Tag Archives: USB

Bus Pirate review

The Bus Pirate: It sounds kind of shady, and maybe it is, but it is also a handy little tool. A few weeks ago, I received a Sparkfun Bus Pirate as a birthday present. This little board is a USB-to-nearly-anything … Continue reading

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FPGA Breakout Schematic

Yay! Now we’re getting somewhere!

Here is the schematic for the FPGA adapter. Continue reading

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FPGA Breakout Design Decisions

To get to my goal of a DSP-based ham radio using an FPGA as the DSP, I first need a way to prototype with an FPGA. Available FPGAs all use modern, small packages such as QFNs, QFPs, and BGAs. I can’t imagine soldering wires directly to a hundred tiny pins, so “dead-bug” construction, with the chip upside-down on a piece of copperclad board, is out. I need a breakout PCB that holds the chip and brings out its pins to something more reasonable to work with. Continue reading

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