Author Archives: treideme

Coming Out of a $0.10 Shell – Semihosting on WCH RISCV MCUs

Posted on August 25, 2023 by treideme

GitHub sample sources for the CH32V003 firmware, here. GitHub sources for the patched version of WCHs OpenOCD, here. Continuing our exploration of embedded CI jobs, let’s delve into achieving a comprehensive test-runner for a tiny embedded MCU. Instrumenting a WCH MCU that costs just $0.10, breaking free from the confines of a 16KB flash and […]

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Embedded Continous Integration Made Easier

Posted on July 27, 2023 by treideme

I often get asked how we test our production firmware. This is a conceptual overview of how this can be done for almost any complex embedded system without embarking on a very expensive hardware-in-the-loop setup. Some of this work is grounded in lessons learned in previous research that I did during my tenure at the […]

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IoT Contest Conclusion

Posted on July 16, 2023 by treideme

Part 1 Part 2 I am delighted to present my final submission for the IoT contest. Throughout this journey, I have worked diligently to develop a reaction trainer prototype rivalling existing commercial solutions such as Blaze Pods. By leveraging the capabilities of the CH32V208W microcontroller, I have designed a custom PCB that incorporates a calibrated […]

Posted in Coding, Contest, Embedded, Linux, Martial Arts, RISCV, RT-Thread, WCH | Leave a comment

IoT Contest: Reaction Trainer Design

Posted on June 6, 2023 by treideme

See Part 1 for the Contest Overview See Part 3 for the Final Submission As always you find the design files on my GitHub. Designing a sensor that meets the specific requirements of a particular application involves overcoming several hardware challenges. From creating a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) using Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software to carefully […]

Posted in Contest, Embedded, Martial Arts, RISCV, RT-Thread, WCH | 1 Comment

IoT Contest – Next-Generation Reaction Trainer using RISCV and RT-Thead

Posted on April 29, 2023 by treideme

See Part 2 for the Hardware Design See Part 3 for the Final Submission I have been following Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics (WCH) for a while. They have a very interesting line-up of low-cost RISCV microcontrollers with a lot of different connectivity options that rival big shots like ST or NXP. A couple of weeks ago […]

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Fixing a built-in Oven and Plyometrics

Posted on April 29, 2023 by treideme

I was down with an ankle injury that kept me out of the Dojo for a bit. Somewhat obsessed with recovery while I couldn’t do much physically, I used the time to read myself into recovery and training theory and discovered plyometrics – a type of exercise that involves explosive movements like jumps, hops, and […]

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32-bits at $0.10

Posted on January 21, 2023 by treideme

In the previous year, I conducted research on 8051 processors and stumbled upon WCH during my investigation. I was impressed to find that they offer a wide range of interesting 8051 microcontrollers, which feature host and device USB support and are reasonably priced. Recently, the vendor announced the release of their value-line RISC-V microcontrollers, further […]

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Retooling for 2023

Posted on January 14, 2023 by treideme

A new year has begun. After an extended hiatus in Japan to visit friends and family (pictured here), I am back in the saddle and plan to respin this blog a bit. In hindsight, there was a good mix of martial arts and general embedded topics instead of the original retrocomputing focus. The new-years resolution […]

Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Embedded, Life Perspectives, Martial Arts | Leave a comment

A Tiny Companion

Posted on November 20, 2022 by treideme

I finally received the laptop that I ordered a while back on Aliexpress. Given that I have a bunch of Christmas travel lined up and may spend hours being crammed in excessively priced airplane economy seats, I was seriously thinking of ways to reduce my electronic baggage. Typically I would have a phone, a big […]

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The $2 PCB worked…

Posted on November 12, 2022 by treideme

Assembling the RTC breakout and putting it to the first test.

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