Tag Archives: Python

Beaglebone Coding 101: Buttons and PWM

Posted on March 16, 2012 by dwatts

Updated Mar 20: Corrected the settings in the “Controlling PWM Using the File System” section. Updated Mar 21: Corrected the max PWM frequency – definitely not 250 Hz! Updated Mar 25: Correct PWM settings example: set duty_cycle to 0 before … Continue reading →

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Beaglebone Coding 101: Using the Serial and Analog Pins

Posted on January 22, 2012 by dwatts

[Updated Jan 25: Correction! There is a 1.8V voltage source on the Beaglebone: Port 9 Pin 32.  Thanks to Koen Kooi for the info.  I've updated the text with this information] [Update May 5: In kernel version 3.2.14, the file … Continue reading →

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Beaglebone Coding 101: Blinking an LED

Posted on January 5, 2012 by dwatts

[Updated Jan 22 - various improvements to the Python sample code at the end of the article] In November, Texas Instruments, Digi-Key and the other members of Beagleboard.org, the Beaglebone.  This is a simpler, more hobbyist-friendly little brother to the … Continue reading →

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FEZ XBee Sensor: Hat Trick

Posted on October 29, 2011 by dwatts

As mentioned at the end of my Watching the Watcher article, the Netduino Plant Light project is going to take a sharp turn at this point, losing both the Netduino and the Plant Light.  I’m going to spin off some … Continue reading →

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Netduino: Watching the Watcher

Posted on August 23, 2011 by dwatts

Note: This article is an installment in a series about building a plant light controller (and beyond) on the Netduino microcontroller platform.  For previous articles in the series, click here.  It’s been a few months now since the Netduino in this … Continue reading →

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Netduino Meets World

Posted on August 3, 2011 by dwatts

[Updated August 6: Added a couple of tips to the section on using minicom to configure the XBee.] [Updated August 7: Added "Windows Weirdness" section with workarounds for problems with pySerial on Windows] Note: This article is an installment in … Continue reading →

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Tweet-A-Watt: Beyond the Twitter, Part Deux

Posted on March 28, 2011 by dwatts

This article continues my earlier post about web-based services for monitoring your electricity usage using Tweet-A-Watt. Last time I focused on Pachube – today I’ll explain the process of connecting a Tweet-A-Watt to Nimbits. Nimbits Overview Nimbits has a lot … Continue reading →

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Tweet-A-Watt: Beyond the Twitter

Posted on March 10, 2011 by dwatts

As I’ve written before, I really like the idea behind Adafruit’s Tweet-A-Watt project, which uses a modified Kill-A-Watt box and an Xbee transmitter to create an inexpensive home energy monitor. I’ve been running one 24/7 for over a year, and … Continue reading →

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Surviving the Twitter OAuthcalypse with Tweet-A-Watt

Posted on September 22, 2010 by dwatts

When Twitter recently made the OAuth API mandatory for 3rd party applications, the resulting OAuthcalypse silenced the tweets of a lot of code. Among those affected was Adafruit‘s innovative Tweet-A-Watt system, which interfaces with a low cost Kill-A-Watt monitor to … Continue reading →

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