Arduino CodeDog

Note :  There is a now an Arduino Library available for the Parallax Smart Card Reader, please see the new post in this blog. I ordered one of the Parallax Smart Card Readers as listed on the  Parallax  web site.   I also went ahead and ordered one of each of the three (3) types of Smart Cards that Parallax provides for use with the reader to play around with ... and I believe I have code for the Arduino that works with each of the three types. Note :  I did lock my first IS23SC4442 (32321)  card while learning ... had to order more (this time I ordered a couple) ... but I did seem to get it working without locking a second one.   And ... once you lock one, it can't be unlocked (at least not that I know of) ... but I do now have the ability to make sure the lock-check logic works and see that it is impossible to write to the card's memory when it is locked.  The  IS24C16A (32322) and  IS24C02A (32323) don't have a...

I bought a really, really inexpensive Bluetooth module on eBay a while back to play around with on my Arduino ... and I've been playing around with Amarino (learn more about that on the  Amarino website) which allows Bluetooth communication between an Android phone or tablet and an Arduino ... this is again related to my reading the Arduino + Android Projects for the Evil Genius book (by Simon Monk). Unfortunately, I've tried and tried to get the two to communicate, with no luck.  I figured out how to change baud rates on the Bluetooth module using the Arduino Serial Monitor, so I knew I could send and receive fine between the Bluetooth module and the Arduino ... I could connect from my Android tablet to the Bluetooth module, so I knew Bluetooth was working (or, at least, connecting), but I could never get the Serial commuincation to work afterwards ... well, I could send to the Android, but I couldn't receive from the Android.   And...

If, like me, you have a shield that doesn't have any stackable headers soldered on it (and possibly no place to solder them on) and you'd like have access to the Arduino headers without a lot of hassle (or any soldering), try this... Go find/buy two sets of Stackable Headers (yes two) like these  and also go get 28 (2x8 + 2x6 = 28) micro hard drive jumpers like this pack of 24 ... unfortunately you'll need 2 packs to get to 28 ... but they aren't real expensive.   Now take the two sets of Headers and make a set of 4 pairs and put a micro jumper on each pin of the pair of headers.   Now, when you want to access the Arduino headers with a shield that doesn't have headers of it's own: first, place your new special headers into the Arduino header with one of each pair on the outside of the Arduino Header (so you will see the pins of the header that doesn't go into the Arduino on the outside of the Arduino Header, away from the board) and fina...

If you have attempted to run the Android ADK Terminal Emulator that is referenced from the Circuits@Home article found here  on a Honeycomb-based tablet (like the Motorola XOOM or similar) then you may find that it crashes before it will even start.   The problem is that the Terminal Emulator is using some functionality that isn't fully compatible with menus in the default theme when ran under the Honeycomb variation of the Android OS. For a quick work-around ... just modify the AndroidManifest.xml file ... change the default application theme to something more 'compatible' ... for example: change this <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name"> to this (mine is all on a single line) <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@android:style/Theme"> Then after saving and rebuilding the  Terminal Emulator, upload...

If you have purchased the SolidDigi Color Image LCD Shield like the one found here  then you have probably also found that even though it is very similar to the SparkFun Color LCD Shield like the one found  here  that there are some definite differences and incompatibilites when you try to use sketches that were created for use with the SparkFun Shield . Well, I've taken a little time and gotten some of the libraries and sketches available for the SparkFun Shield to work with the SolidDigi Shield ... all are Arduino 1.0 compatible ... including: The Color LCD Shield Library by Peter Davenport (the SparkFun version is found here ). The Arduino-O-scope (the SparkFun version is found here ). A SparkFun Sample (the Sparkfun version is found here ). Even some tweaks to the SolidDigi Sample to fix colors, etc. Note: Full credit goes to the original authors of everything above ... I'm just providing some small tweaks so it works o...