August 2011 Competition Results

Hello Readers

The month of August is now over and hence another competition. There were six questions hidden among the August articles, and for the curious the questions and answers were:

1. In which country is the Gravitech Nano MP3 board assembled? – United States;
2. If you had six pushwheel switches, how many numbers greater than zero can be displayed? – 999999;
3. Which SMD package type is the SAA1064 used on the Gravitech 7-segment shield? – SOIC (also accepted SO-24, SOT-137 1 etc.)
4. How many LEDs are on the Snootlab Rotoshield when constructed? Five – there are four bi-colour SMD LEDs on the PCB and the user solders in the power LED. Some people count the bi-colours as two LEDs, so I also accepted an answer of nine;
5. What does I²C stand for? – Inter-integrated Circuit;
6. What was the CPU speed of the original MITS Altair 8800 computer? – A scorching 2 MHz.

As always we had many entrants, however there can only be two winners. Thank you to all those who took part and kudos to those who answered all the questions correctly. And now …. *drum roll* winner of the first prize is:

Craig from Western Australia who has won a brand-new  Freetronics EtherTen!

This is the mother of all Arduino-compatible boards. Designed in Australia and manufactured to the highest quality standards the EtherTen replaces three boards – consider having an Arduino Uno SMD, Ethernet shield with PoE, and a microSD shield – all on the one board. From the Freetronics website:

The EtherTen is a 100% Arduino compatible board that can talk to the world. Do Twitter updates automatically, serve web pages, connect to web services, display sensor data online, and control devices using a web browser. The Freetronics EtherTen uses the same ATmega328P as the Duemilanove and the same Wiznet W5100 chip used by the official Arduino Ethernet Shield, so it’s 100% compatible with the Ethernet library and sketches. Any project you would previously have built with an Arduino and an Ethernet shield stacked together, you can now do all in a single, integrated board.

We’ve even added a micro SD card slot so you can store web content on the card, or log data to it.

All the good things about the Eleven and the Ethernet Shield have been combined into this one device so please see those pages for all the specific details, but the highlights include:

• Gold-plated PCB.
• Top and bottom parts overlays.
• Top-spec ATmega328P MCU.
• Mini-USB connector: no more shorts against shields!
• D13 pin isolated with a MOSFET so you can use it as an input.
• Power-over-Ethernet support, both cheapie DIY or full 802.3af standards-compliant.
• Ethernet activity indicators on the PCB and the jack.
• 10/100base-T auto-selection.
• Fully compatible with standard Ethernet library.
• Reset management chip.
• Fixed SPI behavior on Ethernet chipset.
• Robust power filtering.
• Sexy rounded corners.

Note that just like our Ethernet Shield with PoE support, the EtherTen provides a number of options for different Power over Ethernet. You can use the supplied jumpers and feed 7-12Vdc down the wire for cheap DIY version, or you can fit our PoE Regulator 24V and feed a bit more voltage down the wire, or you can use our PoE Regulator 802.3AF along with a proper commercial PoE injector or switch. It’s up to you.

And the second winner is Uday K-A from Germany – who has won a brand-new Freetronics LCD & Keypad shield

This LCD and Keypad Shield gives you a handy 16-character by 2-line display, 5 buttons and a controllable backlight, plug it straight in on top of your Arduino board or other project shields.
The display is set behind the shield for a low profile fitment and nice look and we’ve included panel mounting screw holes in the corners.

It’s great when you want to build a stand-alone project with its own user interface that doesn’t require a computer attached to send commands to your Arduino.

Works perfectly in 4-bit mode with the “LiquidCrystal” library included with the Arduino IDE, allowing you to control the LCD with a total of just 6 digital I/O lines. We’ve deliberately picked D4-D9 so that it doesn’t interfere with pins required by other popular products such as the Ethernet Shield and EtherTen, so you can stack this on top of other shields to give you a local display.

The buttons provide “left”, “right”, “up”, “down”, and “select” while using just one analog input. That leaves the other analog inputs free for you to use in your projects.

The LCD backlight is connected to D3 and can be controlled for on/off, brightness and flashing effects.

Features:

• 16×2 LCD using HD44780-compatible display module (white characters on blue background).
• 5 buttons on one analog input (A0).
• LCD backlight with current limiting, brightness and on/off controllable by D3, can be moved to D2, D10, A1, A2, A3, A4 or A5 for easy project pin compatibility.
• Recessed LCD, panel mount screw holes and button layout suitable for panel or cabinet mounting if desired.
• Reset button.
• Power supply smoothing capacitor.
• Gold-plated PCB for maximum durability.
• Overlay printed on both the top and the bottom.
• Pins used by shield clearly marked, LiquidCrystal library setup reference is on the bottom of the pcb for convenience.

So another month – another competition. The next competition will be announced soon with another group of great prizes.

And of course thanks to our generous competition sponsor Freetronics!

Visit the Freetronics website or resellers to see their full range of quality Arduino-related products.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

August 2011 Competition

Hello Readers

The August competition has now closed and the winners will be drawn and notified very shortly. Stay tuned for the September competition!

Time for another competition! To enter is very easy. There will be six questions hidden within articles published in the month of August (but not this one!). Once you have answers to all six, email them to competition at tronixstuff dot com with “August 2011″ in the subject line before 2359h GMT September 4th. On the 5th of September, I will compile a list of people with the correct answers, and randomly select two winners. Please note competition rules at the end of this article.

The first winner drawn will receive a brand new Freetronics EtherTen!

This is the mother of all Arduino-compatible boards. Designed in Australia and manufactured to the highest quality standards the EtherTen replaces three boards – consider having an Arduino Uno SMD, Ethernet shield with PoE, and a microSD shield – all on the one board. From the Freetronics website:

The EtherTen is a 100% Arduino compatible board that can talk to the world. Do Twitter updates automatically, serve web pages, connect to web services, display sensor data online, and control devices using a web browser. The Freetronics EtherTen uses the same ATmega328P as the Duemilanove and the same Wiznet W5100 chip used by the official Arduino Ethernet Shield, so it’s 100% compatible with the Ethernet library and sketches. Any project you would previously have built with an Arduino and an Ethernet shield stacked together, you can now do all in a single, integrated board.

We’ve even added a micro SD card slot so you can store web content on the card, or log data to it.

All the good things about the Eleven and the Ethernet Shield have been combined into this one device so please see those pages for all the specific details, but the highlights include:

• Gold-plated PCB.
• Top and bottom parts overlays.
• Top-spec ATmega328P MCU.
• Mini-USB connector: no more shorts against shields!
• D13 pin isolated with a MOSFET so you can use it as an input.
• Power-over-Ethernet support, both cheapie DIY or full 802.3af standards-compliant.
• Ethernet activity indicators on the PCB and the jack.
• 10/100base-T auto-selection.
• Fully compatible with standard Ethernet library.
• Reset management chip.
• Fixed SPI behavior on Ethernet chipset.
• Robust power filtering.
• Sexy rounded corners.

Note that just like our Ethernet Shield with PoE support, the EtherTen provides a number of options for different Power over Ethernet. You can use the supplied jumpers and feed 7-12Vdc down the wire for cheap DIY version, or you can fit our PoE Regulator 24V and feed a bit more voltage down the wire, or you can use our PoE Regulator 802.3AF along with a proper commercial PoE injector or switch. It’s up to you.

And of course there is a second prize – the Freetronics LCD & Keypad shield

This LCD and Keypad Shield gives you a handy 16-character by 2-line display, 5 buttons and a controllable backlight, plug it straight in on top of your Arduino board or other project shields.
The display is set behind the shield for a low profile fitment and nice look and we’ve included panel mounting screw holes in the corners.

It’s great when you want to build a stand-alone project with its own user interface that doesn’t require a computer attached to send commands to your Arduino.

Works perfectly in 4-bit mode with the “LiquidCrystal” library included with the Arduino IDE, allowing you to control the LCD with a total of just 6 digital I/O lines. We’ve deliberately picked D4-D9 so that it doesn’t interfere with pins required by other popular products such as the Ethernet Shield and EtherTen, so you can stack this on top of other shields to give you a local display.

The buttons provide “left”, “right”, “up”, “down”, and “select” while using just one analog input. That leaves the other analog inputs free for you to use in your projects.

The LCD backlight is connected to D3 and can be controlled for on/off, brightness and flashing effects.

Features:

• 16×2 LCD using HD44780-compatible display module (white characters on blue background).
• 5 buttons on one analog input (A0).
• LCD backlight with current limiting, brightness and on/off controllable by D3, can be moved to D2, D10, A1, A2, A3, A4 or A5 for easy project pin compatibility.
• Recessed LCD, panel mount screw holes and button layout suitable for panel or cabinet mounting if desired.
• Reset button.
• Power supply smoothing capacitor.
• Gold-plated PCB for maximum durability.
• Overlay printed on both the top and the bottom.
• Pins used by shield clearly marked, LiquidCrystal library setup reference is on the bottom of the pcb for convenience.

As with any other competition, there needs to be some rules:

• Prizes will be delivered via Australia Post domestic or regular international air mail. Winners may elect for other methods upon payment of real cost;
• Winners outside of Australia will be responsible for any taxes, fees or levies imposed by your local Governments (such as import levies, excise, VAT, etc.) upon importation of purchased goods;
• Prizes may take up to 45 days to be received;
• If you have met me John Boxall in person, or you have won a previous competition you cannot enter;
• The Judge’s decision is final with regards to any dispute;
• Entries will be accepted until 2359h GMT on 4th September 2011.

And of course thanks to our generous competition sponsor Freetronics!

Visit the Freetronics website or resellers to see their full range of quality Arduino-related products.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

July 2011 Competition Results

Hello readers

[Oops - this was originally published as August instead of July]

The month of July is now over and therefore another competition. There were six questions hidden within the posts for July, and for the curious the questions and answers were:

1. Which software was used to create the picture above? (Image of an Arduino and breadboard in this post) – Fritzing;
2. What large products are famously made in Toulouse, France and exported around the world? – Aircraft from EADS/Airbus Industries – such as the amazing A380;
3. Which movie did the quote printed in the video above come from? (“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy“) – “The Shining“;
4. What is larger, 1000 nanofarads or 1 microfarad? – Neither, they are the same;
5. What is the frequency of the crystal in this kit? – 32.768 kHz;
6. Where are the headquarters for NXP located? – Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

It was great to see a record number of entries, all with correct answers. Great work everyone! However, there can only be two winners…

The first winner drawn was Henrik from Sweden who will receive an ex-review Ikalogic “Scanalogic2” PC-based logic analyser and signal generator:

With the Scanalogic2, you can capture and analyse all sorts of signals, including I2C, CAN bus, SPI, UART, and more. The firmware is user-upgradable and allows the design team to add more features when they are developed. You can even capture data and play it back to recreate situations in the future, or transfer the data to other users for their analysis. For more information please visit the Ikalogic website, or read my quick review of the Scanalogic. Thanks to Little Bird Electronics for the Scanalogic2

The second winner drawn was Kevin from New Jersey, USA who will receive one brand new Gravitech Arduino Nano:

Made in the USA, the Gravitech Arduino Nano is a very, very small version of our Arduino Duemilanove boards. It contains the same microcontroller (ATmega328) but in SMD form; has all the I/O pins (plus two extra analogue inputs); and still has a USB interface via the FT232 chip. The prize version will have the pins soldered as shown above. Thanks to Gravitech for the Arduino Nano.

Congratulations to the lucky winners, and thank you to all those who took the time to enter the competition. I hope you enjoyed reading the posts, and look forward to running another competition in August. The prizes are two new products that will be very desirable, and will be reviewed in the next week or two. So stay tuned!

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

July 2011 Competition

Hello Readers

The July competition has now closed and the winners have been announced. Thank you to all those who entered and stay tuned for the next competition in August!

Time for another competition! To enter is very easy. There will be six questions hidden within articles published in the month of July (but not this one!). Once you have answers to all six, email them to competition at tronixstuff dot com with “July 2011″ in the subject line before 05/08. On the 5th of August, I will compile a list of people with the correct answers, and randomly select two winners. Please note competition rules at the end of this article.

The first winner drawn will receive an ex-review Ikalogic “Scanalogic2” PC-based logic analyser and signal generator:

With the Scanalogic2, you can capture and analyse all sorts of signals, including I2C, CAN bus, SPI, UART, and more. The firmware is user-upgradable and allows the design team to add more features when they are developed. You can even capture data and play it back to recreate situations in the future, or transfer the data to other users for their analysis. For more information please visit the Ikalogic website, or read my quick review of the Scanalogic.

The second winner drawn will receive one brand new Gravitech Arduino Nano:

Made in the USA, the Gravitech Arduino Nano is a very, very small version of our Arduino Duemilanove boards. It contains the same microcontroller (ATmega328) but in SMD form; has all the I/O pins (plus two extra analogue inputs); and still has a USB interface via the FT232 chip. The prize version will have the pins soldered as shown above.

As with any other competition, there needs to be some rules:

• Prizes will be delivered via Australia Post domestic or regular international air mail. Winners may elect for other methods upon payment of real cost;
• Winners outside of Australia will be responsible for any taxes, fees or levies imposed by your local Governments (such as import levies, excise, VAT, etc.) upon importation of purchased goods;
• Prizes may take up to 45 days to be received;
• If you have won a previous competition you cannot enter;
• The Judge’s decision is final with regards to any dispute;
• Entries will be accepted until 2359h GMT on 4th August 2011.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

May 2011 Competition Results

Hello Readers

The month of May has ended and thus another monthly tronixstuff.com competition. There were five questions hidden within the posts – and most entrants were correct. Questions for May were:

1. What is the largest integer that can be stored in an ATmega328 EEPROM address? – 255
2.  Who invented Pong? – Allan Alcorn
   
3. Would you use a rheostat or a potentiometer to divide voltage? A potentiometer
4. Name the creator of the fictional computer “Colossus” – Dr Charles Forbin. This question came about after watching the movie “Colossus: The Forbin Project“. To the two people who wrote in calling this a stupid question – have a sense of humour and learn to use Google search. One person wrote in with the author of the book the movie was based on, that answer was also accepted.
5. When was TV first broadcast in colour in Australia? Well I should have been more specific with this question as test broadcasting started in 1967 with a full changeover in 1975. So either year was accepted.

After sorting through a record number of entries, we have two winners:

Congratulations to Gulliver G. (first) and Stephan S.  (second)– the lucky winners!

The first winner drawn will receive a brand new, hot off the pick and place – Freetronics EtherTen!

The EtherTen must be the ultimate Arduino-Uno compatible board on the market. From the Freetronics website:

Two tastes that taste great together: Arduino and Ethernet. But until now the only way to connect an Arduino to the Internet via a LAN was to add an Ethernet Shield. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an Arduino-compatible board with on-board Ethernet? Better still, what if that board was based on the Freetronics Eleven and theFreetronics Ethernet Shield (with Power-over-Ethernet support!) but merged together into a single, integrated board that was 100% Arduino compatible and network-enabled?

This, folks, is what you’ve been waiting for.

The EtherTen is a 100% Arduino compatible board that can talk to the world. Do Twitter updates automatically, serve web pages, connect to web services, display sensor data online, and control devices using a web browser. The Freetronics EtherTen uses the same ATmega328P as the Duemilanove and the same Wiznet W5100 chip used by the official Arduino Ethernet Shield, so it’s 100% compatible with the Ethernet library and sketches. Any project you would previously have built with an Arduino and an Ethernet shield stacked together, you can now do all in a single, integrated board.

We’ve even added a micro SD card slot so you can store web content on the card, or log data to it.

All the good things about the Eleven and the Ethernet Shield have been combined into this one device so please see those pages for all the specific details, but the highlights include:

• Gold-plated PCB.
• Top and bottom parts overlays.
• Top-spec ATmega328P MCU.
• Mini-USB connector: no more shorts against shields!
• D13 pin isolated with a MOSFET so you can use it as an input.
• Power-over-Ethernet support, both cheapie DIY or full 802.3af standards-compliant.
• Ethernet activity indicators on the PCB and the jack.
• 10/100base-T auto-selection.
• Fully compatible with standard Ethernet library.
• Reset management chip.
• Fixed SPI behavior on Ethernet chipset.
• Robust power filtering.
• Sexy rounded corners. Hmm.

In other words, one board of awesomeness. Thanks to Jon and the team at Freetronics for their excellent first prize.

The second prize winner will receive:

Five Freetronics ProtoShield Basic (with sockets and header pins [not shown]). If you can’t wait to get your hands on an EtherTen, visit Freetronics’ website or their distributors such as Little Bird Electronics.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

Once again, thank you to our generous competition sponsor Freetronics

May 2011 Competition

Hello Readers

The May competition has now closed and the results will be published shortly. Thank you to all those who entered in May!

Another month has commenced and that means time for another competition! To enter is very easy. There will be five(!) questions hidden within articles published in the month of May (but not this one!). Once you have answers to all five, email them to competition at tronixstuff dot com with “May 2011″ in the subject line. Then in the first week of June, I will compile a list of people with the correct answers, and randomly select two winners. Please note competition rules at end of article.

The first winner drawn will receive a brand new, hot off the pick and place – Freetronics EtherTen!

The EtherTen must be the ultimate Arduino-Uno compatible board on the market. From the Freetronics website:

Two tastes that taste great together: Arduino and Ethernet. But until now the only way to connect an Arduino to the Internet via a LAN was to add an Ethernet Shield. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an Arduino-compatible board with on-board Ethernet? Better still, what if that board was based on the Freetronics Eleven and the Freetronics Ethernet Shield (with Power-over-Ethernet support!) but merged together into a single, integrated board that was 100% Arduino compatible and network-enabled?

This, folks, is what you’ve been waiting for.

The EtherTen is a 100% Arduino compatible board that can talk to the world. Do Twitter updates automatically, serve web pages, connect to web services, display sensor data online, and control devices using a web browser. The Freetronics EtherTen uses the same ATmega328P as the Duemilanove and the same Wiznet W5100 chip used by the official Arduino Ethernet Shield, so it’s 100% compatible with the Ethernet library and sketches. Any project you would previously have built with an Arduino and an Ethernet shield stacked together, you can now do all in a single, integrated board.

We’ve even added a micro SD card slot so you can store web content on the card, or log data to it.

All the good things about the Eleven and the Ethernet Shield have been combined into this one device so please see those pages for all the specific details, but the highlights include:

• Gold-plated PCB.
• Top and bottom parts overlays.
• Top-spec ATmega328P MCU.
• Mini-USB connector: no more shorts against shields!
• D13 pin isolated with a MOSFET so you can use it as an input.
• Power-over-Ethernet support, both cheapie DIY or full 802.3af standards-compliant.
• Ethernet activity indicators on the PCB and the jack.
• 10/100base-T auto-selection.
• Fully compatible with standard Ethernet library.
• Reset management chip.
• Fixed SPI behavior on Ethernet chipset.
• Robust power filtering.
• Sexy rounded corners. Hmm.

In other words, one board of awesomeness. Thanks to Jon and the team at Freetronics for their excellent first prize. And there is also a second prize:

Five Freetronics ProtoShield Basic (with sockets and header pins [not shown]). If you can’t wait to get your hands on an EtherTen, visit Freetronics’ website.

As with any other competition, there needs to be some rules:

• Prizes will be delivered via Australia Post domestic or regular international air mail. Winners may elect for other methods upon payment of real cost;
• Winners outside of Australia will be responsible for any taxes, fees or levies imposed by your local Governments (such as import levies, excise, VAT, etc.) upon importation of purchased goods;
• Prizes may take up to 45 days to be received;
• If you have won a previous competition you cannot enter;
• The Judge’s decision is final with regards to any dispute;
• Entries will be accepted until 2359h GMT on 3rd June 2011.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

Once again, thank you to our generous competition sponsor Freetronics

April 2011 Competition – Results

Hello readers

The month of April has ended and thus another monthly tronixstuff.com competition. There were six questions hidden within the posts, and once again all entrants were correct with their answers. Questions for April were:

1. Name the two people who founded the predecessor to Agilent Technologies – Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard;
2. Name the magazine that originally described this kit (Current clamp meter adaptor) – Silicon Chip;
   
3. What does the acronym FTDI mean – Future Technology Devices International;
4. What is the mains power frequency in Australia? 50 Hz;
5. What is the name of the Evil Mad Science Arduino-compatible development board – Diavolino;
6. Unit of measurement for elastance – the daraf.

Congratulations to Mike F. and Rob R. – the lucky winners!

The first winner drawn will receves a full PoGa system bundle courtesy of 4D Systems, an Australian-based company who are a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of intelligent graphic display modules.

What is a PoGa you may ask? Here is an example:

As you can see, the PoGa is an amazing piece of work. The people at 4D Systems have really put together a fun and accessible way to develop your own games. However the PoGa is a lot more powerful than the retail price would suggest:

PoGa Features:

• Single chip, low cost educational game development platform, incorporating the tiny GOLDELOX-PoGa graphics processor chip.
• Comes in an easy to build kit form with very low parts count and cost: GOLDELOX-PoGa chip, 6 buttons, Colour LCD-TFT, Battery Holder and few discrete components.
• Display: 1.44″, 128xRGBx128 resolution, 65K colour TFT-LCD (directly interfaced to the GOLDELOX-PoGa chip).
• Colours: 65K simultaneous colours.
• microSD Card Interface: Supports the PoGa-Disk which can store and load up to 512 games and other applications as well as images and video clips. It can also be used as a storage medium for data logging applications during run time.
• Sound Support: Single channel sound engine with extended RTTTL format and allows complex generation of game sounds.
• Console: Layout fashion follows most standard game consoles with 6 buttons for game and non game related application control.
• Expandable: Power and UART lines are available via 8pin expansion port.
• Battery: Supports 3 x AAA batteries for mobility (hight capacity alkaline or lithium recommended).
• Supports the high level 4DGL language platform, syntax very similar to C.
• Software Tools: Free fully integrated 4D Workshop3 IDE software development tool suite.
• RoHS compliant.

PoGa Specifications:

• CPU: GOLDELOX-PoGa chip.
• Total RAM: 510 bytes (or 255 word sized variables).
• Program Memory: 11K bytes (more than adequate for all PoGa applications).
• Speed: 12Mips (internal).
• Screen: 1.44″ LCD-TFT, with greater than 160deg viewing angle.
• Resolution: 128 x RGB x 128 pixels.
• Colours: 65K colours. Pixels arranged in a 5:6:5 colour format (Red:5 bits, Green:6 bits, Blue: 5 bits).
• Graphics:Supports all primitives such as:
  • Lines, Circles, Rectangles, Dots, Triangles
  • Chars, Strings, Text Buttons
  • Images and Video clips.
• Sprites: Up to 64 sprites can be defined, simultaneous display of sprites is unlimited.
• Sound: Single channel mono, supports extended RTTTL format and allows complex generation of game sounds.
• Console: 4 x Navigation keys, 2 x Selection keys.
• PoGa-Disk: microSD card interface that supports most uSD memory cards  for video, images, game and application storage. 2Gb and larger size cards can support PoGa file system application storage.
• Expansion: External expansion port, (RX, TX, VBat, 3.3V and GND).

The first prize not only includes a fully-assembled PoGa unit, to enable extended application and experimentation with their PoGa the winner also receives a USB programming cable, external breakout board and the GPS receiver module as shown below:

The second prize winner receives exactly the same as the first! Except for being the review hardware used to play… test out the PoGa here at tronixstuff. Nevertheless both winners will have a ball playing the sample games, or spending time to develop their own games, quizzes, possible GPS applications including reverse  geocaching, and so on. In the next week I will review the PoGa system in more detail and document my experience with it.

To get your hands on a PoGa, they can be ordered directly from 4DSystems, Little Bird Electronics, Sparkfun and their resellers, or Tigal for EU customers.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

Once again, thank you to our generous competition sponsor 4D Systems!

April 2011 Competition

Hello readers

The April competition has now closed. Thank you to all those who entered, and the winners have been announced!

Another month has passed, so time for another competition!

To enter, find the six questions that will be spread across the articles published in tronixstuff.com between the first and last day of April. When you have answers to all six questions, email your answers to competition at tronixstuff dot com with “April″ in the subject line. Then in the first week of May, I will compile a list of people with the correct answers, and randomly select two winners. Please note competition rules at end of article.

The first winner drawn will receive a full PoGa system bundle courtesy of 4D Systems, an Australian-based company who are a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of intelligent graphic display modules.

What is a PoGa you may ask? Here is an example:

As you can see, the PoGa is an amazing piece of work. The people at 4D Systems have really put together a fun and accessible way to develop your own games. However the PoGa is a lot more powerful than the retail price would suggest:

PoGa Features:

• Single chip, low cost educational game development platform, incorporating the tiny GOLDELOX-PoGa graphics processor chip.
• Comes in an easy to build kit form with very low parts count and cost: GOLDELOX-PoGa chip, 6 buttons, Colour LCD-TFT, Battery Holder and few discrete components.
• Display: 1.44″, 128xRGBx128 resolution, 65K colour TFT-LCD (directly interfaced to the GOLDELOX-PoGa chip).
• Colours: 65K simultaneous colours.
• microSD Card Interface: Supports the PoGa-Disk which can store and load up to 512 games and other applications as well as images and video clips. It can also be used as a storage medium for data logging applications during run time.
• Sound Support: Single channel sound engine with extended RTTTL format and allows complex generation of game sounds.
• Console: Layout fashion follows most standard game consoles with 6 buttons for game and non game related application control.
• Expandable: Power and UART lines are available via 8pin expansion port.
• Battery: Supports 3 x AAA batteries for mobility (hight capacity alkaline or lithium recommended).
• Supports the high level 4DGL language platform, syntax very similar to C.
• Software Tools: Free fully integrated 4D Workshop3 IDE software development tool suite.
• RoHS compliant.

PoGa Specifications:

• CPU: GOLDELOX-PoGa chip.
• Total RAM: 510 bytes (or 255 word sized variables).
• Program Memory: 11K bytes (more than adequate for all PoGa applications).
• Speed: 12Mips (internal).
• Screen: 1.44″ LCD-TFT, with greater than 160deg viewing angle.
• Resolution: 128 x RGB x 128 pixels.
• Colours: 65K colours. Pixels arranged in a 5:6:5 colour format (Red:5 bits, Green:6 bits, Blue: 5 bits).
• Graphics:Supports all primitives such as:
  • Lines, Circles, Rectangles, Dots, Triangles
  • Chars, Strings, Text Buttons
  • Images and Video clips.
• Sprites: Up to 64 sprites can be defined, simultaneous display of sprites is unlimited.
• Sound: Single channel mono, supports extended RTTTL format and allows complex generation of game sounds.
• Console: 4 x Navigation keys, 2 x Selection keys.
• PoGa-Disk: microSD card interface that supports most uSD memory cards  for video, images, game and application storage. 2Gb and larger size cards can support PoGa file system application storage.
• Expansion: External expansion port, (RX, TX, VBat, 3.3V and GND).

The first prize not only includes a fully-assembled PoGa unit, to enable extended application and experimentation with their PoGa the winner also receives a USB programming cable, external breakout board and the GPS receiver module as shown below:

And let’s not forget the second prize – it is exactly the same as the first! Except for being the review hardware used to play… test out the PoGa here at tronixstuff. Nevertheless both winners will have a ball playing the sample games, or spending time to develop their own games, quizzes, possible GPS applications including reverse  geocaching, and so on. In the next week I will review the PoGa system in more detail and document my experience with it.

If you don’t want to wait and take a chance you can get a PoGa directly from 4DSystems, Little Bird Electronics, Sparkfun and their resellers, or Tigal for EU customers.

As with any other competition, there needs to be some rules:

• Prizes will be delivered via Australia Post regular air mail. Winners may elect for other methods upon payment of real cost;
• Winners outside of Australia will be responsible for any taxes, fees or levies imposed by your local Governments (such as import levies, excise, VAT, etc.) upon importation of purchased goods;
• If you have won a previous competition you cannot enter;
• If you have met John Boxall in person you cannot enter;
• The Judge’s decision is final with regards to any dispute;
• Entries will be accepted until 2359h GMT on 3rd May 2011.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

Once again, thank you to our generous competition sponsor 4D Systems!

March 2011 Competition Results

Hello readers!

As it is now April we can announce the winners of the tronixstuff March 2011 Competition. The five questions and answers for March were:

1. What year was twitter founded? 2006;
2. How many standard characters can be displayed on a DFRobot 4884 LCD shield? 84;
3. Which company manufactures the microcontroller used in our Arduino boards? Atmel;
4. Name five people from the Arduino development team - Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Tom Igoe, Gianluca Martino, and David Mellis;
5. Which IC is the equivalent to two 555 timer ICs? The 556.

Once again it was great to see all the entrants had correct answers for every question, nice work everyone. However there can only be two winners…

Congratulations to Paul G. and Stuart M. – both lucky winners of a $40 gift voucher from Little Bird Electronics.

What a month it has been. And keep an eye out for the April competition which will be announced in a few days – there are some really fun and interesting prizes up for grabs!

So as you can see you can win great prizes just for checking into tronixstuff.com on a regular basis. If you missed out this month, stay tuned as it all starts again in the next few days. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

Once again, thanks to Madeleine and Marcus from Little Bird Electronics for the prizes.

 

March 2011 Competition

Hello readers

The March competition has now closed and the winners have been notified. The April competition will be announced shortly!

Another month has passed, so time for another competition!

To enter, find the five questions that will be spread across the articles published in tronixstuff.com between the first and last day of March. When you have answers to all five questions, email your answers to competition at tronixstuff dot com with “March″ in the subject line. Then in the first week of April, I will compile a list of people with the correct answers, and randomly select two winners…

Each winner will receive an Au$40 gift voucher to spend with Little Bird Electronics – Australia’s leading online retailer of fun stuff, including competitive prices on merchandise from Sparkfun, Seeed Studio, DF Robot and more!

As with any other competition, there needs to be some rules:

• Prizes will be emailed upon confirmation of email address;
• Winners outside of Australia will be responsible for any taxes, fees or levies imposed by your local Governments (such as import levies, excise, VAT, etc.) upon importation of purchased goods;
• If you have won a previous competition you cannot enter;
• If you know me in real life you cannot enter;
• The Judge’s decision is final with regards to any dispute;
• Entries will be accepted until 2359h GMT on 31st March 2011.

So have fun and keep checking into tronixstuff.com. Why not follow things on twitter, subscribe  for email updates or RSS using the links on the right-hand column, or join our Google Group – dedicated to the projects and related items on this website. Sign up – it’s free, helpful to each other –  and we can all learn something.

Once again, thank you to our generous competition sponsor Little Bird Electronics!

Otherwise, have fun, stay safe, be good to each other – and make something!