XESS

People at the 2012 NC Maker Faire were asking me if the documentation for my projects was online. (OK, one person asked, but that's enough to get me going.) So here's a description of my first project, the Reflex Circle, and how I built it.

My girlfriend's daughter likes to play a simple game at the arcade which consists of a ring of lights and a button. The lights come on sequentially and she has to hit a button at the right time to stop the light at the top of the circle. So I built a version of that. Here's a video of of me playing it:

Hi, Element14. First off, let  me tell you how much I like Eagle. I bought version 4 back in 2001 for $1212. (Schematic editor, pcb layout and auto-router - woo hoo! Times were good.) Then in 2004, I upgraded to V4.1 for $315. (I don't know why I had to pay for a minor release, but there you go.) Finally, I went to V5 in 2009 for $400. I've never regretted my choice - over the years, Eagle has gotten better and better and my total outlay is still less than $2000. I can hardly get a schematic editor in one of the major CAD packages for that.

But I haven't made the move to V6. The price tag for me is around $600 and for that I get two new features: differential trace routing and design files stored as XML. Diff traces would be nice, and I guess XML files will be great once people create some cool tools for processing them. But to me, it's not a lot for $600. (Not that I begrudge you the right to profit from providing an excellent tool.) But more than the price, the main reason I'm not upgrading is because Eagle is isolating me from the community.

Since most of my company's products are now open, it seems appropriate to be assisting this conference. Check out the list of other sponsors here and show them some love.

I corresponded with Fabrizio Tappero yesterday and he tells me that hardcopy versions of Free Range VHDL will be available in a couple of weeks. As I wrote previously, this introductory VHDL book is open-source and freely available on the net. Naturally, the authors received a lot of feedback from readers which they used to spiff-up the text before rolling the printing presses.

I got word last week from Kevin Gunn and the rest of the selection committee that my application for a booth at the Raleigh Maker Faire was accepted. So come out to the NC State Fairgrounds on June 16th and see me and a bunch of other (more) interesting people!

I always wondered why things take so long. Now I know.

For the past month, I was working on a Python version of the XSTOOLs software. I wanted an easy route to cross-platform capabilities for Windows, linux and OSX, and interpreted Python provides that. And not needing a compiler makes it easier for my customers to modify the software for their systems.

Well, I published chapter 6 of "FPGAs?! Now What?" back on Aug 30, 2011. And today I'm finally delivering chapter 7 with all the personal anticipation usually associated with the end to a bout of constipation.

By now, everyone else has given their New Year's greetings. But the first workday is the beginning of the real New Year. And my resolution is to shut up and solve problems.

My sister is big into creating Christmas traditions. Last year she decided that we should each make a Christmas ornament for the tree each year. So this year I decided to make an electronic ornament. Here's the PCB:

I got the prototype PCBs for the next version of the XuLA Board from @laen's service a few weeks ago. Here's the front and back of the bare board: