Did you have an old Nokia 1100 cell phone that keeps lying in the drawer, but you just don’t know what to do about it? Well, guess what! Is time to show off your creativity by combine the Nokia 1100 LCD with the PIC Interface (Yeah, it sounds like a cool idea, isn’t it?).

Before you starting the project, you have to make sure that your old Nokia 1100 LCD screen is in a good condition (Well, it would be better if the screen did not have any scratches).

First thing first, please apply the Nokia 1100 LCD screen with a PIC, which well written in Microchip C on demand. As you can see, the microcontroller is a PCF8814 and its not the I2C. Although the chip us I2C capable, but the LCD doesn’t use that mode.

In addition, the VDDI input can be used if only the I/O levels are different from the LCD supply voltage itself. The LCD supply voltage is 2.8V, even the VDDI id is in 1.8V.

For this case, the LED driver as per the manual will run with a 4.7ohm resistor at 3.6V.

Oh, you said that you don’t even have a Nokia 1100 cell phone? Easy, just go to the Radio Shack and search for a second hand Nokida 1100. This won’t cost you much.

Have you ever think to develop a high-tech and sophisticated US2B radar by yourself? You might think that this totally a mission impossible project, then you is wrong here.

Before you starting the task, you’re better prepare these following components:

• PIC18F4550 microchip (microcontroller)
• An ultrasonic range sensor
• A old bipolar stepper motor (This for the motor turning purpose)

Below here is the figure for the finished radar with the USB missile launcher beside it.

The stepper motor will turn the ultrasonic range finder in 360 degrees and reverse (Cool, isn’t it?). When two measurements have been made, the PIC will send out the data to the PC by using an asynchronous interrupt transfer. The timer in the PIC controls the stepping motor turning speed. Read more »

If you’re looking for a good thermometer that can assists you in the electronic works, why don’t you spare some time and develop a “programmable AVR 1- Wire Thermostat” for your own use?

First of all, you will need the following hardware components:

• A Dallas DS18S20 1-wire thermostat (for measure the temperature)
• A standard PC floppy drive cable (for connect the DS18S20 to the development board)
• 12V power supplies
• Atmel AVR JTAG ICE mkII programming and debugging tool
• Squid cable
• A standard cable to connect the thermostat to the PC

For the assembling process, plug the floppy cable to the EXT1 and EXT2 headers, where the key is on the cable pointing away from the center of the board. At this point, the floppy cable will fit on the headers perfectly without any small space to spare.

After it, plug the DS18S20 into the other end of the cable, which as shown in the below figure. However, you have to ensure that you pay attention to the direction the key on the cable is pointing. It is a very critical situation that you must plugged the thermostat chip into the exact socket holes which shown as below figure.

Lastly, don’t forget to wire up the JTAG cable directly to the back of the board. Voila, you’re now ready for programming the device!

Note: you can find the software releases at here.

Do you wish to have a “Giant electronic Spider” crawling and bringing some fun to your home? If you’re answered yes, then let’s meet this incredible “Eigenbau” Robot Spider.

You need to have these following materials for making this “Eigenbau” Spider:

• Javelin Stamp microcontroller with Ubicom Sx48AC
• One ultrasonic sensor with Deva-tech SRF04
• Two sensors with micro-switches
• A Micro servo to the pan of ultrasonic sensor
• Three Standard Model servos for the musculoskeletal purpose

This Eigenbau is well-programmed with Javelin Stamp microcontroller, which the three main tasks:

1. Review or control of the ultrasonic sensor and the sensor
2. Calculate the action, whether is to be forward, flight or Dodge, which based on the sensor data
3. Control of the three servos for the musculoskeletal, where it’s mainly according to the require action to be performed

Read more »