#breadboard — Public Fediverse posts

This KiCAD Plugin Enables Breadboarding

https://hackaday.com/2026/04/23/this-kicad-plugin-enables-breadboarding/

#kicad #breadboard #plugin

Steady Hand EEPROM Programmer

https://piefed.world/c/electronics/p/1038881/steady-hand-eeprom-programmer

Steady Hand EEPROM Programmer

After about 6 months, my project is finally complete. It’s the first significant circuit that I’ve designed myself, rather than just implementing someone else’s design:

https://codeberg.org/interrupt_tv/steadyhand

Steady Hand is a digital circuit for programming EEPROMs by hand. It’s inspired by this video by Ben Eater, where he creates a circuit for programming an EEPROM using DIP switches and jumper wires. Steady Hand is much more ergonomic than his design, though it is somewhat more complex.

While Ben Eater provides the “how” inspiration, the “why” inspiration comes from Jeremiah Orians’ stage0 project, and the general concept of bootstrapping: creating a computer software environment from nothing. When building a homebrew computer, one would typically use a significantly more complex modern computer to write the homebrew computer’s software to an EEPROM. I created Steady Hand as a first step towards resolving this problem.

After I’d wired everything up, I was a little afraid something would melt when I plugged it in. While the schematic is separated into smaller modules, the breadboard layout ended up being pretty monolithic. I didn’t do any testing as I was assembling it, so it seemed likely there would be a mistake somewhere. No magic smoke escaped though, and it mostly worked on the first try. There were a few bugs:

• The address display was connected backwards, with the most significant digit on the right instead of the left. Easy enough to fix, but the relevant wires were no longer the right lengths to neatly reach their connection points. This trend continued as I had to do further circuit surgeries, leaving things messier than I’d like.

• The auto-skip function would cycle endlessly if the byte value to skip matched what was in the write registers. The write registers’ output lines are connected to the EEPROM’s I/O lines in order to be able to write to it. The comparator is also connected to these so that it can compare the EEPROM’s output to the skip value. When it’s time for the multiplexed display to show one of the write nibbles, the EEPROM’s output is disabled and the write registers’ output enabled. This meant that the comparator would now be comparing with the write value instead of the value read from the EEPROM, and would give the signal to skip to the next address.

  Disabling the comparator when it’s getting invalid input would have required some additional logic, and at the time I didn’t have any extra gates available. I solved this by using one of the display digit enable lines as the auto-skip function’s clock signal, instead of having it hooked directly to the clock. This ensured that the rising edge would only occur when the comparator had a valid input.

• After writing a byte or when auto-skipping past a large number of addresses, the EEPROM would occasionally output FF instead of the byte that was actually stored at that address. It wouldn’t do this with any kind of consistency, but the FF would persist until the address was changed. I thought this was a power issue, but no combination of decoupling capacitors or pull-up resistors would make it go away. After wrestling with it for a long time, I eventually concluded that the AT28C256 just doesn’t like being always enabled. Once I added proper logic to control both the output enable and chip enable lines, the problem went away.

Since I needed at least one more logic IC to solve that last bug, I decided to add a 74HC7266 quad XNOR IC. This allowed me to add a search function alongside the auto-skip function, by just using an XNOR gate to invert the comparator’s output.

I used dupont cables to group related signal lines together, but I’m not sure how I feel about them now. I thought that they’d result in a cleaner layout than if I’d used several additional layers of solid core wire, but I still ended up with a rat’s nest. That was likely inevitable with how densely packed the components are. If I were to redo everything, I’d probably spread them out onto more boards, group them into individual modules, and allow for more redundancy in the glue logic.

Still, I’m happy with how the project turned out overall, and that I can now move onto the next one.

Steady Hand EEPROM Programmer

https://piefed.world/c/electronics/p/1038881/steady-hand-eeprom-programmer

Steady Hand EEPROM Programmer

After about 6 months, my project is finally complete. It’s the first significant circuit that I’ve designed myself, rather than just implementing someone else’s design:

https://codeberg.org/interrupt_tv/steadyhand

Steady Hand is a digital circuit for programming EEPROMs by hand. It’s inspired by this video by Ben Eater, where he creates a circuit for programming an EEPROM using DIP switches and jumper wires. Steady Hand is much more ergonomic than his design, though it is somewhat more complex.

While Ben Eater provides the “how” inspiration, the “why” inspiration comes from Jeremiah Orians’ stage0 project, and the general concept of bootstrapping: creating a computer software environment from nothing. When building a homebrew computer, one would typically use a significantly more complex modern computer to write the homebrew computer’s software to an EEPROM. I created Steady Hand as a first step towards resolving this problem.

After I’d wired everything up, I was a little afraid something would melt when I plugged it in. While the schematic is separated into smaller modules, the breadboard layout ended up being pretty monolithic. I didn’t do any testing as I was assembling it, so it seemed likely there would be a mistake somewhere. No magic smoke escaped though, and it mostly worked on the first try. There were a few bugs:

• The address display was connected backwards, with the most significant digit on the right instead of the left. Easy enough to fix, but the relevant wires were no longer the right lengths to neatly reach their connection points. This trend continued as I had to do further circuit surgeries, leaving things messier than I’d like.

• The auto-skip function would cycle endlessly if the byte value to skip matched what was in the write registers. The write registers’ output lines are connected to the EEPROM’s I/O lines in order to be able to write to it. The comparator is also connected to these so that it can compare the EEPROM’s output to the skip value. When it’s time for the multiplexed display to show one of the write nibbles, the EEPROM’s output is disabled and the write registers’ output enabled. This meant that the comparator would now be comparing with the write value instead of the value read from the EEPROM, and would give the signal to skip to the next address.

  Disabling the comparator when it’s getting invalid input would have required some additional logic, and at the time I didn’t have any extra gates available. I solved this by using one of the display digit enable lines as the auto-skip function’s clock signal, instead of having it hooked directly to the clock. This ensured that the rising edge would only occur when the comparator had a valid input.

• After writing a byte or when auto-skipping past a large number of addresses, the EEPROM would occasionally output FF instead of the byte that was actually stored at that address. It wouldn’t do this with any kind of consistency, but the FF would persist until the address was changed. I thought this was a power issue, but no combination of decoupling capacitors or pull-up resistors would make it go away. After wrestling with it for a long time, I eventually concluded that the AT28C256 just doesn’t like being always enabled. Once I added proper logic to control both the output enable and chip enable lines, the problem went away.

Since I needed at least one more logic IC to solve that last bug, I decided to add a 74HC7266 quad XNOR IC. This allowed me to add a search function alongside the auto-skip function, by just using an XNOR gate to invert the comparator’s output.

I used dupont cables to group related signal lines together, but I’m not sure how I feel about them now. I thought that they’d result in a cleaner layout than if I’d used several additional layers of solid core wire, but I still ended up with a rat’s nest. That was likely inevitable with how densely packed the components are. If I were to redo everything, I’d probably spread them out onto more boards, group them into individual modules, and allow for more redundancy in the glue logic.

Still, I’m happy with how the project turned out overall, and that I can now move onto the next one.

Steady Hand EEPROM Programmer

https://piefed.world/c/electronics/p/1038881/steady-hand-eeprom-programmer

Ohhh it works? 😯

4.96V is pretty bloody close to 5V considering this is just a breadboard and I've wired the switch and DC jack using just whatever the wiring that came with that electronic advent calendar is. Not actually soldered on, obviously. I reckon this'll be a solid 5V when it's an actual PCB.

Also I accidentally ordered the tiniest little switches and I'm not even sorry! 😆😁

#microelectronics #breadboard

Well, that was an interesting adventure in electronics! This took about 3 days, but I finally got serial terminal output with one of the Dragonboard 410c I got given as junk! An interesting process, including making my own 1.8V USB->Serial on a breadboard with a level shifter! I finally got the bootloader up!

#electronics #dragonboard410c #archlinuxarm #breadboard

Reorganized my BE6502 breadboard computer

https://piefed.world/c/electronics/p/984335/reorganized-my-be6502-breadboard-computer

#Home is where your #breadboard is.

Yoo any non-dudes build #synths and #sequencers from scratch? It's always Bread Week in this house 🍞 🔌 This is an 8-step sequencer, the row of potentiometers across the bottom #modulate the pitch.

#breadboard #DIY #DIYsynth #womeninSTEM

My first completed KiCad project: A breadboard adapter for Aries low-profile ZIF sockets

https://piefed.world/post/822622

My first completed KiCad project: A breadboard adapter for Aries low-profile ZIF sockets

https://piefed.world/post/822622

My first completed KiCad project: A breadboard adapter for Aries low-profile ZIF sockets

https://piefed.world/post/822622

Ich hab mein Jumperless Breadboard gebraten, nicht ganz klar warum. :(
Thermalbild der Rückseite.

#jumperless #breadboard #electronic #thermalimaging

Ich hab mein Jumperless Breadboard gebraten, nicht ganz klar warum. :(
Thermalbild der Rückseite.

#jumperless #breadboard #electronic #thermalimaging

Ich hab mein Jumperless Breadboard gebraten, nicht ganz klar warum. :(
Thermalbild der Rückseite.

#jumperless #breadboard #electronic #thermalimaging

Ich hab mein Jumperless Breadboard gebraten, nicht ganz klar warum. :(
Thermalbild der Rückseite.

#jumperless #breadboard #electronic #thermalimaging

Ich hab mein Jumperless Breadboard gebraten, nicht ganz klar warum. :(
Thermalbild der Rückseite.

#jumperless #breadboard #electronic #thermalimaging

3D printed breadboards optimized for Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP32 boards

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/01/23/3d-printed-breadboards-optimized-for-raspberry-pi-pico-and-esp32-boards/

Me: Why the hell is this opamp drawing half an amp when I turn it on?

Also me, later: Oh. Because it's a 555 timer...

#duh #idiot #electronics #breadboard #opamp #555timer

Me: Why the hell is this opamp drawing half an amp when I turn it on?

Also me, later: Oh. Because it's a 555 timer...

#duh #idiot #electronics #breadboard #opamp #555timer

Me: Why the hell is this opamp drawing half an amp when I turn it on?

Also me, later: Oh. Because it's a 555 timer...

#duh #idiot #electronics #breadboard #opamp #555timer

Me: Why the hell is this opamp drawing half an amp when I turn it on?

Also me, later: Oh. Because it's a 555 timer...

#duh #idiot #electronics #breadboard #opamp #555timer

Me: Why the hell is this opamp drawing half an amp when I turn it on?

Also me, later: Oh. Because it's a 555 timer...

#duh #idiot #electronics #breadboard #opamp #555timer

Actual question for tech bloggers: I've seen some people have really nice diagrams of breadboard connections and devices, what do you use to make those?

Trying to blog my experience doing various things with microcontrollers and I'd like diagrams like this instead of my crudely drawn attempts but cannot find a standard tool for it.

#arduino #blog #breadboard #software

Product Highlight: Three sizes Breadboards, New High current power cables, air bubble level indicator https://olimex.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/product-highlights-breadboards-power-cables-level-indicator/ #breadboard #power #cable #levelindicator

Almost a decade after getting my #hamradio license I've started playing around with #electronics again. It's so fun when you actually make things work out properly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TwWUtZ6Q3I #colpitts #oscillator #breadboard #oscilloscope

German word for wanting to start a new electronics project but all the breadboards already have existing projects on them.

#GermanWord #german #electronics #hobby #DIY #breadboard #prototype #project

German word for wanting to start a new electronics project but all the breadboards already have existing projects on them.

#GermanWord #german #electronics #hobby #DIY #breadboard #prototype #project

German word for wanting to start a new electronics project but all the breadboards already have existing projects on them.

#GermanWord #german #electronics #hobby #DIY #breadboard #prototype #project

German word for wanting to start a new electronics project but all the breadboards already have existing projects on them.

#GermanWord #german #electronics #hobby #DIY #breadboard #prototype #project

German word for wanting to start a new electronics project but all the breadboards already have existing projects on them.

#GermanWord #german #electronics #hobby #DIY #breadboard #prototype #project

RE: https://mastodon.social/@makemagazine/115487737847724995

Tonight at 7pm Eastern! 🤘🥳🤘

#Arduino #UNO #RaspberryPi #Meshtastic, #knitting #plushie #breadboard

Join @ishotjr and a panel of special guests as we take a deep dive into the hottest #embedded #development and tiny #computing #boards! From the #Arduino #UNOQ to the #RaspberryPi 500+ and everything in between, we analyze them all. Plus, connect off-grid with #Meshtastic, and knit a #plushie #breadboard that really works! Register now for our Thursday, November 6th V95 #LaunchParty! 🥳

https://makezine.com/article/maker-news/live-make-magazine-volume-95-launch-party/

🤖✨ Oh joy, who wouldn't want to see a glorified #breadboard from the '80s 🤯 The ancient relic was displayed in Germany—because nothing screams cutting-edge tech like a prototype that's older than #MySpace 🕸️📸
https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-10-00110-EN.html #retroTech #ancientRelics #Germany #nostalgia #HackerNews #ngated

🤖✨ Oh joy, who wouldn't want to see a glorified #breadboard from the '80s 🤯 The ancient relic was displayed in Germany—because nothing screams cutting-edge tech like a prototype that's older than #MySpace 🕸️📸
https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-10-00110-EN.html #retroTech #ancientRelics #Germany #nostalgia #HackerNews #ngated

🤖✨ Oh joy, who wouldn't want to see a glorified #breadboard from the '80s 🤯 The ancient relic was displayed in Germany—because nothing screams cutting-edge tech like a prototype that's older than #MySpace 🕸️📸
https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-10-00110-EN.html #retroTech #ancientRelics #Germany #nostalgia #HackerNews #ngated

🤖✨ Oh joy, who wouldn't want to see a glorified #breadboard from the '80s 🤯 The ancient relic was displayed in Germany—because nothing screams cutting-edge tech like a prototype that's older than #MySpace 🕸️📸
https://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2025-10-00110-EN.html #retroTech #ancientRelics #Germany #nostalgia #HackerNews #ngated

Another blast from the past. Presenting both Steckschweins in pre PCB stadium at VCFe in 2014.
#retrocomputing #vcfe #8bit #breadboard

#Mailbag #142, #Elektronik #AliExpress #China, #nRF52840, #CYD, #Antenne, #Werkzeug, #Breadboard, Kupfer Tape

--> https://youtu.be/z0Cb6T144_M

#Maker #DIY #Mikrocontroller #Funknetzwerk #868MHz #Node #MadeInChina #Warentest #Review #Produkttest #Gadgets

#Mailbag #142, #Elektronik #AliExpress #China, #nRF52840, #CYD, #Antenne, #Werkzeug, #Breadboard, Kupfer Tape

--> https://youtu.be/z0Cb6T144_M

#Maker #DIY #Mikrocontroller #Funknetzwerk #868MHz #Node #MadeInChina #Warentest #Review #Produkttest #Gadgets

#Mailbag #142, #Elektronik #AliExpress #China, #nRF52840, #CYD, #Antenne, #Werkzeug, #Breadboard, Kupfer Tape

--> https://youtu.be/z0Cb6T144_M

#Maker #DIY #Mikrocontroller #Funknetzwerk #868MHz #Node #MadeInChina #Warentest #Review #Produkttest #Gadgets

Super Breadboard #TindieBlog #Breadboard #Prototyping #Circuit #Testing
https://blog.tindie.com/2025/09/super-breadboard/

I'm planning to order my first custom PCB from JLCPCB, which will only have one RAM chip breakout to include on my breadboard prototype. On my breadboard, I've gotten the following working:

- ICE40 FPGA (Architry Cu)
- ESP32-C3 MCU (RISC-V + Wifi/BT)
- OV7670 Camera (640x480 30 FPS)

I'd like to use the FPGA to read the camera data and store it in a RAM. Also, I'd like the MCU to be able to read single pixels at ~1000 Hz from the RAM. I plan to use the FPGA to manage the interface between the MCU and the RAM as well.
At first, my choice of RAM was a small RAM that is hard to find with a long lead time with JLCPCB. Now, I'm planning to use a slightly larger RAM with shorter lead time. This is the RAM part I'm looking at:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/issi-integrated-silicon-solution-inc/IS42S16800J-7BLI/22471437

The design in the image is the old part. I'm now starting a redesign of the PCB with the new slightly larger RAM.

#foss #fosh #freemanufacturing #bce #bcecoop #bcecoopinc #fpga #mcu #ram #maker #ee #breadboard #prototype #jlcpcb

A Breadboard Computer in Three Chips https://hackaday.com/2025/09/12/a-breadboard-computer-in-three-chips/ #computerhacks #programmable #breadboard #computer #counter #clock #ram

A Breadboard Computer in Three Chips - Building a computer on a breadboard is a seminal project for many builders, but it... - https://hackaday.com/2025/09/12/a-breadboard-computer-in-three-chips/ #computerhacks #programmable #breadboard #computer #counter #clock #ram

Nordic Semiconductor nRF-Familien / Varianten im Vergleich zum ESP32

--> https://cool-web.de/nrf/nrf-varianten.htm

#nRF #Nordic #nRF52840 #Breadboard #Schaltung #Elektronik #Maker #DIY #Mikrocontroller #Anleitung #Tutorial #ESP32 #Espressif