked before.

[hollow flint]

With the products in the Adafruit guide I linked on Reddit (https://learn.adafruit.com/master-sword-rp2040), you cannot connect it to your smartphone to control it directly. You can attach a button and code it in a way that'll switch between different lighting patterns. I believe Adafruit makes other products that might be able to be controlled via your smartphone.

[rough plume]

Hello again ahah, thank you. I am trying to find a place that sells them here in Europe

But before that, I wanna know if I can at least save this leds for my room

I spend 40 euros on them, kinda useless if they are trash now

Its more of a "how can i fix them" issue now

According to what I see, I put a 1,5V battery and they require 5V

Is there anyway to fix them?

[hollow flint]

Adafruit has retailers in Europe: https://www.adafruit.com/distributors#Europe

[dusty citrus]

Don't buy this sort of stuff on amazon, they're all drop shipping stuff anyway, get em out from AliExpress, way cheaper and you have a 3 month return time

[sullen portal]

You fed 12V into a 5V device, so very likely it damaged the controller with the buttons on it, but the LEDs likely have a separate voltage regulator so the LEDs didn't get damaged which is why they can still light up. But no longer get any signals to change colors now.

I'm using simple terms in case you're using a google translate or similar, these aren't technically precise terms.

[rough plume]

Oh! So basically the small "computer" died. Gotcha, thank you! Is there anyway I can fix it or should I ask for a refund?

They said I can ask for a refund, amazon will side with me somehow

[rough plume]

According to my math, I fed 1,5v no? Because I use 8 batteries in this to try light them up

[sullen portal]

8 * 1.5V

[rough plume]

Oooh, thank you!

[sullen portal]

It's why it advertises it as a 12V adapter.

[rough plume]

Gotcha. So, in theory, I need a 5v with batteries to light this up?

And it will work fine?

[sullen portal]

Yeah a normal USB battery bank (like for recharging a phone from) is the safest bet since it expects USB already.

[rough plume]

Got it. The problem with the battery bank is that it didnt lst longer, but might as wel refund this and with the money buy 2 or 3 for the con

Thank you so much!

[sullen portal]

But it won't fix the broken controller, so you won't be able to control the colors still most likely. That's not really fixable, so you'd need to return it most likely.

[rough plume]

Thats what I will do. Just contacted amazon and will buy the better LED that the other person said

Unfortunately wil have to buy them again. Oh well

[sullen portal]

Good luck with your costume!

[rough plume]

Thanks :) hope it goes well <3

[hollow flint]

… will buy the better LED that the other person said
As you likely don't need the high density of LEDs specific to the guide I previously linked, I'd recommend looking at the entirety of Adafruit's NeoPixel LED lineup. A good resource is this: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide

[little quest]

does anyone know how to include tft_espi on platformio without it having weird little include errors

like what does it do

[sick apex]

and a 3 month delivery time

[dusty citrus]

With choice items somehow stuff gets delivered in 7-14 or 7-10 days

Yeah once it was something like 2-3 months, you didn't pay vat/taxes tho

The only thing is that they're a gray markets, and policies as for ethics are likely to be sus

But Murica isn't that much better either

[thick wind]

The products found on Amazon and aliexpress are largely the same, the only difference is who’s responsible for distribution. I don’t think it’s worth fighting for one over the other.

[sick apex]

yeah i'm tryna find all the things i need rn via choice xD

annoyingly aliexpress doesn't even have any CY54FCT574T chips

and i need 10 of them haha

well 10 of them or something similar

but i cannot find any 8 bit d-type registers on there, there are 4 bit dtype registers but they aren't shipped by choice and cost like £8 to have them shipped when they're £3 for 5 chips haha

the pain

[dusty citrus]

There are also sellers who have similar shipping time although they're not "choice", search is also a pain
For leds it's fine
Anything specific, active compenents (all stm are fake), or reliability it may not be the best choice

[thick wind]

That’s an oddly specific chip to be on the hunt for on aliexpress.

[sick apex]

yes, i found all the other chips i need perfectly fine, just not that one chip and its annoying

haha

[thick wind]

I could see a 74 clone being available on Ali but that’s a TI military grade register IC.

[sick apex]

it doesn't need to be that exact chip, that's just the only one i could find. Any 8 bit 3 state register

i just can't find it

or anything like that

if i hated myself and wanted my processor to run like crap i'd use shift registers but i don't

[dusty citrus]

From a quick g query the sn74hc595n seems to be a 8bit 3 state register, but idk

[sick apex]

that's a shift register

i need it to be parallel in / out

it's impossible to find haha

[thick wind]

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/scls148h/scls148h.pdf work for you? Seems to be available on AliExpress.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804234231526.html

[sick apex]

you my friend are a life saver i've been searching for atleast an hour

[dusty citrus]

I never attempted to do anything alike, and I'm quite ignorant, but wouldn't a fpga work better for the project?

[sick apex]

yes but that's also boring asf

[thick wind]

Oof, glad I could help. An hour looking for ICs on AliExpress sounds miserable.

[sick apex]

it is, most of the time i searched up registers it started showing me screw driver bits and sockets

[thick wind]

I'm a big fan of looking up chips on Digikey or Octopart to see what fits the bill first. Parametric search is a lifesaver.

Most, if not all, 54 and 74-series chips should be pretty common, especially if you're okay with clones.

I saw the 54xx574 and that narrowed the search pretty quickly haha

[sick apex]

wait actually, im not sure if this will work

seems like this is working like an octal bus transceiver with extra steps

not like a register

lmme check

[thick wind]

The functional block diagram of the CY54 chip previously mentioned is identical.

[sick apex]

oops, i sent the wrong chip

nuts, back to searching for me

[thick wind]

Wait, why doesn't this chip work? You're looking for a working register?

[sick apex]

well i need this one for something else, but yes i do need an 8 bit register

i think they're d-type registers

[thick wind]

Yes, and this does that, no?

[sick apex]

no because it'll replace it's value per clock cycle

it doesn't have a pin for storing

[thick wind]

You don't have to connect CLK to your system clock. You can use a digital output instead and it'll hold its value until a rising edge appears on the CLK pin.

Does that complicate the design? What type of flip flop would you prefer?

[sick apex]

i think it would complicate it, i guess i just need a standard 3 state 8 bit register with a store, clock and enable pin

it doesn't even need to be 3 state, i'll just get some octal bus transceivers

[sick apex]

https://eater.net/datasheets/74ls173.pdf i found a 4 bit version of what i need

i'll have a 16 bit program counter and stack pointer so i don't really want to be using 4 bit registers

[thick wind]

Ahhhhh, I'm starting to see what you're doing.

[sick apex]

if its "losing your mind" that you're thinking of then you got it spot on haha

[thick wind]

Those 74-series chips generally have a standard 20-pin package so if you need something with the extra control pins you'll usually use two 4-bit registers over one 8-bit register.

[sick apex]

what if i need a 16 bit register

do i just use 4

i wanted to avoid that because i need atleast 2, 16 bit registers

[thick wind]

Yep.

[sick apex]

alr, i'll bite the bullet and do that xD

thank you for your help

[thick wind]

Are you constrained to those 20-pin chip packages?

Truthfully, I don't think I've explored outside of the 74-series chips for low-level logic chips, but I can't say they don't exist.

[sick apex]

it's all going on breadboards so as long as it'll fit in a breadboard i can use it

[thick wind]

Hmmm. Probably best to stick to multiple chips then.

I see some very obscure 24-PDIP packages but you probably won't see them on AliExpress.

[sick apex]

haha fair, now i just need to find some RAM chips

i wonder if there are any 256 word by 4 bit array ram chips

[thick wind]

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/memory/memory/774?s=N4IgjCBcoGwJxVAYygMwIYBsDOBTANCAPZQDaIALGGABxwDsIAuoQA4AuUIAyuwE4BLAHYBzEAF9CcGBGggUkDDgLEyIAMxwATBXoBWEIQoAGeuuPHmbTpB79hYySC0w6ieWix5CJSOTB69DQ0jCwgHFy8gqIS4uJAA

[sick apex]

just had a look on there and i found a couple thank you

[hollow flint]

If you're ordering enough parts simultaneously that happen to be available on DigiKey, the shipping cost becomes negligible/free for most destination countries.

[sick apex]

ik but im also ordering a bunch of other stuff from aliexpress that's not on digikey otherwise i would

[hollow flint]

I mean, DigiKey sell dry erase boards of all things (https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/3m/DEF50X4/25978177). Are you sure they don't carry the items you're looking for?

[sick apex]

most of the things i need from there are bulk buy only

now i can't find a good SRAM chip on aliexpress

haha

fml

imma just use 12 bit addressing, 12 bit memory addressing is more than enough for an 8 bit CPU

and i found a 8192 x 8 mem chip

[hollow flint]

I believe you could get more than you need, and just not use the extra capacity.

[sick apex]

yeah, i can get 2 x 12 bit memory chips and if i decide to i can just up my ram to 24 bit addressing or just 16 and only use x bytes or whatever

realistically though 8192 bytes of ram is more than enough for this processor but if i need to i can just up it to 16k

i didn't think that through, dw ik my thing is a stupid solution and will not work

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 4/16/2025 LIVE! https://youtu.be/OOfkCF5_uEs

10% off! Use code: fixer on checkout, expires 11:59PM ET! https://adafruit.com

[terse lava]

Which package do you need? Your search term is way too specific if you simply need any octal tri state flip flops. For example, Digikey has 243 DIP packaged
SN74ACT574N waiting for you right now.

[sick apex]

already got what i need now, thank you anyways

[sturdy dawn]

I just learned why you're supposed to use desoldering equipment and not just try to like heat it up and rip the iron out real quick 🤣

[rough plume]

Just a quick psa, i just got the money back <3 Now onto the project again ((i am scared of doing something again))

[rough plume]

Thank you so much for all your help <3

[sturdy dawn]

I lost the little ring for pwming the Adafruit Matrix hat

[spice moss]

may the force be with you!

its Star wars Celebration japan weekend

[urban arrow]

Howdy, this isn't "off subject" (sort of), but I decided to convert my Itsy Bitsy ESP32 to Micropython, and learn Thonny and MP, really as a newbie. Been doing CircuitPython for 2 years or so. I wanted to quit having to use https://code.circuitpython.org/ for programming, which on my computer at least is pretty unreliable, but I could get things working fine eventually.
Anyway, I downloaded this generic ESP32 Micropython:
https://micropython.org/download/ESP32_GENERIC/
and used Adafruit ESPTool to program it. Tried for 2 days to no avail, and finally (Did I say I'm stupid?), saw that you have to set the starting address as 0x1000, NOT 0x0. Man am I dumb. I'm now a happy first time user of Thonny (which I really like) with the no-native-USB ESP32. 😀

[sturdy dawn]

This lines up perfectly but the M3 screws I have don't fit inside that hole. I got to go find M2 screws and nuts

Otherwise it flops around when the cord takes tension

I'm impressed with how perfectly that lines up with a 20/20 though

I think I'm going to go with wood possibly next time cuz it's a lot cheaper than these extrusion pieces. You get 10 three footers for like 75 bucks

But I already made all my projects. So maybe I'll just save some money

[hollow flint]

I thought Thonny also works with CircuitPython?

[fair summit]

another choice is https://viper-ide.org

[twin saddle]

Hi, when the Quad Rotary Encoder Breakout (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5752) was announced (https://youtu.be/arpl-qVEmCw?t=476) there was a mention that enconders with translucent shafts would be "hopefully" available.

I've spent some time procuring these and can only find either encoders with embedded LEDs or translucent but without button.

Are there any news on this front ? Would love to hear (and would buy a bunch 🙂 )

[urban arrow]

Yep it sure does - I just wanted to work with Micropython for a new experience ha ha

[urban arrow]

Thanks Dan, having a look-see

[tardy badger]

lol... accidentally send a message when cleaning my keyboard

[sick apex]

i'm getting to carried away with this, whilst i wait for my parts to come i've been designing my processor in a logic sim and i've already gotten 5 instructions working, Load Accumulator, Load B, Add, Subtract and Multiply

in fairness, all this is from logic gates exclusively which fortunately when i actually build the rest of my processor, i do not have to do haha

[sick apex]

this loads 8, adds 2 to it 5 times, subtracts 4 and then multiplies it by 4

quick simulation

[raw jasper]

Ah yes, roll your own CPU like it's 1950

hits you with a verilog book

Jokes aside, I think you've fought with discrete gates enough since you've reached this point. I think it's past time you learn a HDL and embrace EDA :P

[hollow flint]

Are DigiKey branded soldering irons any good? https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/digikey/DKS-SLDR2-US/20370541

[sick apex]

haha yeah

I was gonna use discrete chips and see how far I can get with them although I might use an FPGA or something to build the ALU

[raw jasper]

You could also fit the whole thing inside the FPGA ;)

https://tenor.com/view/kermit-darkside-star-wars-evil-innerme-gif-14818845

[hollow flint]

Could maybe fit the entire thing in a https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pga2350, making use of the PIO subsystem.

[raw jasper]

does the pio have a PLA or something inside it?

[hollow flint]

Not really. I was thinking you could likely run an emulator on the cores, with the PIO subsystem bit-banging any precisely timed peripherals.

[raw jasper]

Eh, that's apples to oranges (software to gateware) though ;)

[hollow flint]

Also, just to confirm, you mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_logic_array and not the 3D printer filament material, correct?

[raw jasper]

Indeed I do.

Though in this case not to this specific (antiquated) technology, but just as a catch-all term for "some sort of programmable logic" (Please note that this is not a formal use of the term. Please do not use it in a job interview or exam) ^^

[hollow flint]

TIL gateware is a word: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gateware

[solar kindle]

I had a USB borescope sitting around collecting dust — I think I originally bought it to check for leaking pipes in my walls — so I built a little arm to hold it above a work surface. Here I've got it mounted on a side table and feeding my laptop to try it out and see what kind of magnification I can get. Seems to work pretty well. Looks to be about 10x.

I'll be moving it to my workbench and using a Linux machine to help with soldering work. My eyes are getting too old for fiddly little components. 😄

[raw jasper]

Nice!

[sick apex]

yeah ik i just wanted to build it on a board itself for the flex of having done that, i just can't be bothered to implement multiplication using AND gates

an adder is simple but for multiplication it's x * y where x and y are the bit width of the operands so 2 x 8 bit numbers would be 8*8 AND gates and 8 x 8 bit adders, there's probably a more efficient way of doing it but that's the way i came up with

[silver shale]

What game?

[raw jasper]

If it is fulfilling to you, do it. But also, make sure you have the timing of your circuit worked out by hand :)

[sick apex]

it's called digital logic sim, it's open source and my copy is modded so i can have 16 bit

[sick apex]

yeah ik, realistically i could operate most of it at hundreds of megahertz because all the other components have like 120 ns access times / whatever, i think the highest was 140ns so i think the biggest bottleneck will be whatever i whip up on an FPGA haha

[raw jasper]

FWIW, there is also "logisim evolution", which is less fancy, but does not have such limitations and also lets you export to verilog

[sick apex]

oh, good to know tysm

https://github.com/logisim-evolution/logisim-evolution/ this one?

[raw jasper]

Yes

[sick apex]

ty

[raw jasper]

np! ^^

[woeful spire]

Out of curiosity, what connector is being used here: https://www.adafruit.com/product/6050

I found this one which is pretty close: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/molex/1054550101/8575767

[hollow flint]

The schematic might contain that info: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Sunken-USB-Type-C-Breakout-PCB

[woeful spire]

Ah thank you! Where did you find that repo? I didn't find it under "Technical Details"

[hollow flint]

I just searched for the product on their GitHub.

[woeful spire]

Dope. I'll be sure to do that moving forward. Thank you kind stranger!

[terse lava]

Moving to a new cubicle at work next week so have been cleaning out years of accumulation. Ran across some rather old semiconductor Master Selection guides for Motorola (1981 & 1984), National Semiconductor (1979 pocket edition & 1990), and Texas Instruments (1983). They used to be handy when I was at companies that still had old enough products that I needed to figure out what a certain IC was, but now all these older products are long gone for work use. Perhaps they are useful to old tinkers, electronic swap meets, etc.? Should I just throw them out?

[hollow flint]

Maybe upload them to the Internet Archive?

[terse lava]

Ummmm, scanning hundreds and hundreds of pages in a book? No thanks.

[hollow flint]

It looks like the Internet Archive can do that for you: https://archive.org/scanning

[hollow flint]

Oh wait, they already have them: https://archive.org/search?query=master+selection+guide

[terse lava]

Just checked and found the 1983 TI one there already, so I can chuck that one. Also several Motorola ones which probably covers what mine have.

[terse lava]

And an older N.S. one. So I guess they can be tossed.

[terse lava]

On a related note, my company throws out soooooooooooo much functional stuff it makes me cry. I gave up trying to save it and just watch the stuff pile up in the electronics recycling bin. Since our whole section of the building is moving EVERYONE is clearing out their offices. Dell Docks (the USB-C ones with USB A 3.0, USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet, etc. ports), Microsoft Surface power supplies, pencils, and docks. HDMI cables, barcode scanners, CD drives, $100 of stuff (switches, connectors, contacts, etc.) ordered from Digikey and never used. Anything compents I might be able to grab for a project I do, but some things like docks and HDMI cables and the like, there is only so many you can have (and not have a use for) before you give up.

[lapis anchor]

Sounds like they would be perfect for some donations to some local schools 😉 the USB-C docks are pretty universal and can be used with a lot of Android phones/tablets too. (Samsung Dex works pretty well with a monitor via HDMI on the docking stations)

[sullen portal]

Honestly cables are 'yeet and forget' but the pencils are the hidden gold in that, the Surface pencils work on almost any touch-screen Windows 10 or 11 laptop.

Including other vendors, like I'm using a Surface pencil on my Acer.

[glad ruin]

USB-C docks are pretty universal
As long as they aren't Dell.

[lapis anchor]

Really? Haven't had any issues using them with Android devices, haven't tried much laptop wise to be fair

And by android I should specify Samsung just in case. Lol

[glad ruin]

Maybe it's just the older ones

[lapis anchor]

Ugh USB-C docks should just be USB-C docks dag nabbit! I know they had the docks with the dedicated connector on the bottom of the laptop.. definitely could see an issue with those.

[glad ruin]

I got some used and they didn't work. After looking them up, I discovered that the docks themselves not only required a firmware update to function properly, the laptops they were intended for also needed BIOS support. Ended up getting rid of them because there was no way I was going to get my Thinkpad to run one.

[haughty solstice]

Live H-bridge update. Making B and C (top right and bottom left) go to 5V outputs 12V as expected, but A and D has a brief spike of like 1V that goes to like 0.2V. Any idea what the cause could be?

Based off this diagram except my PNPs on top are S9013 (I think that's right) and the bottom 2 are S8050s, with the darlington ones on the very sides being 2N2222

[lapis anchor]

That's obnoxious as all get out. Good to know!

[haughty solstice]

I also have 50k pulling resistors between the base and emitter of Q1-Q4

[glad ruin]

I think it may have been one of their earliest USB-C models, and they released it before it was actually ready.

[haughty solstice]

I'm so confused. I just rebuilt it from scratch and the same deal: B and C work fine, A and D give like 0.6V

[sullen portal]

First-gen USB-C docks basically weren't because they came out before the functionality needed for docks was really standardized.

Comically the Steam Deck forced sooo much improvements on USB-C docks because THEIR dock out-performed many laptop docks on the market that cost several times as much so other companies stepped up their game.

[glad ruin]

LMAO

[sullen portal]

$80 for a USB-C dock with ethernet, one HDMI, and one DisplayPort, and some USB ports as well, and it JUST WORKED and handled up to 65W of pass through charging is a heckuva nice 'you must be this good to cost more' point.

[glad ruin]

That's actually really impressive.

[little quest]

That's insanely impressive

A device I'm making will use USB-c 2.0 for charging and data, but given it's a smartwatch idk the need for more complex stuff

How does USB c KNOW it's plugged into a HDMI port

[crystal ore]

There's a lot of device negotiation that happens under the hood when things are first plugged in.

[little quest]

Gross

[glad ruin]

I don't see how it's gross. It's actually a pretty elegant design.

[dusty citrus]

I never seen a dock that just works, they all give problems, with no real fix

I still don't see the appeal of them, you get less and less ports on your pc, to then waste 200+€ on a port expander?
You're really going to tell me that pluggin 2/3 cables extra is so difficult

I didn't think that they were popular untill I got an office work, which is also consulting.
Lots of hardware is pretty much over expensive new ewaste in my opinion

[sullen portal]

Sincerely, that is why the steam deck dock was so groundbreaking. Because it really did just work for all of its ports on just about any device you plugged it into.

And the main purpose of a dock is so that you can have additional monitors plugged into a laptop while only having to attach a single cable when you get to and from the office. And then you can also have a work keyboard and so forth, so you can have a very desktop-like experience win at the office but still take your computer home with you easily.

[sick apex]

just ordered a 6502

[raw jasper]

6502 or 65C02?

[sick apex]

6502

the older one

[raw jasper]

So, you bought a retro part...

Well, you could get the binary-compatible and faster 65C02, in all its CMOS-y goodness

[sick apex]

tbf i only bought it as a replacement for the one in my NES

but i might have a lil fun with it first

[raw jasper]

oh. So, you did not buy a 6502, but a ricoh R?????

* Ricoh 2A03

[sick apex]

nah it's from MOS

[raw jasper]

I think it's not pin-compatible

With what was used in the NES

Because nintendo went with a clone

[sick apex]

yeah but it was so similar they got sued for it

im sure i saw the pinout somewhere

they're the same

unless i looked at the same picture twice either way, i have a 6502, imma have to check this now haha

if it's the wrong chip i'll still keep it because who cares, it's cool and old

[raw jasper]

Also the 6502 lacks the audio processing unit the 2a03 has

So, it may crash, or you may not have sound?

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/2592/what-is-the-relationship-between-the-ricoh-2a03-and-the-mos-6502

[sick apex]

im sure i have a busted com128 somewhere

if its the processor that's busted then woo hooo a replacement

if not then oopsie

time to order the ricoh also

i need to stop buying electronics haha

and if i happen to not need the 6502 i'll just turn it into a video card for my CPU make it do VGA and stuff haha

idk how well that would work but it would sure be fun

[raw jasper]

the 6502 does not have anything we would call "GPIO"

All it has is address and data lines to access the memory bus

...and interrupt lines

[shadow siren]

Remember that GPIO stands for General Programable Input Output. A 6502 does not have this, nor most old 8/16 bit processors.

[raw jasper]

You needed an external chip for that! :D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_Interface_Adapter

(For what it's worth, it also does not have any internal ROM or RAM; those were external chips too)

[shadow siren]

Yeah just look at the circuitry that made up a Apple 2+ computer, it was amazing what Wozniak did to make the apple work.

[midnight willow]

Hi all! My Braincraft HAT didn't come with headers and I'm working on this project https://learn.adafruit.com/youtube-radio/set-up-raspberry-pi do you know what size header I need to get it to fit in the case properly? Thanks!

[toxic egret]

Happy Easter everyone! Guys what do you use to tag custom things? I'm looking for an alternative to those brother thermal printers https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513d6eGrixL._AC_SL1000_.jpg
I dont want to hand write stuff, it looks so unprofessional

[sullen portal]

I mean... is it a Brother device that prints in black-and-white only in just about any form factor on the planet? It's hard to beat generally for a reason, it's trustworthy and gets the job done fairly cheaply.

[crystal ore]

You could always go old-school with one of those embossed label-makers with the analog character wheel. https://www.dymo.com/label-makers-printers/embossing-label-makers/dymo-organizer-xpress-embossing-label-maker/SAP_12965.html

[stoic mesa]

I do use a brother lable maker like the one you tagged. It is cheap and nice.

[fickle prawn]

Where are you guys buying parts with all the tariff stuff going on?

[solar kindle]

Got it set up on my workbench using an old laptop running Linux and an even older monitor for the display.

[midnight tree]

Blessed Resurrection Sunday everyone!!! ✝️🌅🕊️🙌 Sin is paid for, death is defeated, Jesus is alive, and anyone who trusts in Him is made new.
“He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.” Matthew 28:6

[charred lintel]

#code-of-conduct message

Examples of discussion topics that have been known to stray outside the scope of the Adafruit Community include, but are not limited to:

• Discussions regarding religion and related topics

[midnight tree]

Am I able to share something without it involving into a discussion?

[fair summit]

Do you mean It doesn't have this socket?

or do you mean there are no pins on your RPi?

[charred lintel]

Try a more appropriate venue for that. This server is not it.

[sturdy dawn]

Now I'm lost. Using an app that uses libevdev for input, but when you run it as root, libevdev is not recognized. Maybe I can recompile with SDL inputs

[midnight willow]

It had that socket in your photo but that tutorial (linked) requires an additional header, but it didn’t specify it in the parts list so I assumed it was supposed to be included with the Braincraft HAT. If that’s not the case, just wondering what size header would be needed for this tutorial? Thank you!

[charred lintel]

There is no additional header..? The socket from the hat fits on top of the raspberry pi pins -- or are the pi pins the ones missing?

[midnight willow]

No the Pi pins are there! It’s a Pi 4B+. I think in the tutorial there is an additional header stacked on top of the Pi used to create space and the HAT is plugged into that. What I’m asking is if I have to get that header separately or if it’s something included in the Braincraft HAT kit? Thank you!

[charred lintel]

Ah, I checked out the video and I see what you mean.
There are no additional headers included with the hat~~, I think it fits properly over the Pi without any spacers.~~

It looks like the spacer header is this one https://www.adafruit.com/product/2222 , the tall one https://www.adafruit.com/product/1992 is probably too big for the case.

[fair summit]

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2222 only has 3mm pins, which may not be enough to get a good grip in the socket on the hat. Those pins are more for soldering on a board. I think https://www.adafruit.com/product/2223 is the right thing -- it is out of stock unfortunately, but it is available on Digikey.

I will ask about what was used for the project. We certainly should add that as a needed part.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4079 also would be suitable, I think, based on https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?p=1037529

[charred lintel]

I get the confusion, even the pics on the product page show the hat with an extra header because of the fan

[weary fiber]

memory mapped GPIO ftw

[raw jasper]

all GPIO is memory-mapped if you peel off enough abstraction :P

[fair summit]

@midnight willow @charred lintel the guide author thinks it is 4079. 2223 would work, maybe trim the pins. Both are 8.5mm body.

The 4079 riser is listed in the Parts list here: https://learn.adafruit.com/youtube-radio/overview#parts-3082095, but it was way down at the bottom. I have moved it up, and also added more detailed instructions here https://learn.adafruit.com/youtube-radio/assemble#step-3082131 to say to use the riser. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[silver shale]

Printer label sheets

[magic sentinel]

hey guys please develop more plugins maybe plugins for plugins with plugins andd plugins

[sick apex]

would it be "cheating" to use a micro controller as a serial interface between the processor i'm building

because i mean i'd implement RS232 but like i don't have a serial port on my computer nor a cable for it

but if i just setup a serial interface from an ESP32 then ez pz problemo solved

[fair summit]

not cheating - a USB-serial converter is just a specialized microcontroller

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Learning_System_Guides/blob/main/Adafruit_ESP32_Arduino_Demos/SerialESPPassthrough/SerialESPPassthrough.ino is a simple serial passthrough -- you'd need to fiddle with this. Note that if you use an ESP32 with a USB port you are just using the USB-serial converter chip on the board and the ESP32 is just passing serial data back and forth

[sick apex]

sweet, i was thinking of just writing something in the espidf or arduino to literally just pass it through because i cant be bothered to buy an RS232 cable i think i've spent more than enough money on this project and i've already got atleast 15 ESP32s laying around from decomissioned projects etc, i was gonna use an ESP32 as an EEPROM writer aswell because in all my searching for chips i forgot to buy an EEPROM writer

now i could probably put something together for the writer i think that'd be pretty simple i mean it can't be that difficult... can it? hahah

[fair summit]

as long as they are boards with a USB-serial chip. But if they weren't, you would already have a USB-serial cable to use them 🙂

[sick apex]

they do have USB serial chips

i bought a wifi chip aswell which im excited to see if i can get working on my processor once i finish building the main part of it out

i think that would be pretty interesting to get working on a homebrewed processor

[fair summit]

depending on the board, the TX/RX of the USB-serial chip may be brought out to accessible pins or not. If they are available, you don't even need to write a program

[sick apex]

oh, nice; would that be UART0?

well TX0, RX0

[fair summit]

are these mostly the same board?

which board and we could look at the schematic

[sick apex]

ESP32 Devkit v1

that's what it says on this one

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-dev-kits/en/latest/esp32/esp32-devkitm-1/user_guide.html this one iirc

block diagram would suggest that they're directly linked up

[fair summit]

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-dev-kits/en/latest/esp32/_images/ESP32_DevKitM-1_pinlayout.png

upper right

[sick apex]

so i don't need a program?

[fair summit]

it depends on whether the DTR and RTS need attention or not. but you could just try it. connect up the those pins to another board (and tie the grounds together to), and see if you can read/write data without doing anything else

but easy enough to use that passthrough program otherwise. Compile the passthrough with the TinyUSB option -- it works better that way

[sick apex]

aight, thank you i'll give it a test once i get around to adding serial

[fair summit]

don't forget to do TX<->RX and RX<->TX when connecting the two boards

[sick apex]

haha made that mistake before xD

[midnight willow]

@fair summit @charred lintel Thank you for looking into what riser/header I need and for updating the guide. I appreciate the help from the both of you!

[sturdy dawn]

More of my noobing....you can grab power from breakout pins on the pi HATs for a fan 🫨

[distant oar]

Hello Adafruit community. I am looking for a way to control a strip of Neopixels with a minimal microcontroller. Last year I co-facilitated a youth maker camp at Explora in Albuquerque, NM. Youth built projects using Microbits and Neopixels, but we do not have the budget to send home a Microbit with their projects.

This summer, we will run the camp again. Could we flash a chip that could act as a microcontroller? We anticipate powering it with 3 AA batteries, so we would likely also need a voltage regulator. We are inspired by the Lily Twinkle board and want to make something like this for Neopixels. Thank you for any suggestions you might have.

[charred lintel]

A chip that acts like a microcontroller is usually... a microcontroller 🙂

Neopixels can be controlled by something like the lily twinkle (the attiny85 microcontroller), but the lily comes pre-programmed, and it's not the easiest to add custom code.
There are pre-programmed neopixel controllers out there, but I'm not sure that is what you want..?

What programming language are you using in the camp, and what would be the available budget for a board?

If you're using Arduino, and can get the extra hw necessary for flashing the boards, you could reprogram the lily twinkle to drive neopixels.
Powering them from 3 AA batteries should be fine.

[distant oar]

We have been using Make Code. Howwever, we would be OK giving students choices with a pre-programmed chip that we program with Arduino.

I have to get back to you on our budget after checking with my co-facilitator.

[ancient rivet]

i think knowing a budget would help. there are lots of options with various tradeoffs.

that lilytwinkle is attiny85 based, and may not be a good choice for same reasons as attiny85 based trinkets:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1501

see the deprecation warning on that product page

that'd apply to anything using an attiny85

the newer Trinket M0 is fine though:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3500

the ROM bootloader of the RP2040 might be nice for general durability and avoiding accidental "bricking"
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4900

or a pi pico:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4864

there's no need for a pico2 for basic neopixel driving

with an RP2040, you could also go this route:
https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-libraries-on-any-computer-with-raspberry-pi-pico/overview
which is sort of a different way of going about it

[distant oar]

The $8 cost on the trinket might work. However, $2-3 on a flashed ATiny85 sounds better if it could work.

[ancient rivet]

i'd verify it works before committing to getting multiple boards

but the $4 pi pico (32 bit ARM) would be significantly better than the attiny85 (8 bit AVR)

and the ROM bootloader is a very nice feature

[distant oar]

I will investigate using the pi pico. I have not driven neopixels with a pi yet.

[fair summit]

How much are you including in budget accessories, like the NeoPixel string? Will you need a breadboard, etc.? Circuit Playground Express (out of stock!) is very much meant for this kind of classroom experience, has NeoPixels on board, a lot of sensors, etc. CIrcuit Playground Classic is Arduino-only, similar.

[weary fiber]

I've been archiving IV-21 vacuum tubes as supply dwindles, and I finally have the last stock from tubes-store heading my way :>

Hoping to build a cool 10-VFD display with them

...And design a weird 2V AC supply for their filaments, i guess

[keen arrow]

Sneak peek at my definitely not airthings view

I need to move some stuff over on the bitmap background but it’s an early proof of concept

[brisk zealot]

nice, can i ask your source on the icons?

[keen arrow]

Freepik

[raw jasper]

@hasty wedge (or anyone else): Do you happen to know any CKLINK-compatible debug dongle that is not the sipeed slogic combo?

[hasty wedge]

You're working with THead?

[raw jasper]

sg2000 actually, but some forum post claimed it speaks CKLINK

[hasty wedge]

jtag won't work?

[raw jasper]

It probably doesn't matter anyway, since I found that they actually do not violate sigrok's gplv3 https://github.com/sipeed/sigrok_slogic

[raw jasper]

It'll probably work in ARM mode?

Dunno, I'll actually get the devboard in a couple weeks

[hasty wedge]

I really have no exprience with RISC-V or Sipeed stuff...

[raw jasper]

(Their doc left the impression that they did not care about GPL https://wiki.sipeed.com/hardware/en/logic_analyzer/combo8/use_logic_function.html , but apparently there is a gh repo with the source)

[hasty wedge]

The only thing I am using from them is a Tang Nano 20K FPGA board

[raw jasper]

Ah yes, GOWIN, the FPGA with no DFF crosstalk problems at all :P

(context: https://github.com/juj/gowin_flipflop_drainer)

[hasty wedge]

It's a board issue or a silicon issue?

[raw jasper]

According to the repo, Si issue

[hasty wedge]

I use Gowin because it's the only Chinese FPGA brand that is free and open source

[raw jasper]

It'd be FOSS if they natively supported yosys

Like gatemate are doing

But no, you need to install GOWIN IDE

(unless you are referring to project apicula, which has reverse engineered the littlebee arch)

[hasty wedge]

yeah apicula

I am not using large FPGA anyway

[raw jasper]

It'd be way cooler if GOWIN sent some money to yosys to make a proper port

[hasty wedge]

If I will, I will use Xilinx

[raw jasper]

I am a primary xilinx user too

[hasty wedge]

Xilinx's IDE is free

[raw jasper]

(* for some parts)

[hasty wedge]

unless you're working with chips that costs you a car or more

[raw jasper]

Versal mentioned

:P

Have you looked at efinix? I'm hearing interesting stuff

[hasty wedge]

no

I don't work much FPGA in general

[raw jasper]

Architecturally, they are doing the neat trick that some CLBs can be switched to work as routing

[hasty wedge]

Currently coding for FT60E121 from FMD

[raw jasper]

"High capability RISC-V CPU"

[hasty wedge]

8 bit RISC MCU with 2KB flash and costs 8 cents each

[raw jasper]

I love how they are adopting the ?T terminology from the 8051

[hasty wedge]

Yeah, 2T or 4T mode

[raw jasper]

(I have the datasheet in front of me, though it is not very... foreigner friendly :P)

You guys are conspiring to teach us Mandarin by exposure :P

[hasty wedge]

again, it's just PIC clones

nothing exciting

unless one day Microchip can learn how to produce fairly priced MCUs I am sticking with FMD

[raw jasper]

But it says RISC-V on the datsheet?

[hasty wedge]

No, RISC

not RISC-V

[raw jasper]

Oh, my eyes glossed over

[hasty wedge]

because they can not legally call themself PIC

[raw jasper]

Because I am actually reading about RISC-V on another tab xD

Indeed, PIC is very reduced

(Not really, not in the architectural sense of the classic RISC pipeline though)

[hasty wedge]

Well, they gonna come out some name for it

[raw jasper]

Wanna try compiling dhrystone for it and reporting back the numbers? :P

[hasty wedge]

I think Taiwanese started this PIC clone nonsenses

and then we perfected it

[hasty wedge]

sure

I am putting that on my todo list

[raw jasper]

https://gitlab.com/tomari/microbench here is some C source that's been ported to an insane amount of systems

[hasty wedge]

which one?

[raw jasper]

Then, we can find out where "High-Functionality RISC CPU" lands on here https://www.okqubit.net/bench/

I think it'd be dhry21a.c, dhry21b.c, timers.c

Here's them porting it to TRONCHIP https://www.okqubit.net/3b/trongcc.html

[raw jasper]

I want to see 1GHz PIC clone :P

[hasty wedge]

You can probably achieve that on an FPGA

[raw jasper]

It'd be colossally cursed (and probably completely useless), but it'd be fun to see

[raw jasper]

That is an entirely appropriate response.

BTW, which arch is this part cloning? Looks like PIC16?

[hasty wedge]

PIC14

If I remembered correctly

[raw jasper]

Do you write in assembly, or are you using a compiler?

[hasty wedge]

compiler

MPLAB XC8

[raw jasper]

Is it so bad?

[hasty wedge]

if you can do assembly you can definetely use assembly

FMD IDE uses a "gcc8" compiler

which is actually a packaged and cracked Microchip XC8

The XC8 generates assembly then the IDE assembles and link it to generate the final binary

I replaced the cracked XC8 in my FMD IDE with a legit XC8

[raw jasper]

How is the programming experience? Does it accept recent enough C or are you stuck with some old version of the standard?

(At least it's not a dialect like padauk)

[hasty wedge]

The XC8 I am using was from 2017

so should be modern enough

[raw jasper]

that's good to hear at least

[hasty wedge]

Anything newer does not work with FMD IDE

[raw jasper]

The fact you can get a modern compiler for what almost amounts to an ALU + FSM + a memory bus amazes me

:P

Ah yes, it's a 2T/4T, there is some pipelining involved

[hasty wedge]

let me see the FMD's market price right now

😨

FT60E121 is now 4 cents each

my price of 8 cents was outdated

it's not OTP, its erasable

if someone can implement a SDCC target it's going to be incredible

[raw jasper]

ooh cool

sdcc has pic16 support iirc but it is unmaintained

it also has pic14

but

The PIC14 port adds support for MicrochipTM PICTM MCUs with 14 bit wide instructions. This port is not yet mature
and still lacks many features. However, it can work for simple code.

speaking of, the sg2000 also has an 8051 core on, supported by their sdcc fork : https://github.com/milkv-duo/duo-8051

[little quest]

Is the chip using me or a I using the chip

@hasty wedge why are you doing this to yourself lol
I need to hear,I'm interested

[hasty wedge]

To lower production cost

[little quest]

Of what

[hasty wedge]

If I use a PIC or AVR to solve this problem, I need 2 dollars for each device

[little quest]

What does it do

I'm rather uninformed on your project as you may know

[hasty wedge]

If I use FMD then I only need 4 cents with basically no performance degradation

[little quest]

What is the device

[hasty wedge]

Portable fans, humidifier, flashlight etc

[little quest]

Why do you need a chip to control it?

Surely a direct wiring would work just as well for simple devices

[hasty wedge]

So you can control the brightness and flashing

[little quest]

555 timer?

[hasty wedge]

555 is more expensive than FT60E121

And requires larger PCB area

[little quest]

Okay this is interesting

So you're trying to fake up a 555 using such a chip?

[hasty wedge]

555 is a mixed signal IC

So it costs more to manufacture

[little quest]

Fair enough

So you want this thing to be written to with assembly?

[hasty wedge]

While we are at it, why not add some more features that 555 can't do

[little quest]

Good thinking

[hasty wedge]

It supports C, so no need for assembly

[little quest]

Nice

What version of c

And what features would you like

[hasty wedge]

Let me see

C99

[little quest]

Ooh retro flavor

[hasty wedge]

The compiler is from 2017 and was made by Microchip

[little quest]

So what do you want it to do
Also what's it's maximum amperage output on each pin

[hasty wedge]

Not much, need mosfets

Enough for a few LED

[little quest]

Why not just do an anologue circuit

How much are these things

[hasty wedge]

More PCB space

[little quest]

Alright

This is a bizzare reversal of everything I know

Well whatever, should work with a good ol
Pinmode x,1
Delay 500
Pinmode x,0

[hasty wedge]

When you are squeezing every cents out of your production, it's different from makers making one off projects

[little quest]

Vtuber that does production circuits? Interesting

[hasty wedge]

[little quest]

Certainly a unique market

I'm unfortunately too shy to do YouTube

Do you not program a lot?

[hasty wedge]

I do program a lot

[little quest]

So what's the issue lol

[little quest]

Computer science doesn't care what you do as long as it works

[raw jasper]

The computer itself does not care. Computer science does

In fact, very much so

[raw jasper]

Do you actually stream?

[little quest]

I don't care for sure I'm just so tired and I feel so dumb all the time

I just want things to work right

[raw jasper]

That is normal as a beginner

Please relax and let if flow through you

[hasty wedge]

used to

not any more

This account is also not in my vtuber character's persona

it's in me, myself

[hasty wedge]

[raw jasper]

If you don't mind me asking, what made you stop?

(Curious, since I've never tried, nor am I planning to TBH)

[hasty wedge]

I want to spend more time on ECE instead of streaming as an anime girl

no regret

[raw jasper]

Understood!

I hope you'll continue to enjoy ECE for a long time

[hasty wedge]

[raw jasper]

BTW, would it be OK to "add" you on discord? We've had positive interactions over the years, and I think it might be worth getting it setup just in case

[hasty wedge]

sure

[sick apex]

haha right

[little quest]

can you dm me a link to your channel lol

[distant oar]

Yes, the CP would be perfect if our budget allowed us to send them home with the youth. We are trying to find a low-cost solution, less than $10.

[hasty wedge]

I stream on bilibili

I can show you my model though

This was a screenshot taken quite long agao

[vapid laurel]

How would I go about contacting adafruiot for a product i received that dosent work

[hard estuary]

You'd want to post on the Adafruit forums, which is their official support: https://forums.adafruit.com

[vapid laurel]

Thank you

[fair summit]

The Gemma M0 has alligator-clippable pads, and a DotStar (not a NeoPixel) on board. We gave them away 7 years or ago or so at PyCon. I wasn't sure what you wanted to be able to send home with folks: just the board, or board + accessories

Also the QT Py boards are inexpensive, but not solderless connections

QT Py RP2040 is a very capable board <$10.

[distant oar]

We would like to send home a jam jar fairy lantern with 4 or 5 Neopixels and an inexpensive way to control them. It would not necessarily need to be reprogrammed, but I like the idea of a Circuit Python file that youth could tinker with.

[distant oar]

Last year, we had students remove the Microbit-controlled Neopixels and replace them with through-hole LEDs to take home.

[fair summit]

are you prepared to teach them how to solder?

or prepare short strips of neopixels with alligator clips?

[distant oar]

Yes, we are planning on soldering this year. Last year I did most of the soldering before camp began. We start the camp making paper circuits and move to programmable circuits.

[fair summit]

we have some on-board strips of 8, but they are $7.50. You could cut up the flex strips but they are more fragile

[distant oar]

Last year I soldered wires with alligator clips.

[distant oar]

We also used these clips

[fair summit]

so the gemma m0 could be used with alligator clips, or you could use, say Qt Py RP2040 and use the STEMMA/QT connector to connect to a strip

but the microbit was >$10, wasn't it?

[distant oar]

Yes, we kept the Microbits and the youth did not take home a programmable circuit. Instead they were left with a jar and some basic LEDs.

These were delicate, so we might still solder these in advance or use the plastic connectors.

[fair summit]

We have these neopixel strands which you could chop up and solder alligantor clips to directly: https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=neopixel+strands

some are more fragile than others

[distant oar]

Those dots might be a good fit for us.

[fair summit]

old material for PyCon 2018 Gemma giveaway: https://github.com/adafruit/PyCon2018

needs a little revision

[fair summit]

pricing varies, as you see. The more expensive ones are sturdier

could also use Pi Pico with headers, and you could send home something with female dupont jumpers,

[fair summit]

we have edu quantity pricing, if you don't know that already

[hasty wedge]

Thank you for buying large quantities directly from Adafruit instead of buying cheaper clones from AliExpress

Every time I see Adafruit clones in people's videos it makes me sad

Adafruit should do something about those clones

Maybe legal action?

[fair summit]

as long as they are not advertised or marked as adafruit products, it's not an issue

our hw is open source; if people want to clone it they can, they just can't use our trademarks

[hasty wedge]

Ah, that makes sense

If it's open source then even more respect to you guys

[fair summit]

but of course we provide good support, and that's part of what you pay for

[little quest]

neat

[raw jasper]

Did you make & rig the model yourself, or did you commission somebody to do it?

[hasty wedge]

My friend did the drawing

And I modeled myself

[raw jasper]

neat!

[sinful stratus]

hii does anyone know what kind of cap u need for this kind of button

[rotund canopy]

How hard would it be to make a battery and BMS system for my Mac mini pc? It traditionally takes mains power to its mains input. But if you disassemble it there’s 2 surfaces available for DC input, iirc around 22v dc. What I’d like is a battery system to power the Mac mini and the ability to recharge it

[tardy badger]

You could try something similar to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/macmini/comments/1gvqtks/powered_up_gone_portable_yep_i_built_a/

Granted it does add some bulk

[rotund canopy]

Thanks for the link

[celest fiber]

Aside from the buying local, supporting the community, nice documentation, etc, a significant portion of why I like buying Adafruit is the cute names for things

[late fulcrum]

Looks like a rectangular post, but I can't tell the dimensions from the picture

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 4/23/2025 LIVE! https://youtu.be/dQKKx2My2Tg

[dusty citrus]

Quick dumb question, x86 cpus and gpu have a thermal resistance embedded to the ic, or is there an external easy identifeable ic which can be tricked?

[sullen portal]

You need to cool them sufficiently, there's no free lunch so to speak. Since yes, embedded sensors.

And more sensors scattered around the GPU board or PC motherboard, etc.

[dusty citrus]

And via software you can tell em to ignore temp untill a certain point... No way to tell to completely ignore the threshold?

[thick wind]

I’m fairly certain there is a hard thermal cutoff in the chip, as I’ve had a laptop hard shutoff without warning as it hit around 100c.

[dusty citrus]

Pretty much facing the same problems

[sullen portal]

If your device is shutting off from overheating you need to fix the cooling issue (either clean the cooling/etc or limit the CPU/GPU to lower performance modes), not bypass the safety mechanism.

Disabling the throttle/shutdown would just cause the component to destroy itself entirely when it overheated further. The safety levels are there for a reason.

[dusty citrus]

Not a cooling issue, I think it's the sensor that's off, cause it jumps from like 50 to 100 in idle

[leaden rover]

a program im doing wants me to show off some of the computer and electronics projects i make. i feel super awkward putting myself out there, but maybe check it out as its a bit relevant to what adafruit is about :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZifRS8Exg-s

[terse lava]

Looks great. I saw a couple clips of you holding a microphone so you must of been doing public speaking (or more brave, singing) so clearly you are more comfortable than many of us. Keep it up and keep having fun.

[leaden rover]

thanks! :D
im trying to set up a society with some hardware founders in australia called the australian creative electronics society, so ive really been pushed out of my shell recently to do what i want to see around me

super fun

super spooky

🤣

[terse lava]

I assume by your lack of an Australian accent you are not Australian (you sound very American to me)? So if you are living there now that is further proof are you a lot more putting yourself out there than you give yourself credit. @leaden rover since I forgot to hit the reply from yours.

[leaden rover]

yeah i sorta jumped back and forth a lot as a kid and eventually stayed here after the pandemic made the decision for me (im australian/canadian) 😅

i appreciate the kind words :)

[lusty cape]

hey is there a chat for help with the trinket m0? having some issues as of right now

[hollow flint]

If you're trying to code something in Arduino or CircuitPython, ask in #help-with-arduino or #help-with-circuitpython, respectively. Otherwise, #help-with-projects is a good catch-all channel to get help.

[lusty cape]

i actually kinda figured it out

i had repurposed my trinket m0 to use as a regular keypad to toggle mute and my clippin software as well as use the touch for deafen

[unkempt hearth]

Hi, need some suggestions (or perhaps a pointer to the correct channel for this request). I need to buy or create a controller that would pass-through 12VDC input to a device for 5 seconds before dropping that voltage down to 7V (doesn't matter if it's a smooth ramp or just a drop). This is for use with a solenoid to prevent long term thermal damage. I think a DC motor controller could work, but I do not know of any that are programmable via microcontroller or timer.

[vestal pier]

there are several "pick and hold" or "hit and hold" off the shelf solutions, but the peak current time is often <1s. If you want complete customization, you're looking at a motor driver with an MCU for timing and PWM control.

https://apwcompany.com/inline-driver/

[unkempt hearth]

That device actually looks perfect- though as you were saying, if it requires a trigger that would mean a separate timer or mcu control? I am going to do some research on "pick and hold coil drivers" and see what I can find as far as having an integrated timer, thank you!

[little quest]

Hard shutdown baked in the silicon as far as I know

Easier to buy liquid coolers

[little quest]

You can 3d print them! I can 3d print them!
Probably just measure the size and Google "rubber pushbutton cap"

[terse lava]

You might look into specific solenoid drivers that have the built in "hold current" option. Not sure if they are readily available on a breakoutboard but ICs such as https://www.ti.com/product/DRV120 which does have an evalution board but is expensive at $75 if you are just doing a hobbyist project. The 8-pin chips itself is only $2.16 in single quantities from DigiKey.

Ogther TI options shown here: https://www.ti.com/motor-drivers/solenoid/overview.html

[late fulcrum]

Alternatively, you can use a second transistor to switch power via a current limiting resistor

[golden abyss]

Hello everyone, I am using the Adafruit PCA9685 to drive 8 servos. The OE enable pin was working great with the original cheap MG996R knockoffs. I upgraded to a new set of DS3218 20Kg.cm servos and they are a lot nicer and smoother. However, they completely ignore the OE pin altogether. If I switch back to the old servos, the OE pin works and shuts down the servos when it goes high, so I know the issue is in the way the new servos work. I think they are just build this way. I have two questions

1. Does anyone know why the OE pin is ignored and how it could possible work?
2. Let's say the answer to question 1 is no, I would like to avoid using an external relay and instead use some circuit to interface with the OE pin and cutoff the power off the servos. Is there any suggestions or recommendations for doing that? I am pretty rusty, my my intuition is to use a P-channel MOSFET? The servos operate on 6.8V while the PCA9685 runs on 5V. I don't think the gate voltage is high enough to activate the MOSFET. Any suggestions please?
   Thanks

[dusty citrus]

it has been a while since I last used kicad, on the pcb layout editor, there's no flip function or some kind of addon that adds it?

[thick wind]

Are you looking for Change Side / Flip?

[dusty citrus]

indeed

[dusty citrus]

ah. I dunno how I did not notice, thanks

[sick apex]

i got the wrong octal bridge transceiver, it does 'A to B or B' to A instead of A to B or B to A

inverting logic my beloved, imma just use them as an inverter for now until i come up with a use for them, i've ordered some of the right ones now haha

[dusty citrus]

Also this command should in theory place a copper/solder mask on the pcb, but on the 3d preview, on the top layer is placed correctly, on the bottom layer, I'm getting a gold-like layer and I cannot understand why

nvm I had one layer inactivated on the 3d viewer

Idk if it's dementia or I should touch some grass

[tough venture]

Hi everyone!
I’m facing an issue with my Arduino Nano. Earlier, while building a different RC project, I accidentally connected the battery pack’s positive wire directly to the Nano’s 5V pin instead of the Vin pin. Some smoke appeared, but the Nano still seemed to work at that time.

Now, when I'm trying to use the Nano again (for making a transmitter with NRF24L01), it behaves weirdly:

When I power it via USB, the Nano’s LED lights up normally.

But when I power it with a 7.4V battery through Vin and GND, the onboard LED becomes very dim, and the NRF24L01 adapter doesn’t power up properly.

I measured the 5V output with a multimeter — it shows only around 2.14V.

I tested the same NRF24 setup with an Arduino Uno, and everything works fine there.

From this, I guess the voltage regulator or something else on the Nano might be damaged.

My questions:

1. Is there any way I can repair or bypass the damaged part to make the Nano usable again?

2. Should I try re-flashing the bootloader, or is it more of a hardware issue now?

3. Would it be safe to continue using this Nano in any low-power projects, or should I just replace it?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

[fair summit]

This is a hardware issue. Sounds like you damaged the regulator, because its output is too low, and you may have damaged the other chips on the board, since you applied well above their max voltage, though not to the point of failure. Both the 328P and the FT232RL chip have an absolute maximum voltage rating of 6v. They may fail early or operate erratically. You could replace the regulator chip, but it would be safer to just stop using the board.

[thick wind]

There is a risk to using the board, but if you are observing normal operation over USB, there is a good possibility that you can either replace the regulator, or supply a regulated 5V to USB from a regulated 5V source. It would be best to use a new board for project use, but could be fine to keep around for development purposes.

[sullen portal]

Sorry but hard disagree. You've fried who knows what, likely including circuits of the MCU itself. Too much voltage = crispy chips. It's no longer valid for development IMHO.

[terse lava]

To this point, I have an S2 board I blew the regulator on. Replaced it and worked fine, or so I thought. Recently found out the ADC on one pin works fine, while the ADC on the next pin over has a big voltage offset on it reading everything way too high. Board still works for the most part and on that pin that I know works I have been able to drive a string of Neopixels. I didn't try the "fault" pin for that though. Anyway, the point being it kind of works normally except for certain things, so I certainly won't be using it to develop anything, but if I need to drive some neopixels off the good pin, I can still use it for that.

[marble arch]

does any one know what pins are being used for the onboard fan header on the CM5 IO Board?

[hollow flint]

They have the schematic in Chapter 4 of https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/cm5/cm5io-datasheet.pdf.

[marble arch]

Thank you, I found pin 19 (fan PWM)
Is that addressable through the OS?
(I’m running HASSOS and want to have more control over it)

[lunar basalt]

This might be a better question from one of the help with channels, but does anyone know if what I recieved is the correct thing? I ordered the Feather Stacking Headers, and the 16 pin side has long pins, but the 12 pin side is short pins...

[fair summit]

This is not correct. Could you open a thread in https://forums.adafruit.com/viewforum.php?f=57 and post your photo? How many bags did you buy? It looks like you opened one bag and not the other.

Ping me after you post the thread and I'll reply and authorize a replacement.

[fair summit]

I replied already

[night crescent]

Back to some hardware... with the Sparkle Motion Stick! 🌈🪄

Over the holiday break, we designed a few Sparkle Motion (https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=sparkle+motion) ESP32 boards for use with WLED. They’ve been working well, so we decided to finish up the third version we cooked up—a USB “stick” for quick builds that you can power from a wall adapter, computer, or even a USB battery pack for portability. We managed to fit in a fuse, an I²S microphone, infrared-remote input, a mode-select button, two level-shifted outputs, and terminal blocks. It’s designed to fit inside a pre-made snap-fit case (https://www.adafruit.com/product/6176).

[hasty wedge]

Found a new cool part

Nation N32H785 M7+M4F with JPEG and GPU

[tardy badger]

googles part ah yes, Chinese. That I can’t read 😅

Seems really cool from what I can gather

[raw jasper]

sends HSK1 textbook

We can fix that! :P

[tardy badger]

Given enough time, I’m sure I’ll have plenty enough motivation to learn it

[raw jasper]

千里之行始於足下

[thick wind]

I can read a fair bit of Chinese, but looking at this product overview, I barely have to haha

Standard specs and peripherals are readable enough at least, just maybe some specific line items that might need a closer look.

No idea what a Cordic accelerator is...

[tardy badger]

It pulls rope really fast?

🤷‍♂️

[solar kindle]

COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer. Uses successive approximation to calculate functions (e.g. square roots).

[raw jasper]

Yeah, used for approximations of trig funcs and sqrt

It's a pretty cool algo, trivially pipelineable too

[north robin]

I enjoyed the Memento camera Adabox 021 with the factory programming when I received it, but it took me a long time to finally get around to installing Circuit Python and the "Fancy Program" on it. This camera is AWESOME !! I love the onion skin stop motion and the gif maker. And now there are so many cool Memento tutorials on the web site !!

[sullen portal]

I'm actually building a 'big brother' based on the idea of the Memento but more of a 'shrunk in the wash full sized' point-and-shoot camera. Pi Zero w/ a single 18650 "UPS" board and a 3-inch-ish 640x480 display running one of the newer Pi camera modules. Testing things with the global shutter right now but no reason I can't support the HQ later.

Only real obstacles are it's looking like I'll need to get a custom FPC cable made, and a case to actually carry this thing around more usably.

[late fulcrum]

You can do a lot with stock FPC cables and creative folding

[sullen portal]

It's mostly the length (even the 150mm one) being too long, and being on a Zero there's a lack of cable choices compared to the older 15-pin wide cables since that uses the newer 22-pin narrow connector.

And at that point might as well just get an FPC that includes the right-angle turn I need as I can also have the shiny-side be on the correct side to avoid having to mount the sensor 180 upside-down and route the FPC a bit more cleanly as well.

[night crescent]

🏭 ASK AN ENGINEER 4/30/2025 LIVE! https://youtu.be/YUlqX8jo7K0

[night crescent]

💪 10% off! Use code: minipower on checkout, expires 11:59PM ET! https://www.adafruit.com/new

[proven geode]

Hi, all!

Love the startup sound!

Thanks, @night crescent !

[night crescent]

🔐 The SLB 9670VQ2.0 FW7.85 SPI TPM module sounds like something your cat would type mid-zoom call — but it's actually a serious piece of security hardware.

This TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip is used in motherboards and SBCs to store crypto keys, generate true random numbers, and keep your hardware’s trust chain tight, even if the rest of your system isn’t Fort Knox. TPM 2.0 is even a requirement for modern OSes like Windows 11.

We got a request for a breakout board and luckily DigiKey has it in stock:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/infineon-technologies/SLB9670VQ20FW785XTMA1/11697680

So we’re prototyping a clean SPI breakout to make integrating this chip easy for devs and makers alike. Customer-requested, hacker-approved 🙂 ⚡🛡️

[sullen portal]

Ooooh, neat! 😄

[weary fiber]

oh PEAK

I'd love to use that in my uni capstone project as an excuse to learn more lowlevel crypto stuff

[tardy badger]

Tossing it on the pile of chips to look into for a grow system I’m dreaming up

[raw jasper]

TPM? For a ... grow system??

[raw jasper]

Do you have any digital design experience? FPGAs are particularly suitable for low-level cryptography accel

because bitwise manips/etc are essentially free

[tardy badger]

I want to do some secure data transfer and have accounts on the device

[fading flame]

Do I need drivers for the db9 breakout box It gets recognized but doesn’t seam to want to work, I’m using to for serial to usb for afr reading on my car

[hollow flint]

Please specify the Adafruit product ID of the "db9 breakout box" that you're referring to.

[sick apex]

my CPU is coming together, got the registers connected to the bus, got some control lines that i need to wire up, i think once i've got most of it working i'm gonna use an RP2040 as a GPU

[sullen portal]

Or go for an RP2350, it's sooo trivial to get DVI output from that with the HSTX it's comical.

[sick apex]

i wanna buy something with an rp2350 on it but i already have a couple of Picos

[sullen portal]

That's fair!

[sick apex]

once i get into that part of it i was just gonna use a pico with an SPI display

so i don't need to butcher any VGA cables

[sullen portal]

I admit I do wish there was a feather-format that just natively had the HDMI port instead of the HSTX -> DVI dongle to jump to.

[sick apex]

i have a 3.5 inch capacative touch screen somewhere that i may try and connect to it at some point but i feel like that'd be way too janky and idk if i'd have enough pins for the address lines and the data lines along side the display, iirc it uses like 8 pins or something daft

i think it's got 2 SPI connections on it, one for the display and one for the touch

i could use an esp32 s3 with it's bajillion pins but also that's overkill

for a cpu i'll run at like 1khz - 10khz at most it doesn't need that much power for a GPU haha

in fairness, i checked the capacitance of my breadboards and from what i can tell it could run at a few mhz, all my components can run at 129 mhz under ideal conditions so it's entirely possible that i could run it at a few mhz

[night crescent]

Two 16-Bit Power Monitors Get QT’d: INA237 & INA238 ⚡🔍

While looking for a component on DigiKey, we noticed there's a lot of INA237s in stock — a part we hadn’t used much:
🔗 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/INA237AIDGSR/14004323

Lots of stock usually means it’s a popular choice, so we dug in. Turns out it’s a 16-bit version of the INA228, which we already have a breakout for:
🔗 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5832

Even better, the INA237 is quite a bit cheaper. It looks like it’s code-compatible, so we’re grabbing some protos of the INA237 and the slightly-better INA238 to compare:
🔗 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/texas-instruments/INA238AQDGSRQ1/14641449

[plush raptor]

Hi all, new person here. Just getting started in messing with Trinkets and such. I am a total newbie to this stuff.... my old frickin age. This stuff was not around in my day. So i am hoping to pick some brains of people out there that are smarter than I.

[ornate thistle]

Hey.. i'm fixing a samsung intel laptop/tablet.
works on battery only.
no charge, and not work with charge only..
i'm troubleshooting... and find someting ... for some reason this transistor is not letting voltage pass

[sturdy dawn]

I feel you. I started tinkering about 3 or 4 years ago but I never really realized that this so interesting until now. I only got like 20 good years left

Actually scratch that about 15 years ago I was developing some really basic Android apps and getting another basics of embedded software

I got a lot of useless gaming knowledge if anyone needs it 🤣

[sick apex]

my 6522 came

but i realised i've actually ordered another so i have 2 now

[night juniper]

Hey tinkerers! I'm new to the space but started building a concept prototype for an iot device, what's a good channel for me to dive into to see what others are building

I'm considering applying for a provisional patent and building some firmware

Got a little esp32 kit getting rush shipped to me tomorrow

[weary fiber]

I'm midway through a VLSI course right now, but really chomping at the bit to do more

[raw jasper]

Nice! Is your textbook Weste & Harris?

[weary fiber]

it's this one, but I'd be eager to hear any recommendations for further reading

[raw jasper]

Huh. First time I'm seeing this one :)

Weste & Harris is focused more on the physical side of things

https://pages.hmc.edu/harris/cmosvlsi/4e/

(I need to read through the thing one day)

[raw jasper]

Other cool books:

https://pages.hmc.edu/harris/ddca/ddcarv/
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-37195-1 (Also comes with companion yt videos: https://www.youtube.com/@electrontube4284)

[weary fiber]

another topic I really wanna review is just general analog design. My analog circuits class got a LITTLE into it, and we did 1 or 2 labs with T and pi-type filters, but I'd love to build-up the intuition to be able to independently derive them

[raw jasper]

there, I cannot help you. I have less analog knowledge than a baby

[weary fiber]

It's def a challenge lol, we did do the effort of actually solving the PDEs for one of the filters, it ended up being some 4th-order insanity

Makes me wonder what high-level RF engineering is like

[raw jasper]

I guess you could do some substitution to turn it into a known 2nd order form?

Or did you have to use an infinite series along with the boundary conditions?

[raw jasper]

No idea! As far as I know, all RF is dark magic

[weary fiber]

this was like 1.5 years ago, i'll see if I still have my lab notes

3rd order, rather, and we just had to do laplace for the homework

but we DID do a PDE solution as a lab demo

the alpha & beta symbols came from a pre-solved textbook formula for an under-damped oscillator, but tbh there's so much missing & such bad handwriting that this is all kinda gibberish lmao

[raw jasper]

To be honest, I can only solve up to second 😔

Never needed anything above that

(so far)

[weary fiber]

As I understand it, even actively-working EEs pretty much don't touch PDEs

[raw jasper]

I am very much not an EE, or any other kind of engineer :)

I'm just some person, currently floating around the 'net

[weary fiber]

THAT SAID i think it'd be sick to grind these topics to the point of being able to derive my own AM radio design

[raw jasper]

Go you! :D

[stoic mesa]

I am on the opposite side of the fence: I am fine solving PDEs, but my EE skills are not that good

of course, most PDEs can't be explicitly solved other than numerically

[weary fiber]

EE is kinda just hard, like actually deriving new designs is a lot of applied physics & math

Sure, Just E/M that doesn't really touch relativistic/quantum stuff basically ever, but still physics

<--- read the first few chapters of an Antenna Design textbook and got scared

Okay one last ramble before I get back to work, but like... I started researching basic GPS standards (L1) and honestly I'm extremely fascinated by the concepts here. Finally having a surface-level grasp of CDMA & BPSK stuff kinda blew my undergrad mind & I wish I could easily learn more-- My CE program doesn't even touch information theory until, like, senior year & above.

like yeah, the actual position-finding is cool, but signal theory is neat af

[tardy badger]

My instructor for VLSI used a book by Jan M Rabaey

[tardy badger]

Have you looked into Inertial Sense? They make a 10-DoF positioning sensor that uses a ton of Kalman filters to fuse GPS, RTK, and movement data to do cm accurate positioning

[hollow flint]

what's a good channel for me to … see what others are building
#show-and-tell

[night juniper]

Excellent thank you very much

I just finished filing my provisional utility patent so it's perfect timing to share

[hollow flint]

Just remember to look over the Advertising Policy: #welcome message

[night juniper]

For clarity, how do I reach out to that role specifically

[hollow flint]

WDYM?

[night juniper]

Sorry I just want to make sure I'm reading it right it says please reach out to the community moderators role

I didn't know if it needed approval before posting

Oh that says community that you'd like to share apologies

Just a misread

Thank you very much

[night juniper]

Hopefully that meets all of the guidelines , I appreciate the space to share

[twin saddle]

Is there a chat for asking information on adafruit products? What would be the best channel for that?

[umbral phoenix]

@twin saddle just choose a channel that is close to the product function, or here or #general-tech or #help-with-projects also fine

if the conversation gets really specific, you may get redirected to a certain channel

[twin saddle]

T.Y! I've asked sometime ago, but I had no answer.

I want to play around with the quad rotary encoder (and do something with 2 to 4 of those boards), but I'm having trouble finding rotary encoders with a translucent stem + button.

[umbral phoenix]

anything like this https://www.adafruit.com/product/5676

[twin saddle]

It's a lot of work to solder 8 to 16 rotary encoders and then have to redo that again when those rotary encoders become available, or, alternatively, it feels sad to have the neopixels there and not even have some hacky way to channel the light to outside.

[umbral phoenix]

could 3D print something?

[twin saddle]

That's just the cap. The rotary encoder stem/shaft needs to be translucent for the light to get there.

[twin saddle]

I wouldn't mind. But I have no idea if I can disassemble a rotary encoder, replace the shaft and assemble again (times 8, 12, or 16).

[lapis anchor]

would something like this work? https://www.sparkfun.com/rotary-encoder-illuminated-rgb.html

[twin saddle]

Would be perfect if the pinout was compatible. I'm not sure the bottom is open, since it has it's own LEDs. This one is particularly nice, because it has a push button. The best I could find before (that had compatible pinouts) either had no button, or also had the RG LED (again, IDK if the bottom was open)

Thanks for looking those up.

[lapis anchor]

I thought Adafruit had something similar but maybe I was thinking the potentiometer with neopixels

yeah finding something THAT specific might be a bit of work, maybe you could get some PCB breakout boards to reroute pins depending on what your space constraints are in the project, but sounds like you're trying to upgrade/reuse a current product since you mentioned pinout compatibility

[twin saddle]

I mean the pinout for the quard rotary encoder which is 3pins on one side + 2 on the oposite (plus 2 clasp-like things that can also be soldered)

This product: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5752

[lapis anchor]

https://www.mouser.com/new/cts/cts-11ce-12ce-rotary-encoders/

[twin saddle]

These have LEDs, no button, and I can't tell if the the bottom of the shaft is open.

Thank you so much for searching this. I'm afraid you're going to end up in the same place I did.

The video announcing the quad rotary encoder mentioned that adafruit would possibly stock these hard-to-procure rotary encoders at some point. That's why I'm asking here.

[dusty citrus]

Someone knows a generic name for this thing?
https://brilliancelaserinks.com/products/aerosol-spray-can-for-metals-marking-with-co2-fiber-yag
can't buy from us, and it's really expensive
Not sure how does this thing even work, supposedly you spray it, laser it, the mark then is amplified and permament, and then wash it off
what it actually does idk
maybe @rapid geode (sorry for the ping)

[rapid geode]

i think thats used for marking stainless. my friend had soem with his epilog laser. i dont know anything else about iut

[dusty citrus]

for aluminum, stainless, should come off easily

[solar kindle]

As far as I can tell, it's generically referred to as "laser marking spray". Looks like the key ingredient is a molybdenum compound (either oxide or sulfide). Found a youtube vid of a product comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlVbVSWPT0

[frozen spruce]

Does anyone have a PokitPro? Would anyone know why I’m getting 4.4 ohms instead of the actual 2.2 ohm reading that I am supposed to be getting?