Category Archives: scaling

Smoothing Big Fonts on Graphic LCDs

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Here’s a neat little trick: take the jaggies out of scaled fonts on the fly! This technique is for use on graphic displays where you might want to scale your fonts up. Normally you’d just write a 2×2 block of pixels for every area where there would have been one …read more

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Fail of the Week: Bright Idea for LED Signs Goes Bad

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Typically when we select a project for “Fail to the Week” honors, it’s because something went wrong with the technology of the project. But the tech of [Leo Fernekes]’ innovative LED sign system was never the problem; it was the realities of scaling up to production as well as the …read more

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The Foundation of IT: The Identity Provider

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We often hear the phrase, “Work on what is important, not necessarily urgent.” IT organizations know this axiom all too well. In a business that is highly interruption driven and reactive, IT admins are craving a better way to control their… Continue reading The Foundation of IT: The Identity Provider→

A Compensated Thermocouple Amp, Ready for Arduino

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When you want to measure temperature with an Arduino or other microcontrollers, there are a ton of options for sensors. Temperature chips and sensor modules abound, some with humidity sensors built-in and all with easy interfacing and an expansive supporting code library. But dip one of those sensors into, say, molten aluminum, and you’ve got a problem.

If you’re measuring something hot, you need a thermocouple. Trouble is, the signal from a thermocouple is pretty small, and needs amplification and compensation before being fed into the ADC of a typical microcontroller. Unable to find a commercial amp to meet his …read more

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