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https://hackaday.com/2021/09/26/hackaday-links-september-26-2021/ | Hackaday Links: September 26, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"battery",
"bolt",
"brick",
"Circuit Sculpture",
"Daphne Oram",
"daylight savings time",
"Delia Derbyshire",
"electronic music",
"fire",
"hackaday links",
"recall",
"synthesizer",
"tesla",
"theremin"
] | Dealing with breakdowns is certainly nothing new for drivers; plenty of us have had our ride die in mid-flight, and experienced the tense moment when it happens in traffic. But the highly integrated and instrumented nature of the newest generation of electric vehicles can bring an interesting twist to the roadside breakdown, if
the after-action report of a Tesla driver
is any indication.
While driving on a busy road at night, driver [Pooch] reports that his Tesla Model S started beeping and flashing warnings to get to the side of the road right away. [Pooch] tried to do so, but the car died, coasted to a stop in the middle of the road, and engaged the parking brakes. The bricked Tesla would have been a sitting duck in the middle of the road but for a DOT crew who happened to be nearby and offered to provide some protection while [Pooch] waited for help. The disturbing part was the inability to get the car into any of the service modes that might let it be pushed off to the shoulder rather than stuck in traffic, something that’s trivial to do in ICE vehicles, at least older ones.
In other electric vehicle news,
Chevy Bolt owners are turning into the pariahs of the parking garage
. General Motors is telling Bolt EV and EUV owners that due to the risk of a battery fire, they should park at least 50 feet (15 meters) away from other vehicles, and on the top level of any parking structures. There have been reports of twelve battery fires in Bolts in the US recently, which GM says may be due to a pair of manufacturing defects in the battery packs that sometimes occur together. GM is organizing a recall to replace the modules, but isn’t yet confident that the battery supplier won’t just be replicating the manufacturing problem. The social distancing rules that GM issued go along with some fairly stringent guidelines for charging the vehicle, including not charging overnight while parked indoors. With winter coming on in the northern hemisphere, that’s going to cause a bit of inconvenience and probably more than a few cases of non-compliance that could end in tragedy.
Fans of electronic music might want to check out
“Sisters with Transistors”
, a documentary film about some of the pioneering women of electronic music. Electronic music has been around a lot longer than most of us realize, and the film reaches back to the 1920s with Theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore, and continues on into the 1980s with Laurie Spiegel, whose synthesizer work has been speeding away from Earth for the last 44 years on the Golden Records aboard the Voyager spacecraft. Hackaday readers will no doubt recognize some of the other women featured, like
Daphne Oram
and Delia Derbyshire, who cobbled together the early Dr. Who music with signal generators, tape loops, and random bits of electronics in the pre-synthesizer days of the early 60s. We’ve watched
the trailer for the film
and it looks pretty good — just the kind of documentary we like.
We’re big fans of circuit sculpture around here, and desperately wish we had the patience and the skill to make something like Mohit Bhoite or Jiri Praus can make. Luckily, there’s now a bit of a shortcut —
Geeek Club’s Cyber Punk PCB Construction Kit
. These kits are a little like the love child of Lego and PCBWay, with pieces etched and cut from PCB stock. You punch the pieces out, clean up the mouse bites, put Tab A into Slot B, and solder to make the connection permanent. Each kit has some components for the requisite blinkenlight features, which add to the cool designs. Looks like a fun way to get someone started on soldering, or to build your own skills.
And finally, another nail was driven into the coffin of Daylight Savings Time this week, as
the island nation of Samoa announced they wouldn’t be “springing ahead” as scheduled this weekend
. Daylight Savings Time has become a bone of contention around the world lately, and mounting research shows that the twice-yearly clock changes cause more trouble than they may be worth. In Europe, it’s due to be banned as soon as all the member nations can agree on normal time or summer time.
In the case of Samoa, DST was put into effect in 2010 on the assumption that it would give plantation workers more productive hours in the field and save energy. Instead, the government found that the time change just gave people an excuse to socialize more, which apparently upset them enough to change the rule. So there you have it — if you don’t like Daylight Savings Time, start partying it up. | 33 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384579",
"author": "Eugene",
"timestamp": "2021-09-27T00:07:58",
"content": "Minor nit, its Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time. There is no s on saving :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6384586",
"author... | 1,760,372,939.584517 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/26/arduino-orchestra-plays-the-planets-suite/ | Arduino Orchestra Plays The Planets Suite | Lewin Day | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"hardware orchestra",
"orchestra",
"speaker"
] | We’ve seen a great many Arduino synthesizer projects over the years. We love to see a single Arduino bleeping out some monophonic notes. From there, many hackers catch the bug and the sky is truly the limit. [Kevin] is one such hacker who now has an Arduino orchestra capable of playing
all seven movements of Gustav Holst’s Planets Suite.
The performers are not human beings with expensive instruments, but simple microcontrollers running code hewn by [Kevin’s] own fingertips. The full orchestra consists of 11 Arduino Nanos, 6 Arduino Unos, 1 Arduino Pro Mini, 1 Adafruit Feather 32u4, and finally, a Raspberry Pi.
Different synths handle different parts of the performance. There are General MIDI synths on harp and bass, an FM synth handling wind and horn sections, and a bunch of relays and servos serving as the percussive section. The whole orchestra comes together to do a remarkable, yet lo-fi, rendition of the whole orchestral work.
While it’s unlikely to win any classical music awards, it’s a charming recreation of a classical piece and it’s all the more interesting coming from so many disparate parts working together. It’s an entirely different experience than simply listening to a MIDI track playing on a set of headphones.
We’d love to see some kind of hacker convention run a contest for the best hardware orchestra. It could become a kind of demoscene contest all its own. In the meantime, scope one of [Kevin’s] earlier projects on the way to this one –
12 Arduinos singing Star Wars tracks all together
. Video after the break. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384558",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2021-09-26T21:16:49",
"content": "Thank you for featuring my Lo-Fi Orchestra! If anyone makes it through all seven movements, do let me know in the comments what you thought of any of them and if you have a favourite. I still can’t decide... | 1,760,372,939.205863 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/25/design-and-build-your-own-circular-slide-rule/ | Design And Build Your Own Circular Slide Rule | Chris Lott | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"haskell",
"laser engraver",
"slide rule"
] | You have to really like slide rules to build your own, including the necessary artwork. Apparently [Dylan Thinnes] is a big fan, based on this project he
began working on a few months back
. The result is a set of algorithms that automatically generates most of the scales that were common on slide rules back in the day. For example:
K Cubic scale, x^3
A,B Squared scale, x^2
C,D Basic scale, x
CI,DI Inverted scale, 1/x
CF,DF Folded scale, x*pi
LLn Log-log scales, e^a*x
LL0n Log-log scales, e^-a*x
L Log scale, log10(x), linear
S Sine and cosines scale, sin(x)
T Tangent scale, tan(x)
If you’ve ever tried to manually draw an axis using a computer program — attempting to automatically set reasonable tick marks, grids, and labels — you can appreciate that this is a non-trivial problem. [Dylan] tackled things from the bottom up, developing several utility functions that work in concert to iteratively build up each scale. One advantage of this approach, he says, is that you can quite easily build almost any scale you want. We’re going to take his word on that, because the project is not easily accessible to the average programmer. As [Dylan] notes:
At the moment it’s still a library w/ no documentation, and written in a relatively obscure language called Haskell, so it’s really only for the particularly determined.
The project is
published on his GitHub repository
, and sample scales and demo program are available. Without knowledge of obscure languages and being only mildly determined, one can at least generate some sample scales — just downloading the Haskell environment, a few dependencies, and clone [Dylan]’s repository. The output is an SVG file which can be scaled to any desired size. In
this follow-up Reddit post
he discusses the fabrication techniques used for the acrylic circular slide rule shown in the lead photo.
It’s always been possible to make your own slide rules using pre-generated artwork — for example, the
Slide Rule Museum website
has a slew of various scales available in graphic format. But if you want to make a custom scale, or make one of that’s meters long, check out [Dylan]’s project and give it a whirl. For another take on making slide rules, check out
this project
that we covered last year. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384367",
"author": "Dr Joni Pelham (@jonititan)",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T20:20:28",
"content": "Very cool project.Related to Nomograms. I’m unsure if slide rules should be regarded as a form of Nomogram but there is a cool python library as well for creating them.http://pynomo.o... | 1,760,372,939.519425 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/25/a-promising-start-for-the-doritos-space-program/ | A Promising Start For The Doritos Space Program | Tom Nardi | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"Estes",
"inkscape",
"model rocketry",
"Pringles can"
] | Rocketry is tricky stuff, but as long as you’re not trying to get into space, the whole idea can basically be boiled down into a simple concept: if you put enough thrust behind it, anything can fly. At least, for awhile. It’s this basic premise that allows what hobbyists sometimes refer to as “Odd-Rocs” fly; these unusual objects might not be ideal rockets, but put a big enough motor in there, and it’ll get off the pad.
Recently, [concretedog] thought he’d try putting together his own oddball rocket, and set out to
modify a Doritos STAX tube for powered flight
. There’s plenty of precedent for turning Pringles tubes into rockets, but of course, that’s hardly surprising. After all, what’s a rocket if not a strong and lightweight cylinder? But the rounded triangular shape of the STAX tube promised to be an interesting change of pace. Plus it looked cool, so there’s that.
Turning the snack container into a rocket was actually pretty straightforward. To start with, [concretedog] sketched around the outside of the tube on a piece of paper, and then took a picture of that with his phone. That image was then brought into Inkscape, and turned into a vector file that he could fiddle around with in CAD.
Between the thin plywood cut on his laser and PETG loaded into his 3D printer, he was able to come up with a strong enough motor mount to take an Estes D12-5. He then created some fins to glue on the side, and a triangular nosecone. A simple recovery system was installed, and the whole thing was finished off with a Doritos-appropriate orange and black color scheme.
The unusual shape of the rocket meant simulating its flight characteristics on the computer wouldn’t work without custom software, so [concretedog] had to use the old school method of checking stability by swinging it around in a circle on a string. After trimming it out so it would orient itself properly on the tether, he was fairly sure it would fly straight under power. Sure enough, the video below shows the nacho cheese flavored rocket streaking skyward with impressive speed and stability.
It’s far from the most advanced model rocket we’ve seen recently
, but we really appreciate the simplicity of this build. It’s a great reminder that fun doesn’t have to be high-tech, and that by following some basic construction principles, you can knock out a safe park flier rocket on a weekend. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384356",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T18:36:34",
"content": "Doesn’t it have a dorito inside? After you recover it you could reach inside and get a dorito and eat it, now that would be cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,939.631665 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/25/embrace-the-new-but-dont-forget-the-old/ | Embrace The New, But Don’t Forget The Old | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] | [
"diy",
"etching",
"pcb"
] | We were trading stories of our first self-made PCBs in the secret underground Hackaday bunker, and a couple of the boards looked
really good
for first efforts. Of course there were mistakes and sub-optimal routing, but who among us never connects up the wrong signals or uses a bad footprint? What lead me to have a hacker “kids these days have it so easy” moment was that all of the boards were, of course, professionally fabbed with nice silkscreens. They all
looked great
.
What a glorious time to be starting down the hardware path! When I made my first PCB, the options were basically laying down tape, pulling out the etch resist pen, or paying a bazillion inflation-adjusted dollars for a rapid prototype board. This meant that the aspiring hacker also had to have a steady hand and be at least casually acquainted with a little chemistry. The ability to just send your files out to a PCB house means that the barrier to stepping up your hardware game from plug-them-together modules is lower than it’s ever been.
But if scratching or etching your own PCB out of copper plate is very hands-on, very DIY, and very low-tech, it’s also very fast in comparison to even the most rushed service. Last weekend, I needed a breakout board for some eight-pin SOIC H-bridge chips for a turtle robot project with my son. Everything was hand-soldered and hot-glued in a Saturday afternoon and evening, so there was no time for a PCB order. A perfect opportunity for the Old Ways™.
We broke out a Sharpie, traced out where the SOIC pins would land, connected up the grounds, brought the signals out to friendly pads, and then covered the rest of the board in islands of copper just in case we’d need any prototyping space later. Of course, some of the ink lines touched each other where they shouldn’t, but before the copper meets the etchant it’s easy enough to scrape the spaces clear with a pin. The results? My boards look like they were chiseled out by a caveman, but they worked. And more importantly, we got it done within the attention span of a second grader without firing up a computer.
So revel in your cheap offshore PCB factories, hackers of today! It’s a miracle that even four-layer boards come back within a week without breaking the bank. But I encourage you all to try it out by hand as well. For large enough packages and one-offs, full DIY absolutely has the speed advantage, but there’s also a certain
wabi sabi
to the hand-drawn board. Like brush strokes in residual copper.
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
! | 36 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384320",
"author": "Saabman",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T14:16:47",
"content": "I have to say I am yet to outsource my projects to a foreign board house. The last tome I used a board house it was a couple of weeks and I could just drive across town to pick them up. And yes it was the... | 1,760,372,939.825757 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/25/tiny-beam-robot-smiles-big-at-the-sun/ | Tiny BEAM Robot Smiles Big At The Sun | Kristina Panos | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"beam",
"beam robotics",
"capacitor",
"solar powered robot",
"voltage monitor"
] | What have you been working on during the Great Chip Shortage? [NanoRobotGeek] has been living up to their handle and building
BEAM robots that are smaller than any we’ve seen before
. What are BEAM robots, you say? Technically it stands for Biology Electronics Aesthetics and Mechanics, but basically the idea is to mimic the movement of bugs, usually with found components, and often with solar power.
Here’s a bunch of tutorials to get you started
.
This was before the large, flat storage capacitor came and covered everything up.
This here is an example of a photovore or photopopper — it moves toward light using simple logic by charging up a capacitor and employing a voltage monitor to decide when there’s enough to run two tiny vibration motors that make up its legs and feet.
[NanoRobotGeek] started in a great place when they found these 25% efficient monocrystalline solar panels. They will even make the bot move indoors! If you want to build one of these, you can’t beat [NanoRobotGeek]’s guide. Be sure to watch it toddle around in the demo video after the break.
We love to see people work at all different scales. Last time we checked in with [NanoRobotGeek], they had built
this solar-powered ball-flinging delight
. | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384321",
"author": "rorobobo",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T14:19:05",
"content": "I remember the old beambot episode from make magazine when they were still relevant. ah the nostalgia",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6384387",
... | 1,760,372,939.316826 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/25/a-toy-jeep-for-after-the-apocalypse/ | A Toy Jeep For After The Apocalypse | Jenny List | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"electric jeep",
"jeep toy",
"motor controler"
] | When your friends are off to the post-apocalyptic Wasteland Festival and present you with a defunct Power Wheels clone toy Jeep to make ready for the festivities, what are you to do? If you happen to be [Victor Frost],
soup it up with new electrics and uprated steering
, and send it forth into the hideous no-mans land.
These toys usually have one or two 12V high-speed motors driving plastic gear trains for the rear wheels. This one is a two-motor model and unexpectedly comes with a steering motor for parental remote control. All its electronics were dead, so rather than do a complete motor upgrade he instead doubled the voltage and installed decent motor controllers with an Arduino sending them instructions. Otherwise it received an upgrade and stiffening of its chassis and steering components, and the kids plastic steering wheel was replaced with a wooden one.
The result is not quite
Mad Max
as while it’s faster than the original there’s still something of the pedestrian about it. But it seems to be a load of fun, and we can’t help admitting we’d like a go in it. If you’re hungry for more,
this isn’t the first such story we’ve covered
. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384297",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T10:38:51",
"content": "For some odd reason reason even at a maximum speed of 8 mph I’m thinking about the Dirty Harry car chase scene in The Dead Pool (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Pool#Car_chase)",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,372,939.677998 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/classic-chip-line-up-powers-this-fun-dub-siren-synth/ | Classic Chip Line-Up Powers This Fun Dub Siren Synth | Dan Maloney | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"741",
"dub",
"echo",
"lm386",
"oscillator",
"reverb",
"siren",
"synth"
] | There’s a certain elite set of chips that fall into the “cold, dead hands” category, and they tend to be parts that have proven their worth over decades, not years. Chief among these is the ubiquitous 555 timer chip, which nearly 50 years after its release still finds its way into the strangest places. Add in other silicon stalwarts like the 741 op-amp and the LM386 audio amp, and you’ve got a Hall of Fame lineup for almost any project.
That’s exactly the complement of chips that powers
this fun little dub siren
. As [lonesoulsurfer] explains, dub sirens started out as actual sirens from police cars and the like that were used as part of musical performances. The ear-splitting versions were eventually replaced with sampled or synthesized siren effects for recording studio and DJ use, which leads us to the current project. The video below starts with a demo, and it’s hard to believe that the diversity of sounds this box produces comes from just a pair of 555s coupled by a 741 buffer. Five pots on the main PCB control the effects, while a second commercial reverb module — modified to support echo effects too — adds depth and presence. I built-in speaker and a nice-looking wood enclosure complete the build, which honestly sounds better than any 555-based synth has a right to.
Interested in more about the chips behind this build? We’ve talked about
the 555 and how it came to be
, taken
a look inside the 741
, and gotten
a lesson in LM386 loyalty
. | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384275",
"author": "diane attaway",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T05:43:47",
"content": "The enclosure and panel make all the difference to any project and this was delightful to see this being built",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,372,939.2583 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/adversarial-makeup-your-contouring-skills-could-defeat-facial-recognition/ | Adversarial Makeup: Your Contouring Skills Could Defeat Facial Recognition | Lewin Day | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"facial recognition",
"makeup",
"security"
] | Facial recognition is everywhere these days. Cloud servers churn through every picture uploaded to social media, phone cameras help put faces to names, and CCTV systems are being used to trace citizens in their day-to-day lives. You might want to dodge this without arousing suspicion, just for a little privacy now and then. As it turns out,
common makeup techniques can help you do just that
.
In research from a group at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the team trialled whether careful makeup contouring techniques could fool a facial recognition system. There are no wild stripes or dazzle patterns here; these techniques are about natural looks and are used by makeup artists every day.
The trick is to use a surrogate facial recognition system and a picture of the person who intends to evade. Digital techniques are used to alter the person’s appearance until it fools the facial recognition system. This is then used as a guide for a makeup artist to recreate using typical contouring techniques.
The theory was tested with a two-camera system in a corridor. The individual was identified correctly in 47.57% of frames in which a face was detected when wearing no makeup. With random makeup, this dropped to 33.73%, however with the team’s intentionally-designed makeup scheme applied, the attacker
was identified in just 1.22% of frames
. (PDF)
The attack relies on having a good surrogate of the facial recognition system one wishes to fool. Else, it’s difficult to properly design appropriate natural-look makeup to fool the system. However, it goes to show the power of contouring to completely change one’s look, both in front of humans and the machines!
Facial recognition remains a controversial issue, but nothing is stopping its rollout across the world. Indeed, your facial profile
may already be out there. | 30 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384289",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": "2021-09-25T10:14:47",
"content": "Can’t fool thermal mapping of faces, especially with high enough resolution in temperature gradient and pixel resolution to map the larger blood vessels. Not even identical twins have identical blo... | 1,760,372,939.745884 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/this-week-in-security-somebodys-watching-microsoft-linux-ddos/ | This Week In Security: Somebody’s Watching, Microsoft + Linux, DDoS | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"ddos",
"OMIGOD",
"This Week in Security"
] | In case you needed yet another example of why your IoT devices shouldn’t be exposed to the internet, a large swath of Hikvision IP Cameras have a serious RCE vulnerability.
CVE-2021-36260
was discovered by the firm Watchful_IP in the UK. In
Hikvision’s disclosure
, they refer to the problem as a command injection vulnerability in the device’s web interface. The vuln is pre-authentication, and requires no user interaction. This could be something as simple as a language chooser not sanitizing the inputs on the back-end, and being able to use backticks or a semicolon to trigger an arbitrary command.
Now you’re probably thinking, “I don’t use Hikvision cameras.” The sneaky truth is that a bunch of cameras with different brand names are actually Hikvision hardware, with their firmware based on the Hikvision SDK. The outstanding question about this particular vulnerability is whether it’s present in any of the re-labelled cameras. Since the exact vulnerability has yet to be disclosed, it’s hard to know for sure whether the relabeled units are vulnerable. But if we were betting…
Linux Malware on Windows
In retrospect it should probably be obvious, but the Windows Subsystem for Linux was destined to be yet another vector for infection for Windows machines. It’s finally happened in the wild, and
Black Lotus Labs has the scoop
. The actual malware sample is a Python script compiled into an ELF binary, designed to run inside the WSL environment. From there, it makes calls out to the Windows API. The advantage of using WSL for malware is that this escape detection by most of the security products on the market.
OMIGOD — That Didn’t Take Long
Last week we talked about the simple-to-exploit vulnerability in the Open Management Infrastructure, commonly installed on Linux VMs hosted in the Azure cloud. Botnets are
already scanning the internet for vulnerable machines
, and installing malware. The primary payload seems to be a Mirai variant, which among other things closes the vulnerable ports upon infection. Even though your VM doesn’t currently expose OMI to the internet, it may already be compromised. According to Caddo Security, there still haven’t been any automatic updates pushed to fix vulnerable servers, so unless a VM was manually updated last week, it should probably be assumed to be compromised at this point if it has OMI installed. This has the potential to be quite a big problem.
Smartphone Audit
How much do you trust your smartphone? How about
a smartphone made by Chinese companies
? The National Cyber Security Center of Lithuania had this question, and audited popular international phones made by Huawei, Xiaomi, and OnePlus. All three brands are produced by companies based in China, so there are some understandable concerns about potential spyware. If you think this is overly paranoid, go read about
Project Rubicon
.
The conclusions? Xaiomi devices are actively running spyware and have censorship tools built-in, although they are not actively blocking anything in international models. Huawei doesn’t seem to be quite so malicious, though it doesn’t get a complete pass. The problem here is the app store that ships with those phones. AppGallery is Huawei’s Play Store replacement, and it will helpfully fetch apps from a multitude of third party app stores. It does this quietly, so it’s very hard to determine if you’re actually getting the official version of an app, or a shady repackage from an obscure repository. The only brand to emerge clean is OnePlus, which isn’t terribly surprising. Read
the full paper, available here as a PDF
.
Bad OMENs
Many HP computers ship with the OMEN Gaming Hub, an all-in-one tool for managing hardware settings, among other things. This tool consists of a user-mode application, and a Windows driver running in the kernel. The front-end application makes IOCTL calls to the driver, which acts as a proxy to forward the calls to various hardware and software endpoints. The problem is that those calls are very flexible, and don’t have sufficient fine-grained controls to prevent abuse. Any application can make those calls, adding to this recipe for disaster. It’s not quite as easy as shift-right-clicking on a file chooser dialog, but it is as easy as a few lines of code added to
the msrexec project
. Put simply, arbitrary writes to MSRs (Model Specific Registers) means ring 0 code execution. After a botched patch attempt, HP has released properly fixed OMEN packages.
VoIP DDoS Ransom
Asking for a ransom to call off a DDoS attack is nothing new, but recently a new kind of target was attacked. VoIP.ms is a telecom provider offering VoIP services, and
they’ve been effectively shut down by a DDoS attack
. The attackers claim to be REvil, but that is likely a misdirect. Too many elements are unlike the way REvil operated. For instance, the initial ransom demand was delivered over pastebin, and only asked for a single Bitcoin. That has since been elevated to 100 Bitcoins.
While VoIP.ms has contracted Cloudflare to mitigate the attack and get their website operational again, this has done little to get actual VoIP services running again. Attacking VoIP networks this way is a very new attack, and providers like Cloudflare don’t yet have mitigations ready to go. If such attacks continue, I’m sure DDoS protection will soon be available.
Record DDoS
And we’ve just set a new record, and not one of those to be proud of. A new botnet,
dubbed Mēris, has topped out at 21.8 million requests per second
, so far. It’s likely that it’s capable of more. This is an application attack, rather than a raw bandwidth attack, meaning that the emphasis is on flooding the target with bogus requests.
When looking at the traffic sources, Qrator found a couple of odd similarities. Almost all of the IPs had ports 2000 and 5678 open, a sign of Mikrotik devices. The current theory is that the botnet is almost entirely made up of Mikrotik routers. The last known remotely exploitable flaw in these devices was CVE-2018-14847, fixed back in 2018. The number of devices in this botnet is suspiciously similar to
the number of vulnerable devices exposed to the internet in 2018
. It’s not clear exactly what has happened, but the official theory is that
these devices were compromised in 2018, “fixed” with an automatic update, but still effectively compromised
. This is still an ongoing story, we’ll try to update you if more is discovered. | 23 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384087",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T14:13:49",
"content": "Treat cameras like Windows XP and never allow them anywhere near an outside network, period.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6384239",
"au... | 1,760,372,939.46828 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/this-obsolete-technology-museum-is-not-obsolete/ | This (Obsolete Technology) Museum Is (Not) Obsolete | Kristina Panos | [
"News"
] | [
"150-in-one kits",
"museum",
"obsolete technology",
"synthesizers"
] | You know, we’re not sure how this escaped our attention for so long. Blame it on the summer heat. Did you know that [Look Mum No Computer]
opened a museum of obsolete technology
a few weeks ago?
This Museum is (Not) Obsolete is located by the seaside in the Ramsgate section of Kent, England, where you’ll also find
the Micro Museum
, a collection of computing and video game history. [LMNK] says it took 10 months to build the museum, which is a maze of vintage delights including decades of computers and computer accessories, signal generators, VFDs, vacuum tubes, old phone equipment, and 50 years’ worth of 150-in-one electronics kits. This list doesn’t even sort of start to scratch the surface.
Around every turn there are forgotten technological gems and never-heard-ofs, plus the space is peppered with [LMNK]’s own superb synth creations. (
Who could forget the Furby Organ?
) The goal is to make it as interactive as possible, and to keep growing the collection. So far, [LMNK] has welcomed visitors of all backgrounds and ages, which is exactly what he was after. Can’t quite make it to Ramsgate? Us either. Do what we did and take the video tour below.
If you can get there, you might want to check out
the National Museum of Computing
, too.
via
New Atlas | 11 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384034",
"author": "Enkerli",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T11:11:55",
"content": "Yes, we did.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6384055",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T12:18:45",
"content": "A HUGE collec... | 1,760,372,939.877406 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/handheld-bot-takes-the-tedium-out-of-guitar-tuning/ | Handheld Bot Takes The Tedium Out Of Guitar Tuning | Dan Maloney | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"frequency",
"guitar",
"pico",
"pitch",
"tuning"
] | Even with fancy smartphone apps and custom-built tuners, tuning a guitar can be a tedious process, especially for the beginner. Pluck a string, figure out if the note is sharp or flat, tighten or loosen accordingly, repeat. Then do the same thing for all six strings. It’s no wonder some people never get very far with the guitar.
Luckily, technology can come to the rescue in the form of
this handy open-source automatic guitar tuner
by [Guyrandy Jean-Gilles]. The tuner has a Raspberry Pi Pico inside, with a microphone attached to the ADC. The program running on the Pico listens for the sound of a plucked string and determines whether the note is sharp or flat. The Pico then drives a small DC gear motor in the appropriate direction, which turns the peg the right way to bring the string into tune. The tuner makes ample use of 3D-printed parts, STLs for which are included in the project repo. [Guyrandy] has also made
some updates to the project
to make the tuner a little easier to use.
While there’s
an affordable commercial version of this
— upon which [Guyrandy] based his design — we really like the fact that he rolled his own here, and made the design freely accessible to everyone. We also like the idea that guitarists who can’t use tuners requiring visual feedback can use this, too — just like
this one
.
[via
r/raspberry_pi
] | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384031",
"author": "tilk",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T10:59:13",
"content": "This only tunes in E standard. It would be nice to be able to select a tuning (at least standard and drop tunings with different base notes). It could also have a 6.3mm jack alongside the microphone for dete... | 1,760,372,940.137499 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/the-most-important-device-in-the-universe-is-powered-by-a-555-timer/ | The Most Important Device In The Universe Is Powered By A 555 Timer | Ryan Flowers | [
"Art",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"555 timer",
"blinkenlights",
"movies",
"prop",
"ST:TNG",
"star trek",
"tv"
] | The Hackaday comments section has become infamous for a recurring theme that goes something like “
I don’t know why they used an Arduino, they could have done it with a 555 timer!
” If you’ve ever thought the same way, then this post is for you!
What is
The Most Important Device In The Universe
, then? It’s the Modern Props #195-290-1, a movie prop originally built in the 1970’s. It’s a product of the creative mind of [John Zabrucky] who founded Modern Props in 1977 to serve Sci-Fi television and movie productions that wanted to invent the future with their props. Known for their high quality and impeccable craftsmanship, Modern Props’ products were in demand until
the day they closed the doors so that [John] could retire
.
This particular piece is called The Most Important Device In The Universe due to its ubiquity in modern productions that we’ve all heard of: several
Star Trek
franchises,
The Last Starfighter
,
Knight Rider
,
Airplane II
,
Austin Powers
, and countless others. The next time you sit down to watch a Sci-Fi show, see if you can spot it! Be sure to check the video below the break to see several examples.
Nobody is sure what The Most Important Device does, aside from the fact that it has red lights that go back and forth. What we
do
know, thanks to a comment by the man who installed the electronics, [Gene Turnbow], is how it’s powered. [Gene] explained that 45w NPN power transistors drive the neon tubes through step up transformers. The transistors themselves are connected to a 74C4514 demultiplexer, which is itself driven by a 7493 binary counter. What’s the 7493 driven by? You guessed it: the venerable 555 Timer. And so it is that the 555 timer runs The Most Important Device In The Universe.
We did think that [Gene]’s final comment was rather indicative of how much things have changed since the prop was originally built. After explaining the device, he says “These days we would just use an Arduino to do the same job.” Indeed.
Don’t worry, 555 lovers. We’ve got you covered with this
Vacuum Tube 555
, and and the
Trollduino, a 555 on an Arduino Shield
. Thanks [Matt K] for the great tip. Don’t forget to submit your favorite hacks to our
Tip Line
! | 45 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383970",
"author": "Mouse of Madness",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T05:08:13",
"content": "I’ve always heard it referred to as the Wilhelm Device, because it shows up almost as often as the Wilhelm Scream.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,372,940.222316 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/making-tea-pots-with-antique-machinery/ | Making Tea Pots With Antique Machinery | Dave Rowntree | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"antique",
"machinery",
"manufacture"
] | We in the West take quite a lot for granted. We’re used to certain standards of care in our homes and our places of work, so much so that we rarely even take time to notice it. Workplace accidents are a big deal, and failing to report can lead to you finding yourself being shown the door. So it’s a little sobering to see how things get made in countries with a less stringent approach in certain areas of basic health and safety.
With the urge to drive prices to the lowest possible, low-tech items such as clothing and housewares tend not to be made in highly sophisticated, automated factories, but more likely in smaller facilities employing more labour, which favours countries where such labour is cheaper and more available. The
video we’re highlighting here
shows a small factory in what is likely Pakistan (but equally could be a few other places, we’re only guessing) which would seem fairly typical for the level of sophistication required to make enameled teapots.
The video shows the production process, starting from sheet steel cut by hand with shears, which is trued before being stamped into a shallow dish. These first two machines are driven by exposed belts, which is particularly risky, given the style of free-flowing fabric clothes several of the workers wear. In the background you can see electrical wiring just slung around, hanging off nails. The whole building is the same, improvised machines with no protective features, managed by skilled manual workers dedicated to their allocated task, all working in perfect unison. It’s lovely to watch, but also saddening at the same time, as you know those guys are right in the middle of a thousand potential hazards, and only their skill and dexterity is stopping something bad happening. The machines themselves are heavily worn all over the place, but clearly hacked by someone there knows enough to just keep them ticking over. Just checkout the deep wear in the tool rest at [4:20] in the video!
Thanks [Todd] for the tip! | 30 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383951",
"author": "The Gambler",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T03:03:15",
"content": "not bad but i prefer the luminary shoppe on youtube much better overall for spinning brass and other metals on a lathe. An all around good channelhttps://www.youtube.com/c/TheLuminaryShoppethe one th... | 1,760,372,940.075683 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/upcycling-a-vfd/ | Upcycling A VFD | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"epson",
"point of sale",
"vacuum fluorescent display",
"vfd"
] | A lot of electronics wind up in landfills, and when [Playful Electronics] saw an old cash register heading for the dump, he decided to give its
VFD display a new life
as an Arduino peripheral. While you might not find the exact same parts, it is still fun to watch him work through the process, and you might find some tips for doing your own upcycle project next time you see some old tech heading out to pasture.
The project was relatively straightforward since data for the display was available. It is meant to connect via RS232 with a point of sale printer, so working with it is pretty straightforward.
While VFDs aren’t the latest technology, they do work well, especially in bright environments like inside a car. It seems like having an RS232 display like this would be worth something. However, we did find a few units online for sale, they were priced pretty high. We bet there are some caches of surplus somewhere, though.
We can’t help but note that not all VFDs — or any kind of embedded display — are
quite this easy to hack
. On the other hand, if you want to really hack a VFD, you
don’t have to use it as a display
. | 29 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383918",
"author": "depot",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T23:34:19",
"content": "I saw VFD and thought “variable frequency drive”. Oh well.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383920",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,372,940.647182 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/exploring-an-aftermarket-led-headlight-retrofit-kit/ | Exploring An Aftermarket LED Headlight Retrofit Kit | Tom Nardi | [
"car hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"active cooling",
"automotive",
"heatsink",
"led",
"LED headlight",
"retrofit",
"vapor chamber"
] | There’s plenty of debate about drop-in LED headlight bulbs, especially when they’re used with older reflector housings that were designed for halogen bulbs. Whether or not you personally feel the ultra-bright lights are a nuisance, or even dangerous, one thing we can all agree on is that they’re clearly the result of some impressive engineering.
Which is why we were fascinated to see the
teardown [TechChick] did on a “Ultra 2 LED” retrofit from GTR Lighting
. Apparently one of the diodes was failing, and as part of the warranty replacement process, she was informed she had to make it completely inoperable. Sounds like a teardown dream come true. If a manufacturer ever told us we needed to take something apart with extreme prejudice and provide photographic evidence that the deed was done, we’d be all too happy to oblige.
The driver itself ended up being completely filled with potting compound, so she doesn’t spend much time there. Some will no doubt be annoyed that [TechChick] didn’t break out the small pointy implements and dig all that compound out, but we all pretty much know what to expect when it comes to driving LEDs. The real interesting bit is the bulb itself.
As is common with these high-output automotive LEDs, the Ultra 2 is actively cooled with a small fan that’s actually enclosed within the heatsink. With the fan and the two-piece heatsink removed, she’s able to access the LED module itself. Here, two PCBs are sandwiched back to back with a hollow copper chamber that leads out of the rear of the module. When [TechChick] cut into the copper she said she heard a hiss, and assumed it was some kind of liquid cooling device. Specifically we think it’s a vapor chamber that’s being used to pull heat away from the diodes and into the heatsink at the rear of the module, which speaks to the advanced technology that makes these bulbs possible.
While
laser headlights are arguably the future of automotive lighting
, it’s going to be quite some time before they trickle down to those of us that don’t own supercars. Until then, when used responsibly, these LED retrofits can inject a bit of cutting-edge tech into your old beater without breaking the bank. | 30 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383881",
"author": "bluecat57",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T20:44:21",
"content": "I’ve replaced the headlights on two older vehicles. 2004 & 2006So far, so good.As for them being a “nuisance”, they don’t bother me a bit since I’m in the driver’s seat. ;-)I did replace the turn signal... | 1,760,372,940.712438 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/modern-tube-tester-uses-arduino/ | Modern Tube Tester Uses Arduino | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"tube",
"tube tester",
"vacuum tube"
] | There was a time when people like us might own a tube tester and even if you didn’t, you probably knew which drug store had a tube testing machine you could use for free. We aren’t sure that’s a testament to capitalistic ingenuity or an inditement of tube reliability — maybe both. As [Usagi] has been working on some tube-based projects, he decided he needed a tester so he
built one
. You can see the results in the video, below.
The tester only uses 24V, but for the projects he’s building, that’s close to the operation in the real circuits. He does have a traditional tube tester, but it uses 100s of volts which is a different operating regime.
The bulk of the circuit is creating the voltages required, including a 555 charge pump to generate around -10V. The tube is wired up in a particular configuration and the Arduino makes a few measurements while changing the operating bias conditions. The converter goes through a voltage divider so the maximum 24 volts won’t overload the Arduino.
Grabbing the data into a spreadsheet allowed some curve tracing which looked useful for matching. However, as [Usagi] points out, the tester is very specific to his application. He has plans to maybe make a more general-purpose tube tester.
One of the problems with a truly general-purpose tube tester is connecting to the different pinouts.
Punched cards
offered one answer. If you don’t remember tube testers in drug stores, you might find that
TV repair
, at one time, was a big business. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384230",
"author": "Dennis Anderson",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T23:29:08",
"content": "Can this be altered to allow 12v valves to be tested ? Thanks for a great project. Dennis",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6384263",
... | 1,760,372,940.843626 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/making-a-metal-hand-doorknob/ | Making A Metal Hand Doorknob | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"casting",
"door",
"doorknob",
"hand"
] | Regular doorknobs are widely reviled for their bare simplicity, but by and large society has so many other problems that it never really comes up in day to day conversation. Fear not, however, for [Matthew] has created something altogether more special: a doorknob
in the shape of his own outstretched hand.
The build was inspired by a similar doorknob at the WNDR museum in Chicago, and its one you can recreate yourself, too. It’s achieved through a multi-stage mold making process. [Matthew]’s first step was to make a flexible mold of his hand using Perfect Mold alginate material to do so.
Once solidified, [Matthew’s] hand was removed and the mold filled with wax. The wax duplicate of [Matthew]’s hand was then used to create an investment plaster mold for casting metal. Vents were added in the end of each fingertip in the mold to allow molten metal to effectively fill the entire cavity.
Once the investment mold was solid and dry, the wax was melted out and it was ready for casting. A propane furnace was used to melt the casting metal and fill the mold using a simple gravity casting method. [Matthew] ended up making two hands, one in aluminium and one in copper. Some cleanup with grinders and a wire wheel, and a replica of [Matthew]’s hand was in his hands!
The finished piece looks great attached to a door knob, and we’re sure it’s quite satisfying shaking hands with your hefty metal self every time you open the door. It bears noting that
the same techniques can be used with 3D printing, too
! If you pull off your own great home casting project,
be sure to drop us a line.
Video after the break. | 23 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384191",
"author": "Rog Fanther",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T20:22:53",
"content": "If one could couple that with some motors to give the “hand” some grip ….Spooky :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6384192",
"author": ... | 1,760,372,940.382335 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/final-weekend-of-robots-in-the-hackaday-prize/ | Final Weekend Of Robots In The Hackaday Prize | Mike Szczys | [
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2021 Hackaday Prize",
"redefine robots"
] | This is the final weekend to
enter your robot project in the 2021 Hackaday Prize
.
The Redefine Robots challenge is looking to you for great ideas in making robots part of modern life. For too long, it’s been the vision of what these machines will look like in the future. But what should they look like right now? Sure, that might be C-3PO, but isn’t it more likely that your robot assistant lives on a smart watch, or that labor saving droid helps by passing the butter when limited mobility makes that a challenge for someone. Where are the everyday things that would be better with just a bit of clever technology?
This
robot holds the flashlight
, following your hands as you work.
Part of the challenge here is breaking out of that mold developed from decades of seeing robots that tend to take just a few forms; something with four wheels and a camera or bots designed to mimic the human body. One great example of rethinking these stereotypes is
[Harry Gao’s] task lighting robot
. It uses machine learning to look for your hands on a work surface and move a bright light to make sure you can always see what you’re doing.
Of course movement isn’t a prerequisite, if you want to think of this as a smart automation challenge. The best robots from science fiction are remembered because of their interaction with people — machines with personality. There’s certainly a place in our world for companion robots that keep you company like
this entry called Stack-chan
. It’s not a replacement for human interaction, but a complement to the way we communicate with each other and the world around us.
You still have time to get in on this round if you make this weekend your own personal hackathon. Ten entries will be selected to receive a $500 prize and move on to the final round at the end of October. Next week we’ll begin the final, wildcard round as we head into the fall and eventually award $25,000 for the top prize!
The
Hackaday
Prize2021
is Sponsored by: | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384178",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T19:36:36",
"content": "The flashlight robot needs to be combined with the guitar tuning robot, leaving both of the guitarist’s hands to strum and fret.Then move on to the next tuning peg.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,940.474778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/open-source-autopilot-for-cheap-trolling-motors/ | Open Source Autopilot For Cheap Trolling Motors | Danie Conradie | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"autonomous boat",
"fishing",
"marine propulsion",
"trolling motor"
] | Quiet electric trolling motors are great for gliding into your favorite fishing spot but require constant correction if wind and water currents are at play. As an alternative to expensive commercial GPS-guided trolling motors, [AlexAsplund] created
Vanchor
, an open source system for adding autopilot to a cheap trolling motor.
To autonomously control an off-the-shelf trolling motor, [Alex] designed a 3D printed steering unit powered by a stepper motor to attach to the original transom mount over the motor’s vertical shaft. A collar screwed to the shaft locks the motor into the steering unit when the motor is lowered. The main controller is a Raspberry Pi, which hosts a WiFi hotspot and web server for control and configuration using a smartphone. Using navigation data from an e-compass sensor and a marine GPS chart plotter, it can hold position, travel in a specified direction, or follow a defined route. [Alex] is also planning to add the option of using a GPS module instead of a commercial plotter.
For an estimated total of $300, including the motor, this seems like a viable alternative to commercial systems. Of course, it might be possible to add even more features by integrating the open source ArduRover autopilot, as we’ve seen
[rctestflight] do
on multiple
autonomous vessels
. You can also build your own
open source chart plotter
using
OpenCPN
, which rivals commercial offerings. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384167",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T18:54:05",
"content": "No video of it in action? Come back when you do.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6384182",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T... | 1,760,372,940.430015 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/nyt-crossword-decision-puzzles-many/ | NYT Crossword Decision Puzzles Many | Chris Lott | [
"Featured",
"News",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"crossword puzzle",
"file format wars",
"new york times",
"puz"
] | Over at the New York Times (NYT) crossword puzzle desk,
newly-appointed Games Editorial Director Everdeen Mason
has caused a bit of a ruckus and hubbub (both six letter words with
U
as the 2nd and 5th letter) among digital puzzle solvers. In
a short article published in early August
, Ms. Mason announced the end of support for the crossword-solving program Across Lite, abruptly terminating a relationship between the two organizations spanning 25 years. But the ramifications extend much deeper than just one application.
The NYT first published its now-famous crossword puzzle back in 1942, appearing every Sunday, and in 1950 it became a daily feature. In 1993, Will Shortz was chosen as the fourth Crossword Puzzle Editor, a position he still holds today. The NYT online crossword puzzles first appeared in 1996 — puzzle files could be downloaded by modem and solved offline using the program
Across Lite
.
Modems aside, this basic method has continued until now, and a variety of programs and apps have sprung up over the years that allow not only offline play, but with tailored feature sets, such as support for the visually impaired, puzzle fanatics, puzzle creators, team playing, etc. Naturally the NYT joined the party as well, offering the crossword puzzles online and via smart phone apps.
Central to this issue are Across Lite
.puz
files, a format which hasn’t been upgraded in twenty years. Despite being aged and proprietary, an entire community of solvers, developers and checkers has sprung up around the availability of puz files, making them a de-facto standard. Not only are puz files used to distribute daily crosswords, the NYT maintains an archive of all its crosswords in puz format going back to 1993, even before online puzzles were introduced. There are various newer formats floating around, but with the entrenchment of the puz format none has emerged as a clear winner. The Across Lite team even
developed a new format
at the request of NYT in back 2015, but strangely, the NYT has never used it.
Here One Day, Gone the Next
With this announcement, Ms. Mason wasn’t simply dropping support for Across Lite, but she appears to be killing off this entire ecosystem, much to the chagrin of puzzle fans. Her
tweet a few days later
attempted to explain the decision, but only seemed to agitate fans even further:
Hi. I’m the one who made this call and I did it for editorial reasons. I’m trying to build something where the editors can actual edit and make games rather than adapt things for tools we can’t control. It takes a lot of time, and I’m confident this is the best move for my team
Based on the information made available so far, several things don’t make sense to many in the community. Why the sudden notice, and not a transition period to give the community time to make an orderly transition to this new “something”? Why is the archive of puz files being removed, given that the problem is with preparing puz formatted files, not maintaining them? Almost overnight,
scripts have popped up
to convert the NYT website crossword into puz format, and similar scripts have been around for some time. This begs the question, just how difficult is it to prepare puz files? And other than printing your puzzle on paper, this announcement ends the ability to solve puzzles offline, such as when you’re flying.
Many third-party puzzle app and program developers have reached out to Ms. Mason asking that she reconsider. One such application, Puzzazz,
asked to just receive any format at all
, and their app can parse it. I think the Puzzazz founder Roy Leban sums things up nicely in his
open statement on the NYT Crosswords
situation:
We have never received any revenue from doing this — in fact, it costs us money every year. The
Times
, not Puzzazz, made money from every subscriber who solved in Puzzazz. We did it because we knew years ago that solvers switching to digital was inevitable (and we were clearly right), we believe that the best crossword should be available in the best app, we felt that solvers deserved to get the puzzle as intended by the editors, and that “a rising tide floats all boats.”
Empathizing with the Times
To be fair, I am not unsympathetic to Ms. Mason’s point of view. First of all, her responsibility is to oversee a suite of digital games and puzzles, not just the crossword. Supporting a 25-year-old file format, one whose proponents even admit is long in the tooth and needs updating, is a valid concern. I agree completely with Ms. Mason when she says her team should focus on their core mission — editing puzzles.
But this makes her decision to abandon successful and well-established third-party apps and file formats in order to develop new tools in-house seem incongruent. By all accounts, the current NYT puzzle apps and website are not stellar examples of the genre. I wonder if Ms. Mason’s team, which she admits is small and resource-limited, can satisfactorily fill the resulting void. Admittedly, I don’t have full visibility into all the facts and issues which lead up to this decision. But on the surface it seems to be questionable, or at least it is being poorly communicated.
When Will Shortz was hired in 1993, part of his mandate was to lead the NYT crossword puzzle into the digital era, a mandate at which he overwhelmingly succeeded. With the recent addition of logic games beyond just crosswords, we hope Everdeen Mason’s team will ultimately decide to build upon the past 25 years of success and community relationships instead of tossing them aside, and will keep in mind the adage “a rising tide floats all boats” while developing this new “something”. Will we see a new whiz-bang NYT puzzle format released to developers in the near future that heals these recent community rifts and improves the puzzle ecosystem for everyone? What is your opinion? | 48 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384136",
"author": "three_d_dave",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T17:09:59",
"content": "This raises the question as to why “begs the question” has been redefined to mean the same as “raises the question.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment... | 1,760,372,940.799783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/hackaday-podcast-137-maximum-power-point-electric-car-hacking-commodore-drive-confidential-and-tesla-handles/ | Hackaday Podcast 137: Maximum Power Point, Electric Car Hacking, Commodore Drive Confidential, And Tesla Handles | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams marvel at a week packed full of great hardware hacks. Do you think the engineers who built the earliest home computers knew that their work would be dissected decades later for conference talks full of people hungry to learn the secret sauce? The only thing better than the actual engineering of the Commodore floppy drive is the care with which the ultimate hardware talk unpacks it all! We look upon a couple of EV hacks — one that replaces the inverter in a Leaf and the other details the design improvements to Telsa’s self-hiding door handles. Before we get to medieval surgery and USB-C power delivery, we stop for a look at a way to take snapshots of Game Boy gameplay and an electric plane engine that looks radial but is all gears.
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
(52 MB)
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 137 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:
Farewell Sir Clive Sinclair; Inspired A Generation Of Engineers
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Interactive Clips For Game Boy: Sit Back And Watch Or Take Control
The Ultimate Commodore 1541 Drive Talk: A Deep Dive Into Disks, Controllers, And Much More
The Ultimate Game Boy Talk
34C3: Ultimate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk
Electric “Radial” RC Aircraft Motor
Duke Engines – YouTube
Open Source Hot Rod Mod Gives More Power To EV Owners
Tesla Door Handle Improvements
Tesla Model S Handle Dispenses Beer; Hides When Done
Tracking Maximum Power Point For Solar Efficiency
Quick Hacks:
Mike’s Picks
Banksy-Like Stock Tracker Shreds Your Money When The Market’s Down
Mastering Stop Motion Through Machine Learning
Lego Submarine Gets Balloon Ballast System
Elliot’s Picks:
Bringing The Quake Flicker To Life With A Hacked Light
Broadband Across The Congo
DIY Laser Speckle Imaging Uncovers Hidden Details
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Powering Up With USB: Untangling The USB Power Delivery Standards
Type-C CC and VCONN Signals – Developer Help
Hacking When It Counts: Surgery Fit To Save A Future King
Barber surgeon – Wikipedia | 3 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6385739",
"author": "Opossumax",
"timestamp": "2021-09-30T20:06:12",
"content": "I can’t submit a response for what’s that sound. What is the cutoff time for it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6385851",
"author": "Chr... | 1,760,372,940.886487 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/24/captivating-clock-puts-endangered-displays-on-display/ | Captivating Clock Puts Endangered Displays On Display | Ryan Flowers | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"1704",
"Archer",
"arduino",
"DT-1704",
"gps",
"GPS clock",
"radio shack",
"retro clock",
"vacuum fluorescent display",
"vfd"
] | The DT-1704 VFD as seen the 1976 Radio Shack Catalog. The “A” version has no substrate, making the VFD fully clear for added effect.
When you have a small stock of vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs) straight out of the 1976 Radio Shack catalog, you might sit around wondering what to do with them. When [stepawayfromthegirls] found out that his stash of seven DT-1704A tubes may be the last
in existence
, there was no question. They must be displayed! [stepawayfromthegirls]’ mode of display is
this captivating clock build
. Four VFDs with their aqua colored elements are set against a black background in a bespoke wooden case. Looking under the hood, the beauty only increases.
VFD Clock Wiring is nearly as stunning as the clock itself.
Keeping the build organized was not an easy task because the tubes are designed in such a way that each segment must be individually controlled. The needed I/O duties are provided by an Arduino Mega 2560 Pro (Embed). 28 2n3904’s each with their two resistors serve as drivers for each VFD segment.
The output of a 24 V AC transformer left over from the 1980s is rectified to 34 V of DC power which is then regulated to 27 V to power the tubes. Switching power supplies provide 6 V to the Arduino and 1.3 V to the filaments. If you look closely, you’ll also see a GPS module so that the clock doesn’t need to be set. To future-proof the clock against daylight savings time adjustments, a potentiometer on the back of the case allows the user to set custom hour offsets without editing any code.
We think the end result is a remarkably clean, simple, and elegant clock that he will be proud of for many years to come!
If VFD clock builds are your thing, then you’ll enjoy this
Network Attached VFD Clock
and a
Mini VFD Clock with floating display
. And while not VFD based, we’d be silly to leave out the
Boat Anchor Nixie Clock
with enough knobs, switches, and buttons to delight even the fussiest of hacker. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6384107",
"author": "Matt Brunton",
"timestamp": "2021-09-24T15:12:38",
"content": "Those Radio Shack (Tandy in the UK) catalogs always made me laugh! They were always liberally peppered! With exclamation marks! And spoke like Shatner!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,940.97906 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/rescuing-a-wacom-digitizer-from-a-broken-lenovo-yoga-book/ | Rescuing A Wacom Digitizer From A Broken Lenovo Yoga Book | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"drawing tablet",
"tablet",
"wacom",
"wacom tablet"
] | The Lenovo Yoga Book is a interesting thing, featuring a touch-surface keyboard that also doubles as a Wacom tablet. [TinLethax] sadly broke the glass of this keyboard when trying to replace a battery in their Yoga Book, but realised the Wacom digitizer was still intact.
Thus began a project to salvage this part and repurpose it for the future.
The first step was to reverse engineer the hardware; as it turns out, the digitizer pad connects to a special Wacom W9013 chip which holds the company’s secret sauce (secret smoke?). As the GitHub page for [TinLethax]’s
WacomRipoff driver
explains, however, the chip communicates over I2C. Thus, it was a simple enough job to hook up a microcontroller, in this case an STM32 part, and then spit out USB HID data to a host.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, and it’s not 100% feature complete, but [TinLethax] was able to get the digitizer working as a USB HID input device. It appears the buttons and pressure sensitivity are functional, too.
If you’ve got a disused or defunct Yoga Book lying around, you might just consider the same mods yourself.
We’ve seen some other great hacks in this space, too.
Video after the break. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383896",
"author": "gsng",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T21:24:29",
"content": "From trash to… still trash. Electronic parts may be a hard to recycle e-waste but one’s time is truly a non-renewable resource. Working as a contractor for a major IT company, every month I should spend arou... | 1,760,372,940.922895 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/the-astronomical-promises-of-the-fisher-space-pen/ | The Astronomical Promises Of The Fisher Space Pen | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Original Art",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"anti-gravity",
"China marker",
"extreme conditions",
"Fisher space pen",
"grease pencil",
"nitrogen"
] | We’ve all heard of the Fisher Space Pen. Heck, there’s even an episode of Seinfeld that focuses on this fountain of ink, which is supposed to be ready for action no matter what you throw at it. The legend of the Fisher Space Pen says that it can and will write from any angle, in extreme temperatures, underwater, and most importantly, in zero gravity. While this technology is a definite prerequisite for astronauts in space, it has a long list of practical Earthbound applications as well (though it would be nice if it also wrote on any substrate).
You’ve probably heard the main myth of the Fisher Space Pen, which is that NASA spent millions to develop it, followed quickly by the accompanying joke that the Russian cosmonauts simply used pencils. The truth is, NASA had already tried pencils and decided that graphite particles were too much of an issue because they would potentially clog the instruments, like bags of ruffled potato chips and unsecured ant farms.
A Space-Worthy Instrument Indeed
Usually, it’s government agencies that advance technology, and then it trickles down to the consumer market at some point.
But NASA didn’t develop the Space Pen
. No government agency did. Paul Fisher of the Fisher Pen Company privately spent most of the 1960s working on a pressurized pen that didn’t require gravity in the hopes of getting NASA’s attention and business. It worked, and NASA motivated him to keep going until he was successful.
The pen that went to the moon. Image via
Sebastien Billard
Then they tested the hell out of it in all possible positions, exposed it to extreme temperatures between -50 °F and 400 °F (-45 °C to 204 °C), and wrote legible laundry lists in atmospheres ranging from pure oxygen to a total vacuum. So, how does this marvel of engineering work?
The Fisher Space Pen’s ink cartridge is
pressurized to 45 PSI
with nitrogen, which keeps oxygen out in the same manner as potato chip bags. Inside is a particularly viscous, gel-like ink that turns to liquid when it meets up with friction from the precision-fit tungsten carbide ballpoint.
Between the viscosity and the precision fit of the ballpoint, the pen shouldn’t ever leak, but as you’ll see in the video below, (spoiler alert!) snapping an original Space Pen cartridge results in a quick flood of thick ooze as the ink is forced out by the nitrogen.
By 1966, the Pen was ready and took its first trip to space on the Apollo 7 mission. These days there are 80 different models of Space Pen, but only two of them are NASA-approved: the original AG-7 (anti-gravity) which is used in flight, and the Shuttle model, dozens of which are floating around the ISS for general use.
Apollo’s Other Pen
The pen that saved the Apollo 11 mission. Well, close enough. Image via
National Air & Space Museum
Here’s another myth you might have heard: this pen saved the Apollo 11 mission. But no,
that was actually a felt-tip pen made by Duro
. On the way back into Eagle after the EVA, Buzz Aldrin’s giant backpack broke a circuit breaker off the panel. It happened to be an important one that activated the ascent engine that was supposed to get them off the Moon.
Armstrong and Aldrin had jettisoned many of their tools already, but they still had their pens. After a few hours of sleeping on the problem, Aldrin though to shove his pen into the panel while Tranquility Base nervously clicked their BiCs back in Houston. It worked (obviously), and they were able to lift off and rendezvous with Collins in the capsule.
Fun fact: the Duro that’s on display at National Air & Space Museum is actually
Michael Collins
‘ pen —
Buzz Aldrin keeps his at home next to the broken circuit breaker
.
Earthbound Misfit?
Image via
Pentulant
The Fisher Space Pen may be perfect for all extreme applications and environments, from underwater to the vacuum of space, but apparently they can be frustrating here on Earth. But you can’t really expect to have a fine writing experience with something that’s meant to write for extreme situations, can you?
Although I’ve always sort of wanted a Space Pen for obvious nerd-tastic reasons, I loathe using
ballpoints
and therefore can’t justify the cost to myself. Our own [Tom Nardi] has one and says they’re crap. They may write in any condition, but they are ‘rough to use’ and ‘the ink (didn’t) flow well’. Then again, his might be a dud, as it was procured from Staples in the early 2000s
when there were counterfeit Pens about
. Lots of people say that they have to use more pressure than normal because of the gooey ink.
We sort of wonder why NASA didn’t go with grease pencils. Possibly the particles thing again?
Mechanical grease pencils were already a thing by then
, so it couldn’t have been the ‘wee bits of paper everywhere’ excuse. Or maybe it’s just that grease pencils don’t write finely enough, or that their marks can easily be smudged.
NASA still uses Fisher Space Pens today, and so does Space X. As for the Russians, they started buying Fisher Space Pens not long after NASA did, way back in 1967. | 57 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383843",
"author": "Pen Nerd",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T17:17:56",
"content": "Your colleague’s pen probably isn’t a dud. I’ve had several Fisher space pens over the years and they all suck for writing any longer than a post-it note. I can confirm they write reliably at any angle, ... | 1,760,372,941.072443 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/meet-the-marvelous-macro-music-maker/ | Meet The Marvelous Macro Music Maker | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino pro micro",
"macro keyboard",
"solenoid",
"speaker"
] | Do you kind of want a macropad, but aren’t sure that you would use it? Hackaday alum [Jeremy Cook] is now making and selling the JC Pro Macro on Tindie, which is exactly what it sounds like — a Pro Micro-based macro keypad with an OLED screen and a rotary encoder. In the video below,
[Jeremy] shows how he made it into a music maker
by adding a speaker and a small solenoid that does percussion, all while retaining the original macro pad functionality.
[Jeremy]’s original idea for a drum was to have a servo seesawing a chopstick back and forth on the table as one might nervously twiddle a pencil. That didn’t work out so well, so he switched to the solenoid and printed a thing to hold it upright, and we absolutely love it. The drum is controlled with the rotary encoder: push to turn the beat on or off and crank it to change the BPM.
To make it easier to connect up the solenoid and speaker, [Jeremy] had a little I²C helper board fabricated. There’s one SVG connection and another with power and ground swapped in the event it is needed. If you’re interested in the JC Pro Macro,
you can pick it up in various forms over on Tindie
. Of course, you might want to wait for version 2, which is
coming to Kickstarter
in October.
There are many ways to make a macro keyboard.
Here’s one that also takes gesture input
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383821",
"author": "Jeremy",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T15:35:01",
"content": "Thanks for the awesome article Kristina!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,372,941.109133 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/roro-vessels-driving-cars-across-the-ocean/ | RORO Vessels: Driving Cars Across The Ocean | Dan Maloney | [
"Engineering",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interest",
"Slider"
] | [
"cargo",
"cars",
"logistics",
"ocean",
"roro",
"ship",
"shipping"
] | YouTube does a pretty good job of making itself a target for criticism, but one thing you can say about their algorithms: when they work, they really work. Case in point, the other day I found a suggestion in my feed for
a very recent video about salvaging a shipwreck
. I can’t begin to guess what combination of view history and metadata Google mined to come to the conclusion that I’d be interested in this video, but they hit the nail on the head.
But more importantly, their algorithmic assessment of my interests must have been a goldmine to them — or it could have been if I didn’t have a minefield of ad blockers protecting me — because I fell down a rabbit hole that led me to a bunch of interesting videos. As it turns out, the shipwreck in that first video was of a cargo ship that was carrying thousands of brand-new automobiles, which were all destroyed in the fire and subsequent capsizing of a “roll-on/roll-off” (RORO) vessel off the coast of Georgia (the state, not the country) in 2019.
Thus began my journey into RORO vessels, on which automobiles and other bulky cargo are transported around the world. And while my personal assessment of the interests of Hackaday readers probably is not as finely tuned as Google’s algos, I figured there’s a better than decent chance that people might enjoy tagging along too.
RORO Your Boat
The MV
Golden Ray
in happier times, showing the stern ramp. Source:
Farid Mernissi
, CC BY-SA 4.0
Coming into that first video without any context was a little rough, since it was mostly drone footage of a rusting section of what was once
the MV
Golden Ray
sitting on a dry-dock barge. The section had contained hundreds of cars, the rusted remains of which were now being plucked out by a very skilled grapple operator. The scale of each of the seven sections the vessel was cut into during salvage was staggering, so naturally I looked up the
Golden Ray
to see what such a monstrous vessel looked like, at least in better days.
RORO ships are designed to carry anything that can be driven onto them, either under their own power or with the help of some kind of tug or tractor. A lot of passenger ferries fall into this class of vessels, but behemoths that move cars and trucks are the stars of the class. The largest RORO right now, the
MV
Tønsberg
, is 265 meters long, 32.27 meters in the beam, and can carry 41,000 tons of cargo. Depending on the mix of cargo, that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 cars.
Like most cargo vessels, ROROs are extremely optimized for the kind of cargo they carry, and since they’re intended to have vehicles drive on and off them, they look very much like floating parking garages. They are aggressively unattractive vessels, boxy and angular, but unlike their equally ungainly container vessel cousins, ROROs store all their cargo below decks. ROROs are designed to be berthed alongside a quay, which gives rise to their most distinctive feature — the stern ramp. Built into an angled section of the stern quarter, the ramp is no mere gangway. It’s really a folding two-lane highway on-ramp, some 12 meters wide and capable of carrying hundreds of tons. The lower half of the ramp also serves as the watertight door when it’s stowed, and so it’s a very complex and important piece of equipment.
Cargo Operations
Once the ramp is open, cargo operations can begin. ROROs typically make stops at multiple ports during a voyage, and so cargo is usually both loading and unloading at the same time. This leads to an absolutely fascinating ballet of movement, as sometimes hundreds or thousands of cars are shuffled around. The logistics involved are just mind-boggling — extreme care has to be taken to load cars such that they aren’t obstructed by cargo destined for a later port-of-call, since that would lead to “shifting”, a time- and resource-intensive process of moving vehicles out of the way temporarily.
The amount of labor needed to load and unload a RORO is staggering. Each vehicle has to be driven on or off the ship, so the more drivers, the faster it goes. Everything needs to be carefully choreographed so that cars are constantly in motion, and that no accidents occur. Drivers typically operate in small squads; each squad is accompanied by a large passenger van that can shuttle them quickly back on or off the ship when they’re done unloading or loading a car. That maximizes the number of pieces of cargo each driver can handle in a shift.
While the bread-and-butter of most RORO operators lies in shipping new passenger cars and trucks, that’s far from the only cargo they’ll carry. Many ROROs have the ability to adjust sections of their decks and ramps to accommodate “high and heavy” cargo. This can run the gamut from tractors to buses to heavy construction equipment, or anything that can be wheeled through the stern door.
No matter what rolls onto a RORO, it has to be secured before the voyage starts. RORO decks have cutouts for lashing straps, and there are exacting specifications for lashing each vehicle. The vessel’s crew has to walk the decks and check each and every lashing strap once every three days while underway, to tighten up any straps that slacken due to vibration. Given that cars are often packed with only a few centimeters of space between them, this requires a certain degree of nimbleness.
Deep Dive
If you’ve got the time to spare, I found the documentary below with a detailed look into RORO operations — and as a bonus, a look at the complex process of a Panama Canal passage. It’s always satisfying to learn a little more about how the world’s supply chains work, and
cases where it doesn’t work
too.
[Featured images:
Höegh Autoliners News and Press Releases
,
Free Documentary
] | 27 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383800",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T14:11:28",
"content": "On these things it’s pretty important to close the doors before you go sailing.Is it still called sailing?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,372,941.17523 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/bluetooth-vulnerability-arbitrary-code-execution-on-the-esp32-among-others/ | Bluetooth Vulnerability: Arbitrary Code Execution On The ESP32, Among Others | Lewin Day | [
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"braktooth",
"bug",
"vulnerability"
] | Bluetooth has become widely popular since its introduction in 1999. However, it’s also had its fair share of security problems over the years. Just recently, a research group from the Singapore University of Technology and Design found a serious vulnerability in a large variety of Bluetooth devices. Having now been disclosed,
it is known as the
BrakTooth
vulnerability.
Full details are not yet available; the research team is waiting until October to publicly release proof-of-concept code in order to give time for companies to patch their devices. The basic idea however, is in the name. “Brak” is the Norweigan word for “crash,” with “tooth” referring to Bluetooth itself. The attack involves repeatedly attempting to crash devices to force them into undesired operation.
The Espressif ESP32 is perhaps one of the worst affected. Found in all manner of IoT devices, the ESP32 can be fooled into executing arbitrary code via this vulnerability, which can do everything from clearing the devices RAM to flipping GPIO pins. In smart home applications or other security-critical situations, this could have dire consequences.
Other chipsets are affected to varying degrees, including parts from manufacturers like Texas Instruments and Cypress Semiconductor. Some parts are vulnerable to denial of service, while audio devices may be frozen up or shut down by the attack. The group claims over 1400 products could be affected by the bug.
Firmware patches are being rolled out, and researcher [Matheus E. Garbelini] has released code to build a sniffer device for the vulnerability
on GitHub.
If you’re involved with the design or manufacture of Bluetooth hardware, it might pay to start doing some homework on this one! Concerned vendors can apply for proof-of-concept test code
here
. | 21 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383777",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T13:22:22",
"content": "ESP32 already took care of this issue back on Sept 9’th.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383781",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2021... | 1,760,372,941.432329 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/23/download-from-nfc-datalogger-no-app-required/ | Download From NFC Datalogger, No App Required | Danie Conradie | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"datalogger",
"environmental monitoring",
"msp430",
"NFC"
] | The plethora of wireless technologies has made internet-connected devices the norm, but it’s not always necessary if you don’t need real-time updates. Whether it’s due to battery life, or location and range constraints, downloading data directly from the device whenever possible might be a viable solution. [Malcolm Mackay] demonstrates an elegant solution on the open source
cuplTag
temperature/humidity logger, using any NFC-enabled smartphone, without requiring a custom app.
The cuplTag utilizes the feature on
NFC
-enabled smartphones to automatically open a URL provided by the cuplTag. It encodes the sensor data from the sensor unit as a circular buffer in a ~1 kB URL, which automatically uploads to a web frontend that plots the data. (You can use their server or run your own.)
This means that data can be collected by anyone with the appropriate phone with zero setup. The data is displayed on the web app and can be downloaded as a CSV. To deter spoofing, each tag ships with a secret key which is used to generate a unique HMAC every time the circular buffer changes.
Battery life is a priority on the cuplTag, and it’s theoretically capable of running seven years on a single CR1220 coin cell using the current-sipping Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller. The
hardware, firmware
, and server-side
frontend
and
backend
code are all open source and available on GitHub.
Earlier this year, we held a
data logging contest
, and featured submissions that monitored everything from your garden’s moisture levels to your caffeine intake. | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383713",
"author": "Alice Lalita Heald",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T08:27:04",
"content": "Doesnt beat QR, not in price, not in accessibility.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383728",
"author": "hvdvlies",
"tim... | 1,760,372,941.545624 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/even-faster-fourier-transforms-on-the-raspbery-pi-zero/ | Even Faster Fourier Transforms On The Raspbery Pi Zero | Lewin Day | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"fast fourier transform",
"fft",
"fourier transform",
"raspberry pi"
] | Oftentimes in computing, we start doing a thing, and we’re glad we’re doing it. But then we realise, it would be much nicer if we could do it much faster. [Ricardo de Azambuja] was in just such a situation when working with the Raspberry Pi Zero, and realised that there were some techniques that could drastically speed up Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) on the platform.
Thus, he got to work.
The trick is using the Raspberry Pi Zero’s GPU to handle the FFTs instead of the CPU itself. This netted Ricardo a 7x speed upgrade for 1-dimensional FFTs, and a 2x speed upgrade for 2-dimensional operations.
The idea was cribbed from work we featured
many years ago
, which provided a similar speed up to the very first Raspberry Pi. Given the Pi Zero uses the same SoC as the original Raspberry Pi but at a higher clock rate, this makes perfect sense. However, in this case, [Ricardo] implemented the code in Python instead of C as suits his use case.
[Ricardo] uses the code with his
Maple Syrup Pi Camera project
, which pairs a Coral USB machine learning accelerator with a Pi Zero and a camera to achieve tasks such as automatic licence plate recognition or facemask detection. Fun! | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383687",
"author": "Sweeney",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T05:54:39",
"content": "The FFT code IS in C, called by Python as best as I can make out. Pure Python would be a stupid idea for something that needs GPU acceleration for performance.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,941.378464 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/building-a-custom-linux-single-board-computer-just-to-play-spotify/ | Building A Custom Linux Single Board Computer Just To Play Spotify | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"SoC",
"spotify"
] | If you want to hook up an existing stereo or amplifier to Spotify, there’s a fair few options on the market. You can even just order a Raspberry Pi and be done with it. [Evan Hailey] went his own way, however,
and built his own Spotify Box from scratch.
[Evan] even made this tidy wooden enclosure, learning yet more along the way!
Housed inside a tidy little wooden enclosure of his own creation, the Spotify Box can turn any amplifier into a remote-controlled Spotify player via
Spotify Connect
. Pick the songs on your smartphone, and they’ll play from the Spotify Box as simple as that.
The project is based on the Allwinner V3S, a system-on-chip with a 1.2GHz ARM-Cortex-A7 core, 64MB of DDR2 RAM, and an Ethernet transceiver for good measure. There’s also a high-quality audio codec built in, making it perfect for this application. It’s thrown onto a four-layer PCB of [Evan’s] own design, and paired with a Wi-Fi and BlueTooth transceiver, RJ-45 and RCA jacks, a push-button and some LEDs. There’s also an SD card for storage.
With a custom Linux install brewed up using Buildroot, [Evan] was able to get a barebones system running
Spotifyd
while communicating with the network. With that done, it was as simple as hooking up the Spotify Box to an amp and grooving out to some tunes.
Along the way, [Evan] learned all about compiling drivers and working with embedded Linux, as well as how to take a bare SoC and build it into a fully-functional single-board computer. When someone else says they “made” a Spotify player, he presumably gets to clear his throat.
If you fancy retro computers, consider interfacing Spotify
with your classic Mac instead!
[Thanks to Jay Carlson for the tip!] | 31 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383301",
"author": "andegori91",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T11:24:47",
"content": "I used the infamous pocket C.H.I.P. for this purpose, I installed mopidy and it was able to play not only Spotify but anything in the internal memory and web radio, all controlled by an mpd android app... | 1,760,372,941.501063 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/is-there-a-simpler-aircraft-than-this-electric-paramotor/ | Is There A Simpler Aircraft Than This Electric Paramotor? | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"aircraft",
"paraglider",
"paramotor"
] | The dream of taking to the air has probably ensnared more than a few of us, but for most it remains elusive as the safety, regulatory, and training frameworks surrounding powered flight make it not an endeavour for the faint-hearted. [Justine Haupt] has probably delivered the simplest possible powered aircraft with her
Blimp Drive
, a twin-prop electric add-on for her paragliding rig that allows her to self-launch, and to sustain her flights while soaring.
It takes the form of a carbon-fibre tube with large drone motors and props U-bolted to each end, and a set of brackets in the centre of laid carbon fibre over 3D-printed forms to which the battery and paraglider harness are attached. The whole thing is lightweight and quiet, and because of the two contra-rotating propellers it also doesn’t possess the torque issues that would affect a single propeller craft.
We’re not fliers or paragliders here at Hackaday, so our impression of the craft in use doesn’t come from the perspective of a pilot. But its simplicity and ease of getting into the air looks to be unmatched by anything else, and we have to admit a tinge of envy as in the video below the break she flies over the beach that’s her test site.
If you recognise Justine from past Hackaday articles, you’re on the right track. Probably most memorable is
her rotary cellphone
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeayJZzaXjM | 52 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383258",
"author": "ThisGuy",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T08:17:38",
"content": "Looks like it could do with some prop guards. Would be all too easy to stick a hand in there when encountering turbulence and getting slammed around a bit (an unfortunate, if rare, reality of paragliding ... | 1,760,372,941.781262 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/retro-tv-shows-off-family-memories-with-raspberry-pi/ | Retro TV Shows Off Family Memories With Raspberry Pi | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"DAKboard",
"digital photo frame",
"photo frame",
"retro tv",
"web interface"
] | Fascinated by the look and feel of vintage electronics, [Democracity] decided to
turn an old Sony Micro TV into a digital picture frame
that would cycle through old family photos in style. You’d think the modern IPS widescreen display would stick out like a sore thumb, but thanks to the clever application of a 1/16″ black acrylic bezel and the original glass still installed in the front panel, the new hardware blends in exceptionally well.
Driving the new display is a Raspberry Pi 4, which might sound overkill, but considering the front-end is being provided by DAKboard through Chromium, we can understand the desire for some extra horsepower and RAM. If it were us we’d probably have gone with a less powerful board and a few Python scripts, and of course
there are a few turn-key open source solutions out there
, though we’ll admit that this is probably faster and easier to setup.
[Democracity] provides some general information on how he took apart the TV and grafted in the new gear, but of course the exact steps will vary a bit depending on which old TV you end up sending to the big parts bin in the sky. We did like that he made sure to keep all the mechanisms for the buttons and knobs intact, so even if they don’t do anything, you can still fiddle around with them.
Otherwise, his steps for setting up a headless Chromium instance are probably more widely applicable. As are the tips about setting up this particular LCD module and getting the display rotated into the proper orientation. If you just follow along for that part of the guide, you can spin up your own stand-alone Raspberry Pi DAKboard endpoint to take the service for a test drive.
It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to hear that this isn’t the first time [Democracity] has upgraded a piece of vintage hardware. Back in 2017, we covered this
gorgeous art deco speaker that he outfitted with RGB LEDs and an Amazon Echo Dot
. As with the previous post, it’s likely some commenters will be upset that a vintage piece of gear has been gutted for this project. But we’d counter that by saying his family is going to get a lot more enjoyment out of this beautiful piece of hardware now than they would have if it was still collecting dust in a closet. | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383233",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T05:31:47",
"content": "So it’s scrapping the tv set but reusing the case.So no need to warn about the germanium transistors in there. I was given one about thirty years ago, and there was ripple or unstable sync. But th... | 1,760,372,941.606319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/spooky-coffin-bell-spooks-passers-by-on-halloween/ | Spooky Coffin Bell Spooks Passers By On Halloween | Lewin Day | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"bell",
"coffin",
"grave bell",
"halloween",
"holiday",
"holiday hack",
"safety coffin"
] | Being buried alive isn’t fun, we imagine. Fear of it led to the development of various safety coffin ideas in the 18th and 19th centuries, and [Glen Akins] wonderful Halloween prop
riffs on that tradition today.
The safety coffin was a simple solution for those afraid that this might happen to them. One concept had a bell which was installed above freshly dug graves with a string extending into the coffin. One who found themselves accidentally buried alive could then pull the string to ring the bell and summon help.
[Glen’s] installation eliminates the coffin and the dead body, and simply mounts a bell on a post. Inside, there’s an ultrasonic rangefinder that detects passers by. When someone walks closely enough to the prop, a microcontroller triggers a servo which rings the bell with a haunting urgency.
It’s a simple build, but appropriately installed with its LED lighting, it really does pop. It would be a wonderful way to add atmosphere and mood to a Hallowe’en party or haunted house. We’ve seen some great Hallowe’en hacks over the years,
and some of the best are pumpkins
. Video after the break. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383221",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T03:53:59",
"content": "The book “Death to Dust” has a section on this. A civil war cemetery was being moved, and they took the opportunity to examine the remains to see which had signs of life after burial – scratches on the ins... | 1,760,372,941.883736 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/cooking-up-a-batch-of-homebrew-welding-gas/ | Cooking Up A Batch Of Homebrew Welding Gas | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"baking soda",
"carbon dioxide",
"co2",
"gas generator",
"GMAW",
"mig",
"vinegar",
"welding"
] | You know the feeling — you’re making good progress on a weekend project, you’re really in the groove, things are going right. Right up until you run out of That One Thing™ that you can’t do without, the only store that sells it is closed, and you get a sudden case of whiplash as your progress hits a virtual brick wall.
Of course, every challenge holds the opportunity to hack your way around it, which is how
[
Lucas] ended up building
this carbon dioxide generator
. The “IG” in MIG welding stands for the “inert gas” that floods the weld pool and keeps the melted metal — the “M” in MIG — from rapidly oxidizing and ruining the weld. Welders often use either straight CO
2
or a mix of CO
2
and argon as a MIG shielding gas, which they normally get from a commercial gas supplier, generally on non-weekend days.
[Lucas] turned to grade-school chemistry for his CO
2
generator, using the vigorous reaction of baking soda and vinegar to produce the gas. Version one was sketchy as all get-out; the second iteration still had some sketch factor thanks to the use of ABS pipe, but the inclusion of a relief valve should prevent the worst from happening. After some fiddling with how to get the reagents together in a controlled fashion, [Lucas] was able to generate enough CO
2
to put down a decent bead — a short one, to be sure, but the video below shows that it worked.
Could this be scaled up to something for practical use? Probably not. But it’s cool to see what’s possible, and something to file away for a rainy day. And maybe [Lucas] can use this method to produce CO
2
for
his homemade laser tube
. But again, probably not. | 31 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383178",
"author": "punkdigerati",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T23:21:17",
"content": "Citric acid tends to be a little better than vinegar, more consistent and if needed you can mix them as powders before adding water to activate.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,372,941.846032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/mini-wireless-thermal-printers-get-arduino-library-and-macos-app/ | Mini Wireless Thermal Printers Get Arduino Library (and MacOS App) | Donald Papp | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ble",
"macOS",
"mini printer",
"thermal printer",
"wireless"
] | [Larry Bank]’s
Arduino library to print text and graphics on BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) thermal printers
has some excellent features, and makes sending wireless print jobs to a number of common models about as easy as can be. These printers are small, inexpensive, and wireless. That’s a great mix that makes them attractive for projects that would benefit from printing out a hardcopy.
It’s not limited to simple default text, either. Fancier output can be done using
Adafruit_GFX library
-style fonts and options, which sends the formatted text as graphics. You can read all about what the library can do in
this succinct list of concise functions
.
But [Larry] hasn’t stopped there. While experimenting with microcontrollers and BLE thermal printers, he also wanted to explore talking to these printers from his Mac using BLE directly.
Print2BLE
is a MacOS application that allows dragging image files into the application’s window, and if the preview looks good, the print button makes it come out of the printer as a 1-bpp dithered image.
Small thermal printers make for neat projects,
like this retrofitted Polaroid camera
, and now that these little printers are both wireless and economical, things can only get easier with the help of a library like this. Of course, if that’s all starting to look a little too easy, one can always put the
thermal
back in thermal printing
by using plasma, instead
. | 24 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383180",
"author": "Rick.",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T23:25:49",
"content": "Was browsing the repository, was wondering if anyone has knowledge on those cheap printers, i.e. Phomemo M02, M02s, M02pro aren’t listed as being compatible but looking up the cat, pig and other printers, t... | 1,760,372,941.997943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/bringing-the-quake-flicker-to-life-with-a-hacked-light/ | Bringing TheQuakeFlicker To Life With A Hacked Light | Tom Nardi | [
"Games",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"flicker",
"flickering leds",
"quake"
] | If you ever feel a pang of shame because you’ve been reusing the same snippets of code in your projects for years, don’t. Even the big names do it, as evidenced by the fact that code written to govern flickering lights back in 1996 for
Quake
is still being used in AAA titles like 2020’s
Half-Life: Alyx
. In honor of this iconic example of digital buck-passing,
[Rodrigo Feliciano] thought he’d port the code in question over to the Arduino
and recreate the effect in real-life.
Since the Quake engine has been released under the GPLv2, it’s easy to
pull up the relevant section of the code
to see how the lighting was configured. Interestingly, lighting patterns were implemented as strings, where the letters from
a
to
z
referenced how bright the light should appear. So for example, a strobe light that goes between minimum and maximum brightness would be written as “aaaaaaaazzzzzzzz”, while a flickering light could be represented with the string
“
nmonqnmomnmomomno
“.
An emergency light provided the LEDs and enclosure.
This ended up being very easy to implement on the Arduino in just a few lines, as [Rodrigo] simply had to assign each letter in the string a numerical value between 0 and 255 using
map
, and then use the resulting number to set the LED brightness with
analogWrite
.
With the code written, [Rodrigo] then had to put the hardware together. He stripped down a basic emergency light to get an array of white LEDs and a handy enclosure. He also wired up a simple transistor circuit on a scrap of perfboard so the Arduino Pro Mini could control all the LEDs from a single GPIO pin. Combined with a long USB cable to power it, and he’s got a perfect desk accessory for late-night gaming sessions.
In the video below you can see the final result, which [Rodrigo] has even synced up to footage from the classic 1996 shooter. The light makes for an interesting conversation piece, but we think the logical next step is to
work this technique into an ambilight-like system
to really make it feel like you’re wandering down those dimly lit corridors. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383088",
"author": "Severe Tire Damage",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T18:37:22",
"content": "Why would anyone feel shame for reusing good code?It’s not like code gets stale or grows mold.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383117",... | 1,760,372,941.933208 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/keebin-with-kristina-the-one-with-the-grabbity-gloves/ | Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Grabbity Gloves | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"alps switches",
"cherry mx",
"custom keyboard",
"DSA keycaps",
"grabbity gloves",
"Maltron",
"one-handed keyboard"
] | I keep saying I need to stay away from auction sites, but then I wouldn’t have as much fodder for Hackaday, would I? As I write this, I’m waiting on a
Dell AT101W
, which will be my first keeb with Alps switches. Well, hopefully it has Alps SKCM salmon or black switches — according to Deskthority, it might have rubber domes. If it doesn’t keyboard, I will probably salvage the switches and build something more ergonomic. Either way, I’m thinking we need a post about Alps switches, because some people think they’re even better than Cherry MX switches.
Make Mine Maltron
Speaking of loyal Cherry MX enthusiasts,
Maltrons
are arguably the grandaddy of ergonomic keyboards, and the UK company that produce them have been around since the 1970s. Not only were they the first to use concave key wells, Maltron adapted their design and made some of the first one-handed and mouth-driven keyboards as well. They even have keyboards with built-in trackballs.
A small fortune in keyboards. Image via
Maltron
A two-handed, curved Maltron is definitely on my short list of holy grail contenders. Each one of these keyboards is painstakingly wired by hand, so they’re pretty expensive — even the ones that are already Stateside. $700 is hard to swallow for a keyboard that I might not like any more than the
Kinesis Advantage
that it inspired.
But the good news is that
Maltron offers a DIY kit that’s customizable!
They are selling everything a la carte from the injection-molded shell to the Teensy 2.0 to the key caps, which come with either lasered-on legends or no legends at all. We don’t see anything about an instruction manual, so you’re on your own as far as wiring it up.
If all I wanted was the shell and the trackball unit, that’s only £120 plus shipping and VAT. But unless I can find a kit distributor in the States, the shipping charges of these two pieces alone might cloud the allure of building one myself. I’ll have to mull it over and get a shipping quote.
One-Handed Keyboards Can Be DIY, Too
Beautifully clean DSA ‘caps. Image via
New York Times
We’re not sure if one-armed writer [Britt H. Young] has ever tried a Maltron, but
her quest for the perfect mechanical keyboard is a good read
either way.
[Britt] begins by recalling the federal safety-orange keyboard skin with the one-handed Dvorak layout that brought so much negative attention in elementary school typing class, so perhaps the one-handed Maltron is too clinical a solution. Between the curved key well and the ortholinear layout, it’s a lot to adapt to. Bad memories aside, [Britt] has always been fond of loud keyboards and longed to clack like back in the day.
Fortunately it’s 2021, and there are a ton of options out there for building your own keyboard. Some keycap profiles do not play nicely with the key swapping that [Britt] requires, but DSAs do. For that very reason, [Britt] settled on a Tofu65 board with Kailh whites and these beautiful DSA keycaps shown here. Happy clacking, [Britt]!
Hands-on Hacking: the Grabbity Gloves
Image via
r/ErgoMechKeyboards
Believe it or not, this is [loopsbellart]’s first build, and they’re already playing around with what-ifs.
What if every key was on the home row, or at least as close to it as possible?
That’s the idea behind the Grabbity Gloves.
This cyberpunk beauty reminds us of the
lalboard
, the
DataHand keyboard
that inspired it, and the equally minimalist
Squeezebox
. But in this case, the fingers only push and pull and don’t also press down. We’re not sure, but that might be for the better. We’ll just have to build one and find out for ourselves, taking [loopsbellart]’s lead to put lighter springs in at least the forward-actuated switches.
The Grabbity Gloves are completely wireless thanks to a pair of nRF52840s. Their main brain is a BlueMacro840 running BlueMicro firmware, but the ‘840 is pin-compatible with the Arduino Pro Micro if you want to run QMK instead. Although [loopsbellart] isn’t planning to sell these, they are willing to release the STL files.
Here’s a gif of the Grabbity Gloves in action
.
Historical Clackers: the Malling-Hansen Writing Ball
Image via
r/SpecializedTools
Long before the idea of concave key arrangements came along, there was this convex typewriter that looks like a pin cushion or a dull porcupine. The type bars (if you can call them that) strike at a right angle to the orientation of the keyboard. That’s right, it types sideways, and
early models blocked the user’s view of the results
. The paper advances in a gentle arc via electromagnet as you fill up the page. Later versions used a mechanical escapement.
The Malling-Hansen Writing Ball
was the first commercially-sold typewriter, beating Scholes & Glidden’s Remington I (featuring the QWERTY layout) to market by a few years. The Ball was invented by the reverend Rasmus Hans Malling Johan Hansen, a teacher and director at an institute for the deaf and mute in Copenhagen.
Hansen wanted his students to be able to speak with their fingers, and thus created the Ball to be easy to use quickly. Some other types were made, including a model for telegraphs, one for cryptographers, and one for the blind.
Only 200 or so of these were produced, and about 40 are still around today
.
Nietzsche Was on the Ball
“the Writing Ball is a thing like me: made of iron, yet easily twisted on journeys.
Patience and tact are required in abundance, as well as fine fingers to use us.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
When Friedrich Nietzsche’s eyesight began to fail, writing the normal way would give him terrible headaches. According to letters written to his sister, Nietzsche was in direct contact with Rasmus Hansen and had the latest and greatest version of the Writing Ball sent to him in 1882.
Unfortunately,
sources suggest that he couldn’t use it because it was damaged in transit
, and the repairman he took it to only damaged it further. He must have had it repaired or replaced at some point, because he was enamored by it enough to write a poem about the thing.
If you want to watch one of these clack, you’re in luck. One [Felix Herbst] modeled the Writing Ball and made an animation that shows it in action, which you can see below. [Felix] also made
an interactive version
that lets you type letters in the original font and send or print them, but it seems to be broken.
ICYMI: This Old Mouse
Yes, I know — this is Keebin’ and not Mousin’, but the input-related hacks have been mouse-heavy since the last one of these. And besides,
the buttons on this old Depraz mouse look clicky and inviting and a little bit like Kailh chocs
.
Now that [John Floren] has built a USB adapter for this lovely mouse using an Arduino Pro Micro, he reports a pleasant hand-feel and a satisfying clickiness to the buttons. You can hear them toward the end of the short demo video.
Got a hot tip that has like, anything to do with keyboards?
Help me out by sending in a link or two
. Don’t want all the Hackaday scribes to see it? Feel free to
email me directly
. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383049",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T17:31:39",
"content": "I have a serious concern about how a concave “key well” could alleviate RSI.To me, it would make it much worse…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383163... | 1,760,372,942.055398 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/toilet-training-cows-is-no-bull/ | Toilet-Training Cows Is No Bull | Kristina Panos | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"ammonia",
"climate change",
"greenhouse gases",
"methane",
"nitrogen fixation",
"toilet training"
] | Human activity may be the main cause of climate change, but all these cows milling and mooing about don’t help, either. Everyone knows that cows produce methane-laden flatulence, but there’s another problem — their urine contains ammonia. The nitrogen leeches into the soil and turns into nitrous oxide, which is no laughing matter. So what’s the answer, giant diapers?
No, just train them to use a toilet instead of the soil-let
.
A pair of researchers from the University of Auckland traveled to a research institute’s farm in Germany with the hope of training a group of 16 calves to do their business in a special pen. The “MooLoo” is painted bright green and carpeted with artificial turf so it’s less weird for the cows. First they left the calves in the pen until they peed, and then gave it a reward of sugar water. From there, they started extended the animals’ distance from the MooLoo. Whenever the calves thought outside the box, they would be sprayed with water for three seconds.
The results are kind of surprising
: within an average of 15-20 urination sessions, 11 of the 16 cows had been trained successfully and were using the MooLoo 75% of the time. Watch a calf earn some sugar water after the break.
German cows mostly live in barns, but millions of other cows spend much of their time outside. So, how would that work? The researchers believe that cows could be trained to go when they gather for milking time. Makes sense to us, but how do you train cows on a large scale? Maybe with
bovine VR?
Via
BBC
and
Gizmodo | 28 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383002",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T16:39:12",
"content": "I think dairy farmers know that cows pee when you milk them.B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6383013",
"author": "Garth Bock",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,372,942.117581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/mechanisms-behind-vaccine-side-effects-the-science-that-causes-that-sore-arm/ | Mechanisms Behind Vaccine Side-Effects: The Science That Causes That Sore Arm | Maya Posch | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Medical Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"medical symptoms",
"side-effects",
"vaccines"
] | After receiving a vaccination shot, it’s likely that we’ll feel some side-effects. These can range from merely a sore arm to swollen lymph nodes and even a fever. Which side-effects to expect depend on the exact vaccine, with each type and variant coming with its own list of common side-effects. Each person’s immune system will also react differently, which makes it hard to say exactly what one can expect after receiving the vaccination.
What we can do is look closer at the underlying mechanisms that cause these side-effects, to try and understand why they occur and how to best deal with them. Most relevant here for the initial response is the body’s
innate immune system
, with dendritic cells generally being among the first to come into contact with the vaccine and to present the antigen to the body’s adaptive immune system.
Key to the redness, swelling, and fever are substances produced by the body which include various cytokines as well as prostaglandin, producing the symptoms seen with inflammation and injury.
Tackling the Intruder
Artistic rendering of a human dendritic cell. (Source: NIH)
The first difference between vaccines is found in how the antigen is introduced into the body. Traditional vaccines use either weakened whole viruses, or parts of viruses, which are thus the antigen or contain the intended antigen as part of their structure. Viral vector-based and mRNA (lipid-vector) vaccines use a vector that transfers RNA into the body’s cells, where the cell’s ribosomes then assemble copies of the antigen. As a foreign protein, this is then
presented on the surface
of the cell as an antigen to lymphocytes.
If antibodies exist already against this specific antigen, the lymphocytes (B and T cells) of the body’s adaptive immune system will immediately act upon this antigen, and thus the (presumed) intruder (virus, bacteria or toxin) that is attached to the antigen. If no antibodies exist, the process is similar, but takes a bit longer for the immune response to ramp up.
Meanwhile, as the adaptive immune system ramps up, the dendritic and other cells of the innate immune system which possess pattern recognition receptors (
PRRs
) for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) like macrophages and mast cells also release a number of
cytokines
, including inflammatory cytokines which cause vasodilation. The resulting influx of blood causes the reddening of the skin (
rubor
) and increased heat (
calor
) .
As the blood vessels dilate, other mediators act to make the walls of these vessels more permeable, causing the amount of fluid outside of the blood vessels (intracellular space) to increase. This exudation of fluid causes swelling (
tumor
) which decreases the likelihood of pathogens coming into contact with body tissues, while giving
macrophages
and other
leukocytes
(white blood cells) free roam so that they can hunt down pathogens.
In addition to the vasodilation process, some of the released cytokins cause hyperalgesia (
dolor
), essentially an increased sensitivity to pain. All of these form part of the acute inflammation process and are responsible for the ‘sore arm’ often experienced after getting a vaccination.
Fever From a Vaccine
Simplified diagram of human thermoregulation (Author: J. W. Dietrich)
Among the symptoms commonly experienced after getting certain types of vaccines, fever (along with a headache) is not nearly as common as a sore arm, but still frequently reported. If we look at the
CDC study results
for the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 where people self-reported their symptoms, we can see headaches as a frequently reported symptom, however due to the prevalence in the placebo group of this symptom a strong causal link appears to be absent.
A more clear connection between vaccines and fevers exist, as one of the substances released during the inflammation process is an eicosanoid called
prostaglandin
. This compound is involved in vasodilation, as well as the inhibiting of blood platelet aggregation (anti-clotting) and most importantly in this case strongly affecting the body’s
thermoregulatory
center in the hypothalamus.
Simply put, the inflammatory response from the body’s innate and adaptive immune system results in a positive input to the body’s thermoregulatory system. The result from this can differ from merely experiencing some thermal discomfort, to actual
fever
where one’s body temperature can exceed its normal levels by a significant amount.
None of this is anything to worry about so long as the fever does not exceed 40 °C (104 °F), which as the earlier linked CDC vaccine study results show is exceedingly rare. It is safe to use an
NSAID
like ibuprofen to help with any fever as well as pain symptoms that may occur after the vaccination. As there is no real pathogen present from the vaccine, the only important factor is that the adaptive immune system gets an opportunity to learn the new antigen, meaning that there is no immunological benefit from developing a fever, let alone pain around the injection site.
Heart Inflammation
Microscope image of heart tissue that suffered viral myocarditis.
Myocarditis
(inflammatory cardiomyopathy) is an inflammation of the heart muscle which is most often caused by a viral infection. In an average year well over a million people world-wide will develop myocarditis, with over 300,000 patients dying from this condition. The cause of myocarditis is generally the infiltration of the heart muscle by pro-inflammatory white blood cells as a response to an infection. In the case of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, this pathogen directly binds to the ACE2 receptors on the heart tissue’s surface, allowing it to infect these cells.
In the case of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, myocarditis is a known, if rare, side-effect. An article by
Biykem et al.
speculates that its cause is molecular mimicry between the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and self-antigens, including α-myosin. This is a protein also known as
MYH6
, and which is expressed significantly in both the cardiac atria and the cardiac ventricles.
In case of a mistaken identity by the adaptive immune system, this could lead to the heart muscle being targeted by leukocytes. Whether or not this is the actual mechanism responsible,
David K. Shay et al.
report that compared to natural occurrence of myocarditis, its occurrence in cases linked to COVID-19 immunization is exceedingly rare. Even so, without understanding the exact mechanism involved, any linking of specific myocarditis cases to a SARS-CoV-2 vaccination remains based on circumstantial evidence.
Placebo Side-Effects
As noted in the context of the CDC-published Pfizer-BioNTech study results, there were many side-effects reported in the placebo group as well, including significant symptoms like fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. This highlights a big problem not only with
placebos
during medical trials, but also as a corollary when people are administered the real medicine.
Fueled partially by media reports and things one may have read on social media or heard from friends and colleagues, the mere fact that one has been vaccinated can lead to symptoms such as nausea and pain. When you’re already looking for something to happen, you’re much more likely to find that thing. Exaggerated negative effects to a treatment or vaccine are generally referred to as ‘
nocebo
effect’, where the expectation of negative effects from the treatment (even if it is a placebo) can result in the patient suffering those effects.
The nocebo effect (or phenomenon) is becoming more the subject of studies, due to its effects on medical treatments and patient care, as reported by
Winfried Häuser et al.
in 2012. Especially noted here is the importance of communication with a patient about the expectations they have, and to adjust these accordingly. In the context of a world-wide vaccination campaign as is currently ongoing with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, one may also consider the impact that the (social) media has in terms of
mass psychogenic illness
(‘mass hysteria’).
Although clear communication to set expectations is attempted by medical health professionals and others, there exists enough
disinformation
via other channels that some individuals may have become convinced of the purported negative effects of these vaccines. Here the risk is that even in those who are not necessarily against getting vaccinated, they may still subconsciously project a subset of the negative effects they have heard about onto their own body, effecting a nocebo phenomenon.
Take a Chill (Sugar) Pill
As vaccines have become more refined and we understand better the effects and symptoms (desired and undesired) that they provoke in the body, they have become routine enough that generally we are barely aware of how they protect us. After our childhood vaccines the most we tend to deal with vaccines is when we need a booster for tetanus, or when we go to some foreign country that demands proof of certain vaccinations, or just to protect ourselves against specific diseases that are endemic there.
What the world is currently experiencing as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is (so far) truly unique, in the sense that this is the first pandemic that we’re vaccinating against on a world-wide scale. Compared to the leisurely pace of the smallpox eradication program that took decades, the current goal is to get the entire world vaccinated in a matter of years. As a result of vaccinating so many individuals simultaneously on such a massive scale, even rare side-effects will occur more often on a pure cases basis.
Even so, for the overwhelming majority of people being vaccinated today, tomorrow, and in the coming months and years, a sore arm and possibly jittery sensations will be the most they will ever experience of this mass-vaccination campaign. All of which are merely natural signs of your body’s immune system doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. | 85 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382956",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T14:29:01",
"content": "How can you go through all that and not mention adjuvants?These are nasty chemicals mixed in with the vaccine (not all or them though) that are known to provoke an immune/allergic response, and ‘get things g... | 1,760,372,942.24033 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/interactive-clips-for-game-boy-sit-back-and-watch-or-take-control/ | Interactive Clips For Game Boy: Sit Back And Watch Or Take Control | Kristina Panos | [
"Games",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"emulator",
"game boy",
"interaction",
"PyBoy"
] | How often does this happen to you? You find yourself describing something that happened in a game to someone, and they’re not sure they know what part of the map you’re talking about, or they’ve never gotten that far. Wouldn’t it be cool to make a bookmark in a video game so you can jump right to the beginning of the action and show your friend what you mean using the actual game?
That’s the idea behind [Joël Franusic] and [Adam Smith]’s fantastic
Playable Quotes for Game Boy
— clip-making that creates a 4-D nugget of gameplay that can either be viewed as a video, or played live within the bounds of the clip. The system is built on a modified version of the PyBoy emulator.
Left: the full game ROM. Right: a bookmarked slice of the game ROM with the rest set to zero.
Basically, a Playable Quote is made up of a save state and all that entails, plus a slice of the game’s ROM that includes just enough game data to recreate an interactive clip. Everything is zipped up and steganographically encoded into a PNG file.
Here’s a Tetris quote you can play (or watch) right now
— you might recognize it from the post thumbnail.
You’ll find the others on the games site
, which allows people to create and share and build on each other’s work.
There’s so much more that can be done with this type of immersive and interactive tool outside the realm of games, and we’re excited to see where this leads and what people do with it.
Haven’t heard of PyBoy before?
Let us introduce you
. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382934",
"author": "MG",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T13:40:56",
"content": "Start mirroring the site now, folks. Stripping out parts of a copyrighted ROM doesn’t magically make the remaining portion uncopyrighted, nor does turning it into a PNG, so I suspect Nintendo will very likely ... | 1,760,372,942.284491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/21/up-close-and-personal-with-an-unusual-3d-printer-kit/ | Up Close And Personal With An Unusual 3D Printer Kit | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"projector",
"resin printer",
"SLA printer"
] | While there are still plenty of folks out there tinkering with custom 3D printers, it’s safe to say that most people these days are using a commercially-available machine. The prices are just so low now, even on the resin printers, that unless you have some application that requires exacting specifications, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to fiddle around with a homebrew machine.
As it so happens,
[Nicolas Tranchant] actually does have such an application
. He needs ultra-high resolution 3D prints for his jewelry company, but even expensive printers designed for doing dental work weren’t giving him the results he was looking for. Rather than spend five-figures on a machine that may or may not get the job done, he decided to check out what was available in kit form. That’s when he found the work of [Frédéric Lautré].
A look at the heavy-duty Z axis.
He purchased the unique “Top-Down” SLA kit from him back in 2017, and now after four years of working with the machine, [Nicolas] decided he would share his experiences with the rest of the class. The basic idea with this printer is that the light source is above the resin vat, rather than below. So instead of the print bed being pulled farther away from the resin on each new layer, it actually sinks deeper into it.
Compared to the “Bottom-Up” style of resin printers
that are more common for hobbyists, this approach does away with the need for a non-stick layer of film at the bottom of the tank. Printing is therefore made faster and more reliable, as the part doesn’t need to be peeled off the film for each new layer.
[Nicolas] goes into quite a bit of detail about building and using the $700 USD kit, including the occasional modifications he made. It sounds like the kit later went through a few revisions, but the core concepts are largely the same. It’s worth noting that the kit
did not
come with the actual projector though, so in his case the total cost was closer to $1,400. We were also surprised to see that [Frédéric] apparently developed the software for this printer himself, so the tips on how to wrangle its unfamiliar interface for slicing and support generation may be particularly helpful.
Unfortunately, it sounds like [Frédéric] has dropped off the radar. The website for the kit is gone, and [Nicolas] has been unable to get in touch with him. Which is a shame, as this looks to be a fascinating project. Perhaps the Hackaday community can help track down this mysterious SLA maestro? | 28 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382866",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T08:51:15",
"content": "The print example in the original page show a lot of X/Y offset layer shift. I wonder if their “hyperstatic” solution to remove screws on the Z axis is just too loose and gives some unwanted X/Y offset ... | 1,760,372,942.888664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/fight-disease-with-a-raspberry-pi/ | Fight Disease With A Raspberry Pi | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"cern",
"computer model",
"COVID",
"pandemic",
"self-hosted",
"transmission",
"virus"
] | Despite the best efforts of scientists around the world, the current global pandemic continues onward. But even if you aren’t working on a new vaccine or trying to curb the virus with some other seemingly miraculous technology, there are a few other ways to help prevent the spread of the virus. By now we all know of ways to do that physically, but now thanks to [James Devine] and a team at CERN
we can also model virus exposure directly on our own self-hosted Raspberry Pis
.
The program, called the Covid-19 Airborne Risk Assessment (CARA), is able to take in a number of metrics about the size and shape of an area, the number of countermeasures already in place, and plenty of other information in order to provide a computer-generated model of the number of virus particles predicted as a function of time. It can run on a number of different Pi hardware although [James] recommends using the Pi 4 as the model does take up a significant amount of computer resources. Of course, this only generates statistical likelihoods of virus transmission but it does help get a more accurate understanding of specific situations.
For more information on how all of this works, the group at CERN
also released a paper about their model
. One of the goals of this project is that it is freely available and runs on relatively inexpensive hardware, so hopefully plenty of people around the world are able to easily run it to further develop understanding of how the virus spreads. For other ways of using your own computing power to help fight Covid, don’t forget about
Folding@Home for using up all those extra CPU and GPU cycles
. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382859",
"author": "turtle-z",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T08:33:43",
"content": "I wasn’t able to see why this needs a Raspberry Pi to work and not just any computer. Does it use any of the Rpi’s GPIO etc? If not, why does it need to be a Raspberry Pi? Maybe it is easier to have the ... | 1,760,372,942.32025 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/broadband-across-the-congo/ | Broadband Across The Congo | Al Williams | [
"Network Hacks"
] | [
"Alphabet",
"broadband",
"congo",
"google",
"optical"
] | If you live in much of the world today, high-speed Internet is a solved problem. But there are still places where getting connected presents unique challenges. Alphabet, the company that formed from Google,
details their experience
piping an optical network across the Congo. The project derived from an earlier program — project Loon — that used balloons to replace traditional infrastructure.
Laying cables along the twisting and turning river raises costs significantly, so a wireless approach makes sense. Connecting Brazzaville to Kinshasa using optical techniques isn’t perfect — fog, birds, and other obstructions don’t help. They still managed to pipe 700 terabytes of data in 20 days with over 99.9% reliability.
This appears to be one of those problems that seem simple until you dig into it. Even though the link is only around 3 miles in distance, to get the performance required, the company claims:
Imagine pointing a light beam the width of a chopstick accurately enough to hit a 5-centimeter target (about the size of a US quarter) that’s 10 kilometers away;
The project requires atmospheric sensing, control of mirrors, and motion detection. In a pilot in India, the same system had to even deal with monkeys shaking the equipment.
We couldn’t help but wonder how this all stacks against alternative technology, for example wireless and low Earth orbit systems would seem to offer stiff competition with different tradeoffs.
Of course, if you drop your expectations, you can
get by with less hardware
. Hams have been known to do quite a number with
common laser gear
. | 34 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382806",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T02:08:49",
"content": "“If you live in much of the world today, high-speed Internet is a solved problem. ”Reading about Australian efforts. I’m not so sure.https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/how-austral... | 1,760,372,942.571917 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/3d-printed-sensor-detects-glyphosate/ | 3D Printed Sensor Detects Glyphosate | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"3d printed sensor",
"glyphosate",
"sensor"
] | Typically, detecting glyphosate — a herbicide — in a beverage requires a sophisticated test setup. But Washington State University has
a 3D printed sensor
that uses nanotubes to simplify the detection of the toxin.
The idea is very similar to inexpensive blood glucose monitors. The test will eventually find use for human samples, but the initial testing was for detecting contamination in orange juice.
Traditionally, detection would require either a mass spectrograph or antibodies that bond with the contaminant. The disadvantage of a mass spectrograph is obvious and while antibodies might be a bit easier to deal with, they require storage and handling to ensure the test’s integrity.
The test uses electrically-conductive polymer nanotubes that have molecular scale cavities made to trap the glyphosate molecules in much the same way as an antibody. These tubes are placed on a 3D printed substrate and an electric current can quantify the amount of glyphosate.
These are exciting days if you are interested in
nano fabrication
. As for herbicides, we
prefer search and destroy robots
instead of chemicals, where possible. | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383682",
"author": "jef",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T05:30:46",
"content": "the correct name is mass spectrometer",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383824",
"author": "Al Williams",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T15:55... | 1,760,372,942.456491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/3d-printed-rockets-features-are-out-of-this-world/ | 3D Printed Rocket’s Features Are Out Of This World | Donald Papp | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"cortex 2",
"parachute",
"rocket",
"rocketry"
] | We’re delighted to see the progress on [Foaly]’s 3D-printed Cortex 2 rocket, and
the latest build log is full of beautiful pictures and design details
. Not only is this rocket jam-packed with an efficiency of electronics and smart design, but it almost seems out to single-handedly prove that 3D-printing is far from the novelty some think it is.
Cable management and component layout is far from a trivial task in a rocket like this.
There is so much going on in the Cortex 2 that it simply wouldn’t be possible to do everything it does without the ability to make one’s own parts exactly to specification. In fact, there is so much going on that cable management is its own challenge.
Everything in the build log is interesting, but the design of the parachute system is of particular note. [Foaly]’s original Cortex rocket met it’s end when the parachute failed to deploy, and Cortex 2 is determined to avoid that fate if it can. For the parachute and any cords and anchors, a careful layout maximizes the chances of a successful deployment without anything tangling, but there are some extra features as well. The panel covering the parachute is mounted with the help of four magnets, which are mounted with opposing polarities. This provides an initial repulsing force when the door is unlocked by a servo, which should help wind immediately rush in to the opening to blow the panel away. The recovery system even has its own dedicated microcontroller and can operate autonomously; even if software for everything else crashes, the parachute will still get deployed. Locking connectors for all cables also ensure that acceleration forces don’t dislodge any contacts.
Everything about the rocket looks great, and the amount of work that has gone into the software is particularly evident. The main controller even has an interactive pre-flight checklist, which is a fantastic feature.
The last time we saw the Cortex 2
it was still only about half built, and we can’t wait to see how it performs. Rocketry is a field that has benefited greatly from things like 3D printing, the availability of highly-integrated electronics, and even such things as
a rocket design workbench for FreeCAD
. Better tools enable better work, after all. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383640",
"author": "Rumble_in_the_Jungle",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T01:17:10",
"content": "Why all components and pcb are designed to experience maximum force at launch?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383801",
"auth... | 1,760,372,942.507699 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/firmware-find-hints-at-subscription-plan-for-remarkable-tablet/ | Firmware Find Hints At Subscription Plan For ReMarkable Tablet | Tom Nardi | [
"News",
"Tablet Hacks"
] | [
"digital rights management",
"reMarkable",
"subscription"
] | We’ve been keeping a close eye on the development of electronic paper tablets such as the reMarkable for a while now. These large-format devices would be a great way to view schematics and datasheets, and with the right software, could easily become an invaluable digital sidekick. Unfortunately, a troubling discovery made in a beta version of the reMarkable firmware is a strong indication the $400 USD device may be heading down a path that many in this community wouldn’t feel comfortable with.
While trying to get a reMarkable tablet running firmware version 2.10.0.295 synced up to self-hosted server using
rmfakecloud
,
Reddit user [dobum] was presented with a very unusual prompt
. The tablet displayed several subscription levels, as well as brief description of what each one unlocked. It explained that standard users would get “basic functions only”, while the highest tier subscription would unlock an “expanding universe of powerful tools” for the e-paper tablet. In addition, only recently used documents would be synced with the cloud unless you had a paid subscription.
After contacting support about the message, [dobum] received a response that didn’t mince words:
At reMarkable, we constantly strive to improve our products and services. In addition to exploring new functionality, reMarkable is also considering new payment models that can support our vision. This includes a subscription-based model.
We want our customers to know that we are grateful for their support and that we always work to make their experience better. If we introduce a subscription model, our existing customers will get this service for free and have access to the full reMarkable experience – even powerful new features we may introduce in the future.
To their credit, at least reMarkable is being upfront by admitting a subscription model is being considered. It also sounds like existing users will be grandfathered in when it goes live, which should come as some comfort to current owners. But for prospective buyers, this could literally change everything. It’s bad enough that cloud synchronization of documents would potentially be time-limited, though we’ll admit there’s some justification in that the company is obviously incurring costs by hosting these files. Limiting features based on subscription tier on the other hand is simply a step too far, especially on a device that the user purchased outright.
We’ve already seen the first tentative steps towards
developing a free and open source operating system for the reMarkable tablet
, and this news is only going to redouble the efforts of those who wish to liberate this very promising piece of hardware from the overbearing software it ships with. What worries us is how the company is likely to respond to such projects if they’ve found themselves in a situation where recurring charges have become necessary to balance the books. We’ve already seen a motorcycle airbag that will
only deploy if the wearer has paid up for the year
, so is a tablet that won’t let you install additional applications unless you’ve sprung for the premium membership
really
that far fetched? Sadly, we all know the answer. | 68 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383549",
"author": "g",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T20:35:06",
"content": "Have to admit, up until about eight seconds ago I was a prospective buyer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383607",
"author": "Foldi-One",
... | 1,760,372,942.822645 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/an-entirely-frivolous-way-to-measure-data/ | An Entirely Frivolous Way To Measure Data | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"disk",
"joke",
"storage"
] | [lexie] is a librarian, and librarians live in the real world. They’re not concerned with vague digital notions about the size of data, but practical notions of space. Thus, she created a tool to answer an important question: how long do your shelves need to be if you’re storing all your information
on 3.5″ floppy disks?
It’s a great question, and one we find ourselves asking, well, pretty much never. [lexie]’s tool is also built using modern web technologies, and 3.5″ floppy disks were never really used for bulk storage, either. It just makes the whole thing all the more frivolous, and that makes it more fun.
You can key in any quantity from megabytes to exabytes and the tool will spit out the relevant answer in anything from millimeters to miles as appropriate. Despite the graphics on the web page, it does assume rational shelving practices of placing disks along the shelves on their thinner 4 mm edge.
We’d love to see a expanded version that covers other storage methods, like tape, hard drives, or burnt media. It could actually become pretty useful for those building their own mass storage farms at home. With CHIA cryptocurrency that could become more popular,
even if it does run us all out of hard drives along the way.
Altnernatively, you might consider hooking up
a floppy controller for your Raspberry Pi. | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383498",
"author": "Jordan Teichman",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T19:07:23",
"content": "The first thing that I found out (accidentally) about this site is that the amount of data that you may request to store is signed.It is fun seeing “This much data would need -2402986 mm (or -9460... | 1,760,372,942.633098 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/ask-hackaday-what-can-only-a-computer-do/ | Ask Hackaday: What Can Only A Computer Do? | Al Williams | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"Original Art",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"computers",
"crystallography",
"electronic music",
"negative stability",
"Rant",
"sonic pi",
"Tomography"
] | It is easy to apply computers to improve things we already understand. For example, instead of a piano today, you might buy a synthesizer. It looks and works — sometimes — as a piano. But it can also do lots of other things like play horns, or accompany you with a rhythm track or record and playback your music. There’s plenty of examples of this: word processors instead of typewriters, MP3 players instead of tape decks, and PDF files instead of printed material. But what about something totally new? I was thinking of this while looking at
Sonic Pi
, a musical instrument you play by coding.
But back to the keyboard, the word processor, and the MP3 player. Those things aren’t so much revolutionary as they are evolutionary. Even something like digital photography isn’t all that revolutionary. Sure, most of us couldn’t do all the magic you can do in PhotoShop in a dark room, but some wizards could. Most of us couldn’t lay out a camera-ready brochure either, but people did it every day without the benefit of computers. So what are the things that we are using computers for that are totally new? What can you do with the help of a computer that you absolutely couldn’t without?
I’m not sure there is a crisp answer to this. It is more like a spectrum. Sonic Pi — you can see a video below — uses coding to create music, but it is still music. Maybe to be totally revolutionary it should be directly doing
brain entrainment
. Still, I think the idea of creating via programming in real time is a bigger leap and one that not everyone appreciates. For example, some people love OpenSCAD and some want to use a mouse to draw 3D models. Other people use FreeCAD and switch back and forth since FreeCAD can use OpenSCAD.
So it seems like most of what computers have done is made things faster or easier. You don’t need a Sears catalog anymore because you shop on a Web site. Even Sears has one. So does the couple next door who makes and sells custom baby blankets. When you order one, you don’t have to send a check in the mail and the small business owner doesn’t have to go to the post office. Everything can be done via connected computers.
But what are the things that are uniquely due to the computer? From what I understand, modern jet aircraft, for example, are only flyable because of computers. You could know how to handle the negative stability, but you’d never be able to make adjustments fast enough. This might be the key. After all, at the base level, computers don’t do anything magical. But they can do what they do faster than we could ever hope to do it. But given enough time you could do the math for, say, tomography or X-ray crystallography by hand. It was just be a lot of work.
Making music by coding probably qualifies as do most other coding tasks although there were player pianos and jacquard looms with no computers. Again, something like Sonic Pi that does it in real time is probably more the province of computers. Sure, I guess you could posit some kind of machine that isn’t a traditional computer accepting the code, but then you are really just reinventing the computer if you make that argument.
So the question is: what are things that you can only do with a computer? Seems easy until you start thinking about it. Of course, some things are infinitely more practical or made much better. Handmade 3D prints would suck. It was very expensive to create camera-ready copy, math tables, or 3D animation before computers, yet it was all done by someone. Where are the new frontiers enabled solely by computers? | 128 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383417",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T17:12:46",
"content": "well, modern airplanes are impossible without computer control, but certainly, there were airplanes before silicon chips, even if they were lesser machines.I’d start with space travel. You simply can’t get... | 1,760,372,943.057472 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/home-automation-terminal-with-cyberpunk-style/ | Home Automation Terminal With Cyberpunk Style | Tom Nardi | [
"home hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"cyberpunk",
"home automation",
"home-assistant",
"mechanical keyboard"
] | The
OLKB-Terminal designed by [Jeff Eberl]
doesn’t have a battery, can’t fold up (even if it seems like it could), and is only portable in the sense that you can literally pick it up and move it somewhere else. So arguably it’s not really a cyberdeck per se, but it certainly does look the part. If you need to be furiously typing out lines of code in a dimly lit near-future hacker’s den, this should do you nicely.
[Jeff] has provided everything you’d need to recreate this slick little machine on your own, though he does warn that some of the hardware decisions were based simply on what he had on-hand at the time, and that better or cheaper options may exist. So for example if you don’t want to use the Raspberry Pi 4, you can easily swap it out for some other single-board computer. Though if you want to change something better integrated, like the LCD panel, it will probably require modifications to the 3D printed components.
The rear electronics tray offers plenty of room for expansion.
The slim mechanical keyboard that [Jeff] used for the OLKB-Terminal, which in some ways set the tone for the whole design, is actually a
completely separate open source project from [Victor Lucachi]
. The VOID30 is a 3D printed, 30% handwired ortholinear keyboard that runs the popular QMK firmware on an Arduino Pro Micro. He’s implemented a couple tweaks, namely using a USB-C equipped Arduino clone, but otherwise it’s the same as upstream. So if you’re not in the market for a little bedside cyberpunk terminal but love its sleek keyboard, you’re in luck.
Software wise, [Jeff] has the OLKB-Terminal hooked into his larger Home Assistant system. This gives him an attractive status display of the whole network, and with just a tap on the terminal’s seven inch touch screen, he’s able to directly control devices around the home. That said, at the end of the day it’s just a Raspberry Pi, so it could really run whatever you want.
While cyberdeck builds might be all the rage right now, we do appreciate projects that bring those same design tenets to the desktop. From the gorgeous
faux-retro designs of [Oriol Ferrer Mesià]
to
modernized pieces of vintage hardware
,
truly
personal computers that can be easily upgraded and repaired don’t have to be limited to
something you can lug around with a guitar strap
. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383401",
"author": "Ryan Zellars",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T16:12:46",
"content": "It has looks and the brains to match. Cool project! Love the modularity. Even though you used what you had on hand you planned ahead for others or in case you changed it up later. Cheers!",
"pare... | 1,760,372,943.101706 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/22/astro-pi-mk-ii-the-new-raspberry-pi-hardware-for-the-international-space-station/ | Astro Pi Mk II, The New Raspberry Pi Hardware Headed To The Space Station | Tom Nardi | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Raspberry Pi",
"Science",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"Astro Pi",
"citizen science",
"computer vision",
"ESA",
"international space station",
"iss",
"machine learning",
"sense hat",
"space science"
] | Back in 2015, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake brought a pair of specially equipped Raspberry Pi computers, nicknamed
Izzy
and
Ed
, onto the International Space Station and invited students back on Earth to develop software for them as part of the Astro Pi Challenge. To date, more than 50,000 young people have had their code run on one of the single-board computers; making them arguably the most popular, and surely the most traveled, Raspberry Pis in the solar system.
While
Izzy
and
Ed
are still going strong, the ESA has decided it’s about time these veteran Raspberries finally get the retirement they’re due.
Set to make the journey to the ISS in December aboard a SpaceX Cargo Dragon
, the new Astro Pi MK II hardware looks quite similar to the original 2015 version at first glance. But a peek inside its 6063-grade aluminium flight case reveals plenty of new and improved gear, including a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 8 GB RAM.
The beefier hardware will no doubt be appreciated by students looking to push the envelope. While the majority of Python programs submitted to the Astro Pi program did little more than poll the current reading from the unit’s temperature or humidity sensors and scroll messages for the astronauts on the Astro Pi’s LED matrix, some of the more advanced projects were aimed at performing legitimate space research. From using the onboard camera to image the Earth and make weather predictions to attempting to map the planet’s magnetic field, code submitted from teams of older students will certainly benefit from the improved computational performance and expanded RAM of the newest Pi.
As with the original Astro Pi, the ESA and the Raspberry Pi Foundation have shared plenty of technical details about these space-rated Linux boxes. After all, students are expected to develop and test their code on essentially the same hardware down here on Earth before it gets beamed up to the orbiting computers. So let’s take a quick look at the new hardware inside Astro Pi MK II, and what sort of research it should enable for students in 2022 and beyond.
Souped-up Sensors
At this point we’re all well aware of the
near-desktop performance afforded by the Raspberry Pi 4
, so it should go without saying that its a huge upgrade over the pokey Raspberry Pi Model B+ from 2014 that students have been working with until now. Just as important as the improvement in raw computational power, having access to fifteen times the memory will enable more complex tasks that simply weren’t possible before.
To make use of all that extra power, the new Astro Pi MK II includes a wider array of sensors in addition to upgraded versions of the ones which were used on the original hardware. The new Sense HAT V2 still includes the gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer as well as sensors to measure humidity, temperature, and pressure inside the ISS. But this time around there’s also a passive infrared sensor (PIR), as well as a color and luminosity sensor.
But perhaps the most exciting sensor upgrade comes in the form of the Raspberry Pi HQ camera. The 12.3 megapixel Sony IMX477 sensor is a huge improvement over the dinky camera module that was available back when the first Astro Pi was launched. It can also accept CS-mount lenses, meaning teams that send their camera-aware code up to the Astro Pi MK II will have the option of having different lenses and filters installed while their project is running. For example, with the appropriate filter, students will be able to perform normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) observations to monitor and study the distribution of plant life on the Earth’s surface.
An AI CoPilot
When students really need to kick things into high gear, they’ll also have the option of utilizing the Coral USB Accelerator that will be accompanying the Astro Pi MK II. This application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed by Google connects the Pi’s USB 3.0 port and can perform up to four trillion operations per second while consuming only two watts of power.
Developed specifically for machine learning, this low-power device can run TensorFlow Lite models at incredible speeds. The official documentation says that, when paired with a desktop-class processor, the Accelerator can run the MobileNet v2 image classification and detection model at nearly 400 frames per second.
Obviously its capabilities will be reduced when working in conjunction with the Pi 4, but it will still be a huge boon for teams that want to do machine learning in orbit. When combined with the new high-resolution camera, the computer vision prowess of the Accelerator should provide some fascinating opportunities for real-time Earth observations.
Like the Astro Pi itself, the Coral USB Accelerator has been clad in a custom designed aluminum enclosure that’s clearly designed to help passively dissipate heat. But otherwise, it’s identical to the
commercial unit that you can purchase right now for $60 USD
. This is the same sort of logic that lead the ESA to select the Raspberry Pi in the first place, as it allows schools to put together affordable development environments using largely off-the-shelf components.
Astro Pi: The Home Game
So when will students, or Hackaday readers, be able to build their own Astro Pi MK II? Unfortunately, that’s not immediately clear. Obviously you can pick up a Raspberry Pi 4 and a Coral USB Accelerator right now,
but the word is that chip shortages have delayed efforts
to produce the new Sense HAT in large quantities. Students taking part in the program can
use the web-based emulator to test their code
for the time being, with the teams selected to move on to Phase 2 slated to get the real thing by November. Given the success of the original Sense HAT it seems inevitable that the new version will work its way to retail eventually, but it probably won’t happen this year.
A DIY version of the original Astro Pi
Similarly, while the project’s website says they’ll be up for download in the near future, the CAD files for the new Astro Pi MK II enclosure aren’t yet available to the public. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a
detailed guide on building a replica of the original Astro Pi
, complete with information on 3D printing the case, so hopefully something similar is being put together for the December launch of the new version.
Back in 2017, a company produced a $250 USD replica of the original Astro Pi case that was so accurate,
Eben Upton himself said they were nearly indistinguishable from the flight-ready units
. Once the CAD files are out we might see a similar effort to duplicate the new version, but don’t expect it to be any cheaper this time around.
Even if you’re too old or not on the prerequisite side of the planet to take part in the official Astro Pi Challenge, the platform developed by the ESA and the Raspberry Pi Foundation is still attractive for citizen scientists and experimenters down here on Earth. Hopefully by the time the Challenge entries start getting uploaded to the International Space Station in Spring of 2022, we’ll be able to follow along at home with our own model of the hardware. | 22 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6383344",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-09-22T14:31:06",
"content": "So, the old ones get booted out of the hatch?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6383628",
"author": "Flotsam",
"timestamp": "2021-09-23T0... | 1,760,372,944.896597 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/raspberry-pi-with-some-serious-graphical-muscle/ | Raspberry Pi With Some Serious Graphical Muscle | Matthew Carlson | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"cm4",
"compute module 4",
"gpu",
"raspberry pi",
"RPi",
"rpi4"
] | [Jeff Geerling] routinely tinkers around with Raspberry Pi compute module, which unlike the regular RPi 4, includes a PCI-e lane. With some luck, he was able to obtain an AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU card and
decided to try and plug it into the Raspberry Pi 4 Compute Module
.
While you likely wouldn’t be running games with such as setup, there are many kinds of unique and interesting compute-based workloads that can be offloaded onto a GPU. In a situation similar to putting a V8 on a lawnmower, the Raspberry Pi 4 pulls around 5-10 watts and the GPU can pull 230 watts. Unfortunately, the PCI-e slot on the IO board wasn’t designed with a power-hungry chip in mind, so [Jeff] brought in a full-blown ATX power supply to power the GPU. To avoid problems with differing ground planes, an adapter was fashioned for the Raspberry Pi to be powered from the PSU as well. Plugging in the card yielded promising results initially. In particular, Linux detected the card and correctly mapped the BARs (Base Address Register), which had been a problem in the past for him with other devices. A BAR allows a PCI device to map its memory into the CPU’s memory space and keep track of the base address of that mapped memory range.
AMD kindly provides Linux drivers for the kernel. [Jeff] walks through cross-compiling the kernel and has a nice docker container that quickly reproduces the built environment. There was a bug that prevented compilation with AMD drivers included, so he wasn’t able to get a fully built kernel. Since the video, he has been
slowly wading through the issue in a fascinating thread on GitHub
. Everything from running out of memory space for the Pi to PSP memory training for the GPU itself has been encountered.
The ever-expanding capabilities of the plucky little compute module are a wonderful thing to us here at Hackaday, as we saw it
get NVMe boot earlier this year
. We’re looking forward to the progress [Jeff] makes with GPUs. Video after the break. | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382843",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2021-09-21T06:43:07",
"content": "Sounds like an effort to bring crypto mining to raspberry pis in a way not previously possible. Cause really, if you can’t play games on it, why bother? ;) I bet this could be used to get some previously jan... | 1,760,372,945.407814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/mastering-stop-motion-through-machine-learning/ | Mastering Stop Motion Through Machine Learning | Tom Nardi | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"animation",
"computer vision",
"Jetson Xavier XL",
"machine learning",
"Nvidia Jetson",
"stop motion"
] | Stop motion animation is notoriously difficult to pull off well, in large part because it’s a mind-numbingly slow process. Each frame in the final video is a separate photograph, and for each one of those, the characters and props need to be moved the appropriate amount so that the final result looks smooth. You don’t even want to know how long Ben Wyatt spent working on
Requiem for a Tuesday
, though to be fair, it might still get done before the next
Avatar
.
But
[Nick Bild] thinks his latest project might be able to improve on the classic technique
with a dash of artificial intelligence provided by a Jetson Xavier NX. Basically, the Jetson watches the live feed from the camera, and using a hand pose detection model, waits until there’s no human hand in the frame. Once the coast is clear, it takes a shot and then goes back to waiting for the next hands-free opportunity. With the photographs being taken automatically, you’re free to focus on getting your characters moving around in a convincing way.
If it’s still not clicking for you, check out the video below. [Nick] first shows the raw unedited video, which primarily consists of him moving three LEGO figures around, and then the final product produced by his system. All the images of him fiddling with the scene have been automatically trimmed, leaving behind a short animated clip of the characters moving on their own.
Now don’t be fooled, it’s still going to take awhile. By our count, it took two solid minutes of moving around Minifigs to produce just a few seconds of animation. So while we can say its a quicker pace than with traditional stop motion production, it certainly isn’t
fast
.
Machine learning isn’t the only modern technology that can simplify stop motion production.
We’ve seen a few examples of using 3D printed objects
instead of manually-adjusted figures. It still takes a long time to print, and of course it eats up a ton of filament,
but the mechanical precision of the printed scenes
makes for a very clean final result. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382729",
"author": "e",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T20:14:52",
"content": "My first thought was “Cool! ”Followed by “I don’t have a Jetson….”Maybe something similar could be done with frame by frame capture of the webcam feed, comparison between frames, and detection of hand colour ... | 1,760,372,945.215815 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/open-source-hot-rod-mod-gives-more-power-to-ev-owners/ | Open Source Hot Rod Mod Gives More Power To EV Owners | Ryan Flowers | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"electric vehicle",
"electric vehicle hack",
"ev",
"EV Hack",
"hot rod",
"inverter",
"nissan",
"Nissan Leaf"
] | Meet [Daniel Öster]. [Daniel] is a self-professed petrolhead. In other words, he’s a hot rodder who can’t leave well enough alone. Just because he’s driving a 2012 Nissan Leaf doesn’t mean he isn’t looking for a bit more kick. Having already upgraded the battery, [Daniel] turned his attention to upgrading the 80KW inverter. Not only was [Daniel] successful,
but the work has been documented
and
the Open Source code made available on GitHub
. Part of [Daniel]’s mission is to open up otherwise closed ecosystems and make EV hacking and repair approachable by mere mortals.
To get an extra 50hp, [Daniel] could have just swapped in the 110KW drivetrain from a 2018 or newer Leaf, but a less expensive route of swapping in only the 110KW inverter was chosen. By changing out just the inverter, the modification becomes more affordable for others to do. [Daniel] expertly documents how the new 110KW inverter has to be matched to the existing motor by setting a resolver correction value in the inverter.
Not for the faint of heart, the inverter swap requires changing connectors to a later style.
Cutting into the wiring harness of a vehicle that one is still making payments on is an exercise reserved for only the most dedicated modders, but a change in connectors between 2012 and 2018 made it necessary. The only tools needed were wire cutters, a soldering iron, heat shrink, and perhaps some liquid courage.
Although the hack was successful, no performance gains were had initially, because the CAN bus signal going to the inverter never told it to provide more than the original 80KW. A CAN bus Man In The Middle attack was done by adding a CAN bridge device that listens to traffic on the CAN bus and bends it to [Daniel]’s will. By multiplying the KW signal by 1.3, the 80KW signal becomes 110KW, and full Ludicrous Speed is achieved! Excellent gains in 0-100kph times are seen, but [Daniel] isn’t done. His next hack will be to put in a 160KW inverter for even more go-pedal madness.
Be sure to watch the introduction video below the break. You might also be interested in Nissan Leaf hacks we’ve featured previously such as
retrofitting a fast charging port
,
salvaging batteries from wrecks
, and partly
resolving serious charging flaws
. | 42 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382696",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T18:36:25",
"content": "I’d rather like to know what’s “in” these inverters. A rough schematic. Something about the power transistors: are they IGBTs? SiC MOSFETS? How are they driven? All those nitty-gritties :-)",
"pa... | 1,760,372,945.031202 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/hacking-when-it-counts-surgery-fit-to-save-a-future-king/ | Hacking When It Counts: Surgery Fit To Save A Future King | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Medical Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"arrow",
"bodkin",
"hacking when it counts",
"instrument",
"king",
"medieval",
"Prince",
"surgeon",
"surgery",
"tongs"
] | When we picture the Medieval world, it conjures up images of darkness, privations, and sickness the likes of which are hard to imagine from our sanitized point of view. The 1400s, and indeed the entirety of history prior to the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s, was a time when the merest scratch acquired in the business of everyday life could lead to an infection ending in a slow, painful death. Add in the challenges of war, where violent men wielding sharp things on a filthy field of combat, and it’s a wonder people survived at all.
But then as now, some people are luckier than others, and surviving what even today would likely be a fatal injury was not unknown, as one sixteen-year-old boy in 1403 would discover. It didn’t hurt that he was the son of the king of England, and when he earned an arrow in his face in combat, every effort would be made to save the prince and heir to the throne. It also helped that he had the good fortune to have a surgeon with the imagination to solve the problem, and the skill to build a tool to help.
The Prince
Henry of Monmouth, after he became king in 1413. The artist wisely chose to not include his grievous scar. Source:
National Portrait Gallery
, Public domain.
Henry of Monmouth, the future Henry V, was born in 1389 in Wales. His father, Henry Bolingbroke, was cousin to the current king, Richard II, whom he deposed and imprisoned in 1399. Styling himself Henry IV, this put his son Henry, now the Prince of Wales, into the line of succession as heir apparent. As such, great effort was put into grooming him for future kingship, including extensive military training.
Prince Henry’s training was very quickly put to the test at the Battle of Shrewsbury, where King Henry’s men faced the rebel forces of Lord Henry “Hotspur” Percy. The battle marked the first time that English archers faced each other. The English longbow was a terrifyingly powerful weapon, with a draw of 90 to 100 pounds or more; longbows found aboard the wreck of King Henry VIII’s flagship
Mary Rose
were found to have draw weights of up to 160 pounds. Such a bow would require astonishing upper body strength to draw properly, so much so that the skeletons of English archers show considerable overdevelopment of the bones of the left arm and wrist, as well as the fingers of the right hand.
The Weapon
An English longbow of the era typically was about six feet long, although that varied with the stature of the archer. Arrows typically had thick shafts of poplar, ash, beech, or hazel about 32 to 36 inches long, fletched with goose feathers. Shafts could be fitted with a variety of arrowheads, each specialized to different needs. But the most common warhead at the time was the bodkin point.
A bodkin point was designed to defeat plate armor. Accounts vary on its effectiveness, and modern testing is somewhat equivocal. But the shape of the head, with its square cross-section and sharp edges, was clearly designed to cut through sheet metal. Like most mass-produced metal objects at the time, bodkin points were made from wrought iron. Even with hardening and tempering, this would have left the point too soft to penetrate into the steel plate armor that was becoming more common, but there are historical accounts of bodkin points being “steeled”, which may mean that they were case hardened. This would have been done by wrapping a number of points in charcoal and heating them in a forge to carburize the metal.
Arrowheads of the day were forged with sockets, allowing them to be fitted to the end of a shaft. Methods for attaching the head to the shaft varied; some were glued with hide glue, some were pinned with tiny nails, and others were simply friction fit into the sockets. The latter seems to have been the case with the arrow that found Prince Henry, a stroke of good fortune that would end up helping save his life.
The Battle
The Battle of Shrewsbury was fought on 21 July 1403. Shortly before dusk, King Henry gave the command to attack the Percy forces, and the battle was on. Prince Henry, protected by plate armor and leading his men on the left flank, advanced uphill into the rebel line. The young prince raised the visor on his helmet for a better look at the battlefield, and as luck would have it, an arrow caught him in the face. The bodkin point drove into his left cheek, below his eye and just to the side of his nose. Miraculously, the arrow stopped with about six inches of the shaft embedded in the prince’s face; given the power of a longbow shot at close quarters — easily enough to punch straight through a human skull — it’s likely that the arrow that found Henry was deflected by a shield or someone else’s armor, spending the majority of its kinetic energy in the process.
Despite the agonizing wound, Prince Henry refused to leave the battlefield and kept fighting for three more hours, until Henry Percy suffered a wound ironically similar to Prince Henry’s; when Percy raised his visor to get a breath of fresh air, an arrow, this time unmolested in its flight, found his gaping mouth and killed him. Only then was Prince Henry rushed from the battlefield to nearby Kenilworth Castle, in an attempt to save his life.
The Injury
The fact that the prince was not cut down instantly was a stroke of amazingly good luck. The base of the skull is rich with major blood vessels that supply the brain, important cranial nerves that control basic bodily functions, and the top of the spinal cord, where it exits the skull via the foramen magnum. That the bodkin point threaded between all of these vital structures and lodged itself in the thick, tough bone at the base of the skull, and did so little damage that the prince was able to keep fighting, was nothing short of miraculous.
The royal surgeons knew, however, that the arrow had to be removed. Standard practice at the time was to push the arrow through in the direction that it was going, but being lodged in Henry’s skull, the only option was to pull it out. When surgeons tried this, though, the shaft came free from the arrowhead. It’s not clear if the shaft broke or if it pulled free from the bodkin socket but either way, it left the arrowhead lodged in the prince’s skull at the end of a deep, inaccessible wound.
The Surgeon
At this point, surgeon John Bradmore was sent for. In those days, being a surgeon did not hold the same social cachet as it does today. Surgery was more of a trade than a profession, and surgeons often practiced several different trades in addition to setting bones, amputating limbs, and lancing boils. Bradmore’s other line of work was as a metalworker, a term of trade that connotes the ability to execute finer work than a blacksmith would normally turn his hand to. This was fairly common for surgeons of the day, who often maintained a lucrative sideline making and selling surgical tools of their own design.
Bradmore’s first examinations of Prince Henry, which he recorded in a treatise called the
Philomena
, involved probing the wound to discover its depth and tract. He reports using the pith from the branches of elder wood as a probe, wrapped in linen and soaked in rose honey — a natural antiseptic. With the position of the bodkin determined, Bradmore proceeded to enlarge the wound with a series of larger diameter probes. This was a necessary if agonizing process; entry wounds often close very tightly after the projectile passes, and Bradmore knew he’d need room to work.
While this slow process of dilatation was going on, Bradmore designed a special set of tongs. In the
Philomena
, he described it as “[L]
ittle tongs, small and hollow,
and with the width of an arrow. A screw ran through the middle of the tongs, whose ends were well rounded both on
the inside and outside, and even the end of the screw, which was entered into the middle, was well rounded overall in
the way of a screw, so that it should grip better and more strongly. This is its form.”
Bradmore’s tongs, recreated from his description in the Philomena by historical metalworker Hector Cole. Source:
2019 Armour in the Abbey
, photo by JA.
Modern recreations of the tongs require some imagination on the part of the smith, as Bradmore’s description and drawings are somewhat at odds with each other. It could be that the tongs served mainly to guide the central screw into the remains of the shaft; or, if the shaft had pulled out of the bodkin socket cleanly, the tongs could have been forced outward into the walls of the socket by the screw.
Either way, Bradmore was able to grasp the bodkin and, with a little rocking back and forth, removed it from the prince. He filled the wound with white wine, applied a poultice of white bread, flour, barley, honey, and turpentine, and tended to the prince until he healed.
Long Live the King
There’s little doubt that Bradmore saved the future king’s life; a foreign object left in a deep wound would at a minimum lead to septicemia, or, had the arrow driven the anaerobic soil bacterium
Clostridium tetani
into the wound, a fatal tetanus infection.
For his efforts, Bradmore received a handsome pension for the rest of his life, which was sadly only another nine years. King Henry IV outlived the man who saved his son by a year, leaving the scarred but brave young Prince Henry to ascend the throne in 1413, and eventually go on to win the historic Battle of Agincourt. But none of that would have come to pass had it not been for the luck of a prince and the hacking skills of his surgeon. | 43 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382698",
"author": "mjrippe",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T18:39:19",
"content": "Let that be a lesson to all you 16 year olds out there – never lift your visor during battle! But seriously, what a horrible time to have lived. Amazing that someone of this era had the insight to creat... | 1,760,372,945.66885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/drunk-wall-clock-uses-convoluted-circuits-to-display-time/ | Drunk Wall Clock Uses Convoluted Circuits To Display Time | Robin Kearey | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"ESP32",
"raspberry pi",
"vga"
] | Here at Hackaday we can never get enough of odd clocks, and we’re delighted to see [Dan O’Shea]’s creation called the
Wifi-Telnet-FPGA-NTSC Drunk Wall Clock
. That mouthful is an accurate description of what it does: at the heart of the device is an ESP32 that uses WiFi to connect to a Raspberry Pi. It then telnets into the system, logs in, and requests the current time using the Linux
date
command. So far, so ordinary.
The “FPGA” part is where it gets weirder: the ESP32 is hooked up to a
VGA1306 board
. This is a little PCB with an FPGA that emulates an OLED display and outputs the image to a VGA connector. [Dan] could have simply hooked up a VGA display to this, but instead went for another layer of complexity by converting the VGA signal to something resembling composite video, using nothing more than three resistors. The resulting “NTSC” signal is then fed into a small TFT display that shows the time.
The clock got its “drunk” label because the process of repeatedly running the
date
command and parsing its output is slow and prone to hiccups, resulting in a display where the seconds advance in a somewhat unsteady manner. This fits well with the overall aesthetic of the clock, which consists of a heap of PCBs held together with cable ties and electrical tape. Mounted on a round panel of recycled wood, it makes a beautiful wall ornament for any hacker lab.
We love projects like this that accomplish a simple task in a convoluted way, and there’s no shortage of needlessly complicated clocks, whether
physically drawing the time
or using
machine-learning data
. But if you simply like your clocks with their electronics exposed, check out this
free-form LED clock
or this neat
circuit sculpture clock
. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382599",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T15:11:52",
"content": "Well now, this IS a hack! No doubt about it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6382626",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T16:07:14",
... | 1,760,372,944.945937 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/green-roofs-could-help-improve-solar-panel-efficiency/ | Green Roofs Could Help Improve Solar Panel Efficiency | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"green",
"green roof",
"greenery",
"photovoltaic",
"photovoltaics",
"plant",
"plants",
"solar",
"solar array",
"solar panel",
"solar power"
] | There’s been a movement in architecture over the past couple of decades to help tie together large urban developments with plant life and greenery. We’ve seen a few buildings, and hundreds more renders, of tall skyscrapers and large buildings covered in vegetation.
The aesthetic is often a beautiful one, but the idea is done as much for its tangible benefits as for the sheer visual glory. Naturally, there’s the obvious boost from plants converting carbon dioxide into delicious, life-giving oxygen. However, greenery on the roofs of buildings could also help improve the output of solar installations, according to a recent study
from Sydney, Australia.
The solar installation on top of Daramu House, Sydney, complete with greenery on the roof. Source: UTS Report
The study was led by Dr Peter Irga of the University of Technology Sydney,
with a report published for the City of Sydney
. The opportunity for the study came about precipitously, thanks to two similar office buildings located side by side in downtown Sydney. Each building had a photovoltaic solar system installed on the roof to generate electricity. On one building, plenty of plants were placed on the roof and around the solar panels, while the other building was left bare.
Over an eight month period, the roof loaded with greenery was 3.6% more efficient than the bare roof over the course of the experiment. The difference between the two was as much as 20% at peak generating times. This led to the green roof netting 69 MWh of electricity versus 59.5MWh for the bare roof. The extra 9.5 MWh generated over the period of the experiment is worth a full $2595 at local market rates.
The key to the difference in performance came down to temperature. Solar panels don’t work as well at higher temperatures, with Irga noting that “Temperatures above 25 degrees make photovoltaic panels less efficient.” This can be problematic in a place like Australia, where sunlight is abundant in the summer months but daily temperatures routinely span from 30 to 45 degrees Celsius.
A graph showing the difference in performance between the solar installations on the two buildings. Arrows A, B and C point to areas where urban shading caused a discrepancy.
However, note the large boost the green roof array receives at peak times. The cooling effect is most important during full sun conditions when temperatures are highest.
Source: UTS Report
Green roofs cool buildings through a process
called evaportranspiration
, or more accurately, the twin processes of evaporation and transpiration. Water from the soil and other rooftop surfaces is evaporated, reducing heat in the air. Additionally, small holes in the plants of the green roof, called stomata, are essentially the pores with which the plant exchanges gases with its surroundings. The plants lose water through these stomata to the atmosphere, further adding to the cooling process. Ideally, the vast majority of this water comes from rainfall, avoiding irrigation costs that can spoil the efficiency and environmental benefits of the roof as a whole.
Reportedly, temperatures were on the order of 20°C lower on the green roof compared to the otherwise identical bare-roofed office building. This is a remarkable figure, and one that speaks to the quality of the green roof design in the experiment. This comes down to careful selection of the right plant species, which are able to survive and thrive on the roof while also providing good cooling performance.
Thus, this significant temperature drop allowed the solar panels to remain in a much more efficient operating range, leading to that 3.6% efficiency gain. This figure was determined under simulated lighting conditions, in order to eliminate differences in the urban environment around the two buildings from spoiling the result. It may not sound like much, but huge amounts of money are spent every year researching for single-point percentage gains in solar panel efficiency. In comparison, providing a cheap natural cooling solution can have a remarkably outsized effect.
Rooftop solar installations and green roofs alike must be designed carefully to deal with shading from surrounding buildings. This can impact the amount of power that can be generated, as well as require the use of appropriate plant species for the amount of sun available.
The green roof provides other benefits, too. The study reported that the roof absorbed almost 9 tonnes of greenhouse gases throughout the experiment, and reduced storm water outflows significantly as well. The plants were also much appreciated by the local wildlife. The team noted that insects and birds quickly flocked to the greenery. Even predator species were spotted up on top of the building, something that was surprising to see on a tower in the central business district of Sydney.
Overall, it’s a project that demonstrates a lot of net benefits. Additionally, it needn’t only be limited to green roofs. Other solar installations could benefit from co-located greenery which naturally cools its surroundings and leads to better solar array performance. Expect more research in this area, particularly in a localized fashion. Green roofs and similar technologies are highly dependent on local climatic conditions, and often need to be designed to work with the local flora and fauna as well. For those that dive in, it appears there are significant gains to be had! | 83 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382574",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T14:06:01",
"content": "Just remember, design the roof for the added weight and wind loading.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6382575",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,372,945.165404 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/banksy-like-stock-tracker-shreds-your-money-when-the-markets-down/ | Banksy-Like Stock Tracker Shreds Your Money When The Market’s Down | Robin Kearey | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"Banksy",
"shredder",
"stock market"
] | For anyone playing the stock market, and perhaps even more so for those investing in cryptocurrencies, watching the value of your portfolio go up and down can be a stressful experience. If you’d like to have a real-time display of your investments that adds even more stress, [Luis Marx] has got you covered. His latest project is a
plexiglass case
(video in German) that fills up with banknotes when your portfolio is up, and shreds those same notes when it’s down.
Inspired by an
infamous Banksy artwork
, [Luis] began by building a wood-and-plexiglass display case suitable for hanging on the wall in his office. He then installed a small paper shredder, modified with a servo so that it could be operated by an Arduino. Unable to find an off-the-shelf banknote dispenser, he designed and 3D-printed one, consisting of a spring-loaded tray and a motor-driven wheel.
The project also includes a Raspberry Pi, programmed to fetch market data from online sources and calculate the net profit or loss of [Luis]’s portfolio. The resulting system is a rather disturbing visualization of the ups and downs of the market: having to sweep strips of green paper off your floor adds insult to the pain of losing money.
If you want a less painful way to keep track of your investments, try this
Rocketship
. For those interested in traditional stock tickers,
this ESP32 based one
might be more to your liking. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382508",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T11:28:12",
"content": "Does it tape your money back together when the stock goes back up?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382510",
"author": "Alice Lalita Heald",
... | 1,760,372,944.829619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/20/self-balancing-robot-needs-a-little-work/ | Self Balancing Robot Needs A Little Work | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"MPU-6050",
"pid",
"robot",
"self balancing"
] | A self-balancing robot isn’t a new idea, but we liked the aesthetics of [Maker ATOM’s]
build
. The use of a breadboard and a printed bracket looks good, as you can see in the video, below.
Like most first-time projects, though, there were some lessons learned. The power supply needs a little work and the range of balance compliance didn’t meet expectations. But those problems are soluble and, as usual, you often learn more from working through issues like these.
The heart of the system is an MPU6050 which provides a gyroscope and accelerometer along with fusion capability onboard. The availability of libraries for the sensor and the PID controller makes the project pretty simple to finish.
In particular, a PID control loop looks at the desired state of the system and the current state. It then computes an output based on the difference in state at the current time and over time in different ways. In other words, part of the output forms because of the raw difference but other parts of the output form due to accumulated error over time or from sudden perturbations. Adjusting the gains so that these parts stay in balance can be a bit tricky.
However, in the end, the two batteries were not sufficient to power the device adequately. Temporarily, a bench supply did the trick, but the batteries still needed to be there to provide some counterweights for balance. Experimenting wth some PID loop gains might also improve operations.
There are plenty of
similar projects
to draw inspiration from. The design
doesn’t have to be difficult
. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382509",
"author": "imqqmi",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T11:28:15",
"content": "I think the reduction gearbox may add slop/backlash that need to be accounted for. And as the article says the PID loop can be tuned and making sure the sensor module has enough resolution and high enough ... | 1,760,372,945.356809 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/the-ultimate-commodore-1541-drive-talk-a-deep-dive-into-disks-controllers-and-much-more/ | The Ultimate Commodore 1541 Drive Talk: A Deep Dive Into Disks, Controllers, And Much More | Ryan Flowers | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"1541",
"1571",
"6502",
"6502 processor",
"Commodore 1541",
"commodore 1571",
"commodore 64",
"copy protection",
"floppy disk",
"floppy drive",
"floppy drive controller"
] | When we think of retrocomputing, it’s very often the computers themselves that get all the glory. There’s nothing wrong with this of course- the computers of the late 70’s and 80’s were incredible machines that were chock full of hacks in their own right. But some of the most interesting hacks of the day happened not in the computers, but rather in their peripherals. A devotee of such periphery is [Michael Steil], who was driven to compile years of research, knowledge, and hard data into
The Ultimate Commodore 1541 Drive Talk
which you can view below the break.
In the talk, [Michael] covers the physical disk composition and construction, the disk drives, controller hardware, and the evolution thereof. The bit-by-bit breakdown of the tracks, sectors, and header information on the disks themselves is fascinating, as is the discussion of various copy protection techniques used by vendors to prevent piracy at a time when sneakernet was in full swing.
The descent into the circuitry of the controller reveals a venerable 6502 CPU which powered many vintage computers. Further discussion divulges the secrets for getting higher performance from the 1541 drive using innovations that are as recent as 2013.
A computer historian and archaeologist, [Michael] discusses how using modified vintage hardware is sometimes enough to save your old floppy collection. He also shows how modern interfaces that read disks all the way down to the magnetic flux level can be used to reconstruct missing data.
[Michael] masterfully lays bare the complexity, engineering, and hackery that went into storing less than 200kb of data. Whether you’re a Commodore enthusiast or not, your appreciation for the 32GB USB stick collecting dust on your desk is bound to grow!
We’ve covered [Michael]’s exploits before, and you may wish to check out the
Ultimate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk
or the
Ultimate Gameboy Talk
. Do you have your own favorite retrocomputer hacks and insights to share? Be sure to let us know via the
Tip Line
! | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382449",
"author": "Ezra Thomas",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T06:17:19",
"content": "Fantastic!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6382491",
"author": "PavelS",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T10:11:43",
"content": "Using small ... | 1,760,372,944.771449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/tracking-maximum-power-point-for-solar-efficiency/ | Tracking Maximum Power Point For Solar Efficiency | Bryan Cockfield | [
"News"
] | [
"charge controller",
"controller",
"Maximum power point",
"MPP",
"mppt",
"open source",
"panel",
"solar",
"tracker"
] | In days of yore when solar panels weren’t dirt cheap, many people (and even large energy companies) used solar trackers to ensure their panels were always physically pointed at the sun to make sure they harvested every watt of energy possible. Since the price of panels has plummeted, though, it’s not economical to install complex machines to track the sun anymore. But all solar farms still track something else, called the Maximum Power Point (MPP), which ensures that even stationary panels are optimized for power production.
While small MPP trackers (MPPT) are available in solar charge controllers in the $200 range that are quite capable for small off-grid setups,
[ASCAS] aka [TechBuilder] decided to roll out an open source version with a much lower price tag
since most of the costs of these units are in R&D rather than in the actual components themselves. To that end, the methods that he uses for his MPPT are essentially the same as any commercial unit, known as synchronous buck conversion. This uses a specially configured switch-mode power supply (SMPS) in order to match the power output of the panels to the best power point for any given set of conditions extremely rapidly. It even works on many different battery configurations and chemistries, all configurable in software.
This build is incredibly extensive and goes deep into electrical theory and design choices. One design choice of note is the use of an ESP32 over an Arduino due to the higher resolution available when doing analog to digital conversion. There’s even a lengthy lecture on inductor core designs, and of course everything on this project is open source. We have also
seen the ESP32 put to work with MPPT before
, although in a slightly less refined but still intriguing way.
Thanks to [Sofia] for the tip! | 45 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382433",
"author": "ian 42",
"timestamp": "2021-09-20T03:05:09",
"content": "great write up for this project, well worth the read..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382453",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,372,945.50079 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/hackaday-links-september-19-2021/ | Hackaday Links: September 19, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"casting",
"Cipher",
"crypto",
"enigma",
"espionage",
"hackaday links",
"helicopter",
"Ingenuity",
"mars",
"metalwork",
"remote control",
"ride sharing",
"teledriving"
] | Things might be getting a bit dicey out in Jezero crater for Ingenuity. The little helicopter that could is
starting to have trouble dealing with the thinning Martian atmosphere
, and may start pressing against its margin of safety for continued operation. Ingenuity was designed for five flights that would all take place around the time its mothership Perseverance touched down on Mars back in February, at which time the mean atmospheric pressure was at a seasonal high. Over the last few months, the density of the Martian atmosphere has decreased a wee bit, but when you’re starting with a plan for a pressure that’s only 1.4% of Earth’s soupy atmosphere, every little bit counts. The solution to keeping Ingenuity flying is simple: run the rotors faster. NASA has run a test on that, spinning the rotors up to 2,800 RPM, and Ingenuity handled the extra stresses and power draw well. A 14th flight is planned to see how well the rotors bite into the rarefied air, but Ingenuity’s days as a scout for Perseverance could be numbered.
If you thought privacy concerns and government backdoors into encryption technology were 21st-century problems, think again. IEEE Spectrum has a story about
“The Scandalous History of the Last Rotor Cipher Machine,”
and it’s a great read — almost like a Tom Clancy novel. The story will appeal to crypto — not cryptocurrency — fans, especially those fascinated by Enigma machines, because it revolves around a Swiss rotor cipher machine called the HX-63, which was essentially a refinement of the original Enigma technology. With the equivalent of 2,000-bit encryption, it was considered unbreakable, and it was offered for sale to any and all — at least until the US National Security Agency sprung into action to persuade the inventor, Boris Hagelin, to shelve the HX-63 project in favor of electronic encryption. The NSA naturally helped Hagelin design this next generation of crypto machines, which of course all had backdoors built into them. While the cloak and dagger aspects of the story — including a possible assassination of Boris Hagelin’s son in 1970, when it became clear he wouldn’t “play ball” as his father had — are intriguing, the peek inside the HX-63, with its Swiss engineering, is the real treat.
One of the great things about the internet is how easy it is to quickly answer completely meaningless questions. For me, that usually involves looking up the lyrics of a song I just heard and finding out that, no,
Robert Plant didn’t sing “Whoopie Cat” during Misty Mountain Hop
. But it also let me answer a simple question the other day: what’s the largest single-piece metal object ever created? I figured it would have to be a casting of some sort, and likely something from the middle of the previous century. But as it turns out,
the largest casting ever appears to have been manufactured in Sheffield, England in 2015
. The company, Sheffield Forgemaster International, produced eleven castings for the offshore oil industry, each weighing in at over 320 tonnes. The scale of each piece is mind-boggling, and the technology that went into making them would be really interesting to learn about. And it goes without saying that my search was far from exhaustive; if you know of a single-piece metal part larger than 320 tonnes, I’ll be glad to stand corrected.
Have you heard about
“teledriving”
yet? On the face of it, a remote-controlled car where a qualified driver sits in an office somewhere watching video feeds from the car makes little sense. But as you dig into the details, the idea of remotely piloted cars starts to look like one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. The company behind this is called Vay, and the idea is to remotely drive a ride-share vehicle to its next customer. Basically, when you hail a ride, a remote driver connects to an available car and drives it to your location. You get in and take over the controls to drive to your destination. When you arrive, another remote drive pilots the car to its next pickup. There are obvious problems to work out, but the idea is really the tacit admission that all things considered, humans are way better at driving than machines are, at least right now. | 12 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382412",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T23:42:09",
"content": "Sounds like an early Johnny Cab.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382413",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T23:... | 1,760,372,945.556595 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/pcb-metro-maps-are-a-gorgeous-labor-of-love/ | PCB Metro Maps Are A Gorgeous Labor Of Love | Tom Nardi | [
"Art",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"map",
"mass transit",
"pcb art",
"public transit"
] | Is your love of public transportation matched only by your passion for designing custom PCBs? If so, then you’re going to love these phenomenal transit maps created by [Chai Jia Xun]. Using the painstakingly refined principles
outlined in his detailed write-up
, he’s created versions for Tokyo, Singapore, and the comparatively spartan San Francisco Bay Area. All you need to make one up for your home town is an incredible amount of patience and dedication. No problem, right?
As [Xun] explains, the first part of creating one of these maps isn’t unlike generating a normal PCB. Just make a footprint for the stations, consult with Google Maps as to where they should be placed on the board, and then connect them all up with traces to stand in for the rail lines. A little silkscreen work, and you’re done.
Well…unless you want them to light up, anyway. To pull that off, [Xun] created a second PCB that places an LED behind each station hole drilled in the previous board. With a microcontroller and shift register, he’s able to selectively illuminate individual lines and run through different patterns. To combat light bleeding through the PCB, a CNC-cut piece of 3 mm MDF sits between the two boards to make sure each LED is only visible through the respective hole in the top surface.
You could call the map finished here as well, assuming you don’t mind all the stations lighting up white. If you want them to be different colors, you’ll need to insert some colored diffusers. [Xun] went through several different approaches here, but in the end, the idea that seemed to work best was to simply print out all the colored dots on a piece of transparency paper and use a second sheet of tracing paper to soften the light. Alignment here is critical, but once everything is dialed in, the results are quite impressive.
It’s quite a bit of work, and we haven’t even mentioned the fact that [Xun] had to modify the circuit when it came time to do the Tokyo map, as some MOSFETs had to be added into the mix for the microcontroller to reliably control 350+ LEDs. So there’s certainly no shame in
simply buying one of them when they go on sale
instead of trying to recreate it from scratch. Assuming you live in one of the cities he’s offering, anyway. Otherwise, you might want to
take a look at our HackadayU class on KiCad
and get yourself a comfortable chair. | 21 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382343",
"author": "davidchatting",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T20:17:06",
"content": "Also check out Yuri Suzuki’s Tube Map Radio (2012) >https://yurisuzuki.com/archive/works/tube-map-radio/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382... | 1,760,372,946.223739 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/recharged-dehumidifier-put-back-into-service/ | Recharged Dehumidifier Put Back Into Service | Tom Nardi | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"dehumidifier",
"recharge",
"refrigerant",
"repair"
] | For the average consumer, repairing relatively low-cost home devices such as microwaves and TVs just isn’t economically viable. You can hardly blame them when the repair bill could easily be higher than the cost of just buying a new model. Luckily for folks like us, that means you can often find cheap or even free appliances on the second hand market that can be brought back online with a bit of troubleshooting and some spare parts.
Take for example the
non-functional dehumidifier [HowToLou] recently came across
. You probably couldn’t find a professional repair shop that would be willing to bother with one of these things if you tried, but as he shows in the video below, that doesn’t mean the DIY’er can’t run through some probable failure modes and get the unit back up and running. As a bonus, he also walks viewers through how your typical compressor-based dehumidifier operates.
The failed thermal switch.
Beyond the lack of water in the collection compartment, the first sign that something was wrong with this dehumidifier was that the compressor wasn’t running. Upon closer inspection, [HowToLou] determined that the thermal cut-off switch had failed and was stuck open. Luckily it had a visible part number so he could order a replacement, and in the meantime, all he had to do was cut the switch out of the circuit and wire up the compressor’s power directly.
Unfortunately, even with the compressor running, no water was being collected. Noticing that the evaporator coils weren’t getting very cold, [HowToLou] thought the unit might be low on refrigerant. Usually these systems aren’t meant to be recharged, but with a clever piercing tap valve, you can add a quick-connect port to the low pressure side. This particular dehumidifier happened to be filled with the same R134a used in automotive A/C systems, so a quick trip to the auto parts store got him a can of refrigerant complete with a handy pressure gauge.
After getting juiced up, [HowToLou] shows ice forming on the coils and plenty of water getting dumped into the tank. Automotive A/C refill cans usually include some substance to stop or reduce leaks in the system, so hopefully this will end up being a long-term fix. It might not be
the most elaborate dehumidifier repair we’ve ever seen
, but it’s certainly the most approachable. If you ever see one of these things laying on the side of the road, maybe you should pick it up and see what ails it. | 39 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382281",
"author": "CRImier",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T17:12:26",
"content": "I come from electronics world, but when I looked into doing a few plumbing repairs, I saw a lot of “do not use quick-tap valves” – I do not remember the exact problems with them, but it boiled down to “th... | 1,760,372,946.050418 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/lego-submarine-gets-balloon-ballast-system/ | Lego Submarine Gets Balloon Ballast System | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"lego",
"lego technic",
"submarine"
] | Lego is a fun building block which vast numbers of the world’s children play with every day. However, the mechanical Technic line of Lego building blocks has long offered greater options to the budding engineer. [Brick Experiment Channel] is one such soul,
working hard on their latest Lego submarine.
The sub is built inside of a glass food container, chosen for its removable plastic lid with a watertight seal. This keeps all the mechanics dry, as well as the custom electronics built to allow a 27MHz RC controller to send signals to the Lego electronics. This is key as higher frequency radios such as Bluetooth or WiFi can’t penetrate water nearly as well.
A magnetic coupling fitted to a Lego motor is used to drive the propeller in the water without the leaks common when trying to seal a rotating shaft. A second coupling on a Lego servo along with a creative steering arrangement allows the propeller to be turned to steer the craft.
The ballast system is simple. A balloon is filled by a Lego motor running an air pump, capable of 3.0 mL a second and capable of creating a maximum pressure of 2.0 bar. When the balloon is inflated, the buoyancy goes up and the sub rises. Run the motor the other way and the balloon is emptied by a clever clutch and valve arrangement, reducing buoyancy and causing the sub to sink.
The sub isn’t perfect. Maintaining a set depth underwater can be difficult with the rudimentary ballast system, perhaps as the balloon changes shape with varying water pressure. Sometimes, Lego axles slip out of their gears, too, and the radio only works for a few meters under water.
However, simply building a Lego sub of any sort is a remarkable feat. It’s interesting to see the variances in the design compared to earlier projects from [Brick Experiment Channel], too,
as we’ve featured their earlier subs before
. Video after the break. | 21 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382246",
"author": "dioxide",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T15:35:05",
"content": "Yes, hello. Welcome to my party.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6382248",
"author": "Andrew Peters",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T15:41:13",
... | 1,760,372,945.956339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/optical-theremin-makes-eerie-audio-with-few-parts/ | Optical Theremin Makes Eerie Audio With Few Parts | Donald Papp | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"blue pill",
"optical sensor",
"optical theremin",
"stm32",
"theremin"
] | [Fearless Night]’s
optical theremin project
takes advantage of the kind of highly-integrated parts that are available to the modern hacker and hobbyist in all the right ways. The result is a compact instrument with software that can be modified using the Arduino IDE to take it places the original
Theremin
design could never go.
The design is based on a ‘
Blue Pill
’ STM32 MCU development board and two Avago APDS-9960 gesture sensor breakout boards, along with a few other supporting components. Where the original Theremin sensed hand proximity using two antenna-like capacitive sensors to control note frequency and volume, this design relies on two optical sensors to do the same job.
[Fearless Night] provides downloads for the schematic, code, parts list, and even 3D models for the enclosure. PCB files are also included for a convenient assembly, but since the component count is fairly low, a patient hacker should be able to get away with soldering it up by hand without much trouble.
This project creates the audio using the STM32’s Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS) capability and a simple low-pass filter, and has several ways to fine-tune the output. What’s DDS?
Our own Elliot Williams explains it in terms of audio output for microcontrollers
, and if you’d like a more comprehensive overview,
Bil Herd will happily tell you all about it
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382231",
"author": "jameswilddev",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T11:48:44",
"content": "I like the design where they’ve mounted a PCB as the top face of a 3D printed enclosure; allows for some really neat front silk screening and options for graphics. I wonder if mounting components on... | 1,760,372,946.77083 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/19/electric-radial-rc-aircraft-motor/ | Electric “Radial” RC Aircraft Motor | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks",
"Engine Hacks"
] | [
"dc motor",
"radial engine",
"RC airplane"
] | For a long time radial aircraft engines, with their distinctive cylinder housings arranged in a circle, were a common sight on aircraft. As an experiment, [KendinYap], wanted to see if he could combine 3 small DC motors into a usable RC aircraft motor, effectively creating an
electric radial engine
.
The assembly consists of three “180” type brushed DC motors, mounted radially in a 3D printed casing. A 3D printed conical gear is attached to each motor shaft, which drives a single output gear and shaft mounted in the center with two bearings. The gear ratio is 3:1. A variety of propellers can be mounted using 3D printed adaptors. As a baseline, [KendinYap] tested a single motor on a scale with a 4.25-inch propeller on a scale, which produced 170 g of thrust at 21500 RPM. Once integrated into the engine housing, the three motors produced 490 g of thrust at 5700 RPM, with a larger propeller. Three independent motors and propellers should theoretically provide 510 g of thrust, so there are some mechanical losses when combining 3 of them in a single assembly. However, it should still be capable of powering a small RC plane. It’s also not impossible that a different propeller could yield better results.
While there is no doubt that it’s no match for a brushless RC motor, testing random ideas just to see if it’s possible is usually fun and an excellent learning experience. We’ve seen some crazy flyable RC power plants, including a
cordless drill
, a
squirrel-cage blower
, and a
leaf blower. | 23 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382212",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T08:24:03",
"content": "Call it triple redundant and sell it to the military. They’ll turn it into a standard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382224",
"author": "Da... | 1,760,372,946.289928 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/wed-like-totally-carry-this-retro-boombox-cyberdeck-on-our-shoulder/ | We’d Like, Totally Carry This Retro Boombox Cyberdeck On Our Shoulder | Kristina Panos | [
"Cyberdecks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"boombox",
"cyberdeck",
"PS/2 mouse",
"sanyo"
] | Cyberdeck
. For those of a certain age, the ‘deck’ part conjures visions of tape decks, be they cassette, 8-track, or quarter-inch, and we seriously have to wonder why haven’t seen this type of build before. But here we are, thanks to [bongoplayingmonkey]’s
Sanyo Cyberdeck
, a truly retro machine built into a cool old boombox.
According to [bongoplayingmonkey], this was a unicorn of a build wherein everything more or less came together, soup to nuts. Right now, [bongoplayingmonkey] is cracking the nuts of a few remaining issues, like calibrating the analog VU meter that inspired the build in the first place. The plan is to use that to indicate various analog things such as battery power and the WiFi signal.
Luckily, everything survived the teardown, parts-wise. That huge knob has a new life has a rotary encoder for scrolling and middle click. And the VU meter made it too, thank Zod. This baby has full mouse controls thanks to a PS/2 joystick and a pair of vintage momentary buttons are likely chrome and bakelite to round out the look.
So apparently [bongoplayingmonkey]’s personal jury is still out on whether this is a blasphemous build or a divine ‘deck, but we say one thing is for sure: this is definitely art.
Unfortunately, the cassette deck didn’t survive. Otherwise, we might have to question its categorization — is it still a boombox if the tape deck works?
This, however, is definitely a laptop that grew up to be a cyberdeck
.
Thanks for the tip, [Blasto]! | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382185",
"author": "Redhatter (VK4MSL)",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T05:53:08",
"content": "Makes me think of bolting some sort of “deck” to the bottom of my record player (JVC JL-A1). Something that can house my pre-amp and a small single-board computer which can sample the audio co... | 1,760,372,946.10753 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/dynamicland-makes-the-whole-building-the-computer/ | Dynamicland Makes The Whole Building The Computer | Dave Rowntree | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"Dynamicland",
"lua",
"raspberry pi",
"reactive programming",
"Realtalk"
] | Every once is a while a research project comes along that has the potential to totally shake up computing and what it even means to interact with a system. The project
Dynamicland.org
, is a result of
[Bret Victor]’s research journey
over the years, looking into various aspects of human computer interaction and what it even means to
think
like a human.
One of the overhead projectors tied to a realbox
In Realtalk, paper is your programming medium
Dynamicland is an instantiation of a
Realtalk
ecosystem, deployed into a whole building. Tables are used as computing surfaces, with physical objects such as pieces of paper, notebooks, anything which can be read by one of the overhead cameras, becoming the program listing, as well as the user interface. The camera is associated with a projector, with the actual hardware hooked into so-called ‘Realboxes’ which are Linux machines running the Realtalk software. Separate Realboxes (and other hardware such as
a Raspberry Pi, running Realtalk
) are all federated together using the Realtalk protocol, which allows communication from hardware in the ceiling, to any on the desk, and also to other desks and computing surfaces.
Realtalk itself is described as an environment for authoring and using computation media. The Realtalk system provides a language extension to
Lua.
Together these form a
domain-specific language
. Realtalk is also a kind of
reactive
database
, which means that the emphasis is on the flow of data and connections between data producing things, and data consuming things. For a bit more explanation of how reactive programming can be used with modern relational databases,
check out this article on the subject
.
For a good overview of how this works in practice, from a programming perspective, checkout [Omar Rizwan]’s article about his
‘Geokit’ project
. Another interesting read is the work by [
Andrés Cuervo
.]
Dynamicland is an active research project, that was impacted by Covid. Obviously, the whole thing is about human-to-human interfacing, learning and cooperation, using the building to implement the computing flows. Covid closed the physical building, which is why the twitter account looks a bit dead. We made contact with [Bret] regarding the project status and he replied very quickly, that the team have been active during the shutdown implementing the next revision of Dynamicland, and the newest version is now being used by the community. He pointed us at the project
501(c)(3) narrative
which describes the ethos behind the project. Finally, the project twitter is the go-to place to see what’s going on, so would be worth a check-in. We shall leave it to [Bret] to have the final word:
this is what’s impossible to convey about
@dynamicland1
— what look like “demos” or “projects” in these tweets are actually just the leftover scratch paper from conversation, discussion, exploration, playing, joking, riffing in a real place in real time with real people
dialin' & driftin'
@dynamicland
(Realtalk on Raspberry Pi by
@rsnous
)
(turn on sound)
pic.twitter.com/wbVyvakzHM
— Bret Victor (@worrydream)
June 7, 2018
Thanks [Jay] for the tip! | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382311",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-09-19T18:57:10",
"content": "Wonder if inspired by Donald A. Norman’s book The Invisible Computer: Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution. The idea of embedded co... | 1,760,372,946.156625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/line-following-robot-uses-pid-for-speed/ | Line Following Robot Uses PID For Speed | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"line follower",
"pid",
"robot"
] | While a line-following robot may not be the newest project idea in the book, this one from [Edison Science] is a
clean build using modern components
and gets a good speed thanks to PID control feedback instead of the more traditional bang-bang control you see in low-end robots.
Of course, PIDs need tuning and that seems to be the weak link — you’ll have to experiment with the settings. The sensors also require calibration, but we bet both of those issues could be fixed pretty easily.
If the idea of PID is new to you, the acronym stands for proportional, integral, and derivative. To determine the output at any given time, you look at where you are compared to where you want to be (the present value vs the set point). Then you compute a proportional error. So, for a temperature, for example, if you want to be at 30 degrees and you are at 20 degrees, that a proportional error of 10 degrees. You also want to look at how much change has been building up over time and the rate of change of the error.
We’ve had some excellent
PID tutorials
in the past if you want to read some math. Thie simplest line followers
don’t need PIDs
or even CPUs. | 19 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382090",
"author": "cliff claven",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T23:35:43",
"content": "‘Thie simplest line followers don’t need PIDs or even CPUs.’The simplest PID doesn’t need a CPU, either. A couple caps, a couple resistors, and a one or two transistors is it. Or tubes. I have a 1960... | 1,760,372,946.405519 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/cast-in-concrete-clock-upgraded-after-thirteen-years/ | Cast-in-Concrete Clock Upgraded After Thirteen Years | Chris Lott | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"acrylic",
"concrete casting",
"electronics kit",
"nixie tube clock"
] | Proving that an old design cast in concrete can indeed be changed, [Hans Jørgen Grimstad] has revisited his Nixie clock from 2008, cleaned up the electronics and packaging, and turned it into a kit. Not that he has plans to enter the kit-making business, but he just thought it would be fun to learn how to make kits.
In the video below the break
, he’s a bit embarrassed to reveal the inside of his first Nixie clock design, housed in a cast-concrete electronics enclosure. Although it still works, the internal wiring is a flaky, untidy, and perhaps a bit dangerous.
But [Hans] has improved his game over the years, making a number of different clock designs. The latest incarnation is pleasant to look at, built on a PCB which is visible inside a custom acrylic case. Three versions are available to support different types of tubes. The documentation he prepared for the project and the kit is very thorough. He walks you through the unboxing and assembly process in the videos below. Firmware is in C, and runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. If you are interesting in making electronics kits, [Hans]’s project would be a good example to follow.
All the necessary information to build the clock is published on the
project’s GitHub repository
. If you’re looking for enclosure ideas other than concrete or acrylic sheet, check out this write-up on
hand-forging artistic Nixie clock enclosures
. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382073",
"author": "vib",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T20:38:10",
"content": "The concrte looking version was great !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382083",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T21:49... | 1,760,372,946.347914 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/solar-powered-autonomous-tugboat-for-rescuing-autonomous-vessels/ | Solar Powered Autonomous Tugboat For Rescuing Autonomous Vessels | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"ardupilot",
"autonomous boat",
"drone",
"rctestflight"
] | [rctestflight] has built several autonomous boats, and with missions becoming longer and more challenging, he bought an inflatable kayak to serve as a dedicated rescue vessel. Instead of relying on outdated manual paddling, he built an
autonomous solar-powered tugboat
.
♪ “Rum, treasure, ArduRover, Pixhawk 4 and so much solar, break of dawn till the day is over, the ship will surely go…” ♪
The tugboat uses a pair of molded fiberglass hulls in a catamaran configuration. The wide platform allows a pair of 100W solar panels to be mounted on top. It was [rctestflight]’s
first time molding
anything out of fiberglass, so there was quite a bit of trial and error going on. The mold was 3D printed in sections, aligned with dowel pins, and glued together. After the epoxy had cured, the mold halves could be split apart for easier removal of the hull.
As with most of [rctestflights] autonomous vehicles, control is handled by a Pixhawk 4 running ArduPilot/ArduRover. A pair of 76 mm brass propellers powered by brushless motors provide propulsion and differential steering. The motors get power from six LiFePO4 batteries, which charge from the solar panels via MPPT charge controllers. The hulls are covered with plywood decks with removable hatches and inspection windows. After a bit of tuning, he took the boat for a few test runs, the longest being 5.1 km with himself in tow in the kayak. At less than 5 km/h (3 mph) it’s no speedboat, but certainly looks like a relaxing ride. Many of [rctestflight]’s previous vessels were
airboats
to avoid getting
underwater propellers tangled in weeds
. It was less of an issue this time since he could just haul the tugboat close to the kayak and clear the propellers.
[rctestflights] are always entertaining and educational to watch, and this one certainly sets the standard for
sea-shanty soundtracks at 13:32
in part two. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,946.448202 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/finding-the-right-hack-is-half-the-battle/ | Finding The Right Hack Is Half The Battle | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"hardware",
"Parts",
"Rants"
] | [
"adc",
"hx711",
"inspiration",
"load cell",
"parts",
"sharing",
"wheatstone bridge"
] | Sometimes you just get lucky. I had a project on my list for a long time, and it was one that I had been putting off for a few months now because I loathed one part of what it entailed — sensitive, high-accuracy analog measurement. And then, out of the blue I stumbled on exactly the right trick, and my problems vanished in thin air. Thanks, Internet of Hackers!
The project in question is a low-vacuum regulator for “bagging” fiberglass layups. What I needed was some way to read a pressure sensor and turn on and off a vacuum pump accordingly. The industry-standard vacuum gauges are neat devices, essentially a tiny little strain gauge on a membrane between the vacuum side and the atmosphere side, in a package the size of a dime. (That it’s a strain gauge is foreshadowing, but I didn’t know that at the time.) I bought one for $15 ages ago, and it sat on my desk, awaiting its analog circuitry.
See, the MPX2100 runs on 12 V and puts out a signal around 40 mV on top of a 6 V offset. That voltage level is inconvenient for modern 3.3 V microcontroller ADCs, and the resolution would get clobbered by the 6 V signal if I just put a voltage divider on it. This meant whipping together some kind of instrument amplifier circuit to null out the 6 V and amplify the 40 mV for the ADC. The circuits I found online all called for 1% resistors in values I didn’t have, and mildly special op-amps. No fun, for me at least. So there it sat.
Cut the blue wire or the red wire? HX711 module and pressure sensor on the left.
Until I ran into
this project
that machetes through the analog jungle with one part, and it happened to be one I had on hand. A vacuum pressure sensor is a strain gauge, set up like a Wheatstone bridge, just like you would use for weighing something with a load cell. The solution? A load-cell ADC chip, the HX711, found in every cheap scale or online for under a buck. The only other trick was finding a low-voltage pressure sensor to work with it, but that turns out to be
easy as well
, and I had one delivered in two days.
In all, this project took months of foot-dragging, but only a few clicks and five minutes of soldering once I got the right idea. The industrial applications and manufacturers’ app notes all make sense if you are making hundreds or millions of these devices, where the one-time cost of prototyping up the hard bits gets amortized, but the hacker solution of using a weight-scale chip was just the ticket for a one-off. That just goes to show how useful sharing our tips and tricks can be — you won’t get this from the industry. So
send us your success stories
, and your useful failures too, and Read More Hackaday!
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
! | 25 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381995",
"author": "DainBramage",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T14:39:40",
"content": "I wonder if using a zener diode to dump the 6v off the bottom of the signal from the MPX2100 would have worked, kinda like an analog power supply but the other way around.I’m guessing that you already... | 1,760,372,946.532064 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/silky-smooth-resin-printer-timelapses-thanks-to-machine-vision/ | Silky Smooth Resin Printer Timelapses Thanks To Machine Vision | Dan Maloney | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"Circle-Hough",
"Elegoo",
"intervalometer",
"machine vision",
"MSLA",
"opencv",
"RIFE",
"sla",
"time-lapse"
] | The fascination of watching a 3D printer go through its paces does tend to wear off after you spent a few hours doing it, in which case those cool time-lapse videos come in handy. Trouble is they tend to look choppy and unpleasant unless the exposures are synchronized to the motion of the gantry. That’s easy enough to do on FDM printers, but resin printers are another thing altogether.
Or are they? [Alex] found
a way to make gorgeous time-lapse videos of resin printers
that have to be seen to be believed. The advantage of his method is that it’ll work with any camera and requires no hardware other than a little LED throwie attached to the build platform of the printer. The LED acts as a fiducial that OpenCV can easily find in each frame, one that indicates the Z-axis position of the stage when the photo was taken. A Python program then sorts the frames, so it looks like the resin print is being pulled out of the vat in one smooth pull.
To smooth things out further, [Alex] also used frame interpolation to fill in the gaps where the build platform appears to jump between frames using real-time intermediate flow estimation, or RIFE. The details of that technique alone were worth the price of admission, and the results are spectacular. Alex kindly provides
his code
if you want to give this a whack; it’s almost worth buying a resin printer just to try.
Is there a resin printer in your future? If so, you might want to look over
[Donald Papp]’s guide to the pros and cons of SLA compared to FDM printers
. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381956",
"author": "Andrzej",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T13:31:55",
"content": "Nice solution, but I’m having trouble understanding why taking timelapses is difficult on resin printers.Why does the build platform have to move back and forth during printing? Is this needed to fully pe... | 1,760,372,947.088587 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/18/unique-clock-doubles-as-a-development-board/ | Unique Clock Doubles As A Development Board | Jim Heaney | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"328p Atmega",
"CH340",
"clock",
"DS3231",
"pcb",
"time",
"ws2812"
] | Most clocks these days have ditched the round face and instead prefer to tell time through the medium of 7-segment displays. [mihai.cuciuc] is bringing the round face to digital clocks with
his time-keeping piece, MakeTime
.
MakeTime serves two purposes, the first and most obvious one is as a clock. Rather than displaying the time with digits, MakeTime harkens back to round dial clocks by illuminating RGB LEDs along its perimeter to show the position of the minute and hour “hands”. By using 24 LEDs, MakeTime achieves a timing granularity of 2.5 minutes.
The second purpose is as a development platform. [mihai.cuciuc] designed the clock with hacking in mind, opting to build it with components that many are already familiar with, such as a DS3231 RTC and WS2812 LEDs. To make the entire thing Arduino compatible, the microcontroller is an AtMega 328P, that can be connected to through the micro-USB port and CH340 USB-UART IC. If MakeTime outlives its time as a clock, all of the unused GPIO of the 328P are broken out to a single pin header, allowing it to be repurposed in other projects for years to come.
It seems like everyone is making their own unique timekeeping device these days. Check out the
clock made out of ammeters we covered last week
. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6382036",
"author": "Max",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T17:01:24",
"content": "Clean, simple hack. I like it, especially leaving extra pins broken out so it can be used as a devboard. I invariably there are leftover boards whenever I order, so that seems handy.Regarding the 2.5min resol... | 1,760,372,946.843506 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/automatic-microfiche-scanner-digitizes-docs/ | Automatic Microfiche Scanner Digitizes Docs | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"digital cameras hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"digital preservation",
"digitizing",
"documentation",
"microfiche",
"microfilm",
"retrocomputing"
] | While the concept might seem quaint to us today, microfiche was once a very compelling way to store and distribute documents. By optically shrinking them down to just a few percent of their original size, hundreds of pages could be stored on a piece of high-resolution film. A box of said films could store the equivalent of several gigabytes of text and images, and reading them back only required a relatively simple projection machine.
As
[Joerg Hoppe] explains in the write-up for his automatic microfiche scanner
, companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) made extensive use of this technology to distribute manuals, schematics, and even source code to their service departments in the 70s and 80s. Luckily, that means hard copies of all this valuable information still exist in excellent condition decades after DEC published it. The downside, of course, is that microfiche viewers aren’t exactly something you can pick up at the local Big Box electronics store these days. To make this information accessible to current and future generations, it needs to be digitized.
The camera panning over a full DEC microfiche sheet.
[Joerg] notes there are commercial services that would do this for you, but the prices are just too high to be practical for the hobbyist. The same for turn-key microfiche scanners. Which is why he’s developed this hardware and software system specifically to digitize DEC documents. The user enters in the information written on the top of the microfiche into the software, and then places it onto the machine itself which is based on a cheap 3D printer.
The device moves a Canon DSLR camera and appropriate magnifying optics in two dimensions over the film, using the Z axis to fine-tune the focus, and then commands the camera to take an image of each page. These are then passed through various filters to clean up the image, and compiled into PDFs that can be easily viewed on modern hardware. The digital documents can be further run though optical character recognition (OCR) so the text can be easily searched and manipulated. In the video after the break you can see that the whole process is rather involved, but once the settled into the workflow, [Joerg] says his scanner can digitize 100 pages in around 10 minutes.
A machine like this is invaluable if you’ve got a trove of microfiche documents to get through, but if you’ve just got a sheet or two you’d like to take a peek at,
[CuriousMarc] put together a simple rig using a digital microscope and a salvaged light box
that should work in a pinch. | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381885",
"author": "Oliver",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T07:44:18",
"content": "Are the details so small you can’t just use a high red scanner?The hack value is high of course and the archiving effort is appreciated ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,372,947.028429 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/3d-printing-complex-sensors-and-controls-with-metamaterials/ | 3D-Printing Complex Sensors And Controls With Metamaterials | Dan Maloney | [
"Science"
] | [
"capacitive",
"compliant mechanism",
"composite",
"deformation",
"HMI",
"Metamaterial",
"sensor",
"shear cell"
] | If you’ve got a mechatronic project in mind, a 3D printer can be a big help. Gears, levers, adapters, enclosures — if you can dream it up, a 3D printer can probably churn out a useful part for you. But what about more complicated parts, like sensors and user-input devices? Surely you’ll always be stuck buying stuff like that from a commercial supplier. Right?
Maybe not, if
a new 3D-printed metamaterial method
out of MIT gets any traction. The project is called “MetaSense” and seeks to make 3D-printed compliant structures that have built-in elements to sense their deformation. According to [Cedric Honnet], MetaSense structures are based on a grid of shear cells, printed from flexible filament. Some of the shear cells are simply structural, but some have opposing walls printed from a conductive filament material. These form a capacitor whose value changes as the distance between the plates and their orientation to each other change when the structure is deformed.
The video below shows some simple examples of monolithic MetaSense structures, like switches, accelerometers, and even a complete joystick, all printed with a multimaterial printer. Designing these structures is made easier by software that the MetaSense team developed which models the deformation of a structure and automatically selects the best location for conductive cells to be added.
The full documentation for the project
has some interesting future directions, including monolithic printed actuators.
[via
MIT News
] | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381994",
"author": "F",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T14:37:05",
"content": "I always like compliment mechanisms, capable of so much clever stuff. Not sure this implementation really shines, but its another interesting concept to have in mind that might prove very handy.",
"parent_i... | 1,760,372,947.136266 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/banish-early-morning-zombification-with-the-zom-b-gone/ | Banish Early Morning Zombification With The Zom-b-gone! | Dave Rowntree | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"daylight simulator",
"lcd",
"upcycling",
"zombie"
] | [Applied Procrastination] aka [Simen E. Sørensen] has a simple project to help those of us that struggle with
early-morning zombification
. By leveraging the backlight optics from a broken LCD monitor, it is possible to create an excellent diffused light source to simulate daylight, before your chosen waking time. The theory is that it is less shocking to the brain to be woken more gradually than an alarm may do. The increasing light level is to prepare the brain with a slowly increasing light level, reminiscent of daybreak, before being properly awoken by an alarm, regardless of the actual light level outdoors. This particularly useful for those of us in more northern regions, such as [Simen]’s native Norway, where mornings are very dark in the winter months.
Daylight is not purely a diffuse source however, it depends on the degree of atmospheric scattering, local reflections and such, but as far as we’re concerned here, we can just aim for as diffuse a light source a possible.
Source: DOI:10.1117/12.797854
The implementation makes use of the existing LCD metal frame, the light guide panel (usually a big hunk of acrylic covered in etched markings on one side) the diffuser/brightener sheet, and the
prism sheet
. A white LED strip mounted around the frame edge directs light into the light guide, which with a combination of total internal reflection and scattering on one side only, effectively turns the light through 90 degrees, and spreads it out evenly across that surface. The result of this optical sandwich is flat, even light, exactly what you want for a display, and also for simulating daylight.
Nestled beneath the expected 3D printed frame, is a custom PCB derived by smooshing together the designs from the Adafruit DS3231 RTC module and the Arduino Nano, an additional push button and rotary encoder complete the minimalistic UI, and allow the device to double up as general purpose lamp during the day. Despite a few wobbles with assembling the frame, and some incorrect PCB footprinting, the whole thing came together pretty nicely. This is a perfect thing to do with broken LCD monitors, eeking out a new life and keeping the amount of landfill to a minimum.
For further details of the hardware and codes, see the
Zom-b-Gone Github
. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381928",
"author": "defdefred",
"timestamp": "2021-09-18T11:36:08",
"content": "Disturbing the natural winter summer cycle isn’t armfull?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6382147",
"author": "Erik T",
"timestam... | 1,760,372,946.887628 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/putting-an-afterburner-on-an-electric-ducted-fan/ | Putting An Afterburner On An Electric Ducted Fan | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"afterburner",
"EDF",
"electric ducted fan"
] | Afterburners are commonly agreed to be the coolest feature of military fighter aircraft. Injecting raw fuel into the exhaust stream of a jet engine, afterburners are responsible for that red-hot flaming exhaust and the key to many aircraft achieving supersonic flight. [Integza] wanted to see if the same concept could be applied to an electric ducted fan,
and set out to find out.
Of course, building an afterburner for an EDF does add a lot of complication. A flame tube was installed downstream of the EDF, fitted with a brass tube drilled carefully to act as a fuel injector. The flame tube was also fitted with an automotive glow plug in order to ignite the fuel, which was lighter refill gas straight from a can. The whole assembly is wrapped up inside a clear acrylic tube that allows one to easily see what’s happening inside with the combustion.
Results were mixed. While the fuel did combust, but in a rather intermittent fashion. In proper operation, an afterburner would run with smooth, continuous, roaring combustion. Additionally, no thrust measurements were taken and the assembly barely shook the desk.
Thus, if anything, the video serves more as a guide of how to burn a lot of lighter gas with the help of an electric fan. The concept does has merit,
and we’ve seen past attempts, too
, but we’d love to see a proper set up with thrust readings with and without the afterburner to see that it’s actually creating some useful thrust. Video after the break. | 30 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381802",
"author": "Eric R Mockler",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T20:20:52",
"content": "He built a Reddy Heater",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6381804",
"author": "Eric R Mockler",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T20:24:24",
... | 1,760,372,947.205039 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/a-crt-monitor-restoration/ | A CRT Monitor Restoration | Al Williams | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Retrocomputing",
"Teardown"
] | [
"acorn",
"crt",
"CRT monitor"
] | Nothing quite says vintage computer like a dedicated glass terminal. We enjoyed
[Adam]’s restoration of an Acorn CRT monitor
. The 14 inch display had a common problem: a defective power switch. Replacing a switch shouldn’t be a big deal, of course, but these old CRT monitors have exciting voltages inside and require special care.
One common issue, for example, is the fact that the old CRTs are really large capacitors and can hold a dangerous charge for some time. The easiest way to handle the potential problem is to make sure the device is unplugged, ground a screwdriver blade, and push the blade under the second anode cap. Most of the time, nothing happens. Once in a while, though, you’ll hear a loud pop and you just saved yourself a nasty shock.
Even though the actual repair was pretty mundane, the teardown was a great nostalgia trip and while we don’t want to give up our LCD, we do like the old glass. CRTs have a long history and came a long way
before their last gasps
. They even took a turn
as mass storage devices
. | 22 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381550",
"author": "BillSF9c",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T05:48:13",
"content": "It’s good to remind neophytes that a few of these have capacitors that, once discharged, can rebuild a charge. Some folks wrap a wire securely across the terminals of all big caps that have been initiall... | 1,760,372,946.965398 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/tesla-door-handle-improvements/ | Tesla Door Handle Improvements | Chris Lott | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"design improvements",
"door handle",
"SAE J2716",
"SEND",
"tesla"
] | Automotive engineer and former Tesla employee [SuperfastMatt]
takes at look at the notorious Tesla door handle design and how it’s changed over the years
(see the video below the break). The original handle design consisted of many moving parts, switches and wires which were prone to failure. Strictly speaking, the door handle is located on the outside of the car’s interior. While it’s sheltered from direct exposure to the elements, it still experiences the extremes of temperature, humidity, and condensation. The handles were so prone to failure that a cottage industry sprang up to provide improved parts and replacements.
Tesla made various improvements over the years, culminating in the latest version which [Matt] reviews in this video. Nearly all the failure points have been eliminated, and the only moving parts, other than the handle itself, is a magnetic sensor to detect handle motion (previously this was sensed by microswitches). [Matt] indelicately opens up the control module, and discovers an NXP programmable angle sensor (
KMA215
). This all-in-one sensor detects the angle of a magnetic field, and reports it over an automotive communications bus that’s become more and more common over the last ten years:
Single Edge Nibble Transmission
(SENT) aka SAE J2716. SENT is a low-cost, transmit-only protocol designed for sensors to send data to the ECU. Check out [Matt] decoding it on the oscilloscope and Raspberry Pi in the video — it looks pretty simple at first glance.
We agree with [Matt]’s conclusion that the door handle design has been significantly improved with this latest iteration, questions of whether one needs a retracting door handle aside. If you’d like to learn more about SENT, here is a
tutorial written by IDT (now Renasas) applications engineer Tim White
. This isn’t [Matt]’s first encounter with a Tesla door handle —
back in 2012 we covered his project
which used one to dispense beer. Thanks to [JohnU] for sending in this tip. | 32 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381540",
"author": "Fyllyx",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T03:37:43",
"content": "Liked the article & video, but kept replaying the transformer near the end as my inner boy wants one…NOW",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6381556",
... | 1,760,372,947.273118 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/taking-a-deep-dive-into-spi/ | Taking A Deep Dive Into SPI | Jim Heaney | [
"hardware",
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"Ben Eater",
"bme280",
"protocol",
"spi"
] | With the prevalence of libraries, it has never been easier to communicate with hundreds of different sensors, displays, and submodules. But what is really happening when you type SPI.begin() into the Arduino IDE?
In his most recent video
, [Ben Eater] explores the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and how it really works.
Most Hackaday readers probably know [Ben] from his breadboard-based computers,
such as the 6502 build we featured in 2019
. Since then he has been hard at work, adding new and interesting additions to his breadboard computer, as well as diving into different communication protocols to better understand and implement them. For this video, [Ben] set the goal of connecting the BME280, a common pressure, temperature, and humidity sensor with an SPI interface, to his breadboard 6502 computer. Along the way, [Ben] discusses how exactly SPI works, and why there is so much conflicting nomenclature and operations when looking at different SPI devices.
If breadboard computers aren’t your thing, there are tons of other uses for the BME280, such as
helping to modernize a Casio F-91W
. | 9 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381536",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T03:01:14",
"content": "SPI rules. i2c drools.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6381543",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T04:39:42",
"conten... | 1,760,372,947.316509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/farewell-sir-clive-sinclair-inspired-a-generation-of-engineers/ | Farewell Sir Clive Sinclair; Inspired A Generation Of Engineers | Jenny List | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"News",
"Retrocomputing",
"Slider"
] | [
"Clive Sinclair",
"obituary",
"sinclair",
"ZX Spectrum",
"zx80",
"zx81"
] | It is with sadness that we note the passing of the British writer, engineer, home computer pioneer, and entrepreneur, Sir Clive Sinclair,
who died this morning at the age of 81
after a long illness. He is perhaps best known among Hackaday readers for his ZX series of home computers from the 1980s, but over a lifetime in the technology industry there are few corners of consumer electronics that he did not touch in some way.
Sinclair’s first career in the 1950s was as a technical journalist
and writer
, before founding the electronics company Sinclair Radionics in the 1960s. His output in those early years was a mixture of miniature transistor radios and Hi-Fi components, setting the tone for decades of further tiny devices including an early LED digital watch at the beginning of the 1970s, miniature CRT TVs in the ’70s and ’80s, and another tiny in-ear FM radio which went on sale in the ’90s.
The Sinclair Cambridge Scientific calculator.
At the start of the ’70s he took on the emerging mass-market calculator world with yet more miniaturisation by the use of button cells rather than bulky dry cells, and then with
scientific calculators
at a low price thanks to extremely clever reprogramming of a more mundane calculator chip. As calculators became commoditised his inevitable next step was into the world of computing which from modest beginnings led to the hugely successful ZX series of machines with 1982’s ZX Spectrum as one of the most popular British computers of all time. These machines made clever use of an Uncommitted Logic Array chip to reduce their device count, and though they lacked the advanced features of their more expensive competitors their sub-£100 price made them an easy choice for cash-conscious parents. There was an array of Sinclair peripherals including
a miniaturised tape storage device
, as well as a huge ecosystem of third-party hardware and software.
Through the 1980s the computer business foundered and was sold to rival Alan Sugar’s Amstrad, though the Sinclair inventing streak remained undimmed. His
C5 electric vehicle
was a commercial failure, but it led to his producing a range of electric bicycle add-on products into the ’90s that foreshadowed today’s electric bike boom by several decades. He wasn’t quite finished with computers though, as his
Cambridge Z88
of 1987 was an LCD portable that ran from AA batteries and provided useful on-the-road office facilities.
Aside from an array of always interesting but sometimes under-engineered technology products, Sir Clive’s true legacy lies in the generations who benefited from his work. Whether he introduced them to electronics in the 1960s through his writing, or introduced them to computing in the 1980s though the magic of Sinclair Basic, he delivered the impossible straight from science fiction to an affordable Christmas present. There is a whole cohort of engineers and software developers in the UK and other countries whose first experience of a computer had a Sinclair logo and who learned about memory mapping the ZX way. For us Sir Clive’s companies and products provided a career and a lifelong interest, and there will be few other individuals with such a lasting effect on us. Clive Sinclair, thank you!
Header: Mark Sanders,
CC BY-SA 4.0
. | 74 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381432",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T19:40:10",
"content": "Even in North America he was known, thiugh maybe I read Wireless World too much.Not just the Black Watch, but an early class D audio amplifier.So it seems d more pike a progression than that he sudd... | 1,760,372,947.551004 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/hacking-a-robot-vacuum-to-write-a-replacement-app/ | Hacking A Robot Vacuum To Write A Replacement App | Robin Kearey | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"app development",
"Cecotec Conga",
"privacy",
"robot vacuum"
] | While internet-connected devices can be very useful around the house, and it is pretty cool to be able to monitor your dishwasher from half a world away, it’s important to be mindful of privacy and security issues. For instance, the Cecotec Conga 1490 robot vacuum [Rastersoft] bought came with an Android app, which upon installation asked for near-total access to the user’s phone. Not content with such an invasion of privacy, let alone the potential security implications, [Rastersoft] set to work trying to
reverse engineer the robot’s communications
(
translated
) to find out what exactly it was doing when online. He did this by configuring a Raspberry Pi as an access point, letting the vacuum connect to it, and logging all the data flowing through.
As it turned out, the robot phoned home to its manufacturer, reporting its serial number and some configuration settings. The server then passed control to the mobile app, but not without routing all subsequent commands through the remote server. Not only is this creepy, it also means that if the manufacturer were to shut down the server, the app would stop working entirely. [Rastersoft] therefore got the idea to write custom software to control the robot. He began by reconfiguring the Pi’s network setup to fool the vacuum into thinking it was connecting to its manufacturer’s server, and then wrote some Python code to emulate the server’s response. He was now in control of all data flowing back and forth.
After a lot of experimentation and data analysis, [Rastersoft] managed to decipher the commands sent by the app, enabling him to write a complete replacement app seen in the video after the break that includes control of all the vacuum’s standard actions, but also a new feature to manually control the vacuum’s movement. All code is
available on GitHub
for those who would like to hack their Congas too.
We think this is a great example of software hacking to future-proof devices that you own, while also mitigating many of the dangers to your security and privacy posed by the default software. The fact that the commands you send from your phone to your vacuum go all the way around the world, potentially being stored and read by others, is rather ridiculous in the first place. After all, we’ve already seen how robot vacuums could
spy on you
. | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381410",
"author": "Nitpicker Smartyass",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T19:00:59",
"content": "Highly welcome and mucccchhhh needed – all in for open vacuum!We bought such a nonsense device (“iRobot”). Unbelievable, how insanely bad the path finding and “route planning” is. I assume the... | 1,760,372,947.428945 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/powering-up-with-usb-untangling-the-usb-power-delivery-standards/ | Powering Up With USB: Untangling The USB Power Delivery Standards | Maya Posch | [
"Engineering",
"Hackaday Columns",
"hardware",
"Original Art"
] | [
"USB C",
"USB-PD"
] | Powering external devices directly from a PC’s I/O ports has been a thing long before USB was even a twinkle in an engineer’s eye. Some of us may remember the all too common
PS/2
pass-through leads that’d tap into the 275 mA that is available via these ports. When USB was first released, it initially provided a maximum of 500 mA which USB 3.0 increased to 900 mA.
For the longest time, this provided power was meant only to provide a way for peripherals like keyboards, mice and similar trivial devices to be powered rather than require each of these to come with its own power adapter. As the number of computer-connected gadgets increased USB would become the primary way to not only power small devices directly, but to also charge battery-powered devices and ultimately deliver power more generally.
Which brings us to the USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) protocol. Confusingly, USB-PD encompasses a number of different standards, ranging from fixed voltage charging to Programmable Power Supply and Adjustable Voltage Supply. What are the exact differences between these modes, and how does one go about using them?
Bootstrapping communications
To get an idea of how getting power from a USB port works on a hardware level, we will take a look at a chip which implements USB-PD revision 3.0 (R3.0) in the form of the
Microchip UPD350
. The 3.0 revision of the USB-PD specification supports fixed voltage charging up to 100 W — Standard Power Range (SPR) — with the
current R3.1 standard
adding Extended Power Range (EPR) which supports up to 240 W. This increase in additional power is accomplished primarily through the use of higher voltages: 48 VDC with R3.1, versus 20 VDC with R3.0.
Despite the prominence of USB-PD, it is possible to draw up to 3.0 A at 5 V without bothering with USB-PD at all, which is a mode that the UPD350 supports as well. This is detailed in Microchip Application Note 1953 (
AN1953
) as well:
Valid DFP Rp pull-up resistor values (AN1953, section 3.1, table 6)
These values pertain to the Rp resistor on the side of the downstream facing port (DFP), also known as the source. By setting this resistor value, the sink (upstream facing port, UFP) can tell the maximum current which the source can provide.
Schematic overview of source-to-sink connections with USB-C, including the various resistors on the CCx lines.
In the UPD350, the resistor values are set via the I
2
C or SPI interface when the device is operating in DFP mode. When in UFP mode, the internal CC comparator can detect up to eight different thresholds as set by the Rp resistor on the DFP side. One of these is a proprietary option:
• 0.20 V
• 0.40 V
• 0.66 V
• 0.80 V
• 1.23 V
• 1.60 V
• 2.60 V
• 3.0 V Proprietary Mode
Vice-versa on the DFP side, the sink’s resistor on the CC line allows it to know whether it is connected to a UFP. This allows for an easy way to transfer up to 15 Watt between a source and sink. In order to get more power, simply increasing the current cannot be easily done, which is when USB-PD’s fixed voltage modes come into play.
Universal Ethernet Bus
One might be forgiven for making the comparison between USB-PD and Ethernet. Both use a similar MAC & physical interface configuration, in addition to packet-based communication. When it comes to understanding USB-PD this is in fact not a terrible model to use, just with USB-PD being a half-duplex protocol at its core since it can only use a single CC wire to communicate.
Let’s take a look at the UPD350 internal block diagram to get an idea of its general layout:
Internal block diagram of the Microchip UPD350 USB-PD controller. (credit Microchip)
Clearly visible in this diagram is the Power Delivery 3.0 MAC which implements the actual USB-PD protocol while also providing an interface to the I
2
C or SPI controller. This can be thought of as equivalent to the
MAC
(medium access control) with Ethernet, or the USB (non-PD) MAC. The Baseband CC Interface is then the physical layer (
PHY
) that translates between the MAC and the analog front end that is connected to the CC line.
During all communication of USB-PD, the DFP is the bus master and thus initiates all communication. As mentioned, USB-PD is half-duplex, using only a single CC line for communication, which occurs at a baud rate of 300 kbps. CRC32 is used for error detection, with all messages encoded using 32-bit 4b/5b encoded biphase mark code (BMC), which is also known as differential Manchester encoding (
DM
).
The basic message format for USB-PD including a payload section is detailed in the USB-PD specification:
USB-PD payload message format. (Credit: USB-IF)
There are a number of different data object types:
BIST Data Object (BDO) – Used for physical layer compliance testing.
Power Data Object (PDO) – Exposes a source’s power capabilities or a sink’s power requirements.
Request Data Object (RDO) – Used by a sink to request certain power settings from the source.
Vendor Defined Data Object (VDO) – Convey vendor specific information.
Battery Status Data Object (BSDO) – Conveys battery status information.
Alert Data Object (ADO) – Indicate events occurring on the source or sink.
Generally, the DFP would send a list of its capabilities (source capability PDOs), which the UFP will then use to select a suitable option based upon its needs and send a request for this using an RDO data object message. This is however not the whole story, as due to the higher voltages and currents involved, some of these power levels require active “electronically marked” EMCA cables.
With great power
All USB-C cables are expected to support 20 V at 3 A for a total of 60 W. In order to be detected as capable of higher voltages and currents by the USB-PD controller, USB-C cables are required to contain a so-called e-marker chip which contains a vendor defined message (VDM) containing details on the cable and its capabilities.
This results in a slightly more involved wiring scheme than with a non-marked cable:
USB-C wiring with an electronically marked (e-marked) cable.
In this case the same CC signal line is used to query the chip embedded in the attached cable. If the USB-PD controller is satisfied that the cable satisfies the requirements for the required voltage and current settings, it will proceed with power levels beyond those for non-marked cables.
This becomes especially important with the R3.1 USB-PD standard, which increases voltages to a maximum of 48 V as part of fixed voltage EPR mode, while keeping the same maximum current of 5 A. As current is the defining factor in whether cables melt or not when drawing high power levels, this makes a lot of sense, but the increased voltage levels come with the risk of arcing, especially when plugging in or unplugging a USB-C cable.
In theory, with the higher voltages being firmly locked behind EMCA cables with newly designed USB-C connectors that have lengthened CC and Vbus pins, a disconnect event with active EPR voltages should be detectable in time to rapidly reduce the current and prevent hardware damage.
Comparing the different modes
So far we have looked primarily at the fixed voltage modes of USB-PD. These support a number of fixed voltages as the name suggests. For SPR these voltages are:
5 V
9 V
15 V
20 V
All of these can be selected with 3 A or 5 A current levels.
EPR adds the following voltages, all at 5 A:
28 V
36 V
48 V
For some purposes, these voltages may not be ideal, in which case the Programmable Power Supply (PPS) or Adjustable Voltage Supply (AVS) modes may be more suitable. The PPS mode can be used with SPR, following the rough voltage levels of the latter, but allowing for the voltage to be adjusted between 3.3 V and the SPR voltage level plus 1 or 2 V, in steps of 20 mV.
AVS mode does basically the same thing as PPS, only starting from 15 V as the lowest voltage level, ranging up to any of the three EPR voltages in steps of 100 mV. Which of these voltages are available in PPS or AVS mode works the same as with regular fixed voltage usage, in that the USB-PD controller determines the limits based on the detected hardware.
Universal Power Bus
In hindsight it’s both logical and perhaps somewhat absurd how a computer’s I/O connector that was originally designed to carry data to and from USB devices ended up morphing in what we have today in the form of USB-C and the USB-PD specification. Whether the R3.1 USB-PD specification forms truly the pinnacle of USB-PD remains to be seen.
With USB-C R3.1 EPR-capable cables now able to supply up to 240 W, one might think that this ought to be enough for charging any laptop today and in the future. Already at this point, EPR mode has brought new meaning to the term ‘hot-plugging’ when arcing is considered a concern by the USB-C specification. This makes it likely that perhaps the future of USB-PD may lead to new refinements that make the PPS and AVS modes easier to use, or adding new modes entirely that make setting a desired voltage and current even easier.
Now if only you could tell what a USB-C port on a device is capable of by looking at it :) | 37 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381351",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T17:12:56",
"content": "good article but i’m just here to point out that Joe Kim is the hero of hackaday!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6381373",
"author": "Just... | 1,760,372,947.656207 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/continuous-resin-printer-shows-the-speed/ | Continuous Resin Printer Shows The Speed | Dave Rowntree | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3D resin printer",
"PDMS"
] | Redditor [No-Championship-8520] aka [Eric Potempa] has come up with an
interesting DIY take
on the
Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) process
currently owned and developed by
Carbon Inc
.
The usual resin 3D printer you may be familiar with is quite a simple machine. The machine has only one axis, which is the vertically moving build platform. A light exposes a photosensitive resin that cures on and is then pulled up off of a transparent window, before the next layer is exposed.
Typical resin printer setup
CLIP is a continuous resin printing process that speeds up printing by removing this peeling process. It utilises a bottom membrane that is permeable to oxygen. This tiny amount of oxygen right at the boundary prevents the solidified resin from sticking to the bottom, allowing the Z axis to be moved up continuously, speeding up printing significantly.
The method [Eric] is using is based around a continuously rotating bath to keep the resin moving, replenishing the resin in the active polymerisation zone. The bottom of the bath is made from a rigid
PDMS
surface, which is continuously wiped with a squeegee to replenish the oxygen layer. He notes the issues Carbon are still having with getting enough oxygen into the build layer, which he reckons is why they only show prints of smaller or latticed structures. His method should fix that issue. The build platform is moved up slowly, with the part appearing in one long, continuous movement. He reports the printing speed as 280 mm/hour which is quite rapid to say the least. More details are very scarce, and the embedded video a little unclear, but as one commentator said “I think we just saw resin printing evolve!” the next snarky comment changed the “evolve” to “revolve” which made us giggle.
Now, we all know that 3D printing is not at all new, and only the expiration of patents and the timely work by [
Adrian Bowyer
] and the reprap team kickstarted the current explosion of FDM printers. Resin printers will likely be hampered by the same issues until something completely new kickstarts the next evolution. Maybe this is that evolution? We really hope that [Eric] decides to write up his project with some details, and we will be sitting tight waiting to pore over all the gory details. Fingers crossed! | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381295",
"author": "Alice Lalita Heald",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T15:33:21",
"content": "Love it! More innovation stories!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6381304",
"author": "Nicolas Raynaud",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T... | 1,760,372,947.710259 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/ask-hackaday-whats-the-best-way-to-heat-a-tent-with-a-laptop/ | Ask Hackaday: What’s The Best Way To Heat A Tent With A Laptop? | Jenny List | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"computer hacks"
] | [
"folding@home",
"hacker camp",
"heater"
] | For Europeans, August is usually a month of blistering heatwaves, day after day of cloudless skies and burning sun that ripens fruit and turns we locals a variety of shades of pink. Hacker camps during this month are lazy days of cool projects and hot nights of lasers, Club-Mate, and techno music, with tents being warm enough under the night sky to dispense with a sleeping bag altogether.
Sometimes though, the whims of the global weather patterns smile less upon us hackers, and our balmy summer break becomes a little more frigid. At BornHack 2021 for example we packed for a heatwave and were met with a Denmark under the grip of the Northern air mass. How’s a hacker to keep warm?
The Cold, Cold World Of The Globe-Trotting Hackaday Writer
Folding@home makes for a 31W heater.
Still warm enough in the low 20s Celsius during the day, but dropping down much lower at night which for someone equipped only with a thin summer sleeping bag is a bit chilly. Picking up an electric heater for a few kronor in a nearby town is a sure-fire way to become very unpopular with the power team at a small event, so what was left? The answer, and the catalyst for an entertaining discussion in our village, was to run a computationally intensive task on a laptop to generate enough heat for a comfortable night. For me that meant Folding@home
processing a few medical research work units for the Hackaday team’s points total
, but despite having a cozy night as a result had I hit upon the optimum solution for computational heating? This is where your opinions come in, so share them in the comments below.
How Can I Get More Than 31W Out Of An Old Dell?
My Hackaday articles are either cranked out on an Asus Chromebook or a 2017-vintage Dell Intel i7 laptop. The Asus isn’t up to much in the heat stakes because it’s designed as a low-power machine with a frugal battery life, but the Dell by comparison is capable of spinning up its fan at the slightest notice. Aside from its four processor cores it has a spinning-rust disk drive that can get nice and toasty, a DVD drive that must be good for a bit of heat, and a nice big LCD that sadly I wasn’t using for heat-making because I needed to sleep. So with Folding@home I was not really using the laptop’s full potential because I was only lighting up the CPU. At idle it used 10W, which Folding@home could push up to 31W. Could I find an algorithm or a piece of software that might push it closer to the limit? Perhaps I could mine a cryptocurrency, maybe farm Chia to warm up that disk drive instead of Folding@home, but it’s worth pointing out that a 2017 Dell with an Intel chipset isn’t going to make me a millionaire.
All this opens up another discussion, is what I’m doing wasting the computing power or not? Folding@home leaves me with a cosy feeling inside for supporting medical research, yet here I am
worrying about the ethical footprint of crypto mining
for heat in my tent. Given that an electric blower heater generates no benefit at all other than the heat it creates, perhaps I should concentrate on the heat.
So all this tent-heating fun provides an amusing diversion for Hackaday readers just as it did for a group of mildly chilly hackers over breakfast in a Danish field. How would
you
get the most heat from your laptop? Distributed computing, crypto, or some other specialised algorithm? Or maybe I approached the problem from entirely the wrong direction and perhaps I should have cooked up something mightily inefficient in the amateur radio department. It’s over to you! | 49 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381256",
"author": "timonsku",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T14:06:10",
"content": "Prime95 is probably a better tool to have everything at 100% all the time than folding@home",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6381262",
"aut... | 1,760,372,947.956184 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/so-why-are-hyperlinks-blue-anyway/ | So, Why Are Hyperlinks Blue, Anyway? | Kristina Panos | [
"internet hacks"
] | [
"hyperlinks",
"links",
"mosaic",
"standardization",
"web browser"
] | You’ve no doubt noticed by now that while some links are gold and/or bold, most links out there are blue, especially on web pages of yore. But why? the TL;DR answer is that the Mosaic browser, released in early 1993 used blue links, and since the browser was widely distributed, blue just became the norm. Okay, fine. But why did
they
choose blue?
That’s a question that requires a deep dive into technology through the ages as the Web and personal computing developed in tandem
.
It’s important to remember that the idea of hyperlinks predates the invention of color monitors, which thickens the plot a bit. But the pivotal point seems to be Windows 3.1, released April 6th, 1992, when hyperlink blue becomes a navigational and interactive color. A year later, the April 12, 1993 release notes for Mosaic include a bullet that becomes the point of origin for blue hyperlinks:
Changed default anchor representations: blue and single solid underline for unvisited, dark purple and single dashed underline for visited.
Mosaic release notes
Around the same time, the Cello browser was developed at Cornell Law, which also used blue hyperlinks. So the blue hyperlink concept was arguably browser-agnostic even before Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer came along.
The writer speculates that blue was chosen to stand out against black and white once color monitors took over, and that seems legit to us. Can you imagine blue hyperlinks on Hackaday, though? Ouch.
Speaking of important questions in computing history —
who invented the mouse? | 44 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381207",
"author": "Rallen",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T12:05:31",
"content": "Pre-dated color monitors? Really? I was building PCs in 1986 with 20 MB hard drives, color monitors, 640K Ram and using DOS 3.2 like a boss. Lots of the BBSs had ANSII graphics that utilized color. Even my... | 1,760,372,948.038128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/16/an-rf-remote-is-no-match-for-a-logic-analyser/ | An RF Remote Is No Match For A Logic Analyser! | Jenny List | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"NRF24",
"reverse engineering",
"stm8"
] | The Neewer NL660-2.4 Video Keylight has a handy remote control, which for [Tom Clement] has a major flaw in that it can’t restore the light to the state it had during its last power-on.
He’s thus taken the trouble to reverse engineer it and create his own remote
using a suitably-equipped Arduino clone.
The write-up is a step through primer for the would-be RF remote hacker, identifying the brains as an STM8 and the radio as an NRF24 clone before attempting to dump the firmware of the STM8. As might be expected the STM is protected, which only leaves the option of sniffing the connection between the two chips. The SPI pins are duly probed with a logic analyser, and the codes used by Neweer are extracted. As luck would have it there is a handy board called the RF Nano which is an Arduino Nano and an NRF24 in an Arduino Nano form factor, so a proof of concept remote could be written on an all-in-one module. You can find the result
as a GitHub Gist
, should you be curious.
We’ve seen Tom a few times before, particularly in his European BadgeLife work, as part of which he’s put a lot of effort into bringing
browser-based WebUSB and WebSerial
development to his work. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381175",
"author": "JanW",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T08:16:56",
"content": "I feel that! Things like this are super annoying.It’s the same with all those “EDC” flashlights. 9 modes incl. strobing, SOS, dimming, whatnot.But most of them don’t do their basic task, giving you the amoun... | 1,760,372,947.759566 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/15/ferrantis-ghost/ | Ferranti’s Ghost Tours The Chip Factory That Made The ULA | Chris Lott | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"documentary",
"Ferranti",
"Gem Mills",
"ULA"
] | Former Ferranti Electric engineer [Martin Mallinson] recently
posted a 1980s documentary on YouTube
(see the video below the break). It shows in some detail the semiconductor plant at Gem Mill outside of Manchester UK, as seen through the eyes of the ghost of founder Dr. Sebastian Ferranti. This dramatic device seems a little silly at times, but the documentary still provides a very interesting look at the industry at the time.
The Gem Mill plant was one of the first semiconductor facilities, having begun operations in the 1950s by Ferranti. In 1959 they made the first European silicon diode, and went on to commercialize Uncommitted Logic Arrays (ULA) in the early 1980s. Most famously, Ferranti ULAs were used in many home computers of the day, such as the Sinclair ZX81 and ZX Spectrum, Acorn Electron, and the BBC Micro. Much of the factory tour in this documentary is depicting the ULA process, and they hint at an even more advanced technology being developed by the (unnamed) competition — an FPGA? CPLD?
In a series of events worthy of a mystery novel, Ferranti finally closed its doors in 1993 after acquiring a company that was involved with clandestine agencies and illegal arms sales (see
Ferranti on Wikipedia
). But through a series of acquisitions over the years, many of their products outlived the company and were available under the labels of future owners Plessey, Zetex, and finally Diodes, Inc. The Gem Mill facility was decommissioned in 2004 and in 2008 it was demolished and replaced by a housing estate.
Thanks to [Cogidubnus Rex] for bringing this video to our attention. A couple of other Ferranti documentaries of the same era are also included down below the break. | 32 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381169",
"author": "Gerkin",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T07:38:45",
"content": "Collateral damage from three letter agencies meddling.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6381170",
"author": "raster",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T... | 1,760,372,948.115376 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/15/a-3-6-9-antenna-pulls-in-the-signals/ | A 3-6-9 Antenna Pulls In The Signals | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"HF",
"multiband"
] | Every time we see a dispatch from [Mr. Carlson], we imagine it is being beamed from his orbital station packed full of vintage radio gear. We are certain the reality is more terrestrial, but if we were going to build an orbiting lab, it might look like [Carlson’s] shack. In his latest communique, he shares his progress working on
a high-performance 3-6-9 receiving antenna design
and you can see it in the video below.
Although the antenna isn’t done, it is already working and looks impressive. There’s a lot of wire, so this probably isn’t a condo-friendly solution. The name of the antenna derives from the three wires, one tuned for 3 MHz, one for 6 MHz, and the other for 9 MHz.
The mechanical construction is impressive, with springs and pulleys. The wire used is actually MIG welding wire which is cheap and durable. Supposedly, the antenna has already performed well with an average receiver, but we didn’t get to hear it ourselves. Maybe in the next video.
If you are looking for more antenna theory,
we got you
. If height’s got you down, try
rising to the occasion
. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381179",
"author": "Erik Christiansen",
"timestamp": "2021-09-16T08:36:45",
"content": "With one end of each antenna common, I guess the configuration is constrained to bands which are multiples, to avoid standing wave problems.The only other multi-band antenna I’ve come across was... | 1,760,372,948.170795 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/15/laptop-gets-fixed-by-simply-removing-problem-component/ | Laptop Gets Fixed By Simply Removing Problem Component | Donald Papp | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"hot air",
"laptop",
"mosfet",
"repair",
"rework",
"Thermal"
] | We wouldn’t go so far as to say “don’t try this at home”, but
the way [Troy] brought an expensive (but out of warranty) laptop back to life
is interesting, even if it shouldn’t be anyone’s Plan A for repair work.
It started with a friend’s Alienware laptop that would only boot to a black screen and get
very
hot in the process. With the help of a thermal imaging camera and some schematics, [Troy] was able to see that one of the closely-spaced MOSFETs in the power supply appeared to be the culprit. Swapping the power MOSFETs out with replacements seemed a reasonable approach, so armed with a hot air rework station he got to work. But that’s where problems began.
The desoldering process was far from clean, in part because the laptop’s multi-layer PCB had excellent thermal management, sucking away heat nearly as fast as [Troy]’s hot air gun could lay it down. It ended up being a messy slog of a job that damaged some of the pads. As a result, the prospects of soldering on a replacement was not looking good. But reviewing the schematic and pondering the situation gave [Troy] an idea.
One expensive laptop, brought back to service.
According to the schematic, the two MOSFETs (at least one of which was faulty) had parallel counterparts on the other side of the board. This is typically done to increase capacity and spread the thermal load somewhat. However, according to the current calculations on the schematic, these parts are expected to handle about 20 A in total, but the datasheets show that
each
of the MOSFETs could handle that kind of current easily (as long as heat sinking could keep up.) In theory, the laptop didn’t need the extra capacity.
Could the laptop “just work” now that the faulty part had simply been removed? [Troy] and his friend [Mike] were willing to give it a shot, so after cleaning up the mess as best they could, they powered the laptop on, and to their mild surprise, everything worked! Some stress testing with intensive gaming showed that the thermal problems were a thing of the past.
Simply removing a part may not be the best overall repair strategy, but much like
shrinking a hot air rework station by simply cutting it in half
, it’s hard to argue with results. | 30 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381115",
"author": "Glen Kleinschmidt",
"timestamp": "2021-09-15T23:08:02",
"content": "I still haven’t replaced the mains-input RIFA cap in the PSU of my BBC model B, which smoked bombed upon switch-on several years ago now (as they invariably and notoriously do). It was only ther... | 1,760,372,948.248097 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/15/take-a-look-at-this-optical-keyboard/ | Take A Look At This Optical Keyboard | Kristina Panos | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"EXTREME",
"ir led",
"keyboard",
"optical keyboard",
"phototransistor"
] | Making keyboards is easy, right? Just wire up a bunch of switches matrix-style to a microcontroller, slap some QMK and a set of keycaps on there and you’re good to go. Well, yeah, that might work for cushier environments like home offices and Hackaday dungeons, but what if you need to give input under water, in a volatile area, or anywhere else you’d have to forego the clacking for something hermetically sealed? Mechanical switches can only take you so far — at some point,
you have to go optical
.
This gorgeous keyboard works with reflected IR beams to determine when a finger is occupying a given key site (because what else are you going to call them?). Each key site has an IR LED and a phototransistor and it works via break-beam.
[BenKoning] wanted a solution that would be easy for others to build, with a low-cost BOM and minimal software processing cost. It just so happens to be extremely good-looking, as well.
The reason you can’t see the guts is that black layer — it passes infrared light, but is black to the eye. The frosted layer diffuses the beams until a finger is close enough to register. Check it out in action after the break, and then feed your optical key switch cravings with our own [Bob Baddeley]’s
in-depth exploration of them
. | 24 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381073",
"author": "Vincentdike",
"timestamp": "2021-09-15T21:12:48",
"content": "Very nice",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6381081",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2021-09-15T21:28:01",
"content": "Cool. I still... | 1,760,372,948.329943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/diy-laser-speckle-imaging-uncovers-hidden-details/ | DIY Laser Speckle Imaging Uncovers Hidden Details | Tom Nardi | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"interference patterns",
"laser",
"laser speckle",
"opencv"
] | It sure sounds like “laser speckle imaging” is the sort of thing you’d need grant money to experiment with,
but as [anfractuosity] recently demonstrated
, you can get some very impressive results with a relatively simple hardware setup and some common open source software packages. In fact, you might already have all the components required to pull this off in your own workshop right now and just not know it.
Anyone who’s ever played with a laser pointer is familiar with the sparkle effect observed when the beam shines on certain objects. That’s laser speckle, and it’s created by the beam reflecting off of microscopic variations in the surface texture and producing optical interference. While this phenomenon largely prevents laser beams from being effective direct lighting sources, it can be used as a way to measure extremely minute perturbations in what would appear to be an otherwise flat surface.
In this demonstration, [anfractuosity] has combined a simple red laser pointer with a microscope’s 25X objective lens to produce a wider and less intense beam. When this diffused beam is cast onto a wall, the speckle pattern generated by the surface texture can plainly be seen. What’s
not
obvious to the naked eye is that touching the wall with your hand actually produces a change in the speckle pattern. But if you take high-resolution before and after shots, the images can be run through OpenCV to highlight the differences and reveal a ghostly hand-print.
[anfractuosity] then uses the same technique on a calculator before and after some buttons have been pressed on it. Not only does the final cleaned up image clearly show the numbers on the display, but it highlights the individual buttons which were touched. Seeing this example, it’s not much of a stretch to think there could be some nefarious application for this technique. Could an attacker use laser speckle imaging to determine which buttons have been pressed on a lock keypad or alarm panel?
Luckily, it sounds like putting an attack like that into practice would be quite difficult. For one thing, the camera and laser need to be in
exactly
the same position when the before and after shots are taken, which would be all but impossible for a clandestine operation. Secondly, as evidenced in the video below, the imprints tend to decay fairly rapidly. The after shot has to be taken within a few minutes of the keypad being touched, making it even more difficult to pull off in the wild.
It’s not immediately obvious what practical applications this technique may have among the hacker and maker crowd,
so we’d love to hear about any you might come up with
. In any event, it’s an impressive accomplishment and an excellent example of what’s possible for the modern hobbyist. | 31 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381781",
"author": "Xasin",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T18:43:19",
"content": "This makes me wonder how sensitive this is to temperatures and similar, since thermal expansion and other effects might also create changes in the specles.So… What about using this to detect temperature cha... | 1,760,372,948.410297 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/retrotechtacular-the-dangers-of-confined-spaces/ | Retrotechtacular: The Dangers Of Confined Spaces | Lewin Day | [
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"confined space",
"confined spaces",
"retrotechtacular"
] | Many people find themselves working in confined spaces every day, whether it be in sewer systems, drains, or other tight spots. These areas come with their own unique risks to life and limb that must be carefully considered in order to avoid disaster.
To this end, the Worker’s Compensation Board of British Columbia, known as WorkSafe BC, produced a video on the dangers of working in these areas.
Confined Spaces, Deadly Spaces
highlights how these areas can kill, and the right way to work around these hazards.
Things Can Change In Seconds
Warning: The last 90 seconds of this video features flashing graphics that may cause photosensitive seizures.
Serious business.
The video starts as so many safety videos do, by showing a variety of workers blithely ignoring the risks of their occupation. They snidely brag about their ability to respond to danger, and claim that taking precautions is too time consuming to bother with. It’s setting us up to realise that these people are
dead wrong
, and does so by highlighting several cases that illustrate precisely why.
Actual studies of incidents that lead to loss of life in confined spaces are quoted to indicate the very real dangers at play. There are also simulated scenes of confined space accidents, including a fabricated news report with a mustachioed firefighter lamenting that workers didn’t follow proper procedures. It’s all typical safety video fare, well executed and cleanly produced.
As the video shows, the issues around confined space work are manifold. With poor ventilation, and often underground, they can easily become filled with toxic gases. Two of the most common are hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide.
Common Dangers for Utility Workers
Limited access can make rescues in confined spaces extremely difficult.
Hydrogen sulfide may fill a space due to decomposing biological matter, or leech in from chemical spills or other sources like sewers. It’s highly dangerous, and damages the nervous system most prominently. At low levels, hydrogen sulfide has a strong rotten egg smell, and can cause eye damage and fatigue among other symptoms. At higher levels, it can knock out the olfactory nerve, cutting off the sense of smell. At these elevated concentrations, it can cause collapse and death within seconds.
Carbon monoxide acts as an asphyxiant, bonding more readily with haemoglobin in the blood than oxygen. It can lead to death in even low concentrations, and is a colorless, odorless gas. It’s typically found in confined spaces as the result of incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels, or as a byproduct of operations like welding.
If dangerous gases were visible as floating bubbles with clearly marked percentages, we suspect there’d be far less accidents.
The video also notes that there are a broad spectrum of risks from other gases, but also from oxygen depletion. Oxygen normally makes up 21% of the air around us, but in confined spaces, this number can be much lower. It can be used up by microbial activity, rusting metals, or other chemical processes, that strip much of the oxygen from the air. As levels decrease, workers can quickly suffer the effects of hypoxia, from confusion and delirium all the way up to death.
Highlighting the range of risks to workers in these situations, the video then aims to indicate the proper procedures to mitigate these problems. Relying on rescue in the event of a problem is right out. Often, death occurs quickly, and attempting rescue often puts the rescuers themselves at risk from whatever incapacitated the first worker themselves.
The Safety Gear
Not to worry, the video does turn its focus to mitigation strategies. Portable gas monitors should be used to carefully check the confined space at multiple levels for safe oxygen concentrations and an absence of toxic gases. This is necessary as different gases may collect at different heights in a space due to their relative weight relative to air. Ventilation should also be used to pump fresh air into a space to further ensure safety. And, in the event that rescue is required, a spotter outside the confined space should call for help, and rescuers should use appropriate apparatus to avoid becoming overcome themselves.
That’s a nice amount of oxygen, right there.
It’s all presented in a very matter-of-fact style that’s clear and easy to understand. It’s also paired with what are, for 1994, innovative graphics akin to the 2D platform games popular in the era. Seeing our intrepid underground worker becoming overwhelmed with green blobs of hydrogen sulfide drives home how quickly things can get out of hand in confined spaces. It’s all wrapped up with a few main dot-points at the end of the video, delivered with flashing graphics clearly designed to wake up bored workers dozing off in a mandatory training session. However, it’s somewhat of a poor choice, as the rapid flashes could cause photosensitive seizures in some viewers.
Overall, despite its age, it’s a great primer on the basic dangers and necessary precautions around working in confined spaces. It’s no substitute for appropriate worksite-specific training, but serves as a good primer for those unfamiliar with the practices involved. | 31 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381759",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T17:42:24",
"content": "“Working in a confined space”: Get Covid-19.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6381790",
"author": "cliff claven",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,372,948.528154 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/hackaday-podcast-136-smacking-asteroids-decoding-voyager-milling-cheap-and-ps5-triggered/ | Hackaday Podcast 136: Smacking Asteroids, Decoding Voyager, Milling Cheap, And PS5 Triggered | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys look back on a great week of hardware hacking. What a time to be alive when you can use open source tools to decode signals from a probe that has long since left our solar system! We admire two dirt-cheap builds, one to measure current draw in mains power, another to mill small parts with great precision for only a few bucks. A display built from a few hundred 7-segment modules begs the question: who says pixels need to be the same size? We jaw on the concept of autonomous electric cargo ships, and marvel at the challenges of hitting an asteroid with a space probe. All that and we didn’t even mention using GLaDOS as a personal assistant robot, but that’s on the docket too!
Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download
(60 MB or so.)
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 136 Show Notes:
What’s that Sound?
That sound was
The Secret of Monkey Island theme
[Lee] was randomly drawn from eight correct responses and wins the shirt!
Towards The Perfect Coin Flip: The NIST Randomness Beacon
Elliot’s (horrendous) random drawing one-liner
New This Week:
2021 Hackaday Remoticon: Call For Proposals
2021 Remoticon Talk CFP form
German Experiment Shows Horses Beating Local Internet Connections
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Minimal Mill: The Minamil
Compared to… what?
A Cheap Compact Linear Slide
How The PS5’s Genuinely Clever Adaptive Triggers Work
GNU Radio Decodes Voyager Data
Breakthrough Listen – Wikipedia
GNU Radio Conference 2021 (20-24 September 2021)
What Is The Tianwen-1 Probe Saying?
Using Homebrew Coils To Measure Mains Current, And Taking The Circuit Breaker Challenge
GLaDOS Voice Assistant Passive-Aggressively Automates Home
Machine Learning & Open Source Speech-to-text Engine Development Project
What’s Cooler Than A 7-Segment Display? A 7200-Segment Display!
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks
3D Objects Without Scanning
Vektor Kollektor Inspector
Useless Machine Is A Clock
Mike’s Picks:
THICC GBA SP Mod Gets Easy Install Ahead Of Release
Making A Car Key From A Ratcheting Wrench
Putting Thousands Of Minecraft Players On The Same Server
Can’t-Miss Articles:
The World’s First Autonomous Electric Cargo Ship Is Due To Set Sail
NASA Are Squaring Up Against The Asteroid Threat | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381823",
"author": "that tune",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T21:53:20",
"content": "How many days is the “WTS?” form left open? Was closed at least by the 15th. And its TSoMI special edition. Many different version of that soundtrack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,372,948.450608 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/robotray-is-a-secret-tea-butler/ | RoboTray Is A Secret Tea Butler | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Lifehacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"h-bridge",
"tea",
"transformer"
] | How far would you go for your cup of tea? [samsungite]’s missus doesn’t like clutter on her countertops, so away the one-cup kettle would go back into the cupboard for next time while the tea steeped. As long as there’s room for it in there, why not install it there permanently? That’s the idea behind
RoboTray
, which would only be cooler if it could be plumbed somehow.
RoboTray went through a few iterations, most importantly the switch from 6mm MDF to 4 mm aluminum plate. A transformer acts as a current sensor, and when the kettle is powered on, the tray first advances forward 7 cm using a 12 VDC motor and an Arduino. Then it pivots 90° on a lazy Susan driven by another 12 VDC motor. The kettle is smart enough to turn itself off when finished, and the Arduino senses this and reverses all the steps after a ten-second warning period. Check it out in action after the break.
If [samsungite] has any more Arduinos lying around, he might appreciate this
tea inventory tracker
. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381691",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T15:13:34",
"content": "Kind of cool, really looks fun, but brewing just a single tiny mug of tea is almost criminal. Tea works so much better with a teapot (or tea pot sized cup – my preference when brewing for one, as just o... | 1,760,372,948.670699 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/this-week-in-security-office-0-day-forcedentry-protonmail-and-omigod/ | This Week In Security: Office 0-day, ForcedEntry, ProtonMail, And OMIGOD | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"OMIGOD",
"ProtonMail",
"This Week in Security"
] | A particularly nasty 0-day was discovered in the wild,
CVE-2021-40444
, a flaw in how Microsoft’s MSHTML engine handled Office documents. Not all of the details are clear yet, but the result is that opening a office document can trigger a remote code execution. It gets worse, though, because the exploit can work when simply previewing a file in Explorer, making this a potential 0-click exploit. So far the attack has been used against specific targets, but
a POC has been published
.
It appears that there are multiple tricks that should be discrete CVEs behind the exploit. First, a simple invocation of
mshtml:http
in an Office document triggers the download and processing of that URL via the Trident engine, AKA our old friend IE. The real juicy problem is that in Trident, an iframe can be constructed with a
.cpl
URI pointing at an
inf
or
dll
file, and that gets executed without any prompt. This is
demonstrated here by [Will Dormann]
. A patch was included with this month’s roundup of fixes for Patch Tuesday, so make sure to update.
ForcedEntry
Yet another 0-click 0-day, this time in Apple products, CVE-2021-30860 was discovered as part of the NSO Group’s exploit toolkit.
Citizen Lab refers to the vulnerability as FORCEDENTRY
. It’s a problem in Apple’s image rendering code, that allows a malicious PDF to trigger RCE. Because Apple shares this library across devices, the exploit works on iOS, MacOS, and even watchOS prior to the patch. Basically all the technical details are from Apple’s patch notes, where they’re calling it an integer overflow.
ProtonMail Logging IPs
ProtonMail has been in the midst of a minor kerfuffle after
giving up the IP address of one of its users to Swiss authorities
. One of the understandable responses is disappointment that they even have the ability to do so, given their no-logs stance.
The reality is that ProtonMail is a Swiss company, and they are bound by Swiss law. It appears that when a binding request for information is received, the administrators at ProtonMail turn on logging for the specific account named in the request. They point out that had the targeted users used their VPN offering or TOR, they could have kept their IP private. ProtonMail also pointed out that their encryption wasn’t broken, so law enforcement was still unable to access the attachments or emails on the service.
Spell-check Plus Symlink
GitHub has the really useful Actions feature, where certain workflow steps can be automated. One such workflow is check-spelling, which does exactly what it says on the tin.
A strange interaction exists
, when a pull request contains a spelling error, as well as a symlink from
.github/actions/advice.md
to
/proc/self/environ
.
Advice.md
is intended to contain the instructions for how to proceed when a misspelling is found, and is posted as part of the automated comment on the pull request. The symlink in the pull request means that what actually gets commented is the environment information of the process runner, including a secret GitHub authentication token.
That token is invalidated very quickly after the workflow completes, so the trick is to win the race to use the token in time. The proof-of-concept demonstrates how to poll the comments, find the token, and make an “emergency release” that is actually an attacker supplied binary. The fix has been implemented — simply disallowing such symlinks when running the workflow.
This is actually a larger problem, though, as the workflow configuration settings are contained in the same codebase as the pull request. Put simply, any GitHub Action triggered on a pull request is potentially unsafe, and needs to be very carefully hardened against similar problems.
Router Leaks IP
Researchers at Fidus have put together
a very clever attack to unmask the real IPs
of users of some VPNS. The attack relies on the presence of an Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) web wrapper that is present on some consumer routers. SNMP is a useful protocol to programmatically get statistics and other status information from a networked device. The research was done on Virgin Media routers, which happened to allow unauthenticated requests to the SNMP wrapper. One of the data points accessible is the public IP address assigned to the router.
So all an attacker has to do is get the victim to load their web page, and use some JS code to do a GET request from the router’s IP, right? Except browsers have been adding security features to prevent exactly this sort of abuse. The trick that works here is DNS rebinding, where the DNS record for the malicious site is set to a very low Time To Live (TTL), and the record is changed once the page is loaded. This allows the page JS to make another request to the same domain name, and that request actually go to an arbitrary IP. The router’s web interface doesn’t have any safeguards against this technique, so it gladly gives up the IP address.
This doesn’t work against every VPN. Some clients block access to local IP addresses, probably to prevent exactly this sort of attack. Notably, TOR works this way. For a VPN that does not, however, this can leak the public IP. The other interesting wrinkle to this story is that this was first discovered back in October 2019. Liberty Global, the owner of Virgin Media, requested a full year to address the vulnerability. Rather than work on a coordinated disclosure, Liberty has “ghosted” the researchers ever since. There doesn’t seem to be any fixes rolled out, so this should be treated as a 0-day until proven otherwise. The workaround is to only use a VPN client that blocks access to local IPs, if you’re concerned about not leaking identifying information to sites you visit.
Microsoft’s Azure Linux — OMIGOD
Do you run a Linux VM on Microsoft’s Azure?
You probably have vulnerable services running on that VM right now
. The problematic service is the Open Management Infrastructure (OMI), which is automatically installed as a part of several Azure services. The worst of the vulnerabilities is CVE-2021-38647, a pre-auth RCE as root, requiring only access to an exposed HTTPS port. It is a simple authentication logic flaw, where a request without an Authorization header defaults to running as root. Updates are available, but it’s unclear whether patches will roll out automatically. Check for the
omi
package. If it is present, version 1.6.8.1 is the release containing fixes.
Bits And Bytes
I was recently made aware of
the Gluu Server
, a single-stop solution for providing your own OpenID authentication service. If you’re ever faced with needing to roll a Single Sign-on solution, Gluu appears to be a strong contender. We even
interviewed the founder of Gluu on FLOSS Weekly
, if you care to learn more.
Firefox has had enough of Microsoft’s shenanigans. You may have noticed how difficult it is to change program defaults in Windows 10. There’s a list of file types, and you have to set all of them to your preferred application — unless of course you want to default to Microsoft’s products. Then it’s a single click. Some very clever engineers at Mozilla have reverse-engineered the way Edge sets itself as default, and
Firefox is now capable of the same trick
. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381720",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T16:01:34",
"content": "“Liberty Global, the owner of Virgin Media, requested a full year to address the vulnerability. Rather than work on a coordinated disclosure, Liberty has “ghosted” the researchers ever since.”That sounds par... | 1,760,372,948.726074 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/add-on-lets-fdm-3d-printer-wash-and-cure-resin-parts/ | Add-On Lets FDM 3D Printer Wash And Cure Resin Parts | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"enclosure",
"foam board",
"resin 3d printer",
"UV cure box",
"UV LED",
"wash and cure"
] | The dramatic price reductions we’ve seen on resin 3D printers over the last couple of years have been very exciting, as it means more people are finally getting access to this impressive technology. But what newcomers might not realize is that the cost of the printer itself is only part of your initial investment. Resin printed parts need to be washed and cured before they’re ready to be put into service, and unless you want to do it all by hand, that means buying a second machine to do the post-printing treatment.
Not sure he wanted to spend the money on a dedicated machine just yet, [Chris Chimienti] decided to take an unusual approach and
modify one of his filament-based 3D printers to handle wash and cure duty
. His clever enclosure slips over the considerable Z-axis of a Anet ET5X printer, and includes banks of UV LEDs and fans to circulate the air and speed up the drying process.
Looking up into the curing chamber.
The curing part is easy enough to understand, but how does it do the washing? You simply put a container of 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) on the printer’s bed, and place the part to be washed into a basket that hangs from the printer’s extruder. Custom Python software is used to generate G-code that commands the printer to dip the part in the alcohol and swish it back and forth to give it a good rinse.
Once the specified time has elapsed, the printer raises the part up into the enclosure and kicks on the LEDs to begin the next phase of the process.
The whole system is automated through an OctoPrint plugin
, and while the relatively low speed of the printer’s movement means the “washing” cycle might not be quite as energetic as we’d like, it’s definitely a very slick solution.
[Chris] provides an extensive overview of the project in the
latest video on his YouTube channel,
Embrace Racing
. In it he explains that the concept could certainly be adapted for use on printers other than the Anet ET5X, but that it’s considerable build volume makes it an ideal candidate for conversion. Of course it’s also possible to use the foam board enclosure by itself as a curing chamber, though you’ll still need to wash the part in IPA ahead of time.
This is perhaps one of the most unusual wash and cure systems we’ve seen here at Hackaday, but we appreciate the fact that [Chris] based the whole thing on the idea that you’ve probably got a FDM printer sitting nearby that otherwise goes unused when you’re working with resin. If that’s not the case for you,
putting together a more traditional UV curing chamber
is an easy enough project. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381598",
"author": "Alice Lalita Heald",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T11:01:52",
"content": "Check out PCB etching shaker mechanism with transparent bottom and simple UV LED every side. Lot less overkill.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_... | 1,760,372,948.625001 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/09/17/triple-monitor-luggable-pc-is-an-all-in-one-powerhouse/ | Triple Monitor Luggable PC Is An All In One Powerhouse | Danie Conradie | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"diy perks",
"luggable",
"portable computer",
"triple monitor mount"
] | [Matt] from [DIY Perks] has made a name for himself building nice custom computing machines, and his latest
triple-monitor luggable PC
(video after the break) is sure to give most high-performance desktop machines a run for their money.
The large central monitor folding laptop monitors mounted vertically on either size look impressive, but only just scratches the surface of this build. Hidden behind aluminum panels are Ryzen 5950X CPU and RTX 3080 GPU with water cooling, 64 GB of RAM, and two 8 TB SSDs. A set of high-quality speaker drivers, subwoofer, and audio amps is also included. All this hardware pulls about 600 W of power from a large DC-DC converter block, which in turn receives power from either a pair of onboard AC-DC converters or a 16 V – 63 V DC source, like a battery system.
To mount everything to the back of the main monitor, [Matt] created 3D printed adaptor blocks with threaded inserts which slide under existing hooks on the back of the monitor. Aluminum angles screw to these blocks to cover the edges of the display panel, together with a large mounting plate with pre-drilled holes to mount all the components on standoffs. A set of adjustable and removable legs mount to the side of the PC. A hinged door in the back cover allows storage space for a keyboard and mouse during transport. When folded, the laptop monitors don’t fully cover the main monitor, so [Matt] created a leather cover that doubles as a cable and accessory organizer.
Whether its dual screens and an
integrated SDR
, or a
rotating-folding screen
, there is no shortage of ways to build a portable powerhouse. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6381589",
"author": "Connor",
"timestamp": "2021-09-17T09:57:37",
"content": "Substance and a certain industrial style. This is a cool project. Side screens are a bit small, but probably fine to read documents in pivoting mode.Great job sir!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,948.888963 |
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