The Tibblog

Now accepting credit cards! Want a starter kit or just a couple...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:51:00 -0400

Now accepting credit cards!

Want a starter kit or just a couple of modules? You no longer need to worry about paying via T/T! For small orders of up to $500 including shipping, we now support payment via credit card!

Simply use the order form and select Credit Card payment instead of T/T!

First the speed, now the memory!

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:20:00 -0400

We’ve just released an experimental version (near the end of the page) of our platform and TiOS firmware. It’s a 3.x version, which means it’s very fast, and now it also offers you 10% more memory (RAM) for your variables, data, socket buffers, etc. Got a project that “almost fits” in RAM? Extra 10% just might help!

Spend less time staring at the upload bar

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:27:00 -0400

Ever get tired of waiting endlessly while TIDE uploads new code into your Tibbo BASIC device? It gets rather annoying on large projects, doesn’t it? Often, you change one character in your source code, then wait a minute for the upload to complete. Then change a bit more. Wait another minute, etc.

Not any more! The experimental TIDE and TiOS versions we are releasing today feature optimized “incremental” uploads that dramatically slash your waiting time. You will notice a huge difference when making small modifications to your source code.

In addition, we added a new transport for communicating between TIDE and TiOS devices. Based on WinPCap, it uses non-broadcast UDP packets, thus boosting upload speeds on larger networks.

Come see Tibbo at Embedded China 2010!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:39:00 -0400

Embedded China is a conference happening in Shanghai, China, from September 7 till September 9. The dates fall within the amazing World Expo in Shanghai, and we’ll be thrilled to see you! You can find us in booth 1A88. Come meet us and see our range of programmable products!

DS1004 is a Red Dot Design Award Winner!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:51:09 -0400

We’re proud to announce the DS1004 is one of the winners in the Red Dot Design Award! You can read all about it here!

Photo

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:42:56 -0400

Same Devices, Double the Speed

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:11:00 -0400

How would you like to improve the execution speed of your Tibbo BASIC application by a factor of two?

The TiOS firmware we’ve just released does just that for the EM1000, EM1202, EM1206, DS1000, DS1202, and DS1206 devices.

Just load the new TiOS firmware and you get a significantly better execution speed. For free!

EM500 platform docs are now available!

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:34:11 -0400

The docs for the EM500 Tibbo BASIC platform have now been released! Go ahead and check out what it can do, in painstaking detail.

EM500 docs are now out!

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:33:00 -0400

Many of you may be happy to know that the EM500 hardware documentation is now up and fully updated!

As per usual, the docs feature complete schematics, pinouts, mechanical dimensions, and everything else you’ve come to expect. So if you’ve been thinking of using the EM500 for one of your projects, now you can check it out in-depth. Enjoy!

P.S. Platform and EM500EV docs to be posted shortly.

The new EM500, first member of the MiniMo family, is now out!

Thu, 13 May 2010 05:25:00 -0400

The new EM500, first member of the MiniMo family, is now out!

New PING function available for Tibbo BASIC! Click the image for...

Wed, 12 May 2010 05:25:09 -0400

New PING function available for Tibbo BASIC! Click the image for more details.

We’ve got a new website coming up for AggreGate… new...

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 05:03:34 -0400

We’ve got a new website coming up for AggreGate… new looks, new content, and lots of tasty new graphics and screenshots! Stay tuned!

At Tibbo, Modules Help Make More Modules

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:27:00 -0400

In the true spirit of Japanese cartoons about robots and other cool stuff, we at Tibbo use our own technology to produce more of the same. What you’re looking at is a test bed for our EM100 modules. This is controlled by the the EM1000TEV system (using the EM1000 module).

The EM1000TEV, running a simple Tibbo BASIC application, is making sure that each orange module gets a proper and unique MAC address. This is just one of the examples of how our technology can automates production and testing of electronic devices.

We just had our Year-End party (we go by the Chinese calendar),...

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:07:00 -0500

We just had our Year-End party (we go by the Chinese calendar), and it was a blast! Here are just a few photos of the Taipei team having fun. :) HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Our new DS10xx family of BASIC-programmable industrial...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:50:00 -0500

Our new DS10xx family of BASIC-programmable industrial controllers is now out!

Our Designer, Leo, has recently visited us in Taipei. Here is a...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:55:00 -0500

Our Designer, Leo, has recently visited us in Taipei. Here is a photo of him and his computers/monitors, one of which shows his top secret project E** (which, regrettably, we had to pixelate). Tomorrow Leo is off to get some much needed R&R in Thailand, so we all wish him a good trip.

AggreGate in Russian, Chinese, and More! And we don’t mean some...

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:22:00 -0500

Menu and System Tree in Russian

System Log

AggreGate in Russian, Chinese, and More!

And we don’t mean some “About AggreGate” document, either! It’s the actual software. The UI itself is being localized these days. Look at this sneak preview of our Russian AggreGate.

Security, Security, Security...

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:21:00 -0500

Hello there folks,

it is a holiday season all around the world but we are not slowing down. It looks like Q1 will bring our BASIC-programmable products several important security-related enhancements. Here is just some stuff we are working on: additional security modes for Wi-Fi (cause WEP is cr**), SSL support, and protection of customer’s Tibbo BASIC application loaded into the module.

Stay tuned…

SSI does MAXIM RTC

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:05:00 -0500

Yet another application for our SSI object. We have successfully used our SSI to interface with the DS3234 “extremely accurate” SPI RTC.

Here is the code:

'------------------------------------------------------------------
io.num=SPI_CS
io.state = HIGH
io.enabled=YES

io.num=SPI_CLK
io.state = HIGH
io.enabled=YES

io.num=SPI_MOSI
io.state = HIGH
io.enabled=YES

'setup SSI channel
ssi.channel=1
ssi.mode=PL_SSI_MODE_1
ssi.clkmap=SPI_CLK
ssi.dimap=SPI_MISO
ssi.domap=SPI_MOSI
ssi.zmode=PL_SSI_ZMODE_ALWAYS_ENABLED
ssi.direction=PL_SSI_DIRECTION_LEFT
ssi.baudrate=1
ssi.enabled=YES

'------------------------------------------------------------------
function rtc_read(address as byte)as byte
  io.lineset(SPI_CS,LOW)
  ssi.channel=SSI_CHANNEL_RTC
  rtc_read=ssi.value(address*256,16)
  io.lineset(SPI_CS,HIGH)
end function

SSI does Microchip Port Expanders!

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:50:00 -0500

G’day folks,

it hasn’t even been a week since we published our SSI object, and we already found an application for it. We used the SSI to control Microchip’s MCP23017 16-bit port expander.

For those of you who never tested this, Microchip port expanders are I2C or SPI ICs that give you 8 or 16 I/O lines. Add something like this to our (relatively low-pin count EM1206) and you get 16 additional I/O lines for <1US$!

Without further ado, here is the code that setups an I2C channel, configures all I/O lines of the MCP23017 as outputs, and writes &hAA55 to the output ports:

'------------------------------------------------------------------
  'configure I2C clock as output
  io.num=I2C_SCL 'you need to declare I2C_SCL, I2C_SDA
  io.state=HIGH
  io.enabled=YES

  'setup SSI channel
  ssi.channel=0
  ssi.mode=PL_SSI_MODE_3
  ssi.clkmap=I2C_SCL
  ssi.dimap=I2C_SDA
  ssi.domap=I2C_SDA
  ssi.zmode=PL_SSI_ZMODE_ENABLED_ON_ZERO
  ssi.direction=PL_SSI_DIRECTION_LEFT
  ssi.baudrate=40 'this I2C device is relatively slow
  ssi.enabled=YES

  'setup all I/O lines of the MCP23017 as outputs (see Microchip's documentation)
  i2c_start() 
  ssi.str(chr(&h40)+chr(&h00)+chr(&h00)+chr(&h00),1)
  i2c_stop() 

  'output &hAA55 (see Microchip's documentation)
  i2c_start() 
  ssi.str(chr(&h40)+chr(&h12)+chr(&hAA)+chr(&h55),1)
  i2c_stop() 

'------------------------------------------------------------------
sub i2c_start
  io.lineset(I2C_SCL,HIGH)
  io.num=I2C_SDA 'set SDA to HIGH first so we can have HIGH->LOW transition
  io.state=LOW 'we are manipulating data line through the OE register
  io.enabled=NO
  io.enabled=YES 'this will set the data output to LOW	
end sub

'----------------------------------------------------------------------------
sub i2c_stop
  io.lineset(I2C_SCL,LOW) 'this will remove the ack bit
  io.num=I2C_SDA 'set SDA to LOW first so we can have LOW->HIGH transition			
  io.state=LOW 'we are manipulating data line through the OE register
  io.enabled=YES
  io.lineset(I2C_SCL,HIGH)
  io.enabled=NO 'this will set the data output to HIGH
end sub