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https://hackaday.com/2021/05/05/3d-printed-camera-crane-for-the-workshop/ | 3D Printed Camera Crane For The Workshop | Danie Conradie | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"camera crane",
"ivan miranda",
"tripod"
] | When you make a living building stuff and documenting the process camera setups take up a lot of time, breaking expensive equipment is an occupational hazard. [Ivan Miranda] knows this all too well, so he built a fully-featured
camera crane
to save his time and camera equipment. Video after the break.
The basic design is a vertical mast with a pivoting camera mounted to the end. The aluminum mast telescopes for increased vertical adjustability, and rides on a plywood base with caster wheels. The aluminum pivoting arm is counterweighed to offset the camera head, and a parallel bar mechanism allows the camera to hold a constant vertical angle with the ground. Thanks to the explosion of home gyms during the pandemic, gym weights were hard to find, so [Ivan] used an ammo can filled with sand and screws instead. A smaller sliding counterweight on top of the arm allows for fine-tuning. [Ivan] also wanted to be able to do horizontal sliding shots, so he added a pulley system that can be engaged with a clutch mechanism to keep a constant horizontal angle with the camera. Most of the fittings and brackets are 3D printed, some of them no doubt on his
giant 3D printer
.
We can certainly see this crane meeting its design objectives, and we can’t help but want one ourselves. [Alexandre Chappel] also built a
camera crane
a while back which utilized a completely different arm mechanism. As cool as these are, they still pale in comparison to
[mingul]’s workshop-sized 8-axis CNC camera crane
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rpTdpCd38w | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345999",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2021-05-05T17:41:45",
"content": "Sure shines over those static shot videos and caffeinated camera holder views. Using a camera like you are wetting seedlings in a hurry, ugh.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,373,098.584627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/05/the-soviet-rbmk-reactor-35-years-after-the-chernobyl-disaster/ | The Soviet RBMK Reactor: 35 Years After The Chernobyl Disaster | Maya Posch | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"History",
"Slider"
] | [
"Chernobyl",
"industrial accidents",
"safety culture"
] | Thirty-five years ago, radiation alarms went off at the Forsmark nuclear power plant in Sweden. After an investigation, it was determined that the radiation did not come from inside the plant, but from somewhere else. Based on the prevailing winds at that time, it was ultimately determined that the radiation came from inside Soviet territory. After some political wrangling, the Soviet government ultimately admitted that the Chernobyl nuclear plant was the source, due to an accident that had taken place there.
Following the disaster, the causes have been investigated in depth so that we now have a fairly good idea of what went wrong. Perhaps the most important lesson taught by the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster is that it wasn’t about one nuclear reactor design, one control room crew, or one totalitarian regime, but rather the chain of events which enabled the disaster of this scale.
To illustrate this, the remaining
RBMK
-style reactors — including three at the Chernobyl plant — have operated without noticeable issues since 1986, with nine of these reactors still active today. During the international investigation of the Chernobyl plant disaster, the INSAG reports repeatedly referred to the lack of a ‘safety culture’.
Looking at the circumstances which led to the development and subsequent unsafe usage of the Chernobyl #4 reactor can teach us a lot about disaster prevention. It’s a story of the essential role that a safety culture plays in industries where the cost of accidents is measured in human life.
Anatomy of a Disaster
Tank 610, the source of the lethal cloud in Bhopal.
Two years before the Chernobyl plant disaster – on the night of December 3rd, 1984, over two-thousand people in the city of Bhopal died when
a lethal cloud of methyl isocyanate
(MIC) was accidentally released by the nearby Union Carbide India Ltd chemical plant. In the subsequent years, over a thousand more would die, and over half a million people were injured. To this day the chemical pollution from the plant has rendered the soil and ground water around the now abandoned plant a hazard to human life, even as people continue to live in the area.
The Bhopal disaster was the culmination of a lack of maintenance, defective safety equipment, as well as an absence of a safety culture. This combined allowed water to run past defective valves into an MIC tank, causing the production of the lethal gas in an exothermic reaction. As the US owners of the plant (today The Dow Chemical Company) failed to clean up the site when the plant closed in 1986, this task is now left to local governments.
The 1986
Chernobyl plant disaster
shows many similarities, in particular the lack of a safety culture. This began with the design of the RBMK (
reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalnyy
, or “high-power channel-type reactor”), where natural uranium was chosen to avoid the cost of
235
U enrichment. This meant a physically larger reactor, leading to the decision to skip a containment vessel which competing designs (e.g. VVER) did include, as it would be too large and too expensive.
Although the RBMK design does feature many safeties, including a split main cooling loop, an emergency cooling system (ECCS), and a
SCRAM
emergency shutdown system, there are no provisions that keep operators from disabling these safeties at will. Thus, what should have been a simple emergency power experiment with the steam generator (using its inertial momentum to power the circulation pumps) ended up in disaster.
Playing Games with Reactor Reactivity
In every light water reactor (LWR) design that uses plain H
2
O for cooling of the reactor core, there are two main parameters which determine whether the reactor is performing nominally, or under/over operating conditions. These pertain to the reactor reactivity: the number of neutrons present at any given time with the appropriate velocity (neutron temperature) for the
neutron cross section
of the target fuel.
In the case of uranium-235, so-called thermal neutrons are required, yet the fissile reaction produces many faster neutrons (‘fast neutrons’). Fast neutrons can be slowed down to become thermal neutrons by using a neutron moderator. This process increases the reactivity of the reactor. This process is then counteracted by
neutron absorbers
, which include the water as well as any control rods, which are often made of boron carbide.
Most LWR designs use light water for both moderating and capturing neutrons, which also means that if the reactivity increases, the water boils quicker, which creates more steam. This steam has reduced neutron moderation capacity, which in turn reduces the number of available thermal neutrons and thus creates a negative feedback loop. This is in essence a negative
void coefficient
.
Top of an RBMK at the Leningrad plant.
The RBMK as an early Generation II design on the other hand has a lot in common with the prototypical Generation I
graphite pile reactors
, including the use of graphite as neutron moderator. While this allowed the use of natural uranium, it also meant that the RBMK ran with a positive void coefficient: as the water in the reactor cooling channels boiled and created voids, the neutron capture capacity decreased, while the moderating effect remained unaffected, creating a potentially run-away reaction.
This trade-off was deemed acceptable as it allowed the RBMK design to output thermal power far beyond that of Western reactor designs of the time, and it was assumed that a well-trained crew would have no problems managing an RBMK reactor.
As has been pointed out ad nauseam with e.g. the sinking of the Titanic, marketing and management regularly trumps engineering, and any disaster that can be averted by proper maintenance and training becomes an inevitability in the absence of a safety culture.
Inviting Murphy
When Chernobyl-4 was scheduled to be turned off for maintenance, it was selected and prepared for the steam generator experiment by disabling the ECCS safety. However, right before the experiment was supposed to begin it was decided to leave the reactor running for an additional 11 hours as the grid needed the extra power. During this delay, the day shift which was supposed to have carried out the experiment was replaced by the evening shift, all of whom consequently had to manually regulate the water valves due to the disabled ECCS.
When the night shift — who had arrived at work expecting to manage a shutdown and cooling reactor — were told to carry out the experiment. This meant reducing the reactor from full power to about 700 – 1,000 MW thermal before cutting the steam to the generator.
Diagram of an RBMK’s primary cooling loops.
A quirk of the RBMK design is that it’s highly unstable and hard to control at low power levels. Between the positive void coefficient, the flawed design of the control rods, and the formation of neutron absorbers such as xenon-135 as a by-product, the reactivity of the #4 reactor dropped to less than 100 MW. This caused the operators to remove more and more control rods (including rods from the automated control system) in a bid to increase reactivity. This allowed reactivity to slowly increase again to levels somewhat close to those required by the experiment.
Coolant flow to the reactor core was increased to create more steam, but this decreased the reactivity and thus two of the pumps were turned off to increase reactivity again. In this configuration, with virtually all control rods removed and all safeties disabled, the experiment was wrapped up, even as the dropping power from the slowing generator caused less cooling water pressure. As a final step the decision was made to use the SCRAM feature, which would fairly rapidly insert the control rods to stop the reaction.
While these rods were being inserted, they drove the water out of their channels, increasing voids, while the graphite section at the tip of each control rod further increased reactivity. As a result of the increased reactivity at the bottom of the reactor, reactor thermal output spiked to an estimated 30,000 MW of 3,000 MW nominal. The cooling water was instantly boiled off and the zirconium fuel rod cladding was melted, causing hydrogen gas to be generated as it came into contact with the steam.
The first explosion by super-heated steam erupting out of the core flipped the shield on top of the core and blew out the roof of the building. A second explosion a few seconds later — likely caused by exploding hydrogen gas — ripped the reactor core apart and terminated the nuclear chain reaction. All that was left of reactor #4 were radioactive bits of the core slung around everywhere and super-hot
corium
— a lava-like ooze of many different materials from the destroyed core — melting its way into the basement of the reactor building. Meanwhile, the graphite of the core caught on fire, causing the fall-out plume that would be detected first in Sweden.
End of an Era
Today, nine RBMKs are still active, all of them in Russia. The remaining three RBMKs at the Chernobyl plant were shut down over the next few decades, after all remaining RBMKs had been tweaked using the lessons learned from Chernobyl-4:
The use of slightly enriched uranium fuel to compensate for additional control rods.
More neutron absorbers to stabilize the reactor at low power levels.
Faster SCRAM sequence (12 seconds instead of 18).
Restricted access to controls that disable safety systems.
The main effect of these changes are that the positive void coefficient is significantly reduced, the reactor is much easier to control at low power levels, and there is much less freedom for operators to ‘improvise’.
With the RBMK and similar designs now firmly out of the public’s favor, the competing
VVER
became the main reactor design that would come to power Russia. In its modern VVER-1200 form, the VVER is a Generation III+ design that uses light water for both moderating neutrons and cooling, as well as neutron absorption. As a design that follows international safety standards for nuclear reactors, it will be replacing the remaining RBMKs at Leningrad, Kursk, and other plants over the coming years.
It’s Safety Culture, Silly
The range of fuel cycles possible with CANDU reactors. (credit: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited)
As an interesting counter-point to the notion that it was the positive void coefficient that made the RBMK so dangerous, there is the
CANDU
reactor. This is a reactor type that’s so uneventful that the average non-Canadian citizen isn’t even aware that Canada has a nuclear industry and has been exporting these reactors around the world.
Yet the CANDU design used natural uranium originally, while running at a positive void coefficient. Despite this, the CANDU reactor’s active and passive safety features prevent something like the operator mismanagement that happened at Chernobyl-4, or the partial meltdown at the (negative void coefficient) reactor at
Three Mile Island
. In the latter case, an operator overrode a safety system, in a scenario somewhat reminiscent of the botched Chernobyl-4 experiment.
A similar cause underlies the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011, as pointed out in the 2012 Japanese
Diet report
. A general lack of safety culture, and widespread corruption up to upper government levels led to safety systems not being upgraded, lax adherence to earthquake resistance standards, and failure to implement upgrades recommended by US regulators.
Aerial photograph of the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash spill.
Even so, accidents at nuclear facilities are still exceedingly rare, which makes commercial nuclear power among the
safest forms
of power generating per TWh. What’s perhaps more worrying is that this lack of safety culture isn’t just an issue in the nuclear industry, but something far more pervasive, as Bhopal and other major industrial disasters show. In the US, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (
CSB
) is responsible for investigating industrial chemical accidents.
In addition to the official reports, the CSB has also made a number of documentary videos available on its
YouTube channel
. What these reports hammer home is that safety culture is not something that should ever be taken for granted, or assumed to not be an issue. Despite lacking a totalitarian regime, countries like the US still somehow manage to suffer
regular industrial disasters
that kill and injure hundreds.
One lesson which the US CSB’s reports teach is that as scary as radioactive materials may appear, something as innocent as saw dust or flour should never be underestimated. Allowing hazardous situations to even exist is the first step towards it escalating into someone’s worst day on the job, bar none.
There’s No ‘I’ in Safety
Nobody wants to be the guy on a team who has to point out the obvious safety issues in a design or procedure. Nor does anyone want to be the person who has to rat out their colleagues for not following safety procedures. Simultaneously, a single person cannot force a company or a country to implement better safety procedures.
When there’s no overarching effort to create, implement, and adhere to safety regulations, it is only a matter of time before the next easily preventable disaster strikes, no matter what form this may take. Although safety regulations aren’t exactly cool or ‘sexy’, they are often the one thing that stands between a boring day at the factory and a
flattened refinery
or
coal fly ash spill
that kills dozens and renders a large area uninhabitable.
It’s up to us to not only remember the Chernobyls, but also the Bhopals and similar disasters that took so many more lives and will continue to do so every year so long as we as a society do not make safety culture a part of life everywhere.
Heading image:
The New Safe Confinement in final position over reactor 4 at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. By
Tim Porter
, CC-BY-SA 4.0 | 66 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345947",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2021-05-05T14:11:27",
"content": "If I’ve learned anything from nuclear disasters then it’s that safety warnings should be able to shut down the reactors without the operator being able to override it. “I know better,” policy, and regulat... | 1,760,373,098.370787 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/04/linux-fu-mixing-bash-and-python/ | Linux Fu: Mixing Bash And Python | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Linux Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"awk",
"bash",
"linux",
"Linux Fu",
"perl",
"python",
"shell script"
] | Although bash scripts are regularly maligned, they do have a certain simplicity and ease of creation that makes them hard to resist. But sometimes you really need to do some heavy lifting in another language. I’ll talk about Python, but actually, you can use many different languages with this technique, although you might need a little adaptation, depending on your language of choice.
Of course, you don’t have to do anything special to call another program from a bash script. After all, that’s what it’s mainly used for: calling other programs. However, it isn’t very handy to have your script spread out over multiple files. They can get out of sync and if you want to send it to someone or another machine, you have to remember what to get. It is nicer to have everything in one file.
The Documents are All Here
The key is to use the often forgotten here document feature of bash. This works best when the program in question is an interpreter like Python.
#!/bin/bash
echo Welcome to our shell script
python <<__EOF_PYTHON_SCRIPT
print 'Howdy from Python!'
__EOF_PYTHON_SCRIPT
echo "And we are back!"
Variations on a Theme
Of course, any shell that supports here documents can do this, not just bash. You can use other interpreters, too. For example:
#!/bin/bash
echo Welcome to our shell script
perl <<__EOF_PERL_SCRIPT
print "Howdy from Perl\n"
__EOF_PERL_SCRIPT
echo "And we are back!"
It might be confusing, but you could even have some sections in Python and others in Perl or another language. Try not to get carried away.
Just in Case
There’s the rare case where an interpreter doesn’t take the interpreted file from the standard input.
Awk
is a notorious offender. While you can embed the entire script in the command line, that can be awkward and leads to quoting hassles. But it seems silly to write out a temporary file just to send to
awk
. Luckily, you don’t have to.
There are at least two common ways to handle this problem. The first is to use the bash process substitution. This basically creates a temporary file from a subshell’s standard output:
#!/bin/bash
# Hybrid bash/awk Word count program -- totally unnecessary, of course...
echo Counting words for "$@"
awk -f <( cat - <<EOF_AWK
BEGIN {
wcount=0;
lcount=0;
}
{
lcount++;
wcount+=NF;
}
END {
print "Lines=" lcount;
print "Words=" wcount;
}
EOF_AWK
) "$@"
echo Hope that was enough
exit 0
Yet Another Way
There is another way to organize your process substitutions, so they are all gathered together at the end of the script surrounded by a marker such as “AWK_START” and “AWK_END” or any other pair of strings you like. The idea is to put each pseudo file in its own section at the end of the script. You can then use any number of techniques like
sed
or
awk
to strip those lines out and process substitute them like before.
There are two minor problems. First, the script needs to exit before the fake files start. That’s easy. You just have to make sure to code an exit at the end of the script, which you probably ought to do anyway. The other problem is searching for the marker text. If you search the file for, say, AWK_START, you need to make sure the search pattern itself isn’t found. You can fix this by using some arbitrary brackets in the search string or breaking up the search string. Consider this:
#!/bin/bash
# Hybrid bash/awk Word count program -- totally unnecessary, of course...
echo Counting words for "$@"
# use brackets
#awk -f <( sed -e '/[A]WK_START/,/[A]WK_END/!d' $0 ) "$@"
# or
AWK_PREFIX=AWK
awk -f <( sed -e "/${AWK_PREFIX}_START/,/${AWK_PREFIX}_END/!d" $0 ) "$@"
echo Hope that was enough
exit 0
# everything below here will be the supporting "files", in this case, just one for awk
# AWK_START
BEGIN {
wcount=0;
lcount=0;
}
{
lcount++;
wcount+=NF;
}
END {
print "Lines=" lcount;
print "Words=" wcount;
}
#AWK_END
There is no reason you could not have multiple fake files at the end, each with a different pair of markers. Do note, though, that the markers are sent to the program which is why they appear as comments. If these were going to a program that didn’t use
#
as a comment marker, you’d need to change the marker lines a bit, write a more complex
sed
expression, or add some commands to take off the first and last lines before sending it.
That’s a Wrap
You could argue that you can do all you need to do in one language and that’s almost certainly true. But having some tricks to embed multiple files inside a file can make creating and distributing scripts easier. This is somewhat similar to how we made
self-installing archive files
in a previous installment of Linux Fu. If you’d rather
script in C or C++
, you can do that too. | 24 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345731",
"author": "Hobthrust",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T17:26:15",
"content": "Remember the parentheses around print if it’s Python 3!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6345736",
"author": "CRImier",
"timestamp... | 1,760,373,098.258362 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/04/new-contest-reinvented-retro/ | New Contest: Reinvented Retro | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"Reinvented Retro Contest",
"retro"
] | There are so many ways to make things look awesome by pulling inspiration from great retro hardware. And combining today’s futuristic functionality with yesterday’s lines, colors, and kitsch is the quick path to a winning combination. So why not give it a try and show us what you got? That’s the gist of Hackaday’s
Reinvented Retro Contest
which begins right now and runs through June.
The is
a very cool Roku
This smart TV should help get you thinking in a retro-modern way. You’d never know it wasn’t stock… except when it starts streaming
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
via
the Roku hidden inside
. Fit and finish on this one is spectacular and that woodgrain remote is a piece of artwork!
So what will it be? Keurig in a 1960’s Perculator? Desk lamp
in a rotary telephone
? GHz oscilloscope where a CRT used to live? Perhaps a Raspberry Pi laptop
in a 1990’s form-factor
? You get to decide what “Retro” means, just make sure you thoroughly show off the build!
Digi-Key is sponsoring this contest and there are $200 shopping sprees from their warehouse up for grabs for each of three top winners. Make a project page over on Hackaday.io and use the “Submit project to…” dropdown in the left side bar to enter it in the
Reinventing Retro Contest
. | 22 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345735",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T17:38:53",
"content": "Sweet! Lucky I picked up an old portable B/W CRT a while ago that I havent used yet. And an old digital typewriter from the goodwill",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"co... | 1,760,373,098.194851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/04/feel-what-the-temperature-is-like-outside-without-leaving-your-bed/ | Feel What The Temperature Is Like Outside Without Leaving Your Bed | Danie Conradie | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"alarm clock",
"ESP8266",
"peltier",
"solenoid"
] | Your smartphone might be able to tell you what the weather is like outside, but you’d have to go outside yourself to really feel it. To do this from the comfort of your own bed, [Sagarrabanana] built a
clock that lets you really feel the temperature.
Video below with English subtitles.
It is basically a box with a solenoid inside to knock out the time, and a Peltier plate on top. Give the box two knocks, which are detected by a piezo element, and it will tell you the current time down to 15 minute increments in “bell tower” format. Give it three knocks, and the ESP8266 will fetch the ambient outside temperature from a cloud service and cool or heat the Peltier element to that temperature, using a H-bridge motor driver module. The code and design files are available on
GitHub
if you want to build your own.
All the components are housed inside an attractive 3D printed box with a machined wood top. Although we think this is a very interesting idea, we can’t help but suspect that it might be counterproductive for getting you out of bed on those cold winter mornings.
While alarm clocks are falling out of favor, they are still a popular build for hackers. We’ve covered one that looks like it
came from a fallout shelter
, and another with a very cool looking
VFD display
. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345703",
"author": "Alice Lalita Heald",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T15:09:12",
"content": "Brilliant idea!10C is different in summer and winter.I would make it like a chamber and add wind.‘peep hole’ into nature.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,098.131201 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/04/typematrix-ez-reach-2030-is-better-than-your-laptop-keyboard/ | TypeMatrix EZ-Reach 2030 Is Better Than Your Laptop Keyboard | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Reviews",
"Slider"
] | [
"dvorak",
"dvorak mode",
"ebay",
"ergonomic",
"ergonomic keyboard",
"homing bar",
"homing bump",
"ortholinear",
"portable",
"scissor switches"
] | Maybe you’re not ready to take the leap into a full-on ergonomic split keyboard. That’s okay, that’s cool, that’s understandable. They’re weird! Especially ones like my
Kinesis Advantage
with the key bowls and such. But maybe your poor pinkies are starting to get tired and you’re ready to start using your thumbs for more than just the space bar. Or you want to be able to type ‘c’ properly, with your middle finger.
In that case, the TypeMatrix could be the keyboard for you. Or maybe for travel you, because it’s designed as a quasi-ergonomic, orthonormal layout travel keyboard to pair with your laptop, and as such it sits directly over a laptop keyboard without blocking the track pad. (How
do
people use those things, anyway?)
Of course, you could use this as a desktop keyboard as well, although it’s unfortunate that Control and Shift are stuck on the pinkies. More about that later.
First Impressions
When I saw this keyboard on eBay, I was attracted by two things: the layout, and the dedicated Dvorak light. (And, let’s be honest — the price was right.) I’ve always found myself generally turned off by chocolate bar-style ortholinear keebs because they’re so incredibly cramped, but this one seemed a more acceptable because of the slight split.
The first thing I noticed was the fantastic number pad integration. The different colored keycaps are a nice touch, because the gray makes the number pad stand out, and the red Delete is easy to find since Num Lock is squatting in the upper right corner. Why does Delete always feel like an afterthought on compact keebs? I also like the location of the arrows, and it makes me think of
the AlphaSmart NEO
layout. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of burying the right hand Enter down in no-man’s land where you can’t exactly hit it blindly with great accuracy right away. If only you could swap Shift and Enter without messing up the number pad!
Home Sweet Homing Bits
The vertical Shifts, Enter, and Backspace are interesting, as is the forced relocation of Caps Lock, which has been relegated to the middle top between F5 and F6. There are a ridiculous number of homing bumps and bars on this thing, which I think is really cool. Ten of the keys have homing bumps, and seventeen of them have homing bars. One has both — the left hand Function key, to distinguish it from Control. That makes 30% of the keys with homing bits, compared to just two homing anything (F and J) on
TKL
keebs or three things (the 5 in the number pad) if you have a full keyboard.
In theory, the homing bar would help you hit that right hand Enter if you wanted to use it outside of the number pad. I did read a review of the EZ-Reach that said the homing bits are a tad sharp when the keyboard is brand new, but these feel fine to me.
Note that all the inside keys except the Fs have a homing bar to help you navigate the middle keys without looking. I hesitate to call them thumb keys, because I doubt you’re supposed to use your thumb to hit the middle back space, though I suppose if your fingers are long enough, suit yourself. I myself cannot. I so wish that TypeMatrix had not wasted so much real estate on the space bar, which is really more like a space slab. It’s a sidewalk of a space bar. And then there’s all that unused space underneath the space slab? Infuriating.
Space slab!
The Fn has double homing bits!
Dig that number pad integration.
We’re go for Dvorak mode, baby.
Dvorak, Sort of
It’s interesting that there are no
Dvorak
labels on the keycaps given the built-in Dvorak layout. That would be a nice addition, and would probably make people like me practice Dvorak more often. There is a lot of function built into this 90-key layout, and some of the labels would be cramped, but I think labels would go a long way toward me actually taking the time to practice Dvorak.
If you already know Dvorak, you could leave it in DV mode and change the keycaps around, although that would mess up the whole inner keys homing bars thing and the number pad.
I think more people in general would try it out if the labels were there to remove the mystery. Fortunately,
the company sells keyboard skins
— rubber overlays that keep dust and dirt out of the crevices and come in your choice of labels. TypeMatrix claims that the typing experience is even better with the skin on, and
people seem to like them quite a bit
.
It’s wafer-thin.
Fit and Fully Functional
This extremely portable keyboard would likely fit in any backpack or laptop case. Once you put it on top of your keys, it stays firmly in place on rubber feet.
It’s small, nearly weightless at just over one pound, and is slightly less 1/2″ thick, but it’s not lacking for functionality at all. This thing has three Shifts, two Controls, two Alts, two Backspaces, two Functions, two Enters, and all the F keys.
The built-in copy/cut/paste functions are nice in theory, but actually using them would be in-ergonomic unless maybe you used the right-hand Function key and used your left index or ring finger to hit the cut/copy/paste keys.
Would you remove and replace 90 of these?
Standard Scissor Switches
At first clack, the switches reminded me of the Alphasmart NEO. After trying it out a few times, I decided the switches are merely okay and not as satisfying. They pretty much just feel like laptop keys, but at least they’re not staggered.
The keycaps actually feel nice. I think they might be PBT because they have that fine sandpaper finish to them. Plus, there’s no shine on the keys at all, and this thing is old enough to have a PS/2 connection. Maybe it didn’t get used much? Who knows.
I like the use of color to help you take in the layout at a glance and help you see the number pad easily. I’m not sure why some of the keys are a different color, though — the 5, 6, Y, G, and B are way less yellow than the others, but it’s probably just from age.
The Bad Stuff
This keyboard’s worst design crime has got to be the giant space bar, because it wastes so much precious thumb key area. The unused space underneath is kind of an odd choice as well, though I suppose that it helps you find the arrows and bottom row keys without looking. My problem is that I can’t use either one of the Backspaces or Enters without looking.
If I were to redesign this keyboard, I would start by breaking up the Space slab to make room for more thumb cluster keys. I’d move Backspace to the left thumb, Enter to the right thumb, and probably relocate Delete and one each of Control and Shift. As it stands, Control and Shift are easiest to hit with the pinkies, which takes ergonomic points off in my book.
I’m conflicted about the number pad. I like the idea, but the execution is poor because that’s the only right-hand Enter. I don’t know or understand why there are two number locks. The one on F4 doesn’t seem to work in either QWERTY or Dvorak mode, and it doesn’t light up the Num LED. The Num key in the upper right does in fact unlock the number pad in both layouts and lights up the LED. The
newer version of this keyboard
is down to just the one Num key, and it also has Delete in the top middle, which is a great improvement. Although the TypeMatrix isn’t inherently programmable, there’s always AutoHotKey and other key-mapping programs.
Can confirm, it’s laptop-sized.
This keeb is designed sit perfectly atop a laptop keyboard without blocking the track pad. I would say it does a really good job of that, but isn’t great for other settings. Since I’m normally on a desktop, I did all my typing tests there, and I had to put a 1″ binder notebook underneath to provide a bit of an angle so I could type at all.
Sorry, But There’s No Teardown Section
It’s easy enough to get into — there are only six Phillips-head screws on the back, after all. But of course, nothing happens unless you remove all the keycaps, and quite frankly, I’m afraid of breaking them or the scissor mechanisms underneath.
EZ to Reach for a Different Keyboard
I think I could eventually get used to this keyboard if for some reason I needed to leave the house and didn’t want to take my curvy girl out into the world. However, I find myself typing pretty hard on this thing because of the unsatisfying scissor switches, so it would likely be just as loud. I tried to give it a fair shake, and I will say that it was easy to mess up certain letters even though I’m used to an ortholinear layout. I’m still faster on a standard, staggered keyboard than I am on this one, which is definitely saying something. | 38 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345686",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T14:09:02",
"content": "ugh you don’t “practice” dvorak. you either switch cold turkey and endure 2-4 days of pain, or you don’t.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6345688",... | 1,760,373,098.452659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/04/soviet-super-8-camera-hides-raspberry-pi-zero/ | Soviet Super 8 Camera Hides Raspberry Pi Zero | Tom Nardi | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"Raspberry pi camera",
"super 8"
] | A few years ago [Xabier Zubizarreta] got it into his head that he wanted to put a modern digital image sensor into a classic Super 8 camera, but he didn’t want to ruin a gorgeous piece of vintage hardware in the process. After a bit of research, he discovered an export version of the Avrora camera made for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow that could be had for cheap. Figuring nobody would miss a camera built with the utilitarian aesthetics you’d expect of a Soviet-era piece of consumer tech, he set off to
cram a Raspberry Pi into its film compartment
.
On the Hackaday.io page for this project, [Xabier] explains a bit about the optical properties that make this project challenging. Specifically, the miniature sensor used by the official Raspberry Pi camera module is far smaller than the 8 mm film the camera was designed for. So when the sensor placed at the appropriate focal length for the original film, the image will be cropped considerably. As you can see in the video below, this gives the impression of everything being filmed with a fairly tight zoom.
To perform this modification, [Xabier] first had to liberate the sensor of the Pi Camera from the original optics, and then carefully install it in proper position on the Avrora. To make sure he had it aligned, he watched a live feed from the camera while the epoxy holding the sensor down was curing. This allowed him to make slight adjustments before everything was solidified. With the sensor in place, he only had to stuff the Pi Zero and battery pack into the film compartment, and wire the original camera trigger to the GPIO pins so he could read it in software.
Considering the
incredible amount of effort some photographers have put in
to
adapt their vintage cameras to digital
, it’s refreshing to see such a straightforward approach. The resulting video might not be up to modern standards, but with projects like this, that’s sort of the point. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345659",
"author": "John Little",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T11:19:12",
"content": "I remember the Digital Super8 project from a few years back which aimed at putting a tiny little Ximea color camera into a Super8 film cartridge, and then using the cartridge with any Super8 camera st... | 1,760,373,098.025481 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/04/enjoy-an-ascii-version-of-star-wars-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-for-may-the-4th/ | Enjoy An ASCII Version Of Star Wars In The Palm Of Your Hand For May The 4th | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"animation",
"ASCII",
"ascii art",
"flash",
"slide viewer",
"SPIFFS",
"star wars",
"wemos d1 mini"
] | Everyone by now has probably seen the original — and best; fight us — installment of the
Star Wars
franchise, and likely the ASCII-art animation version of it that improves greatly on the film by eliminating all those distracting special effects, human actors, and the soundtrack. But what we haven’t had until now is
a portable player for ASCIIWars
, to enjoy the film in all its character-based glory while you’re on the go.
While this tribute to
[Simon Jansen]’s amazing ASCII-art achievement
might seem like a simple repackaging of the original, [Frank] actually had to go to some lengths to make this work. After getting [Simon]’s blessing, the build started with a WEMOS D1 Mini, a good platform for the project less for its wireless capabilities and more for its 4 MB of flash memory. A 240×360 TFT LCD display was selected to show the film; the scale of the display made most fonts hard to read, so [Frank] used
Picopixel
, a font designed for legibility on small screens. The animation file is stored on the SPIFFS file system on the D1’s flash memory, and a few lines of code parse it and send it to the display. The final touch is mounting the whole thing is an old slide viewer, which magnifies the display to make it a little easier to see.
As much as we applaud [Frank]’s tribute to [Simon]’s effort, there’s no reason to confine this to the
Star Wars
universe. If you read up on
the history of ASCII art
, which
goes surprisingly far back
, you might be inspired to render another classic film in ASCIImation and put it on a viewer like this. ASCII-
Metropolis
, anyone? | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345700",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T15:02:37",
"content": "May 4th is actually the day in 1961, 60 years ago exactly, that the Freedom Ride started. Initially a small group, they were testing whether interstate busing had been desegregated, as previously m... | 1,760,373,097.866282 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/guitar-hero-robot-actually-shreds/ | Guitar Hero Robot Actually Shreds | Matthew Carlson | [
"Games",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"guitar hero",
"opencv",
"ps2",
"raspberry pi",
"robot"
] | Once a popular craze, most of the public has sold or stashed away their plastic video game instruments and forgotten the likes of Guitar Hero and Rockband. Having never been quite satisfied with his scores, [Nick O’Hara] set out to create
a robot that could play a Guitar Hero controller.
It would be easy enough to use transistors to actuate the buttons or even just a Teensy to emulate a controller and have it play the perfect game, but [Nick] wanted to replicate what it was really like to play. So after burning out a fair number of solenoids (driving them over spec) and learning on his feet, [Nick] slowly began to dial in his robot, Jon Bot Jovi.
The brains of the bot are a Raspberry Pi running some OpenCV-based code that identifies blobs of different colors. The video feed comes from a PS2 via an HDMI capture card. Solenoids are driven via an 8 channel driver board, controlled by the Pi. While it missed a few notes here and there, we loved seeing the strumming solenoid whammy rapidly on the strummer. All in all, it’s a great project, and we love the design of the robot. Whether played by a robot,
turned into a synthesizer
, or
recreated from toy pianos and mechanical keyboards
, Guitar Hero controllers offer many hacking opportunities. | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345586",
"author": "Hazem",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T05:25:12",
"content": "Nice project congratulations , How did he capture the video signal ? What hardware did he use for that? Did he use a camera or a video capture card as the article said ? What capture card did he used? And... | 1,760,373,098.072949 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/silicon-carbide-chips-can-go-to-hell/ | Silicon Carbide Chips Can Go To Hell | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"ieee",
"semiconductor",
"silicon carbide",
"venus"
] | IEEE Spectrum had an interesting read about circuits using
silicon carbide as a substrate
. [Alan Mantooth] and colleagues say that circuits based on this or some other rugged technology will be necessary for missions to Venus, which they liken to hell. That might seem like hyperbole, but at about 460C with an atmosphere full of sulphuric acid, maybe it isn’t such a stretch. When the Soviets sent Venera 13 to Venus, it was able to send data for just over two hours before it was gone. You’d hope 40 years later we could do better.
Silicon carbide is a semiconductor made with an even mix of silicon and carbon. The resulting components can operate for at least a year at 500C. This high-temperature operation has earned them a place in solar energy and other demanding applications. [Alan], with the University of Arkansas along with colleagues from the KTH Royal Insitute of Technology in Stockholm are building test circuits aimed at developing high-temperature radios for use in environments like the one found on Venus.
The Vulcan II chip they are testing has multiple test circuits including several types of analog to digital converters, an op amp, logic gates, and DC to DC converter and — perhaps in an effort to keep Hackaday commenters happy — a 555 timer. Between the two Vulcan chips, the team claims to have 40 silicon carbide circuits worked out.
The material has a much higher breakdown voltage compared to silicon so you can improve your voltage handling or make smaller devices that have better characteristics such as on resistance due to their smaller size. The thermal conductivity is also much better. But the real key, according to the post, is that silicon carbide has low carrier concentrations at room temperature. This doesn’t sound like a great thing, but if you are interested in high-temperature operation, it is. Silicon devices stop working at high temperatures because the extra energy floods the device and essentially turns it on all the time. That happens at 250 to 300C for silicon, but with the carbon added, devices can switch reliably past 800C.
Silicon carbide itself isn’t new. It was an accidental discovery in 1895 when a chemist tried to make artificial diamonds. By 1906 it was used to detect radio waves — the carborundum detector — which may make it the earliest semiconductor device, although silicon detectors were the first to be commercially produced.
We’ve looked at Silicon Carbide in
electric vehicles
. We’ve also seen it used in a non-semiconductor way when
melting glass
. | 75 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345563",
"author": "Steven",
"timestamp": "2021-05-04T02:25:52",
"content": "Awesome! I’ve hoped for a long time for another mission to the surface of Venus. Interesting post, thanks.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345564",
... | 1,760,373,098.707654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/ecg-project-with-all-the-messy-safety-details/ | ECG Project With All The Messy Safety Details | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"biomedical engineering",
"digital filter",
"electrocardiography",
"electrophysiology",
"IEC"
] | We’ve seen a number of heart rate monitoring projects on Hackaday, but
[Peter’s] electrocardiography (ECG) Instructable really caught out attention
.
If you’ve followed Hackaday for any period of time, you’re probably already somewhat familiar with the hardware needed to record the ECG. First, you need a high input impedance instrumentation amplifier to pick up the millivolt signal from electrical leads carefully placed on the willing subject’s body. To accomplish this, he used an AD8232 single-lead ECG module (we’ve actually seen
this part used to make a soundcard-based ECG
). This chip has a built-in instrumentation amplifier as well as an optional secondary amplifier for additional gain and low-pass filtering. The ECG signal is riddled with noise from mains that can be partially attenuated with a simple low-pass filter. Then, [Peter] uses an Arduino Nano to sample the output of the AD8232, implement a digital notch filter for added mains noise reduction, and display the output on a 2.8″ TFT display.
Other than the circuit itself, two things about his project really caught our attention. [Peter] walks the reader through all the different safety considerations for a commercial ECG device and applies these principles to his simple DIY setup to ensure his own safety. As [Peter] put it, professional medical electronics should follow IEC 60601. It’s a pretty bulky document, but the main tenets quoted from [Peter’s] write-up are:
limiting how much current can pass through the patient
how much current can I pass through the patient?
what electrical isolation is required?
what happens if a “component” fails?
how much electromagnetic interference can I produce?
what about a defibrillator?
[Peter] mentions that his circuit itself does not fully conform to the standard (though he makes some honest attempts), but lays out a crude plan for doing so. These include using high-valued input resistors for the connections to the electrodes and also adding a few protection diodes to the electrode inputs so that the device can withstand a defibrillator. And of course, two simple strategies you always want to follow are using battery power and placing the device in a properly shielded enclosure.
[Peter] also does a great job breaking down the electrophysiology of the heart and relates it to terms maybe a bit more familiar to non-medical professionals. Understanding the human heart might be a little less intimidating if we relate the heart to a simple voltage source like a battery or maybe even a function generator. You can imagine the ions in our cells as charger carriers that generate electrical potential energy and nerve fibers as electrical wires along which electrical pulses travel through the body.
Honestly, [Peter] has a wealth of information and tools presented in his project that are sure to help you in your next build. You might also find his ECG simulator code really handy and his low-memory display driver code helpful as well. Cool project, [Peter]!
Measuring ECG is something that is near and dear to my heart (sorry, couldn’t resist). Two of my own projects that were featured on Hackaday before I became a writer here include
a biomedical sensor suite in Arduino shield form factor
, and a simple
ECG built around an AD623
instrumentation amplifier. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345538",
"author": "NiHaoMike",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T23:09:07",
"content": "Use BLE for easy isolated communications. And if the power usage could be lowered enough, a small solar panel of the kind often used in garden lights can be used for wireless charging without the high E... | 1,760,373,098.505511 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/hoverboard-turned-heavy-duty-remote-control-rover/ | Hoverboard Turned Heavy Duty Remote Control Rover | Tom Nardi | [
"Toy Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"hoverboard",
"hoverboard motor",
"motorized",
"remote control",
"rover",
"wheel motor"
] | They might not be the hoverboards we were promised in
Back to the Future II
, but the popular electric scooters that have commandeered the name are exciting pieces of tech in their own way. Not because we’re looking to make a fool of ourselves by actually riding one, but because they’re packed full of useful hardware that’s available for dirt cheap thanks to the economies of scale and the second-hand market.
In his latest video, the ever resourceful
[MakerMan] turns a pair of hoverboards into a capable remote controlled mobile platform
perfect for…well, whatever you want to move around. Its welded steel construction is certainly up for some heavy duty tasks, and while we can’t say we’d ever tow a SUV with it as shown in the video below, it’s nice to know we’d have the option.
The project starts by liberating the four wheel motors from the scooters and carefully cutting down the frame to preserve the mounting hardware. These mounts are ultimately welded to the frame of the rover, with a piece of diamond plate screwed down on top. On the bottom, [MakerMan] mounts the two control boards and a custom fabricated 36 V battery pack.
He doesn’t go into any detail on how he’s interfacing the RC hardware with the motor controllers, but as we’ve seen with past hacks,
there’s open source firmware replacements for these boards
that allow them to be controlled by external inputs. Presumably something similar is being used here, but we’d be interested to hear otherwise. Of course you could swap the RC hardware out for a microcontroller or Raspberry Pi if you were looking to make some kind of autonomous rover.
Don’t have a welder or convenient collection of scrap steel laying around? No worries. Prolific tinkerer
[Aaron Christophel] put something very similar together
using bolted aluminum extrusion. | 20 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345509",
"author": "tekkieneet",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T21:15:33",
"content": "Those wheels are directly connected to the stepper motor shafts *without* additional bearings. Not what I would expect to see on a *heavy duty* rover.I have seen ghetto very *heavy duty* dolly cart bu... | 1,760,373,098.807843 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/teaching-a-usbasp-programmer-to-speak-tpi/ | Teaching A USBasp Programmer To Speak TPI | Chris Lott | [
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"Atmel TPI",
"ATtiny20",
"in system programming",
"isp",
"jtag",
"usbasp"
] | Last Fall [Kevin] wanted to program some newer TPI-only AVRs using an old USBasp he had kicking around his lab. Finding an “odd famine of information” and “forums filled with incorrect information and schematics”, he decided to set the record straight and
document things correctly
. He sleuthed out the details and succeeded in reprogramming the USBasp, although he did end up buying a second one in the process.
Designers who use AVR microcontrollers have no shortage of programming interfaces — we count at least five different methods: ISP/SPI, JTAG, TPI, PDI, and UPDI. We’re not sure whether this is variety is good or bad, but it is what it is. [Kevin] discovers that for the particular family of Attiny devices he is using, the ATtiny20, TPI is the only option available.
While he normally builds his designs around ARM Cortex-M chips, [Kevin] needed some glue logic and decided to go with an ATtiny20 despite its unique programming requirements. He observes that the price of the ATtiny20, $0.53 last Fall, was cheaper than the equivalent logic gates he needed. This particular chip is also quite small — only 3 mm square (a 20-pin VQFN). We would prefer not to use different MCUs and tool chains on a single board, but sometimes the convenience and economics steer the design in that direction.
If you’re not familiar with the USBasp, our own [Mike Szczys] covered
the breaking story over ten years ago
. And if you have a lot of free time on your hands, ditch all these nicely packaged solutions and program your chips using an old USB Hub and a 74HCT00 NAND gate as
described in this bizarre hack
by Teensy developer [Paul Stoffregen]. | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345469",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T18:46:37",
"content": "I solved this problem for the USBTiny and Raspberry Pi SPI programmers.https://hackaday.io/project/172310-usbtinyisp-to-tpi-adapter",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"co... | 1,760,373,099.091535 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/after-years-of-uncertainty-stratolaunch-flies-again/ | After Years Of Uncertainty, Stratolaunch Flies Again | Tom Nardi | [
"Current Events",
"Engineering",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"Burt Rutan",
"hypersonic",
"Scaled Composites Stratolaunch",
"spaceplane",
"SpaceShipOne",
"Stratolaunch"
] | When Paul Allen founded Stratolaunch in 2011, the hope was to make access to space cheaper and faster. The company’s massive carrier aircraft, the largest plane by wingspan ever to be built, would be able to carry rocket-powered vehicles up into the thin upper atmosphere on short notice under the power of its conventional jet engines. The smaller vehicle, free of the drag it would incur in the denser atmosphere closer to the ground, could then be released and continue its journey to space using smaller engines and less propellant than would have been required for a conventional launch.
But Allen, who died in October of 2018, never got to see his gigantic plane fly. It wasn’t until April 13th, 2019 that the prototype carrier aircraft, nicknamed Roc, finally got to stretch its 117 meter (385 feet) wings and soar over the Mojave Desert. By that time, the nature of spaceflight had changed completely. Commercial companies were putting payloads into orbit on their own rockets, and SpaceX was regularly recovering and reusing their first stage boosters. Facing a very different market, and without Allen at the helm, Stratolaunch ceased operations the following month. By June the company’s assets, including Roc, went on the market for $400 million.
Finally, after years of rumors that it was to be scrapped,
Allen’s mega-plane has flown for the second time
. With new ownership and a new mission, Stratolaunch is poised to reinvent itself as a major player in the emerging field of hypersonic flight.
Failed Partnerships
SpaceShipOne and its carrier aircraft.
Stratolaunch evolved from the research and development that went into the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne, which Paul Allen had funded to the tune of $25 million in 2004. Seeing the promise in air launched rockets, Allen teamed up with SpaceShipOne’s designer Burt Rutan to develop a carrier aircraft large enough to suspend a medium-lift rocket under its wings.
The design for the rocket itself was to be carried out by another company, and in 2011 it was announced that
SpaceX would develop a four or five engine variant of the company’s Falcon 9
booster that could be carried by Stratolaunch. But within a year, the partnership had dissolved. Speaking to
Spaceflight Insider
in 2015, then head of Stratolaunch Charles Beames said that the goals of the two companies simply didn’t align: “We were interested in their engines, but Elon and his team, they’re about going to Mars, and we’re just in a different place.”
There were other similarly short-lived agreements with various aerospace companies to develop a rocket-powered vehicle for Roc to carry, but nothing ever progressed past the concept stage. Eventually Stratolaunch realized they would need to develop both vehicles themselves, but with all of their funding and time invested in getting the carrier aircraft ready for test flights, little progress was ever made.
By the time Stratolaunch ceased operations and put their assets on the market in 2019, they only had one half of the equation. The carrier aircraft was built and tested, but it didn’t have anything to carry.
Flying Higher and Faster
A rocket that’s been carried out of the dense lower atmosphere by an airplane doesn’t need to fight against nearly as much drag as its ground-launched counterparts, and by optimizing the engine’s nozzle for the reduced ambient pressure at higher altitudes, overall efficiency can be increased. In short, it’s easier for the vehicle to build up the tremendous speed necessary to climb the rest of the way out of the atmosphere and eventually reach orbit.
But what if getting into orbit wasn’t the goal? What if you wanted to build a vehicle capable of sustained hypersonic flight? In that case an air launch would be ideal, as the scramjet engines used to power these aircraft only start to work when the incoming air is moving at speeds of around Mach 4. That’s why
previous hypersonic research vehicles like the NASA X-43 and the Boeing X-51 Waverider
were air launched from the wing of a B-52 using a small booster rocket.
The company that now owns Stratolaunch, Cerberus Capital Management, believes the Roc carrier aircraft is an ideal test platform for hypersonic technology. They’re currently developing an autonomous vehicle called the Talon-A which can carry customer payloads through the hypersonic environment and then glide down to a conventional runway landing. This would allow customers to test individual components, such as sensors and avionics, at Mach 5+ speeds without having to build their own vehicle to fly them on.
The Mach 6+ Talon-A would be
about the size of the Boeing X-37 spaceplane
.
As the 2,722 Kg (6,000 pound) Talon-A is far smaller and lighter than the vehicles Roc was initially designed for, up to three of them could be launched during a single flight. Each Talon-A would itself be capable of “ridesharing” several experiments simultaneously, further reducing the cost to the customer. When running at full capacity, Stratolaunch hopes to perform at least one such flight every month.
Reaching for the Stars
With increasing commercial and military interest in hypersonic engines and vehicles, Stratolaunch seems well positioned to capitalize on the next frontier of aerospace research and development. With the recent shakedown flight of the Roc carrier aircraft verifying the long grounded behemoth is still airworthy, development on the Talon-A will likely begin in earnest. The first test flight was previously scheduled for 2022,
but as with many large engineering projects
, it will likely get pushed back due to COVID-19.
The Black Ice spaceplane
Looking ahead, Stratolaunch still hasn’t given up on Paul Allen’s original dream of air launching orbital spacecraft.
The company has resurrected the concept for a reusable spaceplane that they were working on
before their 2019 acquisition, this time under the name Black Ice. Little is known about this craft other than the fact that it’s intended for cargo flights to low Earth orbit and that a later upgraded version could potentially carry human passengers.
Given their track record, more than a little skepticism is probably in order when it comes to the future of Stratolaunch. But if they can really develop their own hypersonic aircraft and perform regular research flights within the next few years, the next logical step would be to take their place among the new breed of commercial spaceflight companies that Allen always believed would be the future. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345441",
"author": "HackJack",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T17:09:48",
"content": "I have to admit that I got it mixed up with SpaceShip Two. They seem to serve a very similar purpose.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345479",
... | 1,760,373,098.864191 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/open-source-oxygen-hack-chat/ | Open-Source Oxygen Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"concentrator",
"Covid-19",
"Hack Chat",
"medical",
"O2",
"oxygen",
"pandemic",
"therapy",
"ventilator",
"zeolite"
] | Join us on Wednesday, May 5 at noon Pacific for the
Open-Source Oxygen Hack Chat
with Maher Daoudi and the OxiKit Team!
In such tumultuous times, it may be hard to remember last week, let alone last year. But if you dig back a bit, you may recall what a panic the world was in at this point in 2020 about the ventilator crisis. With COVID-19 cases on the rise and the potential for great numbers of patients needing intensive care, everyone and their brother was hacking together makeshift ventilators, in the well-intentioned belief that their inventions would help relieve the coming shortage of these lifesaving medical mechanical miracles.
As it came to pass, though, more COVID-19 patients have benefited from high-flow oxygen therapy than from mechanical ventilation. That’s great news in places where medical oxygen is cheap and easily available, but that’s always the case. We’ve seen recent reports of hospitals in India running out of oxygen, and even rural and remote areas of the developed world can find themselves caught without enough of the vital gas.
To meet the world’s increasing demand for high-flow oxygen therapy, the team at
OxiKit
has developed
an open-source oxygen concentrator
that can be built for far less than what commercial concentrators cost. By filtering the nitrogen out of the air, the concentrator provides oxygen at 90% or higher purity, at a flow of up to 25 liters per minute.
Oxikit founder Maher Daoudi and some of the technical team will join us for this Hack Chat to discuss the details of making oxygen concentrators. We’ll learn about how they work, what the design process for their current concentrator was like, and how they got past the obstacles and delivered on the promise of high-flow oxygen for the masses.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, May 5 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you tied up, we have a
handy time zone converter
.
Click that speech bubble to the right, and you’ll be taken directly to the Hack Chat group on Hackaday.io. You don’t have to wait until Wednesday; join whenever you want and you can see what the community is talking about. | 22 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345496",
"author": "Cbob",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T19:56:35",
"content": "The “HIPAA Sanitary Air Filter” is interesting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345505",
"author": "bobz",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T20:34:16",
... | 1,760,373,099.175652 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/i2c-paper-tape-reader-is-not-what-you-think/ | I2C Paper Tape Reader Is Not What You Think | Chris Lott | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"i2c",
"optical reader",
"paper tape"
] | We’re not quite sure what drove the development of this project, but [shapoco] has put together
an intriguing device that reads I2C signals
(Japanese Twitter link) which have been printed as black and white rectangles on paper tape. He wrote a program that prints an I2C byte stream onto strips containing the SCL and SDA signal patterns. Once printed, you cut the strips from the paper and glue them together into one long piece, making a complete message — in this case, commands to a small LCD screen that will display the phrase “Hello, Tape I2C”.
We’re not sure exactly sure what’s inside that rectangular widget epoxied to the bottom of that perf board through which the tape passes. But clearly, it must contain a pair of LEDs to illuminate the tape and a pair of sensors to detect the reflection off the tape (looking at the wiring, it seems unlikely that anything is mounted underneath the tape). According to one machine-translated Twitter message, detection is done using a Schmitt trigger made from an LM393 comparator with hysteresis (see
this TI app note
for a review of this type of circuit). Here’s a scope capture of the resulting signals. [Shapoco] notes that the circuit can operate much faster — the tape is being pulled slowly in the video to make it easier to see.
This is not [shapoco]’s first experiment in optical I2C communications. Check out the second video down below where he’s reading I2C signals from a computer’s display. One person tweeted about how software source code was sometimes printed optically in old Byte magazines many years ago, a topic we talked about in
Hackaday Podcast #049
last year when discussing Cauzin strips.
Besides just being cool, and possibly helpful as an educational device, does this technique have any real-world applications these days? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks to [Manawyrm] for sending us this tip.
紙テープI2C、動いた🌵
paper tape I2C
#shapolab
pic.twitter.com/9WYa2mxv0T
— シャポコ🌵 (@shapoco)
March 21, 2021
ブラウザから画面の点滅で無理矢理I2Cしてみた
#shapolab
pic.twitter.com/PQHOCMhLbP
— シャポコ🌵 (@shapoco)
March 16, 2021 | 26 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345393",
"author": "Voxnulla",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T15:13:58",
"content": "That is all sorts of glorious!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345394",
"author": "Tony",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T15:14:41",
"content"... | 1,760,373,098.930985 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/genetically-modified-mosquitos-biohacking-for-disease-prevention/ | Genetically Modified Mosquitos: Biohacking For Disease Prevention | Dan Maloney | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"News",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"Aedes aegypti",
"Disease",
"Florida",
"genetic engineering",
"GMO",
"malaria",
"mosquito",
"pesticide",
"transgenic",
"Yellow fever",
"Zika"
] | Many years ago, I took a summer trip to the Maryland shore with some friends. One of my buddies and I got bored with playing football on the beach, so we decided to take a hike on one of the many trails back into the wooded area behind the dunes. At the trailhead we noticed a prominent sign, warning about the presence of “very aggressive mosquitos” and not to enter without first applying ample insect repellent. We scoffed at the warning as only young idiots could and soldiered on, bare-legged and confident that we’d be fine.
About three minutes into our hike, a small group came pelting down the trail in a panic. “It’s true! Turn back!” they shouted as they flew past us. Undeterred, or at least unwilling to appear that way to each other, we pressed on, only to discover a few minutes later that we were making a substantial blood sacrifice to the next generation of mosquitos on Assateague Island. We couldn’t bear more than a few seconds before turning tail and running back to the beach and jumping into the ocean to get rid of the last few dozen bloodsuckers.
I learned a valuable lesson from that experience, as well as developing a deep and abiding hatred of mosquitos. It turns out I’m in good company — pretty much everyone hates mosquitos, which are not just a nuisance but can be downright dangerous to be around. But if tests with genetically engineered mosquitos currently underway in Florida turn out well, we may be able to finally turn the tide against mosquito-borne diseases, simply by killing all the females before they ever reach adulthood.
The Circle of Death
To call mosquitos a scourge to humankind is perhaps underselling their true health impact over the millennia. The world’s 3,500-odd species of mosquitos are notorious for their ability to pick up a deadly payload of viruses, protozoans, and even worms when they feast on the blood of warm-blooded creatures, potentially transmitting them to the next hapless creature that comes along. It is estimated that there are over 700 million cases of mosquito-borne diseases every year, resulting in a million or more deaths. A single mosquito-borne disease, malaria, has been such a prolific killer throughout history that it could potentially have killed nearly half of the 110 billion or so humans that have ever lived.
Ae. aegypti
life cycle. Source:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Mosquitos begin life as eggs laid in or near stagnant water. Dry eggs can survive for months; once exposed to water, they hatch within a few days. During their larval stage, mosquitos live and feed in the water. Within a week, the larvae enter the pupal stage, hanging just below the surface of the water as they develop into adults. The full-grown adults emerge two or three days later as they take wing and seek food and mates.
Both male and female mosquitos consume nectar from flowers and fruit, using the sugars for energy. The females, however, require a concentrated source of protein to produce a clutch of eggs, so after mating, they seek out a victim for a blood meal. Once the prey is located, the mosquito uses her mouthparts to saw into the flesh while secreting an anticoagulant in her saliva; it’s this exchange of fluids that carries the potential of transferring disease between parasite and host. A female may take several blood meals before accumulating enough nutrients for a clutch of eggs, which she lays in or near stagnant water before dying.
The semi-aquatic life cycle of most mosquitos seems like it would be the key to control of the insects and thereby, reduction of the diseases they spread. And indeed, a lot of the efforts of mosquito control projects over the last few hundred years have concentrated on eliminating or reducing mosquito-friendly habitats, by draining swamps and eliminating water catchments like tire dumps. Biocontrol using larvae-eating fish or introduction of bacterial spores that kill larvae have been tried, as have a host of pesticides, traps, and physical barriers, like thin films of non-toxic oils that kill mosquito pupae.
New Approach
Mosquito control is basically a numbers game, stacked in their favor. Since each female lays 100 to 200 eggs in a clutch, in wet climates, mosquitos are simply too prolific to get ahead of using standard means. Coupled with collateral damage to the environment — draining wetlands carries potentially huge impacts on a wide range of species, as does the indiscriminate use of pesticides — the search for new control methods with less harmful ecological side-effects has led to research into genetic methods of reducing mosquito populations.
The idea of genetically engineering insects is nothing new. The fruit fly
Drosophila melanogaster
has had its genome extensively modified for over 100 years, first using standard mating and crossing techniques and later using transgenic methods to insert, delete, and edit genes. The result has been a wealth of knowledge about how the genetics of higher organisms work, as well as models for human diseases ranging from diabetes to Parkinson’s.
But in general, transgenic fruit flies are simply model organisms destined to live and die in the lab. The concept of building a genetically modified insect for release into the wild is fairly new.
Oxitec
, the company behind
the planned releases of transgenic mosquitos
in Florida, has been working on the genetic control of a range of pest insect species since it was founded in 2002. They are currently on their second generation of genetically modified
Aedes aegypti
mosquitos, which is the insect that will soon be tested in Florida.
The mosquito, dubbed OX5034, has been genetically engineered to be self-limiting. Both male and female OX5034 mosquitos carry a synthetic gene that is lethal only to females. The plan is to release OX5034 male mosquitos into a wild population where they’ll breed with unmodified females. These females will take a blood meal and lay eggs that carry the synthetic gene. Only the male eggs in the clutch will develop into adulthood; the females will all die during the larval and pupal stage, which will eventually reduce the number of blood meals taken and the potential for disease spread.
Positive Feedback Turns Deadly
The details of how Oxitec has hacked the
Ae. aegypti
genome to achieve this level of control are pretty fascinating. The technique revolves around what’s known as a fusion protein, which takes pieces from two or more unrelated proteins and sticks them together into something new. In this case, the protein is called tTAV, or tetracycline-repressible transactivation. The tTAV fusion protein is essentially a nonsense protein, in that it doesn’t serve any useful biochemical function. But tTAV has a trick up its sleeve — it activates its own expression. Expression of the tTAV gene produces tTAV protein, which then binds to the gene to increase the production of tTAV. This positive feedback loop takes over the cellular protein production apparatus, filling the cell with useless tTAV protein and depleting the cell’s resources, killing the cell and eventually the organism.
The lethality of tTAV must be controlled, though, or it would be impossible to raise a population of insects that could survive to pass this trait along. That’s achieved by adding a small section of protein that binds tetracycline to tTAV. If the common antibiotic is present, it will bind to tTAV with a much higher affinity than tTAV binds to its own gene. That locks up the tTAV and keeps it from stimulating its own expression, breaking the positive feedback loop and allowing the insects to survive into adulthood. In the lab, tetracycline is added to the growth medium and food of OX5034 mosquitos, allowing the transgenic mosquitos to survive and breed.
There’s one more trait that has to be added to make this strategy work. To keep the modification active in the wild, tTAV lethal only to females. OX5034 relies on the fact that higher organisms often splice messenger RNA (mRNA) after it has been copied from genomic DNA. The spliced mRNA may have large sections of the original transcript edited out, or even have sequences from entirely different genes stitched together. The OX5034 gene has a sex-dependent splicing module added before the tTAV gene. In males, the OX5034 is spliced so that the gene for tTAV is never expressed, while in females, the tTAV protein is expressed in abundance, unless tetracycline is provided.
The OX5034 mosquito and how it works; briefly, male and females carry the lethal gene for protein tTAV, but it is only expressed in females, and only in the absence of tetracycline. Source:
United States Environmental Protection Agency
In the Field
Having created this controllable, female-specific lethal trait, Oxitec now plans to test it in the wild. The strategy is to produce a lot of OX5034 mosquitos in the lab in the presence of tetracycline so that the females survive. Once mated with the OX5034 males, the females get a meal of horse blood and lay their eggs. The eggs are collected, processed, and placed into special release boxes, which are deployed in the test locations. When activated with plain water, the release boxes act like incubators, allowing the eggs to hatch and the OX5034 mosquitos to start growing. In the absence of tetracycline, though, only the male eggs will progress past the larval stage.
Just add water — but no tetracycline. An Oxitec mosquito release box. Source:
Keys Mosquito Project
The OX5034 males quickly mate with the native
Ae. aegypti
females in the test area, who take their blood meal and lay their clutch of eggs just like normal. However, her eggs will all carry a copy of the OX5034 gene, meaning that all the females in the brood will be dependent on tetracycline to survive, and die in its absence. The male eggs, also carriers of the gene, will survive to adulthood, carrying the lethal genetic payload forward to another generation of wild-type females. Tests have shown that OX5034 males are less hardy than wild-type mosquitos and disappear from the population within ten generations, which is about six months. Long-term control of
Ae. aegypti
would obviously then require a continuous introduction of OX5034 eggs into the environment.
As with any pest remediation project, the OX5034 approach has its risks. Oxitec’s plan for the release has been reviewed by multiple regulatory agencies, including the
United State Environmental Protection Agency
, which addressed many of the concerns related to the novel insects. One of the most obvious concerns is the presence of tetracycline in the environment. The EPA is therefore ordering Oxitec to not release any OX5034 mosquitos within 500 meters of potential tetracycline sources, including citrus groves, where the antibiotic is used to fight a bacterial disease known as citrus greening, or sewage treatment plants, which may contain tetracycline that has been excreted by humans. Five hundred meters might not seem like much, but field studies show that the vast majority of
Ae. aegypti
individuals are born, live, and die within a 30-meter radius, and in no case has a mosquito been trapped more than 200 meters from release.
Another potential problem is tampering. The release boxes look a little like plastic coolers and seem like they could be tampered with easily. The company addressed this concern in the Florida Keys test by enlisting only private property owners, mainly homeowners, to host release boxes. The tamper-evident boxes will mainly be secured in fenced yards and will be monitored regularly by Oxitec employees.
As can be expected, the Oxitec release has garnered considerable attention, and not all of it is favorable. This is a new technology, and releasing any transgenic organism into the wild is something that needs to be done with all due regard to safety. But if the current Oxitec tests pan out, genetically engineered insects may be just the leading edge of a wave in innovation in pest control and disease mitigation. | 43 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345372",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T14:06:47",
"content": "I walked along side a wooded area on a Florida Gulf coast beach. No warnings and the trail was a vehicle path to allow people to get to a launch for their boats. I even had regular long jeans on. I didn’t go... | 1,760,373,099.260883 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/commodore-64-emulator-in-vr-delivers-a-full-80s-experience/ | Commodore 64 Emulator In VR Delivers A Full 80s Experience | Donald Papp | [
"Retrocomputing",
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"c64",
"commodore",
"commodore 64",
"retro",
"vintage",
"virtual reality",
"vr"
] | The simulated color CRT monitor looks surprisingly convincing in VR.
One way to play with vintage hardware without owning the hardware is to use an emulator, but
[omni_shaNker] announced taking it to the next level by using VR to deliver a complete Commodore 64 system, in its full glory
, complete with a native 80s habitat playset! This is a pretty interesting angle for simulating vintage hardware, especially since the emulator is paired with what looks like a pretty convincing CRT monitor effect in VR, not to mention a virtual 5.25″ floppy drive that makes compellingly authentic sounds.
The project is
hosted on GitHub
and supports a variety of VR hardware, but for owners of Oculus headsets,
the application is also available on SideQuest
for maximum convenience. SideQuest is essentially an off-the-books app store for managing software that is neither approved nor distributed by Facebook. Oculus is owned by Facebook,
and Facebook is keen to keep a tight grip on their hardware
.
As functional as the application is, there are still improvements and optimizations to be made. To address this, [omni_shaNker] put out
a call for beta testers on Reddit
, so if that’s up your alley be sure to get in touch. A video demonstration and overview that is chock-full of technical details is also embedded below; be sure to give it a watch to see what the project is all about. | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345329",
"author": "AW",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T11:47:35",
"content": "Nice.There is also this :https://www.emuvr.net/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345331",
"author": "Nitpicker Smartyass",
"timestamp": "2021-05-0... | 1,760,373,099.316895 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/03/keep-livestock-from-razing-your-field-with-an-overgrazing-shield/ | Keep Livestock From Razing Your Field With An Overgrazing Shield | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"animal grazing",
"harness",
"overgrazing",
"overgrazing problem",
"wood"
] | You know, not every solution needs to be complicated to be absolutely awesome. Take the humble clothespin, for example, two pieces of cleverly carved wood (or plastic; we won’t judge) and a spring. And yet, the service it provides is useful for many applications.
The same simple elegance is also present in
[Anteneh]’s overgrazing shield
. When sheep and other animals are allowed to eat the vegetation down to the soil, it leads to soil erosion if not kept in check with regular grazing location rotation. As it turns out, if you want to keep an animal from eating grass and plants down to the soil, just slip a leather harness over its neck with a piece of wood in the right place so it literally can’t graze any lower than the wood allows.
According to [Anteneh]’s prototype tests, it only takes a few seconds to fit the shield to the animal’s head and neck, and then they’re off to grazing to the prescribed depth. We think this is a great solution and hope to see it in wide use along with regular rotation.
Need a way to track your livestock?
[Sean Boyce]’s experiments with subcutaneous pig tracking makes for a good read
, but the reality of that system will probably have you looking for a simpler solution. | 49 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345261",
"author": "Invincing",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T08:25:29",
"content": "It will take about 3 seconds for a sheep to find out how to tilt the head and move the annoying obstacle to the side, thus preventing it from working. Also, any contraption like this attached to an unsu... | 1,760,373,099.409811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/soundbar-bested-by-virtual-android-bluetooth-sniffer/ | Soundbar Bested By Virtual Android Bluetooth Sniffer | Tom Nardi | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"reverse engineering",
"virtual machine",
"wireshark"
] | Out of the box, the Yamaha YAS-207 soundbar can be remotely controlled over Bluetooth, but only when using a dedicated application on iOS or Android. Users who want to command their hardware with their computer, or any other Bluetooth device for that matter, are left out in the cold. Or at least they were,
before [Wejn] got on the case
.
To capture the communication between the soundbar and the application, [Wejn] first installed Android-x86 in a virtual machine on his computer and then enabled the “Bluetooth HCI snoop log” within Developer Settings. From there, a
netcat
command running on the virtual Android device continually sent the contents of the
btsnoop_hci.log
file out to Wireshark on his Linux desktop. As he hit buttons in the Yamaha application, he could watch the data come in live. We’ve seen plenty of people use Android’s integrated Bluetooth packet capture in the past, but never quite like this. It’s certainly a tip worth mentally filing away for the future.
The Pi can now control the TOSLINK connected speakers.
From there, things move pretty quickly. [Wejn] is able to determine that the devices are communicating over a virtual serial port, and starts identifying individual command and response packets. It turns out the commands closely mirror the NEC IR codes that he’d previously decoded on a whim, which helped clear things up. Once the checksum was sorted out,
writing some code that can talk to the soundbar
from his Raspberry Pi media player was the next logical step.
[Wejn] combined this with the Shairport Sync project, which lets the Raspberry Pi turn on the speaker and switch the input over when he wants to stream AirPlay from his phone. But of course, the same technique could be applied to whatever source of digital audio captures your fancy.
This is one of those posts you should really read in its entirety to truly appreciate. While every device is going to be different, the basic principles and workflow that [Wejn] demonstrates in this project will absolutely be useful in your own reverse engineering adventures. If you’re more of a visual learner, we recently covered a
series of YouTube tutorials that cover sniffing BLE devices
that’s not to be missed as well. | 12 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345209",
"author": "Drone",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T06:48:38",
"content": "Seems like a hassle to emulate Android-x86 Dev Mode in a VM then sniff Bluetooth. Just plug a bootable copy of the Kali pen-test Linux distro on a USB stick into a machine and follow any number of examples ... | 1,760,373,099.461206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/active-suspension-on-a-diy-racing-car/ | Active Suspension On A DIY Racing Car | Danie Conradie | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"active suspension",
"f1",
"racing car",
"suspension",
"wesley kagan"
] | In automotive engineering, almost every design choice is a trade-off, like performance versus fuel economy, straight-line speed versus cornering, or strength versus weight. Inspired by controversial technology for the 2020 Formula 1 season, [Wesley Kagan] is fitting his DIY racing car with actuators to
change the suspension geometry while driving
.
The controversial technology in question is Mercedes’ DAS (Dual Axis Steering). By pushing the steering wheel in and out, the driver and change the wheel alignment to toe-out (wheels pointing outwards) for better cornering stability, or neutral for the straight sections.
Like many racing cars, [Wesley] used A-arm suspension on his racing car. By replacing the top arms with telescoping tubes with mounted actuators, the geometry can be actively adjusted. For this proof of concept, he used linear actuators but plans to move to a hydraulic system for improved speed and force. The length of the A-arms is sensed with ultrasonic sensors, while a potentiometer senses the suspension position.
Tuning the software for optimum performance will probably require some track testing which we hope to see in the future. This is not the first time [Wesley] has taken inspiration from a multimillion-dollar project and implemented it in his garage. Just check out how he converted a
Miata
and a
Harbor Freight
engine to a Free Valve system. | 14 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345195",
"author": "Vinny",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T02:47:06",
"content": "As a decades-long Formula 1 follower, this title is misleading: active suspension did existed on F1 in the mid-to-late 80s until it was banned for the 1994 season. 1992 and 1993 cars were the most technolog... | 1,760,373,099.511767 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/hackaday-links-may-2-2021/ | Hackaday Links: May 2, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"beaver",
"dragsters",
"fiber",
"hackaday links",
"isp",
"lander",
"mars",
"O Canada",
"prosthetics",
"rover",
"satellite",
"wood",
"Zhurong"
] | Mars is getting to be a busy place, what with helicopters buzzing around and rovers roving all about the place. Now it’s set to get a bit more crowded, with the planned descent of
the newly-named Chinese Zhurong rover
. Named after the god of fire from ancient Chinese mythology, the rover, which
looks a little like Opportunity and Spirit
and rides to the surface aboard something looking a little like the Viking lander, will carry a suite of scientific instruments around Utopia Planitia after it lands sometime this month. Details are vague; China usually plays its cards close to the vest, and generally makes announcements only when a mission is a
fait accompli
. But it appears the lander will leave its parking orbit, which it entered back in February, sometime this month.
It’s not an easy ride
, and we wish Zhurong well.
Speaking of space, satellites don’t exactly grow on trees — until they do. A few groups, including
a collaboration between UPM Plywood and Finnish startup Arctic Astronautics
, have announced intentions to launch nanosatellites made primarily of wood. Japanese logging company
Sumitomo Forestry and Kyoto University also announced their partnership
, formed with the intention to prove that wooden satellites can work. While it doesn’t exactly spring to mind as a space-age material, wood does offer certain advantages, including relative transparency to a wide range of the RF spectrum. This could potentially lead to sleeker satellite designs, since antennae and sensors could be located inside the hull. Wood also poses less of a hazard than a metal spaceframe does when the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere. But there’s one serious disadvantage that we can see: given the soaring prices for lumber, at least here in the United States, it may soon be cheaper to build satellites out of solid titanium than wood.
If the name Ian Davis doesn’t ring a bell with you, one look at his amazing mechanical prosthetic hand will remind you that we’ve been following his work for a while now. Ian suffered a traumatic amputation of the fingers of his left hand, leaving only his thumb and palm intact, and when his insurance wouldn’t pay for a prosthetic hand, he made his own. Ian has gone through several generations, each of which is completely mechanical and controlled only by wrist movements. The hands are truly works of mechanical genius, and
Ian is now sharing what he’s learned
to help out fellow hand-builders. Even if you’re not building a hand, the video is well worth watching; the intricacy of the whiffle-tree mechanism used to move the fingers is just a joy to behold, and the complexity of movement that Ian’s hand is capable of is just breathtaking.
If mechanical hands don’t spark your interest, then perhaps
the engineering behind top fuel dragsters
will get you going. We’ll admit that most motorsports bore us to tears, even with the benefit of in-car cameras. But there’s just something about drag cars that’s so exciting. The linked video is a great dive into the details of the sport, where engines that have to be rebuilt after just a few seconds use, fuel flows are so high that fuel lines the size of a firehouse are used, and the thrust from the engine’s exhaust actually contributes to the car’s speed. There’s plenty of slo-mo footage in the video, including great shots of what happens to the rear tires when the engine revs up. Click through the break for more!
And finally, in the most Canadian thing ever, hundreds of customers in the British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge
lost internet service thanks to a beaver
. According to service provider Telus, service to 900 customers was interrupted thanks to the rodent deciding that the fiber optic line was in the way of their dam construction. The beavers were certainly ambitious, since they first had to chew through the buried conduit before getting access to the fiber line, which they chomped in several locations. They also managed to incorporate some of the cable materials, including the warning tape buried along with the conduit, into their dam. Remember, folks —
call before you dig
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345183",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T23:24:52",
"content": "“The beaver broke my internet” is at least better than “My dog ate my homework”.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345395",
"author": "Ren",... | 1,760,373,099.548565 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/reverse-engineering-self-powered-wireless-switches/ | Reverse Engineering Self-Powered Wireless Switches | Danie Conradie | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"bigclive",
"kinetic energy",
"RF",
"switch",
"wireless switches"
] | The plethora of wireless communications technologies have cut the comms wire for many applications, but these devices still require power. For home automation, this might mean a battery or mains power, but there is also an alternative that we don’t see often: Kinetic power. [Bigclivecom] bought some
kinetic switches
from eBay and gave it his usual reverse engineering treatment.
True to the marketing, these switches do not require external power or a battery to send a wireless signal. Instead, it harvests energy from the magnetic latching action of the switch itself. When the switch is actuated, a small current is induced in a coil as the polarity of the magnetic field through its core changes rapidly. Through a series of diodes and resisters, the energy is stored in a capacitor, which is then used to power a small transmitter chip. The antenna coil is wrapped around the switch housing.
The receiver side is powered by mains and includes a relay output for lights. It would be really nice to have a hacker-friendly module for projects. We would be curious to see the range that these devices are capable of.
The same technology is used inside the Philips Hue Tap switch, of which
Adafruit did a teardown
a few years ago. If you want to learn more about RF modulation, check out the
crash course article
we put out a while back. Of course, the
RTL SDR
is an indispensable and affordable tool if you want to do some experimentation. | 30 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345157",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T20:55:03",
"content": "Interesting though I wouldn’t want something so insecure in my home. I’m sure there are peculiar situations where this is an ideal switch but nothing comes to mind.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,373,099.710552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/the-amiga-2000-you-always-wanted/ | The Amiga 2000 You Always Wanted | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"68000",
"68k",
"amiga",
"amiga 2000",
"commodore"
] | Back in the late 1980s, Commodore pulled the masterstroke of selling several models and generations of Amiga that were all powered by essentially the same speed 68000 and associated chipset. Sure, there were differences in the RAM and other options you could fit and later models had a few extra graphics modes. Still, the entry-level A500 did substantially the same as the high-end A2000. No matter, we the fans all wanted a 2000 anyway, though we typically found ourselves unable to afford one. It’s 2021 now though, so if you never achieved the dream of owning your own A2000,
now you can build one of your own
! It’s the task [Drygol] has taken on, with an A2000 made entirely from new components, save for a few salvaged Commodore-specific chips and connectors.
At its heart is
a beautiful recreation of the original PCB
that we’re guessing will be of great interest to owners whose NiCd batteries have leaked and corroded their originals. It’s all through-hole, but the sheer size of a motherboard still makes it a daunting prospect to solder by hand. There are a huge quantity of decoupling and ESD components that all have to be held with tape before the board is flipped over for soldering, and then all the chips are socketed. A Fat Agnes address generator was fitted on a RAM expansion daughterboard, leading to some significant problems as it proved not to be compatible and had to be removed.
The whole is put in a very low-profile PC case with appropriate risers for the Zorro slots, and then in goes a set of upgrades probably not seen in the same place since about 1993. We don’t recognize them all, but we can see accelerators, a floppy emulator, an HDD emulator using a CF card, and is that a network card we spy? This machine is still a work in progress, but we can guarantee it would have been an extreme object of desire thirty years ago. See it in action in the video below the break.
If rebuilding an Amiga interests you,
we took a look at the state of the remanufactured parts scene
for the platform last year. | 31 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345107",
"author": "NQ",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T17:13:34",
"content": "Way cool. I ran a BBS in my small midwestern town on the Amiga 2000 for 4 years from 1990 to 1994 using the C-Net software which in my opinion was the most configurable bbs software ever made for the Amiga. ... | 1,760,373,099.645402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/ingenuity-completes-fourth-flight-on-mars-gets-a-new-mission/ | Ingenuity Completes Fourth Flight On Mars, Gets A New Mission | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"helicopter",
"Ingenuity",
"Jezero",
"mars",
"mission",
"Perseverance",
"planetary",
"uav"
] | It’s the same on Mars as it is here — just when you’re getting used to your job, the bosses go and change things up.
At least that’s our read on the situation at Jezero crater, where
the Mars Ingenuity helicopter has just had its mission upgraded and extended
. In
a Friday morning press conference
, the Ingenuity flight team, joined by members of the Perseverance team and some NASA brass, made the announcement that Ingenuity had earned an extra 30 sols of flight time, and would be transitioned from a mere “technology demonstrator” to an “operations demonstration” phase. They also announced Ingenuity’s fourth flight, which concluded successfully today, covering 266 meters and staying airborne for 117 seconds.
Fourth flight of Ingenuity (circled), captured by Perseverance rover. Source: NASA/JPL
There are two main drivers of the mission extension. The first is that Ingenuity has achieved all of the technical goals set out for it in terms of proving that a helicopter can fly in the Martian atmosphere and operate autonomously. In doing this, Ingenuity has gathered a large data set that will inform the design of future UAVs for planetary exploration. But that alone would not have been enough to justify the mission extension. Ingenuity was always an add-on, designed to take up as few resources as possible from the primary mission of Perseverance, which is to gather samples in the search for ancient life on Mars. The plan was for the rover to stay near Ingenuity to support flight operations for 30 sols, then head out to the more interesting areas of Jezero crater to explore and gather samples.
But as it turns out, the area around Ingenuity’s operational area, known as Wright Brothers Field, is far more interesting to planetary scientists than originally anticipated, as revealed by Perseverance’s instruments. This presents the opportunity for the rover to stay put for now, get some sampling and science down, and still support Ingenuity’s now-extended mission.
We find this an exciting development, and we’re looking forward to the data and images that come from the now-overlapping missions of Ingenuity and Perseverance. To learn more about these amazing spacecraft, check out our deep dives on
the rover itself
and
its companion helicopter
.
[Ed note: NASA missions getting extended is almost standard operating procedure. The
Opportunity
rover was designed for three months, but ran for 15 years! The Hubble space telescope is
still
doing science. Why? It’s complicated, but
we’ve got something to say about it
.] | 50 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345088",
"author": "Rogfanther",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T15:20:18",
"content": "Yeah, typical. Management announcing changing of plans and schedules on Fridays. Corporate world has arrived on Mars.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_... | 1,760,373,099.799337 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/an-epic-quest-to-put-more-music-on-an-ipod-nano-3g/ | An Epic Quest To Put More Music On An IPod Nano 3G | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"flash storage",
"ipod",
"ipod nano",
"Rockbox"
] | While many would argue that the original iPod is the most iconic entry in the long and diverse line of digital audio players that Apple released over the years, there must certainly be some consideration for the third generation (3G) iPod Nano. It’s a device that was ahead of its time in many ways, and is still perfectly usable today, although
[Tucker Osman] does think it could stand to have its maximum flash storage doubled to 16 GB
.
Now, we’d like to tell you that he’s already succeeded in this task. After all, in theory, it should be pretty straightforward: just remove the 8 GB flash chip and replace it with a pin-compatible 16 GB version. But of course, this is Apple we’re talking about. Nothing is ever quite that easy, and it seems that at every turn both the hardware and software in the thirteen-year-old iPod are fighting the change.
It took several attempts before the original flash chip could be swapped out, but eventually [Tucker] and his friend [Wesley] got one to survive the operation. Unfortunately, all they had to show for their effort was an unhelpful error screen.
From here on out the assumption was that they were dealing with a software problem. Luckily the Rockbox bootloader had previously been ported to the 3G Nano, which helped get the ball rolling. The next step would be to patch the Nano’s firmware to accept the ID of the new flash chip, but after a year of work, it’s turned out to be a
bit
more complicated than that.
[Tucker] hasn’t given up yet, and is actively looking for anyone who’d like to help out with his quest.
He’s shared some information with a few like minded individuals on Hackaday.io
, and he’s also started a
Discord server dedicated to Nano hacking
. At this point, it sounds like he’s very close to actually reading data from the 16 GB chip, but there’s still a long way to go before the Nano’s firmware will actually play music from it.
Despite most people now using their smartphones to play music these days, we still see a lot of interest in upgrading and modernizing the iPod. From
replacing their original hard drives with micro SD cards
to
installing a Raspberry Pi Zero in place of the original electronics
, hackers are still infatuated with Apple’s legendary media player. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345140",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T19:59:44",
"content": "A year!? I admire his persistance.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6345186",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": "2021-05-03T00:37:45"... | 1,760,373,100.003035 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/02/pool-temperature-monitor-mollifies-fortunate-but-frustrated-children/ | Pool Temperature Monitor Mollifies Fortunate But Frustrated Children | Kristina Panos | [
"home hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"18650",
"adafruit magtag",
"ESP32",
"pool temperature monitor",
"PVC"
] | Who needs the city pool when you can party in the private pool over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house? No need to wait until Memorial Day weekend when it hits 90° F in the first week of May. But how can you placate grandchildren who want to know each and every day if it’s finally time to go swimming, and the pool itself is
miles away? Although grandparents probably love to hear from you more often there’s no need to bother them with hourly phone calls. You just have to build
a floating, remote pool temperature monitor
which broadcasts every 30 minutes to an Adafruit MagTag sitting at kid’s eye level on the refrigerator.
Between the cost of commercial pool temperature monitors and all the reviews that mention iffy Wi-Fi connections, it sounds like [Blake] is better off rolling his own solution. Inside the floating part is an ESP32, a DS18B temperature sensor, and a 18650 cell. Most of the body is PVC, except for the 3D-printed torus that holds some foam for buoyancy. A handful of BBs in the bottom keep the thing pointed upright. For now, it shows the water temperature, but [Blake]’s ultimate goal is to show the air temperature as well.
Maybe it’s still too cold to swim, but the sun shines brightly most days.
Why not harness its energy to heat up the water? | 25 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345046",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T10:34:33",
"content": "…and if the grandparents are getting a bit lonely they can hack the monitor by putting it in a bucket of warm water…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6... | 1,760,373,100.16449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/two-player-pvc-racing-rig-plays-daytona-usa/ | Two-Player PVC Racing Rig Plays Daytona USA | Lewin Day | [
"Games"
] | [
"daytona usa",
"PVC",
"pvc-pipe",
"sega"
] | SEGA’s
Daytona USA
is that big orange arcade racing machine you remember from the 90s that still seems to hang on in cinemas and pizza joints worldwide. Its controls may be floaty and physics unrealistic, but it’s probably the one racing game that almost everyone has played at one point or other.
[Tom Tilley] decided to build a PVC racing rig for the game during his travels in Thailand.
As a bonus, the lightweight rigs can be broken up and transported easily by scooter.
PVC pipe is used to whip up the frames for the budget simulator, inside which each player sits. Different sizes of PVC pipe and various adapters are used to create a basic steering wheel, to which a potentiometer is attached, while the centering mechanism is simply a rubber band. The pedals are built similarly and fitted with microswitches. The build relies on a cheap USB gamepad that mimics the typical PlayStation Dual Shock design, with the pot and switches wired in place of the existing thumbstick and buttons. A computer running the PC version of
Daytona USA
is then used to complete the setup, along with a projector for split-screen fun.
It’s certainly not a high-end simulator by any means, but for the price of some pipes and cheap controllers, [Tom] was able to create a two-player racing rig for a fraction of the cost to hire the real arcade machine for a weekend. The kids that playtested the system certainly seemed to have a good time, as well.
We’ve seen similar low-tech builds before, too – with impressive results
. Video after the break. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6345018",
"author": "captnmike",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T05:37:28",
"content": "I don’t do video games, but everyone seemed to be having a good time, so good job",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6345537",
"author": "To... | 1,760,373,100.264433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/coffee-cupping-is-a-grind-spectroscopy-could-brew-better-beans/ | Coffee Cupping Is A Grind — Spectroscopy Could Brew Better Beans | Kristina Panos | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"coffee",
"coffee beans",
"coffee quality",
"cupping",
"Near Infrared",
"NIR",
"pocket spectrometer",
"robot",
"spectrometer"
] | If you’ve ever bought whole coffee beans, chances are good that there was all kinds of information on the bag that led to your decision, like the origin, the roast type, and the flavor notes. Traditionally, coffee grading — that’s judging the aroma of both dry and wet grounds and slurping the coffee evenly across the tongue to determine the flavor profile — is done by humans in a process called cupping. To call it a process is too clinical — it’s really more like a ceremony performed with the grave sincerity that coffee deserves.
A traditional cupping ceremony. Image via
Kaldi’s Coffee
There’s an industry standard coffee flavor wheel, so
why not leverage that to make a robot that can remove the human bias and possible error of doing things the traditional way?
That’s exactly what
Demetria
, a Columbian-Israeli company is doing.
They’ve developed an AI platform that can determine bean quality
as judged by handheld scanners that were born on Kickstarter. The scanner uses near-infrared to look for biochemical markers in the bean, which it uses to match up with a profile backed by
the all-knowing coffee flavor wheel
.
Demetria is using SCiO scanners and a custom app to judge beans before they’re even roasted, which greatly speeds up the process but makes us wonder how green bean spectroscopy stacks up against roasted beans as judged by humans. You may remember the SCiO, a pocket-sized, connected spectrometer made by Consumer Physics that finally started delivering the goods a few years after funding. If you got your hands on a SCiO, you might like to know that
there’s an open project out there to hack them
. Sparkfun did a
nice, thorough teardown
, and it seems to be a well-engineered piece of hardware.
On the one hand,
cupping
is a
tradition
and thus may people feel that robbing coffee of this tradition will rob coffee of its soul. On the other hand, cupping is wasteful, as the coffee must be roasted and ground immediately prior to the ceremony and it requires the availability of Q graders who have been trained in the ways of coffee grading.
Want to know more about coffee production?
Might as well learn the Retrotechtacular way
.
[Main and thumbnail images via
Demetria
] | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344990",
"author": "Garth Bock",
"timestamp": "2021-05-02T02:15:14",
"content": "Water is very important too.Infact your life depends on waterYou see without water I can’t make coffeeWithout coffee…. well you can see where this is going…☕☕☕☕☕",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1... | 1,760,373,099.939468 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/this-bunny-reminds-toddlers-that-its-night-time/ | This Bunny Reminds Toddlers That It’s Night Time | Jenny List | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"children",
"nightlight",
"sleep",
"toddlers"
] | It’s easy to spot recent parents, they are the people who look as though they haven’t slept in months. Sometimes the little bundle of joy responsible isn’t even a babe in arms but a toddler; old enough to wake up and find their parents for some solace but not old enough to understand that not everyone is up for being woken at 3 am. [Eyal] approached this problem in some style,
by modifying a rabbit night light to indicate the time by changing colour
, reminding the youngster when it’s a bit early to be rousing the grown-ups.
The bunny in question is a plastic moulding, sold with a white LED providing illumination, This was removed, and replaced with a rather nice custom PCB sporting a ring of addressable LEDs surrounding a Wemos ESP8266 board. In the darkest hours of the night, it is lit as a soft red to indicate sleep time. When an appropriate wake-up point is reached it bursts into a vibrant light show of many colours. Thus the recalcitrant early-riser can be taught to give Mum & Dad a little rest through the medium of light and colour.
This isn’t the first kids night light we’ve seen, indeed
some of them have been rather elegant
. | 14 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344973",
"author": "Mr Name Required",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T23:41:26",
"content": "The ‘trick’ to making babies sleep is to take them outside for a short time in the early evening to see the sky, and sun setting. This helps with their circadian rythms and they sleep better. I s... | 1,760,373,100.391918 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/winners-of-hackadays-data-loggin-contest-bluetooth-gardening-counting-cups-and-predicting-rainfall/ | Winners Of Hackaday’s Data Loggin’ Contest: Bluetooth Gardening, Counting Cups, And Predicting Rainfall | Tom Nardi | [
"contests",
"Roundup"
] | [
"data analysis",
"data logging",
"environmental monitoring",
"machine learning",
"sensors",
"weather station"
] | The votes for
Hackaday’s Data Loggin’ Contest
have been received, saved to SD, pushed out to MQTT, and graphed. Now it’s time to announce the three projects that made the most sense out of life’s random data and earned themselves a $100 gift certificate for Tindie, the Internet’s foremost purveyor of fine hand-crafted artisanal electronics.
First up, and winner of the
Data Wizard
category, is this
whole-garden soil moisture monitor by [Joseph Eoff]
. You might not realize it from the picture at the top of the page, but lurking underneath the mulch of that lovely garden is more than 20 Bluetooth soil sensors arranged in a grid pattern. All of the data is sucked up by a series of solar powered ESP32 access points, and ultimately ends up on a Raspberry Pi by way of MQTT. Here, custom Python software generates a heatmap that indicates possible trouble spots in the garden. With its easy to understand visualization of what’s happening under the surface, this project perfectly captured the spirit of the category.
Next up is the
Nespresso Shield from [Steadman]
. This clever gadget literally listens for the telltale sounds of the eponymous coffee maker doing its business to not only estimate your daily consumption, but warn you when the machine is running low on water. The clever non-invasive method of pulling data from a household appliance made this a strong entry for the
Creative Genius
category.
Last but certainly not least is this comprehensive
IoT weather station that uses machine learning to predict rainfall
. With crops and livestock at risk from sudden intense storms, [kutluhan_aktar] envisions this device as an early warning for farmers. The documentation on this project, from setting up the GPRS-enabled ESP8266 weather station to creating the web interface and importing all the data into TensorFlow, is absolutely phenomenal. This project serves as a invaluable framework for similar DIY weather detection and prediction systems, which made it the perfect choice for our
World Changer
category.
There may have only been three winners this time around, but the legendary skill and creativity of the Hackaday community was on full display for this contest.
A browse through the rest of the submissions is highly recommended
, and we’re sure the creators would love to hear your feedback and suggestions in the comments. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344937",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T20:44:56",
"content": "Everyone should know today is “World Naked Gardening Day“, always the first Saturday in May (yes, really).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "634495... | 1,760,373,100.210727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/could-seven-gamers-play-quake-on-just-one-1996-sgi-machine/ | Could Seven Gamers Play Quake On Just One 1996 SGI Machine? | Lewin Day | [
"computer hacks",
"Games"
] | [] | [Linus Tech Tips] undertook a fun experiment a few years back. By running multiple virtual machines on a single tower PC with tons of RAM and GPUs, it was possible to let seven gamers play on a single rig at once. [CelGenStudios] found the idea intriguing,
and has theorised that the same feat could be possible on mid-1990s Silicon Graphics hardware.
The idea is to use the Origin 2000 server as the base. These didn’t ship with any form of video output or even a keyboard and mouse interface. However, by substituting in the IO6G module from the Onyx2 machine, and SI graphics cards from the Octane, it’s possible to get graphics and input up and running. With multiple graphics cards and a few CAD DUO boards installed via a PCI adapter called the “shoebox”, there’s provisions for up to four separate monitors, keyboards and mice. With all this hardware, it’s theoretically possible for four users to login to the X server running in the IRIX OS on the Origin 2000 machine. Then, it’s a simple matter of firing up four instances of
Quake
and a dedicated server and you’re up and gaming.
[CelGenStudios] goes so far as exploring the limits of the supercomputer-grade hardware, suggesting that 7 players or more could be possible. Unfortunately, SGI hardware isn’t easy to come by, nor is it cheap, even decades after release — so thus far, the concept remains untested. We’d dearly love to see such a setup happen at
QuakeCon
or a hacker con, though, so if you pull it off,
you know how to call
. We note
there’s a few Octane 2000s at the Jim Austin Computer Collection
, so perhaps they might be the ones to achieve the feat.
In the meantime, check out a practical exploration of the concept on modern hardware with the original [Linus Tech Tips] project. The basic theory is simple – create a hugely powerful PC, with a beefy CPU, plenty of RAM, and one graphics cards for each of the seven players. They run multiple virtual machines and managed to deliver
a full 7 player experience running off just one CPU
. | 46 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344895",
"author": "Doug",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T17:13:37",
"content": "Multi-head Linux was available over 10 years ago so what’s the big deal. HP even sold PCs pre-configured with multi-head support but only to 3rd world countries. ie they refused to sell into first world mar... | 1,760,373,100.344464 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/if-you-can-measure-it-you-must-display-it/ | If You Can Measure It, You Must Display It | Elliot Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"data analysis",
"data logging",
"newsletter",
"plotting"
] | When can you be sure that you’re logging enough data? When you’re logging
all
of the data! Of course there are exceptions to the above tongue-in-cheek maxim, but it’s certainly a good start. Especially since data storage on, for instance, an SD card is so easy and cheap these days, there’s almost no reason to not record most every little bit of data that your project can produce. Even without an SD card, many microcontrollers have enough onboard flash, or heck even RAM, to handle whatever you throw at them. The trick, then, is to make sense out of that data, and for me at least, that often means drawing pretty pictures.
I was impressed this week by a simple but elegant
stepper motor diagnosis tool
hacked together by [Zapta]. Essentially, it’s a simple device: it’s a “Black Pill” dev board, two current sensors, an EEPROM for storing settings, and a touchscreen. Given that most of us with 3D printers rely on stepper motors to get the job done, it’s certainly interesting to do some diagnostics.
By logging voltage and current measurement on each phase of a stepper motor, you can learn a lot about what’s going on, at least if you can visualize all that data. And that’s where [Zapta]’s tool shines. It plots current vs motor speed to detect impedance problems. Tuning the current in the first place is a snap with Lissajous patterns, and it’ll track your extruder’s progress or look out for skipped steps for you across an entire print job. It does all this with many carefully targeted graphs.
I was talking to [Niklas Roy] about this, and he said “oh check out
my hoverboard battery logger
“. Here we go again! It sits inline with the battery and logs current and voltage, charging or discharging. Graphs let you visualize power usage over time, and a real-time-clock lets you sync it with video of using the hoverboard to help make even more sense of the data.
So what are you waiting for? Sensors are cheap, storage is cheap, and utilities to graph your data after the fact are plentiful. If you’re not logging all the relevant data, you’re missing out on some valuable insights. And if you are,
we’d love to see your projects
! (Hint, hint.)
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
! | 16 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344852",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T14:05:22",
"content": "This is an absolutely fascinating topic to me, I would like to know what everyone else likes to use for visualising data.For example, I mostly use python+Qt or tkinter or matplotlib for displaying data ... | 1,760,373,100.451412 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/3d-printer-control-board-packs-a-raspberry-pi-compute-module-4/ | 3D Printer Control Board Packs A Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3D printer controller board",
"cm4",
"klipper",
"Octoprint",
"stm32"
] | Traditionally, 3D printer control boards have used simplistic 8-bit microcontrollers to command the stepper drivers and ultimately move the machine where it needs to go. Newer boards have switched over to 32-bit microcontrollers, but they’re still relatively limited computationally. Because of this, a Raspberry Pi running OctoPrint is usually used to provide more complex features such as remote management and live video.
Looking to combine these different devices into a single all-in-one board,
[pkElectronics] developed the Sigmoid S7P
. With an STM32 microcontroller, TMC2209 stepper drivers, a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, and plenty of room for expansion, it promises to be a drop-in upgrade for essentially any 3D printer running on an open source firmware that could be ported over.
An earlier concept for the Sigmoid
According to [pkElectronics], the idea for the Sigmoid had been floating around for several years, but never got off the ground due to the difficulties in dealing with the SO-DIMM interface used by previous iterations of the Compute Module. But with the
switch to smaller and denser connector for the CM4
, the board finally started to take shape.
Whether you just used it as a
convenient way to integrate OctoPrint into your printer
, or want to
get into something more advanced like Klipper
, the Sigmoid S7P looks like a very exciting project. [pkElectronics] says they are considering producing the board commercially if there’s interest, so if you
want one of these for your own custom 3D printer build
, let them know. | 51 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344808",
"author": "Laura",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T11:03:27",
"content": "Kind of a rough name, eh?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344812",
"author": "Arthur Wolf",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T11:13:58",
... | 1,760,373,100.541492 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/01/apple-picking-robot-stems-from-labor-shortage/ | Apple-Picking Robot Stems From Labor Shortage | Kristina Panos | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"apple picking",
"apples",
"gripper",
"harvesting",
"harvesting robot",
"robotic gripper"
] | Among all the job-related problems wrought by the pandemic, here is another one that comes as the result of people generally staying home: there are hardly any backpackers to do traditional transient backpacker jobs like picking apples. Researchers at Monash University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering found a way to fill in the gap by building
a pneumatic robot arm that can harvest an apple every seven seconds
at top speed.
A suite of cameras and algorithms look for fruit amongst the foliage and carefully remove it by gripping it gently and twisting, much like a human would. In order to do this, the robot must consider the shape of the fruit, the way it’s hanging, and where to separate it from the tree while keeping damage to a minimum. A suction system helps pull the apple into the soft, four-fingered grip and then the arm twists and turns to deposit the apple into the bin.
There are a lot of upsides to this robot, including the fact that it works in any lighting and weather conditions and can ID an apple in less than 200 milliseconds. The only problem is that this operation results in the occasional missing stem — a cosmetic problem that sounds nit-picky, but would definitely prevent some stores from buying the fruit. Well, that, and there only seems to be one of these robots so far.
There are two videos after the break — a short one that gives you the gist, and a much longer one that offers a view of the suction cup, which emerges from the middle of the fingers like a xenomorph’s little mouth.
Some readers may be wondering why apples are still picked individually when shaking harvesters exists.
“Shake-and-catch” tends to bruise apples
, making them undesirable for produce sellers, however, apples destined for juicing have no issue with being handled roughly by the harvesters
as shown in this fascinating harvest video
. Robot grippers are gentle and we’ve seen all shapes and sizes that are suited to a particular need. When the needs are more general,
rollers
or
squishy spheres
might be the answer.
Via
Fresh Plaza | 35 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344791",
"author": "fabien tuizat",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T09:19:36",
"content": "pommes gratuite??",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344923",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T19:38:05",
... | 1,760,373,100.61598 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/modding-a-casio-w800-h-with-a-countdown-timer/ | Modding A Casio W800-H With A Countdown Timer | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"casio",
"watch",
"wrist watch",
"wristwatch"
] | Stock, the Casio W800-H wristwatch ships with dual time modes, multiple alarms, and a stopwatch – useful features for some. However, more is possible if you just know where to look.
[Ian] decided to dive under the hood and enable a countdown timer feature hidden from the factory.
The hack involves popping open the case of the watch and exposing the back of the main PCB. There, a series of jumpers control various features. [Ian]’s theory is that this allows Casio to save on manufacturing costs by sharing one basic PCB between a variety of watches and enabling features via the jumper selection. With a little solder wick, a jumper pad can be disconnected, enabling the hidden countdown feature. Other features, such as the multiple alarms, can be disabled in the same way with other jumpers, suggesting lower-feature models use this same board too.
It’s a useful trick that means [Ian] now always has a countdown timer on his wrist when he needs it. Excuses for over-boiling the eggs will now be much harder to come by, but we’re sure he can deal. Of course, watch hacks don’t have to be electronic –
as this custom transparent case for an Apple Watch demonstrates
. Video after the break. | 28 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344771",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T05:18:57",
"content": "I’ve never bothered with countdown timers, too much effort to set them up.So if I’m timing something, I just use the stopwatch function. No setup, and I just need to check occasionally.",
"pare... | 1,760,373,100.682825 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/vga-graphics-card-in-74xx-logic/ | VGA Graphics Card In 74xx Logic | Chris Lott | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"74 series logic",
"8-bit computers",
"vga",
"video card"
] | Feeling nostalgic we presume, [Glen Kleinschmidt] set out to build a
640x480x64 VGA controller card
from discrete logic chips. If we ignore the 512Kx8 Cypress SRAM video memory, he succeeds, too — and on a very readable,
single page A3 schematic
. The goal is to interface some of his older 8-bit machines, like the TRS-80 Model 1 and the BBC Micro, but for now he’s running a demo using a 20+ year old PIC16F877 micro.
[Glen] provides all the schematics, Gerbers, and C source code on his website should you be inclined to reproduce one for yourself. He has three versions in the works, with various capabilities (there’s a table on his website). As an alternative, one could always use an FPGA or a custom-built chip such as the SSD1963 to generate video for these micros, but sometimes the urge to go retro is too great to resist. We get the feeling that for [Glen], this is a project unto itself, and being able to interface it to his 8-bit computers is just a convenient excuse.
This isn’t [Glen]’s first retro project, either. Check out his
analog computer “bouncing ball” project
we covered back in 2017. Have you struggled with the build vs. buy decision, and how do you decide?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYd5TKs_X8s | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344745",
"author": "RÖB",
"timestamp": "2021-05-01T01:44:34",
"content": "This is really well done. I like the timing domain fix U5 U6 U7. Bonus point do the raw SR latch U21.I kinda got freaked out with the 1 indexing U2 (P0).I done may of these in VHDL (yeah cheating) so I may ha... | 1,760,373,100.742647 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/looks-like-a-pi-zero-is-actually-an-esp32-development-board/ | Looks Like A Pi Zero, Is Actually An ESP32 Development Board | Donald Papp | [
"Crowd Funding",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"atmegazero",
"CircuitPython",
"ESP32",
"ESP32-S2",
"espressif",
"groupgets",
"micropython",
"pi zero"
] | ATMegaZero ESP32- S2, showing optional color-coded 40-pin header (top)
The
ATMegaZero ESP32-S2 is currently being funded with a campaign on GroupGets
, and it’s a microcontroller board modeled after the Raspberry Pi Zero’s form factor. That means instead of the embedded Linux system most of us know and love, it’s an ESP32-based development board with the same shape and 40-pin GPIO header as the Pi Zero. As a bonus, it has some neat features like a connector for inexpensive SSD1306 and SH1106-based OLED displays.
Being able to use existing accessories can go a long way towards easing a project’s creation, and leveraging that is one of the reasons for sharing the Pi Zero form factor. Ease of use is also one of the goals, so the boards will ship with
CircuitPython
(derived from
MicroPython
), and can also be used with the Arduino IDE.
If a microcontroller board using the Pi Zero form factor looks a bit familiar, you might be remembering the
original ATMegaZero
which was based on the Atmel ATMega32U4, but to get wireless communications one needed to attach a separate ESP8266 module. This newer board keeps the ATMegaZero name and footprint, but now uses the
Espressif ESP32-S2
to provide all the necessary functions.
CircuitPython has been a feature in a wide variety of projects and hacks
we’ve seen here at Hackaday, and it’s a fine way to make a microcontroller board easy to use right out of the box. | 34 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344516",
"author": "Owlman",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T11:05:31",
"content": "“With CircuitPython, there are no upfront desktop downloads needed. Once you get your board set up, open any text editor, and start editing code. It’s that simple.” – CircuitPython website.Right up until y... | 1,760,373,100.817083 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/an-arduino-with-a-floppy-drive/ | An Arduino With A Floppy Drive | Jenny List | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"arduino",
"floppy disk",
"retrocomputer"
] | For many of us the passing of the floppy disk is unlamented, but there remains a corps of experimenters for whom the classic removable storage format still holds some fascination. The interface for a floppy drive might have required some complexity back in the days of 8-bit microcomputers, but even for today’s less accomplished microcontrollers it’s a surprisingly straightforward hardware prospect. [David Hansel] shows us this in style, with
a floppy interface, software library, and even a rudimentary DOS, for the humble Arduino Uno
.
The library provides functions to allow low level work with floppy disks, to read them sector by sector. In addition it incorporates the
FatFS
library for MS-DOS FAT file-level access, and finally the
ArduDOS
environment which allows browsing of files on a floppy. The pictures show a 3.5″ drive, but it also supports 5.25″ units and both DD and HD drives. We can see that it will be extremely useful to anyone working with retrocomputer software who is trying to retrieve old disks, and we look forward to seeing it incorporated in some retrocomputer projects.
Of course, Arduino owners needn’t have all the fun when it comes to floppy disks,
the Raspberry Pi gets a look-in too
. | 30 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344487",
"author": "JWhitten",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T08:15:57",
"content": "I think you may have misspelled “corps of experimenters” there :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344663",
"author": "Hirudinea",
... | 1,760,373,100.972957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/this-diy-split-flap-display-does-both-time-and-weather/ | This DIY Split-Flap Display Does Both Time And Weather | Donald Papp | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"clock hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3d printed",
"python",
"raspberry pi",
"split flap",
"split-flap display",
"time",
"weather"
] | With little more than four economical stepper motors, a Raspberry Pi Zero, and a 3D printer, [Thomas Barlow] made himself
an awfully slick Smart Flip Clock
that can display not only the time, but also weather data as well. This is done by adding a few extra graphics to some of the split-flaps, so numbers can also be used to indicate temperature and weather conditions succinctly. Displaying the time has to do without a colon (so
5:18
displays as
518
), but being able to show temperature and weather conditions more than makes up for it.
32 degrees and a mix of sun and cloud
According to
the project’s GitHub repository
, it looks as though each split-flap has thirteen unique positions. The first ten are for numerals 0 through 9, and the rest are either blank, or used to make up a few different weather icons with different combinations. A Python script runs on the Raspberry Pi and retrieves weather data from
OpenWeather
, and the GPIO header drives the display via four geared stepper motors and driver boards. The rest of the hardware is 3D printed, and [Thomas] helpfully provides CAD models in STEP format alongside the STL files.
The basic design of a split-flap display is really quite versatile, and enterprising hackers have been putting delightful new twists on them for years. There has been
a split-flap display used as a kind of flip-book animation
, and we’ve also had the pleasure of seeing
an entire Tarot deck used for esoteric, automated readings
. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344486",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T08:06:30",
"content": "He’s made an effort, but the write up is terrible!* The schematic is incomplete (where’s the switch?)* There’s no indication of how to assemble the parts* How does he (does he?) find the home-point of ea... | 1,760,373,101.251057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/shipping-a-crt-lessons-learned/ | Shipping A CRT: Lessons Learned | Chris Lott | [
"how-to",
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"crt",
"IBM 5153",
"retrocomputing"
] | Old CRT computer enthusiast [x86VileR] recently tracked down an IBM 5153 monitor for which he had been searching several years. Unfortunately shipping a heavy glass CRT isn’t easy. In fact, it took [VileR]
three tries to get a functioning monitor delivered intact and working
. The first one seemed reasonably protected in its packaging, but arrived so banged up that the CRT had become dislodged inside the monitor and the neck broke off! The second attempt was packaged even better, and he was sure it would arrive problem-free. Alas, it too arrived all banged up and broken.
This one clearly had superior packaging, so I find it difficult to account for this truly stupendous level of damage. The most promising theory is that several people jumped on it simultaneously, just before the delivery truck ran it over. As my friend put it, it would’ve arrived in better shape if he had just smashed it himself before boxing it up.
Double-boxing appears to be the answer, although it might result in a box too large to ship depending on your courier’s rules. Short of building custom wooden crates, do you have any packing tips for shipping heavy and fragile items? Thanks to [J.R. Dahlman] for sending us the tip. | 75 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344415",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T02:06:09",
"content": "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt…https://hackaday.io/page/2466-another-ebay-horror-storyIt took “only” 2 ebay auctions to get one boatanchor in working state.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,373,101.085177 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/an-attempt-at-3d-printing-a-hybrid-rocket-engine/ | An Attempt At 3D Printing A Hybrid Rocket Engine | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printed rocket",
"hybrid rocket",
"rocket"
] | Liquid fuelled engines are throttleable and monstrously powerful, but highly complex. Meanwhile, solid rocket engines are simple and cheap, but once you light them, they’re going full-bore until burnout. Hybrid rocket engines offer perks from both worlds, with simple solid fuel and the ability to throttle down by regulating oxidizer flow.
Naturally, [Integza] decided he should try and 3D print one.
The build came about somewhat by accident, as the 3D printed casing of one of [Integza’s] liquid-fuelled rockets continued burning once the fuel was turned off. This prompted the realization that he could 3D print rocket fuel, and simply supply oxygen, creating a hybrid rocket. Thus ensued much experimentation, going so far as to create custom sugar-loaded resin for more power and experimenting with ABS as a potential fuel.
Most of the rockets self-destructed within a few seconds and thrust was minimal, but the basic concept should be a goer. As always, [Integza] is struggling with the thermal limitations of plastics, but we fully expect he’ll one day get to a flight ready engine.
His previous experiments show he certainly doesn’t give up.
Video after the break. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344404",
"author": "Comedicles",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T23:36:01",
"content": "The most fascinating thing to me about his work is that he does burning flaming rocketing experiments in an attic! I’m no safety warrior but I confess I find myself looking for the fire extinguisher. (... | 1,760,373,101.294628 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/rgb-led-rings-teach-old-dash-new-tricks/ | RGB LED Rings Teach Old Dash New Tricks | Tom Nardi | [
"car hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"canbus",
"dashboard",
"digital display",
"led ring",
"miata",
"RGB LED"
] | We’ve seen several so-called “digital dash” upgrades over the years that either augment, or completely replace, a vehicle’s original dashboard indicators with new displays. Whether its seven segment LEDs or a full-on graphical interface powered by the Raspberry Pi, the end result is the same: a dashboard that looks wildly different than it did when the car rolled off the assembly line.
But
this LED dashboard project from [Flyin’ Miata]
takes a slightly different approach. Rather than replace the analog gauges entirely, rings of RGB LEDs of the same diameter were placed behind their matte black faces. When the LEDs are off you’d never notice them, but once they kick on, the light is clearly visible through the material.
LEDs can easily shine through the gauge face.
So far, it looks like most of the work seems to have been put into the tachometer. The firmware running on the CAN equipped Adafruit Feather M4 can do things such as light up a dynamic redline based on current engine temperature. It will also light up the LEDs to follow the analog gauge as it moves around, which might not have much practical application, but certainly looks cool.
On the speedometer side, the LEDs seem to be used primarily as warning indicators. As demonstrated in the video below, the whole gauge can light up bright red to indicate a critical situation such as low oil pressure. If you wanted to, the system could also be configured with different colors corresponding to various possible fault conditions.
Compared to some of the more aggressive dashboard updates
we’ve seen, this is an interesting compromise that helps retain the look of the original instrumentation. Of course, depending on the make and model of the car,
you might be able to sneak in a small LCD screen
without anyone noticing.
[Thanks to STR-Alorman for the tip.] | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344463",
"author": "[skaarj]",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T05:56:43",
"content": "So I’m the only one obsessed with CRTs in dashboard.Cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344484",
"author": "Kelvin",
"timestamp... | 1,760,373,101.891099 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/a-50-cnc/ | A $50 CNC | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"stepper motor"
] | In theory, there’s isn’t much to building a CNC machine. Hook a bit to a motor and move the motor around with some lead screws and stepper motors. Easy. But, of course, the devil is in the details. [DAZ] made
a nice-looking and inexpensive rig
that probably isn’t the most precise CNC in the world, but it looks like it does a good enough job and he claims he spent about $50 on it. The video below shows some of the work it has done, and it doesn’t look bad.
This isn’t a rainy afternoon project. You’ll need to cut some wood and 3D print many parts. The drives use M8 threaded rod. Electronics is just an Arduino running standard software.
The steppers looked pretty light duty, and we wondered if it would have been worthwhile to trade them out for beefier ones instead of modifying the ones used for bipolar operation. Still, the results did look good for $50. The 775 spindle is another place you could probably spend a little more and get something better. Non-printed linear rails, and a better screw? The point is that you’ve got a basis to build from.
We’ve seen cheap CNCs made from
scrap
before. If you decide an Arduino is too low-powered for your CNC, try
going 32-bit
. | 63 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344333",
"author": "mark",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T18:51:23",
"content": "CNC is an initialism which stands for “Computer Numerical Control”, a collective adjective. It describes the word that follows it, differentiating it from, for example, a manual device. But if nothing foll... | 1,760,373,101.75652 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/look-out-below-chinas-heavy-lift-rocket-due-for-uncontrolled-reentry-within-days/ | Look Out Below! China’s Heavy-Lift Rocket Due For Uncontrolled Reentry Within Days | Tom Nardi | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"china",
"low earth orbit",
"reentry",
"rocket",
"space station"
] | On April 28th, China successfully put the core module of their Tianhe space station into orbit with the latest version of the Long March 5B heavy-lift booster. This rocket, designed for launching large objects into low Earth orbit, is unique in that the 33.16 m (108.8 ft) first stage carries the payload all the way to orbit rather than separating at a lower altitude. Unfortunately, despite an international effort to limit unnecessary space debris, the first stage of the Long March 5B booster is now
tumbling through space and is expected to make an uncontrolled reentry sometime in the next few days
.
The massive booster has been given the
COSPAR ID 2021-035-B
, and ground tracking stations are currently watching it closely to try and determine when and where it will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. As of this writing it’s in a relatively low orbit of 169 x 363 km, which should decay rapidly given the object’s large surface area. Due to the variables involved it’s impossible to pinpoint where the booster will reenter this far out, but the concern is that should it happen over a populated area, debris from the 21 metric ton (46,000 pound) booster could hit the ground.
The Tianhe core module.
This is the second launch for the Long March 5B, the first taking place on May 5th of 2020. That booster was also left in a low orbit, and made an uncontrolled reentry six days later. During a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s Regulatory and Policy Committee, Administrator Jim Bridenstine claimed that had the rocket reentered just 30 minutes prior, debris could have come down over the continental United States. Objects which were suspected of being remnants of the Long March 5B were discovered in Africa,
though no injuries were reported
.
China’s first space station, Tiangong-1,
made an uncontrolled reentry of its own back in 2018
. It’s believed that most of the 8,500 kg (18,700 lb) burned up as it streaked through the atmosphere, and anything that was left fell harmlessly into the South Pacific Ocean. While small satellites are
increasingly designed to safely disintegrate upon reentry
, large objects such as these pose a more complex problem as we expand our presence in low Earth orbit. | 57 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344692",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T21:49:49",
"content": "Historically China was the central Kingdom and all others were tributaries or barbarians, seems in the CPP this attitude has never changed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,373,101.394857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/an-led-heartbeat-display-you-can-wear-on-your-sleeve/ | An LED Heartbeat Display You Can Wear On Your Sleeve | Lewin Day | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"emotibit",
"heart monitor",
"heart rate monitor",
"PPG",
"pulse oximeter"
] | There are a few different ways to take a person’s pulse, with varying utility depending on the categories said patient fits in to. [Nitin Nair]’s method doesn’t really have a medical application,
but it’s certainly a neat example of what you can do with modern sensors.
The build combines an EmotiBit sensor platform with an Adafruit Feather and accompanying Charlieplexed LED module. The EmotiBit packs a PPG, or photoplethysmogram sensor, otherwise known as a pulse oximeter, which uses optical methods to detect changes in blood volume beneath the skin. From this data, a pulse rate can be derived, and the LEDs flashed with a heart graphic in concert with the rhythm of the wearer’s heart. The benefit of the PPG in the EmotiBit is that it can be worn on the wearer’s arm, or other location with suitable vascularization. This allows the wearer to place the sensor on the arm, and thus
wear their heart on their sleeve.
It’s a cool concept, and we’d love to see it neatly packaged with a smoothly animated fade as a sports accessory. It’d be an easy way to signal how fast your heart rate recovers on a run with friends – the device could brag about your fitness for you. Alternatively, if pulse oximetry isn’t enough for you,
go ahead and build an ECG instead! | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344676",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T21:03:21",
"content": "At the children’s museum here there is an exhibit that is some sort of bespoke circuit to count your pulse if you put one hand each on a couple of electrodes (brass cylinders on a durable handle). It is s... | 1,760,373,101.436563 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/homemade-edm-machine-moves-from-prototype-to-production/ | Homemade EDM Machine Moves From Prototype To Production | Dan Maloney | [
"cnc hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arc",
"cnc",
"dielectric",
"EDM",
"Electrical Discharge Machining",
"igbt",
"subtractive"
] | Of all the methods of making big pieces of metal into smaller pieces of metal, perhaps none is more interesting than electrical discharge machining. EDM is also notoriously fussy, what with having to control an arc discharge while precisely positioning the tool relative to the workpiece. Still, some home gamers give it a whirl, and we love to share their successes, like
this work-in-progress EDM machine
. (Video, embedded below.)
We’ve linked [Andy]’s first videos below the break, and we’d expect there will be a few more before all is said and done. But really, for being fairly early in the project, [Andy] has made a lot of progress. EDM is basically using an electric arc to remove material from a workpiece, but as anyone who has unintentionally performed EDM on, say, a screwdriver by shorting it across the terminals in a live outlet box, the process needs to be controlled to be useful.
Part 1 shows the start of the build using an old tap burning machine, a 60-volt power supply, and a simple pulse generator. This was enough to experiment with the basics of both the mechanical control of electrode positioning, and the electrical aspects of getting a sustained, useful discharge. Part 2 continues with refinements that led very quickly to the first useful parts, machined quickly and cleanly from thin stock using a custom tool. We’ll admit to being impressed — many EDM builds either never get to the point of making simple holes, or stop when progressing beyond that initial success proves daunting. Of course, when [Andy] drops the fact that he made the buttons for the control panel on his homemade injection molding machine, one gets the feeling that anything is possible.
We’re looking forward to more on this build. We’ve seen
a few EDM builds before
, but none with this much potential. | 42 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344640",
"author": "coldfarnorth",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T19:05:07",
"content": "I really have nothing other to say than “This is awesome!”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6352999",
"author": "Frank",
"times... | 1,760,373,101.595599 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/mice-develop-inside-an-artificial-womb/ | Mice Develop Inside An Artificial Womb | Kristina Panos | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Lifehacks",
"News",
"Science"
] | [
"gestation",
"mice",
"mouse embryos"
] | Well, it looks like those fetus fields from
The Matrix
(1999) just became a little bit more plausible. Although people-growing is probably a long way off,
mice can now mostly develop inside an artificial uterus
(try private window if you hit a paywall) thanks to a breakthrough in developmental biology. So far, the mice can only be kept alive halfway through gestation. There’s a point at which the nutrient formula provided to them isn’t enough, and they need a blood supply to continue growing. That’s the next goal. For now, let’s talk about that mechanical womb setup.
Carousel of Care
The mechanical womb was developed to better understand how various factors such as gene mutations, nutrients, and environmental conditions affect murine fetuses in development. Why do miscarriages occur, and why do fertilized eggs fail to implant in the first place? How exactly does an egg explode into 40 trillion cells when things do work out? This see-through uterus ought to reveal a few more of nature’s gestational secrets.
Dr. Jacob Hanna of Israel’s Weizmann Institute spent seven years building the two-part system of incubators, nutrients, and ventilation. Each mouse embryo floats in a glass jar, suspended in a concoction of liquid nutrients. A carousel of jars slowly spins around night and day to keep the embryos from attaching to the sides of the jars and dying. Along with the nutrient fluid, the mice receive a carefully-controlled mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide from the ventilation machine. Dr. Hanna and his team have grown over 1,000 embryos this way.
Full gestation in mice takes about 20 days. As outlined in
the paper published in Nature
, Dr. Hanna and team removed mouse embryos at day five of gestation and were able to grow them for six more days in the artificial wombs. When compared with uterus-grown mice on day eleven, their sizes and weights were identical. According to an interview after the paper was published, the team have already gone even further, removing embryos right after fertilization on day zero, and growing them for eleven days inside the mechanical womb. The next step is figuring out how to provide an artificial blood supply, or a more advanced system of nutrients that will let the embryos grow until they become mice.
Embryonic Ethics
Here’s the most interesting part: the team doesn’t necessarily have to disrupt live gestation to get their embryos. New techniques allow embryos to be created from murine connective tissue cells called fibroblasts without needing fertilized eggs. Between this development and Dr. Hanna’s carousel of care, there would no longer be a need to fertilize eggs merely to destroy them later.
It’s easy to say that any and all animal testing is unethical because we can’t exactly get their consent (not that we would necessarily ask for it). At the same time, it’s true that we learn a lot from testing on animals first. Our lust for improved survival is at odds with our general empathy, and survival tends to win out on a long enough timeline. A bunch of people die every year waiting for organ transplants, and
scientists are already growing pigs for that express purpose
. And unlocking more mysteries of the gestation process make make surrogate pregnancies possible for more animals in
the frozen zoo
.
In slightly more unnerving news, some have recently created
embryos that are part human and part monkey
for the same reason. Maybe this is how we get to planet of the apes. | 40 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344618",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T17:39:31",
"content": "Long term human hibernation for interstellar travel is currently impossible but keeping embryos on ice and gestating them artificially is increasingly possible.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,373,101.517981 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/hackaday-podcast-116-three-diy-lab-instruments-two-tickers-and-a-microcar/ | Hackaday Podcast 116: Three DIY Lab Instruments, Two Tickers, And A MicroCar | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys select our favorite hardware hacks of the past week. This episode is packed with DIY lab instruments, including a laser microscope, a Raspberry Pi spectrometer, and a stepper motor tester that can tell you what’s going on all the way down to the microsteps. We wax poetic about what modular hardware really means, fall in love with a couple of stock-ticker robots, and chat with special guest Tom Nardi about his experience at the VCF Swap Meet.
Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download
(~55 MB)
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
Google Podcasts
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
Episode 116 Show Notes:
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Stepper Motor Analyzer Reveals All
How Accurate Is Microstepping Really?
Paper Pi Is An Ergonomic Cyberdeck Meant For Thumbs
3D-Printed Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope Measures Microns
3D Printed Microscope Stage Offers Precise Movement
This 3D Printed Microscope Bends For 50nm Precision
Modding A Hot Wheels Car Into A Radio Controlled Drift Weapon
Scratch Build Of This Tiny RC Car Is A Handmade Fabrication Masterpiece
Build Your Own Bluetooth Notification Ticker
Chebyshev’s Lambda Mechanism – Wikipedia
Build An ESP32 Stock Ticker To Watch Your GME Gains
Pi-Based Spectrometer Puts The Complexity In The Software
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks
Texture Adds Stiffness To 3D Parts
Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Keycaps
Inputs Of Interest: The Differently Dexterous DataHand Directionalizes Digits
WSPR May Hold The Key To MH370 Final Position
Mike’s Picks
Woofer-Based Parts Cleaner Bounces To The Beat
Run Out Of GPIO On Your Pi? Don’t Despair!
Auto Ball Launcher Will Be Your Dog’s New Best Friend
Can’t-Miss Articles:
VCF Swap Meet Takes Step Back To Move Forward
Ask Hackaday: Why Make Modular Hardware?
The MacBook Pro 2016’s SSD has a data recovery tool for emergencies | 2 | 1 | [
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"timestamp": "2021-04-30T16:05:16",
"content": "Unable to download it, it says file not available.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344602",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"times... | 1,760,373,101.634021 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/airports-are-now-airbnbs-for-honeybees/ | Airports Are Now AirBNBs For Honeybees | Kristina Panos | [
"News"
] | [
"airport",
"bees",
"colony collapse disorder",
"honeybees",
"symbiosis"
] | In the summer of 2012, honeybees swarmed the Pittsburgh airport, probably because the conditions are favorable there. Like many airports, the tarmac is surrounded by wild, wide-open fields that exist to contain the cacophony. And a couple of nearby creeks are dotted with plenty of forage-worthy wildflowers.
Free honey? Wúnderbar!
Now, nearly a decade later, the airport is home to 110 colonies that house around 4 million honeybees
. And they aren’t alone. Several other US airports are getting in on the apiary action, including O’Hare, Sea-Tac, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
The relationship between honeybees and airports is a symbiotic one — the honey the bees produce is a litmus test for air pollution levels around the airport, which must fall within regulations.
German airports have employed bees as ‘bio-detectives’ for over twenty years
, and they give the honey away for free inside the terminal. It’s okay, though — analysis reveals that the hydrocarbon and heavy metal levels in the airport honey aren’t any higher than honey from non-industrial bees.
Given that
honeybees pollinate around $15 billion in crops annually in the US alone
, it’s a wonder that we aren’t doing everything possible to fight
colony collapse disorder
and other problems around the world. This mysterious issue has grown in the last few years, and
2020 saw highest death toll since 2016
. Colony collapse disorder aside, plenty of problems persist for our fuzzy friends — pests, pesticides, pathogens, and poor nutrition.
What’s the deal with bees, anyway? How do they fly?
Because they aren’t supposed to fly
. | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344594",
"author": "socksbot",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T15:58:48",
"content": "*AirBeeNBeeThat is all.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6344604",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T16:31:18",
"content": "... | 1,760,373,101.837231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/30/this-week-in-security-dan-kaminsky-banned-from-kernel-development-ransomware-and-the-pentagons-ipv4-addresses/ | This Week In Security: Dan Kaminsky, Banned From Kernel Development, Ransomware, And The Pentagon’s IPv4 Addresses | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"Drupal",
"ipv4",
"ransomware",
"This Week in Security"
] | This week we’re starting off with a somber note, as
Dan Kaminsky passed at only 42
, of diabetic ketoacidosis. Dan made a name for himself by noticing a weakness in DNS response verification that could allow attackers to poison a target DNS resolver’s cache. A theoretical attack was known, where spoofed DNS responses could collide with requests, but Time-To-Live values meant that DNS requests only go out once per eight hours or so.
The breakthrough was realizing
that the TTL limitation could be bypassed by requesting bogus subdomains, and aiming the spoofed responses at those requests. This simple technique transformed a theoretical attack that would take 87 years to a very real 10 second attack. Check out the period video after the break, where Dan talked about his efforts in getting the problem fixed.
What may be the most impressive piece of work is how many different vendors and maintainers he convinced to cooperate while keeping the vulnerability quiet. Because of the seriousness of the problem, the decision was made to wait to publish details an additional 30 days after the coordinated patch release. It took 13 days for the vulnerability to leak, but that still gave the world enough time to prevent major problems.
Throughout his life, Dan always had a “go out and fix it” mentality that was an inspiration to others. Half of the reason that we have DNSSEC today is because of Dan’s tenacious behind-the-scenes lobbying. He was a force for good, and a hacker’s hacker.
University of Minnesota Banned From Linux
A story has been percolating for a while, and it finally resulted in
a full ban on kernel patches sent from anyone at the University of Minnesota
. This extreme step is the result of known-bad patches being sent for inclusion in the kernel. The original idea was to test whether a the kernel would be susceptible to a bad actor sending in a malicious patch, disguised as a fix.
A paper was written
about the test. Their suggested fixes don’t inspire confidence, particularly since they start off by recommending an addition to a project’s Code of Conduct, adding a promise not to push malicious code.
The paper was published back in 2020, but the ban just happened over a week ago. Why? Months after the initial incident was dealt with, suspicious patches start arriving again from the same university. The explanation was that these new patches were being generated by a new code analysis tool, but they seemed to be introducing new bugs instead of actually fixing them. Greg KH made the call that enough maintainer time had been wasted dealing with the patches, and announced the ban. My opinions are mixed. There is a certain utility in testing the kernel community against this sort of attack, but it also seems to be the right call to drop the hammer on repeated bad behavior.
The End of Emotet
Emotet was described by Europol as “the world’s most dangerous malware”. The US DOJ estimates
1.6 million machines were part of this botnet
, but thanks to a global law enforcement action,
it is no more
. To get a sense of the size of the operation to take down Emotet, note that the number of Command and Control (C2) servers that had to be
taken off-line numbered in the hundreds
. The law enforcement action neutered the botnet, but there was still the problem of the malware still installed and running on machines around the world.
The solution was to host a set of C2 servers that pushed a new module to all the infected. On April 25th, this uninstall module would remove the autorun hooks, and shut down any Emotet processes on each infected machine. That process seems to have gone off without a hitch, but there is still cleanup work going on. Namely, 4.3 million email addresses were harvested from infected machines, and were found on the seized servers. Law enforcement has partnered with our old friend,
[Troy Hunt] of HIBP
, and those emails are now part of that service’s database.
Ransomware
It’s been a busy few weeks for Ransomware news. Apple is dealing with a
$50 million ransomware demand
.
Acer is also facing a similar demand
from the same group, REvil. In the case of Apple, the actual breach seems to have been in systems owned by Quanta, one of Apple’s suppliers. It’s been suggested that REvil is using the recent Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities to get access into target networks.
QNAP devices have been hit hard, too. We’ve covered some of the vulnerabilities, but
ransomware schemes are actively hitting the unpatched NAS devices
exposed to the internet.
Qlocker is one attack that is notable for its simplicity
. The attackers simply ran a remote command using 7zip to generate password protected archives, and it looks like they made almost $300,000 in just a week of malicious business. A hero emerged out of the story, when [Jack Cable] tried to help a friend get data back, and
discovered a vulnerability in the criminal payment system
. Using the transaction ID, but with a character shifted to uppercase, was enough to confuse the system into giving up the decryption key. About 50 victims got their data back through this trick, before it was caught and fixed.
The Mystery of the Pentagon’s IPv4 addresses
The Washington Post kicked off coverage of a unique developing story.
Millions of unused IPv4 addresses assigned to the US DoD
were suddenly being routed for the first time. (Beware the paywall, though turning off Javascript temporarily might help you read the linked story.) The story makes much of the timing, as the routing seemed to be published in the few minutes between the swearing in of one president, and the actual end of the previous administration. My first response was annoyance that politics had been injected into what was likely a straightforward security story. It seemed that the Post was trying to find a sensational story to run. But the timing really was odd. So what’s going on here?
So first, let’s review some context. The world is running out of IPv4 addresses — has already run out, depending on how you count them. While they have all technically been assigned, in the early days of the internet, some very large blocks of addresses were assigned, and were never fully used. An A class network contains 16 million addresses, and they were given out like candy in the early days, and the DoD has several. Next, it’s worth noting that congress has entertained the idea of compelling the DoD to sell off its unused IP addresses. As the supply has run out, unused IPv4 addresses can fetch quite a high price on the open market. The last notable tidbit is that just because nothing is actively using an IP address, there is still network traffic addressed to and from there. Various network worms and scanners are continually probing the entire internet, and DDoS attacks usually use UDP packets with random source addresses. The probes and response traffic can be a valuable source of real-time information on what’s happening on the internet.
There has been
coverage now by more knowledgeable voices
, and even a cryptic response from the DoD. The growing consensus seems to be a trio of explanations as to what is going on. The first is the simplest. IP squatting has been known to happen, and if no one is announcing the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes for an IP space, it’s much easier to illicitly make use of addresses. By claiming the IPs over BGP, the DoD is protecting those IPs. Second, it’s much easier to defend against a congress wanting to strip resources away, if you can make a valid claim you’re using those resources. And finally, it does appear that some part of the DoD is doing analytics on the Internet background noise and backscatter being received by the otherwise unused network space.
There’s one final question: Why was the project kicked off at the literal last minutes of an administration? Was this some sort of sordid plot? Not likely. A project of this magnitude would take quite some time to go from the initial idea to implementation, and would likely need to be signed off by high level administration. While I’m not sure why the switch was flipped quite as late as it was, I find it very likely that had it been any later, much of the red tape would have to be waded through a second time, and the new administration would need to sign off on it.
Drupal Core Flaw
We cover flaws in Drupal extensions, WordPress plugins, and Joomla add-ons. What is fairly rare is a serious vulnerability in the core code of one of these projects. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen. Case in point,
Drupal has a Cross Site Scripting vulnerability in its core code
. XSS usually shows up as a way for one user to inject javascript in a comment, that is executed when other users visit the site. This can be as benign as one user suddenly becoming the most friended account on myspace, or as malicious as a comment making the commenter an administrator when the site owner tries to moderate the trapped comment. There aren’t many details available about this one yet, but make sure your Drupal installs are up to date.
New Old Linux Backdoor
Last up this week,
a bit of Linux malware was discovered
, and then was found in a file submission from 2018. Dubbed RotaJakiro,
this backdoor uses a handful of techniques to avoid detection
, like rotating through encryption methods when contacting command and control servers. It’s a bit unnerving to know that it’s been around so long without getting noticed til now. Thankfully, there are some simple Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), like a pair of file names, and four possible md5 sums for those files. I thought it would be interesting to document the process of checking a system for these files.
My first thought was a simple combination of
find
to list all the files on the system, and then
grep
to look for the filename.
sudo find / | grep systemd-daemon
We can make this better, by getting rid of the
grep
command, since
find
has built in name matching. For bonus points, we use
xargs
to go ahead and calculate the md5sum when a matching file is found.
sudo find / -name "gvfsd-helper" -o -name "systemd-daemon" | xargs md5sum
There is a potential problem, if folder names contain spaces or other special characters,
xargs
would see the special characters as a break between inputs. Thankfully, both
find
and
xargs
have a null delineated mode, where special characters are preserved. The escaped parenthesis are needed to specify that the
-print0
flag applies to both of the specified name patterns.
sudo find / \( -name "gvfsd-helper" -o -name "systemd-daemon" \) -print0 | xargs -0 md5sum
I showed this one-liner off, and was immediately reminded that
find
also has an
-exec
flag, that makes the use of
xargs
superfluous.
sudo find / \( -name "gvfsd-helper" -o -name "systemd-daemon" \) -exec md5sum {} \;
So this gives us a simple one-liner that will calculate the
md5sum
of any file with a suspicious file name. If you get a match, compare the output values to the known IoCs. Hopefully none of us will find this particular nasty on our systems, but better to know. | 22 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344578",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-04-30T14:51:10",
"content": "” We’ve covered some of the vulnerabilities, but ransomware schemes are actively hitting the unpatched NAS devices exposed to the internet. ”I think I see the problem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,373,103.993042 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/alone-but-not-lonely-remembering-astronaut-michael-collins/ | Alone, But Not Lonely: Remembering Astronaut Michael Collins | Dan Maloney | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"News",
"Slider"
] | [
"apollo 11",
"astronaut",
"Columbia",
"Michael Collins",
"nasa",
"National Air and Space Museum",
"obituary"
] | With many of the achievements of the Space Race now more than half a century behind us, it’s no wonder that we’re steadily losing the men who rode the rockets of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs into space. They were all very much in their primes at the time, but no matter what you’ve accomplished in life, even if it includes a trip to the Moon, time eventually catches up to you.
Still, it was quite a shock to learn today that
astronaut Michael Collins passed away today
at the age of 90. Collins made his trip to the Moon aboard Apollo 11, the mission which would see his crewmates Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin descend to the surface in the Lunar Module
Eagle
and take the historic first steps on its surface in July of 1969.
As Command Module pilot, Collins had the difficult job of staying in lunar orbit, keeping
Columbia
aloft and ready for their return. While Armstrong and Aldrin were bouncing around on the Moon, Collins was completely cut off from human contact for 48 minutes out of every two-hour orbit. Collins was not the first man to visit the far side of the Moon alone — John Young had that privilege as his crewmates Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan piloted their LM to within 16 kilometers of the lunar surface just two months before on Apollo 10. And while there’s no denying his aloneness, Collins always thought hanging the “Lonely Man” label on the Apollo CM pilots was silly. He felt energized by his time in isolation and the knowledge that he was, at times, farther away from everyone else than any human had ever been.
Collins also always maintained that, far from being the “Forgotten Man” who was robbed of his chance to leave bootprints on the surface, he felt very much a part of what was going on 60 miles below him. He knew that the mission required the efforts of three men, and that he had to hold up his end of the bargain. He was so devoted to the mission that he took it upon himself to write a book-length manual of LM rendezvous procedures, describing what to do in the event the landing didn’t go as planned. He even considered what to do if something caused
Eagle
to make it to only a low lunar orbit, planning out how he would pilot
Columbia
down to meet and rescue them.
Happily, none of the contingencies that occupied so much of Collins’ thoughts in his time alone in
Columbia
came to pass, and the Apollo 11 mission completed successfully. The three astronauts would have their pick of assignments upon return, but Collins had made the decision before the mission to retire from NASA upon his return. Despite being offered a position that likely would have ended with getting his boots on the Moon as Apollo 17 commander, he felt that he had done his part in realizing President Kennedy’s vision and that his family had paid enough of a price already. He chose instead public service, first with the Department of State and later as Director of the National Air and Space Museum, which at the time of his appointment had not yet been built. He would oversee the construction of what would quickly become one of the most popular museums in the world, where millions of visitors a year file past his beloved
Columbia
.
All told, Michael Collins had an amazing ride through life, from West Point to test pilot to the Gemini program and eventually to the Moon and back. His footprints may not be on the Moon, but he certainly made his mark on history. | 21 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344090",
"author": "Leonard",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T22:19:35",
"content": "A hero.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6344092",
"author": "Tom Brusehaver",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T22:34:25",
"content": "If you ever... | 1,760,373,103.933802 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/winners-of-hackadays-earth-day-contest-solar-lic-auto-return-parafoil-water-flowmeter/ | Winners Of Hackaday’s Earth Day Contest: Solar LIC, Auto-Return Parafoil, & Water Flowmeter | Mike Szczys | [
"contests",
"Roundup"
] | [
"Earth Day Challenge",
"flow meter",
"high-altitude",
"high-altitude baloon",
"LIC",
"Lithium Ion Capacitor",
"parachute",
"parafoil"
] | Winners have just been announced for
Hackaday’s Earth Day Challenge
. We were on the lookout for projects that raise awareness of environmental issues and are happy to celebrate three top winners. Each have won a $200 shopping spree from Digi-Key who sponsored this contest.
Pictured above is
the Open Flow Meter
by [Eben]. The build includes sensors that are submerged into a river or stream to gauge the speed at which the water is moving. It uses a commodity plumbing flow volume sensor to help reduce costs, adding an Arduino and touch screen for reading the sensors and providing a UI to the user.
High-altitude balloons are used for air quality and weather sensing. To make those sensor packages more reusable, [Hadji Yohan] has been working on
a parachute recovery system
that automatically returns to a set GPS point. It’s a parafoil with auto-pilot!
Power harvesting is a fascinating and tricky game. To help ease the transition away from batteries, [Jasper Sikken] developed
a solar harvesting module that charges a Lithium Ion Capacitor
(LIC) from a very small solar panel. Based around a
100 uF
30 F capacitor, it uses an AEM10941 energy harvesting chip which includes Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) to utilize the solar panel as efficiently as possible. The fully charged module can output regulated 2.2 V and is aimed at distributed sensor packages that can be run without any battery at all.
Congratulations to these three top finishers, as well as
the b-parasite capacitive soil moisture sensor
which was named as a runner up in the contest. There were 72 entries in this challenge so don’t forget to
take a look at the entire field
, and leave a comment on the ones that catch your eye to let them know we all love seeing details of great builds! | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344080",
"author": "Stan. SWAN",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T21:50:02",
"content": "Whoops -the capacitor used is an astounding 100 Farads! Your account (somewhat understandably !) says a more normal 100 uF…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"... | 1,760,373,103.51122 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/lamps-double-as-secret-surround-sound-speakers/ | Lamps Double As Secret Surround Sound Speakers | Tom Nardi | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"lamp",
"LED lighting",
"speaker",
"surround sound",
"table lamp"
] | Combined with today’s massive flat panel displays, a nice surround sound system can provide an extremely immersive environment for watching movies or gaming. But a stumbling block many run into is speaker placement. The front speakers generally just go on either side of the TV, but finding a spot for the rear speakers that’s both visually and acoustically pleasing can be tricky.
Which is why [Peter Waldraff] decided to take a rather unconventional approach and
hide his rear surround sound speakers in a pair of functioning table lamps
. This not only looks better than leaving the speakers out, but raises them up off the floor and into a better listening position. The whole thing looks very sleek thanks to some clever wiring, to the point that you’d never suspect they were anything other than ordinary lamps.
The trick here is the wooden box located at the apex of the three copper pipes that make up the body of the lamp. [Peter] mounted rows of LEDs to the sides of the box that can be controlled with a switch on the bottom, which provides light in the absence of a traditional light bulb. The unmodified speaker goes inside the box, and connects to the audio wires that were run up one of the pipes.
In the base, the speaker and power wires are bundled together so it appears to be one cable. Since running the power and audio wires together like this could potentially have resulted in an audible hum, [Peter] only ran 12 VDC up through the lamp to the LEDs and used an external “wall wart” transformer. For convenience, he also put a USB charging port in the center of the base.
When speakers or surround sound systems pass our way, it’s usually because
some hacker has either made a set from scratch
, or has
added some new and improved capabilities to their existing gear
. This project may be a bit low-tech compared to some that have graced these pages, but it’s undoubtedly a clever and unexpected solution to the problem, and that’s a hack in our book. | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344053",
"author": "Misterlaneous",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T20:19:27",
"content": "While AC could induce a 60hz hum, a wall wart usually has extremely dirty power with lots of high frequency harmonics. It’d be better to run power up 1 pole and audio up another, to run AC to the sp... | 1,760,373,104.116982 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/clever-gas-mixer-gets-just-the-right-blend-for-homebrew-laser-tubes/ | Clever Gas Mixer Gets Just The Right Blend For Homebrew Laser Tubes | Dan Maloney | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"carbon dioxide",
"compressor",
"gas",
"helium",
"laser",
"mixer",
"nitrogen",
"volumetric"
] | [Lucas] over at Cranktown City on YouTube has been very busy lately, but despite current appearances, his latest project is not a welder. Rather, he built
a very clever gas mixer
for filling his homemade CO2 laser tubes, which only looks like a welding machine. (Video, embedded below.)
We’ve been following [Lucas] on his journey to build a laser cutter from scratch — really from scratch, as
he built his own laser tube
rather than rely on something off-the-shelf. Getting the right mix of gas to fill the tube has been a bit of a pain, though, since he was using a party balloon to collect carbon dioxide, helium, and nitrogen at measuring the diameter of the ballon after each addition to determine the volumetric ratio of each. His attempt at automating the process centers around a so-called
AirShim
, which is basically a flat inflatable bag made of sturdy material that’s used by contractors to pry, wedge, lift, and shim using air pressure.
[Lucas]’ first idea was to measure the volume of gas in the bag using displacement of water and some photosensors, but that proved both impractical and unnecessary. It turned out to be far easier to sense when the bag is filled with a simple microswitch; each filling yields a fixed volume of gas, making it easy to figure out how much of each gas has been dispensed. An Arduino controls the pump, which is a reclaimed fridge compressor, monitors the limit switch and controls the solenoid valves, and calculates the volume of gas dispensed.
Judging by the video below, the mixer works pretty well, and we’re impressed by its simplicity. We’d never seriously thought about building our own laser tube before, but seeing [Lucas] have at it makes it seem quite approachable. We’re looking forward to watching his laser project come together. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344029",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T18:37:20",
"content": "Very cool idea and device. But seems very much like unnecessary work to change bottle so many times. Why not add a solenoid for each bottle and get the mix done automatically.",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,373,103.558673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/vcf-swap-meet-takes-step-back-to-move-forward/ | VCF Swap Meet Takes Step Back To Move Forward | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"Current Events",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrocomputing",
"Slider"
] | [
"computer show",
"swap meet",
"VCF",
"VCF East",
"Vintage Computer Festival",
"Vintage Computer Festival East"
] | When computers were the sort of thing you ordered from a catalog and soldered together in your garage, swap meets were an invaluable way of exchanging not just hardware and software, but information. As computers became more mainstream and readily available, the social aspect of these events started to take center stage. Once online retail started really picking up steam, it was clear the age of the so-called “computer show” was coming to a close. Why wait months to sell your old hardware at the next swap when you could put it on eBay from the comfort of your own home?
Of course, like-minded computer users never stopped getting together to exchange ideas. They just called these meets something different. By the 2000s, the vestigial remnants of old school computer swap meets could be found in the vendor rooms of hacker cons.
The Vintage Computer Festival (VCF) maintained a small consignment area
where attendees could unload their surplus gear, but it wasn’t the real draw of the event. Attendees came for the workshops, the talks, and the chance to hang out with people who were passionate about the same things they were.
Consignment goods at VCF East XIII in 2018.
Then came COVID-19. For more than a year we’ve been forced to cancel major events, suspend local meetups, and in general, avoid one another. Some of the conventions were revamped and presented virtually, and a few of them actually
ended up providing a unique and enjoyable experience
, but it still wasn’t the same. If you could really capture the heart and soul of these events with a video stream and a chat room, we would’ve done it already.
But this past weekend, the folks behind VCF East tried something a little different. As indoor gatherings are still strongly discouraged by New Jersey’s stringent COVID restrictions,
they decided to hold a computer swap meet in the large parking lot
adjacent to the InfoAge Science and History Museum. There were no formal talks or presentations, but you could at least get within speaking distance of like-minded folks again in an environment were everyone felt comfortable.
A Promising Start
If you’re going to walk around a parking lot with your arms full of gear, the end of April at the Jersey shore isn’t a bad time or place to do it. The beautiful weather certainly helped the turnout, which by all accounts, was even better than expected. In accordance with the state’s current COVID guidelines, tables were kept a minimum of six feet from each other and everyone was required to wear a mask when entering the cordoned off area. These were simple and reasonable precautions given the current situation, and nobody had a problem complying with them.
It should be said that VCF held a similar swap last year, but given that it was during the earlier stages of the pandemic, it was a more low-key affair. Even still, enough people showed up during those uncertain times that the organizers were emboldened to do it again with a stronger advertising push. With the safety precautions in place, the improving weather, and the amount of time we’ve all been stuck indoors, far more people were willing to poke their head out this time around.
That said, I couldn’t help but get the feeling the organizers were hesitant to fully commit to the event given the circumstances. The only onsite amenity offered was a single portable toilet that became increasingly crowded as the day went on, and even the table selling official VCF merchandise wasn’t fully set up until later in the morning.
Keeping your overhead as low as possible for an experimental event like this is understandable, but getting in contact with some local food trucks would have at least made sure there were refreshments available for people who had been standing outside for several hours. A number of attendees also commented that a portable ATM would have been welcome, as they ran out of cash when it turned out there were more sellers than they had anticipated.
Old Meets New
While not exactly a complaint, several people I spoke to said that they were unsure what to expect when they showed up given the ambiguous messaging of the event. Naturally it had been advertised as the “VCF Swap Meet”, but it wasn’t immediately clear if vintage computers would be the
only
hardware on the menu. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the term “vintage computer” tends to have a different meaning depending on how many times you’ve traveled around the sun. Are we talking about Commodore and Atari, or blinkenlights and toggle switches?
In the end, the sellers that showed up offered a healthy mix of modern and classic computers with a sprinkling of electronic components and amateur radio. Older computers did outnumber the contemporary machines by a bit, at least partially due to VCF themselves operating several tables to offload their own surplus inventory, but there were enough bins full of modern video cards and SATA hard drives to even things out.
Undoubtedly, some people would have preferred the event to cater exclusively to vintage hardware. But a more balanced approach is far more attainable, and frankly, more likely to succeed given that it will bring in a larger array of buyers and sellers. Going forward, VCF should consider succinctly advertising the event as a generic computer and electronic swap meet with a classic computing theme.
Surplus computers and hardware from VCF.
Several tables were dedicated almost exclusively to radio tubes.
More VCF goodies.
Hookup wire and components.
A number of tables had an array of classic radios.
Many tables had a mix of old and new.
Laptops from various eras.
Even the Mac fans had something to be excited about.
Video cards and a sad little 3D printer.
Where else would you see an Osborne and a MSLA 3D printer on the same table? BTW, I now own one of these things.
I’m sure no incriminating data could be recovered from these drives.
Some lovely luggables.
Colorful caps.
A vintage electronics experimentation kit.
This relay board spurred a lot of discussion.
The CRT bar top arcade machine could have been yours for $20.
Coming Full Circle
While several notable events have tentatively scheduled dates for 2021, it’s far too early to say for sure if it will be safe to resume large scale indoor gatherings this year. We all desperately want things to return to normal, but the reality is, the threat of COVID-19 is still hanging over our heads.
With that being the case, I hope that other groups are inspired by the success the Vintage Computer Federation has found with their swap meet. It’s proof that, at least while the weather holds, not everything has to be done virtually.
If one European-style hacker camp can continue in the face of the pandemic
, then perhaps America’s version could be a
revitalization of the classic traveling computer show
. At the very least, here’s hoping that the VCF decides to continue holding these swap meets even after the coast is clear. | 44 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344002",
"author": "Jon H",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T17:18:33",
"content": "Y’all should have a Calendar page on the site to which organizations could submit events like this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344006",
... | 1,760,373,103.872783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/grinding-coffee-beans-the-machine-shop-way/ | Grinding Coffee Beans The Machine Shop Way | Kristina Panos | [
"Lifehacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"blade grinder",
"burr grinder",
"coffee grinder",
"flywheel",
"food-grade industrial light bulb"
] | Okay, so you bought a bag of heavenly-smelling single-origin beans down at the hipster coffee shop, but forgot to have them ground. What do you do? If you’re [Jimmy DiResta], there’s no way you can run down to Walmart and pick up a grinder for $15. You commune with your tools and spend a few hours building a grinder from stuff lying around in the workshop.
This hand-crank grinder would make a great post-apocalyptic appliance, as long as we still have a way to heat water. [Jimmy] started with an old manual abrasive disc grinder, like for grinding metal, not beans.
After oiling it up to run without a hitch, he pulled out a couple of conical gears and got to work mounting one to the grinder shaft and the other to the business part of a vintage industrial light fixture.
We thought for sure this was going to be a burr grinder, but were a bit disappointed to watch [Jimmy] drill holes through a utility knife blade in order to make a blade grinder. Honestly, we’re kind of surprised that he didn’t machine some burrs, but the result is impressive and lovely nonetheless.
We love that the whole thing quick-disconnects from the grinder thanks to a custom cuff that holds the light bulb just so, we just hope that [Jimmy] gave that light bulb a good cleaning first. Grab a cup of whatever and check out the build video after the break.
Not exactly your kind of shop?
You could always print an emergency coffee grinder
. | 31 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343980",
"author": "Charles",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T16:23:46",
"content": "yea, when i saw the beveled gear i too figured it was a burr grinder. A real barista would never use a shear grinder. But i agree it is a cool hack…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,373,103.629186 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/exploring-the-world-of-nintendo-3ds-homebrew/ | Exploring The World Of Nintendo 3DS Homebrew | Tom Nardi | [
"Featured",
"handhelds hacks",
"Interest",
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Slider",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"console hacking",
"console modding",
"custom firmware",
"emulation",
"homebrew",
"nintendo",
"Nintendo 3DS",
"Retroarch"
] | When Nintendo officially ended production of the 3DS in September 2020, it wasn’t exactly a surprise. For one thing, some variation of the handheld system had been on the market since 2011. Which is not to say the product line had become stagnant: the system received a considerable mid-generation refresh, and there was even a more affordable variant introduced that dropped the eponymous stereoscopic 3D effect, but nearly a decade is still a fairly long life in the gaming industry. Of course Nintendo’s focus on the Switch, a hybrid device that blurs the line between console and handheld games, undoubtedly played a part in the decision to retire what could effectively be seen as a competing product.
While putting the 3DS out to pasture might have been the logical business move, a quick check on eBay seems to tell a different story. Whether it’s COVID keeping people indoors and increasing the demand for at-home entertainment, or the incredible library of classic and modern games the system has access to, the fact is that a used 3DS in good condition is worth more today than it was when it was brand new on the shelf this time last year.
I’ve certainly made more expensive mistakes.
In short, this was the
worst
possible time for me to decide that I finally wanted to buy a 3DS. Then one day I noticed the average price for a Japanese model was far lower than that of its American counterpart. I knew the hardware was identical, but could the firmware be changed?
An evening’s worth of research told me the swap was indeed possible, but inadvisable due to the difficulty and potential for unexpected behavior. Of course, that’s never stopped me before.
So after waiting the better part of a month for my mint condition 3DS to arrive from the land of the rising sun, I set out to explore the wide and wonderful world of Nintendo 3DS hacking.
Joining The Fun
Here’s the best part about homebrew on the 3DS: every version of the hardware, no matter what region it’s from or what firmware version it’s running, can be hacked with just an SD card and some open source software. What’s more, since Nintendo has now moved on to bigger and better things, it’s fair to assume that the community has won. There’s no new hardware revision coming, and even if Nintendo felt inclined to push out another firmware update just to confound anyone running unofficial software on their 3DS, there’s no way they could force you to install it. It’s a party, and everyone’s invited.
The first step down the rabbit hole.
There are various exploits that can be used depending on the current firmware your 3DS is running, but the easiest and most expedient method of getting your 3DS running non-Nintendo software is through a vulnerability in the system’s Internet browser. With the appropriate files on the SD card, you just need to point the 3DS browser at a specific URL to trigger the exploit. Thanks to the browser’s ability to read QR codes, you don’t even need to type it in: just scan the special code, and you’re on the way to homebrew nirvana.
To be clear, there’s still quite a bit more you need to do. Getting the files on your SD card and triggering the exploit is only the first phase. Before it’s all said and done you’ll need to restart the 3DS a few times, put more files on the SD card, and install a number of programs on the system. None of it’s
difficult
, but there are a dizzying number of steps and it would be easy to get lost without a good guide.
Thankfully, members of 3DS community have
produced some of the most comprehensive and user friendly documentation I’ve ever seen
. The guide they’ve created walks you through each step of the process in exacting detail, and as long as you don’t skip any steps, in the end your system will be loaded up with the latest version of the Luma3DS custom firmware.
Unlocked Potential
Homebrew software installed in Luma3DS
Personally, when I hear the term custom firmware I think of something like DD-WRT or
Aaron Christophel’s work with Xiaomi Bluetooth thermometers
. In other words, firmware replacements that leave you with essentially a completely different device. So part of me was surprised when I rebooted my system into Luma3DS and everything appeared to be exactly the same. I even wondered for a minute or two if I’d done something wrong.
After a closer look at the project’s GitHub repository, the situation became clearer. While the community refers to it as a custom firmware, it would be more accurate to say that Luma3DS patches the system’s stock firmware to enable an extended feature set. A major part of that is enabling the user to install and run non-Nintendo applications, but there’s also a system menu, accessed with a special button combination, that lets you tweak more advanced settings.
With Luma3DS installed, the 3DS retains 100% of its original functionality. You can still play all your games, connect to the eShop to download new titles, and play online with others. It’s apparently even safe to install an official firmware update with it installed, though again, it’s unlikely any more of those are coming down the pike.
Getting the Goods
Generally speaking, 3DS software comes in two distinct forms. Smaller tools and programs are likely to be offered as a
.3dsx
file, which is a self-contained executable that you can run through a tool called
Homebrew Launcher
that gets installed along with Luma3DS. This works well enough for one-off applications, but can become annoying as it takes several steps to start the software from a cold boot.
The alternative, preferred for larger and more complex pieces of software, is the CTR Importable Archive (CIA) or
.cia
file. These archives contain not only the software itself, but the necessary metadata to actually install them as if they were an official game or application downloaded from the Nintendo eShop. Since software installed via CIA appears on the 3DS’s main menu, it’s much faster and easier to access than going through the
Homebrew Launcher
first.
prboom for the 3DS
But there’s a catch. Installing a CIA file isn’t as easy as just dragging and dropping it onto the system’s SD card. The archive needs to be properly unpacked by a so-called title manager, the most popular of which is known as FBI and runs on the 3DS itself. Once unpacked and installed, the original CIA file can be deleted, as otherwise each application would end up taking up twice as much space as necessary on the SD card.
It’s a bit awkward, but there are a few tricks to speed up the process. For one thing, FBI can load a CIA file from the local network or Internet by scanning its URL from a QR code, thereby removing the need to manually place the CIA file on the SD card prior to installation. This has become a very popular way of distributing homebrew on the 3DS, and you’ll often see these codes posted on messages boards or GitHub.
Even still, unpacking a CIA on the 3DS itself is rather slow due to the system’s inherent hardware limitations. For those who aren’t willing to wait, there are projects such as
custom-install
that allow you to process CIA files on your computer
. Running on a vastly more powerful processor and with the benefit of high-speed access to the SD card, these tools can get software installed and ready to go on the 3DS in a fraction of the time it would take with FBI.
Cultural Differences
Just like the custom firmware installation process,
switching your system’s region is very well documented
. I had no problem getting the US firmware on my 3DS, though it should be said the process takes considerably longer than getting Luma3DS installed in the first place. Unfortunately, once the region is switched, you can no longer access Nintendo’s official services for purchasing software, downloading updates, or playing online. That said, local wireless multiplayer with American consoles works as expected and you can still run physical retail games.
I’ve noticed a few odd glitches as well, though nothing really critical. One time, the system claimed it needed to install a firmware update, and then after a minute or two of downloading files, tossed up an error message. The firmware will also lock up after I check the system notifications, but they are fairly annoying in the first place so I just turned them off.
So is switching regions worth it? I’d say that depends on how you plan on using the system. If you’re more interested in running your old favorites through RetroArch than you are playing modern games, absolutely. But if you want to get the most out of the system, including its various online functions, the downsides from switching regions will likely outweigh the financial savings.
A Rekindled Interest
Before buying this 3DS, it had been over a decade since I owned a portable console. I barely have time to play games at home, let alone on the go. But the incredible back catalog of titles that are either directly playable on the system or can be run through one of the open source emulators available for it, was extremely compelling. Add to that a wide array of original homebrew games and the ongoing effort to port Linux to the system, and it was just too much to pass up. Installing a custom firmware on the 3DS turns an excellent system into an incredible one, and these days I find myself spending quite a bit of time fiddling around with this dual-screen wonder. I’m even thinking of updating to one of the later models of the 3DS, but that’ll be a story for another time.
While it’s always difficult to predict the future, it’s not hard to imagine that the Nintendo 3DS may well be the last true portable game system. Smartphones and tablets have largely taken over the market, and while the Switch is technically mobile, it just can’t compare with the svelte clamshell design that’s been a hallmark of Nintendo’s portables since the Game Boy Advance SP. So if this is the last of the purebred portables, at least we can say that the homebrew community is making sure it goes out with style. | 20 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343960",
"author": "mark g",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T14:58:15",
"content": "I never did get a 3DS. I loved the DS, though. Specifically, the DS Lite was a great size, at a great price, and with an amazing library of games. It was also easy to run homebrew on with a simple flash ca... | 1,760,373,104.052827 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/wireless-micropython-programming-with-thonny/ | Wireless MicroPython Programming With Thonny | Chris Lott | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"how-to"
] | [
"ESP32",
"micropython",
"Thonny",
"WebREPL"
] | I’ve been playing with a few MicroPython projects recently on several different embedded platforms, including a couple of ESP32 WiFi modules. There are various ways to program these modules:
Use a serial terminal and
ampy
(maintained by [devxpy] since being dropped by Adafruit in 2018).
If you use Pycom boards or WiFy firmware, there are the
pymakr
plugins for
Atom
and
Visual Studio
.
If you prefer the command-line like me, there is
rshell
by one of the top MicroPython contributors [Dave Hylands].
For over a year, I have been quite happy with
rshell
until I started working on these wireless nodes. Being lazy, I want to tinker with my ESP32 modules from the sofa, not drag my laptop into the kitchen or balcony to plug up a USB cable. Can’t I work with them wirelessly?
Well, you can use
WebREPL
. While its functional, it just didn’t strike my fancy for some reason. [Elliot] mentioned in
a recent podcast
that he’s using telnet to access his wireless nodes, but he’s using
esp-link
on an ESP8266, which means throwing another chip into the mix.
The Thonny IDE
I had all but given up when by chance I saw
this video
on the Dronebot Workshop channel about running MicroPython on the new Raspberry Pi Pico boards. Bill was using
Thonny
, a Python IDE that is popular in the education community. Thonny was introduced in 2015 by Aivar Annamaa of the University of Tartu in Estonia. Thonny was designed to address common issues observed during six years of teaching Python programming classes to beginners. If you read about the project and its development, you’ll see that he’s put a lot of effort into making Thonny, and it shows.
Leaning about Thonny got me curious, and after a little digging I discovered that it has WebREPL support for MicroPython right out-of-the-box. Although this is a new feature and classified as experimental, I found it reasonably stable to use and more than adequate for home lab use.
Installation and Connection
Instructions are clearly given on the project’s
website
. There is a downloader link at the top of the page for Windows. For Linux and Mac simply doing
sudo apt install thonny
or
brew install thonny
was all I needed. If you have a Raspberry Pi, you will find Thonny is pre-installed — version 3.3.3 was found on a recent Pi 4 in my lab. On an older Pi 3 however, Thonny was too old and simply reinstalling it didn’t work for me. Doing a
sudo apt update
,
sudo apt upgrade
, and then reinstalling Thonny resulted in the latest version 3.3.6.
For some reason, the Thonny found in the Ubuntu 20.04 and Debian Buster package repositories also weren’t recent enough. Rather than building from source, I used the provided Linux installation script that downloads and installs the latest release.
In order to connect to a module, you will use the
Run -> Select interpreter...
menu. Here you pick which type of module to use, and which interface (USB or WebREPL). Note that you have to connect to your module over USB first and make sure that WebREPL is enabled in
boot.py
. This is the normal method of enabling WebREPL in general — if your module already has WebREPL setup, you don’t need to change anything. Fill in the WebREPL URL and password — you should connect and be good to go.
Tweaks
Thonny Connection Screen
By default, Thonny’s windows are stacked vertically. If you’re using a modern wide-screen monitor, you will probably want to rearrange the windows in Thonny so the editor and shell are side-by-side (see the feature image). This is done by adding
ShellView.location = e
to the
[view]
section of the
configuration.ini
file (see
here
). The
e
means
East
, and other compass points like
se
can be specified as well. For the systems I tested, the configuration file can be found in the following places:
Raspi, Ubuntu, Debian
~/.config/Thonny/configuration.ini
Mac
~/Library/Thonny/configuration.ini
Windows
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Thonny\configuration.ini
I had no problems using the REPL manually, but I discovered an issue once you start testing self-starting applications with forever loops. If you are not careful, your application’s main loop can prevent you from regaining REPL control. The solution is to make sure your application sleeps for several milliseconds in the main loop. I tested with 100 ms (see
here
) and was always able to regain control. This shouldn’t be an issue in most home sensor applications, where the module may sleep for tens of minutes between readings.
By default, a Thonny installation doesn’t make itself visible for command line execution. On the computers I tested, you will find the Thonny executable in the following locations:
Raspi
/usr/bin/thonny
Ubuntu, Debian (installed via installer script)
~/apps/thonny/bin/thonny
Mac
/Applications/Thonny.app/Contents/MacOS/thonny
Windows
C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Programs\Thonny\thonny.exe
Multiple Modules and Instances
Thonny Modules Selection List
Thonny can support a variety of different modules. But if you want to connect to multiple modules at the same time, you need to run several instances of Thonny simultaneously. By default, only one instance is allowed. In the
Tools -> Options -> General
menu, untick the
Allow only single Thonny instance
checkbox.
I noticed one quirk on MacOS, however. For some reason, unchecking that option
doesn’t work
when launching the app from the GUI. There is a workaround — you can get multiple instances running if you start them from the command line.
One more annoyance — by default, Thonny will use the previous interpreter / connection when starting up. This is reasonable behavior, but causes a hiccup when talking to multiple boards simultaneously. Just ignore the plethora of error messages when Thonny instance #2 tries to connect to an already connected module, and use the menus to connect to the second device. There apparently isn’t any command line argument for a specific connection, but I have an
inquiry pending
on the
GitHub project page
.
Tip of the Iceberg
I have only focused on the WebREPL connectivity aspect of Thonny here, a functionality which seems to be uncommon in other MicroPython programming workflows. But this only scratches the surface of Thonny. Under the hood, it has a lot to offer that is hidden when you first open it.
And while I have been using its MicroPython mode of operation, Thonny was designed to aid students who are learning to write and debug “normal” Python programs running on desktop computers. If you frequently work in Python, I would encourage you to have a look at these aspects of the program — an object inspector, debugger, single-stepping, and a whole slew of other useful tools.
Thonny is also a multi-platform tool. While preparing this article, I tested it on MacOS, Windows 10, Debian, Ubuntu, and Raspberry Pi computers with no problems. The project is open-sourced under the MIT License.
At the very least, Thonny is a great solution for remote MicroPython programming of WiFi embedded modules. Check it out and give it a test run, especially if you’re lazy like me. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344355",
"author": "Ricardo Ruiz Diaz",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T20:05:39",
"content": "I would like to know “Why NO”, I would like to know your opinion, in advance thank you very much for your time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,373,103.687488 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/ascii-schematic-diagrams/ | ASCII Schematic Diagrams | Chris Lott | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"ascii art",
"schematics"
] | We wondered recently about those crude ASCII schematics you see in some documentation — are there any dedicated schematic-focused tools to draw them, or are they just hand-crafted using various ASCII-art drawing tools? To our surprise, there is such a tool. It is called
AACircuit
and was developed by [Andreas Weber]. It has a history going back to 2001 when it was first introduced as ASCIIPaint. Be forewarned, however, the quality of the code may be questionable. According to the notes on [Andy]’s
GitHub repository
:
WARNING: a lot of spaghetti code ahead
This code was created in 2001-2004 when I taught Borland Delphi 3 to myself. It contains many, many global variables, unstructured and undocumented procedural code and bad variable names.
If you don’t want to wrestle with old and sketchy object-oriented Pascal code, you’re in luck. [Chaos Ordered] has made a Pythonized version which you can get from
his GitHub repository
. We tried it out and got it working on Ubuntu in short order (after wrestling with a pycairo dependencies). This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it has some uses now and then. While we wouldn’t want to document a computer motherboard with ASCII schematics, it’s great for a quick-and-dirty circuit diagrams.
Not exactly schematics, but [Duckman] has
some Arduino pinout diagrams
he made using ASCII-art. These could be useful when pasted into source code as comments, documenting the pinouts for your project.
Do you recommend any tools for making ASCII schematics, or this just a waste of time? | 40 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344278",
"author": "deneteus",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T15:38:25",
"content": "I haven’t seen ascii schematics since the 90s. That’s some BBS and Newsgroup type shizz.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344294",
"author... | 1,760,373,104.196548 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/solar-and-wind-could-help-support-ethiopias-grand-dam-project/ | Solar And Wind Could Help Support Ethiopia’s Grand Dam Project | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"green hacks",
"News",
"Slider"
] | [
"dam",
"egypt",
"ethiopia",
"GERD",
"Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam",
"hydroelectric",
"hydroelectric plant",
"hydropower",
"infrastructure",
"sudan"
] | Ethiopia is in the midst of a major nation-building project, constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Upon completion, GERD will become the largest hydropower plant in Africa, providing much needed electricity for the country’s growing population.
The project dams the Blue Nile, a river which later flows into neighbouring Sudan, where it merges with the White Nile and then flows on to Egypt. Like all rivers that flow across political boundaries, concerns have been raised about the equitable management of the water resources to the benefit of those upstream and down. Too much water dammed upstream in GERD could have negative effects on Egyptian agriculture reliant on river flows, for example. Efforts are ongoing to find a peaceful solution that suits all parties. Recently,
suggestions have been made to supplement the dam’s power output with solar and wind to minimise disruption to the river’s users
.
A Delicate Balance
A map showing the various rivers that combine to become the Nile. Image credit:
BBC
Of course, there’s nothing physically stopping the Ethiopian dam from simply holding as much water as is desired and using it as it sees fit. However, farmers downstream don’t tend to appreciate their precious water supply suddenly drying up to keep the lights on across the border. Both Egypt and Sudan also dam some of the river flow for their own hydroelectric dams too. Thus, it’s in their interests that the river continues to flow and flow well.
Talks between the countries involved have repeatedly stalled,
with no easy solution in sight.
A recent paper published in Nature
by researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven, proposes a plan that involves leveraging a combination of resources to maximise the benefit to all parties. The typical operation of a hydropower plant calls for filling up the dam from the river flow in the rainier season, and emptying it in the drier season. Flows are managed to allow production of electricity year-round. Obviously, the more water that is kept in the dam, the more electricity can be generated by letting it flow out later. GERD is big enough that it could dam the river’s entire annual flow if so desired. The action of damming the river alters the natural flow, with the river’s water level depending on how much water is allowed to flow out of the dam rather than following normal rain patterns. In drier years, most of the water could be kept in the dam, heavily reducing flow to countries downstream.
Solar and wind resources would be outputting their maximum at opposite times to the greatest river flows. Combining these generation resources would allow the Blue Nile to maintain seasonality in its flows and minimise impacts of GERD on downstream communities. Image credit:
The Conversation
The GERD project intends to generate a great deal of electricity, of course, and thus dam a large amount of the river’s annual flow. However, in Ethiopia, it bears noting that there is a great deal of sunshine and wind, particularly in seasons opposite to those in which Blue Nile flow is the greatest. Thus, solar and wind generation resources could be used in concert with GERD. In the hotter, drier, windier season, solar and wind would provide a lot of electricity, reducing the amount of water required to be dammed for hydropower — water which would then flow on to agricultural users downstream who need it most at this time. Conversely, when the wetter months come through, water is in abundance. With plenty to go around, hydropower production can be stepped up at this time to offset the lower production of wind and solar assets. With more generation from GERD’s hydropower in the rainy season, this keeps the river level high at the expected time as per the natural seasonal variations. This is ideal as existing users — whether agricultural or other hydroelectric dams — have built their operations around this flow regime.
Maintaining seasonality is often key to a river’s ecological health, too.
Building On Multiple Approaches
It’s a great example of how multiple sources of renewable energy can be combined to cover off each other’s blind spots. It also offers a tidy solution to the issue of keeping the Blue Nile flowing with regularity for down stream users, potentially making the political issue easier to solve. However, there is no free lunch. The plan requires significant investment in solar and wind assets, totalling around 3 GW of generation capacity in the dry season. It’s not outside the realms of possibility, however —
Ethopian plans for many megawatts of renewable energy are already on the table
.
There are other possible benefits too. With such a large dam upstream, additional water capture in wetter years could be used to supplement outflows in drier years, smoothing out natural annual variations. This could be of particularly benefit to stabilising agricultural yields that would otherwise be at the mercy of the natural available water supply.
Whether the proposal will be enough to see the three parties come to an agreement is yet to be seen. However, it serves as a great template to work from for hydropower projects looking to make the most out of the power available while minimising negative impacts on river communities. With just a few years left before GERD is fully operational, time is of the essence if the project is to continue smoothly. | 22 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344250",
"author": "aleksclark",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T14:21:55",
"content": "I like it – essentially treating the dam as a grid battery has a lot of benefits.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6344251",
"author": "a... | 1,760,373,104.262401 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/print-your-own-wireless-2-1-speaker-system/ | Print Your Own Wireless 2.1 Speaker System | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printed speaker",
"bluetooth speaker",
"Speaker enclosure"
] | Buying a set of stylish bookshelf speakers is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and remains legal in most free countries around the world. However, if you really want to impress with a pretty pair to crank out your tunes, you might consider designing and printing your own.
[EH_Design] did just that with a stylish 2.1 Bluetooth audio system.
The 2.1 designation refers to the use of two stereo channels plus a subwoofer. It’s a popular setup as human perception means it’s not as necessary to have stereo imaging for low frequency content. The build uses a Texas Instruments TPA3116D2 Class D amplifier with a Bluetooth input, with the efficient design allowing the build to be more compact without the need for as much heat sinking. A 24 V supply delivering up to 3 A is specified, providing plenty of volume when needed. The speakers themselves consist of 3″ drivers mounted in attractive 3D-printed shells, with the “subwoofer” consisting of a pair of 5″ woofers paired up in a special isobaric enclosure that enables a smaller volume to acoustically act like one double the size.
The result is a futuristic-looking set of bookshelf speakers that remind us of some of the fancier high-end sets often seen in hi-fi magazines. Of course, if 3D printing enclosures isn’t enough for you,
you could always consider 3D printing the actual speaker driver itself
. When you do,
let us know how it goes! | 17 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344209",
"author": "2.2 enjoyer",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T11:37:01",
"content": "cool buildhumans can discern stereo cues at low frequencyit’s subtleeasier if you can relax and listenpeople are differenthave nice day",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,373,104.386495 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/rc-ekranoplan-uses-lidar-to-fly-in-ground-effect/ | RC Ekranoplan Uses LIDAR To Fly In Ground Effect | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ardupilot",
"ekranoplan",
"lidar"
] | Ekranoplans are a curious class of vehicle; most well known for several Soviet craft designed to operate at sea, flying just above the waves in ground effect. [rctestflight] had accidentally come across the ground effect flight regime himself years ago,
and decided it was time to build an ekranoplan of his own.
I want to see little ekranoplans in at least three top 10 pop film clips by summer’s end. Please and thank you.
While ground-effect flight can be quite stable for a heavy, human-scale craft, the smaller RC version suffered more from minor perturbations from the wind and such. Thus, a Pixracer autopilot was installed, and combined with a small LIDAR device to accurately measure altitude above the ground. With some custom tweaks to the Ardupilot firmware, the craft was able to cleanly fly along barely a foot off the ground.
The final effect is almost mesmerizing; it appears as if the craft is hovering via some heretofore unknown technology rather than just flying in the usual sense. It’s still sensitive to breezes and sudden drops in the terrain lead to a temporary escape from the ground effect region, but the effect is nonetheless impressive. It’s a nerve wracking video at times, though, with quite a few near misses with traffic and children. Regardless of the nature of your experimental craft, be cognisant of your surroundings.
We’ve seen [rctestflight]’s Ardupilot experiments before, too
. Video after the break. | 33 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344198",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T09:54:24",
"content": "It’s a moot point whether this is actually demonstrating the ground effect, or whether it’s simply flying low to the ground, since these tiny RC planes have so much power to their weight that you can strap a... | 1,760,373,104.332911 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/measuring-an-atom/ | Measuring An Atom | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"atom",
"Chemistry",
"molecule",
"science"
] | Do you need a well-equipped lab to
measure the size of an atom
(German,
machine translation
)? According to [stoppi], no. You need sunflower oil, some bear moss spores, and a bit of gasoline. You’ll also need some common things like a syringe, a baking sheet, and a jar. You can see the whole process in the video below. The measurement isn’t really for a specific atom, but it is an average for a lipid molecule, which is still impressive.
You essentially measure the diameter of an oil drop spread over water. Since the oil is mostly oleic acid, the height of the layer is known as 167 atoms. After that, it is some simple measurements and math to get the height and find the average atom height.
The measurement relies on the fact that oleic acid is a lipid and is part hydrophobic and part hydrophilic. This means that when an oleic acid molecule hits water, it stands in a particular orientation. A drop of oil will spread to a single molecular thickness. If you know the volume of oil you introduced, you can mathematically deduce the height of the spread out oil drop by considering that the volume of the disk must be the same as the volume you started with.
While your mileage may vary, [stoppi] got 1.76 angstroms by taking the height of the film and dividing by the number of atoms in the film. That’s 176 picometers per atom. If you can’t find spores, talcum powder is known to also work in this application and you can use alcohol instead of gasoline, too. You might find it handy to put the powder in a salt shaker to distribute it. You’ll want to tap the tray to make sure the oil drop spreads as far as possible. It is also a good idea to take an average diameter measurement since your oil drop is likely not going to be perfectly circular.
The process isn’t new. In 1932, [Irving Langmuir] picked up a Nobel prize for work that included this method. If you’d rather see your molecules,
try 3D printing
. If you are a fan of measuring the physical universe, why not try finding the
speed of light
? | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344161",
"author": "Pedant",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T06:21:07",
"content": "https://youtu.be/lmgCgzjlWO4This looks A LOT like Matt Parker & Steve Mould’s experiment with oleic acid for Pi Day 2021. For their experiment, they worked backwards, using the volume of an oleic acid mole... | 1,760,373,104.969786 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/open-source-pizza-compass-will-show-you-the-way/ | Open Source Pizza Compass Will Show You The Way | Tom Nardi | [
"gps hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"compass",
"geolocation",
"gps",
"joe grand",
"RGB LED"
] | In
Pirates of the Caribbean
, Captain Jack Sparrow has an enchanted compass that points to what the holder wants most in life.
The Pizza Compass created by [Joe Grand] is basically the same thing
, except it’s powered by a Particle Boron instead of a voodoo spell. Though depending on who’s holding the thing, we imagine they’d even point in the same direction.
[Joe] was tasked by
Wired
to design and produce the Pizza Compass in three weeks, a process which was documented in the video below. Being the Badgelife luminary that he is, the final product looks far more attractive than it has any business being. In addition to the Particle Boron that slots in on the back of the handheld PCB, there’s a GlobalTop PA6H GPS module, a LSM303DLHC compass, and eight NeoPixels that correspond to the points on the silkscreen compass.
From prototype to final product.
Using the device is simple, just press the button and then walk around trying to keep the top-most LED lit. Behind the scenes, the Boron is pulling down the coordinates of the closest pizza place as reported by Google’s API, and comparing that to the user’s current GPS location. In practice that means the Pizza Compass isn’t concerned with nuances like streets or buildings, so its up to the user to figure out how best to stay on the desired heading. So rather than just following some turn-by-turn directions, there’s some proper navigation involved if you want that fresh slice.
If you don’t like pizza, you could reprogram the compass to point to whatever quest-worthy resource you wish. As explained at the end of the video, [Joe] wanted this to be an open source project so it could easily be adapted for different tasks by the community. Though honestly, it’s pretty weird if you don’t like pizza.
We’ve actually covered a very similar device in the past
that would point the user to the closest White Castle or Five Guys
, but with all due respect to that project, the Pizza Compass is in another league. When you’ve got the
talent and experience of [Joe Grand] on the team
, even the most mundane of gadgets ends up looking like a piece of art. | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6344129",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2021-04-29T02:35:39",
"content": "How often did you have trouble reflashing your particle? Especially when the workbench attempt to put it into dfu mode?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,373,105.261814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/where-were-going-we-dont-need-keycaps/ | Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Keycaps | Kristina Panos | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"adjustable",
"adjustable keyboard",
"Elite-C",
"Kailh chocs",
"key wells",
"QMK",
"RJ-9"
] | Just when we thought we’d seen the peak of ergonomic, split keyboards, along comes [Peter Lyons] with the Squeezebox —
an adjustable, column-staggered, streamlined beauty with 21 keys per hand
. Much like the Kinesis Advantage and the Dactyl, the user’s fingers are allowed to dangle comfortably and stay in their naturally curled position, moving as little as possible between keys, rows, and columns. But the Squeezebox goes a few steps farther to reduce finger travel.
For starters, each column of keys is adjustable on the fly in the Y-direction by loosening the screw and sliding it until it’s just right. The columns are also adjustable in the Z-direction, but for now, this requires reprinting a few parts. In case you didn’t notice, the grid is pretty tightly packed, and those low-profile Kailh choc switches are naked to the world, mostly because keycaps wouldn’t fit anyway.
At that angle, there’s no reaching required at all between the middle and bottom rows. The 100° corner that they form both invites and supports chording — that’s pressing multiple keys simultaneously to do some action. There’s no real need to reach for the top row, either, because [Peter] merely moves his finger upward in the Z-direction a little bit to hit those. The similarly-angled thumb clusters are chord-able as well, and their position relative to the mainland is adjustable thanks to a grid of holes that are meant for threaded inserts. Genius!
For the next version, [Peter] plans to bring the three sets of thumb cluster switches closer together, and arrange them like a tri-fold science fair display board. Be sure to check out the super cool but somewhat impossible-to-solder prototypes in the build log, and stay for more stuff in the
huge build gallery
. Typing demo is after the break.
Still too much travel for your taste?
How about a 5-way for each finger?
Thanks for the tip, [Tyberius Prime]! | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343481",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T23:36:30",
"content": "What all these ideas miss is a mouse pointer you don’t have to move for, which is the one thing I miss about not using a laptop (preferably with the IBM Thinkpad style joystick) much anymore. With such ... | 1,760,373,104.917515 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/pneumatic-can-crusher-awaits-your-command/ | Pneumatic Can Crusher Awaits Your Command | Tom Nardi | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"can crusher",
"ESP-01",
"google assistant",
"Pneumatic cylinder",
"Solenoid valve",
"voice controlled"
] | A powerful robot awaiting for a verbal command to crush its foes might sound like something from a science fiction film, but now
it’s a permanent fixture of the [Making Stuff] garage
. (Video, embedded below.) Thankfully this robot’s sworn enemy are aluminum cans, and the person controlling it with their voice isn’t a maniacal scientist, just a guy who’s serious about recycling. Well, we hope so anyway.
The star of the show is a heavy duty wall-mounted can crusher that [Making Stuff] built from some scrap steel and a pneumatic cylinder hooked up to the garage’s compressed air system. A solenoid operated valve allows an Arduino with attached ESP-01 to extend the cylinder whenever the appropriate command comes over the network. In this case, the goal was to tie the crusher into Google Assistant so a can would get smallified whenever one of Google’s listening devices heard the trigger phrase.
Note the ejector air line.
Obviously, those who’d rather keep Big Data out of their recycling bin don’t have to go down the same path. But that being said, having to give a specific voice command to activate the machine does provide a certain level of operational safety. At least compared to trusting some eBay sensor to tell the difference between an aluminum can and a fleshy appendage.
After crushing a few cans with his new toy, [Making Stuff] noticed a fairly troubling flaw in the design. Each time a can was crushed he had to reach into the maw of the machine to push its little flattened carcass out of the way. In other words, he was one bad line of code away from having one good hand.
The solution ended up being a new hose that runs from the exhaust port of the valve to the crushing chamber: once the cylinder retracts, the air exiting the valve pushes the crushed can out the rear of the machine and into a waiting pail underneath. Very slick.
Even if you’re not interested in the voice control aspect, this is a great design to base your own can crusher on.
While it’s always a treat when a fully automatic crusher comes our way
, we’ll admit the challenges of getting one to work reliably probably aren’t worth the hassle. | 22 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343416",
"author": "Darren",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T20:20:44",
"content": "The recycling depot here in Canada won’t take cans that are crushed. If you crush them you can still recycle it but you won’t get your deposit back.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies":... | 1,760,373,104.862346 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/indian-makers-respond-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-by-producing-oxygen-concentrators/ | Indian Makers Respond To The COVID-19 Pandemic By Producing Oxygen Concentrators | Jenny List | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"COVID",
"crowdfunding",
"Maker's Asylum",
"oxikit",
"oxygen concentrator"
] | We’ve all spent the last year or more under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, and though some of us may have been vaccinated or come through its various waves it remains far from over. One of the hardest-hit parts of the world at the moment is in India, where health services are struggling to maintain adequate oxygen supply such is the demand for it from sick patients.
India’s hacker and maker community have risen to the challenge and done their bit to supply needed resources, and fresh from last year’s PPE manufacturing efforts a group from the Makers Asylum hackerspace in Goa have launched upon a fresh challenge. They aim to start producing the established
open-source OxiKit oxygen concentrator
in the Indian hackerspace community using locally manufactured parts, and
they’ve launched a crowdfunding effort to cover their development, prototyping, and certification work
.
The oxygen concentrator project builds on Makers Asylum’s experience last year
as part of an extremely successful network of makerspaces producing PPE
, which demonstrates that they have the resources, logistics, and ability to take on a project of this size. The
OxiKit
is no hare-brained contraption but an established and successful design that is already at work, so we believe that this project has a good chance of success. It’s close to home for Hackaday too, and one of the people involved with it is our colleague [Anool Mahidharia].
In a global pandemic only a global response can overcome the incredible challenges before us. For that reason we’d like to urge you to take a look at the Makers Asylum page wherever you are, and if you can, support it. | 56 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343371",
"author": "Val",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T18:45:07",
"content": "This article seems really well timed with the Indian new year hehe",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343404",
"author": "geocrasher",
"t... | 1,760,373,105.201418 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/linux-fu-a-little-bit-of-network-history-repeating-itself/ | Linux Fu: A Little Bit Of (Network) History Repeating Itself | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Linux Hacks",
"Network Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"linux",
"Linux Fu",
"network",
"pcap",
"tcpdump",
"tcpreplay",
"wireshark"
] | These days, embedded systems often have networks and that can make them significantly more complex. Networks are usually pretty nondeterministic and there are a variety of oddball conditions. For example, when your public-access pick and place machine gets written up on Hackaday and you suddenly get a 50X surge in traffic, how does your network stack handle it? While there’s no silver bullet for network testing, there are some tricks that can make it easier and one of those is the
tcpreplay
utilities that allow you to record complex network traffic and then play it back in a variety of ways. This has many benefits, especially if you manage to capture that one thing that triggers bad behavior sporadically. Being able to play it back on demand can speed up diagnostics considerably.
General Idea
You probably know that
tcpdump
allows you to grab packet captures from a network interface and save them to a file. If you prefer a GUI, you probably use Wireshark, which uses the same underlying library (
libpcap
) to grab the data. In fact, you can capture data using
tcpdump
and look at it with Wireshark, although there are other tools like
tcptrace
or
Ngrep
that can work with the output, also.
While the output of the command can be a little cryptic without tool support, a program called
tcpreplay
can take that data and feed it back in a variety of ways. Of course, you can modify the file first — there are tools to make that easier and — if you need to — you can craft your own network traffic by hand or using one of a variety of tools. This process is often called “packet crafting.”
Getting the Data
Sometimes using
tcpdump
is an example of how you can have too much of a good thing. You’ll get huge data files if you just grab everything off a particular network device:
tcpdump -i eth0
Usually, you’ll want to limit the data in different ways. For example:
tcpdump src 192.168.1.111 # data from .111
tcpdump dst 192.168.1.111 # data to .111
tcpdump host 192.168.1.111 # data to/from .111
Other common filters include “net” for a particular subnet or “port” or even a protocol like “arp” or “ip6.” You can combine these so:
tcpdump port 8088 # traffic on port 8088
tcpdump dst port 8080 # traffic to port 8088
Ports can also have ranges (80-89) and there are a host of other filters including packet size limits. You can join conditions with both “or” and “and.” There’s a lot to learn, and you can read more on the
tcpdump
man page
.
The exact output of
tcpdump
depends on the protocol in use. You can add the -X or -XX options to get a hex dump, as well.
So now you have a file with some interesting network data in it. How do you repeat it for debugging purposes?
The Big Playback
That’s where
tcpreplay
comes into play. Simplistically, it is easy to use:
tcpreplay -i eth0 traffic.pcap
However, you may need more control. For example, by default, the replay is at the same speed it originally occurred. However, you can add the “–mbps” option to force a certain flow rate. You can even use “–mbps=0” to have no delay at all between packets.
There are other performance options, too. The “-K” option reads the entire capture file into memory to improve performance, if possible. If you are using the “–loop” option to repeat the playback, this can have a big performance advantage.
In some extreme cases, you may want to really saturate the network interface for testing. There are special drivers that
tcpreplay
can use that allow it to directly write to network hardware, although doing so will disable normal network operations while you are playing back.
Editing
Sometimes you want to make subtle changes to the traffic in the capture file without actually changing the file. The basic program has a few options to help. For example, the “–unique-ip” option will cause the program to alter packets to be unique each time through a loop.
However, sometimes you need more control. The
tcpreplay-edit
program can do lots of changes. For example, it can remap TCP or UDP ports. It can also randomize IP addresses, remove broadcasts, and make other changes on the fly.
As a practical example, you might record a session between a client and a server machine. To reproduce the server’s behavior, you would want to strip the server’s responses from the file and rewrite the MAC addresses so the client is now the machine running
tcpreplay
.
These tools are very powerful and — like many powerful tools — can be used for good or ill purposes. There are so many options, but you’ll find if you just start out trying a few “toy” cases and spend a few minutes with each man page that you’ll be able to find ways to monitor and replay your network traffic to help solve that next intractable network problem. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343328",
"author": "Matt Hallacy",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T17:20:30",
"content": "“tcpdump src 192.168.1.111 # data to .111”Should be“tcpdump dest 192.168.1.111 # data to .111”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343384",
... | 1,760,373,105.011964 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/disney-imagineerings-project-kiwi-bears-groot/ | Disney Imagineering’s “Project Kiwi” Bears Groot | Zach Zeman | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"animatronics",
"bipedal",
"bipedal robot",
"disney",
"disney engineering",
"imagineering",
"walking robot"
] | Some days, we might be forgiven for believing Boston Dynamics has cornered the market on walking robots. They (and other players) are making incredible progress in their field, but three years ago Disney, trying to create autonomous, free-walking robotic actors for some of their more diminutive film characters, found none of the existing platforms were appropriate. So they set their Imagineering department to work on “Project Kiwi”, and
we are now seeing the fruits of those efforts
.
Research on bipedal robots has amassed over the years, and as the saying goes, if these Imagineers saw further it was by standing on the shoulders of larger robotic platforms. However, the Project Kiwi designers have made a laundry list of innovations in their process of miniaturization, from the “marrow conduit” cooling system which forces air through hollow bones, to gearing that allows actuators to share motors even across joints. The electronics are distributed around the skeleton on individual PCBs with ribbon flex cables to reduce wiring, and almost every component is custom fabricated to meet the complex size and weight requirements.
Even in this early prototype, Disney’s roots in life-like animatronics are evident. Groot’s movements are emotive, if a bit careful, and software can express a variety of personalities through his gaits and postures. The eyes and face are as expressive as we’ve come to expect (though a keen eye for seams puts off some definite
Westworld
vibes). Reportedly, this version can handle gentle shoves and contact, but we do spot a safety cable still attached to the head. So there’s probably some way to go before we’ll see this interacting with the general public in a park.
Disney’s Imagineering department has been doing
some amazing work with robotics
and they continue to make
significant innovations in the more traditional fields of animatronics
. It certainly looks like one of the coolest places to work right now, and now we’re itching to
build our own bipedal friends to play with
. | 31 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343251",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T15:36:55",
"content": "Uncanny Valley is soon going to have a field day.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343341",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2021-0... | 1,760,373,104.800456 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/blocking-out-the-sun-viable-climate-countermeasure-or-absolute-madness/ | Blocking Out The Sun: Viable Climate Countermeasure Or Absolute Madness? | Lewin Day | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"green hacks",
"Original Art",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"climate change",
"geoengineering",
"global warming",
"scopex",
"stratospheric aerosol injection"
] | If there’s one thing humans hate, it’s exercising willpower. Whether its abstaining from unhealthy foods, going to bed early, or using less energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we’re famously bad at it. Conversely, if there’s one thing humans love, it’s a workaround. Something that lets us live our lives as the carefree hedonists we are, and deals with the sticky consequences so we don’t have to.
One such workaround for the issue of climate change is a doozy, though —
blocking out the sun’s rays in order to cool our warming planet.
How Would It Work?
Stratospheric aerosol injection aims to reduce global temperatures by reflecting sunlight back out into space before it warms the Earth. Other geoengineering techniques aim to help cool the Earth, too. Marine cloud brightening aims to also reflect more sunlight, but from a lower level of the atmosphere, while cloud thinning aims to reduce the heat trapped on Earth by Cirrus clouds.
The basic theory is simple. By injecting aerosols — tiny little particles suspended in gas — into the stratosphere, we could reflect more sunlight back out into space, rather than letting it warm the Earth. The idea is to reduce the amount of heat coming in from the sun to make up for the extra heat trapped by higher greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. The concept is well understood, and has been demonstrated in the past. Events such as major volcano eruptions have lofted huge amounts of particulate matter into the atmosphere, with a measurable cooling effect as the result.
Of course, if you’re getting visions of James Bond villains or
the infamous Mr. Burns
, it’s important to note that the aim isn’t to blot out the sun entirely. Perpetual night would have overall negative consequences, leading to total crop failures and a resurgence of goth subcultures. Instead, the idea is to add small amounts of particulates or aerosols into the atmosphere to increase the amount of sunlight reflected by a few percent on average. The amount could be varied to maintain global temperatures in a desired range.
Why Aren’t We Doing It Already?
While the basic theory is straightforward, the devil is in the details. The climate system is a complex one, with many moving parts that all interact with each other. A small change in one area can have unexpected or undesired effects in another. Opponents to the technology fear that such changes to the chemistry or temperature of the stratosphere could have drastic effects on rain patterns, for example. This could lead to wild shifts in weather, or lead to droughts in crucial farming areas leading to major food shortages.
There’s also engineering issues to contend with. It’s one thing to create reflective aerosols in a small atmospheric region for testing; it’s another thing entirely to do so at a scale that will have real-world effects on global temperatures. Getting this right involves careful consideration of the emissions cost of procuring materials and flying them up to deliver them to the upper atmosphere. Logistical issues are a very real concern, too. It may prove that it’s simply impractical to create enough aerosols in the stratosphere to cool the earth without simultaneously spending huge amounts of energy to get them there.
Stratospheric Experimentation
The balloon platform makes for a simple and cost-effective science platform. The SCoPEx team believes that a full-scale stratospheric cooling project would likely use conventional fixed-wing aircraft, however.
To investigate these issues and learn more about the process,
the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx)
, based at Harvard, is investigating the technology. The experiment plans to loft a balloon into the upper atmosphere, and disseminate particulates over a limited area to study the effects. Experiments will involve tests with sub-micron calcium carbonate particles, chosen for their near-ideal optical properties and expected ozone-safe attributes. Later studies may explore other materials, such as sulfates, already present in the stratosphere, though considered less optimal due to their role in ozone depletion and the amount of heat they can absorb from the sun.
However, the project has faced major setbacks in recent months. After partnering with the Swedish Space Corporation to build a test vehicle, the mooted June launch for a shakedown of the vehicle’s systems was cancelled. Local environmental groups and others oppose the project, on the basis that it could damage the Earth’s climate, and that geoengineering on such a scale should be avoided at all costs.
The SCoPEx test balloon was due to launch in June to shake down the vehicle’s control systems. Public opposition has stalled the project for the time being.
While the initial launch was solely to test out the balloon platform and would not deliver any test material to the atmosphere, the mission was nonetheless cancelled in the face of public dissent. The SCoPEx project has elected to undergo further public consultation in the meantime, in the hope to assuage fears, pushing back any potential launch until 2022 at the earliest.
The incident hints at the controversy around the very topic of geoengineering. Broadly, opinions fall into two camps. There are those that believe we should focus solely on reducing emissions, and that any alternative technologies are a distraction that don’t help solve the root issues at play. Others believe that the world’s slow progress at reducing emissions means that other solutions are desperately required in order to avoid the worst outcomes possible from climate change. Regardless of opinions in the broader public, research into the technology is beginning to pick up steam;
the US government recently funded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) with $4 million to research the concept.
It’s likely that the debate will rage on for some time, but with money continuing to flow into the field, it’s likely we haven’t heard the last of these plans to dim the light from the Sun. It may turn out to be impractical, or even wildly disruptive to our global climate. But, until we do the science, we’re never going to know. When we do, expect to read about it here! | 155 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343202",
"author": "Doug Leppard",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T14:07:58",
"content": "Madness",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343208",
"author": "Anthony Selby",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T14:15:57",
"cont... | 1,760,373,105.645306 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/build-an-esp32-stock-ticker-to-watch-your-gme-gains/ | Build An ESP32 Stock Ticker To Watch Your GME Gains | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"embossing",
"ink",
"paper tape",
"solenoid",
"stock ticker",
"stocks"
] | Meme investing is all the rage these days, and what better way to get in on the
loss
fun than with your very own old-timey mechanical stock ticker? Unfortunately, they’re about as expensive and rare as you might expect for a piece of Victorian-era electronics. Lucky for us,
[secretbatcave] has shown that you can put together a functional look-alike
that costs about as much as a GameStop (GME) share was worth before it started heading to the Moon.
This might seem like an ambitious project, but in actuality the machine only has a few moving parts. There’s a stepper motor to feed the paper, another to spin an inked embossing wheel, and a couple of solenoids attached to a pusher plate. Rather than trying to move the heavy wheel, the pusher plate smashes the paper up into it. The fact that this produces a satisfying “clack” sound as each character is printed is just an added bonus.
Extending the base to hold the solenoids.
To sell the look, [secretbatcave] put the whole mechanism inside a tall glass dome from IKEA. The matching wooden base was extended so the pusher plate solenoids could fit inside, after which it was dunked in ink and sprayed with a gloss sealer to give it that shiny black finish people seemed to love in the 1900s. With the addition of an engraved brass nameplate, it looks like the machine fell out of a time warp.
In terms of electronics, there’s an ESP32, a pair of stepper motor controllers, and a relay for the solenoids. As of right now it all lives in a rather utilitarian box that’s tethered to the ticker, but we’re sure the lot could get tucked under the base with the help of a custom PCB should you be so inclined.
With an ESP32 at the helm, the ticker could easily be configured to print out
whatever data it receives over the network
or picks up from MQTT. With hardware like this and a pair of Diamond Hands, those tendies are as good as yours. | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343163",
"author": "mrehorst",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T11:38:25",
"content": "This looks like a fun project. I always loved watching Gomez Addams checking his investments on a stock ticker- buy high, sell low!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,105.316053 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/ask-hackaday-why-make-modular-hardware/ | Ask Hackaday: Why Make Modular Hardware? | Adam Zeloof | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"Hackaday Columns",
"handhelds hacks",
"News",
"Original Art",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"modular",
"Project Ara",
"raspberry pi",
"Snap Circuits"
] | In the movies, everything is modular. Some big gun fell off the spaceship when it crashed? Good thing you can just pick it up and fire it as-is (looking at you,
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
). Hyperdrive dead? No problem, because in the Star Wars universe you can just drop a new one in and be on your way.
Of course, things just aren’t that simple in the real world. Most systems, be they spaceships or cell phones, are enormously complicated and contain hundreds or thousands of interconnected parts. If the camera in my Samsung phone breaks, I can’t exactly steal the one from my girlfriend’s iPhone. They’re simply not interchangeable because the systems were designed differently. Even if we had the same phone and the cameras were interchangeable, they wouldn’t be easy to swap. We’d have to crack open the phones and carefully perform the switch. Speaking of switches, the Nintendo Switch is a good counterexample here. Joycon break? Just buy a new one and pop it on.
What if more products were like the Nintendo Switch? Is its modularity just the tip of the iceberg?
PocKit-Sized Modularity
The PocKit project tackles this question by diving whole-hog into modularity
. This impressive platform consists of a central “brain” block that contains an ESP32 and an STM32, as well as ~24 other blocks that can just snap onto it. These blocks include a screen, a keyboard, a speaker, and a wide variety of sensors and other neat bits. The brain module even has a DDR connector that lets you throw a Raspberry Pi Compute Module into the mix for greater functionality.
All of the blocks use the same electrical interface and are held in place by magnets, allowing for near-endless reconfiguration. They have a great demo of the system in action, adding a camera, GPS, and more to a portable battery-powered Linux system:
Some of you may have felt the spark of familiarity here and thought back a couple of years to when Google announced the since-cancelled
Project Ara
. This was an experimental phone that Google debuted in 2013. It was suppose to be a low-cost, bare-bones phone that the user could easily upgrade themselves by swapping and adding modules onto the frame, including the battery, processor, camera, and display. Unfortunately, Project Ara never made it into our pockets, as Google canned it back in 2016.
Of course, these aren’t the only examples of modular electronics we’ve seen. Some of us even grew up with them.
A Modular Education
A true classic: the Snap Circuits kit
When I was a kid, one of my absolute
favorite toys was a Snap Circuits kit
. It consisted of a few hundred LEDs, motors, buzzers, and rigid “wires” that all snapped onto a plastic base — sort of like a breadboard. I spent hours connecting the modules in different ways and occasionally came across a configuration that actually did something. The Snap Circuits kit’s modular nature was a perfect introduction to electronics — after all, seven-year-old me wasn’t ready to design and fab a PCB yet. Instead, the large, colorful modules with silkscreened schematic symbols were a great teaching tool.
Nowadays you can still get your hands on a brand-new Snap Circuits kit (and I was very excited to buy one for a friend’s children last Christmas) but as you might expect, there are even more advanced modular kits on the market.
Brick ‘R’ Knowledge is one such offering.
It’s a modern spin on the classic Snap Circuits that brings advanced components to the table, including an Arduino and networking blocks.
You can tell by looking at these kits and others that modular electronics are a pretty fantastic tool for education. They can be used to introduce complicated concepts in ways that don’t “dumb down” the material, but simply present them in a friendly, approachable manner. Let’s circle back around to consumer electronics though — how much modularity do we need in our day-to-day lives?
Over To You
You know the drill. Time to chime in below and let us know what you think here. Should everything be modular? Presumably, it costs more to manufacture something with such a high degree of customer customizability than it would to just make one or two of the possible configurations. Would you pay more for personalizable products, or are you happy to buy off-the-shelf? If you’re anything like me, you would buy the modular option, find a configuration you like, then never change it — so then, what’s the point of being able to reconfigure your gizmos? | 33 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343715",
"author": "localroger",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T17:16:34",
"content": "The problems with modularity are size and durability. Phones are hyper-miniaturized and there simply isn’t room in the form factor for the connectors and module walls that would separate the functions... | 1,760,373,105.389371 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/paper-pi-is-an-ergonomic-cyberdeck-meant-for-thumbs/ | Paper Pi Is An Ergonomic Cyberdeck Meant For Thumbs | Kristina Panos | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"cyberdeck",
"e-ink",
"e-ink display",
"Emacs",
"Miryoku layout",
"raspberry pi"
] | What’s the fastest way to master console stuff like
screen
or
emacs
? Force yourself to use it exclusively, of course. But maybe you’d be tempted to cheat with a desktop. We know we would be. In that case, you ought to build
a console-only cyberdeck like this sweet little thing
by [a8skh4].
This cyberdeck serves another purpose as well — the keyboard layout is
Miryoku
, so [a8ksh4] can get more practice with that at the same time. Fortunately, the layout is built for
emacs
.
Inside is a Raspberry Pi 4 and what looks to be an Arduino handling the keyboard input. The Paper Pi spotlights a 4.2″ e-ink screen between a split thumb keyboard that’s made of soft, silent, tactile switches.
Since they’re SMD, [a8ksh4] made clever use of header pins to get them to work with protoboard. As much as we love the keyboard, it would be awesome to see a few switches on the shoulders or even the back that make use of the rest of the fingers.
Check out more build pictures in the gallery
.
We love to see cyberdecks with split keyboards, because you shouldn’t have to sacrifice ergonomics in a portable computer.
Here’s one that comes in three pieces, making it easy to get the spacing between the halves just right
.
Via
r/cyberdeck | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343708",
"author": "pac",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T16:15:31",
"content": "Yes…I know what my next project will be now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6343712",
"author": "Eitwo Stave",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T16:35:18... | 1,760,373,105.437557 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/review-sequre-sq-d60-temperature-controlled-soldering-iron/ | Review: Sequre SQ-D60 Temperature Controlled Soldering Iron | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Reviews",
"Slider",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"Sequre",
"soldering iron",
"temperature controlled soldering iron"
] | Over the past few years a new class of soldering iron has arisen: a temperature controlled iron no longer tied to a bulky mains-powered base station, but using low-voltage DC power and with all electronics concealed in a svelte handle. First came the Miniware TS100, and then many more, with slightly different feature sets and at varying price points. We’ve reviewed a few of them over the years, and today we have the most recent contender in the
Sequre SQ-D60
. It follows the formula closely, but costs only £20 (about $26). This price puts it in an attractive budget category, and its USB-C power option makes it forward-looking over models with barrel jacks. Description over, it’s time to plug it in and put it through its paces.
What’s In The Box?
That’s a lot of extra bits for a budget iron!
In the box, aside from the handle containing the electronics, were a surprisingly comprehensive array of parts and accessories. The handle itself is similarly-sized to its competitors, being only slightly longer than that of Pine64’s Pinecil. The tip supplied was unexpectedly a slanted chisel, so I may have managed to order incorrectly, though since it shares the same tip design as both the TS100 and the Pinecil I have plenty of alternative tips should I need one. Otherwise there was a little bag of hex screws along with a key and a driver for them, a little stand with a sponge, a set of Sequre stickers, a USB-C to barrel jack cable, and a barrel jack-to-XT60 connector for use with LiPo battery packs. These last two cables are a particularly useful addition.
At first sight the tip doesn’t seem to have any means of being fixed into its socket, but a closer inspection reveals that there is a hex screw hiding underneath a silicone finger sleeve that holds it securely when tightened. The handle has a simple enough interface, with just two buttons and a 3-digit, 7-segment display. Powering it up from a 45 W USB-PD power supply, and it heats up to 300 °C in around ten seconds after pressing one of the buttons. My usual soldering temperature is 360 °C, and it has an interface involving long presses of one of the buttons before they become up and down buttons to select the temperature. In prolonged use the handle doesn’t become noticeably warm, and aside from a slight new-electronics-getting-hot smell there was no immediate concern that it might release magic smoke.
An Iron Like Several Others
This is as much dismantling as I could do, those silicone buttons were the undoing of the effort.
In use, it’s remarkably similar to the other irons we’ve looked at of similar size and shape. Soldering is straightforward, it’s light and easy to use with plenty of heat. The instruction leaflet has a blow-up diagram of its internals, but it pains me to admit that this iron provided a rare moment in which my tear-down skills were defeated. Unexpectedly the tip is mounted to a sub-assembly that comes away from the main board with a 3.5mm jack, and while this was easy to remove, it proved almost impossible to slide the main board out of the handle tube. The reason was that the two silicone buttons would foul on the display and would not budge despite a lot of coaxing. I could have revealed the board by intentionally destroying either buttons or display, but since I prefer to keep the iron useful I didn’t do that. If similar irons are anything to go by I would expect it to contain a USB-PD chip, an 8-bit microcontroller because it has none of the firmware upgradeable features of the TS100 or Pinecil, and then a MOSFET to control the tip. It’s a tested and reliable formula for these irons.
Should you buy one? If you’re looking for a mini iron with a reasonable feature set and some really useful cables bundled all at a budget price, yes. It’s not as cheap as the super-budget
SanErYiGo SH72
that we reviewed early last year, but unlike that iron it has digital control and USB-C. Compare it with the old reliable
TS100
and the super-hackable
Pinecil
, and make up your own minds. | 38 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343670",
"author": "Somun",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T14:16:19",
"content": "“would expect it to contain a USB-PD chip, an 8-bit microcontroller because it has none of the firmware upgradeable features of the TS100 or Pinecil”The product page that is in the article actually says it ... | 1,760,373,105.728096 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/texture-adds-stiffness-to-3d-parts/ | Texture Adds Stiffness To 3D Parts | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"bead pattern",
"ideamaker",
"pattern",
"sheet metal"
] | [Stefan] is always looking for a way to make stronger and better 3D prints. His latest experiments involve using
a texture on thin plastic parts to increase stiffness
. You can see the texture pattern in the banner above and the video below.
While a lot of people looked at IdeaMaker’s new texturing feature as something for cosmetics, [Stefan] thought of sheet metal products that often use bead patterns to increase stiffness and strength. Can patterned plastic be stiffer than ordinary printed plastic? Turns out, the answer is yes.
Honestly, we never realized how often you see this in sheet metal products until we saw the surprisingly long montage of everyday objects that use the technique. Everything from vegetable cans to gas tanks have some bead pattern in them.
Like sheet products, 3D printing in vase mode makes very thin objects, but — depending on the material — may flex and even deform during printing. This is especially true when using ABS or PET. The patterning helps with this problem.
Of course, if you don’t use
IdeaMaker
, you could still design the shape with a pattern in it, but that would be tedious in most tools. Of course, the program is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac, so maybe this is the push we need to try it.
Last time we looked at IdeaMaker, we were talking about
fixing up errant STL files
. We don’t think it helps with strength, but
plywood looks nice patterned
, too. | 16 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343658",
"author": "Ocen Jude Thaddeus",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T13:37:26",
"content": "The idea of using texture on a thin plastics i could rate it 97%. am not sure of its brittleness and its hardness. Thanks",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,373,105.779344 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/the-evil-crow-is-ready-to-cause-some-rf-mayhem/ | The Evil Crow Is Ready To Cause Some RF Mayhem | Tom Nardi | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"CC1101",
"ESP32",
"pentesting",
"radio",
"RTL-SDR"
] | There’s no doubt that the RTL-SDR project has made radio hacking more accessible than ever, but there’s only so far you can go with a repurposed TV tuner. Obviously the biggest shortcoming is the fact that you can only listen to signals, and not transmit them. If you’re ready to reach out and touch someone, but don’t necessarily want to spend the money on something like the HackRF,
the Evil Crow RF might be your ideal next step
.
This Creative Commons licensed board combines two CC1101 radio transceivers and an ESP32 in one handy package. The radios give you access to frequencies between 300 and 928 MHz (with some gaps), and the fact that there are two of them means you can listen on one frequency while transmitting on another; opening up interesting possibilities for relaying signals. With the standard firmware you connect to a web interface running on the ESP32 to configure basic reception and transmission options, but there’s also a more advanced RFQuack firmware that allows you to control the hardware via Python running on the host computer.
Using the Evil Crow RF without a computer.
One particularly nice feature is the series of buttons located down the side of the Evil Crow RF. Since the device is compatible with the Arduino IDE, you can easily modify the firmware to assign various functions or actions to the buttons.
In a demonstration by lead developer [Joel Serna]
, the physical buttons are used to trigger a replay attack while the device is plugged into a standard USB power bank. There’s a lot of potential there for covert operation, which makes sense, as the device was designed with pentesters in mind.
As an open source project you’re free to spin up your own build of the Evil Crow RF, but those looking for a more turn-key experience can
order an assembled board from AliExpress for $27 USD
. This approach to hardware manufacturing seems to be getting popular among the open source crowd,
with the Open-SmartWatch offering a similar option
.
[Thanks to DJ Biohazard for the tip.] | 34 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343623",
"author": "julian martinez",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T10:34:22",
"content": "nice project but this is no really SDR since the CC1101 radio transceivers are not for SDR they implement the phy layer and they output decoded bits or viceversa not IQ samples.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,373,105.915468 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/logic-flows-literally-in-this-water-adder/ | Logic Flows, Literally, In This Water Adder | Al Williams | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"fluid logic",
"fluidic logic",
"fluidics",
"water computer"
] | A lot of elementary electronic texts use water as an analogy for electricity. You know, pressure is voltage, flow is current, and pipe diameter is resistance. It is ironic, then, that some people use fluids to build logic gates and, in fact, you can make any logic circuit you like using nothing but
water flowing through some structures
. Don’t think so? Have a look at the video from [Steve Mould] below.
Fluidic logic isn’t anything new, but it has always been a bit exotic. Usually, replacing electrons with water or even air — which is a kind of fluid — means you are trying to operate in a tough environment or have some other special need. As far as we can tell, [Steve] did it just because he could, and we get that.
Historically, fluidic logic uses small pressure jets to redirect fluid flows, something the U.S. Army figured out in 1957. However, [Steve’s] take uses some cells that depend on water level and siphon action to work. He also had some impractical logic gates that were very illustrative, even if they didn’t work very well.
The first attempt fell somewhat short, but all problems were eventually resolved. Of course, adding two four-bit numbers is a far cry from a full computer, but you have to admit, it is a start. Old computers used acoustic waves in mercury for memory, so it would be an interesting pairing to build something with the complexity of, say, an
EDSAC
using this type of construction.
Turns out if you start looking,
lots of things
can form logic gates, even
dominos
. You have to wonder if the ancient Egyptians had the idea if they could have made a fluidic computer out of brick and powered it with the Nile? Probably no harder than the pyramids, and you can only wonder what they would have done with it. | 31 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343549",
"author": "Shirley Marquez",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T05:38:18",
"content": "Doesn’t that type of logic date back to the Nixon administration?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343553",
"author": "Phillip",
... | 1,760,373,105.842331 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/retrotechtacular-renewable-energy-1948-edition/ | Retrotechtacular: Renewable Energy, 1948 Edition | Al Williams | [
"History"
] | [
"clean power",
"hydroelectric",
"Retrotechtacluar"
] | If you’ve got 10 minutes, how about a quick break to watch a video about renewable clean electric power? Must be a recent video, right? Nope. The
Coronet Instruction Film
below is from 1948 and covers using rivers to generate power. Hydropower isn’t a new idea, of course, and the film starts out with an old-fashioned water wheel. That’s not really what they are driving at, though.
The announcer sounds just like the guy who narrated all the film strips you saw in school. There are some good vintage shots of Niagra Falls and some other dams. The video also makes some economic arguments about hydroelectric versus coal and why some rivers aren’t suitable for power generation.
The Hoover dam was completed only 13 years before this video production, so it was still a futuristic novelty for the 1940s. Towards the end, there are some great shots of some old electrical gear, vintage factories, and what must have looked like a modern-looking kitchen and radio.
It is interesting that even in 1948 the planners were worried about running out of coal and recognized the value of renewable energy. We wonder what became of Bruce and Larry who open and close the film. Maybe they went on to star in major motion pictures. But probably not.
There was
a lot of engineering
put into the Hoover dam. Although it was the biggest dam at the time it was completed, the Oroville dam built in 1968 is 15 meters taller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hPb2heKS1Q | 22 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343532",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T03:21:09",
"content": "The sc’win (sockeye salmon) has never fully recovered from when the Grand Coulee Dam went up on the Columbia river. Though I gather some like the pneumatic tube that gets them upstream.",
"pare... | 1,760,373,105.974497 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/26/3d-printed-laser-scanning-confocal-microscope-measures-microns/ | 3D-Printed Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope Measures Microns | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"confocal",
"delta bot",
"laser",
"metrology",
"microscope",
"optics",
"pinhole"
] | When one thinks about microscopy, it seems to be mostly qualitative. Looking at a slide teeming with bacteria or protozoans is less about making measurements and more about recognizing features and describing their appearance. Not all microscopes are created equal, though, with some being far more optimized for making fine measurements of the microscopic realm.
This 3D-printed confocal laser scanning microscope
is a good example of an instrument for measuring really small stuff. As [Zachary Tong] points out, confocal scanning microscopy uses a clever optical setup to collect light from a single, well-defined point within a sample; rather than getting an image of all the points within a two-dimensional focal plane, the scanning function moves the focal point around through the sample in three dimensions, capturing spatial data to go along with the optical information.
The stage of [Zach]’s microscope is based on
OpenFlexure’s Delta Stage
, an open-source, 3D-printed delta-bot motion control platform that’s capable of positioning samples with sub-micron precision. Above the stage are the deceptively simple optics, with a laser diode light source, an objective lens, and a photodiode detector behind a pinhole. The detector feeds a homebrew trans-impedance amplifier that captures data at millions of points as the sample is moved through a small three-dimensional space. All that data gets crunched to find the Z-axis position corresponding to the maximum intensity at each point.
It takes a while to gather all this data — up to several days for even a small sample — but it works pretty well. [Zach] already has some ideas for reducing noise and speeding up the scan time; perhaps
a stage based on DVD parts like this one
would be faster than the delta stage. We look forward to seeing his improvements.
Thanks to [smellsofbikes] for the tip! | 15 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343143",
"author": "RÖB",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T09:20:04",
"content": "Needs a polarizer in the detector path.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6343146",
"author": "Harvie.CZ",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T09:34:05",
... | 1,760,373,106.121025 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/keep-in-touch-with-grandma-with-this-lo-tech-interface/ | Keep In Touch With Grandma, With This Lo-Tech Interface | Jenny List | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"accessibility",
"elderly",
"raspberry pi"
] | We have so many options through which to communicate with our friends and relatives during the lockdown, thanks to our smartphones and the number of apps that serve all possible needs. Impressive as they are though, a smartphone is not suitable for everyone. In particular older people can find them less easy to use, and the consequent loss of communication ability is addressed by [Manu] with the Yayagram,
described in a thread of Spanish-language Tweets
and later
the thread was translated into English
.
On the top of the box is a microphone with push-to-talk switch, a small thermal printer, and a set of 1/4″ jack sockets with associated jump lead. Each socket corresponds to a relative, and an audio message to that relative can be posted via Telegram simply by speaking into the microphone with the button pressed. Replies are then printed through the thermal printer. Meanwhile behind the scenes is a Raspberry Pi holding it all together.
We like the simplicity of the interface, and who wouldn’t want to ensure that their older relatives were able to keep in touch! But while the jump lead is a neat touch, we hope it’s not too difficult for extremely frail hands.
It’s certainly not the first accessibility project for older people that we’ve seen
. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343118",
"author": "Rick",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T06:17:12",
"content": "Is this is some kind of electronic ouija board?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343255",
"author": "purplepeopleated",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,373,106.172149 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/small-open-source-vehicle-hacking-platform/ | Small Open Source Vehicle Hacking Platform | Chris Lott | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"can-bus",
"car hacking",
"development boards",
"STM32F103"
] | [Florian] and his engineering team at Munich-based
bmc::labs
has developed a
clever set of prototyping boards
for vehicle hacking and rapid product development, collectively called the bmc::board or bmc::mini. These stackable development boards were initially designed for in-house use. The team took a general purpose approach to the design so the boards could be used across a wide range of projects, and they should be useful to anyone in the field. [Florian] decided to release the boards to the community as open-source and certified by OSHWA (
Open Source Hardware Association
).
There are four boards currently defined, with several more in the works:
mini::base — Main microcontroller board, STM32F103-based
mini::out — I/O board with CAN bus, JTAG, etc.
mini:: grid — RF board providing GPS and GSM capability
mini::pit — local wireless connectivity, WiFi and Bluetooth, and 2nd CAN bus
At 54 x 42.5 mm, these boards are pretty small; a form-factor they describe as “exactly half a credit card”. We like the Wurth WR-MM family of stacking connectors they are using, and the symmetrical pinout means you can rotate the cards as needed. But at first glance, these thru-hole connectors seem to limit the stack to just two boards, although maybe they plan move to an SMT flavor of the connector in future designs permitting taller stacks.
If you’re into vehicle electronics and/or vehicle hacking, definitely take a look at these. You can check out [Florian]’s
bmc::board Hackaday.io project page
and the team’s
GitHub repository
for more details. Here’s
another project
by team member [Sebastian] using one of the future bmc::bike modules to eavesdrop on ECU communications, where he sensibly advises the reader “First, pull over and get off the bike. Never hack a two-wheeled vehicle while riding it!”.
No discussion of vehicle CAN bus tools should omit the work of Craig Smith, who literally
wrote the book on hacking your car
, and whose talk along with Hackaday’s own Eric Evenchick of
CANtact fame
we covered
back in 2016
. [Florian] has started a
CrowdSupply campaign
where you can see some more details of this project and a short promotional video. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343110",
"author": "rok",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T04:39:21",
"content": "Using a STM32F103 in a new design feels like powering a 3D printer with an ATMEGA328P.I don´t understand why a compatible, more powerful, equally available and barely more expensive STM32F411 was not used, in... | 1,760,373,106.276778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/hackaday-links-april-25-2021/ | Hackaday Links: April 25, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"chip shortage",
"Ever Given",
"hackaday links",
"Ingenuity",
"mars",
"moxie",
"semiconductor",
"Stack Oveflow",
"Suez",
"wire bonding"
] | There’s much news from the Jezero Crater on Mars this week, and all of it was good. Not only did the
Ingenuity helicopter make history
by making the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet, it made
a second longer, more complex flight
just a couple of days later. This time, the autonomous rotorwing craft flew to a higher altitude than the maiden flight, hovered for a bit longer, and made a lateral move before landing safely again on the surface. Three more flights of increasing complexity (and risk) are scheduled over the next two weeks, with the next set to happen early Sunday morning. I have to admit that even though the Ingenuity tech demonstration seemed a little like a publicity stunt when I first heard about it, especially when compared to the Perseverance’s main mission of searching for evidence of life on Mars, the Ingenuity team’s successes have made a believer out of me.
Speaking of technology demonstrations,
NASA fired up the MOXIE experiment
aboard Perseverance for the first time. Intended to explore the possibility of producing oxygen from the thin carbon dioxide-rich Martian atmosphere, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment made about 5.4 grams of oxygen total at a rate of about 6 grams an hour.
We detailed the technology MOXIE uses
, called solid-oxide electrolysis, which depends on a scandium-stabilized zirconium oxide ceramic electrolyte to strip the oxygen from superheated carbon dioxide using an electric current. Should the technology prove itself over the planned total of ten MOXIE runs over the next few months, a scaled up version of the device could someday land on Mars and produce the estimated 55 metric tons of oxygen needed to fuel a return trip from a crewed mission.
By now we’ve all heard about the global semiconductor shortage, or perhaps felt the pinch ourselves while trying to procure parts for a build. It’s easy to count the crunch as yet another follow-on from the COVID-19 shutdowns and the logistics woes the pandemic begat, so one might have hope that with lockdowns easing up around the world, the shortage will soon be over as manufacturers ramp up production. But not so fast — it looks like
the machines needed to make the chips are the latest victims of the shortage
. According to Nikkei Asia, wire bonding machines, wafer dicers, and laser drilling machines are all in short supply, with orders for new machines booked out for a year. Like toilet paper this time last year, chip makers are hoarding machines, ordering 50 or 100 of them at a time, in the hopes of having enough to meet production goals. And when machines are available, travel restrictions are making it difficult to get on-site installation and support from factory reps. The bottom line — this isn’t over yet, not by a long shot.
We all know the Stack Overflow memes, and few of us who are being honest haven’t squirmed a bit when thinking about just how screwed we’d be without being able to copy a bit of code to get us past that rough part in a project. But just how often do people copy code from Stack Overflow? Quite a lot, actually, if
SO’s analysis of the use of copy commands on their pages
is to be believed. For two weeks, SO monitored the number of times the Ctrl-C (or Command-C, if that’s your jam) key combination was pressed. They toted up over 40 million copies, most often from the answers to questions and almost always from the code blocks within them. We suppose none of this is exactly unexpected — memes are memes for a reason, after all — but what we found surprising is that one in four visitors to Stack Overflow copied something within five minutes of loading a page. Being charitable, we’d say the speed with which coders accept someone else’s work is an indication that maybe they were almost at an answer themselves and just needed a little reminder. On the other hand, it could be a sign of separation driving them to get something working.
And finally, while we know we’ve recommended videos from Grady at Practical Engineering recently, we couldn’t help but plug another of his videos as a must-watch. This time,
Grady tackles the Suez Canal blockage
, and he presents it in the same dispassionate, informed way that he previously handled the engineering roots of the Texas blackouts. If you think the
Ever Given
grounding was just a case of poor seamanship, think again — Grady makes a compelling case for possible hydrodynamic causes of the incident, including “squatting” and the bank effect. He also speculates on the geotechnical forces that held the ship fast, in the process of which he helpfully introduces the concept of
dilatancy
and how it explains the way your feet seem to “dry out” a zone around them as you walk across the beach. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343082",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T01:26:30",
"content": "> On the other hand, it could be a sign of separation driving them to get something working.Desperation?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6343095",
... | 1,760,373,106.226259 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/arduino-mkr-makes-nespresso-monitoring-easy/ | Arduino MKR Makes Nespresso Monitoring Easy | Jenny List | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"Arduino MKR",
"coffee maker",
"Nespresso"
] | Monitoring an appliance with a microcontroller usually follows a well-worn path of diving inside and finding somewhere in the electrical circuitry that can be connected through some kind of interface to a microcontroller.
For his Nespresso pod coffee machine, [Steadman] eschewed tearing into the device
, and instead chose to monitor the sound it makes. A commodity sound threshold sensor board is hooked up to an Arduino MKR Zero, and this set-up logs coffee consumption. It’s important to note how this generation of Arduino is no longer one of the simple boards of old, instead it sports an RTC and SD card alongside its SAMD21 Cortex-M0+ processor so it is perfect for just such a datalogging project. The coffee data can be saved into a CSV file viewable by a spreadsheet, for which code is provided.
We like this project for its non-invasive simplicity, and we can see that there could be plenty of other similar machines that could benefit from an analagous technique for non-invasive monitoring. While the pages of Hackaday are full of coffee machine projects we see surprisingly few pod coffeemakers, perhaps because our readers are a canny bunch who balk at paying a premium for their caffeine. If you do happen to have a Nespresso machine though,
perhaps you’d like some help identifying the capsules
. | 23 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343036",
"author": "Ken",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T20:46:37",
"content": "“A commodity sound threshold sensor board is hooked up to an Arduino MKR Zero, and this set-up logs coffee consumption.”I think this could more accurately be described as logging coffee “production”, not cons... | 1,760,373,106.402839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/an-esp32-development-board-for-sailors/ | An ESP32 Development Board For Sailors | Anool Mahidharia | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"boats",
"development board",
"ESP32",
"ESP32-WROOM-32",
"marine electronics",
"NMEA 2000",
"Signal K"
] | [Matti Airas] wanted to have a better electronics platform for making his boat smarter, more connected, and safer. He found traditional marine electronics expensive and not suited for hacking and tinkering. There was also the issue of lack of interoperability between device generations from the same supplier and between different brands. This led him to design the
Sailor Hat with ESP32
— a marine specific, open source hardware development board.
Applications include all kinds of sensor and control interfaces for the boat, such as measurement of fuel or water level, engine RPM, anchoring chain length counter, or setting up smart lighting or smart refrigeration control. The board is designed to work with the traditional
NMEA 2000
standard, as well as with
Signal K
. NMEA 2000 is standardized as IEC 61162-3, but isn’t open source or free. Signal K, on the other hand, is
free and open source
, and can co-exist alongside NMEA 2000.
The marine environment can be pretty harsh with extremes of temperature, rain, humidity, condensation and vibration. Boats, just like automobiles, have a notoriously noisy electrical environment and [Matti] has paid special attention to noise and surge suppression throughout the board. The board can work with either 12 V or 24 V bus systems since the on board DC-DC converter is rated up to 32 V input. Connections between the board and the outside world need to be very robust, so it is designed to accept various types of connectors depending on how robust you want it to be.
The Sailor Hat is based around a standard ESP32-WROOM-32 module. Interfaces include a CAN bus transceiver, opto-coupled input and output, I
2
C, 1-wire and QWIIC interfaces, USB Micro-B programming conector, plus a couple of buttons and LEDs. All of the ESP32 GPIO pins are terminated on a GPIO header, with jumper options to disable terminations to the standard interfaces and instead route them to the GPIO header as needed. Additionally, there’s a generous prototyping area to add additional hardware to the board. Hardware design files are hosted on the
project repository
on GitHub.
On the software side, there are several frameworks that can be used, with PlatformIO,
SensESP
, ESPHome and Visual Studio Code being the recommended choices. Or you could use any of the widely available SDK’s for the ESP32 platform — Espressif SDK, Arduino Core for ESP32, MicroPython, NodeMCU or Rust.
[Matti]’s
NMEA 2000 USB gateway
example is a good way to get a grip on hardware assembly and software installation required to build a practical project using the Sailor Hat. The board is designed to withstand a harsh electrical environment. But it’s mechanical installation obviously requires greater care if it has to survive marine applications. The Sailor Hat can be installed in commonly available, 100x68x50 mm or larger plastic waterproof enclosures, rated for IP65 or higher. The bulkhead connectors and cable glands also need to be appropriately rated, and the enclosure may possibly need a IP68 rated ventilation plug to take care of environmental cycling within the enclosure. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343054",
"author": "Phil",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T23:16:33",
"content": "Extra points for building arum level sensor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6343081",
"author": "Astro Jetson",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T01:17:... | 1,760,373,106.543316 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/forth-module-the-size-of-a-stick-of-gum/ | Forth Module The Size Of A Stick Of Gum | Chris Lott | [
"hardware",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"development boards",
"forth",
"Gumstick",
"module"
] | Australian engineer [John Catsoulis] developed a
small module called the Scamp2
dedicated to running Forth. The focus of his Udamonic project was not only to highlight Forth, but to make a module which was easy to use and doesn’t require any IDE on your computer. According to the website, these modules have found their niche in education as well as rapid prototyping for product development. His site has some good resources, including several Scamp/Forth example applications such as a model train controller or adding a real-time clock module.
The core of the module is a Microchip PIC24F64GB202 MCU with 64K Flash and 8K RAM. Of this, Forth takes up only 20K of Flash and 2K of RAM. [John] is using
FlashForth
, a version of Forth which came from [Mikael Nordman] at the University of Queensland almost ten years ago. FlashForth has been implemented on a wide variety of PIC and AVR ATmega processors and has apparently developed quite a following in Australia and elsewhere.
We estimate from the photo that the Scamp is about 80 mm long, just slightly longer than a standard piece of
MIL-A-A-20175A Type II
chewing gum ( 73 mm ). You can use it as-is, or with the header pins installed, the Scamp can be plugged into a breadboard for easy hacking. Regarding the interfacing of Scamp to other equipment, [John] says “Writing software to use other hardware is very easy, and fun.” We like his attitude.
Here is some more information from
his Hackaday.io project page
, and he also has
a Tindie site
. If you want a good overview of using Forth in embedded systems, check out
Forth: The Hacker’s Language
by our own Forth-guru [Elliot Williams]. Thanks to [Stephen Walters] for sending in the tip. | 27 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342985",
"author": "Ø",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T17:14:22",
"content": "I don’t know how I feel about the fact that I feel more informed regarding the fact that there’s mil-spec chewing gum, than a forth compatible microcontroller dev board.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,373,106.723889 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/cubesat-for-under-1000/ | CubeSat For Under $1000? | Chris Lott | [
"Space"
] | [
"cubesat",
"low cost",
"Satellites",
"space hacks"
] | Want to build your own CubeSat but have been put off by the price? There may be a solution in the works — [RG Sat] has challenged himself to
design and build one for less than $1,000
. (Video, embedded below.)
He begins by doing a survey of available low-cost options in the first video, and finds there isn’t a complete package for less than $10,000. By the time you added all necessary “options”, the final tally would probably be well over $20,000.
His idea isn’t just a pipe dream, either. In the the fifteen months since he began the project, [RG Sat] has designed and built the avionics and electrical power system circuit boards, and is currently testing his sun tracker design. Software is written in Rust, just because he wants to learn something new. You can check out the
hardware
and
software
design files on the project’s GitHub repositories, if you are inclined to build one yourself.
[RG Sat] lays out a compelling case, but we wonder if there’s a major gotcha lurking in the dark somewhere. In fact, [RG Sat] himself asks the question, “where do these high costs come from?” Our first instinct is to point the finger at qualifying parts for space and/or testing. But if you don’t care about satellite longevity or failure rates, then maybe [RG Sat] is onto something here.
Stepping back and looking at the big picture, however, the price of a CubeSat can be a drop in the bucket when compared to the launch costs, unless you’ve got a free ride. Is hardware the best place to focus cost reduction efforts? Regardless, [RG Sat]’s project is bound to provide interesting and useful results whether he succeeds in his goal or confirms that indeed you need $10,000 to build a CubeSat. We’ll be following his progress with interest.
We’ve written about
open source CubeSats before
, and also a
port-mortem analysis of a failed mission
that contains some good lessons. Thanks to [Jeremy Grosser] for the tip. | 19 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343909",
"author": "Pinski1_",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T11:33:41",
"content": "It’s easily possible to build a Cubesat/PocketQube for cheap, but you can’t be cheap on the launch. That’s easily $10 of thousands that you have to pay to someone for a spot on a launcher.",
"parent_... | 1,760,373,106.656409 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/28/run-out-of-gpio-on-your-pi-dont-despair/ | Run Out Of GPIO On Your Pi? Don’t Despair! | Jenny List | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"CSI connector",
"gpio",
"raspberry pi"
] | When the first Raspberry Pi rolled off the production line back in 2012 it sported a 26-pin expansion header that seemed to conceal endless possibilities. A later upgrade to the 40-pin header we have today unleashed a few more precious interfaces, but even then it’s still possible to run out. This was the problem faced by [woj], who needed a PWM line to drive a cooling fan but whose other work had used everything on the header. The solution?
Dive into the other connectors on board looking for an unused GPIO
.
Every full-sized Pi has a connector for the camera and the LCD screen, and to operate some of the functions of those peripherals they contain a few extra GPIOs that aren’t normally used by end users. If the camera or LCD is not being used then these lines are potentially up for grabs. In particular there’s a GPIO that turns the camera on or off that’s relatively easy to solder a wire to, and it was this one that fed the PWM line.
There are of course a few other ways to find some more lines on a Pi and indeed almost any microcontroller, with one of the many types of GPIO expansion chips. This trick is a particularly simple one though. and perhaps unsurprisingly
it has surfaced here before
. | 25 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343886",
"author": "Shoe",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T08:09:49",
"content": "That’s quite cool, how long before there’s an expansion HAT which breaks these out on headers via ribbon cables?Also, what’s with the custom CPU heat spreader?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,373,106.604036 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/boat-anchor-nixie-clock-plays-the-cold-warrior-role-convincingly/ | Boat Anchor Nixie Clock Plays The Cold Warrior Role Convincingly | Dan Maloney | [
"clock hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"cold war",
"H-P",
"hewlett packard",
"IN-1",
"nixie",
"rubidium",
"test equipment"
] | The early Cold War years may have been suffused with existential dread thanks to the never-ending threat of nuclear obliteration, but at least it did have a great look. Think cars with a ton of chrome, sheet steel toys with razor-sharp edges, and pretty much the entire look of the
Fallout
franchise. And now you can add in
this boat anchor of an electromechanical Nixie clock
, too.
If [Teti]’s project looks familiar, perhaps it’s because the build was meant as an homage to the test equipment of yore, particularly some of the sturdier offerings from Hewlett-Packard. But this isn’t some thrift store find that has been repurposed; rather, the entire thing, from the electronics to the enclosure, is scratch built. The clock circuit is based on 4000-series CMOS chips and the display uses six IN-1 Nixies. Instead of transistors to drive the tubes, [Teti] chose to use relays, which in the video below prove to be satisfyingly clicky and relaxing. Not relaxing in any way is the obnoxious alarm, which would be enough to rouse a mission control officer dozing in his bunker. [Teti] has
a blog with more details on the build
, the gem of which is information on how he had the front panel so beautifully made.
We can’t say enough about the fit and finish of this one, as well as the functionality. What’s even more impressive is that this was reportedly [Teti]’s first project like this. It really puts us in mind of some of
the great 6502 retrocomputer builds
we’ve been seeing lately. | 13 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343871",
"author": "Canuckfire",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T05:30:50",
"content": "This is a masterclass on enclosure design and finishing skills.Layout, labelling, the details on this are awesome for a project with this many details.Seriously good job to the creator of this, and now... | 1,760,373,106.931248 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/diy-grader-box-rocks-no-need-for-shocks/ | DIY Grader Box + Rocks = No Need For Shocks | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"DIY grader box",
"grader box",
"oak",
"pallet wood"
] | Between the mini bike and the nearby woods, [HowToLou] has a lot for the rest of us to be envious of. Unfortunately, the terrain on the dirt path is too bumpy and uneven for a nice ride. But rather than spend hundreds to buy or rent an official grader box, [Lou] looked at his riding mower and said,
I can do that myself
(YouTube, embedded below).
This grader box is made from a heavy-duty oak pallet, plus a piece of particle board to complete the rocks box. [Lou] hooks up tow straps to the hooks and drags it behind the riding mower a few times to get the path nice and even. The line of lag bolts busts up the bumps, and the boards smooth out the surface under the weight of several large rocks. We think the result looks great, and doubt that [Lou] could have done any better with a fancy grader box. Check it out in action after the break.
Don’t have a riding mower? This is a pretty good excuse to buy one, but if that’s not in the cards,
maybe you could build something suitable out of plywood and bike parts
. | 17 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343844",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-04-28T02:45:22",
"content": "He didn’t ride the minibike over the same place of the trail in the “after” video, but about 2 feet to the side.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6343850"... | 1,760,373,106.980447 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/supersized-van-de-graaff-generator-packs-a-punch/ | Supersized Van De Graaff Generator Packs A Punch | Tom Nardi | [
"Science"
] | [
"high voltage",
"Plasma Channel",
"static electricity",
"van de graaff"
] | The Van de Graaff generator is a staple of science museums, to the point that even if the average person might not know its name, there’s an excellent chance they’ll be familiar with the “metal ball that makes your hair stand up” description. That’s partly because they’re a fairly safe way to show off high voltages, but also because they’re surprisingly cheap and easy to build.
In his latest
Plasma Channel
video
[Jay Bowles] builds a large Van de Graaff generator
that wouldn’t look out of place in a museum or university, which he estimates is producing up to 500,000 volts. It can easily throw impressive looking (and sounding) sparks 10 inches or more, and as you can see in the video below, is more than capable of pulling off those classic science museum tricks.
Lower pulley assembly.
It’s really quite amazing to see just how little it takes to generate these kinds of voltages with a Van de Graaff. In fact there’s nothing inside that you’d immediately equate with high voltage, the only electronic component in the generator’s base beyond the battery pack is a motor speed controller. While everything else might look suspiciously like magic,
our own [Steven Dufresne] wrote up a properly scientific explanation
of how it all works.
In this particular case, the motor spins a nylon pulley in the base of the generator, which is connected to a Teflon pulley in the top by way of a neoprene rubber belt. Combs made from fine metal mesh placed close to the belt at the top and bottom allow the Van de Graaff to build up a static charge in the sphere. Incidentally, it sounds like sourcing the large metal sphere was the most difficult part of this whole build, as it took [Jay] several hours to modify the garden gazing ball to fit atop the acrylic tube that serves as the machine’s core.
In the past
we’ve seen Van de Graaff generators built out of literal trash
, and back in 2018,
[Jay] himself put together a much smaller and more simplistic take
on the concept. But this beauty certainly raises the bar beyond anything we’ve seen previously. | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343814",
"author": "jibé",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T23:28:57",
"content": "A little bit disappointed by the video background music, I was expecting something more Hamill-ish…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6343815",
"autho... | 1,760,373,106.798726 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/how-best-to-get-your-project-on-hackaday/ | How Best To Get Your Project On Hackaday | Lewin Day | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"Interest",
"Slider"
] | [
"article",
"articles",
"hackaday",
"presentation",
"presentation skills",
"project management"
] | We’re blessed to have such a great community at Hackaday. Our tipline often overfloweth with all manner of projects and builds of all stripes. We see it all here, from beginners just starting out with their first Arduino to diehard hackers executing daringly complex builds in their downtime, and everything in between.
If you’re sitting there in the grandstands, watching in awe, you might wonder what it takes to grace these hallowed black pages. In life, nothing is guaranteed, but I’ve been specially authorised to share with you a few tips that can maximise your chances of seeing your project on Hackaday.
First Thing’s First: Tell People About Your Work
To write about your project at all, first we have to be able to find it! Don’t be bashful,
tell us about it by sending a tip directly to the Hackaday writers
!
We like to share projects with readers, and that means they need to be able to access them, too. Thus, having the details of your escapades in a publicly accessible format is key. A great place to write about your project is, of course,
Hackaday.io
! For the low, low price of
free,
you can post pictures and details about what you’ve done. There’s plenty of fun contests to enter your project into, as well.
But look, anywhere you are able to publish full details in a publicly-accessible way will work. Basically, if it comes with a link we can share with everyone, you’re good to go!
A Simple Thing Can Be as Interesting as a Tour de Force
A nifty gadget that helps out on the workbench is something of great value, even if it may not seem like the biggest deal when you’re making it!
You could be forgiven for thinking the only way to glory is by having the most amazing, expensive, wonderful, and unique project ever, but you’d be quite mistaken. Are you excited about? We will be too!
We love an original or impressive build as much as anyone else, but that’s not all that matters. There’s also great value in the bread and butter projects that solve real problems people face every day. Your project might be reinventing the garage door opener, for example, but you also might have found a nifty way to do it, or a hack that makes it way more usable than it was before. It also spurs the creative juices in everyone else that reads it, allowing them to become more powerful from the benefit of your experiences. So, just because your project isn’t the world’s first robot lander on Pluto, we still want to take a look!
We Want the Gory Details!
The fact is, Hackaday writers are people, just like you and me. They’re tasked with the job of finding cool projects out in the wild that our readers would like to know about. To do this, we need as much info about your build as possible. We need a great image to capture the gist of the project, and we appreciate a demo video whenever possible. Ask yourself if you’ve adequately answered the what, the why, and the how.
The What is simple – what is it? Is it a radio controlled car? A fire-fighting drone? A new Python library that automatically hacks the Library of Congress to create an eclectic 1870s playlist for your anachronistic keg party? Your project post, or video, or whatever it is, should clearly explain
what
the project is as quickly and clearly as possible.
We’re yet to find a specific purpose for LED cubes, but they’re undeniably cool. Often, that’s the best reason why!
Why is just as important. The substance of the Why, of course, is absolutely up to your discretion. We heartily accept “because it’s fun” or “to see if we could” as much as we accept “I was sick of my spouse reversing into letterboxes”.
The How is something that’s often forgotten, and yet is so vital to showing the most interesting parts of your work. You could have a great video of your amazing mag-lev LED sphere, but if you don’t explain how it’s done, it’s likely to get passed over. Hackaday articles aren’t just about saying “hey look, this is cool” – we’re about learning new things and educating each other through our work.
Pictures Are Worth A Lot Of Words
A poor image of a project. The robot fills the entire frame, contrast is poor, and clutter means its difficult to make out what we’re looking at. Cropping this to several different sizes is impossible.
Finally, pictures really are important. Hackaday writers are adept at using every tool available to cajole even the dimmest, darkest, most poorly cropped images into usable headers for articles, but even their elite talents can only stretch so far. Without a header photo, there’s no article, so it’s of primary importance to get this right.
The best thing you can do is to have a series of photos showing off the project. Just don’t forget to capture an overview image that shows off the build with the project centered in the frame. Leave plenty of space around the project in all directions so that it can be cropped in various ways as needed.
A better project image. Clear contrast and plenty of space around the robot to give context and let us see all its important features. The framing makes it easy to get a 16:9 and a square crop out of the image. At 3024×2900, its nice and high res, too.
Often we use images taken from videos. If you’re filming your project, we love it if there’s a few solid seconds of the item of interest, nicely framed and well lit with slow or minimal camera movement. Get those glamour shots into your video – your audience will love them and so will we!
Of course, if your project is code, or something not visually representable, often there are measures that can be taken. For example, a new library for working with GPIO on the Raspberry Pi in Python might get an image made up of the relevant logos to quickly indicate the topic to the reader. If your project falls into this category, you needn’t worry. But for everything else,
please,
take some nice clear photos and frame them well!
Final Thoughts
Overall, nothing can guarantee that the world will fall in love with your project or that it will make the pages of Hackaday. We can’t cover absolutely everything, and sometimes there’s just too much out there (a great problem to have). If your project doesn’t get picked up you can always send a link to us again in case we missed it.
I hope you found this helpful in prompting you to explain your project thoroughly, and to post excellent images of it. I wrote it to help eager hackers and makers to understand what we look for in a great project, as well as to share some general tips on how to best present your project for any technical audience. In summary, tell us what, why, and how, and show us what we’re going to get excited about, and you’ll go far. Happy hacking! | 34 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343762",
"author": "J. Peterson",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T20:11:20",
"content": "It’s funny, I’ve had simple projects I spent a few hours on (and even projects that didn’t work out) posted here.But a major 3D printing survey I spent years on wasn’t published.Check it out anyway:ht... | 1,760,373,106.88168 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/27/helicopter-is-full-of-compressed-air/ | Helicopter Is Full Of Compressed Air | Al Williams | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"air turbine",
"helicopter",
"Schlieren",
"Schlieren photography"
] | [Tom] likes to build little helicopters and decided to build one that
runs on compressed air
. (Video, embedded below.) Turns out it was a little harder than he thought. Originally, he was trying for a compressed air quadcopter. He’d already worked with an air turbine, but putting on a vehicle that can lift itself into the air turns out to have a lot of hidden gotchas.
[Tom] went through a lot of design considerations to arrive at the helicopter design. He considered counter-rotating props, but there were a host of problems involved. He finally settled on a single prob with a tail rotor that resides on the far end of a long boom to allow the resulting lever arm to reduce the work required of the tail rotor.
Some of the best parts of this build are the test setups. We liked the test rig he has for testing the thrust of a propeller. It allowed him to understand that his quadcopter design wasn’t feasible with the props he had on hand. His
schlieren
photography setup was interesting, too, and provided some cool photos of the airflow.
In the end, the results were somewhat disappointing. However, you sometimes learn more from your failures than your successes. Also, an astute Hackaday reader might have some advice on how to make the flying machine better. We feel like it is very close.
We’ve seen [Tom]
working on this in one form or another for a while
. Some of his
air-powered designs
are quite sophisticated. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343748",
"author": "Fred",
"timestamp": "2021-04-27T18:55:45",
"content": "If you look at the energy density of compressed air vs pressure and then pressure vessel weight vs internal pressure for a given volume, you’ll see that this can only result in very small flight times, even ... | 1,760,373,107.033535 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/fertilizing-plants-with-a-custom-3d-printed-pump/ | Fertilizing Plants With A Custom 3D-Printed Pump | Bryan Cockfield | [
"News"
] | [
"3d printer",
"ESP32",
"esphome",
"fertilizer",
"growing",
"nutrient",
"peristaltic",
"plant",
"pump",
"soil"
] | For all but the most experienced gardeners and botanists, taking care of the soil around one’s plants can seem like an unsolvable mystery. Not only does soil need the correct amount of nutrients for plants to thrive, but it also needs a certain amount of moisture, correct pH, proper temperature, and a whole host of other qualities. And, since you can’t manage what you can’t measure, [Jan] created
a unique setup for maintaining his plants, complete with custom nutrient pumps
.
While it might seem like standard plant care on the surface, [Jan]’s project uses a peristaltic pump for the nutrient solution that is completely 3D printed with the exception of the rollers and the screws that hold the assembly together. With that out of the way, it was possible to begin adding this nutrient solution to the plants. The entire setup from the pump itself to the monitoring of the plants’ soil through an array of sensors is handled by an ESP32 running with help from
ESPHome
.
For anyone struggling with growing plants indoors, this project could be a great first step to improving vegetable yields or even just helping along a decorative houseplant. The real gem is the 3D printed pump, though, which may have wider applications for anyone with a 3D printer and who also needs something like an
automatic coffee refilling machine
. | 20 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342953",
"author": "Exceptions are probably a bit more numerious than indicated.",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T14:50:29",
"content": "[T]hat is completely 3D printed with the exception of the rollers and the screws that hold the assembly together and the electronics and the motor and ... | 1,760,373,107.090496 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/7000-rpm-on-a-3d-printed-gearbox/ | 7000 RPM On A 3D-Printed Gearbox | Chris Lott | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"3D printed gears",
"gearbox",
"hand crank"
] | [Steven] at the
3D Printer Academy
has been working on a variety of different gear designs. He recently embarked on a
series of experiments
to see how fast he can spin a 3D-printed gearbox.
After testing several kinds of gear teeth, gear diameters, and gear spacing, he finally struck upon an 81:1 ratio gearbox. It has six gears: five stepped gears and one drive gear on the input shaft. First tests are accomplished with a 3D-printed handle, similar to a hand crank used to start really old cars. But unlike those cranks, [Steven]’s doesn’t have any release provision. While the handle can be removed, it can’t be removed while spinning.
We think it would be helpful to revise the drive shaft coupling method, allowing the handle or drill to be easily removed from the gearbox once it’s attained speed. This would be more convenient, and it seems prudent from the workbench safety point of view as well.
Example of a crank quick release mechanism
[Steven] manages to get the final gear spinning at 7000 RPM in
video #2 of the series
by hand cranking it “as fast as he can”, a speed measured by using the metronome app on his smartphone. He begins driving the gearbox with an electric drill in
video #3
, with some mixed but promising results. We think he will ultimately succeed in his goal of a high-speed, electric-drill-driven gearbox after a few more tests. If you want to have a go at this yourself,
the design files are posted online
.
How fast do you think he can eventually get this gearbox spinning? Are there any physical limitations of the assembly or due to the 3D printing materials/process? We certainly know that
high torque can tear 3D-printed gearboxes apart
, but how does the speed affect things? Let us know in the comments below. | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6343076",
"author": "Mr Name Required",
"timestamp": "2021-04-26T00:38:23",
"content": "I’m tryng to figure out the aim of this project, it seems somewhat pointless. Is it to (a) spin 3D-printed gears until they fly apart, or (b) that the friction becomes so high that it stalls the ... | 1,760,373,107.232304 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/25/ken-sherriff-picks-apart-mystery-chip-from-twitter-photo/ | [Ken Shirriff] Picks Apart Mystery Chip From Twitter Photo | Matthew Carlson | [
"hardware"
] | [
"chip decap",
"comparator",
"ic",
"ken shirriff",
"reverse engineer",
"reverse engineering"
] | It’s no secret that the work of [Ken Shirriff] graces the front pages of Hackaday quite frequently. He’s back again, this time
reverse engineering a comparator chip from a photo on Twitter
. The mysterious chip was decapped, photographed under a microscope, and subsequently
posted on the internet with an open call to figure out what it did.
[Ken] stepped up, and at first glance, it was obvious that most of the chip is unused, and there appeared to be four copies of the same circuit. After identifying resistors and the different transistor types, [Ken] found differential pairs.
Differential pairs form the heart of most op-amps, and by chaining them together, you can get a strong enough signal to treat it as a logic signal. Based on the design and materials, [Ken] estimates the chip is from the 1970s. Given that it appears to be ECL (Emitter-Coupled Logic), it could just be four comparators. But there are still a few things that don’t add up as two comparators have additional inverted outputs. Searching the part number offered few if any clues, so this will remain somewhat a mystery.
We’ve covered [Ken’s] incredible chip sleuthing before here, such as the
Sharp EL-8 from 1969. | 24 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342888",
"author": "g",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T08:17:51",
"content": "Sherriff? Just how much lower can HaD get? There’s no limit, is there?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6342891",
"author": "Gravis",
"tim... | 1,760,373,107.375727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/24/was-novells-ne2000-really-that-bad/ | Was Novell’s NE2000 Really That Bad? | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"isa",
"NE2000",
"network card"
] | If you used almost any form of networked PC in the late 1980s or the 1990s, the chances are that you will at some point have encountered the Novell NE2000 network card. This 16-bit ISA card became a
de facto
standard for 16-bit network cards, such that very few “NE2000” cards were the real thing. A host of clones filled the market, some of which followed the spec of the original rather loosely. It’s something [Michal Necasek] examines as
he takes the reader through the history of the NE2000
and why it gained something of a bad reputation. An interesting read for ’90s PC veterans who battled with dodgy Windows 3.1 network drivers.
The Novell line of network cards were not a primary product of the network server OS company but an attempt to spur the uptake of networked computers in an age when few machines were supplied from the factory with a network card installed. They were largely an implementation of the reference design for the National Semiconductor DP3890 Ethernet interface chipset, and for simplicity of interfacing and drivers they used an I/O mapped interface rather than DMA. The problem with the NE2000 wasn’t the card itself which would work with any NE2000 driver, but the host of “NE2000 compatible” cards that appeared over the decade as that magic phrase became a key selling point at the bottom end of the market. Sure they might contain a DP3890 or its clones, but even minor differences in behaviour would cause them not to work with all drivers, and thus they gained a bad name. The piece reveals the original card as one that might have been slow and outdated towards the end of its reign as a standard card, but maybe one not deserving of the ire directed at it.
If ancient networking kit is your thing,
we’ve got some far more obscure stuff to show you
. | 42 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342866",
"author": "aki009",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T05:39:42",
"content": "I loved the NE2000 stuff way back then. As the article implies, if you chose your clone carefully, there was nothing wrong with the NE2000 clones. (Conversely, if you didn’t it’d not be a great experience.... | 1,760,373,107.453896 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/24/a-modern-mac-using-an-ancient-mac-display/ | A Modern Mac Using An Ancient Mac Display | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"composite sync",
"crt",
"macOS"
] | If you own an Apple product you probably live in a world with a few proprietary interfaces, but by and large your displays and desktop peripherals will use familiar ports such as USB and DisplayPort. For the Mac owner of yore though it was a different matter, as [Dandu] is here to tell us with
the tale of a vintage Apple monochrome CRT monitor and a modern Mac
.
There are no handy VGA ports to be found in this screen, instead it has a 15-pin D connector following a proprietary interface. With the right adapter it’s easy enough to produce VGA from the modern machine, but while it is in theory possible to map VGA pins to Apple pins there’s a snag with this particular model. Instead of using separate sync pins, it demands a composite sync of the type you might find in an analogue TV set that contains both horizontal and vertical sync pulses. The solution came through a simple transistor circuit, and then with the requisite settings on the modern Mac to deliver the 640×480 resolution it was possible to see a MacOS Catalina desktop on something more suited to a Mac II.
We’re more used to seeing CRT Macs in the form of the venerable SE/30,
a machine that’s been on our radar for a long time
. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342864",
"author": "RÖB",
"timestamp": "2021-04-25T05:24:42",
"content": "From memory, just about everything (apart from the IBM PC) had composite (mixed) sync.I just had a quick brows at JAMMA arcade standard of that era, a number of “home” computer and of course any TV had combin... | 1,760,373,107.499414 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/24/virtual-reality-experiment-tricks-your-feet-into-walking-while-sitting-down/ | Virtual Reality Experiment Tricks Your Feet Into Walking While Sitting Down | Al Williams | [
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"virtual reality",
"vr",
"walking"
] | The whole idea behind virtual reality is that you don’t really know what’s going on in the world around you. You only know what your senses tell you is there. If you can fake out your vision, for example, then your brain won’t realize you are floating in a tank providing power for the robot hordes. However, scientists in Japan think that you can even fool your feet into thinking they are walking when they aren’t. In a recent paper, they describe a test they did that
combined audio cues with buzzing on different parts of the feet to simulate the feel of walking
.
The trick only requires four transducers, two on each foot. They tested several different configurations of what the effect looked like in the participant’s virtual reality headgear. Tests were performed in third person didn’t cause test subjects to associate the foot vibrations with walking. But the first-person perspective caused sensations of walking, with a full-body avatar working the best, compared to showing just hands and feet or no avatar at all.
Making people think they are walking in VR
can be tricky
but it does explain how they fit all that stuff in a little holodeck. Of course, it is nice if you can also
sense walking
and use it to move your avatar, but that’s another problem. | 3 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342827",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2021-04-24T23:56:09",
"content": "This sort of thing was shown 10 years ago by a friend of mine. No VR or electrodes needed. I think the method was place the subject with a view of one of their hands and a dummy opposing hand. Stro... | 1,760,373,107.536211 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/24/clay-pot-mp3-player-whipped-up-with-the-freedom-k64f/ | Clay Pot MP3 Player Whipped Up With The Freedom-K64F | Lewin Day | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"clay",
"clay pot",
"FRDM-K64F",
"mp3 player"
] | In the streaming era, few of us think about MP3s on a day to day basis anymore. Our music collection is managed by warring executives in streaming companies from far-off lands. However, for [vinod], they’re still useful —
seeing as he just built himself an MP3 player that fits in a clay pot
.
The build is based on the FRDMK64F development board, packing a powerful 120 MHz ARM chip. This has enough grunt to decode MP3s on the fly, using the Helix MP3 decoder library. The MP3s themselves are streamed off an SD card, using the faster SDIO access method rather than relying on slower SPI. Once decoded, the resulting PCM audio data is shifted out via a DAC using the chip’s DMA hardware, allowing for smooth, glitch-free playback. Output to a big woofer is via a 15 W class D amplifier, with the whole rig powered from a USB powerbank.
With all the electronics piled on the back of a big woofer speaker with lashings of hot glue, the final result is quite imposing; all the more so when installed neatly inside a clay pot acting as a bass reflex enclosure.
We’ve seen some concrete cast speakers before
, but not nearly enough hacker projects in clay. Please rectify this,
and inform us once you’ve done so
. Thanks in advance — video after the break! | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6342781",
"author": "Misterlaneous",
"timestamp": "2021-04-24T20:36:28",
"content": "My yard is largely clay, so as terraforming progresses, I’ve been doing experiments with using the dirt from the yard to make clay stepping stones. I guess I could do a writeup or something. 🤷♂️",... | 1,760,373,107.597189 |
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