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https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/aluminum-foil-20-cm-antenna-for-10-m-operation/ | Aluminum Foil 20 Cm Antenna For 10 M Operation | Chris Lott | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"ham radio",
"low power",
"portable antenna",
"QRP operation"
] | [David], DL1DN, is an Amateur Radio enthusiast with a penchant for low-power (QRP) portable operations. Recently he was out and about, and found that 10 m propagation was wide open. Not discouraged by having forgotten his antenna, he kludges up a makeshift one using a 20 cm length of aluminum foil (see video demonstration below the break). [David] wasn’t completely unprepared, as he did have the loading coil for his portable 20 m antenna, but was missing the telescoping whip. He calculated the whip length should be around 20 cm for 10 m operation, and crinkles up a sheet of foil the approximate length. He tunes it to length by rolling the tip to shorten the “whip” until he gets an SWR minimum.
Schematic of [David]’s QRP Portable Whip Antenna
[David] describes this style of portable antenna
in another video
, using a more conventional telescoping whip as the radiating element. The loading coil is built from common PVC pipe and insulated wire. While these aren’t necessarily the most efficient antennas, they can do the trick when portability is a major concern. For a different approach, here’s a
QRP Hackaday.io portable antenna project using a magnetic loop antenna
. But for the ultimate in QRP, check out
this transmitter we wrote about in 2013
that uses only voice power to operate.
What are some unusual items you’ve used as makeshift antennas? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks to [mister35mm] for submitting this to our tip line. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488905",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-07-03T15:17:09",
"content": "10m is the wavelength, remember the equation c = f * L … L is normally lambda for wavelength. Ah wait, see if this will paste..c = fλSo of course, f=c/λbut if you want answer in mhz just sub 300 for ... | 1,760,372,644.221431 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/does-hot-water-freeze-faster-than-cold-debate-continues-over-the-mpemba-effect/ | Does Hot Water Freeze Faster Than Cold? Debate Continues Over The Mpemba Effect | Donald Papp | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"citizen science",
"freezing",
"mpemba effect",
"physics"
] | Does hot water freeze faster than cold water? On its face this idea seems like it should be ridiculously simple to test, and even easier to intuit, but
this question has in fact had physicists arguing for decades
.
Erasto Mpemba’s observations initiated decades of research into the Mpemba effect: whether a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold.
There’s a name for the phenomenon of something hot freezing faster than something cold: the
Mpemba effect
, named for Erasto Mpemba (pictured above) who as a teenager in Tanzania witnessed something strange in high school in the 1960s. His class was making ice cream, and in a rush to secure the last available ice tray, Mpemba skipped waiting for his boiled milk-and-sugar mixture to cool to room temperature first, like everyone else had done. An hour and a half later, his mixture had frozen into ice cream whereas the other students’ samples remained a thick liquid slurry.
Puzzled by this result, Mpemba asked his physics teacher what was going on. He was told “You were confused. That cannot happen.” Mpemba wasn’t convinced by that answer, and his observations ultimately led to decades of research.
What makes this question so hard to nail down? Among many of the issues complicating exactly how to measure such a thing is that water frankly has some odd properties; it is less dense as a solid, and it is also possible for its solid and liquid phases to exist at the same temperature. Also, water in the process of freezing is not in equilibrium, and how exactly things act as they relax into equilibrium is a process for which — physics-wise — we lack a good theory. Practically speaking, it’s also a challenge how to even accurately and meaningfully measure the temperature of a system that is not in equilibrium.
But there is experimental evidence showing that the Mpemba effect can occur, at least in principle. How this can happen seems to come down to the idea that a hot system (having more energy) is able to occupy and explore more configurations, potentially triggering states that act as a kind of shortcut or bypass to a final equilibrium. In this way, something that starts further away from final equilibrium could overtake something starting from closer.
But does the Mpemba effect actually exist — for example, in water — in a meaningful way? Not everyone is convinced, but if nothing else, it has sure driven a lot of research into nonequilibrium systems.
Why not try your own hand at investigating the Mpemba effect? After all, working to prove someone wrong is a time-honored pastime of humanity, surpassed only in popularity by the tradition of dismissing others’ findings, observations, or results without lifting a finger of your own. Just remember to stick to the scientific method. After all, people have already put time and effort into
seriously determining whether magnets clean clothes better than soap
, so surely the Mpemba effect is worth some attention. | 92 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488781",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-07-03T02:10:18",
"content": "I would be wondering if it had something to do with absorbed gases. Leaving it to cool naturally may let it dissolve more air back into it, less so than cold water from the faucet, but maybe enough. ... | 1,760,372,644.553894 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/farm-data-relay-system/ | Farm Data Relay System: Combine LoRa And 2.4 Ghz Networks Without WiFi Routers And Cloud Dependence | Danie Conradie | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"ESP-Now",
"ESP32",
"ESP8266",
"LoRa",
"mqtt",
"node-red"
] | Setting up a wireless sensor network over a wide area can quickly become costly, and making everything communicate smoothly can be a massive headache, especially when you’re combining short range Wi-Fi with long range LoRa. To simplify this, [Timm Bogner] created
Farm Data Relay System
which simplifies the process of combining LoRa, 2.4Ghz modules and serial communications in various topologies over wide areas.
The FDRS uses a combination of ESP32/8266 sensor nodes for short range, and LoRa nodes for long range. The ESP nodes use Espressif’s connectionless
ESP-NOW
peer-to-peer protocol on which allow multiple ESP boards to communicate directly without the need for a Wi-Fi router. The ESP modules can have one of 3 roles, nodes, repeaters or gateways, and gateways and repeaters share the same code. Nodes take sensor inputs, and are configured to each have a unique
READING_ID
.
Relays just retransmit ESP-NOW packets to extend the network range, while gateways convert packets between ESP-NOW, MQTT over Wi-Fi, LoRa or serial messages as required. Repeaters and gateways each have a unique
UNIT_MAC
for addressing. The code that handles communication for the ESP devices is simple and well documented, so you only need to set a few configuration values, and then can focus your efforts on the code required for your specific application.
The hub of the system is a Raspberry Pi running
Node-RED
which acts as the final MQTT gateway and connects to the ESP MQTT gateways. This means that all the action happens in the local network, without being dependent on an internet connection and cloud service. However, it can still send and receive data over the internet using MQTT or any other protocol as required. Node-RED makes it particularly easy to build custom automations and interfaces.
In the video after the break, Andreas Spiess, the man with the Swiss accent, who also has a hand in the project, goes over all the features, setup and caveats.
LoRa is an extremely useful tool for outdoor, long range networking. From
monitoring birdhouses
without internet,
text messaging without cell networks
, and even
bouncing signals off the moon
, there’s no shortage of uses. | 25 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488762",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T23:52:30",
"content": "Wonderful! We need more things that don’t depend on the internet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488763",
"author": "Andrew",
"ti... | 1,760,372,644.282228 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/an-anodiser-that-does-gradients/ | An Anodiser That Does Gradients | Jenny List | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"aluminium",
"anodised aluminium",
"anodizing"
] | Anodizing aluminium, the process of electrolytic build up of the metal’s the oxide layer in the presence of dyes to create colored effects, is such a well-established process that we probably all have anodized items within sight. It’s usually an industrial mass-production process that creates a uniform result, but there’s an anodizing machine from a Dutch design studio which promises to place anodized aluminium in a new light. Studio Loop Loop’s Magic Color Machine enacts
a small-scale automated anodizing process driven by a microcontroller
, and is capable of effects such as gradated colors.
Unfortunately
their website
is long on marketing and short on technical details, but the basic function of a line of chemical baths with a pulley to lower and lift the item being anodized shouldn’t be too difficult for any Hackaday reader to understand.
There’s a short video clip posted on Instagram
which also gives some idea. It’s a powerful idea that should lead to some eye-catching work for their studio, but its interest here lies in the techniques it might inspire others to try. We look forward to an open-source version of a gradated anodize. Meanwhile if anodizing takes your fancy,
it’s a subject we’ve visited before
. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488789",
"author": "rnjacobs",
"timestamp": "2022-07-03T02:59:25",
"content": "Unlike titanium, which turns pretty colors when anodized, anodized aluminum is colorless. To get colors, you dye that layer of aluminum oxide. What they’re doing above is applying dye for different amoun... | 1,760,372,644.061274 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/an-affordable-reference-mic-you-can-build-yourself/ | An Affordable Reference Mic You Can Build Yourself | Lewin Day | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"laboratory equipment",
"reference mi",
"REFERENCE MIC",
"REFERENCE MICROPHONE"
] | Reference mics are vital tools for audio work. They’re prized for their flat frequency response, and are often used for characterizing the audio response of a room or space. OpenRefMic aims to be
an open source design for producing reference mics
without paying exorbitant retail prices.
The heart of the build is a preamplifier that runs off standard 48 V phantom power, and is responsible for both biasing the electret microphone element and acting as a buffer for the mic signal. It’s designed specifically to work with the PUI AOM-5024L-HD-F-R mic capsule, chosen for its good performance and low noise characteristics. However, other electric mics should work, too. The hardware is wrapped up in a 3D printed case which can readily be made on most basic printers. It’s complete with a press-fit grille that holds the mic capsule in place.
The prime goal of the project is low noise; the project creator, [loudifier], notes that most commercial reference mics focus first on flat frequency response and then reducing noise. OpenRefMic performs well in this area, and its lack of a perfectly flat frequency response is countered with calibrated equalization. It also works with regular pro-grade XLR cables and phantom power, rather than needing fancy laboratory-spec cables and interfaces.
The final result is a credit to [loudifier], who demonstrates a strong understanding of the principles of reference mic design. We’ve seen
some other great low-cost reference mics recently, too! | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488722",
"author": "Pruttelherrie",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T19:31:21",
"content": "Exorbitant prices?https://www.thomann.de/de/messmikrofone.html?oa=pra&gk=MIME&filter=true",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488751",
"... | 1,760,372,644.327432 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/not-on-the-internet/ | Not On The Internet | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"internet",
"newsletter",
"search"
] | Whenever you need to know something, you just look it up on the Internet, right? Using the search engine of your choice, you type in a couple keywords, hit enter, and you’re set. Any datasheet, any protocol specification, any obscure runtime error, any time. Heck, you can most often find some sample code implementing whatever it is you’re looking for. In a minute or so.
It is so truly easy to find everything technical that I take it entirely for granted. In fact, I had entirely forgotten that we live in a hacker’s utopia until a couple nights ago, when it happened again: I wanted to find something that isn’t on the Internet. Now, to be fair, it’s probably out there and I just need to dig a little deeper, but the shock of
not
instantly finding the answer to a random esoteric question reminded me how lucky we actually are 99.99% of the time when we do find the answer straight away.
So great job, global hive-mind of über-nerds! This was one of the founding dreams of the Internet, that all information would be available to everyone anywhere, and it’s essentially working. Never mind that we can stream movies or have telcos with people on the other side of the globe – when I want a Python library for decoding Kansas City Standard audio data, it’s at my fingertips. Detailed SCSI specifications? Check.
But what was my search, you ask? Kristina and I were talking about Teddy Ruxpin, and I thought that the specification for the servo track on the tape would certainly have been reverse engineered and well documented. And I’m still sure it is – I was just shocked that I couldn’t instantly find it. The last time this happened to me, it was the datasheet for the chips that make up a Speak & Spell, and it turned out that I just needed to dig a lot harder. So I haven’t given up hope yet.
And deep down, I’m a little bit happy that I found a hole in the Internet. It gives Kristina and me an excuse to reverse engineer the format ourselves. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But for the rest of those times, when I really want the answer to a niche tech question, thanks everyone!
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
! | 106 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488657",
"author": "Monsonite",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T14:18:56",
"content": "The real heroes are those that spend countless hours making obscure data books and text books available online as PDFs. The vilains are those that put them behind some BS paywall or subscription service... | 1,760,372,644.692581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/dual-power-supply-in-a-pinch/ | Dual Power Supply In A Pinch | Chris Lott | [
"hardware",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"alternate",
"IP2721",
"miniature",
"power supply",
"usb c trigger board"
] | Recently I needed a dual voltage power supply to test a newly-arrived PCB, but my usual beast of a lab power supply was temporarily at a client’s site. I had a FNIRSI programmable power supply which would have been perfect, but alas, I had only one. While digging around in my junk box I found several USB-C power-delivery “trigger” boards which I bought for an upcoming project. These seemed almost too small for the task at hand, but after a little research I realized they would work quite well.
Lab Bench Power Supply
Substitute Using USB-C PD Triggers
The ones I had used the
Injoinic IP2721
USB-C power delivery chip, commonly used in many of these boards. Mine had been sold pre-configured for certain output voltages, but they were easy to re-jumper to the voltages I needed, +5 VDC and +20 VDC. The most challenging aspect was physically using them — they are the size of a fingernail. This version had through-hole output pads on 0.1″ centers, so I decided to solder them to the base of a standard MTA pin header. A few crimps later and I was up and running, along with the requisite pair of USB-C cables and power adapters.
For just a few dollars each, these trigger boards are useful to have in your toolbox, both for individual projects and for use in a pinch. We
reviewed these modules a couple of years ago
, and check out the far more flexible
PD Micro that we covered last year
. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488643",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T11:18:06",
"content": "yes ok, it’s a nice hack. But it’s not really a fair comparison, now is it?Testing a PCB with a “power supply” which can whack out 3-5 A changes testing to, “hmm, looks like there was a short, but it’s broke... | 1,760,372,644.381989 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/hackaday-podcast-175-moonrocks-and-cockroach-chyme-a-raspberry-pi-ipad-and-a-retro-respectful-tape-deck/ | Hackaday Podcast 175: Moonrocks And Cockroach Chyme, A Raspberry Pi IPad, And A Retro-Respectful Tape Deck | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Join Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Assignments Editor Kristina Panos as we cuss and discuss all the gnarliest hacks from the past week. We kick off this episode with a gentle reminder that the
Odd Inputs and Peculiar Peripherals Contest
ends this
Monday, July 4th, at 8:30 AM PDT
. We’ve seen a ton of cool entries so far, including a new version of [Peter Lyons]’
Squeezebox keyboard
that we’re itching to write up for the blog.
In other contest news, the
Round 2 winners of the Reuse, Recycle, Revamp challenge
of the 2022 Hackaday Prize have been announced. Elliot is super stoked about [Jason Knight]’s
open-source recycled skateboard deck-making apparatus
, and Kristina wishes she had the time and money to build some of the fundamental
Precious Plastic machines
.
Elliot managed to stump Kristina with this week’s
What’s That Sound
, though she probably should have made a semi-educated guess. From there, it’s on to missing moon rocks and the word of the day before we get into a handful of contest entries, including a mechanical keyboard to end all mechanical keyboards.
This really just scratches the surface of this week’s show, which includes some new hardware stuffed into old, as well as modern implementations of old technology. And in case you didn’t get enough of Kristina’s childhood memoirs, she goes a bit deeper into the teddy bears and telephones rooms of her memory palace.
Direct download
, record it to tape, and play it on your boombox.
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!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 175 Show Notes:
What’s that Sound?
Think you know this week’s sound?
Enter for a chance to win
a coveted Hackaday Podcast t-shirt!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
NASA Called, They Want Their Cockroaches Back
NASA news| Thad Roberts – the NASA intern who stole lunar rocks to ‘have sex on the Moon’
Stolen and missing Moon rocks – Wikipedia
Faux-Retro “Tape” Player Runs On ESP32 And 80s Vibes
Extruded Resin FDM Printing (With Lasers!)
Mechanical Keyboards Are Over, This Device Has Won
Hackaday Prize 2022: A CM4 Upgrade For Your Old IPad
Pocket Computer Reminds Us Of PDAs
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
3D Scanning Trouble? This Guide Has You Covered
Reverse-Engineering Forgotten Konami Arcade Hardware
Shielding A Cheap RTL-SDR Stick
Kristina’s Picks:
Hackaday Prize 2022: Multispectral Smartphone Camera Reveals Paintings’ Inner Secrets
Neural Network Identifies Bird Calls, Even On Your Pi
An In-Depth Look At The Haptic Smart Knob
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Lenses: From Fire Starters To Smart Phones And VR
Teardown: KC Bearifone Could Talk Circles Around Teddy Ruxpin | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,644.428147 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/playstation-2-gets-a-seamless-media-center-makeover/ | PlayStation 2 Gets A Seamless Media Center Makeover | Lewin Day | [
"Playstation Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"playstation 2",
"raspberry pi"
] | We often see Raspberry Pi boards of various flavors stuck inside vintage computers and the like. [El Gato Guiri] has instead installed one inside a PlayStation 2 Slim, and rather artfully at that.
The result is a tidy little media center device
.
Pretty tidy, right? All those ports work! Okay, not the memory card slots. But everything else!
The PlayStation 2 was gutted, with a Raspberry Pi 3B installed inside. The original ports on the back, including the USB and Ethernet port, were then wired up to the Pi to make them fully functional. A slot was then cut into the back to allow the HDMI port to be hooked up. The front USB ports work, too, and the optical drive was removed to make way for a 2 TB Toshiba external drive. Adapters are used to make the controller ports work, as well. Finally, a Noctua fan was installed atop the Pi to make sure it never gets too hot.
Whether it’s for watching movies or playing emulated games with the PS2 controllers, the little media center build is sure to do well.
We’ve seen Raspberry Pis stuck in everything from
laptops
to
monitors,
as well as
plenty of retro hardware too
. When a piece of hardware is dead and gone, a Raspberry Pi can be a great way to breathe new life into an attractive old case! | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488504",
"author": "Marlon Kurtz",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T16:11:30",
"content": "My boy… Look what they did to my boy…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6488514",
"author": "peek",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T17:01:55",
... | 1,760,372,644.119268 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/this-week-in-security-zimbra-rce-routers-under-attack-and-old-tricks-in-webassembly/ | This Week In Security: Zimbra RCE, Routers Under Attack, And Old Tricks In WebAssembly | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"lockpicking hacks",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"openssl",
"This Week in Security",
"WebAsssembly",
"Zimbra"
] | There’s a problem in the
unrar
utility, and as a result,
the Zimbra mail server was vulnerable to Remote Code Execution
by simply sending an email. So first,
unrar
is a source-available command-line application made by RarLab, the same folks behind WinRAR.
CVE-2022-30333
is the vulnerability there, and it’s a classic path traversal on archive extraction. One of the ways this attack is normally pulled off is by extracting a symlink to the intended destination, which then points to a location that should be restricted.
unrar
has code hardening against this attack, but is sabotaged by its cross-platform support. On a Unix machine, the archive is checked for any symbolic links containing the
../
pattern. After this check is completed, a function runs to convert any Windows paths to Unix notation. As such, the simply bypass is to include symlinks using
..\
traversal, which don’t get caught by the check, and then are converted to working directories.
That was bad enough, but Zimbra made it worse by automatically extracting
.rar
attachments on incoming emails, in order to run a virus and spam check. That extraction isn’t sandboxed, so an attacker’s files are written anywhere on the filesystem the
zimbra
user can write. It’s not hard to imagine how this turns into a full RCE very quickly. If you have an
unrar
binary based on RarLab code, check for version 6.1.7 or 6.12 of their binary release. While Zimbra was the application specifically called out, there are likely to be other cases where this could be used for exploitation.
Router Malware
A widespread malware campaign has been discovered in a bit of an odd place:
running on the firmware of Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) network devices
. The surprising element is how many different devices are supported by the campaign, including Cisco, Netgear, ASUS, etc. The key is that the malware is a little binary compiled for the MIPS architecture, which is used by many routers and access points.
Once in place, the malware then launches Man-in-the-Middle attacks against DNS and HTTP connections, all with the goal of compromising the Windows machines that run their connection through the compromised device. There have been mass exploit campaigns in the past, where the DNS resolver was modified on vulnerable routers, but this seems to be quite a bit more sophisticated, leading the researchers to suspect that this may be a state-sponsored campaign. There’s an odd note in
the source report
, that the initial exploit script makes a call to
/cgi-bin/luci
, which is the web interface for OpenWRT routers. We’ve reached out for more information from Lumen, so stay tuned for the details. It may very well be that this malware campaign is specifically targeting the hoard of very old, vulnerable OpenWRT-based routers out there. There may be a downside to multiple companies using old versions of the Open Source project as their SDK.
WebAssembly and Old Tricks
One of the most interesting concepts to happen recently in the browser space is WebAssembly. You have a library written in C, and want to use it with JavaScript in a browser? Compile it to WebAssembly, and you have a solution that’s faster than JavaScript, and easier to use than a traditionally compiled binary. It’s a very clever solution, and allows for some crazy feats, like Google Earth in the browser. Could there be any down side to running C in the browser? The good folks at Grav have an example of the sort of thing that could go wrong:
good old buffer overflows
.
Now it’s a bit different from how a standard overflow exploit works. One reason, Wasm doesn’t have address layout randomization or Data Execution Prevention. On the other hand, web assembly functions don’t reside at a memory address, but simply a function index. The
RET
instruction equivalent can’t jump to arbitrary locations, but just to function indexes. However, it’s still a stack, and overflowing a buffer can result in overwriting important data, like the return pointer. Time will tell whether WebAssembly exploits are going to be a big deal, or will forever be a novelty.
Intune Remote Management
In our new, brave future, remote work seems to be the new standard, and this brings some new security considerations. Example:
Microsoft’s Intune remote management suite
. It’s supposed to be an easy way to deploy, manage, and monitor laptops and desktops remotely. In theory, a robust remote admin suite combined with Bitlocker should make for an effective protection against tampering. Why Bitlocker? While it prevents an attacker from reading data from the disk, it also prevents tampering. For instance, there’s a really old trick, where you copy the
cmd.exe
binary over the top of the sticky keys, or accessibility binary. These can be launched from the login page, and results in a super-easy root shell. Bitlocker prevents this.
It sounds great, but there’s a problem. Intune can be deployed in two ways. The “user-driven” flow results in a system with more administrative capabilities entrusted to the end user, including access to the BitLocker recovery key. The only way around this is to do the setup, and then remove the Primary User and rotate the Bitlocker keys. Then there’s the troubleshooting mode, holding Shift+F10 during initial setup grants SYSTEM access to the end user. Yikes. And finally, that last gotcha to note is that a remote wipe removes user data, and deletes extra binaries from some important places, but doesn’t do any sort of file verification, so our simple sticky-keys hack would survive. Oof.
Bits and Bytes
[Jack Dates] participated in 2021 Pwn2Own, and
put together an Apple Safari exploit that uses the Intel graphics kernel extensions for the escape
. It’s a *very* deep dive into OSX exploitation. The foothold is an off-by-one error in a length check, which in total allows writing four bytes of arbitrary data. The key to turn this into something useful was to strew some corpses around memory — forked, dead processes. Corrupt the size of the corpse, and you can use it to free other memory that’s still in use. Use after free for the win!
The OpenSSL bug we talked about last week is still being looked into,
with [Guido Vranken] leading the charge
. He found a separate bug that specifically isn’t a security problem back in May, and it’s the fix for that bug that introduced the AVX512 problem we’re interested in. There still looks to be a potential for RCE here, but at least it’s proving to be non-trivial to put such an attack together.
There’s
a new malware campaign, ytstealer
, that is explicitly targeting YouTube account credentials. The malware is distributed as fake installers for popular tools, like OBS Studio, Auto-Tune, and even cheats and cracks for other software. When run, YTStealer looks for an authentication cookie, logs into YouTube Studio, and grabs all the data available there from the attached account. This information and cookie are encrypted and sent on to a C&C server. It’s unclear why YouTube accounts are so interesting to an attacker, but maybe we can all look forward to spammy videos getting uploaded to our favorite channels.
And finally, because there’s more to security than just computers,
a delightful puzzle solve from LockPickingLawyer
. Loki is a puzzle lock made from a a real padlock, and it caught the attention of our favorite lock-picker, who makes an attempt to open it. We won’t spoil any of the results, but if puzzles or locks are your jam, it’s worth a watch. | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488469",
"author": "WereCatf",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T14:16:12",
"content": "“There may be a downside to multiple companies using old versions of the Open Source project as their SDK.” — It’s a very common complaint on the OpenWrt-forums; so, SO many companies use horribly old ve... | 1,760,372,644.165753 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/mnt-reform-goodness-now-even-smaller-with-pocket-reform/ | MNT Reform Goodness, Now Even Smaller With Pocket Reform | Arya Voronova | [
"hardware",
"laptops hacks",
"Netbook Hacks"
] | [
"cyberdeck",
"laptop",
"MNT",
"mnt reform",
"open source hardware"
] | You might have already seen the pretty pictures in pastel colors online — a small netbook-like computer with a full-size keyboard. This, while a render, is what the
MNT Pocket Reform
is going to look like. Reminiscent of the netbook aesthetic in all the right ways, it’s a small device with a mechanical keyboard taking as much space as possible, trackball for navigation, and we assume, exactly the kind of screen that’d be comfortable to use.
We’ve
reviewed the MNT Reform
a year ago, and this device inherits a lot of its good parts. The motherboard’s connectivity is likely subject to change, but
on the motherboard renders,
we can spot three USB-C ports, a Micro HDMI port, a microSD card slot, ix Industrial Ethernet, and M.2 B-key and M-key slots for WWAN and SSD cards respectively.
If you expected computational specs, there isn’t really a specific CPU+RAM configuration announced – for a good reason. The Pocket Reform takes advantage of the CPU card concept designed into the MNT Reform – able to take a card with an NXP i.MX8M CPU, Raspberry Pi CM4, Pine SOQuartz, a Kintex-7 FPGA, or any of the cards yet to be developed. The design files
are open-source,
the prototype motherboards
have been ordered,
mechanical usability aspects
have been worked through
. This is a very compelling project, and we can’t wait to see it bear fruit!
MNT Pocket Reform is coming! (more info below)
pic.twitter.com/c6g4GG2Nif
— lukas f. hartmann (@minut_e)
June 27, 2022 | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488425",
"author": "Izaic",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T11:11:32",
"content": "Looks neat, but if its going to be over $1,000, then it simply won’t be worth buying.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6488426",
"author": "bicycles... | 1,760,372,644.830671 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/full-printing-path-control-without-writing-gcode/ | Full Printing Path Control Without Writing GCode | Danie Conradie | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"3d printing",
"3d slicing",
"gcode"
] | User-friendly slicing software is arguably the key software component that makes 3D printing approachable for most users. Without it going from a CAD design to a printing part would take hours, not seconds. As a trade-off you give up a lot of control over the exact path of the hotend, but most of the time it’s worth it. However, for some niche use-cases, having complete control over the tool path is necessary. Enter
FullControl GCode Designer
, a tool that gives you all the control without resorting to writing GCode directly.
FullControl takes an approach similar to OpenSCAD, where you define path geometries line by line. Need an array of circles? Choose the circle feature, define its origin, radius, starting position, and extrusion height, and define the spacing and axes (including Z) of the copies. Need a mathematically defined lamp shade? Define the functions, and FullControl generates the GCode.
Non-planar printing
, where your print head moves along all three axes simultaneously instead of staying at a constant Z-height is also possible. In the video after the break, [Thomas Sanladerer] demonstrates how he used FullControl to reduce the print time of a functionally identical part from two hours to 30 minutes.
FullControl is built on Microsoft Excel using Visual Basic scripting, which comes at the cost of long GCode generation times. It also doesn’t show the defined tool paths graphically, so the generated code needs to be pasted into a viewer like Repetier Host to see what it’s doing. Fortunately, a Python version is coming to should hopefully elevate many of these shortcomings.
We also featured some other GCode hacks in the last few months that
bend existing GCode along a spline path
, and a
Blender plugin allows the surface textures of sliced objects to be modified
. | 28 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488400",
"author": "Mr Name Required",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T08:35:28",
"content": "This looks really interesting to me as a 3D printing enthusiast (‘printerist’?).My wife’s hobby is quilting and has a craft friend with a long-arm CNC quilting machine driven by GCode, so wonderi... | 1,760,372,644.893821 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/lcd-screen-windows-are-this-summers-hottest-case-mod/ | LCD Screen Windows Are This Summer’s Hottest Case Mod | Lewin Day | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"Case mod",
"case modding",
"casemod",
"lcd",
"lcd monitor"
] | Case modding took off in the late 90s, and taught us all that computers could (and should!) look awesome. Much of the aesthetic went mainstream, and now tons of computer cases come with lights and windows and all the rest. [WysWyg_Protogen] realized those simple case windows could be way cooler with a neat LCD hack,
and set to work.
The concept is simple. Take an old LCD monitor, remove the backlight and extraneous hardware, and then install it to the window in a computer case. When lit from behind via LEDs in the case, the screen creates a ghostly display through which the computer’s internals can still partially be seen. It’s a really compelling effect, and in theory, quite easy to achieve. All one need do is mount the stripped-down screen to the case and pipe it video from the graphics card.
In practice, it’s a little tricky. Disassembling the screen and removing things like the anti-glare coating can be tough to do without damaging the delicate panel inside. The windows typically used on computer cases can dull the effect, too. However, [WysWyg_Protogen] is continuing to tinker with the project and the results are getting increasingly impressive with each iteration. It doesn’t photograph too well,
but it looks truly amazing in motion.
We often forget LCDs are transparent in their basic form
, as we generally only use them with backlights or reflective backers. They really do look great when used in this transmissive way, though. Video after the break.
Actually beside myself right now. How does this look this good? This was a trash pile monitor and this looks like a 700 dollar case upgrade
pic.twitter.com/4yBXlcY921
— 💜🖤🤍 WysiWyg Pride-ogen 🏳️🌈 (@WysWyg_Protogen)
June 26, 2022 | 21 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488372",
"author": "Scoldog",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T05:27:38",
"content": "And here I am remembering the groovy times when people had fish in their case mods",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6488374",
"author": "Slurm",
... | 1,760,372,645.114033 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/diy-airless-tires-work-surprisingly-well/ | DIY Airless Tires Work Surprisingly Well | Bryan Cockfield | [
"News"
] | [
"airless",
"Bolts",
"car",
"caterham",
"drainage",
"hardware",
"passenger",
"pipe",
"rough",
"tire",
"vehicle"
] | Airless tires have been “a few years away” from production for decades now. They’re one of the automotive version of vaporware (at least those meant for passenger vehicles), always on the cusp of being produced but somehow never materializing. They have a number of perks over traditional air-filled tires in that they are immune to flats and punctures, and since there aren’t any airless tires available at the local tire shop, [Driven Media]
decided to make and test their own
.
The tires are surprisingly inexpensive to make. A few pieces of drainage tubing of varying diameters, cut to short lengths, and then bolted together with off-the-shelf hardware is all it takes, although they note that there was a tremendous amount of hardware needed to fasten all the pipe lengths together. With the structure in place they simply cut a tread off of a traditional tire and wrapped it around each of the four assemblies, then bolted them up to their Caterham street-legal race car for testing.
While the ride quality was notoriously (and unsurprisingly) rough and bumpy, the tires perform admirably under the circumstances and survive being driven fairly aggressively on a closed-circuit race course. For such a low price and simple parts list it’s shocking
that a major tire manufacturer like Michelin
hasn’t figured out how to successfully bring one to a light passenger car yet.
Thanks to [Itay] for the tip! | 47 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488347",
"author": "Bruce",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T02:08:35",
"content": "Why have tire manufacturers not figured out how to produce airless tyres? What proportion of tyre replacements are due to causes that would be eliminated by airless tyres? That may be an economic disince... | 1,760,372,645.462326 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/02/singing-fish-nails-sea-shanty-audition/ | Singing Fish Nails Sea Shanty Audition | Lewin Day | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"big mouth billy bass",
"fish",
"sea shanty",
"singing fish",
"wellerman"
] | The Big Mouth Billy Bass and other singing fish were a scourge first delivered to us in the late 90s.
[Kevin Heckart] has been teaching them to sing new songs
without the tinny sound quality and hokey folk tunes. For this, he must be applauded.
A Teensy 4.1 or Teensy 3.2 is used to power [Kevin]’s various singing fish builds. There are two motors inside a singing fish, typically — one motor to pivot the fish’s body, and one to open and close the mouth. Hook these up to a motor driver, and command that with the Teensy, and you’re up and running. To sync the fish with the music, MIDI data is sent to the Teensy over USB. The Teensy takes in note data and uses this to command the motors to make the fish appear to sing along.
The tutorial linked above is a great way to learn how the hack was achieved. However, the real money is in the performance. A video of [Kevin]’s fishy chorus
performing the famous Wellerman sea shanty
has over 50 million views on YouTube and he’s collected over 26 million likes on Tiktok.
Sometimes
the simple hacks
are the ones that bring the most joy. Video after the break.
[Thanks to Keith for the tip!] | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488639",
"author": "Stuart Longland",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T10:53:55",
"content": "Any word on how that “simple hack” out in the desert is faring after 3½ years? Toto’s finest work still getting denigrated by an “art” installation?I would say gutting and re-stuffing of those no... | 1,760,372,645.161095 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/kotonki-agricultural-vehicle-built-for-customization/ | Kotonki: Agricultural Vehicle Built For Customization | Danie Conradie | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"agriculture",
"hydraulic system",
"tractor",
"utility vehicle"
] | Agriculture on any scale involves many tasks that require lifting, hauling, pushing, and pulling. On many modern farms, these tasks are often done using an array of specialized (and expensive) equipment. This puts many small-scale farmers, especially those in developing countries, under significant financial pressure. These challenges led a South African engineering firm to develop the
Kotonki
, a low-cost hydraulically powered utility vehicle that can be customized for a wide variety of use cases. Video after the break.
The name Kotonki is derived from the Setswana phrase for a donkey kart. It is in essence a self-propelled hydraulic power pack, capable of hauling 1 ton of anything that can fit on its load bed. It comes in front-wheel drive or four-wheel drive versions, with each wheel individually driven by a hydraulic motor. The simple welded steel frame articulates around a double pivot, which allows it to keep all 4 wheels on the ground over any terrain. At a max speed of 10 km/h it won’t win any races, but neither would most other agricultural vehicles. The Kotonki is built mostly using off-the-shelf components and is powered by a common 12HP Honda engine. In the world of DRM agricultural equipment, this makes for simple repairs, low running costs, and easy customization for the task at hand. This can include mounting
log splitters
, water pumps, lifting beds, or anything else that can be driven by its hydraulic and rotary PTOs (Power Take-Off).
https://kotonki.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/KOTONKI-Vehicle-Showcase_D3_Online_Compressed.mp4
It’s always interesting to see certain design elements keep repeating themselves in different parts of the world, like the
Light Electric Utility Vehicle
, the single-cylinder
“Tuo La Ji” vehicles
of rural China, and the hydraulic “Power Cube” and vehicles of
Global Village Construction Set
. | 23 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488616",
"author": "rikus",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T05:06:23",
"content": "Vat so Katvis",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6488619",
"author": "Comedicles",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T06:23:05",
"content": "Dateline 1... | 1,760,372,645.377484 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/computer-vision-extracts-lightning-from-footage/ | Computer Vision Extracts Lightning From Footage | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Machine Learning"
] | [
"computer vision",
"lightning",
"machine learning",
"open cv",
"python",
"recognition",
"video files"
] | Lightning is one of the more mysterious and fascinating phenomenon on the planet. Extremely powerful, but each strike on average only has enough energy to power an incandescent bulb for an hour. The exact mechanism that starts a lightning strike is still not well understood. Yet it happens 45 times per second somewhere on the planet. While we may not gain a deeper scientific appreciation of lightning anytime soon, but we can capture it in various photography thanks
to this project which leverages computer vision
machine learning
to pull out the best frames of lightning
.
The project’s creator, [Liam], built this as a tool for stormchasers and photographers so that they can film large amounts of time and not have to go back through their footage manually to pull out the frames with lightning strikes. The project borrows from
a similar project
, but this one adds Python 3 capabilities and runs on a tiny netbook for more easy field deployment. It uses OpenCV for object recognition, using video files as the source data, and features different modes to recognize different types of lightning.
The software is free and open source, and releases are supported for both Windows and Linux. So far, [Liam] has been able to capture all kinds of electrical atmospheric phenomenon with it including lightning,
red sprites, and elves
. We don’t see too many projects involving lightning around here, partly because
humans can only generate a fraction of the voltage potential needed
for the average lightning strike. | 16 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488592",
"author": "acme",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T02:11:23",
"content": "couldn’t you do something like just pull the peak white values from histogram data?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488624",
"author": "Liam"... | 1,760,372,645.311695 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/blixterm-brings-full-speed-youtube-video-to-the-commodore-pet/ | BlixTerm Brings Full-Speed YouTube Video To The Commodore PET | Robin Kearey | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"Commodore PET",
"Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W",
"youtube"
] | If you’ve ever used a home computer from the late 1970s or early 1980s, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the slow speed of their user interfaces. Even listing the contents of a BASIC program from RAM could take several seconds, with the screen updating one line at a time. Video games were completely optimized for speed, but could still handle just a few slowly-moving objects at the same time. Clearly, playing anything resembling full-motion video on hardware from that era would be absolutely impossible – or so you might think.
In fact, [Thorbjörn Jemander] has managed to persuade
a Commodore PET to play YouTube videos at a completely reasonable 30 frames per second
. He describes the process of designing the “BlixTerm” hardware and software in his video (embedded below), along with lots of useful information on how to push digital systems to their absolute limits.
Naturally, the PET needs a bit of assistance from modern hardware, in this case a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W hooked up to the “User” expansion port. The Pi connects to YouTube through WiFi and loads the requested video, then downconverts it to a 640×200 grayscale stream and transforms each frame to an 80×25 grid of characters, using those from the PET’s ROM that most closely resemble the pattern needed.
While it took quite some effort to squeeze enough performance out of the Pi to do all of this in real time, the trickiest bit was getting the resulting character stream into the PET’s video memory fast enough. To do this, [Thorbjörn] designed a special interface card with 2 KB of dual-port SRAM, which enabled the Pi to store its video frames as soon as they were ready on one side, and the PET to load them at its own pace from the other side. With just sixteen microseconds available to process each byte, the PET’s CPU can execute only four or five machine code instructions; barely enough to load and store a single character and jump to the next memory address.
The end result, as you can see in the video, is really impressive. Even within the constraints of the Commodore character set, the resulting image is clearly recognizable, while the frame rate seems to defy the hardware’s limitations.
If you’re a Commodore aficionado and wondering what the hell that weird PET 600 model is all about, [Thorbjörn]
made a video about that too
; it’s a rebadged 8296 aimed at the Swedish market. We’ve actually seen
a project to generate live video on the PET
before, although at a much lower frame rate. Thanks for the tip, [Keith Olson]! | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488573",
"author": "Tone",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T23:25:16",
"content": "This is the content I’m here for.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488731",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T20:27:04",
... | 1,760,372,645.215142 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/converting-a-sigma-lens-to-canon-digital-functionality-included/ | Converting A Sigma Lens To Canon, Digital Functionality Included | Lewin Day | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"canon",
"canon ef mount",
"dslr",
"ef mount",
"lens",
"lens adapter",
"sigma"
] | These days, camera lenses aren’t just simple bits of glass in sliding metal or plastic housings. They’ve often got a whole bunch of electronics built in as well. [Dan K] had just such a lens from Sigma, but wanted to get it working fully with a camera using the Canon EF lens fitting.
Hacking ensued.
The lens in question was a Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX DG, built to work with a Sigma camera using the SA mount. As it turns out, the SA mount is actually based on the Canon EF mount, using the same communications methods and having a similar contact block. However, it uses a mechanically different mounting bayonet, making the two incompatible.
[Dan] sourced a damaged EF lens to provide its mount, and modified it on a lathe to suit the Sigma lens. A short length of ribbon cable was then used to connect the lens’s PCB to the EF mount’s contacts. When carefully put back together, the lens worked perfectly, with functional auto-focus and all.
It goes to show that a little research can reveal possibilities for hacking that we might otherwise have missed. [Dan] was able to get his lens up and running on a new camera,
and has taken many wonderful pictures with it since.
We’ve seen some great lens hacks over the years, from
3D printed adapters
to
anamorphic adapters that create beautiful results
. If you’ve got your own mad camera hacks brewing up,
drop us a line! | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488570",
"author": "ZDP189",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T23:11:26",
"content": "That’s my work, I’ll try and answer any questions, but if I miss them (or it’s years later and you are attempting the same thing) contact me on twitter (@ZDP189).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,645.258035 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/hackaday-prize-2022-masterpi-is-a-capable-robot-with-fancy-wheels/ | Hackaday Prize 2022: MasterPi Is A Capable Robot With Fancy Wheels | Lewin Day | [
"Robots Hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"block sorter",
"raspberry pi",
"robot"
] | When it comes to building a mobile robot, often maneuverability is more important than outright speed. The MasterPi robot demonstrates this well,
using fancy wheels to help it slide and skate in any direction needed.
Four DC gear-motors are fitted to a metal chassis, each one driving
a mecanum wheel.
These are special wheels with rollers fitted around their circumference at an angle that allows the robot to move in all directions and rotate in various ways depending on how each wheel is driven.
On top of this highly maneuverable chassis is placed a 5-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. The robot also gets a ultrasonic sensor for avoiding objects, as well as a camera for line-following duties. The camera also allows the robot to pick up blocks and identify their color, and it can then sort them into boxes. It’s all powered by a Raspberry Pi, running a bunch of Python code to make everything happen.
It’s a neat project that shows off just how capable a robot can be with some smart design choices and modern computing hardware on board.
We’ve seen some other smart block sorters before, too
.
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488568",
"author": "come2",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T21:43:26",
"content": "At first I thought “it’s good enough for a prize because I was wondering while watching the video how a commercial product could be nominated.”However, it seems like its really a commercial product, and sol... | 1,760,372,645.497581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/01/unraveling-the-hackaday-podcast-hidden-message/ | Unraveling The Hackaday Podcast Hidden Message | Tom Nardi | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"decoding",
"hidden message",
"kansas city standard"
] | When Elliot and I record the raw audio for the weekly podcast, it’s not unusual for us to spend the better part of two hours meandering from topic to topic. During one of these extended gab sessions, we wondered if it would be possible to embed a digital signal into the podcast in such a way that it could be decoded by the listener. Of course, storing and transmitting data via sound is nothing new — but the podcast format itself introduced some level of uncertainty.
Would the encoded sound survive the compression into MP3? Would the syndication service that distributes the file, or the various clients listeners will use to play it back, muddy the waters even further? Was it possible that the whole episode would get flagged somewhere along the line as malicious? After a bit of wild speculation, the conversation moved on to some other topic, and the idea was left to stew on one of our infinite number of back burners.
That is, until Elliot went on vacation a couple weeks back. In place of a regular episode, we agreed that
I’d try my hand at putting together a special edition
that consisted of pre-recorded segments from several of the Hackaday contributors. We reasoned this simplified approach would make it easier for me to edit, or to look at it another way, harder for me to screw up. For the first time, this gave me the chance to personally oversee the recording, production, and distribution of an episode. That, and the fact that my boss was out of town, made it the perfect opportunity to try and craft a hidden message for the Hackaday community to discover.
I’m now happy to announce that, eleven days after the
EMF Camp Special Edition
episode was released,
ferryman
became the first to figure out all the steps and get to the final message. As you read this, a coveted Hackaday Podcast t-shirt is already being dispatched to their location.
As there’s no longer any competition to see who gets there first, I thought it would be a good time to go over how the message was prepared, and document some interesting observations I made during the experiment.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Now as already mentioned, encoding digital data into audible sound is by no means a new technique. There was even a time when bog-standard audio cassettes were used to distribute commercial software. So rather than reinvent the wheel and come up with some new way of converting the first part of the message into audio, I went with a true classic:
Kansas City standard (KCS)
.
In the late 1970s, KCS audio was even pressed onto vinyl records.
The product of a conference hosted by
Byte
magazine in 1975, KCS was intended to be a universal standard for storing digital data on audio cassettes. Initially designed to provide speeds of up to 300 bits per second, later variations managed to eke out slightly improved data rates at the cost of interoperability.
In the end KCS wasn’t much of a success, as individual companies seemed hell-bent on coming up with their own proprietary way of doing the same thing (sound familiar?), but it did lay important groundwork, and several encoder/decoder packages are still available today.
The initial 20 character message was encoded into a WAV file
using py-kcs by David Beazley
. As a spot check, I also ran the same message through a
Perl implementation of KCS written by Martin Ward
. Being more than a little worried that not many listeners would be familiar with a nearly 50-year-old audio format designed for cassette tapes, I added a little clue at the last minute in the form of Dorthy’s famous “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” line from
The Wizard of Oz
. Finally, because secret messages always have to be played backwards, I reversed the whole thing and tacked it right onto the end of the edited episode before it went through Elliot’s final mastering script.
https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/podcode_original.wav
Note the very clear digital nature of the KCS data compared to the waveform of Dorthy’s speech. I was sure that anyone who opened this up in an audio editor would immediately recognize there was more than just noise here. But what would it look like after Elliot’s carefully crafted Podcast Perfection™ Bash script had at it?
Well, that’s different. Getting converted to stereo shouldn’t be a problem, but clearly the script came through and cleaned house during the MP3 encoding. Dorthy’s vocals are now much more prominent, which if you think about it, makes sense given the file was just run through a script designed to make podcasts sound better. But the data is now no longer a series of perfect square waves throughout, as it does a weird fade at the start. More importantly, we can now clearly see what appears to be the encoded data in the middle of the signal.
[Elliot: Compressor/limiter with a slow attack keeps our ever-changing volumes relatively constant for earbuds. And that digital audio section was
waaay
too loud originally. If it had started out at the average loudness, it wouldn’t have been ducked at all.]
Despite my initial concerns, the MP3 version of the sound still decoded correctly by the tools mentioned previously, so long as it was first converted into the WAV file they were expecting. Confident that the message was intact, the episode was sent off to the syndication service for it to be pushed out the next morning.
Can You Hear Me Now?
Once the podcast was pushed out Friday morning, the real fun started. Would Spotify or Google Podcasts kick it back? Would some automatic trimming on their end cut out the signal because there was too much dead air in front of it? The short answer seems to be…nobody cares. I figure it’s a bit like the dinosaur erotica on the Kindle Store; once you’ve fully committed to letting folks upload whatever they want, you have to accept there’s going to be the occasional oddball.
As far as I can tell, the episode played as expected on all the different services out there. We had a couple people email us wondering if we knew about the “weird noise” at the end of the episode, and somebody in the
Hackaday Discord
wisely advised headphone wearers to steer clear of those last few seconds, but that was it.
But did the message survive, and how would users extract it? For the sake of argument let’s forget that we offer a direct download of the MP3 for each podcast, since obviously that would be the most direct route. I wanted to see if it was possible to pull the message out from the various podcast services. So I set Audacity up to record from a monitor of the system audio, opened the podcast in the web players for Spotify, Google, and TuneIn, and jumped right to the end of the track.
Sure enough, the audio captured directly from the web decoded properly using the KCS tools. Next I wondered if I could plug different podcast playing gadgets, such as my Pixel 4 or Echo Show into the computer, and record the audio from them directly.
Interestingly enough, this actually caused some issues. While the waveform looked the same in Audacity,
py-kcs
would routinely add garbage characters to the front of the intended string. Martin Ward’s Perl tool did slightly better, but would also run into the occasional error. Results were the same when recording from my Thinkpad T400 and Lenovo Chromebook. I’m not sure why this is, and would be interested in hearing from anyone who might have a theory.
Recording from AntennaPod on an Android device introduced unexpected errors.
That said, if you ignored the corrupt data, the appropriate message still got through. So I’m calling this one a partial win, since if you squint at the results just right, you can still move on to the next step.
The Truth is Out There
So now we have our answer. Not only is it absolutely possible to use an encoding scheme like Kansas City standard to put digital data into a podcast episode, but pulling the data back out on the receiving end is easily doable even if the listener doesn’t have access to the original MP3 file.
But what is the content of the decoded signal, and what do you do with it once you have it? Well, I never promised to tell you everything. Don’t worry though, this post should get you half-way there. After all, the intent was never to make this
too
difficult, it was only an experiment.
Of course, now that we know the concept is sound, the next time we hide a message in an episode of the podcast…expect to have your work cut out for you. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488542",
"author": "Pundetectorist",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T19:31:24",
"content": "“ Of course, now that we know the concept is sound”Ba-dum TSSHH!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488552",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",... | 1,760,372,645.549114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/the-mystery-of-automatic-lubricators-is-revealed/ | The Mystery Of Automatic Lubricators Is Revealed | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"automatic lubricator",
"industrial",
"industry",
"lubrication",
"lubricator"
] | Industrial machines have all kinds of moving parts that require regular lubrication in order to prevent wear and damage. Historically, these would require regular visits from maintenance personnel to keep them greased up and slippery. Automatic lubricators eliminate that job by regularly dosing machines with fresh grease, and [Big Clive]
decided to see what makes them tick
.
The device can be set to deliver a full load of grease over a period of 1-12 months.
The simplest models merely use a spring to slowly force grease out over time. Changing the spring changes the rate at which grease is dispensed. Chemical versions exist too. A chemical pill is selected and inserted into a chamber with liquid, which releases gas over time. As gas is released, it creates pressure which forces a plunger down, dispensing grease over time.
Perhaps the fanciest versions are the electronic models, however, which have a dial on the back for selecting the rate of grease delivery. Turning the dial changes a resistance that is connected across two zinc-air cells which are sealed. Apparently, when current is forced through these cells and they’re excluded from oxygen, the cells liberate hydrogen gas, according to a patent [Big Clive] found. This then forces down the plunger, dispensing the grease. Turning the dial changes the resistance, changing the rate at which grease is dispensed.
The quest for labor saving in industry has produced multiple designs of automated lubricator, all of which are fantastically simple and optimised for purpose. It shows just how much can be achieved with a few components and some creative thinking, where one’s first impulse might be to reach for a timer or microcontroller to do the job.
Lubrication is incredibly important –
don’t forget it when building your CNC machines
! Video after the break.
[Thanks to hackbyte for the tip!] | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488399",
"author": "JohnU",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T07:57:32",
"content": "If you love it, lube it.Greasing things is a very under-rated activity but it’ amazing the difference it makes to performance & reliability.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{... | 1,760,372,645.601113 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/esp32-camera-slider-build-keeps-things-in-perspective/ | ESP32 Camera Slider Build Keeps Things In Perspective | Tom Nardi | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"camera slider",
"ESP32",
"GT2 Belt",
"motorized camera slider",
"web based"
] | We’ve seen a lot of camera slider builds here at Hackaday, and for good reason: having one really lets you take your project documentation, especially videos, to the next level. It’s one of those force multiplier builds — after you’ve completed it, it can help you make all your future projects just that much better. But we’re also no strangers to seeing these projects become overly complex, which can often make it difficult for others to replicate.
But that’s not the case here.
The motorized camera slider that [Sasa Karanovic] recently sent our way
does exactly what you’d expect, and little else. That’s not meant as a dig — sometimes the best approach is to keep it simple. Unless you’re a professional photographer or videographer, it’s unlikely you need a complicated motion rig. This design is perfect for the hacker or maker who wants to spruce up their project videos, but doesn’t want to spend months fiddling with the design.
A wheeled platform moves the camera along the extrusion.
The build centers around a single piece of 2020 aluminum extrusion, the length of which really depends on the kind of shots you’re looking to take. Regardless of length, it gets capped off with a handful of 3D printed components which allow a standard NEMA 17 stepper motor to move a small wheeled cart back and forth along the length of the extrusion via a GT2 timing belt. There’s even an end-stop switch on one side of the extrusion, which let’s the electronics “home” the camera during startup.
Aboard the wheeled platform you’ll find a second NEMA 17 stepper, this time used to rotate a platform to which a commercial phone/camera mount has been attached. Combined with the lateral translation along the extrusion, this allows the software to keep a subject in the center of the frame while the camera moves.
Speaking of which, [Sasa] has not only released the hardware for this camera slider as an open source project, but also the source code for the ESP32 firmware which lets you control the whole thing from a web browser. As demonstrated in the video below, the interface provides the user with a simple way of manually adjusting variables such as camera speed and rotation. If given a specific duration for the camera pan operation to last, it can even figure out the appropriate speed automatically.
What’s that? Still too many parts for your liking?
We’ve covered less technically complex sliders in the past
if you’re really looking for the bare minimum, but for our money, we think [Sasa] has struck an excellent balance with this design: it’s got enough features to provide professional-looking results, without being so complex that it can’t be put together in a weekend. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488626",
"author": "tetsuoii",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T07:49:09",
"content": "Very elegant and useful project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488716",
"author": "Sasa Karanovic",
"timestamp": "2022-07-02T18... | 1,760,372,645.649622 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/adding-voluminous-joy-to-a-diy-turbojet-with-a-diy-afterburner/ | Adding Voluminous Joy To A DIY Turbojet With A DIY Afterburner | Ryan Flowers | [
"Engine Hacks"
] | [
"afterburner",
"jet engine",
"turbine"
] | You don’t happen to own and operate your own turbojet engine, do you? If you do, have you ever had the urge to “kick the tires and light the fires”? Kicking tires simply requires adding tires to your engine cart, but what about lighting the fires? In the video below the break, [Tech Ingredients] explains that we will require some specialized hardware called a re-heater —
also known as an afterburner
.
[Tech Ingredients] does a deep dive into the engineering behind turbojets, and explains how the very thing that keeps the turbines from melting also allows an afterburner to work. Also explained is why it can also be called a re-heater, and why there are limitations on the efficiency.
Moving on to the demonstration, two different homebrewed afterburners are put to use. The second iteration does exactly what you’d think it should do, and is a mighty impressive sight. We can only imagine what his neighbors think of all the noise! The first iteration was less successful, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful, and we’ll let you view the video below to see what
else
an afterburner can do. We’ll give you a hint: Worlds Biggest Fog Machine.
Does the thought of thrust turn your turbines? You might enjoy this
motor-jet contraption
that looks almost as fun as the real thing, but 3D printable! | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488280",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T19:15:32",
"content": "All that and it still didn’t move his barn, he’s just gonna have to get a couple of hundred Amish guys over for that and try the jet on something smaller like a go-kart.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,645.859062 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/its-raid-with-floppy-drives/ | It’s RAID. With Floppy Drives. | Jenny List | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"floppy disk",
"macosx",
"raid"
] | There are some tings that should be possible, so just
have
to be tried. [Action Retro] has a great video showing just such an escapade,
the creation of a large RAID 0 array using a pile of USB floppy drives
. Yes, taking one of the smallest and most unreliable pieces of data storage media and combining a load of them together such that all the data is lost if just one of them fails.
Surprisingly the process of creation is quicker and simplier than we expected, with a slightly long-in-the-tooth version of Mac OS X making short work of the process. Starting with 30 USB floppies and a pair of large USB hubs, he whittled the pile down to 13 drives that would play nicely and RAID together. The sight of so many drives all lighting up together as the precious megabytes are filled with data is probably not one seen outside the realm of floppy duplication machines, which brings back bad memories for those of us in the consumer software business in years past.
Would you do this? Probably, but
should
you do it? Of course not, but then again he’s done it so the rest of us don’t have to. Here in 2022 maybe
there are better uses for a brace of floppy drives
. | 38 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488217",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T15:50:54",
"content": "Sometime in the grey dreariness of a 1997 northern winter, I managed to configure a pair of floppies into a single volume that delivered data at twice the speed. This wasn’t the objective, I think I ... | 1,760,372,646.138844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/a-math-based-personality-for-games/ | A Math Based Personality For Games | Matthew Carlson | [
"Games",
"Software Development"
] | [
"animation",
"game design",
"mathematics"
] | We make no apologies for being hardware focused here at Hackaday, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t occasionally impressed by a particularly inspired feat of bit wrangling. For example, [t3ssel8r] has taken a break from his game to discuss
his procedural animation system
and the beautiful math behind it.
Sometimes, rather than having specific keyframes, games will instead use procedural animation. This means that the position is determined on the fly rather than a predetermined set of positions. Developers can use the combination of IK or FK (inverse or forward kinematics) to solve for rotation and positions of the joints that will place the end at a specific position. Particularly with crawling multi-limb things, it’s pretty easy to put a limb on the ground and keep it there until it’s too far away, pick a new spot, and move it there. It’s simple code to write and looks convincing. It can handle complex terrain and situations with different limb positions.
However, it doesn’t offer the chance to inject some life or personality into the movement as keyframes do. [t3ssel8r] goes through the equations and reasoning behind his semi-implicit Euler solver-based system. There are some fantastic explanations in the video, but the short version is that he has three parameters to control the system’s frequency, dampening, and initial response. This allows him to tweak the behavior in a somewhat intuitive manner. One problem is stability; if the timesteps get too large, the position quickly explodes outwards. Using eigenvalues (who ever thought you’d use those) to determine the minimum timestep allows the system to remain stable and take multiple smaller steps when needed or just bound the change temporarily.
If you’re looking for more animation, this
blender plugin renders your PCB traces in a new light
. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488195",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T14:27:23",
"content": "All enquires to Ministry of Silly Walks: Cybernetic Division, London LW1.;-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488245",
"author": "WF",... | 1,760,372,645.971153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/performing-magic-with-a-little-high-tech-help/ | Performing Magic With A Little High-Tech Help | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"cards",
"computer vision",
"deck",
"identificaiton",
"ink",
"magic",
"pattern"
] | Doing magic with cards involves a lot of precise dexterity to know which card is where. For plenty of tricks, this is often knowledge and control of a single card or a small number of cards. But knowing the exact position of every single card in the deck could certainly be helpful, so the
Nettle Magic Project
was created to allow magicians to easily identify the location of cards in the deck.
The system works through the use of computer vision to identify a series of marks on the short edge of a stack of cards. The marks can be printed in IR- or UV-sensitive ink to make them virtually invisible, but for demonstration these use regular black ink. Each card has landmarks printed on either side of a set of bit markers which identify the cards. A computer is able to quickly read the marks and identify each card in order while the deck is still stacked, aiding the magician in whichever trick they need to perform.
The software only runs on various Apple devices right now, including iPhones and iPads, but the software is readily available fore experimentation if you are a magician looking to try something like this out. Honestly, we don’t see too many builds focusing on magic, sleight-of-hand or otherwise, and we had to go back over a decade to find
a couple of custom magical builds from a magician named [Mario]
.
Thanks to [Tim] for the tip! | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488138",
"author": "not",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T11:26:57",
"content": "Oh, so it´s like this:https://www.xfpokercheat.com/sale-7563588-bmw-car-key-camera-poker-cheating-tools-to-scan-and-analyze-bar-codes-sides-cards.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,372,645.911573 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/30/raspberry-pi-pico-w-adds-wireless/ | Raspberry Pi Pico W Adds Wireless | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Microcontrollers",
"News",
"Slider"
] | [
"ESP32",
"pico",
"raspberry pi",
"rp2040",
"wireless"
] | News just in from the folks at Raspberry Pi:
the newest version of their Pico has WiFi
and is called, obviously, the Pico W. We were going to get our hands on a sample unit and kick its tires, but it’s stuck in customs. Boo! So until it shows up, here’s what we can glean from the press releases and documentation.
The Pico is, of course,
the Raspberry Pi microcontroller dev board based on their RP2040 microcontroller
. This in turn has two Cortex M0+ cores and a good chunk of onboard RAM, which has made it a popular target for MicroPython. They had some extra real estate on the PCB, so they’ve added an Infineon CYW43439 WiFi chip, and voila: Pico W.
As of now, the WiFi is supported in both the
C SDK
and the pre-baked MicroPython image. It looks trivially easy to get it working, and it’s based on the time-tested
lwIP stack
, a classic in the embedded world. The CYW43439 is also Bluetooth capable, but there’s no firmware support for that yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it showed up soon.
The price? $6 for the whole shooting match. You can view this two ways: a small $2 premium over the old Pico, or a price increase of 50%. How you see things probably depends on your order quantity. Either way, it’s firmly in the ESP32 module price range, so you’ve got some comparison shopping to do if your project needs a microcontroller and WiFi. And in these days of silicon shortages, it’s nice to have a couple of options. | 63 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488123",
"author": "Leon Heller",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T09:34:03",
"content": "I’ve just ordered one!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6488422",
"author": "Matthias",
"timestamp": "2022-07-01T10:57:15",
... | 1,760,372,646.24613 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/gym-equipment-converted-to-generator/ | Gym Equipment Converted To Generator | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bike",
"energy",
"excercise",
"generator",
"gym",
"motor",
"recovery"
] | Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but the most likely eventual conclusion of changing it from one form or another will be relatively useless heat. For those that workout with certain gym equipment, the change from chemical energy to heat is direct and completely wasted for anything other than keeping in shape. [Oliver] wanted to add a step in the middle to recover some of this energy, though, and
built some gym equipment with a built-in generator
.
Right now he has started with the obvious exercise bike stand, which lends itself to being converted to a generator quite easily. It already had a fairly rudimentary motor-like apparatus in it in order to provide mechanical resistance, so at first glance it seems like simply adding some wires in the right spots would net some energy output. This didn’t turn out to be quite so easy, but after a couple of attempts [Oliver] was able to get a trickle of energy out to charge a phone, and with some more in-depth tinkering on the motor he finally was able to get a more usable amount of energy to even charge a laptop.
He estimates around 30 watts of power can be produced with this setup, which is not bad for a motor that was never designed for anything other than mechanical resistance. We look forward to seeing some other equipment converted to produce energy too, like a rowing machine or treadmill. Or, maybe take a different route and
tie the exercise equipment into the Internet connection instead
. | 41 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488067",
"author": "Mike Massen,Perth,Western+Australia",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T05:28:22",
"content": "Would be of interest and potentially open markets rather for home power generation & to mains or home battery but, would need regulatory authorities to come on board with moder... | 1,760,372,646.477946 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/record-setting-jumper-tosses-biomimicry-out-the-window/ | Record-Setting Jumper Tosses Biomimicry Out The Window | Ryan Flowers | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"biomimicry",
"geared motor",
"jumping",
"jumping robot",
"rubber band",
"rubber bands"
] | How can a few grams of battery, geared motor, and some nifty materials get
a jumping robot over 30 meters into the air
? It wasn’t by copying a grasshopper, kangaroo, or an easily scared kitty. How was it done, then?
It’s been observed that of all the things that are possible in nature, out of all the wonderful mechanisms, fluid and aerodynamics, and chemistry, there’s one thing that is so far undiscovered in a living thing: continuous rotation. Yes, that’s right, the simple act of going roundy-round is unique to mechanical devices rather than biological organisms. And when it comes to jumping robots, biomimicry can only go so far.
With this distinct mechanical advantage in mind, [Elliot Hawkes] of the University of California Santa Barbara decided to look beyond biomimicry. As explained in the paper in
Nature
and demonstrated in the video below the break, the jumping robot being considered uses rubber bands, carbon fiber bows, and commodity items such as a geared motor and LiPo batteries to essentially wind up the spring mechanism and then, like a trap being sprung, release the pent up energy all at once. The result? The little jumper can go almost 100 feet into the air. Be sure to check it out!
Thanks to [Kelvin Ly] for the tip! | 39 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488046",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T02:15:25",
"content": "so far undiscovered in a living thing: Continuous rotation.Ssshhhh… don’t tell an archaeon that. It might stop swimming.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,372,646.397981 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/a-home-made-laser-cutter-for-700/ | A Home Made Laser Cutter For $700 | Matthew Carlson | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"DIY laser",
"diy laser cutter",
"laser cutter",
"marlaser"
] | While some decent lasers are out there for under $400 USD, they tend to be a little small. What if you wanted something a little nicer but didn’t want to jump to the $2,000 category? The answer for [Owen Schafer] was
to build it with parts he had lying around and a few strategic purchases
.
While he was initially planning on using a diode laser, doing anything more than engraving is tricky. He purchased a cheap 40 W CO2 laser tube, but it meant that he needed water cooling, mirrors, and more complex stuff that a diode doesn’t need. The frame is aluminum extrusion held together with 3D printed plates. Given there was a powerful laser bouncing around with mirrors, a plywood box formed the enclosure.
The stepper controller is an Arduino Mega running the Marlaser firmware, though [Owen] admits perhaps a laser cutter-specific driver board would have been better as he spent many hours trying to get the Arduino to do what he wanted. Air ventilation is a tube with a fan that vents out a nearby window. Water cooling is just a bucket of water with a pump in it. A simple nylon hose connected to a compressor with a maximum airflow valve provides an air assist while cutting. Finally, we’re happy to report that [Owen] bought safety glasses specific to his laser to protect his eyes and researched how to ground the high voltages generated.
We particularly loved seeing all of [Owen’s] test cuts. He proudly displayed his boxes, sharks, and lamp shades like anyone with their new laser cutter is wont to do. If you’re looking to upgrade your laser, there’s an
add-on for detecting materials optically
or a
relatively cheap laser bed you can throw in your laser
. | 36 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488029",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T23:46:57",
"content": "It’s work noting that your laser cutter enclosure needs to be light tight because even light leaking out the joint of two poorly joined boards is enough to damage your eyes.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,372,646.322077 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/odd-inputs-and-peculiar-peripherals-miniature-steel-drums-become-rotary-mouse-controllers/ | Odd Inputs And Peculiar Peripherals: Miniature Steel Drums Become Rotary Mouse Controllers | Robin Kearey | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"mouse",
"rotary controller",
"steel drum"
] | When [bornach] browsed through his office’s free-cycling box he found an old novelty toy that lets you play simple tunes on miniature steel drums. Such a thing is probably fun for about five minutes – if it’s working, which this one wasn’t. But instead of throwing it away, [bornach] spotted an opportunity in the capacitive touch pads on top of those little drums: they looked perfect to be
modified into an unusual mouse cursor controller
.
The operation started with [bornach] ripping out the original PCB and replacing it with an ESP32 D1 Mini. That board has a handy stack of touch-sensitive pins which could interface directly with the drums’ touch pads. He then programmed the ESP32 to interpret the signals as mouse movements and button presses, and send the results to a computer through a BlueTooth connection.
Operating the mouse drums is so straightforward that they almost appear made for this purpose: you slide your finger in circles along the touch pads to move the cursor in the X or Y direction, and touch the center pad to click. The left drum moves the cursor horizontally while the right one moves it vertically, but there’s also a mode to use the right drum as a scroll wheel.
The rotary X/Y controls are reminiscent of an Etch-a-Sketch; while probably too clumsy for everyday use, they might come in handy in some circumstances where you need to make single-pixel-accurate motions, if only to click those miniscule “close” buttons on some online ads.
Amazingly, this isn’t the first Etch-a-Sketch style mouse we’ve featured:
this cute little wooden device
works in a similar way. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6488084",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2022-06-30T07:15:38",
"content": "Would also have been fun to build some really propper sounding caribbian drums from those…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6488119",
"author": "IIV... | 1,760,372,646.574376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/hackaday-prize-2022-the-baffatari-2600-adds-atari-compatibility-to-retrocomputers/ | Hackaday Prize 2022: The Baffatari 2600 Adds Atari Compatibility To Retrocomputers | Robin Kearey | [
"Retrocomputing",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"6502",
"Apple 1",
"atari 2600"
] | Like today’s Intel-AMD duopoly, the market for home computer CPUs in the 1970s and ’80s was dominated by two players: Zilog with their Z80, and MOS Technology with their 6502 processor. But unlike today, even if two computers had the same CPU, it didn’t mean the two were software compatible: differences in memory layout, video interfaces, and storage media meant that software developed for an Atari 2600 wouldn’t run on an Apple I, despite the two sharing the same basic CPU architecture.
[Augusto Baffa]’s
latest modern retrocomputer design, the Baffatari 2600,
cleverly demonstrates that the difference between those two computers really is only skin-deep. The Baffatari is a plug-in board that adds Atari 2600 functionality to [Augusto]’s earlier Baffa-6502 system, which was designed to be Apple I-compatible. Since both the Apple and the Atari are powered by 6502 CPUs, only a few peripherals need to be swapped to change one into the other.
Sitting on the Baffatari board are two chips essential to the Atari 2600’s architecture: the 6532 RAM I/O Timer (RIOT) that contains the RAM and joystick interface, and the Television Interface Adapter (TIA) that handles the graphics and audio. These chips connect to the Baffa-6502’s system bus, enabling the main CPU to communicate with them and run Atari 2600 software titles. In the video embedded below, you can see several classic games running on the Baffa system.
The basic idea is similar to
this RC2014 plug-in board
that enables a Z80-based retrocomputer to run MSX and Colecovision titles. In fact, [Augusto] also built such a board for
his earlier Z80 project
.
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487970",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T18:37:22",
"content": "Hmm… I wonder why they didn’t opt to use an edge connector.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487974",
"author": "Tobias",
"timestamp... | 1,760,372,646.531245 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/bare-metal-stm32-adding-an-analog-touch-with-adcs/ | Bare-Metal STM32: Adding An Analog Touch With ADCs | Maya Posch | [
"ARM",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Microcontrollers",
"Slider",
"Software Development"
] | [
"adc",
"stm32"
] | An Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) is at its core a straight-forward device: by measuring an analog voltage within a set range and converting the measured level to a digital value we can use this measurement value in our code. Through the use of embedded ADCs in microcontrollers we can address many essential use cases, ranging from measuring the setting on a potentiometer, to reading an analog output line on sensors, including the MCU’s internal temperature and voltage sensors.
The ADCs found in STM32 MCUs have a resolution between 12 to 16 bits, with the former being the most common type. An ADC can be configured to reduce this resolution, set a specific sampling speed, and set up a multi-mode configuration depending on the exact ADC peripheral. STM32 MCUs feature at least a single ADC peripheral, while some have multiple. In this article we will take a look at how to configure and use the basic features of the ADCs in STM32 MCUs, specifically the ADCs found in F0 and the ADC5_V1_1 type as found in most F3-family MCUs.
Setting Things Up
STM32F0 ADC block diagram (RM0091, 13.4).
There are three essential items to take care of when configuring an ADC device:
Enabling its clock in its Reset and Clock Control (RCC) enable register.
Calibrating the ADC device.
Picking an ADC common clock source.
The first item should be obvious, as it is the standard procedure as with any other peripheral device on STM32. Even so there is a bit of a gotcha here on some STM32 MCUs. Specifically on MCUs like the F334, its two ADC devices (ADC1 and ADC2) use the same clock domain (
ADC12
bit in the
RCC_AHBENR
register).
With the peripheral clock domain enabled, we can move onto running its self-calibration routine. While this is optional, applying the factory-provided calibration factors greatly improves the accuracy of the sampled values.
Calibration
Running the calibration routine applies a stored calibration factor to adjust the ADC peripheral. This calibration factor is measured and programmed during manufacturing. Running the calibration routine requires that the ADC peripheral has its clock enabled (in RCC), but is turned off (
ADEN
bit). On F0 and compatible MCUs calibration is then started by writing to the
ADCAL
bit in the
ADC_CR
register and waiting for the calibration to complete by checking the
ADCAL
bit value:
ADC1->CR |= ADC_CR_ADCAL;
while ((ADC1->CR & ADC_CR_ADCAL) != 0) { }
On F3 devices the procedure is very similar, but also requires that we first enable the ADC’s voltage regulator on the device. E.g.:
ADC1->CR &= ~ADC_CR_ADVREGEN;
ADC1->CR |= ADC_CR_ADVREGEN_0;
The gotcha with the
ADVREGEN
register value is that it must always transition through 0x00 when changing it, which is why we have to first unset it. After enabling the voltage regulator, we have to wait for 10 microseconds to give the regulator output time to settle. With that handled, we can perform the ADCAL procedure as described previously for the F0.
Clock Source
STM32F334 ADC clock scheme. (RM0364, 13.3.3)
The ADC clock source is essentially the choice between a synchronous (AHB- or APB-derived) or asynchronous (independent from clock-domain resynchronizations). Generally picking the asynchronous source is a safe option, e.g. for STM32F0 by setting the value for
CKMODE
in
ADC_CFGR2
and enabling the high-speed ADC clock (here the 14 MHz HSI clock):
ADC1->CFGR2 &= ~ADC_CFGR2_CKMODE;
RCC->CR2 |= RCC_CR2_HSI14ON;
while ((RCC->CR2 & RCC_CR2_HSI14RDY) == 0) { }
Of importance here is to wait for the clock source to stabilize before we proceed. With the HSI14 clock on F0 this is done by waiting for the
HSI14RDY
bit to be set in
RCC_CR2
.
Using a synchronous, bus-derived clock mode is also an option, e.g. the AHB clock without divider on F334 MCUs:
ADC1_2_COMMON_BASE->CCR |= ADC_CCR_CKMODE_1;
With the clock mode selected and the previous tasks also crossed off the list, we can proceed to the configuration of the channels we wish to sample during a sequence.
Channel Configuration
STM32F334’s ADC1 and ADC2 channel connectivity. (RM0364, 13.3.4)
Each ADC is connected to a number of analog input channels, with a range of fixed external (GPIO-connected) channels, and an additional number of so-called internal channels. These latter channels are connected to the internal temperature sensor (
Vsense
), internal voltage reference (
Vrefint
), battery voltage (
Vbat
), and on the F334 MCUs there is
Vopamp2
on channel 17 of its second ADC peripheral for an embedded operational amplifier.
The way a channel is configured is where the ADCs of the F0 and F3 families begin to diverge significantly. If we look at F0, configuring ADC1’s channels is performed by setting the channel as active in ADC_CHSELR, followed by the setting the sample time. If we configure channels 1 (GPIO) and 16 (Vsense), for example, we get:
ADC_BASE->CCR |= ADC_CCR_TSEN;
ADC1->CHSELR |= (1 << 1);
ADC1->CHSELR |= (1 << 16);
ADC1->SMPR = 7;
This sets channels 1 and 16 as active in the channel selection register, and sets the sample time to the maximum length (
0b111
). For channel 16 (Vsense), this is the recommended sampling length for sampling Vsense (239.5 ADC cycles). As the sampling time on F0 ADCs is the same for all channels, we have to pick the longest required sampling time here.
Note that we also have to enable the
TSEN
bit in the common
ADC_CCR
register in order to enable this channel. The same is true for the other internal channels, using the
VREFINT
and
VBAT
bits in the same register. Finally, note that we have to enable the analog mode on the GPIO pin we wish to use for analog input.
Next, let’s look at what configuring the same channels looks like on an F334 device:
ADC1_2_COMMON_BASE->CCR |= ADC_CCR_TSEN;
ADC1->SQR1 = 1;
ADC1->SQR1 |= (1 << 6);
ADC1->SQR2 |= (16 << (6 * 2));
ADC1->SMPR2 |= (7 << (3 * 6));
Here too we have to enable the
TSEN
bit, but the way a sampling sequence is set up is more complicated. Basically the
SQR1
through
SQR4
registers contain the successive channel numbers to be sampled in the sequence, with the first entry in
ADC_SQR1
containing the number of channels in the entire sequence (with 0 meaning one channel).
With the channels configured as such using otherwise the default settings, we are ready to start the sequence.
Running A Sequence
Before we can start a sequence, we wish to make sure that
ADRDY
in the
ADC_ISR
register is 0. This lets us know that we can safely start a new sequence. Next, we enable the device by setting
ADEN
in the
ADC_CR
register for the target ADC peripheral. The device is now ready for the sequencing start.
When we write to the
ADSTART
bit of the
ADC_CR
register, it causes the ADC to begin sampling, which by default is as a single sequence, meaning that it will sample each active channel once, before stopping. When a channel has been sampled, we can detect this by waiting for the EOC (End Of Conversion) bit in the
ADC_CR
register to be set. Once this bit becomes a ‘1’, we can read the sampled value from the
ADC_DR
register, which will reset the EOC bit. Once the entire sequence is complete,
EOSEQ
in
ADC_ISR
will be set.
Handling Sampled Values
The sampled value will be a number between 0 and the maximum bit value: 4095 in the 12-bit case. This makes it easy to detect the state of an external potentiometer, which will output voltages that span the full range. If you want to know exactly what voltage is being output, you need to do some scaling. For example, if you are supplying the ADC with 3.3 V, a reading of 1337 is 1337 / 4095 * 3.3 V = 1.077 V in the real world.
The internal temperature sensor works similarly, but requires calibration from voltage to temperature, or you can just take “typical” values from the data sheet. For the F042 MCU these are 0x1FFFF7B8 for 30°C and 0x1FFFF7C2 for 110°C. We take the 12-bit value we got for Vsense as the raw temperature (in an
int16_t
variable) and plug it into the formula given in the reference manual:
int32_t temperature = 0;
temperature = (((int16_t) raw) - *TEMP30_CAL_ADDR);
temperature = temperature * (int32_t)(110 - 30);
temperature = temperature / (int32_t)(*TEMP110_CAL_ADDR - *TEMP30_CAL_ADDR);
temperature = temperature + 30;
For the referenced STM32F042 MCU, this gives a temperature of around 36°C shortly after writing the firmware image to the device, with a room temperature of about 28°C. While the internal temperature sensor of STM32 devices are not guaranteed to be very accurate, using the provided calibration values it should be accurate to within a few degrees, and certainly enough for relative temperature measurements, which is enough to figure out if the chip is overheating.
Only The Beginning
The preceding gives only a brief introduction to the ADC peripherals as they exist within STM32 MCUs, of course. We only used a single ADC, and left the sampling resolution, data alignment, etc. at their defaults. These options we will look at in more detail in an upcoming article, along with the use of interrupts, continuous mode and the multi-mode operation of multi-ADC F3 MCUs.
Regardless, it should be possible to perform many essential ADC-related tasks with the information provided so far, and to understand some of the fundamentals behind their operation. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487968",
"author": "Bob A.",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T18:27:12",
"content": "Great tutorial! Looking forward to future installments. This is why I visit Hackaday daily.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487992",
"autho... | 1,760,372,646.631404 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/a-gps-frequency-standard-for-when-the-timing-has-to-be-right/ | A GPS Frequency Standard For When The Timing Has To Be Right | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"Frequency Standard",
"gps",
"GPS clock"
] | A metrology geek will go to extreme lengths to ensure that their measurements are the best, their instruments the most accurate, and their calibration spot-on. There was a time when for time-and-frequency geeks this would have been a difficult job, but with the advent of GPS satellites overhead carrying super-accurate atomic clocks it’s surprisingly easy to be right on-frequency. [Land-boards] have
a GPS 10 MHz clock
that’s based around a set of modules.
Since many GPS modules have a 10 MHz output one might expect that this one to simply hook a socket to the module and have done, but instead it uses another of their projects, a fast edge pulse generator with the GPS output as its oscillator, as a buffer and signal conditioner. Add to that an QT Py microcontroller board to set up the GPS, and there you have a standalone 10 MHz source to rival any standard.
Full details can be found on the project’s wiki
, and
the firmware can be found on GitHub
.
Careful with your exploration of standard frequencies,
for that can lead down a rabbit hole
. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487936",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T16:07:04",
"content": "“Most accurate” is relative. There were always hobbyists interested in it. They did what they could at the time. So some temperature compensated their crystal oscillators, or put them in ovens. T... | 1,760,372,646.673779 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/3d-printed-ear-transplant-ushers-in-ear-a-of-custom-body-parts/ | 3D Printed Cartilage Ushers In Ear-a Of Custom Body Parts | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"3d printing",
"bio engineering",
"bio printing",
"medical",
"medicine"
] | When it comes to repairing human bodies, there’s one major difficulty: spare parts are hard to come by. It’s simply not possible to buy a knee joint or a new lung off the shelf.
At best, doctors and surgeons have made do with transplants from donors where possible. However, these are always in short supply, and come with a risk of rejection by the patient’s body.
If we could 3D print new custom body par/ts to suit the individual, it would solve a lot of problems.
A new ear implant pioneered by 3DBio Therapeutics has achieved just that.
Grown To Order
Microtia is a condition in which the external ear structures are underdeveloped, on one or both sides. Credit:
Klaus D. Peter, CC-BY-SA-3.0
The implant is known as the AuriNovo, so named to evoke a meaning of “new ear.” It’s designed to treat a condition known as microtia, in which the external ear structure is underdeveloped on one or both sides. Each year, roughly 1,500 babies are born with the condition in the United States.
Current treatments involve taking a sample of cartilage from the ribs from the patient and manually carving it to resemble a typical ear shape. This can then be implanted with a low likelihood of rejection as it’s made from the patient’s own cells. Alternatively, implants can be made from synthetic materials, and placed under the skin.
The AuriNovo ear goes the biological route, but negates the need to harvest a large amount of cartilage from the ribs. Instead, in the pioneering surgery, just half a gram of cartilage was taken as a biopsy from the patient’s existing ear structure. From there, special cells called chondrocytes were separated out. These cells, which are used for cartilage formation, were then cultivated in a proprietary nutrient solution to multiply in their billions.
Diagram outlining the method used to create and implant the AudiNovo. Credit: 3DBio Therapuetics
From there, the chondrocytes grown from the patient’s sample were combined with a collagen-based “bio ink”. The resulting mixture was then used in a special 3D printer specifically built for creating biological structures. The ink and printer are both design specifically to keep everything sterile to reduce the chance of complications or rejection from the patient’s body. The printer created a replica of the patient’s fully-developed ear out of the biological material, albeit flipped to suit the opposite side of the head.
The ear was then given a special biodegradable overshell for support, and shipped via cold storage. Shortly after arrival, the printed structure was implantaed under the patient’s skin, which stretched around and took on the expected form of a fully-developed human ear. The overshell is intended to be absorbed by the body over time, leaving the printed cartilage structure behind.
It’s early days yet, and the clinical trial involving 11 patients is still ongoing. However, prospects for the technique are good. The resulting structure is made of biocompatible materials as well as cells grown from the patient themselves, making rejection unlikely. Plus, as the implant is made of living material, it should remain flexible and maintain the look and feel of a regular human ear over the long term.
Fundamentally, the external ear structures are relatively simple things. They’re largely scaffolding, though they do play a role in helping to capture sound coming into the ear. They also have the benefit of being made largely of a single simple material, without any complicated biochemistry, veins, or nerves.
Thus, ear reconstruction is perhaps a perfect starting point for creating new body parts from scratch. Lessons learned in this project could help scientists working on more complicated problems with more mechanical complexity. This could lead to creating new mating surfaces for joints, or better restorative treatments for those with injuries. Long term goals involve 3D printing entire organs, like kidneys and livers. However, there’s plenty more work to be done before we’re able to recreate functional organs, with all their fluid inlets and outlets and complicated chemical processing abilities.
Overall, the AudiNovo is a solid first step into a new future, where custom body parts can be printed up on demand. Here’s hoping that the clinical trial delivers great results for all patients involved, and that it heralds in further advances in the field.
Images of ear framework:
3D Bio Therapeutics | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487919",
"author": "Joseph Eoff",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T14:40:54",
"content": "‘ear, ‘ear. Well done.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6487927",
"author": "Prowler50mil",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T15:44:09",
"cont... | 1,760,372,646.812779 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/reverse-engineering-an-apollo-era-module-with-x-ray/ | Reverse Engineering An Apollo-Era Module With X-Ray | Dan Maloney | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Space"
] | [
"analog",
"apollo",
"cordwood",
"nasa",
"radiograph",
"reverse engineering",
"x-ray"
] | The gear that helped us walk on the Moon nearly 60 years ago is still giving up its mysteries today, with some equipment from the Apollo era taking a little bit more effort to reverse engineer than others. A case in point is
this radiographic reverse engineering of some Apollo test gear
, pulled off by [Ken Shirriff] with help from his usual merry band of Apollo aficionados.
The item in question is a test set used for ground testing of the Up-Data Link, which received digital commands from mission controllers. Contrary to the highly integrated construction used in Apollo flight hardware, the test set, which was saved from a scrapyard, used more ad hoc construction, including cards populated by mysterious modules. The pluggable modules bear Motorola branding, and while they bear some resemblance to ICs, they’re clearly not.
[Ken] was able to do some preliminary reverse-engineering using methods
we’ve seen him employ
before, but ran into a dead end with his scope and meter without documentation. So the modules went under [John McMaster]’s X-ray beam for a peek inside. They discovered that the 13-pin modules are miniature analog circuits using cordwood construction, with common discrete passives stacked vertically between parallel PCBs. The module they imaged showed clear shadows of carbon composition resistors, metal-film capacitors, and some glass-body diodes. Different angles let [Ken] figure out the circuit, which appears to be part of a square wave to sine wave converter.
The bigger mystery here is why the original designer chose this method of construction. There must still be engineers out there who worked on stuff like this, so here’s hoping they chime in on this innovative method. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487882",
"author": "FreekyFrank",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T11:24:13",
"content": "A similar form of construction was used by Olivetti for it’s first generation computers. From memory the advantages were that it allowed a higher density compared to conventional construction whilst r... | 1,760,372,646.872957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/29/shielding-a-cheap-rtl-sdr-stick/ | Shielding A Cheap RTL-SDR Stick | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"RTL-SDR",
"sdr",
"shielding"
] | Even though not every Hackaday reader is likely to be a radio enthusiast, it’s a fair guess that many of you will have experimented with an RTL-SDR USB dongle by now. These super-cheap devices are intended for digital TV reception and contain an RTL2832 chip, which with the proper software, can be pushed into service as a general purpose software defined radio receiver. For around $10 USD they’re fantastic value and a lot of fun to play with, even if they’re not the best radio ever. How to improve the lackluster performance? One of the easiest and cheapest ways is simply to shield it from RF noise,
which [Alan R] has done with something as mundane as a tubular fizzy orange tablet container
.
This is probably one of the simpler hacks you’ll see on this site, as all it involves is making an appropriate hole in the end of the tube and shielding the whole with some aluminium foil sticky tape. But the benefits can be seen immediately in the form of reduced FM broadcast band interference, something that plagues the cheaper dongles.
Perhaps the value in this hack aside from how easy it is on a cheap dongle is that it serves to remind us some of the benefits of paying a little extra for a better quality device. If you’d like to know more about RTL-SDR improvements, it’s a topic we covered in detail back in 2019
when we looked at seven years of RTL-hackery
. | 22 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487844",
"author": "Michael",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T08:26:36",
"content": "I did the same just with an rectangular sweets box. added extension cable to get away from computer noise too, and a real sma jack",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,646.927945 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/arduino-drum-platform-is-fast/ | Arduino Drum Platform Is Fast | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"c++",
"digital",
"drum",
"exadrums",
"hardware",
"kit",
"music",
"Nano Every",
"speed"
] | Drums are an exciting instrument to learn to play, but often prohibitive if there are housemates or close neighbors involved. For that problem there are still electronic drums which can be played much more quietly, but then the problem becomes one of price. To solve at least part of that one, [Jeremy] turned to
using an Arduino to build a drum module on his own
, but he still had to solve yet a third problem: how to make the Arduino fast enough for the drums to sound natural.
Playing music in real life requires precise timing, so the choice of C++ as a language poses some problems as it’s not typically as fast as lower-level languages. It is much easier to work with though, and [Jeremy] explains this in great detail over a series of blog posts detailing his drum kit’s design. Some of the solutions to the software timing are made up for with the hardware on the specific Arduino he chose to use, including an even system, a speedy EEPROM, hardware timers, and an ADC that can sample at 150k samples per second.
With that being said, the hardware isn’t the only thing standing out on this build. [Jeremy] has released the source code on his
GitHub page
for those curious about the build, and is planning on releasing several more blog posts about the drum kit build in the near future as well. This isn’t the only path to electronic drums, though, as we’ve seen with this build which
converts an analog drumset into a digital one
. | 53 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487803",
"author": "Jouni",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T05:54:33",
"content": "“Playing music in real life requires precise timing, so the choice of C++ as a language poses some problems as it’s not typically as fast as lower-level languages.”Yeah, right..",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,647.457953 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/an-epic-tale-of-pirate-radio-in-its-golden-age/ | An Epic Tale Of Pirate Radio In Its Golden Age | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"am",
"broadcast radio",
"fm",
"pirate radio"
] | With music consumption having long ago moved to a streaming model in many parts of the world, it sometimes feels as though, just like the rotary telephone dial, kids might not even know what a radio was, let alone own one. But there was a time when broadcasting pop music over the airwaves was a deeply subversive activity for Europeans at least, as the lumbering state monopoly broadcasters were challenged by illegal pirate stations carrying the cutting edge music they had failed to provide. [Ringway Manchester] has
the story of one such pirate station
which broadcast across the city for a few years in the 1970s, and it’s a fascinating tale indeed.
It takes the form of a series of six videos, the first of which we’ve embedded below the break. The next installment is placed as an embedded link at the end of each video, and it’s worth sitting down for the full set.
The action starts in early 1973 when a group of young radio enthusiast friends, left without access to a station of their taste by Government crackdowns on ship-based pirate stations, decided to try their hand with a land-based alternative. Called Radio Aquarius, it would broadcast on and off both the medium wave (or AM) and the FM broadcast bands over the next couple of years. Its story is one of improvised transmitters powered by car batteries broadcasting from hilltops, woodland, derelict houses, and even a Cold War nuclear bunker, and develops into a cat-and-mouse game between the youths and the local post office agency tasked with policing the spectrum. Finally having been caught once too many times, they disband Radio Aquarius and go on to careers in the radio business.
The tale has some tech, some social history, and plenty of excitement, but the surprise is in how innocent it all seems compared to the much more aggressively commercial pirate stations that would be a feature of later decades. We’d have listened, had we been there!
Not only pirate radio has made it to these pages,
we’ve also brought you pirate TV
! | 29 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487758",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T02:06:08",
"content": "But did they have listeners? Or was it the thrill of being a pirate?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487789",
"author": "Clara Liste... | 1,760,372,647.100046 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/building-a-serial-bus-to-save-an-old-hard-drive/ | Building A Serial Bus To Save An Old Hard Drive | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"486",
"command line",
"communications",
"dos",
"hard drive",
"image",
"recovery",
"retro",
"serial",
"windows xp"
] | Universal Serial Bus has been the
de
facto
standard for sending information to and from computer peripherals for almost two decades, but despite the word “universal” in the name this wasn’t always the case. Plenty of competing standards, including USB, existed in the computing world in the decades before it came to dominance, and if you’re trying to recover data from a computer without USB
you might have to get creative with how it’s done
.
[Ben] recently came across a 80486 with this problem, so he had to get creative to recover the contents of the drive. He calls it the “lunchbox” computer due to its form factor, and while it doesn’t have USB it does have a tried-and-trusted serial port to communicate with other computers. [Ben] wrote up a piece of software for both the receiving computer and the sending computer in order to copy the drive sectors one by one across a serial link to a standalone computer running Windows XP, and was able to recover the contents of the drive that way instead.
All of the code [Ben] wrote is available on his
GitHub page
for anyone looking to boot up a 30-year-old computer again. While it might sound uncommon, computers of this vintage are still around running things like
CNC machines
or
old mainframes
. | 67 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487729",
"author": "Arthur Mezins",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T23:23:57",
"content": "There are some SD card adapters that can emulate the HW of a HDD, even some of the older ones, but they’re becoming scarcer every day. Here’s one:https://smile.amazon.com/SDHC-40Pin-Adapter-Memory-... | 1,760,372,647.365412 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/designing-a-lora-gateway-during-a-part-shortage/ | Designing A LoRa Gateway During A Part Shortage | Tom Nardi | [
"Parts",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"gateway",
"LoRa",
"Onion Omega",
"power over ethernet"
] | It’s fair to say that right now is probably the worst possible time you could choose to design a new piece of hardware. Of course the reality is that, even in the middle of a parts shortage that’s driving the cost of many components through the roof (if you can even find them), we can’t just stop building new devices. In practice, that means you’ll need to be a bit more flexible when embarking on a new design — it’s like the Stones said:
“You can’t always get what you want / But if you try sometime you’ll find / You get what you need”
For [Ryan Walmsley], that meant
basing his new outdoor LoRa gateway on the ubiquitous Raspberry Pi was a non-starter
. So what could he use in its place? The software situation for the Nano Pi Duo looked pretty poor, and while the Onion Omega 2+ was initially compelling, a bug in the hardware SPI seemed to take it out of the running. But after more research, he found there was a software implementation that would fit the bill.
With his Pi alternative in hand, now he had to find the rest of his components. Since the design wasn’t something that would necessarily go into production, [Ryan] reasoned he could get away with using off-the-shelf modules from the likes of Adafruit and The Pi Hut rather than implementing their functionality on his PCB. It would be a bit more expensive, but meant less work for him. With the big features like Power over Ethernet handled, he just needed to tie it all together with some 0805 passives for easy hand assembly.
Testing and assembly
went better than it did for his previous LoRa gateway
, and the resulting board fits snugly into a commercial weatherproof enclosure. [Ryan] says each one costs between $300 and $350 USD to put together, but it sounds like he hasn’t decided what the fate of this particular design is yet. Perhaps your comments below will help him chose whether he tries to sell them as kits or release the files and turn this into an open hardware project, so don’t be shy.
Thanks to [Neilios] for the tip. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487806",
"author": "f__",
"timestamp": "2022-06-29T06:00:52",
"content": "While I commend the effort, I really see no point. It’s a PCB with a handful of voltage regulators and a bit of wiring for three modules, one of which has known hardware problems. You can buy two commercially... | 1,760,372,647.155648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/odd-inputs-and-peculiar-peripherals-the-lowpow-shortkeyboard-can-work-on-your-desk-or-out-in-the-field/ | Odd Inputs And Peculiar Peripherals: The LowPow ShortKeyboard Can Work On Your Desk Or Out In The Field | Robin Kearey | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"ble",
"ESP32",
"LoRa",
"macro keypad"
] | For some power users, the one-hundred-and-something keys on regular keyboards just aren’t enough for their everyday tasks. Macro keypads are a popular way of extending one’s input capabilities, and there are almost as many examples as there are power users. [Ulrich]’s latest project, dubbed the
LowPow E-Ink ShortKeyboard
, is a beautiful and meticulously documented design for a macro pad that includes several unusual features.
Built around an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, the ShortKeyboard features nine programmable function keys plus an analog joystick and a rotary encoder. The keys are based on Cherry MX RED types commonly seen in mechanical keyboards, illuminated from below by by miniature RGB LEDs. A big e-ink display in the middle can be used to show the function of each key.
That’s neat, but it’s the additional features that really make this device stand out from the crowd. One of those is connectivity: communication with the host PC can go through a regular USB-C cable, but thanks to the built-in wireless features of the ESP32 it can also communicate through BlueTooth Low Energy or even through WiFi. There’s even an 868 MHz LoRa radio that makes it usable as a remote control for outdoor gadgets.
The ShortKeyboard can used on battery power thanks to a charger chip that keeps a lithium battery topped up whenever the USB cable is connected. A clever power management system ensures the keyboard stays in sleep mode as much as possible when powered from the battery; according to [Ulrich]’s calculations its current consumption should drop to around 50 nA when not in use.
The keyboard also has space to connect environmental sensors via I2C. The idea is that the system can keep track of the air quality at your desk, which is where you’re likely to be spending a lot of your time. We can also imagine some use cases for outdoor operation, such as pollution monitoring or meteorological projects.
Although the assembly of the ShortKeyboard is still a work in progress, what we’ve seen so far definitely looks promising. Hungry for more macro keypads? Check out
this beautiful build
or
this cute little 3D-printed model
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487715",
"author": "Keith Wakeham",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T22:05:19",
"content": "We really need an article on do not out rf modules in the center of a pcb at this rate. Modules have made poor rf decisions by hobbyists super common.You’re gonna have a bad rf time if you out your ... | 1,760,372,647.66239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/2022-hackaday-prize-reuse-recycle-revamp-finalists/ | 2022 Hackaday Prize: Reuse, Recycle, Revamp Finalists | Elliot Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"contests",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"recycling"
] | The 2022 Hackaday Prize is focused on taking care of the planet. The theme of our second challenge round, “Reduce, Recycle, Revamp” is all about tailoring your projects to make use of existing resources and keeping material out of the landfill rather than contributing to it. Our judges have scrutinized the entries and handed me the sealed envelope. All of these ten projects will receive $500 right now and are eligible for the Grand Prize of $50,000, to be announced in November.
We were looking for two broad types of recycling projects in this round, either projects that incorporate a significant recycled component in their build, or projects that facilitate recycling themselves, and frankly we got a good mix of both!
On the first front, we saw projects that recycled
plastic bottles
,
LCD screens
, and the
inevitable acrylic off-cuts
that result when laser cutting.
The X-PC
even recycles most of the guts of laptop computers by creating a frame for mounting them as standalone desktops, and the
ABN6502
uses scrounged up ICs to make a microcomputer.
Skateboard decks made of recycled plastic
? We’ll have to test them out, but it’s a cool idea and a great project.
In the machines-for-recycling category, we saw new progress on a neat project, the
Plastic Scanner
, which aims to build a device that can tell one type of recyclable plastic from another. And apparently the plastic that our 3D printers use is grinding a lot of peoples’ environmental gears, because we had
filament re-extruders
,
filament recyclers
, and even a
Trash Printer
that takes in scrap plastic and directly extrudes it into shape.
You can check out all the finalists in detail, listed in no particular order below. And if you’ve got a project that aims to keep devices out of the landfills by repairing them rather than recycling them, make sure to enter it in the
Hack It Back challenge
, going on right now.
Our congratulations to all of the finalists!
Ten Finalists from Reuse, Recycle, Revamp
Upcycle Acrylic Scraps Into
New Sheets and Jewelry
The X-PC
PewPew LCD
DIY Solar Bottle Lamp
The Trash Printer
Plastic Scanner
Polyformer Plus
PullStruder
ABN6502 SBC R1
RPSD: Recycled Plastic
Skateboard Deck
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487661",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T18:15:34",
"content": "IANAHaDJ (I am not a Hackaday judge)But I lean more in favor of the e-waste projects (LCD screens, reused ICs, etc.) Than remelting plastic entries.B^)",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,372,647.522306 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/food-irradiation-detector-doesnt-use-banana-for-scale/ | Food Irradiation Detector Doesn’t Use Banana For Scale | Kristina Panos | [
"cooking hacks",
"Machine Learning",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"animal feed",
"Beetle ESP32-C3",
"ESP32",
"IoT",
"irradiated food",
"irradiation",
"neural network"
] | How do the potatoes in that sack keep from sprouting on their long trip from the field to the produce section? Why don’t the apples spoil? To an extent, the answer lies in varying amounts of irradiation. Though it sounds awful, irradiation reduces microbial contamination, which improves shelf life. Most people can choose to take it or leave it, but in some countries, they aren’t overly concerned about the irradiation dosages found in, say, animal feed. So where does that leave non-vegetarians?
If that line of thinking makes you want to Hulk out, you’re not alone. [kutluhan_aktar] decided to build
an IoT food irradiation detector
in an effort to help small businesses make educated choices about the feed they give to their animals. The device predicts irradiation dosage level using a combination of the food’s weight, color, and emitted ionizing radiation after being exposed to sunlight for an appreciable amount of time. Using this information, [kutluhan_aktar] trained a neural network running on a Beetle ESP32-C3 to detect the dosage and display relevant info on a transparent OLED screen. Primarily, the device predicts whether the dosage falls into the Regulated, Unsafe, or just plain Hazardous category.
[kutluhan_aktar] lets this baby loose on some uncooked pasta in the short demo video after the break. The macaroni is spread across a load cell to detect the weight, while [kutluhan_aktar] uses a handheld sensor to determine the color.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen AI on the Hackaday menu.
Remember when we tried those AI-created recipes? | 66 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487602",
"author": "GP",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T15:58:52",
"content": "The premise for this project is incorrect – food irradiation does not induce radioactivity in food! The claims that irradiated food is potentially dangerous is also very misleading. A Geiger counter is only... | 1,760,372,647.626022 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/lenses-from-fire-starters-to-smart-phones-and-vr/ | Lenses: From Fire Starters To Smart Phones And VR | Matthew Carlson | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"camera",
"camera lens",
"lenses",
"smartphone",
"smartphone camera"
] | In antiquity, we see examples of magnifying crystals formed into a biconvex
shape as early as the 7th century BC
. Whether the people of that period used them either for fire-starting purposes or vision is unclear. Still, it is famously said that Emperor Nero of Rome
watched gladiator games through an emerald
.
Needless to say, the views we get through modern lenses are a lot more realistic. So how did we get from simple magnifying systems to the complex lens systems we see today? We start with a quick journey through the history of the camera and the lens, and we’ll end up with the cutting edge in lens design for smartphone cameras and VR headsets.
Theory and Practice
Philosophers and scientists across most cultures and periods have thought about light. Our modern theories of light date back to the 1600s, and the work of scientists like Johannes Kepler, Willebrord Snellius, Issac Newton, and Christiaan Huygens. Of course, it wasn’t without controversy. Newton and many others had put forward the idea that light was a particle that moved in a straight line like a ray, while Huygens and others proposed that light behaved more like a wave. For a while, Newton’s camp won out.
This changed in the 1800s when Thomas Young’s interference experiments showed data that no particle theory could explain. Fresnel, in 1821, managed to describe light not as a longitudinal wave but as a transverse wave. This became the de facto theory for light, known as the Huygens-Fresnel principle until Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory came along and ended the era of classical optics.
Meanwhile, practical eyeglasses were likely invented in central Italy around 1290. Eyeglasses spread throughout the world and spectacle makers also started making telescopes. The first patent for a telescope was filed in 1608 in the Netherlands. However, the patent application wasn’t granted because by that time telescopes were already somewhat common. These refracting telescopes were quite popular and often simple two-element systems. Reflecting telescopes such as the one built by Newton in 1668 were built in part to prove his theories about
chromatic aberration
. Ultimately mostly correct, he proved that lenses refract light to a focal point but that different wavelengths refract differently. This means that colors have different focal points, distorting the image.
When film arrived on the scene, it was discovered that cameras suffered from spherical aberration as well — the lens could not focus the image over a wide flat plane. Charles Chevalier created an achromatic lens that could control both chromatic and spherical aberrations. However, this meant that the aperture at the front was quite small (f/16), taking the exposure time to twenty or thirty minutes.
While not useful for cameras,
the fresnel lens came around this time
in 1818 and saved hundreds if not thousands of ships. The French Commission of Lighthouses had hired Fresnel to design the lens and it had worked out quite well. Perhaps because of this success, in 1840 the French government offered a prize for whoever could come up with a lens that could reduce exposure times in cameras.
Diagram of Petzval’s 1841 portrait lens – crown glass shaded pink, flint glass shaded blue
Joseph Petzval was a math professor that took on the challenge presented. Eight human artillery computers were lent to his projectby an archduke for six months — this was cutting edge design. Ultimately he wasn’t offered the prize since he wasn’t French, but his lens was the best performing out of those submitted that year.
Petzval’s lens was one of the first four-element lens systems and one of the first lenses designed specifically for the camera rather than being a repurposed camera obscura or telescope part. As a result, it was a prevalent lens design for the next century. While further tweaks were common, they were mostly done via trial and error rather than going back to the mathematical underpinnings that created the lens in the first place.
The next jump forward came in 1890 with the Zeiss Protar, which used new types of glass with different indexes of refraction and other optical properties. Combining different glasses together resulted in a lens that corrected almost all aberrations. This type of lens is known as
an Anastigmat
, and the Protar was the first.
There’s much more history here around the rise of the Japanese lens manufacturers and the fall of the German ones. But we’re going to skip ahead to the smartphone.
The Modern Smartphone
Form US Patent US8558939B2
We discussed it briefly in
our longer article that talks about what makes up a smartphone
. But modern smartphone lenses are complex as they’ve had to handle capturing adequate light while being small. An excellent resource
is this blog post we linked to
in the above article.
Many smartphones today still use a three-element lens system, heavily inspired by the
Cooke triplet
.
It has the advantage of being fairly easy to explain and relatively simple to manufacture. The first lens has high optical power and a low index of refraction and dispersion since we can’t correct for such aberrations. The second lens offsets any aberrations that do occur in the first and is a different material, helping to reduce the spherical effect that the first lens produces. The third lens corrects the distortion from the first two and flattens the rays onto the image plane.
From US Patent US20170299845A1
Then we abruptly go to something like this. Look at the lenses. None of them are lovely spherical shapes. Instead, they’re strange and mysterious.
This is the lens stack up from around an iPhone 7 — it isn’t clear what patent was used in what phone. The front lens has high optical power, and the second lens tries to correct that. But then the last four lenses are all wonky shapes that correct for distortion and spherical aberration.
Unlike larger cameras, most of the lenses in a cell phone are the same material. Why? The simple answer is that they have to. Smartphone lenses are mostly plastic rather than lapped glass. Contrary to what you may think, making them in
plastic is more complex than glass
. Anyone who has worked with resin can tell you that
getting defect-free clear plastic is no easy feat
. The plastics we can use for lenses come in only two main varieties, with two indexes of refraction to choose from. Glass comes in a whole spectrum, doped with various materials to get exotic IoR and Abbe numbers. In fact, some of the
more exotic camera lenses have radioactive materials such as thorium in them
. However, plastics can better form unique shapes compared to glass. Lapping glass into anything other than a sphere is difficult to scale and manufacture consistently. Plastic is molded and can be in any form you want.
Additionally, there are plenty of other features that smartphones offer, such as optical image stabilization which uses MEMS to move the lens around in response to the motion. Of course, this requires moving one or more lenses or even the camera module itself, which introduces a host of problems as each lens has a specific role in handling aberrations. In the latest iPhone 12, the CMOS image sensor moves rather than the lenses. This allows the lenses to retain much of their optical power while still correcting for aberrations.
VR Headsets
If photography drove lens innovation in the 1800s, it’s probably the cell phone driving it in the 2000s. But there’s one more nich application that might shake things up in the near future: VR. Currently, VR headsets are large and bulky. They feel this way partially because so much of their weight is away from your face, pulling down harder. If the headset could be thinner, that would make a more comfortable experience.
Right now, much of that bulk comes from the lenses and the distances needed to focus the image so that it looks correct when the headset is on. Recently, Facebook/Oculus/Meta showed off some of its
prototype headsets, and a few tried to address this
. Depending on where the user is looking, the headset does things like varying the focal plane and correcting for lens distortion in software on the fly.
The Future Of Lenses
Some are saying that we can get rid of lenses altogether. Several companies, such as Metalenz, are building waveguides out of silicon nanostructures. The advantage is that it can be packaged right on top of the CMOS image sensor without any complex housing. Because systems that used to use dozens of lenses to get the accuracy and low levels of distortion needed can be compressed to just a single layer, it would enable regular cameras and spectrometers to shrink.
Additionally, this is something that VR headsets are very interested in, as waveguides could be built into the screens allowing for a wider field of view with less weight and bulk. The future certainly holds a lot of exciting new developments for the design of lenses. As we get towards lenses that are distortion-free in more scenarios with more control, there are some
going back to older lenses
. Sometimes it is for the nostalgia and sometimes it’s because they like the look. Perhaps if Emporer Nero were to squint through our various lenses, cameras, and VR headsets today, he still might prefer the ruby, optical distortions and all. | 21 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487578",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T14:26:36",
"content": "Sounds like the kick off of a series, are you going to get into how we had a huge drop in lens prices through the 90s as we finally managed to figure out how to churn out non-spherical lenses in mass... | 1,760,372,647.725757 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/retrocomputing-time-to-hang-up-the-original-hardware/ | Retrocomputing, Time To Hang Up The Original Hardware? | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"amiga",
"old hardware",
"original hardware",
"retrocomputer"
] | For those of us with penchant for older technology, there’s something special about operating with older hardware. Whether it’s a decades-old camera, a vintage keyboard, or a home computer from the 1980s, the modern equivalent just doesn’t quite compare. But working with older parts definitely isn’t for the faint-hearted, as the passage of time has taken its toll on their reliability. Is it time to recognize that the supply of replacement vintage parts is not infinite, and to switch from using original hardware to more modern alternatives?
[Retro Recipes] poses this question
after a particularly difficult-to-find Amiga fault, and discusses it while evaluating a replacement Amiga made entirely from modern parts.
The new Amiga in question is a recreation of an A1200 with a re-manufactured case and keyboard, and the guts of an A500 Mini retro console taking the place of the Commodore board. He goes through the process of making an Amiga hard drive image on a USB drive using the image from his original drive in his teenage years, and boots it both on the 500 Mini based machine and on the UAE emulator on a Mac laptop. You can follow him in the video below the break.
We can see the logic in treating original hardware as a precious resource that’s not to be run up for fear of breaking it, but by the same token we’re still standing by that first sentence. But should the enjoyment of an older machine be limited only to those who have an original? We think not, so if enjoying an Amiga without an Amiga can be as good as the real thing then we’re all for it.
Of course, for those whose original Amigas have already broken,
there are other ways to bring them back
. | 57 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487541",
"author": "Justin",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T11:49:48",
"content": "If you don’t use old hardware for fear of breaking it, then it might as well be broken already. It’ll be unused either way. It’s like old cars – you need to have the time to keep them up. If you don’t, ... | 1,760,372,647.816378 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/28/reverse-engineering-forgotten-konami-arcade-hardware/ | Reverse-Engineering Forgotten Konami Arcade Hardware | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Games",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"arcade",
"digital signal processing",
"dsp",
"emulator",
"konami",
"mame",
"restoration"
] | When fully-3D video games started arriving in the early 90s, some companies were more prepared for the change than others. Indeed, it would take nearly a decade of experimentation before 3D virtual spaces felt natural. Even then, Konami seems to have shot themselves in the foot at the beginning of this era with their first foray into 3D arcade games. [Mog] shows us the ins-and-outs of these platforms
while trying to bring them back to life via MAME
.
These arcade machines were among the first available with fully-3D environments, but compared to offerings from other companies are curiously underpowered, even for the time. They include only a single digital signal processor which is tasked with calculating all of the scene geometry while competing machines would use multiple DSP chips to do the same job. As a result the resolution and frame rate are very low. Nonetheless, [Mog] set out to get it working in
MAME
.
To accomplish this task, [Mog] turned to a set of development tools provided to developers for Konami in the early 90s which would emulate the system on the PCs of the time. It surprisingly still worked on Windows 10 with minor tweaking, and with some other tools provided over the decades of others working on MAME these old Konami machines have some new life with this emulator support.
Not everything works perfectly, but [Mog] reports that most of the bugs and other issues were recently worked out or are being actively worked on by other experts in the field. If you remember these games from the arcade era of the 80s and early 90s, it might be time to
grab an old CRT
and fire this one up again. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487536",
"author": "Mog",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T10:32:55",
"content": "Just to clarify: The Motorola simulator was just a sim for the DSP56156 itself, which was a standard (but little-used) entry in their DSP56100 line. It wasn’t an emulator for the arcade system at all, and it ... | 1,760,372,647.852611 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/homebrew-optical-sensor-helps-your-diesel-pass-the-smoke-test/ | Homebrew Optical Sensor Helps Your Diesel Pass The Smoke Test | Dan Maloney | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"absorption",
"Beer-Lambert",
"diesel",
"exhaust",
"extinction coefficient",
"optical",
"particulate",
"smoke",
"Soot",
"transmission"
] | We’ve all heard of the smoke test, and we know that it’s the lowest possible bar for performance of an electronic device. If it doesn’t burst into flames when power is applied, you’re good to go for more functional testing. But the smoke test means something else for cars, especially those powered by diesel fuel. And passing diesel exhaust tests can become something of a chore.
To make passing these tests a little easier, [Janis Alnis] came up with
this diesel exhaust monitor
that measures the opacity of his car’s emissions. The sensor itself is quite simple, and mimics what commercial exhaust analyzers use: a LED and a photodiode at opposite ends of a tube of a specified length. Soot particles in exhaust passing through the tube will scatter light in a predictable way, and the numbers work out that a passing grade is anything greater than 53% transmission.
The sensor body is cobbled together from brass pipe fittings with glass windows epoxied into each end. Exhaust enters via a tee fitting attached to a hose and sampling tube, and exits through another tee. One window of the sensor has a cheap battery-powered flashlight as a light source, while the other end has a Texas Instruments OPT101 photodiode sensor. The sensor is connected to one of the analog inputs of an Arduino, which also runs a 128×64 pixel LCD display — inspired by
this air quality meter
— to show the current smokiness both graphically and as a percentage. The video below shows the sensor at work.
While there were some issues with soot buildup and water vapor condensation, using the sensor [Janis] discovered that a little bit of a warm-up drive got things hot enough to clear up his ride’s tendency to smoke a bit, allowing him to pass his inspection. | 50 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487508",
"author": "sdfdsfsfds",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T05:12:59",
"content": "“a passing grade is anything greater than 53% transmission.”…..no wonder the planet is screwed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487566",
... | 1,760,372,647.942839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/developing-a-custom-wearos-watch-face/ | Developing A Custom WearOS Watch Face | Tom Nardi | [
"Android Hacks",
"Software Development",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"Android Studio",
"smart watch",
"WearOS"
] | When you think about customizing the face of a smartwatch, you probably imagine something akin to selecting a new wallpaper on an Android device, or maybe tweaking the color scheme a bit. But not [Sebastian SARBU], his plans were a bit grander than all that. So he cracked open Android Studio and
started writing a truly custom watch face
that would make the most out of the device’s display. Luckily for us, he’s not only released the source code for others to study, but has documented the development process in a series of videos that you can see below the break.
He’s dubbed the new interface his “Pizza Watch Face”, as it breaks the circular screen down into slices complete with a bits of multi-colored “crust” that can show various notifications using the fewest pixels possible. There’s no question the layout is able to pack a lot of information into a relatively small space, and while aesthetics are naturally subjective, we happen to think it looks pretty slick.
Tweaking the tiling display code to better utilize a round display.
While it might technically be the correct term as far as the templates in Android Studio go, we actually think calling this a mere “watch face” is something of a misnomer, as it’s really closer to a total UI overhaul. As [Sebastian] explains in the second video in his series, part of his design includes a refined interface for viewing data pulled in from other apps, such as battery level and weather conditions, allowing him to maximize how much information he can access with a minimum number of taps and swipes on the screen.
He even closes the video series off with a demonstration of how to upload the Android Studio project directly onto your WearOS device over WiFi, making this a valuable start-to-finish guide on custom face development even if you aren’t using his code. We’ve seen something of a mixed response to smartwatches in the community, but even if they aren’t something we all are particularly interested in, there’s no debate that putting more information about working with them out in the open is a net positive.
Of course, if you
crave something truly bespoke
, perhaps a
custom open source smartwatch
is more what you’re after. | 13 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487491",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-06-28T03:17:55",
"content": "Considering just how much crap runs on those watches, it’s no wonder the charge only lasts for a day.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487493",
... | 1,760,372,647.995791 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/atari-at-50-the-story-of-our-lives/ | Atari At 50: The Story Of Our Lives | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"50 years",
"50th anniversary",
"anniversary",
"atari"
] | It’s been a year of anniversaries, what with the 40th birthday of both the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. But there’s another anniversary that in a sense tops them all, today marks 50 years since Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney incorporated Atari Inc, a name that will forever be synonymous with the development of the computer game industry.
PC Magazine
have marked the event with a retrospective,
an affectionate look at the progress from
Spacewar!
coin-ops to the unsuccessful Jaguar console of the 1990s, and it pulls no punches over the lacklustre management that oversaw its decline in later years.
For us the high points of the Atari story were the VCS console and the ST line of computers, which probably best represent the brand’s successes in Europe where this is being written. It’s with something of a wince that we remember watching
an Atari Lynx advert
in a British cinema, in which the laugh came when the teenager-unaffordably high price was revealed. At least diehard Atari fans can take solace in that by then Commodore was equally being run into the ground.
One criticism
PC Magazine
makes is that the current Atari incarnation is doing little beyond rehashing past glories, and perhaps they’re right.
Last year we covered their release of some new cartridges for the VCS
. | 14 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487467",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T23:58:30",
"content": "“It’s with something of a wince that we remember watching an Atari Lynx advert in a British cinema, in which the laugh came when the teenager-unaffordably high price was revealed. ”I imagine for a teenag... | 1,760,372,650.169062 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/odd-inputs-and-peculiar-peripherals-roendi-smart-knob-thinks-outside-the-box/ | Odd Inputs And Peculiar Peripherals: RoenDi Smart Knob Thinks Outside The Box | Dan Maloney | [
"contests",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"detent",
"encoder",
"gpio",
"input",
"IoT",
"knob",
"lcd",
"smart knob",
"stm32"
] | When it comes to design decisions, we’re often advised to “think outside the box.” It’s generally good advice, if a bit abstract — it could really mean anything. But it appears that someone took it quite literally with
this nifty little smart knob display and input device
.
[Dimitar]’s inspiration for RoenDi — for “rotary encoder and display” — came from an unusual source: a car dashboard, and specifically, the multipurpose knobs that often crop up in a car’s climate control cluster. Designed for ease of use while driving while causing as little distraction as possible, such knobs often combine a rotary encoder with one or more indicators or buttons. RoenDi builds on that theme by putting a 1.7″ round LCD display in the middle of a ring attached to an Alps rotary encoder, allowing the knob to be customized for whatever you want it to represent. The backplane sports a powerful STM32 microcontroller with a lot of the GPIO pins broken out, so customization and interfacing are limited only by your imagination. The design is open source, so you can either build your own or
support the project via Crowd Supply
.
Unlike
the haptic smart knob
we’ve been seeing a bit about lately, which also features a round LCD at its center, RoenDi’s feedback is via the physical detents on the encoder. We think both devices are great, and they fill different niches in the novel input ecosystem. | 19 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487431",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T20:16:57",
"content": "Ah, guess we’re into a smartknobathon then, still can’t be any worse than enduring a PBS funding drive I guess.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,372,649.80265 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/hackaday-prize-2022-a-cm4-upgade-for-your-old-ipad/ | Hackaday Prize 2022: A CM4 Upgrade For Your Old IPad | Arya Voronova | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Tablet Hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"compute module 4",
"diy ipad",
"ipad",
"Raspberry Pi Compute Module"
] | There’s no shortage of nicely built tablets out there, but unfortunately many of them are powered by what are by now severely outdated motherboards. Since manufacturers releasing replacement motherboards for their old hardware doesn’t look like its likely to be common practice anytime soon, the community will have to take things into their own hands. This is where [Evan]’s project comes in —
designing a Raspberry Pi CM4-powered motherboard
for the original iPad. It aims to have support for everything you’d expect: display, touchscreen, audio, WiFi, Bluetooth, and even the dock port. Plus it gives you way more computing power to make use of it all.
Testing part fitment with some cardboard CAD.
The original iPad got a lot of things right, a factor definitely contributing to its success back when it was released. [Evan]’s high-effort retrofit works with the iPad’s plentiful good parts, like its solid shell, tailored lithium-ion battery, eye-friendly LCD, and reliable capacitive touchscreen. You’d have to fit the new motherboard inside the space available after these parts all come together, and [Evan] has shaped his PCBs to do exactly that – with room for CM4, and the numerous ICs he’s added so as to leave no function un-implemented.
This project has been underway for over a year, and currently, there’s
fourteen information-dense worklogs
telling this retrofit’s story. Reverse-engineering the capacitive touchscreen and the LCD, making breakouts for all the custom connectors, integrating a custom audio codec, debugging device tree problems, unconventional ways to access QFN pins left unconnected on accident, and the extensive power management design journey. [Evan] has a lot to teach for anyone looking to bring their old tablet up to date!
The hardware files
are open-source,
paving the way for others to reuse parts for their own retrofits, and we absolutely would like to see more rebuilds like this one. This project is part of
the
Hack it Back
round
of the 2022 Hackaday Prize, and looks like a perfect fit to us. If you were looking for an excuse to start a similar project,
now is the time.
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487437",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T20:41:42",
"content": "Missed title opportunity… “Refruit your apple slice with fresh raspberry filling” or stuff along that line… is it a slice, or a pop tart, due to coming from the purveyor of beige toasters??? #showert... | 1,760,372,649.603859 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/metal-detector-gets-help-from-smartphone/ | Metal Detector Gets Help From Smartphone | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Android Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"coil",
"driver",
"experiment",
"frequency",
"metal detector",
"smartphone",
"wire"
] | [mircemk] is quite a wizard when it comes to using coils of wires in projects, especially when their application is within easy-to-build metal detectors. There are all kinds of ways to send signals through coiled wire to detect metal objects in the ground, and today [mircemk] is demonstrating a
new method he is experimenting with which uses a smartphone to detect the frequency changes generated by the metal detector
.
Like other metal detectors, this one uses two coils of wire with an oscillator circuit and some transistors. The unique part of this build, though, is how the detector alerts the user to a piece of metal. Normally there would be an audible alert as the frequencies of the circuit change when in the presence of metal, but this one uses a smartphone to analyze the frequency information instead. The circuit is fed directly into the headphone jack on the smartphone and can be calibrated and used from within an Android app.
Not only can this build detect metal, but it can discriminate between different types of metal. [mircemk] notes that since this was just for experimentation, it needs to be calibrated often and isn’t as sensitive as others he’s built in the past. Of course this build also presumes that your phone still has a headphone jack, but we won’t dig up that can of worms for this feature. Instead, we’ll point out that
[mircemk] has shown off other builds that don’t require any external hardware
to uncover buried treasure. | 15 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487384",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T16:18:50",
"content": "So we’ve been seeing a few microcontroller spectrum analysers lately, wonder if you could leverage that code for giving you visual feedback of a contact. Then either have saved curves to compare to, ... | 1,760,372,650.02397 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/teardown-kc-bearifone-could-talk-circles-around-teddy-ruxpin/ | Teardown: KC Bearifone Could Talk Circles Around Teddy Ruxpin | Kristina Panos | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Slider",
"Teardown"
] | [
"ITT Teleconcepts",
"KC Bearifone II",
"teardown",
"telephone"
] | At the risk of dating myself, I will tell you that grew up in the 80s — that decade of excess that was half drab and half brightly colored, depending on where you looked, and how much money you had for stuff like Memphis design. Technology seemed to move quickly in almost every aspect of life as the people of the Me decade demanded convenience, variety, and style in everything from their toilet paper (remember the colors?) to
their telephones
. Even though long distance cost a fortune back then, we were encouraged to ‘reach out and touch someone’.
A Healthy Fear of Bears
Looking back, it’s easy to see how all that advanced technology and excess filtered down to children. I may be biased, but the 80s were a pretty awesome time for toys, and for children’s entertainment in general. Not only were the toys mostly still well-made, even those that came in quarter machines — many of them were technologically amazing.
Take
Teddy Ruxpin
, which debuted in 1985. Teddy was the world’s first animatronic children’s toy, a bear that would read stories aloud from special cassette tapes, which moved his eyes and mouth along with the words. One track contained the audio, and the other controlled three servos in his face.
I remember watching the commercials and imagining Teddy suddenly switching from some boring bedtime story over to a rockin’ musical number a là the animatronic
Rock-afire Explosion
band at ShowBiz Pizza (a Chuck E. Cheese competitor). That’s the kind of night I wanted to be having.
The current lineup of the Rock-afire Explosion. Image via
Servo Magazine
Although I went to ShowBiz a fair number of times to play Skee-Ball and stare at
the Rock-afire Explosion animals
and their cool set pieces, I never did have a Teddy Ruxpin. I remember being torn between wanting one and thinking they were kind of scary, which in turn made me a bit tangentially afraid of the Snuggle bear. When it came down to it, Teddy simply cost too much —
$69.99 for the bear alone, and another $20 for a single cassette with storybook
. And that’s 1985 dollars —
according to my favorite inflation calculator, that’s $250 in today’s money
for a talking bear and one lousy story.
Which brings us to KC Bearifone, an animatronic teddy bear telephone. Honestly, part of the reason I bought the Bearifone was some sort of false nostalgia for Teddy. The main reason is that I wanted to own a
Teleconcepts
unit of some kind, and this one seemed like the most fun to mess around with. A robot teddy bear that only does speakerphone? Yes, please.
When You Can’t Be There, Be a Bear
“Ich bin ein Bearliner.”
If there’s another thing the 80s were known for, it’s
latchkey children
. Both of my parents worked, so after a respectable number of years in before-and-after-school daycare facilities, I walked home from the bus stop and let myself in every afternoon. Although my Dad was never gone on business trips or anything, he did work a lot of double shifts and often came home late at night, long after I’d gone to bed.
Plenty of kids’ fathers did travel for business, and that’s what KC Bearifone seems to be built for — calls from Dad’s hotel room right before bedtime, so he can say good night and maybe read you a story.
Whereas Teddy tells proprietary stories in some stranger’s gentle voice, KC Bearifone sounds like Dad, because that’s exactly what you’d be hearing — Dad’s voice. The difference is that theoretically, any discernible audio of human speech will animate KC Bearifone’s eyes and mouth. Weekly check-in with Grandma? KC Bearifone becomes a sweet old lady. Conference call with Munich? KC Bearifone spricht Deutsch.
So why did KC Bearifone even exist? Presumably to entertain people, especially children. And quite possibly to capitalize on the animatronic bear craze that Teddy Ruxpin started. But can you imagine seeing every caller’s voice come through a talking teddy bear? Talk about wild, and disarming to boot. If you’re a nervous phone user, this concept is orders of magnitude better than picturing the caller in their underwear for the sake of your confidence.
Bear Down for the Teardown
At first, I thought I wouldn’t be able to get too far into this teardown, because I thought there was only the one zipper that runs up KC’s back. But then I found a hidden zipper in the back of his head that let me into the goods. You can see how much more difficult it would be to tell which wire does what without access to the head.
The Bear’s bottom.
This is how many Sharpies fit in the battery box.
Do you see a way to get in to the head? Hint: it has nothing to do with the zip tie.
Now that I’ve found that head zipper, I can get pretty much anywhere. What you see here is the extent to which I can pull back the fur on his head, which is glued down around the eyeballs.
The head shell with speaker.
Head connections under the shell. ft side: switches
Right side: motor and caps.
Really wish I had a landline, but they’re $80/month. Have to take him to Mom’s.
The zip tie around his neck runs through a casing in the collar of his fursuit and is used to cinch it closed and keep kids from seeing KC’s internal horrors. If I wanted to get in to see the control board, I was probably going to have to snip it, so snip it I did.
At this point, I decided to see if it would even power on. To my surprise, we had four D cells lying around the house, all with at least 1.5 V in each of them. What we don’t have is a landline, so I can’t test it that way, but the light above the power switch comes on, so it seems worth the effort to investigate further.
End of the Teddy Bear Picnic
Well, it seems I snipped that 35-year-old zip tie for nothing, and now I have to thread a new one through the casing. Oh well, it shouldn’t be that hard; I’ve threaded my share of limp elastic through fabric casings up to this point, so it should go pretty quickly.
I thought I would have to undo every screw from the base of the neck up in order to get the cover off of the main box, but then I realized that the head post is slotted in to the top of the body. Unfortunately, the head won’t stay upright and backward by itself. That’s probably a good thing.
“I saw what you did to my battery compartment. It’s time for revenge!”
The panhead screw only gets the battery cover off. We need the countersunk one, of course.
But here’s the bad part — there are two screws at the bottom of the compartment that are super hard to get to. I could probably get to them with a flex-head screwdriver. As I was pulling on the back of the box and thinking, I realized that there’s no way I’m getting it open without amputating the keypad from KC’s abdomen, or skinning him completely. And I don’t want to go there.
Bear In Mind, This Isn’t Over
I still want to take over the input and do something cool with it. I’m thinking it would be perfect for listening to the Hackaday Podcast. So far, I haven’t had time to started hacking on KC Bearifone, but
this project has some interesting information
, including
a page about building your own ‘transmogrifier unit’
if you can’t locate the commercial unit inside that makes the voice signals manipulate KC’s features.
And as far as Teddy Ruxpin goes, I’ve got a semi-working unit on the way, so maybe we’ll have an actual talking bear showdown one of these days. Is the world ready for that? | 43 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487352",
"author": "not",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T14:31:43",
"content": "Those articles are unbearable, but still way better than the utterly annoying articles from the clacker series.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487363... | 1,760,372,650.121609 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/design-your-cm4-carrier-with-wifi-performance-in-mind/ | Design Your CM4 Carrier With WiFi Performance In Mind | Arya Voronova | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"2.4ghz antenna",
"antenna",
"compute module",
"compute module 4",
"Raspberry Pi Compute Module",
"wifi"
] | The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 has a built-in WiFi antenna, but that doesn’t mean it will work well for you – the physical properties of the carrier board impact your signal quality, too. [Avian] decided to
do a straightforward test
– measuring WiFi RSSI changes and throughput with a few different carrier boards. It appears that the carriers he used were proprietary, but [Avian] provides sketches of how the CM4 is positioned on these.
There’s two recommendations for making WiFi work well on the CM4 – placing the module’s WiFi antenna at your carrier PCB’s edge, and adding a ground cutout of a specified size under the antenna. [Avian] made tests with three configurations in total – the CMIO4 official carrier board which adheres to both of these rules, carrier board A which adheres to neither, and carrier board B which seems to be a copy of board A with a ground cutout added.
After setting up some test locations and writing a few scripts for ease of testing, [Avian] recorded the experiment data. Having that data plotted, it would seem that, while presence of an under-antenna cutout helps, it doesn’t affect RSSI as much as the module placement does. Of course, there’s way more variables that could affect RSSI results for your own designs – thankfully, the scripts used for logging are available, so you can test your own setups if need be.
If you’re lucky to be able to design with a CM4 in mind and an external antenna isn’t an option for you, this might help in squeezing out a bit more out of your WiFi antenna. [Avian]’s been testing things like these every now and then – a month ago,
his ESP8266 GPIO 5V compatibility research
led to us having a heated discussion on the topic yet again. It makes sense to stick to the design guidelines if WiFi’s critical for you – after all, even the HDMI interface on Raspberry Pi
can make its own WiFi radio malfunction. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487340",
"author": "Ragnarok700",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T13:29:36",
"content": "What about instead of making a cutout trying to get it to help/boost the signal?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487345",
"author": "J... | 1,760,372,649.652448 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/3d-scanning-trouble-this-guide-has-you-covered/ | 3D Scanning Trouble? This Guide Has You Covered | Donald Papp | [
"how-to"
] | [
"3d scanning",
"OpenScan",
"Photogrammetry"
] | When it comes to 3D scanning, a perfect surface looks a lot like the image above: thousands of distinct and random features, high contrast, no blurry areas, and no shiny spots. While most objects
don’t
look quite that good, it’s possible to get usable results anyway, and that’s what [Thomas] aims to help people do with his
tips on how to create a perfect, accurate 3D scan
with photogrammetry.
3D scanning in general is pretty far from being as simple as “point box, press button”, but there are tools available to make things easier. Good lighting is critical, polarizers can help, and products like chalk spray can temporarily add matte features to otherwise troublesome, shiny, or featureless objects. [Thomas] provides visuals of each of these, so one can get an idea of exactly what each of those elements brings to the table. There’s even a handy flowchart table to help troubleshoot and improve tricky scan situations.
[Thomas] knows his stuff when it comes to 3D scanning, seeing as he’s behind the
OpenScan
project.
The last time we featured OpenScan was back in 2020
, and things have clearly moved forward since then with a new design, the
OpenScan Mini
. Interesting in an open-sourced scanning solution? Be sure to give it a look. | 9 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487058",
"author": "Jon H",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T11:16:23",
"content": "Has anyone tried using that really dated faux granite spray paint on objects before 3d scanning them? It provides a matte surface of black, dark gray, light gray, and white speckles.Might be a bit rougher t... | 1,760,372,649.849337 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/go-kart-reverse-without-the-pain/ | Go-Kart Reverse Without The Pain | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"Electric motor",
"go-kart",
"reverse gear"
] | Go-karts are a huge amount of fun, but often lack the most basic of mechanical conveniences such as a reverse gear. You can’t start a small four-stroke engine in reverse, so their simple chain drive transmissions lack the extra cogs to make it happen. Enter [HowToLou], who has
given his go-kart a reversing option by the addition of an electric motor
.
It’s an extremely simple arrangement, the motor is a geared 12 V item which drives a V-belt to the axle. The motor is mounted on a pivot with a lever, such that normally the belt isn’t engaged, thus reverse can be selected by pulling the lever. A simple button switch applies power to the motor, meaning that the machine can travel sedately backwards on electric power.
We’re not entirely convinced by the integrity of some of his fixings and it would be interesting to see how much the V-belt wears under the influence of the pulley when not engaged, but as an alternative to a full gearbox we can see the point. But then again as regular readers may know,
we’re more used to full electric traction
. | 20 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487136",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T16:23:57",
"content": "So, presumably you need to carry a battery too, now.What’s next? electric start? Yeesh. Fuggedaboutit. Leave the tonnage at home.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,649.912094 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/quantum-circuit-uses-just-a-few-atoms/ | Quantum Circuit Uses Just A Few Atoms | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"quantum computing",
"quantum dots"
] | Researchers at the University of New South Wales and a startup company, Silicon Quantum Computing, published results of their quantum dot experiments. The circuits use up to 10 carbon-based quantum dots on a silicon substrate. Metal gates control the flow of electrons.
The paper appears in
Nature
and you can download the full paper from there.
What’s new about this is that the dots are precisely arranged to simulate an organic compound, polyacetylene. This allowed researchers to model the actual molecule. Simulating molecules is important in the study of exotic matter phases, such as superconductivity. The interaction of particles inside, for example, a crystalline structure is difficult to simulate using conventional methods. By building a model using quantum techniques on the same scale and with the same topology as the molecule in question, simulation is simplified.
The SSH (Su-Schreffer-Heeger) model describes a single electron moving along a one-dimensional lattice with staggered tunnel couplings. At least, that’s what the paper says and we have to believe it. Creating such a model for simple systems has been feasible, but for a “many body” problem, conventional computing just isn’t up to the task. Currently, the 10 dot model is right at the limit of what a conventional computer can simulate reasonably. The team plans to build a 20 dot circuit that would allow for unique simulations not feasible with classic computing tech.
The dots are made with a scanning tunneling microscope and there is a Goldilocks effect regarding the size of the dots. If they are too small, the energy levels are overwhelmed by phosphorous donors. Too large, and capacitive coupling between dots makes the system unstable.
We’ll admit, the science in the paper is pretty dense. But the Methods section outlines what it takes to create something like this. You’ll need silicon, high-temperature ovens, and the ability to handle exotic gasses and perform lithography. Pretty much an IC fab in your basement. However, we did wonder if anyone homebrewing chips had ever tried STM lithography like this as an alternative to optical lithography. Seems like it might be possible.
We can’t help with some of the more exotic gear, but if you want to build an
STM
, it has been done. While you can make
quantum dots
in your kitchen, we don’t think they are going to work the same. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487005",
"author": "Move those Neutrons and Electrons and protonS around?",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T05:21:20",
"content": "What about the actual molecular level?https://github.com/iaddis/metalnesTransistor level NES-001 simulation.Though technically you could work on the actual mo... | 1,760,372,649.550529 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/the-prints-dont-stop-with-this-prusa-i3-mk3-mod/ | The Prints Don’t Stop With This Prusa I3 MK3 Mod | Matthew Carlson | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d print",
"3D printer mod",
"continuous",
"prusa",
"Prusa i3 Mk3"
] | One of the issues with 3D printing is that when a print is done, you need to go back and pull the print off the bed to reset it for the next one. What if you needed to print 600 little parts for whatever reason? Most people might say get lots of printers and queue them up. Not [Pierre Trappe], as he decided
that his Prusa i3 MK3S+ would print continuously
.
The setup was dubbed Loop and consisted of a few parts. First, there’s an arm that sweeps the build plate to clear the printed pieces, a slide for the pieces to descend on, and a stand for the printer to sit on that puts it at an angle. The next step is to modify OctoPrint to allow a continuous print queue. The slicer needs to change as [Pierre] provides some G-code to reset the printer and clear the print.
We were especially impressed with the attention to detail in the documentation for this one. There’s extensive guidance on getting the bed adhesion
just
right, as you can’t have it come off mid-print, but you need it to detach cleanly and easily when the arm sweeps across the bed. Calibrating that first layer is essential, and he provides handy instructions to dial it in. Additionally, temperature and material play a crucial role, and [Pierre] documented the different materials and temperatures he used while developing Loop.
While
continuous belt printers
are arguably the “correct” answer to the question of printing 600 little parts, they come with their own baggage. Being able to pull off something similar on a printer as reliable and well supported as the Prusa i3 makes for a compelling alternative. | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486961",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T02:43:21",
"content": "Could make the world’s slowest random dice roller. Print a set, knock them loose. Read the numbers. Toss printed dice into a grinder to be re-extruded into filament.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,372,649.973515 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/neural-network-identifies-bird-calls-even-on-your-pi/ | Neural Network Identifies Bird Calls, Even On Your Pi | Arya Voronova | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Science"
] | [
"artificial neural network",
"bird",
"bird calls",
"birds are not real",
"conservation",
"neural network"
] | Recently, we’ve stumbled upon the extensive effort that is
the BirdNET research platform.
BirdNET uses a neural network to identify birds by the sounds they make, and is a joint project between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Chemnitz University of Technology. What strikes us is – this project is impressively featureful and accessible for a variety of applications. No doubt, BirdNET is aiming to become a one-stop shop for identifying birds as they sing.
There’s plenty of ways BirdNET can help you. Starting with likely the most popular option among us, there are
iOS
and
Android
apps – giving the microphone-enabled “smart” devices in our pockets a feature even the most app-averse hackers can respect. However, the BirdNET team also talks about bringing sound recognition to our browsers, Raspberry Pi and other SBCs, and even microcontrollers. We can’t wait for someone to bring BirdNET to a RP2040! The
code’s open-source,
the
models are freely available
– there’s hardly a use case one couldn’t cover with these.
About that Raspberry Pi version! There’s a sister project called
BirdNET-Pi
– it’s an easy-to-install software package intended for the Raspberry Pi OS. Having equipped your Pi with a USB sound card, you can make it do 24/7 recording and analysis using a “lite” version of BirdNET. Then, you get a web interface you can log into and see bird sounds identified in real-time. Not just that – BirdNET-Pi also processes the sounds and creates spectrograms, keeps the sound in a database, and can even send you notifications.
The BirdNET-Pi project is
open, too,
of course. Not just that – the BirdNET-Pi team emphasizes everything being fully local, unless you choose otherwise, and perhaps decide to
share it with others.
Many do make their BirdNET-Pi instances public, and there’s
a lovely interactive map
that shows bird sounds all across the world!
BirdNET is, undoubtedly, a high-effort project – and a shining example of what a dedicated research team can do with a neural network and an admirable goal in mind. For many of us who feel joy when we hear birds outside, it’s endearing to know that we can plug a USB sound card into our Pi and learn more about them – even if we can’t spot them or recognize them by sight just yet. We’ve
covered bird sound recognition on microcontrollers
before – also using machine learning. | 20 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486930",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T23:14:40",
"content": "Wow, getting to that plateu of productivity at last, as AI answers the great questions, like “Is it a bird? Is it a plane?”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"... | 1,760,372,650.233006 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/a-passive-automatic-cnc-tool-changer/ | APassiveAutomatic CNC Tool Changer | Dave Rowntree | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"automatic tool changer",
"CNC router",
"passive"
] | [Marius Hornberger] has been busy hacking his “Hammer” CNC router again, and now it sports a much desired feature — an
automatic tool-changer
. Having wanted one for a while, [Marius] was unhappy sacrificing a big chunk of useable bed area just to park the tool-changer magazine. An obvious solution would be to have the magazine retract away from the bed, outside of the working area. Sadly, the CNC controller had only enough spare outputs to drive the pneumatic tool changer (mounted on the spindle) leaving none spare to control the magazine assembly. So, there was only one obvious route to take, use some simple spring-loaded mechanics to move the magazine into tool-picking range with the Y axis motion instead.
Obviously, the whole thing is CNC machined on the machine itself, taking only a couple of iterations and smidge of table-saw action to get everything to fit well and operate smoothly without binding or colliding with the moving gantry. A cunning pair of levers on each end of the magazine allow it to move much further than the advancing gantry, swinging it quickly into position when the Y axis is at the extreme of its travel, and retracting away when the gantry moves back. Another nice addition to the build was a tool depth sensor (AKA: a switch) mounted off to one side, which allows the machine to find the bottom of each tool, if it is not known, so the Z axis can compensate. When combined with the automatically retracting dust shoe, this is a definitely a CNC build we’d love to see in a shop near us!
We’ve had a fair few CNC hacks over the years, including tool changers,
like this one
, but
3D printers can use some tool changer love
too! | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486923",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T22:30:43",
"content": "Very interesting design, wonder how it will wear with use.I think I’d have kept it simpler in that situation and just had the auto release spindle and still manual tool changes or accepted the larger wo... | 1,760,372,650.574599 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/giant-xbox-series-x-works-like-a-real-one/ | Giant Xbox Series X Works Like A Real One | Lewin Day | [
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"xbox",
"xbox series x"
] | Like most home consoles, the Xbox Series X was specifically designed to fit neatly in the average home theater unit. [Michael Pick] thought that wasn’t quite big enough,
and set out to build the world’s largest working Xbox Series X himself
.
The build was in part inspired by a Microsoft creation: a large fridge in the shape of an Xbox Series X. However, [Michael] wanted to go further, maintaining the gaming functionality and more faithfully recreating details like the divot on the top of the console.
Carefully positioned servos press the Xbox’s buttons
The first step was to build a big wooden frame, with wooden panels screwed on to create the basic form of the console. Creating the lovely curved and perforated top was done by 3D printing a series of pieces that were all glued together to emulate the feature on the real console itself. The back was also given fake giant ports that look just like the real thing.
The real hack is inside, though. The Xbox hardware itself just sits inside the frame on a little shelf. There’s a handful of servo motors set up to press the real console’s buttons when the corresponding buttons are pressed on the giant Xbox itself. It goes a long way to making the build feel “real” to the user.
The final build measures over 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall and 1 meter wide, weighing in at a total of 113 kg (250 lbs).
It was good enough to win [Michael] a Guinness World Record for his trouble.
The build was later donated to a local youth center in Georgia.
We’ve seen [Michael]’s giant builds before, too;
his 300%-sized Nerf Gun was a particular highlight
. Video after the break. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486851",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T17:36:19",
"content": "It could’ve been done for a 555!Oh! Wait!B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6486854",
"author": "That kid",
... | 1,760,372,650.689804 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/27/injection-molds-aluminum-or-resin/ | Injection Molds: Aluminum Or Resin? | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"injection molding",
"production",
"prototype",
"resin 3d printer",
"small scale"
] | [JohnSL] and his friend both have injection molding machines. They decided to compare the aluminum molds they usually use with
some 3D printed molds created with a resin printer
. They used two different resins, one on each side of the mold. You can see a video of the results below.
One half of the mold used ordinary resin while the other side used a resin that is made to hold up to higher temperatures. As you might expect, the lower-temperature resin didn’t stand up well to molten plastic. However, the higher temperature resin did somewhat better. It makes sense, though, that an aluminum mold draws more heat out of the plastic which is helpful in the molding process.
The higher temperature — and more expensive — resin did seem to hold up rather well, though. Of course, this was just to test. In real life, you’d want to use the better resin throughout.
No surprise, the resin molds didn’t last nearly as long as a proper mold. After 70 shots, the mold was worn beyond what you’d want to use. So not necessarily something you’d want to use for a real production run, but it should be enough for a quick prototype before you go to the expense of creating a proper mold.
We wonder if there are some other tricks to get better results. A comment from [TheCrafsMan] suggests that clear resin UV cures better, and that might produce better results. In fact, there are a lot of interesting comments on the video from people who have varied experiences trying to do the same thing.
If nothing else, watching the mill cut through the aluminum around the 15-minute mark is always interesting to watch. If you don’t already have an injection molding setup, you can
always build one
. We’ve seen more than
one design
. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487289",
"author": "psuedonymous",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T09:23:30",
"content": "The aluminium may have preferential thermal properties, but if you’re 3D printing the mould halves you can integrate cooling galleries conformal to the part to allow for even more rapid cooling (and ... | 1,760,372,650.89661 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/this-custom-workbench-will-make-you-flip/ | This Custom Workbench Will Make You Flip | Michael Shaub | [
"hardware",
"Parts"
] | [
"build",
"diy",
"garage",
"hinge",
"power tool",
"wood shop",
"wood working",
"workbench",
"workspace"
] | In a recent video,
[SomeSkillStudio] created a tidy tool storage system
for their slim garage workbench. We have seen the “five knuckle” 270 degree hinges used here before and knew they’d enable some cool hacks. Here you’ll see how he puts this unique type of hardware to work building a densely packed work surface. For anyone who’s set up shop in a garage that’s somehow also supposed to still regularly host vehicles, you’ll know how important it is to have a place to put everything away and make it easy to do so.
The video has several great tips on making sure everything fits together, something key for anyone reproducing this with their own tool collection. If you have even less space, we have some great past workshop builds from
portable
, to
tiny
, to
elaborate
. Even if you’ve already established a place to work, we have tips on
organizing your shop
, giving each tool a home in a
shadow board
or across an
infinite grid
. Clearly, making a work space is one of our favorite kinds of projects. | 26 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487259",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T05:28:55",
"content": "Love it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6487261",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T05:42:37",
"content": "pretty neat idea. Only ... | 1,760,372,650.638651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/diy-night-vision-where-four-is-better-than-two/ | DIY Night Vision, Where Four Is Better Than Two | Donald Papp | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"diy",
"ir",
"lcd",
"night vision"
] | Night vision projects are great, and the hardware available to hobbyists just gets better and better. [Just Call Me Koko] shows off just such a build using
four low-light, IR-sensitive cameras, four displays, and four lenses in 3D printed enclosures mounted to a helmet
. Why four? Well, mounting two cameras and displays per eye is the easiest way to yield a wider field of view, and for bonus points, it sure looks extra weird.
At its heart, each of the four segments is the same. A Foxeer Night Cat 3 camera is mounted at the front, its output is connected directly to a 2″ diagonal NTSC/PAL display, and at the rear is a DCX (double convex) lens 38 mm in diameter with a 50 mm focal length. Add a printed enclosure, and the result is a monocular night vision display. Do it three more times and arrange them around one’s eyeballs, and one can make a night vision system with a panoramic view that probably takes only a
little
getting used to.
How well does it work? [Just Call Me Koko] does some walking around and also tries some target practice while wearing them, and concludes that while they don’t have nearly the clarity of the real deal (the 320×240 resolution displays limit the details one can perceive), they do work fairly well for what they are. Also, the cost of parts is a small fraction of the cost of the real thing, making it a pretty enjoyable project in the end.
The kind of hardware available to hobbyists today is what makes this kind of night vision project accessible, but there’s always
the good old high-voltage analog method
. | 23 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487247",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T03:04:06",
"content": "I built the monocular version of this and it works quite well. It does need an illuminator in pitch blackness, but overall it’s FAR better than a pair of romanian gen1 NVGs I have. One point he mentions in t... | 1,760,372,650.752352 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/hackaday-links-june-26-2022/ | Hackaday Links: June 26, 2022 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"broadband",
"DOCSIS",
"glitch",
"hackaday links",
"HP 7035",
"M-class",
"plotter",
"QAM",
"recorder",
"RF Design",
"RTL-SDR",
"solar flare",
"sonos",
"space weather",
"spectrum",
"sunspot",
"X-Y"
] | Head for the hills!! We’re all doomed! At least that’s the impression you might get from the headlines about
the monster Earth-facing sunspot
this week. While any sunspot that doubles in size within a matter of days as AR3038 has done is worth looking at, chances are pretty low that it will cause problems here on Earth. About the best this class of sunspot can manage is an M-class solar flare, which generally cause radio blackouts only at the poles, and may present a radiation problem for the crew of the ISS. So no, this sunspot is probably not going to kill us all. But then again, this is the 2020s, and pretty much everything bad seems like it’s possible.
Speaking of bad outcomes, pity the poor Sonos customers and their ongoing battle with the company’s odd “glitches.” For whatever reason, customers have been getting shipments of Sonos products they never ordered, with
at least one customer getting over $15,000 worth of products shipped
. The customer reports ordering five Sonos items, but the company saw fit to fill the order six times, stuffing their apartment with goods. Sonos doesn’t appear to be doing much to make it right; while offering the customer free shipping labels to return the goods, they were expected to schlep the packages to a UPS store. And then there’s the money — Sonos charged the customer for all the unordered goods, and won’t issue a refund till it’s all returned.
If you’ve ever wondered exactly what the signals going up and down your cable line look like, you’ll want to check out
this video from
Double A Labs
. Using an RTL-SDR dongle and some spectrum analyzer software they probed the RF signals on the cable, with some fascinating results. The first 11 minutes or so of the video are devoted to setting up the hardware and software, although there is some interesting stuff about broadband network architecture right up at the start. The scans are interesting — you can clearly see the 6-MHz quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) digital channels. We were surprised to learn that these start at just about the FM broadcast band — about 108 MHz. There were a couple of little surprises hiding in the spectrum, like two unmodulated analog TV carriers in one spot, and the fact that there are over 400 virtual channels jammed into 41 6-MHz QAM channels. Broadband indeed.
On a related note, we got a tip this week on an
RF design series
on YouTube that looks pretty comprehensive. It covers the basics, from filters and impedance matching to RF oscillators and amps. Each video is from 15 to 30-ish minutes long, so pretty digestible, and the production quality is good. You might want to check it out if you need to get up to speed on the Dark Arts.
And finally, if none of the above tickles your fancy, or if you just really need to relax, you might want to devote a half-hour to watching an analog plotter do its thing. It comes to us from our friend CuriousMarc, who recently repaired the classic Hewlett Packard 7035B X-Y recorder, a beautiful 1960s design with some interesting features. Chief among these is the use of photochoppers to deal with the DC offset on the input. Marc explains it all in the original
teardown
and
repair
videos, leaving us with nothing but the slow Cartesian dance of the pen in an (almost) never-ending Lissajous pattern. It’s very soothing. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487219",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T23:48:17",
"content": "Oh, I’m not worried about the sunspots, I wrapped my entire house in tinfoil!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487323",
"author": "dudena... | 1,760,372,650.799684 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/odd-inputs-and-peculiar-peripherals-chorded-keyset-recreates-engelbarts-vision/ | Odd Inputs And Peculiar Peripherals: Chorded Keyset Recreates Engelbart’s Vision | Robin Kearey | [
"contests",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"chorded keyboard",
"Douglas Engelbart",
"mother of all tech demos",
"Teensy 4.1"
] | Douglas Engelbart’s 1968 “Mother of all Demos” introduced the world to a whole range of technologies we take for granted today, the most prominent being his great invention, the computer mouse. However, the MOAD also showcased things like cut-and-paste text editing, a point-and-click interface, video conferencing, and even online collaboration
à la
Google Docs. One of the innovations shown that for some reason didn’t stand the test of time was the chorded keyboard: an input device with five keys that can be pressed simultaneously in different combinations, the same way you would play chords on a piano.
The Engelbart Keyset comes with both USB host and USB client ports
While a handful of attempts have been made over the years to bring new life to the “chorder”, it failed to achieve mainstream appeal and remains a curiosity to this day. That makes it a natural fit for the
Odd Inputs and Peculiar Peripherals
contest, as we can see in [Russ Nelson]’s submission called the
Engelbart Keyset, which aims to create a modern 3D printed chorder that works exactly as Engelbart intended it
.
It’s important to note that the chorded keyboard was not meant to be just an additional set of five keys. Instead, Engelbart showed the clever interplay between the chorder and the mouse: the five keys under his left hand and the three mouse buttons under his right could be combined to create a full 8-bit input device. [Russ]’s device therefore includes a USB host interface to connect a USB mouse as well as a USB client interface that presents itself as a combination mouse/keyboard device to the PC.
The brains of the device are formed by a Teensy 4.1, which reads out the codes sent by the mouse as well as the five keys on top. If one or more of those keys are pressed together with a mouse button, then a keyboard code is generated corresponding to Engelbart’s original keycode mapping. We’re wondering how practical this whole setup would be in real life; it looks like something you’d have to try hands-on to find out. Fortunately, all the schematics, code and STL files are available on the project page, so with just a bit of work you can have your own MOAD setup on your desk today.
We’ve featured a couple of chorded keyboards on these pages; the
Pico Chord
, the
Chordie
and the
BAT
spring to mind. If you’re looking for a recap of Engelbart’s stunning presentation, check out our piece on the
Mother of all Demos, 50 years on
. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487204",
"author": "MrSVCD",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T21:25:13",
"content": "Neat, I have only browsed through MOAD so I didn’t know how the chorded keyboard worked, now I know how integrated it all was. Very inspiring.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}... | 1,760,372,650.849524 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/vr-prototypes-reveal-facebooks-surprisingly-critical-research-directions/ | VR Prototypes Reveal Facebook’s Surprisingly Critical Research Directions | Donald Papp | [
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"engineering",
"Prototypes",
"showcase",
"visual turing test",
"vr",
"VR headsets"
] | A short while ago,
Tested
posted a video all about
hands-on time with virtual reality (VR) headset prototypes from Meta
(which is to say, Facebook) and there are some genuinely interesting bits in there. The video itself is over an hour long, but if you’re primarily interested in the technical angles and why they matter for VR, read on because we’ll highlight each of the main points of research.
As absurd as it may seem to many of us to have a social network spearheading meaningful VR development, one can’t say they aren’t taking it seriously. It’s also refreshing to see each of the prototypes get showcased by a researcher who is clearly thrilled to talk about their work. The big dream is to figure out what it takes to pass the “visual Turing test”, which means delivering visuals that are on par with that of a physical reality. Some of these critical elements may come as a bit of a surprise, because they go in directions beyond resolution and field-of-view.
Solid-state varifocal lens demo, capable of 32 discrete focal steps.
At
9:35 in on the video
, [Douglas Lanman] shows [Norman Chan] how important
variable focus
is to delivering a good visual experience, followed by a walk-through of all the different prototypes they have used to get that done. Currently, VR headsets display visuals at only one focal plane, but that means that — among other things — bringing a virtual object close to one’s eyes gets blurry. (Incidentally, older people don’t find that part very strange because it is a common side effect of aging.)
The solution is to change focus based on where the user is looking, and [Douglas] shows off all the different ways this has been explored: from motors and actuators that mechanically change the focal length of the display, to a solid-state solution composed of stacked elements that can selectively converge or diverge light based on its polarization. [Doug]’s pride and excitement is palpable, and he really goes into detail on everything.
At the 30:21 mark
, [Yang Zhao] explains the importance of higher resolution displays, and talks about lenses and optics as well. Interestingly, the ultra-clear text rendering made possible by a high-resolution display isn’t what ended up capturing [Norman]’s attention the most. When high resolution was combined with variable focus, it was the textures on cushions, the vividness of wall art, and the patterns on walls that [Norman] found he just couldn’t stop exploring.
Next up
at 39:40
is something really interesting, shown off by [Phillip Guan]. A VR headset must apply software corrections for distortions, and it turns out that these corrections can be complex. Not only does an image get some amount of distortion when passing through a lens, but that distortion
changes
in nature depending on where one’s eye is looking. All of this must be corrected for in software for a high-fidelity experience, but a real bottleneck is having to wait for a physical prototype to be constructed, and complicating this is that different people will have slightly different subjective experiences of distortion. To address this, [Phillip] shows off a device whose purpose is to accurately simulate different physical headset designs (including different lenses and users) in software, allowing exploration of different designs without having to actually build anything.
The final prototype — named Starburst for reasons that will soon become clear —
is showcased at 44:30
and demonstrates the power of true high dynamic range. It’s the most unwieldy-looking, but that’s mainly due to essentially having car headlamps as backlights. The purpose isn’t to blind users, but to deliver something important, and lacking. Why is high brightness so important? The answer is simple: light levels in the real world are far beyond anything a modern monitor (or VR headset) can deliver. This means that, in VR, a spotlight only ever really looks like a
picture
of a spotlight. It will never truly look
bright
, not in the way that your eyes and brain actually experience the word. When headsets can deliver a true HDR experience, that will change, and that’s what this prototype delivers.
It’s clear this direction is being taken very seriously, and it may come as a surprise to learn that delivering a convincing visual experience goes considerably beyond higher resolution and wider field-of-view.
All of the truly good VR ideas may have been dreamt up back in the 1960s
, but this video is a great showcase of what goes into the nitty-gritty scientific work of figuring out how to get a problem solved. | 32 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487153",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T17:14:47",
"content": "I too look forward to modelling every inconvenience of the real world, like bright that hurts. Also I guess we’ll be needing a cuirass made like an iron maiden so you can really feel the stab.",
... | 1,760,372,651.073308 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/26/want-a-break-from-hardware-hacking-try-bitburner/ | Want A Break From Hardware Hacking? TryBitburner | Al Williams | [
"Games"
] | [
"cyberpunk",
"games",
"hacker",
"retro future"
] | If you ever mention to a normal person that you’re a hacker, and they might ask you if you can do something nefarious. The media has unfortunately changed the meaning of the word so that most people think hackers are lawless computer geniuses instead of us simple folk who are probably only breaking the laws meant to prevent you from repairing your own electronics. However, if you want a break, you can fully embrace the
Hollywood hacker stereotype with
Bitburner
. Since it is all online, you don’t even have to dig out your hoodie.
The game takes place in 2077 where, apparently, people are still using green monochrome terminals and writing JavaScript code. Who knew? The operating system is suspiciously Linux-like with commands like
alias
,
cat
,
cp
,
kill
, and the like. We were nonplussed that in 2077 they’re still using vim, but you can use nano. We always thought real hackers would be emacs users. Our machine only starts out with 8 MB of RAM, too. Good thing you can virtually buy more.
We won’t quibble that
cls
is a synonym for
clear
or that you use
help
instead of
man
. It is, after all, a game. This means you don’t have to feel bad using the buy command to purchase a program on the virtual dark web, either. Hey, if you can shoot bad guys in an FPS game, why can’t you do business with fake cyber-criminals. Why should
Grand Theft Auto
players have all the fun?
You know how in a video game you are a much better shot and can sustain a lot more damage than you probably can in real life? The same principle applies here. Using the
scan-analyze
command helpfully tells you how many open ports connected computers have and how much hacking skill it will require to break in. That’d be handy in real life, we bet.
We did think it was bad form that the tutorial admonished us for not entering the commands it wanted us to. What kind of hacker wouldn’t try something else? Anyway, it’s probably a better diversion than whatever Facebook or phone game your friends are wasting time with. It probably doesn’t impart any real hacking skills, but not everything has to be useful.
If you want a game that might teach you something, try the
Bash crawl adventure
. Or, go
write and play some BASIC games in your browser
. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487121",
"author": "Martin",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26T15:01:11",
"content": "I absolutely love this game, I’ve had it running in the background for over a year at this point.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6487147",
"autho... | 1,760,372,651.126146 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/hacker-diary-embedded-world-2022/ | Hacker Diary: Embedded World 2022 | Elliot Williams | [
"Rants"
] | [
"embedded",
"newsletter",
"trade fair",
"trade show"
] | Yesterday I went up to the
Embedded World trade fair
in Nuremburg, Germany. As a lone hacker, you often feel more than a little out of place when you buy chips in single unit quantities and the people you’re talking to are used to minimum order quantities of a million. But what’s heartening is how, once you ask an interesting question, even some of the suit-wearing types flip into full-on kids who like to explain the fun tech. I struck up conversations with more than a couple VPs of global chip behemoths, and they were cool.
But my heart is still with the smaller players, and the hackers. That’s where the innovation is. I met up with Colin O’Flynn, of
Chip Whisperer
fame — his company is selling fancier chip-glitching tools, but he still had a refined version of the open source, quick-and-dirty zapper circuit from his
Remoticon talk last year
. There was a small local company producing virtual buttons that were essentially Pepper’s Ghost illusions floating in mid-air, and the button press was detected by reflective IR. Cool tech, but I forgot the company’s name — sorry!
Less forgettable was
Dracula Technologies
, a French company making inkjet-printable organic solar cells. While they wouldn’t go into deep details about the actual chemistry of what they’re doing, I could tell that it pained them to not tell me when I asked. Anyway, it’s a cool low-power solar tech that would be awesome if it were more widespread. I think they’re just one of many firms in this area; keep your eyes on organic solar.
When talking with a smaller German FPGA manufacturer,
Cologne Chip
, about their business, I finally asked about the synthesis flow and was happily surprised to hear that they were dedicated to the fully open-source
Yosys
toolchain. As far as I know, they’re one of the only firms who have voluntarily submitted their chips’ specs to the effort. Very cool! (And a sign of things to come? You can always hope.)
I met a more than a few Hackaday readers just by randomly stumbling around, which also shows that the hacker spirit is alive in companies big and small. All of the companies have to make demos to attract our attention, but from talking to the people who make them, they have just as much fun building them as you or I would.
And last but not least, I ran into Hackaday regular
Chris Gammell
and my old boss and good friend Mike Szczys who were there representing the IoT startup
Golioth
, and trying to fool me into using an RTOS on microcontrollers. (
Never say never
.) We had an awesome walkaround and a great dinner.
If you ever get the chance to go to a trade show like this, even if you feel like you might be out of your league, I encourage you to attend anyway. You’d be surprised how many cool geeks are hiding in the least likely of places.
[Banner image:
Embedded World
]
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
! | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486828",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T14:52:59",
"content": "Why would you be surprised that people working in embedded companies enjoy doing embedded stuff? I’ve been at it 30 years, still enjoy it, and still dick around with stuff at home too.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,372,651.175328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/nasa-called-they-want-their-cockroaches-back/ | NASA Called, They Want Their Cockroaches Back | Al Williams | [
"Rants",
"Space"
] | [
"apollo 11",
"lunar",
"moon rocks"
] | News hit earlier this month that the infamous “cockroach moon dust” was up for auction? Turns out, NASA is
trying to block the sale
as they assert that they own all the lunar material brought back from the Apollo missions. What? You didn’t know about cockroach moon dust? Well, it is a long and — frankly — weird story.
It may sound silly now, but there was real concern in 1969 that Apollo 11 might bring back something harmful. So much so that
NASA tricked out an RV
and kept the astronauts and a volunteer in it for about three weeks after they came home. During that time they were tested and some experiments were done to see if they’d been exposed to anything nasty.
One of those experiments was to
feed lunar dust to cockroaches
(by the way, the table of contents has a mistake in it — check out page 8). Seriously. But that isn’t even the really weird part. A scientist who worked on the project by the name of Marion Brooks decided she wanted a memento, so she extracted the lunar dust from the dead cockroaches and saved it in a vial. At least we learned a new word: chyme.
RR Auction — the RR stands for Remarkable Rarities — was starting the bidding for some dead cockroaches and a vial of chyme at about 12 grand but it was sure to go higher than that, perhaps up to $400,000 USD. That was before they got a cease and desist from NASA.
It appears the collection has been sold at least once before. NASA has cracked down on anyone selling lunar material as even those given to people are considered on loan from the agency. However, many of the rocks given to different countries and state governments are
now unaccounted for
.
Back in 2002, interns Thad Roberts and Tiffany Fowler worked in the building where NASA stores most of the moon rocks it has. They took a 600-pound safe containing about 100 grams of moon samples and some other materials. With some help, Roberts tried to fence them to an amateur rock collector who helped the FBI set up a sting. Roberts got over 8 years in federal prison for his efforts, just a little more than an accomplice, Gordon McWhorter, who claimed to have been duped by Roberts. There have been a few other cases of theft, most of which remain unsolved.
This is one of those tricky things. From NASA’s point of view, they own all the moon rocks (with a few exceptions, mostly of material that didn’t come from Apollo). If you steal them, they want them back and if you are given them on loan they don’t appreciate you giving them away, selling them, or losing them. On the other hand, outside of outright theft like the Roberts case, it is hard to imagine that you want to control old roach chyme.
There’s two things we do wonder. First, who saves roach chyme even if it did start as lunar dust? Second, if three little pebbles brought back by the Soviet Luna 16 probe sold for over $850,000 and this dust might have gone for $400,000, why aren’t more of these “New Space” startups scrambling to bring some fresh samples back? Seems like it might pay for itself. | 29 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486794",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T11:47:28",
"content": "One thing I have been trying to figure since this story broke. Moons dust is sharp right, what the heck did they expect to happen feeding it to roaches, would have been like feeding them diatomaceous... | 1,760,372,651.240155 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/25/getting-serial-data-out-of-an-old-spectrophotometer/ | Getting Serial Data Out Of An Old Spectrophotometer | Lewin Day | [
"Science",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"inverse RS232",
"serial",
"serial data",
"Spectrophotometer"
] | [Jure Spiler] came into possession of an old spectrophotometer, which measures the absorbance and transmittance of light in a sample. Getting data out of the device was difficult, particularly as the model in question was an educational version missing some functionality.
However, perseverance got the old machine talking happily to a PC.
After an earlier experiment with
sniffing the signals being sent to the LCD
, [Jure] did some more research. It turned out that
a special expensive cable
could hook up to the device’s parallel port and deliver serial data, for the low price of € 356 Euros. Now knowing a serial output was present, [Jure] was able to find the data stream desired.
Hooking up a logic analyzer to the “parallel port” on the machine revealed that the device would actually send serial data out over certain pins on the port. The trick that made it harder was that it was in Inverted RS232 form. Thus, all it took was a simple TTL inverter hooked up to a USB-TTL adapter to get the device talking to a modern PC.
With that achieved, [Jure] was able to whip up a simple VB6 program to collect data from the spectrometer and put it in a CSV file for further analysis. There’s even a program to graph the data right off the bat, making the scientific instrument easier and quicker to use than ever!
Oftentimes, old scientific hardware like this isn’t especially difficult to hack. It’s usually just hard enough to make busy scientists stump up the cash for the fancy adapters and cable, while being no match for the dedicated hacker! | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486779",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T09:28:53",
"content": "one of these hacks where in hindsight it’s easy but finding it out takes a bit of grunt work",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486809",
"author": "St... | 1,760,372,651.426645 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/mysterious-adder-from-1960s-bendix-g-20/ | Mysterious Adder From 1960s Bendix G-20 | Chris Lott | [
"Retrocomputing",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"adder",
"Bendix",
"G-20",
"logic",
"mainframe computer"
] | [David Lovett] aka Usagi Electric is taking a dive into
yet another old computer design
, this one from the early 1960s. He recently obtained eight mystery circuit boards on-loan for the purpose of reverse engineering them. It turns out these came from an old mainframe called the Bendix G-20, a successor to the 1965 G-15 vacuum tube model. The cards are:
Full Adder
AND Gate
OR Gate
Emitter Follower
Flip Flop
Quad Inverting Amplifier
DLO Amplifier
Gated CPA
Most of these are pretty straightforward to figure out, but he ran into some troubles trying to understand the full adder board. The first issue is there is some uncertainty surrounding the logic level voltages. This system uses negative voltages, with -3.5 V representing a logic 1 … or is it a logic 0? And even taking into account this ambiguity, [David] is having a hard time deciphering how the adder works. It uses a bunch of diodes to implement a logic lookup table of an adder — except he is not able to make it match any known addition scheme. [David] has called out to the community for help on this one, and if you have any ideas how this adder works, visit his wiki linked above for more information and give him shout.
We don’t know how [David] squeezes in the time for these side projects, when he is so busy on the
Centurion mini-computer restoration
and the monstrous
single-bit vacuum tube computer
he is building. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486760",
"author": "Daniel Scott Matthews",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T05:30:42",
"content": "I wonder how much he could have worked out just from high resolution CT scans of the circuits?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486783"... | 1,760,372,651.374415 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/a-water-leak-detector-that-listens-carefully/ | A Water Leak Detector That Listens Carefully | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"leak",
"leak detector",
"water",
"water leak"
] | Water leaks can be pernicious things. Even just a few drips per minute happening undetected inside a wall can cause major damage if left unrepaired for long enough. AquaPing is a new device
that hopes to detect difficult-to-find water leaks with the aid of acoustic methods.
The AquaPing is a so-called “stand-off” sensor that is intended to detect leaks at a distance, even if they are inside a wall. No contact is needed with the plumbing itself. Instead, the device detects the broadband high-frequency noise created when water leaks from a pipe under pressure.
It’s a method that’s best suited to leaks from cracks or loose fittings. These generate a characteristic hiss that can be picked up with signal analysis even if the noise itself is obscured to human perception by other noises in the area. However, leaks like a hole in a gutter or a dripping rusted-out water tank are best found by other methods, as they don’t create this same signature noise.
The device will soon be launched on CrowdSupply as a purchasable product, however the project is fully open source for those eager to dive in themselves. We’ve featured some other
really creative leak detectors
before, too! Video after the break. | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486753",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2022-06-25T03:19:09",
"content": "Now all that’s needed is for underground pipes. Those are a pain.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486766",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,372,651.323533 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/an-in-depth-look-at-the-haptic-smart-knob/ | An In-Depth Look At The Haptic Smart Knob | Dan Maloney | [
"Parts",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"BLDC",
"brushless dc",
"haptic",
"input",
"knob",
"lcd",
"peripheral",
"strain gauge",
"wheatstone bridge"
] | At Hackaday, we love those times when we get a chance to follow up on a project that we’ve already featured. Generally, it’s because the project has advanced in some significant way, which is always great to see. Sometimes, though, new details on the original project are available, and that’s where we find ourselves with [Scott Bez] and
his haptic smart knob project
.
Alert readers may recall
[Scott]’s announcement of this project back
in March. It made quite a splash, with favorable comments and a general “Why didn’t I think of that?” vibe. And with good reason; the build quality is excellent, and the idea is simple yet powerful. By attaching a knob to the shaft of a brushless DC motor and mounting a small circular LCD screen in the middle, [Scott] came up with an input device that could be reprogrammed on the fly. The BLDC can provide virtual detents at any interval while generating haptic feedback for button pushes, and the LCD screen can provide user feedback.
But how is such a thing built? That’s the subject of the current video, which has a ton of neat design details and build insights. The big challenge for [Scott] was supporting the LCD screen in the middle of the knob while still allowing the knob — and the motor — to rotate. Part of the solution was, sadly, a hollow-shaft motor that was out of stock soon after he released this project; hopefully a suitable replacement will be available soon. Another neat feature is the way [Scott] built tiny strain gauges into the PCB itself, which pick up the knob presses that act as an input button. We also found the way button press haptics are provided by a quick jerk of the motor shaft very clever.
This is one of those projects that seems like a solution waiting for a problem, and something that you’d build just for the coolness factor. Hats off to [Scott] for following up a sweet build with equally juicy details. | 22 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486708",
"author": "come2",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T23:32:21",
"content": "I love overengineering !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6486730",
"author": "Not to mention so many revisions.",
"timestamp": "2022-... | 1,760,372,651.722334 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/adding-usb-c-to-an-iphone-13-is-delicate-work/ | Adding USB-C To An IPhone 13 Is Delicate Work | Lewin Day | [
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"iphone",
"iphone 13",
"USB C"
] | USB-C seeks to rule the roost when it comes to connectors, and even has Big Europe on its side. Apple hasn’t had to abandon Lightning just yet, but [Restore Technique] has
put a USB-C port into an iPhone 13
to give us all an idea what it’s going to be like in the brave new future ahead of us.
The idea came about after disassembling the iPhone 13, and the project was locked in after seeing
the first iPhone with a USB-C connector
sell for
$86,001 on eBay.
The plan had to support fast charging, cable reversibility, and data transfer, without cutting out any functionality or compromising water resistance.
The concept is simple enough: take the C94 board from a Lightning to USB-C cable, and put it inside the phone along with a USB-C port. Of course, actually achieving that is the real challenge. Techniques from melting apart Lightning connectors to carefully peeling apart 0.5 mm pitch flex cables to fit 0.6 mm pitch pads.
It’s an impressive hack, and explained so well it’s actually tempting to try it at home for the sheer challenge of the thing. If you do pull off a similar hack yourself,
drop us a line
! Video after the break.
[Thanks to Keith Olson for the tip!] | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486651",
"author": "makes you go hmmmm....",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T20:11:30",
"content": "Id like to imagine that the person who paid $86k was some incredibly rich dude who only bought it because he was impressed with the hack and wanted to reward the effort.",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,372,651.917362 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/mechanical-keyboards-are-over-this-device-has-won/ | Mechanical Keyboards Are Over, This Device Has Won | Jenny List | [
"contests",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"ASCII",
"ESP32",
"keyboard",
"mechanical keyboard"
] | The desk of any self-respecting technology enthusiast in the 2020s is not complete without a special keyboard of some sort, be it a vintage IBM Model M, an esoteric layout or form factor, or just a standard keyboard made with clacky mechanical switches. But perhaps we’ve found the one esoteric keyboard to rule them all, in the form of
[HIGEDARUMA]’s 8-bit keyboard
. You can all go home now, the competition has been well and truly won by this input device with the simplest of premises; enter text by setting the ASCII value as binary on a row of toggle switches. No keyboard is more retro than the one you’d find on the earliest microcomputers!
Jokes aside, perhaps this keyboard may be just a little bit esoteric for many readers, but it’s nevertheless a well-executed project. Aside from the row of binary inputs there is a keypress button which sends whatever the value is to the computer, and a stock button that allows for multiple inputs to be stored and sent as one. If you pause for a moment and think how often you use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V for example, this is an essential function. There’s more information
on a Japanese website
(
Google Translate link
), which reveals that under the hood it’s a Bluetooth device running on an ESP32.
We can imagine that with a bit of use it would be possible to memorize ASCII as binary pretty quickly, in fact we wouldn’t be at all surprised to find readers already possessing that skill. But somehow we can’t imagine it ever being a particularly fast text input device. Take a look for yourselves, it’s in the video below the break. | 37 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486613",
"author": "dsr",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T18:34:14",
"content": "UTF-16 is oki hate UTF-8 and 3 or 4 chars as one",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6487115",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2022-06-26... | 1,760,372,651.792789 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/spinlaunch-and-the-history-of-hurling-stuff-into-space/ | SpinLaunch And The History Of Hurling Stuff Into Space | Tom Nardi | [
"Featured",
"Space"
] | [
"centrifuge",
"commercial space",
"cubesat",
"harp",
"mass accelerator",
"SpinLaunch"
] | It’s fair to say that there’s really no phase of spaceflight that could be considered easy. But the case could be made that the
most
difficult part of a spacecraft’s journey is right at the very beginning, within the first few minutes of flight. At this point the vehicle’s booster rocket will be fighting with all its might against its own immense propellant-laden mass, a battle that it’s been engineered to win by the smallest of margins. Assuming the balance was struck properly and the vehicle makes its way off of the launch pad, it will still need to contend with the thick sea-level atmosphere as it accelerates, a building dynamic pressure that culminates with a point known as “Max q” — the moment where the air density imposes the maximum structural load on the rocket before quickly dropping off as the vehicle continues to ascend and the atmosphere thins.
Air-launched rockets avoid flying through dense sea level air.
While the vast majority of rocket launches have to contend with the realities of flying through the lower atmosphere, there are some exceptions. By launching a rocket from an aircraft, it can avoid having to power itself up from sea level. This allows the rocket to be smaller and lighter, as it doesn’t require as much propellant nor do its engines need to be as powerful.
The downside of this approach however is that even a relatively small rocket needs a very large aircraft to carry it. For example, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket must be carried to launch altitude by a Boeing 747-400 airliner in order to place a 500 kg (1,100 lb) payload into orbit.
But what if there was another way? What if you could get all the benefits of starting your rocket from a higher altitude, without the cost and logistical issues involved in carrying it with a massive airplane? It might sound impossible, but the answer is actually quite simple…all you have to do it throw it hard enough.
Getting Revved Up
It might sound like science fiction, but that’s exactly what startup SpinLaunch is currently working on in the New Mexico desert. The plan is to use their mass accelerator, essentially a vacuum-sealed centrifuge, to spin a small rocket up to a velocity of 8,000 km/h (5,000 mph). The vehicle will experience up to 10,000 Gs before it’s carefully released at the precise moment that will allow it to exit the centrifuge skyward through a rapidly-actuating airlock.
The rocket would then coast to an altitude of approximately 61,000 meters (200,000 feet), at which point it would ignite its first stage engine. From that point on the flight would progress more or less like a traditional rocket launch, with the payload ultimately being accelerated to a nominal orbital velocity of 28,200 km/h (17,500 mph). The big difference would be cost, as SpinLaunch estimates each launch could be cost as little as $500,000 USD.
Currently, SpinLaunch is running tests on a one-third scale centrifuge that has a diameter of 33 m (108 ft) and forgoes the complex high-speed airlock for a simple sheet of thin material that the test projectile smashes its way through when released. This naturally means the centrifuge loses its vacuum upon release, but that’s not really an issue this early in the game; maintaining vacuum will only become important when the system is fully operational, and is intended to help maintain a rapid launch cadence as the massive centrifuge chamber won’t need to be repeatedly pumped down.
The operational SpinLaunch rocket won’t be much different from a traditional booster.
So far they have flung passive projectiles to a reported altitude of “tens of thousands of feet”, but that’s a long way from reaching orbit, much less space. The key to making this system work is developing a rocket that can not only withstand the immense g-forces it will undergo while being spun up to speed, but also be able to guide itself during the coast phase before engine ignition using either control surfaces. It should also go without saying that such a rocket only has one chance to get it right — should the engine of a traditional booster rocket fail to light at T-0, the launch can be scrubbed and the vehicle reconfigured to try again. But there’s no do-overs when the vehicle is already flying through the air.
SpinLaunch seems confident they can solve the engineering issues involved, but the fact remains that a similar project was undertaken as a joint venture by the United States and Canada in the 1960s, and things didn’t exactly go to plan.
The Need for Speed
Firing the HARP cannon.
Technically the High Altitude Research Project (HARP) got its start in the 1950s when ballistic engineer Gerald Bull got it into his head that with a large enough cannon you should be able to shoot a payload directly into space. But anyone familiar with Jules Verne’s
From the Earth to the Moon
knows that the idea is much older than that. Conceptually it makes a certain degree of sense, and it’s not as if humanity hasn’t spent hundreds of years perfecting gunpowder weapons anyway.
The HARP cannon was built by welding together 16-inch naval gun barrels, and mounted in such a way that it could be raised into a near vertical position. Barbados was selected as the primary test site as its relative proximity to the equator theoretically meant projectiles fired eastward would receive a boost to their velocity due to the Earth’s rotation. Starting in 1962, a series of launches were conducted that saw the cannon fire Canadian-made Martlet sounding rockets of roughly 1,800 mm (70 inches) in length.
Early flights carried research payloads that not only studied the performance of the cannon itself, but also observed upper atmosphere and near-space conditions. Updated versions included solid rocket motors that were designed to ignite after the rocket had coasted for about 15 seconds in an effort to increase their velocity and maximum altitude. The ultimate goal was to develop a multi-stage rocket that could carry a small 23 kg (50 lb) payload to an altitude of approximately 425 km (264 mi).
By the time HARP ended in 1967, the cannon had successfully fired more than 200 Martlet rockets, some of which reached an apogee as high as 180 kilometers (112 miles). With a per-launch cost of just $3,000 USD, or roughly $27,000 in 2022, it remains one of the most cost-effective means of delivering a payload above the 100 km Kármán line that marks the internationally recognized boundary of space.
Unfortunately, despite considerable effort, HARP was never able to develop a Martlet rocket that could successfully accelerate itself beyond the initial velocity at which it was fired from the cannon. Because of this, none of the rockets were able to reach orbit, and fell back down to Earth — often not far from the cannon itself.
The primary issue was the inability to develop a rocket engine that could survive the 12,000+ g’s each rocket was subjected to when fired from the cannon. So while HARP was technically a successful space launch program, it was limited to suborbital research flights which became less scientifically valuable as the more traditional rocket programs spearheaded by NASA began to mature.
Exploring New Opportunities
Of course, just because the HARP engineers couldn’t design a rocket engine that could survive high g-forces in the 1960s doesn’t mean SpinLaunch can’t do it. It would hardly be the first time a small startup achieved something the entrenched aerospace industry had deemed to be impossible. The company is also clearly aware of the challenge, as
they’ve recently released videos explaining
that a large portion of their research right now is going towards exploring the effects of the centrifuge environment on various
rocket and spacecraft components
.
SpinLaunch has found modern electronics to be surprisingly resilient against extreme g-forces.
But the fact remains that there are many challenges ahead for SpinLaunch. History tells us that the development of the engine won’t come easy, but there’s truly no precedent for building a mass accelerator of the scale that would be required to hurl their vehicle into the upper atmosphere. One also can’t ignore the reality that the cost of spaceflight is already dropping precipitously thanks to commercial competition between providers such as SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Astra. A launch price of $500,000 would have been revolutionary 20 years ago, but today isn’t far off from where the market is headed anyway.
Spring-loaded CubeSat deployment from the ISS
That said, all signs point to an exciting new era in space exploration ahead, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that SpinLaunch could find its greatest success away from Earth. For instance, a SpinLaunch accelerator on the Moon would have a far easier time hurling vehicles into orbit without an atmosphere to contend with. Given NASA’s goal to
establish a long-term presence on and around the Moon
, a system that could cheaply loft payloads from the lunar surface would likely be in high demand.
One could also imagine a small centrifugal satellite launcher mounted to a future space station to dispense CubeSats and other payloads with limited internal propulsion. It might sound far fetched, but keep in mind that the
Japanese JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD)
currently in use on the International Space Station uses a simple spring-loaded mechanism to push the spacecraft out of their storage racks. A small mass accelerator that allows the spacecraft operator to select the velocity and even departure angle for their craft would be a clear improvement over the current state-of-the-art.
The fact is, we simply don’t know what the future holds for SpinLaunch. Their current technology demonstrator is impressive for what it is, but at the same time, is so far removed from what would actually be required to achieve their goals that it’s hardly an indicator that the company is on the right track. Only time will tell if they can succeed where others have failed, or if their mass accelerator will join HARP as just another interesting footnote in the long history of spaceflight. | 156 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486590",
"author": "Thomas Hargrave",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T17:21:15",
"content": "I suspect there aren’t many items that we need in space that also can withstand 10,000 G’s. That’s 140,000 pounds per square inch of pressure, far more than a bug experiences when he goes splat ac... | 1,760,372,652.299327 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/hackaday-podcast-174-breaking-into-the-nest-the-cheapest-3d-printer-a-spy-in-your-hdmi-and-ai-all-over-the-place/ | Hackaday Podcast 174: Breaking Into The Nest, The Cheapest 3D Printer, A Spy In Your HDMI, And AI All Over The Place | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Fresh from vacation, Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams makes his triumphant return to the Hackaday Podcast! He’s joined this week by Managing Editor Tom Nardi, who’s just happy he didn’t have to do the whole thing by himself again. In this episode we’ll talk about tackling BGA components in your custom PCBs, a particularly well executed hack against Google’s Nest Hub, and why you probably don’t really want the world’s cheapest 3D printer. We’ll also take a look at an incredible project to turn the Nokia 1680 into a Linux-powered handheld computer, a first of its kind HDMI firewall, and a robot that’s pretty good at making tacos. Listeners who are into artificial intelligence will be in for quite a treat as well, as is anyone who dreams of elevating the lowly automotive alternator to a more prominent position in the hacker world.
By the way, it seems nobody has figured out the hidden message in last week’s podcast yet. What are you waiting for? One of you out there has to be bored enough to give it a shot.
Direct download, and play it offline
. You don’t need no stinkin’ cloud.
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!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 174 Show Notes:
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Working With BGAs: Design And Layout
Breaking Google Nest Hub’s Secure Boot
The Sub-$100 Easythreed X1 3D Printer, Is It More Than A Novelty?
PrintrBot Adoptabot
Notkia: Building An Open And Linux-Powered Numpad Phone
No Tool Left Behind With The Help Of Homemade Shadow Boards
Milk-Based 3D Scanner
Milkscanner – 3D Mapping That’s Good For You
HDMI Is An Attack Surface, So Here’s An HDMI Firewall
Prusa Dares You To Break Their Latest Printer
ANT catalog – Wikipedia
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
A Simple RP2040-Based Audio DSP Board
Inside 3D Printing Shoes
Machine Learning Does Its Civic Duty By Spotting Roadside Litter
Tom’s Picks:
Raspberry Pi Simulates The Real Analog TV Experience
A Handy Breakout Board For E-Paper Hacking
An Impressively Functional Tacobot
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Eliza And The Google Intelligence
A Potpourri of Programmed Prose and Prosody
“I Spent an Interesting Evening Recently with a Grain of Salt”
A 3D-Printed Nixie Clock Powered By An Arduino Runs This Robot
How Far Can You Push A £500 Small Electric Car; Four Years Of The Hacky Racer
Car Alternators Make Great Electric Motors; Here’s How | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6487237",
"author": "Tom Brusehaver",
"timestamp": "2022-06-27T01:49:04",
"content": "The HDMI standard is all over the hackerspace. HDMI 2.1b allows ethernet over the cable. Ethernet is in interesting attack vector.https://www.hdmi.org/download/savefile?bucket=hdmi-web-public&fileK... | 1,760,372,651.662262 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/active-signal-tracer-probe-has-agc/ | Active Signal Tracer Probe Has AGC | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"automatic gain control",
"probe",
"signal tracer"
] | [Electronics Old and New] has a new version of one of his old projects. The original project was an active probe. He took what he learned building that probe and put it into a new probe design. He also
added automatic gain control
or AGC. You can see a video explanation of the design below. The probe is essentially a high-impedance input using a JFET that can amplify audio or demodulated RF signals, which is a handy device to have when troubleshooting radios.
The audio amplifier is a simple LM386 circuit. The real work is in the input stage and the new AGC circuit. Honestly, we’ve used the amplifier by itself for a similar function, although the raw input impedance of the chip is only about 50K and is less in many circuits that use a pot on the input. Having a JFET buffer and an RF demodulating diode is certainly handy. You’d think the AGC block would be in the audio stage. However, the design uses it ahead of the detector which is great as long as the amplifier can handle the RF frequency you are interested in. In this case, we think he’s mostly working on old tube AM radios, so the max signal is probably in the neighborhood of 1 MHz.
A similar device was a Radio Shack staple for many years
The module is made to amplify an electret microphone using a MAX9814 which has AGC. The module had a microphone that came off for this project. The datasheet doesn’t mention an upper frequency limit, but a similar Maxim part mentions its gain is greater than 5 at 600 kHz, so for the kind of signals this is probably used for, it should work well. We wondered if you could use the module and dispense with the JFET input. The chip probably has a pretty high input impedance, but the datasheet doesn’t give a great indication.
For years we used a signal tracer from Radio Shack which — if we could still find it — now has an LM386 inside of it after the original electronics failed decades ago. In those days, fixing an AM radio involved either using a device like this to find where you did and didn’t have a signal or injecting signals at different points in the radio. Two sides of the same coin. For example, if you could hear a signal at the volume control — that indicated the RF stages were good and you had a problem on the audio side. Conversely, if you injected a signal at the volume control, not hearing would mean the same thing. Once you knew if the problem was in the RF or AF side, you’d split that part roughly in half and repeat the operation until you were down to one bad stage. Of course, you could use signal generators and scopes, but in those days you weren’t as likely to have those.
Heathkit, of course, had their
own version
. It even had on of those amazing
magic eye tubes. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486636",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T19:22:50",
"content": "$2 GenRad Bughound FTW!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486879",
"author": "electrobob",
"timestamp": "2022-06-2... | 1,760,372,651.831979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/this-week-in-security-iot-in-the-hot-tub-app-double-fail-and-freebsd-badbeacon/ | This Week In Security: IoT In The Hot Tub, App Double Fail, And FreeBSD BadBeacon | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"BadBeacon",
"freebsd",
"IoT",
"openssl",
"This Week in Security"
] | [Eaton Zveare] purchased a Jacuzzi hot tub, and splurged for the SmartTub add-on, which connects the whirlpool to the internet so you can control temperature, lights, etc from afar. He didn’t realize he was about to discover
a nightmare of security problems
. Because as we all know, in IoT, the S stands for security. In this case, the registration email came from smarttub.io, so it was natural to pull up that URL in a web browser to see what was there. The page presented a login prompt, so [Eaton] punched in the credentials he had just generated. “Unauthorized” Well that’s not surprising, but what was very odd was the flash of a dashboard that appeared just before the authorization complaint. Could that have been real data that was unintentionally sent? A screen recorder answered that question, revealing that there was indeed a table loaded up with valid-looking data.
Digging around in the page’s JavaScript comes up with the login flow. The page uses the Auth0 service to handle logins, and that service sends back an access token. The page sends that access token right back to the Auth0 service to get user privileges. If the logged in user isn’t an admin, the redirect happens. However, we already know that some real data gets loaded. It appears that the limitations to data is all implemented on the client side, and the backend only requires a valid access token for data requests. What would happen if the response from Auth0 were modified? There are a few approaches to accomplish this, but he opted to use
Fiddler
. Rewrite the response so the front-end believes you’re an admin, and you’re in.
This approach seems to gain admin access to all of the SmartTub admin controls, though [Eaton] didn’t try actually making changes to see if he had write access, too. This was enough to demonstrate the flaw, and making changes would be flirting with that dangerous line that separates research from computer crime. The real problem started when he tried to disclose the vulnerability. SmartTub didn’t have a security contact, but an email to their support email address did elicit a reply asking for details. And after details were supplied, complete radio silence. Exasperated, he finally turned to Auth0, asking them to intervene. Their solution was to pull the plug on one of the two URL endpoints. Finally, after six months of trying to inform Jacuzzi and SmartTub of their severe security issues, both admin portals were secured.
Jogging Away from Security
There are two layers of fail
in this story about the Strava exercise app
. Strava lets its users track their running, cycling, and hiking. Due to privacy concerns, there’s an option to hide the user’s location, but it turns out that a clever use of the heatmap and segment functions can defeat that protection. Upload runs from a fake user, and the app helpfully compares your run to other users in the area, hidden or not. That list of users would allow a dedicated investigator to map out where individuals have spent their time. The emphasis of this research was on tracking military members, which revealed some predictably interesting results.
And that’s the second security fail. The Israeli military allow their soldiers, even special forces members, to use an app that is phoning home with GPS locations. Even if there were no easily-exploitable security weakness in the app, it’s still a terrible operation security problem. The research was disclosed to Strava, who removed the fake user used in research. It’s unclear if the app makers actually addressed the problem in a real way. The Israeli military states that they are rolling out procedures to try to prevent this sort of data leakage in the future.
OpenSSL AVX512 Bug
There’s a bug in OpenSSL 3.0.4, and may be a particularly nasty one
, but it only occurs on CPUs with the AVX512 extensions. The problem is triggered in
ossl_rsaz_mod_exp_avx512_x2()
, which makes a call off to
bn_reduce_once_in_place()
. The call includes the value
factor_size
, which is supposed to be the number of words to process, but the old code was instead sending the bit size. This worked most of the time, but in certain cases, resulted in a heap buffer overflow. The spooky part of this is that it can be triggered by a TLS handshake, and other potentially attacker-controlled inputs. The only thing lacking to call this a 10.0 CVSS CVE is an actual demonstration of exploitation. As it is, it’s easy to demonstrate a crash. A 3.0.5 release will be made soon,
containing the fix
, but it’s unclear when that will happen. Most distros seem to be delaying shipping the 3.0.4 release, waiting for the fix for this potentially serious issue.
FreeBSD BadBeacon
I’ve taken the liberty of choosing the obvious name for this vulnerability, BadBeacon. Discovered by [m00nbsd],
it’s a simple heap overflow
, but this one gives the attacker control over exactly how many bytes to write, and the contents of those bytes. It’s a problem in FreeBSD’s handling of WiFi Beacon frames. A frame is essentially a WiFi packet, and a Beacon is the packet that announces the details of a WiFi network. There are many possible fields in a beacon, and many of those require dedicated code-paths to process them.
One such field is the Mesh ID value. It contains a length and value, and the FreeBSD kernel takes those as the inputs for a
memcpy()
call into a fixed-size buffer. The way data is laid out in the containing struct, overflowing this buffer also overwrites another data structure, which ends in a data pointer and length value. That data pointer is then used as the target location of another
memcpy()
call. It’s a “Write-What-Where” primitive, AKA an easy technique to write nearly arbitrary data anywhere.
The direction they chose to take next was to set up a kernel backdoor in unused memory segment, then hook that code into part of the frame processing code. It works as a one-way kernel backdoor. Their Proof-of-Concept code simply prints a message to the kernel log, but would be fairly easily weaponized. FreeBSD patched the flaw in April. It’s unclear when or if pfSense has released an update with the fix, though it’s likely it has happened, and just didn’t advertise the CVE fixed, CVE-2022-23088.
The Linux Syslogk Rootkit
There’s a particularly stealthy kernel rootkit,
Syslogk, lurking in the wild
. The version of the rootkit that researchers at Avast examined seemed to be targeted at Centos 6 and similar era kernels. It goes to great lengths to disappear, hiding its files, and even erasing itself from the list of loaded kernel modules. There is a hidden feature, writing a 1 to
/proc/syslogk
, that turns off the stealth features. So if you have an older server that may have been compromised, try poking that location to see if anything happens.
iOS Infection Via The DCP
If you can’t crack the security of the main processor,
maybe you can go through a co-processor backdoor
? That’s exactly what a fake Vodaphone app does on the iPhone. The Display Co-Processor (DCP) is a new section of the M1 SoC, and this malicious app uses it in one of its bundled exploits. The write-up is detailed and in-depth, as is usually the case with Google Project Zero posts. Rather than dig into the details, I’ll just leave you with [Hector Martin]’s thoughts on it, as probably the foremost expert on the M1 chip outside a handful of Apple engineers:
Ha, a DCP-based exploit that jumps from userspace to DCP and back to the kernel. Cute.
Remember what I said about M1 coprocessors not being able to pwn the system? That's assuming your driver doesn't implement "sudo pwn the system" like Apple's does 😅.
https://t.co/3uNVBVrD4F
— Hector Martin (@marcan42)
June 24, 2022 | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486571",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T15:01:06",
"content": "sigh….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486641",
"author": "Joe D",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T19:34:46",
"content": "I saw Jaccuzi in the he... | 1,760,372,651.872752 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/what-do-you-get-when-a-raspberry-pi-pico-flashes-a-nintendo-64/ | What Do You Get When A Raspberry Pi Pico Flashes A Nintendo 64 | Jenny List | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"flash cart",
"n64",
"nintendo 64",
"rp2040"
] | The joke was when the Nintendo 64 first hit the streets around a quarter century ago, that the 64 in the name referred not to the technology on board, but to the excessive cost of the cartridges. Whatever the truth in that, it’s something now completely laid to rest by [Konrad Beckmann] with his
Nintendo 64 flash cart powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico
(
Nitter Link
).
The schematic is surprisingly simple, in that the Pico does everything required to both interface to the N64 and to an SD card to hold the software. The clever work is done by the RP2040 firmware, which can be found along with the hardware details in the “develop” branch of
the project’s GitHub repository
. And while the earliest version was a Raspberry Pi Pico with a host of jumper wires, the more polished version focuses on a custom PCB and bare RP2040 chip.
Perhaps the N64 hasn’t received the attention it should have over the years, overshadowed as it was by its competitors such as the original PlayStation, but it’s projects like this one which remind us that there’s still life in Nintendo’s ’90s flagship. Speaking of which, if you were on Team Sony back in the day but still want to put your Pi Pico to use, check out this
DIY PlayStation Memory Card we covered recently
. | 16 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486543",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T12:45:22",
"content": "Not sure its fair to say overshadowed – the games available on each of the platforms of the 90’s era were so different and often ‘exclusive’ to the platform that they all had their own niche.Neat projec... | 1,760,372,652.025878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/scratch-built-industrial-cameras-modular-design-really-stacks-up/ | Scratch-Built Industrial Camera’s Modular Design Really Stacks Up | Dan Maloney | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"C-mount",
"csi",
"fpga",
"mipi",
"sony imx219",
"usb 3.0"
] | The news here isn’t so much that [Guarav Singh] built
this high-quality industrial digital camera from scratch
, but it’s in the way it was accomplished. That plus the amount of information that’s packed into the write-up, of course. And the excellent photography.
Modularity was one of [Guarav]’s design goals, with the intention of being able to swap out the sensor as the technology changes. To that end, [Guarav] came up with a stack of three PCBs. The middle board of the stack contains a Lattice FPGA chip along with two 16-MB RAMs and the FPGA config flash. The sensor board lies on one side of the FBGA board, while the USB 3.0 board is on the other. Each six-layer board is a masterpiece of high-density design, and the engineering that went into interfacing them and getting everything squeezed into a 3D-printed case with an integrated aluminum C-mount ring is pretty impressive.
[Guarav]’s write-up goes into a great deal of detail on processing the sensor data on the FPGA. Also, there’s quite a bit of practical information on implementing MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) and the CSI (Camera Serial Interface) specification.
We’ve delved into this world before
, but this project is a great hands-on explanation that might really help move your MIPI project along.
Thanks for the tip, [STR-alorman]. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486502",
"author": "bbp",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T08:32:46",
"content": "An impressive set of skills, and very nice execution and documentation!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6486592",
"author": "Ghent the slicer",... | 1,760,372,651.96027 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/23/grain-stuck-in-the-ukraine-the-fragmented-nature-of-modern-day-railways/ | Grain Stuck In Ukraine: The Fragmented Nature Of Modern-Day Railways | Maya Posch | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"History",
"Slider"
] | [
"railways",
"track gauge",
"variable gauge"
] | The war in Ukraine has upset the global food market, and the surprising reason is not that Ukrainian wheat isn’t being harvested, but rather that it
can’t leave the country
. With Russia blockading sea ports, the only way out for Ukrainian grain is by train. And this exposes the long-hidden patchwork of railway tracks and train standards: trains can’t simply cross the border from Ukraine to Poland on their way to a sea port because the tracks don’t match.
Even beyond the obvious issues of connecting differently sized physical railway tracks — the track gauge — there are different signaling systems, different voltages for electrical trains, different loading and structural gauges, and so on. In Europe today, the political history of the past few hundred years can still be traced back using its railroads, with some parts of the European Union still on 1,520 mm Soviet-standard gauge, rather than the 1,435 mm Standard Gauge, which is also known as Stephenson Gauge, European Gauge, etc.
These complications explain why for example with the current war in Ukraine its railways into the rest of Europe aren’t used more for transporting grain and other cargo: with Ukraine using 1,520 mm gauge, all cargo has to be transferred to different trains at the Ukraine-EU border or have bogies swapped. Although some variable gauge systems exist, these come with their own set of limitations.
In light of this it’s not hard to see why standardizing on a single international or even European track gauge is complicated due to having to replace or adapt all tracks and rolling stock, even before considering the aforementioned voltage and signaling differences. All which may lead one to wonder whether we’ll ever see a solution to this historically grown problem.
Engineering History
Minecart from the 16th century with wooden tracks, found in Transylvania. (Credit: LoKiLeCh)
The concept of a trackway is an ancient one, with the
Diolkos
slipway in Greece being postulated as one of the first ones. Although the exact configuration and presence of grooved tracks is still debated in archaeological circles, Diolkos (
Δίολκος
, from the Greek
dia
διά
, “across”, and
holkos
ὁλκός
, “portage machine”) was constructed during the 6th century BCE to enable rapid transport of ships across the Isthmus land bridge and remained in use for over five-hundred years, according to historical reports and supported by recent studies of the beachrock, e.g.
Saitis et al. (2022)
.
Over the past thousands of years, the use of tracks to guide wagons, carriages and carts along a defined path became ever more common and popular, from
mining
and transport, to industrial use, with human and animals providing the propulsion. Eventually large-scale track systems for transport would commence with the arrival of the steam engine and subsequent diesel-electric and electric trains that’d define railways as the defining transforming feature of the 19th century and beyond.
Unsurprisingly, each railroad company would initially set its own track gauge and other standards, with rolling stock essentially being limited to the tracks of the railroad company that had purchased it. This situation lasted until governments began to enforce a standard gauge, such as with the
Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act
of 1846 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The No. 1 engine developed by George Stephenson for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, called ‘Locomotion’. (Source: Lives of the Engineers, 1862)
This act enforced the use of the then most popular track gauge in Great Britain which was the 1,435 mm track that was used by
George Stephenson’s
Stockton and Darlington railway in addition to other railways constructed around that time. Interestingly, this same act also enforced the use of a 1,600 mm gauge standard in Ireland, which is the reason why to this day Ireland and Northern Ireland use this track gauge.
This British 1,435 mm standard became adopted as what is known as ‘
Standard Gauge
‘ today, and would end up being adopted across much of Europe, North America and other parts of the world. Stephenson himself mentioned that he would have liked to have a broader gauge than 1,435 mm, and even today somewhere around forty percent of commercial railways are using another gauge, generally a type of ‘broad gauge’, as anything wider than standard gauge is referred to.
Fixing History
Dual gauge track (1520 and 1435 mm) in Lithuania between Mockava and Šeštokai, part of “Rail Baltica” (Credit: Gedminas)
At this point in time, there are eight commonly used
track gauges
, with standard gauge followed by the Soviet-era 1,520 mm standard at over 15% and Europe featuring also the meter gauge (1,000 mm, Spain and Switzerland),
Iberian gauge
(1,668 mm, Portugal and Spain), the older 1,524 mm Soviet standard (Estonia, Finland), the aforementioned 1,600 mm gauge in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Only the 1,676 mm gauge standard is not present in Europe.
While the obvious way to fix this situation is to either replace all tracks and rolling stock, or to simply accept that international trains are impossible, there are a few intermediate solutions. A common solution is that of
dual and mixed gauge tracks
, which add one or more additional tracks to match whichever gauges the rolling stock can use. Of course, this still adds significant cost and is only worth it if rolling stock with all of these gauges regularly use the tracks.
Gauge changeover at León (Credit: INECO)
Another solution is that of
variable gauge
, which involves a bogie equipped with axles that can change their track gauge automatically using a
gauge changing station
that triggers the gauge changing mechanism as the bogie moves through it. This is how trains between Spain and France move between these countries’ different rail networks. Limitations here are that no variable gauge system supports more than two gauges, and variable gauge bogies limit the weight that can be placed on them, making them unsuitable for freight traffic.
Finally, there is
bogie exchange
, which involves swapping the bogies of the rolling stock. This is still in limited use for mostly freight trains, but does require the disconnecting and reconnecting of control and other lines, and can take about ten minutes to over an hour per rail car, which is why this approach has lost ground to variable gauge axle systems that do not require such specialist intervention. At this point in time, it’s still commonly used for trains between Ukraine and nations like Poland and Romania.
No Quick Fix
Even though there is a
gradual move
towards converting all of Europe to standard gauge, this is a slow, arduous process. While for new lines the choice to use 1,435 mm standard gauge is obvious – especially when the rolling stock can use either the old or new gauge as is the case in Spain – not every country has this easy way out. For former USSR nations like Lithuania and others, the ‘Rail Baltica’ proposal foresees switching from the old Soviet-era tracks to new tracks using standard gauge, which is a massive undertaking that has
left many unconvinced
.
Ukrainian Minister of Finance Oleksandr Kava noted some of the issues related to
loading gauge
, as rolling stock in Ukraine can be wider than is allowed in the EU outside of Romania and Bulgaria, and axle load is also far higher within Ukraine than is allowed on EU tracks. This hearkens back to Stephenson’s commentary in the 19th century, about the deficiencies of the bureaucratically selected standard gauge, and raises the uncomfortable realization that switching from ‘broad gauge’ to ‘standard gauge’ may actually be a downgrade, rather than an improvement.
However, much like the proverbial freight train with cut brake lines hurtling ahead with abandon, it seems that at least for Europe the 1,435 mm standard is unstoppable. It’ll be used for compatibility sake, regardless of whether it is in fact the best choice. In a similarly pragmatic fashion as when it comes to loading gauge and other aspects that affect international trains, the main priority appears to be to ensure that the trains can travel where they are needed.
Fortunately the other compatibility issues like the different electrical voltages used across electrified rail networks are significantly easier to solve.
The Easy(ish) Problems
Diesel-electric SNCF Class B 82500, capable of working with 1.5 kV DC and 25 kV AC overhead systems.
The
electrification
of rail networks occurred almost in as haphazard a fashion as the growth of track gauges, but compatibility issues have been essentially solved using
multi-system locomotives
. These can accept power input from e.g. overhead wiring, with voltages ranging from low voltage (750 V DC in Europe) systems to the multi-kV systems (up to 25 kV AC in Europe) that are in use today. Some of these locomotives are also diesel-electric units which can run on non-electrified tracks.
Generally, running such a multi-system locomotive requires no input from the driver, with automatic switch-over between power sources and adaptation to the voltages. Where things get a lot more complicated is with the railway
signaling systems
, which features different traffic control systems that in the case of e.g. automatic block signaling (
ABS
) requires that the train’s communication systems are compatible with the system, as well as the
safety systems
that are to prevent accidents in case of human error.
Regardless, these are fairly straightforward problems that only affect the rolling stock and can be fairly easy retrofitted into existing locomotives.
The Bottlenecks Of Today
In an ideal world all of Europe would be using a standard gauge that an engineer like George Stephenson would be happy with, and which would allow Ukraine to move the stored grain from its storage facilities to the EU’s harbors with zero complications and building of intermediate storage facilities as suggested in the current proposal. Unfortunately, this is not the world we live in.
Despite the generally excellent state of rail networks in Europe relative to many other regions, it bears keeping in mind the flaws and bottlenecks of the current railway system, and to look for ways that we can meaningfully improve on it. Even if generally these flaws are mostly an annoyance due to extra wait times and expenses, sometimes it means that Ukrainian grain becomes painfully stuck behind a gauge break, with the severe consequences which we are seeing this year.
[Header and Thumbnail photo: “
Train Rail Tracks
” by Evan Delshaw.] | 79 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486271",
"author": "js290",
"timestamp": "2022-06-23T14:18:22",
"content": "“Every culture that has depended on annual plants for their staple food crops has collapsed.”http://bit.ly/1ck0tnM“Folks, This Ain’t Normal” Joel Salatin at Wanderlust’s Speakeasy – “Grow food not lawns”htt... | 1,760,372,652.420568 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/23/south-koreas-kslv-2-rocket-delivers-payloads-to-orbit/ | South Korea’s KSLV-2 Rocket Delivers Payloads To Orbit | Chris Lott | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"cubesats",
"KSLV",
"Nuri",
"rockets",
"satellite",
"south korea"
] | South Korea’s domestically developed KSLV-2 “Nuri” rocket
successfully placed six payloads into low Earth orbit
Tuesday, after lifting off from from Naro Space Center at 4 PM KST. This follows an
earlier attempt in October
which failed to reach orbit after the booster’s third stage engine shutdown prematurely. The flight followed an initial trajectory over the East China Sea, after which the upper stage steered out towards the Philippine Sea, finally placing the payload in the desired orbital inclination of 98 degrees. This less-than-ideal path wasted energy, but ensured that the first and second stages fell into the ocean and not onto people. Success was confirmed shortly after launch as the vehicle passed over South Korea’s King Sejong Station in Antarctica.
The payload on this test flight was primarily a mass simulator of 1.3 metric tons, but a small Performance Verification Satellite (PVSAT) was included, for a grand total of 1.5 metric tons. The PVSAT itself monitors vehicle performance, but also serves as a carrier for four CubeSats. These were developed by engineering teams at various local universities and will be deployed in the coming days.
Step Cube Lab 2 from Chosun University
MIMAN (Monochrome Imaging for Monitoring Aerosol by Nanosatellite) from Yonsei University
RANDEV (Repeater Arrangement & Disaster Early View) from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
SNUGLITE Amateur Radio and Technical Demonstration from Seoul National University
If you’re inclined to track these, the launch has been given COSPAR ID 2022-065 and the first three objects (third stage, dummy mass, and PVSAT) have been assigned the NORAD catalog numbers
52894
,
52895
, and
52896
. It’s too early to tell which is which at this point, but as more data about their respective orbits are collected, it should be possible to tell them apart. The next four catalog numbers, 52897 – 52900, have been reserved for the CubeSats once they are released.
With this launch, South Korea has become the 10th nation to put a payload into space using its own domestic technology, and the 7th to loft a payload of more than one ton to orbit — joining the ranks of the United States, Russia, Japan, China, France, and India. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486294",
"author": "fiddlingjunky",
"timestamp": "2022-06-23T15:45:35",
"content": "Very cool, I love the low-risk high-reward quad-cubesat strategy. Give a good number students and academics access to space for no significant reputational or mission risk.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,652.45748 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/nerf-shoot-photos-not-foam-darts-to-see-around-corners/ | NeRF: Shoot Photos, Not Foam Darts, To See Around Corners | Michael Shaub | [
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"3d capture",
"3d scanning",
"CUDA",
"NVIDIA",
"Photogrammetry"
] | Readers are likely familiar with photogrammetry, a method of creating 3D geometry from a series of 2D photos taken of an object or scene. To pull it off you need a lot of pictures, hundreds or even thousands, all taken from slightly different perspectives. Unfortunately the technique suffers where there are significant occlusions caused by overlapping elements, and shiny or reflective surfaces that appear to be different colors in each photo can also cause problems.
But new research from NVIDIA
marries photogrammetry with artificial intelligence
to create what the developers are calling an Instant Neural Radiance Field (NeRF). Not only does their method require far fewer images, as little as a few dozen according to NVIDIA, but the AI is able to better cope with the pain points of traditional photogrammetry; filling in the gaps of the occluded areas and leveraging reflections to create more realistic 3D scenes that reconstruct how shiny materials looked in their original environment.
If you’ve got a CUDA-compatible NVIDIA graphics card in your machine, you can give the technique a shot right now.
The tutorial video after the break
will walk you through setup and some of the basics, showing how the 3D reconstruction is progressively refined over just a couple of minutes and then can be explored like a scene in a game engine. The Instant-NeRF tools include camera-path keyframing for exporting animations with higher quality results than the real-time previews. The technique seems better suited for outputting views and animations than models for 3D printing, though both are possible.
Don’t have the latest and greatest NVIDIA silicon? Don’t worry, you can still create some impressive 3D scans using “old school” photogrammetry —
all you really need is a camera and a motorized turntable
. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486222",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timestamp": "2022-06-23T06:09:41",
"content": "So now we get Artificial Optical Illusions (aka AOI)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486224",
"author": "helge",
"timestamp": "2022-06... | 1,760,372,652.505098 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/extruded-resin-fdm-printing-with-lasers/ | Extruded Resin FDM Printing (With Lasers!) | Adam Zeloof | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"FDM",
"laser",
"resin"
] | At this point, 3D printers are nearly everywhere. Schools, hackerspaces, home workshops, you name it. Most of these machines are of the extruded-filament variety, better known as FDM or Fused Deposition Modelling. Over the last few years, cheap LCD printers have brought resin printing to many shops as well. LCD printers, like their DLP and SLA counterparts, use ultraviolet light to cure liquid resin. These machines are often praised for the super-high detail they can achieve, but are
realllly slow
. And messy — liquid resin gets everywhere and sticks to everything.
We’re not exactly sure what [Jón Schone] of
Proper Printing
was thinking when he
set out to convert a classic printer to use resin instead of filament
, but it had to be something along the lines of “Can you make FDM printing just as messy as LCD printing?”
It turns out you can. His extremely well-documented research is shown in the video below, and logs his design process, from initial idea to almost-kinda-working prototype. As you may expect, extruding a high-viscosity liquid at a controlled rate and laser-curing it is not an easy task, but [Jón] made a fantastic attempt. From designing and building his own peristaltic pump, to sending a UV laser through fiber-optic cables, he explored a ton of different approaches to making the printer work. While he may not have been 100% successful, the video is a great reminder that not all projects have to go the way we hope they will.
Even so, he’s optimistic, and said that he has a few ideas to refine the design, and welcomes any input from the community. This isn’t even the only
new and interesting approach to resin printing we’ve seen in the last few weeks
, so we share [Jón]’s optimism that the FDM Resin Printer will work (someday, at least).
Thanks to [Baldpower] and [electronoob] for the tip! | 24 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486199",
"author": "Jon H",
"timestamp": "2022-06-23T02:02:18",
"content": "How about using thinned resin and an inkjet head?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6486203",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,372,652.564997 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/putting-a-little-more-juice-in-your-emulation-station/ | Putting A Little More Juice In Your Emulation Station | Matthew Carlson | [
"Games"
] | [
"cnc",
"emulation",
"emulator",
"gaming",
"zac builds"
] | After you’ve built a snazzy Raspberry Pi-powered retro gaming console, you might be wondering if you could have just a wee bit more power and run some of those other games you might remember, such as Xbox, Wii, or PS3. Perhaps in the future, a later revision of an RPi could handle it but currently, to emulate the 6th/7th generation of consoles, you need something a little beefier. Luckily, [Zac] got his hands on an
old gaming laptop and turned it into his own game console
.
The first step was to take the laptop apart and discard the parts not needed. [Zac] stripped away the battery, Bluray drive, and spinning hard disk. That left him with a much smaller PCB that could fit into a small case. The power button was integrated into the keyboard but came into the motherboard by the flat cable keyboard connection. So by bridging a few pins, he could power up the laptop. Next, he upgraded the RAM, wifi card, an NVMe drive, and redid all the thermal paste and putty to try and keep things cool while overclocking the GPU.
The case for the machine heavily used his CNC as it was walnut with a mid-section made of plywood. The top has a gorgeous cast acrylic window to see inside. The part the [Zac] was dreading with the fine pitch soldering. Ultimately he got both wires connected with good connections and no bridging. Because it’s just a PC at its heart, almost every game is on the table. Emulation, some more moderate PC games, streaming from his office PC, and cloud gaming services allow him to access most games made. We love the concept and the idea.
We love the aesthetic of the build but if you prefer to keep your consoles looking a little more faithful, why not
put your mini PC inside of an actual N64 case
? Video after the break. | 9 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486235",
"author": "Bastet",
"timestamp": "2022-06-23T08:02:13",
"content": "This is not only a nice emu station but could be a good budget desktop too, the only problematic thing for most hackers will be the case tough as most people will have access or even posses a jigsaw and i ... | 1,760,372,652.653907 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/hdmi-is-an-attack-surface-so-heres-an-hdmi-firewall/ | HDMI Is An Attack Surface, So Here’s An HDMI Firewall | Jenny List | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"display",
"firewall",
"hdmi"
] | Many years of using televisions, monitors, and projectors have conditioned us into treating them as simple peripherals whose cables carry only video. A VGA cable may have an i2c interface for monitor detection, but otherwise it presents little security risk. An HDMI interface on the other hand can carry an increasing number of far more capable ports, meaning that it has made the leap from merely a signal cable to being a connector stuffed with interesting attack vectors for a miscreant. Is it time for an HDMI firewall? [King Kévin] thinks so,
because he’s made one
.
It’s a surprisingly simple device, because the non-signal capabilities of HDMI rely on a set of conductors which are simply not connected. This of course also disconnects the on-board EEPROM in the device being connected, so there’s an EEPROM on the firewall board to replace it which must be programmed with the information for the device in question.
The premise of HDMI as an attack surface is a valid one, and we’re sure there will be attacks that can be performed on vulnerable displays which could potentially in turn do naughty things to anything which connects to them. The main value for most readers here probably lies though in the introduction it gives to some of what goes into an HDMI interface, and in accessing the i2c interface therein.
It comes as a surprise to realise that HDMI is nearing 20 years old, so it’s hardly surprising that
its hacking has quite a history
. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486144",
"author": "Jonathan Bennett",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T20:53:41",
"content": "I gave a presentation one time at a DoD building, in a room where Classified briefings were also held. Plugged a laptop directly into the big monitors on the wall, that were regularly plugged in ... | 1,760,372,652.608518 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/the-little-lightgun-that-could-sinden-makes-good/ | The Little Lightgun That Could: Sinden Makes Good | Tom Nardi | [
"Games",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"Crowd Funding",
"duck hunt",
"emulation",
"kickstarter",
"light gun",
"lightgun",
"retropie"
] | Back in 2018, we covered the work being done by [Andrew Sinden] to create a lightgun that could work on modern televisions. The project was looking for funding via Kickstarter, but due at least in part to skepticism about the technology involved, the campaign fell well short of its goal. It seemed, at the time, like the story would end there.
But we were recently pointed to a
fascinating interview with [Andrew] that ran in
The Guardian
a couple months back that not only tells the rest of the story, but concludes with a happy ending — after years of hard work, the
Sinden Lightgun is now available for purchase
. It’s not exactly the turn-key product that some would like, as there’s a fair number of hoops one must jump through just to bag some eponymous waterfowl in
Duck Hunt
, but nothing that would scare off the average Hackaday reader.
Limited technical details about the 2018 prototype may have kept backers away.
The final version of the hardware ditches the realistic firearm aesthetic inherited from the Wii gun accessory it was designed to fit into, and now features a brightly-colored pistol enclosure that wouldn’t look out of place tethered to a
Virtua Cop
machine. It’s also gained an optional recoil solenoid for force feedback, though it tacks on another $60 to the already hefty $100 price tag for the base model.
We’re glad to see that [Andrew] recognized the importance of
getting Linux support for the software side of things
, as it enabled the development of a pre-configured Retropie image for the Raspberry Pi 4. Though you aren’t forced to emulate on the Pi, for those who would like to blast the occasional zombie on their desktop, Windows and x86 Linux are also supported.
Often times, when we cover a project here on Hackaday it’s a one-shot deal: somebody had a particular need or desire, built a gadget to fulfill it, and moved on. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s a certain feeling of pride when we see a project from this community develop into something more. While not every hacked together piece of hardware we feature
has the potential to be the next Arduboy
or
Sinden Lightgun
, we like to think that we’ve already covered the next big
project-turned-product
success story and just don’t know it yet.
Thanks to [Itay] for the tip. | 13 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486127",
"author": "Grifter",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T19:28:51",
"content": "I bought a pair of these and have had them for a little over a year. The software needs a TON of work. I tried on 3 PC’s and could never get the borders to load reliably. Getting each app to work took ... | 1,760,372,652.711578 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/linux-fu-roll-with-the-checksums/ | Linux Fu: Roll With The Checksums | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Software Development",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"algorithms",
"comparisons",
"hashes",
"search",
"software"
] | We are often struck by how often we spend time trying to optimize something when we would be better off just picking a better algorithm. There is the old story about the mathematician Gauss who, when in school, was given busy work to add the integers from 1 to 100. While the other students laboriously added each number, Gauss realized that 100+1 is 101 and 99 + 2 is also 101. Guess what 98 + 3 is? Of course, 101. So you can easily find that there are 50 pairs that add up to 101 and know the answer is 5,050. No matter how fast you can add, you aren’t likely to beat someone who knows that algorithm. So here’s a question: You have a large body of text and you want to search for it. What’s the best way?
Of course, that’s a loaded question. Best can mean many things and will depend on the kind of data you are dealing with and even the type of machine you are using. If you are just looking for a string, you could, of course, do the brute force algorithm. Let’s say we are looking for the word “convict” in the text of War and Peace:
Start with the first letter of War and Peace
If the current letter isn’t the same as the current letter of “convict” then move to the next letter, reset the current letter in “convict” and go back to step 2 until there are no more letters.
If the current letters are the same, move to the next letter of convict and, without forgetting the current letter of the text, compare it to the next letter. If it is the same, keep repeating this step until there are no more letters in “convict” (at which point you have a match). If not the same, reset the current letter of “convict” and also go back to the original current letter of the text and then move to the next letter, going back to step 2.
That’s actually hard to describe in English. But, in other words, just compare the text with the search string, character by character until you find a match. That works and, actually, with some modern hardware you could write some fast code for that. Can we do better?
Better Algorithms
Basic search
Again, it really depends on your definition of better. Let’s assume that the text contains many strings that are almost what we are looking for, but not quite. For example, War and Peace probably has many occurrences of the word “the” within it. But it also has “there,” “then,” and “other” all of which contain our target word. For the word “the” that isn’t a big deal because it is short, but what if you were sifting through large search strings? (I don’t know — DNA genome data or something.) You’d spend a lot of time chasing down dead ends. When you discover that the current text has 199 of the 200 characters you are looking for, it is going to be disappointing.
There’s another disadvantage. While it is easy to tell where the string matches and, therefore, where it doesn’t match, it is hard to figure out if there has been just a small insertion or deletion when it doesn’t match. This is important for tools like
diff
and
rsync
where they don’t want to just know what matched, they want to understand why things don’t match.
It was looking at
rsync
, in fact, that led me to see how
rsync
compares two files using a rolling checksum. While it might not be for every application, it is something interesting to have in your bag of tricks. Obviously, one of the best uses of this “rolling checksum” algorithm is exactly how
rsync
uses it. That is, it finds when files are different very quickly but can also do a reasonable job of figuring out when they go back to being the same. By rolling the frame of reference,
rsync
can detect that something was inserted or deleted and make the appropriate changes remotely, saving network bandwidth.
In Search Of
However, you can use the same strategy for handling large text searches. To do this, you need a hashing algorithm that can put in and take out items easily. For example, suppose the checksum algorithm was dead simple. Just add the ASCII codes for each letter together. So the string “AAAB” hashes to 65 + 65 + 65 + 66 or 261. Now suppose the next character is a C, that is, “AAABC”. We can compute the checksum starting at the second position by subtracting the first A (65) and adding a C (67). Silly with this small data set, of course, but instead of adding hundreds on numbers each time you want to compute a hash, you can now do it with one addition and subtraction each.
We can then compute the hash for our search string and start computing the hashes of the file for the same length. If the hash codes don’t match, we know there is no match and we move on. If they do match, we probably need to verify the match since hashes are, generally, inexact. Two strings might have the same hash value.
There are, however, a few problems with this. If you are just looking for a single string, the cost of computing the hash is expensive. In the worst case, you’ll have to do a compare, an add, and a subtract for each character, plus maybe some tests when you have a hash collision: two strings with the same hash that don’t actually match. With the normal scheme, you’ll just have to do a test for each character along with some wasted tests for false positives.
To optimize the hash algorithm, you can do fancier hashing. But that is also more expensive to compute, making the overhead even worse. However, what if you were looking for a bunch of similar strings all with the same length? Then you could compute the hash once and save it. Each search after that would be very fast because you won’t waste time investigating many dead ends only to backtrack.
A hash search with a collision at ” the” when searching for “the “
My hash algorithm is very simple, but not very good. For example, you can see in the example that there is one false positive that will cause an extra comparison. Of course, better hash algorithms exist, but there’s always a chance of a collision.
How much is the difference using this hashing strategy? Well, I decided to
write a little code to find out
. I decided to ignore the cost of computing the search pattern hash and the initial part of the rolling hash as those will zero out over enough interactions.
Convicted
If you search for the word “convict” in the text of War and Peace from Project Gutenberg, you’ll find it only occurs four times in 3.3 million characters. A normal search had to make about 4.4 million comparisons to figure that out. The hash algorithm easily wins with just under 4.3 million. But the hash computation ruins it. If you count the add and subtract as the same cost as two comparisons, that adds about 5.8 million pseudo comparisons to the total.
Is that typical? There probably aren’t too many false positives for “convict.” If you run the code with the word “the” which should have a lot of false hits, the conventional algorithm takes about 4.5 million comparisons and the adjusted total for the hash algorithm is about 9.6 million. So you can see how false positives affect the normal algorithm.
You’ll note that my lackluster hashing algorithm also results in a large number of false hash positives which erodes away some of the benefits. A more complex algorithm would help, but would also cost some upfront computation so it doesn’t help as much as you might think. Nearly any hashing algorithm for an arbitrary string will have some collisions. Of course, for small search strings, the hash could be the search string and that would be perfect, but it isn’t feasible in the general case.
The code doesn’t save the hashes, but suppose it did and suppose the false positive rate of the first search is about average. That means we save a little more than 100,000 comparisons per search once the hashes are precomputed. So once you have to search for 60 or so strings, you break even. If you search for 600 strings — but don’t forget, they all have to be the same size — you can save quite a bit over the easy comparison code.
I didn’t actually time things, because I didn’t want to optimize each bit of code. In general, fewer operations are going to be better than more operations. There are plenty of ways to bump the code’s efficiency up and also some heuristics you could apply if you analyze the search string a little bit. But I just wanted to verify my gut-level feel for how much each algorithm spent on searching the text.
Reflections
I originally started thinking about this after reading the code for
rsync
and the backup program
kup
. Turns out there is a name for this, the
Rabin-Karp algorithm
. There are some better hash functions that can reduce false positives and get a few extra points of efficiency.
What’s my point? I’m not suggesting that an RK search is your best approach for things. You really need a big data set with a lot of fixed-size searches to get an advantage out of it. If you think about something like
rsync
, it is really using the hashes to search for places where two very long strings might be equal. But I think there are cases where these oddball algorithms might make sense, so it is worth knowing about them. It is also fun to challenge your intuition by writing a little code and getting some estimates of just how much better or worse one algorithm is than another. | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486077",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T17:06:49",
"content": "Hash functions…. Wikipedia has many pages about it, andhttps://hackaday.io/project/178998-peac-pisano-with-end-around-carry-algorithmexplores new approaches :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,652.764635 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/an-impressively-functional-tacobot/ | An Impressively Functional Tacobot | Tom Nardi | [
"cooking hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"food dispenser",
"robotics",
"voice control",
"voice recognition"
] | We’re big fans of useless machines here at Hackaday, there’s something undeniably entertaining about watching a gadget flail about dramatically without actually making any progress towards a defined goal. But what happens when one of these meme machines ends up working too well? We think that’s just
what we might be witnessing here with the Tacobot from [Vije Miller]
.
On the surface, building an elaborate robotic contraption to (slowly) produce tacos is patently ridiculous. Doubly so when you tack on the need to give it voice commands like it’s some kind of one-dish version of the
Star Trek
food replicator. The whole thing sounds like the setup for a joke, an assumption that’s only reinforced after watching the dramatized video at the break. But in the end, we still can’t get over how well the thing appears to work.
After [Vije] gives it a list of ingredients to dispense, a robotic arm drops a tortilla on a fantastically articulated rotating platform that can not only spin and move in two dimensions, but can form the soft shell into the appropriate taco configuration. The empty shell is then brought under a rotating dispenser that doles out (or at least attempts to) the requested ingredients such as beef, onions, cheese, and lettuce. With a final flourish, it squirts out a few pumps of the selected sauce, and then presents the completed taco to the user.
The only failing appears to be the machine’s ability to dispense some of the ingredients. The ground beef seems to drop into place without issue, but it visibly struggles with the wetter foodstuffs such as the tomatoes and onions. All we know is that if a robot handed us a taco with that little lettuce on it, we’d have a problem. On the project page [Vije] acknowledges the issue, and says that a redesigned dispenser could help alleviate some of the problem.
The issue immediately brought to mind the fascinating series of posts
dedicated to handling bulk material penned by our very own [Anne Ogborn]
. While the application here might be a bit tongue-in-cheek, it’s still a perfect example of the interesting phenomena that you run into when trying to meter out different types of materials.
Thanks to [Fiona] for the tip. | 23 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486056",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T15:55:46",
"content": "I used to sneer at one trick ponies such as this, but am more amenable to their advantages of not having everyone at a party or an occasion breathe on open food these days.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,652.824702 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/how-far-can-you-push-a-500-small-electric-car-four-years-of-the-hacky-racer/ | How Far Can You Push A £500 Small Electric Car; Four Years Of The Hacky Racer | Jenny List | [
"car hacks",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Slider",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"ac motor",
"alternator",
"brushless motor",
"Hacky Racers",
"motor"
] | Four years ago when the idea of a pandemic was something which only worried a few epidemiologists, a group of British hardware hackers and robotic combat enthusiasts came up with an idea. They would take inspiration from the American
Power Racing Series
to create their own small electric racing formula.
Hacky Racers
became a rougher version of its transatlantic cousin racing on mixed surfaces rather than tarmac, and as an inaugural meeting that first group of racers convened on a cider farm in Somerset to give it a try. Last weekend they were back at the same farm after four years of Hacky Racer development with racing having been interrupted by the pandemic, and Hackaday came along once more to see how the cars had evolved.
Probably The Most Fun You Can Have With Five Hundred Quid
A busy Hacky Racer pit scene
We’ve mentioned Hacky Racers and Power Racing enough that many readers may be familiar with them, but to recap, the rules governing the series specify a maximum length and width of 1500 mm and 900 mm, a 2-horsepower power limit enforced by appropriate fuses for the voltage employed, and a £500 (around $600) budget limit. In keeping with the Power Racing inspiration many of the vehicles sport creative bodywork designs, and the result is a field of cars with top speeds somewhere between 15 mph and 20 mph (around 30 km/h).
At those first Hacky Racer meetings back in 2018 there was a mixture of power plants. There were a few 24 V DC transaxles from mobility scooters, some DC power plants from golf buggies, and the faster vehicles featuring 2 hp brushless auto rickshaw motors. Most chassis designs were modified from donor machines, and motor controllers were commoditised Chinese modules. Thus it’s interesting to see how a few years of development has evolved the formula. Four years later the newer machines all have custom chassis designs, there were none of the mobility or golf-based DC motors on show, and the rickshaw motors have been joined by converted car alternators. It’s clear that it’s in these last power plants that the most development is proceeding, so it’s worth taking a closer look.
Pushing The Limits With The Cheapest Brushless Motor Of Them All
We covered
the conversion of alternator to motor
back in early 2020, and from that we know they require a DC bias for their field winding as well as the 3-phase AC from the motor controller. Experimentation has shown that this winding requires between about 2 A and 5 A depending on the alternator, but it’s in managing this figure that some of the most interesting technical developments lie.
Dropper resistors for the field widing can be seen behind this converted alternator. There seems to have been a bit of grass picked up during the previous race.
In a brushless motor the stator is a magnet, and it spins in a field created by a set of coils spaced around it. Like most smaller brushless motors the rickshaw motors have a permanent magnet as their rotor, which works well but is prone to overheating. The alternators have an electromagnet with a set of brushes as their stator, and this electromagnet forms the field coil. The more current in this coil the more magnetic field there is, and thus the more torque the motor can produce. More magnetic field also means more back EMF though, and since the motor controller must counteract this back EMF there’s a tradeoff in that the top speed is lower when the current is higher for more torque. The interesting developments with these motors therefore come with variable field current to select the desired combination of torque and top speed.
The simplest method for providing field current is to place a suitable resistor in series with the field coil and hook it up directly to the battery. This seems to be the preferred route of the moment, with one machine using a pair of relay-selected resistors for different motor torques switched in and out by means of a button on the steering wheel. This first-generation field control is being displaced by active electronics, with one racer using a small DC motor controller to power the coil and another experimenting with a buck converter that will eventually map the field current for the best torque at a particular speed.
It’s clear then that the Hacky Racers are pushing the development of their formula, and that they’re doing so while retaining the have-a-go character of the event is to their credit. Motorsport is blighted by so-called chequebook racers, and in this respect Hacky Racers join
lawnmower racing
as the antidote to formulas which take themselves too seriously. Meanwhile the development of car alternators as brushless motors has huge value for anybody experimenting with small-scale electric traction, so we look forward to more refinement of those techniques.
As we close this piece it’s worth mentioning the venue that hosted the Hacky Racers as they let their hair down.
North Down Orchard
is a working Somerset cider farm with camping facilities and an excellent cider barn. Some of us here at Hackaday
are connoisseurs of good quality real cider
, and we wholeheartedly enjoyed North Down’s cider as a particularly welly-crafted example of the art. We hope the Hacky Racers convene there again, and we look forward to bringing you whatever new technical advancements they’ve made in the intervening time. | 31 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486034",
"author": "Monsonite",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T14:16:34",
"content": "Great Post. Back in 1991, I helped build an electric go-kart which used 2 salvaged Sinclair C5 motors for front wheel drive. There is not much documentation left apart from this ancient Geocities Web pa... | 1,760,372,652.936693 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/a-3d-printed-nixie-clock-powered-by-an-arduino-runs-this-robot/ | A 3D-Printed Nixie Clock Powered By An Arduino Runs This Robot | Jenny List | [
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"ai",
"artificial intelligence",
"writing"
] | While it is hard to tell with a photo, this robot looks more like a model of an old- fashioned clock than anything resembling a Nixie tube. It’s the kind of project that could have been created by anyone with a little bit of Arduino tinkering experience. In this case, the 3D printer used by the Nixie clock project is a Prusa i3 (which is the same printer used to make the original Nixie tubes).
The Nixie clock project was started by a couple of students from the University of Washington who were bored one day and decided to have a go at creating their own timepiece. After a few prototypes and tinkering around with the code , they came up with a design for the clock that was more functional than ornate.
The result is a great example of how one can create a functional and aesthetically pleasing project with a little bit of free time.
Confused yet? You should be.
If you’ve read this far then you’re probably scratching your head and wondering what has come over Hackaday. Should you not have already guessed, the paragraphs above were generated by an AI — in this case
Transformer
— while the header image came by the popular DALL-E Mini, now rebranded as
Craiyon
. Both of them were given the most Hackaday title we could think of,
“A 3D-Printed Nixie Clock Powered By An Arduino Runs This Robot
“, and told to get on with it. This exercise was sparked by curiosity following the viral success of AI generators, which posed the question of whether an AI could make a passable stab at a Hackaday piece. Transformer runs on a prompt model in which the operator is given a choice of several sentence fragments so the text reflects those choices, but the act of choosing could equally have followed any of the options.
The text is both reassuring as a Hackaday writer because it doesn’t manage to convey anything useful, and also slightly shocking because from just that single prompt it’s created meaningful and clear sentences which on another day might have flowed from a Hackaday keyboard as part of a real article. It’s likely that we’ve found our way into whatever corpus trained its model and it’s also likely that subject matter so Hackaday-targeted would cause it to zero in on that part of its source material, but despite that it’s unnerving to realise that a computer somewhere might just have your number. For now though, Hackaday remains safe at the keyboards of a group of meatbags.
We’ve considered the potential for AI garbage before,
when we looked at GitHub Copilot
. | 16 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486009",
"author": "dgrc",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T11:06:45",
"content": "I, for one, welcome our gibbering robotic overlords.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6486011",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T11:17:02... | 1,760,372,653.117399 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/machine-learning-does-its-civic-duty-by-spotting-roadside-litter/ | Machine Learning Does Its Civic Duty By Spotting Roadside Litter | Dan Maloney | [
"green hacks",
"Machine Learning"
] | [
"ai",
"Edge Impulse",
"garbage",
"gps",
"heatmap",
"IoT",
"litter",
"machine learning",
"pollution",
"refuse",
"rubbish",
"webcam"
] | If there’s one thing that never seems to suffer from supply chain problems, it’s litter. It’s everywhere, easy to spot and — you’d think — pick up. Sadly, most of us seem to treat litter as somebody else’s problem, but with something like
this machine vision litter mapper
, you can at least be part of the solution.
For the civic-minded [Nathaniel Felleke], the litter problem in his native San Diego was getting to be too much. He reasoned that a map of where the trash is located could help municipal crews with cleanup, so he set about building a system to search for trash automatically. Using Edge Impulse and a collection of roadside images captured from a variety of sources, he built a model for recognizing trash. To find the garbage, a webcam with a car window mount captures images while driving, and a Raspberry Pi 4 runs the model and looks for garbage. When roadside litter is found, the Pi uses a Blues Wireless Notecard to send the GPS location of the rubbish to a cloud database via its cellular modem.
Cruising around the streets of San Diego, [Nathaniel]’s system builds up a database of garbage hotspots. From there, it’s pretty straightforward to pull the data and overlay it on Google Maps to create a heatmap of where the garbage lies. The video below shows his system in action.
Yes, driving around a personal vehicle specifically to spot litter is just adding more waste to the mix, but you’d imagine putting something like this on municipal vehicles that are already driving around cities anyway. Either way, we picked up some neat tips, especially those wireless IoT cards.
We’ve seen them used before
, but [Nathaniel]’s project gives us a path forward on some ideas we’ve had kicking around for a while. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486018",
"author": "Beaker",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T12:25:44",
"content": "I’d love to see this integrated with dash cams with an upload to a free site.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6486113",
"author": "bluecat57... | 1,760,372,653.070887 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/21/the-sub-100-easythreed-x1-3d-printer-is-it-more-than-a-novelty/ | The Sub-$100 Easythreed X1 3D Printer, Is It More Than A Novelty? | Jenny List | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer review",
"budget 3d printer",
"easythreed"
] | There was a time when a cheap 3D printer meant an extremely dubious “Prusa i3” clone as a kit of parts, with the cheapest possible components which, when assembled, would deliver a distinctly underwhelming experience. Most hackerspaces have one of these cheap printers gathering dust somewhere, usually with a rats-nest of wires hanging out of one side of it. But those awful kits have been displaced by sub-$200 printers that are now rather good, so what’s the current lowest end of the market? The answer lies in printers such as the sub-$100 Easythreed X1,
which All3DP have given a review
. We’ve been curious about this printer for a while, but $100 is a bit much to spend on a toy, so it’s interesting to see their take on it.
It’s a tiny printer marketed as a kid’s toy with an unheated bed and a miniature 100 mm cubic print volume, so we don’t blame them for pitching their expectations low. They found the supplied slicer to be buggy, but the printer itself to be surprisingly better than they expected. It seems that the Easythreed can deliver reasonable but not superlative small prints amid the occasional disaster, but for under $100, we’d guess that
any
print is a result. Still, we’ll join them in their assessment that it’s worth spending a bit more on a better printer.
We’ve seen another tiny Easythreed model before, when someone made
a novelty wrist-mounted wearable version
. | 20 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6485975",
"author": "Marty",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T05:21:11",
"content": "Basically, a 3D printer for ants. :I",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6485976",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T05:22:41",
"c... | 1,760,372,653.174879 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/21/plastic-cpus-will-bend-to-your-will/ | Plastic CPUs Will Bend To Your Will | Al Williams | [
"Microcontrollers",
"News",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"flexible cpu",
"plastic cpu",
"Wearables"
] | As microcontroller prices drop, they appear in more things. Today you will find microcontrollers in your car, your household appliances, and even kid’s toys. But you don’t see them often embedded in things that are either super cheap or have to flex, such as for example a bandage. Part of the reason is the cost of silicon chips and part of the reason is that silicon chips don’t appreciate bending. What if you could make CPUs for less than a penny out of flexible plastic? What applications would that open up? PragmatIC — a company working to make this possible — thinks it would
open up a whole new world of smart items
that would be unthinkable today. They worked with a team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to create prototype plastic CPUs with interesting results.
This is still the stuff of research and dreams, but a team of researchers did work to produce 4-bit and 8-bit processors using IGZO –indium gallium zinc oxide — semiconductor technology. This tech can be put on plastic and will work even if you bend it around a radius as small as a few millimeters.
The key problem, it seems, is yield. When ARM put the 32-bit M0 CPU on plastic, the yield was poor because of the high gate count. These new processors are simplified 4-bit devices that account for the 81% yield. At that yield, the devices could cost less than a penny to produce.
The final design fits on a 5.6 square millimeter die and had about 2,100 devices — comparable to an Intel 4004. The M0, by contrast, contains over 56,000 devices. The 8-bit plastic CPUs also worked but had a correspondingly lower yield. What would you do with a flexible CPU that costs a penny or two? Is it going to require more than a simple 4-bit processor?
Of course, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the home of
a very famous fictional computer
and some not-so-fictional ones. By the way, although the M0 was put on plastic, it wasn’t without
significant compromises
. | 25 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6485960",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-06-22T02:44:56",
"content": "Woohoo, microwave ovens are gonna be a buck cheaper because they can stick the uC in the touchpad.But seriously though, all sorts of exciting applications open up, like DRM for your water filters (Bo... | 1,760,372,653.417439 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/23/around-gps-in-100-videos/ | Around GPS In 100 Videos | Al Williams | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"gnss",
"gps",
"positioning",
"radio navigation"
] | Do you know what the IODC word in GPS data means? If so, great! If not, head over to see the
32nd
of [Michel van Biezen’s] 100-part video series on GPS. You probably want to watch the other 31 videos before he gets too much further ahead of you, too. [Michel] reminds you of that professor you had in college who knows a whole lot about something. In fact, scanning his YouTube channel, he knows a lot about many topics ranging from optics, chemistry, kalman filters, and lots of electronics.
There is a
dedicated playlist for the GPS videos
dating back to 2016. So 32 videos in about six years. So you might have a little time to catch up. While the first video is pretty introductory as you might expect, by the time you get to video 7 the topics switch to things like the C/A code, BPSK, and gory details of all the frame data, including the IODC word.
We aren’t sure what he’s going to do in the other 68 videos, but it is sure to be interesting if you want to know all about GPS. If you don’t, you might still enjoy some of his playlists on calculus, physics, or other interesting topics. The ones we watched were all very informative.
You hope your GPS data is accurate and it should be,
barring any tampering
. Decoding GPS isn’t just good for knowing where you are, it also helps you know
what time it is
to a very tight tolerance. | 9 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486523",
"author": "Jonathan Wilson",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T11:41:58",
"content": "Is GPS fully open and documented to the point that someone could use generic hardware (computers, microcontrollers, FPGAs etc) and fully open software to receive civilian GPS coordinates? Or are t... | 1,760,372,653.360617 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/23/design-your-next-robot-hand-in-minutes/ | Design Your Next Robot Hand In Minutes | Al Williams | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"mit",
"robot"
] | MIT complains that designing a robot hand is time-consuming and takes a lot of iterations. They want to improve that using a unique approach by giving
a modular hand tactile sensors
. They claim this can reduce the design time down to minutes for many practical applications. For example, cutting paper. You can see a video about the paper below as well as read the
text itself
.
Each style of manipulator has an associated graph. Predefined elements let you assemble a palm and specialized fingers. You deform the fingers to match the use of the hand. Then a sensor that looks like a mitten provides feedback fo the task.
The output of all this is STL files for printing the hand and a kitting machine pattern to produce the sensor mitten automatically. Some of the examples in the video show arms operating scissors, tightening a wing nut, and — the classic test for a robot arm, picking up an egg. They also show a robot pouring liquid from a bottle, although someone had to help it out by removing the cap first.
The finger joints include several fingertips and joints. The graphs show what pieces could connect to one another in the same way that a compiler knows what kinds of things might follow a number in a math expression. The deformation process, too, is aware of 3D printer limitations, so it produces practical shapes.
What do you want a robot hand to do? With
the right arm
, they could make your 3D printing pen finally useful. Or
take over your soldering
chores. We wonder, though, if there will be a new 4th law of robotics? Don’t run with scissors. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6486563",
"author": "metalmangler",
"timestamp": "2022-06-24T14:13:57",
"content": "Awwwe isnt that a cute little robot,with its adorable little robot probe mittens,and its saftey scisors,here little robot let me hellpyou,THIS,oh I alwayse carry a baseball bat,thats th8ngs creepy lo... | 1,760,372,653.321068 |
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