There are times when you want to record one or another phone conversation so later could listen again. Don’t know if this is necessary to do, but if so, here is a standalone phone conversation recorder project based on PIC microcontroller. Device is powered from USB and actually sends voice data to computer where software compresses audio to MP3 format for compact storing.

Device automatically detects when phone is picked up so could start recording automatically and stops recording when phone is hanged. Read more »

If you like to play computer games you can do this with more fun. And what bigger fun can be than doing this with joystick made by yourself. So this is a PIC18F2550 / PIC18F4550 based USB game pad with accelerometer. Schematic is built in steering wheel shell and is handy for doing som serious racing. PIC18F2550 has a native USB interface which is programmed as HID USB and is easily recognized by WIN XP/Vista and WIN7 as well.

Game pad uses 2 axes accelerometer with ±2g and works directly from 5V taken from USB. Sevice also can be used as motion mouse for dragging cursor around screen and doing various tasks without need of table. Read more »

If you are PIC fan and looking for good development board take a look at this one.

It has a list of valuable features:

• PIC18F2550 MCU with external xtal;
• One channel 0-2.5V sigma-delta ADC converter;
• 6-channal 10-bit ADC 0-5V;
• Two connectors for text LCD or GLCD;
• USB port with type B connector;
• On-board low drop-out voltage regulator;
• rechargeable battery;
• 10-pin header for In Circuit Loader.

Board can serve as PIC learning platform or simply a base for final project. Personally me, I like that it has both connectors for text and graphical LCDs.

There are quite many MP3 player projects done by enthusiasts. So here is another one which works with compact flash cards, handles FAT16 and fits in Altoids mint box.

Player runs on PIC18LF452 microcontroller which handles flash card interface and sends data to STA013 MP3 decoder chip. Decoded digital audio is converted to analog by CS4340 DAC. The project is running from 3.3V LiIon battery. MP3 player also has a MAX756 DC boost regulator that allows using different batteries like couple AA Alkaline. In order to get rid of cables there is an optional FM transmitter MAX2606 to play music via car radio receiver. And last shot is USB connectivity, so it is possible to upload/download files and even charge LiIon battery via MAX1811. Latest project files can be downloaded form here.

This is small versatile USB board developed by Brian Schmalz. He used PIC-USB capable microcontroller for easy USB interfacing and this way got simple parallel port replacement.

There is not much about circuit itself as there is only PIC microcontroller, USB connection and I/O pins. Such simple design allows making smal PCB that may fit anywhere starting from integrating in to test-boards and ending as stand alone applications. Author have compiled a nice list of various board versions that include different PIC microcontrollers, different PCB types that can fit in various applications like for plugging to breadboard, or very small SOIC board for tiny projects. Author also provides a list of various firmware versions along with bootloaders. To make things more easier there are few demo applications available for testing or modifying to your own needs.