Moving past the breadboard…
I wanted to get the Control Panel off the breadboard at some point and kept trying different layouts on a big pcb. Then I realized that the project is likely… Read more »
Author Archives: Ian Cole
Hacking an M1 Abrams Tank Joystick
Last weekend I asked my son “want to hack that joystick today?” He turned off the tv and came over to see what I was doing. This Control Panel father… Read more »
WaveShield
The WaveShield arrived from AdaFruit and I promptly assembled it. It was an easy assembly, especially since I’ve been getting lots of soldering practice. I had some trouble getting it… Read more »
Building a Voltage Regulator
I’d used 78** series voltage regulators in the past, but never built a filtered power supply. I ran across a tutorial at sparkfun and decided to build it. I knew… Read more »
Wow, I’m building a simulator…
As I added capabilities through hardware, I kept discussing functionality with my son. He understood the concept of “you push a button and something happens”, but he really hadn’t grasped… Read more »
Control Panel – First working Prototype
As I was learning, I’d already built the 4 transistor circuits, the 3 switch input circuits and the 2 analog gauge control circuits all on the Radio Shack breadboard. I… Read more »
Shift In
As I mentioned previously, the shift examples were intriguing and everything was just working, so I thought I’d give it a go. I built it on the lab, using the… Read more »
The “Control Panel” takes shape…
Once I’d shown my son the prototype with the lit buttons and the analog gauges, I was excited to push the project forward. At this point, I still needed to… Read more »
Analog Gauges + Arduino
The day after Christmas I headed right back to the Arduino with a burst of both enthusiasm and confidence. It had to be a good day – after all Radio… Read more »
Arduino 101
Christmas day I showed my dedication to learning the Arduino by cleaning off my desk to make room for it. For a starter kit, I had an Arduino Duemilanove (That’s the… Read more »