b00m – this HUGE news, Parallax has an open source hardware kit out (their first) – the “AVRSimon Game Kit”. It was made by Joe Grand and “All contents of this kit are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)”. It’s AVR too, this is interesting 🙂
Soldering is required for this kit. AVRSimon is a do-it-yourself game kit based on the 1978 Milton Bradley flying saucer-shaped game of Simon in which players repeat sequences of light and sound. Designed by Grand Idea Studio, AVRSimon is a great way to learn about electronics and soldering, and incorporates basic microcontroller functions such as reading switch inputs, turning LEDs on and off, and generating sounds. It is fully reprogrammable, so you can modify the game or load new code onto the board to have it do something completely different.
AVRSimon comes in kit form with a high-quality PCB, pre-programmed microcontroller, and the best components we could buy to ensure that your finished project reflects the effort you impart with your own craftsmanship. The only other tools you will need to build the kit are a soldering iron, solder, wire snips, and a CR2032 3V Lithium Coin Cell battery (available at any supermarket or convenience store).
Parallax has a long history of publishing source and schematics, but this is the first “kit” that is “Open source hardware”.
Previous:
Parallax -shall open up a LOT more in coming days- wow!
Ken Gracey (Parallax’s Vice President) commented on our previous post about their move towards open source hardware… He writes –
Hey there 🙂 We shall open up a LOT more in coming days. I’ll be sure to remove that note you found on the schematic about being “proprietary” so you can “have at it” with the design! As you noted, it’s available under Creative Commons. You’ll even be able to put an Arduino in the design should you desire! Thanks for the feature Adafruit! – Ken Gracey
You can also read Ken’s post in the Parallax’s forums… This is very intriguing news for the world of hobbyist electronics. Parallax, nice work – keep it up.
Holy smokes! Parallax is opening up a bit! CC schematic of propeller-based oscilloscope
Here’s a schematic for their “PropScope”
The PropScope is a two-channel oscilloscope that is capable of reading 25 million samples per second with ten bits of resolution over one, two, ten, or twenty volt peak-to-peak waveforms. Power is provided through the USB port requiring only a single cable to connect the PropScope to any laptop or desktop PC. A built-in expansion port allows additional capabilities and upgrades, by simply plugging in an expansion card. A PropScope DAC card is even included, providing an analog trigger, a four-bit digital trigger, an eight-bit digital to analog converter, and a four-bit NTSC/PAL output. Other cards will be available to add even more useful features. The included software provides a traditional scope interface along with auto measurements and the ability to store and export waveforms. The software also provides features not normally available in a stand-alone oscilloscope, including a function generator, a logic analyzer, a spectrum analyzer, a vector-scope, and more.