Recently, the open source becomes increasingly popular, especially among the home hobbyists. Many people regarding the open source as the genuine approach to the design, development and distribution of software, which is offering practically accessibility to software’s source code.

Some people even consider open source as one of various possible design approaches. Beside that, others might seem it as a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, many developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept.

Today, you’re going to have the chance to build a Dot Matrix Clock, which is related with the open source.

For your information, the whole project is costing under $150. Here are the characteristics of the Dot Matrix Clock, which as:

• 40×16 display with two LEDs per pixel giving 1280 LEDs

• Constant Current LED sink chips (It is to prevent varying brightness problems with the display)

• PIC 18F4550 microcontroller running off the PLL on a 16 MHz oscillator giving 12MIPS throughput

• 41-pin high density board to board connector

• 4 buttons

• 8-bit parallel bus with CS, R/W and CLK pins

By the way, you also need a MOSFET that has around 0.25 ohm to source the current properly.

For the remote car fans, it’s nothing better to play with your remote cars in a wide open space during the weekend, isn’t it? Well, if you’re a creative person, then you might want to take a look on how to remote control a toy car with programmable chip.

If you’ve involved with many electronic projects before, this remote car with programmable chip is absolutely a piece of cake for you.

First of all, connect a remote controlled car to a 16F84 programmable chip and control the car using C code. Please remember that you can close and open any kind of switch, which is under 15 volts.

Frankly, the 16F84A is definitely an obsolete chip, where it’s very limited. However, the best part about the 16F84A is it costs about $2. So, if you only have limited budget for the programmable chip, the 16F84A would be the perfect choice for you here!

By the way, don’t be shocked, as the programmer is usually cost you more than the chip did! Let’s take an example. The MPLAB ICD2 would cost you about $50. Despite of its expensive price, MPLAB ICD2 is actually a powerful programmer that can program many PICs.

When the weekend is arriving, it’s time to layback and have something else to do. For those who enjoy playing drum, you might want to try this BBox Drum Generator, as it can really bring a lot of fun.

Unlike the other drum generator, the BBox Drum Generator is built on an Arduino-based Midi sequencer. The interesting part about the BBox Drum Generator is it mounted inside a banana box! Well, it sounds a little bit wacky, but it’s truly an incredible idea, which is going to leave a deep impression for those who use it.

The BBox Drum Generator contains a few preset drumbeats, where all the drumbeats from the basic for a drum variation algorithm. The blue rotary knob is a very important component in the BBox Drum Generator, as it responsible to control all the introduced variations.

By the way, you can create four pushbuttons for the BBox Drum Generator, by simply mounting LEDs on top of PCB mounted mini pushbuttons.

For your information, the two top buttons are used to navigate through the functions of the BBox Drum Generator, while the other two lower buttons change the value of the function simultaneously. Please take note that only the BPM and the Drum preset can be changed in the BBox Drum Generator.

Oh, isn’t the word, “Metronome” sounds a little bit strange for you? For your information, a metronome is any kind of device that can produce regular tricks/beats. It produces a regulated aural, visual or tactile pulse.

Usually, a metronome is used by some performing musicians for practice and maintaining their consistent tempo. It helps the composers to specifying the different tempos.

Believe it or not, sometimes, the musicians don’t ware of their shortcomings. Some amateur musicians or singers have the difficulty of playing with a steady tempo. Well, there’s a solution for overcoming the problem. All you need here is an AVR Electronic Metronome.

The AVR Electronic Metronome is slightly different from the traditional metronome, as it’s cheaper, easy to use and can be easily programmed. Let’s say, we can add on the programmable beats per measure, measure counting and distinctive sounds for the 1^st beat of the measure onto the AVR Electronic Metronome with a few push of buttons.

The ATMega16 microcontroller is being used on the project, as it improves upon the commercial competition with a rich set of sophisticated features. Plus, it equipped with a tuneful digital sound options that provide a better sound quality for the users!