What is CAN bus? Officially, CAN is a Controller Area Network, which is a network of independent controllers communicating securely. It was first developed by Bosch and Intel in 1990 and has been amended since. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has further defined CAN using their OSI model.
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Smart Cards and Smart Card Programmer
Smart Cards are a bit of a misunderstood subject and no-one is quite sure what they are. Smart Cards are defined in a standard called ISO 7816. This has different sections that cover physical size and characteristics, where the contacts should be (for contact cards) and how to communicate with them.
Programming AVR Bootloader Code
We have been asked about how you can program an application code file and a separate bootloader into an AVR microcontroller using a Kanda programmer. It isn’t possible to program two separate files but it is simple enough to combine them into one file.
Continue reading “Programming AVR Bootloader Code” »Help, Production Programmer Needed
How do you choose a new production programmer? This issue came up in our production department this week, and made us consider again what is important in a production programming system.
So what considerations are important when choosing a new programming system?
Firstly, where possible we use ISP (In System Programming) and all our own products are manufactured using ISP but that is not always possible and ISP will be discussed further in another post. We also carry out contract manufacturing and assembly, and this is where we needed a new socket programming solution.
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Cookie Law, another EU Classic
Just when you thought you had complied with all the EU legislation needed for your electronics business, they dump another one on us and what a beauty!
This regulation, 2009/136/EC requires all websites that use cookies to inform the user and to obtain their consent before placing any cookie on the user’s PC.
What does this mean in practice?
Why Use AVR Dragon?
AVR Dragon is a low cost In System Programmer (ISP) and also an In Circuit Emulator (ICE) in one package. It operates from Atmel AVR Studio development environment and is great for code development.
What can it do?
AVR Dragon
Starting UK Electronics Business – Regulation
Having started your electronics business by doing a bit of trading on Ebay, you now want to be legitimate. In the last post, we discussed raising finance and the aversion of the banks to startups, electronics and risk (except complex financial instruments they don’t understand of course). Having raised money somehow, what other obstacles will the UK government and its bureaucratic allies in Brussels put in your way?
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Starting UK Electronics Business – Finance
You have had this great idea for a new widget, or can see a gap in the market for an imported product, so how easy is it to set up a new electronics business in the UK? To test the water, you could just make some in your shed or import a few shipments and sell them on Ebay, (although HM Customs and Revenue are now data mining online to try and catch informal business and get more money!) but how easy is it to then create a formal business?
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WiFi, Bluetooth or ZigBee Wireless
There are many different wireless protocols out there, but the ones that most people have heard of are WiFi and Bluetooth because these are used in devices that lots of us have, mobile phones and computers. There is a third alternative called ZigBee that is designed for control and instrumentation. What are the differences?
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Portable PIC Programmers
Most of us have PIC programmers for development, such as Microchip IDC2 or a PIC ICSP programmer such as PRESTO, which are very good at what they do. But they are not ideal for either production or field updates, because they require too much knowledge to use or need a laptop to be used in a challenging environment.
So what are the alternatives?
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