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https://hackaday.com/2022/04/11/2022-hackaday-prize-hack-chat/ | 2022 Hackaday Prize Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"Hack Chat"
] | Join us on Wednesday, April 13 at noon Pacific for the
2022 Hackaday Prize Hack Chat
with
Majenta Strongheart
!
Let’s face it: this world is pretty broken right now. From environmental crisis to disease and famine, shortages of just about everything, infrastructure failures, not to mention wars and social breakdown, things are getting pretty hairy out there. While it’s tempting to just curl up and pretend everything is good, that’s probably not going to work as even a short-term plan.
Luckily, we hackers are uniquely positioned for situations like this. After all, we fix stuff, and we’re certainly living in a target-rich environment of stuff that needs fixing. What’s more, nothing gives us as much fulfillment as taking a situation that everyone else thinks is beyond help and turning it into a solved problem.
These are the times that people like us can really shine, and
the 2022 Hackaday Prize
is the perfect forum for that. With this year’s theme of Sustainability, Resiliency, and Circularity, there’s plenty of scope for all of us to make a contribution. To help us get kicked off, Majenta Strongheart, Head of Design and Partnerships at Supplyframe, will drop by the Hack Chat with all the details on this year’s Prize.
Come prepared to pick her brain on how the Prize is going to work this year, find out about the different challenge opportunities, and learn everything there is to know about this year’s competition. It’s the Greatest Hardware Design Challenge on Earth, and we need it now more than ever.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, April 13 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you tied up, we have a
handy time zone converter
. | 23 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455569",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2022-04-11T16:35:14",
"content": "I was considering funding a HAD contest about solving wealth inequality. (I have money set aside for the prize.)Basically, a completely fair trade simulation will show that wealth inequality will eventuall... | 1,760,372,732.826818 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/11/need-a-jtag-adapter-use-your-pico/ | Need A JTAG Adapter? Use Your Pico! | Arya Voronova | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"debug",
"jtag",
"jtag tools",
"pi pico",
"pico",
"Raspberry Pi Pico",
"rp2040"
] | JTAG is a powerful interface for low-level debugging and introspection of all kinds of devices — CPUs, FPGAs, MCUs and a whole lot of complex purpose-built chips like RF front-ends. JTAG adapters can be quite obscure, or cost a pretty penny, which is why we’re glad to see that [Adam Taylor] from [ADIUVO]
made a tutorial
on using your Pi Pico board as a JTAG adapter. This relies on
a project called XVC-Pico
by [Dhiru Kholia], and doesn’t require anything other than a Pi Pico board itself — the XVC-Pico provides both a RP2040 firmware implementing the XVC (Xilinx Virtual Cable) specification and a daemon that connects to the Pico board and interfaces to tools like Vivado.
First part of the write-up is dedicated to compiling the Pico firmware using a Linux VM. There’s a pre-built
.uf2
binary available in
the GitHub repo
, however, so you don’t have to do that. Then, he compiles and runs a daemon on the PC where the Pico is connected, connects to that daemon through Vivado, and shows successful single-stepping through code on a MYIR Z-turn board with a Xilinx XC7Z020. It’s worth remembering that, if your FPGA’s (or any other target’s) JTAG logic levels are 1.8V or 2.5V-based, you will need a level shifter between it and the Pi Pico, which is a board firmly in the 3.3V realm.
You just cannot beat the $3 price and the ease of setup. Pi Pico is shaping up to be more and more of a hardware multi-tool. Just a month ago, we covered how
the Pico can work as a logic analyzer
. A lot of that, we have the PIO peripherals to thank for — an assembly of state machines that even let you “bitbang”
high-speed interfaces like DVI
. If you’re interested in how PIO functions,
there are some good write-ups
around here. Lacking a Pi Pico, you can
use this board’s bigger sister to interface with JTAG
, too. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455560",
"author": "Daniel",
"timestamp": "2022-04-11T16:03:59",
"content": "You ought to add buffers/level shifters also to prevent damage to your 3.3V target when its power supply is turned off before you disconnect the Pico from USB.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,732.182461 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/11/mothballing-rosalind-how-to-put-a-space-mission-in-storage/ | Mothballing Rosalind: How To Put A Space Mission In Storage | Dan Maloney | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"ESA",
"mars",
"rosalind franklin"
] | In planetary exploration circles, Mars has quite a bad reputation. The Red Planet has a habit of eating spacecraft sent there to explore it, to the degree that nearly half of the missions we’ve thrown at it have failed in one way or another. The “Mars Curse” manifests itself most spectacularly when landers fail to negotiate the terminal descent and new billion-dollar craters appear on the Martian regolith, while some missions meet their doom en route to the planet, and an unlucky few have even blown up on the launchpad.
But the latest example of the Mars Curse,
the recent cancellation of the second half of the ExoMars mission
, represents a new and depressing failure mode: war — specifically the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The international outrage over the aggression resulted in economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation of Russia, which retaliated by ending its partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), depriving the mission of its launch vehicle and dooming the mission that would have landed the rover
Rosalind Franklin
on Oxia Planum near the Martian Equator in 2023.
While there’s still a chance that administrators and diplomats will work things out, chances are slim that it will be in time for the narrow launch window that the mission was shooting for in September of 2022. That means the
Rosalind Franklin
, along with all the other flight hardware that was nearly ready to launch, will have to be put in storage at least until the next launch window opens in 2024. That begs the question: how does one put a complex spacecraft into storage? And could such mothballing have unintended consequences for the mission when it eventually does fly?
Electricity and Heaters
Before the confounding effects of human armed conflict even came into play, the ExoMars mission was very ambitious and quite complicated. Planning dates back to the early 2000s, when the ESA and NASA entered into a joint agreement for a mission that would include orbiters, rovers, and even a sample-return aspect. But in 2012, NASA, which was to provide the launch vehicle and descent platform for the ExoMars rover,
backed out of the partnership
, due to budget constraints caused at least in part by cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope. This resulted in ESA entering into a full partnership with Roscosomos for launches aboard their Proton launch vehicles, as well as provision of the descent vehicle needed to get the rover safely down to Mars.
Artist’s impression of
Rosalind Franklin
on Mars, with
Kazachok
in the background. Source:
ESA
With the partnership in tatters just six months from the launch window, the completed rover, now named in honor of British chemist and crystallographer
Rosalind Franklin
, and the descent vehicle, called
Kazachok
or “little cossack,” have to be safely stored for at least two years. While most spacecraft intended for deep-space missions are necessarily designed with storage during the often months-long interplanetary transit in mind, keeping a delicate machine designed for the vacuum of space safely stored on Earth is another matter entirely.
One of the main drivers of how
Rosalind Franklin
and
Kazachok
will be stored is their power systems. Both spacecraft are powered by solar panels, which may represent a small blessing to engineers devising the storage plan. Like earlier NASA rovers
Spirit
and
Opportunity
,
Rosalind Franklin
uses solar panels to provide electricity. The rover is relatively small, only 300 kg or so, and has modest power requirements that can be met by the 1,200 Watt solar array on the top of its hull. This stands in contrast to the much larger
Curiosity
and
Perseverance
rovers, each the size of a compact car and powered by a pair of plutonium-powered
radioisotope thermoelectric generators
. While the 87.7-year half-life of Pu-238 would mean the power output of RTGs wouldn’t decay much over two years in storage, it would be a non-zero amount that mission engineers would need to account for.
NASA RHU, their take on radioactive heating for deep-space flight. They lose about 10-mW of heat output per year due to the decay of the Pu-238 fuel. Source:
NASA RPS
Just because RTGs weren’t chosen for the power source doesn’t mean
Rosalind Franklin
still doesn’t have some radioactive decay concerns to deal with. The Martian nights are brutally cold, and the days aren’t much better, so sensitive electronics need to be warmed up to work properly. To keep things toasty, the rover is equipped with Russian-made radioisotope heating units (RHUs), which are essentially RTGs without the electricity-generating bits. NASA’s RHUs use Pu-238 as a heat source; regardless of the isotope used on the Roscosmos-supplied RHUs aboard
Rosalind Franklin
, chances are good decay of the fuel source during storage will have to be accounted for.
But the lucky break in the choice of solar panels to power these spacecraft is confounded somewhat by the need for batteries to store the power. The rover uses a 1,142-W-h lithium-ion battery bank, which will require some careful management in storage.
Lithium-ion batteries don’t respond well to long-term storage
either fully charged or discharged, so the goal would likely be to hold the batteries at something like 50% state of charge (SOC). Even with optimal storage, it may be prudent to just replace the rover’s batteries with new ones before being flown, since the stakes are so high. For example, on the Japanese
Hayabusa
asteroid lander and sample return mission in 2005, a thruster malfunction caused the spacecraft’s solar panels to not align with the Sun and
over-discharged some of the lithium-ion batteries
, which caused some tense moments getting the samples back to Earth. A Mars mission needs no such drama added to its stakes.
Pyrotechnics
Since the earliest days of the Space Race, the launch of every spacecraft has been a carefully orchestrated series of controlled explosions. From stage separations on the launch vehicle and opening payload fairings to jettisoning heatshields and parachute deployment, pyrotechnic devices are involved in almost every step along the way to space.
NASA Standard Initiator, similar to what’s used for pyrotechnic devices on ESA spacecraft. Source:
NASA
Aerospace engineers have a lot of experience with pyrotechnics, and have even standardized these “energetic devices” to a certain degree. NASA, for example, has their “NASA Standard Detonator,” which is a machined stainless steel plug filled with less than half a gram each of lead azide and the high-explosive RDX squeezed into it. The NSD has a fitting into which another pyrotechnic device, the “NASA Standard Initiator,” is attached.
The NSI is filled with
ZPP
, a mixture of zirconium, potassium perchlorate, and the synthetic rubber Viton B as a binder. A small filament embedded in the ZPP heats up when a current passes through it, which causes the zirconium fuel to ignite in the presence of the potassium perchlorate oxidizer, producing sufficient heat and pressure to set off the explosives in the NSD.
The ESA-built
Rosalind Franklin
is likely to have similar pyrotechnic devices, which will have similar storage characteristics.
Studies on the effects of heat and humidity on ZPP-based initiators
show that while generally stable, humidity plays a major role in degrading initiator performance, primarily by degrading the Viton binder and allowing access to the fuel and oxidizer to atmospheric water. The upshot of all this is that, like just about everything else, pyrotechnics are best stored in a cool, dry place.
Lubricants
Most spacecraft, even those never destined to set down on a planetary body, have at least some mechanical joints, to deploy all the antennas, solar panels, and sensors that need to be folded up so the machine can fit inside its launch fairing. Rovers have orders of magnitude more mechanical complexity than orbital craft, and are littered with joints of every imaginable type. And all those joints need a range of lubricants, all of which are subject to degradation during extended storage.
Storage can hurt:
Galileo
with its lube-starved high-gain antenna. Source: NASA
The loss of performance by lubricants on spacecraft in storage is no joke, and nearly cost NASA the
Galileo
flyby mission of Jupiter in the 1990s.
Galileo
had been in storage for four and a half years before its launch, thanks in part to the
Challenger
disaster. By the time antenna deployment was attempted during the transit to Jupiter, the lubricants intended to provide a smooth release of the antenna ribs had been in place for over a decade, and were severely degraded. This left the antenna partially deployed and greatly impacted data throughput.
As a result of this mishap, the effects of pre-flight storage on critical lubricants have been
extensively studied
, with the conclusion being that molybdenum disulfide greases are best stored under “dry nitrogen” conditions, along with the occasional exercise of critical mechanisms to ensure that greases don’t stratify, or have their base oil separate from the soap used to thicken them. Engineers also need to be cautious of seals and other non-metallic components in contact with lubricants, which may soak up a significant amount of the base oil and thicken the reservoir of grease to the point of eventual joint failure.
While these are the high points, chances are good a mission as complex as ExoMars will have a thousand other details that will need to be seen to in order to ensure that
Rosalind Franklin
and
Kazachok
are kept in good order and ready to fly, hopefully when the next launch window comes around. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455551",
"author": "Piotrsko",
"timestamp": "2022-04-11T15:26:32",
"content": "Pretty sure the igniters aren’t stored onboard, there’s fake actuators. You don’t want one going off in your lab, ever. Kinda fubars your cleanroom.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,372,732.551318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/11/this-end-table-conceals-a-close-encounter/ | This End Table Conceals A Close Encounter | Jenny List | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"furniture",
"model railroad",
"model railway"
] | If you’re of a Certain Age, perhaps you had a train set as a child. An oval of track, a loco, and some rolling stock; it matters not whether it was
Thomas the Tank Engine
or a large express train — they were at the time a pretty cool toy. Move forward a few decades, and model railways have become either super-expensive room-filler layouts, or have sunk low as novelty Christmas ornaments, so that the basic loop of track is in dire need of rescue. Perhaps [Peter Waldraff] can help, with
a beautifully-constructed N gauge circular layout concealed in an end table
. Even better, when you examine it closely, it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary train set, it’s
a scene from
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
.
This is a project of two equally well-made parts, the piece of furniture and the train. The former is entirely scratch-built, with a cylindrical outside made from carefully cut rings of plywood and a sliding riser mechanism in the centre with a concrete counterweight. Slide the cylinder upwards, and the layout is revealed — a scratch-built hill in the centre of the ring of track and the lit-up underside of the UFO above it. As the train goes round the track, it even triggers a set of crossing lights and sounds for extra realism. The full story can be seen in the video below the break, and is well worth a watch.
We’ve covered more than one concealed model railway layout in the past, and it comes as no surprise when browsing to find that
[Peter]’s work has featured here before
. | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455506",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2022-04-11T12:39:44",
"content": "A lot of sheets of plywood and wasted wood, making circles like that. Surely making it a few arcs could reduce it to a single sheet.But I suppose if you put that much time and other expense into the project... | 1,760,372,732.44288 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/11/swing-gate-motors-come-to-help-for-opening-a-giant-servery-window/ | Swing Gate Motors Come To Help For Opening A Giant Servery Window | Arya Voronova | [
"hardware",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"linear actuator",
"linear actuators",
"repurposing",
"swing gate"
] | [Martin Roberts] wrote to us, telling us
about a build
that his company, [Ocean View Workshop], was tasked with. Creating a four meter wide window able to open vertically is no small feat, and it had to be custom-built because the local company building such windows wasn’t comfortable working with anything other than aluminum — insufficient for the window’s scale. With massive weight of the glass alone, structural requirements for supporting it, and the mechanical loads to be applied, some careful planning was in order.
To start with, this window had to be motorized, as an average person wouldn’t be capable of pulling it upwards. Not satisfied with the linear actuator choice available, they went to a hardware store and found
some swing gate actuators
that, in workshop tests, proved themselves to be more than capable of handling way over the weight required. In fact, they were capable of lifting [Martin] himself off the ground without much hassle.
Note the jack helping hold the panel in place.
From there, it was time to figure out the mechanical parts — building a strong enough frame for the window, welding the frame, figuring out the mounting and leverage intricacies, gauging the loads to be handled and adding gas struts. The nitty-gritty of the mechanical bit is covered quite well in the 14-minute video that [Ocean View Workshop] published, embedded below, so we won’t repeat it. Instead, our focus is on the swing gate-intended hardware reuse part that [Martin] shared with us in his letter.
The swing gate controller’s built-in features, like adjustable limit switch support, soft start/stop and configurable overload/stall protection, proved themselves to be instrumental for smoothness and safety of the window’s operation. As for the automation part of it, they interfaced the motor controller with one of the numerous Sonoff devices tied into a Home Assistant-based system, and then even integrated it with Amazon Alexa, adding a
2001: A Space Odyssey
Easter egg while at it. In other words, the motorized swing gate hardware and this servery window build turned out to be a perfect match for each other.
We appreciate the ingenuity and hope that the spirit of this story can guide other hackers in similar situations, tasked with building things beyond the scope of what local companies have the toolkit for. [Martin] says he already can think of a few more unintended applications for these – an extra heavy-duty adjustable workbench or a height-adjustable king bed. Limiting availability of linear actuators is somewhat of a pain point, to the point where
people build
and even 3D print their own, for loads
big
and
small
. | 34 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455470",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2022-04-11T08:36:41",
"content": "While it’s nice to see people wearing helmets, the words “engineering”, “safety” and “code” (standard) are not mentioned in the article – what’s to keep peoples head getting bashed in?",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,372,732.268249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/twitch-and-blink-your-way-through-typing-with-this-facial-keyboard/ | Twitch And Blink Your Way Through Typing With This Facial Keyboard | Dan Maloney | [
"Software Development",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"dlib",
"Face Mesh",
"facial recognition",
"gesture",
"keyboard",
"morse",
"opencv",
"python"
] | For those that haven’t experienced it, the early days of parenthood are challenging, to say the least. Trying to get anything accomplished with a raging case of sleep deprivation is hard enough, but the little bundle of joy who always seems to need to be in physical contact with you makes doing things with your hands nigh impossible. What’s the new parent to do when it comes time to be gainfully employed?
Finding himself in such a boat, [Fletcher]’s solution was to build
a face-activated keyboard
to work around his offspring’s needs. Before you ask: no, voice recognition software wouldn’t work, at least according to the sleepy little boss who protests noisy awakenings. The solution instead was to first try OpenCV and the dlib facial recognition library to watch [Fletcher] blinking out Morse code. While that sorta-kinda worked, one’s blinkers can’t long endure such a workout, so he moved on to an easier set of gestures. Mouthing Morse code covers most of the keyboard, while a combination of eye, eyebrow, and other facial twitches and tics cover the rest, with MediaPipe’s Face Mesh doing the heavy-lifting in terms of landmark detection.
The resulting facial keyboard, aptly dubbed
“CheekyKeys,”
performed well enough for [Fletcher] to use for a skills test during an interview with a Big Tech Company. Imagining the interviewer on the other end watching him convulse his way through the interview was worth the price of admission, and we don’t even care if it was a put-on. Video after the break.
CheekyKeys is pretty cool, doing something with a webcam and Python that we thought would have needed
a dedicated AI depth camera
to accomplish. But perhaps the real hack here was how [Fletcher] taught himself Morse in fifteen minutes. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454994",
"author": "JanW",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T11:03:30",
"content": "Looks like a good facial workout!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6455019",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T13:51:01",
... | 1,760,372,732.883107 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/night-vision-now-in-color/ | Night Vision: Now In Color | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Science"
] | [
"infrared",
"night vision",
"nightvision"
] | We’ve all gotten used to seeing movies depict people using night vision gear where everything appears as a shade of green. In reality the infrared image is monochrome, but since the human eye is very sensitive to green, the false-color is used to help the wearer distinguish the faintest glow possible. Now researchers from the University of California, Irvine have
adapted night vision with artificial intelligence to produce correctly colored images
in the dark. However, there is a catch, as the method might not be as general-purpose as you’d like.
Under normal illumination, white light has many colors mixed together. When light strikes something, it absorbs some colors and reflects others. So a pure red object reflects red and absorbs other colors. While some systems work by amplifying small amounts of light, those don’t work in total darkness. For that you need night vision gear that illuminates the scene with infrared light. Scientists reasoned that different objects might also absorb different kinds of infrared light. Training a system on what colors correspond to what absorption characteristics allows the computer to reconstruct the color of an image.
The only thing we found odd is that the training was on printed pictures of faces using a four-color ink process. So it seems like pointing the same camera in a dark room would give unpredictable results. That is, unless you had a huge database of absorption profiles. There’s a good chance, too, that there is overlap. For example, yellow paint from one company might look similar to blue paint from another company in IR, while the first company’s blue looks like something else. It is hard to imagine how you could compensate for things like that.
Still, it is an interesting idea and maybe it will lead to some other interesting night vision improvements. There could be a few niche applications, too, where you can train the system for the expected environment and the paper mentions a few of these.
Of course, if you have starlight, you can just use
a very sensitive camera
, but you still probably won’t get color. You can also build
your own night vision gear
without too much trouble. | 36 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454961",
"author": "RÖB",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T09:10:12",
"content": "No offence [Al Williams], I love your articles.But…I get a big belly laugh when people with normal colour perception talk (or write) about colour.I’m colour blind and I’ll bet someone will have a dig at me fo... | 1,760,372,732.39369 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/enjoy-this-animatronic-eyeballs-smooth-moves/ | Enjoy This Animatronic Eyeball’s Smooth Moves | Donald Papp | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"animatronic",
"eyeball",
"eyes",
"I just think they're neat",
"nunchuk",
"robotic",
"wii nunchuk"
] | [Enza3D] shows off a
surprisingly compact articulated animatronic eyeball
that can be intuitively controlled with a Wii nunchuk controller. The design uses 3D printed parts and some tiny servos, and all of the necessary electronics can be easily purchased online. The mechanical design of the eye is very impressive, and [Enza3D] walks through several different versions of the design, the end result of which is a tidy little assembly that would fit nicely into masks, costumes, or other projects.
A Wii nunchuk is ideal for manual control of such a device, thanks to its
ergonomic design and ease of interface
(the nunchuk communicates over I
2
C, which is easily within the reach of even most modest of microcontrollers.) Of course, since driving servos is also almost trivial nowadays, it doesn’t look like working this into an automated project would pose much of a challenge.
The eyeball looks great, but if you want to try for yourself,
accessing the design files and code will set you back $10
which might look attractive if an eye like this is the missing link for a project.
On the other hand, enjoying the video (embedded below) and getting ideas from [Enza3D]’s design notes will only cost you a few minutes. | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454951",
"author": "Fosselius",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T07:05:22",
"content": "Really cool design :) Getting LOTR vibes :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454969",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T... | 1,760,372,732.319802 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/just-in-case-you-want-to-charge-your-neighbors-tesla/ | Just In Case You Want To Charge Your Neighbor’s Tesla | Al Williams | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"car hacks",
"car security",
"sdr",
"tesla"
] | Tesla vehicles have a charging port that is under a cover that only opens on command from a charging station. Well, maybe not only. [IfNotPike] reports that he was able to
replay the 315MHz signal
using a software defined radio and pop the port open on any Tesla he happened to be near.
Apparently, opening the charging port isn’t the end of the world since there isn’t much you can do with the charging port other than charging the car. At least, that we know of. If history shows anything, it is that anything you can get to will be exploited eventually.
Apparently, it was as simple as record and replay to get the sesame to open. However, if you are too lazy to get to do your own recording,
GitHub
can help you out.
While this seems benign, it also seems like it would have been easy enough to avoid this problem. We get that you don’t want something as mundane as having to push a button to open your charging port, but we can think of half a dozen ways that would work fine and wouldn’t be subject to people opening your hatch from a long distance away.
Cars
seem to have a history
of having worse security than garage door openers.
Seriously
. | 67 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454910",
"author": "Ken",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T02:18:44",
"content": "So what?I can open the ‘charger port’ on almost any ICE car on the road (you may know it as the gas cap), and I’m not aware of any wide-spread shenanigans.Why couldn’t it be enough to say that Teslas open the... | 1,760,372,732.646673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/a-bargain-in-bionic-knees/ | A Bargain In Bionic Knees | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"microprocessor knee",
"prosthetics"
] | You probably don’t want to lose a leg, but if you have to there are many options now that were unthinkable not long ago. That is, if you can afford them. A microprocessor knee — a prosthetic with some smarts in it — can run anywhere from $25,000 to well over $100,000. However [Lucas Galey], a PhD candidate at the University of Texas El Paso in a
recent paper
claims to be able to produce a comparable artificial knee for under $1,000. If the paper is too long to read,
Amplitude has a good summary
including what it means to people who need them.
Of course, the cost of making something like this is almost incidental. The cost of approvals, testing, and other factors mean that even with about $500 in parts, the retail price would be much higher. Probably not $25,000, though.
In the device is an Arduino and some sensors that monitor the user’s gait among other things. Apparently [Lucas] volunteers with an organization called LIMBS International that provides prosthetics to people in developing nations. His design in an outgrowth of a low-cost passive knee developed by the organization. That knee, however, doesn’t meet Federal standards, so you can’t get one in the United States.
We know of at least one
3-D printed prosthetic leg
. We’ve also looked more than once at mind controlling
prosthetic devices. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454946",
"author": "rasz_pl",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T06:15:49",
"content": ">You can’t get a LIMBS passive knee in the United States, as it doesn’t meet federal standards for healthcare technologyDo you need that to sell prosthetics in US? or only to get on a list of products cov... | 1,760,372,732.49388 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/wordle-comes-to-the-nokia-n-gage-thanks-to-new-sdk/ | WordleComes To The Nokia N-Gage Thanks To New SDK | Tom Nardi | [
"Games",
"Software Development"
] | [
"N-Gage",
"nokia",
"sdk",
"Wordle"
] | You probably never imagined you’d be reading about new software getting developed for Nokia’s infamous N-Gage handheld game system in 2022, and we certainly never thought we’d be writing about it. But here we are. Of course, we aren’t talking about a commercial title — this is
an unofficial port of
Wordle
by “taco phone” superfan [Michael Fitzmayer]
.
[Michael] tells us that this first version is pretty simplistic, and currently uses a single word list with all 2,309 terms in the New York Times version. Translations to Finnish, Russian, and German are in the works, though interestingly it looks like the effort is currently stymied by the fact that the
code doesn’t support words with hyphens in them
; meaning it’s possible to find yourself in an unwinnable situation if you’re playing in Russian. We’re sure that’s just a coincidence and not meant as any kind of political commentary, but still…you can’t make this stuff up.
In Soviet Russia, N-Gage plays you!
So how does one go about developing a new game for a failed console from the early 2000s? The answer is by using the modern N-Gage SDK that’s is currently in development, which lets you write code for the system using popular tools and libraries like Visual Studio 2022, CMake, and SDL. But [Michael] isn’t just a user of this new SDK,
he’s also the brains behind the operation
.
The hope is this new development platform will lead to something of a renaissance for the maligned device, and
he’s even started a Discord server
to discuss the past, future, and present of
sidetalkin’
. If you’re surprised to find yourself looking up what a used N-Gage goes for on eBay these days, join the club. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454861",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T20:18:58",
"content": "Interesting, and apropos nothing, reminded me I have a Nokia N770 in a cupboard somewhere!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454929",
"auth... | 1,760,372,732.926296 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/a-close-look-at-a-little-known-8-bit-computer/ | A Close Look At A Little Known 8-bit Computer | Al Williams | [
"Retrocomputing",
"Teardown"
] | [
"6800",
"retrocomputing",
"SWTP"
] | If you read about the history of personal computing, you hear a few familiar names like Microsoft, Apple, and even Commodore. But there were a host of companies that were well known and well regarded back then that are all but forgotten today. Godbout computing, Ohio Scientific, and Southwest Technical Products (SWTP). SWTP is probably best remembered for having a relatively cheap printer and “TV typewriter”, but they also made a 6800-based computer and [Adrian]
takes us inside of one.
The 6800 was Motorola’s entry into the microprocessor fray, competing with the Intel 8080. The computer came out scant months after the introduction of the famous Altair 8800. Although the Altair is often credited as being the first hobbyist-grade computer, there were a few earlier ones based on the 8008, but the Altair was the first to be successful.
The SWTP was notable for its day for its blank appearance. Most computers in those days had lots of switches and lights. The SWTP has a blank front with only a power switch and a reset button. A ROM monitor let you use the machine with a terminal. For about the same price as a bare-bones Altair that had no interfaces or memory, you could pick one of these up with most of the extras you would need. The memory was only 2K, but that was 2K more than you got with an Altair at that price point.
The $450 sounds fairly cheap, but in the early 70s, that was a lot of lawns to mow. Of course, while you’d need to add memory to the Altair, you’d have to add some kind of terminal to the SWTP. However, you’d wind up with something more usable but the total bill was probably going to approach $1,000 to get a working system.
Inside the box were some old-fashioned-looking PC boards and connectors that will look familiar to anyone who has been inside 1970s gear. Will it work? We don’t know yet, but we hope it does. [Adrian] promises that will be in the next video.
It is amazing how far we’ve come in less than 50 years. A postage-stamp sized $10 computer now has enough speed and memory to emulate a bunch of these old machines all at once. The SWTP has been on
our pages before
. A lot of these old machines and companies are all but forgotten, but
not by us! | 47 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454840",
"author": "Tom Brusehaver",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T18:56:09",
"content": "In high school my friends Scott and Steve went together and bought one.I struggled with an 1802 based system",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,372,733.177647 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/10/retrotechtacular-a-diy-television-for-very-early-adopters/ | Retrotechtacular: A DIY Television ForVeryEarly Adopters | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"1930s",
"cathode ray tube",
"crt",
"retrotechtacular",
"television",
"tv"
] | By our very nature, hackers tend to get on the bandwagon of new technology pretty quickly. When something gee-whiz comes along, it’s folks like us who try it out, even if that means climbing steep learning curves or putting together odd bits of technology rather than waiting for the slicker products that will come out if the new thing takes off. But
building your own television receiver in 1933
was probably pushing the envelope for even the earliest of adopters.
“Cathode Ray Television,” reprinted by the Antique Valve Museum in all its Web 1.0 glory, originally appeared in the May 27, 1933 edition of
Popular Wireless
magazine, and was authored by one K D Rogers of that august publication’s Research Department. They apparently took things quite seriously over there at the time, at least judging by the white lab coats and smoking materials; nothing said serious research in the 1930s quite like a pipe. The flowery language and endless superlatives that abound in the text are a giveaway, too; it’s hard to read without affecting a mental British accent, or at least your best attempt at a Transatlantic accent.
In any event, the article does a good job showing just what was involved in building a “vision radio receiver” and its supporting circuitry back in the day. K D Rogers goes into great detail explaining how an “oscillograph” CRT can be employed to display moving pictures, and how his proposed electronic system is vastly superior to the mechanical scanning systems that were being toyed with at the time. The build itself, vacuum tube-based though it was, went through the same sort of breadboarding process we still use today, progressing to a finished product in a nice wood cabinet, the plans for which are included.
It must have been quite a thrill for electronics experimenters back then to be working on something like television at a time when radio was only just getting to full market penetration. It’s a bit of a puzzle what these tinkerers would have tuned into with their DIY sets, though — the airwaves weren’t exactly overflowing with TV broadcasts in 1933. But still, someone had to go first, and so we tip our hats to the early adopters who figured things out for the rest of us.
Thanks to [BT] for the tip. | 21 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455227",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2022-04-10T09:11:17",
"content": "Burried in one of the pages it says the BBC did 4 half-hour test broadcasts a week, so they had to do all their testing and adjustments in that time. So I guess that’s what they watched!",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,372,733.088284 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/lora-powered-birdhouses-enable-wireless-networking-when-the-internets-down/ | LoRa-Powered Birdhouses Enable Wireless Networking When The Internet’s Down | Robin Kearey | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"ham radio",
"LoRa",
"mesh network",
"packet radio"
] | One of the design requirements for the networks that evolved into the Internet was the ability to keep functioning, even if some nodes or links were disabled or destroyed in war. The packet-switched architecture that still powers today’s Internet is a direct result of that: if one link stops functioning, information is automatically re-routed towards its intended destination. However, with tech giants occupying increasingly large parts of the global internet, an outage at one of them might still cause major disruption. In addition, a large-scale power interruption can disable large parts of the network if multiple nodes are connected to the same grid.
Just six pieces of wood make up the birdhouse.
Enter
the LoRa Birdhouse project by the Wellesley Amateur Radio Society
that solves those two problems, although admittedly at a very small scale. Developed by amateur radio operators in eastern Massachusetts, it’s basically a general-purpose LoRa-based packet-switching network. As it’s based on open-source hardware and commonly available components, its design allows anyone to set up a similar network in their own area.
The network is built from nodes that can receive messages from their neighbors and pass them on towards their final destination. Each node contains a Semtech SX1276 transceiver operating in the 902-928 MHz band, which gets its data from an ESP32 microcontroller. The nodes are placed in strategic locations outside and are powered by solar panels to reduce their ecological footprint, as well as to ensure resilience in case of a power outage. To make the whole project even more eco-friendly, each node is built into a birdhouse that provides shelter to small birds.
Users can access the network through modified network nodes that can be hooked up to a PC using a USB cable. Currently, a serial terminal program is the only way to interact with the network, although a more user-friendly interface is being planned. FCC rules also require all users (except any avian residents) to be licensed amateur radio operators, and all traffic to remain unencrypted. Tests have shown that one kilometer between nodes can work in the right conditions, enabling the deployment of networks across reasonably large areas.
While the Birdhouse Network might not be a plug-and-play internet replacement in case of a nuclear apocalypse, it does provide an excellent system to experiment with packet-switching wireless network technology. We’ve seen similar LoRa-based network initiatives like
Qmesh
,
Cellsol
and
Meshtastic
, all of which provide some way to communicate wirelessly without requiring any centralized hardware. | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455203",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2022-04-10T05:30:40",
"content": "That’s much nicer than the fake trees they use to “hide” cellphone masts! Shame they didn’t include a camera on the inside of the box though, seems like a missed opportunity!",
"parent_id": null,
"dep... | 1,760,372,733.248467 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/sdr-listens-in-to-your-tires/ | SDR Listens In To Your Tires | Al Williams | [
"car hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"RTL-SDR",
"tacoma",
"tpms"
] | [Ross] has a 2008 Toyota Tacoma. Like many late model cars, each tire contains a direct tire pressure monitoring sensor or TPMS that wirelessly sends data about the tire status to the car. However, unlike some cars, the system has exactly one notification to the driver: one of your tires is low. It doesn’t tell you which one. Sure, you can check each tire, but [Ross] had a different problem. One sensor was bad and he had no way to know which one it was. He didn’t have any equipment to test the sensor, but he did have
an RTL-SDR dongle and some know-how to figure out how to listen in on the sensors
.
The key was to use some software called
RTL-433
that is made to pick up these kinds of signals. It is available for Linux, Windows, or Mac, and supports hundreds of wireless sensors ranging from X10 RF to KlikAanKlikUit wireless switches.
The program successfully found three of the TPMS sensors and helpfully decoded the information they were sending. It seems the bad sensor was totally dead. Since the transmitters are extremely low-power, it was easy to move the antenna close to each sensor to identify which one was not transmitting. We aren’t sure if the transmitter was dead, or if it was just unable to send proper packets. If it was actually dead, a field strength meter might have found it. However, at such low power levels, the method [Ross] used might have been easier.
Besides, you probably have an RTL-SDR hanging around and are less likely to have a field strength meter. Not that you couldn’t make one with a germanium diode and a sensitive voltmeter, but still.
We’ve always been impressed with the
homemade TPMS
we’ve seen. We’ve also seen
RTL-433 adapted
to read medical devices. | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455193",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2022-04-10T04:20:23",
"content": "Nice, I don’t suppose anyone has come across info on programming the damn things? I have an early TPMS system, where all the spares are gonna have dead batteries anyway, and be a damn nuisance… then ... | 1,760,372,733.422557 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/cat-is-not-your-average-meow-cropad/ | CAT Is Not Your Average Meow-cropad | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino pro micro",
"macro keyboard",
"macro pad"
] | Are you completely over the idea of the keyboard in any flattish form and looking for something completely different for inputting your data? Or do you want a mega macropad for 3D design, GIMP or Inkscape work, or to use while relaxing with a nice first-person shooter? Then
this ergonomic, double-fistable keyboard/controller mashup named CAT
may be what you’re looking for.
Inside each of these slinky felines is pretty much what you’d expect to find — 25 or so switches and an Arduino Pro Micro. Interestingly enough, the switches are all lever-action and not push buttons. There are two breeds of CAT available to build or buy: one has 25 buttons, and the other has a joystick or trackball on the thumb between two upper and two lower buttons. You could have one type for each hand!
More information is available on the Lynx Workshop site
, which is where you’ll also find tutorials and instructions for everything from the 3D printing to the electronics to the assembly and coding. There is even a bonus 3D modeling tutorial. Don’t want to invest the time to make your own CAT? These kitties are also available for
pre-order
. Claw past the break to check them out in action.
Looking for something with regular keyswitches?
Oh, we have plenty of those
. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455220",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2022-04-10T07:53:13",
"content": "interesting, wonder how comfortable it is ergonomically for different hand sizes.I was thinking of something in a very similar form factor but mirror paired to go into the arm rests of the Sim/ normal c... | 1,760,372,733.033101 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/amazing-connect-fore-robot-challenges-your-putting-practice/ | Amazing “Connect Fore!” Robot Challenges Your Putting Practice | Donald Papp | [
"Artificial Intelligence",
"Games",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"ai",
"automated",
"automated opponent",
"connect four",
"games",
"golf",
"robotic",
"scottish"
] | We’ve just come across [Bithead]’s amazing, robotically-automated mashup of miniature golf and
Connect Four
, which also includes an AI opponent who pulls no punches in its drive to win.
Connect Fore!
celebrates Scotland — the birthplace of golf, after all — and looks absolutely fantastic.
Scotty the AI opponent uses this robotic turret to make their moves in a game of
Connect Fore!
The way it works is this: players take turns putting colored balls into one of seven different holes at the far end of the table. Each hole feeds to a clear tube — visible in the middle of the table — which represent each of the columns in a game of
Connect Four
.
Each player attempts to stack balls in such a way that they create an unbroken line of four in their color, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. In a one-player game, a human player faces off against “Scotty”, the computer program that chooses its moves with intelligence and fires balls from a robotic turret.
[Bithead] started this project as a learning experience, and being such a complex project, the write-up is extensive. We really recommend reading through the whole thing if you are at all interested in what goes into making such a project work.
What’s particularly interesting is all of the ways in which things
nearly
worked, or needed nudging or fine adjustment. One might think that reliably getting a ball to enter a hole and roll down a PVC tube wouldn’t be a particularly finicky task, but it turns out that all kinds of things can go wrong.
Even finding the right play surface was a challenge. [Bithead]’s first purchase from Amazon was a total waste: it looked bad, smelled bad, and balls didn’t roll well on it. There are high-quality artificial turfs out there, but the good stuff gets shockingly expensive, and such a small project pretty much pigeonholes one as a nuisance customer when it comes to vendors. The challenges [Bithead] overcame serve as a reminder to keep the 80/20 rule (or
Pareto principle
) in mind when estimating what will get a project to the finish line.
Right under the page break below is a brief video tour of the completed table, and after that, you can watch a game in action as [Bithead] faces off against Scotty the AI. Curious about the inner workings? The last video has some build details that fill in a few blanks from the write-up.
We’ve seen
an automated Chess table
before, but this is an entirely other, utterly fantastic level of work. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455163",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2022-04-10T00:43:35",
"content": "Great build! I like how it trash talks you during the game, gives a sense of an actual opponent.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,372,733.359035 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/best-ways-to-make-pcb-breakaway-tabs-revealed/ | Best Ways To Make PCB Breakaway Tabs, Revealed | Donald Papp | [
"how-to",
"Science"
] | [
"breakaway",
"breakaway tab",
"empirical",
"mouse bites",
"pcb",
"perforation line",
"v-groove"
] | Most of us are familiar with the concept of producing PCBs in a panel, and snapping them apart afterwards. V-grooves that go
most
of the way through a PCB are one way to go about this, but a line of perforations along which to snap a tab is another. But what’s the best size and spacing of holes to use? Sparkfun’s [Nick Poole]
spent some $400 on PCBs to get some solid answers
by snapping each of them apart, and judging the results.
The nice thing about creating a perforation line (or “mouse bites”) is that drill hits are a very normal thing in PCB production, which makes creating this kind of breakaway tab a very straightforward and flexible method. However, it can be tricky to get results that are just right. Too sturdy, and breaking apart is a hassle. Too weak, and the board may break or twist before its time. On top of that, edges must also break cleanly.
We’ve covered panelizing PCBs in this way before
, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone seriously look into how to create optimal breakaway tabs.
Placing holes tangent to the board edge (as shown above) isn’t the prettiest, but keeps PCB edges free from protrusions. This is best for boards that are rail-mounted, or have tight enclosures.
Data on designing mouse bites was sparse and a bit inconsistent, so [Nick] decided to figure it out empirically and share the results. The full details are available in
Building a Better Mousebite
(PDF download)
but the essence of the recommendations are: 0.015″ unplated holes, spaced 0.025″ apart (center-to-center), tabs a maximum of 0.118″ wide (so as to be compatible with depanelizing tools), and holes that extend into the corners of the breakaway tab to avoid sharp edges. Holes should be placed slightly differently depending on whether one wishes to optimize the cosmetic appearance versus the physical smoothness of the board edge, but those numbers are the core of the guidelines.
To fine tune, [Nick] suggests increasing the spacing between holes to add strength, or just adding additional tabs. What about thickness of PCB? [Nick] tested boards both 0.8 mm and 1.6 mm thick, and while different amounts of torque were needed to snap the boards apart, things still worked as expected regardless of PCB thickness.
When it comes down to it, the
best
numbers will ultimately be the ones that your process or fab house can most efficiently handle, but [Nick]’s numbers should not steer anyone wrong, and it’s fantastic to see this kind of work go into refining such a common PCB feature. | 20 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455086",
"author": "monsonite",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T17:30:14",
"content": "About 20 years ago, I worked for a company that made a high volume telephone dialler product.After about the first 100,000 were produced, we found that we were getting some unusual failures.After some a... | 1,760,372,733.31273 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/09/the-virtue-of-wires-in-the-age-of-wireless/ | The Virtue Of Wires In The Age Of Wireless | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"home automation",
"i2c",
"microcontrollers",
"networking",
"rants",
"rs485",
"sensors",
"uart",
"usart"
] | We ran an
article this week about RS-485
, a noise resistant differential serial multidrop bus architecture. (Tell me where else you’re going to read articles like that!) I’ve had my fun with RS-485 in the past, and reading this piece reminded me of those days.
You see, RS-485 lets you connect a whole slew of devices up to a single bundle of Cat5 cable, and if you combine it with the
Modbus protocol
, you can have them work together in a network. Dedicate a couple of those Cat5 lines to power, and it’s the perfect recipe for a home, or hackerspace, small-device network — the kind of things that you, and I, would do with WiFi and an ESP8266 today.
Wired is more reliable, has fewer moving parts, and can solve the “how do I get power to these things” problem. It’s intrinsically simpler: no radios, just serial data running as voltage over wires. But nobody likes running cable, and there’s just so much more demo code out there for an ESP solution. There’s an undeniable ease of development and cross-device compatibility with WiFi. Your devices can speak directly to a computer, or to the whole Internet. And that’s been the death of wired.
Still, some part of me admires the purpose-built simplicity and the bombproof nature of the wired bus. It feels somehow
retro
, but maybe I’ll break out some old Cat5 and run it around the office just for old times’ sake.
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
! | 47 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455041",
"author": "Alysson+Rowan",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T14:46:33",
"content": "Living in a 400 year old house, wireless has an incredibly limited and patchy coverage – that includes network, bluetooth and mobile telephony – which makes most of the commercial products such as w... | 1,760,372,733.555282 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/pcb-thermal-design-hack-gets-hot-and-heavy/ | PCB Thermal Design Hack Gets Hot And Heavy | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"cooling",
"Hack Chat",
"PCB design",
"thermal conductivity",
"traces"
] | Thanks to the relatively recent rise of affordable board production services, many of the people reading Hackaday are just now learning the ropes of PCB design. For those still producing the FR4 equivalent of “Hello World”, it’s accomplishment enough that all the traces go where they’re supposed to. But eventually your designs will become more ambitious, and with this added complexity will naturally come new design considerations. For example, how do you keep a PCB from cooking itself in high current applications?
It’s this exact question that
Mike Jouppi hoped to help answer when he hosted last week’s Hack Chat
. It’s a topic he takes very seriously, enough that he actually started a company called Thermal Management LLC dedicated to helping engineers cope with PCB thermal design issues. He also chaired the development of IPC-2152, a standard for properly sizing board traces based on how much current they’ll need to carry. It isn’t the first standard that’s touched on the issue, but it’s certainly the most modern and comprehensive.
It’s common for many designers, who can be referencing data that in some cases dates back to the 1950s, to simply oversize their traces out of caution. Often this is based on concepts that Mike says his research has found to be inaccurate, such as the assumption that the inner traces of a PCB tend to run hotter than those on the outside. The new standard is designed to help designers avoid these potential pitfalls, though he notes that it’s still an imperfect analog for the real-world; additional data such as mounting configuration needs to be taken into consideration to get a better idea of a board’s thermal properties.
Even with such a complex topic, there’s some tips that are widely applicable enough to keep in mind. Mike says the thermal properties of the substrate are always going to be poor compared to copper, so using internal copper planes can help conduct heat through the board. When dealing with SMD parts that produce a lot of heat, large copper plated vias can be used to create a parallel thermal path.
Towards the end of the Chat,
Thomas Shaddack
chimes in with an interesting idea: since the resistance of a trace will increase as it gets hotter, could this be used to determine the temperature of internal PCB traces that would otherwise be difficult to measure? Mike says the concept is sound, though if you wanted to get an accurate read, you’d need to know the nominal resistance of the trace to calibrate against. Certainly something to keep in mind for the future, especially if you don’t have a thermal camera that would let you peer into a PCB’s inner layers.
A rig used to test thermal properties of different trace configurations.
While the Hack Chats are often rather informal, we noticed some fairly pointed questions this time around. Clearly there were folks out there with
very specific
issues that needed some assistance. It can be difficult to address all the nuances of a complex problem in a public chat, so in a few cases we know Mike directly reached out to attendees so he could talk them through the issues one-on-one.
While we can’t always promise you’ll get that kind of personalized service, we think it’s a testament to the unique networking opportunities available to those who take part in the Hack Chat, and thank Mike for going that extra mile to make sure everyone’s questions were answered to the best of his ability.
The Hack Chat is a weekly online chat session hosted by leading experts from all corners of the hardware hacking universe. It’s a great way for hackers connect in a fun and informal way, but if you can’t make it live, these overview posts as well as the
transcripts posted to Hackaday.io
make sure you don’t miss out. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6455175",
"author": "Sally",
"timestamp": "2022-04-10T01:57:31",
"content": "So the physics of the 1950s still hold true, but if you use lots of layers with large copper pours in between, the inner layers might not be more insulated. OK",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,733.470975 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/hackaday-podcast-163-movie-sound-defeating-dymo-drm-3dp-guitar-neck-biometrics-bereft-of-big-brother/ | Hackaday Podcast 163: Movie Sound, Defeating Dymo DRM, 3DP Guitar Neck, Biometrics Bereft Of Big Brother | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Join Hackaday Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Assignments Editor Kristina Panos as we spend an hour or so dissecting some of the more righteous hacks and projects from the previous week. We’ll discuss a DIY TPM module that satisfies Windows 11, argue whether modern guts belong in retrocomputer builds even if it makes them more practical, and marvel at the various ways that sound has been encoded on film. We’ll also rock out to the idea of a 3D-printed guitar neck, map out some paths to defeating DYMO DRM, and admire a smart watch that has every sensor imaginable and lasts 36+ hours on a charge. Finally, we’ll sing the praises of RS-485 and talk about our tool collections that rival our own Dan Maloney’s catalogue of crimpers.
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 below!
Direct download the show
, so you can listen on the go!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 163 Show Notes:
News This Week:
Samsung to sell Galaxy S20 and S21 repair parts this summer
Replaceable Batteries Are Coming Back To Phones If The EU Gets Its Way
What’s that Sound?
Congrats to [GenShaw] for picking up on the GSM interference! Tune in next week for another chance to win.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Build A TPM Module For Your Server
Updating a vulnerable TPM — Quan Zhou
rsa update – Infineon Technologies
3D Printing A Guitar Neck
Illuminated 3D Printed Guitar Is Ready To Rock
3D-Printed Adapter Keeps Your Guitar In Tune And In Style
The 3D Printed Guitar
Wireless Bootloader Saves You From Swapping ROM Chips
#FreeDMO Gets Rid Of DYMO Label Printer DRM
Reddit – Dive into anything
How Did Dolby Digital Sound Work On Film?
TONEWHEELS
TshWatch Helps You Learn More About Yourself
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
A 3D Printed 35mm Movie Camera
A Simple Linear Power Supply, Done Well
Turn Timing Diagrams Into ASCII Art, For Friendlier Pasting
Kristina’s Picks:
Fancy Wire Loop Game Is A Beauty In Brass
Making Windshield Wipers Rock To The Beat
Quick-Swap Socket For Stemma QT Experiments
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Hacker Dictionary: RS-485 Will Go The Distance
Confessions Of A Crimpoholic
Grace Under Pressure: Shelley Green Celebrates Crimped Connections
Crimping Tools And The Cost Of Being Cheap | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454838",
"author": "William Jackson",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T18:37:54",
"content": "The Dymo people now count the number of labels used and once the roll is done. The old chip can not be used to reuse another generic roll of same sized labels. More work needed…",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,372,733.605084 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/its-almost-a-new-raspberry-pi-compute-module-4-but-not-quite/ | It’s Almost A New Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. But Not Quite | Jenny List | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"cm4",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspberry Pi Compute Module"
] | We know that readers are familiar with the global chip shortage and its effects on product availability. The Raspberry Pi folks haven’t escaped its shadow, for even though they’ve managed to preserve availability of their RP2040 microcontroller, it’s fair to say that some of their flagship Linux-capable boards have been hard to find. All of this has had an unlikely effect
in the form of a new Raspberry Pi
, but unexpectedly it’s one which few end users are likely to get their hands on.
The Raspberry Pi Compute Module has been part of the range since the early days, and in its earlier versions took a SODIMM form factor. The last SODIMM Compute Module had a Pi 3 processor, and this unexpected new model is reported as having a very similar hardware specification but featuring the Pi 4 processor. It seems that the chip shortage has affected supplies of the earlier SoC, and to keep their many
industrial customers
for the SODIMM Compute Modules in business they’ve had to produce this upgrade. As yet it’s not surfaced for sale on its own and there’s a possibility it will stay only in the realm of industrial boards, but as the story develops there’s
a Raspberry Pi forum topic about it
for the latest and you can find the pertinent info in the video below the break.
Of course, the Compute Module of the moment remains the CM4 in its newer form factor, which we see as
possibly the most exciting of all the Pi products
of the moment. Meanwhile
this is not the first custom industrial Raspberry Pi to be seen in the wild
. | 21 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454782",
"author": "Pat",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T15:11:27",
"content": "One day, a Raspberry Pi will come along with a full industrial temp range…OK, probably not.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454787",
"author":... | 1,760,372,733.698031 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/this-week-in-security-vulnerable-boxes-government-responses-and-new-tools/ | This Week In Security: Vulnerable Boxes, Government Responses, And New Tools | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"botnet",
"hydra",
"This Week in Security"
] | The Cyclops Blink botnet
is thought to be the work of an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) from Russia, and seems to be limited to Watchguard and Asus devices. The normal three and four letter agencies publicized their findings back in February, and urged everyone with potentially vulnerable devices to go through the steps to verify and disinfect them if needed. About a month later, in March, over half the botnet was still online and functioning, so law enforcement took a drastic step to disrupt the network. After reverse-engineering the malware itself, and getting a judge to sign off on the plan, the FBI remotely broke in to 13 of the Watchguard devices that were working as Command and Control nodes. They disinfected those nodes and closed the vulnerable ports, effectively knocking a very large chunk of the botnet offline.
The vulnerability in WatchGuard devices that facilitated the Botnet was CVE-2022-23176, a problem where an “exposed management access” allowed unprivileged users administrative access to the system. That vague description sounds like either a debugging interface that was accidentally included in production, or a flaw in the permission logic. Regardless,
the problem was fixed in a May 2021 update, but not fully disclosed
. Attackers apparently reversed engineered the fix, and used it to infect and form the botnet. The FBI informed WatchGuard in November 2021 that about 1% of their devices had been compromised. It took until February to publish remediation steps and get a CVE for the flaw.
This is definitely non-ideal behavior. More details and a CVE should have accompanied the fix back in May. As we’ve observed before, obscurity doesn’t actually prevent sophisticated actors from figuring out vulnerabilities, but it does make it harder for users and security professionals to do their jobs.
Zyxel Patch Available
For a look at how to better handle a similar flaw, see
Zyxel’s response to CVE-2022-0342
. This is a flaw in the access control logic that allows unauthenticated admin access to vulnerable devices. Zyxel has issued a CVE for the flaw, and divulged enough details for users to know whether they’re vulnerable. If you’re running firmware from before the patch, the web interface is vulnerable to takeover. This sort of flaw isn’t an isolated incident, as both Sophos and Trend Micro have also recently patched and announced similar problems.
Hydra Takedown
This week, German authorities formed the tip of the international spear,
taking out the physical servers behind Hydra
, a marketplace on the Tor network. All the things you can imagine were bought and sold on Hydra, and to get an idea of the scope of both the market and sting, note that 543 Bitcoins were grabbed in the takedown. No arrests have been made yet, but since Hydra also provided money laundering services, nabbing so much of the infrastructure will likely shine light on lots of illicit activities. There’s no word on how this Tor hidden service was tracked to its physical host, but it’s likely some combination of government run Tor nodes and network timing analysis to track down the infrastructure.
Spring4Shell Fallout
Spring4Shell is being exploited in the wild, with tens of thousands of attempts to trigger
the vulnerability being observed by groups like CheckPoint
. No word yet on how many of those attempts have been successful, but there’s sure to be some. While
it’s not as serious a vulnerability as Log4Shell
, at least one botnet has started spreading using the flaw.
Microsoft’s coverage of the flaw has been great
, with a helpful one-liner to check for vulnerable Tomcat installs:
$ curl host:port/path?class.module.classLoader.URLs%5B0%5D=0
An HTTP 400 response means that you’re likely vulnerable.
Packet Capture for the Cloud — and Everywhere Else
Here’s the situation. You’re working on a remote service that runs on Docker, and something just isn’t working right. To really understand the problem, you need to see the raw packet data. Unfortunately, it’s a complex enough service that it’s multiple Docker images running on multiple hosts. How do you capture and organize the packet data you need?
There’s now a tool for that, PacketStreamer
.
It’s totally open source
, and uses the BPF kernel framework to filter and capture packets. From there, your capture nodes forward the captured data to the central service, which reassembles the captures into a sorted log. Investigate, analyze, and review as needed.
Bits and Bytes
Remember
dirty pipe
? One of the fun places this bug pops up is on Android, which
is great if you want to root your phone
. The fix has already landed in upstream Android, and Samsung has already pushed the update to handsets. Notably the Pixel 6 is still missing the fix. That’s right, if you’re running Google’s code on Google’s hardware, you’re still vulnerable — or alternatively still able to root your device. Silver linings and all that.
Scammers have discovered
the ultimate way to rub salt in a wound
. You got hit by a scam and lost some money. You’re delighted when your government reaches out, with the news that there may be a chance to recover your stolen money. Just fill out the appropriate paperwork, pay the processing fee, and the Office of Property Recovery will start work on your case. Of course, the same scammer that got you the first time will just laugh, trash the bogus paperwork, and take your money for the second time.
Depending on whom you ask, smart contracts are either the future of money, the internet, and everything; or “immutable programs by programmers with sufficient hubris to assert they don’t make mistakes” (
Thanks Simon!
). If smart contracts are to stand the test of time, we’ll need to be able to debug and audit those contracts. There’s
a good starting tutorial from [thezero]
, covering the basics of decompiling contract bytecode back into something readable. For bonus points, you can emulate the blockchain to single-step debug the decompiled contract code. Nifty! | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454960",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timestamp": "2022-04-09T09:02:47",
"content": "On salt, wounds and the Office of Property Recovery:“… trash the bogus paperwork …”No, they won’t. They are going to sell the gathered data elsewhere, surely they’re a cent or two worth. I mean: a va... | 1,760,372,733.643641 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/astrophotography-on-the-game-boy-camera/ | Astrophotography On The Game Boy Camera | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"astrophotography",
"camera",
"game boy",
"lens",
"macro",
"moon"
] | The Game Boy Camera was the first digital camera that many of us ever interacted with. At the time it was fairly groundbreaking to take pictures without film, even though the resolution was extremely low by modern standards, and it could only shoot two-bit color. It’s been long enough since its release that it’s starting to become a popular classic with all kinds of hacks and modifications, like
this one which adds modern SLR camera lenses
which lets it take pictures of the Moon.
The limitations of the camera make for a fairly challenging build. Settings like exposure are automatic on the Game Boy Camera and can’t be changed, and the system only allows the user to change contrast and brightness. But the small sensor size means that astrophotography can be done with a lens that is also much smaller than a photographer would need with a modern DSLR. Once a mount was 3D printed to allow the lenses to be changed and a tripod mount was built, it was time to take some pictures of the moon.
Thanks to the interchangeability of the lenses with this build, the camera can also capture macro images as well. The build went into great detail on how to set all of this up, even going as far as giving tips for how to better 3D print interlocking threads, so it’s well worth a view. And, for other Game Boy Camera builds, take a look at
this one which allows the platform to send its pictures over WiFi
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454744",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T11:20:43",
"content": "Floyd–Steinberg dithering is timeless, those photos are amazing! This muddy-green display and the amber terminals on old CRTs are my favourite about the computing of olden.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,372,733.766406 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/08/shredder-rebuilt-from-the-ashes-aims-to-produce-more-ashes/ | Shredder Rebuilt From The Ashes, Aims To Produce More Ashes | Arya Voronova | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cardboard",
"gearbox",
"rebuild",
"shredder",
"shredder feeding",
"wood briquette"
] | What do you do when you buy a broken shredder and, upon disassembly, find its gears in pieces? You might reach towards your 3D printer – this one’s not
that
kind of shredder, however. [New Yorkshire Workshop]
gives us a master class on reviving equipment
and putting it to good use – this one’s assigned to help turn their cardboard stores into briquettes for their wood burner.
But first, of course, it had to be fixed – and fixed it was, the crucial parts re-designed and re-built around a sturdy wooden frame. It was made into a machine built to last; an effort not unlikely to have been fueled with frustration after seeing just how easily the stock gears disintegrated. The stock gear-based transmission was replaced with a sprocket and chain mechanism, the motor was wired through a speed controller, and a washing machine pulley was used to transfer power from the motor to the freshly cleaned and re-oiled shredder mechanism itself. This shredder lost its shell along the way, just like a crab does as it expands – and this machine grew in size enough to become a sizeable benchtop appliance.
After cutting loads of cardboard into shredder-fitting pieces, they show us the end result – unparalleled cardboard shredding power, producing bags upon bags of thinly sliced cardboard ready to be turned into fuel, making the workshop a bit warmer to work in. The video flows well and is a sight to see – it’s a pleasure to observe someone who knows their way around the shop like folks over at [New Yorkshire Workshop] do, and you get a lot of insights into the process and all the little tricks that they have up their sleeves.
The endgoal is not reached – yet. The shredder’s output is not quite suitable for their briquette press,
a whole project by itself
, and we are sure to see the continuation of this story in their next videos – a hydraulic briquette press was suggested as one of the possible ways to move from here, and their last video works on exactly that. Nevertheless, this one’s a beast of a shredder. After seeing this one, if you suddenly have a hunger for powerful shredders, check
this 3D printed one out
. | 16 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454730",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T09:38:05",
"content": "That’s a decent shredder!Though if the aim was to shred cardboard into small pieces, you could have got a puppy instead :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,372,733.933014 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/raspberry-pi-test-stand-tells-you-which-glues-to-use/ | Raspberry Pi Test Stand Tells You Which Glues To Use | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"adhesive",
"glue",
"load cell",
"materials testing",
"raspberry pi",
"stepper",
"strain gauge",
"strength"
] | Not all glues are created equal; or rather, not every glue is good for every application. But how is one to know which glue to use in which kinds of joints? The answer to that is not always clear, but
solid numbers on the comparative strength of different glues
are a great place to start.
To quantify what can ordinarily be a somewhat subjective process, there’s probably no one better than woodworker and hacker [Matthias Wandel], equipped as he is with
his DIY strength-tester
. Using its stepper-driven power to blast apart glued lap joints, [Matthias] measured the yield point of the various adhesives using a strain gauge connected to a Raspberry Pi.
His first round of tests had some interesting results, including the usually vaunted construction adhesive ending up in a distant last place. Also performing poorly, at least relative to its reputation and the mess it can cause, was the polyurethane-based Gorilla Glue. A surprise standout in overall strength was hot glue, although that seemed to have a sort of plastic yield mode. Ever the careful empiricist, [Matthias] repeated his tests using hardwoods, with remarkably different results; it seems that glues really perform better with denser wood. He also repeated a few tests to make sure every adhesive got a fair shake. Check out the video below for the final results.
It’s always good to see experiments like this that put what we often take for granted to the test. [John] over at the Project Farm channel on YouTube does this kind of stuff too, and even did
a head-to-head test of epoxy adhesives
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454705",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T06:17:02",
"content": "What about Titebond 2? Any liquid 8 hour epoxy? These are the 2 I use most. Then there is good ole’ hot hide glue which won’t win for a good reason, but I it use also.",
"parent_id": null,
"dept... | 1,760,372,733.976447 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/stress-testing-an-arduinos-eeprom/ | Stress-Testing An Arduino’s EEPROM | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Cycles",
"eeprom",
"memory",
"storage",
"testing",
"writes"
] | Every time one of us flashes an Arduino’s internal memory, a nagging thought in the backs of our minds reminds us that, although everything in life is impermanent, nonvolatile re-writable memory is even more temporary. With a fixed number of writes until any EEPROM module fails, are we wasting writes every time we upload code with a mistake? The short answer is that most of us shouldn’t really be concerned with this unless we do what [AnotherMaker] has done and
continually write data until the memory in an Arduino finally fails
.
The software for this is fairly simple. He simply writes the first 256
int
s with all zeros, reads them to make sure they are all there, and then repeats the process with ones. After iterating this for literally millions of times continuously over the course of about a month he was finally able to get his first read failure. Further writes past this point only accelerated the demise of the memory module. With this method he was able to get nearly three million writes before the device failed, which is far beyond the tens or hundreds of thousands typically estimated for a device of this type.
To prove this wasn’t an outlier, [AnotherMaker] repeated the test, and did a few others while writing to a much smaller amount of memory. With this he was able to push the number of cycles to over five million. Assuming the Arduino Nano clone isn’t using an amazingly high-quality EEPROM we can safely assume that most of us have nothing to worry about and our Arduinos will be functional for decades to come.
Unless a bad Windows driver accidentally bricks your device
.
Thanks to [morgan] for the tip! | 29 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454671",
"author": "PreferLinux",
"timestamp": "2022-04-08T02:37:45",
"content": "That’s not surprising. The first page of the datasheet lists 10,000 cycles for the flash (i.e. where the program is stored) and 100,000 for the EEPROM (what was tested here).However, that is with a da... | 1,760,372,734.076231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/upcycled-nixie-clock-fit-for-a-friend/ | Upcycled Nixie Clock Fit For A Friend | Chris Wilkinson | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"IN-4",
"nixie",
"nixie clock",
"nixie tube"
] | Building a clock from parts is a rite of passage for makers, and often represents a sensible introduction into the world of electronics. It’s also hard to beat the warm glow of Nixie tubes in a desktop clock, as [Joshua Coleman] discovered when
building a Nixie tube clock for a friend
.
The original decision to upcycle the chassis from an unrepairable Heathkit function generator came a little undone after some misaligned cutting, so the front panel ended up being redesigned and 3D printed. This ended up being serendipitous, as the redesigned front panel allowed the Nixie tubes to be inset within the metal chassis. This effect looks great, and it also better protects the tubes from impact damage.
Sourcing clones of the 74141 Nixie driver ICs ended up being easier than anticipated, and the rest of the electronics came together quickly. The decoders are driven by an Arduino, and the IN-4 Nixie tubes are powered by a bespoke 170 volt DC power supply.
Unfortunately four of the tubes were damaged during installation, however replacements were readily available online. The gorgeous IN-4 Nixie tube has a reputation for breaking easily, but is priced accordingly on auction sites and relatively easy to source.
The
build video
after the break should get any aspiring Nixie clock makers started, but the video description is also full of extra information and links for those needing help getting started.
We’re not short on clock hacks here at Hackaday, so why not check out a couple more? This
retro-inspired LED clock
looks like its right out of a parallel universe, or maybe this stunning
Nixie clock driven by relays
will strike your fancy. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,734.010409 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/wireless-weather-station-gets-solar-powered-supercap-upgrade/ | Wireless Weather Station Gets Solar-Powered Supercap Upgrade | Robin Kearey | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"moteino",
"supercapacitors",
"weather station"
] | When [knight-of-ni] bought an Acurite Atlas weather station to replace his earlier 5-in-1 model, he was initally happy with its performance. However, after just ten months the batteries in the outdoor unit died; since the previous model would happily run for several years on one charge, this was a bit of a bummer. Climbing up on the roof more than once a year just to replace batteries was becoming inconvenient as well, so [knight-of-ni] designed a
solar power system with supercap backup and remote monitoring
that should keep the sensors running 24/7, come rain or shine.
The heart of the new power system is a pair of supercapacitors totalling 250 Farads, with an integrated protection circuit that limits the voltage to 5.4 Volts. The caps are charged by a 12 V solar panel; this means that quite a bit of power is dissipated in the protection circuit when the supercaps are fully charged, but since this is completely free solar power that is not much of an issue. A 6 V panel would have worked as well in full sunlight, but might have struggled on a cloudy or snowy day.
[knight-of-ni] wasn’t content with just letting the new power system run unattended however, and decided to integrate a remote monitoring tool as well. For this he used a Moteino, which is an Arduino-type board with an integrated 915 MHz transceiver. The data coming from this board is received by a Raspberry Pi running Linux and presented through a nice web interface. Thanks to this data [knight-of-ni] was able to confirm that the supercaps were fully charged in just an hour and a half on a sunny morning, and maybe three or four times that on a dark and rainy day.
If you’re interested in solar-powered weather stations, we’ve featured a few:
some very simple
,
some more comprehensive
, and
one built into an IKEA lantern
. If you’d like a recap on the working principle of supercapacitors and how they compare to batteries, look no further than
our in-depth article on supercaps
.
Thanks for the tip, [felix]! | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454621",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T20:59:14",
"content": "The voltage of a solar panel stays up pretty well despite being cloudy as long as the panel is pointed towards the brightest area of the sky.A “6 Volt” panel is actually more than six volts – that’s usually ... | 1,760,372,734.215424 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/openmower-open-source-robotic-lawn-mower-with-rtk-gps/ | OpenMower: Open Source Robotic Lawn Mower With RTK GPS | Dave Rowntree | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous mower",
"BLDC",
"gps",
"KiCAD",
"Raspberry Pi 4",
"Raspberry Pi Pico",
"RTK"
] | Robotic mowers are becoming a common sight in some places, enabled by the cost of motors and the needed control electronics being much lower, thanks to the pace of modern engineering. But, in many cases, they still appear to be really rather dumb, little more than a jacked up bump-and-go with a spinning blade. [Clemens Elflein] has taken a cheap, dumb mower and given it a brain transplant based around a Raspberry Pi 4 paired up with a Raspberry Pi Pico for the real time control side of things. [Clemens] is calling this
OpenMower
, with the motivation to create an open source robot mower controller with support for GPS navigation, using RTK for extra precision.
The donor robot was a YardForce Classic 500, and after inspection of the control PCB, it looks like many other robot mower models are likely to use the same controller and thus be compatible with the openmower platform. A custom mainboard houses the Pi 4 and Pico, an
ArduSimple RTK GPS module
(giving a reported navigational accuracy of 1 cm,) as well as three BLDC motor drivers for the wheels and rotor. Everything is based on modules, plugging into the mainboard, reducing the complexity of the project significantly. For a cheap mower platform, the Yardforce unit has a good build quality, with connectors everywhere, making OpenMower a plug and play solution. Even the user interface on top of the mower was usable, with a custom PCB below presenting some push buttons at the appropriate positions.
OpenMower mainboard
Motor control is courtesy of the
xESC project
, which provides FOC motor control for low cost, interfacing with the host controller via a serial link. This is worth looking into in its own right! On the software side of things, [Clemens] is using
ROS
, which implements the low level robot control, path planning (using code taken from Slic3r) as well a kinematics constraints for object avoidance. The video below, shows how simple the machine is to operate — just drive it around the perimeter of lawn with a handheld controller, and show it where obstacles such as trees are, and then set it going. The mower is even capable of mowing multiple lawns, making the journey between them automatically!
Robotic mower projects are not new around here, here’s the
mysterious TK with an interesting take
, another
using RTK GPS for good (or possibly bad)
and quite probably the
jankiest one we’ve seen in a while
, which uses a LoRa base-station to transmit RTK corrections. We’d recommend keeping well away from that last one. | 44 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454610",
"author": "Erin",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T19:24:39",
"content": "living in Houston, I’m excited for this. Not sure if it’d eat through my crap as-is but maybe if I did a regular mow before it gets really hot it could keep the HOA off me for the 35C+ times of year.",
... | 1,760,372,734.158128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/remoticon-2021-rob-weinstein-builds-an-hp-35-from-the-patent-up/ | Remoticon 2021 // Rob Weinstein Builds An HP-35 From The Patent Up | Chris Lott | [
"cons",
"Featured",
"Retrocomputing",
"Reverse Engineering",
"Slider"
] | [
"2021 Hackaday Remoticon",
"calculator",
"fpga",
"hewlett packard",
"hp-35",
"retro calculator",
"reverse engineer",
"verilog"
] | Fifty years ago, Hewlett-Packard introduced the first handheld scientific calculator, the HP-35. It was quite the engineering feat, since equivalent machines of the day were bulky desktop affairs, if not rack-mounted. [Rob Weinstein] has long been a fan of HP calculators, and used an HP-41C for many years until it wore out. Since then he gradually developed a curiosity about these old calculators and what made them tick. The more he read, the more engrossed he became. [Rob] eventually decided to embark on a three year long reverse-engineer journey that culminated a recreation of the original design on a protoboard that operates exactly like the original from 1972 (although not quite pocket-sized). In this presentation he walks us through the history of the calculator design and his efforts in understanding and eventually replicating it using modern FPGAs.
The HP patent (
US Patent 4,001,569 )
contains an extremely detailed explanation of the calculator in nearly every aspect. There are many novel concepts in the design, and [Rob] delves into two of them in his presentation. Early LED devices were a drain on batteries, and HP engineers came up with a clever solution. In a complex orchestra of multiplexed switches, they steered current through inductors and LED segments, storing energy temporarily and eliminating the need for inefficient dropping resistors. But even more complicated is the serial processor architecture of the calculator. The first microprocessors were not available when HP started this design, so the entire processor was done at the gate level. Everything operates on 56-bit registers which are constantly circulating around in circular shift registers. [Rob] has really done his homework here, carefully studying each section of the design in great depth, drawing upon old documents and books when available, and making his own material when not. For example, in the course of figuring everything out, [Rob] prepared 338 pages of timing charts in addition to those in the patent.
LED Driver Timing Chart
One section called the “Micro-Programmed Controller” is presented as just a black-box in the patent. This is the heart of the systems, and is essential to the calculator’s operation. However, all the other parts that talk to the controller were so well-described in the patent that [Rob] was able to back out the details. The controller, and all sections of the calculator, was implemented in Verilog, and tested on an instrumented workbench he built to test each module.
Once everything was working in the simulations, [Rob] set out to build a working model. TInyFPGA models were used, one for each custom chip. A few understandable departures were made from the original design. An 18650 lithium ion cell powers the board, kept topped off by a modern battery charging controller. The board is larger than the original, and yes, he’s using the Hackaday-obligatory 555 chip in the power-on circuit. In this
short demonstration video
, you can see the final prototype being put through its paces side by side with an original HP-35, working through examples from the owner’s manual.
This is an incredibly researched and thoroughly documented project. [Rob] has made the design open source and is sharing it on the
project’s GitLab repository
. [Rob]’s
slides for Remoticon
are not only a great overview of the project, but have some good references included. Its clear he has a real passion for these old calculators and has done a fantastic job exploring the HP-35. But even after three years, there’s more to come. He’s thinking about making a PCB version, and a discrete implementation using individual logic gates may be in the works.
We wrote about the
history of the HP-35 before
. And if you like hacking into these old calculators, check out our writeup of a similar dive into
the Sinclair scientific calculator
. | 40 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454576",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T17:21:46",
"content": "> But even more complicated is the serial processor architecture of the calculator.This made me instantly think of SERV the SErial RISC-V CPU (https://github.com/olofk/serv). Where Olof Kindgren, the creato... | 1,760,372,734.300044 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/inside-an-11-ton-clock-with-1000-pieces/ | Inside An 11 Ton Clock With 1,000 Pieces | Al Williams | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"big ben",
"clock"
] | We aren’t ashamed to admit it, but we like clocks. We’ve built quite a few and clock projects show up regularly in the pages of Hackaday. But there is one clock that is among the most famous in the world: Britain’s Big Ben. It has been getting some repairs and the BBC was nice enough to
make a video of the giant mechanism
.
Actually, the clock is not called Big Ben. That’s the name of one of the five bells in the Elizabeth Tower since 2012. Before that it was the Clock Tower, but everyone always calls it Big Ben. The giant clock weighs over 11 tons and has more than 1,000 pieces. Hard to imagine what it took to build such a thing in 1859.
Big Ben itself — the bell — weighs even more than the clock at over 15 short tons. But, of course, we are mostly interested in the clock itself. The design was apparently from a lawyer and an astronomer, both of whom liked clocks. Construction, however, fell to a professional clockmaker and — after his death — his stepson. Dennison, the lawyer, developed a
superior gravity escapement
that quickly became the standard for future tower clocks and was hailed as one of the great horological inventions of the 19th century.
The clock now has an electric motor that it can use as a backup. However, it is normally
hand-wound three times a week
. Winding the clock takes about 90 minutes. Adjusting the clock is also an interesting event. On top of the pendulum is a stack of penny coins. Adding a penny makes the clock run a little faster, removing one slows it down. Each penny is worth about 0.2 seconds/day.
It is great to see such a recognizable piece of 19th century tech get its 15 minutes of fame. Not that the tower isn’t famous, but very few people know what’s inside. The old clock is full of odd stories. The original bell broke when Dennison wanted to test it with a bigger hammer. The new bell made from the old metal also has a crack in it, but still is operational.
You probably aren’t going to reproduce this clock, but you can make something that
works on the same principle
. Or, try something
a bit more steam-punk
. | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454549",
"author": "Michael Henderson",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T16:01:49",
"content": "How does adding mass to a pendulum make it swing faster?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454551",
"author": "Bob",
"time... | 1,760,372,734.56738 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/just-what-on-earth-is-a-therm/ | Just What On Earth Is A Therm? | Jenny List | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"customary units",
"gas",
"imperial units",
"therm",
"units"
] | With the news here in Europe full of the effect of the war in Ukraine on gas supplies and consequently, prices, there it was on the radio news: a unit of measurement so uniquely British that nobody uses it in the real world and nobody even has a clue what it really means. We’re speaking of
the Therm
, one of those words from our grandparents’ era of coal gas powered Belling cookers and Geyser water heaters hanging over the bath, which has somehow hung on in the popular imagination as a mysterious unit of domestic gas referred to only in the mass market news media. What on earth is a therm, and why are we still hearing it on the news in the UK?
You can’t Buy A Therm
Asking the internet what a therm is reveals the answer, it’s 100,000 BTU. What’s a BTU? A British Thermal Unit, another anachronistic measurement five decades after the UK went metric, it’s the amount of energy required to raise a pound of water by a degree Fahrenheit. Which in turn is about 1,054 joules, in today’s measurements. So a therm is thus a unit of energy, can we take a look at our gas meters and see how many of them we’ve used this winter? Not so fast, because gas isn’t sold by the therm. Older gas meters had cubic feet on them, and we’re guessing that now they’re calibrated in cubic meters. We can’t even buy a therm of gas, so why on earth are the British media still using it?
To answer that question it’s fair to say that there are two reasons for the warm and cosy grip of the therm on the national discourse here. The first is that surprisingly, wholesale gas is traded in therms, so while we consumers buy it by volume, our utility companies buy it by energy. At the time of writing
a therm of wholesale natural gas costs about £2.60
(about $3.42) to them, but given the geopolitical situation of the moment it’s anybody’s guess where it’ll be tomorrow. So when the price of gas is quoted in therms on the news it’s because somewhere a utility company is still buying the things — who knew!
Mr. Therm, He’s Hot Stuff!
Instantly recognisable to an older generation of Brits, Mr. Therm.
But the other reason for the news media’s fondness for the term is cultural. We’d never have heard of the therm and it would have languished as an obscure engineer’s unit of energy derived from gas, were it not for the gas industry’s mascot. Mr. Therm was a cartoon character used to promote the gas industry and gas products from the 1930s until the 1970s, and his ubiquity gave the word a hold over the popular imagination that must still be there for the older generations. Perhaps the papers and newsrooms still fondly cling to Mr. Therm, or more likely, they recognise that it’s mostly older people who still buy printed newspapers.
The therm then, a unit of measurement nobody uses and nobody knows what it is, but one which lingers on in a corner of the gas industry and in fond memories of a world long past. Perhaps it’s best to think of it as a customary measurement in an old country, like a pint of beer — the real unit is the familiar sized glass. We’ll keep our 29.3 kWh, thank you very much.
Header: George Shuklin,
Public domain
. | 86 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454499",
"author": "DainBramage",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T14:07:08",
"content": "I wonder how many therms it takes to raise a cubic smoot of water one degree Rankine?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454509",
"author... | 1,760,372,734.464729 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/custom-macro-keyboard-with-sweet-backlighting/ | Custom Macro Keyboard With Sweet Backlighting | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"32u4",
"3d printed",
"arduino",
"custom",
"keyboard",
"led",
"leonardo",
"macro",
"pushbutton",
"switch",
"usb"
] | From the smallest 60% keyboards for those with no desk space to keyboards with number pads for those doing data entry all day, there’s a keyboard size and shape for just about everyone. The only problem, even with the largest keyboards, is that they’re still fairly limited in what they can do. If you find yourself wishing for even more functionality, you might want to build something
like this custom macro keyboard
with built-in LED backlighting.
Rather than go with a standard mechanical keyboard switch like a Cherry MX, this build is based around TS26-2 pushbuttons with built-in LED lighting. [atkaper] only really needed one button for managing the mute button on MS Teams, but still built a total of eight switches into this keyboard which can all be individually programmed with different functions. The controller is an Arduino Leonardo and the enclosure was 3D printed.
Paired with the classic IBM Model M keyboard, this new macro keyboard adds plenty of functionality while also having control over LED backlighting. Macro keyboards are incredibly useful, especially with their ability to easily change function with control over the software that runs on them. The key to most builds is the
32U4 chip found in some Atmel microcontrollers
which allows it to easily pass keyboard (and mouse) functionality to any computer its plugged in to. | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454485",
"author": "werfwe",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T12:58:17",
"content": "create small keyboard is easy because gpio is bighow create big keyboard with 250 keys?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454740",
"author": ... | 1,760,372,734.344045 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/07/turning-old-plotter-parts-into-a-smooth-camera-slider/ | Turning Old Plotter Parts Into A Smooth Camera Slider | Robin Kearey | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera slider",
"cutting plotter",
"stepper motor"
] | Taking apart old stuff and re-using the parts to make something new is how many hackers first got started in the world of mechanical and electronic engineering. But even after years working in industry we still get that tinge of excitement whenever someone offers us an old device “for parts”, and immediately begin to imagine the things we could build with the components inside.
So when [Victor Frost] was offered an old Cricut cutting plotter, he realized he could use its parts to
create the camera slider he’d been planning to build
. The plotter’s X stage, controlled by a stepper motor, was ideal for moving a camera platform back and forth. [Victor] wanted to build the entire thing in a “freehand” way, without making a detailed design or purchasing any new parts. So he dived into his parts bin and dug up an Arduino, a 16×2 LCD, some wires and buttons, and a few pieces of MDF.
The camera mount is simply a piece of steel that a GoPro’s magnetic mount can latch onto, but [Victor] keeps open the possibility of mounting a proper tripod ball head. The Arduino drives the stepper motor through an Adafruit Motor Shield, with a simple user interface running on the LCD. The user can set the desired end points and speed, and then run the camera back and forth as often as needed. In this way, the software follows the same “keep it simple” philosophy as the hardware design.
If you’re planning to build your own camera slider, [Victor]’s design should be easy to copy, if you happen to have an old cutting plotter. If not, you can try
this simple yet well-engineered model
. Want even more? Then check out
this fancy multi-axis camera motion control rig
. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454532",
"author": "Thermio",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T15:16:56",
"content": "Nice, I love these sorts of builds. Remember when repstraps and plotters were made of re-used assemblies like this?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6... | 1,760,372,734.509796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/old-casio-calculator-learns-new-tricks/ | Old Casio Calculator Learns New Tricks | Chris Wilkinson | [
"classic hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"assembly",
"calculator",
"casio",
"conways game of life",
"forth",
"game of life"
] | [George Stagg] recently found himself stung by the burden of free time while in lockdown. Needing a project to keep him occupied, he decided to
upgrade his 90s Casio CFX-9850G calculator to run custom machine code
.
All [George] really wanted was for his vintage calculator to understand Reverse Polish Notation (RPN). The calculator in question can already run its own version of BASIC, however the bespoke Hitachi CPU struggles performance-wise with complex programs, and wouldn’t be a realistic way of using RPN on the calculator. An RPN interpreter written in assembly language would be much faster.
The first step in cracking this calculator wide open was a ROM dump, followed by writing a disassembler. Incredibly, the MAME framework already featured a ‘partial implementation’ of the calculator’s CPU, which was a much needed shot in the arm when it came time to write a full-featured emulator.
With the entire calculator emulated in software, the plan from here involved replacing one of the BASIC commands in ROM with new code that would jump to an address in RAM. With 32KB of RAM there ended up being plenty of room for experimentation, and uploading a program into RAM was simplified by using Casio’s original backup software to dump the RAM onto a PC. Here, the contents of RAM could be easily modified with custom code, then uploaded back into the calculator.
With RAM to burn, new routines were created to write custom characters to the screen, and a new font was created to squeeze more characters onto the display than normal. [George] ended up porting a Forth interpreter, which defaults to RPN style, to finally achieve his humble objective. He also managed to get a version of
Conway’s Game Of Life
running, check out the video after the break.
We can’t get enough of our calculator hacks here, so make sure to check out the
CPU transplant on this vintage Soviet calculator
.
https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/QkVtqTBZRVAqDL_p.mp4
[Many thanks to Adrian for the hot tip] | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454445",
"author": "Severe Tire Damage",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T05:46:16",
"content": "Now this is true hacking. Anything that begins with reading out a ROM and disassembling the contents is playing the game by the best of rules.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,372,734.617814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/a-gaggle-of-boards-makes-for-an-i2c-playground/ | A Gaggle Of Boards Makes For An I2C Playground | Tom Nardi | [
"Parts",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"i2c",
"logic analyser",
"serial communications",
"sniffing"
] | It’s not much of a stretch to assume that the majority of Hackaday readers are at least familiar with I2C. In fact, there’s an excellent chance that anyone who’s ever done more with an Arduino than blink the onboard LED has at one time or another used the serial communication protocol to talk to a sensor, display, or other external gadget. Of course, just because most of us have used it in a few projects doesn’t mean we truly
understand
it.
If you’re looking to brush up on your I2C knowledge, you could do worse than to
follow the guide [András Tevesz] recently wrote up
. With a title like
Hardware Hacking 101: E01 I2C Sniffing, How to Listen to Your Arduino’s I2C Bus
, you know you’re in for a good time. While the document is arguably geared more towards security researchers than electronic hobbyists, the concepts presented can be useful even if you’re just trying to debug your own projects.
While you could certainly adjust the hardware used to fit whatever you’ve got kicking around the parts bin, the setup [András] details uses a BeagleBone Black as the master device that communicates with an Adafruit Trinket and Arduino over I2C. He provides code for all three devices, and when everything is running as it should be, the microcontrollers will blink their LEDs in time with signals being sent out over the bus by the BeagleBone.
This, in itself, has educational value. Sure most of us have used turn-key I2C devices, but how many have actually
made
one? But beyond that, it also gives you a simple and user-controllable bus to poke around in. [András] hooks up a Saleae logic analyzer (never fear, that $10 USD one you got on eBay will work just as well) and studies the actual messages as they go over the wire. If you’ve ever wanted to take a close look at the nuts and bolts of this ubiquitous protocol, it’s a great way to get your foot in the door. While on the subject, be sure to check out the excellent guide our own
[Elliot Williams] wrote up back in 2016
.
[Thanks to zh4ck for the tip.] | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454455",
"author": "WereCatf",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T06:58:57",
"content": "Even though I2C may seem pretty simple at first, it too has all sorts of aspects to it that many people (hobbyists?) seem to not know about, like e.g. I’ve seen quite a few projects where the developer d... | 1,760,372,734.66851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/accessible-arduino-mouse-helps/ | Accessible Arduino Mouse Helps | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"accessibility",
"arduino",
"mouse",
"MPU-6050"
] | We enjoy access to cheap stuff because of the mass market for things like mice, keyboards, and cell phones. But if you need a device that doesn’t have mass appeal, you will have to pay a lot more if you can find it at all. However, with modern techniques like 3D printing and Arduino-like microcontrollers being cheap and simple to use, you now have the option to build that special one-of-a-kind device. Case in point: [Davy’s]
mouse for people who have brain or nervous system disorders
. This particular device is helping a 6-year-old who can’t manipulate a normal mouse.
The device uses an Arduino Pro and an MPU-6050 accelerometer and gyroscope. The original design uses machined aluminum, but 3D printing should work, too. There’s something wrong with the link to the design files in the post, but it is
easy to find the correct link
.
If you do 3D print a similar enclosure, you might consider using
heat-set threaded inserts
instead of tapping the holes. They work great, are easy to install, and seem to be a bit more robust than trying to thread plastic. Then again,
threaded plastic isn’t as bad as you might think
.
There are, of course, many ways you could make this work, and besides, every special user will be a little different. But what a great feeling to help someone be able to do what most people take for granted. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454401",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T00:12:10",
"content": "It may sound corny but helping people is the best of hacking.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6454484",
"author": "Nath",
"timest... | 1,760,372,734.705979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/hacking-a-fuel-sensor-into-a-portable-tank-literally/ | Hacking A Fuel Sensor Into A Portable Tank, Literally | Tom Nardi | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"boat",
"float sensor",
"fuel tank",
"gas tank"
] | Regular readers of Hackaday will know that the projects we feature are generally of the high-tech variety. Microcontrollers, 3D printed parts, embedded Linux, lots of wires, that sort of thing. But that’s not to say we don’t appreciate the somewhat more visceral builds out there; after all, hacking is about creative problem solving and thinking outside the box, and none of that is limited to how complex the fix actually is.
Take for example this quick hack that [R. Preston McAfee] recently sent our way. Looking for a way to check how much fuel was left in his outboard motor’s small portable gas tank without crawling back to look at it,
he decided to rig it up with a sending unit
. While they’re technically designed for larger tanks which are permanently installed into a boat’s hull, he reasoned there was nothing about the float sensor that would keep it from working in his case so long as it could be safely mounted.
To that end, [Preston] started by cutting a 38 mm (1.5″) hole in the thickest part of the tank, and sanded the area around the opening to smooth things out. He then measured the depth of the tank at that point, and ordered an appropriately sized float sensor. He drilled out the holes for the five mounting bolts, and inserted them through the larger whole so their heads would be inside the tank. By holding the exposed threads with a pair of vice grips he was able to crank the nuts down on each bolt to form a tight seal to the gasket, though it should be noted that the resulting damage to the threads will likely make it difficult to remove the nuts in the future.
Admittedly this is a pretty simple fix, but it’s well thought-out and we appreciate the effort [Preston] put in to documenting the whole process.
We’ve certainly covered more elaborate ways of seeing what’s left in the tank
, but just because a solution is flashier doesn’t mean it’s necessarily any better. | 23 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454353",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T21:03:47",
"content": "> though it should be noted that the resulting damage to the threads will likely make it difficult to remove the nuts in the future.I don’t know how much torque was required for that but maybe cutting slit... | 1,760,372,734.88989 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/pong-in-hardware-virtually/ | Pong In Hardware… Virtually | Al Williams | [
"classic hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"falstad",
"pong"
] | We are big fans of the Falstad circuit simulator. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but there’s nothing else like it when you want to whip up a simple circuit. But we were blown away when we saw a more or less complete hardware implementation of
Pong
in Falstad
. No kidding. Starting with
the original schematics
, there are multiple pages that show each sub-circuit and even a playable subset that you can play the game in your browser.
But wait… you probably noticed there’s no CRT display in the simulator’s component menu. That’s true, there isn’t. However, you can write JavaScript to interact with a running simulation, so the display is a simple bit of JavaScript that samples signals at predetermined points and does the appropriate drawings. There’s even audio output for the sound effects, although that is built into the simulator.
As an example of how the display works, look at this snippet:
// called every timestep, which is 6 nanoseconds of game time.
// we do as little work in here as possible.
function didStep(sim) {
var c = clk.getVoltage();
if (c == lastclk)
return;
if (c>2.5) {
// positive clock transition, increase x
x++;
if (x == 375) {
x = -80;
y++;
if (sim.getNodeVoltage("VBLANK") > 2.5) {
// if we're in vertical blank, set y to 0
y = 0;
clearedY = -1;
sim.setExtVoltage("PADTRIGGER1", 5);
sim.setExtVoltage("PADTRIGGER2", 5);
}
You can see the whole thing by simply viewing the page source in your favorite browser.
Not only is this very educational if you ever wanted to know how something like this works, but it is also a great illustration of what you can do with the Falstad simulator and some Web page work. It gives us a lot of ideas. If you are interested in the Pong circuit itself, we really enjoyed how each page broke down a part of the circuit and explained it along with the relevant simulation.
Don’t forget you can try
Arduino programs out in Falstad
. You can even build a
simple analog computer
. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454561",
"author": "Stiletto",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T16:35:05",
"content": "Pong has been emulated in MAME using its own integrated circuit simulation engine for many years now. (https://www.mamedev.org)This is still cool tho.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,372,734.931828 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/whales-help-scientists-investigate-the-mystery-of-menopause/ | Whales Help Scientists Investigate The Mystery Of Menopause | Lewin Day | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"menopause",
"menstrual cycle",
"whale",
"whales"
] | Menopause is the time of life when menstrual periods come to a halt, and a woman is no longer able to bear children. The most obvious cause of menopause is when the ovaries run out of eggs, though it can also be caused by a variety of other medical processes. While menopause is in many ways well-understood, the biological reason for menopause, or the way in which it evolved in humanity remains a mystery. The process was once thought to be virtually non-existent in the animal kingdom, raising further questions.
Surprisingly recently, however, scientists began to learn that humans are not alone in this trait. Indeed, a small handful of sea-going mammals also go through this unique and puzzling process.
Life Beyond Reproduction
The vast majority of species in the animal kingdom do not typically experience menopause. These creatures typically die while still capable of reproducing with a mate. Homo sapiens, then, are the outlier; typical human ovaries run out of eggs somewhere between the ages of 48 and 52, in sharp contrast to the worldwide human life expectancy of over 70 years. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for humans to live decades beyond the end of menses.
It was only in the early 1980s
that scientists began to learn that humans weren’t completely alone in experiencing menopause. Scientists Helene Marsh and Toshio Kasuya had been working together on studying the reproductive systems of short-finned pilot whales. Having collected samples from 300 animals, Kasuya determined their age from counting growth rings in teeth, much the same way as with trees. Meanwhile, Marsh examined the ovaries. The data showed that most of the whales stopped having children around 36 years old, but that they would commonly live approximately 14 years longer than that on average.
It was the first time scientists had turned up strong evidence that an animal species continued to live beyond its reproductive years. While it was a challenge to the scientific orthodoxy at the time, over the years, more evidence came to light in support of the findings. Since then, scientists have discovered that
killer whales
,
narwhals, and beluga whales
experience menopause as well.
The Question of Why
The reasons why menopause occurs still remain a mystery. A variety of competing theories exist to explain the phenomenon, most of which have difficult caveats that complicate the issue beyond a satisfying resolution.
A pod of killer whales swimming together in the open ocean.
Killer whales live in close-knit social units, working together to hunt and sharing resources. Credit:
NOAA
, Public Domain
The benefits of modern medicine on human life expectancy are often cited as a potential reason, with the thrust of the argument being that humans were never intended to live so long anyway. However, menopause is still observed
even in hunter-gatherer societies
without the benefits of such treatments. The various sea-going mammals that also experience menopause only further cast doubt on this seemingly intuitive theory.
The grandmother theory is another explanation, based somewhat on social structures in the way creatures live together. It supposes that menopause came about as it encourages a grandmother to help care for grandchildren rather than continuing to produce more offspring. From an evolutionary perspective, this would allow their genetic material to propagate further into the future in an indirect fashion. However, elephants and some other species counter this theory, with many elderly females both supporting their grandchildren and other young in their clan while also continuing to breed.
A compelling theory put forth from the authors of
a further study on killer whales
suggests that reproductive competition could be the cause. The study looked at decades of data collected on killer whale breeding, and noticed that the children born to older killer whales was 1.7 times more likely to die than the offspring of the younger whales.
Killer whales stay with the group containing their mother as they age, but mating goes on outside the local group. Thus, as a female whale ages and has more children, the level of relatedness to other members of the group increases with age for female killer whales.
A killer whale hunts down a tasty salmon.
Older killer whale mothers are often adept hunters, who use their skills to help their pod secure enough food to sustain themselves. Credit:
Oregon State University
, CC-BY-SA-2.0
Mothers in a pod of killer whales
compete over food
, with a limited amount to go around to support the children. An older mother whale thus has a choice. She can have more children at the same time as the younger mothers breed. However, if there is an excess of children that the pod can’t secure enough food to support, this harms all the pod members she is related to.
Alternatively, she can simply not have more children, and spend more effort in securing food for the whole pod. Given the older mother is more highly related to members of the pod, it’s highly likely that the younger mother’s offspring will be related to her anyway. Thus, it makes sense for her to invest in supporting the younger members of the pod rather than having more children directly, thus creating a potential explanation for the evolution of menopause.
Some research has also noted that older mothers
readily share plenty of food with their adult sons
. Sons mate outside the pod, so their children propagate the older mother’s genes without taking away resources from her own social unit, potentially harming her other young.
This reproductive competition theory has proven a popular way to explain the rise of menopause in human and whale examples, where the social structure of the group has a strong correlation with how young are raised and how they prosper. Thus, it may be that social structures built around the provisioning and sharing of limited food resources, along with the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between different generations, were the causal reasons that led to the evolution of menopause. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454331",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T19:58:07",
"content": "[b]Whale oil[/b] is thankfully no longer harvested giving us more opportunity to study these fascinating creatures. Though also large [b]beef[/b] cattle apparently do not have menopause, or maybe are... | 1,760,372,734.994063 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/magnetic-hockey-game-uses-a-555/ | Magnetic Hockey Game Uses A 555 | Jenny List | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"hockey",
"magnetic hockey"
] | We love a good project here at Hackaday, particularly one that makes us want to pick it up and have a go at whatever it does for ourselves. And when we see such a project and find that it contains the One Chip To Rule Them All (otherwise known as the NE555 timer), our collective cup runneth over with joy. So
[Andrew Fentem]’s magnetic hockey project
certainly pushes all our buttons, as it’s a game superficially similar to an air hockey table in which a magnetic puck is accelerated by a handheld electronic bat.
The bats look extremely high-tech but are in fact surprisingly simple. Each one contains a Hall effect sensor which triggers the 555 which we’d expect is wired as a monostable, this in turn fires a MOSFET which energises an electromagnet for a set period of time. The puck is a magnet, and thus when it is detected by the Hall sensor it is shot away at high speed by the electromagnet. the result is a fast-paced game which has an extra edge over conventional air hockey, and which being honest, we’d love to have a go at. You can see it in the video below the break.
Of course, if your budget doesn’t stretch to not one but two chips in this era of semiconductor shortages,
you can always try a conventional table
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8KzBefac_Y | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454413",
"author": "Piecutter",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T01:27:16",
"content": "Cool!But I have to admit being a bit disappointed that it’s not a maglev table.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,372,735.04318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/grid-level-energy-storage-and-the-challenge-of-storing-energy-efficiently/ | Grid-Level Energy Storage And The Challenge Of Storing Energy Efficiently | Maya Posch | [
"Current Events",
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Slider"
] | [
"battery storage",
"grid storage",
"redox flow batteries"
] | Although every electrical grid begins with the production of electricity, there are times when storing this power in some form instead of using it immediately is highly convenient. Today’s battery-powered gadgets are an obvious example of such time-shifting, but energy storage plays a major role on the grid itself, too, whether in electrochemical, mechanical or in some other form.
Utility-level energy storage is essential for not only stabilizing the grid, but also to time-shift excess energy and provide a way to deal with sudden spikes in demand (peak-shaving) plus demand drops by absorbing the excess energy. The health of the grid can essentially be regarded as a function of its alternating current (AC) frequency, with strong deviations potentially leading to a collapse of the grid.
Naturally, such energy storage is not free, and the benefits of adding it to the grid have to be considered against the expense, as well as potential alternatives. With the rapid increase of highly volatile electrical generators on the grid in the form of non-dispatchable variable renewable energy, e.g. wind turbines and PV solar, there has been a push to store more excess power rather than curtailing it, in addition to using energy storage for general grid health.
Types Of Storage
The Fengning pumped storage power station in north China’s Hebei Province. (Credit: CFP)
As mentioned, the biggest threat to grid stability comes in the form of loss of grid frequency, as this indicates a situation where connected generators and other inputs are no longer able to synchronize. The result of this is generally a
cascading failure
blackout which requires a slow and painful restart of the system to recover from. For this reason it is essential that on-grid storage is available that can respond to spikes and drops in demand so that supply and demand can be constantly adjusted.
These increases and drops in demand are highly dynamic, often requiring a response from an energy storage system within a matter of milliseconds, while other demand changes are more gradual and spaced out over the course of minutes to hours. For the fastest possible response,
flywheel
and battery storage are highly suitable, while pumped hydroelectricity storage (
PHS
) and compressed air energy storage (
CAES
) are suitable for more gradual ramp-up of energy absorption and release over longer periods of time.
When it comes to these grid stabilization systems, the actual cost of the energy is of secondary importance, as their primary function is to prevent the grid from collapsing. In that regard such storage systems are an integral part of the grid. This is different from the way that ‘grid storage’ has entered the public vernacular, in the sense of time-shifting large amounts of energy produced by renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and PV solar panels.
At its most extreme, a national grid is envisioned that uses nothing but variable renewable energy as well as hydroelectricity, while storing excess energy in grid storage to allow for time-shifting and release over the span of weeks to months as supply fluctuates. Naturally, in this scenario where dispatchable generators like thermal plants are replaced with mostly non-dispatchable sources and grid storage, a number of factors are essential. First is the system cost, followed by the operating cost, as these determine the price tag added to any energy released by these storage solutions.
To scale energy storage to the required levels for this scenario, technologies that can match PHS and CAES in terms of system and operating cost are required. For decades, reflow flow batteries have been developed as a possible solution.
Redox Flow Batteries
Redox Flow Battery (RFB) schematic layout. (Credit: Clemente et al. 2020)
A redox (from reduction-oxidation) flow battery – or
RFB
– is a type of electrochemical battery that uses a liquid anode and/or liquid cathode electrolyte. In most implementations, the fluids for for the cathode and anode are separated by a membrane which allows for charges to be exchanged. Theoretically this kind of system would allow for a very large energy storage capacity along with most of the benefits of non-flow batteries such as fast charge and discharge response times.
Unfortunately, despite decades of research, even the most promising type of flow battery,
vanadium-vanadium
, has very low specific energy of ~20 Wh/kg of electrolyte where old-school lead-acid cells manage 25-50 Wh/kg and lithium-ion batteries over 200 Wh/kg. This means that the electrolyte tanks have to be quite large to match the energy capacity of e.g. a Li-ion or lead-acid based battery storage system. The density limit here is set by the ability to dissolve the redox compounds into the solvent, which for all-vanadium flow batteries is generally sulfuric acid (H
2
SO
4
).
These and other issues with flow batteries in general were covered by
Clemente et al. (2020)
. Among the issues covered are also longevity, particularly with the membrane material, but also with the electrolyte itself due to unwanted reactions with hydrogen and oxygen. As flow batteries rely on electrolyte flow, the flow characteristics of the electrolyte, as well as the energy spent on pumping this electrolyte around and getting the optimal flow rate add engineering complications to what at first glance would seem to be a straightforward system.
Another such complication concerns the difficulty with determining state of charge. Since the voltage on the cell’s electrodes does not correspond to how much of the redox couple species has been converted to the charge/discharge state. With vanadium flow batteries, one option here is to estimate using the color of the electrolyte, as the redox process changes the physical properties of the vanadium species. For full automatic charge control, these are but many of the engineering questions.
As noted by
Xu et al. (2018)
, the system efficiency of a flow battery is >60%, with ~82% possible with improvements in all-vanadium batteries. An unfortunate aspect of an flow batteries are the parasitic losses due to the electric pumps, in addition to ohmic losses and flow resistance losses. As the redox reaction is exothermic, some energy will inevitably be lost during operation.
Fully charging a flow battery implies having all of the redox couple species undergo the desired redox operation. Because this involves interactions at the membrane surface separating the two electrolyte flows, the likelihood of this decreases with the charge state as fewer redox couples will interact. Increased electrolyte flow compensates for this to some extent, but this likely increase the parasitic losses, and makes simply scaling up the system by increasing the tank size unattractive.
When compared to the much higher round-trip efficiency and lower complexity of e.g. Li-ion batteries (>90%), it should come as little surprise that most large-scale grid-level battery solutions in commercial operation today employ such Li-ion cells.
The Cost Picture
Total installed battery storage capacity in the Net Zero Scenario, 2015-2030. (Credit: IEA)
In the current applications of grid-storage, not an enormous amount of capacity is needed. With a few megawatts of strategically placed flywheel- and battery-based systems enough capacity should be available to respond to shifts in demand with some limited time-shifting.
For long-duration (~4 hours) storage, CAES and PHS are highly preferred where the environment allows for them to be used. A common use of such long-duration storage systems involves storing the energy produced by thermal power plants in times of low demand. Thermal plants often have optimal operating levels which makes it cost-effective to time-shift excess power for later discharge.
With more non-dispatchable sources being added to the grid storage capacity has to be increased for time-shifting like never seen before, along with the entire electricity market business model. Whereas thermal plants and hydroelectrical plants sell the electricity they produce on the capacity market using multi-year contracts, variable renewable energy installations sell the produced electricity on the energy market, which means the power they produce is opportunistic and unpredictable. Essentially electricity is sold to the grid when it’s available, regardless of whether it is needed at that point in time or not.
What this means is that for successful grid integration, these systems require significant amounts of
spinning reserve
to compensate for drops in supply, and storage of excess power as detailed in e.g. the
Net Zero scenario projection
by the IEA, which sees the current 10 GW of utility-level storage (in addition to 7 GW behind the meter) increase to 600 GW by 2030.
Global installed storage capacity in 2018. (Source: DOE)
In a 2013
analysis
by Purdue University’s
State Utility Forecasting Group
, the projected cost for a number of storage solutions were compared. Noted as an essential point are the system costs over time, which in the case of both PHS and CAES are quite minimal, since these systems tend to require relatively little maintenance while lasting many charge/discharge cycles. At the time Li-ion batteries were not a big player in the energy storage market.
In a more
recent analysis
by Sandia National Laboratories from 2018, we can see that the overwhelming majority of grid-storage is PHS (>183 GW). Of battery storage in the US in that year, Li-ion already made up 78% of installed battery storage, a number which has grown by a number of GW since. For example with
Vistra’s 1.2 GWh
(300 MW) Li-ion facility at Moss Landing, Monterey County, California, and its subsequent Phase II extension. Although both installations are currently offline,
having caught fire
, showing an inherent risk with battery storage.
According to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), US power usage will reach about 4,000 TWh in 2023, which gives some indication of the challenge if a significant part of the world’s electricity needs are to be met from utility-level grid storage. Taking the Vistra Moss Landing storage as example, to cover 1 TWh (0.025% of the US demand), 625 of these 1.6 GWh facilities would be required, sufficient to cover the nation’s demands for a brief while. This lack of large-scale, long-duration storage is also noted in the Sandia National Laboratories report.
The Environmental Impact
Carbon footprint of battery storage technologies (Baumann et al., 2016)
It seems clear that at least for now Li-ion battery systems are taking the spoils with grid storage since both PHS and CAES cannot be reasonably expanded on account of their limitations with regard to geology and similar. In addition to the higher costs of Li-ion, an important consideration becomes the environmental cost of these batteries, as the manufacturing of batteries is energy intensive and produces significant amounts of greenhouse gases (
Baumann et al., 2016
).
With the addition of such battery systems, the effective carbon emissions of variable renewable electricity can reach levels of around 100 gCO2e/kWh when lifetime emissions are taken into account. When considering the economical cost and environmental impact of carbon emissions, this would thus seem to be rather self-defeating from an environmental point-of-view, not to mention costly.
Using dispatchable hydroelectricity, coal, gas and uranium the conversion from gravity potential, carbon or fissile matter into electricity is performed on-demand. In comparison using mostly intermittent sources for powering a nation’s grid would seem to be an unsolved problem as this requires storing electricity in enormous amounts. Although a reasonable solution may be found in the future, at least at this point in time there is no mature, scalable technology that can perform this function in a way that could be considered economical.
[Heading image: Bath County Pumped Storage Station (Credit: CHA)] | 118 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454224",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T14:20:34",
"content": ">Although a reasonable solution may be found in the futurePower-to-X. Synthetic petrochemicals, basically. The only way to economically store huge amounts of energy and produce all the stuff that we’re using... | 1,760,372,735.294918 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/helping-the-war-effort-with-3d-printed-tourniquets/ | Helping The War Effort With 3D Printed Tourniquets | Dan Maloney | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"emergency medicine",
"medical",
"tourniquet",
"ukraine"
] | It’s a sad statement on the modern world that even civilians are at risk for severe traumatic injuries in the course of going about their lives. And if something unthinkable happens to you or someone you love, here’s hoping both that the injury can be treated, and that someone is nearby who both knows what to do and is properly equipped to do it.
That’s the thinking behind
these 3D printed tourniquets
, an unfortunate but necessary response to the ongoing war in Ukraine. To get tourniquets into the hands of those trained to use them, [3DPrintingforUkraine] is working on plans for a printable version of the C-A-T, or combat application tourniquet, a lightweight but strong tourniquet that can be rapidly applied, even by victims themselves. The commercial device consists of molded nylon buckles and hook-and-loop fastener bands, along with a very sturdy plastic handle that serves as a windlass that provides the necessary occlusive force when twisted. The 3D printed version’s parts aren’t as streamlined as the commercial unit’s, but they appear to be strong enough to withstand the considerable forces involved. From the look of their site, STL files and instructions for assembly will be available soon.
To be clear, tourniquets should only be applied by someone properly trained to do so. But having ample tourniquets available where traumatic injuries to the extremities are likely to occur can only improve the odds that one will be available when it’s needed. So hats off to [3DPrintingforUkraine] for making the effort to push this forward.
[Austin Everman] sent us this tip. Thanks! | 32 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454188",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T11:57:42",
"content": "The first rule of a tourniquet is to never use it. You can cause multiple injuries while using it (even if done right!). Installing a tourniquet means you’re giving up in saving the member. You are like... | 1,760,372,735.44588 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/06/build-a-tpm-module-for-your-server/ | Build A TPM Module For Your Server | Jenny List | [
"computer hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"ASRock",
"TPM",
"Trusted Platform Module"
] | One of the big stories surrounding the announcement of Windows 11 was that it would require support for TPM 2.0, or Trusted Platform Module, to run. This takes the form of an on-board cryptographic processor, which Microsoft claims will help against malware, but which perhaps more importantly for Redmond, can be used to enforce DRM. Part of the standard involves a hardware module, and
[Zane] has built a couple of them for ASrock server motherboards
.
The chip in question is the
Infineon SLB9965
, which with a bit of research was found to map more or less directly to the pins of the TPM socket on the motherboard. The interesting thing here lies in the background research it gives into TPMs, and furthermore the links to other resources dealing with the topic. The chances are that most readers needing a TPM will simply buy one, but all knowledge is useful when it comes to these things.
Our weekly security roundup has been keeping an eye on the use of TPMs for a while, and has even shown us
some ways that people have used to bypass the modules
. | 60 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454150",
"author": "Jonathan Wilson",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T08:16:07",
"content": "Wouldn’t surprise me if part of the reason for the TPM requirement is to help prevent illegal copies of Windows 11 from being used.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,735.542343 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/fix-every-broken-via-to-return-this-game-to-life/ | Fix Every Broken Via To Return This Game To Life | Jenny List | [
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"nintendo",
"repair",
"rework",
"soldering"
] | We all know the havoc that water in the wrong place can do to a piece of electronics, and thus we’ve probably all had devices damaged beyond repair. Should [Solderking] have thrown away the water-damaged PCB from a Nintendo Pokemon Ruby cartridge? Of course he should, but when faced with a board on which all vias had succumbed to corrosion
he took the less obvious path and repaired them
.
Aside from some very fine soldering in the video below the break there’s little unexpected. He removes the parts and tries a spot of reworking, but the reassembled board doesn’t boot. So he removes them again and this time sands it back to copper. There follows a repair of every single vial on the board, sticking fine wires through the holes into a sponge and soldering the top, before turning it over and fixing the forest of wires on the other side. Fixing the ROM results in a rather challenging fitment involving the chip being mounted at an angle and extra wires going to its pads, which demonstrates the value in this story. It’s not one of monetary value but of persevering with some epic rework to achieve a PCB which eventually boots. Of course a replacement board would make more sense. But that’s not the point, is it? | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454116",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T05:47:07",
"content": "I wonder if it was just a few vias that needed replacing. Though this works if you gotta catch them all.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6454124",
"... | 1,760,372,735.590702 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/rc-car-test-tether-takes-car-testing-to-new-lengths/ | RC Car Test Tether Takes Car Testing To New Lengths | Ryan Flowers | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"distance",
"failure mode",
"R/C car",
"radio controlled car"
] | It’s fascinating to see what happens when a creative hacker is given a set of constraints to work within. [rctestflight] found themselves in a very specific set of circumstances: Free RC cars from sponsors, and no real purpose for them. Instead of just taking them apart to see what made them tick (itself the past time of many a beginning hacker), [rctestflight] decided to let the RC cars disassemble
themselves
, destructively, on their way to 100,000 (scale) RC Car Miles, tallying up the distance (and the carnage) in the end as you see in
the video below the break
.
Can you spot the RC car under the mud?
Re-using a jig and test track (his backyard) from another test, [rctestflight] set up solar powered tether that could power any of the vehicles under test. The vehicles were modified as needed to drive along the circular track on a tether, and once stability was achieved, the cars were set on their own to either drive 100,000 scale miles or die trying.
Seeing as how [rctestflight] hales from the Pacific NorthWet of the United States near Seattle, the endurance test turned out to be not just a test of distance. Among the factors evaluated were how well each vehicle could withstand the mud, grime, and yes, even earthworms, that awaited them.
After each vehicle failed beyond the point of a quick fix, they were all torn down. Where each manufacturer cut corners could clearly be seen, and the weaknesses and strengths of each vehicle were pretty interesting. Plus, there’s a pretty great (awful) uh… rendition… of an iconic 80’s song. Twice. And of course the final conclusion: Exactly how many miles did each vehicle go before catastrophic failure? Check the video for results.
Regular readers will know that [rctestflight] is somewhat of a Hackaday regular, with plentiful great hacks such as this drone boat that
sails the high seas of Lake Washington
. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454410",
"author": "Richard Taillon",
"timestamp": "2022-04-07T00:52:32",
"content": "Hello there, just wondering if you have tested the aarma typhon 3s to the typhon 6s. Do you have any spare typhon 3s parts? I need a new wing. Mine snapped at the park when I was driving it. Can... | 1,760,372,735.372903 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/a-3d-printed-35mm-movie-camera/ | A 3D Printed 35mm Movie Camera | Jenny List | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"35mm film",
"camera",
"movie camera"
] | Making a camera can be as easy as taking a cardboard box with a bit of film and a pin hole, but making a more accomplished camera requires some more work. A movie camera has all the engineering challenges as a regular camera with the added complication of a continuous film transport mechanism and shutter. Too much work? Not if you are [Yuta Ikeya], whose
3D printed movie camera
uses commonly-available 35 mm film stock rather than the 8 mm or 16 mm film you might expect.
3D printing might not seem to lend itself to the complex mechanism of a movie camera, however with the tech of the 2020s in hand he’s eschewed a complex mechanism in favour of an Arduino and a pair of motors. The camera is hardly petite, but is still within the size to comfortably carry on a shoulder. The film must be loaded into a pair of cassettes, which are pleasingly designed to be reversible, with either able to function as both take-up and dispensing spool.
The resulting images have an extreme wide-screen format and a pleasing artistic feel. Looking at them we’re guessing there may be a light leak or two, but it’s fair to say that they enhance the quality rather than detract from it. Those of us
who dabble in movie cameras
can be forgiven for feeling rather envious.
We’ve reached out to him asking whether the files might one day be made available, meanwhile you can see it in action in the video below the break. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454076",
"author": "NQ",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T00:16:56",
"content": "This is the perfect camera for a bigfoot sighting!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6454092",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2022-04-06T02:14:16",... | 1,760,372,735.64502 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/led-filaments-make-a-retro-clock-without-any-retro-parts/ | LED Filaments Make A Retro Clock Without Any Retro Parts | Robin Kearey | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"LED filament",
"numitron clock",
"seven segment LED"
] | We love clock projects here at Hackaday, and we’ve seen many beautiful designs based on a wide variety of display technologies. There are various types of glass tubes like Nixies, Numitrons and classic VFD displays, all of which have that warm “retro” glow to them. Then there’s LEDs, which are useful for making cool pixel-based timepieces and easy to drive with low-voltage electronics. So how about combining the best of both worlds, by using LEDs to make a Numitron-like display? That’s exactly what [Jay Hamlin] did when he built
a digital clock based on LED filaments
.
The heart of the project consists of orange LED filaments similar to the ones used in vintage-style LED light bulbs. [Jay] bought a bunch of them online and tried various ways of combining them into seven-segment displays, eventually settling on a small PCB with a black finish to give good contrast between the LEDs and the background. To make the displays look like they’re encased in glass, [Jay] bought a set of plastic test tubes and cut them to size.
The base of the clock is formed by a slick black PCB that holds an ESP32. The segments are driven through a set of 74LV595 shift registers to keep the required number of GPIOs to a minimum. There are no buttons: thanks to a WiFi connection and the Network Time Protocol the ESP32 automatically keeps the correct time.
The end result looks remarkably like a Numitron display at first glance, and remains a beautifully-made clock even if you notice that there’s no glass to be found. If you’re into LED filament clocks (and who isn’t?), check out
this analog wall clock
, or
this spiderweb-like digital clock
. | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454048",
"author": "Christian",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T20:41:50",
"content": "Beautiful! Very well done.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6454057",
"author": "macsimski",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T21:42:39",
"conten... | 1,760,372,735.691211 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/solder-pot-from-the-kitchen/ | Solder Pot From The Kitchen | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"desoldering",
"solder pot"
] | We aren’t shy of dangerous projects, but, then again,
a large cooking pan full of lead solder
might be a bit much, even for us. It goes without saying that you should be extremely careful and you won’t want to use any of the cookware again for any other purpose. You can see the build in the video below.
On the one hand, it isn’t hard to make a solder pot. All you need is a container that won’t melt and a heat source. But it seems like molten metal should be in something a little harder to tip over. The real story here is the technique for using the solder pot as the build is dead simple: a cheap hot plate and an iron skillet are all it takes.
Why do you want a solder pot? They are useful. As [Coalpeck] shows, you can use them to dip solder a through hole PCB easily enough. They are great, too, if you want to tin a lot of wires. They also can do a great job of removing parts from a board or a connector. Check out the old, but good video of a commercial unit removing a PCB connector after the main video.
We thought the temperature measurement technique of letting newspaper turn brown was interesting. Granted, a commercial solder pot big enough to be useful isn’t cheap. You can, though, get smaller pots (50-80 mm) for under $50. These will usually have a tray to catch spills and will be harder to tip over by accident. Not that you won’t want to be careful, though. If you do attempt this, we suggest you use a pan with no handle and set it in an outer pan to catch any overflow. But if you spill a few pounds of molten solder on your workbench, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
We’ve covered several homebrew solder pots over the years but, mysteriously, all the original websites are gone. We hope they are OK. We did look at a host of
desoldering techniques
that include the solder pot. Or ditch the pot of hot lead and try
one of [Bil Herd]’s methods
. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454017",
"author": "Joseph Chiu (@toybuilder)",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T18:42:56",
"content": "The nice thing about a proper solder pot is that you can have just enough solder to form a crown of solder. It makes it easier to “roll” the board onto and off the solder, which I find r... | 1,760,372,735.741914 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/magpies-help-each-other-escape-tracking-devices-with-this-one-weird-trick/ | Magpies Help Each Other Escape Tracking Devices With This One Weird Trick | Lewin Day | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"bird",
"magpie",
"science",
"tracking",
"tracking device"
] | Scientists who work with animals love to track their movements. This can provide interesting insights on everything from mating behaviour, food sources, and even the way animals behave socially – or anti-socially, as the case may be.
This is normally achieved with the use of tracking devices, affixed to an animal so that it can be observed remotely while going about its normal business. However, Australian scientists have recently run into some issues in this area, as the very animals they try to track have been removing these very devices,
revealing some thought-provoking behaviour in the process.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Scientists have developed various harnesses and backpacks to fit tracking devices to birds over the years. This small leather harness was used in field work in Denali National Park, Alaska. Credit:
Mary Lewandowski, Public Domain
The findings came about as part of research by Joel Crampton, Celine H. Frère, and Dominique A. Potvin, with the trio running
a pilot study on a new novel tracker design
aimed to better suit smaller bird species. Historically, most common bird trackers have been too large to fit on medium to smaller species of bird, and while some solutions do exist, they have typically suffered in regards to their data capacity or their battery life.
The new trackers under trial held GPS hardware, and weighed less than a gram. They were designed to operate in concert with a outdoor feeding station. This feeding station could wirelessly download data from the trackers as the birds came to eat, removing the need to recover the trackers from the birds to collect data. The station could also wirelessly charge the batteries of the tracker for longer-term use.
A special harness was designed to hold the trackers on the birds, using a magnetic clasp. This would allow the harnesses to be released from the birds when needed by simply fitting a magnet to the feeding station. The harness was considered to be a stout and hardy design by the research team, who expected it could only be removed with the use of a magnet or a decent pair of scissors. Magpies were to be the subjects of the trial, and as these birds have access to neither of these tools, it was expected that the trial would run smoothly.
Best Laid Plans And All That
The Australian magpie is known for its ability to recognise tens of different people, often declining to swoop or attack those it deems friendly. Its beady eyed stare is well-known and treated with due caution down under. Credit:
JJ Harrison, CC-BY-SA-3.0
Five magpies were outfitted with the tracking devices, with the team eager to start collecting data. However, almost immediately, things went awry. Just ten minutes after fitting the last magpie with a harness, the researchers observed curious behaviour from the birds.
An adult female that had not been fitted with a tracker was attempting to remove the harness from a younger bird, using its bill to try and get it off. Hours later, the birds had removed almost all the trackers, with the dominant male having its removed by the other birds by the third day of the study.
Talking to the New York Times
, Potvin noted the speed with which the study went off on a tangent. “The first tracker was off half an hour after we put it on,” said Potvin. The birds worked together. The magpie with the harness held still while the other went to work with its beak. In less than 20 minutes, the helping magpie had identified a clasp as the weakest point on the harness, cutting it to free the other bird.
The birds had clearly decided they did not appreciate the tracking devices, and worked together to remove them. The team didn’t directly observe all the harnesses being removed, and it’s unclear if the result was the action of just one bird or whether several developed techniques to remove the devices.
The key thing that stood out was the collaborative “rescuing” behaviour on show. Other birds in tracking studies hadn’t really been seen to work together to remove such devices before. The only clear allegory cited by the research team was the case of the Seychelles warblers helping each other remove seed clusters that were particularly adept at sticking to their feathers.
Potvin posits that the behaviour is a good example of the cooperation often seen in social animals. Birds and other animals that live in groups tend to work together for the betterment of the social group, often displaying altruistic behaviours to help each other without any immediate direct benefit.
Unexpected Learnings
In the short term, the ability of the magpies to free themselves has frustrated efforts to track the birds for conservation purposes. With
increasing heat waves in cities
putting pressure on
the survival of magpie chicks
, more work is needed to understand how to best protect these populations.
However, the researchers still came out learning something about the humble magpie, even if it’s not what they originally set out to investigate. That’s just the way science goes sometimes, and the trick is to write down what happens so that we can all benefit from the research!
Banner image: “
Australian Magpie
” by
alden0249
, CC BY 2.0. | 19 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6454003",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T17:56:08",
"content": "What you need for a somewhat intelligent species is a device with a colorful screen and maybe some fun games on which it will carry around everywhere of it’s own volition.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,737.9227 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/a-simple-linear-power-supply-done-well/ | A Simple Linear Power Supply, Done Well | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"linear power supply",
"power supply",
"psu"
] | When reaching for a power supply design it’s normal here in 2022 to reach for a switching design. They’re lightweight, very efficient, and often available off-the-shelf at reasonable prices. Their benefits are such that it’s become surprisingly rare to see a traditional linear power supply with a mains-frequency transformer and rectifier circuit, so [ElectroBoy]’s
dual voltage PSU board for audio amplifiers
is worth a second look.
This type of linear power supply has an extremely simple circuit consisting of a transformer, bridge rectifier, and capacitors. The transformer isolates and steps down the AC voltage, the rectifier turns it into a rough DC, and the capacitors filter the DC to remove as much AC ripple as possible. In an audio power supply the capacitors have the dual role of filtering and providing an impulse reservoir for the supply in the event of a peak in demand imposed by the music being played. Careful selection is vital, with in this case a toroidal mains transformer and good quality capacitors being chosen.
The choice between a linear power supply such as this one and a switching design for high quality audio is by no means clear-cut, and may be something we’ll consider in
our Know Audio series
. The desirable properties are low noise and that impulse reservoir we mentioned, and it’s probably fair to say that while both types of power supply can satisfy them. With the extra expense of a toroidal transformer a linear supply is unlikely to be the cheaper of the two, but we suspect the balance tips in its favour due to a good linear supply being the easier to design. | 45 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453971",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T15:55:31",
"content": "I thought the cost of transformers factored in. Even decades ago, I’d hesitate to put a transformer in a project, because those generally cost money. You could scrounge, but consumer equipment oft... | 1,760,372,737.60171 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/hacker-dictionary-rs-485-will-go-the-distance/ | Hacker Dictionary: RS-485 Will Go The Distance | Arya Voronova | [
"Featured",
"how-to",
"Skills",
"Slider"
] | [
"differential pair",
"differential signaling",
"impedance",
"max485",
"Modbus",
"multidrop bus",
"rs-485",
"rs485"
] | RS485 is a communication standard that should be part of the advanced hardware hacker’s arsenal; it’s not commonly encountered, but powerful exactly when you need it. It’s a physical layer interface for wired communications that uses a single differential pair for noise immunity, has good long-distance properties, and allows many connections to a single bus. Because of that, you will encounter it in
security systems
and
even cameras
, wired sensor networks,
DMX512 lighting
and all sorts of industrial electronics. For our hobbyist goals, you can absolutely use RS485 to build your home (or room) automation system, or a relatively large robot – without all those worries that wireless brings.
The name might remind you of RS232, and that’s because both RS232 and RS485 are standards that come from EIA (Electronics Industries Alliance). It also might remind you of RS422, if you’ve ever seen this name mentioned online – RS422 and RS485 are closely intertwined, sharing most of the physical layer, and I’ll show how exactly they relate.
Physical Layer
At its simplest, a RS485 link is akin to a UART communications channel, but differential and half-duplex, with TX and RX combined into a single communications line. Bytes sent as unclocked data at a pre-arranged baud rate, so your USB-UART adapter or MCU’s UART peripheral will work for most RS485 purposes. Just like with UART, there are only a few commonly used baud rates, so it should be easy to guess. The differential signal means that you will need to use special transmitters and receivers for working with RS485 links – they aren’t pricey, so it’s wise to have a few in stock before the day when you could really use it.
One of the main benefits of RS485 is that you can put multiple devices on a single link. This is a pleasant difference from logic-level UART or RS232, especially for our sensor and other smart device network building needs. The tradeoff is that an RS485 link is half-duplex – that is, two or more devices cannot transmit at the same moment of time.
If you ever really need a full-duplex connection, where devices X and Y might want to transmit without regard for each other, you will want to use two RS485 links – one link for a “X transmits, Y receives” direction and other for the “Y transmits, X receives” direction, point-to-point style. Congratulations, you’ve invented RS422, but you’ve lost the very useful bus nature of RS485.
Signals are transmitted
differentially
. In place of one signal, there are two signals: one is always opposite the other – when you transmit a high logic level, line A goes high and line B goes low, and when you transmit a low logic level, line A goes low and line B goes high. The receiver doesn’t measure the absolute level of the signals relative to ground – instead, it measures the difference between them. We have
talked about differential pairs before
, explaining their benefits like high noise reduction. Using differential pairs is what allows for RS485 links hundreds of meters long that you will see people online brag about building!
One
fun
part about RS485 is the A/B naming conventions. In the last paragraph, I’ve used “A” and “B” as “non-inverting” and “inverting” signals respectively – that is, voltage on “A” has the same polarity as the logic level of the signal transmitted, but voltage on “B” is the opposite of it.
The RS485 standard, as it’s written, actually has the opposite meaning for these two – “A” is inverting and “B” is non-inverting. However, the RS485 transciever makers have all (consistently) reversed them relative to the standard, to the point where Wikipedia has
a good few paragraphs
complaining about it. When it comes to the naming convention being used in this article, I will use the signal names you will actually deal with when it comes to RS485 ICs and devices, as opposed to the ones defined in the standard but not actually respected by devices you will encounter. It might be better if the world standardized on “D+” and “D-” as with USB, but that ship has sailed.
Differential Implications
The difference between two signals, rather than their voltage relative to a common ground, is what the controller actually cares about. What happens if they’re close to each other – say, there’s no transmitter driving the line at the moment? If the difference between A and B is within 200 mV, the signal is considered invalid, and your receivers might get confused, or, at best, reject it. To avoid this, biasing resistors are typically used – a pullup on A and a pulldown on B. The typical biasing resistor values are calculated to create a voltage a bit over 200 mV (to account for noise) on receiver inputs after accounting with the cable impedance and termination resistors – essentially, calculating a three-resistor voltage divider.
Common practice is to put two resistors in one spot, and have them do all the biasing work. You can absolutely ballpark something like 500 ohms worth of pull, and
this appnote
has a straightforward formula on page 4 if you’d like to know more – a simple resistor divider calculation is all it takes. There’s more to the bus, however – let’s dive into the layout and termination requirements.
In differential links like this, especially as speeds get higher,
impedance
starts to matter – which, in large part, is a requirement for the cabling you use. For a start, it has to be a twisted pair. The recommended impedance for RS485 links is 120 ohms and that’s what RS485 hardware is typically designed for, but for many hobbyist applications, you can absolutely use one of the pairs in an Ethernet cable (100 ohms) or a decent USB cable (90 ohms) and call it a day.
For impedance matching and reflection dampening reasons, RS485 also requires that you add termination resistors at the ends of the network – they’re typically 120 ohms. Typical RS485 modules you can get come with 120R termination resistors, and you likely won’t need to adjust them to match your cable’s impedance – but you will need to remove the termination resistors that are not on the ends of the daisy chain! Interested in more explanations of why termination matters, with pretty graphs and explanations of all the different types of termination possible?
This appnote will help you
, too.
The RS485 bus doesn’t lend itself to stubs, and especially not to star topology networks – pulling the same link into multiple different directions is heavily discouraged due to reflections caused by signal coming back from ends of multiple different branches at once, and difficulties properly terminating such a topology. The best network will result from daisy-chaining the devices, as in, having them in a straight line, with RS485 devices connected inline, stubs as short as reasonably possible — under six inches is the usual guideline, but less is better.
Ok, Ok, How Do I Start?
So how do you actually get into RS485, as a hobbyist just learning about the powers it gives you? If you look up “RS485” at your online retailer of choice, you will encounter these cheap elongated blue modules with pin headers and a terminal block – and feel free to just get those. Most of them have clones of the MAX485 IC – one of the many IC designs for talking RS485 and certainly a staple of RS485 hardware, others being generally pin-compatible for the same feature set, like SN75176 and SP485.
These PCBs come with 120 Ω termination resistors and 20 kΩ biasing resistors – you will likely want to change these. Remove the termination resistors for any modules not at the ends of the link, and replace biasing resistors with those that get you to a stable bus idle voltage point – a pair of 560 Ω resistors on one of the modules will do well for biasing.
The MAX485 works with a single RS485 link, so it is half-duplex: you have to switch it between receiving and transmitting. On the MAX485, transmitter and receiver enable inputs are two different pins, but basically everybody joins them into one pin. This is possible because the RE (Receiver Enable) signal is inverted, and this lets you switch between transmit and receive with a single GPIO. Essentially, you short pins 2 and 3 of the MAX485 together, either with a jumper wire or with a tactically placed drop of solder, then set them to a low logic level for receiving or high logic level for transmitting with a GPIO. If you’re using a USB-UART or UART peripheral, check if you have the RTS signal available to you – it can be directly wired to a RS485 transceiver’s ~RE and DE for seamless RS485 link operation!
You can buy these “MAX485” modules and mostly be set, but the ICs on them are clones and might burn out on you every now and then. Getting some legit MAX485 ICs from a reputable store and replacing them with your hot air station of choice is a good idea if you want your setup to be reliable. One of the problems with MAX485 is that it requires 5 V and might not work at 3.3 V, so you might as well get some MAX3485 chips and solve both of these problems in one go. Otherwise, if you got a Raspberry Pi in one hand and a cheap “MAX485” module in the other, feel free to use any of the level shifting options, from using one of the usual logic level shifters to simply
pulling the VCC of MAX485 down with a diode
.
With all this customization and rework, you’re probably thinking you might as well design your own RS485 interface. If you’ve already committed to a PCB design for the project, you’re probably right.
Adding More Devices
The RS485 physical layer lets you put many devices on the same link, like I2C. You cannot do that with three devices that have UART. The requirement, again, is that you only ever have one transmitter active at a time – so, by default, you’d have all transmitters on all devices disabled, and only enabled at a time when one device needs to say something.
The maximum number of devices that you can put on a single bus is described through the concept of “unit load”, a function of the input impedance of receivers and the biasing. In other words, receivers put a certain amount of load on the transmission line, and when the line is loaded too much, the signal levels get too low. The unit load values of your ICs can be found in their respective datasheets, with typical values resulting in up to 32 receivers on a single bus, and available transceiver ICs with low enough unit load that lets you get that number up to 256.
For your own RS485 communications on a multi-drop network, you’d want some kind of transmission protocol that has coexistence and addressing in mind. There’s one popular and powerful option you’ll want to know about, and that is
Modbus RTU
! It is a data protocol you can use on top of RS485, suited for links with a single controller and multiple peripherals. It’s a commercially successful yet open protocol – which is to say, you can speak Modbus in between your own devices, but also to a large range of devices like heavy-duty machinery or
energy meters
. There’s plenty of decent libraries for Modbus communications for environments like
Python
and
Arduino
to do most of the job for you.
You might notice that the “single controller, multiple peripherals” principle is similar to I2C, and that’s not the only way where Modbus and I2C are alike. For a start, Modbus peripherals, too, have addresses. The way that data is accessed in Modbus is also similar to the register-based system that the more advanced I2C devices have: each Modbus device has registers you can read from or write into. Writable registers tend to be referred to as coils, read-only registers tend to be referred to as inputs, and there’s generally agreed-upon register address ranges telling you at a glance which are which. When building
makeshift Modbus devices
, however, you are free to break these conventions if it suits you.
Keeping Things Grounded
“Do you need a ground connection for a RS485 link?” is a hotly debated question, just like “do I need to tie my USB port shield to ground”. You will see a lot of people say
that a ground reference isn’t technically needed
– after all, it’s a differential signal, and at most, shielding could be called for. This will generally work, even! However, lack of ground
can result in high common-mode (relative to ground) offset voltage
on one of the ends, and while RS485 transceiver ICs can handle quite a bit of that, it can cause issues depending on the kind of devices in your network.
If you’re running a link between devices powered by un-earthed wall-wart PSUs, pulling a common voltage reference along is likely wise. The same goes for a network of battery-powered devices, since voltage induced on one end of the network will happily go onto transceiver inputs of other devices that, in turn, might be capacitively coupled to somewhere else. Not to mention that noise
finds a way
.
If you are using earthed PSUs on both sides, however, running a separate ground line
might create a ground loop
. If the “ground” potential at two different locations is wildly different, you may also end up pulling considerable, undesirable current through the common path. Remeber that the two transceivers need a common middle voltage reference, but it need not be “ground”.
If grounding had straightforward answers, we hackers wouldn’t have so many conflicting opinions about it. In case your ground issues get really unmanageable, you can get
isolated RS485 transceivers
, or, on a budget, use a few 6N137 high-speed optocouplers, maybe even one of those isolated DC-DCs. Typically, there’s
solutions available
for any RS485 problems you encounter, and people have made RS485 links work in pretty grim circumstances.
When It Goes Wrong – Or Right
If you experience a noticeable amount of data loss or corruption, it’s worth poking your transmission line with a scope or a multimeter. Is the bus idle state within voltage margins, at different points in the network? Do you have ringing on the signal, and how “bad” is it relative to the norm and the signal levels you’d expect? Does ringing change depending on how far the device is in the chain? Echo your Modbus (or other protocol) packets into a debug console – do they arrive intact?
With this knowledge of RS485, you won’t just be able to gain control of more and more powerful devices out there, you will also figure out some fun things that will help you in other areas. For instance, you don’t have to put UART-like communications through a RS485 transceiver, you can simply use it for transmitting the state of a GPIO in a noisy environment. Or you can use an RS485 transmitter to
dramatically extend range and stability of WS2812 LED protocol
communications, especially when you have high-voltage lines running close to your LED strips.
There’s an idea floating around that you could use the transmitter section of an RS485 driver IC to drive small vibromotors as an improvised cheap H-bridge – and get yourself some fancy haptics-capable hardware as a result. Small-footprint H-bridges, especially for low-power electronics, can get expensive, chip shortages don’t help either – yet RS485 transceivers are cheap and still abundant. Who wants to bet that this will work?
Terminating These Thoughts
RS485 is an underappreciated topic, and while wireless links are enticing, there’s plenty of space for good old rugged differential communications. Whether you’d like a protocol you can understand, an interference-resilient communications channel, or an inherently secure physical layer for your network, RS485 is here for you. With one more tool in your arsenal, may you design wired long-distance links like never before. | 59 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453949",
"author": "Andy Pugh",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T14:05:25",
"content": "RS485 is commonly used to control the spindle VFD on hobby CNC routers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453985",
"author": "paulvdh",
... | 1,760,372,737.750924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/wireless-bootloader-saves-you-from-swapping-rom-chips/ | Wireless Bootloader Saves You From Swapping ROM Chips | Robin Kearey | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"6502",
"bootloader",
"nRF24L01+"
] | Flashing your code into an Arduino, an ESP32 or any other modern microcontroller platform is pretty straightforward: connect the device through USB, fire up the appropriate software platform, and press “program”. But those who followed embedded programming classes in the ’80s and ’90s will remember a more complicated procedure that consists of swapping EPROM chips between a programmer, a target board and a UV eraser. Veterans of that era might even remember how you could overwrite a previous program with NOPs and place new code behind it, to save yourself a trip to the “blank chips” bin.
If you’re a retrocomputer enthusiast and would like to have the easy programming of modern tools, but the authenticity of a self-contained ROM-loading computer, you might want to check out [Anders Nielsen]’s latest design of
a wireless boot loader for a 6502 single board computer
. The target platform for this project is a beautiful custom-made 6502-based retrocomputer that [Anders] documented in detail
on his Hackaday.io page
.
The basic idea here is to have a wireless receiver on the target system that receives data from a transmitter connected to a modern PC. When you click “program”, the object code is sent to the 6502 machine, stored in RAM and executed. The wireless link is implemented with a pair of nRF24L01 2.4 GHz modules that communicate through SPI. Since [Anders]’s Mac Mini doesn’t come with GPIO ports he hooked up the transmitter to a Raspberry Pi which he controlled through a network link.
On the 6502 side he wrote a bootloader in assembly language, which bit-bangs the SPI protocol to communicate with the wireless module. A simple user interface is included to allow the user to control the loading and running of programs. All code and hardware documentation is
available on Github
for use by anyone with a similar 6502 system.
Those nRF24L01s are versatile little things: we’ve seen them being used to transfer anything from
MIDI data
to
TCP/IP links
, as well as
code for other microcontroller platforms
. | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453940",
"author": "d00d",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T12:34:16",
"content": "I really like the idea for the development convenience, but the security enthusiast in me smiles and sarcastically has to say, “Congrats on the new back door!”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,372,737.647216 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/samd11-provides-two-serial-ports-for-price-of-one/ | SAMD11 Provides Two Serial Ports For Price Of One | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"serial",
"serial adapter",
"USB to serial"
] | While the average computer user likely hasn’t given much thought to the lowly serial port in decades, the same can’t be said for the hardware hacker. Cheap serial-to-USB adapters are invaluable for snooping debug ports or programming chips, and if you ask us, you can never have too many laying around the bench. [Quentin Bolsée] loves them so much that he’s even figured out
how to build a dual-port adapter with a SAMD11C14 microcontroller
.
As [Quentin] explains in the write-up, this isn’t just some kind of Y-cable. When connected to the host computer, the adapter shows up as two distinct serial ports, each with independent settings for things like baud rate and parity. This handy little gadget will let you tap into the serial ports of two devices simultaneously if you’re looking to do some Hollywood-style hacking, but more practically, it allows you to establish a debug and programming interface to the same board using just one USB connection.
[Quentin] milled a custom PCB for his adapter, which we have to say looks phenomenal, but those with more limited equipment at home should be able to send the MIT licensed board files off for production. He’s also provided the source code for the SAMD11C14’s firmware, so you’ve got everything you need to spin up your own version of this neat tool.
Two ports not enough for your parallel hacking needs? Believe it or not,
we’ve also seen a quad USB-to-serial adapter
that you can put together, though it’s a considerably more complex circuit. | 22 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453701",
"author": "bdgr",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T16:33:41",
"content": "” 404The page you’re looking for could not be found.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453702",
"author": "some guy",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,372,737.859968 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/a-power-button-for-raspberry-pi-courtesy-of-device-tree-overlays/ | A Power Button For Raspberry Pi, Courtesy Of Device Tree Overlays | Maya Posch | [
"ARM",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Linux Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi",
"Skills",
"Slider"
] | [
"Device Tree",
"device tree overlay",
"linux kernel"
] | As a standard feature of the Linux kernel,
device tree overlays
(DTOs) allow for easy enabling and configuration of features and drivers, such as those contained within the standard firmware of a Raspberry Pi system. Using these DTOs it’s trivial to set up features like as a soft power-off button, triggering an external power supply and enable drivers for everything from an external real-time clock (RTC) to various displays, sensors and audio devices, all without modifying the operating system or using custom scripts.
It’s also possible to add your own DTOs to create a custom overlay that combines multiple DTO commands into a single one, or create a custom device tree binary (DTB) for the target hardware. Essentially this DTB is loaded by the Linux kernel on boot to let it know which devices are connected and their configuration settings, very similar to what the BIOS component with x86-based architectures handles automatically.
Ultimately, the DTB concept and the use of overlays allow for easy configuration of such optional devices and GPIO pin settings, especially when made configurable through a simple text file as on the Raspberry Pi SBC platform.
The Linux Device Tree
List of files including board-specific Device Tree Binaries (DTBs) for a Raspberry Pi SBC.
As noted earlier, the device tree is compiled into a binary that is handed to the kernel on boot. Contained in this device tree is the list of connected devices, their driver and other relevant settings. On platforms that do not use a BIOS-like system to auto-detect devices, like graphics cards and network cards, and for devices which do not have an auto-detect and auto-configuration option like I2C and SPI devices, the device tree has to be constructed in this manner.
The use of such an external device tree saves the trouble of recompiling the kernel with every hardware change, with a central DTB file for the system device configuration, like those provided
for Raspberry Pi SBCs
. Recompiling this DTB for any newly added or changed device would be as much hassle as recompiling the entire kernel. This is where overlays come into play.
After the DTB is loaded by the kernel, DTOs are applied, per the Linux kernel
documentation on DTOs
. The overlay itself is specified as a device tree source, compiled using the device tree compiler into a device tree binary overlay (DTBO) file. For the Raspberry Pi these DTBOs
can be found
just like the DTBs on the Raspberry Pi GitHub account.
Over on the
Bootlin blog
an excellent article explains how to write your own overlays and apply them using the BeagleBone Black platform. This shows how to load DTBOs from the U-Boot bootloader, which is a somewhat
more involved process
than that offered by other platforms.
With Armbian for example, DTOs can be set and changed from the
armbianEnv.txt
file, assuming one uses an image for a platform that
supports
this feature. Assuming it is a supported feature on the used Armbian image, all it takes is editing the
/boot/armbianEnv.txt
to add the requisite overlay names and their parameters. This approach is highly reminiscent of the approach chosen on the Raspberry Pi SBC platform, with a similar text file loaded from
/boot/config.txt
.
Soft Power Button
Momentary NO switch installed on a Raspberry Pi 2B.
As a simple but rather useful example of what DTOs on Raspberry Pi SBCs can accomplish, let’s take a look at how to implement a soft power on and off button using nothing but a default Raspberry Pi OS image, a momentary (normally open) switch and some wiring to connect this switch to two pins on the GPIO header, as in the image on the right.
To make this work, there are two components at play here. The first concerns the soft power on. On Raspberry Pi boards, when the CPU is in halt state (powered, but CPU not running), GPIO3 is kept in high state due to an external pull-up resistor. Whenever GPIO3 is pulled low in this state, the CPU is resumed.
This is accomplished by putting our NO switch on GPIO3 and a ground (GND) pin. When the system enters the halt state and we push the button, GPIO3 is pulled low and the system resumes.
For soft power-off, we need to use the first overlay. Since we’ll be using GPIO3 also for powering off the system, we will add the following device tree overlay (dtoverlay) to
/boot/config.txt
:
dtoverlay=gpio-shutdown,gpio_pin=3,active_low=1,debounce=1500
The
gpio-shutdown
DTO is described in the
overlay README
:
Name: gpio-shutdown
Info: Initiates a shutdown when GPIO pin changes. The given GPIO pin
is configured as an input key that generates KEY_POWER events.
This event is handled by systemd-logind by initiating a
shutdown.
If the system is booted when we trigger this event, it will thus act as if we pushed the ‘power’ button on a desktop system, turning the system off and halting the CPU.
Beyond the GPIO pin number, we can also configure the state of the pin when it should trigger the event (here when pulled low), and since we are using a mechanical switch we’d like to have a built-in debounce delay before the event is triggered.
Of course, since we can configure the GPIO pin here, we don’t necessarily have to use GPIO3 here, which may be desirable since GPIO3 is also the (non-remappable) I2C1 SCL pin, and losing access to the primary I2C bus could be a problem. Instead another GPIO pin (like 17) could be used, with the complication that using a single momentary switch as in the previous example would no longer be possible without jumping through some extra hoops.
Another interesting power-related overlay is the
gpio-poweroff
one:
Name: gpio-poweroff
Info: Drives a GPIO high or low on poweroff (including halt). Using this
overlay interferes with the normal power-down sequence, preventing the
kernel from resetting the SoC (a necessary step in a normal power-off
or reboot). This also disables the ability to trigger a boot by driving
GPIO3 low.
When using an external power supply module, this signal is used to turn off power to the SBC, and likely shutdown the power supply itself until woken up again by some other signal. This could conceivably be useful in industrial and remote locations where some level of automation and/or power savings would be desirable.
Real Time Clock
PCF8523-based Real Time Clock (RTC) module.
A sorely missed feature on Raspberry Pi SBCs is a real-time clock (RTC), as this means that without internet access, the system time will be practically meaningless. Fortunately it’s easy enough to install any of a number of RTC modules, such as the ubiquitous PCF8253, DS1307, DS3231 and higher-end options.
Most of these RTC modules communicate using the I2C bus, which means wiring up 3.3V, GND and the I2C SCL/SDA lines. Note that we’d already have a potential conflict here if using the soft power-off feature, since by default it is assumed that we’re using the primary (
i2c_arm
) I2C bus. After this we have to enable the appropriate overlay for the module we’re using.
According to the overlay documentation:
Name: i2c-rtc
Info: Adds support for a number of I2C Real Time Clock devices
Load: dtoverlay=i2c-rtc,<param>=<val>
With as fallback the software I2C option if we cannot use the primary I2C bus:
Name: i2c-rtc-gpio
Info: Adds support for a number of I2C Real Time Clock devices
using the software i2c controller
Load: dtoverlay=i2c-rtc-gpio,<param>=<val>
With all of this in place, we only need to deal with the fake hardware clock (
fake-hwclock
) that is used by default, as else we’ll have to manually set the (fake) hwclock time from the RTC. For example on Debian-based OSes like Raspberry Pi OS:
sudo apt-get -y remove fake-hwclock
sudo update-rc.d -f fake-hwclock
sudo remove systemctl disable fake-hwclock
Just The Beginning
Some of the Device Tree Binary Overlay (DTBO) files that are part of a Raspberry Pi OS image.
Some may have noticed at this point that this procedure with overlays looks familiar if they have ever installed something like an I2S sound board on a Raspberry Pi system. The reason for this is that DTBOs for these devices are already present and can thus be loaded on boot without further modifications needed.
While a lot of this functionality can be duplicated by various shell- and python-scripts within the OS itself, it’s generally more straightforward to do it in the form of a device tree overlay, if only because everything that is required is already part of the default operating system image. This means that it is also guaranteed to keep working, even across Linux kernel and package upgrades.
A simple glance at the DTBO files that comes with a Raspberry Pi OS image or similar gives a good idea of just how many overlays there are. Everything from DACs, rotary encoders, various (LCD, OLED) screens, official Raspberry Pi devices like the PoE HAT, soundcards and countless GPIO-, SPI- and I2C-related features and devices.
With this in mind, it seems like a good idea to have a read through the overlays README to get some idea of what is supported, and to reference it before embarking on a new project on a Raspberry Pi SBC. Similarly, it can’t hurt to check the available overlays on other (ARM) platforms. For all you know, the feature you would like to have is a simple overlay toggle away. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453674",
"author": "steelman",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T14:29:57",
"content": "DTB is loaded by the Linux kernel on bootNo, it is loaded by a bootloader in parallel with the kernel.On platforms that do not use a BIOS-like system to auto-detect devicesBIOS was never meant for device... | 1,760,372,738.033294 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/turn-timing-diagrams-into-ascii-art-for-friendlier-pasting/ | Turn Timing Diagrams Into ASCII Art, For Friendlier Pasting | Donald Papp | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"ascii art",
"json",
"timing diagram",
"verilog",
"wavedrom"
] | We all use text-based fields at one time or another, and being limited to ASCII only can end up being a limitation. That’s what led [Luke Wren] to create
asciiwave
, a fantastic tool that turns WaveDrom timing diagrams into ASCII art. Unlike images, ASCII timing diagrams are suitable for pasting into comment fields, change logs, or anywhere else that accepts text only. [Update: As the author kindly shared in the comments below, this tool’s original niche is pasting into HDL (e.g. Verilog) source code comments, where it has a special kind of usefulness.]
WaveDrom
itself is a nifty JavaScript tool that
we have covered before
. It accepts timing diagrams expressed as JSON data, and renders nicely-readable digital timing diagrams as images directly inside one’s browser.
As cool and useful as that is, images can’t be pasted into text fields. That’s where
asciiwave
comes in. It reads the exact same format that WaveDrom uses, but generates an ASCII-art timing diagram instead. So if you’ve found WaveDrom useful, but wish you could generate ASCII versions, here’s your solution. | 21 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453616",
"author": "RetepV",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T11:16:11",
"content": "Ok, nice for sake of argument. But you loose small but important timing facts, like the wire only going high a few nanoseconds after the clock went high.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,372,737.982174 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/quick-swap-socket-for-stemma-qt-experiments/ | Quick-Swap Socket For Stemma QT Experiments | Arya Voronova | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"hot swap sockets",
"i2c",
"JST",
"stemma",
"stemma qt"
] | [kmatch98] shares a quick hack with us over at Hackaday.io – a 3D-printed
socket for Adafruit Stemma QT-based I2C modules
. Since Adafruit has standardized the dimensions for their Stemma QT boards, it’s possible to make a socket that would fit many different sensors at once, where the board just slides in.
This reminds us of sci-fi datadisks, or, thinking of something more grounded in reality, game console cartridges – except that here, the fun you’re having is from exploring all the different devices you can get to speak I2C. To make such a socket, you only need to 3D-print two plastic parts, put a JST-SH plug between them, and screw them together – if you want to modify these to your liking,
.f3d
sources are available. Now you no longer have to use fingernails or tin snips to take the JST-SH plug out of your modules!
[kmatch98] is
no stranger to sharing his projects
on Hackaday.io with us, and we’ve covered some of his larger projects before, like this
CircuitPython-powered cyber-duck cyberdeck
, or the
3D-printable Maypole braider machine
! | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453646",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T12:46:27",
"content": "Elegant and free as in freedom 3d printed bracket! Replacing cheap dupont wires still is easier than dealing with a loose almost proprietary connector. I’d solder the classic pins to the board myself as l... | 1,760,372,737.358539 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/servo-surgery-teaches-us-diy-encoder-implants/ | Servo Surgery Teaches Us DIY Encoder Implants | Arya Voronova | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"closed loop servo motors",
"digital servo",
"ds3225",
"hobby servo",
"optical encoder",
"robot arm",
"robotic arm",
"servo control",
"Servo driver",
"servo motor",
"servo motors",
"servos"
] | Today, we shall talk about how [Adam Bäckström]
took a DS3225 servo and rebuilt it to improve its accuracy
, then built a high-precision robot arm with those modified servos to show just how much of an improvement he’s got – up to 36 times better positional accuracy. If this brings a
déjà vu
feeling, that’s because
we’ve covered his servo modifications before
, but now, there’s more. In a year’s time since the last video came out, [Adam] has taken it to the next level, showing us how the modification is made, and how we ourselves can do it, in a
newly released video
embedded below.
After ordering replacement controller PCBs designed by [Adam] (assembled by your PCBA service of choice), you disassemble the servo, carefully setting the gearbox aside for now. Gutting the stock control board is the obvious next step, but from there, you don’t just drop the new PCB in – there’s more to getting a perfect servo than this, you have to add extra sensing, too. First, you have to print a spacer and a cover for the control board, as well as a new base for the motor. You also have to print (or perhaps, laser-cut) two flat encoder disks, one black and one white, the white one being eccentric. It only escalates from here!
Both of these disks go inside the motor. That is, you have to pry the servo’s DC motor apart, take its base with brushes out, then insert the encoder disks. Then, you snip and file away at the base’s plastic parts to free up as much space inside the motor’s base as possible, and add the optical encoders in the space you freed. Once that’s done, you solder the motor, the optocoupler and the potentiometer connections to the new controller PCB, and assemble the motor back together.
After you’re finished with the surgery, you have to calibrate your servo, for which [Adam] shows how to properly set it up mechanically, provides the code you need to run, and even nice GUI tools with controls to tweak servo parameters – his firmware gives us way more power than we could ever expect from a servo like this. All the knobs and sliders available to control coefficients, limits and curves, show us that [Adam] really does understand what makes for proper servo movement. Enough care is put into
the documentation
,
the explanations
and the tools for this modification process, that we don’t have to be anxious about being left behind if we are to follow these steps ourselves!
In a robot arm, small accuracy errors at the base scale into large errors at the arm’s end. If what you crave is high accuracy on a budget, and you have a bit of time to devote to modifying stock servos, this approach might be just what you need, and [Adam] has basically laid all the groundwork for you. Last time we talked about these servo modifications, one of our commenters suggested that this could be a viable successor to the goals of
the OpenServo project
, and we definitely see where they’re coming from. What if you wanted to go even less expensive than this? You could
build a servo out of junk DC motors
with a “3 cent” microcontroller, then.
We thank [sarinkhan], [Diede] and [BaldPower] for sharing this with us! | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453566",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T06:13:18",
"content": "Oh my god. I am amazed. Also 2:15-2:16 that was awesome =)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6453584",
"author": "moeb",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T... | 1,760,372,737.797502 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/tshwatch-helps-you-learn-more-about-yourself/ | TshWatch Helps You Learn More About Yourself | Arya Voronova | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"BME680",
"data logger",
"data logging",
"datalogger",
"DataLogging",
"DS3231",
"DS3231 RTC",
"e-ink",
"e-ink display",
"eink",
"ESP32",
"ESP32 ULP",
"health hacking",
"health monitor",
"MAX30101",
"smartwatch",
"ULP",
"wearable",
"wearable electronics",
"Wearables"
] | TshWatch
is a project by [Ivan / @pikot] that he’s been working on for the past two years. [Ivan] explains that he aims to create a tool meant to help you understand your body’s state. Noticing when you’re stressed, when you haven’t moved for too long, when your body’s temperature is elevated compared to average values – and later, processing patterns in yourself that you might not be consciously aware of. These are far-reaching goals that commercial products only strive towards.
At a glance it might look like a fitness tracker-like watch, but it’s a sensor-packed logging and measurement wearable – with a beautiful E-Ink screen and a nice orange wristband, equipped with the specific features he needs, capturing the data he’d like to have captured and sending it to a server he owns, and teaching him a whole new world of hardware – the lessons that he shares with us.
He takes us through the design process
over these two years – now on the fifth revision, with first three revisions breadboarded, the fourth getting its own PCBs and E-Ink along with a, and the fifth now in the works, having received some CAD assistance for battery placement planning. At our request, he has shared
some pictures of the recent PCBs
, too!
And sensor-packed, it is! There’s a MAX30100 for heart rate measurement, DS3231 RTC for timekeeping and interrupts, MLX90615 IR temperature sensor for contact-less skin temperature measurements, an LSM6DS3C IMU with, so to say, hardware-accelerated pedometer capabilities, and a BME680 air quality, humidity, pressure and temperature sensor. To keep the watch low-power despite the ESP32’s appetite, [Ivan] has conquered the ESP32’s ULP – a low-power co-processor capable of talking to all the project’s I2C devices. Having never written ULP Assembly before, he eventually
wrote ULP drivers for all of the devices involved
. As a result, it can already survive for over 36 hours at a single charge, and he is aiming to make it last a week.
[Ivan] invites you to join his effort – it takes time to build a device for a far-reaching and almost sci-fi realm goal like this, and he could use help in under-explored areas. He’s been mostly working with hardware and firmware so far, and if you’d like to help with software, datalogging, design/CAD, or improve any other areas, do
join the Hackaday.io chatroom
and see how far we can get from here! Hardware feature progress
is being tracked on GitHub
, and there’s also a video in Russian
explaining the hardware architecture of the fourth revision
and the challenges, caringly subtitled in English for us, embedded below.
What are we hackers looking for in a wrist-worn device aimed to help us day-to-day?
We’ve discussed that with you all before
. | 13 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453543",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T02:53:31",
"content": "I’m right now looking for a personal training monitor that doesn’t require a cloud presence or send my info to some remote company for processing.They don’t exist.I might recommend buttons on the device th... | 1,760,372,737.406939 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/hackaday-links-april-3-2022/ | Hackaday Links: April 3, 2022 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"color code",
"components",
"computed tomography",
"CT Scan",
"design",
"first aid",
"hackaday links",
"PLA",
"Secret Life Of Components",
"splint",
"sustainability",
"Tim Hunkin"
] | It’s that time of year again —
the 2022 Hackaday Prize has officially launched
, and we’re excited to see what it turns out. This year’s theme is “Sustainability, Resilience, and Circularity,” and just in time, too; if the last couple of years has taught us anything, it’s that we’ve got a lot of failure points built into the systems that run our world. As broken as things are, it’s tempting to just curl up in a ball and pretend everything’s fine, but that’s not how hackers respond to adversity. We need to control what we can control, and there’s plenty of work to be done. From sustainable energy ideas to ways to reduce the amount of stuff we throw away, from breathing new life into old equipment to building communities that can take care of themselves, there’s plenty of work to be done. So get over to
the Hackaday Prize page
, check out
the launch summit video
if you need some inspiration, and get hacking. And hurry up — things are only going to get better if people like us make it happen.
Every once in a while, we stumble upon a project that is so obviously a labor of love that we have to call it out. And it’s clear that
Tio Luigi’s Component Codification Guide
is exactly such a project. The amount of work that Luigi, aka Luiz Ferreria, put into this handbook of electronic components is mind-boggling, and if you thought a simple pictorial guide to capacitors, resistors, and inductors could never be a page-turner, think again. The artwork is gorgeous, the explanations of color-coding and other schemes for denoting values are clear and useful, and the discovery of new and unusual packages for common components is a treat. But it’s the little nuggets of information that keep you reading — did you know that the color bands denoting precision on high-voltage resistors are yellow and gray to reduce the risk of flashover through the more typical gold and silver paint? How fascinating is that!
Speaking of components, here’s another treat for you: Tim Hunkin is releasing
a second season of his “Secret Life of Components” series
. The first season wrapped up almost a year ago, but Tim says it proved so popular and garnered enough donations that he was able to do it again. The first of five videos,
“The Secret Life of Sensors,”
was released this past Thursday. Most of us remember Tim from “The Secret Life of Machines” series he did with the late Rex Garrod many years ago, which for all their ad hoc charm were great fun to watch. What we love about the “Components” series is that unlike the original, which was aimed at a much broader audience, these videos are aimed squarely at makers and builders, and are stuffed full of useful tidbits Tim has picked up over a lifetime of making cool stuff.
Over on the Prusa channel, there’s
a brief but interesting video
showing how to 3D print emergency splints. Printed casts made to your exact body contours aren’t exactly new, but if you’ve suffered an injury, it’s hard to imagine that you’ll be sitting down in front of Fusion 360 to design something that’s a perfect fit. But the idea here is to just print a flat but flexible structure out of PLA, and post-form it to the injured extremity after gentle heating. The video recommends heating with a hairdryer or heat gun, or even by cooking it a little right on the bed of the printer or dipping it in hot water. It’s important to protect the skin with some gauze padding, and to use conforming bandages, often called “vet tape,” to hold the splint in place. The next step should, of course, be a trip to the doctor, but this trick might just get you out of a jam — especially if you preprint and stash the splints.
And finally,
a couple of weeks ago
we featured a link to BrainLubeOnlines’s collection of X-rays of common objects. If you liked that, then you love
Scan of the Month
, which adds an extra dimension with 3D computed tomography (CT) scans of everyday items. We appreciate the look inside gadgets like GameBoys and AirPods, but for our money, the real engineering prowess goes into
the food packaging items
, like ketchup and Sriracha bottle caps. Making them work while being able to manufacture them for as close to zero cost as possible is a real challenge, and worth a look inside. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453519",
"author": "Mog",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T23:41:44",
"content": "I’m reading through Luiz’s component guide right now, and agreed 100%, it’s fantastic!My only hope is that I hope I can get in touch with him to offer some editing assistance. While not detracting at all from... | 1,760,372,738.080537 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/05/how-did-dolby-digital-sound-work-on-film/ | How Did Dolby Digital Sound Work On Film? | Jenny List | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"Dolby Digital",
"film sound",
"sound"
] | When we go to the cinema and see a film in 2022, it’s very unlikely that what we’re seeing will in fact be a film. Instead of large reels of transparent film fed through a projector, we’ll be watching the output of a high-quality digital projector. The advantages for the cinema industry in terms of easier distribution and consistent quality are obvious. There was a period in the 1990s though when theatres still had film projectors, but digital technology was starting to edge in for the sound. [Nava Whiteford] has found some 35mm trailer film from the 1990s, and
analysed the Dolby Digital sound information from it
.
The film is an interesting exercise in backward compatibility, with every part of it outside the picture used to encode information. There is the analogue sound track and two digital formats, but what we’re interested in are the Dolby Digital packets. These are encoded as patterns superficially similar to a QR code in the space between the sprocket holes.
Looking at
the patent
he found that they were using Reed-Solomon error correction, making it relatively easy to decode. The patent makes for fascinating reading, as it details how the data was read using early-1990s technology with each line being scanned by a linear CCD, before detailing the signal processing steps followed to retrieve the audio data. If you remember your first experience of Dolby cinema sound three decades ago, now you know how the system worked.
The film featured also had an analogue soundtrack, and if you’d like to know how they worked,
we’ve got you covered
! | 27 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453906",
"author": "Viktor",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T08:18:29",
"content": "Dolby lobby.Where’s the open source?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453911",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T08:46:4... | 1,760,372,738.144688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/esp32-is-two-better-than-one/ | ESP32: Is Two Better Than One? | Al Williams | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"ESP32",
"wifi",
"wifi antenna"
] | We’ve looked at the WROOM-DA module before. It’s an ESP32 with two antennas, and [Andreas Spiess] says it is the
ugliest ESP32
he’s ever seen. But beauty is only skin deep, after all. Did [Andreas] find beauty in the twin antennas? Watch the video below and see for yourself.
According to the block diagram, the twin antennas are not used simultaneously but offer diversity one at a time. There is also
8GB
8 MB of flash, double the amount on traditional WROOM modules. Mounting the device was a bit difficult since most ESP32 carrier boards will block some portion of the antenna array.
Digging into the software, you can change modes so you can dedicate one antenna for receive and another for transmit or you can let the device work out what’s the best strategy on its own. As you see so often, the hardware refers to the antennas as units 1 and 2 while the software uses 0 and 1.
[Andreas] wanted to know if the automatic mode worked well, so he devised a test that required a trip to the roof to compare a standard module and the dual antenna module. The DA unit definitely seemed to work better. However, the auto mode acted in a surprising way. The test unit picked up quite a few stations on each antenna, but the auto mode received fewer stations than either of the antennas on its own.
For example, oriented in one direction, the module picked up 30 stations on the first antenna and 57 on the second. But the automatic mode received only 20 stations. There’s no explanation, but the video comments have quite a few theories.
We
looked at these modules
last year. If you need a kickstart to your ESP32 adventures, [Andreas] has many helpful videos. There are also these
tutorials
. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453874",
"author": "ambutura",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T05:10:07",
"content": "Typo – 8MB of memory",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453886",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T06:14:16",
... | 1,760,372,738.230673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/detailed-big-screen-multimeter-review/ | Detailed Big Screen Multimeter Review | Al Williams | [
"Reviews",
"Teardown"
] | [
"multimeter",
"review",
"test equipment review"
] | It seems like large-screen cheap meters are really catching on. [TheHWcave] does a very detailed review of a
KAIWEETS KM601
, which is exactly the same as a few dozen other Chinese brands you can get from the usual sources. You can see the review in the video below.
If we learned nothing else from this video, we did learn that you can identify unmarked fuses with a scale. The fuses inside were not marked, so he wanted to know if they appeared to be the right values. We would have been tempted to just blow them under controlled conditions, but we get he didn’t want to destroy the stock fuses until after testing.
The teardown and analysis are quite detailed with a few interesting tidbits, especially how the current probes route through the board. One interesting observation is that the controller chip inside has one-time programmable memory and he speculates that calibration data is programmed into it once. If true, this would make the meter unlikely to have any way to field calibrate it. Of course, the meter may calibrate itself on startup using some known internal reference, but it is hard to tell since the datasheet for the part doesn’t seem to be available.
There are a few surprising details inside. There are two independent processors inside. One may be for the temperature function. The soldering workmanship — mostly removing excess solder — left something to be desired. But the meter works well enough for its price point, although he does suggest getting a better set of probes.
This meter appears identical to
a different brand meter
we saw a review for earlier. Or you can look into an even
cheaper meter
. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453879",
"author": "Nikolai",
"timestamp": "2022-04-05T05:48:04",
"content": "I really missed my ц4353https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYg3tJjDWpM",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453920",
"author": "demon256",
... | 1,760,372,738.185645 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/rubber-band-slide-rule-doesnt-slide-but-rotates/ | Rubber Band “Slide Rule” Doesn’t Slide, But Rotates | Al Williams | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"logarithms",
"math",
"slide rule"
] | Around here we mostly enjoy slide rules. We even have our own collections including some cylindrical and circular ones. But [Mathologer] discusses a recent Reddit post that explains a circular slide rule-like device using
a wheel and a stretchable rubber band
. While it probably would be difficult to build the actual device using a rubber band, it can do wonders for your understanding of logarithms which still show up in our lives when, for example, you are calculating decibels. [Dimitri] did simulate the rubber band for you
in software
.
The idea is that a perfect rubber band has numbers from 0 to 10 evenly marked on it. As you rotate a wheel attached at the 10 mark, the rubber band stretches more and more. So the 10 and the 9 have relatively little space between them, but the 1 and the 2 are much further apart. The wheel’s circumference is set so that the 1 will exactly overlay the 10. What this means is that each spot on the wheel can represent any number that differs only by a decimal point. So you could have 3 mean 0.03, 300, or — of course — 3. Of course, you don’t need to build the wheel with a rubber band — you could just mark the wheel like a regular circular slide rule.
If you’ve never really learned why a slide rule works or you don’t know how to work one, you’ll find the explanation in the video very intuitive and enlightening. You do have to have a rough idea of the order of magnitude of the answer you expect, but that’s not so hard with practice.
Of course, if you flatten the circle out, you get a regular slide rule. You can see some of my collection — but oddly, none of my circular ones —
in an old post from 2015
. If you want to make your own, we suggest you leave the rubber band in the drawer and check out
[Dylan’s] work
. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453820",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T23:03:34",
"content": "Am I the only one who entered 25.8069 into a calculator and squared it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453825",
"author": "Bryantherobotma... | 1,760,372,738.402098 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/monitor-space-weather-and-the-atmosphere-with-your-cellphone/ | Monitor Space Weather And The Atmosphere With Your Cellphone! | Jenny List | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"atmospherics",
"cellphone",
"gnss"
] | Above our heads, the atmosphere is a complex and unpredictable soup of gasses and charged particles subject to the influence of whatever the Sun throws at it. Attempting to understand it is not for the faint-hearted, so it has for centuries been the object of considerable research. A new project from the European Space Agency and ETH Zurich gives the general public the chance to participate in that research in a small way,
by crowdsourcing atmospheric data gathering to a mobile phone app
. How might a mobile phone observe the atmosphere? The answer lies in their global positioning receivers, which can track minute differences in the received signals caused by atmospheric conditions. By gathering as much of this data as possible, the ESA scientists will gain valuable insights into atmospheric conditions as they change across the globe.
The app requires an Android phone equipped with a dual frequency satnav receiver, and having been duly installed on the trusty Hackaday Motorola it in turn started picking up all the different constellations of satellites. The instructions are to leave it somewhere such as a windowsill with an unobstructed view of the sky and move it as little as possible, to which we’d add clicking the “Log in background” button and connectign a charger. There’s a promise that uploaders can win prizes, so aside from contributing to scientific discovery there might be an unexpected benefit. More details on the app
can be found here
, meanwhile many readers will know that
this isn’t the only crowdsourced atmospheric data gathering effort
. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453778",
"author": "weather enjoyer",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T20:19:09",
"content": "check out dark sky app if this topic is of interest.barometric crowdsourced weather modelingit was acquired by apple a while back and still operates today. it has provided me with many timely and ... | 1,760,372,738.520549 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/levitate-the-ne555-way/ | Levitate The NE555 Way | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"555",
"ultrasonic levitation",
"ultrasound"
] | Ultrasonic levitation — the practice of creating a standing wave between two ultrasonic sources and positioning lightweight objects such that they can float in the pressure minimums between them — has been a source of fascination to more than one experimenter. [Peter Lin] demonstrated this in the video below the break, by creating an ultrasonic levitation system
using only the trusted chip of all true experimenters, the NE555
. (Video, embedded below.)
The circuit is simplicity itself, just an astable of the type that has made a billion beepers and flashing LEDs. It drives two ultrasonic transducers in parallel, and with them pointing towards each other and a bit of gap adjustment work it can successfully levitate pieces of polystyrene. There was some work in adjusting the frequency to the transducer resonance, but that’s not a huge challenge given the right instrumentation. We can see that it would make a great demonstration of standing waves, and also a fantastic desk toy for not a lot.
We celebrate everyone’s favourite timer chip here at Hackaday, so much so that
we recently ran a contest to find the best creations using it
. | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453781",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T20:21:08",
"content": "Should have used a…. oh dang, nevermind.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453785",
"author": "Tadpole",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T20:27:... | 1,760,372,738.474623 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/04/confessions-of-a-crimpoholic/ | Confessions Of A Crimpoholic | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"crimping",
"rants",
"tools"
] | Hi, my name is Dan and I’m a crimpoholic.
Honestly, I didn’t know I was a serial abuser of crimping tools until this weekend. I’ve been working on a small solar power system, and on Saturday I found myself struggling to get the BMS installed on the battery. I bought a Bluetooth dongle to connect the BMS to a smartphone app for checking the individual cells of the battery. I assumed it would just plug right into the UART port on the BMS, but alas — different connectors. So off I went to my bench, looking for a sensible way to make the connection.
My first thought was to simply log the connector off the dongle and solder the leads to the traces on the PCB right below the UART port. But then I saw that the pins in the port looked like 0.1″ pitch, so I rummaged through my stash to see what I could find. To my surprise, I had not only a kit of 0.1″ female crimps and housings, but I also had the crimping tool for them! I had no memory of making the purchase, but I thanked my lucky stars that I did, and got on with the job.
I Think I Have a Problem
The story would end right there, if it weren’t for the nagging feeling that my good fortune meant something more. As I worked on my project, I made a mental catalog of the specialty crimp tools I have. Then I wandered around my shop and my garage, collecting every crimping tool I could find. Rounding them all up and laying them out, I had the unavoidable thought:
Man, you have a problem!
The full collection is shown here — I think; something tells me there are more tools lying around that I’ve forgotten about. But even still, what I managed to find is a pretty impressive collection. I even threw in some “crimp-adjacent” tools, like the red-handled trio in the lower left, which includes the OG crimper-stripper-cutter-bolt cutter, a jack-of-all-trades tool that is equally bad at every one of those jobs. But it’s where I started, and the tool had been with me for decades, so it’s earned a place of honor.
What even is this one? I think it’s for bigger Anderson PowerPole contacts, but I’m not really sure.
For the most part, though, I’ve moved on to ratchet-action crimp tools. I find these superior in every way to simple crimp tools, especially since they can’t easily over-crimp a connector. The blue-handled tools in the black case are my go-to crimper these days, even if the crimp connectors included in the kit are a little on the crappy side. Right below them is a ferrule crimping set, which I purchased immediately
after
writing
an article extolling the virtues of ferrules
.
The yellow case is interesting. When I got started in ham radio, I figured I’d invest in the tooling needed for Anderson PowerPole connectors, the de-facto DC connector in the amateur radio world. The tool standing up vertically takes care of those crimps, but the other tool is — a good question. Like most ratcheting crimp tools, it has interchangeable dies, and there are spare sets in the kit that are for PL259 connectors — also handy for amateur radio — but I don’t think the die set in it is what it came with. I think it might be for crimping the really big Anderson connectors, which I needed when I wired an inverter into my car. But that’s just a guess, so if you recognize the die, sound off in the comments below.
If the Tool Isn’t Right…
My most recent purchases are the two kits are the far left, both of which are specific to my solar power endeavors. The lower one is for crimping lugs onto battery cables from 8AWG to 2AWG, which is hard to do with anything other than a specialized tool. Just above that is a nice kit for making solar cables with MC4 connectors. I actually haven’t even had a chance to use that one yet — but it’s nice to know I have it, in case I ever need it.
And I think that’s the main lesson behind this somewhat extravagant collection of specialized tools. I really hate trying to make do, especially when it comes to critical connections. And when you’re talking about connections that might carry upwards of 100 amps, you really shouldn’t be fooling around. I can’t count the number of “how-to” videos I’ve seen on YouTube that try to convince you not to waste money on specialized crimp tools — just smack it with a hammer, squeeze it in a vise, or even just slobber it full of solder.
None of these seem like great ideas to me, especially after reading Maya’s recent article on
the dangers of substandard crimps
. And so when it comes time to incorporate another type of connector into my projects, chances are I’m going to buy the right tooling to go along with it. After all, while most of these tools aren’t exactly cheap, they aren’t going to break the bank, especially when you consider the price of failure.
So maybe in the end, being a crimpoholic is more feature than bug. | 80 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453712",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2022-04-04T17:09:42",
"content": "Great! an excellent opportunity to ask if anybody knows of a good crimping tool for the 2mm Hirose connectors that we all use once in a whileI use them occasionally enough to want a real crimper (rather th... | 1,760,372,738.951613 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/is-your-device-actually-usb-3-0-or-is-the-connector-just-blue/ | Is Your Device Actually USB 3.0, Or Is The Connector Just Blue? | Donald Papp | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"counterfeit",
"grey market",
"HDMI capture device",
"teardown",
"usb"
] | Discount (or even grey market) electronics can be economical ways to get a job done, but one usually pays in other ways. [Majenko] ran into this when a need to capture some HDMI video output
ended up with rather less than was expected
.
Faced with two similar choices of discount HDMI capture device, [Majenko] opted for the fancier-looking USB 3.0 version over the cheaper USB 2.0 version, reasoning that the higher bandwidth available to a USB 3.0 version would avoiding the kind of compression necessary to shove high resolution HDMI video over a more limited USB 2.0 connection.
The device worked fine, but [Majenko] quickly noticed compression artifacts, and interrogating the “USB 3.0” device with
lsusb -t
revealed it was not running at the expected speeds. A peek at the connector itself revealed a sad truth: the device wasn’t USB 3.0 at all — it didn’t even have the right number of pins!
A normal USB 3.0 connector is blue inside, and has both sets of pins for backward compatibility (five in the rear, four in the front) like the one shown here.
A USB 3.0 connection requires five conductors, and the connectors are blue in color. Backward compatibility is typically provided by including four additional conductors, as shown in the image here. The connector on [Majenko]’s “USB 3.0” HDMI capture device clearly shows it is not USB 3.0, it’s just colored blue.
Most of us are willing to deal with the occasional glitch or dud in exchange for low prices, but when something isn’t (and never could be) what it is sold as, that’s something else. [Majenko] certainly knows that as well as anyone, having
picked apart a defective power bank module to uncover a pretty serious flaw
. | 66 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453480",
"author": "Ghent+the+Slicer",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T20:20:36",
"content": "Somewhere in PRC:Employee: “Boss if we use blue plastic, we can charge more….’cause…”Boss: “Blue it is”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "64... | 1,760,372,738.772058 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/flashing-ti-chips-with-an-esp/ | Flashing TI Chips With An ESP | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"browser",
"c/c++",
"ESP32",
"flashing",
"library",
"microcontroller",
"programming",
"server",
"texasinstruments",
"ti",
"wifi"
] | Texas Instruments is best known to the general public for building obsolete calculators and selling them at extraordinary prices to students, but they also build some interesting (and reasonably-priced) microcontrollers as well. While not as ubiquitous as Atmel and the Arduino platform, they can still be found in plenty of consumer electronics and reprogrammed, and [Aaron] aka [atc1441]
demonstrates how to modify them with an ESP32 as an intermediary
.
Specifically, the TI chips in this build revolve around the 8051-core microcontrollers, which [Aaron] has found in small e-paper price tags and other RF hardware. He’s using an ESP32 to reprogram the TI chips, and leveraging a web server on the ESP in order to be able to re-flash them over WiFi. Some of the e-paper displays have built-in header pins which makes connecting them to the ESP fairly easy, and once that’s out of the way [Aaron] also provides an entire software library for interacting with these microcontrollers through the browser interface.
Right now the project supports the CC2430, CC2510 and CC1110 variants, but [Aaron] plans to add support for more in the future. It’s a fairly comprehensive build, and much better than buying the proprietary TI programmer, so if you have some of these e-paper displays laying around the barrier to entry has been dramatically lowered. If you don’t have this specific type of display laying around, we’ve seen
similar teardowns and repurposing of other e-paper devices
in the past as well. | 29 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453445",
"author": "Rumble_in_the_Jungle",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T17:13:12",
"content": "I will be devil’s advocate. Advantage of having TI obsolete calc is certainty of its output. If there was any bug, it will be found in 30 years by countless engineers. Not so much with app wr... | 1,760,372,738.836458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/3d-printering-dont-tune-to-a-middle-c-after-all/ | Don’t Tune Your 3D Printer To Middle ‘C’ After All | Dave Rowntree | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"belt tension",
"chugging temperature",
"stepper motor"
] | Layer shift caused by the belt being way too loose.
3D printer belt tension seems like a simple thing to deal with — you set the tension and then check it’s good now and then. If it gets really loose, then the teeth can slip and you’ll get some shifts in the print, ruining it, but its an easy fix. But, we hear you ask, how do you determine what the correct tension is? Well,
here’s [Lost in Tech] with a video showing some measurement techniques and analysis of a typical 3D printer
, (video, embedded below) using nothing more special than a set of luggage scales. A simple theory suggested was that a tighter belt tension would result in increased radial load on the stepper motor bearings, which in turn, due to friction, would result in an increase in temperature of the motor. After setting a few tension values on one of the belts, it was noted that tension values at the upper end of the range, resulted in a measured increased in temperature of two degrees celcius, and a large increase in noise. This can’t be good for the motor.
Looking at the specification sheet of a typical NEMA17 stepper motor showed a value for the maximum working radial force of 28N, so it was simply suggested that tension values resulting in a load beyond that, would offer nothing other than reduced motor lifetime. Print quality did not noticeably change, even with really loose settings, until the belt was loose enough for axis movements to significantly lag the motor input.
As [Lost in Tech] suggests, maybe that old adage of tuning belt tension to a ‘middle C’ might actually be far too tight and cause more problems for you than problems it solves?
Obviously we’ve covered many 3D printer hacks over the years, like this
huge belt driven printer
, just beware that even something as simple as a
belt clamp can go wrong with bad design
, and finally, whilst we’re thinking about belt drives, here’s a
cool belt drive extruder
to ponder.
Thanks to [Zane] for the tip! | 22 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453449",
"author": "Capo Mafia",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T17:26:17",
"content": "Ugh… tensioning to a frequency only works if a) the belt mass/length is always the same, and b) the length of the belt is always the same. In other words, it may be OK for a particular model with a pa... | 1,760,372,739.013895 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/using-statistics-instead-of-sensors/ | Using Statistics Instead Of Sensors | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Machine Learning"
] | [
"coefficient of determination",
"coffee",
"espresso",
"jupyter",
"linear",
"machine",
"machine learning",
"model",
"python",
"r2",
"regression",
"statistics"
] | Statistics often gets a bad rap in mathematics circles for being less than concrete at best, and being downright misleading at worst. While these sentiments might ring true for things like political polling, it hides the fact that statistical methods can be put to good use in engineering systems with fantastic results. [Mark Smith], for example, has been working on an espresso machine which can make the perfect shot of coffee, and
turned to one of the tools in the statistics toolbox in order to solve a problem
rather than adding another sensor to his complex coffee-brewing machine.
To make espresso, steam is generated which is then forced through finely ground coffee. [Mark] found that his espresso machine was often pouring too much or too little coffee, and in order to improve his machine’s accuracy in this area he turned to the linear regression parameter R
2
, also known as the coefficient of determination. By using a machine learning algorithm tuned to this value, which assesses predictable variation in a data set, a computer can more easily tell when the coffee begins pouring out of the portafilter and into the espresso cup based on the pressure and water flow in the machine itself rather than using some other input such as the weight of the cup.
We have seen in the past
how seriously [Mark] takes his coffee-making
, and this is another step in a series of improvements he has made to his equipment. In this iteration, he has additionally produced a simulation in JupyterLab to better assist him in modeling the system and making even more accurate predictions. It’s quite a bit more effort than adding sensors, but since his espresso machine already included quite a bit of computing power it’s not too big a leap for him to make. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453396",
"author": "Frankel",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T11:33:05",
"content": "Glad to be a savage myself. I drink straight from my Senseo pad machine with unskimmed milk and 1 sweetener tab. I just wonder if it wasn’t easier to use one of these Dynalon Ball Flow Indicator (check go... | 1,760,372,739.059345 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/03/this-big-3d-printed-game-boy-actually-runs-macos/ | This Big 3D-Printed Game Boy Actually Runs MacOS | Robin Kearey | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"3D printed enclosure",
"game boy",
"hackintosh"
] | While mobile gaming has largely moved to smartphones these days, the classic Game Boy remains a hugely popular platform for retro enthusiasts, owing in no small part to its enormous library of quality games. The original Game Boy hardware is pretty much bulletproof, but feels a bit outdated today because it lacks modern conveniences like a large, backlit display or a rechargeable battery.
[iketsj] wanted to build a modern take on the Game Boy design and designed what’s in effect
a 3D-printed, oversized copy of the classic handheld powered by a modern single-board computer
. Most people would have gone for something obvious like a Raspberry Pi running Linux, but not [Ike]: he decided to go for a LattePanda Alpha board and run macOS Monterey on it. That makes this a Hackintosh, and probably one of the last ones as well since Apple is busy migrating all of its products onto its own proprietary CPUs.
The LattePanda also has an Arduino integrated on its board, which is used to read out the Game Boy’s buttons as well as the resistive touch screen. It communicates with the macOS system through a Python script that emulates mouse movements and keypresses. Sadly, the touch function is not working because [Ike] accidentally damaged the touch-sensitive system while trying to slim down the display module. Still, the seven pushbuttons are more than enough when running a Game Boy emulator, and there’s also a USB connector available to connect external peripherals like a keyboard, mouse or monitor.
We’ve seen several great Game Boy projects over the years:
some made from brass
,
some very wide
, and
some that stuff modern computing platforms inside an original Game Boy case
. Combining a Game Boy with a Hackintosh is definitely a new development, though it matches well with [Ike]’s history of
unusual Hackintosh designs
. | 3 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453390",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T10:49:52",
"content": "Once the M1 Macbooks start hitting scrap piles, we may see some very interesting hacks. The motherboard is pretty tiny so it could fit many kinds of devices, with display connected through USB-C.",
"paren... | 1,760,372,739.094873 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/compaq-286-laptop-gets-raspberry-transfusion/ | Compaq 286 Laptop Gets Raspberry Transfusion | Tom Nardi | [
"computer hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"286",
"compaq",
"vintage computer"
] | We know, we know. A lot of you don’t like projects that consist of gutting a vintage computer (or anything else, for that matter) and replacing its internals with modern electronics. But can you
really
look at the clunky
Compaq LTE 286 laptop that [Dmitry Brant] hacked a Raspberry Pi into
and honestly say it’s a machine worthy of historical preservation? The 30+ year old laptop had all the design cues of a saltine cracker, and the performance to match. At least now with a Pi under the hood, you can play some newer games on the thing.
Besides, [Dmitry] says the machine was damaged beyond the point of economical repair anyway. The only stock hardware that’s left beyond the case itself is the keyboard, which he was able to get talking USB thanks to a Teensy microcontroller. It’s not immediately clear if any attempt has been made to get the switches above the keyboard working, but we imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to tie them into some spare GPIO pins on the MCU for a bit of added authenticity.
The bottom half of the machine was cleared out to the point of it literally being a husk of its former self, which gave him plenty of room to hold the Pi 3B and the HDMI driver board that controls the new 9-inch TFT display. Speaking of which, the new panel was a close enough match to the original’s aspect ratio that only minor bezel modifications were required to get it to fit. The modern LCD makes for a massive improvement over the original, without looking too conspicuous.
While there’s still plenty of available space inside the Compaq, [Dmitry] has opted not to include an onboard battery at this time. Instead, power is provided to the Pi and associated hardware through a bulkhead mount USB connector on the side of the machine. It looks like it wouldn’t be too much trouble to add support for an off-the-shelf USB battery bank,
as we recently saw with a particularly well engineered retro-futuristic folding cyberdeck
, but far from us to tell a hacker what they should do with their bespoke computer. | 27 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453360",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T05:55:36",
"content": "Nice build!If I still had mine, I’d definitely want to try that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6453362",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,372,739.16333 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/retrotechtacular-the-transatlantic-radiotelephone-system-of-the-1930s/ | Retrotechtacular: The Transatlantic Radiotelephone System Of The 1930s | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"radio",
"radiotelephone",
"ssb"
] | With the web of undersea cables lacing the continents together now, it’s hard to imagine that it wasn’t until 1956 that the first transatlantic telephone cable was laid. Sure, there were telegraph cables under the Atlantic starting as early as the late 1800s, but getting your voice across the ocean on copper was a long time coming. So what was the discerning 1930s gentleman of business to do when only a voice call would do? He’d have used a radiotelephone, probably at an outrageous expense, which as
this video on the receiving end of the New York to London radio connection
shows, was probably entirely justified.
The video details the shortwave radiotelephone system that linked New York and London in the 1930s. It starts with a brief but thorough explanation of ionospheric refraction, and how that atmospheric phenomenon makes it possible to communicate over vast distances. It also offers a great explanation on the problems inherent with radio connections, like multipath interference and the dependency on the solar cycle for usable skip. To overcome these issues, the
Cooling Radio Station
was built, and its construction is the main thrust of the video.
Built on Cooling Marshes along the Thames well outside of London, the receive-only radio station was a gigantic undertaking. It consisted of a two-mile-long rhombic array antenna, pointed directly at the transmitting site in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The pool-table-flat marshland made for a perfect place for the array; the fact that the ground was saturated with brackish tidal water had the added benefit of excellent electrical conduction, too. The amount of work it took to raise the antenna masts and booms is impressive — very little power equipment was used. And we loved the details about the hardline coaxial used to stitch the antennas together — it was made on-site from copper tube and insulating spacers.
A full technical description of the system
from the
Bell System Technical Journal
, written by the delightfully named F.A. Polkinghorn, is also available. There was a surprising amount of technology that went into systems like these, and the fact that they were becoming obsolete almost as they were being built is a bit sad. Still, seeing how they were built, and knowing that the principles they pioneered are still at work today, is a decent tribute to the technology and the people behind it.
Thanks for the tip, [Andrew Hull]. | 8 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453352",
"author": "Isaac",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T03:55:54",
"content": "If this sort of thing interests you, get a copy of the Bell System Technical Journal for January, 1957 (Google will find it for you). The entire thing is devoted to a set of _very_technical_ discussions on ... | 1,760,372,739.207717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/monitoring-water-quality-using-lots-of-sensors-and-machine-learning/ | Monitoring Water Quality Using Lots Of Sensors And Machine Learning | Robin Kearey | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"citizen science",
"pollution monitoring",
"water quality"
] | Despite great progress over the past century, more than a billion people still don’t have access to clean drinking water today. Much of the water on Earth’s surface is polluted, but it’s not always easy to tell a dirty stream from a clean one. Professional kit for water analysis can be expensive, which is why [kutluhan_aktar] decided to design a
portable, internet-connected water pollution monitor
.
Calibrating the system using a bowl of clean water.
There is no single parameter that determines the quality of a water sample, so the pollution monitor has no less than five different sensors. These can determine the oxidation-reduction potential (a chemical indicator), the pH (acidity), total dissolved solids (mainly salts), turbidity (suspended particles) and temperature. To combine all these numbers into a simple “yes/maybe/no” indicator, [kutluhan] trained a neural network with data gathered from a large number of places around his hometown.
This neural network runs on an Arduino MKR GSM 1400 module. While not a typical platform for AI applications, the neural network runs just fine on it thanks to the Neuton framework, a software plaform designed to run machine learning applications on microcontroller systems like the Arduino. It also has a GSM/3G modem, allowing it to report the measured water quality to a central database.
All of this is housed in a 3D-printed enclosure that makes the whole setup easy to carry and operate in any location. Collecting data across a wide area should help to locate sources of pollution, and hopefully contribute to an improvement in water quality for everyone. Here at Hackaday we love citizen science initiatives like this: previously we’ve featured projects to measure things as varied as
air quality
and
ocean waves
. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453324",
"author": "sdfdsfdsf",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T23:21:31",
"content": "What is the point of this? Both in the sense of “why does is require a neutral network to say yea/nea when water quality is a matter of whether any of the particular tests are out of an acceptable range... | 1,760,372,739.252597 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/razor-crest-control-lever-for-the-grogu-in-your-life/ | Razor CrestControl Lever For The Grogu In Your Life | Chris Wilkinson | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"Grogu",
"lever",
"Mandalorian",
"prop",
"star wars",
"throttle"
] | If you’re looking to add a little more sci-fi authenticity to your gaming setup, you could do much worse than this
functional control lever replica
that [ZapWizard] has entered into the Hackaday.io Sci-Fi Contest.
Taking inspiration from Disney’s
The Mandalorian,
this functional prop is almost identical to the throttle seen on the bridge of the
Razor Crest
gunship, piloted by the television show’s eponymous bounty hunter. The electronic heart of this build is relatively straightforward – a Trinket M0 measures the resistance of an ultra-thin potentiometer, and masquerades as a typical one-axis USB throttle.
The mechanical components and aesthetically pleasing housing is where this project really shines. Helical 3D printed gears smooth out the movement of the solid aluminum throttle shaft, and a simple detent mechanism ‘catches’ the throttle at the middle point. The ballast and baseplate are cut from stainless steel, giving the throttle considerable heft, aiding in its stability on a tabletop (it’s also possible to secure it down using screws or powerful magnets). The throttle case is 3D printed and covered in aluminum foil tape, which is then chemically blackened and aged for that well-loved appearance.
Of course, the most iconic part of this build is the spherical knob, which screws onto the aluminum shaft for Grogu’s convenience. [ZapWizard] put in an order for one over at
Custom 3D Stuff
, and it absolutely ties the entire build together.
Interested in prop builds from the world of science-fiction, functional or otherwise?
Then take a look through the entries in our Sci-Fi Contest
. Or better yet, start building your own entry — there’s still about a month to go before the deadline. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453358",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2022-04-03T05:25:03",
"content": "“Trinket M0 measures the resistance of an ultra-thin potentiometer, and masquerades as a typical one-axis USB throttle.”Is it masquerading when that is exactly what it is? :)",
"parent_id": null,
"dep... | 1,760,372,739.298461 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/busted-1960s-vacuum-tube-radio-sings-again/ | Busted 1960s Vacuum Tube Radio Sings Again | Chris Wilkinson | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"am radio",
"radio",
"vacuum tube"
] | Restoring a vintage radio receiver has the potential to be a fun weekend project, but it pays to know what you’re up against. Especially in the case of vacuum tube electronics, running down gremlins in the circuits isn’t always a straightforward process (also,
please
mind the high voltage that is present in old vacuum tube equipment). [Mr Carlson] has a knack for getting old radios humming once again, and
his repair of a 1960s General Electric barn find radio receiver
is a thorough masterclass in vintage electronics servicing.
Seriously, if you’ve got a spare ninety minutes, the video (after the break) is a thorough and unabridged start-to-finish diagnosis and repair of a vintage radio, and an absolute must for anyone interested in doing the same. This barn find radio was certainly showing its age, and it wasn’t long before in-circuit testing found an open filament in one of several vacuum tubes, but the radio was still stubbornly silent. Further testing revealed that the IF transformers were out of spec, requiring servicing and alignment. After fine tuning both the IF and RF sections of the radio, things were definitely looking (and sounding) better.
Fine tuning the various components in the radio went a long way to living up to its “long range” claims, and by the end of the video, it’s almost impossible to find dead air on the AM dial of this radio. If you’ve never had to make fine adjustments to a receiver, especially of this vintage, this video has all the details you’ll need. With the board exposed, [Mr Carlson] also took care of some preventative maintenance, including replacing the original filter capacitor with newer components, as well as replacing the mains safety capacitor with an even safer modern alternative.
We can’t get enough of these restorations, so make sure to check out our detailed write-up of
restoring a WWII aircraft radio
. | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453283",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T18:27:01",
"content": "That’s really cool, kudos!By the way, to who ever reads this comment and wonders what to do with an AM radio in 2022 :These AM radios can be used for much more than just medium wave reception.With an exter... | 1,760,372,739.346446 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/eyes-on-the-prize/ | Eyes On The Prize! | Elliot Williams | [
"contests"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"newsletter"
] | This year’s Hackaday Prize is off to a roaring start. And that’s fantastic, because this year’s challenge is a particularly important one: reducing mankind’s footprint on the earth through better energy collection, better resource use, and keeping what we’ve already got running a little bit longer. Not only is this going to be the central challenge for the next century, but it’s also a playground for hackers like us.
The first phase,
Planet-Friendly Power
, is in full swing, and we saw some entries on the first day! Were they cheating? Did they have inside information? Nope! Tons of hackers are working on energy efficient ways to drive their projects all along. If your Raspberry Pi data-logger can run on the fuel of the sun, it’s not only better for the world, but it’s a project that you don’t have to remember to change the batteries on.
We’ve got a challenge on recycling, one on reverse engineering stuff to keep it out of the landfill, and one on environmental monitoring and communications infrastructure. These are all great hacker topics, and showcase how folks like us can do our small parts to keep the world running without running it into the ground.
So all of you out there making mesh networks, optimizing solar projects, hacking open closed IoT networks to keep them from obsolescence, or building plastic-sorting robots, this is your chance to get some money and some recognition for your good work.
Thanks again to our Supplyframe overlords for consistently backing and believing in the purpose of the Hackaday Prize, and also to DigiKey who’s been a sponsor of the Prize many years running! Without them, we wouldn’t be able pull this off.
Hack the planet! (Non-ironically, and literally. And get money for doing it.) Hooray for the Hackaday Prize!
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
! | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453257",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T14:17:21",
"content": "This means changing our habits. Quickly. Not something people are generally enthusiastic to do. And, it isn’t zero cost. So, perhaps one or five percent of people will actually make the effort even if lif... | 1,760,372,739.677434 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/briefcase-computer-is-a-glorious-cyberpunk-build/ | Briefcase Computer Is A Glorious Cyberpunk Build | Lewin Day | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"briefcase computer",
"computer"
] | There are plenty of gaming laptops on the market these days, but none quite fit the requirements of one [ParticularlyPippin]. Thus, they set out on building their own portable computer, ending up with a rig in a briefcase
with a decidedly cyberpunk feel.
We love this?!
The design relies on desktop components, with the idea being to make a machine with better upgradability than a typical laptop. The briefcase itself is a nice deep-shell unit, and was given a wooden baseboard to hold all the components. It was then provided with standoffs and mountings for a Mini-ITX motherboard, as well as all the necessary add-ons like fans and storage. As in many odd-form-factor builds, a PCI-E riser cable comes in handy to hook up the GPU.
As for the user interface, a USB portable monitor is paired with a mechanical keyboard for the appropriate amount of clackity-clack when hacking out in the field. The icing on the cake, however, are the RGB strip backlights controlled via MSI’s software that really make the final result pop.
It’s a tidy portable build and one that hopefully provides [ParticularlyPippin] with the necessary grunt for their work wherever they can tote a briefcase. It’s not the first homebrew luggable we’ve seen, and it won’t be the last; there’s simply something compelling about
the briefcase form factor.
If you’re cooking up your own in the home lab, don’t hesitate
to drop us a line
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453232",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T11:53:06",
"content": "Very nice, though the keyboard like that seems like a bad idea. Still looks great, seems like it should work well, a little ergonomic inconvenience (and probably should pack it with some foam when close... | 1,760,372,739.626492 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/02/this-motorcycle-uses-water/ | This Motorcycle Uses Water! | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"electrolysis",
"hydrogen",
"motorcycle"
] | Doing the rounds among motorcycle enthusiasts for the last week has been a slightly unusual machine variously portrayed as running on water or sea water. This sounds like the stuff of the so-called “Free energy” fringe and definitely not the normal Hackaday fare, but it comes alongside pictures of a smiling teenager and what looks enough like a real motorcycle to have something behind it. So what’s going on? The answer is that it’s the student project of an Argentinian teenager [Santiago Herrera], and while it’s stretching it a bit to say it runs on sea water he’s certainly
made a conventional motorcycle run on the oxygen-hydrogen mix produced from the electrolysis of water
. The TikTok videos are in Spanish, but even for non-speakers it should be pretty clear what’s going on.
It’s obvious that the bike is more of a student demonstrator than a road machine, as we’re not so sure a glass jar is the safest of receptacles. But the interesting part for us lies not in the electrolysis but in the engine. it appears to be a fairly standard looking motorcycle engine, a typical small horizontal single. It’s running on a stoichiometric mix of oxygen and hydrogen, something that packs plenty of punch over a similar mix using air rather than oxygen. It would be fascinating to know the effect of this mixture on an engine designed for regular gasoline, for example does it achieve complete combustion, does it burn hotter than normal fuel, and does it put more stress on the engine parts?
You can see something of the bike in the video below the break, and there are a few more videos
in his TikTok account
. Meanwhile
this isn’t the first teenage motorcycle project we’ve featured
.
@santyherrera01
#ciencia
#salta
#escuelaagricola
#moto
#reciclaje
#viral
#clubdeciencias
#argentina🇦🇷
#mecanica
♬ sonido original – santy herrera | 38 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453218",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T09:37:31",
"content": "Ok so yes this is interesting: if you can charge your battery at home with solar, then you can use your scooter/moped to run off water while the battery is electrolysing your water.I wonder what the energy r... | 1,760,372,739.75708 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/making-your-own-technically-hdmi-oled-monitor/ | Making Your Own Technically-HDMI OLED Monitor | Arya Voronova | [
"computer hacks",
"laptops hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"DDC",
"hdmi",
"I2C oled",
"oled",
"oled display",
"OLED SSD1306",
"SMBus",
"ssd1306"
] | One day, [mitxela] got bored and decided to
build his own HDMI monitor
– the unconventional way. HDMI has a few high-speed differential pairs, but it also has an I2C interface used for detecting the monitor’s resolution and issuing commands like brightness control. In fact, I2C is the backbone for a lot of side channels like these – it’s also one of our preferred interfaces for connecting to cool sensors, and in this case, an OLED display!
[mitxela] describes his journey from start to end, with all the pitfalls and detours. Going through the pinout with a broken hence sacrificial HDMI cable in hand, he figured out how to probe the I2C lines with Linux command-line tools and used those to verify that the display was recognized on the HDMI-exposed I2C bus. Then, he turned to Python and wrote a short library for the display using the
smbus
bindings – and, after stumbling upon an FPS limitation caused by SMBus standard restrictions, rewrote his code to directly talk to the I2C device node, raising FPS from 2 to 5-10.
From there, question arose – what’s the best software route to take? He tried making a custom X modeline on the HDMI port the display was
technically
attached to, but that didn’t work out. In the end, he successfully employed the Linux capability called “virtual monitors”, and found out about an interesting peculiarity – there was no mouse cursor to be seen. Turns out, they’re typically hardware-accelerated and overlaid by our GPUs, but in [mitxela]’s case, the GPU was not involved, so he added cursor support to
the picture forwarding code
, too.
With partial refresh, the display could be redrawn even faster, but that’s where [mitxela] decided he’s reached a satisfactory conclusion to this journey. The write-up is a great read, and if videos are more your forte, he also
made a video about it all
– embedded below.
We first covered the ability to get I2C from display ports
14 years ago
, and every now and then, this fun under-explored opportunity has been popping up in hackers’ projects. We’ve even seen ready-to-go breakouts for
getting I2C out of VGA ports quickly.
And if you go a bit further, with your I2C hacking skills,
you can even strip HDCP!
We thank [sellicott] and [leo60228] for sharing this with us! | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453205",
"author": "CheiftainOTT",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T07:05:02",
"content": "That’s a pretty dope unconventional way to kill some time with a cheap, small lil OLED display I’m sure many (including myself) just have chilling in their hoarded spare parts collection. 👌 Great jo... | 1,760,372,739.961064 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/using-a-vacuum-diode-to-make-the-cleanest-noise-source-youve-ever-seen/ | Using A Vacuum Diode To Make The Cleanest Noise Source You’ve Ever Seen | Robin Kearey | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"noise measurement",
"noise source",
"vacuum diode"
] | Noise is an annoying but unavoidable part of any engineering project. Fixing noise issues is hard enough, but even just measuring how much noise an amplifier adds to your signal is tricky without proper equipment like a spectrum analyzer. One other thing that makes noise measurements easier is a good, stable noise source that can serve as a reference: you first measure your amplifier without any input, and then measure it again with the noise source connected. Using a few simple formulas you can then calculate how much noise the amplifier produced.
Building a source that generates exactly the amount of noise that you want, no more and no less, is quite a challenge in itself. Several techniques exist, but [Wolfgang] over at the
Electronic Projects for Fun
blog decided to go for the classic method of using a vacuum diode. He describes
the design and analysis of a noise source based on a 2D3B tube in a detailed article
.
The tube in question is a special vacuum diode designed to be operated in saturation, meaning at a current high enough to draw away all the electrons generated by the hot filament. When running in this mode, the output current has a noise spectrum that is almost perfectly white, meaning its power level remains constant across the frequency band. [Wolfgang]’s measurements show a deviation of no more than 0.2 dB between 200 kHz and 200 MHz. This is about as close to perfect as you can get, and covers most of the frequency bands of interest to radio amateurs.
The whole project is built up inside a sturdy metal box, with extensive shielding and line filtering to keep undesired signals from contaminating the clean noise signal. A limiter is also an essential component: should the diode’s filament break, the limiter will prevent the sudden transient from reaching the spectrum analyzer and destroying its (very expensive) input stage.
[Wolfgang] has made a few other noise sources based on various components, which he compares on
a separate page
, although the 2D3B based one is by far the most stable. We’ve also featured
a simple pink noise source
, which is useful for audio measurement, as well as white noise sources designed to
generate random numbers
or simply
to help you sleep
. | 15 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453181",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T03:17:53",
"content": "Of course, noise is more significant the higher in frequency. I’m not sure 200MHz really covers the important range.At lower frequencies, noise is more significant than what even a tube generates. ... | 1,760,372,739.807306 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/stresses-revealed-with-a-polariscope/ | Stresses Revealed With A Polariscope | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Science"
] | [
"glass",
"lcd",
"light",
"materials",
"plastic",
"polariscope",
"polarized",
"polarizer",
"stress"
] | There are a lot of ways that stresses can show up, at least when discussing materials science. Cracks in concrete are a common enough example, but any catastrophic failure in a material is often attributable to some stress that couldn’t be withstood. If you’re interested in viewing those stresses before they result in damage to the underlying material, take a look at
this DIY polariscope which can view internal stresses in glass
and other clear objects.
The polariscope takes its name from the fact that it uses polarized light to view the internal structure of a transparent object such as glass. When the polarized light passes through glass in a certain way, the stresses show up as lighter areas thanks to the stressed glass bending the light back into view. This one is constructed with a polarizing filter placed in front of an LCD screen set to display a completely white image. When glass is placed between the screen and the filter no light is seen through the polariscope unless there are stresses in the glass. Even placing a force on an otherwise un-stressed glass tube can show this effect, and [Advanced Tinkering], this project’s creator, has several other creations which show this effect in striking detail.
The effect can also be observed as colored areas in other plastic materials as well. It’s an interesting tool which can help anyone who frequently works with glass, but it’s also interesting on its own to see clues left behind from the manufacturing process of various household items. We’ve seen some other investigative methods for determining how other household items are mass produced as well, like
this project which breaks down the injection molding process
. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453168",
"author": "RÖB",
"timestamp": "2022-04-02T01:26:44",
"content": "Rather than paying so much for a small polarising film online you can just pull apart ans old LCD monitor and take the polarizing film out. It’s the size of the monitor picture and costs nothing.Also, for kic... | 1,760,372,740.010985 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/aarp-swipes-right-on-senior-social-network/ | AARP Swipes Right On Senior Social Network | Kristina Panos | [
"News"
] | [
"AARP",
"facebook",
"Facebook is terrible"
] | Can you believe that Facebook turns 18 this year? One of the troubled teenager’s biggest problems is that not only are the young people still leaving in droves, many of the remaining denizens are 50 or over and susceptible to the various predators and sources of misinformation that plague the site.
Well,
AARP wants to change the landscape of social media for those who are approaching or already living out their twilight years
. Basically, they want to lure them away from Facebook. The organization spent untold amounts of money creating
Senior Planet Community
, which is kind of like a baby version of reddit in that the site is broken into interest categories such as photography, gardening, pets, and fitness enthusiasts.
The site was developed by Older Adults Technology Service (OATS), who are an AARP affiliate. OATS were leading computer classes for seniors and moved online during the pandemic, and the idea grew from there.
The main difference is that Senior Planet Community is absolutely free (for now, at least), including a complete lack of advertisements. If Grandma’s gonna unwittingly spend hundreds on micro-transactions, it won’t be taking place here, and not just because there’s no mobile app or games just yet. As far as moderation, there’s a long list of house rules that involve courtesy and encourage the citing of sources. Posts can be reported should they violate the rules.
We’ll see how it goes. There are plenty of bad actors that could pretend to be age 50+, or don’t even have to lie about it. We also wonder how long they’ll be able to go without advertisers.
We’re all getting older, including Zuckerberg. Don’t believe it?
Here’s video proof
.
Main and thumbnail images via
Unsplash
. | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453126",
"author": "John Q. Public",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T20:35:58",
"content": "I left Farcebook 5 years ago.It’s a disease. People are more concerned with with other people think instead ow what they know. Once they have your info, it lives forever.Didn’t have things like it ... | 1,760,372,740.176899 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/a-gang-of-hackrfs-makes-for-a-wideband-sdr/ | A Gang Of HackRFs Makes For A Wideband SDR | Arya Voronova | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"clock distribution",
"GnuRadio",
"HackRF",
"sdr",
"wideband receiver",
"wideband sdr"
] | [Oleg Kutkov] decided to
build a wideband SDR
– for satellite communication research and monitoring, you know, the usual. He decided on a battery of HackRF boards – entire eight of them, in fact. Two 1×4 and one 1×2 RF splitters and an LNA on their combined RF input made for a good start to the project, and from there, it only got more complex.
HackRF boards can be synchronized with a separate clock source, but you can’t just pull a single clock line to all of them in a star configuration. Thus, he’s built
a clock distribution and amplifier board
, with 4 ns propagation delay at 1 PPS, and only 10 ns delay at 10 MHz. Then, he
integrated that board with the HackRF setup
, adding a case, wiring up a purpose-built cable and dealing with the reflections that occurred.
HackRF boards are USB 2.0 and able to generate a stream of data up to 320 MB/s, and there’d be no viable way to
aggregate eight 2.0 links into one
. To solve that, he’s used eight separate PCI-E to USB 3.0 cards, each of them with one HackRF plugged in, all connected to an AMD Ryzen 9-powered PC through PCI-E risers we typically see used for mining purposes. To tie it all together, he created a gnuradio flowgraph and patched the osmocom source block to enable the external clock synchronization mechanisms he decided to use.
Each HackRF is connected to its own PCIe USB card.
In the end, [Oleg] shows us some promising results – two DVB-S transceivers visible on the waterfall display of the spectrum capture. The work is not over here, to be clear – he’s ran into a few roadblocks. The gnuradio flowgraph doesn’t lend itself well to multi-threading, even on a Ryzen 9 machine, and [Oleg] pledged to rewrite the capture mechanisms in C++ which can be nicely allocated to separate physical CPU cores, something gnuradio is apparently not quite good at.
More importantly, the spectrum captured is not continuous, and [Oleg] questions whether it can be demodulated properly. He had to resort to frequency overlaps due to upsampling, and he’s not quite sure how to compensate for that. Overall frequency stability is also in question. However, from here, seems like most of the work towards building a wideband receiver is done!
[Oleg] is
typically seen on Twitter
, lately doing some heavy tinkering with Starlink – as Kyiv, the city he’s currently in, is under bombardment of Russian Armed Forces. We can only respect and appreciate the dedication. In January, we’ve covered his work on
an USA-imported Tesla LTE modem replacement
to fix LTE band incompatibilities in Ukraine, and his blog is
a treasure trove of experiments
that we are yet to properly comb through, from astrophysics and satellite work to RS485 networks and Linux driver writing. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453110",
"author": "ganzuul",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T19:03:01",
"content": "I love this. If multilateration is possible with this gear, I’d love it even more. =)Also, for more pretty visuals:https://kb.ettus.com/Fosphor",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,372,740.066857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/hackaday-report-will-2022-bring-a-new-dawn-for-the-chip-shortage/ | Hackaday Report: Will 2022 Bring A New Dawn For The Chip Shortage? | Jenny List | [
"Current Events",
"Featured"
] | [
"chip",
"chip industry",
"chip shortage",
"chips"
] | As the world begins to slowly pull itself out of the economic effects of the pandemic, there’s one story that has been on our minds for the past couple of years, and it’s probably on yours too. The chip shortage born during those first months of the pandemic has remained with us despite the best efforts of the industry. Last year, pundits were predicting a return to normality in 2022, but will unexpected threats to production such as the war in Ukraine keep us chasing supplies? It’s time to delve into the root of the issue and get to the bottom of it for a Hackaday report.
The Chips Are Down
Consumers were more interested in toilet paper than chip supply during the lockdown.
Going back to 2020, and as global economies abruptly slowed down in the face of stringent lockdowns it’s clear that both chipmakers and their customers hugely underestimated the effect that the pandemic would have on global demand for chips.
As production capacity was reduced or turned to other products in response to the changed conditions, it was soon obvious that the customers’ hunger for chips had not abated, resulting in a shortfall between supply and demand.
We’ve all experienced the chaos that ensued as the supply of popular varieties dried up almost overnight, and as fresh pandemic waves have broken around the world along with a crop of climate and geopolitical uncertainties it’s left many wondering whether the chip situation will ever be the same again.
Green Shoots In Idaho
Idaho leads the way in a chip shortage recovery! inkknife_2000,
CC BY-SA 2.0
Amidst all that gloom, there are some encouraging green shoots to be seen. While it’s perhaps not quite time to celebrate, there’s a possibility for some cautious optimism. This month brought the hope that Potato Semiconductor might be cutting the sod on a new production capacity for their ultra-fast digital logic in Idaho, and with other manufacturers following suit it could be that we’ll once again have all the chip capacity we can eat.
But the other side of the chip business coin lies with the customer: we all see the chip shortage from our own semi-insider perspective, but have the tastes of the general public returned towards chips? Early signs are that as consumer confidence returns there are encouraging trends in chip consumption taking root, so we’d be inclined to advise our readers to have cautious optimism. If all goes well, you’ll be having your chips by summer.
The prospects for a new dawn in chip production capacity in 2022 look rosy, but there’s a further snag on the horizon courtesy of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Like so many industries in a globalised economy, the chip industry depends heavily on supplies, consumables, and machinery from beyond the borders of wherever the plants themselves may lie.
In the case of Ukraine there’s a particular raw material whose supply has been severely interrupted, and though we hope for a speedy resolution of the conflict and a consequent resumption of production, the knock-on effect on the production of chips in the rest of the world can not be underestimated. Despite the ramp-up in output led by Idaho, the production of chips globally still relies heavily on Ukrainian sunflower oil. There’s a possibility that an acceptable substitute might be found in canola oil, but it will remain to be seen whether the chip-eating consumers will notice the taste difference.
If you would like to help the people of Ukraine in their hour of need,
here are some organisations working on the ground to whom you can donate
.
Header image: Daniel Kraft,
CC BY-SA 3.0
. | 33 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453083",
"author": "mjrippe",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T17:06:07",
"content": "It wasn’t until the sunflower oil bit that I got the joke. Well done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6453084",
"author": "Ryan Flowers",
"t... | 1,760,372,740.262688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/hackaday-podcast-162-hackaday-prize-is-on-thermal-printers-are-so-hot-these-days-cloud-chambers-are-super-cool-and-batteries-must-be-replaceable/ | Hackaday Podcast 162: Hackaday Prize Is On, Thermal Printers Are So Hot These Days, Cloud Chambers Are Super Cool, And Batteries Must Be Replaceable | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Join Hackaday Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Managing Editor Tom Nardi for your weekly review of the best projects, hacks, and bits of news that we can cram into 45 minutes or so. We’ll look at the latest developments in DIY air-powered engines, discuss the whimsical combination of GitHub’s API and a cheap thermal printer, and marvel at impressive pieces of homebrew biology equipment. We’ve also got an exceptionally polished folding cyberdeck, a bevy of high-tech cloud chambers, and some soda bottles that are more than meets the eye. Finally we’ll go over the pros and cons of today’s super-smart cameras, and speculate wildly about what a new EU law means for our battery powered gadgets.
Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download
, and listen whenever you like.
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 162 Show Notes:
News This Week:
Enter The 2022 Hackaday Prize And Help Save The World
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:
Gravity-Water-Air Powered Engine
Compress Air with No Moving Parts! – Trompe – YouTube
Get GitHub Tickets IRL With A Raspberry Pi And A Receipt Printer
Kenneth Finnegan’s
Cow Oracle Reveal
(Supercon 2019)
Tube Tumbler Provides The Perfect Culture
PiSpy, The Camera Setup Designed To Make Biological Observations Better
GOSH Community Forum
Retro Portable Computer Packs Printer For The Trip
Peltier Cloud Chamber Produces Some Lovely Trails
See The Radioactive World With This Peltier Cloud Chamber
Building A Bigger Cloud Chamber
Maybe The Simplest Cloud Chamber
You Can Turn Soft Drink Bottles Into Handy Solar Lamps
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
LEGO String Winder Hints At Greater Possibilities
AI-Generated Sleep Podcast Urges You To Imagine Pleasant Nonsense
ATtiny85 Snake Game Is A Circuit Sandwich
Tom’s Picks:
Cute Oscilloscope Uses LEDs For Display
Finally, The Venerable Vectrex Gets A Mini Makeover
3D Printed Forge For Recycling
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Is The IPhone Camera Too Smart? Or Not Smart Enough?
Replaceable Batteries Are Coming Back To Phones If The EU Gets Its Way
Getting The Lead Out Of Lithium Battery Recycling | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453123",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T20:30:14",
"content": "People don’t appreciate how much simply the ability to choose which picture among a hundred to publish changes how photographs relay reality. When there were only 24 pictures on a roll, you had to live with ... | 1,760,372,740.117485 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/3d-printing-a-guitar-neck/ | 3D Printing A Guitar Neck | Lewin Day | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"3D printed parts",
"belt printer",
"guitar",
"infinite build volume printer"
] | A lot of first-time guitar builders focus on making the body and skip the neck, which has lots of tricky dimensions to get right to if you want a nicely playable instrument. However, [Jón Schone] of
Proper Printing
wanted to start with the hard part on his guitar building journey,
and set about 3D printing a guitar neck in one piece.
Designing a neck might sound difficult on the surface of it, but the Marz Guitar Designer plugin for FreeCAD helps make whipping one up a cinch. Once imported into Fusion 360, the geometry is tweaked for 3D printing, particularly to fit the truss rod inside. Printed on a Creality CF30 belt printer (which interestingly enough, has been mounted to the wall) in green PLA, the resulting neck can be spotted as a non-traditional design from a mile away. With a truss rod hammered in, frets installed, and hardware attached, it’s mounted up to a cheap kit guitar for testing.
The printed neck works, and it’s given a proper shakedown with some appropriate riffs to put it through its paces. It’s reportedly a bit on the flexible side, but remains playable and is surprisingly normal in its performance. [Jón] now plans to continue the project by 3D printing the rest of the guitar.
Meanwhile, if you’re sick of tuning your own guitar,
consider building a robot tuner to help out.
Video after the break.
[Thanks to Zane Atkins for the tip!] | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453069",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T15:35:49",
"content": "He probably should have used more infill to make it stiffer. Otherwise go all-in an try to print a neck-through-body guitar!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,372,740.308363 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/this-week-in-security-more-state-sponsored-activity-spring4shell/ | This Week In Security: More State-Sponsored Activity, Spring4Shell | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"Brian Krebs",
"cisco",
"Spring4Shell",
"This Week in Security"
] | [Editor’s note:
There is a second, fake iteration
of this column out today. This is obviously the real column.]
An
alert from CISA
, combined with an
unsealed pair of indictments
, sheds some new light on how Russian hackers pursue high-value targets. The key malware here is Triton, essentially a rootkit designed for the Tricon safety systems, widely deployed at refineries and other infrastructure facilities. One of the early deployments of this was to a Saudi oil plant in 2017. This deployment seems to have been botched, as it caused malfunctions and shut the plant down for about a week.
The new information is confirmation that the same operators, out of the “Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics”, attempted to target US facilities with the same campaign. The Wired coverage initially struck me as odd, as
it detailed how these Russian attackers researched US refineries
, looking for the most promising targets. How exactly did US intelligence agencies know about the research habits of agents in Russia? The details of the indictment has the answer: They were researching US refineries by downloading papers from the US Department of Energy. As the IP addresses of this Russian research group is known and tracked, it was easy enough for US agencies to make the connection.
Lapsus$ Watch
The persistent Lapsus$ hacking group has made yet another notch on their keyboards,
releasing 70 GB of source code from Globant
, a global IT and development company. It appears to be source code and documentation, and while they have confirmed a breach, Globant have not confirmed whether the leaked data is real.
In related news, it’s being reported that several Lapsus$ members have been arrested in England. One of the more notable members may have been part of that arrest, but at 16 years old, this young hacker is still a minor and legally protected, so it hasn’t been announced whether he was part of the arrests. It will be interesting to see whether this has much effect on the loose collective of hackers.
Spring4Shell and Friends
If you do any Java programming, you’re probably familiar with Spring, one of the most popular frameworks for developing Java applications. The downside to the project’s popularity is that when there’s a vulnerability discovered, it shows up in a lot of places. To double your fun,
there’s two CVEs, both ranked a 9.8 on the severity scale.
CVE-2022-22965 is the one also known as Spring4Shell, and is a Remote Code Execution flaw. It appears to be
a bypass for the fix of a much earlier flaw, CVE-2010-1622
. A malicious POST request can write an arbitrary file to the web root, allowing an attacker to drop a web shell. CVE-2022-22963 is in Spring Cloud Function, and is a flaw allowing an HTTP request header to inject code to be executed. Both of these issues have been addressed in recent releases.
This has become the big story of the weekend, and there are already tools and guides for determining whether you’re vulnerable, and how to fix. One of the useful such tools is
this scanner from jfrog
, which will look at
.jar
files and detect possibly vulnerable code. We’re still early in this bug’s lifetime, but so far it seems like the exact configuration needed to be vulnerable is rather rare. On the other hand, Java applications have to be updated manually, so this vulnerability will probably have quite a long half-life.
Axie Infinity Sidechain Pilfered
A colossal cryptocurrency caper has been committed, this time
against the Axie Infinity sidechain, Ronin
. This chain runs parallel to the Ethereum blockchain, but loses one of its core features. Ronin isn’t decentralized, but has a small collection of nine validator nodes. An attacker managed to take over five of those nine master nodes, and make bogus transfers. The most troubling aspect of this hack may be that it went undetected for a full six days, and was only discovered when a customer tried to make a transaction, cashing out for ethereum.
Bits and Bytes
There is a published
PoC for the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller
. This is a full exploit chain that goes from unauthenticated access to the web interface to root access to the underlying machine. Infuriatingly, the core vulnerability is CVE-2017-5641, a Java deserialization flaw. Yes, this was a five-year-old vulnerability still lurking in Enterprise software from a major vendor. This is a perfect example of the half-life of Java bugs, as well as a terrible commentary on Cisco’s code quality.
Google Chrome
has issued an update
to fix a single flaw, CVE-2022-1096. Release 99.0.4844.84 is live. The vulnerability is a type confusion in the V8 engine, and is being exploited in the wild. Not much else is known about it, but this has the potential to be serious, so go grab that update.
Brian Krebs, [KrebsonSecurity], is
being sued by Ubiquiti
for his coverage of a data breach back in 2021. The crux of the suit seems to be the fact that Krebs’ informant was Nickolas Sharp, also the perpetrator of the breach. It looks like Sharp was trying to use Krebs to put pressure on Ubiquity, while he was secretly attempting to extort the company for money. As Krebs promised him anonymity before knowing he was the perpetrator, the follow-up coverage didn’t draw a connection between the two. Ubiquiti takes issue with this, calling the later coverage “intentionally misleading”. It looks like Krebs was just put in a tough spot, and decided to stick by his promise not to reveal Sharp’s identity. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453070",
"author": "Joel B",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T16:03:01",
"content": "That last note about Ubiquiti. It frustrates me when a company does stuff like that. I’ve been wanting to buy a decent security camera setup, and was eyeing up a Ubiquiti setup, but this has me wanting to ... | 1,760,372,740.350327 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/this-week-in-security-hackerman-twitters-best-and-signs-to-watch-out-for/ | This WeeΚ In Security: Hackerman, Twitter’s Best, And Signs To Watch Out For | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"Al Yankovic",
"hackerman"
] | [Editor’s note:
There is a second, fake iteration
of this column out today. This is obviously the real column.]
First off, there’s an amazing video tutorial from [Hackerman], embedded below the break. It’s a beginners guide to temporal displacement through GPU accelerated, cellular-connected partition board. The central flaw that makes this possible is a segmentation violation, accessible through a mode 6 cursor address reset. Watch out, though, because many mainframes actually have a core terminal capable of shutting such an attempt out of the grid altogether.
It’s a great guide, and definitely worth a watch if temporal security tickles your fancy. Watch out, though, because everyday objects can apparently act as bridges, infecting even users with temporal effects.
Twitter’s Tips (#5 Will Shock You)
Twitter’s best and brightest have come together to give us
some of their best tips
. The stellar advice ranges from classic goodies, like “change your passwords often”, to more modern truisms, like “[it’s] only critical if it’s covered by the media. Refrain from publishing any details to keep severity low.” My personal favorite is the truism that vulnerability mitigation is a wasted expense, and that money is better spent on a Web Application Firewall, which is sure to keep you out of trouble.
Other hot takes include the advice to use Stackoverflow for all your security remediation problems. Another user suggested keeping business hours on your website, so it can only be attacked while you’re at work. Perhaps the best was the advice that you name your dog something minimum 16 characters, using a mix of characters, since you’ll inevitably use the pet’s name as your password. Check out the
#cisotips
tag for more of these awesome tips!
How to Know When to Report Your Family for Computer Crimes
This is an old-but-good one. A
quick guide to how to know when your kids have crossed the line
, and you should call the police to curb their computer hacking ways. Some of the red flags to watch for are use of Tor, VM technology, or the dreaded Kali Linux. Also worrying are dedicated hacker hardware, like the WiFi Pineapple. Of particular note is Metasploit, given that it is “penetration software”. FInally, watch out for Discord use, as that’s where hacking tips are primarily distributed.
Virus Alert
That well known computer security expert, Al Yankovic,
brings us a virus alert
. (Video link.) This one is particularly nasty, spreading over email. The primary PoC is the subject line, “Stinky Cheese”. What makes this one particularly nasty is how it jumps the digital divide, causing havoc we don’t usually see in malware. Unfortunately the remediation steps are pretty involved. There is the normal immediate shutdown as soon as you discover the infection. From there, the suggested fix is to relocate the machine to a geologically safe location, and then apply a silicon-based mitigation until the problem is completely immobilized. The final step is to completely thermally sanitize any materials that came in contact with the infection. Pass the word along and stay safe out there! We’ll see you next week! | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453081",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T16:59:23",
"content": "The K is slightly larger…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6453082",
"author": "Jonathan Bennett",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T17:03:31",
... | 1,760,372,740.445327 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/mangopi-to-bring-a-sd-card-sized-linux-module/ | MangoPi To Bring A SD-Card-Sized Linux Module | Arya Voronova | [
"ARM",
"hardware"
] | [
"Allwinner",
"Allwinner h616",
"ARM Cortex A53",
"castellated",
"flexypins",
"hdmi",
"m-core",
"mangopi",
"single board computer",
"som",
"system-on-module"
] | Today’s Diminutive Device is a
small castellated System-On-Module
(Twitter link,
nitter proxy
) from [MangoPi] called M-Core, with a quad-core A53 CPU and 1 GB of RAM. As such, it’s very capable of running Linux, and even sports an HDMI output! Taking a closer look at the devboard picture, we can spot traces for three USB 2.0 ports, what seems to be two SDIO interfaces for MicroSD or WiFi cards, and an Ethernet MagJack with its termination network. This is a decent set of interfaces, rivaling what we’d expect out of a Pi Zero!
More importantly, this module is as small as an SD card itself – or as an OLED display that we hobbyists sprinkle onto our projects. Having power of Linux in such a small footprint is certainly something to behold! The back of the module is mostly flat, save for a few decoupling capacitors on the other side of the CPU – it seems, an Allwinner H616. On top of it, we can see the CPU itself, a small buck regulator and a DDR3 RAM chip, as well as tightly-packed passives. There’s even an unpopulated footprint for a DFN8 QSPI flash chip – with a lightweight enough OS build, you could perhaps dedicate your MicroSD card to storage only.
The devboard for uses the “FlexyPins”-like connectivity technique
we’ve covered recently
, and [MangoPi] say
they bought those pins on TaoBao
. We can’t help but be a bit amused at the thought of putting HDMI through such connections, but it seems to work well enough! Castellated modules like these are relatively easy to work with, so it shouldn’t be hard to literally pop this module out of the devboard and figuratively pop it onto your PCB. Next step is, reportedly, porting Armbian to this board, likely solving quite a few software support hurdles.
MangoPi have been
posting updates on their Twitter page
over the last few weeks, and, as it comes with the format, a lot of questions are left unanswered. Why does the devboard only show a single linear regulator of the kind we typically expect to deliver 1 A at most? Will we get higher-RAM versions? What’s the price going to look like? Will this module ever get to market? We can only hope, but if it does indeed, we are sure to see a few projects with these, whether it’s
smart glasses
,
smart displays
,
phones
,
handhelds
or
malicious wall chargers
. As usual, community makes or breaks an SBC, and we shall watch this one closely.
We thank [WifiCable] and [DjBiohazard] for sharing this with us! | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453044",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T12:00:32",
"content": "Those “FlexyPins” just look wrong when photographed from above, as if things that are supposed to be connected, aren’t!In an era of surface mount surely they are a pain. Surely it is possible to make a surface... | 1,760,372,740.401101 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/04/01/tracer-a-platform-for-all-things-movement-logging/ | Tracer, A Platform For All Things Movement Logging | Arya Voronova | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"ble",
"bluetooth LE",
"data logger",
"data logging",
"ESP32",
"hackaday.io",
"LSM6DSL",
"VL53L0X",
"wearable",
"Wearables"
] | [elektroThing] is
building a lightweight, battery-powered board
to track and measure movement of all kinds, called Tracer. Powered by an ESP32, it has a LSM6DSL 6DoF accelerometer & gyroscope sensor, and a VL53L0X Time-of-Flight sensor. A small Li-ion battery in a holder reportedly provides for 5 hours of streaming data over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) at 100 Hz. It’s essentially a wireless movement sensor platform to be paired with a more powerful computer for data logging and analysis. What’s such a platform good for?
They show it attached to a tennis racket, saying you could use the data to, for a start, count the strokes done in a given match. They’ve also strapped it to a bicycle’s crankshaft and used it as a cadence sensor – good for gauging your cycling efficiency! But of course, this can be used in more applications than sport. A device like this could be used for logging movement of any relatively nearby objects, be it your cat, an office chair, or a door someone might slam a bit too hard at times. Say, you wanted to develop a sleep tracker and were to collect some data for defining your algorithms and planning your hardware requirements – this would work wonders.
There’s already available
example code
for streaming data into the
Phyphox data logging and graphing app
, as well as
schematics
– hopefully, the full board files will be available soon. A worthy open-source opponent to commercial devices available for similar purposes, this platform is good news for any hacker that wants to do motion measurement projects without reinventing quite a few wheels at once. We are told this board might get to CrowdSupply soon, and we can’t wait! Platforms like these, if done well, can grow an offspring of new projects for us to have fun with, and our paid projects
get all that much easier to work on
.
We’ve shown projects with such sensors before – here’s one that
helps your rifle aim
by giving you data to debug your last-second rifle movements, and another that
logs movement data from inside a football
. There’s a million endpoints you could stream your data into, and we are told
you could even use Google Sheets.
Just a year ago, we
held our Data Logging contest
and
the entries we received
will surely point out quite a few under-explored areas in your daily life! | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453032",
"author": "Erik Johansson",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T10:22:41",
"content": "This is nice, I thought it was going to gps and all that likehttps://www.crowdsupply.com/unsurv-technologies/unsurv-offlineOne problem with all these hats on chips is that it’s hard to have them al... | 1,760,372,740.489812 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/watching-a-spacewalk-in-real-time/ | Watching A Spacewalk In Real Time | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"astrophotography",
"iss",
"spacewalk",
"telescope"
] | If you go to, say, a football game, you probably don’t get to see as much of the game as close as you do when you stay home and watch on TV. But there’s something about being there that counts. That’s probably how [Sebastian Voltmer] feels. While we’ve all seen video of astronauts and cosmonauts spacewalking, [Sebastian] managed to take
a snapshot of a pair of spacewalkers from his telescope
.
Of course, this wasn’t your ordinary department store Christmas gift telescope. The instrument was a Celestron 11 inch EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a very expensive GM2000 HPS mount. An ASI290 planetary camera took the shot. You can see the gear and more about the photos in the video below.
Like a football game, you could probably see more watching NASA Select TV, but somehow it just isn’t the same. Upon further analysis, [Sebastian] found he has taken pictures of both astronauts, although the first picture only identified [Matthais Maurer] who, oddly enough, is from the same town as [Sebastian].
Our hat is off to anyone who can capture these kinds of images. We have trouble enough taking selfies. While the spacewalk in the picture took place over seven hours, the ISS would only have been visible from [Sebastian’s] location for a small fraction of that. So he couldn’t do
a 12-year long exposure
. While you can build your own astrophotography gear,
most of what we have seen
isn’t going to easily reproduce this feat. | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6453042",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T11:26:10",
"content": "I’m still trying to wrap my head around pointing a telescope at something that is 400 km (~250 miles) away and being able to make out that level of detail. Stack 100 frames from a video with FireCapture or ... | 1,760,372,740.53231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/texture-map-gcode-directly-in-blender-with-nozzleboss/ | Texture Map GCode Directly In Blender With NozzleBoss | Dave Rowntree | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"blender",
"gcode",
"polar"
] | We’ve seen this
funky dual disk polar printer
already recently, but [Heinz Loepmeier] has been busy working on it, so here’s an update. The primary focus here is
nozzleboss, a blender plugin
which enables the surface textures of already sliced objects to be manipulated. The idea is to read in the gcode for the object, and convert it to an internal mesh representation that blender needs in order to function. From there the desired textures can be applied to the surfaces for subsequent stages to operate upon. One trick that nozzleboss can do is to create weight maps to tweak the extrusion flow rate or print velocity value according to the pixel value at the surface — such ‘velocity painting’ can produce some very subtle surface effects on previously featureless faces. Another
trick is to use the same weight maps and simply map colours to blender text blocks which are injected into the gcode at export time. These gcode blocks can be used swap tool heads or extruders, enabling blending of multiple filament colours or types in the same object.
Some nice examples of such printing manipulation can be seen on [Heinz’s]
instagram page
for the project. So, going back to the hardware again, the first video embedded below shows the ‘dual disk polar printer’ fitted with a crazy five-extruders-into-one-nozzle mixing hotend setup, which should be capable of full CMYK colour mixing and some. The second video below shows an interesting by-product of the wide horizontal motion range of the machine, that the whole printing area can be shifted to a nozzle at the other end of the gantry. This enables a novel way to switch extruders, by just moving the whole bed and print under the nozzle of interest! One final observation — is that of the print surface — it does look rather like they’re printing direct onto a slab of marble, which I think is the first time we’ve seen that.
Interesting printer designs are being worked on a lot these days, here’s a really nice
5-axis prusa i3 hack
, and if you want to stay in the cartesian world, but your desktop machine is just too small, then you can always
supersize it
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6452989",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T02:26:10",
"content": "Neat. Still a lot of activity in this area. I let my son do the printing. I just send him the stl files :) and somehow out pops a part.My son sent a picture of a 3D printed castle that is just a little... | 1,760,372,741.198404 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/31/modern-frugal-pcb-breathes-new-life-into-soviet-made-led-watch/ | Modern, Frugal PCB Breathes New Life Into Soviet-Made LED Watch | Robin Kearey | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"bubble display",
"LED watch",
"Soviet electronics"
] | The first electronic digital watches were admired for their pioneering technology, if not their everyday practicality, when they were introduced in the 1970s. Their power-hungry LED displays lit up only when you pressed a button, and even then the numbers shown were tiny. Their cases were large and heavy, and they drained their batteries rather quickly even when not displaying the time. Still, the deep red glow of their displays gave them a certain aesthetic that’s hard to replicate with today’s technology.
Pressing the top-right button enables those beautiful LED modules
When [Benjamin Sølberg] got his hands on an Elektronika-1, a first-generation digital watch designed in the Soviet Union, he set about designing
a modern replacement for its internals
. Where the original had several custom chips wire-bonded directly onto a substrate, the new board contains an MSP430 series microcontroller as well as an AS1115 display driver. The PCB makes contact with the watch’s pushbuttons through clever use of castellated holes.
For the display [Benjamin] went with period-correct LED modules made by HP, which keep the display’s appearance as close to the original as possible. While these draw quite a bit of current, the rest of the watch has become an order of magnitude more frugal: the stand-by time is now estimated to be about ten years, where the old design often needed new batteries within a year. [Benjamin] uses his renovated watch on a daily basis, apparently without trouble.
If you’ve got an old Soviet digital watch that you’d like to upgrade, you’ll be pleased to hear that the entire design is open source. Just like
this retro watch
, in fact, that uses a similar LED display. If you’re into original vintage watches, we’ve
covered them in depth, too
. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6452975",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2022-04-01T00:19:03",
"content": "We got LED watches because they were new, and “futuristic”. The main point was they were digital, rather than a watch with hands and a dial.As I recall, the first digital watches were LCD, very exp... | 1,760,372,741.150662 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/building-your-own-80386dx-isa-single-board-microcomputer/ | Building Your Own 80386DX ISA Single Board Microcomputer | Maya Posch | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Retrocomputing",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"80386",
"custom SBC",
"isa",
"pc"
] | Having grown up with 386-level systems during the early 90s like so many of us, [Alexandru Groza] experienced an intense longing to experience the nostalgia of these computer systems from an interesting angle: by building his own
80386DX-based single board computer
. Courtesy of the 16-bit ISA form factor, the entire system fits into a
16-bit ISA backplane
which then provides power and expansion slots for further functionality beyond what is integrated on the SBMC card.
Having started the project in 2019, it is now in the home stretch towards completion. Featuring an 80386DX and 80387DX FPU alongside 128 kB of cache and a grand total of 32 MB of RAM, an OPTi chipset was used to connect with the rest of the system alongside the standard 8042-class PS/2 keyboard and mouse controller. A large part of the fun of assembling such a system is that while the parts themselves are easy enough to obtain, finding datasheets is hard to impossible for some components.
Undeterred, some reverse-engineering of signaling on functional mainboards was sufficient to fill in the missing details. Helpfully, [Alexandru] provides the full schematics and BOM of the resulting board and takes us along with bootstrapping the system after obtaining the PCBs and components. After an initial facepalm moment due to an incorrectly inserted (and subsequently very dead) CPU and boot issues, ultimately [Alexandru] gave up on the v1.6 revision of the board
Fortunately the v1.8 revision with a logic analyzer led to a number of discoveries that has led to the system mostly working, minus what appears to be DMA-related issues. Even so, it is a remarkable achievement that demonstrates the complexity of these old systems. | 36 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6452734",
"author": "[skaarj]",
"timestamp": "2022-03-31T05:58:10",
"content": "And – once again – all the Respect for the absolute Perfection goes to the Realms of Dracula, that magic land near the Black Sea where prehistoric digital Dinosaurs are rebuilt from scratch using tons of... | 1,760,372,740.976632 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/whats-that-accessusb-menu-in-my-lg-smarttv/ | What’s That AccessUSB Menu In My LG SmartTV? | Arya Voronova | [
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"accessusb",
"ida",
"ida pro",
"LG",
"smart tv",
"smart tv hack",
"smart tv hacks"
] | One boring evening, [XenRE] was
looking through service menus on their LG Smart TV
(Russian,
Google Translate
), such menus accessible through use of undocumented IR remote codes. In other words, a fairly regular evening. They noticed an “Access USB Status” entry and thought the “Access USB” part looked peculiar. A few service manuals hinted that there’s a service mode you could access with an adapter made out of two back-to-back PL2303 USB-UART adapters – a few female-female jumper wires later, serial prompt greeted our hacker, and entering ‘debug’ into the prompt responded with some text, among it, “Access USB is NOT opened!!!”.
[XenRE] found the WebOS firmware for the TV online, encrypted and compressed into a proprietary LG
.epk
format, but liberated with an open-source tool. A few modules referred to AccessUSB there, and one detour into investigating and explaining WebOS USB vendor lock-in implementation later, they programmed an STM32 with the same VID and PID as the mythical AccessUSB device found in relevant WebOS modules decompiled with IDA. By this point, AccessUSB could safely be assumed to be a service mode dongle. The TV didn’t quite start beeping in a different pattern as we’d expect in a sci-fi movie, but it did notify about a “new USB device” – and started asking for a 6-symbol service menu password instead of a 4-symbol one.
Another firmware module was loaded into IDA, this time, the module responsible for AccessUSB verification. Some password rate limiting, but also time- and number-of-uses limitations were found – apparently, implemented so that LG can limit AccessUSB use by service centers, since,
you see
, even repairability has to have means-testing. In the same vein, it was found that the AccessUSB dongle requires RSA2048 and RSA4096-certificate-based authentication – thus, the TV was reflashed with a different RSA2048 key, and hacking continued. In the end, the AccessUSB option in the service menus got successfully unlocked. What happened?
A whole lot of previously greyed-out options in the InStart and EzAdjust service menus became changeable. From the factory, your TV might have options accessible but locked or hidden, just like your laptop’s BIOS. Such options might be region lock toggles that limit content playback depending on volatile and senseless media sharing agreements, or the “DVR” ability that might be disabled to comply with a bullet point in a media conglomerate contract. Oh, and it gives you a root shell on the TV. [XenRE] left a lot of things untold and code un-shared, sadly, but the description of this journey is valuable enough on its own; and comments (
Google Translate
) under that post even have an ex-service technician reminisce about the good old times.
Smart TVs are
Yet Another Linux Computer You Own But Cannot Program,
universally a net negative when it comes to repairability, eco-friendliness, and growth of new generations of hackers and engineers. It is not fair that such possibilities are locked behind a cryptography-enforced engineering mode. Not that it limits anyone except consumers – we’ve even seen
leaked CIA exploits
to turn your Smart TV into a remote microphone. One could design
all the beautiful custom Raspberry Pi sticks
to make our TVs all that much “smarter”, but maybe the solution is taking a hammer to it instead. The “USB-UART adapter and IDA” hammer, to be clear. | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6452671",
"author": "Ken",
"timestamp": "2022-03-31T02:40:02",
"content": "“From the factory, your TV might have options accessible but locked or hidden, just like your laptop’s BIOS. Such options might be region lock toggles that limit content playback depending on volatile and sen... | 1,760,372,741.033539 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/solar-harvesting-is-better-with-big-capacitors/ | Hackaday Prize 2022: Solar Harvesting Is Better With Big Capacitors | Lewin Day | [
"green hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Prize",
"hackaday",
"LIC capacitor",
"solar",
"solar harvesting",
"solar power"
] | The sun is a great source of energy, delivering in the realm of 1000 watts per square meter on a nice clear day. [Jasper Sikken] has developed many projects that take advantage of this power over the years, and has just completed his latest solar harvesting module
for powering microcontroller projects.
The concept is simple. A small solar panel is used to charge up a lithium ion capacitor (LIC), which can then be used to power other projects. We first saw this project last year, when it was one of the winners of
Hackaday’s 2021 Earth Day contest.
Back then, it was only capable of dishing out 80 mA at 2.2V.
However, the latest version ups the ante considerably, delivering up to 400 mA at 3.3V. This opens up new possibilities, allowing the module to power projects using technologies like Bluetooth, WiFi and LTE that require more current to operate. It relies on a giant 250 F capacitor to store energy, and a AEM10941 solar energy harvesting chip to get the most energy possible out of a panel using Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT).
It’s a useful thing to have for projects that you’d like to run off the sun, and you can score one off
Tindie
if you don’t want to build your own. We’ve seen [Jasper] pull off
other neat solar-powered projects before, too.
Video after the break.
The
Hackaday
Prize2022
is Sponsored by: | 26 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6452651",
"author": "galah",
"timestamp": "2022-03-31T00:24:28",
"content": "Interesting gadget, but I’m confused about the sweet spot use case.The LIC here seems to hold a little over 1000J, depending on max voltage. My reading of the datasheet suggests max voltage drops as tempera... | 1,760,372,741.094183 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/30/freedmo-gets-rid-of-dymo-label-printer-drm/ | #FreeDMO Gets Rid Of DYMO Label Printer DRM | Arya Voronova | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"blue pill",
"bluepill",
"consumer",
"diy",
"drm",
"dymo",
"everything as a service",
"i2c",
"reverse engineering",
"ReverseEngineering",
"stm32",
"thermal printer"
] | DYMO 550 series printer marketing blurb says “The DYMO® LabelWriter® 550 Turbo label printer comes with unique Automatic Label Recognition™”, which, once translated from marketing-ese, means “this printer has DRM in its goshdarn thermal stickers”. Yes, DRM in the stickers that you typically buy in generic rolls. [FREEPDK] didn’t like that, either, and documents
a #FreeDMO device
to rid us of yet another consumer freedom limitation, the true hacker way.
The generic BluePill board and two resistors are all you need, and a few extra cables make the install clean and reversible – you could definitely solder to the DYMO printer’s PCBs if you needed, too. Essentially, you intercept the RFID reader connections, where the BluePill acts as an I2C peripheral and a controller at the same time, forwarding the data from an RFID reader and modifying it – but it can also absolutely emulate a predetermined label and skip the reader altogether. If you can benefit from this project’s discoveries, you should also take a bit of your time and, with help of your Android NFC-enabled phone,
share your cartridge data
in a separate repository to make thwarting future DRM improvements easier for all of us.
The wiring instructions are quite clear and easy to follow provided you get the cable with the same color pinout, but a bit of pin rewiring with a needle never hurt anyone. From there, just complete a few usual steps to flash the firmware into the BluePill board, recompiling the code if you’d like to make the wiring simpler or hardcode an already existing type of label. With that, you get label counter rewinding and spoofing, circumventing the restriction that should have never been there in the first place.
True ownership of the devices we get is of utmost importance, helping us get rid of limitations and constraints that make our days worse as they become a trend, and this step in our journey isn’t all too different from
the way Keurig coffee pod reuse restrictions were circumvented
. If we had a nickel for every time
someone tried to add DRM into 3D printer filament
in the same way Dymo did, we’d have two nickels – which isn’t a lot, but it’s
weird that it happened twice
. EFF reported about the Dymo DRM
just last month
, and a month later, we are glad to see it broken.
Wonder why this is even a problem? It’s a complex one and there’s too much to talk about for this paragraph, but we
have have talked about our justifications and gave some examples
for you, as we
keep fighting these trends
with our tool-assisted protests. As
Apple
,
Lenovo
,
Xiaomi
,
BluRay
,
Nintendo
and others try to stop us, we invent new ways and tools to get there anyway. | 51 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "6452584",
"author": "Arthur Mezins",
"timestamp": "2022-03-30T20:10:16",
"content": "I’ve been using Brother PC label makers for over a decade and they’re good — not great, since I don’t know what that could be yet. Brother’s big problem is their funky editor that doesn’t auto-anyth... | 1,760,372,741.378455 |
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