Open Source/Freeware Budget USB DAC

[mixedgas]

That makes no sense whatsoever.[/QUOTE]

He means that technically we must use a USB ID block and assign a USB serial number if we wish to call it USB.

Steve

I too use Eagle, but many board houses wont accept the Gerbers from Eagle any more.
This is marketing ploy to force you to use "their" software. A warning, Eagle is a clunky DOS port with some quirks, I don't know about the MAC version.


Steve

[mixedgas]

Andrew, the ESP diff output works for me, Ive built some of his stuff, and it works good.

Steve

[heroic]

Yet AD and National still source stuff that is pushing 40 years of production.

Can you believe that TI will still sell you 7400s? Seriously.

[mixedgas]

Can you believe that TI will still sell you 7400s? Seriously.

Can you belive I still use them, some times HCTS are not TOUGH enough.

LOL

Steve

[cfavreau]

There are plenty of board houses that will accept Eagle gerber files.

USB identification numbers are not an issue. The FTDI gives us a few options. Please read:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/Te...FT_000024).pdf

We can always use the FTDI defaults and throw our own description in there. It is a budget/open source device after all.

[drlava]

I use orcad 9.2..

[heroic]

There are plenty of board houses that will accept Eagle gerber files.

USB identification numbers are not an issue. The FTDI gives us a few options. Please read:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/TechnicalNotes/TN_100_USB_VID-PID_Guidelines(FT_000024).pdf

We can always use the FTDI defaults and throw our own description in there. It is a budget/open source device after all.

I have a USB ID block anyway for work purposes. I can probably borrow a PID or two..

-J.

[cfavreau]

We can also request a block of PIDs for us too from FTDI using their vendor ID. It is a free service they offer.

[cfavreau]

I found another platform that would allow the general hobbiest to not have to solder much. This one is a bit more powerful than the Arduino and it includes Ethernet (and USB).

http://www.makingthings.com/store/ma...board-kit.html

The Make Controller. Is is in V2.0 now. $85 gets you everything you need except for the DACs/Analog bits/ and Power Supply. It is based on an Atmel ARM chip. A group buy makes it cheaper too...

It would definitely be a look towards future features and expandability as it could handle an SD card interface easily.

Just make a DAC add on board with the ILDA analog interface and DC to DC on it. I bet this could be done for total under $130 and the results would be worth it. The controller and interface board take care of all the difficult soldering...

Opinions please...

[heroic]

I found another platform that would allow the general hobbiest to not have to solder much. This one is a bit more powerful than the Arduino and it includes Ethernet (and USB).

http://www.makingthings.com/store/ma...board-kit.html

The Make Controller. Is is in V2.0 now. $85 gets you everything you need except for the DACs/Analog bits/ and Power Supply. It is based on an Atmel ARM chip. A group buy makes it cheaper too...

It would definitely be a look towards future features and expandability as it could handle an SD card interface easily.

Just make a DAC add on board with the ILDA analog interface and DC to DC on it. I bet this could be done for total under $130 and the results would be worth it. The controller and interface board take care of all the difficult soldering...

Opinions please...

My SPI DAC board (of which I posted the layout up there ^^^) will run off one of these just fine. You could even run two...