Using the Esquire cover PIC for flashing model LEDs?

jgoldader · Post by **jgoldader** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:00 pm

Hi all,

In case you haven't seen/heard of it, the October issue of Esquire magazine is available with an electronic ink cover, which is apparently controlled by a 12F629 PIC microcontroller.

The datasheet for said PIC says it can control LEDs, and has an on-board counter.

Anybody have any ideas on whether the PIC could be extracted and reprogrammed for use in blinking LEDs? The whole magazine is only $6...

A description of the cover is in this post:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.p ... d=24930139 and
photos of the electronics are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmtorrone/tags/esquire/.[/url]

Jeff

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:51 pm

You know you could buy five of those PICs separately for less than the cost of the magazine, right?

I don't know if the chip could be extracted and reprogrammed - it's possible... but bear in mind that it is possible to code-protect PICs such that they can't be reprogrammed - if it works it could be a fun hack but there's also a chance it wouldn't work...

I saw the magazine. Kinda neat... Felt like "Minority Report" for a split second, then I saw the limitations and size of the device and felt reassured. :)

jgoldader · Post by **jgoldader** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:15 pm

tetsujin wrote:You know you could buy five of those PICs separately for less than the cost of the magazine, right?

I don't know if the chip could be extracted and reprogrammed - it's possible... but bear in mind that it is possible to code-protect PICs such that they can't be reprogrammed - if it works it could be a fun hack but there's also a chance it wouldn't work...

I saw the magazine. Kinda neat... Felt like "Minority Report" for a split second, then I saw the limitations and size of the device and felt reassured.

Tetsujin,

I had no idea the PICs were that cheap. The ones I've seen are, I already packaged on a board with extra components, and seem to run $30-40. Does Madman Lighting use PICs? I've been trying to figure out the pictures of their boards.

I read of the magazine today and had to have one. It may have been simple, but still blew me away. It was the first time I've seen electronic ink. It's the future. Sure, "real" pixels would cost a lot more, but to see a flexible display like that, no backlighting... it was a beautiful thing. The days of paper books and magazines are numbered. Kindle and other, similar readers are only the beginning.

Esquire has a note on their site encouraging people to hack the cover, and asking them to post battery replacement ideas and any hacks they do to the PIC.

Jeff

jwrjr · Post by **jwrjr** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:28 pm

Used to control leds - easily
reprogrammable - probably
removable - don't know

Pic12f629s do run in the $1 ballpark - especially if you buy them in small quantities rather than single pieces.

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:40 am

jgoldader wrote:
tetsujin wrote:You know you could buy five of those PICs separately for less than the cost of the magazine, right?
Tetsujin,

I had no idea the PICs were that cheap. The ones I've seen are, I already packaged on a board with extra components, and seem to run $30-40. Does Madman Lighting use PICs? I've been trying to figure out the pictures of their boards.

Maybe he can answer that for you... Offhand I can't remember, but I think he uses AVRs.

Most of my recent projects I've been using 16F628's - kind of overkill for a lot of projects maybe but it's got an internal oscillator and lots of I/O pins. Those I buy in quantities of usually 2 or 3 for $3 each at Mouser.

When you mentioned the specific model of PIC that was in the magazine, I was curious so I checked it out at Mouser - quantity of 1 for around $1.10 depending on the specific variant. I as surprised, too, actually. :)

Esquire has a note on their site encouraging people to hack the cover, and asking them to post battery replacement ideas and any hacks they do to the PIC.

That's pretty cool!

Going back to the question of whether the IC will be removable - probably it's surface-mounted, in which case it would be difficult (but certainly not impossible) to desolder it. I imagine there's a better chance you could pull the entire board and repurpose it.

jgoldader · Post by **jgoldader** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:07 pm

Tetsujin,

I know there's a sticky thread for microcontroller projects. Are there any links to references that you could post to that thread? A sort of "how-to," or "how to get started?"

About all I know is that I'd need an interface board and software for programming the PIC, and of course a board and power supply, and I'd assume resistors, possibly transistors too, for powering LEDs.

Suppose, for sake of argument, I wanted to make a board that could flash several LEDs at different rates. Something like that.

Thanks!
Jeff

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:59 am

jgoldader -

The way I got started was to buy this book.

In it, you'll find info on how to purchase a kit from Microchip that contains a couple different PIC models, software and a programmer board that plugs into a USB slot on your computer. There's additional software you'll need to download from the author's website if you want to do the projects in the book. The book primarily covers rudimentry programming in PIC C. If memory serves, I think the kit cost me around $35 from Microchip directly.

It's probably not the best training solution out there and I'm sure many others here will tell you that PIC C may not be the best language to use but the book helps you to learn the fundamentals which is what I wanted.

edit: I just noticed that tetsujin posted a message in the "Microcontroller Projects" thread similar to mine. The book I referenced above is by the same author, Myke Predko. I don't recall the model of the programmer kit I bought but it sounds similar to what tetsujin descirbes.