Getting started with myStorm BlackIce

Getting Started with myStorm BlackIce

Introduction

myStorm BlackIce is a unique combination of low power FPGA and ARM microcontroller designed and manufactured specifically to bring affordable FPGA open source  hardware and software to Hobbyists, Makers and Students.

Working in conjunction with Clifford Wolf’s innovative open source FPGA development toolchain, known as “Project IceStorm”  it allows new digital designs to be written in verilog, synthesised and programmed into the FPGA.

The features found on BlackIce offer the user access to the widest variety of devices and expansion interfaces including PMODs, microSD, SRAM, LEDs switches and buttons.

External circuits connect via the PMOD connectors – and these...

IPv6 User Plane support in Osmocom

Preface

Cellular systems ever since GPRS are using a tunnel based architecture to provide IP connectivity to cellular terminals such as phones, modems, M2M/IoT devices and the like. The MS/UE establishes a PDP context between itself and the GGSN on the other end of the cellular network. The GGSN then is the first IP-level router, and the entire cellular network is abstracted away from the User-IP point of view.

This architecture didn't change with EGPRS, and not with UMTS, HSxPA and even survived conceptually in LTE/4G.

While the concept of a PDP context / tunnel exists to de-couple the transport layer from the structure and type of data...

UI Gripes: Season 1

'HID' stands for 'Human Interface Device'. I don't think I have any of those, and if I do, then they're definately broken.

ESP8266 anti cloning system

If you are investing time and money in developing a new module you want to have confidence that no one will clone it.
Assuring the authenticity of a product is a good for your brand image. No one wants that his nice and cheap power socket to also mine bit coins for someone else or do a DoS attack based on an external command. So, be aware on cheap IoT devices.
Since the flash memory of ESP8266 is external to the MCU then you will need an external encryption chip ( ATSHA204 EUR 0.5) that helps to authenticate your module.
Features:
Crypto Element with...

18650 Li-Ion battery powered Wemos D1 with Wemos Battery Shield - DONE 48 days achieved

>>> For the version with a solar panel attached see this post <<<
Wemos has developed a series of shields for the Wemos D1 :
DHT Shield Battery Shield Matrix LED Shield Buzzer Shield Dual Base SHT30 Shield WS2812B RGB Shield ProtoBoard Shield 1-Button Shield Micro SD Card Shield Relay Shield DC Power Shield Tripler Base Motor Shield OLED Shield
The good thing is that you can stack them on top of another.
Let's take a look for now to the Battery Shield that is now on version 1.2.0 and it has a retired version 1.1.0
Get the schematics from here version 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 to see the differences. An immediate visual difference is the inductor on the V1.1.0...

BMP180 and wemos D1 reading temperature, pressure and altitude

To read the pressure, temperature and altitude you can use an BMP180 cheap i2c breakout.
1. Materials:
Wemos D1USD 3.99 BMP180USD 1.97 Total:USD 5.96
2. Libraries:
Install Adafruit BMP_085 libraries from Library Manager:
3. Connections:
VCC----3V3 GND----GND SDA----D2 SCL----D1
4. Code:
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_BMP085.h>
Adafruit_BMP085 bmp;
void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
  if (!bmp.begin()) {
    Serial.println(F("Could not find a valid BMP180 sensor, check wiring!"));
  }
}
void loop()
{
  // Wait a few seconds between measurements.
  delay(2000);
  Serial.print(F("Pressure: "));  Serial.println(bmp.readPressure()/100);
  Serial.print(F("Temperature: "));  Serial.print(bmp.readTemperature()); Serial.println(F("*C"));
  Serial.print(F("See level pressure: "));  Serial.println(bmp.readSealevelPressure());
  Serial.print(F("Altitude: "));  Serial.println(bmp.readAltitude());
  Serial.println(F("----------------------------------------"));
}

Virtual Um interface between OsmoBTS and OsmocomBB

During the last couple of days, I've been working on completing, cleaning up and merging a Virtual Um interface (i.e. virtual radio layer) between OsmoBTS and OsmocomBB. After I started with the implementation and left it in an early stage in January 2016, Sebastian Stumpf has been completing it around early 2017, with now some subsequent fixes and improvements by me. The combined result allows us to run a complete GSM network with 1-N BTSs and 1-M MSs without any actual radio hardware, which is of course excellent for all kinds of testing scenarios.

The Virtual Um layer is based on sending L2 frames...

www.apertus.org: The Road from AXIOM Beta Developer Kit to Production Camera

https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=pmJyBEiuB7c

Developer Kits have been shipping for some time now and we are aware that the most pressing question for many of you is "When will the AXIOM Beta evolve from a Developer Kit to being a production ready camera?" This article should help to answer that question, but keep in mind that the camera has been carefully designed to evolve constantly.
For a detailed itinerary of outstanding tasks and a statement on expected timeframes please see Mission Briefings on the project's Wiki.
Metal Full Enclosure The work on completing open tasks related to enclosure design is progressing well (Additional help is always appreciated...

Ten years after first shipping Openmoko Neo1973

Exactly 10 years ago, on July 9th, 2007 we started to sell+ship the first Openmoko Neo1973. To be more precise, the webshop actually opened a few hours early, depending on your time zone. Sean announced the availability in this mailing list post

I don't really have to add much to my ten years [of starting to work on] Openmoko anniversary blog post a year ago, but still thought it's worth while to point out the tenth anniversary.

It was exciting times, and there was a lot of pioneering spirit: Building a Linux based smartphone with a 100% FOSS software stack on the application processor, including all drivers,...

FOSS misconceptions, still in 2017

The lack of basic FOSS understanding in Telecom

Given that the Free and Open Source movement has been around at least since the 1980ies, it puzzles me that people still seem to have such fundamental misconceptions about it.

Something that really triggered me was an article at LightReading [1] which quotes Ulf Ewaldsson, a leading Ericsson excecutive with

"I have yet to understand why we would open source something we think is really good software"

This completely misses the point. FOSS is not about making a charity donation of a finished product to the planet.

FOSS is about sharing the development costs among multiple players, and avoiding that everyone has...