The Curious Engineer

All blogs / Electronics

Photons, Electrons, and Dirt

bikerglen.com/blog

A blog by Glen Akins

ElectronicsEmbedded / microcontrollersFPGA / HDL

’15’20’25
Posts
73 from 17 Jul 2012 to 28 Aug 2026
Posting
monthly (6 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://bikerglen.com/blog/feed/

2026 5

  1. A W.O.P.R. of a Project
  2. What if Hayes Wasn’t the Only Tech Company to Build a Clock?
  3. Build an Army of PIC12F1612-based Blinking LED Traffic Barrels
  4. RP2040 MIDI Soundboard Player for Live Streaming
  5. Building a 3D-Printed Traffic Light with Miniature Round Displays

2025 2

  1. My First Neopixel Party Light
  2. Lizard: a 3D-Printed Single-Purpose Soundboard

2024 3

  1. Building a Battery-Powered Zigbee Gate Sensor with the nRF52840
  2. Building Battery-Powered Zigbee Buttons with the nRF52840
  3. Controlling XMCOSY+ String Lights with WLED and TinyTuya

2023 7

  1. Controlling 5 out of 6 Ustellar GemBand Smart Flood Lights with WLED
  2. Controlling Inexpensive LED Lights with WLED
  3. Cracking Open and Controlling a 747 Fuel Gauge
  4. Relive Your Best Mountain Bike Descents on a Vintage Aircraft Altitude Indicator
  5. The Kollsman Electric Tachometer Indicator
  6. Positioning a Synchro Receiver’s Shaft from a Terminal Window
  7. Resolving a Synchro Shaft Angle Using Modern Hardware

2022 3

  1. Converting a WW2-era Landing Gear and Flaps Indicator into a USB Peripheral
  2. Converting a WW2-era Engine Cowl Flaps Indicator into a USB Peripheral
  3. Building a DIP Switch USB Stick Using the Microchip PIC16F1459

2021 4

  1. The Scramblepad Hardware and Protocol
  2. Building a Simple RFID Door Access Controller
  3. USB Knob Box Doubles as a Blackmagic Designs Camera Remote
  4. The Interesting Multiplexing Scheme of the Grass Valley Series 300 Crosspoint Switch Panel

2020 14

  1. USB Panel Meters Enclosure and Windows 10 App
  2. Converting More Vintage Grass Valley Hardware to USB
  3. Converting a Vintage Grass Valley Button Panel to USB Using the Silicon Labs EFM8UB1
  4. Building a Set of USB-Controlled Analog Panel Meters Using the Silicon Labs EFM8UB1
  5. The Single USB RGB LED
  6. Mopidy Music Server Remote Control
  7. Spotify and Pandora Wireless Remote Track / Artist / Album Display
  8. An Isolated RS-422 / RS-485 Shield for the Automation Direct P1AM-100 Open-Source PLC
  9. Building an Add-On Module for the Automation Direct P1AM-100 Open-Source PLC
  10. Fort Collins Connexion FTTH Construction – Part Four
  11. Build a DMX FeatherWing to Control Lights with a Feather M0
  12. PoE-Powered RGB LED Floodlight
  13. Fort Collins Connexion FTTH Construction – Part Three
  14. PoE-Powered VFD Tube Clock

2019 15

  1. It’s an Ethernet-Powered Christmas Tree!
  2. An Enclosure for the Dalibor Farny R|Z568M Nixie Tube
  3. A Controller for a Dalibor Farny R|Z568M Nixie Tube
  4. A Socket for a Dalibor Farny R|Z568M Nixie Tube
  5. Reverse Engineering the iColor Flex Protocol
  6. PIC16F1459 USB Volume Knob
  7. Updates to the Annoying CAPS LOCK Warning Buzzer
  8. Fort Collins Connexion FTTH Construction – Part Two
  9. The Annoying CAPS LOCK Warning Buzzer
  10. Fort Collins Connexion FTTH Construction – Part One
  11. Control the Bicycle Traffic Signal with a Particle Photon
  12. Build a Mini LED Bicycle Traffic Signal
  13. PIC16F1459 USB Stack Light Controller
  14. Homebrew DMX-Controlled RGB LED Light
  15. Piggybacking USB onto an Industrial Push Button

2018 5

  1. Presenting the Single ESC Key USB Keyboard!
  2. The November 2017 Opposition to Fort Collins Municipal Broadband
  3. Building a Giant USB Three Key Mechanical Keyboard
  4. An Arrow $29 FPGA Board and the 48-Segment RGB LED Bar Graph
  5. February 6th Comments to Loveland City Council

2017 6

  1. PIC18 Four-Channel DMX Relay Controller
  2. Driving a 48-Segment RGB LED Bar Graph with a Teensy 3.2
  3. My Net Neutrality Comments for Proceeding 17-108
  4. Creating Custom 3D Printed LED Bar Graphs
  5. Hacking Allen Bradley Cluster Pilot Lights
  6. Driving a SparkFun 48-Segment RGB LED Bar Graph

2015 3

  1. Tracking People with the Googly Eyes and OpenCV
  2. Bringing the Robotic Googly Eyes to Life
  3. Build a Pair of Robotic Googly Eyes

2014 5

  1. Color Kinetics ColorBurst 6 Teardown
  2. Building an Enclosure using SketchUp and 3D Printing
  3. Folding the Six Panel Wall into a Cube
  4. Expanding the BeagleBone Black and FPGA to Drive 6 (or more) Panels
  5. Driving a 32×32 RGB LED Matrix with a BeagleBone Black and an FPGA

2012 1

  1. Trailview 360° Camera Panorama Viewer