Components

An overview of common IC families/components and hardware devices.

To help you get started with some of the hardware and components frequently used or discussed in this site, we've put together a few pages describing some of the main stuff your need to make 'stuff'.  You'll find the main technical characteristics of different components, a selection of links and documents to help you get started, and some simple examples of code where appropriate. 

As with most of this site, this section is a work-in-progress, and we hope to develop it as time goes by, and as we start to understand a bit better ourselves what our readers are looking for.  If you'd like to see something specific added to this section, feel free to contact us with any suggestions you may have!

ARM Microprocessors
NXP's ARM7 LPC2478While there are dozens of different types of microprocessors out there, we've chosen to focus on 32-bit ARM MCUs on this site.  This shouldn't be taken as a slight against any 8-bit or competing 16 or 32-bit architectures out there (we use several different families ourselves), it's simple a reflection of our perception (perhaps flawed) that the ARM family represents the most interesting architecture to be working with if you are focusing on developing and delivering a final, commercial product.  With more than 3 billion (yes, 3,000,000,000) ARM MCUs shipped every year, we're not alone in our belief that ARM is where the action is!
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Displays
24-Bit 472x280 LCD DisplayEnd users are becoming increasingly demanding with even the lowest-cost handheld devices, and graphic displays, which were not so long ago reserved to reasonably expensive ($100 +) or higher-end devices, are now making their way into the lowest-priced products.  We'll try to take you through some of the main families of displays, and (if the interest is there) might try to develop some basic reference boards to help make exploring graphic LCDs a bit less intimidating than it may seem to the uninitiated (hint: it's actually not that hard!).
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Motors
Everybody likes things that whiz, grind and twirl!  We'll try to give you an overview of some of the various types of motors that you may find useful in your projects, starting with the steadfast and dependable Stepper Motor.
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