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https://hackaday.com/2021/01/12/3d-printing-in-five-axes-makes-the-world-flat/ | 3D Printing In Five Axes Makes The World Flat | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"News"
] | [
"3d printing",
"5d printing"
] | Just when you thought your 3D printer was hot stuff, along comes a 5D printer. Two doctoral students at Penn State want to
add two more axes
to get rid of overhangs. This means that instead of supports or breaking objects into pieces, the printer simply orients the print so each region of the part is printing as if it were flat. Of course, 5D printers aren’t really new, even though you don’t hear much about them. However, the paper details a new algorithm that eliminates manually defining print regions and rotations.
You do this all the time manually when you’re setting the print up. For example, if you want to print a letter T, you could print it with supports under the cross pieces or flip it upside down and print it with no support at all. The difference here is the printer can flip the workpiece itself to different angles and can change it on the fly during printing. The printer might print the shaft of the T, rotate it to draw half of the crossbar, then rotate it 180 degrees to print the other half. In all three zones, the print head is depositing materials flat with no overhang. In a simple case like a T that doesn’t really require a special machine or an algorithm, but in the general case, you often can’t just rotate a model to avoid using supports.
The proposed algorithm can take into account how much overhang angle the printer can handle so that it can reorient the model as few times as possible. Presumably, rotating the print is relatively time-consuming compared to just laying down a new layer.
We really wanted to see a picture of the 5D machine in operation, but we didn’t find any actual pictures. However, the video below is of a commercial 5D machine — presumably, you have to set it up manually — and it also shows a good example of how a part rotates to get flat prints. We honestly aren’t sure if the algorithm in the paper has actually been applied to real prints yet. The photos don’t look like the models are actually 3D printed.
We have to wonder if 5D will make it to the consumer 3D printing market. Then the marketing hype will kick in and we’ll have 20D printers driven by the marketing department.
This reminded us of
2.5D printing
, but it isn’t really the same thing. If your part is spinning around, it probably adds a whole new level of grief for
bed adhesion
. | 23 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6311076",
"author": "Arthur Wolf",
"timestamp": "2021-01-12T12:03:34",
"content": "If somebody wants to implement this into Slic3r, I’ll send them a free Smoothieboard (which currently does support 5axis motion btw, even have used it on 5axis CNC mills and 5axis lasers).",
"pare... | 1,760,373,225.082588 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/12/make-room-for-a-new-arduino-competitor-with-native-brainfck/ | Make Room For A New Arduino Competitor – With Native Brainf*ck! | Jenny List | [
"FPGA"
] | [
"arduino",
"brainfuck",
"fpga"
] | With so many smaller and more capable microcontroller boards on the market it’s now fairly safe to say that the classic Arduino footprint and form factor is rather outdated. That’s not to say that there’s no fight left in the old contender though, and to prove it here’s a new platform in the familiar style set by the venerable Atmel-based board. [Eduardo Corpeño]’s
Brainfuino is an Arduino competitor that runs everyone’s favourite esoteric programming language, Brainf*ck
. (Keeping it SFW, folks.)
And in case you mistake it for a Brainf*ck emulator on a PCB then stand ready to be corrected, for this board
runs the language natively in a Brainf*ck softcore on a Lattice MachXO2 FPGA
. This is the real deal, on which only a true genius or masochist would dare to code.
The board itself is very neatly executed with a graphical style that presents more than a nod to the original Arduino. On this board is the FPGA, 256 kB ROM and 138 kB RAM, an STM32 to provide a USB serial port and an analogue input, and a level shifter to provide Arduino-style 5 V logic on the pins. We can see it’ll provide hours of fun to anyone interested in learning Brainf*ck, but besides that it has potential as an Arduino-shaped FPGA board. We like the joke, we like the graphical and engineering design, but underneath that lies quite the technical achievement.
Brainf*ck has made it to Hackaday before, not least in
this jaw-dropping relay computer
. | 70 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6311042",
"author": "Gary",
"timestamp": "2021-01-12T09:23:17",
"content": "A 100-pin STM32 just for usb serial? what a waste. would be nice if it was broken out more or interconnected with the FPGA more than just serial",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,373,224.994199 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/3d-printed-pi-laptop-honors-the-iconic-grid-compass/ | 3D Printed Pi Laptop Honors The Iconic GRiD Compass | Tom Nardi | [
"computer hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3D printed enclosure",
"GRiD Compass",
"portable computer",
"retro computer"
] | If you’re familiar with vintage portable computers, you know about the GRiD Compass. Even if you’re
not
into computers of yesteryear, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a Compass or two without realizing it. From battling xenomorphs in
Aliens
to making the trip to orbit aboard the Space Shuttle, the trendsetting clamshell computer seemed to be everywhere in the 1980s. While far too expensive for the average consumer to afford back then, its no-compromise design and sleek looks helped lay the groundwork for today’s ubiquitous laptops.
Getting your hands on a working GRiD Compass in 2021 isn’t a whole lot easier than it was in 1982, so
[Mike] decided to do the next best thing and build his own
. His GRIZ Sextant certainly isn’t a replica, but the family resemblance is strong enough to get the point across. The Raspberry Pi powered machine has a greatly reduced “trunk” section in the back as you might expect, but the overall layout is very similar. The Commodore 64 inspired color scheme is probably the biggest departure from the source material, but it’s hard to argue with the results.
It’s clear at a glance that a lot of thought was put into the external aesthetics of the Sextant, but a peek under the hood shows the internal details are equally impressive. [Mike] tells us he has a background in product design, and it shows. Rather than approaching this project as a one-off creation, he’s clearly taken great pains to ensure the design is as reproducible as possible.
All of the individual components of the 3D printed frame and enclosure have been carefully designed so they’ll fit within the build volume of the average desktop machine. Electronic components are screwed, not glued, to the internal framework; making future repairs and maintenance much easier. When combined with the ample internal volume available, this modular approach should make adding custom hardware a relatively painless process as well.
So when will you be able to build a GRIZ Sextant of your own? Hopefully, very soon. [Mike] says he still needs to work some kinks out of the power supply and finalize how the speakers will get mounted into the case. Once those last tweaks are locked in, he plans to release all the STL files and a complete Bill of Materials. For those who want to get a sneak peek before they start warming up the extruder, he’s also started documenting the assembly of the Sextant on his YouTube channel.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen an incredible number of bespoke portables created by members of the community.
From outlandish cyberdecks
to labors of love like the Sextant that
pay homage to the technology of decades past
, ever more capable desktop 3D printers and Linux SBCs are finally allowing hackers to create the truly personal computers of their dreams. | 28 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6311039",
"author": "Drew",
"timestamp": "2021-01-12T08:59:51",
"content": "80’s are before my time, but I love the look. I might copy this form factor in the future.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6311052",
"author": "Brig... | 1,760,373,225.175282 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/growing-opals-in-the-lab/ | Growing Opals In The Lab | Lewin Day | [
"Science"
] | [
"Chemistry",
"gems",
"opals"
] | Opals are unique amongst gemstones, being formed from tiny silica nanospheres arranged in precise structures that give them their characteristic shifting color when seen from different angles. [The Thought Emporium] loves a challenge,
so set about growing some himself.
It’s not the hardest gemstone synthesis ever, but it’s no cakewalk either. The process requires tetraethyl orthosilicate, or TEOS, which can be difficult to find, but the rest of the chemicals required are commonly available. The initial phase involves mixing the TEOS with reactants to form nanoscale silica spheres in the range of 200-350 nanometers wide. With the spheres in solution, the mixture must then be carefully dried in such a way as to create the right structure to produce opal’s famous color effects. At this stage, industrial producers add further silica to stabilize the matrix, though [The Thought Emporium] wasn’t able to find literature that explained how to do this. Instead, he relied on resin, which while imperfect, did allow the specimens to be stabilised and shown off for the purposes of the video.
The video notes that many of the steps in this process were perfected decades ago, but remain held as trade secrets, making replication an exercise in experimentation. Nonetheless, success was had in producing recognisably opalescent specimens, and we can’t wait to see further refinement of the DIY process.
We’ve seen similar work from [The Thought Emporium] before,
exploring structural color and holograms.
Video after the break. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6311010",
"author": "Garth Bock",
"timestamp": "2021-01-12T04:52:41",
"content": "Very cool video. I am going to have to try this…..I was getting bored turning lead into gold….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8043620",
... | 1,760,373,224.676241 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/starlink-satellite-dish-x-rayed-to-unlock-rf-magic-inside/ | Starlink Satellite Dish X-Rayed To Unlock RF Magic Inside | Tom Nardi | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Teardown",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"phased array",
"satellite dish",
"SpaceX",
"Starlink",
"teardown"
] | When [Kenneth Keiter] took apart his Starlink dish back in November, he did his best to explain the high-level functionality of the incredibly complex device in a video posted to his YouTube channel. It was a fascinating look at the equipment, but by his own admission, he wasn’t the right person to try and explain the nuances of how the phased array actually functioned. But he knew who
could
do the technology justice, which is
why he shipped the dismembered dish over to [Shahriar Shahramian]
of The Signal Path.
Don’t be surprised if you can’t quite wrap your head around his detailed analysis after your first viewing. You’ll probably have a few lingering questions after the second re-watch as well. But that’s OK, as [Shahriar] still has a few of his own. Even after cutting out a section of the dish and putting it under an X-ray, it’s still not completely clear how the SpaceX engineers managed to cram everything into such a tidy package. Though there seems to be no question that the $500 price for the early-access hardware is an absolute steal, all things considered.
The layered antenna works on multiple frequencies.
Most of the video is spent examining the stacked honeycomb construction of the phased antenna array, which as expected, holds a number of RF secrets if you know what to look for. Put simply, there’s no such thing as an insignificant detail to the trained eye. From the carefully sized injection molded spacer sheet that keeps the upper array a specific distance from the RF4-like radome, to the almost microscopic holes that have been bored through each floating patch to maintain equalized air pressure through the stack up, [Shahriar] picks up on fascinating details which might otherwise seem like arbitrary design decisions.
But a visual inspection will only get you so far. Eventually [Shahriar] has to cut out a slice of the PCB so he can fit it into the X-ray machine, but don’t feel too bad, the dish was long dead before he got his hands on it. While he hasn’t yet completed his full analysis, an initial examination indicates that each large IC and the eight chips surrounding it make up a 16 channel beam forming module. Each channel is further split into two RX and TX pairs, which provides the necessary right and left hand polarization. That said, he admits there’s some room for interpretation and that further work would be necessary before any hard conclusions could be made.
Between this RF analysis and the
initial overview provided by [Kenneth]
, we’ve already learned a lot more about this device than many might have expected considering how rare and expensive the hardware is. While we admit it’s not immediately clear what kind of hijinks hardware hackers could get into once this device is fully understood, we’re certainly eager to find out. | 15 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310973",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2021-01-12T00:49:00",
"content": "Whoo, that looks like some deep magic, on first glance it looks like an array of cavity resonators that’s maybe it’s own upconvertor and downconvertor, will have to hit up the vid in the morn when I’... | 1,760,373,224.73675 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/dangerous-greeting-cards-you-probably-shouldnt-send-anyone/ | Dangerous Greeting Cards You Probably Shouldn’t Send Anyone | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"greeting card"
] | Regular paper greeting cards are pricey for what they are, and of course the annoying musical variety are even more so. If you really want to go all out, however, you’ve got to go custom made. That’s what [Xyla] and [Ian] did,
though we’d stop short of recommending you build or send these to anyone!
Two variants of the “dangerous cards” were built. One repurposed an electric shocking circuit from a handheld buzzer, tucking it inside a shiny Disney greeting card. Using a switch from a musical greeting card, when opened, the shocking circuit is activated. With the circuit connected to aluminium tape electrodes hidden in the shiny foil design, when the user opens the card, they receive a painful shock. The flamethrowing variant was triggered by the same mechanism, though instead sent power to an electric match, shooting a fireball with flash cotton when the card was opened.
These cards make excellent pranks, though we’d be wary about sending them by mail for obvious reasons. We’ve seen [Xyla’s] work before too, with
her glowing kayak
a particular highlight. Video after the break. | 25 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310885",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T21:12:16",
"content": "I think I’ll stick with the classic “butterfly” twisted elastic type card pranks, or programming mp3/sample playing musical cards with the dulcet tones of Mr Richard Astley Esq. … I know a lot of clu... | 1,760,373,224.859947 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/tabfs-makes-your-browser-a-file-system/ | TabFS Makes Your Browser A File System | Al Williams | [
"internet hacks"
] | [] | Like Unix, old-fashioned Linux has the philosophy that everything should look like a file. That paradigm works well and most of the operating system’s core features follow that pattern. However, many modern additions don’t really treat things as files or, at least, not files you can easily manipulate with the other tools. [Omar Rizwan] has a handy Chrome extension, though, that will make your
browser tabs look like part of your file system
. Not only is it a novel idea, but it is also surprisingly handy.
The extension feels like a bit of a proof of concept, so installation is a bit rough, but it does work and it allows you to do things that you would otherwise have to write an extension or a sophisticated program to screen scrape which is always less than desirable.
Once you have a directory with all your tabs, you can use tools like ls, find, and ordinary glob expressions to search through their titles, text, and URLs. There’s also a file-based interface to control each tab. For example, if you wanted to close all the Hackaday tabs (although, really, why would you want to do that?) you could issue either of these shell commands
rm ~/browser/tabs/by-title/*Hackaday*
echo remove | tee -a ~/browser/tabs/by-title/*Hackaday*/control
It wasn’t clear what all you can send to the control file, but the source code has a link to the
extension developer’s documentation
and it looks like you could use most of those methods (e.g.,
goBack
,
reload
, etc.).
You can even grab all the images from a page, pull the current title from YouTube Music, and a host of other things. There are folders for each extension, each window, and tabs organized by title, by ID, or you can find the last tab that had the focus. There’s also a way to create a new tab.
By default, the program mounts in a subdirectory of its choice. I changed the code to use a different directory, but if you do this, don’t put ~ in the name since that won’t be expanded as it would be in the shell.
Sure, you could do all of these things in a custom extension, but that’s a pretty big burden for simple tasks. You could probably do some of them with some of the user script extensions like GreaseMonkey. But bringing the power of shell scripting and Linux tools to the browser means you can do some pretty sophisticated processing without much effort.
The extension does take over a lot of your browser, so if you are security conscious, you’ll want to read the
source code
carefully. Right now to install it, you must compile it yourself, so there’s no doubt that the code you read matches the code your browser will use. We expect there will be an easier install one day and things like the debugging popups will hopefully eventually disappear.
What will you do with your tabs laid out in a directory?
Let us know
what you come up with. We wondered how this would be for
testing
, for example. TabFS would probably have made the
tab knob
an easier project, too. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310850",
"author": "Tanner Bass",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T19:35:47",
"content": "Well then, I guess it’s time to make bash nab me a RTX3070",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310855",
"author": "CRImier",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,373,225.243917 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/ask-hackaday-whats-in-your-fastener-bin/ | Ask Hackaday: What’s In Your Fastener Bin? | Dan Maloney | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"Hackaday Columns",
"hardware",
"home hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"bolt",
"fasteners",
"hardware",
"nut",
"screw"
] | A Saturday afternoon. The work week was done, the household chores were wrapped up, and with almost a week left until Christmas, there was just enough wiggle room to deny that there was still a ton of work left to prepare for that event. It seemed like the perfect time to escape into the shop and knock out a quick project, one that has been on the back burner since at least March. I’m nothing if not skilled in the ways of procrastination.
This was to be a simple project — adding an aluminum plate to a plastic enclosure that would serve as an antenna entry point into my shack. Easy as pie — cut out an rectangle of aluminum, cut and drill a few holes, call it a day. Almost all of my projects start out that way, and almost every time I forget that pretty much every one of those builds goes off the rails at exactly the same point: when I realize that I don’t have the fasteners needed. That’s what happened with this build, which had been going swimmingly up to that point — no major screw-ups, no blood drawn. And so it was off to the hardware store I trundled, looking for the right fasteners to finish the job.
Finding hardware has long been where my productivity goes to die. Even though I live a stone’s throw from at least half a dozen stores, each with a vast selection of hardware and most open weekends and nights, the loss of momentum that results from changing from build-mode to procure-mode has historically been deadly to my projects. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has run into this issue, so the question is: what can a hacker do to prevent having to run out for just the right fasteners?
The Problem
It’s pretty easy to spot the root cause of this problem with a stroll into pretty much any hardware store. Somewhere in the store will be an aisle lined with bins and drawers holding every conceivable kind of fastener. There’ll be everything from lag screws and carriage bolts for fastening together wooden structures to tiny packets of M3 screws that would be at home on a 3D-printer. Add to that the different thread pitches and styles, the range of diameters and lengths, the variety of materials and finishes, the wide range of drive types, and the confounding effect of different nuts, washers, lock washers, and other adornments, and you’ve got a nearly infinite number of combinations.
I’ll take one of each, please.
The other problem is that there’s really not that much leeway in making substitutions with fasteners. Each kind of fastener has a pretty specific engineering purpose, and in some cases, making a change to something that’s already on hand can be risky. I’ve learned this the hard way, and that fact alone is why I ended up wasting a bunch of time on a recent project to fit a cargo van with solar array. The van is going to carry six solar panels on mounts that fold down for travel; using the wrong fastener could result in a wind storm tearing the panels off, or worse yet, cause something to break off the trailer while it’s being towed down the highway. Avoiding such a fate was well worth a few extra trips to the store to get the fasteners right.
There’s one more factor that probably affects some more than others, and that’s aesthetics. Sometimes the fastener that you have on hand just doesn’t look very good. I recall looking for cap screws in Lowe’s, with my wife helping out in the search. When she announced that she’d found them, all I could say was, “I need socket head cap screws, but those are round head. Are you insane?” Sometimes it just has to look a certain way.
The Solution
All this is to say that the universe of fastener choices far exceeds the means of the average hacker to reasonably keep on hand,although that hasn’t kept me from trying this brute-force approach to fixing the problem. Years ago I was offered a chance to buy outright the entire fastener display from a hardware store that was going out of business. The whole thing — the bins, the drawers, even the rolls of plastic bags for parts and the ballpoint pens on the little sproingy things that never manage to write the stock numbers on the bag — could have been mine for a price. It was a tempting offer, but as I had neither the means nor the space to store such a thing, I declined.
Had I actually picked it up, would it have solved the problem? Probably for a while, but I suspect I would have ended up with a lot of stuff I had little call for, and not enough of the good stuff. And what’s worse, my needs have shifted significantly. I was working a lot with wood back then, and only did the occasional metalworking project. There’s not a lot of crossover in the fastener needs of the two media, so switching away from a lot of woodworking would likely have stranded a lot of fasteners from that original allotment.
I think the closest I’ve ever come to seeing a solution to this was at the model shop in the place I worked for 23 years. It was a full machine shop to support scientific research, and the fellow who built it from the ground up really hated getting caught without hardware. He had two Lista cabinets each with a dozen or so drawers, and each drawer had a bunch of little plastic bins holding screws, nuts, and bolts. In the metric cabinet the fasteners ranged from M1 to probably M12 and running up to perhaps 50 mm in length. He limited materials to stainless and black oxide, and head style to either socket head or round head. The other cabinet contained the equivalent inch fasteners, and each cabinet contained nuts and washers. It was limited, but it was also comprehensive, and got him through perhaps 80% of his daily work without having to run out or place an order.
Your Turn
While most of us can’t afford such a solution, I think shooting for the
Pareto distribution
like my machinist pal is probably a good goal in addressing the problem. If I can keep on hand the fasteners needed to complete 80% of my projects without having to resupply, I’d be thrilled.
The question then becomes, what’s the mix of fasteners that best accomplishes that? And once I decide on a mix, what’s the best way to source them? MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) suppliers like McMaster-Carr, Fastenal, and Grainger are widely available, but priced more for corporate customers than individuals. Still, is there a place for them in this solution? And how would one go about storing and organizing a fastener collection like this, and making sure it stays stocked as parts are used? We’d love to hear from anyone who has dealt with this problem, either in an industrial settings and in the home shop. Let us know what you think in the comments below. | 143 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310797",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T18:08:03",
"content": "1/4-20 reporting in",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310812",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T18:27:26",
"co... | 1,760,373,225.572969 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/plant-communication-hack-chat/ | Plant Communication Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"amplifier",
"chemical",
"communication",
"Hack Chat",
"hormone",
"neurology",
"plant",
"signalling"
] | Join us on Wednesday, January 13th at noon Pacific for the
Plant Communication Hack Chat
with
Lex Kravitz
!
As far as conversation goes, plants are usually a pretty poor choice of partners. Sure, we’ve all heard that talking to you houseplants is supposed to be good for them, but expecting them to talk back in any meaningful way is likely to end in disappointment.
Or is it? For as simple and inanimate as plants appear to be, they actually have a rich set of behaviors. Plants can react to stimuli, moving toward attractants like light and nutrients and away from repellents. Some trees can secrete substances to prevent competitors crowding around them, by preventing their seedlings from ever even taking root. And we’ve known for a long time that plants can communicate with each other, through chemical signaling.
Plants are clearly capable of much more than just sitting there, but is there more to the story? Neuroscientist Lex Kravitz thinks so, which is why he has been wiring up his houseplants to sensitive amplifiers and looking for electrical signals. While the bulk of what we know about plant communications is centered on the chemical signals they send, it could be that there’s an electrical component to their behaviors too. Join us as Lex stops by the Hack Chat to talk about his plant communication experiments, and to see if it may someday be possible to listen in on what your plants are saying about you.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, January 13 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. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310784",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T17:23:55",
"content": "“As far as conversation goes, plants are usually a pretty poor choice of partners. Sure, we’ve all heard that talking to you houseplants is supposed to be good for them, but expecting them to talk back i... | 1,760,373,224.793927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/bringing-modern-control-to-an-old-radio/ | Bringing Modern Control To An Old Radio | Adam Zeloof | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"ham radio",
"ham radio mods"
] | The modern ham radio shack can take many forms. Some are shrines the “boat anchor” radios of old, named for their considerable weight. Others are simply a small, unassuming software-defined radio (SDR) hooked up to a laptop. Nowadays, many shacks fall somewhere in the middle. It’s not uncommon to find a sleek Icom IC-7300 sitting atop an ancient Hallicrafters SX-115 (which sounds suspiciously like the author’s setup). When a ham wants to work a digital mode such as FT-8, they will undoubtedly reach for a newer radio complete with USB (Universal Serial Bus in this case, not Upper Sideband) rig control — but what if the newest piece of equipment they have is a thirty-year-old Kenwood?
If that sounds like you, then fear not because [Steve Bossert] has you covered. He took his trusty Kenwood TS-50, a classic radio from 1993 whose most advanced feature is fuzzy logic, and
upgraded it with USB (again, the serial bus) control
.
When Kenwood designed the TS-50, they had computer control in mind. There’s a hidden port on the bottom of the unit which reveals a connector that mates with Kenwood’s proprietary (and expensive) set of serial control cables. Thankfully, the engineers over at Kenwood decided to use UART for PC communication, so slapping a USB port in the radio’s case isn’t as daunting as it may sound. [Steve] picked up a
CP2104 USB-TTL UART Serial Adapter
and wired it up to the radio’s control port. After a bit of drilling, screwing, and gluing, the radio had an upgraded (and non-proprietary!) interface compatible with the ever-popular hamlib. While this doesn’t cover all radio control functions, it gets you tuning, which is pretty important. For a fully modern radio experience, [Steve] suggests using the 8-pin mic connector along with an interface such as Rigblaster or Signalink. This adds PTT and audio signal routing.
If you want to try this for yourself, be sure to check out [Steve]’s extremely well-documented writeup. You could even take this a step further and control your TS-50 from your smartphone with this
HTML5 interface we saw a few months back
. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310771",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T16:34:08",
"content": "“There’s a hidden port on the bottom of the unit which reveals a connector that mates with Kenwood’s proprietary (and expensive) set of serial control cables.”Reminds when I had to get a cable for my PLC... | 1,760,373,224.630162 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/the-v-bomber-ejector-seat-controversy/ | The V-Bomber Ejector Seat Controversy | Lewin Day | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"History",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"aircraft",
"avro vulcan",
"ejection seat",
"ejector seat",
"flight",
"handley page victor",
"plane",
"v bomber",
"valiant",
"vickers valiant",
"victor",
"vulcan"
] | Once upon a time, bailing out of a plane involved popping open the roof or door, and hopping out with your parachute, hoping that you’d maintained enough altitude to slow down before you hit the ground. As flying speeds increased and aircraft designs changed, such escape became largely impossible.
Ejector seats were the solution to this problem, with the first models entering service in the late 1940s. Around this time, the United Kingdom began development of a new fleet of bombers, intended to deliver its nuclear deterrent threat over the coming decades. The Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor, and the Avro Vulcan were all selected to make up the force, entering service in 1955 through 1957 respectively. Each bomber featured ejector seats for the pilot and co-pilot, who sat at the front of the aircraft. The remaining three crew members who sat further back in the fuselage were provided with an escape hatch in the rear section of the aircraft with which to bail out in the event of an emergency.
A Fateful Decision
The Avro Vulcan, Victor Valiant, and Handley Page Victor made up Britain’s V-bomber fleet, serving as the country’s strategic nuclear strike force.
The decision was not a controversial one at the time of design of the V-bombers, with original plans for a jettisionable crew capsule abandoned prior to building the prototype aircraft. However, the issue was brought into sharp focus almost immediately after the Vulcan entered service. Avro Vulcan B.1 XA897 was returning from a tour of Australia and New Zealand, intending to land at Heathrow on 1 October 1956. On the day, torrential rain meant visibility was poor, and pilot Donald Howard decided to attempt a ground controlled approach to the runway.
After being advised the plane was coming in too high above the required glide path, Howard overcorrected, with the Vulcan striking the ground, tearing off the landing gear. With the plane still airborne, Howard found the controls non-responsive, gave the order to abandon the plane, and ejected successfully. Co-pilot Air Marshall Harry Broadhurst also tried the controls, and followed seconds later. With the low altitude of the accident and the forces involved, the rest of the crew went down with the plane and died on impact.
The official inquiry into the incident
apportioned blame in parts to both the pilot for not aborting the landing earlier, and the ground controller for failing to update the aircrew that they had descended too low. Notably, when delivering the report to the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Air, Nigel Birch delivered a statement regarding the choice of the pilot and co-pilot to eject from the aircraft.
It would be unjust to the pilot and co-pilot were I not to make it clear, in conclusion that it was their duty to eject when they did. I am satisfied that there could have been no hope of controlling the aircraft after the initial impact. In these circumstances, it was the duty of the captain to give the order to abandon the aircraft and of all those who were on board to obey it if they were able to do so. Both the pilot and co-pilot realised when they gave their orders that, owing to the low altitude, the other occupants had no chance of escape, and they considered that their own chances were negligible.
Further Tragedy
The issue quickly became a cause célèbre for the Daily Express, which began to publicly question why three out of five crew members weren’t provided with equal means of escape. Rather than fading away, the issue remained a continual focus as further accidents stacked up. 1956 saw a Vickers Valiant lose control due to an electrical fault, with the pilot attempting to keep the aircraft aloft long enough for the crew members to escape. The co-pilot ejected safely, while the navigator made it out but died due to the plane being too low for the parachute to open. The pilot did not eject, and passed away with the rest of the crew when the plane exploded post-impact. 1958 saw another Vulcan crash with a loss of all hands, and 1959 saw a Victor go down also with a total loss of life.
The rear flight deck of an Avro Vulcan bomber. Escape from the plane in emergency conditions was found to be almost impossible for the crew members in the back of the aircraft.
Britain was home to Martin-Baker Ltd, a company founded by James Martin and Captain Valentine Baker, that originally manufactured aircraft. After Baker perished in a testing accident, Martin shifted the company’s efforts to safety equipment for aircraft. Having long lobbied the manufacturers of the V-bomber fleet to include ejector seats for all crew members, it took four years before Martin could secure an example for testing. After convincing the RAF that ejecting from the rear of the aircraft could be done, a live test was arranged for the 1 July 1960. At 1000 feet, civilian tester W T Hay ejected safely from Vickers Valiant WP199 in front of the gathered RAF officials. Unfortunately, despite the success, the Air Ministry declined to undertake modifications to the V-bomber fleet, citing issues of cost and need to keep a sufficient number of aircraft on frontline duties.
The issues were not to disappear, however. The early 1960s brought the development of surface-to-air missiles capable of striking the high-altitude V-bombers, necessitating a switch to low-altitude bombing runs in practice if crews were to evade attack. This increased the likelihood of accidents or emergencies occurring at altitudes too low for rear crew members to bail out safely. The incidents kept coming, too, with a Victor crash in 1962 claiming the lives of another two servicemen, and a Vulcan crash in 1964 leading to the deaths of all three rear crewmembers. While the Valiant was withdrawn due to structural fatigue issues in 1965, but the Vulcan and Victor continued to serve.
A Struggle of Concept Versus Reality
Further design work by the Martin-Baker company led to a system that allowed all three rear crew members to eject through a hole only big enough for one seat. This was achieved through a clever mechanism that fired the center seat first, before tilting the outer seats inward to fire through the same hole. However, it came to nought, with only a minor upgrade ever being implemented to the rear cabin. Seats were installed that could swivel in place, facing the crew members towards the escape hatch, and fitted with an inflatable cushion to raise the crew to a standing position for exit. The solution was implemented after testing by the Royal Aircraft Establishment had determined that escape from the rear compartment was practically impossible under even mild G loads that could be experienced in flight.
The last serving examples of the V-bomber fleet were a series of Victors converted for tanker duty, which flew regular missions during the Gulf War.
In the end, despite much hard work and demonstrated solutions, successive governments declined to have the fleet upgraded with ejection seats for all crewmembers. Citing at different times costs, complexity, or logistical issues, the wholesale retrofit of the hardware was left in the too-hard basket. The V-bombers ended up serving long past their planned obsolence of 1970, with the Vulcan retired from its conventional strike duties in 1982, while the Victor ended its days serving as a tanker in the Gulf War before leaving the flight line in 1993.
One can imagine that the many crews that flew these aircraft might have appreciated a little more forethought from the original designers, or even an investment in a retrofit when the engineering problems had been solved by private industry. Fundamentally, the controversy would not have been so serious had there been no ejector seats at all; the decision to provide them to only the front crew was the cause of such consternation. Thus, many pilots and co-pilots were faced with the gut-wrenching decision over whether to eject, or to go down fighting to the last to save one’s brothers in arms. Regardless of the reasoning behind the decisions over the years, it remains cold comfort to those that sadly didn’t make it back from the flightline. | 58 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310739",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T15:07:46",
"content": "“The issue quickly became a cause célèbre for the Daily Express, which began to publicly question why three out of five crew members weren’t provided with equal means of escape. ”I’m reminded of a Titani... | 1,760,373,225.698486 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/laser-blasts-out-high-quality-pcbs/ | Laser Blasts Out High-Quality PCBs | Dan Maloney | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"copper clad",
"etching",
"EZCAD",
"fiber laser",
"flatcam",
"fr4",
"pcb",
"resist",
"uv"
] | With how cheap and how fast custom PCBs have gotten, it almost doesn’t make sense to roll your own anymore, especially when you factor in the messy etching steps and the less than stellar results. That’s not the only way to create a PCB, of course, and if you happen to have access to a 20-Watt fiber laser, you can get some
fantastic homemade PCBs
that are hard to tell from commercial boards.
Lucikly, [Saulius Lukse] of Kurokesu fame has just such a laser on hand, and with a well-tuned toolchain and a few compromises, he’s able to turn out 0.1-mm pitch PCBs in 30 minutes. The compromises include single-sided boards and no through-holes, but that should still allow for a lot of different useful designs. The process starts with Gerbers going through FlatCAM and then getting imported into EZCAD for the laser. There’s a fair bit of manual tweaking before the laser starts burning away the copper between the traces, which took about 20 passes for 0.035-mm foil on FR4. We have to admit that watching the cutting proceed in the video below is pretty cool.
Once the traces are cut, UV-curable solder resist is applied to the whole board. After curing, the board goes back to the laser for another pass to expose the pads. A final few passes with the laser turned up to 11 cuts the finished board free. We wonder why the laser isn’t used to drill holes; we understand that vias would be hard to connect to the other side, but it seems like through-hole components could be supported. Maybe that’s where [Saulius] is headed with this eventually, since there are traces that terminate in what appears to be via pads.
Whatever the goal, these boards are really slick. We usually see
lasers used to remove resist
prior to traditional etching, so this is a nice change. | 53 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310683",
"author": "is it better?",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T12:33:55",
"content": "How is the faster and/or more efficient (energy, time, etc.) than traditional methods (mask transfer)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "631076... | 1,760,373,226.097394 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/11/retro-terminals-bring-some-style-to-your-desktop/ | Retro Terminals Bring Some Style To Your Desktop | Tom Nardi | [
"computer hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"3D printed enclosure",
"dumb terminal",
"retro",
"terminal"
] | It wasn’t so long ago that a desktop computer was just a beige box with another, heavier, beige box sitting next to it or maybe perched on top. They’re a bit more visually exciting these days, with even mass produced PCs now shipping with RGB lighting and clear side panels. But even so, few could really look at a modern desktop computer and call it objectively beautiful.
But [Oriol Ferrer Mesià] wonders if we couldn’t improve on things a bit. Over the last few months, he’s been
experimenting with small 3D printed enclosures that reimagine the traditional desktop computer aesthetic
. With their distinctively retro-futuristic style, they look like the kind of gadgets science magazines in the 1960s thought would be dotting kitchens, living rooms, and space stations by the year 2000. But unlike those fanciful creations, each one of these beauties is a fully functional computer.
A few of the designs are relatively conservative, and not entirely unlike some of the old “dumb terminals” of the 1970s. With a Raspberry Pi 4 and a tablet-sized screen, these diminutive terminals would be perfectly usable for light desktop work or some retro gaming.
But we particularly like the ultra-widescreen design that [Oriol] has come up with. With a fairly unusual 4:1 aspect ratio LCD, the printed enclosure for this one was so large that it had to be done in two pieces on his Ender 3. To keep the 8″ 1920 x 480 panel well fed, this design uses a Jetson Nano 2GB which has
considerably more graphical punch than other Linux SBCs of similar size and price
.
As part of the recent cyberdeck craze, we’ve seen plenty of people
recreating the look and feel of vintage portable computers with 3D printed cases
and modern components.
Desktop creations have been far less common
, but with gorgeous designs like these to serve as inspiration, that may change. | 23 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310664",
"author": "Saabman",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T10:54:51",
"content": "I love that ultra wide design – a slight adjustment to make it work with more convenient dual screens side by side would be sweet.It would look right at home in my Futuro House if I ever get one",
"pa... | 1,760,373,225.864319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/circuit-sculpture-vibration-sensor/ | Circuit Sculpture Vibration Sensor | Kristina Panos | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"555 timer",
"flip-flop",
"spring vibration sensor",
"vibration sensor"
] | Here’s your useful and beautiful circuit for the day —
[New Pew]’s vibration sensor takes manual control of the flip-flop inside a 555 timer and lights an LED in response
. Use it to detect those vibrations you expect, like laundry machines, or those you only suspect, like the kind that might be coming from your engine. This gadget isn’t super-precise, but it will probably get the job done.
The vibration-detecting bit is a tiny ball bearing soldered to the spring from an old pen, which is tied between the trigger and ground pins of the 555. When the chip is powered with a 9 V battery, nearby vibrations will induce wiggle in the spring, causing the ball bearing to contact the brass rod and completing the circuit. When this happens, the internal flip flop’s output goes high, which turns on the LED. Then the flip flop must be reset with a momentary button. Check out the build video after the break.
Want to pick up Earthly vibrations?
You can detect earthquakes with a homemade variable capacitor, a 555, and a Raspberry Pi
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHDKrFj6U5Y | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310614",
"author": "Fosselius",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T07:29:47",
"content": "Exactly what you need to detect Tilt on your homebuilt pinball machine ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310699",
"author": "Roamin",
... | 1,760,373,226.005851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/wooden-cassette-tape-is-a-veneer-stackup-seeking-a-few-good-walkmen/ | Wooden Cassette Tape Is A Veneer Stackup Seeking A Few Good Walkmen | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"cassette",
"magnetic",
"maxell",
"tape",
"wood",
"woodworking"
] | While the days of audio cassette tapes are long over for almost everyone, magnetic tape still enjoys extensive use in some other realms such as large-scale data backup. Those that
are
still using it to store their tunes are a special subset of audio enthusiasts. [Frank] still has a working tape deck, and enthusiasm for classic non-vinyl sound. His homage to audio tape?
Building a working cassette made (almost) entirely of wood
.
The cassette is modeled on the formerly popular Maxell XL-II and the first versions of this build were modeled in paper. Once the precise dimensions of the enclosure were determined, [Frank] got to work building the final version from wood in a decidedly 2D process. He used a plotter to cut layers out of a wood veneer and glued them together one-by-one. The impressive part of this build is that the tape reel bearings are also made from wood, using a small piece as a race that holds the reels without too much friction.
Once everything was pieced together and glued up, [Frank] had a perfect working cassette tape made entirely from wood with the exception of the magnetic tape and a few critical plastic parts that handle the tape directly. The build is an impressive piece of woodworking, not unlike the
solid wood arcade cabinet
from a few days ago. | 34 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310573",
"author": "EBo",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T03:04:56",
"content": "This would be a great tribute to a Woody Guthrie memorial collection. (sorry I could not resist)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310576",
"aut... | 1,760,373,226.167875 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/hackaday-links-january-10-2021/ | Hackaday Links: January 10, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"5g",
"atlas",
"boston dynamics",
"conspiracy",
"e-ink",
"guitar",
"hackaday links",
"handle",
"leap second",
"retrocomputing",
"spot"
] | You know that feeling when your previously niche hobby goes mainstream, and suddenly you’re not interested in it anymore because it was once quirky and weird but now it’s trendy and all the newcomers are going to come in and ruin it?
That just happened to retrocomputing
. The article is pretty standard New York Times fare, and gives a bit of attention to the usual suspects of retrocomputing, like Amiga, Atari, and the Holy Grail search for an original Apple I. There’s little technically interesting in it, but we figured that we should probably note it since prices for retrocomputing gear are likely to go up soon. Buy ’em while you can.
Remember the video of the dancing Boston Dynamics robots? We actually had intended to cover that in Links last week, but Editor-in-Chief Mike Szczys
beat us to the punch
, in an article that garnered a host of surprisingly negative comments. Yes, we understand that this was just showboating, and that the robots were just following a set of preprogrammed routines. Some commenters derided that as not dancing, which we find confusing since human dancing is just following preprogrammed routines. Nevertheless, IEEE Spectrum had an interview this week with Boston Dynamics’ VP of Engineering talking about
how the robot dance was put together
. There’s a fair amount of doublespeak and couched terms, likely to protect BD’s intellectual property, but it’s still an interesting read. The take-home message is that despite some commenters’ assertions, the routines were apparently not just motion-captured from human dancers, but put together from a suite of moves Atlas, Spot, and Handle had already been trained on. That and the fact that BD worked with a human choreographer to work out the routines.
Looks like 2021 is already trying to give 2020 a run for its money, at least in the marketplace of crazy ideas.
The story
, released in Guitar World of all places, goes that some conspiracy-minded people in Italy started sharing around a schematic of what they purported to be the “5G chip” that’s supposedly included in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The reason Guitar World picked it up is that eagle-eyed guitar gear collectors noticed that the schematic was actually that of the
Boss MetalZone-2 effects pedal
, complete with a section labeled “5G Freq.” That was apparently enough to trigger someone, and to ignore the op-amps, potentiometers, and 1/4″ phone jacks on the rest of the schematic. All of which would certainly smart going into the arm, no doubt, but seriously, if it could make us
shred like this
, we wouldn’t mind getting shot up with it.
Remember the first time you saw a Kindle with an e-ink display? The thing was amazing — the clarity and fine detail of the characters were unlike anything possible with an LCD or CRT display, and the fact that the display stayed on while the reader was off was a little mind-blowing at the time. Since then, e-ink technology has come considerably down market, commoditized to the point where they can be used for price tags on store shelves. But now it looks like they’re scaling up to desktop display sizes, with
the announcement of a 25.3″ desktop e-ink monitor by Dasung
. Dubbed the Paperlike 253, the 3200 x 1800 pixel display will be able to show 16 shades of gray with no backlighting. The videos of the monitor in action are pretty low resolution, so it’s hard to say what the refresh rate will be, but given the technology it’s going to be limited. This might be a great option as a second or third monitor for those who can work with the low refresh rate and don’t want an LCD monitor backlight blasting them in the face all day.
And finally, if it feels like time has been flying lately, you’re right. The Earth’s rotation on its axis has been shortening lately, such that days are spinning by not in a glacial 24 hours, but at a frenetic pace of 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59.9998927 seconds. Laugh if you will, but those microseconds add up over the year. Leap seconds have been applied at least 27 times in the last 50 years to correct for Earth’s
slowing
rotation, but
we’re now in a regime that may require a “negative leap second” be applied
. Scientists will be studying the trends in Earth’s rotation and make a decision at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2023, so our 24-hour day is safe until then. | 36 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310549",
"author": "joesugar",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T01:13:41",
"content": "“You know that feeling when your previously niche hobby goes mainstream, and suddenly you’re not interested in it anymore because it was once quirky and weird but now it’s trendy and all the newcomers ar... | 1,760,373,225.94828 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/esp8266-socket-is-a-snap-fit-breadboard-friendly-wonder/ | ESP8266 Socket Is A Snap-Fit, Breadboard-Friendly Wonder | Kristina Panos | [
"how-to",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"breadboard",
"ESP8266",
"paper clip",
"socket"
] | It all started with wanting to program an ESP-12 variant of an ESP8266 module without involving any solder. Displeased with all the socket offerings on Thingiverse,
[tweeto] set out to design their own breadboard-friendly snap-fit socket
.
This certainly looks like a handy solution. All you have to do is print the thing, add all the wires, and stick your ESP in there. Even that wire is easy to find; [tweeto] used 0.8 mm paper clips which are sturdy, conductive, and haunting the darkest corners of every desk drawer. They’re also a little bit on the thick side, so [tweeto] plans to test out 0.6mm copper wire in the future.
The challenge with this type of print is to design something that will stand up to repeated breadboardings without losing legs or falling apart. [tweeto]’s elegant solution is a tiny groove for each wire in the bottom of the socket — it keeps the wire in place by countering the play caused by inserting it into and removing it from a breadboard. See how [tweeto] bends the paper clips in the short video after the break.
There’s more than one way to use 3D printing to your circuit-building advantage, even in permanent circuits —
just take a look at this PCB-free Arduboy
. | 27 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310522",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T22:56:04",
"content": "This is very clever, I can imagine making similar sockets for other devices.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310532",
"author": "elliot white",
... | 1,760,373,226.237502 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/cyberpunk-mazda-mx-5-packs-onboard-cyberdeck/ | Cyberpunk Mazda MX-5 Packs Onboard Cyberdeck | Tom Nardi | [
"car hacks",
"Cyberdecks"
] | [
"car mod",
"cyberdeck",
"cyberpunk",
"mazda",
"mazda MX-5"
] | Back in April of 2019, inspired by iconic films such as
Blade Runner
and
Akira
, [Chris Watson] embarked on a journey to create his very own cyberpunk roadster from a 1991 Mazda MX-5. After pouring an incredible amount of blood, sweat, and fiberglass into the project, he now has a vehicle that wouldn’t look out of place cruising the streets of Neo Tokyo. Even if you’re not usually into car mods,
his impeccably photographed build log is an absolutely fascinating journey
.
But as impressive as the car itself might be, what really caught our attention was the computer sitting on the dash. From early on, [Chris] wanted the vehicle to have a companion cyberdeck that would be used to control various onboard systems. At this point it’s just for show, but he says ultimately it will be integrated with the electric motor he plans to install in place of the MX-5’s original power plant. We can’t wait to see it.
Of course, the lack of a practical application has hardly stopped us from admiring any of the other cyberdecks we’ve covered thus far. This one started out life as a laptop with a broken screen, which [Chris] beheaded and connected it to 15″ external display mounted in the top of a heavy-duty case. With a new SSD and a fresh copy of Linux Mint to verify all the hardware was still functional, he put together an MDF bezel for the display that includes some faux antennae and covered aircraft style switches.
When this futuristic roadster is making an appearance at a car show or contest, [Chris] makes sure to load up some suitably high-tech looking imagery on the display. It even shows some flashing technobabble error messages pulled from
The Fast & The Furious.
Traditionally we haven’t covered many custom car projects, though to be fair, we traditionally haven’t seen many that looked like this either. But between ever more technologically advanced vehicles and
the insightful car modding column helmed by our very own [Lewin Day]
, we expect tricked out rides may become an increasingly common sight on these pages. | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310474",
"author": "LS7",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T19:37:20",
"content": "Cyberpunk DLC confirmed?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310541",
"author": "jrfl",
"timestamp": "2021-01-11T00:37:52",
"content": "Not goin... | 1,760,373,225.783737 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/knockoff-kapton-nearly-sinks-diy-flex-pcb-project/ | Knockoff Kapton Nearly Sinks DIY Flex PCB Project | Donald Papp | [
"how-to"
] | [
"diy",
"flexible PCB",
"Kapton",
"not quite Fail of the Week",
"pcb",
"toner transfer"
] | [TinkersProjects] experimented with making their own flexible PCB for LED modules inside a special fixture, and
the end result was at least serviceable despite some problems
. It does seem as though the issues can be at least partially blamed on some knockoff Kapton tape, which is what [TinkersProjects] used as a backing material.
Incomplete etching on this DIY flexible PCB, but still salvageable.
The approach was simple: after buying some copper foil and wide Kapton tape, simply stick the foil onto the tape and use
the toner transfer method
to get a PCB pattern onto the copper. From there, the copper gets etched away in a chemical bath and the process is pretty much like any other DIY PCB. However, this is also where things started to go wonky.
Etching was going well, until [TinkersProjects] noticed that the copper was lifting away from the Kapton tape. Aborting the etching process left a messy board, but it was salvageable. But another problem was discovered during soldering, as the Kapton tape layer deformed from the heat, as if it were a piece of heat shrink. This
really
shouldn’t happen, and [TinkersProjects] began to suspect that the “Kapton” tape was a knockoff. Switching to known-good tape was an improvement, but the adhesive left a bit to be desired because traces could lift easily. Still, in the end the DIY flexible PCB worked, though the process had mixed results at best.
Flexible PCBs have been the backbone of nifty projects like
this self-actuating PoV display
, so it’s no surprise that a variety of DIY PCB methods are getting applied to it. | 16 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310430",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T15:30:45",
"content": "DuPont Kapton FPC.See IPC6013.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310432",
"author": "Somun",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T15:36:29",
"content": ... | 1,760,373,226.294401 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/turning-a-waffle-iron-into-a-reflow-station/ | Turning A Waffle Iron Into A Reflow Station | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"copper",
"reflow",
"smd",
"sonoff",
"thermal inertia",
"thermocouple"
] | There are a ton of ways to go about building your own reflow oven. Most of these builds start with, well, an oven — usually a toaster oven — with a small but significant minority choosing to modify a hotplate. But this might be the first time we’ve seen
a waffle iron turned into a reflow oven
.
Of course, what [Vincent Deconinck] came up with is not an oven per se. But his “RefloWaffle” certainly gets the job done. It started with an old waffle maker and a few experiments to see just how much modification it would take to create the various thermal reflow profiles. As it turned out, the original cooking surfaces had too much thermal inertia, so [Vincent] replaced them with plain copper sheets. That made for quicker temperature transitions, plus created some space between the upper and lower heating elements for the SMD board.
As for control, [Vincent] originally used an Arduino with a relay and a thermocouple, but he eventually built a version 2.0 that used a hacked Sonoff as both controller and switch. Adding the thermocouple driver board inside the Sonoff case took a little finagling, but he managed to get everything safely tucked inside. A web interface runs on the Sonoff and controls the reflow process.
We think this is a great build, one that will no doubt see us trolling the thrift stores for cheap waffle irons to convert. We’ve seen some
amazing toaster oven reflows
, of course, but something about the simplicity and portability of RefloWaffle just works for us. | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310409",
"author": "Menno",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T13:46:45",
"content": "Not surprising he’s from Belgium :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310426",
"author": "Osgeld",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T15:05:04",
"con... | 1,760,373,226.394748 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/10/careful-drilling-keeps-stadia-from-listening-in/ | Careful Drilling Keeps Stadia From Listening In | Tom Nardi | [
"google hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"google",
"kill switch",
"microphone",
"privacy",
"Stadia"
] | Google’s fledgling Stadia service leverages the Chrome ecosystem to deliver streamed PC games on mobile devices, web browsers, and TVs. While not strictly required, the company even offers a dedicated Stadia controller that connects directly to the streaming servers over its own WiFi connection to reduce overall system latency. Of course, being a Google product, the controller has a tiny microphone
that’s always listening in
for interacting with the voice assistant.
[Heikki Juva] didn’t like the privacy implications of this, but unfortunately, there appears to be no way to turn off this “feature” in software. He decided
the most expedient solution would be to simply remove the microphone from the controller
, but it turns out there was a problem. By researching previous teardowns, he found out that it’s nearly impossible to take the controller apart without damaging it.
Getting close to the target.
So [Heikki] came up with a bold idea. Knowing roughly the position of the microphone, he would simply drill through the controller’s case to expose and ultimately remove the device. The operation was complicated by the fact that, from the teardown video he saw, he knew he’d also have to drill through the PCB to get to the microphone mounted to the opposite side. The only bright spot was that the microphone was on its own separate PCB, so physically destroying it
probably
wouldn’t take the whole controller out with it.
Now we don’t have to explain why drilling into a gadget powered by an internal lithium-ion battery is dangerous, and we’re not necessarily vouching for the technique [Heikki] used here. But when presented with a sealed unit like this, we admit there weren’t a lot of good options. The fact that the user should have to go to such ridiculous lengths to disable the microphone in a game controller is a perfect example of why we should try to avoid these adversarially designed devices, but that’s a discussion for another time.
In the end, with a steady and and increasingly larger bits, [Heikki] was able to put a 7 mm hole in the back of the Stadia controller that allowed him to extract the microphone in one piece. Removing the microphone seems to have had no adverse effect on the device as, surprisingly enough, it turns out that a game controller doesn’t actually need to listen to the player. Who knew?
As our devices get smarter,
hidden microphones and cameras are unfortunately becoming more common
. Thankfully a few manufacturers out there are taking the hint and including hardware kill switches for these intrusive features, but until that becomes the norm,
hackers will have to come up with their own solutions
.
Update 1/10/21:
This article originally indicated that the microphone is always listening. While there is no hardware switch to disable the mic,
there is a button which must be pressed to trigger the voice assistant functions
. We have used strike through above to indicate the change to what was originally published. | 89 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310374",
"author": "Stuart Longland",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T09:24:13",
"content": "> including hardware kill switchesYou mean the switch on the side of the case which is just a piece of plastic with no mechanical linkage to any electrical contacts?(Yes, I’m sure 99.99% of produc... | 1,760,373,226.715777 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/lego-heist-bot-steals-keys/ | Lego Heist Bot Steals Keys | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"lego"
] | Breaking and entering is a felony offense, and one that risks the interloper receiving serious bodily harm for the trouble. Sending in a robot instead is an attractive alternative. While we doubt any actual intention to use their creation for evil, [Brick Experiment Channel] have nonetheless built a viable heist bot out of Lego.
The robot in question is actually two, that work together to execute their mission. Once lowered in the house, the scissor lift bot drives into position next to a coffee table. It then lifts its companion bot into position by extending its motor-driven linear actuators. The recovery bot then drives out onto the table, snatches a set of keys with its arm, and returns to the lift bot, before exiting the house. It’s all achieved with the use of the
SBrick
, a third-party Lego accessory which allows remote control of Lego motors over Bluetooth. A wireless camera also helps out with vision for the platform.
Lego really does make it easy to build quick, functional mechanisms without a whole lot of fuss. We’ve seen it employed in all sorts of ways,
like this handy film scanner
. Video after the break. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310353",
"author": "Alexander",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T06:16:31",
"content": "Great build! The danes did it 42 years ago however, in Olsen-banden overgiver sig aldrig (The Olsen Gang Never Surrenders):https://youtu.be/3HJHhA2fsoQ",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,373,226.446889 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/south-korea-blankets-country-with-free-wifi-on-all-public-transit/ | South Korea Blankets Country With Free WiFi On All Public Transit | Chris Lott | [
"News"
] | [
"bus",
"free wifi",
"Korea",
"public transportation",
"seoul",
"subway"
] | Wrapping up
a multi-year project to provide free WiFi on all public transportation
, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology (MSIT) announced that a total of 35,006 buses had been equipped nationwide.
Previously,
subscriber-based WiFi had been installed on subways and in subway stations
. It was provided privately by two phone carriers and free only for their subscribers. The coverage was spotty and slow, and in 2017 the government took over and implemented a better system. With this announcement, the whole public transportation system is now covered with stable and free WiFi.
We also noticed that the government has
released the details
of the 220,000 WiFi access points to the public. This includes the location, IP address, and RSSI data for use by people and companies wanting to develop location-based services. What is the state of free WiFi access points in your region, and does it extend to public transportation? Do you find it reliable, or do you use your data plan when out and about? | 20 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310341",
"author": "joe",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T03:46:53",
"content": "Free wifi? No. It’s people tracking by mac address.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310343",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2021-01... | 1,760,373,227.019156 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/industrial-stack-light-keeps-an-eye-on-prusa-mini/ | Industrial Stack Light Keeps An Eye On Prusa Mini | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"Prusa Mini",
"python",
"relay",
"Selenium",
"stack light",
"status indicator"
] | When most people want to keep tabs on what their 3D printer is up to while they’re out and about, they’ll install OctoPrint on a Pi and be done with it. But what if you’re just on the other side of the room? Inspired by the stack lights used on factory floors,
[Jeff Glass] decided to add a similar system to his Prusa Mini
so he could see what it’s up to at a glance.
It turns out you can get these lights pretty cheaply online from the usual retailers, and as [Jeff] explains in the video after the break, driving them is about as easy as it gets. Rather than being some kind of addressable device, they generally have a single common 12 or 24 volt DC wire and ground lines for each color. With a USB controlled relay board, kicking on the appropriate light is simple from your operating system of choice.
What ended up being a bit harder was finding out what the Prusa Mini was up to.
The printer offers up a simple status web page
, but it has a few oddball quirks that make it difficult to scrape; such as presenting a little pop-up message that you have to manually close each time you load the page. But after spending some time with the powerful Selenium library for Python, he was able to create a script that worked its way through the UI and pulled the relevant status messages. Obviously the resulting code is Prusa specific, but the general concept would work on other printers assuming you can find a reliable way to pull the device’s current status.
After coming up with a wall mounted enclosure for the electronics that doubles as a mount for the light itself, [Jeff] can now see if his printer needs attention from clear across the room. An especially nice feature when the printer is
all buttoned up inside of its enclosure
. | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310315",
"author": "Arthur Wolf",
"timestamp": "2021-01-10T00:31:23",
"content": "Eh, that’s one thing we at Smoothie definitely have made a bit more convenient than is usual with the older 8-bit systems:http://smoothieware.org/network#api",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,373,226.838326 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/six-degrees-of-freedom-omnicopter-with-ardupilot/ | Six Degrees Of Freedom Omnicopter With Ardupilot | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"6dof",
"arducopter",
"ardupilot",
"lynchpin",
"omnicopter"
] | Modern multirotors are very maneuverable but are mostly limited to hovering in a single orientation. [Peter Hall] has gotten around this by building an
omnicopter drone
with six motors mounted in different orientations on a collapsed tetrahedron frame.
The shape of the frame consists of six tetrahedrons all joined together at a single point. With a motor in each frame, the drone can produce a thrust vector in any direction, to achieve six degrees of freedom. The control system is the challenging part of this project, but fortunately [Peter] is one of the Ardupilot developers. Unlike a standard multirotor, it doesn’t need to tilt to move around laterally but can keep its orientation constant. One of the limiting factors is that the motors need to stop and reverse rotation for direction changes, which takes time. At slow maneuvering speeds this isn’t a major problem, but at higher speeds rotation is noticeably less smooth.
Because the drone is symmetrical all around, keeping track of orientation is challenging for a human pilot, but it’s perfect for an autopilot system like Ardupilot. In the video after the break, [Peter] demonstrates this by flying the drone around while the autopilot rotates it randomly. The 6DoF control system is open source and a
pull request
is live to integrate it into the official version of Ardupilot. The obvious application for this sort of drone is for inspection in and around structures.
This omnicopter is an entry into the
Lynchpin drone competition
by the celebrity [Terrence Howard]. We’re not quite following his claims regarding the scientific significance of this shape, which he named the “Lynchpin”, but it works for drones.
Earlier in the year [Peter] demonstrated
indoor motion tracking for drones with SteamVR hardware
. It is not the first 6 DoF omnicopter we’ve seen, but it is the simplest. Another
version by ETH Zurich requires eight motors
Thanks for the tip [Matt Kear]! | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310285",
"author": "Drew",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T22:09:39",
"content": "Incredible work. I’m loving all these proof of concept aircraft builds that people are doing lately. I think the high thrust to weight ratio of the racing drone components has a lot to do with it; enables th... | 1,760,373,227.459921 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/avr-microcontroller-doubles-up-as-a-switching-regulator/ | AVR Microcontroller Doubles Up As A Switching Regulator | Anool Mahidharia | [
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"atmel avr",
"attiny",
"ATtiny214",
"boost converter",
"ccl",
"CIP",
"Configurable Custom Logic",
"core independent peripherals",
"PWM boost regulator"
] | [SM6VFZ] designed, built and tested
a switched-mode DC-DC boost regulator
using the core independent peripherals (CIP) of an ATtiny214 micro-controller as a proof of concept, and it looks pretty promising!
A Buck, Boost, or Buck-Boost switching regulator topology usually consists of a diode, a switching element (MOSFET) and an energy storage device (inductor/capacitor) in the power path, and a controller that can measure the output voltage, control the switching element and add safety features such as current limiting and temperature shutdown. A search for switching regulators or controllers throws up thousands of parts, and it’s possible to select one specifically well suited for any desired application. Even so, the ability to use the micro-controller itself as the regulator can have several use cases. Such an implementation allows for a software configurable switch-mode regulator and easy topology changes (boost, buck, fly back etc.).
The “
Getting Started with Core Independent Peripherals on AVR®
” application note is a good place to get an overview of how the CIP functionality works. Configurable Custom Logic (CCL) is among one of the powerful CIP peripherals. Think of CCL as a rudimentary CPLD — a programmable logic peripheral, which can be connected to a wide range of internal and external inputs such as device pins, events, or other internal peripherals. The CCL can serve as “glue logic” between the device peripherals and external devices. The CCL peripheral offers two LookUp Tables (LUT). Each LUT consists of three inputs, a truth table, a synchronizer, a filter, and an edge detector. Each LUT can generate an output as a user programmable logic expression with three inputs and any device that have CCL peripherals will have a minimum of two LUTs available.
This napkinCAD sketch shows how [SM6VFZ] implemented the boost regulator in the ATtiny214. The AND gate is formed using one of the CCL LUT’s. The first “timer 1” on the left, connected to one input of the AND gate, is free running and set at 33 kHz. The analog comparator compares the boosted output voltage against an internally generated reference voltage derived from the DAC. The output of the comparator then “gates” timer 1 signal to trigger the second “timer 2” — which is a mono-shot timer set to max out at 15 us. This makes sure there is enough time left for the inductor to completely release its energy before the next cycle starts. You can check out the code that [SM6VFZ] used to built this prototype, and his generous amounts of commenting makes it easy to figure out how it works.
Based on this design, the prototype that he built delivers 12 V at about 200 mA with an 85% efficiency, which compares pretty well against regular switching regulators. Keep in mind that this is more of a proof-of-concept (that actually works), and there is a lot of scope for improvement in terms of noise, efficiency and other parameters, so everyone’s comments are welcome.
In an earlier blog post, we looked at how
ATmegas with Programmable Logic
came about with this feature that is usually found in PIC micro-controllers, thanks to Microchip’s acquisition of Atmel a few years back. But we haven’t seen any practical example of the CCL peripheral in an Atmel chip up until now. | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310225",
"author": "k-ww",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T18:12:22",
"content": "Not to dampen anyone’s parade, but most of the PIC micro [and I assume other] programmers do this. A useful circuit idea anyway.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"co... | 1,760,373,227.097369 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/the-shell-and-the-microcontroller/ | The Shell And The Microcontroller | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Microcontrollers",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"ide",
"interactive",
"micropython",
"REPL",
"shell"
] | One of the nicest amenities of interpreted programming languages is that you can test out the code that you’re developing in a shell, one line at a time, and see the results instantly. No matter how quickly your write-compile-flash cycle has gotten on the microcontroller of your choice, it’s still less fun than writing
blink_led()
and having it do so right then and there. Why don’t we have that experience yet?
If you’ve used any modern scripting language on your big computer, it comes with a shell, a read-eval-print loop (REPL) in which you can interactively try out your code just about as fast as you can type it. It’s great for interactive or exploratory programming, and it’s great for newbies who can test and learn things step by step. A good REPL lets you test out your ideas line by line, essentially running a little test of your code every time you hit enter.
This is your development environment
The obvious tradeoff for ease of development is speed. Compiled languages are almost always faster, and this is especially relevant in the constrained world of microcontrollers. Or maybe it used to be. I learned to program in an interpreted language — BASIC — on computers that were not much more powerful than a $5 microcontroller these days, and there’s a BASIC for most every micro out there. I
write in Forth
, which is faster and less resource intensive than BASIC, and has a very comprehensive REPL, but is admittedly an acquired taste. MicroPython has been ported over to a number of micros, and is probably a lot more familiar.
But still, developing MicroPython
for
your microcontroller isn’t developing
on
your microcontroller, and if you follow any of the guides out there, you’ll end up editing a file on your computer, uploading it to the microcontroller, and running it from within the REPL. This creates a flow that’s just about as awkward as the write-compile-flash cycle of C.
What’s missing? A good editor (or IDE?) running on the microcontroller that would let you do both your exploratory coding and record its history into a more permanent form. Imagine, for instance, a web-based MicroPython IDE served off of an ESP32, which provided both a shell for experiments and a way to copy the line you just typed into the shell into the file you’re working on. We’re very close to this being a viable idea, and it would reduce the introductory hurdles for newbies to almost nothing, while letting experienced programmers play.
Or has someone done this already? Why isn’t an interpreted introduction to microcontrollers the standard?
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
! | 104 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310151",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T15:13:52",
"content": "“… a web-based MicroPython IDE served off of an ESP32 …” that’s a shell of a great idea!Great article as always, Eliot. Thank you.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,227.407127 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/new-part-day-espressif-esp32-s3/ | New Part Day: Espressif ESP32-S3 | Jenny List | [
"Parts"
] | [
"ESP32",
"ESP32-S3",
"espressif",
"New Part Day"
] | Since Espressif Systems arrived in our collective consciousness they have expanded their range from the ESP8266 to the ESP32, and going beyond the original WROOM and WROVER modules to a range of further ESP32 products. There’s a single-core variant and one that packs a RISC-V core in place of the Tensilica one, and now they’ve revealed their latest product. The
ESP32-S3
takes the ESP to a new level, packing as it does more I/O, onboard USB, and an updated version of the two Tensilica cores alongside Bluetooth version 5. It’s still an ESP32, but one that’s more useful, and it’s worth a closer look because we expect it to figure in quite a few projects.
Espressif’s block diagram for the chip.
Sadly the data sheet does not seem to have been released, but we do have some tidbits to consider. Espressif are anxious to tell us about its “AIOT” capabilities thanks to the vector instructions in the
EXTensa LX7 cores
(PDF) that were not present in the previous model’s LX6. They claim that this will speed up software neural networks; this does have an air of marketing about it but we’ll withhold judgement until we see it in use. The new core certainly will offer a performance improvement across the board though, which should be of interest to all ESP32 developers. Meanwhile the ultra-low-power core that existing ESP32 developers will be familiar with remains.
Then there is that USB support, which appears in the feature block diagram but has little information elsewhere. It’s listed as USB OTG which raises the possibility of the ESP32 being the host, but what it should also bring is the ability to emulate other USB devices. We’ve seen
badges mount as WebUSB devices using STM32 clones as peripherals
for an ESP32, but in future these tricks should be possible on the Espressif chip itself.
Probably the most anticipated piece of the new device’s specification comes in the addition of 10 new I/O lines. This has historically been a weakness of the ESP line, that it’s an easy chip with which to run out of available pins. These extra lines will make it more competitive with for example the STM32 series of microcontrollers that have larger package options, and will also mean that designs can have more in the way of peripherals without the use of port expanders.
In summary then, the latest member of the ESP32 family delivers a significant and useful update, and brings some of the features first seen in the single core version to the more powerful line of chips. Sadly it doesn’t have the hoped-for on-chip RAM boost, but it brings enough in the way of new capabilities to be of interest. At the moment it doesn’t look like the ESP32-S3 is available to order, but we hope to have engineering samples soon and should be bringing you a hands-on report in due course. | 53 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310128",
"author": "WereCatf",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T13:02:47",
"content": "“but we do have some titbits to consider” — Titbits, eh? Sounds like a Freudian slip there!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310182",
"aut... | 1,760,373,226.955766 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/09/micromachining-glass-with-a-laser-very-very-slowly/ | Micromachining Glass With A Laser — Very, Very Slowly | Dan Maloney | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"copper sulfate",
"etching",
"fiber",
"glass",
"laser",
"machining",
"Nd:YAG",
"plasma",
"vapor"
] | When it comes to machining, the material that springs to mind is likely to be aluminum, steel, or plastic. We don’t necessarily think of glass as a material suitable for machining, at least not in the chuck-it-up-in-the-lathe sense. But glass is a material that needs to be shaped, too, and there are a bunch of different ways to accomplish that. Few, though, are as interesting as
micromachining glass with laser-induced plasma bubbles
. (Video, embedded below.)
The video below is from [Zachary Tong]. It runs a bit on the longish side, but we found it just chock full of information. The process, formally known as “laser-induced backside wet-etching,” uses a laser to blast away at a tank of copper sulfate. When a piece of glass is suspended on the surface of the solution and the laser is focused through the glass from the top, some interesting things happen.
The first pulse of the laser vaporizes the solution and decomposes the copper sulfate. Copper adsorbs onto the glass surface inside the protective vapor bubble, which lasts long enough for a second laser pulse to come along. That pulse heats up the adsorbed copper and the vapor in the original bubble, enough to melt a tiny bit of the glass. As the process is repeated, small features are slowly etched into the underside of the glass. [Zachary] demonstrates all this in the video, as well as what can go wrong when the settings are a bit off. There’s also some great high-speed footage of the process that’s worth the price of admission alone.
We doubt this process will be a mainstream method anytime soon, not least because it requires a 50-Watt Nd:YAG fiber laser. But it’s an interesting process that reminds us of [Zachary]’s other laser explorations, like
using a laser and Kapton to make graphene supercapacitors
. | 28 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310110",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T09:08:50",
"content": "Looks like just the thing for making microchannel plates for testing very tiny fluid samples.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310203",
... | 1,760,373,227.17103 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/replacement-led-light-build-uses-a-few-tricks/ | Replacement LED Light Build Uses A Few Tricks | Anool Mahidharia | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"led bulb",
"led light",
"LM3414",
"microscope"
] | Microscopes have become essential work bench tools for hackers, allowing them to work with tiny SMD parts for PCB assembly and inspection. Couple of years back, mad scientist [smellsofbikes] picked up a stereo microscope from eBay. But its odd-sized, 12 volt Edison-style screw base lamp, connected to a 17 volt AC supply, burned off after a while. He swapped the burnt lamp with the spare, which too blew up after some time. Dumb lamps. Maybe the original spec called for 24 volt lamps, which were unobtanium due to the odd Edison screw base, but those would throw out a pretty yellow-orange glow. Anyhow, for some time, he worked with a jury-rigged goose neck lamp, but frequently moving the microscope and the lamp was becoming a chore. When he got fed up enough about it, he decided to
Build a Replacement LED Microscope Light
.
Usually, such builds are plain vanilla and not much to write in about, but [smellsofbikes] has a few tricks worth taking note of. He found a couple of high power, SMD LEDs in his parts bin. They were just slightly wider than 1.6 mm across the terminals. So he took a piece of double sided, copper clad FR4, and edge mounted the LED against one side of the PCB piece, twisting it slightly so he could solder both terminals. This works as a great heat sink for the LED while still having a very narrow profile. This was important as the replacement LED board had to fit the cylinder in which the original lamp was fitted.
The LED is driven by a constant current buck regulator, powered by the original 17 volt transformer. A bridge rectifier and several filter capacitors result in a low ripple DC supply, for which he used the KiCad spice functionality to work out the values. The LM3414 driver he used is a bit off the beaten track. It can run LEDs up to 60 watts at 1 amps and does not require an external current sense resistor. This was overkill since he planned to run the LED at just 150 mA, which would result in a very robust, long lasting solution. He designed the driver PCB in KiCad, and milled it on his
LPKF circuit board plotter
. The nice thing with CNC milled PCBs is that you can add custom copper floods and extend footprint pads. This trick lets you solder either a 0805 or a 1206 part to the same footprint – depending on what you can dig up from your parts bin.
What left us wondering was [smellsofbikes] statement that “The only annoying bit is it (LM3414) also needs to have its enable pin tied high, but the enable pin has a max voltage of 5.5V, so I have to derive 5.5V from the 20-ish volts of the rectified transformer voltage.” Looking at the
LM3414 datasheet
, there is a VCC output on pin 1, derived from an internal regulator. From the data sheet, “The VCC provides self bias for the internal gate drive and control circuits.” We are not sure why this could not be used to tie the Enable (actually the PWM pin) to 5 volts without having to use an external regulator. Instead, he added a SOT-23 regulator in his design to get the 5 volt to enable the driver. But the regulator he had on hand had an odd, inverted pin out, and had to dead-bug solder the SOT-23 LDO to make it work. Eventually, it all worked out great, so we guess all’s well that ends well.
To fit the LED PCB in side the original cylinder, he designed a 3D printed collar with tapered fingers which hold the PCB without having to use any fasteners. For the main PCB, a simple 3D printed housing was used to fit it inside the transformer box. Even at 150 mA drive current, the LED lamp is mighty bright, and the over-kill driver will make sure he doesn’t have to worry about a burnt out lamp any time soon. | 24 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310102",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T07:07:22",
"content": "Huh, good point: I’ll wire from the reg over to the enable line. I’m kicking myself for not having done that.By the way if anyone else decides to look at this, the LM3414 was good for switching 1A,... | 1,760,373,227.247816 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/learning-to-speak-peloton/ | Learning To Speak Peloton | Matthew Carlson | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"adafruit",
"Adafruit Feather",
"bike",
"Bluefeather",
"bluetooth",
"exercise",
"Peloton",
"reverse engineering"
] | Recently [Imran Haque]’s family bought the quite popular Peloton bike. After his initial skepticism melted to a quiet enthusiasm, [Imran] felt his hacker curiosity begin to probe the head unit on the bike. Which despite being a lightly skinned android tablet, has a reputation for being rather locked down. The Peloton bike will happily collect data such as heart rate from other devices but is rather reticent to broadcast any data it generates such as cadence and power. [Imran] set out to
decode and liberate the Peleton’s data by creating a device he has dubbed PeloMon
. He credits the inspiration for his journey to another hacker who
connected a Raspberry Pi to their bricked exercise bike
.
As a first step, [Imran] step began with decoding the TRRS connector that connects the bike to the head unit. With the help of a multi-meter and a logic analyzer, two 19200bps 8N1 RS-232 channels (TX and RX) were identified. Once the basic transport layer was established, he next set to work decoding the packets. By plotting the bytes in the packets and applying deductive reasoning, a rough spec was defined. The head unit requested updates every 100ms and the bike responded with cadence, power, and resistance data depending on the request type (the head unit did a round-robin through the three data types).
Once the protocol was decoded, the next step for [Imran] was to code up an emulator. It seems a strange decision to write an emulator for a device with a simple protocol, but the reasoning is quite sound. It avoids a 20-minute bike ride every time a code change needs to be tested. [Imran] wrote both an event-driven and a timing-accurate emulator. The former runs on the same board as the PeloMon and the latter runs on a separate board (an Arduino).
The hardware chosen for the PeloMon was an Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE. It was chosen for supporting Bluetooth LE as well as having onboard EEPROM. A level shifter allows the microcontroller to talk directly to the RS-323 on the bike. After a few pull requests to the Adafruit Bluetooth libraries and a fair bit of head-banging, [Imran] has code that advertises two Bluetooth services, one for speed and another for power. A Bluetooth serial console is also included for debugging without having to pull the circuit out.
The code, schematics, emulators, and research notes
are all available on GitHub
. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310068",
"author": "Tom Hargrave",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T03:05:54",
"content": "I attach my fitbit to my dog’s collar and let him play in the backyard. No deconstruction or code needed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6310... | 1,760,373,227.569423 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/helping-hands-reinvented/ | Helping Hands, Reinvented | Kristina Panos | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"alligator clips",
"cooling tube",
"helping hands"
] | [Nixie] was tired of using whatever happens to be around to hold things in place while soldering and testing. It was high time to obtain a helping hands of some kind, but [Nixie] was dismayed by commercial offerings — the plain old alligator clips and cast metal type leave a lot to be desired, and the cooling tube
cephalopod type usually have the alligator clips just jammed into the standard tube ends with no thought given to fine control or the possibility of reducing cable count.
[Nixie] happened to have some unneeded cooling tube lying around and started
designing a new type of helping hands from the ground plane up
. Taking advantage of the fact that cooling tubes are hollow, [Nixie] routed silicone-jacketed wires through them for power and low speed signals. These are soldered to five banana jacks that are evenly spaced around an alligator clip.
Even if you don’t need power, all those extra alligators would come in quite handy for circuit sculpture or anything else that requires a lot of hands. [Nixie] put
the files up on Thingiverse
if you want to make your own.
We’ve seen plenty of helping hands over the years, but
this concrete-based helper ought to cement your decision to make your own
. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310047",
"author": "mjrippe",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T00:57:59",
"content": "Now that is clever! I work on a lot of audio equipment so one arm with power and one with signal would be very useful indeed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,373,227.514426 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/old-kindle-shows-hdmi-video-eventually/ | Old Kindle Shows HDMI Video, Eventually | Tom Nardi | [
"Kindle hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"e-paper",
"epaper",
"hdmi capture",
"kindle",
"kindle paperwhite"
] | Even with the recent price reductions on stand-alone panels, picking up a used Kindle is still arguably the most cost effective way to get your hands on a large electronic paper display. Especially when you consider the Kindle includes a battery, case, and electronics to drive the display. Bending the Kindle software to your whims introduces its own unique challenges of course, but with a little tweaking, an old e-reader can live again as whatever you wish it to be.
Case in point, the
OkMonitor project by [Brendan Sleight]
. Using a somewhat dizzying combination of software and hardware, he’s figured out a way to turn an older Kindle Paperwhite into a plug-and-play HDMI monitor. Is it a great monitor? Far from it. As the name implies, the best you can hope to get from this solution is an OK monitor. But at least it’s something.
There’s quite a bit going on behind the scenes in OkMonitor, which [Brendan] describes through a slideshow on the project page. But the high-level idea is that a Raspberry Pi 4 with
a simple USB HDMI capture device
takes the video input and converts it on the fly to a scaled down Kindle-friendly format. The converted video is streamed over WiFi to the jailbroken Kindle with
netcat
, where it’s displayed by a native video player. In the video after the break you can see that the end result looks pretty impressive, even if there is a considerable delay involved.
Despite the demonstration [Brendan] has put together for OkMonitor, we can’t say we’d watch many films over this setup. But the fact that you can plug any HDMI device into the “base station” and have the video sent out to one or more Kindles is undeniably impressive. It’s definitely worth a close look, even if you just take some of the concepts of this project to get your own Kindle repurposing idea off the ground.
We’ve recently seen some
promising progress made towards repurposing large e-paper price tags labels
, but it’s hard to imagine such niche devices will ever become cheaper than second hand Kindles.
With continued software development
, these old e-readers are likely to remain quite popular among hackers. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310018",
"author": "Someone",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T21:33:07",
"content": "As someone who has experience with e-paper displays, I can say this is very impressive. This is awesome!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310020",
... | 1,760,373,227.747253 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/remoticon-video-basics-of-rf-emissions-debugging-workshop/ | Remoticon Video: Basics Of RF Emissions Debugging Workshop | Mike Szczys | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Skills",
"Tool Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"2020 Hackaday Remoticon",
"debugging",
"dragonos",
"QSpectrumAnalyzer",
"RF emissions",
"RTL-SDR",
"SDRAngel",
"workshop"
] | These days we’re surrounded by high-speed electronics and it’s no small feat that they can all play nicely in near proximity to each other. We have RF emissions standards to thank, which ensure new products don’t spew forth errant signals that would interfere with the data signals traveling through the ether. It’s long been the stuff of uber-expensive emissions testing labs, and failure to pass can leave you scratching your head. But as Alex Whittimore shows in this workshop from the 2020 Hackaday Remoticon,
you can do a lot of RF emissions debugging with simple and inexpensive tools
.
Professionally-made probes in several sizes
Build your own probes from magnet wire
You can get a surprisingly clear picture of what kind of RF might be coming off of a product by probing it on your own workbench. Considering
the cost of the labs performing FCC and other certifications
, this is a necessary skill for anyone who is designing a product headed to market — and still damn interesting for everyone else. Here you can see two examples of the probes used in the process. Although one is a pack of professional tools and other is a bit of enameled wire (magnet wire), both are essentially the same: a loop of wire on which a magnetic field will induce a very small current. Add a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) and you’ll be up and measuring in no-time.
I really enjoyed how Alex started his demo with “The Right Way
TM
” of doing things — using a proper spectrum analyzer to visualize data from the probes. But the real interesting part is “The Hacker Way
TM
” which leverages an RTL-SDR dongle and some open-source software to get the same job done. Primarily that means using
SDRAngel
and
QSpectrumAnalyzer
which are both included in the
DragonOS_LTS
which can be run inside of a virtual machine.
Once everything is hooked up and running, you wave the probes over your test board like a magic wand. Peaks will appear in the software visualization corresponding to emissions at that wavelength. Alex demonstrates starting with a large loop probe to get into the neighborhood, then swapping out probes for smaller and smaller loops to get all the way down to the pin on the chip where the signal is coming from.
The tools are cheap, the software is free, and we all should give this a try. Those lucky enough to have a HackRF in their toolkit will especially like the side-by-side comparison at the end of the workshop. It’s not surprising to see it kicking the butt of the RTL-SDR, but for basic debugging, simple tools are more than adequate to let you see what is normally unseeable. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310107",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T08:36:13",
"content": "+1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6310268",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2021-01-09T20:34:53",
"content": "“and again this at the limit... | 1,760,373,227.798528 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/bare-metal-stm32-universal-asynchronous-communication-with-uarts/ | Bare-Metal STM32: Universal, Asynchronous Communication With UARTs | Maya Posch | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Microcontrollers",
"Slider",
"Software Development"
] | [
"stm32"
] | One of the most basic and also most versatile communication interfaces on an MCU is the UART, or Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter. Usually found in the form of either a UART or USART, the former allows for pure asynchronous serial communication, whereas the latter adds flow control. When working with MCUs, they’re also one of the most common ways to output debug information.
While somewhat trickier to set up and use than a GPIO peripheral, the U(S)ART of ST’s STM32 families is fairly uncomplicated to use, and immediately provides one with an easy way to communicate in a bi-directional fashion with a device. In this article we’ll see what it takes to get started with basic UART communication on STM32 microcontrollers.
Pick One, Any One
Which USART peripheral to use does seem like a pretty easy choice especially when the lower-end STM32F0 MCUs have only two USARTs. That is, until you realize that they’re not all identical. While all support basic UART features, some add USART support, some have IrDA and Smartcard mode.
USART features on the STM32F051 MCU.
This listing from the STM32F051 datasheet shows that both of these peripherals are quite distinct, with a lot of advanced features only on the first peripheral, with the second being rather barebones in comparison. This is something that we see a lot across STM32 peripherals, not just for USARTs, but also for timers in particular. Picking the right peripheral for one’s needs can be essential, so knowing which features you need is an important skill.
For our purposes (basic UART without DMA), pretty much anything goes, but if we wanted to add a Smartcard reader feature later on, or decided that auto baud rate detection would be convenient, we would want to keep that in mind. Especially when designing for custom hardware, picking a peripheral set and associated pins for them can backfire horribly if you need to change this in a later stage, or make further development of a product significantly more complicated.
Turn It On
As with the other peripherals, at boot the USART peripheral is unpowered. To change this, we must toggle a bit in the appropriate RCC (Reset & Clock Control) register for the bus the peripheral is on. For example, if we want to use USART1 on an STM32F0 MCU, we can see that that it is found on the APB2 bus when we look at the RCC clock enable registers in the reference manual (RM) for the MCU in question, in this case RCC_APB2ENR:
RCC_APB2ENR on STM32F042 (RM0091 6.4.7).
By writing a ‘1’ to bit 14, the clock domain for the USART1 peripheral will be enabled and we can use its registers. At this point, however, the peripheral is not configured and not enabled (active) yet. In order to do this, we must work through a few more steps:
Enable the GPIO bank whose pins we want to use for communication with the outside world.
Set the baud rate in the USART_BRR.
Enable the USART peripheral using its internal clock register.
Optionally configure interrupts.
Alternating Between Functions
The general-purpose I/O (GPIO) peripherals do not have just one single function. As part of their ‘general-purpose’ designation they are wired up to allow for not only digital I/O, but also for connecting to the interrupt controller (EXTI) and other peripherals, including the USARTs, ADCs, DACs and so on:
Basic I/O port pin structure on F0 MCUs. (RM0091 8.3).
Since we want to connect our USART1 peripheral to the outside world, we need to enable the Alternate Function (AF) mode on the pins we wish to use. For this we need two things:
Which pins can be targeted by the MCU for this feature.
A way to set this AF mode on the pin.
For STM32F0, F4, F7 and related families, this is fairly straight-forward. First we need to look at the table with the alternate function mappings in the MCU’s datasheet. For USART1 on an STM32F042 MCU, for example, we look in its datasheet (here revision 5, from 2017
from the Documentation tab
) at section 4 (
‘Pinouts and pin descriptions’
) where in Table 14 we seen the following AF modes for port A:
AF modes on PA9 and PA10 for STM32042 MCUs.
The headers labeled AF[0..7] are for Alternate Function 0 through 7. We see here that we can use our USART1’s TX and RX pins on pins 9 and 10 of port A using AF1. We now just need a way to set this, which is done using the GPIO peripheral’s AFRL and AFRH registers. This stands for
‘Alternate Function Register Low’
and
‘Alternate Function Register High’
respectively, with half of a GPIO bank’s 16 pins split over each of these registers.
Since we are interested in pins 9 and 10, we want to change the values in both AFSEL9 and AFSEL10 in GPIO_AFRH to AF1 (0x1):
GPIO_AFRH on STM32F042 with AF values.
With that done, we are ready to configure the USART peripheral, right after a quick note on STM32F1 AF configuration.
Beware the Leopard
While there are a lot of positive things that could be said about the STM32F1 family of MCUs, their GPIO peripherals are not among these. The reason for this becomes once again apparent when looking at configuring AF mode on a GPIO pin. Say, we wish to configure AF mode on an STM32F103 MCU, first we look in its reference manual (RM0008) at section 9.3 (
‘Alternate function I/O and debug configuration (AFIO)’
) and zip over to section 9.3.8 (
‘USART alternate function remapping’
), pick our favorite USART’s table (USART1, table 54) and get:
STM32F103 USART remapping (RM0008 9.3.8, table 54).
No fancy layers upon layers of Alternate Function modes here, just a curt ‘either/or’ due to the limited muxing structure on the STM32F103. Doesn’t seem too bad, right? The fun part here is that the AF functionality is not fully integrated into the GPIO peripheral, but is found in the AFIO. Glancing over at section 9.4.2 we find the AFIO_MAPR (remap register), in which we are supposed to toggle the relevant entry (USART1_REMAP):
AFIO_MAPR on STM32F103 (RM0008 9.4.2).
While this may not seem much more involved than the modern STM32 approach, the annoying part here is that the AF modes are associated with the peripheral, instead of the GPIO pin. Instead of selecting an AF mode in GPIO_AFRH or GPIO_AFRL using the port, pin number and desired AF target, on the F1 MCUs you have to know the peripheral, as well as its entry position in AFIO_MAPR and what pin is associated with each of these entries and peripherals.
USART Configuration
To recap, at this point we still have to set the baud rate for the UART and enable the UART before we can even send out a ‘Hello World’. Setting the baud rate is naturally not as simple as setting the desired number in the USART_BRR register:
STM32F0 USART_BRR layout. (RM0091 27.8.4)
Without going into too much detail (for that see e.g. 27.5.4 in RM0091), the simple way to fill in this register without changing the default settings (like enabling
OVER8
in USART_CR1), is to divide the system core clock by the desired baudrate, then dividing this by 16 twice, first to get the integer fraction and then using a
modulo
operation to get the remainder (incorrectly called the ‘mantissa’ by ST).
In code:
uint16_t uartdiv = SystemCoreClock / baudrate;
instance.regs->BRR = (((uartdiv / 16) << USART_BRR_DIV_MANTISSA_Pos) | ((uartdiv % 16) << USART_BRR_DIV_FRACTION_Pos));
Here baudrate is the desired baudrate (e.g. 9600) and SystemCoreClock is the core system clock speed in Hz. Using the position of the ‘mantissa’ and ‘fraction’ positions in USART_BRR their values are bit-shifted into an integer value that is then written to the register.
With all of the hard work done, we can now enable the USART. This is done in the USART_CR1 register:
USART_CR1 on STMF0. (RM0091 27.8.1)
The bits to toggle to ‘1’ here are
RE
(Receive Enable),
TE
(Transmit Enable),
UE
(USART Enable) and
RXNEIE
(RXNE Interrupt Enable). The last one enables the generation of an interrupt whenever new data arrives and is optional for basic UART operation. At this point we should be able to send and receive data, by writing into, or reading from GPIO_DR, respectively.
Time To Say ‘Hi’
Central to sending and receiving data with a UART is the USART_SR (Status Register):
STM32F0 USART_SR register layout. (RM0091 27.6.1)
The bits to look out for here are:
TXE
(Transmit data register empty).
RXNE
(Receive data register not empty).
The first (TXE) is to be checked every time that we wish to send a byte:
while (!(instance.regs->SR & USART_SR_TXE)) {};
instance.regs->DR = (uint8_t) ch;
Vice versa, to read we need to check the latter (RXNE) to know that data is available for reading:
if (instance.regs->SR & USART_SR_RXNE) {
rxb = instance.regs->DR;
instance.callback(rxb);
}
These code snippets were taken from the
USART class
in the Nodate framework.
Wrapping Up
Being able to receive and send single bytes in this manner is not exactly the optimal way to use a UART. In upcoming articles we will look at adding interrupts, DMA transfers and control flow (USART) and more to make full use of the versatility of these USART peripherals.
Although deceptively simple at their core, USARTs can be considered to be a Swiss Army knife of communication peripherals. They work just about everywhere and can be adapted to a wide variety of tasks, whether one needs to hook up sensors, provide a user interface, control industrial equipment, or something more exotic. Hopefully this article gave a first glimpse of these possibilities. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6310001",
"author": "Wallace Owen",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T20:31:44",
"content": "Opening paragraph gets USART definition wrong. It doesn’t add handshake lines. Primary difference over async is that a clock is provided, either separately, or combined with the data (manchester en... | 1,760,373,227.860762 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/hackaday-podcast-100-arduino-plays-cds-virtual-reality-in-the-60s-and-magical-linear-actuators/ | Hackaday Podcast 100: Arduino Plays CDs, Virtual Reality In The 60s, And Magical Linear Actuators | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Mike Szczys kick off the first episode of the new year with the best hacks the internet has to offer. There’s a deep dive into water-level sensing using a Christmas tree as an excuse. We ooh and ah over turning a CD-ROM drive into a CD player (miraculous tech of the previous century?). Do you have any use cases for ATtiny oscillator calibration registers? We look in on a hack that makes it dead simple to measure and set their values. The episode finishes up with a discussion of the constantly moving goal posts of virtual reality.
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
(~65 MB)
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
Google Podcasts
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
Episode 100 Show Notes:
New This Week:
Elliot’s been rebuilding his CNC foam cutter
Mike’s getting closer to a proper automated backup system
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
An Arduino And A CD-ROM Drive Makes A CD Player
DIY Arduino ATAPI CD-ROM controller
You Got Something On Your Processor Bus: The Joys Of Hacking ISA And PCI
Boston Dynamics’ Dancing Bots Beg For Your Love A La Napoleon Dynamite
Hyundai Motor to buy controlling stake in U.S. robot firm from SoftBank
The Internet Of Christmas Tree Watering
A Capacitive Soil Sensor Hack For Lower Voltage Supplies
The Black Magic Of A Disappearing Linear Actuator
Spiral escalator – YouTube
Liquid metal antennas
3D Printed Rigid Chain Mechanism
Improve ATtiny Timing Accuracy With This Clock Calibrator
Tighten This Bolt In Any Direction You Want
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
[Ben Eater]’s Breadboarding Tips
Never Forget To Turn On The Cooker Hood Again
Heat Turns 3D Printer Filament Into Springs
Mike’s Picks:
76-bit Trombones Led By The Big MIDI File
Dog Bowls Show The Versatility Of Ceramic Slip Casting
How A Quadriplegic Patient Was Able To Eat By Himself Again Using Artificial Limbs
Can’t-Miss Articles:
All The Good VR Ideas Were Dreamt Up In The 60s
Iconic photo of Mark Zuckerberg
Review: Pine64 Pinecil Soldering Iron
Uses the GD32 mentioned in Maya’s overview:
STM32 Clones: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309981",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T18:42:27",
"content": "ATAPI (AT Attachment Packet Interface) is an interface between your computer and attached CD-ROM drives and tape backup drives. Most of today’s PC computers use the standard Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)... | 1,760,373,227.923112 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/building-a-pocket-sized-python-playground/ | Building A Pocket Sized Python Playground | Tom Nardi | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"CircuitPython",
"handheld",
"i2c",
"PyPortal",
"python",
"qwerty"
] | Like many of us, [Ramin Assadollahi] has a certain fondness for the computers of yesteryear. Finding his itch for nearly instant boot times and bare metal programming weren’t being adequately scratched by any of his modern devices, he decided to build the PortablePy: a
pocket-sized device that can drop him directly into a Python prompt
wherever and whenever the urge hits him.
The device is powered by the Adafruit PyPortal Titano, which combines a ATSAMD51J20, ESP32, an array of sensors, and a 3.5″ diagonal 320 x 480 color TFT into one turn-key unit. The PyPortal is designed to run CircuitPython, but the scripts are usually dropped on the device over USB. That’s fine for most applications, but [Ramin] wanted his portable to be usable without the need for a host computer.
For a truly mobile experience, he had to figure out a way to bang out some Python code on the device itself. The answer ended up being the M5Stack CardKB, a tiny QWERTY board that communicates over I2C. Once he verified the concept was sound, he wrote a simple file management application and minimal Python editor that could run right on the PyPortal.
The final step was packaging the whole thing up into something he could actually take off the bench. He designed a 3D printed clamshell case inspired by the classic Game Boy Advance SP, making sure to leave enough room in the bottom half to pack in a charging board and LiPo pouch battery. He did have to remove some of the connectors from the back of the PyPortal to get everything to fit inside the case, but the compact final result seems worth the effort.
While an overall success, [Ramin] notes there are a few lingering issues. For one thing, the keyboard is
literally
a pain to type on. He’s considering building a custom keyboard with softer buttons, but it’s a long-term goal. More immediately he’s focusing on improving the software side of things so its easier to write code and manage multiple files.
It sounds like [Ramin] isn’t looking to compromise on his goal of making the PortablePy completely standalone, but if your convictions aren’t as strong, you could always
connect a device like this up to your mobile to make things a bit easier
. | 24 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309695",
"author": "Dave Everett",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T21:12:35",
"content": "Nice little unit. But how can Python be considered “bare metal programming”?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309697",
"author": "X",
... | 1,760,373,228.058316 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/hands-free-page-turning/ | Hands-Free Page Turning | Chris Lott | [
"Machine Learning",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ebook",
"eye tracking"
] | For people who can’t lift a finger to turn the page on their ebooks, a solution is at hand. Seoul based technology company Visual Camp has
adapted their eye tracking algorithms to an ebook reader
. (Video, embedded below.) Reportedly this is the first time an ebook reader has been so equipped.
If your eye lingers on the page turn button, it will turn the page. While this particular application seems innocuous, some of the other applications being touted seem a little contrived if not invasive. For example, applying gaze analysis while you are reading a book, they claim to be able to make targeted recommendations for other books.
We’ve discussed eye tracking devices
before
, but they have utilized hardware. Visual Camp claims their AI-based technology only requires a color camera and can be integrated into existing camera-equipped devices, such an this ebook reader. They also offer a SDK for developers who want to add eye tracking control into their apps. Eye tracking is hard, though, and the devil is in the details. It’d be neat to see what they’re up to. | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309684",
"author": "Tomas Kaminskas",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T20:02:44",
"content": "Heck, it was hard to put comment there, as soon as my eyes went down searching for comments box, web page was turned to next one :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,373,228.10497 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/active-camouflage-material-shows-promise-at-hiding-from-infrared-or-visual-detection/ | Active Camouflage Material Shows Promise At Hiding From Infrared Or Visual Detection | Lewin Day | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"active camouflage",
"camouflage",
"stealth"
] | An invisibility cloak may seem like science fiction, but despite that, many scientists and engineers have put much time into developing the concept, pushing it closer to reality. A device which detects the nature of its surroundings and changes its own properties to blend in may be complex, but a multitude of examples in the animal world show that it’s not impossible to achieve.
A team from Seoul National University recently developed a flexible material
designed in part as a flexible “cloaking” material. We’ll take a look at the underlying concept behind such devices below, and look at how this work furthers the state of the art in the field.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Many cloaking devices have been theorized over the years. Much investigation has been done into advanced metamaterials that are able to interact with varying wavelengths of light, and through some very advanced physics, hide objects from view. So far, these devices largely remain on paper only,
with a few experiments able to effectively “cloak” objects from precise wavelengths and certain vantage points.
At our current level of technology, more practical efforts focus on what is known as active camouflage. This is more akin to the way animals like squid and chameleons alter their appearance to match their surroundings. Active camouflage is a two-part process; first, the surroundings must be perceived, and secondly, the object to be hidden must change its appearance to match.
Top Gear’s 2012 attempt to camouflage a Ford Transit van passes muster at a glance from a good distance away.
The simplest concept of active camouflage is to cover an object, person, or vehicle in screens. By using cameras to image the surrounding area, the screens can be used to display what is on the other side of the object to an observer, effectively hiding the object from view. However, many challenges have thus far prevented its practical use. Accurately capturing an object’s surroundings can be achieved with cameras, but a full 360 degree view is required in order to properly hide an object from all directions. This can require an impractical number of cameras to achieve. Additionally, resolution limitations and lens distortions serve to further reduce the viability of such methods. Furthermore, current display technologies are often heavy and consume significant amounts of power. Any lag in the transmission of image from camera to screen can also spoil the effect when the object or its surroundings are moving.
A test by Top Gear in 2012 did a great job of showing the limitations of this method
, with a Ford Transit decked out with cameras and mostly covered in screens. The final effect achieved was one of mild camouflage at significant distance, but virtually useless at close to medium range. The rig also had huge power requirements, needing a diesel generator to supply enough current to run the many screens.
Camouflage, So Hot Right Now
ADAPTIV, developed by BAE Systems, uses hexagonal panels fitted with Peltier elements to alter the thermal signature of military vehicles. Here, it’s shown switched off, and then mimicking a civilian vehicle from a saved bank of thermal signatures.
Similar efforts have been made in the realm of thermal camouflage,
intended to hide military vehicles from sensors in the infrared spectrum.
BAE Systems developed
ADAPTIV,
a system consisting of hexagonal tiles installed on the outside of a military vehicle. Each tile contains a Peltier element, enabling it to be heated or cooled as required. The tiles can be controlled to either match the temperature of the vehicle’s surroundings, or to mimic the thermal signature of an innocuous vehicle or object. The technology could prove useful to hide vehicles from observers with thermal imaging gear, and potentially even help reduce the likelihood of a successful hit from a heat-seeking warhead.
As of 2020, there has been no confirmation that such technology has seen use in the field. The possibility exists that it could be used in top secret covert operations,
akin to the stealthy Black Hawk employed by the US military
. However, the system does have a major flaw — the heat generated by the host vehicle still has to go somewhere. While externally-applied panels may help hide the vehicle’s thermal signature from some aspects or vantage points, exhaust plumes or simply warming the surroundings could be a dead giveaway. The system also does nothing to protect against other forms of detection, like radar.
Camouflage Skin Shows a Proof of Concept, But Still Science Fiction
The SNU-developed device running in visual camouflage mode, where the Peltier devices are used to set the color of thermochromic crystals in each pixel.
The recent South Korean designed “artificial skin”,
described in a scientific paper,
is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it aims to work on the human scale, rather than for vehicles or larger objects. Secondly, it has two functional modes; a thermal camouflage mode, and a visual camouflage mode. In the thermal mode, a grid of “pixels”, each consisting of a Peltier element, can change temperature to mimic the thermal signature of the background. Alternatively, it can be used for visual camouflage, as each pixel is also coated with thermochromic crystals that change colour depending on temperature. When below a certain temperature, the pixels are black, but as they heat up, they change from red to green to blue. One limitation is that the device can only perform one type of camouflage (thermal or visual) at a time, not both at once because the visual signature is dependent on the temperature of the pixels.
The same device operating in thermal mode, where pixel temperatures are chosen to correspond with the background temperature to hide from thermal cameras.
Unfortunately, the artificial skin is not yet a practical camouflage device. The basic operation of the Peltier elements and thermochromic coating in a flexible form factor have proved workable. However, the panels produced thus far have been of a small size, and feature no ability to sense their surroundings. Instead, they have been manually controlled to match their surroundings in a laboratory environment. Experiments are ongoing with small cameras, however, mapping a two-dimensional image onto a moving, flexible sheet will pose challenges.
While practical devices don’t yet exist, the world of active camouflage promises to grow more interesting as new display, material, and detection technologies come to the fore. At our current level of sophistication, crude designs have been achieved, with little practical application thus far. It’s likely that we’ll need to see advances in several other base technologies before active camouflage becomes mainstream, akin to the way the lithium polymer battery and advanced microelectronics enabled the creation of the quadcopter drone. Until then, dreams of invisibility will remain just that! | 21 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309676",
"author": "Arthur Weasley",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T19:21:47",
"content": "Good hacks! Or at least I hope those are right words muggles use for doing something simple in complicated and impractical way. I love it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,373,228.225207 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/rhythm-game-controller-cant-be-beat/ | Rhythm Game Controller Can’t Be Beat | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino pro micro",
"cherry mx",
"controller",
"k-shoot mania",
"optical encoder",
"voltex"
] | There’s this whole class of vertically scrolling rhythm games that take both hands and look really fun to play, albeit hard on the joints. You can buy specialized controllers for them, but they’re ridiculously expensive for what they are — just a handful of switches and two knobs.
It’s exactly the kind of thing you should build to your taste for far less money
.
Inspired by a pocket version of the Voltex controller that is also pretty darned expensive, [OmniSaiRen] set out to make their own on the cheap by building an awesome little macro keyboard that’s smaller and easier to use than the specialized controller. Inside there’s an Arduino Pro Micro taking input from eight Cherry MX switches and two optical encoders. The game treats the encoders as vertical and horizontal mouse movements, so [OmniSaiRen]’s code scans the encoders for their positions.
[OmniSaiRen] wrote their own matrix code and says it’s ugly, but it works well enough to play the game. What more can you ask for? A cool sticker to go on the top? Done. It’s too cold outside to paint, anyway. If it’s a one-handed game pad you need,
check out this sweet little thing
.
Via
r/duino | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309702",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T21:51:11",
"content": "As if vertical format video isn’t enough devo, this whole class of vertically scrolling rhythm games defies sheet music and text reading as we know it.The enclosure would look good on TV and movies but ... | 1,760,373,228.154525 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/the-day-the-russians-and-americans-met-135-miles-up/ | The Day The Russians And Americans Met 135 Miles Up | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"History",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"apollo",
"Apollos Soyuz Test Project",
"ASTP",
"nasa",
"Soyuz"
] | If you watched the original
Star Trek
series, you’d assume there was no way the Federation would ever work with the Klingons. But eventually the two became great allies despite their cultural differences. There was a time when it seemed like the United States and Russia would never be friends — as much as nations can be friends. Yet today, the two powers cooperate on a number of fronts.
One notable area of cooperation is in spaceflight, and that also was one of the first areas where the two were able to get together in a cooperative fashion, meeting for the first time in orbit, 135 miles up. The mission also marks the ultimate voyage of the Apollo spacecraft, a return to space for the USSR’s luckiest astronauts, and the maiden flight of NASA’s oldest astronaut. The ability to link US and Soviet capsules in space would pave the way for the International Space Station. The Apollo-Soyuz mission was nothing if not historic, but also more relevant than ever as more nations become spacefaring.
A Cold War
The Russians and the Americans had been allies in World War II. However, it was an uneasy friendship based more on necessity and common interest than anything else. When the Manhattan Project gave the allies the atomic bomb, the Russians felt vulnerable and set about building their own bombs. This was the start of the so-called Cold War.
In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik I, the first satellite launched by humans. Today, we’d think that was cool, but in the paranoid times of the Cold War, it struck fear into Americans. If the Russians could put something over our heads and out of reach of our defenses, they could bomb anywhere in the world at will.
The Americans decided they would not take a backseat on putting things in orbit and the space race began. After a slow start and President Kennedy famously announcing “we will go to the moon” things started to move rapidly. That story is well-told and the United States landed on the moon less than a decade later thanks to the Apollo spacecraft–an engineering marvel.
Early Days of Cooperation
In October 1962, right after Glen’s first orbital flight, the Russians and Americans signed the
Dryden-Blagonravov agreement
to share weather satellite data, study the Earth’s magnetic field jointly, and for the Russians to help track the Echo II satellite. This was viewed at the time, to quote Vice President Lyndon Johnson, “with a spirit of cautious optimism that the Soviet Union appears to realize that – in outer space, at least – there may be something to be gained by cooperating with the rest of humanity.”
But October 1962 also saw the
Cuban missile crisis
, with the two nations coming as close to nuclear war as ever. Needless to say, this hampered international cooperation in space for a time.
By 1970, the president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldys and NASA administrator Thomas Paine exchanged letters regarding more cooperation in space, something both sides saw as a political act of peace. Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev said:
The Soviet and American spacemen will go up into outer space for the first major joint scientific experiment in the history of mankind. They know that from outer space our planet looks even more beautiful. It is big enough for us to live peacefully on it, but it is too small to be threatened by nuclear war”
By 1972 an agreement formed and part of that agreement called for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project or ASTP to launch in 1975.
Apollo-Soyuz
Despite what you see in movies, the technical challenges to joining two spacecraft in orbit are pretty significant. Of course, there’s simply getting near enough to even attempt it, but that’s orbital mechanics. You also need to line up very precisely and control the forces involved as the two massive high-speed vehicles mate.
Then there are other problems. For example, the docking adapter will typically be very cold when you open the airlock and that will cause water to condense from the warm moist air in the spacecraft. So docking and then immediately popping the hatch is a thing only in the movies. In real life they wait for things to warm up, and still have to mop up liquid as they go through the interface between the two vessels.
Speaking of warm moist air, the Apollo command module used pure oxygen at about 5 PSI. The Soyuz used a nitrogen and oxygen mix at a comfortable sea-level pressure of 15 PSI. The ASTP design was to use an adapter that joined the two ships together. Because of the atmosphere differences, the adapter had to operate as an airlock, as well.
View of Apollo with ASTP Adapter from Soyuz
NASA and the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union worked together to develop the
Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
(APAS). Unlike earlier docking schemes, like the one used to connect the lunar module to the command module, a ship with APAS could — in theory — attach to any other vessel with APAS. Most docking systems at the time were not like this. You could not dock two command modules or two lunar modules together, for example.
The ASTP Apollo ship didn’t actually use APAS. The adapter was made to look like a lunar module on one side and presented an APAS interface on the other. The Soyuz had a proper ASTP docking ring that could be detached in case of an emergency. There were other changes to the Soyuz. The air pressure, for example, reduced to just over 10 PSI so there was less pressure differential across the adapter.
The Russians actually made six of these modified Soyuz. Two were launched without a crew. One was used for a test mission. Of the two other additional capsules, one had its docking ring replaced with a camera for a later mission and one was a hot backup for the mission that was later taken apart.
Crew
The Russians picked a “lucky” crew of two for the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov had both been in space before and Leonov was the first to walk in space. They were “lucky” because they had been slated to fly on
Soyuz 11
, which ended with all three crew losing their lives, but Kubasov was suspected of having tuberculosis and they didn’t fly. There were two cosmonauts because the Soyuz 11 tragedy demonstrated the need for wearing spacesuits inside the capsule during critical mission phases, and there simply wasn’t room for three.
The American crew consisted of Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, and the previously grounded Deke Slayton. Stafford had made three previous flights but it was Brand’s first.
It was Slayton’s first (and only) flight, but he’d been around since literally day one so he was hardly a neophyte. Slayton was one of the original seven astronauts selected for Mercury. Before he could fly, a relatively minor medical problem sidelined him and he took over as the head of the astronaut office. In Apollo-Soyuz, he would become the oldest person at that time to reach orbit and also the astronaut with the longest time between selection and first flight, a record probably no astronaut wants to break.
The Mission
Passing between spaceships
In July of 1975, both ships launched with experienced, reduced, and “lucky” crews. At the time, the Russians did not typically report on space missions until their completion. However, this mission was televised live. The crews had trained together extensively, so it wasn’t their first meeting when three hours after docking, Leonov and Stafford opened the hatches and shook hands.
They exchanged gifts, shared meals, and conducted joint experiments. They also practiced undocking and docking again. To simplify matters, the Russians spoke English and the Americans spoke Russian. The idea was that you can more easily figure out someone speaking your native language than trying to force one side or the other to speak a single language. Leonov would later joke that the mission used three languages because he called Stafford’s Russian “Oklahomski.” The two men had actually become very good friends and would remain so the rest of their lives.
The mission was a great success. After staying mostly docked for 44 hours, the ships separated and the Apollo capsule produced an artificial solar eclipse so the Soyuz could get pictures of the solar corona. They docked again briefly and then went on to spend more time on solo missions. You can see some of the contemporary news coverage of the actual docking, below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4_3D1IvsMQ
Everything was fine until the reentry of the Apollo capsule. A crew error allowed propellant fumes to vent into the capsule. Brand passed out and Stafford was able to unship emergency breathing gear. Although they landed alive, the three would spend several weeks in the hospital because of the accident. The Apollo missions were over. The next American crew would ride the Space Shuttle.
You can see Stafford rubbing his throat as he speaks from the recovery ship’s deck in the NASA documentary you can watch below.
Since the whole idea of ASTP was that it was a joint mission, it seems only fair that we show the Soviet documentary, too. It is really an interesting film and be sure to click on the link to watch the second part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpRBfLtnfSg
What Happened to the Hardware?
Some of the spacecraft are on display both at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and the RKK Energiya museum in Moscow. There are also several test articles and replicas at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the Kennedy Space Center, and several other locations.
Some of the metal from the spacecraft was used to strike some commemorative medallions and I’m fortunate enough to have one — see the picture below — from my stint working on more modern docking systems.
Legacy
Speaking of more modern docking systems, the APAS eventually turned into the APAS-89 which flew on Mir and the Space Shuttle. The ISS has a modified version of APAS-95 which is not androgynous. All of this led to the IDSS or
International Docking System Standard
which is the current standard for connecting two spacecraft together. Even today, the ISS docking ports connect to an International Docking Adapter (IDA) to convert the older ports to the IDSS standard. It isn’t just a mechanical linkage. Umbilicals can provide power and data between the two vehicles and, eventually, even transfer of some consumables.
Smithsonian Exhibit ([Toytoy] CC By 2.5)
As for the political legacy, ASTP laid the groundwork for the Russian and U.S. programs to cooperate with Mir and the ISS. The ASTP commanders became life-long friends. Overall, excepting the hiccup at the end, a very successful mission indeed.
Cooperation and Competition
Today, the United States has a greater focus on Mars than the moon. China is going back to the moon aggressively, but since they are not part of the ISS membership for complex political reasons, they are mostly going their own way.
On the one hand, it occurs to me that if you poured all the space funding into one wallet — say under the United Nations — you could spend more on individual space missions. Of course, there are risks to putting all of your eggs in one basket and people might be even less willing to spend on space if they didn’t feel national pride.
So what about friendly competition? Start the space Olympics and compete as national teams. After all, the space race spurred us to the first moon landing. Maybe what people aren’t willing to fund for science, they’d be willing to spend on sport competitions. The taxation for pro sports venues bears that theory out.
Either way, the status quo is some level of cooperation, even if tacit. ASTP was a very visible reminder that two great nations can do more in space than either one of them can do alone. Time will tell if we remember this as we build global space policy in the future. | 30 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309634",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T16:54:24",
"content": "“Yet today, the two powers cooperate on a number of fronts.”And yet, at least one continues to attack the other on electronic fronts with apparently very few reprisals.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,373,228.441364 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/a-wi-fi-enabled-dog/ | A Wi-Fi Enabled Dog! | Jenny List | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"dog",
"ESP32",
"led"
] | Our canine friends have been at our side for millennia, their prehistoric wolf ancestors evolving alongside us into the breeds we know today. But astoundingly until now no dog has been Wi-Fi enabled, at least according to [Entropy], whose dog [Kaya]
now sports a colourful Wi-Fi enabled collar
.
Light-up dog collars and harnesses have been with us for a while, and serve the very useful purpose of protecting the animals from accidents by making them visible at night, but [Kaya]’s colar was a particularly disappointing example. Its single light and lacklustre optical fibre coupled with disappointing battery life left much to be desired, so when it broke there was ample excuse to upgrade it. In went a strip of addressable LEDs and an ESP32 module, along with an 18650 lithium-ion cell. We’re a bit unsure whether lights can be controlled from a mobile phone, but perhaps the most significant benefit lies elsewhere. The Wi-Fi hotspot from the ESP32 serves as a beacon to find [Kaya] within a short distance should she wander off, which as any dog owner will tell you can be a boon when they’re investigating some fascinating new smell and ignoring your calls. You can see her modelling the collar in the video below the break.
Canine hacks appear on these pages from time to time. One of our favourites is this not very successful but highly amusing
remote controlled dog
. | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309595",
"author": "Rastersoft",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T13:34:09",
"content": "She doesn’t look very happy :-D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309606",
"author": "Matt Brunton",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T14:... | 1,760,373,228.362469 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/gps-guided-parachutes-for-high-altitude-balloons/ | GPS Guided Parachutes For High Altitude Balloons | Danie Conradie | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"Autopilot",
"gps",
"high altitude balloon",
"parachute",
"weather balloon"
] | Most amateur high altitude balloon payloads descend back to earth with a simple non-steerable parachute and can land hundreds of kilometers from the launch site in inaccessible areas. [Yohan Hadji] experienced this first-hand during a balloon launch conducted by his high school, which inspired him to
R2Home
, a GPS-guided parachute recovery system.
A Teensy runs the show, and controls a pair of sail winch servos pulling the brake lines
[Yohan]’s first challenge was to create a steerable parachute that can deploy reliably, so he started doing tests with a borrowed scale model paragliding wing. He quickly learned that a canopy aspect ratio of below two was needed for reliable deployment, so he started sewing his own canopies. Steering a parachute involves pulling on a pair of brake lines, one for each side of the parachute. A control stroke of about 20 cm was required, and [Yohan] found that RC sailboat winch servos work perfectly for this application. The entire system is designed to fit in a 7×40 cm tube, and the parachute is deployed with the help of a small drogue chute and a servo-operated release mechanism.
[Yohan] is working on a custom flight controller, built around a Teensy 4.1, GPS receiver, and digital compass. A possible alternative is
Ardupilot
, which we’ve seen used on several autonomous
drones
,
gliders
, and
rovers
. While this system might not be possible to return to the launch point, it could certainly close the gap, and land safely in a designated area.
So far [Yohan] has done a series of
test drops
from a drone at low altitude to test deployment and steering, using an RC controller. The project is open source, and the mechanical design files and control code is up on
GitHub
. As with most 16-year-olds, [Yohan]’s resources are limited, so feel free to drop him some financial help on the
R2Home GoFundMe
page. See the videos after the break for a development montage and project presentation.
The US military has been using a similar system, the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS), since 2006 to deliver supplies to troops in the field. We’ve also seen
single-use autonomous gliders
developed for the same mission. | 32 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309630",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T16:16:03",
"content": "Wonder how effective such an idea will be. Wind directions and speeds are far from constant on the way down so it might need some predictive model (perhaps fed actively by the data it gathered on the wa... | 1,760,373,228.311509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/a-tubular-fairy-tale-you-control-with-your-phone/ | A Tubular Fairy Tale You Control With Your Phone | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino nano",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspberry Pi 4",
"Venturi"
] | At first glance, this might appear to be a Rube Goldberg machine made of toys. The truth isn’t far off —
it’s a remote-control animatronic story machine driven by its spectators and their phones
. [Niklas Roy] and a team of volunteers built it in just two weeks for
Phaenomenale
, a festival centered around art and digital culture that takes place every other year.
A view of the tubes without the toys.
A red ball travels through a network of clear acrylic tubes using 3D printed Venturi air movers, gravity, and toys to help it travel. Spectators can change the ball’s path with their phones via a local website with a big picture of the installation. The ball triggers animations along its path using break beam detection and weaves a different story each time depending on the toys it interacts with.
Here’s how it works: a Raspberry Pi 4 is responsible for releasing the ball at the beginning of the track and for controlling the track switches. The Pi also hosts a server for smartphones and the 25 Arduino Nanos that control the LEDs and servos of the animatronics. As a bonus animatronic, there’s a giant whiteboard that rotates and switches between displaying the kids’ drawings and the team’s plans and schematics. Take a brief but up-close tour after the break.
This awesome art project was a huge collaborative effort that involved the people of Wolfsburg, Germany — families in the community donated their used and abandoned toys, groups of elementary school kids were brought in to create stories for the toys, and several high school kids and other collaborators realized these drawings with animatronics.
Toys can teach valuable lessons, too. Take
this body-positive sushi-snarfing Barbie
for example, or
this dollhouse of horrors designed to burn fire safety into children’s brains
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309541",
"author": "Niklas",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T08:39:22",
"content": "Found this while I was doomscrolling on Twitter this morning. Thanks for the nice article Kristina! I’d just like to add one more credit, which goes to Felix Fisgus, as we both have made this project toget... | 1,760,373,229.233477 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/turning-a-cmm-into-a-3d-printer/ | Turning A CMM Into A 3D Printer | Matthew Carlson | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"air bearing",
"CMM"
] | There are two paths to owning a 3D printer: purchasing one or crafting your own 3D printer designed to your own exacting specifications. [Roetz 4.0] has decided to go this latter route and
converted a 1.3-ton air-bearing Coordinate-measuring machine (CMM) into an FDM 3D printer
. (Video, embedded below.)
A CMM is a tool used to precisely measure the geometry of an object via gently lowering a calibrated probe. We’ve seen
scratch build printers before
, but this particular build benefits from having the CMM machinery and its 18 air bearings. The CMM head is moved by [Roetz 4.0]’s own custom system, but it takes advantage of the bearings. After some careful CAD planning as well as a fair bit of milling, lathing, and prototyping, he had buttery smooth controlled motion.
With an off the shelf driver board wired together with a large red button, he was ready for a maiden test print. A determination to finish before the year was out pushed things along. There are still a few quirks to fix, like the hole in the air drying system but those can be tackled next year. Ultimately, we think the results are stunning and it was a journey we were glad to go on with [Roetz 4.0]. The final episode of the series is after the break.
Thanks [Jan] for sending this one in! | 47 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309501",
"author": "Ralph Dratman",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T04:19:53",
"content": "I think you are on the right track. The vast majority of these additive 3D printers are surprisingly under-designed. They are open-loop devices with no way to ensure accuracy of extrusion or even ba... | 1,760,373,228.594918 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/electric-puzzle-board-lets-you-assemble-circuits-with-ease/ | Electric Puzzle Board Lets You Assemble Circuits With Ease | Lewin Day | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"education",
"educational",
"toy"
] | Many hackers learned about electronics over the years with home experimenter kits from Radio Shack and its ilk. Eschewing soldering for easier screw or spring based connections, they let the inexperienced build circuits with a minimum of fuss, teaching them the arcane ways of the electron along the way. [victorqedu] has put a modern spin on the form,
with his Electric Puzzle Game.
The build consists of a series of 3D printed blocks, each containing a particular electronic component or module. The blocks can be joined together to form circuits, with magnets in the blocks mating with screws in the motherboard to hold everything together and make electrical contact between the parts. It’s a project that requires a significant amount of 3D printing and upfront assembly to build, but it makes assembling circuits a cinch.
The variety of circuits that can be built is impressive. [victorqedu] shows off everything from simple LED and switch arrangements to touch sensors and even a low-powered “Tesla coil”. We imagine playing with the blocks and snapping circuits into place would be great fun. We’ve seen other unconventional approaches before, too –
such as building squishy circuits for educational purposes
. Video after the break. | 20 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309461",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-01-07T00:20:01",
"content": "OK, where is the kickstarter, I want to buy a kit.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6309468",
"author": "GotNoTime",
"timestamp": "2021-01-0... | 1,760,373,228.504462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/automating-your-car-with-a-spare-fob-and-an-esp8266/ | Automating Your Car With A Spare Fob And An ESP8266 | Tom Nardi | [
"car hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"alexa",
"ESP8266",
"home automation",
"key fob",
"remote start"
] | Despite the name, home automation doesn’t have to be limited to only the devices within your home. Bringing your car into the mix can open up some very interesting possibilities, such as automatically getting it warmed up in the morning if the outside air temperature drops below a certain point. The only problem is, not everyone is willing to start hacking their ride’s wiring to do it.
Which is exactly why [Matt Frost] went the non-invasive route
. By wiring up an ESP8266 to a cheap aftermarket key fob for his Chevrolet Suburban, he’s now able to wirelessly control the door locks and start the engine without having to make any modifications to the vehicle. He was lucky that the Chevy allowed him to program his own fob, but even if you have to spend the money on getting a new remote from the dealer, it’s sure to be cheaper than the repair bill should you cook something under the dash with an errant splice or a misplaced line of code.
The hardware for this project is about as simple as it gets. The fob is powered by the 3.3 V pin on the Wemos D1 Mini, and the traces for the buttons have been hooked up to the GPIO pins. By putting both boards into a custom 3D printed enclosure, [Matt] came up with a tidy little box that he could mount in his garage and run off of a standard USB power supply.
On the software side of things [Matt]
has the device emulating a smart light
so it can easily be controlled by his Alexa, with a few helpful routines sprinkled in that allow him to
avoid the awkward phraseology that would be required otherwise
. There’s also a minimal web server running on the microcontroller that lets him trigger various actions just by hitting the appropriate URLs, which made connecting it to Home Assistant a snap. One downside of this approach is that there’s no acknowledgement from the vehicle that the command was actually received, but you can always send a command multiple times to be sure.
This isn’t the first time we’ve
seen an ESP8266 used to “push” buttons on a remote
. If you’ve got a spare fob for your device, or can get one, it’s an excellent way to automate it on the cheap. | 47 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309424",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T21:35:33",
"content": "Hmmm,I wonder what it would take to replace the missing lock fobs on my 2k4 Honda?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309586",
"author": "Will",
... | 1,760,373,228.752271 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/powered-exoskeletons-in-rough-terrain-an-interesting-aspect-of-the-change-5-recovery-mission/ | Powered Exoskeletons In Rough Terrain: An Interesting Aspect Of The Chang’e 5 Recovery Mission | Maya Posch | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"exoskeleton"
] | At this point in time, one would be hard pressed to find anyone who is not at least aware of some of the uses of exoskeletons as they pertain to use by humans. From supporting people during rehabilitation, to ensuring that people working in industrial and warehouse settings do not overexert themselves, while also preventing injuries and increasing their ability to carry heavy loads without tiring.
During the
recovery mission of the Chang’e 5 sample container
in the rough terrain of Inner Mongolia, the crew which was tasked with setting up the communications center, electrical supply systems and other essential services in the area wore exoskeletons. Developed by a relatively new Chinese company called
ULS Robotics
(see embedded promotional video after the break), the powered exoskeletons allowed the crew to carry 50 kg loads at a time for a hundred meters across the rough, snowy terrain.
The obvious benefit of an exoskeleton here is that while humans are pretty good at navigating rough terrain, this ability quickly degrades the moment a heavy load is involved, as anyone who has done serious mountain trekking can probably attest to. By having the exoskeleton bear most of the load, the wearer can focus on staying upright and reaching the destination quickly and safely.
With the growing interest for exoskeletons from various industries, the military, as well as
the elderly
, it probably won’t be too long before we’ll be seeing more of them in daily life the coming years.
(Thanks, Qes) | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309382",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T19:41:53",
"content": "“By having the exoskeleton bear most of the load, the wearer can focus on staying upright and reaching the destination quickly and safely.”Limit of human body as an engine. See mech.“With the growing int... | 1,760,373,228.946294 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/you-got-something-on-your-processor-bus-the-joys-of-hacking-isa-and-pci/ | You Got Something On Your Processor Bus: The Joys Of Hacking ISA And PCI | Maya Posch | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrocomputing",
"Slider"
] | [
"isa bus",
"pci bus",
"retro computing"
] | Although the ability to expand a home computer with more RAM, storage and other features has been around for as long as home computers exist, it wasn’t until the IBM PC that the concept of a fully open and modular computer system became mainstream. Instead of being limited to a system configuration provided by the manufacturer and a few add-ons that really didn’t integrate well, the concept of expansion cards opened up whole industries as well as a big hobbyist market.
The first IBM PC had five 8-bit expansion slots that were connected directly to the 8088 CPU. With the IBM PC/AT these expansion slots became 16-bit courtesy of the 80286 CPU it was built around. These slots could be used for anything from graphics cards to networking, expanded memory or custom I/O. Though there was no distinct original name for this card edge interface, around the PC/AT era it got referred to as
PC bus
, as well as
AT bus.
The name
Industry Standard Architecture
(ISA) bus is a
retronym
created by PC clone makers.
With such openness came the ability to relatively easy and cheaply make your own cards for the ISA bus, and the subsequent and equally open PCI bus. To this day this openness allows for a vibrant ecosystem, whether one wishes to build a custom ISA or PCI soundcard, or add USB support to a 1981 IBM PC system.
But what does it take to get started with ISA or PCI expansion cards today?
The Cost of Simplicity
From top to bottom: 8-bit XT bus, 16-bit AT/ISA, 32-bit EISA.
An important thing to note about ISA and the original PC/AT bus is that it isn’t so much a generic bus as it describes devices hanging off an 8088 or 80286 addressing and data bus. This means that for example that originally the bus is as fast as the clock speed of the CPU in question: 4.77 MHz for the original PC bus and 6-8 MHz for the PC/AT. Although 8-bit cards could be used in 16-bit slots most of the time, there was no guarantee that they would work properly.
As PC clone vendors began to introduce faster CPUs in their models, the AT bus ended up being clocked at anywhere from 10 to 16 MHz. Understandably, this led to many existing AT (
ISA
) bus cards not working properly in those systems. Eventually, the clock for the bus was decoupled from the processor clock by most manufacturers, but despite what the acronym ‘ISA’ suggests, at no point in time was ISA truly standardized.
It was however attempted to standardize a replacement for ISA in the form of Extended ISA (
EISA
). Created in 1988, this featured a 32-bit bus, running at 8.33 MHz. Although it didn’t take off in consumer PCs, EISA saw some uptake in the server market, especially as a cheaper alternative to IBM’s proprietary Micro Channel architecture (
MCA
) bus. MCA itself was envisioned by IBM as the replacement of ISA.
Ultimately, ISA survives to this day in mostly industrial equipment and embedded applications (e.g. the
LPC
bus), while the rest of the industry moved on to PCI and to PCIe much later. Graphics cards saw a few detours in the form of VESA Local Bus (
VLB
) and Accelerated Graphics Port (
AGP
), which were specialized interfaces aimed at the needs of GPUs.
Getting started with new old tech
The corollary of this tumultuous history of ISA in particular is that one has to be careful when designing a new ‘ISA expansion card’. For truly wide compatibility, one could design an 8-bit card that can work with a bus speed from anywhere from 4.77 to 20 MHz. Going straight to a 16-bit card would be an option if one has no need to support 8088-based PCs. When designing a
PC/104
card, there should be no compatibility issues, as it follows pretty much the most standard form of the ISA bus.
The physical interface is not a problem with either ISA or PCI, as both use edge connectors. These were picked mostly because they were cheap yet reliable, which hasn’t changed today. On the PCB end, no physical connector exists, merely the conductive ‘fingers’ that contact the contacts of the edge connector. One can use a template for this part, to get good alignment with the contacts. Also keep in mind the thickness of the PCB as the card has to make good contact. Here the common 1.6 mm seems to be a good match.
One can easily find resources for ISA and PCI design rules online if one wishes to create the edge connector themselves, such as this excellent overview on the
Multi-CB
(PCB manufacturer, no affiliation) site. This shows the finger spacing, and the 45 degrees taper on the edge, along with finger thickness and distance requirements.
Useful for the electrical circuit design part is to know that ISA uses 5 V level signaling, whereas
PCI
can use 5 V, 3.3 V or both. For the latter, this difference is indicated using the placement of the notch in the PCI slot, as measured from the IO plate: at 56.21 mm for 3.3 V cards and 104.47 mm for 5 V. PCI cards themselves will have either one of these notches, or both if they support both voltages (Universal card).
PCI slots exist in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, of which only the former made a splash in the consumer market. On the flip-side of PCI we find
PCI-X
: an evolution of PCI, which saw most use in servers in its 64-bit version. PCI-X essentially doubles the maximum frequency of PCI (66 to 133 MHz), while removing 5V signaling support. PCI-X cards will often work in 3.3V PCI slots for this reason, as well as vice-versa. A 64-bit card can fall back to 32-bit mode if it is inserted into a shorter, 32-bit slot, whether PCI or PCI-X.
Driving buses
Every device on a bus adds a load which a signaling device has to overcome. In addition, on a bus with shared lines, it’s important that individual devices can disengage themselves from these shared lines when they are not using them. The standard way to deal with this is to use a tri-state
buffer
, such as the common
74LS244
. Not only does it provide the isolation provided by a standard digital buffer circuit, it can also switch to a Hi-Z (high-impedance) state, in which it is effectively disconnected.
In the case of our ISA card, we need to have something like the 74LS244 or its bi-directional sibling 74LS245 to properly interface with the bus. Each bus signal connection needs to have an appropriate buffer or latch placed on it, which for the ISA bus is covered in detail in
this article by Abhishek Dutta
. A good example of a modern-day ISA card is the
‘Snark Barker’ SoundBlaster clone
.
PCI could conceivably be done in such a discrete manner as well, but most commonly commercial PCI cards used I/O accelerator ASICs, which provide a simple, ISA-like interface to the card’s circuitry. These ICs are however far from cheap today (barring taking a risk with something like the
WCH CH365
), so a good alternative is to implement the PCI controller
in an FPGA
. The
MCA version of the aforementioned ‘Snark Barker’
(as
previously covered
by us) uses a
CPLD
to interface with the MCA bus. Sites like OpenCores feature existing
PCI target
projects one could use as a starting point.
Chatting with ISA and PCI
After creating a shiny PCB with gold edge contact fingers and soldering some bus buffer ICs or an FPGA onto it, one still has to be able to actually talk the actual ISA or PCI protocol. Fortunately, a lot of resources exist for the ISA protocol, such as
this one for ISA
. The PCI protocol is, like the PCIe protocol, a ‘trade secret’, and only officially available via the
PCI-SIG
website for a price. This hasn’t kept copies from the specification to
leak
over the past decades, however.
It’s definitely possible to use existing ISA and PCI projects as a template or reference for one’s own projects. The aforementioned CPLD/FPGA projects are a way to avoid implementing the protocol oneself and just getting to the good bits. Either way, one has to use the interrupt (IRQ) system for the respective bus (dedicated signal lines, as well as message-based in later PCI versions), with the option to use DMA (DRQn & DACKn on ISA). Covering the intricacies of the ISA and PCI bus would however take a whole article by itself. For those of us who have had ISA cards with toggle switches or (worse), ISA PnP (Plug’n’Pray) inflicted on them, a lot of this should already be familiar, however.
As with any shared bus, the essential protocol when writing or reading involves requesting bus access from the
bus master
, or triggering the bus arbitration protocol with multiple bus masters in PCI. An expansion card can also be addressed directly using its bus address, as Abhishek Dutta
covered in his ISA article
, which on Linux involves
using kernel routines
(
sys/io.h
) to obtain access permissions before one can send data to a specific IO port on which the card can be addressed. Essentially:
if (ioperm(OUTPUT_PORT, LENGTH+1, 1)) {
...
}
if (ioperm(INPUT_PORT, LENGTH+1, 1)) {
...
}
outb(data, port);
data = inb(port);
With ISA, the IO address is set in the card, and the address decoder on the address signal lines used to determine a match. Often toggle switches or jumpers were used to allow a specific address, IRQ and DMA line. ISA PnP sought to improve on this process, but effectively caused more trouble. For PCI, PnP is part of the standard: the PCI bus is scanned for devices on boot, and the onboard ROM (BIOS) queried for the card’s needs after which the address and other parameters are set up automatically.
Wrapping up
Obviously, this article has barely even covered the essentials when it comes to developing one’s own custom ISA or PCI expansion cards, but hopefully it has at least given a broad overview of the topic. A lot of what one needs depends on the type of card one wishes to develop, whether it’s a basic 8-bit ISA (PC/XT) card, or a 64-bit PCI-X one.
A lot of the fun with buses such as ISA and PCI, however, is that they are very approachable. Their bus speeds are well within the reach of hobbyist hardware and oscilloscopes in case of debugging/analysis. The use of a slower parallel data bus means that no
differential signaling
is used which simplifies the routing of traces.
Even though these legacy buses are not playing in the same league as PCIe, their feature set and accessibility means that it can give old systems a new lease on life, even if it is for something as simple as
adding Flash-based storage
to an original IBM PC.
[Heading image: Snark Barker ISA SoundBlaster clone board. Credit: Tube Time] | 32 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309365",
"author": "Jason Doege",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T18:37:03",
"content": "*cough* Apple II *cough*",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6309366",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T18:37:45",
"co... | 1,760,373,229.025643 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/bad-idea-for-desoldering-actually-might-be-pretty-smart/ | Bad Idea For Desoldering Actually Might Be Pretty Smart | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"air",
"brass",
"compressed",
"desolder",
"TIP",
"vacuum"
] | This video on
building a DIY desoldering iron
says it all right up front: this is stupid and dangerous, and you shouldn’t do it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, or that it doesn’t have potential to be turned into something else.
The story begins, as it often does these days, on the pages of Amazon as [AnotherMaker] shopped for a real desoldering setup. Despite a case of sticker shock, he took the plunge on a nice Hakko vacuum desolderer, but as is also often the case, it failed to arrive. Rather than accept defeat, [AnotherMaker] purchased a cheap-o soldering iron and a brass tee fitting for small-bore tubing that would chuck nicely into the spot where the stock tip once lived, giving him a way to both melt solder and move air.
Unfortunately, rather than applying a vacuum, he chose to blast 100 PSI compressed air through the tip, which certainly moves a lot of solder, perhaps at the cost of burns and eye injuries. The potential for accidental short circuits is pretty high too, but c’mon — it’s not like we all haven’t flicked or dropped a board to desolder something. Is this really much different?
As fraught with peril as this method may be, [AnotherMaker] is onto something here. Perhaps adding
a 3D-printed venturi generator
could turn that blast of air into a vacuum. Or maybe a vacuum pump for
a manual pick-and-place
would do the trick too. | 49 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309310",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T16:44:13",
"content": "Okay, similar but safer(?).Years ago, I saw a desoldering setup that consisted of a squeeze bulb desoldering iron with a refrigerator compressor connected instead of the squeeze bulb. The air hose was connec... | 1,760,373,229.119546 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/amazons-custom-t-shirt-may-rub-you-the-wrong-way/ | Amazon’s Custom T-Shirt May Rub You The Wrong Way | Kristina Panos | [
"Featured",
"News",
"Rants",
"Slider",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"amazon",
"crew neck",
"custom t-shirt",
"neckline",
"pima cotton",
"t-shirt",
"tailoring",
"v-neck"
] | How far would you go in pursuit of the perfect black t-shirt? Would you let Amazon build a virtual double of your body? They already know so much about you, so what’s a body scan or two between customer and company?
So here’s the deal — Amazon is trying to launch a brand of bespoke clothing called
Made for You
, and they’re starting with
custom solid color t-shirts
. Here’s how it works: you give them $25 along with information about your height, weight, and skin tone. Then you upload two pictures of your torso to their app, and these get turned into a 3D model of your body. Once your avatar is built to match, you design your shirt to fit the model. In theory, you get a really good idea of how it will fit.
You can choose from two different fabrics and eight colors, and can customize the neckline, the shirt length, and the sleeve length. If you want to, you can put your name on the tag. Then your perfect t-shirt gets made in the US from imported fabric — either lightweight or medium weight pima cotton. We’re not sure if robots or people are making them, but our money is on people. After all, Amazon is the company that created
Mechanical Turk
to form a pool of humans available to do on-demand work via the Internet. This is along those lines but with tailors sewing to your specifications. The big questions are what do you get, how does the technology make these better than off-the-rack, and do you give up your privacy in return?
One-Size Fits One
To say that these are custom t-shirts is a bit of a stretch. Oh you don’t need to worry about the t-shirts being skin-tight and showcasing your spare tire — if it’s a relaxed fit you want, that’s one of the options. But the current options are limited.
Any color you like as long as it’s one of these eight. Image via
Amazon
There are three lengths to choose from which is admirable, but only two necklines. They don’t even offer 3/4 sleeves, just short and long. This is Amazon’s chance to give us real choices, and we say the choices are a lukewarm offering. It’s nothing compared to
the custom Converse menu
, which even allows two different sizes of shoe in your pair if that’s what you need.
T-shirts are really just the beginning. Amazon wants to expand this service to other clothing items and are open to suggestions, though they envision dresses, pants, and activewear in the near future. Their would-be clothing empire would stand in addition to the shoe and clothing sites that can already be found in the site’s footer like Zappos, and all the Amazon Essentials-branded clothing.
This person’s sleeve unraveled in under an hour. Image via
Amazon
They’re Probably Just Average T-Shirts, But Now I’m Curious
Reviews are mixed
— some people are in love with theirs, and others were dismayed by a poor fit and a hem that began to unravel after an hour of wear. This is anecdotal and it’s not unheard of to have bad hems when shopping off-the-rack. Time will tell if there are actually issues with QA in this on-demand clothing model.
The problem is that fitting clothing is not a trivial process — is there some secret sauce here to reliably capture your body shape? Unlike some
other companies
that take a video of you and create a point cloud of your body, Amazon makes their you-vatar from two pictures and data that you enter.
Personally, I’m conflicted. I want to try it because I know that
pima cotton
feels really nice, but I don’t think I want Amazon to have such a detailed picture of my mass and topography. I like my shirts big, so maybe I could fudge my weight and throw off my avatar, but build the shirt the way I want it.
Can Amazon Make Quasi-Tailoring Mainstream?
Fashion is cyclical, and apparently so is the way we get our clothes. The isn’t quite tailoring, but the idea of tailored clothing is as old as clothing itself. It’s the expense that keeps it from being popular on a grand scale. Then there’s the whole question of what people will buy if given absolute choice, and how often? If the clothing is too well-made, they might not sell enough of it in the long term. There are a lot of variables to consider on top of the custom tailoring problem.
It’s easy to make patterns from your favorite clothes. Image via
With Wendy
A handful of companies are out there trying to make a similar model work, but this is Amazon. If anyone can do it, it’s them, right? We can’t help but think that a better model might center around copying people’s favorite t-shirts, but
that’s something you can do yourself
. If Amazon really wanted to, they could put in a body-scanning kiosk at the mall (the 3D-printing community has been doing this at hackerspaces and events for years now). Your point cloud is uploaded to your Amazon account, and then you shop from home.
Less Wasteful, More Creepy
One clear benefit from a tailoring takeover would be less waste in
a notoriously wasteful industry that overproduces garments and contributes to our microplastic and landfill problems
. Curbing production, and reducing waste by convincing consumers to keep their better fitting clothes longer sounds great!
But still, one has to wonder, what else could a company do with a bunch of body scans? This is the internet so you have to assume there will be a data breach at some point (although Amazon told Engadget that they delete the photos after spinning up the body double) — what happens when body scans of people are stolen? We are not talking about the kind of
invasive images like the airport-grade backscatter radar scanners produce
, but it’s still creepy to think about.
So, dear reader, is this a cool innovation, or are they going too far? Would you buy a custom t-shirt if we get both the tech and the privacy right? Let us know in the comments. | 49 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309264",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T15:30:04",
"content": "One way to look at it is if you ever owned a Kinect, Microsoft probably have full 3D IR scans of your body already.I wonder why they really killed it off, too many FISA court orders for data, maybe.",
"... | 1,760,373,231.131937 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/heat-turns-3d-printer-filament-into-springs/ | Heat Turns 3D Printer Filament Into Springs | Donald Papp | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"anneal",
"annealing",
"diy",
"filament",
"heat treating",
"plastic",
"spring"
] | The next time you find yourself in need of some large-ish plastic springs, maybe consider [PattysLab]’s
method for making plastic springs out of spare filament
. The basic process is simple: tightly wind some 3D printer filament around a steel rod, secure it and wrap it in kapton tape, then heat it up. After cooling, one is left with a reasonably functional spring, apparently with all the advantages of annealed plastic.
The basic process may be simple, but [PattysLab] has a number of tips for getting best results. The first is to use a 3D-printed fixture to help anchor one end of filament to the steel rod, then use the help of an electric drill to wind the filament tightly. After wrapping the plastic with kapton tape (wrap counter to the direction of the spring winding, so that peeling the tape later doesn’t pull the spring apart), he suspends it in a pre-heated oven at 120 C for PLA and 160 C for PETG. How long does it stay in there? [PattysLab] uses the following method: when the spring is wound, he leaves a couple inches of filament sticking out to act as a visual indicator. When this segment of filament sags down, that’s his cue to begin the retrieval process. After cooling, the result is a compression or extension spring, depending on how it was wound before being heated.
[PattysLab] shared
a short video on this Reddit post
that shows both springs in action, and the process is all covered in the video, embedded below.
This method clearly works for [PattysLab] and doesn’t require any unusual hardware or equipment, but should anyone wish to apply a bit more finesse to the process, this
scientific approach to annealing plastics used in 3D printing
might come in handy. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309252",
"author": "kc8rwr",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T14:22:45",
"content": "What if instead of folding open the ends to make eyes you just left some filament pointing straight out the ends. Then you could either trap the end under a screw head or if you really want eyes then just ... | 1,760,373,230.910719 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/06/custom-controller-makes-turbomolecular-pump-suck/ | Custom Controller Makes Turbomolecular Pump Suck | Anool Mahidharia | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"BLDC",
"BLDC controller",
"cpld",
"fpga",
"Turbomolecular",
"turbomolecular pump"
] | [Mark Aren] purchased a pair of Turbomolecular pumps (TMP) sans controllers, and then built
an FPGA based BLDC controller for the Turbomolecular pumps
. A TMP is similar to a jet turbine, consisting of several stages of alternating moving turbine blades and stationary stator blades, and having turbine rotation speeds ranging from 10,000 rpm to 90,000 rpm. TMP’s cannot exhaust directly to atmosphere, and must be combined with a backing (or roughing) pump to create a lower grade vacuum first. They find use in lots of applications such as electron microscopy, analytical sciences, semiconductors and lamp manufacturing. With the lamp industry rapidly embracing LEDs, many of the traditional lamp making lines are getting decommissioned, and if you are lucky, you can snag a TMP at a low cost – but it still will not be cheap by any means.
The two
BOC-Edwards EXT255H Compound Molecular Pumps
(PDF), that [Mark] bought did not have their accompanying
EXC100E Turbomolecular Pump Controllers
(PDF), and given pandemic related restrictions, he decided to build a controller of his own, using components and modules from his parts bin. The pump and controller user manuals offered only sketchy details about the sensored BLDC motor used in the pump. The low phase-to-phase resistance implied low drive voltage, and [Mark] decided to try running it at 24 V to start with. He already had experience using the Mitsubishi PS21245-E IGBT inverter bridge, and even though it was rated for much higher voltages, he knew that it would work just fine at 24 V too.
After figuring out a state machine for motor commutation that utilized PWM based adjustable current control, he implemented it on a 128 element FPGA board. Considering how expensive the TMP was, he wisely decided to first try out his driver on a smaller “expendable” BLDC motor. This whole process was non-trivial, since his available IGBT module was untested and undocumented, and required several tweaks before he could run it at the required 12 kHz PWM signals. His test motor was also undocumented, failing to run correctly when first hooked up. Fixing that issue meant having to disassemble the motor to check its internal wiring. Eventually, his efforts paid off, and he was able to safely run the TMP motor to confirm that his design worked.
With FPGA code, IGBT wiring and power supply issues sorted, the next step was to add a supervisory micro-controller, using an Arduino Nano. Its functions included interfacing with a touch screen LCD as a user interface, communicating with the FPGA module, and controlling several relays to switch power to the motor power supply, the roughing pump, TMP cooling fan, and a solenoid for the vacuum vent. Spindle current is calculated by measuring voltage drop across shunt resistors on the low side of the IGBT. Motor speed is measured using one of the motor hall sensors, and a thermistor provides motor temperature sensing. [Mark]’s PCB fabrication technique seems a bit different too. Using an Excellon drill file, he drills holes in a piece of plastic using a laser cutter to create a bare board, and then solders copper tracks by hand.
His initial tests at atmospheric pressure (although not recommended unless you monitor pump temperature), resulted in 7300 rpm while consuming about 7 Amps before he had to shut it down. In further tests, after adding a roughing pump to the test setup, he was able to spin the TMP to 20,000 rpm while it consumed 0.6 A. Obviously, the pump is rated to operate at a higher voltage, possibly 48 V based on the values mentioned in the TMP controller manual. The project is still “work in progress” as [Mark] hopes to eventually drive the pump up to its specified 60,000 rpm operating speed. What is not clear is what he eventually intends to do with this piece of exotic machinery. All he mentions is that “he has recently taken an interest in high-vacuum systems and is interested in exploring the high-vacuum world of electron guns.”
Maybe [Mark] can compare notes with the
Open Source Turbomolecular Pump Controller
that we featured some time back. And if you’d like to be a little bit more adventurous and build you own TMP, we got you covered with this DIY
Everyman’s Turbomolecular Pump
. | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309205",
"author": "Hammarbytp",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T09:55:43",
"content": "Wow, seriously respect here",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309223",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T11:58:33",
... | 1,760,373,230.810152 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/xbox-controller-mod-gets-serious-about-stick-drift/ | Xbox Controller Mod Gets Serious About Stick Drift | Tom Nardi | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"analog stick",
"Joystick",
"potentiometer",
"xbox controller"
] | Many a gamer has found that after a few years of racing around the track or sending demons back from whence they came, the analog sticks on their trusty controller can start to drift around. Many times it’s a fairly minor problem, something you might only notice if you were really keeping an eye out for it, but it can definitely be annoying. Those handy with a soldering iron might just swap out the sticks for replacements once it gets to that point, but
[Taylor Burley] wondered how difficult it would be to recalibrate the ailing sticks instead
.
To be clear, [Taylor] acknowledges this approach is overkill. It would be cheaper and easier to just replace the drifting stick with a new one. Even if you take into account that new sticks might not be as high quality as the originals and could give up the ghost faster, this probably isn’t worth the effort. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an interesting hack.
In the video after the break, [Taylor] starts by explaining how stick drift occurs in the first place. Each axis of the stick is physically connected to the wiper of a potentiometer, so for 10K pots, the stick’s center point should correspond to a resistance of 5K. He then goes on to measure the resistance in a bad joystick, and sure enough, the center resistance is off by several hundred Ohms.
To fix this, he comes up with a simple circuit that places additional potentiometers between the wipers. With two joysticks and two adjustment pots per axis, that makes eight little adjustment wheels that need to be fiddled with to get the center points calibrated properly. In this case [Taylor] uses a controller diagnostic tool for the Xbox to quantify the impact his adjustments are making so he can dial it in perfectly, but the idea is the same no matter who’s logo is on the box.
We’d say this is the most overkill attempt at addressing the issue of stick drift on gaming controllers we’ve ever seen, but that title has to go to [Matteo Pisani],
who replaced the analog stick on his Switch Joy-Con with a custom circular touchpad
. | 47 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309174",
"author": "inexpensivecomputers",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T06:27:17",
"content": "Interesting idea",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6309180",
"author": "Digital Corpus",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T07:14:05",
"... | 1,760,373,231.315551 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/ai-on-the-highway/ | AI On The Highway | Chris Lott | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"ai",
"convoy",
"platooning",
"self-driving vehicle",
"south korea",
"taxi"
] | A couple of announcements caught our attention last week regarding AI-controlled cars. South Korea’s Kakao Mobility and local startup Autonomous A2G launched a limited
self-driving taxi service
in Sejong City this month, made possible by enabling legislation passed in May. For now, the service is restricted to government employees, and the AI driver will be backed-up by an engineer who is there to monitor the systems and take over in an emergency. The companies plan to expand the fleet and service areas this year, although no details are given.
Another announcement comes from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport about the on-going successes of the
semi-autonomous truck platooning program
. This is a collaboration between the Korean Expressway Corporation, Kookmin University in Seoul, and Hyundai Motors. Previously restricted to a designated test road called the Yeoju Smart Highway, the program is now being tested on public roads at speeds up to 70 kph. This year the program will expand to platoons of 4 trucks running at 90 kph. We’ve always thought that long-haul trucking and freight industries would be an early adaptor AI technologies, and one which AI could offer significant benefits. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309152",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T04:28:54",
"content": "> engineer who is there to … take over in an emergency.One day we’ll get it right and have the computer take over when the human screws up and not the other way around.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth"... | 1,760,373,231.359626 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/burned-out-skr-e3-mini-gets-new-stepper-driver/ | Burned Out SKR E3 Mini Gets New Stepper Driver | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"3D Printer Controller",
"repair",
"replacement",
"stepper driver",
"TMC2208"
] | It didn’t take long to figure out that a dead X axis and an message saying “TMC CONNECTION ERROR” meant that one of the stepper drivers on the SKR E3 Mini 3D printer control board had released the magic smoke. Manufacturer BigTreeTech replaced the board under warranty, and the printer was back up and running in short order. But instead of tossing it in the trash,
[Simon] wondered how hard it would be to repair the dead board
.
Removing the original stepper driver IC.
The short answer is, not very hard. There was no question as to which of the four TMC2209 drivers was shot, since the X motor was the only one experiencing a problem. The drivers unfortunately aren’t socketed on this board, but after a little kiss with the hot air, the old chip was off.
[Simon] didn’t have any spare TMC2209 chips, but the TMC2208 has the same pinout and is a drop-in replacement. The TMC2208 is rated for a bit less current, but it shouldn’t be a problem under normal circumstances.
Other than the stepper connector getting a little toasty during the installation, the swap went off without a hitch and the board was up and running again. [Simon] ended up putting the now repaired SKR E3 Mini in his Ender 3; a nice 32-bit upgrade compared to the ATmega1284 that was originally running the show. Though in the past, he’s
managed to squeeze a bit more performance out of the older 8-bit board as well
. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309101",
"author": "bb",
"timestamp": "2021-01-06T00:24:23",
"content": "I use that board in my ender3, in fact, and I have a backup board just in case.first, you should not burn thru those drivers. on my current installed board, I do NOT have heatsinks installed! don’t need them... | 1,760,373,230.968173 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/the-last-component-storage-system-youd-ever-need/ | The Last Component Storage System You’d Ever Need | Kristina Panos | [
"Lifehacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"component storage",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspberry Pi 4B",
"storage"
] | Think you’ve seen the best component storage system?
This system could only be better if you could walk up and talk to it
. [APTechnologies] was tired of using a hodgepodge of drawers and boxen for storing their components. What they needed was an all-purpose solution for storing all kinds of small-to-medium-sized goodies, be they through hole or SMT.
This one happens to have a software interface as well that is searchable with short, crisp expressions that find parts by ID or with parameters. It’s a Python 3 script running on a Raspberry Pi 4B that’s hiding behind the HDMI display. [APTechnologies] printed a special arm for that, and you can find all the files on
GitHub
. Not only does the LED above the corresponding drawer light up, it lights up in a color that represents the inventory levels. We assume green/yellow/red, but [APTechnologies] doesn’t specify.
Don’t know what to do with some of your components?
If they’re really old, they may be no good anymore
. It just depends. | 38 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309051",
"author": "Doobie",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T21:05:24",
"content": "Neat. I have a similar system for my library.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309055",
"author": "JuergenUK",
"timestamp": "2021-0... | 1,760,373,231.045034 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/solid-oak-arcade-cabinet-when-particle-board-wont-do/ | Solid Oak Arcade Cabinet: When Particle Board Won’t Do | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Games"
] | [
"arcade",
"art",
"cabinet",
"custom",
"inlays",
"mario",
"oak",
"raspberry pi",
"video games",
"wood",
"woodworking"
] | Having an arcade cabinet of one’s own is a common dream among those who grew up during the video game arcade heyday of the 80s and early 90s. It’s a fairly common build that doesn’t take too much specialized knowledge to build. This cabinet, on the other hand,
pulled out all of the stops for the cabinet itself
, demonstrating an impressive level of woodworking expertise.
The cabinet enclosure is made with red oak boards, which the creator [Obstreperuss] sawed and planed and then glued together to create the various panels (more details are available on
his Imgur album
). The Mario artwork on the sides and front aren’t just vinyl stickers, either. He used various hardwoods cut into small squares to create pixel art inlays in the oak faces. After the fancy woodwork was completed, the build was finished out with some USB arcade controllers, a flat-panel screen, and a Raspberry Pi to run the games.
While the internals are pretty standard, we have to commend the incredible quality of the woodworking. It’s an impressive homage to classic arcade machines and we wouldn’t mind a similar one in our own homes. If you’re lacking the woodworking equipment, though, it’s possible to get a refined (yet smaller)
arcade cabinet for yourself with a 3D printer instead
. | 25 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309954",
"author": "MrGoodbits",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T16:57:53",
"content": "Beautiful work…. all the thumbs up!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6309955",
"author": "rtyhrt",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T16:59:46",
... | 1,760,373,231.226833 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/this-week-in-security-android-bluetooth-rce-windows-vms-and-https-everywhere/ | This Week In Security: Android Bluetooth RCE, Windows VMs, And HTTPS Everywhere | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"CVE-2021-0316",
"This Week in Security",
"Zyxel"
] | Android has released
it’s monthly round of security updates
, and there is one patched bug in particular that’s very serious: CVE-2021-0316. Few further details are available, but a bit of sleuthing finds
the code change that fixes this bug
.
Fix potential OOB write in libbluetooth
Check event id if of register notification command from remote to avoid OOB write.
It’s another Bluetooth issue, quite reminiscent of
BleedingTooth
on Linux. In fact, in researching this bug, I realized that Google never released their promised deep-dive into Bleedingtooth. Why? This would usually mean that not all the fixes have been rolled out, or that a significant number of installations are unpatched. Either way, the details are withheld until the ramifications of releasing them are minimal. This similar Bluetooth bug in Android *might* be why the BleedingTooth details haven’t yet been released. Regardless, there are some serious vulnerabilities patched this in this Android update, so make sure to watch for the eventual rollout for your device.
HTTPS Everywhere
Google and Firefox are continuing their push toward a web based on HTTPS. Some of the changes, particularly by Google, have been viewed with some skepticism. However,
this upcoming Chromium change
looks like a welcome one. Put simply, when a user types in a URL without specifying HTTP or HTTPS, Chrome will try to load the website over HTTPS first. This change has been spotted in the Chromium source, and isn’t deployed by default anywhere — yet. The eventual implementation will probably feature a parallel lookup of web sites over HTTP and HTTPS, in order to avoid a large slowdown for HTTP only sites. If you live on the Firefox side of the fence, you’re still covered, as
Firefox has an optional HTTPS everywhere mode as well
.
Zyxel and the Hard-coded Credentials
[Niels Teusink] from EYE was doing some research on his Zyxel router, and
came across an undocumented user account
,
zyfwp
. Just looking at the username, I would guess it enables Zxel firmware updates of some sort — And yes, the account is to enable automatic firmware updates. It wasn’t supposed to be enabled for SSH login, though. Yes, a handful of Zyxel models had an unintentional backdoor. [Niels] believes he discovered the problem just weeks after the vulnerable firmware was released, so the impact of this one is minimal. Go check
the list of products and firmware to see if your device was affected
. One last note, while this sort of vulnerability is always facepalm-worthy, Zyxel absolutely owned up to the goof, responded quickly, and has absolutely done the right thing in fixing this.
Legal and Easy Windows VMs
There’s often a need for disposable Windows installs. Whether you’re looking at a file that is probably a virus, or want to check something out on a clean install, there’s a certain safety in knowing that if something goes wrong, you can just trash the VM and start over. Yes, it’s possible to manage all this manually, but when I came across
[Rolando Anton]’s guide to automating the process
, I had to make a mental bookmark and share it with you guys.
He first gives us the details on how to manually turn a fresh Windows install into a VM image, which is a useful howto in it’s own right. What comes next is impressive. If I understand what I’m seeing, he’s using Packer to run the whole process as a one-liner. He’s careful to point out that these images are legal for testing, research, and evaluation — not for production environments, as per Microsoft’s licensing.
Using Google to Defeat Google reCAPTCHA
And in a fun turn, it was pointed out to me this week, that
you can use Google’s speech to text service to defeat Google’s reCAPTCHA service
. ReCAPTCHA is widely considered one of the best CAPTCHA services, or “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. One of the laudable things Google has done is include alternative ways to solve a CAPTCHA. A blind person, for instance, would be unable to complete a visual CAPTCHA test. One of the alternatives is to listen to a brief audio file, and transcribe what is being said. It just so happens that Google also has a really robust speech-to-text API. With a success rate of something like 91%, you can automatically pass reCAPTCHA using Google’s own service. Man bites dog. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309960",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T17:12:49",
"content": "That google thing is hilarious. Although I suspect it’s not to bad as the speed of passing audio based CAPTCHA is not toooo fast and I think google will block you from doing audio to text if you use it to mu... | 1,760,373,231.172448 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/fishbot-reels-them-in-so-you-dont-have-to/ | FISHBOT Reels Them In So You Don’t Have To | Tom Nardi | [
"Lifehacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"fishing",
"fishing reel",
"load cell",
"Outdoors"
] | Fishing is generally thought of as a relaxing and laid-back activity, but it still requires a certain amount of physical strength and dexterity. This can be a problem for older anglers or those with physical disabilities. To bring back the simple joy of fishing to those who may no longer be able to hold a rod on their own,
[Ozz] has been working on the FISHBOT
.
The FISHBOT looks like a miniature crane, complete with an electric motor and winch to pull in the line. But there’s a bit more going on here than meets the eye. Anyone who’s tried to land a large fish knows you have to be cautious of snapping the line, so [Ozz] has added a load cell to the system that can tell when its being pulled too tightly. In the future he hopes to make this feature a bit smarter by taking into account additional variables, but for now it should at least keep the more energetic of your quarry from getting away.
[Ozz] is controlling the beefy 400 watt motor with an IBT-2 H-bridge module connected to an Arduino Mega. The electronics can communicate with the user’s smartphone over a HM-10 Bluetooth module, which allows for more advanced features such as gesture controls that utilize the accelerometer in the phone. Long term, it sounds like he hopes to use the microcontroller in conjunction with the load cell to pull off more advanced tricks like weighing the fish and sending the data off to the user’s fishing buddies to show off.
In the past
we’ve seen a drone used to get a lure out where the fish are
, but catching one and reeling it back in is a very different challenge. It looks like [Ozz] still has some work to do on this project, but so far it seems things are going well. Being able to return a simple pleasure like this to those who thought their fishing days were behind them will surely prove worthy of the effort. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309927",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T15:58:38",
"content": "I hope your a vegetarian then. Ever watch how they process cows, pigs, chickens and so on?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6309934",
"author": "Bob.... | 1,760,373,230.861461 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/08/the-amiga-1000-still-receiving-new-peripherals-35-years-later/ | The Amiga 1000, Still Receiving New Peripherals 35 Years Later | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"amiga",
"Amiga 1000",
"Fast ram",
"rtc"
] | In the world of retrocomputing it’s the earliest models that garner the most interest, usually either due to their rarity, or sometimes just because of their flaws. The Commodore Amiga 1000 is a case in point, it was the machine everybody wanted but its A500 home computer sibling made the Amiga a success story. Peripherals for the 500 are plentiful then, while those for the 1000 remain a rarity.
Thus it’s a treat to see an A1000 peripheral appear in the present day
, in the form of a memory, clock, and SD card expansion called the Parciero. It packs 8Mb of SRAM to give the Amiga some truly quick fast memory, something that would have used an eye-wateringly expensive brace of chips back in the day but now has just a single package.
We like the description of the Parciero’s case as “
about the size of a harmonica that’s been run over by a steam
roller
“, but it conceals the effect of the march of technology. Amiga enthusiasts are used to their peripherals being chunky affairs full of through-hole chips. Its creator [David Dunklee] is a retired senior US Space Force officer, and we appreciate his humour in the silkscreen layer. It’s a small-scale commercial product, but in a field so select as Amiga 1000 owners it’s unusual enough to make it noteworthy to all retrocomputer enthusiasts by virtue of its mere existence. We congratulate him for helping keep that little corner of vintage technology alive.
The Amiga 1000 may be the original, but it’s possible that
it may not be the rarest Amiga
. | 42 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309816",
"author": "Jeroen",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T09:05:51",
"content": "Found one type: 8Mb stands for 8 Mbit which is 1Mbyte, but I guess the expansion is 8MB, so 8 Mbytes",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6311090",
... | 1,760,373,231.633885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/party-canoe-lights-up-the-water/ | Party Canoe Lights Up The Water | Lewin Day | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"canoe",
"fibreglass",
"ws2812b"
] | Generally, any activity out on the water is more dangerous when done at night. Hazards are less visible, and it can be easy to get into trouble. [Xyla Foxlin]’s party canoe can’t help with that,
but it does look
the business
after dark.
The canoe is made out of fiberglass, directly formed onto an existing canoe to make getting the shape right easy. It was formed in two halves, with special care taken to make the final result as clear as possible. Obviously, fiberglass is never going to be perfectly transparent, but [Xyla] does a great job of getting a nice translucent frosted look. The final effect means that it’s the perfect canoe to stuff full of addressable LEDs. A string of WS2812Bs, hooked up to an Arduino, make for an appealing lightshow when boating at night.
The diffusive nature of the fiberglass really makes the difference here. We’ve talked about the topic before –
it’s the key to making your glowy project really pop.
Video after the break. | 26 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309799",
"author": "Mr Name Required",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T07:27:17",
"content": "Great job, looks fabulous on the water!I was interested in how she was planning to join the halves. Back in the 70s I helped build 14 fibreglass kayaks for our local Venturers group (Australian m... | 1,760,373,231.560395 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/companies-have-new-take-on-old-energy-storage-tech/ | Companies Have New Take On Old Energy Storage Tech | Al Williams | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"energy storage",
"gravity",
"potential energy"
] | According to Spectrum,
several companies are poised to make a splash storing energy with gravity
. That sounds fancy and high tech at first, but is it, really? Sure, we usually think of energy storage as some sort of battery, but there are many energy storage systems that use water falling, for example, which is almost what this new technology is all about. Almost, since instead of water these new systems move around multi-ton blocks.
The idea itself is nothing new. You probably learned in high school that you have kinetic energy when a rock rolls down a hill, but a rock sitting on a mountain immobile has potential energy. These systems use the same idea. Moving the “rock” up stores energy and letting it fall releases the same energy. The big difference between the systems is what “up” means.
For Swiss company
Energy Vault
, the 35 metric ton bricks rise into the air manipulated by towers that look like alien construction cranes. To store energy, the crane
builds a tower of bricks around itself
. When the bricks return to the ground, they form a lower ring around the tower.
Another company, Scotland-based
Gravitricity
, uses weights up to 5,000 metric tons and moves them up and down very deep mine shafts, an approach shared by several other companies in this field. Some of the systems use the mechanical motion of the weight falling while others use the weight as a piston to drive water through a pretty ordinary generator.
Why not use batteries? According to the post, Energy Vault claims that blocks made of dirt, waste, and polymer are environmentally friendly compared to batteries. The blocks don’t wear out much, either, so operating costs are low since there’s not much to replace frequently as is the case of batteries.
The scale of the weights is hard to imagine. Another company,
Gravity Power
, claims they could deliver 400 megawatts for 16 hours using an 8 million metric ton piston. There’s no word on how long it takes to bring that piston back to the charged position after the 16 hours, though. A Boeing 757-200, for example, weighs about 100 tons when loaded with fuel and passengers. So imagine 80,000 giant airplanes melted down. It makes Energy Vault’s 35-ton weights seem much more reasonable.
Keep in mind, these systems don’t generate electricity. They store it, so there will be some loss. However, the principle of these is straightforward, the only complication is the scale. We wondered if anyone has used some sort of system like this on a small scale on a project that would have normally used rechargeable batteries? Sounds like a weekend project and if you do it, be sure to
let us know
. | 118 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309752",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T03:11:45",
"content": "Am i missing something here? Energy in is energy out, right? If I drop a 100 lb. weight, and that generates say 100 Wats. Wont I need 100W to pick it back up?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,373,231.982807 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/diy-laser-tag-system-comes-with-all-the-bells-and-whistles/ | DIY Laser Tag System Comes With All The Bells And Whistles | Danie Conradie | [
"Toy Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"ESP32",
"laser tag",
"mqtt"
] | While VR is becoming really immersive, it still can’t compete with a game of good old laser tag to get the blood pumping and spending quality time with friends. [Xasin] has been working on a
DIY laser tag system
for a while now, and it has grown to include an impressive array of features and customizability.
Named LZRTag, the project started back in 2018 with simple ATmega328 based prototypes on breadboards. It has since evolved to a fully-featured system with ESP32s in the 3D printed pistol communicating with a Raspberry Pi/Linux game server over MQTT. Each pistol also features an accelerometer, I2S audio amp and speaker for game sounds, and WS2812 RGP LEDs for light effects. IR Lasers are used as emitters to target wearable IR receivers with more RGB LEDs wired to the pistol.
A Ruby server on a Linux machine takes care of all the communications, game management, shot validation, and scoring. It can handle up to 255 players and is designed to be extremely customizable for game modes, weapons classes, or any other feature you would like to have. [Xasin] has also created IR beacons to add even more possibilities, such as capture the flag, safe zones, and revive zones.
We really like the flexibility of the system, and it would make an awesome group project for a hackerspace. You could also add a
shock module
to motivate players a bit more to avoid getting shot. If you want more gun, take a look at the
laser tag rifle with a HUD
we featured earlier in the year | 29 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309728",
"author": "onigea",
"timestamp": "2021-01-08T00:11:48",
"content": "Better add orange muzzle break unless you want a taste of a real 9×19.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309800",
"author": "Alexander",
... | 1,760,373,232.045807 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/remoticon-video-meta_processing-is-a-mashup-of-text-and-block-programming/ | Remoticon Video: Meta_Processing Is A Mashup Of Text And Block Programming | Mike Szczys | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"2020 Hackaday Remoticon",
"javascript",
"Meta_Javascript",
"Meta_Processing",
"processing",
"programming language"
] | Very few people want to invent the universe before they blink their first LED. Sure, with enough interest a lot of folks will drill-down to the atomic level of technology and build their way back up. But there’s something magical about that first time you got your blinky to blink, and knowing how to write makefiles plays no part in that experienc). Now apply that to projects using smartphone as wireless interfaces… how simple can we make it for people?
Meta_Processing can translate the instructions into any of 14 languages
Jose David Cuartas is working to answer that very question and
gives us a guided tour of his progress in this Meta_Processing workshop
held during the Hackaday Remoticon.
Meta-Processing
is an IDE based on — as you’ve probably guessed —
Processing
, the programming language that unlocked higher-level functionality to anyone who wanted to perform visually-interesting things without becoming software zen masters. The “Meta_” part here is that it can now be done with very limited typing and interchangeably between different spoken languages.
The approach is to take the best of text programming and block programming languages and mash them together. In that way, you don’t type new lines, you add them with a click of the mouse and select the instruction you want to use on that line from a list. It means you don’t need to have the instructions memorized, and avoids typos in your code. The docs for that instruction will be shown on the bottom bar of the IDE to help you with parameters. And the kicker is that since you’re selecting the instructions, choosing any of the IDE’s 14 available spoken languages will update your “code” with translations into the new language.
In the workshop, video of which is included below, Jose demonstrates a number if interesting examples including audio, video, and user input, using a surprisingly small amount of code. The IDE even spawns a server on the network so that the apps you’ve written can be loaded by a smartphone. It has support for communicating with Arduino-compatible devices with digital read/write, analog read, and servo control. There’s even a fork of the project called
Meta_Javascript
that rolls in the ability to work with REST-like APIs.
People learn in many different ways. Having options like this to help people get to blinky very quickly is a great way to break down barriers to understanding and using computers. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309069",
"author": "Chris J",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T22:21:00",
"content": "When ever I hear about Processing I think about how Massimo Banzi stole W̶i̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ the Arduino IDE from Hernando Barragán and it makes me sad. It would be a nice World if a student could trust his tea... | 1,760,373,232.14429 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/inputs-of-interest-decatxt-ultra-portable-chording-keyboard/ | Inputs Of Interest: DecaTxt Ultra-Portable Chording Keyboard | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth keyboard",
"jukebox",
"keno machine",
"one-handed keyboard"
] | Now here’s a stocking stuffer of a keyboard. The DecaTxt is the size of a deck of cards, and at first glance it looks like some kind of pocket Keno machine or other gambling or gaming apparatus. But that’s just because it’s so colorful. When you only have ten keys emulating a full keyboard, there’s bound to be some serious labeling going on, as there should be.
DecaTxt demonstration from
IN10DID
The DecaTxt is a Bluetooth 4.0 chording keyboard that’s meant to be used with your phone or whatever you want to pair it with. It was originally called the In10did, which stands for Input Nomenclature Ten Digit Interface Device. Catchy, no? At some point in the last ten years, this little guy went wireless and got a cooler name — the DecaTxt.
By itself, a chording keyboard isn’t that special, but this one is fairly interesting in its design. You can operate it with either one hand or two, but you’re supposed to want to use two — it was after all the In10did, not the In5did. All the chords are a maximum of three keys, so it’s not as though you
need
to use both hands. Some letters are accessed with a single key press, namely A through J. The rest of the alphabet uses one of the two thumb keys at the top in conjunction with the eight keys on the front. Everything else is a color-coded pair or trio of key presses away.
The idea behind this keyboard is to use your ten digits to maximum advantage, planting your thumbs on top and curling your fingers around the thing in a two-fisted, white-knuckle death grip that seems anything but ergonomic and more appropriate for, say, cracking open a coconut or separating a block of ramen into two servings. Actual users report a much better experience using it one-handed while bracing it against themselves as demonstrated in the video below. That definitely looks like the more comfortable way to go.
Ergonomic issues aside, once you learn the layout, the DecaTxt could theoretically be put into any housing and it wouldn’t matter. That is, in fact, sort of the company’s ultimate goal —
to supplant QWERTY with the DecaTxt system and get it built into everything under the Sun
— gloves, steering wheels, ATMs, you name it.
I think the basic idea of this keyboard is sound, and the layout could definitely be reworked into a more ergonomic housing (and probably for a lot cheaper than the
$125 Bezos Barn price tag
). According to the inventor, the price is so high because every DecaTxt is hand-assembled in the United States. As far as I can tell it only comes in one size, which is a bummer for people with particularly large or small hands.
I recently looked at another chording keyboard —
the Infogrip BAT, which is a full keyboard with only seven keys
. Both are chording keebs that do single glyphs instead of entire words,
like stenography machines
. The BAT is is designed for desktop use and roughly four times the size of the DecaTxt, so it’s not quite as portable, but its size and shape goes a long way toward ergonomic comfort. The DecaTxt is definitely more mobile friendly — easy to pop in a backpack — but the tradeoff is the loss of that ergonomic design.
Have you tried a chording keyboard like this one? Would you be willing to try one? How would you make it better?
Here’s one you can build yourself
. | 34 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6309010",
"author": "MrSVCD",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T18:07:04",
"content": "Speaking of chorded keyboards, I still fin the frogpad interesting. I could probably build one now with my 3D printer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,373,231.831733 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/new-micro-yarh-io-designed-for-skilled-operators/ | New Micro YARH.IO Designed For Skilled Operators | Tom Nardi | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"arduino pro micro",
"handheld",
"portable computer",
"raspberry pi"
] | A few months back we brought you word of the YARH.IO, an extremely impressive Raspberry Pi portable that featured rugged good looks and a unique convertible design made possible by a removable keyboard. One of the most appealing aspects of the design was that everything was built from off-the-shelf modules; it only took a couple jumper wires and some scrap perfboard to get everything wired up inside the 3D printed enclosure.
The downside of this construction style was that the finished product was a bit chunkier than was strictly necessary. But that’s
not the case with the new YARH.IO Micro
. The palm-sized portable looks almost exactly like the original, though it had to ditch the removable keyboard in the shrinking process. Gone as well is the touch pad, though with the touch screen capabilities of the Pimoroni Hyper Pixel four inch IPS display, that’s not much of a problem.
What’s the catch? Well, at a glance we can tell you this one is considerably harder to build. For one thing, you’ll need to remove the Ethernet and USB connectors from the Pi 3B+. The USB ports get relocated, but Ethernet understandably has to be left on the cutting room floor. Nothing to worry about with the GPIO pins, the display takes up all of those, but you’ll probably want to wire the I2C lines to the female header on the side of the case so you can add external hardware and sensors.
You also need to nestle an Arduino Pro Micro in there to communicate status information about the battery to the operating system over I2C. If you wanted to save a little wiring you could probably leave off the DS3231 RTC module, but it depends on how often you’ll be able to sync up with NTP.
While it may be more difficult to assemble than its predecessor
, it’s certainly not unapproachable. Once again, no custom PCBs or exotic components are required. You might be doing a lot more soldering (and desoldering) than you would have before, but it’s nothing that the average Hackaday reader isn’t capable of. For your troubles, you’ll get a exceptionally portable Linux machine that’s ripe for hacking and modification.
If the time and effort it will take to put together a YARH.IO is a bit more than you’re willing to invest right now,
there’s always commercial alternatives like the DevTerm
. But whether you go with the original or this new Micro edition, we think the satisfaction of having built the whole thing yourself will be more than worth it. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308974",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T16:46:26",
"content": "Damn, thats sexy",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6309013",
"author": "Canuckfire",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T18:11:35",
"conten... | 1,760,373,232.098405 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/review-pine64-pinecil-soldering-iron/ | Review: Pine64 Pinecil Soldering Iron | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Reviews",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"Pine64",
"pinecil",
"soldering iron"
] | There was a time when decent quality soldering irons were substantial affairs, soldering stations with a chunky base unit containing the electronics and a lightweight handheld iron for the work. That has changed with the arrival of a new breed of microprocessor controlled lightweight handheld irons. There’s a new kid on the block from a company we associate more with open-source phones, laptops, and single board computers, Pine64 have produced
the Pinecil
. It’s a lightweight handheld iron with some innovative features at an attractive price, but does it raise the bar sufficiently to take on the competition?
I put the Pinecil through its paces, and and although the device is fully open source, give it a teardown for good measure. Spoiler: it’s my new favorite.
Can The New Kid Take On The Champion?
The Pinecil and its default tip.
I placed my order as soon as the iron came on sale, and duly received a satisfying Christmas present from Hong Kong. In it were a smart package containing the iron itself for $24.99 and its default tip, and another similar package containing the fine tip set for another $24.99 that I’d also ordered. Opening it up I had the handle containing the electronics, the tips, and a USB-C, I/O, and JTAG breakout board for experimenters.
The handle follows a similar format to the Miniware TS100 and other similar irons, in that it’s a moulded black plastic tube about 112 mm long by 17 mm high by 13 mm wide, with USB-C and barrel jack sockets on one end, and a fitting for the tips on the other. At the tip end on the lower side is a moulded protrusion that allows the iron to rest with the tip in the air if you have no stand. On the top is a small OLED display and two buttons, and unlike any of its competition it has a blue silicone rubber sleeve where the users fingers will rest. The tips appear to be identical to those used by the TS100, with the same ceramic part holding the conductors that is inserted into the handle, and a small retaining screw to keep them in place. With the default tip fitted, the whole iron weighs 32.5 g, which is comfortable in the hand. This iron can run from 12 V to 24 V DC and deliver 17 W to 65 W. Unlike its competition, it can draw power from either the barrel jack or the USB-C socket. I tested this with a generic USB-C PD laptop supply and a traditional barrel jack laptop supply with no problems. As a test i also hooked up a 5 V Raspberry Pi USB-C supply, which the iron recognised as under voltage and refused to work.
How Does It Perform?
The Pinecil breakout board.
On applying power the screen comes up with two icons corresponding to the two buttons. One is a soldering iron which as you might imagine turns the iron on, while the other is a wrench which takes you to the settings menu. It’s here that we find some of the features that set this iron apart, as it’s clear that significant thought has gone into it. A nice touch is a selection option for lithium-ion cell size allowing the iron to shut off without pulling a pack under voltage, as well as a menu with a power limit selection for the iron. The winning feature for me is that each menu option has a help string explaining what it does, which scrolls past if that option is left for a moment.
A short press next to the soldering iron icon starts the tip heating, and the temperature is displayed on the screen. I timed its heat-up from ambient to 320 °C at about nine seconds, which is not as fast as some high-end irons, but certainly no slouch.
In use it’s as would be expected from an iron of this type, light weight and easy to manoeuvre. Without the heavy tip set I can’t comment on its performance in larger work, but I would expect with 65 W in hand it would cope as well as its competition. Plugging the USB-C port into a computer unexpectedly reveals no device found, but after a quick look at
the Pine64 wiki
it is revealed that it must be started up with a button pressed to open up its firmware upgrade mode. This iron doubles as a RISC-V development board with its GD32VF103TB microcontroller, so there will no doubt be plenty of open-source third-party firmwares produced for it.
The schematic and other documents
are all available along with
the device data sheets
, revealing that it has acceleration and position sensors presumably to detect when it is in use alongside its other parts.
Time For A Teardown
It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into the design of this iron.
Having examined the iron externally and put it through its paces, it’s time for a teardown to see what makes it tick. The Pine64 Wiki provides helpful
disassembly and reassembly
instructions, which though a little bit fiddly at times are straightforward enough. The electronics sit on a long thin PCB with mostly passives and analogue parts on one side, and the processor hiding under the display on the other side. It’s a beautifully thought out device that is the equal of the best of its competition in this aspect.
It’s obvious that the irons to beat in this category are the Miniware TS100 and TS80 for DC and USB-C power respectively. We’ve also seen that even
the cheapest iron we’ve found of this type
gives a good account of itself as a soldering iron, so how does this new one differentiate itself when “being a soldering iron” with the same tips as its competitor is something of a done deal?
The Pinecil’s case is marginally bigger than the TS100 and weighs slightly more, but is substantially built and not flimsy as the cheap SanErYiGo iron was. Its nine-second heat-up time is comfortably faster than its competitor. The silicone finger sleeve is a very nice touch indeed, and gives the iron a good feel in use. It’s clear that some thought has gone into making the case more than just a handle, with those moulded stand protrusions making it safe to put down on the bench when hot.
We’re used to the TS100 style tips, and they are certainly easy enough to change. At the other end, having both USB-C and barrel jack power makes this iron more useful than the Miniware irons, if this flexibility matters. I suspect I’ll be acquiring a new USB-PD power supply and a set of adapter cables for various DC sources to go everywhere with my Pinecil. On the software side, it provides plenty of options to keep even the most demanding user happy. I particularly like the battery protection for Li-Ion cells, and also those help strings. Finally, as a fully open-source design it provides everything the more curious user needs to modify it for their own purposes.
In summation then, I can’t honestly find anything I don’t like about this iron. It beats the competition on price and on features while more than equaling them in usability, and it’s fully hackable. The Miniware irons are good tools and remain a very sensible purchase, but by now they are starting to reflect their age. This iron represents the state of the art for a handheld iron in late 2020; it takes the same premise and simply does it better. I will use my Pinecil a lot, and if you are looking for a soldering iron I can only advise you to give it a look. I’m obviously not alone in this because it is sold out at the time of writing, but if that demand holds up I’m sure another run will be under way. Keep an eye out, and buy one when you can. | 98 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308946",
"author": "jogger",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T15:20:59",
"content": "Jenny its already running iron os why would you make a 3rd party firmwarehttps://github.com/Ralim/IronOSunless you meant for the electric toothbrush tip",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,373,232.722226 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/raspberry-pi-4-brings-cloud-gaming-to-nintendo-switch/ | Raspberry Pi 4 Brings Cloud Gaming To Nintendo Switch | Tom Nardi | [
"internet hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"cloud",
"game streaming",
"HDMI capture device",
"Nintendo Switch",
"Trinket",
"usb hid"
] | Companies like Google and Microsoft have been investing heavily in the concept of cloud gaming, where a player uses their computer or a mobile device to stream the video feed of a game that’s running on powerful machine tucked away in a data center somewhere. With this technology you can play the latest and greatest titles, even if the device you’re using doesn’t have the processing power to run it locally.
Considering the Switch is already a portable system, it’s not too surprising Nintendo doesn’t seem interested in the technology. But that didn’t stop
[Stan Dmitriev] from doing a bit of experimentation on his own
. With little more than a Raspberry Pi 4 and Trinket M0, he’s demonstrated that users can remotely interact with the Switch well enough to play games in real time.
The setup is fairly straightforward. A
cheap HDMI capture device
is used to grab the video from the Nintendo Switch dock, which is then streamed out to web with the help of the Pi’s hardware video encoder. Input from the user is sent over the Pi’s UART to the Trinket, which itself is
running a firmware specifically developed
for mimicking Nintendo Switch controllers. With so many elements involved, naturally some latency comes into play. The roughly 100 millisecond delay [Stan] is reporting isn’t exactly ideal for fast-paced gaming, but is
certainly adequate for more relaxed titles
.
On the software side of things, the project is using a
SDK developed by [Stan]’s employer SurrogateTV.
Right now you need to apply if you want to get your game or other interactive gadget up on the service, though he says it will be opened up to the public next year. But even without all the details, we’ve got a clear idea of how both the video capture and user input sides of the equation are being handled. For personal use, all you’d really need to do is put together a simple web interface to tie it all together.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a
microcontroller used to interface with the Switch
. Other consoles are a bit more selective about what kind of hardware they will talk to, but the
Microsoft Adaptive Controller could potentially allow you to do something similar
on the Xbox. | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308908",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T12:48:52",
"content": "” play games in real time.” … ” roughly 100 millisecond delay” …..You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{... | 1,760,373,232.316389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/05/ben-eaters-breadboarding-tips/ | [Ben Eater]’s Breadboarding Tips | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"breadboard",
"jumper",
"solderless",
"strippers",
"tips",
"tools"
] | A solderless breadboard is a place where ideas go to become real for the first time. Usually, this is a somewhat messy affair, with random jumpers flying all about the place, connecting components that can be quickly swapped to zero in on the right values, or to quickly change the circuit topology. Breadboards aren’t the place to make circuit artwork.
That is, however, not always the case, and we’ve seen more than a few examples from [Ben Eater] on breadboarding that approaches the circuit sculpture level of craftsmanship. And like any good craftsman, [Ben] has
shared some of his breadboarding tips and tricks
in a new video. Starting with a simple 555 blinkenlight project that’s wired up in the traditional anything-goes fashion, [Ben] walks us through his process for making a more presentation-worthy version.
His tools are high-quality but simple, with the wire strippers being the most crucial to good results. Surprisingly, [Ben] relies most heavily on the simple “scissors-style” strippers for their versatility, rather than the complicated semi-automatic tools. We found that to be the biggest take-home from the video, as well as the results of practice. [Ben] has done tons of this type of breadboarding before, which means when he “eyeballs” stripping 0.3 inches of insulation, he can do it down to a ten-thousandth precision.
Granted, there’s not much new here, but watching this video is a little like watching [Bob Ross] paint — relaxing and strangely compelling at the same time. You can get more of the same with pretty much any of his videos that we’ve covered, like
this 6502 breadboard computer build
. We’ve also seen [Eater]-inspired builds that are pretty impressive, like
this full-8-bit breadboard computer
. | 32 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308870",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T09:20:09",
"content": "While [Ben]’s prototyping skills are noteworthy, his teaching skills are legendary. If you want to know EXACTLY how a simple microprocessor works, to the point where you could design one yourself, ... | 1,760,373,232.214675 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/raspberry-pi-tally-lights/ | Raspberry Pi Tally Lights | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"camera",
"HTTP",
"network",
"port",
"raspberry pi",
"studio",
"tally light"
] | Running a camera studio is a complicated affair from pretty much every angle. Not only is the camera gear expensive but the rest of the studio setup takes care and attention down to the lighting as well. When adding multiple cameras to the mix, like for a television studio, the level of complexity increases exponentially. It’s great to have a few things that simplify the experience of running all of this equipment too, without the solution itself causing more problems than it solves, like
these network-operated Raspberry Pi-powered tally lights
.
A tally light is the light on a camera that lets the person being recorded know which camera is currently in use. Networking them all together often requires complex wiring or at least some sort of networking solution, which is what this particular build uses. However, the lights are controlled directly over HTTP rather than using a separate application which might need a port open on a firewall or router, which not only simplifies their use but doesn’t decrease network security.
The HTTP interface, plus all of the software and schematics for this build, are available on the
project’s GitHub page
. We imagine the number of people operating a studio and who are in need of a tally light system to be fairly low, but the project is interesting from a networking point-of-view regardless of application. If you do have a studio like this and are looking for other ways to improve it, we
do have a simple teleprompter hack
that might be right up your alley. | 25 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308837",
"author": "Jan Steinman",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T07:20:01",
"content": "How do you have any time for photography? :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6308889",
"author": "tomás zerolo",
"timestamp": "2021-01-... | 1,760,373,232.272393 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/adidas-going-natural-with-mycelium-leather/ | Adidas Going Natural With Mycelium Leather | Kristina Panos | [
"green hacks",
"News",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"coffin",
"leather alternative",
"mushrooms",
"mycelium",
"shoes"
] | Whether you are vegan or just want to try something new in the shoe department, Adidas will soon have your feet covered.
They are currently working on a leather alternative made of mycelium
, which is the network of fungal filament material that produces mushrooms, toadstools, truffles, and more. Hopefully they’re not using live mycelium, otherwise your shoes will grow mushrooms when they get wet like
this mycelium canoe we saw a few weeks ago
.
Adidas have really rooted themselves in sustainability over the past few years. They claim to have made 15 million pairs of shoes in 2020 out of recycled plastic waste collected from beaches and coastlines, and they’re shooting for 17 million pairs in 2021. The company started offering these in 2017, and they feature thread in the laces and other places that was spun from ocean plastic waste. Adidas are also using a lot of recycled polyester and are developing a new type of recycled cotton, according to Business Insider.
No use for mushroom shoes, canoes, or
coffins
(
translated
)? Everyone could probably use more insulation in their home.
Why not grow your own?
Thanks to [Charles] for the mycelium coffin tip. | 65 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308785",
"author": "gregg4",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T03:06:50",
"content": "If they are still using recycled plastic waste, why don’t they snag the billions of tons of plastic bags we stopped using for buying our groceries in.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,373,232.411796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/building-a-website-controlled-christmas-tree/ | Building A Website-Controlled Christmas Tree | Lewin Day | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"christmas tree",
"led",
"LED christmas tree"
] | Back in the day, Christmas lights were simple strings of filament bulbs, and if you really splashed out, you could get some that flashed. These days, we expect a lot more capability out of our blinking decorations.
[JT] has put together a rather nifty website-controlled setup for his own tree.
The setup is a little different than builds you may be used to. The website runs on a cloud-hosted virtual machine on Digital Ocean, rather than running locally. This allows anyone on the web to visit the site, and use the interface to control the lights on the Christmas tree. An image of the tree is used as the interface, and allows users to set the color of each individual LED on the tree. The LEDs themselves are driven from an NodeMCU ESP8266, which uses its WiFi connection to query the website itself and grab the color data as needed. [JT] has also included a secondary interface, where the chat of the Youtube livestream can be used to control the LEDs, too.
It’s a build that’s a touch more complicated than most typical online LED blinkers, but one that teaches useful skills in interfacing on the web and using virtual machines. We’ve seen other builds in this genre too;
even some that are reactive to “Christmas fever” itself
. Video after the break. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308781",
"author": "TomInOhio",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T02:10:04",
"content": "I have web controlled Christmas lights, too. 3,000+ pixels, digital floodlights, a projector, all driven by a Raspberry Pi. Video is streamed to Twitch so the website visitors users can see (and hear)... | 1,760,373,232.448892 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/low-cost-head-mounted-display-from-fpv-gear/ | Low-Cost Head Mounted Display From FPV Gear | Tom Nardi | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"cyberdeck",
"cyberpunk",
"FPV",
"fpv goggles",
"head mounted display",
"hmd"
] | A common complaint we’ve seen on many of the recent cyberdeck builds is that they don’t offer any display technology more advanced than a tablet-sized IPS panel. The argument goes that to be a true deck in the Gibsonian sense, it’s got to have some kind of virtual reality interface or at least a head mounted display. Unfortunately such technology is expensive, and often not particularly hacker friendly.
But assuming you can settle for a somewhat low-tech alternative, the
simple head mounted display that [Jordan Brandes] has been fiddling with
is certainly a viable option. By mounting a five inch 800×480 TFT LCD to the front of a pair of goggles designed for first person view (FPV) flying, you can throw together a workable rig for around $30 USD. Add in some headphones, and you’ve got a fairly immersive experience for not a lot.
Naturally the display will show whatever HDMI signal you give it, but in his case, [Jordan] has mounted a Raspberry Pi to the back of it to make it a complete wearable computer. With a Bluetooth travel keyboard in the mix, he’s even able to get some legitimate work done with this setup. If he ends up combining this with the
ultrasonic keyboard he was working on earlier in the year
, he’ll be getting pretty close to jacking into cyberspace for real.
Hackers have been chasing cheap head mounted displays for years now. Back in 2007 the best you could do for this kind of money
was a 300×240 black and white monocle
. Getting our hands on
the good stuff is still harder than we’d like
, but at least we’re moving in the right direction. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308737",
"author": "Jii",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T22:59:35",
"content": "14 years and this is where we are at.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6308759",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2021-01-05T00:12:2... | 1,760,373,232.782906 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/simple-ac-current-detector-built-on-a-9-volt/ | Simple AC Current Detector Built On A 9 Volt | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"AC power",
"BC547",
"current detector",
"transistor"
] | When working around mains voltages, it can be useful to know whether a given circuit is live or not. While this can be done by direct connection with a multimeter, non-contact methods are available too.
A great example is this simple wireless AC current detector from [NEW PEW].
The circuit is a simple one, and a classic. The spring from a ballpoint pen is soldered to the base of a BC547 transistor, and when held close enough to a conductor carrying AC power, a current is induced in the spring which is sufficient to turn the transistor on. The transistor then switches on a second BC547, which lights an LED. The whole circuit is built on top of a battery clip so it can be run straight from the top of a standard 9 volt battery.
It’s a circuit you’ll find all over the place, even built into many modern multimeters. It can be particularly useful to help avoid drilling through mains wires embedded in the walls of your home. Of course, if you’d like even more information about what’s lurking within your walls,
consider this capacitive imaging hack
. Video after the break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6orzENj15hI | 59 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308672",
"author": "Canoe",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T19:50:57",
"content": "Does this detect if a conductor within the cable is hot, or only when there’s current flowing to a running load supplied by the cable?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,232.977016 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/how-to-get-into-cars-drifting-mods/ | How To Get Into Cars: Drifting Mods | Lewin Day | [
"car hacks",
"Engineering",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Original Art"
] | [
"automotive",
"car",
"cars",
"drift",
"drifting"
] | Drifting is a hugely popular motorsport unlike any other, focusing on style and getting sideways rather than the pursuit of the fastest time between two points. It’s a challenge that places great demands on car and driver, and proper attention to setup to truly succeed. Here’s a guide to get your first drift build coming together.
Getting Sideways (And Back Again)
Drift cars are specialised beasts, and like any motorsport discipline, the demands of the sport shape the vehicle to suit. If you’re looking to drift,
you’ll want to choose a project car
with a front-engined, rear-wheel drive layout. While it’s somewhat possible to drift with other layouts, the act of kicking out the tail and holding a slide at speed is best achieved with the handling characteristics of such a vehicle. It all comes down to weight transfer and breaking traction at will. Of course, over the years, certain cars have become expensive on the second-hand market due to their drift prowess, so you may have to get creative if your first choice isn’t available at your budget. It pays to talk to the drifters down at your local track to get an idea of which cars in your area are the best bet for a drift build. Once you’ve got yourself a car, you can get down to installing mods!
Seats, Belts, And Steering Wheels
A good set of seats and harnesses is key to keeping you in position during extreme drift manoeuvres.
If you’ve ever been in a passenger car and tried cornering hard, you’ll be familiar with inertia trying to throw you out of the seat. Drifting is all about throwing the car sideways around corners, so you’ll be experiencing this multiple times every lap. Your average car seat is designed for comfort more than holding passengers in during extreme lateral manoeuvres, and so is a poor choice for drifting. You’ll find yourself sliding out of the seat or desperately trying to hang on to the steering wheel instead of focusing on getting the right lines through a bend.
Instead, you’ll want to install seats properly designed for racing use. Some factory seats from uprated sports models can have better bolstering that helps hold you in, but you can’t beat a proper racing bucket when it comes to drifting. You’ll want to pair it with a four- or five-point harness that feeds through the belt loops in the seat, which will help lock you in place and allow you to remain in control of the car during extreme manoeuvres. You may need to install a harness bar as well to provide proper hard mounting points, too.
A deep-dish steering wheel helps stop your hands getting tangled as the wheel turns rapidly through a transition.
Additionally, you may find your stock steering wheel isn’t well suited to drift use. Factory wheels, particularly modern types covered in switches and buttons and with fat spokes, can be difficult to use when the wheel is rapidly sawing left and right through fast transitions. Drift wheels are available which have a deep dish, allowing you to keep your hands wrapped around the rim while it spins, allowing better control in these situations. Fitting such a wheel may require a steering boss kit and airbag removal, however; tread carefully and enlist professional help if you’re not comfortable doing this yourself. Airbags can detonate suddenly if handled incorrectly and should be treated like the dangerous explosive devices they are.
Suspension
Here we see a drift car setup with aftermarket adjustable control arms and coilovers. Stock parts are rarely suited to drift use beyond the very lowest levels.
You’ll want to consider upgrading your suspension if you’re serious about carving up the drift circuit. Building a car that makes initiating and controlling drifts easy requires careful attention to suspension setup, particularly parameters like camber, ride height, and rebound settings. A set of adjustable coilovers is a great start, as well as finding an alignment shop that will set the car up to your needs. Your average Jiffy Lube isn’t the place to go; you’ll need to find the shop that doesn’t grimace when you hand over your sheet of desired settings.
Huge steering angle is popular on serious drift builds, assisting with holding major angles as well as recovering from potential spins.
Getting the right setup is too complicated to go into here,
but great guides exist.
You may find you need to invest in more upgrades in order to get the setup you want. Your car may benefit from adjustable control arms to get more camber, or aftermarket steering knuckles that allow for more steering angle. The latter is particularly important for more serious drifting; being able to wind on more steering angle allows the car to hold more drift angle without spinning out, and makes recovery from a bad situation more likely. A few bucks spent on knuckles may keep your car out of the wall and save you a bundle in front-end repairs. Other useful mods include sway bars that can help reduce body roll, and braces to stiffen different areas of the chassis for more predictable handling. Throwing a stiffer set of bushings in all your suspension arms can help tighten things up, too.
Differential
Welding a stock open differential is perhaps the cheapest way to go, though the tradeoff is poor on-road manners and handling. It’s not recommended if you’re dailying your drift car.
Drifting involves breaking traction at the rear wheels in a controlled fashion, and one of the primary ways this is done is by simply dumping enough power to break the tyres loose. Unfortunately, an open differential isn’t able to do this effectively to both wheels; when one wheel breaks loose, the differential will then only supply that wheel, and the other, with an equal and tiny amount of torque. Most cars come stock with an open differential, so this is one of the first upgrades for many drift builds.
Instead, you’ll need something that can put power down to both wheels. The cheapest option is to simply weld up the open differential so that both wheels are locked to rotate together. Alternatively, a spool can be installed in the rear end to do the same thing. These options come with the drawback of preventing the rear wheels spinning at different rates when going round corners, leading to tyre chirp when parking or in low-speed situations. It’s not a great option for a car that’s driven on the street, but is fine for a grassroots drifting build.
Alternatively, a limited-slip differential can be installed that allows slip under some conditions, but not others. These are better for handling in mixed conditions, particularly for cars that aren’t solely for drift use. However, the ability to lock and unlock the wheels together also gives them some benefits over welded diffs in terms of control of a car mid-drift. The best type for serious drift use is a 2-way clutch-pack type, which locks the wheels under acceleration and deceleration. A 1.5-way only locks half as strongly on deceleration, and can be more bearable for street use. Other LSD types, like torque-sensing (Torsen) models aren’t as suitable for drifting, and most Viscous LSDs have long ago failed and are now worthless open units.
Handbrake
A hydro handbrake uses a dedicated master cylinder to lock up the rear wheels on demand.
A handbrake is a great way to initiate a drift, and all serious drift cars have them. Stock handbrakes often work by a small drum inside the rear hub, or by lightly actuating the stock disc brake pads. Some stock handbrakes are fine for getting started in drifting, others are too weak or inconsistent to be much help. They’re often cable-actuated, and stretch and wear over time can further degrade performance.
The gold standard for drifting is the hydro handbrake, which replaces the stock handbrake lever entirely. In its place is a large lever, often designed to sit up high next to the steering wheel, which actuates its own hydraulic master cylinder. This can be designed to either directly actuate the existing rear brake calipers, or instead connected to a second set of rear calipers solely for handbrake use. These setups allow the rear wheels to be easily locked up on demand for repeatable, accurate drift initiation lap after lap.
Tyres
You’ll wear out plenty of rear tyres on the drift track. Make sure you keep a grippy set on the front, though, else you’ll struggle no end.
Tyres are the interface between your car and the tarmac, and thus have perhaps the biggest impact on performance of any part of the car. Many people believe that drift cars must use very slippery tyres, due to their goal of breaking traction. However, at the top level, drift cars actually use incredibly soft tyres for maximum grip. This allows the cars to maintain control at incredibly high speeds and have more finesse when traction is broken. Sticky tyres are key to the speed and ferocity of modern drifting, with the drawback that they require huge amounts of power to break traction in the first place. This has been the major driver of increasingly wild engine setups in the drift scene, with nitrous and turbos pushing engines over the 1000 bhp mark.
However, if you’re starting up, this is exactly what you
don’t
want to do. Instead, try and get a few cheap, worn sets of street tyres in the size that fits your car. It takes time to learn drifting, and you’ll wear out a lot of tyres along the way. You’ll also want to be able to initiate a drift without needing huge power and speed to do so. Worn tyres are often available cheaply from tyre shops second hand who otherwise have to pay to haul them away. Their lower grip levels will also make learning the basics of drifting easier at lower speeds. Once you get more confident, you can begin to explore higher grip levels as your build improves along the way. That said, this only goes for rear tyres – keep the grippiest possible rubber on the front at all times! Without grip on the front end, you’ll have absolutely no luck keeping your car under control.
Conclusion
Drifting is a difficult skill to learn, and one that typically requires access to a skidpad or track to do so safely. Unlike other motorsports, it’s also far more particular about the type of car and setup required to do well. Any old car will go around a track, but your dad’s front-wheel drive minivan simply won’t drop huge clouds of smoke from the rears through a long sweeper. However, commit yourself to learning the skills, and build your car, and you’ll be well rewarded. Use your eyes and ears to observe what others get right and wrong, and you’ll do well! | 31 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308643",
"author": "GameboyRMH",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T18:39:34",
"content": "*Eurobeat intensifies*Nice image on this article, and a good introduction to drift mods as well! Another good option for rear tires are those really sketchy no-name Chinese tires. They’re just as good ... | 1,760,373,232.881803 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/xolography-a-method-to-improve-the-accuracy-of-volumetric-3d-printing/ | Xolography: A Method To Improve The Accuracy Of Volumetric 3D Printing | Maya Posch | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"3d printing",
"sla",
"vam",
"volumetric 3d printing",
"xolography"
] | Over the past years, additive manufacturing (AM) has become a common tool for hackers and makers, with first FDM and now SLA 3D printers becoming affordable for the masses. While these machines are incredibly useful, they utilize a slow layer-by-layer approach to produce objects. A relatively new technology called Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (VAM) promises to change all that by printing the entire object in one go,
and according to a recent article in Nature
, it just got a big resolution boost.
The concept is similar to SLA printing, but instead of curing the resin by projecting a 2D image of the current layer into the container,
VAM uses multiple lasers to create intersecting points
within the liquid. After exposing the resin to this projection for several seconds, the 3D model is built all at once. Not only is this far faster, but it removes the need for support materials and even a traditional build plate is unnecessary.
Visualization of the dual-color printing process as used by Regehly et al. (Credit: Nature)
Up till now the resolution and maximum object size of VAM has left a lot to be desired, but in this new research by Regehly et al. claim to have accomplished a feature resolution of ‘up to 25 micrometers’ and a solidification rate of ‘up to 55 cm
3
/s’. They used two crossing laser beams of different wavelengths, one to form the ‘light sheet’ (blue in the graphic) and a second beam (in red) to project the slide onto this light sheet. They refer to this technique as ‘xolography’, as a mesh-up of ‘holo’ (Greek for ‘whole’) and the ‘X’ shape formed by the crossing laser beams.
Key to making this work is the chemistry of the resin: the first wavelength excites the molecules called DCPI (Dual-Color Photo Initiators) that are dissolved in the resin. The second wavelength when hitting the same molecules initiates the resin polymerization process. The object pictured at the top of the page was a test print; producing such a design on a traditional 3D printer would have required a considerable amount of difficult to remove support material.
While this is obviously not a technology hobbyists will be using to replace their FDM and SLA printers with any time soon, there are still
many companies and institutes
working on various VAM technologies and approaches. As more and more of the
complexities and challenges
are dealt with, who knows when VAM may become a viable replacement for at least some SLA applications?
Thanks to [Qes] for the tip. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308648",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T18:49:28",
"content": "This would be a whole lot more interesting if they made a resin that only reacted to a frequency that isn’t part of sunlight. The UV sensitivity really reduces the number of possible applications, regardl... | 1,760,373,233.111313 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/all-the-good-vr-ideas-were-dreamt-up-in-the-60s/ | All The Good VR Ideas Were Dreamt Up In The 60s | Donald Papp | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Interest",
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"1960s",
"60s",
"facebook",
"history",
"link trainer",
"research",
"sensorama",
"sutherland",
"sword of damocles",
"the ultimate display",
"virtual reality",
"vr"
] | Virtual reality has seen enormous progress in the past few years. Given its recent surges in development, it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that the ideas underpinning what we now call VR were laid way back in the 60s. Not all of the imagined possibilities have come to pass, but we’ve learned plenty about what is (and isn’t) important for a compelling VR experience, and gained insights as to what might happen next.
If virtual reality’s best ideas came from the 60s, what were they, and how did they turn out?
Interaction and Simulation
First, I want to briefly cover two important precursors to what we think of as VR: interaction and simulation. Prior to the 1960s, state of the art examples for both were the
Link Trainer
and
Sensorama
.
The
Link Trainer
was an early kind of flight simulator, and its goal was to deliver realistic instrumentation and force feedback on aircraft flight controls. This allowed a student to safely gain an understanding of different flying conditions, despite not actually experiencing them. The Link Trainer did not simulate any other part of the flying experience, but its success showed how feedback and interactivity — even if artificial and limited in nature — could allow a person to gain a “feel” for forces that were not actually present.
Sensorama
was a specialized pod that played short films in stereoscopic 3D while synchronized to fans, odor emitters, a motorized chair, and stereo sound. It was a serious effort at engaging a user’s senses in a way intended to simulate an environment. But being a pre-recorded experience, it was passive in nature, with no interactive elements.
Combining interaction with simulation effectively had to wait until the 60s, when the digital revolution and computers provided the right tools.
The Ultimate Display
In 1965 Ivan Sutherland, a computer scientist, authored an essay entitled
The Ultimate Display
(PDF) in which he laid out ideas far beyond what was possible with the technology of the time. One might expect
The Ultimate Display
to be a long document. It is not. It is barely two pages, and most of the first page is musings on burgeoning interactive computer input methods of the 60s.
The second part is where it gets interesting, as Sutherland shares the future he sees for computer-controlled output devices and describes an ideal “kinesthetic display” that served as many senses as possible. Sutherland saw the potential for computers to simulate ideas and output not just visual information, but to produce meaningful sound and touch output as well, all while accepting and incorporating a user’s input in a self-modifying feedback loop. This was forward-thinking stuff; recall that when this document was written, computers weren’t even generating meaningful
sounds
of any real complexity, let alone visual displays capable of arbitrary content.
A Way To Experience The Unreal
Closeup of Sutherland’s
Sword of Damocles
, a ceiling-suspended system into which a user’s head was strapped. [image source:
History of VR
]
Sutherland’s main idea was this: as humans, we have an intuitive familiarity with what we can see and feel. The effects of gravity, how it feels to start or stop something from moving, or imagining how an object will look from a different angle, these are all things we comprehend effortlessly.
What if we could similarly experience concepts that could not be realized in our physical world? It would be a way to gain intuitive and intimate familiarity with concepts not otherwise available to us.
As a first step in actualizing these ideas, Sutherland and some of his students created a large ceiling-suspended system dubbed
Sword of Damocles
. It was the first head-mounted display whose visuals did not come from a camera, but were generated by a computer. It displayed only line-based vector graphics, but it was able to modify what it showed in real-time based on head position and user input.
Leveraging a computer’s ability to process feedback and dynamically generate visuals was key to an interactive system capable of generating its own simulated environment. For the first time, a way to meaningfully fuse interaction with abstract simulation was within reach, and there was nowhere to go but up.
Ideas From the 60s That Happened
Many concepts that Sutherland predicted have come to pass, at least partially, and are recognizable in some modern form.
Objects Displayed by a Computer Need Not Follow Ordinary Rules of Reality
Being able to define things free from the confines of physical reality, and adjust their properties at will, encompasses functions like CAD modeling and other simulation work as well as it does entertainment like gaming. In fact, it would even be fair to say that gaming in particular thrives in this space.
Sutherland envisioned a computer-controlled display as a looking glass into a mathematical wonderland. A great example of this concept is
this 3D engine for non-Euclidean geometry
which presents impossible geometries in a familiar, interactive way.
Tactile and Haptic Feedback
Today’s VR controllers (and mobile devices like phones, for that matter) rely heavily on being able to deliver a range of subtle vibrations as meaningful feedback. While not measuring up to Sutherland’s ideal of accurately simulating things like complex physics, it nevertheless gives users an intuitive understanding of unseen forces and boundaries, albeit simple ones, like buttons that do not exist as physical objects.
Head Tracking
Making a display change depending on where one is looking is a major feature of VR. While Sutherland only mentioned this concept briefly, accurate and low-latency tracking has turned out to be a feature of critical importance.
When Valve was first investigating VR and AR
, an early indicator that they were onto something was when researchers experienced what was possible when low-persistence displays were combined with high-quality tracking; it was described as looking through a window into another world.
Hand and Body Tracking, Including Gaze Tracking
Sutherland envisioned the ability of a computer to read a user’s body as an input method, particularly high-dexterity parts of the body like the hand and eyes. Hand tracking is an increasingly common feature in consumer VR systems today. Eye tracking exists, but more on that in a moment.
Some Ideas Haven’t Happened Yet
There are a number of concepts that haven’t happened, or exist only in a very limited way, but that list is shrinking. Here are the most notable standouts.
Robust Eye Tracking Is Hard
Sutherland wrote “it remains to be seen if we can use a language of glances to control a computer,” and so far that remains the case.
It turns out that eye tracking is fairly easy to get
mostly
right: one simply points a camera at an IR-illuminated eyeball, looks for the black circle of the pupil, and measures its position to determine where its owner is looking. No problems there, and
enterprising hackers have made plenty of clever eye tracking projects
.
Eye tracking gets trickier when high levels of reliable accuracy are needed, such as using it to change how visuals are rendered based on
exactly
where a user is looking. There are a number of reasons for this: not only does the human eye make frequent, involuntarily movements called
saccades
, but roughly 1% of humans have pupils that do not present as nice round black shapes, making it difficult for software to pick out. On top of that, there is a deeper problem. Because a pupil is nothing more than an opening in the flexible tissue of the iris, it is not always a consistent shape. The pupil in fact wobbles and wiggles whenever the eye moves — which is frequently — and this makes highly accurate positioning difficult to interpret.
Here is a link (cued to 37:55 in) to a video presentation explaining these issues
, showing why it is desirable to avoid eye tracking in certain applications.
Simulation-Accurate Force Feedback Isn’t Ready
Force feedback devices have existed for years, and there is
renewed interest in force feedback
thanks to VR development. But we are far from using it in the way Sutherland envisioned: to simulate and gain intuitive familiarity with complex concepts and phenomena, learning them as well as we know our own natural world.
Simulating something like a handshake or a hug ought to be simple by that metric, but force feedback that can meaningfully simulate simple physics remains the realm of
expensive niche applications that can’t exist without specialized hardware
.
Holodeck-level Simulation
Probably the most frequently-quoted part of
The Ultimate Display
is the final few sentences, in which Sutherland describes something that sounds remarkably like the holodeck from
Star Trek
:
The ultimate display would, of course, be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.
Clearly we’re nowhere near that point, but if we ever are, it might be the last thing we ever need to invent.
Important Features vs. Cool Ones
The best ideas may have come from the 60s, but we’ve learned a lot since then about what is and isn’t actually important to creating immersive experiences. Important features are the ones a technology really needs to deliver on, because they are crucial to immersion. Immersion is a kind of critical mass, a sensory “aha!” moment in which one ceases to notice the individual worky bits involved, and begins to interact seamlessly and intuitively with the content in a state of
flow
. Important features help that happen.
For example, it may seem that a wide field of view in an HMD is important for immersion, but that turns out to not quite be the case.
We covered a fascinating presentation
about how human vision uses all sorts of cues to decide how “real” something is, and what that means for HMD development. It turns out that a very wide field of view in a display is
desirable
, but it is not especially
important
for increasing immersion. Audio has similar issues, with
all kinds of things being discovered as important to delivering convincing audio simulation
. For example, piping sound directly into the ear canals via ear buds turns out to be a powerful way for one’s brain to classify sounds as “not real” no matter how accurately they have been simulated. Great for listening to music, less so for a convincing simulation.
Another feature of critical importance is a display with robust tracking and low latency. I experienced this for myself the first time I tried flawless motion tracking on a modern VR headset. No matter how I moved or looked around, there was no perceptible lag or drift. I could almost feel my brain effortlessly slide into a groove, as though it had decided the space I was in and the things I was looking at existed entirely separate from the thing I was wearing on my head. That was something I definitely did
not
feel when I wore a
Forte VFX1
VR headset in the mid-90s. At the time, it wasn’t the low resolution or the small field of view that bothered me, it was the drifty and vague head tracking that I remember the most. There was potential, but it’s no wonder VR didn’t bloom in the 90s.
What’s Next?
One thing that fits Sutherland’s general predictions about body tracking, but which he probably did not see coming, is
face and expression tracking
. It is experimental work from Facebook, but is gaining importance mainly for the purpose of interacting with other people digitally, rather than as a means of computer input.
Speaking of Facebook,
a social network spearheading VR development
(while tightening their grip on it) definitely was not predicted in the 60s, yet it seems to be next for VR nevertheless. But I never said the
future
of VR came from the 60s, just that the
good
ideas did. | 39 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308581",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T15:36:51",
"content": "“What if we could similarly experience concepts that could not be realized in our physical world? It would be a way to gain intuitive and intimate familiarity with concepts not otherwise available to us.... | 1,760,373,233.275244 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/tighten-this-bolt-in-any-direction-you-want/ | Tighten This Bolt In Any Direction You Want | Danie Conradie | [
"Parts"
] | [
"bolt",
"fidget",
"machining",
"threaded"
] | Metal lathes are capable machines that played a large role in the industrial revolution, and an incredible tool to have at your disposal. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be used to have a little fun, as demonstrated by
[Oleg Pevtsov] who made a bidirectional bolt as a machining exercise
just because he could.
Both videos after the break are in Russian, but the video and auto generated subtitles are enough to get the main points across. The bolt is an M42 size with a 40 mm pitch, with grooves cut in both directions to allow left-handed and right-handed nuts to be threaded. The large pitch means that instead of a single continuous groove like a normal bolt, ten separate grooves need to be cut for each threading direction to cover the bolt surface. Since this was all machined on a manual lathe, a dial indicator was required to maintain accurate spacing. It took [Oleg] four painstaking attempts to get it right, but the end result looks very good. Instead of a fixed cutter, he used a trimming router mounted on a custom clamp.
[Oleg] also machined three different brass nuts to go on the bolt with a fixed cutter. First left-hand and right hand threaded nuts were made, followed by a bidirectional nut. Due to the large pitch and careful machining, all three nuts will spin down the bolt under the force of gravity alone. Although the bidirectional nut doesn’t move as smoothly as the other two, it can change rotation and translation direction at random.
While this is a one-of-a-kind fidget toy, have any of our readers seen a bidirectional bolt or lead screw in the wild? We can imagine that the ability to move two nuts in opposite directions on a single lead screw might have some practical applications.
It’s possible to make incredible parts on a manual lathe. A
handbuilt V10 engine
and a
pneumatic hexacopter model
are just two examples of what’s possible with enough skill, knowledge, and patience. Sadly it is a fading form of craftsmanship, rendered mostly obsolete outside of hobby projects by CNC machines. | 49 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308536",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T12:36:00",
"content": "I must applaud the lathe work, amazing control.Many Russians seem to have this sort of mad genius spirit. I remember contemplating a bolt threaded in both directions as a child, I didn’t have the equipment... | 1,760,373,233.060875 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/04/never-forget-to-turn-on-the-cooker-hood-again/ | Never Forget To Turn On The Cooker Hood Again | Jenny List | [
"home hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"arduino",
"cooker hood",
"current transformer",
"kitchen"
] | The cooker hood is a wonderful invention for removing excess fumes and steam from the kitchen. But like all electrically-powered devices, it only works when it is turned on. This was the problem facing [Peter], whose family are enthusiastic cooks who frequently forget to hit that switch. His solution?
An automatic cooker hood switch that comes on when the cooker is in use
, and stays on long enough afterwards to fully dissipate the fumes.
At its heart is a current transformer on the 3-phase stove power line, and we’re treated to a lesson in reading from these devices with an Arduino. They have a shunt resistor across which to produce a voltage, and their AC output is placed upon a reference DC voltage to supply the microcontroller pin. The impedance is quite high, so when the sensor had to be placed a distance from the microcontroller it necessitated an op-amp buffer. The readings then cause the Arduino to trigger a pair of relays to switch on or off the cooker hood. We can imagine that the family kitchen is thus a much pleasanter environment for it.
Cookers can also provide quite a hazard when they are left on. To that end, we’ve also featured
a cooker alarm
in the past.
Header image: Pbroks13,
CC BY-SA 3.0
. | 34 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308503",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T09:11:17",
"content": "Wouldn’t really work for the gas hob in your little photo there though, the current draw would be very low for lighting the gas.Great idea for those with electric cookers tho!",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,373,233.187697 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/abs-mercedes-rims-push-the-limits-of-3d-printing/ | ABS Mercedes Rims Push The Limits Of 3D Printing | Danie Conradie | [
"car hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"proper printing",
"rim",
"wheels"
] | While we’re big believers in 3D printing here at Hackaday, there’s no denying that some things just aren’t meant to be printed. For example, most of us would agree that it’s not the first choice for making rims for a passenger car. We imagine that [Jón Schone] from
Proper Printing
probably feels the same way,
but that didn’t stop him from trying to do it anyway
.
A couple of months ago [Jón] got a test subject in the form of an older Mercedes with 19-inch rims. The first two challenges are bed size and warping, so he
modified a Creality CR10 S5 with a heated chamber
capable of reaching 70 °C to reduce warping with the ABS filament he intended to use. Another challenge is the amount of filament required for the print, especially since [Jón] wasn’t keen on babysitting the machine to replace the spool every so often. His attempt at
building a filament joiner ultimately didn’t work out
, so in the end he simply sourced the filament in bulk size rolls.
Bolts hold the two halves of the rim together.
Eventually [Jón] managed to print a complete rim in two halves, bolted together around its circumference. Unfortunately, even with the heated chamber, the parts still warped all around the edges. This left a gap at the seam, but to fit a tubeless tire, the rim had to be airtight. So the entire inside surface was painted to close any small gaps, and the larger gaps were filled with sealant.
In the end it was still unable to hold pressure with a tire mounted, so it was test fitted to the car just to see if it would carry the weight. This test also failed, splitting on the thinnest part of the rim. [Jón] has headed back to the drawing board to try again in 2021. We probably would have moved on by now, but you have to admire his tenacity. We hope to see success in the new year.
Printing large parts brings its own set of challenges, but if you stick to good old PLA it’s not too difficult. [Ivan Miranda] has made a name for himself with
massive 3D printed projects like a ride-able tank
, and
also built a supersized 3D printer for future projects
. | 49 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308480",
"author": "RetiredHobgoblin",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T06:58:09",
"content": "It’s not healthy to encourage these quixotic ventures. He hasn’t documented the impact on his family life or those close to him. God be with him",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,373,233.365991 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/uncommon-barany-chair-gets-fixed-up/ | Uncommon Bárány Chair Gets Fixed Up | Anool Mahidharia | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"Bárány chair",
"encoder",
"physiology"
] | Ever heard of a Bárány chair? Neither had [Troy Denton] before he was asked to repair one, but that didn’t stop him from rolling up his sleeves and tying to get the non-functional device back in working order. As it didn’t come with a user guide, manual, schematic or any other information, he had to rely on his experience and acumen gathered over years of practical work. Luckily for us,
he decided to document the whole process
.
While it’s not well known outside of aviation circles, the Bárány chair is an important piece of equipment in training pilots to get used to spatial disorientation. The device is essentially a motorized revolving chair, the idea being to spin the subject to induce disorientation. Rotation speed and direction can be controlled via a handheld wireless remote terminal.
When [Troy] first powered it up, the error code on the remote indicated “no power to base unit”. That turned out to be a quick fix – he simply had to move the power connection from a switched socket that had been turned off to a different outlet. But while that cleared the error message, the chair still wouldn’t rotate for any of the knob settings.
Manually rotating the chair showed the RPM on the remote, so [Troy] narrowed down his search to the motor related sections. The motor was being driven by a servo type signal, but changing the speed and direction knob on the remote didn’t seem to alter the control signal when he checked it with his scope. Opening up the hand held remote immediately uncovered the failed part – the rotary encoder for setting the speed and direction had physically split in to two pieces.
Since there was a clean split in the encoder, he was able to temporarily hold it back together to confirm that the chair could spin up. The cause was most likely “User Error” – the last person to conduct the test probably turned the knob rather enthusiastically. A new part is on the way, and the chair should be getting back to making prospective pilots dizzy in no time.
We love a good repair story here at Hackaday. Whether it’s
patiently rebuilding a snapped PCB with bodge wires
or coming up with
replacement parts that may well be better than the originals
, we never get tired of seeing a broken piece of gear put back together.
Thanks to [Tim Gremalm] for the tip. | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308457",
"author": "Tom Brusehaver",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T03:34:37",
"content": "If you get dizzy in the chair, you are going way too fast!The “pilot” should be turned at about 2-3 rpm.The varying speed is what causes disorientation. The ear says you are turning left, then slow... | 1,760,373,233.427367 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/hackaday-links-january-3-2021/ | Hackaday Links: January 3, 2021 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"Alphabet",
"amateur radio",
"chicken",
"digital mode",
"drone",
"faa",
"fcc",
"gaming",
"google",
"hackaday links",
"ham",
"jetpack",
"license",
"wing",
"WSJT-X"
] | Last week we featured a story on the new rules regarding drone identification going into effect in the US. If you missed
the article
, the short story is that almost all unmanned aircraft will soon need to transmit their position, altitude, speed, and serial number, as well as the position of its operator, likely via WiFi or Bluetooth.
The FAA’s rule change isn’t sitting well with Wing
, the drone-based delivery subsidiary of megacorporation Alphabet. In their view, local broadcast of flight particulars would be an invasion of privacy, since observers snooping in on Remote ID traffic could, say, infer that a drone going between a pharmacy and a neighbor’s home might mean that someone is sick. They have a point, but how a Google company managed to cut through the thick clouds of irony to complain about privacy concerns and the rise of the surveillance state is mind boggling.
Speaking of regulatory burdens, it appears that getting an amateur radio license is no longer quite the deal that it once was.
The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a $35 fee
for new amateur radio licenses, license renewals, and changes to existing licenses, like vanity call signs. While $35 isn’t cheap, it’s not the end of the world, and it’s better than the $50 fee that the FCC was originally proposing. Still, it seems a bit steep for something that’s largely automated. In any case, it looks like we’re still good to go with our
“$50 Ham” series
.
Staying on the topic of amateur radio for a minute, it looks like there will be
a new digital mode to explore soon
. The change will come when version 2.4.0 of WSJT-X, the program that forms the heart of digital modes like WSPR and FT8, is released. The newcomer is called Q65, and it’s basically a follow-on to the current QRA64 weak-signal mode. Q65 is optimized for weak, rapidly fading signals in the VHF bands and higher, so it’s likely to prove popular with Earth-Moon-Earth fans and those who like to do things like bounce their signals off of meteor trails. We’d think Q65 should enable
airliner-bounce
too. We’ll be keen to give it a try whenever it comes out.
Look, we know it’s hard to get used to writing the correct year once a new one rolls around, and that time has taken on a relative feeling in these pandemic times. But we’re pretty sure it isn’t April yet, which is the most reasonable explanation for an ad purporting
the unholy coupling of a gaming PC and mass-market fried foods
. We strongly suspect this is just a marketing stunt between Cooler Master and Yum! Brands, but taken at face value, the KFConsole — it’s not a gaming console, it’s at best a pre-built gaming PC — is supposed to use excess heat to keep your DoorDashed order of KFC warm while you play. In a year full of incredibly stupid things, this one is clearly in the top five.
And finally, it looks like we can all breathe a sigh of relief that our airline pilots, or at least a subset of them, aren’t seeing things. There has been a steady stream of reports from pilots flying in and out of Los Angeles lately of a person in a jetpack buzzing around. Well,
someone finally captured video of the daredevil
, and even though it’s shaky and unclear — as are seemingly all videos of cryptids — it sure seems to be a human-sized biped flying around in a standing position. The video description says this was shot by a flight instructor at 3,000 feet (914 meters) near Palos Verdes with Catalina Island in the background. That’s about 20 miles (32 km) from the mainland, so whatever this person is flying has amazing range. And, the pilot has incredible faith in the equipment — that’s a long way to fall in something with the same glide ratio as a brick. | 28 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308421",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2021-01-04T00:30:22",
"content": ">> They have a point, but how a Google company managed to cut through the thick clouds of irony to complain about privacy concerns and the rise of the surveillance state is mind boggling.Alphabet(Google) ar... | 1,760,373,233.488926 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/active-aero-for-a-radio-control-car/ | Active Aero For A Radio Control Car | Lewin Day | [
"car hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"active aero",
"aerodynamics",
"radio control",
"traxxas"
] | Motorsport became obsessed with aerodynamics in the middle of the 20th century. Moving on from simple streamlined shapes, designers aimed to generate downforce with wing elements in order to get more grip between the tyres and the track. This culminated in the development of active aero, where wing elements are controlled by actuators to adjust the downforce as needed for maximum grip and minimum drag. Recently,
[Engineering After Hours] decided to implement the technology on his Traxxas RC car.
The system consists of a simple multi-element front wing, chosen for its good trade-off between downforce and drag. The wing is mounted to a servo, which varies the angle of attack as the car’s pitch changes, as detected by a gyroscope. As the car pitches up during acceleration, the angle of the wing is increased to generate more downforce, keeping the nose planted.
The basic concept is sound, though as always, significant issues present themselves in the implementation. Small bumps cause the system to over-react, folding the wing under the front wheels. Additionally, the greater front downforce caused over-steer, leading to the install of a rear wing as well for better aero balance.
Regardless of some hurdles along the way, it’s clear the system has potential. We look forward to the next build from [Engineering After Hours], which promises to mimic the fan cars of the 70s and 80s. If you’re looking to improve aero on your full-size car,
we’ve got a guide to that too
. Video after the break.
[Thanks to Zane Atkins for the tip!] | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308402",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T22:04:07",
"content": "This is screaming out for a pushrod from the servo to the winglets to adjust the angle.. tilting the whole nose barely made sense for Concorde, and it wasn’t 1cm off the ground…Fun to see it function th... | 1,760,373,233.747175 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/vintage-meters-reborn-as-steam-punk-clock/ | Vintage Meters Reborn As Steam Punk Clock | Anool Mahidharia | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"analog clock",
"analog gauge",
"steam punk",
"vintage meter"
] | [Build Comics], purveyors of comic strips “where tools are heroes”, have saved another pair of old, vintage, analog meters from the junkyard
by converting them into a Meter Clock
. The real heroes of the story are their trusty tools – Mac X the knife, Mr. TS the table saw and his trusty band of clamps, G. Rinder the angle grinder, Weldy the welder, Sharp Eye the marker, rounded up by Sandy the Sander and Jiggy Saw. The Drake & Gorham (London) meters going under the knife appear similar to vintage hardware from just after the end of World War II, such as this
Ferranti Ammeter
found at the Science Museum Group, making them at least 75 years old.
A small cam is used to engage the DST switch.
As you might expect, the conversion process is reminiscent of their previous projects. The original moving-coil movements are discarded, and the pointer is attached to a servo which will act as the new movement. Fresh dials are prepared to replace the original ampere markings with hours and minutes. To retain some of the original charm, the new dials have discoloration and blemishes replicated from the old dials.
The set screw which was once used to align the pointer with the zero mark on the dial is now used to activate a micro switch that enables daylight savings time. Two additional buttons provide a convenient interface to adjust the time. Precision time signals are derived from a DS3231 RTC module connected to an Arduino. A pair of seven segment displays are connected to the Arduino to make it easier to set the time. A piece of oak plank, surrounded by a metal angled frame, is used as a base for mounting the two meters so that the clock can be hung up on the wall.
If you’d like to build some more vintage inspired instrumentation, [Build Comics] have you covered with a
Classy Weather Display
or a
Plant Moisture Gauge
. | 30 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308355",
"author": "oh noes..",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T18:26:58",
"content": "“The original moving-coil movements are discarded, and the pointer is attached to a servo which will act as the new movement. Fresh dials are prepared to replace the original ampere markings with hours ... | 1,760,373,233.650396 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/dog-bowls-show-the-versatility-of-ceramic-slip-casting/ | Dog Bowls Show The Versatility Of Ceramic Slip Casting | Dan Maloney | [
"how-to",
"Lifehacks"
] | [
"ceramic",
"clay",
"mold",
"plaster",
"slip",
"slip casting"
] | Here at Hackaday, we feature projects that are built of just about every material imaginable. Silicon-spangled fiber-reinforced epoxy resin is our primary medium, but we see plastic, wood, steel, aluminum, and even textiles from time to time. It’s not often we see
slip-cast ceramic molding
, though, and when it pops up, it’s always good to take a look at this versatile manufacturing method.
The back-story on this one is that [thoughtfulocean], a mechanical engineer idled by COVID lockdowns, wanted custom water bowls for his dogs, one of whom is clearly a grumpy Ewok. The design started with a 3D-print of the final vessel, printed in sections and glued together. These were used to create a two-piece plaster mold into which a watery slurry of clay, or slip, was poured. The plaster mold dehydrates the slip, leaving behind a semi-solid layer of clay of the desired thickness once the excess slip is poured off. The resulting casting is then fired in a kiln and glazed.
Of course, [thoughtfulocean] ran into a few problems along the way. The first mold was warped thanks to the mold box bowing under pressure from the plaster, so the whole molding process had to be revamped. The finished bowl also shrunk less than expected after firing, which led to some more revisions. But the finished bowl look really nice, and the included pump and filter keeps the Ewok’s water free from the yuck a dog’s face can introduce. As a bonus, it sounds like [thoughtfulocean] might have created a marketable product from all this. Take that, COVID!
Slip-casting ceramic may not be all that common around here, but ceramic as a material isn’t exactly a stranger. And who says slip casting is limited to ceramic? After all, we’ve seen
a similar method used with plastic resin
.
[via
r/engineering
] | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308329",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T15:10:37",
"content": "Noice, always great to see a way to leverage 3D printers to make durable objects. Be great for custom insulators for HV work, stuff for hot metal, rocket nozzles, other nozzles and so on.",
"pare... | 1,760,373,233.70319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/an-arduino-and-a-cd-rom-drive-makes-a-cd-player/ | An Arduino And A CD-ROM Drive Makes A CD Player | Jenny List | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"CD-ROM",
"i2c",
"ide",
"spdif"
] | In an age of streaming media it’s easy to forget the audio CD, but they still remain as a physical format from the days when the “Play” button was not yet the “Pay” button. A CD player may no longer be the prized possession it once was, but it’s still possible to dabble in the world of 120 mm polycarbonate discs if you have a fancy for it. It’s something [Daniel1111] has done with his
Arduino CD player
, which uses the little microcontroller board to control a CD-ROM drive via its IDE bus.
The project draws heavily from the work of previous experimenters, notably
ATAPIDUINO
, but it extends them by taking its audio from the drive’s S/PDIF output. A port expander drives the IDE interface, while a Cirrus Logic
WM8805 S/PDIF transceiver
handles the digital audio and converts it to an I
2
S stream. That in turn is fed to a
Texas Instruments PCM5102 DAC
, which provides a line-level audio output. All the code and schematic
can be found in a GitHub repository
.
To anyone
who worked in the CD-ROM business back in the 1990s
this project presses quite a few buttons, though perhaps
not enough to dig out all those CDs again
. It would be interesting to see whether the I
2
S stream could be lifted from inside the drive directly, or even if the audio data could be received via the IDE bus. If you’d like to know a bit more about I
2
S ,
we have an article for you
. | 49 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308291",
"author": "Ghent the Slicer",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T12:12:48",
"content": "Yes the digital audio data can be read via ATAPI commands. I remember quite a few “cd ripper” programs back in the day that converted CD audio to MP3s. You would need i2s transmitter on the MCU t... | 1,760,373,233.912332 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/03/blackboard-becomes-tidy-pen-plotter/ | Blackboard Becomes Tidy Pen Plotter | Lewin Day | [
"Art",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"Makelangelo",
"pen plotter",
"plotter"
] | Printers are all well and good, but they’re generally limited to smaller paper sizes and use expensive ink. If you instead want to produce art on a larger scale, a plotter can be a great way to go.
[tuenhidiy] built a tidy example using an old blackboard as a base.
These days, such a build is quite easily approachable, thanks to the broad DIY CNC and 3D printing communities. The plotter consists of a pair of stepper motors, driven by an off-the-shelf RAMPS 1.4 controller and an Arduino Mega 2560. The motors are mounted at the top corners of the blackboard, and move the pen holder via a pair of toothed belts, counter-weighted for stability. The pen holder itself mounts a simple permanent marker, and uses a servo to push the holder away from the paper for retraction, rather than moving the pen itself. Control of the system is via the
Makelangelo firmware,
an open-source effort capable of driving a wide variety of CNC motion systems.
The final result is a simple plotter using readily available parts that can reliably plot large graphics on a piece of A1 paper. We’re particularly impressed by the clean, continuous lines it produces – testament to a sound mechanical design.
We see plenty of plotters around these parts;
even rotary types that can draw on curves
. Video after the break. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308306",
"author": "Cuthbert",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T13:30:42",
"content": "Let’s give Dan Royer at Marginally Clever a shout out who is behind the software and has spent a lot of time developing the Makelangelo firmware. If you don’t feel like building one from scratch you can... | 1,760,373,233.955143 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/listening-to-long-forgotten-voices-an-optical-audio-decoder-for-16-mm-film/ | Listening To Long Forgotten Voices: An Optical Audio Decoder For 16 Mm Film | Danie Conradie | [
"classic hacks",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"16mm film",
"audio",
"film",
"optical memory"
] | Like many of us, [Emily] found herself on COVID-19 lockdown over the summer. To make the most of her time in isolation, she put together an
optical audio decoder for old 16 mm film
, built using modern components and a bit of 3D printing.
It all started with a broken 16 mm projector that [Emily] got from a friend. After repairing and testing the projector with a roll of film bought at a flea market, she discovered that the film contained an audio track that her projector couldn’t play. The audio track is encoded as a translucent strip with varying width, and when a mask with a narrow slit is placed over the top it modulates the amount of light that can pass through to a light sensor connected to speakers via an amplifier.
[Emily] used a pair of razor blades mounted to a 3D printed bracket to create the mask, and a TI OPT101 light sensor together with a light source to decode the optical signal. She tried to use a photoresistor and a discrete photodiode, but neither had the required sensitivity. She built a frame with adjustable positions for an idler pulley and the optical reader unit, an electronics box on one end for the electronic components, and another pulley attached to a stepper motor to cycle a short loop of the film.
Most of the projects we see involving film these days are for creating digital copies. You can digitize your old 35 mm photo film using a
Raspberry Pi, some Lego pieces, and a DSLR camera
, or do the same for
8 mm film with a 3D printed rig. | 21 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308289",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T11:48:15",
"content": "It makes me wonder what resolution you’d get with a cheap laser pointer, an optical mouse and a finer gap between the razor blades.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,233.829158 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/checking-in-on-low-cost-cnc-machines/ | Checking In On Low-Cost CNC Machines | Al Williams | [
"cnc hacks",
"Reviews"
] | [
"3018",
"cnc",
"desktop CNC"
] | Low cost 3D printers have come a long way in the last few years, but have entry-level CNC machines improved by the same leaps and bounds? That’s what [ModBot] recently set out to find. Despite getting burned pretty badly on a cheap CNC a few years back,
he decided to try again with a sub $400 machine from FoxAlien
. You can see his full review after the break.
The machine looks very similar to other generic CNC machines you see under many brand names, sometimes for a good bit less. The 3018 number is a giveaway that the work area is 30×18 cm and a quick search pulled up several similar machines for just a bit more than $200. The FoxAlien did have a few nice features, though. It has a good-looking build guide and an acrylic box to keep down the shaving debris in your shop. There are also some other nice touches like a Z-axis probe and end stops. If you add those items to the cut-rate 3018 machines, the FoxAlien machine is pretty price competitive when you buy it from the vendor’s website. The Amazon page in the video shows $350 which is a bit more expensive but does include shipping.
As with most of these cheap CNC machines, one could argue that it’s more of an engraver than a full mill. But on the plus side, you can mount other tools and spindles to get different results. You can even turn one of these into a diode laser cutter, but you might be better off with something purpose-built unless you think you’ll want to switch back and forth often.
This reminded us of a CNC we’ve used a lot, the
LinkSprite
. It does fine for about the same price but we are jealous of the enclosure. Of course, half the fun of owning something like this is hacking it and there are
plenty of upgrades for these cheap machines
. | 43 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308251",
"author": "Daniel Dunn",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T03:47:28",
"content": "I too was burned pretty badly by a cheap CNC(now sold). Not because it didn’t work, it did everything it should, but I just wasn’t expecting the difficulty level. It was just too much for anyone wi... | 1,760,373,234.032987 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/mattress-made-midi-device-plays-exotic-tunes/ | Mattress-made MIDI Device Plays Exotic Tunes | Sven Gregori | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"drum trigger",
"handpan",
"midi",
"MIDI instrument",
"musical instrument",
"piezo",
"piezo sensor"
] | Ever heard of a handpan? If not, imagine a steel drum turned inside out, and in case that doesn’t help either, just think of a big metal pan you play music with by tapping your hands on its differently pitched tone fields. But as with pretty much any musical instrument, the people around you may not appreciate your enthusiasm to practice playing it at any time of the day, and being an acoustic instrument, it gets difficult to just plug in your headphones. Good news for the aspiring practitioners of Caribbean music though,
as [Deepsoul77] created a MIDI version of this rather young and exotic instrument
.
Using the foam salvaged from an old mattress as the core of the handpan, [Deepsoul77] cut a couple of plywood pads as tone fields that will be attached to the foam. Each plywood tone field will then have a piezo element mounted in between to pick up the hand tapping. Picking up the tapping itself and turning it into MIDI signals is then handled by an Alesis trigger interface, which is something you would usually find in electronic drums. From here on forward, it all becomes just a simple USB MIDI device, with all the perks that brings along — like headphone usage or changing MIDI instruments to make anything sound like a trumpet.
Turning what’s essentially a drum kit into a melodic instrument is definitely neat, and to no surprise,
we’ve also seen the actual home made drum kit with piezo elements
. Of course,
using MIDI to quiet down an acoustic instrument
isn’t new either, though
it also works somewhat the other way around
. But then again,
it doesn’t always have to be MIDI either
. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308231",
"author": "Andy Pugh",
"timestamp": "2021-01-03T00:42:14",
"content": "Here is a brief clip of making and tuning one, and a stunning performance:https://youtu.be/32v8ARqaBasThe channel has links to more in-depth making videos.Looks do-able if you don’t have a tin ear. (ie,... | 1,760,373,234.072226 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/a-vintage-flip-clock-gets-some-modern-love/ | A Vintage Flip Clock Gets Some Modern Love | Jenny List | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"flip clock",
"leap year"
] | There are multiple reasons why we like
[
iSax
]’s rebuild of a Bodet flip clock from the early 1980s
. First there’s the retro charm of the timepiece itself, then the electronics used to drive it, its electromechanical month length and leap year system, and finally because here is a maker lucky enough to have a beautiful tabby cat to share the workbench with.
For those of you unfamiliar with a flip clock, these devices have their digits as a series of hinged cards on a central rotor, with each one being exposed in turn as the rotor turns. This one is part of a distributed clock system in which the clients receive a 1 Hz pulse from a central time server to drive their motors, something easily replicated with an Arduino and an H-bridge. Particularly fascinating though is the month length mechanism, part of the calendar rotor system, it has a small DC motor that is engaged to advance the days automatically by whichever number as part of the month transition. Originally this was powered by a couple of AA batteries, which have now been replaced with a small DC to DC converter. You can see it in action in the video below the break.
With or without tabby cats, we see quite a few projects featuring them. If you can’t find one,
you can always make your own
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308196",
"author": "Garth Bock",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T22:00:32",
"content": "Caption challenge for the cat –You woke me for this ?I’ m ready for my close up…..not that close !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6308227",
... | 1,760,373,234.16082 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/build-an-8-bit-cpu-to-know-but-how-do-it-know/ | Build An 8-bit CPU To Know “But How Do It Know?” | Anool Mahidharia | [
"computer hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"\"But How Do It Know?\"",
"8-bit computers",
"8-bit CPU",
"arduino",
"SN74HC"
] | Sometime around 2009, [J. Clark Scott] published a book aimed to demystify computers for everyone by walking through construction of an 8-bit CPU from scratch. The book had a catchy, but somewhat confusing title
But How Do It Know?
. The back story on the title goes something like this: Joe is a very nice fellow, but has always been a little slow. He goes into a store where a salesman is standing on a soapbox in front of a group of people. The salesman is pitching the miracle new invention, the Thermos bottle. He is saying, “It keeps hot food hot, and cold food cold….” Joe thinks about this a minute, amazed by this new invention that is able to make a decision about which of two different things it is supposed to do depending on what kind of food you put in it. He can’t contain his curiosity, he is jumping up and down, waving his arm in the air, saying “but, but, but, but…” Finally he blurts out his burning question “But how do it know?” Joe looked at what this Thermos bottle could do, and decided that it must be capable of sensing something about its contents, and then performing a heating or cooling operation accordingly. Joe’s concept of how the bottle worked was far more complicated than the truth. With that introductory opening, [J. Clark Scott] goes on to cover basic number theory, leading on to logic gates, and finally the 8-bit CPU.
[Patrick LeBoutillier] decided to build
a hardware version of the CPU/computer
as described in [John Clark Scott]’s book. In order to keep size and cost within reasonable bounds, he choose a hybrid construction using a combination of micro-controllers and SN74HC logic IC’s. When used as a companion project alongside reading the book, he hopes people can get their hands dirty and try it out for themselves. He has published a series of 14 videos covering construction of the CPU and the first Introductory video is embedded after the break below. For the micro-controller part of the project, he is using four Arduino Nanos, the code and install instructions for which are available at his
Git repo
. The Fritzing schematic, also available at the repo, might look a bit daunting at first look, but when you follow along his video series, it becomes easier. You can preview the first three chapters of the book at the
“But How Do It Know?”
website.
If FPGA’s are more of a thing for you, or you’d like to dip your feet learning FPGA, then [Patrick] has another series of 17 videos (embedded below) where he goes through the same process using a
Digilent BASYS3 FPGA development board
. These aren’t your only options — if you just want to understand how it works, without having to build the hardware, then check out the
online, browser based implementation
of the [Clark Scott] CPU.
If it seems the breadboard build of this 8-bit CPU looks complex, then this
Home Made 8-bit CPU Is A Wiry Blinky Build
and a veritable rats nest of jumper wires. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308174",
"author": "Pedro",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T18:36:34",
"content": "You may wish to include a link to the “Megaprocessor” that was built by James Newman, of Cambridge. It’s a 16 bit machine made completely of discrete components.https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/231214-me... | 1,760,373,234.121624 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/how-a-quadriplegic-patient-was-able-to-eat-by-himself-again-using-artificial-limbs/ | How A Quadriplegic Patient Was Able To Eat By Himself Again Using Artificial Limbs | Maya Posch | [
"Medical Hacks",
"News",
"Science"
] | [
"johns hopkins",
"modular prosthetic limb",
"Prosthetic arm",
"quadriplegic"
] | Thirty years ago, [Robert “Buz” Chmielewski] suffered a surfing accident as a teenager. This left him as a quadriplegic due to a C6 spinal cord injury. After becoming a participant in a brain-computer interface study at Johns Hopkins, he was recently able to feed himself
through the use of prosthetic arms
. The most remarkable thing about these prosthetic arms is primarily the neural link with [Buz’s] brain, which allows him to not only control the artificial arms, but also feel what they are touching, due to a closed-loop system which transfers limb sensory input to the patient’s brain.
The prosthetic limb in question is the
Modular Prosthetic Limb
(MPL) from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The Johns Hopkins Medicine
Brain-Computer Interface study
began a year ago, when [Buz] had six microelectrode arrays (MEA) implanted into his brain: half in the motor cortex and half in the sensory cortex. During the following months, the study focused on using the signals from the first set of arrays to control actuators, such as the MPL. The second set of arrays was used to study how the sensory cortex had to be stimulated to allow a patient to feel the artificial limb much as one feels a biological limb.
What makes this study so interesting is not only the closed-loop approach which provides the patient with feedback on the position and pressure on the prosthetic, but also that it involves both hemispheres of the brain. As a result, after only a year of the study, [Buz] was able to use two of the MPLs simultaneously to feed himself, which is a delicate and complicated tasks.
In the video embedded after the break one can see a comparison of [Buz] at the beginning of the study and today, as he manages to handle cutlery and eat cake, without assistance.
https://youtu.be/ts67IHy0xGE
[Thanks for the tip, Qes] | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308153",
"author": "MEA Question",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T16:02:58",
"content": "What is the resolution of the MEAs, do they ever fail over time and is there any way to upgrade them without doing additional surgery? Does the body react to them at all as foreign entities?",
"p... | 1,760,373,234.224344 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/laser-etching-stainless-steel-with-mustard/ | Laser Etching Stainless Steel With Mustard | Al Williams | [
"cnc hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"cermark",
"laser cutter",
"laser engraver",
"laser etching",
"mustard"
] | [Brain] wanted to mark some scissors with his Ortur laser engraver. The problem? The laser won’t cut into the hard metal of the scissors. His solution?
Smear the scissors with mustard
. No kidding. We’ve heard of this before, and apparently, you can use vinegar, as well, but since the mustard is a paste it is easier to apply. You can see the result in the video, below.
In case you think you don’t need to watch because we’ve already told you the trick, you should know that [Brian] also goes into a lot of detail about preparing single line fonts to get a good result, among a few other tips like improvements to his
air assist setup
. On a laser cutter, the air assist blows away charred material leaving a clear field of view between the laser and the remaining uncut material. Using a proper air assist can really expand the capabilities of these inexpensive laser cutters — something we recently saw
upgraded with a 3D-printed air assist nozzle
.
You can buy a commercial marking solution called CerMark Black, but you probably already have mustard. If you are super cheap, you can probably pick up a packet next time you buy a burger somewhere. After all, you don’t need much. Although the video talks about the Ortur, this technique would
work with any engraver
. We’ve also heard you can do something similar with
plaster and alcohol
. | 28 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308118",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T12:32:23",
"content": "I must day, Brian’s laser really cuts the mustard!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6308143",
"author": "Jo Woodman",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,373,234.33593 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/02/gesture-recognizing-armband/ | A Gesture Recognizing Armband | Danie Conradie | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"gesture recognition",
"human interface device",
"machine learning",
"neurobiology",
"prosthetics"
] | Gesture recognition usually involves some sort of optical system watching your hands, but researchers at UC Berkeley took a different approach. Instead
they are monitoring the electrical signals in the forearm that control the muscles, and creating a machine learning model to recognize hand gestures
.
The sensor system is a flexible PET armband with 64 electrodes screen printed onto it in silver conductive ink, attached to a standalone AI processing module. Since everyone’s arm is slightly different, the system needs to be trained for a specific user, but that also means that the specific electrical signals don’t have to be isolated as it learns to recognize patterns.
The challenging part of this is that the patterns don’t remain constant over time, and will change depending on factors such as sweat, arm position, and even just biological changes. To deal with this the model can update itself on the device over time as the signal changes. Another part of this research that we appreciate is that all the inferencing, training, and updating happens locally on the AI chip in the armband. There is no need to send data to an external device or the “cloud” for processing, updating, or third-party data mining. Unfortunately the
research paper
with all the details is behind a paywall.
The obvious use case for this technology lies in prosthetics, but it can also be a handy as a general computer input for anyone. Alternative input devices featured heavily in the 2020 Hackaday Prize, including a
universal remote for those who suffer from Cerebral Palsy
, and
Byte, a joystick for your mouth
.
Thanks for the tip [Qes]! | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308129",
"author": "Xeon",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T13:59:46",
"content": "very nice",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6308203",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T22:40:38",
"content": "Could be interest... | 1,760,373,234.268766 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/01/metal-plating-plastic-or-metal-parts/ | Metal Plating Plastic Or Metal Parts | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"electroplating",
"galvanizing"
] | Like most of us, [Clem] wants to 3D print in metal. Metal 3D printers do exist, but they are generally way out of reach for most of us garage hackers. As an alternative, [Clem] uses
a homebrew electroplating system
to get prints with a metallic coating.
The setup is quite simple. Small glass jars to act as the plating tanks and the machine uses an Arduino controller along with a PCB to hold things like a relay to control the 24V used for electroplating. To keep everything tidy, [Clem] designed a 3D printed box that stores all the cables and chemicals when you aren’t using them. Since the parts might get hot, the plastic is PETG.
The trick is that parts need to be conductive in order to use electroplating — typically plastic isn’t conductive. [Clem] paints the plastic parts to grant them conductivity. Graphite paint didn’t give great results. However, an iron-based paint worked better but obscures detail on the print. In addition to galvanization (plating with zinc or steel) you can see copper plating of a nail at around the 12 minute mark, with a plastic plating demo a minute later. The machine can even plate gold using an expensive gold-bearing electrolyte. In the video comments, someone also mentioned that it would be interesting to try plating conductive filament without using the paint. [Clem] tried to remove rust from a big part, but the power supply wasn’t up to the task.
Copper plating is often used as a step to make a part conductive so you can then plate with another metal. In addition to copper sulfate, you can use
copper acetate
. Sometimes, getting metal into fine details can be tough and it is easier to use a
pen
to plate those areas directly. | 28 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308081",
"author": "Andrew Hooper",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T06:26:31",
"content": "Nice little unit, another upgrade to this could also be a way to reverse the polarity during the plating cycle for a really short time. Often if you are building up a thick layer of plating (electro... | 1,760,373,234.420881 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/01/simple-christmas-tree-christmas-tree-ornament/ | Simple Christmas Tree Christmas Tree Ornament | Anool Mahidharia | [
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"arduino christmas lights",
"ATSAME51",
"bi-color LED",
"Christmas decoration",
"christmas lights",
"christmas ornament",
"christmas tree",
"LED christmas tree"
] | When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. An LED ornament for the Christmas tree can be built in any manner of simple, easy implementations. You certainly don’t need an ARM Cortex M4 CPU running at 120MHz having a mouthful of three letter features like FPU, ETM, ETB, ECC, RWW, TCM, EIC, AES, CAN bus and much, much more. But [Martin Held] built
a super simple LED Christmas tree ornament
using the
ATSAME51 series micro-controller
, which he regularly works with and had on hand, and lots of bi-color LEDs. He already had schematic symbols and programmers for the device from other projects where he uses it more extensively, so putting it all together in time for the festive season was that much faster for him, despite the fact that the micro-controller was most likely the cheapest part of the BOM, besides the passives.
At this point it might be tempting to argue that it would have been so much simpler to use addressable LED’s, such as the WS2812B or the APA102C. You can drive them using a more basic micro-controller, and not require so many GPIO pins. But using such “smart pixel” LED’s for hand assembled prototypes can sometimes lead to unexpected results. If they are not stored in sealed tape/reel form, then storage conditions can have an adverse effect leading to dead pixels. And, they need a specific baking procedure before being soldered. Doing that for a few LEDs at home can be tricky.
So for the LED’s, he again went a bit off the beaten path, selecting to use three different color styles of bi-color LED’s with easy to hand-solder, 1206 footprints. This allows him to get a fairly random mix of colors in the completed ornament.
The LED array is pseudo-charlieplexed. One terminal of each LED goes to a GPIO pin on the micro-controller and the other terminal of all the LED’s are connected to a single complimentary pair of N-channel/P-channel MOSFETs — connected in totem-pole fashion. Depending on which MOSFET is switched on via a GPIO pin driving the gate pin high or low, the second terminal of each LED gets connected to either supply or ground. In combination with the GPIO pins being driven high/low, this allows the bi-color LED to be biased in either direction. Getting each LED to emit one color is simple enough — setting all LED GPIOs low, and MOSFET gate GPIO high will bias the LEDs in one direction. Reverse the GPIO logic, and the LEDs will be biased in the other direction. If this is done slow enough, the two colors can be differentiated easily. If the driving logic is made fast, changing states every 10us, the two separate colors merge to form a third hue. With some clever bit of code, he also adds some randomness in the GPIO output states, resulting in a more appealing twinkling effect. [Martin] does a detailed walk through in the video embedded below.
If you have the same bunch of parts lying around and wish to replicate the project, be warned that the KiCad source files will need some work to clean up errors — [Martin] was in a hurry and knew what he was doing so there are some intentional mistakes in the schematic such as using the same symbol for the N-channel and P-channel MOSFETs, and uni-directional LED symbol in place of the bi-directional one. And for programming, you will need one of these pricey
pogo-pin style cables
, unless you decide to edit the PCB before sending off the Gerbers.
[Martin] built just three of these bespoke ornaments, retaining one and giving away the other two to a neighbour and a co-worker. But if you would really like to build a tree ornament with addressable LEDs, then check out the
Sierpinski Christmas Tree
which can be cascaded to form an array of tree ornaments. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308067",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T04:12:43",
"content": "The title of this blog article has been approved for general viewing by the Department of Redundancy Dept.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6308076",
... | 1,760,373,234.586853 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/01/a-fresh-linux-for-the-most-unexpected-platform-the-nintendo-64/ | A Fresh Linux For The Most Unexpected Platform – The Nintendo 64 | Jenny List | [
"Linux Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"linux",
"MIPS-64",
"n64",
"nintendo 64"
] | Though it was famously started by Linus Torvalds as “
a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones
“, the Linux kernel and surrounding operating system ecosystems have been ported to numerous architectures beyond their x86 roots. It’s therefore not unusual to hear of new ports for unsupported platforms, but it is extremely unexpected to hear of one when the platform is a games console from the mid-1990s. But that’s what [Lauri Kasanen] has done,
announcing a fresh Linux port for the Nintendo 64
.
This isn’t a Linux from 1996 either. The port builds on an up-to-date kernel version 5.10 with his N64 branch and a tantalising possibility that it might be incorporated into the main Linux source for the MIPS-64 processor architecture. That’s right, the Nintendo 64 could be an officially supported Linux platform.
It would be stretching the story a long way to call this any kind of distro, for what he’s produced is a bootloader that loads the kernel and creates a terminal with busybox loaded. With this on your flashcart you won’t be replacing that Raspberry Pi any time soon, so why other than [Lauri]’s “
because I can
” would you be interested in it? He supplies the answer and it lies in the emulation scene, because having a Linux for the platform makes it so much easier to port other software to it. If this tickles your fancy
you can see the source in his GitHub repository
, and we’re certainly looking forward to what the community will do with it.
We are more used to seeing the N64 as a subject for case-modding,
whether it be as a handheld
or a
an all-in-one console
.
Via
Phoronix
, and thanks [David Beckershoff] for the tip.
Header image: Evan-Amos,
Public domain
. | 24 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6308046",
"author": "Stuart Longland",
"timestamp": "2021-01-02T01:25:58",
"content": "Wow, modern Linux in 4MB RAM on a 64-bit processor! Man that’s tight!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6308057",
"author": "njubvcy... | 1,760,373,234.745141 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/12/31/ambience-lamp-ripples-like-water/ | Ambience Lamp Ripples Like Water | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino Uno",
"capsense",
"neopixel ring",
"RGB LEDs"
] | After the year humanity has endured, we could all use a little more relaxation in our lives.
This atmosphere lamp is just the thing to set a relaxing ambience for work, studying, or hanging out
. Just touch the surface and the light ripples to life, resembling the concentric circles that form on the surface of still water when it is touched. When the light settles, it looks like an inviting pool that’s ready for a nighttime swim.
There aren’t really any surprises inside — the lamp is operated via capsense by touching the center of the top. Three NeoPixel rings and an RGB LED strip provide the lighting, and an Arduino UNO runs the show. [Qttting_F] used an inexpensive ceramic bowl with a piece of acrylic for a lid, but this could just as easily be printed in white PLA or something. Check it out in action after the break.
Ambience is nice, but sometimes you need something more functional.
Those types of lamps can be printed, too
. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6307859",
"author": "adrian",
"timestamp": "2021-01-01T00:35:25",
"content": "I’m currently working on a different lamp design that uses neopixels along with a TTP223 touch switch. I’m having a lot of problems with the ttp223 false triggering when close to the leds.Did you have to d... | 1,760,373,234.542917 |
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