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https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/classic-8-bit-computing-the-atari-way/ | Classic 8-Bit Computing The Atari Way | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Games"
] | [
"2600",
"assembly",
"atari",
"basic",
"coding",
"hardware",
"modifications",
"software",
"video game"
] | In the classic gaming world, even before the NES arrived on the scene, there was no name more ubiquitous than Atari. Their famous 2600 console sold almost as many units as the Nintendo 64, but was released nearly 20 years prior. In many ways, despite making mistakes that led to the video game crash of the early 80s, Atari was the first to make a path in the video game industry. If you want to explore what the era of 8-bit computing was like in the Atari age, a new resource is
compiling all kinds of Atari-based projects
.
This site has everything, from assembling Atari 8-bit computers based on the 6502 chip, to programming them in BASIC and assembly, to running official and homebrew games on the hardware itself. This was put together by [Jason H. Moore] who grew up around Atari systems and later, their home computers. He even puts his biomedical experience to use here by designing a game for the 2600 called
Gene Medic
which can be found at the site as well.
If you grew up in the 70s and 80s and are looking for a bit of Atari nostalgia this site is the place to go. It’s even worth a visit from younger folks as well since the 8-bit world is a lot easier to get immersed in and learn the fundamentals of computer science. Of course, if you want to take it the other direction, it’s possible to
modify the old Atari to add a few modern conveniences
.
Photo via
Evan-Amos | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241450",
"author": "eekee",
"timestamp": "2020-04-30T11:38:37",
"content": "The Atari 800 etc. range of computers have a cool little OS which makes interfacing with all the IO devices very high-level; more so than MS-DOS. It’s a bit too fancy for the machine, actually; the BASIC wo... | 1,760,373,505.940274 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/make-it-easier-for-your-software-project-to-accept-contributions/ | Make It Easier For Your Software Project To Accept Contributions | Donald Papp | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"code contribution",
"github",
"google",
"mit license",
"open source",
"OSI",
"software license"
] | [Flameeyes] has heard complaints (and at times, he admits, has complained himself) about big companies not contributing improvements to projects they seem to find useful, or rolling their own implementation rather than use and contribute to an existing code base. Having recently left Google after seven years, he has some insights into some of the reasons big corporations (at least Google, anyway) may sometimes seem to eschew making code contributions, and some of the reasons might come as a surprise.
There are things a corporation can do differently, but there are also some things that can be done on the project’s end to make accepting contributions easier. [Flameeyes] took some time to write out a few pointers on
how to make it easier for others (particularly large corporations) to contribute code to a software project
.
The biggest issue is the software license. Without one, there is no legal structure to use, distribute, or contribute to the code, and no corporate entity will want to touch it.
Google specifically forbids creating patches for projects with either no license, or incompatible licenses
. An example of an incompatible license is one that forbids commercial use, because everything a corporation like Google does — even research –is considered a commercial endeavor. In addition, on the corporate side making contributions might trigger a code review process of some kind for some licenses, but not for others. [Flameeyes] suggests the
MIT license
as one that is acceptable to pretty much everyone with a minimum of fuss. Another caution: if a project’s code resides in an online repository, make sure the repository is licensed as well.
A few other small suggestions (such as maintaining an AUTHORS file to track contributors in a tidy way) rounds out the advice. It sounds simple, but software licensing is so critical to the whole affair that it’s important to get it right —
he suggests the REUSE tool
for anyone wanting to make sure a project’s licensing is tidy.
[Flameeyes] makes a point that none of this guidance is based on secret or institutional knowledge. Google has
a public document detailing exactly how they use and deal with open source
, and it’s a solid guide for how to make your project more accepting of contributions from a corporate entity like Google. (Or, if you prefer, a guide on how to set up as many barriers as possible for your project.)
In case you missed it, we just want to remind you that our favorite recent open source project from Google is definitely
Pigweed
. | 30 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241388",
"author": "Jonathan Bennett",
"timestamp": "2020-04-30T04:31:38",
"content": "Other things to consider: Do you have an obvious way to submit bugs and patches (He covered that one a bit)? Have you thought through copyright assignment, and are you up-front about that?Also fu... | 1,760,373,506.329045 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/giant-scale-rc-a350-airliner-using-carbon-fibre-and-3d-printing/ | Giant Scale RC A350 Airliner Using Carbon Fibre And 3D Printing | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"airliner",
"Carbon Fibre",
"EDF",
"Ramy RC",
"RC airplane"
] | Large scale RC aircraft are pleasure to see on the ground and in the air, but putting in the months of effort required to build them requires special dedication. Especially since there is a real possibility it could end up in pieces on the ground at some point. [Ramy RC] is one of those dedicated craftsman, and he has a thing for RC airliners. His latest project is a large
Airbus A350
, and the painstaking build process is something to behold.
The outer skin of the aircraft is mostly carbon fibre, with wood internal framing to keep everything rigid. The fuselage and winglets are moulded using 3D printed moulds. These were printed in pieces on a large format 3D printer, and painstakingly glued together and prepared to give a perfect surface finish. The wing surfaces are moulded in flat section and then glued onto the frames. [Ramy RC]’s attention to detail is excellent, making all the control surfaces close as possible to the real thing, and retractable landing gear with servo actuated hatches. Thrust comes from a pair of powerful EDF motors, housed in carbon fibre nacelles.
This project has been in the works for almost 5 months so far and it looks spectacular. We’re looking forward to the first flight, and will be holding thumbs that is remains in one piece for a long time. See the video after the break for final assembly of this beast.
For the next step up from RC aircraft, you can always build your own
full size aircraft in your basement
. If you have very very deep pockets, get yourself a private hangar/workshop and build a
turbine powered bush plane
.
Thanks for the tip [tayken]! | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241372",
"author": "John Turner",
"timestamp": "2020-04-30T01:27:34",
"content": "Gorgeous! Humbling to think of the man-hours that went into all the casting forms. He had do build that plane twice to get it once.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,373,506.082288 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/a-diy-10-bit-relay-adder/ | A DIY 10-bit Relay Adder | Rich Hawkes | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"10-bit",
"adder",
"relays"
] | When it comes to understanding computers, sometimes it’s best to get a good understanding of the basics. How is data stored? How does the machine process this information? In order to answer these questions a bit more and start learning programming, [Nakazoto]
built a 10-bit binary adder
with relays.
The build is designed from the ground up, including the PCBs, which are milled using a CNC machine. There are six boards: the input board, sequencer board, 2 sum register boards, a carry register board and a 1-bit ALU board. The input board has 32 LEDs on it along with the switches to turn on each bit on or off. In total, 96 relays are used and you can hear them clacking on and off in the videos on the page. Finally, there is a separate switch that sets the adder into subtraction mode.
Usually, [Nakazoto]’s website is mostly about cars, but this is a nice diversion. The article has a lot of detail about both the design and build as well as the theory behind the adder. Other articles on binary adders on the site include
this one
which uses bigger relays, and
this 2-bit adder
which uses 555 timers. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241322",
"author": "Robert",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T20:36:25",
"content": "Pretty cool! Front panel looks messed up though, would push the LEDs to the right and right-align them (same as relays), then use top-left space (above carry LED) for switches etc.If you check the link, ma... | 1,760,373,506.148763 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/a-custom-saw-designed-for-close-quarters-making/ | A Custom Saw Designed For Close Quarters Making | Tom Nardi | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cordless tool",
"power tools",
"table saw",
"woodworking"
] | It probably goes without saying that we’d all love to have a huge, well-appointed, workshop. But in reality, most of us have to make do with considerably less. When trying to fit tools and equipment into a small space you need to get creative, and if you can figure out a way to squeeze multiple functions out of something, all the better.
Wanting to get as much use out of his space as possible,
[Chris Chimienti] decided that his best bet would be to design and build his own folding combination table
. Using interchangeable inserts it can switch between being a table saw and a router, and with its extendable arms, also serves as a stand for his miter saw. Of course when not cutting, it makes a handy general purpose work surface.
In the videos after the break, [Chris] takes viewers through the design and construction of what he calls the “Sinister Saw”, which is made somewhat more complicated by the fact that he obviously doesn’t have a table saw to begin with. Cutting out the pieces for the table itself and the panels that would eventually become home to the router and circular saw took some careful work with clamps and saw horses to make sure they were all perfectly square.
But the wooden components of the Sinister Saw are only half of the story. The table is able to extend by way of an aluminum extrusion frame, and there are numerous 3D printed parts involved for which [Chris] has provided the STL files. We particularly like the box that holds the emergency stop button and relocates the tool’s battery to the front panel, which looks to be an
evolution of his previous work in 3D printing cordless tool adapters
. We could certainly see this part being useful on other projects that utilize these style of batteries.
In the other extreme, where you want to build your own tools and have plenty of space,
you could try making everything out of giant slabs of stone
. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241302",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T19:10:13",
"content": "Oddly enough, I just saw an old flip over sewing machine table for sale last night and started wondering about getting one to put a scrollsaw in, or maybe my small belt sander. Or could one rig it fo... | 1,760,373,506.029366 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/test-equipment-shim-washers-and-a-30-year-old-space-telescope/ | Test Equipment, Shim Washers, And A 30 Year Old Space Telescope | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Science",
"Space"
] | [
"HST",
"Hubble",
"kodak",
"nasa",
"perken elmer",
"space telescope"
] | This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. When you see all the great pictures today, it is hard to remember that when it first launched, it was nearly a failure, taking fuzzy pictures. The story of how that problem was fixed while the telescope was whizzing through space is a good one. But there’s another story: how did a $1.5 billion satellite get launched with defective optics? After all, we know space hardware gets tested and retested and, typically, little expense is spared to make sure once a satellite is in orbit, it will work well for a long time.
The problem was with a mirror. You might think mirrors are pretty simple, but it turns out there’s a lot to know about mirrors. For astronomy, you need a first surface mirror which is different from your bathroom mirror which almost certainly reflects off the back of the glass. In addition, the mirrors need a very precise curve to focus light.
Perkin Elmer — a name you don’t hear much anymore outside of the medical field, used to make many kinds of things including computers after they acquired Interdata. However, they also had a history working with optical systems, including for the KH-9 spy satellite. They were in charge of building and testing the Hubble’s mirror. It was off by about 2 micrometers. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you are focusing light — especially light from billions of miles away — it is a lot.
How Bad Was it Really?
Here are two pictures of the M100 galaxy taken by the Hubble. You can probably guess which one was before the correction and which was after.
To give you an idea of how sensitive the mirror is, they use special glass made with titanium that has a very low thermal expansion — nearly zero. The Hubble holds the mirror temperature at 70 F and the mirror only deviates about 1/800,000 of an inch in normal operation. I don’t know how to do the math, but I’ve heard that if the mirror were the diameter of the Earth, the highest deviation on it would be six inches. Amazing. Turns out the mirror isn’t as big as the Earth, but it is over 94 inches across — almost as big as the mirror at the
Palomar
Mount Wilson observatory.
A Tale of Two Mirrors
There were actually two mirror blanks, both made by Corning. One went to Perkin Elmer. The other went to Kodak who was making a backup mirror just in case. PE had bid $70 million while Kodak wanted $105 million to make the mirror. The cost of the Kodak mirror proposal was, in part, because they wanted to build two and use them to test each other. PE was only going to make one mirror and after NASA requested a backup mirror, they subbed that job back to Kodak who got the second blank for polishing.
I know $70 million sounds like a lot, but for this job, it really wasn’t. That means PE was scrambling to do too much without enough people and without enough time. We’ve all been on programs like that.
A technician shimmed an optical test device — a null corrector — using common washers. A piece of worn paint caused a laser that tracks the distance between the tester and the mirror to be off by just a slight amount. The official story is the tech “failed to report it,” but I would guess he was told not to report it in order to meet schedule. Wherever the blame lies, the error put the test equipment off by 1.3 mm. This led to the 2200 nanometer defect which caused the severe spherical aberration in the instrument.
According to the
NASA investigation report
:
The spacing of the field lens in the corrector was to have been done by laser measurements off the end of an invar bar. Instead of illuminating the end of the bar, however, the laser in fact was reflected from a worn spot on a black-anodized metal cap placed over the end of the bar to isolate its center (visible through a hole in the cap). The technician who performed the test noted an unexpected gap between the field lens and its supporting structure in the corrector and filled it in with an ordinary metal washer.
Conventional null detectors could not measure the required 10-nanometer flatness required for the mirror, so PE designed and built a special one — the one that was assembled incorrectly. Ironically, two standard null correctors reported the error, but since they were not as accurate as the custom one was supposed to be and — again, under budget and schedule pressure, they decided the certified tester was right when it said the mirror was perfect and didn’t investigate. In fact, the NASA investigation mentions that several engineers on the project had concerns about the mirror’s defects, but they were ignored.
And the Kodak mirror? It used a different test method and was actually reported to be slightly better than the PE mirror. But since PE was the prime contractor, it didn’t want to admit to Kodak having a better mirror, so those reports were not highlighted until the investigation after it was too late. Had the Hubble flown with the Kodak mirrors, it would have been fine from day one. If you are ever at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, it is sitting there as a reminder.
Aftermath
Some experiments could use the telescope the way it was, but others were impossible. So for three years, the telescope did the best it could do until a Shuttle mission brought it a new camera and some corrective lenses. Over time, astronauts added other instruments to the telescope, but they all had to account for the bad mirror. Even the original “eyeglasses” were eventually replaced with better ones.
Perkin Elmer didn’t look good in the investigation. They already had a strained relationship with NASA due to schedule and budget overruns. In the end, they
agreed to pay back $15 million
to avoid a lawsuit. Hughes, who had since bought the PE optical division, also agreed to pay $10 million. Apparently, NASA felt like Hughes found out about the problem during the acquisition about a year before the telescope’s launch and decided not to bring it up. Hughes, of course, denied that but noted that the $10 million was a “goodwill gesture.”
Lessons Learned
There are so many lessons to draw from this sad story. Make sure your test instruments are giving you the correct answers. Investigate problems even if they seem unlikely to be real. Don’t rely on single tests. But maybe the most important one is to design your tests correctly and heed their results even under pressure.
If you read the NASA report, one of the problems was that everyone assumed the mirrors would be close to correct. To totally test the mirror would require an even bigger mirror which would be cost-prohibitive — especially since you’d have to test that mirror somehow, too. No one wanted to pay for that test. But even simple tests would have shown the relatively gross error in the mirror that no one thought was possible. After all, the conventional refractive null detectors showed a problem, but either because no one wanted to hear that or the detectors were considered inferior, no one dug into the issue. So whoever designed the test plan failed to imagine that the mirror could be built that far off. But it was.
Perhaps my favorite lesson, though, is the one from what happened after all this. It would have been easy to give up once the flawed mirror became apparent. But, instead, engineers and scientists worked to find a way to fix it. How you handle success tells less about you than how you handle failures.
Of course, another lesson is to be careful with estimates and be transparent with customers. But those aren’t really technical issues.
History is full of cases where engineers knew something was wrong but either failed to act or were suppressed. The
Brown’s Ferry nuclear plant
comes to mind. In other cases, engineers just fail to pay attention to changes, like with the
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
. My advice is don’t be one of those guys! | 38 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241245",
"author": "macona",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T17:11:23",
"content": "Another way to explain it the mirror was made perfect. Perfectly wrong. And so perfectly wrong that because they knew where the screw up was and exactly how far it was off that it was much, much easier to ... | 1,760,373,506.247041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/the-nintendo-game-boy-color-is-an-aircon-remote/ | The Nintendo Game Boy Color Is An Aircon Remote | Jenny List | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"game boy",
"game boy color",
"infra red",
"ir"
] | Those of you who are familiar with 1990s handheld consoles may recall that Nintendo’s Game Boy Color had an infra-red receiver and transmitter. The thought of a handheld computer with infra-red capabilities interested [jg], who immediately
set about converting it into a remote control for an air conditioner
.
The Game Boy doesn’t have dedicated infra-red remote control hardware, instead the IR diodes appear to be connected to I/O lines. Thus the bitstream bas to be bit-banged, and takes the processor’s entire attention when transmitting. The software is neatly placed on a reprogrammed bootleg cartridge.
It’s an interesting read in terms of the approach to reverse engineering, for example finding the parameters of 37 kHz infra-red remote control by trial and error rather than by a quick read up on the subject, or searching for information on National air conditioners and finding nothing, but not searching the
National brand
itself to find that a search on Panasonic air conditioners would likely give all the information needed. But the end result operates the appliance, so it’s good to record a success.
This
isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Game Boy control something
, though we can’t recall seeing another using the IR. Need a
brilliant overview of the Game Boy
? We’ve got you covered.
Thanks [Roel] for the tip.
Header image: Evan-Amos /
Public domain
. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241335",
"author": "Hunter",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T21:57:09",
"content": "Love it!The IR on the gameboy color was so underutilized.I especially liked the homemade label for the cartridge.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6241... | 1,760,373,505.894062 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/beat-your-coat-hangers-into-antennas-not-plowshares/ | Beat Your Coat Hangers Into Antennas, Not Plowshares | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"coat hanger",
"coat hangers",
"ham radio",
"yagi"
] | If you are looking for a fun project while you are cooped up and you have some spare coathangers, why not try
this 4-element Yagi antenna
(PDF)? [Pete N8PR] showed it off at his local ham radio club and it looked like something good for a lazy afternoon. If you aren’t a ham, you could adjust it all for a different VHF or UHF frequency.
For the boom, [Pete] mentions you can use wood, but it isn’t weather resistant. He chose half-inch PVC pipe. He also offers you a choice of material for the elements: #8 wire, welding rod, or — our favorite — coat hangers.
This is a big upgrade from a simple dipole or a vertical made from coax. The yagi should have about 8 dBi gain in the direction it is pointing. The center of the boom doesn’t have any elements, so that simplifies mounting. The insulating boom also makes mounting the driven element a breeze.
If you use the coat hangers, we’ve heard an easy way to get them very straight is to put one end on a vise and the other end in a drill chuck (see the video below). The method will weaken the wire, but the elements won’t have much stress. If it worries you, just go slow on the drill and you might consider annealing the wire with a torch afterward.
It would be easy to make this portable like
some other designs
we’ve seen. If you want the history and theory behind the venerable yagi antenna, you’ll want to revisit
this post
. | 37 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240924",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T18:47:52",
"content": "I have had luck straightening coat hangers for antennas by manually making it as straight as possible by hand, then place between two 2×6 boards and stand on top of them and roll the wire in between the board."... | 1,760,373,506.40825 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/nasa-readies-new-electric-x-plane-for-first-flight/ | NASA Readies New Electric X-Plane For First Flight | Tom Nardi | [
"Curated",
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Slider",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"electric vehicle",
"Maxwell",
"nasa",
"X-57",
"X-Plane"
] | Since 1951, NASA (known in those pre-space days as NACA) and the United States Air Force have used the “
X”
designation for experimental aircraft that push technological boundaries. The best known of these vehicles, such as the X-1 and X-15, were used to study flight at extreme altitude and speed. Several fighter jets got their start as X-planes over the decades, and a number of hypersonic scramjet vehicles have flown under the banner. As such, the X-planes are often thought of as the epitome of speed and maneuverability.
So the X-57 Maxwell,
NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades
, might seem like something of a departure from the blistering performance of its predecessors. It’s not going to fly very fast, it won’t be making any high-G turns, and it certainly won’t be clawing its way through the upper atmosphere. The crew’s flight gear won’t even be anything more exotic than a polo and a pair of shorts. As far as cutting-edge experimental aircraft go, the X-57 is about as laid back as it gets.
But like previous X-planes, the Maxwell will one day be looked back on as a technological milestone of its own. Just as the X-1 helped usher in the era of supersonic flight, the X-57 has been developed so engineers can better understand the unique challenges of piloted electric aircraft. Before they can operate in the public airspace, the performance characteristics and limitations of electric planes must be explored in real-world scenarios. The experiments performed with the X-57 will help guide certification programs and government rule making that needs to be in place before such aircraft can operate on a large scale.
The Case for Electric Flight
To be clear, the commercial jetliner is in no danger of being replaced by an all-electric aircraft anytime soon. It would take a considerable breakthrough in energy storage,
perhaps based on a whole new battery chemistry
, to make such a plane viable even for domestic flights. It will be exceedingly difficult for electric motors to compete against modern turbofan engines, which have themselves seen a number of improvements over the decades to maximize power and fuel efficiency.
NASA’s cost comparison for electric aircraft
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t niches that electric aircraft could fill. Short flights with rapid turnaround times would be ideal for an electrically driven plane, especially if battery packs could be quickly swapped out upon landing.
If the packs can be charged via on-site renewable sources like wind or solar, it would even be possible to perform these flights with zero emissions. This would represent a considerable improvement over the relatively inefficient internal combustion engines which are generally used on the small aircraft that perform these short “hops” today.
Even if we ignore the potential environmental impact of using electric motors on aircraft, there are other compelling advantages. An electric plane will be quieter than its piston or turbine driven peers, and will be much less complex to maintain and operate safely. They would be particularly attractive to private owners, as they should be far cheaper to fly than traditionally powered aircraft.
Divide and Conquer
Unlike the more daring X-planes of the past, the X-57 actually got its start as a commercially available aircraft. Specifically a twin-engine Tecnam P2006T, which is notable for being one of the lightest weight planes in its class. Even when you factor in the cost of the modifications NASA has made, the sticker price of slightly less than $500,000 USD for a stock P2006T likely makes this one of the least expensive vehicles to ever carry an X designation.
As NASA sees electric aircraft as being well suited for so-called “General Aviation” flights, it makes sense they would want to base their experimental craft on an existing design that serves this market. Why go through the time and expense of developing a whole new aircraft when all you really want to test is the propulsion system?
To that end, NASA has replaced the original wing and engines of the Tecnam P2006T with what they are calling a “Distributed Electric Propulsion” system. Owing to the fact that the electric motors are less powerful than the original combustion engines they are replacing, it takes fourteen of them to propel the X-57 during takeoff and landing. But once the plane is in the air and at cruising altitude, the twelve motors in the center will shut down to save energy.
These small motors only require power cables be routed through the wing.
The center motors will use folding centrifugal propellers, so that once they are no longer rotating, they will lay flat against their nacelles to reduce drag. When additional power is needed, they will extend as the motors are spun back up. This arrangement is far less complex than the feathering mechanism traditionally used in multi-engine aircraft, and has the added benefit of being completely automatic. As long as the joints are regularly lubricated, physics can be relied on to take care of the rest.
When active, these small motors will dramatically increase the amount of airflow over the wing, which in turn increases lift. This boosted performance has allowed NASA to greatly slim down the plane’s wings, while the relatively low weight of the large electric motors allowed them to be placed at the wingtips. With all of these elements are combined, the X-57 is unlike anything that’s ever flown before.
Some Assembly Required
Ground testing the X-57’s systems.
There’s still quite a bit of work to be done before the X-57 takes to the air under all fourteen electric motors. Presently, the project is at the “Mod II” stage, which is where the original Rotax 912S3 engines have been replaced with the same motors that will eventually be relocated to the tips of the new wing.
The wing itself has recently completed its structural testing
, and once it has been installed on the X-57 aircraft, the program will officially be in its third stage.
The final stage, “Mod IV”, will see the installation of the twelve smaller motors along the leading edge of the newly installed wing. At each stage it’s expected the efficiency of the aircraft will be increased, and ultimately NASA hopes to demonstrate a five-fold reduction in the energy necessary to operate this type of light aircraft.
While the agency’s response to COVID-19 has slowed or halted several major projects
, NASA says work on the X-57 Maxwell is continuing in California, and that flight tests with the plane in its final configuration are still expected before the end of the year. | 78 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240893",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T17:11:26",
"content": "i want an electric ultralight",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240904",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T17:50:30"... | 1,760,373,506.524097 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/a-lego-tensegrity-structure/ | A Lego Tensegrity Structure | Moritz v. Sivers | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"lego",
"tensegrity"
] | Tensegrity structures are an impressive demonstration of how to achieve mechanical stability through tensile forces. Since the topic is currently trending it was probably only a matter of time before somebody like [Alexandre Thiery] came with the idea to
build a tensegrity model from Lego
.
In the GIF below that [Alexandre Thiery] shared on his Twitter account you can see his kids admiring the model. Tensegrity structures consist of elements under constant tension – in most cases strings – and components under compression, in this case beams of Lego. By combining these elements, one can build stable structures that seem to float in midair. A simple daily-life example for tensegrity is a balloon where the skin is the tensional element while the air inside is the component under compression.
[Alexandre Thiery] has come up with the clever idea to simply clamp the strings between two Lego blocks. This certainly paves the way for other more complicated Lego-based tensegrity structures that we will likely see in the future. [Alexandre Thiery] also recently
extended his model
by stacking an identical structure on top of it.
If you do not have any Lego at hand just fire up your 3D printer to make a
tensegrity physics toy
or a
floating table
.
Lego tensegrity + a knife = 😎😎
pic.twitter.com/5Rehvaluvv
— Alexandre THIERY (@alek_thiery)
April 18, 2020 | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240887",
"author": "Jason Doege",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T16:30:40",
"content": "Beyond looking cool, I’ve never really got a feeling that tensegrity have a unique usefulness.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6241032",
... | 1,760,373,505.986664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/greatest-keycaps-and-where-to-find-them/ | Greatest Keycaps And Where To Find Them | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Parts",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"artisan keycaps",
"cherry mx",
"clay",
"joy",
"keyboard",
"keycap",
"keycaps",
"mechanical keyboard",
"resin casting"
] | Look at your keyboard. Do the keycaps excite you? That’s what we thought. You pound on that thing day in and day out. Shouldn’t it at least be attractive? Or even happiness-inducing? You don’t necessarily have to replace every single keycap to spark joy. When it comes to artisan keycaps, the point is to have something that stands out.
How about an Escape key that looks like a tall stack of flapjacks or a tiny, intricate cream puff? From a practical standpoint, how about a spiky Escape key that makes you think twice about rage quitting?
If you’re into games or anime, chances are good that there are more than enough artisan keycaps out there to keep you cash-poor for a while. The same goes for scrumptious foodstuffs with Cherry MX-compatible stems.
In this day and age, you can get just about any type of keycap you want, especially those encapsulating pop culture phenomena and fads. Yes there’s a fidget spinner keycap, and it’s adorable.
There’s a Slight Catch (Unless You Prefer Linear Switches)
Thor’s Hammer by
@KeycapSky
Before you go crazy, keep in mind that these fancy keycaps are only going to fit mechanical key switches, and we think it’s safe to say that most artisan ‘caps are designed for switches with a Cherry MX-type stem. Most of your newer gamer-aimed keebs have exactly that.
But aren’t mechanical keyboards expensive? Yes and no. In trying to build a portable word processor, I found a great 60% keyboard with MX blue clones for about $30 over at the Bezos Barn. The switches are even hot-swappable, so it’s a great little all-around portable starter keeb, and it’s probably not the only one out there.
A magic wand of macros made by
[electrifiedair]
If $30 is still too high, you could always get a switch tester, turn it into a macro keyboard, and put your fancy caps on that. Switch testers can be had pretty cheaply, depending what kind of switches you want and how many.
With a tester you get x number of switches, all with different feels, a set of blank keycaps, and some kind of acrylic or plastic to put the switches in to approximate the keyboard setting for testing purposes. Cherry and Cherry clone testers (Kailh, Outemu, Gateron) are pretty cheap; testers for higher-end switches like Pandas and Halos are less so.
Some switch testers don’t want to be functional, so you’d have to drill out the bottom plate to access the switch pins so it can be wired up. That actually makes them sound like even more fun, right?
Here’s an example of someone turning a six-switch tester into a macro keyboard using a Teensy
.
Okay, So Where Do I Find Them Already?
Resin Xenomorph by
@Unlimited3dDesigns
Artisan keycaps are pretty much everywhere on the internet. Do a search for
(interesting thing) + artisan keycap
and you’ll probably find something. Interestingly, I pull up a different keycap than the one shown above when trying the
Xenomorph + keycap
image search. If you get possibilities paralysis like I do and forget all your interests when put on the spot, hit up a large keycap seller pool like
Reddit’s MechMarket
or wander the increasingly diverse virtual aisles of
Etsy
.
The
keycaps
and
mechanical keyboards
subreddits are good sources of leads for fresh ‘caps, as is
the r/mk Discord channel
. Lots of artists sell through Instagram. If you don’t mind the pain of relying on your fellow clackers to meet some minimum quantity before you can even part with your money and start waiting, plenty of places offer group buys.
Between these guideposts, you should be able to find more than enough ‘caps and leads to get going. It’s easy to be inspired by all the amazing artisan caps out there, so don’t be surprised if you want to join in the fun.
Or, Just Make ’em Yourself
Grilled cheese F keys by
@charmcaps
A lot of the artisan keycaps you see out there will be cast in polyurethane resin, crafted in clay and mixed media, or 3D-printed in resin and then painted. Some are carved out of wood. It really doesn’t matter what a keycap is made of, as long as it’s strong enough to last and won’t hurt the switch.
As far as resin casting goes, you can buy keycap molds pretty cheaply, or
build a mold-casting box out of LEGO
. Then you can use whatever keycaps you already have to make silicone molds. Full disclosure and fair warning: I have never done resin casting, but I really want to. I’ve looked far enough into it to be able to tell you that a decent setup will cost at least a few hundred dollars.
Making the second part of a two-part silicone mold for casting resin keycaps. Stuffing the crevices with silicone before pouring the bulk of it in will prevent air pockets.
Resin cast objects look fantastic when the process is done right. Unfortunately, there’s a lot that can go wrong along the way. You need a vacuum chamber and a pressure pot unless you want a million tiny bubbles in your molds and casts, and that’s just the beginning.
The good news is that you don’t really have to start from zero. Get some blank keycaps and experiment, or pop the caps off of a cheap rubber dome keyboard and there’s 104 or so chances to practice before you try it on caps that are designed to fit mechanical switches.
There are a ton of ways to express yourself with keycaps. Glue a tiny trinket on top, or craft something from clay. You could also paint them, dye them, subject them to Plasti-Dip, or score the tops with hot nichrome wire or a Dremel.
When it comes down to it, the greatest keycaps are the ones that make you happy. Here’s a handful that make me happy.
Gallery of Greatness
Koi fish by
@KeycapSky
Companion cube by
@Clackeys
Mt. Fuji by
@MechanicalKeycap
Cream puff by
@PixyHandmade
Coffee by
@keylabskeycaps
Jellyfish by
@DekopiaHandcrafted
Throne of Rage Quitting by
@capsmiths
Fidget spinner by
Hammer
Cherry MX processors via
Massdrop
Hamburger and hot dog by
@tinymakesthings | 25 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240854",
"author": "ivan256",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T14:24:06",
"content": "That throne looks like an extremely painful way to use vi.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240855",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp... | 1,760,373,506.599685 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/washing-your-hands-with-20000-volts/ | Washing Your Hands With 20,000 Volts | Tom Nardi | [
"Science"
] | [
"bacteria",
"corona discharge",
"decontamination",
"high voltage",
"ozone"
] | These last few weeks we’ve all been reminded about the importance of washing our hands. It’s not complicated: you just need soap, water, and about 30 seconds worth of effort. In a pinch you can even use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. But what if there was an even better way of killing bacteria and germs on our hands? One that’s easy, fast, and doesn’t even require you to touch anything. There might be, if you’ve got a high voltage generator laying around.
In his latest video, [Jay Bowles] proposes a novel concept: using the ozone generated by
high-voltage corona discharge for rapid and complete hand sterilization
. He explains that there’s plenty of research demonstrating the effectiveness of ozone gas a decontamination agent, and since it’s produced in abundance by coronal discharge, the high-voltage generators of the sort he experiments with could double as visually striking hand sanitizers.
Looking to test this theory, [Jay] sets up an experiment using agar plates. He inoculates half of the plates with swabs that he rubbed on his unwashed hands, and then repeats the process after passing his hands over the high-voltage generator for about 15 seconds. The plates were then stored at a relatively constant 23°C (75°F), thanks to the use of his microwave as a makeshift incubator. After 48 hours, the difference between the two sets of plates is pretty striking.
Despite what appears to be the nearly complete eradication of bacteria on his hands after exposing them to the ozone generator, [Jay] is quick to point out that he’s not trying to give out any medical advice with this video. This simple experiment doesn’t cover all forms of bacteria, and he doesn’t have the facilities to test the method against viruses. The safest thing you can do right now is follow the guidelines from agencies like the CDC and just wash your hands the old fashioned way; but the concept outlined here certainly looks worthy of further discussion and experimentation.
Regular viewers of his channel may notice that the device in this video as actually
a modified version of the hardware he used to experiment with electrophotography last year
. | 33 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240806",
"author": "Doug Leppard",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T11:14:43",
"content": "seems interesting but I have concerns how much ozone created by this can be harmful to lungs",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240812",
... | 1,760,373,506.850389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/pi-cam-replaces-pinhole-and-film-for-digital-solargraphy/ | Pi Cam Replaces Pinhole And Film For Digital Solargraphy | Dan Maloney | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"intervalometer",
"long exposure",
"Pi Cam",
"raspberry pi",
"solargraphy",
"time-lapse"
] | Solargraph from a one-year exposure on film.
Elekes Andor
/ CC BY-SA
Have you ever heard of solargraphy? The name tells you much of what you need to know, but the images created with a homemade pinhole camera and a piece of photographic film can be visually arresting, showing as they do the cumulative tracks of the sun’s daily journey across the sky over many months. But what if you don’t want to use film? Is solargraphy out of reach to the digital photographers of the world?
Not at all, thanks to
this digital solargraphy setup
. [volzo] searched for a way to make a digital camera perform like a film-based solargraphic camera, first thinking to take a series of images during the day and average them together. He found that this just averaged out the sun from the final image. His solution was to take a pair of photos at each timepoint — one correctly exposed to capture the scene, and one stopped way down to just capture the position of the sun as a pinprick of light. All the foreground images are averaged, while the stopped-down sun images are overlaid upon each other, producing the track of the sun across the sky. Add the two resulting images and you’ve got a solargraph.
To automate the process, [volzo] used a Raspberry Pi and a Pi-Cam fitted in a weatherproof 3D-printed box. A custom hat powers up the Pi every few minutes, which boots up and takes the two pictures. Sadly, the batteries only last for a couple of days, so those long six-month exposures aren’t possible yet. But [volzo] has made all the sources available, so feel free to build on his work. If you prefer to use a DSLR for the job,
this Bluetooth intervalometer
might help. | 29 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240784",
"author": "blkhawk",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T08:12:57",
"content": "This is more a job for a ESP32-cam board ;)you could power that from a modest solar panel since it only needs to run during the day.It has a sdcard slot for storage or you could even send the exposures of... | 1,760,373,506.913168 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/a-raspberry-pi-video-intercom-system/ | A Raspberry Pi Video Intercom System | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"camera",
"doorbell",
"raspberry pi"
] | When it comes to hacks, we’re always amazed by the aesthetic of the design as much as we are by the intricacies of the circuit or the cleverness of the software. We think it’s always fun to assemble projects that were just sort of rigged up in our shop really quickly and made to just work, without worrying about much else. But, when you really invest time in the aesthetics and marry form with function, the results are always one to marvel at.
That’s what the engineers over at [Hacker Shack] did with their
Raspberry Pi-based video intercom system
over on Hackster. Now
we’ve seen RPi doorbell projects here on Hackaday before
, but it’s the implementation of a full-duplex video intercom system that makes [Hacker Shack’s] project really stand out. (
Unless you want to be a bit more secretive
). They used a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B with an off-brand Pi camera, but the R Pi branded camera will also work just fine. Couple the camera with a very crisp LCD display, microphone, and speaker and you’re good to go!
[Hacker Shack] did a really good job documenting their project, including design files, code, and build instructions on their Hackster page. So with just a bit of soldering, you can have your own personal video comm system to aid in your social distancing efforts.
You could even rig it up to your backpack and chronicle your day-to-day life
. Maybe that’ll be more interesting when we’re not all staying safe inside. Either way, it might not be a bad time to start some passion projects. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241198",
"author": "nuclear",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T14:51:32",
"content": "I built a similar system a few years ago using old PC parts and linux mint. I just used gstreamer to stream video and audio on specific ports and just listened to those ports on the other machine. It wa... | 1,760,373,506.640066 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/using-valgrind-to-track-down-known-and-unknown-bugs-in-your-code/ | Using Valgrind To Track Down Known And Unknown Bugs In Your Code | Maya Posch | [
"Featured",
"Original Art",
"Skills",
"Software Development"
] | [
"debugging",
"debugging tools",
"drd",
"helgrind",
"memcheck",
"valgrind"
] | We all know what bugs in code are. We don’t like them when they are in programs we use, and they’re even worse when they are in code which we have written. Clearly, the best code is bug-free, but how do we get there?
This isn’t a new question, of course, just one that has become ever more important as the total number of lines of code (LoC) that run modern day society keeps increasing and which is affecting even hobbyists more and more often now that everything has a microcontroller inside.
Although many of us know the smug satisfaction of watching a full row of green result markers light up across the board after running the unit tests for a project, the painful reality is that you don’t know whether the code really is functionally correct until it runs in an environment that is akin to the production environment. Yet how can one test an application in this situation?
This is where tools like those contained in
the Valgrind suite
come into play, allowing us to profile, analyze and otherwise nitpick every single opcode and memory read or write. Let’s take a look, shall we?
It’s Broken, Make It Work Again
When it comes to software development (and hardware development to some extent as well), there are three possible states of being broken:
It is obviously broken.
It works, but sometimes it breaks.
It works fine, but is actually broken.
The first type is the one that shall not be a surprise to anyone. It’s the kind of failure that happily announces itself with such cheerful terms like ‘
SIGSEGV
‘ (segmentation fault) and ‘
SIGBUS
‘ (address bus fault) which indicate that the operating system’s kernel has detected that the application is about to do something that is illegal, or impossible.
Dividing by zero
is a good example of the latter.
The second type of brokenness — where does run but sometimes throws errors — is more intriguing, in that it allows the application to be run through its paces, transferring data, opening and writing files, and displaying data on screen without any issues. Until suddenly when doing the same thing a second time it fails. Or after an hour of working fine it fails. Or it starts doing something ‘weird’, after which the application’s behavior begins to feel almost random.
The third type of brokenness — where it runs but it shouldn’t — is also known as ‘how the heck did this ever work in the first place’, with its discovery usually accompanied by loud exclamations, the questioning of the very fabric of reality, and possibly a few quick prayers to one’s deity of choice depending on theological affinity. This kind of code has managed to reach just the perfect balance within a perfect storm of mistakes that allows it to do the right thing by sheer chance. Until one dares to alter a line of code, of course.
It’s Not Magic, It’s Just Complicated
In its most elementary form, software is merely a series of instructions for the underlying hardware. This hardware attempts to carry out these instructions to the best of its abilities, which involve not only the processing core(s) of the CPU, but also its caches, cache synchronization logic (for multi-core CPUs), memory controller(s) and system memory. On top of this there is usually an operating system (OS) which serves to make life easy for application developers, as they don’t have to worry about implementing a task scheduler, heap and stack management, as well as a lot of other fun details that no application developer wants to mess with.
Each of these elements of the OS and underlying hardware can affect the execution of the code, and each issue will affect different parts of this whole system. This is why we we need the have a range of tools. In the case of a suite like Valgrind, the main tools that we find ourselves using are called
Memcheck
,
DRD
and
Helgrind
.
Using Valgrind to Monitor Memory
The default tool that Valgrind uses when started is
Memcheck
. As the name suggests, it checks memory. More specifically, it inserts a layer between the OS and the application that is being tested. Much like a debugger, it then tracks each memory write and read, keeping track of references, valid memory ranges, whether blocks of memory are still reachable or not, and so on.
Common use cases of Memcheck are to detect memory leaks, e.g.:
void main() {
int* foo = new int;
int* bar = new int;
*foo = 42;
*bar = 24;
bar = foo;
}
Which would spit out something like in the Memcheck logging:
4 bytes in 1 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 1 of 14
Followed by a backtrace indicating when access to the data (previously pointed to by
bar
) was lost. When passing
--leak-check=full
to Memcheck, it will also let you know where the data that has been lost was allocated. Here Memcheck may report ‘definitely’, ‘indirectly’ or ‘possibly’ lost data. Unless you have an obvious problem, the ‘definitely’ lost blocks of data are the ones to focus on. Indirectly lost data is usually the result of losing the address of a block of pointers, so fixing the ‘definitely lost’ issue for that should also resolve any ‘indirectly lost’ issues.
Usually one runs Memcheck with this CLI command to get the most useful information:
$ valgrind --tool=memcheck --log-file=memcheck00.txt --leak-check=full --read-var-info=yes path/to/binary
This way the output will be written to a log file (memcheck00.txt), we will get the full leak report, and Memcheck will use any debug information in the binary, if present, to make the trace even more readable. It’s highly advisable to use binaries that have all debug symbols in place to make one’s life easier.
Finding Other Memory Problems
Memcheck is also very useful for detecting invalid reads and writes, as well as the freeing of memory that was not allocated by the application. This would suggest that the application is doing something naughty with memory, which could lead to crashes, corrupted data and other fun. This also includes the use of mismatched
free()
and
delete()
calls, which can be an issue when mixing C and C++ code in the same application.
Finally, Memcheck will also sanity check your arguments to malloc and similar memory allocation functions, as well as memcpy and similar C functions, catching a lot of issues that would otherwise show up during testing if one is lucky. The
Memcheck manual
has an assortment of examples, as do various Memcheck tutorials
out there
(like
this one
, which covers debugging a memory leak).
Keep Your Threads Where We Can See Them
The other two tools in Valgrind that are exceedingly useful are
Helgrind
and
DRD
, which focus primarily on multithreading and all the issues that this may cause. Depending on the settings used, they can track thread activity in a fairly coarse fashion, or log every single mutex movement and so on. Of course, the more one tracks, the more one’s application slows to a crawl.
Although it may seem redundant for Valgrind to have two tools which at first glance appear to do the same thing, Helgrind and DRD are not identical. Each uses a different approach for analyzing application behavior and thus each may give (slightly) different results. It’s often a good idea to run both for this reason.
Issues that we can track down using Helgrind and DRD are for example deadlocks, where two or more threads try to obtain the lock (mutex, rwlock, or similar) to a resource, while also holding a lock themselves. As each thread will only release their lock after they have obtained the other lock, nothing will happen and the application is effectively frozen.
With DRD we can also trace the behavior or locks, including the time that a specific lock was held for:
$ valgrind --tool=drd --exclusive-threshold=10 drd/tests/hold_lock -i 500
...
==10668== Acquired at:
==10668== at 0x4C267C8: pthread_mutex_lock (drd_pthread_intercepts.c:395)
==10668== by 0x400D92: main (hold_lock.c:51)
==10668== Lock on mutex 0x7fefffd50 was held during 503 ms (threshold: 10 ms).
==10668== at 0x4C26ADA: pthread_mutex_unlock (drd_pthread_intercepts.c:441)
==10668== by 0x400DB5: main (hold_lock.c:55)
Here we set a threshold value of 10 ms, with the test application being instructed to hold the lock for 500 ms. As we can see, the lock (mutex) was held for 503 ms, according to DRD.
Sometimes Order Matters
A useful feature of Helgrind is the tracking of in which order locks are normally used, and when their order changes:
Thread #1: lock order "0x7FF0006D0 before 0x7FF0006A0" violated
Observed (incorrect) order is: acquisition of lock at 0x7FF0006A0
at 0x4C2BC62: pthread_mutex_lock (hg_intercepts.c:494)
by 0x400825: main (tc13_laog1.c:23)
followed by a later acquisition of lock at 0x7FF0006D0
at 0x4C2BC62: pthread_mutex_lock (hg_intercepts.c:494)
by 0x400853: main (tc13_laog1.c:24)
Required order was established by acquisition of lock at 0x7FF0006D0
at 0x4C2BC62: pthread_mutex_lock (hg_intercepts.c:494)
by 0x40076D: main (tc13_laog1.c:17)
followed by a later acquisition of lock at 0x7FF0006A0
at 0x4C2BC62: pthread_mutex_lock (hg_intercepts.c:494)
by 0x40079B: main (tc13_laog1.c:18)
The thing about the way that locks are used is that it might be totally valid to have them be used in different orders throughout the execution of the application, or it might be indicative of a logic error.
Thinking About Multithread Flow
Both tools will track data races, which occur when two or more threads try to access the same resource simultaneously, without a locking mechanism or the use of atomics to prevent data corruption and worse. This can be as subtle as a single unsigned 64-bit integer that is being read by one thread while another writes to it. If the read operation isn’t atomic (i.e., the whole 64-bit value is read in one CPU cycle), the value can be changed by the writing thread half-way through the reading operation.
Data races are generally bad news, and must be fixed. Though a data race is reported even for atomic operations (e.g. reading a boolean or 8-bit integer on most architectures), specifying the type as an atomic type (e.g. in the STL’s
<atomic>
header for C++) is an easy way to make DRD and Helgrind happy, while also being the technically correct approach to writing multithreaded code.
But Wait, There’s More
In this article we only addressed the Valgrind tools that are most useful for debugging, as these tend to be memory and multithreading-related issues. This raises the prospect of another highly enjoyable and educational pursuit for any software developer: optimizing code.
After your application has stopped crashing, no longer corrupts data and is behaving itself, what better use of one’s time than to dive deep into its performance statistics to eek out more performance? This is where tools such as Cachegrind, Callgrind and Massif are useful to figure out where the bottlenecks in the application lie, and where one should focus any optimization efforts.
We will have to save that joyful topic for another day, however. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241199",
"author": "k-ww",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T14:56:12",
"content": "I’ve always referred to things/software that worked, but should not have as “Dancing Bears” as in the old Russian/Jewish saying: “The true wonder of the dancing bear is not how well he dances, but that he da... | 1,760,373,506.781869 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/raspberry-pi-waters-your-lawn-serves-html/ | Raspberry Pi Waters Your Lawn, Serves HTML | Al Williams | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"lawn",
"raspberry pi",
"sprinkler"
] | It is easy to take a Raspberry Pi and treat it like a cheap Linux PC or server. Running an ad blocker or a VPN gateway is simple and doesn’t require any real interfacing. However, it is a big leap to actually use the Pi to control something and a good example can go a long way to helping you develop your own projects. [Joeseph Luccisano] posted a tutorial with just that aim. The goal: build a low-cost
lawn watering
system.
It is an interesting project since it has hardware and software components, of course. But it also has a hydraulic part, so you have to deal with all three domains coming together.
Of course, your yard will be different, so some of the design will change if you decide to implement this yourself. However, there is plenty of information about how he placed the zones and why he made the choices he did. That should be a good basis for your own design.
It looks like the software section of the tutorial is a work in progress. But the basic idea is to create an HTTP server using Flask for Python and exposing a basic Web API. An iPhone app called
Curler
creates a good-looking use interface to call the API. We think you could do the same basic thing with
HTTP Request Shortcuts
, on Android, or
any
of many other similar apps.
Of course, we can’t think about sprinklers without thinking about those
poor cats
. Once you’ve watered your lawn into overgrowing, you’ll want to
cut the grass back
. | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241134",
"author": "Sep",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T12:03:25",
"content": "Nice project to learn how to make it.If you are looking for a cool option to water your lawn take a look at OpenSprinkler or OpenSprinklerPi.Same idea, ready to use tested and mantained software. For those wh... | 1,760,373,507.09583 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/cheap-alternative-solvents-for-pcb-cleaning/ | Cheap Alternative Solvents For PCB Cleaning | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"acetone",
"aerosol",
"brake cleaner",
"cleaning",
"flux",
"flux removal",
"pcb",
"Solvent"
] | If you’re in the habit of using isopropyl alcohol to clean your PCBs after soldering, you probably have a nice big jug of the stuff stashed away. If you don’t, you’re probably out of luck, since the COVID-19 pandemic has pretty much cleared IPA out of the retail market. But don’t fret: depending on where you live,
alternative PCB cleaning solutions may be as close as your nearest auto parts store
.
[Steven]’s search for a cheaper and perhaps more readily available substitute for his usual dedicated flux cleaner lead him to try automotive brake cleaner on a few test boards. He suspected that they might contain acetone, which is prone to yield unfortunate results with solder resist and silkscreen on PCBs, so some tests were in order. The brand he tried was Normfest
Bremsenreiniger
MC-1, a German brand that according to its
Safety Data Sheet
contains only hydrocarbons like alkanes, butane, and propane. It did a fine job cleaning all but the crustiest rosin flux without collateral damage.
In the video below, [Steven] goes through a few more brands with similar results, and we were encouraged enough by his results to check brake cleaners made for the US market. Alas, almost all of the cheap and readily available aerosols have acetone as the principle ingredient, mixed in with methanol, ethanol, and assorted ingredients that together will probably make for a bad day. About the only US-sold brand without acetone that we could find was
Keller-Heartt
, which lists only naptha and ethanol on
its SDS
. There may be others, but make sure you test whatever you find.
Aerosol solvents aren’t the only way to clean a PCB, of course. Ultrasonic cleaners do a great job, and as [Steven] discovered,
they’re generally safe for most components
. | 82 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241090",
"author": "zz",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T08:40:35",
"content": "I use 2331-ZX flux from Kester, washes completely away w/hot water.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6241525",
"author": "Comedicles",
"t... | 1,760,373,507.336963 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/modular-mouse-packs-features/ | Modular Mouse Packs Features | Bryan Cockfield | [
"hardware"
] | [
"3d print",
"custom",
"hardware",
"modular",
"mouse",
"open source",
"software"
] | Not only do console gamers complain about the use of a mouse, but PC users themselves often don’t have kind words to say even about some of the higher-end options. Granted, their gripes aren’t about game experience or balance, they’re usually about comfort, features, or longevity of the mice themselves. So far we haven’t seen many people try to solve these problems, but [benw] recently stepped on the scene with
a modular mouse that can fit virtually any need
.
Called the RX-Modulus, this mouse has been designed from the ground up to be completely open source from hardware to software. Most of the components can be 3D printed to suit an individual’s particular grip style by making adjustments. The electronics can be custom fitted as well. Users can swap out mouse buttons and wheels in any number of positions, and replace them when they wear out. To that end, one of the goals of this project is also to avoid any planned obsolescence that typically goes along with any current consumer-level product.
While [benw] currently only has a few prototypes under his belt, he’s far enough along with the project that he’s willing to show it off to the community. His hopes are that there are others that see a need for this type of mouse and can contribute to the final design. After all, there are
all kinds of other custom mice out there
that would have been much easier builds with [benw]’s designs at hand.
The
Hackaday
Prize2020
is Sponsored by: | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241052",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T05:30:05",
"content": "I’m not the market for high-end mice, but that project looks awesome! It makes me want to build one just to look at or show off. Keep up the hard work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,373,507.398583 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/beam-your-program-to-another-computer/ | Beam Your Program To Another Computer | Al Williams | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"cluster",
"fork",
"linux"
] | If you’ve programmed much in Linux or Unix, you’ve probably run into the fork system call. A call to fork causes your existing process — everything about it — to suddenly split into two complete copies. But they run on the same CPU. [Tristan Hume] had an idea. He wanted to have a call, telefork, that would create the copy on a different machine in a Linux cluster. He couldn’t let the idea go, so he finally
wrote the code
to do it himself.
If you think about it, parts of the problem are easy while others are very difficult. For example, creating a copy of the process’s code and data isn’t that hard. Since the target is a cluster, the machines are mostly the same — it’s not as though you are trying to move a Linux process to a Windows machine.
However, a real fork does give the new process some things that are tricky like open TCP connections. [Tristan] sidesteps these for now, but has ideas of how to make things better in the future. He built on examples from other Open Source projects that do similar things, including
Distributed Multithread Checkpointing
(DMTCP). The task requires a pretty good understanding of how the operating system lays out a process.
In addition to making the telefork a bit more robust, [Tristan] has some “crazier” ideas such as sending data to multiple machines at once, or using virtual memory paging to only copy memory as needed. He even wants to allow a process to think that it has many threads, but that some of them are running on different CPUs. That means a program could “think” it had hundreds or thousands of cores. It seems as though there would be a lot of devil in the details, but it could work in theory.
This could be just the thing for your
Raspberry Pi cluster
. Probably not as useful for your
ESP32 cluster
, though. | 53 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6241019",
"author": "Martin-Gilles Lavoie",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T02:14:24",
"content": "Dang. I miss NeXT’s Distributed Objects.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6241030",
"author": "X",
"timestamp": "2020-0... | 1,760,373,507.225648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/a-flag-waving-hat-for-all-occasions/ | A Flag-Waving Hat For All Occasions | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"9G servo",
"arduino",
"Arduino Uno",
"bamboo skewers",
"servo"
] | When [Taste the Code] saw that his YouTube channel was approaching 1,000 subscribers, it was time to do something special. But celebration is no reason to be wasteful.
This flag-waving celebratory hat
has endless possibilities for the future.
The build is simple, which is just right for these strange times of scarcity. An Arduino Uno hot-glued to the back of the hat is directly driving a pair of 9g servos on the front. [Taste the Code] made the flags by sticking two stickers back to back with a bamboo skewer in between.
The code
is flavored such that the flags will wave in one of three randomly-chosen patterns — swing around, swing in reverse, and wild gesticulations.
After the novelty of the whole 1k subs thing wears off, [Taste the Code] can change the flags over to Jolly Rogers to help with social distancing. And someday in the future when things are really looking up, they can be changed over to SARS-CoV-2 victory flags, or fly the colors of a local sports team. We think it would be way cool to program some kind of real semaphore message into the flags, though the mobility might be too limited for that. Check out the build video after the break, which happens picture-in-picture as [Taste the Code] dishes out a channel retrospective and lays out a course for the future.
Even though YouTube messed with subscriber counts, we think it’s still worth making a cool counter.
Here’s one with a Tetris twist
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240985",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T23:12:15",
"content": "Flags good, ears better!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6241012",
"author": "Evaprototype",
"timestamp": "2020-04-29T01:23:48",
"conte... | 1,760,373,507.135935 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/get-your-microcontroller-online-at-the-speed-of-light/ | Get Your Microcontroller Online At The Speed Of Light | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"blinking",
"Electric Imp",
"ESP32",
"setup",
"wifi configuration"
] | When developing a network-enabled project with the ESP8266 or ESP32, the easiest way to handle WiFi credentials is to just hardcode the access point and encryption key into the program. But that means recompiling the firmware if you ever want to use it on a different network, which isn’t really an option if you’re trying to make something that other people can easily use. If you’re expecting grandma to bust out the UART cable, we’ve got bad news for you.
There are various ways around this problem, but we think the one developed by [Pekka Lehtikoski] is particularly clever. With a simple application,
network credentials can be literally “flashed” to the waiting microcontroller
by rapidly blinking the flash LED on an Android device. This allows the information to be transferred quickly and easily regardless of the user’s technical proficiency. One could even make the argument that it’s more secure than some of the other methods of doing initial setup, since an eavesdropper would literally need to see you do it if they wanted to steal your encryption key.
[Pekka] has made the source code for the Android application and the “Gazerbeam” library open for anyone who wants to include the capability in their own projects. To pick up the blinking light you just need to add a phototransistor, an opamp, and a handful of passives to your circuit; making this solution cheap enough that you could even use it in a small-scale production run. The concept isn’t limited to network credentials either. Whenever we can hold conferences again, it could be an interesting way to let attendees customize their badge.
Of course, [Pekka] isn’t the first person to use this trick. Hackers well versed in the history of WiFi MCUs may recall that the Electric Imp
used a very similar method of configuration called BlinkUp
. If you ever come across a device that asks you to put your phone’s screen down on a little window to perform the initial setup,
there’s a good chance it has an Imp inside
. | 33 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240940",
"author": "pata",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T20:19:12",
"content": "Reminds me of Timex Datalinkhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Datalink",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6241277",
"author": "Ren",
... | 1,760,373,508.201087 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/instruction-set-hack-for-protected-memory-access/ | Instruction Set Hack For Protected Memory Access | Inderpreet Singh | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cortex m0",
"hack",
"instruction set",
"nRF51"
] | The nRF51 Series SoCs is a family of low power Bluetooth chips from Nordic Semiconductor that is based on ARM Cortex cores. The nRF51822 has the Cortex M0 core and is used in a lot of products. [Loren] has written a blog post in which he claims to be able to
circumvent read back protection on the chip, thus giving access to the ROM, RAM and registers as well as allow for interactive debugging sessions
.
The hack stems from the fact that the Serial Wire Debug or SWD interface cannot be completely disabled on these chips even if the Memory Protection Unit prevents access to any memory regions directly. The second key piece is the fact that CPU can fetch stuff from the code memory. Combined with the SWD super powers to make changes to the registers themselves, this can be a powerful tool.
The ARM instruction set contains a number of Indirect-Addressing Load Instructions and [Loren] points to a pseudo-instruction for LDR R2,[R0] which permits copying data from the location in the ROM that is specified by R0. The idea is to search for the instruction within the code that is already inside the ROM since we cannot write to the memory ourselves. So how do we do that? Easy just use the Program Counter to cycle through all the code-space keeping R0 and R2 as zero. When you hit an instruction that makes R2 the same value as the stuff in 0x00000 (as R0 is 0x00000), we have found the instruction. The value at 0x00000 is incidentally identified by the SWD initially as the value in the stack pointer.
Once you have the address (in the PC) for the instruction that can copy info from the ROM, its just a matter of setting R0 to different values, setting the PC to the LDR instruction location and single stepping it to watch it copy it to R2. Loop and you can dump the entire ROM. [Loren] has packaged the whole thing in a Python script (
Github
) which you can try out with an ST-Link at home.
The nRF51 is used in a lot of places including the
BBC microbit as well as other devices that can be sniffed using cheap SDRs for a start
. The game is afoot. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240760",
"author": "tekkieneet",
"timestamp": "2020-04-28T05:52:17",
"content": "Read protect is the lowest protection level I have seen on ARM chips. While it is a neat hack and all, it is like 007 gadget that are only useful in one very specific case. Not that I won’t carry a b... | 1,760,373,507.448248 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/neo430-puts-a-custom-msp430-core-in-your-fpga/ | NEO430 Puts A Custom MSP430 Core In Your FPGA | Sven Gregori | [
"FPGA",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"custom cpu",
"fpga",
"msp430",
"neo430",
"soft cpu",
"soft processor"
] | We are certainly spoiled by all the microcontroller options nowadays — which is a great problem to have. But between the good old 8-bit controllers and an increasing number of 32-bit varieties, it almost seems as if the 16-bit ones are slowly falling into oblivion. [stnolting] particularly saw an issue with the lack of 16-bit open source soft cores, and as a result created
the NEO430, an MSP430 compatible soft processor written in VHDL
that adds a custom microcontroller to your next FPGA project.
With high customization as main principle in mind, [stnolting] included a wide selection of peripherals and system features that can be synthesized as needed. Not limiting himself to the ones you would find in an off-the-shelf MSP430 controller, he demonstrates the true strength of open source soft cores. Do you need a random number generator, CRC calculation, and an SPI master with six dedicated chip select lines? No problem! He even includes a
Custom Functions Unit
that lets you add your own peripheral feature or processor extension.
However, what impresses most is all the work and care [stnolting] put into everything beyond the core implementation. From the C library and the collection of examples for each of the controller’s features, so you can get started out of the box with GCC’s MSP430 port, to writing a full-blown data sheet, and even setting up
continuous integration
for the entire repository. Each topic on its own is worth looking at, and the NEO430 offers a great introduction or reference for it.
Of course, there are some shortcomings as well, and the biggest downer is probably the lack of analog components, but that’s understandable considering your average FPGA’s building blocks. And well, it’s hard to compete with the MSP430’s ultra low-power design using an FPGA, so if you’re thinking of replicating
this watch
, you might be better off with a regular MSP430 from a battery lifetime point of view. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240711",
"author": "cellgalvano",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T23:10:36",
"content": "The NEO430 is great, I used it with the MAX1000 Board and for me it is by far the easiest all in one softcore I have tried. It has a nice UART bootloader so one can easily deploy new software images w... | 1,760,373,507.495824 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/watch-the-day-inch-along-with-a-tape-measure-clock/ | Watch The Day Inch Along With A Tape Measure Clock | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"clock hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino nano",
"bondo",
"clock",
"stepper motor",
"tape measure"
] | If we asked you to rattle off all the tools at your own personal disposal, you’d probably leave your timepieces off the list. But we say clocks are definitely tools — cool tools that come in countless forms and give meaning to endless days.
A clock form we hadn’t considered was that of an actual tool. So we were immeasurably delighted to see
[scealux]’s clock made from a measuring tape
. At least, the time-telling part of the clock is made from a measuring tape. The case isn’t really from a tape measure — it’s entirely printed, Bondo’d, sanded, and painted so well that it’s quite easy to mistake it for the real thing.
Tightly packed inside this piece of functional art is an Arduino Nano and a DS3231 precision RTC module, which we think is fitting for a tool-based clock. The Nano fetches the time and drives a stepper motor that just barely fits inside. There’s just enough tape wound around the printed hub to measure out the time in increments of one hour per inch. Take 1/16″ or so and watch the demo and brief walk-through video after the break.
Not all tools are sharp, and not all clocks are meant to be precise.
Here’s a clock for the times that gives you the gist
. | 24 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240667",
"author": "jcwren",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T20:10:49",
"content": "Give’m an inch, and they’ll take an hour.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6240671",
"author": "Drew",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T20:20:01",
... | 1,760,373,507.554063 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/grace-under-pressure-shelley-green-celebrates-crimped-connections/ | Grace Under Pressure: Shelley Green Celebrates Crimped Connections | Kristina Panos | [
"cons",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"2019 Hackaday Superconference",
"asperity spots",
"crimp tool",
"crimping",
"pressure connections",
"wire wrap"
] | We think it’s pretty safe to assume that most of the electrical connections our readers are making out there involve solder or solder paste. But we’ve all made a crimp connection or two in our lifetimes. Maybe you’ve squeezed a butt connector here and there, or made an Ethernet cable. Beyond getting the wiring order right in the Ethernet cable, how much did you wonder about what was happening inside the connector?
It may seem like solder is the superior option for making a low-resistance electrical connection. After all, you’re welding metals together with another metal. And this is usually all fine and good for circuit boards with sedentary indoor lives. But if a joint needs to be mechanically stable and survive in potentially harsh environments, you don’t want an alloy holding things together. You want metal to metal contact, and crimping is where it’s at.
A well-made crimp should last for several decades, but
as Shelley Green explained in her talk at the 2019 Hackaday Superconference
, good quality crimps don’t happen by accident. Good crimps are meticulously designed, and carefully executed from start to finish.
Crimping Dynamics
Shelley compares failed crimps to the O-ring disaster that plagued the Space Shuttle Challenger. Things like O-rings and crimp connections may seem small and inconsequential, but a failure to pay attention to their physical properties can mean catastrophe.
So what goes into making a good crimp? It’s all a matter of physics. The point of crimping is to make a connection with the lowest possible resistance. A permanent mechanical crimp involves forcing conductors together so that electricity can flow from A to B. Macro-structurally, good crimps occur when the connector is deformed past the yield point of the metal, and there is uniform deformation of the wires.
A handful of crimp profiles. Image via
Pico Tools
As Shelley explains, this bulk deformation is not the reason for low resistance, but the residual stresses between the conductors and the connector are responsible for keeping the system together.
If you look at the micro-structure of a crimp connection under a scanning electron microscope, the surfaces are quite rough, and there are only a few spots that actually make contact with each other. The high-profile places where contact actually occurs — called asperity spots or a-spots in materials science — are the real indicators of resistance rating.
The design of a good crimp has many aspects. First, you have to think about the application, the environment the crimp will live in, and the desired outcome of the crimp. Then come the implementation details — the crimp style, the wire, the terminals, and everyone’s favorite, the tooling. The fatter the cable gets, the more important all of these things become.
Shelley also discusses the merits of various crimp styles for different applications and environments, citing that the shape of the indenter can mean big differences in durability.
The Truth is in the Testing
In closing, Shelley touches on the testing schemes commonly used for crimped connections. As you might expect, the testing is designed to answer the questions proposed back at the crimp drawing board. Is the crimp low-resistance? This is verified with millivolt drop testing while the connection is under load. Will the connection prove to be mechanically robust? Time to hit the power tensile machine to test conductor breakage and pullout.
If you really want to judge a crimp, take a cross-section and examine it under a scanning electron microscope. Ideally, the conductors have formed a honeycomb of wedged hexagons. Any visible voids indicate air pockets, and these will add to the debilitating and inescapable microfilms already present in the wires.
There’s a lot more to crimped connections than you might have thought, and Shelley’s talk is sure to bulk-deform your neurons around the basics. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240644",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T18:46:48",
"content": "Hey, how come I don’t see the “mash it flat in a few different places with the hilariously blunt side cutter on the cheapo pliers because you can’t find the crimp tool” option?",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,373,507.609654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/teardown-vtech-whiz-kid-luggable-computer/ | Teardown: VTech Whiz Kid Luggable Computer | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"Teardown",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"educational toy",
"luggable",
"portable computer",
"toy",
"VTech"
] | Back in the early 1980s, hotshot business types on the go would have used what were referred to at the time as
portable
computers from companies like Osborne or Kaypro. Due to the technical limitations of the era these so-called “luggables” were only slightly smaller and lighter than contemporary desktop computers, but they had integrated displays and keyboards so they were a bit easier to move around. A few years later the first generation of laptops would hit the market, and the portables predictably fell out of favor. Today they’re relatively rare collectors items; a largely forgotten first step in the steady march towards true mobile computing.
Which makes the 1984 edition of VTech’s “Whiz Kid” educational computer an especially unique specimen. The company’s later entries into the series of popular electronic toys would adopt (with some variations) the standard laptop form factor, but this version has the distinction of being what might be the most authentic luggable computer ever made for children. When this toy was being designed it would have been a reflection of the cutting edge in computer technology, but today, it’s a fascinating reminder that the latest-and-greatest doesn’t always stick around for very long.
The classic luggable hallmarks are all here. The flip down keyboard, the small and strangely offset display, there’s even lugs on the side to attach an included strap so the youngster can sling it over their shoulder. On the other hand, the fact that it’s just a toy allowed for some advantages over the real thing: it can actually run on battery power, and is quite lightweight relative to its size.
When we last took a peek inside one of VTech’s offerings, we found
a surprisingly powerful Z80 machine that was more than deserving of its PreComputer moniker
. But that BASIC-compatible design hailed from the late 80s, and was specifically marketed as a trainer for the next generation of computer owners. Will the 1984 Whiz Kid prove to have a similar relationship to its adult counterparts, or does the resemblance only go skin deep? Let’s find out.
Form Over Function
When I saw that the Whiz Kid included a shoulder strap, I naturally expected it to be pretty heavy. But without the four C batteries installed (only 80s kids will remember every toy using C cells), it actually weighs less than a kilogram. Holding it in your hands, it almost feels like the bulky plastic enclosure is hollow. Which, it turns out, isn’t far from the truth.
Opened up, we can see just how little is actually inside the Whiz Kid. Beyond the black LCD projector assembly, which we’ll come back to in a minute, the only thing in the bottom half of the shell is the relatively small PCB. With all the empty space inside, it seems like the case dimensions weren’t really a matter of necessity. More likely VTech had specific external dimensions, or at least proportions, in mind when designing the Whiz Kid to really drive home the luggable look.
Ye Old Single Chip
Anyone who’s taken apart a piece of electronics from the 1980s knows they’re generally swimming with integrated circuits. Which of course should come as no surprise, as the rapidly falling cost of ICs is what gave rise to all sorts of weird and wonderful electronic devices that would have been prohibitively expensive previously. But in this case, there’s only one obvious chip on the PCB: a QFP-92 device from Toshiba.
Marked T7826, I’ve unfortunately not been able to find any information about this particular device. But we can see from the traces that it’s responsible for
everything
inside the Whiz Kid, as the chip’s pins are directly connected to the LCD, cartridge connector, and keyboard. Today we’d call this device a microcontroller,
but back then the terminology was a bit different
. Of course, this is just one side of the PCB. Surely we’ll see some support ICs when we flip it over.
Or not. The reverse side of the board is remarkably free of…well, just about anything. There’s plenty of the metal jumpers that were so common on the single-sided PCBs of mass produced gadgets of the era, but outside of that, there’s only a smattering of simple components. As there’s actually no physical power switch on the Whiz Kid some of those transistors are presumably part of a soft power system, and the bulk of the resistors appear to be connected to the keyboard matrix.
These days, a single chip that handles nearly every function of the device is fairly common in mass produced electronics. You’ve certainly seen them.
A nearly bare PCB with a big black epoxy blob in the middle
has been a depressingly common sight over the last couple of decades. But even today, you’d still expect to see a
separate chip for storing the device’s firmware and other data
. This thing is supposed to be a computer, so where are all the games and programs being held?
It’s All in the Cards
Since there’s no external ROM, and the expansion cartridges are optional, then all of the software must be stored inside that single chip. That wouldn’t be a problem today when even $3 microcontrollers include several megabytes of onboard storage, but doing it in 1984 would be quite a trick indeed. So how did they pack in all the lines of text and images?
Well, the short answer is that they didn’t. Not in the way you’re probably expecting, anyway. The Whiz Kid borrows a trick that was common in computer games of the era: making extensive use of printed material to compensate for limited digital storage capacity. In this case, the “games” take the form of paper cards which are inserted into the front of the system. The back of each card explains what the user is supposed to do, and the front (which can be viewed through a clear plastic window) has the appropriate images printed on it. Most of the cards task the user with guessing, and correctly spelling, words that are somehow related to the artwork.
The back of each card features a linear barcode, which is picked up by an infrared reader mounted under the tray. It would appear the codes store some sort of lookup information (presumably related to the string of characters printed within the code) that tells the Whiz Kid which of the pre-loaded words the user is supposed to be spelling. With creative use of the instructions and imagery on the cards, VTech was able to create many different games and activities that ultimately revolve around the list of words the Whiz Kid has stored internally.
Clearly the variable resistor was an afterthought.
No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.
VTech not afraid to break out the hot snot.
The reader itself is quite simple, and is not unlike what you might find in an old mouse. An IR LED and detector are placed into a housing so that that the alternating white and black stripes passing in front of them will produce a voltage change in the detector. This is fed into an LM358 op-amp to create a clean square wave the microcontroller on the main PCB can easily read. There’s only three wires between the main board and the reader, which makes it easy to hook the oscilloscope onto the data line and see this exchange happen in real-time.
I didn’t attempt to decode the signal, so feel free to chime in for extra credit in the comments. But from the looks of it, the code holds at least a few bytes worth of data. Certainly enough to hold two hex characters, and as there’s only 50 cards in a pack, that would offer more than enough possible combinations to use as a unique ID.
Tick Tock, You’re the Clock
At this point, the particularly astute reader might notice something’s not quite right with this concept. If pushing the card through the reader creates a square wave that corresponds to the data on the barcode, wouldn’t the speed at which the card is inserted be of critical importance? Surely the young operator couldn’t be expected to push the card in at the
perfect
speed each and every time they wanted to change cards?
Well it turns out VTech must have had a lot of faith in the kids of 1984, because that’s exactly what you have to do. Getting the cards to reliably decode is perhaps one of the most frustrating user experiences I’ve ever had, and it’s difficult to remember a time as a child when I would have been so bored that fighting this machine would have been preferable to literally kicking rocks.
The inclusion of a “Practice Card” makes me think at least somebody at VTech had misgivings about this particular method of data entry. The user is instructed to use this card as a way to hone their insertion technique until it essentially becomes muscle memory.
There’s no special trick, and the tips given on the card aren’t anything you wouldn’t have figured out yourself eventually. I can only imagine how little comfort the tip “Do Practice” would have had for a frustrated six year old on Christmas morning in 1984.
Gaming on the Big Screen
Going back to the idea that the visual look of this device was clearly very important to VTech, they obviously needed a screen that would be in proportion with the rest of the case. A row of little dinky LED characters wouldn’t do, and obviously a real CRT was out of the question. So they came up with a rear-projection LCD that, given the limitations of the time, isn’t half bad.
The idea here is that light coming through an opaque window in the back of the Whiz Kid passes through an LCD panel not unlike what you’d find in Nintendo’s
Game & Watch
handhelds. This projected image is then bounced off of a real glass mirror mounted in the bottom of the chamber which the viewer is looking down on.
From the viewer’s perspective, you see a nice bright image with an apparent size that is larger than the physical LCD panel. Thanks to some tinted filters, it even appears in color. Well, at least the parts that don’t move anyway.
The downside is that you need a lot of light coming in through that back panel. The addition of an onboard light wouldn’t have been much of a technical challenge, but was probably deemed pointless since you still need to read the cards and see the pictures on them to actually play any of the games.
Hack Without Apologies
The way I figure it, there’s a good chance you’ve read this far because you’re wondering if you can
use the carcass of a Whiz Kid as the base for a Raspberry Pi luggable
. Well you definitely can, though there are a few things to keep in mind that might not be obvious from looking at these pictures.
For one, it’s probably smaller than you think. Remember, this is a device that was designed for grade-school children to use. For reference the keyboard is roughly 200 x 70 millimeters (7.87 x 2.75 inches), and depending on how creative you get with the mounting, you’ve only got about 120 mm (4.72 inches) diagonally to put a screen in. Doable, but pretty cramped for any serious use.
Of course, once you had a keyboard and real LCD mounted on the front of it, the internal dimensions are absolutely cavernous. You’d have no problem fitting in whatever you wanted, up to and including
x86 single board computers like the Atomic Pi
.
At the end of the teardown for the VTech PreComputer 1000, I noted the machine seemed to have enough historical significance that gutting it shouldn’t be taken lightly. But frankly, the 1984 Whiz Kid doesn’t hold that same kind of importance or charm. Its oddball internals don’t appear worthy of preservation, and the infuriating card reader gimmick makes operating the toy an absolute chore for the modern user.
VTech’s goal was to make the outside of the Whiz Kid look as much like a real portable computer was possible, and didn’t give nearly as much thought to the electronics inside. So why should you? | 47 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240627",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T17:30:33",
"content": "Very interesting.If I were to ‘hack’ it, I’d try to keep the card reader intact, both for the original games (Should be trivial to scan them in and show on the screen), and create new ones to trigger games,... | 1,760,373,507.724146 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/citizen-science-hack-chat-with-ben-krasnow/ | Citizen Science Hack Chat With Ben Krasnow | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"Applied Science",
"ben krasnow",
"citizen science",
"natural philosphy",
"polymath",
"The Hack Chat"
] | Join us on Wednesday, April 29 at noon Pacific for the
Citizen Science Hack Chat
with
Ben Krasnow
!
For most of human history, there was no such thing as a professional scientist. Those who dabbled in “natural philosophy” were mainly men — and occasionally women — of privilege and means, given to spend their time looking into the workings of the world. Most went where their interest lay, exploring this facet of geology or that aspect of astronomy, often combining disciplines or switching to new ones as they felt like it. They had the freedom to explore the universe without the pressure to “publish or perish,” and yet they still often managed to pull back the curtain of ignorance and superstition that veiled the world for eons, at least somewhat.
In their footsteps follow today’s citizen scientists, a relatively small cohort compared to the great numbers of professional scientists that universities churn out year after year. But where these credentialed practitioners are often hyper-focused on a particular sub-field in a highly specialized discipline, the citizen scientist enjoys more freedom to explore the universe, as his or her natural philosopher forebears did. These citizen scientists — many of whom are also traditionally credentialed — are doing important work, and some are even publishing their findings in mainstream journals.
Ben Krasnow, the proprietor of the
Applied Science
YouTube channel, is one such citizen scientist, and one whose latest findings are always welcome. We’ve covered tons of Ben’s experiments and builds, from his
DIY electron microscope
to his
steel-piercing ruby laser
, and more recently his
home-brew mass spectrometer
or his
investigation into MRI-induced iPhone deaths
. There’s always something interesting coming out of Ben’s lab, and he’ll drop by the Hack Chat to discuss the state of citizen science today and what’s going on in the lab.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, April 29 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have got you down, we have
a handy time zone converter
.
Click that speech bubble to the right, and you’ll be taken directly to the Hack Chat group on Hackaday.io. You don’t have to wait until Wednesday; join whenever you want and you can see what the community is talking about. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240692",
"author": "PodeCoet",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T21:31:15",
"content": "Applied Science is hands-down my favorite channel on YouTube",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6241312",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"t... | 1,760,373,508.132808 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/defocused-laser-welding-fabric-proves-theres-many-ways-to-slice-it/ | Defocused Laser Welding Fabric Proves There’s Many Ways To Slice It | Sonya Vasquez | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"CO2 laser cutter",
"defocused laser",
"fabric",
"laser cut fabric",
"material science",
"PPE",
"ultrasonic welder"
] | Laser cutters are certainly a Hackerspace staple for cutting fabrics in some circles. But for the few fabrics derived from non-woven plastics, why not try fusing them together? That’s exactly what [Dries] did, and with some calibration, the result is
a speedy means of seaming together two fabrics
–no needles necessary!
The materials used here are non-woven goods often used in disposable PPE like face masks, disposable aprons, and shoe coverings. The common tool used to fuse non-woven fabrics at the seams is an ultrasonic welder. This is not as common in the hackerspace tool room, but laser cutters may be a suitable stand-in.
Getting the machine into a production mode of simply cranking out clothes took some work. Through numerous sample runs, [Dries] found that defocusing the laser to a spot size of 1.5mm at low power settings makes for a perfect threadless seam. The resulting test pockets are quite capable of taking a bit of hand abuse before tearing. Best of all, the fused fabrics can simply be cut out with another pass of the laser cutter. For fixtures, [Dries] started with small tests by stretching the two fabrics tightly over each other but suggests fixtures that can be pressed for larger patterns.
It’s great to see laser-cutters doubled-up as both the “glue” and “scissors” in a textile project. Once we get a handle on lasering our own set of scrubs, why not
add some inflatables
into the mix? | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240638",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T18:23:30",
"content": "Nice, now I want to screw around with parafoils made that way. I wonder if it can also be adapted to weld tyvek or polytarp.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"c... | 1,760,373,508.623136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/reactos-dipping-a-toe-in-a-millennium-era-open-source-dream/ | ReactOS: Dipping A Toe In A Millennium-era Open Source Dream | Jenny List | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"operating systems",
"reactos",
"retrocomputing",
"windows"
] | Do you remember when trying a new OS meant burning a CD? Not merely downloading an ISO and mounting it on a USB drive, but taking a circle of polycarbonate and hoping you didn’t get a buffer underrun as the file you’d spent an entire day downloading was burned onto it. A couple of decades ago that was how we’d take a look at a new Linux distro, and at the time we considered it to be nothing short of incredible that such a thing was possible. One of the ISOs I remember downloading back then was an early version of
ReactOS
, a project with the lofty aim of creating an open-source equivalent of Windows NT. You might think that in the nearly two decades since then it would have become an irrelevance and its contributors moved on to other work, but no. ReactOS is very much still with us, and indeed has just seen a new release.
Version 0.4.13
is the latest in a long line of incremental updates, and remembering those early ReactOS ISOs when I saw their announcement, I thought I’d give it a spin. The result was both a peek at the current state of the project, and a chance to think about the place of a Windows clone in 2020.
It’s 2003, And Hackaday Hasn’t Started Yet
If it wasn’t for the ReactOS logo, you’d swear this was a Windows box.
There are two ReactOS ISOs, an installer, and a live CD. I downloaded the former, and first tried to install it on an old Dell Core Duo laptop which it failed to do, before creating an image to install it in a qemu environment. I don’t blame it for not running on the Dell, it doesn’t yet claim to have anything near comprehensive hardware support. The qemu install was faultless though, and I was soon in the ReactOS desktop. I found I needed greater than a 1 GB qemu partition to have space enough for extra software, but it ran happily enough with the gigabyte of memory I allocated to it.
My first impression was that I was back in a Windows PC circa 2003 sporting the grey-and-blue Windows 95-style classic theme, such is their success at creating a clone of Windows from that era. Aside from the ReactOS logo on the start menu it’s indistinguishable from Windows XP with the classic theme, at least as I remember it. Everything is exactly where you’d expect it, and since the version text in the bottom corner states it is reporting as Windows NT 5.3, or 64-bit Windows XP Professional, I’m guessing it has more influence from that OS than Windows 2000. This has been a fully functioning desktop GUI operating system for quite a few generations now, and by the looks of it is a whisker away from its aim of creating that open-source Windows NT clone. Speed-wise its difficult to judge because I had it running in qemu rather than on native hardware, however on my few-year-old i7 running a recent Ubuntu version it was perfectly usable though admittedly a little slow.
Like Windows, But With A Built-In Free Software Repository
They are at pains to stress that this version is still very much a pre-release alpha, but in navigating round its built-in GUI features and programs you’d be forgiven for thinking it was feature-complete compared to the Windows versions it is most similar to. It doesn’t have much in the way of built-in software, but unlike the “real” Windows of the XP era it comes with a package manager of the type you’d expect with a GNU/Linux distro. This doubles as the Windows “Add/Remove Programs” Control Panel item. There is plenty of choice, so I set to downloading a few programs.
It is in its software support that you are reminded that ReactOS isn’t quite the Windows you are used to. Typically the version of a package in the repository is an older version that works, but any upgrades fail to work. As an example it has Firefox version 48, which when I followed Firefox’s upgrade prompt downloaded version 52.0.3 ESR that installed but completely failed to start. This is likely to have two causes, first that this ReactOS version may still conceal a few bugs, but perhaps more likely that recent builds of software will expect more recent versions of the Windows API than the XP-like version that ReactOS presents. It’s not all doom and gloom though, because despite hitting it with all sorts of software and seeing many installers and programs crash or simply refuse to run, I never once managed to crash ReactOS itself. I know that Windows XP would have shown me the dreaded Blue Screen Of Death more than once had I tried the same thing, so it appears the ReactOS developers may have achieved a more stable OS than Microsoft did.
Windows Users, Will They Make The Jump? Probably not.
So Reactos 0.4.13 then, for an alpha release a remarkably stable and feature complete clone of Microsoft Windows XP or similar that maybe isn’t quite ready for the Big Time in its software or hardware support. It’s obvious that this is an OS that will get there, so if you need an open-source Windows clone then keep watching. It does beg the question though, just who needs a Windows XP clone in 2020? Probably not me, because while I’d have jumped at it had it been in this state back in 2005, like everyone else I have moved on. Windows users have much newer versions to play with, and I have been an exclusive GNU/Linux user for many years now to the extent that I had to re-learn a few Windows tricks to use ReactOS.
Where I think ReactOS will find a niche then is not as a mass desktop, but for doing what it was designed to do. As what is likely to become a good quality open-source clone of Windows XP it will find a similar role to that of
FreeDOS
as a supported operating system for older software to run on. If you rely on a piece of software and associated hardware from the XP era you’re going to find ReactOS to be a godsend if it will run it, because you will no longer have to rely on increasingly flaky installs on ancient computers of a platform for which support and security patches ended years ago. If they can ensure where possible that their repository contains software with up-to-date security then they’ll be on to a winner! | 57 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240582",
"author": "sneakypoo",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T14:10:00",
"content": "“despite hitting it with all sorts of software and seeing many installers and programs crash or simply refuse to run, I never once managed to crash ReactOS itself”“My car doesn’t have a steering wheel o... | 1,760,373,508.086616 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/a-diy-functional-f-35-is-no-simple-task/ | A DIY Functional F-35 Is No Simple Task | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"EDF",
"F-25",
"jet fighter",
"RC airplane",
"vtol"
] | The advent of affordable gear for radio-controlled aircraft has made the hobby extremely accessible, but also made it possible to build some very complex flying machines on a budget, especially when combined with 3D printing. [Joel Vlashof] really likes VTOL fighter aircraft and is in the process of building a fully functional
radio-controlled F-35B
.
The F-35 series of aircraft is one of the most expensive defence project to date. The VTOL capable “B” variant is a complex machine, with total of 19 doors on the outside of the aircraft for weapons, landing gear and thrusters. The thruster on the tail can pivot 90° down for VTOL operations, using an interesting 3-bearing swivel mechanism.
[Joel] wants his model to be as close as possible to the real thing, and has integrated all these features into his build. Thrust is provided by two EDF motors, the pivoting nozzle is 3D printed and actuated by three set of small DC motors, and all 5 doors for VTOL are actuated by a single servo in the nose via a series of linkages. For tilt control, air from the main fan is channeled to the wing-tips and controlled by servo-actuated valves. A flight controller intended for use on a multi-rotor is used to help keep the plane stable while hovering. One iteration of this plane bit the dust during development, but [Joel] has done successful test flights for both hover and conventional horizontal flight. The really tricky part will be transitioning between flight modes, and [Joel] hopes to achieve that in the near future.
The real Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II project is controversial because of repeated budget overruns and time delays, but the engineering challenges solved in the project are themselves fascinating. The logistics of keeping these complex machines in the air are daunting, and a while back we saw Marine ground crew
3D print components
that they were having trouble procuring through normal channels. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240572",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T13:09:48",
"content": "I never qualified as an aeronautical engineer, but I think the problem in transitioning to forward flight, is that it doesn’t have any wings. :-p",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,373,508.346151 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/27/adapter-brings-m-2-wifi-cards-to-the-pinebook-pro/ | Adapter Brings M.2 WiFi Cards To The Pinebook Pro | Tom Nardi | [
"computer hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"adapter",
"M.2",
"Pinebook",
"Pinebook Pro"
] | The Pinebook Pro is a considerably more capable machine than the $99 Pinebook released in 2017, but the open source laptop still isn’t exactly a powerhouse by modern standards. The system is intended to compete with mid-range Chromebooks, and to that end, few would argue it’s not worth the $199 price tag. But there’s still room for improvement, and at this price point that makes it a hardware hacker’s delight.
[TobleMiner] has recently released the design files for a drop-in adapter that
allows you to install M.2 wireless cards like the Intel AX200 in the Pinebook Pro
. With the latest-and-greatest WiFi 6 technology onboard, transfer rates as high as 600 Mbps have been demonstrated on this relatively low-cost Linux laptop. It sounds like there’s a possibility the adapter will be offered officially through the Pine store at some point in the future, but in the meantime, you can always spin up your own copy if you feel the need for speed on your Pinebook Pro.
The adapter takes the place of
the official M.2 SSD upgrade board
, which means users will need to choose between expanded storage and an upgraded wireless card. But [TobleMiner] hints that a version of the adapter with a second M.2 slot should be possible in the future. The design also features pads to install an optional voltage regulator, as testing has shown that the Pinebook Pro’s 3.3 V line can fluctuate a bit depending on battery level.
We took a close look at the original Pinebook when it was released,
and came away cautiously optimistic
. The Pro model appears to be an improvement in every way imaginable, and upgrades like this show just what’s possible when users are free to explore their hardware. | 14 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240552",
"author": "Saabman",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T09:49:42",
"content": "It never ceases to amaze me when people demand open source products and when a company releases one the screams of oh but we only want to pay the same price of the closed source mega company products.",
... | 1,760,373,508.290474 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/breadboard-computer-plays-snake-on-character-display-also-in-a-browser/ | Breadboard Computer Plays Snake On Character Display; Also In A Browser! | Sven Gregori | [
"classic hacks",
"Retrocomputing",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"Ben Eater",
"breadboard",
"cpu",
"emulator",
"ESP8266",
"homebrew",
"snake game",
"webassembly"
] | If building a homebrew computer on a breadboard is your thing, you’re most certainly familiar with [Ben Eater], whose design of using nothing but logic gates has served as inspiration for many replicas over the years.
[visrealm] took the concept and expanded upon it
, even adding a 16×2 LCD that let’s
you play Snake by moving a single pixel on the character display
!
Making the most of tiny resolution is impressive — it’s a difficult constraint for the game field. But there are other tricks at work as well. [visrealm] uses different intensities to distinguish between the snake and its food which is kind of a dark pixel in the demo shown after the break. But what stands out most is that the breadboard build is really only half of the story. In addition, [visrealm] built an entire emulator that resembles his actual breadboard design,
which can be programmed and used via browser
, giving WebAssembly a whole new meaning. While that’s convenient for anyone interested to play around with these breadboard computers, but lacks the patience to build one themselves, it also functions as the real one’s programming environment. In addition, an ESP8266 is used to load a new program directly via WiFi.
All the code and some build notes are
available on GitHub
, and if you’re looking for a nifty LCD emulator for your web site,
there’s a standalone repository
for that as well. But in case you need a better display option for your own breadboard computer,
how about adding a VGA connector
? And if you don’t build your own yet,
it’s never too late to start
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240531",
"author": "Izaic",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T05:41:47",
"content": "Wow! That’s pretty cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6240563",
"author": "Senile Data Systems",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T11:32:19",
"co... | 1,760,373,508.237119 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/brain-transplant-makes-one-arcade-machine-play-games-from-another/ | Brain Transplant Makes One Arcade Machine Play Games From Another | Jenny List | [
"Games"
] | [
"arcade",
"coin-op",
"mame",
"reverse engineering",
"taito"
] | We’re used to games consoles in which the same hardware plays a variety of different games, but if we were to peer inside arcade cabinets of an older vintage we’d find custom boards unique to every game. Some boards from the same manufacturers shared common hardware traits even if they weren’t identical though, and [twistedsymphony] has taken advantage of this
to make one vintage Taito game —
Gun & Frontier
— run on the hardware for another,
Ah Eikou no Koshien
. It’s a fascinating tale across a forum thread, that’s well worth a read even if you will never touch a vintage arcade board.
We might expect that the tool of choice would be a logic analyser or similar, but unexpectedly the solution to this hack was found in MAME. The arcade emulator conceals a wealth of information about these boards, from which you can discover their differences and try out possible solutions. The hardware hacks are surprisingly straightforward, a few bodge wires and an extra address line for a larger ROM. A programmable logic array required dumping and rewriting to fix a graphics corruption issue and a little bit of ROM tweaking after emulating a controller problem in MAME was required, but it seems that yes, one game can run on another. Certainly less painful than
the Taito hack that required a chip to be decapped
.
[via
r/ReverseEngineering
] | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240526",
"author": "kaaaaaaaaaang",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T03:27:32",
"content": "A very interesting thread, It’s explained so well, that anyone with basic knowledge about programming or electronics could understand It without problems.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,373,508.43416 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/hackaday-links-april-26-2020/ | Hackaday Links: April 26, 2020 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"agc",
"AGS",
"apollo",
"arduino",
"ble",
"bluetooth LE",
"bomb",
"contact tracing",
"Covid-19",
"DIN rail",
"hacking",
"industrial",
"lvdc",
"pen test",
"plc",
"satellite"
] | Gosh, what a shame: it turns out that
perhaps 2 billion phones won’t be capable of COVID-19 contact-tracing
using the API that Google and Apple are jointly developing. The problem is that the scheme the two tech giants have concocted, which
Elliot Williams expertly dissected recently
, is based on Bluetooth LE. If a phone lacks a BLE chipset, then it won’t work with apps built on the contact-tracing API, which uses the limited range of BLE signals as a proxy for the physical proximity of any two people. If a user is reported to be COVID-19 positive, all the people whose BLE beacons were received by the infected user’s phone within a defined time period can be anonymously notified of their contact. As Elliot points out, numerous questions loom around this scheme, not least of which is privacy, but for now, something like a third of phones in mature smartphone markets won’t be able to participate, and perhaps two-thirds of the phones in developing markets are not compatible. For those who don’t like the privacy-threatening aspects of this scheme, pulling an old phone out and dusting it off might not be a bad idea.
We occasionally cover stories where engineers in industrial settings use an Arduino for a quick-and-dirty automation solution. This is uniformly met with much teeth-gnashing and hair-rending in the comments asserting that Arduinos are not appropriate for industrial use. Whether true or not, such comments miss the point that the Arduino solution is usually a stop-gap or proof-of-concept deal. But now the purists and pedants can relax, because
Automation Direct is offering Arduino-compatible, industrial-grade programmable controllers
. Their ProductivityOpen line is compatible with the Arduino IDE while having industrial certifications and hardening against harsh conditions, with a rich line of shields available to piece together complete automation controllers. For the home-gamer, an Arduino in an enclosure that can withstand harsh conditions and only cost $49 might fill a niche.
Speaking of Arduinos and Arduino accessories, better watch out if you’ve got any modules and you come under the scrutiny of an authoritarian regime, because you could be
accused of being a bomb maker
. Police in Hong Kong allegedly arrested a 20-year-old student and posted a picture of parts he used to manufacture a “remote detonated bomb”. The BOM for the bomb was strangely devoid of anything with wireless capabilities or, you know, actual explosives, and instead looks pretty much like the stuff found on any of our workbenches or junk bins. Pretty scary stuff.
If you’ve run through every binge-worthy series on Netflix and are looking for a bit of space-nerd entertainment, have we got one for you. Scott Manley has
a new video
that goes into detail on the four different computers used for each Apollo mission. We knew about the Apollo Guidance Computers that guided the Command Module and the Lunar Module, and the Launch Vehicle Digital Computer that got the whole stack into orbit and on the way to the Moon, but we’d never heard of the Abort Guidance System, a backup to the Lunar Module AGC intended to get the astronauts back into lunar orbit in the event of an emergency. And we’d also never heard that there wasn’t a common architecture for these machines, to the point where each had its own word length. The bit about infighting between MIT and IBM was entertaining too.
And finally, if you still find yourself with time on your hands, why not
try your hand at pen-testing a military satellite in orbit
? That’s the offer on the table to hackers from the US Air Force, proprietor of some of the tippy-toppest secret hardware in orbit. The
Hack-A-Sat Space Security Challenge
is aimed at exposing weaknesses that have been inadvertantly baked into space hardware during decades of closed development and secrecy, vulnerabilities that may pose risks to billions of dollars worth of irreplaceable assets. The qualification round requires teams to hack a grounded test satellite before moving on to attacking an orbiting platform during DEFCON in August, with prizes going to the winning teams. Get paid to hack government assets and not get arrested? Maybe 2020 isn’t so bad after all. | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240492",
"author": "gregg4",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T23:16:33",
"content": "Well that one about being allowed to “Hack a Sat” is new. Did anyone we know sign up? A show of hands? Or paws, or tentacles, or other manipulators?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,373,508.394048 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/snakes-and-ladders-game-boy-emulator-in-python/ | Snakes And Ladders: Game Boy Emulator In Python | Sven Gregori | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"bot",
"emulator",
"game boy",
"python",
"ROM dump",
"sprites"
] | If a Game Boy was a part of your childhood, you were probably more than once dreaming of spending your entire school day with it. Well, they had to wait a few more years for that, but eventually in 2015, [Asger], [baekalfen], and [troelsy] made that dream reality when they created a Game Boy emulator in Python for a university project. However, it didn’t stop there, and the emulator has since grown into a full-blown open source project, PyBoy, which
just reached the version 1.0 release
.
Since it started out as an academic project, the three of them had to do their research accordingly, so the background and theory about the Game Boy’s internal functionality and the emulator they wrote is summarized in a report published along with the source code. There is still some work to be done, and sadly there is no sound support implemented yet, but for the most part it’s fully functional and let’s you successfully play
your own extracted cartridges
, or any ROM file you happen to have in your possession.
Being an emulator, you can also inspect its inner life when run in debug mode, and watch the sprites, tiles, and data as you play, plus do cool things like play the emulation in reverse as shown in the clip below. Even more so, you can just load the instance in your own Python scripts, and start writing your own bots for your games — something’s we’ve
seen in action for the NES before
. And if you want to dive really deep into the world of the Game Boy, you should definitely watch
the 33c3 talk
about it.
View post on imgur.com | 3 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240511",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2020-04-27T01:52:13",
"content": "An emulator in Python? Oi! Talk about overhead.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240553",
"author": "Sergio Costas",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,373,508.470888 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/custom-bluetooth-joystick-in-a-nunchuk-shell/ | Custom Bluetooth Joystick In A Nunchuk Shell | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Nintendo Wii Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"attiny44a",
"AVR",
"bluetooth",
"nunchuk",
"TP4056",
"wii",
"wii nunchuk"
] | With the Wii’s unique controller, Nintendo not only provided new gaming experiences to players, but gave hardware hackers a platform for experimentation that’s still going strong. Case in point, this modification of a third party Wii “Nunchuk” by [Giliam de Carpentier] that
turns the accessory into a stand-alone wireless controller powered by a ATtiny44A
.
Milling a new home for the AVR
It turns out there’s a considerable amount of free space inside the Nunchuk case, so [Giliam] found adding in the new hardware wasn’t nearly as difficult as you might expect. Of course, it helps that the diminutive SMD ATtiny44A and its support hardware are housed on a very neatly milled PCB that attaches to the back of the original board.
Most of the other hardware comes in the form of modular components, like the Bluetooth transmitter and TP4056 charge controller for the 300 mAh battery. A micro USB charging port is mounted where the original Nunchuk cable entered the case, making the whole thing look very professional.
Even if you aren’t interested in making your own controller, [Giliam] covers many interesting topics in this write-up such as handling different methods of Bluetooth connectivity and various power management techniques to eke out as much life from the relatively small battery as possible. It’s not only a fascinating read, but a great example of what thorough project documentation should look like.
In the past we’ve seen Bluetooth conversions for the Wii Nunchuck,
but traditionally they left the original electronics in place
. On the other side of the spectrum, we’ve also seen the
internals get replaced with something as powerful as the Raspberry Pi Zero
. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240423",
"author": "Jeremy",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T17:17:46",
"content": "I’ve had a similar project on the back burner for quits some time, so hats off to Giliam who actually got it done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6... | 1,760,373,508.664537 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/cable-driven-robotic-joint/ | Cable Driven Robotic Joint | Danie Conradie | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"actuator",
"block and tackle",
"joint",
"pulley",
"robotic joint"
] | Even the oldest of mechanisms remain useful in modern technology. [Skyentific] has been messing with robotic joints for quite a while, and demonstrated an interesting way to use a
pulley system in a robotic joint
with quite a bit of mechanical advantage and zero backlash.
Inspired by the
LIMS2-AMBIDEX
robotic arm, the mechanism is effectively two counteracting sets of pulley, running of the same cable reel, with rollers allowing them to act around the bend of the joint. Increasing the mechanical advantage of the joint is simply a matter of adding pulleys and rollers. If this is difficult to envision, don’t work as [Skyentific] does an excellent job of explaining how the mechanism works using CAD models in the video below.
The mechanism is back drivable, which would allow it to be used for dynamic control using a motor with an encoder for position feedback. This could be a useful feature in walking robots that need to respond to dynamically changing terrain to stay upright, or in arms that need to push or pull without damaging anything. With properly tensioned cables, there is no backlash in the mechanism. Unfortunately cables can stretch over time, so it is something that needs to be considered when using this in a project.
Pulley systems have been with us for a very long time, and remain a very handy tool to have in your mechanical toolbox. A similar arrangement is used in the Da Vinci surgical robots to control their tiny manipulators. It would also be interesting to see this used in the already
impressive robots
of [James Bruton]. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240395",
"author": "socksbot",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T14:29:58",
"content": "Cables stretching either through plastic or elastic deformation can be counteracted by using an encoder to complete a servomechanism.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,373,508.876501 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/human-powered-laser-gun-makes-battery-free-target-practice/ | Human-Powered Laser Gun Makes Battery-Free Target Practice | Donald Papp | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"cowboy rifle",
"energy harvesting",
"generator",
"human-powered",
"laser",
"opencv",
"Rasperry Pi",
"shooting",
"target",
"target practice"
] | [Dirk] shared a fascinating project of his that consists of several different parts coming together in a satisfying whole. It’s all about wanting to do target practice, indoors, using a simple red laser dot instead of any sort of projectile. While it’s possible to practice by flashing a red laser pointer and watching where it lands on a paper target, it’s much more rewarding (and objective) to record the hits in some way. This is what led [Dirk] to create
human-powered, battery-free laser guns with software to track and display hits
. In the image above, red laser hits on the target are detected and displayed on the screen by the shooter.
Right under the thumb is the pivot point for the lever, and that’s also where a geared stepper motor (used as a generator) is housed. Operating the action cranks the motor.
There are several parts to this project and, sadly, the details are a bit incomplete and somewhat scattered around, so we’ll go through the elements one at a time. The first is the guns themselves, and the star of the show is his
3D printed cowboy rifle
design. The rifle paints the target with a momentary red laser dot when the trigger is pressed, but that’s not all. [Dirk] appears to have embedded a stepper motor into the lever action, so that working the lever cranks the motor as a generator and stores the small amount of power in a capacitor. Upon pulling the trigger, the capacitor is dumped into the laser (and into a piezo buzzer for a bit of an audio cue, apparently) with just enough juice to create a momentary flash. We wish [Dirk] had provided more details about this part of his build. There are
a few more images here
, but if you’d like to replicate [Dirk]’s work it looks like you’ll be on your own to some extent.
As for the target end of things, blipping a red dot onto a paper target and using one’s own eyeballs can do the job in a bare minimum sort of way, but [Dirk] went one further. He used Python and OpenCV with a camera to watch for the red dot, capture it, then push an image of the target (with a mark where the impact was detected) to a Chromecast-enabled screen near the shooter. This offers much better feedback and allows for easier scoring.
The GitHub repository for the shot detector and target caster is here
, and while it could be used on its own to detect any old laser pointer, it really sings when combined with the 3D printed cowboy rifle that doesn’t need batteries.
Not using projectiles in target practice does have some benefits: it’s silent, it’s easy to do safely, there is no need for a backstop, there are no consumables or cleaning, and there is no need to change or patch targets once they get too many holes. Watch it all in action in the video embedded below.
This has some things in common with
HomeLESS
, an open source laser shooting simulator.
We first covered HomeLESS several years ago
and the project is still alive, so if this kind of target shooting interests you, be sure to check it out. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240373",
"author": "Erkko",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T12:29:19",
"content": "The laser pistol was one game in what was probably the cheapest 90’s game show in Finland. It was similar to the military training system (TASI/KASI) that had an IR laser pointer mounted to a gun. It detect... | 1,760,373,508.973721 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/26/fuel-from-water-using-only-an-arc-welder/ | Fuel From Water Using Only An Arc Welder | Dan Maloney | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arc",
"arc welder",
"carbon",
"carbon monoxide",
"gasometer",
"hho",
"hydrogen",
"plasma",
"water gas"
] | Water, high currents, blinding balls of plasma, and a highly flammable gas that’s toxic enough to kill you in three minutes if you breathe enough of it. What’s not to love about
this plasma-powered water gas generator
?
In all seriousness, [NightHawkInLight] is playing with some dangerous stuff here, and he’s quite adamant about this one being firmly in the “Don’t try this at home” category. But it’s also fascinating stuff, since it uses nothing but a tank of water and an electric arc to produce useful amounts of fuel very quickly. It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that he’s talking about the electrolytic splitting of water into
the hydrogen-oxygen mix HHO
, but this is something else entirely.
Using a carbon electrode torch connected to his arc welder, a setup that’s similar to the one he used to make
synthetic rubies
, [NightHawkInLight] is able to strike an underwater arc inside a vessel that looks for all the world like a double-barreled bong. The plasma creates a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen which accumulates very rapidly in the
gasometer
he built to collect the flammable products produced by a wood gasifier.
The water gas burns remarkably cleanly, but probably has limited practical uses. Unless you live somewhere where electricity costs practically nothing, it’ll be hard to break even on this. Still, it’s an interesting look at what’s possible when plasma and water mix. | 36 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240347",
"author": "Max Siegieda",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T09:26:54",
"content": "“Unless you live somewhere where electricity costs practically nothing”Recently in the UK we had a few hours where the price of electricity went negative. If you were on the right tariff you got paid... | 1,760,373,509.039278 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/a-lora-im-me-for-the-end-of-the-world/ | A LoRa IM-Me For The End Of The World | Jenny List | [
"Network Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"atsamd21",
"instant messaging",
"LoRa"
] | Enshrined in the hacker hall of fame, the IM-Me was an instant messaging toy that turned out to be extremely hackable. You could easily ditch its instant messaging platform to turn it into a little spectrum analyser. Of course what’s old is new again, and in this age where we no longer have the Nokia 3110, the Sidekick, or even Blackberries, how shall we get our fix of those wireless gadgets with physical keyboards?
What would happen if a hacker had a go at creating one of those? [Bobricius]’
Armachat is an instant messaging platform that uses LoRa as its over-the-air protocol
, and is powered by a Microchip ATSAMD21x18 ARM Cortex M0 microcontroller alongside an RFM95 LoRa module.
The IM-Me, a free text chat device in the age of per-message charges, was
the sweat heart of hardware hacking back in 2010
There are two versions of the device for hand and pocket, both of which come with QWERTY keyboards made with momentary-action switches, 18650 cell power, and LCD screens. The idea is that it could form a robust communication system when many others have failed.
As it stands they have a simple text messaging app in the firmware, but there are other features yet to come. Perhaps the most interesting is a possible store-and-forward meshing system in the future, which would make this a powerful comms tool in so many circumstances. Both of [Bobricius’] devices can be seen in the video below the break — no word from him on the possibility of a pink case option. Meanwhile [Bobricius] has appeared on these pages many times before. With so many to choose from it’s hard to pick one, but
his Nixie-like LED display is quite memorable
. | 25 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240329",
"author": "Peter Misenko",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T06:26:32",
"content": "Operation preview videohttps://youtu.be/j9qWJNcTHWI",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6240331",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,373,509.103478 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/tired-of-fruit-ninja-try-vegetable-assassin-using-an-esp32-sword/ | Tired Of Fruit Ninja? Try Vegetable Assassin Using An ESP32 Sword | Sharon Lin | [
"Games",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ESP32",
"Fruit Ninja",
"three.js",
"websocket"
] | In a world where ninjas no longer rule the social hierarchy, where can a ninja-wannabe practice their sword fighting skills? In the popular Introduction to Embedded Systems class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a team of students made their own version of the popular mobile game Fruit Ninja with a twist – you’re fighting your true nemesis, vegetables.
Vegetable Assassin
allows single or multi-player mode, with players slicing vegetables on a screen using fake swords with sensors to detect the players’ motion. The web-based game allows swords to communicate their orientation to the game session with a WebSocket connection to a server, with the game generated and rendered using a 3D client JavaScript library. Rather than using MQTT, which also uses a persistent TCP connection as well as lower overhead, WebSocket provided maximum browser support.
An onboard ESP32 microcontroller and IMU track the sword movements. The game begins by calibrating the sword movements within the play area. Information is generated using the Madgwick algorithm, a 9-degrees-of-freedom algorithm that uses 3-axis data from the sword’s gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer and outputs the absolute orientation of the sword.
The sword and browser both connect to the same channel on the server through a WebSocket connection, identified by a session ID similar to how web chat rooms are implemented. A statistics server manages the allocation of session IDs and other persistent game data to track high scores.
As for the graphics, a Three.js WebGL library creates the scene and camera, loading the game into the browser’s animation frame. Other scripts load the 3D models for the fruits and vegetables in the game, update their positions based on the physics engine provided by Cannon.js, and render UI elements within the game.
Curious? The project site has the
microcontroller code
to build your own sword that you can use to
play the demo
. If you don’t have an ESP32 and accelerometer handy you can
play Vegetable Assassin in your browser instead
. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240362",
"author": "IanS",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T11:22:20",
"content": "I think that should be ‘Madgwick algorithm’. Seehttps://www.x-io.co.uk/res/doc/madgwick_internal_report.pdf",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240376",
... | 1,760,373,508.920462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/checking-in-on-relatives-using-old-android-tablets/ | Checking In On Relatives Using Old Android Tablets | Erin Pinheiro | [
"Android Hacks",
"Lifehacks"
] | [
"android",
"android tablet",
"coronavirus",
"skype",
"social distancing",
"tablet",
"video chat"
] | With social distancing it can be harder to stay in touch with our relatives, especially those who are elderly and not particularly tech-savvy. Looking for a solution to that end for his own grandmother, [Steve] came up with the idea of using an inexpensive used tablet and a mobile data plan in order to mail her
a “video phone” that works out of the box
.
This method requires zero button presses in order to pick up a video call.
Since the tablet is configured to use cellular networks rather than WiFi, it requires no setup process at all to the recipient. And with the Android version of Skype, it’s possible to configure it so that calls are automatically picked up and video chat enabled. That way, whoever gets the tablet after it’s prepared doesn’t have to tap a single button on the screen in order to receive a call.
[Steve] has also developed the simple idea into
a full-fledged easy-to-follow tutorial
so that just about anyone is able to replicate the process for their own loved ones. And if you’re still having any trouble with it, there’s a team of volunteers right on the website who can help you with tech support. Just remember to disinfect whatever device you’re sending, since viruses can typically stick to surfaces like plastic and glass for longer.
Now, if showing up to your relatives as a disembodied video screen doesn’t cut it for you, then you might want to send them something more substantial like this
cute little telepresence robot
that can drive around on a desk. | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240289",
"author": "Robert Tait",
"timestamp": "2020-04-26T00:23:36",
"content": "Several years ago, I set up an Android tablet to allow my wife to communicate with her mother in China. I picked up a cheap Android tablet in Shenzhen, had an ISDN line installed in her apartment, an... | 1,760,373,509.234328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/kicad-panelization-made-easy/ | KiCad Panelization Made Easy | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"KiCAD",
"KiKit",
"mousebites",
"panelization",
"panelize",
"panelizing",
"pcb",
"python",
"v-cut"
] | There’s a new Python-based script that will
panelize your KiCad circuit boards from the command line
. The project by [Jan Mrázek] is called KiKit and works on
.kicad_pcb
files to arrange them in a grid with your choice of mousebites or v-cuts for separating the boards after production.
When working with smaller boards it’s common practice to group them together into panels. This is done to speed up PCB assembly as multiple boards can have solder paste applied, go through a pick and place machine, and be sent into the reflow oven as a single unit. Often this is done manually, but in many cases this script will save you the time while delivering the results you need.
Let’s say you really wanted to make a whole bunch of those
Xling open source Tamagotchi-like
key fobs we saw a couple of weeks back. Using KiKit you can gang up six of the boards at a time, using “mousebites” to keep them together during production but make it easy to separate them after all the components are soldered:
/usr/local/bin/kikit panelize grid --space 3 --gridsize 2 3 --tabwidth 3 --tabheight 3 --htabs 2 --vtabs 1 --mousebites 0.5 1 0.25 --radius 1 Xling/hardware/xling.kicad_pcb xling_panel.kicad_pcb
You can see that
the parameters
let you set space between the boards, number of boards in the grid, width of the tabs, tab dimensions, number of tabs between boards, and even the radius of the curve where the tabs meet the board. These
settings were pulled from the examples page
, which demonstrates outcomes for many different settings options.
If you want to give this a try, we suggest installing directly from the repository, as improvements are ongoing and the pip3 version didn’t have all of the options shown in the examples. For us this was as easy as
sudo python3 setup.py install
and then calling the script with the full path
/usr/local/bin/kikit
.
Results from this board are both impressive and cautionary. You can see the top edge of the design is recessed yet the most up-to-date version of KiKit was still able to make the connection. However, how this affects the USB connector on the bottom of the board design may be something to consider before pulling the trigger on your panel order. | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240261",
"author": "Alexander Wikström",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T21:15:12",
"content": "If only KiCAD had panalization in it already…Though, running a script like this at least bridges that gap in functionality in the mean time.Sure is a lot better then how I currently do paneliza... | 1,760,373,509.349643 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/openscan-3d-scans-all-of-the-small-things/ | OpenScan 3D Scans All Of The (Small) Things | Donald Papp | [
"cnc hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3d scanning",
"arduino",
"cad",
"OpenScan",
"Photogrammetry",
"point cloud",
"raspberry pi"
] | The
OpenScan project
has been updated quite a bit since its inception. OpenScan is an open source, Arduino or Raspberry Pi-based 3D scanner for small objects that uses 3D printed hardware and some common electronic components to create 3D scans using photogrammetry; a process by which a series of still images from different angles are used to create a 3D point cloud of an object, which can then be used to generate a 3D model.
Feature visualization overlays detected features onto the camera preview to help judge quality. Broadly speaking, green is good.
Photogrammetry is a somewhat involved process that relies on consistent conditions, so going through the whole process only to find out the results aren’t up to snuff can be tiresome. Happily, OpenScan offers some interesting new functions such as feature visualization via the web interface, which helps a user judge scan quality and make changes to optimize results without having to blindly cross their fingers quite so much. OpenScan remains a one-person project by [Thomas], who is clearly motivated to improve his design and we’re delighted to see it getting updates.
Embedded below is a video that walks through the installation and web interface. It’s a fairly long and comprehensive, but if you like you can
skip directly to [Thomas] demonstrating the interface around the 8:22 mark
, or watch it below. Interested in your own unit? [Thomas] has
an e-shop for parts
and
the GitHub repository is right here;
the project also
has its own subreddit
.
Photogrammetry isn’t limited to small objects. We have seen some neat applications in the past, where it was the missing link to
modeling a custom control panel
and making a
3d scan of a custom-molded ergonomic trackball
. | 22 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240221",
"author": "abetusk",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T17:36:30",
"content": "The firmware is libre but the physical build is not open as it has a non-commercial license attached (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3050437). The GitHub library linked to in the article also has no li... | 1,760,373,509.299828 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/you-need-more-weird/ | You Need More Weird | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"newsletter",
"weird"
] | What do you do when you need to solve a problem creatively? Me, I go for a walk, preferably in the woods. It’s about as far away from the desk and computer as possible, and somehow getting outside of the box that is my office helps me to think outside of the metaphorical box as well. Maybe it’s the fresh air, maybe it’s the exercise. Or maybe, it’s putting my physical head in a different (head)space that helps me to think differently.
Psychologists are finding that being outside, being an outsider, or even just being exposed to the straight-up strange
can help you think weirder
, that is, more creatively. That artists, authors, and other hyper-creative folks are often a little bit odd is almost a cliche. Think of the artists who did their best work while under the influence of drugs, mental illness, or drastic dislocations.
The good news is that you might not have to go so far. Psychologists are able to measure increases in creative problem solving simply by exposing people to weirdness. And you don’t have to go on a magic-mushroom trip to get there either. In one study, this was playing in an upside-down VR world before answering a questionnaire, for instance. Ray Wilson meant it tongue-in-cheek when he suggested that building a
silly synthesizer
would help you think, but who’s laughing now that science is backing him up?
So if you find yourself, as I do, stuck inside the same four walls, make sure that you break out of the box from time to time. Expose your brain to weird, for your own creativity’s sake. Make some time for a completely wacky project. And of course, read more Hackaday! (We’ve got weird.)
This article is part of the Hackaday.com newsletter, delivered every seven days for each of the last 200+ weeks. It also includes our favorite articles from the last seven days that you can see on
the web version of the newsletter
.
Want this type of article to hit your inbox every Friday morning?
You should sign up
! | 61 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240174",
"author": "Big Alien Robot (@bigalienrobot)",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T14:11:54",
"content": "I totally read that as “you need more weed.” Fastest hackaday article click ever.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240242"... | 1,760,373,509.448042 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/signal-the-end-of-a-print-with-midi-of-your-choice/ | Signal The End Of A Print With MIDI Of Your Choice | Danie Conradie | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer plays music",
"gcode",
"gcode post-processing",
"midi"
] | The end of every 3D print should be a triumphant moment, and deserves a theme song. [FuseBox2R] decided to make it a reality, and wrote tool for converting
MIDI tracks to G-code
that uses the buzzer on your 3D printer.
The tool is up on
GitHub
, and uses the M300 speaker command that is available in Marlin and some other 3D printer firmware packages. It takes the form of a static HTML page with in-line JavaScript that converts a midi track to series of speaker commands with the appropriate frequency and duration parameters, using the
Tone.js
framework. Simply add to your slicer G-code to add a bit of spice to your prints. You can also build a MIDI jukebox using the RAMPS board and LCD you probably have gathering dust somewhere. See the video after the break for a demonstration, including a rendition of the DOOM theme song, and off course Mario Bros.
For more quarantine projects, you can also p
lay MIDI using the stepper motors on your printer
, or build a
day clock
if time is becoming too much of a blur. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240155",
"author": "k-ww",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T13:21:28",
"content": "In the early 80’s, I built a bit slice disk controller for removable pack type hard drives. If my diagnostic for the system failed,it would pay ‘Taps’ using the voice coil head seek mechanism.",
"parent... | 1,760,373,509.484895 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/in-depth-design-of-a-flyback-converter/ | In-Depth Design Of A Flyback Converter | Jenny List | [
"Parts"
] | [
"flyback",
"power supply",
"switch mode"
] | It is tempting to think of analogue and digital domains as entirely distinct, never to touch each other except like a cold war Checkpoint Charlie, through the medium of an ADC or DAC. In reality there are plenty of analogue effects upon digital circuitry which designers must be aware of, but there is one field in which the analogue and the digital are intricately meshed. Switch mode power supplies use digital techniques to exploit the analogue properties of components such as inductors and capacitors, and can be astoundingly clever in the way they do this to extract the last fraction of a percent efficiency from their conversion. Thus their design can be something of a Dark Art, so it’s always interesting to have a good read explaining some of the intricacies. [James Wilson] has built
a flyback step-up converter to power Nixie tubes
, and his write-up follows the whole process in great depth.
This type of converter seems at first glance to be a simple step-up design with a transformer that has a primary and secondary, where in fact it relies on the collapse in magnetic field during the off period of its duty cycle to provide a spike in voltage and thus a step-up beyond that you’d expect from the transformer alone. The write-up takes us through all this starting from a theoretical perspective, and then goes further into the realm of component selection and the effects of component properties on the waveforms involved. If you have ever battled ringing in a switch mode power supply you may recognise some of this.
If this field interests you, then there is probably no better place to send you for a start than Jim Williams’ 1987 app note 25 for Linear Technology: “
Switching Regulators for Poets
“. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240126",
"author": "Andrea Campanella",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T08:58:06",
"content": "We need an hero to desing a flyback converter for CRT Tubes.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6240130",
"author": "qwert",
... | 1,760,373,509.534718 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/raspberry-pi-cluster-shows-you-the-ropes/ | Raspberry Pi Cluster Shows You The Ropes | Bryan Cockfield | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"ansible",
"cluster",
"Computing",
"educational",
"experimental",
"grafana",
"prometheus",
"raspberry pi",
"setup",
"software"
] | Raspberry Pi clusters are a common enough project, but a lot of the builds we see focus on the hardware side of the cluster. Once it’s up and running, though, what comes next? Raspberry Pis aren’t very powerful devices, but they can still be a great project for learning how to interact with a cluster of computers or for experimental test setups. In this project from [Dino],
four Pis are networked together and then loaded with a basic set of software for cluster computing
.
The first thing to set up, after the hardware and OS, is the network configuration. Each Pi needs a static IP in order to communicate properly. In this case, [Dino] makes extensive use of SSH. From there, he gets to work installing Prometheus and Grafana to use as monitoring software which can track system resources and operating temperature. After that, the final step is to install Ansible which is monitoring software specifically meant for clusters, which allows all of the computers to be administered more as a unit than as four separate devices.
This was only part 1 of [Dino]’s dive into cluster computing, and we hope there’s more to come. There’s a lot to do with a computer cluster, and once you learn the ropes with a Raspberry Pi setup like this it will be a lot easier to move on to
a more powerful (and expensive) setup
that can power through some serious work. | 28 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240120",
"author": "jklu",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T07:48:59",
"content": "Ansible is a tool to manage software installations and it uses SSH to execute scripts on the “childeren” in the cluster it manages. So once you have SSH configured on all nodes and Ansible installed on a con... | 1,760,373,509.615213 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/odd-crosley-radios-from-the-1920s/ | Odd Crosley Radios From The 1920s | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"Crosley",
"radio",
"TRF"
] | You may sometimes see the Crosley name today on cheap record players, but from what we can tell that company isn’t connected with the Crosley Radio company that was a powerhouse in the field from 1921 to 1956. [Uniservo]
looks at two of the very early entries from Crosley
: the model VIII and the XJ. You can see the video of both radios, below.
The company started by making car parts but grew rapidly and entered the radio business very successfully in 1921. We can only imagine what a non-technical person thought of these radios with all the knobs and switches, for some it must have been very intimidating.
The model VIII had two large knobs, three small knobs, and a switch. Oddly enough there were very few markings on the knobs, as you were expected to know how to use a tuned RF radio. The large knobs were for tuning capacitors and the switch was for coil taps, while the three small knobs controlled the tube filament supplies.
We thought at first that each filament control knob had a jack above it. As it turns out, they aren’t jacks but peepholes. You sight through the holes to see how brightly the filament burns to adjust them properly. With the three tubes, you still needed headphones or an external amplifier. The variable capacitors are “book style” which is a rarity now. Watching the cam and spring adjust the capacitor makes you wonder how many other ways you could build a variable capacitor.
The XJ is similar although you’ll find an extra tube and peephole. There’s also a normal headphone jack. You can see some cost-cutting measures in this radio. It still used the book capacitors, though. These old radios are almost like craft pieces and we wonder what the person who wired them by hand would think if they knew we were looking at their work almost a century later.
If you want to know more about the man behind Crosley — and his dog — and how their desire to sell more radios led to the
creation of the WLW radio station
. Of course, the
TRF design didn’t survive long and gave way to the superheterodyne
. | 37 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240092",
"author": "qwert",
"timestamp": "2020-04-25T02:29:15",
"content": "“We can only imagine what a non-technical person thought of these radios with all the knobs and switches, for some it must have been very intimidating.”I think about this a lot lately with the stark contras... | 1,760,373,509.688183 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/gpu-turned-into-radio-transmitter-to-defeat-air-gapped-pc/ | GPU Turned Into Radio Transmitter To Defeat Air-Gapped PC | Dan Maloney | [
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"exfiltration",
"exploit",
"gpu",
"harmonics",
"power management",
"radeon",
"RF",
"sdr",
"shader",
"side-channel attacks",
"uhf"
] | Another week, another exploit against an air-gapped computer. And this time, the attack is particularly clever and pernicious:
turning a GPU into a radio transmitter
.
The first part of [Mikhail Davidov] and [Baron Oldenburg]’s article is a review of some of the basics of exploring the RF emissions of computers using software-defined radio (SDR) dongles. Most readers can safely skip ahead a bit to section 9, which gets into the process they used to sniff for potentially compromising RF leaks from an air-gapped test computer. After finding a few weak signals in the gigahertz range and dismissing them as attack vectors due to their limited penetration potential, they settled in on the GPU card, a Radeon Pro WX3100, and specifically on the power management features of its ATI chipset.
With a GPU benchmarking program running, they switched the graphics card shader clock between its two lowest power settings, which produced a strong signal on the SDR waterfall at 428 MHz. They were able to receive this signal up to 50 feet (15 meters) away, perhaps to the annoyance of nearby hams as this is plunk in the middle of the 70-cm band. This is theoretically enough to exfiltrate data, but at a painfully low bitrate. So they improved the exploit by forcing the CPU driver to vary the shader clock frequency in one megahertz steps, allowing them to implement higher throughput encoding schemes. You can hear the change in signal caused by different graphics being displayed in the video below; one doesn’t need much imagination to see how malware could leverage this to exfiltrate pretty much anything on the computer.
It’s a fascinating hack, and hats off to [Davidov] and [Oldenburg] for revealing this weakness. We’ll have to throw this on the pile with all the other
side-channel attacks [Samy Kamkar] covered in his 2019 Supercon talk
.
[via
Tom’s Hardware
] | 31 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240062",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T23:16:00",
"content": "Would the kind of security software used to detect coin miners notice something screwing around with the GPU? Just wondering, haven’t messed with ti.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,373,509.754553 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/a-cr2032-battery-eliminator/ | A CR2032 Battery Eliminator | Al Williams | [
"Battery Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"battery eliminator",
"cr2032"
] | Back when batteries were expensive and low-capacity, it was common to buy a “battery eliminator” that could substitute for common battery configurations. [David Watts] must remember those, because he decided to
make an eliminator
for all the CR2032 battery-driven gear he has. He got some brass blanks about the size of the battery, and you can see the results on the video below.
His first attempt seemed to work fairly well, a sandwich of two brass disks, each with a Velcro spacer and wires soldered on to connect to a power supply. The fake battery looks as though it might be a little thick, but it did work once the battery holder was persuaded to accept it.
There is a worry that the disks might touch each other or accidentally the other end of the circuit, but depending on the power supply’s protection a fuse in the line might be appropriate. This would be especially true were the faux battery to be used with anything expensive or important. We love to see people experiment with different solutions, though we might have been tempted to simply solder a connector to the board across the battery holder or after removing the holder completely.
You can still buy eliminators, although usually they are just wall transformers with selectable voltage and a bunch of barrel jacks. However, there are some made with common battery pack sizes and — of course — you could
3D print
something like that, too. Just be careful if you roll your own — gear meant for battery use may not handle ripple on the power supply line very gracefully. Or, maybe just
print a battery
. | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240037",
"author": "Clink",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T20:07:36",
"content": "For those side-insertion coin holders….why not solder your wires to the interior of the disks?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6240042",
"author": ... | 1,760,373,511.468806 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/queue-up-your-tracks-with-a-well-placed-hexagon/ | Queue Up Your Tracks With A Well Placed Hexagon | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"digital audio hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"3D printed enclosure",
"raspberry pi",
"rfid",
"Volumio"
] | Besides a few stalwart holdouts, most of us have have switched over listening to music in digital form, often via an online stream. As long as no data caps stand in your way, it’s a quick and easy way to listen to your favorite artists or discover new ones. But there’s something visceral about act of loading a piece of physical media into a player that can’t be replicated by just clicking or tapping on a screen.
Which is why
[InfiniteVideo] put together this RFID playlist launcher peripheral
. There’s an important distinction to be made here, as this device isn’t actually playing or even storing audio. A nearby Raspberry running Volumio handles the actual playback. This device is just an RFID reader with some clever tokens that the listener can use to select their favorite artists and albums with physical tokens. It’s certainly not a new concept, but we think the nuances of this particular build warrant a closer look.
The “player” consists of a ESP8266 with a MFRC522 RFID reader wired directly to the GPIO pins. The pair are housed in a rather large 3D printed enclosure, which at first might seem a bit excessive. But it turns out that [InfiniteVideo] is actually trying to replicate a crowd sourced project called Qleek which is based around a similarly chunky reader.
Likewise, the hexagon tiles are also lifted from the Qleek concept. But rather than being made out of wood as in the original, [InfiniteVideo] is printing those as well. Halfway during the process, the print is paused and an RFID sticker is placed in the middle of the hexagon. Once resumed, the RFID tag becomes permanently embedded in the tile with no visible seams to reveal how the trick was pulled off. With the addition of a suitable label, each printed hexagon gets associated with the desired album or artist in software.
This project is notable for its convenience and visual flair, but using RFID tags for media identification can also be a practical choice.
It can be used as an assistive technology
, or as a way for
young children to easily interact with devices
. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240022",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T18:42:06",
"content": "Okay, howabout it’s like a tool or dead album, and they’re like marbles, and go down a marble run, and like get read then held up on a jet of air, where like a laser shines through them, and they’re ... | 1,760,373,511.850791 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/core-devs-say-a-fond-but-firm-farewell-to-python-2/ | Core Devs Say A Fond But Firm Farewell To Python 2 | Tom Nardi | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Slider",
"Software Development"
] | [
"EOL",
"obsolete",
"python",
"python 2.7",
"python 3",
"retiring"
] | Saying that it was finally time for the community to bid a “fond but firm farewell to Python 2”, core developer
Benjamin Peterson marked the release of Python 2.7.18 on April 20th
; officially ending support for the 2.x branch of the popular programming language. It was hardly a snap decision. Python 3.0 was released all the way back in December 2008, and it was never a secret that the newer branch was not only incompatible with the earlier version, but that it would eventually superseded it to become the standard.
But migrating the incredible amount of Python code in the wild over to the latest and greatest was easier said than done. Millions upon millions of lines of code used in everything from Linux distributions to virtually every major web service needed to be reviewed and migrated over to Python 3. In many cases the changes were relatively minor, but when code is being used in mission critical applications, even the smallest of changes are often avoided unless it’s absolutely necessary. The voluntary migration took far longer than expected, and the end-of-life (EOL) for Python 2 was pushed back by years to accommodate developers who hadn’t made the necessary changes yet.
Given the somewhat fluid nature of the Python 2 EOL date, it seems fitting that this last final release would come several months after the “official” January 2020 deadline. The intention was for it to coincide with PyCon 2020, but just like so
many of the events planned for the first half of the year
, the in-person conference had to be canceled in favor of a virtual one due to the COVID-19 epidemic. That might have stymied the celebration somewhat, but the release of Python 2.7.18 will still be looked on as a special moment for everyone involved.
Too Big to Fail
If everything had gone according to plan, this milestone would have been celebrated sometime in 2015 as that was
the sunset date originally announced back in 2008
. But as the EOL date got closer, it became clear that the community simply wasn’t ready to make the switch. The problem was complicated by the nature of Python development, which generally involves pulling in a number of upstream libraries. Even if individual developers were ready and able to move their code over to the newest release of Python, the libraries their project relied on might not be so agile. Until large and popular libraries made the switch, end-users were stuck in limbo.
Python is now the
second most popular language on GitHub
For the hobby Python user, getting your code ready for Python 3 was often as simple as making sure your
print()
functions had the proper syntax. But migrating a huge library was another story.
There were many changes to the more esoteric functions of the language that needed to be taken into account, which meant updating would eat up a large chunk of development time; not something many open source libraries have an abundance of to begin with. Without a clear advantage to moving their libraries over to Python 3, many developers simply decided not to.
In a perfect world, it wouldn’t matter if people wanted to stick to the older version they were more comfortable with. But we don’t live in that world, and with so many websites and online services relying on Python 2, the fact that developers weren’t updating became a liability. Those in charge of large Python projects were often left with an unenviable decision: either live with the known bugs and security issues, or make the leap to Python 3 which will break backwards compatibility and require refactoring large swaths of code.
Seeing the magnitude of the situation, the Python developers introduced
PEP 466 — Network Security Enhancements for Python 2.7.x
in 2014. This update specifically addressed the aging implementation of SSL in the older Python series which was seen as a serious security risk for projects that were unable or unwilling to upgrade to the 3.x branch. It was a deviation from how feature updates were normally handled in the Python development process, but it was deemed necessary given the circumstances.
As Peterson noted in the Python 2.7.18 announcement: “Traditionally, these features would never have been added to a branch in maintenance mode, but exceptions were made to keep Python 2 users secure.”
The Future of Python 2
Despite having more than a decade to prepare, it would be naive to think that
every
project has migrated over to Python 3. The largest and best known libraries have switched over at this point, or are at least are in the process of doing so, but there’s no question that there’s plenty of Python 2 code still running out there.
We’ve recently been reminded of how many critical systems are still running COBOL
, an archaic language now over 60 years old. It seems inevitable that pockets of Python 2 code will remain in operation for years or even decades to come, simply because nobody wants to go in and rewrite something that’s already working.
Will your banking information or other critical data pass through some Python 2 code today? It’s certainly possible, perhaps even likely. It probably won’t even be Python 2.7.18, either. That’s not necessarily a problem right now, but any bugs and security vulnerabilities discovered from this day forward won’t be fixed. They might not even get reported through official channels. Anyone running an unsupported version of Python shouldn’t expect much help coming their way
when the next major vulnerability is discovered
.
So in the future will we be reading about companies scrambling to find Python 2 developers that know how to fix an entrenched piece of software that hasn’t been updated in decades? Luckily, the two versions of Python are similar enough that updating the code is generally more a matter of time than difficulty. We should have developers who are capable of doing the job for the foreseeable future, but it might not come cheap. | 34 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239991",
"author": "jonmayo",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T17:11:48",
"content": "I keep running into open source projects that need python2 to run their scripts. I know this because they’ll have #!/usr/bin/python but my system default is python3. I end up having to hack in old python ... | 1,760,373,511.800644 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/hackaday-podcast-064-the-cobol-cabal-the-demoscene-bytes-and-the-btle-cure/ | Hackaday Podcast 064: The COBOL Cabal, The Demoscene Bytes, And The BTLE Cure | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"cobol",
"contact tracing",
"demoscene",
"Hackaday Podcast",
"inductors"
] | Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys pan for gold in a week packed with technological treasure. The big news is Apple/Google are working on contact tracing using BTLE. From adoption, to privacy, to efficacy, there’s a lot to unpack here and many of the details have yet to take shape. Of course the episode also overflows with great hacks like broken-inductor bike chain sensors, parabolic basketball backboards, bizarre hose clamp tools, iron-on eTextile trials, and hot AM radio towers. We finish up discussing the greatest typing device that wasn’t, and the coming and going of the COBOL crisis.
Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download
(60 MB or so.)
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 064 Show Notes:
New This Week:
Google And Apple Reveal Their Coronavirus Contact Tracing Plans: We Kick The Tires
Google Translate
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
A Jaw-Dropping Demo In Only 256 Bytes
Art-of-Coding, an initiative to enlist the demoscene as first digital culture on the list of UNESCO intangible world cultural heritage – Demoscene – The Art of Coding
A Dangerous Demonstration Of The Power Of Radio
Roll Your Own Automation With ESPHome
Rapid Prototyping System Gives Wheels To Wearables
A Broken Inductor As A Bike Chain Sensor
Couldn’t find my link. I was thinking of an old magnet-backed solenoid chain sensor. If you find it, let me know!
A Basketball Hoop That Never Lets You Brick
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
Heavyweight Cyberdeck Is In A Class Of Its Own
Treating Vertigo But Not The Catchy Pop Song
Right To Repair: Tractor Manufacturers Might Have Met Their Match In Australia
Mike’s Picks:
Test Unknown Fuses Without Destroying Them
Perfect Wire Hose Clamps With A Simple DIY Tool
Huge 3D-Printed LEGO Go Kart Makes You The Minifig
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Inputs Of Interest: The Differently Dexterous DataHand Directionalizes Digits
COBOL Isn’t The Issue: A Misinterpreted Crisis
Disrupting The Computer Industry Before It Existed: Rear Admiral Grace Hopper | 4 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240050",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T21:31:30",
"content": "“You can’t re-identify people”.Do not think that companies like Google have no way to correlate the contact tracing information with other data to bypass the “anonymizing” feature and correlate the informati... | 1,760,373,511.412642 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/build-the-baddest-keypad-on-the-block-with-lego/ | Build The Baddest Keypad On The Block With LEGO | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino micro",
"keypad",
"lego",
"macro",
"macro keyboard",
"tactile switch"
] | Like so many of us, [EducatedAce] has been quelling the quarantine blues by resurrecting old projects and finding new challenges to fill the days.
He’s just finished building this blocky macro keypad
to hold a bunch of shortcuts for Photoshop, thus continuing and compounding the creative spree.
[EducatedAce] already had everything on hand except the Arduino Micro. Instead of standard key switches, this macro block uses 16 of the loudest, crunchiest tactile buttons out there — those big ones with the yellow stems that sound like small staplers.
And don’t worry — no LEGO or LEGO accessories were harmed in the making of this macro pad — the base plate and switch plate are 3D printed. [EducatedAce] has the STL files posted along with great build instructions if you want to wire one up for yourself.
This is a great project because it’s sturdy, it gets the job done without a lot of expense, and still looks like something you’d want on your desk. [EducatedAce] plans to rebuild it with uniformly colored bricks, but we think it looks great as-is, especially with those vented 1×2 pieces. If it were ours, we might use a different color for each row or column to help keep the shortcuts straight.
What? You’ve never printed your own interlocking building blocks before? Well, don’t limit yourself to 1:1 scale, otherwise the minifigs have won.
Build a go-kart big enough for humans
! | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6240065",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T23:26:32",
"content": "Could make a big one, that’s a security foot activated pad with the bonus that it can only be operated by the feet of those with special fakir/yogic bed of nails training…. or people with shoes on.",... | 1,760,373,511.681179 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/this-week-in-security-nintendo-accounts-pernicious-android-malware-and-an-ios-0-day/ | This Week In Security: Nintendo Accounts, Pernicious Android Malware, And An IOS 0-day | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"0-day",
"apt",
"ios",
"This Week in Security"
] | A rash of Nintendo account compromises has
made the news over the last week
. Nintendo’s official response was that they were investigating, and recommended everyone enabled two factor authentication on their accounts.
[Dan Goodin] over at Ars Technica has a canny guess:
The compromised accounts were each linked to an old Nintendo Network ID (NNID)
. This is essentially a legacy Nintendo account — one made in the Wii U and 3DS era. Since they’re linked, access via the NNID exposes the entire account. Resetting the primary account password doesn’t change the NNID credentials, but turning on two factor authentication does seem to close the loophole. There hasn’t yet been official confirmation that NNIDs are responsible, but it seems to fit the situation. It’s an interesting problem, where a legacy account can lead to further compromise.
Just Can’t Lose You: xHelper
xHelper, an Android malware, just won’t say goodbye
. xHelper looks like a cleaner application, but once installed it begins rather stubbornly installing itself via the Triada trojan. The process begins with rooting the phone, and then remounting
/system
as writable. Binaries are installed and startup scripts are tampered with, and then the mount command itself is compromised, preventing a user from following the same steps to remove the malware. Additionally, if the device has previously been rooted, the superuser binary is removed. This combination of techniques means that the infection will survive a factory reset. The only way to remove xHelper is to flash a clean Android image, fully wiping
/system
in the process.
Is BGP Safe Yet?
BGP, or Border Gateway Protocol, is something of an unsung hero of the internet. It’s how the internet, a complicated mesh of interconnected networks, manages to correctly route packets between endpoints. Like many of the fundamental technologies of the ‘net, it wasn’t originally written with security in mind. This isn’t simply a hypothetical problem,
real-world attacks have happened
.
As one would expect, security enhancements have been designed, and if properly implemented, BGP is far more secure than in the past. The only problem is that many ISPs haven’t done much to protect their networks.
A new tool is now available from Cloudflare, where you can run a rudimentary security test on your ISPs BGP security
.
Git
Git has been updated once again
, fixing another security problem
related to last week’s update
. The essence is the same: a malicious URL can result in git credentials being sent to a host controlled by an attacker. This particular problem is slightly less dangerous, as the attacker can’t specify the credentials to expose.
This pattern of vulnerability discovery is common. A problem is discovered in a project, and before you know it, a handful of related bugs are also found. For a recent example, look at the Bluekeep vulnerability in Windows RDP, and the RDP bugs found since then. The discovery of the initial bug attracts attention to the code in question, leading to more problems getting fixed.
Typo-squatting and Cryptocurrency Theft
Between February 16 and February 25,
725 malicious Ruby libraries were added to RubyGems
, the official Ruby library repository. The campaign was discovered and the libraries were removed only two days later, an impressively fast response time. These libraries were all copies of legitimate code, with lookalike names, but a malicious twist. The libraries all contained a portable executable named
aaa.png
. On windows machines, the install script renamed that file to
a.exe
and executed it.
The end result is the installation of a clipboard hijack script. This script watches the system clipboard for a value that looks like a bitcoin address, and automatically replaces it with an address controlled by the malware author. The idea is that when someone copies and pastes a bitcoin address to request or send payment, the attacker’s address is used instead.
The attack was discovered by researchers at Reversinglabs
. Since the bitcoin address is known, they have been able to watch for transactions. So far, that address hasn’t seen any activity, so it appears this attack was stopped before it claimed any victims.
In contrast,
a rash of malicious Google Chrome extensions
have been a part of cryptocurrency theft for several months now. Discovered by MyCrypto, these extensions were distributed through a Google Ad campaign that targeted well known cryptocurrency wallets and services. Even once installed, they appeared legitimate up to the point where the user was prompted for their credentials. Those credentials were uploaded to the attackers, and the extensions reverted to their default state. According to the researchers, there have been multiple people that have lost currency as a result.
iOS Mail 0-day
A pair of related
0-day vulnerabilities for the iOS mail app were just released
, and
it’s a bad pair
. First, in some cases the exploits requires no user interaction. On iOS 13, if the mail app is running in the background, simply receiving a malicious message is enough to trigger the bug. In other situations, a user has to attempt to view the malicious message in order to trigger it. In both cases, the flaw is improper handling of system call return values. A malicious email can use various techniques to cause a system call like
mmap
to fail, and once it does, the rest of the message overflows the allocated memory location.
The earliest incident found by researchers at ZecOps seems to date back to January 2018. This bug has been under exploit for over two years. It seems likely that this vulnerability was discovered originally by either a state actor, or an offensive firm like NSO Group. As iOS vulnerabilities are rather rare, whoever discovered this flaw took care to use it sparingly on important targets. A fix is already in the latest iOS beta, but has not currently made it to production iOS. While the earliest known exploit was January 2018, researchers are confident that the vulnerability has been in iOS since 2012, and quite possibly long before then.
This and That
One of the more popular 3rd party Android stores, Aptoide,
had their database compromised
, and their list of accounts and credentials were compromised. It looks like all that was exposed was usernames and hashed passwords.
Google Chrome minted a new stable release on the 15th
, for a single critical bug.
The bug report is still protected
, but we know it’s a use-after-free in the speech recognizer. We can’t see the bug report yet, but
the patch itself is relatively easy to find
. If this sounds familiar, it’s because
we covered the parent issue earlier in the year
. This bug is essentially the same thing, and the pointer fix is just being applied across the board now.
Intel
has published an advisory and a set of firmware updates
for their NUC devices. The flaw can allow escalation of privilege, and they consider it high severity. Not many additional details are available yet, but if you have a NUC, it might be worth grabbing this update.
And finally, do you find yourself kept awake at night wondering about phishing attacks, and their statistics? If so, wonder no longer, as Check Point Software has your back. They
published a report covering the first three months of 2020
, and found that Apple is the most common spoofed brand in phishing emails. They show off a few interesting examples, so if phishing interests you, check out the report. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239954",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T14:49:10",
"content": "“The process begins with rooting the phone, and then remounting /system as writable. ”Operative phrase. On some phones “getting root” is a real pain even for the owner of the phone.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,373,511.273325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/automate-your-xbox/ | Automate Your Xbox | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"Joystick",
"machine learning",
"robot arm",
"servo motor",
"unity",
"xbox controller",
"xbox one"
] | First the robots took our jobs, then they came for our video games. This dystopian future is brought to you by [Little French Kev] who designed
this adorable 3D-printed robot arm to interface with an Xbox One controller joystick
. He shows it off in the video after the break, controlling a ball-balancing physics demonstration written in Unity.
Hats off to him on the quality of the design. There are two parts that nestle the knob of the thumbstick from either side. He mates those pieces with each other using screws, firmly hugging the stick. Bearings are used at the joints for smooth action of the two servo motors that control the arm. The base of the robotic appendage is zip-tied to the controller itself.
The build targets experimentation with machine learning. Since the computer can control the arm via an Arduino, and the computer has access to metrics of what’s happening in the virtual environment, it’s a perfect for training a neural network. Are you thinking what we’re thinking? This is the beginning of hardware speed-running your favorite video games like [SethBling]
did for
Super Mario World
half a decade ago
. It will be more impressive since this would be done by automating the mechanical bit of the controller rather than operating purely in the software realm. You’ll just need to do
your own hack to implement button control
. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239956",
"author": "honeyfaithboyntonNinte",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T14:59:00",
"content": "Personally I do not have a nNintendo account on file!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6239958",
"author": "Dissy",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,373,511.371825 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/24/debugging-for-sed-no-kidding/ | Debugging For Sed — No Kidding | Al Williams | [
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"debugger",
"debugging",
"linux",
"rust",
"sed",
"shell scripting"
] | If you do much Linux shell scripting, you’ve probably encountered
sed
— the stream editor — in an example. Maybe you’ve even used it yourself. If all you want to do is substitute text, it is easy and efficient. But if you try to do really elaborate editing, it is often difficult to get things right. The syntax is cryptic and the documentation is lacking. But thanks to [SoptikHa2] you can now
debug sed scripts with a text-based GUI debugger
. Seriously.
According to the author, the program has several notable features:
Preview variable values, both of them!
See how will a substitute command affect pattern space before it runs
Step through
sed
script – both forward and backward!
Place breakpoints and examine program state
Hot reload and see what changes as you edit source code
Its name is a palindrome
There’s only one word for that last feature: wow.
Honestly, we are more likely to reach for
awk
or Perl if we have heavy lifting, but we know that’s a lot of overhead for many tasks. Being able to see what’s really happening inside
sed
might make us a little less reticent to do things with
sed
in the future.
The code is in Rust and it uses a debugging interface that has always been in
sed
. Who knew? If you want more details, the author has
a blog post
about the program that goes into a bit of detail. The built-in debugging interface gives you a lot of internal state information but omits one thing: the command that is executing. So the debugger has to simulate part of
sed
to keep track of what statement is executing.
If you need debugging on the
rest of your script
, relax. Or, try
avoiding the bugs in the first place
. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239909",
"author": "HorstBaerbel",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T10:54:24",
"content": "seds regular expressions and its syntax are really atrocious. Escape this, but not that, capture groups not working, etc. pp. Maybe the tool helps, but I’d still not go anywhere near sed when I don’t... | 1,760,373,511.327659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/coffee-maker-gives-plants-an-automatic-drip/ | Coffee Maker Gives Plants An Automatic Drip | Kristina Panos | [
"green hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"automatic plant watering",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspberry Pi Zero W",
"soil moisture sensor"
] | Somehow, [Jeremy S Cook]’s wife was able to keep a Keurig machine going for 10 years before it quit slinging caffeine. [Jeremy] got it going again, but decided to buy a new one when he saw how it was inside from a decade of water deposits.
But why throw the machine out like spent coffee grinds?
Since the pump is still good, he decided to turn it into an automatic plant watering machine
. Now the Keurig pumps water using a Raspberry Pi Zero W and a transistor. [Jeremy] can set up watering cron jobs with PuTTY, or push water on demand during dry spells. We love that he wired up a soil moisture sensor to the red/blue LEDs around the brew button — red means the plant is thirsty, purple means water is flowing, and no light means the plant is quenched and happy.
This project is wide open, but cracking into the Keurig is up to you. Fortunately, that part of the build made it into the video, which is firmly planted after the break.
Old coffee makers really do seem suited to taking up plant care in retirement.
Here’s a smart garden made from an espresso machine
. | 36 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239866",
"author": "Nelly Nalson",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T05:26:33",
"content": "Great hack! I wish we could see more real hacks in Hackaday “like back in the good old days”.About those moisture sensors, i read somewhere that those that measure voltage between plates are not so g... | 1,760,373,511.533134 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/freeze-laser-beams-sort-of/ | Freeze Laser Beams — Sort Of | Al Williams | [
"Science",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"laser",
"special effect",
"special effects",
"stroboscopy"
] | They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and by that logic a video must be worth millions. However, from nearly the dawn of photography around 1840, photographers have made fake photographs. In modern times, Photoshop and Deepfake make you mistrust images and videos. [Action Lab] has a great camera trick in which it looks like he can
control the speed of light
. You can see the video below.
You probably can guess that he can’t really do it. But he has videos where a real laser beam appears to slowly move across the screen like a laser blaster shot in a movie. You might think you only need to slow down the video speed, but light is really fast, so you probably can’t practically pull that stunt.
The trick is to build a chopper that interrupts the light beam. The spacing of the aperture and the speed will control how the light appears. Of course, that doesn’t do anything unusual if you are just looking at the scene. The laser beam appears and then disappears as normal, seeming to travel instantly.
The trick is in how a digital camera takes a picture. The scan rate is fast, but the light is faster. So even though the laser traverses the frame all at once, the camera may only capture a piece of it. By controlling the scan rate and the rotation of the chopper, you can make different effects pretty easily. The video took inspiration from an
earlier video
that you might also enjoy.
Sure, you could add the laser shots digitally later. But the fact is, the laser bolts look real because — well — they are. In both videos, you can see people interacting with the beams and it makes it really clear that it isn’t a special effect or, if it is, it is a really good one.
If this inspires you to make your own sci-fi opus, we can suggest
a few props
. Maybe even throw in
a bit of lightning
. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239856",
"author": "Conrad",
"timestamp": "2020-04-24T02:31:16",
"content": "That’s a really cool and great effect. Perfect for those of us who can’t afford femtophotographyhttp://hackaday.com/2012/08/17/femto-photography-taking-pictures-of-bullets-made-of-light/",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,373,511.723049 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/the-rusty-nail-award-for-worst-wifi-antenna/ | The Rusty Nail Award For Worst WiFi Antenna | Dan Maloney | [
"Teardown",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"dipole",
"gain",
"Network analyzer",
"rusty nail",
"wifi"
] | In general, you get what you pay for, and if what you pay for is a dollar-store WiFi antenna that claims to provide 12 dBi of signal gain, you shouldn’t be surprised when
a rusty nail performs better than it
.
The panel antenna that caught [Andrew McNeil]’s eye in a shop in Rome is a marvel of marketing genius. He says what caught his eye was the Windows Vista compatibility label, a ploy that really dates this gem. So too does the utterly irrelevant indication that it’s USB compatible when it’s designed to plug into an SMA jack on a WiFi adapter. [Andrew]’s teardown was uninspiring, revealing just a PCB with some apparently random traces to serve as the elements of a dipole. We found it amusing that the PCB silkscreen labels the thru-holes as H1 to H6, which is a great way to make an uncrowded board seem a bit more important.
The test results were no more impressive than the teardown. A network analyzer scan revealed that the antenna isn’t tuned for the 2.4-GHz WiFi band at all, and practical tests with the antenna connected to an adapter were unable to sniff out any local hotspots. And just to hammer home the point of how bad this antenna is, [Andrew] cobbled together a simple antenna from an SMA connector and a rusty nail, which handily outperformed the panel antenna.
We’ve seen plenty of [Andrew McNeil]’s WiFi antenna videos before, like
his umbrella and tin can dish
. We like the sanity he brings to the often wild claims of WiFi enthusiasts and detractors alike, especially when he showed that
WiFi doesn’t kill houseplants
. We can’t help but wonder what he thinks about
the current 5G silliness
. | 34 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239826",
"author": "Jim",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T23:32:26",
"content": "I would be suspicious of your test setup with the sudden jump at 2.4 GHz. I would wonder if you have a calibration artifact.You didn’t say, but what parameter are you looking at? Return Loss (Mag(S11)) – Does... | 1,760,373,511.921328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/researchers-break-fpga-encryption-using-fpga-encryption/ | Researchers Break FPGA Encryption Using FPGA Encryption | Elliot Williams | [
"classic hacks",
"FPGA"
] | [
"decryption",
"fpga",
"hack",
"hmac",
"Oracle",
"signing",
"xilinx"
] | FPGAs are awesome — they can be essentially configured into becoming any computing device you want. Simply load your selected bitstream into the device on boot, and it behaves like a different piece of hardware. With great power comes great responsibility.
You might try to hack a given FPGA system by getting between the EEPROM that stores the bitstream and the FPGA during bootup, but FPGA manufacturers are a step ahead of you. Xilinx 7 series FPGAs have an onboard encryption and signing engine, and facilities for storing a secret key. Once the security bit is set, bitstreams coming in have to be encrypted to protect from eavesdropping, and HMAC-signed to assure that they are authentic. You can’t simply read the bitstream in transit or inject your own.
Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum and Max Planck Institute for Cybersecurity and Privacy in Germany have figured out a way to
use the FPGA’s own encryption engine against itself
to break both of these security guarantees for the entire mainstream 7-series. The attack abuses a MultiBoot function that allows you to specify an address to begin execution after reboot. The researchers send 32 bits of the encoded payload as a MultiBoot address, the FPGA decrypts it and stores it in a register, and then resets because their command wasn’t correctly
HMAC
signed. But because the
WBSTAR
register is meant to be readable on boot after reset, the payload is still there in its decrypted form. Repeat for every 32 bits in the bitstream, and you’re done.
Pulling off this attack requires physical access to the FPGA’s debug pins and up to 12 hours, so you only have to worry about particularly dedicated adversaries, but the results are catastrophic — if you can reconfigure an FPGA, you can make it do essentially anything. Security-sensitive folks, we have three words of consolation for you: “restrict physical access”.
What does this mean for Hackaday? If you’re looking at a piece of hardware with a hardened Xilinx 7-series FPGA in it, you’ll be able to use it, although it’s horribly awkward for debugging due to the multi-hour encryption procedure. Anyone know of a good side-channel bootloader for these chips? On the other hand, if you’re just looking to dig secrets out from the bitstream, this is a one-time cost.
This hack is probably only tangentially relevant to the Symbiflow team’s effort to reverse-engineer an open-source toolchain for this series of FPGAs. They are using unencrypted bitstreams for all of their research, naturally, and are
almost done anyway
. Still, it widens the range of applicability just a little bit, and we’re all for that.
[Banner image is a
Numato Lab Neso
, and comes totally unlocked naturally.] | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239794",
"author": "mathman",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T20:51:13",
"content": "Well, how theturntables……or in German “Da hat sich die Wendung aber geblättert” (Doesn’t make much sense either…)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6... | 1,760,373,511.979166 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/how-to-keep-unique-equipment-running-when-parts-run-out/ | How To Keep Unique Equipment Running When Parts Run Out | Donald Papp | [
"hardware",
"how-to"
] | [
"COTS",
"obsolete",
"one-of-a-kind",
"reverse engineering"
] | [JGlass] deals with public-facing technology, which he says includes things like theatre equipment, retail displays, and museum displays. Many of these pieces of technology are literally one-of-a-kind devices, even if they were constructed from what was once off-the-shelf, commercially available parts. When these machines need servicing, replacement parts aren’t always available, and reverse engineering comes in handy. He recently
began documenting exactly how to approach this process by using the identification and replacement of an obsolete 7-segment industrial display
as an example.
The particular part shown is the
Lascar EM32-4-LED
, which up and died in a unique piece of equipment. The trouble is that the EM32-4-LED is out of production and unobtainable, and the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) that drives the whole thing is a black box that cannot be modified. It’s very good news that a datasheet exists, but that’s often just a starting point. To create a one-off, drop-in solution requires a combination of research, troubleshooting, and design work.
To do this, [JGlass] starts off by walking through datasheet elements and explains that it’s important to build a high level understanding of function first, then drill down into details, and always be ready to verify, challenge, or throw out one’s assumptions. After establishing a high level understanding comes matching physical evidence to things like block and functional diagrams, then cracking open the faulty component to see if anything else can be learned. Only then are multimeters and probes taken out for more active research. All of this sleuthing must always be done with the end goal firmly in mind: creating a new device that
acts like
the one being replaced. Without focus, one can easily get lost in details and unknowns.
Reverse Engineering is a process, and the more tools, the better. If you missed
our earlier post about a hacker’s guide to JTAG
, here’s your chance to check it out and be all the more prepared for the next time you need to do some electron detective work of your own. | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239781",
"author": "Doug Leppard",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T19:18:06",
"content": "My son in laws hot tub went out . The main parts seemed to be working so it seemed the control board was blown, no way to be sure without replacing it. So i built a control board using and arduino ... | 1,760,373,512.444684 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/so-you-bought-a-vna-now-what/ | So. You Bought A VNA. Now What? | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Radio Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"nanovna",
"RF",
"vna"
] | It’s never too late in life for new experiences, but there’s a new experience I had a few weeks ago that I wasn’t expecting. I probably received my first piece of test equipment – a multimeter – in the early 1980s, and since then every time I’ve received a new one, whether an oscilloscope, logic analyser, spectrum analyser or signal generator, I’ve been able to figure out how to use it. I have a good idea what it does, and I can figure out whatever its interface may be to make it do what I want it to. My new experience came when I bought a piece of test equipment, and for the first time in my life didn’t have a clue how to use it.
That instrument is a Vector Network Analyser, or VNA, and it’s worth spending a while going through the basics in case anyone else is in the same position. My VNA is not a superlative piece of high-end instrumentation that cost the GDP of a small country, it’s the popular $50 NanoVNA that has a fairly modest frequency range and performance, but is still a functional VNA that can take useful measurements. But I’m a VNA newbie, what does a VNA
do
?
A Quick VNA Primer
The NanoVNA block diagram.
If you work with radio frequencies, it’s relatively easy to measure amplitudes, but usually very difficult to take phase and impedance measurements, especially across a wide frequency range. So for example
I was able to fire a set of frequencies at a filter in a previous Hackaday article
using only a Raspberry Pi and an oscilloscope, but all I could measure was its bandwidth, I knew nothing about its impedance and the phase relationships between input and output. This type of analyser is refered to as a Scalar Network Analyser, and all the measuring device knows about the signal is its frequency and amplitude. Where the scalar analyser simply has an oscillator and a sensor, the VNA mates the oscillator with a reflectometer to measure impedance, and replaces the sensor with a software defined radio receiver. Both oscillator and SDR are in perfect synchronisation so the device can keep track of phase as well as the rest of the measurements. A computer controls it all.
The first playground for the NanoVNA, an RF demo board.
The NanoVNA
originated a few years ago from [edy555], and has since been cloned in huge numbers by Chinese manufacturers. It’s a surprisingly simple piece of hardware, with an Si5351 clock generator providing the phase-synchronous oscillators, a brace of three balanced mixers providing the RF-to-baseband downconversion, an I2S codec digitizing the measurements, and an STM32F07 ARM Cortex M0 microcontroller doing all the math and running the show.
If a VNA is that simple, you might be asking why commercial ones are so expensive then, but the answer lies in the rather limited capabilities of the NanoVNA. It has a fundamental frequency range of 300 MHz, it uses an audio ADC, and its RF components are not of a particularly high spec. Compared with a commercial model that will have a frequency range in the GHz, a much higher specification ADC, a much lower noise figure, and a hugely more capable computing system to drive it, it becomes rapidly obvious where the extra cash goes before you have even considered matters such as calibration.
The NanoVNA is a real VNA and it’s very useful for radio amateurs and hobbyists, but it’s still something of a toy in the scheme of VNAs. So having discovered what the NanoVNA is, how do we use it? This isn’t a review of the device, instead it’s a write-up of my experiences with it as a first-time user.
Diving Into My Toy VNA
The first step this voyage of discovery is to calibrate the device, which is to say to establish its baseline for measurements. It’s shipped with a set of SMA connector loads and shorts and open-circuits, and it is here that these are required. Rather than step through the whole process pretending to be an expert it’s easiest to
link to the site on which I found the calibration procedure
. In short: you hook up each of the standards in order to your VNA, and run the appropriate calibration routine. The NanoVNA is controlled by a little jog switch and a not-very-responsive touch screen, so there is a bit of a learning curve in getting to know its interface. Little tricks such as finding the on-screen keyboard and then understanding that the “M”, “K”, and “G” buttons refer to megahertz, kilohertz, or gigahertz, and also function as return keys are essential.
What a Baofeng whip antenna looks like on a VNA
Once you have calibrated it and understood the interface, it becomes a very straightforward instrument to use. I also picked up an “RF Demo kit”, a PCB with a set of test RF networks, filters, and attenuators. This allowed me my first chance to play with it, and immediately the ease of taking readings became apparent. There are a variety of traces as well as a Smith chart, and a group of measurements at the top of the screen that correspond to a set of markers on each trace.
The jog switch on the NanoVNA allows paging through the frequency range, and each reading can be seen for each frequency. I could zero in on a particular frequency and see its impedance, pick out the exact cut-off point of a filter, and hook up an antenna and tell straight away whether it needs tuning. The cheap-and-nasty dual-band whip antenna on my Baofeng was revealed to be perhaps not as nasty as I’d supposed at 144 MHz, but somewhat off frequency at 430 MHz, for example. The VNA was living up to its reputation as the Holy Grail of RF test equipment, and even after only a few days of owning one I can’t quite see how I ever managed without it.
What I discovered after my initial bafflement at my NanoVNA was that a lifetime of playing with RF and also being used to figuring out new test equipment has held me in good stead. I will probably never become a VNA savant in the way that a lifetime of using all types of oscilloscopes has made me with those instruments, but I can now use it to quickly make measurements I wouldn’t have thought possible before I owned it. | 33 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239775",
"author": "jrfl",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T18:54:34",
"content": "VNAs are really fun tools, and the fact that you can get such a capable unit for $50 to play with is really neat. Frequency range and accuracy isn’t the same as the million dollar units from keysight, but fo... | 1,760,373,512.344761 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/pouring-creativity-into-musical-upcycling-of-plastic-bottles/ | Pouring Creativity Into Musical Upcycling Of Plastic Bottles | Roger Cheng | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"2-liter bottle",
"air pressure",
"bottle organ",
"music",
"musical instrument",
"percussion",
"plastic bottle",
"reuse",
"soda bottle"
] | Convenient and inexpensive, plastic beverage bottles are ubiquitous in modern society. Many of us have a collection of empties at home. We are encouraged to reduce, reuse, and recycle such plastic products and [Kaboom Percussion]
playing Disney melodies on their Bottlephone 2.0
(video embedded below) showcases an outstanding melodic creation for the “reuse” column.
Details of this project are outlined in a separate “
How we made it
” video (also embedded below). Caps of empty bottles are fitted with commodity TR414 air valves. The pitch of each bottle is tuned by adjusting pressure. Different beverage brands were evaluated for pleasing tone of their bottles, with the winners listed. Pressure levels going up to 70 psi means changes in temperature and inevitable air leakage makes keeping this instrument in tune a never-ending task. But that is a relatively simple mechanical procedure. What’s even more impressive on display is the musical performance talent of this team, assisted by some creative video editing. Sadly for us, such skill does not come in a bottle. Alcohol only makes us
believe
we are skilled without improving actual skill.
But that’s OK, this is Hackaday where we thrive on building machines to perform for us. We hope it won’t be long before a MIDI-controlled variant is built by someone, perhaps incorporating an air compressor for self-tuning capabilities. We’ve featured bottles as musical instruments before, but usually as wind instruments like
this bottle organ
or
the fipple
. This is a percussion instrument more along the lines of
the wine glass organ
. It’s great to see different combinations explored, and we are certain there are more yet to come.
To see an earlier iteration, here’s
their Disney performance with Bottlephone 1.0
and
their Christmas concert
. Plus another
behind-the-scenes
video that includes harvesting bottles in a sports stadium. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239728",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T15:39:58",
"content": "How in the heck do they get that kind of resonance out of these bottles? That’s got to be fancy miking and post processing, right?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,512.270576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/the-back-and-forth-of-windshield-wipers-and-patent-lawsuits/ | The Back And Forth Of Windshield Wipers And Patent Lawsuits | Al Williams | [
"Featured",
"History",
"Slider"
] | [
"Ford Motor Company",
"patent",
"patents",
"Windshield Wiper",
"windshield wipers"
] | Who among us hasn’t dreamed of having some brainstorm idea, prototyping it, and then have some huge company put it into worldwide production? The problem is, that’s not really as easy as it sounds in most cases. Take the case of Robert Kearns. Never heard of him? You use the result of one of his patents pretty often; Kearns invented the intermittent windshield wiper.
If he had sold the patent to one of the big carmakers, this would be a short article. Not that he didn’t try. But it didn’t go very well and while, in the end, he prevailed, it was a very expensive victory.
“Neat, You Should Patent That!”
Early windshield wipers came with two settings: on and off. If it wasn’t raining very hard you had to turn the wipers on, then off, then on again a few seconds later. One of those minor annoyances, but an annoyance, nonetheless.
If you’ve driven a car made in this century, you know how an intermittent wiper works. You flip the switch and the wiper blade makes a pass. Then it waits a long time — usually a selectable long time — before it sweeps again. Just the ticket when you have a little sprinkling going on. Is this a solid enough invention to file a patent?
Patent law is a strange thing. An invention has to be non-obvious. You could argue that a wiper that pauses a bit ought to be pretty obvious, but there are several patents for just that thing. In 1923,
Raymond Anderson patented an electro-mechanical design
. He also mentions that others have made intermittent wipers using solenoids, but they were noisy. So the idea had to predate this 1923 filing. Like many things, it wasn’t a very practical idea until transistors came along. A British car maker’s engineer, J. C. Amos
patented a solid-state intermittent wiper control circuit in 1961
.
In 1964, three years later,
Kearns patented his design
. We aren’t patent lawyers, but it seems like people had thought of the idea and that using a transistor and an RC network to accomplish the goal probably was not novel. However, regardless of what you think of the grounds, Kearns got his patent. So we are halfway to our inventor-makes-good Cinderella story, right?
Windshield Wipers Inspired By the Eyelid
Kearns said that he had thought about the wiper because of an event that happened a decade prior while on his honeymoon. A champagne cork hit his left eye leaving him legally blind on that side. While driving through light rain, he found the wiper blade was distracting his already impaired vision. He thought about how the human eyelid didn’t blink on a fixed cycle and decided to try making a prototype.
He built a lab in his basement and used a windshield from the junkyard to do tests. In 1963, he had a prototype attached to a Ford Galaxie convertible. He drove that car to a meeting with executives at Ford.
Ford seemed interested but made no promises. They did ask him back for a second meeting, though. That meeting was with engineers who asked a lot of questions. They were apparently working on their own system for the upcoming Mercury. They continued to meet for two years, but Ford never offered him a business deal. By 1965, Ford stopped calling. I’m sure you can see where this is going. In 1969, Ford started offering electronic intermittent wipers.
In 1976, Kearns’ son Dennis took apart a wiper control box from a Mercedes-Benz. The circuit inside was an exact copy of the circuit in his Father’s patent. Kearns started looking at patent filings by Ford, General Motors, Volkswagon, and others. They had all just copied key elements of his design.
Legal Battles
Kearns filed lawsuits in 1977 against several car makers. While he had some legal help, he mostly acted as his own attorney. That cost him as apparently several cases were dismissed on technicalities an experienced attorney would have handled (for example, missing a deadline to file). It took 13 years, but Ford finally settled for $10.2 million. In 1992, Chrysler lost to the tune of $30 million, but an appeal and an attempt to go to the Supreme Court meant he didn’t really see that money until much later.
The cost was high. Kearns spent a lot of money pursuing these cases. He suffered a nervous breakdown and his long-standing marriage dissolved. While $10 million sounds like a lot — and that value in 1990 is closer to $20 million when adjusted for inflation — the real damages could have been much worse. In 1990, Ford had made 16.8 million cars with the wipers subject to the lawsuit. Kearns had been seeking $50 per infringement which would have over $800 million.
The carmakers did wait Kearns out in one way. By the time the cases settled, the patent had expired, meaning he only received damages during the term of the patent.
Pyrrhic Victory?
There’s a lot to think about here. While a patent is a great thing, it only helped Kearns because he was ready to go on a decade-long fight with companies that had much deeper pockets than he did. We aren’t sure the original patent was very novel and non-obvious, but the courts held them up, so that’s what counts.
This doesn’t appear to be an isolated incident either. An earlier case
mentioned in this 1983 Washington Post article
showed that Ford infringed on a power steering pump patent and had to pay a ten-cent royalty on 6.5 million pumps. There have been recent
lawsuits over hybrid systems
(settled), turn signals, and
MIT-developed emissions systems
(which they won). Ford’s been embroiled in lawsuits over patents from the very beginning. In 1903, George Selden sued Ford and four other automakers over his 1895 patent for the
Selden Road Engine
. Selden won but then lost on appeal.
The topic of patents is certainly a messy one. Many think of them as a protection for the inventor’s breakthrough. But then you see that
Ford sometimes patents the shape of windshields
— possibly to prevent third-parties from making replacements. It isn’t just Ford, of course. Patents have become a dog-eat-dog business tool. Right or wrong, you better have deep pockets to defend your patent.
Kearns, who died in 2005, was the subject of the 2008 film
Flash of Genius
where Greg Kinnear played the inventor. During his life, he’d filed
quite a few lawsuits
in his quest to protect his patent. | 50 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239687",
"author": "Elizabeth MacDonald",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T14:14:00",
"content": "My grandfather invented a very simple automatic windshield wiper system that adjusts the speed depending on the level of precip. We helped him patent it, but were never able to do much with it... | 1,760,373,512.956567 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/3d-printed-covid-stuff-thats-not-face-shields-or-ventilators/ | 3D-Printed COVID Stuff That’s Not Face Shields Or Ventilators | Mike Szczys | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"bias tape",
"Covid-19",
"earsaver",
"functional 3d printing",
"mask"
] | The coolest stories from the hacker community this year are the rapid manufacturing efforts that have gone on in response to COVID-19. But [Mark Rehorst], frequently featured on these pages for his clever takes on 3D printing, shared a couple of really useful prints that are out of the ordinary for what we’ve been seeing:
bias tape folders and ear savers
.
Initial bias tape folding jig design
by ongaroo
Tailors around the world have threaded the needle on grass-roots face mask production. One of the more labor intensive parts of sewing a face mask is the fastening mechanism. With elastic straps, the size of the loops needs to be just right, but when you run out of elastic you need to sew straps. Bias tape is a popular material for that, but it’s finicky to fold and hold it for sewing.
[Mark] heard of the need and grabbed a bias tape folder design from Thingiverse. These work kind of like a zipper, pulling in the unfolded tape on one side and feeding it out the other, folded nicely for the needle and thread to take over. But of course he did one better, refining the original design to use less plastic to get more parts, faster, with less material use — win, win, win.
Speaking of those mask straps, it turns out the backs of your ears don’t like being rubbed raw for back-to-back-to-back 12-hour shifts at the hospital. We’ve seen health workers, themselves skilled hackers, recommend
sewing buttons onto a headband
to hold the mask straps.
Button/Headband earsaver
3D-printed earsaver
Mark’s revised earsaver design
But the 3D-printing world has an “earsaver” that provides a series of hooks on a plastic band that loops behind your head. Once again, [Mark] iterated on the standard design, finding ways to reduce material use while also fitting more units onto a single printer bed.
These functional prints are glamorous in their own ways. We love seeing hard-working 3D-printed items, but we love it even more when we see them getting better and better with each new version. The back story and the design files for the improved versions are
available on his project writeup
. Go [Mark]! | 42 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239641",
"author": "Andy Pugh",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T11:37:27",
"content": "That bias folder looks like it is asking to be combined into a sewing-machine presser-foot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239669",
"au... | 1,760,373,512.525924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/23/underwater-crawling-soft-robot-stays-in-shape/ | Underwater Crawling Soft Robot Stays In Shape | Moritz v. Sivers | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"opencv",
"soft robot",
"underwater"
] | When you think of robots that were modeled after animals, a brittle star is probably not the first species that comes to mind. Still, this is the animal that inspired [Zach J. Patterson] and his research colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University for their
underwater crawling robot PATRICK
.
PATRICK is a soft robot made from molded silicone. Each of his five limbs contains several shape memory alloy (SMA) springs which can be contracted through Joule heating thereby causing the limbs to bend. The robot’s control board is sending and receiving commands via Bluetooth Low Energy from a nearby computer. To control PATRICK’s motion the researchers constructed a closed-loop system where an offboard
OpenCV
based camera system is constantly tracking the robot. As shown in the video below with an average velocity of 1 cm/s, PATRICK’s movement is a bit sluggish but the system is supposedly very robust against uncertainties in the environment.
In the future [Zach J. Patterson et al.] would like to improve their design by giving the robot the ability to grasp objects. Ultimately, also the offboard camera should be replaced with onboard sensors so that PATRICK can navigate autonomously.
Soft robots like
artificial jellyfish
are especially useful underwater and sometimes
almost cross the boundary to organic life. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239604",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T08:18:28",
"content": "But… can it eat mussels [1], too?[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Starfishmussel.jpg",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6239720",
"author"... | 1,760,373,512.391585 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/trampoline-bounce-counter-has-raspberry-pi-automate-away-your-parental-duties/ | Trampoline Bounce Counter Has Raspberry Pi Automate Away Your Parental Duties | Mike Szczys | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"bounce counter",
"mini-tramp",
"systemd",
"trampoline",
"ultrasonic distance sensor"
] | If you have a toddler and a mini-tramp you know the rallying cry of “Mama, Count!”. If you don’t don’t have either of these things, become the hero uncle or aunt by building one for your family members who have been social distancing with a three-year-old
monster
bundle of joy for the last five weeks. This
trampoline bounce counter uses a Raspberry Pi and a distance sensor
to stream the bounce count to a nice little web GUI.
The hardware couldn’t be more simple, and there’s a good chance you already have everything on hand. The HC-SR04 ultrasonic distance sensor is a staple in beginner microcontroller kits. It simply lays on the floor pointed up at the bottom of the trampoline, connected to a Raspberry Pi via a resistor divider.
The software is where [Eric Escobar’s] project makes your life easy. He’s included a simple calibration routine that marks the low point of a bounce as you stand still on the tramp. There’s even a systemd service file included to ensure the software is always running, even after reboot. Cumulative bounce count can be seen on a webpage served from the Pi via an AJAX script.
Having a running count is a great first step, and surely a magical new feature of the trampoline that will be loved by the little ones. If that sense of wonder runs out, you could always gamify the system by adding in daily or hourly totals and a high-scores board.
It seems [Eric] is well practiced at automating his responsibilities away. We previously saw him
use a Raspberry Pi to control the door of his chicken coop
. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239626",
"author": "elwing",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T10:29:30",
"content": "you do realize a trampoline is actually quite bad for children if done for too long, right?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239629",
"autho... | 1,760,373,512.616449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/machine-learning-algorithm-runs-on-a-breadboard-6502/ | Machine Learning Algorithm Runs On A Breadboard 6502 | Dan Maloney | [
"Machine Learning",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"6502",
"atari 2600",
"breadboard",
"gesture recognition",
"k-nearest neighbor",
"machine learning",
"machine vision",
"Vectron"
] | When it comes to machine learning algorithms, one’s thoughts do not naturally flow to the 6502, the processor that powered some of the machines in the first wave of the PC revolution. And one definitely does not think of
gesture recognition running on a homebrew breadboard version of a 6502 machine
, and yet that’s exactly what [Nick Bild] has accomplished.
Before anyone gets too worked up in the comments, we realize that [Nick]’s Vectron breadboard computer is getting a lot of help from other, more modern machines. He’s got a pair of Raspberry Pi 3s in the mix, one to capture and downscale images from a Pi cam, and one that interfaces to an Atari 2600 emulator and sends keypresses to control games based on the gestures seen by the camera. But the logic to convert gesture to control signals is all Vectron, and uses a
k
-nearest neighbor algorithm executed in 6502 assembly. Fifty gesture images are stored in ROM and act as references for the four known gesture classes: up, down, left, and right. When a match between the camera image and a gesture class is found, the corresponding keypress is sent to the game. The video below shows that the whole thing is pretty responsive.
In our original article on [Nick]’s
Vectron breadboard computer
, [Tom Nardi] said that “You won’t be playing
Prince of Persia
on it.” That may be true, but a machine learning system running on the Vectron is not too shabby either. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239563",
"author": "Allan-H",
"timestamp": "2020-04-23T02:44:20",
"content": "The T-800 ran on a 6502. We all know where this leads.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239572",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,373,512.564446 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/millennium-falcon-docking-bay-doubles-as-table/ | Millennium FalconDocking Bay Doubles As Table | Tom Nardi | [
"LED Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"diorama",
"millenium falcon",
"model",
"model making",
"RGB LED",
"star wars"
] | A glass table makes a perfect display case for showing off whatever’s important to you, but if you want keep the dust off of your treasures, closing up the sides is probably a wise move. It might not be a bad idea to put some lighting in there to make sure everything is easy to see. You might as well make the lights RGB and remote controlled, so you can fiddle with the look from across the room. Of course, you could go all in and just make the thing a diorama…
It’s not hard to imagine the line of thinking that convinced [Erv Plecter] he
should turn a simple glass table into a docking bay for a model of the
Millennium Falcon
, and looking at the final results, we think it was the right move. With an incredible attention to detail, what started out a generic looking table and rather modest toy, have been combined into an interactive display that could woo even the staunchest of Trekkies.
If you’ve ever considered lighting a model, this project is an excellent example to follow. The Hasbro toy that [Erv] started with certainly wasn’t what you’d call studio quality; the little lighting it featured wasn’t even accurate to how the ship appears in the films. But with some reference material, fiber optic cables, and enough Arduinos to drive it all, the final lighting is truly a marvel. We’d say the engine is our favorite part, but those tiny lit panels in the cockpit are hard to beat.
While the
Falcon
is clearly the star of the show, the docking bay itself is certainly no afterthought. The back-lit panels, with their inscrutable Imperial design aesthetic, look fantastic. The addition of small details like crates and barrels, plus the glossy black PVC sheet used for the floor, really brings the whole scene to life. It’s almost a shame that the ship itself is so big, as a smaller model would have left more room to toss in a few Stormtroopers and droids out on patrol.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen somebody
augment a “toy” grade model with additional lighting effects.
While the scale miniature aficionados in the audience might turn their nose up at some of the artistic liberties taken on these low fidelity models, we think any normal person would be blown away if they saw them in person. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239536",
"author": "gregg4",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T23:25:43",
"content": "Does the writer mean “trekker”? The term used described someone who really can’t separate reality from fiction, and typically dresses like their favorite character might.",
"parent_id": null,
"dept... | 1,760,373,512.673778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/servo-powered-7-segments-choreograph-this-chronograph/ | Servo-Powered 7-Segments Choreograph This Chronograph | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"clock hacks"
] | [
"7-segment display",
"arduino",
"clock",
"DS1302",
"multiple 7-segment display",
"rtc",
"servo"
] | Good clocks are generally those that keep time well. But we think the mark of a great clock is one that can lure the observer into watching time pass. It doesn’t really matter how technical a timepiece is — watching sand shimmy through an hourglass has its merits, too. But just when we were sure that there was nothing new to be done in the realm of 7-segment clocks,
[thediylife] said ‘hold my beer’ and produced this beauty
.
A total of 28 servos are used to independently control four displays’ worth of 3D-printed segments. The servos pivot each segment back and forth 90° between two points: upward and flat-faced to display the time when called upon, and then down on its side to rest while its not needed.
Circuit-wise, the clock’s not all that complicated, though it certainly looks like a time-consuming build. The servos are controlled by an Arduino through a pair of 16-channel servo drivers, divided up by HH and MM segments. The Arduino fetches the time from a DS1302 RTC module and splits the result up into four-digit time. Code-wise, each digit gets its own array, which stores the active and inactive positions for each servo. Demo and full explanation of the build and code are waiting after the break.
When it comes to 7-segment displays, we say the more the merrier.
Here’s a clock that uses pretty much all of them
. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239489",
"author": "Fjohl",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T20:20:31",
"content": "I’d really like to see someone make a completely mechanical 7 segment clock",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239503",
"author": "electrobob",... | 1,760,373,512.725252 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/lock-your-keys-in-the-car-on-purpose/ | Lock Your Keys In The Car On Purpose With Aluminum Foil | Bryan Cockfield | [
"car hacks",
"Radio Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"car",
"key",
"keyfob",
"lock",
"radio",
"sensors",
"surf"
] | [TJ] is a surfer, and drives his car to get to the beach. But when he gets there he’s faced with a dilemma that most surfers have: either put his key in your baggies (shorts) or wetsuit and hope it doesn’t get lost during a wipeout, or stash it on the rear wheel of his car. Hiding the keyfob by the car isn’t an option because it can open the car doors just by being in proximity to the car. He didn’t want to risk losing it to the ocean either, so he built
a waveguide of sorts for his key
out of aluminum foil that lets him lock the key in the car without locking himself out.
Over a series of trials, [TJ] found out that his car, a 2017 Chevy Cruze, has a series of sensors in it which can determine the location of the keyfob based on triangulation. If it thinks the keyfob is outside of the car, it allows the door to be locked or unlocked with a button on the door handle. If the keyfob is inside the car, though, it prevents the car from locking via the door handles so you don’t accidentally lock yourself out. He found out that he could “focus” the signals of the specific sensors that make the car think the keyfob is outside by building an open Faraday cage.
The only problem now is that while the doors can be locked, they could also can be unlocked. To solve that problem he rigged up an ESP32 to a servo to open and close the opening in the Faraday cage. This still means there’s a hidden device used to activate the ESP32, but odds are that it’s a cheaper device to replace than a modern car key and improves security “
through obscurity
“. If you have any ideas for improving [TJ]’s build, though, leave them in the comments below.
Surfers across the world
from [TJ] to the author would be appreciative. | 74 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239462",
"author": "Andy Pugh",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T18:39:29",
"content": "Cavers too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6239464",
"author": "Nexion",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T18:47:06",
"content": "Add camera an... | 1,760,373,513.064299 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/printed-it-collet-drill-stop/ | Printed It: Collet Drill Stop | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"adjustable",
"collet",
"drill",
"drill bit",
"flex",
"nut",
"PETG"
] | You’d think that being quarantined in your home would be perfect for hackers and makers like us, as we all have a project or two that’s been sitting on the back burner because we didn’t have the time to tackle it. Unfortunately, some are finding that the problem now is actually getting the parts and tools needed to do the job. When there’s a bouncer and a line outside the Home Depot like it’s a nightclub on Saturday night, even the simplest of things can be difficult to source when making in the time of COVID.
Which is exactly the situation I found myself in recently when I needed to drill a bunch of holes to the same depth. The piece was too big to put in the drill press, and while I contemplated just wrapping the bit in some tape to serve as a makeshift stop, I wasn’t convinced it would be accurate or repeatable enough. It occurred to me that a set of drill stop collars would be easy enough to design and 3D print, but before I fired up OpenSCAD, I decided to see what was already available online.
Which is how I found
the “Collet Drill Stop” from Adam Harrison
. Rather than the traditional ring and setscrew arrangement, his design uses a printable collet that will clamp down on the bit at an arbitrary position without tools. So not only could I avoid a trip to the store by printing this design out, it looked like it would potentially be an upgrade over what I would have bought.
Of course, it’s wise not to take anything for granted when dealing with 3D printing. The only way I could be sure that Adam’s design would work for me was to commit it to plastic and try it out.
Plastic Makes Perfect
Plastic is great for many applications, but terrible for others. Unfortunately it’s the only thing our desktop 3D printers can squirt out right now, so that means it often gets pushed into service when it really shouldn’t.
The collet needs to be flexible enough to compress when the nut is tightened.
But that’s not really the case here. There will never be any serious load placed on the drill stop, it just needs to hold onto the bit securely enough that it doesn’t slide around. There’s no reason plastic can’t be used for this application, assuming you’ve got the right kind.
Which is where some people might get stuck with this design. As Adam explains, you really need to use two different plastics for this to work: a stiff plastic for the two-sided nut, and a soft and semi-flexible one for the collet itself so it can be squeezed down. He recommends PLA and PETG respectively, which is what I personally went with. For the collet, you want a material that can flex a millimeter or so without breaking, but it still hard enough to take some abuse.
Finally, the use of plastics for the drill stop actually has a considerable advantage over metal. The face of the PETG collet is soft enough to not mar or scratch the surface of whatever you’re drilling if you bottom out. If you’re just boring some holes in a piece of wood, it likely won’t matter, but if you’re trying to make openings in a control panel or something along those lines, it might be worth printing this out just to be sure you don’t inadvertently tear anything up.
Getting the Right Slice
Just as material selection is important for this print, so are the slicer settings. If you just print all the parts out using your normal configuration, things probably aren’t going to go very well for you. Adam recommends 100% infill on the PETG collet, which might sound like a lot, but won’t really make much of a dent on your spool given how small they are. On a Prusa i3 MK3 with default PETG settings, each collet took a little over an hour to print at 100% infill.
Variable layer height in PrusaSlicer 2.2.0
The nuts are a different story. A lower infill isn’t a problem for these parts, especially in PLA, but you do need to make sure you’re printing at a high enough resolution for the threads to come out cleanly.
The only problem with that is, half of each nut has no surface detail at all on it. The threads might need to get printed at 0.1 mm, but the knurled body would be more than happy with a lower resolution that doesn’t take so long to print.
Traditionally you’d just set the slicer to 0.1 mm and deal with the extended print time. But these days
we’ve got tricks like variable layer height
. PrusaSlicer just added automatic layer height adjustment
in version 2.2.0
, and if you haven’t played with it already, this print is a great example of how it can be beneficial.
When sliced with a static layer height of 0.1 mm, each side of the nut would take approximately two hours to print. But by enabling variable layer height and selecting the adaptive mode, the slicer will automatically determine where the resolution is actually needed. In the image, you can see that PrusaSlicer has rightly concluded that the detail level can be reduced on the bottom half of the nut, and turned back up when it gets to the threads. By doing a large chunk of the print at 0.25 mm, total print time was reduced to slightly over one hour.
Taking it for a Spin, Literally
So before you spend the roughly four hours necessary to print out the nut and a couple different sized collets, you probably want to know how well the thing works. Well, I’m happy to report that it more than met my expectations.
The printed threads on the nut are exceptionally smooth, and the slight flex of the PETG allows each collet to adapt to fit different sized bits while clamping down tight once the nut has been snugged up. As long as you’ve selected the appropriate sized collet, this thing isn’t going anywhere. The pressure necessary to get the stop to slide up the bit even with a hand-tightening is considerable, and certainly more than would ever be put on it while drilling.
That said, it’s not perfect. The whole assembly is rather large, so depending on the length of the bit you’re trying to use it on, you might not be able to set the appropriate depth before the rear of the nut runs into the chuck. The diameter of the nut is also wide enough that you might have trouble if you’re working in a tight spot, though that’s probably more of an edge case.
All things considered, it would probably be a stretch to say that Adam Harrison’s “Collet Drill Stop” is actually
better
than a simple set of metal collars. But the tool-free design is certainly very convenient, and as long as you aren’t trying to use it with very short bits, its performance should be more than sufficient for the kind of light duty work most of us get ourselves into. I know it will certainly still be in my bag of tricks long after quarantine is lifted. | 25 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239437",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T17:27:59",
"content": "If you warm up the drill a little bit and stick it through a piece of plastic, you can make the piece run the grooves of the drill and just use a set screw to hold it in place from the side.",
"parent_id... | 1,760,373,513.235651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/3d-print-your-way-to-a-bartop-arcade-cabinet/ | 3D Print Your Way To A Bartop Arcade Cabinet | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Games",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3D printed enclosure",
"arcade",
"arcade cabinet",
"bartop",
"emulation",
"retropie"
] | Custom arcade machines have always been a fairly common project in the hacker and maker circles, but they’ve really taken off with the advent of the Raspberry Pi and turn-key controller kits. With all the internals neatly sorted, the only thing you need to figure out is the cabinet itself. Unfortunately, that’s often the trickiest part. Without proper woodworking tools, or ideally a CNC router, it can be tough going to build a decent looking cabinet out of the traditional MDF panels.
But if you’re willing to leave wood behind,
[Gerrit Gazic] might have a solution for you
. This bartop arcade, which he calls the
simplyRetro D8
, uses a fully 3D printed cabinet. He’s gone through the trouble of designing it so there are no visible screw holes, so it looks like the whole thing was hewn from a chunk of pure synthwave ore. He notes that this can make the assembly somewhat tricky in a few spots, but we think it’s a worthy compromise.
Given the squat profile of the simplyRetro, the internals are packed in a bit tighter than we’re accustomed to seeing in a arcade build. But there’s still more than enough room for the Raspberry Pi, eight inch touch screen HDMI panel, and all the controls. To keep things as neat as possible, [Gerrit] even added integrated zip tie mount points; a worthwhile CAD tip that’s certainly not limited to arcade cabinets.
[Gerrit] has included not only the STL files for this design, but also the Fusion 360 Archive should you want to make any modifications. There’s also a complete Bill of Materials, as well as detailed instructions on how to pull it all together. If you’ve ever wanted your own arcade machine but felt a bit overwhelmed about figuring out all the nuances on your own, the simplyRetro could be the project you’ve been waiting for.
Of course
if you do have access to a CNC or laser cutter
, then there are
some designs you could produce quite a bit faster
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239424",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T15:54:57",
"content": "One probably only needs up to 1 Ghz of Pi oomph on the 8 and 16 bit emulation but for more than that, you’d probably want to arrange for more ventilation and cooling, and heatsink the Pi, or it will ... | 1,760,373,513.104011 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/limiting-factor-submersible-is-in-a-league-of-its-own/ | Limiting Factor Submersible Is In A League Of Its Own | Kristina Panos | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Misc Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"bathyscaphe",
"Challenger Deep",
"Deepsea Challenger",
"grade 5 titanium",
"Mariana trench",
"submersible",
"Trieste"
] | Space may be the final frontier, but there are still Earthly frontiers that a select few have visited — the deepest depths of the high seas. Victor Vescovo, a Texas businessman and former Naval officer, is one of those few. Last spring, Vescovo realized his dream of becoming the first person to scrape the bottoms of all five oceans.
Vescovo descended alone in
Limiting Factor
, a $37 million two-seater submersible he commissioned from Triton, a private manufacturer who made this feat of engineering come to life. Vescovo and the crew discovered over 40 new species of aquatic lifeforms throughout the course of their
Five Deeps expedition
. But the attention-getting takeaway came when Vescovo visited the absolute lowest point on Earth. In the Challenger Deep portion of the Marianas Trench, seven miles below sea level, he saw a plastic bag drift by in the abyss.
One normal-sounding quirk sets this sub apart from others: it’s made to be reusable. You read that right, most super-deep divers never manage to dive over and over again.
The Triton 36,000/2 aka
Limiting Factor
, crew member for scale. Image via
Five Deeps Expedition
A Super Submersible
Limiting Factor
wasn’t built simply to satisfy the whims of a curious zillionaire.
Its engineering pedigree makes the sub a top notch tool for repeatable deep sea exploration
. In fact, Triton are already working on a research expedition vessel based on the new technologies explored and lessons learned from designing this special sub.
Limiting Factor
is officially the first submersible to reach the deepest points of all five oceans. In order to accomplish this, it was built to withstand 20% more pressure than it would actually encounter anywhere on Earth. Much of the sub’s crush-proof factor comes from her grade 5 titanium hull, which was put through its paces at the Krylov Research Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The sub is powered by LiFePO4 batteries and equipped with a total of ten thrusters that allow movement in any direction, although it’s primarily designed to move vertically through the water with ease.
The bathyscaphe Trieste. The driver’s seat is in that little sphere at the bottom. Image via
Wikipedia
One-Shot Wonders
Although this record-setting submersible is not the first to scrape the Challenger Deep, it’s the first one that’s been built to do it an unlimited number of times.
The first manned sub to travel 11,000 meters to the Challenger Deep was
Trieste
, a bathyscaphe that made the trip in 1960
.
Trieste’s
hull was built to withstand more than enough pressure, but one of the windows cracked on the dive down.
Trieste
was modified a few years later to search for a missing submarine, and is now retired and living in a museum.
In 2012, film director James Cameron piloted
an Australian-built sub called
Deepsea Challenger
to the same place
, recording a depth of 10,908 meters.
Deepsea Challenger
may have been able to make subsequent dives, but the world may never know. It was donated for research study and then damaged when the truck transporting it caught on fire.
Vescovo’s side of the cockpit. Image via
Five Deeps Expedition
And So Can You
With the Five Deeps expedition now complete, Vescovo has opened a few slots for pleasure dives to the Challenger Deep.
For the low price of $750,000, you can go see the world’s most remote plastic bag for yourself
.
This is not a trip for the claustrophobic or the faint of heart. It takes about four hours to ascend and descend, and there is only
16 hours’
four days’ worth of oxygen in the main system. Oh, and the entire vessel is about the size of a small SUV, so it’s just gonna be you and Vescovo in a small, dimly-lit cockpit, breathing recycled and CO₂-scrubbed air. If you can’t afford the trip, you’re in luck — a Five Deeps documentary is forthcoming.
Vescovo seems like a cool guy — all curiosity and possibility, nothing villainous about him in the slightest. Prior to the whole 20,000 leagues under the sea thing, he scaled all the world’s highest peaks. Here’s an interview that includes a decent amount of footage from the Marianas Trench, aka plastic bag-ville, beginning with the moment he lands and kicks up a four-foot cloud of virgin ocean floor. | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239408",
"author": "alfcoder",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T15:04:25",
"content": "it’s also true for someone’s own country, many go around the world like crazy and still they only visitedtheir land maybe by 10-20 percent, not to mention with tourism they cause disturbance to other peo... | 1,760,373,513.171228 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/new-part-day-the-msc313e-is-a-computer-on-a-chip/ | New Part Day: The MSC313E Is A Computer On A Chip | Jenny List | [
"Parts"
] | [
"ARM Cortex-A7",
"BreadBee",
"MSC313E",
"SoC"
] | As the onward march of technology delivers ever more powerful semiconductors, it can be instructive to keep an eye on the periphery of the system-on-chip market for niche-application devices which may have an application in our sphere. Just such a chip is the Mstar MSC313E, a SoC designed for use in IP cameras that packs an ARM Cortex A7 and 64 MB of memory, 16 MB of flash, Ethernet, USB, and all the other usual interfaces you’d expect from a microprocessor. It’s available in a QFN package which makes it tantalisingly within the reach of the hardware hacker community, so
naturally there is significant interest in unlocking its secrets
. A cheap and accessible part with enough power to run a stripped-out GNU/Linux operating system has to be worth a second look!
QFNs are not the easiest packages to hand solder, but if you also find yourself in that position there is at least the prospect of a ready to go development board. The
BreadBee
is
a small PCB
that packs in the chip with all its interfaces including Ethernet and USB brought out for experimentation. If you don’t fancy building one, you don’t even have to: it’s
soon to be crowdfunded
.
One might ask what the point is of Yet Another Linux Capable Microcontroller Platform, given the plethora of Raspberry-pi and competitor boards. The answer to that is simple enough and contains within it the essence of hardware hacking:
because it is there
. We might never see it again save for in a few outlying projects, or perhaps it might find a niche in our world and become popular, without this early work we’ll never know. While we’re at it, this isn’t the first such SoC that’s emerged; we’ve previously seen an action cam chip give us
a hand-solderable Linux single board computer
.
Thanks [anonymouse] for the tip. | 46 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239355",
"author": "mac012345",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T11:03:26",
"content": "Nice if we can ditch spyware infested IP camera firmware and put on board motion enabled opensource firmware on them!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,373,513.318979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/dissecting-a-mechanical-voltage-regulator/ | Dissecting A Mechanical Voltage Regulator | Tom Nardi | [
"car hacks",
"classic hacks"
] | [
"adjustable voltage regulator",
"bimetal switch",
"bimetallic",
"mechanical",
"vintage",
"voltage regulator"
] | When the fuel gauge of his 1975 Triumph Spitfire started going off the scale, the collected knowledge of the Internet indicated that [smellsofbikes] needed to replace a faulty voltage regulator behind the dash. For most people, that would be the end of the story. But he, like everyone who’s reading this right now,
really wanted to see what the inside of a 45 year old voltage regulator looked like
.
After prying open the metal case, he discovered that not only is the regulator mechanical in nature, but there’s even a tiny screw that allows you to adjust the output voltage. Luckily for us, not only is [smellsofbikes] curious enough to open it up, but he’s also got the tools and knowledge to explain how it works in the video after the break.
Put simply, the heart of the regulator is a bimetallic strip with a coil of wire wrapped around it. When power from the battery is passed through the coil it acts as a heater, which makes the strip move up and break the connection to the adjustable contact. With the connection broken and the heating coil off the strip rapidly cools, and in doing so returns to its original position and reconnects the heater; thus starting the process over again.
These rapid voltage pulses average out to around 10 VDC, though [smellsofbikes] notes that you can’t actually measure the output voltage of the regulator with a meter because it moves around too much to get any sort of accurate reading. He also mentions a unique quirk of this technology: due to the force of gravity acting on the bimetallic strip, the output of the regulator will actually change depending on its mounting orientation.
On the oscilloscope, [smellsofbikes] is able to show us what the output actually looks like. As you might expect, it looks like a mess to 21st century eyes. But these were simpler times, and it should go without saying there aren’t any sensitive electronics in a sports car from 1975. Interestingly, he says he’s now
replaced the mechanical assembly with a modern regulator chip
. Here’s hoping we’re around long enough to see if he gets another 50 years out of it. | 55 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238847",
"author": "Norbert",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T20:20:10",
"content": "The one on my 1985 2CV works with an electromagnet:http://www.entmontage.de/bilder/montage/2cv_anbauten015g.jpg",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "623... | 1,760,373,513.514516 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/a-basketball-hoop-that-never-lets-you-brick/ | A Basketball Hoop That Never Lets You Brick | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"backboard",
"basketball",
"cnc",
"hoop",
"Monte Carlo",
"paraboloid",
"simulation",
"sports"
] | With none of the major leagues in any team sport currently meeting, sports fans have a huge void that has to be filled with something. For [Shane Wighton], the machine shop is the place to go when sports let you down, and the result is
this basketball backboard that lets you sink every shot every time
.
When we first saw this, we thought for sure it would be some overly complicated motorized affair that would move the hoop to catch the basketball, sort of like
the dart-catching dartboard
we featured some time ago. And while that would be awesome and somebody should totally build that so we can write it up, [Shane]’s hoop dream is a lot simpler mechanically, even if the math needed to determine the proper shape for the backboard was complex. He wrote software to simulate throws from hundreds of positions to determine the shape for the board, which ends up looking like a shallow elliptic paraboloid. The software created a mesh that was translated into CNC tool paths in Fusion 360, and the backboard was carved from blocks of softwood.
The first tests were disappointing; instead of landing every shot, the board seemed to be actively denying them. [Shane] had to puzzle over that for a while before realizing that he didn’t account for the radius of the ball, which means the centroid never actually contacts the backboard. Rather than recalculate and create a new backboard, he just shifted the hoop out from the backboard by a ball radius. With that expedient in place, the setup performed exactly as calculated.
[Shane] may have taken the long road to hoops glory, but we appreciate the effort and the math lesson. And the fact that this ends up being the same shape as some antennas is a plus. | 25 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238824",
"author": "msat",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T18:58:54",
"content": "This is my only hope of ever being less than horrible at basketball",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6238830",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timesta... | 1,760,373,513.383163 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/cobol-isnt-the-issue-a-misinterpreted-crisis/ | COBOL Isn’t The Issue: A Misinterpreted Crisis | Sven Gregori | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Slider",
"Software Development"
] | [
"cobol",
"Covid-19",
"crisis",
"legacy code",
"mainframe",
"social interaction",
"software development",
"software quality"
] | Is history doomed to repeat itself? Or rather, is there really any doubt that it isn’t, considering recent events that made the news? I am of course talking about
New Jersey’s call for COBOL programmers
to fix their ancient unemployment system, collapsing under the application spikes caused by the COVID-19 lockdown. Soon after, other states joined in, and it becomes painfully apparent that we have learned absolutely nothing from Y2K: we still rely on the same old antiques running our infrastructure, and we still think people want to voluntarily write COBOL.
Or maybe they do? Following the calls for aid, things went strangely intense.
IBM announced to offer free COBOL trainings
and launched a
forum
where programmers can plug their skills and availability. The Open Mainframe Project’s
COBOL programming course
suddenly tops the list of trending GitHub projects, and Google Trends shows a massive peak for COBOL as well. COBOL is seemingly on its way to be one of the hottest languages of 2020, and it feels like it’s only a matter of time until we see some MicroCOBOL running on a Teensy.
However, the unemployment systems in question are unfortunately only a tiny selection of systems relying on decades old software, written in a language that went out of fashion a long time ago, which makes it difficult to find programmers in today’s times. Why is that?
In the end, COBOL is “just another language”, regardless of its age, and nothing stops anyone from learning it or developing with it. Just because it’s an old language doesn’t mean COBOL is entirely outdated and irrelevant either. Computer languages don’t “die”, they just go to sleep.
Or in the case of COBOL, it’s more that the areas where it makes sense to use the language are limited and highly specific. COBOL’s natural domain is reliable high volume data processing and it’s a perfect language for that use. COBOL is solely outdated as a
general-purpose
language.
So maybe the issue of finding COBOL programmers isn’t really about the language, but rather what its use implies about the systems using it, and the work environment one can expect. The thing is, those systems are a product of their times, where development processes and methodologies as we know them today simply didn’t exist, embedded in industries where software is merely seen as a tool, if not a nuisance. But COBOL itself is irrelevant here, we’d be in the same situation with any other language. Worse yet, if we don’t start to finally tackle the actual issues at hand, or at least learn from them, and continue to blame everything on an old language, history
is
going to repeat itself, and we will end up in this exact situation with other languages as well.
But what issues am I talking about then? Well, let’s start from the very beginning, and the lack of love for COBOL.
An Ode To COBOL
While virtually everyone has heard of COBOL in one way or another, and stating that someone you know has once worked with it gets you some serious street cred, the language doesn’t really get much attention here on Hackaday. If it wasn’t for honoring the life and works of those
involved in its earliest development
and
paving the way for it
, we’d barely see anything at all about it. But it shouldn’t really come as a surprise either, after all it is the
Common Business-Oriented Language
. Could a name be more hacker repellent? And unlike with BASIC, nostalgia won’t be of much help either, considering its main application areas.
As a result, COBOL has a sour side taste as a boring language that requires you to bring a tie and a broom stick to work. Nevertheless, COBOL is a definite and important part of computer history, and as we can see from the recent news, still plays a big role 61 years after the initial meeting that kicked off its existence. Depending where we look at, it might even be the dominating language in its field.
As rule of thumb, the more disastrous a system failure could be to society, the more likely it is to find COBOL in it, with banking usually serving as prime example, along with insurance, health sector, civil infrastructure, and of course government administration such as the aforementioned unemployment systems. Looking at
some numbers
, 43% of all banking systems, 80% of point-of-sale, and 95% of ATM transactions in the US used and relied on COBOL code in 2017, and it won’t be much different when we look at other countries.
So all in all, programming in COBOL gets you to work in incredibly sexy environments that can easily keep up with the excitement and coolness of, say, game or web development — not.
The Generation Conflict
Yes, yes, not everyone cares about that or wants to do gimmicky web or game development, apart from those spoiled youngsters who don’t even know how to change a register value with a screwdriver anymore — but that’s kinda the point. Every time a COBOL shortage is mentioned, the main issue seems that the old generation that knew the language has left the active workforce. Meanwhile, we advanced an entire generation since Y2K, and it’s still the same issue all over again. Yet those born during the last big COBOL crisis are now slowly entering the job market as new developers, in higher numbers than ever before, and their mindset, skills, and interests couldn’t be further away from the language and the systems using it.
And why would it? Software development and the opportunities within it is nothing like it was in the 90’s, not to mention the 60’s. Keep in mind we’re talking about a generation where the computer isn’t a miraculous wonder device, but a commodity. What was revolutionary once, has become a bare minimum at best.
But attractiveness and generational differences of interests and fascinations are really just the seagull sitting on top the tip of the iceberg. And no, compulsory COBOL courses in elementary school won’t be the solution. Plus, it’s not like you couldn’t
run COBOL from Node.js
or
the other way around
to cater to those youngster web developers.
On the other hand, different strokes for different folks and all, so the business field or its attractiveness might not necessarily be a problem. I mean, who am I to question people’s preferences, and developing for mainframes can definitely sound thrilling. But here’s the thing: these urgent calls for COBOL programmers only ever appear when there’s a crisis to be averted, so you’ll likely just end up as a code janitor whose usefulness ends as soon as the job is done. In other words: lack of job security as a blessing in disguise, since your work is likely going to be frustratingly dull and uninspiring anyway.
That leaves the people who either don’t care about any of this, and those who counter the job security situation by publicly claiming how they’ll do the job for a 2+ year full-time contract at $400 an hour and a complementary banana. In a way, they have a point, but the first group is definitely going to win that bidding. Why? Because this generational mismatch of values, interests, and expectations goes both ways, and we’re talking about industries that, for the most part, aren’t native to software development.
A Revealing Number
Let’s take another look at
those numbers from earlier
and focus on the one I didn’t mention yet:
220 billion lines of code in existence
. Pick any random article about COBOL, and it’s guaranteed you will find this same number (±20 billion, depending on the year), presumably to impress by demonstrating how omnipresent the language and the systems its running on are.
Does it though? Or does it rather expose the zeitgeist of the industries where COBOL is actually in use, and the dissociation between today’s software world and those crying out for its help? Which would imply that this is an issue of obsolescence after all, but it’s still not the language, but the way software is perceived.
I mean, when was the last time
lines of code
had any relevance for software developers, or even their supervisors, especially where more was better? If anything, people pride themselves nowadays how few lines it took them to solve a common problem. Think of the millions of hours wasted in flame wars that could have been saved by simply showing how Linux’s
~50 million lines
makes it clearly superior to FreeBSD’s puny
~25 million lines
, and why OpenBSD
still beats them all
. (By this metric,
Emacs
would beat
Vim
, hence proving my point that lines of codes are clearly meaningless.)
But alright, maybe that number is just meant as a fun fact and I’m seriously overinterpreting it. Then again, maybe I’m not, and it really provides some unintended insight on what to expect in a COBOL work environment, where software development is seen as mere manual labour, like punching metal sheets in a factory. Don’t forget to add your words-per-minute count to your CV.
Anyway, that’s still not the whole story. Let’s talk about the code, then.
Ghosts In The Machine
How often do you look at someone else’s code and become convinced you could have done it better? And how often did you have to deal with legacy code and curse its author? If you’re lucky, you can just refactor it and move on with your life. If not, you might realize halfway through that everything has happened for a reason, despite how weird it looks, and you eventually find a less elegant way to work around it, introducing new peculiar code the next person may find questionable.
Now imagine that was the norm. Not only that, but imagine how decades and decades of workaround after workaround piling up in the codebase has become the very core of the system itself. No doubt, every single patch had its reason and validity to exist, and whoever wrote it surely knew what they were doing. Maybe even the next person working on it, adding their own workarounds, has been around long enough to remember everything about some specific quirk that had to be handled carefully. But that was ten iterations and 30 years ago. The original business has been acquired twice and restructured thrice since then, and each time it was
integrated
patched together with another system that has grown the exact same way.
Image CC BY-ND 2.0
Jason Tester Guerrilla Futures
Remember that we are talking about systems that are critical to our infrastructure. Their undisrupted operation is crucial, and some decades ago, you couldn’t just try out a few solutions on your commute to the office and run some automated tests during lunch. Whatever did the job had to be good enough, and we know very well that nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution that works. Considering that Y2K became an issue in the first place, people clearly didn’t expect that those systems remain relevent for decades to come.
Well, they did, and the point of no return was passed long ago. Mix in the mentality towards software and the replaceability of programmers, and things could have only gotten exponentially worse since. If Y2K was a problem because the people that initially developed the system had left the workforce, what can we expect a generation later, when those who had to painstakingly figure out all the quirks to add new workarounds themselves are retiring as well?
But once again, this has nothing to do with COBOL, and throwing COBOL courses at people won’t be a silver bullet. If anything, it takes a frustration-resistant mindset, perseverance, and a high pain threshold to dig through the code — something you can’t teach, and repeating the same old “we need COBOL programmers!” chants will hardly increase the number or availability of people with those abilities. Sure, it requires COBOL skills to fix the system, but COBOL skills alone won’t get you far.
Towards A Brighter Tomorrow
So what
is
the solution then? I hope it’s obvious enough that the problem is too complex in its entirety to have
a single
solution, and each aspect I mentioned, which I’m sure doesn’t even cover half of the entire picture, will require separate considerations.
One thing is sure, handwringing in hindsight that everything should have been handled differently back in the 60’s or 90’s won’t cut it, and neither will writing everything from scratch. Getting there little by little is probably a good start, but the complexity that makes the codebase a problem in the first place won’t be fixed this way. If anything, it risks complicating things even more because it requires to fully analyze and understand every little detail and quirk, with zero room for errors or guesswork. It will take years and years of planning, and who is willing to invest that time and money when the majority of systems seem to work “just fine” right now?
As for the other issues, well, you cannot change people. But you can try to understand them — which goes both ways. Yes, the current generation makes software engineering probably one of the most spoiled professions ever, but just because you had it worse and didn’t whine doesn’t mean everyone else is willing to go through that themselves — just like technological basics and their history that seem obsolete in practice are still valuable and worth knowing.
We do live in a different age than the systems that are running COBOL. The ubiquitousness that software has reached doesn’t only provide entirely new and exciting work areas, but hopefully shows that it’s more than just a cost factor to those that have otherwise no direct relation to the field. And if not, then let’s at least take a lesson from it for ourselves. We can hardly blame the developers or their supervisors who didn’t know better at the time for this situation, but if we don’t start to finally learn from it, next time is definitely going to be on us. And that applies to areas both outside and inside the R&D departments.
Unlike 60 or even 20 years ago, we have a plethora of tools at our disposal today that allow us to track changes, progress, issues, and requirements in our software, most predominantly in form of issue tracking and version control. But none of that has any use with a halfhearted adaption for the sake of just having it done, and
"fixed stuff."
commit messages —
and don’t even get me started on code documentation!
The way we look at software development may have changed from 60 years ago, but we still have a long way ahead to adjust our mindset until we stop making the same mistakes all over again.
Well, at least
next time
the crisis will involve some more common languages, and everyone fixing this year’s unemployment systems can hopefully retire in peace by then. And I’m convinced, the headlines won’t call for Pascal or C developers then, so maybe we can finally stop pretending this is all a COBOL issue, when it’s really a “dreadful work expectation” issue.
On a final note, I’d be thrilled to hear stories from the trenches of those who were involved in preventing Y2K at the time! | 144 | 47 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238783",
"author": "Owlman",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T17:13:59",
"content": "I haven’t used COBOL since 1982 and I declined offers to return to it during the countdown to Y2K hitting, mainly because I was perfectly happy where I was and the extra cash wasn’t sufficient to draw me i... | 1,760,373,513.699955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/hacking-apollo-hack-chat/ | Hacking Apollo Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"agc",
"apollo",
"guidance",
"restoration",
"retrocomputing",
"space",
"teardown",
"The Hack Chat"
] | Join us on Wednesday, April 22 at noon Pacific for the
Hacking Apollo Hack Chat
with
“CuriousMarc” Verdiell
,
Ken Shirriff
,
Mike Stewart
, and
Carl Claunch
!
When President Kennedy laid down the gauntlet to a generation of scientists and engineers to land a man on the Moon before the close of the 1960s, he likely had little idea what he was putting in motion. The mission was dauntingly complex, the science was untested, and the engineering was largely untried. Almost everything had to be built from scratch, and entire industries were born just from the technologies that had to be invented to make the dream come true.
Chief among these new fields was computer science, which was barely in its infancy when the 1960s started. By the end of the decade and the close of the Space Race, computers had gone from room-filling, power-guzzling machines to something compact and capable enough to fly men to the Moon and back. The computers that followed all built on the innovations that came about as a result of Apollo, and investigating the computers of the era and finding out what made them tick is an important part of our technological culture.
That’s where this retrocomputing dream team came into play. Together, they’ve poked and prodded at every bit of hardware from the Space Race era they could find, including a genuine Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) that was rescued from the trash. What’s more, they actually managed to
restore it to working condition
with a series of epic hacks and sheer force of will.
Marc, Ken, Mike, and Carl will stop by the Hack Chat to talk about everything that went into getting the AGC working again, along with anything else that pops up. Come ready to have your Apollo-era hardware itches scratched by the people who’ve been inside a lot of it, and who have seen first-hand what it took to make it to the Moon and back.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, April 22 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have got you down, we have
a handy time zone converter
.
Click that speech bubble to the right, and you’ll be taken directly to the Hack Chat group on Hackaday.io. You don’t have to wait until Wednesday; join whenever you want and you can see what the community is talking about. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238779",
"author": "msat",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T16:52:45",
"content": "I watched a bunch of their restoration vids. They were definitely the right guys for the job.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6239851",
"author": "g... | 1,760,373,513.42498 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/measuring-sharpie-thickness-the-ink-itself-not-the-pen/ | Measuring Sharpie Thickness… The Ink Itself, Not The Pen! | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"dial indicator",
"dykem",
"gauge blocks",
"ink",
"machining",
"marker",
"sharpie"
] | How we missed this one from a few years ago is unknown, but we’re glad to catch up with it now. Have you ever needed to measure how thick the ink in a Sharpie line is? Of course you haven’t. But if you needed to, how would you do it?
Using a wicked-sensitive indicator gauge and levering an interesting test setup
.
[Tom] from [oxtoolco] got his hands on a tool that measures in 1/10,000,000th (that’s one ten-millionth) increments and was wondering what kind of shenanigans you can do with this Lamborghini of dial indicators. It’s one thing to say you’re going to measure ink, but coming up with the method is the leap. In this case it’s a gauge block — a piece of precision ground metal with precise dimensions and perfectly perpendicular faces. By zeroing the indicator on the block, then adding lines from the Sharpie and measuring again, you can deduce the thickness of the ink markings.
After arraying diagonal lines on the gauge block it is placed lines-down under the dial indicator. This distributes the ink layer across a larger area, as probing the ink line directly would likely result in inaccurate readings. On that topic the gauge block is moved using pliers, as introducing heat from your fingers could result in expansion of the metal upsetting the readings.
The results? Black, blue, and red Sharpie were all tested, alongside blue and black Dykem layout fluid. Ten samples of each were run and the readings were all very close, save a couple of obvious outliers. Clocking in the thinnest is black Sharpie at about 118 millionths of an inch (~30 microns) and blue Dykem was the thickest at 314 millionths (86 microns). [Tom] quips that since we now know the thickness, you could even use ink as a shim.
If you can’t get enough Sharpie in your life, try it as
an extremely satisfying add-on for your plasma cutter
. | 29 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238748",
"author": "Steve Spivey",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T15:44:28",
"content": "I watched this video when it came out, but coincidentally, it was recommended again yesterday. I guess I wasn’t the only one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"... | 1,760,373,513.872453 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/inputs-of-interest-the-differently-dexterous-datahand-directionalizes-digits/ | Inputs Of Interest: The Differently Dexterous DataHand Directionalizes Digits | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interest",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"d-pad",
"DataHands",
"dodohand",
"ergonomic keyboard",
"ergonomics",
"split keyboard"
] | If you had debilitating pain from repetitive stress injury in the 1990s, there were a lot of alternative keyboard options out there. One of the more eye-catching offerings was
the DataHand keyboard
made by DataHand Systems out of Phoenix, AZ. The DataHand debuted in 1993 with a price tag around $2,000. While this is admittedly pretty steep for the average consumer, it was well within the IT budgets of companies that wanted to avoid workman’s comp claims and keep their employees typing away.
In theory, this is holy grail territory for anti-RSI keyboards. The DataHand was designed to eliminate wrist motion altogether by essentially assigning a d-pad plus a regular push-down button to each finger. The layout resembles QWERTY as closely as possible and uses layers to access numbers, symbols, and other functions, like a rudimentary mouse.
Although if you put them this close together, you’re kind of missing the point. Image via
Bill Buxton
Ergonomic to the Max
Typing on the DataHand is supposed to be next to effortless. The directional switches are all optical, which probably has a lot to do with the eye-popping price point. But instead of being spring-loaded, these switches use magnets to return to the neutral position.
Livin’ that LapLander™ life. Image via
Bill Buxton
It really seems like the inventors of the DataHand tried to make their product as ergonomic as possible. The photo above shows one of the first models — a DH200 dated 1993. Those knobs on the thumb sides will raise and lower the depth of the finger wells in the Z direction.
Later models like the Professional and Professional II are even more customizable. They came with two sizes of palm rests instead of that gray rubber grid, and have a second set of dials that brings the finger wells closer to your palm or move them away, depending on the length of your digits. It could really only be better if each set of switches could be adjusted independently.
The Professional II also came with The LapLander™, a lap desk designed to make typing even more comfortable. If that’s still not good enough, you could get the DataChair™, which is your standard 90s task chair with the DataHand halves mounted at the ends of the armrests.
Below is a compilation of informational videos about the DataHand Professional II. Although there’s a bit of repetition, it’s nothing stressful or injurious, and there’s a lot of good shots and information about this model.
Gone But Not Forgotten
A progress photo of
[JesusFreke]’s lalboard
from the
geekhack thread about DataHand keyboards
Longtime users of DataHand keyboards swear up and down by them, though most say it takes a lot of time and dedication to get back to standard typing speed. Sadly, the company went out of business in 2008 because of supplier issues — they needed to find a new manufacturer and never did. As you might imagine, the price on the secondhand market only climbs higher with time.
Here’s the good news: there have been a couple of attempts to recreate this magical keyboard since then. One of them,
the DodoHand project
, is covered in
a lengthy discussion thread on geekhack going back several years
. The project has been forked by several people, and it looks like [JesusFreke]’s
lalboard project
is pretty much finished.
Are you as intrigued by the DataHand as I am? I found
a couple of sites
out there with a lot of good pictures and user experience stories.
This person made a version of the DataChair™
with the halves mounted vertically so he can type while his arms are hanging down at his sides.
The day I learned about this keyboard, I was so hyped about the 5-way input mechanism that I made a prototype that doesn’t have moving switches. Basically, I took one of those rubber fingers that bank tellers and office workers use and stuck a piece of copper tape on each of the four sides. Then I made a little finger box with copper tape contact pads on each wall.
The prototype doesn’t do anything. but it was interesting to consider how it might work if you just moved your finger around. I’d much rather have tactile feedback, especially with such a strange new system and layout.
I think this concept is really cool, though I would have to try one to know for sure (and I would
love
to try one). If you have one to sell, hit me up. In the meantime, I might have to try making at least one finger’s worth into a macro board. I think I’ll call it the DataDigit. | 24 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238723",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T14:14:26",
"content": "Looks like something one would use in a sci-fi spaceship. Those interfaces aren’t practical either.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6238729",
... | 1,760,373,513.938591 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/test-unknown-fuses-without-destroying-them/ | Test Unknown Fuses Without Destroying Them | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"constant current",
"fuse",
"positive temperature Coefficient",
"PTC",
"resistance",
"testing",
"voltage drop"
] | There’s a problem with fuses. On the face of it, testing would seem to be a one-shot deal — exceed the rated current and see if it blows. But once you know the answer, the device is useless. If only there were a way to test fuses without damaging them.
As it turns out there is, and [Kerry Wong] weaves quite a tale about
his attempts to non-destructively test fuses
. The fuses in question are nothing fancy — just the standard glass tube type, from a cheap assortment kit off Amazon. Therein lies the problem: can such cheap devices be trusted? Finding out requires diving much deeper into the technology of fuses than many people will have done, including understanding how the thermal and electrical characteristics of the fuse element behave.
[Kerry]’s test setup is simple, consisting of a constant current power supply and a voltmeter across the fuse to measure the voltage drop caused by the resistance of the fuse element. As he ramps up the current, the voltage drop increases linearly due to the increase in resistance of the alloy with increasing temperature. That only lasts up to a point, where the fuse resistance starts increasing exponentially. Pushing much past the point where the resistance has doubled would blow the fuse, so that’s the endpoint of his tests. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his no-name fuses all went significantly beyond their rated current, proving that you get what you pay for. See the video below for the tests and an analysis of the results.
It’s handy to know there’s a way to check fuses without popping them, and we’ll file this one away for future reference. Don’t forget that you should always check the fuse when troubleshooting, because you never know
what the last person did to it
. | 31 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238692",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T11:25:35",
"content": "Did not watch the video but this is a goof up:(quote) As he ramps up the current, the voltage drop increases linearly due to the increase in resistance (/quote)Voltage ramps up liniearly because voltage =... | 1,760,373,514.048107 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/22/program-guesses-your-regular-expression/ | Program Guesses Your Regular Expression | Al Williams | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"linux",
"regular expressions",
"rust"
] | We aren’t sure how we feel about [pemistahl’s]
grex
program. On the one hand, we applaud a program that can take some input samples and produce a regular expression. On the other hand, it might be just as hard to gather example data that produces the correct regular expression. Still, it is an interesting piece of code.
Even the author suggests not to use this as an excuse to not learn regular expressions, since you’ll need to check the program’s output. It is certain that the results will match your test cases, but it isn’t certain that it won’t accept things you didn’t expect. Bad regular expressions have been the source of some deeply buried bugs.
The code is written in Rust and builds an automaton for the test cases, making assumptions about the characters it sees belonging to certain classes. You can control the class algorithm to some degree using command line options. It is also possible to use the code as a library from another program.
Here are a few examples of grex at work:
$ grex a b c
^[a-c]$
$ grex a c d e f
^[ac-f]$
$ grex a b x de
^(?:de|[abx])$
We wondered if it would help if you could provide counterexamples, too. For instance, old fashioned US area codes could only have a 1 or 0 in the middle digit. So giving examples like 713 and 212 could benefit from counterexamples such as 173 or 777.
If you want to create your own regular expressions, it
isn’t that hard
. If you want to practice,
crosswords
are fun. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239324",
"author": "RetepV",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T08:17:03",
"content": "It’s a nice idea. But I think that the regexp would become more reliable if you would not only be able to pass the positive cases, but also the negative cases to exclude those instances where the regexp ru... | 1,760,373,513.98239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/a-jaw-dropping-demo-in-only-256-bytes/ | A Jaw-Dropping Demo In Only 256 Bytes | Elliot Williams | [
"Art",
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"cons",
"contests"
] | [
"code",
"demo",
"demoscene",
"dosbox",
"graphics",
"omgwtf"
] | “Revision” is probably the Olympics of the demoscene. The world’s best tiny graphics coders assemble, show off their works, and learn new tricks to pack as much awesome into as few bytes as possible or make unheard-of effects on limited hardware. And of course, there’s a competition. Winning this year’s 256-byte (byte!) competition, and then taking the overall crowd favorite award, was [HellMood]’s
Memories
.
If you watch it in the
live-stream from Revision
, you’ll hear the crowd going (virtually) wild, and the announcer losing his grip and gasping for words. It’s that amazing. Not only are more effects put into 2
8
bytes than we thought possible, but there’s a full generative MIDI score to go with it. What?!?
But almost as amazing is [HellMood]’s
generous writeup of how he pulled it off
. If you’re at all interested in demos, minimal graphics effects, or just plain old sweet hacks, you have your weekend’s reading laid out for you. [HellMood] has all of his references and influences linked in as well. You’re about to go down a very deep rabbit hole.
The version of “Memories” presented here works in the
DosBox
emulator, and takes advantage of some of the particular architecture, but the general principles should be generalizable everywhere else. And if you’re not constrained to 256 bytes, such as if you’re using the comparably spacious flash ROM of any ten-cent microcontroller, you’ve got some wiggle room.
We’ve featured some pretty amazing demos in the last couple years, but they’ve been written for the incredibly luxurious
SEGA Genesis
and
Amiga
platforms. And as awesome as they are, both are characterized by sweet graphics and music that was composed using off-device resources and take up ridiculous amounts of memory in comparison. [HellMood]’s “Memories” is written, and optimized, in straight assembly.
Will we ever see more bang for the byte? We don’t expect to, but we’re more than happy to be surprised! Give us what you’ve got! | 58 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239302",
"author": "seth rainsdon",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T05:31:41",
"content": "WOW! That is relay all I have to say.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239335",
"author": "LightningPhil",
"timestamp": "2020... | 1,760,373,514.134863 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/have-jbc-soldering-handle-will-usb-c-power-deliver/ | Have JBC Soldering Handle, Will USB-C Power Deliver | Kerry Scharfglass | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"Hakko",
"JBC",
"metcal",
"power delivery",
"soldering",
"soldering iron",
"soldering station",
"ts100",
"usb",
"USB C",
"USB Power Delivery",
"USB-PD",
"Weller"
] | Frequent converter-of-tools-to-USB-C [Jana Marie Hemsing] is at it again, this time with a board to facilitate using
USB Power Delivery to fuel JBC soldering iron handles
. Last time we saw [Jana] work her USB-C magic was with
the Otter-Iron
, which brought Power Delivery to the trusty TS100 with a purpose built replacement PCBA. This time he’s taking a different approach by replacing the “station” of a conventional soldering station completely with one tiny board and one giant capacitor.
If you’ve been exposed to the “AC fire starter” grade of soldering iron the name
JBC
might be unfamiliar. They make tools most commonly found with
Metcal’s
and high end HAKKOs and Wellers on the benches of rework technicians and factory floors. Like any tool in this class each soldering station comes apart and each constituent piece (tips, handles, base stations, stands, etc) are available separately from the manufacturer and on the used market at often reasonable prices, which is where [Jana] comes in.
The Otter-Iron PRO is a diminutive PCBA which accepts a USB-C cable on one side and the connector from a standard JBC T245-A handle on the other. JBC uses a fairly typical thermistor embedded in the very end of the iron tip, which the Otter-Iron PRO senses to provide closed loop temperature control. [Jana] says it can reach its temperature setpoint from a cold start in 5 seconds, which roughly matches the performance of an original JBC base station! We’re especially excited because this doesn’t require any modification to the handle or station itself, making it a great option for JBC users with a need for mobility.
Want to make an Otter-Iron PRO of your own? Sources are at the link at the top. It sounds like v3 of the design is coming soon, which will include its own elegant PCB case. Check out the CAD render after the break. Still wondering how all this USB-PD stuff works? Check out
[Jason Cerudolo’s] excellent walkthrough
we wrote up last year. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239253",
"author": "Marcus S",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T23:46:34",
"content": "I’ve got a Hakko, and would be tempted to have something like this running from some decent USB-C powerpacks.A quick google showed someone else has attempted it too:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects... | 1,760,373,514.270986 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/esp32-refines-game-boy-bluetooth-adapter/ | ESP32 Refines Game Boy Bluetooth Adapter | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"ESP32",
"game boy advance",
"gba",
"multiboot"
] | Last year we brought word of a project from [Shyri Villar] that turned a stock Game Boy Advance into a Bluetooth controller by exploiting the system’s “multiboot” capability. The prototype hardware was a bit ungainly, but the concept was certainly promising. We’re now happy to report that the code has been ported over to the ESP32,
making the project far more approachable
.
To clarify, the ESP32 is now the
only
component required for those who want to play along at home. Just five wires connect the microcontroller to the GBA’s Link Cable connector, which is enough to transfer a small ROM over to the system and ferry user input to the Bluetooth hardware. Even if you aren’t interested in using it as a game controller, this project is an excellent example of how you can get your own code running on a completely stock GBA.
While the original version of the hardware was a scrap of perfboard dangling from the handheld’s expansion connector, reducing the part count to one meant [Shyri] was able to pack everything into a tidy enclosure. Specifically, a third party GBA to GameCube link cable. This not only provides a sleek case for the microcontroller that locks onto the handheld with spring loaded tabs, but also includes a male Link Cable connector you can salvage. It looks as though there’s a bit of plastic trimming involved to get the ESP32 to fit, but otherwise its a very clean installation.
The GBA will be 20 years old soon, but that doesn’t mean the hardware
and software exploration is over
. The original Game Boy is over 30,
and people are still giving talks about it
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239278",
"author": "gregg4",
"timestamp": "2020-04-22T02:10:32",
"content": "About all we need to know is which ESP32 device would definitely work right there.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239744",
"author": "Ions... | 1,760,373,514.225291 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/rapid-prototyping-system-gives-wheels-to-wearables/ | Rapid Prototyping System Gives Wheels To Wearables | Kristina Panos | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"conductive fabric",
"iron-on",
"prototyping",
"rapid prototyping",
"Wearables"
] | Wearables are kind of a perplexing frontier for electronics. On the one hand, it’s the best possible platform for showing off a circuit everywhere you go. On the other hand, the whole endeavor is fiddly because the human body has no straight lines and moves around quite a bit. Circuits need to be flexible and comfortable. In other words, a wearable has to be bearable.
[Konstantin], [Raimund], and [Jürgen] have developed
an intriguing system for prototyping e-textiles
that opens up the wearables world to those who don’t sew and makes the prototyping process way easier for everyone.
It’s a small and portable roll-on ironing device that lays down different kinds of custom ‘tapes’ on to textiles. The conductive fabric tapes can be used as touchable traces, and can support components such as flexible e-ink screens and solar panels. Some tapes provide single or multiple points of connectivity, and others are helper substrates like polyimide tape that multiply the possibilities for complex circuits.
The device uses a modified soldering iron to transfer the tapes, which are loaded onto 3D-printed spools that double as the wheels. Check it out after the break — there’s a 30-second tour and a 5-minute exploration of the whole process.
Everyone needs to prototype, even the seasoned stitchers. The next time you’re thinking in thread,
throw some magnets into the process
. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239186",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T19:09:44",
"content": "They will follow the Gillette razor tactic and give the iron away, but charge through the nose for the consumables (the strips with the “wires”)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,373,514.181399 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/new-part-day-an-open-source-ethernet-switch-in-the-palm-of-your-hand/ | New Part Day: An Open Source Ethernet Switch In The Palm Of Your Hand | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Parts"
] | [
"ethernet",
"managed switch",
"networking",
"New Part Day",
"open source",
"router"
] | When you can get a WiFi-enabled microcontroller for $3, it’s little surprise that many of the projects we see these days have ditched Ethernet. But the days of wired networking are far from over, and there’s still plenty of hardware out there that can benefit from being plugged in. But putting an Ethernet network into your project requires a switch, and that means yet another piece of hardware that needs to get crammed into the build.
Seeing the need for a small and lightweight Ethernet switch,
BotBlox has developed the SwitchBlox
. This 45 mm square board has everything you need to build a five device wired network, and nothing you don’t. Gone are the bulky RJ45 jacks and rows of blinkenlights, they won’t do you any good on the inside of a robot’s chassis. But that’s not to say it’s a bare bones experience, either. The diminutive switch features automatic crossover, support for input voltages from 7 V all the way up to 40 V, and management functions accessible over SPI.
If you want to get up and running as quickly as possible, a fully assembled SwitchBlox is
available to purchase directly from BotBlox for
£
149.00
. But if you’re not in any particular rush and interested in saving on cost, you can spin up your own version of the Creative Commons licensed board. The C++ management firmware and Python management GUI isn’t ready for prime time just yet, but you’ll be able to build a “dumb” version of the switch with the provided KiCad design files.
The published schematic in their repo uses a Microchip KSZ8895MQXCA as the Ethernet controller, with a Pulse HX1344NL supplying the magnetics for all the ports in a single surface mount package. Interestingly, the two images that BotBlox shows on their product page include different part numbers like H1102FNL and PT61017PEL for the magnetics, and the Pulse H1164NL for the Ethernet controller.
Make Networks Wired Again
There’s no question that WiFi has dramatically changed the way we connect devices. In fact, there’s an excellent chance you’re currently reading these words from a device that doesn’t even have the capability to connect to a wired network. If you’re looking to connect a device to the Internet quickly, it’s tough to beat.
But WiFi certainly isn’t perfect. For one, you have to contend with issues that are inherent to wireless communications such as high latency and susceptibility to interference. There’s also the logistical issues involved in making that initial connection since you need to specify an Access Point and (hopefully) an encryption key. In comparison, Ethernet will give you consistent performance in more or less any environment, and configuration is usually as simple as plugging in the cable and letting DHCP sort the rest out.
Unfortunately, that whole “plugging in” part can get tricky. Given their size, putting an Ethernet switch into your project to act as an internal bus only works
if you’ve got space to burn and weight is of little concern
. So as appealing as it might be to build a network into your robot to connect the Raspberry Pi, motor controllers, cameras, etc, it’s rarely been practical.
This little switch could change that, and the fact it’s released under an open source license means hackers and makers will be free to integrate it into their designs. With the addition of an open source management firmware, this device has some truly fascinating potential. When combined with a single board computer or suitably powerful microcontroller, you have the makings of a fully open source home router;
something that the privacy and security minded among
us have been dreaming of for years. | 92 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239141",
"author": "Severe Tire Damage",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T17:10:49",
"content": "“the days of wired networking are far from over”Darned right! I avoid wireless whenever I can.If an SBC doesn’t have an RJ45 jack, I am on to the next product. I do love my little ESP8266 boa... | 1,760,373,514.399007 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/new-contest-puts-psoc-boards-in-the-hands-of-50-entries/ | New Contest Puts PSoC Boards In The Hands Of 50 Entries | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"Cypress PSOC",
"digi-key",
"internet of things",
"IoT",
"PSoC 6"
] | Today marks the beginning of
the PSoC IoT design contest
. Show us your idea for an interesting Internet-connected thing and we’ll send you a dev kit to actually build it.
With the help of Cypress, Digi-Key, and AWS IoT we’ll be sending out your choice of PSoC 6 WiFi-BT
Pioneer kit
or
Prototyping Kit
to up to 50 entries just for publishing a great idea of something to build with them. As you guessed from the name, these provide WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, but they’re also bristling with seven programmable analog blocks the PSoC is known for, and a hundred GPIO. They have prototyping add-ons like a 2.4″ screen for user interface, audio, IMU, capacitive touch, and a heap of other goodies.
You have until May 26th to post a project page on Hackaday.io outlining your idea — don’t forget to use that “Submit project to” button to enter it in the contest. Tells us all about the IoT project you want to build and which PSoC 6 board you plan to use. If your idea is picked, we’ll send you the dev board and you’ll have until August to actually build your idea. Grand Prize will receive a $500 prepaid Visa card, two runners up will each receive a $250 card.
Full details are
available on the contest page
. We know you’ve always wanted to give your fish a Twitter account, to have a dashboard that shows up-to-the minute stats on how much Boo Berry Cereal you have left, a beacon to give you push alerts when the laundry needs to make its way into the dryer, or perhaps you plan to build a new wave of Internet-connect pagers. Whatever it is, from a silly idea to a truly life-improving build, if it’s begging to spread its data far and wide, it’s a perfect idea for this contest. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239149",
"author": "OLD_HACK",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T17:25:45",
"content": "Ah yes, with PSoC you get:* a proprietary programmer bus* closed compiler with proprietary graphical IP modules no one can debug* cross-bar latch-up silicon that fails closed on ESD to cause serious powe... | 1,760,373,514.448446 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/maker-therapy-joins-the-fight-against-covid-19/ | Maker Therapy Joins The Fight Against COVID-19 | Orlando Hoilett | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"coronavirus",
"Covid-19",
"hospital",
"innovation",
"LittleBits",
"Maker Therapy",
"pediatrics",
"ultimaker"
] | We love talking about makerspaces here at Hackaday. We love hearing about the camaraderie, the hacks, the outreach, the innovation, everything. Even more, we love seeing all the varying forms that makerspaces take, either in the hacks they create, the communities they reach out to, and especially their unique environments.
Recently, we came across
Maker Therapy, a makerspace right inside a children’s hospital
. Now,
we’ve heard about hospital makerspaces here on Hackaday before
, but what makes Maker Therapy particularly unique is it’s the first hospital makerspace that gives patients the opportunity to innovate right in the pediatric setting.
Inspired by patients and founded by Dr. Gokul Krishnan
, Maker Therapy has been around for a few years now but recently popped up on our radar due to their unique position on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a makerspace located right inside a hospital, Maker Therapy is in the unique position to be the hospital’s very own rapid prototyping unit. Using 3D printing and other tools, Maker Therapy is able to
make face shields and other important PPE right where they are needed the most
.
Here at Hackaday, we salute and give our eternal gratitude to all the health care professionals fighting for our communities.
Maybe some of your hacks and other designs could be used by initiatives like Maker Therapy
? Until then, stay home and stay safe Hackaday. The only way we’ll get through this is together. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,373,514.485333 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/searching-for-alien-life-with-the-sun-as-gravitational-telescope/ | Searching For Alien Life With The Sun As Gravitational Telescope | Moritz v. Sivers | [
"Featured",
"Original Art",
"Science",
"Slider",
"Solar Hacks",
"Space"
] | [
"exoplanets",
"futurism",
"gravitational lens",
"nasa",
"science",
"space",
"telescope"
] | Astronomy is undoubtedly one of the most exciting subjects in physics. Especially the search for exoplanets has been a thriving field in the last decades. While the first exoplanet was only
discovered in 1992
, there are now
4,144 confirmed exoplanets
(as of 2nd April 2020). Naturally, we Sci-Fi lovers are most interested in the
55 potentially habitable exoplanets
. Unfortunately, taking an image of an
Earth 2.0
with enough detail to identify potential features of life is impossible with conventional telescopes.
The
solar gravitational lens mission
, which has recently been selected for phase III funding by the
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program
, is aiming to change that by taking advantage of the Sun’s gravitational lensing effect.
It all started with Einstein
Strong gravitational lens LRG 3-757 as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (Credit: NASA)
Not surprisingly, it was Einstein who
calculated in 1936
that the gravitational field of a star can act as a lens. If an object is located behind the star on the same line of sight as the observer, the resulting image will form a ring, nowadays known as an
Einstein ring
. It was not until 1979 that the effect was discovered when
two suspiciously similar objects were observed
turning out to be a double image formed by a gravitational lens. Today gravitational lensing is used to
quantify the amount and distribution of dark matter.
As hinted in the introduction, due to the brightness amplification caused by a gravitational lens it can also serve as a kind of
gravitational telescope
, allowing the
detection of faint galaxies from the early Universe
.
AI and Citizen Scientists help to find Needles in a Haystack
Gravitational lenses are quite rare and one typically has to look at a thousand different galaxy images to find one. In addition, recognizing and unwinding the distortion of a gravitational lens on an image is not a trivial task. Therefore, the
space warps project
relied on citizen scientists to identify gravitational lenses within data taken by the Hyper Suprime-Cam. (Astronomers pick epic-sounding names!) Machine learning algorithms can also be used to sift through the data of astronomical surveys. In particular, convolutional neural networks, which are also the basis for Facebook’s DeepFace facial recognition,
have been used to identify gravitational lenses
.
Using the Sun as a Lens
Concept for a Solar Gravitational Lens mission (Credit: The Aerospace Corporation)
In contrast to an optical lens, a gravitational lens does not produce a single focal point but a focal line. As shown in the picture, the Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) focusses incoming light to a line that starts at a distance of ~550 AU. If one would place a telescope at this point the SGL could magnify the brightness of a distant object by a factor of ~10
11
and offers an angular resolution of ~10
-10
arcsec. For an exo-Earth at 30 parsecs (~100 light-years) the SGL telescope could achieve ~25 km-scale surface resolution, enough to see surface features and signs of habitability.
A String-of-Pearls equipped with Solar Sails
Artist’s depiction of a picture from an Earth-like planet taken with the SGL telescope (Credit: Slava Turyshev)
The concept of the SGL mission is very well explained in the video embedded below. First of all, one of the biggest problems is getting to the Sun’s focus point. The most distant space probe Voyager 1 launched in 1977 is currently at 148 AU, i.e. at the same velocity, it would take >150 years to get to the nearest SGL focus point. Because of the required velocity and long operating life current chemical and nuclear propulsion techniques are inadequate. Instead, the SGL mission will use solar sails driven by the Sun’s radiation pressure. By flying closely around the Sun the SGL spacecraft could achieve a velocity of 25 AU/year, reaching the SGL focus region in <25 years total flight time.
Employing a single spacecraft would be impractical for the SGL mission because of the high risk of failure during the long flight. Instead, the mission concept follows a
string-of-pearls
approach where a pearl consists of 10 to 20 small spacecraft (
smallsats
) weighing <100 kg that fly in formation. The entire string will be formed by multiple pearls launched at ~1-year intervals. Having multiple smallsats allows for some redundancy thereby limiting the risk of single point failure. It also helps to spread the costs over time and among the participants. Otherwise, a mission of this magnitude will likely never be able to secure enough funding.
Each smallsat should operate mostly autonomously which becomes more important the further away it gets from Earth. The final SGL communication latency is around four days. To achieve autonomous navigation, data processing, and fault management the SGL mission counts on several emerging AI technologies and throws around a lot of buzzwords like
Explainable AI
,
Lifelong Learning Machines
,
Learning with Less Labels
, and
Neuromorphic
chip design.
Challenges also arise for the imaging instruments. A
coronagraph
, made of a phase mask that works through destructive interference, is being used to block out the direct light from our Sun. This still leaves the light from the Sun’s corona as background source, which will overlap with the Einstein ring. To reduce this overlap the telescope needs to be placed yet further away from the Sun at about 650 AU. Finally, the telescope will not be large enough to image the whole Einstein ring at once. The image of an Earth-sized exoplanet at 30 parsec is compressed by the SGL to a cylinder with a diameter of ~1.3 km in the immediate vicinity of the focal line. For a 1 m telescope to obtain a 1000 x 1000 pixel image, the spacecraft would have to scan this area one pixel at a time by moving in small steps of 1.3 m. The original image of the exoplanet is then reconstructed via a deconvolution algorithm.
When do we get there?
So when will we get the first high-resolution image of an exoplanet? Naturally, the timelines for science projects of this magnitude are very vague and can easily get shifted behind by 5-10 years. In the
phase II summary report
it is stated that the remaining technological development would allow launch in 2028-2030. Realistically, this means we could get first data somewhere around the early 2060s.
What planet will they look at? Since there will likely be several new potentially habitable planets discovered before the SGL mission will reach its destination, the target is not yet fixed. Currently, one the most promising candidates is TRAPPIST-1e, a rocky, almost Earth-sized planet located at 12.1 parsecs distance that may also contain liquid water. The planet will be more closely observed by the
James Webb Space Telescope
planned to launch next year.
What will they look for? Checking for signs of habitability will include spectroscopic investigation of the atmosphere to check for biomarkers such as oxygen and methane. It will also be possible to look for artificial light sources at night time as well as radio transmissions.
The Sun has not only enabled life on Earth but can also serve as a tool to search for life on other planets. It is quite exciting that the question “Are we alone in the Universe?” may be answered with a negative within our lifetime. This makes you wonder how many similar telescopes are already pointed at us. | 19 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239097",
"author": "Rex",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T14:37:12",
"content": "Somebody’s dreaming. We can’t even get the James Webb space telescope into space, what are the chances of this ever flying?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,373,514.615012 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/rock-out-with-toilet-paper-rolls/ | Rock Out With Toilet Paper Rolls | Sven Gregori | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"diy instrument",
"musical instrument",
"pure data",
"raspberry pi",
"toilet"
] | Singing in the shower is such a common phenomenon, rarely anyone ever bats an eye about it. Singing in the toilet on the other hand is probably going to raise an eyebrow or two, and it’s not for nothing that the Germans euphemistically call it “stilles Örtchen”, i.e. the little silent place. But who are we to judge what you do in the privacy of your home? So if you ever felt a lack of instrumental accompaniment, or forgot to bring your guitar, [Max Björverud] has
just the perfect installation for you
. (Video, embedded below.)
Inspired by the way bicycle computers determine your speed, [Max] took a set of toilet paper holders, extended each roll holding part with a 3D-printed attachment housing a magnet, and installed a Hall-effect sensor to determine the rolling activity. The rolls’ sensor data is then collected with an Arduino Mega and passed on to a Raspberry Pi Zero running Pure Data, creating the actual sounds. The sensor setup is briefly shown in
another video
.
Before you grab your pitchforks, [Max] started this project a little while back already, long before toilet paper became an object of abysmal desire. Being an artist in the field of interactive media, this also isn’t his first project of this kind, and you can find some more of his work
on his website
. So why of all things did we pick this one? Well, what can we say, we
definitely
have
a weakness
for
strange
and
unusual
musical instruments. And maybe
there’s potential for some collaboration here
? | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239043",
"author": "shellspeck",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T11:04:44",
"content": "“Kackaday” nemmt man es auf Deutsch.Besides that, toilet paper is anti-hygienic and not eco-friendly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6239044",
... | 1,760,373,514.546688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/21/right-to-repair-tractor-manufacturers-might-have-met-their-match-in-australia/ | Right To Repair: Tractor Manufacturers Might Have Met Their Match In Australia | Jenny List | [
"News",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"Australia",
"drm",
"john deere",
"right to repair"
] | The simmering duel between farmers and agricultural machinery manufacturers over access to the software to unlock the DRM which excludes all but the manufacturer’s agents from performing repairs goes on. How this plays out will have implications for the right to repair for everyone on many more devices than simply tractors. Events so far have centred on the American Midwest, but there is an interesting new front opening up in Australia.
The Aussie government consumer watchdog, the ACCC, is looking into the matter
, and examining whether the tractor manufacturers are in breach of the country’s Competition and Consumer Act.
As ABC News reports
there is a dual focus, both of the DRM aspect and on the manufacturer’s harvesting and lock-in of customer farm data.
This is an exciting turn of events for anyone with an interest in the right to repair, because it takes the manufacturers out of the comfort zone of their home legal environment into one that may be less accommodating to their needs. If Aussie farmers force them to open up their platforms then it will benefit all of us, but even if it fails, the fact that the issue has received more publicity in a different part of the world can only be a good thing. There are still tractor manufacturers that do not load their machines with DRM, how long will it be we ask before the easy repairability of their products becomes a selling point?
There are many stories relating to this issue on these pages,
our most recent followed the skirmishes in Nebraska
.
Thanks Stuart Longland for the tip.
Header image, John Deere under Australian skies: Bahnfrend (
CC BY-SA 4.0
). | 60 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6239007",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T08:37:54",
"content": "In an ideal world, nobody would buy that crap and those criminal actors would just disappear from the market.What is missing?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,514.865526 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/heavyweight-cyberdeck-is-in-a-class-of-its-own/ | Heavyweight Cyberdeck Is In A Class Of Its Own | Tom Nardi | [
"Cyberdecks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"18650",
"3D printed enclosure",
"cyberdeck",
"cyberpunk",
"Raspberry Pi 4"
] | Inspired by other builds he’d seen online, [BlastoSupreme] decided to build his very own cyberdeck. There was only one problem: he’d never designed and assembled anything like this before. Wanting to avoid any problems down the line, he reasoned that the safest approach would be to make it so big that he wouldn’t struggle to fit everything inside.
Some may say the resulting
NX-Yamato
, named for the most massive battleship ever constructed, ended up being
too
large. But that’s only because they are afraid.
A finish like the
Yamato’s
doesn’t come easy.
In his write-up on
The Cyberdeck Cafe
, a site dedicated to the community sprouting up around these futuristic personal computers, [BlastoSupreme] describes building this cyberdeck as something of a transformative experience. Looking at the incredible effort that went into this project, we can believe it. From the intricate CAD work to the absolutely phenomenal finish on the
Yamato’s
3D printed frame, there’s not a cut corner in sight.
That’s right, nearly every component of this cyberdeck was conjured into existence by squirting out hot plastic. About two kilograms of it, to be precise. It was printed in vertical chunks which were then assembled with adhesive and screws. This modular construction technique allowed [BlastoSupreme] to build what he believes to be the largest cyberdeck ever made. Sounds a lot like a challenge to us.
Admittedly, the massive internal volume of the
Yamato
is largely unused; all that’s inside it right now is a Raspberry Pi 4 and a X705 power management board that allows the deck to run off of 18650 cells. Of course, all that space could easily be put to use with additional gear or even a larger and
more powerful Single Board Computer (SBC) such as the Atomic Pi
. There’s even a dedicated compartment in the side for snacks, so no worries there. As [BlastoSupreme] puts it, all that empty space inside is a
feature
, not a bug.
Plenty of room inside for whatever hardware you want to take with you into the Sprawl.
In the nearly two years that have passed
since we first came across one of these
Neuromancer
inspired builds
, we’ve been absolutely blown away by the increasing scale and complexity of
these
extremely
personal computers
. Since it seems there’s only a fairly loose idea of what a “proper” cyberdeck should look like in the canonical sense, these builds have been free to fill in the blanks with some pretty outlandish designs. Some of which have
earned William Gibson’s personal seal of approval
. | 24 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238998",
"author": "qwert",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T07:31:19",
"content": "That cyberdeck cafe website is an unusable disaster (on Firefox at least, but even on chrome I’d bet it’s way too busy) but this is a nice build for sure! Just would love to see some of the other projects o... | 1,760,373,514.931102 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/treating-vertgio-but-not-the-catchy-pop-song/ | Treating Vertigo But Not The Catchy Pop Song | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"at-home",
"BPPV",
"Epley",
"point-of-care",
"Purdue MIND",
"Rice 360",
"vertigo"
] | Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), or simply vertigo, is a condition that creates a sensation of dizziness and spinning, leading to nausea and loss of balance. These symptoms occur due to the dislodging of calcium carbonate crystals in the ear (imagine always feeling dizzy and having salt in your ears, not great). This disease is especially prominent in persons over 65, which is even more problematic considering such populations are especially susceptible to falling and dying from complications from the fall.
To treat vertigo, specialized physicians called vestibular specialists to guide patients through a series of head motions collectively referred to as the Epley maneuver. However, many patients must travel for hours to see a specialist since non-BPPV specialists often feel uncomfortable performing the maneuver.
As a result, Purdue Medical Innovation, Networking, and Design (MIND) developed,
Verti-Fix, a solution that will guide non-BPPV specialists through the Epley maneuver
using accelerometers and gyroscopes and could also be used by patients at-home as well. By doing so, Verti-Fix is able to provide feedback on how fast or how slowly patients are progressing through the maneuver. Purdue MIND coupled their device with indicator lights to alert physicians if they have performed a specific motion incorrectly and provide detailed feedback on steps performed and steps remaining on an LCD screen. The device is even powered by one of our personal favorite microcontrollers, the ATmega328P. Purdue MIND have detailed their design with schematics and code on Hackster.io giving the community an opportunity to remix, reuse, and reshare.
Purdue MIND are already upgrading their prototype to include eye-tracking and wireless capabilities. Additionally, they recently competed in the
Rice 360
o
Design Competition
and placed among the Top 20 teams! We’ll be watching to see how they advance their prototype further.
In the meantime, check out out some other
at-home monitoring projects on Hackaday
. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238958",
"author": "Boeke (@jboeke)",
"timestamp": "2020-04-21T02:38:06",
"content": "Seems like you could just use a sweatband to attach all the accelerometers in your cell phone to the back of your head and use voice prompts to guide you through.",
"parent_id": null,
"dep... | 1,760,373,514.977327 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/20/tubes-have-character-with-a-tek-570/ | Tubes Have Character With A Tek 570 | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"curve tracer",
"tektronix",
"tektronix 570",
"tube",
"vacuum tube"
] | When tubes were king, you could go to a drugstore with a box full of them from your TV. There would be a tester that would tell you what tubes were bad and, of course, you could buy the replacements for them. That kind of tube tester was pretty simple. If you wanted to really know how to design with a tube or test its parameters, you were much better off with a curve tracer like the
Tektronix 570
that [tomtektest] shows off in two recent videos that you can see below.
That piece of kit fell into [Tom’s] lap thanks to an observant delivery driver. The 1955 instrument is very similar to a semiconductor curve tracer but, of course, has the ability to provide much higher voltage for the tubes. The basic idea is that the X axis sweeps from a few volts up to 100s of volts. The vertical scale will show the plate, screen, or grid current. From those curves you can learn a lot about the characteristics of the tube.
Accommodating the various tube pinouts takes a patch panel that would be at home on an old-style computer. You might wonder why you’d need all this data on a commercial tube. Like transistors, tubes had published data, but no two tubes would be exactly alike. It was very common in certain circuits to hand sort tubes of the same type to find tubes that closely matched.
[Tom] does a nice job of taking us through the device’s block diagram, shows us some of the schematic, and — of course — demonstrates the operation. He even shares some hacks to fix some oscillations in the tester’s circuits. While we don’t miss lugging those heavy beasts around, but somehow using an instrument with a screen that weighs more than 25 pounds makes you feel like you accomplished something.
If you want to
build out your own tracer
for solid-state instead of hollow state, it isn’t that expensive. Of course, one of these old 570s would be just the ticket if you were
building your own tubes
. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238904",
"author": "cliff claven",
"timestamp": "2020-04-20T23:15:42",
"content": "This does bring back some memories. I was schooled decidedly during the semiconductor age, but was, literally, the last year where tubes were in the curriculum, and we did a couple labs with tubes. I... | 1,760,373,515.023326 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/19/a-broken-inductor-as-a-bike-chain-sensor/ | A Broken Inductor As A Bike Chain Sensor | Jenny List | [
"Parts",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"chain sensor",
"inductor",
"sensor"
] | If you have ever broken the ferrite core of an inductor, you’ll probably sympathize with [Oliver Mattos]. He accidentally stood on a ferrite-cored component, breaking it and rendering it useless. But utility is in the eye of the beholder, and instead of throwing it away
he’s repurposed it as a chain sensor for his electric bicycle
.
The broken inductor was positioned on the rear frame of the machine such that the chain passed through the area where the broken half of its core would once have been. As each link passes through the magnetic field it causes the inductance to change, and from this the speed, direction, and tension of the chain can be read.
Adding a 180 nF capacitor in parallel with the inductor creates a tuned circuit, and measuring the inductance is as straightforward as firing a single pulse at it and measuring the time it takes to go negative. Chain speed can be read by sensing the change in inductance as each link passes, tension by sensing the change in inductance as the chain is closer or further away, and direction by whether the chain is slack or not. It’s an ingenious and simple solution to measuring a bicycle chain, and we like it.
A lot of bicycle measurement systems have passed our way over the years, but it’s fair to say
they have been more concerned with displays than sensors
. | 31 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238445",
"author": "Wrm",
"timestamp": "2020-04-19T13:30:05",
"content": "Polar actually made a bicycle power sensor around 10 years ago that worked in this very way, as I recall. I think its main benefit was being significantly cheaper than the market leader at the time, SRM.",
... | 1,760,373,515.212533 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/19/enforce-social-distancing-with-high-voltage/ | Enforce Social Distancing With High Voltage | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"capacitor",
"high voltage",
"magnetron",
"microwave",
"safety",
"social distancing"
] | When getting parts together for a one-off project, we often find ourselves with some leftovers on hand. Most of the time these things go in the junk drawer, but [Brad] aka [AtomicZombie] was working on a project which required parts salvaged from several microwave ovens. That left him with enough surplus components to build
a social distancing enforcement tool for the modern age
; which will deliver a taser-like shock to anyone which violates the new six-foot rule.
The leftover parts in question were built around a high-voltage capacitor, which [Brad] strapped to his back to hold all of the electronics needed for the six-foot electrified hoop. The generator utilizes the output voltage from two magnetrons, but doesn’t start until the operator enters a code on the front control panel, which is about the only safety device on this entire contraption. To get power to the magnetrons a 12 VDC car battery is used with an inverter to get the required input voltage, and towards the end of the video linked below he shows its effectiveness by setting various objects on fire with it.
While this gag project is unlikely to get any actual use, it’s not like any of us around here need an excuse to play with high voltages. [Brad] is also unlikely to need it either; he lives on a secluded 100-acre homestead and has been featured here for some of the projects he built to make his peaceful life a little easier, like a
robotic laundry line
,
mobile chicken coop
, and an
electric utility tricycle
built from an old truck and motorcycle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8H4TFDvBFs | 61 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6238394",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2020-04-19T08:07:12",
"content": "Fake!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6238481",
"author": "FrankGrimes",
"timestamp": "2020-04-19T15:27:36",
"content": "... | 1,760,373,515.131915 |
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