Tag Archives: free

Free friday: Cygni Rev 2 PCB

Posted on by Brian

This week we are again giving away a revision 2 Cygni PCB to a commenter. To give the whole world a chance a random number generator will be used to select the person who gets it. The selection will be made 24 hours after this post goes live.

Cygni is a great little board to get started with ARM development. We currently offer the assembled version for 20 USD with free worldwide shipping. It it out of stock at the moment but will be back in a few days.

You may comment more than once but only your first comment will count! (So don’t spam it. Spammers will be disqualified).

The parts list and assembly guide for Cygni are in our docs section. Be sure to read the main docs for it as well.

Comments are still moderated so don’t worry if your post doesn’t appear on the website right away. Use a real email so you can be contacted if you win!

Edit: Paul is the winner.

Free Friday: BasicUART

Posted on by Brian

This week’s free item is a fully assembled BasicUART. We would give away the PCB but we made all of them into functional devices!

The current design is due for revision as well and we never bothered to clean up the schematic for release nor prepared a board assembly guide. So this version will probably never get either published.

It is based on MCP2200, which is a USB to UART chip from Microchip that really is a PIC inside. This board is pinned out to match Sparkfun’s FTDI basic.

We haven’t decided if we will stick with the MCP2200 or switch to FTDI. The MCP2200 has more overhead in assembly because it has more external parts, however you get more functionality in terms of supplying power with the LDO arrangement we use here than on Sparkfun’s 3.3V board.

The default configuration of the BasicUART is 5V rail and 3.3 V I/O with the solder jumpers you can pick between 3.3/5V for each.

The board will be given to a random commenter. You need to use a real email for us to contact you for your mailing address. Only your first comment will count in terms getting the board. Comments remain moderated so don’t worry if you don’t see your comment right away.

Edit: the winner is Kevin.

Free Friday PCB: Cygni

Posted on by Brian

This week we are again giving away a revision 1 Cygni PCB to a commenter. To give the whole world a chance a random number generator will be used to select the person who gets it. The selection will be made 24 hours after this post goes live.

Cygni is a great little board to get started with ARM development. We currently offer the assembled version for 20 USD with free worldwide shipping.

You may comment more than once but only your first comment will count! (So don’t spam it. Spammers will be disqualified).

The parts list and assembly guide for Cygni are in our docs section. Be sure to read the main docs for it as well.

Comments are still moderated so don’t worry if your post doesn’t appear on the website right away. Use a real email so you can be contacted if you win!

Edit: Jan H is the winner, congratulations Jan.

Winners

Posted on by Brian

It is time to close Free Friday! It has been 24 hours. The MCP2200 never came up according to the stated rules. I know those rules were pretty confusing for some people but we did give away everything else, and it did give a lot of people a chance to get something free!

We had 7 winners in all. Everyone in the end asked for the minimum number of headers except Steve ;-) He may have noticed there were only 5 left anyway! But if someone doesn’t write he will get some more!

3 winners have already been in touch and their items are in the mail!

During the fun some people checked out Cygni and Eridani, sales of these are the only thing that keeps teho Labs going!

Next week we will make the rules easier and still give the entire world a chance to win something free!

Free Friday grab bag

Posted on by Brian

In celebration of our Cygni ARM development board going on sale (20 USD shipped worldwide). We are giving away more than one item this week.

We have an ATMega168-20PU. It is a great micro for a beginner to start with.

BMP085 pressure sensor breakout board.

A Sparkfun XBee to breadboard PCB.

A MCP2200 USB UART chip. (Really a PIC 18F14K50 inside see: here)

10 pin locking row headers. We meant to order non-locking ones but Mouser’s parametric search isn’t always accurate and we didn’t look at the datasheet. Notice the pins aren’t in a straight line (on the bottom solder side, they are on the top):

To win an item:

For all items except the headers your comment must be a multiple of 4 in terms unique posters. You may ask for both an item and headers.

If people are letters: A B A A C B D <- gets the item they ask for (if it is still available).

For the headers: you can ask for as many of them as you want up to the full 25 count we have.  This is socially interesting. If you take too many you will leave others with nothing however you must take at least 5!

You may only ask for one item (other than headers).

Be aware comments are moderated unless you have posted here before (so your comment won’t appear instantly) and you will need to use a real email so I can get your mailing address! Unclaimed items due to comments or lack of email replies will go back in the drawer.

As an added bonus because of the moderation lag you can’t sit and wait to be the right poster! You’ll just have to guess! Have fun!

Edit: Everything is gone except MCP2200. It has been asked for plenty but not at the right post count ;-)