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4 April 2014
Cover photo provided by Matthew Roddy;
model is Shauna Toerner.
08 PICAXE Primer
Sharpening Your Tools
of Creativity
PICAXE-Pi Communications
— Part 2.
We’ll continue with our PICAXE-Pi
communications experiments, and
cover the basic techniques that
can be used to send a PICAXE ADC reading to the
Pi from any analog sensor we choose.
52 Open Communication
The Latest in Networking and
Wireless Technologies
Software-Defined Radios Everywhere.
Virtually all radios today — cell phones and Wi-Fi
WLAN, for example — are software-defined radios.
Find out exactly what SDRs are and how they work.
56 Smiley’s Workshop
Programming • Hardware • Projects
The Arduino Classroom.
Arduino 101/Chapter 4: Digital Input ...
Pushbuttons.
Learn how to design circuits with pushbuttons and
how to utilize them to get your system to take
action when they are pressed (or not).
68 The Design Cycle
Advanced Techniques for
Design Engineers
Total Eclipse of the Cross Compiler.
The BeagleBone Black and Raspberry Pi are
different in many ways. They are also alike in many
ways. However, when it comes to programming
them, the equalizer appears in the form of a
Linux-based GNU cross compiler toolchain running
under the umbrella of an Eclipse IDE.
20 Build the Ba TESLA Coil
How would of Nikola Tesla designed his famous coil
if he had been able to access modern day electronic
parts? Here’s one idea.
■ By Matt Bates
28 The Dryer Minder
While originally created for a specific purpose,
this basic “notification” circuit can be implemented
in many different applications.
■ By Jim Lacenski
34 The Decade Box Revisited
Decade boxes allow users to dial in precise amounts
of electrical resistance to be inserted into a circuit
they’re designing. Original boxes had faceplates
with the values printed on them, but extra math
was always involved. Here’s a handy update to that
reliable piece of equipment.
■ By Frank Muratore
38 A Full Motion Home Simulator
Go “virtually” anywhere with your own homebrew
flight simulator.
■ By Walt Noon
46 MakerPlot — The DIY Software
Kit ... Part 7
Be introduced to MakerPlot’s best kept secret: the
Logs(Debug) Immediate window.
■ By John Gavlik and Martin Hebel
Columns
April 2014
06 DEVELOPING
PERSPECTIVES
A Maker’s Dozen:
Designing Around
Failure
07 READER FEEDBACK
16 NEW PRODUCTS
19 SHOWCASE
67 ELECTRO-NET
74 NV WEBSTORE
77 CLASSIFIEDS
78 TECH FORUM
81 AD INDEX
Departments Page 34
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