In the quest for the perfect diagram I dig up some ancient history. Find a device I forgot I ever used, and a diagram that almost says it all. … More I think I’ve found my favourite I2C diagram
An I2C target device has a 7-bit address. We can address a device for read or write transactions. What could be simpler? In my 30 years of experience, every year I have witnessed an occasion when someone got this wrong. With seasoned members of the team to hand it normally gets resolved quickly, but sometimes you find an engineer, who knows it is easy, and so has spent too long trying to fix it before admitting they are lost. … More I2C addressing is easy
We all have our horror stories of how a misconfigured oscilloscope can lead to hours of head-scratching frustration. My latest problem cost me about 30 minutes of troubleshooting. Just yesterday I was butting heads with a simple triggering issue on my new scope. … More My silly oscilloscope ( an RTFM adventure)
A few years ago, I encountered an issue in my project involving an I2C device that didn’t always work after a system reset.
In an ideal world, any reset should emulate a power-on reset, but we sometimes encounter warm start issues. The problem I was encountering certainly started feeling like a warm start problem, but I wasn’t sure what was going on. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin… … More An adventure in debugging an I2C bus hang
I don’t often need to draw timing diagrams, but occasionally I do. It’s not an everyday task. When talking about a bug, I find it is easiest to share a captured trace from the scope. When trying to describe what an expected signal should be, then I turn to the whiteboard or a piece of paper. There are however times in my life when I am trying to specify how a new hardware block should work; this requires a clean, easy to edit, diagram to share. I have found a few text to image tools that really help a lot. … More How I draw (simple) timing diagrams.
The author has transitioned to a remote role, freeing up time to dedicate to their blog focusing on embedded systems, with an aim for consistent, valuable content. … More Personal blogs and work schedules don’t mix well.
I’ve just got myself a new toy. PCBite, from Sensepeek, is system of spring loaded board holders that magnetically mount on a sheet of steel, and a series of probes that mount to the same base plate with flexible arms. Looking at the product photos you would think the flexible arms are typical goosenecks, with … More PCBite – an extra pair of hands.
For years I have been using whatever DMM was laying around the lab at work. At home I have had a little analog, hobbyist meter with failing leads, limited range, but thankfully a mirror behind the needle to reduce parallax errors. With the extended work from home I decided it’s time to get a real … More How much DMM do I need?
Everyone who is putting themselves out there on-line just want to look their best. I’ve be contributing to wikis at work since 2011, and have watched Confluence evolve over that time. I’m comfortable in that space, knowing what data to present, and how to present it. I know when to break a larger page into … More If Only This Were a Wiki.
I recently picked up a copy of “If I Only Changed the Software, Why Is the Phone on Fire?” by Lisa Simone. What a fun title! I was looking for books on debugging methodologies for us embedded engineers. I know, 30 years into my career and I finally get a book on how to do … More Why Is the Phone on Fire?
Glorified Plumbing 