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https://hackaday.com/2022/10/16/everything-you-wanted-to-see-about-restoring-a-1956-radio/ | Everything You Wanted To See About Restoring A 1956 Radio | Donald Papp | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"antique",
"radio",
"refurbish",
"repair",
"tube",
"vintage"
] | Ever wanted a good, good look at the insides of a 1950s radio, along with fantastic commentary on the internals and the purpose of various components? Then don’t miss [Adam Wilson]’s
repair and restoration of a 1956 Philips 353A
, a task made easier by a digitized copy of the service manual. [Adam] provides loads of great pictures, as well as tips on what it takes to bring vintage electronics back to life. What’s not to like?
Vintage electronics like this are often chock-full of components that deteriorate with age, so one doesn’t simply apply power to see if it still works as a first step. These devices need to be inspected and serviced before power is ever applied. Even then, powerup should be done with a current-controlled source that can be shut down if anything seems amiss.
Thank goodness for high quality, digitized service manuals.
Devices like these largely predate printed circuit boards, so one can expect to see plenty of point-to-point soldering. Vacuum tubes did much of the hard work, so they are present instead of integrated circuits and transistors. Capacitors in the microfarads were much larger compared to their modern equivalents, and paper/wax capacitors (literally made from rolled-up paper covered in wax) handled capacitances in the nanofarad range instead of the little ceramic disk caps of today.
One thing that helped immensely is the previously-mentioned Philips 353A service manual, which includes not only a chassis and component layout, but even has servicing procedures such as cord replacement for the tuning dial. Back then, a tuning dial was an electromechanical assembly that used a winding of cord to rotate the tuning capacitor, and replacing it was a fiddly process. If only all hardware was documented so well!
The end result looks wonderful and still has great sound. As a final tweak, [Adam] added an external audio input cable as a nod to the modern age. Now, we have in the past seen a
small LED screen integrated convincingly into an antique
, but in this case [Adam] kept the original look completely intact. You can see it in action, playing some Frank Sinatra in the short video embedded below. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521820",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T20:29:01",
"content": "Nice work! I wonder if this one required an isolation transformer as these old radios can sometimes give a nasty surprise due to non-polarized AC source plugs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,531.210797 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/16/2022-cyberdeck-contest-a-wrist-worn-deck-with-a-hybrid-interface/ | 2022 Cyberdeck Contest: A Wrist-Worn Deck With A Hybrid Interface | Dan Maloney | [
"contests",
"Cyberdecks"
] | [
"2022 Cyberdeck Contest",
"Pi Zero W",
"pip-boy",
"waveshare",
"wearable"
] | You’d think that now that the 2022 Cyberdeck Contest is wrapped up, we’d stop writing about it. Sorry, but no — there were so many great entries that we just can’t help but keep focusing on them. And
this wearable hybrid interface cyberdeck
has a look we love so much that we can’t resist spotlighting it.
We wouldn’t go so far as to call the “hgDeck” a PipBoy, but [Igor Brkić]’s wrist-worn deck certainly bears some similarity with to the
Fallout
-famous terminal. In fact, the design for this one is based on
his earlier hgTerm
Raspberry Pi mini-laptop, which honestly would have made a great entry all by itself. But while the two version shares some similarities, the hgDeck puts a serious twist on the form factor. In the stowed configuration, the Pi Zero W puts the main display, a 3.5″ Waveshare TFT, to work using the resistive touchscreen interface. But with the flick of a finger, a motor flips the monitor up on a set of pantograph linkages, which exposes a compact Bluetooth keyboard. Another touch stows the screen and returns you to touchscreen-only operation.
There were a fair number of wrist-worn decks in
the contest’s final results
, and while this one didn’t win, [Igor]’s build has got to be one of the cooler designs we’ve seen, one that almost seems practical in the real world. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521805",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T19:07:28",
"content": "So cool!But where is the radiation monitor?B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6521823",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"... | 1,760,372,530.888439 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/16/cutting-a-wearable-display-in-half-is-harder-and-simpler-than-it-seems/ | Cutting A Wearable Display In Half Is Harder And Simpler Than It Seems | Danie Conradie | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"smart glasses",
"wearable display",
"zack freedman"
] | In the world of hardware hacking, you sometimes spend a ridiculous amount of time debugging a problem, only to find a simple solution that was right in front of you the whole time. [Zack Freedman] got a good dose of this while building the
Optigon V2
, a modified Epson Moverio wearable display he uses as a teleprompter in all his videos. He prefers having the teleprompter over his left eye only, but the newer version of the Moverio would shut off both sides if one is disconnected, so [Zack] needed a workaround.
Looking for some help from above, [Zack] requested developer documentation for the display module from Epson, but got declined because he wasn’t a manufacturer or product developer. Luckily, a spec sheet available for downloaded from the Epson website did contain a lot of the information he needed. An STM32 monitored the temperature of each display module over a pair of independent I2C interfaces, and would shut down everything if it couldn’t connect to either. This led [Zack] to attempt to spoof the I2C signals with an ATmega328, but it couldn’t keep up with the 400 kHz I2C bus.
However, looking at the logs from his logic analyzer, [Zack] found that the STM32 never talked to both display modules simultaneously, even though it is capable of doing so. Both displays use the same I2C address, so [Zack] could simply connect the two I2C buses to each other with a simple interface board, effectively making the left display “spoof” the signals from the right display.
Wearable displays need some fancy optics to be practical,
you can’t just stick an OLED to your face
. Two other interesting projects from [Zack] are his
modular mechanical keyboard
and the
Gridfinity 3D printed storage system
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521725",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T15:10:47",
"content": "The ATmega328 not keeping up with a 400KHz I2C sounds odd, you need some really crappy code if you cannot keep that up… as that’s only 40KByte/s, giving you a few 100 cycles to handle each byte even at the i... | 1,760,372,530.93003 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/16/automatic-flag-waver-lets-you-show-your-loyalty-without-getting-tired/ | Automatic Flag Waver Lets You Show Your Loyalty Without Getting Tired | Robin Kearey | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"flag",
"flag waving",
"servo"
] | A flag is a great tool to show your loyalty to a country, a sports team or even a philosophical movement. But there’s not so much you can actually do with a flag: you can either hang it somewhere, or wave it around to attact others to your cause. [Mellow] found that waving quickly becomes tiresome, and decided to design
a machine that automates this task for him
.
Now there’s a bit more involved in designing a proper flag-waver than simply moving the flag back and forth. Ideally, the fabric should flow smoothly from side to side and show both sides equally, in the same way a human would do when waving a big flag around. After a bit of research [Mellow] decided on a design that generates a rather complex motion using just a single servo: the mast is tilted from left to right, while gravity ensures the flag rotates around its axis. It’s probably best demonstrated visually, as [Mellow] does in the video embedded below.
The flag-waving mechanism is designed in Fusion 360 and 3D printed using white filament. Inside a little square box is a Wemos D1 Mini, powered by a lithium battery scavenged from a vape pen, as well as a battery management system and a power switch. The servo sits on top of the box and holds the flag in a little socket that allows the mast to rotate freely. [Mellow] also went one step further and built a two-flag waver, which still uses only one servo but creates two opposite motions through a set of spur gears. Both waver types bring a lively atmosphere to their surroundings, and we can actually imagine them being useful in places like sports bars.
Automatic flag-wavers are still rare devices, and as far as we can tell this is only the second one we’ve seen, after
this hat-mounted example
. That is, if you don’t count the automatic “flag” on
this mailbox
. | 31 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521663",
"author": "juergenUK",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T11:17:41",
"content": "Flag waving here as well.I did it for fun for the football game UK – Germany 29 June 2021.A little test using our TPS/MyCo 4 Bit project.The first waving used 4 bit resolution on both servos, then here ... | 1,760,372,530.801566 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/16/ebike-charges-in-the-sun/ | Ebike Charges In The Sun | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Solar Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"charge controller",
"charging",
"ebike",
"lectric",
"mppt",
"solar panel"
] | Ebikes are slowly taking the place of many cars, especially for short trips. Most ebikes can take riders at least 16 kilometers (10 miles) without too much effort, at a cost that’s often a single-digit percentage of what the same trip would have been with an internal combustion engine. If you’re interested in dropping the costs of your ebike trips even further, or eliminating it entirely,
take a look at this small ebike with integrated solar panels
.
While any battery can be charged with a sufficiently large array of solar panels and the correct electronics to match the two systems together, this bike has a key that sets it apart from most others: it can charge while it is being used to power the bike. Most ebikes don’t have charging enabled during rides, so if you want to use the sun while riding to extend the range of the bike you’ll need to find one like this. This bike uses two 50 W panels on the two cargo areas of the bike, attached to a 400 W MPPT charge controller. The Lectric XP 2.0 ebike has a motor with a peak rating of 850 W, but in a low pedal-assist mode the solar panels likely output a significant fraction of the energy used by the electric drivetrain.
Even if the panels don’t provide the full amount of energy needed for riding around, the project’s creator [Micah] lives in Florida, so just setting the bike outside in the sun for six to eight hours is enough to replenish most of the battery’s charge. It’s probably not going to win any
solar-powered bike races
anytime soon, but for an efficient, quick bike to ride around town it’s not too shabby. | 38 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521622",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T08:16:12",
"content": "In summer I average about 50W on my ebike. So yeah, there is a good chance that 100W peak power panels could charge that.Though increased wind resistance and weight could eat the advantage.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,372,531.15844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/laser-engraving-up-close/ | Laser Engraving, Up Close | Al Williams | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"fiber laser",
"laser",
"laser engraving"
] | You know you aren’t supposed to watch your laser while it is cutting or engraving. But [Alex] hosted Wired in his studio and showed them how lasers engrave metal with a fiber laser. You can see the video below.
If you haven’t used a fiber laser, you might be surprised that while a 60 W model can burn metal, it does absolutely nothing to [Alex’s] hand. We wouldn’t try that, by the way, with the common diode lasers you see in most hacker’s labs these days. The video isn’t terribly technical, but it is interesting to see different metals succumb to the powerful laser. There are a few tips about marking different metals in different ways and how to deal with thermal expansion and other effects.
Fiber lasers aren’t as common as diode engravers in private shops, but we assume it is just a matter of time before they get cheaper. Not to mention their widespread use commercially means surplus units might become available, too.
If you are interested in lasers, [Alex’s]
YouTube channel
has quite a few interesting videos to check out. If you need more power,
how’s 200 kW?
Then again,
even 20 W
will get you something useful. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521600",
"author": "zoobab",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T06:04:05",
"content": "Can you do PCBs?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521602",
"author": "Iw2",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T06:12:31",
"content": "... | 1,760,372,531.085112 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/reverse-engineering-a-display-protocol-to-repair-a-roland-synthesizer/ | Reverse-Engineering A Display Protocol To Repair A Roland Synthesizer | Robin Kearey | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"LCD repair",
"Roland Juno",
"synthesizer"
] | Repairing electronic devices isn’t as hard as it used to be. Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to find datasheets and application notes for any standard component inside your gadget, and once you’ve found the faulty one, you simply buy a replacement from one of a million web shops — assuming you don’t end up with a fake, of course. When it comes to non-standard components, however, things get more difficult, as [dpeddi] found out when a friend asked him for help in
repairing a Roland Juno-G synthesizer with a broken display
.
The main issue here was the fact that the display in question was a custom design, with no replacement or documentation available. The only thing [dpeddi] could figure out from the service manual was the basic pinout, which showed a parallel interface with two lines labelled “chip select” — an indication that the display contained two separate controllers. But the exact protocol and data format was not documented, so [dpeddi] brought out his logic analyzer to try and decode the signals generated by the synthesizer.
After a bit of trial and error, he was able to figure out the protocol: it looked like the display contained two KS0713-type LCD controllers, each controlling one half of the screen. Finding a compatible replacement was still proving difficult, so [dpeddi] decided instead to decode the original signals using a microcontroller and show the picture on a modern LCD driven by SPI. After some intial experiments with an ESP32, it turned out that the task of reading two reasonably fast parallel buses and driving an even faster serial one was a bit too much for the ESP, so [dpeddi] upgraded to a Raspberry Pi Pico. This worked a treat, and thanks to a 3D-printed mounting bracket, the new display also fit snugly inside the Roland’s case.
The Pico’s code is available on [dpeddi]’s GitHub page, so if you’ve also got a dodgy display in your Juno-G you can simply download it and use it to plug in a brand-new display. However, the method of reverse-engineering an existing display protocol and translating it to that of a new one is pretty universal and should come in handy when working with any type of electronic device: say, a
vintage calculator
or
multimeter
, or even
another synthesizer
. | 26 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521625",
"author": "Jouni",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T08:21:44",
"content": "I have Juno-G but gladly the LCD was replaced already.However the original (?) schematic look a lot like the “standard” 128×64 3D-printer display (SS-something driver). I don’t know if I got it right but ma... | 1,760,372,530.994273 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/a-3d-printed-ratchet-that-can-really-take-the-torque/ | A 3D Printed Ratchet That Can Really Take The Torque | Donald Papp | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"ratchet",
"tools",
"torque wrench"
] | Printed tools aren’t exactly known for their durability, but [Gladius] shows us that with some thoughtful design,
it’s possible to print a ratcheting wrench that can handle surprising amounts of torque
.
Look closely, and you can see that the parts are almost entirely made up of perimeters (click to enlarge).
This particular wrench is inspired by
NASA’s 3D printed ratcheting wrench
, and also
from an early 1900s design
. It sports a 1/2 inch square socket into which modern adapters can be fitted, allowing those steel parts to do their job while the wrench itself delivers the muscle.
[Gladius] found that the strongest results came from slicing parts — especially the handle — so that they come out consisting almost entirely of perimeters, with virtually no traditional infill. Want to know more? There’s a discussion on
reddit
where [Gladius] goes into added detail about measurements and performance.
Over the years, we’ve seen our share of powerful prints. For example, what
the Crimson Axlef*cker can do looks downright intimidating
. Speaking of printing things that move, we want to remind you about this handy tip for easily and reliably
joining motor shafts to printed parts by (mis)using jaw couplings
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521528",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-16T00:42:44",
"content": "So it can torque up to 30 fig newtons!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521613",
"author": "TG",
"times... | 1,760,372,530.848071 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/organizational-inspiration-from-the-discount-tool-company/ | Organizational Inspiration From The Discount Tool Company | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"adjustable",
"bin",
"box",
"container",
"crosshair",
"patter",
"storage",
"tool"
] | When in need of any tool to get a job done quickly, or only for a small number of times, it’s great to have a local “discount tool” company locally for some working, yet often low-quality solution to whatever problem might arise. While there are some gems, most of these tools won’t last through heavy, sustained use like their more expensive counterparts will. On the other hand, there are other things to be had at these discount shops,
such as inspiration for tackling a storage problem
.
This particular storage system comes from Harbor Freight, and uses a set linked crosshairs, the center of which is hollowed out. A set of movable compartments sits on top with feet that can interlock inside the crosshairs. This allows much more efficient use of space within the toolboxes, but [Alan] wanted it to be useful for more that that. He designed and implemented the Storage Case Base Template (SCBT) which allows for a container of any size to be fitted with a similar crosshair network.
With this non-proprietary system implemented and printed, the original goal of reducing the clutter in [Alan]’s workspace was accomplished. The 3D printing files can be modified easily for any space, and are available both on
Thingiverse
and Printables. For some other ways of packing a lot into a small space, we featured
this tiny workshop
a while back that’s packed with storage hacks. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521498",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T20:19:24",
"content": "Shout out for Gridfinity!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521518",
"author": "kbob",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T23:10:00",
"c... | 1,760,372,531.043129 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/aqua-pcb-is-a-big-upgrade-for-the-mattel-aquarius/ | Aqua PCB Is A Big Upgrade For The Mattel Aquarius | Navarre Bartz | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino mega",
"Arduino Mega 2560",
"mattel",
"Mattel Aquarius",
"retrocomputer",
"z80",
"Zilog Z80"
] | In case you weren’t around in the 80s, or you happened to blink, you may have missed the Mattel Aquarius computer. [
Nick Bild
] has a soft spot in his heart for the machine though and built the
Aqua cartridge
to make the Aquarius into a more usable machine.
Originally equipped with a mere 4 KB of RAM and a small, rubbery keyboard, it’s not too surprising that the Aquarius only lasted five months on the market. [Nick] decided on the cartridge slot to beef up the specs of this little machine given the small number of expansion ports on the device. Adding 32 KB of RAM certainly gives it a boost, and he also designed an SD card interface called Aqua Write that connects to the Aqua cartridge for easily transferring files from a more modern machine.
The Aqua Write uses an Arduino Mega 2560 to handle moving data between the SD card and the system’s memory. This is complicated somewhat because a “PLA sits between the Z80 and data bus that XORs data with a software lock code (initialized to a random value on startup).” [
Nick
] gets around this by running a small program to overwrite the lock code to zero after startup.
Getting data on and off retrocomputers can certainly be a challenge. If you’re trying to get files on or off another old machine, check out this
Simple Universal Modem
or consider
Using a Raspberry Pi as a Virtual Floppy Drive
. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521446",
"author": "BW",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T17:10:19",
"content": "Wow. The Aquarius (with a 16K ram cartridge) was my first computer. It is genuinely *awful*, even by the standards of the 1980s.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comme... | 1,760,372,530.722461 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/why-learn-ancient-tech/ | Why Learn Ancient Tech? | Elliot Williams | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Supercon",
"badge",
"machine language",
"newsletter",
"retrocomputer",
"Voja Antonic"
] | The inner orbits of the Hackaday solar system have been vibrating with the
announcement of the 2022 Hackaday Supercon badge
. The short version of the story is that it’s a “retrocomputer”. But I think that’s somehow selling it short a little bit. The badge
really
is an introduction to machine language or maybe a programming puzzle, a ton of sweet blinky lights and clicky buttons, and what I think of as a full-stack hacking invitation.
Voja Antonic designed the virtual 4-bit machine that lives inside. What separates this machine from actual old computers is that everything that you might want to learn about its state is broken out to an LED on the front face, from the outputs of the low-level logic elements that compose the ALU to the RAM, to the decoder LEDs that do double-duty as a disassembler. You can see it all, and this makes it an unparalleled learning aid. Or at least it gives you a fighting chance.
So why would you want to learn a made-up machine language from a non-existent CPU? Tom Nardi and I were talking about our experiences on the podcast, and we both agreed that there’s something inexplicably magical about flipping bits, calling the simplest of computer operations into action, and nonetheless making it do your bidding. Or rather, it’s anti-magical, because what’s happening is the stripping away of metaphors and abstractions. Peering not just behind, but right through the curtain. You’re seeing what’s actually happening for once, from the bottom to the top.
As Voja wrote on the silkscreen on the back of the badge itself: “A programmer who has never coded 1s and 0s in machine language is like a child who has never run barefoot on the grass.” It’s not necessary, or maybe even relevant, but learning a complex machine in its entirety is simultaneously grounding and mind-expanding. It is simply an experience that you
should
have.
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
! | 69 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521394",
"author": "Reluctant Cannibal",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T14:37:25",
"content": "I was offered a free ticket to the supercon 2022 and was sorely tempted to accept the invite just to get the badge. I wonder if I can give my ticket to someone else and make it so that they sen... | 1,760,372,531.495944 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/printed-axial-generator-is-turned-by-hand/ | Printed Axial Generator Is Turned By Hand | Bryan Cockfield | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"axial",
"gears",
"generator",
"hand crank",
"plastic",
"tools"
] | While desktop 3D printing is an incredible technology, it’s got some pretty clear limitations. Plastic parts can be produced quickly in a 3D printer but can be more expensive or take longer to make than parts from materials like wood. Plastic parts can also be weaker than materials like metal. If a 3D printer is all you have on hand, though, you can often make some design choices that improve the performance of a plastic part over other materials. That’s what [1970sWizard] did to make
this axial hand-cranked generator
.
Besides a few pieces of off-the-shelf hardware and the wire and magnets, the
entire
generator is printed. The actual generator is made from coils of wire with exposed leads which snap into a plastic disc which acts as the generator’s stator. The magnets also snap into a separate disc which is the rotor of the generator and is attached to the drivetrain, with no glue or fasteners required. A series of gears on two other axes convert the torque from the hand crank into the high speed necessary to get usable electricity out of the generator.
The separate gear shafts were necessary to keep from needing a drillpress, which would have allowed fewer axes to be used. This entire machine can be built almost entirely with a desktop 3D printer, though, which was one of the design goals. While it’s largely a proof-of-concept, the machine does generate about 100 mW of power which is enough to slowly charge USB devices, power lights, or provide other sources of very small amounts of energy. If you do have access to some metalworking tools, though, take a look at this
hand-cranked emergency generator
. | 19 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521403",
"author": "Piotrsko",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T15:13:11",
"content": "Not the entire thing is printed, I see shafts, nuts and bearings.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521406",
"author": "rthrthrt",
... | 1,760,372,531.738309 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/15/how-to-achieve-knurling-on-a-flat-surface/ | How To Achieve Knurling On A Flat Surface | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"knurling",
"lathe",
"metalworking"
] | Knurling is a popular way to finish handles of tools and other hardware, with a pattern of crossed lines rolled into metal to provide better grip and an attractive finish. It’s most commonly done on a lathe to round stock, but it can also be achieved on flat surfaces if you have the right tool. Of course,
you can make one yourself
.
The build is simple, and is based around by creating a special carrier out of a solid piece of steel. It’s a long bar has a space milled out to hold two wheels in the middle. A pair of off-the-shelf knurling wheels are then installed in the bar, with socket head bolts serving as axles.
With the tooling complete, it’s then a simple matter of installing the carrier bar in a lathe and running it back and forth over a flat workpiece. The workpiece is rolled back and forth to allow the wheels to do their work, while also being shifted horizontally to allow the entire flat surface to be worked over.
A nice knurled finish really can elevate the form and function of any tool or other piece of metal craftsmanship.
We’ve explored how to create your own knurled knobs before, too
.
[Thanks to Zane Atkins for the tip!] | 20 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521350",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T08:44:28",
"content": "Reminds me – how exactly do they make files?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521357",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15... | 1,760,372,531.793109 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/a-simple-stove-built-for-beans/ | A Simple Stove, Built For Beans | Bryan Cockfield | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"biomass",
"efficiency",
"emergency",
"fuel",
"gasifier",
"heat",
"rocket stove",
"stove",
"wood"
] | Sitting around a campfire or fireplace is an aesthetically pleasing experience in most situations, and can even provide some warmth. But unless you have a modern wood-burning appliance, it’s likely that most of the energy available in the biomass is escaping as un-burned vapors. Surprisingly, solving this problem is almost as easy as buying a can of beans at the store, and the result is a
very efficient stove which can be used for heat in a pinch
.
[Robert] is demonstrating this gasifier stove, not with beans but using both a can of peas and a larger can of potatoes. Various holes are drilled in each can in a specific pattern, and then the smaller pea can is fitted inside the larger potato can. Once a fire is going, the holes allow for air to flow in a way which traps the escaping un-burned vapors from the fuel and burns them as they flow through the contraption. No moving parts are required; this is all powered by the natural airflow that’s produced by the heat of the fire.
The result of a build like this is not only a stove which can extract a much higher percentage of the available fuel, but also quires much less fuel for a given amount of heat, and produces a much cleaner, less smokey fire. [Robert] also added a screen mantle which allows for this to be used more as a heat source, but
similar builds can also be used just as effectively for cooking, too
. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521355",
"author": "pinderschloss",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T09:03:28",
"content": "A really disapointing video. All critical steps are ‘behind the scene’ and replaced by useless extensive comments. The ‘drawing’ looks really strange ( airflow from the top ?) and my overall feeling... | 1,760,372,531.90205 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/to-turn-an-attiny817-into-a-150mhz-counter-first-throw-out-the-spec-sheet/ | To Turn An ATtiny817 Into A 150MHz Counter, First Throw Out The Spec Sheet | Dan Maloney | [
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"Atmel",
"ATtiny817",
"AVR",
"counter",
"frequency counter",
"prescaler",
"TCD"
] | One generally reads a data sheet in one of two ways. The first is to take every spec at face value, figuring that the engineers have taken everything into account and presented each number as the absolute limit that will prevent the Magic Smoke from escaping. The other way is to throw out the data sheet and just try whatever you want, figuring that the engineers played it as safely as possible.
The latter case seems to have been the motivation behind
pushing an ATtiny way, WAY beyond
what the spec sheet says is possible. According to [SM6VFZ], the specs on the ATtiny817 show that the 12-bit timer/counter D (TCD) should be limited to a measly 32 MHz maximum frequency, above which one is supposed to employ the counter’s internal prescaler. But by using a 10-MHz precision frequency generator as an external clock, [SM6VFZ] found that inputs up to slightly above 151 MHz were countable with 1-Hz precision. Above that point, things started to drift, but that’s still pretty great performance from something cobbled together on an eval board in a decidedly suboptimal way.
We’d imagine this result could lead to some interesting projects, since the undocumented limit for this timer puts it well within range of multiple amateur radio allocations. Even if it doesn’t prove useful, that’s OK — just seeing how far things can be pushed is cool too. And it’s not like this is the first time we’ve caught [SM6VFZ]
persuading an ATtiny to do unusual things
, either. | 20 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521316",
"author": "Stuart Longland",
"timestamp": "2022-10-15T02:47:45",
"content": "Damn, if he can tease that up to 158.7MHz with some fine-tuning of the circuit, there’s pretty much a 2m-band LO oscillator right there.Pretty sure my FT-857D drifts more than 1Hz at those frequen... | 1,760,372,531.685952 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/toteable-pc-is-inspired-by-macs-of-days-gone-by/ | Toteable PC Is Inspired By Macs Of Days Gone By | Lewin Day | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"all-in-one",
"computer",
"latte",
"Lattepanda",
"luggable computer"
] | Back in the 1980s, the personal computer was a hip new thing, and the form this new technology would take was still up for debate. Back then, all kinds of weird clamshells, breadbins, and all-in-one designs hit the market, with the Apple Macintosh proving to be a successful example of the latter. Inspired by the Macintosh 128K that served as their first computer,
[Arnov Sharma] decided to whip up a modern all-in-one of their very own.
It’s nicknamed the LATTEintosh, as it’s built around the Latte Panda 3 Delta. This is a single-board computer with an Intel Celeron N5105 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage on board. It’s capable of running full-fat x86 operating systems, and here, it’s running Windows 10.
The enclosure is a custom 3D-printed design of [Arnov]’s own creation. It sports a 7-inch HD monitor, fans for cooling, and speakers integrated into the case. Naturally, it’s got a handle on top to make it easy to carry, just like the Macintosh all-in-ones all those years ago.
There’s something to be said for a computer you can just pick up and carry away, and we love the boxy form factor. Sometimes a laptop simply won’t do, and we can imagine many engineers and technicians out there appreciating a build like this.
We’ve seen some great all-in-ones before, too
. Video after the break. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521283",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T23:55:17",
"content": "If it’s going to be that boxy, it should have a GPU in it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521302",
"author": "Stuart Longland",
"... | 1,760,372,531.631513 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/wheatsystem-is-a-homebrew-8-bit-os/ | WheatSystem Is A Homebrew 8-Bit OS | Lewin Day | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"8 bit",
"bytecode",
"homebrew computer",
"operating system",
"os"
] | [Esperantanaso] has long been involved in producing homebrew 8-bit computers. His various builds could all achieve different things, but he grew frustrated that applications written for one could not be easily run on another. He recently took a big leap forward in this area, though, cooking up
his own 8-bit operating system called WheatSystem.
The work initially began with BreadSystem, which relied on applications existing in bytecode. This would then be run by the BreadSystem OS which would handle the requisite conversion to the machine code of the system it ran on. However, the work quickly got out of hand when it came to implementing advanced features like the file system and floating-point handling. BreadSystem was looking likely to be too heavy to run on lightweight 8-bit systems.
That led to the development of WheatSystem, which kept the bytecode runtime environment, unified heap, and a memory permission system from BreadSystem. Fancier features like granular memory permissioning, automatic garbage collection, and file system directories were dropped.
WheatSystem quickly became a basic and functional OS. To demonstrate it, [Esperantanaso] created
WheatBox 55A1
, a small homebrew computer based on the ATmega328. It readily runs simple applications like a prime number generator or a basic RPG.
Creating one’s own OS is no mean feat, even at the 8-bit level.
We’ve seen it done before
, and it never fails to impress. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521223",
"author": "56u56ju",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T19:14:39",
"content": "is possible change system? for example fuzix or LUFA?in my opinion mechanic keys is bettre way",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6521224",
"author"... | 1,760,372,531.956852 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/errf-22-after-two-years-back-and-better-than-ever/ | ERRF 22: After Two Years, Back And Better Than Ever | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"East Coast RepRap Festival",
"ERRF",
"ERRF 22"
] | When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it became clear that organizers would have to pull the plug on any large social events they had planned. Many organizers decided to take their events online, but blurry web streams and meme-filled Discord channels can only get you so far. At this point we’re all keenly aware that, while they do have some advantages, virtual events are not the same as the real thing.
Which is why I was looking forward to making the trip down to Bel Air, Maryland for the first in-person
East Coast RepRap Festival (ERRF)
since 2019. I’m happy to report that the event, which was still in its infancy prior to the pandemic, was just as lively this year as it was doing my previous trips. Perhaps even more so, as local hackers and makers were eager for an outlet to show of their latest creations.
I’ll admit that part of me was concerned the two-year shutdown would have robbed ERRF of the momentum organizers had worked so hard to build. But judging by what I saw over the weekend, it seems even a global pandemic couldn’t slow down this fantastic event.
A Tough Time to Innovate
That said, you definitely got a different vibe while walking the show floor this year. It wasn’t a matter of attendance, from what I saw, there was certainly no shortage of excited folks milling about. But one couldn’t help but feel that there was a sense of hesitation on the part of many of the vendors, as if they didn’t want to fully commit to a large scale showing.
Prusa XL
The fact is, these are difficult times.
We’ve covered the part shortages
in great length here at Hackaday, and when you combine that with rising inflation around the world, it’s not hard to see why many of these companies have decided to keep a low profile. When you’re having enough trouble keeping production going on your current products, it’s hardly the ideal time to launch a new one.
So while Prusa, both the man himself and his eponymous company, were in attendance this year, there was no
surprise product reveal like in 2019
. A Prusa XL was there running off some demo prints, and the
ambitious large-format machine
definitely attracted a crowd, but we’re going to have to wait a bit longer for that mythical i3 MK 4.
Of course, it’s not just hard on companies right now. When folks are struggling with energy and grocery bills, a new 3D printer or a couple rolls of exotic filament are luxuries that are going to have to be pushed to the wayside. For what I paid in gas to drive to Maryland, I could have stayed home and ordered a decent printer on Amazon. The fact that so many people
still
made the trek out to ERRF given what’s going on in the world really shows how excited people were for this event to return.
Invasion of the Death Racers
Just because the big boys didn’t bring too many new toys to play with this year doesn’t meant there wasn’t anything interesting to see. After seeing suspiciously similar printed combat robots on various individual’s tables, I had to take a closer look and see what it was all about.
It turns out the basic design
originated from Michael Baddeley
, but over the last half a year or so has taken on a life of its own thanks to the 3D printing community on YouTube. As you can see in the gallery here, most of the modifications to the core tracked bot are cosmetic, so as to keep the performance as similar as possible for competitive purposes. The idea is to use the rotating boom on the back of your tank to knock the head off of your opponent — cleverly, the main power running to the electronic speed controller is wired through a chunky toggle switch mounted under the head in such a way that once the “driver” has been decapitated the
vehicle is no longer able to move
.
But why were so many hanging around at this particular event? Keen-eyed readers may notice that several of the Racers feature Polymaker’s logo, which isn’t just a coincidence. It turns out the filament maker was running a promotion where they would provide anyone going to ERRF the
filament they needed to print a Death Racer
, so long as their name was proudly emblazoned along the side. Clever.
Hey, I Know This Printer
For me personally, one of the best parts of going to an event like this is that I’ll inevitably stumble across a project we’ve already covered here on Hackaday. Seeing these creations up close and meeting the passionate people who build them is always very rewarding. Especially in the event that our coverage had a beneficial impact on the project, because at the end of the day, that’s really what it’s all about.
This time around I got to spend some time chatting with Adam Fasnacht and check out the Ender 3 he modified with a conveyor belt for “infinite” printing. We
covered the open source modification
, as well as Adam’s fledgling company PowerBelt3D, last month — but there’s still nothing quite like being able to see the hardware in person.
During my visit, I also saw the latest iteration of the Cocoa Press chocolate printer. The
first time I came across this project
was during the 2018 World Maker Faire in New York, and back then it took up nearly the whole table and was
literally
made out of wood. The design had been refined considerably by the time the
2019 Philadelphia Maker Faire
rolled around, but this new version of the machine appears to be a real leap forward technologically.
2018
2019
2022
Still not 100% sure there’s a huge market for 3D printed chocolates, but can’t deny that the Cocoa Press team are pushing their technology forward like mad.
Prints For Days
While seeing what the vendors have to offer is interesting, and getting some face time with the 3D printing community certainly has value, the reason you
really
make the trip out to an event like the East Coast RepRap Festival is to see all the incredible 3D prints people have brought along to show off.
The following gallery is by no means an exhaustive record of what was on display this year, but should give you an idea of what kind of things you might see if you make the trip come 2023.
Stay Tuned for More
You’ll be seeing a few more articles from the 2022 East Coast RepRap Festival here on Hackaday shortly, there were simply too many cool projects to try and collect them up in just one go. But even after you’ve read them all, you’ll still only have experienced a tiny fraction of what this event has to offer.
If you’re into 3D printing and can possibly make the trip, I’d highly recommend heading out next year. It might not have the pedigree of the older Midwest RepRap Festival, but ERRF does have the distinct advantage of
not
taking place in middle-of-nowhere Indiana. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521227",
"author": "J. Samso",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T19:36:41",
"content": "Also, I actually enjoyed the article up to that point.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6521233",
"author": "Henry Kowalski",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,372,531.846755 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/hackaday-podcast-189-seven-segments-three-ways-candle-code-diy-e-readers-and-the-badge-reveal/ | Hackaday Podcast 189: Seven Segments Three Ways, Candle Code, DIY E-Readers, And The Badge Reveal | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | This week Hackaday Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Managing Editor Tom Nardi will discuss the return of the East Coast RepRap Festival, the scientific application of slices of baloney, and the state of the art in homebrew e-readers. The discussion weaves its way through various reimaginings of the seven (or more) segment display, an impressive illuminated headboard that comes with its own science-fiction film, and the surprising difficulty of getting a blinking LED to actually look like a flame. Stick around to the end to find out why iPhones are freaking out on amusement park rides, and to hear all the details about this year’s Supercon badge.
Direct download your own!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
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Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 189 Show Notes:
What’s that Sound?
Think you know what this week’s sound was?
Fill out the form for a chance to win
a rare Hackaday Podcast T-Shirt!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Seeing If Cheating At Chess The Hard Way Is Even Possible
Hans Niemann Report – Chess.com
How To Be A Stinkin’ Chess Cheat — Sockfish
DIY E-Reader Has Hot Swap Mechanical Keys
Open Book Abridged: OSHW E-Reader Now Simplified, Pico-Driven
Inkplate Comes Full Circle, Becomes True Open Reader
Seven Segments, But Not As We Know Them
I’ll See Your Seven-Segment Mechanical Display And Raise You To 16 Segments
Flip-Segment Digital Clock Is A Miniature Mechanical Marvel
This Headboard Contains An Artificial Sun
A Cold Light To Warm Your Heart
GitHub – carangil/candle: A realistic LED candle simulation using an Arduino and NeoPixel LEDs
LED candle simulation – YouTube
A Raspberry Pi Phone For The Modern Era
The Open Source Rotary Cell Phone, Two Years Later
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
Thrills With An LED “Thriller” Jacket
Compensating For Your TVs Backlight
Quick Reload For Your Glue Sticks: The Glue Gun Six Shooter
Tom’s Picks:
[Tom Stanton] Builds An Osprey
Simple CNC Gear Production With Arduino
Dumping An EMMC Chip With Many Bodge Wires
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Rollercoasters Are Triggering The IPhone’s Crash Detection System
The 2022 Supercon Badge Is A Handheld Trip Through Computing History | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521268",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T22:50:16",
"content": "My kingdom for a punch card to serial adapter…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521784",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,372,531.998155 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/medicine-dosing-spoon-discontinued-made-3d-printable-instead/ | Medicine Dosing Spoon Discontinued, Made 3D Printable Instead | Arya Voronova | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"health equipment",
"medical equipment",
"orfiril"
] | [Gregor Herz] caught wind of a problem that neuropediatric clinics in Germany have been facing recently. Orfiril, a seizure-preventing medication used in those clinics for treating children, is normally prescribed to adults, and the usual dosages are too high for kids. Orfiril comes in regular pill-shaped capsules, each capsule containing a bunch of small medication-soaked pellets, and you only need a certain amount of these pellets if you want to achieve a lower dose.
It used to be that you could get a special spoon helping you to get a proper dosage — but sadly, the original supplier has quit making these. So, our hacker
designed a 3D printable model
instead.
[Gregor] tells us that a lot of clinics in Germany are facing this exact issue right now, so sharing this model may mean that more hospitals can work around the supply issue. Provided a friendly hobbyist has food-grade 3D printing conditions available, anyway. He tells about some suitable filaments models you can buy, as well as
research on food-grade printing requirements
— a topic we’ve
talked about in detail,
and just this month
have seen someone revisit
with reassuring results. Are you interested in printing some of these? If so, there might be a clinic nearby that’d be thankful.
We’ve seen a surge of 3D printing for medical uses two years ago, back when supply chain issues
had doctors face PPE shortages,
and some critical
parts for equipment were in short supply.
Before that, we’d sometimes see
medical purpose 3D printing done in dire circumstances,
when no other choices were available. Now 3D printing of medical devices is more accepted, and we can’t wait for more research and hacking on this front! | 45 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521173",
"author": "That kid",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T15:39:22",
"content": "Thank you Gregor!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521175",
"author": "Jan Praegert",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T15:46:05",
... | 1,760,372,532.141776 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/hackaday-prize-2022-hedge-watcher-aims-to-save-precious-bird-life/ | Hackaday Prize 2022: Hedge Watcher Aims To Save Precious Bird Life | Lewin Day | [
"green hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"ar",
"augmented reality",
"bird",
"camera",
"hedge",
"thermal camera"
] | Hedges aren’t just a pretty garden decoration. They’re also a major habitat for many species of insects, birds, and other wildlife. In some areas, a lot of hedge trimming goes during the time that local birds are raising their fledglings, which causes harm at a crucial time. Thus, [Johann Elias Stoetzer] and fellow students were inspired to create
Hedge Watcher.
Birds can easily blend in with their surroundings, but thermal cameras are a great way to spot them.
The concept is simple – using thermal vision to spot birds inside a hedge when they may not otherwise be easily visible. Many species blend in with their surroundings in a visual manner, so thermal imaging is a great way to get around this. It can help to avoid destroying nests or otherwise harming birds when trimming back hedges. The idea was sourced from large-scale agricultural operations, which regularly use thermal cameras mounted on drones to look for wildlife before harvesting a field.
However, staring at a thermal camera readout every few seconds while trimming hedges isn’t exactly practical. Instead, the students created an augmented reality (AR) monocular to allow the user to trim hedges at the same time as keeping an eye on the thermal camera feed. Further work involved testing a binocular AR headset, as well as a VR headset. The AR setups proved most useful as they allowed for better situational awareness while working.
It’s a creative solution to protecting the local birdlife, and is to be applauded. There’s plenty of hubris around potential uses for augmented reality, but this is a great example of a real and practical one. And, if you’re keen to experiment with AR yourself, note that
it doesn’t have to break the bank either
!
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520922",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T20:08:15",
"content": "Birds aren’t real.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520937",
"author": "X",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T20:32:21",
"content": "... | 1,760,372,532.053032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/publish-or-perish-data-storage-and-civilization/ | Publish Or Perish: Data Storage And Civilization | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"post apocalypse",
"Rant"
] | Who do you think of when you think of ancient civilizations? Romans? Greeks? Chinese? India? Egyptians? What about the Scythians, the Muisca, Gana, or the Kerma? You might not recognize that second group as readily because they all didn’t have writing systems. The same goes, to a lesser extent, for the Etruscans, the Minoans, or the inhabitants of Easter Island where they wrote, but no one remembers how to read their writing. Even the Egyptians were mysterious until the discovery of the Rosetta stone. We imagine that an author writing in Etruscan didn’t think that no one would be able to read the writing in the future–they probably thought they were recording their thoughts for all eternity. Hubris? Maybe, but what about our documents that are increasingly stored as bits somewhere?
It was bad enough when you had punched cards and magnetic media. We are sure there are some tape formats that are no longer practical to read. Could you read a magnetic bubble cartridge? Would it even be viable after all these years? But the problem is even worse now. Where are your back copies of Hackaday? Where are your e-mails? “In the cloud” is a cliche, but appropriate. In 1,000 years there won’t be a Google server and whatever storage medium it is using today will likely be dust even if the people wanting to read it knew how.
Do you know the function of this? (Public domain; from the Walters Aret Museum)
And it gets worse. If you see a stone or a parchment with scribbles on it, you can deduce it is writing. What if you saw some strings with knots in them? The Incas used a system like that to record things. We still don’t know exactly how to read them. What will a future archeologist make of a flash card or a hard disk? They are as unlikely to use anything like it as we are to use a strigil — the Roman knife used to clean yourself. If you saw one of these with no context, you might assume it was a tool for carpentry, not a bathroom implement. Why would our future archeologists think that some little boxes might have writing inside of them if you knew how to read them?
Antique Media vs Modern Media
At least some of the oldest media have some chance of surviving. Punched cards and paper tape are probably about as robust as books. Like a stone tablet, too, it should be pretty obvious that they hold data and they are easy to decode, even by hand.
Magnetic things are less certain, though. Tape-based oxides aren’t going to last forever and the magnetic information on them is even more fragile. Optical media might last, but it is far from certain you’d realize there was data encoded. They might be mistaken for art. Tape has the same problem. It would be easy to imagine some future museum showing tape used for some unknown religious ritual involving sanctuaries with raised floors.
Modern media is likely to be flash based and that certainly won’t last forever. It is even harder to realize there might be something on them. Even now, I can see a half a dozen USB devices on my desk, half of which are not flash drives but don’t look very different.
Then there’s all the cloud data. Sure, it is really stored somewhere on a hard drive (magnetic media or flash). Presumably, if future archeologists found a buried data center, somewhere, they might unlock tons of data, but only if they realized what it was and how to read it.
Encoding Problems
Even today, it can be difficult to read a disk written on one system if you don’t have that system. It has gotten somewhat easier, in some common cases, because a few formats are near universal, but there are always outlier cases.
As a thought experiment, though, imagine you are a future archeologist studying 21st-century ruins. Your assistant brings you a little black rectangle the size of your thumbnail marked “32 GB, Class 10.” First, you need to realize it is a flash device. Then you’ll need to understand how to power it up and send it the right commands over the serial bus to pull the data off of it.
But the fun’s just starting. With the data, you’ll need to figure out the file system format. Then you get to dig into the different kinds of files, each of which will be a science project in of itself. PDF files? Images and video? Good luck. Imagine if the Egyptians used a different set of hieroglyphics for different purposes and then subjected them to data compression to minimize redundancy.
Real Life
We aren’t the only ones thinking about this. The University of Göttingen, for example, manages 5 petabytes of data in a “forever” archive collected over the last 40-some-odd years. They claim that the tapes they use have a 20-30 year lifespan, but the technology to manage them only lasts 10 years. So they are constantly moving data from one medium to the next, which takes about two years to complete. Of course, if they were to stop operating, you can assume in 300 or 400 years, there won’t be much chance of retrieving any of the data.
There is no shortage of services to store your data “forever” in the cloud, but it is hard to see how they can really assure that and what it would mean if it didn’t work. For example,
Ardrive
uses the “blockweave” to store data in a distributed way, but it is easy to imagine any number of ways this could be disrupted. As Adam Farquhar, head of digital preservation at the British Library has said, “If we’re not careful, we will know more about the beginning of the 20th century than the beginning of the 21st.”
Not that paper records are much better. Paper deteriorates. Languages are lost. The library at Alexandria famously burned. But stone seems to last. Ironically, we know a lot about Akhenaten — King Tut’s father — because the Egyptians tried to erase him from history by destroying his work. They reused the stones, often as a foundation for new construction and so we have found much of it well-preserved.
As we push to more exotic storage media, the problem just gets worse. We’ve read about storing
data in glass
(see the video below) and molecular storage at 80K using liquid nitrogen. None of this is going to be more obvious or more survivable than what we are using today. In fact, a lot of it will make the problem worse.
We can’t tell how serious they are, but the “
Billion Year Archive
” project did send a quartz disk with Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy in the glove box of Elon Musk’s space-traveling Tesla. They also apparently sent a library to the moon in 2019. However, these libraries use DNA storage which seems odd since we have trouble recovering old DNA today and also by etching tiny text into thin nickel films. Besides that, the probe it was hitching a ride with crashed, and the survival of the library is in question.
It is difficult, however, to visualize our post-apocalyptic archeologist wandering the moon and realizing the significance of some metal foil and a few crystals. That leads us to two interesting questions: First, how could you store obvious data for the distant future in such a way that it survives and is understandable? The question is sort of like the
alien messages
where it is difficult to figure out what another being could decode. Without that answer, we could become another mysterious “lost civilization” one day.
The second question is: what if this has happened before? It smacks of crackpot science, but what if some ancient artifact has information encoded on it and we don’t even recognize it? Of course, some of them we recognize, but we
don’t know what to do about them
like the Incan knots in the video below. Got an answer to either of these questions? Leave them in the comments.
[Banner image: “
Egyptian Hieroglyphics
” by Martie Swart | 120 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520871",
"author": "Diarmuid Mc Givern",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T17:20:03",
"content": "This is one very niche reason for open source things. If a company had a proprietary way of storing information then relatively few people would know how to read it, while for an open source fo... | 1,760,372,532.678361 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/imagining-a-dune-accurate-fremen-thumper/ | Imagining ADune-accurate Fremen Thumper | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"Arrakis",
"co2 cartridge",
"dune",
"Fremen",
"pneumatic",
"prop",
"Thumper"
] | Never underestimate the power of fandom to obsess over the smallest details of its chosen canon. We say that with all due respect, of course, as some of the builds that result are really cool, like
this working Fremen thumper from the
Dune
universe
.
If you aren’t up to speed on [Frank Herbert]’s sci-fi epic, the Fremen are a warrior race that populates the sands of the desert planet Arrakis, which is inhabited by giant sandworms. The worms are attracted to vibrations, and thumpers are supposed to be mechanical devices set into the sand to lure worms. Thumpers are only vaguely described in the text, and have been imagined to varying degrees of success in the filmed versions of the story.
[Attoparsec] decided to take a stab at a working version, with the twist of making it plausible within what’s known about the Fremen in the stories. He settled on a pneumatic drive, which seems like something the Fremen would use. Using compressed CO
2
cartridges, he discovered that it’s far easier to make a high-speed pneumatic vibrator than it is to make a piston move slowly up and down. Several iterations were needed to get to a mechanism capable of the more stately movements seen in any of the film versions of the story, and even then the thumping seems a bit fast for our liking. The triggering mechanism was very cool, though, and somewhat unexpected — [Herbert] describes “lighting the candle” to trigger a thumper, which led to the use of a thermal pressure relief valve and a fuse.
The video below goes over the design and build in some detail, as well as demonstrates the thumper in action with a clever cosplay bit. Hats off to [Attoparsec] for this dive down the fandom rabbit hole, maybe a faithful version of
the “pain box”
will be next up on the project list.
Thanks to [Wesley Ellis] for the tip! | 30 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520855",
"author": "Flippy Flaptulance",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T15:49:33",
"content": "Cool. Has me thinking about a CO2 powered pogo stick!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521083",
"author": "Matthias",
"t... | 1,760,372,532.369836 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/2022-cyberdeck-contest-picking-the-best-of-the-best/ | 2022 Cyberdeck Contest: Picking The Best Of The Best | Tom Nardi | [
"contests",
"Cyberdecks",
"Featured",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Cyberdeck Contest"
] | Given how many incredible builds we’ve covered over the last couple of years, we knew that an official Cyberdeck Contest would certainly receive some impressive entries. But never in our wildest dreams could we have predicted that more than 100 decks would end up crossing the finish line, or that of them, the vast majority would be never-before-seen designs. In fact, the response to this contest was so overwhelming that the judging process took far longer than we originally anticipated.
Ultimately, we decided that there were simply too many phenomenal builds entered into the contest to award $150 Digikey spending sprees to just three of them. So as an added bonus, we’ve rustled up some $50 Tindie gift certificates that will go to the four special category honorable mentions.
With that, let’s take a look at the cyberdecks that took top honors as decided by our panel of judges.
First Place: Hosaka MK I
In terms of fit and finish, the
Hosaka MK I built by [Chris]
is so far ahead of the competition that you’d be excused for thinking it dropped into our reality through some tear in the fabric of space and time. It’s completely believable as a piece of equipment from the future, and could easily pass for a high-end movie prop.
[Chris] says this build is a tribute to William Gibson and his work, and while the man himself has said that he didn’t have a strong idea of what a cyberdeck should actually look like back when he wrote
Neuromancer,
there’s no question that the Hosaka MK I has embraced the best of the cyberpunk aesthetic his novels helped create.
But of course, looks will only get you so far. What really puts the Hosaka MK I over the top is the excellent documentation, as [Chris] made sure to include plenty of internal photos and build details. He’s even provided a complete Bill of Materials and FreeCAD design files for his deck, should anyone wish to spin up their own version.
Second Place: Cyberdeck Red
While the Hosaka MK I may have been the beauty in this competition, you could argue that the
Cyberdeck Red built by [Gabriel]
represents the brains. This deck packs in an impressive amount of hardware while still remaining portable, and even though all the bells and whistles lead to a rather incongruous outer appearance, we’d wager many a hacker would feel its worth the trade.
Beyond the Raspberry Pi 4 and 10-inch display at the heart of the Cyberdeck Red, you’ll also find an Analog Discovery 2; a USB oscilloscope and logic analyzer that features a function generator and dual programmable power supplies. There’s also an integrated Great Scott Hack RF One, and a small projector on an articulated mount that lets you turn any wall into a huge display for hacking on the go. We especially liked the magnetically-attached breadboards for impromptu prototyping, and the small drawer built into the front of the deck for holding all the little bits and pieces a hardware hacker would want to bring along on their adventures.
Third Place: ComputeDeck-B3
Rounding out the top winners is
this sleek wearable from [atltvhead]
. While many of the other decks in this competition look like they’re either from the far future or an alternate version of our past, the ComputeDeck-B3 looks remarkably contemporary. In fact, it’s downright
normal
looking in comparison.
Featuring a unique single-handed chorded keyboard, the ComputeDeck-B3 may well be one of the most practical builds submitted to the 2022 Cyberdeck Contest. Had it been entered during an adaptive technology contest, we probably wouldn’t have batted an eye. We could even imagine somebody using it to keep track of the inventory in a massive warehouse some place.
Now, that might all sound a bit dull. But in fact, that’s sort of the point. This build shows that a custom computer doesn’t
need
to look like the traditional laptop to be functional for day-to-day tasks — and makes us excited to see where a future filled with bespoke computing devices might take us.
Honorable Mentions
Each of the three winners above will be awarded the $150 in store credit from Digi-Key, but after seeing how many incredible builds were submitted, we decided to sweeten the pot for the projects that best fit a few special categories. Each of these projects will receive $50 gift cards from Tindie.
Post-Apocalyptic Cobbledeck
You can’t count on Amazon Prime in a cyberpunk dystopia, so you should be prepared to build your deck out of whatever parts you can find laying around. If you’re looking for an example of this eclectic style of construction, the
IP00-minus from [Rob]
is about as perfect as they come.
This wearable is, quite literally, a ball of modules and components held together with wires and leather straps. But don’t be fooled by its haphazard appearance, the IP00-minus is a fully functional smartwatch that includes a number of unique features that you wouldn’t expect, such as PM2.5 particle counter to report on local air quality.
We were also very impressed with the
Mini-Deck from [Smeef]
. On the surface you might think this build has the same freewheeling style as the IP00-minus, but on closer inspection you can see its reserved enough to include some clever design elements like using an 18650 cell as both a power source and a hinge pin to fold itself around. A BME688 sensor lets it pull in plenty of environmental data, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W combined with a salvaged mini USB keyboard should let you get some real work done despite the unit’s diminutive proportions.
All-in-Wonder
This category is about builds that pack in as much functionality as possible, and of all the entries in the 2022 Cyberdeck Contest, the
Black Beast from [Lord Of All Things]
is unquestionably the most stacked.
It might be easier to list the gadgets this build
doesn’t
feature, but some of the highlights include radios for 433/868 MHz and LoRaWAN, an RFID reader, GPS, a Bluetooth analyzer, a Geiger counter, an ADS-B receiver, environmental sensors, and a stripped-down Amazon Echo. There’s even a dedicated compartment for a Victorinox Cybertool Swiss Army knife — just in case you forgot your corkscrew back at your volcano lair.
Shiny
Most of the decks in this year’s contest took the rough and tumble approach to cyberpunk chic, which frankly makes sense given the way our actual future looks to be headed. But there’s always a chance things might turn around and head in the utopian
Star Trek
direction, in which case these aggressive designs simply won’t do. You need something clean and beautiful like
PERSEUS-9 from [Mitsuru Yamada]
.
The aesthetics of the exterior are impressive enough, but a peek at the hand-wired internals shows a level of dedication that we can only dream of. In truth this build may have been higher up in the rankings if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s limited to a 6502 CPU and a 40 x 7 LED character display — though we imagine there’s some of you out there that would consider its reliance on retro hardware to be an advantage when the chips are really down.
Jacking In
Technically speaking, Gibson’s “cyberspace decks” weren’t meant to be traditional computers at all — they were a brain-linked gateway into a virtual reality world where hackers flew around like superheros. But that’s kinda hard to pull off on a Raspberry Pi, so for the time being the community is focused on building rad-looking enclosures and bolting weird gadgets to them. Not that we’re complaining, mind you.
Still, somebody should be trying to push the state-of-the-art forward, and who better to do it than [Tinfoil_Haberdashery]. Like his previous designs, the
S/EA-X Cyberdeck
adopts an exploratory approach to custom computing. Thanks to its modular design, the functionality and physical size of the deck can be tailored to whatever the task at hand may be. That could mean connecting it to a pair of VR goggles and slapping an RC-style joystick on the side to simulate flying a quadcopter, or popping on the keyboard “wings” and using its onboard display when it’s time to knock out some code. The build is superbly documented, and we love the idea of using VGA 15-pin D-SUB connectors as a cheap and easy way to link the modules.
Long Live the Cyberdeck
It’s no exaggeration to say that judging this contest was one of the most difficult things we’ve had to do here at Hackaday in a long time. OK, granted we push buttons all day and don’t live particularly difficult lives in the first place, but you get the idea.
The competition was so fierce that it took over a week of internal debate just to get it down to the top 25. Unanimous agreement was impossible, and we’re willing to bet more than a few comments below will be questioning why their favorite build didn’t make the cut. The reality is that we had so many incredible entries, across so many different styles and ideologies, that selecting an impartial “best” is essentially impossible.
But one thing is clear — the cyberdeck movement is here to stay. What were once derided as little more than casemods have grown into some of the most impressive bespoke creations we’ve seen in years, thanks to a vibrant community of hackers and makers that have cropped up around the idea of building
truly
personal computers.
The Hackaday Cyberdeck Contest will return, it’s only a matter of when. So you better start brainstorming now, because if this is what the community comes up with on their first go around, we can’t imagine what it’s going to look like when they have more time to prepare. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520848",
"author": "Flippy Flaptulence",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T15:14:04",
"content": "Wow, so many entries!I wonder if cyberdecks are getting popular enough that one might reasonably expect to one day walk into a cafe and see someone using one?",
"parent_id": null,
"dept... | 1,760,372,532.432566 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/tiny-thin-client-is-small-but-compatible/ | Tiny Thin Client Is Small But Compatible | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Network Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ESP32",
"thin client"
] | We were impressed with [moononournation’s]
tiny thin client project
. It claims to use an Arduino, but as you might guess it is using the Arduino software along with a network-enabled microcontroller like an ESP32. The impressive part is that it is standards-compliant and implements VNC’s RFB protocol.
The original coding for
RFB on Arduino
is from [Links2004] and armed with that, the thin client is probably easier to create than you would guess. However, this project wanted to use a larger screen and found that it led to certain problems. In particular, the original code had a 320×240 display. This project was to use an 800×480 display, but with the limits on the ESP32, the frame rate possible would be under 7 frames per second. The answer was to combine a 16-bit parallel interface with better compression back to the VNC server.
The little keyboard is probably not very practical, but it is compact. That would be another easy thing to modify. Currently, the keyboard uses I2C, but it would be straightforward to change things up. This would be a worthy base to build a bigger project on top. A 3D printed enclosure would be nice, too.
We’ve seen a number of projects built around
commercial thin clients
. Some from defunct businesses are good
sources for obscure parts
, too. | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520805",
"author": "Zamorano",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T12:05:41",
"content": "It would be great if it were possible to virtualize a GUI application to somehow “project” its display directly to a VNC channel. This could be an easy-to-implement thick client app (think GTK, WinForms ... | 1,760,372,532.722852 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/3d-printed-sorter-separates-spare-hex-nuts-with-a-shake/ | 3D Printed Sorter Separates Spare Hex Nuts With A Shake | Donald Papp | [
"Parts",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3D printable",
"3d printed",
"diy",
"hex nut",
"nut sorting",
"sorter"
] | Got a pile of mixed hex nuts? Sort them in no time by printing
[jonafriendj]’s nut sorter
, which has options for pretty much any nut size you’d be after (it’s labeled metric, but actually includes Imperial sizes as well.)
Something to admire about the design is the handy little raised labels on each of the sieves, and the fact that all the parts print entirely without supports. Designing a part to play to a manufacturing method’s strengths (and avoid its weaknesses) is good DFM, or Design for Manufacturing.
With 3D printing being the boon that it is to workshops and hobbyists everywhere, it certainly pays to strive for good DFM, especially for designs meant to be shared with others. Sometimes good DFM takes a page from other manufacturing methods like injection molding, and we end up with things like
using crush ribs on printed parts
.
Want to see a demonstration of [jonafriendj]’s nut sorting design? Check out the short video embedded below the page break. If that leaves you wanting,
take a look at a motorized, automated DIY solution
. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520761",
"author": "None",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T08:40:29",
"content": "Clever idea. This video shows how it can be done even more efficiently in one go:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tHeE1iRgKk",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment... | 1,760,372,532.769942 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/usb-power-isolator-keeps-smoke-in/ | USB Power Isolator Keeps Smoke In | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"arduino",
"attiny412",
"Isolation",
"power supply",
"safety",
"smps",
"transformer"
] | Anyone who’s done an electronics project knows the most important part of any good design is making sure to keep the magic smoke inside of all of the components. There are a lot of ways to make sure the smoke stays in there, but one of the most important is making sure that the power supply is isolated. If you’re using a USB port on a computer as your power source, though,
it can be a little more complicated to isolate it from the computer
.
The power supply is based around a small transformer with a set of diodes to act as a rectifier. Of course, while a transformer is great at isolating power supplies, it isn’t much good at DC. That’s what the ATtiny microcontroller is for. It handles the high-speed switching of the MOSFETs, which drive the transformer and handle some power regulation. There are two different power supplies created as part of this project as well — the first generates +5V much like a normal USB plug would have, and the other creates both +5V and -5V. It will be important not to mix these two up, or that tricky blue smoke may escape.
The project page goes into extensive details on the operation of the device, so if electrical theory is of interest, this will definitely be worth a read. Isolating a valuable computer from a prototype circuit is certainly important, but if you’re looking for a way to isolate a complete USB connection, look at this build which includes
isolation for a USB to FTDI adapter
. | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520726",
"author": "Phil",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T05:45:48",
"content": "If it’s just power that’s desired, then there are many modules that acheive the same. Not as neat looking mind.For power and data, Google ADUM3160 for many implimentations. Many seem good for 1 or 2 W of p... | 1,760,372,532.820149 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/this-week-in-security-npm-timing-leak-siemens-universal-key-and-php-in-png/ | This Week In Security: Npm Timing Leak, Siemens Universal Key, And PHP In PNG | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"NPM",
"siemens",
"This Week in Security",
"Zoneminder"
] | First up is some clever
wizardry from the [Aqua Nautilus] research team
, who discovered a timing attack that leaks information about private npm packages. The setup is this, npm hosts both public and private node.js packages. The public ones are available to everyone, but the private packages are “scoped”, meaning they live within a private namespace, “@owner/packagename” and are inaccessible to the general public. Trying to access the package results in an HTTP 404 error — the same error as trying to pull a package that doesn’t exist.
The clever bit is to keep trying, and really pay attention to the responses. Use npm’s API to request info on your target package, five times in a row. If the package name isn’t in use, all five requests will take the expected amount of time. That request lands at the service’s backend, a lookup is performed, and you get the response. On the flipside if your target package does exist, but is privately scoped, the first request returns with the expected delay, and the other four requests return immediately. It appears that npm has front-end that can cache a 404 response for a private package. That response time discrepancy means you can map out the private package names used by a given organization in their private scope.
Now this is all very interesting, but it turns into a plausible attack when combined with typosquatting and
dependency confusion
issues. Those attacks are two approaches to the same goal, get a node.js deployment to run a malicious package instead of the legitimate one the developer intended. One depends on typos, but dependency confusion just relies on a developer not explicitly defining the scope of a package.
Siemens Left the Keys in the Ignition
Siemens released version 12 of their TIA portal nearly 10 years ago, and with this update added asymmetric cryptography between the portal and their SIMATIC S7-1200 and S7-1500 products. To put that in plain English, their industrial controllers started using HTTPS to talk to the controller software. This was a good thing. Unfortunately, the private key for that HTTPS connection lives on the controller hardware, and every unit shipped had the same key.
The real fun is how
the team at Claroty discovered all this
. Industrial controllers get programmed in a specific, high-level language, that is strictly for automation logic. Pointers, memory management, and the rest of our normal vulnerable vectors don’t show up here. Those programs get compiled to a custom bytecode that runs in a controlled environment on the controller. So naturally, our researchers reverse engineered the bytecode and wrote their own compiler, to have access to those under-the-hood features. It was still a challenge to defeat the security controls built-in to that environment, but they eventually found a function that could set a pointer to an arbitrary value, allowing kernel reads and writes. Including reading the universal key.
And that brings us to the first real attack that having this secret-but-shared key enables. Depending on the configuration, it’s sometimes possible to download the configuration blob without authentication. One of the items contained in that dataset is the encrypted password hash, which was encrypted using — you guessed it — that universal key. With the key in hand, an attacker can download the hash, decrypt, and then authenticate using the hash.
And then, having the secret key to an HTTPS certificate allows all the normal shenanigans one would think of: capturing traffic and decrypting, or performing a man-in-the-middle attack. The issues have been fixed with the latest firmware and portal updates, and
Siemens has issued an advisory
owning up to the problems. See the video below for the first-hand story of escaping The Matrix and getting to real code execution on these machines.
(Hackaday’s parent company, Supplyframe, is owned by Siemens.)
Valid PNG, Valid PHP
There’s always something weirdly fun about a file that is valid as multiple, wildly different file formats. In this case, it’s
the PNG file that is also valid PHP
. The security angle here is that many websites allow you to upload PNGs and then view them. If that PNG could actually, sneakily be a PHP file too, you have an instant webshell. Now there are likely some insecure sites where it’s just as simple as uploading a script, but many uploader libraries will at least check that the file is valid for the specified mimetype. Simply, it has to be a valid PNG
if set to
image/png
. But is that enough?
PNG files can contain comments. What does a web server do when it serves a
.php
file that also contains binary PNG data? In many cases, it treats it like any other file, sending the raw data until it finds a
<?php
tag, where it might just start executing PHP script. The next question is how does one create such a file that the PHP script persists through compression, resizing, and other sanitizing steps? The first approach discussed is using tEXt chunks, which are usually used for storing title, author, etc. In many cases these bits of embedded text will persist through any modifications.
The other, harder approach, is to embed text as image data directly. There is the PLTE chunk, where custom palette entries can be defined. These can have any value, but must have a multiple-of-three length, and maximum 768 characters. The even harder one is to use
the actual IDAT chunks
, AKA actual valid pixel data. This is deep magic indeed.
Zoneminder — It Could Have Been Worse
This one hits close to home, as it’s a trio of vulnerabilities in a project I recommend and occasionally sling code for. [Trenches of IT] contacted the project on the 30th with
a trio of vulnerabilities
that had the potential to be really ugly when put together. Up first is a Log Injection flaw, where a web user can push arbitrary data into the ZM logs, with no rate limiting. Need the cameras to stop recording? Fill the drive up with log messages. Both the message itself and the component that sent it can be set arbitrarily.
Up next is a CSRF bypass. Cross-Site Request Forgery is an attack where an end user’s browser takes an action the user didn’t intend, just by making an HTTP request. ZM uses CSRF tokens to protect against such issues, which is a random token, supplied by the web service, that must be included in any POST requests. The bypass in the case of ZM is that some actions, like deleting a recording, can be made as GET requests, which don’t require a token. Whoops.
The last issue has the potential to be the worst, as it’s a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) issue. That log injection issue also enables this one, as the “file” field can contain arbitrary HTML code, including a script tag. Put the three issues together and a user with view-only privileges can inject a delete or disable command that will trigger when an admin views the logs. That’s bad, but at least it’s not a pre-auth vulnerability. It was fixed in 1.36.27, released on the 7th. If you happen to be stuck in the 1.34 series of releases, this a few other issues are outstanding and no further releases are planned for that deprecated version. Thanks to [Trenches of IT] for finding and reporting!
Microsoft’s Gift That Keeps Giving
Remember
the Exchange 0-day
, the one that was sort of a workaround of an older problem with the autodiscover endpoint? Well it still hasn’t been patched, and
the recommended workarounds have been updated multiple times, as they’ve been trivially bypassed
. It might just be time to just pull the plug on autodiscover, and just block all outside access to IIS while you’re at it.
Python and Userland Execution
Finally a red-team quick-tip. You’ve popped shell on a server, and you want to pull some tools in to start exploring the environment. Root is mounted read-only, and your temp directories are all mounted
noexec
. How do you get a binary on to the system and run it? If Python is installed, then you could use
ulexecve
.
[Vincent Berg] wrote the tool and has the story
. How it works is equally impressive, as it downloads and parses a given binary, manually loading it into memory and generating the jump buffer. Finally, it jumps code execution into the new binary, which never needs to be written to disk. Tricky. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521184",
"author": "Jen",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T16:24:18",
"content": "Microsoft thing: who still buys and operates Megashaft systems that store confidential data after seeing the summary as “and block all outside access to IIS is reliable for all consequences from data breache... | 1,760,372,532.868189 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/an-open-source-hdmi-capture-card/ | An Open-Source HDMI Capture Card | Lewin Day | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"capture card",
"digital video",
"hdmi",
"hdmi capture card",
"usb"
] | [YuzukiHD] has provided files for anyone that wishes to build
their own HDMI capture card at home.
The design is known as the Yuzuki Loop Out HDMI Capture Card PRO, or YuzukiLOHCC PRO for short.
The build is based on the MS2130, a HD video and audio capture chip that’s compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 1. We’re
pretty sure
that’s now called USB 3.2 Gen 1×1, and that standard is capable of transfers at up to 5 Gbps. Thus, the chip can support HDMI at up to 4K resolution at 60 Hz depending on the exact signals being passed down the line. It’s compatible with YUV422 & MJPEG modes and can be used with software like OBS Studio and FFmpeg. The board itself is relatively simple. It features an HDMI In port, an HDMI Out port, and a USB-C port for hooking up to a computer for capture.
HDMI capture cards can be expensive and fussy things, so you may find it pays to roll your own. Plus, being open sourced under the CERN Open Hardware License V2 means that you can make changes to suit your own use case if you so desire.
We’ve seen some other hilarious video capture tricks over the years, such as a convoluted rig
that uses a SNES to turn a Game Boy Camera into a usable webcam.
If you’ve got any such madcap hacks brewing up in your lab, be sure to
let us know! | 37 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521121",
"author": "Rick",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T11:20:18",
"content": "The elephant in the room: Does it work with HDCP protected HDMI signals?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521126",
"author": "Stoneburner",
... | 1,760,372,532.940312 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/14/lo-fi-orchestra-learns-tubular-bells/ | Lo-Fi Orchestra LearnsTubular Bells | Dave Walker | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"hardware orchestra",
"lo-fi",
"midi",
"music",
"orchestra",
"raspberry pi",
"tubular bells"
] | Hardware projects often fall into three categories: Those that flash lights, those that make sounds and those that move.
This virtuoso performance
by [Kevin]’s “Lo-Fi Orchestra” manages all three, whilst doing an excellent job of reproducing the 1973 musical classic
Tubular Bells
by Mike Oldfield.
Producing decent polyphonic sounds of different timbres simultaneously is a challenge for simple microcontroller boards like Arduinos, so [Kevin] has embraced the “More is more” philosophy and split up the job of sound generation in much the same way as a traditional orchestra might. Altogether, 11 Arduino Nanos, 6 Arduino Unos, an Arduino Pro Mini, an Adafruit Feather 32u4, and a Raspberry Pi running
MT32-Pi
make up this electronic ensemble.
Arduino Servo & Relay Drumkit
The servo & relay drumkit is a particular highlight, providing some physical sounds to go along with the otherwise solid-state generation.
The whole project is “conducted” over MIDI and the flashing sequencer in the middle gives a visual indication of the music that is almost hypnotic. The performance is split into two videos (after the break), and will be familiar to fans of 70’s music and
classic horror movies
alike. We’re astonished how accurately [Kevin] has captured the mood of the original recording.
If this all looks slightly familiar, it may be because we have covered the Lo-Fi Orchestra before, when it entertained us with a rousing rendition of
Gustav Holst’s Planets Suite
. If you’re more interested in real
Tubular Bells
than synthesized ones, then check out
this MIDI-controlled set
from 2013. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521179",
"author": "wibble",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T15:57:19",
"content": "Much cooler than the photo accompanying the writeup suggests. And brilliantly well documented. I’ve always loved the idea of simulating the individual instruments in an orchestra, and placing them as they ... | 1,760,372,532.983549 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/electroplating-makes-3d-printed-star-wars-prop-shine/ | Electroplating Makes 3D-Printed Star Wars Prop Shine | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d print",
"3d printer",
"copper",
"electroplating",
"nickel"
] | 3D printing is known for producing parts with a fairly average finish at best. Even the smoothest resin prints are still fairly plasticky and dull in appearance. However, it’s possible to do much better if you get creative with electroplating.
This thermal detonator prop from [HEN3DRIK]
shows just how good a 3D print can look with a little post-processing and some chemical help.
[HEN3DRIK] started with a
Star Wars
thermal detonator model found online, and printed it in resin for the best possible surface finish from the get go. The parts were cleaned after printing and cured, as per usual resin processing techniques. From there, fine steel wool and sandpaper was used to make the print as smooth as possible. A conductive layer of copper paint was then sprayed on with an airbrush, with mating surfaces masked off to avoid ruining the fit.
The part was then dunked in an acidic copper bath while attached to a power source, and gently rotated during the electroplating process. The results were excellent, resulting in near-mirror finish copper-plated parts after polishing. Nickel was then plated on top to get the prop to the proper silver color. The prop was finally then assembled with an Arduino Nano inside to run several LEDs for visual effect.
Electroplating isn’t just for making things pretty.
It can also add strength to your 3D prints, too!
Video after the break.
[Thanks to Keith Olson for the tip!] | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521071",
"author": "Bigfoot48",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T05:46:24",
"content": "Great… Another project on my list :PWell executed and it look really great, I’m really impressed with the surface finishing. Amazing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,372,533.02407 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/a-flipping-perpetually-rotating-clock/ | A Flipping, Perpetually-Rotating Clock | Abe Connelly | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"clock",
"ESP32",
"flip calendar",
"stepper"
] | Clocks are a mainstay of hackers and makers, as they provide a way to explore creative designs while still maintaining a functional aspect to the project. [Brett Oliver] follows this tradition in making a
cyclotron clock
that uses a perpetual rotating digit concept from a 1900s desk flip calendar.
Each digit of the clock has a rotating chamber that’s big enough to fit a group of tiles inside that have digits printed on either face. The tiles are sized and stacked in such a way that the rotation of the chamber allows the next tile to slide in front of the old one. Specific digits are revealed by rotating the chamber a number of times.
Each of the four digits positions has a 28BYJ-48 stepper motor to rotate the chamber, with each motor being driven by a ULN2003 driver module. The main microcontroller is a ESP32 WROOM, and an I2C compatible DS3231 real time clock (RTC) module keeps time. All of the motors are driven off of an LM2596 module that provides 7 V, while the ESP32 and RTC are powered from a USB connector.
The different modes and the ability to set time is done through a panel that has various buttons and knobs. The whole clock is mounted on a custom wooden base that has cutouts for the panels and cabling. [Brett Oliver] has done a great job of documentation, going into detail about the mechanics and electronics of the build. Design files, including STLs of the various components, are also available for download. Be sure to check out the video after the break.
We’ve featured a
flip calendar
with a similar operating principle before which clearly shows the inner workings of the mechanism. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521047",
"author": "ekaggrat",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T03:13:38",
"content": "love the attention to detail on the build! great job",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6521061",
"author": "JanW",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,372,533.074529 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/how-to-grow-your-own-pyramid-salt-crystals/ | How To Grow Your Own Pyramid Salt Crystals | Lewin Day | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"crystal",
"crystals",
"salt",
"salt crystals"
] | The regular granular table salt you’re used to isn’t the most attractive-looking seasoning out there, even given its fundamentally compelling flavor. You don’t have to settle for boring old salt anymore though,
because [Chase] has shown us you can grow your own pyramid salt crystals at home!
Pyramid salt crystals can grow naturally, and typically occur in locations where salt pools are undisturbed under the warmth of the sun. However, it’s possible to grow them on purpose, too. As a bonus, their hollow structure means they dissolve very quickly on the tongue, and can taste “saltier” than typical granular salt.
To grow your own, you’ll need a bag of salt, which is mixed with some water. You’ll want to do so in a glass dish, as the salty solution you’ll be making can ruin metal cookware. The dish can then be heated up on an electric hotplate, which is used to heat the solution to between 60 and 70°C.
A small amount of food-grade potassium alum is also added to the solution to calm the convection currents in the heated solution, allowing the crystals to form gently without sticking and clumping together. As the water boils away, the rectangular-pyramidal crystals grow.
Naturally, you must be careful before eating the results of any home-grown lab experiments. However, [Chase] reports having licked some of the crystals and has confirmed they do indeed taste salty. [Chase] also notes several ways in which the parameters can be changed to grow different types of pyramid crystals, too.
We’ve featured [Chase]’s crystal-growing work before
. If you’ve got your own cool DIY crystal projects cooking up in the lab,
be sure to let us know! | 22 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520984",
"author": "Observer",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T23:23:58",
"content": "Obviously, heated water can dissolve more salt. But I wonder…if you mixed a saturated solution of salt and water at room temperature, then placed the growth medium in a vessel and placed it under a vacuu... | 1,760,372,533.137664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/13/spooky-scary-skeleton-is-pi-pico-powered/ | Spooky, Scary Skeleton Is Pi Pico Powered | Lewin Day | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"halloween",
"holiday hacks",
"skeleton",
"skull"
] | It’s the spookiest time of year once again, and hackers across the globe are cobbling together some spine-chilling projects. [Kevin] is amongst them,
and has created a spooky, scary skeleton just in time for Halloween.
The project works in a relatively simple fashion: essentially, a Raspberry Pi Pico is charged with reading an HC-SR04 ultrasonic rangefinder. It’s all wrapped up in a 3D-printed skull-like housing. When the skeleton detects someone or something close in front, the Pi triggers a small servo hooked up to a 3D-printed gear. This interfaces with a pair of racks which drive the skull’s eyebrows up and down, and opens and shuts its jaw.
Of course, there are some major anatomical problems here. Skulls don’t have eyebrows; that’s just not possible. Eyebrows are hair attached to flesh and muscle; they simply don’t exist in the world of bone. However, it’s fair to say [Kevin]’s taking creative license for the sake of the holiday, and we can all support that.
This is a basic build, and a fun one. It would be an excellent way to learn some basic microcontroller skills, while also serving as a great little Halloween charm to scare guests going back to the fridge for another beverage.
We get a cavalcade of
quality holiday hacks
every year around this time. This year should be no exception – so get your spooktacular hacks into the
tips line
, post-haste! Video after the break. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6521131",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T11:48:16",
"content": "Come on…A 40min video just for that?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6521145",
"author": "ins3ctizati0n",
"timestamp": "2022-10-14T12:56:14",
... | 1,760,372,533.175512 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/watermelon-cnc-uses-lazy-susan/ | Watermelon CNC Uses Lazy Susan | Al Williams | [
"Art",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"watermelon"
] | It is the time of year when a lot of people in certain parts of the world carve pumpkins. [Gonkee] is carving a watermelon, which we assume is similar. He decided to make a CNC machine to do the carving for him. The unusual part is the use of two lazy Susans to make a
rotary carving machine
. You can see the result in the video below.
The hardware is clever and there is software that lets you do drawings, although we were hoping for something that would process gcode or slice STL. That would be a worthy add-on project. There were a few iterations required before the Melon Carver 3000 worked satisfactorily. Seeing a carving tool operating on two circles gives us a lot of ideas. We aren’t sure how sturdy the mounts are, so don’t plan on carving aluminum without some changes, but we suspect it is possible.
Then again, a laser head mounted on the frame would have probably made short work of the melon, and wouldn’t require much mechanical stiffness. It would, however, take a little effort to keep it in focus. So many ideas to try!
Watermelon is a
popular hacking medium
, apparently. There’s even one that
holds a GameBoy
. | 27 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520711",
"author": "st2000",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T02:37:09",
"content": "Yeahhh, you need to replace that drill w/either a milling bit or a router bit. Drills don’t go side-ways well no matter how hard we all try.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,533.483349 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/toilet-paper-tube-pulls-dissolved-resin-from-ipa-cures-it-for-disposal/ | Toilet Paper Tube Pulls Dissolved Resin From IPA, Cures It For Disposal | Donald Papp | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"disposal",
"IPA",
"resin",
"sla",
"uv"
] | SLA 3D printing with resin typically means rinsing parts with IPA (isopropyl alcohol). That process results in cloudy, used IPA containing a high concentration of dissolved resin. The dual goals of cleaning and reusing IPA are important ones, and we have to say, [Jan Mrázek]’s
unusual experiment involving a UV source and slowly-rotating paper tube to extract and cure dissolved resin
might look odd, but the results are definitely intriguing.
Dissolved resin successfully pulled from IPA and cured onto a cardboard roll. This particular one rotated a bit too quickly, trapping IPA in the curing process and yielding a slightly rubbery wad instead of a hard solid.
The best way to dispose of liquid resin is to cure it into a solid, therefore making it safe to throw away. But what about resin that has been dissolved into a cleaning liquid like IPA? [Jan] felt that there was surely a way to extract the dissolved resin somehow, which would also leave the IPA clean for re-use. His solution? The device shown here, which uses a cardboard tube to pull dissolved resin from an IPA bath and a UV source to cure it onto the tube.
Here’s how it works: the tube’s bottom third sits in dirty IPA, and UV LEDs shine on the top of the tube. The IPA is agitated with a magnetic stirrer for best results. A motor slowly rotates the cardboard tube; dissolved resin gets on the tube at the bottom, UV cures it at the top, and the whole thing repeats. Thin layers of cured resin slowly build up, and after long enough, the roll of cured resin can be thrown away and the IPA should be clean enough for reuse.
So far it’s a pretty successful test of a concept, but [Jan] points out that there are still some rough edges. Results depend on turning the tube at a good rate; turning it too quickly results in IPA trapped with the cured residue. On the plus side, the UV source doesn’t need to be particularly powerful. [Jan] says that Ideally this would be a device one could run in a sealed container, cleaning it over one or two days.
Resin printing is great, but
it’s a messy process
, so anything that makes it less wasteful is worth checking out. Got any ideas for improving or building on this concept? If so, don’t keep ’em to yourself! Let us know in the comments. | 53 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520685",
"author": "Mangy_Dog",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T23:06:06",
"content": "Ok im probably going to have to try this one…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520687",
"author": "Brad",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T23:09:35... | 1,760,372,533.568972 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/enjoy-the-beauty-of-corona-discharge-with-this-kirlian-photography-setup/ | Enjoy The Beauty Of Corona Discharge With This Kirlian Photography Setup | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"corona",
"dielectric",
"discharge",
"flyback",
"high voltage",
"hv",
"kirlian",
"tesla coil",
"ZVS"
] | In our age of pervasive digital media, “pics or it didn’t happen” is a common enough cry that most of us will gladly snap a picture of pretty near anything to post online. So if you’re going to take a picture, it may as well be as stunning as
these corona discharge photographs made with a homebrew Kirlian photography rig
.
We know, Kirlian photography has a whole “woo-woo” vibe to it, associated as it has been with paranormal investigations and the like. But [Hyperspace Pirate] isn’t flogging any of that; in fact, he seems way more interested in the electronics of the setup than anything else. The idea with Kirlian photography is basically to capacitively couple a high-voltage charge across a dielectric, which induces an electrostatic discharge to a grounded object. The result is a beautiful purple discharge, thanks to atmospheric nitrogen, that outlines the object being photographed.
[Pirate]’s first attempt at a Kirlian rig used acrylic as a dielectric, which proved to be susceptible to melting. We found this surprising since we’ve seen [Jay Bowles] successfully use acrylic for
his Kirlian setup
. Version 2 used glass as a dielectric — right up until he tried to drill a fill port into the glass. (Important safety tip: don’t try to drill holes in tempered glass.) Version 3 used regular glass and a 3D-printed frame to make the Kirlian chamber; filled with saltwater and charged up with a homebrew Tesla coil, the corona discharge proved enough to char fingertips and ignite paper. It also gave some beautiful results, which can be seen starting at around the 7:40 mark in the video below.
We loved the photos, of course, but also appreciated the insights into the effects of inductance on the performance of this setup. And that first homebrew flyback transformer [Hyperspace Pirate] built was pretty cool, too.
Thanks for the tip, [zit]!
[via
DIYPhotography
] | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520657",
"author": "mayhem",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T20:53:27",
"content": "That was SUPER cool. Oh by the way I have a copy of the key to your house now! Thanks!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520673",
"author": "esot.e... | 1,760,372,533.421482 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/be-the-star-of-the-evening-with-this-light-up-prom-dress/ | Be The Star Of The Evening With This Light Up Prom Dress | Abe Connelly | [
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"color sensor",
"dress",
"Feather M0",
"neopixel ring",
"Neopixels"
] | [Kellechu] went full parent beast mode
by creating a prom dress for her daughter
. This incredible build is a tour-de-force of DIY crafting, combining sewing, electronics, 3D printing and programming.
The dress skirt is made of tulle that allows for the LED strip underneath to diffuse through. The top bodice is made of fiber optic fabric sewn between the fabric form with the dangling fiber optic threads grouped into bundles. The dangling fiber optic bundles were then inserted and glued into “out caps” that forced the strands to sit next to a NeoPixel LED. A 20 NeoPixel “Dots Strand” strip was strung around the waist line, affixing 12 of the NeoPixels with an “out cap” to light up the fiber optic bodice. The remaining NeoPixels were outfitted with a diffuser cap and hung lower to light up the tulle skirt portion of the dress.
A wand was 3D printed and housed with an RFM69HCW Packet Radio M0 Feather, a NeoPixel LED color ring and a TCS34725 Flora color sensor powered by a 2.2 Ah 3.7 V LiPo battery. Another RFM69HCW Packet Radio M0 Feather was placed in the dress to be able to receive messages from the wand so that the sensed color could be transmitted and the LED strip could be updated with the sensed color. The dress portion was powered by a 10 Ah 3.7 V LiPo, with the battery and electronics fitting snugly into yoga bike shorts with side pockets.
[Kellechu]’s Instructable is full of details about the process and is worth checking out. For example, [Kellechu] goes into detail about the troubles and care taken when dealing with the different media, making sure to avoid ironing the fiber optics so as not to melt the lines and experimenting with different sewing needles to limit the amount of dead fibers as collateral damage from the sewing process.
Dresses with LEDs and other lights are a big hit, as can be seen from our feature on an
LED wedding dress
. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520635",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T19:28:42",
"content": "This is spectacular and the stuff about optimizing the needle to not damage the fiber optic fabric is really interesting. It reminds me of how some carpenters blunt nails to prevent them tearing wo... | 1,760,372,533.615501 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/the-2022-supercon-badge-is-a-handheld-trip-through-computing-history/ | The 2022 Supercon Badge Is A Handheld Trip Through Computing History | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Supercon",
"badge hacking",
"badgelife"
] | Over the last several years, there’s been a trend towards designing ever more complex and powerful electronic event badges. Color displays, sensors, WiFi, USB, Bluetooth — you name it, and there’s probably a con badge out there that has packed it in. Even our own 2019 Supercon broke new ground with the inclusion of a Lattice LFE5U-45F FPGA running a RISC-V core. Admittedly, observing this unofficial arms race has been fascinating. But as we all know, a hacker isn’t defined by the tools at their disposal, but rather the skill and imagination with which they wield them.
So this year, we’ve taken a slightly different approach. Rather than try and cram the badge with even more state of the art hardware than we did in 2019, we’ve decided to go back to the well. The 2022 Supercon badge is a lesson in what it means to truly control a piece of hardware, to know what each bit of memory is doing, and why. Make no mistake, it’s going to be a challenge. In fact, we’d wager most of the people who get their hands on the badge come November 4th will have never worked on anything quite like it before. Folks are going to get pulled out of their comfort zones, but of course, that’s the whole idea.
A Virtual Retrocomputer
Those well versed in the history of desktop computing will likely find the front of this year’s Supercon badge strangely reminiscent. Festooned with buttons and LEDs, it’s designed to resemble the front panel of early microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 and the IMSAI 8080 made famous in
War Games
.
But the resemblance is more than just skin deep. The badge doesn’t just
look
like the front panel of an early microprocessor, it actually is. Well, a simulated one, at least. While the PIC24FJ256GA704 on the back of the badge is technically running the show, the user interacts with a virtual 4-bit processor
designed by the legendary Voja Antonic
.
Programs can be entered into the computer, bit-by-bit, using the row of tactile buttons on the front of the badge. Each 12-bit sequence, made up of an opcode and one or two operands, gets deposited into the memory address indicated by the program counter LEDs. If you make a mistake (and you will), you can step back and forth through the program counter to review and correct the instructions given to the CPU.
To help you out, the 31 instructions accepted by the badge’s 4-bit CPU are listed on the backside of the board. In addition, once you’ve entered in the binary opcode, a LED will illuminate next to the appropriate mnemonic on the front of the badge. While the silkscreen notes can’t compare to the exceptional documentation Voja has put together, at least you’ll always have a quick reference.
Programming is also made easier by the fact that all of the opcodes are between 4 and 8 bits in length. While a machine like the Altair may have required you to deposit as many as three binary sequences per instruction, the shorter opcodes mean there’s always enough space left over to enter the required operands simultaneously.
Room for Expansion
True to the early computers that the badge is trying to emulate, there’s not much in the way of onboard hardware. In isolation, all you’ve got for input are the physical buttons on the front of the badge, and output is limited to what you can show using the 8×16 LED array which provides a window into the CPU’s memory. A close examination of the documentation does reveal there’s a pseudorandom number generator you can poke around at, but don’t expect any more luxuries than that.
But don’t worry, we wouldn’t leave you without some room to grow. As you might expect from a modern electronic event badge, there’s a 4-pin
Simple Add-On (SAO) header
which lets you plug in various little gadgets and do-dads. The standard I2C data and clock signals have been replaced with simple UART in this case, but that shouldn’t break compatibility with most add-ons which do little more than pull power from the port anyway.
There’s also a dedicated I/O connector in the form of a 12-pin standard pitch header along the top-right edge of the badge. This header shares the UART TX and RX pins with the SAO connector, but is capable of quite a bit more. For one thing, it serves as the badge’s In Circuit Serial Programmer (ICSP) interface should you want or need to reprogram it. But more interestingly, it offers four input and four output pins that can be accessed in your programs by reading and writing to the appropriate memory registers.
Sharing is Caring
Badge hacking is a big part of the Supercon experience, and over the three day event, we hope to see all kinds of interesting software and hardware developed for this faux-retro computer. Given the relatively short amount of time you’ll have, teamwork is strongly encouraged — don’t be shy to ask other attendees what they’re working on to see if you can lend a hand.
Of course, collaborative development is a bit difficult if the only way to share your code is by scribbling out binary on pieces of paper. While you’ll have our eternal respect (and perhaps even earn a special award) if you manage to accomplish something substantial on your badge using nothing but the integrated peripherals, we’re not so evil that we’d
make
you do it that way.
As such, the UART pins on the expansion port can be used to upload a program from the badge to your computer by way of a standard USB-to-serial adapter. With the adapter already connected, you simply need to put the badge into
DIR
(Direct) mode and press the
SAVE
button.
This will cause the badge to immediately start spitting out data, so you should already have your receiving side setup and ready to go before pressing the button. On a *nix machine that would look something like this:
cat /dev/ttyUSB0 > out.hex
If you press the
LOAD
button, the process works in reverse. A hex file sent from your computer will be loaded into the badge’s memory where it can be immediately executed. In this way, a program that was entered by hand into one badge can be quickly backed-up and distributed to others. It also means that if you formatted it appropriately, you could write the code on your computer and simply send it over to the badge for execution…
Incidentally, while the badge can only have one program loaded at a time, up to 15 can be stored to the onboard flash. This is accomplished by first holding
ALT
and using the
OPERAND Y
buttons to cycle through the available storage slots, and then with
ALT
still held, pressing either
SAVE
or
LOAD
. With this technique you can keep your own personal programs safely stored away while you experiment with whatever hot new hex is making the rounds.
Get Your Hands on One
Now, the best way to get one is to
buy yourself a ticket and come join us at Supercon
. But if you just can’t make it, we understand. We’ll be releasing the Gerbers, a full badge emulator, and the code for the PIC soon, so stay tuned. | 73 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520596",
"author": "James Newton",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T17:16:21",
"content": "OMG. This may literally be the most lovely thing I’ve ever seen.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520658",
"author": "Daniel Scott Mat... | 1,760,372,533.895354 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/this-infinity-dodecahedron-build-shows-all-the-tricks/ | This Infinity Dodecahedron Build Shows All The Tricks | Dave Rowntree | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"dodecahedron",
"infinity",
"leds"
] | The infinity dodecahedron is one of those super eye-catching builds that many of us hardware hackers have on our ‘build one day’ project list. The very thought of actually
doing
it strikes a little fear into the heart of even the most intrepid maker, once you start to think about all the intricate little details and associated ways it could all go horribly wrong. Luckily for us, [Hari Wiguna] has
documented his latest build as a long video build log
, showing lots of neat tricks and highlighting many problems along the way. With the eventual goal of removing many of the issues that make such a build tricky, [Hari] hopes to make it practically
easy
. Let’s see how that turns out!
HASL-finished castellated (half hole) edge contacts make butt-jointing a breeze
A common route for such a build relies on appropriately shaped 3D printed frame parts, with some kind of clear plastic for the 12 faces, and LED strips stuck to the inside of each of the 30 edges. Whilst this works, [Hari] thought he could do a bit better, using butt-jointed PCBs as the frame material.
The PCBs handily double up as something to solder LEDs onto (because that’s what PCBs are mostly intended for!) as well as a way to pass power and data signals around the frame in a minimally visible way. As will become obvious from the lengthy discussion in the video, a few simple tricks here and there are needed to make this strategy work. With the recent proliferation of PCB modules using castellated edges for termination, the usual Chinese PCB fab services have all started offering very good value services for this feature. Once a PCB feature that was a specialized (read that as ‘expensive’) offering, it is now quite affordable on your average maker’s budget.
Data path planning? Just use paper and tape!
One immediate practical issue was how to pass the data connection around from edge to edge, given that there are three edges per vertex. The solution [Hari] came up with was simple, just duplicate the signals on each end of the PCB, so the data out signal can be tapped from either end, as required.
Even with 3D printed jigs to hold the PCBs at just the right angles, there’s still some wiggle and a little risk of edges not quite aligning, due to accumulated errors around the frame. It did come together in the end, with the expected spectacular visuals. We’re sure many of you will be waiting for [Hari] to release the next version of the design to the community, hopefully with even more of the ease-of-build issues resolved, because we want one even more now.
Naturally, this is by no means the first infinity platonic solid we’ve seen, here’s
a smaller one for starters
. If you remove the mirrors and LEDs, then you’re just left with a plain old dodecahedron,
like this cool folding project
. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520606",
"author": "robertrapplean",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T17:49:17",
"content": "Just wow.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520617",
"author": "Gareth",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T18:22:40",
"content": "take-my-mo... | 1,760,372,533.667268 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/rollercoasters-are-triggering-the-iphones-crash-detection-system/ | Rollercoasters Are Triggering The IPhone’s Crash Detection System | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Phone Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"smart phone",
"smart watch",
"smartphone",
"smartwatch",
"watch"
] | Apple has been busy adding new features to its smartphone and smartwatch offerings. Its new iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 now feature a safety system that contacts emergency services in the event the user is in a automobile accident.
As with so many new technologies though, the feature has fallen afoul of the law of unintended consequences. Reports are that the “crash detection system” is
falsely triggering on rollercoasters
and in other strange circumstances. Let’s take a look at how these systems work, and why this might be happening.
Can You Sense Something?
Smartphones are so much more than just telecommunications devices or pocket computers these days. They’re sophisticated sensor packages that we carry with us wherever we go. Top-tier models now pack in everything from
advanced navigation chipsets
to
satellite communications hardware
and even
3D scanners.
Apple’s Crash Detection
Across the board, though, virtually all modern smartphones feature some kind of accelerometer inside. The most obvious use for this device is to detect the orientation of the phone relative to gravity, in order to rotate the display to suit portrait or landscape mode as needed. They’re also commonly used for controlling games or as the basis for those popular lightsaber and “digital beer” apps of a decade ago. These sensors have become more sophisticated over time, and modern phones often feature three-axis accelerometers along with gyroscopes and even magnetometers inside.
Apple has now decided to leverage the iPhone’s suite of sensors for a more noble purpose, detecting if the user has been in an automobile accident. It follows on from Google’s Pixel line of hardware that has had a similar feature for several years now. The accelerometers can be used to determine if the user has been subjected to high acceleration, such as when hitting another car and coming to a sudden stop. Similarly, the GPS can provide data on sudden speed changes, too. Additionally, the microphones can be used to detect loud noises such as shattering glass if the phone is aware it’s in a driving situation. The phone’s on-board barometer can even detect a pressure spike of airbags going off in a car with the window’s closed.
But they also try to figure out if you’re in a car in the first place. They
claim to be monitoring whether it sounds like you’re in a car, passing WiFi stations, and bound to a car’s Bluetooth
.
When a crash is detected, the phones typically sound an alarm and display a prompt telling the user a crash has been detected. If the user doesn’t cancel the prompt after a short period of time, the phone automatically dials emergency services and can even notify contacts that the user has been in an accident.
The Real World
Google’s crash detection system allows the user to provide feedback on what just happened after a detection event. Credit: Google Pixel
Overall, there’s a whole suite of features that can work together to detect accidents. However,
as testing by the
Wall Street Journal
showed
, the crash detection features in modern smartphones come with some caveats. In a series of test crashes executed in a junkyard environment, both iPhones and Pixel phones failed to trigger alerts. The problem was that without being paired to a car’s Bluetooth device, and without the GPS indicating the user was on a public road, the phones didn’t always register that they were in a driving environment. Thus, they weren’t in a mode where the crash detection system was enabled.
It’s obviously not great if a phone fails to detect a major crash. However, these features are new, and few of us are relying on them as critical safety devices. Even if they only work to detect some crashes, they’re still delivering a net good.
However, there’s also a problem with false positives, where a crash is detected where none has occurred. One iPhone owner reported his iPhone
flying off the handlebars of his motorcycle
on the highway. The rider was fine; it was just that the phone had detached itself from the bike. Unfortunately, this apparently triggered the phone’s crash detection system, which notified several contacts that the owner had been in a serious accident. Upon sourcing a replacement phone, the owner was greeted by panicked voicemails from family thinking he was severely injured.
Rollercoasters have also proven problematic. Emergency dispatchers are already dealing with repeat calls from such rides, with several incidents concerning
the Kings Island amusement park in Ohio
. The Dollywood theme park now has
signs posted up
warning that the severe accelerations experienced on the ride can trigger the emergency call function on Apple Watches and other smart devices.
The Phone That Cried “WOLF!”
It’s nice to think that our electronic devices are looking out for us. With smart devices that can call emergency services when someone is incapacitated, there’s real scope to save lives with such technology.
Of course, that can all be compromised if the technology is not reliable. Humans instinctively tend to ignore the boy that cried wolf, and a smartphone that cries “car crash!” on a rollercoaster is not that far removed.
The fact is that Apple’s new hardware is the subject of most current reports. Google’s Pixel phones haven’t been similarly indicted with these false positive results. Thus, it seems likely that the technology is fundamentally sound and workable. It just may need a little more work on Apple’s part.
[Banner Photo: “Lewin doesn’t have crash detection yet” by Lewin Day] | 68 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520536",
"author": "Danjovic",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T14:06:39",
"content": "The issue with machines taking decisions over humans is that no one forgives a machine error (me neither). Human stupidity is tolerable, though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,534.001893 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/this-headboard-contains-an-artificial-sun/ | This Headboard Contains An Artificial Sun | Navarre Bartz | [
"LED Hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"artificial sunlight",
"furniture",
"headboard",
"Interactive Furniture",
"Prisma",
"SpeakUp Click",
"voice assistant"
] | Despite the proliferation of artificial lighting, humans are still highly dependent on sunlight for regulation of our circadian rhythms. Accordingly, [Sector 07] has
built a futuristic headboard
that can help with the waking up side of things whether you’re headed to space or just in the dead of winter.
The interior of the headboard includes custom 3D printed panels to mount the electronics and a light diffusion screen made of nylon fabric. The printed parts were all joined by “welding” the pieces with a soldering iron and extra filament. Besides the futuristic hexagon motif in the diffusion screen, the most eye-catching part of this build is the curved ends making it look like a set piece from
Star Trek: TNG
. [Sector 07] was able to get the unique shape by kerf bending the plywood ends before joining them to the flat sections with dowels and wood glue.
Since this build also includes an integrated coffee maker and voice assistant, there’s a bit more going on with the electronics than you might have in a normal circadian lamp. Powering the project are two Arduino Mega boards and a
SpeakUp Click
that handles the voice commands. Wake-up times are controlled via a keypad, and the voice assistant, Prisma, will ask if you are awake once the 30 minute sun simulation has completed before your alarm goes off. If you don’t confirm wakefulness, Prisma will escalate alarms until the system is sure you’re awake and then will ask if you want coffee. If you want a deep dive into the system’s functionality, be sure to checkout the video after the break.
We’ve covered artificial suns before, so if you’re interested in trying to build you’re own you should check out this
Hugely Bright Artificial Sun
, a
Sunrise Alarm Clock Mounted Above the Bed
, and this
Artificial Sun Via Old Satellite Dishes
. | 22 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520500",
"author": "kj",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T11:09:11",
"content": "I like it! I’m building ceiling lights myself, out of dead monitor panels.How about UV light for vitamin D? I have not found any ressources for UV light yet and I sure do not want to get cancer because I am mi... | 1,760,372,534.060614 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/12/hacking-developers-with-a-cat-feeder-whos-a-good-kitty/ | Hacking Developers With A Cat Feeder: Who’s A Good Kitty? | Maya Posch | [
"home hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"automatic cat feeder",
"motivation",
"pet feeder"
] | Most of us probably know the drudgery of getting through some coding work, with just tedious hours of monkeying around stretching ahead of us. What if this tedium were to be interrupted by an occasional reward when we did something productive, like pushing a commit or other measure of progress? That’s roughly the concept that [John Partee] started off with
when his gaze fell upon one of those automated cat feeders
. Cat or developer, who doesn’t like to hear the tinkle of a tasty treat falling into their bowl?
The target pet feeder is a PetKit Fresh Element Solo, which allows for objects with a size of 12×12 mm (any orientation) to be fed through the feeding mechanism. Fortunately [John]’s favorite dark chocolate-covered almonds treat fit these requirements, and he set to work to figure out the REST API call needed to trigger a manual feeding event on the cat feeder device, employing the existing
PyPetKit Python library
that does the heavy lifting of connecting to and communicating with PetKit’s servers, as the feeder is of course an IoT device.
This means that the event flow still depends on PetKit’s “cloud”, which may inspire some enterprising hackers to make a stand-alone version, the development of which may be assisted by [John]’s solution through a regular treat. Before taking such a solution into use, be sure to discuss it with any pets you have, as they may not quite comprehend why there’s no reward for
them
whenever the
*tinkle*
sound occurs. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520497",
"author": "Brian Jorgensen",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T11:05:44",
"content": "Aw. I want to feel like I’m 25 again. Not 5, just yet. So I’m going to adapt my version to dispense the very first adopted QR codes. Redeemable for shots of jäger.I would have been less snarky if ... | 1,760,372,534.096334 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/thrills-with-an-led-thriller-jacket/ | Thrills With An LED “Thriller” Jacket | Abe Connelly | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"arduino nano",
"led",
"LED wearables",
"sewing"
] | [Louise Katzovitz] has created a
light-up jacket
in the style of the jacket worn by Michael Jackson in the 1983 music video for “Thriller”. [Louise Katzovitz]’s Thriller jacket is the perfect example of combining sewing hacks and electronic hacks to make an awesome, wearable jacket.
A bomber jacket was used as the base form to layer on the sequins and LED strips. Instead of bands of metal studs, [Louise] used WS2812B 60 pixels/m LED strips. 3D-printed transparent PLA “gems” were placed on top of the LEDs to mimic the form of the metal studs in the original jacket and provide diffusion for the underlying LEDs.
Each LED strip was laid out on a piece of vinyl strip. Then, a top layer of vinyl was cut to allow each of the LEDs to poke through, with the 3D printed gems super-glued on top. The assembled LED bands are attached to the jacket by Velcro with the wiring fed behind the lining material, which can be removed easily via small hooks. The whole thing is driven by an Arduino Nano and a 5 V power bank.
With the details and process worked out, [Louise] even made a tiny version of the jacket for her dog. We’ve featured LED
wearables and fashion
before and [Louise]’s jacket is a great addition. These projects are perfect for anyone who wants to wow their friends this upcoming Halloween season. Video after the break! | 20 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520452",
"author": "That kid",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T05:23:52",
"content": "Nothing can beat it",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520455",
"author": "That kid",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T05:27:41",
"content": "Sett... | 1,760,372,534.160271 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/seeing-if-cheating-at-chess-the-hard-way-is-even-possible/ | Seeing If Cheating At Chess The Hard Way Is Even Possible | Dan Maloney | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"CHEATING",
"chess",
"haptic",
"rectum",
"teledildonics",
"vibrating"
] | With all the salacious stories about a cheating scandal rocking the world of championship-level chess, you’d think that we’d have delved into the story at least a bit here on Hackaday, especially given the story’s technical angle. But we haven’t, and it’s not because we’re squeamish about the details of the alleged cheat; rather, it’s because it’s just too easy to pun your way through a story like this. The lowest-hanging fruit isn’t always the sweetest.
But, we’ll give it a go, and play this one completely straight as we look at
an experiment to determine if it’s even possible to cheat
in the specific way that has been alleged. For the uninitiated, 19-year-old grandmaster [Hans Niemann] stands accused of cheating, possible through the use of
a remote-controlled sex toy secreted in his rectum
. The idea would be for an accomplice to use the toy, which contains a vibrating motor that’s controlled by an app either via Bluetooth or WiFi, to send suggested moves to [Niemann] based on a chess-playing AI’s analysis of the game.
Whether [Niemann] cheated or not is not the concern here, but rather [Captain Steel]’s experiment is just a first-pass look at whether it would be possible to cheat using the proposed technology — and most importantly, not get caught. He tried to replicate the scanning regime [Niemann] is now subject to at tournaments based on the allegations to see if a stand-in for the sex toy — a haptic motor attached to an ESP32 — would be detectable through various thicknesses of flesh. Rather than showing the same dedication to craft that [Niemann] is alleged to have shown, [Captain Steel] used slices of baloney as a stand-in for human flesh. He then tried scanning for RF emissions from the device through increasing layers of luncheon meat. We won’t spoil the results, other than to say that baloney turns out to actually be good for something.
We’ve covered another
less-invasive method of cheating
before, which given the results above is probably more likely to be discovered. | 35 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520429",
"author": "cncFriend",
"timestamp": "2022-10-12T02:07:00",
"content": "I am glad Hackaday is trying to get to the bottom of all the inuendo and to hack straight to the meat of it",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "65204... | 1,760,372,534.230815 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/arm-programming-by-example/ | ARM Programming By Example | Al Williams | [
"ARM",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"assembly language"
] | The ARM processor is popping up everywhere. From Raspberry Pis, to phones, to Blue Pill Arduino-like boards, you don’t have to go far to find an ARM processor these days. If you program in C, you probably don’t care much or even think about it. But do you know ARM assembly language? Well, if you look at it one way, it can’t be too hard. The CPU only has about 30 distinct operations — that’s why it is called RISC. Of course, sometimes fewer instructions actually make things more difficult. But you can get a great starting tutorial with the 21 programs on the
ARM Assembly by Example
website.
You need a 32-bit ARMv6 or better — so Raspberry Pi will work here. The compiler, of course, is gcc and all the associated tools. if you have the right hardware, there are sections on using the floating point unit and the NEON co-processor, too.
The first few sections are what you might expect: program basics and a memory map tutorial. But after the obligatory stop at “Hello world”, you’ll find programs like “Find the Otter” and “Hex and Love” (see the video below) to challenge your burgeoning skill.
If you have interest in assembly language, it is an easy way to dip your toe into the ARM waters. If you are more interested in 64-bit Intel/AMD CPUs,
we can help
. If you want to go bare metal,
we’ve been there, too
. | 40 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520396",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T23:28:41",
"content": "Wait, gcc to do assembly?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520404",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,372,534.383426 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/dumping-an-emmc-chip-with-many-bodge-wires/ | Dumping An EMMC Chip With Many Bodge Wires | Lewin Day | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"bodge",
"bodge wires",
"emmc",
"sd card"
] | Sometimes, you know where the data you need is stored, you just don’t have a way to access it. In this case, [GetHypoxic] needed to rip data off an eMMC chip, salvaged out of a camera. With no desire to wait for an adapter to show up,
it was time to bust out the bodge!
Once removed from the PCB, bodge wires were attached to the ball-grid array contacts on the bottom of the chip. Incredibly fine soldering was the order of the day to get these hooked up to the tiny pads, and we count 11 or 12 bodge wires in total. 1.8 volts was manually supplied to the eMMC chip, and it was directly wired up to the contacts of a built-in card reader out of an old laptop for reading.
Despite the rats-nest look of it all, and the yellow polyimide tape holding it together, [GetHypoxic] reported that it mounted successfully and got the job done. We’ve seen similar hacks before, too,
wiring eMMC chips up to SD card adapters
. It might look messy, but hey – it sure beats waiting for shipping! | 11 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520369",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T21:42:53",
"content": "Thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if someone sold a blank pcb, one end having the chip layout and the other made to fit into an SD card slot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,372,534.312577 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/hackaday-prize-2022-this-interactive-air-quality-map-makes-the-invisible-visible/ | Hackaday Prize 2022: This Interactive Air Quality Map Makes The Invisible Visible | Navarre Bartz | [
"contests",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"air quality",
"Air quality map",
"arduino wifi 1010",
"interactive map",
"map"
] | Air quality can have a big impact on your health, but it isn’t always something you can see. [
Ahmed Oyenuga
] wanted to make air quality something more tangible and developed an
Interactive Air Quality Map
.
Using addressable LEDs and acrylic panels, [
Oyenuga
]’s map lights up different regions of his state (Lagos) with colors that correspond to qualitative values of the air quality readings. The color key on the edge of the map becomes a readout when you touch a specific region of the map.
Most of the map’s functionality is handled by an Arduino WiFi 1010, but the capacitive touch is running on a custom board [
Oyenuga
] designed with an ATSAMD21J17. [
Oyenuga
] is getting air quality data via a DesignSpark Environmental Sensor Development Kit (ESDK) and then uses
reverse geocoding
to take the GPS data and turn it into a location the map will understand.
If you’re interested in different options for monitoring air quality that could feed into a map like this, why don’t you check out this
LoRa Air Quality Monitor
or even a
Mobile Air Quality Monitor
.
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520381",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T22:34:38",
"content": "Neat idea! Neat execution!I hope it inspires others around the world to monitor their locales, which in turn inform them of possible hazards that can be addressed.",
"pare... | 1,760,372,534.266899 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/2022-supercon-more-talks-more-speakers/ | 2022 Supercon: More Talks, More Speakers! | Elliot Williams | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Supercon",
"announcement",
"speakers",
"talks"
] | Round two of the 2022 Supercon talks is out, and it’s another superb lineup. This round is full of high voltage, art, and science. If you’ve ever dreamed of starting up your own hacker company, making your own refrigerator, teaching your toaster to think, or just making your breath glow, then Supercon is where you want to be Nov. 4-6!
Supercon
will
sell out, so
get your tickets now
before it’s too late. And stay tuned for the next and final round of talk reveals next week! Plus the keynote speaker reveal. Plus workshops. Oh my.
Samy Kamkar
How to Make Your Breath Glow in a Wearable Glass Pendant
Light! Physics! Fabrication! Let’s dive into producing glass pendant containing our glowing breath without LEDs: flex PCB design, lampworking, producing vacuum tubes, wearable tesla coils, oxygen extraction, and ionizing gases to view their pretty colors (emission spectra)! All of this using low-cost/DIY equipment at home in the comfort of our favorite pajamas.
Sophy Wong
Beyond Technique: Artistic Wearable Technology
Sophy Wong is a designer and artist creating costumes and fashion infused with technology. To bring her designs to life, she combines hands-on apparel design with digital fabrication and experimental techniques. Sophy will share recently finished works, her processes for creating them, and her quest to go beyond technique to create artistic wearable tech.
Jay Bowles
Beyond engineering, and a dip into the Plasmaverse
Through a combination of on-stage demonstrations, and prerecorded videos, I plan to inspire as many people to build, create, and engineer. There will be high voltage, sparks, and as always, science.
Carrie Sundra
Manufacturing on a Shoestring Budget
This talk is for anyone considering manufacturing a hardware product on their own. I’ll go through all the steps needed to iterate from a first proof-of-concept, to successfully building your first 100 units.
Shawn Hymel
Hacking a Toaster with Machine Learning to Produce the Perfect Toast
Toasters usually rely on timers or bimetallic strips to control the toasting process. However, I decided to take this problem to the next (over-engineered) level using gas sensors and machine learning. Interestingly enough, estimating “time until burnt” proved to be an excellent example of predictive maintenance.
Alex Whittemore
Making sense of sensors: Grafana for Makers (and other assorted strategies)
Adafruit and Sparkfun have made hardware development so easy that the problem I always run into is how to make sense of the data your custom device generates. In this talk, I’ll go through data collection and visualization for makers, from simple to awesome.
Chris Combs
Art-World Compatibility Layer: How to Hang and Sell Your Blinky Goodness as Art
You’ve made something awesome! But could it live somewhere other than your Hall of Completed Projects? This talk covers the steps necessary to convert a cool blinky into saleable art: what art buyers expect, how to find shows, and how your glorious creation can survive years on somebody else’s wall.
Nat Galin
Galin Engine: Software is Eating the Internal Combustion Engine
We will explain how our solution allows for a viable realisation of the rotary vane engine, and how the architecture of the engine makes it ideally suited to producing electrical power (not mechanical shaft output) from hydrocarbons.
Haddington Dynamics
Getting Bought Without Selling your Soul
This panel discussion with the team from Haddington Dynamics, who made the 2018 Hackaday Prize winner Dexter, will highlight strategies to keep a hacker culture while being acquired.
Amitabh Shrivastava
Refrigediro- OpenSource Refrigeration Systems
It is surprisingly easy to solder copper tubes to a compressor and add refrigerant to make a refrigeration loop that produces frost in minutes! During this talk, I will not only explain the working principle behind refrigeration systems, but show how and why you might want to make one yourself.
Kuba Tyszko
Cracking encrypted software like it’s 1988
An illustrated approach to cracking encrypted software in various creative ways. As a bonus, the talk includes references to old computers
Alec Vercruysse
A Low-Cost, Underwater, Ultrasonic Phased Array Research Platform
This work presents an acoustic phased array that is open source and easy to modify. Most of the cost savings come from modifying off-the-shelf transducers for underwater use. The nine-element array is intended for marine biological research.
[If you read this far, you probably
want tickets.
Just sayin’.] | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520348",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T19:34:40",
"content": "For those of us on the other side of the world, when can we expect these awesome sounding talks to be available as online vids? Thanks",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,534.43244 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/a-cassette-interface-for-a-6502-breadboard-computer-kansas-city-style/ | A Cassette Interface For A 6502 Breadboard Computer, Kansas City-Style | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"6502",
"cassette",
"comparator",
"decoder",
"FSK",
"kansas city standard",
"KCS",
"monostable"
] | It’s been a long time since computer hobbyists stored their programs and data on cassette tapes. But because floppy drives were expensive peripherals and hard drives were still a long way from being the commodity they are today, cassettes enjoyed a long run at the top of the bulk data storage heap.
Celebrating that success by exploring the technology of cassette data storage is the idea behind
[Greg Strike]’s Kansas City decoder project
, which he hopes to use with his
[Ben Eater]-style 6502 computer
. The video below explains the Kansas City standard in some detail, and includes some interesting historical context we really hadn’t delved into before. There are also some good technical details on the modulation scheme KCS used, which [Greg] used to base his build. After a failed attempt to use an LM567 tone decoder chip, he stumbled upon
[matseng]’s KCSViewer project
, which decodes KCS-encoded audio signals using nothing but discrete components.
[Greg]’s prototype has a comparator to convert sine waves to square waves, followed by pair of monostable timers, each tuned to either the high or low frequency defined in the KCS specs. A test signal created using Audacity — is there anything it can’t do? — was successfully decoded, providing proof of concept for the project’s first phase. We’re looking forward to the rest of the series, which will turn this into an actual decoder, and presumably add an encoder as well.
Listeners of the
Hackaday Podcast
may recall we experimented with using
KCS to hide some data within an episode
a few months back. | 25 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520296",
"author": "RunnerPack",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T15:35:17",
"content": "2nd link is wrong",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520750",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2022-10-13T07:18:15",
... | 1,760,372,534.545147 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/jolly-wrencher-sao-and-how-kicad-6-made-it-easy/ | Jolly Wrencher SAO, And How KiCad 6 Made It Easy | Arya Voronova | [
"Art",
"Featured",
"how-to",
"Interest",
"Slider"
] | [
"inkscape",
"jolly wrencher",
"KiCAD 6.0",
"sao",
"svg"
] | If you plan to attend Supercon or some other hacker conference, know that you’re going to get a badge with a SAO (Simple Add-On) connector, a 4-pin or 6-pin connector that you can plug an addon board onto. There’s myriads of SAOs to choose from, and if you ever felt like your choice paralysis wasn’t intense enough, now you have the option of getting
a Jolly Wrencher SAO board!
This board gives you an SMD prototyping space, with 1.27mm (0.05″ pitch) pads, suitable for many passive components, ICs and even modules like the ESP32 WROOM. Those pads are diagonally interspersed with ground-fill-connected pads – if you want to bodge something on the spot, you don’t need to pull separate GND wires. Given the Supercon badge specifics, the SAO-standard SDA and SCL pins have RX and TX labels as well. For bonus points, the eyes are transparent, with LED footprints behind them – it’s my first time designing a PCB where the LED shines through the FR4, and I hope that the aesthetics work out!
This design is open with
gerber files available for download
, so if you thought of making a quick PCB order, I’m giving you one more .zip file to add to it. Otherwise, it’s possible that you will find a Wrencher board lying around at Supercon! Now, I’d like to tell you how KiCad 6 made it super easy to design this PCB – after all, there’s never enough SAOs, and it’s quite likely you’ll want to design your own special SAO, too.
Pleasant Surprise
I started with an SVG of a Jolly Wrencher that I found online. My first experience with importing outlines into KiCad,
back in KiCad 4 days,
required tinkering with DXF import formats – even putting things through LibreCAD to make it import smoothly. While I expected some improvements, I was ready for rough edges to show up.
However, when I opened the PCB editor, I didn’t see the “Import=>DXF File” entry that I used last time. Instead, I noticed that it’s been changed to “Import=>Graphics”. When I opened it, I was greeted with a simple menu titled “Import Vector Graphics File”, not a DXF-specific option in sight – a reassuring view. Would it be possible to actually import SVG files natively? I clicked the “Select file” button.
The SVG file of the Jolly Wrencher was visible in the file picker list, and in the lower right corner, “SVG” and “DXF” both appeared in the supported file type dropdown. I picked for it to appear on the front silkscreen layer, and when I clicked OK, the Jolly Wrencher polygon just appeared on the silkscreen in the PCB viewer. Apparently, this option has been added in KiCad 6 – the version just released this year, and I’m excited about what this means for our board designs.
For a start, such straightforward import of SVGs makes it way easier to import logos, art and other graphics. You don’t have to go the bitmap2component route anymore, or use SVG2Shenzhen. While both of these are powerful tools, a built-in SVG import tool that will put your logo on any layer you pick has way more potential, purely because of how easy and quick it is to use. This import option lets you put all sorts of artwork on your board straight from our favourite image editor, without having to add a footprint library or deal with other sorts of limitations.
Furthermore, it also makes mechanical design easier if you want to export your artwork’s contour as board outline. To create an outline for the SAO, I selected the Wrencher SVG elements in Inkscape, then pressed Path=>Outset a couple of times, making each individual element of the Wrencher larger. Then, I selected Path=>Union, joining all elements together into a usable outline. The eyes and nose remained inside the contour, but a Path=>Break Apart click (Ctrl+Shift+K) made them into separate paths, promptly removed.
I saved the resulting outline as a separate file, and then imported it onto the Edge.Cuts layer. Just like that, the Wrencher SAO was ready. Making your own badge or SAO from an SVG is legitimately this simple in KiCad 6, and only requires tools you already likely have installed.
If It’s This Simple, I’ll Make It Complicated
Of course, after the initial excitement, I came up with extra requirements, allegedly to make this SAO even better, but also because I wanted to play with the import process. With the default 1.0000 import scale, the badge size was about 8 cm x 8 cm – too large for an average SAO, and definitely too large compared to the Supercon badge. In the end, I settled on 0,6000, which resulted in both X and Y dimensions being just under 5 cm – a comfortable size for a SAO. Some PCB fabs have price breaks if the board doesn’t fit in a 5 cm x 5cm square, so I hope this helps you during ordering. I didn’t find a “measure the PCB boundary box” setting in KiCad, but the measuring tool (Ctrl+Shift+M) helped. This was easy.
If you design a PCB to be worn on the body, it’s important that you remove sharp corners from it – the corners will catch on clothing and other things, and possibly injure the wearer. For the Jolly Wrencher, this means the wrench corners must be rounded, unless I wanted the PCB to double as a weapon – wasn’t on my wishlist. The rounded corners are an acceptable aesthetic compromise, and you aren’t gonna be unscrewing any nuts with this board anyway – unless I somehow got lucky with the dimensions!
This meant I needed a way to round corners in Inkscape. Quick search has shown that Inkscape has a built-in filter for this – but
only if your Inkscape install is new enough.
On my Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, it wasn’t, and I decided to use the Snap-provided version instead – given that one of Snap’s stated purposes is delivering new software to our desktops. My Snap experience hasn’t been smooth sailing, but I’ve benefited from it here and there. It appears, however, that the Snap-packaged version of Inkscape
is unable to open .svg files
– I opened the file picker, and couldn’t see any SVG files appear, “Open With” didn’t work either.
This is a sandboxing bug, of course, springing up in various forms
from as far as 2018
. Snap developers blame Inkscape developers for not using the correct declaration in their Snap manifest file. From my experience, if you’re developing a sandboxing solution meant to be used by thousands of desktop apps, each backed by a huge userbase, it’s your responsibility to make sandboxing parameters crystal clear and impossible to screw up in such a major way – it won’t work out otherwise. Which is to say, I eagerly await the Year Of Snap On The Linux Desktop – perhaps, sometime next decade. In the meantime,
the Inkscape PPAs
works without a hitch.
The “Corners (Fillet/Chamfer)” option finally became available in the Path Effects menu. I could fillet each of the four wrenches completely, but I specifically wanted to preserve all sharp corners except the two that stick out. The way I went about it turned out to be complicated and took an hour or two to figure out, since I wanted a perfect radius fillet for all eight corners, and ended up splitting each of the wrench ends into separate paths, filleting them and then re-joining. There’s a “Change only selected nodes” setting in the Corners tool, but it’s
not clear how to make it work,
hence the splitting. If you’re fine with a quick and dirty rounded corners,
follow this tutorial instead.
After filleting the Wrencher, I regenerated the outline using Outset and Union tools again, so that the outline fillet radius would be neatly concentric with the silkscreen fillet. Saving the silkscreen-intended and the outline-intended parts as separate SVGs, I imported them onto their respective layers, moved them on a sub-millimeter grid until they matched visually, and the aesthetic part of the badge was ready.
An Experimental Protospace
I’m a big fan of deadbug prototyping – if it were up to me, every soldering iron would be sold with a roll of 0.1 mm enameled wire. I also didn’t want to add specific-purpose-aimed components to this badge – ideally, you would only actually need 4 pin headers, as these are easy to source anywhere. I decided to fill the backside of the board with SMD prototyping pads, letting people add their own components – after all, the most fun components tend to be SMD. The idea that it should be possible to prototype Supercon SAO additions and tools on the spot – with inspiration taken from the
2018 Supercon ESP32 addon
by [morgan] and
the BornHack 2021 badge.
If you fancy some THT, you can mod the PCB files, make one of the wrench ends a THT protospace and order the boards modded in such a way, but I decided to have the front of the badge be as clean as possible by default. This protospace has 1.27mm (0.05″) grid, and should be compatible with SO/SOIC ICs, and castellated modules like the ESP32. One thing I hope for is that these pads are actually large enough to be reliably soldered to – until my own PCB shipment arrives, I can’t quite verify that. I apologize in advance if the protospace pitch turns out way too intense for your own skills, and I hope that the equipment available at Supercon will compensate for that!
I initially wanted to go with metric grid on one of the Jolly Wrencher’s wrench ends, but decided against it. There don’t seem to be many parts that use metric grid for their pins, thankfully. I had to make the pads large enough to seem usable, but small enough that the ground fill would be able to get in between the pads, and I added mask openings to the footprint while at it. Once the ground fill worked, I copy-pasted it all over the board with grid set to 0.025″ so that I could quickly align the pads properly. Setting your grid to a certain size when placing footprints helps implement such ideas at a rapid pace!
I haven’t found a better way to build flexible protospace footprints in KiCad, but I’m all ears! In general, there seems to be two ways to make prototyping spaces in KiCad – either create the entire space as a separate footprint and plop it on your board, or split it into grid-align-able smaller protospace pieces that you stack together; the latter option is way more convenient for arbitrary shape boards like this one.
Components And Keepouts
All the components that it made sense to keep in the schematic
Of course, I had to add components like the 6-pin headers and testpoints. You’ll have to decide which parts of the badge you want to keep in the schematic. My observation is that things which carry specific signals, like connectors and testpoints, are best done through the usual “symbol => footprint” route, while things like protospaces and artwork are best done as standalone footprints or even just imported graphics. Remember to make sure that the “Delete footprints with no symbols” option is unchecked in the “Update PCB from Schematic” dialog if you don’t want to lose your artwork on schematic sync – thankfully, that seems to be the default.
Our editor suggested that I add LEDs behind the eyes, and I decided to go the “SMD LED shining through FR4” route to avoid through-holes. While THT LEDs have their charm and benefits, I imagined they’d look a bit off, and SMD LEDs are ubiquitous. Two 0805 footprints did the job, and using the “Handsoldering” variant should enable you to use 0603 with ease. I didn’t add resistor footprints – instead, I positioned the LEDs so that adding a resistor to jumper their cathodes to one of the numerous ground fill pads around would be trivial.
Making the eye sections transparent meant I had to remove the ground fill from the bottom layer specifically where the eyes are – the way to do this in KiCad is a keepout polygon. I initially dreaded this route, since I thought I would need to manually trace both of the eye shapes – turns out, you’re able to import the eye shapes onto any layer in KiCad, right click them and use the “Create From Selection => Create Zone From Selection” tool in the right click menu. With that, in no time, I added eye-shaped ground fill keepouts, then imported the same eye shape SVG onto both mask layers, and the eye region of the board became transparent – as much as bare FR4 is transparent, anyway.
This ability is wonderful and helps with many things; in part, it means you can add filled zones from SVG contours – simply importing your vector onto a .Cu layer can be suboptimal when you want the resulting shape of copper to be connected to one of the nets on your board. For instance, if you want to make a custom capacitive touch slider, you can just design it in Inkscape, import the SVG onto your board and turn the pads into copper zones.
Random Encounters
After submitting these boards to JLCPCB, I got an email from their reviewer. Her email said: “boards covered with many pads should be made with ENIG according to company process”. I wasn’t interested in the associated price hike going from HASL to ENIG, and decided to ask what the specific problem was. She replied that, given the amount of pads, short-circuits might appear – which makes sense, given how HASL works. The implication I felt was that they didn’t want to put extra effort cleaning those up – which sounds fair to me. I asked them to produce the board with HASL and that I wouldn’t raise complaints about short-circuits – and surprisingly,
they agreed to this.
I’ll see how my boards look once they arrive – it will be an interesting test!
Half a day after ordering these boards from JLCPCB, a friend on
the Hackaday Discord
pointed out that on either side, there’s nowhere for the silkscreen-placed order number to go – something that’s a JLCPCB requirement unless you pay a small extra fee to waive it. JLCPCB lets you download and inspect PCB files after production changes have been made to them, an option I promptly turned to. There, I found out that they put the order number in the tiny space they could find behind the through-hole SAO connector outline – a pleasant surprise. I recommend you pay a bit for the “remove order number” option nonetheless, it’s a small price and guarantees that your badge won’t end up with Y23-84112 front and center on the silkscreen.
I have an affinity towards the “^__^” emoticon, so I decided to make silkscreen patch SVGs, turning the badge eyes into two ^ shapes. That way, I could just place them onto the original silkscreen and regenerate the gerbers. This turned out to be surprisingly hard somehow – after I had drawn it, the shapes wouldn’t import as a filled polygon and instead would import as two contours. The trick that worked in the end was using the “Stroke and Fill” toolkit in Inkscape, filling the outer shape black and the inner shape white. I have no idea why that helped, but I hope it helps you too if you ever encounter this problem, and the ^ patch files are in the repo for your tinkering purposes.
It’s Way Simpler To Make A Pretty PCB
You can design SAOs and artsy PCBs of pretty much arbitrary art complexity in this way – or perhaps, simply put your logo/artwork/entire schematic on the silkscreen. The more artistic you make your PCB, the more I suspect that tools like
SVG2Shenzhen
will make it easier for you. I have never gone through the SVG2Shenzhen process, but I suspect that projects like
the MCH2022 badge
would benefit from the automation involved. That said, it’s also wonderful that all of our simple PCBs now have a straightforward and efficient route available to them.
You don’t have to do most of these steps I described! 80% of what made the Jolly Wrencher PCB cool, was completed nine paragraphs into this article – the remaining part of this article shows you how to apply further polish. Any of us who has designed enough PCBs, knows – you can spend an inordinate amount of hours on making a PCB even more perfect than it already is. I certainly had my share of fun as I was layering requirements on and on, and I hope I have shown you just how easy it is to have fun in KiCad 6. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520284",
"author": "wibble",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T14:47:42",
"content": "Thank you for coming up with a more mature attribution for the SAO acronym – the original choice took me back to the playground, and always rather grated.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,372,536.704924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/dont-miss-the-philadelphia-maker-faire-this-weekend/ | Don’t Miss The Philadelphia Maker Faire This Weekend | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"News"
] | [
"2022 Philadelphia Maker Faire",
"maker faire",
"Philadelphia Maker Faire"
] | For readers in the American Northeast that are looking for something to do this weekend, may we humbly suggest a day trip to attend the
2022 Philadelphia Maker Faire
on Saturday, October 15th. After taking the last two years off due to COVID-19, the event has moved to the Independence Seaport Museum for its grand return, and is sure to attract plenty of hackers and makers who are eager to show off their pandemic projects.
Of course, the nature of these events is that you never
really
know what you’re going to see until you actually get there. But just
browsing the list of confirmed projects
that will have dedicated tables set up, we can tell there’s some very interesting stuff on tap — from fighting robots and hologram printers, to plasma physics and electric hydrofoils. While the deadline to submit projects for official inclusion has long since passed, we can tell you from experience that’s not going to stop folks from showing up with their own gadgets to show off to the captive audience. Especially if they’re of the wearable variety; it’s not really a Maker Faire unless somebody is wearing something that’s blinking.
Olympia
and
Becuna
Naturally the Faire itself is obviously the main event, but don’t forget that the Independence Seaport Museum itself is worth checking out while you’re there. You can tour the 130-year-old USS
Olympia
, as well as the USS
Becuna
, one of the last surviving WWII Balao-class submarines.
While the community might
never truly recover from the loss of the flagship Maker Faires
in New York and California, we do take some comfort in knowing that smaller regional shows like this one have been growing over the last few several years. They’re not only a great way to connect with like-minded folks in your area, but can help you connect with maker-friendly vendors and organizations which you might otherwise be unaware of. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520264",
"author": "Dug",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T13:14:15",
"content": "Looking forward to Orlando’s 11/5-11/6https://www.makerfaireorlando.com/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520279",
"author": "Doctor Wizard",
"ti... | 1,760,372,536.439557 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/11/bringing-a-steam-train-back-from-extinction/ | Bringing A Steam Train Back From Extinction | Navarre Bartz | [
"Crowd Funding",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"big",
"Boiler",
"engineering",
"epic",
"railfan",
"railroad",
"steam engine",
"steam trains",
"trains"
] | There’s no denying that while railroads have switched to diesel and electric as their primary power sources, there’s a certain allure to the age of steam. With that in mind, a group of Pennsylvania train fans are bringing the alleged
fastest steam train
back from extinction.
It takes real dedication to build a 428-ton device from scratch, but these rail aficionados seem to have it in spades. Armed only with the original blueprints and a lot of passion, this team has already finished construction of the boiler and nose of the Class T1 replica which is no small feat. This puts the train at approximately 40% complete.
Some changes are planned for the locomotive including a change to fuel oil from coal and replacing the poppet valves prone to failure with camshaft-driven rotary valves. While not original hardware, these changes should make the train more reliable, and bring the world record for the fastest steam locomotive within reach. If the T1 replica can reach the 140 MPH storied of the originals, it will smash the current record of 126 MPH held by a British train, the A4 Mallard, which would be exciting indeed.
Speaking of Pennsylvania and steam, a
trip to Scranton is a must
for anyone interested in the age of rail. | 75 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520233",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T09:00:05",
"content": "Hmm… I feel that making design changes (even for reliability) makes building a “replica” a moot point. Designing an entirely new steam locomotive from scratch using the latest technology and materials seem... | 1,760,372,536.590579 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/hacking-google-with-plasma/ | Hacking Google With Plasma | Al Williams | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"google",
"trojan horse"
] | Google recently made some videos to highlight cybersecurity. The video below is episode three, and it tells an interesting story about the first crash test dummy. However, the really interesting part is the story about a USB plasma globe built to hack into computers. One of the people who built that globe tells the
story of its insides
in a recent blog post that has a bit more technical detail.
The attack in question was in 2012, when people were starting to get the idea that inserting random USB drives into their computers wasn’t a great idea. However, what harm could there be in a cute little plasma globe that just draws power from the port?
Well, as we know, it could be plenty dangerous. The globe in question was off-the-shelf, but had a ATMega32U4 chip in the bottom part of the cable. the LUFA USB library provided keyboard device emulation. The idea is the globe would bide its time and then type a dangerous payload.
Keyboards are especially insidious because the operating system usually just accepts their presence quietly. You don’t get prompted to allow the keyboard or install drivers. Unless, they found, you are using a Mac. But don’t get too impressed by the Mac security. The only reason it shows a dialog is it is trying to figure out the layout of an unknown keyboard.
The solution was simple. As long as you are hacking, you might as well rip off an Apple USB ID so the operating system knows what kind of keyboard it is supposed to be. Problem solved. You can see the plasma globe in question around 8:30 in the video.
It is an interesting story and not the first time we’ve seen
a Trojan horse approach
to steal secrets. Of course, you can make a
truly destructive USB device
, but we don’t suggest it. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520217",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T06:36:49",
"content": "This is one of those times when I realize there are people who live in a completely different world than I do.Why would I ever plug something like this into my computer?I’m not talking about the security impl... | 1,760,372,535.723914 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/this-esp32-can/ | This ESP32 CAN! | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"CAN",
"canbus",
"ESP32"
] | Since modern cars use the CAN bus for so many of their functions, it’s unsurprising that it’s a frequent object of interest for those in our community. Some people go no further than commercial plug-in analysers, while others build their own CAN devices. This is what [Magnus Thomé] has done, with his
RejsaCAN microcontroller board
.
It’s a small PCB with an onboard CAN interface from an ESP32-S3 and a car-friendly power supply circuit, and perhaps most importantly, it has an auto-shutdown feature to prevent battery drain. Software-wise it’s a blank piece of paper for the user to roll their own application, but since the ESP32 is supported by the Arduino ecosystem, there are libraries that make talking CAN as easy as it can be.
[Magnus] has a list of potential applications for the board, many of which take advantage of the ESP’s wireless capabilities. So far, [Magnus] has hooked it up to an LCD display, but we can see so many other useful things coming out powered by something like this.
You haven’t tried playing with your car’s CAN bus yet?
Maybe you should read this to whet your appetite
. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520199",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T02:41:40",
"content": "Interesting",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520220",
"author": "mark",
"timestamp": "2022-10-11T06:52:59",
"... | 1,760,372,536.34471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/amateur-rocket-aims-for-the-karman-line-one-launch-at-a-time/ | Amateur Rocket Aims For The Kármán Line, One Launch At A Time | Ryan Flowers | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"bps.space",
"high power rocket",
"karman line",
"rocket"
] | When it comes to high-powered rocketry, [BPS.space] has the unique distinction of being the first to propulsively land a solid-fueled model rocket. How could he top that? Well, we’re talking about actual rocket science here, and the only way is up! All the way up to the Kármán line: 100 km. How’s he going to get there? That’s the subject of the
video below the break
.
Getting to space is notoriously difficult because it’s impossible to fully test for the environment in which a rocket will be flying. But there is quite a lot that
can
be tested, and those tests are the purpose of a rocket that [Joe] at [BPS.space] calls Avalanche. Starting with a known, simple design as a test bed, numerous launches are planned in order to iterate quickly through several launches- three of which are covered just in this video.
The goal with Avalanche isn’t to get to the Kármán line, but to learn the lessons needed to build a far bigger rocket that will. A home-brewed guidance system, a gimballed spin-stabilized 4K camera, and the descent system are among those being tested and perfected.
Of course, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to have fun with prototyping. Sometimes you just want to
3D print a detonation engine
, no matter how long it won’t last. Why not? | 17 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520164",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T23:13:40",
"content": "When he gets to the 100k, I guess he’ll be aiming for the moon after that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520358",
"author": "Grawp",
... | 1,760,372,536.643128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/power-loss-recovery-might-make-3d-printed-blobs/ | Power Loss Recovery Might Make 3D-Printed Blobs | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing"
] | [Geek Detour] had a mystery to solve. A round part he was printing had
a distinct pattern of blobs
. If you’ve been 3D printing for any length of time, you know that pauses in printing can cause blobs like this. He also showed a perfectly-printed version of the same part and claimed it was from the same printer with the same material and even slicer settings. So what was causing the blobs? You can find the answer in the video below.
As you might guess from the title, however, the issue was the power loss recovery feature built into the printer. While there’s a lot going on in the video, you can break it down to a few items, all of which you can fix in one way or another including the simple fix: turn off power loss recovery.
If you have never used a printer with power loss recovery, the intent is to make it so that you can pick up a print job where it left off if the power dies. To do this, the printer periodically writes some state information to the SD card. If your SD card is slow or you are trying to print from the same SD card, you can trigger this problem. But there is more to it than that.
The first problem is that smooth, round objects like this tend to generate a lot of gcode. You can control this in several ways, including at design time and by setting the resolution of the slicing. What’s more, you can ensure you have support for arcs in your firmware and instruct your slicer to emit arcs or use a plugin for Octoprint called arc welder. This can significantly reduce the amount of gcode involved in these arcs.
Another possibility is to increase the buffers in your firmware. If you can rebuild Marlin, this is not very hard to do. The problem is that using the power loss feature is also tying up the SD card, so the more you can read ahead, the more time it has to write to the card for power loss. There is an Octoprint plugin called
Buffer Buddy
, by the way, that can give you some insight into your printing issues, although it can also hang your printer, especially — we’ve found — if you have Meatpack enabled to compress gcode over serial, too. Even if you don’t want to install it, the discussion of why curved lines sometimes cause blobs even over USB is well-explained in the README file, not to mention the
associated blog post
.
We also were impressed with [Geek Detour]’s time-lapse videos which are
quite cinematic
and use a motion-control camera. If you want to know more about
arc welding
(the 3D printer kind, not the spark-and-metal kind), we’ve talked about it before. If you want to know more about making
time lapses of your 3D prints
, we’ve covered that, too. | 24 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520128",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T20:13:21",
"content": "So what is the alternative? Raspberry pi with backup battery and fast RAM?And why do I need to know more than the current line of GCODE if power cuts?Note: I don’t own a 3d printer. I only programmed a fe... | 1,760,372,536.147735 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/compensating-for-your-tvs-backlight/ | Compensating For Your TVs Backlight | Matthew Carlson | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"backlighting",
"color correction",
"LCD backlight repair",
"shaders",
"TV repair"
] | [Pekka Väänänen] has a Panasonic TV with a broken backlight that creates an uneven pink/green color. While it isn’t a huge deal for most films, black-and-white films tend to show the most effect. So, by modeling the distortion as a function, [Pekka] set out to find an inverse function
that corrects the distortion before it gets to the TV
.
However, the backlight doesn’t emit enough light for some colors, which means the blue and green channels need to be dimmed. As mentioned earlier, the distortion isn’t even, so the distortion needs to be captured and then calculated.
He took a few pictures with his phone, corrected the perspective, and applied a blur. The camera also has some distortion but works as a first approximation, but that isn’t something he covered here. Next, he set up a webcam and pointed it at the TV, trying to find good gain and offset values with a bit of Python.
Now it just becomes a problem of minimizing the per-pixel difference. Ultimately he just went for a random approach rather than an annealing or hill-climbing approach. Now that he had a function to apply, it was just a matter of adding a custom shader to his video player, which includes a live shader editor. He had to hack in support for an external texture, but he is kind enough to include the shader code and the patch in the article.
The result is excellent, and it’s a great use for an old TV. But perhaps, in some cases, it might be worth
replacing the backlight entirely
. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520120",
"author": "K",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T19:13:39",
"content": "Beautiful! Great problem solving, truly a hack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6520122",
"author": "Tim",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T19:19:39",
... | 1,760,372,536.487329 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/rf-hacking-hack-chat/ | RF Hacking Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"Hack Chat"
] | Join us on Wednesday, October 12 at noon Pacific for the
RF Hacking Hack Chat
with Christopher Poore!
On the time scale of technological history, it really wasn’t all that long ago that radio was — well, boring. We’re not talking about the relative entertainment value of the
Jack Benny Show
or listening to a Brooklyn Dodgers game, but about the fact that for the most part, radio was a one-dimensional medium: what you heard was pretty much all there was to a signal, and radio was rarely used for anything particularly hackable.
Not so today, of course, where anything electronic seems to have at least one radio stuffed into it, and the space around us is filled with a rich soup of fascinating RF signals. For hackers, this is where radio gets interesting — listening in on those signals, exploring their nature, and figuring out how to put them to use are like red meat for most of us.
Hacking and reverse engineering opportunities abound in the RF realm, but can sometimes be a bit difficult. What’s needed is a framework for pulling those signals out of the ether and putting them into some kind of context. Fortunately, there are plenty of tips and tricks in this space; we talked about one of them,
FISSURE
, not too long ago. The acronym — “Frequency Independent SDR-Based Signal Understand and Reverse Engineering” — about sums up what this framework is all about. But to bring it into further focus, we’re lucky enough to have Chris Poore, a Senior Reverse Engineer at Assured Information Security, drop by the Hack Chat. We’ll talk about RF reverse engineering in general and FISSURE in particular. Be sure to stop by with your RF hacking and reverse engineering questions and war stories!
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, October 12 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you tied up, we have a
handy time zone converter
. | 15 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520096",
"author": "Unochepassa",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T17:19:57",
"content": "“radio was — well, boring”. Grabbing popcorn…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520106",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022... | 1,760,372,536.193675 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/simple-cnc-gear-production-with-arduino/ | Simple CNC Gear Production With Arduino | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"cnc",
"gear"
] | We’ve seen plenty of people 3D printing custom gears over the years, but [Mr Innovative] decided against an additive process for his bespoke component.
He ended up using a simple CNC machine
that makes use of several components that were either salvaged from a 3D printer or produced on one. Using a small saw blade, the machine cuts gear teeth into some plastic material and — presumably — could cut gears into anything the saw blade was able to slice into, especially if you added a little lubrication, cooling, and dust removal.
If you’ve built a 3D printer, you’ll see a lot of familiar parts. Stepper motors, aluminum extrusion, straight rods, bearing blocks, and rod holders are all used in the build. There’s also a lead screw and the associated components you usually see in a printer’s Z-axis. Naturally, an Arduino drives the whole affair.
The saw blade was custom-made from a washer, grinding an edge and using a 3D printed template to cut teeth in it. We might have been more inclined to use a cut-off wheel from a rotary tool, but this certainly did the trick. An LCD accepts the gear diameter and number of teeth. The stepper rotates the correct number of degrees and another stepper lowers the cutting head which is spinning with a common DC motor.
As impressive as this machine is, the fact remains that a 3D printer can produce more complex designs. For example, a herringbone pattern can help with alignment issues. It has been
done many times
. You can even use a resin printer, although you
might prefer to stick with FDM
. | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520088",
"author": "three_d_dave",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T16:12:35",
"content": "That’s interesting but those aren’t involute shaped gear teeth, so they won’t properly mesh with anything. While it’s possible to make a form cutter to approximate involute teeth, those are typically... | 1,760,372,536.398698 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/lithium-ion-battery-circuitry-is-simple/ | Lithium-Ion Battery Circuitry Is Simple | Arya Voronova | [
"Battery Hacks",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Slider"
] | [
"18650",
"batteries",
"battery",
"how-to",
"lithium ion"
] | By now, we’ve gone through LiIon
handling basics
and mechanics. When it comes to designing your circuit around a LiIon battery, I believe you could benefit from a cookbook with direct suggestions, too. Here, I’d like to give you a collection of LiIon recipes that worked well for me over the years.
I will be talking about single-series (1sXp) cell configurations, for a simple reason – multiple-series configurations are not something I consider myself as having worked extensively with. The single-series configurations alone will result in a fairly extensive writeup, but for those savvy in LiIon handling, I invite you to share your tips, tricks and observations in the comment section – last time, we had a fair few interesting points brought up!
The Friendly Neighborhood Charger
There’s a whole bunch of ways to charge the cells you’ve just added to your device – a wide variety of charger ICs and other solutions are at your disposal. I’d like to focus on one specific module that I believe it’s important you know more about.
You likely have
seen the blue TP4056 boards around
– they’re cheap and you’re one Aliexpress order away from owning a bunch, with a dozen boards going for only a few bucks. The TP4056 is a LiIon charger IC able to top up your cells at rate of up to 1 A. Many TP4056 boards have a protection circuit built in, which means that such a board can protect your LiIon cell from the external world, too. This board itself can be treated as a module; for over half a decade now, the PCB footprint has stayed the same, to the point where you can add a TP4056 board footprint onto your own PCBs if you need LiIon charging and protection. I do that a lot – it’s way easier, and even cheaper, than soldering the TP4056 and all its support components. Here’s
a KiCad footprint
if you’d like to do that too.
This is a linear charger IC – if you want 1 A out, you need 1 A in, and the input-output voltage difference multiplied by current is converted into heat. Thankfully, the TP4056 modules are built to handle high temperatures reasonably well, and you can add a heatsink if you want. Maximum charging current is set by a resistor between ground and one of the pins, default resistor being 1.2 kΩ resulting in 1 A current; for low-capacity cells, you can replace it with a 10 kΩ resistor to set a 130 mA limit, and you can find tables online for intermediate values.
There’s some cool things about the TP4056 IC that most people don’t know about if they’re using the modules as-is. The IC’s CE pin is hardwired to 5 V VIN, but if you lift that pin, you can use it to disable and enable charging with a logic level input from your MCU. You can monitor the charging current by connecting your MCU’s ADC to the PROG pin – the same pin used for the current setting resistor. There’s also a thermistor pin, typically wired to ground, but adaptable for a wide range of thermistors using a resistor divider, whether it’s the thermistor attached to your pouch cell or one you added externally to your 18650 holder.
There’s problems with the TP4056 too – it’s a fairly simple IC. Efficiency isn’t an imperative where wall power is available, but the TP4056 does waste a decent bit of power as heat. A switching charger-based module avoids that, and often also lets you charge at higher currents if ever required. Connecting a cell in reverse kills the chip, and the protection circuit too – this mistake is easy to make, I’ve done that aplenty, and this is why you need spares. If you reverse the cell contacts, throw the board out – don’t charge your cells with a faulty IC.
Also, given the TP4056’s popularity, copies of this IC are manufactured by multiple different chip vendors in China, and I’ve observed that some of these copy ICs break more easily than others, for instance, no longer charging your cells – again, keep spares. The TP4056 also doesn’t provide charging timers like other, more modern ICs do – a subject
we touched upon
in the comment section of the first article.
All in all, these modules are powerful and fairly universal. It’s even safe to use them to charge 4.3 V cells, as due to the CC/CV operation, the cell simply won’t charge to its full capacity – prolonging your cell’s life as a side effect. When you need to go beyond such modules, there’s a myriad of ICs you can make use of – smaller linear chargers, switching chargers, chargers with built-in powerpath and/or DC-DC regulator features, and a trove of ICs that do LiIon charging as a side effect. The world of LiIon charger ICs is huge and there’s way more to it than the TP4056, but the TP4056 is a wonderful starting point.
The Protection Circuit You Will See Everywhere
Just like with charging ICs, there’s many designs out there, and there’s one you should know about – the DW01 and 8205A combination. It’s so ubiquitous that at least one of your store-bought devices likely contains it, and the TP4056 modules come with this combo too. The DW01 is an IC that monitors the voltage of your cell and the current going to and from it, and the 8205A is two N-FETs in a single package, helping with the actual “connect-disconnect the battery” part. There’s no additional current sensing resistor – instead, the DW01 monitors voltage across the 8205A junction. In other words, the same FETs used to cut the cell from the outside world in case of failure, are used as current sensing resistors. This design is cheap, prevalent, and works wonders.
The DW01 protects from overcurrent, overdischarge and overcharge – the first two happen relatively often in hobby projects, and that last one’s handy if your charger ever goes rogue. If something wrong happens, it interrupts the connection between the cell’s negative terminal and GND of your circuit, in other words, it does low-side switching – for a simple reason, FETs that interrupt GND are cheaper and have lower resistance. We’ve also seen some hacks done with this chip – for instance, we’ve covered research from a hacker who figured out that the DW01
can be used as a soft power switch
for your circuit – in a way that doesn’t compromise on safety. You only need to connect a GPIO pin of your MCU to the DW01, preferably through a diode –
this comment describes an approach
that seems pretty failure-resistant to me.
When you first connect a LiIon cell to the DW01+8205A combination, sometimes it will enable its output, but sometimes it won’t. For instance, if you have a holder for 18650s and a protection circuit connected to it, it’s a 50/50 chance that your circuit will power up once you insert the battery. The solution is simple – either connect a charger externally, or short-circuit the OUT- and B- with something metal (I often add an external button), but it’s annoying to deal with. Just like TP4056, the DW01+8205A combo dies if you connect the battery in reverse. Also, the DW01 is internally wired for 2.5 V overdischarge cutoff, which technically isn’t changeable. If you don’t have a separate software-controlled cutoff, the FS312 is a pin-compatible DW01 replacement with 3.0 V overdischarge point, helping you prolong your cell’s life.
You can buy a batch of ready-to-go protection circuit modules, or just use the protection circuit laid out on the TP4056 module PCB. You can also accumulate a decent stock of protection circuits by taking them out of single-cell batteries whenever the cell puffs up or dies – take caution not to puncture the cell while you do it, please.
All The Ways To Get 3.3 V
For a 4.2 V LiIon cell, the useful voltage range is 4.1 V to 3.0 V – a cell at 4.2 V quickly drops to 4.1 V when you draw power from it, and at 3.0 V or lower, the cell’s internal resistance typically rises quickly enough that you will no longer get much useful current out of your cell. If you want to get to 1.8 V or 2.5 V, that is not a problem, and if you want to get to 5 V, you’ll use a boost regulator of some sort. However, most of our chips still run at 3.3 V – let’s see what our options are here.
© Raimond Spekking
When it comes to LiIon range to 3.3 V regulation, linear regulators closely trail switching regulators in terms of efficiency, often have lower quiescent (no-load) current if you seek low-power operation, and lower noise if you want to do analog stuff. That said, your regular 1117 won’t do – it’s an old and inefficient design, and the 1117-33 starts grinding its gears at about 4.1 V. Instead, use pin-compatible, low dropout voltage replacements like AP2111, AP2114 and BL9110, or AP2112, MIC5219, MCP1700 and ME6211 if you’re okay with SOT23 stuff. All of these are linear regulators comfortable providing 3.3 V with input down to 3.5 V and sometimes even 3.4 V, if you’d like to power something like an ESP32. It’s hard to deny the simplicity of using a linear regulator – one chip and a few caps is all it takes.
If you want 500 mA to 1000mA or even more current on an ongoing basis, a switching regulator will be your best friend. My personal favourite is PAM2306 – this regulator is used on the Raspberry Pi Zero, it’s very cheap and accessible, and even has two separate output rails. Given its capability to do 100% duty cycle operation, it can extract a lot of juice out of your cells, often desirable for higher-power projects where runtime matters. And hey, if you got Pi Zero with a dead CPU, you won’t go wrong snipping a part of the PCB off and soldering some wires to it. When designing your own board, use datasheet recommendations for inductor parameters if the whole “picking the right inductor” business has you confused.
So, the PAM2306 is the regulator on the Pi Zero, and it’s also LiIon-friendly? Yep, you can power a Pi Zero directly from a LiIon battery, as all the onboard circuitry works down to 3.3 V on the “5 V” pins. I’ve tested it extensively in my own devices, and it even works with the Pi Zero 2 W. Combined with this powerpath and a charger, you have a complete “battery-powered Linux” package, with all the oomph that a Raspberry Pi provides – at cost of only a handful of components. One problem to watch out for is that MicroUSB port VBUS will have battery voltage – in other words, you’re best off filling the MicroUSB ports with hot glue just in case someone plugs a MicroUSB PSU there, and tapping the USB data testpoints for USB connectivity.
A Power Path To Join Them All
Now, you’ve got charging, and you got your 3.3 V. There’s one problem that I ought to remind you about – while you’re charging the battery, you can’t draw current from it, as the charger relies on current measurements to control charging; if you confuse the charger with an extra load, you risk overcharging the battery.
Fortunately, since you have a charger plugged in, you must have 5 V accessible. It’d be cool if you could power your devices from that 5 V source when it’s present, and use the battery when it’s not! We typically use diodes for such power decisions, but that’d cause extra voltage drop and power losses when operating from the battery. Thankfully, there’s a simple three-component circuit that works way better.
In this power path circuit, a P-FET takes role of one of the diodes, with a resistor opening the FET while the charger’s not present. The P-FET doesn’t have a voltage drop, but instead has resistance in fractions of an ohm, so you avoid losses when the charger’s not plugged in. Once the charger is connected, the FET closes, and the charger powers your circuit through the diode instead. You need a logic-level P-FET – IRLML6401, CJ2305, DMG2301LK or HX2301A would fit, and there’s thousand others that will work. As for a diode, a default Schottky like 1N5819 (SS14 for SMD) will do. It’s a ubiquitous circuit and deserves its place
in circuit toolboxes.
You can buy shields and modules that contain all of these parts and sometimes more, on a single board. You can also buy ICs that contain all or some of the parts of this circuit, often improved upon, and not worry about the specifics. These ICs tend to be more expensive, however, and way more subject to chip shortages than the individual component-based solution. Plus, when issues arise, understanding of inner workings helps a whole lot. Thus, it’s important that the basics are demystified for you, and you don’t feel forced into reusing powerbank boards next time you want to make a device of yours portable.
Be on the lookout on what other boards are doing. Often, you’ll see the charger + regulator + powerpath circuit described above, especially when it comes to cheaper boards with chips like the ESP32. Other times, you’ll see more involved power management solutions, like powerbank chips or PMICs. Sometimes they’re going to work way better than the simple circuit, sometimes it’s the opposite. For instance, some TTGO battery-powered boards use powerbank chips and overcomplicate the circuit, resulting in
weird behaviour
and
malfunctions.
A different TTGO board, on the other hand, uses a PMIC that’s way more suited for such boards, which results in flawless operation and even
granular power management control
for the user.
Hack Portable Devices Like You Couldn’t Before
Now you know what it takes to add a LiIon battery input connector to your project, and the secrets behind the boards that come with one already. It’s a feeling like no other, taking a microcontroller project with you on a walk as you test out a concept of yours. I hope I got you a bit closer to experiencing it.
Next time, I’d like to talk about batteries with multiple cells in series – BMSes, balancing and charging LiIon packs from different sources. That, however, will take a good amount of time for me to prepare, as I’d like to finish a few related projects first, and I recommend you check
this coverage of ours out
if you’d like to learn about that. In the meantime, I wish you luck in building your battery-powered projects! | 55 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520067",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T14:42:03",
"content": "“while you’re charging the battery, you can’t draw current from it, as the charger relies on current measurements to control charging; if you confuse the charger with an extra load, you risk overcharging t... | 1,760,372,536.80131 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/a-raspberry-pi-phone-for-the-modern-era/ | A Raspberry Pi Phone For The Modern Era | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3d printed",
"call",
"phone",
"raspberry pi",
"smartphone",
"text",
"touchscreen",
"wifi"
] | While it might seem like mobile phones are special devices, both in their ease of use and in their ubiquity in the modern culture, they are essentially nothing more than small form-factor computers with an extra radio and a few specific pieces of software to run. In theory, as long as you can find that software (and you pay for a service plan of some sort) you can get any computer to work as a phone.
So naturally, the Raspberry Pi was turned into one
.
[asherdundas], the phone’s creator, actually found a prior build based around the Raspberry Pi before starting this one. The problem was that it was built nearly a decade ago, and hadn’t been updated since. This build brings some modernization to the antiquated Pi phone, and starts with a 3D printed case. It also houses a touchscreen and a GSM antenna to connect to the cell network. With some other odds and ends, like a speaker and microphone, plus a battery and the software to tie it all together, a modern functional Raspberry Pi phone was created,
with some extra details available on the project page
.
The phone has the expected features — including calling, texting, and even a camera. A small WiFi USB dongle allows it to connect to the Internet too, allowing it to do all of the internet browsing a modern smartphone might want to do. The only thing that it might be pretty difficult to do is install Android apps, and although there are ways to get Android apps working in Linux,
it’s not always strictly necessary to have this functionality
. | 43 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520036",
"author": "R Allen",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T11:20:45",
"content": "Finally, a phone you can change the battery in and really turn off! My paranoid self needs this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520101",
... | 1,760,372,536.87348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/sleep-easy-with-the-fishes-well-fed/ | Sleep Easy With The Fishes Well Fed | Abe Connelly | [
"home hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"android app",
"automation",
"fish feeder",
"Raspberry Pi Zero W",
"screw conveyor"
] | Sometimes daily tasks, like feeding pets, can feel like a real chore. To help with alleviate the mundane aspects of daily life, [Erik Berglund] has created an
automatic fish feeder
, complete with 3D print files, firmware, and an Android app for complete control over scheduling and feeding.
The mechanics of the fish feeder include a screw conveyor system that pushes the food pellets fed from a food store basin. The screw conveyor is driven by a Feetech FS5106R servo which provides enough force to overcome jamming that might occur with pellets getting stuck in the conveyor system. [Erik Berglund] writes that the system can dispense about 0.9 g/s and that it’s designed for granulated food, as flakes have problems because “their low density and large surface area tend to get them stuck in the throat of the hopper” — an issue that
we’ve looked into previously
.
[Erik Berglund] used [coberdas]’s
fish feeder
as the base, upgrading it with a better servo, adding a Raspberry Pi Zero W along with software for the Pi and an Android application to control the schedule of feedings. There’s also a DS1307 real time clock module to keep precision time and a push button for “manual” feeding. If you’re looking to follow along at home, you can find the
Python scripts that run on the Pi
and the
source code for the Android application
in their respective GitHub repositories. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520062",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T14:13:15",
"content": "I’ve thought a lot (too much really) about how to ensure your pet feeder reliably dispenses dry food (regardless of shape) and the conclusion I came to is that the best system by far is a vibratory bowl fe... | 1,760,372,536.910233 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/diy-e-reader-has-hot-swap-mechanical-keys/ | DIY E-Reader Has Hot Swap Mechanical Keys | Navarre Bartz | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"e-paper",
"ebooks",
"epaper",
"epub",
"ereader",
"Inkplate",
"mechanical keyboard"
] | In the early days of e-readers, most devices had physical buttons to turn pages and otherwise navigate the device. [bwkrayb] longed for these halcyon days before touchscreen e-readers and improved on the concept by
adding mechanical keyswitches
.
By using an Adafruit NeoKey 1×4 as the keyboard interface, the e-reader has four hot-swappable keyboard sockets with built-in LEDs. [bwkrayb] is hoping to use these LEDs to implement a front lighting system in a future revision of the hardware.
The 3.7″ screen displays pages after running an EPUB through
ebooklib
and
Beautiful Soup
to generate files that can be used by the Waveshare drivers. Refresh time
is reportedly slow
, although [bwkrayb] suspects this might be due more to the limited power of the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 more than the display itself.
If you want to see some other open e-reader projects we’ve covered, check out the
EPub-Inkplate
or the
Open Book Project
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6520044",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-10-10T12:23:48",
"content": "Ugh, those e-paper patents can’t expire soon enough. I’m tired of all the small expensive displays.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520104",
... | 1,760,372,537.337497 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/a-cold-light-to-warm-your-heart/ | A Cold Light To Warm Your Heart | Abe Connelly | [
"ATtiny Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"attiny85",
"ghost",
"LED flame",
"open source hardware",
"Open Source Hardware Certification",
"tea light",
"through hole",
"ws2812"
] | Halloween is coming fast and what better way to add to your Halloween ornamentation than [Wagiminator]’s cute
NeoCandle tea light
simulator.
[Wagiminator] has
modified a 3D printed ghost
along with extending [Mark Sherman]’s light simulation code to create a cute light that’s perfect for the holiday season. The NeoCandle uses an ATtiny85 chip to power four WS2812 NeoPixel jelly bean LEDs. The device has an infrared (IR) receiver to be able to control it from a remote that speaks the NEC protocol. There is a light sensor that allows the unit to dim when it detects ambient light and the whole unit is powered off of a micro-USB connection.
The ATtiny85 have limited program flash and [Wagiminator] packs in a lot of functionality in such a small package, squeezing in a bit-banging NeoPixel driver in only 18 bytes of flash that can push out a transfer rate 762 kpbs to update the LEDs. The pseudo-random number uses a Galois linear feedback shift register and comes in at 86 bytes of flash, with the IR receiver implementation code being the largest using 234 bytes of flash. The ATtiny85 itself has 8 KB of flash memory so maybe it’s possible to push [Waginminator]’s code to even more restrictive Atmel devices in the ATtiny family.
With microcontrollers and LEDs becoming so cheap and ubiquitous, making realistic flames with them is becoming accessible, as we’ve seen with previous projects on
electronic candles
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6552884",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2022-12-19T05:01:00",
"content": "This is very well documented, thank you! I’m definitely keen to build a few of these.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,372,537.182238 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/hackaday-links-october-9-2022/ | Hackaday Links: October 9, 2022 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Superconference",
"airtags",
"atm",
"cia",
"de-extinction",
"dodo",
"drone",
"hackaday links",
"HackerTrain",
"heist",
"helicopter",
"Ingenuity",
"Lufthansa",
"Martian",
"wooly mammoth"
] | Don’t you just hate it when you walk out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe? That’s a little bit like what happened when
the Mars helicopter
Ingenuity
picked up a strange bit of debris
on one of its landing pads. The foreign object was spotted on the helicopter’s down-pointing navigation camera, and looks for all the world like a streamer of toilet paper flopping around in the rotor wash. The copter eventually shed the debris, which wafted down to the Martian surface with no further incident, and without any apparent damage to the aircraft. NASA hasn’t said more about what the debris isn’t — aliens — than what it is, which of course is hard to say at this point. We’re going to go out on a limb and say it’s probably something we brought there, likely a scrap of plastic waste lost during the descent and landing phase of the mission. Or, you know, it’s getting to be close to Halloween, a time when the landscape gets magically festooned with toilet paper overnight. You never know.
In UAV news slightly closer to home, there’s a story from France of a
heist being pulled off with an unlikely accomplice: a DJI drone
. The robbery occurred in Reims back in January, and the thieves pulled it off by forcing open a grille covering a ventilation duct to a “technical room” supporting ATMs. In heist movies, this would be the point where the smallest member of the team would grease up and slip into the duct, potentially getting stuck or having a crippling attack of claustrophobia. But instead, they piloted a Mavic Mini through the duct and into the room, where the drone was used to push a button to open the door to the room. They made off with €150,000, a pretty good return on investment for the drone. We can’t say we condone the thievery, but we do enjoy a good heist story, and this one has a nice tech twist. We just hope everyone wore nice suits.
If you fly Lufthansa, you’ll want to note that
the German airline now bans Apple AirTags in checked baggage
. Or more precisely, AirTags can only be transported in check luggage if they’re completely powered down, which of course renders them useless. Obviously, Lufthansa is billing this as a “safety precaution,” using the same logic that phones and other devices must be powered down during takeoff and landing, lest avionic mayhem ensues. But could it be something else? Could perhaps Lufthansa — and the other airlines sure to follow its lead — think that squads of tech-savvy travelers knowing exactly where their lost bags are while they claim the bags can’t be found is perhaps a bad look? We’re not sure how airlines intend to enforce this ban, so it’ll be interesting to watch this one play out.
Back during the last meatspace Superconference in 2019, we recall some excited talk from attendees who traveled to Pasadena by train rather than plane. The trip took long enough and the train car was spacious enough that they were able to work on projects on the way, which sounded like a blast. There were plans afoot to expand that idea for the 2020 Supercon, with talk of even renting a private car for the trip from Seattle to Pasadena for a rolling mini-hackathon. Well, we all know what happened to that plan, and the 2021 plan as well, but Supercon 2022 is here and so is the
#HackerTrain
! It’s going to be on the Amtrak
Coast Starlight
train from Seattle, an absolutely stunning journey through some of this country’s most beautiful landscapes — trust us; we drove down almost this entire route to Supercon in 2019 and it was the trip of a lifetime. Looks like the train leaves on 11/3, so if you’re in the overlapping region of the Venn diagram of Supercon attendees, train aficionados, and those handy to Seattle, think about climbing aboard the HackerTrain.
And finally, what could go wrong with
the Central Intelligence Agency’s plan to resurrect extinct species
? At least that’s what the headlines are telling us, although a deeper read is necessary to figure out what’s going on here, to the extent that anything about the US intelligence community is discernible. The company that actually is trying to genetically “de-extinct” long-dead species, not only the wooly mammoth but also
the Tasmanian tiger
and dodo, is called Colossal Biosciences. They have a plan to not only produce a wooly mammoth calf with genetic engineering, but to “re-wild” it within the next five years. The tie-in to the spooks is that Colossal was recently added to the portfolio of venture capital firm In-Q-Tel, which is partially funded by the CIA. We’re going on the record as thinking this is a Really Bad Idea™ because there’s a reason these species are extinct. Sure, sometimes that reason is us, but this is probably not the way to make up for misdeeds. Haven’t we all seen this movie already? Over and over again even? | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519964",
"author": "ThisGuy",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T23:21:09",
"content": "With the airtag thing, I think it’s more likely they’re afraid people might use it to map out luggage handling and other secure spaces that they don’t want bad actors to have information on. There’s proba... | 1,760,372,537.574118 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/trx-duo-is-a-red-pitaya-clone-for-software-defined-radio/ | TRX-Duo Is A Red Pitaya Clone For Software Defined Radio | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"Red Pitaya",
"sdr",
"software-defined radio"
] | If you’ve noticed the TRX-DUO software-defined radio transceiver, you might have wondered how it stacks up to other choices like Red Pitaya or HackRF. [Tech Minds] obliges with a
review of the Red device in the video below.
While this unit isn’t inexpensive, it also isn’t as expensive as some of its competitors. Sure, you can pick up an RTL-SDR dongle for a fraction of the price, but then you miss out on transmitting. The device is pretty powerful compared to a cheap software defined radio:
Frequency: 10 kHz to 60 MHz
CPU: Zynq SoC with a dual-core ARM Cortex A9
RAM: 512 MB
OS: Linux
Connectivity: Ethernet and USB connectivity (WiFi with a dongle)
ADC: 16-bit at 125 MS/s (2 channels)
DAC: 14-bit at 125 MS/s (2 channels)
The board boots off an SD card and there are several to choose from. The video shows two different images. One has a number of applications that run on the device and will also run on a Red Pitaya. The device shows a browser menu with various options and the result is quite impressive. Using the box as a WSPR beacon, it was heard fairly well given the low output power. It was, however, able to hear the world easily.
You can get a less capable Red Pitaya model for about $100 less than the going price. However, for something comparable, you will pay more for the Red Pitaya and — depending on capabilities — perhaps a lot more, although you do get more capability for the increased price.
You can do a lot more with a
transmitting SDR
— having both transmit and receive opens up many new projects. Of course, canned applications are great, but if you get one of these, you are going to want to try
GNU Radio
. | 33 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519957",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T22:34:48",
"content": "I assume with transmitting licensing could become an issue.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6683369",
"author": "chris",
"timestam... | 1,760,372,537.696574 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/relax-and-have-a-nice-cup-of-teeth/ | Relax And Have A Nice Cup Of Teeth | Abe Connelly | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"halloween decorations",
"Halloween props",
"teeth"
] | Halloween is just around the corner and what better way to add a little spooky decor than to 3D print [DaveMakesStuff]’s
Teeth Cup
.
It looks like [DaveMakesStuff] has done the equivalent of “kit bashing” by taking 3D models of a full teeth set and merging them with a tea cup. Details are pretty light but a
Twitter thread
(
Nitter
)has some clues about the process. The cup looks like it can be done in one print, support free. The smooth finish comes from bead blasting it which, as an added bonus in this case, provides the “dirty” look as the bead blaster is only normally used on nylon SLS prints.
Halloween is always a good source of inspiration for hacker projects and we’ve had many good entries from
Halloween Hackfests
of the past. | 28 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519909",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T17:39:30",
"content": "Followed the link in the article, but there is an auth wall preventing download of the files… boooo.Here’s another link that doesn’t force you to create an account to download files:https://www.thingiverse.c... | 1,760,372,537.244372 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/rotbot-adds-a-extra-dimension-to-3d-printing-with-a-twist/ | RotBot Adds An Extra Dimension To 3D Printing, With A Twist | Dan Maloney | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"4 axis",
"conical",
"prusa",
"slicer",
"slicing"
] | It always seemed to us that the Z-axis on a 3D printer, or pretty much any CNC machine for that matter, is criminally underused. To have the X- and Y-axes working together to make smooth planar motions while the Z-axis just sits there waiting for its big moment, which ends up just moving the print head and the bed another fraction of a millimeter from each other just doesn’t seem fair. Can’t the Z-axis have a little more fun?
Of course it can, and while non-planar 3D printing is nothing new, [Stefan] over at
CNC Kitchen
shows us a literal twist on the concept with
this four-axis non-planar printer
. For obvious reasons, it’s called the “RotBot,” and it comes via the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, where [Michael Wüthrich] and colleagues have been experimenting with different slicing strategies to make overhang printing more manageable. The hardware side of things is actually pretty intuitive, especially if you’ve ever seen an industrial waterjet cutter in action. They modified a Prusa printer by adding a rotating extension to the print head, putting the nozzle at a 45° angle to the print bed. A slip ring connects the heater and fan and allows the head to rotate 360°, with the extruder living above the swiveling head.
On the software side, the Zurich team came up with some clever workarounds to make conical slicing work using off-the-shelf slicers. As [Stefan] explains, the team used a “pre-deformation” step to warp the model and trick the slicer into generating the conical G-code. The G-code is then back-transformed in exactly the opposite process as pre-deformation before being fed to the printer. The transformation steps are done with a bit of Python code, and the results are pretty neat. Watching the four axes all work together simultaneously is quite satisfying, as are the huge overhangs with no visible means of support.
The academic paper on this
is probably worth a read, and thankfully, the code for everything is all open-sourced. We’re interested to see if this catches on with the community. | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519879",
"author": "chuck",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T14:29:52",
"content": "A extra… oh man…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519901",
"author": "DainBramage",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T17:09:44",
"cont... | 1,760,372,537.296822 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/mommy-where-do-ideas-come-from/ | Mommy, Where Do Ideas Come From? | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"3d scanning",
"antique",
"history",
"invention",
"photography"
] | We wrote up an astounding old use of technology – François Willème’s
3D scanning and modeling apparatus from 1861
, over 150 years ago. What’s amazing about this technique is that it used absolutely cutting-edge technology for the time, photography, and the essence of a technique still used today in laser-line 3D scanners, or maybe even more closely related to the “
bullet time
” effect.
This got me thinking of how Willème could have possibly come up with the idea of taking 24 simultaneous photographs, tracing the outline in wood, and then re-assembling them radially into a 3D model. And all of this in photography’s very infancy.
But Willème was already a sculptor, and had probably seen how he could use photos to replace still models in the studio, at least to solidify proportions. And he was probably also familiar with making
cameos
, where the profile was often illuminated from behind and carved, often by tracing shadows. From these two, you could certainly imagine his procedure, but there’s still an admirable spark of genius at work.
Could you have had that spark without the existence of photography? Not really. Tracing shadows in the round is impractical
unless you can fix them
. The existence of photography enabled this idea, and countless others, to come into existence.
That’s what I think is neat about technology, and the sharing of new technological ideas. Oftentimes they are fantastic in and of themselves, like photography indubitably was. But just as often, the new idea is a seed for more new ideas that radiate outward like ripples in a pond.
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
! | 38 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519708",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T15:26:40",
"content": "And then you’ve got your da Vincis, trying to design helicopters and tanks a few hundred years before we’ve got the materials and manufacturing tech to build them.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,372,537.52558 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/tom-stanton-builds-an-osprey/ | [Tom Stanton] Builds An Osprey | Dan Maloney | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"collective",
"cyclic",
"helicopter",
"Osprey",
"pitch",
"rc",
"swash plate",
"tiltrotor",
"V-22",
"vtol"
] | The V-22 Osprey is an aircraft like no other. The tiltrotor multirole military aircraft makes an impression wherever it goes; coincidentally, a flight of two of these beasts flew directly overhead yesterday and made a noise unlike anything we’ve ever heard before. It’s a complex aircraft that pushes the engineering envelope, so naturally [Tom Stanton] decided to build
a flight-control accurate RC model of the Osprey
for himself.
Sharp-eyed readers will no doubt note that [Tom] built
an Osprey-like VTOL model recently
to explore the basics of tiltrotor design. But his goal with this build is to go beyond the basics by replicating some of the control complexity of a full-scale Osprey, without breaking the bank. Instead of building or buying real swash plates to control the collective and cyclic pitch of the rotors, [Tom] used
his “virtual swashplate” technique
, which uses angled hinges and rapid changes in the angular momentum of the motors to achieve blade pitch control. The interesting part is that the same mechanism worked after adding a third blade to each rotor, to mimic the Osprey’s blades — we’d have thought this would throw the whole thing off balance. True, there were some resonance issues with the airframe, but [Tom] was able to overcome them and achieve something close to stable flight.
The video below is only the first part of his build series, but we suspect contains most of the interesting engineering bits. Still, we’re looking forward to seeing how the control mechanism evolves as the design process continues. | 20 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519660",
"author": "Andre",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T11:20:36",
"content": "It’s not quite accurate though – the V-22 has a central gearbox that connects the motors to each other:–The V-22’s two Rolls-Royce AE 1107C engines are connected by drive shafts to a common central gearbox ... | 1,760,372,537.623942 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/a-rail-cart-for-the-space-conscious-passenger/ | A Rail Cart For The Space Conscious Passenger | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"hoverboard",
"rail cart",
"railroad",
"railway"
] | For those who live in countries where there are plenty of abandoned railways, a popular way to explore them has been by means of home made rail carts. These are usually rudimentary rail trolleys with a small internal combustion engine, and a host of fascinating videos of them can be found online. Such a trolley has one disadvantage though — it’s not the most compact of devices. [Cato] has come up with a rail cart that’s extremely portable by
replacing the engine with the guts of a pair of hoverboards
.
The chassis of the machine is made from aluminium extrusion, and its deck from plywood. The wheels are the stock hoverboard wheels with flat flanges applied, which while they don’t have the ideal flange profile of a rail wheel are good enough to keep the thing on track. Finally to control the thing a rather stylish little 3D printed single-axis joystick serves as a combined throttle and brake.
Those of us who hail from places where abandoned railways have their track speedily ripped up can only gaze in envy and imagine speeding along the rails on one of these. The build starts with a warning never to use one of these on an active track, but should you wish to drive a real train
there are plenty of places to do that
. | 29 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519640",
"author": "AggregatVier",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T08:31:16",
"content": "It takes too long to get anywhere in space so shouldn’t passengers be in stasis or suspended animation?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6519659"... | 1,760,372,537.758266 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/repairing-a-bike-gps-with-3d-printing/ | Repairing A Bike GPS With 3D Printing | Navarre Bartz | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"gps hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"bicycle computer",
"bike computer",
"bike gps",
"bike hacks",
"cycling",
"planned obsolescence",
"repair"
] | We love hacks that keep gadgets out of the trash heap, and [Brieuc du Maugouër] has us covered with this 3D printable
replacement mount
he designed for his bike GPS.
One of the most frustrating ways a gadget can fail is when a small, but critical part of the device fails. [du Maugouër] combined a 3D printed back and four M2x6mm screws to make a robust new mount to replace the broken OEM mount on his handlebar-mounted GPS. Slots for zip tie mounting are included in case the replacement mount breaks before yet another replacement can be printed. Apparently [du Maugouër] agrees with Chief O’Brien that “
in a crunch, I wouldn’t like to be caught without a second backup.
” [Youtube]
It’s exciting that we’re finally in a time when 3D printed replacement parts are living up to their potential. This would be a lot easier if more manufacturers
posted 3D printed design files
instead of
getting them pulled
from 3D file platforms, but makers will find a way regardless of OEM approval.
We’ve covered a lot of bike hacks over the years including DIY
Bike Computers
and
GPS Trackers
. Do you have a project that keeps something from becoming trash or might save the world another way? There’s still time to enter the Save the World Wildcard round of the
Hackaday Prize (closes October 16th
). | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519667",
"author": "mrehorst",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T11:57:03",
"content": "Hey, don’t knock it. It’s little stuff like this that demonstrates to the tugboat and cube crowd that it’s possible to do something useful with their toy. You never know what this sort of thing can lead ... | 1,760,372,537.806063 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/ceiling-fan-adds-co2-sensor/ | Ceiling Fan Adds CO2 Sensor | Bryan Cockfield | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"air",
"automation",
"carbon dioxide",
"ceiling fan",
"circulation",
"co2",
"sensor",
"smart fan",
"stale",
"stuffy"
] | Ceiling fans seem to be an oft-misunderstood or overlooked household appliance. As such, they seem to have missed a lot of the IoT wave. Sure, you can get smart controllers for them to plug into your home automation system of choice, but these mostly rely on temperature sensors, simple timers, or voice commands. There’s a lot more to a ceiling fan than maintaining a comfortable temperature, as [EJ] demonstrates
with this smarter ceiling fan build
.
A big part of the job of a ceiling fan is to improve air circulation, which can help a room from feeling “stuffy”. This feeling is usually caused by excess CO2 as a result of respiration in an area where the air is not moving enough to exhaust this gas. Not only does [EJ]’s controller make use of a temperature monitor for controlling the fan automatically, but there is also a CO2 sensor integrated to improve this aspect of air quality when needed.
The entire build is based on a Raspberry Pi Zero, and nothing needed to be changed about the ceiling fan itself for this added functionality because it already included a radio-based remote control. With some monitoring of the signals produced by the remote, the Raspberry Pi was programmed to mimic these commands when the surrounding sensors captured a condition where [EJ] would want the fan on. There’s also a manual control button as well, so the fan control is not entirely in the hands of the computer.
For a little more detailed information about this build,
there’s a separate project page
which details a lot of the information about the RF waveform capturing and recreation. And, if you want to take your fan to the next level,
take a look at this one which focuses on building a smartphone app to control the fan instead
. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519588",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T02:13:48",
"content": "As CO2 is heavier than air, it would help to have the sensor mounted low in the room.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6... | 1,760,372,537.855223 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/pcb-filled-dream-desk-will-only-get-cooler-with-age/ | PCB-Filled Dream Desk Will Only Get Cooler With Age | Kristina Panos | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"desk",
"e-waste",
"e-waste recycling",
"pcb",
"resin"
] | We all have one. Maybe you’re sitting at it now, or just wishing you were — that perfect desk. You know the one — a place for everything and everything in its place, ample acreage, specialized storage, and top-notch looks. Oh, and blinkenlights. Can’t forget those.
It took four months of hard work, but
[Build XYZ]’s dream desk
has been finely fabricated into fruition. There’s a lot to unpack with this build, which you can appreciate after the break, but it all started with a donated up/down desk from Progressive Desk. After building the base and putting it through its body weight-driven paces, [Build XYZ] set about making the perfect top, which, as you can see, highlights an assortment of PCBs by encasing them for eternity in resin.
But don’t let your admiration stop there, because the woodworking is just as much a part of the show. In addition to the functional blinkenlights that notify [BuildXYZ] when it’s time to stop working for the day or just take a break, there’s a working wireless charger hiding among the FR4. We can’t wait to look back on this desk in 20 years or so and we also can’t wait to see how PCBs will change over the next 20 years.
This tightly-produced video is a fascinating look into the process of forever immortalizing things in resin. So much resin, in fact, that [Build XYZ] came up a gallon short during the pour and had to wait an excruciatingly long time before more resin showed up. Seeing as how you totally can’t tell at all in the final build, we have maximum respect for [Build XYZ]’s inclusion of this part in the first place, which serves as a warning to the rest of us. | 27 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519553",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T23:35:06",
"content": "Would be really cool to make one of these with a gradient of old computer bits up to current ones on the other side. Have some core memory and subminiature tubes and punch-cards on one side, up through floppie... | 1,760,372,538.098846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/3d-printing-hard-to-find-vintage-vehicle-parts/ | 3D Printing Hard-To-Find Vintage Vehicle Parts | Navarre Bartz | [
"car hacks",
"how-to",
"Parts",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"3D printed parts",
"3d printing",
"marker light",
"repair",
"truck",
"tutorial",
"vehicle repair",
"vehicle restoration",
"vintage car",
"vintage truck"
] | When I was growing up, my dad and I restored classic cars. Combing junkyards for the pieces we needed was a mixture of interesting and frustrating since there was always something you couldn’t find no matter how long you looked. [Emily Velasco] was frustrated by the high price of parts even when she was able to find them, so she decided to print them herself. She wrote an
excellent tutorial
about designing and 3D printing replica parts if you find yourself in a similar situation.
All four marker lights on [Velasco]’s 1982 Toyota pickup were on their way to plastic dust, and a full set would run her $160. Instead of shelling out a ton of cash for some tiny parts, she set out to replicate the marker lamps with her 3D printer. Using a cheap marker lamp replacement for a more popular model of pickup as a template, she was able to replace her marker lamps at a fraction of the cost of the options she found online.
We really like the trick [Velasco] used for matching the unusual shape of the lens. By photographing it on a piece of graph paper, she was able to get the silhouette and use the grid to eliminate any lens distortion in the image. It won’t work for super complex shapes, but for roughly 2D parts with complex curvatures this can be a great way to make a part that matches well. We can see this being useful to you in a wide variety of hacks.
If you want to dig deeper, we’ve covered other projects at the intersection of 3D printing and cars like
3D Printed Rims
,
3D Printed Parts for Concept Cars
, and even OEMs that provide
3D printing specifications for accessory mounts
to name a few. | 52 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519499",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T20:11:13",
"content": "This reminds me of a thirty something year old car I had a while back. The clutch cable snapped and ejected itself from the vehicle, never to be found again. Needless to say, the dealer did have old stock ... | 1,760,372,538.037455 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/this-eye-is-watching-you-from-its-tiny-crt/ | This Eye Is Watching You From Its Tiny CRT | Robin Kearey | [
"Art",
"Parts"
] | [
"art installation",
"crt",
"eye",
"tiny screen"
] | The days of cathode ray tubes, or CRTs, are firmly behind us, and that’s generally a good thing. Display tubes were heavy, bulky and fragile, and needed complicated high-voltage electronics in order to work. But not all of them were actually large: miniature display tubes were also produced, for things like camcorder viewfinders, and [Tavis] from
Sideburn Studios
decided to turn one of those into
a slightly creepy art project
.
The heart of this build is a one-inch CRT that was salvaged from an RCA video camera. [Tavis] mounted the tiny tube inside an acrylic box on a 3D printed base. Inside that base sits a Raspberry Pi along with a high-voltage driver and a power management board. The Pi continuously plays a video that shows a human eye blinking and looking in various directions. Just an eye, floating in space, looking at the world around it.
The magic is briefly lost when the Pi starts up, because it then shows a microscopic version of the Pi’s standard bootup sequence, but once the thing is running it adds a weird vibe to a room. It actually looks like something you’d find in an avant-garde art exhibition — in the video (embedded below) it’s accompanied by eerie music that gives it an even more unsettling feel. Electronic eyes are always
a bit scary
, especially when
they’re actually looking at you
. | 25 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519883",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T15:03:29",
"content": "Display tubes were heavy [CHECK]Display tubes were bulky [CHECK]Display tubes needed complicated high-voltage electronics in order to work. [ehhmmm… CHECK?!?!]Although… what’s complicated, just a relatively s... | 1,760,372,537.954667 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/09/flip-segment-digital-clock-is-a-miniature-mechanical-marvel/ | Flip-Segment Digital Clock Is A Miniature Mechanical Marvel | Dan Maloney | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"cam",
"carryover",
"digital",
"follower",
"mechanical",
"seven segment",
"stepper"
] | Clocks are such mundane objects that it’s sometimes hard for them to grab your attention. They’re there when you need them, but they don’t exactly invite you to watch them work. Unless, of course, you build something like
this mechanical flip-segment clock
with a captivating exposed mechanism
“Eptaora” is the name of this clock, according to its inventor [ekaggrat singh kalsi]. The goal here was to make a mechanical flip-segment display as small as possible, which meant starting with the smallest possible printable screw hole and scaling the design up from there. Each segment is controlled by a multi-lobed cam which bears on a spring-loaded cam follower. When the cam rotates against the follower, a segment is flipped up from the horizontal rest position to the vertical display position. A carryover mechanism connects two adjacent displays so that each pair of digits can be powered by a single stepper, and the finished clock is quite small — a little bit larger than the palm of a hand. The operation seems quite smooth, too, which is always a bonus with clocks such as these. Check out the mesmerizing mechanism in the video below.
We’d have sworn we covered a similar clock before — indeed [ekaggrat] says the inspiration for this clock came from one with a similar mechanism — but we couldn’t find it in the back catalog. Oh sure, there are
flip-up digital clocks
and all manner of
mechanical seven-segment displays
, but this one seems to be quite unique, and very pleasing. | 35 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519843",
"author": "lj",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T09:20:27",
"content": "It looks so smooth and clean in the video, makes me wonder if it is actually a rendering.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519848",
"author": "e... | 1,760,372,538.32594 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/diy-arduino-due-tea5767-fm-radio/ | DIY Arduino Due TEA5767 FM Radio | Dave Walker | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"amplifier",
"arduino",
"diy",
"fm",
"LM4811",
"oled",
"PAM8403",
"radio",
"receiver",
"sh1106",
"TEA5767",
"tuner"
] | Older hackers will remember that a crystal set radio receiver was often one of the first projects attempted. Times have changed, but there’s still something magical about gathering invisible signals from the air and listening to the radio on a homemade receiver. [mircemk] has brought the idea right up to date by building an
FM radio
with an OLED display, controlled with a rotary encoder.
The design is fairly straightforward, based as it is on another project that [mircemk] found on another site, but the build looks very slick and would take pride of place on any hacker’s workbench. An Arduino Due forms the heart of the project, controlling a TEA5767 module, an SH1106 128×64 pixel OLED display and a rotary encoder. The sound signal is passed through an LM4811 headphone amplifier for private listening, and a PAM8403 Class D audio amplifier for the built-in loudspeaker. The enclosure is made from PVC panels, and accented with colored adhesive tape for style.
It’s easier than ever before to quickly put together projects like this by connecting pre-built modules and downloading code from the Internet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a worthwhile way to improve your skills and make some useful devices like this one. There are so many resources available to us these days and standing on the shoulders of giants has always been a great way to see farther.
We’ve shown some other radio projects using Arduinos and the TEA5767 IC in the past, such as
this one on a tidy custom PCB
, and
this one built into an old radio case
. | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519821",
"author": "Val",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T05:46:06",
"content": "Nice build, but a much cheaper Arduino board could be used. And the sources would probably need no change or very small change.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,372,538.196707 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/quick-reload-for-your-glue-sticks-the-glue-gun-six-shooter/ | Quick Reload For Your Glue Sticks: The Glue Gun Six Shooter | Robin Kearey | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"glue gun",
"hot glue",
"hot glue gun",
"revolver"
] | They say that the two essential items in any toolbox are WD-40 and duct tape: one thing to make stuff move and another thing to stop stuff from moving. Many hackers would argue that the third essential tool should be hot glue — it stops stuff from moving, but still allows you to move it later if you decide that’s better after all. It also works on loads of stuff ranging from macaroni to microcontrollers. And let’s be honest: who
hasn’t
done the “pew pew” thing with their glue gun?
[Vije Miller] decided to give his hot glue dispenser a bit of a western vibe and
built himself a Glue Gun Six Shooter
. Like an Old West revolver, it has a rotating cylinder with six rounds of ammunition that lets you continue gluing right away even if your glue stick runs out in the middle of a job. A tiny switch on the side of the barrel starts the reloading sequence: one servo rotates the cylinder, then another one chambers a round. Both are controlled by an Arduino Nano, which is powered by a 5 V USB power supply hidden in the grip.
A red laser below the barrel gives the user a better aim, as well as a bit more “pew pew” ability. The rest of the gun is pretty standard, similar to what
we’ve seen before in a teardown
. If you’re looking for something more high-tech, check out
[Ben Heck]’s ultimate glue gun
.
Thanks for the tip, [Fiona Grutza]! | 16 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519810",
"author": "Why Displacemen From Tallow?",
"timestamp": "2022-10-09T03:25:58",
"content": "WD-40 and duct tape: one thing to make stuff move and to then make stuff stop moving. Also another thing to stop stuff from moving.Fixed it for you.",
"parent_id": null,
"dept... | 1,760,372,538.245564 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/magnetic-gearbox-design-improvements-are-toothless-but-still-cool/ | Magnetic Gearbox Design Improvements Are Toothless But Still Cool | Dan Maloney | [
"Parts"
] | [
"flux",
"gearbox",
"magnetic",
"neodymium",
"planetary",
"power transmission"
] | Any project that contains something called a “flux modulator” instantly commands our attention. And while we’re pretty sure that [Retsetman] didn’t invent it after hitting his head on the toilet,
this magnetic gearbox
is still really cool.
Where most gearboxes have, you know, gears, a magnetic gearbox works by coupling input and output shafts not with meshing teeth but via magnetic attraction. [Retsetman]’s version has three circular elements nested together on a common axis, and while not exactly a planetary gear in the traditional sense, he still uses planetary terminology to explain how it works. The inner sun gear is a rotor with four pairs of bar magnets on its outer circumference. An outer ring gear has ten pairs of magnets, making the ratio of “teeth” between the two gears 10:2. Between these two elements is the aforementioned flux modulator, roughly equivalent to the planet gears of a traditional gearbox, with twelve grub screws around its circumference. The screws serve to conduct magnetic flux between the magnets, dragging the rotating elements along for the ride.
This gearbox appears to be a refinement on
[Retsetman]’s earlier design
, and while he provides no build files that we can find, it shouldn’t be too hard to roll your own designs for the printed parts.
Thanks to [Zane] for the tip. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519798",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T23:37:13",
"content": "Enjoyable and instructive video.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6519802",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022... | 1,760,372,538.370282 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/bluetooth-interface-adds-rumble-feedback-to-commodore-64-games/ | Bluetooth Interface Adds Rumble Feedback To Commodore 64 Games | Robin Kearey | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"bluetooth gamepad",
"commodore 64",
"gamepad",
"Joystick",
"rumble feedback"
] | Nothing says “1980s gaming” like a black joystick with a single red fire button. But if you prefer better ergonomics, you can connect modern gamepads to your retrocomputers thanks to a variety of modern-to-classic interface adapters. These typically support just the directional pad and one or two action buttons, leaving out modern features like motion control and haptic feedback.
That’s a bit of a shame, because we think it would be pretty cool to feel that shock in our hands whenever Pitfall Harry drowns in quicksand or Frogger gets hit by traffic. We’re therefore happy to report that [Ricardo Quesada] has decided
to add rumble functionality to the Bluetooth-to-Joystick-port interface
that he’s been working on. He demonstrates the feature on his Commodore 64 in the video embedded after the break.
Naturally, any software needs to be adapted to support haptic feedback, but a trickier problem turned out to be the hardware: joystick ports are input-only devices and therefore cannot send “enable rumble” signals to any connected gamepads. [Ricardo] found a clever way around this, using the analog inputs on the joystick port that were typically used for paddle-type controllers.
The analog-to-digital converter inside the computer works by applying a pulse signal to the analog port and measuring the time it takes to discharge a capacitor. The modern gamepad interface simply detects whether these pulses are present; they can be enabled or disabled through software by toggling the analog readout on the joystick port. This way, the joystick port can be used to send a single bit of information to any device connected to it.
[Ricardo] developed patches for
Rambo: First Blood part II
and
Leman
to enable rumble functionality. He describes the process in detail in his blog post, which should enable anyone who knows their way around 6502 machine code to add rumble support to their favorite games.
The adapter works with a variety of retro systems that use the Atari-style joystick interface, but if you’re an Apple II user, you might want to look at
this Raspberry Pi-based project
that interfaces with its nonstandard joystick interface. If you’re into wireless gaming in general, be sure to also check out our
history of wireless game controllers
. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519771",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T20:35:37",
"content": "Brilliant, seriously! I love the way it works and it invoked a “why didn’t I think of that” moment.Cool project!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6519793"... | 1,760,372,538.549448 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/08/ill-see-your-seven-segment-mechanical-display-and-raise-you-to-16-segments/ | I’ll See Your Seven-Segment Mechanical Display And Raise You To 16 Segments | Dan Maloney | [
"Parts"
] | [
"display",
"flip-dot",
"multi-segment",
"punch card",
"rack and pinion"
] | Mechanical multi-segment displays have become quite a thing lately, and we couldn’t be more pleased about it. The degree of mechanical ingenuity needed to make these things not only work but look good while doing it never ceases to amaze us, especially as the number of segments increases. So we submit
this over-the-top 16-segment mechanical display
(
Nitter
) for your approval.
The original tweet by [Kango Suzuki] doesn’t have a lot of detail, especially if you can’t read Japanese, but we did a little digging and found the video shown below. It shows a lot more detail on how this mechanism works, as well as some of the challenges that cropped up while developing it. Everything is 3D printed, and flipping the state of each of the 16 segments is accomplished with a rack-and-pinion mechanism, with the pinions printed right into each two-sided cylindrical segment. The racks are connected to pushrods that hit a punch card inserted into a slot in the rear of the display. The card has holes corresponding to the pattern to be displayed; when it’s pushed home, the card activates a mechanism that slides all the racks that line up with holes and flips their segments.
This isn’t the first multi-segment mechanical masterpiece from [Kango Suzuki] that we’ve featured, of course.
This wooden seven-segment display
works with cams rather than punch cards, but you can clearly see the hoe the earlier mechanism developed into the current work. Both are great, and we’re looking forward to the next segment count escalation in the mechanical display wars.
中身
pic.twitter.com/m3qZaKMFzV
— K.$uzuki🍮 (@BellTreeNursing)
October 5, 2022
Thanks to [Matt Venn] and [Cameron] for the tips! | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519729",
"author": "lthemick",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T17:30:30",
"content": "> you can clearly see the hoe the earlier mechanism developed intoMight need some wordsmithing here…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6520034",
... | 1,760,372,538.411361 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/flux-a-forty-foot-long-kinetic-art-piece/ | Flux: A Forty Foot Long Kinetic Art Piece | Dave Rowntree | [
"Art"
] | [
"AS5600",
"kinetic art",
"stepper motor",
"TMC2160"
] | No office space is complete without some eye-catching art piece to gawp at whilst you mull over your latest problem. But LED-based displays are common enough to be boring these days. Kinetic art pieces are where it’s at, and
this piece called
Flux
is a perfect example
.
C
ommissioned for the Toronto office of a very popular e-commerce platform and constructed by [Nicholas Stedman],
Flux
consists of twenty identical planks on the ceiling, arranged in a line forty feet long. Each plank has a pair of rotating prisms, constructed from a stack of foam sheets, finished with metallic paint. The prisms are spun by individual stepper motors, each of which is driven by a TMC2160-based module, making them whisper-quiet.
A simple 3D printed bracket holds a small PCB holding an
AMS AS5600 rotary magnetic encoder
, onto the rear of the stepper motor. This allows for closed-loop feedback to the shared Arduino, which is very important for a sculpture such as this. Each Arduino is hooked up to a Raspberry Pi, running a simple application written in node.js which is responsible for coordinating movement, as well as uploading updated firmware images as required. A simple, but very effective build, we think!
Even more fun are kinetic art installations that are reactive to some data source, such as
Adad
, which visualizes lightning strike data
. If these builds are just too big and complex, we’ve seen many examples of smaller desktop toys, such as this
3D printed tumbling chain demo
for example. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519519",
"author": "GvT",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T21:15:56",
"content": "I don’t understand why this is called kinetic… Kinetic describes how bodies move under the influence of forces [kinema: force]. It seems to be a cool installation, a fancy way to direct light and to be impres... | 1,760,372,538.586733 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/engineers-be-subversive-to-be-green/ | Engineers: Be Subversive To Be Green | Jenny List | [
"Featured",
"green hacks",
"Interest",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"co2",
"emissions",
"energy saving",
"green tech"
] | The caterers for the volunteer workforce behind the summer’s MCH hacker camp in the Netherlands served all-vegan food. This wasn’t the bean sprouts and lentils that maybe some of the more meat-eating readers might imagine when confronted with vegan food, nor was it a half-as-good array of substitutes with leathery soy hamburgers and rubbery fake cheese smelling suspiciously of feet.
Instead it was a well-crafted, interesting, and tasty menu that was something to look forward to after several hours driving a vanload of handwashing sinks. It was in one of their meals that I found food for thought when driving a week later past the huge Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine on my way through Germany to Luxembourg’s Haxogreen as part of my European hacker camp summer tour.
The meal was deep-fried soy protein strips and the mine is probably one of Western Europe’s dirtiest and most problematic CO2 sources in a country that likes to imagine itself as environmentally friendly, so where in this unlikely connection did I find a pairing?
Finding The Point Of It All With The Aid Of A Vegan Breakfast
Looking into the
gigantic pit at Garzweiler
, while the earth grapples with environmental difficulties all around, it’s easy to pack up and go home. After all where’s the point in saving a few tons of CO2 when the German power industry is belching the stuff away like it’s 1972? But we’re hardware hackers, and we spend out time idly thinking of solutions rather than glumly accepting the futility of trying.
Which brings me back to that meal. Deep-fried soy protein strips don’t sound very appetising, but if I told you they’d given it just the right combination of fattiness, salt, and crispiness to make the perfect bacon replacement then maybe you’d at least understand why it made an impression.
Have you ever tried vegan fake bacon? It’s underwhelming, to say the least. Pink rubber strips with a suspiciously uniform consistency and a vaguely baconish flavour, they’re an expensive way to remind you of what you’re missing. Meanwhile the MCH caterers had nailed what makes bacon so bacony, by not trying to make bacon at all and devlivering something that very explicitly wasn’t being represented as bacon. On my MCH breakfast plate I had the perfect metaphor for how to approach green projects as a hacker, even if it took me a week to understand it.
Whether it’s fair or not, it’s safe to say there’s
a long-held perception among consumers
that
the eco-version of a product is never going to be as good as the real thing
. LED light bulbs and cyclonic vacuum cleaners may be triumphs of 21st century technology, but as anyone who has used some of the cheaper organic-solvent-free paints will tell you, sometimes eco-freindly substitutes are a mediocre substitute.
The lesson that came to me as the autobahn wound its way for miles round that huge hole in the ground was this: that just as with so many commercial attempts at plant-based food we are doomed to make a poor substitute if our solutions only seek to replicate what went before. Instead as hardware hackers, when faced with an environmental challenge we should seek to subvert what went before rather than simply make a bad job of copying it.
Ask Why, Don’t Simply Go Along With It
It’s easy to say that as a call to action, but how about an example? Oddly, while the LED light was cited as a triumph of an eco-friendly product, it serves to highlight a perfect case of clinging to an older technology. While an LED is a low voltage device, the LED lights most of us use are high voltage devices designed to replicate a filament lamp invented powered by a high-voltage AC mains supply, both of which were 19th-century inventions.
As a result our LED lights have a bunch of electronics to bring the mains voltage down to LED voltage, all of which serves only to waste power and to shorten the lifetime of the device. Why do we still use 19th century power distribution within our houses to run low voltage equipment? Finding an alternative that wastes less energy is what I’d call subverting what went before, rather than simply adapting the new to be compatible.
Driving past Garzweiler made a deep impression on me, one that persists more than a month later. I come from a place where lignite wasn’t mined and which has mostly shut its coal-fired power stations, so to be brought face to face with something which should by rights have ended decades ago was a shock. My voice is not enough to see it closed, but as an engineer I can turn my mind to ways to make its energy unnecessary. I hope you can too.
Garzweiler panorama:
Raimond Spekking /
CC BY-SA 4.0
. | 153 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519444",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T17:26:54",
"content": "In 1981, I had a vegetarian hotdog that came in a can. It seemed a little too real. But I stopped eating meat 2 years before.It took about ten years before I tried such things, not because I.misse... | 1,760,372,538.839529 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/hackaday-podcast-188-zapping-cockroaches-tricking-ais-antique-3d-scanning-and-grinding-chips-to-qfn/ | Hackaday Podcast 188: Zapping Cockroaches, Tricking AIs, Antique 3D Scanning, And Grinding Chips To QFN | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | It’s déjà vu all over again as Hackaday Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams gets together with Staff Writer Dan Maloney to look over the best hacks from the past week. If you’ve got a fear of giant cockroaches, don’t worry; we’ll only mention the regular ones when we talk about zapping them with lasers. What do you need to shrinkify an NES? Just a little sandpaper and a lot of finesse.
Did you know that 3D scanning is (sort of) over a century old? Or that the first real microcomputer dates all the way back to 1972 — and isn’t one of those blinkenlight deals? And watch out for what you tell GPT-3 to ignore — it might just take you very seriously. We’ll touch on solar-powered cameras, a compressor of compressors, and talk about all the unusual places to find lithium batteries for your projects. It’s an episode so good you might just want to listen to it twice!
(In case you’re wondering about all this “twice” stuff — Elliot forgot to hit record on the first take and we had to do
the entire podcast
over again. Oh, the humanity!)
Check out 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 here
!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 188 Show Notes:
News:
2022 Hackaday Supercon Speakers Will Inspire You
East Coast RepRap Festival Returns This Weekend
What’s that Sound?
Congratulations to [J. Patrick]!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
In A Way, 3D Scanning Is Over A Century Old
Black Hole Sun – But every lyric is an AI generated image – YouTube
Laser Zaps Cockroaches Over One Meter
Laser Zap That Mosquito
But Can Your AI Recognize Slugs?
DVD Drives Turned Into Microscopes
Super easy way to make a microscope with a DVD pickup
Laser optical pickup unit hacking – ReSeq – Global Hackteria Network
Low-Cost Nanopositioning Hack Chat
When Hacking And Biosensing Collide
Making A Handheld NES By Turning DIP Chips Into…QFN?
Get Down To The Die Level With This Internal Chip Repair
Deconstructing PCBs
What’s Old Is New Again: GPT-3 Prompt Injection Attack Affects AI
I don’t know how to solve prompt injection
The First Microcomputer: The Q1
Exploring Texas Instrument’s Forgotten CPU
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
Your Own Home IR Cloner
A Drone For The Rest Of Us
A Solar-Powered Point-and-Shoot, Circa 1961
Dan’s Picks:
Slap This Big Red Button For An Instant Social Media Detox
An Automated Digitizer For 35mm Slides
A Compressor Of Compressors Breaks The Noise Barrier
Can’t-Miss Articles:
The State Of The SBC Interface Ecosystem, Is It Time To Design A Standard?
Lithium-Ion Batteries Are Easy To Find
Lithium-Ion Batteries Are Your Friends
Spicy Pillows on reddit | 7 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519431",
"author": "Filip",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T16:05:08",
"content": "Very interesting editing around “what’s that sound” section :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519439",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,372,538.633044 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/a-crt-monitor-from-an-obsolete-logic-analyzer/ | A CRT Monitor From An Obsolete Logic Analyzer | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"crt",
"Trinitron",
"video"
] | The designers of older equipment that contained a CRT monitor rarely made the effort to design their own driver and deflection circuitry. Instead they were more likely to buy an off the shelf assembly from a monitor manufacturer, and simply supply it with their video. [TomV] has an old HP 16500A logic analyzer, and in it he found a Sony monitor chassis. With a quest for a microfiche service manual and a bit of reverse engineering,
he was able to hook it up to a VGA port and use it as an extension monitor for his laptop
.
The monitor chassis is a Sony CHM-9001-00, which sports their 10″ Trinitron tube. These were among the very best CRT tubes of the day, making it the type of module 1990s hacker would have been very pleased to get their hands on. Here in 2022 a look at the monitor’s 40-pin connector reveals a standard RGB interface which the service manual confirms is within the voltage range to be driven from a VGA output. A Thinkpad X220 is pressed into service, with a 576 by 360 pixel at 60 Hz video mode defined, and there we have it, a modern desktop on an obsolete piece of test equipment.
The intended destination for this monitor is a small arcade cabinet, so it needed to be independent of the HP chassis. The required 120 VDC supply comes from an inverter designed for solar battery charging, which balked at the inrush current from the monitor when fed with 12 V. Increasing the supply voltage on the low voltage side solved that, leading to a very serviceable monitor. We have no use for one, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want one.
Perhaps you may have wondered,
what made Trinitrons so good
? | 15 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519428",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T16:02:52",
"content": "The fun thing about CRT monitors is how they’re manufactured.There’s the shadow or aperture mask which guides the image of each electron gun into the correct place on the screen. But how do they get the diff... | 1,760,372,538.892167 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/this-week-in-security-php-attack-defused-scoreboard-manipulation-and-tillitis/ | This Week In Security: PHP Attack Defused, Scoreboard Manipulation, And Tillitis | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"android",
"Kaminski",
"php",
"This Week in Security",
"Wireless Hacking"
] | If you use PHP, you likely use the Composer tool for managing dependencies, at least indirectly. And the good folks at SonarSource
found a nasty, potential supply chain attack
in this tool, when used in the Packagist repository. The problem is the support for arbitrary README filenames. When a package update shows up on Packagist, that service uses a Version Control Service (VCS) like Git or Mercurial to pull the specified readme location. That pull operation is subject to argument injection. Name your branch
--help
, and Git will happily run the help argument instead of doing the pull intended. In the case of Git commands, our intrepid researchers were unable to weaponize the issue to achieve code execution.
Composer also supports projects that use Mercurial as their VCS, and Mercurial has a
--config
option that has… interesting potential. It allows redefining a Mecurial command as a script snippet. So a project just has to contain a malicious
payload.sh
, and the readme set to
--config=alias.cat=!hg cat -r : payload.sh|sh;,txt
. For those keeping track at home, the vulnerability is that this cursed string of ugly is accepted by Composer as a valid filename. This uses the
--config
trick to redefine
cat
as a bit of script that executes the payload. It ends in
.txt
because that is a requirement of Composer.
So let’s talk about what this little hack could have been used for, or maybe still used for on an unpatched, private install of Packagist. This is an unattended attack that jumps straight to remote script execution — on an official package repository. If discovered and used for evil, this would have been a massive supply chain attack against PHP deployments. Instead, thanks to SonarSource, it was discovered and disclosed privately back in April. The official Packagist repo at packagist.org was fixed the day after disclosure, and a CVE and updated packages went out six days later. Great work all around.
Scorekeeper’s Advantage
[Maxwell Dulin] AKA [Strikeout] was watching a high-school basketball game, and
suddenly noticed the wireless scoreboard controller
. What if he could change the score? How hard could it be? You probably know how this goes. He’d been
nerd-sniped
. He spent a few months on this one, even getting his ham license in the process. The conclusion? More challenging than you might think.
Part one of this hack
starts with reading the documentation on the radio chips, then doing some real captures and analyzing the data. About that data. One small change in what was sent resulted in a huge change in the data in-the-air. To the tune of 128 bits changing at a time. This simple little scoreboard system was encrypted! AES-128 encryption protected the system from casual tampering. But our hero isn’t just a casual tamperer.
Hence,
Part 2
. Next up was looking at the hardware again, and mapping out the PCB traces. The transmitter is an ATmega connected to a HopeRF transceiver. The receiver is a matching transceiver and ATMega, connected to a Raspberry Pi 3 A+ handling the scoreboard display via HDMI. The Raspberry Pi is a good start, with both an SD Card to investigate and a USB drive in the USB port. Of great interest on the ATmega board are both a serial port and a serial-based debug port. Plenty of potential attack surfaces. And investigating the Pi’s firmware did lead to a major win. The software that decodes the wireless packets is written in C#, and can be decompiled using
DNSpy
. While this is a big step, what’s missing of note is the encryption key itself.
Time to solder on to the ATmega, and see if that will spill its secrets. ICSP, that debug interface mentioned earlier, has a command that allows reading out the entire chip’s memory. Perfect! And because it couldn’t be that easy, the chip’s security setting was enabled, which prohibited that command. The traditional serial port approach similarly failed, as the traces are grounded on the production board. There’s one more interface to look at, the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) connection between the ATmega and the transciever. What data is sent over that link during system boot? It turns out that the RF modules are doing the encryption heavy lifting in this system, and those modules have the quirk of totally losing their configuration when powered off. Sniffing the key led to an easy win, and a key value of
0x01020304050607080102030405060708
. That’s, umm, probably not a random value.
Part three
takes this important find, and moves into the realm of actually sending wireless packets. It’s not easy sailing, though, as there’s “data whitening” do deal with. This odd term is just a reference to a problem with clock-drift, when too many “0”s or “1”s are sent in a row on a clockless signal. Whitening uses a Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR) algorithm, and once you work out that math, you just lack the initialization value. Thankfully, there’s some data sent with every packet that’s whitened, and not encrypted — and this algorithm has only 511 possible initial states, so finding the right IV isn’t hard. What did look like a challenge is figuring out the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). These are non-cryptographic error checking routines, they exist in a whole bunch of places, and there are a multitude of different variations. And of course, none of the published options seemed to fit. To save the day is
CRC RevEng
, a purpose-built tool for figuring out exactly how a given CRC works, just from captured example data. It works! (With a minor hack for long packets)
Now to turn the code into real wireless signals, one only needs an SDR and GNU Radio. The trick here is to corrupt the legitimate signals in the air, and then send your bogus commands in-between. With this, you are the scorekeeper. Giving your son’s basketball team 100 extra points could be fun, but that’s totally going to get noticed. [Strikeout] has some sneakier suggestions. The most clever of which is to run the clock 10% faster than normal, to ride a lead out to a win. Alternatively, change the possession indicator over halftime to give your team possession at the next jumpball. Or even crash the scoreboard for an extra, uncharged timeout. And because our *totally random* AES key is the same for every one of these units, you can spread havoc anywhere you come across a unit. Bonus points for anyone that puts together a wardriver program, looking for scoreboard signals.
Pixel Patch Puzzling
Google’s May security bulletin contained a serious-looking RCE in the bootloader. Bootloaders are particularly interesting as attack vectors, because most devices will let you flash old, potentially vulnerable bootloaders over newer ones. Google’s security team is well acquainted with this trick, and has a safeguard against it, the anti-rollback feature. A new bootloader will contain a bootloader version that get’s written permanently to the device, and firmware older than that just refuses to write to flash.
This RCE was bad enough that Google turned the anti-rollback up to
eleven
thirteen. All this hubbub
convinced [Gagnerot Georges] of eShard to take a look
. He takes us on a well-written journey through reverse engineering the patch, and then finally reminds us that this is the hard way to do things, as Google open-sources their bootloaders. Tricksy.
Part 2
is more information on taking read and write primitives, and pulling off a Return Oriented Programming (ROP) exploit with them. You won’t quite get a copy-n-paste exploit from the posts, but definitely a good nudge in the right direction.
The Kaminski and Hidden DNS Resolvers
We’ve talked about the Dan Kaminski DNS attack before. DNS uses UDP, and it was too easy to spoof DNS responses, particularly when you could control what domains a given resolver would request at a given time. The attack was privately disclosed to the major vendors, and fixed back in 2008. We know it’s fixed, because we can scan the world’s DNS resolvers. But, what about the resolvers we can’t check? Were those all fixed? With a DNS resolver only available to trusted parties, and hidden behind a corporate firewall, surely it’s safe.
Except DNS is now used for spam detection. My apologies if you’ve had to make these technologies work — but Sender Policy Framework (SPF); Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM); and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) all use DNS records to store information about email settings. Send an email to a user @Corp.com, and corp.com’s email server will likely do several DNS lookups on your sending domain. And thus, these hidden resolvers are no longer hidden. So what’s the results?
Scanning just 7000 domains turned up 25 servers around the world that are still vulnerable to the Kaminski attack
.
Bits And Bytes
Wireshark 4.00 has been released
. There’s a handful of new protocols supported, and the normal library bumps you would expect. Some features see a speed improvement, and the interfaces have gotten a bit of spit’n’polish.
Want a hardware security token, but really want it to be fully open?
Tillitis might be for you
. It’s a USB platform for experimenting with new security key ideas, and is fully open-source, including the hardware. There isn’t a place to go and order one yet, but you could have your favorite PCB manufacturer build one for you. The first revision also lacks some hardware hardening that really needs to be present for high-value use cases, but this project is one to watch.
Google has released the
Hacking Google game/experience
. It’s a series of Capture The Flag challenges, just for fun, but good practice working though a security problem.
There’s
yet another PS5 exploit being developed
, based on a known WebKit vulnerability. Trick the console’s browser into loading a cooked file, and you trigger the exploit. It’s useful, but still a work-in-progress, and doesn’t defeat the hypervisor or run arbitrary code yet.
Last week we covered a fake job application scam, and this week
it’s a fake recruiter
. An email caught the eye of [
osint_matter
], because it was well-written, sent to a business address, and had the email DNS records set up correctly. It linked to a decent looking recruitment website: MHS partners. Maybe it was legit? Ah, no, that site was filled with stock photos, and the partner names were references to American TV shows. A Google image search on the pictures came up with other, similar sites with different company names. While this was one of the better-run cons, it still appears to be a phishing expedition. In this case, looking for resumes and other information to sell or otherwise misuse. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519788",
"author": "Stuart Longland",
"timestamp": "2022-10-08T22:10:26",
"content": "> 0x01020304050607080102030405060708Keys like that are scarily common… won’t name the manufacturer, but I had to deal with a utility energy meter that used AES-256 which I thought, “cool, that’s d... | 1,760,372,538.937235 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/five-foot-keyboard-lays-it-all-on-the-line/ | Five-Foot Keyboard Lays It All On The Line | Kristina Panos | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"hunt and peck",
"keyboard"
] | We would bet that among the most technologically-inclined of our readership, there are plenty of hunt-and-peck typists. Because of course, typing quickly and from the home row has nothing to do with intelligence, and everything to do with practice and rote muscle memorization. But what if the keyboard was all home row?
That’s right —
Google Japan
(
translated
) is back at it with another joke peripheral that happens to be 100% real and open-source. Whether you want to keep your distance from others while you toil at the coffee shop, or really,
really
want to get into the pair programming thing, this is the keyboard for you. While the prototype was a whopping seven feet long (or wide, whatever), the final version is shorter and friendlier, and can double as a walking stick on those outdoor sanity breaks with the addition of a protective shoe.
As with their
mug keyboard
, we appreciate the work that went into making this keyboard real just as much as the joke itself. Our favorite factoid has to be that this is made up of 17 different circuit boards, including the control board. Be sure to check out the fairly hilarious promo video after the break.
Via
Ars Technica | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519356",
"author": "Claptrap",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T11:09:45",
"content": "Nice, but I wouldn’t use it as a rule….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519359",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
... | 1,760,372,538.985969 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/07/have-3d-printer-will-travel/ | Have 3D Printer, Will Travel | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"cantilever",
"folding 3d printer"
] | We keep hearing that the desktop computer is dying — everyone wants a mobile device like a laptop, a tablet, or a big horkin’ phone. We suppose [eponra] wants the same thing for 3D printers, since he’s provided plans for “
flatpack
” a portable 3D printer that can fit in a spool box.
As you might imagine, this isn’t going to give you maximum build volume. The printer’s folded down dimensions are 220x210x75mm. The build plate is fairly small at 120x114x144mm. However, it does have a heated bed and an LCD display. One note, though: you do need an external power supply that does not fit in the box. However, [eponra] notes that with an AC-powered bed, it would be possible to get everything in the box.
One reason for the small packing size is that the machine uses a cantilever instead of supporting everything across. This puts a limit on bed size, but does make the machine simple and helps with the packing.
The goal is to have all the 3D printed parts printed by another flatpack. Today, the XY joiner is apparently difficult to print and can’t be printed on an existing flatpack printer, anyway. Other limitations include the lack of a spool holder and several improvements across the various versions (the current version is version 6).
There are several videos of the machine in operation on the project’s main page. It reminds us a lot of a Printrbot Simple, if that printer had been made today. Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen
portable printers
before, including another one that fits in a filament box, but prints
upside down
. It made us wonder what’s the smallest FDM printer ever built? | 16 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519338",
"author": "rich clubb",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T09:18:38",
"content": "I like it! Definitely going on the to build list. I saw another portable printer but it required a lot more machined partshttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAPaOevoeX0This looks great :)",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,372,539.077246 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/mac-128k-emulator-gets-diy-ceramic-enclosure/ | Mac 128K Emulator Gets DIY Ceramic Enclosure | Lee Wilkins | [
"Mac Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"ceramic",
"mac",
"raspberry pi",
"vintage"
] | Creative technologist [Joselyn McDonald] wanted to hone her ceramic skills by
building an iconic Macintosh 128K sculpture,
complete with a fully functional operating system.
At first, she was determined to use
Processing
to create an interface for her sculpture by recreating the UI visually and adding some touch controls. However, she soon abandoned this tedious task after discovering MacintoshPi, which steps you through
installing Mac OS 7, 8, and 9 emulators on a Raspberry Pi
. [Joselyn] has also installed several retro games, including
DOOM II
,
Carmen Sandiego
, and
Sim City
, thanks to sites like
Macintosh Garden
and
Macintosh Repository
.
Next, [Joselyn] hopes to set it up to display her and her partner’s schedules, and to let friends play around with nostalgic games. This piece was made using hand building, but other cool ceramic techniques like
this slip cast dog bowl
and this
stone 3D printer
have us thinking about what other types of enclosures could be built! | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519310",
"author": "Mog",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T05:34:26",
"content": "> Mac OS 7, 8, and 9So, not a Macintosh 128K emulator, then.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519668",
"author": "Erik Johnson",
"times... | 1,760,372,539.028534 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/building-a-digital-library-of-amateur-radio-and-communications/ | Building A Digital Library Of Amateur Radio And Communications | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"history",
"internet archive"
] | For years the Internet Archive has provided the online community with a breathtaking collection of resources, out of print books, magazines, recordings, software, and any other imaginable digital asset in easily retrievable form. Now with the help of a grant from the Amateur Radio Digital Communications Foundation
they are seeking to create a collection that documents amateur radio from its earliest days to the present
.
The work will be multi-faceted, and include the print and digital materials we’d expect, as well as personal archives and oral histories from notable radio amateurs. For many of us this will provide a wealth of technical details and insights into taming the ionosphere, but for future historians it will be an invaluable reference on the first century of the hobby.
Amateur radio is perhaps the oldest hardware hacking pursuit of the electronic age, because certainly at the start, radio
was
electronics. Thus amateur radio’s long history has indirectly given us many of the things we take for granted today. Sure it has its moribund aspects, but we think if it continues to follow the growth of new technology as it has for so many years
it will continue to be an exciting pursuit
. We look forward to browsing this archive, and we hope to see it grow over the years.
Header image: Lescarboura, Austin C. (Austin Celestin), 1891-,
No restrictions
. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519330",
"author": "Anders",
"timestamp": "2022-10-07T08:00:38",
"content": "It’s also something that doesn’t cease to seem indistinguishable from magic.. even if you do understand it!For me at least :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comm... | 1,760,372,539.121557 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/rubber-band-behemoth-winds-its-way-toward-world-record/ | Rubber Band Behemoth Winds Its Way Toward World Record | Ryan Flowers | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"aircraft",
"free flight",
"radio controlled",
"rubber band"
] | Egged on by adoring fans who demanded more aircraft videos, [ProjectAir]
has decided to break the world record for rubber band powered aircraft
… despite having never built a rubber band powered aircraft. Why rubber band power?
Before little two stroke motors became affordable, and
long
before electric motors and batteries were remotely possible, there weren’t a lot of options for powering your model aircraft. One technology that really took off was that of rubber band power. By winding a rubber band, it could store enough energy to turn a propeller for a short duration. With a 10 foot model taking the current world record, as you can see in the video below the break [ProjectAir] decided to see if he could beat it.
Rubber Band Powered Free Flight c1915 By
Unknown author
–
Starting with a successful free flight aircraft made of foam board, [ProjectAir] simply scaled it up to an eleven foot wing- one foot larger than the ten foot world record holder. Since there were now eight rubber band motors, a mechanism was created to release the propellers in sync, but this was problematic. Eventually a slightly heavy but solid solution was found.
[ProjectAir] did more testing, more problem solving, and through rapid iterations, he eventually was able to have a successful flight under radio control. His personal goal of a 12 second flight was exceeded, and then Guinness called! They’re interested in certifying his attempt as long as his plane can fly for at least 30 seconds- almost double his current ability. What will he do? Check the video, too, for [ProjectAir]’s challenge to the community to join him in trying to beat the world record. Sounds like fun!
Aside from powering world record attempting radio controlled aircraft, did you know that you can build a
rubber band powered refrigerator
? It’s true! | 25 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519260",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T23:17:07",
"content": "I built a rubber band powered Guillow balsa and tissue bi-plane around 25 years ago. It flew around 25 feet with a push.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,372,539.260574 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/exploring-the-cutting-edge-of-desktop-arm-hardware/ | Exploring The Cutting Edge Of Desktop ARM Hardware | Tom Nardi | [
"computer hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"arm",
"arm development",
"desktop computer",
"mini-itx"
] | While the x86 architecture certainly isn’t going away anytime soon, it seems that each year more and more of our computing is done on ARM processors. It started with our smartphones, spread into low-cost Chromebooks, and now Apple’s gone all-in with their M1/M2 chips. But so far we haven’t seen too much movement in the desktop space, a fact which has arguably slowed the development of ARM-compatible software and operating systems.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t options out there, and no, we don’t mean using a Raspberry Pi. [Wooty-B] has been
documenting their efforts to switch over to a ARM desktop
, which makes for fascinating reading even if you’re currently comfortable with your architecture choices. The key is the HoneyComb LX2K, a Mini-ITX ARM development board that offers enough expansion and raw power to meet most daily computing needs…assuming you’re willing to put in the effort.
We often think of ARM boards as relatively monolithic single-board computers, but the LX2K is much more like a traditional desktop motherboard. It can take two banks of DDR4 RAM, has PCI Express and m.2 slots, plus SATA II, USB 3, and Gigabit Ethernet. That said, there’s at least one pretty major deficiency out of the box — [Wooty-B] notes that while the board’s meager heatsink is good enough if you’re just puttering around, when attempting to push the hardware as your daily driver, the thermal management system will need some upgrades.
The documentation [Wooty-B] has provided goes over setting up the HoneyComb LX2K and getting your operating system of choice installed. As you might expect, there’s a laundry list of patches and workarounds you’ll need to keep track of for the best possible experience. The guide also explains how to get packages like Box86/64 and WINE installed to greatly expand the amount of software you’ll be able to run on your new system, which includes the ability to play games such as
Fallout 3
,
Crysis
, and
Skyrim
with high graphical settings. While most of the information is about Linux, there are also some tips for the literally dozens of people who are excited about getting Windows running on ARM hardware.
The video after the break, from manufacturer SolidRun, goes over the HoneyComb LX2K for the trendsetters brave enough to
venture outside of their x86 comfort zone
. Though fair warning…it’s not cheap. If you want to join [Wooty-B] in ARM wonderland, you’ll need to fork over $800 USD for the privilege. | 35 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519227",
"author": "TRACK_ZERO",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T21:11:28",
"content": "I always do find these kinds of boards interesting, BUT $800 HOLY SHIT",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519277",
"author": "Where is the... | 1,760,372,539.196537 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/seven-segments-but-not-as-we-know-them/ | Seven Segments, But Not As We Know Them | Donald Papp | [
"Parts"
] | [
"3d printed",
"7 segment",
"analog",
"mechanical",
"seven segmemt",
"sliders"
] | We’ve seen a lot of clever re-imagining of the classic 7-segment display, and proving there is still room for something new is [Jack]’s
7-segment “DigiTag” display
.
This 3D printable device has a frame into which is slotted three sliders. These sliders can be adjusted individually, mixing and matching the visibility of colored and uncolored areas, to create digits 0-9. We’ve seen some unusual 7-segment-inspired displays before, using from
one motor for the whole digit
to ones that need
one motor per segment
, but nothing quite like
this
approach.
While this particular design relies on the user to manually “dial in” each digit, the resulting key-like assembly (and unique shape for each digit) seems like it could have some interesting applications — a puzzle box design comes to mind.
If you have any ideas of your own on how this could be used, don’t keep them to yourself! Let us know in the comments, below. | 11 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519185",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T18:51:06",
"content": "Looks like each digit is dialed in by adjusting the height of 3 rods. Think of them as pins in a lock. You could build a “key” that slides into a cylinder full of these pins and displays a specific series o... | 1,760,372,539.308946 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/git-your-pcbs-online/ | Git Your PCBs Online | Arya Voronova | [
"Featured",
"how-to",
"Skills",
"Slider",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"Git",
"github",
"gitlab",
"KiCAD",
"ssh key",
"vcs",
"version control"
] | Last time, I’ve shown you how to
create a local Git repository around your PCB project.
That alone provides you with local backups, helping you never lose the changes you make to your files, and always be able to review the history of your project as it developed.
However, an even more significant part of Git’s usefulness is the ability to upload our creations to one of the various online Git repository hosting services, and keep it up to date at all times with a single shell command. I’d like to show you how to upload your project to GitHub and GitLab, in particular!
Recap
First off, let’s recap what goes into creating a repository. Here’s a sequence of commands you can refer to – these commands have been explained in the last article, so they’re here in case you need a cheatsheet.
# setting up identity - these are public, and can be fake
git config --global user.name "John Doe"
git config --global user.email johndoe@example.com
# initializing a repository
git init .
git branch -M main
# before your first commit, you add your .gitignore file
# then, add files as needed - use 'git status' to check in
git add board.kicad_pcb
[...]
git add README.md
# or, given proper .gitignore, you can just do this:
git add .
# put your added changes into a commit
git commit
# an editor will open to write your commit message
What if you don’t happen to have a PCB project handy? Here’s
a repository with a Jolly Wrencher SAO board
that you can download it as a .zip archive through the GitHub interface. It’s already a repository – if you’d like to test these commands out but don’t yet have a PCB project handy, you can freely push this repository to your own GitHub or GitLab account as a test exercise! If you’d like to start anew and also practice the “repository creation” part, just delete the
.git
directory in the project root.
What’s The Difference?
Both GitHub and GitLab act as frontends for your repository. They also provide an extra place to dump your code – you could also just use a flash drive or a server with an SSH account. But hosting gives you a web interface where other people can take a look at your code and its README so they know if your code interests them, ask you questions, share their own code changes with you, download any extra related files (like gerbers) that you might’ve uploaded, and do a myriad of other useful things. You don’t need to use any of these features – you can disable all of them, but they’re there as soon as they might prove useful to you.
GitHub is the most well-known platform, and it’s been a trendsetter in many aspects. A major part of small-scale software and hardware hacking action happens on GitHub, and a lot of repositories you might find yourself interested in contributing to, will be there as well. There’s a lot of tutorials that work with GitHub, and fun tooling like
this command-line GitHub UI
we’ve covered.
GitLab is a less-known but no less useful platform that you can use for your code, PCBs and documents, and it has important advantages over GitHub. First and foremost, the GitLab software itself is fully open-source, so you can self-host it, and many do. It’s not the only self-hostable service, but it’s one of the most prominent and feature-complete ones. Just like with WordPress being both a software suite and a platform, you don’t have to self-host it. If you want somewhere to host your repositories on, you can go to
gitlab.com
and register an account, just like people do with GitHub.
There’s stars flying in the background of this signup form and each transition is flashy. Also, it took me 10 seconds to find where to enter my details on the signup page.
There’s a variety of frontends for online browser-accessible repository hosting – Gitea is another one that you will encounter every now and then and can easily self-host, and there’s a slew of other frontends that people have been using over the years. With knowledge of how two of these prominent frontends operate, what they have in common and how they differ, you will quickly find your way around any other frontend.
Registering on both websites is kinda similar.
GitHub’s signup form
is excessively flashy – it’s clear they invested quite a bit of money and effort into making it, but it’s not clear whether that was the right choice.
Gitlab’s registration process
is way calmer and generally more like what you’d expect out of a regular website. At certain points, both will ask you to confirm your email address – after doing that, your account will be ready to use.
Repository Creation
On both platforms, you’ll need to create a repository and register it with the platform first. You can’t just upload code to your account from the command line at a whim – the corresponding repository has to be created on the platform side before you can upload to it. There’s commandline tools to assist with the ‘creation’ step, thankfully!
Github’s and Gitlab’s processes are similar, each providing some quality of life features. On both, the “New Repository” button is quite apparent, and clicking it, you’re invited to input repository name – on GitHub, also an optional description. On GitLab, you’ll want to use the “Create blank project” option. The options to add a
README
,
.gitignore
and license can be useful. If you don’t have some of these in the repository, feel free to check these boxes or push those buttons; don’t check any of them if you’re using the Jolly Wrencher files as an exercise, unless you’re looking for a difficulty tweak in your Git learning journey.
If you’re just starting a software project, GitLab offers plenty of templates and integration options
Both GitHub and GitLab helpfully gives you a bunch of command-line instructions on how to proceed with uploading your local repository. Half of those instructions are about adding a very barebone README and making your first commit. Having a README in your PCB project folder is a good practice, though perhaps having an empty or a single-line one is a bit of a letdown to your repository viewers. If you don’t care about people looking at your repository, however, don’t worry about it.
The important lines are the
git remote
and
git push
ones, with
git branch
being helpful. These are where the upload magic happens.
git remote
is the command that you use to manage your, well, remote aka non-local Git mirrors for a given repository, and
git push
is the command that you use to send changes from your repository to a mirror.
git branch -M main
renames your primary branch to ‘main’ – most tutorials nowadays use ‘main’, which will make your life a bit easier.
A Short Authentication Detour
Before we can push, however, we need to sort out authentication – as in, how do we show the platform that the person executing this commandline is a person entitled to upload data to this repository. The two platforms achieve this in different ways. For GitHub, the usual login-plus-password combo won’t do – being a platform where people share code used by millions of people, mostly verbatim and without checks, they have tightened their defenses, and put more responsibility on our shoulders.
You have two routes when it comes to uploading to GitHub. Either you go
the HTTPS route,
and then you
create a token
that you use in place of your password. Alternatively,
you go the SSH route,
which means you generate and upload a public key you use for authentication. These are both secure options and they’re paramount if someone else depends on your code being malware-free. That said, one could argue they’re overkill for uploading a few PCBs. Both of these options are something you
can do once and forget about,
GitHub has short tutorials to help you set one of these methods up, and tools like GitHub Desktop or GitHub CLI
take care of it for you.
GitLab, however, doesn’t mind letting you upload using the same password that you used to create your account. There’s security benefits to using keys instead of passwords – they’re not bruteforceable, they can be easily revoked, and compromising an SSH key doesn’t endanger your entire account. Plus, you can (and should) passphrase-protect your keys. There’s also undeniable comfort with only using a password – you don’t have to store a token or register an SSH key for every machine you want to work from.
SSH keys are nice.
For “your own computer” use, they’re in many ways nicer than password authentication. If you’re on Linux, you get SSH keys for basically free, and I recommend you figure out how to use them – you likely already use your key to SSH into your friendly Raspberry Pi; same goes for MacOS. On Windows, there’s tutorials on how you can generate a SSH key that you can use with Git.
Finally, Uploading
Having sorted the authentication way out, you should be ready to upload your code. Let’s point your local Git repository configuration at the right place. You will tell Git that this local repository corresponds to a remote repository, colloquially referred to as a ‘remote’.
If you have one remote, it’s typically named ‘origin’ – that’s just a convention, you can name it whatever; you can have multiple remotes, but if you name it ‘origin’, tutorial compatibility will be better, again. Both GitHub and GitLab will give you the URL to use as a remote URL, depending on whether you picked HTTPS or SSH authentication – GitLab won’t give you SSH URLs until you upload a SSH key, whereas GitHub will happily give you the URLs but you won’t be able to use them.
Whichever you pick, run the command
git remote add origin YOUR_URL
, substituting YOUR_URL with the URL that you’re using, of course. This tells your Git repository where to upload, and now you’re one command away from from having your files mirrored online. In the beginning, that command will be
git push -u origin main
– for all subsequent pushes, it will just be as short as
git push
.
If you decided to add a README, a license file or a
.gitignore
file, you will actually want to do
git pull
before
git push
. This is because those files have been added by GitHub/GitLab as separate commits into your repository, and they don’t exist in your local repository yet, which means you have two repositories with diverging commit history. In this case, your repository will absorb the upstream changes and save them on top of your file.
Having made the first push into your repository, you can now open your GitHub/GitLab repository page in the browser and see your files uploaded there. Whenever you next make and commit your changes, syncing them to your computer is a single
git push
away.
A Few Reminders
If you push and then use
commit --amend
to fixup things, you will want to
git push --force
, since the last commit would’ve been amended, regenerating its hash and making it inconsistent with the last commit you just pushed into the remote repository. That said, doing force pushes is generally ill-advised, and you’re better off making an additional commit afterwards. This is mostly relevant if you’re working with others, because they might have pulled from your repository between you pushing the original commit and the amended one.
This is how a conflict looks. You can
push --force
, but typically a different solution is desired.
If you ever need to download your repository on a different computer, the command you can use is
git clone
with the URL after it. The “Download ZIP” option is viable, but you don’t always have a web UI handy – for instance, on headless installs, like a Raspberry Pi you might be setting up with some self-written or helpfully provided software.
For me personally, as I use the command line heavily, I find
git clone
to be a way faster option compared to ZIP download. If the repository is public, using the HTTPS URL for cloning it won’t need any authentication – in fact, on GitHub and GitLab, you can
git clone
the repository URL as you see it in your browser. Try out
git clone
https://github.com/CRImier/jolly_wrencher_sao
for example.
Shared For Everyone To Learn From
Both GitHub and GitLab are good options for a hardware hacker looking to keep a few PCB projects online, and you can always
spin up a private server
if need be. The upload process can be a bit involved to set up, but once you’ve set it up, you’re three commands away from getting the most up-to-date version of your PCB design online and available to all interested. Next time, I’d like to show how two or more hackers can collaborate on PCB projects using Git! | 16 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519165",
"author": "fluffy6666",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T17:31:06",
"content": "OK, great. I’ve uploaded my KiCad PCB design to Gitlab. How can I merge the changes someone else made?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519225",... | 1,760,372,539.455148 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/robot-blade-runner-turns-in-world-record-time/ | Robot Blade Runner Turns In World Record Time | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"bipedal",
"robot"
] | While we wish colleges and universities competed more on academics, we can’t deny that more people are interested in their athletics programs. Oregon State, however, has done a little of both since their bipedal robot, Cassie, became the world’s
fastest bipedal robot
according to the Guinness Book of World Records. You can see a video of the 100 meter run below, but don’t blink. The robot turned in a time of around 25 seconds.
Impressive, but still not on par with Usan Bolt’s time of under 10 seconds for the same distance. If you want to see what that would be like, try running the long way across a football field and see how far you get in 25 seconds. There isn’t a lot of technical detail about the robot, but you can intuit some things from watching it go. You can also find a little more information on the robot and some of its siblings on the University’s
website
.
If you think robots won’t ever run as well as humans, we used to think the same thing about playing chess. This doesn’t look like we normally envision a
bipedal robot
. Then again, there isn’t any reason robots have to
look, or move, like we do
. | 23 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519109",
"author": "Varga Tom",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T15:03:00",
"content": "Put a turret on it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519153",
"author": "justsayin",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T16:59:47",
... | 1,760,372,539.606199 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/immersive-cursive-growing-up-loopy/ | Immersive Cursive: Growing Up Loopy | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"double-storey a",
"double-story a",
"handwriting fonts",
"ocr",
"uncial"
] | Growing up, ours was a family of handwritten notes for every occasion. The majority were left on the kitchen counter next to the sink, or in a particular spot on the all-purpose table in the breakfast nook. Whether one was professing their familial love and devotion on the back of a
Valpak coupon
, or simply communicating an intent to be home before dinnertime, the words were generally immortalized in BiC on whatever paper was available, and timestamped for the reader’s information. You may have learned cursive in school, but I was born in it — molded by it. The ascenders and descenders betray you because they belong to me.
Both of my parents always seemed to be incapable of printing in anything other than all caps, so I actually preferred to see their cursive most of the time. As a result, I could
copy
read it quite easily from an early age. Well, I don’t think I ever had any hope of imitating Dad’s signature. But Mom’s on the other hand — like I said in
the first installment
, it was important for my signature to be distinct from hers, given that we have the same name — first, middle, and last. But I could probably still bust out her signature if it came down to something going on my permanent record.
While my handwriting was sort of naturally headed towards Mom’s, I was more interested in Dad’s style and that of my older brother. He had
small caps
handwriting down to an art, and my attempts to copy it have always looked angry and stilted by comparison. In addition, my brother’s cursive is lovely and quick, while still being legible.
Dad’s handwriting through the ages. Left: a note to Mom circa 1979 regarding yours truly. On the right: Dad’s diary from the boat ride to Korea, fall 1958.
Comma Chameleon
My handwriting has changed quite a bit over the years, and most of the adjustments have been fully intentional updates. I eventually shifted away from trying to imitate my brother’s small caps and came into my own handwriting that doesn’t really look like any of my family’s. I’m certain that it will remain in a constant state of flux, however minor the changes may be.
Gee whiz! Image via
Medium
Some of the shifts have been stylistic, and others were made in an attempt to gain some overall speed. Through the years, I have consciously switched to using
double-storey ‘a’
and back again, as well as spending a few years making
uncial
lowercase ‘e’ by drawing a ‘c’ and then adding a horizontal line out from the center.
I even briefly tried to make fancy lowercase ‘g’ complete with the link, loop, and ear, but I could never get it down quickly, so I scrapped it. When the illegibility of my ‘3’ bothered me, I did some grinding until it changed for the better. The same thing happened with lowercase ‘r’, which now has a swooshy, sassy top to it.
If anyone ever tries to digitize my handwritten notebooks and loose paper, it feels like they’re probably going to have to do more training than they’d like before it’s all said and done. Or will they?
Of Man and Machine
A bit of OCR-A. Image via
Wikipedia
Speaking of digitizing important historic documents, what’s the deal with OCR?
Optical Character Recognition
might conjure images of the weird printing along the bottom of your personal checks. While that is partially true, OCR is so much more than just a typeface that resembles the one we used to use back in the acid-green Hack-a-Day (which of course is called
Checkbook
).
OCR was created in order to glean text from images, scanned documents, et cetera, and convert it into something machines could read.
OCR can even read newspapers
, despite the whole column-inch layout. Of course, the resulting text needs to be human-readable too, so
the OCR-A typeface
was born in 1968. Since then, it has been used for everything from digitizing the Constitution to helping the hearing impaired.
Handwriting Fonts, Sans Taste
The original artwork for Felt Tip Roman. Image via
Mark Simonson
.
Conversely, the irony of making computers do things is that we now have a host of handwriting fonts, from perennial favorite
Comic Sans
to
Lucida Handwriting
to
Papyrus
. You’ve likely seen
Felt Tip Roman
without realizing it, which is essentially just creator Mark Simonson’s handwriting, but cleaned up and ligatured. But not all handwriting fonts are steeped in fun and games.
You’ve no doubt seen ethnic fonts that are meant to imitate another culture’s writing — think of those fake brush-stroke fonts like
Wonton
, or the equally questionable
Faux-Hebrew
. While it’s up for debate whether the creators meant to offend,
fonts like these are beginning to fall out of fashion
in favor of (subjectively) better choices like Papyrus.
The Defense Rests, But the Mind Doesn’t
One of the ways my near-
hypergraphia
manifested has been my studious Mandarin Chinese brush stroke practice, back when I was in school. I can only remember how to write a few characters today, but I have a stack of handmade flashcards about eight inches thick that I can’t seem to let go of, along with scads of sheets of paper that look like the ones below.
I found these quite soothing to fill out.
This is a true-to-life journal entry at the time, complete with teacher’s corrections.
As you’ve probably guessed, written communication is pretty important to me. I think it’s worth everyone’s time to build nice (or at least, legible) handwriting, just as it is important to learn how to type properly. Of course, no tool works faster for getting the words out than the mouth itself. Do we need a third installment to talk about text-to-speech? | 28 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519096",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T14:12:55",
"content": "The left note sheet is a bit harder to read, cursive in italics. The right one is nice and easy to read. Either way wonderful to see it still being in use. I still write letters sometimes to special peopl... | 1,760,372,539.67518 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/mostly-harmless-houseplant-wields-machete/ | (Mostly) Harmless Houseplant Wields Machete | Dave Walker | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Art"
] | [
"art installation",
"ecg",
"ekg",
"indoor plants",
"machete",
"plant",
"robot arm",
"signaling"
] | In a straight fight between a houseplant and a human, you might expect the plant to be at a significant disadvantage. So [David Bowen] has decided to even the odds a little by
arming this philodendron
with a robot arm and a machete.
The build is a little short on details but, from the video, it appears that adhesive electrodes have been attached to the leaves of the recently-empowered plant and connected directly to analog inputs of an
Arduino Uno
. From there, the text tells us that the signals are mapped to movements of the industrial robot arm that holds the blade.
It’s not clear if the choice of plant is significant, but an unarmed philodendron appears to be otherwise largely innocuous, unless you happen to be a
hungry rodent
. We hope that there is also a means of disconnecting the power remotely, else this art installation could defend itself indefinitely! (or until it gets thirsty, at least.) We at Hackaday welcome our new leafy overlords.
We have covered the capabilities of plants before, and they can represent a rich seam of research for the home hacker. They can
tell you when they’re thirsty
, but
can they bend light to their will
? We even held a Plant Communication
Hack Chat
in 2021.
Thanks to [Niklas] for the tip. | 27 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519047",
"author": "Mihai Ignat",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T11:13:16",
"content": "Major Lazer vibes anyone?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKKdJoXF7PI",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6519263",
"author": "The Commenter... | 1,760,372,539.734229 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/10/06/electric-guitar-shocks-you-for-missing-a-note/ | Electric Guitar Shocks You For Missing A Note | Lewin Day | [
"Games",
"High Voltage"
] | [
"electric shock",
"guitar",
"guitar hero",
"rhythm game",
"rocksmith",
"shock",
"stun gun"
] | Rocksmith
is a popular video game that works like
Guitar Hero,
but with a real guitar. You have to play well and hit the right notes, or the game penalizes your score. [Lightwing] took the stakes up a notch, though, adding a system that shocks the player
every time they fail.
To achieve this, it was necessary to detect when the player missed a note. Initial attempts involved using Tensor Flow AI to detect the game state from the screen, but it was unreliable. Instead, the game’s memory was read to achieve detection. When the player misses a note, a certain section of memory changes, and a script reads the change in game state. It then sends a signal to an Arduino which triggers the stun gun’s fire button, which shocks the player holding the guitar.
As you might expect, the documentation for this project includes a video which involves plenty of gratuitous electric shocks when [Lightwing] makes mistakes. Fair warning — there’s plenty of colorful language when the stun gun fires. Generally, a powerful shock ends with screams a dropped guitar, and too much fear to continue.
It’s painful enough that it’s probably not a useful teaching tool for learning the guitar. We’ve seen similar shocking builds before, too,
like this simple wire game. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6519019",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T09:05:52",
"content": "Eagerly anticipating the Trombone Champ version!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6519032",
"author": "ak",
"timestamp": "2022-10-06T10:15:02",... | 1,760,372,539.771407 |
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