Author: dmcole | Date: July 1, 2009 | Please comment

So, I’m going to use Henne’s transceiver for an LED matrix. You coulda probably guessed, if you’d thought about it for a minute or three.
Anyway, I fell back on my – ahem – process: first, draw the circuit in Adobe Illustrator and then build it on a breadboard.
(I have been asked in the past why [...]

Author: dmcole | Date: June 29, 2009 | Please comment

If you’ve visited my automated Christmas lights page, the letters DMX won’t be unfamiliar to you. For those too lazy to click, it’s an electronic lighting protocol. Two wire. Used extensively in stage shows. And, in recent months, adopted by the DIY Christmas lighting community.
So, I’m working on an idea (I’ll post more when I [...]

Author: dmcole | Date: March 7, 2009 | Please comment

In 2007 I played around with the PICAXE, a microprocessor sold by a non-profit in the United Kingdom that comes loaded with a BASIC-like interpreter (you can read more about it here and here). I built some lighthouse beacons and a railroad crossing light using the device. It had one drawback: I had to write [...]