Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks

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Part II: Advanced Hacks, Tools, and Techniques

Quick-and-Dirty

Microcontrollers

So you want to control a small circuit,

but you don’t want the hassle of

learning to use an unfamiliar embed-

ded processor.

Fear not. There are a number of tiny

microcontroller solutions that are

easy to use right out of the box.

I have used the BasicStamp2 control-

ler (http://www.parallax.com) for this

hack because it is easy to get code

running with it, and it is programmed

in BASIC. (This is the same language

you might have used to program a

TSR-80 or a Commodore home com-

puter.)

Other small and simple-to-use solu-

tions include:

• BasicX controller from Netmedia

(http://www.basicx.com)

• Javlin Java-based controller board

from Parallax (http://www.

parallax.com)

• AtomBasic (http://www.

basicmicro.com)

If you are satisfied that your wiring is correct, plug in a 7.5V to 12V DC

power supply to the SuperCarrier board or your circuit board. Using a

multi-meter to measure voltage, look at the power pins of each integrated

circuit to ensure that they read +5V. The laser should light up immediately

with a power supply voltage of 3.3 volts.

10. Program the BasicStamp2 controller

The system still needs “brains” to read the light sensor data and update the

LCD. The BasicStamp2 is a small, easy-to-use microcontroller.

Using a Windows PC, you will load the program into the BasicStamp2 con-

troller (see t ...