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https://hackaday.com/2020/07/31/fewer-millimeters-make-a-useful-esp32-devboard/ | Fewer Millimeters Make A Useful ESP32 Devboard | Kerry Scharfglass | [
"hardware"
] | [
"breadboard",
"ESP-32",
"prototyping",
"remix",
"USB C",
"USB Type-C"
] | Sometimes the most useful hacks aren’t the flashiest, they’re the ones that improve an already great tool and make something better. Through hole components are still the fastest and perhaps most satisfying way to prototype a new electronics project so it’s extra frustrating when the happy hacker discovers their new devboard is too wide to fit in a standard breadboard. [Tobias] had the same thought and
redesigned the standard ESP32 “NodeMCU” style devboard
to be almost exactly the same, but narrower.
Interactive BOMs make assembly a snap
Not to trivialize, but that’s pretty much it. And we love it! The new design retains the great support of the original devboard but adds a few nice tweaks. Obviously there’s the small size change that allows it to fit on a standard 5×5 breadboard leaving sockets available on either side for interfacing. Even in this smaller size [Tobias] managed to retain the boot mode and reset buttons though the overall pinout has changed slightly. And for easier connections ye olde micro USB socket has been swapped for sleek modern USB-C. You have cables for
that common standard now, right
?
How do you get one? As far as we know [Tobias] isn’t selling these but the design is completely open source and the design, fab, and BOM files are all in the github repository. [Tobias] even went so far as to include the extremely handy
interactive BOM
to speed up hand assembly. The real trick here is that the board is designed to facilitate the extremely inexpensive turnkey assembly now available from our favorite fab houses, with an example cost of $8/piece for a run of five. The repo includes a properly formatted BOM and fab files to make ordering them a snap. See the bottom of the README for details about what to order. | 32 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267657",
"author": "Jeff King",
"timestamp": "2020-07-31T09:35:44",
"content": "What would this be?—“ur favorite fab houses, with an example cost of $8/piece for a run of five.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6267755",
... | 1,760,373,404.397507 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/myst-demake-for-the-apple-ii/ | Myst ‘Demake’ For The Apple II | Maya Posch | [
"Games",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"apple II",
"games",
"Myst"
] | Making certain games run on systems which were never designed to run such games (or any games at all) is a favorite hobby of some, with [deater] being no exception. His latest creation involves
porting Myst to the Apple II
, or ‘demake’ in his own words. This means taking
a game
that was released in 1993 for MacOS and later for Windows 3.1 and the original PlayStation, and creating a version that works on an 8-bit system from 1977.
Obviously the graphical fidelity has been turned down some compared to the 1990s version, but at this stage much of the game’s levels have been implemented. For anyone who has ever played the game before, much of the visuals will be instantly recognizable. According to [deater], the game should run on any Apple II/II+/IIe, with at least 48 kB of RAM, but 64 kB needed for sound effects. If a Mockingboard sound card is installed, it will even play the intro theme.
On the
project page
the (currently) three floppy disks can be downloaded, with the
source available
on Github. While one is there, one can also check out [deater]’s ‘Another World’ port to the Apple II
which we covered
last year. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267632",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2020-07-31T06:24:55",
"content": "Hah! I love it. I could tell where he was going and what he was doing from my memories of playing the original, but if I had to play it for the first time on an Apple IIe, I don’t think I’d be able to figure... | 1,760,373,404.625957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/art-generated-from-the-dubious-comments-section/ | Art Generated From The Dubious Comments Section | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Art",
"Machine Learning"
] | [
"abstract",
"art",
"artificial intelligence",
"photography",
"remo"
] | [8BitsAndAByte] are back, and this time they’re
taking on the comments section with art
. They wondered whether or not they can take something as dubious as the comments section and redeem it into something more appealing like art.
They started by using remo.tv,
a tool they’ve used in other projects
, to read comments from their video live feeds and extract random phrases. The phrases are then analyzed by text to speech, and a publicly available artificial intelligence algorithm that
generates an image from a text description
. They can then specify art styles like modern, abstract, cubism, etc to give their image a unique appeal. They then send the image back to the original commenter, crediting them for their comment, ensuring some level of transparency.
We were a bit surprised that the phrase
dog with a funny hat
generated an image of a cat, so I think it’s fair to say that their AI engine could use a bit of work.
But really, we could probably say that about AI as a whole
.
https://youtu.be/kGsfI7d_T-c | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267601",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2020-07-31T02:50:46",
"content": "No offense meant to the builder of this system, but hmmmmmm … not overly impressed. Matching images to text and applying a filter to the image. Snooze ……",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,373,404.50391 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/aesthetic-diy-bluetooth-speakers/ | Aesthetic DIY Bluetooth Speakers | Orlando Hoilett | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Portable Audio Hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"bluetooth",
"neodymium",
"passive radiator",
"PLA",
"Tevo Tarantula"
] | DIY Bluetooth speaker projects are always a staple here at Hackady. In our latest feature of DIY audio builds, we have
[Patrick’s] vinyl cylindrical speaker
.
He found a pretty inexpensive Bluetooth audio amplifier on AliExpress. However, the amplifier module oddly enough had a few missing components that were critical to its operation, so he had to do a little bit of re-work. Not something you generally expect to do when you purchase a pre-made module, but he was certainly up to the task.
He noticed the board amp module was missing a battery protection circuit even though there was space on the board laid out for those components (maybe an older board revision?). To remedy this problem, he added his own battery protection circuit to prevent any
unwanted catastrophes
. Secondly, he noticed a lot of distortion at high volumes and figured that some added capacitance on the power supply would help fix the distortion. Luckily, that did the trick.
Finally, and not quite a mistake on the manufacturer’s part this time, but an improvement [Patrick] needed for his own personal use. He wanted the amp module’s board-level LED indicator to be visible once the enclosure was fitted around the electronics. So, he used the built-in status trigger as a digital signal for a simple transistor circuit powering a much brighter ring LED that could be mounted onto the enclosure. That way, he could utilize the firmware for triggering the board-level status indicator for his own ring LED without any software modifications to the amp module.
Now, all that was left was to construct the enclosure he had 3D-printed and fit all the electronics in their place. We’ve gotten pretty used to the always impressive aesthetics of [Patrick’s] designs,
having covered a project of his before
, and this build is certainly no exception. Great job!
While you’re here, take a look at some
other DIY Bluetooth speaker projects
on Hackaday. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,373,404.320654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/rotary-dialer-becomes-numeric-keypad/ | Rotary Dialer Becomes Numeric Keypad | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"dialer",
"numeric keypad",
"rotary phone"
] | Many laptops eschew the numeric keypad to free up space, and some desktop keyboards have taken on the trend, too. If you want a specialised numeric entry device and have absolutely no interest in speed or ease of use,
[jp3141] has just the build for you.
The idea is to use the rotary dial from an old telephone to enter numbers into a computer. It’s slow and cumbersome, but it’s also pretty entertaining. The build uses an old AT&T Trimline dialer, though we’re sure most rotary phones would work. The pulses produced by the dialer are counted by a Teensy microcontroller, which emulates a USB HID keyboard device and enters the relevant keystroke into the computer. There’s also a USB serial interface for debugging, and an LED which flashes along with the pulses from the dialer circuit.
While it’s not the most efficient data entry method, it’s a semi-useful way to repurpose an old phone, and an amusing piece to take along to your next LAN party.
We’ve featured a few… alternative… keyboards before, too
. If you’ve cooked up a truly convoluted input device for your computer,
be sure to let us know. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267575",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T22:12:45",
"content": "Can you enter letters with multiple dials of the same number, sort of like texting on an old flip phone?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6267580",
... | 1,760,373,404.540875 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/learn-software-reverse-engineering-ghidra-class-videos-from-hackadayu-now-available/ | Learn Software Reverse Engineering: Ghidra Class Videos From HackadayU Now Available! | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"how-to",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"HacakdayU",
"reverese engineering",
"wrongbaud"
] | The
HackadayU video series on learning to use Ghidra
is now available!
Ghidra is a tool for reverse engineering software binaries — you may remember that
it was released as Open Source by the NSA
last year. It does an amazing job of turning compiled binaries that tell the computer how to operate into human-readable C code. The catch is that there’s a learning curve to making the most out of what Ghidra gives you. Enter the
Introduction to Reverse Engineering with Ghidra
class led by Matthew Alt as part of the
HackadayU
series. This set of four one-hour virtual classroom videos were just made available so that you can take the course at your own pace.
Matthew has actually been schooling us for a while. He’s also known as [wrongbaud] and we’ve been spending a lot of time covering his reverse engineering projects, including
the teardowns of NES-on-a-chip hardware
and his excellent
hacker’s guide to JTAG
. His HackadayU class continues that legacy by pulling together
course materials for a high-quality hands-on walk through Ghidra
. You’ll get a dose of computer architecture, the compilation process, ELF file structure, and x86_64 instructions sets along the way. He’s done a superb job of making
example code for the coursework
available.
While this was the first HackadayU course, there are more on the way. Anool Mahidharia just finished teaching
KiCAD & FreeCAD 101
and videos will be published a soon as the editing process is complete. The fall lineup of classes is shaping up nicely and will be announced soon. As a sneak peak, we have instructors working on classes covering tiny machine learning, a second set of classes on Ghidra reverse engineering, a protocol deep dive (I2C, SPI, one-wire, JTAG etc.), Linux on Raspberry Pi, building interactive art, and all about LEDs, and an intro to design with Rhino. Keep your eye on Hackaday for more info as classes are added to the schedule. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267533",
"author": "alskdjfoweijfawrth",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T19:45:13",
"content": "Sound interesting.Will obviously watch behind tor, behind a vpn, into a random local coffee shop.Can’t be too cautious…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,404.582779 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/no-melt-nuclear-power-balls-might-win-a-few-hearts-and-minds/ | No-Melt Nuclear ‘Power Balls’ Might Win A Few Hearts And Minds | Kristina Panos | [
"chemistry hacks",
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"News",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"candy shell",
"gobstopper",
"nuclear power",
"Nuclear Reactor",
"pebble bed reactor",
"triso",
"triso fuel",
"uranium"
] | A nuclear power plant is large and complex, and one of the biggest reasons is safety. Splitting radioactive atoms is inherently dangerous, but the energy unleashed by the chain reaction that ensues is the entire point. It’s a delicate balance to stay in the sweet spot, and it requires constant attention to the core temperature, or else the reactor could go into meltdown.
Today, nuclear fission is largely produced with fuel rods, which are skinny zirconium tubes packed with uranium pellets. The fission rate is kept in check with control rods, which are made of various elements like boron and cadmium that can absorb a lot of excess neutrons. Control rods calm the furious fission boil down to a sensible simmer, and can be recycled until they either wear out mechanically or become saturated with neutrons.
Nuclear power plants tend to have large footprints because of all the safety measures that are designed to prevent meltdowns. If there was a fuel that could withstand enough heat to make meltdowns physically impossible, then there would be no need for reactors to be buffered by millions of dollars in containment equipment. Stripped of these redundant, space-hogging safety measures, the nuclear process could be shrunk down quite a bit.
Cutaway of a single triso ball, magnified under a scanning electron microscope. Image via
US Department of Energy
What if meltdowns weren’t a thing?
The answer seems simple enough, doesn’t it? If we could make a fuel that can naturally withstand more heat than it needs to, then, we could do away with control rods, huge water baths, and concrete cooling towers.
Such a fuel already exists, and its time seems to have come
. Triso — short for tristructural isotropic — takes the form of pellets the size of poppy seeds that are made of enriched uranium and oxygen. It was first developed in the UK for the experimental Dragon reactor.
Each triso pellet is coated with a multi-layer candy shell made of graphite and silicon carbide that serves the same purpose as the control rod: safely containing fission. Thanks to this multi-layer shell, triso can withstand extremely high heat — way more heat than it would ever face inside of a standard reactor. Triso has been tested to withstand 3200 °F / 1760 °C, which is three times hotter than a typical reactor runs today.
The US Department of Energy describes triso as the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth
.
Triso is made by treating uranium ore with chemicals that break it down into tiny beads. The beads are put into a furnace and blasted with gases that break down in the heat and coat the beads with protective deposits.
Nuclear Nuggets and Power Balls
So why haven’t we been using triso instead of fuel rods all these years? There are a few reasons. In its natural state, triso isn’t energy-dense enough for today’s large light-water reactors.
A fuel pebble breakdown via
Breaking Defense
Triso is also expensive to make, so there hasn’t been a great deal of research until the last twenty years or so when the Department of Energy started funding companies who were building smaller, high-temperature reactors.
There are two companies in the US that are currently producing both triso and triso-compatible nuclear reactors. BWXT is making triso fuel cylinders that look a lot like bite-sized fuel rods.
A company called X-Energy is manufacturing a secret blend that they refer to as ‘power balls’. It’s tens of thousands of triso particles packed into a sphere the size of a billiard ball, and it’s designed to work with the company’s pebble bed reactor that produces 1/8th the power of a standard reactor. Each power ball is good for six trips through their Xe-100 pebble bed reactor before it wears out, which makes the lifespan about three years.
The Department of Energy aren’t the only ones betting on triso as the future of nuclear fuel. The Department of Defense is pitting BWXT and X-Energy against each other to develop a mobile reactor for military use, and
NASA is revisiting the idea of nuclear-powered rockets
. | 137 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267494",
"author": "Nigel Trewartha",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T17:15:06",
"content": "This looks interesting – BUT what about the radioactive waste. It not really the security but the radioactive waste that is a real problem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,373,404.964045 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/saturday-vintage-computer-festival-west/ | Saturday: Vintage Computer Festival West | Mike Szczys | [
"cons"
] | [
"116.56505°",
"6502",
"bil herd",
"VCF West",
"Vintage Computer Festival"
] | The Vintage Computer Festival West is an annual gathering to celebrate the awesome hardware that ushered in the Information Age. Normally held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, this year
VCF West is happening virtually and it all starts on Saturday
!
The
lineup of talks looks great
, covering everything from operating an Apollo DSKY display panel and how to recover magnetic tape to ENIAC technical manual bugs and the genesis of the 6502. That last one is presented by Bill Mensch who was on the team that created the 6502 in the first place. He’ll be joined by Hackaday’s own Bil Herd (himself
a celebrated Commodore
and
MOS alum
) and Eric Schlaepfer (you may remember
his Monster 6502 project
). You may not be able to wander the exhibits and play with the vintage hardware this year, but you can hear from a lot of people who have spent years learning the hacks and quirks that made these systems tick.
Hacakaday is proud to once again sponsor VCF West. You don’t need a ticket, the conference will live stream on their YouTube channel for all who are interested. We’ve embedded the live stream below, as well as the awesome poster at that Joe Kim produced for display at the festival. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267487",
"author": "Steve Silverman",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T16:40:27",
"content": "I’ll be watching. Did Joe Kim have anything to do with the naming of the 6502 KIM-1 computer?Steve Silverman",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,373,404.722812 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/denim-sunglasses-frames-use-a-wicked-set-of-jigs/ | Denim Sunglasses Frames Use A Wicked Set Of Jigs | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"blue jeans",
"denim",
"fabrication",
"frames",
"glasses",
"jig",
"resin",
"sunglasses"
] | An obligatory “Future’s so bright I gotta wear… denim” joke is the only way to kick off this article. Sorry!
Now that that’s out of the way, how would you turn your own blue jeans into sunglasses? Well you wouldn’t, unless you’ve built
an intricate jig for assembling sunglasses frames
like [Mosevic] has done. Boiled down, this is like making parts out of carbon fiber, except you swap in denim for the carbon fiber. Several layers of blue jean material are layered in a mold and impregnated with resin. Once hardened, parts can be milled or laser cut from this stock and then assembled into the frames all of the hipsters are after.
For us its the assembly jig that’s so interesting to see. [Mosevic]
shared it in an unlisted video
of an update to
the Kickstarter campaign
which ran at the end of 2019. The jig is used to align machined parts into stack ups that include brass reinforcement and pins to align layers, as well as the joining for the three parts of the frame via the metal hinges. Most of the jig is made from machined plywood. The plates that hold the three parts of the frame, the “frame front” and the two “temples” in eyeglass parlance, are interchangeable so that the same jig can be used to assemble several variants of the frame design. The most notable non-plywood part of the jig are two metal clamps that hold the hinge into the frame front as the glue dries, holding a couple of tiny chunks of denim/resin block in place.
Here you can see the jig with all clamps fully closed. There is not an insignificant amount of time just getting the parts into this jig. But parts still need quite a bit of cleanup after this process to sand, shape, and polish all edges and surfaces of the frames. And of course you have to figure in the time it took to make the parts that went into the jig in the first place. The finished frames are gorgeous, but we have a lot more respect having seen what it takes to pull it off.
Now if you like your glasses like George Washington liked his false teeth, here’s how you can
pull a set of shades out of your woodshop
. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267471",
"author": "DenimDan",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T15:08:16",
"content": "Finally… A pair of shades to go with the rest of my Canadian Tuxedo.https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=canadian+tuxedo&atb=v206-1&iax=images&ia=images",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies"... | 1,760,373,404.677734 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/geocaching-on-mars-how-perseverance-will-seal-martian-samples-with-a-return-to-earth-in-mind/ | Geocaching On Mars: How Perseverance Will Seal Martian Samples With A Return To Earth In Mind | Dan Maloney | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"News",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"caching",
"hermetically",
"Mars 2020",
"Perseverance",
"rover",
"sample",
"scara",
"seal",
"sha",
"titanium"
] | With the roughly 20-day wide launch window for the Mars 2020 mission rapidly approaching, the hype train for the next big mission to the Red Planet is really building up steam. And with good reason — the Mars 2020 mission has been in the works for a better part of a decade, and
as we reported earlier this year
, the rover it’s delivering to the Martian surface, since dubbed Perseverance, will be among the most complex such devices ever fielded.
“Percy” — come on, that nickname’s a natural — is a mobile laboratory, capable of exploring the Martian surface in search of evidence that life ever found a way there, and to do the groundwork needed if we’re ever to go there ourselves. The nuclear-powered rover bristles with scientific instruments, and assuming it survives the
“Seven Minutes of Terror”
as well as its fraternal twin Curiosity did in 2012, we should start seeing some amazing results come back.
No prior mission to Mars has been better equipped to answer the essential question: “Are we alone?” But no matter how capable Perseverance is, there’s a limit to how much science can be packed into something that costs millions of dollars a kilogram to get to Mars. And so NASA decided to equip Perseverance with the ability to not only collect geological samples, but to package them up and deposit them on the surface of the planet to await a future mission that will pick them up for a return trip to Earth for further study. It’s bold and forward-thinking, and it’s unlike anything that’s ever been tried before. In a lot of ways, Perseverance’s sample handling system is the rover’s
raison d’être
, and it’s the subject of this deep dive.
Three Robots in One
NASA has done its usual admirable job of communicating with the public about the Mars 2020 mission, and part of the outreach includes
this recent video
that shows off a little of the engineering that went into the sample handling system. Honestly, though, for as much tech eye candy as that video had, it only served to whet my appetite. There was so much going on that I had to find out more.
To get a bit of the inside story, I turned to Kelly Palm, one of the JPL engineers seen in the video below. As the Integration and Test Lead for the Sample Caching System (SCS), she’s pretty busy these days, but she graciously fielded my questions and helped give me an idea of what went into building and testing such a complex piece of equipment.
First of all, the SCS is really not just one but three separate robots, each with a specific set of jobs. The “business end” of the SCS is the 2-meter-long robot arm mounted to the front of the vehicle. Like
Curiosity
before it, the arm carries a turret that’s laden with scientific instruments, sensors, and cameras, as well as the tools necessary for boring into Martian rocks and taking samples. But unlike its predecessor, where the rock drill was designed to abrade rocks and produce a powder that could be easily analyzed by onboard instruments, the Perseverance drill is specialized for obtaining core samples, suitable for both on-board study and in terrestrial labs once the samples are returned.
The drill in the robot arm’s turret is a pretty versatile tool. With the help of the bit carousel (more about which is below) the drill can attach bits designed for different jobs. The drill is capable of running in either a simple rotary mode or in a percussive mode, similar to a hammer drill. A small onboard tank of purified nitrogen is used to gently remove dust generated by coring operations.
Detail of the core break-off and retention system. Source:
Honeybee Robotics
Coring into rock to a limited depth using a cylindrical bit raises a question: how exactly is the core recovered? On Earth, the answer would be to use a second tool to pry at the cylinder of rock left behind after the coring bit is removed. While something like that could certainly work on Mars too, especially with a robotic arm at your disposal, NASA came up with a far more clever system.
According to
design tests
run by a company called Honeybee Robotics in 2014, liberating the core from the parent rock and enclosing it the sample tube in which it will live until being reopened in a lab on Earth is a one-step process. Nestled inside the coring bit is a titanium sample tube. During coring, the axis of the sample tube and the coring bit are aligned with each other, so that the tube slips over the rock core as drilling proceeds. At the proper depth, the sample tube is rotated slightly off-axis, exerting enough force on the base of the core sample to break it off from the parent rock. The core is retained by a lip on the inside of the coring bit, allowing it to be removed from the hole, already within the titanium sample tube in which it will remain until the sample return mission.
Sealed with a Ram
The bit carousel, which transitions bits and samples from vertical to horizontal with just a single axis of rotation. Source:
Mars 2020 Mission
by Ken Farley
The bit carousel is the next robot in the sample caching process. Sitting at the front of the rover chassis, the bit carousel is outwardly simple — just a rotating turret that transports bits to and from storage in the belly of Perseverance. But what it lacks in complexity is more than made up for by its clever design. The body of the carousel is a wheel with stations around the edge. Each station is at a 45° angle relative to the rotor’s axis, which itself is oriented 45° to the long axis of the chassis. The combination of angles means that a tube can transition from vertical to horizontal just by rotating the carousel with a single motor. There are plenty of sensors and actuators that ensure everything is lined up, of course, but the simplicity of the design is really something.
Sample tube sealing system. The seal (yellow) is dropped into the sample tube, and a ferrule (gray) is driven down a guide rod to expand the seal into the tube walls. Source: Redmond, Laura
et al.
“Design of Robust Sealing Mechanism for Mars 2020 Sample Tubes,”
J. Spacecraft and Rockets
The ability to transfer tools and samples between horizontal and vertical orientations is critical to the sample caching mission, since the robot that takes care of storing everything lives inside the forward section of the rover’s chassis. The Sample Handling Arm, or SHA, looks a little like the SCARA (selective compliance articulated robot arm) robots that are prevalent in semiconductor fabs. The SHA is capable of accessing multiple locations inside the sample caching compartment and transferring between them and the bit carousel presentation area. To clear the instruments and sample tubes that take up most of the space in the bay, the SHA has an additional Z-axis so that the whole thing can drop below the bottom edge of the rover chassis. In addition to 42 storage silos for core and regolith sample tubes, the SHA can reach storage for a number of tools and attachments, plus instruments for doing some preliminary analysis of the samples, such as volume assessment and imaging.
Once a sample tube is filled, it needs to be hermetically sealed to ensure that the contents will survive for an indeterminate amount of time on the Martian surface as well as withstand the rigors of the eventual trip back to Earth. The seal has to be made without contaminating the sample, so no adhesives can be used, and no heat can be used either, lest the sample be subjected to extreme temperatures.
To seal a sample tube, the SHA brings it over to one of seven seal dispensers. A cup-shaped plug is dropped into the open end of the tube by a dispenser. The plugged tube is then moved to a sealing station, which uses a motor-driven ram to drive a tapered ferrule down a guide rod inside of the plug. As the ferrule is pressed downward, the rim of the plug expands, driving a sharp tooth on its outside circumference into the inner wall of the sample tube. The end result is essentially a cold-welded bond between the cap and the sample tube, hermetically sealing the tube and protecting the sample from contamination.
Return to Sender
Once a sample has been sealed in its titanium sarcophagus, it’s ready to be deposited onto the Martian surface. Most mission profiles that I could find refer to the use of “depot caching”, where Perseverance repeatedly returns to a single location from various regions of interest to deposit sample tubes. This makes perfect sense; finding a big pile of 42 titanium tubes is probably a far easier task for a future sample recovery mission than roaming about looking for individual tubes dropped where they were taken.
Like geocaching, but on Mars. The Depot Caching strategy to be used at Jezero Crater. Source:
NASA
Still, whatever robot is sent to clean up after Perseverance has its work cut out for it; since the SHA cannot reach down to the surface, the tubes will have to be dropped, which means an orderly stack of sample tubes will likely not be what the recovery robot will find. Whatever follows in Perseverance’s tracks is going to need the agility to pick up and safely stow every single precious sample tube regardless of its orientation, possibly after digging it out of wind-blown regolith, and the intelligence to do it all autonomously.
With some luck, Perseverance will soon be on its way to Mars, and both when it launches and when it lands in February, we’ll be glued to our seats waiting for results. We’ll also be following the development of the return mission, which could prove to be even more challenging and require even cooler engineering to pull off.
Featured images:
NASA/JPL-Caltech | 23 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267464",
"author": "mjrippe",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T14:39:32",
"content": "Thanks for doing the extra research, I always love seeing space exploration articles on HAD!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6267492",
"author": ... | 1,760,373,404.46439 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/enjoying-some-exothermic-welding-with-thermite/ | Enjoying Some Exothermic Welding, With Thermite! | Maya Posch | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"exothermic welding",
"Thermite",
"welding"
] | There probably aren’t many people out there who aren’t aware of what thermite is and how it demonstrates the power of runaway exothermic reactions. Practical applications that don’t involve destroying something are maybe less known. This is where the use of thermite for creating welds is rather interesting, as shown in
this video by [Finn]
that is also embedded after the break.
In the video, one can see how [Finn] uses thermite charges to weld massive copper conductors together in a matter of seconds inside a graphite mold. Straight joints, T-joints, and others are a matter of putting the conductors into the mold, pushing a button and watching the fireworks. After a bit of cleaning the slag off, a solid, durable weld is left behind.
The official name for this process is ‘
exothermic welding
‘, and it has been in use since the 19th century. Back then it was used primarily for rail welding. These days it sees a lot of use in high-voltage wiring and other applications, as in the linked video. The obvious advantage of exothermic welding is that the resulting joint is strong and durable, on account of the two surfaces having been permanently joined. | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267419",
"author": "Harvie.CZ",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T11:10:33",
"content": "What are the properties of copper cast in this way? I’ve noticed that low quality copper can get brittle. I can also imagine that such process can introduce thermal stress. (maybe not if you let it cool... | 1,760,373,405.014545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/30/join-your-own-private-lora-mesh-network/ | Join Your Own Private LoRa Mesh Network | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"communication",
"LoRa",
"pager"
] | We are fortunate to live in an age surrounded by means of easy communication, and like never before we can have friends on the other side of the world as well as just down the road. But as many readers will know, this ease of communication comes at a price of sharing public and commercial infrastructure. To communicate with privacy and entirely off-grid remains an elusive prize, but it’s one pursued by
Scott Powell with his
LoRa QWERTY Messenger
. This is a simple pager device that forms a LoRa mesh network with its peers, and passes encrypted messages to those in the same group.
At its heart is a LoRa ESP32 module with a small OLED display and a Blackberry QWERTY keyboard, and an SD card slot. The device’s identity is contained on an SD card, which gives ease of reconfiguration. It’s doubly useful, because it is also a complement to his already existing
Ripple LoRa communication project
, that uses a smartphone as the front end for a similar board.
We feel this type of secure distributed communication is an exciting application for LoRa, whether it be for kids playing at being spies or for more serious purposes.
It’s certainly not the first such project we’ve featured
. | 19 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267398",
"author": "Roger Rabbit",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T08:32:44",
"content": "Solar power and drone deploy-able is the next step",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6267476",
"author": "Goda",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,373,405.065462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/die-photos-reveal-logic-from-commodore-128-pla-chip/ | Die Photos Reveal Logic From Commodore 128 PLA Chip | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"and",
"bil herd",
"C-128",
"CBM",
"gates",
"matrix",
"minterm",
"OR",
"Programmable Logic Array",
"reverse engineering"
] | The 8721 PLA, or programmable logic array, was one of the chips that had to be invented to make the Commodore 128, the last of the 8-bit computers that formed the leading edge of the early PC revolution, a reality. [
Johan Grip
] got a hold of one of these chips and
decided to reverse engineer it
, to see what the C-128 designers had in mind back in mid-1980s.
PLAs were the FPGAs of the day, with arrays of AND gates and OR gates that could be connected into complex logic circuits. [Johan]’s investigation started with liberating the 8721 die from its package, for which he used the
quick and easy method
favored by [CuriousMarc]. The next step was tooling up, as the microscope he was using proved insufficient to the task. Even with a better microscope in hand, [Johan] still found the need to tweak it, adding one of the new high-quality Raspberry Pi cameras and motorizing the stage with some stepper motors and a CNC controller board.
With optics sorted out, he was able to identify all the pads on the die and to find the main gate array areas. Zooming in a little further, he was able to see the connections between the matrices of the AND and OR gates, which makes decoding the logic a relative snap, although the presence of what appears to be an output block with latching functions confounds this somewhat.
The end result is a full Verilog HDL file that reflects the original 8721 logic, which we think is a pretty neat trick. And we’d love it if our own [Bil Herd] could chime in on this; after all, he
literally designed the C-128
. | 27 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267379",
"author": "John Riney (@riney)",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T05:36:46",
"content": "Great job, Johan! This kind of work is increasingly important as these machines age. Could I humbly request you add the VDC to your to-do list?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,373,405.449066 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/inside-a-30000-8-ghz-scope/ | Inside A $30,000 8 GHz Scope | Al Williams | [
"Teardown"
] | [
"oscilloscope",
"scope",
"tektronix"
] | One of the best things about the Internet — especially the video part — is that you can get exposed to lots of things you might otherwise not be able to see. Take oscilloscopes, for example. If you were lucky, you might have one or two really nice instruments at work and you certainly weren’t going to be allowed to tear them open if they were working well. [The Signal Path], as a case in point,
tears down a $30,000 MSO6 8 GHz oscilloscope
.
Actually, the base price is not quite $30,000 but by the time you outfit one, you’ll probably break the $30K barrier. Compared to the scopes we usually get to use, these are very different. Sure, the screens are larger and denser, but looking at the circuit boards they look more like some sort of high-end computer than an oscilloscope. Of course, in a way, that’s exactly what it is.
The real trick to building an expensive 8 GHz is the signal integrity. But the most visible part of the design is thermal management. The entire box is full of heat sinks and other thermal management gear.
The board inside actually can accommodate six inputs, even though the scope was only set up for four inputs. No software hack here, though. The boards are lacking the connectors and the special ICs that manage the front end.
The video is nearly an hour long, and goes into a lot of detail. Looking at the analog front end design is surprisingly enlightening, especially since there are two unpopulated sections so you can deduce the wiring easily without removing any parts.
We used to think we were in clover buying surplus Tektronix or HP scopes from the 1970s back in the 1990s. We wonder how long it will be before these become staples at hamfests and on eBay?
If you want to contrast that to a more common scope, look at the
insides of this OWON
.You can also shop for
something more affordable
if you are in the market. Just don’t expect it to look or perform like this scope! | 20 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267359",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T02:27:56",
"content": "I expect the most expensive and sophisticated of instruments to be subjected to the most rigorous testing, so what I want to know is… Will it blend?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,373,405.502462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/do-you-know-where-your-children-are-check-the-weasley-clock/ | Do You Know Where Your Children Are? Check The Weasley Clock | Kristina Panos | [
"clock hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"clock",
"gps",
"harry potter",
"mqtt",
"raspberry pi",
"weasley clock"
] | What’s the coolest thing you could build for a Harry Potter fan, aside from a working magic wand or Quidditch broomstick? We would have to say
a Weasley clock that shows the whereabouts of everyone in the family
is pretty high on the list, especially if that fan is a wife and mother.
Here’s how it works: they’ve set up geofences to define the boundaries of home, each person’s school or workplace, and so on. The family’s locations are tracked through their phones’ GPS using Home Assistant, which is hosted on a Raspberry Pi.
Whenever someone’s location changes, the Pi alerts the clock over MQTT, and it moves the 3D-printed hands with servos
.
The clock has some interesting granularity to it as well. As someone gets closer to home, their pointer’s distance reflects that in its proximity to the Home slice. And Home itself is divided into the main house and the shop and reflected by the pointer’s position.
We particularly like the attention to detail here
, like the art poster used for the clock’s face that includes all the Weasley’s whereabouts in the background. It’s built into a thrift store grandmother clock, which is smaller than a grandfather clock but no less majestic. In the future there are plans to implement the clock’s chimes to announce that someone is back home.
No matter what you’re into, the whereabouts clock idea can probably fit that universe. For instance,
here’s one that uses LEGO mini-fig heads
to locate roommates. | 16 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267341",
"author": "DougM",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T00:09:47",
"content": "Brilliant.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6267347",
"author": "Howard",
"timestamp": "2020-07-30T00:40:24",
"content": "That was bloody br... | 1,760,373,405.387471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/an-open-source-microfluidic-pump-for-your-science-needs/ | An Open-Source Microfluidic Pump For Your Science Needs | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"home lab",
"microfluidic",
"microfluidics"
] | When it comes to research in fields such as chemistry or biology, historically these are things that have taken place in well-financed labs in commercial settings or academic institutions. However, with the wealth of technology available to the average person today, a movement has sprung up of those that run advanced experiments in the comfort of their own home laboratory. For those needing to work with very tiny amounts of liquid,
[Josh’s] microfluidics pump may be just the ticket.
Consisting of a series of stepper-motor driven pumps, the hardware is inspired by modern 3D printer designs. The motors used are all common NEMA items, and the whole system is driven by the popular Marlin firmware. The reported performance is impressive, delivering up to 15 mL/min with accuracy to 0.1uL/min. That’s a truly tiny amount of fluid, and the device could prove highly useful to those exploring genetics or biology at home.
The great thing about this build is that it’s open source. [Josh] took the time to ensure that it was easily moddable to work with different tubing and materials, such that others could spin up a copy using whatever was readily available in their area. Performance will naturally vary, but if you’re experienced enough to build a microfluidic pump, you’re experienced enough to calibrate it, too.
Design files are on Github
for those keen to build their own.
We’ve seen other builds in this area before, too.
We look forward to seeing some fun science done with [Josh]’s build, and look forward to seeing more DIY science gear in the future! | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267313",
"author": "Arthur Wolf",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T21:10:27",
"content": "If you switch to using a Smoothieboard ( which would likely work as a drop-in replacement to Marlin-based hardware ), you gain the fact that Smoothie’s chip has a RTC, which you can use to be way more... | 1,760,373,405.268262 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/breakaway-keyboard-pcb-makes-customization-a-snap/ | Breakaway Keyboard PCB Makes Customization A Snap | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"mechanical keyboard",
"ortholinear",
"QMK"
] | Once upon a time, keyboards were something that you took with you from computer to computer, because most of them were built quite nicely. After a few dark decades of membrane keyboards being the norm, the rise of the mechanical keyboard community has shined a light on what is possible with open source designs. Anyone can join in, because quality clackers now exist on every level, whether you want to design the perfect split ortho with OLEDs, rotary encoders, and rear view mirrors, or just want to fork over some money and get to punching switches.
Break me off a piece of that candy bar keeb.
Building your own keyboard doesn’t have to be daunting. It can be as easy or as involved as you want. There’s still a fair amount of soldering simply because it’s a keyboard. But there are plenty of options if you don’t want to do a whole lot beyond soldering switches (or hot swap sockets!) and putting a case together.
Take for instance the JNAO (Just Need An Ortho) build that [Jared] just finished
. It starts with a PCB and on-board controller, and the idea is to customize it from there. You’re left to 3D print, laser cut, or otherwise carve your own case and a plate to stabilize the key switches, and then get down to business deciding on switches and keycaps.
The interesting thing about the JNAO is the breakaway row of keys on the bottom. The standard grid is 12×5, but if you don’t need the dedicated number row along the top like [Jared], you’re not stuck with it. And you’re not stuck with the default layout, either. Flashing to a standard Planck layout didn’t go as easily as [Jared] might have liked, but we think he was wise to get the firmware squared away before ever turning on the soldering iron.
Don’t know what to do with such a small keyboard?
They’re pretty much perfect for cyberdeck builds
. | 18 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267307",
"author": "Alan Fleck",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T21:01:29",
"content": "‘shined’ is not English, nor I believe is it American. ‘shone’, please.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6267311",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.... | 1,760,373,405.595158 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/smashing-the-atom-a-brief-history-of-particle-accelerators/ | Smashing The Atom: A Brief History Of Particle Accelerators | Moritz v. Sivers | [
"Featured",
"History",
"Original Art",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"lhc",
"particle accelerator",
"supercollider"
] | When it comes to building particle accelerators the credo has always been “bigger, badder, better”. While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with its 27 km circumference and €7.5 billion budget is still the largest and most expensive scientific instrument ever built, it’s physics program is slowly coming to an end. In 2027, it will receive the last major upgrade, dubbed the High-Luminosity LHC, which is expected to complete operations in 2038. This may seem like a long time ahead but the scientific community is already thinking about what comes next.
Recently,
CERN released an update of the future European strategy for particle physics
which includes the feasibility study for a 100 km large Future Circular Collider (FCC). Let’s take a short break and look back into the history of “atom smashers” and the scientific progress they brought along.
A Machine to Split the Atom
Proton accelerator used by Walton & Cockroft to split the atom. Walton sits in the small observation cabin and watches the produced alpha particles on a fluorescent screen.
Credit:
cambridgephysics.org
The main motivation to build accelerators arose at the beginning of the twentieth century when Ernest Rutherford discovered in 1919 that he could split nitrogen atoms by bombarding them with alpha particles from natural radioactive sources. To continue his research, he demanded a source of higher energy and higher intensity “atomic projectiles” than those provided by natural radioactive sources. Encouraged by Rutherford, in 1932 Cockcroft and Walton used a 400 kV generator to accelerate protons and shoot them onto a lithium target which resulted in the first entirely man-controlled splitting of the atom.
Particle acceleration using DC voltages like that of the Cockroft-Walton generator and later the Van de Graaff generator was limited by the maximum voltage that the machine could provide. To overcome this limitation, Swedish physicist Ising proposed the principle of resonant acceleration where the same voltage is applied repeatedly through a series of drift tubes hooked up to an RF generator. This was considered the true birth of particle accelerators and in fact, the current generation of linear colliders are still relying on the same principle. Rolf Winderöe was the first to build such an accelerator in 1928 in Germany to produce 50 keV potassium ions.
From Linear to Circular
Working principle of the cyclotron.
Credit:
P.J. Bryant
One downside of the linear accelerator (linac) is that the length of the drift tubes has to be increased as the velocity increases making the machine rather large and difficult to construct for high energies.
In 1929 Ernest Lawrence came up with the much more compact cyclotron, which accelerates particles along a spiral path guided by a magnetic field. Together with his student M. Stanley Livingston, Lawrence built the first cyclotron which was only 4 inches in diameter but could accelerate protons to 1.25 MeV. The cyclotron finally made it possible to produce particles with much higher energies than those by radioactive sources and it stayed the most powerful type of accelerator until another technology came along in the 1950s.
Keeping Particles in Sync
As particles start to approach the speed of light
they slow down due to relativistic effects
some of the energy goes into the relativistic mass so they lose synchronization with the RF electric field of the cyclotron. This was compensated by varying the RF frequency and the machine and was dubbed the synchrocyclotron. Later also the guiding magnetic field was ramped up as the particle velocity increases so that the particles moved on a constant orbit. This was the birth of the synchrotron.
A “Livingston plot” showing the evolution of accelerator energy over the years.
Credit:
R. Ruth
The final advancement was made by moving from fixed target accelerators to storage ring colliders. Since the energy available for the production of new particles is given in the center-of-mass frame of the collision, it is much more efficient to collide particles head-on instead of shooting a beam on a fixed target.
A Plethora of New Particles
While before the 1950s new particles were mainly discovered through cosmic rays, powerful accelerators like the synchrotron heralded a “Golden Era” of particle physics. These new machines led to the discovery of many subatomic particles as listed in the table below.
Studying the structure of the atom on smaller scales and being able to produce particles with higher masses is what drove the development of accelerators with ever-higher energies. In a synchrotron reaching higher energies requires either a larger radius or stronger magnetic fields. Therefore, it was the use of superconducting magnets but also the possibility to build colliders underground, below property that is not owned by the laboratory running the machine, which enabled the construction of giant colliders such as the LHC.
Year
Particle
Accelerator Name
Accelerator Type
Location
1955
antiproton
Bevatron
proton synchrotron
LBNL, U.S.
1962
muon neutrino
AGS
proton synchrotron
BNL, U.S.
1974
J/ψ meson
SLAC
electron linac
Fermilab
Menlo Park, U.S.
1975
tau lepton
SLAC
electron linac
Fermilab
Menlo Park, U.S.
1978/1979
gluon
DORIS/PETRA
electron synchrotron
DESY, Germany
1983
W, Z bosons
SPS
proton synchrotron
CERN, Switzerland
1995
top quark
Tevatron
proton synchrotron
Fermilab, U.S.
2000
tau neutrino
Tevatron
proton synchrotron
Fermilab, U.S.
2012
Higgs boson
LHC
proton synchrotron
CERN, Switzerland
What’s Next?
Currently, particle physics is in a bit of a crisis because the final missing piece of the Standard Model, the Higgs boson, was discovered by the LHC but there is yet no evidence for new physics like
supersymmetry
. Although we know that the Standard Model cannot explain dark matter and dark energy, it is doubtful that a new giant collider such as the FCC will provide any answers which is why
some people strongly argue against it
. There is no reason for nature to be nice, so it might be that the mass of new particles lies far beyond what is technologically achievable.
E.O. Lawrence and his 27″ accelerator. Credit:
Lawrence Berkeley Nat’l Lab
It may also be that new physics is hiding somewhere in the low-energy regime which would require entirely different experiments. Nevertheless, there are some technological developments that may considerably lower the price tag of a new supercollider thereby making it more attractive. One would be the discovery of room-temperature superconductors the other is
Wakefield acceleration
which could ultimately lead to much more compact accelerators that can even fit on a table (again). So let us hope that pushing the energy frontier will keep providing us answers to the most fundamental questions in nature. | 28 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267252",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T17:09:05",
"content": "Wakefield accelerators are old news. Read up onhttps://achip.stanford.edu",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6267390",
"author": "Moritz v. Sive... | 1,760,373,405.337339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/a-mobile-phone-for-the-pulse-dial-generation/ | A Mobile Phone For The Pulse Dial Generation | Jenny List | [
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"dial phone",
"gsm",
"rotary dial"
] | One of the useful side effects of the ubiquitous availability of cellular network data modules is that they can be used to create custom mobile phones. It’s surprising in a way that we don’t see as many of these projects as we’d expect, but by way of redressing that deficiency we’re pleased to see the work of [Proton Gamer],
who has taken a vintage rotary dial phone and upgraded it with an Arduino and GSM shield
to make a very unexpected mobile phone project.
It’s not entirely certain from the write-up which manufacturer produced the donor phone or for which country’s network it was produced, but it seems typical of the type you might have found the world over in the 1960s. We’re given a breakdown of the various components and how to interface to them, the ringer for example is run using a motor driver board. There are comprehensive instructions for the conversion, though sadly they involve gutting the phone and removing the original hardware. The result can be seen in the video below the break, and the finished project makes a mobile phone call from the unlikeliest of hardware.
This certainly isn’t the first rotary dial mobile phone we’ve featured, including
one based on a conference badge
. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267243",
"author": "MPat",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T16:47:12",
"content": "The label on the dial shows it is a french phone, so made by the national telecom authority (called P&T, PTT or France Telecom depending on the year). At the time you couldn’t buy a phone at any shop, I beli... | 1,760,373,405.540115 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/ask-hackaday-why-did-github-ship-all-our-software-off-to-the-arctic/ | Ask Hackaday: Why Did GitHub Ship All Our Software Off To The Arctic? | Ben James | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"Current Events",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"archive",
"arctic",
"Ask Hackaday",
"github",
"open source",
"software"
] | If you’ve logged onto GitHub recently and you’re an active user, you might have noticed a new badge on your profile: “Arctic Code Vault Contributor”. Sounds pretty awesome right? But whose code got archived in this vault, how is it being stored, and what’s the point?
They Froze My Computer!
On February 2nd,
GitHub took a snapshot of every public repository
that met any one of the following criteria:
Activity between Nov 13th, 2019 and February 2nd, 2020
At least one star and new commits between February 2nd, 2019 and February 2nd, 2020
250 or more stars
Then they traveled to Svalbard, found a decommissioned coal mine, and archived the code in deep storage underground – but not before they made a very
cinematic video
about it.
How It Works
Source: GitHub
For the combination of longevity, price and density, GitHub chose film storage, provided by
piql
.
There’s nothing too remarkable about the storage medium: the tarball of each repository is encoded on standard silver halide film as a 2d barcode, which is distributed across frames of 8.8 million pixels each (roughly 4K). Whilst officially rated for 500, the film should last at least 1000 years.
You might imagine that all of GitHub’s public repositories would take up a lot of space when stored on film, but the data turns out to only be 21TB when compressed – this means the whole archive fits comfortably in a shipping container.
Each reel starts with slides containing an un-encoded human readable text guide in multiple languages, explaining to future humanity how the archive works. If you have five minutes,
reading the guide
and how GitHub explains the archive to whoever discovers it is good fun. It’s interesting to see the range of future knowledge the guide caters to — it starts by explaining in very basic terms what computers and software are, despite the fact that de-compression software would be required to use any of the archive. To bridge this gap, they are also providing a “Tech Tree”, a comprehensive guide to modern software, compilation, encoding, compression etc. Interestingly, whilst the
introductory guide is open source
, the
Tech Tree does not appear to be
.
But the question bigger than how GitHub did it is why did they do it?
Why?
The mission of the GitHub Archive Program is to preserve open source software for future generations.
GitHub talks about two reasons for preserving software like this: historical curiosity and disaster. Let’s talk about historical curiosity first.
There is an argument that preserving software is essential to preserving our cultural heritage. This is an easily bought argument, as even if you’re in the camp that believes there’s nothing artistic about a bunch of ones and zeros, it can’t be denied that software is a platform and medium for an incredibly diverse amount of modern culture.
GitHub also cites past examples of important technical information being lost to history, such as the
search for the blueprints of the Saturn V
, or the
discovery of the Roman mortar which built the Pantheon
. But data storage, backup, and networks have evolved significantly since Saturn V’s blueprints were produced. Today people frequently quip, “once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever”. What do you reckon? Do you think the argument that software (or rather, the subset of software which lives in public GitHub repos) could be easily lost in 2020+ is valid?
Whatever your opinion, simply preserving open source software on long timescales is already being done by many other organisations. And it doesn’t require an arctic bunker. For that we have to consider GitHub’s second motive: a large scale disaster.
If Something Goes Boom
We can’t predict what apocalyptic disasters the future may bring – that’s sort of the point. But if humanity gets into a fix, would a code vault be useful?
Firstly, let’s get something straight: in order for us to need to use a code archive buried deep in Svalbard, something needs to have gone really, really, wrong. Wrong enough that things like
softwareheritage.org
,
Wayback Machine
, and countless other “conventional” backups aren’t working. So this would be a disaster that has wiped out the majority of our digital infrastructure, including worldwide redundancy backups and networks, requiring us to rebuild things from the ground up.
This begs the question: if we were to rebuild our digital world, would we make a carbon copy of what already exists, or would we rebuild from scratch? There are two sides to this coin:
could
we rebuild our existing systems, and would we
want
to rebuild our existing systems.
Tackling the former first: modern software is built upon many, many layers of abstraction. In a post-apocalyptic world, would we even be able to use much of the software with our infrastructure/lower-level services wiped out? To take a random, perhaps tenuous example, say we had to rebuild our networks, DNS, ISPs, etc. from scratch. Inevitably behavior would be different, nodes and information missing, and so software built on layers above this might be unstable or insecure. To take more concrete examples, this problem is greatest where open-source software relies on closed-source infrastructure — AWS, 3rd party APIs, and even low-level chip designs that might not have survived the disaster. Could we reimplement existing software stably on top of re-hashed solutions?
The latter point — would we want to rebuild our software as it is now — is more subjective. I have no doubt every Hackaday reader has one or two things they might change about, well, almost everything but can’t due to existing infrastructure and legacy systems. Would the opportunity to rebuild modern systems be able to win out over the time cost of doing so?
Finally, you may have noticed that software is evolving rather quickly. Being a web developer today who is familiar with all the major technologies in use looks pretty different from the same role 5 years ago. So does archiving a static snapshot of code make sense given how quickly it would be out of date? Some would argue that throwing around numbers like 500 to 1000 years is pretty meaningless for reuse if the software landscape has completely changed within 50. If an apocalypse were to occur today, would we want to rebuild our world using code from the 80s?
Even if we weren’t to directly reuse the archived code to rebuild our world, there are still plenty of reasons it might be handy when doing so, such as referring to the logic implemented within it, or the architecture, data structures and so on. But these are just my thoughts, and I want to hear yours.
Was This a Useful Thing to Do?
The thought that there is a vault in the Arctic directly containing code you wrote is undeniably fun to think about. What’s more, your code will now almost certainly outlive you! But do you, dear Hackaday reader, think this project is a fun exercise in sci-fi, or does it hold real value to humanity? | 95 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267174",
"author": "Nicci",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T14:03:48",
"content": "Bad idea, because all software sucks. They should have archived computer science books instead.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6267182",
"au... | 1,760,373,405.838628 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/panic-button-is-an-audio-visual-parachute-out-of-zoom-calls/ | Panic Button Is An Audio-Visual Parachute Out Of Zoom Calls | Kristina Panos | [
"how-to",
"Lifehacks"
] | [
"arcade button",
"keyboard",
"panic button",
"trinket m0",
"zoom"
] | Everyone has been learning how to stream this year whether they want to or not. This has given rise to the embarrassment paradox, which states that the more urgently you need to kill your camera and microphone feeds in a videoconference call, the more difficult and time-consuming it will be. Zoom in particular will toggle the mic and camera with keyboard shortcuts, but when your toddler waddles into the room swinging a used diaper around in the air, keyboard shortcuts will seem woefully under-powered.
What you need is a single sturdy button that sends both of these toggle commands as quickly as possible
. [Simon Prickett]’s panic switch does exactly that. It’s a delightfully tactile arcade button connected to a Trinket M0, which can emulate a keyboard quite easily as an Arduino or CircuitPython device.
This little keyboard doesn’t send these macros directly, because that would be way too risky. What if you were reading Hackaday instead of staring into the tiled faces of your coworkers? Then it wouldn’t work, because Zoom is out of focus.
Instead, it sends an obscure four-key macro to the computer that triggers an AppleScript. [Simon]’s AppleScript checks to see if Zoom is running. If not, it has the system announce the fact. If it is running, then the script sends
cmd+shift+a
and
cmd+shift+v
to Zoom directly to toggle the audio and video. Check out the demo after the break.
As you might expect, we’ve seen a couple of videoconference survival hacks over the past few months. Need to show something or work with your hands, but only have one camera?
All you need is a mirror, a clothespin, and a length of wire for a simple split-screen setup
. | 20 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267116",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T11:12:27",
"content": "When using a laptop, just… close the lid?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6267120",
"author": "Clara",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T11:35:... | 1,760,373,405.652891 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/29/ultracapacitors-might-have-bad-fruity-smell/ | Ultracapacitors Might Have Bad Fruity Smell | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Science"
] | [
"capacitor",
"supercapacitor",
"ultracapacitor"
] | You might think the smell of an electrolytic capacitor boiling out is bad, but if scientists from the University of Sydney have their way, that might be nothing. They’ve devised an
ultracapacitor
— that uses biomass from the stinky durian fruit along with jackfruit. We assume the capacitors don’t stink in normal use, but we wouldn’t want to overload one and let the smoke out.
One of the things we found interesting about this is that the process seemed like something you might be able to reproduce in a garage. Sure, there were a few exotic steps like using a vacuum oven and a furnace with nitrogen, and you’d need some ability to handle chemicals like vinylidene fluoride. However, the hacker community has found ways to create lots of things with common tools, and we would imagine creating aerogels from some fruit ought not be out of reach.
Not to spoil the surprise, but the stinky durian fruit had better power density. The paper claims that the performance is mainly due to the gels having a large surface area and porous structures along with the presence of pyridinic and graphitic nitrogen. The material outperforms several other organic capacitors as well as graphene nanosheets. That information, by the way, is buried in the
supplement
to the paper if you would like to see the comparison table.
Does this mean we will see
cars running on fruit
soon? Probably
not
. There’s an equal chance it will use
dog fur and dryer lint
. | 21 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267103",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T10:21:40",
"content": "Yep, I read about this tech a while back, but it’s good to see some progress on it. I don’t mind using food to make electronics as long as there’s enough for people to eat after.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,373,405.708097 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/trick-from-1903-makes-an-old-monochrome-tv-spit-some-colours/ | Trick From 1903 Makes An Old Monochrome TV Spit Some Colours | Adil Malik | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"Color TV",
"filter",
"rgb",
"television"
] | Its safe to say that colour television is taken for granted nowadays. Consumed by the modern marketing jargon of colour dynamic range, colour space accuracy and depth, it is easy to overlook the humble beginnings of image reproduction when simply reconstructing an image with the slightest hint of colour required some serious ingenuity and earned you a well deserved pat on the back!
[anfractuosus]
revisited an old gem of a technique
, first patented in 1903 and used it to successful make an old monochrome TV produce a colour image. The idea in essence, is actually similar to what cheap image sensors and LCDs still use today. Rather than relying on true RGB colour generation by individually integrating colour sources as AMOLED does, we take an easier route: Produce a simpler monochrome image where each colour pixel is physically represented by four monochrome sub-pixels, one for each colour component. Now light up each of the sub-pixels according to the colour information of your image and rely on an external
colour filter array
to combine and spit out the correct colours.
He first used some image processing to convert a standard colour video into the aforementioned monochrome sub-pixel representation. Next, a Bayer colour filter array was printed on some acetate sheets using an inkjet printer (the original inventors used potato starch!), which when overlaid on top of the monochrome monitor, magically result in colour output.
There are some problems associated with this technique, mainly to do with the difficulty in measuring the size of the TV pixels and then producing and perfectly aligning a filter sheet for it. You should check out how [anfractuosus] went about solving those issues.
So now you know a bit more about colour image generation, but how about colour TV transmission?
Check out an earlier piece
to learn more. | 26 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267066",
"author": "Bo-Erik Sandholm",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T06:38:47",
"content": "For a older technique that still is in use in special cases, look at sequential colour system on wikipedia.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,373,406.019601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/trunking-police-scanning-with-sdrtrunk/ | Trunking Police Scanning With SDRTrunk | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"P25",
"police radio",
"police scanner",
"SDRTrunk",
"trunking radio"
] | There was a time when it was easy to eavesdrop on police and other service radio networks. Police scanners fans can hear live police, fire, and ambulance calls. However, it isn’t as easy as it used to be because nearly all radios now are trunked. That means conversations might jump from channel to channel. However, P25 can unscramble trunked radio calls intercepted by a cheap SDR dongle and let you listen in. [SignalsEverywhere] shows you how to
set it up
for Windows or Linux and you can see the video below.
Trunking radio makes sense. In the old days, you might have a dozen channels for different purposes. But most channels would be empty most of the time. With trunking radio, a radio’s computer is set to be in a talk group and a control channel sorts out what channel the talk group should use at any given time. That means that one channel might have several transmissions in a row from different talk groups and one talk group might hop to a new channel on each transmission.
P25 is the APCO ( Association of Public Safety Communications Officials) Project 25 standard used for public service trunking radios. You can, of course, get commercial equipment to monitor these radios, too, but what fun is that?
With everyone spending more time at home these days, radio monitoring is a great way to live vicariously. Not the first time we’ve seen
an SDR dongle
scanner, of course. Just watch out for
kiddy toys
. | 20 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267042",
"author": "opless",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T04:17:03",
"content": "At least the UK’s trucked radio should be encrypted.Is this because the P25 radios have a confusing UI that they’re transmitting in plain?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,406.072615 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/the-swiss-army-knife-of-bench-tools/ | The Swiss Army Knife Of Bench Tools | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"encoder",
"lm358",
"mcp23008",
"MLX90614",
"MPU-6050",
"multi-tool",
"multimeter",
"pir",
"ssd1306",
"tachometer",
"TP4056",
"VL53L1X",
"Wemos"
] | [splat238] had a ton of spare sensors laying around that he had either bought for a separate project or on an impulse buy, so he knew he had to do something with them. He decided to
build his own digital multi-tool
focusing on sensors that would be particularly useful in a workshop setting. Coincidentally, he was inspired by a
previous hack that we covered a while back
.
He’s equipped his device with a bubble level, tachometer, IR thermometer, protractor, laser pointer, and many, many more features that would make great additions to any hacker’s workspace. There’s a good summary of each sensor, making his Instructable somewhat of a quick guide to common sensing modalities for hardware designers. The tachometer, thermometer, laser pointer, and a few other capabilities are notable upgrades from the project we highlighted previously. We also appreciate the bigger display, allowing for more detailed user feedback particularly in using the compass and bullseye digital level among other features.
The number of components in [splat238’s] build is too extensive to detail one-by-one in this article, so please see his Instructable linked above for all the details. [splat238] made his own PCB for mounting each sensor and did a good job making the design modular so you wouldn’t need to add certain components if you don’t need them. Most of the components take some through-hole soldering with only a handful of 0805 resistors required otherwise. The housing was designed such that the user can handle the tool with one hand and can switch between each function with a push of a button.
Finally, the device is powered using a rechargeable lithium-polymer battery making it very reusable. And, if there weren’t enough features already, the battery can be charged via USB or through two solar panels mounted into the housing unit. Okay, solar charging might be a case of featuritis, but still a cool build either way.
Check out some other
handy DIY tools on Hackaday
. | 20 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6267001",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2020-07-29T00:46:18",
"content": "Don’t forget to hang it on a 248mm long wrist strap for a 1 second timing reference :-D(Yeah, yeah, I know 248mm to the center of mass and local value of g may be +/- a bit.)Surprised I haven’t yet s... | 1,760,373,406.124811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/esp32-turned-open-source-covid-19-contact-tracer/ | ESP32 Turned Open Source COVID-19 Contact Tracer | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"bluetooth low energy",
"contact tracing",
"COVID",
"Covid-19",
"ESP32",
"web bluetooth"
] | Over the past few months we’ve heard a lot about contact tracers which are designed to inform users if they’ve potentially come into close proximity with someone who has the virus. Generally these systems have been based on smartphone applications, but there are also hardware solutions that can operate independently for those who are unable or unwilling to install the software. Which is precisely what
[Tom Bensky] has implemented using an ESP32 and a USB battery bank
.
The idea is simple: the software generates a unique ID which is broadcast out by the ESP32 over Bluetooth Low Energy. Appended to that ID is a code that indicates the person’s current physical condition. There’s no centralized database, each user is expected to update their device daily with any symptoms they may be experiencing. If your tracker is blinking, that means somebody has come in close enough proximity that you should look at the collected data and see how they were feeling at the time.
It’s not a perfect system, of course, as for one thing the number of people that are willing and able to flash this firmware onto a spare ESP32 and carry the thing around with them all day is going to be extremely small. This might have filled an interesting niche if we were still going to hacker and maker cons this summer,
but all of those have gone virtual anyway
. That said, it’s an interesting look at how a decentralized contact tracing system can be implemented cheaply and quickly.
Another detail worth taking a look at is how [Tom] handled the user experience in his firmware. In an effort to make the tracer as easy as possible to configure, he’s using the Web Bluetooth capability of Google Chrome. Just open up the local web page in your browser, and it will handle talking to the hardware for you. Even if you’re not in the market for a contract tracer, we think this is a great example for how to handle end-user configuration on the ESP32.
We’ve already looked at
contact tracer APIs from Google and Apple
, dedicated
COVID-19 hardware tokens
, and even other
open source attempts at decentralized proximity tracking
. It’s a lot to process, and everyone seems to have their own idea on how it should be done. In the end, the most practical solution is probably to just stay at home as much as possible. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266929",
"author": "Vinalon",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T21:18:09",
"content": "It’s a cool project, even though I can’t find a license and the code is stuffed into a single file which is almost devoid of comments.But don’t contact tracing apps rely on a very large number of people u... | 1,760,373,406.180297 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/broken-smartphones-laptops-in-disguise/ | Broken Smartphones: Laptops In Disguise | Bryan Cockfield | [
"laptops hacks"
] | [
"aluminum",
"case",
"custom",
"laptop",
"phone",
"user interface"
] | Modern smartphones are a dizzying treatise on planned obsolescence. Whether it’s batteries that can’t be removed without four hours and an array of tiny specialized tools, screens that shatter with the lightest shock, or (worst of all) software that gets borked purposefully to make the phone seem older and slower than it really is, around every corner is some excuse to go buy a new device. The truly tragic thing is that there’s often
a lot of life left in these old, sometimes slightly broken, devices
.
This video shows us how to turn an old smartphone into a perfectly usable laptop. The build starts with a screen and control board that has USB-C inputs, which most phones can use to output video. It’s built into a custom aluminum case with some hinges, and then attached to a battery bank and keyboard in the base of the laptop. From there, a keyboard is installed and then the old phone is fixed to the back of the screen so that the aluminum body doesn’t interfere with the WiFi signal.
If all you need is internet browsing, messaging, and basic word processing, most phones are actually capable enough to do all of this once they are free of their limited mobile UI. The genius of this build is that since the phone isn’t entombed in the laptop body, this build could easily be used to expand the capabilities of a modern, working phone as well. That’s not the only way to get a functioning laptop with parts from the junk drawer, either, if you’d prefer to
swap out the phone for something else like a Raspberry Pi
.
Thanks to [NoxiousPluK] for the tip! | 22 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266840",
"author": "sqelch",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T18:32:56",
"content": "Good to see you are following DIYPerks. He has some excellent projects.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6266843",
"author": "kc8rwr",
"timesta... | 1,760,373,406.418402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/porsches-printed-pistons-are-powerful-and-precise/ | Porsche’s Printed Pistons Are Powerful And Precise | Kristina Panos | [
"car hacks",
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"News",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"cooling",
"horsepower",
"laser metal fusion",
"LMF printing",
"metal powder",
"piston",
"porsche",
"supercar"
] | The 700-horsepower Porsche 911 GT2 RS is already pretty darn fast — over three times faster than the average regular-person car on the road today. For the sports car enthusiast, there’s likely no ceiling on the need for speed and performance. And so,
Porsche was able to wrangle another thirty horsepower out of their limited-run supercar by printing a set of ultra-lightweight pistons
.
Pistons being lasered into existence. Image via
The Drive
These pistons are printed from high-purity aluminium alloy powder that was developed by German auto parts manufacturer Mahle. Porsche is having these produced by Mahle in partnership with industrial machine maker Trumpf using the laser metal fusion (LMF) process. It’s a lot like selective laser sintering (
SLS
), but with metal powder instead of plastic.
The machine dusts the print bed with a layer of powder, and then a laser melts the powder according to the CAD file, hardening it into shape. This process repeats one layer at a time, and supports are zapped together wherever necessary. When the print job is finished, the pistons are machined into their shiny final form and thoroughly tested, just like their cast metal cousins have been for decades.
A fresh plate of pistons. Image via
The Drive
Leaner and Meaner
Generally speaking, prototyping car parts with a printer is much faster than traditional methods. There are no molds to be made, which cuts down on both time and expense. These pistons don’t just have a cool origin story — they have advantages over cast pistons that make them objectively better.
Oil shoots up the inside port and swirls through the inside. Image via
Mahle
For one thing, additive manufacturing allows for designs that aren’t possible with casting. All of the fat has been trimmed from these pistons — in this design, there is only material where forces will act upon the piston, so it ends up weighing 10% less than regular pistons.
This lean design leaves plenty of room for a built-in cooling system, where oil shoots up through the bottom of the piston head and circulates through the areas that get the hottest. When you have lighter, cooler pistons, the engine can work harder and run faster.
This isn’t Porsche’s first foray into printed parts. Custom bucket seats are an option for two current models, and they also offer certain printed aftermarket replacement parts here and there for models that are no longer in production.
Porsche aren’t using these powerful pistons in production cars just yet. The laser metal fusion process is much better suited for small-scale production, limited run parts, and prototyping, at least for now. Printing a bed of five pistons takes twelve hours, according to this video about the printing process.
High-Stress Print Jobs
What could possibly go wrong with a printed version of something that’s designed to move so quickly under pressure? Probably nothing, though there hasn’t been time for long-term observation. Mahle says the printed pistons are extremely strong, and that they undergo the same rigorous testing as forged pistons. This includes a pulsation test to make sure it won’t crack under stress, and a tear-off test of the area where the piston rod connects. Then they put the pistons through a 200-hour stress exercise on a 911 GT2 RS test engine.
A concrete printer makes a wind turbine base on-site. Image via
GE
3D printing has been pushing the limits in other industries, too. You’ve no doubt heard of entire houses being printed in a matter of days. Concrete printers are also helping wind turbines to reach new heights by allowing gigantic bases to be printed on-site. The taller a wind turbine is, the better, but the added height necessitates a thicker base. In the US, the base size is limited by, of all things,
the height of highway overpasses
.
And as far as additive manufacturing for ad hoc replacement parts goes, it doesn’t get much more high-stress than a nuclear reactor. Even so,
there’s a project underway at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create a reactor with as many printed parts as possible
. And printing replacement parts for out-of-production reactors is already happening. A few years ago, Siemens switched out a faulty impeller with a printed version, and Westinghouse printed a thimble for holding active fuel rods.
Would you drive a car with printed pistons? You probably won’t be printing those on your own at home anytime soon, but you could already be making replacement badges for your project car, or given enough time,
piecing together a full-size plastic Lamborghini
. | 49 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266805",
"author": "ˀ",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T17:37:01",
"content": "I don’t think people completely understand that these are not only extremely expensive printers but they also utilize very pure environments to print from that require a host of PPE to use in addition to needin... | 1,760,373,406.35979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/fcc-fines-hobby-king-almost-3-million-for-illegal-drone-transmitters/ | FCC Fines Hobby King Almost $3 Million For Illegal Drone Transmitters | Al Williams | [
"News"
] | [] | We take wireless devices for granted these days, and it is easy to forget that the use of the airwaves is subject to government control — the FCC in the United States. HobbyKing got a sharp reminder when the
FCC levied a nearly $3 million fine
for the company selling uncertified drone transmitters.
It was hardly a surprise, though. The FCC has been cracking down on these noncompliant transmitters for a while now and had issued a notice of apparent liability to the company back in 2018 and the investigation goes back to 2016. The problems included radios being sold that were on unauthorized frequencies, radios with higher than legal output power, and selling radios that were not type accepted.
Ham radio operators are allowed to buy and use radios that are not type accepted, presumably because they have the technical know-how to operate them without interference. But other types of radios do need type acceptance.
According to the FCC, “In its response to the NAL, HobbyKing did not contest that it marketed devices without equipment certifications or that it failed to respond fully to the Bureau. Instead, HobbyKing raised several unpersuasive legal challenges.”
The FCC has been after people
making these transmitters
, too. If you are thinking about making a transmitting device, maybe think
about certification
. | 42 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266766",
"author": "Finnius de la Lettuice",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T15:50:07",
"content": "The rules and regs around transmitters needs to be re-evaluated for the IoT future. The necessity of FCC testing for even simplistic devices eliminates an entire class of useless gadgets we... | 1,760,373,406.26069 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/80-years-from-invention-china-is-struggling-with-jet-engines/ | 80 Years From Invention, China Is Struggling With Jet Engines | Lewin Day | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Slider"
] | [
"aircraft",
"engine",
"fighter jet",
"jet",
"jet engine",
"military",
"military aircraft",
"plane"
] | The jet engine has a long and storied history. Its development occurred spontaneously amongst several unrelated groups in the early 20th Century. Frank Whittle submitted a UK patent on a design in 1930, while Hans von Ohain begun exploring the field in Germany in 1935. Leading on from Ohain’s work, the first flight of a jet-powered aircraft was in August 27, 1939. By the end of World War II, a smattering of military jet aircraft had entered service, and the propeller was on the way out as far as high performance aviation is concerned.
With the invention of the jet engine so far in the past, one could be forgiven for thinking that the technology has long been mastered around the world. However, recent reports show that’s not the case. China is a great example,
facing issues with the development of jet engines for their indigenous military aircraft.
Closely Guarded Secrets
China’s development of ballpoint pen tips was a national news story in 2017. Source: Xinhua
In the age of the Internet and open source, technology moves swiftly around the world. In the consumer space, companies are eager to sell their product to as many customers as possible, shipping their latest wares worldwide lest their competitors do so first. In the case of products more reliant on infrastructure, we see a slower roll out.
Hydrogen-powered cars are only available in select regions
, while services like media streaming can take time to solve legal issues around rights to exhibit material in different countries. In these cases, we often see a lag of 5-10 years at most, assuming the technology survives to maturity.
In most cases, if there’s a market for a technology, there’ll be someone standing in line to sell it. However, some can prove more tricky than others. The ballpoint pen is one example of a technology that most of us would consider quaint to the point of mediocrity. However, despite producing over 80% of the world’s ballpoint pens, China was unable to produce the entire pen domestically. Chinese manufactured ballpoint tips performed poorly, with scratchy writing as the result. This attracted the notice of government officials, which resulted in a push to improve the indigenous ballpoint technology. In 2017, they succeeded,
producing high-quality ballpoint pens for the first time.
The secrets to creating just the right steel, and manipulating it into a smooth rolling ball just right for writing, were complex and manifold. The Japanese, German, and Swiss companies that supplied China with ballpoint tips made a healthy profit from the trade. Sharing the inside knowledge on how it’s done would only seek to destroy their own business. Thus, China had to go it alone, taking 5 years to solve the problem.
There was little drive for pen manufacturers to improve their product; the Chinese consumer was more focused on price than quality. Once the government made it a point of national pride,
things shifted.
For jet engines, however, it’s somewhat of a different story.
You Can’t Get These Anywhere Else
China has primarily relied on Russian fighter aircraft in recent years, like the Sukhoi Su-27. Source: Dmitriy Pichugin
In recent decades, China has aligned itself closely with Russia for major military acquisitions. Over the years, it has acquired military aircraft like the Sukhoi Su-27 for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, following the nations growing closer after the fall of the Soviet Union.China has also pursued its own fighter development programs, spawning aircraft like the J-10 and JF-17 over the years. While China appear to have had little problem with aerodynamic and avionics development, reliable, world-class jet engines have thus far eluded them.
Attempts to power Chinese aircraft designs have been hamstrung by Russia’s reticence to sell fighter engines directly, preferring to sell entire aircraft instead. The relationship has been further strained over the year’s by China’s efforts to reverse engineer foreign designs. After signing a deal to produce 200 Su-27 aircraft locally, China stopped the production line after just 100 units. Electing to learn from and change the design, the subsequent J-11 ruffled feathers as an unlicenced copy.
Similar efforts were made to accelerate development of jet engines, by copying engines from overseas manufacturers.
Reports suggest the CFM-56,
purchased from the United States in the 1980s, may have been the starting point for the WS-10 design. Despite having access to the hardware, progress has been slow. A lack of human capital, insider knowledge, and production hardware and materials can make duplicating a complex design difficult to impossible. Early revisions of the resulting WS-10 engine have fallen well short of design goals which aimed to match the Su-27’s AL-31 engine on thrust output and reliability. Overhauls were required every 30 hours, versus 400 hours for the Russian benchmark. Anecdotal evidence suggests the WS-10 also takes longer to produce thrust.
The troubled Liming WS-10 jet engine. Thus far, the engine has struggled to meet the benchmark set by the Saturn AF-31 sold by Russia. Source: GlobalSecurity.org
The problems lie largely in materials and machining. Jet engine components must withstand huge temperatures and pressures, while spinning at high RPM for hours on end. Factors like thermal cycling and crack propagation must be considered for the materials used, lest the engine destroy itself before time. Reliability is as important as performance, as all the thrust in the world is useless if the aircraft needs an engine replacement after every flight. The keys to producing the raw materials, as well as creating the high-tolerance final parts, are closely guarded national secrets. Spy photos are easy to take at airshows, and blueprints can be readily stolen –
often as simply as searching for CAD files and sending them home
. Data on metallurgy and materials and production processes can be harder to lay one’s hands on.
After 25 years spent trying to build a competitive fighter jet engine, China is still struggling to match the performance of a design with roots in the 1970s. Initial production models of China’s latest J-20 stealth fighter used the upgraded WS-10B,
but production models appear to still rely on Russian Saturn AL-31 engines
. The Chinese-produced WS-15 is slated to enter service within a few years, but until then, the J-20 will be at a thrust deficit to its rivals. In fighter combat, where energy is everything, this is a serious drawback that China will be eager to fix. Worse, until the higher-thrust WS-15 engines reach maturity, the J-20 is also unable to supercruise, meaning it must use afterburner to reach supersonic speeds. China’s premier air superiority fighter will struggle to keep up with its 5th generation contemporaries until the situation is rectified.
As long as there’s money to be made in providing high-quality parts that are difficult to reproduce, it’s unlikely China will be able to buy the information it needs. Instead, it will have to go the hard way, as it did with ballpoint pens. Years of expensive research and indigenous technological development will be required, to replicate something achieved by others 30 years hence. In the military world, as in the corporate one, that’s simply the price of doing business. | 128 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266722",
"author": "Steven-X",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T14:09:59",
"content": "Technically they are not struggling, as any working jet engine is an accomplishment.Now, trying to catch up with the performance of others is a different story. After all, that is a moving target.",
... | 1,760,373,406.621128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/what-is-the-tianwen-1-probe-saying/ | What Is The Tianwen-1 Probe Saying? | Jenny List | [
"Space"
] | [
"china",
"mars",
"space",
"Tianwen-1"
] | A few days ago, the Chinese National Space Administration launched their Tianwen-1 mission to Mars from their launch site in the province of Hainan. It should arrive at the Red Planet in April 2021, when it will face the daunting task of launching a surface probe from its orbiting component, which will release a rover once it has reached the surface. Like all such missions it’s in constant contact with its controllers on the ground, and as with any radio transmissions floating through the aether
its telemetry has been received by the radio hacker community and analaysed by [r00t]
.
Straight away there’s something interesting in the modulation scheme, instead of a carrier with modulation applied to it there is a main unmodulated centre carrier, and the data appears instead on a series of subcarriers. Is this a feature of its being a space probe, the unmodulated carrier making it easier to find and track in deep space?
They quickly find the telemetry carrier, and decode its frames. It carries a series of data sets, including positional and instrumentation data. From the positional data they can tell when the craft has made any course changes, and from the sensor data such as the solar sensor its movement can be deduced and graphed. It makes for a fascinating insight into the mission, and we’re grateful for the analysis.
Mars is a notoriously difficult target for space probes, somewhere that multiple missions have for various reasons failed to reach. We hope the Tianwen-1 mission is ultimately successful and that in time the Chinese space people will in due course be showing us some of the fruits of their labours.
They’re not alone in launching this month
, so we’ve got a plethora of Mars-related stories to look forward to next year.
Header image: Tianwen-1 rover mockup. Pablo de León /
CC BY-SA 3.0 | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266686",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T11:36:20",
"content": "http://www.r00t.cz/Sats/Tianwen1is flagged up as a malware page for me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6268004",
"author": "Adam",
"t... | 1,760,373,406.469231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/28/busting-gps-exercise-data-out-of-its-garmin-controlled-iot-prison/ | Busting GPS Exercise Data Out Of Its Garmin-controlled IoT Prison | Mike Szczys | [
"internet hacks",
"News",
"Software Development",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"Bunnie Huang",
"folium",
"garmin",
"matplotlib",
"python",
"ransomware",
"Strava"
] | If you take to the outdoors for your exercise, rather than walking the Sisyphusian stair machine, it’s nice to grab some GPS-packed electronics to quantify your workout. [Bunnie Huang] enjoys paddling the outrigger canoe through the Singapore Strait and recently
figured out how to unpack and visualize GPS data from his own Garmin watch
.
By now you’ve likely heard that
Garmin’s systems were down due to a ransomware attack
last Thursday, July 23rd. On the one hand, it’s a minor inconvenience to not be able to see your workout visualized because of the system outage. On the other hand, the services have a lot of your personal data: dates, locations, and biometrics like heart rate. [Bunnie] looked around to see if he could unpack the data stored on his Garmin watch without pledging his privacy to computers in the sky.
Obviously this isn’t [Bunnie’s] first rodeo, but in the end you don’t need to be a 1337 haxor to pull this one off. An Open Source program called
GPSBabel lets you convert proprietary data formats from a hundred or so different GPS receivers into .GPX files
that are then easy to work with. From there he whipped up less than 200 lines of Python to
plot the GPS data on a map
and display it as a webpage. The key libraries at work here are
Folium
which provides the pretty browsable map data, and
Matplotlib
to plot the data.
These IoT devices are by all accounts amazing, listening for satellite pings to show us how far and how fast we’ve gone on web-based interfaces that are sharable, searchable, and any number of other good things ending in “able”. But the flip side is that you may not be the only person seeing the data. Two years ago
Strava exposed military locations because of an opt-out policy for public data sharing of exercise trackers
. Now Garmin says they don’t have any indications that data was stolen in the ransomware attack, but it’s not a stretch to think there was a potential there for such a data breach. It’s nice to see there are Open Source options for those who want access to exercise analytics and visualizations without being required to first hand over the data. | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266698",
"author": "ShnC",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T12:39:22",
"content": "I hate to sound like one of those “not a hack” guys, also as an avid Garmin user myself I am glad to see an article on it, but am I missing something here? Garmin watches use the .FIT file format, which has ... | 1,760,373,406.675695 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/hex-matrix-clock-is-spellbinding/ | Hex Matrix Clock Is Spellbinding | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"clock hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino Uno",
"blinkenlights",
"clock",
"ESP8266",
"fastLED",
"irregular matrix",
"RGB LED"
] | Just when we think we’ve seen all possible combinations of 3D printing, microcontrollers, and pretty blinkenlights coming together to form DIY clocks, [Mukesh_Sankhla]
goes and builds this geometric beauty
. It’s kaleidoscopic, it’s mosaic, and it sorta resembles stained glass, but is way cheaper and easier.
The crucial part of the print does two jobs — it combines a plate full of holes for a string of addressable RGB LEDs with the light-dividing walls that turn the LEDs into triangular pixels. [Mukesh] designed digits for a clock that each use ten triangles. You’d need an ESP8266 to run the clock code, or if you’d rather sit and admire the rainbow light show unabated by the passing of time, just use an Arduino Uno or something similar.
Most of the aesthetic magic here is in the printed pieces and the FastLED library. It has a bunch of really cool animations baked in that look great with this design. Check out the demo video after the break. The audio is really quiet until the very end of the video, so be warned. In our opinion, the audio isn’t necessary to follow along with the build.
The humble clock takes many lovely forms around here,
including pop art
. | 8 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266227",
"author": "mikemac",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T20:28:01",
"content": "Cool! As soon as it’s cool enough in the garage to run the 3D printer, I’m going to have to make one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6266249",
... | 1,760,373,406.718254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/concentric-rings-keep-this-calendar-perpetually-up-to-date/ | Concentric Rings Keep This Calendar Perpetually Up To Date | Dan Maloney | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"arduino",
"calendar",
"perpetual",
"ring gear",
"rtc",
"segmented wood turning",
"stepper"
] | The variety of ways that people find to show the passage of time never ceases to amaze us. Just when you think you’ve seen them all, someone comes up with something new and unusual, like the concentric rings of
this automated perpetual calendar
.
What we really like about the design that [tomatoskins] came up with is both its simplicity and its mystery. By hiding the mechanism, which is just a 3D-printed internal ring gear attached to the back of each ring, it invites people in to check it out closely and discover more. Doing so reveals that each ring is hanging from a pinion gear on a small stepper motor, which rotates it to the right point once a day or once a month. Most of the clock is made from wood, with the rings themselves made using the same technique that woodturners use to create blanks for turning bowls — or
a Death Star
. We love the look the method yields, although it could be even cooler with contrasting colors and grains for each segment. And there’s nothing stopping someone from reproducing this with laser-cut parts, or adding rings to display the time too.
Another nice tip in this write up is the trick [tomatoskins] used to label the rings, by transferring laser-printed characters from paper to wood using nothing but water-based polyurethane wood finish. That’s one to file away for another day. | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266236",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T22:35:42",
"content": "I’d love to see a mechanical version where the day wheel is nudged forwards once at midnight, and the rest follows along by cams and pins.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,406.759698 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/this-four-axis-stencil-printer-is-the-ultimate-in-smd-alignment-tools/ | This Four-Axis Stencil Printer Is The Ultimate In SMD Alignment Tools | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"extrusion",
"jig",
"printer",
"skew",
"smd",
"solder stencil",
"stencil"
] | Here at Hackaday we love all kinds of builds, and we celebrate anytime anyone puts parts together into something else. And while we love the quick and dirty builds, there’s just something about the fit and finish of
this four-axis SMD stencil printer
that really pushes our buttons.
This build comes to us from [Phillip], who like many surface-mount users was sick of the various tape-and-PCB methods that are commonly used to align the solder stencil with the PCB traces. His solution is this fully adjustable stencil holder made from aluminum extrusions joined by 3D-printed parts. The flip-up frame of the device has a pair of clamps for securely holding the stainless steel stencil. Springs on the clamp guide rods provide some preload to keep the stencil taut as well as protection from overtensioning.
The stencil can move in the X-, Y-, and Z-axes to line up with a PCB held with 3D-printed standoffs on a bed below the top frame. The bed itself rotates slightly to overcome any skew in alignment of the PCB. [Phillip] was aghast at the price of an off-the-shelf slew-ring bearing for that axis, but luckily was able to print up some parts and just use simple roller bearing to do the same thing for a fraction of the cost. The frame is shown in use below; the moment when the pads line up perfectly through the stencil holds is oddly satisfying.
This puts us in mind of
a recent, similar stencil printer
we covered. That one was far simpler, but either one of these beats the expedient alignment methods hands down. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266194",
"author": "Luis",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T15:34:49",
"content": "An equivalent 4 axis manual stencil printer with frame support, up to 400x400mm from china and all metal costs about 250€. I have one.Nevertheless, that is agreat open source option.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,373,406.800739 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/son-of-rothult/ | Son Of Rothult | Brian McEvoy | [
"lockpicking hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"antenna",
"arduino",
"Arduino IDE",
"furniture",
"ikea",
"lock",
"NFC",
"rfid",
"Rothult",
"st-link",
"stm32duino"
] | We are continuously inspired by our readers which is why we share what we love, and that inspiration flows both ways. [jetpilot305] connected a
Rothult unit to the Arduino IDE
in response to
Ripping up a Rothult
. Consider us flattered. There are several factors at play here. One, the Arduino banner covers a lot of programmable hardware, and it is a powerful tool in a hardware hacker’s belt. Two, someone saw a tool they wanted to control and made it happen. Three, it’s a piece of (minimal) security hardware, but who knows where that can scale. The secure is made accessible.
The Github upload instructions are illustrated, and you know we appreciate documentation. There are a couple of tables for the controller pins and header for your convenience. You will be compiling your sketch in Arduino’s IDE, but uploading through ST-Link across some wires you will have to solder. We are in advanced territory now, but keep this inspiration train going and
drop us a tip
to share something you make with this miniature deadbolt.
Locks and security are our bread and butter, so enjoy some
physical key appreciation
and
digital lock love
. | 6 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266153",
"author": "Josiah David Gould",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T11:21:11",
"content": "The Rothult is an Ikea smart lock.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6266154",
"author": "JanW",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T... | 1,760,373,406.939366 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/breadboarding-console-has-the-power/ | Breadboarding Console Has The Power | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"breadboard",
"prototyping"
] | It is hard to remember how expensive an electronic hobby used to be. It wasn’t long ago, for example, that a solderless breadboard was reasonably expensive and was likely to have some sort of baseboard. The nicer ones even had a power supply or some simple test instruments. While you can still buy that sort of thing today, the low cost of bare breadboards have made them much more common. [Sebastian] decided to use his 3D printer to
give those cheap breadboards a nice home
.
The
design
looks great, and frankly isn’t much of a technical triumph, but it is useful and clean looking. The build uses some banana jacks, a switch, an LED, a 9V battery, and a common small power supply module. Of course, you also need a few breadboards.
The 9V battery fits snug inside, although we might have added an optional AC adapter jack. [Sebastian] left a lot of space inside, so we thought about how feasible it would be to make a mating storage box that would fit underneath and keep parts away from the electronics.
There are actually a lot of quick mods you could do on this design. A cheap meter module would let you measure the current draw, for example. You could put a few pots in that blank spot, also. We might add a mating dock to the top so you could plug in option boards that had, for example, an Arduino, an ESP8266, or a Raspberry Pi for different projects.
We always keep a stock of 5V LEDs to reduce the number of parts we need on the breadboard, but you could
make your own
if you prefer. If you don’t mount pots in the enclosure,
this little board
is handy enough. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266127",
"author": "WestfW",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T08:15:03",
"content": "So… What ARE the ESD properties of common printer filament?Are there special-purpose “dissipative” plastics (very slightly conductive) that you can use?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,373,406.99032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/vintage-aircraft-controls-turned-usb-button-box/ | Vintage Aircraft Controls Turned USB Button Box | Tom Nardi | [
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"cockpit",
"game controller",
"Teensy",
"USB input",
"vintage"
] | The Gables Engineering G-2789 audio selector panels aren’t good for much outside of the aircraft they were installed in, that is, until
[MelkorsGreatestHits] replaced most of the internals with a Teensy 3.2
. Now they are multi-functional USB input devices for…well, whatever it is you’d do with a bunch of toggle switches and momentary push buttons hanging off your computer.
Tracing wires from the panel switches.
With the Teensy going its best impression of a USB game controller, the host operating system has access to seven momentary buttons, twelve toggles, and one rotary axis for the volume knob.
Right now [MelkorsGreatestHits] says the code is set up so the computer sees a button press on each state change; in other words, the button assigned to the toggle switch will get “pressed” once when it goes up and again when it’s flicked back down. But of course that could be modified depending on what sort of software you wanted to interface the device with.
As we’ve seen with other pieces of vintage aircraft instrumentation
, lighting on the G-2789 was provided by a series of incandescent bulbs that shine through the opaque front panel material. [MelkorsGreatestHits] replaced those lamps with white LEDs, but unfortunately the resulting light was a bit too harsh. As a quick fix, the LEDs received a few coats of yellow and orange paint until the light was more of an amber color. Using RGB LEDs would have been a nice touch, but you work with what you’ve got.
This isn’t the first time that
[MelkorsGreatestHits] has turned an old aircraft cockpit module into a USB input device
, and we’re certainly interested in seeing what the next project will look like. Though we’re perhaps more interested in finding out where all all these old school airplane parts are coming from… | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266138",
"author": "Dr. Cockroach",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T10:05:43",
"content": "OMG, such a blast from my past. In the 80’s I worked for a sub-contractor that wired many of those boxes for Gables Engineering. GE had such a great crew to work with :-D",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,373,407.03708 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/3d-printed-doggie-braces/ | 3D Printed Doggie Braces | Orlando Hoilett | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"Anet A6 3D",
"Chihuahua",
"dog shoes",
"Orthodic",
"thingiverse"
] | [Tye’s] dog Lucifur unfortunately has degenerative arthritis causing her a lot of pain in her feet. The vet suggested orthotic carpal braces to help alleviate the pain, but they come at a price tag of at least $1600. Given her current budgetary limitations, [Tye]
decided to try the DIY route
.
The first task was to cast Lucifur’s paws in plaster to make a mold of her feet in both the weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing orientations. According to [Tye], the non-weight-bearing orientation is more representative of the shape of a “normal” paw, but she also needed to model the weight-bearing orientation to better design the braces for walking.
Then it was time to print a PLA-based dog splint from a design she found on Thingiverse. Since PLA softens when it’s in boiling water, the splint can be easily molded to Lucifur’s paw. This is where the paw molds [Tye] made earlier come in handy, since nobody would want Lucifur wearing a PLA splint fresh out of boiling water. Finally, she added a bit of super glue to the heel of the splint in hopes that it will hold up better over time.
We certainly can’t recommend DIY solutions to medical problems
and [Tye] made sure she stressed the importance of following the recommendations of your vet if you’re ever in her position. Either way, we hope Lucifur finds some momentary reprieve, and that she can eventually receive those $1600 braces she desperately needs. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266216",
"author": "Dj Biohazard",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T19:17:48",
"content": "Whilst I agree you shouldn’t haphazardly DIY medical kit, I do applaud the effort Tye did to alleviate her pet’s pain.In her case, I would go back to the vet’s office and let the vet check out if thi... | 1,760,373,407.211881 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/a-face-mask-thats-functional-and-hacker-certified/ | A Face Mask That’s Functional And Hacker-Certified | Orlando Hoilett | [
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"coronavirus",
"COVID",
"dot matrix",
"ESP8266",
"LED display",
"neopixel",
"ws2812b"
] | [splat238] needed a mask for going out in public, but wanted something that fit his personal style a bit better than the cloth masks everyone else was wearing. So, he upcycled his old airsoft mesh mask using an impressive 104 NeoPixels to create his
NeoPixel LED Face Mask
.
The NeoPixels are based on the popular WS2812b LEDs. These are individually addressable RGB LEDs with a
pretty impressive glow
. [splat238] purchased a 144 NeoPixel strip to avoid having to solder each of those 104 NeoPixels one-by-one. He cut the 144-LED strip into smaller segments to help fit the LEDs around the mask. He then soldered the power and data lines together so that he could still control the LEDs as if they were one strip and not the several segments he cut them into. He needed a pretty bulky battery pack to power the whole thing. You can imagine how much power 104 RGB LEDs would need to run. We recommend adding a battery protection circuit next time as these LEDs probably draw a hefty amount of current.
He designed his own controller board featuring an ESP8266 microcontroller. Given its sizable internal memory, the ESP8266 makes it easy to store a variety of LED patterns without worrying about running out of programming space. He’s also hoping to add some WiFi features in later revisions of his mask,
so the ESP8266 is a no-brainer
. Additionally, his controller board features three pushbuttons that allow him to toggle through different LED patterns on the fly.
Cool project [splat238]! Looking forward to the WiFi version. | 34 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266369",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T15:07:35",
"content": "Regular mask wearing in 35C summers not adequate to train for jogging through a desert dust storm in 45 degree C heat? No problem, we’ll add 40W of heat dissipation in your mask to compensate !",
... | 1,760,373,407.109601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/mp3-is-25-years-old/ | MP3 Is 25 Years Old! | Lewin Day | [
"Featured",
"History",
"Musical Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"audo compression",
"Fraunhofer Institute",
"mp3",
"MUSICAM"
] | In the streaming era, music is accessed from a variety of online services, ephemeral in nature and never living on board the device. However, the online audio revolution really kicked off with the development of one very special format. The subject of bitter raps and groundbreaking lawsuits, this development from Germany transformed the music industry as we know it. Twenty-five years on from the date the famous “.mp3” filename was chosen, we take a look back at how it came to be, and why it took over the world.
Audio Big, Disks Small
1995 hard drive prices from an
LA Trade ad in BYTE Magazine
. The least expensive option rings in at $0.22 per megabyte, which means your 700 MB audio CD would cost $154 to store without compression (10x the cost of buying an album at the time).
The road to MP3 was a long one. The aim was to create a codec capable of encoding high-quality audio at low bitrates. Finding a method of compression that didn’t compromise audio quality was key. In an era where hard drives were measured in tens or hundreds of megabytes, storing uncompressed digital audio at CD quality — around 10MB per minute — wasn’t practical.
In the 1980s, researchers around the world were working on various encoding methods to solve this problem. Things began to pick up steam when, in 1988, the Moving Picture Experts Group called out for an audio encoding standard. The next year, 14 proposals were submitted. Four working groups were created, which began to work further on a variety of encoding methods.
Around the time the MP3’s name was decided upon, the Pentium was cutting-edge technology. Desktop computers at the time with clock speeds under 100MHz would struggle to play CD-quality files.
One of the main techniques to come out of the process was MUSICAM, which adopted a psychoacoustic model of human hearing to aid compression. This takes advantage of the effect of
auditory masking
, a perceptual limitation of human hearing where some sounds mask others from being heard at the same time. By eliminating data corresponding to these sounds that aren’t perceived anyway, it became possible to store more audio in less space without any perceived effect for the listener.
The MUSICAM technology became the basis for much of the original MPEG 1 Audio Layers I and II. A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute took the psycoacoustic coding filter bank techniques, while mixing in some ideas gleaned from the competing ASPEC proposal to MPEG. The aim was to create the Layer III codec that could deliver the same quality at 128 kbps as Layer II could at 192 kbps. The final results were published in the MPEG 1 standard in 1993.
With the development of the Internet happening at a rapid pace, the Fraunhofer team realised their standard had the possibility of becoming a defacto standard for audio on the platform. With its small file size and high quality, it was perfect for sharing over the slow connections of the time period. In a fateful email on July 14, 1995, the team decided that their files should bear the now-famous
.MP3
extension.
No Business Model Survives First Contact With The Enemy
MusicMatch Jukebox was a popular CD ripper and MP3 player. MusicMatch are notable for having actually paid Fraunhofer for their MP3 license.
The original business plan was to monetise the technology through sales of encoders. These would be sold at a high price to companies that wished to create software or hardware capable of encoding MP3 files. To drive acceptance of the standard, the decoders used to play the MP3 files would be cheap or free, encouraging consumer uptake.
Winamp was one of the most popular audio players of the MP3 era. Teenagers of the time like yours truly loved it, because it looked like a cool vintage stereo.
While this initially seemed feasible, things quickly fell apart,
thanks to the very Internet that Fraunhofer had pinned their fortunes on.
In 1997, an Australian student purchased MP3 encoding software with a stolen credit card, before quickly sharing it on an FTP server online. Suddenly it was readily possible for anyone to create their own MP3 files. With the files out in the wild, calls to stop the spread of the software fell on deaf ears.
Within a short time, it was readily possible to download free programs to rip audio from CDs and store it in nearly the same quality at a tenth of the size as an MP3. Websites quickly sprung up, allowing users to freely download the music of their choice. While FTP servers were the defacto file sharing standard of the day, 1999 then saw the launch of Napster, a platform that allowed users with minimal technical knowledge to directly share their digital music collections with others. The music industry had just been changed forever.
Cats Don’t Go Back In Bags
Napster was the progenitor of the file streaming movement. While it lived a short life, it inspired many services to come.
Suddenly the idea of
paying $16.98 for a CD
seemed ludicrous, when it was readily possible to get the same music for free online. Record labels and artists scrambled to file lawsuits and sue music fans huge sums to discourage downloading.
Despite some high profile legal fights
, attitudes towards music had already been irrevocably altered. MP3 players had also hit the market, allowing users to carry huge numbers of songs around without having to juggle fragile CDs.
These were similarly met with legal challenges
, but the juggernaut that was MP3 could not be overcome.
Even in the wake of Napster’s bankruptcy, other services bloomed in the vacuum left by its closure. Pirates learned from the case, and decentralization became key to avoiding legal troubles. This put the onus of criminality on those sharing the files, rather than those running a peer-to-peer service which merely facilitated file transfers.
The Diamond Rio PMP3000 was one of the earliest MP3 players, attracting the ire of the RIAA on launch.
Services to sell digital audio would take many more years to flourish. Initial offerings lost out due to high prices and restrictive DRM that simply gave customers a worse experience than a clean, unencumbered MP3 available for free.
MP3s dominance only began to wane in the 2010s, when a transition to streaming technology and smartphones began to offer a better user experience. Rather than having to manage a multi-gigabyte collection of songs, and shuffle them from device to device, instead users could simply call up virtually any music they wanted at the click of a button. In the same way Facebook defeated Myspace, the ease of streaming quickly relegated MP3 players and the format itself to the past.
The Format Broke the Business of Recorded Music
While few of us still trawl file sharing networks looking for the latest albums, the MP3 was key in forever altering how people expected music to be delivered, and the price people were willing to pay for it.
The pay structure for artists and labels changed monumentally throughout this turbulent time. While post-MP3 services like iTunes once sold tracks at 99 cents a song,
artists now receive fractions of a cent per stream.
However, the lower importance of physical media has also, at least in theory, made it possible for artists to break out without needing a record label to shift product internationally. Genres like
Soundcloud rap
and
Vaporwave
sprung up organically from services that allowed budding musicians to share their music online. It’s easy to draw a direct link between such subcultures and the dawn of music sharing online spawned by MP3.
While Fraunhofer may not have gotten the business win they desired from the technology, the MP3 undoubtedly changed the face of music forever. Artists likely still weep at the diminishing returns from stingy streaming services versus album royalties of years past, and record labels will still grate at unlicenced copying as they have since the cassette era. However, MP3 remains a technology that democratized the access to and creation of music, and for that, it should be lauded. Happy birthday MP3, and here’s to another 25 years of quality compressed music! | 127 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266353",
"author": "Lou",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T14:18:15",
"content": "Nice write up! I still have my Rio!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6266434",
"author": "crashsuit",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T17:36:27"... | 1,760,373,407.59319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/mechanical-seven-segment-display-really-sticks-out-from-the-pack/ | Mechanical Seven-Segment Display Really Sticks Out From The Pack | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"7 segment",
"display",
"electromagnet",
"magnet",
"number",
"numeral",
"seven segment",
"solenoid"
] | We’ve been displaying numbers using segmented displays for almost 120 years now, an invention that predates the LEDs that usually power the ubiquitous devices by a half-dozen decades or so. But LEDs are far from the only way to run a seven-segment display — check out
this mechanical seven-segment display
for proof of that.
We’ve been seeing a lot of mechanical seven-segment displays lately, and when we first spotted [indoorgeek]’s build, we thought it would be a variation on
the common “flip-dot” mechanism
. But this one is different; to form each numeral, the necessary segments protrude from the face of the display slightly. Everything is 3D-printed from white filament, yielding a clean look when the retracted but casting a sharp shadow when extended. Each segment carries a small magnet on the back which snuggles up against the steel core of a custom-wound electromagnet, which repels the magnet when energized and extends the segment. We thought for sure it would be loud, but the video below shows that it’s really quiet.
While we like the subtle contrast of the display, it might not be enough for some users, especially where side-lighting is impractical. In that case, they might want to look at
this earlier similar display
and try contrasting colors on the sides of each segment. | 20 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266327",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T11:39:20",
"content": "Very nice but it would be even cooler if it flipped to a different colorandprotruded.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6266336",
"author": "F... | 1,760,373,407.271888 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/tiny-circuit-sculpture-keeps-the-night-watch/ | Tiny Circuit Sculpture Keeps The Night Watch | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"arduino",
"arduino pro mini",
"CdS cell",
"Circuit Sculpture",
"led",
"night light",
"photocell"
] | If you’re planning to get into circuit sculpture one of these days, it would probably be best to start with something small and simple, instead of trying to make a crazy light-up spaceship or something with a lot of curves on the first go. A small form factor doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t also be useful.
Why not start by making a small automatic night light?
The circuit itself is quite simple, especially because it uses an Arduino. You could accomplish the same thing with a 555, but that’s going to complicate the circuit sculpture part of things a bit. As long as the ambient light level coming in from the light-dependent resistor is low enough, then the two LEDs will be lit.
We love the frosted acrylic panels that [akshar1101] connected together with what looks like right angle header pins. If you wanted to expose the electronics, localize the light diffusion with a little acrylic cover that slips over the LEDs. Check it out in the demo after the break.
There’s more than one way to build a glowing cuboid night light.
The Rubik’s way, for instance
. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266308",
"author": "Doe, John Doe",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T08:47:19",
"content": "Makes me wonder, is it possible with just one transistor???",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6266379",
"author": "Magpie",
"ti... | 1,760,373,407.428426 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/argos-book-of-horrors/ | Argos Book Of Horrors | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Machine Learning"
] | [
"argos",
"art",
"blending",
"catalog",
"images",
"machine learning"
] | If you live outside the UK you may not be familiar with Argos, but it’s basically what Americans would have if Sears hadn’t become a complete disaster after the Internet became popular. While they operate many brick-and-mortar stores and are a formidable online retailer, they still have a large physical catalog that is surprisingly popular. It’s so large, in fact, that
interesting (and creepy) things can be done with it using machine learning
.
This project from [Chris Johnson] is called the Book of Horrors and was made by feeding all 16,000 pages of the Argos catalog into a machine learning algorithm. The computer takes all of the pages and generates a model which ties the pages together into a series of animations that blends the whole catalog into one flowing, ever-changing catalog. It borders on creepy, both in visuals and in the fact that we can’t know exactly what computers are “thinking” when they generate these kinds of images.
The more steps the model was trained on the creepier the images became, too. To see more of the project you can
follow it on Twitter
where new images are released from time to time. It also reminds us a little of some other machine learning projects that have been used recently
to create short films
with equally mesmerizing imagery. | 14 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266285",
"author": "yetihehe",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T05:37:44",
"content": "> that we can’t know exactly what computers are “thinking” when they generate these kinds of images.AI people very aptly named such a technique “hallucination”. Which is used as you would guess: “Our neu... | 1,760,373,407.37873 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/new-release-of-fidocadj-draws-schematics-everywhere/ | New Release Of FidoCadJ Draws Schematics Everywhere | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"java",
"schematic",
"Schematic Capture"
] | Do you remember drawing your first schematic? Presumably you used a pen or a pencil and some kind of paper. Schematic capture software, though, makes it so much easier to draw schematics. There are many to choose from, but we spent some time checking out
FidoCadJ
and found it capable. Of course, there are many other options, but we did like that FidoCadJ runs locally and since it uses Java will run on just about any computer. Since it is
open-source
, you can modify it and you don’t have to worry about licensing it for your many computers or your team.
The program is a JAR file, and our first attempt to run it ran afoul of our older Java version that was the default Java Runtime Environment. But that was easy to fix, especially since a newer version was there, just not the default.
Java and PCs have come a long way, so the program is fast and responsive on a modern computer. There is a very nice library of components and PCB footprints plus
other libraries available
, so you could actually layout a PC board using the tool, although we wouldn’t suggest that.
The program can export to a number of formats, although we wish there was a bit more interoperability with other programs. It does create Eagle scripts and gEDA .pcb format files. We didn’t see an easy way to get those into KiCAD, for example, or even produce files for common autorouters However, that’s not really the project’s goals, either. According to their FAQ:
I already use Kicad, LTSpice, Cadence, Mentor, Altium or Visio, why is FidoCadJ interesting?
Because it is a different program pursuing different purposes. It is complementary with the big EDA electronic tools. Ever tried to include your schematics in a document or in a presentation? Were you happy of the result?
If you want to publish and share your drawings and you are not interested in the netlist features and simulation, FidoCadJ may be the tool for you. It is LaTeX-friendly: you can export drawings in a PGF/TikZ script to be included in your document.
Of course, both this program and KiCAD use ASCII files and the code is visible, so if you write a converter, let us know.
There are many ways to
create schematics
, of course. Even more so if you don’t mind
the cloud
. | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266262",
"author": "Allan-H",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T02:16:00",
"content": "I wouldn’t be happy with the schematic shown in the image above. There are no dots showing where the lines join, and thus it is not possible to see the correct connections of the collectors of Q1-Q4.",
... | 1,760,373,407.330321 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/26/hackaday-links-july-26-2020/ | Hackaday Links: July 26, 2020 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"Black Hat",
"compute module",
"genealogy",
"hackaday links",
"hacking",
"HOPE conference",
"InfoSec",
"NVMe",
"POCSAG",
"sdr",
"security",
"solar orbiter",
"sun"
] | An Australian teen is in hot water after he allegedly
exposed sensitive medical information concerning COVID-19 patients
being treated in a local hospital. While the authorities in Western Australia were quick to paint the unidentified teen as a malicious, balaclava-wearing hacker spending his idle days cracking into secure systems, a narrative
local media
were all too willing to parrot, reading down past the breathless headlines reveals the truth: the teen set up an SDR to receive unencrypted POCSAG pager data from a hospital, and built a web page to display it all in real-time. We’ve covered the use of
unsecured pager networks in the medical profession
before; this is a well-known problem that should not exactly take any infosec pros by surprise. Apparently authorities just hoped that nobody would spend $20 on an SDR and an afternoon putting it all together rather than address the real problem, and when found out they shifted the blame onto the kid.
Speaking of RF hacking, even though the 2020 HOPE Conference is going virtual,
they’ll still be holding the RF Hacking Village
. It’s not clear from the schedule how exactly that will happen; perhaps like this year’s GNU Radio Conference CTF Challenge, they’ll be distributing audio files for participants to decode. If someone attends HOPE, which starts this weekend, we’d love to hear a report on how the RF Village — and the Lockpicking Village and all the other attractions — are organized. Here’s hoping it’s as cool as
DEFCON Safe Mode’s cassette tape mystery
.
It looks like the Raspberry Pi family is about to get a big performance boost, with Eben Upton’s announcement that the upcoming
Pi Compute Module 4 will hopefully support NVMe storage
. The non-volatile memory express spec will allow speedy access to storage and make the many hacks Pi users use to increase access speed unnecessary. While the Compute Modules are targeted at embedded system designers, Upton also hinted that NVMe support might make it into the mainstream Pi line with a future Pi 4A.
Campfires on the sun? It sounds strange, but that’s what solar scientists are calling the bright spots revealed on our star’s surface by the newly commissioned ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter satellite.
The orbiter recently returned its first images of the sun
, which are extreme closeups of the roiling surface. They didn’t expect the first images, which are normally used to calibrate instruments and make sure everything is working, to reveal something new, but the (relatively) tiny bright spots are thought to be smaller versions of the larger solar flares we observe from Earth. There are some fascinating images coming back from the orbiter, and they’re well worth checking out.
And finally, although it’s an old article and has nothing to do with hacking, we stumbled upon
Tim Urban’s look at the mathematics of human relations
and found it fascinating enough to share. The gist is that everyone on the planet is related, and most of us are a lot more inbred than we would like to think, thanks to the exponential growth of everyone’s tree of ancestors. For example, you have 128 great-great-great-great-great-grandparents, who were probably alive in the early 1800s. That pool doubles in size with every generation you go back, until we eventually — sometime in the 1600s — have a pool of ancestors that exceeds the population of the planet at the time. This means that somewhere along the way, someone in your family tree was hanging out with someone else from a very nearby branch of the same tree. That union, likely between first or second cousins, produced the line that led to you. This is called pedigree collapse and it results in the pool of ancestors being greatly trimmed thanks to sharing grandparents. So the next time someone tells you they’re descended from 16th-century royalty, you can just tell them, “Oh yeah? Me too!” Probably. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266243",
"author": "Jeff NME",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T23:43:07",
"content": "Unfortunately, Australian authorities tend to be all about punishing the curious rather than building secure from the ground up systems.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,373,407.64023 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/radioglobe-takes-the-world-of-internet-radio-for-a-spin/ | RadioGlobe Takes The World Of Internet Radio For A Spin | Kristina Panos | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"absolute rotary encoder",
"internet radio",
"Raspberry Pi 3B+",
"Raspberry Pi 4",
"reticle",
"web radio",
"web radio player"
] | There’s no denying that the reach and variety of internet radio is super cool. The problem is that none of the available interfaces really give the enormity of the thing the justice it deserves. We long for a more physical and satisfying interface for tuning in stations from around the globe, and [Jude] has made just the thing.
RadioGlobe lets the user tune in over 2000 stations from around the world by spinning a real globe
. It works by using two absolute rotary encoders that each have a whopping 1024 positions available. One encoder is stuck into the South Pole, and it reads the lines of longitude as the user spins the globe.
The other encoder is on the left side of the globe, and reads whatever latitude is focused in the reticle. Both encoder are connected to a Raspberry Pi 4, though if you want to replicate this open-source project using the incredibly detailed instructions, he says a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ will work, too.
In the base there’s an LCD that shows the coordinates, the city, and the station ID. Other stations in the area are tune-able with the jog wheel on the base. There’s also an RGB LED that blinks red while the station is being tuned in, and turns green when it’s done. We totally dig the clean and minimalist look of this build — especially the surprise transparent bottom panel that lets you see all the guts.
There are three videos after the break – a short demo that gives you the gist of how it works, a longer demonstration, and a nice explanation of absolute rotary encoders. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, because [Jude] kept
a daily vlog of the build
.
Maybe you just long for a web radio that dials in vintage appeal.
This antique internet radio has a lot of features, but you wouldn’t know it from the outside
. | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266644",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T06:42:18",
"content": "Oh wow! I would love to make one of these. Once the kiddo grows up a bit, this could be a great project to work on together that she can enjoy once it’s done.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,373,407.70259 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/polymorphic-string-encryption-gives-code-hackers-bad-conniptions/ | Polymorphic String Encryption Gives Code Hackers Bad Conniptions | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Security Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"encryption",
"polymorphic",
"polymorphic encryption"
] | When it comes to cyber security, there’s nothing worse than storing important secret data in plaintext. With even the greenest malicious actors more than capable of loading up a hex editor or decompiler, code can quickly be compromised when proper precautions aren’t taken in the earliest stages of development. To help avoid this, encryption can be used to hide sensitive data from prying eyes. While a simple xor used to be a quick and dirty way to do this, for something really sophisticated, polymorphic encryption is a much better way to go.
A helpful tool to achieve this is StringEncrypt by [PELock]
. An extension for Visual Studio Code, it’s capable of encrypting strings and data files in over 10 languages. Using polymorphic encryption techniques, the algorithm used is unique every time, along with the encryption keys themselves. This makes it far more difficult for those reverse engineering a program to decrypt important strings or data.
While the free demo is limited in scope, the price for the full version is quite reasonable, and we expect many out there could find it a useful addition to their development toolkit. We’ve discussed similar techniques before,
often used to make harder-to-detect malware.
[Thanks to Dawid for the tip!] | 26 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266604",
"author": "as2003",
"timestamp": "2020-07-28T02:49:54",
"content": "If you’d decide to use this over something that’s proven, well understood and free, like AES, then you’re insane.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "62... | 1,760,373,407.807231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/3d-printing-latex-is-now-possible/ | 3D Printing Latex Is Now Possible | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"LaTeX",
"latex rubber",
"liquid latex",
"rubber"
] | For those getting started with 3D printers, thermoplastics such as ABS and PLA are the norm. For those looking to produce parts with some give, materials like Ninjaflex are most commonly chosen, using thermoplastic polyeurethane. Until recently, it hasn’t been possible to 3D print latex rubber. However, a team at Virginia Tech have managed the feat
through the combination of advanced printer hardware and some serious chemistry.
Sample cubes printed with the new process. Note the clarity of the sample at the top right.
The work was primarily a collaboration between [Phil Scott] and [Viswanath Meenakshisundaram]. After initial experiments to formulate a custom liquid latex failed, [Scott] looked to modify a commercially available product to suit the project. Liquid latexes are difficult to work with, with even slight alterations to the formula leading the solution to become unstable. Through the use of a molecular scaffold, it became possible to modify the liquid latex to become photocurable, and thus 3D printable using UV exposure techniques.
The printer side of things took plenty of work, too. After creating a high-resolution UV printer, [Meenakshisundaram] had to contend with the liquid latex resin scattering light, causing parts to be misshapen. To solve this, a camera was added to the system, which visualises the exposure process and self-corrects the exposure patterns to account for the scattering.
It’s an incredibly advanced project that has produced latex rubber parts with advanced geometries and impressive mechanical properties. We suspect this technology could be developed quickly in the coming years to produce custom rubber parts with significant strength. In the meantime,
replicating flexible parts is still possible with available filaments on the market.
[via phys.org] | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266566",
"author": "Kyle Brinkerhoff",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T23:25:16",
"content": "hope they publish more data on this, id like to know how the insertion of cleavage planes through printing will affect the properties of the material. i bet it shears from torque fairly easily, b... | 1,760,373,407.750491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/smoking-meat-with-a-commodore-64/ | Smoking Meat With A Commodore 64 | Tom Nardi | [
"cooking hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"commodore 64",
"meat smoker",
"relay",
"smoker",
"temperature sensor"
] | When [Deadline] couldn’t find a replacement control module for his Masterbuilt electric smoker, he could have just tossed the thing in the trash. Instead, he decided to come up with his own system to take over for the smoker’s original brain.
Basing it around the nearly 40 year old Commodore 64
probably wouldn’t have been
our
first choice, but it’s hard to argue with the end result.
Connectors to control the smoker’s hardware.
At the most basic level, controlling an electric smoker like this only requires a temperature sensor, a relay to control the heating element, and something to get those two devices talking to each other. But for the best results you’ll also want some kind of a timer, and an easy way to change the target temperature on the fly. Connecting the relay and temperature sensor up to the back of the C64 was easy enough, all he had to do was write the BASIC code to glue it all together.
This hack was made considerably easier thanks to the fact that the Masterbuilt’s original controller interfaced with the smoker by way of a couple relatively well documented connectors. So instead of having to mess with any of the mains voltage electronics, he simply had to bring a wire in the connector high to fire up the smoker’s heating element. This bodes well for anyone looking to replace the controller in a similar smoker, with a C64 or otherwise.
In the past we’ve seen
some very impressive custom smoker controllers
that look as though they could easily be adapted for use with these commercial units. Though the true smoke aficionados
might prefer building the entire thing to their exacting specifications
. | 27 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266498",
"author": "X",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T20:32:58",
"content": "Commodore 64 is a good machine for curing dead animals, the shellac coating on the PCB attracts cockroaches that collect inside and the heat dries then nicely.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,373,407.969673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/a-low-cost-current-probe-for-iot-applications/ | A Low-Cost Current Probe For IoT Applications | Lewin Day | [
"hardware"
] | [
"analog circuitry",
"current",
"measurement"
] | When it comes to the Internet of Things, many devices run off batteries, solar power, or other limited sources of electricity. This means that low power consumption is key to success. However, often these circuits draw relatively small currents that are difficult to measure, with plenty of transient current draw from their RF circuits. To effectively measure these low current draws,
[Refik Hadzialic] built a cheap but accurate current probe.
The probe consists of a low value resistor of just 0.1 Ω, acting as a current shunt in series with the desired load. By measuring the voltage drop across this known resistor, it’s possible to calculate the current draw of the circuit.
However, the voltage drop is incredibly small for low current draws, so some amplification is needed. [Refik] does a great job of explaining his selection process, going deep into the maths involved to get the gain and part choice just right. The INA128P instrumentation amplifier from Texas Instruments was chosen, thanks to its good Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) and gain bandwidth.
The final circuit performs well, competing admirably with the popular
uCurrent Gold
measurement tool. While less feature-packed, [Refik]’s circuit appears to perform better in the noise stakes, likely due to the great CMRR rating of the TI part. It’s a great example of how the DIY approach can net solid results over and above simply buying something off the shelf.
Current sensing is a key skill to have in your toolbox,
and can even help solve laundry disputes.
Video after the break. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266512",
"author": "theonethatshouldnotbenamed",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T21:09:12",
"content": "cheap? if you consider samples as a viable sourcing option then yes.gets the job done? Yes, and that should be the end of it.good way to compare noise? No, not at all, the results are m... | 1,760,373,409.630413 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/falcon-9-beats-shuttles-reflight-record-but-still-has-a-long-way-to-go/ | Falcon 9 Beats Shuttle’s Reflight Record, But Still Has A Long Way To Go | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"Falcon 9",
"nasa",
"reusable",
"Space Shuttle",
"SpaceX"
] | Put simply, the goal of any reusable booster is to reduce the cost of getting a payload into space. The comparison is often made to commercial aviation: if you had to throw away the airliner after every flight, nobody could afford the tickets. The fact that the plane can be refueled and flown again and again allows operators to amortize its high upfront cost.
In theory, the same should hold true for orbital rockets. With enough flight experience, you can figure out which parts of the vehicle will need replacement or repair, and how often. Assuming the fuel is cheap enough and the cost of refurbishment doesn’t exceed that of building a new one, eventually the booster will pay for itself. You just need a steady stream of paying customers, which is hardly a challenge given how much we rely on our space infrastructure.
But there’s a catch. For the airliner analogy to really work, whatever inspections and repairs the rocket requires between missions must be done as quickly as possible. The cost savings from reuse aren’t nearly as attractive if you can only fly a few times a year. The key to truly making space accessible isn’t just building a reusable rocket, but attaining
rapid
reusability.
Which is precisely where SpaceX currently finds themselves. Over the years they’ve mastered landing the Falcon 9’s first stage, and they’ve even proven that the recovered boosters can be safely reused for additional flights. But the refurbishment process is still fairly lengthy. While their latest launch officially broke the record for fastest reflight of a space vehicle that had previously been set by Space Shuttle
Atlantis
, there’s still a lot of work to be done if SpaceX is ever going to fly their rockets like airplanes.
The Space Truck That Wasn’t
When it was being developed, NASA envisioned the Space Shuttle as a sort of “Space Truck” that could fly weekly missions to low Earth orbit. Scientists and engineers wouldn’t need to wait years before they had the opportunity to fly their payloads, just strap it down in the back of the next scheduled Shuttle flight. The cavernous cargo bay ensured there would always be plenty of room for whoever wanted to come along for the ride. NASA hoped to skip the airliner analogy completely, and compared their reusable spacecraft with over-the-road shipping.
Flight preparation as imagined by early Shuttle concept art.
But of course, that never happened. The Space Shuttle was an extremely complex vehicle, arguably the most intricate piece of machinery humanity has ever produced; and it’s been said that even by the end of the 30 year program, engineers were still learning something new about it after each flight. With so many components in the system, it was difficult to predict what kind of repairs each orbiter would need when it got back to Earth, making the refurbishment process between flights far more expensive and time consuming than NASA had anticipated.
In the end, it usually took months to prepare each Shuttle for its next mission. There was an expectation that the time between flights would have been reduced as ground teams gained experience on the vehicle, but in actuality, it was the opposite. The fastest turn around between two flights of the same orbiter was in 1985,
between the first and second flights of the newly constructed
Atlantis
, with 54 days elapsing between missions STS-51-J and STS-61-B.
As the program went on, and
especially after the tragic loss of
Challenger
in 1986
, the changing culture of safety at NASA demanded ever more stringent inspections on the nation’s only human-rated spacecraft. Inherent flaws in the winged orbiter were partly to blame, as the chances of crew survival in a number of failure modes were considered unlikely at best. Failure was truly not an option with some of the Shuttle’s systems; either they worked perfectly, or seven astronauts would almost certainly die. So they took their time.
Back to Basics
Despite being one of the most modern rockets in the world, the Falcon 9 is a very simple design compared to the Space Shuttle. There’s no winged orbiter, no solid-propellant boosters. While it does have nine engines on the first stage, they’re much smaller and less complex than the three colossal RS-25 engines used on the Shuttle. The Falcon 9, with the exception of the hardware added to facilitate its propulsive landings, could be thought of as a return to “classic” rocket designs of the Space Age but with the benefit of modern construction techniques.
Still, the roughly nine-minute suborbital trip to space and back that the first stage of the Falcon 9 makes is no pleasure cruise. Even with such a comparatively simple booster, it takes a lot of work to ensure it’s ready for another flight. While SpaceX has been unusually tight-lipped about how much money and effort goes into returning a previously launched first stage to flight, we do know that on average it takes them months to complete the work.
A recovered Falcon 9 being prepared for its next flight.
That being said, the pace is certainly picking up. It took just shy of a year to examine, refurbish, and validate the first reused booster back in in 2017. In comparison, the Falcon 9 that recently launched South Korea’s ANASIS-II satellite into orbit was the same rocket that
returned the United States to human spaceflight just 51 days prior
. After holding the record for 35 years, the Space Shuttle has officially lost the title as the most rapidly reusable space vehicle in history.
Lofty Goals
The Falcon 9 might have beaten the Space Shuttle at its own game, but SpaceX still has to pick up the pace considerably if they’re ever going to meet Elon Musk’s stated 2019 goal of
relaunching a first stage booster within 24 hours of landing
.
We intend to demonstrate two orbital launches of the same Falcon 9 vehicle within 24 hours no later than next year. That will be, I think, truly remarkable to launch the same orbit-class rocket twice in one day.
We’re now halfway through 2020, and SpaceX is still nowhere near that sort of launch cadence. The next manifested launch of a reused Falcon 9 might actually break the 51 day record they just set, but only by a few days. Just as NASA underestimated the difficulty in flying weekly Space Shuttle missions, it’s entirely possible, perhaps even probable, that SpaceX will never hit their goal of launching twice in 24 hours. The argument could even be made that there’s not sufficient industry demand for daily flights to low Earth orbit.
The first recovered Falcon 9 in 2015.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room left for improvement. Within just a few weeks of the first successful landing of a Falcon 9 in 2015, SpaceX made a thorough examination of the flown booster, returned it back to the launch pad, and
fired up all nine engines to test their performance
.
There was no attempt to actually launch the booster, but that was never the point. Before pinning the future of the company on the concept of reusability, they wanted to answer a simple question: was it actually possible to refuel and reignite a rocket that had just returned from putting a payload into orbit.
Clearly, they were happy with the results of that test. It was an important step towards proving the Falcon 9 could be reused safely, and lay the groundwork for the post-landing examination and refurbishment process that SpaceX is still refining. The challenge now is streamlining the process so they can get the turnaround time as low as it was on that first attempt. It would mean once again succeeding where NASA failed, but SpaceX seems to be getting pretty good at that these days. | 77 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266427",
"author": "Pat",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T17:18:43",
"content": "This is a bit unfair to the Shuttle. I’m not saying that the Shuttle was a great idea or design or anything (I’m also not saying it wasn’t, so don’t take it either way) but the Falcon 9’s payload to LEO was l... | 1,760,373,410.199889 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/27/ideas-to-prototypes-hack-chat-with-nick-bild/ | Ideas To Prototypes Hack Chat With Nick Bild | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"abstract",
"ai",
"concrete",
"Hack Chat",
"ideas",
"ideation",
"invention",
"machine learning",
"prototype"
] | Join us on Wednesday, July 29 at noon Pacific for the
Ideas to Prototypes Hack Chat
with
Nick Bild
!
For most of us, ideas are easy to come by. Taking a shower can generate half of dozen of them, the bulk of which will be gone before your hair is dry. But a few ideas will stick, and eventually make it onto paper or its electronic equivalent, to be played with and tweaked until it coalesces into a plan. And a plan, if we’re lucky, is what’s needed to put that original idea into action, to bring it to fruition and see just what it can do.
No matter what you’re building, the ability to turn ideas into prototypes is what moves projects forward, and it’s what most of us live for. Seeing something on the bench or the shop floor that was once just a couple of back-of-the-napkin sketches, and before that only an abstract concept in your head, is immensely satisfying.
The path from idea to prototype, however, is not always a smooth one, as Nick Bild can attest. We’ve been covering Nick’s work for a while now, starting with his “nearly practical” breadboard 6502 computer,
the Vectron
, up to his recent forays into machine learning with
ShAIdes
, his home-automation controlling AI sunglasses. On the way we’ve seen
his machine-learning pitch predictor
,
dazzle-proof glasses
, and even
a wardrobe-malfunction preventer
.
All of Nick’s stuff is cool, to be sure, but there’s a method to his productivity, and we’ll talk about that and more in this Hack Chat. Join us as we dive into Nick’s projects and find out what he does to turn his ideas into prototypes.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, July 29 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you down, 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. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266447",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2020-07-27T17:55:55",
"content": "So, Nick Bild will show us how to quick build!B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,373,409.678119 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/3d-printed-speaker-uses-dsp-for-ultimate-performance/ | 3D Printed Speaker Uses DSP For Ultimate Performance | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"hi-fi",
"speaker"
] | Speaker design used to be as much about woodwork as it was about advanced acoustic mathematics. In recent decades, technologies such as digital signal processing and 3D printing have changed the game significantly. Leaning heavily on these techniques,
[ssashton] developed a design called Mr. Speaker.
The speaker contains a 3″ woofer for good bass response, and twin tweeters to deliver stereo audio. Using WinISD to help do the requisite calculations on porting and volume, [ssashton] designed a swooping 3D printed enclosure with a striking design. Sound comes into the unit through an off-the-shelf Bluetooth module, before being passed to an ADAU1401 digital signal processing unit. From there, it’s passed to a mono amp to drive the woofer and a stereo one for the tweeters.
To get the flattest frequency response possible and maintain linear phase, it’s all about DSP in this case. RePhase software was used to design a DSP filter to achieve these goals, helping the speaker to produce the desired output. The ADAU1401 DSP was then programmed using Sigma Studio, which also allows the designer to do things such as split outputs for seperate woofer and tweeter drives.
[ssashton] does a great job of explaining both DSP principles and old-school speaker design tricks, from phase plugs to reflections. The use of 3D printed parts to rapidly iterate the design is impressive, too. We’d love to see the final enclsoure get an acetone smoothing treatment to really take it over the edge.
If you’re into serious speaker design and want more,
be sure to check out this advanced transmission line design.
For those of you with your own builds with some nifty tricks,
drop us a note on the tipline. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266090",
"author": "Josh",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T01:04:11",
"content": ":o",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6266114",
"author": "Mongrel Shark",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T05:38:09",
"content": "It looks like a coll... | 1,760,373,409.58113 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/simple-plasma-cutter-collision-detection-system/ | Simple Plasma Cutter Collision Detection System | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"collision detection",
"Machine tool",
"machine tools",
"plasma",
"plasma cutter"
] | Machine tools often have powerful drive motors, allowing them to work quickly and accurately to get the job done fast. However, this can cause major damage if the tool head collides with an unexpected object. To protect against such occurances,
[Xnaron] developed a simple system to shut down his plasma cutter in the event of a crash.
The system consists of a 3D printed collar that fits around the plasma cutting torch. The collar has two mating parts, which are held together with three magnets and three ball bearings to act as a key, maintaining the correct orientation. Three limit switches are then fitted, held closed by the two mating halves. When the torch collides with an object, this causes the magnetic coupling to seperate, triggering one or more of the limit switches, and shutting down the machine safely.
Video of an unplanned collision shows the device working well. It’s a neat solution that could probably be adapted to other types of machine tool that don’t experience high lateral forces. Of course, if you don’t yet have a plasma cutter,
you can always make your own
. Video after the break. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6266197",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2020-07-26T16:04:57",
"content": "Nice elegant design.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6540377",
"author": "Ted Robinson",
"timestamp": "2022-11-29T23:40:35",
"... | 1,760,373,410.085813 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/esp8266-makes-a-wireless-card-reader/ | ESP8266 Makes A Wireless Card Reader | Al Williams | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"esp12e",
"ESP8266",
"sdcard",
"wireless"
] | You can find commercial USB sticks that can also connect via WiFi. But [Neutrino]
made his own
using an ESP8266 married to a card reader. It all starts with the old trick of soldering a header to an SD card adapter. The USB port is still there, but it is only for power. A 3.3 V regulator and an ESP12E board round out the hardware.
Of course, the trick is the software. Starting from a few examples, he wound up providing an FTP server that you can connect to and send or receive files using that protocol.
It sounds like a few design compromises led to the device being somewhat slow, although it looked usable. [Neutrino] wants to change to the ESP32 and make some other changes to get better speeds.
Of course, you could go buy a SanDisk Connect Wireless or similar product, but what fun is that? Besides, being able to connect an SD card to your project opens up a lot of possibilities for data logging, configuration, and more.
Honestly, we’ve had relatively poor results with most of the commercial wireless memory offerings including the venerable
FlashAir
, so it is attractive to have a device that you can completely control. If you have an SD card connected to a project, one thing you can do is
play some tunes
. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265992",
"author": "Slavik",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T17:02:58",
"content": "Awesome idea )))) cooooooool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6266000",
"author": "Pinhead",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T17:15:28",
"content":... | 1,760,373,409.95568 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/stop-bad-laws-before-they-start/ | Stop Bad Laws Before They Start | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] | [
"legislation",
"newsletter",
"openwrt",
"sdr",
"software-defined radio",
"Wearables",
"wifi"
] | With everything else going on this summer, you might be forgiven for not keeping abreast of new proposed regulatory frameworks, but if you’re interested in software-defined radio (SDR) or even reflashing your WiFi router, you should. Right now, there’s
a proposal to essentially prevent you from flashing your own firmware/software to any product with a radio in it
before the European Commission. This obviously matters to Europeans, but because manufacturers often build hardware to the strictest global requirements, it may impact everyone. What counts as radio equipment? Everything from WiFi routers to wearables, SDR dongles to shortwave radios.
The idea is to prevent rogue reconfigurable radios from talking over each other, and prevent consumers from bricking their routers and radios. Before SDR was the norm, and firmware was king, it was easy for regulators to test some hardware and make sure that it’s compliant, but now that anyone can re-flash firmware, how can they be sure that a radio is conformant? Prevent the user from running their own firmware, naturally. It’s pretty hard for Hackaday to get behind that approach.
The
impact assessment
sounds more like advertising copy for the proposed ruling than an honest assessment, but you should give it a read because it lets you know where the commission is coming from. Reassuring is that they mention open-source software development explicitly as a good to be preserved, but their “likely social impacts” include “increased security and safety” and they conclude that there are no negative environmental impacts. What do you do when the manufacturer no longer wants to support the device? I have plenty of gear that’s no longer supported by firmware updates that is both more secure and simply not in the landfill because of open-source firmware.
Similarly, “the increased capacity of the EU to autonomously secure its products is also likely to help the citizens to better protect their information-related rights” is from a bizarro world where you can
trust Xiaomi’s home-automation firmware to not phone home
, but can’t trust an open-source replacement.
Public comment is still open, and isn’t limited to European citizens. As mentioned above, it might affect you even if you’re not in the EU, so feel free to make your voice heard. You have until September, and you’ll be in some great company if you register your complaints. Indeed, reading through the public comments is quite heartening: Universities, researchers, and hackers alike have brought up reasons to steer clear of the proposed approach. We hope that the commission hears us.
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
! | 88 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265950",
"author": "StopBeingSlavesToGreed",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T14:09:08",
"content": "It is idiocy such as this, among countless other examples, that is the reason governments should ever only be in place to ensure rights and liberties are preserved. Nothing more, nothing l... | 1,760,373,409.849851 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/jet-airliner-nacelle-becomes-a-unique-camper/ | Jet Airliner Nacelle Becomes A Unique Camper | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"airliner",
"camper",
"nacelle",
"VC-10"
] | It’s possible that some of you will have thought about making a custom camper for yourselves. Some of you may even have gone as far as to build a teardrop caravan. It’s very unlikely though that you’ll have gone as far as [Steve Jones] though, who
took an outer engine nacelle from a retired ex-RAF VC-10 airliner and converted it into a camper that is truly one of a kind
.
On the face of it a jet engine nacelle should be an easy shell for such a project, but such a simplified view perhaps doesn’t account for the many vents, pipes, and hatches required by the engine in flight. Turning it into a waterproof housing for a camper was a significant job, which he has managed to do while leaving one set of engine access doors available as a large opening for a room with a view.
The nacelle is mounted on a narrowed former caravan chassis, and with an eye-catching window created from its former air intake and a very well executed interior fit-out it makes for a camper that many of us would relish trying for ourselves. You can see a video of it below the break, and we wish we could be lucky enough to encounter it in a campsite one summer.
We’ve shown you our share of campers over the years, but perhaps
this 3D printed one
has most appeal. | 47 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265926",
"author": "Mime",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T12:10:47",
"content": "Nice! I love articles which are actually in the reach of mere mortals ☺️",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6265929",
"author": "LightningPhil",
"t... | 1,760,373,410.039957 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/25/this-tube-preamp-has-a-nixie-volume-display/ | This Tube Preamp Has A Nixie Volume Display | Jenny List | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"preamplifier",
"tube audio"
] | The pursuit of audiophile hi-fi is one upon which many superlatives and perhaps a little too much money are lavished. But it’s also a field in which the self-builder can produce their own equipment that is as good or often better than that which can be bought, so it provides plenty of interesting projects along the way.
[Justin Scott]’s tube preamplifier is a great example
, with its novel use of a pair of Nixie tubes to indicate the volume to which it has been set.
The audio side of the preamp comes courtesy of
a four-tube kit from tubes 4 hi-fi
, in which we notice another tube as power supply rectifier. The case is a beautifully made wooden affair with a professional front panel, but it’s the Nixies which make it a bit special. A high quality motorised potentiometer is used as a volume control, one of its multiple outputs is used as a simple potential divider to provide a voltage. This is read by an Arduino, which in turn drives the Nixies via a BCD-to-decimal decoder. The attention to detail in the whole project is at a very high level, and though he’s not shred any of its audio measurements with us, we’d expect it to sound as good as it looks.
If tube amplifiers interest you,
we’ve delved into their design in the past
, and it’s worth directing you to
Justin’s matching amplifier,
as well. | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265922",
"author": "trimen",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T10:47:47",
"content": "I saw a similar design a long time ago, but without an MCU.https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpokusy.chytrak.cz%2Fschemata%2Ftubeamp%2F6p3samp.htm",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,373,409.902314 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/homebrew-16-bit-computer-is-a-wire-wrapped-work-of-art/ | Homebrew 16-Bit Computer Is A Wire-Wrapped Work Of Art | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"16-bit",
"74HCxx",
"card cage",
"discrete",
"logic",
"retrocomputing",
"wirewrap"
] | Breadboard 8-bit computer builds seem all the rage these days, and with good reason: building your own CPU from the board up using discrete logic chips is a great way to really learn how microprocessors work. Not to mention that it’s an incredible flex. But once you’ve conquered the eight-bit, what do you do? Easy: build
a 16-bit computer from 74HC logic chips
.
Attentive readers will likely remember this computer’s builder, [Paulo Constantino], from
his previous work
on 8-bit breadboard computers. As gloriously entropic as that tangled mass of wires was, it must have been a nightmare for [Paulo] to maintain. And so when the time came to upgrade, he wisely chose a more integrated construction method. The construction method is wire-wrapping, with multiple cards plugged into backplane and connected by ribbon cables. The whole card cage is far neater than the previous build, and seems to lend itself to rapid modifications. The top card in the cage acts as a control panel for now; eventually, [Paulo] planes to put a real front panel on the cage to support all the switches and blinkenlights such builds demand. Stretch goals include supporting audio and video and getting the machine online so anyone can log in.
The video below is an overview of the current state of the machine; earlier videos in
the playlist
cover the design and build in more detail. We hope to see schematics soon, and we’d love to know where to get some of those wire-wrap PCBs for projects of our own. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265927",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T12:29:32",
"content": "Wow, I’m spitballing $600 in ICs and $3000 in sockets…. though I’m not seeing much wrap there.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265934",
... | 1,760,373,409.718814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/this-week-in-security-irans-itg18-procmon-for-linux-and-garbage-collection-fail/ | This Week In Security: Iran’s ITG18, ProcMon For Linux, And Garbage Collection Fail | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"garbage collection",
"Sysinternals"
] | Even top-tier security professionals make catastrophic mistakes, and this time it was the operators at Iran’s ITG18. We’re once again talking about the strange shadowy world of state sponsored hacking. This story comes from the IBM X-Force Incident Response Intelligence Services (IRIS). I suspect a Deadpool fan must work at IBM, but that’s beside the point.
A server suspected to be used by ITG18 was incorrectly configured
, and when data and training videos were stored there, that data was publicly accessible. Among the captured data was records of compromised accounts belonging to US and Greek military personnel.
The training videos also contained a few interesting tidbits. If a targeted account used two factor authentication, the attacker was to make a note and give up on gaining access to that account. If a Google account was breached, the practice was to start with Google Takeout, the service from Google that allows downloading all the data Google has collected related to that account. Yoiks.
To Make an Exploit From Scratch, You Must First Invent the Universe
We’ve covered many kernel level exploits in this column, but never have we covered
a guide quite like the one just published by Secfault Security
. They attempt to bridge the gap between being a developer and an exploit author, walking us through the process of building an actual working exploit PoC based on a Google Project Zero write-up.
ProcMon
Image by Microsoft, Licensed MIT
Microsoft is continuing to develop their Linux presence, this time by re-engineering Process Monitor as
ProcMon for Linux
. A bit of history, Process Monitor is part of the Sysinternals suite, originally developed by [Bryce Cogswell] and [Mark Russinovich], founders of Winternals. Incidentally, they also
broke the Sony BMG rootkit story
, using sysinternals tools. Less than a year after that story broke, Winternals was acquired by Microsoft, and while [Cogswell] has moved on, [Russonovich] has stayed with Microsoft, and is now the CTO of Azure.
ProcMon is written in C++, and released under the MIT license. It keeps track of the system calls happening on machine in real time, giving a detailed look at the activity of the system. It’s useful for security, debugging, and troubleshooting performance issues. All in all, it’s a really handy tool, and should be a useful part of the sysadmin’s toolbox. The source is available under an OSI approved license, so the various distros should pick up and package ProcMon before long.
Windows Server Containers
Windows Server supports a couple of ways to run processes in containers: HyperV containers, and Windows Server Containers. It’s fairly widely accepted that virtualization based containerization provides a more secure isolation. That is, if a virtualized container is compromised, is far more difficult for an attacker to migrate out and attack the host machine, as compared to a kernel based containerization.
The news is
a new way to escape a Windows Server Container
. While not encountered as often as on a Linux machine, Windows does support symbolic links. Reading through the deep dive also makes it clear how much modern Windows machines are becoming POSIX machines with a Windows compatibility layer on top. For example, the “C:” directory is actually a global symlink to “\Device\HarddiskVolumeX\”.
If a containerized process could create a global symlink, AKA one that pointed to the root directory, then the container escape would be trivial. As expected, the container security controls don’t allow the isolated processes to create such a symlink during runtime. That said, there is a particular function that can be abused to create the global symlink. The specific function parameters have yet to be disclosed, in order to make in-the-wild exploitation just a bit more difficult.
Password Reset Gone Wrong
The story of
a security audit on a website
caught my eye this week, put together by [Maxwell “ꓘ” Dulin]. The password reset form is the focus here, and it has a few problems. The first one is a common flaw: the password reset form verifies whether a given email address is in the system. It’s not the worst flaw, but it does give an attacker information — he can guess email addresses, and gets confirmation when there is an account with that address.
The next flaw is a subtle one, the contents of the password reset email are generated using the host sent in the HTTP request. That normally works as expected: A user goes to
ourwebsite.com/reset
, inputs their email address, and submits the form to generate a password reset request. They get an email with a link back to
ourwebsite.com
that allows the password reset. An attacker, however, can send a malicious HTTP request to the password reset form, using someone else’s address, and manipulate the Host value. The reset email now points to the injected host. If the user clicks the link in the email, the magic value is sent to host specified by the attacker, who can then go reset the user’s password.
The last flaw [Maxwell] found was the worst of the bunch. The reset token is confirmed when the user first clicks the link sent via email, but it isn’t confirmed when the password is actually updated. You could create your own account, go through the password reset process, and then change the password reset form to point at another user’s account. Because the back-end sees you as already authenticated, it dutifully sets the new password, even if the account specified isn’t yours.
None of us will likely use the little website that this audit was performed on, but the steps described and problems to look for are a good guide for anyone needing doing the same.
Garbage Collection Use After Free
CVE-2019–1367 is an older bug at this point
, found being exploited in the wild in 2019, and given a full write-up by Confiant. It’s yet another vulnerability in Internet Explorer’s
jscript
engine. For a very brief review,
jscript.dll
is the deprecated IE implementation of Javascript. It’s no longer the default implementation, but can be requested by a web page for compatibility purposes. It appears that
jscript.dll
is only accessible in Internet Explorer, and neither iteration of Edge support the legacy implementation at all.
This vuln was being actively used by state actors and was a watering hole style attack, where simply visiting the malicious site was enough to compromise. The
next page of the write-up
goes into the technical details. This is a class of vulnerability that we haven’t covered before. It’s a use-after-free in a garbage collected language.
Garbage collection is the alternative to manually freeing memory when finished with it. One of the advantages is that it is supposed to make use-after-free bugs a thing of the past, so what’s going on here? The garbage collection code in
jscript.dll
doesn’t properly track the reference count in certain situations. This bug specifically deals with the
Array.sort()
callback function. Arguments to that function aren’t properly tracked, so the JS instance can be manipulated such that a GC sweep frees an object that will be later accessed.
For the exploit and further analysis of how this flaw was used in the wild, check out
part 2
and
part 3
of the full write-up. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265698",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T14:46:04",
"content": "Ah, gee whiz! Garbage Collection was supposed to be one of Java’s big advantages over C!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6265720",
"author": "Ren",
... | 1,760,373,410.381509 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/a-complete-raspberry-pi-power-monitoring-system/ | A Complete Raspberry Pi Power Monitoring System | Tom Nardi | [
"green hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"analog to digital",
"current sensor",
"energy monitoring",
"solar power"
] | As the world has become more environmentally conscious, we’ve seen an uptick in projects that monitor or control home energy use. At a minimum one of these setups involves a microcontroller and some kind of clamp-on current sensor, but if you’re looking for resources to take things a bit farther,
this Raspberry Pi energy monitoring system created by [David00]
would be a great place to start.
This project includes provides software and hardware to be used in conjunction with the Raspberry Pi to keep tabs on not just home energy consumption, but also production if your home has a solar array or other method of generating its own power. Data is pulled every 0.5 seconds from a MCP3008 ADC connected to up to
five
six current sensors to provide real-time utilization statistics, and visualized with Grafana so you can see all of the information at a glance.
While [David00] has already done the community a great service by releasing the hardware and software under an open source license, he’s also produced some absolutely phenomenal documentation for the project that’s really a valuable resource for anyone who wants to roll their own monitoring system.
He’s even offering hardware kits
for anyone who’s more interested in experimenting with the software side of things than building the PCB.
Home
energy monitoring projects are certainly nothing new,
but the incredible advances we’ve seen in the type of hardware and software available for DIY projects over the last decade
has really pushed the state-of-the-art forward
. With so many fantastic resources available now, the only thing standing between you and your own home energy monitoring dashboard is desire and a long weekend. | 60 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265638",
"author": "Pinhead BE",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T11:45:05",
"content": "How much power does that Pi use to try to save a couple of watts ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265640",
"author": "Val",
"t... | 1,760,373,410.335293 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/tinypilot-provides-kvm-over-ip-with-low-cost-and-even-lower-latency/ | TinyPilot Provides KVM-over-IP, With Low Cost And Even Lower Latency | Donald Papp | [
"computer hacks",
"how-to",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"hdmi capture",
"headless",
"kvm",
"raspberry pi",
"remote access",
"streaming"
] | Remote access is great, but if the machine stops booting, ceases to connect to the network, or needs low-level interaction like BIOS settings or boot management, remote access is worthless because it’s only available once the host computer is up and running. The usual solution is to drag a keyboard and monitor to the machine in question for physical access.
Ubuntu laptop (right) being accessed over IP, via web browser on the left.
For most people, swapping cables in this way is an infrequent task at best. But for those who work more closely with managing hardware or developing software, the need to plug and unplug a keyboard and monitor into machines that otherwise run headless can get tiresome. The modern solution is KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) over IP, but commercial options are expensive. [Michael Lynch]’s
TinyPilot on the other hand clocks in at roughly $100 of parts
, including a Raspberry Pi and USB HDMI capture device. It does have to drop the ‘M’ from KVM (meaning it does not support a mouse yet) but the rest of it hits all the bases, and does it all from a web browser.
What exactly does TinyPilot do? It provides remote access via web browser, but the device is an independent piece of hardware that — from the host computer’s point of view — is no different from a physical keyboard and monitor. That means keyboard and video access works before the host machine even boots, so even changing something like BIOS settings is no problem.
[Michael] demonstrates his design in the video embedded below, but we encourage you to
check out the project page
for a fascinating exploration of all the challenges that were part of TinyPilot’s development.
Interested? Make one yourself, or as an alternative [Michael] has made
a parts kit available
. TinyPilot doesn’t provide an interface to the host machine’s power switch, but if you need to add that you can use
this other KVM project’s
method of integrating a relay module with some DIY of your own. | 45 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265606",
"author": "Phil Ashby",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T09:15:42",
"content": "Useful if you are working remotely on a system not designed for the task I guess? The majority of remote work in my experience is on systems with lights out management (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ou... | 1,760,373,411.052063 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/portable-cp-m-runs-the-classics-anywhere/ | Portable CP/M Runs The Classics Anywhere | Al Williams | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"8080",
"CP/M",
"z80"
] | If you want to run an old CP/M program — maybe you want to run WordStar or play StarTrek — you have several options. One is to acquire some classic hardware. You can also build a new computer using a Z80 or some other processor that will emulate a Z80. Finally, you can emulate old hardware on your current computer. The
iz-cpm project
from [ivanizag] takes this last approach. Unlike some emulators, iz-cpm doesn’t try to emulate everything in one simulated environment. Instead, it directly accesses your file system so it allows CP/M executables to run more as though they were a native program.
You can think of it as Wine for CP/M. The code is portable to Linux, Windows, or MacOS. The author mentions, though, that it won’t run on CP/M itself! The program can run an executable standalone which means you could set .COM files up to execute automatically if you wanted to.
The machine looks like a Kaypro and emulates an ADM-3A. There is a script to download interesting CP/M software, for instance WordStar, Basic, and Zork. You can trace calls and even CPU instructions if you want to debug things. Speaking of debugging, though, you might actually need to do that.
When trying out the program, we noticed that WordStar had some odd behavior. Saving files to drive A works, but if you save anywhere else, the file winds up on drive A, anyway. This confuses WordStar because it tries to reread the file from the other disk so it blanks out the text you were working on. We reported the problem on GitHub and in a couple of hours the author had it fixed. You have to love the open source community.
The program is written in Rust which seems to be gaining traction lately. The program is a great way to get into CP/M hacking, especially if you are interested in Rust programming.
If you want real hardware, it is hard to beat the price for this
Z80 computer
. However, pick up the
PCB
and check out our
updates
to it, as well. | 20 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265580",
"author": "macona",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T05:07:07",
"content": "My parents were moving at the end of 2018 so all my crap in their attic had to come out. In there was my old Kaypro 2, plugged it in and it still works fine, booted and wordstar loaded. Not bad sitting for... | 1,760,373,411.237773 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/wobble-disk-coffee-roaster-gets-the-beans-just-right/ | Wobble Disk Coffee Roaster Gets The Beans Just Right | Lewin Day | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"coffee",
"coffee roaster",
"roasting"
] | Coffee roasting is an art or a science, depending on who you talk to. Both camps will however agree that attention to detail is key. Many diehard beanheads, as they’re known, will go so far as to create their own roasting hardware to get the job done just right. [Larry Cotton] is one such builder,
who has created an elegant roaster to get his brew just right.
The build is based around a wobble disk design. This consists of a round plate fixed at a 45-degree angle to a rotating shaft. As the shaft spins, the disk gently sweeps and agitates the roast, allowing the batch to heat up evenly without burning the beans. It’s a two-part design, with heat gun parts in the base to generate the hot air for the roasting process. The bean basket sits on top, held in place by magnets that also act as a conduit for the wobble disk motor’s power supply.
It’s a tidy build, which allows for accurate roasting and easy dumping of the beans once finished.
If you’re a serious beanhead yourself
with a few hacks up your sleeve,
be sure to let us know
! Video after the break. | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265559",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.4",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T02:25:00",
"content": "Didn’t the wise man say never to waste counter space on a single purpose device? ? ? …. so can we have a version that does popcorn and hot air reflow too?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,373,410.961135 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/ergo-keyboard-build-issue-becomes-crystal-clear/ | Ergo Keyboard Build Issue Becomes Crystal Clear | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"crystal oscillator",
"iris keyboard",
"keeb",
"keyboard",
"mechanical keyboard",
"rotary encoder"
] | Somewhere between the onset of annoying hand pain and the feeling of worn-out, mushy switches, [sinbeard]’s keyboard dissatisfaction came to a head. He decided it was time to slip into something bit more ergonomic and settled on building an Iris — a small split keeb with an ortholinear (non-staggered) key arrangement.
The Iris is open source and uses an on-board controller, so you can have the boards fabbed and do a lot of SMD soldering, or get a pair of PCBs with all of that already done.
[sinbeard] went the latter route with this build
, but there’s still plenty of soldering and assembly to do before it’s time to start clackin’, such as the TRRS jacks, the rotary encoders, and of course, all the switches. It’s a great way for people to get their feet wet when it comes to building keyboards.
Everything went according to plan until it was time to flash the firmware and it didn’t respond. It’s worth noting that both of the Iris PCBs are the same, and both are fully populated. This is both good and bad.
It’s bad you have two on-board microcontrollers and their crystals to worry about instead of one. It’s good because there’s a USB port on both sides so you can plug in whichever side you prefer, and this comes in mighty handy if you have to troubleshoot.
When one side’s underglow lit up but not the other, [sinbeard] busted out the ISP programmer. But in the end, he found the problem — a dent in the crystal — by staring at the board. A cheap replacement part and a little hot air rework action was all it took to get this Iris to bloom.
Want to build a keyboard but need a few more keys? Check out
the dactyl
and
the ErgoDox
. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265558",
"author": "Nathan",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T02:22:12",
"content": "I kinda wonder how that crystal got dented in the first place…Shipping possibly? Or could it have been an issue from manufacturing that made it through qc?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,373,411.109896 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/3d-printed-esp8266-tv-is-a-blast-from-the-past/ | 3D Printed ESP8266 TV Is A Blast From The Past | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"3D printed enclosure",
"environmental monitoring",
"ESP8266",
"retro",
"sensor",
"wemos d1 mini"
] | We’ve often said that one of the best applications for desktop 3D printing is the production of custom enclosures, but you certainly aren’t limited to an extruded version of the classic Radio Shack project box. As [Marcello Milone] shows with this
very clever retro TV enclosure for the Wemos D1 Mini
, 3D printing means your imagination is the only limit when it comes to how you want to package up your latest creation.
As nice as the printed parts are, it’s the little details that really sell the look. [Marcello] has bent a piece of copper wire into a circle to make a faux antenna with vintage flair, and while the ESP is connecting to the WiFi network, it even shows an old school TV test pattern on its 1.8″ TFT display.
In the video after the break you can see the device go through its startup routine, and while displaying the Hackaday Wrencher at boot might not be strictly on theme…we’ll allow it.
While you could certainly use this little enclosure for whatever ESP project you had in mind, [Marcello] says he’s building
a distributed environmental monitoring network
using HTU21D temperature and humidity sensors. It sounds like he’s still working on the software side of things though, so hopefully he posts an update when the functionality is fully realized. | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265527",
"author": "ScriptGiddy",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T20:13:26",
"content": "Cute! Do you set it to channel 3 or 4? :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265539",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2020-0... | 1,760,373,411.170477 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/microwave-modified-for-disinfecting/ | Microwave Modified For Disinfecting | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"Covid-19",
"disinfection",
"face mask",
"microwave",
"n95",
"personal protective equipment",
"PPE",
"sanitization",
"UV-C"
] | We’re all hopefully a little more concerned about health these days, but with that concern comes a growing demand for products like hand sanitizer, disinfectant, and masks. Some masks are supposed to be single-use only, but with the shortage [Bob] thought it would be good if there were a way to sanitize things like masks without ruining them.
He was able to modify a microwave oven to do just that
.
His microwave doesn’t have a magnetron anymore, which is the part that actually produces the microwaves for cooking. In its place is an ultraviolet light which has been shown to be effective at neutralizing viruses. The mask is simply placed in the microwave and sterilized with the light. He did have to make some other modifications as well since the magnetron isn’t always powered up when cooking, so instead he wired the light into the circuit for the turntable so that it’s always powered on.
Since UV can be harmful, placing it in the microwave’s enclosure like this certainly limits risks. However, we’d like to point out that the mesh on the microwave door is specifically designed to block microwaves rather than light of any kind, and that you probably shouldn’t put your face up to the door while this thing is operating.
Some other similar builds have addressed this issue
. Still, it’s a great way to get some extra use out of your PPE. | 29 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265865",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2020-07-25T02:03:34",
"content": "Some microwave screens are protected by plastic, which doesn’t transmit UV all that well.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265871",
"author": "... | 1,760,373,411.49748 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/laser-cutting-your-way-to-an-rgb-led-table/ | Laser Cutting Your Way To An RGB LED Table | Tom Nardi | [
"home hacks",
"Laser Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"laser",
"qi charger",
"RGB LED",
"wood veneer",
"woodworking"
] | You’ve got the RGB keyboard, maybe even the RGB mouse. But can you really call yourself master of the technicolor LED if you don’t have an RGB table to game on? We think you already know the answer. Luckily,
as [ItKindaWorks] shows in his latest project
, it’s easy to build your own. Assuming you’ve got a big enough laser cutter anyway…
The construction of the table is quite straightforward. Using an 80 watt laser cutter, he puts a channel into a sheet of MDF to accept RGB LED strips, a pocket to hold a Qi wireless charger, and a hole to run all the wires out through. This is then backed with a second, solid, sheet of MDF.
Next, a piece of thin wood veneer goes into the laser cutter. In the video after the break you can see its natural tendency to roll up gave [ItKindaWorks] a little bit of trouble, but when strategically weighted down, it eventually lays out flat. He then uses the laser to blast an array of tiny holes in the veneer, through which the light from the LEDs will shine when it’s been glued over the MDF. A few strips of plastic laid over the strips serve both to diffuse the light and support the top surface.
The end result is truly gorgeous and has a very futuristic feel. Assuming you’ve got the equipment, it’s also a relatively simple concept to experiment with. It’s yet another example of
the unique construction techniques possible
when you
add a high-powered laser to your arsenal
. | 19 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265843",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T23:42:47",
"content": "It’s nice but how do we poor people without a laser cutter do it? Router and pins?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265845",
"author": "C... | 1,760,373,411.424777 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/hands-on-the-pandemic-def-con-badge-is-an-audio-cassette/ | Hands-On: The Pandemic DEF CON Badge Is An Audio Cassette | Mike Szczys | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"audio cassette",
"badge",
"cassette tape",
"DEF CON",
"defcon 28"
] | My
DEF CON Safe Mode badge
just arrived in the mail this afternoon. The Vegas-based conference which normally hosts around 30,000 attendees every year has moved online in response to the global pandemic, and the
virtual event spins up August 6-9
. Known for creative badges, North America’s most well-known infosec con has a tick-tock cycle that alternates electronic and non-electronic badges from year to year. During this off-year, the badge is an obscure deprecated media: the audio cassette.
This choice harkens back to
the DEF CON 23 badge which was an vinyl record
— I have the same problem I did back in 2015… I lack access to playback this archaic medium. Luckily [
Grifter
] pointed everyone to
a dump of the audio contents over at Internet Archive
, although knowing how competitive the badge hacking for DEF CON is, I’m skeptical about the reliability of these files. Your best bet is to pull the dust cover off your ’88 Camry and let your own cassette roll in the tape deck. I also wonder if there are different versions of the tape.
But enough speculation, let’s look at what physically comes with the DEF CON 28 badge.
The cassette tape itself is the real deal, delivered in a jewel case and shrink-wrapped with plastic. Made of purple-tinted clear plastic, each side features a masked logo and the number 28 silk-screened on along with side letters A and B. On the B-side is a quote from
Ghost in the Shell
:
I feel confined, only free to expand myself within boundaries.
—
Motoko Kusanagi
It’s somewhat surprising to see something so straight-forward printed here. I’d expect bizarre characters that are part of a larger puzzle. Perhaps this sets the tone for the the mysteries within, and weird markings are by no means missing form the package.
The part of the lanyard which goes around the back of your neck is packed with strange characters. It was a bit difficult to photograph but hopefully these images are enough to get you started with the puzzle. The liner notes that come folded into the cradle of the jewel case provide a track list and a thank you from [The Dark Tangent], which is then followed by cryptic messages from [1o57], DEF CON’s long-time puzzle master.
The audio on the tape is surely the best part of the badge hacking challenge. Side A starts off with a set of tones waiting to be decoded, the B side sounds like a number station at the start. Don’t be fooled, there’s great music included on the bulk of the recording and it’s worth a listen even if you’re not involved in the con.
Have you already been analyzing the audio? We’d love to hear more about it in the comments below. And I’ve started
a project over on Hackaday.io for anyone who wants to work collaboratively
on unlocking the secrets of the DC28 badge. Anyone can
pop into the public chat on that project
, and those actively working on the challenge can click the “Join this project’s team” in the left sidebar of that project page to get write access that lets you add projects logs and images.
One thing that makes this feel 100% like a DEF CON badge… how the heck are we supposed to hook the lanyard to the badge to wear the thing around? | 29 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265783",
"author": "mathman",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T20:27:22",
"content": "” Your best best is to pull the dust cover off your ’88 Camry […]”What’s my second best best?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265787",
"au... | 1,760,373,411.362157 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/rgb-minecraft-sign-isnt-just-for-looks/ | RGB Minecraft Sign Isn’t Just For Looks | Tom Nardi | [
"Games",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"acrylic",
"laser cutter",
"minecraft",
"notification",
"python",
"RGB LED"
] | This laser cut and LED illuminated version of the Minecraft logo created by [Geeksmithing] looks good enough to occupy a place of honor on any gamer’s shelf. But it’s not just decoration: it can also
notify you about your Minecraft’s server status and tell you when players are online
by way of its addressable LEDs.
In the first half of the video after the break, [Geeksmithing] shows how the logo itself was built by cutting out pieces of white and black acrylic on his laser cutter. When stacked up together, it creates an impressive 3D effect but also isolates each letter. With carefully aligned rows of RGB LEDs behind the stack, each individual letter can be lit in its own color (or not at all) without the light bleeding into either side.
Once he had a way of lighting up each letter individually, it was just a matter of writing some code for the Raspberry Pi that can do something useful with them. Notifying him when the server goes down is easy enough, just blink them all red. But the code [Geeksmithing] came up with also associates each letter with one of the friends he plays with, and lights them up when they go online. So at a glance he can not only tell how many friends are already in the game, but which ones they are. Naturally this means the display can only show the status of nine friends…but hey, that’s more than we have anyway.
We’ve been seeing people
connect the real world to Minecraft
in
weird and wonderful ways
for years now, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any sign of things slowing down. While we recognize the game isn’t for everyone, but you’ve got to respect
the incredible creativity it’s inspired
in young and old players alike. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,373,411.285878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/liquid-air-energy-storage-a-power-grid-battery-using-regular-old-ambient-air/ | Liquid Air Energy Storage: A Power Grid Battery Using Regular Old Ambient Air | Kristina Panos | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"green hacks",
"News",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"cryogenic energy storage",
"electricity grid",
"energy battery",
"liquid air",
"liquid air battery",
"liquid air energy storage",
"renewable energy",
"turbine"
] | When you think of renewable energy, what comes to mind? We’d venture to guess that wind and solar are probably near the top of the list. And yes, wind and solar are great as long as the winds are favorable and the sun is shining. But what about all those short and bleak winter days? Rainy days? Night time?
Render of a Highview LAES plant. The air is cleaned, liquefied in the tower, and stored in the white tanks. The blue tanks hold waste cold which is reused in the liquefaction process. Image via
Highview Power
Unfavorable conditions mean that storage is an important part of any viable solution that uses renewable energy. Either the energy itself has to be stored, or else the means to produce the energy on demand must be stored.
One possible answer has been right under our noses all along — air. Regular old ambient air can be cooled and compressed into a liquid, stored in tanks, and then reheated to its gaseous state to do work.
This technology is called Cryogenic Energy Storage (CES) or Liquid Air Energy storage (LAES). It’s a fairly new energy scheme that was first developed a decade ago by UK inventor Peter Dearman as a car engine. More recently, the technology has been re-imagined as power grid storage.
UK utility Highview Power have adopted the technology and are putting it to the test all over the world. T
hey have just begun construction on the world’s largest liquid air battery plant
, which will use off-peak energy to charge an ambient air liquifier, and then store the liquid air, re-gasifying it as needed to generate power via a turbine. The turbine will only be used to generate electricity during peak usage. By itself, the LAES process is not terribly efficient, but the system offsets this by capturing waste heat and cold from the process and reusing it. The biggest upside is that the only exhaust is plain, breathable air.
A high-level overview of the LAES process. Image via
Highview Power
The so-called gigaplant is being built near Manchester, UK and is supposed to be complete by 2022. It will be able to power nearly 200,000 homes for five continuous hours, even if they all switch on their kettles as soon as the credits roll on
Coronation Street
. This plant will have a 250 MWh storage capacity, which is almost twice that of
the Hornsdale Power Reserve
— that’s the chemical battery that Tesla stood up in South Australia last year after a particularly chaotic storm took out the grid for nearly 2 million people.
LAES has a lot of positives compared to other renewable energy sources. Some existing green energy schemes have steep storage requirements —
pumped hydroelectric power requires a mountain
, for instance. Similarly,
you can store energy in a pile of gravel
, but you need a pretty big pile of gravel. Liquid air plants have a small footprint to begin with, but they’re also modular, so they can be stacked for greater output. They can also be used in conjunction with other components like peaking plants, which only run during periods of high demand.
In light of the recent heatwave in Siberia, it’s great to see large-scale renewable energy projects like this. Highview Power has other projects underway in the UK, Europe, and the US, so maybe we can take a tour someday. While you wait for that write-up, check out the animated walk-through of an LAES plant below. | 83 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265733",
"author": "0100010",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T18:10:42",
"content": "‘Not terribly efficient’ means exactly how inefficient?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265739",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timest... | 1,760,373,411.620522 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/hackaday-podcast-077-secret-life-of-sd-cards-mining-minecrafts-secret-seed-badpower-is-bad-and-sailing-a-sea-of-neon/ | Hackaday Podcast 077: Secret Life Of SD Cards, Mining Minecraft’s Secret Seed, BadPower Is Bad, And Sailing A Sea Of Neon | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"flash",
"Hackaday Podcast",
"matrix",
"mechanical keyboard",
"minecraft",
"modem",
"neon bulb",
"neowise",
"sd card",
"test point",
"tin can",
"usb charger"
] | Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams are deep in the hacks this week. What if making your own display matrix meant a microcontroller board for every pixel? That’s the gist of this incredible neon display. There’s a lot of dark art poured into the slivers of microSD cards and this week saw multiple hacks digging into the hidden test pads of these devices. You’ve heard of Folding@Home, but what about Minecraft@Home, the effort to find world seeds from screenshots. And when USB chargers have exposed and rewritable firmware, what could possibly go wrong?
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!
Take a look at the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Direct download
(60 MB or so.)
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 077 Show Notes:
New This Week:
The Real Story: How Samsung Blu Ray Players Were Bricked
Stay At Home, HOPE And DEF CON Will Come To You
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Digging Deep Into SD Card Secrets
USB Flash Drive Reveals Strange SD Card Heart
Hacking SD Card & Flash Memory Controllers
BadPower Vulnerability In Fast Chargers Might Make Phones Halt And Catch Fire
Finding The Random Seed Of Minecraft’s Title Screen
How the Minecraft Title Screen Seed was Found – YouTube
Can A 3D Printer Print Better Filament For Itself?
Half-Baked Idea: Put Your PLA In The Oven
384 Neon Bulbs Become Attractive Display
Forget LED Matrices, How About Neon!
A Tin Can Modem, Just For Fun
Quick Hacks:
Mike’s Picks:
Flipping A Coin 10,000 Times With A Dedicated Machine
Automated Part Removal Gets Serious With The Chain Production Add-on
Smooth(er) Text Scrolling On HD44780 LCDs
Elliot’s Picks:
Raspberry Pi Shuffler Is Computerized Card Shark
A Simple Soft Power Switch Using Common Modules
Hand Depanelizer Gets Pneumatic Upgrade
Can’t-Miss Articles:
The WISE In NEOWISE: How A Hibernating Satellite Awoke To Discover The Comet
Clacker Hacker: Hot Rod Switch Mods | 3 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265810",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T21:38:58",
"content": "About bottoming the keyboard keys: you really can’t avoid it.When you’re typing fast and moving your fingers accordingly, you’re hitting the keys hard enough that they will bottom out anyways unless you have... | 1,760,373,411.663255 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/24/usb-c-where-it-was-never-intended-to-be/ | USB-C Where It Was Never Intended To Be | Jenny List | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"power supply",
"thinkpad",
"USB C"
] | The USB-C revolution is well under way, as first your new phone, then your single-board computer, and now your laptop are likely so sport the familiar reversible round-cornered connector. We’re still in the crossover period of requiring to keep micro USB, proprietary laptop, and USB-C power supplies at hand, but the promise of a USB-C-only world is tantalisingly close. For [Purkkaviritys] that’s a little bit closer now, as
he’s modified his Thinkpad T440s to take a USB charger
instead of its proprietary Lenovo square-plug part. (Video, embedded below.)
At its heart is a USB-PD emulator module that does all the hard work of negotiation with the power supply, giving the laptop the DC voltage it needs. It’s not quite that simple though, because a resistor is required to reassure the laptop that it’s got a genuine power supply. The module is encased in a carefully-designed surround that neatly takes the space vacated by the original connector, and since this laptop has its internal power connector on a short cable it is made very straightforward to fit into the case. If you didn’t know it was a home-made upgrade, you could be forgiven for thinking that this laptop left the factory with a USB-C power socket.
The USB-C module used here is a versatile part. We’ve previously seen it
in a soldering iron conversion
. | 25 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265707",
"author": "fosselius",
"timestamp": "2020-07-24T15:46:43",
"content": "omg. that sparking… exactly what i want in my laptop! he looked a bit conserned in the video :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6265711",
"auth... | 1,760,373,411.758602 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/384-neon-bulbs-become-attractive-display/ | 384 Neon Bulbs Become Attractive Display | Lewin Day | [
"clock hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"clock",
"matrix",
"neon",
"nixie"
] | Neon lights have inspired much prose over the years, with their attractive light output receiving glowing adulation. [Pierre Muth] is a big fan,
and decided to spend lockdown creating something suitably pretty for his desk.
An 8×8 segment of the total panel. The display draws 40W at 5V with all pixels on at the same time.
The project consists of an 8×48 matrix display constructed out of INS-1 (ИНC-1) tubes. These tiny neon tubes are 6.5 mm in diameter, showing a bright orange dot of light when powered up. Requiring just 100 V and 0.5 mA to light, they’re a touch easier to drive than the famous Nixie.
[Pierre] decided to go all out, wishing to replicate the capabilities of smart LEDs like the WS2812. These contain a microcontroller built in to each LED, so [Pierre] would have to do the same. Each of the 384 neon tubes got its own bespoke PCB, containing a PIC16F15313 microcontroller, step up voltage circuitry, and a 6-pin connector. (Whoah!) When each bulb was soldered to its PCB, they were then plugged into a backplane. An ESP32 was then employed to drive the display as a whole.
Creating a display in this fashion takes a huge amount of work, with most of it being soldering the 384 individual bulb PCBs containing 11 components each. We have a lot of respect for [Pierre]’s work ethic to get this done during lockdown, and the final result is a gloriously retro neon matrix display. We’ve featured other neon matrixes recently, too. Video after the break. | 11 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265522",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T19:30:20",
"content": "It’s bonkers to think that every pixel needed to be soldered to its own carrier board *and* the microcontroller on that carrier board then needed to be flashed. That’s a heck of a lot of pixels, and t... | 1,760,373,412.374408 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/hands-on-wireless-login-with-the-new-mooltipass-mini-ble-secure-password-keeper/ | Hands-On: Wireless Login With The New Mooltipass Mini BLE Secure Password Keeper | Maya Posch | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Reviews",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"ble",
"fido2",
"mooltipass",
"Mooltipass Mini",
"mooltipass mini BLE",
"offline password keeper",
"password keeper",
"password manager",
"tfa"
] | Remembering passwords is one of those things which one just cannot seem to escape. At the very least, we all need to remember a single password: namely the one for unlocking a password manager. These password managers come in a wide variety of forms and shapes, from software programs to little devices which one carries with them. The Mooltipass Mini BLE falls into the latter category: it is small enough to comfortably fit in a hand or pocket, yet capable of remembering all of your passwords.
Heading into its crowdfunding campaign,
the Mooltipass Mini BLE
is an evolution of the
Mooltipass
Mini device, which acts as a USB keyboard by default, entering log-in credentials for you. With the required browser extension installed, this process can also be automated when browsing to a known website. Any new credentials can also be saved automatically this way.
Where the Mooltipass Mini BLE differs from the original is in that it also adds a Bluetooth (BLE) mode, enabling it to be used easily with any BLE-capable device, including laptops and smartphones, without having to dig around for a USB cable and/or OTG adapter.
I have already been using the original Mooltipass Mini for a while, and the Mooltipass team was kind enough to send me a prototype Mooltipass Mini BLE for evaluation and comparison. Let’s take a look.
Hardware Password Manager Basics
Sometimes it feels as if the need to remember five dozen passwords is a recent thing, but it’s been pretty much a requirement ever since someone came up with the concept of ‘user accounts’ on computer systems. However, dealing with the passwords for one’s computer OS, two dozen online stores, banking and social media accounts does take a bit more wrangling. Especially if one does it the Right Way
®
and uses a different password for each login.
While passwords scribbled on a Post-It note are guaranteed secure so long as nobody sneaks a peek at them, this method is awkward and a bit of paper is easily lost. Software-based password managers are a definite step up, and is what I have been mostly using the past years. They use a master key to encrypt a database which contains the credentials as well as other sensitive information. One can safely carry this encrypted database file around by putting it on an online drive or USB stick.
The new and the old.
A hardware password manager like the Mooltipass Mini (BLE) is similar to that concept, only instead of an encrypted database file, the Mooltipass device is essentially the database in physical form. The credentials are stored locally, within a tamper-proof storage device. To unlock the device, you needs two things:
Something you have (smartcard with AES key).
Something you know (PIN code).
This two-factor authentication ensures that if someone runs off with your smartcard, they still cannot unlock your Mooltipass device. Also interesting with this approach is that multiple people can share the same Mooltipass device, only seeing the credentials which their personal smartcard and PIN code unlock. This is very different from another recent hardware password manager called the
BeamU
, which unlocks with only a finger print (‘something you are’), theoretically allowing anyone who lifts your finger print to gain access to all the credentials on your BeamU card.
Higher-res OLED display.
Card slots have swapped sides.
Mini BLE with a smartcard.
Thickness has remained basically unchanged.
That said, the Mooltipass Mini BLE still allows you to use it as a Web Authentication (FIDO2) device, with the lack of biometrics a wise choice, as I covered in
a recent article on FIDO2
. This is the same hardware token functionality we find in the
SoloKey
, but combines password keeping and FIDO2 in a single device. So far the Mooltipass Mini BLE is looking good.
Enter Low-Energy Dentistry
Bluetooth Low Energy (
BLE
) has become a favorite parallel protocol next to the regular Bluetooth protocol. It enables a similar communication range to regular Bluetooth, while using significantly less power. This is a good thing for the Mooltipass Mini BLE, as unlike its predecessor it now has to live off a battery. By default BLE is disabled, but can be enabled in the settings of the device.
With BLE enabled, a single battery charge should last approximately a month, depending on how often the screen is turned on. As this happens every time one has to confirm adding new credentials or manually sends credentials to a log-in field.
The USB port has moved from Micro-USB to USB-C, but otherwise the USB-based functionality remains unchanged. In the Mooltipass Mini BLE the cable serves as both USB-based communication and charging the internal battery.
With
the accompanying software
installed (known as moolticute with
sources available on GutHub
), one can tweak various settings for the device such as the keyboard layout to use for when it is emulating a USB or BLE keyboard. Accessing the list of credentials is also done through the application, allowing for the manual adding and maintaining of credentials. With those in order, one then merely has to install either a browser extension, or connect the Mooltipass Mini BLE via USB or BLE (or both) and pick the credentials to send to the connected device. If both BLE and USB are currently connected, the device will use its display to ask the user to choose between the two connections.
When trying this on a Windows 10 laptop via BLE, it managed to successfully fill in the log-in fields at sites like Github using the ‘simulated BLE keyboard’ functionality. No special software required, which makes it very useful for occasions when using a software-based password manager isn’t going to fly, like using a public or work computer.
My Beta Experience
After having been sent an early version of the Mooltipass Mini BLE device, I was informed that a second device was also on its way to me, on account of the first having a presumed firmware bug. Although I did not encounter this bug, it turned out that having a second device was very useful, due to the nature of Beta-level hardware. At some point, the display of the first device stopped turning on, despite the rest of the unit still working. This was confirmed as a known issue with early units.
Scrollwheel looks slightly different.
The second device has not given me any major issues so far. I was able to use it in a similar way to the Mooltipass Mini, before exploring the new features. In terms of feel and looks, both devices are quite similar. They’re still encased in a similar metal shell, the clicky scroll wheel on the right-hand side is very similar and the display is the familiar monochrome look, albeit a more high-resolution OLED screen than on the original.
When I received the first device, I could pop in one of the provided smartcards and creating a fresh key (‘user’). Also useful is the ability to clone a smartcard via a menu option. This way you have a backup of the key in case you somehow lose the original smartcard. In the Moolticute application you are also constantly reminded to make a backup of the credential database. This all should make it pretty hard to ever get locked out of one’s accounts as the database is never confined to a single device.
Seeing the login fields on various sites while on my laptop get filled in almost as if by magic was also an interesting experience. The only issues which I encountered had to do with the Mini BLE’s USB interface currently not dealing well with my usual USB hub, and the BLE HID on my Xiaomi Mi 5 smartphone did not work. USB hubs are no problem on the original Mini, so that appears to be a temporary glitch, with the Mooltipass team already aware of the issue.
Early Verdict
The Mooltipass Mini BLE seems to be pretty much the hardware password manager that I hadn’t really realized I needed. I’m not really into Web Authentication, nor do I trust biometrics for securing my data. That’s where the Mooltipass Mini BLE offers non-biometric two-factor authentication to unlock it, even allowing for different categories of encrypted data (unlocked with different smartcard and PIN). Having FIDO2 support is a bonus in case I ever want to use it and need a token.
Like the original Mini, the Mini BLE is
an open source project
, for both the hardware and software. Whether this is an important point to you or not is mostly a personal choice. For me, it does add a certain level of confidence in the sense that I can look at the schematics and source code whenever I feel like it.
Since I got early prototype hardware to use, it seems unfair to put too much weight on some remaining hardware and firmware issues. I do however hope that these last issues get resolved before the final hardware is ready. Once that happens I might be tempted to retire the Mooltipass Mini for its BLE successor. | 34 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265497",
"author": "Vladimir",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T17:16:01",
"content": "Embedded advertisement: The article forgets to mention this item is sold by tindie, which like hackaday belongs to supplyframe.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,373,412.162689 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/custom-weather-camera-feed-with-software-tricks/ | Custom Weather Camera Feed With Software Tricks | Tom Nardi | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"Bash script",
"bme280",
"environmental monitor",
"imagemagick",
"python",
"weather"
] | With a gorgeous view of the Italian seaside, we’re not surprised [Danilo Larizza] had a couple IP cameras set up to pull in real-time views. But using a Raspberry Pi, an environmental sensor, and some software trickery to
overlay the current (and naturally, perfect) weather conditions over the images
? Now he’s just teasing us.
Whatever his motives are, we have to admit that the end result is very nice. Especially when you find out that there’s no complex hardware or software at work here. An original Raspberry Pi is doing all the heavy lifting by pulling a frame from the external IP camera using
ffmpeg
, polling the I2C-connected BME280 temperature and humidity sensor with a Python script, and then producing a final snapshot with the environmental data laid over top using ImageMagick.
[Danilo] gives the exact commands he’s using for each step of the process, making it easy to follow along and see how everything comes together in the end. That also makes it much easier to adapt for your own purposes should you feel so inclined. Once you see how all the pieces fit together, where the data and images come from is up to you.
We’ve previously shown how some simple
Python code can be used to turn your raw data into attractive images
, and combining that with real-world photographs is an excellent way of turning a text file full of values into a display worth showing off. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265475",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T15:58:17",
"content": "Be more fun if you did it for somewhere where there’s not much chance of getting a live web feed…“Welcome to Cydonia weather service, today’s forecast: Mostly dusty with outbreaks of weak sun, High -... | 1,760,373,411.977272 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/linux-fu-keep-in-sync/ | Linux Fu: Keep In Sync | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"cloud storage",
"file synchronization",
"linux",
"sync",
"syncthing"
] | Once upon a time, computers were very expensive and you were lucky to have shared access to one computer. While that might seem to be a problem, it did have one big advantage: all of your files were on that computer.
Today, we all probably have at least a desktop and one laptop. Your phone is probably a pretty good computer by most standards. You might have multiple computers and a smattering of tablets. So what do you do to keep your files accessible everywhere? Why not run your own peer-to-peer synchronization service? Your files are always under your control and encrypted in motion. There’s no central point of failure. You can do it with one very slick piece of Open Source software called
syncthing
. It runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, and Solaris. There are also Android clients. We haven’t tested it, but one caveat is that the unofficial iOS support sounds a little spotty.
The joke about the cloud — that it’s just other people’s servers — is on point here. Some people don’t like their files sitting on a third-party server. Even if your files are encrypted or you don’t care, you still have the problem of what happens if you can’t reach the server — may be on an airplane with no WiFi — or the server goes down. Sure, Google and Microsoft don’t go dark very often, but they can and do. Even if you build your own cloud, it runs on
your
servers. Syncthing is serverless: it simply makes sure that all files are up-to-date on all your end devices.
Enter Syncthing
Syncthing is written in Go — not that you care — and efficiently syncs directories across many devices with a number of options. The simplest setup syncs all files in a folder, on all machines, with no versioning. But there are several flavors of version control to select and you can also make folders that only publish changes or where changes will not propagate to other devices. By default data is encrypted, and optionally compressed, when synchronizing. What’s more, the block exchange protocol gains efficiency as you add devices — think of it as a private BitTorrent between your devices.
Setup
Setting up Syncthing is easy. For Debian-type Linux you can follow their instructions to add a repository and install it using
apt
. There are other options for other operating systems. The only negative to the install is that it doesn’t set up Syncthing as a service, which is probably something you want.
They do provide examples of how to do this on
GitHub
. In my case, I had to use the
linux-systemd
files and put them in my
/etc/system.d/system
directory. The file syncthing@.service indicates that the service will run on behalf of a user. You can enable the service like this:
systemctl --user enable syncthing.service
The program does a good job of traversing NAT and firewalls, so I didn’t have to set any of that up. Speaking of setup, the default method of running setup is to open a web browser on the localhost. By default, you must be on the local machine to access the web page, but you can change that if you want to remotely configure the system. You can also use an
ssh
tunnel to pop out on the local machine. There are some third-party GUIs and programs that can control syncthing through its API.
Coupling Devices
Devices have to know about one another. The program generates a long ID or a QR code you can use to set up one machine on the other. You really need to do this on both sides — that is, you have to give computer A the code for computer B and give computer A’s code to computer B. When you accept another computer into your device list, you can mark it as an “introducer”. This will add all the computers they know and trust to your list as well.
This scheme means you need some sort of access to both computers, which is a good thing for security. If you are setting up on a headless server, though, you might need to use an
ssh
tunnel. I did this:
ssh -L 9876:localhost:8384 my-remote-host
Now a browser pointing to my localhost on port 9876 will appear on the syncthing administration port (8384) on the remote server. I didn’t use 8384 on the local side because, of course, I was running syncthing there already.
Sharing Folders
When you create a folder you can give it a display name and a location. Those can be different on every machine or they could be the same. What ties them together is the folder ID. Any folder with the same ID that is shared between two machines will synchronize. So, for example, you could have your local
~/Documents
directory sync with a server directory called Desktop-Backups.
When you set up a folder you can turn on versioning. This keeps versions of files when a remote computer makes changes to it. It does not make versions for local changes. There are several options for versioning. The trashcan model just keeps a single copy of the old file. Simple versioning keeps a configurable number of old copies with a time stamp. There are several other choices, but those are the easiest ones.
Another feature allows you to set up folders that only send changes to remote computers or only receive them. Of course, the default is that folders both send and receive changes. You might, for example, have a master set of configuration files that you only want to change locally, but you want other computers to incorporate those changes: set the folder to only send. You’ll notice the folder icons change based on your selections to include an arrow that points up or down depending on your choice.
What to Sync
Once you have things set up, it is pretty addictive to start syncing directories. Sure, pictures and other documents are a no brainer. But what about 3D printer configurations? Or even your system startup scripts. It is true that the system isn’t necessarily the best solution for backups, but you can use it that way, too.
When we’ve mentioned Syncthing to people, they often reply they would use OwnCloud or NextCloud. Each has its advantages, of course. While setting up your private cloud gives you the ability to install applications, you now have a dependency on a central server, even if it is your own.
Speaking of startup scripts, I wrote something to do that and it used Git to
synchronize and version control your bash startup
. That system would work well with syncthing instead of Git. If you are interested in such things, you might also want to check out
chezmoi
. | 28 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265445",
"author": "vorpalhex",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T14:15:05",
"content": "Syncthing is pretty good. Note that it doesn’t handle situations where a file is edited by two writers at the same time very gracefully – you’ll have to manually resolve the issues. This shouldn’t be a ... | 1,760,373,412.31997 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/tiny-ethernet-switch-gets-even-smaller/ | Tiny Ethernet Switch Gets Even Smaller | Tom Nardi | [
"hardware",
"Network Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"data bus",
"Ethernet network",
"networking",
"switch",
"SwitchBlox"
] | As a project gets more complicated, some kind of internal communication network is often used to that all of the various modules and sensors can talk with each other. For hardware hackers like us, that usually means SPI, I2C, or maybe even good old fashioned UART. But if you’re pushing a lot of data around, like live video feeds from multiple cameras, you’ll need something a bit faster than that.
Which is why [Josh Elijah] has created the SwitchBlox Nano, a
three port 10/100 Ethernet switch that fits on a one inch square PCB
. All you need to do is provide it with power, with a generous input range of 5 to 50 volts, connect your devices to the Molex Picoblade connectors on the board, and away you go. There’s even a 5 V 1 A regulated output you can use to run your downstream devices.
If you’ve got a feeling that you’ve seen something very similar on these pages earlier in the year, you’re not imagining things. Back in April we covered the original five port SwitchBlox in a
post that garnered quite a bit of attention
. In fact, [Josh] tells us that the design of this new switch was driven largely by the feedback he got from Hackaday readers. The Nano is not only smaller and cheaper than the original, but now maintains full electrical isolation between each port.
The average Hackaday reader is as knowledgeable as they are opinionated, and we’re glad [Josh] was able to put the feedback he received to practical use. We’re proud that our community has had a hand in refining successful commercial products like the
Arduboy handheld game system
and the
Mooltipass hardware password keeper
. Now it looks like we can add a tiny Ethernet switch to the list of gadgets we’ve helped push up the hill. Maybe we should get a stamp or something… | 41 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265403",
"author": "Antron Argaiv",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T11:31:35",
"content": "A 5 port 10/100 Ethernet switch IC from Microchip will cost you under $10 from Digikey or Mouser, so $60 for having it mounted to a PCB seems a bit steep. Why not buy the IC and mount it to your own... | 1,760,373,412.241152 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/23/appeasing-chicken-tastes-with-3d-printing/ | Appeasing Chicken Tastes With 3D Printing | Erin Pinheiro | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"chicken",
"chicken coop",
"glow in the dark",
"hackathon"
] | Like most of us, [Hunter] and his partner [Katyrose] have been in quarantine for the past few months. Unlike most of us, they spun
a 3D printed chicken playground design hackathon
out of their self-isolation. The idea is simple: to build a playground full of toys custom-tailored to appease each chicken’s distinctive taste. The execution, however, can be proven a little tricky given that chickens are
very unpredictable
.
For each of the four select chickens in their coop, the couple designed separate toys based on their perceived interests. One, showing a fondness for worms, inspired the construction of a tree adorned with rice noodles in place of the living article, and moss to top it off. For late-night entertainment, the tree is printed in glow-in-the-dark filament. The others were presented with a print-in-place rotating mirror disguised as a flower, and a pecking post covered in peanut butter and corn. As a finishing piece, the fourth toy is designed as a jungle gym post with a reward of bread at the top for the chicken who dares climb it. Since none of the chickens seemed interested in it, they were eventually hand-fed the bread.
With no other entries to their hackathon, [Hunter] declared themselves as the winners. The 3D files for their designs are available for their patrons to print, should they have their own chicken coops they want to adorn. While the hackathon might’ve been a success for them, their chickens in particular seemed unimpressed with their new toys, only going to show that the only difference between science and messing around is writing it down, or in this case, filming the process. If you’re looking for other ways to integrate your chickens into the maker world, check out
this Twitch-enabled chicken feeder
, or
this home automation IoT chicken coop door
. Meanwhile, check out the video about their findings after the break. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265384",
"author": "ducktaperules",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T09:12:31",
"content": "the video is worth the watch just for the song at the end (7:35)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6265533",
"author": "Vladimir",
"times... | 1,760,373,411.937208 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/lets-take-a-closer-look-at-this-robotic-airship/ | Let’s Take A Closer Look At This Robotic Airship | Sharon Lin | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2020 Hackaday Prize",
"aerospace",
"electric flight",
"Hackaday Prize",
"lighter-than-air"
] | It’s not a balloon, however shiny its exterior may seem. This
miniature indoor robotic airship
created by the University of Auckland mechanical engineering research group [
New Dexterity
] is an asymmetric system experimenting with the possibilities of an open-source helium-based airship.
Why a helium airship, as opposed to a fixed wing aircraft? The group wanted to experiment with the advantages of lighter-than-air (LTA) travel, namely the higher mobility and looser path planning constraints. Furthermore, LTA airships have a less obstructed field of vision and fewer locomotion issues. While unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) may be capable of hovering in one place, their lift is generated by rotor thrust, which drains their batteries quickly in the order of minutes. LTA airships can hover for longer periods of time.
The design was created for educational and research purposes, focusing on the financial feasibility of manufacturing the platform, the environmental impact of the materials, and the helium loss through the balloon-like envelope. By measuring these parameters, the researchers are able to study the effects of circumstances such as the cost of indoor commercial balloons and the mechanical properties of balloon materials.
The airship gondola was designed and 3D printed in a modular fashion, then attached to the envelope with Velcro. The placement with respect to the horizontal symmetry of the gondola was done for flight stability, with several configurations tested for the side rotor angle.
The group open-sourced their CAD files and ROS interface for controlling the airship. They primarily use off-the-shelf components such as Raspberry Pi boards, propellers, a DC single brushed motor driver carrier, and LiPo batteries for a total cost of $90 for the platform, with an addition $20 for the balloon and initial helium filling. The price is comparable to the cost of indoor blimps like the Blimpduino 2.0.
You can check out the completed airship below, where the team demonstrates its path following capabilities based on a carrot chasing path finding algorithm. And if you’re interested in learning more about the gotchas of building lighter-than-air vehicles,
check out [Sophi Kravitz’s] blimp talk from Hackaday Belgrade
.
The
Hackaday
Prize2020
is Sponsored by: | 30 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265359",
"author": "scott.tx",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T05:17:39",
"content": "oh the humanity!!! too soon?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6265369",
"author": "KungFuWitch",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T06:54:32",
"con... | 1,760,373,412.509218 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/diy-stress-meter/ | DIY Stress Meter | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Science",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"adrenaline",
"brain",
"cortisol",
"flight-or-fight",
"neurons",
"stress",
"sympathetic nervous system"
] | Stress monitoring has always been a tricky business. As it turns out, there is a somewhat reliable way of monitoring stress by measuring how much cortisol, the so-called “stress hormone,” the human body produces. With that in mind, bioengineering researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas decided to make CortiWatch, a
wearable device for continuously monitoring cortisol excreted in sweat
, as a sort of DIY stress meter.
They made their own potentiostat
, a device for measure small amounts of current produced by electrochemical reactions,
similar to the glucometer
. We’ve talked about these types of measurements before. Simply put, the potentiostat contains a voltage reference generator which biases the sensing electrodes at a preset potential. The voltage bias causes local electrochemical reactions at the sensing electrodes (WE in the image above), stimulating electron flow which is then measured by a transimpedance amplifier or “current-to-voltage” converter. The signal is then analyzed by an onboard analog-to-digital converter. Simply put, the more cortisol in the system, the higher the transimpedance amplifier voltage.
To validate their system a bit more thoroughly than simple benchtop studies, the researchers did some “real-life” testing. A volunteer wore the CortiWatch for 9 hours. The researchers found a consistent decrease in cortisol levels throughout the day and were able to verify these measurements with another independent test. Seems reasonable, however, it’s not quite clear to us what cortisol levels they were expecting to measure during the testing period. We do admit that it takes quite a bit of calibration to get these systems working in real-life settings, so maybe this is a start. We’ll see where they go from here.
Maybe the
CortiWatch
can finally give us
a proper lie detector
.
We’ll let you be the judge
. | 28 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265329",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.1",
"timestamp": "2020-07-23T02:20:06",
"content": "I want one like the Sheriff (Jackie Gleason) wore in Smokey and the Bandit.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6265331",
"author": "Ren",
"... | 1,760,373,412.439731 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/versatile-energy-meter-has-multiple-functions/ | Versatile Energy Meter Has Multiple Functions | Al Williams | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"current meter",
"current sensor",
"energy meter",
"INA219"
] | If you are dealing with solar or battery power, you might want to have one of these little
energy meters
built by [Open Green Energy] around. The Arduino-based instrument measures DC voltage, current, power, energy, capacity, and temperature. The range is only up to 26 volts and 3.2 amps, but you could extend that with some external circuitry.
Of course, measuring a voltage with the Arduino is old hat. But the addition of a INA219 current sensor provides voltage, current, and power measurements in a single module that talks I2C back to the host computer.
The layout is neat although he’s working on a PCB, as well. This basic circuit would work well for a data logger or current monitor with just a few software changes.
If you are into this sort of thing, the INA219 actually comes in two versions. The “A” version is not as precise as the “B” version. The difference, though, is small. According to the data sheet, the “A” version can be off as much as 1% on current measurement across the entire temperature range, while the “B” variant holds to 0.5%. Both devices are typically around 0.2% under normal operating conditions.
The device works with an external shunt resistor, so it measures the supply voltage on one side of the shunt and by observing the difference in voltage on the other side, it can calculate the amount of current.
If you want to see what an $8,000 instrument can do for current measurement, have a look at the
Keithley 2460 SourceMeter
. If your budget is somewhat less, there’s the
Joulescope
. | 10 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265312",
"author": "ian 42",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T23:27:19",
"content": "I got excited when I saw the heading (yes! A project to versatile measure 240V and maybe a useful number of amps) but instead was a small trivial project using a INA219. Must have been a slow news day for... | 1,760,373,412.553099 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/bringing-the-pi-camera-into-focus-with-lego/ | Bringing The Pi Camera Into Focus With LEGO | Moritz v. Sivers | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"camera",
"raspberry pi",
"Raspberry Pi HQ camera"
] | Ever since the high-quality camera for the Raspberry Pi was released a few months back it has been the center of attention for many hacks. In this quick build [Martin Mander] shows us how to make a
servo-powered focusing mechanism entirely from LEGO
.
The inspiration for this project came to him while he was working on his
1979 Merlin Pi Camera
and found that setting the focus just right is vital in order to get good quality pictures. So he set himself the goal to build a mechanism that allows him to focus the camera precisely and remotely.
It is the plethora of LEGO-compatible parts that are available off-the-shelf that make such a project possible without the use of any 3D printed components. He not only found a LEGO-compatible continuous rotating servo but also a LEGO-compatible case for the Pi, and a LEGO cogwheel which almost fits exactly onto the camera lens. He also added a tripod mount to the case that allows him to set up the camera anywhere. The camera and focussing mechanism are controlled with a custom GUI based on
guizero
Python 3 library and the camera can be accessed remotely via VNCViewer.
If you prefer 3D printing over LEGO there are also other
stylish Raspi HQ camera
builds.
Video after the break.
https://youtu.be/WlYJ92WTSok | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265274",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T20:47:44",
"content": "I remember making something similar for a webcam almost a decade ago. It’s surprising how good the zoom is when you adjust the focal length to just a couple of centimetres.Another favourite thing is to rem... | 1,760,373,412.593873 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/cbs-announces-functional-tricorder-replica-for-2021/ | CBS Announces Functional Tricorder Replica For 2021 | Tom Nardi | [
"classic hacks",
"News"
] | [
"replica",
"star trek",
"tricorder"
] | It’s taken 54 years, but soon, you’ll finally be able to buy a fully-functional version of the tricorder from
Star Trek
.
Announced on the official website for the legendary sci-fi franchise
, the replica will be built by The Wand Company, who’ve previously produced a number of high-quality official
Star Trek
props as well as replicas for
Doctor Who
and the
Fallout
game series.
Admittedly, we’re not sure what a “fully-functional tricorder” actually is, mainly because the various on-screen functions of the device were largely driven by whatever bind Kirk and Spock managed to find themselves in that week. But the announcement mentions the ability to scan radio frequencies, pull in dynamic data from environmental sensors, and record audio. The teaser video after the break doesn’t give us any more concrete information than the announcement, but it does seem to confirm that we’ll be viewing said data on the device’s iconic flip-up display.
Now as the regular Hackaday reader knows, fans have been building
extremely impressive “functional” tricorders for some time now
. Unlike the sleek 24th century versions seen in
Star Trek: The Next Generation
, the original tricorder prop was rather clunky and offers plenty of internal volume for modern goodies. Cramming
a Raspberry Pi, LCD, and a bunch of sensors into an inert replica
is a relatively approachable project. So it will be interesting to see how the official version stacks up to what’s already been done by intrepid hackers and makers.
The official tricorder won’t be available until summer of 2021, but you can
sign up to be notified when it’s your turn to beam one up
. While the $250 USD sticker price might keep the more casual Trekkers at bay, it’s actually a bit cheaper than we would have assumed given the amount of time and money we’ve seen fans put into their own builds.
[Thanks to NeoTechni for the tip.] | 61 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265243",
"author": "Sam",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T18:50:19",
"content": "Hmmm, I mean, couldn’t the tricorder also pull in medical data, or was that just the medical variant? I don’t think we’ve quite reached the 24th century in terms of being able to wave a wand at someone and ge... | 1,760,373,412.70449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/jan-czochralski-and-the-silicon-revolution/ | Jan Czochralski And The Silicon Revolution | Dan Maloney | [
"Biography",
"Featured",
"History",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"biography",
"Chemistry",
"crystal",
"history",
"material science",
"silicon"
] | If you were to travel back in time to the turn of the previous century and try to convince the average person that the grains of sand on just about any beach would be the basis of an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars within 100 years, they’d probably have thought you were crazy. Aside from being coarse, rough, and irritating, sand is everywhere, and convincing anyone of its value would be a hard sell, unless your interlocutor was a real estate visionary with an appreciation of the future value of seaside property and a lot of patience.
Fast forward to our time, and we all know the value of the material that comes from common quartz sand: silicon, specifically the ultra-purified crystals of silicon that end up as the wafers we depend on to build the circuitry of life. The trip from beach to chip foundry is a long and non-obvious one which would not have been possible without the insights of an undistinguished Polish student and one-time druggist who discovered the process that made the Information Age possible: Jan Czochralski.
Those Who Can’t Teach
Born in 1885 in what is now Kcynia, Poland but was then part of the Prussian Empire, Jan Czochralski showed an early aptitude for chemistry. As always seems the case with chemistry prodigies, an early experiment in his home laboratory resulted in an explosion. His father, a carpenter, had aspirations that Jan would one day become a teacher, but despite his love of chemistry, or perhaps because of it, Jan’s grades were poor enough to preclude him from that career path. As an alternative, he left home and took a job in a drug shop, vowing only to return to his hometown once he had become rich and famous.
Jan Czochralski, circa 1910
Jan continued his studies on his own and progressed through a series of jobs in Germany’s burgeoning chemistry industry. He was largely self-trained when he applied to and was accepted by the Technische Hochschule in Berlin Charlottenburg, where he would specialize in metallurgy. Soon thereafter, as a newly minted chemical engineer at the Germany electrical giant AEG, he began studies into the applications in electronics of what was then an exotic and expensive material: aluminum.
Czochralski’s career was advancing rapidly on the value of his metallurgical research and the degree to which he published his findings. His work was cited frequently, so much so that he would one day become one of the most referenced Polish scientists, no mean feat when the list includes names like Marie Skłodowska Curie and Stanisław Ulam. His fame was eventually such that Henry Ford would court him aggressively and offer to put him in charge of his entire factory in 1923. Czochralski politely declined.
Absent-Minded Professor?
For someone who was so driven and devoted to the field of chemical metallurgy, and for as methodical as Czochralski reportedly was, it’s ironic that what he is perhaps best known for, and the discovery that would certainly become his most important legacy, was the result of an accident. In 1916, as the story goes, Czochralski was making some notes on a metallurgical experiment at his bench. Intent on his notebook pages, he didn’t notice that instead of dipping his pen into the inkwell, he had dipped it into a crucible of molten tin. The story may be apocryphal, given that the melting point of tin is 232 °C and it would be unlikely that a careful experimenter like Czochralski would be so cavalier with a pot of molten metal, but however the pen got into the tin, the result was interesting.
When he withdrew the pen, a fine whisker of tin was drawn up with it from the pool of molten metal. Curious as to the nature of the thread, Czochralski analyzed it and was surprised to find that it was a single crystal. He continued to experiment with the technique, replacing the pen nib with various capillary tubes, and adding seed crystals to provide nucleation sites for crystal formation. He was soon able to produce single crystals of various metals up to 1 mm in diameter and as long as a meter and a half. In addition to tin, he used his method to produce crystal filaments of lead and zinc.
Czochralski duly reported his findings in 1917, and though there was an initial burst of experimentation by others into the “Czochralski method”, the distractions of back-to-back world wars left the work largely in obscurity. He continued working in the chemical industry for the rest of his life, and would live long enough to see researchers at Bell Labs — it’s always Bell Labs — rediscover his process in the late 1940s and apply it to materials he never imagined working with, like silicon and germanium, as they began to invent the semiconductor industry.
Planting the Seed
CZ-process cutaway showing quartz crucible and growing boule. Source:
WaferPro Products
The details of the Czochralski process for producing the single enormous silicon crystals, or boules, that are the raw material of almost every semiconductor product made today varies from the original method only in minor details, and of course in the scale of production. Silicon boule production is carried out in an induction furnace that has precise temperature control and can be provided with an inert atmosphere such as argon. The process starts when a quartz crucible is charged with ultrapure (99.9999%, or one non-silicon molecule in a million) polycrystalline silicon. The furnace is heated to about 1,500 °C while the crucible slowly rotates.
When the polysilicon has melted, a puller rod is lowered into the molten silicon pool. The end of the puller rod carries a seed crystal of silicon in a precise orientation, to serve as a nucleation site for crystallization. The puller rod, which is rotating in the opposite direction from the crucible, remains in the molten silicon for a short time before slowly being withdrawn. The molten silicon has by this point started to crystallize, and the puller rod begins accumulating a cone of crystalline silicon in the same orientation as the seed crystal.
Eventually the growing crystal reaches its maximum diameter, and the boule becomes more cylindrical. The diameter of the boule can reach up to 300 mm routinely, although 450 mm diameter processes are currently being prototyped; a theoretical maximum of 675 mm is possible but has not been attained. The boule continues to grow as it is withdrawn, a single crystal of silicon dangling from the puller rod and eventually weighing several hundred kilograms. The video above gives a good overview of the entire process, from production of polycrystalline silicon from quartzite sand through boule formation, and on to the fascinating details of processing the boule into wafers.
Not Just for Silicon Anymore
Completed monocrystalline silicon boule. Source:
WaferPro Products
The Czochralski process is not only used for silicon crystals. Synthetic gemstones, including ruby, sapphire, garnet, and spinel can be grown using the method. On the other hand, the method is far from the only way of making ingots of monocrystalline silicon.
The float-zone process, also developed at Bell Labs, uses RF energy to heat a zone within a rod of polycrystalline silicon. It can produce silicon of much higher purity since the melt isn’t exposed to oxygen by the quartz crucible of the Czochralski method. There’s also the Bridgman–Stockbarger method, which is basically an upside-down version of the Czochralski method.
At the end of the day, though, Jan Czochralski’s accidental discovery of a crystal-growing technique has stood the test of time, as something like 90% of silicon wafers are cut from boules grown using his method. | 39 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265239",
"author": "Rhenium",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T18:23:22",
"content": "“coarse, rough, and irritating”As a youngling I disapprove of this comment…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265299",
"author": "Dan Malone... | 1,760,373,412.779478 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/robot-sudo-fold-my-laundry/ | Robot, Sudo Fold My Laundry | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"folding",
"laundry",
"motors",
"robot",
"shirt folding"
] | [Ty Palowski] doesn’t like folding his many shirts. He saw one of those boards on TV that supposedly simplifies folding, but it does require you to manually move the board. That just won’t do, so [Ty] motorized it to create a
shirt folding robot
.
The board idea is nothing new, and probably many people wouldn’t mind the simple operation required, but what else are you going to do with your 3D printer but make motor mounts for a shirt folding machine? The folding board is, of course, too big for 3D printing so he made that part out of cardboard at first and then what looks like foam board.
The side “wings” were easy to manipulate, but the top fold required a little more effort. The machine still requires a manual fold at the end and, of course, you have to put the shirt on the right way for things to work out.
Honestly, we aren’t sure this is a very practical project, but we still enjoyed the idea and we can’t deny it seems to work. We don’t think there’s much torque required so we wondered if some beefy RC servos would have been just as effective and probably a lot easier to work with. Still, just about anything that could move would work. You could probably even use a spring and a solenoid to get the same effect. There’s not much build detail, but we think you could figure it out using whatever motors you happen to have on hand.
If you find laundry too time-consuming, there’s always
Eleven
. If you want
a better folding robot
, you’ll have to put in some serious work. | 11 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265190",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T15:37:42",
"content": "It’s a great take on automating the folds! I think the robot method would blow manual folding away with the following improvements:Two robots should be used so the human operator is never waiting on t... | 1,760,373,412.823598 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/the-wise-in-neowise-how-a-hibernating-satellite-awoke-to-discover-the-comet/ | The WISE In NEOWISE: How A Hibernating Satellite Awoke To Discover The Comet | Tom Nardi | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"asteroid",
"cryogenic",
"infrared",
"neowise",
"space telescope"
] | Over the last few weeks the media has been full of talk about NEOWISE, one of the brightest and most spectacular comets to ever pass through our solar system
that you can still see if you hurry
. While the excitement over this interstellar traveler is more than justified, it’s also an excellent opportunity to celebrate the
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope it was named after
. The discovery of this particular comet is just the latest triumph in the orbiting observatory’s incredible mission of discovery that’s spanned over a decade, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
In fact, WISE has been operational for so long now that its mission has evolved beyond its original scope. When it was launched in December 2009 from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, its primary mission was scheduled to be completed in less than a year.
But like many NASA spacecraft that came before it
, WISE achieved its original design goals and found itself ready for a new challenge. Though not before it spent almost three years in hibernation mode as the agency decided what to do with it.
The Sky, One Picture at a Time
The primary mission for WISE was to image the entire sky as it appears from Earth in multiple wavelengths of the infrared band. Orbiting at an altitude of approximately 500 kilometers and taking care to always point its telescope away from the planet’s surface and the Moon, WISE would take a picture every 11 seconds. Eventually the orbiting observatory had collected millions of images, with each section of the sky being photographed at least eight times so they could be “stacked” to increase accuracy.
WISE’s telescope before installation.
The images were captured using a 40 cm (16 inch) diameter telescope and four separate infrared detectors operating at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns respectively. To maximize sensitivity, the entire optical assembly was mounted inside a cryostat on the spacecraft and cooled to approximately 17 Kelvin by a block of solid hydrogen. As long as the telescope and detectors could be kept at this temperature, WISE boasted a sensitivity thousands of times greater than previous IR observing spacecraft.
By October 2010, after nine months of observations, the last of the solid hydrogen had sublimed and the telescope temperature started to rise. At this point, WISE had completed a full survey of the sky and was about halfway through its second pass. While the telescope could still operate at a higher temperature, the data it collected could no longer be directly compared to that of the mission’s “cold” phase; as such, WISE’s primary mission was brought to a close.
Experimental Extension
Of course, WISE running out of coolant didn’t come as a surprise. Mission planners knew from the start that they were in a race against the clock and that the second sky survey probably wouldn’t finish in time, but they decided to try and get as much useful science as possible out of the telescope in its ideal configuration. Once the telescope could no longer be actively cooled, it was just a matter of finding a suitable task for the spacecraft’s reduced capabilities.
NASA’s Planetary Division proposed a new mission they called
Near-Earth Object WISE (NEOWISE)
. WISE had already discovered thousands of asteroids during its initial full sky survey, and it was believed that even with the telescope’s reduced sensitivity, performing another scan could help identify potentially dangerous nearby objects. The experiment continued for four months, enough time to complete another full scan of the sky. After all of the data had been downloaded, the spacecraft was commanded to turn off its transmitter and go into hibernation mode on February 1st, 2011.
Planetary Defense
The story might have ended there. Even if WISE was never powered back up, the mission would have been a phenomenal success. But almost two years to the day that the spacecraft was put into hibernation mode, an asteroid entered the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Objects detected by NEOWISE since its reactivation.
Releasing roughly 30 times the energy as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the event was a sobering reminder of the danger posed by even relatively small asteroids. Under pressure to come up with ways to detect and ideally deflect similar objects in the future, NASA decided to restart the successful NEOWISE program.
After establishing communication with the satellite in September of 2013, ground controllers commanded the craft to point the telescope towards deep space to start radiating away its accumulated heat. After a month this brought the telescope down to 75 Kelvin, and the IR detectors were recalibrated as best as possible.
It’s not a perfect solution, as the increased operating temperature and limitations in the telescope’s software mean that NEOWISE has trouble identifying objects smaller than 100 meters in diameter. Even so, the observatory has been able to identify hundreds of nearby asteroids since its reactivation; nearly 50 of which have been classified as potentially hazardous.
A Weary Guardian
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer continues to operate under the NEOWISE program to this day.
On March 27 it discovered the comet that would eventually bear its name
, a testament to the observatory’s continuing scientific value a decade after its primary mission came to a close. Now on its 14th complete scan of the sky since its reactivation in 2013, NEOWISE has made nearly a million infrared measurements of more than 37,000 objects in our solar system.
NEOCam could be launched by 2025
Even considering how successful this post-hibernation program has been, the fact remains that the observatory’s hardware is past its prime and is being used for a task it was never intended for. History will look back on programs like NEOWISE and
Kepler’s K2 as some of the most brilliant mission extensions
ever devised, but they shouldn’t be considered replacements for launching new missions.
The
Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) telescope
is specifically designed to take over for WISE as a dedicated observatory for detecting and categorizing asteroids and comets in our solar system, with the ultimate goal of finding ways to deflect or neutralize objects found to be on a collision course with the planet.
Unfortunately securing funding for the mission has been difficult, and the project has had several false starts. So until it can be relieved of duty by NEOcam or a similar spacecraft, WISE will remain at its post, doing its best to give us an early warning should any cosmic travelers head our way. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265218",
"author": "Paula",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T17:03:24",
"content": "Sadly, NEOWISE won’t be able to remain at its post very much longer. As described above, its coolant is long gone and it depends on radiating to space to keep it still cool enough for half of its sensors t... | 1,760,373,412.871115 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/pine-made-phones-laptops-and-now-soldering-irons/ | Pine Made Phones, Laptops, And Now… Soldering Irons? | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"Pine",
"pinecil",
"RISC-V",
"soldering iron",
"ts-100"
] | The TS100 smart soldering iron may have some new competition. Pine — the people best known for Linux-based phones and laptops — though the world needed another smart soldering iron so they announced the
Pinecil
— Sort of a knock off of the TS100. It looks like a TS100 and uses the same tips. But it does have some important differences.
It used to be a soldering iron was a pretty simple affair. Plug in one end; don’t touch the other end. But, eventually, things got more complicated and you wanted some way to make it hotter or cooler. Then you wanted the exact temperature with a PID controller. However, until recently, you didn’t care how much processing power your soldering iron had. The TS100 changed that. The smart and portable iron was a game-changer and people not only used it for soldering, but also wrote software to make it do other things. One difference is that the device has a RISC-V CPU. Reportedly, it also has better ergonomics and a USB C connector that allows for UART, I2C, SPI, and USB connections. It also has a very friendly price tag of $24.99.
We like that you can use a USB C port or a barrel jack to power the iron. That opens up a number of possibilities. Software-wise, the original author of the TS100 firmware, [Ben Brown] stepped up and set the device up to support the OLED and PWM tip drive. There are a few things left to iron out — no pun intended — but it sounds like it is mostly functional.
Of course, you can also use the device as a starter for a completely different thing that fits nicely in a hand-held form factor. The release talks about a drill or a multimeter, but we are sure there will be other ideas, including the inevitable
soldering iron games
. If you somehow have escaped learning about the old TS-100,
read our review
. It will give you something to do while waiting to order your Pinecil — they should be available in the next three months. | 37 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265129",
"author": "OpenDev",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T11:26:55",
"content": "nice! hopfully with 60-100w usb-pd support",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265130",
"author": "OpenDev",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T... | 1,760,373,413.590071 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/22/badpower-vulnerability-in-fast-chargers-might-make-phones-halt-and-catch-fire/ | BadPower Vulnerability In Fast Chargers Might Make Phones Halt And Catch Fire | Kristina Panos | [
"News",
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"fast charger",
"fast charging",
"firmware hack",
"smoke monster"
] | A few days ago, Chinese researchers from technology giant Tencent released
a paper outlining a firmware vulnerability in several types of fast charger power bricks
(
translated
). The attack is known as BadPower, and it works by altering the default parameters in the firmware of fast chargers to deliver more power to devices than they can handle, which can cause them to overheat, melt, or catch fire.
The ancient and basic USB charging spec provides 0.5 A at 5 V, which is equal to 2.5 W. In theory, that’s all you’ll ever get from those types of chargers. But the newer generation of chargers are different. When you plug your phone into a fast charger, it negotiates a voltage and charging speed with your phone before passing it any power.
Fast chargers can push power at 20 V or more to speed up the charging process, depending on the charger and connected device. If the phone doesn’t do fast charging, it will default to the 5 V standard. Researchers claim the BadPower attack is capable of harming devices whether or not they include a fast charging feature. When a capable device is connected, the charger will still negotiate for 5V, but instead give 20V and wreak havoc.
In the demo after the break, one of the team uses a malicious device disguised as a phone to push the BadPower firmware change to a fast charger that’s hooked up to a voltmeter. Before the attack, the charger gives 5V. After the attack, it gives 5V for a few seconds before jumping up near 20V. Then they connect the now-dirty charger to two identical illuminated magnifying glasses. In one the chip lets the smoke monster out rather violently, and the chips of the other emit sparks.
The researchers tested 35 of the 200+ fast charging bricks currently on the market and found that 18 of them were vulnerable to BadPower, including 11 that can be exploited through the charging port itself. They believe the issue is fixable with a firmware update.
What is not available is enough information to verify this research, or a list of brands/models that are vulnerable. Researchers say the findings were submitted to the China National Vulnerability Database (CNVD) on March 27th, so the absence of this information may be a product of manufacturers needing more time to patch the vulnerability.
What do you think? We say halfway decent chargers shouldn’t be open to firmware attacks from the devices they are charging. And any halfway decent phone should have built-in electrical protection, right?
Via
ZDNet | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265095",
"author": "magic smoke",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T08:09:55",
"content": "Allowing higher voltages through the same old USB plug was a dumb idea from the beginning, there’s lots of stories of chargers frying devices even without intentionally malicious firmware.High voltage... | 1,760,373,413.179975 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/21/bringing-back-the-fidget-toy-craze-with-the-magic-microcontroller-cube/ | Bringing Back The Fidget Toy Craze With The Magic Microcontroller Cube | Orlando Hoilett | [
"Art",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ADHD",
"anxiety",
"Fidget Spinner",
"pcb art"
] | [Rickysisodia] had a few dead ATmega128 chips laying around that he didn’t want to just throw away, so he decided to turn them into his own
light-up fidget toy
. The toy is in the form of a six-sided die so small that you can hang it on a keychain. He soldered an ATmega128 on each side of the cube and added a few dot circles to give his toy the look of a functional dice. We were pretty amazed by his impressive level of dexterity. Soldering those 0.8 mm-pitch leads together seems pretty tedious if you ask us.
Then he wired a simple, battery-powered tilt switch LED circuit on perfboard that he was able to sneakily place inside the cube. He used a mercury switch, which, as you may figure, uses a small amount of mercury to short two metal contacts inside the switch, completing the circuit and lighting the LED. We would suggest going with the
non-mercury variety of tilt switches
just to avoid any possible contamination. You know us, anything to mitigate unnecessary disasters is kind of a good route. But anyway, the die lights up a different color LED based on the orientation of the cube and it even blinks.
This is a pretty cool hack for wowing your friends at your next PCB art meet-up. We’ll probably put this in the
electronics art category
, so it doesn’t get lumped in with
those other ever-beloved fidget toys
. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265065",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T05:18:49",
"content": "I’m not really seeing the anti-stress properties. What do you DO with it? D&D? Monopoly? Let it sit in your pocket and change the battery every day? Perhaps some battery charging contacts would be a VERY goo... | 1,760,373,413.118052 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/21/apollo-missions-get-upgraded-video/ | Apollo Missions Get Upgraded Video | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"apollo",
"apollo 11",
"lunar",
"lunar landing",
"moon",
"nasa",
"video"
] | July 20th marked the anniversary of the first human setting foot on the moon. If you were alive back then, you probably remember being glued to the TV watching the high-tech images of Armstrong taking that first step. But if you go back and watch the video today, it doesn’t look the way you remember it. We’ve been spoiled by high-density video with incredible frame rates. [Dutchsteammachine] has taken a great deal of old NASA footage and used their tools to update them
to higher frame rates
that look a lot better, as you can see below.
The original film from the moon landing ran between 12 frames per second and as low as 1 frame per second. The new video is interpolated to 24 frames per second. Some of the later Apollo mission film is jacked up to 60 frames per second. The results are great.
We can only hope that future missions will carry enough gear that we can all go via virtual reality. Honestly, when you think of the state of technology back in 1969, it is amazing we have video at all. Consider how the computers had to struggle to do
simple trig functions
. Some people think the moon landings didn’t have a lot of impacts here on Earth. But
we think they’d be wrong
. | 31 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6265038",
"author": "ScriptGiddy",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T02:33:33",
"content": "Filed away under coolest thing I’ve seen this month. Bravo!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265050",
"author": "Comedicles",
"... | 1,760,373,413.459792 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/21/die-lapping-for-better-cpu-performance/ | Die Lapping For Better CPU Performance | Lewin Day | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"cpu",
"overclock",
"overclocking"
] | CPUs generate their heat in the silicon die that does all those wonderful calculations which make our computers work. But silicon conducts heat fairly poorly, so the thinner your CPU die, the better it will conduct heat out to the heatsink. This theoretically promises better cooling and thus more scope for performance.
Thus, it follows that some overclockers have taken to lapping down their CPU dies to try and make a performance gain.
It’s not a simple process, as the team at [Linus Tech Tips] found out. First, the CPU must be decapped, which on the Intel chip in question requires heating to release the intermediate heat spreader. A special jig is also required to do the job accurately. Once the bare CPU is cleaned of all residual glue and heat compounds, it can then be delicately lapped with a second jig designed to avoid over-sanding the CPU.
After much delicate disassembly, lapping, and reassembly, the CPU appears to drop 3-4 degrees C in benchmarks. In overclocking terms, that’s not a whole lot. While the process is risky and complicated for little gain, the underlying premise has merit –
Intel thinned things out in later chips to make minor gains themselves.
Video after the break. | 59 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264999",
"author": "RandyKC",
"timestamp": "2020-07-21T23:14:26",
"content": "Nope",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6265014",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2020-07-22T00:15:39",
"content": "Yep, seems... | 1,760,373,413.395116 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/21/hand-depanelizer-gets-pneumatic-upgrade/ | Hand Depanelizer Gets Pneumatic Upgrade | Tom Nardi | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"hand tools",
"panelization",
"pcb",
"pneumatic"
] | In high volume production, smaller PCBs are often “panelized” so that multiple copies can be shuffled through assembly as a single piece. Each board is attached to the panel with a few strategically placed tabs, not unlike the sprues in a plastic model kit. If you only have to separate a few boards you can simply cut them with a hand nipper, but when you’re doing hundreds or thousands of boards, it quickly becomes impractical.
Which is where [Clough42] found himself recently. Looking to improve the situation without breaking the bank,
he decided to automate his trusty hand-held depanelizer tool
. The basic idea was to build an actuator that could stand in for his own hand when operating the tool. He already had a pneumatic cylinder that he could power the device with, he just needed to design it.
In the video below, he walks the viewer though his CAD design process for this project. His first step, which is one that’s often overlooked by new players, is creating digital representations of the hardware he’s using. This allows him to quickly design 3D printed parts that have the proper dimensions and clearances to interface with his real-world components. Remember: it’s a lot easier to adapt your 3D model to the components on hand than the other way around.
With the appropriate valves, hoses, and a foot pedal attached to the pneumatic cylinder, he’s able to operate the cutter completely hands-free. He still has to manually move the panel around, but at least it saves him from the repetitive squeezing motion.
With a tool like this and
a custom testing jig
, you’ll be
producing PCBs like the pros
in no time.
[Thanks to Anathae for the tip.] | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264956",
"author": "Chris O",
"timestamp": "2020-07-21T20:18:32",
"content": "early steps in the evolution of the bandsaw..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6264965",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2020-07-21T20:43:19... | 1,760,373,413.513608 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/21/stay-at-home-hope-and-def-con-will-come-to-you/ | Stay At Home, HOPE And DEF CON Will Come To You | Mike Szczys | [
"cons"
] | [
"DEF CON",
"hope",
"virtual conference"
] | We’ve often heard conferences like HOPE and DEF CON called Hacker Summer Camp (although there are certainly more
camp-like camps
that also
fit the bill
). As we get into the hot parts of the summer, heading indoors for security talks, workshops, and untold shenanigans sounds like a good idea… if it weren’t for an ongoing pandemic. The good news is that you can still get a strong dose of these cons over the next three weekends as they’re being offered virtually.
Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE)
is a biennial conference hosted in NYC. After much drama about the dank Hotel Pennsylvania hiking prices astronomically for the con, a new venue was found and we all breathed a sigh of relief. The best laid plans, etc. etc. — you know how this turns out. But beginning this Saturday, July 25th, over 100 speakers will present in HOPE’s first-ever live online presentation. Hackaday is a proud sponsor of HOPE 2020.
DEF CON
happens every year, and every year we tell you that DEF CON has been cancelled. What do you do if it has actually been cancelled when the boy constantly cries wolf? Well it’s not cancelled, it’s morphed into what is called DEF CON Safe Mode — an online offering for all to enjoy. Go head, hook your computer up to the online version of DEF CON, what could go wrong? Find out when the virtual con goes live starting August 6th.
These are not the same as meeting up IRL. There are so many chance interactions and spectacles to see that you simply cannot spark with a virtual offering. However, the platform for presenters, the coming together to talk, learn, and share about privacy, security, and internet freedom are meaningful and worth our time. So support your favorite cons by joining in, even when it’s from the comfort of your own couch. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264950",
"author": "FYI",
"timestamp": "2020-07-21T19:47:40",
"content": "You missed one. KansasFest is all virtual this weekend for all you Apple II fans!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6264958",
"author": "Mike S... | 1,760,373,413.628412 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/20/can-a-3d-printer-print-better-filament-for-itself/ | Can A 3D Printer Print Better Filament For Itself? | Adil Malik | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"abs",
"annealing",
"filament",
"hybrid",
"Multi material extrusion",
"polycarbonate",
"reprap"
] | 3D printed parts are generally no way near the strength of an equivalent injection moulded part and techniques such as a sustained heat treatment, though effective usually distort the part beyond use.
[CNC Kitchen] was
investigating the results
(video, embedded below) of a recent paper, that described a novel ABS filament reinforced by a “star” shaped Polycarbonate core, an arrangement the authors claim is resilient to deformation during the annealing process often necessary to increase part strength. While the researchers had access to specialised equipment needed to manufacture such a composite material, [CNC Kitchen’s] solution of simply using his dual extruder setup to directly print the required hybrid filament is something we feel, strongly resonates with the now old school, RepRap “print your printer” sentiment.
The printed filament seems to have reasonable dimensional accuracy and passing the printed spool through a heater block without the nozzle attached, ensured there would be no obvious clogs. The rest of the video focuses on a very thorough comparison of strength and deformation between the garden variety Polycarbonate, ABS and this new hybrid filament after the annealing process. Although he concludes with mixed results, just being able to combine and print your own hybrid filament is super cool and a success in its own right!
Interested in multi-material filaments? Check out our
article on a more conventional approach which does not involve printing it yourself! | 21 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264759",
"author": "Dan Hoffman",
"timestamp": "2020-07-21T05:41:43",
"content": "It would be interesting to see the cross section of the extruded material. It could be that when the printed filament is extruded through the nozzle that it prevents ABS inter-layer contact. If you ... | 1,760,373,413.689648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/20/skee-ball-scoring-with-coin-slot-switches/ | Skee-Ball Scoring With Coin Slot Switches | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Games"
] | [
"arcade games",
"arcade switch",
"arduino",
"arduino mega",
"plywood",
"skee-ball",
"skeeball"
] | Bowling is great and all, but the unpredictability of that little ball jump in Skee-Ball is so much more exciting. You can play it straight, or spend a bunch of time perfecting the 100-point shot. And unlike bowling, there’s nothing to reset, because gravity gives you the balls back.
In one of [gcall1979]’s earlier Skee-Ball machines, gravity assisted the scoring mechanism, too: each ball rolls back to the player and lands in a lane labeled with the corresponding score, which is an interesting engineering challenge in its own right.
He decided to build automatic scoring into his newest Skee-Ball machine
.
At the bottom of each cylinder is an arcade machine coin door switch with a long wire actuator. These had to be mounted so they’re close enough to the hole, but out of the way of the balls.
Each switch is wired up to an Arduino Mega along with four large 7-segments for the score, and a giant 7-segment to show the number of balls played. Whenever the game is reset, a servo drops a door to release the balls, just like a commercial machine.
The arcade switches work pretty well, especially once he bent the wire into hook shape to cover more area. But they do fail once in a while, maybe because the targets are full-size, but the balls are half regulation size. For the next one, [gcall1979] is planning to use IR break-beam targets which ought to work with any size ball. If you prefer bowling,
you won’t strike out with break-beam targets there, either
. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264730",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2020-07-21T00:23:54",
"content": "Does the lane roll up into the main unit, or are those 2 rooms just no longer accessible? That’s some real commitment to skee ball!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"co... | 1,760,373,413.734219 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/20/a-portable-home-air-quality-meter-with-the-esp32/ | A Portable Home Air Quality Meter With The ESP32 | Lewin Day | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"air quality",
"BME680",
"ESP32"
] | Around the world, rolling pandemic lockdowns have left many working from home. [kn100] is in just such a predicament, and while spending nearly 24 hour a day in a residential flat, got wondering about air quality.
Thus, it was time to build some gear to keep an eye on things!
Grafana may require a database and some work to set up, but the results are to die for.
The build consists of an ESP32 hooked up to a Bosch BME680 air quality sensor. It measures pressure, temperature, humidity and gas resistance, and then with a closed source library, uses this to calculate an “Air Quality Index” as well as estimate CO2 and VOC levels in the air. Data is passed from the ESP32 over MQTT to a Raspberry Pi. This runs Mosquitto for handling the MQTT queries, saving the data in an Influxdb instance. Grafana is then used to query this database and produce attractive graphs of the data.
It’s a build that not only helps keep an eye on things in the flat, but is great practice for building solid Internet of Things devices with top-notch data visualisation.
We’ve talked about how to do this before, too
– so if you need this capability in your life, there’s no excuse not to get hacking! | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264690",
"author": "Karsten",
"timestamp": "2020-07-20T21:09:31",
"content": "I am doing almost exactly the same, but the BME680 has one disadvantage: It requires constant calibration. What the BOSCH library does is essentially sensing what is bad and what is good and storing that.... | 1,760,373,413.791094 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/20/finding-the-random-seed-of-minecrafts-title-screen/ | Finding The Random Seed Of Minecraft’s Title Screen | Lewin Day | [
"Games"
] | [
"gpu",
"minecraft",
"random number generator",
"rng",
"seed"
] | Minecraft is a game about exploring procedure-generated worlds. Each world is generated from a particular “seed” value, and sharing this seed value allows others to generate the same world in their own game. Recently, the distributed computing project Minecraft@Home set about trying to find the seed value of the world shown in the Minecraft title screen,
and have succeeded in their goal.
The amount of work required to complete this task should not be underestimated. 137 users contributed 181 hosts with 231 GPUs to the effort, finding a solution in under 24 hours.
The list of contributors to the project is a long one.
It appears the method to find the seed involved comparing screenshots from various seed worlds to the original image. This took a lot of reverse engineering in order to calculate the camera FOV and other settings of the original capture, such that the results could be compared accurately. Interestingly, the group found two seeds that can generate the requisite world, suggesting the world generator code has some collisions between seed values.
We’re not sure what’s more astounding, the amount of work that went into the project, or that there’s a distributed computing project tackling advanced Minecraft research. Either way,
we’re no strangers to Minecraft hacks around these parts.
Video after the break. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264620",
"author": "Alex Rossie",
"timestamp": "2020-07-20T18:47:06",
"content": "> Interestingly, the group found two seeds that can generate the requisite world, suggesting the world generator code has some collisions between seed values.Can someone with the necessary experience ... | 1,760,373,413.840956 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2020/07/20/theres-an-engineer-in-germany-id-like-a-word-with-tale-of-a-crumbling-volkswagen-lock/ | There’s An Engineer In Germany I’d Like A Word With; Tale Of A Crumbling Volkswagen Lock | Jenny List | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Engineering",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"door lock",
"openscad",
"vw"
] | In common with quite a few in the hardware hacking community, I have a fondness for older vehicles. My “modern” ride is an older vehicle by today’s standards, a Volkswagen Polo 6N made in the late 1990s. It’s by my estimation a Good Car, having transported me reliably back and forth across the UK and Europe for several years.
Last week though, it let me down. Outside the church in a neighbouring village the driver’s door lock failed, leaving me with my igniton key stuck in the door, and a mildly embarrassing phone call to my dad to bring the Torx driver required to remove the assembly and release it. I am evidently not 1337 enough, I don’t carry a full set of Torx bits with me everywhere I go. The passenger side lock has never worked properly while I’ve had the car, and this is evidently my cue to sort it all out.
Dodgy Die-Castings And Impossible Springs
The die-cast horrors of a VW door mechanism in all their glory.
Withdrawing the door handle and lock assembly, there’s a paddle on a stalk that’s turned by the key, and this locates in a slot on the door catch mechanism. At the base of the stalk assembly is a die-cast
circlip
, and it holds a spring in check that secures the stalk, a die-cast insert, and a die-cast outer shell. The insert in my lock had failed, it sports a couple of tabs which had fatigued and broken off, jamming the mechanism.
Taking it apart is easy enough but fraught with danger as the spring can make a bid for freedom, but in short order I had all the pieces on the bench. Having a quick look online it seems that this is a notorious problem with VW, SEAT, Škoda and other VAG cars from the early 1990s through into the 2000s, as the same mechanism found its way into many models. Mine seems to have been a good one, because most failures seem to have been on younger cars. An aftermarket kit of parts is available from multiple online sources, and mine cost me only around $5. In the pack, replacements for all four die-cast parts plus a new spring.
Looking at the assembly, it rapidly becomes obvious that this mechanism is hardly Volkswagen’s finest hour. Not only has its designer chosen to make the parts from a slightly dubious zinc-based die-casting, they’ve chosen to secure it with a spring that needs three hands and the dexterity of a contortionist to both compress length-wise and rotationally before it can be reassembled. A lot of swearing and maneuvering with a pair of snipe-nose pliers can get it into place, but I can’t honestly call it anything but an atrocious design in both materials and assembly. I’m sure a dealer would charge me £100 for the privilege of doing the same task, but it just shouldn’t be that way.
Stand Back, I’m An
Engineer
!
My OpenSCAD take on the part
In our community these things may be sent to try us, but they are opportunities as much as they are failures. I’m a hardware hacker, I’ve got this! So since I have the passenger side door to look at too it was
off to OpenSCAD to create a CAD model
for a replacement insert. All it takes is careful measurement of the die-cast part with my Vernier caliper.
It’s quite a complex shape, but
in the OpenSCAD code
it boils down to a simple case of a cylinder with a range of parts carved out of it to reach the required shape. An inner cylinder hollows it out, then some cubes to carve out and shape the various slots, and finally an additional protrusion on the rear. In about half an hour I had the part on the screen, and in a further ten minutes or so
I had it printed
. It fits into the assembly perfectly, I will never lose that air of wonderment at how we now have the means to make such complex high-precision shapes on our desktops.
The part in the middle will do a better job than the part on the right of replacing the broken part on the left.
But before I replace my die-cast piece with a 3D printed one, have I just fallen into a trap? Because we have 3D printers there’s a temptation to use them to solve all problems, but am I just about to replace a part with a failure lifetime in years with one that’ll break after weeks? While the part is a minor thing of beauty I can’t even say in my wildest imagination that FDM-printed PLA is the strongest of materials Perhaps it’s time to back away from 3D printer evangelism and recognise that everything has its place. A nylon print would be stronger and lost-PLA casting would deliver a part equivalent to the original, but when I’m talking about a sub-five-dollar part what’s the point?
I’ll print a couple and keep them in my emergency stash in case I need to do a roadside fix to last me home, but I’ll order another kit for the passenger side. It’s a salutary warning, from an afternoon in the life of a Hackaday scribe, that sometimes when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem is not a nail. | 149 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "6264588",
"author": "ehrichweiss",
"timestamp": "2020-07-20T17:11:49",
"content": "Have you checked to see if you could replace the door lock with a more generic lock? It seems it would be easier to hack a generic lock to work than to deal with parts that you know are gonna fail mis... | 1,760,373,414.1661 |
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