Monthly Archives: noiembrie 2013

Writing a (working) USB driver for OS X

For some time I was struggling with an ambitious project, to write a Mac driver for my Agilent DSO-X 2002A oscilloscope (see here). The reason behind this is SCPI and the opportunity to reach fresh perspectives in computer–measurement instruments’ integration. However, it was not an easy way. More of a reverse–engineering project, was very time–consuming …

Ham Radio certification passed !

I added a new category/ topic on this blog because last week I successfully passed my Ham Radio certification ! This is something I wanted to do for a long time but had not much time to study and prepare for the exam. One of my relatives was a long time experienced class I Ham …

Home improvements

I’ve been quite busy the past few weeks doing improvements to this blog. I have used the twenty-ten WordPress theme that I was never very happy with. Not a big deal, anyway. The content is much more important. But the biggest complaint that I had was with an endless list of plugins that I installed …

Low Power Digitally-controlled Dual PSU

It comes a moment for any electronics hobbyist to build a power supply unit. Probably is one of the most useful and basic projects that you can go for. Well… one can easily buy those, but what’s the fun then ? However, the majority of PSUs available on the market are high-power (high-current) PSUs. With …

Missing WordPress Link Manager

WordPress users that updated the blog platform to version 3.5 might have observed that the link manager is missing from the admin pages: It seems that WordPress announced this as one of the major core changes when they released version 3.5: One other major change is the Link Manager. If you’re using it, you’ll want …

DIY Fridge Magnets

I love fridge magnets. We love fridge magnets (my wife likes them too). This is how our fridge looks like: But we also love beer. And we have a large collection of beer bottle caps and coasters. So I thought to combine these and make the caps stick to the refrigerator. Now, what you need …

Changing FTDI descriptors

I was struggling for some time to make my Mac communicate by USB with Arduino. It is part of a larger project of an USB-controlled Lab PSU that I am currently in prototype stage. Part of these problems solved when I finally realized that you cannot use an Arduino as an USB controller simply because …

Junk box

Yesterday I had a less busy day. Partly due to Halloween and All Saints’ Day, not much to do at work than to go over older emails, looking over missed tasks etc. I would rule for one such day each second week at last. It is incredible how well keeps you organized and how efficient …

Scavenging for electronic parts

Not very often I have the occasion to salvage some good parts from throw–away devices. Two days ago I found an empty TV set carcass lying on the sidewalk with some pieces left. The rest was — probably — savagely ripped off for copper and some other metals. It’s a bit of shame to see …