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https://hackaday.com/2021/10/27/vintage-arcade-used-negative-voltage-to-turn-volume-up-to-11/ | Vintage Arcade Used Negative Voltage To Turn Volume Up To 11 | Ryan Flowers | [
"classic hacks",
"Games",
"Reviews"
] | [
"arcade",
"arcade cabinet",
"negative voltage"
] | When [Nicole Express] got her hands on the logic board for the 1986 SNK arcade game
Athena
, she ran into a rather thorny problem: The board expected to be fed negative five volts! [Nicole]’s analysis of the problem and a brilliant solution are outlined
in her well written blog post
.
[Nicole]’s first task was to find out which devices need negative voltage. She found that the negative five volts was being fed through a capacitor to the ground pins on the Mitsubishi M151516L, an obscure 12 W audio amplifier. After finding the data sheet, she realized something strange: the amp didn’t call for negative voltage at all! A mystery was afoot.
To fully understand the problem, she considered a mid-1980’s arcade and its cacophony of sounds. How would a manufacturer make their arcade game stand out? By making it
louder
, obviously! And how did they make their game louder than the rest?
The answer lays in the requirement for negative five volts. The amplifier is still powered with a standard 12 V supply on its VCC pin. But with ground put at -5 V, the voltage potential is increased from 12 V to 17 V without overpowering the chip. The result is a louder game to draw more players and their fresh stacks of quarters.
How was [Nicole Express] to solve the problem? ATX PSU’s stopped providing -5 V after the ISA slot disappeared from PC’s, so that wouldn’t work. She could have purchased an expensive arcade style PSU, but that’s not her style. Instead, she employed a wonderful little hack: a charge pump circuit. A charge pump works by applying positive voltage to a capacitor. Then the capacitor is quickly disconnected from power, and the input and ground are flipped, an equal but negative voltage is found on its opposite plate. If this is done with a high enough frequency, a steady -5 V voltage can be had from a +5 V input. [Nicole Express] found a voltage inverter IC (ICL7660) made just for the purpose and put it to work.
The IC doesn’t supply enough power to get 12 W out of the amplifier, and so the resulting signal is fed into an external amplifier. Now [Nicole]’s arcade game has sound and she can play
Athena
from the original arcade board, 1986 style!
Arcades are few and far between these days, but that doesn’t mean you can’t
introduce your young ones to the joys of dropping a quarter or two
, or build a gorgeous
oak Super Mario Bros cabinet complete with pixel art inlays
. Do you have a favorite hack to share? Be sure let us know via the
Tip Line
! | 50 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6394316",
"author": "JD",
"timestamp": "2021-10-27T08:20:45",
"content": "A mistake here: “ATX PSU’s stopped providing negative voltage after the ISA slot disappeared from PC’s”ATX PSUs have always, and to this day, provide negative 12V (used to this day for things like RS232 driver... | 1,760,372,907.700819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/modified-car-alternator-powers-speedy-diy-e-bike/ | Modified Car Alternator Powers Speedy DIY E-Bike | Tom Nardi | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"alternator",
"bike",
"e-bike",
"esc"
] | Your garden variety automotive alternator is ripe for repurposing as is, but with a little modification, it can actually be used as a surprisingly powerful brushless motor. Looking to demonstrate the capabilities of one of these rebuilt alternators,
[DIY King] bolted one to the back of a old bicycle
and got some impressive, and frankly a bit terrifying, results.
We should say up front that the required modifications to the alternator are quite extensive, so before you get too excited about building your own budget e-bike, you should
check out the previous guide [DIY King] put together
. The short version is that you’ll need to machine a new rotor and fill it with the neodymium magnets salvaged from hoverboard motors.
A custom built alternator rotor is the key to the project.
Once you’ve got your modified alternator, the rest is relatively easy. The trickiest part of this build looks like it was cutting off the bike’s rear wheel mount and replacing it with a plate that holds the alternator and a pair of reduction gears pulled from a 125cc motorbike. Beyond that, it’s largely electronics.
Naturally, you’ll also need a pretty beefy speed controller. In this case [DIY King] is using a 200 amp water-cooled model intended for large RC boats, though interestingly enough, it doesn’t seem he’s actually running any water through the thing. He’s also put together a custom 1,500 watt-hour battery pack that lives in a MDF box mounted under the seat.
To test out his handiwork, [DIY King] took to the streets and was able to get the bike up to 70 km/h (43 MPH) before his courage ran out. He thinks the motor should be able to push it up to 85 km/h, but he says the bike started wobbling around too much for him to really open it up. In terms of range, he calculated that while cruising around at a more palatable 30 km/h (18 MPH), he should be able to get 100 kilometers (62 miles) off of a single charge.
If you like repurposed motors and suicidal bike speeds,
you’ll love this build that uses a washing machine motor to push a rider to a claimed 110 km/h
. If you’re not worried about speed or range, then
this supercapacitor e-bike is certainly worth a look as well
.
[Thanks to Mike for the tip.] | 40 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393823",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T20:22:18",
"content": "i wonder what makes it wobble at speed. 43mph happens to be the fastest i’ve ever gone on a bike and my bike gets real stable & easy to handle anything over 10mph. but i’ve seen little kids taking downhi... | 1,760,372,907.091471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/mastering-memory-for-microcontrollers-elecia-white-to-deliver-remoticon-keynote/ | Mastering Memory For Microcontrollers: Elecia White To Deliver Remoticon Keynote | Mike Szczys | [
"cons",
"Featured"
] | [
"2021 Hackaday Remoticon",
"elecia white",
"embedded engineering",
"keynote",
"memory",
"memory map",
"ram"
] | I’m excited to share the news that Elecia White will deliver a keynote talk at the Hackaday Remoticon in just a few short weeks.
Get your free ticket now
!
Elecia is well-known throughout the embedded engineering world. She literally wrote the book on it — or at least
a
book on it, one I have had in my bedside table for reference for years: O’Reilly’s
Making Embedded Systems: Design Patterns for Great Software
. She hosts the weekly
Embedded podcast
which has published 390 episodes thus far. And of course Elecia is a principal embedded software engineer at Logical Elegance, Inc working on large autonomous off-road vehicles and deep sea science platforms.
Map metaphor used to help visualize microcontroller memory. [Source:
embedded.fm
]
For her keynote, Elecia plans to unwrap the secrets often overlooked in the memory map file generated when compiling a program for a microcontroller. Anyone who has written code for these mighty little chips has seen the
.map
files, but how many of us have dared to really dive in?
Elecia will use a nifty metaphor for turning the wall of text and numbers into a true map of the code. That metaphor makes the topic approachable for everyone with at least a rudimentary knowledge of how embedded systems work, and even the grizzliest veteran will walk away with tips that help when optimizing for RAM usage and/or code space, updating firmware (with or without a bootloader), and debugging difficult crash bugs.
This autumn is a busy time for Elecia. She’s been hard at work
turning her book into a ten-part massive open online course
(MOOC). Over the years she’s been a strong supporter of Hackaday, more than once as a judge for the Hackaday prize (here’s
her tell-all following the final round judging of the 2014 Prize
). She even took
Hackaday on a tour of Xerox Parc
.
Final Talk Announcements This Week and Next!
The Call for Proposals closed a few days ago.
So far we’ve made
two announcements
about the accepted talks
and we’ll make two more, this Thursday and next. But there’s no reason to wait. With Elecia White,
Jeremy Fielding
, and
Keith Thorne
presenting keynotes, and some superb social activities soon to be unveiled, this is an event not to be missed!
Remoticon is free to all,
just head over and grab a ticket
! If you want something tangible to remember the weekend by you can grab one of the $25 tickets that scores you a shirt, but either option gets you all the info you need to be at every virtual minute of the conference. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393864",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T22:19:10",
"content": "yes please!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,372,907.18782 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/fast-indoor-robot-watches-ceiling-lights-instead-of-the-road/ | Fast Indoor Robot Watches Ceiling Lights, Instead Of The Road | Donald Papp | [
"car hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous",
"DIYrobocars",
"indoor racing",
"localization",
"opencv",
"position sensing",
"racing",
"robot car"
] | [Andy]’s robot is an autonomous RC car, and he shares
the localization algorithm he developed to help the car keep track of itself
while it zips crazily around an indoor racetrack. Since a robot like this is perfectly capable of driving faster than it can sense, his localization method is the secret to pouring on additional speed without worrying about the car losing itself.
The regular pattern of ceiling lights makes a good foundation for the system to localize itself.
To pull this off, [Andy] uses a camera with a fisheye lens aimed up towards the ceiling, and the video is processed on a Raspberry Pi 3. His implementation is slick enough that it only takes about 1 millisecond to do a localization update, netting a precision on the order of a few centimeters. It’s sort of like a fast indoor GPS, using math to infer position based on the movement of ceiling lights.
To be useful for racing, this localization method needs to be combined with a map of the racetrack itself, which [Andy] cleverly builds by manually driving the car around the track while building the localization data. Once that is in place, the car has all it needs to autonomously zip around.
Interested in the nitty-gritty details? You’re in luck, because all of the math behind [Andy]’s algorithm is explained on the
project page
linked above, and
the GitHub repository
for [Andy]’s autonomous car has all the implementation details.
The system is location-dependent, but it works so well that [Andy] considers track localization a solved problem. Watch the system in action in the two videos embedded below.
This first video shows the camera’s view during a race.
This second video is what it looks like with the fisheye lens perspective corrected to appear as though it were looking out the front windshield.
Small racing robots have the advantage of not being particularly harmed by crashes, which is something
far more embarrassing when it happens to experimental full-sized autonomous racing cars
. | 15 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393795",
"author": "Iván Stepaniuk",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T18:32:28",
"content": "The Samsung vacuum robots also navigate using a camera that faces up.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393817",
"author": "X",
... | 1,760,372,907.245075 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/vcf-east-2021-novasaur-ttl-computer-sets-the-bar/ | VCF East 2021: Novasaur TTL Computer Sets The Bar | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrocomputing",
"Slider"
] | [
"emulation",
"gigatron",
"Intel 8080",
"TTL computer",
"VCF East",
"VCF East 2021"
] | There was certainly no shortage of unique computers on display at the 2021 Vintage Computer Festival East; that’s sort of the point. But even with the InfoAge Science and History Museum packed to the rafters with weird and wonderful computing devices stretching back to the very beginning of the digital age,
Alastair Hewitt’s Novasaur was still something of an oddity
.
In fact, unless you knew what it was ahead of time, you might not even recognize it as a computer. Certainly not a contemporary one, anyway. There’s nothing inside its Polycase ZN-40 enclosure that looks like a modern CPU, a bank of RAM, or a storage device. Those experienced with vintage machines would likely recognize the tight rows of Advanced Schottky TTL chips as the makings of some sort of computer that predates the 8-bit microprocessor, but its single 200 mm x 125 mm (8 in x 5 in) board seems far too small when compared to the 1970s machines that would have utilized such technology. So what is it?
Inspired by projects such as the Gigatron, Alastair describes the Novasaur as a “full-featured personal computer” built using pre-1980 components. In his design, 22 individual ICs stand in for the computer’s CPU, and another 12 are responsible for a graphics subsystem that can push text and bitmapped images out over VGA at up to 416 x 240. It has 512 K RAM, 256 K ROM, and is able to emulate the Intel 8080 fast enough to run CP/M and even play some early 80s PC games.
Better Living Through Emulation
Arguably the most noteworthy feature of the Novasaur is it’s ability to emulate a vintage CPU. By taking this approach, Alastair essentially ensured that the only software he’d ever technically have to write for the computer would be a hardware abstraction layer. Once that was in place, he could simply load up existing programs and operating systems that were designed to run on the emulated chip.
Generally speaking, TTL computers need to have new applications written for them.
To use the Gigatron as an example
, the system’s ROM provides the user with a handful of tools and games that were written specifically for the hardware. But outside of that, your best bet for getting new software on the system would be to use the Tiny BASIC interpreter and write it yourself.
Intel 8080 Credit: Konstantin Lanzet [CC BY-SA 3.0]
The Novasaur’s ability to run CP/M and existing Intel 8080 software makes it a far more practical machine than others we’ve seen in the past, and is central to the claim of it being a “full-featured personal computer” rather than just an experiment in computing minimalism. But interestingly, a
look through the project log
shows that the decision to go with the 8080 didn’t happen until relatively late in the game. Originally, Alastair was aiming for his machine to be compatible with something in Motorola’s 6800 family of chips, or perhaps some subset of the MOS 6502.
It would be almost a year later before he made a post explaining his decision to target the relatively overlooked RCA 1802 COSMAC. A month later,
at the recommendation of Gigatron’s creator Marcel van Kervinck
, he reevaluated the situation once more. Originally he’d been put off by the complexity of the Z80, but the Intel 8080 seemed to offer a reasonable middle-ground. As it takes his computer 137 cycles to complete one CPU instruction, Alastair says the final emulated CPU is operating at approximately 450 kHz, or around 22% as fast as the original hardware.
Living History
While the Novasaur is an incredible accomplishment itself, one also has to give credit to Alastair for the phenomenal documentation he’s put together. Since the beginning of 2019, he’s been documenting every step that’s gone into the planning, design, and construction of his TTL computer through log updates on the Hackaday.io page.
The fact that we can look back and see exactly what promoted him to switch gears and start focusing on Intel 8080 compatibility or what it looked like the first time the graphics system lit up a real CRT display, is an invaluable resource for others who might be working on similar systems. Of course even if you’re not looking to build a TTL computer of your own, it’s still fascinating to see how it all came together.
There’s some irony that,
even though it was on display at the Vintage Computer Festival
, the Novasaur was almost certainly one of the newest pieces of hardware in the building. After all, the PCB just hit its final (for now, at least) revision over the summer. Even still, there were few other machines that felt as truly personal as this labor of love, and I’m glad that VCF not only gave me the chance to see it up-close, but to meet its exceptionally passionate creator. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393778",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T17:50:38",
"content": "Now to hook it up to a mouse using the info in last week’s HaD article!B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393856",
"author": "Anachronda",
... | 1,760,372,907.142192 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/soft-robotics-hack-chat/ | Soft Robotics Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"assistive",
"FlowIO",
"Hack Chat",
"inflatable",
"Pneumatics",
"robotics",
"silicone",
"vacuum",
"wearable"
] | Join us on Wednesday, October 27 at noon Pacific for the
Soft Robotics Hack Chat
with
Ali Shtarbanov
!
By this point in technological history, we’ve all been pretty well trained in how to think about robots. Designs vary wildly, but to achieve their goals, most robots have one thing in common: they’re rigid. Whether it’s a robot arm slinging a spot welder on an assembly line or a robot dog on patrol, they’re largely made of stiff, strong, materials that, more often than not, are powered by electric motors of some sort.
But just because that’s the general design palette for robotics doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways. Robots, especially those that are intended to be used in close association with humans, can often benefit from being a little more flexible. And that’s where the field of soft robotics shines. Rather than a skeleton of machined aluminum and powerful electric actuators, these robots tend more toward silicone rubber construction with pneumatic activation. Some soft robots are even compliant and safe enough to be wearable, giving humans the ability to do things they never could before, or perhaps restoring functions that have been lost to the ravages of entropy.
Soft robotics is a fascinating field with the potential to really revolutionize things like wearables and collaborative robotics. To help us understand a little more about what’s going on in this space, we’re pleased to welcome Ali Shtarbanov to the Hack Chat. Ali is a Ph.D. student at MIT’s famed Media Lab, where he studies Human-Computer Interaction. He’s particularly interested in making soft robotics as fast and easy to prototype as traditional robotics have become, and to this end, he invented
FlowIO
, an open-source platform for pneumatic control. We’ll use this as a jumping-off point to discuss the whole field of soft robotics, especially where it is now and where Ali sees it going in the future.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, October 27 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you tied up, we have a
handy time zone converter
. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,906.97717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/the-longest-ever-flight-was-over-64-days-in-a-cessna-172/ | The Longest Ever Flight Was Over 64 Days In A Cessna 172 | Lewin Day | [
"Featured",
"History",
"Misc Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"endurance",
"endurance flight",
"flight",
"hacienda",
"record flight",
"world record",
"world record flight"
] | Often, when we think of long-endurance flights, our first thoughts jump to military operations. Big planes with highly-trained crew will fly for long periods, using air-to-air refuelling to stay aloft for extended periods.
However, many of the longest duration flights have been undertaken as entirely civilian operations. The longest of all happened to be undertaken by that most humble of aircraft, the Cessna 172. From December 1958 to February 1959, Bob Timm and John Cook set out to make history. The duo remained aloft for a full 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes,
setting a record that stands to this day
.
A Test of Endurance
One might expect that such an effort was undertaken to push the envelope or to strike new ground in the world of aerospace engineering. However, the real truth is that Bob Timm was a slot machine mechanic and former bomber pilot who worked at the Hacienda casino in Las Vegas. Proprietor Doc Bailey was always on the hunt for promotional ideas, and Timm pitched his boss that a record attempt in a plane bearing the casino’s branding would be a good way to go. Bailey agreed, and committed $100,000 to the effort.
Modifications to prepare the aircraft for the stunt took the best part of a year. The pint-sized Cessna was fitted with a 95-gallon belly tank, paired with a electric pump that could transfer fuel to the main wing tanks as needed. Special plumbing was also added that would allow the engine oil and filters to be changed while the engine was still running.
The interior was stripped out, and the standard co-pilots door was also removed, replaced with a folding-style accordion door instead. A platform was also rigged up that could be extended out of the co-pilot’s side of the aircraft. This allowed the co-pilot some additional room to move during the crucial refuelling operations.
Keeping the Engine Turning
The Hacienda Cessna 172 refuelling during its record flight. Source:
McCarran Airport
Refuelling was handled by lowering a hook via a winch down to a fuel truck that would trail the plane on a straight stretch of road, usually twice a day. The winch would then pull up a fuel hose from the truck, which would be used to fill the belly tank in around three minutes. The same system was used to regularly pull up food, oil and other supplies like towels and water for shaving and bathing.
Initial attempts faced issues. The plane had been fitted with a brand-new engine from Continental Motors Corp., fitted with an alcohol injection system at Timm’s insistence, despite the protests of lead mechanic Irv Kuenzi. The aim was to reduce carbon build-up over the long duration flight, but the engine suffered burnt exhaust valves which curtailed the third attempt. After the first three flights, the plane had never stayed aloft longer than 17 days.
Other hurdles came up, too. Timm wasn’t getting along with his co-pilot, and pilots Jim Heth and Bill Burkhart had just set a record of their own. The duo had managed to fly their own Cessna 172 for a full 50 days, landing on September 21 1958. It was clear changes were needed.
For the next attempt, Kuenzi reinstalled the plane’s original engine, which had 450 hours on the clock. The alcohol injection system was quietly modified to harmlessly squirt the alcohol overboard instead of into the engine. The original co-pilot was dismissed, and 33-year-old John Wayne Cook, a pilot and airplane mechanic, was given the job instead.
The plane took off once more on December 4, 1958, at 3:52 PM from McCarran Field, Las Vegas. Officials monitoring the record chased the plane down the runway in a convertible Ford Thunderbird, putting white paint on the tires as an indicator to ensure the plane didn’t make any secret landings during the attempt.
Over the course of the near-65 day flight, the plane was refuelled by its truck over 128 times. This, and the job of flying the plane kept Timm and Cook plenty busy. What downtime was available was spent reading comics and making up simple games such as counting cars on the roads below to pass the time.
Living the Long-Haul Flight Lifestyle
Fresh meals were cooked for the duo by the chefs at the Hacienda, though the food had to be chopped up to fit in thermos containers to be passed up to the plane. Bathroom duties were handled with a folding camp toilet and plastic bags, which were then deposited
over uninhabited areas of the desert.
The long flight wasn’t all trouble-free, as one might expect. An incident on January 12, 1959 saw Timm caught out while bathing on the platform outside the co-pilots door. With Cook at the controls, the pilot realised the plane would not clear a ridge with the platform extended, and quickly yelled to Timm to pull it in. Reportedly, Timm wrestled with the platform naked with toothbrush still in mouth, managing to avoid the ridge in time. The scare pushed the duo to reschedule their bathing activities for times when they were flying over safer areas.
The long flying hours, high work load, and poor sleep began to wear on the crew over time. On January 9 around 2:55 AM, Timm fell asleep while flying over Blythe, California, a few minutes before the end of his 4-hour shift. Cook remained asleep, and Timm eventually woke up at 4 a.m, with the aircraft having flown itself for over an hour with the wing-levelling Mitchell autopilot keeping the plane in the air. Speaking to a reporter after the flight, Timm noted “I made a vow to myself that I would never tell John what had happened.”
Over time, equipment failures began to stack up. A generator failure meant that fuel transfers to the wing tanks had to be done using a hand pump. Other failures took out the autopilot, various lights, the tachometer, as well as the fuel gauge for the belly tank and the crucial winch. With the engine racking up over a thousand hours of continuous operation, carbon build-up was starting to reduce engine power, too, making it difficult to climb the plane with the fuel tanks brimmed.
Back to Earth
On February 7, 1959, the plane finally landed at McCarran Field. The pilots reportedly had to be helped out of the airplane, which looked somewhat the worse for wear after its extended adventure. The plucky Cessna that could had covered over 150,000 miles in the course of its journey.
The plane now hangs in McCarran International Airport. Note the sliding door on the co-pilot’s side, and the belly tank underneath. Source:
McCarran Airport
Afterwards, Cook continued on as a pilot, while Timm resumed working on slot machines at the casino. As for the plane, it was shown off at the Hacienda for two years after the record flight. It then went to a new owner up in Canada for some years, before Timm’s son Steve located it and brought it back to Vegas in the late 1980s. The plane now hangs in the McCarran International Airport, above the baggage claim area for incoming passengers.
The flight serves as a great example of endurance of both machine and man. Running a small aircraft engine from the 1950s for 1500 continuous hours is remarkable. Similarly, Living in such a confined space with continual noise for over two months is one hell of a feat. It may be for that very reason that the record has not yet been beaten.
One could imagine, with the resources of the world’s militaries, that a much more comfortable record attempt could be made on a larger bomber or transport aircraft. With more crew and more room to move, the feat need not be so onerous. However, given a tiny 1950s Cessna was able to achieve such a great record, there is perhaps little to prove by going further! | 71 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393729",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T15:57:22",
"content": "I was wondering until the final paragraph, if the pilots’ hearing was damaged.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6394781",
"author": "BIll",
... | 1,760,372,907.618175 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/fail-of-the-week-alternator-powered-electric-go-kart-doesnt-go/ | Fail Of The Week: Alternator Powered Electric Go-Kart Doesn’t Go | Adam Fabio | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"aging wheels",
"alternator",
"fail",
"go-kart"
] | What do you give a six-year-old who loves going fast but doesn’t like loud noises?
Convert a gas go-kart to electric of course
! (Video, embedded below.) That goal started [Robert Dunn] of Aging Wheels down a long path toward a go-kart that almost, but doesn’t quite… work.
If you’ve watched any of [Robert’s] videos, you know he doesn’t take the easy path. The man owns a Trabant and Reliant Robin after all. Rather than buy a battery pack, he built his own 5S24P pack from individual LiFePO4 cells. Those cells generally are spot welded, so [Robert] built an Arduino-controlled heirloom-quality spot welder. Now while the welder could handle thin nickel strips, it wasn’t up the task of welding high current nickel-plated copper. When attempts at a solution failed, [Robert] built a system of clamped copper bus bars to handle the high current connections for the batteries.
If batteries weren’t hard enough, [Robert] also decided he wasn’t going to use an off-the-shelf motor for this project. He converted a car alternator to operate as a brushless motor. We’ve
covered projects using this sort of conversion before
. Our own
[Jenny List] even wrote a tutorial on it
. [Robert] unfortunately has had no end of trouble with his build.
In the first video, [Robert] works with a common no-name motor controller and tries to run the motor sensorless. Like others before him, he found that the motor would run great on the bench, but wouldn’t start under load. Give the go-kart a rolling start, and it would run. This is a common with sensorless motors — the motor controller uses unpowered coils as sensors, and can sometimes have trouble starting a motor in low speed/high torque situations. The solution is to add hall effect sensors to the motor. [Robert] did all that, tested all the 36 combinations of hall effect and coil wiring, and it STILL didn’t work.
Fast forward to [Robert’s] second video on this project. He switched over to a better-documented motor controller, built a great-looking battery box (twice), and put everything back together. The motor worked great on the bench and would start just fine. But any time the kart hit half throttle, the motor controller would cut out with a “hall sensor error”.
It seems like [Robert] built his motor correctly – the hall sensors are mounted in the middle of the coils
much like [austiwawa] discovered in his e-bike build
. While not shown in the YouTube video, [Robert] even tried isolating and shielding his hall wires, but nothing changed. At this point, [Robert] is taking a step back from the project for a few weeks, or at least until his six-year-old convinces him to fix it.
We have to hand it to [Robert] for not only posting his successes, but also his failures. The go-kart and spot welder are both examples of great workmanship. We’re sure with a bit more tinkering he’ll get his alternator-converted motor to work. Have an idea what the problem is? Let us know in the comments! | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393726",
"author": "Observer",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T15:29:12",
"content": "I think he messed up in the installation of his Hall sensors.By placing them equidistant around internal circumference of the stator, they will all trigger on the same phase–which you don’t want. Evidenc... | 1,760,372,907.464135 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/tackle-the-monkey-raspberry-pi-gets-round-screen/ | Tackle The Monkey: Raspberry Pi Gets Round Screen | Al Williams | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"circular display",
"circular screen",
"round display",
"round screen",
"spi",
"SPI display",
"SPI screen",
"tackle the monkey first"
] | You could argue that the project to
add a round screen to a Raspberry Pi
from [YamS1] isn’t strictly necessary. After all, you could use a square display with a mask around it, giving up some screen real estate for aesthetics. However, you’d still have a square shape around the screen and there’s something eye-catching about a small round screen for a watch, an indicator, or — as in this project — a talking head.
The inspiration for the project was a quote from a Google quote about
teaching a monkey to recite Shakespeare
. A 3D printed monkey with a video head would be hard to do well with a rectangular screen, you have to admit. Possible with a little artistry, we are sure, but the round head effect is hard to beat. Honestly, it looks more like an ape to us, but we aren’t primate experts and we think most people would get the idea.
The IPS screen is tiny at only 1.28 inches and has a 240×240 resolution. Interfacing is simple with an SPI interface. You’d think video playback might be tough, but the
flexfb
library knows how to drive these. The only problem is the library isn’t compatible on Linux kernel 5.4 and beyond.
To solve that problem, [YamS1] used a Raspberry Pi 3 with a specific software load. For a dedicated device like this, that shouldn’t be a problem and gives you a good excuse to recycle those older Pi boards you have sitting around.
We’ll be honest. You probably don’t want a talking monkey sculpture on your desk. But if you do, this is your lucky day. However, the possibilities for a round screen are numerous and one that can play video has even more usefulness. Maybe the thing for your next robot or cosplay mask eyes or why not 3D print a tiny replica of a vintage oscilloscope and use this display for the CRT? Of course, a
smartwatch
is too easy but would work, too. You could also make some very cool replacements for
magic eye tubes
. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393676",
"author": "Prabesh Sapkota",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T11:05:54",
"content": "post the video toodont wanna read about it, want to see it",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393799",
"author": "punkdigerati",
... | 1,760,372,907.516477 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/25/mesmerizing-mechanical-seven-segment-display/ | Mesmerizing Mechanical Seven-Segment Display | Adam Zeloof | [
"Art",
"clock hacks"
] | [
"art",
"display",
"mechnical",
"seven segment",
"wood"
] | Seven-segment displays are ubiquitous. From where I’m writing this, I can see several without even having to swivel my chair. We’re all familiar with their classic visage; slightly italicized numbers that are brought to life by LEDs. There are a boatload of variants available– you can get displays with a decimal point, ones with multiple numbers, and even versions in just about any color you desire, but at the core they’re all basically the same thing- an array of LEDs sitting behind a faceplate. Except for those ones that have some gears inside.
Wait, what?
You read that right– a seven-segment display that contains gears, along with a handful of cams for good measure. Artist [
Kango Suzuki
] created this
stunning all-mechanical seven-segment display
that sequentially counts up from zero to nine when a thumbwheel is spun. All of the components are cut from wood and mesh together beautifully, complete with a satisfying
click
when the display rolls into a new digit, which you can hear in the video at the above link. You may recognize [Kango]’s style from
this incredible mechanical clock he made a few years back
. Unlike his earlier work, the seven-segment display is
tiny,
relatively speaking. Maybe we’ll see it integrated into a larger project some day, like a mechanical-digital clock.
We just love when somebody uses intricate mechanisms to artfully emulate some piece of existing tech. This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen a mechanical seven-segment display;
[Peter Lehnér] built one back in 2019
, and judging by [Kango]’s twitter feed, it appears to have inspired his design. There have even been a
few other 3D printed ones over the years
, but as far as we know this is the first wooden one– and, in true [Kango] fashion, its
beautiful
.
Thanks to [J. Peterson] for the tip!
7セグ作った
もっと色濃くすれば見やすくなるかな
pic.twitter.com/nkTxPwiezf
— K.$uzuki 𖠃 (@BellTreeNursing)
October 21, 2021 | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393665",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T09:21:36",
"content": "nice!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393669",
"author": "Thomas Anderson",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T09:48:08",
"content": "Wow",
"paren... | 1,760,372,907.294769 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/omni-wheeled-cane-steers-the-visually-impaired-away-from-obstacles/ | Omni-Wheeled Cane Steers The Visually-Impaired Away From Obstacles | Kristina Panos | [
"Lifehacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"News"
] | [
"cane",
"gps",
"lidar",
"omniwheel",
"visually impaired"
] | Sure, there are smart canes out there, commercial and otherwise. We’ve seen more than a few over the years. But a group of students at Stanford University have managed to bring something novel to the augmented cane.
Theirs features a motorized omni wheel that sweeps smoothly from left to right during normal cane operation, and when the cane senses an object that turns out to be an obstacle,
the omni wheel goes into active mode, pulling the user out of the path of danger
.
Tied for best part of this build is the fact that they made the project with open hardware and
published all the gory details in a repo
, so anyone can replicate it for about $400.
The cane uses a Raspi 4 with camera to detect objects, and a 2-D LIDAR to measure the distance to those objects. There’s a GPS and a 9-DOF IMU to find the position and orientation of the user.
Their paper is open, too, and it comes with a BOM and build instructions
. Be sure to check it out in action after the break.
There’s more than one way to guide people around with haptic feedback.
Here’s the smartest pair of shoes we’ve seen lately
. | 21 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393616",
"author": "RetiredHobgoblin",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T05:24:13",
"content": "What could go wrong?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393639",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T07:09:32",
"content": "... | 1,760,372,907.760859 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/the-humble-ne-2-neon-lamp-has-a-new-trick/ | The Humble NE-2 Neon Lamp Has A New Trick | Dave Rowntree | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"NE-2",
"neon",
"transducer",
"ultrasound"
] | Ah, the humble neon lamp. The familiar warm orange glow has graced the decks of many a DIY timepiece, sometimes in a purely indicating duty, and sometimes forming a memory element in place of a more conventional semiconductor device. Capable of many other tricks such as the ability to protect RF circuits from HV transients, its negative resistance operating region after it illuminates gives us usable hysteresis which can used to form a switching element and the way the pair of electrodes are arranged give it the ability to indicate whether a voltage source is AC or DC. Now, due to some recent research by [Johan Carlsson] and the team at Princeton University, the humble NE-2 tube has a new trick up its sleeve:
acoustic transduction
.
The idea is not new at all, with some previous attempts at using electric discharge in a gas to detect audio, going back to the early part of last century, but those attempts either used atmospheric pressure air or other non-sealed devices that exhibited quite a lot of electrical noise as well as producing noxious gases. Not ideal.
The new work concentrates on the idea of detecting the ultrasonic emissions due to initial stress relief during metal fatigue failure of large structures such as bridges and oil drilling platforms. Traditionally the only way to do this is with a piezoelectric acoustic sensor, but those are short-lived in harsh environments, annoyingly resonant in frequency response, not to mention, expensive.
Enter the humble NE2 with its almost flat frequency response in the 200 kHz to 1 MHz region of interest, its ability to withstand operating temperatures of up to 400 degrees Celsius and being a sealed glass container, quite impervious to conditions if you can protect the connecting leads. The operating principle is simple enough, once the neon is ionised and the device is operating in the breakdown condition, pressure variations in the surrounding air are conducted through the glass, which causes pressure variations in the neon next to the electrodes. Take the current signal through the lamp and high-pass filter it, and you’ve got yourself a really cheap transducer. What a device!
To further bestow the virtues of this indicator device of a bygone age, we have
a neon lamp based Nixie clock
,
an NE-2 not-LED matrix display unit
, and finally
using an array of them to visualise an electric field
. | 45 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393609",
"author": "Experienced Experimenter",
"timestamp": "2021-10-25T04:01:54",
"content": "They can also detect electromagnetic waves including light and terahertz radiation. They are technically simple but multi-application devices that were primarily used as indicator lights.... | 1,760,372,907.892175 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/hackaday-links-october-24-2021/ | Hackaday Links: October 24, 2021 | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"Asteroids",
"kde",
"kickstarter",
"Lucy",
"macro pad",
"meteorites",
"robot dogs"
] | It seems that the engineers of NASA’s Lucy spacecraft have some ‘splaining to do. The $981M asteroid-seeking mission launched without a hitch, but when the two solar panels unfolded,
one of them failed to latch into place
. Lucy’s two large solar arrays combine to an impressive 51 square meters. Both are critical to this 12-year mission as it will travel farther from the Sun than any previous spacecraft, and be gone for longer. The problem is that Lucy is on an escape route, and so they can’t just sidle up to her with a repair craft. Even so, NASA and Lockheed are “pretty optimistic” that they can fix the problem somehow. On the bright side, both solar arrays are providing power and charging batteries inside the cockpit.
It’s kind of hard to believe, but
KDE is turning 25 this year!
Well, the actual anniversary date (October 14th) has already passed, but the festivities continue through the 25th when KDE founder Matthias Ettrich delivers a fireside chat at 17:00 UTC.
Registration begins here
.
EnergyStar, purveyors of appliance efficiency ratings and big yellow stickers,
will no longer recommend gas-powered water heaters, furnaces, and clothes dryers
on their yearly Most Efficient list. They will continue to give them ratings, however. This move was prompted by several environmentalist groups who pointed out that continuing to recommend gas appliances would not put America on track to reach
Biden’s 2050 net-zero carbon emissions goal
, since they produce greenhouse gases. We totally understand the shift away from gas, but not so much the nitty gritty of this move, which the article presents as exclusive of any appliance that doesn’t run on 100% clean energy. You can’t prove that a user’s electricity is renewable. For example, this consumer is well aware that the energy company in her town still burns coal for the most part. Anyway,
here’s the memo
. And a PDF warning.
Sure, you can trawl eBay for space rocks, but how do you know for sure that you’re getting a real meteorite? You could play the 1 in 100 billion or so odds that one will just fall in your lap.
Just a few weeks ago, a meteorite crashed through a British Columbia woman’s ceiling
and landed between two decorative pillows on her bed, narrowly missing her sleeping head. Ruth Hamilton awoke to the sound of an explosion, unaware of what happened until she saw the drywall dust on her face and looked back at the bed. The 2.8 pound rock was the size of a large man’s fist and was one of two meteorites to hit Golden, BC that evening. The other one landed safely in a field.
Hackaday alum Jeremy Cook wrote in to give us a heads up that his newest build, the
JC Pro Macro 2
, is
currently available through Kickstarter
. It’s exactly what it sounds like — a Pro Micro-powered macro pad. But this version is packed with extra keyswitches, blinkenlights, and most importantly for the Hackaday universe, broken out GPIO pins. Do what you will with the eight switches, rotary encoder, and optional OLED screen, and do it with Arduino or QMK. Jeremy is offering a variety of reward levels, from bare boards with SMT LEDs soldered on to complete kits, or fully assembled and ready to go. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393558",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T23:35:19",
"content": "“This move was prompted by several environmentalist groups who pointed out that continuing to recommend gas appliances would not put America on track to reach Biden’s 2050 net-zero carbon emissions goal,... | 1,760,372,907.805051 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/is-a-diode-a-switch/ | Is A Diode A Switch? | Dave Rowntree | [
"Parts"
] | [
"PIN diode",
"RF",
"Switching circuit"
] | Many hardware people around these parts will be familiar with devices used as switches, using at least three-terminals to effect this, an input, an output and a gate. Typical devices that spring to mind are bipolar transistors, triacs and and ye olde triode valve. Can you use a diode to switch a signal even if it has only two terminals?
Of course you can
, and it’s a tried and trusted technique very common in test equipment and circuits that handle RF signals. (Video, embedded below.)
The trick is that diodes block current in one direction but allow it to flow in the other, denoted by the deliberately obvious symbol. So your DC signals can’t swim upstream, but the same isn’t true for AC. Signals can be passed “the wrong way” through a diode by inducing small fluctuations in the current. Put another way, if you bias the diode into conduction, changes in the downstream voltage level result in changes in the current flowing through the diode, and the (smaller) AC signal gets through. But if you take away the bias, by turning off the DC bias voltage source, the diode switches back to non-conducting, blocking the signal. And that makes a diode a DC controlled switch for AC signals.
While [IMSAI Guy] demonstrates this with a signal diode, as he explains, one would typically use a PIN diode, which has an extra intrinsic (undoped) region between the P and the N, allowing the device to fully turn off, reducing leakage significantly.
Of course, we’ve covered diodes many times from different angles, there is always something to learn. Checkout how
high voltage diodes are constructed
,
diodes detecting ionising radiation
, and finally this
great series about our new favourite two-terminal device
.
See, the humble diode can be fun after all!
Thanks [Truth] for the tip! | 41 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393527",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T21:15:28",
"content": "Ironically, diodes have also been used as variable resistors. For switches, you want them full on or off, but by varying the current into the diode, some level of variable resistance. In some ways ... | 1,760,372,908.22509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/tricky-screw-heads-have-disappearing-slots/ | Tricky Screw Heads Have Disappearing Slots | Ryan Flowers | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"EDM",
"electric discharge machining",
"fastener",
"machining",
"precision",
"precision machining"
] | Perhaps you’ve seen them, demonstrations of a machined piece of metal that upon further inspection is actually
two
pieces machined so perfectly that they appear as one. With extremely tight tolerances, it’s not possible to determine where one piece of metal ends and another begins — that is, until the secret is revealed. Inspired by such pieces of art, [Andrew Klein] sought to put this high level of machine work to practical use. And so it was that his as-yet-unnamed
Screw With No Slot
came to be.
A brass rod pushes down to reveal the keyed center section.
The screw’s disc-like appearance looks as if it’s a metal trim piece to cover a bolt hole. But in the video below [Andrew] shows us the trick, pushing a brass rod into the middle of the disc to reveal the hidden three-point slot. The center of the disk is actually a separate bit of finely machined metal that is spring loaded to stay flush. A specially designed wrench keys into the rounded concave triangle shape cut into the face.
The wrench is made with brass to avoid marring the precision surface. It uses three magnets to hold tight to the screw’s 410 magnetic stainless steel. [Andrew] didn’t spill the beans on how this was done, but we haven’t seen any process other than
electrical discharge machining
(EDM) that can achieve this level of mating precision. If that topic is new to you, we recommend checking out
[Ben Krasnow’s] lab experiments on the topic
.
We can’t help but be taken in by the beauty of the fastener, and it immediately sent our imaginations into a National Treasure induced dream-like state. [Andrew Klein] has yet to name this fastener, and he’s soliciting ideas for names in the video below the break. If you have such an idea, you can comment on his video. He’s also exploring the viability of the as-yet-named fastener as a commercial product for high end furniture builders.
This is not the first time we’ve featured [Andrew Klein]’s work. His previous featured projects include a
custom sawblade for perfectly foldable joints
and an unveiling of the
magnetic magic behind switchable permanent magnets
. Be sure to submit the neat hacks, builds, and inspiring projects that you come across to our
Tip Line
! | 51 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393476",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T17:16:52",
"content": "This is the type screw that evil geniuses use in their giant building-destroying robots.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393479",
"author": "Bill... | 1,760,372,908.064012 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/dactyl-chimera-leaves-the-learning-out-of-the-curve/ | Dactyl Chimera Leaves The Learning Out Of The Curve | Kristina Panos | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"adjustable keyboard",
"dactyl keyboard",
"ergonomic keyboard",
"keyboard"
] | Have you been wanting to build your own keyboard, ergonomic or otherwise, but are hesitant to spend all that time and filament on something that may not be a good fit for your hands? Glad as we are that the dactyl is open-source, to get in there and really mess around with it requires intimate knowledge of either OpenSCAD or Clojure.
Well, not anymore.
[WolfIcefang]’s dactyl chimera is an ergo sandbox
, a test bench for column curvature, stagger, and height that should keep you from having to iterate all day and night. It was designed in FreeCAD and has three parts — the rack, the tenting foot, and the arches. The rack acts like a bottom plate and has slots for holding the columns (arches) in place. Underneath that is the tenting foot, which changes the lateral inclination. Thirdly are the arches, the business part where the switches go.
[WolfIcefang] says it’s sturdy but not portable, and for some reason feels the need to apologize for the looks. We think it’s beautiful, but then again are easily captivated by such practicality. It’s not quite a keyboard yet, as [WolfIcefang] has neither wired it up nor burned in any firmware. This is still in the early stages, and [WolfIcefang] wants to open it up to collaborators. Plans for the future include interchangeable thumb clusters and a complete build guide.
Even if you aren’t that fluent in OpenSCAD, you’ll have fun messing around on the
keycap modeling playground
.
Via
r/ErgoMechKeyboards | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393455",
"author": "Severe Tire Damage",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T14:58:09",
"content": "Well frankly I would much much rather work in OpenSCAD than FreeCAD anyday. And I really mean it.But I can take the inverse of this article as a tip that a bunch of keyboard related work has a... | 1,760,372,908.15371 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/capacitive-touch-controller-for-fpgas/ | Capacitive Touch Controller For FPGAs | Bryan Cockfield | [
"FPGA"
] | [
"button",
"capacitive touch",
"fpga",
"hid",
"sensor",
"software",
"vhdl"
] | Most projects that interface with the real world need some sort of input device. Obviously this article is being written from a standardized “human interface device” but when the computers become smaller the problem can get more complicated. We can’t hook up a USB keyboard to every microcontroller since we often only need a few buttons, but even buttons can be a little bit too cumbersome for some applications. For something even simpler,
we would like to turn your attention to capacitive touch controllers
.
Granted, these devices are really only simpler from a hardware perspective. Rather than a switch that can be prone to failure either when its moving parts break or its contacts become corroded, a capacitive touch button only needs a certain conductive area on something like a PCB, along with a few passive components, to work. The real difficulty is in the software, so this project aims to make it simpler to bring these sort of devices to any FPGA that needs some sort of interface like this. It can operate in stand-alone mode or in a custom user interface, and was written to be platform-independent in VHDL without the need for any dependencies or macros.
The project’s page goes into a great amount of detail on how capacitive touch sensors like these work in general, and describes the operation of this specific code as well. Everything is open source, so it’s ready to be put to work right away. If you need capacitive touch capabilities on something like a microcontroller, though, take a look at
this tiny Atmel-powered musical instrument instead
. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393423",
"author": "ROB",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T11:11:54",
"content": "[Stephan Nolting] isn’t mentioned.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393503",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T18:52:56",
... | 1,760,372,908.10727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/bring-that-old-hi-fi-into-the-2020s/ | Bring That Old Hi-Fi Into The 2020s | Jenny List | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"bluetooth",
"ESP32",
"hi-fi",
"streaming"
] | It’s a distressing moment for some of us, when a formerly prized piece of electronic equipment reaches a point of obsolescence that we consider jettisoning it. [Jon Robinson] ran into this dilemma by finding the Kenwood Hi-Fi amplifier his 17-year-old self had spent his savings on. It was a very good amp back in the day, but over two decades later, it’s no longer an object of desire in a world of soundbars and streaming music boxes. After a earlier upgrade involving an Arduino to auto-power it
he’s now given it an ESP32 and an i2S codec
which performs the task of digital audio streaming as well as a better job than the Arduino of controlling the power.
Inside the case is a piece of stripboard with the ESP and codec modules, but there was still the problem of seamlessly integrating it with the amp’s distinctly analogue-era controls. The output from the codec is wired into an audio input – quaintly labelled for a DAT player – and a simple cam on the input selector switch operates a microswitch to select the ESP32.
If you’re dipping your toe in decent audio then an old amp from decades past can make an excellent purchase, but you might wish to educate yourself through our
Know Audio
series. | 41 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393404",
"author": "Noble Hill",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T08:28:29",
"content": "Cool, raw muscle with a brain . Thank you Dr Frankenstein!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393920",
"author": "Dennis Dickey",
... | 1,760,372,908.34505 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/this-arduino-terminal-does-all-the-characters/ | This Arduino Terminal Does All The Characters | Jenny List | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"ansi",
"serial terminal",
"terminal",
"unicode"
] | The job of a dumb terminal was originally to be a continuation of that performed by a paper teletype, to send text from its keyboard and display any it receives on its screen. But as the demands of computer systems extended beyond what mere ASCII could offer, their capabilities were extended with extra characters and graphical extensions whose descendants we see in today’s Unicode character sets and thus even in all those emojis on your mobile phone. Thus a fully-featured terminal has a host of semigraphics characters from which surprisingly non-textual output can be created. It’s something [Michael Rule] has done some work on, with his ILI9341TTY,
a USB serial terminal monitor using an Arduino Uno and an ILI9341 LCD module
that supports as many of the extended characters as possible.
A graph, entirely in Unicode characters.
It’s fair to say that most of us who regularly use a terminal don’t go far beyond the ASCII, as it’s likely that a modern terminal will sit in a window over a desktop GUI. So even if you have little use for a hardware terminal monitor there’s still plenty of interest to be found in those rarely-seen character sets. Our favourite is probably the
Symbols for Legacy Computing
, an array of semigraphics characters that may be familiar to readers who have used an 8-bit home computer or two. He includes a graph example using these characters coloured with ANSI escape codes, and it’s certainly not what you expect from a terminal.
If microcontroller terminals capture your interest,
this isn’t the first we’ve brought you
. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393397",
"author": "Evan Rowley",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T05:14:09",
"content": "I wonder what would be required for this to have a keyboard send input.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393448",
"author": "mrule",
... | 1,760,372,908.27408 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/gravity-defying-water-drop-display-shows-potential/ | Gravity-Defying Water Drop Display Shows Potential | Dave Rowntree | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"resin printing",
"stop motion",
"water"
] | [3DPrintedLife aka Andrew DeGonge] saw that advert for gatorade that shows some slick stop-motion animation using a so-called ‘liquid printer’ and wondered how they built the machine and got it to work so well. The answer, it would seem, involves a
lot of hard work and experimentation
.
Conceptually it’s not hard to grasp. A water reservoir sits at the top, which gravity-feeds into a a series of electromechanical valves below, which feed into nozzles. From there, the timing of the valve and water pressure dictate the droplet size. The droplets fall under the influence of gravity, to be collected at the bottom. From that point it’s a ‘simple’ matter of timing droplets with respect to a lighting strobe or camera shutter and hey-presto! instant animation.
As will become evident from the video, it’s just not as easy as that. After an initial wobble when [Andrew] realised that cheap “air-only” solenoids actually are for air-only when they rusted up, he took a slight detour to design and 3D print his own valve body. Using a resin printer to produce fine detailed prints, enabled the production of small internal passages including an ‘air spring’ which is just a small chamber of air. After a lot of testing, proved to be a step in the right direction. Whether this could have been achieved with an FDM printer, is open to speculation, but we suspect the superior fine detail capabilities of modern resin printers are a big help here.
In a nice twist, [Andrew] ripped open and dissolved a fluorescent marker pen, and used that in place of plain water, so when illuminated with suitably triggered UV LED strips, discernable animation was achieved, with an eerie green glow which we think looks pretty neat. All he needs to do now is upgrade the hardware to make a 3D array with more resolution, and he can start approaching the capability of the thing that inspired him. Work on some custom electronics to drive it has started, so this is one to watch in the coming months!
We’ve seen many water-based display device before, like this one that
projects directly onto a thin stream of water
, and this
strangely satisfying hack using paraffin and water
, but a full 3D Open Source display device seems elusive so far.
All project details can be found on the associated
GitHub
.
The original stop-motion animation advert for ‘gatorade’ that inspired this work:
Thanks [BaldPower} for the tip! | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393385",
"author": "Brant Holeman",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T02:08:59",
"content": "Company in Milwaukee has a business with a similar approach",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393411",
"author": "alfcoder",
"... | 1,760,372,908.504776 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/automating-pool-monitoring-and-chemical-dosing/ | Automating Pool Monitoring And Chemical Dosing | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"home automation",
"pool"
] | Anyone who has had a backyard pool will know that it only takes a little lapsed attention to turn the whole thing green. For those sick of having to stay on top of things, the idea of automating pool care may be attractive. This project from [Discreet Mayor]
hopes to do just that.
Data is graphed for easy analysis using Grafana.
The project uses a TI SimpleLink wireless-enabled microcontroller to run the show, which allows data to be offloaded to a base station for graphing with Grafana. The system can monitor pH levels as well as ORP (oxidation/reduction potential) levels using probes attached via BNC connectors. Based on these readings, the device can dose chlorine into the pool as needed using a peristaltic pump driven by a TI DRV8426 stepper motor driver.
We’d want to keep a close eye on the system for some time, making sure it wasn’t over or underdosing the pool with chemicals. However, that’s easy enough to do when all the data is logged neatly in a web-accessible graph.
We’ve seen other hackers implement similar controls
to their own pools, too.
If you’ve been working on your own home automation projects,
be sure to drop us a line. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393398",
"author": "kanniget",
"timestamp": "2021-10-24T05:58:56",
"content": "Owned a pool for 4 years in the early 2000’s. Once I realised the local pool company made money from over selling chemicals I never had another algae bloom.Convert the pool to a Salt Chlorinator or make ... | 1,760,372,908.636103 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/esp32-cam-makes-a-dandy-motion-detector/ | ESP32-Cam Makes A Dandy Motion Detector | Al Williams | [
"ARM",
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"animatronic",
"ESP32",
"ESP32-CAM",
"halloween",
"motion detetion",
"motion sensor",
"motion tracking"
] | Halloween is right around the corner and just about every Halloween project needs some kind of motion sensor. Historically, we’ve used IR and ultrasonic sensors but [Makers Mashup] decided to use an ESP32-Cam as a motion sensor in
his latest animatronic creation
. You can see a video of the device and how it works below.
The project is a skull that follows you around with a few degrees of motion on a stepper motor. There’s a
3D-printed
enclosure to make the hardware assembly easy. The base software was borrowed from [Eloquent Arduino].
The algorithm is pretty simple. The code grabs a frame of video and divides it into 10 vertical zones, one for each degree of motion for the stepper motor. It creates an array with the values from each of the 10 columns. In that way, the code can detect changes in one zone and move to track that motion.
In addition to the skull, the camera also is seen driving a large inflatable eyeball. While an IR or ultrasonic ranger wouldn’t have much range, the eyeball can easily track people on a distance sidewalk as long as they are in frame. The downside? You do need the scene to be lit. To fix that, there’s a $30 IR floodlight that will cure that. Who wants a brightly lit Halloween project?
This technique would be a no-brainer if you have to put a camera into your device anyway. Even if you don’t need a camera, the price is low enough and you get some interesting benefits like the increased range.
If you want to put an ESP32-Cam on wheels,
check this robot out
. These devices are even easier to use now that there is a
programming board
readily available for it. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393333",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T20:07:18",
"content": "this particular module has been on my maybe list for some time now. i hear its not actually very good at video, but im glad it still has its uses.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies... | 1,760,372,908.590987 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/an-echo-dot-for-the-1980s/ | An Echo Dot For The 1980s | Kristina Panos | [
"home hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"amazon echo dot",
"answering machine",
"echo dot",
"panasonic"
] | There’s so much obsolete technology out there with great design. It’s really sad to see it end up in the landfill, because even though the insides may be outdated, good design is forever. Take this 1980s Panasonic answering machine, for instance.
The smoky plastic of the cassette lid is the perfect screen for Dot
, because it lets the light through while hiding the modernity of the thing in the process. Check it out in action after the break.
What [ehans_makes] has written is really more of an overall guide to repurposing old electronics and fighting e-waste in the process. First, they non-destructively figure out what needs to be done to both the old thing and the newer thing to get them to play nicely together — what 3D printed parts need to be added, what can be salvaged and reused from the old thing, and what parts of the old enclosure can be Dremeled away. In this case, [ehans_makes] ended up printing an adapter to be able to re-use the original speaker’s mounting points inside the answering machine, and printed a mount for the Dot as well. The STLs are available if you happen to find the same answering machine at your local thrift store or neighbor’s estate sale.
While we’ve always managed to hold on to the screws when we disassemble something, [ehans_makes] has an even better idea: draw a diagram of where they go, and tape the actual screws to the diagram as you remove them.
Some of the best designs never really existed, at least not on a commercial scale. If you can’t find a cool old enclosure,
you can always build one yourself
. | 14 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393297",
"author": "Jonathan Bennett",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T18:02:50",
"content": "Also works great to hide a near-magical decryption tool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393352",
"author": "Jason",
"tim... | 1,760,372,908.552832 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/in-search-of-the-first-comment/ | In Search Of The First Comment | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"comments",
"literate programming",
"software"
] | Are you writing your code for humans or computers? I wasn’t there, but my guess is that at the dawn of computing, people thought that they were writing for the machines. After all, they were writing in machine language, and whatever bits they flipped into the electronic brain stayed in the electronic brain, unless punched out on paper tape. And the commands made the machine do things, not other people. Code was written strictly for computers.
Modern programming practice, on the other hand, is aimed firmly at people. Variable and function names are chosen to be long and to describe what they contain or do. “Readability” of code is a prized attribute. Indeed, sometimes the fact that it does the right thing at all almost seems to be an afterthought. (I kid!)
Somewhere along this path, there was an important evolutionary step, like the first fish using its flippers to walk on land. Comments were integrated into programming languages, formalizing the notes that coders of old surely wrote by hand in the margins of the paper first-drafts before keying it in. So I went looking for the missing link: the first computer language, and ideally the first program, with comments. I came up empty handed.
Or rather full handed. Every computer language that I could find had comments from the beginning. FORTRAN had comments, marked by a “C” as the first character in a line. APL had comments, marked by the bizarro rune ⍝. Even the custom language written for the
Apollo 11 guidance computers had comments
— the now-commonplace “#”. I couldn’t find an early programming language without comments.
My guess is that the first language with a comment must have been an
assembly
language, because I don’t know of any machines with a native comment instruction. (How cool and frivolous would that be?)
Assemblers simply translate mnemonic names to their machine instruction counterparts, but this gives them the important freedom to ignore anything starting with, traditionally, a semicolon. Even though you’re just transferring the contents of register X to the memory location pointed to in register Y, you can write that you’re “storing the height above ground (meters)” in the comments.
The crucial evolutionary step, though, is saving the comments along with the code. Simply ignoring everything that comes after the semicolon and throwing it away doesn’t count. Does anyone know? What was the first code to include comments as part of the code itself, and not simply as marginalia?
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
! | 105 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393240",
"author": "Martin",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T14:09:48",
"content": "First languages were machine languages, and programs were first written on paper. Comments in mashine language are even more important than in moderl languages, mashine language is so cryptic to humans tha... | 1,760,372,908.916342 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/chip-tester-knows-if-your-old-chips-are-working/ | Chip Tester Knows If Your Old Chips Are Working | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"chip tester",
"commodore",
"IC Tester",
"retrocomputing",
"test equipment"
] | [Noel’s Retro Lab] has looked at retro chip testers before, but in a recent video you can see below he’s looking at the
Chip Tester Pro
, a preassembled chip tester for vintage chips, especially those used in Commodore computers. The device looks good on the surface with a form factor like a calculator or cell phone, an LCD display, and a 48 pin ZIF socket.
The user interface is pretty simple. A rotary encoder and a big red button are about it. However, there are also some headers where you have to use jumpers to wire signals to the chip. The firmware gives you specific directions, but it is reminiscent of programming old punchcard machines with jumper wires. Luckily, it looks like you only route the power to the device so you don’t have many wires to connect (usually two or three).
The tester is shown detecting a bad DRAM chip. The device can test logic gates, although it failed on some 7438s. We wondered it is because it would not handle open collector outputs, but we don’t know that. A firmware fix, however, allowed the parts to pass. It can test things like 555s and some non-Commodore chips like custom chips for the ZX-81. Test parts that require a non-5V supply won’t work since the tester has only a 5V supply. However, there are some common chips that have other supply voltages that you can test. But those are special cases because they function well enough to test without the additional voltages.
At the end of the video, you can see that the tester claims to work on chips in circuit which is notoriously difficult. Turns out, this only works if you can prepare the board by removing certain key chips. The procedure also disables some bus drivers with jumper leads. However, the demonstration didn’t work. It wasn’t clear if it was a problem with the tester or the setup.
Overall, this seems to be one of those niche products that, if you need it, is a bargain and if you don’t is probably not worth the price. [Noel] has some other chip tester reviews on his channel, as well, and maybe one of those would fit your needs better, but they are probably all not something everyone will need.
If you want something cheaper that you can modify to suit your needs,
this homebrew tester
might fill the bill. If you prefer to test discrete components,
those testers are now dirt cheap
. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393219",
"author": "Mike Massen, Perth, Western Australia",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T11:28:35",
"content": "Nice post & potentially relevant given various chips shortages in that ye oldie C or HC 4000/7400 series might just offer some fiddle factors is glue etc in prototypes & repa... | 1,760,372,908.730662 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/23/you-can-build-a-lego-rubiks-cube/ | You Can Build A Lego Rubik’s Cube | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"lego",
"rubiks cube"
] | Rubik’s cubes are a popular puzzle — one found exciting or infuriating depending on your personal bent. [PuzzLEGO] has designed a LEGO Rubik’s cube, with the latest revision
improving on flimsy earlier designs.
The first step was to design a core that would allow the cube to rotate freely without being too loose. This involved a lot of trial and error until [PuzzLEGO] found just the right combination of parts to do the job. From there, it was a matter of introducing the edge pieces and corner pieces without jamming everything up.
It took some experimenting to get everything moving together smoothly, but the end result is pretty impressive. It’s certainly not a build you’d use for speedcubing; the fragility meant that it took 20 minutes to solve just one face. [PuzzLEGO] hopes to make further improvements to increase playability.
If you want to replicate the feat, you’ll need plenty of little Lego bits and pieces, but it’s definitely a replicable build. Alternatively,
consider using Lego to build a Rubik’s Solver, instead
. Video after the break. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393212",
"author": "Danjovic",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T10:21:41",
"content": "Add a new layer and problem solved!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393233",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T13:36:42",... | 1,760,372,908.951728 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/vacuum-forming-with-3d-printed-buck-tutorial/ | Vacuum Forming With 3D Printed Buck Tutorial | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"plastic",
"vacuum formed",
"vacuum former",
"vacuum forming"
] | [Matterhackers] has a nice video tutorial on using
vacuum forming to create plastic items
. Sure, you have a 3D printer, but vacuum forming has some advantages if you are making thin and flexible items quickly. But don’t feel bad. The master item in the process is from a 3D printer. Like a mold, the forming won’t produce a duplicate of the master, called a buck. Rather, the buck provides something like a die that the plastic wraps around.
While obvious vacuum-formed items include such things as take-out food containers and plastic blister packaging for retail items, you can also make more substantial items. Apparently, all theStar Wars movies in the original trilogy used vacuum forming to create stormtrooper armor.
Like many fabrication technologies, there are special design rules. For example, you can’t have any overhangs or else the plastic will not release from the buck. In fact, ideally, the buck will have a slight slope on all sides so that the bottom is wider than the top to simplify separating the buck from the finished product.
Another concern with a 3D printed buck is that the plastic will completely conform to the surface. So if you have layer lines or other irregularities, they will show up in the finished product also. You may not care or you may want to sand and possibly seal the print. Of course, you can make the buck out of anything that can withstand the heat including, according to the post, including a raw potato. While PLA is iffy because of the heat, the post indicates that they have used normal PLA successfully by increasing the number of top layers when printing. However, using an advanced PLA with a higher temperature, ABS, or PETG is recommended.
The Makyu Formbox hooks up to a shop vac or household vacuum cleaner to provide the negative pressure. The device — which unsurprisingly [Matterhackers] sells isn’t dirt cheap, but we can remember paying more for a 3D printer (the cheapest option is about $700).
If you’d rather DIY, grab some MDF and
check out these plans
. Or, go for something
a little larger
. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393177",
"author": "Tim",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T06:16:24",
"content": "This is far too easy to replicate to pay such an amount, besides shouldn’t the DIY version be covered being this is hackaday?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment... | 1,760,372,908.775478 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/supply-chain-attack-npm-library-used-by-facebook-and-others-was-compromised/ | Supply Chain Attack: NPM Library Used By Facebook And Others Was Compromised | Ryan Flowers | [
"Software Development",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"compromise",
"facebook",
"github",
"javascript",
"malware",
"NPM",
"supply chain",
"supply chain attack"
] | Here at Hackaday we love the
good
kinds of hacks, but now and then we need to bring up a less good kind. Today it was learned that the
NPM package
ua-parser-js
was compromised
, and any software using it as a library may have become victim of a supply chain attack. What is
ua-parser-js
and why does any of this matter?
In the early days of computing, programmers would write every bit of code they used themselves. Larger teams would work together to develop larger code bases, but it was all done in-house. These days software developers don’t write every piece of code. Instead they use
libraries
of code supplied by others.
For better or worse, repositories of code are now available to do even the smallest of functions so that a developer doesn’t have to write the function from scratch. One such registry is npm (Node Package Manager), who organize a collection of contributed libraries written in JavaScript. One only need to use npm to include a library in their code, and all of the functions of that code are available to the developer. One such example is
ua-parser-js
which is a User Agent Parser written in JavaScript. This library makes it easy for developers to find out the type of device and software being used to access a web page.
On October 22 2021, the developer of
ua-parser-js
found that attackers had uploaded a version of his software that contained malware for both Linux and Windows computers. The malicious versions were found to steal data (including passwords and Chrome cookies, perhaps much more) from computers or run a crypto-currency miner. This prompted GitHub to issue a
Critical Severity Security Advisory
.
What makes this compromise so dangerous is that
ua-parser-js
is considered to be part of a supply chain, and has been adopted even by Facebook for use in some of its customer facing software. The developer of
ua-parser-js
has already secured his GitHub account and uploaded new versions of the package that are clean. If you have any software that uses this library, make sure you’ve got the latest version!
Of course this is by no means a unique occurrence. Last month Maya Posch dug into
growing issues that come from some flaws of trust in package management systems
. The art for that article is a house of cards, an apt metaphor for a system that is only as stable as the security of each and every package being built upon. | 26 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393169",
"author": "NiHaoMike",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T04:59:27",
"content": "Time to launch a counterattack that floods them with fake data and submit false shares to the mining pools to get the accounts blacklisted as cheaters?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,372,909.416664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/3d-printer-cuts-metal/ | 3D Printer Cuts Metal | Bryan Cockfield | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"5-Axis",
"cnc",
"electrode",
"machine",
"metal",
"modification",
"print head",
"salt water",
"tool"
] | Every now and then we’ll see a 3D printer that can print an entire house out of concrete or print an entire rocket out of metal. But usually, for our budget-friendly hobbyist needs, most of our 3D printers will be printing small plastic parts. If you have patience and a little bit of salt water, though, take a look at this 3D printer which has been modified to cut parts out of any type of metal, built by [Morlock] who has turned
a printer into a 5-axis CNC machine
.
Of course, this modification isn’t 3D printing metal. It convers a 3D printer’s CNC capabilities to turn it into a machining tool that uses electrochemical machining (ECM). This process removes metal from a work piece by passing an electrode over the metal in the presence of salt water to corrode the metal away rapidly. This is a remarkably precise way to cut metal without needing expensive or heavy machining tools which uses parts that can easily be 3D printed or are otherwise easy to obtain. By using the 3D printer axes and modifying the print bed to be saltwater-resistant, metal parts of up to 3 mm can be cut, regardless of the type of metal used. [Morlock] also added two extra axes to the cutting tool, allowing it to make cuts in the metal at odd angles.
Using a 3D printer to perform CNC machining like this is an excellent way to get the performance of a machine tool without needing to incur the expense of one. Of course, it takes some significant modification of a 3D printer but it doesn’t need the strength and ridigity that you would otherwise need for a standard CNC machine in order to get parts out of it with acceptable tolerances. If you’re interested in bootstraping one like that using more traditional means, though, we recently featured
a CNC machine that can be made from common materials and put together for a minimum of cost
.
Thanks to [Zane] for the tip! | 19 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393134",
"author": "Grawp",
"timestamp": "2021-10-23T00:30:51",
"content": "I wonder how much work it would be to get to sub 50um accuracy and precision.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393138",
"author": "3dAdd",
"tim... | 1,760,372,909.038101 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/vizio-in-hot-water-over-smart-tv-gpl-violations/ | Vizio In Hot Water Over Smart TV GPL Violations | Tom Nardi | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"News",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"gpl",
"right to repair",
"smart tv",
"SmartCast",
"software license",
"Vizio"
] | As most anyone in this community knows, there’s an excellent chance that any consumer product on the market that’s advertised as “smart” these days probably has some form of Linux running under the hood. We’re also keenly aware that getting companies to hold up their end of the bargain when it comes to using Linux and other GPL licensed software in their products, namely releasing their modified source, isn’t always as cut and dried as it should be.
Occasionally these non-compliant companies will get somebody so aggravated that they actually try to do something about it,
which is where smart TV manufacturer Vizio currently finds itself
. The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) recently announced they’re taking the Irvine, California based company to court over their repeated failures to meet the requirements of the GPL while developing their Linux-powered SmartCast TV firmware. In addition to the Linux kernel, the SFC also claims Vizio is using modified versions of various other GPL and LGPL protected works, such as
U-Boot
,
bash
,
gawk
,
tar
,
glibc
, and
ffmpeg
.
According to the SFC press release, the group isn’t looking for any monetary damages. They simply want Vizio to do what’s required of them as per the GPL and release the SmartCast source code, which they hope will allow for the development of an OpenWrt-like replacement firmware for older Vizio smart TVs. This is particularly important as older models will often stop receiving updates, and in many cases, will no longer be able to access all of the services they were advertised as being able to support. Clearly the SFC wants this case to be looked at
as part of the larger Right to Repair debate
, and given the terrible firmware we’ve seen some of these smart TVs ship with, we’re inclined to agree.
Now of course, we’ve seen cases like this pop up in the past. But what makes this one unique is that the SFC isn’t representing one of the developers who’s software has been found to be part of Vizio’s SmartCast, they’re actually the plaintiff. By taking the position of a consumer who has purchased a Vizio product that included GPL software, the SFC is considered a third-party beneficiary, and they are merely asking the court to be given what’s due to them under the terms of the license.
As firm believers in the open source movement,
we have zero tolerance for license violators
. Vizio isn’t some wide-eyed teen, randomly copying code they found from GitHub without understanding the implications. This is a multi-billion dollar company that absolutely should know better, and we’ll be happy to see them twist in the wind a bit before they’re ultimately forced to play by the rules. | 70 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393078",
"author": "Morgan T",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T20:11:48",
"content": "YES PLEASE, given the success of openWRT (and a previous user), I would Install OPEN VISIO in a HEARTBEAT.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393080",... | 1,760,372,909.179466 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/testing-3d-printed-cutting-blades-is-scary-work/ | Testing 3D Printed Cutting Blades Is Scary Work | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"3d printing",
"blade",
"cutting blade",
"cutting disc"
] | [Ivan Miranda] comes from a land where the shops close on Sundays. Thus, when he found himself in need of a cutting blade, he realised he would have to build his own, or simply wait. He elected to do the former,
and we get to enjoy the journey.
(Video, embedded below.)
His first attempt was to cut a wooden plank with a 3D-printed cutting blade fitted to a mitre saw. After setting up the mitre saw to cut while he was at a safe distance, [Ivan] elected to test the blade. Alas, it simply melted, and the wood was barely scratched, so [Ivan] went back to the drawing board.
His second attempt was to CNC mill an aluminium blade, which was a full 6 mm thick. The saw needed some modifications to the saw to fit properly, but it was able to cut wood without major drama!
Returning to the 3D-printed concept, [Ivan] suspected reducing the surface speed of the cutting disc could reduce friction-induced heating. This would allow the 3D-printed blade to cut wood without melting, in theory. To achieve this, he built his own basic drop saw using a steel frame and a brushless motor. With a little water spray, and careful control of speed and pressure, the blade was able to slowly chew through a plank of wood. Afterwards, the teeth were almost completely worn down.
The fact is, 3D-printed blades are usually going to be too soft to do any real useful work. However, it’s fun to watch, and that’s good enough for us. If you want something more useful though,
consider building your own knives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sizxsCPsQLI | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393059",
"author": "SPD",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T19:04:58",
"content": "Friedrich Mohs rolls in his grave.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393060",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T19:08:59",
"... | 1,760,372,909.266716 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/retrotechtacular-this-15th-century-siege-cannon-might-kill-you-instead-of-the-target/ | Retrotechtacular: This 15th-Century Siege Cannon Might Kill You Instead Of The Target | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"History",
"Retrotechtacular",
"Slider"
] | [
"cannon",
"ironwork",
"metalwork",
"wrought iron"
] | For a happy weekend away in early September, I joined a few of my continental friends for the NewLine event organised by Hackerspace Gent in Belgium. You may have seen some of the resulting write-ups here, and for me the trip is as memorable for the relaxing weekend break it gave me in a mediaeval city as it is for the content of the talks and demonstrations. We took full advantage of the warm weather to have some meals out on café terraces, and it was on the way to one of them that my interest was captured by something unexpected. There at the end of the street was a cannon, not the normal-size cannon you’ll see tastefully arranged around historical military sites the world over, but a truly massive weapon. I had stumbled upon
Dulle Griet
, one of very few surviving super-sized 15th century siege cannons. It even had a familiar feel to it, being a sister to the very similar
Mons Meg
at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.
How Do You Contain A Small Bomb With Wrought Iron?
There is probably enough material in the wars and sieges in which these guns would have been employed to furnish a history PhD or two and at least one earnest historical documentary, but for me there was another entirely separate source of interest. This cannon was made in an age when firing a cannon was in itself a risky business, so how did the metalworkers who made it ensure that it was strong enough to contain the explosion of its charge? Probably the closest modern equivalent can be found in a 20th century naval gun,
something which archive films show
as being manufactured from single cast billets by forging around a former with a steam hammer. Those barrels would have used specific steels selected for their metallurgical properties, and processes and machinery simply unavailable in earlier centuries.
The construction can clearly be seen through the burst ring on Mons Meg. phaedra,
CC BY-SA 2.0
.
The answer can be seen on closer inspection, especially so with Scotland’s Mons Meg. Instead of being manufactured from a single billet these weapons are constructed from individual
wrought iron
staves held in place by iron hoops in much the same way as the wooden staves of a traditional barrel are assembled into a whole. This material, manufactured by an extremely labour-intensive process of repeatedly working pig iron, has the required strength and elasticity to withstand extreme forces, but for all that the barrel remains a composite of multiple separate pieces. It’s fascinating to me as someone who grew up around metalwork to see the very significant level of skill that went into producing and assembling these parts without mechanical assistance except possibly from rudimentary water hammers. The British TV show
Time Team
produced a very small scale replica barrel
for one a few years ago, which you can see below the break. From the video you can see today’s smiths could match the production, but it’s the skill of making the high quality wrought iron that’s largely been lost.
Dulle Griet was used by the Gent city state in its campaigns, before being captured by one of their adversaries. It survives in one piece which is more than can be said for Mons Meg, which burst one of its iron rings during a ceremonial firing in 1680. There’s a question as to whether these guns (like the super-sized aircraft carriers of today) had as much symbolic value of projecting the most power for their owners alongside their military value, but one thing’s for certain: to be on the side facing their fire would not have been a pleasant experience.
Dulle Griet can be inspected by anyone with a few minutes as they walk the streets of Gent, while to see Mons Meg requires tourist entry to Edinburgh Castle.
Header image: Karelj,
Public domain
. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393047",
"author": "SparkyGSX",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T18:10:30",
"content": "Now they made a barrel, but how would they cap it, such that the cap wouldn’t be blasted off?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393158",
"... | 1,760,372,909.312482 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/hackaday-podcast-141-lowfer-badges-outrun-clocks-dichroic-lamps-and-piano-action/ | Hackaday Podcast 141: LowFER Badges, Outrun Clocks, Dichroic Lamps, And Piano Action | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Hackaday editors Mike and Elliot Williams catch up on a week’s worth of hacks. It turns out there are several strange radio bands that don’t require a license, and we discuss this weekend’s broadcast where you can listen in. It’s unlikely you’ve ever seen the website check-box abused quite like this: it’s the display for playing Doom! Just when you thought you’d seen all the ESP32’s tricks it gets turned into a clock styled after Out Run. Mike geeks out over how pianos work, we’re both excited to have Jeremy Fielding giving a Keynote talk at Remoticon, and we wrap things up with a chat about traffic rules in space.
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
(50 MB)
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 141 Show Notes:
What’s that Sound?
Tell us your answer for this week’s “What’s that sound?”
. Next week on the show we’ll randomly draw one name from the correct answers to win a rare Hackaday Podcast T-shirt.
News This Week:
Making Your Projects Move: Jeremy Fielding To Deliver Remoticon Keynote
VCF East Roars Back To Life
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Printed Piano Mechanism Sure Is Grand
How does a piano work? Pulling apart a grand piano – YouTube
How the Grand Piano Works – YouTube
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 (2007) – IMDb
A Microwave Frequency Doubler
Microwaves101
RF Power Meter – Village Telco Wiki
Hacking An IKEA Lampshade Into A Stunning Dichroic Lamp
Paper Voxel Sphere : 8 Steps (with Pictures) – Instructables
Arduino Nano Floppy Emulator For When Your Disk Is Not Accessible
An Arduino With A Floppy Drive
GitHub – keirf/FlashFloppy: Floppy drive emulator for Gotek hardware
Play DOOM Using Web Browser Checkboxes (Finally)
Checkboxland – Render anything as HTML checkboxes
zoom – CSS: Cascading Style Sheets
Pulse (Checkerbox land example)
AAlib
in full ASCII splendor!
ESP32 Clock Pushes Outrun Graphics Over Composite
Software Defined Television On An ESP32
Run Your Favorite 8-bit Games On An ESP32
JWZ’s
Dali Clock Ports
Quick Hacks:
Mike’s Picks
Why Wait For Apple? Upgrade Your IPhone With USB-C Today!
DOOM Played By Tweet
Turning Old Masks Into 3D Printer Filament
Elliot’s Picks:
The Calls Are Coming From Inside The House (or Workshop)
Spinning Threads Put The Bite On Filament In This Novel Extruder Design
The PinePhone Pro Is Here. But It’s Still Probably Not The Year Of Open-Source Linux On The Smartphone
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Space Age Road Rage: Right Of Way Above The Karman Line
Starlink satellites responsible for over 50% of close encounters in space
Pinning Tails On Satellites To Help Prevent Space Junk
The Low-Down On Long-Wave: Unlicensed Experimental Radio
SAQ Grimeton UN-Day Transmission on October 24th, 2021 – The Alexander association
Get Set For SAQ On Alexanderson Day With These Active Antennas
SM6LKM – SAQrx VLF Receiver
PA0RDT Mini Whip | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,909.219832 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/mystery-hp-gear-teardown/ | Mystery HP Gear Teardown | Al Williams | [
"Teardown"
] | [
"hewlett packard",
"HP",
"teardown",
"test equipment"
] | What’s round, has what looks like a vacuum tube in the center, and was made in the 1950s by HP? We don’t know either, but [The Signal Path] restored one and shows us this mystery instrument in
a recent video
that you can see below. We aren’t going to spoil the surprise over what the device is, but we will share that he does reveal what it is very early in the video, so there’s not much of a tease.
We will, however, give you a few hints. Looking at it, you can guess that it is meant for high voltage use and, in fact, it is rated for up to 25 kV. We’ll also drop the hint that it is made for use with AC, not DC. The shape of the plug at the end of the wire is also a clue, we think.
There isn’t much inside the unusual round case (another clue, by the way), but there are some vintage parts we haven’t seen in quite awhile. One last clue: Why is there a metal rod and ball sticking out of one side of the device?
Honestly, the insides are a bit underwhelming so unlike some teardown videos we’ve seen, the real star of this video is the unusual device more so than its inner workings. If you have a hankering for a more sophisticated HP exploration, check out the
HP3458A repair
we covered earlier. Or go old school and
peek inside an HP 150A
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393012",
"author": "Lee Studley",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T15:40:48",
"content": "Dielectric breakdown tester?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393050",
"author": "Col. Panek",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T18:23:5... | 1,760,372,909.355082 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/this-week-in-security-argentina-mysterysnail-and-l0phtcrack/ | This Week In Security: Argentina, MysterySnail, And L0phtcrack | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"l0pht",
"Patch Tuesday",
"This Week in Security"
] | The government of Argentina has a national ID card system, and as a result maintains a database containing data on every citizen in the country. What could possibly go wrong? Predictably,
an attacker has managed to gain access to the database
, and is offering the entire dataset for sale. The Argentinian government has claimed that
this wasn’t a mass breach
, and only a handful of credentials were accessed. This seems to be incorrect, as the seller was able to provide the details of an arbitrary citizen to the journalists investigating the story.
Patch Tuesday
Microsoft has released their monthly round of patches for October, and
there are a couple doozies
. CVE-2021-40486 is an RCE in Microsoft Word, and this flaw can trigger via the preview pane. CVE-2021-38672 and CVE-2021-40461 are both RCE vulnerabilities in Hyper-V. And finally, CVE-2021-40449 is a privilege upgrade actively being used in the wild, more on that in a moment. Oh, and you thought the Print Nightmare was over? CVE-2021-36970 is yet another print spooler vulnerability. The unfortunate thing about the list of Microsoft vulnerabilities is that there is hardly any information available about them.
On the other hand, Apple just patched CVE-2021-30883, a 0-day that’s being actively exploited in iOS. With the release of the fix, [Saar Amar] has put together a
very nice explanation of the bug with PoC
. It’s a simple integer overflow when allocating a buffer, leading to an arbitrary memory write. This one is particularly nasty, because it’s not gated behind any permissions, and can be triggered from within app sandboxes. It’s being used in the wild already, so go update your iOS devices now.
MysterySnail
“
Snail
” by Ilweranta, CC BY 2.0
Kaspersky brings us
a report on a CVE-2021-40449 being used in the wild
. It’s part of an attack they’re calling MysterySnail, and seems to originate from IronHusky out of China. The vulnerability is a use-after-free, and is triggered by making a the ResetDC API call that calls its own callback. This layer of recursive execution results in an object being freed before the outer execution has finished with it.
Since the object can now be re-allocated and controlled by the attacker code, the malformed object allows the attacker to run their code in kernel space, achieving privilege escalation. This campaign then does some data gathering and installs a Remote Access Trojan. Several Indicators of Compromise are listed as part of the write-up.
Off to the Races
Google’s Project Zero is
back with a clever Linux Kernel hack
, an escalation of privilege triggered by a race condition in the pseudoterminal device. Usually abbreviated PTY, this kernel device can be connected to userspace applications on both ends, making for some interesting interactions. Each end has a struct that reflects the status of the connection. The problem is that
TIOCSPGRP
, used to set the process group that should be associated with the terminal, doesn’t properly lock the terminal’s internal state.
As a result, calling this function on both sides at the same time is a race condition, where the reference count can be corrupted. Once the reference count is untrustworthy, the whole object can be freed, with a dangling pointer left in the kernel. From there, it’s a typical use-after-free bug. The post has some useful thoughts about hardening a system against this style of attack, and the bug was fixed December 2020.
AI vs Pseudorandom Numbers
[Mostafa Hassan] of the NCC Group is doing some particularly fascinating research, using machine learning to test pseudorandom number generators.
In the first installment
, he managed to break the very simple xorshift128 algorithm.
Part two tackles the Mersenne Twister
, which also falls to the neural network. Do note that neither of these are considered cryptographic number generators, so it isn’t too surprising that a ML model can determine their internal state. What will be most interesting is the post to come, when he tackles other algorithms thought to be secure. Watch for that one in a future article.
L0phtcrack Becomes Open Source
In a surprise to me,
the L0phtcrack tool has been released as open source
. L0phtcrack is the password cracking/auditing tool created by [Mudge] and company at L0pht Heavy Industries, about a billion years ago. Ownership passed to @stake, which was purchased by Symantec in 2004. Due to export regulations, Symantec stopped selling the program, and it was reacquired by the original L0pht team.
In April 2020, Terahash announced that they had purchased rights to the program, and began selling and supporting it as a part of their offerings. Terahash primarily builds GPU based cracking hardware, and
has been hit exceptionally hard by the chip shortage
. As a result of Terahash entering bankruptcy protection, the L0phtcrack ownership has reverted back to L0pht, and version 7.2.0 has been released as Open Source. | 43 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392984",
"author": "X",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T14:25:58",
"content": "People keep saying “if we were more careful in our C and C++ coding, we would not have these issues” but somehow that never happens, and we still keep getting the same security issues over and over again for de... | 1,760,372,909.692965 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/quick-reaction-saves-esa-space-telescope/ | Quick Reaction Saves ESA Space Telescope | Roger Cheng | [
"Space"
] | [
"ESA",
"gamma ray",
"gamma ray detector",
"mission",
"reaction wheel",
"space",
"space debris",
"space safety",
"space telescope",
"telescope"
] | Once launched, most spacecraft are out of reach of any upgrades or repairs. Mission critical problems must be solved with whatever’s still working on board, and sometimes there’s very little time. Recently ESA’s INTEGRAL team was confronted with a ruthlessly ticking
three hour deadline to save the mission
.
European Space Agency INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory is one of
many space telescopes
currently in orbit. Launched in 2002, it has long surpassed its original designed lifespan of two or three years, but nothing lasts forever. A failed reaction wheel caused the spacecraft to tumble out of control and its automatic emergency recovery procedures didn’t work. Later it was determined those procedures were dependent on the thrusters, which themselves failed in the summer of 2020. (Another mission-saving hack which the team
had shared earlier
.)
With solar panels no longer pointed at the sun, battery power became the critical constraint. Hampering this time-critical recovery effort was the fact that antenna on a tumbling spacecraft could only make intermittent radio contact. But there was enough control to shut down additional systems for a few more hours on battery, and enough telemetry so the team could understand what had happened. Control was regained using remaining reaction wheels.
INTEGRAL has since returned to work, but this won’t be the last crisis to face an aging space telescope. In the near future, its automatic emergency recovery procedures will be updated to reflect what the team has learned. Long term, ESA did their part to
minimize space debris
. Before the big heavy telescope lost its thrusters, it had already been
guided onto a path
which will reenter the atmosphere sometime around 2029. Between now and then, a very capable and fast-reacting operations team will keep INTEGRAL doing science for as long as possible. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392986",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T14:29:25",
"content": "Bravo to the ESA team!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6393020",
"author": "Olivier",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T16:07:57",
"content": "Impress... | 1,760,372,909.613902 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/22/an-open-source-game-boy-printer-that-doesnt-print/ | An Open Source Game Boy Printer That Doesn’t Print | Tom Nardi | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"emulation",
"ESP32",
"game boy",
"game boy printer",
"sd card"
] | While we’ll admit seeing your Game Boy Camera shots come out on a little slip of thermal paper was pretty neat back in 1998, anyone who’s still using the Game Boy Printer these days is probably more interested in getting their images in digital form. Which is why the
open source NeoGB Printer is so exciting
.
A collaborative effort between [Rafael Zenaro], [Raphaël BOICHOT], and [Brian Khuu], the project combines an ESP32 development board and some common components with their GPLv3 firmware to fully emulate the Game Boy Printer hardware. Once plugged into your Game Boy, any of the 110 titles that support Nintendo’s paper-pushing peripheral will recognize the NeoGB Printer as the real deal and happily send along the image.
But rather than committing it to paper, the NeoGB Printer saves the image to an SD card. From there, you can put the card in your computer and do whatever you wish with the captured files. Incidentally, it turns out there’s already a commercial gadget on the market that does something very similar, but this DIY approach comes
well
under its $99 USD price tag. In fact, if you’ve got a Game Boy Link Cable you don’t mind cutting up, you’ve probably got everything you need to pull this off in the parts bin right now.
We particularly like how the team has went out of their way to support different hardware configurations for the NeoGB Printer. If you want to go all out and add status LEDs and an OLED display, go for it. But if you just plan on using the thing once to grab a copy of the Pokémon diploma you earned 20 years ago, then you can skip the bells and whistles.
If you’re only worried about getting your snaps out of the Game Boy Camera,
we’ve covered projects that will extract them directly from the cartridge
. But this approach certainly has its appeal, as works with a much wider variety of games. We’re glad this project exists, as it means a whole new generation can explore all the wacky ways developers came up with to utilize the Game Boy Printer back in the day. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392971",
"author": "Danners",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T13:26:44",
"content": "Other than mandating you to involve your actual GB/GBA system in the process, what does this do for you that a $50 GB Operator won’t?That seems like a far more fully-featured Gameboy solution overall, wit... | 1,760,372,909.572817 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/new-part-day-raspberry-pi-lego-hat/ | New Part Day: Raspberry Pi LEGO HAT | Dave Rowntree | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"lego",
"lego mindstorms",
"LEGO Spike",
"raspberry pi"
] | The Raspberry Pi Foundation have been busy little bees for the last couple of years producing their own silicon, new boards and now in collaboration with the LEGO Education team a
new HAT to connect to the LEGO SPIKE education platform
. This new HAT board will work with every Raspberry Pi board with a 40-pin GPIO header.
Based on the RPI2040 microcontroller, it makes an interesting detour away from dumb slave boards, although it looks like the firmware is closed (for now) so you’ll have to make do with the pre-baked capabilities and talk to it with the supplied python library.
According to the
documentation
, the communication between the Pi and the RPI2040 nestled beneath the HAT PCB is
plaintext-over-serial
, freeing up the majority of the GPIO pins for other uses. The board uses a surface mount pass-through type header which allows pins from the Pi to protrude through the PCB, allowing stacking more HATs on top. Curiously they decided to mount the PCB with active parts facing down, giving a flat rear surface to park things on. We suspect that decision was made to improve access to the LPF2 connectors, especially if they were surface mount parts.
Compatibility with LEGO hardware is also fully documented, including the
Spike Education portfolio
, which comprises motors, a colour sensor, force sensor, and a distance sensor amongst others. Some parts from the mindstorms robot inventor kit as are also supported. LEGO have also introduced a new part, that they are calling the ‘maker plate’ which is specifically designed for mounting ‘SBCs’ but doesn’t specify which ones. Clearly it looks like it will take Pi3/4 board, but we’ll leave it to them to clarify other support.
A new higher-power power supply brick is also introduced, which feeds 8V into that barrel jack you may have noticed, as you may be aware, LEGO motors can pack quite a punch and trying to power those from the Raspberry Pi GPIO header will only end in frustration.
We’ve seen an enormous array of LEGO hacks over the years, and this new product is not the first hackable solution we’ve seen. Just checkout this
Open Source
Evlōno One
for starters. This new product however is a nice example of a reasonably open company getting into bed with an established player and producing something cool and that is a good thing.
https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Raspberry-Pi-Build-HAT-Plotter.mp4
Thanks [Qes] for the tip! | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392873",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T05:09:33",
"content": "Now, what possible reason could they have for not opening the source code for this. Unbelievable.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6392879",
... | 1,760,372,909.748988 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/mechanical-linkage-cad-for-everyone/ | Mechanical Linkage CAD For Everyone | Al Williams | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cad",
"Mechanisms",
"simulation"
] | As much as some of us don’t like it, building things for real requires some mechanical component. Maybe it is something as simple as an enclosure or even feet for a PCB, but unless you only write software or play with simulators, you’ll eventually have to build something. It is a slippery slope between drilling holes for a front panel and attempting to build things that move. Sometimes that’s as simple as a hinge and a spring, or maybe it is a full-blown robot articulated arm. That’s why [RectorSquid] built
Linkage
, a “program that lets you design and edit a two-dimensional mechanism and then simulate the movement of that mechanism” (that quote is from the
documentation
.
The program has had a few versions and is currently up past 3.15. To get an idea of the program’s capabilities, the first video below shows an older version simulating a ball lift. The second video shows the actual mechanism built from the design. The associated YouTube channel has more recent videos, too, showing a variety of simulations.
The software is for Windows and there is a different version to use if you still run Windows XP. The documentation says that it appears to run under Wine as well if you prefer to run it under Linux.
This isn’t going to replace a high-end CAD program’s analysis features. But the price is right and it looks straightforward to learn. If simulation saves you one false start on a project, it is worth more than the free price.
If you need some inspiration for simulations,
here are a few robot mechanisms
to try. If you want more — a lot more — check out
these videos
. | 32 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392843",
"author": "Saabman",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T02:40:59",
"content": "That’s quiet mesmerizing .Damn another project…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393213",
"author": "Nick Bodley",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,372,909.940194 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/oculus-go-vr-headset-gets-root-access-no-jailbreak-needed/ | Oculus Go VR Headset Gets Root Access, No Jailbreak Needed | Donald Papp | [
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"jailbreak",
"Oculus",
"root access",
"vr"
] | The Oculus Go, Facebook’s first generation standalone VR headset, hit the market back in 2018
but it’s taken until now for owners to get an official unlocked OS build
. The release was hinted at by former Oculus CTO John Carmack in a recent Tweet as
something he had been pushing for years
. This opens the hardware completely, allowing root access without the need for an unofficial jailbreak.
Oculus Go headset [image:
WikiMedia Commons
]
The
Oculus Go
is Android-based and has specifications that are not exactly cutting edge by VR standards, especially since head tracking is limited to three degrees of freedom (DoF). This makes it best suited to seated applications like media consumption. That said, it’s still a remarkable amount of integrated hardware that can be available for a low price on the secondary market. Official support for the Go ended in December 2020, and the ability to completely unlock the device is a positive step towards rescuing the hardware from semi-hoarded tech junk piles where it might otherwise simply gather dust.
When phone-based VR went the way of the dodo, millions of empty headsets went obsolete with it for a variety of reasons
, but at least this way perfectly-good (if dated) hardware might still get some use in clever projects. Credit where credit is due; opening up root access to old but still perfectly functional hardware is the right thing to do, and it’s nice to see it happening. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392799",
"author": "ScriptGiddy",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T00:09:55",
"content": "Any applications? Didn’t know support ended, but I’ve still got mine :) always thought it would be a cool POV drone controller.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,909.873391 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/building-a-devils-toothpaste-rocket-motor/ | Building A Devil’s Toothpaste Rocket Motor | Lewin Day | [
"Science"
] | [
"devil's toothpaste",
"elephant's toothpaste",
"hydrogen peroxide",
"rocket"
] | When it comes to weird and wacky homebrew rocket experiments, [Integza] keeps himself fairly busy. He’s now attempted a design repurposing Devil’s Toothpaste
for propulsion.
Devil’s Toothpaste is really the same as the famous
Elephant Toothpaste experiment,
just executed with higher concentration hydrogen peroxide. In this case, [Integza] is using 50% hydrogen peroxide combined with potassium permanganate as a catalyst. When the two are combined, the hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water, which [Integza] uses here to propel a skateboard.
The potassium permanganate catalyst is impregnated into 3D printed porous ceramic parts. The peroxide is then injected into this matrix via a compressed air mechanism, where it decomposes, creating a jet of water and oxygen that then blasts out of a 3D printed rocket nozzle to generate thrust.
It works surprisingly well, even if it’s a messy and unconventional way to build a rocket. It’s also a lot less fiery than most of
[Integza]’s previous projects
. Video after the break. | 25 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392708",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T20:35:36",
"content": "He’s still trying to use plastic for parts that need to be metal, like the nozzle mounting flange. His efforts with 3D printed ceramics would work much better if he’d fire a glaze onto them to elim... | 1,760,372,910.001592 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/smokeless-burn-barrel-makes-your-backyard-fire-much-cleaner/ | Smokeless Burn Barrel Makes Your Backyard Fire Much Cleaner | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"barrel",
"burn barrel",
"fire"
] | Old 55-gallon drums are often repurposed into fire barrels with the simple addition of a few holes cut into the walls. Generally, they’re fit enough for purpose but can have a very smoky output, particularly when overloaded. However, this design from [Building Stuff Is Fun] combines two drums into one to create a barrel that burns far more efficiently
with less smoke!
(Video, embedded below.)
Note the vent holes feeding oxygen to the fire just before the barrel outlet.
Through some clever cuts and folding of steel, a single burn barrel is created from the original two that helps eliminate smoke entirely, through two clever design features. First of all, plentiful air is provided to the fire thanks to the intakes at the bottom of the barrel. Secondly, the barrel-in-barrel design, paired with some smart vents, helps provide fresh air to the fire just before it leaves the barrel. This extra oxygen supply helps create secondary combustion at the outlet which burns up all the matter that would normally be passed out as smoke.
The design involves a lot more work than just hacking some holes in an old drum, but the results are undeniably impressive. The output of the smokeless burn barrel looks far hotter and cleaner. We’ve seen similar designs
used to supply workshop heat, too
. Video after the break. | 80 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392653",
"author": "lurch",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T18:36:33",
"content": "Years ago one of my cousins made and tried to produce a burn barrel that was also collapsible that after startup produced a smokeless burn. It was a simple design using directed louvers and a hinge pin setu... | 1,760,372,910.11453 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/going-forward-to-the-land-technology-for-permaculture/ | Going Forward To The Land: Technology For Permaculture | Jenny List | [
"green hacks",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"farming",
"green hacking",
"permaculture"
] | It’s usual for a Hackaday scribe to read hundreds of web pages over a typical week as we traverse the world in search of the good stuff to bring you. Sometimes they’re obvious Hackaday stories but as you’ll all no doubt understand we often end up on wild tangents learning about stuff we never expected to be excited about. Thus it was last week that I happened upon a GQ piece
charting the dwindling remains
of the communes set up in rural California by hippies during the counterculture years.
With only a few ageing residents who truly embraced the back-to-the-land dream remaining, these adventurously-designed home-made houses are gently decaying into the forest. It’s a disappearing world, but it’s also close to home for me as someone who crew up on a self-sufficiency smallholding in the 1970s. My parents may not have been hippies in the way those of everyone else in that scene at the time seemed to be, but I learned all my curiosity and hacking skills in the many opportunities presented to a small child by an unruly combination of small farm and metalworking business. There’s part of me that would build a hippy home in a Californian forest in a heartbeat, and throw myself with gusto into subsistence vegetable growing to get me through each winter.
Should Nixie Clocks And Retrocomputers Give Way To Farming Robots?
We’ll save the petunias for Douglas Adams. Dandy1022,
CC BY-SA 4.0
.
So fresh from musing on hippy utopias and rose-tinted reminiscing,
a Tweet from [Mara¹]
struck a chord. They asked “
So which hacker con is going to be first to offer workshops in woodworking and horticulture?
“. Woodworking should be right on-message, but
horticulture
?
While at first sight the idea of gardening at a hacker camp seems unlikely, I think I’m right in understanding that their point lay not in the best technique for potting out the petunias, but in permaculture skills. In effect, hacking the environment to grow plants whether for food or not, and therein lies a huge range of crossover with a hacker camp, as well as with the self-sufficiency side of my upbringing and those aged hippies in California.
When your summers growing up are spent running wild and barefoot in the Oxfordshire countryside, you take for granted the things that you learn and it’s only later that you find it’s not that common to be able to milk a cow, deliver a calf, make hay, or extend the growing season and pick the right varieties to have home-grown fruit and vegetables year round in the soggy British climate. Perhaps they have a point, and should our community be applying more of its skills towards permaculture hacks and less towards technology for its own sake? Perhaps this is best expressed not in terms of going back to the land to live the life of an 18th century subsistence farmer, but going
forward
to it, and helping create a future where technology is an integral part of successful permaculture.
Paging through a week of Hackaday articles it’s pleasing to see that you, the community we cover, are as inventive as you’ve ever been. Hackaday articles cover a varied range of fascinating hacks that captivate us who spend our days under the sign of the Wrencher, and we hope they do for you too. But it’s true, not many hacker takes on permaculture come our way. Is that because not much of interest is happening in that field? We don’t think so, more likely is that the really interesting projects either aren’t being documented online or appear in communities that don’t (yet) intersect with ours. We’d like to see more
agricultural robots
maybe like the
FarmBot
in the header image, and
smallholding automation
. We think you might too. Should our community turn its thoughts forward to the land? As always, the comments are open. | 34 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392623",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T17:11:37",
"content": "“Sometimes they’re obvious Hackaday stories but as you’ll all no doubt understand we often end up on wild tangents learning about stuff we never expected to be excited about. ”I often wish the “Not a Hack!” p... | 1,760,372,910.191872 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/quit-hunching-over-your-screen-with-a-little-robotic-help/ | Quit Hunching Over Your Screen With A Little Robotic Help | Dave Rowntree | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"MPU-6050",
"robotics",
"servo"
] | [Norbert Zare] has identified a problem many of us suffer from – chronically bad posture. Its very common to see computer users hunched forwards over a screen, which eventually will lead to back problems. He mentions that most posture correction devices are pretty boring, so the obvious solution to [Norbert] was to build
a simple robot to give you a friendly nudge
into the correct position.
This simple Arduino-based build uses the ubiquitous
MPU-6050
which provides 3-axis acceleration and 3-axis gyro data all processed on-chip, so it can measure where you’re going, which way you are orientated and how fast you are rotating. This is communicated via the I
2
C bus, so hooking into an Arduino or Raspberry Pi is a simple affair. There are plenty of Open Source libraries to work with this very common device, which helps reduce the learning curve for those unfamiliar with programming a fairly complex device.
At the moment, he is mounting the sensor on his body, and hard-wiring it, so there’s already some scope for improvement there. The operating premise is simple, if the body angle is more than 55 degrees off vertical, move the servos and shove the body back in to the correct position.
The
project GitHub has the code needed
, and the
project page over on Hackaday.io
shows the wiring diagram.
We have seen quite a few projects on this subject over the years, like this
one that sends you mobile notifications
,
an ultrasonic rangefinder-based device
, and one that even uses
a webcam to keep an eye on you
. This one has the silliness-factor, and we like that round these parts. Keep an eye on [Norbert] we’re sure there more good stuff to come! | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392363",
"author": "Fyllyx",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T23:17:31",
"content": "LoL, I like it.Kept expecting it to slap him",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6392378",
"author": "Ahron Wayne",
"timestamp": "2021-1... | 1,760,372,910.233703 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/building-a-hammer-powered-by-gunpowder/ | Building A Hammer Powered By Gunpowder | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"blank",
"blank cartridges",
"gunpowder",
"hammer"
] | Hammers are pretty straightforward tools. If you need more impact force, just get a bigger hammer. Alternatively, you can look at enhancing performance with chemical means, and we don’t mean by using steroids. No, instead, you can try hammering with the aid of gunpowder,
and [i did a thing] has done just that.
The build relies on using 6.8mm blank cartridges designed for the Ramset brand of explosive nail drivers. However, rather than buying such a tool off the shelf, [i did a thing] built one in a traditional hammer format instead. The device looks like a hammer, with a hinge on the two-piece head, which allows a blank cartridge to be placed inside. When the hammer is swung at a hard surface, the impact triggers the blank which drives the nail forward with incredible force.
[i did a thing] was able to pierce steel with the device, and sent a nail clean through a surfboard, too. It’s a very dangerous thing, so if you’re
experimenting in this space
, do be careful. Video after the break. | 24 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392324",
"author": "drenehtsral",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T20:09:30",
"content": "I built a little toy cannon that shoots plastic airsoft pellets using these same RamSet blanks and it will happily hurl a 6mm plastic pellet through thin sheet steel. It makes a satisfying “bang” too... | 1,760,372,910.289167 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/labyrinthian-circuit-sculpture-evokes-moods-with-sound-and-light/ | Labyrinthian Circuit Sculpture Evokes Moods With Sound And Light | Ryan Flowers | [
"Art"
] | [
"art",
"circuit art",
"Circuit Sculpture",
"ESP32",
"lm380"
] | In a famous letter penned by Victorian era author Oscar Wilde, he wrote:
“Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or to influence action in any way. It is superbly sterile, and the note of its pleasure is sterility.”
We can’t help but wonder if [Eirik Brandal] was evoking such Wilde thoughts when he wrote to tell us about
ddrysfeöd
, an electronic sound and light sculpture which he called “uselessly applied electronics.” Given the mood created by the video below the break, we have to agree that it is indeed quite artful. But if it serves a purpose to inspire and cause wonderment, is it really useless? Let the philosophers philosophize. On to the hack!
[Eirik] was himself inspired by mazes such as those found in children’s activity books and magazines whose goal is to keep a child
busy
challenged by drawing a solid line from start to finish. With these in mind, [Eirik] constructed ddrysfeöd as an intricate entanglement of electronics, metal, clear and mirrored acrylic, and plated steel, all flung into a three dimensional vortex.
ddrysfeöd is at home evoking moods in the light as well as the dark.
LED’s of red and white oscillate in time with each other. Orchestrating the multimedia symphony is an ESP32, with one core relegated to dealing with the mundane functions of the sculpture while the other waves its electronic wand to keep the ensemble suitably arranged. LED’s are bored into the base, and the acrylic is sanded on the edges to diffuse the supplied light. The electronics run on the usual +5 V, but a +12 V power supply gives volume to the LM380 audio amplifier. We also appreciated that [Eirik] expanded his skills on this project by using Sketchup to plan out the project, even printing the patterns for cutting and drilling the acrylic glass.
If [Eirik]’s build style looks familiar, it may be because you’ve seen it here on Hackaday’s Circuit Sculpture Contest,
where some of his work was named Most Beautiful
. You can also feast your eyes on a
BEAM bot inspired pummer in the shape of a satellite
. And remember, if you run across something that presses your buttons, let us know via the
Tip Line
! | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392296",
"author": "x14km2d",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T19:00:34",
"content": "So beautiful. I love it. <3",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6392298",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T19:04:00",
"content": "It... | 1,760,372,910.331298 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/tech-in-plain-sight-glucose-meters/ | Tech In Plain Sight: Glucose Meters | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interest",
"Medical Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"diabetes",
"glucose",
"glucose meter"
] | If you or someone you know is diabetic, it is a good bet that a glucose meter is a regular fixture in your life. They are cheap and plentiful, but they are actually reasonably high tech — well, at least parts of them are.
The meters themselves don’t seem like much, but that’s misleading. A battery, a few parts, a display, and enough of a controller to do things like remember readings appears to cover it all. You wouldn’t be surprised, of course, that you can get the whole affair “
on a chip
.” But it turns out, the real magic is in the test strip and getting a good reading from a strip requires more metrology than you would think. A common meter requires a precise current measurement down to 10nA. The reading has to be adjusted for temperature, too. The device is surprisingly complex for something that looks like a near-disposable piece of consumer gear.
Of course, there are announcements all the time about new technology that won’t require
a needle stick
. So far, none of those have really caught on for one reason or another, but that, of course, could change. GlucoWatch G2, for example, was a watch that could read blood glucose, but — apparently — was unable to cope with perspiration.
Even the meters that continuously monitor still work in more or less the same way as the cheap meters. As Hackaday’s Dan Maloney detailed a few years back,
continuous glucose monitors leave a tiny sensor under your skin and measure fluid in your body
, not necessarily blood. But the way the sensor works is usually the same.
For the purposes of this article, I’m only going to talk about the traditional meter: you insert a test strip, prick your finger, and let the test strip soak up a little bit of blood.
Two Different Kinds
Typical inexpensive glucose meter
However you slice it, the real magic is in the test strips. However, how you measure the strip can vary. By far the most common way is to use an amplifier to read the very small currents. However, you can also use precise LEDs and a photodiode — this also requires a very precise current reading, an extra chemical, and precise timing, so you don’t see optical-based meters very often today. The exception is that there are test strips that you can read by simply looking at the color of the strip. This isn’t very accurate, but it is inexpensive and convenient. For most people, the exact blood sugar reading isn’t necessarily as important as knowing if it is normal, high, or very high, for example, so eyeballing the color off a strip is sometimes adequate.
The usual test strip uses a chemical to react to the blood sample. Each strip type can be different, using a different chemical reaction or a different number of electrodes. However, there are a few common elements.
First, the strip will use some sort of enzyme that will react with the glucose in the sample and produce something you can detect electronically. Glucose oxidase is the most common choice, although there are other similar enzymes like glucose dehydrogenase nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide or glucose dehydrogenase flavin adenine dinucleotide.
The picture below shows two different brands of strips with and without the covers that hide all the workings. Blood enters on the left and the right side has contacts that connect to the meter.
The top and bottom test strips have had their internal structure exposed.
If you have to stick your finger with a needle several times a day, you get pretty sensitized to how big that needle is. Over time, blood glucose meters have become more and more sensitive so they require less blood. Less blood means you can use a thinner needle and maybe not set it to go so deep. Anything that can reduce the amount of blood required per test is going to help sell meters to patients. A state-of-the-art meter today might use as little as 300 picoliters of blood. A hungry mosquito will take about 10 microliters, so 300 picoliters is a very tiny amount indeed. In general, capillary action draws a known amount of blood into the strip after you stick your finger.
Cells
A strip may have more than one cell for different purposes. For example, one cell may simply detect that blood arrived at the location, implying that the previous cell should offer a valid reading. Each cell will have at least a pair of electrodes. In some cases, a cell will have more than two electrodes and, in that case, the meter will apply a bias current to one electrode. This increases complexity but can provide a better result.
Some meters elect to measure the total electric charge produced by the chemical reaction. Others measure the charge at a particular time in the reaction and use that to deduce the total.
The test strips, by the way, are where all the money is made since they are disposable. Just like Radio Shack used to give away flashlights to sell batteries, glucose meters are often given away free or sold at very low prices, knowing that you will then need to buy a steady supply of strips to make the meter useful.
Coding
Most meters today don’t require coding, but this was common in the past. Different batches of test strips would have different characteristics, so you’d need to enter a code from the strips into the meter to get accurate readings. If you are hardcore, you can also get calibration solutions to test the accuracy of the meter.
Some meters will use test strips that communicate their code to the meter automatically. This might be via some mechanism on the strip or in the container used for a container of strips. While some test strips may have a cell dedicated to calibration, most strips are now simply produced to a tight tolerance so that the coding can be easily automated by either using a single calibration constant or by detecting one of a few constants using a simple connection on the strip.
High Tech Everywhere
The technology behind these sensors is relatively recent. The original work dates back to the late 1950s with practical sensors similar to what you see today showing up in the early 1960s. However, the amount of blood required, the accuracy, and — of course — all the microcontroller whiz-bang features have improved over the last half a dozen decades. It is amazing, though, that even after this many years, there hasn’t been a better way found to noninvasively measure blood glucose.
If I asked you to go to the drugstore and pick up a nanoammeter, you probably wouldn’t have guessed to go to the diabetic testing section. I am somewhat surprised we don’t see more of these meters — or the chips made to drive them — hacked into other instruments although we have seen at least one
repurpose some of the electrochemical circuitry
. Meanwhile, we are still waiting for the
noninvasive glucose monitoring system
we keep hearing about. | 27 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392266",
"author": "Don Latham",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T17:14:52",
"content": "The test strips now cost approximately $1.00 each; they are a cash cow just as is the insulin. My endocrinologist claims they are a whopping +- 20% accurate. Any attempt to break into this monopoly ... | 1,760,372,910.550257 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/refining-the-greatest-joystick-of-the-1980s/ | Refining The Greatest Joystick Of The 1980s | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"3D printed parts",
"Joystick",
"retrocomputing",
"retrogaming"
] | The Competition Pro joystick is often considered to be the pinnacle of input devices, at least as far as the 1980s gaming goes. But the design isn’t perfect, and time hasn’t been kind to certain aspects of its mechanism. For example, the large rubber disc used to keep the stick centered on early generations of the hardware will invariably be hardened up on any surviving specimens. Looking to return these classic controllers to their former glory, and then some,
[mageb] has released a number of 3D printed modifications for the Competition Pro
that should be of great interest to the vintage gamer.
The new microswitches
First and foremost is the deletion of the original rubber disc for a new spring mechanism. Even if this is the only modification you do, [mageb] says you’ll already have a better and longer-lasting joystick to show for it. But if you want to continue with the full rebuild, be aware that there’s no going back to stock. Once you start cutting the original parts, you’re committed to taking it all the way.
Assuming you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, the next step is cutting the metal contacts from the bottom of the face buttons so they’ll work with the new microswitch array he’s designed. Each button gets its switch, and four handle movement of the joystick. You can try out different switches to adjust the feel of the joystick, but [mageb] assures us that he’s already done the research and put the best quality switches in the bill of materials.
The end result is a Competition Pro joystick that looks more or less the same from the outside, but is considerably improved internally.
That’s always a win in our books
, though we’re sure
somebody
out there is going to get mad that the brittle old rubber disc wasn’t sent to the Smithsonian. | 24 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392243",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T15:56:10",
"content": "If you want to restore a rubber part (assuming it’s not badly damaged already) try soaking it in brake fluid over night. I picked this tip up from some motorcycle restoration folks, it’s worked well the cou... | 1,760,372,910.390651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/know-audio-it-all-depends-on-the-dac/ | Know Audio: It All Depends On The DAC | Jenny List | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Musical Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"audio",
"audio dac",
"dac",
"know audio"
] | Our trip through the world of audio technology has taken us step-by step from your ears into a typical home Hi-Fi system. We’ve seen the speakers and the amplifier, now it’s time to take a look at what feeds that amplifier.
Here, we encounter the first digital component in our journey outwards from the ear, the Digital to Analogue Converter, or DAC. This circuit, which you’ll find as an integrated circuit, takes the digital information and turns it into the analogue voltage required by the amplifier.
There are many standards for digital audio, but in this context that used by the CD is most common. CDs sample audio at 44.1 kHz 16 bit, which is to say they express the level as a 16-bit number 44100 times per second for each of the stereo channels. There’s an electrical standard called i2s for communicating this data, consisting of a serial data line, a clock line, and an LRclock line that indicates whether the current data is for the left or the right channel.
We covered i2s in detail back in 2019
, and should you peer into almost any consumer digital audio product you’ll find it somewhere.
Making A DAC Is Easy. Making A Good DAC, Not So Much.
The Philips i2s to parallel converter.
Remembering that i2s is a technology from the end of the 1970s, it’s a surprisingly simple one to create a DAC for. The original Philips specification document contains a circuit using shift registers and latches to capture the samples, which can be fed to a simple resistor ladder and filter to perform the conversion. This is an effective way to turn digital to analogue, but as with every audio component it carries with it a level of distortion.
If you look at the output of any DAC in the frequency domain rather than the time domain, you’ll find noise along with the spectrum of whatever signal it is processing. For instance, the sampling frequency will be there, as will a multitude of spurious mixer products derived from it and the signal. In an audio DAC all this out-of-band noise can manifest itself as distortion.
The problem faced by audio DAC designers is that the sampling frequency is relatively close to the signal frequency, so while the low-pass filter does its best to remove the offending spectrum, it has a difficult job. As an example back in 2020 we took a look at
the CampZone 2020 badge
, an audio playground that used a very cheap DAC to keep costs down. The
Shenzhen Titan TM8211 i2s DAC
is a single-chip implementation of something close to that Philips DAC circuit, and while it boasts an impressively low price, the noise is clearly audible on its output in a way that it wouldn’t be on a more expensive chip.
Shifting The Problem Upwards For A Better Sound
The Philips TDA1541 was the archetypal oversampling DAC of the late 1980s and 1990s. Cjp24,
CC BY-SA 3.0
.
The solution found by the DAC designers of the 1980s and 1990s was to move that out-of-band noise up in frequency such that it could be more efficiently rejected by the filter. If you remember CD players years ago boasting “oversampling”, “Bitstream”, or “1-bit DAC”, these referred to the development of more advanced DAC designs that performed the shift upwards in out-of-band noise frequency by various different techniques. At the time this was a hotly contested marketing war between manufacturers as a CD player was seen as a premium device, from a position three decades later when a CD is something that has to be explained to children who have never seen one.
All of these are essentially sigma-delta DACs, and they approach the problem of moving the out-of-band noise upwards by producing pulse chains at a high multiple of the sample clock where the number of pulses corresponds to the value of the sample being converted. By sampling with lower resolution, but much faster, the associated out of band noise is shifted much higher up the frequency range, which makes the job of separating it out from the signal much easier. It can be decoded into an analogue signal by means of a fairly straightforward low-pass filter. These are the “Bitstream” and “1-bit” DACs advertised on those 1990s CD players, and what was once the bleeding edge of audio technology is now commonplace.
A Good DAC Can’t Compensate For A Poor Source
Although a good DAC makes a huge contribution to audio quality, we’ve assumed that the digital data comes from a source without much compression, such as a CD. CDs are now no longer mainstream, and the data is much more likely to have come from a compressed source such as an MP3 file or an audio streaming service. Compression is a topic in itself, but it’s worth making the point that the quality of the audio expressed on the data stream reflects the characteristics of the compression algorithm used, and no matter how good the DAC may be it can not make up for the quality of its source.
This series will return for its next installment, where we’ll address the concerns of the vinyl and tape aficionados who were screaming at the assumption that there would be a DAC in the signal chain. While once-dominant analogue audio formats such as the LP record and the cassette tape may now command a fraction of the market they once had, their rediscovery in recent years has led to a minor resurgence in their popularity. It’s still by no means unusual for a high-end audio system to have analogue source components, so they are very much worth a look. | 29 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392232",
"author": "h2odragon",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T15:06:59",
"content": "A DAC with low clock jitter is a rare treasure",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6392250",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2021-10-... | 1,760,372,910.618202 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/kicad-team-releases-warning-regarding-domain-name/ | KiCad Team Releases Warning Regarding Domain Name | Jim Heaney | [
"News"
] | [
"domain names",
"domain squatting",
"KiCAD"
] | On October 19th, [Seth_h] from the KiCad Project posted on the KiCad forums that the project’s original domain name
kicad-pcb.org
has been unexpectedly sold to a third party, and
urged members of the community to avoid any links to this old website
.
KiCad has used the domain
kicad-pcb.org
since 2012 as the official source for information on and downloads of their popular open-source electronics design software. Unfortunately, the original domain name was purchased before KiCad was formalized as an organization, so it was not directly under their control. This all came to head when the old domain name was unexpectedly sold to an unnamed third party that was not affiliated with the project. Currently, the old domain is just a website covered in ads, but the KiCad team fears that it may be used maliciously in the future.
With KiCad’s popularity, thousands of tutorials, articles, and project guides over the years have included links to the old KiCad domain. A Google search in October 2021 found more than 19,000 instances of the old domain spread across the internet. [Seth_h] has called upon the community to make every effort possible to update old links, reducing the chance that people stumble across the wrong website.
[Editor’s Note: We think we got ’em all, let us know if we missed any.]
Luckily, Digikey has swooped in to help save the day. They purchased a new domain,
kicad.org
, from squatters and donated it to the KiCad Project. (
Update:
Digi-key donated the KiCad.org domain
back in October
of 2020
after noticing fishy squatters
going back to at least 2016) [Seth_h] explains in his post that a number of safeguards have been put in place to prevent this from happening in the future, including not having the domain name owned by a single person, and having all KiCad trademarks registered to the Linux Foundation.
There’s a good reason why KiCad has gotten so popular, it is packed full of great features for PCB design. Check out our coverage of some of the
new features we are most excited for in KiCad 6.0 here
. | 23 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392205",
"author": "SwAkE",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T13:25:37",
"content": "Fellow (D)NS server and black list managers: please sink all resolution requests to the old kicad-pcb.org domain in a deeeeep hole. Something along 127.0.0.1 would be very appropriate.(Pi-hole, uBlack origi... | 1,760,372,910.694722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/spinning-threads-put-the-bite-on-filament-in-this-novel-extruder-design/ | Spinning Threads Put The Bite On Filament In This Novel Extruder Design | Dan Maloney | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"extruder",
"hot end",
"spinning",
"stepper",
"thread"
] | When it comes to innovation in FDM 3D printing, there doesn’t seem to be much room left to move the needle. Pretty much everything about filament printing has been reduced to practice, with more or less every assembly available off the shelf. Even the business end — the extruder — is so optimized that there’s not much room left for innovation.
Or is there? The way [David Leitner] sees it, there is, which is why he built
this rolling-screw extruder
(if you can get to the Thingiverse link, [David]
cross-posted on reddit, too
). Standard extruders work on the pinch-roller principle, where the relatively soft filament is fed past a spring-loaded gear attached to a stepper motor. The stepper rotates the gear, which either advances the filament into or retracts it from the hot end. [David]’s design instead uses a trio of threaded rods mounted between two rings. The rods are at an angle relative to the central axis of the rings, forming a passage that’s just the right size for the filament to fit in. When the rings spin, the threads on the rods engage with the filament, gripping it around its whole circumference and advancing or retracting it depending on which way it’s spinning. The video below shows it working; we have to admit it’s pretty mesmerizing to watch.
[David] himself admits there’s not much advantage to it, perhaps other than a lower tendency to skip since the force is spread over the entire surface of the filament rather than just a small pinch point. Regardless, we like the kind of thinking that leads to something like this, and we’ll bet there are probably unseen benefits to it. And maybe the extruder actually is a place for innovation after all; witness
this modular nozzle swapping system
.
Thanks again to [BaldPower] for the tip. | 29 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392180",
"author": "aamaco",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T11:39:55",
"content": "Another advantage: it’s about the coolest looking extruder I’ve ever seen.Also, it’s probably a lot easier to visually monitor extrusion rates.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,372,912.422798 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/audio-tape-interface-revives-microcassettes-as-storage-medium/ | Audio Tape Interface Revives Microcassettes As Storage Medium | Robin Kearey | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"analog",
"audio cassette",
"microcassette"
] | In the early 1980s cassette tapes were the standard storage medium for home computer users; readers of a certain age will remember fiddling with audio jacks, tape counters and signal levels, then waiting for several minutes while a program (hopefully) loaded correctly. While most people happily upgraded to much more reliable floppy disks, [Zack Nelson] decided to go back in time and add a suitably classic storage medium to a retrocomputing project, in the form of
a cassette interface
. The cassette player he had available was a Pearlcorder L400, which uses the smaller microcassette instead of the familiar audio tapes used in your Walkman or boombox.
[Zack] designed the entire thing from the ground up: first he decided to use differential Manchester encoding, which provides immunity against common disturbances like speed variations (which cause wow and flutter). The data is encoded in the frequency range from 1 kHz to 2 kHz, which suits the bandwidth of the cassette player. Next, he designed the interface between the computer and the tape recorder; built from an op-amp and a comparator with a handful of discrete components, it filters the incoming signal and clips it to provide a clean digital signal to be read out directly by the computer.
The system is demonstrated by hooking it up to an Arduino Nano, which reads out the data stream at about 3000 baud. The noise it makes should bring back memories to anyone brought up with the “PRESS PLAY ON TAPE” message; if it inspires you to make your own, we’re happy to report that full schematics and source code are available. [Zack] is not the first one to make his own cassette interface; we’ve seen a somewhat
more complicated analog design
before, as well as
one based on an FPGA
. | 37 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392153",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T08:34:33",
"content": "I don’t understand. Why do people want to re-invent the 80s? Sure, it was a time of great change. But the changes were all transitional, and things got even better, LATER.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,372,912.805822 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/flickering-jack-o-lantern-is-an-easy-beginner-build/ | Flickering Jack O’ Lantern Is An Easy Beginner Build | Lewin Day | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"halloween",
"jack-o-lanterns"
] | The Jack o’ Lantern is a fun Halloween tradition, though one that does come with a few risks. It’s pretty easy to slice off a bit of finger when carving a stiff pumpkin, and candles draw more enmity from fire crews than most household items. For the electronics beginner looking for a learning project, [Oyvind’s] build
might be a nice safe bet
.
The build starts with a 3D-printed pumpkin figurine with a suitably spooky face, though [Oyvind] notes there’s nothing stopping this project from being executed with a real orange gourd instead. Inside, an Arduino is hooked up to a trio of orange LEDs. They’re attached to PWM pins and each is given a random brightness value at regular intervals to create a pleasant flickering effect.
It’s a very simple project, but it’s also the kind of thing that’s perfect for introducing new people into the world of electronics. There’s little to get wrong, and mistakes aren’t costly, making it an ideal project for beginners. From there,
the sky really is the limit
! Video after the break. | 8 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392278",
"author": "Taylor H",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T18:07:07",
"content": "I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that the flickering LED candles use a pre-set flicker pattern that was recorded from real candles because they found that purely random flickering wasn’t “rea... | 1,760,372,912.264563 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/sign-detects-rf-to-show-you-are-on-the-air/ | Sign Detects RF To Show You Are On The Air | Al Williams | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"edge lighting",
"edge-lit",
"ham radio",
"on the air",
"on the air sign"
] | Like a lot of hams, [Stuart] wanted an “on the air” sign. These signs often connect to a PTT switch or maybe an output from the transmitter that also does things like switches antennas or switches in an amplifier. [Stuart’s] version, though, simply senses the radio frequency emissions from the transmitter and
lights up that way
. You can see two videos about the sign, below.
Honestly, we are a little worried that he might have too much RF at his operating position. Presumably, the device is pretty sensitive, especially if there’s any actual antenna on the sign. A comparator and a pot let you set the sensitivity so it doesn’t light up when your garage door opens.
The sign itself looks great thanks to a laser cutter. LEDs light up the entire sign in either red for on the air or another color for receiving operations. The acrylic sign is edge-lit which gives it a very nice effect.
We always enjoy
edge-lit projects
. Reasonably simple to do, and the effect looks great. If you have a laser cutter, you can get some very professional-looking results. If you are interested in the
FT8 communication mode
, we’ve talked about it before. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392109",
"author": "Scoldog",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T02:12:13",
"content": "I just got one of these for $20 from my local electronics storehttps://www.zavvi.com.au/gift-home-office/on-air-light/13030328.html?affil=thggpsad&switchcurrency=AUD&shippingcountry=AU&&thg_ppc_campaign=7... | 1,760,372,912.214946 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/the-calls-are-coming-from-inside-the-house-or-workshop/ | The Calls Are Coming From Inside The House (or Workshop) | Kristina Panos | [
"classic hacks",
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"audio transfomrer",
"lantern battery",
"telephone"
] | Hot on the heels of their carbon microphone build a few years ago,
[Simplifier] strung up a two-phone network between the house and the workshop
. Both telephones are completely DIY except for the pair of switches on the front. Each side has a bell, a microphone, and an audio transformer. Listening is done through a pair of headphones, and both users speak through a homebrew carbon microphone.
We particularly love the bell, which is made from fence post caps. Sitting between the bells and ready to strike is a ball bearing mounted on a really thick piece of wire that’s driven by an electromagnet. To make a call, you use both switches — the one on the left pulls either the bell or the microphone to ground, while the switch on the
left
right is used momentarily to send 6 V from the lantern battery down the 50 ft. line to the other phone to ring it. You’ll see what we mean in the demo video after the break. Check out the sound of those fence post caps!
[Simplifier] wound an audio transformer that provides the necessary impedance matching to use regular headphones as receivers. Since
the homebrew microphones
only need 1.5 V, [Simplifier] split the voltage across two carbon contacts placed in series. That’s still more than necessary, but [Simplifier] was able to make it work.
More recently, [Simplifier] has built
a beautiful and even better carbon microphone
and even hosted a back-to-basics
Hack Chat
.
Thanks for the tip, [Kyerohtaron]! | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392077",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T00:03:44",
"content": "1876 all over again!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6392082",
"author": "Unfocused",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T00:15:48",
"content": "2 left ... | 1,760,372,912.360778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/esp32-clock-pushes-outrun-graphics-over-composite/ | ESP32 Clock Pushes Outrun Graphics Over Composite | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"composite video",
"ESP32",
"Outrun",
"vaporwave"
] | We’ve covered plenty of clocks powered by the ESP32, but this one from [Marcio Teixeira] is really something special. Rather than driving a traditional physical display, the microcontroller is instead
generating a composite video signal of an animated digital clock
. This could be fed into whatever device you wish, but given the 80’s synthwave style it’s pumping out, you’ll probably want to find a suitably retro CRT to do it justice.
Specifically this is a variant of the “Dali” clock, where each digit seems to melt and morph into its successor. Though his version doesn’t necessarily share code with all the previous iterations, [Marcio] does credit the developers who have pulled off similar visual tricks going all the way back to 1979. Given the vintage of this particular animation, the neon skyline and infinite scrolling grid certainly feel like a perfect fit.
Want to add a little vaporwave vibe to your own workbench? Assuming you’ve already got a 80s style CRT, all you need is an ESP32 and two wires stuck into the composite video port. One goes to ground, and the other goes to the chip’s analog pin. Once everything is powered up, you’ll be able to configure the clock with a web-based interface. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
In the documentation, [Marcio] calls out a few open source projects which were instrumental to getting his clock off the ground.
The pioneering work [bitluni] did
to get video out of the ESP32 is something of a given, but he also sends a hat tip to
[rossumur] for his collection of 8-bit game console emulators
written for the microcontroller. Projects like this are a fantastic example of what’s possible when a community works together to truly push the envelope. | 24 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392031",
"author": "Danjovic",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T20:48:17",
"content": "Awesome!!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6392039",
"author": "hackshack",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T21:13:47",
"content": "This is mag... | 1,760,372,912.733217 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/turning-old-masks-into-3d-printer-filament/ | Turning Old Masks Into 3D Printer Filament | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"green hacks"
] | [
"Covid-19",
"filament extruder",
"Filastruder",
"masks",
"pandemic",
"personal protective equipment"
] | Disposable masks have been a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for all the good they’ve done, their disposal represents a monumental ecological challenge that has largely been ignored in favor of more immediate concerns. What exactly are we supposed to do with the hundreds of billions of masks that are used once or twice and then thrown away?
If the research being conducted at the University of Bristol’s Design and Manufacturing Futures Lab
is any indication, at least
some
of those masks might get a second chance at life as a 3D printed object. Noting that the ubiquitous blue disposable mask is made up largely of polypropylene and not paper as most of us would assume, the team set out to determine if they could process the masks in such a way that they would end up with a filament that could be run through a standard 3D printer. While there’s still some fine tuning to be done, the results so far are exceptionally impressive; especially as it seems the technique is well within the means of the hobbyist.
From masks to usable filament.
The first step in the process, beyond removing the elastic ear straps and any metal strip that might be in the nose, is to heat a stack of masks between two pieces of non-stick paper with a conventional iron. This causes the masks to melt together, and turn into a solid mass that’s much easier to work with. These congealed masks were then put through a consumer-grade blender to produce the fine polypropylene granules that’re suitable for extrusion.
Mounted vertically, the open source Filastruder takes a hopper-full of polypropylene and extrudes it into a 1.75 mm filament. Or at least, that’s the idea. The team notes that the first test run of filament only had an average diameter of 1.5 mm, so they’re modifying the nozzle and developing a more powerful feed mechanism to get closer to the goal diameter. Even still, by cranking up the extrusion multiplier in the slicing software, the team was able to successfully print objects using the thin polypropylene filament.
This is only-during-a-pandemic recycling, and we’re very excited to see this concept developed further. The team notes that the extrusion temperature of 260 °C (500 °F) is far beyond what’s necessary to kill the COVID-19 virus, though if you planned on attempting this with used masks, we’d imagine they would need to be washed regardless. If the hacker and maker community were able to use their 3D printers to
churn out personal protective equipment (PPE) in the early days of the pandemic
, it seems only fitting that some of it could now be ground up and printed into something new. | 23 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391992",
"author": "Nathan",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T18:49:51",
"content": "What exactly are we supposed to do with the hundreds of billions of masks that are used once or twice and then thrown away?A better question might be how can you separate them from the waste stream. I’d ve... | 1,760,372,912.484374 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/vcf-east-roars-back-to-life/ | VCF East Roars Back To Life | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"Current Events",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrocomputing",
"Slider"
] | [
"VCF East 2021",
"Vintage Computer Festival",
"Vintage Computer Festival East"
] | It didn’t take long to realize that the
2021 Vintage Computer Festival East
— returning to the InfoAge Science and History Museum in Wall, New Jersey after being held virtually last year — was a massive success. In fact, the first clue came before I even got out of my car. When a volunteer came up to my window to apologetically explain that the primary parking lot was already full and I’d have to drive down the road to an overflow lot, there was no question about it; a whole lot of folks were more than ready to shake off those pandemic blues and get back to business.
They certainly picked a great event for it. While VCF East has always been a highlight of the East Coast hacker’s year, it was obvious things were really turned up to the max for this much-anticipated return to an in-person festival. With respect to all those involved in previous events, things just felt more cohesive and better organized this time around.
Veteran attendees I spoke to all felt like they were witnessing the event going through an evolutionary change into something bigger and better, while first time fliers were impressed with the buzz of activity and breadth of what was on display. In short, admiration for the event and the people working behind the scenes to make it possible was unanimous.
It’s simply not possible to adequately summarize a multi-day event like VCF East in a single post, so I won’t try to. This article, and the ones to follow it, serve only to document some of the highlights from my own personal time wandering through the sprawling InfoAge campus. Ultimately, there’s no real substitute for making the trip to Wall, NJ and experiencing this incredible event for yourself. But if that’s not an option for you, hopefully the following will give you a little taste of what the Vintage Computer Federation labors so hard over every year.
Evolution of the ENIAC
One of the benefits of going to an annual event like VCF East is that you occasionally get to see people’s passion projects develop over time. What might have been little more than a proof of concept when you first saw it could end up being the talk of the show two or three years down the line. Which is precisely how I felt when I came across the group of people crowded around Brian Stuart and his expanded ENIAC simulator.
When I last saw his project in 2018
, it took the form of a Raspberry Pi, a couple displays, and a 3D-printed hand controller modeled after the single close-up photograph Brian was able to find of the actual control units that operators would used at the time. But that was just on the physical level. In terms of software, he had already managed to simulate the ENIAC down to the individual electrical pulses that would have traveled through the gargantuan World War II computer. Rather than simply emulating the computer’s internal machinations and presenting the user with a high-level representation, his goal was always to create an open source model that demonstrates how the machine really operated.
Those goals haven’t changed, but the project has now moved into a new phase. With the simulation code essentially complete, Brian is now focusing on recreating the experience of using the ENIAC itself. With a considerably reduced footprint, of course. This year, that included a 3D-printed model of the complete computer at 1/10th scale. He’s also created a 1/8th scale model of four ENIAC accumulators, complete with fully functional LED displays that approximate the original’s blinkenlights.
Make no mistake, Brian’s project was already exceptionally impressive in 2018. But the addition of the new physical components of his display clearly resonated with the attendees at this year’s VCF, as people gathered around to marvel at his meticulous recreation. The takeaway for some might be about the importance of visual aids on a crowded show floor, but I was just glad to see his phenomenal work was getting the attention it deserves.
Local on the 8s
Events like VCF are also an excellent opportunity to see hardware that previously you were only able to admire from afar. For me, that meant getting to see the
WeatherSTAR 4000 that techknight lovingly brought back to life with easily some of the best reverse engineering work
to ever grace the pages of Hackaday. The machine was joined by several examples of similar weather-reporting devices in a group exhibit called
Smooth Jazz and Stormy Skies,
and each one of them was a fascinating look at the state-of-the-art in multimedia technology for their respective eras.
One of the particularly interesting elements of this display was an Arduino-controlled FSK encoder that’s able to produce the time and data signals necessary to control at least some variants of the WeatherSTAR. The device was connected to a pair of stock
WeatherSTAR Jrs — diminutive text-only terminals
that would likely have been marketed towards smaller markets that wanted basic functionality without the bells and whistles of the larger units. As the device relies on some closed source back-end code, techknight says he’s not sure he’ll be able to release the project in full, but does plan on documenting it in the future for those who are interested in his continuing quest to bend these iconic devices to his will.
Two text-only WeatherSTAR Jrs
An Arduino-based FSK encoder for WeatherSTAR
Spotting a Silicon Celebrity
At a nearby table I also came across the now legendary Cursed Mac, though to be honest, I didn’t actually recognize it at first. The extensively modified Macintosh SE was
stripped of its distinctive blacked out enclosure for its appearance at VCF East
, and instead was clad in an admittedly gorgeous transparent case.
Some mused whether such a drastic modification strips the Cursed Mac of its identity. After all, its amateurish paint job and the wildly contrasting colors of its optical and Zip drives are part of what earned it the moniker in the first place. But in the end, this is just the beginning of another chapter in the long and winding history of Theseus’ favorite computer.
Computational Diversity
As fascinating as the more targeted exhibits were, arguably the most exciting part of VCF is seeing the incredible array of computers and hardware on display each year. From one-of-a-kind devices to machines which were never meant to see the outside of a research laboratory, even the most knowledgeable and experienced retro-computer aficionado is guaranteed to see at least a few specimens that will be completely unknown to them.
This gallery shows some of the unique, rare, and downright beautiful pieces of vintage hardware that I saw during my time at VCF East, but is in no way an exhaustive record of what was on display.
Competitive Consignment
Now normally this would be the part of the post where I would show you all of the incredible things I saw for sale at VCF. But to be perfectly honest, by the time I managed to get to the greatly expanded consignment area on Saturday afternoon, things were pretty well picked clean. Granted it was something of a revolving door, with people dropping off more car loads of oddities as the day went on; but from what I was able to gather from others, Friday morning was really where you wanted to be for the best deals and selection.
I still enjoyed looking through what was left, and a few pieces even managed to find their way into the trunk of my car, but my advice for anyone looking to get their hands on some particular piece of kit is be there when the doors open up on Friday if at all possible. Or better yet,
keep an eye out for the next VCF Swap Meet
.
A Spring Fling
While this year’s Vintage Computer Festival East was held in October, historically it happens in May, right before things start to heat up at the Jersey Shore. Obviously COVID-19 made that date unworkable for 2021, so the decision was made early on to push it out to the Fall. While the number of cases is still a bit higher in the Northeast than VCF organizers (or anyone, for that matter) had probably hoped for, the move certainly paid off. Masks were strongly encouraged, and there was quite a bit of hand sanitizer going around, but otherwise it was about as close to a pre-pandemic event as you could expect.
Assuming the worst of this thing is truly behind us now, and that the 2022 event doesn’t need to have its date pushed back, that means the next VCF East is only around seven months away. That’s great news for those of us who get to walk around and gawk at all the fascinating hardware on display, but it does put extra pressure on the hard working folks at the Vintage Computer Federation who make it all possible. Luckily, helping them out is as easy as spreading the word about the VCF, and of course, buying a ticket to one of their events.
We’ll certainly be there when the Vintage Computer Festival East comes back around to Wall, NJ in the Spring. Will you? | 15 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391973",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T17:50:23",
"content": "Thanks for the report!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6391977",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T18:00:00",
"content": "Neat stu... | 1,760,372,912.672679 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/the-quadrivium-ensemblebot-is-a-labour-of-love/ | The Quadrivium EnsembleBot Is A Labour Of Love | Dave Rowntree | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"CAN",
"orchestra",
"organ"
] | The
Quadrivium EnsembleBot project
is a mashup between old school musical instruments and the modern MIDI controlled world. Built by a small team over several years, these hand crafted instruments look and sound really nice.
The electronics side of things is taken care of with a pile of Arduinos and off-the-shelf modules, but that doesn’t mean the design isn’t well thought through, if a little more complicated than it could be in places. Control is taken care of with a PC sending commands over the USB to an Arduino 2560. This first Arduino is referred to as the Master Controller and has the immediate job of driving the percussive instruments as well as other instruments that are struck with simple solenoids. All these inductive loads are switched via opto-isolators to keep any noise generated by switching away from the microcontroller. A chain of four sixteen-channel GPIO expander modules are hung off the I
2
C bus to give even more opto-isolated outputs, as even the Arduino 2560 doesn’t quite have enough GPIO pins available. The are a number of instruments that have more complex control requirements, and these are connected to dedicated slave Arduinos via an SPI-to-CAN module. These are in various states of development, which we’ll be keeping our beady eyes on.
One of the more complex instruments is the
PipeDream61
which is their second attempt to build a robotic pipe organ. This is powered by a Teensy, as they considered the Arduino to be a little too tight on resources. This organ has a temperature controller using an ATTiny85, in order to further relieve the main controller of such a burden and simplify the development a little.
Another interesting instrument is
Robro
, which is a robotic
resophonic guitar
which as they say is still work in progress despite how long they have been trying to get it to work. There’s clearly a fair bit of control complexity here, which is why it is taking so much fiddling (heh!) to get it work.
This project is by no means unique, lately we’ve covered
controlling a church organ with MIDI
, as well as a neat
Arduino Orchestra
, but the EnsembleBot is just so much more.
Thanks [gjerman] for the tip! | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392001",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T19:24:07",
"content": "That snare drum is too loud even in a glass case, tempo is too fast too. Other than that it’s a good little fairground organ.I’ve noticed for years that children will run the tempo all the way up to max... | 1,760,372,912.306971 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/the-low-down-on-long-wave-unlicensed-experimental-radio/ | The Low-Down On Long-Wave: Unlicensed Experimental Radio | Adam Zeloof | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Radio Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"experimental",
"ham radio"
] | In the 125 years since Marconi made his first radio transmissions, the spectrum has been divvied up into ranges and bands, most of which are reserved for governments and large telecom companies. Amidst all of the corporate greed, the “little guys” managed to carve out their own small corner of the spectrum, with the help of organizations like the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Since 1914, the ARRL has represented the interests of us amateur radio enthusiasts and helped to protect the bands set aside for amateur use. To actually take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to transmit on these bands, you need a license, issued by the FCC. The licenses really aren’t hard to get, and you should get one, but what if you don’t feel like taking a test? Or if you’re just too impatient?
Well, fear not because there’s some space on the radio spectrum for you, too.
Welcome to the wonderful world of (legal!) unlicensed radio experimentation, where anything goes. Okay, not
anything
but the possibilities are wide open. There are a few experimental radio bands, known as LowFER, MedFER, and HiFER where anyone is welcome to play around. And of the three, LowFER seems the most promising.
Gettin’ The Band Back Together
Before we dive into what the LowFER, MedFER, and HiFER bands actually are, it’s worth noting that these rules apply in the US only. That’s not to say that these bands are illegal elsewhere, but be sure to check your local frequency allocations before firing up a transmitter.
Ground wave radio propagation along the surface of the Earth. Courtesy of
Electronics-Notes.com
LowFER, as the name would suggest, contains the lowest frequency range of the three, falling between 160 kHz and 190 kHz, with a whopping wavelength of around
one mile
. Also known as the 1750-meter band, this frequency range is well-suited for long transmission paths through
ground wave propagation
, a mode in which the radio signals move across the surface of the earth. This can easily carry even low-power signals hundreds of miles, and occasionally through some atmospheric black magic, signals have been known to travel thousands of miles. These ground wave signals also travel well across bodies of water, especially salt water.
MedFER is the medium frequency experimental band, specifically running from 510 kHz to 1,705 kHz. Now that range may sound similar, and it should because it’s also known as the AM Broadcast band! That’s right, you can listen in on this one with your old AM radio. There’s a catch though — amateur experimenters are limited to 0.1 W of transmit power, and can only use a three-meter long antenna. While that’s fine for playing around, there’s little chance of being heard very far away over the 500 W professional stations with massive antennas that dominate the band.
And then there’s HiFER, the high-frequency experimental band. Much narrower than the others at only 14 kHz wide, it sits centered on 13.56 MHz. This band is commonly used for many RFID applications, including keycards, public transportation payments, and Nintendo Amiibo. Experimentation on this band is limited to extremely low power levels, and at such power levels signals only travel a few inches, which is perfect for RFID.
While there’s a lot that can be done on any of these bands, LowFER seems to be the one that yields itself to some serious fun. MidFER and HiFER both restrict power used so low that you’re not reaching outside of your house, or even arm’s length, respectively.
Low Frequencies, High Expectations
Like the other bands, LowFER does have some restrictions —
but they’re much less limiting
. First and foremost, the power into the last change of the transmitter can’t exceed 1 W. That’s still fairly low power, but there are some digital modes, such as WSPR, that are known to propagate around the world at 1 W on some frequencies. Antenna lengths are also limited to 15 meters– which seems awfully short compared to the nearly-two-kilometer wavelength. Generally, the length of such a wire antenna should be tuned to a fraction of a wavelength — 1,
½
, ¼, etc. for maximum efficiency. In this case, “antenna length” also includes the transmission line between the radio and the antenna. For this reason, it’s common to connect antennas directly to LowFER radios to maximize the radiating length of the antenna.
As you may imagine, because the frequencies we’re dealing with here are so low, there are few commercially available solutions that let you get on-the-air with LowFER– but when has that ever stopped the hacker and amateur radio communities? Even with these limitations, we’ve seen some wonderful kHz-range projects, like this
Altoids Tin Beacon
and this
Arduino-based transmitter
. If you want to start out by listening in, there are a
number of beacons on the air right now
.
Bandwidth is obviously an issue down low, so LowFER applications probably want a microcontroller- or computer-based solution driving them, so there’s nothing to stop you from keeping the link running 24/7. The long antennas required also favor fixed operation. Intra-Hackerspace low-bitrate data networks?
How Low Can You Go?
So, now it’s your turn. What will you do with LowFER? Build a tiny transmitter and try to talk to a far-away friend? Send some
waterfall art
out into the æther, hoping some distant hacker sees it? Maybe even just engage in some
good-old fashion CW
. Although LowFER has been around for a while, we feel that there’s still a ton of untapped potential here for some crazy hacker fun. Just make sure to check (and obey!) your local laws, and tell us about anything awesome you do! | 70 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391904",
"author": "WO8E",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T14:16:53",
"content": "Here’s the fun part.. You can drive your PA with up to a watt. It doesn’t say what your final output should be.“15.217 Operation in the band 160–190kHz.(a) The total input power to the final radio frequency ... | 1,760,372,912.596509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/the-pinephone-pro-is-here-but-its-still-probably-not-the-year-of-open-source-linux-on-the-smartphone/ | The PinePhone Pro Is Here. But It’s Still Probably Not The Year Of Open-Source Linux On The Smartphone | Jenny List | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"Pine64",
"pinephone",
"PinePhone Pro"
] | A trope in open source commentary over the last decades has been the phrase “Is this the year of Linux on the desktop?”, as though the open source OS will finally break through and challenge Windows. In fact the process has been one of stealth rather than explosive growth, as the likes of ChromeOS with its Linux underpinnings become the go-to choice for an inexpensive consumer laptop. In the phone arena the same has happened with Android, as most users have no idea that a Linux foundation lies beneath their Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel.
Fully open-source via Android on the phone has been very slow to arrive, but could that be changed by
the arrival of Pine64’s PinePhone Pro
? The new device will be available alongside their existing PinePhone, and will continue the dream of a fully open-source mobile phone with its increased-specification hardware.
As much as the specs of one black slab versus another matter, at its heart is a 1.5 GHz Rockchip RK3399S hexa-core SoC alongside 4 GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM. This compares well to the original PinePhone’s quad-Core Allwinner A64 at 1.152 GHz and 3 GB LPDDR3 RAM, so it’s clear that there is plenty of capability in this phone.
Any phone whether open-source or not will however live or die on the quality of its software and support, so for this model to be a real success outside the realm of extreme open-source devotees we think that Pine64 will need to be prepared to up their game when it comes to what happens after hardware delivery. It’s fair to say that some of their previous products have been a little lacklustre in this department, with hardware bugs remaining unfixed. Their approach of relying on the community of users to deliver software support has not so far returned a stable experience for users of the original PinePhone. We understand that their intention is to provide a developer’s phone, but developers need to place phonecalls and take pictures too.
We’ve seen some PinePhone owners commenting to this effect, and though we’re fans of Pine64 and like what they are trying to do, we have to admit that those users have a point. If they were prepared to put some effort into software development to the extent of providing an official OS image with let’s say Plasma Mobile, a working phone app, a working web browser, and responsive phone features such as instant on and off, even at the expense of charging more for the phone itself, we think that they’ll be on to a winner. Otherwise they’ll remain as the really cool open-source phone that only your kernel-wizard friends own, and even then they use a Google Pixel as their everyday phone. Please Pine64, prove us wrong!
Last month our colleague Brian Cockfield
took us on a tour of his PinePhone
. | 82 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391873",
"author": "Steve Spence",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T11:03:45",
"content": "36 million+ raspberry pi’s sold, and growing. Linux rules.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6391907",
"author": "X",
"timestamp... | 1,760,372,913.05727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/19/drone-and-high-voltage-spin-up-this-diy-corona-motor/ | Drone And High Voltage Spin Up This DIY Corona Motor | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"corona motor",
"electrostatic motor",
"high voltage",
"Plasma Channel"
] | The average Hackaday user could probably piece together a rough model of a simple DC motor with what they’ve got kicking around the parts bin. We imagine some of you could even get a brushless one up and running without too much trouble. But what about an electrostatic corona motor? If your knowledge of turning high voltage into rotational energy is a bit rusty, let
[Jay Bowles] show you the ropes in his latest
Plasma Channel
video
.
Like many of his projects, this corona motor relies on a few sheets of acrylic, a handful of fasteners, and a healthy dose of physics. The actual construction and wiring of the motor is, if you’ll excuse the pun, shockingly simple. Of course part of that is due to the fact that the motor is only half the equation, you still need a high voltage source to get it running.
An earlier version of the motor ended up being too heavy.
In this case,
[Jay] is revisiting his earlier experiments with atmospheric electricity
to provide the necessary jolt. One side of the motor is connected to a metallic mesh electrode that’s carried 100 m into the air by a DJI Mini2 drone, while the other side is hooked up to several large nails driven into the ground.
The potential between the two gets the motor spinning, and makes for an impressive demonstration, but it’s not exactly the most practical way to experiment with your new corona motor. If you’d rather get it running on the workbench, he also shows that a more traditional high voltage source like a Van de Graaff generator will do the job nicely. As an added bonus, it can even power the device wirelessly from a few feet away.
So what can you do with a corona motor? While [Jay] is quick to explain that
these sort of devices aren’t exactly known for their torque
, he does show that his motor is able to lift a 45 gram weight suspended from a string. That’s frankly more power than we expected, and makes us wonder if there
is
some quasi-practical application for this contraption. If there is we suspect it’ll be featured in a future
Plasma Channel
video, so stay tuned. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391959",
"author": "Jack",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T16:55:32",
"content": "Howard w Sam’s produced a manual to make and repair electromechanical generators and motors back in the day. Although kind of a rare book today , one can find a copy at your local library. Great reading , an... | 1,760,372,913.107582 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/polf-retro-3d-game-uses-only-a-character-display/ | POLF: Retro 3D Game Uses Only A Character Display | Donald Papp | [
"Games",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"character based",
"commodore",
"POLF",
"retro",
"vintage"
] | Got a retrocomputing itch? So does [David Given], and luckily for us all
he indulged it by writing POLF: a first-person 3D game for the Commodore PET
that uses only the system’s 40×25 text mode character display for visuals. It’s a fantastic achievement, considering that the 80s-era computer boasts 32 kB of memory and doesn’t even have a graphical display.
Each level has an 8×8 layout.
Each level in POLF is a small, maze-like room in which one’s goal is to play a sort of cross between billiards and golf, aiming to move the round “ball” object into the square “hole” object. The 3D view is rendered using
raycasting
, which is a way of efficiently drawing a workable 3D perspective using limited resources. Raycasting can only do so much, but as a method it works fantastically within its limitations, and there are
useful tutorials out there that lay the process bare
.
The GitHub repository for the project is here
, and it should run on any 40-column screen PET with at least 16 kB of RAM. Watch it in action in the video, embedded below. (Hint: the little bar graphs under the compass headings at the bottom of the screen represent the player’s proximity to the ball and hole objects. ) | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391814",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T05:08:18",
"content": "32k of RAM? Man, wish my pet had that much.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6391826",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T06:38:46",
"... | 1,760,372,913.254359 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/a-microwave-frequency-doubler/ | A Microwave Frequency Doubler | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"frequency doubler",
"microstrip",
"microwave",
"RF",
"strip line",
"stripline"
] | It is an age-old problem. You have a 2.5 GHz source and you want it at 5 GHz. You need a
frequency doubler
. [All Electronics Channel] has an interesting video that talks not only about the theory of such a device but shows a practical one made with copper strips on a blank PCB substrate.
A fun thing about microwaves is that even little strips of copper are circuit elements since the wavelength at 2.5 GHz is only 12cm. That means a quarter-wave stub is only 3 cm — just over an inch.
The construction technique used is simple and, as he points out, experimenting with a real circuit will give you much more feel for how these circuits work than just reading and working out the math.
The multiplier drives an amplifier into nonlinearity which, of course, generates harmonics. Then a bandpass filter selects the second harmonic. If you haven’t dealt with stub circuits before, you might want to
read up
on how a piece of copper connected at one end can act like an inductor, a capacitor, or even a tuned circuit.
If you want more detail on the copper tape technique,
we can help
. If you don’t want to double frequency, maybe you would prefer to
try voltage
. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391795",
"author": "Paulo Dutra - PU4THZ",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T02:42:41",
"content": "Interesting… RF Copper tape magic is the best!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6391796",
"author": "Paulo Dutra - PU4THZ",
"time... | 1,760,372,913.204894 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/announcing-the-next-round-of-remoticon-talks/ | Announcing The Next Round Of Remoticon Talks | Kristina Panos | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"2021 Hackaday Remoticon",
"presenters",
"Remoticon",
"talks"
] | It’s coming up fast — Hackaday Remoticon 2021 is just a few weeks away, and we’re working around the clock to load up the weekend with awesome and inspiring talks that are bound to get the creative juices racing through your crazy straw brain.
Come and practice your neuroplasticity with us on November 19th and 20th. Remoticon is free-as-in-beer this year, unless you want a t-shirt. Even then, $25 is peanuts, because we’re sure that you’ll find a few talks that are priceless,
and
you’ll have a cool shirt to remember them by.
Grab your ticket right now!
We’ll wait.
A few days ago we announced mechanical engineering marvel
Jeremy Fielding as our second keynote speaker
. Passion is paramount to all projects, and Jeremy’s passion is making things move. He’s a renaissance man with a quiver full of self-taught skills, and is sure to bring enthusiasm to his keynote talk, which focuses on building hardware that moves, and how to handle the mechatronic mysteries that arise when trying to scale things up.
For now, let us indulge you with a preview of the second round of talks and speakers that we’ll be showcasing on November 19th and 20th. There’s plenty more where these came from, and we’ll be serving up fresh samples all the way until Remoticon weekend.
Maurits Fennis
Hack for the Planet: Reverse-Engineering Embedded Systems to Reduce E-Waste
Usually when we hear about reverse engineering embedded systems in the context of information security, the focus is on searching for vulnerabilities with the aim to exploit. Maurits’ talk will re-contextualize the practice of reverse engineering embedded devices with the aim of reducing e-waste.
Maurits founded
Unbinare
in 2020 to tackle the global rise of e-waste through the power of reverse engineering. He will present and explain the tools used at Unbinare such as a passive, spring-loaded needle probe for exploring PCBs, a magnetic base that can connect up to twelve of these probes, a board with a QFP48 clam shell socket that’s aimed at debugging STM32L5 microcontrollers salvaged from e-waste, and more.
Jay Doscher
Getting Started With and Outgrowing Tinkercad
Tinkercad may be a great place to start your 3D modeling journey, but it should lead you to other lands instead of leaving you stranded on Tinkercad Island.
Jay Doscher’s talk will focus on getting started with Tinkercad. He’ll run through the reasons why it’s good, and delve into when you should be using something else. This is meant to be a beginner course, and Jay will cover basic shapes, adding and subtracting materials, designing for 3D printing, and more.
We’ve seen many a printed project from Jay
including a Raspi terminal, some other rugged Pi projects, and
a mil-spec-looking cyberdeck
you can replicate without the DoD budget.
Joey Castillo
Teaching An Old LCD New Tricks
Joey shot to fame with
the Open Book Feather
, an open hardware e-reader that won our 2019 Take Flight with Feather contest.
Nowadays, he’s playing around with segmented LCDs, which seem to be way less popular within the community than say, 7- or 16-segment LEDs are, likely because of the lack of information out there. In particular, Joey reverse-engineered the iconic Casio F-91W wristwatch
to play DOOM
to do much more than it was ever intended to.
Don’t be put off by the complexity of these things. Joey’s gonna give you a brief primer on the way these multiplexed LCDs work. He’ll also go over the basics of driving them, and will share what he’s learned about working with LCD technology while building an open-hardware watch mod.
Uri Shaked
Reverse-Engineering the ESP32 WiFi
Uri wrote
an online simulator for the ESP32
chip that runs ESP-IDF apps, Arduino projects, and even MicroPython code. But one crucial piece is missing, he says. The WiFi radio!
Join Uri for a fascinating journey into the depths of the ESP32 WiFi stack as we navigate through the Xtensa-assembly jungle using Ghidra reverse-engineering software and the GNU project debugger. Reverse engineering, big time.
As popular as the ESP32 chip has become, very little is known about its closed-source WiFi stack. Pop the hood on the WiFi implementation with Uri as he navigates the unknown by the light of reverse engineering.
Hal Rodriguez and Sahrye Cohen
Conductive Melody: a Tech Couture Instrument
Image via
McDonald Photography
Conductive Melody is a wearable tech couture instrument that unites music, clothing, and artistic performance. It’s a stunningly-designed dress that produces music and light that’s played by the wearer and shared with an audience.
An Arduino captures touch inputs from a sleeve made of conductive fabric, and a Raspberry Pi uses a machine learning music interface to expand the eight touch inputs to a full 88-key piano in real time.
You don’t need to know about apparel construction or even how to read an electrical diagram, because Hal and Sahrye will dive into how they put it all together. All you need to bring is an interest in fashion, electronics, music, and/or machine learning.
Only the Beginning
This second round of talks are still just a taste of what’s in store for Remoticon 2021, so
get your free ticket now, or grab a $25 ticket that includes a really cool t-shirt
. And if you didn’t get the shirt, were you really even there? | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6393066",
"author": "nebk",
"timestamp": "2021-10-22T19:28:46",
"content": "Looking forward to the talks, particularly the ESP32 WiFi reverse engineering.As a side note, the code of conduct link on the registration page is broken.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,372,913.152472 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/3d-printable-scope-probe-adapts-to-your-needs/ | 3D Printable Scope Probe Adapts To Your Needs | Dave Rowntree | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"oscilloscope",
"probe"
] | If there’s one this we electronics engineers are precious about, it’s our test gear. The instruments themselves can be obscenely expensive, since all that R&D effort needs to be paid back over a much smaller user base compared to say a DVD player. The test probes themselves can often come with an eye-watering price tag as well. Take the oscilloscope probe, pretty much everyone who tinkers with hardware will be familiar with. It’s great for poking around, looking desperately for inspiration when you’re getting stuck in with some debug, but you’ve only got two hands, and that doesn’t leave any spare for button pushing.
Hands-free probing solutions exist, but they can be pricey, flimsy or just a pain to use. Sometimes you just want to solder a wire and leave the probe attached, hoping the grounding lead doesn’t fall off and short something. We’ve seen many solutions to this, so
here’s yet another one you can 3D print yourself
, so it’s
almost
free to make.
The two-part 3D printed assembly embeds a pair of wires with a
Molex 0008500113
sprung terminal on one end, which can be terminated with your choice of pins, headers or just a pair of plain ‘ol wires. Once you’ve dropped your wiring of choice inside, simply glue the halves with a little cyanoacrylate and you’re good to go. Designed around the Siglent 200MHz PP215 specifically, it is likely compatible with many other brands. Thingiverse only has STL files (sigh!) so it may be tricky to adapt it to your exact probe dimensions, but the idea is good at least.
There is no shortage of electronics probing solutions out there, and boy have we covered a few over the years, here’s
a low-cost current probe
,
an Open Source 2 GHz scope probe
, and if you want to get really hacky, look no further for inspiration than the
2019 Hackaday SuperCon SMD Challenge
.
Thanks [daniel] for the tip! | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392570",
"author": "X",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T15:13:29",
"content": "In our lab we had to put anti theft devices on the scope probes because they 10:1 away.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6392596",
"author": "RP",... | 1,760,372,913.317568 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/the-incredible-tech-of-the-vacuum-seal-flask/ | The Incredible Tech Of The Vacuum-Seal Flask | Kristina Panos | [
"Featured",
"History",
"Interest",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"convection",
"dewar flask",
"endothermic",
"evaporation",
"exothermic",
"heat conduction",
"in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics",
"radiation",
"Sir James Dewar",
"thermodynamics",
"thermos",
"vacuum sealed"
] | I recently started using a 50-year-old vacuum-seal flask that belonged to my Grandpa so that I don’t have to leave the dungeon as often to procure more caffeine. Besides looking totally awesome on my side desk, this thing still works like new, at least as far as I can tell — it’s older than I am.
Sir James Dewar’s original vacuum-seal flask. Image via
the Royal Institute
Of course this got me to wondering how exactly vacuum-seal flasks, better known in household circles as Thermoses work, and how they were invented. The
vacuum-seal flask
is surprisingly old technology. It was first invented by Scottish chemist Sir James Dewar and presented to the Royal Institute in 1892. Six years later, he would be the first person to liquefy hydrogen and is considered a founding father of cryogenics.
At the time, liquefying gases was an expensive process, and it was important to keep them in a fluid state as long as possible. Sir Dewar’s flask consisted of two flasks separated by a near-vacuum that does much of the job of heat retention. Heat cannot travel through a vacuum, so the contents stay at-temperature for much longer than they would outside the flask.
These vessels have a ton of uses other than keeping your coffee hot or your tea iced. They are widely used throughout the industrial, scientific, and medical fields for everything from preserving bodily fluids and tissue to measuring electric power, recording the weather, and detecting an airplane’s rate of climb. Vacuum-seal flasks are also used in MRI machines to keep the superconducting magnet cool. And they’re still used to keep liquefied gases liquid.
Highways for Heat
The four major methods of heat transfer. Image via
Xaktly
Why are vacuum-seal flasks so effective at heat retention? That depends on how you look at it, as
there are four major ways to describe heat loss
— convection, conduction, radiation, and evaporation.
Starting from the top, that tight-fitting lid seals off the chamber and prevents heat transfer by both convection and evaporation. The near-vacuum between the inner and outer flasks helps to further prevent heat loss by convection.
The thin walls of the flask prevent heat conduction the same way you can put a single unfolded sheet of aluminum foil in the toaster oven, set it as high as you want, and pull it out bare-handed when your bratwurst bun is toasted. Thin walls have less mass, so they don’t conduct heat away from the liquid inside the vessel.
Back when the flasks were lined with glass, they had a silver coating that prevented heat lost by radiation. People got tired of replacing their Thermos every time they dropped it, so
today’s flasks are much more likely to be lined with steel instead
.
Missed Opportunities
Burger and Aschenbrenner’s patent that became the Thermos. Image via
US Patent #872795
Looking back from the 21st century, it’s easy to assume that both hot and cool applications were thought of at the same time, but that’s not the case. The vacuum-seal flask was not Sir James Dewar’s first foray into long-term temperature maintenance. Along with physicist and fellow countryman Peter Tait, he had developed
a vacuum-insulated goblet to keep substances warm
some twenty years earlier. Sir Dewar’s vacuum-seal flask intended for keeping liquefied gases cool had a much narrower neck than the hot goblet, and it was jacketed in a silver coating that prevented heat loss by radiation.
Sir Dewar was famously hot-headed. He’d had
a falling out with Alfred Nobel over the patent for cordite
, and never did patent his vacuum-seal flask. One of his glassblowers, Reinhold Burger along with another glassblower Albert Aschenbrenner discovered that the flask also kept baby milk warm for several hours, and realized its commercial potential.
They patented the Thermos in 1904
. Sir Dewar later lost his court case against the company. Although they recognized him as the inventor, he had not patented his invention, so they were within their rights.
Here’s a fun fact about thermodynamics, courtesy of our own [Adam Zeloof] — a beer on its side in the fridge will cool faster than the vertical can next to it. This is because horizontal cylinders have higher heat transfer than vertical cylinders as far as natural convection is concerned. That goes for any liquid in a sealed cylinder, not just the fizzy, alcoholic kind. So, remember that the next time the bodega only has warm cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon and bottles of Club Mate. Cool it down sideways, and then pour it into a vacuum-seal flask. | 38 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392531",
"author": "Nathan",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T14:10:37",
"content": "Don’t forget to fill (and empty) your vacuum-sealed flask with hot or cold water first to eliminate its thermal capacity before filling with fluid of choice!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,372,913.399085 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/build-a-moon-phase-clock-that-looks-like-the-real-thing/ | Build A Moon Phase Clock That Looks Like The Real Thing | Lewin Day | [
"clock hacks"
] | [] | The moon is a beautiful thing that has captivated humanity for centuries, particularly before the advent of television and the Internet when there was nothing else to watch. [JCM_MatSci] developed a clock which tracks the phases of the moon, so you can keep an eye on the state of Earth’s satellite without even having
to turn your gaze to a window.
The clock relies on a simplified model of the lunar phases, based around the synodic month which averages 29.530588 days. For non-astronomical purposes, it’s pretty much close enough. The clock uses a high-torque off-the-shelf quartz movement in order to move a 3D-printed geartrain and attached moon assembly. The gears step down the output from the clock to turn the ersatz Moon to display the appropriate phase.
It’s a neat gift for Moon buffs out there, and we’re sure there are still a few
even if nobody’s been since 1972
. We guess it’s kind of like one of those national parks that everyone loves from their childhood but never visits anymore.
If you have visited the moon recently, however,
be sure to drop us a line
. We (and a few other million people) have some questions for you. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392534",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T14:15:22",
"content": "“Antique”-a-thera mechanism.B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6392693",
"author": "Punbelievable",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T20:11:15"... | 1,760,372,913.460979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/21/british-licence-plate-camera-fooled-by-clothing/ | British Licence Plate Camera Fooled By Clothing | Jenny List | [
"News",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"license plate",
"number plate",
"ocr"
] | It’s a story that has caused consternation and mirth in equal measure amongst Brits, that
the owners of a car in Surrey received a fine for driving in a bus lane miles away in Bath,
when in fact the camera had been confused by the text on a sweater worn by a pedestrian. It seems the word “knitter” had been interpreted by the reader as “KN19 TER”, which as Brits will tell you follows the standard format for modern UK licence plate.
It gives us all a chance to have a good old laugh at the expense of the UK traffic authorities, but it raises some worthwhile points about the fallacy of relying on automatic cameras to dish out fines without human intervention. Except for the very oldest of cars, the British number plate follows an extremely distinctive high-contrast format of large black letters on a reflective white or yellow background, and since 2001 they have all had to use the same slightly authoritarian-named
MANDATORY typeface
. They are hardly the most challenging prospect for a number plate recognition system, but even when it makes mistakes the fact that ambiguous results aren’t subjected to a human checking stage before a fine is sent out seems rather chilling.
It also raise the prospect of yet more number-plate-related mischief, aside from
SQL injection jokes
and
adversarial fashion
, we can only imagine the havoc that could be caused were a protest group to launch a denial of service attack with activists sporting fake MANDATORY licence plates.
Header image, based on the work of ZElsb,
CC BY-SA 4.0
. | 43 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392447",
"author": "Nitpicker Smartyass",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T08:04:48",
"content": "In discussions about “AI” (haha, insane laughter from someone having used semi-automated self correcting statistical methods in software since the 1980s …) I always, almost every single time, ... | 1,760,372,913.578059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/raspberry-pi-tablet-gets-radio-surgical-enhancement/ | Raspberry Pi Tablet Gets Radio Surgical Enhancement | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"raspberry pi",
"RTL-SDR",
"sdr"
] | We always get excited when we buy a new tablet. But after a few months, it usually winds up at the bottom of a pile of papers on the credenza, a victim of not being as powerful as our desktop computers and not being as convenient as our phones. However, if you don’t mind a thick tablet, you can get the RasPad enclosure to fit around your own Raspberry Pi so it can be used as a tablet. Honestly, we weren’t that impressed until we saw [RTL-SDR]
add an SDR dongle inside the case
, making it a very portable Raspberry Pi SDR platform.
The box is a little interesting by itself, although be warned it costs over $200. For that price you get an LCD and driver board, a battery system, speakers, and an SD extension slot with some control buttons for volume and brightness. There’s a video of the whole setup (in German) below.
The whole affair weighs about 1 kg, a bit heavy for a tablet. It is also fairly thick although that’s good for making this kind of modification and also gives the touch screen a nice angle when it is flat on a table.
Most Raspberry Pi software isn’t setup for a touchscreen, but the post explains some of the issues they found when using a different Linux build instead of the default tablet software from the maker of the case.
We worried that the SDR inside the case would be subject to interference, but apparently, with an external antenna, it was negligible. You could see the interference when using an antenna attached directly to the box through the added RF connector, though. Your results could be worse if you used an SDR dongle without proper shielding, too.
We think we might prefer a more
futuristic form factor
. You can also get SDRs that
directly work with the Raspberry Pi
. | 27 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392433",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T06:13:47",
"content": "Who do I have to kill (or what do I have to google) to get some short extension cables like that?! I can’t find any shorter than 10cm, and that double HDMI cable setup is awesome! Finding narrow and progress... | 1,760,372,913.663201 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/20/bright-lightbulb-saves-old-radios/ | Bright Lightbulb Saves Old Radios | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"dim bulb",
"dim bulb tester",
"light bulb",
"variac",
"vintage"
] | If you work on old equipment, you know that there’s always that tense moment when you first plug it in and turn it on. No matter how careful you have been, there’s some chance your garage sale find is going to go up in smoke. [BasinStreetDesign]
built a little box
that can help. On one side is a variac and the device you want to test goes into the other side.
In the middle? A lightbulb, a few switches, and a meter to monitor the current. The magic happens because the lightbulb will stay relatively cool and only light dimly if the device under test is drawing an appropriate amount of current. You match the bulb wattage with the approximate watts you expect the load to draw. If the device’s power is shorted to ground, though, the bulb will light brightly and this causes the lightbulb’s resistance to increase, thus helping to protect the device.
Of course, this is an old idea but we liked the construction method and the inclusion of a variac. The ammeter is great, and there is a connection for an external voltmeter that has some short-circuit protection. We might have opted for a second built-in voltmeter. The analog meters add to the old-school ambiance, but digital meters could be interesting and are easy to find these days.
Be sure you match the lightbulb wattage to your load. If the bulb is too small, it will light anyway. Think of it as a voltage divider. If the bulb is too small, it will have a higher resistance than the radio and get most of the voltage across it, leaving very little for the test device. If it is a higher-wattage bulb, it will have a lower resistance and the radio will take most of the voltage. In either case, the current through will depend on both resistors. If the radio is shorted, or nearly so, its resistance will be close to zero and that’s why the bulb will light brightly.
If you want a more classic build along with suggested test procedures and tips, there’s a good article over on
antiqueradio.org
. If you do decide to go with digital displays, consider a steam punk aesthetic like
[Christine’s] radio project
. Or, you could
overengineer the variable transformer
. | 45 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392388",
"author": "Col_Panek",
"timestamp": "2021-10-21T02:10:58",
"content": "Answers the question of “what do I do with all these incandescents? ”I”ve used small ones for regulating the charging current on batteries.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,913.750379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/laser-pointer-and-arduino-make-a-minimalistic-shooting-game/ | Laser Pointer And Arduino Make A Minimalistic Shooting Game | Robin Kearey | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Games"
] | [
"arcade game",
"arduino",
"laser pointer",
"shooter"
] | Video games are great and all, but sometimes you just want the thrill of manipulating actual objects in addition to watching action on a screen. This must have been the reason why Nintendo’s Duck Hunt became so popular despite the simplicity of its gameplay. Prolific hacker [mircemk] similarly made a computer-plus-physical game called “
Laser Shooter
“, which somehow reminds us of the good old NES game.
The game is based on an Arduino Nano, to which five LEDs as well as five photoresistors (LDRs) are connected. When the game is started, the LEDs light up at random and the player has a limited time to “shoot” the corresponding LDR with a laser pointer. This time limit is decreased as the game progresses, and the game is over once the player fails to hit the target on time. The “Game Over” message is accompanied by a sad tune, but luckily no giggling dog.
Complete schematics and code are available for anyone willing to try their hand at replicating or improving this game. And no, you can’t simply sweep your laser across the five LDRs all the time, because you lose if you shoot at the wrong target. For more laser pointer-based games, try this
Laser Command clone
or this
laser tag badge system
. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391809",
"author": "DSM",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T04:42:06",
"content": "Looks like a fun project, but I’m pretty sure you can detect and display hits with just LEDs if they are of a similar color to the laser. Even one of those LED array modules so you can score the accuracy.",
... | 1,760,372,913.846917 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/build-a-dog-ball-launcher-that-kinda-looks-like-a-dog/ | Build A Dog Ball Launcher That Kinda Looks Like A Dog | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ball launcher",
"dog",
"pi pico"
] | The average garden dog will play fetch long beyond the average human’s endurance. If you want to keep your dog exercised without hurting your pitching arm, [brankly’s] automatic dog ball launcher
might just be what you need.
The design is straightforward. The 3D printed housing features a large funnel into which a ball can be dropped. A servo then holds the ball while a pair of rollers are spun up by brushed DC motors. After two seconds, the servo releases the ball towards the rollers which launch the ball out of the machine. A Raspberry Pi Pico runs the show, controlling the timing of the ball launch and varying the motor speed to change the distance the ball is launched on each firing.
Files are
available on Thingiverse
for those eager to build their own. If you’re good, you might even be able to train your dog to drop the ball in themselves.
We’ve seen similar builds before, too!
Video after the break.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5019572 | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391728",
"author": "Snow",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T20:09:54",
"content": "i don’t have a dog but wouldn’t it make more sense to build it in such a way that the dog can actually put the ball back for another go?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,913.998957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/the-hp3458a-king-of-multimeters-for-three-decades/ | The HP3458A: King Of Multimeters For Three Decades | Al Williams | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"agilent",
"HP",
"HP3458A",
"metrology"
] | [Marco] looks at a lot of meters. However, he considers the
HP3458A
the best even though they were introduced more than 30 years earlier in 1989. Someone donated one to [Marco] but it presented some error messages on startup and exhibited erratic behavior, so he had some repairs to do.
The error codes hinted there were issues with the multislope analog to digital converter and that’s what sets the meter apart, according to [Marco]. The meter has 8.5 digits, so a normal conversion stage won’t cut it.
The good news about the problem is that it gives us an excuse to see inside the box. Each board inside looks about as complex as a modern PC motherboard. At this accuracy range, the board is covered in custom high-performance resistor networks.
A standard way of converting voltages to digital uses the time required to charge and discharge a capacitor and the required time indicates the voltage. This meter uses multiple possible slope resistors and [Marco] explains how the meter uses fast and less accurate slopes to get a rough reading and then uses slow and accurate slopes to refine the lower digits.
A custom chip has an IC and a custom resistor network and, if it fails, makes the meter virtually unrepairable without a trip to a factory service center for a new board at about $3,000. The custom chip appeared to work ok and replacing comparators that are known to fail didn’t help.
The next move? Buy all the parts you can find for the board (about $100) and simply replace everything. We liked how he removed excess component leads on the rebuild. At first, it seemed like this might work, but self-calibration failed. It appears the custom IC might have been bad, so he wound up replacing the entire conversion board.
That cleared the main error, but there were still problems with some measurements and that led to another board to repair. The circuits in question do RMS conversion for AC signals. The meter has several methods to measure RMS.
The video is a great detective story and you’ll learn a lot about what’s in a high-resolution meter. After it is all working, we get a tour of oddities like the cable that acts like a capacitor and the noisy fan.
[Marco] is no stranger to
high-precision meters
. We’ve looked at
these meters
before, too. | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391684",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T18:51:20",
"content": "I used to work with one of the engineers who designed the analog section of this. He said it was an enormous effort and took them a lot more work than they anticipated, and he thinks that’s part of... | 1,760,372,913.802375 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/they-milk-cows-dont-they/ | They Milk Cows, Don’t They? | Kristina Panos | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"casein",
"dairy",
"fermentation",
"milk proteins"
] | You’ve no doubt heard of the many alternatives to cow’s milk that are available these days. Perhaps you’ve even tried a few of them in your quest to avoid lactose. Some coffeehouses have already moved on from soy milk, offering only oat or almond milk instead of 2% and whole. Their reasoning is that soy milk is a highly processed product that can’t be traced back to a single source, which stands in stark contrast to all those bags of single-origin coffee beans.
These nut-based alternatives kicked off what is known as the milk wars — the dairy industry’s fight against labeling plant-based dairy alternatives as ‘milk’ and so on. Well, now it’s getting even more interesting.
A company called Perfect Day is making milk using microorganisms that secrete milk proteins
. It may sound kind of gross, but it’s essentially microbial fermentation, which is the normal process by which bread, cheese, yogurt, wine, and beer are made.
To be fair, what Perfect Day and other companies are doing is precision fermentation using genetically engineered microorganisms in a bioreactor, so it’s a bit more involved than what you could probably pull off in the basement. Precision fermentation lies somewhere between two modern extremes — plant-based meat and cultured meat. The latter is actual animal tissue grown from stem cells, and is only available at high-end restaurants for exorbitant prices.
What is Milk, Anyway?
Flasks of lab-grown milk. Image via
Perishable News
The stuff that Perfect Day pumps out is real milk, no doubt about it. As it turns out, milk is relatively easy to create — it consists of six proteins, plus some fats, sugars, and minerals, all in a water suspension.
Even so, both the US and the UK have fairly restrictive definitions for ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, and ‘dairy’.
In the US, the FDA currently defines milk
as “the
lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows
“, which sounds like it leaves no room for microbial fermentation. However, the FDA already approves of fermentation for cheeses and so on, so they’re kind of in a tight spot.
Things are even more strict across the pond, where plant-based dairy alternatives are basically unwelcome. In 2017, the
European Court of Justice ruled
that dairy terms such as ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, and ‘butter’ could only be used to describe animal products and not plant-based products. In 2020,
Amendment 117 passed in favor of making it illegal for comparisons between the two to be made at all
.
The Glass is Half Full
Image via
Our World in Data
Surely the dairy industry will lobby against lab-grown milk — they probably already are. But the dairy industry doesn’t really have a leg to stand on. It is wrought with problems, from over-milking cows to over-breeding them to routinely ripping cow families apart.
Plus, the dairy industry is responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions,
which is more than shipping and aviation put together
. Considering the climate crisis, it’s utterly ridiculous to impede progress on this front.
There are a lot of upsides to lab-created milk. Thanks to precision fermentation, it could be brewed to be healthier than cows’ milk. All they would need from cows in the future would be small tissue biopsies to get the stem cells.
Without whole cows, there’s no need for hormones or antibiotics, and the milk could be made without lactose and even filled with healthy fats and nutrients. That is, if companies so choose. I would certainly like to see that happen and will be voting with my wallet if so. | 90 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391636",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T17:15:26",
"content": "I could not find a video link of Fry and Leela milking Holstein bugs on the Moon.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6393182",
"author": "Samson",... | 1,760,372,914.266618 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/making-your-projects-move-jeremy-fielding-to-deliver-remoticon-keynote/ | Making Your Projects Move: Jeremy Fielding To Deliver Remoticon Keynote | Dan Maloney | [
"cons",
"Featured",
"Slider"
] | [
"2021 Hackaday Remoticon",
"keynote"
] | We’re really excited to announce that Jeremy Fielding will give a keynote address at Hackaday Remoticon in November!
Get your free ticket now
!
The projects we in this community choose to tackle often take a lot to see to completion. Parts, tools, expertise, time; all are critical to getting projects from concept to reality. But how deep your parts bin is or how well-equipped your shop may be matters not a whit unless you’ve got the one thing that makes it all go: passion. Passion is what keeps a project rolling ahead paste the inevitable roadblocks and diversions; it’s what keeps us going back to the bench to try something new when we think we’ve tried it all.
Jeremy Fielding
showing off his robot arm
back in April
The passion to understand, to create, to innovate, is something that Jeremy Fielding clearly has. Anyone who has watched even a few of
his YouTube videos
knows how much he loves to make things move. His current project is a seven-axis industrial robot arm, and it’s a seriously impressive build that could easily be mistaken for a commercial product. What’s perhaps most impressive about this is that many of the skills needed to pull it off, like welding aluminum and machining, are skills that Jeremy has been teaching himself on the fly. Talk about passion!
For his keynote, Jeremy is going to focus on building hardware that moves. Most of us are reasonably good at putting together projects that flash a few lights or perhaps move a few small steppers or servos. But scaling that up, as Jeremy has done for his robot arm as well as other projects, introduces new challenges: what type of electric motor do I choose? How do I figure out the trade-offs between torque and speed? Do I even want to use electric motors — maybe pneumatics will be better? What are my control options? These questions can be just as daunting to the old hands as they are to beginners, and Jeremy is going to focus on how to handle these and other mechatronic challenges that crop up in our projects.
Aside from the (literal) nuts and bolts of mechanical engineering, there’s another place where Jeremy’s passion shines through: his passion for communicating what he has learned. His presentation style and enthusiasm are infectious, and we’re sure that’s going to come across in his keynote. Jeremy fancies himself a “contraption engineer,” which is both an apt and engaging way to look at what he does. Fellow contraption builders take note — you’re going to want to make sure you don’t miss this one!
Call for Proposals is Still Open!
We’re still on the hunt for great talks about hardware creation, so the Call for Proposals has been extended to October 20. And remember,
get your tickets early
— knowing how many people to expect really helps us with infrastructure planning so we can give everyone a quality experience. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391787",
"author": "rich",
"timestamp": "2021-10-19T01:57:01",
"content": "Good call guys. Jeremy Fielding is a good choice and brings things to an easy understanding for the lay person as you guys do and have a reputation for, without skimping on the intellectual and technical ne... | 1,760,372,914.311284 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/arduino-brings-usb-mouse-to-homebrew-computer/ | Arduino Brings USB Mouse To Homebrew Computer | Tom Nardi | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"6502 processor",
"Arduino Mega 2560",
"homebrew computer",
"interrupt",
"usb hid",
"usb mouse"
] | When building your own homebrew computer, everything is a challenge. Ultimately, that’s kind of the point. If you didn’t want to
really
get your hands dirty with the nuts and bolts of the thing, you wouldn’t have built it in the first place. For example, take the lengths to which
[rehsd] was willing to go in order to support standard USB mice on their 6502 machine
.
Code for mapping mouse movement to digital output.
The idea early on was to leverage existing Arduino libraries to connect with a standard USB mouse, specifically, the hardware would take the form of an Arduino Mega 2560 with a USB Host Shield. There was plenty of code and examples that showed how you could read the mouse position and clicks from the Arduino, but [rehsd] still had to figure out a way to get that information into the 6502.
In the end, [rehsd] connected one of the digital pins from the Arduino to an interrupt pin on the computer’s W65C22 versatile interface adapter (VIA). Then eleven more digital pins were connected to the computer, each one representing a state for the mouse and buttons, such as MOUSE_CLICK_RIGHT and MOUSE_LEFT_DOWN.
Admittedly, [rehsd] says the mouse action is far from perfect. But as you can see in the video after the break, it’s at least functional. While the code could likely be tightened up, there’s obviously some improvements to be made in terms of the electrical interface. The use of shift registers could reduce the number of wires between the Arduino and VIA, which would be a start. It’s also possible a chip like the CH375 could be used, taking the microcontroller out of the equation entirely.
From classic breadboard builds
to some
impressively practical portable machines
, we’ve seen our fair share of 6502 computers over the years. Despite the incredible variation to be found in these homebrew systems, one thing is always the same: they’re built by some of the most passionate folks out there.
[Thanks to Jim for the tip.] | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6392261",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-10-20T17:05:20",
"content": "Okay, no other comments yet…I’m musing on whether this could be used to add mouse to a Timex-Sinclair 1000 (ZX81).(Yes, I know this is for a 6502 and the TS1000 is Z80)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,372,913.951451 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/electric-vehicles-the-gasoline-problem-and-synthetic-fuels-part-1/ | Electric Vehicles, The Gasoline Problem, And Synthetic Fuels | Dan Maloney | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"alkane",
"asphalt",
"crude oil",
"diesel",
"distillation",
"fuel",
"gasoline",
"hydrocarbons",
"kerogen"
] | When you’re standing at the gas station filling up your car, watching those digits on the pump flip by can be a sobering experience. Fuel prices, especially the price of gasoline, have always been keenly watched, so it’s hard to imagine a time when gasoline was a low-value waste product. But kerosene, sold mainly for lighting, was once king of the petroleum industry, at least before the automobile came along, to the extent that the gasoline produced while refining kerosene was simply dumped into streams to get rid of it.
The modern mind perhaps shudders at the thought of an environmental crime of that magnitude, and we can’t imagine how anyone would think that was a good solution to the problem. And yet we now face much the same problem, as the increasing electrification of the world’s fleet of motor vehicles pushes down gasoline demand. To understand why this is a problem, we’ll start off by taking a look at how crude oil is formed, and how decreasing demand for gasoline may actually cause problems that we should think about before we get too far down the road.
Put a Little Plankton in Your Tank
When you fill the gas tank in your ICE or hybrid vehicle and start the engine, you’re closing a loop on chemical processes that started billions of years ago. The petrochemical fuel that powers most vehicles started as atmospheric carbon dioxide, greedily gobbled up by uncounted trillions of microscopic organisms like plankton, algae, and cyanobacteria via the process of photosynthesis, and locked into their biopolymers — lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids.
These microorganisms multiplied fruitfully in the oceans and lakes of the primitive Earth, falling as sediment when they eventually died. The constant rain of death built thick layers of sediment, rich in organic molecules. Most of the carbon in these sediments decomposed via oxidation reactions, but in some areas, vast layers of the rich organic slime ended up covered by inorganic sediments thanks to geological processes. Locked away from the corrosive effects of oxygen and experiencing increasing heat and pressure thanks to the weight of the material on top of them, these partially decomposed sediments gradually transformed into kerogen, a deposit of organic material locked inside a sedimentary rock.
Oil shale, a kerogen. Credit: Fafner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via
Wikimedia Commons
While kerogens are rich in large, complex hydrocarbons, and some are even rich enough to be used as fuel — coal is essentially a kerogen whose starting biomass was largely land-based plants — most kerogens don’t fully convert into petroleum. Kerogens like the shale oil fields in North America are said to be “thermally immature” — basically, they haven’t cooked enough. But other kerogens, ones that have deeper layers of sediment deposited on top of them, go through further geochemical reactions, breaking their complex hydrocarbons down into simpler and simpler compounds as time goes by, eventually forming vast pockets of liquid crude oil.
The most thermally mature products, the ones that have cooked the longest, are the short-chain gaseous hydrocarbons from the single-carbon methane to the four-carbon butane. On the other end of the thermal maturity spectrum, long-chain hydrocarbons, with perhaps 40 carbons or more in their chains, make up the thick, sticky asphalt compounds.
The hydrocarbons that are important in terms of motor fuels and lubricants tend to come from the middle of the thermal maturity range. Diesel, kerosene, and jet fuels tend to come from the C
9
to C
16
range, with longer carbon chains making up the heavy bunker oil used to fuel marine engines. On the shorter end, the C
5
to C
8
range hydrocarbons make up the bulk of gasoline, which is a complex blend of many different hydrocarbons, including straight-chain alkanes like hexane and octane, cycloalkanes, and any number of additives like ethers and alcohols, including ethanol.
Crude Estimates
It’s important to note that any crude oil deposit is going to contain a mix of hydrocarbons. Some will be richer in hydrocarbon chains of one length than another, but in general, each deposit is going to have at least some of every fraction, from methane to bitumen. What’s in there depends on the conditions the kerogen that formed the crude oil experienced, and how hydrocarbons from different sources mixed underground over time.
And that leads to the essential problem of petroleum extraction. While fuels like diesel and gasoline are highly engineered chemicals, they are not
created
from crude oil. Rather, they are
refined from it
. That might seem self-obvious, but it’s an important point. A typical barrel of crude oil contains about 40-50% gasoline (or more precisely, the C
5
to C
8
fractions that are blended into gasoline), and fully 84% of each barrel contains fuel-grade fractions, when you throw in diesel, kerosene, and bunker oil.
This is the root of the gasoline problem. Right now, electric vehicles make up a tiny fraction of the total fleet — perhaps 3% worldwide. But at some point, through a combination of better engineering, political pressure, improved battery technology, and climate awareness, demand for electric vehicles is going to take off in a serious way.
Some estimates
peg the percentage of EVs on the road in 2040 at 58%, at least for passenger vehicles. That’s a huge number of vehicles that won’t be stopping by the local gas station to fill up every couple of days, meaning demand for gasoline will necessarily plummet.
But, as we’ve seen, about half of every barrel of crude oil
is
gasoline. If we suddenly don’t need as much gasoline, the only way we can deal with the decreased demand is to not refine it from crude oil in the first place. That poses a problem if we still need any of the other fractions, which we likely will. Take diesel as an example.
A 2019 report
estimates that the medium and heavy truck fleet will only be about 4% electric by 2025, and that most of that will be trucks working local and regional delivery routes, mainly because of limitations in battery life. Long-haul trucks, though, will probably not be electrified for quite a while, meaning that crude oil will still have to be distilled to produce diesel to run them.
The same problem applies to airplanes — unless battery technology improves drastically, we’ll still need to get to the kerosene that’s in crude oil. Add in the asphalt needed for road building, the heavy bunker fuel needed to keep cargo ships running, the lubricants needed to run pretty much anything mechanical, and the petroleum distillates that go into fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and plastics, and you’ve got a situation where everything in a barrel of oil is both useful and needed — except for gasoline, which happens to be the bulk of what’s in there.
Next Steps
And so that’s the problem: roughly half of every barrel of crude oil that we pump out of the ground is made of something that’s destined to be useless, at least in a world dominated by electric vehicles. And that wouldn’t be so bad if the other 50% of each barrel didn’t contain stuff that’s so darn useful; otherwise, we could just leave the oil in the ground and call the problem solved. That may be the eventual solution, once everything that currently burns fuel is converted to some other power source, but in the meantime, we’ll either have to figure out what to do with the waste gasoline, or find a way to get the hydrocarbons we need some other way.
Stick around for part two of this series, where we’ll dig into synthetic fuels, synthetic oils, and how perhaps we can engineer our way around the gasoline problem. | 115 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391543",
"author": "Stajp",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T14:09:55",
"content": "Can the gasoline be used in some kind of thermal based powerplant, but with less pollution for the same amount of energy as in ICE automobiles?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,914.794159 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/play-doom-using-web-browser-checkboxes-finally/ | Play DOOM Using Web Browser Checkboxes (Finally) | Chris Wilkinson | [
"Games"
] | [
"doom",
"game",
"port",
"webassembly"
] | If you’ve ever felt the need to render DOOM using nothing but web browser checkboxes, [Andrew Healey] has you covered with his
recent port of the first-person shooter
. Naturally, this gets our
tick
of approval.
Yes, you read that right. You can now play DOOM in a 160 x 100 grid of HTML-generated checkboxes, much like this: ☑. The secret sauce for this project is partly derived from the fascinating
Checkboxland
project by fellow hacker Brian Braun, who uses HTML checkboxes to generate a variety of artistic demos.
[Andrew Healey] also made use of Cornelius Diekmann’s port of DOOM using WebAssembly, which we
recently covered here on Hackaday
. A smattering of code ties both projects together, and the end result is DOOM at 160×100 resolution, rendered entirely with HTML checkboxes.
The port can be played
here
using Chrome or Edge (other browsers may have issues if they do not support the
zoom
property in CSS). The source code is also available over on
GitHub
.
While the resolution and color palette aren’t what we have come to expect from DOOM, it’s likely that the graphics could be further improved by tinkering with the dithering and threshold settings. Higher resolutions may also be possible with further optimization.
We would be hard pressed to pick our favorite port of DOOM, as the list is
becoming quite long
. However for something completely different, check out our story on how
DOOM was brought to Twitter
.
https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Doom-via-Checkboxes_1.mp4
Thanks to [Dan] for the great tip. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391513",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T12:25:42",
"content": "We’ve ported DOOM to so many things that I’m pretty sure that there is eventually be quantum computer demonstration of which shows every possible state of DOOM and allows you to navigate (endlessly) throug... | 1,760,372,914.365523 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/18/printable-caliper-jaws-increase-precision-deflect-derision/ | Printable Caliper Jaws Increase Precision, Deflect Derision | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"caliper",
"cutting",
"jaws",
"machining",
"marking",
"precision"
] | If you’ve watched as many machining videos as we have, no doubt you’ve seen someone commit the cardinal sin of metalworking: using caliper jaws to scratch a mark into metal. Even if it’s a cheap Harbor Freight caliper rather than an expensive Starrett or Mitutoyo tool being abused, derision and scorn predictably rain down upon the hapless sinner’s head.
The criticism is not without its merit, of course. Recognizing this, [Nelson Stoldt] came up with
these clamp-on nosepieces designed to turn calipers into a better marking tool
. Using stock calipers as marking gauges always introduces some error, since the jaws are equal lengths and thus have to be held at a slight angle to the workpiece in order to make a mark. The caliper jaws correct for this admittedly negligible error by extending one jaw, allowing it to ride on a reference face while the other jaw remains perpendicular to the workpiece. As a bonus, the short jaw has a slot to mount a steel marking knife, saving the caliper jaws from damage.
[Nelson] chose to 3D-print his caliper jaws, but they could just as easily be milled from solid stock to make them a little more durable. Then again, you could always
3D-print the calipers
in the first place, and integrate these jaws right into them. | 25 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391475",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T08:31:18",
"content": "I have a 15€ pair of calipers specifically for scribing. Takes two minutes to stone a point back onto the jaws about once a year. This design is fine but if you attach this contraption to your calipers, you... | 1,760,372,914.430127 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/an-easy-fix-for-inconsistent-layers-in-cheap-3d-printers/ | An Easy Fix For Inconsistent Layers In Cheap 3D Printers | Dan Maloney | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"Cetus Mk3",
"eccentric",
"extruder",
"extrusion problem",
"gear",
"layer leight",
"stepper",
"wobble"
] | If there’s one thing you can say about [Stefan] from CNC Kitchen, it’s that he’s methodical when he’s working on an improvement to his 3D printing processes, or when he’s chasing down a problem with a printer. Case in point:
this root-cause analysis of extrusion inconsistencies
with an entry-level 3D printer.
The printer in question is a Cetus MK3, a printer that found its way onto many benches due to its ridiculously low price and high-quality linear bearings. Unfortunately, there’s still a lot to be desired about the printer, and its tendency for inconsistent layers was chief among [Stefan]’s gripes. Such “blubbiness” can be pinned on any number of problems, but rather than guess, [Stefan] went through a systematic process of elimination to find the root cause. We won’t spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that the problem was subtle, and could probably be the cause of similar problems with other printers. The fix was also easy, and completely mechanical — just a couple of parts to replace. The video below shows the whole diagnosis process, as well as the before and after comparisons. [Stefan] also teases an upcoming treatment on how he converted the Cetus from the stock proprietary control board, which we’re interested in seeing.
If you haven’t checked out any of [Stefan]’s other 3D printing videos, you really should take a look. Whether it’s
vibration damping with a concrete paver
,
salt annealing prints for strength
, or
using finite element analysis to optimize infills
, he’s always got an interesting take on 3D printing.
[Baldpower] tipped us off on this one. Thanks! | 26 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391451",
"author": "Justin Drentlaw",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T05:44:39",
"content": "I would not consider the Cetus Mk. 3 an entry level printer. An entry level printer would be something closer to an Ender 3 Pro. And regarding it’s “insanely low price”, I paid $780 total for my C... | 1,760,372,914.491747 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/arduino-nano-floppy-emulator-for-when-your-disk-is-not-accessible/ | Arduino Nano Floppy Emulator For When Your Disk Is Not Accessible | Jenny List | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino nano",
"floppy disk",
"floppy emulator"
] | Among the plethora of obsolete removable media there are some which are lamented, but it can be difficult to find those who regret the passing of the floppy disk. These flexible magnetic disks in hard plastic covers were a staple of computing until some time in the early 2000s, and their drives could be found by the crateload in any spares box. But what about today, when there’s a need for a real floppy drive and none is to be found? Enter [Acemi Elektronikci], with
an Arduino Nano based floppy emulator
, that plugs into the floppy port of a PC old enough to have one, and allows the easy use of virtual floppy disks.
Aside from the Nano it has an SD card and associated level shifter, and an SSD1306 i2c screen. Most of the Arduino’s lines drive the floppy interface, so the five-button control comes to a single ADC pin via a resistor ladder. He freely admits that it’s not a perfect cycle-exact emulator of original hardware and there may be machines or even operating systems that complain when faced with it, but for all that it is a useful tool. One of the machines that may have issues is the Amiga, but fortunately
there’s a fix for that with a Raspberry Pi
. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391436",
"author": "That kid",
"timestamp": "2021-10-18T02:42:12",
"content": "AwesomeAlways a need for floppy emulation for retro support",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6391447",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2021-... | 1,760,372,914.54331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/hackaday-links-october-17-2021/ | Hackaday Links: October 17, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"counting",
"fellowship",
"hackaday links",
"ohs",
"Open Hardware Summit",
"optics",
"PCB design",
"stun gun",
"walrus",
"WWF"
] | We found
a couple of headlines this week
that seemed pretty alarming at first, mentioning as they did both “Chinese grannies” and “stun guns.” Digging a little deeper, it appears that widespread elder abuse isn’t what this is about, although there certainly is an unsavory aspect to the story. Apparently, it’s pretty common in Chinese cities for large groups of people to get together for exercise, with “square dancing” being one popular form. This isn’t the “do-si-do and allemande right” square dancing that made high school gym class really awkward for a few days, but rather large groups of mostly older women busting moves to Chinese music in public spaces. It’s the music that’s bothering some people, enough so that they’re buying “stun guns” that can somehow turn off the dancing grannies’ music. None of the articles go into any detail on the device besides describing it as a flashlight-looking thing, and that it appears to do no permanent damage to the sound system. We’d love to know where to get one of these things — you know, for science. And really, it’s kind of sad that people are taking offense at senior citizens just looking for a bit of exercise and social contact.
A couple of weeks back,
we mentioned TeachMePCB
, a free online PCB design class designed to take you from zero to PCB designer. We’ve been working through the course material and enjoying it, but it strikes us that there’s a lot to keep track when you’re designing a PCB, especially if you’re new to the game. That’s where
this very detailed PCB design checklist
would come in handy. It takes you right from schematic review and breadboard testing of subassemblies right through to routing traces to avoid crosstalk and stray capacitance problems, and right on to panelization tips and even how to make sure assembly services get your build right. Reading through the list, you get the feeling that each item is something that tripped up the author (grosdode) at one time or another. So it’s a little like having someone with hard-won experience watching over your shoulder as you work, and that can’t really be a bad thing.
Our friend Jeroen Vleggaar over at Huygens Optics on YouTube posted a video the other day about building
an entire Schmidt-Cassegrain reflecting telescope out of a single piece of glass
. The video is mostly an interview with optical engineer Rik ter Horst, who took up the building of monolithic telescopes as a hobby. It turns out that one of his scopes will be flying to space aboard
a cubesat
in January. If you’re a fan of precision optics, you’ll want to check this out. Jeroen also teased that he’ll be building his own version of Rik’s monolithic telescope, so watch for an article on that soon.
Heads up — applications are now being accepted for the
Open Hardware Summit’s Ada Lovelace Fellowships
. This year there are up to ten fellowships offered, each of which includes a $500 travel stipend to attend the Open Hardware Summit in April. The fellowships seek to foster a more diverse community in open-source hardware; applications are being accepted until December 17th, so hurry.
And finally, if you’ve got some spare cycles, you might want to turn your Mark 1 eyeballs to the task of
spotting walrus from space
. The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) is crowdsourcing its walrus census efforts by training people to spot the well-armed marine mammals in satellite photos. Assessing population numbers and distribution is important to understanding their ecology, and walrus are cute and cuddly (
no, they’re not
), so getting people to count them makes sense. But this seems like a job for machine vision — there has to be a model trained to recognize walrus, right? Or maybe just something to count dark spots against a white background? Maybe someone can whip something up to make this job a bit easier and less subjective. | 22 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391382",
"author": "deshipu",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T23:04:53",
"content": "The important question about the stun gun is: does it also work against leafblowers?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6391415",
"author": "T... | 1,760,372,914.599978 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/qb64-hits-version-2-0-gets-enhanced-debugging/ | QB64 Hits Version 2.0, Gets Enhanced Debugging | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"basic",
"cross-platform",
"debugging",
"QB64",
"Qbasic"
] | Despite the name, BASIC isn’t exactly a language recommended for beginners these days. Technology has moved on, and now most people would steer you towards Python if you wanted to get your feet wet with software development. But for those who got their first taste of programming by copying lines of BASIC out of a computer magazine, the language still holds a certain nostalgic appeal.
If that sounds like you, then
may we heartily recommend QB64
. The open source project seeks to modernize the classic programming language while retaining compatibility for QBasic 4.5, the late-80s BASIC environment Microsoft included with MS-DOS. That modernization not only includes the addition of contemporary technology like OpenGL, but cross-platform support that lets you run the same code on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
The new debug mode in QB64 v2.
The QB64 team released version 2.0 just a few days ago, making this the perfect time to give the project a test drive if you haven’t tried it out yet. The changelog includes platform specific improvements for each supported operating system, as well as a long list of general fixes and updates. But arguably the biggest feature for this release is the inclusion of the
$Debug
metacommand.
When this command is included in your code, the IDE will insert a debugging stub into the compiled program. During execution, the QB64 IDE will switch over to debugging mode, and communicate with your program in real-time over a local TCP/IP connection. The debugging mode lets you step through the code line-by-line, check the values of variables, and set breakpoints. Once you’re done fussing with the code and want to release a final binary, you just need to remove that single
$Debug
command and recompile.
We’ve talked in the past about using QB64 to revitalize vintage code
, and think the project is a fantastic melding of old and new technology. You never know when you might
suddenly have the urge to dust off some code you wrote back in the 80s
and run it on an OS that didn’t even exist at the time. | 28 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391347",
"author": "tim",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T20:37:42",
"content": "QB64 is awesome – I have used it for several projects, including logging fire alarm panel data, ID scans at gates, etc. Compiled .exe is self-contained and runs quick and smooth.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,914.863536 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/vise-tripod-lets-you-put-the-tool-where-you-need-it/ | Vise Tripod Lets You Put The Tool Where You Need It | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"tool",
"tool hacks",
"tools",
"vise"
] | Vises are useful things for holding whatever you’re working on, but too often they’re stuck to a bench. [seamster] has experienced the glory of having a more portable solution, however, and has shared his design for a heavy duty vise tripod
that provides just that.
The trick is that to be useful, the design must be heavy and stout enough to hold the vise without tipping over. For this build, [seamster] selected a fat steel pipe with 1/4″ thick walls, some solid bars and some 3/8″ thick plate. Legs and arms where then fabbed up from the bar material and welded up to form the tripod. A stout plate for the vise was then welded on top of the pipe, and the vise mounted pride of place on top.
It’s not a particularly difficult build, but it’s a smart idea that gets you a vise you can easily drag to where it’s needed. If you don’t have the vise itself,
consider this hydraulic build
. Meanwhile, if you’ve been whipping up your own useful workshop hacks,
let us know! | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391324",
"author": "Alex99a",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T18:29:31",
"content": "I’d still worry about pushing it over if the loads on it aren’t straight down. Perhaps mount it on a stout steel plate heavy enough to make it more stable, but not so heavy that it isn’t at least luggable... | 1,760,372,914.907673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/machining-wood-inlays-no-cnc-required/ | Machining Wood Inlays, No CNC Required | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"drill",
"inlay",
"parser",
"passer",
"routing",
"steel",
"template",
"tool",
"woodworking"
] | It’s almost hard to remember a time when the obvious answer to most questions about manufacturing wasn’t “Throw it on the CNC.” CNC machines have become so entrenched that the acronym has become a verb; few people would misunderstand a statement like “Let’s just CNC that.”
But before CNC machines became so ubiquitous, there were plenty of clever tricks for cutting material in a controlled fashion, as [Pask] shows us with
this tool to machine wood for inlays
. The tool is called a parser (or passer) drill, and is designed for use in conjunction with a steel template. [Pask]’s version seems pretty easy to make; a pair of mild steel bars are forged flat into spade shapes before having a cutting surface ground into them. The two halves of the drill are welded together and ground down to fit in the chuck of a hand drill, a modern nod to the fact that few people will want to use the traditional bow and breastplate that drove the original parser drills.
In use, a steel template that determines the shape of the inlay is affixed to the workpiece. The cutting edges of the bits are plunged into the template cutout to machine out the wood; the overhangs of the bits act as depth stop and guide. It only takes a few seconds to make a neat, CNC-free inlay. The video below shows the tool being made and in action.
It’s nice to see what can be accomplished without the need for fancy CNC machines. Not that we have anything against them, of course, but when the same results can be had with some scraps of steel and a little ingenuity, it’s pretty impressive. Looking for something between manual tools and CNC for woodworking?
The pantorouter
might be just your speed.
Thanks to [Keith O] for the tip. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391292",
"author": "JuergenUK",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T14:39:37",
"content": "Retro-mechanics – exellent video",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6391296",
"author": "Menga",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T14:55:46",
"cont... | 1,760,372,914.956186 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/a-redesigned-zx-spectrum-desktop-computer-that-works-surprisingly-well/ | A Redesigned ZX Spectrum Desktop Computer That Works Surprisingly Well | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"sinclair",
"ZX microdrive",
"ZX Spectrum"
] | Retrocomputer enthusiasts will quite often be found pondering the great
what ifs
of their hobby. What if Commodore had had a half-way decent marketing division is a popular one, but the notoriously penny-pinching ways of Sinclair Research are also a plentiful source. What if Sinclair had won the competition for a computer in UK schools, not only the first time around when Acorn’s BBC Micro scooped the prize, but also what if they’d entered the fray once more in 1983 when there was another chance? [10p6] investigates this possibility, and
comes up with a Spectrum desktop computer
that you can see in the video below the break.
The first two-thirds of the video is devoted to renders which, while pretty to look at, offer nothing of substance. In the later part though we see a build, putting a Spectrum 48k board, Interface 1, and two Microdrives in a slimline case along with a power supply. Meanwhile a ZX rubber keyboard is mounted stand-alone on the end of a cable. It’s a computer that we know would have been an object of desire for many kids back in the day, and we agree with the video that it could have been integrated onto one board without the need for a separate Interface 1. We feel it’s inevitable though that Sinclair’s cost-cutting would have caused something to go astray and there would certainly have been only one Microdrive, even though we like that separate keyboard a lot.
They claim that the STLs will be available from a Facebook group, however unless you happen to have a set of Microdrives and an Interface 1 to go with your Spectrum that you’re prepared to butcher for the project we’re guessing that the chief interest lies in watching it unfold and that some of the ideas might translate to other platforms. Meanwhile if you’re interested in the Microdrive,
we did a teardown on them last year
. | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391290",
"author": "Mark S.",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T14:36:25",
"content": "Unfortunately, Microdrives are a dead end street. the tape cartridges use a small block of felt to press the tape against the playback head. That piece of felt inevitably crumbles to dust and this kills t... | 1,760,372,915.014851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/17/electronic-covid-test-tear-down-shows-frustrating-example-of-1-time-use-waste/ | Electronic Covid Test Tear Down Shows Frustrating Example Of 1-Time-Use Waste | Al Williams | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"antigen",
"antigen test",
"coronavirus",
"COVID",
"Covid-19"
] | The latest video from [TheSignalPath] is a result of his purchase of a home COVID-19 test.
He found an electronic version that connects to your cell phone and displays the results on the phone
. The device is an antigen test and, internally, works like the home tests that show the results using lines similar to a pregnancy test. So, somehow, the phone version reads the lines and communicates with the phone. But how? That’s the point of the video, which you can see below.
In a traditional test, there’s a control line that has to appear to show that the test was done correctly. Then a line under that indicates detection of the virus. The circuit board inside the electronic test has a plastic unit onboard that contains a similar strip and has optical sensors for both the reference line and the detection line. Since it is essentially an optical device — there are some lenses in the strip assembly that look like they are detecting the dye as it moves through the strip with LEDs onboard to shed light on the situation.
Under the microscope, the CPU is a typical Bluetooth-capable ARM chip from Nordic. The board did power up, but the device is made to only operate once because of the test strip. The video notes — and we agree — it seems wasteful to create an entire Bluetooth-enabled microcontroller board with optical components just to read a strip one time that is pretty easy to read to start with. We’ll stick with the simple test strip. Still, it is interesting to see the insides.
If you want to read more about
antigen tests
, we covered that. We also talked about
PCR testing
. | 68 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391232",
"author": "SparkyGSX",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T08:52:32",
"content": "Why does this even exist? Especially in the current semiconductor crisis, this is completely ridiculous, it’s wasteful, more complicated then the normal test strip, and apparently, a lot less reliable.M... | 1,760,372,915.219674 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/16/the-wireless-ps-2-keyboard-that-never-was/ | The Wireless PS/2 Keyboard That Never Was | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"ESP8266",
"fpga",
"neptUNO",
"PS/2",
"retrocomputer",
"websocket",
"wemos d1 mini"
] | The PS/2-style port was once about as ubiquitous on PCs as USB connectors are today, and more than a few of us accumulated a fair collection of keyboards and mice that sported the 6-pin mini-DIN plug. They’re not nearly as common today, but when you need one, you need one, so if your stockpile of PS/2 keyboards has dwindled to nothing, you might want to look at
rolling your own PS/2 remote keyboard dongle
.
That backstory on [Remy Sharp]’s build starts with his acquisition of a neptUNO, a
160
€ FPGA retrocomputer that gives you access to just about every Z80 and 6502 computer of yesteryear. While the box supports USB keyboards, [Remy] had trouble getting one to work. So out came a Wemos D1 Mini, which was wired up to a stub of PS/2 cable. The microcontroller is powered by the PS/2 port, and connects to the WiFi network on boot-up and starts a WebSocket server. It also served up a page of HTML, which lets him connect with any device and send keystrokes to the neptUNO. He also added a couple of hardware buttons to the dongle, to access menus on the neptUNO directly. The video below shows it in action.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, [Remy] says he took inspiration for this build from [Ben Eater]’s excellent PS/2 deep dive.
We’d like to think he saw that here first
, but either way, it’s a valuable reference on how keyboards used to work.
Thanks to [Irregular Shed] for the tip. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391210",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T05:28:55",
"content": "The PC Jr had a wireless keyboard. Used infrared.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6391367",
"author": "Generic Human",
"time... | 1,760,372,915.436509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/16/its-a-hack-air-scrubber-controlled-using-the-room-lighting/ | It’s A Hack: Air Scrubber Controlled Using The Room Lighting | Dave Rowntree | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"dust extraction",
"woodworking"
] | Some products just seem to be designed to be annoying. [hardmar] discovered the
air filtration system installed in his son’s basement woodshop
was orientated for the best airflow, but rather poorly positioned to actually turning the thing on and off. For some reason the unit has its single line-of-sight IR receiver on one side, which when mounted in some positions, forces the user to be the completely wrong position to use the supplied remote.
We find it a little unhelpful sometimes that devices specifically designed to be mounted with varying orientations don’t come fitted with IR receivers in different locations to ensure good controllability. It would get annoying really fast to have to contort oneself into some specific position just to turn something on, and some people just might not bother at all.
Proper control of dust is paramount for continued good health, and essential in any workspace or shared area. When you work wood, it produces a lot of dust. It cannot be avoided and gets into everything, your lungs included. PPE is not enough. Even in your own shop you still really should manage dust production as best you can. Options are varied from centralised extraction, per machine solutions, and often augmented with air scrubbers mounted on the ceiling to grab those fine particulates.
Instead of solving the IR placement issue, [hardmar] wanted to have the unit tied to the lighting system so that it would power on as soon as someone turned on the appropriate light and would then stay on for a fixed amount of time after the user left in order to continue scrubbing the air some more. His simple hack was to first record and analyse the IR protocol used by the remote, and program an Arduino to be able to send it on/off commands. Next, he hooked up a phototransistor aimed at the light, in order to provide the necessary ‘user present’ trigger to tell the Arduino when to activate the scrubber. Super simple and effective. We love this non-invasive approach of adapting off-the-shelf equipment to our specific requirements, without even showing it a screwdriver.
As [hardmar] admits, the hack is not elegantly implemented, it’s just enough to make it work, and that’s just fine, sometimes you just have a job to do and no more. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391200",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2021-10-17T02:45:42",
"content": "Not to cast aspersions on a good hack, but wouldn’t a small mirror close to and behind the unit give access to the IR channel from the front? IR will bounce off of a lot of things, a white-painted surface ... | 1,760,372,915.387136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/16/the-simplest-way-to-spot-2-4ghz-rf/ | The Simplest Way To Spot 2.4GHz RF | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"crystal radio",
"microwave",
"microwave detector"
] | When the cool kids are showing off their SDRs it’s easy to forget that a radio receiver can be very simple indeed. The crystal set is one of the earliest forms of radio receiver, a tuned circuit and a diode that would pick up those AM broadcast stations no problem. But lest you imagine that these receivers can only pick up those low frequencies, here’s Hackaday alum [Ted Yapo] with
a handy 2.4GHz receiver
that picks up strong WiFi and microwave oven leakage.
It’s about as simple as it gets, an LED with a UHF diode in reverse across it. The clever part lies in the wire leads, which are cut to resonate as a dipole at 2.4 GHz. The resulting RF voltage is rectified by the UHF diode, leaving enough DC for the LED to flash. If you are wondering why the LED alone couldn’t do the job as a rectifier you would of course be on to something, however its much worse high frequency performance would make it not up to the job at this frequency.
The glory days of analogue broadcasting may now be in the past, but
it’s still possible to have fun with a more conventional crystal radio
. If you are adventurous, you can even make
one that works for the FM, band
too. | 24 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391180",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-10-16T23:17:20",
"content": "Something like this was in Electronics decades ago. The diode with the leads as an antenna, but a cheap “tuning meter” as the indicator. Presented as a “microwave leak detector”.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,372,915.28112 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/16/fail-of-the-week-magnetic-levitation/ | Fail Of The Week: Magnetic Levitation | Al Williams | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"control loop",
"maglev",
"Magnetic levitation",
"pid"
] | We are big fans of the little desktop magnetic levitation setups that float a small object on a magnet. As [3D Printed Life] points out, they look like magic. He was surprised that the commercial units use analog electronics. He decided to build
a digital version
but didn’t know what he was getting into. He details his journey in the video you can see below.
Along with a custom control board, he decided to wind his own electromagnets. After finding that tedious he built a simple coil winder to automate some of the work.
If you have ever struggled to find the sweet spot for the magnet on one of these, his first problem was completely predictable. He lost control of the magnet which slammed against the PCB and either physically or electrically damaged the magnetic sensor. After that, he installed a shield to prevent the magnet from directly contacting the board.
The first iteration didn’t work as expected and the magnetic platform kept flipping over. He eventually found a teardown of a commercial unit that showed he needed more stabilizing magnets around the outside of the electromagnets. He also didn’t have the electromagnets set for reversing the polarity.
Solving the polarity problems required repurposing an H bridge circuit that you usually see for motor control. A new board fried after a little testing. Then there was a mechanical failure.
Once the hardware was working, the software posed its own problems. A PID controller wasn’t stable enough. He also tried filtering inputs and adding some other corrections. The platform would float a little but eventually will crash to the electromagnets.
He didn’t get a final working build but he’s hoping someone will be able to give him some advice on getting it working. We figured someone who reads Hackaday has certainly built one of these before and might be able to help.
Maybe a
change in axis
would be easier. There are several
older projects
that might provide some inspiration. | 26 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391140",
"author": "Comedicles",
"timestamp": "2021-10-16T20:05:49",
"content": "Maxwell and Hamilton(ion) say it is unstable. All you need is a magnetic monople.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6391145",
"author": "Greg Ga... | 1,760,372,915.341136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/heres-a-100-mhz-pin-compatible-6502-replacement/ | Here’s A 100 MHz Pin-Compatible 6502 Replacement | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"6502",
"65c02",
"fpga"
] | The MOS Technology 6502 CPU was a popular part in its day. In various modified versions, it powered everything from the Commodore 64 to the Nintendo Entertainment System, and showed up in a million other applications too. A popular variant is the 65C02, and [Jürgen] decided to whip up a pin-compatible FPGA version
that runs at a blazing 100MHz.
The CPU core was borrowed from work by [Arlet Ottens] and extended with 65C02 functionality by [Ed Spittles] and [David Banks]. [Jürgen] then packaged that core in a Spartan-6 FPGA and placed it on a small PCB the size of the original 65C02’s 40-pin
dual inline package.
The FPGA is set up to access the external CPU bus with the timing matched to the clock of the host machine. However, internally, the CPU core runs at 100MHz. It copies RAM and ROM from the host machine into its own internal 64 kilobyte RAM, minus the areas used for memory-mapped I/O by the host. The CPU then runs at full 100MHz speed except when it needs to talk to those I/O addresses.
It allows the chip to accelerate plenty of tasks without completely flipping out when used with older hardware that can’t run at anywhere near 100MHz. The pin-compatible design has been tested successfully in an Apple II and a Commodore 8032, as well as a variety of vintage chess computers.
We’ve seen the opposite before too, with a real 6502 paired with a FPGA
acting as the rest of the computer
. If you’ve got any cutting-edge 6502 hacks of your own (not a misprint!),
let us know!
[Thanks to David Palmer for the tip] | 94 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6390855",
"author": "Ethan Waldo",
"timestamp": "2021-10-15T20:05:40",
"content": "Awesome! Now how do we slow this thing down….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6390908",
"author": "cliff claven",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,372,915.693215 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/hackaday-remoticon-call-for-proposals-extended-to-october-20th/ | Hackaday Remoticon: Call For Proposals Extended To October 20th | Kristina Panos | [
"cons"
] | [
"2021 Hackaday Remoticon",
"call for proposals",
"cfp"
] | In just a few short weeks, we’ll all be meeting up online for the second Hackaday Remoticon on November 19th and 20th. This is the year of the Talk, and who better than you, dear reader, to give one? Good news — we’ve extended the deadline for proposals to Wednesday, October 20th. We’ve all got at least one or two subjects that we could happily bloviate about for hours, be it hardware, software, skill sets, or the stuff that inspires you to stop dreaming and start doing. Why not share your wit and wisdom with the rest of the community?
So, what are you waiting for?
Submit your talk proposal today
! We’re not looking for you to pack the whole talk into the description box, but we would like to know what your talk will be about, and why it’s relevant to an audience of geeks, hackers, and engineers. Talks are typically 30 minutes in length, but we can likely accommodate shorter or longer talks if needed.
Everyone has something worth sharing, and the fact is, we are always looking for first-time speakers to showcase. Just share the things you’re doing that you’re passionate about, and you’re bound to have a great talk that generates excitement all around.
So grab some go-juice and start brainstorming the outline of your talk —
give us enough information that we’ll be thirsty for more
. Have you got terrible stage fright? Then encourage your outgoing hackerspace buddy to give one and cheer from the sidelines. Although we would rather see all of you in person, moving this conference online comes with the flexibility to hear from hackers all over the world, and no one has to leave home. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,915.474068 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/electroplating-carbon-fibers-can-have-interesting-results/ | Electroplating Carbon Fibers Can Have Interesting Results | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"carbon fiber",
"composite",
"composite material"
] | Typically, electroplating is used to put coatings of one metal upon another, often for reasons of corrosion protection or to reduce wear. However, other conductive materials can be electroplated,
as demonstrated by [Michaɫ Baran].
Finer details are sparse, but [Michaɫ’s] images show the basic concept behind producing a composite metal material hand sculpture.
The initial steps
involve 3D printing a perforated plastic shell of a hand, and stuffing it with carbon fibers. It appears some kind of plastic balls are also used in order to help fill out the space inside the hand mold.
Then, it’s a simple matter of
dunking the plastic hand
in a solution for what appears to be copper electroplating, with the carbon fiber hooked up as one of the electrodes. The carbon fibers are then knitted together by the copper attached by the electroplating process. The mold can then be cut away, and the plastic filling removed, and a metal composite hand is all that’s left.
[Michaɫ] has experimented with
other forms too,
but the basic concept is that these conductive fibers can readily be stuffed into molds or held in various shapes, and then coated with metal. We’d love to see the results more closely to determine the strength and usefulness of the material.
Similar techniques can be used to strengthen
3D printed parts, too
. If you’ve got your own ideas on how to best use this technique, sound off below. If you’ve already done it, though, do
drop us a line!
[Thanks to Krzysztof for the tip] | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6390838",
"author": "Greg Garriss",
"timestamp": "2021-10-15T18:39:41",
"content": "Interesting idea. I worked with metalizing carbon fiber structures in the 80s and 90s at Boeing. Unfortunately most of it was cured epoxy and prepreg. The bare fiber was difficult to get from the man... | 1,760,372,915.52741 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/carbon-sequestration-as-a-service-doesnt-quite-add-up/ | Carbon Sequestration As A Service Doesn’t Quite Add Up | Lewin Day | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"carbon dioxide",
"carbon sequestration",
"environment",
"gas",
"greenhouse gas",
"greenhouse gases"
] | Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. While most attempts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions focus on reducing the amount of CO
2
output, there are other alternatives. Carbon capture and sequestration has been an active area of research for quite some time. Being able to take carbon dioxide straight out of the air and store it in a stable manner would allow us to reduce levels in the atmosphere and could make a big difference when it comes to climate change.
A recent project by a company called Climeworks is claiming to be doing just that, and are running it as a subscription service. The company has just opened up
its latest plant in Iceland
, and hopes to literally suck greenhouses gases out of the air. Today, we’ll examine whether or not this technology is a viable tool in the fight against climate change.
How It Works
A diagram of the method of operation. Image credit: Climeworks
The basic theory is to capture carbon dioxide from the air, and then pump it below ground where it can be stored in a safe, stable fashion. This starts with
direct-air capture
: fans suck in air, and carbon dioxide is chemically trapped in a filter.
Climeworks appears to use an adsorption-type filter
for capturing the CO2, but details on the company’s website are sparse.
Once at capacity, the filter can then be heated to release its captured CO
2
so it can be stored. The gas is mixed with water and pumped deep underground into a basaltic rock formation. Over time, the CO
2
reacts with minerals to form stable carbonates.
Scientific papers have covered the concept before,
with a trial in Iceland exploring the idea.
In practice, 95% of the injected CO
2
was successfully mineralized and stored in less than 2 years.
Is It Practical?
The Climeworks facility in Switzerland. Image source: Climeworks
As with any carbon storage technology, it’s important to look at the hard data to determine whether this is a viable solution for climate change. This involves looking at not only the amount of greenhouse gas that can be stored, but also the energy required to achieve this.
In 2017, Climeworks operated a plant in Sweden
(
machine translation
). This installation was capable of removing 900 tonnes of CO
2
from the atmosphere per year, using the output to feed a greenhouse. The process required between 1,800 kwh and 2,500 kwh of thermal energy per ton of CO
2
captured from the air. While the energy requirements may appear high, the group noted that waste heat from other industrial processes normally suffices for the energy input required.
The storage part of the equation would not necessarily be as difficult; current data suggests
7000 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide could be stored off the coast of Iceland
, with plenty of other geologically suitable options around the world too.
At the time, the team set a goal of removing 1% of the world’s CO2 emissions annually by 2025.
Global CO2 output was estimated to be 36.81 billion tons in 2019
. To remove 1% of this would take on the order of 409,000 plants operating at 900 tonnes per year. The group have been quoted that around 250,000 plants would be required by their own modelling, which presumably takes into account potentially higher emissions in 2025 and larger sequestration plants in future.
These figures are steep, and huge sums of money and land would be required to implement such facilities. As a guide, McDonalds operates
just under 40,000 restaurants worldwide
. It seems unlikely that, in the short space of a few years, we’ll see anywhere near 250,000 sequestration plants pop up around the world. Governments are still moving slowly on even simpler measures to reduce outputs. Similarly, many nations have delayed or simply ignored targets from international agreements made in years past.
Sequestration As a Service
Regardless, Climeworks has pressed on. Working in partnership with Icelandic company Carbfix, the company has just opened its largest facility yet in Iceland. The plant known as ‘Orca’ is intended to remove up to 4,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. That’s roughly equivalent to emissions from 870 passenger cars
based on EPA figures.
The plant cost on the order of $10-15 million US dollars to build. The company claims that the project is a stepping stone on the way to “megaton” removal capability
in the second half of the decade
. With facilities of this capacity, the company could hit its 1% emissions target with 92,000 plants. It’s still a ridiculous number; one that seems improbably large given the limited impact it would have on global emissions.
Assuming enough land could be found across the world, establishing the plants at those rates would cost $920 billion dollars. It’s a hefty price to pay to eliminate 1% of global emissions.
So who is going to pay for this? The Climeworks business model raises a few eyebrows, essentially offering Sequestration as a Service. It allows members of the public to offset their own carbon output, with users asked to sign up and pay a monthly subscription fee. Depending on the level chosen, the user pays a set amount to offset a certain mass of CO
2
per year.
For 49 Euros a month (~$57 USD), one can pay for the capture of 600 kg of carbon dioxide per annum. Or, alternatively, the same service can be bought from reseller
Tomorrow’s Air
, marked up to $75 USD. As a guide, one round-trip flight from London to New York emits around
968 kg of CO2 per passenger
. Shorten that to London to Rome and back, and you’re looking at around 234 kg per passenger. Climeworks boasts 8662 subscribers spread across 56 countries around the world, and claims to presently operate 15 air capture facilities at this time.
The USGS has surveyed the country to find potential areas that could store CO2. However, the hard part is capturing it in the first place.
On the face of it, the subscription method appears to be an attempt to generate income for a sequestration operation from environmentally conscious individuals. It bears noting that in the company’s own FAQ, it states that the CO2 removal that subscribers have paid for will be executed “within 5 years or earlier following the subscription date.” The company provides yearly certificates to subscribers, however these only state “the amount of carbon dioxide that has been ordered for removal in [the subscriber’s] name.” However, the company does claim to be seeking third-party certification to give its operations credibility.
Overall, there aren’t huge question marks around the technology itself. Carbon dioxide can be captured from the air with adsorption filters, and it can similarly be stored using
the mineralization process
. The real question is whether or not it’s a viable solution to climate change in the short to medium term. Based on the present figures, it seems more likely that bigger gains could be possible from investing in other areas. For example, spending huge sums on renewable energy and grid storage would eliminate a large amount of carbon emissions in the first place, entirely avoiding the need to pull that CO2 out of the air later on.
While carbon capture and sequestration is a great idea in theory, in practice it’s simply not there yet. Capturing CO2 directly out of the atmosphere (as opposed to at the source like scrubbers at power plants) simply isn’t efficient enough or able to be executed on a large enough scale to make much of a dent in the problem. Research on the technology should continue, but don’t expect it to be the silver bullet that saves the world in the next few years. | 128 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "6390796",
"author": "Stephen Walters",
"timestamp": "2021-10-15T17:08:03",
"content": "We need this, and we need it NOW.https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20161129-the-colossal-african-solar-farm-that-could-power-europehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertec",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,915.869183 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/hackaday-podcast-140-aqua-battery-ibm-cheese-cutter-waiting-for-usb-c-and-digging-adcs/ | Hackaday Podcast 140: Aqua Battery, IBM Cheese Cutter, Waiting For USB-C, And Digging ADCs | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys chew the fat over the coolest of hacks. It’s hard to beat two fascinating old-tech demonstraters; one is a mechanical IBM computer for accurate cheese apportionment, the other an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) built from logic chips. We gawk two very different uses of propeller-based vehicles; one a flying-walker, the other a ground-effect coaster. Big news shared at the top of the show is that Keith Thorne of LIGO is going to present a keynote at Hackaday Remoticon. And we wrap the episode talking about brighter skies from a glut of satellites and what the world would look like if one charging cable truly ruled all smartphones.
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
(55 MB)
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 140 Show Notes:
What’s that Sound?
That sound was from Zero Wing, source of the “All Your Base” meme
[Ben] was randomly drawn from 18 correct responses and wins the shirt!
New This Week:
Keith Thorne, Engineer At LIGO, To Deliver Remoticon Keynote
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Autonomous Ground Effect Vehicle Demonstrator Aims To Speed Up Maritime Shipping
RC Ekranoplan Uses LIDAR To Fly In Ground Effect
Nifty Chip Adapter Does The Impossible
Comment about higher temp solder used to make these adapters into placeable modules
Power Your Home With A Water Battery
Can You Store Renewable Energy In A Big Pile Of Gravel?
Electric Dump Truck Produces More Energy Than It Uses
LEONARDO: The Hopping, Flying Bipedal Robot
IBM Cheese Cutter Restoration
Skip to minute 42 for the analog computer stuff
Homebrew Circuit Explores The Mysteries Of Analog-to-Digital Conversion
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks
Software Removes The Facebook From Facebook’s VR Headset (Mostly)
Bendable Colour EPaper Display Has Touch Input Too
1981 Called, Here’s Your Software
Mike’s Picks:
Ultrasonic Array Powers This Halloween Spirit Writer
Making Coffee With Hydrogen
Halloween Build: Exquisite Ray Gun Has Sound Effects
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Showdown Time For Non-Standard Chargers In Europe
Things Are Looking Brighter! But Not The Stars
Space Age Road Rage: Right Of Way Above The Karman Line
Space Garbage Truck Takes Out The Trash | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6390856",
"author": "jonkangas",
"timestamp": "2021-10-15T20:06:20",
"content": "The Spruce Goose managed to have a challenging relationship with ground effect as well.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6391061",
"author... | 1,760,372,915.564836 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/3d-print-a-custom-t-shirt-design-step-by-step/ | 3D Print A Custom T-Shirt Design, Step-by-Step | Donald Papp | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Art",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed. t-shirt",
"art",
"custom design",
"fabric",
"iron-on"
] | Want to make a t-shirt with a custom design printed on it? It’s possible to use a 3D printer, and Prusa Research have a well-documented blog post and video detailing
two different ways to use 3D printing to create colorful t-shirt designs
. One method uses a thin 3D print as an iron-on, the other prints directly onto the fabric. It turns out that a very thin PLA print makes a dandy iron-on that can survive a few washes before peeling, but printing flexible filament directly onto the fabric — while more complicated — yields a much more permanent result. Not sure how to turn a graphic into a 3D printable model in the first place? No problem, they cover that as well.
Making an iron-on is fairly straightforward, and the method can be adapted to just about any printer type. One simply secures a sheet of baking paper (better known as parchment paper in North America) to the print bed with some binder clips, then applies glue stick so that the print can adhere. A one- or two-layer thick 3D print will stick to the sheet, which can then be laid print-side down onto a t-shirt and transferred to the fabric by ironing it at maximum temperature. PLA seems to work best for iron-ons, as it preserves details better. The results look good, and the method is fairly simple.
Direct printing to the fabric with flexible filament can yield much better (and more permanent) results, but the process is more involved and requires 3D printing a raised bed adapter for a Prusa printer, and fiddling quite a few print settings. But the results speak for themselves: printed designs look sharp and won’t come loose even after multiple washings. So be certain to have a few old shirts around for practice, because mistakes can’t be undone.
A very thin 3D print makes a decent iron-on that survives a few washes.
A 3D-printed bed adapter enables direct printing onto fabric for better results.
That
3D printers can be used to embed designs directly onto fabric
is something many have known for years, but it’s always nice to see a process not just demonstrated as a concept, but documented as a step-by-step workflow. A video demonstration of everything, from turning a graphic into a 3D model to printing on a t-shirt with both methods is all in the short video embedded below, so give it a watch.
With Halloween coming up, here’s a reminder that
3D printing onto fabric can go interesting places with costume design
, and
this 2020 Remoticon presentation
goes into all the nitty-gritty details of how to make that kind of approach work. | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6390770",
"author": "Harvie.CZ",
"timestamp": "2021-10-15T15:25:51",
"content": "Why not use flexible filaments for iron-on method?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6390790",
"author": "chojciech",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,372,915.927417 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/15/this-week-in-security-the-apache-fix-miss-github-malicious-actions-and-shooting-the-messenger/ | This Week In Security: The Apache Fix Miss, Github (Malicious) Actions, And Shooting The Messenger | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"apache",
"Github Actions",
"youtube"
] | Apache 2.4.50 included a fix for CVE-2021-41773. It has since been discovered that
this fix was incomplete
, and this version is vulnerable to a permutation of the same vulnerability. 2.4.51 is now available, and should properly fix the vulnerability.
The original exploit used
.%2e/
as the magic payload, which is using URL encoding to sneak the extra dot symbol through as part of the path.
The new workaround
uses
.%%32%65/
. This looks a bit weird, but makes sense when you decode it. URL encoding uses UTF-8, and so
%32
decodes to
2
, and
%65
to
e
. Familiar? Yep, it’s just the original vulnerability with a second layer of URL encoding. This has the same requirements as the first iteration,
cgi-bin
has to be enabled for code execution, and
require all denied
has to be disabled in the configuration files.
Breaking Youtube With Super SloMo
[Florian Mathieu] was playing with mp4 muxing
, and was struck by the complexities of multiplexing audio and video together. He had a ten second video that was playing back in only eight seconds. This was odd. The culprit was the timescale value specified in the mp4 header. The muxer he was working with was ignoring that value, leading to improper playback. Now what would happen if that value was set to something truly odd? Setting a much smaller value resulted in a 4 MB file that actually plays for 15 hours, in excruciating slow motion.
In possession of such a strange file, what is the logical next step? Upload it to YouTube, of course. The YouTube encoding process cranked on the video for several days, before finally timing out. Is this really a vulnerability, you may ask? YouTube has a failsafe where it aborts the processing of a file if it goes too long. The YT security team opted not to pay a bounty on the bug, but did add [Florian] to their security Hall of Fame. I still haven’t identified a practical attack that would use this bug — even with using it, it would be hard to build a DoS attack that would approach the traffic and processing requirements of the entire world using and uploading to YouTube all at once.
Dev-0343
Microsoft’s Office365 and Azure platforms are a powerful analytics tool for tracking malicious activity. In a new report, they have detailed an actor that has been doing account discovery and mass password brute-forcing against a targeted group of victims — groups like defense contractors, Persian Gulf port operators, and Middle Eastern transportation providers. The prevailing theory is that this actor is associated with Iran, but the details are difficult to nail down, as the attacks are all performed over Tor. It is telling that traffic is much higher between 7:30 AM and 8:30 PM local Iran time.
The normal security precautions apply here. Don’t use compromised passwords and enable two factor authentication. Microsoft suggests also blocking traffic from known anonymizing services — in other words, block Tor exit nodes.
Hijacking Github Actions
Almost exactly a month ago,
we covered a flaw in Github Actions
, where a symlink in the pull request could allow for unintended behavior by the check-spelling workflow.
Well there’s more
. Now this vulnerability is both better and worse. It’s harder to exploit, as it’s limited to a user account with write privileges. But it’s also more ubiquitous, as every organization has Actions enabled by default.
Any user with write permissions also has permission to create a new workflow. The process of creating a workflow also includes setting permissions for the token used by that workflow. And thus, any user with write permission potentially has nearly full permissions, including approving pull requests on protected branches. And to make matters worse, the action bot counts as a separate user, meaning it can approve pull requests initiated by the malicious user.
The takeaway is that you should disable Github Actions anywhere it’s not being used. Protected branches are not a bulletproof solution if Actions are enabled. It appears that for the time being, this is an outstanding issue in Github.
Shooting the Messenger
And finally, in an incredibly disappointing story, the governor of Missouri has referred a journalist for prosecution for discovering and responsibly disclosing
an information leak in a state website
. The flaw in the State’s Department of Education website potentially exposed the social security numbers of teachers.
As you might anticipate,
quite a few security professionals have sounded off in support of the journalist
. The vulnerable site was taken down before the report was published, and the exact flaw has not been disclosed. The plainest description of the vulnerability states, “Though no private information was clearly visible nor searchable on any of the web pages, the newspaper found that teachers’ Social Security numbers were contained in the HTML source code of the pages involved.” It could be as simple as it seems, that a lookup triggered a “SELECT *” SQL statement, and those results were encoded directly as JSON in a script embedded in the page source.
Now to be fair, it could be that there’s more to the story. There may be a SQL injection or request manipulation that was deemed too technical to have been covered in the story. That said, threatening prosecution for what appears to be a good faith vulnerability disclosure is a terrible move. If more concrete details come to light, we’ll let you know. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6390798",
"author": "cappie",
"timestamp": "2021-10-15T17:10:09",
"content": "“processing requirements of the entire would using and uploading to YouTube all at once”I think ‘would’ should be ‘world’ in this context..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{... | 1,760,372,915.973116 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/16/pinetime-smartwatch-and-good-code-play-bad-apple/ | PineTime Smartwatch And Good Code Play Bad Apple | Brian McEvoy | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"bad apple",
"compression",
"full motion",
"music video",
"oled",
"Pinetime",
"rendering",
"smartwatch",
"video",
"watch",
"wearable"
] | PineTime is the open smartwatch from our friends at Pine64. [TT-392] wanted to prove the hardware can
play a full-motion music video
, and they are correct, to a point. When you watch the video below, you should notice the monochromatic animation maintaining a healthy framerate, and there lies all the hard work. Without any modifications, video would top out at approximately eight frames per second.
To convert an MP4, you need to break it down into images, which will strip out the sound. Next, you load them into the Linux-only
video processor
, which looks for clusters of pixels that need changing and ignores the static ones. Relevant pixel selection takes some of the load off the data running to the display and boosts the fps since you don’t waste time reminding it that a block of black pixels should stay the way they are. Lastly, the process will compress everything to fit it into the watch’s onboard memory. Even though it is a few minutes of black and white pictures, compiling can take a couple of hours.
You will need access to the watch’s innards, so hopefully, you have the developer kit or don’t mind cracking the seal. Who are we kidding, you aren’t here for intact warranties. The video resides in the flash chip and you have to transfer blocks one at a time. Bad Apple needs fourteen, so you may want to practice on a shorter video. Lastly, the core memory needs some updating to play correctly. Now you can sit back and…watch.
Pine64 had a rough start with the single-board computers, but they’re earning our trust with things like
soldering irons
and Google-less
Linux mobile phones
. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6391117",
"author": "BlackLotus",
"timestamp": "2021-10-16T18:13:53",
"content": "The display isn’t monochromatic though…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6391136",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2021-10-16T20... | 1,760,372,916.025116 |
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