Learn Electronics & Microcontrollers
At its core, pulse width modulation (PWM) is just another modulation technique like AM or FM, among others.
Many electronics hobbyists who build robots and other moving things recognize the term as it pertains to controlling the speed of a motor.
But PWM has a lot of other, lesser known uses also.
Let’s first start with some PWM fundamentals.
Choosing a development board for your projects can be a daunting task. Given the large number of development boards available today, it’s no wonder.
For those who don’t already know this, let’s first come up with a definition for development board.
A development board is a small circuit board containing either a microcontroller, microprocessor (or both) which supplies the necessary components and software for design and programming.
Most of us are familiar with boards like the various incarnations of Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and even BeagleBone. These are some of the most popular options among hobbyists and makers.
Some of us are familiar with other, lesser known boards like Intel’s Galileo or Texas Instrument’s TI LaunchPad. [Read more…] about Choosing a Development Board for Your Project
Welcome to the 4th installment of the C Programming Tutorials!
This time around, we’re going to talk about some common C control structures and conditional statements.
These let you do some amazing things with a little amount of code.
[Read more…] about C Programming Tutorial 4: Control Structures in C
There are some things in the world of electronics that are just confusing to people, though they are actually simple underneath. The decibel is one of them.
If you’re into electronics you probably have heard the term decibel or dB thrown around.
Even if you’re not an electronics enthusiast at all, you may have heard the term used in situations dealing with sound.
Understanding the decibel (or dB) is important for any aspiring electronics geek.
Decibels show up in amplifier design, filter design, Bode plots, antenna specs and more.
Fortunately, the concept of the decibel is relatively simple once you understand it. In fact, this post will probably be shorter than most of the others due to the simplistic nature of this unit.
Welcome to C Programming Tutorial three!
In the last C programming tutorial, we talked about what a variable is and went over some common variable types, explaining what they’re used for and what their limitations are.
We’re still learning the basics of C programming, so this time we’re going to talk about arithmetic and logic.
Logic and arithmetic are one of the foundations of any programming language.
Some may think the principles and rules on this are obvious and may be tempted to skip this tutorial. I urge you not to skip, especially if you’re new to C programming. While many things about arithmetic and logic may seem obvious and boring, there are some caveats and gotchas. Even if you’re a C programming aficionado, this tutorial can serve as a good review of the basics.
Sometimes, gaining more complex knowledge has the tendency to push simple things into the dusty corners of our brains, making us forget the basics and over-complicate things.
[Read more…] about C Programming Tutorial 3: Arithmetic & Logic in C
This time, I want to step away from C programming for a minute and do something a bit different and fun.
Stereotypes are woven into the fabric of society, for better or for worse. Luckily for electronics enthusiasts, the stereotypes we get tend to be on the better side of that.
This got me thinking about the stereotypes people like us endure (I’m using the word “endure” in a facetious sort of way) and what it means to be an electronics hobbyist or enthusiast. To me, an electronics hobbyist and an electronics enthusiast are the same, so I’ll probably use both interchangeably.
After a nice brain-dump, I came up with 10 traits that many electronics geeks have.
[Read more…] about 10 Ways to Tell if You’re a Real Electronics Geek
