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https://hackaday.com/2023/06/16/thermal-camera-reviewed/ | Thermal Camera Reviewed | Al Williams | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Reviews",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"thermal camera",
"thermal imaging camera"
] | We keep thinking about buying a better thermal camera, as there are plenty of advantages. While [VoltLog’s] review of the
Topdon TC002
was interesting though, it has a connector for an iPhone. Even if you aren’t on Android, there is a rumor that Apple may (or may be forced to) change connectors which will make it more difficult to connect. Of course, there will be adapters, and you can get a USB C version of the same camera.
Technically, the camera is pretty typical of other recent cameras in this price range, and they probably all use the same image sensor. The camera provides 256×192 images.
Where the cameras differ is usually in the software and supporting hardware. For example, [VoltLog] was impressed with the software’s ability to allow you to adjust the overlay of the real image with the IR image. This capability is not unique, but the implementation was well done. He was also impressed with the packaging.
He did mention that the camera isn’t set up to do PCB inspection, which is mostly what we would want it for. However, for some uses, this camera seems like it would be functional. He did suggest you try the USB C version unless you are certain you only want to use it with an iPhone.
Since most of the cameras use the same basic sensor, there are few surprises in a review like this. However, it is nice to be able to see the differences in software, packaging, and lensing between different options.
Of course, once you have one of these, it is something else to obsess over
calibrating
. If 256×192 seems too rich for you, maybe try
an 8×8 sensor
. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653508",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2023-06-16T23:12:40",
"content": "We found with our handheld/standalone FLIR that using zinc selenide lenses off ebay with some careful 3d printing for placing the lens at the right location got us great macro photography, capable o... | 1,760,372,266.20112 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/16/long-distance-wi-fi-with-steam-deck-server/ | Long-Distance Wi-Fi With Steam Deck Server | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"802.11ah",
"dragonos",
"long distance",
"radio",
"sdr",
"software-defined radio",
"steam deck",
"wi-fi"
] | It’s no secret that the Steam Deck is a powerful computer, especially for its price point. It has to be capable enough to run modern PC games while being comfortable as a handheld, all while having a useful amount of battery life. Thankfully Valve didn’t lock down the device like most smartphone manufacturers, allowing the computer to run whatever operating system and software the true owner of the device wants to run. That means that a whole world of options is open for this novel computer,
like using it to set up an 802.11ah Wi-Fi network over some pretty impressive distances
.
Of course the Steam Deck is more of a means to an end for this project; the real star of the show is DragonOS, a Debian-based Linux distribution put together by [Aaron] to enable easy access to the tools needed for plenty of software-defined radio projects like this one. Here, he’s using it to set up a long-distance Wi-Fi network on one side of a lake, then testing it by motoring over to the other side of the lake to access the data from the
KrakenSDR
setup running on the Deck, as well as performing real-time capture of
IQ data
that was being automatically demodulated and feed internally to whispercpp.
While no one will be streaming 4K video over 802.11ah, it’s more than capable of supporting small amounts of data over relatively large distances, and [Aaron] was easily able to SSH to his access point from over a kilometer away with it. If the lake scenery in the project seems familiar at all, it’s because this project is an extension of
another one of his DragonOS projects
using a slightly lower frequency to do some impressive direction-finding, also using the Steam Deck as a base of operations. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653510",
"author": "petrosilius",
"timestamp": "2023-06-16T23:26:24",
"content": "Nice to see people are playing around with 802.11ah stuff, as this allows high distance high bandwidth networks (compared to e.g. LoraWan). Want to see more!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,266.151622 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/16/hinged-parts-for-the-8th-grade-set/ | Hinged Parts For The 8th Grade Set | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Featured",
"Slider"
] | [
"3d printing",
"articulated",
"hinge",
"tinkercad"
] | I recently agreed to run a 3D printing camp for 8th graders. If you’ve never shared your knowledge with kids, you should. It is a great experience. However, it isn’t without its challenges. One thing I’ve learned: don’t show the kids things that you don’t want them to try to print.
I learned this, of course, the hard way. I have several “flexy”3D prints. You know the kind. Flexy dinosaurs, cats, hedgehogs, and the like. They all have several segments and a little hinge so the segments wobble. The problem is the kids wanted to print their own creations with flexy hinges.
I’ve built a few print-in-place hinges, but not using Tinkercad, the software of choice for the camp. While I was sure it was possible, it seemed daunting to get the class to learn how to do it. Luckily, there’s an easy way to add hinges like this to a Tinkercad design. There was only one problem.
The Video Conundrum
The problem was with YouTube. Many times when we post some “how to” that links to a video, people immediately respond that they don’t want a 10-minute video; they want instructions they can read. It is a fair point, depending on the topic. But I can promise you one thing. Getting a room full of 8th graders to focus on a how-to video for over 90 seconds in the summer is about as difficult as achieving nuclear fusion.
So I did what any reasonable instructor would do: I watched the video, and then I took them through it step-by-step. I had actually suggested they could start with an existing hinged model and simply cut away everything but the hinge. Turns out, it was even easier than that because someone has already done the work for us.
The Thingiverse Connection
If you head over to
Thingiverse
you can find set of three files that make things easy. There is an 8 mm tall hinge with a 1 mm gap. There is also a little 1 mm slice you can use to split up your model and a “punch”that removes the material under the hinge.
The first step is to import each file into Tinkercad. You can turn the slice and the punch into holes since that’s how you’ll use them. While you don’t have to, you can go to the Your Creations palette. While there, select each piece one at a time and click “Create Shape” to add each part to your toolbox. Name them something that makes sense to you, like “hinge,” “hinge slice,” and “hinge punch.”
A Simple Demo
Splitting your heart in two!
Since I have three printers shared among all the students, I wanted something very simple to demonstrate. The path of least resistance was to produce an 8 mm thick heart from the “Basic Shapes” palette. Obviously, if we can put a hinge into the heart, you could do anything. I’ll assume the workplane is under the object at all times.
You can center the slice where you want the hinged part. Since the slice is a hole, it doesn’t matter if it is longer or taller than the part. The important parts are that it is 1 mm wide and cuts all the way through. Note that Thingiverse recently added “Cruise mode” which means placing the splitter on top of the heart won’t put it down on the workplane like it used to unless you hold the letter C while you place it. I simply put the splitter down by itself and then used the align command to center it with the heart.
Once you group the splitter and the object, you’ll wind up with two halves. For a bigger part, you might want multiple segments, so repeat as necessary.
The next part requires fine positioning, so be sure your grid is set to 0.1 mm or perhaps even turn it off entirely. You’ll also want to use the arrow keys to precisely move things. Place a hinge down about where you want it on the heart. You can rotate the hinge if you want, but you shouldn’t change the X or Y dimensions.
Make sure the “C” part of the hinge is right at the gap.
Note that one part of the hinge looks like a letter C. You want the ends of the C to be flush with the gap. Look from several angles to make sure you have it just right.
The next step is to place the punch — another hole — right over the “C” part of the hinge. This needs to be exact. You shouldn’t see any of the underlying part, so make the hinge a contrasting color so you can easily tell. Don’t forget when placing the hinge or the punch about the new cruise mode. Either put the part down on the workplane or hold C while placing the object.
To finish up, all you have to do is select the object and the punch. Don’t select the hinge itself. Then group the item together. The result should look like a hinge. If you see extra pieces, undo, reposition the punch, and try again.
That’s it! If you need more than one hinge, you can do them all at once, or you can do all the punch cut outs in one operation if you are brave.
Results
The results are great as you can see. The heart is flexible and printed cleanly. While you can’t really see the internals of the hinge, you can imagine what it looks like inside. Or, slice it, and you can see that a bearing captures a pin that rotates inside of it. If you really wanted a custom hinge, maybe Tinkercad isn’t for you.
While you might not think Tinkercad is a good choice for a more sophisticated design, using it to import and modify existing geometries from elsewhere is actually a good strategy. It would have been possible, too, to simply import an entire flexible design from an STL and then cut the hinges out of it. Afterward, you could save it into your custom shapes and use it repeatedly.
If you prefer the video treatment, the original video is below. In addition, [Chuck] has a method to simplify doing multiple hinges
you might find interesting
. We wondered if we could write a
Codeblocks
script to help do this in the future, but maybe it is already easy enough.
(Banner image:
Flexi Rex from Dr. Lex
, one of the most refined flexible T-Rex models we know!) | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653470",
"author": "MarB",
"timestamp": "2023-06-16T17:48:55",
"content": "It is indeed a very nice experience to share your knowledge with the kids. I was once allowed to demonstrate one of my robots at my daughter’s elementary school.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,266.102553 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/ferrofluid-drum-synth-dances-to-the-beat/ | Ferrofluid Drum Synth Dances To The Beat | Donald Papp | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"ferrofluid",
"msgeq7",
"music",
"Reactive",
"sound reactive",
"synth"
] | [Love Hultén]’s work often incorporates reactive sound elements, and his
Ferrofluid drum synth
is no exception. Sadly there are no real build details but have no fear: we’ve gathered plenty of DIY insights when it comes to ferrofluid-based projects.
Ferrofluid isn’t easy to work with, but there are plenty of DIY resources to make things easier.
First of all, ferrofluid is shockingly expensive stuff. But if you can get your hands on some old VHS tapes and acetone,
you can make your own
. Second, working with ferrofluid to make reactive elements
is harder than it may look
. Particularly, making the stuff dance to sound beats isn’t as simple as putting a container of the stuff in front of a speaker coil, but people have discovered a few ways that work more reliably than others.
[Love Hultén]’s drum synth was inspired by
this custom Bluetooth speaker with dancing ferrofluid
by [Dakd Jung], which drives an electromagnetic coil with frequencies selected from the audio with an MSGEQ7 equalizer. That way, only frequencies that work best for moving the fluid in interesting ways get used for the visualization. The MSGEQ7 spectrum analyzer chip is very useful for music-driven projects, as demonstrated by
these sound-reactive LED shades
which illustrate the audio element nicely.
The coils that create the electromagnetic field causing ferrofluid to move can take different forms, but two very interesting ones are
this 12-layer PCB coil
and for more intricate displays, there’s a
12×21 coil array that creates a dot-matrix-like display
.
We have one last tip to share about enclosures. Some readers may have noticed that this drum synth project is housed in what looks like a piece of painted lumber. Wood is certainly a versatile material for making custom shapes, and for lettering and labels it turns out that
toner transfer works just as well on wood as it does for making custom PCBs
. | 17 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653260",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T23:06:06",
"content": "Until I see the guts, I’m assuming that’s 3d animated. It just looks too cool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6653265",
"author": "yaga",
... | 1,760,372,265.880527 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/retrotechtacular-circuit-potting-and-pcbs-the-hard-way/ | Retrotechtacular: Circuit Potting, And PCBs The Hard Way | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrotechtacular",
"Slider"
] | [
"glass",
"graphite",
"pcb",
"phenolic",
"potting",
"printing",
"retrotechtacular",
"silver",
"TRE",
"weapons",
"wwii"
] | There was a time when the very idea of building a complex circuit with the intention of destroying it would have been anathema to any electrical engineer. The work put into designing a circuit, procuring the components, and assembling it, generally with point-to-point wiring and an extravagant amount of manual labor, only to blow it up? Heresy!
But, such are the demands of national defense, and as weapons morphed into “weapon systems” after World War II, the need arose for electronics that were not only cheap enough to blow up but also tough enough to survive the often rough ride before the final bang. The short film below, simply titled
“
Potted and Printed Circuits
“
, details the state of the art in miniaturization and modularization of electronics, circa 1952. It was produced by the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE), the main electronics R&D entity in the UK during the war which was responsible for inventions such as radar, radio navigation, and jamming technology.
The first bit of the film below focuses on circuit potting. The circuits shown are built “cordwood style”, meaning that axial-lead resistors, capacitors, and inductors are mounted between two flat plates and wired together with short jumpers. It was a tedious and time-consuming construction method, but had the virtue of mechanical strength and low material cost. The potting process that followed was just as tedious, with mica-impregnated polyester resin being added to the circuit after mounting it in a mold. The resulting brick was un-molded and active components, which at the time meant vacuum tubes, would be mounted externally and wired up separately.
Where things get really interesting is in the printed circuit production process, which at the time took the “printed” part very much literally. Rather than etching copper from a pre-clad board to create traces, a die of the traces was built up from steel tooling, referred to as “type” in a nod to the printing industry, and used to press silver powder into traces onto a phenolic substrate. On the other side of the board, resistors were created by etching an even layer of graphite powder using shot blasting. And if all that doesn’t pique your interest, wait until you see the glass boards — not fiberglass, but actual glass.
For a construction method intended to make circuits cheap enough to blow up, everything shown here is fantastically labor-intensive. Then again, it was just after the war, and labor was probably pretty cheap, and when have governments ever been shy about throwing money at arms makers? Plus, it was more likely that robustness and reliability were the true imperatives driving these methods. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653230",
"author": "Felix Domestica",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T21:12:21",
"content": "At the other end of things, look at IBM’s Thermal Condition Module some time — sintered many-layer ceramic boards PCBs with shrinkage precisely enough controlled that bipolar chips could be direct... | 1,760,372,265.768999 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/light-meets-movement-with-a-minimum-of-parts/ | Light Meets Movement With A Minimum Of Parts | Tom Nardi | [
"Art",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"chandelier",
"kinetic art",
"lighting",
"pulley"
] | We often say that hardware hacking has never been easier, thanks in large part to low-cost modular components, powerful microcontrollers, and highly capable open source tools. But we can sometimes forget that what’s “easy” for the tinkerer that reads datasheets for fun isn’t always so straightforward for everyone else. Which is why it’s so refreshing to see projects like this
LED chandelier from [MakerMan]
.
Despite the impressive final result, there’s no microcontrollers or complex electronics at work here. It’s been pieced together, skillfully we might add, from hardware that wouldn’t be out of place in a well-stocked parts bin. No 3D printed parts or fancy laser cutter involved, and even the bits that are welded together could certainly be fastened some other way if necessary. This particular build is not a triumph of technology, but ingenuity.
The video below is broken up roughly into two sections, the first shows how the motorized crank and pulley system was designed and tested; complete with various bits of scrip standing in for the final LED light tubes. Once the details for how it would move were nailed down, [MakerMan] switches over to producing the lights themselves, which are nothing more than some frosted plastic tubes with LED strips run down the center. Add in a sufficiently powerful 12 VDC supply, and you’re pretty much done.
As it so happens, this isn’t the first
motorized lighting fixture that [MakerMan] has put together
. | 20 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653193",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T18:38:04",
"content": "It’s tempting to do something similar, but suspend fluorescent tubes with clear fishing line and power them inductively with a Tesla coil, giving the illusion that they are floating. Perhaps mounting the m... | 1,760,372,265.986554 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/new-wearable-detects-imminent-vocal-fatigue/ | New Wearable Detects Imminent Vocal Fatigue | Lewin Day | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"speech",
"vocal fatigue",
"voice"
] | “The show must go on,” so they say. These days, whether you’re an opera singer, a teacher, or just someone with a lot of video meetings, you rely on your voice to work. But what if your voice is under threat? Work it too hard, or for too long, and you might find that it suddenly lets you down.
Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a new technology to protect against this happenstance. It’s the first wearable device that monitors vocal usage and calls for time out before damage occurs. The research has been published
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
You Better Work
The vocal folds are responsible for our ability to speak. Excessive talking or singing can fatigue them, however, ruining the quality of our voice. Credit:
melvil, CC-BY-SA-4.0
Vocal fatigue is a common problem, and highly familiar for people who earn their living using their voices. Those who make their money as orators, singers, or performers are exceedingly familiar with this risk. Those outside these fields may be less attuned to the problem, but it can nevertheless hit any of us if we overuse our voices. The problem is when overworked vocal folds swell up, causing the voice to become raspy and lose its endurance. Singers are especially at risk, as vocal fatigue can put their abilities to hold a tune in jeopardy. It can, in worst case scenarios, be the lethal blow that ends a career.
The root cause of this problem is an underappreciation of the physical demands of vocal activities. People often fail to make the connection between their daily vocal activities and the impact on their vocal health until hoarseness sets in. If you’ve ever been to a wedding and chatted the night away in a loud room, or you’ve sung a demanding punk set at karaoke, you might have noticed the next day your voice was all skunked up. That’s vocal fatigue at play.
Early Warning
The new wearable technology developed by researchers aims to prevent vocal fatigue before it happens. The wearable, no larger than a postage stamp, is soft, flexible, and comfortably attaches to the upper chest. Here, it monitors the vibrations associated with talking and singing. The data is then streamed in real-time via Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet, allowing the users to monitor their voices in action.
The postage stamp-sized device attaches to the sternum, just below the neck, via a sticky pad. The device is able to tease out the difference between regular speech and singing, and assess vocal use over time. This is achieved with machine-learning algorithms, enabling users to separately track their vocal loads. Users can set personal vocal thresholds within the device’s accompanying app, and receive real-time haptic feedback when they approach their limit, prompting them to rest their voices before overuse. The wearable device is paired with a haptic feedback gadget akin to a wristwatch, providing a subtle cue on when it’s time to rest.
While other vocal-monitoring devices exist, they are often somewhat impractical for regular wear. They typically rely on bulky, wired designs and have intrusive audio recording capabilities. These can also fall down in noisy environments like choirs or crowded rooms, where the device can easily be confused by audio from other speakers or singers. This new wearable device, however, senses vibrations directly through contact to measure vocal activity instead of recording actual audio. This not only allows for a more accurate tracking of personal vocal usage, but also sidesteps privacy concerns associated with audio capture.
The research builds on previous work which developed devices to track the recovery processes of stroke patients and to monitor coughing in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like those prior diagnostic devices, the vocal monitoring wearable device can capture body temperature, heart rates, and respiratory activity for extra background on vocal condition. The research team sees these extra data points as an opportunity to explore fundamental questions concerning vocal fatigue. For instance, future research could examine whether physical exertion while singing impose additional stress on the vocal cords.
For now, the device remains a piece of research hardware for investigating vocal fatigue issues. However, given the hardware and software has been developed, it’s not hard to see this as a potentially useful product for the vocal-conscious. While vocal fatigue is a niche problem that most of us simply deal with on an occasional basis, for professional orators and singers, such a tool could be of great use. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653175",
"author": "GOŁOMP",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T17:31:17",
"content": "Show must gołomp.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6653661",
"author": "FEW",
"timestamp": "2023-06-17T15:55:40",
"content": "This type of ... | 1,760,372,265.820612 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/irans-quantum-computing-on-fpga-claim-its-kinda-a-thing/ | Iran’s Military Quantum Claim: It’s Only 99.4% Ridiculous | Maya Posch | [
"News",
"Rants",
"Science"
] | [
"fpga",
"quantum emulation",
"quantum processing"
] | When Iran recently announced a
quantum processing algorithm
(
Google translation
) that would help its military to detect water surface disturbances, the instant response from Western media was one of
ridicule
, based on
the displayed hardware
. The hardware in question was the
Digilent ZedBoard Zynq-7000
hybrid SoC/FPGA development board, which can be yours for less than $600.
Seems absurd, and the claim about any realistic military use absolutely is. But buried deep, deep down, there may be a tiny kernel of truth: because quantum computers are inherently parallel, FPGAs can make a good fit for small-scale quantum simulations.
Does this mean that the Iranian Navy would be better off simulating quantum circuits on an FPGA board than on a GPU or even a used laptop? Probably not. Will this hardware serve the proposed military application in the forseeable future? Absolutely not! Was this a misleading and ridiculous photo op? Yup. 100%.
But is emulating qubits in FPGA fabric a real thing? Turns out it is! Let’s have a look.
FPGA-based quantum system diagram. (Credit: Pilch et al., 2019)
Because classical computers are rather slow at running quantum computing algorithms, an FPGA could have a chance at improving performance for this task, as demonstrated in a
2004 paper by A. U. Khalid et al
. (also
here
as a PDF in the masters-thesis version) as well as in
An FPGA-based real quantum computer emulator
by Jakub Pilch et al.
In the latter paper, which includes a great overview of the state of the art, Pilch and colleagues summarize this as shifting the processing from time to space — from using slow sequential CPU processing to hardware complexity, using the FPGA’s configurable fabric and inherent parallelism.
What’s the cost? FPGAs have a limited number of cells, and the time-space tradeoff that Pilch et al are making limit them to
two
qubits. That’s four states. You have more fingers on one hand. By filling up the entire FPGA, they are essentially able to implement a two-bit quantum XOR. So much for real-world military applications.
The less parallel approach taken by Khalid et al allows for nine simulated qubits on the same FPGA, but is dramatically slower and not much more practical. Both papers suggest that the tradeoff between speed and FPGA fabric space looks exponential, so any FPGA simulation will necessarily be very small or very slow, chose one. Indeed, for practical simulations,
Google recommends renting a bunch of GPUs
instead.
The whole promise of a real quantum computer is that it allows for parallelism
and
speed, and that’s of course where all classical simulations come up short. And this is why we’re calling BS on the Iranian claims. But we were excited to learn about FPGA-based qubit simulation along the way, and any simulation is great for learning. If you’re interested and you don’t have an FPGA board, you can
do it all from the comfort of your web browser
, or heck,
even an Arduino if you need a prop for the photo op
.
Thanks to [Andrew Wilson] for the tip and citations. | 19 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653145",
"author": "Observer",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T15:52:06",
"content": "I wonder if this technology will be integrated onto their Qaher 313 stealth fighter platform.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6653148",
"... | 1,760,372,266.052573 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/the-simplest-social-engineering-hack-of-them-all/ | The Simplest Social Engineering Hack Of Them All | Jenny List | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"letterheadings",
"Microsoft Word",
"printed letters"
] | Here at Hackaday we cover news and interesting features for the hacker community, with an emphasis more on the hardware side. Nevertheless we also cover stories from time to time from the broader world of security. These usually involve vulnerabilities discovered through the patient work of software or hardware researchers, and are certainly what we’d call hacking. But what about those information security breaches that aren’t hacks like that at all? What happens when the person being breached simply
gives
you the information?
I’ve got one, and while it’s Not A Hack, it’s definitely something that we and those outside our community need to talk about. I’m talking about the depressingly common occurrence of organisations who should know better, gifting their letterhead to all and sundry in the form of freely editable Word documents.
A Bit Of Paper That Unlocks So Many Doors
Offices have moved on from the days of the typing pool, but it seems their procedures haven’t. Archives New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0.
A letterhead may seem to those of us on the cutting edge of technology as though it hails from a bygone era, but in legal and trust terms it’s still in so many circumstances the key that unlocks the door. If you turn up with an official-looking letter on the right letterhead, it’s taken at face value. In my time I’ve had to supply just that for medical, financial, and legal transactions. Thus the letterhead, and the ability to use it, is a key piece of an organisation’s security. We can poke holes in this outdated convention as much as we like, but anything printed on a letterhead carries that organisation’s trust and reputation with it.
In my time I’ve received Word document letters from numerous organisations that should know better, and using the letterhead is as simple as rewriting the letter in my word processor. These include my bank, my university, the BBC, more than one major publishing house, a specialist National Health Service clinic, and even in a particularly funny episode, the solicitors hired by some nasty people who were trying to harass me.
If I were a criminal I could have tried several lucrative financial frauds using those letter headings. I could have used the NHS one with my local doctor to be prescribed interesting pharmaceuticals, and I could probably have used the professional and university ones to secure work I’m unqualified for. Such is the value attributed to these documents. Sadly I haven’t kept a rogue’s gallery for you to leaf through, but instead in each case I’ve politely informed them of their security breach and deleted the document unless it was one of importance that I needed to hang on to. I’m uncertain of the legality behind it all, but I am guessing the crime isn’t in possessing a freely given electronic letterhead but in using it for nefarious purposes.
As if the above list of random big names who were kind enough to gift me their letterhead wasn’t enough, when researching this piece I was astounded to find large organisations in the public and private sectors who even make them available for download. I have declined to put up any links, but, in some cases letters for public consumption can be found online as Word documents, and there are even organisations that publish communication design and style guides containing the blank letterheadings ready for use. You really couldn’t make this up!
Basic Security Left To The Lowest Paid
At fault of course is partly a lack of understanding of just what an electronic version of a document really means. The task of drafting and sending out is left to the lowest paid workers at the bottom of the ladder, and they evidently have no idea that there is a security risk involved; to them the document simply
is
what’s spat out by Word. If ever a fraud is traced back to a letterheading in a Word document you can be certain it’s those lowly minions who will be for the chop, but the real culprits lie higher up the food chain for not instituting appropriate policies and training. What needs to happen is for letterhead to be considered as important a part of organisational security as any other electronic asset.
Documents still need to be sent out, so how should they be doing it? The obvious first choice is to use PDF, as a readily accepted electronic document format. They’re by no means perfect as a proprietary format, and some of the advanced PDF features need Adobe’s own reader which isn’t available on all platforms, but they are at least well understood and ubiquitous. PDFs can of course still be edited, but the barrier to entry for the miscreant is immediately higher. Alternatively there are various secure online delivery platforms, for example my accountant makes his documents available through a portal for which I have to supply a secured login. If there’s a credible open-source equivalent to either of these options, we’d love to hear it.
While my parody letter headings in the header image should be easy enough to spot, the same can’t be said for the real thing. I’m preaching to the infosec choir in a Hackaday piece so you’ll probably be with me on most of these points, but what’s to be done? As always, the comments await. | 62 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653117",
"author": "psuedonymous",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T14:22:14",
"content": "I think the security hole is not the distribution of an image (that image’s location at the top of a document notwithstanding) but theacceptanceof an image at the top of a document as in any way shap... | 1,760,372,266.419203 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/raspberry-pi-pico-w-now-supports-bluetooth/ | Raspberry Pi Pico W Now Supports Bluetooth | Tom Nardi | [
"Microcontrollers",
"News",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"bluetooth low energy",
"Raspberry Pi Pico W",
"sdk"
] | What’s the best kind of upgrade a piece of consumer technology can get? A free one that doesn’t require you to do anything other than accept a new version of the software it’s running.
That’s precisely what every current (and future) owner of the Raspberry Pi Pico W just got with the
addition of Bluetooth support to SDK 1.5.1
. This is possible because the CYW43439 radio chipset used on the wireless version of the Pi Pico has always had Bluetooth capabilities, they just weren’t officially accessible from the C or MicroPython environments until now.
In a corresponding blog post
, [Eben Upton] explains that part of the delay was due to difficulties in getting both WiFi and Bluetooth connections to work simultaneously over the three-pin SPI bus that links the two chips on the board.
One thing that struck us as particularly interesting here is the use of BlueKitchen’s BTStack to provide support for both Bluetooth Classic and Low Energy profiles. This library is released under a modified version of the BSD 3-Clause license that
otherwise specifically forbids commercial usage
. That would be a problem for anyone who wanted to sell a gadget built around the Pico W, so Raspberry Pi Ltd negotiated — and presumably paid for —
a special dispensation
so commercial use is in the clear.
We should note that technically Bluetooth support was available in a beta state previously, albeit without this new license agreement made with BlueKitchen. Though anyone with a keen eye knew Bluetooth support was coming well before that, our own
[Elliot Williams] called it when he first set eyes on the Pi Pico W back in 2022
. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653094",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T12:22:30",
"content": "Oooh, Micropython too?! That’s great.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6653095",
"author": "Harvie.CZ",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T12:2... | 1,760,372,265.92475 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/linux-fu-easy-and-easier-virtual-networking/ | Linux Fu: Easy And Easier Virtual Networking | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Linux Hacks",
"Network Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"linux",
"Tailscale",
"virtual private network",
"vpn",
"Wireguard"
] | One of the best things about Linux is that there are always multiple ways to do anything you want to do. However, some ways are easier than others. Take, for example, virtual networking. There are plenty of ways to make a bunch of Internet-connected computers appear to be on a single private network. That’s nothing new, of course. Linux and Unix have robust networking stacks. Since 2018, though, Wireguard has been the go-to solution; it has a modern architecture, secure cryptography, and good performance.
There’s only one problem: it is relatively difficult to set up. Not impossible, of course. But it is a bit difficult, depending on what you want to accomplish.
How Difficult?
You must set up a wireguard server and one or more clients. You’ll need to pick a range of IP addresses. You might need to turn on routing. You have to generate keys. You might need to configure DNS and other routing options. You’ll certainly need to modify firewall rules. You’ll also need to distribute keys.
None of these steps are terribly difficult, but it is a lot to keep straight. The
wg
program and
wg-quick
script do most of the work, but you have a lot of decisions and configuration management to keep straight.
Browse the official “
quick start
,” and you’ll see that it isn’t all that quick. The
wg-quick
script is better but only handles some use cases. If you want really limited use cases, there are third-party tools to do a lot of the rote work, but if you need to change anything, you’ll still need to figure it all out.
That being said, once you have it set up, it pretty much works without issue and works well. But that initial setup can be very frustrating.
An Alternative
Then there’s Tailscale. This is, actually, a commercial service, although it has a free tier that is adequate for most personal use, and it is — in fact — based on wireguard. To join a Tailscale network, you just log into their web interface.
Tailscale provides NAT traversal. If NAT traversal fails, Tailscale relays encrypted traffic, although this, of course, increases latency. The service also provides “magic DNS” and some basic access controls. Paid plans get more access controls.
Given that it uses wireguard underneath, the security is similar.
Tailscale has a fair comparison
of using their service over going direct on their site. Obviously, a properly-configured wireguard configuration will outperform Tailscale. But the ease of use might be worth a little hit on performance for some people. They also have a list of how to set up
wireguard or Tailscale
. Of course, the list is shorter for Tailscale, but that’s fair.
The only thing that might be a little unfair is that they compare themselves to setting up wireguard directly. However, if you have a common use case, the
wg-quick
or similar tools might be just as easy. It is up to you to decide if you need the features provided by full-blown wireguard, a wireguard helper, or something like Tailscale. There are also GUI or
Web
frontends for wireguard that might appeal to you if you like that sort of thing.
Personal
Of course, anything with a free tier has to worry you simply because it might not be free tomorrow. However, for now, the free plan is great for many personal users. You get three users and up to 100 devices. You get some access controls and “magic DNS.”
There is client software for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone, and Synology. That means most of your devices are covered. There’s even a specific configuration for the
Raspberry Pi
.
In General
Whether you use OpenVPN, wireguard, Tailscale, or other options, it is handy to have your private network distributed anywhere you have an Internet connection. Sure, you can open ports to the network, but that’s complicated to manage, too. You can use random port numbers and hope all your software servers don’t have any security flaws. Or you can trust a single VPN port. While you could argue the difference between having your eggs in one basket versus many, the VPN route is easier to manage and offers well-tested security.
Once you are on the private network, you don’t need to worry about open firewalls or NAT translation for each service on your network. Print to printers, find your shared files, and use X11 or even telnet without exposing anything meaningful to the public network. It is worth setting up something.
Many people don’t like accessing
the mobile Internet without a VPN.
For simple cases, though, you can
VPN through ssh
. | 15 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652724",
"author": "Paul Bilke",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T14:08:42",
"content": "ZeroTier was good but Tailscale had been great for me. Been dealing with network infrastructure since “The net” was running NCP being able to tell people that need vpn/nat traversal and connectivity ... | 1,760,372,266.474986 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/flipper-zero-smoking-a-smart-meter-is-a-bad-look-for-hardware-hackers/ | Flipper Zero “Smoking” A Smart Meter Is A Bad Look For Hardware Hackers | Dan Maloney | [
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"debunk",
"flipper zero",
"hoax",
"magic smoke",
"smart meter"
] | Alright, we’re calling it — we need a pejorative equivalent to “script kiddie” to describe someone using a Flipper Zero for annoyingly malign purposes. If you need an example, check out
the apparent smart meter snuff video below
.
The video was posted by [Peter Fairlie], who we assume is the operator of the Flipper Zero pictured. The hapless target smart meter is repeatedly switched on and off with the Flipper — some smart meters have contactors built in so that service can be disconnected remotely for non-payment or in emergencies — which rapidly starts and stops a nearby AC compressor. Eventually, the meter releases a puff of Magic Smoke, filling its transparent enclosure and obscuring the display. The Flipper’s operator mutters a few expletives at the results, but continues turning the meter on and off even more rapidly before eventually running away from the scene of the crime.
We qualify this as “apparent” because the minute we saw this over on
RTL-SDR.com
, we reached out to reverse engineer
par excellence
and
smart meter aficionado [Hash]
for an opinion. Spoiler alert:
[Hash] thinks it’s an elaborate hoax
; the debunking starts at the 4:32 mark in the second video below. The most damning evidence is that the model of smart meter shown in the video doesn’t even have a disconnect, so whatever [Peter] is controlling with the Flipper, it ain’t the meter. Also, [Hash] figured out where [Peter] lives — he doxxed himself in a previous video — and not only does the meter shown in the video not belong to the Canadian power company serving the house, StreetView shows that there’s a second meter, suggesting that this meter may have been set up specifically for the lulz.
It should go without saying that Hackaday is about as supportive of hardware experimentation as an organization can be. But there have to be some boundaries, and even if this particular video turns out to be a hoax, it clearly steps over the line. Stuff like this paints a poor picture of what hardware hacking is all about, and leads to unintended consequences that
make it harder for all of us to get the tools we need
.
https://youtu.be/kF6o9Ec4k_o | 126 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652689",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T11:50:22",
"content": "Meanwhile even researchers can’t get one where I live because the bad press caused the telecoms agency to ban importing it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,372,267.091226 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/this-rohde-schwarz-computer-is-a-commodore-pet/ | This Rohde & Schwarz Computer Is A Commodore PET | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"Commodore PET",
"gpib"
] | The IEE-488 or GPIB bus for controlling instruments by computer has existed now for many decades. It’s often implemented over USB or Ethernet here in 2023, but the familiar connector can still be found on the backs of pricey instruments. In the earlier days of GPIB when a powerhouse Linux laptop was decades away, what computer did the would-be GPIB user reach for? If they were a Rohde and Schwarz customer in the late 1970s the chances are it would have been the R&S PUC process controller, an 8-bit microcomputer that under its smart exterior turns out to be an enhanced Commodore PET.
[NatureAndTech] has one for teardown
, and you can see it in the video below the break.
Readers with long memories will remember that the PET had an IE-488 bus on a card edge connector, and it’s possible that’s why R&S took it as the basis for their machine. But this isn’t merely a PET in a fancy box, instead it’s a fully new PET-compatible computer, and it has some interesting features. There’s more memory than the original, a set of disk drives, and an expansion bus complete with a high-res graphics card allowing pixel graphics rather than text. Surprisingly though it has a BASIC interpreter it’s a hardware clone of the PET only, the ROM is unique to Rohde & Schwarz.
We think this machine is probably rare enough that we’re unlikely to see one in the flesh, but it’s been a fascinating thing to examine. You can join in with the video below the break, or you can
look at the PET’s impact on a more recent scene
. | 24 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652674",
"author": "Johan",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T08:57:57",
"content": "Should be “Rohde & Schwarz” (sorry, language nazi here, and old enough to remember R&S GBIP) :-)Very rare and interesting fact however, and a curious decision. R&S was never in the habit of taking over ot... | 1,760,372,266.665799 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/bios-post-card-built-using-raspberry-pi-pico/ | BIOS POST Card Built Using Raspberry Pi Pico | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"bios",
"pc",
"post",
"troubleshooting",
"x86"
] | A computer’s BIOS includes basic diagnostic tools for troubleshooting issues. Often, we rely on the familiar beeps from the POST system for this reason. However, error codes are also available via hardware “POST Cards” that were particularly popular in the 1990s.
[Mr. Green] has now built a POST card using readily-available modern hardware.
[Mr. Green] built the device to help troubleshoot an x86 based firewall appliance that was having trouble. Like many x86 systems, it featured a Low Pin Count (LPC) bus which can be used to capture POST troubleshooting codes. By hooking up a Raspberry Pi Pico to the LPC bus on the firewall’s motherboard, it was possible to get it to display the POST error codes on some LEDs. This is of great use in the absence of a conventional PC speaker to sound the error out with beeps.
The build can be used for POST-based troubleshooting on any x86 system with an LPC bus. Files are
on Github
for those eager to replicate the build.
We’ve seen similar work before, too
. Video after the break. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652656",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T07:00:17",
"content": "Looks like a good project to learn the Pico’s PIO programming, and also learn to use a logic analyzer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6652778",
... | 1,760,372,266.604865 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/take-a-ride-in-the-bathysphere/ | Take A Ride In The Bathysphere | Adam Fabio | [
"Art",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"Bathysphere",
"camera",
"simulation",
"submarine"
] | [Tom Scott] has traveled the world to see interesting things. So when he’s impressed by a DIY project, we sit up and listen. In this case, he’s visiting
the Bathysphere
, a project created by a couple of passionate hobbyists in Italy. The project is housed at
Explorandia
, which based on google translate, sounds like a pretty epic hackerspace.
The Bathysphere project itself is a simulation of a submarine. Sounds simple, but this project is anything but. There are no VR goggles involved. Budding captains who are up for the challenge find themselves inside the cockpit of a mini-submarine. The sub itself is on a DIY motion platform. Strong electric motors move the system causing riders to feel like they are truly underwater. Inside the cockpit, the detail is amazing. All sorts of switches, lights, and greebles make for a realistic experience. An electronic voice provides the ship status, and let’s the crew know of any emergencies. (Spoiler alert — there will be emergencies!)
The real gem is how this simulation operates. A Logitec webcam is mounted on an XY gantry. This camera then is dipped underwater in a small pond. Video from the camera is sent to a large monitor which serves as the sub’s window. It’s all very 1960’s simulator tech, but the effect works. The subtle movements of the simulator platform really make the users feel like they are 20,000 leagues under the sea.
Check out the video after the break for more info! | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652631",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T02:51:31",
"content": "At this point, I would love to throw in some nautical puns, but the awesomeness of this “sub” humbles me.Oh, here comes the pun…It is sublime!",
"parent_id": null,
"dep... | 1,760,372,266.5319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/arduino-powered-missile-system-uses-ultrasound-to-aim/ | Arduino-Powered Missile System Uses Ultrasound To Aim | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ultrasonic",
"ultrasonic sensor",
"ultrasound",
"usb missile launcher"
] | In the real world, missile systems use advanced radars, infrared sensors, and other hardware to track and prosecute their targets. [Raspduino Uno] on YouTube has instead used ultrasound for targeting
for an altogether simpler desktop fire control solution.
This fun build uses a common off-the-shelf USB “missile launcher” that fires foam darts. To supply targeting data for the launcher, an Arduino Uno uses an ultrasonic sensor pair mounted atop a servo. As the servo rotates, the returns from the ultrasonic sensor are plotted on a screen run by a Raspberry Pi. If an object is detected in the 180-degree field of view of the sweeping sensor, a missile is fired using the dart launcher.
It’s a relatively simple build, but nonetheless would serve as a useful classroom demonstration of radar-like targeting techniques to a young audience. Real military hardware remains
altogether more sophisticated
. Video after the break. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652599",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T23:06:11",
"content": "Cool, though I hope the ultrasound doesn’t harm the hearing of pets. 😥",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6652603",
"author": "Hirudinea",
... | 1,760,372,266.751627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/a-super-cheap-turntable-build-for-photographic-purposes/ | A Super-Cheap Turntable Build For Photographic Purposes | Lewin Day | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"photo",
"photography",
"turntable"
] | When it comes to photographing products or small items, sometimes it’s useful to get vision from all angles. Shooting a video of an item on a turntable is an ideal way to do this.
[ROBO HUB] built a super-cheap turntable for just this purpose.
The build relies upon a regular micro servo to handle rotating the turntable. However, it has been modified from stock to rotate 360 degrees instead of its usual 180 degree range of motion. This is a common hack that allows servos to be used for driving
wheels
or other
rotating mechanisms.
In this case, though, any positional feedback is ignored. Instead, the servo is just used as a conveniently-geared motor, with its speed controlled via a potentiometer. A CD covered in paper is used as a turntable, with the electronics and motor assembled in a cardboard base.
It’s a simple hack, and one you can probably put together with the contents of your junk drawer. Combined with a lightbox, it
could up your photo and video game significantly.
Those skills are super useful when it comes to
documenting your projects
, after all! | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652553",
"author": "freakyjason",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T20:15:49",
"content": "This is not the “common hack” of making a 180 servo go 360. He literally snips off the IC and uses the servo as a DC motor. Makes a 3D printed adapter for a CD without adding something for centring it... | 1,760,372,266.806922 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/15/clay-makes-for-diy-power-source-just-add-water/ | Clay Makes For DIY Power Source, Just Add Water | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"battery",
"Robert Murray-Smith",
"thermocouple"
] | [Robert Murray-Smith] starts out
showing us some clay formations that house bees
. He couldn’t take any of that clay home, but that’s no problem — clay is plentiful, and apparently, you can make a battery with it. Well, perhaps not really a battery. Adding water to zeolite — a clay often used as a filter material — generates heat, and where there’s heat, there can be electricity.
[Robert] uses a salvaged Peltier device, as you find in small electric refrigerators. These solid-state heat pumps usually convert electricity into a temperature differential, but in this case, it is used as a thermocouple, generating electricity from a temperature difference.
The clay used is a very fine aluminosilicate crystal known as zeolite 13X. Once it comes into contact with plain ordinary water, it immediately starts to boil. It’s a neat experiment, and with the Peltier underneath the metal container holding the clay, enough power is produced to spin a small motor. Of course this won’t power anything large, but on the other hand, plenty of things these days don’t take much power. This technique would work with any exothermic reaction of course, but there’s something compelling about the shelf-stability of water and clay.
Beats a
potato
, we suppose. Batteries don’t have to be
difficult to make
. It is only hard to make really good ones. | 16 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653091",
"author": "Mark",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T12:06:32",
"content": "Nothing beats a science lesson from Bilbo Baggins!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6653114",
"author": "Piotrsko",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T14:1... | 1,760,372,266.857582 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/ham-almost-cooks-dog/ | Ham Almost Cooks ‘Dog | Jenny List | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"hot dog",
"RF power"
] | For those of us licensed in other countries it comes as something of a surprise to find that American radio amateurs now have to run RF exposure calculations as part of their licence requirements. [Ham Radio Crash Course] as approached this in a unique fashion,
by running around 800 watts of 6-metre power into a vertical antenna festooned with hotdogs
. That’s right, this ham is trying to cook some ‘dawgs! Is his station producing dangerous levels of power that might cook passers-by?
Of course, aside from a barely-warmed line along where the ‘dogs were attached to the antenna there’s no heating to be found. But we think he’s trying to make the point in the video below the break about the relative pointlessness of applying RF field limits which are definitely relevant at much higher frequencies, to hams at low frequencies.
It leaves us curious as to how that 800 watts could be efficiently transferred into the sausages and really cook them. Strapping them to a vertical is we think the equivalent of strapping anything resistive to a conductor, they do not form a significant enough part of the circuit. We think that even six metres could cook a sausage if it could be efficiently coupled into it, so we’d suggest putting a grounded sausage up the middle of a close-wound helix.
If you have any thoughts on the RF exposure calculations, or on the best way to cook a ‘dog with 6m, we’d love to hear the, in the comments. Meanwhile,
this isn’t the first piece of ‘dog-based shenanigans we’ve brought you
. | 34 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653015",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T05:14:29",
"content": "Well, it’s not April 1st this time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6653181",
"author": "Scott",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T17:59:26",
... | 1,760,372,266.9333 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/parker-solar-probes-confirmation-of-interchange-reconnection-being-the-source-of-fast-solar-wind/ | Parker Solar Probe’s Confirmation Of Interchange Reconnection Being The Source Of Fast Solar Wind | Maya Posch | [
"News",
"Science",
"Space"
] | [
"parker solar probe",
"solar wind"
] | Although experimental verification is at the heart of the scientific method, there is quite a difficulty range when it comes to setting up such an experiment. Testing what underlies the formation of the fast solar winds that are ejected from coronal holes in the Sun’s corona is one of these tricky experimental setups. Yet it would seem that we now
have our answer
, with a
newly published paper
in
Nature
by S. D. Bale and colleagues detailing what we learned courtesy of the Parker Solar Probe (
PSP
), which has been on its way to the Sun since it was launched in August of 2018 from Earth.
Artist rendition of the Parker Solar Probe. (Credit: NASA)
The Sun’s
solar wind
is the name for a stream of charged particles which are ejected from the Sun’s corona, with generally two types being distinguished: slow and fast solar winds. The former type appears to originate from the Sun’s equatorial belt and gently saunters away from the Sun at a mere 300 – 500 km/s with a balmy temperature of 100 MK.
The fast solar wind originates from
coronal holes
, which are temporary regions of cooler, less dense plasma within the corona. These coronal holes are notable for being regions where the Sun’s magnetic field extends into interplanetary space as an open field, along which the charged particles of the corona can escape the Sun’s gravitational field.
These properties of coronal holes allow the resulting stream to travel at speeds around 750 km/s and a blistering 800 MK. What was unclear up till this point was exactly what powers the acceleration of the plasma. It was postulated that the source could be wave heating, as well as interchange reconnection, but with the PSP now close enough to perform the relevant measurements, the evidence points to the latter.
Essentially, interchange reconnection is the reestablishing of a coronal hole’s field lines after interaction with convection cells on the Sun’s photosphere. These convection cells draw the magnetic field into a kind of funnel after which the field lines reestablish themselves, which results in the ejection of hotter plasma than with the slow solar wind. Courtesy of the PSP’s measurements, measured fast solar winds could be matched with coronal holes, along with the magnetic fields. This gives us the clearest picture yet of how this phenomenon works, and how we might be able to predict it.
(Heading image: Diagram of the Sun. (Credit:
Kelvinsong
) ) | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6653035",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2023-06-15T07:18:19",
"content": "For a second I thought it was referring to the other Parker’s Solar Probe, the 1-pixel one",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6653157",
"author": "Kei... | 1,760,372,267.189153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/google-home-scripting/ | Google Home Scripting | Al Williams | [
"google hacks",
"home hacks",
"News"
] | [
"google home",
"home automation"
] | It is always controversial to have home assistants like the ones from Google or Amazon. There are privacy concerns, of course. Plus they maddeningly don’t always do what you intend for them to do. However, if you do have one, you’ve probably thought about something you wanted to do that would require programming. Sure, you can usually do a simple list, but really writing code wasn’t on the menu. But now, Google Home
will allow you to write code
. Well, at least script using a YAML file.
The script language is available in the web app and if you opt in on the mobile app as well. There’s a variety of ways you can trigger scripts and many examples you can start with.
There are plenty of disclaimers:
Important: All household members can see when these Routines run. Routines are for convenience only, not safety- or security-critical use cases. Do not create Routines that could result in injury or harm if they fail to start or stop. Routines can depend on working internet, Wi-Fi, and service availability from both Google and the third parties who manufacture the devices included in Routines. Routines may not always work, and Google is not responsible for any harm or losses incurred as a result of any failed Routines.
You can tell the lawyers have been busy.
We can only wonder if this is a response to pressure from homebrew home automation systems? Either way, it is welcome to have more choices to have control over your home devices.
Of course, if you are like us, you’d probably prefer to
roll your own
. It has certainly
never been easier
. | 14 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652958",
"author": "topol",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T23:45:24",
"content": "Despite over 200 years of indoor plumbing I still find it fascinating how toilet will clog when someone uses it to dispose women hygene products. If anything we as a mankind could spend our energy on design... | 1,760,372,267.142349 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/its-never-too-late-to-upgrade-your-zx81-keyboard/ | It’s Never Too Late To Upgrade Your ZX81 Keyboard | Jenny List | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"keyboard",
"mechanical keyboard",
"zx81"
] | Sir Clive Sinclair’s ZX81 was a phenomenal sales success as one of the cheapest machines available in the early 1980s, but even its most fervent admirers will admit that it suffered heavily from the Sinclair economy drive. In particular that membrane keyboard was notorious for its lack of feedback, and a popular upgrade back in the day was a replacement keyboard. Now we can bring you what might be the ultimate in ZX replacement keyboards, in the form of [Brian Swetland]’s
mechanical ZX81 keyboard
.
The familiar 40-key layout is all there, using Cherry MX key switches and a beautiful set of custom-printed keycaps. There’s little more to a ZX keyboard than the matrix wiring, and in this case it’s all incorporated on a PCB. None of these techniques were readily available to individuals back in the ’80s, so a large piece of perfboard, key switches from an old terminal keyboard, and Letraset would have had to suffice.
We have to admit liking this project a lot, in fact we’re even tempted by a set of these keycaps for a regular keyboard just for old time’s sake. If you’re interested in the ZX81 then take a look at
how we used one to help us through the pandemic
. | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652893",
"author": "Greg Garriss",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T20:11:10",
"content": "I well remember the horrible membrane keyboard of the ZX80. But when it came out, it was about the only game in town for student hobbyists even though $75 was a month’s rent. Now we pay that much to ... | 1,760,372,267.240814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/updated-oshw-flash-drive-keeps-data-safe-fingers-dry/ | Updated OSHW Flash Drive Keeps Data Safe, Fingers Dry | Tom Nardi | [
"Security Hacks",
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"flash drive",
"Ovrdrive",
"self destruct",
"usb drive"
] | For almost a year now, we’ve been following the progress [Walker] has been making with Ovrdrive — a completely open source USB flash drive that features the ability to destroy itself should it fall into the wrong hands. It’s an interesting enough project on those merits alone, but what really made this idea stand out was that the user was expected to lick their fingers before handling the drive as a form of covert authentication.
Well, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that [Walker] is just about ready to
release the Ovrdrive officially on Crowd Supply
. But it’s with a heavy heart that we must report that the device’s cutting edge spit-detection capabilities have been removed. Now if you want to preserve the drive’s files, you need to rapidly insert and remove the drive several times rather than just plugging it in.
In all seriousness, this new approach makes a lot more sense. As entertaining as it might have been, the whole idea of a device that could detect moisture on the user’s fingers was fraught with problems. It was a bit more of a meme than a real solution, and if we’re being honest, kind of disgusting. This new approach sounds far more reliable, especially when combined with the new “Lite” self-destruct mode.
While the original capability of literally frying the flash chip by way of several capacitors and a voltage doubler is still here, there’s also a non-destructive approach that’s enabled by default. Unless you open up the drive and desolder the jumper pad on the PCB, the onboard ATtiny24A will simply use the enable pin on the flash chip to make it appear empty. This means that you’ve got to
really
want to cook your flash chip on the first hint of funny business.
Ultimately, whether it’s self-destructing or not, we just really like the idea of a
hacker-developed open source hardware USB flash drive
. Admittedly it would be a lot cheaper and more practical to just buy one like a normal person, but we strongly believe that if there’s a way for the community to build a OSHW version of something, they should at least give it a shot. | 27 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652860",
"author": "Andrzej",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T18:48:45",
"content": "I’m curious about the kind of damage that is done by overvolting the flash chip. If I were really so paranoid to have a self-destructing flash drive, I would prefer to use encryption and wipe the keys, in... | 1,760,372,267.45452 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/14/math-you-can-wear-fibonacci-spiral-led-badge/ | Math You Can Wear: Fibonacci Spiral LED Badge | Navarre Bartz | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"addressable led",
"badge",
"fibonacci",
"fibonacci sequence",
"LED spiral",
"Neopixels",
"RGB LED",
"rp2040",
"spiral"
] | Fibonacci numbers are seen in the natural structures of various plants, such as the florets in sunflower heads, areoles on cacti stems, and scales in pine cones. [HackerBox] has developed a
Fibonacci Spiral LED Badge
to bring this natural phenomenon to your electronics.
To position each of the 64 addressable LEDs within the PCB layout, [HackerBox] computed the polar (r,θ) coordinates in a spreadsheet according to the
Vogel model
and then converted them to rectangular (x,y) coordinates. A little more math translates the points “off origin” into the center of the PCB space and scale them out to keep the first two 5 mm LEDs from overlapping. Finally, the LED coordinates were pasted into the KiCad PCB design file.
An RP2040 microcontroller controls the show, and a switch on the badge selects power between USB and three AA batteries and a DC/DC boost converter. The PCB also features two capacitive touch pads. [HackerBox] has published the KiCad files
for the badge
, and the CircuitPython firmware is
shared with the project
. If C/C++ is more your preference, the RP2040 MCU can also be programmed using the Arduino IDE.
For more details on beautiful RGB lights, we’ve previously presented
Everything You Might Have Missed About Addressable LEDs
, and for more details on why they can be so fun to wear, check out our
Hackaday Badgelife Documentary
.
(Editor’s note: HackerBox makes and sells kits, is run by Hackaday Contributor [Joseph Long] IRL.) | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652780",
"author": "sgmogi",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T16:00:02",
"content": "Just note that lead is a neurotoxin and may cause cancer. I’d rather wear a toilet seat rather than piece of lead on my neck.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comm... | 1,760,372,267.385114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/cheap-usb-sniffer-has-wireshark-interface/ | Cheap USB Sniffer Has Wireshark Interface | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"usb"
] | If you’ve done any development on USB hardware, you’ve probably wished you could peek at the bits and bytes as they pass through the data lines. Sometimes, it’s the only way to properly understand what’s going on.
[ataradov]’s USB sniffer is built to do just that.
To sniff high-speed USB communications, the device relies on a Lattice LCMXO2 FPGA and a Cypress CY7C68013A microcontroller, paired with a Microchip USB3343 USB PHY. This setup is capable of operating at data rates of up to 40-50 MB/s, more than enough to debug the vast majority of USB peripherals on the market.
The device is built specifically for use with Wireshark. Most commonly used for network packet sniffing, Wireshark can also be used with a wide variety of other capture hardware for other debugging tasks, as seen here. In addition to live sniffing, it also allows captured data to be saved for later analysis.
If you need this tool, spinning up your own is straightforward.
Gerber files are available
and the required components can be bought off the shelf. Once assembled, you can program the chips via USB, with no external hardware programmer required.
We’ve seen some other similar hardware before.
Meanwhile, if you’re whipping up your own useful debug tools, don’t hesitate to
drop us a line! | 40 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652535",
"author": "sfbsion",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T19:05:35",
"content": "USB is as bad as transitting data over Cascading interface used in older Macs. Hopefully it’ll be replaced by something that’s open like DB9 serial port.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,372,267.533938 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/apple-ii-now-with-chatgpt/ | Apple II – Now With ChatGPT | Navarre Bartz | [
"Machine Learning",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"apple",
"Apple 2",
"ChatGPT",
"large language model",
"python"
] | Hackers are finding no shortage of new things to teach old retrocomputers, and [Evan Michael] has taught his Apple II how to
communicate with ChatGPT
.
Written in Python, iiAI lets an Apple II access everyone’s favorite large language model (LLM) through the terminal. The program lives on a more modern computer and is accessed over a serial connection. OpenAI API credentials are stored in a file invoked by iiAI when you launch it by typing
python3 openai_apple.py
. The program should work on any device that supports TTY serial, but so far testing has only happened on [Michael]’s Apple IIGS.
For a really clean setup, you might try running iiAI internally on an
Apple II Pi
. ChatGPT has also found its way onto
Commodore 64
and
MS-DOS
, and look here if you’d like some more info on
how these AI chat bots work anyway
.
https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/iiAI.mp4 | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652505",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T15:50:53",
"content": "Awesome! Keeping it alive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6652518",
"author": "Bill Williams",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T17:14:30",
... | 1,760,372,267.577633 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/supercon-2022-liz-mcfarland-builds-golden-wings-shows-you-how/ | Supercon 2022: [Liz McFarland] Builds Golden Wings, Shows You How | Arya Voronova | [
"Art",
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] | [
"2022 Superconference",
"cosplay",
"wings"
] | Are you, by any chance, wondering about giving yourself wings? You should listen to [Liz McFarland] sharing her experience building a Wonder Woman suit, and not just any – the Golden Eagle suit from Wonder Woman 1984, adorned with a giant pair of wings. If a suit like that is in your plans, you’ll be warmly welcomed at a cosplay convention – and [Liz] had her sights on the San Diego Comic Con. With an ambitious goal of participating in the Comic Con’s cosplay contest, the suit had to be impressive – and impressive, it indeed was, not just for its looks, but for its mechanics too.
[Liz] tells us everything – from producing the wings and painting them, to keeping them attached to the body while distributing the weight, and of course, things like on-venue nuances and safety with regards to other participants. The dark side of cosplay building reality isn’t hidden either – talking, of course, about the art of staying within a reasonably tight budget. This build takes advantage of a hackerspace that [Liz] is an active member in – the [Crash Space] in LA. Everything is in – lasercutting, 3D printing, and even custom jigs for bending wing-structual PVC pipes play a role.
It would have been a travesty to not have the wings move at will, of course, and [Liz] had all the skills you could want for making the wings complete. She went for two linear actuators, walking us through the mechanical calculations and considerations required to have everything fit together. It’s not easy to build a set of wings on its own, let alone one that moves and doesn’t crumble as you use it – if you have already attempted bringing mechanical creations like this into life, you can see the value in what [Liz] shares with us, and if you haven’t yet delved into it, this video will help you avoid quite a few pitfalls while setting an example you can absolutely reach.
The suit was a resounding success at the con, and got [Liz] some well-earned awards – today, the suit’s story is here for the hackers’ world. Now, your cosplay aspirations have an inspiring real-life journey to borrow from, and we thank [Liz] for sharing it with us. | 7 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652496",
"author": "Comedicles",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T15:22:39",
"content": "I’m sure I saw those in Barbarela?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6652624",
"author": "Garth Bock",
"timestamp": "2023-06-14T02... | 1,760,372,267.646114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/hacking-headaches-keeping-a-neurostimulator-working/ | Hacking Headaches: Keeping A Neurostimulator Working | Dan Maloney | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"abandonware",
"brick",
"cluster headache",
"migraine",
"nerve",
"neuro",
"neuromodulation",
"SPG",
"sphenopalatine ganglion"
] | We’ve heard a ton of stories over the years about abandoned technology — useful widgets, often cloud-based, that attracted an early and enthusiastic following, only to have the company behind the tech go bankrupt or decide to end operations for business reasons, which effectively bricks hundreds or perhaps millions of otherwise still-usable devices.
Now imagine that happening to your brain
.
[Markus Möllmann-Bohle] doesn’t have to imagine it, because he’s living it. [Markus] suffers from chronic cluster headaches, an often debilitating condition that leaves a person with intractable pain. Having lived with these headaches since 1987, and treating them with medications with varying degrees of success, [Markus] was finally delivered from his personal hell by a sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG)
neuromodulator
. The device consists of an unpowered stimulator implanted under the cheekbone that’s wired into the SPG, a bundle of nerves that supply the sinuses, nasal mucosa, tear glands, and many other structures in the face.
To reverse a cluster headache, [Markus] applies an external transmitter to the side of his face, which powers the implant and directs it to stimulate the SPG with low-frequency impulses, which interferes with a reflex loop that causes the symptoms associated with a cluster headache. [Markus] has been using the implant for years, but now its manufacturer has rolled up operations, leaving him with a transmitter in need of maintenance and the possibility of facing his debilitating headaches once again.
The video below shows [Markus]’s workaround, which essentially amounts to opening up the device and swapping in a new LiPo battery pack. [Markus], an electrical engineer by training, admits it’s not exactly a major hack, but it’s keeping him going for now. But he’s clearly worried because eventually, something will happen to that transmitter that’s beyond his skills to repair.
There’s cause for hope, though, as the intellectual property of the original implant company has been purchased by an outfit called
Realeve
, with the intention to continue support. That would be a lifesaver for [Markus] and everyone relying on this technology to live a normal life, so here’s hoping there’s no need for future hacking heroics. But as the video below details, there is a lot of neurotechnology out there, and the potential for having that bricked by a corporate decision has to be terrifying to the people who depend on them.
Thanks for the tip, [Perry]. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652475",
"author": "alex",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T13:16:00",
"content": "I’m glad this story ends with a positive note. These kinds of stories tend to go full dystopian. People forced by a corpo collapse to hack their prototype-ish medical equipment so that their brain implant co... | 1,760,372,267.694803 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/13/the-crystal-high-voltage-method/ | The Crystal (High Voltage) Method | Al Williams | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"crystal oscillator",
"Network analyzer",
"test equipment"
] | Do high voltages affect the resonant frequency of a crystal? Honestly, we never thought about it, but [Joe] did and decided to risk his
analyzer to find out
. He started with some decidedly old-school crystals like you might have found in a 1960-era Novice rig. Since the crystal is piezoelectric, he wondered if using a high DC voltage to bend the crystal to move the frequency to create a variable crystal oscillator (sometimes called a VXO).
He created a rig to block DC away from the network analyzer and then feed voltage directly across the crystal. The voltage was from an ESD tester that provides over 1000 volts.
Getting a crystal to change much in frequency is difficult, which is why they are useful. So we weren’t surprised that even at very high voltages, the effect wasn’t very large. It did change the frequency, but it just wasn’t very much.
At one point, it looked like he might have killed the test equipment. There was a time when letting the smoke out of a network analyzer would have been a costly mistake, but these days the cost isn’t that prohibitive. In the end, this experiment probably doesn’t produce any practical results. Still, it is interesting, and we always enjoy watching anything that gives us more intuition about the behavior of circuits or, in this case, circuit elements.
If you need a refresher on
crystal oscillators
, we can help. There are other ways to modify a
crystal’s frequency
, of course. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652439",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T08:47:26",
"content": "Interesting experiment, but a variable capacitor across … or in series with … the crystal works a lot better.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6652449... | 1,760,372,267.745944 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/do-not-attempt-disassembly-analog-wizardry-in-a-1960s-counter/ | Do Not Attempt Disassembly: Analog Wizardry In A 1960s Counter | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"frequency counter",
"HP",
"repair"
] | [CuriousMarc] is back with
more vintage HP hardware repair
. This time it’s the HP 5245L, a digital nixie-display frequency counter from 1963. This unit is old enough to be entirely made of discrete components, but has a real trick up its sleeve, with add-on components pushing the frequency range all the way up to 18 GHz. But this poor machine was in rough shape. There were previous repair attempts, some of which had to be re-fixed with proper components. When it hit [Marc]’s shop, the oscillator was working, as well as the frequency divider, but the device wasn’t counting, and the reference frequencies weren’t testing good at the front of the machine. There were some of the usual suspects, like blown transistors. But things got really interesting when one of the boards had a couple of tarnished transistors, and a handful of nice shiny new ones — but maybe not all the right transistors.
Even with those replaced, something was still off. Up next was the counting circuit, and the flip-flops weren’t flopping. More dead transistors. Replace them with the modern equivalents, and still no dice. But that flip-flop was the speediest in the machine, and relied on the exact transistor model to match the rest of the circuit. That element was fiddly enough that even the modern oscilloscope probe watching the circuit was enough to throw it off.
The
next bit of magic
was the binary to decimal decoder, which is neon bulbs physically packaged with photo resistors. Some of those bits weren’t working, and the initial guess was more bad transistors. But the real culprit here was a reset line getting shorted out by something. And of course, that short disappeared while trying to find the culprit, so likely a solder whisker or similar bit of conductive fluff in just the wrong place.
But the real beauty here is
the plugin modules
that gave this frequency super powers. And those modules were unfortunately manufactured with a gear grease that turned to glue after a few decades. Why does a digital frequency counter module have a clockwork component, and a metal tube with that ominous warning, “DO NOT ATTEMPT DISASSEMBLY OF CAVITY”? The tube is a resonant cavity, working as a filter. The cavity is fed with a comb generator, which generates multiple signals 10 MHz apart. The resonant filter will grab only one of the signals, giving a precise, known signal that is a power of 10 MHz. The next bit of magic in this device is a frequency mixer, which combines the test signal with this power-of-10, and outputs the difference. The resonant filter is tuned by a series of gears that move internal components. Once tuned to the nearest frequency, the difference will be less than 10Mhz, and able to be counted by the frequency counter. Just add the value shown on the dial, and you have your total frequency.
Of course, [CuriousMarc] works his magic to get things running again, not to mention doing a better job than we can explaining how the modules work. And of course, opens the forbidden fruit, and cleans that grease-turned-glue from the inner works, exploring exactly how it works, and how to get it back together. And if you want more HP 5245L goodness, maybe check out
the world’s most overbuilt nixie clock
. | 22 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652413",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T07:00:11",
"content": "That text is much more convincing than the “No user-serviceable parts inside” that nowadays gets plastered on anything :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,372,267.807225 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/two-pots-on-your-moped/ | Two Pots On Your Moped | Jenny List | [
"Engine Hacks"
] | [
"2 cylinder",
"2-stroke",
"moped"
] | The fastest motorcycle in the world is not some elite racer piloted across the salt flats at crazy speeds, instead it’s your
first
bike. Even if it’s a 50 cc moped, no other motorcycle you will own afterwards will give you that same hit as the first time you sit astride it and open the throttle. It has to be admitted though, that 50 cc mopeds are slow if it’s not your first ever ride. Really slow. How can they be made faster?
Perhaps an extra cylinder will do the trick
. In the video below the break, [LeDan] takes a single cylinder Simson moped engine and turns it into a 2-cylinder model.
The build has something of the machining porn about it, but who doesn’t like to sit down and watch as rough metal is transformed into a machined finish? A second Simson engine is used as a donor, and from it another crankcase section is fabricated. In that foes a newly enlarged crankshaft which we’re supprised not to see being balanced, and on the end of the whole assembly goes the Simson end casting. Two cylinders and their blocks the bolt on top, and the engine is complete. It’s a twin-carb model, and we have to admit curiosity as to whether small two-strokes need their carbs balancing. The result seems to work, though we don’t see it on a bike or at high revs. The kid with this engine really would have the fastest motorcycle in the world — compared to his mates.
As you might expect,
this isn’t the first small engine build we’ve seen
. | 25 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652388",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T03:47:21",
"content": "Now all I need to do is get two CB-750s so I can make a striaght-eight motorbike that’s even more ludicrous than that straight-six engine Honda made. And it’ll be as wide as a car.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,267.912601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/blind-camera-visualizing-a-scene-from-its-sounds-alone/ | Blind Camera: Visualizing A Scene From Its Sounds Alone | Maya Posch | [
"Art",
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"artificial neural network",
"Blind Camera"
] | A visualization by the Blind Camera based on recorded sounds and the training data set for the neural network. (Credit: Diego Trujillo Pisanty)
When we see a photograph or photo of a scene, we can likely imagine what sounds would go with it, but what if this gets inverted, and we have to imagine the scene that goes with the sounds? How close would we get to reconstructing the scene in our mind, without the biases of our upbringing and background rendering this into a near-impossible task? This is essentially the focus of a project by [
Diego Trujillo Pisanty
]
which he calls Blind Camera
.
Based on video data recorded in Mexico City, a neural network created using Tensorflow 3 was trained using an RTX 3080 GPU on a dataset containing frames from these videos that were associated with a sound. As a result, when the thus trained neural network is presented with a sound profile (the ‘photo’), it’ll attempt to reconstruct the scene based on this input and its model, all of which has been adapted to run on a single Raspberry Pi 3B board.
However, since all the model knows are the sights and sounds of Mexico City, the resulting image will always be presented as a composite of scenes from this city. As [Diego] himself puts it: for the device, everything is a city. In a way it is an excellent way to demonstrate how not only neural networks are limited by their training data, but so too are us humans. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652357",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2023-06-13T00:46:32",
"content": "“When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6652394",
"author": "paul shallard",
"timestamp": "2023-0... | 1,760,372,267.850024 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/a-ride-on-picnic-table-for-those-idylic-summer-evenings/ | A Ride-On Picnic Table For Those Idylic Summer Evenings | Jenny List | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"farm hacks",
"motorized",
"picnic table"
] | For most outsiders the Netherlands is a country of picturesque cities, windmills, tulips, and maybe those famous coffee shops. Head away from the coast though and you enter the country’s rural hinterland, farming country with lush green fields, dairy cattle, and farm lads doing what they do best, which is hacking old machinery to do crazy things under those wide skies. [Plodno] are based on a farm somewhere in the eastern Netherlands, and the latest of these lads’ creations is
a motorised picnic table
(Dutch language, you’ll need YouTube translated subtitles).
This is farm hacking at its best, with a scrap FIAT hatchback donating its running gear to a welded tubular frame, with a chain drive to a small single-cylinder engine. There’s no suspension save for the air in the tyres, the steering column is vertical, and the brake is a single inboard disk on the rear axle. Perhaps it’s fortunate that the intended beating heart, a Kawasaki motorycle engine, was misfiring, as it would have been truly lethal with that much power. We’re not too convinced at the legality of taking such a contraption on the public road in the Netherlands, but they seem to get away with it. Take a look at the build in the video below the break.
Here at Hackaday we like a good hacky farm build, even though
sometimes they’re not so well-assembled
. | 12 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652274",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T20:06:47",
"content": "For some reason, I’m envisioning those darn bars on wheels popular in college towns where the students peddle around town while drinking",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,268.021544 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/a-489-megapixel-camera-for-not-a-lot/ | A 489 Megapixel Camera For Not A Lot | Jenny List | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"digital camera",
"medium format",
"scanner",
"scanner camera"
] | The megapixel wars of a decade ago saw cameras aggressively marketed on the resolution of their sensors, but as we progressed into the tens of megapixels it became obvious even to consumers that perhaps there might be a little more to the quality of a digital camera than just its resolution. Still, it’s a frontier that still has a way to go, even if
[Yunus Zenichowski]’s 489 megapixel prototype
is a bit of an outlier. As some of you may have guessed it’s a scanner camera, in which the sensor is a linear CCD that is mechanically traversed over the focal plane to capture the image line by line.
In the 3D printed shell are the guts of a cheap second-hand Canon scanner, and the lens comes from a projector. Both these components make it not only one of the highest resolution cameras we’ve ever brought you, but also by no means the most expensive. It’s definitely a work in progress and the results of a sensor designed for the controlled environment of a document scanner being used with real-world light leave something to be desired, but even with the slight imperfections of the projector lens it’s still a camera capable of some fascinating high-resolution photography.
The files are all available
, should you be interested, and you can see it in action in the video below the break.
It’s
by no means the first scanner camera we’ve brought you
, though some of the earlier projects now have dead links. It is however easily the one with the highest resolution. | 26 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652253",
"author": "Sweeney",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T18:56:04",
"content": "Scanning backs are an old idea that don’t work well. The problem is that they are only suitable for still scenes. Even landscape photographs often have things moving in portions, which result in unpleasan... | 1,760,372,268.081886 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/passionate-hams-make-their-mark-on-the-hack-chat/ | Passionate Hams Make Their Mark On The Hack Chat | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Radio Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"Hack Chat",
"ham radio",
"RTL-SDR",
"software-defined radio",
"wspr"
] | Let’s be honest — there are some not very pleasant stereotypes associated with amateur radio, at least if you ask outsiders. Hams are often thought of as being in two camps: old guys who can’t figure out modern technology or conspiracy theorists who think their knowledge of radio will give them an edge after the world becomes a post-apocalyptic hellscape. We’ll leave it to you to decide which is the worse brush to be painted with.
As is often the case, the best way to fight such ignorance is with education and outreach. Events like our weekly Hack Chat are a perfect platform for that, as it allows the curious to ask questions and get answers directly from subject matter experts. This is precisely why
we invited Mark Hughes and Beau Ambur to helm last week’s Chat
. The fact that they’re both relatively recent licensees makes them uniquely qualified to shed some light on what it’s like to become part of the ham radio community in the 21st century. As an added bonus, they’re both sharp and articulate technologists — about as far as you can get from the mental image of the doddering old granddad who prefers the simplicity of the Morse key to those newfangled smarty-phones.
Mark Hughes
The results were, quite frankly, staggering. It was one of the most lively and productive discussions we’ve seen in recent memory, which itself is a sharp rebuttal to some of the more pervasive claims about ham radio. This wasn’t a handful of grumpy graybeards bemoaning modern tech; it was a group of passionate folks who wanted to know more about the field and how getting licensed can help them with their goals and personal projects.
At the same time, it was honest. Mark started off the Chat by stating in no uncertain terms that amateur radio is a hobby dominated by older folks, and without an infusion of younger blood, it’s in very real danger of dying off. Why is that a problem? Put simply, if nobody is using the frequencies allocated for hams, it won’t be long before the governments of the world swoop in and reallocate them for whatever they please — and once that happens, getting those frequencies back is going to be a battle that hobbyists might not be able to win.
So why become a ham? Mark came prepared for that one and busted out the following bullet points:
Connect with a global community: Engage with like-minded enthusiasts worldwide, forming friendships that transcend borders and cultures.
Sharpen your technological skills: Dive into electronics, radio wave propagation, antenna design, digital modes, satellite communication, and more.
Serve your community: Provide communication support during emergencies, public events, and natural disasters.
Unlock global travel opportunities: Participate in contests, meet fellow hams worldwide, and operate from unique locations.
Lifelong learning and personal growth: Pursue certifications, master Morse code, explore satellite operations, and more.
It’s a list that’s hard to argue with and exactly the kind of thing that prospective hams need to see. There’s more to amateur radio than sitting in a dimly lit room with headphones pressed up against your ears — although, to be fair, there’s a decent amount of that also.
Beau Ambur
Let’s say this list convinced you to get your license. Now what? Predictably, that’s where the Chat headed almost immediately. People wanted to know not just the
why
of becoming a ham but the
how
. The questions were what you’d expect; people wanted to know what class of license they should go for and how they should start the process of studying and taking the exam. Of course, there was perhaps the most common of all ham-related questions: do I
really
need to learn Morse code?
Determining which class of license you go for is going to depend on a lot of factors, but as one member of the Chat pointed out, even getting the lowest tier Technician class in the US means you can start experimenting with things like bouncing signals off the Moon and communicating with satellites. Not a bad way to spend a lazy weekend. As for the big question, no — the FCC removed the Morse code requirement for amateur operator licenses back in 2007. That said, while it’s no longer required, several in the Chat said it was still good to be familiar with.
For those still not convinced amateur radio is for them, Beau and others suggested
picking up a cheap RTL-SDR device and cruising around the dial
. No license is required to listen in, and there’s a whole world of fascinating signals out there that you can pick up and decode, ranging from your wireless doorbell to signals being beamed down to Earth from orbiting weather satellites. If hacking around in listen-only mode holds your attention, then getting licensed and being able to (legally) transmit will make things all the more interesting.
The modern ham rig takes many forms
Talk of software-defined radio (SDR) took over the conversation for a while, as it’s a good example of where the technology is today compared to the earlier days of ham radio. You don’t need some dusty post-war relic to get on the air anymore. A Raspberry Pi and a handful of USB gadgets can do wonders and in many cases, may even make up the bulk of the “shack” for a modern ham.
Dan Maloney pointed out posts from his excellent “$50 Ham” series where he demonstrates these sorts of low-cost, high-tech radio projects.
His Pi-based Weak Signal Propagation Mode (WSPR) beacon
was a perfect example, as it offers the user the ability to make contacts all over the globe with hardware that fits in the palm of their hand and doesn’t
look
anything like the ham rigs of yesteryear.
That said, there’s nothing wrong with wanting a “proper” radio, and a good chunk of the discussion was taken up with hardware recommendations. While they are a bit controversial in the community, several commenters said it’s hard to go wrong with a $20 Baofeng handheld to get your feet wet. Once the bug has bitten you, expect your next radio to cost somewhere in the $150 – $300 range. Others pointed out that the radio is only half of the equation and that regardless of what you spend on it, you’ve got to make sure it’s paired up with a proper antenna.
In the end, the discussion went far beyond the standard hour and covered a dizzying array of topics. As always,
we’ve got a complete transcript
of the discussion up on the Hack Chat page for anyone who wants to read along — which we would highly recommend if you’re even remotely interested in ham radio.
We’d like to thank Mark Hughes and Beau Ambur for taking the time to speak with the community about the modern amateur radio experience and why it’s so important that we focus on getting the next generation of hobbyists on board. While the battle certainly won’t be won overnight, we think the buzz generated by this discussion proves that it’s a cause worth fighting for.
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. | 63 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652217",
"author": "thom",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T17:39:05",
"content": "“$20 Baofeng” and “paired up with a proper antenna.”Great… a radio that the 2nd harmonic is only -26db down(or worse) into a high gain antenna.What could go wrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,372,268.587349 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/high-voltage-ion-engines-take-trip-on-the-high-seas/ | High Voltage Ion Engines Take Trip On The High Seas | Tom Nardi | [
"High Voltage",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"catamaran",
"ion propulsion",
"ion thruster",
"Plasma Channel",
"remote controlled"
] | Over the last several months, we’ve been enjoying a front-row seat as [Jay Bowles] of
Plasma Channel
has been developing and perfecting his design for a high voltage multi-stage ionic thruster. With each installment, the unit has become smaller, lighter, and more powerful. Which is important, as the ultimate goal is to power an RC aircraft with them.
There’s still plenty of work to be done before [Jay] will be able to take his creation skyward, but he’s making all the right moves. As a step towards his goal,
he recently teamed up with [RcTestFlight]
to attach a pair of his thrusters — which have again been further tweaked and refined since we last saw them — to a custom catamaran hull. The result is a futuristic craft that skims across the water with no moving parts and no noise…if you don’t count the occasional stray arc from the 40,000 volts screaming through its experimental thrusters, anyway.
Each thruster is energized by a trio of stun-gun modules.
We were particularly impressed to see the boat doesn’t use rudders, and instead relies on differential thrust between the two ion engines to turn. It was the more difficult approach to be sure, but as [Jay] explained it to us, the goal from the very start was to completely eliminate any moving components from the powertrain.
Part of that goal was undeniably for the wow factor, but it’s also key to achieving the silent operation that serves as the justification for strapping an ionic propulsion system to an otherwise standard watercraft. With no dangling bits making noise in the water, this boat could in theory be used in applications where a traditional craft might disturb wildlife. Though we suspect it might do a hell of a number on any bugs that might be flying around nearby.
It’s been fascinating to see [Jay] improve his thrusters with each new iteration, and judging by the incredible views each video has amassed, we’re not the only ones on the edge of our seats. But is it any surprise? While ionic propulsion is an
established technology for spaceflight
, it’s relatively unexplored as far as practical terrestrial vehicles go. With each update, it really feels like [Jay] is making progress towards something big, and we can’t wait to see what comes next. | 21 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652175",
"author": "jay hocke",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T15:45:39",
"content": "That is fascinating! Seems like the military might be interested in its application for craft used by special operators for covert actions of some sort.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,372,268.272979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/spy-tech-unshredding-documents/ | Spy Tech: Unshredding Documents | Al Williams | [
"History"
] | [
"computer vision",
"germany",
"shredding",
"stasi"
] | Bureaucracies generate paper, usually lots of paper. Anything you consider private — especially anything that could get you in trouble — should go in a “burn box” which is usually a locked trash can that is periodically emptied into an incinerator. However, what about a paper shredder? Who hasn’t seen a movie or TV show where the office furiously shreds papers as the FBI, SEC, or some other three-letter-agency is trying to crash the door down?
That might have been the scene in the late 1980s when Germany reunified. The East German Ministry of State Security — known as the Stasi — had records of unlawful activity and, probably, information about people of interest. The staff made a best effort to destroy these records, but they did not quite complete their task.
The collapsing East German government ordered documents destroyed, and many were pulped or burned. However, many of the documents were shredded by hand, stuffed into bags, and were awaiting final destruction. There were also some documents destroyed by the interim government in 1990. Today there are about 16,000 of these bags remaining, each with 2,500 to 3,000 pieces of pages in them.
Machine-shredded documents were too small to recover, but the hand-shredded documents should be possible to reconstruct. After all, they do it all the time in spy movies, right? With modern computers and vision systems, it should be a snap.
You’d think so, anyway.
Shield and Sword of the Party
The Stasi has been likened to the Soviet KGB. Using civilian informants, they contributed to the arrest of about a quarter of a million people between 1950 and 1990. They also had extensive files, and if they survived the destruction, people can ask to see the information the Stasi collected about them.
The agency was known for pervasive and invasive spying, with agents in every apartment building and all major companies. At the time they disbanded, the agency had over 90,000 employees and nearly 175,000 informants. This works out to one secret policeman for every 166 East Germans. By contrast, the Gestapo had one agent for every 2,000 people. They were also known for harassing enemies of the state. If you want to learn more about the Stasi, Deutsche Welle has an interesting short documentary about the agency and its spying activities that you can watch below.
So you can see why the Stasi leadership wanted to destroy files. Citizens occupied the Stasi offices, but not before about 5% of the documents — 1 billion sheets of paper — were destroyed somehow. As the German Democratic Republic fell, many citizens protested the destruction of the papers, primarily to ensure there was evidence to prosecute wrongdoing in the agency. However, some informants wanted the documents destroyed so they would not be identified.
The new government appointed an office to control the records, but there was a strong debate about what to do with them. Some wanted them sealed or destroyed. Others wanted them used for prosecution. In the end, the Unification Treaty allowed people to access their own files starting in 1992. Between 1991 and 2011, about 2.75 million people have requested to see their files. Near relatives can also request the files of deceased or missing persons. The media and schools can access documents that are redacted for personal information. The archive is now the responsibility of the
Federal Archives
.
Reconstruction
However, there are still these 16,000 bags of fragments — about 45 million pages worth. In some cases, the destroyed files had pages simply torn in half or quarters. Those are the easy ones, but they do not all fall into that category. The 36 archivists tasked with reconstruction processed 327 bags in 13 years, not a speedy record.
To help, the German government turned to computers and the Fraunhofer Institute. Scientists there demonstrated software known as e-Puzzler that would revolutionize the document reconstruction process. However, that turned out not to be the case. While it does work, the process is painfully slow.
In theory, it makes sense. An article in
The Guardian from 2007
describes the machine. According to the article:
The machine works by scanning the document fragments into a computer image file. It treats each scrap as if it is part of a huge jigsaw puzzle. The shape, colour, font, texture and thickness of the paper is then analysed so that eventually it is possible to rebuild an electronic image of the original document.
Some
marketing material from Fraunhofer
itself says, “The system uses an adaptive, non-deterministic workflow to process a wide range of characteristics, such as the contour, color, writing, and lines of the fragments.” Seems plausible. You can see the system in action in the video below. That video also notes some of the possible reasons the project has been a failure.
So What Went Wrong?
It isn’t clear why this isn’t feasible. The Fraunhofer system did help
Bundesbank
match up damaged banknotes. However, banknotes are more uniform and have known features that the Stasi documents lack. And, as you can see in the video below, it still looks like there is some manual work required. Despite putting in about 6.5 million euros, the official word is the process didn’t scale well for this many documents.
On the one hand, you have to imagine that computers and image processing has come a long way since 2013. It is surprising you couldn’t do much better with modern hardware and techniques. Of course, if you were conspiracy-minded, you might wonder if someone doesn’t want the project to succeed.
To be fair, opening the bags is a chore. Archivists try not to disturb the order of the papers and they often contain trash which we are sure is pretty disgusting after all these years. Some papers have clips or staples and many are wrinkled. The machine needs the pages separated and flattened. To help speed up the process, each piece destined for the machine has to be about 2 cm square or larger. The downside is the documents are two-sided, which doubles the number of trips for each piece.
We get it. Building one radio is easy. Building 16,000 of them is hard. We know people can
unshred documents
that aren’t reduced to dust or ash. Even the crosscut shredder isn’t foolproof if you have
the right open-source software
. The Iranians famously employed carpet weavers to reassemble documents taken from the US embassy in 1979. You can hear more about some of these cases in Edward Robinson’s CHCon presentation in the video below.
What’s Next?
We suspect the Stasi files will remain shredded and unread for a long time, but maybe not entirely for technical reasons. We also imagine since DARPA has
sponsored challenges
for unshredding, that someone — maybe a lot of someones — has some great tech for this that they aren’t making public.
If you are worried the secret police are listening –and not just Google and Amazon — you need
an NLJD
. If you like cold war intrigue, how about the adventures of
stealing a moon capsule
? | 38 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652138",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T14:05:23",
"content": "Throw some HDC at the problem.https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-approach-to-computation-reimagines-artificial-intelligence-20230413/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{... | 1,760,372,268.67465 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/spaying-cats-in-one-shot/ | Spaying Cats In One Shot | Navarre Bartz | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"biology",
"cats",
"endocrinology",
"feline",
"humane",
"reproduction"
] | Feral cats live a rough life, and programs like Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) attempt to keep their populations from exploding in a humane way. Researchers in Massachusetts have found a
non-surgical way to spay cats
that will help these efforts.
A single dose of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) gene therapy suppresses ovarian follicle formation, essentially turning off the ovulation cycle. After following the test cats for two years, none had kittens, unlike the cats in the control group. Other major hormones like estrogen were unaffected in the cats and they didn’t exhibit any negative side effects. The researchers said it will be some time before the treatment can be widely deployed, but it offers hope for helping
our internet overlords
and the environs they
terrorize
inhabit.
For those of you doing TNR work, you might want to try this
trap alert system
to let you know you’ve caught a cat for spaying or neutering. If you’d rather use a cat treat dispenser to motivate your code monkeys, then
check out this hack
. | 61 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652084",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T11:07:00",
"content": "“If you’d rather use a cat treat dispenser to motivate your code monkeys, then check out this hack.”Good way to keep their population down. :-D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,268.372464 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/12/a-modular-analogue-computer/ | A Modular Analogue Computer | Jenny List | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"analog",
"analog computer",
"analogue"
] | We are all used to modular construction in the analogue synth world, to the extent that there’s an accepted standard for it in EuroRack. But the same techniques are just as useful wherever else analogue circuits need to be configured on the fly, such as in an analogue computer. It’s something [Rainer Glaschick] has pursued, with his
Flexible Analog Computer
, an analogue computer made from a set of modules mounted on breadboard strips.
Standard modules are an adder and an integrator, with the adder also having inverter, comparator, and precision rectifier functions. The various functions can be easily configured by means of jumpers, and there are digital switches on board to enable or disable outputs and inputs. he’s set up a moon landing example to demonstrate the machine in practice.
We’re not going to pretend to be analogue computer experts here at Hackaday,but we naturally welcome any foray into analogue circuitry lest it become a lost art. If you’d like to experiment with analogue computing
there are other projects out there to whet your appetite
, and of course
they don’t even need to be electronic
. | 20 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652057",
"author": "Stephen Walters",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T08:17:20",
"content": "Systematic Analogue Computer Programming Pitman paperback 1967 & 70ISBN-10 : 0273401262ISBN-13 : 978-0273401261",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"com... | 1,760,372,269.01834 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/characterizing-singular-atoms-using-x-ray-spectroscopy-and-scanning-tunneling-microscopy/ | Characterizing Singular Atoms Using X-Ray Spectroscopy And Scanning Tunneling Microscopy | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"scanning tunneling microscope",
"SX-STM"
] | Scanning Tunneling Microscopes (STMs) are amazing tools which can manipulate singular atoms, but they cannot characterize these atoms as they act only on the outer electron shell. Meanwhile X-ray spectroscopy is a great tool for characterizing materials, but has so far been unable to scale down to singular atoms. This is where a
recent study
(paywalled, see
summary article
) by Tolulope M. Ajayi and colleagues demonstrates how both STM and X-rays can be combined in order to characterize singular atoms.
Structure of a part of the supramolecular complex used to measure the x-ray absorption spectrum of a single iron atom. The iron atom (red) is held within several ring-shaped structures. (Credit: Ajayi et al., 2023)
This research builds on previous research on synchrotron X-ray STM (
SX-STM
) which has been used for nanoscale imaging since 2009, but not down to the scale of a singular atom yet. Key to this achievement was to synthesize supramolecular complexes that could act as ‘tweezers’ to hold the atom under investigation in place and away from atoms of the same species. This not only allowed the atom to be identified using SX-STM, it also demonstrated that more subtle chemical properties of the atom can be analyzed in this manner, such as the way it interacts with other atoms.
The information gleaned this way matches up with what we know about the two atoms used in the study: iron and the rare earth terbium, with the latter’s lack of hybridization of its
f orbitals
(
ℓ =
3) observable. For less well-studied atoms this method could provide a very efficient way to get a detailed overview of its properties. What is more, in future studies the researchers hope to use polarized X-rays to also obtain information about an atom’s spin state, opening interesting possibilities in areas such as
spintronics
and memory technologies.
Heading image: As the tip was scanned across ten positions in a sample containing two terbium atoms, it picked a signal only from the positions (2 and 9) where terbium was located (left: STM image; right: sketch of the corresponding molecular structure). (Credit: Ajayi et al, 2023) | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,268.718559 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/the-first-search-engines-built-by-librarians/ | The First Search Engines, Built By Librarians | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"internet",
"librarians",
"library",
"network",
"psychology",
"research",
"search",
"search engine",
"supars",
"syracuse university",
"university"
] | Before the Internet became the advertisement generator we know and love today, interspersed with interesting information here and there, it was originally a network of computers largely among various universities. This was even before the world-wide web and HTML which means that the people using these proto-networks, mostly researchers and other academics, had to build things we might take for granted from the ground up.
One of those was one of the first search engines
, built by the librarians who were cataloging all of the research in their universities, and using their relatively primitive computer networks to store and retrieve all of this information.
This search engine was called SUPARS, the Syracuse University Psychological Abstracts Retrieval Service. It was originally built for psychology research papers, and perhaps unsurprisingly the psychologists at the university also used this new system as the basis for understanding how humans would interact with computers. This was the 1970s after all, and most people had never used a computer, so documenting how they used search engine led to some important breakthroughs in the way we think about the best ways of designing systems like these.
The search engine was technically revolutionary for the time as well. It was among the first to allow text to be searched within documents and saved previous searches for users and researchers to access and learn from. The experiment was driven by the need to support researchers in a future where reference librarians would need assistance dealing with more and more information in their libraries, and it highlighted the challenges of vocabulary control in free-text searching.
The visionaries behind SUPARS recognized the changing landscape of research and designed for the future that would rely on networked computer systems. Their contributions expanded the understanding of how technology could shape human communication and effectiveness, and while they might not have imagined the world we are currently in, they certainly paved the way for the advances that led to its widespread adoption even outside a university setting.
There were some false starts along that path
, though. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6652020",
"author": "Comedicles",
"timestamp": "2023-06-12T04:07:35",
"content": "Desk Set, 1957. YT has it in their “Buy, Rent” stuff I did not know they have.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6652100",
"author": "Paul... | 1,760,372,268.769654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/hackaday-links-june-11-2023/ | Hackaday Links: June 11, 2023 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"bear",
"Bioweapon",
"camera",
"diorama",
"donuts",
"Eben Upton",
"factory tour",
"flying car",
"hackaday links",
"hvac",
"imsai 8080",
"Rapsberry Pi",
"smoke",
"sony",
"spying",
"tesla",
"UAP",
"UFO",
"Wales",
"wargames",
"whistleblower",
"wildfires"
] | As Tom Nardi mentioned in this week’s podcast, the Northeast US is pretty apocalyptically
socked in with smoke
from wildfires in Canada. It’s what we here in Idaho call “August,” so we have plenty of sympathy for what they’re going through out there. People are turning to technology to ease their breathing burden, with reports that
Tesla drivers are activating the “Bioweapon Defense Mode” of their car’s HVAC system
. We had no idea this mode existed, honestly, and it sounds pretty cool — the cabin air system apparently shuts off outside air intake and runs the fan at full speed to keep the cabin under positive pressure, forcing particulates — or, you know, anthrax — to stay outside. We understand there’s a HEPA filter in the mix too, which probably does a nice job of cleaning up the air in the cabin. It’s a clever idea, and hats off to Tesla for including this mode, although perhaps the name is a little silly. Here’s hoping it’s not one of those subscription services that can get turned off at a moment’s notice, though.
Fancy though “Bioweapon” mode on a Tesla may be, do these cars have an “Alien Abduction Prevention” mode, too? Let’s hope so, because if
a whistleblower report on non-human craft
is to be believed, we’re all going to need it. A highly placed former intelligence officer, David Grusch, has apparently briefed the US Congress on the retrieval of craft, in whole or in part, “of exotic origin (non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or unknown origin) based on the vehicle morphologies and material science testing and the possession of unique atomic arrangements and radiological signatures.” He claims this has been going on for decades, with technology being recovered not only by the US government but also by its allies and, curiously, defense contractors. All of which begs the question: If we’ve had vehicles of “exotic origin” available to us for decades, where the hell are our flying cars?
A strange case out of Connecticut, where a rural couple claims the state environmental agency sent
a camera-wearing bear to illegally spy on them
. The couple, Mark and Carol Brault, own a large piece of property where they charge visitors an admission fee to watch wildlife. They claim that the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) attached a camera to a bear that’s known to frequent the Brault property, with the intention of conducting a warrantless search on their private wildlife reserve. They apparently had previously been accused by the town government of feeding bears, which would be a problem if true, and certainly seems like something a collar-mounted camera would pick up. We’ve had dealings with Connecticut DEEP — we used to live in the state, and once had DEEP respond to our property to try to catch a nuisance bear that had killed some of our livestock. The trap was baited with day-old jelly donuts; alas, we never caught the perp, but our experience with DEEP was nothing but pleasant. The jelly donuts were pretty tasty, too.
Factory tour time! Raspberry Pi maven Jeff Geerling recently took a trip to the UK, which included not only
a bit of hob-nobbing with Eben Upton
, but also
a tour of the Sony Tech Center in Wales where Raspberry Pis are made
. Everyone loves factory tours, and seeing how Pis get made is especially nice — not to mention seeing Pis piled to the rafters. There are all the usual sights and sounds of a modern electronics factory — the high-speed pick and place, the hand rework of boards that don’t pass QC — but the best part in our book is the line of two-armed collaborative robots working on placing the through-hole components. The little wiggle they give to get Ethernet jacks and other through-hole parts placed is pretty clever, and the fact that they work directly across an assembly line from meat-bots is pretty impressive. Enjoy the tour!
And finally, if the 1983 movie
WarGames
was as influential for you as it was for us, you’ve got to check out
this incredibly detailed diorama of David Lightman’s room
. Played by a not-as-young-as-he-looked Matthew Broderick, for some of us David Lightman was about as cool as you could ever hope to be — not least because he had his own en suite bathroom. The IMSAI 8080 his desk sported was something most of us could only dream about owning, and the level of detail captured by this model is breathtaking. Not only is the computer exterior accurately modeled, everything
inside
the case is reproduced too! The big power supply caps, the transformer, the card cage and boards with tiny components — everything is there. And that’s not to mention all the other gear Lightman had in his room, like the top-load VCR, the printer, the 8″ floppies — even the acoustically coupled modem he used to nearly launch World War 3. Shall we play a game? | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651968",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T23:08:25",
"content": "“All of which begs the question: If we’ve had vehicles of “exotic origin” available to us for decades, where the hell are our flying cars?”SpaceX.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,372,268.835348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/a-peak-inside-a-747-fuel-gauge/ | A Peek Inside A 747 Fuel Gauge | Matthew Carlson | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Teardown",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"747",
"boeing",
"Boeing 747",
"fuel gauge"
] | It isn’t that often that we civilians get the chance to closely examine the fantastic internals that make up the modern marvels of avionic engineering. Luckily for us, [Glen] got his
hands on a 747 fuel gauge and tore it down for our benefit
. Not only does he tear it down, but he also builds a controller to display values.
Unlike your typical automotive fuel gauge that reports the distance from the top of the tank to the fuel level, this gauge reports the number of pounds of fuel. The fact that the indicator pictured above can go all the way to 95,000 pounds of fuel hits home the sheer scale of the fuel tanks on a 747 compared to your Volvo. Of course, where this gets interesting is the teardown with the metal sleeve removed. A 400 HZ AC servo motor moves the pointer and counter through the gearing with the help of a feedback potentiometer. The resistance tolerance is only 3%, as there are adjustment knobs on the back. But the linearity spec is only 0.06%, putting this part in a different grade from most pots.
One of the indicators was in worse shape than the others, so [Glen] got to work tapping into the internals of the gauge to drive the motor directly. A custom AC power supply repurposed from another project provided power, and a Raspberry Pi Pico was the PID controller. For [Glen], it isn’t all roses. Unfortunately, a noisy spot around 22,500 prevents accurate placement around there.
The
code is up on GitHub
, and we love having a gauge on the desk to show whatever value we like. If you are curious about more 747 instruments, t
his retro control unit might interest you
. | 28 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651922",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T20:02:45",
"content": "Seems kinda overcomplicated, but I’m sure Boeing knows what they are doing… Rather, they used to know when they made this particular one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,268.897963 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/hyundai-is-doomed-porting-the-1993-classic-to-a-hyundai-head-unit/ | Hyundai Is Doomed: Porting The 1993 Classic To A Hyundai Head Unit | Maya Posch | [
"car hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"does it run doom",
"doom",
"infotainment"
] | In the natural order of the world, porting
DOOM
to any newly unlocked computing system is an absolute given. This a rule which [greenluigi1] understands all too well, leading to presumably the first Hyundai to be
equipped with this all-time classic
on its infotainment system. This follows hot on the trail of
re-hacking
said infotainment system and a gaggle of basic apps being developed for and run on said head unit (being the part of the infotainment system on the front dashboard). Although it is a Linux-based system, this doesn’t mean that you can just recompile
DOOM
for it, mostly because of the rather proprietary system environment.
To make life easy, [greenluigi1] picked
doomgeneric
as the version to port. The main selling point of this project is that it only requires the developer to implement five functions to support a new platform, which then ‘just’ left figuring out how to do this on a head unit. Two of these (
DG_SleepMs()
and
DG_GetTicksMS()
) could be copied verbatim from the X11/xlib port, but the remaining three required a bit of sleuthing.
Where things go sideways is with keeping the head unit’s Helix window manager happy, and stick to the limited ways a GUI application can be launched, including the way arguments are passed. For the PoC, it was decided to just hardcode these arguments and only register the game with Helix using an
.appconf
configuration file. When it came to drawing pretty graphics on the screen, this was decidedly easier since the system uses Qt5 and thus offers the usual ways to draw to a QPixmap, which in this case maps to the framebuffer.
After a few playful sessions with the head unit’s watchdog timer, [greenluigi1] found himself staring at a blank screen, despite everything appearing to work. This turned out to be due to the alpha channel value of 0 that was being set by default, along with the need for an explicit refresh of the QPixmap. Up popped
DOOM
, which left just the implementation of the controls.
In order to start the game, you have to literally buckle up, and the steering wheel plus media control buttons are your inputs, which makes for a creative way to play, and perhaps wear some bald spots onto your tires if you’re not careful. If you’d like to give it a shot on your own ride, you can get the
project files on GitHub
. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651882",
"author": "Neverm|nd",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T18:06:22",
"content": "Ha ! It’d be hard to show on video, but since someone has gone this far, I’d imagine the UX would be much improved if the gas pedal was used for forward motion… And…. The horn (?) [though that would get... | 1,760,372,268.94149 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/the-time-machine-mk-8-is-a-sleek-smartwatch-with-retro-styling/ | The Time Machine Mk. 8 Is A Sleek Smartwatch With Retro Styling | Robin Kearey | [
"clock hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"digital wristwatch",
"seven segment LCD",
"watch"
] | The primary purpose of a wristwatch is to tell the time, which pretty much any watch does perfectly fine. It’s in the aesthetics, as well as features other than time-telling, where a watchmaker can really make their product stand out from the rest. Watchmaker and electronic artist [Eric Min] focused on those two areas when he designed the
Time Machine Mk.8
, which combines exquisite design with simple, offline smartwatch functionality.
The heart of the watch is a Microchip ATSAMD21G18 low-power 32-bit microcontroller. [Eric] chose it for its high performance, ease of use and large number of integrated peripherals, a real-time clock being one of them. With the basic clock function thus taken care of, he then decided to add several useful sensors: a battery fuel gauge to keep an eye on the 40 mAh rechargeable lithium cell, a three-axis accelerometer to enable motion sensing and an environmental sensor to track temperature, humidity and pressure.
The various functions are operated using four pushbuttons along with a 16-step rotary encoder set in the middle. The overall design of the watch is inspired by Formula 1 steering wheels, as well as various sports cars and media franchises like
Neon Genesis Evangelion
and
Akira
. [Eric] considered a few different options for the display but eventually settled on two four-digit seven-segment LCDs, which fit nicely into the retro-futuristic aesthetic of the Mk.8. It’s so retro, in fact, that it almost makes [Eric]’s faux 1980s magazine ad look genuine.
All components neatly fit together on a dual-layer PCB, which is a true work of art in itself. From the lightning bolt on the front to the hidden Frank Sinatra lyrics, it definitely stands out from the crowd of ordinary LCD wristwatches. It’s also quite a step up from [Eric]’s previous watch design, the
Time Machine Mk.IV
.
Over the years we’ve seen several other examples of how
a bare PCB
, or even
a stack of them
, can become a beautiful wristwatch. | 16 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651848",
"author": "Urgon",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T14:43:45",
"content": "Nice design, but lack of case makes this watch rather fragile. It will be too easy to accidentally damage the display, not mentioning, what dirt and humidity can do to it. I didn’t look up the backside, but... | 1,760,372,269.075661 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/what-do-you-want-in-a-programming-assistant/ | What Do You Want In A Programming Assistant? | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider",
"Software Development"
] | [
"ai",
"chatbot",
"machine learning",
"newsletter"
] | The Propellerheads released a song in 1998 entitled “
History Repeating
.” If you don’t know it, the lyrics include: “They say the next big thing is here. That the revolution’s near. But to me, it seems quite clear. That it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.” The next big thing today seems to be the AI chatbots. We’ve heard every opinion from the “revolutionize everything” to “destroy everything” camp. But, really, isn’t it a bit of history repeating itself? We get new tech. Some oversell it. Some fear it. Then, in the end, it becomes part of the ordinary landscape and seems unremarkable in the light of the new next big thing. Dynamite, the steam engine, cars, TV, and the Internet were all predicted to “ruin everything” at some point in the past.
History really does repeat itself. After all, when X-rays were discovered, they were claimed to cure pneumonia and other infections, along with other miracle cures. Those didn’t pan out, but we still use them for things they are good at. Calculators were going to ruin math classes. There are plenty of other examples.
This came to mind because a recent post from ACM has the contrary view that
chatbots aren’t able to help real programmers
. We’ve also seen that — maybe —
it can, in limited ways
. We suspect it is like getting a new larger monitor. At first, it seems huge. But in a week, it is just the normal monitor, and your old one — which had been perfectly adequate — seems tiny.
But we think there’s a larger point here. Maybe the chatbots will help programmers. Maybe they won’t. But clearly, programmers want some kind of help. We just aren’t sure what kind of help it is. Do we really want CoPilot to write our code for us? Do we want to ask Bard or ChatGPT/Bing what is the best way to balance a B-tree? Asking AI to do
static code analysis
seems to work pretty well.
So maybe your path to fame and maybe even riches is to figure out — AI-based or not — what people actually want in an automated programming assistant and build that. The home computer idea languished until someone figured out what people wanted to do with them. Video cassette didn’t make it into the home until companies figured out what people wanted most to watch on them.
How much and what kind of help do you want when you program? Or design a circuit or PCB? Or even a 3D model? Maybe AI isn’t going to take your job; it will just make it easier. We doubt, though, that it can much improve on
Dame Shirley Bassey’s history lesson
.
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
! | 57 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651580",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T14:12:08",
"content": "Programming is easy. Programming well is hard. AI is self-reinforcing mediocrity. We’re all doomed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651591",
... | 1,760,372,269.176938 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/3d-printing-lego-like-blocks/ | 3D Printing LEGO-like Blocks | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"3d printing professor",
"bricks",
"interlocking",
"lego",
"printablok",
"scalable",
"toy"
] | LEGO are perhaps the perfect children’s toy, at least until you step on the errant brick while walking around the house. Available in all kinds of sets with varying themes and characters, they encourage building and creativity in kids like no other. Those with 3D printers might have considered creating their own specialty blocks, but the manufacturing of real LEGO blocks involves steel molds with extremely tight tolerances far outside the realm of most 3D printers. To print blocks capable of interconnecting in a similar way involves taking advantage of the characteristics of 3D printers and their materials instead,
as [CNC Kitchen] demonstrates with these PrintABloks
.
The PrintABlok was the idea of [Joe Larson] aka [3D Printing Professor] and is built around a one-unit base block, which has holes on all of its sides, paired with small connecting pieces which are placed in the holes to connect the various blocks to one another. Using your CAD software of choice (although they were originally built using Blender), the base block can be lengthened or widened for printing various different types of blocks, and the diamond-shaped hole can even be added to various prints that aren’t blocks at all. This means that a wide variety of parts can be made, all designed to interlock with the bricks or various other shapes. [Joe] even created an array of themed sets like robots, castles, and dinosaurs and although he sells these more complex models, he released his base set and interconnection mechanism for free and is available for anyone to use.
Another perk of the PrintABlok system is that they are scalable, mitigating safety risks for smaller children that might try to swallow some of the smaller parts. It’s an excellent way to put the 3D printer to work if there are any children around in the house. But this isn’t the only LEGO-inspired build we’ve ever seen, and they aren’t always going to be used to make children’s toys. [Ivan] recently used
similar 3D-printed interlocking bricks more in the style of LEGO Technic
to attempt to build a human-rideable go-kart. | 8 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651577",
"author": "make piece, not war",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T13:55:47",
"content": "I’ve seen recently a yt video of mr. Larson explaining how it evolved to the current form.Also I suspect that HaD is sneaking on my web hystory list because again I found here videos/articles ... | 1,760,372,269.362399 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/affordably-detecting-water-pollutants-using-3d-printed-lattices-and-plasmonic-nanoparticles/ | Affordably Detecting Water Pollutants Using 3D Printed Lattices And Plasmonic Nanoparticles | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"water pollution"
] | Although detecting pollution in surface waters has become significantly easier over the years, testing for specific pollutants still requires the taking of samples that are then sent to a laboratory for analysis. For something like detecting pesticide run-off, this can be a cumbersome and expensive procedure. But a
3D printed sensor
demonstrated by [Sara Fateixa] and international colleagues offers hope that such tests can soon be performed in the field. The most expensive part of this setup is the portable Raman spectrometer that is used to detect the adsorbed molecules on the printed test strips.
The printed structure itself forms a
plasmonic
structure with gold or silver as the plasmonic metals deposited on the polypropylene (PP) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT, 4% by weight) material. The mixture of PP and MWCNTs is to use both the bio-compatible properties of the former, while using the latter to make the PP significantly easier to print with and enhancing its mechanical properties.
Hamamatsu Raman Spectroscopy SERS Detection Module C13560.
For the experiment, researchers used a few prepared sensors to detect herbicides, including
paraquat
. This herbicide is cheap, widely used, and banned in various countries. After dissolving it in low concentrations in both tap water and sea water, a 3D printed sensor with Ag coating was was exposed to each sample before being left to dry at room temperature. Afterwards a
Hamamatsu C13560
portable Raman spectrometer was used to analyze the sensors using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (
SERS
). The combination of plasmonic structures and Raman scattering means a significantly enhanced sensitivity, on the order of singular molecules, and is what makes SERS such a useful analytical technique.
In the resulting scan results, the herbicides showed up clearly, and further long-duration testing of newly printed sensors showed them to be very stable, even after 150 days of being stored. This makes it a promising new way to affordably and quickly perform tests for pollution, requiring only minimal local infrastructure to produce and analyze the sensors.
Heading: Processing of PP/MWCNT nanocomposites and coating them with plasmonic NPs. (Credit: Sara Fateixa et al., 2023) | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651588",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T14:48:05",
"content": "This is fantastic! The only downside is the 24 hour needed for adsorption but still better than having to send it off to a lab!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,372,269.228375 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/magnetic-bubble-memory-brought-to-life-on-heathkit/ | Magnetic Bubble Memory Brought To Life On Heathkit | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"bubble memory",
"h8",
"heathkit",
"Intel 8080",
"magnetic",
"retrocomputing"
] | There are all kinds of technology that appear through the ages that find immediate success, promise to revolutionize the world, but fade to obscurity almost as quickly. Things like the ZIP disk, RDRAM, the digital compact cassette, or even Nintendo’s VirtualBoy. Going even further back in time [smbaker] is taking a look a bubble memory, a technology that was so fast and cost-effective for its time that it could have been used as “universal” memory, combining storage and random-access memory into a single unit, but eventually other technological developments overshadowed its quirks.
[smbaker]
is placing his magnetic bubble memory module to work in a Heathkit H8
, an Intel 8080-based microcomputer from the the late 70s. The video goes into great detail on the theory of how these devices used moving “bubbles” of magnetism to store information and how these specific devices work before demonstrating the design and construction of a dedicated support card which hosts the module itself along with all of the necessary circuitry to allow it to communicate with the computer. From there he demonstrates booting the device using the bubble memory and performs several write and read actions using the module as a demonstration.
Eventually other technologies such as solid-state RAM and various hard disk drives caused the obsolescence of this technology, but it did hang on for a bit longer in industrial settings due to its ability to handle high vibrations and mechanical shocks, mostly thanks to the fact that they had no moving parts. Eventually things like Flash memory came around to put the final nail in the coffin for these types of memory modules, though. The Heathkit H8 is still a popular computer for retrocomputing enthusiasts nonetheless, and we’ve seen
all kinds of different memory modules
put to work in computers like these. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651522",
"author": "Drone",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T07:37:12",
"content": "Heathkit – A once respected and revered company. Today [1] it is just another case of an old trademark being hijacked. That’s really a shame. With more innovation, community building, and a lot less greed, ... | 1,760,372,269.462464 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/nasa-team-sets-new-space-to-ground-laser-communication-record/ | NASA Team Sets New Space-to-Ground Laser Communication Record | Joseph Long | [
"Laser Hacks",
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"nasa",
"optical communication",
"world record"
] | [NASA] and a team of partners has demonstrated a space-to-ground laser communication system operating at a record breaking 200 gigabit per second (Gbps) data rate. The
TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD)
satellite payload was designed and built by [MIT Lincoln Laboratory]. The record of the highest data rate ever achieved by a space-to-Earth optical communication link surpasses the 100 Gbps record set by the same team in June 2022.
TBIRD makes passes over an ground station having a duration of about six-minutes. During that period, multiple terabytes of data can be downlinked. Each terabyte contains the equivalent of about 500 hours of high-definition video. The TBIRD communication system transmits information using modulated laser light waves. Traditionally, radio waves have been the medium of choice for space communications. Radio waves transmit data through space using similar circuits and systems to those employed by terrestrial radio systems such as WiFi, broadcast radio, and cellular telephony. Optical communication systems can generally achieve higher data rates, lower loses, and operate with higher efficiency than radio frequency systems.
TBIRD is a 3U sized satellite payload, meaning it is approximately the size of box of tissues. The TBIRD payload is carried aboard NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite. PTD-3 is a CubeSat measuring about the size of two cereal boxes stacked together. The satellite is synchronized to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun such that it passes over the same ground station at the same times, twice each day.
Achieving the record breaking TBIRD data transmissions truly takes a village. The TBIRD space payload was designed and built by [MIT Lincoln Laboratory]. The payload flies aboard the PTD-3 satellite built and operated by [Terran Orbital]. The PTD-3 satellite was carried into orbit by a [SpaceX] Transporter-5 rideshare mission launched from the [NASA Kennedy Space Center]. The TBIRD mission and concept was developed at the [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center] while the PTD-3 program and mission is managed by the [NASA Ames Research Center]. Finally, the ground station for the data link is part of the Optical Communications Test Laboratory at the [NASA Jet Propulsion Lab].
Of course, future space missions can embed the record breaking optical communication technology demonstrated by TBIRD. Downlinking massive amounts of data from space to Earth is imperative to evolving scientific missions. For example, we expect to enjoy live 4K ultra-high-definition video streaming from the Moon thanks to the
Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O)
. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651505",
"author": "arcturus",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T05:44:09",
"content": "This is really cool. And surely it will enable lots of sweet science data to be sent back to earth from probes and such. But, will this work for deep space missions? Can we get 4k live streaming video fr... | 1,760,372,269.412689 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/the-pdp8-that-never-was-hollow-state-logic/ | The PDP8 That Never Was: Hollow State Logic | Al Williams | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"PDP-8",
"vacuum tube"
] | [Outer World Apps] noted that there was no PDP-8/V made by DEC — a variant that used vacuum tubes. So he’s decided
to make one using about 320 6J6A tubes
. He’s got a plan and a few boards completed — we can’t wait to see it finished.
The logic is actually done by crystal rectifiers, but the tubes do inversion. To make an and/or/invert gate requires a single triode or half of a 6J6A. A D flip flop requires three tubes or two tubes for a latch. In addition to the “crystal diodes,” the memory and I/O are a Raspberry Pi, and there are transistors to do level conversion between the tube logic and the Pi.
The final product will run at a blistering 28 kHz or less. Possibly a lot less. So far, there is the sequencer with 80 tubes and the memory address register with 48 tubes. Remaining are the PC register, the AC register, and the next one slated for completion, the ALU.
What a labor of love! The PDP-8 had a simple instruction set, so it makes sense to pick it for a tube implementation. We get the concession to use some transistors and the Pi, although we would have loved to see this with core memory and all tubes. We have seen a
PDP-8 transistorized
. Of course, as long as you’ve got the Pi,
you really have everything
. | 31 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651445",
"author": "greenbit",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T23:21:39",
"content": "I recall seeing 5lb bags of memory cores – just the little ferrite rings, looked like a bag of chia seeds – dirt cheap at some surplus place, probably sometime in the 90s. Got a wild urge to wire up a fe... | 1,760,372,271.650059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/recreating-an-analog-tv-test-pattern/ | Recreating An Analog TV Test Pattern | Bryan Cockfield | [
"hardware"
] | [
"analog",
"hardware",
"pattern generator",
"pilips",
"pt8631",
"television",
"test pattern",
"tv"
] | While most countries have switched to digital broadcasting, and most broadcasts themselves have programming on 24/7 now, it’s hard to remember the ancient times of analog broadcasts that would eventually stop sometime late at night, displaying a test pattern instead of infomercials or reruns of an old sitcom. They were useful for various technical reasons including calibrating the analog signals. Some test patterns were simply camera feeds of physical cards, but if you wanted the most accurate and reliable test patterns you’d
need a Philips pattern generator
which created the pattern with hardware instead, and you can build your own now because the designs for these devices were recently open-sourced.
[Matt] from [Matt’s TV Barn], as the name implies, has an interest in various television technologies, and this is such an iconic piece of machinery that can’t easily be purchased, so he set about recreating the signal generator on his own. All of the source for these cards can be found at
this GitHub page
for anyone interested, and most of the parts can still be found today. The main exception being the adjustable inductors, which [Matt] needed to build from scratch. Soldering everything to the board was a bit nerve-wracking but with the help of a robotic lifter (and a lot of patience) the board was soldered without any damage.
The final step of the build is to get everything up and running by following the original testing and commissioning procedures that were developed and released by the original company that built these devices. This was a feat in its own right, as there are a large number of complex tools needed to perform these operations that [Matt] plans to talk about in future videos, but with everything completed he has a piece of TV history that’s about as authentic as anyone could possibly get anymore. You don’t have to go to these lengths to get the aesthetic of analog TV, though.
Take a look at this restored analog TV
that uses a Raspberry Pi to generate its analog signals. | 25 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651383",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T20:28:52",
"content": "And one that generated the Indian head picture.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651432",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2023-... | 1,760,372,271.263017 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/modern-brownie-camera-talks-sd-and-wifi/ | Modern Brownie Camera Talks SD And WiFi | Al Williams | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"ESP32",
"kodak"
] | If you’re at all into nostalgic cameras, you’ve certainly seen the old Brownie from Kodak. They were everywhere, and feature an iconic look. [JGJMatt] couldn’t help but notice that you could easily find old ones at a good price, but finding and developing No. 117 film these days can be challenging. But thanks to a little 3D printing, you can install an ESP32 camera inside and wind up with
a modern but retro-stylish camera
. The new old camera will work with a memory card or send data over WiFi.
The Brownie dates back to 1900 and cost, initially, one dollar. Of course, a dollar back then is worth about $35 now, but still not astronomical. After cleaning up and tuning up an old specimen, it was time to fire up the 3D printer.
There are also mods to the camera to let it accept an M12 lens. There are many lenses of that size you can choose from. There are a few other gotchas, like extending the camera cable, but it looks like you could readily reproduce this project if you wanted one of your very own.
We’ve seen old cameras
converted before
. Or, you can
just start from scratch
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651833",
"author": "macsimski",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T13:55:00",
"content": "the ones i have are all metal with no wifi coming through, so i opted for a Polaroid body.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6651931",
"author": ... | 1,760,372,271.761563 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/11/siphoning-energy-from-power-lines/ | Siphoning Energy From Power Lines | Bryan Cockfield | [
"High Voltage"
] | [
"coupling",
"electricity",
"inductor",
"LC circuit",
"led",
"magnetic field",
"power",
"stealing",
"tuned circuit"
] | The discovery and implementation of alternating current revolutionized the entire world little more than a century ago. Without it, we’d all have inefficient, small neighborhood power plants sending direct current in short, local circuits. Alternating current switches the direction of current many times a second, causing all kinds of magnetic field interactions that result in being able to send electricity extremely long distances without the resistive losses of a DC circuit. The major downside, though, is that AC circuits tend to have charging losses due to this back-and-forth motion,
but this lost energy can actually be harvested with something like this custom-built transformer
.
[Hyperspace Pilot] hand-wound this ferromagnetic-core transformer using almost two kilometers of 28-gauge magnet wire. The more loops of wire, the more the transformer will be able to couple with magnetic fields generated by the current flowing in other circuits. The other thing that it needs to do is resonate at a specific frequency, which is accomplished by using a small capacitor to tune the circuit to the mains frequency. With the tuning done, holding the circuit near his breaker panel with the dryer and air conditioning running generates around five volts. There’s not much that can be done with this other than hook up a small LED, since the current generated is also fairly low, but it’s an impressive proof of concept.
After some more testing, [Hyperspace Pilot] found that the total power draw of his transformer is only on the order of about 50 microwatts in an ideal setting where the neutral or ground wire wasn’t nearby, so it’s not the most economical way to steal electricity. On the other hand, it could still be useful for detecting current flow in a circuit without having to directly interact with it. And, it turns out that there are better ways of saving on your electricity bill
provided you have a smart meter
and the right kind of energy-saving appliances anyway. | 108 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651777",
"author": "Mystick",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T08:19:37",
"content": "When I was doing cable work, we had what were effectively little wands that had an induction coil and a simple circuit in them that could detect if a conductor was energized without contact. All of them h... | 1,760,372,271.581239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/play-n64-games-the-right-way-with-this-classic-controller-adapter/ | Play N64 Games The Right Way With This Classic Controller Adapter | Robin Kearey | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"blackpill",
"game controller",
"nintendo 64",
"Nintendo Switch"
] | Game consoles typically support a limited number of input devices, meaning that console games are often completely optimized for the default controller supplied with that platform. Nintendo’s tendency to completely reinvent their controllers pretty much every generation can therefore become a little irritating, especially when they also enable their newer consoles to play games from their back catalog. So when [Robson Couto] found that using the Switch’s Joy-Cons was a bit awkward for playing emulated Nintendo 64 games, he decided to figure out
how to connect real N64 controllers to a Nintendo Switch
.
While you can buy modern N64-style controllers for the Switch, even straight from Nintendo themselves, [Robson] thought it would be way more interesting to reuse an old controller and implement the translation step from scratch. In the video (embedded below) he takes a deep dive into all the timing details of the N64 controller protocol, which is basically a 1-wire setup, and explains how to use an STM32F411 BlackPill board to read out the controller’s buttons and joystick.
Next, he explores how to map the resulting data to the USB HID protocol used by the Switch. Most of the buttons have a clear one-on-one mapping, but since the “minus”, “capture” and “home” buttons are missing on the N64 controller, he chose to map these to button combinations unlikely to be used during regular gameplay. [Robson] also ran into the common issue of the analog joystick having a poorly-defined maximum range, for which he added a rudimentary auto-calibration feature.
Finally, he designed and 3D-printed a neat enclosure for his system with an N64 controller port on one side and a USB port on the other. By 3D-printing the whole thing he also avoided having to either source the non-standard connector or permanently modify his hardware. The end result of [Robson]’s project is an unobtrusive gadget that connects classic controllers to modern hardware – but of course, the reverse process
is very much possible, too
. If you want, you can even
play N64 games with a mouse and keyboard
. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651847",
"author": "sampleusername",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T14:42:51",
"content": "Cool hack, but this is one of the times where I would not recommend reusing an original controller. The original N64 controllers had plastic internals that would grind against the bowl, which led t... | 1,760,372,271.433064 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/the-primordial-soups-on-with-this-modified-miller-urey-experiment/ | 2023 Hackaday Prize: The Primordial Soup’s On With This Modified Miller-Urey Experiment | Dan Maloney | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"abiogenesis",
"arduino",
"flyback",
"formic acid",
"Miller-Urey",
"plasma",
"primordial"
] | It’s a pretty sure bet that anyone who survived high school biology has heard about the Miller-Urey experiment that supported the hypothesis that the chemistry of life could arise from Earth’s primordial atmosphere. It was literally “lightning in a bottle,” with a mix of gases like methane, ammonia, hydrogen, and water in a closed-loop glass apparatus and a pair of electrodes to provide a spark to simulate lightning lancing across the early prebiotic sky. [Miller] and [Urey] showed that amino acids, the building blocks of protein, could be cooked up under conditions that existed before life began.
Fast forward 70 years, and Miller-Urey is still relevant, perhaps more so as we’ve extended our reach into space and found places with conditions similar to those on early Earth.
This modified version of Miller-Urey
is a citizen science effort to update the classic experiment to keep up with those observations, plus perhaps just enjoy the fact that it’s possible to whip up the chemistry of life from practically nothing, right in your own garage.
[Markus Bindhammer]’s setup is similar to [Miller] and [Urey]’s in a lot of ways, but differs mainly by using plasma as the energy input, rather than a simple electrical discharge. [Markus] doesn’t expand on his reasoning for using plasma other than the practical consideration of it being hot enough to oxidize nitrogen inside the apparatus, providing the anoxic environment needed. The plasma discharge is controlled by a microcontroller and MOSFETs, to keep the electrodes from melting. Also, rather than methane and ammonia, the raw ingredient here is a formic acid solution, because the spectroscopic signature of formic acid has been detected in space, and because it has interesting chemistry that can potentially lead to the production of amino acids.
Unfortunately, while the apparatus and experimental procedure are fairly simple, quantifying the results requires some specialized equipment. [Markus] will be sending his samples off for analysis, so we don’t yet know what the experiment will show. But we love the setup here, which just goes to show that even the greatest experiments are worth repeating, because
you never know what you’re going to find
.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651754",
"author": "Russell McMahon",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T04:21:11",
"content": "Miller’s experiment seemed likely to lead to very major new discoveries. Near the end of his career 40+ years later he noted that it hadn’t happened as hoped or expected. Much was learned along t... | 1,760,372,271.306817 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/listening-to-the-iss-on-the-cheap/ | Listening To The ISS On The Cheap | Dan Maloney | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Space"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"baofeng",
"cross-band",
"international space station",
"iss",
"repeater",
"yagi"
] | Like any hobby, amateur radio has no upper bounds on what you can spend getting geared up. Shacks worth tens of thousands of dollars are easy to come by, and we’ll venture a guess that there are hams out there pushing six figures with their investment in equipment. But hands down, the most expensive amateur radio station ever has to be the one aboard the International Space Station.
So what do you need to talk to a $100 billion space station? As it turns out,
about $60 worth of stuff will do
, as [saveitforparts] shows us in the video below. The cross-band repeater on the ISS transmits in the 70-cm ham band, meaning all that’s needed to listen in on the proceedings is
a simple “handy talkie” transceiver
like the $25-ish Baofeng shown. Tuning it to the 437.800-MHz downlink frequency with even a simple whip antenna should get you some reception when the ISS passes over.
In our experience, the stock Baofeng antenna isn’t up to the job, so something better like the Nagoya shown in the video is needed. Better still is a three-element
Yagi
tuned down slightly with the help of a
NanoVNA
; coupled with data on when the ISS will be within line-of-sight, picking up the near-constant stream of retransmissions from the station as Earth-based hams work it should be a snap — even though [saveitforparts] only listened to the downlink frequency here, for just a bit more of an investment it’s also possible for licensed hams to uplink to the ISS on 145.900 MHz.
For those who want a slightly higher level of difficulty, [saveitforparts] also has some tips on automating tracking with an old motorized mount for CCTV cameras. Pitchfork notwithstanding, it’s not the best antenna tracker, but it has promise, and we’re eager to see how it pans out — sorry. But in general, the barrier to entry for getting into space communications is so low that you could easily make this a weekend project. We’ve been discussing this and other projects on
the new #ham-shack channel
over on the Hackaday Discord. You should pop over there and check it out — we’d be happy to see you there.
Thanks to [Stephen Walters] for the tip. | 36 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651705",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T23:37:40",
"content": "Man, I would have rather taken that $100 Billion of useless space junk, and put it toward the national debt. Would have gotten allot more use of the money that way, than that useless space station.",
"pa... | 1,760,372,271.722389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/crafting-ribbon-cables-for-retro-hardware/ | Crafting Ribbon Cables For Retro Hardware | Bryan Cockfield | [
"classic hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"cable",
"customization",
"Disk drive",
"floppy drive",
"ide cable",
"parallel",
"retrocomputing",
"ribbon cable",
"tools"
] | Building a modern computer is something plenty of us have done, and with various tools available to ensure that essentially the only thing required of the end user is to select parts and have them delivered via one’s favorite (or least expensive) online retailer. Not so with retro hardware, though. While some parts can be found used on reselling sites like eBay, often the only other option is to rebuild parts from scratch. This is sometimes the best option too, as things like ribbon cables age poorly and invisible problems with them can cause knock-on effects that feel like wild goose chases when troubleshooting.
Here’s how to build your own ribbon cables for your retro machines
.
[Mike] is leading us on this build because he’s been working on an old tower desktop he’s calling Rosetta which he wants to be able to use to host five different floppy disk types and convert files from one type to another. Of course the old hardware and software being used won’t support five floppy disk drives at the same time so he has a few switches involved as well. To get everything buttoned up neatly in the case he’s building his own ribbon cables to save space, especially since with his custom cables he won’t have the extraneous extra connectors that these cables are famous for.
Even though, as [Mike] notes, you can’t really buy these cables directly anymore thanks to the technology’s obsolescence, you can still find the tools and parts you’d need to create them from scratch including the ribbon, connectors, and crimping tools. Even the strain relief for these wide, fragile connectors is available and possible to build into these projects. It ends up cleaning up the build quite nicely, and he won’t be chasing down any gremlins caused by decades-old degraded multi-conductor cables. And, even though [Mike] demonstrated the floppy disk drive cables in this build, ribbon cable can be used for all kinds of things including IDE drive connectors and even
GPIO cables for modern electronics projects
. | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651675",
"author": "Garth Bock",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T20:24:17",
"content": "We made our own cables to convert our TRS80 mod 3/4 to dual sided drives. Radio Shack used head select instead of drive select to address multiple drives. Head 0 selected drive 0, head 1 selected drive... | 1,760,372,271.039885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/10/using-freecad-to-replace-oem-parts/ | Using FreeCAD To Replace OEM Parts | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"cad",
"design",
"freecad",
"hinge",
"modeling",
"parts",
"restoration"
] | As much as we might all like it if manufacturers supported their products indefinitely with software updates or replacement parts, this just isn’t feasible. Companies fail or get traded, technologies evolve, and there’s also an economic argument against creating parts for things that are extremely old or weren’t popular in the first place. So, for something like restoring an old car, you might have to resort to fabricating replacement parts for your build on your own. [MangoJelly] shows us
how to build our own replacement parts in FreeCAD
in this series of videos.
The build does assume that the original drawings or specifications for the part are still available, but with those in hand FreeCAD is capable of importing them and then the model scaling to match the original specs shown. This video goes about recreating a hinge on an old truck, so with the drawings in hand the part is essentially traced out using the software, eventually expanding it into all three dimensions using all of the tools available in FreeCAD. One of the keys to FreeCAD is the various workbenches available that all have their own sets of tools, and being able to navigate between them is key to a build like this.
FreeCAD itself is an excellent tool for anyone repairing old vehicles like this or those making 3D prints, designing floorplans for houses, or really anything you might need to model in a computer before bringing the idea into reality. It does have a steep learning curve (not unlike other CAD software) so it helps to have a video series like this if you’re only just getting started or looking to further hone your design skills, but the fact that it’s free and open-source make it extremely attractive compared to its competitors. | 46 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651623",
"author": "Andy Pugh",
"timestamp": "2023-06-10T17:19:02",
"content": "If you don’t have the drawings you can get a long way with micrometers, calipers and radius gauges.It is also possible to probe existing parts and use that to make a CAD model. I show sn example of that... | 1,760,372,271.389461 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/using-excel-to-manage-a-commodore-64/ | Using Excel To Manage A Commodore 64 | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"arduino",
"commodore 64",
"database",
"emulator",
"excel",
"floppy disk",
"hard disk",
"programs",
"retrocomputing",
"software"
] | The “save” icon for plenty of modern computer programs, including Microsoft Office, still looks like a floppy disk, despite the fact that these have been effectively obsolete for well over a decade. As fewer and fewer people recognize what this icon represents, a challenge is growing for retrocomputing enthusiasts that rely on floppy disk technology to load any programs into their machines. For some older computers that often didn’t have hard disk drives at all, like the Commodore 64, it’s one of the few ways to load programs into computer memory. And, rather than maintaining an enormous collection of floppy discs, [RaspberryPioneer]
built a way to load programs on a Commodore using Microsoft Excel instead
.
The Excel sheet that manages this task uses Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), an event-driven programming language built into Office, to handle the library of applications for the Commodore (or Commodore-compatible clone) including D64, PRG, and T64 files. This also includes details about the software including original cover art and any notes the user needs to make about them. Using VBA, it also communicates to an attached Arduino, which is itself programmed to act as a disk drive for the Commodore. The neceessary configuration needed to interface with the Arduino is handled within the spreadsheet as well. Some additional hardware is needed to interface the Arduino to the Commodore’s communications port but as long as the Arduino is a 5V version and not a 3.3V one, this is fairly straightforward and the code for it can be found on
its GitHub project page
.
With all of that built right into Excel, and with an Arduino acting as the hard drive, this is one of the easiest ways we’ve seen to manage a large software library for a retrocomputer like the Commodore 64. Of course,
emulating disk drives for older machines is not uncommon
, but we like that this one can be much more dynamic and simplifies the transfer of files from a modern computer to a functionally obsolete one. One of the things we like about builds like this,
or this custom Game Boy cartridge
, is how easy it can be to get huge amounts of storage that the original users of these machines could have only dreamed of in their time. | 16 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651096",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T05:33:20",
"content": "Oh. My. God.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651296",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T15:00:35",
"content": "1st... | 1,760,372,271.090614 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/op-amp-challenge-a-logic-free-bcd/ | Op-Amp Challenge: A Logic-Free BCD | Dan Maloney | [
"contests"
] | [
"analog",
"bcd",
"comparator",
"converter",
"counter",
"lm324",
"logic",
"Op Amp Challenge",
"Widlar"
] | Of digital electronics, a wise man once said that “Every idiot can count to one.” Truer words have rarely been spoken, because at the end of the day, every digital circuit is really just an analog circuit with the interesting bits abstracted away. And to celebrate that way of looking at things, we’re pleased to present
this BCD to seven-segment converter
that uses no logic chips.
With cheap and easily available chips that perform this exact job, it might seem a little loopy to throw 20 LM324 op-amps at the job. But as [gschmidt958] explains, this is strictly for the challenge, plus it made a nice entry in the recently concluded
Op-Amp Challenge contest
. His work began in simulation, exploring op-amp versions of the basic logic gates — NAND, AND, OR, and NOT — all of which rely on using the LM324s as comparators. There were real-world curveballs, of course, not least of which was running out of the 10k resistors used for input averaging. Another plot twist was running out of time to order a PCB, which required designing one using MS Paint and etching it at home.
The demo video below shows the circuit at work, taking the BCD output of a 74HC393 counter — clocked by a 555, naturally — and driving a seven-segment LED. It’s honestly a lot of work for such a simple task, but there’s something satisfying about the whole project. We think
[Widlar]
would be proud. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651041",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T02:32:42",
"content": "You seem to have left out the part about which finger Bob Widlar used to count to 1.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651110",
"autho... | 1,760,372,271.809995 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/robotic-fox-is-part-dog-part-cat-just-like-the-real-thing/ | Robotic Fox Is Part Dog, Part Cat — Just Like The Real Thing | Dan Maloney | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cat",
"cheetah",
"dog",
"quadruped",
"servo",
"spot"
] | Foxes are cat software running on dog hardware, or so they say. And [Will Cogley] seems to have taken that to heart with
this 3D-printed robotic fox
, which borrows heavily from projects like Boston Dynamics Spot robodog. True, the analogy breaks down a bit when you include MIT’s Cheetah on the inspiration list, but you get the point.
Very much a work in progress — [Will]’s RoboFox lacks both a head and a tail, which he aims to add at some point — there are some interesting design elements on display here. Whereas commercial quadruped robots tend to use expensive harmonic drives for the legs, [Will] chose simpler, cheaper hobby servos for his fox’s running gear. Each leg has three of them — one each for the upper and lower leg, and another that moves the whole leg in and out relative to the body. The dual-servo design for the leg is particularly interesting — one servo drives the upper leg directly, while the other servo drives the lower leg through a gear drive and a captive bearing arrangement connected to a parallelogram linkage. The result is a quite compact assembly that still has twelve degrees of freedom, and isn’t anywhere near as “floppy” as you might expect from something driven by hobby servos.
The video below shows off the design details as well as some of the fox’s construction, including some weirdly anatomically correct poses while it’s on its back. The fox is still getting its legs — you can see a few times when the servos get the jitters, and the umbilical is clearly a hindrance for such a lightweight robot. But [Will] has made a great start here, and we’re keen to see RoboFox progress. Although we’re not sure about giving the future head
animatronic eyes
. | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651008",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T00:25:28",
"content": "Maybe PLASTI DIP could be used to give the “feet” traction?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651099",
"author":... | 1,760,372,271.855836 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/nissan-300zx-dash-given-a-new-language/ | Nissan 300zx Dash Given A New Language | Matthew Carlson | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"car",
"car dash",
"dash",
"digital dash",
"nissan"
] | You don’t have to be a car enthusiast to recognize that the 1984 Nissan 300x dash is a work of art. The graceful swoops and multisegment VFDs evoke an aesthetic that reminds us of a particular era. Rather than replace his dash with something drab and modern, [Evan] modified his
dash to accept input from newer devices
. Many of the sensors that feed directly into the dash are becoming harder to find as the years wear on, and rather than spoof every old device, [Evan] looked at each gauge.
Temperature and oil pressure are variable resistance sensors, and by removing half the voltage divider, it becomes a variable voltage sensor, as modern temperature sensors can output a voltage from 0 to 5. The tachometer required tracing the signal through the PCB as it expects a pulse every time a cylinder fires. By simulating cylinder pulses with a function generator, [Evan] found the filtering circuit and the microcontroller pin monitoring it. An optoisolator to protect the delicate MCU makes it easy to pipe the signal directly in.
Of course, not everything needed to be modified. A vacuum sensor provides a signal to the dash to indicate how much power the engine produces, which is pretty easy to spoof with a teensy connected to the CAN bus. All these mods are easily reversible and allow [Evan] to keep rocking the iconic dash with a more modern engine.
It’s an incredible hack that offers a view into how to trace, understand, and hack old electronics. Of course, if you’re keeping old built-in car bits,
why not keep the carphone but connect it to your smartphone
? | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650992",
"author": "Emmett Johnson",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T23:05:01",
"content": "That is one awesome looking dash, and an amazing example of two hobbies complimenting each other perfectly!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66... | 1,760,372,272.264602 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/op-amp-challenge-measuring-ph-no-code-required/ | Op-Amp Challenge: Measuring PH, No Code Required | Dan Maloney | [
"contests",
"Parts"
] | [
"3.5-digit",
"acid",
"base",
"ICL7106",
"LMV358A",
"Op Amp Challenge",
"pH"
] | When you see a project with a digital display these days, you’ll be forgiven for assuming that there’s some kind of microcontroller behind the scenes. And while that’s often the easiest way to get a project from idea to completion, it’s rarely the most interesting way.
This digital pH meter
is a great example of that “no-code” design philosophy. According to [chris], the main use for this meter will be to measure soil pH in his garden, and the reason for eschewing a microcontroller was more or less for the challenge. And quite a challenge it was. Understanding the concept of pH isn’t always easy, and many a budding chemist has fallen victim to its perils. Actually measuring pH isn’t much easier, with the need to account for a lot of variables while measuring small voltages. Adding to the challenge was the fact that pretty much every skill on display here — from using KiCad to SMD soldering — was the first time [chris] had tackled them.
To amplify the voltage from the off-the-shelf pH probe, [chris] chose an LMV358A, a high-impedance FET-input version of the venerable LM358 op-amp, so as not to load down the probe. A negative temperature coefficient (NTC) resistor in the feedback path provides temperature compensation. He also designed a split power supply to provide positive and negative rails from a single 9-volt battery. The 3.5-digit LCD display is driven by an ICL7106 integrated A/D converter and BCD driver chip. Everything went into a nice-looking plastic enclosure that’s very suitable for a portable instrument.
As of this writing,
the Op-Amp Challenge
has officially wrapped, and there’s a slew of last-minute entries we need to go through. Check out
the competition
and stay tuned to find out who the judges pick for op-amp design glory! | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651165",
"author": "bstriggo",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T11:01:22",
"content": "And with the slope and offset knobs… I’m feeling all nostalgic.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6651275",
"author": "Mark Garton",
"timesta... | 1,760,372,272.836342 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/bye-bye-ubuntu-hello-manjaro-how-did-we-get-here/ | Bye Bye Ubuntu, Hello Manjaro. How Did We Get Here? | Jenny List | [
"Linux Hacks",
"Rants"
] | [
"distribution",
"linux",
"Manjaro",
"ubuntu"
] | Last week I penned
a cheesy fake relationship breakup letter to Ubuntu
, my Linux distribution of choice for the last 15 years or so. It had well and truly delivered on its promise of a painless Linux desktop for most of that time, but the most recent upgrades had rendered it slow and bloated, with applications taking minutes to load and USB peripherals such as my film scanner mysteriously stopping working. I don’t have to look far to identify the
point at which they adopted Snap packages
as the moment when it all went wrong. I’d reached the point at which I knew our ways must part, and it was time to look for another distro.
It’s Arch, But For Cowards…
My daily driver is a middle-aged Dell laptop, it’s about five years old but because I invested in the highest spec I could at the time, with an i7 of the day and 16 gigabytes of memory it’s still a contender. My problem when changing distros is that this machine is my livelihood, I can’t afford for anything to go wrong with it and any changeover has to be fast. I thus had to select a distro for which the installation is painless, the learning curve is minimal, and which doesn’t have too many neckbeard quirks. This is for earning a living, not messing about with.
An obvious choice would be another Debian based system, after all I’m very familiar with Debian on more than one architecture. This would be great, but even the most ardent fan of Debian probably has to admit that sometimes versions of software in those repositories can be a bit fossilised. I need my packages to be more up-to-date than that, indeed even more up-to-date than the Ubuntu versions. Truth be told this hasn’t been an immediate process, I’ve been eyeing up other distros for a few months. I settled upon Manjaro as a good blend of up-to-date and fast, yet usable by mere mortals. It’s Arch but for cowards, and trying it on a few older machines it’s been a painless experience.
This Machine Is My Livelihood
It doesn’t matter where I am, Hackaday still needs to be edited.
Anyone who works for a repeating publication will tell you that their time structure is dictated by the rhythm of the publication. If my upgrade went wrong in the morning I wouldn’t be able to schedule your Hackaday afternoon, which I do from my post here in Europe some time in the early morning for our server in California. Thus my time slot would have to be in my evening, and the machine would have to be usable the next morning.
So one evening I downloaded the Manjaro GNOME ISO file, and unpacked a brand new Samsung SSD with a decent sized cache I’d bought for the purpose. Time to back up the settings for browsers and the like, then pull out Ubuntu disk and put it in a USB caddy before fitting the SSD. Booting from the Manjaro USB stick the install was painless, it even recognised I had an SSD and didn’t try to insist on a swap partition. I could then copy back my documents from the USB caddy, and restore those browser settings. All my usual software is in the Manjaro repositories, and with a GNOME desktop I could set up the look-and-feel to be the way I’m used to. Yes, my Manjaro desktop has some resemblance to the Ubuntu one I’ve just left. Even the backup is the same, and “Just Works”.
So I’ve got a new distro on my machine, and the process has been smooth. And it’s all
so
much faster, it’s not funny. Yes it’s got a faster disk, but that’s not all of it. Applications aren’t laggy, they load in real time, and I’ve got my USB peripherals back. It really is like having a new computer, and I’m left wondering why I put it off for so long. But perhaps in all my rejoicing over my new-found computing power I’m missing something. If Canonical have gone so badly wrong with Ubuntu, I have to ask, just
why
?
Jokey Breakup Letters Aside, Where Have Canonical Gone Astray?
I think what we are seeing is a commercial company wrestling with the fundamental problem that their product is a free operating system, and one that while popular, is almost unknown outside of a relatively small community of computer enthusiasts. There may be someone pop up in the comments and point to an obscure consumer computer model sold with Ubuntu preinstalled and they’re certainly a force that matters in the server market, but Macs and Chromebooks notwithstanding, for practical purposes it’s impossible to find a PC with anything but Windows.
I can’t walk into my local UK high street retailer and buy a PC preinstalled with Ubuntu, neither can I do so at the usual large online PC manufacturers. ChromeOS may be something of a special case, but it’s not the long-promised year of Linux on the desktop, and it’s
definitely
not the year of Ubuntu on the desktop.
Thus Canonical have a problem: they want to own all the things, but the main thing in question is free, and they give it away. They can monetise it with subscriptions and support contracts for their business customers and particularly the server market where they have been successful, but there’s still the problem that anyone can leave their walled garden simply by downloading the OS and supporting it themselves. They need to build in some kind of stickiness that keeps the customer bound to them, and since the OS is open source they can’t easily take parts of it private.
Their solution to this conundrum was Snap, a packaged application system. At the client end it’s not a bad idea, offering security benefits and ending some of the dependency issues that used to plague Ubuntu users. But on the server side, it’s a very different matter. The client-side part of Snap is open-source, but the server side isn’t. If there was sufficient demand, it’s surely not beyond the open-source community to write their own server, but for now Canonical are the only player in town. Thus if you use Ubuntu, you’re tied into them in a way that you weren’t before Snap, and they’re a little bit closer to owning all the things. It seems almost calculated to annoy open-source enthusiasts. They might have got away with it if Snap hadn’t so badly affected the performance of anything but the fastest machines. Ubuntu desktop users like me are leaving the distro, because unlike moving from Windows to Ubuntu, it’s relatively easy to switch from one Linux distribution to another.
So I’m now a happy Manjaro user, and judging by the response to my piece from last week I’m not alone in leaving Ubuntu for pastures new. The question is, should this worry Canonical, or are we simply low-value collateral damage as we don’t really bring them any income? To that I’d say this: the best marketing team that a distro can have is its users, and if Snap is burning these users, it’s hard to imagine it as part of a long term strategy. | 119 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650868",
"author": "Ben",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T17:06:46",
"content": "Waiting for the Manjaro controversies!ElementaryOS is a great contender.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650880",
"author": "UnderSampled",
... | 1,760,372,272.704269 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/apple-invent-the-mechanical-watch/ | Apple Invent The Mechanical Watch | Jenny List | [
"clock hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"apple watch",
"mechanical watch",
"seiko",
"watch"
] | The Apple Watch has been on the market for long enough that its earlier iterations are now unsupported. Where some see little more than e-waste others see an opportunity, as has [NanoRobotGeek] with
this mechanical watch conversion on a first-generation model
.
What makes this build so special is its attention to detail. Into the Apple Watchcase has gone a Seiko movement, but it hasn’t merely been dropped into place. It uses the original Apple watch stem which is offset, so he’s had to create a linkage and a tiny pulley system to transfer the forces from one to the other. The rotor is custom-machined with am Apple logo, and the new watch face is a piece of laser-cut and heat treated zirconium. Even the watch movement itself needed a small modification to weaken the stem spring and allow the linkage to operate it.
The build is a long one with many steps, and we’re being honest when we say it would put our meager tiny machining skills to an extreme test. Sit down and take your time reading it, it really is a treat. Apple Watches may head to the tip after five years, but not this one!
See more in the video below the break, and of course long-time readers may remember
we’ve considered the Apple Watch versus mechanical watches before
. | 38 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650853",
"author": "fiddlingjunky",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T16:11:14",
"content": "That is unbelievably cool. My household had an early Apple watch stop charging recently, maybe I’ll add this to my ever-growing backlog of projects that will inevitably get purged when I next move."... | 1,760,372,272.44445 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/these-3d-printed-biocatalytic-fibers-scrub-carbon-dioxide/ | These 3D Printed Biocatalytic Fibers Scrub Carbon Dioxide | Dan Maloney | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"carbon dioxide",
"carbonic anhydrase",
"co2",
"cross-linking",
"curing",
"enyme",
"PEG",
"photoinitiator",
"textile",
"uv"
] | On today’s episode of “What If?” — what if the Apollo 13 astronauts had a 3D printer? Well, for one thing, they may have been able to avoid all the futzing with duct tape and procedure list covers to jury rig the lithium hydroxide filters, at least if they’d known about
these 3D printed enzymatic CO
2
filters
. And time travel…they probably would have needed that too.
A bit of a stretch, yes, but environmental CO
2
scrubbing is at least one use case for what [Jialong Shen]
et al
from the Textile Engineering Department at North Carolina State University have developed here. The star of the show isn’t so much the 3D printing — although squirting out a bio-compatible aerogel and cross-linking it with UV light on the fly is pretty cool. Rather, the key to developing a CO
2
-scrubbing textile is carbonic anhydrase, or CA, a ubiquitous enzyme that’s central to maintaining acid-base homeostasis. CA is a neat little enzyme that coordinates a zinc ion in its active site and efficiently catalyzes the addition of water to carbon dioxide to produce bicarbonate and hydrogen ions. A single CA molecule can catalyze the conversion of up to a million CO
2
molecules per second, making it very attractive as a CO
2
filter.
In the current work, an aerogel of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEG-DA/EO) was used to entrap CA molecules, holding them in place in a polymer matrix to protect them from denaturation while still allowing access to gaseous CO
2
. The un-linked polymers were mixed with
photoinitiators
and a solution of carbonic anhydrase and extruded through a fine nozzle with a syringe pump. The resulting thread was blasted with 280–450 nm UV light, curing the thread instantly. The thread is either wound up as a mono-filament for later weaving or printed directly into a 2D grid.
The filament proved to be quite good at CO
2
capture, managing to scavenge 24% of the gas from a mixture passed over it. What’s more, the entrapped enzyme appears to be quite stable, surviving washes with various solvents and physical disruptions like twisting and bending. It’s an exciting development in catalytic textiles, and besides its obvious environmental uses, something like this could make cheap, industrial-scale bioreactors easier to build and run.
Photo credits: [Sen Zhang] and [Jialong Shen], NC State; [Rachel Boyd], Spectrum News 1
[via
Phys.org
] | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651353",
"author": "Charles Lamb",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T18:41:01",
"content": "I wonder how their carbon capture efficiency compares to that of plants.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651447",
"author": "paulvdh"... | 1,760,372,272.372069 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/retrotechtacular-a-closer-look-at-the-vt-proximity-fuze/ | Retrotechtacular: A Closer Look At The VT Proximity Fuze | Dan Maloney | [
"Retrotechtacular",
"Slider"
] | [
"antiaircraft",
"artillery",
"fuse",
"fuze",
"navy",
"proximity",
"radar",
"retrotechtacular",
"wwii"
] | Here at Hackaday, our aim is to bring you only the freshest of hacks, which carries the burden of being Johnny-on-the-spot with our source material. So if something of obvious interest to our readers goes viral, we might just choose to skip covering it ourselves, figuring you all have probably seen it already. But, if we can dig a little deeper and bring extra value over and above what the viral content provides — well then that’s another story.
That’s pretty much the story behind
the excellent video
recently released by [Real Engineering] about “
The Secret Weapon That Changed World War 2
.” It concerns the VT series of proximity fuzes — it’s a legitimate alternate spelling of “fuse” if a somewhat archaic one — that were used for artillery shells and spin-stabilized rockets in World War II. The video gives an excellent overview of the development of the VT, which was used primarily in anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). The details about the development of the American VT fuze are excellent, although curiously there’s no mention that British experiments with a radio proximity fuze were part of the goldmine of information brought to America at great risk by
the Tizard mission
in 1940. While there has been plenty of contention about the exact role the British work played, it’s fair to say that it at least informed the development and fielding of the American VT fuze.
The Deep(er) Dive
As for how the fuze worked, the video goes into a slightly less than satisfying degree of detail. That’s not a complaint, as too much detail in that department would likely not appeal to a broad audience. But for the Hackaday set, more detail is better, so I set about learning what made the VT fuze tick. As a radio proximity fuze, the basic concept is obvious — generate a strong RF pulse and listen for any signals that may have been reflected by a nearby solid object, such as an airplane. But the devil’s in the details, as they say, and the challenges involved with getting this to work under battlefield conditions were immense.
So what kind of circuits were used to make all this work? And how did circa-1940 electronics survive the 20,000-
g
loads experienced by the fuze as the artillery shell is fired? Although a lot of details aren’t available, the
1946 Bureau of Ordnance VT fuze manual
reveals a lot of details, including schematics. Unfortunately, there’s no overall schematic given, so I had to stitch together one from the fragments given in the manual:
Schematic for the VT proximity fuze, pieced together (badly) from the
1946 Bureau of Ordnance manual
.
The heart of the VT fuze is a one-tube transmitter-receiver, shown in the upper left of the schematic. It’s described in the manual as a “grounded-grid Hartley oscillator,” although with notes that Navy versions of the VT used a modified Colpitts oscillator. The single triode acted as both oscillator to transmit the RF signal and a detector for the reflected signal. No component values are given in the manual, so it’s hard to estimate the frequency the VTs used, but since these were mostly designed to detect airplanes, we’d guess a minimum wavelength of above the size of a plane, perhaps 5 to 10 meters, or between 28 to 60 MHz or so. This seems like a reasonable frequency for the circuits shown, and for the antenna, which is described as a “standard dipole.”
Getting the Beat
At the end of the day, though, the actual transmitter frequency isn’t of much concern, because detection is based on the difference in frequency between the transmitted frequency and the reflected signal, and the beat frequency generated thanks to the fact that the range between the shell and the target is rapidly changing, The video does a great job of explaining this, and the manual details how the amplifier circuit (top center in the schematic above) accomplishes this. I’ve never had much luck understanding vacuum tube circuits, so I’ll leave it to better minds than mine to detail the theory here, but suffice it to say that proper selection of components in the amplifier circuit, particularly the screen and plate bypass capacitors, creates a filter whose center frequency corresponds to that expected when the target is within the effective blast radius of the shell. When that happens, the gas in the thyratron in the firing circuit (lower right) is ionized, allowing the fully charged firing capacitor to discharge through a squib and detonate the shell.
For naval use, a wave-suppression circuit (upper right) was added. “Wave” referred to ocean waves, not radio waves, which could reflect the transmitted signal and cause early detonation of a shell when fired at a low angle of elevation, as when an enemy torpedo bomber approached. The WSF essentially decreases the sensitivity of the amplifier in the presence of a steady signal, which can occur as the shell travels over the waves.
As with most military inventions, the VT fuze was fiendishly clever. That 1940s technology was able to come up with a circuit that was small enough to fit on an artillery shell, durable enough to survive the brief trip to the target, and cheap enough to be manufactured in bulk — the cost per unit had dropped as low as $18 by 1945 — is a testament to the ingenuity of the engineers involved. | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651335",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T17:24:20",
"content": "Still blows my mind that they made vacuum tubes capable of surviving cannon gee forces reliably. Obviously it works, but it really doesn’t seem like it should",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,372,272.325325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/hackaday-podcast-222-vcf-east-special-edition/ | Hackaday Podcast 222: VCF East Special Edition | Tom Nardi | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Editor in Chief Elliot Williams is spending the week communing with nature, which under normal circumstances would mean no podcast — after all, he’s the one who puts each episode together. But since your weekend would obviously be ruined without a dose of lo-fi Hackaday beats to kick things off, Managing Editor Tom Nardi made a valiant attempt to go it alone and produce…something.
This shortened episode will briefly go over the news, including updates about Hackaday’s various ongoing contests and the recent unearthly conditions in the US Northeast due to the Canadian wildfires, before diving into the results of last week’s
What’s that Sound
challenge. Listeners will then be treated to a special
Quick Hacks
segment from Jenny List, before settling in for the main event: a pair of fascinating interviews recorded during the
2023 Vintage Computer Festival East
in Wall, NJ.
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!
Feel free to
download the MP3 directly
for safe keeping.
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 222 Show Notes:
News:
Intense smoke fills NYC and forces a ‘code red’ in Philadelphia
Op-Amp Challenge makes way exciting new Contest, and Green Hacks going until July 4th
What’s that Sound?
Congratulations to this week’s winner, [Albert]! The sound was a volcano.
Quick Hacks:
Jenny’s Picks:
What Makes Wedge Coils Better Than Round For PCB Motors?
Apple Invent the Mechanical Watch
Protect Vintage Gear with Easy Capacitor Reforming
VCF East Interviews:
David Lovett – Usagi Electric
Building the Largest 555 Timer in the World out of Vacuum Tubes
Jeri Ellsworth
Jeri on Hackaday | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,273.119244 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/this-weekend-vcf-swap-meet-in-wall-nj/ | This Weekend: VCF Swap Meet In Wall, NJ | Tom Nardi | [
"Current Events",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"events",
"InfoAge",
"swap meet",
"VCF"
] | There was a time where you could regularly find local swap meets to pick up computer hardware, ham radios, and other tech gear at the sort of cut-rate prices so often produced by a sense of camaraderie. But with the rise of websites like Craigslist and eBay, meeting up in person to buy and sell used hardware started to fall out of style. The fact that the prices had to go up due to the considerable cost of shipping such large and heavy objects was an unfortunate side-effect, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide.
It’s unlikely that we’ll ever truly return to those early days. But if you’re within driving distance of Wall, New Jersey, you can
take a step back in time on Saturday
and experience a proper swap meet in all its glory. Hosted by the Vintage Computer Federation, the modest $5 entry fee goes to help support their worthy goal of preserving vintage computing history. After the swap meet officially wraps up at 2 PM, a short walk will take you over to
their permanent exhibit
located within the sprawling InfoAge Science and History Museum.
I was able to visit the
inaugural VCF Swap Meet back in 2021
, and came away with a sense that this event had a bright future. At the time, the idea of holding an “old school” outdoor swap meet was born out of necessity — New Jersey’s relatively strict limitations on indoor gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic made anything else largely untenable. But the response was so great that the VCF wisely decided to keep it going in post-pandemic times, and the event has only grown since then.
This year, due to popular demand, the Swap Meet will feature food and drinks for purchase thanks to the
South Monmouth Fire Museum
— another worthy cause that’s currently working to establish their own presence within the InfoAge campus.
Whether you’re in the market for some vintage gear, want to support a good cause, or wish to explore the wide array of tech and history exhibits located within the former Camp Evans base, this is the perfect weekend to take a drive out and experience everything this unique little niche in the Jersey Shore has to offer. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651340",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T17:36:15",
"content": "I remember buying old and big A3 dot matrix printers for their parts. They had some quite big stepper motors in them back then.. Those were the old days of the “HCC” in The Netherlands.But in these moder... | 1,760,372,272.750759 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/this-week-in-security-minecraft-fractureiser-moveit-and-triangulation/ | This Week In Security:MinecraftFractureiser, MOVEit, And Triangulation | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"chrome",
"ios",
"lastpass",
"minecraft",
"This Week in Security"
] | Modded
Minecraft
is having a security moment
, to match what we’ve seen in the Python and JavaScript repositories over the last few months. It looks like things started when
a handful of burner accounts uploaded malicious mods
to Curseforge and Bukkit. Those mods looked interesting enough, that a developer for Luna Pixel Studios (LPS) downloaded one of them to test-run. After the test didn’t pan out, he removed the mod, but the malicious code had already run.
Where this gets ugly is in how much damage that one infection caused. The virus, now named fractureiser, installs itself into every other
Minecraft
-related .jar on the compromised system. It also grabs credentials, cookies, cryptocurrency addresses, and the clipboard contents. Once that information was exfiltrated from the LPS developer, the attacker seems to have taken manual actions, using the purloined permissions to upload similarly infected mod files, and then marking them archived. This managed to hide the trapped files from view on the web interface, while still leaving them exposed when grabbed by the API. Once the malware hit a popular developer, it began to really take off.
It looks like the first of the malicious .jar files actually goes all the way back to mid-April, so it may take a while to discover all the places this malware has spread. It was first noticed on June 1, and investigation was started, but the story didn’t become public until the 7th. Things have developed rapidly, and
the malware fingerprints has been added to Windows Defender
among other scanners. This helps tremendously, but the safe move is to avoid downloading anything
Minecraft
related for a couple days, while the whole toolchain is inspected. If it’s too late and you’ve recently scratched that voxel itch, it might be worth it to take a quick look for
Indicators of Compromise
(IoCs).
MOVEit
The MOVEit file transfer system is
actively being exploited by a zero-day
that first showed up on May 27. The
initial flaw is SQL injection
, and when combined with other weaknesses, allows for full compromise of the MOVEit system. The flaw was patched on the 31st, but several large business and government targets have been hit by attacks.
Researchers at
Huntress have pieced together what the attack actually looks like
. It looks like the attacker behind the active exploitation is the ransomware group Clop, also tracked by Microsoft as Lace Tempest. I told you Microsoft’s new threat actor names would be hilarious.
Microsoft is attributing attacks exploiting the CVE-2023-34362 MOVEit Transfer 0-day vulnerability to Lace Tempest, known for ransomware operations & running the Clop extortion site. The threat actor has used similar vulnerabilities in the past to steal data & extort victims.
pic.twitter.com/q73WtGru7j
— Microsoft Threat Intelligence (@MsftSecIntel)
June 5, 2023
Triangulation
Researchers at Kaspersky
found indicators of something new infecting iOS devices
. This malware was detected via suspicious network traffic originating from iPhones, and appears to be a full blown APT toolkit. Once they knew what to look for, signs of this malware kit could be detected way back in 2019. This appears to be a non-persistent infection, where a reboot does away with the malware. What’s particularly interesting is that network logs showed individual devices being reinfected.
The infection vector for this exact malware seems to be CVE-2022-46690, triggered with an iMessage attachment. It’s a 0-click exploit, but has only been observed infecting iOS 15.7 and older devices. Though with a sophisticated campaign, it’s quite possible that other exploits are in use for other targets.
LastPass Updates
If you have hung on to LastPass, you may have noticed something odd this week, when we were all logged out of our LastPass accounts with an update. The big news here is that LastPass has finally pushed everyone to 600,000 iterations of PBKDF2, the hashing function used to make password cracking much more challenging.
Bits and Bytes
Speaking of passwords, RedTeam Pentesting found a password handling flaw in the STARCACE PBX, and used the opportunity to
give a general lesson is proper password handling
. Not to give away the punchline, but storing a password hash is less great when using the wrong hashing function, and when the hash itself can be used as a password.
Google has
fixed a bug in the Android Mali GPU driver
that has been under active exploitation. This issue, CVE-2022-22706, seems to have only been used against Samsung phones, but it’s good to see the fix finally land in Android proper.
And on the browser side, Google security teams have also been busy,
fixing a zero-day in Google Chrome
. CVE-2023-3079 is a type confusion bug in the Chrome JavaScript engine. As is normal for Google, more details about the vulnerability and campaign are currently unknown.
And last week we covered the disconcerting news that Gigabyte had accidentally left a backdoor in their Windows driver update functionality. The good news is that
an update has already arrived to fix the issue
. The fixes seem promising, adding signature verification for the files in question, as well as actually turning on certificate checking for the HTTPS downloads in question. It’s still probably a good idea to go turn off the APP Center Download options in your BIOS. But we must give some due credit, that this update was shipped in record time. So for that, good job GIGABYTE. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651876",
"author": "Chip Master",
"timestamp": "2023-06-11T17:35:35",
"content": "@jonathan, a typo in “lastpass updates”? “…haching function…”? ::raises eyebrow:: I find it sad there is sooo little discussion on this column. But then I guess we may all get tired of the “more bad n... | 1,760,372,272.794402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/they-used-to-be-a-big-shot-now-eagle-is-no-more/ | They Used To Be A Big Shot, Now Eagle Is No More | Jenny List | [
"Featured",
"News",
"Rants",
"Slider",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"AutoCAD",
"eagle",
"Eagle PCB",
"eda",
"pcb"
] | There once was a time when to make a PCB in our community was to use CadSoft EAGLE, a PCB design package which neatly filled the entry level of that category with a free version for non-commercial designs. Upgrading it to the commercial version was fairly inexpensive, and indeed that was a path which quite a few designers making the step from hobby project to small production would take.
Then back in 2017, CadSoft were bought by Autodesk, and their new version 8 of the software changed its licensing model from purchase to rental. It became a product with a monthly subscription and an online side, and there began an exodus of users for whom pay-to-play meant too much risk of losing access to their designs. Now six years later the end has come, as the software behemoth
has announced EAGLE’s final demise after a long and slow decline
.
What many EAGLE 7 customers said to Eagle 8 after the move to subscription.
To anyone who has kept up with the development of PCB software over the years, this has probably come as no surprise. Open-source software such as KiCAD has gone from as annoying as fingernails on a chalk board to
being surprisingly useful and accessible
, so perhaps the time has passed for a commercial package in Eagle’s niche.
But even that analysis misses the point of how Autodesk got it wrong with Eagle, they failed to understand that their paying customer base was made of people for whom even a cheap software licence represented a considerable investment. Owners of self-funded tiny businesses have to make everything they buy work for them, they need to stay in control of their outgoings, and pay for upgrades to their equipment when they can both afford and justify the purchase rather than on a whim. They don’t hang on to old equipment or software purely for sentiment, they simply can’t justify the cost of an upgrade for that particular tool.
What the Autodesk purchase of EAGLE took away is crucial for a tiny business, it removed the semblance of certainty around software licence ownership. Previously they knew they could soldier on for a while with an old version of EAGLE, and upgrade later if sales weren’t going very well. But if they took up the subscription, they now had to keep paying whether they could afford it or not, or risk losing access to an essential tool. It doesn’t matter to a small business owner whether or not they have the latest version — what they need is the certainty that they will
have
a CAD package, and by moving to a subscription model that certainty gained an air of being held to ransom.
At the time, Autodesk’s response to criticism was that EAGLE had failed to develop its full revenue potential under its previous owners. It likely had some truth to it, but for us it’s still a fundamental lack of understanding of Eagle’s customer base. They were not the type of people or companies who buy OrCAD or Altium, and for whom expenditure on a licence subscription comes from pocket change. Instead they bought a simple and slightly feature-limited package for which to them the licence fee was a noticeable, but not unreasonable, business expense. Take away the certainty of ownership from their software licences, and the risk involved in taking up the deal increases. Small business owners don’t like that kind of risk to come from their capital investments, and left EAGLE for KiCAD in droves.
We remember Autodesk’s EAGLE marketing manager desperately trying to give us a free subscription to the then-new EAGLE service back at its launch, and we politely made the points in the previous paragraph. It seems that they’ve needed six years to take them in. | 246 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651167",
"author": "fonz",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T11:09:58",
"content": "why not kicad?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6651174",
"author": "C. Scott Ananian",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T11:33:01",
"co... | 1,760,372,273.084693 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/09/gesture-sensor-teardown-reveals-intel-heritage/ | Gesture Sensor Teardown Reveals Intel Heritage | Al Williams | [
"Teardown"
] | [
"intel",
"Intel RealSense",
"motion sensing"
] | A few years ago, there was a rush of products on the market to detect motion. The idea being you could interact with your computer like they do on science fiction movies, with giant expressive hand motions in the air. Most of these were aimed at desktop computer users but one company, YouSpace, wanted to bring this technology to retail stores. [IMSAI Guy] got one of their sensor devices and
decided to see what was inside it
. You can see, too, in the video below.
The device appeared to have a laser inside, which motivated the teardown. We aren’t sure exactly what YouSpace had planned, but you can see their now-defunct website on the
Wayback machine
. The use cases listed didn’t really help us get a clear picture, so maybe that was part of the problem.
Getting into the device was the first challenge. Like many modern smartphones, there didn’t appear to be any fasteners, so you simply had to pry the case apart. Inside the case: a tiny circuit board and a metal assembly containing the laser and cameras that were easy to remove. The main PCB appears to be an Intel
off-the-shelf board
that was in many Intel RealSense products, and currently go for about $50 on eBay. The camera assembly looks a bit like an
Intel D430
, so it is possible the entire thing was off-the-shelf hardware. Even the little connector board is, technically, a
D400 Interposer
.
The peek into the structured light project under the microscope was interesting. We expected it would look different, and [IMSAI Guy] clearly didn’t expect its appearance either. The chip was made to beam a known pattern that the cameras would use to deduce the shape of the surfaces it hits.
If you can find these on the surplus market, they would probably be a good deal if you need this hardware which is typically pretty expensive. Just beware, though. Intel announced in late 2021 they were “winding down” RealSense. We don’t know if there will be third-party support in the future or if the whole product line will just be orphaned.
We’ve seen the occasional project that
uses structured light
. The technique can be
very precise
. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6651143",
"author": "Upgrade pi-top [3]",
"timestamp": "2023-06-09T09:09:33",
"content": "Maybe it would be possible to refactor ethz-asl’s SL_Sensor repo on Github to accommodate the YouSpace Total Experience Kit?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,372,273.166491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/retropie-without-the-pi/ | RetroPie, Without The Pi | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Games"
] | [
"android",
"arm",
"emulator",
"linux",
"raspberry pi",
"retro pie",
"SBC",
"television",
"tv"
] | The smart television is an interesting idea in theory. Rather than having the cable or satellite company control all of the content, a small computer is included in the television itself to host and control various streaming clients and other services. Assuming you have control of the software running on the computer, and assuming it isn’t turned into a glorified targeted advertising machine, this can revolutionize the way televisions are used. It’s even possible to turn a standard television into a smart TV with various Android devices, and it turns out
there’s a lot more you can do with these smart TV contraptions
as well.
With most of these devices, a Linux environment is included running on top of an ARM platform. If that sounds similar to the Raspberry Pi, it turns out that a lot of these old Android TV sets are quite capable of doing almost everything that a Raspberry Pi can do, with the major exception of GPIO. That’s exactly what [Timax] is doing here, but he notes that one of the major hurdles is the vast variety of hardware configurations found on these devices. Essentially you’d have to order one and hope that you can find all the drivers and software to get into a usable Linux environment. But if you get lucky, these devices can be more powerful than a Pi and also be found for a much lower price.
He’s using one of these to run RetroPie, which actually turned out to be much easier than installing a more general-purpose Linux distribution and then running various emulation software piecemeal. It will take some configuration tinkering get everything working properly but with [Timax] providing this documentation it should be a lot easier to find compatible hardware and choose working software from the get-go. He also made some improvements on his hardware to improve cooling, but for older emulation this might not be strictly necessary. As he notes in his video, it’s a great way of making use of a piece of electronics
which might otherwise be simply thrown out
. | 24 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650418",
"author": "Jonathan Bennett",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T02:21:23",
"content": "I’ve said for a while that the world needs a FOSS project for firmware for these various TV models, like what OpenWRT does for routers. So many smart TVs have such terrible firmware, a community ... | 1,760,372,273.334878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/reverse-engineering-a-better-nights-sleep/ | Reverse Engineering A Better Night’s Sleep | Dan Maloney | [
"home hacks",
"Reverse Engineering"
] | [
"ISM",
"packet",
"PSK",
"remote",
"reverse engineering",
"salae",
"SI4431",
"spi",
"Tempur-Pedic"
] | All you want is a decent night’s sleep, so you decide to invest in one of those fancy adjustable beds. At first, it’s fine — being able to adjust the mattress to your needs on the fly is a joy, and yet…something isn’t quite right. Something nags at you every night, thwarting your slumber and turning your dreams of peaceful sleep into a nightmare once you realize your bed has locked you into a vertically integrated software ecosystem from which there’s no escape.
Or is there? That’s what [Chris Laplante] wanted to know, and why he
reverse-engineered his Tempur-Pedic remote control
. As many products these days do, his bed was touted as having an Android application for smartphone adjustability, but alas, the app hasn’t been updated since 2014 (!) and doesn’t appear to work on modern phones. [Chris] decided to take matters into his own hands and build a gateway to talk to the bed using its native RF protocol.
Most good reverse engineering stories start with research, and this one is no exception. Digging into the FCC database revealed a wealth of clues, such as the frequency — 433-MHz ISM band, no surprise — and even spectrum analyzer screenshots of the remote’s signals. A HackRF One revealed more about the signals, but it turned out that sniffing in on the SPI bus between the microcontroller and the Si4431 RF transceiver with a Salae logic analyzer was more fruitful, allowing him to dig into the packet structure.
The engineers at Tempur-Pedic threw quite a few challenges at [Chris], like an application-level CRC in addition to the CRC used by the Si4431, and interesting complications to control the massage features of the bed. In the end, [Chris] managed to get a pretty complete snapshot of the conversation between the bed and the remote, and is now in the process of building a gateway that’ll actually connect to his phone, plus integrate into his home automation system. We’re looking forward to updates on that. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650408",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T23:50:27",
"content": "This is going to happen more and more. Bit rot seeping in from the virtual world to the real one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650445",
... | 1,760,372,273.27339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/a-lightweight-smart-home-server/ | A Lightweight Smart Home Server | Bryan Cockfield | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"automation",
"Dirigera",
"ikea",
"lua",
"mako",
"openhab",
"rasberry pi",
"raspbee",
"smart home",
"web server",
"zigbee"
] | Working towards automating a few things in a home often seems simple on the surface, but it’s easy for these projects to snowball into dozens of sensors and various servos, switches, and cameras strewn about one’s living space. The same sort of feature creep sneaks into some of the more popular self-hosted home server platforms as well, with things like openHAB requiring so much computing power that they barely function on something like a Raspberry Pi. [Paulo] thought there should be a more lightweight way of tackling a project like this, and set about
building his own smart home server
with help from some interesting software.
The project is based around the Dirigera hub from Ikea, partially because [Paulo] is planning to use other smart home devices from Ikea as he can easily find them where he is, and also because these devices tend to use Zigbee, a non-proprietary communications standard. This means that if he ever wants to swap out the hub for another one in the future, it won’t be difficult to do. From here the major hurdle is that using the default software from these devices is fairly limiting, so [Paulo] reached for a Raspbee 2 Zigbee gateway for use with a Raspberry Pi and an extremely lightweight and customizable web server called Mako to make this happen. Using Lua as the high-level language to tie everything together he was able to easily deploy the server to control the Ikea hub and devices and automate them in any way he sees fit.
While it is true that software like openHAB and others already exists to do virtually any home automation task that could be imagined, if you’re looking to do something with a bare minimum of computing power something like [Paulo]’s solution is likely going to be the fastest and most reliable method of getting a few things automated around the home. If you’re looking for something completely open source and built from the ground up, though,
we have seen a few alternative smart home solutions like this one
which don’t rely on any proprietary hardware or software, but do take a little bit more effort on the user’s part. | 31 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650364",
"author": "fiddlingjunky",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T20:36:20",
"content": "Interesting idea! I have to admit that HA has annoyed me for a while, it’s just so heavy for what it does, and I don’t like running it in a VM with half of my Pi’s resources (the only reasonable way... | 1,760,372,273.231001 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/op-amp-contest-this-lighthouse-sculpture-flickers-in-the-rhythm-of-chaos/ | Op Amp Contest: This Lighthouse Sculpture Flickers In The Rhythm Of Chaos | Robin Kearey | [
"Art",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"chaos theory",
"chua circuit",
"Circuit Sculpture",
"lighthouse",
"lm358"
] | Op amps are typically used to build signal processing circuits like amplifiers, integrators and oscillators. Their functionality can be described by mathematical formulas that have a single, well-defined solution. However, not every circuit is so well-behaved, as Leon Chua famously showed in the early 1980s: if you make a circuit with three reactive elements and a non-linear component, the resulting oscillation will be
chaotic
. Every cycle of the output will be slightly different from its predecessors, and the circuit might flip back and forth between different frequencies.
A light modulated with a chaotic signal will appear to flicker like a candleflame, which is the effect [MaBe42] was looking for when he built
a lighthouse-shaped circuit sculpture
. Its five differently-colored LEDs are driven by a circuit known as
Sprott’s chaotic jerk circuit
. A “jerk”, in this context, is the third-order derivative of a variable with respect to time – accordingly, the circuit uses three
RC
integrators to implement its differential equation, along with a diode to provide nonlinearity.
The lighthouse has three chaotic oscillators, one in each of its legs. Their outputs are used to drive simple pulse-width modulators that power the LEDs in the top of the tower. [MaBe42] used the classic LM358 op amp for most of the circuits, along with 1N4148 diodes where possible and 1N4004s where needed – not for their higher power rating, but for their stronger leads. As is common in circuit sculptures, the electronic components are also part of the tower’s structure, and it needs to be quite sturdy to support its 46 cm height.
[MaBe42] used 3D printed jigs to help in assembling the various segments, testing each circuit before integrating it into the overall structure. The end result is a beautiful ornament for any electronics lab: a wireframe structure with free-hanging electronic components and randomly flickering lights on top. Want to learn more about circuit sculpture? Check out
this great talk from Remoticon 2020
.
https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1912688183210112/from_above.mp4 | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650401",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T23:22:20",
"content": "Oh! That’s a capital L and a capital I in the Title!At first my mind kerned them into a capital U!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"co... | 1,760,372,273.400452 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/know-audio-distortion-part-one/ | Know Audio: Distortion Part One | Jenny List | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"audio analyser",
"distortion",
"know audio",
"THD"
] | If you follow audiophile reviewers, you’ll know that their stock-in trade is a very fancy way of saying absolutely nothing of quantifiable substance about the subject while sounding knowledgeable about imagined differences between devices that are all of superlative quality anyway. If you follow us, we’ll tell you that the only reviews that matter are real-world measurements of audio performance, and blind listening tests. We don’t have to tell you how to listen to music, but perhaps it’s time in our
Know Audio
series to look at how audio performance is measured.
Before reaching for the bench, it’s first necessary to ask just what we are measuring. What are the properties which matter in an audio chain, or in other words, just what is it that makes an audio device good?
Why Does A Rock Guitar Sound Angry While A Classical Guitar Doesn’t?
An oscilloscope FFT may not be the best instrument to show this, but compare the spectrum for a square wave (top) and a sine wave (bottom).
There are of course many things than can be measured, but the one which matters the most in this context is probably distortion. You’re probably used to distortion in music, while a classical guitar sounds like a string being plucked, a rock guitar sounds…
angry
.
This is because the rock guitarist uses an effects pedal which induces audible distortion onto the otherwise pretty clean guitar sound. There are many different guitar effects pedals to be found, but some of the simplest merely drive an amplifier into clipping to make something closer to a square wave. But to understand what’s really going on, it’s necessary to look at the waveform not in the time domain as a sine wave or a square wave, but in the frequency domain as a spectrum.
If you were to take a perfect sine wave oscillator and plug it into a spectrum analyser, you would expect to see a single peak corresponding to the frequency of the sine wave. If you apply distortion to that sine wave, the spectrum analyser would start to show peaks at other frequencies depending on what type of distortion is being applied.
It’s a subject we’ve looked at in detail here at Hackaday in the past
, and we’re guessing that many of you will be familiar with the mathematical derivation of a square wave
from a series of harmonic sine waves
. Distortion in an audio device is measured by looking at these extra peaks in the spectrum, and is expressed as either a dB value or a percentage indicating their relative strength compared to that of the original signal. For those guitar pedals the figure will be in the tens of percent, while for a good quality audio amplifier it will be only a fraction of a percent. It’s also usual to see the figure quoted as THD+N which indicates the noise component in the rest of the spectrum, as well as seeing it quoted for a single (usually 1kHz) frequency.
Measuring distortion is a superficially simple process, but in practice constructing an instrument to do so effectively is not an easy task. A device under test is fed with as pure a sine wave as can be generated, and the RMS voltage of its output is measured both directly from it and through a notch filter which removes the fundamental frequency of the sine wave. The idea is that the filtered signal returns only the component of the output which is due to the distortion, and thus can be compared to the full figure to derive that relative figure.
The designer of the instrument thus has several significant hurdles to overcome, because not only must their oscillator and filter be as near perfect as can be attained, but the rest of their analogue signal chain must not contribute to the distortion being measured. This is made even more difficult by a typical instrument requiring these characteristics across a wide frequency range; if a single frequency filter is a challenge then a variable one is much more so. A modern audio analyser will typically be a computer-controlled combination of digital and analogue instrumentation with the oscillator and measurements replaced by a very high quality DAC and ADC, while the filter retains an analogue circuit.
From A Light Bulb To The Digital Domain
The first HP product was the HP200A, a high quality audio oscillator that famously had an incandescent bulb as a non-linear element in its circuitry as a means to stabilise the amplitude and thus reduce the distortion of its output. This idea forms the basis of subsequent steps to reduce oscillator distortion, with improved feedback and AGC circuits.
A modern equivalent of the HP200A circuit, complete with light bulb. From Linear Technologies App Note 43.
It’s suggested that you read
Linear Technologies app note 43
, in which Jim Williams delivers a comprehensive introduction to this topic, and then Cheng-We Pei’s note on
a low distortion oscillator using an RMS-to-DC converter
in its feedback loop.
Unfortunately, most inexpensive benchtop function generators don’t provide this low level of distortion, either relying on a low-pass filter to distort a square wave into something approximating a sine wave, or using a simple DAC for digital synthesis, so for audio measurement it’s worth looking for an unloved older analogue oscillator.
HP continued making derivatives of the 200A for many decades and innumerable companies produced clones and copies, so it’s comparatively easy to find older oscillators on the second-hand or surplus market.
The rest of the components are somewhat more difficult to find, because those filters are expensive to produce and thus an audio analyser can be an eye-wateringly expensive device. Even older instruments hold their value, and I consider myself exceptionally lucky to have secured my all-analogue 1970s-era HP334A distortion analyser without parting with the GDP of a small country. Given a suitably high quality ADC it’s possible to take the approach of filtering in the digital domain, however this may be beyond the capabilities of a mundane sound card. I investigated this idea a few years ago in
an April Fool post about gold cables
, and though the cable was a joke it’s still a valid measurement technique to which I might return in due course.
So this should have served as a basic primer in audio distortion and why it’s important to consider for your listening pleasure. There will be a further
Know Audio
piece on distortion to follow, in which we take a look at real-world distortion measurements and take a closer look at the instruments. | 28 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650320",
"author": "Ian P",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T17:22:39",
"content": "I take issue with your comment:“..the only reviews that matter are real-world measurements of audio performance, and blind listening tests.”As my hearing has degraded over the years, I find I can enjoy musi... | 1,760,372,273.600648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/souped-up-reflective-sensor-uses-itself-for-wireless-programming/ | Souped-Up Reflective Sensor Uses Itself For Wireless Programming | Dan Maloney | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Parts"
] | [
"ATtiny202",
"ATtiny212",
"OBP732",
"optics",
"photosensor",
"phototransistor",
"reflective",
"threshold",
"uart",
"wireless"
] | Proximity sensors are common enough in automation projects that we hardly give them a second thought — pick something with specs that match the job and move on. But they can be fussy to get adjusted just right, a job made more difficult if they’re located in some out-of-the-way corner.
But where lies a challenge, there’s also an opportunity, as [Ido Gendel] shows us with
this remote-controlled proximity sensor
. The story behind this clever little hack starts with an off-the-shelf sensor, the kind with an IR LED and a phototransistor pointed in the same direction that gives a digital output when the light bouncing back into the phototransistor exceeds a certain threshold. It was setting the threshold that gave [Ido]’s client trouble, so [Ido] decided to build a programmable drop-in replacement to make the job easier.
The first try at this used an OBP732 reflective transmitter and an ATtiny202 microcontroller and had three pads on the PCB for programming. This still required physical contact for programming, though, so [Ido] had the idea to use the sensor for wireless IR programming. The microcontroller on version two was switched to an ATtiny212, and a couple of components were added to control the power of the LED so the sensor could do double duty. A programmer using the same sensor and a USB-to-UART adapter completes the system, and allows the sensor threshold to be set just by shining the programmer in its general direction from up to 25 cm away.
We think that getting multiple uses from a single sensor is pretty clever, so hats off for this one. It’s not the first time we’ve featured one of [Ido]’s projects, but it’s been quite a while —
this one-clock-cycle-a-day Shabbat clock
was the most recent, but you can clearly see the roots of the sensor project in
this mouse pointer data encoder
that goes all the way back to 2015. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650318",
"author": "Petter",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T17:02:07",
"content": "Cool. I can’t help but wonder though, say you mounted this in the ceiling corner: is a wireless cable 25 cm away easier than having a 25cm longer cable?25m is most definitely easier.",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,372,273.438914 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/radio-apocalypse-hardening-am-radio-against-disasters/ | Radio Apocalypse: Hardening AM Radio Against Disasters | Dan Maloney | [
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Original Art",
"Radio Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"am",
"backup",
"EAS",
"EBS",
"fema",
"hardened",
"IPAWS",
"primary entry point",
"Radio Apocalypse",
"survivability",
"transmitter"
] | If you’ve been car shopping lately, or even if you’ve just been paying attention to the news, you’ll probably be at least somewhat familiar with the kerfuffle over AM radio. The idea is that in these days of podcasts and streaming music, plain-old amplitude modulated radio is becoming increasingly irrelevant as a medium of mass communication, to the point that
automakers are dropping support for it
from their infotainment systems.
The threat of federal legislation
seems to have tapped the brakes on the anti-AM bandwagon, at least for now. One can debate the pros and cons, but the most interesting tidbit to fall out of this whole thing is one of the strongest arguments for keeping the ability to receive AM in cars: emergency communications. It turns out that about 75 stations, most of them in the AM band, cover about 90% of the US population. This makes AM such a vital tool during times of emergency that the federal government has embarked on a serious program to ensure its survivability in the face of disaster.
Alphabet Soup
In the United States, it has always been the case that the grant of a government license to operate on the public airwaves carries the potential to turn a radio station over to authorities in a time of emergency, at least temporarily. That’s been the case ever since the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) sprang into being in 1934, but the emergencies imagined back then were strictly local in scope, or perhaps at most a regional disaster, like a hurricane. It really wasn’t until the dawn of the nuclear age that a nationwide emergency was even really possible, and with that potential came the need for a systematic method of reaching the entire population at a moment’s notice.
The earliest Cold War approach to emergency alerts was
the CONELRAD system
, which was geared mainly at denying incoming enemy bombers of easy radio waypoints for navigation while still getting emergency instructions out to the public. The idea was that all AM stations would switch their transmitters to one of two frequencies, either 640 kHz or 1240 kHz, and transmit in a round-robin fashion, limiting each station’s transmission to just a few minutes. At best it was an awkward system that quickly became obsolete once ICBMs became the preferred delivery system for nuclear weapons.
The successors of CONELRAD
focused much more on the rapid assembly of a nationwide network of radio stations than on the control of emissions. The most recognizable element of the current system is probably the Emergency Alert System (EAS), with its
distinctively discordant two-tone alert
and shrill
Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) digital header
. But EAS is just one of many methods of disseminating alerts to the public, all of which fall under a complex and hierarchical architecture known as the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS.
IPAWS architecture. Source:
FEMA
The complexity of IPAWS is understandable given its mission and the rapidly changing communications ecosystems. Rather than relying solely on terrestrial broadcasters to disseminate emergency alerts, IPAWS rolls cellular carriers, satellite and cable providers, ISPs, and even local alert systems like sirens and electronic signboards. Additionally, IPAWS allows for a wide range of alerting authorities to access the system, meaning that it can be used not only for presidential messages in times of national emergency, but for everything from regional alerts for severe weather to Amber alerts for missing or abducted children.
Despite this increased mission scope, terrestrial broadcasters still play an outsized role in IPAWS. There are currently 77 radio stations across the United States and associated territories that are designated as Primary Entry Point stations for the Emergency Alert System (EAS). PEP stations tend to be so-called “clear-channel” AM stations, which operate at a high effective radiated power — at least 10,000 Watts — and on frequencies that are least subject to interference from other stations. The vast geographic reach of these PEP stations is one of the keys to the EAS network, since all participating stations are required to monitor signals from at least two different PEP stations, and to follow specific procedures if and when the PEP stations initiate an emergency alert.
Primary Endpoint (PEP) stations cover most of the continental US. Source: FEMA
PEP stations, in turn, are required to maintain a direct connection to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Virginia. Mount Weather is one of the many relocation facilities intended for continuity of government in times of national emergency, and is designed with maximum survivability in mind. It is also the primary point of access for the president to the EAS. Details of the links between Mount Weather and the PEP stations are limited, of course, but multiple redundant fiber optic lines and satellite links certainly play a role.
Station-In-A-Box
Since the EAS network is a daisy chain system, with messages flowing through the system from the top down, the survivability of the PEP stations is critical. PEP stations have always been mandated to have redundant systems, including auxiliary and backup transmitters, backup power generation, and staffing requirements, but as a result of increasing awareness of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to attacks by electromagnetic pulse (EMP) or the possibility of
Carrington Event-level damage
, FEMA undertook a program designed to substantially harden the majority of PEPs.
Studio-in-a-box-in-a-box. The FEMA shelter at WBZ in Boston has extra shielding. Source:
Radio World
The upgrade effort began in earnest in 2016, with
station WJR in Detroit and WLW in Cincinnati
, although it appears that at least some stations were being upgraded
as early as 2011
. The basic “station-in-a-box” seems to consist of a pair of modified 20-foot shipping containers that are prefabricated and transported to either the station’s primary or auxiliary transmitter. One container is devoted to power generation and distribution, while the other houses studio equipment and transmitters. The studio container for some of these installations seems to have extra protection in the form of a reinforced concrete enclosure around the container, presumably for protection against storm damage.
In most cases, the shelters are installed adjacent to the station’s antenna farm inside security fences with other equipment including satellite dishes, a likely link to FEMA’s operations center. Provision seem to have been made for local hazards, though;
the shelter at WWL in New Orleans
, a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River, has been installed on a raised platform to avoid flood damage.
Station WWL New Orleans auxiliary transmitter with platform-mounted FEMA upgrades. Source:
Google Maps
Detailed specifications of the PEP upgrades haven’t been easy to locate online, but press releases and local news coverage contain some tantalizing clues as to the thought process behind the design. The shelters are described as “all-hazard” hardened against chemical, biological, and nuclear threats, as well as reports of being Faraday shielded to withstand EMPs. The studio shelters are equipped with air filtration systems, a 60-day supply of food and water, and bunk space and hygiene facilities for two. Backup generators and a large stockpile of fuel are provided, although we very much doubt t
he 60,000-gallon figure cited by one article
.
In short, these facilities are built to survive, and to keep the broadcast engineers inside alive and working. It’s not clear if these shelters are to be staffed at all times; indeed, since station KIRO in Seattle is
reported
to have a standing order with the local Coast Guard station to transport engineers to
its hardened transmitter on Vashon Island
at a moment’s notice, it seems not. But that only proves the point about how serious FEMA is about the survivability of the PEP system as a whole. | 64 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650280",
"author": "fdp",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T14:42:06",
"content": "Radio? That thing which forces you to listen to adverts about female yeast infection remedies, occasionally interrupted by “music” and bad news? No, thanks.9 years ago I’ve bought a used Miata with a broken e... | 1,760,372,273.714312 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/op-amp-challenge-virtual-ball-in-a-box-responds-to-your-motions/ | Op-Amp Challenge: Virtual Ball-in-a-Box Responds To Your Motions | Robin Kearey | [
"classic hacks",
"contests"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"analog computer",
"ball in box",
"miniature CRT",
"op amps",
"TL072"
] | With the incredible variety of projects submitted to our Op-Amp Contest, you’d almost forget that operational amplifiers were originally invented to perform mathematical
operations
, specifically inside analog computers. One popular “Hello World” kind of program for these computers is the “ball-in-a-box”, in which the computer simulates what happens when you drop a bouncy ball into a rigid box. [wlf647] has recreated this program using a handful of op amps and a classic display, and added a twist
by making the system sensitive to gravity
.
All the physics simulation work is performed by a set of TL072 JFET input op amps. Four are configured as integrators that simulate the motion of the ball in the X and Y directions, while four others serve as comparators that detect the ball’s collisions with the edges of the box and give it a push in the opposite direction. Three more op amps are connected to form a quadrature oscillator, which makes a set of sine and cosine waves that draw a circle representing the ball.
The simulator’s output signals are connected to a tiny viewfinder CRT as well as a speaker that makes a sound whenever the ball hits one of the screen’s edges. This makes for a great ball-in-box display already, but what really makes this build special is the addition of an analog MEMS accelerometer that modifies the gravity vector in the simulation.
If you tilt or shake the sensor, the virtual box experiences a similar motion, which gives the simulation a beautiful live connection to the real world. You can see the result in a
demo video [wlf647] recently posted
.
The whole setup is currently sitting on a solderless breadboard, but [wlf647] is planning to integrate everything onto a PCB small enough to mount on the viewfinder, turning it into a self-contained motion simulator. Analog computers are perfect for this kind of work, and while
they may seem old-fashioned
, new ones
are still being developed
. | 5 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650620",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T20:18:10",
"content": "I have wondered before if some digital systems wouldn’t be a hell of a lot simpler if the differentiation and integration modes of analog computing were remembered and op amps used for sensor pre-pro... | 1,760,372,273.759405 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/books-you-should-read-prototype-nation/ | Books You Should Read:Prototype Nation | Sonya Vasquez | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Reviews",
"Slider"
] | [
"book",
"china",
"manufacturing",
"review"
] | Over the years, I’ve been curious to dig deeper into the world of the manufacturing in China. But what I’ve found is that Western anecdotes often felt surface-level, distanced, literally and figuratively from the people living there. Like many hackers in the west, the allure of low-volume custom PCBs and mechanical prototypes has me enchanted. But the appeal of these places for their low costs and quick turnarounds makes me wonder: how is this possible? So I’m left wondering: who are the people and the forces at play that, combined, make the gears turn?
Enter
Prototype Nation: China and the Contested Promise of Innovation
, by Silvia Lindtner. Published in 2020, this book is the hallmark of ten years of research, five of which the author spent in Shenzhen recording field notes, conducting interviews, and participating in the startup and prototyping scene that the city offers.
This book digs deep into the forces at play, unraveling threads between politics, culture, and ripe circumstances to position China as a rising figure in global manufacturing. This book is a must-read for the manufacturing history we just lived through in the last decade and the intermingling relationship of the maker movement between the west and east.
From Copy to Prototype
Lindtner does a spectacular job detailing why Chinese manufacturers will readily duplicate and resell existing designs. The answer is multi-faceted but involves, in part, a culturally distinct approach to designs. Duplication offers a means of reverse engineering, a way of understanding how something works. In fact, a number of designs known as
gongban
(pg 94) regularly circulate openly across factories as templates. The consequence is not only the means of manufacturing something akin to the original, but a way of producing original designs too via customizations that can freely run wild. Lindtner’s punchline in all of this is that the copy is essentially the prototype.
Of course, bootstrapping manufacturing pipelines for existing products does have the consequence of building a Western perception of Chinese manufacturing as a sort of copycat. Lindtner engages with this idea as well, noting how some Western maker labels devote extra work to qualify their means of production in China as genuine (think Arduino “Genuino”) while others emerging directly from China like Seeed Studio have had to push through this perception to break into Western markets.
With
gongban
, manufacturing in China has developed under circumstances where unlicensed sharing is the norm. In a way, this culturally distinct approach challenges the Western style of binding designs to terms set by the creator. It’s almost as if the west were to operate with permissive open source licenses being the default, and it begs the question: what kinds of innovation we would see if this kind of relationship to designs existed in the west?
The Politics at Play
None of this manufacturing growth has happened in a vacuum. It turns out that a collection of forces loosely motivate this sort of rapid manufacturing development in China.
First, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has somewhat adopted the promise of the maker movement and used it, in part, to spur economic growth by creating a strong connection between making and entrepreneurship. Here, starting off as maker puts you on a path towards happiness by ultimately starting your own business. It’s no coincidence that the west now regularly sees Shenzhen as the “Silicon Valley of Hardware.” Both careful branding and financial investments via recognizing Shenzhen as a “Special Economic Zone” have made this the case.
On the other hand, the capacity to manufacture electronics cheaply has also brought in business from the west. Lindtner notes a number of Western articles comparing manufacturing in China as “going back in time,” and she ties this frontier-like perception to other scholarship that digs into the aftermath of Western colonialism. Overall, the politics between west and east are vastly complicated, and this section of the book makes for an eye-opening read.
And Much More
This article is only teasing you with a few highlights. Fret not, Dear Reader, with just over 220 pages and a thick bibliography to sink your teeth into, there’s plenty left to walk through. If you’ve ever been curious to step into the world of manufacturing in China, this book is a must-read. Give yourself a few afternoons, and let the details of prototyping in China draw you in. | 24 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650573",
"author": "Vlasovec88",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T17:10:53",
"content": "I’d say after 2020s semiconductor shortage this book aged like a fine milk.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650634",
"author": "chango"... | 1,760,372,273.822067 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/transform-an-original-xbox-controller-to-a-360-controller/ | Transform An Original Xbox Controller To A 360 Controller | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"360",
"controller",
"interface",
"modification",
"original",
"Teensy 4.1",
"upgrade",
"usb",
"xbox"
] | If you’re looking for a controller for your computer or mobile device, you could certainly do worse than one of the latest iterations of the Xbox pad. They might not be perfect, but they’re fairly well-made, not particularly expensive, use standard USB and Bluetooth interfaces, and even have decent support in the open-source community. So if you’re gaming on Linux or working on any other kind of retro gaming rig it’ll likely be plug-and-play.
This wasn’t the case with the first generation Xbox controller, though, and although its proprietary connector was actually using USB, the controller scheme wasn’t as open. This is [Tom]’s effort of
upcycling his original Xbox controller to work indistinguishably from a stock Xbox 360 controller
.
For those asking why anyone would want to do this, [Tom] is actually one of the few who enjoyed the original bulky Xbox “Duke” controller that released with the console in 2001.
It wasn’t a popular choice
in the larger gaming community and a year later Microsoft released a smaller version, but we all have our quirks. A Teensy 4.1 is attached to the end of the controller cable and acts as an intermediary to intercept the proprietary signalling coming from this controller and convert it into something usable. Since the controller doesn’t even show up as a standard USB HID device it took a little more sniffing of the protocol to decipher what was going on at all, but eventually some help was found
within this other driver
that gave [Tom] the clues he needed to get it working.
There were some other headaches to this project as well, especially since USB debugging USB connections while using USB isn’t exactly a streamlined process, but after a couple of breakthroughs the Teensy pass-through interface began working and [Tom] can use his controller of choice across multiple platforms now. If you’re looking to upgrade in other ways take a look at this build which seeks
to recalibrate, rather than replace
, an older Xbox controller experiencing drift on its analog control sticks. | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650590",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T18:21:43",
"content": "As somebody with larger hands I get the appeal, the original Xbox controller actually felt nice to hold and easy to use. Where the other controllers out there, (especially at the time) are mostly from J... | 1,760,372,273.985955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/the-integral-molten-salt-reactor-and-the-benefits-of-having-a-liquid-fission-reactor/ | The Integral Molten Salt Reactor And The Benefits Of Having A Liquid Fission Reactor | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"energy production",
"molten salt reactor",
"nuclear fission"
] | Although to most the term ‘fission reactor’ brings to mind something close to the commonly operated light-water reactors (LWRs) which operate using plain water (H
2
O) as coolant and with sluggish, thermal neutrons, there are a dizzying number of other designs possible. Some of these have been in use for decades, like Canada’s heavy water (D
2
O) reactors (CANDU), while others are only now beginning to take their first step towards commercialization.
These include helium-cooled, high-temperature reactors like China’s
HTR-PM
, but also a relatively uncommon type developed by Terrestrial Energy, called the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (
IMSR
). This Canadian company recently
passed phase 2
of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s (CNSC) pre-licensing vendor review. What makes the IMSR so interesting is that as the name suggests, it uses molten salts: both for coolant and the low-enriched uranium fuel, while also breeding fuel from fertile isotopes that would leave an LWR as part of its spent fuel.
So why would you want your fuel to be fluid rather than a solid pellet like in most reactors today?
Historical Lessons
Aircraft Reactor Experiment. General diagram. (Source: ORNL)
Even though many newly licensed or about-to-be-licensed reactor designs in the 2020s sound futuristic, virtually all of them have been conceptualized in some form or shape before the 1960s, and many have had prototypes built. So too for molten salt reactors (MSRs), which saw Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) create a number of prototypes, starting in 1954 when the Aircraft Reactor Experiment (
ARE
) reached first criticality. ARE was an off-shoot of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (
ANP
) program that had its roots in the US Air Force, before it was transferred to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
MSRE plant diagram: (1) Reactor vessel, (2) Heat exchanger, (3) Fuel pump, (4) Freeze flange, (5) Thermal shield, (6) Coolant pump, (7) Radiator, (8) Coolant drain tank, (9) Fans, (10) Fuel drain tanks, (11) Flush tank, (12) Containment vessel, (13) Freeze valve. (Source: ORNL)
From there the project ended up at ORNL, where the original solid fuel design was changed into a molten salt/fuel mixture due to concerns over reaction stability at high temperatures, which the MSR design might solve. After the cancellation of the ANP program the MSR technologies from ARE and subsequent designs were used for a purely civilian project: the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (
MSRE
).
Like the ARE, MSRE used molten fuel, albeit with a different composition. ARE used 53.09 mole % NaF, 40.73 mole % ZrF
4
, and 6.18 mole % UF
4
for its salt/fuel mixture, with uranium-235 as the fissile material. The neutron moderator also changed from beryllium oxide (BeO) in ARE to
pyrolitic graphite
in MSRE.
MSRE used
7
LiF – BeF
2
– ZrF
4
– UF
4
(65 – 29.1 – 5-0.9 mole %) following lessons learned from the ARE salt mixture. Initially 33% (enriched) uranium-235 was used in its primary coolant/fuel mixture, before switching to using uranium-233 bred from thorium in breeder reactors. Although it would have been possible to configure MSRE to use thorium salts to breed its own fuel from, this was omitted for the experiments, with instead neutron measurements being performed. This does however touch on one of the benefits of an MSR, in that they can be a fast neutron reactor unlike a water-moderated LWR, making them capable of breeding their own fuel from fertile isotopes, including the transuranics and actinides resulting from the original uranium fuel. The other advantage of MSRs is that they can operate at very high temperatures (820 °C for ARE, 650 °C for MSRE) due to the high thermal stability and
heat capacity
of the coolant, while not requiring the pressures seen with pressurized light water reactors (PWRs), which typically feature a outlet temperature of around 300 °C.
The operating temperature ultimately determines what processes and turbines it is compatible with, as
industrial processes
often require temperatures far above what LWRs can deliver. An MSR capable of providing a constant source of >600 °C heat would be exceedingly practical for these applications, as well as increase the thermal efficiency of electricity generation via steam turbines.
Over the course of the MSRE’s five-year lifespan, it provided significant information on the behavior of both
235
U and
233
U fuel, as well as the production and handling of xenon gas (a neutron poison), the stability of the graphite moderator and the immunity of the used salt to any kind of radiation it was exposed to. It also validated the new metal alloy developed at ORNL to resist the corrosive effects of the hot salt, which is a nickel-chromium-molybdenum called
Hastelloy N
.
When the MSRE was shutdown in 1969 for decommissioning, one unexpected finding that was that of embrittlement of the metal exposed to the salt, which was traced back to
tellurium
, one of the fission products. This finding led to an adjustment of the Hastelloy N alloy, to counteract these effects. Yet despite these successes, the US would virtually abandon further development in MSRs, despite ORNL creating a number of follow-up designs.
The use of salts as coolant would however continue worldwide, mostly for fast neutron reactors, with examples like the Russian BN-series of sodium-cooled, fast neutron reactors being prime example of this. Although they use solid fuel, they demonstrate the viability of long-term use of corrosive, hot salt as coolant, with the
BN-600
operating since 1980. The similar US
EBR-II
operated from 1964 to 1994, including simulated emergencies like a sudden shutdown at full power, demonstrating the passive safety of these pool-type sodium-cooled reactors, much of which also applies to MSRs.
The Integral MSR
Schematic describing a few possible applications for the IMSR. (Source: Terrestrial Energy)
The Terrestrial Energy’s
IMSR
is a fully self-contained MSR, with the molten salt, the pumps, primary loop and graphite moderators are contained within what Terrestrial Energy calls the
IMSR Core-unit
. A single Core-unit produces 440 MW thermal (MWth) with a
claimed
44% thermal efficiency when generating electrical power, due to the 700 °C outlet temperature. A plant with a typical dual Core-unit configuration thus generates around 390 MWe, with the remaining heat conceivably being used for cogenerating purposes (e.g. heating), although Terrestrial Energy currently envisions dedicating a single Core-unit to thermal energy, making for 195 MWe and 440 MWth from a dual IMSR plant that is also employed for process heat, thermal storage, etc.
What is interesting about the IMSR is that it is a purely thermal spectrum Generation IV reactor, despite using molten salt fuel. This fuel itself is standard low-enriched uranium (LEU) at <5%
235
U, the same as used in virtually every commercial reactor in use today. There are no fast neutrons being used to breed fuel from fertile fission products or thorium salts – with the graphite moderator moderating all fast neutrons to thermal neutrons – making it very much akin to an LWR. The advantages of using molten salt here come mostly from the much higher heat capacity at ambient pressure, as well as online refueling, with each Core-unit expected to remain in 24/7 operation for seven years. During this time fresh fuel is gradually added to the primary loop to maintain reactivity.
After the operational time is over, the entire (sealed) unit is left to cool off for a while before it is returned to the factory for recycling. This means far less stringent requirements for the operator, as the unit is essentially maintenance-free, which is part of Terrestrial Energy’s pitch towards commercialization. Such a focus on simplicity of operation is popular with
small modular reactor
manufacturers – including GE-Hitachi’s
BWRX-300
, which is a more conventional boiling water reactor (BWR) type LWR – but also with a range of other upcoming MSRs.
Compact, Safe, And Hot
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the IMSR isn’t the only MSR in town today, with a few more contenders looking to commercialize their own designs over the coming years. These include the Danish
Seaborg Compact Molten Salt Reactor
(CMSR), the
Moltex Stable Salt Reactor
(SSR) and a number of designs that also use salt as coolant, but with solid fuel such as the
TerraPower Natrium
and
Kairos Power KP-FHR
, What’s also interesting is how unique each design is.
The IMSR, for example, is designed to fit in with a more LWR-like once-through fuel cycle (following ORNL’s
denatured MSR design
), just much more convenient, more compact and with much higher temperatures. The CMSR meanwhile does not use a graphite moderator, but sodium hydroxide in parallel tubing, which makes
the design
even more compact and adjusting the neutron moderation easier. The SSR does not target the use of thermal neutrons alone, but also fast neutrons in its SSR-W configuration, for ‘wasteburner’. This uses liquid fuel rods, suspended in a salt coolant pool, that would use spent fuel reprocessing remnants (like actinides) for its fuel, along with plutonium, MOX fuel and so on, befitting the name.
Although MSRs have the potential to be refueled continuously without shutting them down, this is not a common design feature yet. Even so MSRs and similar high-temperature reactors are likely to become a common sight over the next years, with larger reactor types on the scale of traditional LWRs (1+ GWe) an interesting prospect, especially if they are operated in a fast neutron configuration, able to use both spent LWR fuel and fertile isotopes like thorium.
Regardless of the exact configuration, MSRs have the intrinsic safety feature of a
negative fuel temperature coefficient
, meaning that the reactivity of the fission process is inversely linked to the temperature of the salt coolant. This makes an MSR not only intrinsically resistant to high reactivity events, but also of load-following, as the extraction of heat from the secondary cooling loop immediately impacts the core’s reactivity.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been seventy-odd years since ARE’s first test run, but as this decade dozens of MSRs go into commercial service, it should feel as validation for the researchers at ORNL and colleagues for all the work they put into making molten salt work as reactor coolant as well as fuel.
(Heading image: IMSR plant as imagined by Terrestrial Energy. (Credit: Terrestrial Energy) ) | 48 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650566",
"author": "Douglas Fletcher",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T16:23:47",
"content": "Well done!I’ve been following the Gen IV nuclear technology for some time and this article is a good review. However, for anything to happen in California (where I live) the state needs to change... | 1,760,372,274.177197 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/billion-year-clock-is-lego-genius-or-madness/ | Billion Year Clock Is LEGO Genius Or Madness | Al Williams | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"Clocks",
"lego"
] | If you are a fan of LEGO bricks or Rube Goldberg, you should have a look at [Brick Technology’s]
billion-year LEGO clock
. Obviously, it hasn’t been tested for a billion years, and we wonder if ABS would last that long, but the video below is still worth watching.
Even if you aren’t a LEGO fan, the demonstration of a pendulum clock and escapement is worth something and really shows the practical side of things. Of course, making a pendulum clock that keeps time isn’t anything magic — people have been doing that for centuries. But then more and more elements join to keep track of more time.
You might wonder how the pendulum keeps going for a billion years. Well, honestly, it can’t. But a solar panel charges a battery that rewinds the clock when the drive weight reaches the bottom. We imagine the solar cell and battery would be maintenance items if you expected the billion-year life cycle.
Some will ask why, but we get it. If you must explain why you build everything you do with LEGO, you are doing it wrong. The clock even keeps track of the galaxy’s rotation which, apparently, completes every 230 million solar years.
We’d be impressed with this clock even if it weren’t made with LEGO. Sure, it isn’t as posh as the f
ancy clock in Denmark
. But it does work longer — at least, in theory — than
most other LEGO clocks we’ve seen
.
Thanks for the tip [Hari]. | 24 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650514",
"author": "Paul LeBlanc",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T11:55:34",
"content": "Oops – no leap years",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650522",
"author": "therafman",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T12:25:07",
... | 1,760,372,274.045148 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/harvesting-rechargeable-batteries-from-single-use-devices/ | Harvesting Rechargeable Batteries From Single-Use Devices | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Battery Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"cartridge",
"charging",
"lithium",
"rechargable",
"single use",
"vape"
] | The price of lithium batteries has plummeted in recent years as various manufacturers scale up production and other construction and process improvements are found. This is a good thing if you’re an EV manufacturer, but can be problematic if you’re managing something like a landfill and find that the price has fallen so low that rechargeable lithium batteries are showing up in the waste stream in single-use devices. Unlike alkaline batteries, these batteries can explode if not handled properly, meaning that steps to make sure they’re disposed of properly are much more important. [Becky] found these batteries in single-use disposable vape pens and so
set about putting them to better use
rather than simply throwing them away.
While she doesn’t use the devices herself, she was able to source a bunch of used ones locally from various buy-nothing groups. Disassembling the small vape pens is fairly straightforward, but care needed to be taken to avoid contacting some of the chemical residue inside of the devices. After cleaning the batteries, most of the rest of the device is discarded. The batteries are small but capable and made of various lithium chemistries, which means that most need support from a charging circuit before being used in any other projects. Some of the larger units do have charging circuitry, though, but often it’s little more than a few transistors which means that it might be best for peace-of-mind to
deploy a trusted charging solution
anyway.
While we have seen projects repurposing 18650 cells from
various battery packs like power tools
and older laptops, it’s not too far of a leap to find out that the same theory can be applied to these smaller cells. The only truly surprising thing is that these batteries are included in single-use devices at all, and perhaps also that there are few or no regulations limiting the sale of devices with lithium batteries that are clearly intended to be thrown away when they really should be getting recycled. | 64 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650478",
"author": "Michal Lenc",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T08:24:14",
"content": "Interesting. Doest this mean, that is cheaper to produce rechargable Li-ion battery than non-rechargable?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "66504... | 1,760,372,273.936659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/hackaday-prize-2023-bluetooth-spell-to-speak/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: Bluetooth Spell To Speak | Matthew Carlson | [
"Medical Hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2023 Hackaday Prize",
"accessibility",
"bluetooth keyboard",
"capacitive sensing",
"ESP32",
"ESP32-S2"
] | Have you ever known what you wanted to say but couldn’t figure out exactly how to say it? For some individuals, that’s all the time. The gap between intention and action can be a massive chasm. [Pedro Martin] is trying to help bridge that gap
with a Bluetooth RPM letterboard
.
[Soma Mukhopadhyay] developed Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) for teachers to work with students with autism. Gentle physical cues can help individuals complete motor movements, which can be used as a communication mechanism by pointing to a letterboard. Students can eventually move onto an tablet, but some students see the light as sensory noise or might associate it with playtime.
[Pedro] hopes that his letterboard will be able to provide tactile feedback for each letter to strengthen the connection the teacher is trying to establish. The letter board is a 22 by 14 grid (308 total) of touch electrodes connected to three MPR121 12-channel capacitive touch sensors connected to an ESP32 via I2C. Additionally, 60 LEDS controlled by two shift registers are interspaced between the touch electrodes. As only one LED will be on at a given time, [Pedro] can use the shift registers in a row/column setup since the current draw should be small. A piezo buzzer serves as additional feedback for the student. The ESP32 emulates a Bluetooth keyboard, so the teacher doesn’t have to keep track of what the student is spelling and can focus on RPM.
[Pedro] encountered the usual slew of debugging problems, such as ground bouncing, captive noise, and Bluetooth wonkiness. The code, KiCad, and STL files are on the Hackaday.io project page. If you want more accessibility-focused keyboards, look at the
RP2040-based Intellikeys we saw recently
.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650526",
"author": "Bobtato",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T12:43:21",
"content": "It’s great that makers are expanding the reach of assistive technologies, but it’s worth being cautious about any amateur medical intervention.Taking this as a case in point, RPM is controversial among pr... | 1,760,372,274.082939 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/tree-planting-festivals-air-cannons-self-burying-seeds-and-the-complexities-of-reforestation/ | Tree Planting Festivals, Air Cannons, Self-Burying Seeds, And The Complexities Of Reforestation | Maya Posch | [
"green hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"bioinspired",
"reforestation",
"seeding"
] | At first glance the problem of how to plant trees would seem to be a straightforward one: take a seed, jam it into the soil and let nature take its course. Or alternatively do much the same with a sapling that already got a start in a nice, comfortable greenhouse before leaving it to its own devices. To the average person this is generally the point where it’s considered a ‘done deal’, but one only has to take a look at the average survival rate of saplings out in the wild to perish that thought.
Each environment offers its own set of challenges when it comes to reforestation, which can perhaps be considered ironic as many of these trees are being planted where forests used to be, albeit centuries ago in many cases. There are the easy spots, such as flat fields, with rich soil, ample rain and mild weather, to the challenging terrain of Iceland, or mountainous terrain. Here the logistics are challenging and where once rich forests flourished, the very landscape seems adamant to reject this botanic intrusion.
Further complicating matters here are the myriad of reasons why we’re looking at planting so many new trees that it has even become an internet thing, as with the
2019 ‘Team Trees’ 20 million new trees
challenge. So how did we get here, why exactly are we doing all of this, and how much of these attempts do bear fruit?
Where Forests Used To Roam
A good introduction to what forests used to look like thousands and even hundreds of years ago comes courtesy of the fine folk at
Our World in Data
and their
Forest Area
article.
Change in use of habitable land over the past 10,000 years.
Most of the
deforestation
took place over just the past few hundred years, as the human populations grew — to around 603 million by 1700 — along with the appetite for wood to be used for everything from building houses and ships to cooking dinner. This deforestation did not affect each region equally, with especially regions like Europe losing most of the forests that used to blanket it during the Middle Ages when the region hurtled towards new levels of economic expansion and accompanying need for resources such as wood.
As noted by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser in the earlier linked article on deforestation, regions tend to follow a forest transition, with four distinct periods. With the first three being the gradually, then rapidly increasing deforestation before tapering off again. Finally, the fourth phase is the post-transition one, in which much of the forest cover of the first, pre-transition phase has been lost, but is gradually recovering.
Although Europe is now firmly in the post-transition phase, with forest cover slowly recovering from the very low level it was at last century, other regions are still going through the earlier phases due the strong
drivers behind deforestation
, and are experiencing the reasons why deforestation comes with a lot of negatives that the gain of more land for grazing and crops cannot compensate for. These mostly involve the loss of topsoil, mudslides as previously forested hillsides lose the root systems, loss of biodiversity and the loss of moisture in the soil due to the lack of shade.
Afforestation
The practice of reforestation — grouped under the term
afforestation
along with forest expansion — is as alluded to earlier a rather spotty practice, with different parts of the world showing wildly differing rates of forest cover increase, or even the continued (rapid) loss.
The reason why China looks to do remarkably well with reforestation is due to its national reforestation program, also called the
Great Green Wall
, that tries to turn the edges of the Gobi desert
back into habitable land
. This project was started in 1978, when it sought to increase China’s forest cover from 5 to 15%, and to over 24% by 2025 from 18% in 2009. So far these efforts have managed to not only halt the expansion of the Gobi desert — which used to grow around 10,000 square kilometers per year in the 1980s — but even revert it, with the Gobi desert shrinking by over 2,000 square kilometers per year.
Although there are concerns over the effect of these trees on the groundwater levels, and the negative effects of planting mostly the same tree species in an area, it is still an example of the positive effects that reforestation on a large scale can bring, along with a population that volunteers each year again to help plant more trees. What is definitely required to accomplish all of this is the will to change things, and funding to go with it. Something which is tricky when you’re not backed by a wealthy nation’s government.
Regardless,
Team Trees
showed in 2019 that it’s possible to get twenty million US dollar in donation money for the
promise
to plant twenty million trees, though this was not necessarily a reforestation campaign as it focused mostly on how much carbon these trees could remove from the atmosphere in the public messaging. Even so, they cooperated with the Arbor Day Foundation who seem to have indeed
planted all those trees
along with a description of the how and why.
What is perhaps most interesting about the summary of all these tree planting locations is how distinct they are, ranging from US forests ravaged by wildfires to the African version of the Great Green Wall that holds back the Sahara desert, as well as mangroves in Madagascar. This underlines the unique nature of each area, along with the types of trees that are most suited for it and the intended ecosystem. Even when not every tree planted will grow to maturity, a net increase in healthy forests is always welcome to see.
Making It Stick
During the whole Team Trees saga in 2019, it was clear that many of the YouTubers who joined in on the ‘crazy ways to plant trees’ spree weren’t doing it necessarily to actually plant trees, but mostly to make a cool video, get some street cred and perhaps even have a few of the saplings live through the experience. Most of the serious reforestation efforts are multi-year efforts by organizations such as Mossy Earth, whose attempt to restore the
forests that once covered Iceland
is a prime example of an environment that is everything but easy to work with.
It’s estimated that less than 1% of Iceland’s original forest still remain, resulting in today’s well-known volcanic ash-covered landscape, and a few herds of lonely sheep who love to dig into any unfortunate birch tree saplings that they happen to come across. This is the situation that has led to the ash storms that plague Iceland, eroding the soil and making life increasingly tougher for the human population and other critters alike.
By planting downy birch (
Betula pubescens
), rowan (
Sorbus aucuparia
), aspen (
Populus tremula
) and tea-leaved willow (
Salix phylicifolia
) trees, it is hoped that this trend will be reversed, along with an increase in the biodiversity. Even so, the soil that the team has to work with is very challenging, with the freeze/thaw cycle seemingly conspiring to destroy all of the hard work, as covered in this video by the team:
What is positive is that this is another project that is supported and at least partially financed by the state. This mirrors similar reforestation efforts by e.g. Canada’s
‘2 Billion Trees’
commitment, which seeks to plant the right species of trees in the right locations over a decade, to both help to capture carbon and restore biodiversity that was lost through forest clearing and other causes.
Yet it is also important to keep in mind that in nature, trees produce a lot of seeds. The reason for this is that most of those seeds will never grow into saplings, let alone mature trees. Many will fall prey to predation as birds and mammals will happily squirrel away these tasty, nutrient-packed snacks. Others will fail to sprout, get waterlogged or dry out and die, even if some critter will not snack on its tasty, tender leaves and stem. This makes it important to know when to plant a tree, and makes it attractive to plant larger saplings as these are more likely to survive.
Yet what if the area you want to reforest is very inaccessible? Here aerial seeding is a common approach, allowing for large areas to be covered in seeds. Yet germination rates with this method are low, which is why evolution has come up with a way to improve the chances with larger, more precious seeds, such as those from
Erodium gruinum
. The seeds from this particular plant are very long, with a tail at the top that when exposed to changes in moisture causes it to change shape. Over time and with some luck, this will work the seed into the soil where it can safely germinate.
This particular approach led to Danli Luo and colleagues to
create a seed carrier design based on it
(
preprint
PDF), only with three tails to improve the chances of successful drilling:
Bioinspired design of the autonomous self-drilling seed carrier. (Credit: Danli Luo et al., 2023)
Although significantly more involved than merely taking some seeds and tossing them out of an airplane, this particular design could be highly beneficial in some cases. For example, it would be well suited to the
whitebark pine
, with its 11 mm long seeds and remote habitat. This particular tree is under threat from white pine blister rust, a fungal disease that’s wreaking havoc, with a small percentage showing genetic resistance to the fungus. Having this effective deployment method could make the efforts to protect this tree species from extinction a little bit easier.
No Easy Path
Even as some nations have already gone through their deforestation transition and onto reforestation, many other nations are still well in the second phase, while often also dealing with demand from other nations for products like beef, palm oil, etc., which often drives further deforestation. Here a major change may soon come in the form of further adoption of more productive and less water-hungry genetically engineered soy, corn, wheat and other crops by major importers
such as China
, which
imports
massive quantities of for example soybeans from South America.
As long as the drivers for deforestation aren’t addressed, the process will continue, but there is also a lot of hope in that net forest cover loss is gradually decreasing, with temperate regions actually gaining more forest since 1990, marking the beginning of a long recovery process. Although we could of course
mod trees
to grow a lot faster, the fact remains that growing a forest is a long process, and one that takes giving every seed and every sapling the best possible shot at becoming a part of said forest. | 20 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650840",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T15:18:14",
"content": "Saplings can indeed have a hard life:https://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/news/23397975.a14-half-million-trees-die-alongside-road-project/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,274.243819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/contrary-view-chatbots-dont-help-programmers/ | Contrary View: Chatbots Don’t Help Programmers | Al Williams | [
"Artificial Intelligence",
"Software Development"
] | [
"artificial intelligence",
"chat bot",
"programming"
] | [Bertrand Meyer] is a decided contrarian in his views on AI and programming. In a recent
Communications of the ACM
blog post, he reveals that — unlike many others — he thinks AI in its current state
isn’t very useful for practical programming
. He was responding, in part, to another article from the ACM entitled “
The End of Programming
,” which, like many other articles, is claiming that, soon, no one will write software the way we do and have done for the last few decades. You can see [Matt Welsh] describe his thoughts on this in the video below. But [Bertrand] disagrees.
As we have also noted, [Bretrand] says:
“AI in its modern form, however, does not generate correct programs: it generates programs inferred from many earlier programs it has seen. These programs look correct but have no guarantee of correctness.”
That wasn’t our favorite quote, though. His characterization of an AI programming assistant as “a cocky graduate student, smart and widely read, also quick to apologize, but thoroughly, invariably, sloppy and unreliable” resonated with us, as well.
Ultimately, we think we agree with [Bertrand] — at least for now. As he points out, the iPhone wasn’t well-received at first, but it grew into its own. This is the early days of AI chatbots, so perhaps they will get better. But, like any engineering project, you have to weigh the risk of being wrong with the consequence. Getting a quiz question wrong or putting a wrong hyperlink in a web page is an annoyance in most cases. Producing software that’s wrong can cost millions at the bank and lives in a self-driving car.
Maybe we expect too much. We’ve seen successful cases of using chatbots as
more of a junior assistant
, taking on tasks like converting data, producing test cases, and other things that it seems to be good at doing. But, then again, everyone who will
take your job
started out as a junior assistant at some point. | 67 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650772",
"author": "michael",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T11:27:28",
"content": "Programming and even electronic development with the helping hand of AI is… different. GPT is like the one colleague who has seen lots of the good, the bad and the ugly, making educated guesses sound like... | 1,760,372,274.402507 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/hacking-a-hyundai-ioniqs-infotainment-system-again-after-security-fixes/ | Hacking A Hyundai Ioniq’s Infotainment System Again After Security Fixes | Maya Posch | [
"car hacks"
] | [
"hyundai",
"infotainment"
] | These days modern cars are nothing if not a grouping of networked software held together by bits of hardware. This is reflected not only in the rapidly increasing number of ECUs, but also infotainment systems and all-glass cockpits. For better or worse, this offers many exciting hacking possibilities, which [greenluigi1] was more than happy to explore with their new 2021 Hyundai Ioniq SEL last year. Naturally, Hyundai then proceeded to ‘fix’ these vulnerabilities, offering the exciting chance to test the Hyundai engineers’ homework, and
proceed to bypass it again
.
When we
last left off
in [greenluigi1]’s adventures, the Hyundai D-Audio 2V Linux-based infotainment system (formally called in-vehicle entertainment, or IVI) in question had been convinced to run custom applications after a fair bit of effort to get root access via the Engineering Menu and some firmware image hacking. Joyous hacking and exploration of the car’s
CAN network and RPC
messaging system ensued. Then Hyundai released a new firmware image, after months of silence and all old firmware images pulled from the download page.
In this new firmware image, big changes were visible right off the bat, with two different ZIP files instead of the single one from before. One of these ZIP files also couldn’t be decrypted any more with the old key. Unfortunately for Hyundai, the curse of backwards compatibility with older IVIs meant that the ZIP targeting headunits running the older firmware also contained the key for the new ZIP file.
Other changes included some further obfuscation to this key and the public key used for firmware hash verification, which also involved using a Micom RPC call via the CAN bus to obtain some vehicle specific information. Unfortunately, this is where Hyundai’s engineers seemed to have stopped copying reference code samples, and used a unique RSA private key to sign firmware images with. Fortunately, they did not bother to check whether the updater actually always verifies the signature, allowing for unsigned code to be installed.
All in all, a fascinating bit of reverse-engineering and sheer stubborn persistence, just so that the IVI that’s in your car can run the applications which you developed. We’re looking forward to the next installments in this series as the ball is once again firmly in Hyundai’s court. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650788",
"author": "Auto Motive",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T12:21:13",
"content": "I wonder who actually makes the IVI for Hyundai. Car manufacturers are most often merely integrators of components manufactured by Tier 1 suppliers. From earlier reports on Ioniq’s bead unit hacks it ... | 1,760,372,274.297459 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/royal-navy-tests-quantum-navigation/ | Royal Navy Tests Quantum Navigation | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"navigation",
"quantum"
] | GPS has changed the way we get around the globe. But if you command a warship, you must think about what you would do if an adversary destroyed or compromised your GPS system. The Royal Navy and Imperial College London think
a quantum navigation system
might be the answer.
Of course, Heisenberg says you can’t know your speed and position simultaneously. But at the real-world level, you can apparently get close enough. The quantum sensors in question are essentially accelerometers. Unlike conventional accelerometers, though, these devices use ultracold atoms to make very precise measurements using a laser optical ruler, which means they do not drift as rapidly as, say, the accelerometer in your phone. Navigating with accelerometers is well understood, but the issue is how often you have to correct your computed position with an actual reference due to drift and other error accumulation. You can see a Sky News report on the trial below.
The tests were done in a rapid prototyping pod carried onboard XV Patrick Blackett, a fitting name for an experimental ship since Lord Blackett was a Nobel laureate and head of the physics department at Imperial College for a decade ending in 1963. The
underlying tech
came out of the university back in 2018, but making it work in a real-world environment onboard a ship is another matter. You probably won’t have the cryonics and lasers needed for such a quantum compass anytime soon in your smartphone, but the tech could have civilian applications for larger vehicles. | 33 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650716",
"author": "Bruce Perens",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T05:09:09",
"content": "It would have made more sense if you explained this was a new wrinkle on “inertial navigation”, using those words.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,372,274.615363 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/well-documented-code-helps-revive-decades-old-commodore-project/ | Well Documented Code Helps Revive Decades-Old Commodore Project | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"assembly",
"code",
"commenting",
"commodore",
"documentation",
"gaming",
"homebrew",
"retrocomputing",
"RPG"
] | In the 1980s, [Mike] was working on his own RPG for the Commodore 64, inspired by dungeon crawlers of the era like Ultima IV and Telengard, both some of his favorites. The mechanics and gameplay were fairly revolutionary for the time, and [Mike] wanted to develop some of these ideas, especially the idea of line-of-sight, even further with his own game. But an illness, a stint in the military, and the rest of life since the 80s got in the way of finishing this project. This always nagged at him, so he finally dug out his decades-old project, dusted out his old Commodore and other antique equipment,
and is hoping to finish it by 2024
.
Luckily [Mike’s] younger self went to some extremes documenting the project, starting with a map he created which was inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. There are printed notes from a Commodore 64 printer, including all of the assembly instructions, augmented with his handwritten notes to explain how everything worked. He also has handwritten notes, including character set plans, disk sector use plans, menus, player commands, character stats, and equipment, all saved on paper. The early code was written using a machine language monitor since [Mike] didn’t know about the existence of assemblers at the time. Eventually, he discovered them and attempted to rebuild the code on a Commodore 128 and then an Amiga, but never got everything working together. There is some working code still on a floppy disk, but a lot of it doesn’t work together either.
While not quite finished yet, [Mike] has a well-thought-out plan for completing the build, involving aggregating all of the commented source code and doing quarterly sprints from here on out to attempt to get the project finished. We’re all excited to see how this project fares in the future. Beyond the huge scope of this pet project, we’d also suggest that this is an excellent example of thoroughly commenting one’s code to avoid having to solve mysteries or reinvent wheels when revisiting projects months (or decades) later. After all,
self-documenting code doesn’t exist
. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650707",
"author": "Ed Kolis",
"timestamp": "2023-06-08T03:22:16",
"content": "Doctor is a time lord class and has a sonic screwdriver? Hmm…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650708",
"author": "gregg4",
"times... | 1,760,372,274.551581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/plastic-welding-revisited/ | Plastic Welding Revisited | Al Williams | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"nylon",
"plastic welding",
"repair",
"zip tie"
] | Last time we talked about a video that purported to do plastic welding, we mentioned that the process wasn’t really plastic welding as we understood it. Judging by the comments, many people agreed, but it was still an interesting technique. Now [Inventor 101] has a video about
plastic repair
that also talks about welding, although — again, we aren’t sure all of the techniques qualify.
That’s not to say there aren’t some clever ideas, though. There are several variations on a theme, but the basic idea is to use a bolt or something similar in a soldering iron, metal reinforcement from things like wires and staples, and donor plastic from a zip tie. While we don’t think the nylon in a typical zip tie is the best way to repair anything other than nylon, if you were repairing something 3D printed, you could easily swap out the tie for filament of the same material, which — we think — would bond better.
The custom soldering iron tips made from copper wire probably have a few uses, too. Every time we see one of these videos, we think less about repairing plastic and more about reinforcing 3D prints, but maybe that’s just us.
If you want to grab the comments about the other post we saw someone using
zip ties and a glue gun
to “weld”, you’ll have a bit of reading to do. We think of proper welding as having a compatible kind of plastic and some form of heat, even if it is
from friction
. | 27 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650659",
"author": "Kiwinigma",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T23:28:00",
"content": "This is fantastic, I learned so much! It’d be amazing if someone did an equivalent video of ways to fix fabric for people who can’t sew, or can only sew very basic.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,372,274.679399 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/07/moving-the-snail-mail-to-wifi/ | Moving The Snail Mail To WiFi | Matthew Carlson | [
"home hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ESP",
"esp8285",
"telegram"
] | [Zak] loves getting a notification on his phone when he gets physical mail. Enough to wire
his mailbox slot with an ESP8285 to send him alerts
. Previously, [Zak] used a
cellular-based solution
as the mailbox slot was not within WiFi range. However, the network provider for the A9G GPRS module decided to move to different towers, and suddenly the module didn’t work. Unable to find a provider that had sensible pricing, he got to work redesigning the module.
The mailbox was now in a WiFi network range, meaning he no longer had to use cellular. This dramatically simplifies the design and uses an ESP-M2 module (think ESP8266 but with embedded flash). To maximize battery life, the ESP is entirely off most of the time. A reed switch triggers a 74LVC1G98 NAND gate with an inverted input. This enables the 3.3 voltage regulator. A 4uF capacitor holds the voltage regulator on for 716ms, giving the ESP8266 time to boot and drive the second pin of the logic gate so it can stay on. Once the web request completes (a call to a PHP server that takes 4-5 seconds, including WiFi association), it pulls the pin low, and the system powers off. With a custom server, [Zak] can include a few goodies, such as temperature and humidity from the SHT32-DIS sensor.
So far, the system has been chugging along for seven months and over 110 mail notifications and has only dropped 0.3v, suggesting that the battery should hold out for another year or two before recharging. The
code and schematics are up on GitHub
. We love the low-power focus and the handy circuit explanation that makes it easy to use in other projects. | 22 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650615",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2023-06-07T20:10:15",
"content": "Could have saved more power by dropping the 74LVC1G98, using the switch to trigger the regulator through a resistor, and then a fet contrled by the micro to keep it on, and turn it off.",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,372,274.849007 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/that-handheld-386sx-gets-a-teardown/ | That Handheld 386SX Gets A Teardown | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks"
] | [
"386",
"386sx",
"dos",
"windows 95"
] | A few weeks ago our community was abuzz with the news of a couple of new portable computers available through AliExpress. Their special feature was that they are brand new 2023-produced retrocomputers, one with an 8088, and the other with a 386SX. Curious to know more? [Yeo Kheng Meng] has one of the 386 machines,
and he’s taken it apart for our viewing pleasure.
What he found is a well-designed machine that does exactly what it claims, and which runs Windows 95 from a CF card. It’s slow because it’s an embedded version of the 386 variant with a 16-bit bus originally brought to market as a chip that could work with 16-bit 286-era chipsets. But the designer has done a good job of melding old and new parts to extract the most from this vintage chip, and has included some decidedly modern features unheard of in the 386 era such as a CH375B USB mass storage interface.
If we had this device we’d ditch ’95 and run DOS for speed with Windows 3.1 where needed. Back in the day with eight megabytes of RAM it would have been considered a powerhouse before users had even considered its form factor, so there’s an interesting exercise for someone to get a vintage Linux build running on it.
One way to look at it is as a novelty machine with a rather high price tag, but he makes the point that considering the hardware design work that’s gone into it, the 200+ dollar price isn’t so bad. With luck we’ll get to experience one hands-on in due course, and can make up our own minds.
Our original coverage is here
. | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650230",
"author": "Prfesser",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T11:33:33",
"content": "Hmmm…maybe I should buy one. My first “IBM Compatible” in 1990 was a 386SX. 20 MB HDD, Hercules-compatible graphics, monochrome monitor, all for about $1200. About the same price as I paid in 1983 for a ... | 1,760,372,274.905888 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/06/want-lower-power-add-more-cores/ | Want Lower Power? Add More Cores! | Al Williams | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"low power",
"microcontroller"
] | [Jacob Beningo] over at Embedded.com recently posted his thoughts on
how to do a low-power microcontroller design
. On the surface, some of his advice seems a little counter-intuitive. Even he admits, “…I’m suggesting adding more cores! I must be crazy!” There are a few tips, but the part he’s talking about is that you can save power by using CPUs with multiple cores and optimizing for speed.
This seems strange since you think of additional cores and speed to consume more power. But the idea is that the faster you get your work done, the faster you can go to sleep. We’ve seen that in our own projects — faster work means more napping, and that’s good for power consumption.
Of course, it isn’t just that simple. Multiple cores don’t help you if you don’t use them. The overarching goal is to get done quickly so you can get back to sleep. You know, kind of like work. The other advice in the post is generally good, too. Measure your power consumption, respond to events, and — maybe slightly surprising — with modern CPUs, variations within the CPU family, according to [Jacob], isn’t very significant. Instead, he reports that the big changes are switching to the least-capable processor family.
Naturally, Hackaday readers are no strangers to
low-power design
. If you get your power consumption low enough, you can consider
a low-tech battery
or even
a potato
. | 35 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650196",
"author": "combinatorylogic",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T08:04:25",
"content": "See Parallax Propeller – it was definitely a good idea.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650305",
"author": "Martin",
"tim... | 1,760,372,274.793415 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/05/linear-power-supplys-current-limiter-is-a-lesson-in-simplicity/ | Linear Power Supply’s Current Limiter Is A Lesson In Simplicity | Dan Maloney | [
"Parts"
] | [
"compensation",
"current limiter",
"LD1085",
"linear",
"mosfet",
"schottky",
"temperature coefficient"
] | Here at Hackaday we really like to feature projects that push the limits of what’s possible, or ones that feature some new and exciting technology that nobody has ever seen before. So what’s so exciting about
this single-voltage linear power supply
? Honestly, nothing — until you start looking at its thermally compensated current limiting circuit.
This one is by [DiodeGoneWild], who you’ve really got to hand it to in terms of both the empirical effort he went through to optimize the circuit, as well as the quality of his explanation. The basic circuit is dead simple: a transformer, a full-wave rectifier, an LD1085 adjustable regulator — a low-dropout version of the venerable LM317 — and associated filter caps and trimmer pot to adjust the output between 2.2 and 5.5 volts.
The current limiting circuit, though, is where things get interesting. Rather than use an op-amp, [DiodeGoneWild] chose a simple discrete transistor current-sense circuit. To make it less susceptible to thermal drift, he experimented with multiple configurations of resistors and Schottky diodes over a wide range of temperatures, from deep-freeze cold to hair-dryer-in-a-box hot. His data table and the resulting graph of current versus temperature are works of art, and they allowed him to make sensible component selections for a fixed 250-mA current limit with a reasonably flat thermal response.
As for construction, it’s all classic [DiodeGoneWild], including a PCB with traces ground out with a Dremel and a recycled heat sink. He also dropped a couple of interesting build techniques, like adding leads to turn SMD tantalum caps into through-hole components. The video below shows all the build details along with the exhaustive breadboard testing.
From taking on
a potentially risky magnetron teardown
to
harvesting lasers from headlights
, there’s always something to learn from a [DiodeGoneWild] video. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650173",
"author": "Drone",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T06:11:24",
"content": "Reading the schematic is rough and understanding the content creator presents its own challenges. But it is a nice effort in linear design. Please remove the YouTube distraction for clarity.I would have tak... | 1,760,372,274.721838 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/05/the-printing-of-pi/ | The Printing Of Pi | Al Williams | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"Pi",
"piem"
] | It really isn’t necessary, but there is some geek cred to learning pi to some bizarre number of digits. One way to do that is via a piem — a mnemonic device that is easy to remember and gives you the digits. Don’t know any? [Roni Bandini] has you covered with the
PiemPi machine
. It prints a random piem on a thermal printer and calculates each digit on the fly. You can watch the machine in action in the video below.
Unfortunately, the Raspberry Pi Zero inside doesn’t have enough language skills to ensure the thing makes sense, so you get word salad that may or may not have any real meaning. For example, [Roni] quotes astronomer [Sir James Jeans’] phrase: “How I want a drink, alcoholic, of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics.” Before the advent of calculators, we always used: “May I have a large container of coffee today?” In each case, you count the number of letters in each word to get the digits. However, some of the piems you can see from the machine start off with phrases like: “# leon a yahoo execution im actual total pit eagle detector christmas…”
Since the machine can generate many digits, there is a problem that starts at digit 33. There are several zeros in the number. In this case, the printer prints a blank line. We might not have used symbols in the output, but since the phrases don’t really make sense anyway, it probably doesn’t matter much. Of course, there’s also little point in computing the digits for each print. You could compute them once, store them, and never have to do it again. Pi doesn’t change value. However, as a fun project, it doesn’t matter, and it does illustrate how a computer can find pi. In this case, the system uses the Chudnovsky algorithm.
If you don’t want to wait for the little Raspberry Pi,
the 10, trillionth digit of pi is, by all accounts, 5
. The problem with printing this is you need a lot of paper if you want to get up into the trillions. But you could use a
Mobius printer
(although full disclosure: that device grabs digits from the
pi-as-a-service server
; try
curl "https://api.pi.delivery/v1/pi?start=0&numberOfDigits=100"
). | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650138",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T03:05:58",
"content": "How I wish I could calculate pi",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6650149",
"author": "Cuagn",
"timestamp... | 1,760,372,274.957094 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/05/op-amp-contest-generate-spirograph-shapes-using-only-op-amps-and-math/ | Op Amp Contest: Generate Spirograph Shapes Using Only Op Amps And Math | Robin Kearey | [
"Art",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"epitrochoid",
"hypotrochoid",
"mcp6004",
"op amps",
"spirograph"
] | If you’re a child of the ’80s or ’90s, chances are you’ve spent hours tracing out intricate patterns using the pens and gears of a Spirograph kit. Simple as those parts may be, they’re actually a very clever technique for plotting mathematical functions called
hypotrochoids
and
epitrochoids
. [Craig] has spent some time analyzing these functions, and realized you can also implement them with analog circuits. He used this knowledge to design
a device called Op Art
which generates Spirograph shapes on your oscilloscope using just a handful of op amps.
To draw either a hypotrochoid or an epitrochoid, you need to generate sine and cosine waves of various frequencies, and then add them with a certain scaling factor. Generating sines and cosines is not so hard to do with op amps, but making an adjustable oscillator that reliably churns out matching sine and cosine waves over a large frequency range turned out to be tricky. After a bit of experimentation, [Craig] discovered that a
phase-shift oscillator
was the right topology, not only for its adjustability but also because it generates sine, cosine and inverted sine terms that all come in handy when drawing various Spirograph shapes.
The resulting waves are added together in a mixer, consisting of a dual-gang potmeter that implements adjustable scaling factors for both the sine and cosine channels simultaneously. Finally, a pair of non-inverting amplifiers buffer the output signals and drive two coax cables connected to an oscilloscope. All op amps are low-power MCP6004 types that consume just 100 uA per channel, allowing the whole thing to run off a pair of AAA batteries.
The Op Art system is pretty easy to use: just set your ‘scope to XY mode and start playing with the frequency and gain adjustment pots. [Craig] shows some examples of the shapes it can draw, which vary from simple triangles to all kinds of spirals and flower-like patterns. Most automated spirograph machines try to replicate the mechanics of the original toy using
contraptions holding a pen
or
mirrors manipulating a laser
, but as [Craig] shows, going down to the basic maths can yield great results, too. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650123",
"author": "RW ver 0.0.3",
"timestamp": "2023-06-06T01:28:20",
"content": "I had that as a lab practical way back, following week we threw a z80 in the mix, vector graphics, wooooo.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "66501... | 1,760,372,275.667305 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/06/05/this-vending-machine-is-for-the-birds/ | This Vending Machine Is For The Birds | Al Williams | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"bird feeder"
] | The early bird may get the worm, but [Stephen Chasey’s] birds only get to eat if they are smart. He’s created a
vending machine for bird feeding
. While this is a classic and simple exercise for a microcontroller, [Stephen’s] design is all op amps and 555 timers. The feeder comes on when it detects a warm body and waits for something to drop through a hole. Birds don’t have coins, so the hole will accept anything that will trigger the IR sensor within. In response, it dispenses a few peanuts. Rodents and squirrels won’t figure out the machinery, and so they can’t pilfer the peanuts meant for the pigeons — or other birds, even if they don’t start with the letter P.
A PIR sensor detects a warm body. A 555 keeps the system going for about 24 seconds after the last PIR event. Pairs of IR LEDs and phototransistors act as sensors that look through heat shrink tubing, which is, apparently, IR transparent. When a virtual coin drops through the hole, one of the sensors picks it up and starts another 555, which turns on a vibration motor. Another sensor watches for a nut to drop, which stops the motor. It also will time out after 11 seconds.
We wondered how the birds figure out the whole process, but then we read the feeder has a timed mode that dispenses food when it senses anything on the PIR sensor. There are several videos of the device in action. The birds use bottlecaps to trigger the feeder. We had thought that a camera trigger output might be nice to have, too. In addition to no microprocessors, the entire thing has no 3D printing, either. So definitely an old-school project.
Lest you think this isn’t a practical matter, we’ve seen projects where
crows learn to pick up and dispose of cigarette butts
. There was a time when it even looked like pigeons might get
wartime duty
even beyond policing butts. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6650040",
"author": "Dan (No, the OTHER one)",
"timestamp": "2023-06-05T20:49:27",
"content": "Recycling for the Birds",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6650044",
"author": "Blue Footed Booby",
"timestamp": "2023-06-05T20:... | 1,760,372,275.004187 |
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