Design goesZen

What to do when the pop-up keyboard, the "softkeyboard", the Android keyboard is obscuring, is hiding important buttons or inputs in Android apps? Here is one simple fix: Go to Android Settings. Search for "zoom". It will return the Screen and font scaling / zoom settings - either from "Display settings" or "Input helpers" - […]

Samsung is notoriously known for selling their SSD 980 NVMe M.2 SSDs without the appropriate screw to lock it in place on the motherboard. Same for the Samsung SSD 970, 970 evo, 970 pro, 960, 960 evo, 950, ... When you place your order on one of those fast SSD sticks, you might think "ah, […]

The ESP8266 has a user-writeable FLASH chip attached to the CPU via SPI. They are even separate units on common dev boards (in contrary to the ESP8285 which has the FLASH memory integrated into one tiny all-in-one package). As with all FLASH media, this SPI Flash is subject to write wear, where each storage unit […]

I've already pointed this out before, but for simplicity sake it might be helpful to post a dedicated article with this bit of knowledge: On Linux (Ubuntu), Arduino IDE will not be able to upload sketches (or communicate with the board at all) if you don't change permissions on /dev/ttyUSB0 appropriately. Same as with the […]

One line fix: Your problem is that you're not using a PULLUP! (via) Long story Adding a simple push-button to an experiment is pretty straightforward. It's simple with NodeMCU's firmware and LUA, and just as simple in an Arduino IDE sketch. Just make sure that you either add a pullup-resistor externally, on breadboard, or use […]

Using the Arduino IDE and the Arduino eco-system to build firmwares for an ESP-12E (ESP8266 dev board, usually called NodeMCU) is actually quite easy. Here are some pointers I noted along the way: Adafruit has a nice step by step instruction of getting the Arduino IDE up and running with an ESP8266 board. You're basically […]

NodeMCU is a dev board with LUA scripting and WiFi. Here we're going to demonstrate how to have the NodeMCU connect to a local WLAN network, register itself with (default) IP 192.168.1.93 and open an UDP socket, listening for incoming UDP packets on port 3031. Most tutorials on the Internet about NodeMCU and how to […]

Microcontrollers and OLED displays are a common combination. And usually, the bitmaps used to render images on such displays are saved to the file-system of a microcontroller like the ESP8266 in the form of .MONO files. These files are simple bitmap files ("bitmap" not in the sense of the Bitmap .BMP file format, but in […]

Today, we'll have a stab at playing a little chiptune on the NodeMCU ESP8266 dev board, via a passive buzzer. If you've got a soft spot for 90s RTTTL ring-tones, or calculator beeping - you've come to the right place. Most Arduino sketches found on the Internets which generate sounds (actually all I found) rely […]

Let's emit sound from our ESP8266 microcontroller! Here we are expanding on our previous circuit from my past post "OLED 128x64 on NodeMCU" and "Simple button on NodeMCU" and add yet another element, a passive buzzer. The circuitry, laid out on a breadboard, looks like this: For the experiment, you'll need a passive buzzer, usually […]

So you've just received your Arduino Starter Kit, or begin tinkering with electronics in general. One thing that might come up is that a circuit requires you to add a piezo buzzer or micro speaker. And it has to be a passive one. What's that, a passive buzzer. What's the difference to an active buzzer? […]

Here's a little how-to and example script to demonstrate the connection of a cheap 0,96" 128x64 pixel OLED display (4-pin i2c bus, SDD1306 controller) to an NodeMCU ESP8266 development board. Hardware layout: We have pins D1 connected to the displays SDA connector, and NodeMCU's pin D2 to SCL, Ground to Ground and VCC to 3V3 […]

Elaborating on a previous example/post we here combine toggling the on-board LED by pressing a push-button connected to the ESP8266 NodeMCU board. This video demonstrates the result of below code and wire-up: Wire-up the hardware according to the layout shown in the button post: Then upload the following lua script as init.lua to your board: […]

How do you add a simple click button, or pushbutton, to a NodeMCU board you ask? Well, yes. Sometimes the most simple things are not that well documented, or buried in other projects, presumed as being ubiquitous knowledge. So here is a simple HOW TO. Hardware Find a simple button, probably among the parts in […]

Looking at your NodeMCU knock-off board from China or elsewhere, you can find pin D0 and pin D3, but where's pin D1?? Look closely! You've come across one of these odd boards where the printed numbering has two D2 pins! See? You've got D0, then D2, then D2, then D3, D4 ... D2 twice isn't […]

So you've managed to upload a faulty init.lua script? Is your console output constantly complaining about "PANIC: unprotected error in call to Lua API (attempt to index a nil value)" and the LEDs on the board are either flashing or lighting up in quick succession? Well, then that means your ESP8266 NodeMCU has entered an […]

Just a note: The internal / soldered-on blue LED on most NodeMCU boards is on Pin1, it's on pin 2 on some, and on mine, it is addressable via Pin 4. That means, writing in lua: gpio.write(4, gpio.LOW) will turn it ON. Pin 1, pin 2, pin 4? There's a bit of a confusion, also […]

If you're a maker or hardware tinkerer, you might have come along people building their own audio interfaces, using the iPhone's bottom 30-pin connector, the "dock connector". The thing you usually use to plug your Apple phone in, or onto, something else, like a docking station - only this time you are building the docking […]

Do you notice the similarities between the above characters? When you see them side by side it's quite obvious: their basic shape is spherical, an orb. Their body is a ball. Just look at Disney's very early rendition of Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie. Stemming from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Ub Iwerks designed Mickey's lower […]

Ever since BMW introduced the new light design for the 7 series limousines in 2010, whenever one of these models is driving in-front of me at night-time, I've got the feeling that I'm looking at something familiar. Yet, it took a while until it finally occurred to me what it was. It looks angry, that […]

When you've seen A Christmas Carol (1983), that 80s holiday flick, you might remember the infamous "leg lamp". Wheather or not it was a joke of Production Designer Reuben Freed, since then this unique lamp design (a no-brainer if you think about it) has become a classic. The most beatufiful rendition of the idea comes […]

On a recent magazine photo, an oversized LED alarm clock catched my eye. (you are looking at a photo.) A bit of research online brought me to various images of the clock, but as it seems, all sources originally shipping it had taken it out of their stock. While not getting a source for that […]

What an interesting idea (via)! Made me think... By the way: as it seems the original idea (including a how to guide) is from here, with the last.fm guys being just early adopters... 😉

There are thousands of designers in the world, and nearly as many companies offering design services. But still, some of these "design shops" stand out. Some do so because of their charismatic founders or leaders, others impress with innovative or groundbraking designs. Time to have a look at the top design firms worldwide, who affect […]

Form follows function was the motto of sculptor Horatio Greenough and has since become the credo of modern design and architecture. Time to apply this rule to planter design. From dutch Home & Garden supplier Feelgood comes a fresh design for your patio and the final answer to most traditional balcony planters. The German designer […]

Forget about that lame door wedge. A funny new twist on the classic door-stopper idea comes from Fred & Friends, the Cumberland, Rhode Island based manufacturer of "stuff that works and puts a smile on your face". Foot in the door is a doorstopper modeled to look like a high heel stiletto pump. Made of […]

Are you into gardening? Have a patio, terrace or a garden with a small pavilion? If so, you surely know Kettler, the German manufacturer of outdoor furniture. If you are invited over to friends, to have a look at their garden, to admire the lawn or for Barbecue - I would place a bet that […]

Looking at modern office environments today, the Aeron Chair by Herman Miller is the icon of contemporary business seating and the object of desire for many hipsters of the new media age. Writing this post sitting on an Aeron myself, it's time to have a closer look. The Aeron is the result of a collaboration […]