Interfaces
UART – The Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter
UART is a full duplex serial interface. It enables two devices to communicate over just three wires and supports variable speeds. UART Characteristics Like the name suggests, UART is an asynchronous interface. Unlike SPI or I2C there is no need for a dedicated clock. The two devices just need to use the same transmission speed.…
Read MoreI2C – The Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus
The I2C bus is very commonly used in the embedded realm. We explain how it works and how to set it up on the Raspberry Pi with an example. I2C Characteristics The Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus is a synchronous serial communication bus. Philips Semiconductors was responsible for the invention in 1982 but the interface quickly gained…
Read MoreSPI – The Serial Peripheral Interface
SPI means Serial Peripheral Interface. With SPI you can exchange data blazingly fast between two devices. And you only need four wires. SPI Characteristics The serial peripheral interface is a synchronous communication interface for short distances. Synchronous means that the data is sent in form of blocks or frames and the the two devices are…
Read MoreCircuitPython, Adafruit Feather RP2040, and I2C
As you probably guessed by the title, this article discusses CircuitPython, the Adafruit Feather RP2040, and the I2C communication protocol. The RP2040 has two I2C controllers – good for example, when you want to run two I2C devices with the same I2C address. In my test setup, I have an Adafruit Feather RP2040 microcontroller board,…
Read MoreUltimate List of Unusual but Really Useful Linux Shell Commands
This is a compilation of lesser known Linux shell commands – but really useful ones. Useful as in: saving time, giving you additional tools to do things you couldn’t before, but also entertaining. Enjoy reading, and let us know in the comments if there are additional tools we should add! Installation instructions will be for…
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