McGyver Way: Power over USB

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Travel is a hassle these days: airline on strike in Europe, long security lines at the airport, bumpy flight and long transfer to the hotel which is so tiny that the taxi driver missed it twice! Anyway, at least this time the reservation of the room *did* work. Arrived completely tired and with notebook batteries drained and empty. Unpacked the power adapter, ready to charge it up. Only to realize that the notebook power supply cable does not match the travel adapter plug! :-(:

Travel Power Adapter Mismatch

Travel Power Adapter Mismatch

So I have packed the 3-pin notebook power supply instead my usual travel 2-pin one 😦

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Tutorial: Web Server with the ESP8266 WiFi Module

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It has been a while since my first post about the ESP8266 (see “Cheap and Simple WiFi with ESP8266 for the FRDM Board“). The ESP8266 is a new inexpensive ($4.50) WiFi module which makes it easy to connect to the network or internet. Finally this week-end I have found the time to write up a tutorial:
how to implement a WiFi web server for the ESP8266 WiFi module and the Freescale FRDM-KL25Z board:

WSP8266 Web Server

WSP8266 Web Server

FRDM-KL25Z with ESP8266 WiFi Module

FRDM-KL25Z with ESP8266 WiFi Module

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Adding ‘Show in Windows Explorer’ to Eclipse

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In CodeWarrior there was a very useful feature in the CodeWarrior Projects view: with a context menu I can open that folder/file in Windows Explorer:

Show In Windows Explorer in CodeWarrior Projects View

Show In Windows Explorer in CodeWarrior Projects View

However, this feature is missing in Eclipse, so how to add this functionality?

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Tutorial: Playing MP3 Files with VS1053B and FRDM Board

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I want to make some noise with this post!!! This tutorial is about adding music and sound capabilities to the Freescale Freedom board, and to have a lot of fun with it :-). I need this ability for a larger project working on for a while. But I thought I share that sub-part how to play sound files. So with this tutorial I can turn my Freescale Freedom board into a music or sound player :-). And adding sounds is a cool way for any project, and as the music is stored on an SD card it fits easily hours of music or sounds.

MP3 Player with FRDM-KL25Z

MP3 Player with FRDM-KL25Z and Adafruit Music Maker MP3 Shield

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Engineering Joke of the Week: The Genie

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Three men: a project manager, a software engineer, and a hardware engineer are helping out on a project. About midweek they decide to walk up and down the beach during their lunch hour. Halfway up the beach, they stumbled upon a lamp. As they rub the lamp a genie appears and says “Normally I would grant you three wishes, but since there are three of you, I will grant you each one wish.”
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McuOnEclipse Component Sources in Dedicated GitHub Repository

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From time to time it is good to do some cleanup work: what has grown organically sometimes needs some cuts and moves. The same applies to the McuOnEclipse GitHub repository (https://github.com/ErichStyger/mcuoneclipse) which has grown to 522 MByte, 8364 files and 1444 folders. I already moved out the Processor Expert component releases (see “McuOnEclipse Releases on SourceForge“). Time to cleanup and move something else: the Processor Expert component sources.

McuOnEclipse_PEx

McuOnEclipse_PEx

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Updated McuOnEclipse Components: USB for KL24Z, FatFs v0.10c, Shell Backspace and FreeRTOS Trace Hook Configuration

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I have received several requests to post a quick note when there is a new release (16-Nov-2014) of the McuOnEclipse components on SourceForge (see “McuOnEclipse Releases on SourceForge“). I have published today a new release, and with following major improvements:

  1. USB support for Kinetis KL24Z
  2. FatFs now features the latest Elm-Chan v0.10c release
  3. Backspace support in Shell
  4. Configuration item in FreeRTOS for Percepio Trace Hooks
McuOnEclipse SourceForge

McuOnEclipse SourceForge

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Tutorial: How to Erase the FLASH with the GNU GDB debugger

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I have several applications where I store application specific information in the microcontroller FLASH memory (see “Configuration Data: Using the Internal FLASH instead of an external EEPROM“). I have run into issues recently with the Segger J-Link GDB server as by default it does *not* erase all the FLASH memory. So the question is: How can I erase all (or part) of the FLASH memory with GDB (e.g. in Kinetis Design Studio or in Eclipse)?

Memory Monitor with Erased Flash

Memory Monitor with Erased Flash

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