In version 1.2 of the snowflake firmware, I added a configuration mode, using a button attached to the data in of the first element. The States The attached button can issue two actions: a short press and a long press. A short press is anything from 50ms to approximate two seconds, and a long press…
Recreating the Human Perception of the Snowflake Sparkling Effect
The sparkling lights on the real snowflake decoration are stunning and beautiful. Yet, it seems to be impossible to capture the effect with a video. After some experiments, I created a new video with a simple effect applied. It does not resemble the tiny, spiky and beautiful corona around the lights you see with your…
Snowflake Project Videos
From the beginning of the snowflake project, I tried to create photos or videos which capture the actual beauty of the decoration. Here are the two more recent videos I created: Differences to the Real Impression I am not happy with the videos and photos so far, because the effect looks dull and flat compared…
Snowflake Decoration Available on the Pimoroni Store
We have some great news about my Snowflake Decoration: Starting today, you can buy an assembled version of the project from Pimoroni that can be shipped worldwide. Pimoroni did an excellent job on this project. No soldering is required at all, meaning this is the user-friendliest version of the project ever released! The project comes…
HAL LCD Demo
I added more modules to the HAL layer. The Hitachi LCD driver is now in a stable state. It uses a MCP23008 chip-based backend to reduce the number of wires required to access the display. Video Parts This demo uses a number of Adafruit boards and components: Adafruit Feather M0 (any type) Adafruit I2C /…
Event-Based Firmware Example
If you read the previous articles about event-based firmware, modularisation and templates, you may wonder how to combine all these concepts in your firmware. I created a working firmware example, based on an event loop. In contrast to the minimal example code in my articles, this one contains everything you need to start a project….
Consistent Error Handling
Error handling in firmware is a difficult task. If you decide to ignore errors, the best you can expect is a deadlock, but you could also damage the hardware. When reviewing existing code, I often find boolean return values or a system of error codes. The problem with these systems is the lack of readability….
Use Enum with More Class!
You may be familiar with enum values, but do you know about enum classes? This great feature was introduced with C++11 to solve several problems with the regular enum declaration. Now I will explain the enum class declaration and demonstrate its practical uses. Although the examples I provide are intended for the Arduino Uno, the…
C++ Templates for Embedded Code (Part 2)
Templates are a powerful feature of the C++ language, but their syntax can be complex. Here I will continue with the second part of the article. Although the examples I provide are for the Arduino Uno and Adafruit Feather M0, the concepts will work with any platform and with all modern C++ compilers. Recap of…
Bit Manipulation using Templates
Did you read my article about C++ templates for embedded code? You learned how to use function templates. This post adds a practical example to this topic. Bit Manipulation You may be familiar with bit manipulation code like this: For simplicity, you like to select single bits using its index number. This is a common…