Category Archives: Embedded
Embedded computing related.
Coming Out of a $0.10 Shell – Semihosting on WCH RISCV MCUs
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 […]
Embedded Continous Integration Made Easier
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 […]
IoT Contest Conclusion
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 […]
IoT Contest: Reaction Trainer Design
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 […]
IoT Contest – Next-Generation Reaction Trainer using RISCV and RT-Thead
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 […]
32-bits at $0.10
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 […]
Retooling for 2023
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 […]
The $2 PCB worked…
Assembling the RTC breakout and putting it to the first test.
Smart Real-Time-Clock on a $2 PCB
Making dev kits is easy if 5 boards only cost you $2.
MCS-51 / 8051 Next Steps – Zapping into Shape
For previous articles, see here: MCS-51 / 8051 Revived – Introduction MCS-51 / 8051 – Hello STC89C52 part 1 MCS-51 / 8051 – Hello STC89C52 part 2 A preview of the next steps 8051 series for the STC89C52 series. This post will outline the next steps for interfacing the real world with that microcontroller. As […]
