Gadget Factory

Knowledge Base

  • Use You FPGA To Bring The BBC Back To Life!

    BBC is the short name for the Acorn BBC Micro, which was very popular in the mid-to-late 80s. There were several versions of this computer but the one that has been revived in this project is the BBC B. The core of this device was the famous 6502 processor.  This article thoroughly defines each part…

  • How To Add A LCD To Your FPGA And Control What It Displays!

    This great tutorial brings you all the information you need to add a screen to your FPGA.  You will learn about how to choose the appropriate parts for this project, the schematics and as it couldn´t be otherwise, you will also get to know the theory. Mainly, this article explains the theory behind the control…

  • Commodore PET is Back!

    You read it right. Commodore PET has come back to stay…if you want. Thanks to this article you will be able to bring back old memories and, of course, have some fun. Basically all you need is a FPGA, implemented in Verilog. Well, and you will also need some other tweaks and stuff in order…

  • How Building a DPLCM To Learn About FPGAs Turned To Be A Possible Business

    First of all, yes, what is a DPLCM? At least I had to look this up. Now, I can tell you that DPLCM stands for Digital Audio Peak Level and Correlation Meter. At this point we have covered the most difficult part. This tutorial is so well explained, the author even tells you why he…

  • How to Display Video On A Screen With Only One Wire

    In today´s article we bring you a great tutorial about NTSC. For those who don´t know this, NTSC is another video standard, like VGA, very popular in the Americas and Eastern Asia. However, unlike VGA, NTSC only uses 1 signal wire! The principal behind that is quite complex. Thus, the example developed on the article…

  • How To Control What You See On A Screen in Two Hours and For Less Than $25!

    Imagine how cool it would be to control what appears on your screen and at a bargain price, just using your FPGA (yes! Your Papilio!) and some other easy-to-get components. All you need is read today´s article (and buy the tiny things of course). This how-to post is one of those which are written thinking…

  • Feeling like Barenboim? Check it with your FPGA!

    Today´s article shows how a group of students from Cornell University, created a hardware-software set of tools to develop and composed your own music, the Audio Composer and Conducting Suite (A.C.C.S). This virtual conducting environment platform is capable of inputting the compositions from a video camera and a keyboard or a conductor waving his/her hands…

  • Do you feel like a hanging-down bat? Let´s build something to find out!

    Today´s article will teach you how to create your own FPGA-based tilt sensing device. It is one of those really thorough tutorials where almost nothing is left to your imagination but the infinite applications you may develop. Cool right? This project is based around the DEo-Nano board and its built-in tilt sensor. I am pretty…